two first weekes till the full of the Moone the third week the Ocean keepes his course according to the first weeke and the fourth weeke doth as the second did and so the weekes and moneths runne round with the Ocean Seventhly Seneca Epist 95. somewhat past the middle confesseth they did accendere lucernam Sabbatis light their Tapers on the Sabbath dayes and faulting them for so doing because nor God wants light nor men take pleasure in the steame or stench of Lampes or Candles confesseth withall their Religious observation of the Sabbaths by the Romans for the point was quo modo d◠sint colendi How God ought to be worshipped Tibullus lib. 1. Eleg. 3. pag. 84. is firme proofe that he obserued Saturnes day as the holy day whether we read it as it is in the body of his workes Saturni aut sacram me tenuisse diem that is Or that unto Saturnus old I us'd his holy-day to hold Or whether it be as Joseph Scaliger the Prince of Critickes in his Castigations on the place saith it is better Omnia dira Saturni Sacrame tenuisse die that is Or that to Saturne on his day I us'd to feast to pray to play Thus much with Gothofredus and the most learned Cerda against Rigaltius his needlesse alteration of Tertullian by which the day of the Sunne or Sunday is unjustly made to be the Gentles day of rest or Sabbath which indeed was on their Saturday and yet if Rigaltius his reading be supposed to be the best it affordeth Testimony that the Gentiles had some knowledge of the weekely honour due to God one day or other in that they observed a Sabbath * The returne to this Point after the ensuing digressions you shall finde below Paragraph the 9. Chap. 9 which reacheth proofe enough to my maine intention I cannot yet end the businesse of the Lords Day but have divers of mine owne observations to set downe and come nearer to the purpose the controversie against the Sabbatarians concerning both the day and the Recreations then lawfull hath beene so unanswerably handled by Bishop White and other most learned Doctors that much cannot be added somewhat shall in a mixed way nor will I blot out mine owne observations though others also have lighted on some of them First then I say the Sabbatarians doe grossely infantiliter childishly expound S. Austin whilst they would violently hale him to their sides against all manner of Recreations and nothing is more common than S. Augustines authoritie produced against any Recreation on the Lords Day I professe his authoritie moved me much till I read him himselfe and saw him misunderstood even by great ones and chiefe among the Sabbatarians The first place is on the enarration of the 91. Psalme on the Preface of the Psalme Melius est arare in Sabbato quam saltare T is better to goe to Plow than dance on the Sabbath Day but S. Augustine speaketh of the Iewish Sabbath or Saturnes day of the first day after the creation when God is said to rest Let me adde unto him To Plow on that Sabbath the Iewish Sabbath was not amisse in a Christian but to Dance on the Iewish Sabbath was an approving of the old first Sabbath and as it were a renouncing of the Christian Sabbath See the place who will and he shall find that S. Augustine spake not of the Lords Day or Dies solis Sunday nor of the Christians day of rest properly but of the Metaphoricall spirituall Sabbath of the dayly Sabbath or rest of a good conscience view his words In corde est Sabbathum nostrum multi enim vacant membris tumultuantur conscientiâ Omnis homo malus Sabbatum habere non potest ipsa tranquillitas Sabbatum est cordis our Sabbath is kept in our heart for many have bodily rest who are troubled in conscience an evill man hath no Sabbath Inward tranquility is the Sabbath of our heart What is this to the question of the Lords day His words there are these Ecce hodiernus dies Sabbati est hune in praesenti tempore ot◠quodom corporaliter languido fluxo luxarioso celebrant Iudai Behold even this day is the Sabbath day The Iewes keepe this day at this present time idlely lazily and luxuriously so he But our question is concerning the Lords Day the memoriall not of the Creation but of Christs Resurrection which S. Augustin doth not name nor meane not so much as point at nor the least way censure for faire Recreations in this place The second place extorted from S. Augustin is in his Booke De decem chordis cap. 3. almost at the beginning It is in his tenth Tome and is thus cited by Zepper Legum Mosaicarum Forenstum 4.9 Satius est operari quà m spectaculis interesse mulieres nere quâm tota die impidicè saltare I answer First I finde not those words in that Booke Satius est operari quà m spectaculis interesse Secondly if Augustin hath said so the beholding of bloody spectacles which were in viridi observantiâ in greatest request and permitted most even by some Christian Emperours was sinfull in it selfe and condemned by many Fathers and reacheth not against faire recreations post sacra peracta after Service is ended Thirdly the words indeede are thus truely translated It is sayd to thee that thou spiritually observe the Sabbath not as the Iewes who observe the Sabbath by being carnally idle applying their mindes to trifling toyes and luxurie a Iew should doe better to goe about his profit in his ground then inthesauro in the Exchequer or perhaps in his Counting-house to be seditious and their women on the Sabbath day or the women on the Sabbath day the words will beare it were better card and spinne than impudently to dance the whole day in their new Moones but thou art spiritually to keepe the Sabbath in hope of future rest which God hath promised thee who doth what he can to obtaine that rest though it seeme laborious what he doth yet if he referre it to the faith of the promised rest he hath not truely the Sabbath in re but in spe not in possession but in hope but thou wilt rest that thou mayst labour when thou oughtest to labour that thou mayst rest So farre he The like he hath toward the later end of the first Chapter Observe First he speaketh of the Christians spirituall Sabbath with an eye looking forward to the eternall promised Sabbath of Sabbaths as he phrazeth it in his first Chapter Secondly he speaketh of the Iewish carnall Sabbath he speaketh not one word of the Lords Day or Sunday neither doth he fault any recreations of Christians on that day Thirdly he telleth not what a Christian but what a Iew should doe not simply but comparatively rather be busie and profitable in his ground than seditious and their women rather card and spinne than the whole day in their Festivals and Feastings to dance immodestly but what
are their new Moones and solemne Iewes-feasts to us Christians They shamefully wrong S. Augustin and wrong the unlearned Readers who produce this testimonie to confute seemely recreations of Christians on the Lords Day after the holy Service is ended Fourthly let the indifferent judge whether S. Augustines later passages in this testimony doe not rather afford a patrociny for labour than the former words did condemne fit refreshings Lastly good Reader when thou readest in the Fathers or from the Fathers ought concerning the Sabbath I pray thee search and examine whether they speake of the Iewish Sabbath or of the Christian Quiet very seldome doe they call the day of Christian rest properly to be Sabbatum They doe often say it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dies dominicus our Lords Day or Sunday So much be said to vindicate S. Augustin from divers too Iewishly addicted in our dayes against our lawfull Sports Secondly that most learned Prelate the last Lord Bishop of Ely citeth Theodoret on Ezechiel the 20. as saying that no other Nations but onely the Iewes observed the Sabbath Day He meant no Nation kept the Sabbath to the same end and with the same strictnesse that Iewes did 2. Indeede no Nation but the Iewes onely kept the Sabbath at that time which Ezechiel speakes of viz. at their comming out of Aegypt Ezech. 