things not absolutely necessary so as thereby the service of God the due preparation thereto be not hindered under which the use of honest and seemly recreations after the publike dutyes of the Day are finished may be comprehended For though it cannot be denied that a man may commendably spend the whole day in workes of piety and devotion yet that cannot prescribe to all Christians or infringe their liberty For it is one thinge to exhorte to a thing as commendable another to urge it as necessary one thing to say this or that is a good worke and is wel done at this or that time another to enjoyn it by way of Precept so as at such time it may not be omitted nor other worke permitted And the reason is because Gods affirmative Precepts though they warrant and commend the workes that they enjoyne and make them good and commendable whensoever they are performed yet they bind not precisely to any determinate time for their performāce For example we are commanded to pray and that continually so that he that is most frequent in prayer observes this Precept best and deserves the praise of a devout and religious man yet he that prayes not at this or at that time when haply another doth cannot therefore be sayd to sin and much lesse bee counted irreligious or profane David prayed gave thanks unto God at midnight so did S. Paul and Silas and surely those Godly Soules were blessedly employed but shall wee therefore condemne him who doth not the like S. Paul also being to depart from Troas continued his Sermon till midnight on the Sunday and no doubt but he did well yet no man will therefore prescribe the like length to every Sunday Sermon The case is the same in this businesse we have in hand for we doe not presently affixe these duties to the day which wee say may be commendably on that day performed nor on the other side doe we disallow the spending of the whole Sunday in holy and religious actions because we dare not rigidly tye all men so to do or lay it upon them by way of Precept as if God had expresly commanded that time to be no otherwise spent There is a good and a safe use of that distinction of Precepts and Counsells though the Romanists abuse it to the patronising of their imaginary workes of super erogation and things in themselves good without relation to any determinate time we may wish exhort and counsell men to performe at any time when wee cannot by Precept impose them upon all Wee know our Saviour commended some things to his Disciples with a Let him that is able to receive it recieve it advising and exciting all to that which nowing the infirmity of many hee would not exact by his authority as necessary to be performed by all And in this case wee may doe well to imitate him considering that it is no where enjoyned in Scripture and that such is the condition of many that they are not capable of such an injunction as namely those who by reason of their mean education or naturall parts are not fitted for long meditation requisite for the spending of the vacant time of the Day and to whom in regard of their hard labour in the weeke dayes it is a mercy to permit some bodily recreation on this day which certainely cannot be displeasing to him who hath said I will have mercy not Sacrifice And if they who use to judge the use of all recreation on this day sinfull had known what that meaneth they would not have condemned the guiltlesse If any thinke that God hath so commanded let him produce the place of Scripture and I will quickly recant The places which are usually alledged for that purpose and wherewith men are so frighted and thundred against out of the Pulpet being intended for the Iewes and that in regard of that speciall positive Precept given for the strict rest upon their Sabbath cannot with any shew of reason bee extended to Christians when both Day and Precept are out of date But haply some may yet further contend that though the Day bee changed yet the equity of it still remaines and that they may argue thence à pari or as some thinke à minori as from the lesse to the greater That if the Iewes upon their Sabbath which was instituted in memory of the Creation and of their deliverance out of Egypt ought to doe no worke nor so much as to speake their owne words and that for the whole day then by the like reason nay much rather ought Christians so to doe on their Sabbath or Sunday which is consecrated to the memory of a farre more glorious worke the worke of our Redemption accomplished in the resurrection of our Saviour Here in this kinde of reasoning there is some truth but as it is too common it is over-strayned and so is but a meere colour to countenance that for which it is brought and not any solid foundation whereon to build it The truth is Christians have as much if not more cause to celebrate the Redemption of mankind by a solemne weekely Commemoration as ever the Iewes had to celebrate the Creation of the world or their deliverance out of Egypt and this may serve as a good ground to justifie the Institution of the Lords Day and the Churches practise in observing it But this truth is overstrained being applied to the manner of Celebration which was peculiar to the Jewes and accommodated to the then-State of the Church which was as hath beene shewed to be held under the yoke of a strict outward rest in expectation and for the prefiguring of that eternall rest which now Christ hath actually purchased and therefore injuriously laid upon Christians who are freed from that yoke under which they groaned And they may as well upon the same ground conclude against making of fires and dressing of meate upon the Sunday and make the gathering of a few sticks upon that Day to deserve no lesse now then hee suffered for doing the like upon the Sabbath So that wee may say to those who thus argue as hee in Saint Augustine upon farre better ground then he did Either let us be Christians and keepe the Lords Day or let us bee Iewes and observe the Sabbath But is it not reason that God should have one whole day in seven given unto him now as well as heretofore Yes certainely but yet with such difference as suites with the different condition of the Church that now is from that which then was that being guided by the spirit of feare this of love that in a state of bondage under the unsupportable burthen of legall Ceremonies this in a state of liberty and under Christs easie yoake In a word they Iewes and we Christians and this being considered we may be said to give God a Day no lesse now then they then though in that Day wee
Sabbath day namely when the Creation was finished endured onely till the time of the new Creation in which al things were made new by Christ at which time it ceased or at least a second reason taken from that new Creation comming in place the former both reason day become now old are passed away and behold all things are become new For this worke of redemption or new Creation being the greater may deservedly take place of the other And as the Prophet Ieremy speaking of the deliverance that God would vouchsafe his people from the Babilonish captivity saith Behold the dayes shall come saith the Lord that it shall no more be said the Lord liveth that brought up the Children of Israel out of Egypt but the Lord liveth which brought up the children of Israel from the land of the North c. So may wee say of the day appointed for his worship that the day wherein he finished the worke of Creation shall no more be observed but the day wherein our Lord Iesus Christ by his resurrection from the dead finished the worke of our redemption and begun a new life to be finished in all his members who as S. Peter tels us are by his resurrection begotten vnto a lively hope of an eternall Inheritance The fourth and last thing in this Commandement and that which denominated the day is the resting from ordinary labours And this in regard of the divers ends it had admits a diverse consideration 1. This rest may be considered as a means without which the dutyes of Gods worship cannot be performed For seeing the generall publique dutyes of piety and devotion and our owne private businesses cannot both bee followed at once there must be such a cessation from ordinary labours on that day wherein men are to performe those dutyes as that thereby they be not hindered in the performance thereof in which regardthose workes that in themselves and at other times are not prohibited are on that day vnlawfull so farre as they hinder a man from applying himself to divine dutyes and therein are contrary to the observance of that precept which requires the performance of them And therefore when God commands a day to be dedicated to Him he doth likewise in the same command such a rest as a meanes necessary to that end So that thus farre it is connected with participates of the morality of that Precept that enjoynes the dutyes for which it was appointed in this consideration we are no lesse bound at this day to rest from our labours on the dayes devoted to Gods solemne worship then were the Iewes and as Uenerable Hooker sayth The voluntary scandalous contempt of that rest from labour wherewith God is publikely served we cannot too severely correct and bridle Another end of this rest is mentioned Deut. 5. 