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
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
3. 4. distinction was made between beasts cleane and uncleane Genes 7. vers 2. tythes were paid Genes 14. 20. Genes 28. vers 2. Circumcision was given to Abraham foure hundred and thirty yeeres before the Law Yet no man will conclude thence that such things were morall All things observed before the Law were not necessarily morall many things may be found in them which were figures and ceremonies and others which did belong onely to some order and rules concerning Gods service and of that nature should have beene the Sabbath day if it could appeare that it was kept before the Law 3 But secondly my opinion is that this cannot be proved and the testimony brought out of the sixteenth Chapter of Exodus for the proofe thereof is extreemly weake It is true we find there that the Israelites kept the Sabbath but no conclusion can be inferred from thence that it was kept in all times before the Law nay it is rather most likely that then began the first observation of the Sabbath because afore that time in the whole life of the Patriarches and in the whole conversation of the Israelites in Egypt there is no mention found of such a day neither should the time wherin we see the Israelites kept the Sabbath be reckoned as a time which went before the Law but as the proper time of the giving thereof and the ordinance then made to keepe the Sabbath as one of the first legall Ordinances The ordinances of the Law of Moses were not all given at once but by succession of time and sundry resumptions as may be seene in his Bookes As soone as the Israelites went out of Egypt and about that very instant God instituted the Passeover unto them and a few daies after he ordained the Sabbath day Quickely after followed the other ordinances as appeareth by the Chapters immediately following this sixteenth Chapter God then being about to give solemnely his Law a few daies after in mount Sina as it is apparent by the conference of the sixteenth Chapter of Exodus vers 1. with the ninteenth vers 1. 11. of which Law the injunction of the Sabbath was to be a good share it pleased him to give them before hand a particular commandement concerning the Sabbath by occasion of the Manna which by and by he was to powre downe upon them from the cloudes six daies every morning but not on the seventh day and that to ratifie by this his cessation on the seventh day the Commandement that he was to give them in his Law a few daies after for the Sabbath of the seventh day and to prepare them afore hand to the carefull and religious observation thereof Therefore it was necessary that he should warne them to gather on the sixth day bread for two daies and not to goe out on the seventh day but to rest in their tents because there should be none found in the field The injunction and warning which he gave them is cleerely set downe in the fifth verse although abridged into few words For GOD said to Moses On the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily to wit because there shall be none found on the seventh day and my will is that they rest on that day This is suppressed in the Text but certainly GOD expressed it to Moses amply and Moses to the people who obeying that advertisement gathered twice as much bread on the sixth day 4 Therefore it is to no purpose that they inforce these words in the verses 23. 26 29 30. To morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the LORD On the seventh day is the Sabbath See that the LORD hath given you the Sabbath so the people rested on the seventh day as if they denoted that the Sabbath was an ancient custome that it was practised in all times from the beginning and that the Israelites conformably to the ancient custome rested then For they had no regard but to the ordinance that was newly made and which God had notified to Moses in the fifth verse of the same Chapter when he spoke unto him of the Manna This is cleere by these words in the 23. verse This is that which the Lord hath said To morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord and in the 29. verse See that the Lord hath given you the Sabbath which cannot be referred to any other thing then to that which God had said and ordained to Moses a little before in the fifth vers For if it be not referred thither When was it that the Lord said and ordained to the Israelites that the seventh day should be their rest Where shall wee find before this time the word and the ordinance thereof Must we reascend to the first daies of Adam and have our recourse to the sanctification of the seventh day mentioned in Genesis Chap. 2. which as we have shewed was not for Adam nor for his time but was the same whereof God did beginne to speake in this sixteenth Chapter because it began then and not sooner but is occasionally rehearsed in the second Chapter of Genesis 5 And verily if it had beene an ancient ordinance practised by the Patriarkes how is it come to passe that the Israelites their children knew it not If they knew it why did they not practise it of themselves If they practised it what need was there of injoyning and laying it upon them so expresly and with so great care as GOD did by the occasion of the Manna 6 Some doe reply that the long captivity of Egypt where they were tyrannized as well in their consciences as in their bodyes might have beene the cause that they lost all remembrance thereof and kept it not and therefore it was necessary that it should be renewed unto them But this is a supposition not only without any shew of truth For if the Israelites had forgotten or neglected in Egypt the observation of the Sabbath whereunto God had tied them how is it that God who charged and upbraided them now and then with the crimes and sinnes committed by them in Aegypt did not object unto them the inobservation of the Sabbath In the twentieth Chapter of Ezekiel ver 7 8. God saith that he spake to the Israelites in Aegypt and gave them commandements But of what to cast away the abomination of their eyes and not defile themselves with the filthy Gods of Egypt And he blameth them for rebellion against him in this and for refusing to hearken unto him without making the least mention that he had injoyned them to keepe the Sabbath day as also he imputeth not unto them the inobservation thereof although in the same Chapter ver 12. he speaketh of that day but as given unto them after he had delivered them out of the land of Egypt neither doth he cast in their teeth the carelesse regard that they had of it saving since the time
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
of the Apostle 4. First answer In that place the Apostle speaketh not directly of any rest ordained to man but onely of Gods rest 5. Second answer Indirectly Gods rest on the seventh day and the rest of the Iewes commanded to them afterwards being as types and figures of the heavenly rest applyed unto the said words prove not that both are one rest and the one as ancient as the other 6. Confirmation of this answer 7. Answer to the first argument It is not necessary to understand that Gods rest on the seventh day is a rest given to man as the two other rests of God must be so understood 8. Answer to the second argument shewing by the exposition of the words of the Apostle that there is no equivocation to be found in them although the rest of God in one place be not understood of a rest given to man as in the two other places 9. Answer to the third argument shewing there is no defect in the argumentation of the Apostle although he speaketh not directly of the rest ordained in the fourth Commandement THEY object also from the fourth Chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrewes that the Apostle citeth out of the 95. Psalme verse 11. and applyeth to the Hebrewes the threat denounced of old against the incredulous Israelites in the daies of Moses that they should never enter into his rest That the Psalmist adapted it also to the Iewes of his time exhorting them not to harden their hearts when they shall heare the voice of God as their Fathers have done lest they also should come short of entring into his rest That I say the Apostle citing that threat as applyed by the Psalmist to his time observeth that God at that time spoke on this wise I have sworne in my wrath if they shall enter into my rest although his workes were finished from the foundation of the world For he spake in a certaine place to wit in the second Chapter of Genesis of the seventh day on this wise And God rested the seventh day from all his workes And that from thence the Apostle maketh this inference that God in this threat wherein hee spake in Davids time of a rest to come whereof the Israelites should come short could not understand the rest of the seventh day mentioned in the second of Genesis because that rest had a great sway from the foundation of the world As hee sheweth also in the verses following that it could not be taken for the rest of the Land of Canaan because Ioshuah a long time before had brought the Israelites into that rest and therefore of necessity God spake of another rest then of these two to wit of a spirituall and heavenly rest which those that beleeve are admitted into and all those that beleeve not come short of 2 They endeavour to make out of this discourse this illation that the observation of the Sabbath day was ordained to all men from the beginning of the world even from that seventh day wherein God rested from all his workes For they put in this the force of the argumentation of the Apostle to wit That the rest of the seventh day was not to be understood in the threat denounced in Davids time against the Israelites that they should never enter into Gods rest because men were already entred into it from the beginning of the world as it is written And God rested the seventh day from all his workes and is so cited by the Apostle and by them urged as impossible to be understood onely of Gods resting from all his works after he had finished them and as of necessity to be taken for a rest ordained of God to men which at that same time hee brought them into 3 Because even as the Apostle by the other rest of the land of Canaan which he alledgeth also and by the heavenly rest which he mentioneth likewise understands a rest that men enter into and whereof they have an enjoying and possession the one and the other being called Gods rest because he puts them in possession of them likewise by the rest of God on the seventh day which hee maketh mention of as of a thing which had sway when the workes of God were finished from the beginning of the world he understands necessarily a rest which men enjoyed and practised at that same time after Gods example For otherwise and if it had not belonged to men in vaine had the Apostle excepted it as a thing that could not be understood in Gods threat As also there should be an equivocation in this that the Apostle making mention of three rests of God to wit of the rest of the seventh day of the rest of the land of Canaan and of the heavenly rest should by the first understand a rest whereby God onely rested and belonging to him alone and by the two others a rest which he had given or was to give to men for their rest That moreover if by the rest of the seventh day he had not understood a rest ordained to men from the beginning but only Gods owne rest his argumentation should be defective and subject to an easie reply because he had omitted the rest which out of all doubt God instituted at least in the fourth Commandement concerning which rest seeing hee excluded it not the Hebrewes might have replyed unto him that God understood and denoted it in that threat wherewith hee threatned the Israelites by David that they should not enter into his rest and so hee had not obtained his end which was to shew that God speaketh there of the heavenly rest and not of any other 4 To all this reasoning which to some that make use of it seemeth to be of great weight to others but light and probable I answer shortly that albeit it hath some shew it hath not strength enough to prove that which is in question to wit that the observation of the Sabbath day was ordained to man from the beginning of the world For the Apostle in the place above cited ver 3. 4. speaketh not expresly of any rest ordained to man nor that men had at that time entred into any rest nay he maketh no mention that God had blessed and sanctified the Sabbath day but saith that God did rest the seventh day as soone as his works were finished Therefore it is not his scope to teach that the rest of the seventh day was kept by men from the foundation of the world and that for that cause God could not understand it when in the daies of David he spake to the Israelites of a new entrance into his rest For if hee had propounded to himselfe that end doubtlesse he had uttered it in more expresse tearmes at least he had rather cited these words of the second Chapter of Genesis And God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it which had manifestly beene more unto the purpose then these others And the seventh day God rested from all his workes
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
New Testament just as they were commanded But that of the Sabbath was amongst the Israelites so farre vailed with a figurative observation of a seventh day and mystically commanded and prefigured by a certaine signe that at this day we observe it not but onely looke upon that which it signified And tom 4. in exposit ex ad Galat. in cap. 3. about the beginning Opera legis sunt tripartita Nam partim in Sacramentis partim verò in moribus accipiuntur Ad Sacramenta pertinent circumcisio carnis Sabbatum temporale Neomeniae sacrificia atque omnes hujusmodi innumerae observationes Ad mores autem non occides non Moechaberis non falsum testimonium dices talia caetera The workes of the Law are of two sorts for they consist partly in signes and types partly in morall actions In types such are circumcision of the flesh the temporall Sabbath New moones sacrifices and such like innumerable observations In morall actions as thou shalt not kill thou shalt not commit adultery and such like others And tom 3. de Genes ad liter l. 4. c. 13. Iam tempore gratiae revelatae observatio illa Sabbati quae unius diei vacatione figurabatur ablata est ab observatione fidelium Now that grace is revealed that observation of the Sabbath which figuratively consisted in one dayes rest was taken away from the observation of the faithfull To which Passages the Answer that some men make that the fore-quoted Fathers speake of a ceremoniall keeping of the Sabbath and meane onely that the first Patriarches did not observe the Sabbath with such ceremonies as the Iewes afterwards did This answer I say hath not so much as any shew of truth for if they had meant nothing else but that they had never spoke in so direct and expresse tearmes as they doe Moreover they expresly distinguish betwixt the Sabbath and the other ceremonies of Moses Law and flatly affirme that the Patriarches did neither observe the Sabbath nor the other Iewish ceremonies Besides the testimonies of the Fathers which above have been and of our owne Doctours which presently hereafter shall be cited If you will give any credit to Iewish Writers there are some of the old Rabbins as Galatin reporteth l. 11. de secret veritatis Catholic c. 9. 10. who writing upon these words Genes 2. And God blessed the seventh day And upon these Exod. 16. 29. See for that the Lord hath given you the Sabbath say that Abraham observed not the Sabbath that the Law of the Sabbath was given but to the Iewes onely and not to other nations and that they are not obliged to keepe the Sabbath Rabbi Salomon Iarchi in his Comment on Gen. 2. 2. God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it God blessed it saith hee in the Manna because on the rest of the dayes of the weeke there fell one Homer for every person and on the sixth day there fell a double proportion Hee sanctified it in the Manna because on it none at all fell and this is written with reference to the time to come In which words he manifestly referreth the blessing and sanctifying mentioned Gen. 2. 2. to the time that the Israelites were in the desert Amongst our owne Writers I will begin with Calvin who Institut l. 2. c. 8. sect 28. speaketh thus of the fourth Commandement Umbratile veteres nuncupare solent quòd externam diei observationem contineat quae in Christi adventu cum reliquis figuris abolita fuerat quod verè quidem ab illis dicitur Ancient Writers are wont to call this Command a typicall one because it containeth an externall observation of a day which with the rest of the types and figures at the comming of Christ were abolished in which they speake truth Ibidem sect 34. Neque sic tamen septenarium numerum moror ut ejus servituti Ecclesiam astringam Neque enim Ecclesias damnavero quae aliis conventibus suis solennes dies habeant modò à superstitione absint Quod erit si ad solam observationem disciplinae ordinis benè compositi referantur I doe not so regard the number of seven dayes as to tie the Church precisely to it for I should not condemne those Churches who should make choice of other dayes for their publike assemblies so they did it without superstition which is done if the observation of those dayes be onely for discipline and good orders sake And a little after Ita evanescunt nugae Pseudoprophetarum qui Iudaica opinione populum superioribus seculis imbuerint nihil aliud afferentes nisi abrogatum esse quod ceremoniale erat in hoc mandato id vocant sua lingua diei septimae taxationem remanere autem quod morale est nempe unius diei observationem in hebdomada Atque id nihil aliud est quà m in Iudaeorum contumeliam diem mutare diei sanctitatem eandem animo retinere Siquidem manet nobis etiamnum par mysterii in diebus significatio quae apud Iudaeos locum habebat So are refuted the foolish conceits of some false Doctors who in former ages possessed the mindes of the vulgar with a Iewish opinion saying nothing for themselves but this that what was ceremoniall in this command which in their expression they call the taxation of a seventh day is abrogated but that the morall part of it namely the observation of one day in seven remaineth still in force unto this day Which is nothing else but to change the day in contempt of the Iewes and to retaine the same opinion of the holinesse of the day For if so be the same mysterie is implied to us in the number of the dayes which was implied to the Iewes And whoso will take the paines to read over all that he saith in the fore-quoted Chapter shall finde that his opinion is that the principall end for which at first a seventh day was appointed for rest was to be a type and figure of a spirituall rest that the Sabbath is abrogated that the fourth Commandement doth onely oblige us so farre that there must be set times set a part for the publike service of God that if it were possible to make every day a Sabbath day and so take away all difference of dayes it were a thing much to be desired but seeing this cannot be done it behooveth that there be one appointed from among the rest and that this is all which is obligatorie in the fourth command in regard of us And writing on the sixteenth of Exodus vers 5. The seventh day saith he was consecrated before the promulgation of the Law although it is uncertaine whether this day of rest was observed by the Fathers which seemeth probable but I would not contest in this Item on the twentieth of Exodus expounding the fourth Commandement That the Commandement was ceremoniall S. Paul telleth in plaine termes calling it a shadow of things whose body is in Christ. We must see therefore how Christ hath exhibited
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
had observed the same course towards Adam for that commandement as hee did for all the rest and for all the rest as for that which neverthelesse he did not For he ingraved the substance and tenor of all the other Commandements in Adams heart and made him to know them naturally without any instruction by word of mouth whereof he had no need But he wrote not in his heart the knowledge of the fourth Commandement seeing as they say he declared it unto them by audible words resounding in his eares that he might know it whence it followeth that all the rest are morall but this is not whereof we shall have occasion to discourse more largely in the first Chapter of the second part of this Treatise 2 Of those that defend the morality of one Sabbath day in the weeke some seeke to decline the weight and edge of the foresaid arguments by a frivolous distinction saying that morall things are of two sorts the one that are founded in the Law of nature and therefore oblige all men naturally The others that are of a positive Law depend on institution and notwithstanding are parts of the morall Law of a perpetuall necessity and of an immutable right as well as all other morall precepts are that the morall Law as it is morall is of farre greater extension then is the Law of nature and that the Sabbath is morall in this last sort 3 But first they speake against the ordinary sence and custome of all men who by the word morall understand that which is naturally and universally just that is which reason when it is not misled and the inward Law of nature dictateth by common principles of honesty or ought to dictate to all men of it selfe without any outward Vsher This Law all men take for the Law of nature and reciprocally they take the Law of nature for this Law which is proved by the ordinary and common distinction that all Divines make betweene the morall ceremoniall and judiciall Lawes which in former times God gave to the Iewes in which distinction they referre to the last hands and sorts all the positive ordinances which pertained to the ecclesiasticall or civill government and to the first the ordinances and rules of the Law of nature wherof these others were circumstantiall appendices and determinations Nay morall signifieth onely the duties of essentiall godlinesse and righteousnesse in things belonging naturally to good and holy manners towards GOD or towards man whether in doing good or departing from evill and not all things that may be usefull and in some sort may bee referred to the rules of good behaviour Otherwise things ceremoniall and judiciall as such should not bee distinguished from morall things for these also have an usefull reference to the foresaid duties of good and godly behaviour And therefore if the ordinance of the Sabbath although advowed to bee a positive Law is notwithstanding called morall it shall bee in one and the same respect both morall and ceremoniall and all ther ceremonies may after the same manner challenge the name of Moralities which is absurd 4 Secondly after they have confessed the Sabbath to bee a part of the positive Law grounded only on the order and discipline that GOD was pleased to establish they broach an affirmation without ground and without reason when they say therewith that it is of an immutable right and carrieth with it a perpetuall obligation For where and from whence is there any evidence of this doth this right belong to all things that are of the positive Law Their condition and nature giveth it unto them Will any Divine any Lawgiver any Logician make of this a probleme and hold for the affirmative Away with Sophistry and captious dealing It must bee the revealed will of God that matcheth positive with naturall Lawes and marketh them with the silver stampe of immutability Now if GOD hath not communicated this dignity with any positive Law ordained by him from the beginning of the world till this day what appearance is there that he hath given it as it were by birth-right to the Sabbath Have they to underprop this their assertion any cleere and evident testimony brought from the unreprocheable truth of holy Scripture For we make no account of any mans bare affirmation But the whole drift of the discourse following shall shew more and more God willing how short they come of their promises and of the But and Blank they aime at CHAPTER third REASON 3. 1. The Pagans never knew neither by Nature nor by Tradition the necessity of the keeping of a Seventh day of Sabbath 2. Yet they knew all morall duties commanded in the first and second Table of the morall Law 3. They knew also that God is to be served publikely and that a part of his service consisted in the offering of Sacrifices 4. They knew likewise by naturall light that some dayes are to be appointed for his service and are blamed for the transgression of all other Commandements that are morall c. 5. But are never blamed for the inobservation of one day of Seven 6. Nay they did laugh to scorne the Iewish Sabbath 7. Answer to an objection taken out of Philo against the foresaid affirmation 8. To another from IOSEPHUS 9. As also to other passages of diverse Authors Pagans Iewes and Christians which serve to overthrow it 10. The Pagans did never keepe regularly for their publike devotions any other Seventh day of the weeke 11. Yea are never reproved for any such omission 12. Reply to this answer 13. First answer to the said reply 14. Second answer unto it 1 MY third argument shall be taken from this that the Gentiles never knew by naturall light nor also by tradition come unto them from hand to hand by the care of their fore-Fathers the necessity of the keeping of the Seventh day of the weeke and never practised any such day Surely if it were a morality and a point of the Law of Nature or if GOD had prescribed it by a particular Commandement to Adam willing him to sanctifie it particularly and to celebrate in it the remembrance of his workes and rest hee had done it purposely that Adam should instruct his off-spring to the like seeing there was a like reason for them and for him Yea all his progeny and successors in whom abideth still the Law of Nature although darkened with sinne had knowne in some sort by the residue of the light of Nature glittering in them that they were bound to keepe a Seventh Day At least the notice of this Commandement which is pretended to have beene given to their first Father from the beginning should have come to them by Tradition successively from the Fathers to the Children till their dayes For we see that all the Gentiles by the light of Nature and by Tradition have had some knowledge of all things that in themselves are good and lawfull and of all morall precepts 2 They have knowne that one
