should bee so whether manifested by Christs particular charge unto them or by comparing Christs Resurrection with the Lords rest from the workes of Creation Otherwise in my judgement they had never called that day the Lords Day Fourthly he excepts against the argument drawne from Christs Resurrection denying that therehence it followes that that day was to bee consecrated to God But herein hee opposeth all the ancients neither doe I thinke hee can alleage any one that doth not hereon build the observation of the Lords Day which nuiversall concurrence doth manifestly argue to be more then probable Austin as Waleus alleadgeth him professeth not as his peculiar opinion but as he took it generally received without contradiction that Dies Dominicus Christianis resurrectione Domini declaratus est and that resuscitatio Domini consecravit nobis diem Dominicum And Athanasius plainly takes notice of the analogy it hath to the fourth Commandement and analogy Doctor Walaeus grants and I wonder hee takes no notice of it here by comparing the second Creation with the first Creation and so Doctor Andrewes Bishop of Winchester professeth that the new Creation requires a new Sabbath especially seeing the old must bee abrogated as ceremoniall But the analogy I confesse may be differently shaped Athanasius shapes it thus that the Jewes Sabbath was the end of the first Creation and that the Lords Day is a beginning of the second Creature to wit as the day of Christs resurrection in reference whereunto the Apostle saith Old things are passed behold all things are become new And I conceive reason to justifie Athanasius in making the beginning of the new creature to be our Sabbath answerable to the end of the first creation to wit because the second creation hath no end in this world Againe Adam and Eve were made but the immediate day before the seventh and the seventh he was to spend in rejoycing in Gods works so Christs death was the worlds redemption and immediately after to wit with Christs rising it was as fit we should Sabbatize with God for joy of our Redemption Otherwise the analogie which Doctor Walaeus grants but doth not explicate may be conceived thus The seventh day of the weeke was the Lords rest from the worke of creation the first day of the weeke was the Lords rest from the work of redemption in the morning thereof rising from his grave and in respect of Christs resurrection on this day what colour hath any other day of the weeke comparable hereunto to make it fit to stand in competition with this Yes saith D. Walaeus the Thursday may and that in consideration of Christs ascension on that day yet Doctor Walaeus well knowes that that day of the week was never thereupon called the Lords Day either by the Apostles or by the Church as the day of our Saviors resurrection was Againe consider Christs resurrection and ascension are to be computed but as one compleate motion save that he was to stay some time by the way here on earth for the confirming of his Disciples faith and giving them commission for preaching the Gospel and order to wait at Jerusalem untill they were endued with power from on high to carry the glad tidings of salvation all the world over So Christs dying and continuing under the power of death is but one worke of Redemption He confesseth that Christs resurrection afforded an argument to the Church Apostolicall to prefer this day before all others very well even before the day of his ascention for religious assemblies as al the ancients testifie But it followeth not therefore that Christ by this his fact did institute the same day to the same end Now this is a very strange phrase by his fact on the day to institute the day to such an end T is well knowne facts doe not institute otherwise than as therefrom may be concluded that such a day is to be kept and in this sense he doth as good as confesse that Christ by his fact did institute for the Apostolicall Church did hereupon preferre this day as he confesseth all the ancients doe testifie And did they not inferre this there-hence also as most agreeable to the Will of God Doctor Walaeus proceedeth thus So God in the creation of the world rested the seventh day but unlesse God had proposed this rest of his as an example and confirmed it by precept never had the Church of the old Testament beene bound as from heaven to the weekly observation thereof To this I answer that the like may be said of the observation of one in seven yet seeing God did cōmand this proportion to the Jews without any new commandement we can inferre that surely God requires as good a proportion of us Christians In like manner seeing God commanded unto them the day of his rest from creation we without any the like commandement may better inferre that Christs resting day from the worke of Redemption ought to be our rest than they could that the seventh day ought to be their rest 2. Man could not possibly have knowne how many dayes God was creating the world so to know what day he rested that they might conforme unto him in their rest unlesse God had revealed it unto them but supposing God had revealed it and withall had called it his holy day and it were knowne unto them that one day in the weeke must be set apart as Gods holy Day in this case I appeal to every Christian conscience whether this were not sufficient to conclude that surely the day of the Lords rest being his holy Day ought to be the day of our rest and our holy day Now thus the case stands with us Christians we know what day our Saviour rose having finished the worke of mans Redemption we know the Jewes Sabbath is abrogated we know the proportion of one day in seven remaines still to be consecrated as an holy day to the Lord we know the Lord prescribed to the Jewes for their Sabbath his resting day from the creation which is called his holy day And in like manner we know that under the Gospel the first day of the weeke being the day of our Saviours resurrection is called by Saint Iohn the Lords Day as for Easter and Pentecost the case is nothing like those festivalls being not of single dayes but of whole weeks once in a yeere yet this proportion we find betweene them and the weekely Sabbath There are in a yeere seven times seven weeks and a fraction lesse than halfe a seven so that the memory of the creation was seven times in a yeere celebrated more than the memory either of their deliverance out of Egypt or of their reaping the fruits of the land of Canaan the one farre surmounting the other yet their Easter began the day of the yeere whereon they came out of Egypt And Doctor Lake Bishop of Bath and Wells Thes 41. de Sabbat professeth that God sets out the day by the worke he doth on the
there is none more ancient than that of the Sabbath So ancient that it tooke beginning even in the Infancie of the Church and grew up with it For as we reade in the Acts There rose up certaine of the Sect of the Pharises which beleeved saying That it was needfull to circumcise the people and to command them to keep the Law of Moses whereof the Sabbath was a part which in the generall as the Apostles laboured to suppresse in the first generall Councell holden in Jerusalem 2. So did Saint Paul Sect. 2 upon occasion of whose ministry this controversie first began endevour what he could against this particular sharply reproving those which allowed yet the Iewes Sabbath Gal. 4.10 11. or observed dayes and months and times as if he had bestowed his labour in vaine upon them But more particularly in his Epistle to the Colossians Let no man judge you in respect of an holy day or of the new Moone or of the Sabbath dayes which were a shadow of things to come but the body was of Christ Both which expressions of Saint Paul are in this following discourse produced to this very purpose Yet notwithstanding all this care both generally of the Apostles and more especially of Saint Paul to suppresse this errour it grew up still and had its patrons Sect. 3 and abettors 3. Ebion and Cerinthus two of the wretchedest Heretiques of the Primitive times See August de Haeres Epiph. and after them Apollinaris are said to countenance and defend it which doubtlesse made the Ancient Fathers declare themselves fully in it as a dangerous point which seemed to confirme the Jewes in their incredulity and might occasion others to make question of our Sect. 4 Saviours comming in the flesh 4. Hence was it that Irenaeus Iustin Martyr Tertullian and Eusebius men of renowne for learning in the primitive times three of which are cited in the text of this following discourse and the fourth quoted in the margin affirme for certaine that never any of the Patriarches before Moses Law did observe the Sabbath which questionlesse they must have done had that Law been moral and dictated Sect. 5 by nature as now some teach us 5. Afterwards by the opposition made by Epiphanius in his Confutation of the heresies of the Ebionites and by the resolutions of Theodoret on the 20. of Ezech. Procopius Gazaeus on the 2. of Gen. by Damascen and our Venerable Bede which two last are here also cited Sect. 2. concurring with the former Fathers all talke and observation of the Jewish Sabbath vanished utterly and the Lords day which had from the Apostles times been instituted by the Church in the place thereof was hallowed without Sect. 6 any rivall 6. Nor do I find but that all superstitious fancies about that day were as wholly abrogated as the day it selfe Save that S. Gregory tels us how some in Rome were so superstitious in this kind that they would neither work upon the Saturday no nor so much as wash upon the Sunday Exam. I observe in the title first that the Translator professeth he hath performed his part for the benefit of the common people I doe not envie them that benefit if it be a benefit but if it be not so but prove contrary I shall grieve rather No doubt the Translator thinks he hath an advantage thereby so did Rabshakeh when he refused to speak in the Aramites language but chose rather to speake in the Jewes tongue in the audience of the people that were on the wall that if they did not harken unto him they might eat their owne dung and drink their own pisse with the rest What will bee the condition of some of them who doe not hearken to this Praefacer I know not but according to my poore judgement my opinion is that as many as hearken to this Praefacer if Christs comming shall bee on his owne day as Austin hoped Sermon de tem serm 154. it would bee and what day more likely in all probabilitie and at his comming on the Lords day he should take them in their sports their owne hearts would misgive them that their comfort should bee as little as that the Orator threatned unto the Jewes upon the wall in case they did not hearken unto him In a book printed not long ago I hear there is alleaged a passage of one of the “ Theodoret. Fathers for the free use of scripture by all sorts of the vulgar people and it is translated also into English belike for the benefit of the common people but in a second edition the Greeke sentence is “ and by inquiry I find it true said to be reteined but the English translation quite omitted Did the Author report of gratifying the people thus and quench his care of providing for their benefit This observation is none of mine but accidentally brought unto my hands by one of some qualitie by occasion of mutuall communication betweene us But since I heare the Author hath made amends for that another way For having in the first edition professed that Popish errours are not damnable in themselves which with what respect it should bee delivered for the benefit of the common people amongst Protestants I know not in the second edition it is corrected thus popish errours are not damnable in the issue But where corrected not in the text that continuing the same still that such errours are not damnable in themselves but among the Errata at the end of the booke although the Author was warned of the strangenesse of that assertion as I heare and that in contradiction to the doctrine of the Bishop of Canterbury in his Treatise of Councels professing that the Papists withholding the cup from the * people people is a damnable errour Here is brave jugling in the Text to comply with some and in the Errata to provide against afterclaps for himselfe and to comply with others and betray deep dissimulation in both enough to make some man when such courses are discovered to be abhorred of al. But to proceed the Translator doth not say he hath performed this taske fot the benefit of himselfe yet he plainly deales upon an advantagious argument But if his Majestie shall be pleased out of his gracious disposition whereof he hath given many remarkable documents to vouchsafe to receive information concerning the honor of the Lords day in way of a just and necessary Apologie which wee are driven to make I trust through Gods goodnesse in whose hands are the hearts of Kings it shall bee neither advantagious to him nor disadvantagious to us and his Majestie may perhaps bee found to absolve us in the Court of his owne conscience But what is that benefit of the common people whereof this Translator is so zealous I guesse it is in freeing them from superstition and that hereafter they may not bee so peevishly foolish as out of any Cabalismes of conscience to forbeare their may-games and