14. viz that there might be a time of rest allowed to servants and labourers for their refreshment And this no lesse concernes us then it did them for necessity of nature requires some time of remission from labour and religion teacheth us to be mercifull even to our beasts and much more to our servants who are our brethren But this is not so connected with the observance of the day of Gods publique worship but that it may at other times be supplyed yet is then so far requisite as it makes for the solemne performances of the duties of the day that all as well servants as others may joyne together in the service of God which while they doe they at once enjoy the refreshment of their bodyes and freedome to refresh their soules with holy and religious exercises But this rest as it was prescribed to the Iews had yet a further end in regard of which it was exacted so strictly and beyond that which eyther the solemne service of God or the necessary refreshment of labouring persons did require And that was figurative for the signifying of things past present and future 1. Things past and so it was a memoriall of Gods resting from his worke of Creation and as the day which they observed so the strict rest upon that day served as a sign of the cōmon benefit of Creation which they thereby acknowledged to bee Gods work when they celebrated that day wherein God rested from creating sanctified it by an holy and totall surcease from their owne workes And this end is assigned by God himselfe and annexed to the commandement as a principal reason of the institution of it Secondly it was a memoriall likewise of their deliverance out of Egypt so expressely said to bee Deut. 5. 15. where in the repetition of the Law this reason is added instead of the former God is therefore sayd to command them to keepe the Sabbath that they might remember their servitude in Egypt and their deliverance from thence Againe the Sabbath was a signe also of their present condition and a note to distinguish them from all other people they being then the onely peculiar people of God whom hee had separated and sanctified to himselfe For a signe of which peculiar sanctification they were commanded to observe the Sabbath as we read Exod. 31. 13. Ezech. 20. 12. 3. Lastly the rest of the Sabbath was a Type whereby was prefigured that rest which remained for the people of God to be purchased for them by Christ Into which rest they which believe do enter and shall have the full possession thereof in the Kingdome of glory when after all their works finished they shall rest from their labours And this rest the Apostle designing by the name of a Sabbatisme intimates the prefiguring of it by that Sabbath which the people of God under the Law were to observe So that as the place of this Celestiall and eternall rest was shadowed out by the promised Land so the rest it selfe for the nature condition of it was no lesse presignified by their usuall Sabbaths Now in relation to these good things which were thus vailed under the outward observation of this rest it was very requisite that the rest whereby they were represented should be as strict as might be for the more exact the figure is the better it signifies and the more strictly the rest was observed the more lively was the representation of those things which it aymed at To this if we add the condition of those to whom it was enjoyned we shall have the compleate reason why it was with that strictnesse commanded and exacted the violation of it with such severity punished For first the Iewes though the people of God heire Lord of all yet being as the Apostle saith a child differed not from a servant and as servants were to be held in bondage under the strict yoke of outward observances of this among the rest till the fulnesse of time came when God sent forth his Sonne made of a woman made under the law to redeem them
He alone could change the day of the Sabbath that was Lord of it that is Christ So that according to him Christ was the Author of this change and that either mediately by his Apostles whom he assisted by his Spirit in the Institution of it no lesse then he did in the doctrine which they taught or else as hee holds to bee most probable immediately and in his owne person and the probability of this he labours to prove by divers Arguments wherein hee doth as one hath well observed in the like case as if one should demand a Legacy by force and vertue of some written Testament wherein there being no such thing specified he pleades that there it must needs be and bringeth arguments from the love and good will which alwayes the Testator bore him imagining that these or the like proofes will evince a Testament to have that in it which other men by reading can no where finde Certainely it is a bold and a strange course for men to adventure to argue that God must needs have done the thing which they imagine was to bee done whereas in matters that concerne the actions of God the most dutifull and safe way on our part is to search what God hath done and with meekeresse to admire that rather then to dispute what he in congruity of reason ought to doe Hee might therefore have spared all the reasons he brings and in stead thereof to have alledged one place out of the New Testament which doth command the change of the Day especially seeing he denies it and that for many reasons by him there urged to bee an unwritten Tradition which seeing hee doth not nor indeede can doe what doth he else by all his arguments but endeavour to lay an aspersion of imperfection upon the Scriptures and of neglect in Christ himselfe of that office which as the great Prophet of his Church belonged to him As if unlesse hee had beene as carefull to appoint the observation of this day as Moses was to appoint the old Sabbath hee could not absit verbo blasphemia be as faithfull in the house of God as Moses was But farre be such blasphemous thoughts from us farre be it from us to measure the faithfulnesse of our blessed Saviour by our phansies or to judge him unfaithfull because he did omit that which our shallow conceits judge necessary and fit for him to doe Wee know that the high Priest of our profession Christ Iesus was faithfull to him that appointed him as also Moses was faithfull in all his house And this faithfulnesse of his was by him sufficiently demonstrated in that hee fully declared the will of his Father to the world in all things to be beleeved and done and shewed how and what worship Christians must give unto God though the circumstances of that worship as Time and Place in as much as concerned the particular designing of either hee left to be determined by the Church whom he promised to be with to the end of the world And as he cannot be said to be lesse faithfull in the house of God then Moses or Salomon who provided the one a Tabernacle the other a Temple because he did not appoint set places for Gods worship so neither can hee be justly taxed for not appointing the set times for the same these two circumstances of time and place being of equall necessity and use and joyned together by God himselfe Lev. 19. 