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
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
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
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
his owne pleasure but in the extreme necessity of his just and reasonable interests is as much as to say that man is not made in that respect for the sanctification of the Sabbath but that the said sanctification is subject to him Now this is the point in question to wit Whether to keepe a seventh day for a day of rest or of cessation according to the injunction given in so precise termes in the fourth Commandement be a morall duty I cannot see what other sanctification of the Sabbath day can be understood by those which say that man was made for it in the sense that Christ taketh this kinde of speech is a morall duty For if they understand a sanctification by workes truely and properly morall such as are workes of godlinesse mercy and charity whereby God is principally and directly glorified and we and our neighbours are edified and maintained for his glory and say that man is made for this sanctification ought to observe it carefully and to make if neede be the rest of the Sabbath day to stoope and give place unto it this is most true but our question is not about this kinde of sanctifying the Sabbath day neither is it proper and peculiar to the seventh day but is equally required in all the daies of the weeke And by this is confirmed our saying that the sanctification proper to the Sabbath as it is such and which is the maine point that we treat of pro and contra cannot be morall seeing it yeelds and submits it selfe to the morall duties of every day and for their sake may and ought to be violated 6 Thirdly for the cleerer and better confirmation of the foresaid truth is very usefull that which Christ addes after these words The Sabbath is made for man saying For the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath day For whether by the son of man we understand particularly the Son of God as he is Christ and Mediator as he is often in that respect so named whether generally every man according to the common signification which it hath in holy Scripture the one and the other sense overthroweth the morality of the Sabbath If Iesus Christ speaketh of himselfe as he is Christ and Mediator under the name of the Son of man as in my opinion he doth his meaning is that as such and in that quality he had power over the Sabbath as Lord to dispense with the keeping of it whom and when he would as he said in the same sence and to the same purpose In this place is one greater then the Temple Yea hee insinuates that he was come to make this abrogation of the Sabbath as of the Temple and of all the ceremonies practised therin For what other end had hee to alleadge his soveraignty and maistery over the Sabbath but to say that he had power to dispose of it at his own pleasure and to cause men worke in it as he should thinke fit To declare only the lawfull use and practice of the Sabbath argued not that soveraignty and authority that Christ challenged to Himselfe 7 Fourthly to shew effectually his dominion in that behalfe he chused often the Sabbath day to doe or to injoyne to others on that day workes which might have beene done in any other day of the weeke and were not simply workes of mercifulnesse or of urgent necessity permitted by the Law nay were servile and unnecessary workes which the Law forbad As is manifest by his healing the sicke ordinarily on the Sabbath day and that with handy worke whereas he might have done those cures with a word of his mouth As when hee restored to sight the man that was borne blinde making clay of his spittle and anointing the eyes of that blind man with the clay Iohn 9. ver 6. 14. As also when he commanded some sicke whom hee had healed to beare burdens on the Sabbath day which GOD had forbidden Ierem. 17. ver 21. Thus hee commanded on the Sabbath day the man whom he had cured of the palsie to rise take up his bed and walke Ioh. 5. ver 8 9 10. which was not lawfull to him to doe no more than to anyother such man who by ordinary meanes had recovered his health if it had not beene for Christs command notwithstanding that miraculous deliverance after a so long and incurable disease For he needed not ntither for the glory of God nor for his owne good to take up his little bed on the Sabbath day seeing that without any such worke his recovery was doubtlesse cleere and manifest to all 8 Now if the Sabbath day and the keeping thereof had beene morall Christ had never spoken never done so For he had not as hee was the sonne of man any authority and Lord-ship over the things that are morall and of the Law of Nature to dispence with men for the doing or not doing the keeping or not keeping of them Because in them shineth the justice of the most righteous and holy God his glory to command them the excellency of man to yeeld obedience unto them as having a naturall righteousnesse and equity inherent in them carrying with them an universall obligation and being of perpetuall continuance grounded essentially in themselves and on their owne nature Such are these commandements Thou shalt love God with all thine heart and thy neighbour as thy selfe Also we see not that Christ at any time hath done or caused to be done by any man any thing whatsoever against them nay he hath rather backed and confirmed them hath himselfe kept them most religiously and hath injoyned also to others the keeping of them But as Mediator he had power over all things which were simply ceremoniall positive adiaphorous that is neither good nor evill in themselves wherein the true service of God consisted not which were no thing but helpes to that service for a time and were established of God simply for certaine reasons relative to some better things For as Iesus Christ himselfe was not lyable unto those things but so farre as it was his reason to apply himselfe unto them least he should give offence to any man And as the reason of their institution could not take hold on him so likewise was it in his power to exempt from them whom hee would For although they were to be usually in strength and practise till the houre of his death that was no hinderance to that authority which he had in his life time and during his conversation in these lowest parts of the earth to give particular commandements whereby hee dispensed whom he pleased with their observation Such things were the circumcision the sacrifices other legall ordinances and among the rest the Sabbath whereof upon this occasion he declared himselfe to be Lord. If Christ when he said The Sonne of man is Lord of the Sabbath will have us to understand by the Sonne of man every man as many interpreters doe take it so meaning that every
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
the rest of the people were two types of the same thing but unknowne till the Law was given 8. This is acknowledged by the Iewes who confirme it by Scripture 9. Hereof it followeth that the Sabbath was not given to Adam 10. As also that it is not obligatory under the New Testament 11. Although the heavenly rest which it typed be not yet come 1 IT is manifest enough by the foresaid passages that the observation of a Seventh day of Sabbath is not a morall duty and obligeth not by a divine Commandement mens consciences under the New Testament Nay it is apparant that the Sabbath day was instituted to the Iewes only and appertained to the ceremonies of the Law I confirme this againe by these words of GOD in Exodus Chapter 31. verse 13. and in Ezekiel Chapter 20. ver 12 20. Verily 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 Where is to be marked the Sabbath is called a signe ordained of GOD not to all men but to the Israelites onely to signifie unto them their consecration to his service and their sanctification which consisted in a continuall abstinence from all vices and sinnes which verily trouble and disquiet the soule and also in a bodily rest sometimes from the turmoiles and cares of this life that they might bestow some fit and convenient time without hinderance upon the contemplation of God and meditation of his graces and so give place to the operation of the holy Ghost whereby they might bring forth workes of godlinesse and of true holinesse To the end that the Sabbath day might expresse this visibly and also be unto them a helpe and meane to so necessary a duty they were commanded to forbeare exactly all servile workes and all bodily labour belonging to the worldly imploiments of this present life Which figured and taught them sufficiently that God obliged them farre more to cease from the workes of sinne which are properly servile according as it is written Whosoever committeth sinne is servant of sinne Ioh. 8. ver 34. Rom. 6. v. 16. And to abstaine from the lusts and acts of the flesh and of the old man and to compose and quiet themselves conveniently with a spirituall rest that they might receive the heavenly inspirations of his grace And as it is said in Esaiah Chap. 58. v. 13. not follow their owne waies nor finde their owne pleasure nor speake their owne words For as I have said God purposed to figure by that bodily and externall abstinence from earâ—hly workes the inward and spirituall abstinence from sinne 2 Nay to instruct and assure them by the Sabbath as by a signe that it is hee even the Lord that sanctifieth his owne children that giveth them grace to rest in some measure from their sinnes and troubles in these lower parts of the earth and shall fully performe their sanctification in heaven where after the workes and turmoiles of the anger of this life there shall be as it were a seventh day of Sabbath a time of perfect and eternall rest for them For wee may esteeme not without some likenesse of truth that the generations of the world ought to be sixe composed each of them of a thousand yeeres and figured by the sixe daies of worke in respect whereof it is perhaps said that one day is with the Lord as a thousand yeeres and a thousand yeeres as one day Psal 9. vers 4. and 2 Peter 3. vers 8. 3 The Sabbath day was interrupted by other worke-worke-daies and returned onely every seventh day by a continuall reciprocation and vicissitude whereby it represented but imperfectly the perpetuity of the true rest as figures can hardly represent in perfection the truth whereof they are figures But at the end of the world this reciprocation of daies shall cease and there shall be as it were one perpetuall day which as Zechariah saith Chap. 14. vers 6 7. Shall be all one day wherein there shall not be day and night light and darknesse but a perpetuall light without darknesse After this manner the spirituall rest hath its interruptions and discontinuance in this world the continuation of it is as it were by fits and new beginnings But in the world to come it shall have a continuance without intermission with an intire and solid perfection without any trouble of sinne or of labour God granteth this rest to his owne children for his Sonne the Messias his sake the onely consideration of whose death the force and efficacy whereof stretched out it selfe as well forward to those that went before as afterward to those that have or shall come after the accomplishment thereof was unto him in these times of the old Testament as since a most forcible motive to conferre upon his elect sanctification with other comfortable and saving benefits here on earth beneath and there in heaven above So the Sabbath diâ—ected the Iewes to Christ who was to come and was a figure thereof representing unto them a benefit of the Covenant which Christ was to purchase and ratifie with his owne blood and therefore it ought to have its accomplishment and end in him as have had all other ancient figures whereby he was represented 4 And indeed in the passages before cited it is called a signe betweene GOD and the Israelites which is the same name that is given to the Circumcision the Passeover and other legall figures and moreover it is said that it shall be a signe betweene God and the Israelites for a perpetuall covenant and for ever but in the same sense that all other ordinances of the Law and divers temporall promises made to the Israelites are called perpetuall that is in their generations which is expresly marked in the forenamed place of Exodus Chap. 31. vers 16 17. where God saith Wherefore the children of Israel shall keepe my Sabbath to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations for a perpetuall covenant It is a signe betwene mee and the children of Israel for ever meaning that it should remaine till the comming of Messias during the oeconomy of the Law and whilest the people of Israel should be the onely people of God but no more in the time of Messias whose time and generation belongeth not to those generations which God allotted to the Israelites when he said that such and such things should be done and should continue in their generations words which are ordinarily spoken of things that were to persist only in the time of the old Testament As when God ordained the Sacrament of Circumcision he said to Abraham that it should be to him and to his seed after him in their generations for an everlasting covenant Gen. 17. vers 7. 9. 10. When he commanded the Israelites to fill an Omer of Manna and to keepe it he said it should be for their generations Exod. 16. vers 32. 33. that is till the
nor also of Gods rest which in effect hath continued ever since because this other rest which it figured shall never have an end 7 Now this figure of Gods resting from the works of grace which he had first resolved and determined in himselfe and founded upon his owne rest from the workes of nature was intimated by him when giving his Law to the Israelites he commanded to forbeare all workes and by that cessation to sanctifie the seventh day which he had rested in to the intent that this day and their cessation on it as an image correspondent in some sort to the example of his owne rest should be unto them likewise a type and figure of the eternall rest which they should obtaine in heaven after all the workes and toiles of this life according to his good pleasure whereby he had ordained from the beginning that it should be so And so Gods rest on the seventh day after the creation was ended and the rest which he ordained also to the Israelites on that same day after their six daies worke were in effect two types of one and the same thing to wit of the accomplishment of the salvation and of the blessednesse and glory of the faithfull in heaven but in divers respects according as this accomplishment may have relation either to God or to the faithfull To God as to the author who having begun and furthered it will also accomplish and perfect it in which respect it hath had properly Gods rest for figure To the faithfull as unto those which shall injoy and possesse the benefit thereof after the turmoile of their irkesome workes in this world In which regard it had properly for type the rest ordained to the Israelites It is likely that the Apostle in consideration of this mystery when he speaketh vers 9. of the heavenly rest calleth it not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as he doth in all the former verses but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 using a word taken from the Sabbath of the Iewes and that purposely to teach us that the Sabbath of the Iewes in the relation it had to Gods rest on the seventh day which it was founded upon was a figure of the eternall rest prepared for the faithfull 8 And indeed the Iewes have alwaies understood it so For they teach that this rest of the seventh day was a type of the rest prepared for Gods people in the world to come Whereunto they apply this Title of the 92. Psalme A Psame of song for the Sabbath day saying that this Psalme is a song for the time to come to wit for the day of eternall life which is all Sabbath all an holy rest signified also by the Sabbath named jointly with the new Moones in Isaiah 66. Chapter verse 23. Where God saith that from one New Moone to another and from one Sabbath to another shall all flesh come to worship before him Which words being applyed to the estate and condition of the world to come as they may be most fitly give to understand that the New Moones and the Sabbaths wherein holy convocations and solemne actions of Gods service were practised were types and figures of the great convocation of all that are his in his heavenly kingdome and of the eternall rest which they shall enjoy there serving him without interruption because there is no intervall no space there betweene the Sabbaths and the New Moones that is betweene the times appointed for rest and the solemne service of GOD as there was under the Law among the Iewes but one Sabbath following immediately another one New Moone succeeding without interposition another as the words of the Text doe import and the whole time being nothing else then a continuall Sabbath that is a perpetuall tenor an unintermitted continuance without change of serving God after a most glorious and unconceivable manner And as God after he had created and made all his workes in sixe dayes ceased on the seventh day ceased I say not simply but with pleasure and content enjoying that glory which from hence redounded unto him even so he shall then rejoyce and magnifie himselfe on that day in all his faithfull in whom he shall have accomplished his glorious work of their redemption and they reciprocally shall rejoyce in him shall rest from their labours and their workes shall follow them Revel 14. ver 3. That is they shall receive pleasure glory and reward of all their good works and shall inherite a glorious rest conformable in some sort to Gods rest Vndoubtedly the use which the Sabbath day had to be a type and figure of this heavenly rest was the cause that God did so precisely urge the Iewes to observe and keepe it inviolably For he designed by so severe an injunction of the exact observation of the typâ— the great importance and necessity of the thing signified thereby 9 Of this I inferre first that the day of rest seeing it was ordained to be a type and figure of the heavenly and eternall rest which Iesus Christ was to purchase to those that are his â—onsâ—â—ering â—â—so that the Scripture for no other â—ause maketh mention oâ— Gods resting on that day and hallowing of it out for this typicall and mâ—sterious use that say I that day was not ordained to Adam from the beginning to bee kept by him in the state of innocency because there is great cause to beleeve that although Adam had persevered in that state and condition he should not have entred into the heavenly rest but had enjoyed simply a terrestriall and eternall blessednesse here below in the Paradise of Heden where God had put him because the heavenly happinesse is alwayes proposed in the Scripture as a supernaturall gift of the grace of God through Christ Iesus and not at all as a naturall grace And it is in that respect that the Apostle in the Epistle to the Romanes Chapter 5. ver 15. 16 17. saith that we receive much more in Iesus Christ then we have lost in Adam and that there is a superaboundance of grace by IESUS CHRIST towards us going farre beyond all the losse wee have made in Adam which could not be said if we had lost any thing over and above an earthly felicity and immortality in these lower parts and if Adam persisting in the state of integrity was to be after many ages on earth received into the kingdome of heaven To which belongeth also that which is written in the fifteenth Chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians where the Apostle making a distinction betweene Adam and Christ saith verse 45. that Adam was made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into a living soule that is to live a naturall life on earth and to communicate it to his off-spring but Iesus Christ was made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into a quickning spirit that is to give to those that are his a spirituall and heavenly life by the mighty power of the grace of Sanctification Also that which he addeth Verse