day And Cyrill in his 12. book on Iohn chap. 58. considering the Lords appearance a second time on the eighth day Thomas then being present and upon consideration finding it to have beene the first day of the weeke concludes thus Iure igitur sanctae Congregationes die octavo in Ecclesiis fiunt By right therefore holy Congregations in the Churches are made on the eighth day meaning thereby the first day of the week that is the Lords day and as hee concludeth thus so undoubtedly his opinion was the Apostles themselves did conclude in like manner Now albeit much had beene effected for the abrogation as well of all superstitious fancies about that day as of the day it selfe that is of the Jewish sabbath by the labours of the Fathers fore-mentioned and particularly of Damascen and venerable Bede among the rest yet there comes in an exception somewhat of the nature of a sixth finger and that is Saint Gregory tells us notwithstanding how some in Rome were so superstitious in this kinde that they would neither work upon the Saturday no nor so much as wash upon the Sunday So little effectuall were the labours of Damascen and venerable Bede that they could not prevent the superstitious fancies of some that lived an hundred yeares before For Gregory by Bellarmines account dyed in the yeare of our Lord 604. and Damascen lived long after the yeare 731. and Bede was living in the yeare 731. as Bellarmine observes out of his fifth booke of Historia Anglicana Who would desire an adversary should betray more weakenesse than this Author but wee see manifestly whither he tends and no marvell if God smites him with the spirit of giddinesse and confusion His quotation of Gregory seemes to bee the same with that which wee finde in the decrees De consecrat dist 3. cap. Pervenit Now whereas this Praefacer relates it as of the same persons it is farre otherwise in Gregory for apparantly the relation in Gregory is concerning different persons for thus it runnes Pervenit ad me c. Relation is made unto mee that certaine men of a perverse spirit have sowed amongst you some corrupt doctrine contrary to our holy faith so as to forbid any worke to be done on the Sabbath day these men we may well call the Preachers of Antichrist Then he sets downe what shall be the practise of Antichrist at his comming namely to command the Sabbath day and the Lords day both to be kept free from all works And why the Lords day to wit because he meanes to imitate Christ and therefore will conforme himselfe to the practise of Christians in celebrating the Lords day his words are these Quia enim mori se resurgere simulat haberi in veneratione vult diem Dominicum that is Because he counterfeits himselfe to die and rise againe therefore he will have the Lords day to be had in veneration Where by the way observe two things 1. The practise of Christians in Gregories dayes to keep themselves from all worke on the Lords day 2. That Antichrist would imitate Christ as in pretending to dye and rise againe so in commanding the Lords day to be kept holy A shrewd evidence that both Gregory and the whole Church in those dayes were of opinion that the Lords day was of Christs institution which Antichrist perceiving would conforme thereto the better to promote his owne counsailes Now the reason why he would command the Jewes Sabbath to be observed also was Quia populum Judaizare compellet ut exteriorem ritum revocet sibi Judaeorum perfidiam subdat therefore coli vult Sabbatum He will have the Iewes Sabbath kept also compelling the people to Iudaize and restoring the outward ceremonies of the Law that so he may bring the Iewes in subjection unto him also Then he makes mention of another relation Aliud quoque ad me perlatum est Another report was brought unto mee and what was that Vobis à perversis hominibus esse praedicatum ut Dominico die nullus debeat lavari That some perverse persons preach among you that on the Lords day none ought to be washed This is clearly another point maintained by other persons different from the former which yet this Prefacer confounds into one And marke it well that none ought to be washed lavari on the Lords day which this Author translates thus No nor so much as wash upon the Sunday What not so much as wash their hands or their face here indeed were strange superstition I willingly professe I was not a little moved at this his Translation nothing answerable to Gregories resolution which is this If any desire to be washed pro luxuria pro voluptate that is out of a luxurious disposition and for pleasure we doe not permit this to be done on any day But if the bodies necessity require it we doe not forbid this on the Lords day Now I doe not find that any man useth to wash hands or face out of any luxurious disposition neither doe I know in what sense the necessity of the body can require it For the necessity of the body in this place seems to me to be spoken in reference to the recovery of a mans health requiring no time to be neglected Hereupon I am verily perswaded that by Lavari in Gregory is to be understood a mans going into the Bath which may be done out of a luxurious disposition and meerely for pleasure Then againe the necessity of the body may require it and according to these different cases it is by Gregory both permitted on the Lords day to wit in case of necessity and denyed on any day in case it be done only to satisfie a mans lusts And I find a great difference in the Latine phrase betweene Lavare to wash and Lavari to be washed and that out of Varro his eight booke of the Latine tongue For the active is of use when a part only is washed as it is rightly said I wash my hands and my feet But the passive is in use only when the whole body is washed as in the Bath Quare in Balneis non rectè dicunt lavi sed lavor Wherefore in the Bathes it is not well said I have washed but I am washed And accordingly runnes that in Juvenal Sat. 2. Nec pueri credunt nisi qui nondum aere lavantur The Scholiast interprets this of Infants quia pueri non dant Balneaticum for the quadrant which was the usuall fee to bee paid of them that made use of the Bathes was not exacted of such Hence is that phrase Mercede lavari to goe into the Baths paying a fee and dum te quadrante lavatum in Horace to the same purpose The second Section BUt after in the darker times as it is thought by some Preface Peter de Bruis the founder of the Petrobrusians he was burnt for heresie 1126. began to draw too deep on these lees of Judaisme which here our Doctor intimates
have been observed by Christian Emperours thereupon moved more strictly to give in charge the observation of the Lords day as Ludovicus Pius by name as thus Didicimus quosdam in hoc die opera ruralia exercētes fulmine intèremptos quosdam artuum contractione multatos quosdam visibili igne absumptos subito in cincrē resolutos poenaliter occubuisse Proinde necesse est ut primum Sacerdotes Reges Principes cunctique fideles huic dici debitam observationem atque reverentiam devotissimè exhibeant We have knowne some busied in workes of husbandry on this day to have beene slaine with lightning some punished with the contraction of their limbes some with visible fire consumed on a sudden turned into ashes and so to have perished as by way of punishment Wherefore it is a necessary duty that in the first place Priests then Kings Princes and all faithfull persons most devoutly exhibite due observation and reverence unto this day The other miracles mentioned by the Monke are of another nature as of a cake bak't on the hearth on Saturday after three a clocke in the afternoone and how that part of it reserved to the morning and being then broken blood came out of it and another of the like nature and two more I say these are of Roger Hovedens relation not of Eustachius his preaching whom the Monke relates to have been in great esteeme of the Clergie in those dayes and to have prevailed much with many of the people though for the generall he could not bring them off from their marketing on the Lords day Yet what are these to be talkt of in comparison to those which are comprised in two bookes of miracles written by Cluniacensis and albeit those times may be accounted times of darknesse in comparison of ages fore-going yet this Prefacer is ready to make answer that that is but the opinion of some But whereas hee saith That this strange opinion is now revived and published first I desire to know his meaning For as for a preparation to the Sabbath and that to begin from about three a clock in the afternoone the whole Kingdome observes it as for the strict observation thereof here mentioned I have shewed that Eustachius speakes of no such thing If hee did what is that to those who suffer for standing for the strict observation of the Sabbath against those who would have the Lords day at least in part to be a day of sports and pastimes Can he shew this to be their opinion If he can why doth he not And if from three a clock on Saturday in the afternoone people doe prepare for the Lords day and abstaine from such workes dispatching both their baking bread and other works in the morning what danger or detriment is hereby likely to arise either to our faith or manners What danger either to Prince Church or State The third Section BUt to proceed Preface Immediately upon the Reformation of Religion in these Westerne parts the Controversie brake out a fresh though in another manner than before it did For there were some of whom Calvin speakes Instit lib. 2. sect 33. who would have had all dayes alike all equally to be regarded he means the Anabaptists as I take it and reckoned that the Lords day as the Church continued it was a Jewish ceremony Affirming it to crosse the doctrine of Saint Paul who in the text before remembred and in the fourteenth to the Romans did seeme to them to cry downe all such difference of dayes and times as the Church retained To meet which vaine and peccant humour Calvin