other Festivals whatsoever it is yet greater boldness without proof to exclude the principal part from whence the rest did receive the name 3. Besides the Feasts and New Moons being here named as distinct from the Sabbath are like to include so much of the other separated dayes as will leave it still more unmeet to exclude the weekly Sabbath in the Explication of that word Sabbaths when so many Feasts are first distinguished 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 incuit Grotius hic sunt Azyma dies omer scenopegia dies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Obj. But the Sabbath mentioned in the Decalogue could not be included Answ. This is spoken without proof and the contrary is before proved Obj. By this you will make the Christian Sabbath also to be excluded Is not the Lords day a Sabbath Answ. I am here to speak but of the name of which I say that the common sense of the word Sabbath was a Day so appointed to Rest as that the bodily Rest of it was a primary part of its observation to be kept for it self and such the Jewish Sabbaths were Though spiritual Worship was then also commanded yet the corporal Rest was more expresly or frequently urged in the Law and this not only subordinately as an advantage to the spiritual worship but for it self as an immediate and most visible and notable part of Sabbatizing Even as other Ceremonies under the Law were commanded not only as doctrinal Types of things spiritual but as external Acts of Ceremonious operous obedience suited to the Jews Minority which is after called the yoke which they and their Fathers were unable to bear Acts 15. Whereas the Lords day is appointed but as a seasonable time subserviently to the spiritual work of the day And the bodily Rest not required as primary obedience for it self but only for the spiritual work sake and therefore no bodily labour is now unlawful but such as 〈◊〉 hinderance to the spiritual work of the day 〈◊〉 or accidentally a scandal and temptation to others whereas the breach of the outward Rest of the Jews Sabbath was a sin directly of it self without hinderance of or respect to the spiritual Worship So that the first notion and sense of a Sabbath in those dayes being in common use A day of such Ceremonial Corporal Rest as the Jewish Sabbath was the Lords day is never in Scripture called by that name but the proper name is The Lords day And the ancient Churches called it constantly by that name and never called it the Sabbath but when they spake Analogically by allusion to the Jews Sabbath even as they called the holy Table the Altar and the Bread and Wine the Sacrifice Therefore it is plain that Paul is to be understood of all proper Sabbaths and not of the Lords day which was then and long after distinguished from the Sabbath And this Ceremonial Sabbatizing of the Jews was so strict that the Ceremonicusness made them the scorn of the Heathens as appeareth by the derisions of Horat. li. 1. sat 9. Persius sat 5. Juvenal sat 6. Martial lib. 4. and others whereas they derided not the Christians for the Ceremonious Rest but for their Worship on that day The Lords day being not called a Sabbath in the old sense then only in use but distinguished from the Sabbath cannot be meant by the Apostle in his exclusion of the Sabbath Obj. But the Apostles then met in the Synagogues with the Jews on the Sabbaths Therefore it is not those dayes that he meaneth here Col. 2. 16. Answ 1. You might as well say that therefore he is not for the cessation of the Jewish manner of Worship or Communion with them in it because he met with them 2. And you may as well say that he was for the continuance of Circumcision and Purification because he purified himself and circumcised Timothy 3. Or that he was for the continuance of their other Feasts in which also he refused not to joyn with them 4. But Paul did not keep their Sabbaths formally as Sabbaths but only take the advantage of their Assemblies to teach them and convince them and to keep an interest in them And not scandalize them by an unseasonable violation and contradiction 5. And you must note also that the Text saith not Observe not Sabbath dayes but Let no man judge you that is Let none take it for your sin that you observe them not nor do you receive any such Doctrine of the necessity of keeping the Law of Moses The case seemeth like that of things strangled and blood which were to be forborn among the Jews while they were offensive and the use of them hindred their conversion Obj. But the ancient Christians did observe both dayes Answ. 1. In the first Ages they did as the Apostles did that is 1. They observed no day strictly as a Sabbath in the notion then in use 2. They observed the Lords day as a day set apart by the Holy Ghost for Christian Worship 3. They so far observed the Jews Sabbath materialy as to avoid their scandal and to take opportunity to win them 2. But those that lived far from all Jews and those that lived after the Law was sufficiently taken down did keep but one day even the Lords day as separated to holy uses except some Christians who differed from the rest as the followers of Papias did in the Millenary point 3. And note that even these dissenters did still make no question of keeping the Lords day which sheweth that it was on foot from the times of the Apostles 〈◊〉 whoever it was and whenever he wrote saith that After the Sabbath we keep the Lords day And Pseudo-Clemens Can. 33. saith Servants work five dayes but on the Sabbath and Lords day they keep holy day in the Church for the Doctrine or Learning of Godliness The Text of Gal. 4. 10. is of the same sense with Col. 2. 16. against the Jews Sabbath and therefore needeth no other defence And I would have you consider whether as Christs Resurrection was the foundation of the Lords day so Christs lying dead and buried in a Grave on the seventh day Sabbath was not a fundamental abrogation of it I say not the Actual and plenary abrogation For it was the Command of Christ by his Word Spirit or both to the Apostles before proved which fully made the change But as the Resurrection was the Ground of the new day so his Burial seemeth to intimate that the day with all the Jewish Law which it was the symbolical profession of lay dead and buried with him Sure I am that he saith when the Bridegroom is taken from them then shall they fast and mourn but he was most notably taken from them when he lay dead in the Grave And if they must fast and mourn that day they could not keep it as a Sabbath which was a day of joy Therefore as by death he overcame him that had the power of death Heb. 2. 14. and
humane Nature 2. It is uncertain whether it was before the fall because we know not whether man fell on the same day in which he was Created which is the commonest opinion though unproved Whereupon Mr. ◠Walker in his Treat of the Sabbath maintaineth that the fall and promise went before the Sabbath and so that Gods rest had respect to Christ promised as the perfection of his works and that the Sabbath was first founded on Christ and the promise But because all this is unproved Opinion I incline to the Objectors and the common sense Reasons 4. The seventh day Sabbath was kept by Abraham Gen. 26. 5. by the Israelites Exod. 5. 5. The Law for the seventh day was repeated Exod. 16. 22 23. Answers 4. I am of the same opinion but it is uncertain so far as it is uncertain whether it was instituted actually at first But the rest Ex. 5. 5. seemeth plainly to referr to no Sabbath but to the peoples neglect of their tasks while Moses kept them in hope of deliverance and treated for them And their tasks with their desire to go into the Wilderness to Sacrifice maketh it probable that Pharaoh never allowed them the Sabbaths rest Reasons 5. The Decalogue was spoken by Jehovah Christ Exod. 20. 1. see the Assemblies lesser Catechisme on the Preamble in the Commands Because the Lord is our God c. Redeemer c. therefore we are bound to keep c. Exod. 19. 3. compared with Act. 7. 38. Esa. 63. 9. Ex. 19. 17. The Decalogue written by his Finger Ex. 31. 18. On Tables of Stone Ex. 32. 15 16 19. 34 1 28. and kept by all the Prophets Answers 5. All true and uncontroverted with these suppositions 1. That the Father as well as the Son gave the Decalogue 2. That the second person was not 〈◊〉 Incarnate Christ. 3. That the Law was given by the Ministration of Angels who its like are called the Voice and Finger of God 4. That God our Redeemer did variously Govern his Kingdom by his Law and Covenant in various Editions of which more anon Reasons 6. The Decalogue was confirmed by Jehovah Christ Ma◠5. 