20.10 c. yet many Nations did afterwards keepe the Sabbath day 3. No Nation kept it as a particular Law and as a signe of a distinct republique as Israel did Vt sit signum inter me ipsos to be a signe betweene me and them saith Theodoret in the very words of the text ver 12. yet is he Totius historiae ignarus blinde in all history who denieth that other Nations imitated the Iewes in observation of a Sabbath In which regard the most reverend Prelate the Eye of our Tymes and one who for all religious learning may be called Arca Foederis In the same page 156. saith If any Heathen did observe the Iewish Sabbath they did it not by the light of naturall reason but by imitation of Gods people But because the living Library in his Margin in the same place quoteth Josephus contra Appionem lib. 2. and Clemens Alexandrinus stromat 5. as denying Vrbem ullam Graecorum sive Barbarorum ex Judaico ritu âdiei septini cessatione ab opere suo in suos mores suscepisse That any city of the Grecians or Barbarians did use the fashion of resting from their worke on the seventh day from the custome of the Iewes I thus answer them If they sayd and meaned that the Iewish Sabbath with all its circumstance and severe strictnesse which the words ex Iudaico titu will well permit was never received by any Heathen cities or by the immediat delivery of God as the Iewes had it then they are in the right but particularly Josephus in the same Booke against Appion declareth the cleane contrary avouching that every Nation Greeke or Barbarous observed the Sabbath in imitation of the Iewes and Clemens Alexandrinus in the same cited booke saith expresly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Septimum diem esse sacrum non solùm sicut Hebraei verum etiam Graci Not onely the Iewes but the Gentiles also know that the seventh day is the holy day and he proveth it by divers reasons and authorities but Clemens ibidem exceedeth when from Plato his tenth Booke de Repub. he would prove that Plato did fore-divine of the Lords day page 437. Againe though that Mundus eruditionis that world of learning saith the Grecians and the Romanes observed for resting dayes the one the eight day and the other the ninth day and saith it well enough to oppose the simple Sabbatarians who horribly incline to Iudaisme of late and will not remember that the Iewes shall be turned to be Christians but that the Christians should be converted Proselytes of the Iewes was never foretold nor expected yet the most learned Lord Bishops words if they be rightly printed must be interpreted of some of the Romanes and some of the Grecians and not of the greater part Or secondly of the extraordinary dayes of rest and not of the ordinary and continued weekely Sabbath Plutarch in the later end of Theseus life saith indeed the Athenians did make the solemnest and chiefest sacrifices unto Theseus on the eight of October and doe further honor him every eight day of every moneth but first this was Athens alone Secondly this honoring of Theseus on the eight day hindered not their other observations of the seventh day which they constantly also kept as I have demonstated Thirdly in the same place of Plutarch it is sayd they worshipped Neptune or did sacrifice to him on the eight day of every moneth because the number of eight is the first Cube made of the even number and the double of the first squared which reasons are ridiculous Lastly as we have holy dayes besides our Lords Day so had they multitudes of extraordinary Festivals which were not properly such dayes of sacred rest as the Iewes observed Romish Pestivalls on the Ides of their moneths See at large set downe by Alexander ab Alexandro Genialium dierum 3.18 singulis Idibus saith he ibidem which Ides jumpe not exactly with every eight day a Gracis singuliâ— Calendis dii vener antur The gods are worshipped by the Grecians every Calends Macrobius in the like place maketh not the ninth day a generall rest Indeed saith he Nundina est Romanorum Dea a nono die nusceritium nuncupata qui lustricâ—â— dicitur quo die infantes lustrantur nomen accipiunt Sed is maribus nonus Octavus est faeminis Nundina is a goddesse of the Romanes so called from the ninth day that infants were borne which day was called Lustricus because on it children were purged and first named but in men children it was the ninth day in women children the eight day it may now be used for the Christning day Idem Macrob. 1.11 Nonis Iuliis diem festuÌ„m esse ancillarum vulgò notum est it is commonly knowne that the Nones of Iuly is maides holiday Dio Cassius placing the weekely Sabbath among the speciall observances of that Nation doth not say that no other Nations kept their Sabbath day but rather pointeth at this the Sabbaths were given more especially to the Iewes that they were the first Nation that kept the Sabbaths and generally and strictly observed them Secondly the Sabbatarians unto their forced expositions invent lyes that they may further their seeming devotions but God needs not mans lye to uphold his truth Who but the Father of lyes suggested those horrid untruths which are published concerning the evills that befell upon Glastonbury for prophaning the Sabbath which the Inhabitants thereof and we the neighbours doe know to be false almost in every point Thirdly is it not knowne generally how dangerously many fell into Iudaisme and turned Traskites the most ignorant of all Hereticks and
selves or deferre bathing till night or give your selves to rest and good cheere which ye doe in imitation of other Religions the summe of the controversie is Rigaltius intimateth that the Roman Sunday was to them as the Jewish Sabbath Gothofredus accounts their Saturday called Dies Saturni to be as their Sabbath which is the truest opinion Gothofredus in his notes on that Chapter among many other excellent things observes that Tertullian compareth the Gentiles keeping of their Saturday as the Christians keepe the Lords day First by their not comming at all to their bath that day Secondly or comming late some Colonies anniversarily cloathed with sacke-cloth sprinckled with ashes pray to their Idolles their shops and Bathes shut up till neere nine saith he adversus Psychicos cap. 16. their nine is all one with our three of the clocke in the afternoone Thirdly he compareth the rest and the banqueting of the Gentiles on their dies Sabbathi or Saturday with the rest and banqueting of the Christians on our Lords day quare ut ab excessu revertar qui solem diem ejus nobis exprobratis agnoscite vicunitatem non longè â Saturno Sabbatis vestris sumas wherefore that I may returne from my diversion you Gentiles who cast into the teeth of Christians the adoring of the sun from their strict observation of the Sunday confesse that you and we disagree very little we keepe our Sabbath's on Sundayes ye on Saturnes-dayes or Saturdayes the day of the Lord or Sunday is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Isidorus Pelusiota in his Epistles a day of rest and remission the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is sometime taken in an ill sense here it is not the Apostle complaineth he had no rest in his spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 2.13 or it may be taken for bodily Rest and repose 2 Cor. 7.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our flesh had no rest or it may be taken for liberty opposed to durance so S. Paul Act. 24.23 had liberty that his friends might come unto him was permitted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gothofredus might have observed another parallell in the beginning of the chapter alii solem Christianum Deum aestimant quod innotuerit ad orientis partem facere nos precationem vel die solis laetitiam curare quid vos minus facitis nonne plerique affectione adorandi aliquando etiam coelestia ad solis initium labra vibratis some others say the Sun is the God of the Christians because it is commonly knowne we pray towards the East and are merry and refresh our selves on Sundayes you are like to us you doe little lesse most of you affecting the adoration sometimes of heavenly things at Sun rising doe mutter or pray hee saith not in die solis but ad solis initium or as it is varied in cap. 16. Apologet. ad solis ortum and this they practised as well on any other day as Sunday for Sunday was not their holyday or Sabbath day but Saturday which I marvell that the great Rigaltius erred in for these considerations First that the same Chapter affordeth divers passages that Saturnes day was as it were the Gentiles Sabbath therefore their Sunday was not so Secondly that Gothofredus from Iosephus lib. 2. contra Appionē and from Clem. Alexandrinus 5. Strom. had before hand published Saturni Diem seu Sabbatum otio quieti ubique Gentium Iudaeorum imitatione assignatum fuisse that Saturnes day or Saturday was the Sabbath or resting day of the Gentiles in all places which they borrowed from the Jewish custome Thirdly Tertullian in his Apologeticke which is an elucidary to the bookes ad Nationes and the amplified and refined comment on them cap. 16. hath it Aequè si diem solis laetitiae indulgemus aliâ longe ratione quà m religione solis secundo loco ab iis sumus qui diem Saturni otio victui decernunt if we indulge and be merry on Sunday we doe it not in any religion to the Sun or its day as the day of the sunne but as the Lords day and we are alike or next to those who consecrate aturnes day to repast and rest Fourthly Sidonius like wise Epist 2. l. 1. acknowledgeth so much that the Gentiles kept Festivall the day of Saturne and termeth their profusenesse luxum Sabbatarium I am sure the Noble and holy Lady Paula in S. Hieromes time and her company even on the Lords day after Sacred services were ended vel sibi vel caeteris indumenta faciebant as reformed Churches abroad doe seeme to confine the Sabbaticall day to the Sabbaticall exercises as witnesseth Hierome ad Eustochium Epist 27. and esteeme us little better than Jewes for our strict sabbatizing Also her feasts were turned into mourning and her Sabbaths into reproach for Antiochus Epiphanes had by letters commanded that they should profane the Sabbaths and Festivall dayes 1 Mac. 1.39 c. Yea many Israelites profaned the Sabbath ver 43. Augustine de Civitate Dei 6.11 usque eò sceleratissimae gentis consuetudo convaluit ut per omnes jâm terras recepta