of the law giving men sixe for one for God ever was and ever will be alike liberall to all men in all ages in this kind The second drawn from Gods interest in the seventh day The Seventh is the Sabbath of the Lord and what sons of Adam are exempted from giving God his owne The third is Gods example proposed for our imitation for all men are bound by the very light of nature to be followers of God as deare children The fourth is the promise which is made therein For it will be as blessed a day or a day as full of blessing unto us if we sanctify it as ever it was to the Iews God being not lesse good nor his grace lesse powerfull nor his promise lesse sure The fift is the ease refreshing of our servants and beasts to whom Christians must not be lesse mercifull then the Iews Lastly the Sabbath taught them that they were the Lords people and no man will say but that we also are so by as many and by more strong tyes and relations then were ever any Ergo c. Sixtly the law Ceremoniall and Iudiciall were given only to the Iewes and such as were circumcised but the fourth commandement was directed not only to those within the covenant but also to strangers and aliens The strangers within thy gates And upon this ground a Neh. 13.16 Nehemiah reproved the Tyrian Merchants which were strangers therefore c. Seventhly from the words of Christ in the Gospell b Mat. 24.20 pray that your flight be not on the Sabbath day Those words were spoken to the disciples foreshewing that if their flight should happen to befall them on the Sabbath their affliction would thereby be increased But if the fourth commandement be not Morall what addition of sorrow had it been if their flight had befallen them that day Christians and such were the disciples need not trouble themselves about a law Ceremoniall Thus then That commandement the breaking whereof might justly grieve a Christian forced thereunto by flight is doubtlesse morall but the fourth commandement is such therefore c. Eightly that commandement against which humane corruptions doe especially arise and band themselves both in the Godly and the wicked must needs be morall but our corruptions doe chiefly fight against the Sabbath as the Godly feele by experience in themselves and experience doth also make evident in the wicked of the world therefore c. Ninthly that cannot be a truth of God which overthrowes all religion le ts in Atheisme Epicureisme and all prophanesse no good tree can bring forth such evill fruit But that doctrine which denieth the morality of the Sabbath overthroweth all religion le ts in Epicureisme and Prophanesse as appeares in those Churches wherein it is taught in forraine parts Ergo. Tenthly that wich the Church of England teacheth in her Homilies ought to be held for truth by all the obedient children of that Church but the morality of the Sabbath is that which the Church of England teacheth in her Homily of the time and place of prayer as will appeare to every one that will read the same Therefore all the obedient children of the Church of England ought to acknowledge it to be true Eleventhly if you make the fourth commandement Ceremoniall you make the Church of England guilty of Iudaisme For that Church which readeth to her children a Ceremoniall Law and commands them to kneele whilst it is read in acknowledgment of their subjection thereunto and at the end to pray Lord have mercy vpon us and incline our hearts to keep this law cannot but be a Iewish Church But the Church of England thus teacheth her children Ergo. Twelfthly unlesse the fourth commandement be morall there will be but nine commandements in the Decalogue which is contrary not only to the received opinion of all men but to the calculation of the whole Catholique Church in all ages and is no meane Sacriledge to affirme Ergo. Thirteenthly that which is taught by men which are most spirituall and alone discerne the things of God must needs be true and so on the contrary But the Morality of the Sabbath is taught by men that are most spirituall the contrary by men that are carnall therefore c. Lastly we have the authority of all our English writers almost ever since the reformation unto this time neither was it hitherto ever contradicted for at least these threescore and ten yeares unlesse by Papists Anabaptists or Familists Ergo. CHAP. VII In which are set downe the arguments for the negative THe negative tenent hath also its arguments which in the next place must be produced and First it is alleadged That commandement over which Christ was absolute Lord as he was the sonne of man is not morall for a morall precept is part of Gods eternall law over which the sonne of man can have no power being made under the law But Christ as the sonne of man was Lord of the Sabbath as himselfe upon two sundry occasions hath twice told us Math. 12. Mark 2. To these Texts these exceptions have been made 1 Excep 1. That this phrase doth