17 18 19. Luk. 16. 17. Mat. 28. 20. Joh. 14. 15. 15. 14. Rom 3. 31. 7. 12. Jam. 2. 8 12. NewCovenant Heb. 8. 10. 1 Joh. 3. 22 24. 1 Joh. 5. 3. 2 Ep. Joh. 5. 6. Rev. 12. 17. 14. 12. 22. 14 18. compared with Mal. 4. 4. Answers 6. Here beginneth our fundamental difference I shall first tell you what we take for the truth and then consider of what you alledge against it 1. We hold that every Law is the Law of some one some Law-maker or Soveraign power And therefore Christ being now the Head over all things to the Church Eph. 1. 22 23. whatever Law is now in Being to the Church must needs be the Law of Christ. 2. We hold that Christs Redeemed Kingdom hath been Governed by him with variety of Administrations by various Editions of his Law or Covenant That is I. Universally to Mankind viz. 1. Before his Incarnation which was first To Adam and secondly to Noah and to mankind in them both 2. After his Incarnation II. Particularly to the seed of Abraham even the Jews as a particular Political society chosen out of the World not as the only people or Church of God on Earth but for peculiar extraordinary mercies as a peculiar people 3. We believe that each of these Administrations was fittest for its proper time and subject according to the manifold Wisdom of God But yet the Alterations were many and great and all tended towards perfection so that the last Edition of the Covenant by Christ Incarnate and his Holy Spirit much excelled all that went before in the Kingdom of the Mediatour And all these changes were made by God-Redeemer himself 4. As it was the work of the Redeemer to be the Repairer of Nature and recoverer of man to God so in all the several Administrations the great Laws of Nature containing mans duty to God resulting from and manifested in our Nature as related to God and in the Natura rerum or the Works of God was still made the chief part of the Redeemers Law so that this Law of Nature whose summe is the Love of God and of his Image is ever the Primitive unchangeable Law and the rest are secondary subservient Laws either Positive or remedying or both And no tittle of this shall ever cease if nature cease not 5. But yet there are temporary Laws of Nature which are about Temporary things or where the Nature of the thing it self is mutable from whence the Natural duty doth result As it was a duty by the then Law of Nature it self for Adams Sons and Daughters to Marry Increase and multiply being made a natural Benediction and the means a natural Duty And yet now it is incest against the Law of Nature for Brother and Sister to Marry So it was a Natural duty for Adam and Eve before their Fall to love each other as innocent but not so when they ceased to be innocent For cessanie materiâ cessat obligatio 6. So also some Positive Commands made to Adam in Innocence ceased on the fall and sentence As to dress that Garden And some positives of the first Administrations of Grace did cease by the supervening of a more perfect administration As the two Symbolical or Sacramental Trees in the Garden were no longer such to man when he was turned out so no positive Ordinance of Grace was any longer in force when God himself repealed it by the introduction of a more perfect Administration 7. Accordingly we hold that a change is now made of the sanctified day Where note 1. That we take not the seventh day no nor one day in seven though that be nothing to our Controversie to be a Duty by the proper Law of Nature but by a Positive Law 2. That the seventh day is never called a Sahbath till Moses time but only a Sanctified and blessed day the word Sabbath being ever taken in Scripture for a day of Ceremonial Rest as well as of spiritual Rest and Worship 3. That Christ himself hath continued a seventh day but changed the seventh day to the first not as a Sabbath that is A day of Ceremonial Rest for he hath ended all Sabbaths as shadows of things that were to come even of rest which remained for the people of God Heb. 4. 9. Col. 2. 16. And this is it which is incumbent upon us to prove and I think I have fully proved already 4. That having proved the thing done the positive Law of the seventh day changed by the Holy Ghost to the first day it concerneth us not much to give the reasons of Gods doings But yet this reason may secondarily be observed That God having made the whole frame of Nature very good did thereby make it the glass in which he was to be seen by man and the Book
the Apostles actual settlement thereupon was the Promulgation 3. The gradual notification by the Preachers to the Churches and finally the destruction of the Jewish Policie and Temple and Priesthood were the fuller proclamation of it and the way of bringing the change that was made by Command into fuller Execution 10. The seventh day Sabbath was observed by the Apostles after the Resurrection and Ascension Act. 13. 14 15 16 42 44. 16. 13 14. And constantly Act. 17. 2. the same Greek phrase with that Luk. 14. 16. for Christ constant keeping the seventh day Sabbath as before Act. 18. 1 4. c. 10 A. 1. But withal in this time they stablished the Lords day as soon as on that day the Holy Ghost came down upon them 2. So all that while they kept other parts of the Jewish Law They scrupled yea refused a while Communion with the Gentiles as Act. 10. shews They so carryed it to the Jews that Paul made it his defence that he had not offended any thing at all either against the Law of the Jews or against the Temple Act. 25. 8. And when he Circumcised Timâ—thy purified himself shaved his head for his Vow c. Do you think that all these are duties to Believers 3. None of the Texts cited by you do prove that the Apostles kept the Sabbath at all as a Sabbath that is a day on which it was their duty to Rest But only that they Preached on that day in the Synagogues and to the people For when should they Preach to them but when they were Congregated and capable of hearing They took it for no sin to Preach on the Sabbath no more than I would do to Preach Christ on Friday which is their Sabbath to the Turks if they would hear me But Sabbatizing according to the Law was something else than Preaching 4. And it is most evident that for a long time the Christian Jews did still keep the Law of Moses And that all that the Apostles did against it then was but 1. To declare that Christ was the end of the Law and so to declare the keeping of it to be unnecessary to Salvation but not unlawful laying by the opinion of necessity 2. That the Gentile Christians should not be brought to use it because it was unnecessary For the Apostles Act. 15. do not forbid it to the Jews but only to the Gentiles who were never under it Therefore the Apostles who lived among the Jews no doubt did so far comply with them to win them as to keep the Law externally though not as a necessary thing that is not as a Law in force obliging them but as a thing yet lawful to further the Gospel And therefore no wonder if Peter went so far as to withdraw from the Gentiles when the Jews were present when even Paul the Apostle of the Gentiles who speaketh so much more than all the rest against the Law doth yet as aforesaid Circumcise Timothy shave his head purifie himself c. and as he became all things to all men so to the Jews he became a Jew But when the Jews Policie and Temple ceased the change was executively yet further made and the Jewish Christians themselves were weaned from their Law In the mean time Paul and John Rev. 2. 3. do openly rebuke the Judaizing Hereticks the Ebionites and Cerinthians and Nicolaitans and shew the perniciousness of their conceits 11. The Holy Spirit calls the seventh day and no other day the Sabbath throughout the Scriptures before and after the Death Resurrection and Ascension of the Lord Jehovah Christ Gen. 2. 2 3 4. Exod. 20. 10 c. Act. 13. 14 15 16 42 44. 16. 13 14. 17. 2. 18. 1 4. 11. A. Though it be not true that the seventh is called the Sabbath Gen. 2. and though others deny the sufficiency of your enumeration yet I grant your assertion as true And therefore am satisfied that it is the seventh day which is put down when Sabbatizing was put down and that it could be none but the seventh day which Paul meant Col. 2. 16. Let no man judge you in meaâ—s c. and Sabbaths which were Shadows of things to come For the first day is never called a Sabbath as you truly say therefore it was not put down with the Sabbath See Dr. Youngs Dies Dom. on Col. 2. 16. 12. The seventh day Sabbath was prophaned by the Church heretofore and reformed Neh. 10. 28 29 31. 