47. The first man made of the earth was earthy ordained to abide on earth But the second man is the Lord from heaven ordained to have his residence in heaven and to introduce thither all that are his So in all likelihood Adam was not to be transported into the kingdome of heaven although he had continued constantly in his first integrity and uprightnesse Nay in case hee had beene received into that glorious felicity that could not nor should not have befallen him by Iesus Christ as such an one that is as Saviour and Mediator And therefore it is not likely that God ordained in the state of innocency the Seventh day of rest which was never established by him but to be a figure of the heavenly rest and eternall blessednesse which Iesus Christ imparts to all those that beleeve in him 10 Secondly I inferre againe from the same doctrine that seeing the day of rest was first established to bee a figure of the heavenly rest whereof CHRIST is author it hath no obligatory force under the New Testament but ought to cease as have done all other signes figuring the graces which Iesus Christ hath brought unto us and among the rest the type and figure of the rest of the Israelites in the land of Canaan which the Apostle joyneth together with the rest of the Seventh day setting downe the one and the other as types in the same fashion and of the same nature of the heavenly rest 11 The exception which some take against this inference is most absurd when they say that if the Sabbath day was a type of the heavenly rest it ought to remaine in its vigor and strength till this rest come and all the faithfull have obtained it For to the end it should continue no longer it sufficeth that this heavenly and eternall rest hath beene purchased by IESUS CHRIST and that the faithfull possesse it already in part some of them being in heaven happy in their soules and resting from their labours the rest being here beneath where they receive the first fruits and an essay of that blessednesse by the spirituall consolations contentments and delights which in the middest of their greatest afflictions are shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in them Otherwise if the foresaid reason were of any value the other Sabbaths to wit the Sabbath of the seventh yeere and the Iubile of the fiftieth yeere which were Sabbaths of rest unto the the land should continue still because they were figures of that rest which is not yet come Nay all the signes of the Old Testament should remaine because they figured spirituall benefits which are alwayes to come either wholly or in part to all GODs Elect while they are here on earrh The signification of the Iewish circumcision to wit the circumcision of the heart shall not be brought to perfection and absolutely finished till wee be in the kingdome of heaven But it sufficeth for an absolute abolishment of all the signes of the Old Testament that Iesus Christ hath actually acquired all the benefits figured by them although the Elect inherite them not yet totally and perfectly As for the day which the Church hath appointed to be a day of rest under the New Testament it hath not beene ordained to serve for a type and figure which it neither could nor ought to doe but only for order and to be a meanes of the practise of holy duties whereunto some day was of necessity to be allowed CHAPTER Twelfth Answer to the replyes made unto the former Argument 1. First reply the Sabbath being morall from the beginning of the world the figure was accidentally annexed unto it 2. Answer The Sabbath was a legall figure and no thing else 3. Second reply The Sabbath was never a figurative and Typicall signe but only doctrinall marking the straite communion betweene GOD and those that are his and is still such a signe 4. Answer to this reply by the distinction of signes in those that are onely doctrinall and onely memoriall or which besides are figurative or typicall 5. Of which last sort was the Sabbath 6. And therefore it was to be abrogated as well as all other types and figures of the Law 7. Which were all not only typicall but also doctrinall 8. Why the signes of the Christian Church are not figures types 9. Third reply concerning the Raine-bow which is a signe only and no type at all answered 10. Some things yet subsisting which were signes figures and types under the LÃ w may be yet lawfully used but not as signes figures types 11. For cleering of this the types of the Law are distinguished into those whose whole essence consisted in their typicall use as the Circumcision Passeover sacrifices c. 12 And in those which besides the type may in the new Testament have some other good and religious use as abstinence of certaine meats observation of the first day of Moneths of feasts of Sabbaths c. but not as any part of Gods service or through necessity of obedience to Gods Commandement 13 Of this last sort is the Sabbath 14 Fourth reply The Sabbath did not figure Christ therefore it was not a type 15 Answer by a distinction of legall types in those which represented directly Christs person and actions 16 And in those which represented directly his benefits such as were the Circumcision all kinde of Sabbaths the weekely Sabbath all these are abrogated and therefore this also 17 All other judaicall ceremonies although they had no relation to Christ have beene abrogated how much more the Sabbath 1 TO the last reason heretofore alledged some doe reply that indeed in the Sabbath there was a kind of figure ceremony annexed only unto it accidentally but as for the thing it selfe the Sabbath hath beene since the beginning of the world and continueth still a morall thing seeing it was ordained to Adam before sinne came unto the world and to the Israelites before the Law since the giving whereof God added the ceremony to the day to the intent it might be a part not onely of the morall but also of the ceremoniall Law that Christ hath taken away the ceremony but a seventh day of Sabbath hath alwaies the same vigor and force it had from the beginning 2 It sufficeth to answer that this reply layeth a false foundation to wit that a seventh day of Sabbath is of it selfe morall that it was in the time of innocency ordained to Adam and commanded to the Israelites before the Law Whereas it was first ordained by the Law and not before and the figure was not annexed unto it as an accident to a thing already subsisting Nay it was never of its owne nature but a legall figure belonging to the government and ceremonies of the Law as hath beene already and shall be more abundantly confirmed in the refutation of the arguments broached for the contrary opinion 3 Others doe reply by denying that in the observation of
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
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
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
in some other place without house or Temple as the Christians were forced to meet together in the Primitive persecutions in such a state of the Church this sufficeth and no more is required as morall It is only the decency and commodity which obligeth us to have houses and Temples builded expresly for Gods service For these reasons GOD would not make mention in the Decalogue at a particular place as hee did of a time stinted for his service 19 This is a sufficient answer to another objection when they say that God might as well have put in the Decalogue Thou shalt keep the New Moones or the yeerely feasts as the Sabbath day because that command as well as this had taught us that there must be a time appointed and stinted for Gods service For I deny that such a command could have taught us this duty as well as the other because such dayes being rare and returning only from moneth to moneth or from yeere to yeere had not taught us the convenient and sutable frequency of GODS publike service as did the Sabbath day which returned weekely Therefore it being more frequent yea more holy and venerable then all the rest of festivall dayes ordained of GOD under the Law he made mention of it in the fourth Commandement rather than of them wherein GOD hath observed a way like unto that which he hath kept in the other Commandements which is to set downe a principall head under which he compriseth all other points that have relation unto it Wherefore as in the second Commandement he forbiddeth to make Images to how downe to them and under that point prohibiteth all will-worship As in the fifth Commandement under the name of Father and Mother and of the honour which he commandeth to give unto them hee comprehendeth all superiours and the respect due to them As in the sixth under murder he compriseth all other violences against our neighbour And as in the seventh under Adultery he understandeth all uncleannesse of fleshly lust so likewise in the fourth Commandement under the Sabbath day and the observation thereof which was his principall festivall he understandeth all other holy dayes and all the ceremonies which he had injoyned and the practice of them all As also which I have already marked his custome is other where in the Old Testament to range under that point all other semblable points of his service yea all godlinesse and Religion and make it in some sort to consist altogether in the observation of the Sabbath whereof the reason is that a man cannot bee pious and religious to God-ward unlesse he observe the externall meanes and aides of Religion and godlinesse which he hath ordained Now the principall meanes of this kind ordained by him at that time was the sanctification of the Sabbath All other meanes of the same kinde were referred to it and were established and dressed as it were upon the mould of it even as whatsoever is the first and head in every kind of things is the rule of all others that are inferiour and subordinate unto it wherefore it is no wonder that GOD would in expresse termes set downe this particular determination of the observation of the Sabbath day rather than any other and comprise under it the morall substance of that Commandement For having thought expedient to ordaine and stint to the Iewes the ordinary celebration of his publike service on a set day to wit on every seventh and on the last of the seven dayes of the week the morall substance of the said commandement which is to have a time regulate and frequent for his publike service could not be so well comprised and designed under any other ordinance relative unto it as under this which was the most notable and principall of them all So the fourth Commandement is morall and perpetuall in one respect to wit in this principall substance which it infoldeth covertly and ceremoniall and positive in another to wit in the foresaid determination as also of the sanctification which it expresseth 20 For when God saith in the beginning thereof Remember the Sabbath day to sanctifie it he understandeth by the Sabbath day not a day of rest indefinitely and without limitation but a seventh day and the last of the weeke wherein he rested as is manifest by that is said after in the same Commandement For in sixe dayes the Lord made heaven and earth the Sea and all that in them is and rested the seventh day Wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it where the day of rest or the Sabbath day signifieth manifestly the same day whereof mention is made in the beginning of the Commandement which is the day of Gods rest to wit the seventh that he rested on as it is likewise so restrained in the second Chapter of Genesis And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because that in it he had rested from all his workes Therefore it was not a day of rest in generall that he sanctified but the particular seventh day of the Creation and not any other Also this name The Sabbath day or the day of rest doth never signifie in the Scripture any other day besides the seventh and last day of the weeke which GOD had ordained to the Iewes For these two appellations The Sabbath day and the seventh or last day of the weeke are indifferently taken for the same thing and the one is the explication of the other as may be seene in infinite places Exod. 16. verse 29. Exod. 20. ver 10 11. Exod. 23. ver 12. Exod. 31. verse 15. Exod. 35. verse 2. Levit. 23. verse 3. Luk. 13. verse 14. c. Yea this name The Sabbath day is the proper and particular name of the seventh and last day of the weeke whereby it was distinguished from all the rest which as hath beene observed before did take from it their denomination being called the first second third of the Sabbath c. 21 Also by the sanctification of this day which God injoyneth in the foresaid words of the commandement is not expressed and particularised formally any other then that which consisteth in the abstinence of severall workes whereof mention is made in the words following which may be taken for an explication of the sanctification before injoyned even as in this abstinence is expressely established the sanctification of the said day Evod. 31. verse 16. Neh. 13. verse 22. Ierem. 17. verse 22 24 27. And it is indeed that sanctification which ordinarily God betokeneth and requireth of the people of the Iewes in the Old Testament when he speaketh of the sanctification of the Sabbath day as on the contrary the profanation of that day whereof he blameth them is that which they committed in doing workes which he had prohibited But if it be referred to a sanctification which was to be practised by the use of certaine actuall duties of Religion God understandeth a sanctification by the observation of legall ceremonies as
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
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
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
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
of Nehemiah not for their owne sake but only in consideration of the Iewes lest they should offend them and give them occasion to breake the Sabbath after their example For the observation of the Sabbath did no more oblige them naturally then the other observation of the Iewish religion lust as in all politick regiment which is well ordered it is usuall to hinder those that are strangers to the religion professed in it from giving any disturbance to the exercises of devotion namely in the solemnities and holy daies To urge this point is it not true that among the Iewes strangers were obliged to keep all other Sabbaths new Moons holy daies solemnities after the same manner that they were constrained to keepe the Sabhath that is not to violate them publikely and with offence Were they not forbidden as well as the Iewes to eate leavened bread during the seven daies of the Passeover Exodus 12. verse 19. as also to eate blood Levit. 17 vers 10. 12 13. Will any man upon this inferre that the ordinances of all these Sabbaths new Moones Feasts unleavened bread abstinence from eating blood were not ceremonies but morall ordinances obliging for ever all men and consequently all Christians under the new Testament Sure this must be concluded by the same reasoning the vanity whereof is by this sufficiently demonstrated and discredited 10 Fifthly they inforce their opinion with these words For in sixe daies the LORD maae heaven and earth the sea and all that in them is and rested the seventh day Whence they gather that sith the creation must be in perpetuall remembrance and God ordained to the Iewes the seventh day for a memoriall therof and of his rest all men ought to keepe it continually for the same end and in that follow his example which also hee proposeth in the words before mentioned to the end that as hee made his workes in sixe daies and rested the seventh day so likewise men following his example should give themselves to the workes of their calling during the sixe daies of the weeke and rest on the seventh day that they may apply it to the consideration of the works of God which they pretend to be no lesse obligatory towards Christians under the new Testament then towards the Iewes under the old Testament because wee cannot follow and imitate a better example then the example of God 11 To this I answer first that it may be denyed that Gods end in the institution of the Sabbath day was that it should be a memoriall of the creation of all his workes on sixe daies and of his rest on the seventh day That is not said any where but this onely is specified that God sanctified the seventh day because in it he rested from his workes after he had made them in sixe daies Which sheweth only the occasion that God tooke to ordaine and establish the Sabbath day but not the end of the institution thereof which is declared unto us in the foresaid places of Exodus 31. vers 13. and of Ezech. 20. vers 12. where it is said that God ordained it to be a signe between him and the Israelites that he was the Lord that did sanctifie them This end of the said institution as likewise the motive and occasion thereof are coupled together in the 16. and 17. verses of the said 31. Chapter of Exodus in these words The children of Israel shall keepe the Sabbath throughout their generations for a perpetuall covenant It is a signe betwene me and the children of Israel for ever Whereof a signe Certainly that they may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctifie them as it is written in the 13. verse This is the end of the Institution of the Sabbath which must be supplyed from thence After that it followeth For in sixe daies the LORD made heaven and earth and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed This is the occasion and motive of the said institution There be some that would faine of this For make That and joine the two members of the 17. verse as if they were but one after this manner It is a signe betweene me and the children of Israel for ever that in sixe daies the Lord made heaven and earth to inferre from thence that the Sabbath was ordained expresly to the end it might be a memoriall of the Creation but although the particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth That as well as For yet that in the foresaid verse it should rather signifie For and that the said verse should have two distinct members and each of them its owne particular sentence it appeareth probably both by the changing of the forme of speech that God useth speaking of himselfe in the first person in the first member It is a signe betweene mee and the children of Israel for ever and in the third person in the second member For in sixe daies the LORD made heaven and earth whereas if it had beene the continuance of the same period without distinction hee should have rather have said It is a signe betweene me and the children of Israel that I have created in sixe daies or that I am the Lord who have created in sixe daies heaven and earth c. As also by the Hebrew accent Athnach which it put at the end of the first member and is an accent denoting usually a pause and notable respiration and a distinction of a compleate sentence 12 Secondly to stand longer upon this first answer although I should yeeld that the seventh day of Sabbath was instituted of God purposely to be a memoriall of the Creation the argument is neverthelesse inconsequent For although things past should be in perpetuall remembrance It followeth not that the signes and memorialls of such things instituted under the old Testament should be perpetuall Nay they ought not to be if they have beene therewith types and figures relative to the Messias God made a covenant with Abraham and promised unto him to be God unto him and to his seed after him Gen. 17. vers 7. which is a perpetuall benefit and worthy to be remembred by all his spirituall posterity till the end of the world Yet the signe and memoriall that hee gave him at that time of this covenant to wit the Circumcision was not to be perpetuall and hath continued onely till the time of the new Testament Likewise all the Sacraments under the old Testament have beene signes and memorialls of perpetuall benefits to wit of justification sanctification c. Notwithstanding they ought not to persist for ever because they also were types The same is the condition of the Sabbath We may and ought to call to minde under the new Testament the benefit of the Creation and of Gods rest after it although we have no particular signe thereof which by Gods ordinance is a signe of remembrance In the Kingdome of heaven we shall celebrate eternally the remembrance of our Creation and Redemption without any