30. Yee shall keepe my Sabbaths and reverence my Sanctuarie I am the Lord. Neither is the difference of Places more taken away now under the Gospel then of Times But as the true worshippers of God are not tyed to worship either in Ierusalem or any other peculiar place but may worship him in spirit and truth in all places lifting up pure hands so neither are they tyed to any speciall time or day but may pray continually and at all times And therefore they who are so indifferent for the place that they can be content to account a Wood a Parlor or a Barne place good enough for Christians to meete in for the performance of Gods publick worship have no reason to complaine for want of a set day or time for the same purpose The truth is that that peculiar blessing which God once bestowed upon the Sabbath of the Temple thereby differenced them from all others is enlarged to all times places and any day and place may by the Church be dedicated and set apart for Gods worship and being so dedicated set apart they inherit that holinesse which was once peculiar unto the in relation to the duties then there performed to God who in regard of the abundance of grace vouchsafed now in the time of the Gospell may be said to be more present at such times and in such places then heretofore in those of his own assigning But it was not necessary that Christ himself or his Apostles from him should by expresse precept particularly designe either of these if any think such precept to be necessary let them shew the place of Scripture where such precept is to be found or else confesse the Scripture to be deficient in things necessary and so forsake their colours of reformation and passe over into the Campe of the Romanists If they be ashamed of this let them learne and confesse That however it be necessary that some time be dedicated to Gods service yet the determination to this or that particular day is not necessary to be defined by Scripture which they may perhaps the more easily be brought to see if they consider that in this it is no otherwise then it is with other things of equall necessity with this in the generall as the Sacraments Fasting and Prayer it selfe which yet for the particular when and how often they are to be used is not any where in Scripture defined nor necessary so to be But some who will have the Lords day so called because Christ himselfe instituted it say That the Apostles by the authority of that Spirit that alway assisted them in their ministeriall office did alter the day and themselves kept and ordained it to be kept in all Churches as may appeare 1. Cor. 16. 1. Where he saith Every first day of the weeke when yee meete together c. But certainly it is most evident even to a vulgar consideration that no such thing doth appeare out of that place For what doth Saint Paul say there That hee would have Christians meete every first day of the weeke to serve God No surely there is not a word of meeting in the text but what is foysted in to deceive the credulous Reader That which S. Paul saith is That on that day hee would have every one lay by him in store as God hath prospered him This implies neither the meeting together of the Church on that day nor the performance of any religious duty but onely a repositing or laying up
doe not so strictly observe the outward ceremoniall rest as they were bound to doe Secondly I say that our Church is so farre from abridging God of one day in seven that it gives more as having appointed and consecrated divers Holy dayes to the same solemne and publike worship of God which is enjoyned to bee performed upon the Lords Day For these though they may admit some difference in regard of their accidentall dignity in as much as those benefits commemorated in them are greater or lesser yet in regard of their essentials they are equall as being all of them dedicated to the honour of the same God in memory of some great and speciall benefits vouchsafed to the Church and therefore doe goe pari passu in our Canons and in our ancient Statutes which require the same observance of both under the same penalty And therefore those who stand so much for a whole Day of seven to be consecrated to God if the worship of God were all they affected might see that there is a compensation made for the defect which they so much complaine of in our observation on the Lords Day and they themselves might doe well to take advantage by a religious observation of these dayes to make up their failings on the Lords Day But this they are so farre from that they account the observation of these dayes a breach of the fourth Commandement and thinke it a sin to make more Holy dayes then one in seven In which regard it cannot be judged altogether impertinent if I here take occasion to vindicate the practise of our Church from their unjust censures And in the first place I may returne their own Argument upon them and say Is it not reason that God should now under the Gospel have more set dayes to commemorate his benefits then one in seven as well as under the Law Vnder the Law we know they had beside their weekly Sabbaths the Passeover Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles and not onely those which had Gods expresse command for their Institution but the Feast of Purim and of the Dedication which as I have before shewed were ordained by the Church without any expresse command of God and observed by our Saviour himselfe whose example alone if any thing is sufficient to exempt us from scrupling at the like now in the time of the Gospel Secondly if they will not runne cleane counter to their owne principles and deny the morality of the fourth Commandement altogether they must acknowledge thus much at least to bee moral That there ought to be a certaine part of our time given to God and some dayes set apart for his publique worship Now these being left undetermined in the word of God if it bee not in the power of the Church to determine them I wonder how that precept should be observed And if the Churchupon this ground have reason and power to appoint any one Day why not more seeing her power is not limited or restrained within any other bounds but those generalls of decency and order which I presume no man will say are transgressed in the ordination of those Holy dayes which are observed among us Thirdly to this that such times are in the generall commanded by God wee may adde two things more which being well considered will abundantly discharge the observation of such dayes from superstition and those are First that the duties therein required are no other then such as according to the word of God ought to bee performed by all Christians For what else is required on those dayes but the solemne prayers and prayses of God in the Church joyned with the hearing of his Word and a speciall commemoration of his benefits which as on those dayes were received And which of all these is not required in the word of God And if it bee lawfull yea commanded that wee should performe those duties at all times and upon all occasions they cannot at any time whensoever they are performed justly bee termed superstitious or which must follow by consequence unlawfull 2. The other thing to bee considered is That the grounds and occasions of the Churches determination of these duties unto those speciall dayes which wee observe are such as deserve no lesse As being reall great and generall benefits vouchsafed by God unto his Church First they are true and reall not imaginary fictions founded upon the fained actions or falle martyrdomes of titular Saints such as are many in the Romish Church Secondly they are great not ordinary or common benefits and therefore require a more then ordinary acknowledgement Thirdly they are generall the good whereof redounds not to a few but to the whole body of the Church and so if our acknowledgement bee answerable it must be publike and solemne performed joyntly by all those that are partakers of the benefits Now if wee shall runne thorough the whole Kalender take an impartiall view of all our Holy dayes wee shall not find so much as one among them all of which thus much may not truely bee affirmed For they may almost bee ranked under two heads First such memorable steps in the story of our blessed Saviour as by which the great worke of our redemption advanced unto its happy accomplishment Secondly the memorialls of that goodnesse and glory which he afterwards manifested to the world by his holy Apostles Evangelists and Martyrs whom he honoured so much as to make them founders of that Kingdome which cost him