no more import the Sabbath to be a ceremony then the same used by the Apostle doth conclude the dead and the living to be a ceremony for he rose againe that he might be the Lord of the dead and of the living But this is to play with the ambiguity of the word it 's one thing to be Lord of the Church to guide governe perfect quicken raise glorify her for this is the meaning of the Apostle upon which that in the Ephesians may seeme as a comment Eph. 1.20.21.22 And another thing to be Lord of the Law or constitution to moderate dispence order alter abolish for in what other construction can any one be said to be Lord of a law 2 Except 2. It is said that Christ did not intend by these words of his any such Lordship because he did not then abrogate the Sabbath Nor is this to the purpose for never any man yet dreamed that Christ did in those words abolish the Sabbath for both it and the rest of the legall ordinances were in force till they were nailed with him to the Crosse 3 Except 3. It is excepted that our Saviour in those words doth only dispence with his Disciples in that particular case and challenge to himselfe the power and prerogative of expounding the Law against the Pharisees who pretended only to the Chayre and to give interpretations of the Law But to satisfy this also and to cleare the Text we affirme 1 That Christ doth not there or in any other place ever dispence with the law in himselfe or any other for he took upon him the form of a servant and came not to break the Law but to fulfill it 2 That in those words Christ doth not intend to expound the law only for this he had done before by the example of David and by 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—
of the new birth upon the Lords day Resp God forbid happy doubtles that man unto whom the Lords day or any day is the day of his returne unto the great Bishop and Sheepheard of his soule but the question is not of any sinners conversion But of the Sabbaths observation by men supposed to be in the the state of grace of whom the habituall practice of holinesse with the actuall duties of the publike worship is alone required CHAP. XXIX Wherein is declared what is to be conceived in this Question HAving thus laid downe that may probably be said upon either part for the better setling of the conscience herein these conclusions are to be observed First that holinesse which is required of a Christian is of a large extent taking in all the duties which we owe to God our brethren and our selues For * Pet. 1.16 We must be holy as God is holy being created after his image and this image doth consist in holinesse and righteousnesse as in the two integrall parts thereof holinesse relating in a restrained sense unto piety and godlinesse righteousnesse unto justice and judgement unto both which we stand alwaies obliged and must practise them when we are required thereunto Secondly the duties of holinesse as contradistinct unto righteousnesse are perfectly contained in the foure Commandements of the first Table which are so many distinct Predicaments of all true piety For although the duties of righteousnes in the second Table put on the attributes of holinesse as directed unto the Lord performed in obedience to his Majestie yet are they not formally so in themselues considered And although the same duties of piety may be comprehended within divers severall precepts yet there is still to be observed some peculiar and distinct consideration which puts them formally under such or such a precept Thirdly that therefore the law of the Sabbath in the fourth Commandement is no transcendent comprehending all the duties of all the rest either of the first or second Table for then it must needs be the Summum genus to the rest out of which they all may be deduced and into which they may be resolved This is verified alone of those two great Commandements as our * Math 22.38 Saviour calls them Thou shalt loue the Lord thy God with all thy soule with all thy heart with all thy minde with all thy strength and thy neighbour as thy selfe but cannot be affirmed of the fourth precept For how can we either extract the rest or almost any of them out of this or fold them up all therein It would be a strange inference to say Remember thou keep holy the Sabbath day therefore thou shalt haue no other Gods therefore thou shalt make no graven images therefore thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vaine c. and as strangely would all these being put together make up that one Remember thou keep holy the Sabbath day Fourthly that therefore there is something appertaining to pietie which is only to be found in this and in no other precept of the Decalogue Now what this is will easily appeare if we take a short view of Gods worship as it is prescribed in the severall Commandements The worship of God is the immediate act of religion which inclineth the heart and the whole man to the service