was faine to bend his forces declaring how the Church might lawfully retaine set times for Gods service without infringing any of Saint Pauls commandements But on the other side as commonly the excesse is more exorbitant than the defect there wanted not some others who thought they could not honour the Lords day sufficiently unlesse they did affix as great a sanctitie unto it as the Jewes did unto their Sabbath So that the change seemed to be onely of the day the superstition still remaining no lesse Jewish than before it was These taught as now some doe moralem esse unius diei observationem in hebdomada Ibid. sect 34. the keeping holy to the Lord one day in seven to bee the morall part of the fourth Commandement which doctrine what else is it so he proceeds as here the Doctor so repeats it in his third section then in contempt of the Jews to change the day and to affix a greater sanctity to the day than those ever did As for himselfe so farre was he from favouring any such wayward fancie that as Iohn Barklay makes report he had a consultation once de transferenda solennitate Dominica in feriam quintam to alter the Lords day from Sunday to Thursday How true this is I cannot say But sure it is that Calvin tooke the Lords day to be an ecclesiasticall and humane constitution only Quem veteres in locum Sabbati subrogarunt appointed by our Ancestors to supply the place of the Jewish Sabbath and as our Doctor tells us from him in his seventh section as alterable by the Church at this present time as first it was when from Saturday they translated it unto the Sunday So that we see that Calvin here resolves upon three Conclusions First that the keeping holy one day in seven is not the morall part of the fourth Commandement Secondly that the day was changed from the last day of the weeke unto the first by this authority of the Church and not by any divine Ordinance And thirdly that the day is yet alterable by the Church as at first it was Exam. Thus at length this Prefacer observes that look upon what Scripture passages some did contend the Jewish Sabbath to be ceremoniall and accordingly to be abrogated by the Death and Resurrection of Christ Upon the very same grounds others contended against the observation of all Holy dayes even of the Lords day also as if that were Jewish This is the course of the Anabaptists unto whom Wallaeus addes the Socinians and Hospinian the Petrobrusians By what authoritie the Lords day was introduced Calvin disputes not He saith Dominicum diem veteres in locum Sabbati substituerunt Instit lib. 2. c. 8. sect 34. Calvin in 1. ad Corin. cap. 16. The Ancients brought the Lords day into the place of the Sabbath and that the day the Apostle prescribed to the Corinthians wherein they should lay apart something for the relieving of the Saints at Ierusalem was the day quo sacros conventus agebant whereon they kept their holy meetings Lib. 2. c. 8. sect 34. And that which moved the Apostles to change the Sabbath to the Lords day he shewes both in his institutions thus for seeing in the Lords Resurrection is found the end and fulfilling of the true rest which the old Sabbath shadowed by that very day which set an end
to those shadowes Christians are admonished not to stick to the shadowing ceremony and upon the Epistle to the Corinthians in these words In 1. ad Cor. ca. 16. Electus autem potissimum dies Dominicus quod Resurrectio domini finem legis umbris attulit The Lords Day was chiefely chosen because the Lords Resurrection did set an end to the shadowes of the Law And in the words immediately preceding he expressely professeth that this change was made by the Apostles though not so soone in his opinion as Chrysostome thought who interprets that the first day of the weeke of the Lords Day And Cyrill long agoe upon consideration of our Saviours apparitions on that day and then againe the eighth day after makes bold to conclude Cyrill in Ioan. 1.12 that Jure igitur sanctae congregationes die octavo in Ecclesiis siunt By right therefore holy assemblies on the eighth day are made in the Churches 2 Observe by the way this authors spirit he accompts it more exorbitant to thinke that the observation of the Lords Day is prescribed unto us by Divine authority or the religious observation of one day in seven then to maintaine that none at all is to be set apart to religious worship by Divine authority And to this purpose he premiseth a generall rule that commonly the excesse is more exorbitant then the defect yet I never heard that prodigality was censured as worse then covetousnesse in opposition to liberality or rashnesse accompted worse then cowardlinesse in opposition to fortitude or superstition worse then prophanenesse in opposition to true Religion As for the sanctity of the day in Calvins phrase which this Author calls Sanctity affixed to the day shall I say this Prefacer understands it not it is incredible more likely he is to pervert Calvins plaine meaning not out of excesse in the way of superstition but out of a lesse exorbitant defect For the sanctity of the day in Calvins language is when Religione quadam feriando mysteria olim commendata recolore se somniabant by resting in a religious mannor they thought as it were dreaming that they observed certaine mysteries of old recommended unto them As appeares in his sect 33. Of the 8. Chap. of his second booke of institutions and such indeed was the sanctity of the day in the Jewish observation thereof This religion this holinesse Calvin will have to be at an end and that the Apostle Gal. 1. and Coloss 2. disputed against them who would have that holinesse that religion to continue still not against them who will have one day in the weeke set apart thereon to rest from manuall workes as they are avocations from holy studies and meditations And in the former case he doth not say as this author in a mincing manner feynes him to say to wit that So the change seemed to be only of the day but in plaine termes that this were no other then to change the day and that in contumely of the Iewes siquidem manet nobis etiamnum par mysterii in diebus significatio quae apud Iudaeos locum habebat if so be there yet remaines with us a mysterious signification equally in the daies such as had place amongst the Iewes Now this caution nothing concernes any of our protestant Divines who mainteine the observation of one day in seven as necessary in resting from manuall workes onely as they are impediments to the service of God Nay that one day in seven was observed by the Jewes for any mysterious signification conteyned therein or by the Patriarchs either or by Adam himselfe in whose dayes even from the first the seventh day was sanctified that is set apart for the service of God in the opinion of Calvin This is to bee understood of one day in seven indefinitly considered For as for the rest of the seventh precisely that is acknowledged to have beene mysterious Sect. 32. to this day I never heard or read This latter clause in Calvin which containes the condition whereupon this censure of his passeth upon those that so stand for the observation of one day in seven this Prefacerslily concealeth though Calvins censure be not passed absolutely but merely upon this condition Thus indeed to stand for the necessary observation of one day in seven namely as conteyning some mysterious signification were to exceede the Iewes in a grosse and carnall superstition of a Sabbatisme As touching the observation of some time set a part for Gods holy worship and service Calvin professeth that the same necessity lieth upon us Christians for reliefe whereof the Lord appointed the Sabbath to the Iewes and that it pleased our most provident and tender Father to provide for our necessity no lesse then for the necessity of the Iewes Now it is apparent that God commanded the Jewes to set one day in seven apart for the service of God and doth it not manifestly follow herehence that the Lord would have us also set apart one day of the weeke for his service And Calvin concludes that Section thus Why then doe we not obey that reason which we see to be imposed upon us by the will of God And therefore Wallaeus saith that Calvin delivered not these words whereupon this Prefacer grateth so much against his own Colleagues or fellowes in the reformation with whom he never contended in this argument but against certaine Papists schoolemen who thought they had provided sufficiently for themselves for Christian liberty and for the edification of the Church by teaching that the taxation of the seventh day as ceremoniall was abolished yet that one day in seven and by name the Lords Day was to be observed after such a manner and to such an end as the Jewes observed their Sabbath by which Doctrine way was opened to superstition in this dayes observation His words are plainely directed against such when he saith Thus vanish the toyes of false Prophets who possessed the people in former times with a Iewish opinion And againe But that is no other thing then in contempt of the Jewes to change the day and in mind to retaine the same sanctity of the day if so be there remaines unto us to wit by their opinion an equall mysterious signification of dayes to that which had place among the Jewes Now saith Wallaeus This agrees not to be spoken of any of the reformed but of Sophisters and Papists who urge new mysteries and new significations and holinesses in their holy daies as it is well known Bellarmine lib. 3. cap. 10. of the veneration of Saints writes against our Divines that the feasts of Christians are kept not only in respect of order and policy but also by reason of a mystery and that holydays are truly more holy and sacred then other dayes and a certaine part of Divine worship This Prefacer is content to make use of Iohn Barclayes report concerning Calvin namely that he had a consultation once de transferenda solennitate dominicain feriam
