nothing more then when they come to specificate their tenent and shew how it is divine Sure it is that whatsoever is of divine ordination must be so either from God the Father in the law of nature or some positive precept of the old Testament Or from God the Sonne in some precept of the Gospell or from God the holy Ghost inspiring the Apostles * Iohn 16.13 leading them according to the promise of Christ into all truth Some therefore affirme a divine institution of the Lords day from God the Father grounding themselves upon the morality of the letter of the fourth commandement But this savouring too much of Iudaisme and the commandement speaking precisely of another day is generally exploded Others therefore pretend an institution from God the Sonne by Evangelicall law but being required to shew some word of Christs establishing this observation faile in their proof and are taken upon a Nihil dicit The third opinion therefore is now become most universall viz. That it is an institution from God the holy Ghost in and by the Apostles And this tenent is wisely taken up it being such a hiding place out of which men cannot so easily be drawn as out of the former especially considering that they extend to this purpose Apostolicall inspirations to the uttermost latitude for they were inspired say they what and how to teach the Church in all things And these inspirations whensoever they became notified to the Church were and are to be esteemed divine institution whether written or not written in Scriptures wherein they seeme to imitate young Respondents in Philosophy who use to shelter themselves under the secret qualities of naturall things which they know their Opponents cannot easily discover Or rather they are glad to plow with a Popish Heifar Tradition of which a Sacra nostrorum anchora est ubi nulla suppetat nostrarum falsitatum probatio Spal 2. de repub c. 11 ◠51. Spalatensis saith It is the very sacred anchor on which our men rely when they know not how otherwise to defend their falsehoods and against which themselves also have made ample invectives For the better clearing therefore of this point it is necessary something be said First of Apostolicall inspirations Secondly of Apostolicall traditions Concerning the first the Apostles we all know sustain'd a threefold person For we may consider them either as Apostles by extraordinary mission sent to plant the Gospell or as ordinary Pastors to govern the Churches already planted or thirdly as private persons As Apostles they were infallibly inspired with all truths upon all occasions which might plant the kingdome of Christ and bring men unto the obedience of the faith the end of their mission being to beare abroad Christs name Acts 9.15 To this purpose they were also furnish't with the gifts of Tongues Miracles Healings Discerning of Spirits being immediatly directed by the holy Ghost As Pastors they had a twofold worke First to perform the duties of the man of God exhorting reproving correcting instructing in righteousnesse Secondly as Elders to rule well erecting such goverment in their planted Churches as might best sort with the times and states in which they lived Thus considered no doubt but they were also inspired but not in like manner nor measure as before For their inspirations as pastors were only such irradiations influences and concurrences of the Spirit as are afforded at this day to the Pastors of the Church unlesse by some personall miscarriages they procure unto themselves spirituall derelictions Thus the spirit is at this day present in all Ecclesiasticall Synods nay even with private ministers using the right meanes in their places even in their privat labours For the promise of Christ reacheth also unto them and he is present with them unto the end of the world Where notwithstanding we must remember that as all dictates of Ecclesiasticall Synods or dictates of private Pastors are not to be esteemed divine precepts because they are subject to error as daily experience makes it manifest even in such persons and assemblies as are most regular nay when their resolutions are most conformable to the word of God yet they are not divine ordinances So it must be conceived of the Apostles considered as the Churches Pastors without any impeachment at all to their Apostolicall dignitie We know that even the Apostles considered as Pastours were subject to mistake as appeares by b Gal. 3.11 St Peter who living at Antioch as a Pastour was iustly reproued by S. Paul how ever c Hoc excedit modum fraternae correptionis quae Praelatis à subditis debetur Aquin. in 4. sent dist 19. art 2. Stap. de Doct. princip c. 14. Stapleton and Aquinas gloze it for not walking as behoved a Pastor or Minister of the Gospell And in another place Paul and Barnabas consulting the Churches Pastors in what manner and with what company they should set about the worke of the Ministry dissented from one another and d Acts 15.39 that in such heat as it makes it apparent they were not both if either directed by the Spirit but as God by his providence overruleth affections bringing by them his owne purposes to passe Nay plaine also it is that although as they were Apostles they delivered nothing but what they had received yet as Pastors and governours of particular Churches they delivered some things of themselves not as dictates of Gods spirit