themselves bound to this observation and Gods proceeding alone had not beene obligatory unto them nor had the force of a Law among them Which sheweth that in it there is no morality no example binding the conscience necessarily and for ever 16 This being so it followeth not that if God was pleased to give this ordinance to the Iewes by occasion of the order that he observed in the Creation he would also have it to continue among Christians seeing it was not grounded in any morall thing which should have life and vigor for ever no more than so many other ordinances which he had given to that people upon good considerations oblige not Christians because the reasons were not morall And as these ordinances are changed and abolished without any blame of variablenesse or of turning that God hath incurred on his part even so that ordinance concerning the Sabbath might and ought to cease likewise All the morality that can be gathered from Gods example is that as God after he had made all his workes in the space of some dayes rested on another day so we should have some day wherein leaving off our ordinary occupations we may busie our selves about Gods service But not that Gods example obligeth us to the same day of rest which God observed 17 And indeed the Christians in the observation of their day of rest doe not any more ground themselves upon Gods example in the Creation For although they keepe sixe dayes of worke and a seventh of rest yet it is not the seventh day that God rested in for they work on that day and rest on the first day of the weeke which God began in to make all his workes and so they change Gods order Which sheweth that this example of God is not obligatory of it selfe and for ever For if it were we should be bound to keepe not only one of seven but the same seventh which God gave us example to rest in there being no reason wherefore one and the same example of God should neither be obligatory for ever in one of its parts to wit in that hee observed sixe dayes of labour and a seventh of rest then in the other to wit in that hee imployed the first sixe dayes of the weeke to worke in and the last to rest in 18 They get no advantage to say that under the New Testament the alteration of the Sabbath day hath beene made from the last day of the weeke to the first because IESUS CHRIST rising on this day rested from the worke of our redemption which is greater and more excellent than the worke of Creation seeing that by it man who was created in the flat mutable state of nature and of a naturall grace from which he fell away and was also to remaine upon earth is put in the supernaturall and immutable state of grace to be received in heaven to be admitted to the contemplation of God himselfe and to live there in a light and purity farre more perfect then that which he had in the first Creation That also heaven and earth shall be renewed and established in a state a great deale more beautifull and excellent then the state they were created in Nay that the Angels themselves have thereby received many and great benefits In a word that in vertue of that worke hath in part beene already made and one day shall be made compleately a new Creation of all things as Christ himselfe speaketh Matth. 19. verse 28. And therefore it deserved well that the day wherein Christ after he had finished it did rest should be consecrated by all those that pretend to have part in it and to whom the benefit thereof is offered if they reject it not by their owne fault to be a day of rest under the New Testament instead of the day which was observed under the Old Testament in remembrance of Gods resting from the workes of the Creation 19 For I grant willingly this to be true But with all I say that the altering of the Sabbath day upon the occasion of Christs Resurrection sheweth plainely that the example of Gods proceeding in the Creation and the observation of one of seven dayes and of the last of seven founded thereupon under the Old Testament was not morall For if it had beene no alteration no changing could have beene made of that time neither altogether nor in part for any occasion occurring and falling out sithence because all morall things are perpetuall have beene confirmed and ratified by Iesus Christ and have not been casheered by him nor by his Church Now it is constant by the practise of all Christian Churches that a change hath beene made and in the beginning of that innovation the order of the observation of one of seven dayes was of necessity subject to be changed and ceased to be obligatory For when Christians began or might have begun to omit the last day of the weeke and to keepe the first they might also then have neglected and violated the foresaid order of dedicating to GOD one day of seven which neverthelesse is pretended to be morall sith by the death of Iesus Christ all the Iewish ceremonies and amongst them the ancient day of Sabbath that is the precise observation of the seventh or the last day of the weeke which is not denyed to have beene ceremoniall being abrogated of right in the weeke wherein hapned the death of Christ and on the Friday of that weeke the Disciples were not obliged to observe the last day of that weeke which was Saturday or the Sabbath of the Iewes immediately following but they might have observed another in the weeke following which being true it followeth that they might have overslipt all the seven dayes of the said weeke without consecrating any of them to God And in effect in whatsoever time the Church begun at first to overpasse the last day of the weeke of necessity she passed a whole weeke wherein there was no seventh day of Sabbath which she could not have done lawfully if to observe one day of seven were a morall point 20 Furthermore according to this maxime which proposeth the necessity of the observation of one day in the weeke yea of a whole day as of a pointmorall sith none can institute such a day but God alone this also of necessity must be layd as a fundamentall point of our Religion that our Lord Iesus Christ on the same day that he rose from death to life made this alteration of the last day into the first and gave notice of it to his Disciples who other wayes could not have acknowledged so soone the necessity of this changing For if he did it not seeing they were no more obliged to the Sabbath day of the Iewes which was abrogated by his death they might have beene not only in the weeke wherein Christ died but also in the weeke following wherein he rose againe free from all obligation tying them to any Sabbath day which the aforesaid
the fourth Commandement seeing it was a figure and type and that by fulfilling in himselfe and in his faithfull servants the truth of the thing figured by the outward Sabbath to free them from the necessity of the observation thereof was not a dissolving and overthrowing of it neither on his part nor on theirs but rather an effectuall ratification thereof as in the same sence he hath not dissolved any of the legall figures but hath fulfilled them all 13 Secondly I say that of necessity the broachers of this argument must advow that Iesus Christ doth not blame in this place all inobservation of the Sabbath neither doth he establish precisely and absolutely the observation thereof for ever according to all the tearmes and the whole sence of the fourth Commandement For it should from thence follow that he blameth for ever and ever the inobservation and commandeth for evermore the observation and sanctification of the last day of the weeke by a legall service in remembrance of the Creation of Gods workes in sixe dayes and of his rest on the seventh because the Commandement carrieth with it that necessity to which is contrary the practise of the Christian Church Therefore this limitation must be added that Christ's intention is to forbid the transgression and to command for ever the observation of the Commandement touching the Sabbath and of all the rest as farre as it may and ought to oblige us according to the tearmes of the Gospell Now we have shewed that it obligeth us not as it ordaineth one day of seven or a certaine seventh day or a legall sanctification but so farre only as it commandeth that Gods publike service be practised for ever according as it shall be established by him and that an ordinary day be appointed for that purpose And therefore Iesus Christ in this respect only and no further condemneth the transgression and injoyneth the observation of the fourth Commandement 14 Thirdly Iesus Christ in the place before alleadged hath not regard to the Decalogue only but universally to all the Commandements of God whether morall or ceremoniall contained in the Law and in the Prophets which he had spoken of in the 17. verse that is in all the bookes of the ancient Testament and to repulse the false accusation that the Scribes and Pharisees laid to his charge declareth what was his minde concerning all these Commandements to wit that there was not any one of them nay not of those that are the least or may by men be esteemed that ought to remaine unprofitable vaine and without effect and that the man whatsoever he be that either by teaching or by practise shall despise and reject any of them shall be despised and rejected of God That on his part he fulfilled them all and extended and setled the accomplishment of them for ever to wit of those that are morall by obeying them all in his owne person and charging his Disciples with their perpetuall observation and sanctifying them inwardly that they may observe them Of those that are ceremoniall by performing and exhibiting the truth of all things signified and figured by them which truth he should make to have an eternall continuance and efficacy towards all that are his although he was to make the use of the figures to cease as the intention of God and reason did require But that the Pharisees were the men who on their part made void the Commandements of GOD both ceremoniall and morall The ceremoniall by adding unto them over and above a thousand superstitious observations The morall by corrupting them with false glosses and interpretations and preferring unto them the traditions of men which he layeth to their charge in diverse places and namely in the verses following of this fifth Chapter of Saint Matthew Now according to this sence which is true and naturall it is evident that they which alleadge this passage can inferre nothing of it for their purpose 15 They pretend in vaine to fortifie and confirme it with the words of Saint Iames in the second Chapter and tenth verse where the Apostle speaking of the Law of the Decalogue saith that whosoever shall keepe the whole Law and yet offend in one point hee is guilty of all because the same God who hath injoyned one of the points hath also injoyned all the rest Whence they would inferre that the inobservation of the seventh day of Sabbath which is a point of the Law maketh a man guilty of the transgression of the whole Law that therefore wee are obliged to the observation thereof For I answer in few words that indeed Saint Iames saith that to faile or to commit a sinne against any Commandement of the Law maketh him that committeth it guilty of the universall transgression of the Law But I deny the inobservation of the Sabbath as it is commanded by the Law to be under the New Testament a sinne and a fault properly so called because in so farre as it commandeth the Sabbath it obligeth not any more For it was for the Iewes and not for us And therefore not to observe the Sabbath according to the tenor of the Law is not a fault and a sinne in any point as Saint Iames understandeth it So if one should say that he that hath kept the whole word of God if he offend in one point thereof should make himselfe guilty of all that saying should be true according to the meaning of Saint Iames But if any should inferre upon this that not to observe still under the Gospell all the legall ceremonies because they make a part and are points of the Word of God is a trangression whereby a Christian is made guilty of all this word and therefore he is bound to keepe them all it should be an absurd illation for not to keepe these ceremonies now is not a fault nor sinne to us because they oblige not any more No man sinneth against a Law or word but in as much as it obligeth But neither the word of God as it commandeth the legall ceremonies nor the decalogue as it commandeth the Sabbath is any more obligatory to us ward wherefore we sinne not now by not observing these points and therefore we make not our â—â—lves in that behalfe guilty of the Law and word of God who is author of all the points of this Law and of this word but hath not given them all to all men nor to continue in all times but some of them only to some men and to have vigor and being for a certaine time only CHAPTER Tenth Answer to the Eighth Reason 1. Eight reason Iesus Christ speaking to his Disciples advised them to pray that their flight should not be on the Sabbath day that is on our Sunday 2. First answer The Sabbath day is ever taken in the New Testament for the Sabbath of the Iewes and is so here taken by Christ. Neither is our day of publike service any where in holy Scripture called the Sabbath day 3. True
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 <
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
is not repugnant S. Luke in the 23. chap. 56. vers Where he saith that the women after they had beheld the Sepulchre and how the Lords body was laid returned and prepared odours and ointments and rested the Sabbath day according to the Commandement which words seeme to import that they prepared their spices before the Sabbath For the order and coherence of these words doe not designe the like order and coherence of things but they must be understood after this manner being returned they prepared their odours And or rather But they rested the Sabbath day to wit first and before this preparation as appeareth by the conference of the 54. vers where it is said that when the body of Christ was laid in the tombe and the women beheld where it was laid the Sabbath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 drew on that is was at hand and ready to begin as hath beene said before So that it was impossible to them to prepare any kind of thing for the inbalming of Christ before the Sabbath Whence it followeth that sith then it was evening the end of the same Sabbath fell upon the dawning or evening of the night following and so was both the end of the last day of the weeke preceding and the beginning of the night following whereby the first day began And that was the time betokened by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mentioned by Saint Matthew and the night preceding the first day of the weeke which he nameth afterward did belong to the said first day making with it the naturall and civill day of the Iewes and did not belong to the Sabbath For if it had pertained to the Sabbath and the first day of the weeke following the Sabbath had begun in the morning sith it is constant that before the Sabbath they prepared not their aromaticall drugs when should they have found the opportunity and leisure to prepare them They durst not doe it on the Sabbath day for it was a day of rest and of cessation from all work As also S. Luke saith Chap. 23. vers 56. That they rested the Sabbath day according to the Commandement After the Sabbath upon the first day of the weeke they could not doe it granting that this day began in the morning For very early in the morning as it was yet darke they went with their spices already bought and prepared And therefore we must of necessity say that they bought their spices in the evening after the Sunne was set and the Sabbath ended that during the night which was the beginning of the first day of the week they prepared these drugs and that in the morning of the same day they came to imbalme Iesus Which being so we must interpret the words of S. Matthew after such a sort that they may agree with the sayings of the other Evangelists And it is in no wise necessary to joyne the evening or the latter end of the Sabbath with the beginning of the light of the first day of the weeke as if the one and the other had met together in one time and at once as is pretended There is betweene these two the intervall of a night which pertained to this first day of the weeke and we may translate the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as S. Marke speaketh that is in the evenining at the extremitie or latter end of the Sabbath this extremity being already come and past or in the evening that is in the night the first part thereof being taken for the totall after the Sabbath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to wit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at that same houre or time which began to shine yet with a little remnant of the nights darknesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to bee the first day of the weeke that is the first day of light the first artificiall day which is a part of the naturall day Or wee may take these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the time that was to shine in the first day of the weeke For it was not S. Matthews intent to specifie unto us the immediate conjunction of the first day of the weeke with the Sabbath finishing but only at what point of time the woman came to the Sepulchre to wit at the first glimpse of the light of the first day of the weeke and hee made mention of the evening or of the latter end of the Sabbath in respect that the Sabbath had hindred them till then to apply themselves to this pious and charitable worke which they had intended 17 Moreover they produce a passage out of the twentieth chapter of the Acts vers 7. 11. where it is said that the Disciples in Troas being come together upon the first day of the weeke to breake bread Paul preaching unto them continued his speech untill midnight and after he had broken bread and eaten continued to talke unto them even till the breake of day In which words they pretend that the night is mentioned as the last part of the first day of the weeke But first nothing obligeth us to grant that the night there mentioned ought to be referred to the first day of the weeke For we may affirme as well that it pertained to the second day and made the beginning thereof The words of the Text are very well verified if we say that the first day of the weeke and towards the end thereof the Disciples were assembled and their assembly having begun about the end of the first day continued a good while with and after the beginning of the second day Paul because he was to depart on the morning after the first day taking this occasion to extend his discourse within the night following which was the beginning of another day There is no weight in the objection they make against this exposition saying that if it were true Paul had remained longer then seven dayes at Troas to wit a part of an eight day against that which is said in the sixth verse For they presuppose without any ground that Paul was not precisely but seven dayes at Troas which the Text saith not but only that he abode there seven dayes which should be very well expressed so although he had remained there a part of the eighth day which might have beene past under silence and not counted with the dayes going before because it was not a full and whole day but only a part of a day And putting the case that it should come within the compasse of the seven dayes of the Apostles aboade at Troas we may say it was taken for the seventh and last day For it is not told exactly on what day Paul came to Troas nor that he abode there full seven dayes but only in generall seven dayes Now although he had beene there but a part of the first and a part of the last of seven it may be well said that hee was there seven dayes
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
the whole people to come together for that end in these dayes which are otherwise common and worke dayes There are also in many Churches yeerely feasts injoyned by the order and discipline of the Church as of the Nativity Passion and Ascension of Christ c. wherein the people is gathered together to heare the word of God and all the parts of divine service Do they not know that God hath not bound them by speciall cōmandement to the observation of such dayes and that their conscience is not tyed unto them in that name And yet we see not any of them under that pretence neglect the keeping of those dayes or presume to ordaine others at their pleasure Some profane men may attempt such a thing but honest men which love the Word of God and the exercises of godlinesse will submit themselves to the order of the Church and observe such dayes not as I have said for any particular commandement that God hath given concerning them seeing in this respect they know they are free yet through respect and affection towards the order of the Church and true devotion towards the holy exercises whereunto shee hath thought fit to apply such dayes It is even so of Sunday betweene which and these other dayes there is not in effect any difference in regard of a necessity to keepe them saving that Sunday is more ordinary and frequent then these others are which being joyned to the antiquity and generality of the observation thereof ever since the beginning of the Christian Church hath worthily purchased unto it the precedence of credit and respect to all other dayes which may be extraordinarily now appointed by the Church for the exercises of Religion This is all that I have to say concerning the institution and setting a part of Sunday for Gods service which hath beene the matter of the third part of this treatise The end of the third Part. THE FOVRTH PART Concerning the observation of the Sabbath day under the Ancient Testament and of Sunday under the New Testament CHAPTER First What was the observation of the Sabbath day under the Ancient Testament 1. The two chiefe points of this fourth and last part 2. All servile workes of profit or of recreation were forbidden on the Sabbath day 3. Yea the least unnecessary workes as to goe out of doores to gather Manna 4. To prepare it on that day 5. Commandement was given to the people to prepare it the day before 6. Refutation of the contrary opinion 7. How it came to passe that the Manna being kept according to the Commandement did not stinke 8. Other examples of small things which it was not lawfull to doe on the Sabbath day 9. Workes lawfull on that day were the workes of the ceremoniall Law 10. Workes of love of mercy and of compassion 11. Workes of urgent necessity 12. Whence it is evident that the observation of the Iewish Sabbath was very precise and exact 1 HAving declared sufficiently the nature of the Sabbath day which was the maine point in this question I will dispatch briefely the last point concerning the observation thereof by a holy rest and cessation of all servile workes commanded of God and will shew how farre the Iewes were bound unto it under the ancient Testament and how farre or whether Christians are obliged unto it under the New Testament For this also is called in question 2 This is of it selfe cleere inough by that hath beene already said in the three first parts Neverthelesse to give a more full declaration and satisfaction I say that we know sufficiently what was the observation of the Sabbath day under the Old Testament seeing God had both in generall and particular ordered it by his lawes In generall he commanded a most exact rest and cessation and declared it by a redoubling of the words which he makes use of in this point saying sometimes that the seventh day is a Sabbath or Rest of Rest Exod. 16. verse 23. Exod 31. verse 15. Exod. 35. ver 2. Leviticus 23. verse 3. that is a day wherein he would have them to rest most precisely from all workes as it is said in the same places which workes he otherwhere intitleth servile workes Leviticus 23. verse 7 8 21 25. Numbers 28. verse 25. that is appertaining to their temporall and ordinary callings which they were wont to doe on the sixe former dayes of the weeke either for profit or for recreation and other uses simply civill domesticke earthly which he particularizeth in diverse places as for example to husband the ground to reape to cut grapes to tread wine presses Exod. 34. verse 21. Nehem. 13. verse 13. to buy and to sell Nehem. 10. verse 31. hold markets and faires for buying and selling of wares meat drinke to Cart to carry burthens Nehe. 13. verse 15 16 17 18. Ierem. 17. verse 21 22 23 24. to goe out of their houses for any end whatsoever besides their resorting to the holy convocations as to goe a voyage and to doe such like actions Exod. 16. verse 29. 3 This ordinance to doe no manner of work on the Sabbath day was so precise that God forbad them to doe the least workes even those which might be done without travell or distraction For example they were interdicted not only to make long and painefull voyages and courses but also to goe out of doores to walke although softly without urgent necessity as to goe out for to gather Manna when they were in the Wildernesse Exodus 16. ver 27. which they might have done without paines because it was to bee found at their doores and they were not to goe farre nor to take more paines than to stoope a little nor bestow above a very short time and that betimes in the morning because when the Sun waxed hot it melted neither could that have hindred them from sanctifying the Sabbath with all the exercises of Gods service 4 Neverthelesse God forbad them that light and small worke and least they should take that little and small diversion purposely he rained not downe Manna upon them on that day but the day before gave them bread for two dayes and when some of the people went out to see if there was any on the Sabbath day they were eagerly blamed as breakers of the Sabbath verse 27 28. And thereupon God commanded them to abide every man in his place and that no man should goe out of his place on that day to gather Manna verse 29. Likewise concerning that measure which they had gathered the day before for the Sabbath day he injoyned them also to bake and prepare it on the sixt day and to beware to delay and put off the preparing thereof to the seventh day least they should profane the Sabbath This is expressely set downe in these words Exod. 16. verse 23. To morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord Bake that which you will bake to day and seeth that yee will seeth and that