a worse And as for Doctor Prideaux I nothing doubt but he will cleare us from Judaisme in arguing thus as who Sect. 7. professeth that if they against whom he disputes required no more but the Analogy the equity or the reason of that Commandement we would not sticke to yeeld unto it And whereas Rivetus addes that the argument which hee annexeth seemes to him of great weight namely that hee who stickes to the Commandement must exactly observe it And that therefore into the place of the seventh from the Creation no day is to bee substituted But this argument I have answered before all for the most part grant some ceremoniality in that Commandement now if rest on the seventh be found to bee ceremoniall but not the rest of one day in seven in an indefinite consideration it will follow herehence that the seventh must not be observed as accomplished in Christ and that the proportion of time is still to continue as indeed by experience wee finde it verified in each For the observation of the seventh is ceased as prefiguring Christs rest in his Grave but the observation of one day in seven still continueth unto this day Next for the second Thesis Preface that the alteration of the day is onely an humane and Ecclesiasticall constitution the Doctor sheweth in the first Section the generall consent of all sorts of Papists Jesuites Canonists and Schoolemen of some great Lutheranes by names and generally of the remonstrant or Arminian Divines in their confession whose tendries in this point wee may conceave with reason not to bee different from the Doctrine of the Belgicke Churches in that foure professors of Leyden in their examination or review of that confession have passed them over without note or opposition To these besides are added diverse of our own Et è nostris non pauci as hee speakes it in the generall that is as I conceave his meaning such as are neither of the Lutheran nor of the Arminian party of which since he hath instanced in none particularly I will make bold to borrow two or three testimonies out of the tractate of Gomarus before remembred And first hee brings in Bullenger who in his comment on the first of the Revelation calls it Ecclesiae consuetudinem an Ecclesiasticall Ordinance and after addes Sponte Ecclesiae receperunt illum diem The Church did of its owne accord agree upon that day for wee reade not any where that it was commanded Next Vrsinus telling us that God had abrogated the Iewish Sabbath addes presently that hee left it free unto the Church Alios dies eligere to make choise of any other day to be selected for his service and that the Church made choyse of this in honour of our Saviours Resurrection Zanchius affirmes the same Nullibi legimus Apostolos c. We reade not any where saith hee that the Apostles did command this day to bee observed in the Church of God onely wee finde what the Apostles and others of the faithfull used to doe upon it Liberum ergo reliquerunt which is an argument that they left it holy to the disposition of the Church Aretius Sinâ—ler David Paraeus and Bucerus which are all there alleaged might bee here produced were not these sufficient Adde hereunto the generall consent of our English Prelats the Architects of our reformation in the time of King Edward the sixt who in the Act of Parlament about keeping holy dayes have determined thus together with the rest of that grand assembly viz. Neither is it to bee thought that there is any certaine time or definite number of dayes prescribed in holy Scriptures but that the appointment both of the time and also of the number of the dayes is left by the authority of Gods Word to the authority of Christs Church to bee determined and assigned orderly in every Country by the discretion of the rulers and Ministers thereof as they shall judge most expedient to the true setting forth of Gods glory and edification of Gods People Which preamble is not to be understood of holy dayes or of Saints dayes onely whose being left to the authority of the Church was never questioned but of the Lords Day also as by the body of the Act doth at full appeare Exam. In this Section the Prefacer makes a greater bluster by farre then in the former For to except against the proportion of time as of one day in seven to be set apart for the service of God in these dayes of the Gospell is so unreasonable a course and that not onely in the judgement of a Christian conscience but even in the judgement of a naturall man that I cannot easily devise any thing more unreasonable For whereas all confesse that by the very light of nature some time ought to bee set apart for the service of God and not so onely but that a fit and competent proportion of time is to bee consecrated to holy uses as Gomarus acknowledgeth though one of the most eager opposers of the morality of the Sabbath that hitherto have beene knowne Albeit this convenient proportion of time cannot bee so convincingly concluded upon by the light of nature as to draw all to an unanimous consent thereunto yet after God himselfe hath gone before us herein by blessing the seventh day and sanctifying 〈◊〉 and that upon the ground mentioned both Gen. 2. and in the fourth Commandement henceforth as Chrysostome observeth God hath manifested that one day in seven is to be set apart I may say consequently that one day in seven is that fit proportioÌ„ of time which is to be sanctified to Gods holy worship and service and that God hath now manifested as much ever since the Creation And herupon as I imagin Azorius the Jesuite in his institutions is bold to conclude that this course is most agreeable unto reason Now if the Lord under the Law did require such a proportion of time to be sequestred from profan use to Divine at the hands of the Iewes can it enter into the heart of a sober man that God should require lesse of us Christians under the Gospell then he did require of the Jewes under the Law Or that God hath now left it to the liberty of the Church whether they will set apart the proportion of one day in seven or lesse to bee spent in Gods worship If wee consider the service of the day as whereby God is honoured undoubtedly God hath deserved more service at our hands under the Gospell then hee did at the hands of the Jewes under the Law for as much as the love of God to mankinde was never so revealed in former times as in these latter times So God loved the World that he gave his only begottet Sonne c. And hereupon undoubtedly it is that our Saviour professeth that from the time of Iohn the Baptist the Kingdome of Heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force To such an height of devotion hath the
Love of God manifested in his Sonne inflamed his true servants according to that of Iohn We love him because he loved us first Againe if wee consider the service of that day as such wherby our soules are profited and promoted in faith and holinesse never was there more need then in these dayes of sanctifying a better proportion of time unto God Service rather then a worse and that in each respect For the truth of God was never so encombred with oppositions before the comming of our Saviour in the flesh as it hath beene since No heretiques to speake of were knowne to trouble the peace of the Church in those former times in comparison to the multitude of heresies that have beene broached since and began to bee set on foote in the very dayes of the Apostles Saint Paul professing that even then the mystery of iniquity did worke And whereas Saint Peter tells us that false teachers should come privily bringing in damnable heresies even denying the Lord that bought them Saint Iude tells them to whom hee writes that such were already crept in turning the grace of God into wantonnesse and denying God the onely Lord and our Lord Jesus Christ And Saint Iohn after the same manner little children saith hee it is the last time and as you have heard that Antichrist shall come even now there are many Antichrists And no marvaile for as much as the mysteries of godlinesse concerning the Trinity of persons and incarnation of the Sonne of God whereat carnall wits are so apt to stumble were never so punctually and distinctly expressed in the books of the old Testament as now they are particularly delivered in the writings of the Apostles and Evangelists So that had wee in these dayes two Sabbaths in a weeke insteed of one all were little enough to instruct our people and strengthen them against the oppositions made by men of carnall mindes and thereby to keepe them in the right way of Gods saving truth And no lesse necessitie is there for the keeping of them in the wayes of holinesse such is the degenerate condition of the World Long agoe it is that the severe judgement of God had its course in giving men over to illusions to beleeve lies and all for not receiving the love of the truth as much as to say for the profanenesse of the Christian World in not making it their care to walke worthy of their calling worthy of the Gospell whereunto the Apostle so often exhorts Christians So that if at any time it were requisite to set one day in seven apart for the service of God surely by the very dictate of common reason it is most requisite in these latter dayes of the Gospell Especially considering the rage and fury of Satan in opposing the Kingdome of Christ more now than ever because he knoweth hee hath but a short time As for the alteration of the day the same proportion of time still continuing from the seventh to the first day of the weeke that I confesse willingly seemes not at first sight to have the like evidence But whereas this Prefacer contends for the alteration of the day as onely by an humane and Ecclesiasticall constitution observe that not one of the ancient Fathers are mentioned by him for the justifying of this though divers are referred unto by him as against the institution of the Sabbath from the Creation But wee have divers of the ancients bearing witnesse to the Divine institution of the Lords day to come in place of the seventh As first Athanasius Homil. de Semente Olim certe priscis hominibus in summo pretio Sabbatum fuit quam quidem solemnitatem Dominus in diem Dominicum transtulit Heretofore truly the Sabbath was in great price with men of old time which solemnity the Lord hath translated unto the Lords Day Austine hath divers other passages to the same purpose de civitate dei lib. 22. cap. ult Dominicus dies velut octavus aeternus qui Christi Resurrectione sacratus est aeternam non solum Spiritus verumetiam corporis requiem prafigurans The Lords Day as the eighth eternall which was sacred by Christs Resurrection prefiguring an eternall rest not of the spirit only but of the body also and in his Ep. 119. ad Ianuarium The Lords Day is declared not to the Iewes but to Christians by the Lords Resurrection and from thence began to have its festivity and de verbis Apostoli Sermo 15. The Lords Resurrection promised unto us an eternall day and hath consecrated to us the Lords Day which is called the Lords because the Lord rose on that day and de Temp. Serm. 251. The Apostles and Apostolicall men have therefore ordained the Lords day to be kept with a religious solemnity because on that day our redeemer rose from the dead Cyril in Joan. lib. 12. cap. 58. From Christ presenting himself unto his Apostles on the eighth day which hee interpreteth of the first day of the weeke concludes therehence that by right therefore holy Congregations are kept in the Churches on that day And as Walaeus observes the celebrity of this day Eusebius referres to Christ himselfe in these words Who ever prescribed to all the inhabitants of the World either by Sea or Land that meeting together one day in the weeke they should celebrate the Dominicall festivity Athan. on that of Mat. 11.27 All things are given to me of my Father Adde to this that of Gregory mentioned Section the 1. Nay Athanasius goes further and shewes the equity of it in proportion to the new Creation compared with the old The end of the first Creation was the Sabbath but the beginning of the second Creature is the Lords Day wherein hee renewed and repayred the old man Like as therefore in former times he would have the Sabbath day to be kept so we keepe holy the Lords Day as a monument of the beginning of the second Creation And this proportion is apprehended by Beza also on the Revelation the first Chap. and 10. verse That Sabbath day saith hee continued from the Creation of the World to the Lords resurrection which seeing it is as it were an other Creation of another spirituall World as the Prophets speake then for the Sabbath of the former World or seventh day was assumed and that undoubtedly by the Holy Ghost suggesting this to the Apostles the first day of this new World in which not the corporall or corruptible light in the first day of the first World was created but that heavenly and eternall light did spring unto us In all which Beza doth exactly treade in the steps of that ancient Father Athanasius and concludes that the assemblies of the Lords Day which Justine expresly makes mention of in his second Apologetium are of tradition apostolicall and truly Divine And after him Doctor Andrewes late Bishop of Winchester whom Doctor Hall now Bishop of Exceter some where calls the Oracle of these times upon the same ground maintaines the