So e 1. Cor. 7.6 V. 12. V. 25. V. 40. S. Paul I speake this by permission not of commandement to the rest speak I and not the Lord and I haue no commandement of the Lord and I giue my iudgment and againe after my iudgment Neither is f Non est consilium divini-spiritus sed pro eius maie state praeceptum Tert. Exhor ad Castit Tertullians glosse to be regarded for he was now infected with Montanisme when out of that Scripture to condemne all second Mariages as unlawfull he saith it is no advise but a binding precept for the Apostle speaks of himselfe and his owne judgment as contradistinct unto the Lord and the spirits revelation Ob. If any man say why then doth he adde that * V. 25. he hath obtayned mercy of the Lord to be faithfull and againe * V. 40. I thinke also that I haue the spirit of God Resp g Haec non absque Ironiâ dicta qua Pseudo-Apostolos taxat qui Paulum traducebant quasi alienus à spiritu Christi esset indignus qui coeteris Apostolis annumeretur Martyr in locu◠Peter Martyr will giue him satisfaction saying it was to adde the more weight and authority to his words in opposition to the false Apostles who were crept into the Church of Corinth and undervalved S. Pauls judgment But observe whether S. Paul to vindicate his reputation against them saith more or as much as some of our adversaries say of themselves upon all occasions when their dictates come to be
my method which being that of the Schooles is of all others if used with sobriety most satisfying It is not then the pleasing of thy fancy with quaint language and apt cadences of words nor the drawing of thy affections with patheticall exclamations of holinesse religion c. nor appeales to mens consciences by which they are artificilly caught before encountred which I intended to such straines I professe my selfe a stranger but the unmasking of all apparences and discovery of naked truth And here let no man be offended if I speak freely that I have not found any convincing proofe in any point of their doctrine wherein we differ either out of the word of God or well governed reason It is therefore to be feared that men seek themselves not truth herein And sure selfe-seeking is more waies then one not only the desire of profit preferment favour greatnesse but those poorer phantasmes of popularity opinion of being the un-erring Rabbies in the Church or making good a side hunted after makes us guilty thereof And amongst the rest there is no such selfe-seeking as singularity Signa singularitatis non continere se intra suos fines fastidire dostrinas resolutas indebita doctorum doctrinarum appropriatio gaudere potius de alienâ impugnatione quâ—â— eoâ—â— ad concordiam ducere Gers if the Schoolemen have given us its true characters amongst others these To loath common resolutions already given to appropriate to our selves the infallibility of our Doctors and Doctrines to take more delight in oppugning our adversaries then reconciling of controversies If this be singularity and singularity selfe-seeking it is easily seen who seek themselves For not to speak of the two latter Characters which are as the proper passions of our Sabbatharians I will only relate what you may read in Mr Sprint concerning the first In this controversy saith he those reverend and goodly writers living in the times next aboue us were of more remisse and weake judgements but those of latter daies more syncere and strict God as it were rewarding the paines and diligence of every age with revealing some part of truth The which thing as he did to them of other times before reuealing unto them sundry truths wherewith their predecessors never were acquainted so dealt he with the Primitve Fathers in their severall times and so perhaps he will doe with them that follow us So he hath done to this age of ours and as he hath done it in sundry other truths so also in this of the Christian Sabbath Mavult curiositas quaerere invenienda quà m inventa intelligere ib. Singularity it seemes is a curious fancy which chuseth rather to invent new then to understand those Tenents which are already received Such I confesse was my ignorance as to beleeve that all necessary truths had been sufficiently revealed as for unnecessary revelations we bequeath them to such Phanatique spirits as affect them My opinion also was that those Pillars of our Church that liv'd in the former age next above us in whom might be discerned the very spirit of Elias had beeen no weak remisse unsincere or to speak plain prophane Gospellers Sit studium solius veritatis absque fermento vanitatis Let truth alone be studied and all leaven of vanity avoided But it hath been an ill lesson instill'd into the heads of young Students by those that were heretofore the great leaders of the Disciplinarians that howsoever the Ceremonies of the Church were in themselves tollerable yet no way to be used by such as had preached against them And the reason was as good as the Doctrine least the people seeing them in an errour in this should believe them in nothing else therefore needs must we magnify all our dictats whatsoever But first the supposition of the peoples scandalized infidelity is a meer fiction was St Peters doctrine the worse thought of because his errour was reproved by St Paul Are the errours of Origen Tertullian Cyprian Retractatiâ— Augustini non inhonoravit eum nec authoritatis dictorum