sit victi victoribus leges dederunt that is the custome of that most wicked Nation hath beene so prevalent that it is now generally received almost by all Nations the vanquished have given Lawes to the vanquisher these words doth S. Austin cite out of Seneca of the generall observation of the Jewish Sabbath Fiftly Philo in his booke de vitâ Mosis glorieth that all the Easterne people kept their Sabbath forgetting that the Chaldaeans did mocke at the Sabbaths of Ierusalem in the dayes of Ieremie the Prophet Lam. 1.7 Sixtly Macrobius Saturnal 1.7 at the end affirmeth that the Saturnalia were more ancient than the Cittie of Rome that Macrobius speaketh not of the weekly sacrifices I confesse but his Authors words may meane more than he did Lucius Accius in his Poeticall Annalls thus Maxima Pars Graium Saturno maximae Athenae Conficiunt sacra that is The Greatest part of Greece yea Athens hight To Saturne on his day their incense light Cumque diem celebrant per agros urbesque fere omnes Exercent epulis laeti that is And when both towne and Country their holiday doe keepe They most an end doe feast it untill they goe to sleepe Every Saturday their Servants might rejoyce with them He farther relateth from Cicero Septenarium numerum rerum omnium fere modum esse that the number of seven is the measure almost of all things The very vast Ocean observes this number the first day of the Moones tining the Ocean is more full than usuall it decreaseth somewhat on the second day the third day leaveth it lesse and dayly it diminisheth to the seventh day the eighth day is like the seventh the ninth equalleth the sixth the tenth day answereth to the fifth the eleventh to the fourth the twelfth to the third the thirteenth to the second the fourteenth day is as the first day So much for the
would bury in the Dunghill chines of porke or puddings or any swines flesh which their neighboures courteously bestowed upon them they further bragged they would know the saved from the damned by their lookes the Lords day they regarded not and were as obstinate as the Iewes laughing at imprisonment and punishment as a good poore man complained of his wife to me and was it not time that the supreme Magistrate should looke to them If we consider the Scripture of the new Testament which must first be heard we shall finde that Christ doth not diminish but rather augment the weight force and power of divers other commandements concerning Murther see the strictnesse Matth. 5.21 c. and concerning Adultery Matth. 5.28 c. and Matth. 5.24 are choyce Rules for swearing and for other matters in that Chapter but he no where commanded a more rigorous keeping of the Sabbath Indeed he sayd Matth. 24.20 Pray that your flight be not on the Sabbath this evinceth not that he intended a stricter observation of the Sabbath than the Iewes admitted but sensu primo his well-wishings were that they might meete in their flight which was to be both sudden and remote even out of Judea with no impediment either from their opinion of the Sabbath who then thought they might not travell on that day above two miles which they accounted a Sabbaths dayes journey Act. 1.12 or from any other Crosses whatsoever and that Christ meaned not in that place to improve the strict Religion of the Sabbath fairely resulteth from the other words in the first place Pray that your flight be not in the Winter that is cold wet stormy weather or short dayes nor on the Sabbath when ye are unprovided to fly by reason of your full bellies and store of cloathes or your over-strict opinion for in these Cases many more will dye than if the flight were at other times Marke 13.18 He wholly leaveth out the mentioning of the Sabbath and onely sayth Pray ye that your flight be not in the Winter when he mentioneth an impediment from the Sabbath himselfe meaneth not that it is unlawfull to fly farther than two miles to save ones life but argueth from their opinion at that time but in all other places of Scripture where he speaketh of the Sabbath though the Mosaicall Law was then of force and the Sabbath strictly to be observed he inveieth against the Iewish rigour and reduceth it to an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our Church of England runneth the same way and is not Iewishly zealous In a booke of Canons Printed 1571 by Iohn Day pag. 15. It is said Every Sunday and holiday the Parsons Vicars and Curates shall come to Church so timely and conveniently in due season that the Parishioners having done their businesses may come together c. Lo a permittance of doing worldly businesse before they come to Church and obiter pag. 13. on other times the Parsons are to use their Bowes and shafts onely more to the former point in the advertisement made upon Queene Elizabeths command 1584. among the Articles for administration of Sacraments it is sayd in all Faires and common Markets falling upon Sundayes there shall be no shewing of wares before the service be done Loe here also is no disallowing of shewing wares after service is done but rather an involved indulgence and permittance Besides Christ defended his Disciples for plucking and eating some eares of corne which the Pharisees condemned Matth. 12.1 but Christ proved the lawfulnesse thereof by Davids eating the shew-bread in an exigent which otherwise was unlawfull ver 3.4 Secondly by the Priests who prophane the Sabbath and yet are blamelesse ver 5. by reason that Christ was greater than the Temple and Lord even of the Sabhath day which Lord accepteth more of mercy than of Sacrifices ver 6.7.8 and not fearing their accusation hee both miraculously healed the mans withered hand on the Sabbath day and since every one of them who should have a sheepe fallen into a pit on the Sabbath day would lay hold of it and lift it out how much better is a man than a sheepe wherefore saith Christ it is lawfull to doe well on the Sabbath day ver 11.12 S. Marke 2.27 addeth remarkeably The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath and S. Luke speaking of the same Story sayth Christ propounded to them this quicke question Is it lawfull on the Sabbath day to doe good or to doe evill Luke 6.9 apparently implying that not to doe a good worke on the Sabbath day was to doe evill Againe when the Ruler of the Synagogue answered with indignation because Christ healed one on the Sabbath day Christ called him hypocrite Luke 13.25 confuting him by his owne and their generall practise Doth not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his Oxe or his Asse from the Stall and lead him away to watering Observe first nor Oxe nor Asse can take much hurt if they be not wrought though they drinke not from Sun-rising to Sun-set yet for covetousnesse or for pitty they did loose them Secondly they might have loosed them though themselves had not led them away to the watering places for Nature teacheth beasts to know their drinking places but they would lead them away thither which they needed not and being done for lucre was certainely a breach of the Sabbath And Iohn 7.22 The Iewes did on the Sabbath day circumcise a man about which they used many Ceremonies of preparation of abscission of washing of stopping the blood and applying of salves to heale the would though it were but one little part to be wounded and made whole and are ye angry with me saith Christ because I have made a man every whit whole on the Sabbath day Every member of his body and I doubt not also but he healed the ulcers of every ones soule whose bodily parts he healed In 1 Cor. 16.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is well translated On the first day of the weeke on the Sabbath day Christ did not take up already made but newly made clay and healed the blinde Joh. 9.14 so that not onely the mayne worke of healing or doing good but all necessary or convenient helpes conducing thereto may be used on the Sabbath day without prophanation thereof for Christ anointed his eyes and sent him to the Poole Siloam and there he washed Againe it is said Matth. 28.1 In the end of the Sabbath as it began to dawne toward the first day of the weeke and Marke 16.1 When the Sabbath was passed the words are most observeable and may involve within themselves not onely that the Sabbath of that weeke was at an end and passed which was true and no man questioneth but even this deeper sense when Christ's rest in the grave had supplied and substantiated the Typicall Sabbath adumbrating his rest for the Sabbaths were shadowes of things to come but the body was Christ Col. 2.17 and his Resurrection from the dead