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
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
without most important and weighty reasons For considering that Gods externall service for which a day of rest is appointed is not the principall service that God requireth and that it ought to give place to the workes of true godlinesse and love according to Gods owne words I will have mercy and not sacrifice Hos. 6. vers 7. Matth. 12. vers 7. It is certaine there may be many lawfull reasons taken from true charity which we owe to our selves or to our neighbours whereby we may be dispensed with in the practise of Gods outward service on the Sabbath day and licensed to doe on it bodily und servile workes in stead of that service 26 But against this liberty which I maintaine all Christians have to worke or to cheare up themselves on Sunday in the manner before specified it is objected That worldlings when they are lured with some worldly advantage when they seek or look for some gaine on market or faire dayes take heed lest they loose so good an occasion shun all games and pastimes that may withdraw or divert them from their gaine make alwayes pleasure to plie and give place to profit And therefore farre lesse ought Christians on the Lords day which is as it were the great Market-day for their soules wherin they have need to prepare to themselves a great spirituall gain and make all their provisions to seeke or take any leisure for the occupations and pastimes of this life namely seeing our diligence cannot be so great our care so vigilant our labour so profitable but that we have much more profit to be made than all the profit we haue purchased already But if we make of the Sabbath our delight according to Gods exhortation in Esa. chap. 58. vers 13. we shall finde neither leisure nor place for worldly affaires 27 To the which I answer that the care of worldlings lest they should bee any wayes diverted from their trafficke and from the search of gaine on market-dayes by any game or pastime is nothing to the purpose It is true that we ought to be more carefull of the spirituall food of our soules than they are of the temporall profit of their bodies But this argument is made as if Sunday were onely Gods Market-day to speake so wherein wee may purchase unto us that profit as if it being past our hope of the acquisition thereof on another day of the weeke were utterly lost and as if a small and short occupation or recreation of this world taken on that day could bereave us of so great a good which foundation being sandie the building upon it fals to the ground 28 We ought to make of the Sabbath our delight but not in the same sense as the Iewes that is not of an externall and ceremoniall but of a spirituall Sabbath which the Prophet betokeneth in the place quoted that is Not to follow our owne wayes and not to doe our owne will which is the dayly Sabbath of the New Testament For God hath not ordained unto us a corporall one saving in some respects specified before which is much different from the Sabbath which the Iewes were obliged to observe 29 It is manifest of that hath beene said that our Sunday may in some sort be called a day of Sabbath or of rest because wee ought for the publike exercises of religion on it give over all our ordinary workes But it cannot be absolutely qualified with this name and with regard to an abstinence as precise as was required on the Iewish Sabbath day Moreover as wee have observed heretofore this name of Sabbath day is the proper name of the ancient day of the Iewes and not of the new day of Christians wherefore it were better done to abstaine from denoting it by the qualification of that name and to call it onely The Lords day or Sunday seeing these names have beene appropriated unto it by the Christian Church CHAPTER Sixth A more particular explication how the faithfull ought to carry themselves in the observation of Sunday 1. Duty of the Governours of the Church and of all particular Christians about the ordering and practise of Gods service 2. The faithfull ought to submit themselves to the order of the Church and to keepe the dayes appointed for Gods service by the publike practice thereof in the Congregation 3. How they ought to carry themselves where there is no Church 4. How where there is a Church during the service 5. How after the service 6. The sanctification of Sunday is grounded on the holinesse of the exercises practised in it and is so considered by the faithfull 7. Profane men because they have no heart to Gods service contemne the Lords day 8. Godly men doe quite contrary GOd for the edification and entertainement of his Church here below injoyneth to those that have charge of her governement to offer up prayers and thankesgivings to preach the Gospell to minister the Sacraments to assemble the faithfull together to establish good order in the Church and to particular Christians to pray devoutly to love Gods word to keep it receive the Sacraments frequent carefully the holy assemblies obey in things belonging to order and discipline those that have rule over them and submit themselves unto them not to be contentious against the good customes of the Church and to doe this not each of them for himselfe onely but also to procure that all persons subject to their governement their subjects their children their servants doe the same All Christians when they know that there are holy convocations for the hearing of the Word and the practice of other religious exercises and that the Order of the Church hath appointed unto them set dayes as in every week a Sunday are bound by these injunctions to resort carefully unto them and to take paines that their inferiours over whom they have authority follow their example And if indeed they love the word of God and the exercises of godlinesse to shew it by a diligent frequenting and serious practice of them as of a thing which God hath injoyned to all and for the things sake to observe the day wherein it is practised although God hath not prescribed nor appointed it and it hath no other foundation but the Order of the Church whereunto neverthelesse God hath commanded in generall all men to submit themselves 1 Cor. 14. vers 40. For it is not for the dayes sake that we ought to practise and respect the holy exercises which ordinarily are done on it but it is these exercises that make the day considerable and give credit authority and respect unto it The exercises are to be much esteemed for themselves and for Gods sake who hath expresly injoyned them The day is not honoured and accounted of but for their sake in as much as the Church is pleased to doe them on it Yet if a Christian were brought to that extremity that hee must remaine in a place where there is no Church nor order
Altera ceremonialis ac temporaria videlicet ut tempus illud sit dies septimus There are two parts of this Commandement one morall and perpetuall namely that a Sabbath be sanctified that is to say some set time is to bee appointed to divine service or the publike worship of God Another ceremoniall and temporary namely that that time should be a seventh day Item Cùm igitur Sabbathum septimi diei typus fuerit admonens populum de suo officio seu de pietate erga Deum de beneficio Dei erga populum per Christum praestando unà cum aliis ceremoniis adventu Christi per quem est impletum quod illa significabant abrogatum est Quod etiam Paulus testatur Col. 2. Seeing therefore a seventh dayes rest was a type remembring the people both of their duty or piety towards God and also of Gods bountifulnesse towards them which in Christ was to be manifested both it and the other ceremonies at the comming of Christ were abolished by whom was fulfilled that which they signified Which also S. Paul Col. 2. doth testifie Item Decalogus est perpetuus quatenus est Moralis Appendices autem sive determinationes moralium praeceptorum significationis causâ usque ad Messiam servandae The Decalogue is perpetuall so farre as it is morall but the appurtenances and determinations of the morall precepts such as is that of the Sabbath are because of that which they typifie to last till Christ. Et capite de lege divina Quaest. 1. Quae sint partes legis divinae Leges morales inquit non sunt certis circumstantiis definitae sed sunt generales ut tempus aliquod esse dandum ministerio c. Leges verò ceremoniales forenses sunt speciales sive circumstantiarum determinatio quae observandae sunt in ritibus vel actionibus externis Ecclesiasticis politicis ut septimum diem esse tribuendum ministerio c. The morall Lawes are not limited by circumstances but are generall and indefinite as that some time is to be assigned to divine service c. But the ceremoniall and judiciall lawes are speciall or are the very determination of the circumstances which are to be observed in outward rites or actions whether Ecclesiasticall or civill as that a seventh day is to be assigned to divine service c. Viret on the fourth Commandement towards the end We must distinguish as is fit betwixt the ceremonie of this precept and that which it retaineth of the law of nature imprinted in every mans heart for setting apart the ceremonie of it yet notwithstanding our conscience beareth witnesse unto us if we hold this for a certain truth that there is a God to whom we owe honour and glory that it is necessary that we hearken to his word and that both we and all ours be carefull of the ministery of the same which he hath ordained Zanchius in explicat 4 praecept Apostolus ad Col. 2. 17. aperte ait praeter alia ceremonialia Sabbatum etiam fuisse umbram rerum futurarum corpus autem hoc est veritatem earum rerum esse in Christo. The Apostle Col. 2. 17. saith in plaine termes that besides the other ceremonies the Sabbath also was a shadow of things to come but that the body that is to say the truth of them was in Christ. Item Mandatum quartum ceremoniale est quatenus talem diem nempe septimum diem quem Sabbatum vocant exercitio divini cultus destinat praescribit Ita ad solos Indaeos pertinuit nsque ad Christum Per Christum autem unà cum aliis ceremoniis abrogatm fuit The fourth Commandement is ceremoniall so far as it appointeth and prescribeth for divine worship such a day namely a seventh day which is called the Sabbath And thus considered it pertained to the Iewes onely till Christs time But by Christ it was abrogated together with the rest of the ceremonies Item Although elsewhere he declareth his opinion to be that the Sabbath hath beene celebrated since the beginning of the world notwithstanding here he speaketh of it as of a thing questionable as of a private opinion of certaine men Quomodo autem sanctificavit inquit non solum decreto voluntate sed re ipsa quia illum diem ut non pauci voluâ—â— probabile est mandavit primis hominibus sanctificandum How did he sanctifie it speaking of the Sabbath Not onely by his decree and purpose but really and in very deed because he commanded our first parents to hallow it as is the opinion of a great many and it is also probable And afterwards disputing against the Sabbatarians who will have all Christians obliged to the observation of the seventh day because the fourth Commandement is morall and concerneth all nations which they prove thus because say they from the beginning before Moses Law was given God sanctified it and the Patriarches kept it holy To which he answereth Quod â—iunt Patres ante legem diem septimum sanctificâsse quanquam hoc non facili apertè demonstrari potest ex S. literis sicut Tertullian adv Indaeos contendit ego tamen non contradixerim Sed quod inferunt esse igitur naturale ita ut etiam ad nos pertineat tam facile sequitur si dicas Patres ante legem offerebant animalia item circumcidebantur Ergo utrumque naturale est ideò utrumque etiam à nobis praestari debet As for that which they affirme that the Fathers before the Law kept holy the seventh day although this cannot easily and clearely be proved out of Scripture which also Tertullian adv Iudaeos doth maintaine notwithstanding I for my part will not gainesay it But the consequence which thence they inferre that therefore this Law is morall and concerneth us also is as pertinent as if you should argue thus The Fathers before the Law did offer the sacrifices of beasts and were also circumcised therefore both are morall and are to bee performed by us also Item Non ita morale est quin etiam sit ceremoniale mandatum hoc de Sabbato Morale est quatenus natura docet piet as postulat ut aliquis dies destinetur quieti ab operibus servilibus quo divino cultui vacare possit Ecclesia Ceremoniale est ad Iudaeos particulariter pertinens quatenus septimus fuit praescriptus non alius This precept of the Sabbath is not so morall but that also it is ceremoniall It is morall thus farre in that nature teacheth us and piety bindeth us to it that some one day be appointed to a rest from servile works that the Church may more freely give it selfe to the worship of God It is ceremoniall and peculiarly belongeth to the Iewes so farre as a seventh day is prescribed by it and no other Item Substantia hujus praecepti quatenns ad nos quoque pertinet confirmatum à Christo non est ut diem septimum
sanctificemus sed ut sanctificemus diem Sabbati hoc est quieti destinatum quisquis ille sit The substance of this command so farre as it concerneth us also and was confirmed by Christ is not that we keepe holy a seventh day But that we sanctifie a Sabbath day that is to say a day of rest whatsoever day it be Item Praeceptum hoc quartum morale est quatenus hôc mandatur â—ura religionis exercitium etiam externi divini cultus ut certo tempore conveniat Ecclesia ad audiendum verbum Dei ad publicas preces ad debita sacrificia facienda ad collectiones faciendas Id quod etiam confirmavimus quoniam apud omnes gentes semper recepta fuit haec consuetudo ut certis diebus convenirent omnes ad Deum celebrandum colendum invocandum Mosaicum autem ceremoniale fuit ad solos Iudaeos pertinens quatenus talis dies septimus nimirum fuit illis praescriptus quatenus illis etiam praescripti fuerunt certi ritus quibus Deum die Sabbati colerent atque eatenus etiam fuisse abrogatum Ergò ut certo tempore conveniat Ecclesia cum scilicet potest ad Deum celebrandum ex Dei est institutione in animis cujusque inscripta This fourth command is morall so farre as by it is recommended unto us the care of religion and the exercise of Gods externall worship and that at a set time the Church assemble together to heare the word of God to publike prayers to offer up due sacrifices and to make gatherings for the poore Which also wee have proved because it is a custome received amongst all nations that on certaine dayes there be publike assemblies to praise worship and call upon God But it is Mosaicall and ceremoniall pertaining to the Iewes onely in this respect that such a day namely a seventh was prescribed unto them and in this also that they had certaine rites prescribed unto them by which they were to worship God on the Sabbath day and in this regard it was also afterwards abrogated That therefore the Church meet together at some certaine time to wit when it can conveniently is Gods institution engraved in every mans minde And in the very close of his explication of the fourth command treating of the abrogation of the Sabbath hee saith thus Prima cansa ob quam institutum est Sabbatum est ut figuraret cessationem eamque perpetuam ab operibus nostris scilicet à peccatis patrandis quietem in Domino sinentes scilicet Deum operari opera S. S. in nobis Et quantum ad hanc causam quia erat tantùm figura alterius Sabbatismi erat ceremoniale praeceptum ideoque abrogatum est sicut caeterae figurae adveniente Christo figurato ad praesentiam veritatis id est Christi evanuit figura id est Sabbatum Col. 2. Quatenus verò institutum est ut status dies esset quo ad legem audiendam ceremonias peragendas conveniret populus vel saltem quem operum Domini meditationi peculiariter darent omnes abrogatum non est Nam apud nos locum habet ut statis diebus ad audiendum verbum ad Sacramenta percipienda conveniamus The first cause for which the Sabbath was instituted was to typifie a perpetuall cessation from our workes that is our sinnes and also our rest in the Lord suffering him to worke in us the workes of his holy Spirit and in regard of this cause because it was onely a figure of another Sabbath or rest it was ceremoniall and therefore was abrogated as likewise the rest of the types at the comming of Christ who by them was typified when the truth that is Christ appeared the shadow that is the Sabbath vanished away Col. 2. But in that respect that it was instituted to bee a set day for the Church to meet together on to heare the Law to performe the ceremonies prescribed or at least to meditate on the workes of God it is not abolished For it is thus in force even amongst us that on appointed dayes we assemble together to heare the Word and receive the Sacraments In many places also of this his exposition of the fourth command he affirmeth that the Law concerning the Sabbath was onely given to the Iewes and not to other nations and they were not bound to the observation of it Lib. 6. de oper sex dierum c. 1. having said that the seasons of the yeare the new and full moones are times common for all people for the distinction of which God hath given to all the Sunne and the Moone and appointed them their courses he addeth Alterum est genus eorum temporum seu 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quae peculiaria sunt certis gentibus quae quisque sibi ex toto anni tempore ad certa actionum genera deligit ut quod Deus voluerit ut ipsius populus sex diebus operaretur septimo autem qui Sabbatum dicitur quiesceret ab iis operibus vacaret cultui divino Item quod voluerit Calendas observari certis temporibus non aliis festa celebrari Paschae Pentecostes c. Haec erant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 populi Israelitaci Voluit vult ut singulae gentes habeant stata tempora quibus cultum praestent Deo sed libera cuique genti esse voluit There is another kinde of appointed times which are peculiar to certaine nations and which every one doth make choice of for himselfe out of the whole yeere for certaine actions As that God would have his owne people the Iewes to worke six dayes but to rest from those workes on the seventh day which is called the Sabbath and give themselves to divine worship Also that he would have them to observe the first dayes of every moneth and feasts of Easter Pentecost c. to be kept at certaine times and no other He would and willeth that every nation have appointed times for his worship but he hath left them to the liberty of every nation to be appointed by them Danaeus Ethic. Christian. l. 2. c. 10. speaking of the fourth Commandement Quatenus hoc praeceptum ceremoniale fuit hodiè cesset sed quatenus externa quaedam verae pietatis exercitia fieri praecipit praeceptum continent haec verba This precept so farre as it was ceremoniall is now of no force but so far as it appointeth some outward actions of true piety to be performed the words still containe a precept Item Fuisse ceremoniarum partem Sabbatum apparet ex eo quod appellatur signum faederis veteris inter Deum Iudaeos icti Exod. 31. 17. cum Sanctuario conjungitur Levit. 19. 30. item Paulus inter ceremonias enumerat Col. 2. 16. Heb. 4. 9. Dupliciter Sabbatum fuit ceremoniale quatenus fuit 1. cessatio severa ab omni opere servili corporali 2. Septima dies nominatim disertè à Deo praescripta erat
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
lib. 4. Of publike assemblies There is no great certainety at what times it was that Christians had their publike assemblies and yet lesse in what places Item The Christians serving of God was tied neither to certaine times nor places but rather by that which Iustin Martyr hath said of the Lords-day it is likely that necessity or custome assigned them to the time and that conveniencie designed the place Danaeus in Ethic. Christian. in praecep 4. Libertatem suam in die octava eligenda ostendunt Christiani se à Iudaicis ceremoniis Christi beneficio liberatos Porrò neque praecise octava dies ab omnibus Ecclesiis pro solenni 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 facienda observata est sed ab aliis Ecclesiis tertia dies id est Martis ab aliis quarta id est Mercurii vel alia ut tradit Socrates Scholasticus in lib. 5. c. 22. Dies autem Dominica quae Solis dicitur postea communi omnium Ecclesiarum consensu sub Imperatoribus Christianis statuta est quia videbatur haec etiam Apostolorum temporibus probata The Christians in making choice of the eighth day doe shew the liberty they have and that by Christ they are freed from the ceremonies of the Iewes But neither was the eighth precisely observed by all Churches for the keeping of their solemne assemblies but by some Churches the third day that is Tuesday by others the fourth that is Wednesday or some others as Socrates reporteth Hist. l. 5. c. 22. But the Lords-day which is also called Sunday by the unanimous consent of all Churches under the raignes of Christian Emperours wee pitch upon and the rather because it seemed to have beene approved of even in the Apostles times PASSAGES Concerning the Observation of the Sabbath in regard of a resting from the workes of our ordinarie vocations S. Augustin tom 6. Contra faustum Manichaeum l. 6. c. 4. Cessationem Sabbatorum jam quidem supervacuam ducimus ad observandum ex quo spes revelata est nostrae quietis aeternae Now we thinke the observation of Sabbaths to be superfluous since the hope of our eternall rest was revealed Contra Adimantum c. 16. Sabbati quietem non observamus in tempore sed signum temporale intelligimus ad aeternam quietem quae illo signo significatur aciem mentis intendimus The Sabbaths rest we observe not in time but we understand that it was a temporary signe and we fasten our eyes upon that eternall rest which is represented by that signe And Tom. 2. epist. 119. ad Ianuar. c. 12. Observare diem Sabbati non ad literam jubemur secundùm ocium ab opere corporali sicut observant Iudaei We are not commanded to observe the Sabbath day according to the letter by a rest from bodily worke as the Iewes observe it Calvin in ep ad Colos. c. 2. v. 16. Atqui dicet quispiam nos adhuc retinemus aliquam dierum observationem Respondeo nos dies nequaquam servare quasi in feriis aliqua sit religio aut quasi fas non sit tunc laborare sed respectum haberi politiae ordinis non dierum But some will say we till this day retaine some observation of dayes I answer wee doe not observe dayes as if there were any holinesse in them or as if it were not lawfull then to worke but we have regard to the good government and order of the Church not to dayes Uiret on the fourth command towards the end If I had that authority which Magistrates have I would take this course If I could not keepe men in better order either they should labour in the service of God or in some other worke which is not hurtfull or altogether unprofitable It were much better that those who spend their meanes in gaming and hunting Tavernes did labour according to the Commandements Notwithstanding I thinke it better to give order that that whole day be imployed as much as shal possible in Gods service and in works of mercy for if it were permitted to worke on this day as on other it were to be feared that by little and little they would come to make no difference betwixt this and working dayes c. From whence it is manifest that he did not think that a labour honest and lawfull in it selfe was unlawfull on the Lords-day but onely that it was expedient that the Magistrate suffer not men to labour on this as on other dayes to prevent inconveniences Zanchius in praecep 4. quaest 3. de festis blameth the Papists in that Gravius accusatur punitur in papatu si quis in die Paschatis aut Nativitatis Domini vel dio Dominico agrum coluerit etiamsi eo id fecerit tempore quo non occupantur in Templo quà m si quis eodem die perpotet inebrietur chore as ducat c. Amongst them hee is more sharpely accused and punished who on Easter Christmas or the Lords-day laboureth his ground although hee doe it not in time of Divine service than hee who tippleth is drunke and danceth on those dayes By which words he implieth clearely enough that he did not disprove an honest labour on Sunday so it be not done in time of Divine service Item Opera servilia per se non prohibentur in die festo sed eatenus tantùm prohibentur quatenus in cultu divino unà cum reliquis fratribus exercere to possis occupari impediunt Servile workes are prohibited on a Holy day not because they are evill in themselves but because they hinder us from joyning with our brethren in Gods worship And a little after hee quoteth and approveth of that which Constantine wrote to Helvid us that He should suffer the Countrey-men if necessity did so require to labour their grounds on the Lords-day to sowe and to doe other things necessary And addeth moreover Quantò magis licet haec opera servilia praestare si ita possis illis vatare ut interim tamen ab exercitio divini cultus minimè per illa voceris How much more lawfull is it to doe these servile workes if so they may be done that they be no disturbance to thee nor avocation from the exercise of Gods worship Danaeus in praecept 4. Nobis Christianis non tanta támve severa rigida cessatio imposita est Non ex lege Constantini licet serere metere die Dominico si commodum sit Et ita videmus quae sit libert as Christiana Vpon us Christians is imposed not so great nor such an exact and rigid cessation and rest as was upon the Iewes for even by Constantin's law it is lawfull both to sowe and to reape on the Lords-day if there be cause for it And so we see what is our Christian liberty Item Liberê hodiè solùm quantum ad communem Ecclesiae aedificationem pertinet ab operibus nostris cessamus ut Dei cultui inserviamus ut neminem offendamus On this day we