13. 15 17 18 22. See Belg. Annot. on Dan. 7. 25 c. as prophesied who would change it 12. This is all granted Sacrificing also was then Prophaned and Reformed and polluted and destroyed by Antiochus And yet we are not still under the obligation of Sacrificing We are not under the Law but under Grace CHAP. III. Whether the seventh day Sabbath be part of the Law of Nature or only a Positive Law IT is but few that I have any Controversie with on this point But yet one there is who objecteth and argueth as followeth God hath put this into nature Ex. 20. 10. Thy Stranger Deut. 5. 14. The three first Chapters of Romans Particularly Chap. 2. 14 15 26 27. 3. 9. 21. 1 Cor. 11. 14. Nature hath its teachings The humane Nature in the first Adam was made and framed to the perfection of the ten words some Notions whereof are still retained even in the corrupt state of fallen man Gen. 1. 26 27. Eccl. 7. 29. Eph. 4. 20. Col. 3. 10. The Law of the seventh day Sabbath was given before the ten words were proclaimed at Sinai Exod. 16. 23. Even from the Creation Gen. 2. 2 3. Given to Adam in respect of his humane nature and in him to all the world of humane creatures Gen. 1. 14. Psalm 104. 19 Lev. 10. 23. Numb 28. 2 9 10. 'T is the 〈◊〉 word in the Original Seâ— times of Divine appointment fâ—r solemn asseâ—â—â—ing and for Gods instituted service are directed to and pointed at by those great Lights which the Creator hath set up in the Heavens Psal. 19. with Rom. 10. 4 5 6 7. 8 18 19 20. Deut. 30. 10 15. John 1. 9. Every man hath a Light and Law of Nature which he carrieth about him and is born and bred together with him These seeds of truth and light though they will not justifie in the sight of God and bring a soul throughly and safely hâ—me to glory Rom. 1. 20. Yet there are even since Adams fall those reliques and dark Letters of this holy Law of the ten words to preserve the memory of our first created dignity and for some other ends though these seeds are utterly corrupted now Titus 1. 15. Natural reason will tell men that seeing all men in all Nations do measure their Time by Weeks and their Weeks by seven dayes they should besides what of their time they offer up as due to God every day give one whole day of every Week to their Maker who
day And for the most part they Celebrated not the Lords Supper on that day And they abhorred the keeping it as a day of Rest. 2. They met on that day for all these Reasons 1. Because having been used in the beginning to meet every day in the Week when they had all things common and were to shew the power of the Evangelical Doctrine to the height Act. 2. 44 45 46. 4. 33 34 35. as they found cause to retrive their community so did they to meet seldomer and yet not so seldome as once a Week And therefore as we now keep other meetings for Lectures and Prayers besides the Lords day so did they then on Wednesdayes Fridayes and Saturdayes 2. Because the Conversion of the Jews was a great part of their work and hope And therefore to win them they would with Paul become Jews that is not affect an unnecessary distance but come as neer them as Lawfully they could 3. Because Converted Jews were no small part of the Eastern Churches who could not easily be quite brought off from Jewish Customes And the rest were unwilling to offend them being taught not to despise the weak that observed meats and days Rom. 14. 15. Gal. 2. 4. Because the Assemblies on the seventh day were taken as fit preparatories to the sanctifying of the Lords day on which account the Church of England now appointeth them These things one that is acquainted with Church History needeth no proof of And they are sufficiently proved before Ignatius words before cited are full And those of the Council of Laodicea Can. 29. are more full who do at once appoint meetings on the seventh day and yet Anathematize them that Judaize thereon by bodily rest and would have men labour on it and preferr the Lords day before it Justin Martyr in his Dialogue with Trypho doth largely shew that Circumcision and the Sabbath are ceased by the coming of Christ and his Institutions and are not now to be used by Christians And what writer have we of full reputation and credibility more ancient than Justin from whom any testimony in this case might be sought Tertullian one of the next li. 2. against Marcion saith that the Sabbath was for that Time and present occasion or use and not for perpetuity Athanasius was one that was for meeting on the Sabbath And yet writeth his Book de Sab. Circum purposely to prove that the Sabbath is ceased with Circumcision as a Shadow and that now the Lords day is the sanctified day And the like he hath most expresly in Homil. de Semente as is cited before saying that The Master being come the Vsher was out of use and the Sun being risen the Lamps are darkened Basil Ep. 74. Writeth against Apollinaris for holding that after the Resurrection we should keep Sabbaths and Judaizeâ— As if that were the perfection to which Christ would restore men See Greg. Nazianz. Orat. 43. And Chrysoft Hom. 19. in Mat. 12. against the use of the Sabbath Cyril Hieros cat 4. Epiphan against the Nazaraei condemn them for keeping the Sabbath and Circumcision though withal they kept the Lords day The same doth Epiphanius li. 1. Haer. 30. nâ— 2. and before him Eusebius Hist. li. 3. say of the Ebionites Augustine oft telleth us that the observation or keeping of the seventh day Sabbath is ceased and not to be done by Christians Qu. ex N. Test. 69. Ad Bonif. l. 3. Contr. Faust. Manich. li. 6. c. 4. De Genes ad lit l. 4. c. 13. de spir lit c. 14. de util Cred. c. 3. 3. And as for the Abassians keeping the Sabbath It s true they keep that day in some sort But it is as true that they use Circumcision and many other Jewish Ceremonies besides oft Baptizings And that they profess not to use these as the Jews do but only as ancient Customes and as Paul did while he complyed with them using the outward action for other ends than Judaizers do And the rather because they think their Emperours descended from Solomon But the Lords day they keep on the same account as other Christians And if this instance make any thing for Sabbatizing it will make as much for Circumcising and other Jewish rites but nothing against the Sanctifying of the Lords day 4. And as for the matter of Fasting on the Sabbath the Churches greatly varyed in their Customes The Eastern Churches and Millan in the West were against Fasting on the Sabbath on two accounts 1. Because as is said they would not offend the Jewes Even as many peaceable Non-Conformists who are against many Holy dayes now established do yet forbear labouring and opening their Shops on those dayes because they will not give offence Yea and go to hear the Sermons on those dayes though they keep them not Holy as such dayes 2. Because there were many sorts of Hereticks in those times who held that the World was made by an evil God and thence came evil and so they Fasted on the seventh day on that reason Which made the Christians avoid it lest they should Symbolize with those Hereticks And therefore the real or pretended Ignatius speaketh so severely against Fasting on the Sabbath as well as on the Lords day And so do the Constitutions called the Apostles yea and the Canons called theirs Can. 65. But in the Western Churches as is aforesaid both Jews and Hereticks were more distant or less considerable for numbers and therefore they fasted on the seventh day and that the rather lest they should seem by Sabbatizing to Judaize Which was before Antichrists appearing unless you think all the holy Doctors before cited and all the Western Churches to be Antichristian Having gone thus far I here add two more Scripture Arguments to prove the abolition of the Jewish Sabbath The first is because it is frequently made as Circumcision is a sign of the particular Covenant between God and that Nation as they were a political body and peculiar people Therefore if their Policy cease and Gods relation to them as a Political body and peculiar people and so that Political Covenant with them then also the signe of the Covenant and Relation ceaseth And though the word for ever is sometime added it is no other than is oft added also to the Jewish Law and Ceremonies 2. From Act. 15. Where the case is determined by a Council of Apostles Elders and Brethren yea by the Holy Ghost V. 28. It appeareth by V. 24. that the thing asserted by the false Teachers was that the Gentiles must be Circumcised and keep the Law that is of Moses V. 1. Now the seventh day Sabbath was part of that Law As Sacrificing was though it was a Law before But the Holy Ghost determineth the case to lay on them no greater burden than these necessary things after named where the Sabbath is none of them and therefore hereby shut out The precepts given to Noah are named of which the Sabbath was not