and in breaking bread Act. 2. and 5. and 1 Cor. 5. Now we willingly acknowledge that we Christians are not so bound to one day in the weeke as namely to the Lords Day as that we may not have our holy assemblies more often than once but onely so that we may not keep them lesse often nor omit the celebration of the Lords Day like as the Jews might not omit the celebration of their weekely Sabbath though sometimes many dayes together besides were kept holy by them So we Christians also having our Sabbath as our Saviour signified we should have when he said Pray that your flight be not in the Winter nor on the Sabbath day which Sabbath of ours wee keepe on the Lords Day though we may keep other days holy yet we may not omit this and if any shall take upon them to alter this Sabbath we may be bold to demand of them quo warranto by what warrant from the Lord of Sabbath But Chemnitius proceeds thus Now whereas afterwards the false Apostles did so urge those free observations of the Mosaicall Sabbath and other feasts as by law and with opinion of necessity as to condemne their consciences who observed them not Paul forbad the observation of them All which we willingly acknowledge but that hereupon they began first to ordaine another day in the weeke for their Ecclesiasticall assemblies and exercises of piety which yet Chemnitius proves not I leave it to the indifferent to judge by comparing his opinion with that of Austins who professeth as Chemnitius well knew that the Lords Day was declared unto Christians by the Lords resurrection and from thence began to have its festivity alleged by Chemnitius himselfe p. 156. especially considering the reason moving thē hereunto which Chemnitius confesseth to have been on that day the Lord role from the dead And seeing all festivals as Bishop Lake observes have beene observed in regard of some great worke done on such a day for the good of man whether ever any day brought forth a more wonderfull or more comfortable worke to mankind than the first day of the weeke which was the day of our Saviours resurrection from the dead let the Christian world judge This day Chemnitius saith seems to be called by Saint Iohn the Lords Day which appellation all antiquity did afterwards retaine and use yet notwithstanding saith he we doe not read that the Apostles did impose upon mens consciences in the new Testament the observation of that day by any Law or Precept but the observation was free for order sake Let us duly weigh and consider this together with the reasons following Calvine distinguisheth the observation of a day for order sake and the observation of a day for some mysterious signification sake had Chemnitius thus distinguished we would have subscribed thereunto and confessed that now adayes wee observe no day for any mysterious signification sake but onely for order sake And thus under the Gospel wee are freed from observation of daies for mysteries sake not free from observation of one certaine day in the weeke for order sake At for his phrase of imposing the observation of the Lords day upon mens consciences this phrase is most improper and unseasonable in this case it is onely proper and seasonable in case the thing imposed be of a burthensome nature like unto that Saint Peter speakes of Acts 15.10 saying Now therefore why tempt yee God to lay a yoke on the Disciples neckes which neither our Fathers nor we were able to beare Such indeed was the yoke of circumcision which provoked Zippora according to common opinion driven to circumcise her sonne to save her husbands life to throw the fore-skin at her husbands feet calling him a bloody husband for urging her thereunto But what burthen is it save unto the flesh to rejoyce in the Lord to sabbatize with him to walke with him in holy meditation Was it no burthen to the godly Jewes to consecrate one day in seaven to the exercises of Piety under the Law and shall it bee a burthen to us in the time of the Gospell Or can it bee conceaved to bee a greater burthen unto us to keepe our Christian Sabbath on the Lords Day then on any other day of the weeke was there ever any day of the weeke markt out unto us with a more honourable or more wonderfull worke to draw us to rejoyce in the Lord thereon then the first day of the weeke whereon our Saviour rose by his Resurrection to bring life and immortality to light yet we confesse we reade of no Law nor Precept for this in the new Testament but we reade that ever under the Gospell wee must have a Sabbath to observe Math. 24.20 And wee know and Chemnitius knew full well that it belongs to the Lord of the Sabbath to change it and consequently to ordaine it and that it was changed and the Lords Day observed generally in the Apostles dayes none that I know makes question of and how could thi◠bee but by the Apostles ordinance and is it likely they would take upon them this authority without a calling And why should that day of the weeke and not that day of the yeare bee called the Lords Day if not for the same use under the Gospell that the Lords Day was of under the Law especially that day under the Law which was the Jewes Sabbath being now abrogated and lastly wee finde it manifestly spoken of the day of Christs Resurrection Psal 118.24 This is the day that the Lord hath made let us rejoyce and be glad in it yet lastly wheras Chemnitius will have it free and hee hath already manifested that hee speakes of it in this sense as not to be so tied to this day but that we may observe other dayes wee willingly grant that in this sense it is free Now let us consider his reason following For saith hee if we are freed from the Elements which by God himselfe in the old Testament were ordained and commanded how should we be tyed by the decrees of men But alas this reason of his hath no proportion the Elements hee speakes of were but shaddowes the body whereof is Christ and now Christ is revealed they were wont to bee called not onely Mortua but mortifera Yet the observation of one day in seven still continues to bee the Commandement of God delivered not to Moses as ceremonies were but by word of mouth proclaimed on mount Sina and naturall reason suggests unto us that wee must allow unto Gods service as good a proportion of time under the Gospell as hee required of the Jewes under the Law Now if one day in seven must bee set apart in common reason what day is to bee preferred for this before the Lords Day the day of Christs rest from the worke of redemption in suffering the sorrows of death as the day of the Lords rest from the Creation was appointed to the Jewes for their Sabbath And this Resurrection of
opportunities are delivered in reference to the periods and changing of Kingdomes and Monarchies as appeares by the argument of the Prophecy Reply And no more doth D. Rivetus deliver in excepting against his annotations for as he acknowledgeth M. Perkins scriptorem modestissimum a most modest writer so he carryeth himselfe most modestly towards him But I hope without any breach of modesty I may professe that I find no accuratenesse in each of his allegations save one namely that wherein Christ professeth himself Lord of the Sabbath and it is enough for the present that God reserves to himself power of ordering times for his service yet it cannot be denied but God hath left power to his Church upon good occasion to set some time apart for exercise of piety But whereas it is apparant that God himselfe tooke upon him the ordering of the time for the Sabbath and accordingly Christ calls himselfe The Lord of the Sabbath as he constituted it so none but he can abrogate it and ordaine another in the place of it Now whereas D. Rivetus saith that hee hath left this power unto his Church it stands him upon to prove it We find our Saviour supposeth us Christians to have a Sabbath after his resurrection Matth. 24.20 as well as the Jewes had before wee find that in the Apostles dayes the first day of the weeke was set apart for this which could not be but by the joynt consent of the Apostles we find that the day of the weeke not the day of the yeere wherein Christ rose by Saint Iohn himselfe called the Lords Day an evident argument that in his time it was so generally received We find that never any worke of God did give better cause to professe that The day thereof was the day that the Lord had made let us be glad and rejoyce therein then the day wherein Christ rose from the dead and thereby was declared to be the Sonne of God even that stone which the builders refused to be made the head of the corner And how strange is it that the Church for 1500. yeeres space should no where offer to alter it if in no other respect yet in this to manifest that the Church is indued with such liberty and power and to prevent the superstitious observation of the day as a thing necessary if it be not necessary Lastly if this liberty be still in the Church in case they should exercise this liberty what inconvenience would follow upon the exercising of a lawfull liberty But infinit inconvenience would follow hereupon for seeing this liberty is equally communicated to each particular Church it will follow that it is lawfull for our English Church to institute the Munday the French Church the Tuesday the Hollanders the Wednesday the Germans Thursday the Danes Friday the Swedes the Saturday and the Polonians the Sunday what an intolerable scandall were this amongst Christians Thus our liberty opens way to revive the Jewes Sabbath or to concurre with the Turks who make Friday their holy day nay what scandall also to all the Heathens throughout the world For suppose that as the Jewes keepe the Saturday and the Turks their Fryday so other heathenish nations according to their severall religions should divide the other daies of the weeke to be hallowed between them each religion keeping to their own day most exactly When they should find no agreement amongst Christians what an intolerable scandall were this unto them to harden them against the profession of the Gospel when they see so little agreement among the professors of it And what should move us to affect liberty in this which opens a way to such dissention and confusion and not rather rejoyce in this that to prevent such miserable inconveniences God himselfe hath marked out unto us the first day of the weeke to be the Lords Day in place of the Jewish Sabbath which was the Lords holy day unto them by the most wonderful and comfortable work that ever was wrought even the resurrection of our Lord and Saviour from the dead thereby manifesting him to be the Sonne of God and fulfilling that prophecie of old concerning the stone which the builders refused and making him the head of the corner on that day all power being given unto him both in heaven and in earth Matth. 28. thus drawing us in the Prophets language to professe and say first This is the Lords doing and it is marvellous in our eyes and secondly to conclude there-hence in the words immediately following This is the day which the Lord hath made let us be glad and rejoyce in it this undoubtedly is our Christian festivall this day of the weeke and not this day of the yeere which is remarkable being called by Saint Iohn The Lords Day the day wherein Christ appeared unto him and gave unto him the booke of Revelation concerning the secrets of his providence to be fulfilled upon the world for the time to come even till his second comming to destroy the world with fire and to blesse us with new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousnesse the metropolis of which new world shall be new Jerusalem And albeit Doctor Rivetus according to his pious ingenuity which crownes his learning and cathedrall sufficiencies professeth that what hitherto hath beene spoken by him of the choyce and possible change of that day he hath not to any such end ventilated as to favour their profanesse who on holy dayes and chiefely on that day which by so universall a consent even from the beginning of Christianity hath beene consecrated to such use neglecting Gods Service not onely refuse to omit one day in prosecuting workes tending to the use of life temporall but also by unnecessary actions as by pleasant sports stage playes by intemperance also and riot profane the day not without reason dedicated to the Lord. Yet what just occasion hereby may bee in all places and like enough is taken in most places by this doctrine of his who seeth not For albeit publike authority in some places hath by lawes countenanced the solemnization of the Lords Day for which wee of this land have cause to blesse God so as I thinke no Nation more in consideration of many Lawes one after another and by degrees made to restraine abuses on that day as tending to the manifest profanation thereof and by none more then by that act of Parliament in the first of King Charles wherein all men are forbidden to come out of their Parishes upon that day about any sports and pastime evidently manifesting hereby as formerly hath beene proved that all sports and pastimes are prophanations of our Christian Sabbath observed on that day and that in the judgement of the whole Parliament consisting of the Kings Majesty the head thereof with his Lords spirituall all the Bishops of the Kingdome and temporal together with the House of Commons yet if once it shall be receaved according to D. Rivets doctrine of the Sabbath that it