his dearest blood to count them worthy to suffer death for his sake Concerning the former I suppose there is none but will say in the words of the Psalmist as our vulgar translation reades them The mercifull and gratious Lord hath so done his marvellous workes that they ought to be had in remembrance And what better meanes can be devised then the appointing of set solemne dayes for their commemoration I cannot see And this was the Churches aime in appointing these dayes So S. Austine We saith he dedicate and consecrate to God the memory of his benefits in solemne feasts and set dayes least in the revolution of times ingratefull forgetfulnesse should creepe upon us The like may be said of the latter For if our Saviour appeared so glorious in them and by them conveighed so great and generall blessings to his Church what reason can bee alleadged why the Church may not retaine an annuall honourable memoriall of them to the glory of him whose instruments they were The Psalmist tells us that the righteous shall bee had in everlasting remembrance And the Wiseman That the memory of the just shall be blessed And therefore to have some dayes in which the memories of those who were in their generations most famous for righteousnesse may with blessing be perpetuated is but their due and agreeable to his will who hath granted them that honour so that we may justly solemnize the dayes wherein those barning and shining lights first
appeared to the world or the dayes of their departure hence which were the dayes of their happy inauguration into the Kingdome of glory when they both left to the Church militant the glorious example of their Christian fortitude and became an occasion of new joy to the Church triumphant by the accession of new Citizens to that heavenly society Either of which afford matter sufficient of solemne joy and rejoycing to the Church and consequently of praise and thanksgiving unto God Lastly to convince them yet farther out of their owne principles They allow the Church power in the times of great calamities either feared or felt to appoint solemne dayes of fasting and humiliation and those dayes they will have held as Sabbaths extraordinary and that therein men are bound to abstein from their bodily labours according to the same streitnesse that they are bound to observe the Sabbath I would gladly then know some reason why the Church should want power to ordeine the like dayes for the celebration of speciall benefits to be observed not as Sabbaths which are now antiquated and no presidents for us Christians but with such a cessation from labours as is necessary for the performance of the publike worship of God and fit to accompany such solemnities of publike joy and rejoycing to which Rest is more naturally requisite then to the times of sorow and humiliation But it is not the having of such dayes that some scruple at or the duties required in them for they much desire to have some dayes besides the Lords day to meet together for the hearing of the Word and for the words sake can be contented to endure the Liturgie of the Church But the things which they dislike are first the obligation that we put upon men for the observance of them for they would have the appointment and observation of them to bee held a thing indifferent and no duty binding conscience Secondly they dislike the names that we give them in that we style them the dayes of such or such a Saint which to them seemes to favour of Idolatry neither would they have them called holy dayes or accounted more holy then others forasmuch as such difference of dayes belonged to the Iewes and is now under the Gospell taken away To these I answer first for the obligation of the Churches commands and that it is not a thing indifferent to obey or disobey them I have already spoken so much as may satisfie those that are not studious of contention I onely adde now upon this occasion that it seemes to me very ridiculous to grant the Church a power of ordeining such times and yet to require that the observation of them so ordeined be held a thing indifferent For if their ordinance lay no tye upon men but leave things notwithstanding still indifferent their power surely is to no purpose and nothing worth Touching the names that we give them I say first that the festivalls of the Saints are dedicated not to them by whose names they are called but to God To him and not them our prayers are directed to him our praises though for them and with reference to those blessings which by them are vouchsafed unto us Wee honour him as the author of all that good which either they or we by them are partakers of We honour them only as his instruments and as those who having beene imitators of our blessed Saviour are worthy patternes of our imitation To this purpose wee finde the Church of Smyrna answering the like calumny raised against them by the Iewes upon occasion of their affection which they expressed toward that glorious Martyr Polycarpus These men say they are ignorant that we cannot ever leave Christ who suffered for the salvation of the whole world nor can we worship any other For him we adore as the Son of God as for the Martyrs we worthily love them as disciples and imitators of him their Lord for their insuperable affection toward their King and Master whose partners also we desire to be and to become their disciples And thus much they might easily answer themselves out of our Church Liturgy where there is no one word in any office appointed for any Saints day that gives the least ground or colour to this scruple The other imputation of Iudaisme which they taxe us with because we style our Christian festivalls holy dayes hath as weake a foundation as the former For I willingly grant them what they alleadge for the countenancing of this objection That now under the Gospell the difference of times and dayes is no lesse taken away then of meates That is as we have now no meats that are uncleane either in themselves or by reason of any positive precept given to the Iewes but that they may bee eaten with thanksgiving so neither is there any day or time which in it selfe or by reason of any such Iudaicall precept is now to be accounted more holy then others all this is evident from the places which they alleadge for this purpose Whereupon wee conclude that none of the Iewish Festivalls not the Sabbath it selfe ought to be observed by Christians nor which is more any Christian Festivall to be observed after the Iewish maner or with their rites and Ceremonies And this may justly taxe them who stand either for the Iewish Sabbath or which turne the Lords day into a Sabbath exacting the same strictnesse of observance in regard of the outward Ceremoniall Rest But it can no way prejudice the Church in consecrating dayes to the service of God or in accounting them though in themselves and setting aside the Ordinance of the Church they are all alike yet in relation to the duties to be performed in them more holy then others And this they must grant unlesse they will affirme one of these three things First That the workes of God now under the Gospel are not so great so glorious and consequently so worthy of set times for their solemne remembrance as heretofore under the Law Or that the Christian Church hath now lesse power in appointing dayes for the solemne worship of God in relation to those glorious works of his then the Iewish Synagogue once had Or lastly That the worship which wee Christians now performe to God is not so holy as that in the time of the Iewish Synagogue and so lesse able to sanctifie the dayes in which they are performed But every one of these being most absurd I conclude that to consecrate certaine dayes besides the Lords day to the solemne worship of God in memory of his speciall blessings vouchsafed to the Church on such dayes and to account such dayes so consecrated more holy then others is lawfull and free from all superstition and Judaisme And however that they who would faine affixe so extraordinary holinesse to the Lords day should of all men have abstained from this last imputation till they had better proved the immediately divine