subjects obedience to this Law it will make men to be in some sort Religious whether they will or not Though they cannot be truly Religious against their will it will make them visibly religious Yea Gods own Law if mans did nothing would lay arrawe on the Consciences of most who believe that there is a God that made that Law And the weekly Assemblies keep up the knowledge and profession of the Christian faith and keep God and Heaven in the peoples remembrance and keep sin under constant rebukes and disgrace And were it not for this Heathenisme Infidelity and prophaneness would quickly overspread the world The Lords day keepeth up the Christian Religion in the World III. The lamentable Ignorance of the generality in the world doth require the strict and diligent observation of the whole Lords day Children and Servants and ordinary Countrey people yea and too many of higher quality are so exceeding Ignorant of the things of God and their Salvation that all the constantest diligence that can be used with them in Preaching Exhorting Catechizing c. will not overcome it with the most The most diligent Masters of Families lament it how Ignorant their Families are when they have done the best they can Let those that plead for dancing and sporting away much of the day but do like men that do not secretly scorn Christianity nor despise their servants souls and let them but try what measure of knowledge the bare hearing of Common Prayer yea and a Sermon or two with it will beget in their servants if the rest of the day be spent in sports and let them judge according to experience If ever knowledge be propagated to such and families made fit to live like Christians it is likest to be by the holy improvement of this day in the diligent teaching and Learning the substance of Religion and in the Sacred exercises thereof IV. The great Carnality Wordliness and Carelesness of the most and their great averseness to the things of God doth require that they be called and kept to a close and diligent improvement of the Lords day Whatever unexperienced or carnal persons may pretend that such constant duty so long together will make them worse and more averse reason experience and Scripture are all against them If there be some backwardness at the first it is not sports and idleness that will cure it but resisting of the slothful humour and keeping to the work For there is that in Religion that tendeth to overcome mens averseness to Religion And it must be overcome by Religion and not by playing or idleness if ever it be overcome It is want of knowledge and experience of it which maketh them loath it or be weary of it when they have tryed it more and know it better they will if ever be reconciled to it Six dayes in a Week are a sufficient diversion Apprentices and Pupils and School-boyes will hold on in learning though they be averse And you think not all the six dayes too much to hold them to it A School-boy must learn daily eight or nine hours in a day and yet some wretched men yea Teachers would perswade poor souls that must learn how to be saved or perish for ever that less than eight hours one day in seven is too much to be spent in the needfullest excellentest and pleasantest matters in all the World If you say that the sublimity or difficulty maketh it wearisome I answer that Philosophers do much longer hold on in harder speculations If you say Divinity being unsuitable to carnal minds their sick Stomachs must take no more than they can digest I answer 1. Cannot a Carnal Preacher for his gain and honour and fancy hold on all the year in the study even of Divinity perhaps eight or ten hours every day in the week And may not ignorant people be brought one day to endure to be taught as long 2. That which you call Digesting is but Vnderstanding and believing and receiving it And one truth tendeth to introduce another And he that cannot learn with an hours labour may learn more in two 3. And it is hearing and exercise that must cure their want of appetite Experience telleth us that when people take the liberty of playes and sports and idleness for a recreation they come back with much more want of Love to holy exercises than they that continue longer at them Gratifying sloth and sensuality increaseth it and increaseth an averseness to all that is good For who are more averse than they that are most voluptuous If ever people be made seriously holy it is a due observation of the whole Lords day that is like to bring them to it I mean observing it in such Learning and seeking duties as they are capable of till they can do better For when the mind long dwelleth on the truth it will sink in and work And many strokes will drive the nail to the head Let the Adversaries of this day and diligence but observe And if true experience tell not the World that more souls are Converted on the Lords dayes than on all other dayes besides and that Religion best prospereth both as to the Number and the knowledge and serious Holiness of the professours of it where the Lords day is carefully sanctified rather than where Idleness and playing do make intermission than I will confess that I am uncapable of knowing any thing of this nature by experiences But if it be so fight not against the common light V. The Poverty Servitude and worldly necessities of the most do require a strict observation of the whole Lords day Tenants and Labourers Carters and Carryers and abundance of Tradesmen are so poor that they can hardly spare any other considerable proportion of time much less all their Children and Servants whose subjection with their Parents and Masters poverty restraineth them Alas they are fain to rise early and hasten to their work and scarce have leisure to eat and sleep as nature requireth And they are so toiled and wearied with hard labour that if they have at night a quarter of an hour to read a Chapter and Pray they can scarce hold open their eyes from sleeping What time hath the Minister then to come and teach them if we had such Ministers again as would be at the pains to do it And what time have they to hear or learn You must teach them on the Lords day or scarcely at all Almost all that they must learn must be then learnt I deny not but in those former years when the Law forbad me not to Preach the Gospel the people came to me on the week day house by house and also that they Learned much in their shops while they were working But 1. It came to each Families turn but one hour or little more in a whole Year For about fourteen families a week so Catechized and instructed did no sooner bring their course about 2. And our people were mostly Weavers whose
Institution for holy Worship especially in Church-assemblies CHAP. II. Prop. I. That Christ Commissioned his Apostles or his principal Church-Ministers to teach the Churches all his Doctrine and deliver them all his Commands and Orders and so to settle and guide the first Churches This I prove 1. By their Commission it self 2. By their performance with its proper seal 3. By the Consent of all the Christian world 1. Luke 6. 13. He called to him his Disciples and of them he chose twelve whom also he named Apostles Their first Commission is recited Matth. 10. at large Matth. 28. 18 19 20. All Authority is given me in Heaven and in Earth Go ye therefore and disciple all Nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you And loe I am with you alway even unto the end of the world Amen John 20. 21. Then said Jesus to them again Peace be unto you As the Father hath sent me even so send I you And when he had said this he breathed on them and said Receive ye the Holy Ghost Whosesoever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them and whosesoever sins ye retain they are retained Luke 10. 16. Even of the seventy it is said He that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me And to the twelve Matth. 10. 40. He that receiveth you receiveth me c. Acts 26. 17. Delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles to whom now I send thee to open their eyes 1 Cor. 15. 3. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received c. 1 Cor. 11. 23. For I received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you 1 Cor. 4. 1 2. Let a man so account of us as of the Ministers of Christ and Stewards of the mysteries of God Gal. 1. 