holy studies and meditations as worldly cares and both equally are noted out to be such as choake the Word Luk. 8.14 And therefore this day is altogether appointed to this end even to recreate our selves in the Lord For seeing God purposeth one day to keepe an everlasting Sabbath with us when God shall be all in all to make us the more fit for this even the more meete partakers of the inheritance of Saints in light therefore hee hath given us his Sabbaths to walke with him and to inure our selves to take delight in his company who takes delight to speake unto us as from Heaven in his holy Word and to give us liberty to speake unto him in our prayers confessions thanksgivings and supplications on other dayes wee care for the things of this World on this day our care should be spirituall and heavenly in caring for the things of another World so our pleasures should be spirituall on this day Esay 58.13 If thou shalt call the Sabbath a delight to consecrate it as glorious unto the Lord. Now have we not as much cause to performe this duty under the Gospell as ever the Jewes had under the Law And indeed there is no colour of reason against this but by affirming that now the setting of a day apart for Gods service is left at large to the liberty of the Church and albeit the Church hath set apart the Lords Day for this yet their meaning herein is no more then this that they shal come to Church twise a day and afterwards give themselves to what sports soever are not forbidden them by the Lawes of the Land so that now a dayes wee are free from the obligation to the fourth Commandement and yet we are taught by the Church aswell at the hearing of this Commandement as at any other to say Lord have mercy upon us and incline our hearts to keepe this Law and the booke of Homilies urgeth us to the sanctifying of our Christian Sabbath which is Sunday saith the booke expressely and that by vertue of Gods expresse Commandement And therefore I cannot but wonder at the indiscretion of this Prefacer who catcheth after such a superficiall advantage as the denomination of a feast amongst the Jewes not considering how little sutable it is to the grounds of his Tenet For by his Tenet after evening Prayer the Sabbath is at end the Churches meaning being not any further to oblige them to the sanctifying of the Lords Day but to give them liberty to use any sports or pastimes not forbidden them by the Lawes of the Land But so was not the feast of the Jewes ended when they danced this being but an expression of that joy whereunto the present solemnity called them and they sinned no more herein then David did when hee danced before the Arke as wee see Ier. 31.12 Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Sion and shall flow together to the goodnesse of the Lord for Wheat and for Wine and for Oile and for the young of the flock and of the heard and their soule shall be as a well watered Garden and they shall not sorrow any more at all 13 Then shall the Virgin rejoyce in the dance both yong men and old together for I will turne their mourning into joy and will comfort them make them rejoyce for their sorrow 14. And I will satiate the soule of the Priest with fatnesse and my people shall be satisfyed with my goodnesse saith the Lord. And the like wee reade Esay 30.19 Ye shall have a song as in the Night when an holy solemnity is kept and gladnesse of heart as when one goeth with a Pipe to come into the Mountaine of the Lord to the mighty One of Israel so that if Morricing and May-games and Dancing about May-poles were a sanctifying of the Sabbath Day in part as the Lord commands the day to be sanctifyed then indeed these sports were as lawfull on the Lords Day as the Jewes piping and dancing were lawfull on their feasts But that any such piping and dancing were used and allowed in those ancient times among the Jewes on their Sabbaths there is not the least colour of evidence And it is evident that such sports put them to lesse rest for their bodies then the workes of their calling neither is there any better evidence that any such piping and dancing were in use amongst the Jewes while they continued the people of God on every day of their solemne feasts for two dayes in each of them to wit the first day and the last they are commanded to keepe as Sabbaths whereon they were to have an holy convocation and thereon they are expressely commanded to rest from all servile workes and I should thinke the following of naturall pleasures are to be presumed as servile workes as the workes of a mans calling Lastly all recreations are to this end even to fit us to the workes of our calling either for the workes of our particular callings or the workes of our generall callings as we are Christians Such sports if they fit us for the service of God were more seasonable in the Morning then in the Evening If for the workes of our particular calling then are they inferiour to the workes of our calling the furthering whereof is their end and the meanes are alwayes inferiour in dignity unto the end Now if the more noble workes are forbidden on that day how much more such as are inferior are forbidden But it may be sayd that mens minds being burthened and oppressed with the former service of the day therefore some relaxatiō is to be granted for the refreshing of our spirits As much as to say a part of the Lords Day is to be allowed for profane sports and pastimes to refresh us after wee have beene tired out with serving God can this be savoury in the eares of a Christian should not wee rather complaine of these corruptions and bewaile it before God then give our selves to such courses as are apt to strengthen it It is true such is our naturall corruption that nothing is more tedious unto us as wee are in our selves then to converse with God but should not the consideration hereof provoke us so much the more to strive against it then give way to the nourishing and confirming of it And hath not our Saviour told us that not the cares of this World onely but voluptuous living also is it that choaks the good seede of Gods Word and causeth it to become unfruitfull in us As for the refreshing of our spirits and quickning them and thereby making us the fitter for Gods service as in any modest exercise of the body in private according to every mans particular disposition to prevent drowsinesse and dulnesse in attending to Gods Word in praying in singing of Psalmes I know none that takes any exception against it And as for the authority of the magistrate to appoint pastimes sure I am the high Court of
the dayes of the Apostles all of them and their posterity successively to us Doth it therefore follow that wee may not keepe the seventh day in memory of the worlds Creation It doth for the Lords Day succeedeth in stead of that ut Thes 33. Therefore they cannot consist with the purpose of the alteration which is to note a New Creation Ib. Constantine commanded the sixt day should be kept in memory of Christs death Kept as a fasting day not as a festivall day and so the Church keepeth it still Ibid. Sabbato postridie Sabbati conveniunt So doth the Church now but Saturday is Parasceve to the Lords Day and least they should seeme to Judaize they did and do begin the Eve after noon to note it is but a preparation to Sunday Ibid. Saint Austin termeth the Sabbath in the fourth Commandement Sacramentum Vmbratile True as the Jewes did observe it So himselfe there expoundeth himselfe Question 1. Section 4. The observance of the Sabbath day by Christ compared to Jewish sacrifice This speaketh not of the assignation of dayes but how strictly the day must be kept and it is as true of the Lords Day Section 5. Hebrewes 4. mention is made of three rests Or one rest rather which is Gods rest Gen. 2. and the participation thereof 2 wayes Typically Spiritually The Typicall is the entrance into Canaan which carried with it a cessation from labours of the Jewish servitude and Pilgrimage From this Typicall many saith the Apostle were excluded through infidelity and by fayth some did partake it But there was another participation a spirituall which came by Jesus whereunto Iosuah could not bring which is a ceasing not from corporall but spirituall toyles and sinnes immediatly but mediately it will bring unto a spirituall blessed rest both of body and soule in Heaven This spirituall immediate rest or participation of Gods rest is called Sabbatismus populi Dei If this be as I conceave it is the meaning of the place what is this to dayes Ib. Section 6. Some will have a weekely Sabbath a shaddow in regard of the strictnesse of the Rest I thinke the strictnesse was not it at least not principally but the Accession of which in the Theses But you are out of your argument for S. Paul speakes of shadow whereof the body is Christ Now before the fall the Sabbath was a kinde of shadow of our eternall rest but not of that whereof Christ is the body And to us the Lords day is a foretast of that eternall rest and I hold this shadow to be as lasting as the World Ib. New Moone Et caetera shadowes in their substance not their accessories Ergo the Sabbath A weake collection for other feasts were instituted after the fall under the Pedagogy of the Law the Sabbath before therefore this might be made a shadow by accessorie these not so Ibid. Shall I demand of them when this Sabbath began to be a shadow When after the fall it received accessions it became such a shadow as Saint Paul speaketh of Col. 2. otherwise it was a kinde of shadow of eternall rest in the foundation and the Lords Day continueth so now Ib. The Apostle Hebrew 4 speaketh of the seventh as rested upon not sanctified Reade the mistake of this place before Ib. Section 6. The Sabbath more ceremoniall then the other Commandements you prove it out of S. Austin And it is plaine hee speaketh of the Sabbath as the Jewes observed it and had it given in charge with his accessories but I still call you to the