on the beginning of the first day in the week had given life to an holy rest on the Lords day then ended and passed not onely the Sabbath of that weeke but all and every Sabbath for ever of the Mosaicall Law was abolished Men were no more obliged to them when Christ arose the Sabbaths lay downe and began to taste of their eternall periods as it was sinne not to have observed the legall Sabbaths before so after Christs Resurrection it had beene a greater sin to observe it the Ceremoniall Law was languishing all Christs life was dead at Christs death in most things but after his Resurrection and the promulgation of the Gospell was deadly The next Sabbath day of the Iewish Church not after Christs death immediatly yet after the Lords day was consecrated by Christs Resurrection was the first Sabbath that was needlessely kept and continued and now the Apostle in the same place to the Colossians is bold to inferre that no man should judge them in respect of an holy day or New-moones or of the Sabbath dayes ver 16. And if any had judged of them amisse they neede not to esteeme it and in all the Apostolicall Writings is no incitement to observe the Sabbaths any longer but the Lords day which Christ himselfe chalked out unto us by his oftner appearing on that day than on the Iewish Sabbaths yea but S. Paul Rom. 9.29 called God the Lord of Sabbath it should be read Sabaoth and the Apostle quoteth it from Esay 1.9 Where it is Iehovah Tsebaoth in the Originall in the Greeke as it is in S. Paul in the Latine Dominus exercituum and Iehovah exercituum in our English The Lord of hostes and so should be read in Rom 9.29 for the same words truely transtated Iam. 5.4 The Lord of Sabaoth or the Lord of Hosts yea but Act. 13.14 the Apostle went into the Synagogue on the Sabbath day and preached and S. Panl Act. 17.2 reasoned with them three Sabbath dayes And againe Act. 14 4. He reasoned in the Synagogue every Sabbath day I answer the Apostles relapsed not to Iudaisme but laboured to convert the Iewes to Christianitie and reasoned out of the Scriptures to convert both Iewes and Gentiles unto Christ Secondly no place is excepted but one may any where endeavour the salvation of soules and what place is fitter than the Church or where are men better prepared to receive instruction than there Paul kept not the Iewes Sabbath These were my thoughts when I read our last and best English Translation but when I consulted with the Originall Greeke Text Luke 18.12 I was more confirmed in mine opinion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is I fast twice in the weeke there cannot be two fasts in one Sabbath but in a weeke they might fast twice or more and therefore Sabbatum is there taken for a weeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Know then the Hebrew Schabbath and Schabbathon have produced with a milder pronunciation the Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so used every where both in the Translation of the 70. and in the new Testament thence issued the Latine Sabbatum and never Sabbathum and doth sometime signifie a Weeke according to the Hebrew Idiotisme and sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used for one Sabbath Matth. 12.1 and this Sabbatum is properly called the Sabbath of dayes But otherwhere there is mention of the day of the Sabbath Luke 13.16 and Luk. 14.4 yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are all one Luke 13.14 The Sabbath day is the primary expression from the fourth Commandement or the same day was the Sabbath Luk 5.9 Much more may be sayd of the Sabbath viz. as that the Primitive Church and holy Fathers did seldome or never call the Lords day the Sabbath day and I could wish we would follow their example S. Augustin ad Ianuarium saith thus in one place men receive the Sacrament on the Sabbath and on the Lords day in another place they take it onely on the Lords day Behold a maine difference betweene the Sabbath and the Lords day the Sabbath was not the Lords day nor the Lords day the Sabbath but they were two distinct names and things Likewise though Morale naturall poynts out onely a set day for the service of God yet Morale disciplinae guideth us to doe as God our Teacher did prescribe that is on the seventh day to worship him rather than on any other day though the Jewish Sabbath expired at Christs death yet one day in the weeke was the Lords But I hasten to the words Matt. 28.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is translated by most learned men In the end of the Sabbath as it beganne to dawne towards the first day of the weeke but the interlineary hath it excellently and properly Vespere autèm Sabbatorum in the Plurall Lucescenti in unam Sabbatorum and this agreeth with my Interpretation that not onely that Hebdomal Sabbath was passed over but all the Iewish Sabbaths were now ended and passed none ever more needing to observe them when one of the Christian Sabbaths as in a good sense they may be called or Holy-dayes began to dawne which in other places is called the Lords day Drusius on that place saith that a late Interpreter hath turned it extremo Sabbato or extremo Sabbatorum as Illyricus hath it that is as I conceive the last Iewish Sabbath that ever was though perhaps they understood it not so In Marke 16.1 it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not onely peractâ die Sabati but peracto Sabbato or cùm peractum Sabbatum transiret sayth the Interlineary The end of one kinde of Sabbath was the beginning of another or rather the beginning of the Lords day was the consummate end of all other Sabbaths If the publishing the abrogation of the Mosaicall Sabbath was not intended by the Holy-ghost by those words I am much deceived and yet herein I submit my selfe to my Superiours It might have beene sayd and would in all likelihood if it had beene spoken onely of the weekely Sabbath viz. In the end of the Sabbath or of the or that Sabbath day but in the end of the Sabbath cannot but have reference as the case stood to the expiration of the Moisaicall Sabbaths the Latine Translations have it Vespere Sabbathi observe the naturall day in the Iewish account began at the Vespers The Evening and the morning were the first day Gen. 1.5 and the Paschall day was both to begin at Even Exod. 12.18 and the Sabbath day among the rest began at Eventide for it is said from Even to Even you shall celebrate your Sabbath's Levit. 23.32 And that was the reason why the Jewes besought Pilate to have the legges of the Crucifyed broken and that they might bee taken away that the bodies might not remaine on the Crosse on the Sabbath day Ioh. 19.31 Which it must have done if they had not taken them downe before the beginning of
Religious thoughts must be produced into Acts. 6. In the sixt glorious passeover of Iosiah were most royall offerings both for the Pascha and also for the Chagigah which exceeded the offerings of Hezekiah 7. Salianus against Vatablus both reconciled 8. The Masters of the family killed the Passeover but the Priests slue the Festivall offerings Levites might not sacrifice without divine inspiration or great exigents any Levite might sacrifice the proper Passeover for his owne family or for the impure 9. In what sense Priests are said to profaine the Sabbath the Temple Sacrifices and Circumcision chase away the Sabbath 10. The seventh extraordinary great Passeover was foreprophecyed by Ezekiel but not accomplished till the returne from captivity in the dayes of Ezra and Nehemiah PAR. 1. THe fifth great Passeover was in the time of Hezekiah a 2 Chro 30.15 2 Chron. 30.15 For I passe by Hezekiah his precedent reformation of taking away the high places and breaking the Images and cutting downe the groves and breaking in peeces the brazen Serpent which Moses had made to which the Israelites burned incense b 2 King 18.4 2 King 18.4 I omit also the preparatives to this great passeover and begin at the 15. verse Where it is said The Priests and Levites were ashamed for their sins and the sins of the people and sanctifyed themselves And the people received the passeover though they were not sanctifyed and in the second moneth Wherefore the people themselves or the Masters of the families killed not their Lambes for the passeover as was their wonted guise or custome at other times But the Levites had the charge of killing the Passeover for every one that was not cleane ver 17. PAR. 2. FOure other things are most observable about this passeover First that they who were not cleansed and yet did eate the passeover otherwise then it was written were prayed for by the King and the forme of Hezekiahs prayer was The good Lord pardon every one that prepareth his heart to seeke God the Lord God of his Fathers though he be not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary ver 18. c. And that you may know the great power of the hearty prayers of a King even of Hezekiah as well as of David and Solomon in other cases The Lord harkened to Hezekiah and healed the people For the Kings heart was cleane when the Priests Levites and peoples were uncleane PAR. 3 THe second passage is this that whereas other passeovers lasted but seven dayes what was wanting in the former part of their more perfect sacrifice was supplyed in their voluntary assumed devotions the whole assembly tooke counsell to keepe other seven dayes and did keepe other seven dayes with gladnesse ver 23. Yea a great number of Priests belike before unsanctifyed sanctifyed themselves ver 24. By which redoubled acts both of priests and people we are taught if our prayers or our owne wandring thoughts or the sierce suggestions of Sathan not to give over but to reunite our forces to renew afresh our indeavours to double the times of our holy exercises and be thou assured good Christian though the devils temptarions doe trouble thee and vexe the these repeated and more perfect prayers of thine doe more afflict and torment him and all his infernall crew PAR. 4. YEt that is not all nor the chiefest joy but toward the end of this Festivall that the people may know also the efficacy of Sacerdot all benediction both the Priests and Levites arose and blessed the people and their voyce was heard and their prayers came up to his holy dwelling place even unto heaven ver 27. which was the third observable puncto in this great Passeover PAR. 5. THe fourth and last memorable passage was that after all this was finished All Israel that were present brake the Images in peeces cut downe the groves threw downe the high places a 2 Chro. 31.1 and Altars a 2 Chron. 