11 12. But I certifie you brethren that the Gospel which was preached of me is not after man For I neither received it of man neither was I taught it but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. John 21. 15 16 17. Simon Son of Jonas lovest thou me Feed my Lambs Matth. 16. 19. I will give unto thee the Keyes of the Kingdom of Heaven and whatsoever thou shalt bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven and whatsoever thou shalt loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven John 17. 18. As thou hast sent me into the world so have I also sent them into the world See John 13. 16 20. Acts 1. 24 25. Shew whether of these two thou hast chosen that he may take part of this Ministry and Apostleship from which Judas by transgression fell Gal. 1. 1. Paul an Apostle not of men neither by man but by Jesus Christ and God the Father Acts 1. 2. After that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandment to the Apostles whom he had chosen to whom also he presented himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs being seen of them forty dayes and speaking of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God Acts 2. 42. They continued stedfast in the Apostles doctrine and fellowship c. Eph. 4. 11 12 13 14 15 16. He gave some Apostles some Prophets c. 1 Cor. 12. 28 29. First Apostles secondarily Prophets c. Are all Apostles c. Eph. 2. 20. Being built on the foundation of the Apostles c. 2. Pet. 3. 2. That ye may be mindfull of the words which were spoken before by the holy Prophets and of the Commandments of us the Apostles of the Lord and Saviour Acts 10. 5. Send men to Joppa and call for Simon c. and be shall tell thee c. They that will not take all this plain evidence of Scripture for a proof of this first Proposition I suppose would not be ever the more moved by it if I should be so needlesly tedious as to stay to fetch Arguments from each Text. 2. The Apostles exercised such a power as the Proposition mentioneth and God sâ—t to it the seal of Miracles Therefore such a Power or Office was given them by Christ. The Consequence is undenyable The Antecedent of this Enthimeme is so plainly expressed in Scripture that I am loth to take up much of my own or the Readers time in proving so known a thing They founded the Churches they delivered them the Doctrine and Commands of Christ they setled the Churches as to Officers Orders and Discipline according to Christs Commands and the Spirits determinations Thus they ordained the new Office of Deacons and Deaconeffes or Widows and they ordained them Elders in every Church or City and they determined of Church Controversies and gave the Church Decrees and delivered the Will of Christ about the Sacrament Church-Assemblies Prophecyings c. Acts 2. 14. 23. Acts 6. 3 4 c. 1 Tim. 3. Titus 1. Acts 15. 1 Cor. 11. 1 Cor. 14 c. 3. That all Christians save Hereticks did acknowledge their power and acquiesce in their Decrees and Conduct being a matter of fact needs no other proof than the common History of former Ages and practice of this Which are so well known that I will not injure the Reader by proving it CHAP. III. Prop. 2. Christ promised his Spirit to his Apostles to enable them to do what be had commissioned them to do by leading them into all truth and bringing his words and deeds to their remembrance and by guiding them as his Churches Guides In the Old Testament it is prophesied and promised Jer. 3. 15. And I will give you Pastors according to mine heart which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding See all the Texts that promise the pouring out of the Spirit Isa. 44. 3. Ezck. 36. 27. 37. 14. 39. 29. Joel 2. 28 29. Which were principally fulfilled on the Apostles Luke 24. 49. And behold I send the promise of my Father upon you But tarry ye in the City of Jerusalem untill ye be endued with power from on high John 15. 26 27. But when the Advocate is come whom I will send unto you from the Father he shall testifie of me and ye also shall bear witness because ye have been with me from the beginning John 16. 7 12 13 14 15. It is expedient for you that I go away for if I go not away the Advocate will not come unto you But if I depart I will send him unto you I have yet many things to say unto you but ye cannot bear them now Hoâ—beit when he the Spirit of truth is come he will guide you into all the truth For he shall not speak of himself but whatsoever he shall hear that shall he speak And he shall shew you things to come He shall glorifie me for he shall receive of mine and shew it unto you All things that the Father hath are mine Therefore said I
that he shall take of mine and shall shew it unto you John 17. 8. I have given to them the words which thou gavest me and they have received them V. 17 18. 〈◊〉 then through thy truth thy word is truth As thou hast sent me into the world so have I also sent them into the world And for their sakes I 〈◊〉 my self that they also might be sanctified through the truth Matth. 28. 20. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and loe I am with you alwayes to the end of the world Acts 1. 4. And being assembled together with them commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem but wait for the promise of the Father which ye have heard of me For John truly baptized with water but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many dayes hence V. 8. But ye shall receive Power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you and ye shall be witnesses uitto me both in Jerusalem and to all Judaea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth By these Texts it is most evident that Christ promiseth the Apostles an extraordinary Spirit or measure of the Spirit so to enable them to deliver his Commands and execute their Commission as that he will own what they do by the guidance thereof and the Churches may rest upon it as the Infallible revelation of the Will of God CHAP. IV. Prop. 3. Christ performed all these promises to his Apostles and gave them his Spirit to enable them for all their commissioned work This is proved both from the fidelity of Christ and from the express assertions of the Scripture He is faithful that hath promised Heb. 10. 23. Titus 1. 2. God that cannot lye hath promised 2 Cor. 1. 18. As God is true Rev. 6. 10. H w long O Lord Holy and True Rev. 19. 11. He was called faithful and true Rom. 3. 4. Let God be true and every man a lyar 1 John 5. 10 He that believeth not God hath made him a lyar John 20. 22. He breathed on them and saith unto them Receive ye the Holy Ghost Acts 2. Containeth the Narrative of the comeing down of the Holy Ghost upon them at large Acts 15. 28. seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us Heb. 2. 4. God also bearing them witness both with signs and wonders and with divers mighty works and distributions of the Holy Ghost according to his own will 1 Pet. 1. 12. The things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the Gospel unto you by the Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven Rom. 15. 19 20. Through mighty signs and wonders by the power of the Spirit of God so that from Jerusalem and round about to Illyricum I have fully preached the Gospel of Christ. Read all the Texts in Acts and elsewhere that speak of all the Apostles Miracles and their giving of the Holy Ghost c. And 1 Cor. 7. 40. Acts 4. 8 31. Acts 5. 3. 6. 3. 7. 51 55. 8. 15 17 18 19. 9. 17. 10. 44 45 47. 11. 15 16 24. 13. 2 4 9 52. 16. 6. Rom. 5. 5. 9. 1. 1 Cor. 2. 13. 2 Tim. 1. 14. 1 Cor. 12. Eph. 4. 7 8 c. 3. 