to Gods service to wit 1. If it be a thing of naturall justice of perpetuall necessity and whereunto all are tied by a morall commandement appertaining to the New as well as to the Old Testament that of seven daies of the weeke one be kept for the end aforesaid 2. If before the Law was given by Moses to the people of Israel yea if from the beginning of the world God himselfe made the particular designation of this day setting it apart for his service and commanding to Adam and to all his posterity the hallowing and keeping of it 3. If under the New Testament there be a divine ordinance of such a day of rest as well as there was under the Old Testament 4. And if by Gods command the consciences of faithfull Christians are under the Gospell as much obliged to hallow it as the Iewes were under the Law and for the better and more religious sanctification thereof to abstaine from all outward workes which are lawfull and are practised on other daies lest they should transgresse that divine Commandement and so finne against religion and conscience These are the maine points which some learned Divines and godly Christians instructed by them demurre upon 1. Some of them deeme that the keeping of one of the seven dayes of the weeke is a morall and naturall duty that God himselfe sanctified it for his service by an expresse and perpetuall Commandement that so it was from the beginning so it is still and shall never be otherwise till the end of the world 2. That before sin came into the world as soone as Adam was created God prescribed unto him and to Eve our first parents and in them to all men which were in their loynes and were to come out of them the hallowing of one day of the weeke which was the seventh day 3. That he reiterated and renewed this Commandement in the fourth precept of the morall Law which he gave in Horeb to the people of Israel and hath bound all Christians under the New Testament to hallow and keepe it religiously because it is of the same nature with the rest of the Commandements of the Decalogue which are all morall 4. That for this cause our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ and his blessed Apostles have ordained and prescribed it unto them And so all men have beene all men are all men shall in all times be tied to the religious observation thereof by the necessity of a divine and morall Commandement 5. That we are bound in conscience by the binding power of this Commandement to refraine alwayes on this seventh day of Sabbath or of rest from all earthly workes used on the other dayes of the weeke 6. This onely they acknowledge that the particular observation of one constant day amongst these seven as of the first or of the last of seven is not morall nor of a like obligation under the Old and under the New Testament that it is onely a point of order and of ecclesiasticall government which God did otherwise order and settle under the Old than he hath done under the New Testament That under the Old Testament from the creation of the world till the comming of Christ he ordained the observation of the last day of the weeke in remembrance that he created the world in six dayes and rested on the seventh or last day from all the works that he had made whereas he hath ordained that under the New Testament the first day of the weeke shall be religiously solemnized in remembrance that on that day our Lord Iesus Christ rose from death to life and by the exceeding greatnesse of the power of his glorious resurrection hath performed the worke of the second creation which is the redemption of the world from the slavery of the devill the power of the Law the bondage of sinne And therefore it behooveth the first worke of the Creation to yeeld to this worke the prerogative of excellencie of nature as likewise of the possession which it had till then of the solemne day of rest That for this cause so important and peremptory the day of Gods service was to bee changed and removed from the last day of the weeke wherein was finished the first Creation unto the first day wherin the second was fully accomplished by our Lord Iesus Christ who hath himselfe appointed this alteration 5 Others doe hold that verily it is a duty naturall morall and perpetuall to serve God publikely 1. That all men are obliged unto it and bound to meet together in the Church for that purpose 2. That being there they ought to give their mindes to the exercises of religion with a more particular earnestnes diligence than they are able to do every day at home or abroad 3. That they must have a set day purposely stinted for the fulfilling of a duty so religious so necessary and so fruitfull 4. But that such a day must be one of seven or of another number which in order of that nūber they deny to be a morall point to have in it any naturall necessity For their tenet is that it is a thing of order of Ecclesiastical government depending intirely of institution 5. That indeed under the Law which God gave by Moses to the children of Israel this holy and most perfect Law-giver amongst other points whereby he directed the Ecclesiasticall order and Church-government which that people was to be ruled by instituted and commanded the consecrating of a severall day for his service even of one of seven and of the last of those seven which he had rested on from all his works a most strict precise forbearance of all worldly works on that day 6. But appeareth not at all that God gave any commandement to Adam either before or after his fall binding him or his progenie to the keeping of any day whatsoever as to a thing morall and necessarie neither is there any trace of such a Commandement to be found till the comming of the Israelites to the wildernesse for till then God had left it free 7. That under the New Testament one day of seven is kept to wit the first day of the weeke wherein our Lord Iesus Christ rose from the dead But not for any morall necessity tying all men to observe one day of the weeke Nay not for any expresse Commandement which God the onely Law-giver hath given by Iesus Christ or his Apostles to keepe such a day and namely the first but through an usage which hath beene introduced and conserved in the Christian Church since her first beginnings till this present time 8. That therefore this observation is simply of Ecclesiasticall order and that a cessation from ordinary workes on this day is more particularly requisite than in another day of the weeke seeing the Church hath appointed and set it apart for Gods publike service Yea that an universall refraining from all these workes to the intent that the whole day bee without
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-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
Hesiode who speaketh not of a seventh day of the weeke but of a seventh day of the moneth consecrated to the remembrance of Apollo's birth and whose holinesse was not thought by him nor others to have a more ancient beginning I say further that these Writers lived many hundred yeeres after the Law was given by Moses to the Iewes that some knowledge of the points of the said Law and by it of the keeping of the seventh day might have come unto them but under a cloud so thicke and darke that they spoke of it as all the Poets have done of the Floud saying that on the seventh day all things were made whereas on it nothing was made Some of those which lay hold on such passages seeing this acknowledge freely that they are not strong enough to inforce men to beleeve that from the beginning and in all times the Gentiles celebrated the seventh day and made of it a day of rest 10 Indeed if wee could finde that the Gentiles have commonly and regularly observed from time to time a seventh day though not the same seventh to wit the last of seven that God rested in and hallowed a more probable inference might be made of that continuall practice that the observation of a seventh day is of the Law of nature or at least that God from the beginning injoyned it to all mankinde and that so it passed by tradition to the Gentiles yet not without receiving some alteration and corruption by processe of time and by the trechery of men But no such thing is to be found nothing can be gathered out of the ancient Writers saving this onely that the Gentiles have kept holy and solemne daies yet with great diversitie which fits not the turne of the maintainers of the Sabbath but availeth onely to prove that the hallowing of some daies to the God-head for his solemne service is a point of the law of nature further it goeth not and is no manner of way steading to prove the necessity of the consecration of a particular day amongst a setled number rather then of another day and farre lesse of a seventh day for Gods service 11 I repeat what I have said before in part that if the keeping of a seventh day had beene a point of naturall morality and if God had commanded it from the beginning to Adam Father of all mankinde to be kept by him and by all his off-spring after him all the Gentiles in all times should have knowne and practised it either by naturall instinct or by Tradition as they had the knowledge of all other morall duties and in some measure practised them Of if they had utterly forgotten that day GOD had rebuked them for this omission and inobservation as he reprehended them most sharply for the transgression of all the rest of morall Commandements As indeed they had beene for such an omission and commission blame worthy chiefly after they were informed by the renued institution of this day among the Iewes that GOD had ordained it from the beginning of the world to be kept by all men they should not have found any pretence to excuse the ignorance of their duty whereby they were bound to keepe holy that day if as it is pretended the fourth Commandement of the Law implyed an universall observation of that dutie amongst all people and Nations of the world For if they beleeved not that the Commandement did belong to them their unbeliefe could not be unto them a cause of excuse and make them blamelesse Nay they were so much the more worthy of reprehension that their blindnesse was voluntary And in such a case God had not beene silent 12 Some of those that acknowledge the Ordinance of the Sabbath to be a positive cōmandement unknowne by nature and depending wholly of institution yet as ancient as the creation of our first Parents reply that God did not checke the Gentiles for the inobservation of the Sabbath because hee had matters worthy of reprehension of farre greater consequence then this was namely hainous crimes against the Law of nature common to them all which made him to conceale this under the cloake of silence as being onely an omission of a positive Law forgotten by them and of farre lesser consequence then these monstrous and ougly sinnes That no man can infer of this silence that the Ordinance of the Sabbath hath not beene and was not obligatory from the beginning seeing we finde some crimes committed even against the Law of nature which GOD hath not in any part of holy Scripture censured in the Gentiles As for example Polygamy or having of moe than one wife at once And yet no Christian will inferre thence that the mariage of two persons only to be one flesh hath not beene established by God from the beginning to be practised of all men 13 This reply is of small weight For although the forgetting and inobservation of the Sabbath be a crime lesser than are many which are committed against the Law of nature and that might have beene a reason to God to censure it more seldome and not so eagerly in the Gentiles as he did in his owne people yet in all likenesse of truth it could not bee a reason to his wisdome and goodnesse why he should not reprove it at all but passe it under perpetuall silence whiles he rebuked in diverse places most carefully their other crimes seeing that when he made reflexion upon the Iewes although the inobservation of the Sabbath considered in it selfe was in them also a crime of lesser moment then others whereby they violated the morall Law neverthelesse hee hath most frequently and sharpely imputed it unto them If the renewing of the Sabbath to them as is pretended was afterwards to God a sufficient ground and just reason to reprove them grievously both for the oblivion and for the contempt thereof when now and then they transgressed in the one or in the other supposing the first institution of the Sabbath to have beene made for all men and given to all from the beginning of the world why was it not also a just cause to chide the Gentiles if not so eagerly as the Iewes yet in some sort for transgressing it namely when GOD set himselfe purposely to condemne their faults and so much the more that the oblivion of it could not in any sort bee a colourable excuse to helpe them Moreover the neglecting of such a day continually by sinne of omission for want of observation and not only the setting at naught but also the profaning of that day which God had ordained to be holy and to be used in all nations with great holinesse for so notable and so worthy an end as is the commemoration of that great worke of the Creation common to all men and so falling into the most filthy sinne of commission for polluting the said day by doing all kind of workes and actions contrary to the sanctification thereof and thus heaping transgression upon
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
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
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
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
comming of Messias and not after So he said to Iacob I will give this Land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession Genes 48. vers 4. So to the Israelites of the Passeover You shall keepe it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations by an ordinance for ever Exod. 12. v. 14. So the ordering of oile in the Lamps from evening to morning in the Tabernacle of Congregation before the testimony by Aaron and his sons is called a statute for ever unto their generations Exo. 27. vers 21. So to Phineas and to his seed after him God promised the covenant of an everlasting Priesthood Numbr 25. vers 13. 5 What I have said and made good of the Sabbath day that it was of old a figue of the spirituall and heavenly rest the beginnings whereof God giveth to his children in this life and shall give them the full plenitude in Heaven may be confirmed by the words of the Apostle in the Epistle to the Hebrewes Chap. 4. where intending to shew to the Hebrews that there is an heavenly rest prepared promised by God to them that are his which they should labour to enter into by faith and take heed to themselves lest any of them should come short of it through unbeliefe he alledgeth two types figures thereof The one is the bodyly and terrestriall rest which God had promised of old to the Israelites in the Land of Canaan called for that cause The Land of rest Deut. 25. Iosh. 1. ver 13. and Gods rest Psal. 95. vers 11. which those of the Israelites that were incredulous and rebellious in the wildernesse entered not into but those onely that beleeved Gods promise By this God represented that no Infidells shall enter into the heavenly and eternall rest but the faithfull onely Now hee verifieth that the rest of the Land of Canaan promised and conferred upon them that beleeved and denied to those that were rebellious was a figure of that other better rest which the faithfull receive and all Infidells are shut out of by this that after so long a time to wit foure hundred yeeres after the Israelites were by Ioshuah brought into the Land of Canaan God speaking by the mouth of David yet againe warneth the Israelites then living that at what time they shall heare his voice they harden not their hearts as their forefathers did in the wildernesse lest they should come short of entring into the heavenly rest promised to them as their ancestors for their unbeliefe were bereaved of the effect of the promise to enter into the earthly rest of Canaan This advertisement is perpetuall and belongeth also to Christians nay we may say that it hath properly relation to the time of the Gospel which is that certaine time determined and limited of God whereof mention is made in the seventh verse and is so called ordinarily in the new Testament Gal. 4. vers 2. 4. Eph. 1. vers 10. Tit. 1. vers 3. Therefore we which are under the Gospell to day and have the Gospell of Christ preached unto us and heare the voice of his Gospell must beware lest because of our unbeliefe and rebellion wee enter not into the celestiall rest no more then at that time the rebellious Israelites entred into the rest of earthly Canaan For from hence the Apostle maketh this collection that considering the Israelites were entred into the Land of Canaan and possessed it peaceably without feare when God by his servant David spoke againe the foresaid words of entring into his rest sure Gods meaning was to signifie a farre better promise of a more excellent rest then was the rest of the Land of Canaan even a spirituall and an heavenly rest whereof that other and the promise thereof was but a figure and shadow For if the promise to enter into Gods rest made first and foremost to the Israelites had attained its full and whole accomplishment after that Ioshuah had introduced and given them rest in the Land of Canaan God after that introduction had not exhorted them to take heede that they hardened not their hearts in that day in which he should make them heare his voice lest they should not enter into his rest as if they had not beene in it already Whereby hee therewith made them a promise of entring into his rest if they beleeved and were obedient Therefore the Apostle concludeth that there remaineth a rest to the people of God vers 9. a rest spirituall and heavenly purchased unto them by the true Ioshuah even by Iesus Christ of whom the other Ioshuah was but a figure 6 The other Type which he propoundeth to the same purpose is taken from Gods rest on the seventh day after the creation of all things which rest could not be understood by the promise which God made so many ages after the creation of entring into his rest because it was past and finished then when he ended and finished all his workes as may be clearely seene by the History written in Genesis Chap. 2. vers 2. But the meaning of the Apostle is that it was a figure of this other spirituall and heavenly rest ordained and prepared from the foundation of the world For if the rest promised and granted to the Israelites in the land of Canaan is mentioned as a type this rest of God on the seventh day is alledged in the same quality seeing they are both coupled together The Apostle confirmeth that Gods resting on the seventh day was a type by the words written Genesis 2. vers 2. where it is said that God rested the seventh day from all his workes Heb. 4. vers 3 4. which had not beene thus so expresly written considering that to speake properly God who was not wearied rested not and his resting was only a ceasing from the production of his creatures and from giving being to any more kindes then those which hee had made in sixe daies Seeing also one day is not of it selfe better than another day if God in this seventh day and his resting in it had not intended to set downe a type and to figure some mysterie to wit that as he had his workes of the creation by divers degrees in sixe daies and rested on the seventh day doing no more but onely keeping and preserving his workes in the being he had given them even so he produceth and sets forward by a continuall advancement the worke of his grace in his elect during the sixe daies of this world after which having ended this blessed worke of his mercy he shall rest from it and shall intertaine and continue in this happy state of perfection for ever and ever and shall make them to rest also with him on the seventh day of the world to come which shall never have an end Vndoubtedly to signifie this perpetuity no mention is made in the history of the creation of any terme or end of the seventh day that God rested in as it is of the other daies
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
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