31.1 Whence we may learne that good sincere hearts are more devour after their religious exercises that holy performances make deepe impressions and bring forth fruites of amendment and end in no end but reformation Reformation I say not popular which is never aright but regular generall wherein Inferiours are guided by Superiours and these by Gods Word PAR. 6. THe fixt most glorious passeover was in the eighteenth yeare of the devout Josiah as appeareth b 2 Kin. 23.21 2 Chro. 35.1 2 King 23.21 and 2 Chron. 35.1 c. Toward which were given for passeover offerings 37000. Lambes and Kids and for other offerings 3800. Oxen the first fort was of the flocke meerely for the Pascha and them the Master of each Family killed and they were rosted whole and eaten by the family as God commanded by the hand of Moses the second sort were of the heards 3800 Oxen some say Calves among them these were for the chagigah for the Feast offerings and other offerings some of these holy offerings they sod in pots cauldrons and pans and divided them speedily among the people of the other part they made whole burnt offerings of which the people had no portion at all but the fire consumed all observe further things were prepared the same day to keepe the Passeover and to offer burnt offerings on the Altar of the Lord c 2 Chr. 35.16 2 Chron. 35.16 And unto the Pascha was annexed the Chagigah after their eating the passeover with sowre herbes they made up the rest of their supper a Reare or a second supper as you may well call it with other comfortable and pleasant meates according to the Law this exceeded Hezekiahs passeover both for number of paschall and other offerings and for being kept in a more legall way for the time viz. in the first moneth and because all sorts of men were more sanctifyed at the beginning of Iosiah's passeover then at Hezekiahs PAR. 7. ERe I part with this passeover I cannot let slip that there is a great question betweene two learned men Vatablus and Salianus viz. Whether it belonged to the Priests onely or to the Levites also to offer sacrifice Vatablus saith Levitae immo laverunt Pascha mactabant victimas The Levites slew the passeover and killed the beasts for sacrifices Salianus a 2 Chr. 35 11 confuteth him saying Nusquam invenies hostias â Levitis jugulatas mictatio hostiae vel maxime ad Sacerdotes pertinet so it should be read you shall no where find that the Levites killed the Sacrifices the slaying of them most properly belonged to the Priests b 2 Chr. 29 22 2 Chro. 29.22 They that is the Priests as is truely expounded killed the Bullockes and Lambes received the blood sprinkled it on the Altar This duty is layd on the Priests the sonnes of Aaron c Levit. 1.5 Levit 1.5 c. Againe Num. 18 3. The Levites shall keepe thy charge◠and the charge of all the Tabernacle onely they shall not
so that I may winde up all to my purpose I conclude that if our heavenly Saviour ascended or was carryed up to Hierusalem after the first yeare of his age till hee was twelve yeares old it was more then was expressely by the Law enjoyned but because then hee did ascend I resolve it was most convenient for him then to ascend if not necessary infallible consequences prove his ascent g Luk. 2.43 Luke 2.43 The child Iesus tarried behind in Hierusalem therefore he ascended up hither and ver 46. they found him in the Temple therefore hee went up to Hierusalem and was in the Temple PAR 5. BUt whether he kept that passeover which is made so glorious by the recorded presence of him is made quaestionable for the Negative I see nothing but his duodecennall age which yet is above answered and the not mentioning of his receiving it when lesse matters are mentioned which is also of no great weight sithence both omissions are of great matters as of the Angels in the creation when smaller things are insisted on and besides are very frequent see a Ioh. 20.30 21.25 Ioh. 20 30. Joh. 21.25 for the affirmative thus I argue first from authoritie b Theophilact in Luc. 2. Theophilact on Luke 2. Simul venit Christus cum parentibus in Ierusalem ut per omnia ostendat se non adversarium Deo neque repugnantem his quae a lege posita fuerant Christ came to Ierusalem fully to manifest that he was no adversary eyther to God or the established rules of the Law Servavit ipse legem quam dedit saith Bâ—da he oserved the law which himselfe gave ascendit tanquà m homo cum hominibus ad offerenda Deo sacrificia as a man he went up with other men to offer sacrifices unto God Ludolphus the Carthosian Laboranit puer Iesus itineribus longis vadit ut honoret patrem coelestem in Festis suis observans humiliter legem Dominus legis Christ when he was yet but a child underwent long journeyes to honour his heavenly father and being Lord of the Law humbly kept the Law in his owne feasts of our late adversaries Barradius saith Paschale agebat Festum he kept the Feast of the passeover and Franciscus Lucas Brugensis in Christs Itinerary Celebrat Pascha cum Parentibus Secondly from reason many were the civill politick causes why the people went to Jerusalem and there might be mixt causes consisting both of religious worldly thoughts or actions whilest many a man laboured to improve his journey but iter hoc Festi celebrandi causâ tanti susceptum est saith Beda and so much is intimated by the words of Scripture they went up to Ierusalem yearely at the feast of the passeover ver 41. after the custome of the feast they went up to Ierusalem ver 42. and when they had fulfilled the dayes viz. of the Feast they returned ver 43. which all layd together fairely imply that they came to Hierusalem for devotion sake principally if not onely and were at the eating of the Paschall Lambe in the appointed season to wit in the night of the foureteenth day of the moneth Abib and stayed there duly till all the rest of the dayes of that Festivall solemnitie were expired and so soone as their holy duties were performed presently they repaired homeward Neither did our Saviours extraordinary stay in the holy Temple savour of ought but Religion which he expressely calleth his Fathers businesse vers 49. briefly thus Christ came purposely to Hierusalem to offer up and be partaker of the Passeover and other offerings therefore he would not frustrate his owne ends see a parallell of the last point ver 39. they brought Christ first to Hierusalem and presented him to the Lord vers 22. and it is sayd vers 39. When they had performed all things according to the Law of the Lord they returned nothing was left undone The second reason is thus shaped none ever was so well prepared to eate the passeover as Christ was therefore I rather resolve that he did take it the antecedent is thus evinced first his bodily health and strength was proportionable to his age if not above it in his infancy the child grew c Luk. 2.40 Luk. 2.40 in his adolescency or juvenilitie Iesus increased in stature vers 52. no bodily imperfection or weaknesse put an obex to the receiving of the passeover concerning the qualification disposition and state of his soule even in his childhood he was not onely come to the yeares of discretion knowing good from evill but was capable of the greatest mysteries he waxed strong in Spirit was filled with wisedome and the grace of God was upon him and a little after the time of this passeover Iesus increased in wisedome and in favour with God and man vers 52. increased in wisedome though he was filled with it before increased in favour with God though before he was strong in Spirit though before the grace of God was on him Lastly he increased in favour with men both before and at and after the Passeover there is nothing to hinder this exposition lest you may thinke that mens perversenesse might have put him backe or beene exceptive against him e. say now who can that ever and one was so perfectly prepated as he or that being so divinely adapted for it he tooke it not PAR. 6. THe second passeover that Christ is recorded in speciall to have sanctified by his presence was about the beginning of miracles which Jesus did and about the first yeare of his publicke ministery and about eighteene yeares after the last mentioned passeover for from Cana of Galilee Christ went downe to Capernaum and continued not there many dayes a Ioh. 2.12 Iohn 2.12 For the Iewes Passeover was at hand and Iesus went up to Ierusalem ver 13. There cast he out buyers and sellers out of the Temple ver 14. And did divers miracles which when they saw many beleeved on him at the Passeover in the feast day ver 23. About which time Nicodemus seeing his Miracles confessed Christ to be a Teacher come from God and by reason of the greatnesse of Christs miracles that God was with him b Ioh. 3.2 Ioh. 3.2 Yea the very Galilaeans having seene all the things which he had done at Ierusalem at the Feast received him c Ioh. 4 45. Ioh. 4.45 But it is not specialized no not in this passeover neither that Christ received it yet I have read none who deny that Christ now received And this shall make me content with this onely proofe that he did receive Christ came not to destroy but to fulfill the Law c Math. 5.17 Mat. 5.17 Therefore he being at Ierusalem at that time when that branch of the Law was to be fulfilled he omitted it not he brake it not he fulfilled it and received the passeover A most observable passage is in d Sebastian Munst Annot. in Mat. 12. Sebastian