5. But this Proposition is confessed by all Christians CHAP. V. Prop. 4. The Apostles did actually separate and appoint the first day of the Week for holy Worship especially in Church-Assemblies Here the Reader must remember that it is 〈◊〉 matter of fact that is to be proved in the proof of this Proposition and that all till this is clearly and undenyably proved so that the whole Controversie resteth upon the proof of the fact That indeed The Apostles did separate 〈◊〉 set apart this day for ordinary publick Worship And in order to the fuller proof of this I have these 〈◊〉 Propositions to prove Prop. 1. Matter of past fact is to be known to us by History Written Verbal or Practical This is evident in the nature of the thing History is the Narration of facts that are past We speak not of the fact of meer natural agents but of Moral or humane facts It may be known without History what Eclipses there have been of the Sun what changes of the Moon c. But not what in particular Morals have been done by man The necessity of other distinct wayes of knowledge are easily disproved 1. It need not be known by Divine supernatural Revelation Otherwise no men could know what is past but Prophets or inspired persons nor Prophets but in few things For it cannot be proved that God ever revealed to Prophets or inspired persons the general knowledge of things past but only some particulars of special use as the Creation to Moses c. so that if Revelation by Inspiration Voice or Visions were necessary Scripture it self could be understood by none but inspired persons or that had such revelation 2. It is not known by Natural Causes and by arguing from the Natural Cause to the Effects It is no more possible to know all things past this way by knowing the Causes than all things future Therefore it must be ordinarily known by Humane report which we call History or Tradition Prop. 2. Scripture History is not the only certain History much less the only credible Without Scripture History we may be certain that there was in 1666. a great Fire in London and a great plague in 1665. and that there were Wars in England 1642 1643 c. and that there have been Parliaments in England which have made the Statutes now in force and that there have been such Kings of England for many Ages as our Records and Histories mention c. Prop. 3. Scripture History is not the only certain History of the things of the Ages in which it was written or of former Ages much less the only credible History of them We may know by other History certainly that there were such persons as Cyrus Alexander c. That the Macedonians had a large extended Empire that the Romans after by many Victories obtained a spacious Empire that there were such persons as Julius Caesar Augustus Tiberius Nero Cicero Virgil Horace Ovid c. Prop. 4. Scripture History is not the only means appointed by God to help us to the knowledge of Ecclesiastical matters of fact transacted in Scripture times 1. For if Humane History be certain or credible in other cases it is certain or credible in these There being no reason why these things or much of them should not be as capable of a certain delivery to us by humane History as other matters As that there were Christians in those times may be known by what Tacitus Suetonius c. say And the antient Writers oft appeal in many cases to the Heathens own History And no man pretendeth as to the Civil matters mentioned in the Scriptures that no other History of the same is credible or
To call them together before they go to the solemn Assembly and to Pray with them and praise God and if there be time to read the Scripture and tell them what they have to do in publick 3. To see that Dinner and other common employments make no longer an intermission than is needful And to advise them that at their meat and necessary business they shew by their holy speeches that their minds do not forget the day and the employments of it 4. To sing Gods praises with them if there be time and bring them again together to the Church-assembly 5. When they return either to take some account of them what they have learned or to call them together to pray for a blessing on what they have heard and to sing praises to God and to urge the things which they have heard upon them 6. At Supper to behave themselves soberly and piously And after Supper to shut up the day in Prayer and Praise And either then or before either to examine or exhort inferiours according as the case of the persons and families shall require For in some Families it will be best on the same day to take an account of their profiting and to Catechize them And in other Families that have leisure other daies may be more convenient for Catechising and Examinations that the greater works of the Lords day may not be shortened IV. So much of the day as can be spared from publick and family worship must be spent in secret holy duties such as are 1. Secret Prayer 2. Reading of the Scriptures and good Books 3. Holy Meditation 4. And the secret Conference of bosome friends Of which I further adde 1. That where publick or family worship cannot be had as in impious places there secret duties must be the chief and make up the defect of others And it is a great happiness of good Christians who have willing minds that they have such secret substitutes and supplies That they have Bibles and so many good Books to read That they may have a friend to talk with of holy things But much more that they have a God to go to and a Heaven to Meditate on besides so many Sacred Verities 2. That my judgement is that in those places where the publick Worship taketh up almost all the day it is no sin to attend on it to the utmost and to omit all such Family and secret exercises as cannot be done without omission of the publick And that where the publick exercises allow but a little time at home the Family duties should take up all that little time except what some shorter secret Prayers or Meditations may have which will not hinder family duties And that it is a sinful disorder to do otherwise Because the Lords day is principally set apart for publick worship And the more private or secret is as it were included in the publick Your Families are at Church with you The same Prayers which you would put up in secret you may usually put up in publick and in Families And it is a turning Gods Worship into a Ceremony and Superstition to think that you must necessarily put up the same Prayers in a Closet which you put up in the Family or Church when you have not time for both Though when you have time secret prayer hath its proper advantages which are not to be neglected And also what secret or family duty you have not time for on that day you may do on another day when you cannot come to Church Assemblies And therefore it is an Errour to think that the day must be divided in equal proportions between Publick Family and Secret Duties Though yet I think it not amiss that some convenient time for Family and Secret duties be left on that day but not so much as is spent in publick nor nothing neer it If any shall now object I do not believe that we are bound to all this ado nor so to tire out our selves in Religious exercises Where is all this ado commanded us I answer 1. I have proved to you that in Nature and in Scripture set together as great a proportion of time as this for holy exercises is required 2. But O what a Carnal unthankful heart doth this objection signifie What do you account your Love to God and the Commemoration of his Love in Christ a toile What if God had only given you leave to lay by your worldly business and idle talk and Childish play for one dayes time and to learn how to be like Christ and Angels and how to make sure of a Heavenly Glory should you not gladly have accepted it as an unspeakable benefit O what hearts have these wretched men that must be constrained by fear to all that is good and holy and spiritual and will have none of Gods greatest mercies unless it be for fear of hell And they shall never have them indeed till they love them What hearts have those men that had rather be in an Ale-house or a Play-house or asleep than to be in heart with God That can find so much pleasure in jesting and idle talking and foolery that they can better endure it than to peruse a Map of Heaven and to read and hear the Sacred Oracles Who think it a toile to praise their Maker and Redeemer and a pleasure to game and dance and drink Who turn the glass upon the Preacher and grudge if he exceed his hour and can sit at a Tavern or Alehouse or hold on in any thing that 's vain many hours and never complain of weariness Do they not tell the world what enemies they are to God who love a pair of Cards or Dice or Wanton Dalliance better than his Word and Worship Who think six dayes together little enough for their worldly work and profit and one day in seven too much to spend in the thoughts of God and life Eternal Who love the dung of this present World so much better than all the joyes above as that they are weary to hear of Heaven above an hour at a time and long to be wallowing in the dirt again Is it not made by the Holy Ghost a mark not only of wicked men but of men notoriously wicked to be Lovers of pleasures more than of God 2 Tim. 3. 4. O Sinners that in these workings of the wickedness and malignity of your hearts you would at last but know your selves Is it not the Carnal mind that is thus at enmity to God and neither is nor can be subject to his Law Rom. 8. 6 7 8 Which will you take to be your friend Him that loveth your company or him that is a weary of it and is glad when he hath done with you and is got away What would you think of Wife or Child or Friend if they should reason as you do and say What Law doth bind 〈◊〉 to be so many hours in the House or Company or 〈◊〉 of my Husband my Father or my Friendâ—