time it followeth not that his meaning was in that sanctification to prescribe it to Adam and to his posterity to be observed by them For it is said only that God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it but not that he commanded man to sanctifie it as he did in the Law This sanctification includeth not necessarily a precept given to man For we may conceive simply that God in his owne mind blessed and sanctified it that is magnified it gave it a speciall recommendation made a particular account and had a good liking of it and as it were rejoyced and gloried in it because then he rested from all his workes beheld seriously their most beautifull and perfect structure and his glory in them Which implyeth not that he was willing to give an ordinance to man to observe it For according to the stile of the Scripture times as well as places are called holy and are said to be sanctified by the Lord simply in regard of his appearing in them by some famous action or some other notable mark whether he ordaineth them to men to be kept by them or not as may be gathered out of Exodus Chapter 3. verse 5. Chapter 19. ver 23. of Deuteronomie Chapter 26. ver 15. of Ioshua Chapter 5. verse 15. Of Psalme 11. ver 4. Of Ieremy 31. ver 40. Of Ezechiel Chapter 28. ver 22. Of Sophoniah Chapter 1. ver 7. Of 2 Peter Chapter 1. ver 18. 2 Thirdly although this blessing and sanctifying of the seventh day were to be understood as done at that first time and relatively to man it should not follow that it was done for that time that it had relation to Adam and to Eve and that God had given unto them notice thereof For God might have blessed and sanctified that seventh day by an appointment and designe to command the observation thereof to men not at that time nor long after but onely when he was to give the Law to his people of Israel as also he did If any at this time relating the History how Noah and his family were in the Arke saved by the waters of the floud or how the Israelites were delivered from the hands of Pharaoh by the waters of the Red Sea upon the occasion of that discourse should adde that then God sanctified the Baptisme of the New Testament he should speake fitly to the purpose because these things were figures which in Gods intention had relation to the figure of Baptisme 1 Cor. 10. ver 2. and 1 Pet. 3. ver 21. Although God sanctified not Baptisme to be practised at that time in the Church but long after likewise Moses might very well say that God as soone as he rested on the seventh day sanctified that day because he rested on it purposely to ordaine it to bee to men a holy day although hee ordained it not at that time but long after in the dayes of the common wealth of Israel And indeed the Hebrew word which is translated by the word Sanctifie signifieth to consecrate ordaine prepare publish proclaime and is often taken relatively to that which is to come whether it be applyed to persons Isa. 13. ver 3. Ierem. 51. verse 27. 28. to things Ierem. 6. vers 4. or to times 2 King 10. vers 20. Ioel 1. vers 14. Ioel 2. vers 15. in which places as may be seene there the Holy Ghost speaking in the present tence persons are said to be actually sanctified that is destinated and appointed for some actions which they were not to doe then but long after Likewise actions are named which were to be performed after a long time as also times and daies to be solemnized which were not to happen but after a good while the times betweene which were correspondent to them in the ordinary course of moneths and weeks having no part in this solemnity And why may we not say that even so the seventh day was blessed and sanctified that is ordained to be kept but not at that time by Adam and Eve but only by their posterity many ages after and to beginne to be observed when the Law should be given to the people of Israel 3 It must not be thought more strange that such a sanctification done at the beginning of the world should be relative to the giving of the Law which came to passe two thousand yeeres after then to see in the aforesaid passages divers sanctifications relative to actions which were to fall out some hundred yeeres after More or lesse time are of no moment in such things It sufficeth to sanctifie and to say that a thing hath beene sanctified in the present time for a time to come which is evident by the places afore mentioned and by others such like If God is said to have chosen set apart and sanctified from the wombe certaine persons because he was to imploy them in holy functions when they should be of a mature and ripe age and such as he should thinke fit before which time he suffereth them to remaine in a common condition with other men as may be seene in Ieremiah Chap. 1. vers 5. and in the Epistle to the Galatians Chap. 1. vers 15. why may it not be said that after the same manner he sanctifieth a day to be applyed to holy uses a long while after this sanctification and in the meane while leaveth it till that time come in the common and ordinary use of and with other daies 4 Their reply is very light when they say that if the aforesaid answer be of any value we must say likewise that as God sanctified not in the beginning the seventh day but by destinating it to be holy afterwards even so he rested not on that day but after the same manner in as much as he appointed it for his rest in some time to come which indeed is absurd For this reply presupposeth that Gods rest on the seventh day and the sanctification of that day are one thing and that these two fashions of speech may and ought to be taken in the same sense and meaning which is not so when we say of any body that resteth and ceaseth to worke that imports a thing present and not done by destination only But when it is said that one hath sanctified a thing in the sense that the word sanctifie is taken to wit to destinate and appoint to an holy use it is not necessary that such an use beginne as soone as the thing is sanctified for it may be very well appointed for a time to come 5 Fourthly although it should be granted that the seventh day was prescribed to Adam to be observed by him continually that toucheth not the morality of the Sabbath For this being granted I say the seventh day was not ordained vnto him as a morall thing nor also as a ceremony and figure directing to Christ of whom he had no need in the state of innocency but onely as a point of order and of government which God was
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
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
otherwise we are not bound to keepe the Law in that respect that God pronounced it in the Mountaine of Sina and wrote it upon two Tables which were given to Moses For in those respects it obliged the Iewes only to whom alone also it was adressed in the preface put before it Heare Israel c. No more are these considerations of value to make it continue for ever The inscription therof in Tables of stone might have had another end and usage then that which is pretended by those which say that it denoteth the perpetuity of all that is contained therein for it represented the hardnesse of the heart of man which is more refractary and thwart to the spirituall inscription of the Law of God then the hardest stone is to the materiall inscription which hardnesse the Law is not of it selfe able to vanquish and overcome because it is a dead letter written in stone It is God God alone who by his grace and by the power of the Gospel and of the Spirit which accompanieth the Gospell changeth the heart of stone into an heart of flesh Ezech. 36. ver 26. and 2 Cor. 3. ver 3 6 7 8. Wee are bound to the observation of the Law and it is perpetuall only as it is morall and written naturally in the tables of the heart and as it commandeth us things which of their nature are good just and holy or forbiddeth those which in themselves are evill which also the Gospel of Iesus Christ our onely Law hath declared and confirmed to be such as it confirmeth the other nine Commandements but maketh no mention of the fourth Commandement which is here brought in question as if it did binde us to the observation of a seventh day 3 Neither doe I see any inconvenience to affirme that the Law of the ten Commandements which is called Morall is not such in its totality but only in regard of the greatest part thereof to wit of the nine Commandements for whose sake it hath deserved the title given unto it of morall naturall universall and perpetuall Law as often the whole is named from that which is the principall in it And that it is Ceremoniall particular and temporall in regard of a parcell thereof to wit of the fourth Commandement For the Scripture saith no where that all the Commandements of this Law are without exception Morall Nay seeing this Law is often called in generall termes Gods Covenant made with the Israelites Exod. 34. vers 28. Deut. 4. vers 13. 23. Deut. 5. vers 3. Deut. 9. vers 9. 11. 15. c. 1 King 8. vers 21. which Covenant comprehended not onely the Morall points but also the Ceremonies as may be seene Exod. 24. vers 7 8. Exod. 34. vers 10. 27. Levit. 2. vers 13. Levit. 26. vers 2. 15. Ierem. 34. vers 13. It is most like or rather most plaine that God comprehended in the said Law as in an Epitome or short discourse all his Ordinances both Morall and Ceremoniall which afterward hee declared more fully to Moses and which are dispersed here and there in his Bookes And as the other nine Cōmandements are the summary of the Morall ordinances even so the fourth Commandement concerning the Sabbath day and the sanctification thereof which was done with the practice of Ceremonies is a summary of all the Ceremoniall ordinances 4 For to this Sabbath day all other Sabbaths and legall feasts have relation and to them all the Ceremonies whereby they were solemnized have reference Philo a learned Iew hath observed this very well in his exposition of the Decalogue where he saith that the ten Commandements are the summary of all the speciall Lawes contained in the whole sacred volume of the Law-giver and that the fourth Commandement containeth compendiously the Feasts Sabbaths Sacrifices Vowes Purifications and other Ceremonies And indeed the Sabbath is joyned with all other holy-daies in the 23. Chapter of Leviticus as being of the same nature and is put in the first place before them all as being the first and principall of them all It is also joyned with the Sanctuary Levit. 19. vers 30. and with the new Moones and other solemnities Esa. 1. v. 13 14. where God declareth that hee cannot away with it and maketh no better account of it then of all the rest of their solemne meetings and appointed Feasts Also the observation of the Sabbath day is taken in divers places of the old Testament as denoting summarily all the Ceremoniall service which God had of old injoyned to Israel as being a speciall and principall point of that service and a meane for the observation of all the other points whereby he would be honoured Notable amongst other places is that of Ezechiel Chap. 20. vers 11. 12 13. where God saith first that he gave them his Statutes and made them to know his Iudgments which if a man doe he shall even live in them vers 11. understanding by Statutes and Iudgements the Morall Commandements properly as it is evident by the 18. Chapter of Leviticus whence these words are taken and where the Statutes Iudgements and Ordinances wherof we speake are expresly opposed to the vices of the Land of Egypt and of the Land of Canaan vers 3 4 5. As in the foresaid 20. Chapter of Ezechiel vers 18. 19. they are also opposed to the vices of their Fathers who in former times had lived in Egypt to which vices the Commandement of the ceremoniall Law could not be conveniently opposed because before the times of the pilgrimage of the Israelites in the wildernesse they were unknowne and had no sway Now after this God addeth in the foresaid Chapter of Ezechiel ver 12. Moreover also I gave them my Sabbaths to be a signe between me and them c. distinguishing the Sabbaths from the Statutes whereof he had spoken before as a Commandement ceremoniall and typicall from those that are Morall and comprehending under it all other typike and figurative ordinances of the Law whereof for this cause although hee had established them in the wildernesse as well as the Sabbath he maketh no mention at all 5 And in the 22. Chapter of the same Prophet God blaming in many particularities the crimes committed by the Iewes against the Morall Law condemneth their transgression of the Ceremoniall Law saying simply vers 26 that they had defiled his holy things and had their eyes from his Sabbaths Likewise in the 23. Chapter vers 38. and in other places the prophanation of the Sabbath is set downe to signifie the violation of the whole outward and ceremoniall service which God had ordained in that time because the Sabbath day was then solemnly destinated to the practice thereof Yea the violation also of the internall spirituall and Moral service but by consequence because the externall service was ordained of God to be unto his people a help and meanes to fortifie them in the practice of the other in such sort that he who neglected
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
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
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
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
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
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
Christ is not come to abolish the Law whereof the Sabbath is a part 2. Answer sometimes by the Law and the Prophets are understood the morall precepts only 3. Sometimes the ceremoniall only 4. In Christs words both are to be understood but principally the ceremoniall 5. This is proved by the 18. verse 6. Frivolous instance from Christs words Heaven and earth shall not passe c. 7. The same is proved by the scope of Iesus-Christ in the foresaid words 8. Falsity of a second instance that the Lawes expounded in the rest of the Chapter are all morall 9. Although it were true it followeth not that Christs words in the 17. verse should bee understood of the morall Law 10. Christs words rightly understood favour not the morality of the Sabbath 11. Third instance from the 19. verse 12. First Answer Christ in that verse speaketh of an annihilating of the Commandements and not of the abrogating of some of them 13. Second Answer by retorsion 14. Third Answer Christ speaketh of the whole Law of Moses and not of the Decalogue only 15. Fourth instance from Saint Iames words Chapter 2. verse ten 16. Uanity of this instance 1 AS little to this purpose are the words of Christ in the fifth Chapter of Saint Matthew verse 17. I am not come to destroy the Law and the Prophets but to fulfill them From which words they make this conclusion that seeing the Commandement of the Sabbath day is a Commandement of the Law confirmed from time to time by the Prophets IESUS CHRIST hath not abolished it And therefore the obligation to keep the Sabbath day lieth upon us still and shall dure to the worlds end 2 To this allegation of Christs words I returne this answer that indeed sometimes to wit when a morall matter is in hand the Scripture by the Law and the Prophets understandeth only the precepts of the Law and of the Prophets pertaining to this morality As when in the twelfth verse of the seventh Chapter of Saint Matthew Christ saith All things whatsoever yee would that men should doe to you doe yee even so to them For this is the Law and the Prophets 3 But sometimes also when the speech is of the fulfilling of things foretold or figured of old by the Law and the Prophets are to be understood only the prophesies and the typike ceremonies of the ancient Testament as in S. Matthew 11. Chap. v. 13. S. Luke 24. verse 27. Acts 24. ver 26. Acts 26. verse 22. 4 To apply this to the passage objected out of the fifth Chapter of Saint Matthew I say that in it by the Law and the Prophets are to be understood not only the precepts concerning the morall duties of this life but also the ceremonies of the Law as may be clearely seene by these words of our Saviour that are generall I am not come to destroy the Law nor the Prophets but to fulfill them Now the ceremonies are a part of the Law of Moses are called in the Scripture by the Name of the Law and make a part of the Sermons of the Prophets as well as the moralities The conjunction of the Law and of the Prophets in a generall matter such as this is sheweth that by the Law we must understand all that is contained in the bookes of Moses as by the Prophets all things contained in their bookes Now of the bookes of Moses and of the Prophets the ceremonies make a notable portion 5 I adde to this that the predictions types and promises are here as much nay much more to be understood then morall duties as may be seene evidently by these words of our LORD in the 18. verse following Uerily I say unto you Till heaven and earth passe one Iot nor one title one point or one pricke of a letter shall in no wise passe from the Law till all be fulfilled It is certaine that these words Iota Title or pricke are not to be in this sentence taken properly because letters and titles or pricks of letters are not capable of accomplishment but by them Christ understandeth the least things propounded in the Law Having properly regard to all the things whether great or small figured by the ceremonies of the Law and foretold and promised by Moses and the Prophets whereof he confirmed by these words the future accomplishment Neither can these words of the 18. verse be so fitly applyed to the morall Commandements as to the ceremonies promises and prophesies This sense The heaven and earth shall passe rather then whatsoever hath beene figured promised and foretold by the Law and the Prophets shall not be effected and fulfilled being manifestly more sutable to the foresaid words then this The heaven and the earth shall rather passe then the morall Commandements shall not be kept and executed 6 The instance made upon these words Till heaven and earth passe c. is vaine when they conclude that there Iesus Christ speaketh of things of the Law that were to continue in their being and oblige all men to observe and keepe them till the worlds end which is not true of the ceremonies which soone after expired by his death For Iesus Christ doth in no wise say that whatsoever is contained in the Law was to continue stable in force and vigour and to be kept till heaven and earth passe But his meaning in this kind of speech is the same that I have touched to wit that heaven and earth shall passe more easily and rather than the Law shall fall short of a full accomplishment and the truth thereof shall faile to be ratified and exhibited in all the things contained therein the impossibility of this being denoted by a comparison with that we have this explication in the 16. Chapter of S. Luke vers 17. where Christs intention is thus expressed It is easier for heaven and earth to passe then one title of the Law to faile where also the Evangelist sheweth of what points of the Law Iesus Christ did purposely speake to wit of the types and prophesies For in the sixteenth verse immediatly preceeding he had said The Law and the Prophets untill Iohn where we must understand the Verbe prophefied which S. Matthew addeth in the eleventh Chapter and 13. verse saying For all the Prophets and the Law prophefied untill Iohn that is the ancient prophesies and figures as having respect to Iesus Christ finished in the time of Iohn Baptist not in him but in Iesus Christ who lived in the same time and whom Iohn seeing comming unto him shewed with his finger saying Behold the Lambe of God which taketh away the sinne of the world Ioh. 1. vers 29. After then that Christ had said the Law and Prophets prophesied untill Iohn S. Luke addeth these words following as spoken by Christ to that purpose And it is easier for heaven and earth to passe then one title of the Law to faile where by one title are to be understood all the ceremonies figures and productions
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
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
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
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
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
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
may be that day is named because of the miracle done on it and not to shew that it was a Sabbath day seeing the Apostle did preach every day wheresoever he sojourned 5. Nullity of the instance they assembled to breake bread that is to celebrate the Lords Supper 1. Because that breaking of bread may be taken for a common refection 6. 2. Because the Christians did every day celebrate the Lords Supper without respect to Sunday 7. Fourth Answer nothing can be gathered from the meeting of the Disciples at night to prove the sanctification of the day that went before 8. Fifth Answer supposing the first day of the weeke was kept at Troas it followeth not that it was kept in all other Churches 9. Sixth Answer putting the case That it was kept every where it followeth not that Christ or his Apostles had ordained it THey alleadge againe out of the twentieth Chapter of the Acts verse 7. that Paul being come to Troas and the Disciples being assembled to breake bread that is to celebrate the Lords Supper upon the first day of the weeke St. Paul came to their assembly and preached unto them continuing his speech untill midnight being ready to depart on the morrow c. Where they note that this meeting of the faithfull of Troas on the first day of the weeke is propounded there as a thing ordinary and accustomed and not as occasioned extraordinarily by the Apostles arrivall to the Towne For it is said in the sixt verse that he and his company abode there seven dayes and in the seventh verse that upon the first day of the weeke which was the seventh day preceding his departure on the day following the Disciples being come together he preached unto them Which sheweth manifestly that he stayed expressely till that first day of the weeke as being the ordinary day of the meeting of the faithfull Otherwise having been already amongst them five or sixe dayes before he might have taken as well another day as that day 2 To this I answer first that there is no necessity to grant that the assembly of the faithfull of Troas mentioned in the foresaid Chap. met on the first day of the weeke For the termes of the originall which are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be as wel translated on a certaine day of the weeke or on a Sabbath day on a day which was a Sabbath Because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is taken in holy Scripture sometimes for the week sometimes for the Sabbath day in the weeke and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometimes for one sometimes for the first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is taken so in a like construction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 On a certaine day Lu. 5. v. 17. Luk. 8. ver 22. Luk. 20. v. 1. And the Article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is superfluous as it is often elsewhere Rom. 5. v. 15. and 1 Cor. 9. v. 19. and 2 Cor. 2. verse 6. and 2 Cor. 9. verse 21. This sence is approved not only as admittable but also as more probable than any other by great Divines And although we should explaine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by first wee may translate vpon the first day of Sabbath to wit which occurred in these seven dayes that Paul was in Troas and which was the last of seven so according to this sence an argument may be brought for the Iewish Sabbath day rather than for the Sunday of Christians 3 But Secondly although we should grant that the words should be translated upon the first day of the weeke as the same phrase is taken Luk. 24. verse 1. Iohn 20. verse 1. Which interpretation I yeeld unto willingly it is to no purpose in this question because upon the meeting of the faithfull of Troas the first day of the week to heare the word of God it followeth not that the observation of this day was ordinary and regular for the end which is supposed It may be they did this indifferently on that day as they did in all other dayes as they had occasion It may be also that they came together on the night of that day because Saint Paul was ready to depart on the next morrow and they desired to see him to heare him to receive the Communion with him and recommending him to God bid him the last farewell As hee likewise was desirous to speake unto them and to intertaine them immediately afore his departure which in such an occasion was very convenient and requisite Of such an action done for particular causes can any reasonable man with the least shew of reason inferre a generall custome tyed ordinarily to that day amongst all Christians 4 It may be likewise that this their meeting on the first day of the weeke is marked as an occasion only of the narration which is made incontinently after of the disaster that befell the young man Eutychus who being fallen into a deepe sleepe in the place of the assembly where Paul preached sunke downe with sleepe from the third loft and being taken up dead was miraculously raised to life by the Holy Apostle But is not specified to denote an order accustomed by that Church to meet together every weeke on that day And indeed seeing Paul in the visitation of the Churches tooke not heed to the observation of particular dayes but as long as he abode among them was carefull to preach and instruct them every day least he should loose the time and leasure that he had and which ordinarily was not long in each place as we may see Acts 19. verse 9. and Acts 20. verse 16 31. who shall beleeve that having taried sixe dayes at Troas he or the Disciples let slip sixe of them without any meeting to heare him Now if they came together in the former dayes as well as on the first day of the weeke as it is more seeming to be true the argument taken from their meeting on the first day of the weeke is utterly undone 5 If it be said that they met together on this day as being a day more solemne then the rest and because also they came to breake bread that is to receive the Lords Supper the argument is of no value For the breaking of bread that mention is made of in that place may be taken not for the Lords Supper but for a common refection and one of the feasts of charity which in those dayes were frequent amongst the faithfull as we see in Saint Iude verse 12. It may be so taken in the second Chap. of the said booke of the Acts as many interpreters in both these places understand it so And it seemeth that the conference of the 42 verse with the 46 in the second Chapter and of the seventh verse with the eleventh requireth it 6 Moreover seeing it is most certaine that the Apostolike and primitive Church did most frequently celebrate the holy Supper yea in many places daily as may be seene in the foresaid verses of the second Chapter of