institution of the Lords day But I have too long digressed yet not without cause in as much as they who seeme so zealous for the giving to God his due time refuse notwithstanding to give him that which the regular piety of the Ancient and our owne Mother Church hath ever upon so sound reason consecrated to him I returne now to answere another objection which they frame against the extending of our Christian liberty to the use of recreations on the Lords day The liberty of Christians say they ought to be spirituall and not in carnall and common things and therefore cannot bee extended to patronize recreations or ordinary labours on the Sunday but that they are as unlawfull on that day as ever they were on the Sabbath To this I answere that Christian liberty as it respects the things from which we are freed is not meerely spirituall but extends it selfe to carnall and common things also for thereby wee are freed not onely from the guilt and condemnation of sinne and the raigning power of it which are things spivituall but also from the servitude of the Ceremoniall Law which among other respects which it had was as a Schoole-Master or Tutour whereby the Church in her nonage or infancie was to bee kept under the Elements of the world as the Apostle calls them that is tyed to the observation of dayes and moneths and yeares and meates and drinks which being in themselves indifferent were yet forbidden the Church of those times that their bondage under these might nourish in them the hope and expectation of the promised Messias in whom they were to have deliverance and so lead or rather drive them to beleeve in Him Now when the fulnesse of time was come and that Christ was exhibited the Church being then no longer under age is not subject to those observances but for any tye of that Law of Moses now upon it enjoyes the free use and exercise of these things as indifferent As then there were many things which in themselves and to us now are indifferent prohibited to the Jewes so as they might not eate of all meates though otherwise wholsome they might not weare all kinde of garments though usefull and profitable c. So there were some workes in themselves not sinfull nor at other times unlawfull prohibited to be done at some speciall times in regard of the peculiar observance then due to those times which now when those times cease to be observed can by no meanes bee accounted sinfull or unlawfull Granting therefore that ordinary labours and all bodily recreations were on the Sabbath unlawfull yet being in themselves not sinfull and so under the Gospell indifferent they cannot be so upon our Sunday I answere further that I know no reason why honest recreations moderate feasting and such like expressions of rejoycing may not fitly be counted a part of the externall observance and sanctification of this day in as much as it is solemnized in memory of the resurrection of our Blessed Saviour and so our redemption fully wrought to which we may with S. Augustine apply that of the Psalmist This is the Day which the Lord hath made wee will rejoyce and be glad in it And as on the day of his Passion and other dayes appointed for solemne humiliation we expresse the sorrow of our hearts by our mourning and neglected attire by Fasting and abridging our selves of those delights which use to refresh our natures at which times The voyce of the Vyoll and of the Harpe the voyce of the Bridegroome and the voyce of the Bride are unseasonable so on the day of his resurrection to expresse our joy and rejoycing by our arraying our selves in our best attire by Feasting and other acts of cheerefulnesse is most agreeable to the solemnity of that Day Of which we may say in the words of Nehemiah and Ezra This Day is holy unto the Lord your God mourne not nor weepe but eate of the fat and drinke of the sweet and send portions to them for whom nothing is prepared for this Day is holy unto the Lord. And however some men will have every fasting day a Sabbath and every Lords Day a fasting day not allowing either the dressing or liberall use of Gods creatures and therefore judging it inconvenient to celebrate marriages on that day yet the Church of God in better times condemned Fasting on the Lords Day as unlawfull and most incongruous and disagreeable to the use of that Day which was ordained as a Festivall and day of mirth and rejoycing For which end also the Church in her most ancient times had on that Day their Agapae or Love-feasts as for the refreshing of the poore and for the nourishing of mutuall love and amity so also for the unanimous expression of joy in all sober mirth and in the free though temperate use of Gods creatures Upon which ground doubtlesse wee may conclude the lawfulnesse of the use of such recreations feastings and other testifications of rejoycing upon the Lords Day as are in themselves honest and are so used as they prove no hinderances to the service of God which is the proper worke of the Day Besides even the Iewes themselves though out of superstition they did for the most part overdoe this Precept of the Sabbath abstaining from those things which they might have done without any violation of Gods commandement yet accounted their Sabbath a Feast not a Fast a day of rejoycing and not of sorrow or humiliation and judged it not unlawfull to make Feasts upon that Day as is evident by that Feast made upon the Sabbath by a chiefe Pharisee one of their strictest Sabbatarians whereat our Saviour himselfe who was no Sabbath-breaker vouchsafed his presence among many others that were invited And Paulus Burgensis himselfe a Iew reports that the Iewes held themselves bound to eate three meales that day which on other dayes they used not And Syranus another of the same Nation saith That the Hebrew Doctors held that the word Remember was prefixed to this Commandement that if they had any pretious garment or any other thing of price They should remember to keepe it till the Sabbath to give it at first a Sabbath-dayes wearing I am not of their minde but thinke that word prefixed for higher and more important reasons yet I verily beleeve that their conceit did speak their usuall custome of apparelling themselves in their most costly and best garments as best befitting the joy of that high Festivall which as one hath well observed hath this singular priviledge to be a day of rest and holinesse of delight and Feasting unto the world and therefore saith hee This day is not described by evening and morning as were the other six which consisted of light and darknesse but this is all day or light figuring out our perpetuall joyes And no question but that Day which was the memoriall of Gods resting from his worke when he rejoyced in
the observation of it under the Gospel for who sees not that upon this ground they might conclude for Circumcision and the legall Passeover and Sacrifices with all their typicall Rites and Ceremonies as well as for the Sabbath The truth is our Saviour as hee was to fulfill not onely the Morall but the Ceremoniall and Iudiciall Law also so he speakes of all and did indeed not destroy but fulfill them all though in a different manner 1. He fulfilled the whole Law by his actuall and personall obedience to it and by supplying the defects of it that it being unable to justifie us in it selfe might by the helpe of his grace and accession of faith in him bee able to performe that which otherwise it could not 2. He fulfilled the Ceremoniall Law and so the Iudiciall too so farr as it was typicall besides his subjection to them by a reall exhibition of that whereof they were shadowes And though by this meanes their observation according to the letter of the Law ceased yet did hee not hereby destroy but perfect them according to that of the Apostle speaking of Circumcision which was a legall Ceremony Doe we then saith he make voide the Law through faith God forbid yea we establish the Law This place then expounded according to the truest meaning and intent of our Saviour makes nothing for the totall morality of the fourth Commandement nor is in the least contradictory to what I have delivered concerning it Secondly they argue from the Institution of the Sabbath which was say they in the beginning of the World in the time of mans innocencie when there was no need of Ceremony and therefore it was morall and perpetuall To this I answere 1. That it is not universally true that whatsoever precept was given to Adam in Innocency was therefore Morall and perpetuall for then the Symbolicall Precept of not eating of the forbidden fruit must be such which no man I suppose will affirme 2. If it be true which Willet hath affirmed and that by ten reasons which he there alledgeth that Adam fell the same day that he was created then did he fall before the giving of the Precept for the observation of the Sabbath and had it not in the state of Innocencie But the truth is this is a meere conjecture disputable any way so as a man may better oppose whatsoever is affirmed then solidly conclude any thing 3. If it bee not false that the Sabbath was then instituted yet it hath and may not without good reason be doubted of That place which is brought for it Gen. 2. 