the Kings in their Drunkenness There are few in such sportful Assemblies that are not Drunk with Concupiscence and whose reason is not drowned in voluptuousness and vain imaginations Let those Divines if I may so call the Advocates of Sensuality and Sin which are otherwise minded give us leave to oppose against all their Cavils and the false names of harmless recreations but 1. Our own experience who in our youth have alwaies found such sports and revelling Assemblies to be corrupters of our minds and temptations to evil and quenchers of every holy motion and enemies to all that 's good 2. The experience of the visibly corrupted undone sensual youth that are round about us in all Countreys where we have lived 3. And the judgement of Sâ—lomon who saith as much for pleasure as any Sacred Writer Eccl. 7. 2 3 4 5 6. It is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting For that is the end of all men and the living will lay it to his heart Sorrow is better than laughter for by the sadness of the Countenance the heart is made better The heart of the wise is in the house of mouâ—ning but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth I pray you do not say I raile at you by the reciting of these words nor that I diminish the honour of the Reverend Advocates for Wakes and Lords day Sports and Dancings It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise than for a man to hear the Song of fools For as the sound of thorns under a pot so is the laughter of the fool 3. Moreover these sports and pleasures and riotings are worse than Plowing and Labouring on the Lords day because as they are more adverse to spiritual and heavenly joyes so they do less good to recompense the hurt A Carpenter a Mason a Plowman c. may do some good by his unlawful unseasonable labour some one may be the better for it But Dancing and Sports and Gaming do no good but hurt They corrupt the Fantasie They imprint upon the Thinking faculty so strong an inclination to run out after such things and upon the Appetite so strong a list and longing for them that carnality is much encreased by them Mortification hindred Concupiscence gratified the flesh prevaileth the spirit is quenched and the soul made as unfit for heavenly things as a School-boy is for his Book whose heart is set upon his play Yea abundance more as Nature by Corruption is more averse to spiritual things than to the things of Art or Nature 4. These Dancings and Playes and Wakes and other riotous sports are a strong temptation also to them that are not of the riotous societies but have convictions on their hearts that they have greater and better things to mind Without accusing others I may say that I know this by bad experience I cannot forget when my Conscience was against their courses and called me to better things how hardly when I was young I passed by the Dancing and the Playing Congregations and especially when in the Passage I must bear their scorn And I was one Year a School-master and found how hard it was for the poor Children to avoid such snares even when they were sure to be whipt the next day for their pleasures 5. And those Riots and Playes are injurious to the pious and sober persons who dislike them For it is they that shall be made the Rabbles Scorn and the Drunkards Song Besides that the noise oft times annoyeth them when they should be calmely serving God And they are hindered from governing and instructing their Families while their Children and Servants are thus tempted to be gone and their hearts are all the while in the playing place Never did a hungry dog more grudge at his restraint from meat than Children and young Servants usually grudge to be Catechised or kept to holy exercises when they hear the pipe or the noise of the licentious multitude in the Streets I cannot forget that in my Youth in those late times when we lost the labours of some of our Conformable Godly Teachers for not Reading publickly the Book for Sports and Dancing on the Lords dayes one of my Fathers own Tenants was the Town Piper hired by the Year for many Years together and the place of the Dancing Assembly was not an hundred yards from our door and we could not on the Lords day either read a Chapter or Pray or sing a Psalm or Catechise or instruct a Servant but with the noise of the Pipe and Taber and the Whootings in the Street continually in our Ears And even among a tractable people we were the common Scorn of all the Rabble in the Streets and called Puritans Precisians and Hypocrites because we rather chose but to read the Scriptures than to do as they did Though there was no favour of any Non-conformity in our Family And when the people by the Book were allowed to Play and Dance out of publick Service-time they could so hardly break off their Sports that many a time the Reader was fain to stay till the Piper and Players would give over And sometimes the Morrice-Dancers would come into the Church in all their Linnen and Scarfs and Antick Dresses with Morrice-bells jingling at their leggs And as soon as Common Prayer was read did haste out presently to their Play again Was this a Heavenly Coversation Was this a help to holiness and Devotion or to the Mortification of fleshly Lusts Was this the way to train up youth in the Nurture and Admonition of the Lord And were such Assemblies like to the primitive Churches Or such Families governed Christianly and in the fear of God O Lord set wise and holy Pastors over thy poor Flocks that have learnt themselves the holy Doctrine which they Preach and who love or at least abhorr not the service and imitation of a Crucified Christ and the practice of that Religion which they themselves profess Obj. But poor labouring people must have some recreation and they cannot through their poverty have leisure any other day Answ. 1. A sad Argument to be used by them that by racking of Rents do keep them in Poverty They that cannot live without all those superfluities which requireth many hundred pounds a Year to maintain them must for this gratifying pride and fleshly lusts set such bargains to their poor Tenants as that they confess they cannot live without taking the Lords day to recreate them from the toile and weariness of their excessive labours And will not God judge such self-condemning oppressours as these are 2. But is this an Argument fit for the mouth of a Minister or any Christian who knoweth how much the soul is more worth than the body and Eternity more valuable than the pleasures of this little time If Poverty deny the people liberty to play on the week dayes doth it not as much deny them liberty to Pray and to read the
part of the Mosaical Covenant And if the Form cease which denominateth the Being and denomination ceaseeth and all the parts as parts of that which ceaseth So that if the Covenant of Works made with the Jews cease which Camero calleth a third or middle Covenant and several men do variously denominate but the Scripture calleth the old or former Covenant or Testament or Disposition then all the Law as part of that Covenant ceaseth And that is as much as to say also that it ceaseth as meerly Mosaical or Political to the Jews And then the Argument is vain This or that word was written in the Tables of Stone Therefore it is of perpetual obligation For as it was written in Stone it was Mosaical and is done away and under the New Covenant all that is Natural and Continued shall by the Spirit be written upon the Heart whence sin at first did obliterate it 7. That as the Rest of God in the Creation is described by a Cessation from his work with a complacency in the goodness of it but Christs Rest is described more by Vital Activity and Operation than by Cessation from work even his Triumphant Resurrection as the Conquest of Death and beginning of a New Life so I think the Old Sabbath is more described by such Corporeal Rest or Cessation from work which was partly Ceremonial or a signifying shadow and that the word Sabbath is never used in the Scripture but for such a day of Ceremonial Rest though including holy Worship But that the Lords day and its due observation is more described by spiritual Activity and Operation in the spiritual Resurrection of the soul and its new Life to God And that the Bodily Rest is no longer Ceremonial or shadowy but fitted to the promoting and subserving of the spiritual Activity and Complacency in God and holy exercises of the mind as the body it self is to the service of the soul. 8. That I am not ignorant that many of the English Divines long ago expound Matth. 