Originall Sabbath Gen. 2. Res Respons ad quaestion 1. Section 1. Our words and meaning must not agree in our Prayer Lord have mercy upon us c. A strange answer I thinke they must and doe agree for by analogy is the Lords Day contained in the Commandement and the Church directeth us so to understand The apportionment of time is everlasting only the translation of the day is by all that have any understanding to Catechize taught to be grounded upon a new Creation succeeding the old The personall defects I cannot reply to but leave them to be reformed Though the imperfections of the ignorant should not be presented when the question is made so difficult that the learned can hardly assoile it As the author of the questions thinketh Question 2. How shall the fourth Commandement bind us considering the forme of words to keep any day but only the seventh I suppose in my Theses I have given a probable answer Seeing the apportionment of time is eternall which I thinke cannot justly be denyed I hold the translation of of the feast from the seventh to the first day is grounded upon Analogy For seeing God was pleased that the day of the Creation should be commemorated as appeareth by the Letter of the Commandement and the first Creation being by sin dissolved jure restored againe by Christ upon the first day where we find the rest after the new Creation there we must fix the feast And this is perswaded by the drift of the Law Except we lay this for a ground God will have the day of Creation observed Observed after the rule of the first Creation it cannot be for then we doe not acknowledge the dissolution thereof I meane still merito In testimony of that and Christs restitution we keepe the day of the new Creation and we are guided to it by the fourth Commandement Question 3. How shall it appeare to be the Law of nature to sanctifie one day every weeke Surely here the Author of the questions makes a strange answer For he looseth himselfe in his distinction of the Morall Law and the Law of nature which he seemeth not to understand well He would have the Law of nature to prescribe circumstances to actions and not the morall Law whereas the morality stands in observing the circumstance of actions as the Ethicks will teach and this in the phrase medium rationis Secondly hee thinketh that all the Lawes morall are as he calleth them of nature doe represent the Image of God and are unalterable even by God himselfe Not considering that there is a morality that concerneth man as he is Animal rationale and reason moderateth the sensuall part which commeth not within the compasse of the Image of God And in many particulars is mutable and dispensable in cases of necessity as it is held against the Law of Nature that brothers and sisters should marry but God dispensed with it but I should wade into a large argument if I should rippe up these two Errors I rather note that hee understandeth not the ground of a Festivall day that maketh no other ground of it than Omnia fiant ordine decenter The Lords Day had a higher ground which I opened in the Theses and that is Christs Resurrection and thereby a new Instauration of the World Which wee are bound to observe upon the grounds set downe in the Theses And in a word Hee
Observationis so that under God I know no power that can alter it Thes 49. The Fathers speake of the Jewish Sabbath and Allegorize that as it was carnally used by the Jewes But we shall wrong the Fathers if we thinke they held that there was no Morality in the Letter of the Commandement For though there were a mystery figured in it yet they doe not deny that there was a morall proportioning of time for Divine Service prescribed therein which is the seventh part of the weeke It is one thing to say that all our life time we must be religious in our conversation and keepe a spirituall Sabbath another thing to affirme that we must not have a solemne weekely day wherein to intend onely Divine worship This last point the Fathers doe not say the former they doe and to argue from their Omission is to extend their words beyond their meaning at least their meaning is not adaequate to the sense of the Commandement No nor to their practise For they did constantly observe a seventh part of the weeke which I say is the first principle contained in the fourth Commandement Though I deny not but there is moreover a limitation to the seventh day from the Creation exprest which Christ and his Apostles altered but this alteration cannot overthrow the first principle they may both well goe together To the particular allegations out of the Fathers I will answer no more then that what they say is true but doth not contradict what I hold For the mysticall sense doth not overthrow the literall of the Commandement And they understand the seventh day precisely from the Creation which we confesse altered and speake not of the divine Ordinance for the apportioning of time but the carnall observation of the Jewes And your answer to the first Question grounded on the Fathers words may passe for good but there is more in the Commandement then so Your Answer to the second I cannot so well approve because it is Exclusive As for your third answer That the fourth Commandement is not the Law of nature but a positive law take the Law of Nature for Morall Reason then I think there is more then meere positivenesse in it For morall reason teacheth to honour the day whereon the work is done and that morall reason which gave this in charge was Apostolicall and so of a commanding power in both And then you see that it is neither meerely positive nor meerely naturall but mixt and so binding accordingly ut supra ad Thesin 37. 43. You adde two Questions 1 Whether seeing the Lords day succeeds the Jewish Sabbath wee are to keepe it in the same manner and with the same strictnesse First I hold in my Theses that our Lords day doth properly succeed the Sabbath instituted at the Creation Whereupon I separate all the Accessories from Moses Law Secondly The Jewes did misconstrue the stricknesse of their Sabbath as appeareth by the many corrections of our Saviour in the Gospell and his Generall Rule The Sabbath was made from man not man for the Sabbath Thirdly They held that they might not so much as kindle a fire or dresse Meat upon that day grounding their conceipt upon the Texts that are Ex. 35. cap. 16. But both Texts seeme to be wrested for that Exod. 35. about kindling a fire must be limited by the verse going before and is not to be understood of any other kindling of fire then for following of their Trades or Servile workes as they are called And so Munster Vatable and others upon that place censure their mistake And that it is a mistake against the meaning of the Commandment I gather from hence For the Jewes that will not put their owne hands to kindle a fire will hire Christians to doe it for them as if the Commandment did not reach Servants and strangers within their gates and they offend as much in doing it by others as if they did it by themselves But so doe they use to abuse the Scripture and confute their Glosses by their owne practice As for the 16. Chapter of Exod. which seemeth to forbid the dressing of Meat I hold that mistaken also Read the Chapter and mark whether you can finde that upon the sixth day they were to dresse any more then served for that day and to lay up the rest undressed untill the Sabbath at what time I hope they were to dresse it before they did eat it And indeed only the providing of Manna is there forbidden and a promise whereof they had experience that it would not putrifie upon the Sabbath though they kept it till then whereas upon other dayes it would And in this sense doe I understand the severe punishment of him that gathered sticks upon the seventh day it was because he then made his provision and did it it should seeme with an high hand Numb cap. 15. As for recreations I can say nothing but that seeing the Lords day is to be the exercise of that life which is spirituall and as a foretast of that which is eternall it were to be wisht that wee did intend those things as farre as our frailty will reach But Vivitur non cum perfectis hominibus and wee must be content to have men as good as we may when it is not to be hoped they will be as good as they should Yet we must take heed that we doe not solemnize our feast vainly as either the Iewes or Gentiles did Against whom Nazianzene is very tart Tertul. in his Apolog. In the Civill Law we finde a dispensation for Husbandmen in case of necessity contrary to the Jewish policy Exod. 34. Which is followed by our Law Edward the 6. Wee may in apparrell and diet be more liberall and costly on feasts then on other dayes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were Corporall feasts joyned to the Eucharist wherein the rich did feed the poore Which afterward for inconvenience was removed out of the Church I meane the Corporall feast although in Saint Austins confessions you shall find that in Saint Ambrose days there were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at the Toombs of Martyrs which Saint Ambrose tooke away But though the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were taken out of the Church yet upon those dayes the rich relieved their poore Brethren Which they little thinke of that for feare of breaking the Sabbath have taken away Hospitality Some men are over-nice in this point more nice then Christ himselfe Luc. 14. who on the Sabbath went to a feast and that was to a wedding feast And why not seeing the Sabbath is Symbolum Aeternae not only quietis but Laetitiae therefore resembled to a feast without the toyle of Acquisition So that the Sabbath is not violated by feasts if wee exceed not Necessitatem Personae though Naturae wee doe Now Necessitas Personae requireth that more be imployed in providing feasts as a Kings diet then a Subjects a Noble then a Common mans a Colledge then a