of God And because God must be served not after our fancies but as he himselfe hath appointed therefore it is a good Etymologie of Religion à relegendo sese intra suos fines contracting her selfe within the bounds and limits which are prescribed her For this indeed is the difference between true false religion that the one useth a wandring extravagant licentiousnesse whereas a Major parâ— mundi quicquid obvium est temerè aâ—cipit pietas autem ut in firmo gradu consistat sese intra suos fines relegit Cal Inst lib. 10. c. 12. the other is fixed and keepes to those limits which God hath set her This our Saviour teacheth us in that answer of his unto the Pharisees * Math. 22.1 giue unto God the things which are Gods For we must not tender him any thing whereby to worship him which is not his own so that what justice is amongst men one towards another the same is religion on mans part towards God Religion is writen naturally upon the heart of man and rooted in his very conscience though the print thereof by much defaced by originall is more and more daily blotted out by actuall transgressions For not only b Quaâ—â—â—â— sui numinis intelligenti aâ—â— universis ' Deuâ— ipse indidit Cal. ibid. c. these that are within the pale of the Church but the Heathens themselues and the worst of wicked men haue a naturall sense and a feeling of religion There is a kinde of naturall pietie in the soule saith c Anima nihil de Deo discens ' Deuâ— nominat nihil de iudicio eius admittens Deo commendare se dicit c. Terâ— de carâ— ne Christi Tertullian having for it's object both God himselfe as the chiefest good and supreme Lord of the whole world and the holy things of God whatsoever The practice of this dutie of religion belongs both to the outward and the inâ—â—â—d man from the inward man are required religious Adoration Invocation Dependance and Thanksgiving Thus to giue God his own is Iohn 4.24 as our Saviour * Iames 1.27 stiles it to worship him in spirit and in truth and is properly that which we call the feare of God from whence as from a fountaine all good duties whatsoever are derived For it doth not only produce it 's own operations but doth command as a Soveraigne Lady all other vertues according to that of S. Iames true religion and undefiled is to visit the father lesse and the widdowes ad to keep himselfe unspotted of the world This is religion not formally but effectually religion being the cause which doth produce them But God having not only made us spirits but bodies in which our spirits dwell as in houses of clay the duty of religion extends it selfe unto the outside of man also which must likewise giue God his owne And religion in this notion is under the second precept of the Decalogue in which as we are forbidden all Idolatrous services whatsoever so are we commanded such bodily testifications of our spirituall worship as may best stand with the nature and will of that God which is worshipped by us This though it be distinct from the former yet is not exclusiuely to be understood as if it only exacted formal postures and corporall prostrations for the * Isai 29.13 Prophet assures us that those that think to worship God with these only are abhominable in his sight Outward reverence must ever be accompanied with inward worship and so performed it is commanded in this second precept Now it being a necessary consequence that persons so
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
earnest when he condemned the Orthodoxe of those times for Carnalists and that guided thereunto by the very heresy that he had sucked from Montanus as appears by a treatise of his written to this purpose Our new prophesies saith he are refused not that Montanus and his two Prophetesses Priscilla and Maximilla preached any new Deity or denied Christ or overthrew any rule of faith and hope but that they plainly teach that men should fast more and marry lesse And in the words immediatly going before he describes his adversaries by stuft puddings or sausages d Ptlagii nomen non sine lande altquâ posui quia vita eius à multis praedicatur Aug. retract 11. c. 33. Mark 13.22 Pelagius also the professed enemy of Gods grace whose heresy overthroweth the very Basis of Christs kingdome was not only in outward shew and formality but indeed a man of a well governed life and blamelesse carriage S. Augustine that damned his doctrine extolled his conversation nay it is the generall marke of false Prophets to come in the rough garments of austerity sheeps cloathing innocent outsides else it were impossible they should deceive so many nay almost the very elect This therefore must needs be a most deceitfull ballance to weigh any mans doctrine in To draw therefore to a conclusion e August ad Hier ep 11. S. Augustine unto S. Hierome saith I confesse vnto your brotherhood that I have learned to give such reverence and honour to the books of Canonicall Scripture only that