24. 20. of the Christian Sabbath and Col. 2. 16. as exclusive of the Jewish Weekly Sabbath But so do not most Expositors for which I think they give very good reasons which I will not stand here to repeat 9. That I intended not a full and elaborate Treatise of the Lords Day but a brief Explication of that Method of proof which I conceive most easie and convincing and fittest for the use of doubting Christians who are many of them lost in doubts in the multitude and obscurity of arguments from the Old Testament when I think that the speedy and satisfactory dispatch of the Controversie is best made by a plain proof of the Institution of Christ by the Holy Ghost in the Apostles which I thought to have shewed in two or three Sheets but that the necessity of producing some evidence of the fact and answering other mens Objections drew it out to greater length And my method required me to say more of the practice of Antiquity than some other mens But again I must give notice that Dr. T. Ysoungs Dies Dominica is the Book which I agree with in the Method and Middle way of determining this Controversie and which I take to be the strongest written of it And that I omit most which he hath as taking mine but as an Appendix to his and desire him that will write against mine to answer both together or else I shall suppose his work to be undone ERRATA PAge 19 Line 23 and 24 for there put theâ— p 21 l 20 Bloâ—t out of the Conclusion p 30 l 10 for Pentecost r Passovâ—â— p 35 l. 4 r Canon Council Trul. p 181 l 13 r George Walker And in my Defence of the Principles of Love the Errata being not gathered the Reader is desired Part 2. page 92 line 3 for the Verb to read the Word FINIS * * I speak only de facto how the Antients used these words
our Redemption Answ. No Our Redeemers work is to restore us to the acknowledgement and Love of our Creator And the Commemoration of our Redemption fitteth us to a holy acknowledgement of the Almighty Creator in his works These therefore are still to go together according to their several proper places Even as the Son is the way to the Father and we must never separate them in the exercise of our Faith obedience or Love A Christian is a sanctified Philosopher And no man knoweth or acknowledgeth Gods works of Creation and Providence aright in their true sense but he that seeth God the Creator and Redeemer the Beginning the Governour and the End of all Other Philosophers are but as those Children that play with the Book and Letters but understand not the matter contained in it or like one that teacheth boyes â—litide literas pingere to write a curious hand while he understands not what he writeth Obj. But to spend so much of the day in publick as you speak of will tire out the Minister by speaking so long Few men are able to endure it Answ. 1. How did the Christians in the Primitive Churches They met in the morning and often as far as I can gatâ—â—er parted not till night And when they did go home between the Morning and Evening Service it was but for a little time Obj. Then they made it a fast and not a festival Answ. It was not the use then to eat dinners in those hot Countreys much less three meals a day as we do now And they accounted it a sufficient feasting to feast once at Supper which they did at the first all together at their Church-meeting with the Sacrament But afterward finding the inconvenience of that they feasted at home and used only the Sacrament in the Church which change was not made without the allowance of the Apostles Paul saying 1. Cor. 11. Have ye not houses to eat and drink in or despise ye the Church of God 2. I further answer that the work of the day being done according to the primitive use it will be no excessive labour to the Minister Because in the Celebration of the Lords Supper he is not still in one continued speech but hath the intermission of Action and useth shorter Speeches which do not so much spend him And the people bear a considerable part to wit in Gods praises which were spoken then in their laudatory tone and are now uttered by the singing of Psalms which should not be the least part of the work And though their manner of singing was not like ours in Rithmes and Tunes melâ—diously as neither were the Hebrew Greek or Latine Poems so sung but as most think more like to our Cathedral singing or saying yet it followeth not that this is the best way for us seeing use hath made our Tunes and Meeter and way of singing more meet for the ends to which we use them that is for the chearful consent of all the Church Neither should any think that it is a humane unlawful invention and a sinful change to turn the old way of singing used in Scripture times and long after into ours For the old way of singing was not a Divine institution but a use and several Countreys had their several uses herein And God commandeth us but to Praise him and sing Psalmes but doth not tell us what meeter or tunes we shall use or manner of singing but leaveth this to the use and convenience of every Countrey And if our way and tunes be to us by custome more convenient than those of other Nations in Scripture times we have no reason to forsake them and return to the old Though yet the old way is not to be judged a thing forbidden And we see that custome hath so far prevailed with us that many thousand Religious people do cheerfully sing Psalmes in the Church in our Tunes and way who cannot endure to sing in the Cathedral or the ancient Scripture or primitive way nor to use so much as the Laudatory Responses 3. And I further answer that every Church should have more Ministers than one as the ancient Churches had besides their Readers and then one may in speaking ease another 4. But lastly I answer that These circumstances being alterable according to the state of Countreys Conveniences I do not discommend the custome of our Countrey and of most Christian Churches in our times in making an intermission and going home to dinner as being fittest to our condition And then there remaineth the less force in the objection as to the weariness of the Ministers or the people I 〈◊〉 to say more of the publick Church-performances having described them all in a small Book called Vniversal Concord and having exemplified all except Preaching in our Reformed Liturgie given in to the Bishops at the Savoy Only here I will answer them who object much that the Ancient Churches spent not the whole day in exercises of Religion nor farbad other exercises out of the time of publick worship because we read of little other observation of it by them but what was done in the publick Assemblies Answ. 1. We find that they took it to be a sanctified or separated day And they never distinguish and say that Part of the day only was separated and sanctified to such uses If they did which part is the sanctified part of the day what houres were they which they thought thus separated But there is no such distinction or limitation in the writings of the ancient Doctors 2. What need you find much mention what they did out of the time of publick Worship when they spent all the day frequently at first and almost all the day in after times with small intermission in publick Worship Do you stay but as long at Church as they did even almost from Morning till Night and then you will find little time to Dance or Play in But yet 3. There want not Testimonies that they thought it unlawful to spend any part of the day in unnecessary diversions from holy things as Dr. Young hath shewed III. So much of the day as can be spared from publick Church-worship and diversions of necessity should be next spent most in holy family-exercises And in those unhappy places where the publick worship is slenderly and negligently performed on some small part only of the day or not at all or not so as it is lawful to joyne in it as in Idolatrous Worship c. there Family worship must take up most of the day And in better places it must take up so much as the publick Worship spareth And here the summ of holy exercises in Families is this which having elsewhere directed you in I must but briefly name 1. To see that the Family rise as early on this day as on others and make it not a day of sleep and idleness And not to suffer them to violate prophane or neglect the day by any of the sins hereafter named 2.