suorum robuâ— evertit Gers or any other of the ancient Fathers prejudiciall to their other truths But suppose the people should thus stumble must we therefore pertinaciously adhere to our mis-opinions though but in Ceremonies Surely then they were not wise whosoever wrote Retractations The best that is may possibly be mistaken and if so let God have the honour of our humility To have erred may be the shame of our naturall frailty but to acknowledge our errors is the praise of our Christian ingenuity and to reforme them our glory I speak not this out of any hope conceived that this poore piece of mine should prevaile with any in this kind It is storied that when Philo the Iew was sent to Cajus the Emperour in behalfe of his nation against the Greekes that Appian who was sent by the Greeks against the Iewes spake first and the Emperour was so enraged by Appian that Philo was commanded out of his sight unheard 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb lib. z. c. 5. It will be heer not much unlike save that Philo the Iew hath first spoken our Sabbatharians have filled the eares of our people these many yeares and hearts fore-stalled with prejudice are unteachable saith S. Augustin I shall therefore think I am well dealt with if this be not avoided as a prohibited book for this Iesuited trick is also taken up but most happy if I may escape that which the * Psal 57.4 Psalmist stiles and I have already felt to be sharper then swords If any list to be contentious a book in Print is at every mans mercy if his arguments be gotten in his spleen be prosecuted by his passions till they conclude in evill speakings in some corner-creeping or scurriloâ—s invectives fitter for a Player then Divine let him know his answer shall be contempt But if any will be pleased in the spirit of meeknesse to shew me a better way I trust I shall neither be so wayward as to take it amisse nor so weak as not to profit by him My only suit unto thee Christian Reader is that thou peruse it with as single an eye as the heart was syncere from whence it proceeded Vpon this condition I bid thee heartily Farewell Thine in the truth of the Gospell of Christ Iesus GILBERT IRONSIDE The severall Chapters with their Contents The PROEME The Proeme containing the partition of the whole worke CAP. I. Wherein the first question is proposed with the arguments seeming to prove the Sabbath to be as ancient as Adam in Paradise CAP. II. The Arguments for the negative opinion are set downe CAP. III. Wherein it briefly declared what is to be thought of the present question CAP. IV. The Arguments proposed Chap. 2. are fully answered and the exposition of sanctification by destination is at large handled CAP. V. The second Question is proposed whether the letter of the fourth Commandement be a Morall precept CAP. VI. The
man though otherwise simple doth understand oftentimes more in the mysteries of Godlinesse then the great profound studied Doctors of the world This he confirmes by the words of our Saviour I thank thee o Father c. and by the example of the sheepheards to whom the Angels appeared preached Christ when the wise men of the East Herod the King the high Priests and Elders knew not where to find him Besides it is the nature of the word to be plaine and facill to such as are of a semblable disposition thereunto but hard and difficult to those that are Rebellious It giveth light to the simple saith n Psal 19. the Prophet where there is humility of spirit simplicity of mind syncerity of heart a conscionable walking with God the light of the word shineth even to the perfect day For as in naturall things there must be a proportion between the eye and the object so in things spirituall he must have a strong vigorous eye that must look upon the Sunne The eye of a child because it is tender and weak is dazeled as soon as it feeles the aire a blear eye smarts at every looking up The naturall unregenerate man hath the eyes of the Nycticorax or night crow compared with divine truths as Aristotle himself acknowledgeth Lastly there be many impediments in the unregenerate which serve as strong barres to keep out the light of truth as pride vanity deceit hypocrisy sensuality A vessell so full of filth and rottennesse cannot be capable of the syncere milk of the word or if any thereof happen to enter it receives a taint from the vessell that receives it the liquor smels of the Cask and the spider converts all things into poison Nay certain it is that every carnall affection once grown habituall doth harbour at least in the spawn and seed some heresy or other so that men of vitious and lewd lives doe believe nothing which may prejudice their corrupt affections Vnlesse therefore saith n Nisi mactaverimus cupiditates carnis nostrae non possumus esse idonei ut in actionibus nostris intelligamus quae sit voluntas Dei sed quod nostro sensui vehementèr arridet interpretamur esse voluntatem Dei Saâ—b in Rom. 12. Sasbot we sacrifice subdue and mortify the lusts of the flesh we can be no way fit to understand the will of God but will ever interpret that to be Gods will which is most agreeable to our own humours Therefore o Non haec dixit Dominus ut osâ—endat omnes viros honos per se intelligere posse omnia loca scripturarum sed ut doceat viros probos carere quibusdam impedimentis propter quae alij nec perse nec per alios fidei