I most firmely believe none of the pen men thereof to have erred in the least things so that when I meet with ought in their writings which seemes contrary unto truth I presently think that either the book was false printed or that the Translators were mistaken or that I my selfe understood it not aright But all other authors I so read as that though they excell in learning and holinesse yet I think nothing true because they so thought it but because they make it appear to be true by those Canonicall Authors or probable reasons at the least f Doct. Twist praef con Armi◠A learned man also of these times hath spoken so home in this point that nothing more need be added thereunto If at any time saith he the Lights of the Church think not the same things but dissent one from another in divers points and those of moment in religion what is to be done But to try all things and to hold that which is good But how may we doe this shall our labour be to search which Side was more docible and desirous to learne had more humble minds did more tremble at Gods word were more obsequious to the guidance of his spirit were more ready to renounce themselves and their own wisdomes worshipped God with greater fear and reverence were more frequent and earnest in their daily prayers fasted oftner to keep the body in subjection were more exercised in the reading of the word and meditating therein Who sees not this kind of touchstone of Ecclesiasticall doctrine to be neither commanded of God nor approved of men nor to be attempted with any hope of good successe God forbid that as often as we dissent one from another we should presently object to the adverse part that they neither fear God nor serve him nor doe his will For neither are we able to dive into mens hearts and the better we our selves are the more conscious of our sins more ready to amplify our own misdeeds more mild and mercifull in censuring of others Leaving therefore this kind of search which after many obscure and slippery Meanders gives but a doubtfull issue and scarce ever brings us to the truth what remaines but to bring the dictates of the greatest Divines to the Law and to the Testimony If they indure not this tryall those other are but popular and gawdy shewes wherewith simple people are deluded Let this be the tryall It were easy to answere the weightiest arguments against which nothing can be said with an answere ad hominem as they call it against whom whatsoever he be some exception or other may be taken But though the persons of the Teachers may not be weighed in this ballance yet their doctrines may Because therefore the adverse part doth so highly advance theirs of the Morality of the Sabbath for pious and religious as if without it holinesse it selfe could not subsist in the world and so farre depresse the contrary as if it were the only floodgate to let in Atheisme It will not be amisse briefly comparing each with other to see which doth most advance Gods glory most edify his Church give most life to religion and bring most comfort to a Christian mans conscience Suppose therefore one should tell us in effect this The fourth commandement is wholely and meerely Morall only indeed there be some Appendices thereof which concerned the Iewes viz. the day spoken of in the commandement the seventh from the creation whereas not that Seventh but a Seventh which the Lord should choose is Naturall and Morall and the strictnesse of the Rest which was injoyned them in kindling of a fire This indeed is in a sort permitted Christians under the Gospell Yet men may doe well to forbeare even this and to dresse their meat over night all the rest of the Law binds us strictly nay more then ever it did the Iewes We must therefore remember not to doe either by our selves or those that belong unto us the least servile work from Saturday sunset till Sabbath-day sun-set or as others from Saturday midnight till next day midnight or as others from Sabbath-day sun-rising till Munday sun-rising for a naturall day of twenty-foure houres must precisely be observed In all this time all works words and thoughts are to be abandoned which may at any time else be done spoken or had so that both in publique and private we be imployed only in the holy things of God Therefore the publique exercise being ended for a Sermon must of necessity be heard neither may men satisfy themselves with the common Liturgy of the Church if they purpose to sanctify to the Lord an holy Sabbath The publique exercise I say being ended a short meale may be made for this is no day to feed the body in and to make a feast on this day is utterly unlawfull After dinner see that you fetch not your wonted walkes or any way recreate your selves or have any communication but of holy things and what was delivered in the Congregation If any man not acquainted with the mysteries of Godlinesse deliver you a message or letter upon that day you may receive it of civility but see you neither dispatch the businesse nor think thereon untill next morning upon paine of sinne Be sure also to take your notes and repeat to all such as shall assemble themselves what you have writen and so repaire unto the evening Sermon which also must be heard either at