confesseth Antiquitùs saltationes illae sacris populi veteris adhibitae sunt nullaque ferè olim sacra sine his peracta fuerunt the ancient Iewes used those dancings and there were scarce any holy times or duties performed without them and he bringeth these instances Iudg. 11.34 1 Sam. 18.6 2 Sam. 6.16 Iudeth 15.14 Since Christ he citeth a Theodor hist Ecâ—le 4.27 Tripartit hist 6.48 Theodoret and the Tripartite history and I am sure God turned Davids mourning into dancing b Psal 30.11 Psal 30.11 And the good Father and prodigall penitent had dancing c Luk 15.25 Luk 15.25 And that churlish Euclio the elder brother faulted it and that the rather commends it especially sithence the pittifull old man represented God our mercifull Father and Christ found not fault with dancing when he said We have piped and ye have not danced d Math. 11.17 Math. 11.17 But rather commends it so e 1 Cor 4.17 1 Cor. 4.17 When the Apostle speaketh of piping and harping giving a distinction in sounds whereby it may be knowne what is piped or harped it is very probable that he alludeth unto the piping and harping unto dancers whose tunes guide the measures But to be briefe it is not dancing that we so much strive for in our Revels or Feasts of dedication as all other lawfull Recreations post sacra peracta with friendly neighbourhood and harmelesse good fellowship and wise modest moderate feastings to the refreshing of the poore and indigent to the cutting off all needlesse and litigious Law-sutes when so many friends doe meete to be merry with putting on of their best apparell insomuch that encaeniare saith f August â—ract 48. in Iohan. Augustine was vulgarly knowne to he all one with Novam vestem induere to decke themselves in their best apparell which the Country man calleth the putting on of the Apostle-day cloathes which Feasts in both Testaments were kept with joy and the Lord made them joyfull that I may speake in the Scripture phrase g Ezr. 6.16.22 Ezra 6 16.22 Without sinne if we follow the prescribed rules of our most sacred Soveraigne King Charles who is Inter primos primus the glory and chiefe of Princes and of his most learned Father King Iames of happy memory who did holily what they did to keepe the Iudaizing Reformers from further madnesse Even in Constantines time the Encaenia were every where celebrated Dedicationum Festivitates per urbes singulas templorum nuper exaedificatorum consecrationes frequentes Episcoporum in unum conventus peregrinorum longè ab exteris regionibus accedentium concursus mutuae populi in populum benevolentiae And all holy exercises are particularly recounted by h Euseb Histo Eccle. 10.3 Eusebius So on the Anniversary Feasts in remembrance of the dedication of our Churches after sacred exercises performed Festivity mirth and jollity may be used Rhenanus on Tertullian de Coronâ militis thus Mos commessandi in dedicationibus Templorum Natalibus Divorum diebus antiquus esse cognoscitur the custome of feasting on the dayes when Churches were dedicated and on the birth-dayes of Saints is knowne to be ancient but in all the Scriptures no holy men ever feasted on their birth dayes Pharaoh and Herod did of all the Feasts in the yeare only the birth of our Lord and of his fore-runner are kept holy the rest are the Feast dayes of their obit's Rhenanus is justly taxed by Pamelius for applying that to their birth-dayes for such was indeed the custome of the heathen which ought to be said of their death-dayes for they were anniversarily observed and both those good customes we may and doe keepe without sin c. PAR. 10. I Come to the Iesuite Maldonate and nearer to the point in hand Magnâ nos Iohannes molestiâ contentioneque liberâsset saith he si vel unum adjecisset verbum quo quis ille Iudaeorum dies fuisset Festus declarâsset that is Saint Iohn might have rid us of much trouble and strife if he had added but one word declarative what that Feast day was sawcily boldly malapertly written Plus quà m pro censurâ satis pro imperio over-censorious and imperiously enough Will the Iesuite prescribe to the Almighty a better course then he hath taken will he grudge if the divine Scripture hath left some points dubious enveloped and fit to be enquired after will he taxe the holy writ of deficiency when as Nature which is nothing but the right hand of God doth neither abound in superfluities nor is wanting in necessaries Or is it a molestation to dive into the harder places of the word of God or if it be a strife is it not an holy strife to overcome errour to trace after the truth The Iesuites impudency being reproved I approach to the matter I will not touch at all the Iewish feasts either primary or secundary but such onely as have Patrones and defenders that they are meant by these words a Ioh. 5.1 Ioh. 5.1 There was a Feast of the Iewes you heard before the opinion of Cajetan and Canus see them excellently confuted by the learned b Perer. disput 1 in Ioh. 5.1 Pererius â—AR 11. SOme of the late Writers held it was the Feast of Tabernacles saith Maldonat but levi conjecturâ as he professeth his judgement and there indeed he is in the right Many have held that it was the Feast of Pentecost so Cyril 2.123 Chrysostome Hom. 35. Euthymius Author Historiae scholasticae Aquinas Lyranus Hugo Cardinalis Carthusian thus Communiter dicitur quòd erat solennitas Pentecostes Pentecoste opinor saith Theophylact but Tolet proveth at large by the series rerum ordo historiae by the passages of those times it could not be Pentecost which is strongly confuted also by the Itinerary in Franciscus Lucas Brugensis Canus also and Cajetan hold it not likely that it was Pentecost Pererius refuteth it thus after the other precedent Passeover Christ both stayed in Iudaea and thence after went into Galilee and in his passage conferred with the woman of Samaria foure moneths before the Harvest c Ioh. 4.35 Ioh. 4.35 But the Harvest in Iudaea was before Pentecost d Levit. 23.10 16. Levit. 23.10 To the end of the 16. verse So this Feast of the Iewes could not be Pentecost Jrenaeus thinkes the Passeover was meant in this place so Rupertus Barradius Tolet and many others PAR. 12. PErerius in his vehemency for the Passover mightily overlasheth and disput 1. he is peremptory Nusquam sive inveteris sive in novi Testamenti Scripturâ reperire est aliud Festum nisi Pascha appellari Festum simplicitèr precise that is in no place of the Old or New Testament is any other Feast But the passeover called precisely singly and simply a Feast but the great scholler is certainely in a great errour for the Feast of Tabernacles is called simply and precisely a Feast e Ioh 7.8.10.11.14
three dayes o Exod. 10.23 Exod. 10.23 neither doe I thinke that the Israelites had beene able to see to choose Lambes or Kids if they had gone into the Aegyptian Territories where one might feele darkenesse or darkenesse might be felt Exod. 10.21 Exod. 10.21 Therefore they must needes and did provide the Lambes and Kids foure dayes before hand Seventhly to put them in minde that as they provided themselves for a departure so it was to an holy departure Reason 7 and the beginnings of labouring for Canaan must be sacred and their first footing not to be moved till God had beene devoutly served which cannot be done suddenly nor hastily nor was here done without foure dayes preparation and diligent circumspection Reason 8 Lastly the Lambe was to bee chosen and as it were in their sight for foure dayes perhaps to signifie either that Christ was publikely to be seene knowne made manifest by his open workes of his ministery about foure yeares e're he was offered up a day being set for a yeare in Scripture phrase or else to fore-signifie that Christ should come foure dayes to Hierusalem before the passion and so he did when they cryed Hosanna as if they had found the perfect Sacrifice their redeemer being in sight and welcomed with the extraordinary applause of the multitude that went before and that followed after p Matth. 21.9 Matth. 