veritatem intelligere possunt Bell. de interp verb. Bellarmine himselfe doth confesse that pious and good men have not so many lets and hindrances to keep them from truth as others have in whom their judgements being corrupted by their affections neither doe nor can by themselves or others understand the doctrine of faith preached unto them This being that which is thus speciously said in the defence of this Paradox we will briefly discover the falshood and vanity thereof for the satisfaction of the judicious and indifferent reader by distinguishing those things which are thus confusedly heaped together For he that hath truth to himselfe in grosse may well vent to others errour by retaile We must therefore distinguish First of the persons of men unregenerate Secondly of the spirituall estate or being spirituall Thirdly of the things of God Fourthly of the knowledge of those things Vnregenerate men are of divers kinds either such as are apparently known may be averred for such both by the judgement of faith and the judgement of charity as Heathens Infidels Apostates Hereticks Or they are such as are in the bosome of the visible Church known unto us only in generall by the judgment of faith which saith there are such but unknown unto us by the judgement of charity when we come to look upon particulars Besides the unregenerate within the Pale of the Church are either private and ordinary people or publique persons guifted and qualified to the service of the Church To be spirituall is also of doubtfull signification for as the spirit of God dwelleth and worketh in men diversly so are they in different kinds spirituall Now the spirit worketh by his graces and these are either such as well call saving graces as faith hope love feare obedience given to men for their own profit by the help whereof they work out their own salvation or such as we call common graces as miracles tongues healings c. which God bestows upon men for the good of the Church and the promoting the salvation of other men The things of God are also of two sorts some are only in fide Circumstantiall things in and concerning faith and religion without the knowledge of which we may well be saved Others are de fide substantiall truths such as Athanasius hath in his Creed of which he saith he that believeth them not cannot possibly be saved Lastly the knowledg of holy things is two fold speculative and experimentall by the one we know what the things are in themselves by the other we have a lively sense and feeling of them in our own soules These distinctions being applyed to our present purpose the truth opens it self in these propositions First the unregenerate and unsanctified without the Church discern no kind of heavenly truths of what sort soever unlesse they be also naturall to be found out by discourse of reason or morall written upon their hearts Of such as these the words of the Apostle are to be understood The naturall man perceiveth not the things of God and that of our Saviour my sheep hear my voice And in this condition S. Augustine speaks of himself in that passage of his confessions There is indeed no proportion between the light of their darkned minds and the light of supernaturall saving truths Secondly the unregenerate within the Church if publique persons if sufficiently qualified by nature education and common graces being diligent in their places with the ordinary concurrence and assistance of the spirit may as infallibly deliver the doctrine of religion as any other not superiour unto them in the fore named indowments especially if they be accompanied in them with common modesty and civility p Qui expoâ—unt scripturas sint ingenio praediti studio exercitati in judicio humiles aâ— affectato vitio immunes Ger. de Com. Gerson therefore expressing how the Expositors of Scripture should be qualified requires first that they have naturall parts secondly that they be well grounded studied thirdly that they be of humble judgements fourthly that they be free all from grosse and affected vices And q Sub utrâque comparandi sunt igitur doctores doctoribus illi quos constat habere conditiones positas in regulâ—
shall be broken fulfilled both in the paschall a Numb 9.12 Lamb and b Ioh. 19.36 Christ our passover Out of Egypt have I called my Sonne first verified of c Hos 11.1 Israel his adopted Sonne then of d Math. 2.15 Christ his naturall Sonne A voyce was heard in Ramah understood first of the captivity of the Iewes foretold by the e Jer. 31.15 Prophet then f Math. 2.18 of the number of the Innocents by the cruelty of Herod As it is in these and divers other places of this kind so it is in the letter of the fourth Commandement where either we have two literall sences one for the Iewes Sabbath an other for the Christians or at least one literall sence twice fulfilled once under Moses and once under Christ Now whatsoever is commanded the Church in the Scripture under any literall Sence is of divine institution But the Lords day is commanded in the fourth precept though not in the first yet in the second literall sence Therefore c. Fourthly that which was foretold and typified in the old Testament is of divine institution in the new for where the ceremony is commanded the Iew the substance is commanded the Christian for example where unleavened bread is commanded them there sincerity and truth is commanded us