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
together to haue seene the sight and to haue gloryfied God for the same But I doe not obserue that our Saviour affected either ostentation or publication of his Miracles but pro renatâ shewed his glory in them as occasions offered themselues By this therefore which hath been said our third Conclusion doth appeare viz. That the Iewes might lawfull haue done whatsoever was not only of absolute necessity but also of conveniency unlesse in such things as were expressely forbidden them Fourthly It s also as I conceiue out of question that Christian liberty hath freed us by the Gospell from some part at least of the burthen of the Sabbath in regard of the strictnes of that rest which was commanded the Iewes This proposition is found in expresse tearmes in our Sabbatharians Treatises unlesse in some one or two who would perswade Christian people to Super-Iudaize Keeping the Lords day in a stricter and more precise manner then ever the Iewes kept the Saturday Sabbath But this being a strange fancy and almost singular I trust this fourth conclusion also will passe without contradiction And there is good reason it should for not only the rest of the Sabbath but the strictnesse of that rest was Typicall as hath been already shewed prefiguring that accurate holinesse which God requires of his people and that fulnesse of joy and perfection of happinesse unto which Christ admits us that belieue his Gospell Besides the whole Christian Church in all ages hath delivered this for an undoubted truth and b Vacent tanquam Christiani Qui inventi fuerint Iudatizare anathema sint Con. Load c. 29. abhorred a Iewish resting on the Lords day and ever accursed it where they found it By this then it is plaine that in the time of the Gospell we are not only allowed the same things on our day of rest which were permitted the Jewes upon their Sabbath but even those things also which they were expresly inhibited And if this be so it must needs follow that since no particular works are forbidden us as were forbidden them and in generall works either of absolute extreme or of moderate and convenient necessity are allowed us as well as them no restraint at all lies upon us in things appertaining to common life Fiftly there is notwithstanding a cessation from works required of Christian people under the Gospel upon all daies of their publique worship and Assemblies For nature her selfe teacheth all men saith c Natura dâ—ctat aliquanâ—ò vacandum quieti orationi Dei. Gers de decem praecept Gerson sometimes to rest from their owne imployments and to spend that time in the praises of God prayer to him This is evident of it selfe and therefore there is scarce any Nation so barbarous void of reason which obserues not this Law written in their hearts by sequestring sometime or other to such rest The Turks nay the Indians haue their Sabbaths And indeed these two viz to attend Gods publique worship and at the same time to follow our own imployments are incompatible and imply a contradiction as on the other side to be taken up with our owne affaires and neglect Gods publike worship is open irreligion and prophanenesse This conclusion therefore will passe for currant upon both sides also Sixthly Although the Law of nature in the Generall and Morall part of the fourth Commandement requires us to rest upon the day of Gods publique worship yet how long we are bound to abandon the labours of our callings either before or between or after the publique worship is neither set down in Scripture nor can be determined by the Law of Nature Generall directions the light of every mans conscience will suggest unto him and may be deduced out of the writen word concluding that whatsoever may hinder either the worship it selfe or our profiting thereby should be forborne and avoided But when we descend to practice no generall rule is or may be given For as they say Practica est multiplex and no Law can justly be framed of Particulars in this kinde For all men are not alike of themselues that which may be an impediment to one may not hinder another more time is allow'd some men though to dispatch but a little businesse then others need haue for weighty matters How therefore to governe our selues therein we must haue some other direction besides the generall rule and dictate of nature Ob. If any man say that the case is already overruled by Moses in the Commandement which requires a whole dayes rest of twenty foure houres of all men whatsoever Resp I answer that this is to proue a thing unknown by that which is more unknowne For the Christian Church