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
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
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
solemnized under the New Testament Diverse other things very solemne may be found which God and Iesus Christ effected in other dayes of the weeke whereof we might conclude with as great probability that under the New Testament the day wherein they were performed ought to be solemnized 3 This argument is like to another that is produced to prove the necessity of the observation of one day of seven when it is said that this number of seven is perfect and mysterious and hath beene observed in the Scripture in diverse things which some have searched with great curiosity but with no profit 4 For there is no certainty to bee found in this observation of numbers Some for some reason find a great perfection in one number and others for other reason give the preference of perfection to another number The Mathematicians doe hold the number of six for the most perfect and the first of perfect numbers And if the Scripture pointeth out unto us the number of seven observed in many things she doth the like in other numbers The author of Ecclesiasticus Chapter 33. verse 15. and Chapter 42. verse 24. saith That God in all his workes hath observed the number of two and made them all double coupling two and two one against another Wee marke that God in the beginning made the two principall parts of the world heaven and earth two great lights the Sunne and the Moone of all living creatures the Male and Female in wedlocke two in one flesh There were two Tables of the Law two Cherubims upon the Ark two precious stones wherin were graved the names of the twelve Children of Israel and put upon the shoulders of the Ephod Every day two Lambes were offered in Sacrifice to God there be two Testaments two great Commandements two ordinary Sacraments of the Iewish and as many of the Christian Church Hee that would search particularly all things subsisting in this number of two or of three or of foure might devise thereupon a thousand mysteries 5 In summe such arguments have no solidity Many also which dispute for the necessity of the Sabbath in one of seven dayes and for the divine authority of the first day of the weeke disclaime them acknowledging freely that Christ had no respect to these faire actions which are pretended to have beene done on the first day of the weeke under the Old Testament and was not moved by them to institute that day for Gods service under the New Testament That also these mysteries of the number of seven have no certainty and were not the cause of the institution of one of the seven dayes of the Weeke to be a day of rest and that God had no regard unto them in that institution 6 For rather if the number of sâ—vâ—n be in the Scripture a mysticall number which I would not deny absolutely seeing that among all other numbers it is used in it to denote perfection and perpetuity it must be Gods observation thereof from the beginning when he rested on the seventh day that made it mysterious and the cause why God useth it rather than any other day in holy Scripture to denote perfection for as much as he ordained and established the seventh day wherein he rested for figure and type of the heavenly perfect and eternall rest which he hath prepared for all those that are his But this consideration is of no force to make the number of seven or the seventh day to be mysterious under the New Testament and to be kept as a day of rest For the types and mysticall figures of the heavenly rest which God had established under the ancient Testament bind not Christians under the New Testament seeing all old things are past away and behold all things are become new 2 Cor. 5. ver 17. CHAPTER Tenth Answer to the allegations of some pretended instances conjectures and inconveniences 1. First instance The observation of the first day of the weeke hath as solid foundations in the Scripture as hath the Baptisme of little Children 2. First Answer Baptisme is commanded in the New Testament to all those that are in the Covenant wherin little Children are comprised 3. But there is no commandement in the New Testament to observe one of the seven dayes of the weeke 4. Second Answer although our Saviour hath substituted Baptisme to the Circumcision he hath not put any set day in the roome of the Iewish Sabbath 5. Third Answer the observation of the first day of the weeke from the beginning inforceth not a divine institution therof no more than the observation of Easter and of other holy dayes which are of as old date 6. Second instance of diverse judgements upon those that have neglected or contemned the observation of the first day of the weeke answered 7. Third instance Man is naturally averse from the sanctification of the first day of the weeke 8. Answer shewing that he is sluggish and backward in Gods service not in keeping of dayes 9. Fourth instance of diverse inconveniences that shall follow if the observation of the first day of the weeke be not a divine institution 10. Answer to the first inconvenience that the Church should bee Lady and Mistresse of the Sabbath if it depend on her institution shewing how the Church may and may not sanctifie a day for Gods service 11. First Answer to the second inconvenience that she may appoint as many or as few dayes for Gods service as pleaseth her shewing that both extremities must be avoyded 12. Second Answer The Church hath not failed in either of them 13. Third Answer The Church in her reformation hath taken order with the multiplication of holy dayes and brought them within a little compasse 14. Answer to the third inconvenience that the Church might change the Lords day into another shewing that she might have done so in the beginning 15. The fourth inconvenience that the appointing of a day for Gods publike service injoyned in the fourth Commandement should depend on the Church is no inconvenience 16. Saving in case no day were appointed which is not to bee feared 17. Answer to the fifth inconvenience that many men will neglect the keeping of the first day of the weeke if they be perswaded that it is not a divine institution shewing that profane men will religious men will not 18. This Answer is confirmed by daily experience 1 ALL the foresaid arguments taken in some sort from the Scriptures being most weak as is cleere by what hath been said it is to no purpose that some of those with whom we are indifferent dare say that the keeping of Sunday hath as good a foundation and prop in the Scripture as hath the baptizing of little Children 2 For although we find no expresse commandement in the New Testament to baptisme little Children no more than to keepe Sunday or the first day of the weeke for a seventh day of rest yet we find baptisme expressely ordained by Iesus Christ to be a
of God commanded by him 2 But here is the point which will furnish us with a new reason why it is neither necessary nor likely that although the Iewes were bound to abstaine from all manner of worke on their Sabbath day we should be bound to a like cessation on our Sabbath seeing the time of the Old Testament was a time wherein Gods service consisted in Ceremonies Elements and Rudiments which were servile childish weake and beggarly as the Apostle saith Gal. 4. vers 3. 9. Col. 2. vers 20. The observation of a certaine day of Sabbath rather than of another and on it a cessation from all outward workes made in it selfe a part of that service and was not ordained by accident as a helpe to Gods service required onely for that end but as being of it selfe properly a point of religion and of Gods service and an essentiall duty of the Sabbath day For which cause it was so exactly injoyned with an interdiction even of the smallest and least things as to gather and prepare Manna to kindle fire to walke a few steps abroad and such like which was not lawfull for any person to doe although hee were alone and out of danger by doing them to give offense to any man Although also they might have beene done as it were in a moment of time without any diversion of the minde to think on better things as on God on godlinesse and on other holy exercises because that not to doe such workes was at that time a part of Gods service and that which belonged to Gods service could not be too exactly recommended and observed 3 For otherwise if the substance of Gods service had not at that time consisted partly in this exact cessation from all workes and if it had beene injoyned but as a helpe and furtherance of that service such little workes which were of no paines and of lesse distraction had not beene forbidden because in effect they are no let to a true spirituall Sabbath And when the Iewes were come backe to their houses from the place of their holy convocations it is evident to consider the matter according to the state we live in under the Gospell that they might easily compasse these actions and other such like without any prejudice thereby to true godlinesse and to the sanctification of their hearts But as they were bound to serve God on the Sabbath day by divers sacrifices offerings perfumings with-incense and other ceremoniall and bodily exercises for which they had need of a carnall holinesse and purity and to restraine themselves from a great deale of ceremoniall pollutions as to touch a dead man or any meat declared to be uncleane c. and as Gods service consisted in keeping themselves unspotted with such things even so an exact refraining from all outward and servile workes made a part of that Sabbaticall holinesse and purenesse whereof I have spoken If they had put their hand to any ordinary worke that worke had polluted them And all the legall workes of the Sabbath such as were the sacrifices c. had beene in some sort profaned by the common workes of other dayes if they had beene done on that day Therefore they were bound by necessity to abstaine exactly from them all 4 I adde that as I have said formerly the Sabbath was given them expresly to be unto them a type figurative of the spirituall rest whereby a man resteth from all iniquity and namely of the heavenly wherein there shall be a perfect cessation not only from all sinne but also from all bodily labours that the Saints may give themselves wholly to glorifie God And therefore that the figure might correspond the neerest that could be to the truth the signe to the thing signified and to represent to the Iewes and give them to understand that they ought to abstaine from all kinde of sinne the most precisely and exactly as possibly they could because sinnes are verily opposite to Gods service and pollute all the actions thereof and that in heaven they should injoy an intire and perfect rest a most precise cessation from all bodily workes and imployments was injoyned them And these are in my judgement the true reasons of that injunction 5 Now these reasons concerne us not under the New Testament Wee have no day of rest ordained of GOD to be unto us a type and figure of the spirituall and heavenly rest And if sometimes our Sunday which is our day of rest bee imployed to represent the heavenly rest as it is by some of the ancient Fathers it followeth not that the end of the institution thereof was to bee a figure and a type seeing it is not so much as a divine institution Wherefore the Fathers have called it so by application and allusion onely grounded upon some outward resemblance 6 No more doth Gods service under the Gospell to speake properly consist in the observation of any particular day more then of another nor in the abstinence of outward workes on it And as one of the contrary opinion speaking of the prohibition given to the Israelites to kindle the fire on the Sabbath day hath vouched and said that it was unto them a childish restriction and instruction and as for us who are Christians and who live also in countreys farre colder than was Iudea that wee have a greater liberty than they had to kindle the fire and that the said prohibition tieth us not saving in the equity thereof to teach us that we must not abuse our liberty to the intertainement of a carnall licence and hinderance of Gods service Verily there is the same reason of all other outward workes which God prohibited so exactly to the Iewes on the Sabbath day for that was also a puerile instruction we have a liberty to doe them that they had not on that day and nothing obligeth us but the equity of these prohibitions to wit that we must not doe these workes licenciously making of them a pretence to neglect Gods service Indeed we are bound to serve God under the New Testament as much yea much more than the Iewes under the Old Testament because we are farre more beholden unto him than they were But this obligation is to a more spirituall service which is such essentially consisting in the carefull practice of actions of true godlinesse holinesse and righteousnesse But we are not obliged after the same manner as they were to serve him with a rudimentall materiall and servile service to which appertained this abstinence so exactly prescribed of all workes on a certaine day and which was one of the points of the unsupportable yoke of the ceremoniall Law And as wee are made free from these actions which the Iewes were obliged to performe on the Sabbath day with twice as much as on other dayes such as were double sacrifices double meat and drink offerings c. Num. 28. 9. by which things God fashioned them to the outward and typicall sanctification of the
leagues Now if it had beene the intention of Iesus Christ to ordaine the first day of the week for a Sabbath day and to injoyn to all Christians a leaving and discontinuance of all ordinary worke on that day it is likely that he would not have forgotten to warne his two Disciples thereof on that first day and thetwo Maries to whom he shewed himselfe earely in the morning of that same day and by the other Disciples to whom he sent them had made them practise the observation of that day and he had shewed them the example of that observation in his owne person which he did not then Neither doe we find that he did it at any other occasion 14 In the twentieth of the Acts we perceive although uncertainely as I have shewed before some observation of the first day of the weeke by the faithfull of Troas They met not together till about the evening of that day For mention is made of an upper Chamber of many lights of Saint Pauls long preaching untill midnight and thereafter till breake of day Apparently they made choice of the night time and of an upper chamber for feare of the Infidels even as the Apostles on the first day of the weeke that CHRIST rose in were assembled at evening and held the doores shut for feare of the Iewes Iohn twenty verse 19. Now who doubteth but all that day from the Sunne rising till the evening that they came together to breake bread they were busied as in the other dayes of the weeke about the ordinary exercises of their trades handicrafts and callings as having liberty to worke on that day like as on all other dayes besides the care they had to shunne all giving of discontent to the Infidels amongst whom they lived and the drawing by an unnecessary cessation a most certaine persecution upon themselves There is no question to be made but that all Christians in the places of their residence among Iewes or Gentiles did the like 15 This is also a reason considerable in this question that albeit among the Lawes of Christian Emperours there be sundry which forbid the ordinary occupations of trades and handicrafts on Sunday as to keepe a Court of pleading and to goe to Law to open the shops for buying and selling to act stage playes in play houses and publike places to hold Markets and faires c. which Lawes were made to prevent in time to come the contempt of the exercises of Religion used on that day and to establish an order in the state and in the Church which they most judiciously and religiously thought to be more recommendable decent and well suting to the holy actions whereunto it was appointed yet all these Lawes shew that before they were published Christians were wont saving the houres of the publike exercises of Religion to apply themselves on that day to all the ordinary workes of this present life Yea there be many other Lawes of other Emperours and amongst others of Constantine that great and holy Emperour which permit on Sunday some of these ordinary imployments as to labourers to sow the ground to weed to reape to plant and set Vineyards if need bee to Bakers to bake bread to Masters to give liberty to their slaves to Iudges to put to death malefactors which undoubtedly these Christian Emperours had never permitted by their Lawes if it had beene in their time a received opinion in the Church that the observation of Sunday and cessation from all workes in it was necessary by vertue of a Commandement of our Lord Iesus Christ. 17 But knowing certainely that no dayes are instituted of God under the New Testament that Sunday was not kept by a commandement from heaven but by the use and custome of the Church That a discontinuance and intermission so exact of all workes pertained to the Ecclesiasticall policie and regiment of the Iewes and is no where and in no wise commanded in the Gospell they made no bones to permit diverse occupations which might seeme to have some pretext of necessity yet were not of such importance but that they might have beene done before Sunday or put off till the next day following it CHAPTER Fifth Declaration of diverse absurdities and difficulties insuing upon the contrary opinion 1. The opinion is that Christians are bound to refraine from all workes during the 24. houres of Sunday 2. First absurdity this opinion bringeth backe the servitude of the Iewish ceremonies 3. Second absurdity No man can tell where must be the beginning of the said 24. houres 4. Diverse disputations thereupon amongst the authors of this opinion 5. Third absurdity it troubleth the conscience leaving it without information concerning the imployment of that time and the doing of unnecessary workes therein 6. As also about the doing of charitable and necessarie workes 7. Fourth absurdity Confusion of the Doctors in the explication of this opinion 8. First they consent not in the explication of Christian abstinence from bodily workes on Sunday 9. Secondly they distinguish workes of necessity into those that are of present and those that are of imminent necessity and permit the first onely whereby they trouble tender consciences 10. They contradict their distinction by suffering some handicrafts men to worke on Sunday 11. As also by the permission of many actions which have no present necessity 12. Likewise by forbidding some workes in an apparent danger as to gather corne c. 13. Great absurdity and inconvenience of this prohibition 14. The Commandement Exod. 34. v. 21. to rest on the Sabbath day in earing time c. serveth not their turne 15. They hold that it is not lawfull for a man to receive any reward for his necessary labour done on Sunday 16. Great inconveniences and absurdities of this opinion 17. Answer to their objection about servile workes forbidden in the fourth Commandement 18. They hold also that servants ought not to serve their masters on Sunday 19. This doctrine crosseth their other decisions 20. They intangle themselves in the distinction of bankets 21. Absurdity of theâ—r rigid prohibition of all kind of recreation to all men on the Sabbath day 22. How farre Christians are bound to abstaine from worke on that day 23. How working is not or may be an hindrance of our sanctification 24. We ought to leave our workes on Sundayes during the time of service 25. Saving in some important necessity 26. Objections taken from the care of worldlings c. 27. Answer concerning the care of worldlings 28. How we ought to make the Sabbath our delight 29. Our Sunday is improperly called the Sabbath day THose against whom we dispute doe hold that our Sunday called also by them the Sabbath day which is the name given in the Scriptures to the day that the Iewes hallowed weekly obligeth us to keepe it during the whole space of foure and twenty houres by a religious abstinence from all manner of workes during all that time conformably to the
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
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