2. doth not convincingly prove it And if the reasons which are alledged for the prolepsis in that place bee without prejudice considered their opinion who so expound it will not seeme improbable as 1. That there is no mention any where made of it to have beene observed by the Patriarchs 2. Where it is first spoken of Exod. 16. it is spoken of as a new thing not knowne to have beene observed before 3. In that it is called a signe betweene God and the Israelites that he was their sanctifier and deliverer out of Egypt which it could not bee if it were given to all Nations in Adam But lastly granting the whole Argument I would faine know how that day that was then instituted and sanctified could cease and another be substituted How could it bee Morall and perpetuall and yet determine with the Iewish Church The words which are brought as the Institution say God rested the seventh N. B. and for that cause God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it viz. that seventh day on which hee rested The Text doth not say God rested the seventh day and therefore he would have one of the seven to be sanctified That is but the exposition or glosse not the Text the word of man not of God But some may haply say That the particular day was alterable and upon good ground was altered This I grant but say withall that he which holds the Sabbath to be instituted before the fall and for that cause Morall and perpetuall cannot so say but either hee must wave his owne Principles or cry up the Jewish Sabbath postliminiò Secondly they argue from that of our Saviour Matth. 24. 20. who foreshewing the destruction of Jerusalem to his Disciples adviseth them to pray that their slight bee not in the Winter neither on the Sabbath Day If say they this Precept had beene Ceremoniall then had it beene all one to fly on the Sabbath day as on any other day because all Ceremonies were before that time which was not till forty yeares after Christs Ascension to bee abrogated But in that Christ doth allow this feare of flying on the Sabbath Day more then on any other day of the weeke hee shewes plainely that the force of the Sabbath was not abrogated by his resurrection and therefore no Ceremony Thus they argue To which it were answere sufficient to shew that hereby they still rush upon the same rocke and while they labour to establish a needlesse morality of the Lords Day they unawares bring in Iudaisme For the Sabbath day there cannot with any shew of reason bee taken though now a dayes it is too common so to take it for the Lords Day and if our Saviour did intend by bidding his Disciples pray that their flight might not happen on the Sabbath day to intimate the necessity of the observation of that Day by Christians Then did S. Paul crosse our Saviours intent in numbring that among the shadowes which vanished at Christs death and then hath also the Church of Christ ever since erred in so accounting it and condemning the observation of it with an Anathema to those that in this point shall be found to Iudaize S. Chrysostome is so farre from thinking that the Sabbath which our Sauiour there speaks of did belong to Christians that upon that ground hee expounds that speech of our Saviour as spoken not to his Apostles but to the Iewes Thou seest saith he that he speakes to the Iewes for the Apostles were not to keepe the Sabbath c. But grant that it were spoken to the Disciples yet can no such thing bee thence collected as they would have For our Saviour had good ground so to advise his Disciples notwithstanding God at that time required no keeping of the Sabbath For though the Ceremonies of the Law and this among the rest were dead with Christ yet were they not buried as I have shewed nor the practise of them deadly till the Temple was destroyed till which time even the Apostles themselves were zealous of the Law and retentive of their old Ceremonies to which weaknesse of theirs our Saviour there accommodates his speech willing rather that their owne experience in the destruction of the Temple should teach them that harsh lesson of the abolishing of the Legall Ceremonies then by a praemature urging it to startle such as
were yet weake in faith or hinder others of that Nation from beleeving in Him Besides be it that Christians did hold themselves freed from the observance of the Sabbath yet being among those who still made conscience of it even to superstition as did the unconverted Jewes it could not but prove very incommodious to their speedy and farre flight which the greatnesse and suddennesse of the danger required in as much as thereby they should expose themselves to the fury of those who were no lesse zealous in compelling others then superstitious in observing it themselves In these respects our Saviour might well admonish his Disciples to pray that their flight might not bee on the Sabbath day and yet not teach them to observe the Sabbath after his death or that while the observation of it lasted they should thinke themselves so tied in conscience of it that they might not on that day flie farre to save their lives and much lesse to establish the Morality of the Lords Day which neither He nor his Apostles nor the following ages of the Church till within these few yeares ever designed by the name of the Sabbath without some difference added to distinguish it from that of the Jewes For though we finde it sometimes called our Sabbath or the Sabbath of Christians in regard that in the maine end of it it succeeded that yet generally the Sabbath simply put and without addition notes the Iewish Sabbath or the Day on which it was celebrated which is our Saturday and the day before that which we keepe which is therefore called by the Evangelists and S. Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one or the first day from the Sabbath and by S. Iohn in the Revelation the Lords Day by which name or that which the same day had among the Gentiles viz. the Sunday it hath ever since been knowne in the Christian world But I will leave these and now returne thither whence for the answering of these objections I have digressed And having seene the nature and severall degrees of Morall Precepts and in generall that the fourth Commandement hath in it somewhat not moral That I may apply these things to our present purpose and manifest the truth thereof I will more particularly inquire into the nature of that Commandement and in it distinctly consider these 4. things First A Day or time set apart for Gods service Secondly the seventh day or one in the revolution of seven Thirdly the particular seventh there mentioned namely the seventh from the Creation Fourthly the strict surcease or rest from ordinary labours on that day For the first of these It cannot be denied but that the very Law of Nature it selfe to use the words of a Worthy of our Church requireth no lesse the sanctification of times then of places persons and things For which cause it hath pleased God heretofore as of the rest so of times likewise to exact some parts by way of perpetuall homage And that as Aquinas it is morall that man should depute some time of his life for the service of God For there is in man a kind of naturall inclination that to every thing necessary there bee a time assigned as to our bodily refection sleepe and the like Whence also to the spiritnall refection of the soule whereby the soule is refreshed in God by the dictate of naturall reason a man deputes some time And so to have some times for holy Offices comes under the Morall Law and is absolutely of the Law of Nature written in the heart of every man being involved