But the Lords day was thus typified and foretold in the Testament This the Rabbins themselues have observed in sundry passages First in the words of God saying let there be light therefore the Messiah should rise the first day of the week Secondly from the fall of Adam on the sixt day therefore the Messiah should suffer that day rest in the grave the seventh and rise the next Thirdly from the words of Boaz to Ruth g Ruth 3.13 sleep untill the morning therefore the Messiah should sleep in the grave all night and rise in the morning Fourthly from the cloud covering the people first on this day from Aaron and his sonnes executing their Priesthood first on this day from the Princes of the congregation who made their offerings towards the erecting of the Tabernacle on this day From the fire also which first came down from heaven and consumed the Sacrifices upon this day And if any man be so prophane hearted as not to be convinced by these grave collections of the Iewish Rabbins he shall find the same averred by the Fathers and Synods in the Church of Christ Both h Hic dies octavus i. e. SabbathuÌ„ primus praecessit in imagine quae imago cessavit superventente post-modâ—â— veritate Cyp. ad Fid. Ep 59. Saint Cyprian and i Sanctos patrer plenos spirita octavae dieâ— sacramentum non latebat quo figuraâ—atur resurrectio nam pro octavâ— Psalmus inscribitur octava lic circumciâ—e bantur â—â—â—â—nteâ— Aug. ad Lan. Fo. 119. Saint Austin make the Administration of the Circumcision on this day a Type and Figure of its future observation The Synod called Foro-Iuliensis affirmes that Isaiah prophesied of this day An other Synod held at Matiscon said expresly that this day which was intimated unto us by the shadow of the Iewes seventh-day is made known unto us both by the Law and Prophets what can be more evident Fiftly that day which the Lord himselfe hath made must needs be a day of the Lords own instituting for to make and to ordaine and appoint are in this case termes equivalent But the Lords day is a day of the Lords own making and appointing k â—pse est dâ—e◠〈◊〉 perpetâ—â—â— ipse nobis per septimae dici umbram insinuatus noscitur in lege Prophetis Câ—nâ— â—â—â—atis c. â— Syn For. c. 13. so saith the Prophet David l Psal 118. This is the day which the Lord hath made And therefore m Exultemus Laetemur in eo qui à lumine vero nostras tenebras fugaturus illuxit nos ergo constituamus diâ—m dominicam in frequentationibus usque ad cornua altaris Arnob. in locum Arnobius upon this place saith let us also make our Lords day a great day since God himselfe hath so made it A learned Prelate also of our Church hath a Sermon extant upon that text much to the same purpose Therefore c. Sixtly that day which the Lord ever doth and will blesse unto his Church and people which religiously observe it is doubtlesse a day of his own ordaining and appointing therefore sanctified and blessed are put together in the Commandement But God hath and continually doth and ever will blesse this day with groth of grace and all spirituall blessings in Christ to all such as Religiously observe it Therefore c. Seventhly that which the example of God the Creator resting from all his works was to the Iewes in regard of their Sabbath that also the example of God the Redeemer is and must be to us that are Christians in regard of ours But the example of God the Father resting from his works was a sufficient institution of the Iewes Sabbath for therefore they rested because God rested it should therefore be a sufficient Institution unto us under the Gospell to rest on the Lords day because in it Christ rested Eightly If a day of holy rest were instituted by God the Father in memory of the worlds Creation which was the lesse much more was there a day of holy rest instituted by God the Sonne in remembrance of the worlds redemption which was the greater The consequent is authorized by n Athan Hom. de â—â—â—en Athanasius in his Homily of the Sower But a day of holy rest was ordained by God the Father in memory of the Worlds creation as is undenyable Therefore c. Ninthly Certaine it is that nothing but divine authority can bind and overcome the Conscience in regard of any outward observations in their own natures indifferent for the Conscience is a Throne in which God only sits and commands But the conscience is bound and over-awed to the observation of the Lords day as all men confesse and feel by experience unlesse they bely their consciences Therefore c. Tenthly That day which the Church observeth in regard of some mysticall signification therein contained is a part of Gods worship and must therefore be under precept unlesse we will worship God after our own fancies But the Church observes the Lords day in regard of some mysticall doctrine therein contained the Lords resurrection our own future glorification therefore it must be under precept Eleventhly Whatsoever is not under divine precept is mutable and may utterly be abolished in the Church of God by the authority of the Governors thereof but the Lords day cannot by any humane authority whatsoever be changed and abolished Therefore c. Twelfthly If the observation of the Lords day be not of divine but only Ecclesiasticall constitution then are all festivalls or holy-daies of the yeare of equall dignity and honour with it But it were little lesse then blasphemy to affirme