21.9 from the mount of Olives to the Citie and through a good part of it from the Citie into the Temple even in which temple the children tontinued crying and said Hosanna to the Sonne of David vers 25. Now the most of those reasons saying in future times for they were gone out from among the Aegyptians and they needing no such testimonies of the faith they had no such stinging threate as the death of their first-borne nor wanted such a spurre to quicken their preparation for a speedy journey as they were not commanded so neither did they practise in future times to gather up the Lambes foure dayes before hand PAR. 9. AEGidius a Aegid Hunnius comment in Matth 26. Hunnius hath it thus Apostoliparant agnum masculum anniculum immaculatum per quatriduum â reliquo grege separatum mactantes juxta legem that is the Apostles prepare a Lambe a male of a yeare old without spot separated foure dayes from the rest of the flocke slaying it according to the Law in which opinion he is both singular and singularly false and did not distinguish the temporary rites from the perpetuall PAR. 10. THe third ceremony peculiar to the first passeover was the striking or the sprinkling of the blood on the two side-posts and upper doore-post of the house Exod. 12.7 Exod. 12.7 PAR. 11. THe sprinkling of blood was an ordinary ceremony in the Leviticall Law and sometimes it was done with the finger alone b Num. 19.4 Num. 19.4 Eleazar shall take of the blood with his singer and shall sprinkle the blood of the red Heifer directly before the Tabernacle of the Congregation seven times Sometimes sprinkling was used by other mediate things c Heb. 9.19 Heb. 9.19 Moses tooke the blood of Calves and goates with water and scarlet Wooll and Hysope saying this is the blood of the Testament which God hath enjoyned unto you and he sprinkled with blood both the Tabernacle and all the vessells of the Ministery In the old Testament it was enjoyned unto the people as a part of their Covenant to be sprinkled with blood to which words of Moses our Saviour alludeth in his consecration d 1 Cor. 11.25 1 Cor. 11.25 This cup is the New Testament in my blood which is shed for you or as it is varied e Matth. 26.28 Matth. 26.28 This is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sinnes PAR. 12. ANd in this third ceremony these things are farther observable as most probable first that those houses in Goshen needed not to be sprinkled where no people were where no Lambe was killed where all the inhabitants entred into other houses to make up the full number in Communicants PAR. 13. SEcondly in the houses that were sprinkled with blood according to the Law whether the doores were open or shut it was all one the destroyer was not to doe harme but was to passe by it and to enter no other way or ope whatsoever though the entrances might be many and questionlesse were many by the chimneyes by the windowes and other in-lets of ayre PAR. 14. THirdly that the striking of the blood on the two side-posts and upper doore-post of the houses was used in no other Sacrifice PAR. 15. FOurthly this puncto is most certaine that this ceremony was onely peculiar to this Passeover and to no succeeding Passeovers for they had not the same cause The generall consent of the Jewish Rabbins is that it was never used after f Beza ad Matth. 26.20 Beza saith Summo consensu Doctores omnes Hebraurum testantur that is the Jewish professours with an universall agreement witnesse that the sprinkling of the doore-posts and lintell and superliminary belonged onely to that night when they were to goe out of Aegypt PAR. 16. THe reason following maketh it apparent this was commanded to prevent the destroying Angel and to keepe the first-borne of the Israelites from being slaine as the first-borne of the Aegyptians were slaine which is most firmely grounded on g Exod. 12.13 Exod. 12.13 The blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where you are and when I see the blood I will passe over you and the Plague shall not be upon you to destroy you and it is also confirmed h Heb. 11.28 Heb. 11.28 Thorough faith Moses kept the Passeover and the sprinkling of blood lest he that destroyed the first-borne should touch them When this occasion was removed and no such cause of feare they omitted ever after that ceremony and Sublatâ causâ totali tollitur effectus nor was ever mention made afterward of this ceremony as practised from that time but the words to the Hebrewes seeme to restraine it to the first passeover by Moses rather then by others PAR. 17. I Dare not say that the sprinkling of the side-posts and upper doore-post had no reference unto Christ who saith of himselfe i Ioh 10.7 Ioh. 10.7 Verily verily I am the doore of the Sheepe and without that addition ver 9. I am the doore I am sure this doore was be sprinkled with blood on all sides before and behind his head and his armes as the superliminary both sides of him as the side-posts and his feete as the threshold Mundans aerem terramque suo sanguine cleansing both aire and earth with his blood and all mankinde in them of such as beleeve in him which was a more perfect smell or unction then the precious oyntment of Aaron was that runne downe upon his beard and went downe to the skirts
Nebo which he imparted to the followers of the Chaldaean Discipline saith Montanus ib. Bel was renowned for a Captaine Nebo for a Scholler both of them afterwards esteemed to be gods and divers deities Isa 46.1 Bel boweth downe Nebo stoopeth and ver 2. They stoope they bow downe even Bel and Nebo even those two their Images we have it Idolls the vulgar simulacra so Vatablus their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their graven Images were on the beasts S. Hierome interprets Nebo to be Prophecie or divination in the abstract but I follow Montanus who was the greater Hebrician and he who makes Nebo to signifie a diviner a god esteemed to have the spirit of foretelling and prophecying of things to come It is sayd remarkeably Esa 15.2 He is gone up to the high places to weepe Moab shall bowle over Nebo that there was an Altar on Nebo the 70. say that there was mourning for Nebo the judicious Mr. Selden confesseth expounding the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 commonly rendred super by propter that they mourned for the City or Country I will not deny and I thinke they wept also over their bowed Bel and stouped Nebo their Captive Images as People weepe over their dead they bowed and stouped before Bel and Nebo but now Bel bowed and Nebo stouped before them PAR. 4. SO much if not too much to evince that no places where the heathen gods or Idolls were worshipped nor any other place which man or men should choose was to be the place of the true Gods great worship but that place onely which reserved as secret within the closet of his owne breast for a long time after they were gone out of Aegypt even untill the dayes of David then the Lord revealed himselfe more plainely that the place so often before spoken of was to be in the Temple and the Temple in Jerusalem unto which God appropriated most of his Service and among the rest the observing of the Passeover there and no where but there when once they had began there PAR. 5. FOr the Iebusities inhabited Hierusalem divers yeares after David was King in Hebron 2 Sam. 5.6 in which City of Hierusalem when David was once quietly setled I am fully perswaded that the thought of nothing more than of fixing that individuum vagum that wandring Arke and reducing those often fore-prophecyed generall words the place that God would choose to the choosing of some such determined place as God should particularly designe and marke out See 2 Sam. 7.1 c. At that time God did thus farre proceede by the Propheticall mouth of Nathan and revealed unto David 2 Sam. 7.10 c. that God would appoint a place and Davids sonne should build an house for Gods Name and Salomon by Name 1 Chron. 