in that principle which even depraved nature hath ever acknowledged viz. that God is to be worshipped And therefore Amesius hath well observed that thus farre the time of Gods worship falls under that precept which exacts the worship it selfe and as God when he created the world is said to have concreated time with it so when he ordained religious actions he appointed also to the same a time for them as a necessary circumstance without which they could not be performed And as the time in which such actions are done so that some Day or Dayes should be destinated and set apart for the more solemne performance of those actions may seeme to be a dictate of the same Law of nature in as much as the Heathens who had no other guide but the law of Nature had their solemne Feasts and set Dayes in all ages consecrated to the worship of their Gods whereby they manifested though not the knowledge of the true God yet their acknowledgement of that Principle That God is to be worshipped and the conveniencie of assigning some Dayes peculiarly to that end For the second That one day in the revolution of seaven should be thus set a part this cannot be said to be absolutely of the Law of nature Nature being ignorant of this without the instruction of the written Law in which God hath revealed his pleasure concerning the Quota pars or how much of our time hee requires to be consecrated to Him And this will easily appeare to any that doth without prejudice consider it For it is an easie thing to give an estimate of what Principles are naturall and written in the hearts of all men and what are gotten by instruction discipline and information Now men may by the light of Nature from the creature climbe up to the knowledge of the Creator and from the nature of God conclude his worship and from the nature of his Worship conclude a time as to all other things to be due to it But to goe further and to determine what part of our time wee cannot For it will not follow that because some time is due therefore the seaventh day more then the eighth of every moneth which was observed by the Graecians in honour of Neptune or any other day above or under that number And for this cause it is saith Saint Chrysostome that in the giving of this Commandement concerning the Sabbath which hee calls a Precept not made knowne to us by our conscience God added a reason as because Ged rested the seventh day from all his worke and againe because thou wast a servant in Egypt c. Whereas in those Precepts that are purely morall as when he saith Thou shalt doe no murther hee onely gives the precept without giving any reason at all Why so saith that Father because our conscience had taught us this before so that God speakes as to those that knew and understood reason sufficient for the Prohibition Neither doth Eusebius though alledged by some to that purpose any way contradict this when he saith That not onely the Hebrewes but all almost both Philosophers and Poets acknowledged the seaventh day to be sacred For here it is not questioned whether the Gentiles which wanted the law of God to informe them did hold the seaventh day as hallowed but whether they were induced by the instinct of nature so to account it
or that so accounting it they held themselves bound to consecrate that more then any other to the worship of God The Gentiles as Eusebius at large declares came to the knowledge of it from the Iewes and did in that as in other things become their Imitators and receive it into their manners Or upon some other ground or superstition they might account the number of seaven to be sacred as because by that number the Planets which they honoured as their chiefest Deities were terminated for which cause we know by their names they intituled their dayes But what ever were the motive as it is without all question that the Gentiles as well as the Iewes held the number of seaven in great veneration accounting it the number of perfection and full of mysteries So it is as unquestionable that by the light of nature they knew not that that part of our time was to be separated to Gods service And therefore Zanchius speakes more inconsiderately then beseemes his learning when hee saith That Nature teacheth all men to consecrate one day of seaven to the externall worship of God Which others and among them Amesius better considering acknowledge to be onely of positive right and morall not in regard of nature but of discipline as comming under that ranke of morall Precepts which neede instruction to helpe naturall reason to know and judge of them Now albeit Calvine who in this as in other things wants not his followers thinks the seaventh day not to be so stood on as that he would tye the Christian world precisely to that Yet there are many grave and judicious Divines both Ancient and Moderne that judge the institution of one Day in seaven to be so farre morall as that it doth binde the Church perpetually and immutably Thus among the Ancients Saint Chrysostome upon those words And God blessed the seaventh day and hallowed it Genes 2. 3. Here saith hee from the beginning God intimates to us this Doctrine instructing us to separate and lay aside one day in the compasse of every weeke for spirituall exercises And among our moderne Writers that admired Hooker saith That wee are bound to account the sanctificatiō of one day in seven a duty which Gods immutable law doth exact for ever Thus hee with many others whose judgements I honour yet dare not herein wholly subscribe to them neither For the Law exacting the observation of one day in seaven being onely positive as must needs be granted cannot containe in it selfe any perpetuall obligation For all Lawes of that nature though made by God himselfe admit mutation at least when the matter concerning which or the condition of the Persons to whom they were given is changed Now the Day concerning which this Precept was given together with the State of the Church to which it was given being changed I see no reason why the proportion of one in seaven should be simply and in it selfe immutable Yet thus much I willingly grant them that some time to be set apart for Gods worship being absolutely of the Law of nature that proportion of time which God himselfe made choyce of for his owne People is the fittest that can be imagined and Nature informed by God cannot but acknowledge His wisedome and goodnesse in this choyce in that hee hath so attempered it that neither the long space betweene can make us forget our duty to him nor the quicke returne of it hinder our providing for the necessities of nature And hereupon the Church of Christ hath taken it as an obligation belonging to them and that as it is in our Church Homily Gods will and commandement was to have a solemne time and standing day in the weeke wherein the people should come together and have in remembrance his wonderfull Benefits and render him thanks for them as appertaineth to loving kinde and obedient people Thus farre then this Commandement extends to us Christians as well as to the Jewes in as much as to consecrate some part of our time to God is morall and a seaventh part though not morall yet fitly chosen and appointed by God and observed by the Church of Christ not as simply immutable yet as most worthy to be retayned For the third particular The particular seventh day there mentioned that is the seaventh day from the Creation This cannot be said to be Morall any way but is ceremoniall and temporary and expired with the dissolution of the Iewish Church And this is generally confessed by all whom the heresie of Iudaisme hath not infected and the mutation of the Day approved by the practise of the Christian world ever since the Apostles times is a sufficient disclaime to the morality of it For one of these three must needs hence be inferred Eyther that that which is morall may bee changed or that the Church of Christ hath now for this sixteen hundred years erred in the change of it orlastly that the particular day prescribed to the Jews was Ceremoniall and not perpetuall The first no man will say that vnderstands the nature of morall precepts and their dependance upon the Law of nature which is one and the same with all men every where and in all ages and in that regard immutable And he deserves not the name of a Christian that