Peter in this Treatise of his doth pursue So that this whole story seemes very obscure and yet the two latter points mentioned by this Andreas I doe not find to be any of the opinions laid to the charge of Peter Bruis by those that were contemporary with him For Petrus Cluniacensis reduceth all his heresies as hee calls them but to these five heads 1. He denyes that children before they come to the age of understanding can be saved by the Sacrament of Baptisme and that anothers faith can profit him who cannot use his owne because by their opinion not another mans faith but his owne with Baptisme saveth him the Lord professing that whosoever shall beleeve and bee baptized hee shall be saved but whosoever will not beleeve shall be damned 2. That there ought not to be any fabricke of Temples or Churches that such as are made ought to be throwne downe that holy places for prayers are not necessary for Christians because as well in a Taverne as in the Church as well in the Market-place as in the Temple before an Altar or before a stable God doth heare being called upon and heareth them who are worthy 3. He commands holy crosses to be broken in peeces and burned because the representation of such an instrument whereupon Christ was so direfully tortured and cruelly slaine is not worthy of any veneration or supplication but in revenge of Christs torments and death to be disgraced with all manner of ignominy and to be bewen in peeces with swords and burnt with fire 4. He doth not only deny the truth of the Lords body and blood daily and continually to be offered in the Church by the Sacrament but determines it to be altogether nothing and that it ought not to be offered unto God 5. He mocks at the sacrifices prayers almes and other good workes which the faithfull that are living performe for the faithfull that are departed and maintaines that they are nothing profitable to one that is dead Now in all this I find nothing at all that savoureth of any Jewish opinion concerning the observation of the Sabbath And more than that when I consider the matter of these Articles for the most part and the course of those times to make worse of their opinions who spake or wrote against the superstitions of those times then there was just cause I begin to suspect that this Peter of Bruis might be an honest man and more orthodox than they who procured his death And is it not wonderous strange that none of the Historians of those times should make any mention of him And that may be the reason why we finde no mention at all made of him in the Booke of Acts and Monuments And Philip Mornay in his mysterium iniquitatis Pag. 309 310. makes an apologie for this Peter de Bruis as being a pious man and thereupon hated and finally martyred by the Papists 2. Of any Sabbatarian speculation as this Prefacer calleth it that Fulco the French Priest lighted on this Author gives no evidence For as for Roger Hoveden I doe not finde that he attributes any such unto him He writes much in his commendation as that The Lord magnified him in the sight of Kings Pol. 448. pag. 2. and gave him power to give sight to the blind to cure the lame the blind and others of their diseases That Harlots and Vsurers were by his preaching taken off from their lewd courses That hee foretold the Kings of France and England that except they gave over their hostility the sooner one of them should shortly dye of an evill death But of any Sabbatarian speculation hee was addicted unto I finde no mention It is true King Richard sometime called him simply Hypocrite not notable Hypocrite as this Author expresseth it affecting rather to speake with a full mouth than according unto plaine truth And is it much if Kings take liberty to call men as they think good especially when they are provoked by them as King Richard was by this Priest as appeares by the story which is well worth the relating to observe both the present wit of that King and the liberty of Priests with Princes in telling them their faults in those dayes of yore For on a day that Priest Fulco came to King Richard and in very bold manner spake to him thus I tell thee O King as from Almighty God that thou make speed to bestow in marriage those three wretched daughters that thou hast lest some worse thing befall thee Thou Hypocrite quoth the King thou lyest against thine owne head for I have no daughter at all Truly I doe not lye quoth the Priest for as I said thou hast three wicked daughters one of them is Pride another Covetousnesse the third Luxury When the King heard this he called his Earles and Barons that were about him and said Heare the admonition of this hypocrite who saith I have three wicked daughters and commands me to marry them Therefore I bestow my Pride upon the proud Templers my Covetousnesse upon the Monkes of the Cistercian Order and my Luxury upon the Prelates of the Churches Who though they professed single life yet as Mr. Moulin observes in a like case of popish Priests did not professe continencie they might be luxurious enough and that not only in wayes naturall but in wayes unnaturall also This was a biting answer of the King which the Historian no way liked and therefore he cryes out in a poeticall straine O nimis indignum miseris inferre cachinnum But throughout no mention at all of any Sabbatarian speculation that Fulco was possessed with Indeed of Eustachius who was one of his followers we reade afterwards fol. 457. p. 2. what wonderous workes were wrought by him and what were the effects of his preaching among them namely that In London and divers other places in England they would no more presume to make the Lords dayes their market dayes And that in every Church there should be a lampe or some light burning continually before the Lords body and that Citizens and others would have an Almes vessell upon their table to lay aside therein some provision for the poore And that hereupon the Devill raised up against him some Ministers of iniquity who said unto him It is not lawfull for thee to put thy sithe into anothers harvest to whom he answered The harvest is great but the labourers are few Therefore the foresaid Abbat being thus rebuked by the ministers of Satan hee would no longer trouble the Prelats of England with his preaching but returned unto his owne home in Normandy from whence hee came Seven leaves after this we find in the same Author to wit fol. 466. p. 2. That this Abbat of Flay returned into England and preaching the Word of God from City to Citie forbade all to make the Lords dayes their market dayes For he said that this Commandement for observation of the Lords day came from heaven So that this speculation
of his was dominicall rather than Sabbatarian And the mandate concerning this is there set downe at large pretended to have come from Heaven to Jerusalem and to have been found on the Altar of Saint Simeon in Golgotha which whether it were feigned by him or by others and received by him on the faith of others the Author specifies not But at the end thereof he shewes how that this Predicant comming to York was there honourably entertained by the Archbishop and Clergie and whole people of that Citie and albeit these things you will say were acted in times of darknesse yet this Prefacer seemes to be of another opinion though little pleased with Eustachius his Sabbatarian speculation Here alone is mention made of the bounds he set to the observation of the Lords day namely that it was to continue from Saturday three of the clock in the afternoone untill the Sun-rising on Munday in which time he would have them doe nothing but that which was good and if they did to amend their errors by repentance A very reasonable motion in my judgement and if he had extended it to all the dayes of the weeke yea and houres too I see no cause why for this hee should be censured either as an hypocrite or heretique But as for the strictnesse of observation here mentioned as namely That during the foresaid time it was not lawfull to doe any kind of work what ever no not so much as to bake bread for the Sundayes eating to wash or dry linnen for the morrowes wearing I finde no such thing prescribed by Eustachius in the relation made by Roger Hoveden and if Parisiensis hath any such surely hee tooke it not out of Roger Hoveden from whom yet this Prefacer affirmes he tooke that which he writes hereof Nay it is directly contradictory to the Tenet of Eustachius as who determineth the observation of the Lords day to begin at three of the clock in the afternoone of the Eve preceding in which time is found space both to bake bread for the Sundayes eating and to wash or dry linnen for the morrowes wearing if the weather hinder not And as for the extension of the dominicall observation thus farre in respect of the bounds thereof I find no other doctrine preached by Eustachius than by the Lawes of the Kings who governed this Land was ordained long before even before the conquest For not only King Ina commanded Act. Mon. fol. 114 col 2. fol. 715. col 1. 2. That no man lay or spirituall free or bond should labour on the Sunday and Edward the elder with Gythrum the Dane made a law against all labour buying and selling upon the Sabbath Item for no execution to be done on the Sunday but amongst King Edgars lawes one was That the Sunday should be kept holy from Saturday at noone till Munday in the morning King Canutus also commanded celebration of the Sabbath from Saturday at noone till Munday morning forbidding markets huntings labours and Court-keepings during the said space And it seemes to be the generall practise of Christendome to allow or command rather a preparation for the sanctifying of the Lords day as appeares by the observation of Evening prayers the day before warning whereunto is usually given at three of the clocke by the ringing of a bell or as in some places especially in the winter season an houre sooner and schollars accordingly give up schoole and present themselves at Evening prayer And we commonly account Saturday to be halfe holiday and warning thereof is usually given at noone by chiming the bells And whereas we reade Exod. 31.15 Six dayes shalt thou doe thy worke and the seventh day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Schindler renders it Sabbathum Sabbathuli and interprets it thus Sabbathum is from evening to evening Sabbathulum is that which of the profane day is added as a little Sabbath And as for the strict abstinence from dressing of meats on Saturday which this Author imputes to Eustachius as his doctrine but without all ground that I know we are so farre from any such Sabbatarian speculation that none of us in my knowledge doe think it unlawful to dresse meats on the Lords day And wheras the Prefacer addes that they had miracles in store pretended to be wrought on such as had not yeelded to their doctrine thereby to countenance the superstitious and confound the weake What one of an hundred in reading this would not imagine that Eustachius wrought these miracles for the countenancing of his former strictnesse whereas yet on the contrary neither doth it appeare that he taught or obtruded upon them any such strictnesse preaching onely against marketting on the Lords day Neither were those strange accidents which here are called miracles any miracles wrought by him But the Monke Roger of Hoveden writes That the Lord Iesus Christ whom wee must obey rather than men who by his Nativity Resurrection and Advent and sending the Holy Ghost upon his Disciples did advance this day which we call the Lords day and dedicated as most celebrious shewed miracles of his power upon some transgressors of the Lords day in this manner On a certaine Saturday after three of clocke a certaine Carpenter of Beverlac as he was making a woodden peg contrary to the wholesome admonitions of his wife fell to the ground taken with a palsie The like story followeth of a woman which this Author according to the Monks phrase is content to call Miracles Now when we heare of as strange a thing as this to have fallen out not long since in Bedfordshire as namely a match at Foot-ball being appointed on the Lords day in the afternoone while two were in the Belfrey and one of them tolling a bell to call the company together there was heard a clap of thunder and lightning seene by some sitting in the Church-porch as it came thorow a darke lane towards the Church and flasht in their faces who sate in the Church-porch and scared them thence it went into the Church and turning into the Belfery tript up his heeles who was tolling the bell and struck him starke dead and the other with him blasted in such manner that shortly after he dyed we doe not call this a miracle though we count it a remarkable judgement of God and such as deserves to be considered and seriously laid unto heart by all to admonish them to take heed that they be not found in like manner profaners of the Lords day In like sort when upon fresh relation we heare of the like sport at Foot-ball on the Lords day at a place called Tidworth after Evening prayer in the Church-yard and that therein one had his legge broken which thereupon gangrened so that forthwith he died thereof we doe not call this a miracle only it calls to our mind that of the Prophet The Lord hath so done his marvellous works that they ought to be had in remembrance And we find that such like judgements