22.9 Yet David rested not but was very inquisitive and most eager to know the speciall place that he might provide Materialls for the future building of it Psal 132.1 Lord remember David and all his afflictions by which he meaneth not all the Troubles and crosses that David had in all his life but all his holy-afflicting cares that he had about things Sacred and the worship of God or his unresting griefes prayers and almes after he had made a vow till God had declared where the Temple should be They enquired not at the Arke of God in the dayes of Saul 1 Chr. 13.3 but there was an heare-say that Ierusalem was to be that place saith Cajetan and therefore so soone as ever David was made King by all the Tribes of Israel the first thing that ever hee is recorded to have done after he was thus chosen was to recover Ierusalem from the Jebusites 2 Sam. 5.3 and 6. verses In the fixt Chapter see his great care to bring the Arke into the City of David yet when God had smitten Vzzah David was afrayd of the Lord and sayd How shall the Arke of the Lord come to me So he carried it aside into the house of Obed Edom but when he discerned that the Lord blessed Obed Edom and all his houshould then David went and brought up the Arke of God from the house of Obed Edom into the Citie of David with gladnesse then David danced before the Lord with all his might and Michal dispised David in her heart When it was thither brought and set in the midst of the Tent which David had pitched for it 1 Chro. 16.1 and the Arke of the Covenant of the Lord remained under Curtaines 1 Chro. 17.1 David did not like those slacke covetous ones of whom God complaineth Hag. 1.4 Is it time for you O yee to dwell in your sieled houses and this house lye waste But he sayd Loe I dwell in a house of Cedar but the Arke of the Lord dwelleth within Curtaines 2 Sam. 7.2 Whereupon he intended to build the Lord an house but was forbid 1 Chro. 17.4 Yet David rested not here but having onely a promise I will ordaine a place for my people ver 9. and desirous to know the particular place now as is most likely did he make that binding vow and oath to the mighty God of Iacob that he would not come into the Tabernacle of his New-builded house nor climbe up to his bed nor sleepe nor slumber till he knew the Vbi or setled place of the Temple If you aske why he named Iacobs God rather than the God of Abraham Cajetan saith it was for the likenesse of the oath that Iacob made when he saw the Ladder reaching from earth to heaven Gen. 28.21 The Lord shall be my God and this stone which I have set for a Pillar shall be Gods house this is none other but the house of God and this is the gate of heaven saith he ver 17. Cajetan addeth that David beleeved the tradition of the Elders that the Temple should be built in the place where Iacob saw the Ladder but Cajetan and the tradition if so it were are both deceived for Bethel or Luz was not nigh the place of the temple at Ierusalem he should rather by this laft reason have called on the God of Abraham who sacrificed on mount Moriah where certainely the Temple afterward stood They are much awry who thinke David made this oath and vow to finde out the Arke at Shilo or Cariathiearim or Abinadab's or Obed Edom's house or the threshing-floore of Araunah Davids prayer was saith the Margin in Vatablus Vt Deus institutum suum de Templo perficiat that God should once bee pleased to bring to passe what he had purposed concerning the Temple all other places wheresoever the Arke had beene were sufficiently knowne to David before and needed not to be sought for or enquired after anxiâ animi solicitudine with such carking and caring as David did now in Tremellius his phrase but to finde out the exact place within which the Temple should be circumscribed Hic labor hoc opus est this David so strugled for that he might prepare things
to an Oratour Rhetori concessum est sententiis utifalsis audacibus subdolis captiosis simodò verisimiles sint possint ad movendos animos hominum qualicunque astuirrepere saith Aulus Gellius 1.6 A Rhetorician may lawfully use any false presumptuous subtile captious passages so long as they carry with them some colour of truth and can cunningly wimble themselves into mens minds by way of perswasion now not onely pictoribus atque Poëtis but even to Rhetoricians quidlibet audendi sempêr datur aequa potestas Paynters in paynting Poets in Poetry Have alwayes had an equall liberty It must needes be acknowledged that the Romanes had a very high esteeme of them and even till Cicero his time the Roman youth did learne them by heart discebamus pueri duodecim Tabulas ut carmen necessarium not as our children doe idlesongs yet presently after Cicero 2. de legibus confesseth Nemo eas jam discit so that that custome ceased in Cicero his age other learned men doe differ from Tully and Crassus Yet Alexander ab Alexandro Gen. dier 6.10 saith some of them are made parùmconsultè nimis severè quaedam duriter inhumanè multa velut immitia agrestia refellenda sunt multa incuriosè subrusticè partim insolenter nonprobabili nec recto judicio eâdemlege decreta videntur constituta that is some of them are made inconsiderately and too too severely some are to harsh and inhumane many things are to be repealed as savouring of too much cruelty and barbarity many things in the same law seeme to be decreed and established carelesly and rudely and partly in an unusuall straine without probability without a rectifyed judgement This was a ridiculous Law of the 12. Tables si injuriam alterifaxit viginti quinque aeris poenae sunto that is if one man doe offer an injury to anorher let him be ammerced 25. peeces of money an impudent fellow on L. Nerutius delighted to strike men in the faces and presently his man had in readinesse 25. peeces of brasse to satisfie them which was in all about a groate and Phavorinus in Gellius Noct. Attic. 20.1 findes fault with divers other I must confesse that I am sorry that all the world cannot produce the whole and entire twelve Tables that we might the better judge of them or the coppies of them though some say the writings of Hermodôrus the Ephesian the first interpreter of the Decemvirall Lawes are extant yet these threescore and ten yeares since Alexander ab Alexandro related this we cannot finde them not in these searching and most learned dayes The points which concerned publique Religion are almost wholly lost it may be the latter Romans dealt with the Lawes of their devout Numa and with part of the Ius Papirianum as the former Romanes did with those bookes of Numa which they found buried by himselfe and being taken up divers hundred yeares after his death when they were informed that they were discordant from the then professed Religion they burned them If they had beene kept transcribed and published I confesse I had rather have seene them then all the Triumphall monuments that ever were brought into the Capitoll It may be they perished when Rome was sacked wherefore you may not expect a Totall conformity to the first Table of Moses his Law yet observe somë remnants tending that way Cicero de devinat lib. 1. Romulus made a Law that noe man should be ushered into the throne either of Kings or Magistrates but by Heavenly approbation Cicero 2. de leg hath divers Lawes touching Religion it is likely from Numa separatim nemo habessit Deos neve novos sive advenas nisi publicè ad-scitos privatim colunto let not any man deify new gods or strange gods nor privately worship any but those publiquely received How little doe these differ from the first Commandement Exod. 20.3 Non habebis Ders alienos coram me Thou shalt have none other gods but me and these words of the second Commandement Exod. 20.5 Non adorabis neque coles ea Thou shalt not bow downe to them nor worship them nor had they Images in Numa his time if my memory fayle me not Carmeli Deus colebatur cui nec Templum erat nec simulachum sed aratantum et divinus cultus that is the God of mount Carmel had neither Temple nor Image but onely an Altar erected unto him and was Worshipped with divine worship as Alexander ab Alex. 4.17 That on the by And whereas the letter of the Law ran Sacra privata perpetuò manento Cicero ibid interprets that the Fathers should teach their Children and derive unto them their received Religion Franciscus Baldwinus Iurisconsultus In lib. de legibus Romuli citeth this as the fixth deorum fabulas necredunto let them not beleeve the Poets fables concerning the Gods and as the seventh Dees peregrines praeter Faunum ne colunto let them worship no strange gods but Faunus Romulus did thinke the Fables which the Ancients reported of the gods conteining their sinnes and shame to be filthy unprofitable mis-beseeming good men much more the gods suffering nothing to be ascribed unto them but what was agreable to their happy Nature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Si dii vitiosa faciunt non sunt dii Answerably Euripides in Bellerophonte how greeable is this to our third Commandement Non assumes nomen domini tui in vanum Exod. 20.7 Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vaine did not they take their gods Names in vaine who told of their adulteries incests rapes murthers and the like odious and shamefull things which Romulus forbad Which rectified Nature abhorrerh the very mention of and corrupted Nature delighteth in as a provocative of sin and a defence of it what is to take their gods name in vaine if this be not PAR. 8. A Gaine concerning the Sabbath dayes Service they had a resemblance of it the great Rigaltius hath these words from Tertullians first booke ad Nationes cap. 13. Vos certè estis qui etiam in laterculum septem dierum solem recepistis ex diebus ipsum praelegistis quo die lavacrum subtrabatis aut in vesperam differatis aut otium prandium curetis quod quidem facitis exorbitantes ipsi â vestris ad alienas religiones that is you certainely are they who have received Sunday into your register and fore-chose that day especially on which day you bath not or bath late you give your selves to ease and eating which you doe wheeling off from your owne to other mens Religions But sure Rigaltius is amisse for the learned Jacobus Gothofredus from whom Rigaltius had Agobardus his manuscript of Tertullion in stead of ipsum hath it ipsorum and the true sense is this you assuredly are they who have received Sunday into your Calender or Registry for one of the Seaven dayes of the weeke and out of those dayes have chosen one on which day ye bath not you