dares affirme the second It remaines therefore that we pitch upon the third confesse that herein that Commandement was Ceremoniall not perpetuall But besides the practice of the Church we have the warrant of the Apostle S. Paul who ranks the Sabbath among the shadows of things to come whereof the body is Christ Now the body had they are the words of the late learned Bishop of Winchester the shadowes vanish that which was to come when it is come to what end any figure of it it ceaseth too So that to hold the shadow of the Sabbath is to continue is to hold that Christ the body is not yet come Neyther can the force of this place be avoyded by saying that the Iewes had other Sabbaths that were there meant as the Sabbaths of weekes and the first and last dayes of their great feasts which were called Sabbaths For the Apostle speakes indefinitely of the Sabbath dayes hath not there left any ground to rayse any distinction upon or to shew that he aymed onely at them more then this That he speakes there in the plurall number will not helpe this shift but rather crosse it it helpes it not because we know it is usuall in the new Testament to use that number when the Sabbath in question is spoken of it crosseth it rather in that being in the plurall number it may rather seeme to comprehend all their Sabbaths whatsoever they were and so to be far from excluding this The place then is cleare and alone sufficient to prove the point in hand To which I will onely adde that the reason drawn from the example of God who rested upon the
that were vnder the law that wee might receive the adoption of sonnes Secondly the Iews by reason of their long abode in a place of continuall servile toyle could not suddainely be weaned and drawne unto contrary offices without some impression of terror whence the severity with which this duty was enjoyned and the violation thereof punished was to them most necessary And besides we know that there is nothing more needfull then to punish with extremity the first transgressors of those Lawes that require a more exact observation for many ages to come These considerations then being peculiar unto them that strict rest which was thereupon exacted being but accidentally annexed to the principall sanctification of the Sabbath cannot belong unto us by vertue of that command by which it was enjoyned them And this is confessed even by those that stand most for the observation of the Sabbath who grant that the strictnesse of the rest on the Sabbath was Ceremoniall and did belong to the Iewes onely and is abrogated by the death of Christ So Elton And Amesius It may be granted that there was somewhat a more strict observation of the Sabbath commanded in those times as fitted to the pedagogy and time of servitade which obteynes not in all ages So he and generally the most of those which propugne the Doctrine of the Sabbath To give a briefe and full resolution to the first question propounded viz. whether and how farre forth the fourth Commandement concerning the Sabbath is morall and perpetuall and so belonging to us Christians To the former part I say the fourth Commandement is partly morall and partly Ceremoniall To the latter I say First it is morall and perpetuall that some time be dedicated to the solemne publique worship and service of God Secondly that one day in the revolution of seaven be consecrated to this end is not morall yet very convenient and fitly observed and retayned by the Church of Christ Thirdly that the particular seaventh day which the Iewes observed is neither morall nor sit to bee observed being altogether abrogated and out of date ever since the death of Christ Lastly the resting from ordinary labours as it is connected with the dutyes of Gods worship and a means without which they cannot be performed is no lesse necessary on the dayes consecrated to that end now then heretofore but as it concerned the Iewish Sabbath it is together with the Sabbath abrogated So that Christians are not bound either to rest on that day which the Iewes did or to rest on their owne Sabbaths or dayes consecrated to Gods service with the same strictnesse which was enjoyned the Iewes on theirs Thus much shall serve to have spoken of the first generall question Having explained the nature of the fourth Commandement touching the Iewish Sabbath I come now to speake of the Lords Day in which that which was Morall in that Commandement is and ever hath beene observed by Christians The institution of which when and by whom it was being the second generall part of our inquirie And here all Divines are not of one opinion Some ground this no lesse then the Iewish Sabbath upon the fourth Commandement which say they includes both the Sabbath of the Iewes and of the Christians Because the Lord doth not say Remember that thou keepe holy the seventh Day but Remember that thou keepe holy the Sabbath Day that is the Day of rest which before the comming of Christ was the seventh from the Creation but afterward the first day of the weeke or Lords Day But these men while they over greedily seeke after a divine foundation for the Lords Day doe not consider that they stretch the Precept beyond the intent of the Lawgiver For though it bee granted that the Lord doth not say Remember to keepe holy the seventh day but the day of ceasing indeterminately yet seeing in the following explication which God added it is determined unto that particular seventh which was the seventh from the Creation to which it expresly is referred as to the speciall reason of the Institution the Sabbath there cannot without forcing and manifest absurdity bee said to bee as the Genus to the Iewish and Christian Sabbath and to include both For is it not manifestly absurd and unbeseeming a rationall man and much more the wisdome of the Supreame Law-giver to say God in sixe dayes made heaven and earth and rested the seventh and for that cause sanctified the seventh Day Ergo Hee will have men in imitation of him to rest sometime viz. before the comming of Christ on that day whereon hee rested and sometime viz. after Christs comming to rest on the day in which hee began to worke Neither can this absurdity bee salved as some have endeavoured to doe by saying there is alwayes more meant in the Precepts and prohibitions then in words are expressed for those things which are so meant without particular expression must either be necessarily connected with or some way subordinat to that which is expressed that so it may be included in it Sure I am it ought no way to be excluded as we see this is by Gods owne exposition of himselfe and the reason which hee alledgeth which can no way agree both to the Jewish Sabbath and the Lords Day Again others urge the Institution of the Lords Day as founded upon Gods sanctification of the seventh Day at the Creation which being before all Ceremonies must say they needes binde Christians as well as the Jewes But this labours of the same weaknesse and absurdity which the other did For what day did God sanctifie there Surely not the first day of the Weeke but the seventh from the Creation which they must with the Jewes cry up againe if they will have their argument hold good But besides this the weaknesse of this foundation appeares in that as hath beene shewed they cannot prove that God instituted the Sabbath and commanded it to bee observed from that time forward but onely that Moses there relating the story of the Creation intimates the reason of Gods after Commanding his people to rest upon that Day And lastly granting that to be the Institution which cannot be proved and that not the seaventh day from the Creation as the words expresly say but a seaventh or one in seaven were thereby intended to be perpetuall to belong to us Christians If all this be granted here will yet be but a partiall foundatiō and no compleat institution of that particular day which we observe for all this notwithstanding why might not the second third fourth or any other have beene observed and yet that institution of one in seaven no way violated Others therefore no doubt espying the weaknesse of it forsake this hold and seeke for authority to prove it to be of Divine Institution out of the New Testament And among these Amesius will have it to bee done by Christ himselfe laying this for a ground worke that