knowes no such commandement of Moses as being her children under the Gospell the letter of the Law of Moses being wholy ceremoniall as hath formerly been shewed Seventhly Therefore it must needs be that the determinate time of cessation from works together with the manner in regard of the strictnes thereof is wholy left to the power and wisdome of the Church and Magistrate It is therefore the common direction of the Casuists d Quilibet eâ— die abstine at ab omni labore aut mercatione aut alio quovis laborioso opere secundum ritum consuetudinem patriae quam consuetudinem Praelatus spiritualis illius loci cognoscens non prohibet quod si aliqua super talicoâ—â—uetudine â—â—bietas occurrat consulat superiores Gers de Decal praecepâ— that men abstaine from the works of their severall callings according to the custome of the place in which they live and if any scruple happen to arise herein they should consult with their Superiors in the Church and Communâ—â—y who only may dictate unto them their pleasures herein And thus hath it been in all ages of the Church with great variety contrariety of Lawes and constitutions as the state of the times wherin they lived required How it was before Constantines time who was the first ChristiaÌ„ Emperour the History of the Church doth not shew but very imperfectly This we may be assured of that had their cessation from works been such as at this day is pressed on mens consciences by our Sabbatharians CoÌ„stantine might haue sau'd his labor in ordering this point Constantine having begun divers Synods in particular nationall Churches followed together with sundry Lawes of Kings and Princes in their Territories dominions some restraining others enlarging the peoples liberty For when some had brought the people even to a Iewish superstition equaling if not exceeding that which is now required by the Adversaries Others taught the people to stand fast in this part of their Christian liberty For proofe whereof I will only trouble the Reader with two instances Synodus e Quia ersuâ—sum est populo die dominicâ cum caballis bobus vehiculiâ—itinerari non debere neque ullam rem ad victum comparare c. Syn. Aurel. 32. c. 10. Aurelianensis Can.
thing be universally affirmed herein considering the different states graces and abilities of men To the ninth the Lords day is said to be holy no otherwise then other things which are consecrated to Gods publique and holy worship and how farre things of this nature are apt of themselues and therefore doe often cooperate unto holinesse in us hath already been declared To the tenth it is most true that God intended by the Law of the Sabbath to mind his people of the worlds creation in six dayes but that he did bind them thereby to contemplate the particulars thereof which few but Philosophers are able to doe I think no man will affirme So the Lords day was sett a-part for the memory of Christs resurrection But what those private duties are unto this I see not unles you say that article is to be studyed And to speak truth if men would upō this day preach Christ in publique spend their private meetings only upon this subiect for Christ is a Theame seldome insisted upon true Christianity would be better knowne mens consciences would be better setled those meetings more charitable and innocent and none could oppose them therein But as the Proverb is Quid haec ad Icphali boves to the continuate and un-interrupted exercises of which we speak Lastly those Authorities which are and may be brought to this purpose to which may be added that Canon of the Church of England in the dayes of King Edward for spending the Lords day in private prayer and thanksgiuing acknowledging our offences reconciling our selues unto our brethren visiting the sick comforting the afflicted releiving the necessities of the poore instructing children and servants in the nurture and feare of the Lord are not delivered by the Church or ancient Fathers as expositions upon the fourth Commandement as if they were the duties of the Lords day as it is a Sabbath but only as pious and Godly admonitions where by to traine up men in religion and allure them unto holinesse Num. 11.29 Moses would had been glad if all the Lords people had been Prophets but no man will say that Moses therefore commanded them to prophecy The * Acts 26.29 Apostle wisheth all men were such as himselfe was shall we therefore condemne as transgressours those that were not such It is so here for although the Church doe not account for evill doers those that either cannot or doe not spend the Lords day as aforesaid yet I assure my selfe that both the Magistrates and every good man will be glad to see men make a good progresse in true piety and religion But what may commendably be done by some and what must necessarily be done by all are distinct things and herein stands the present Question Ob. If any say that therefore the Sabbatharian tenent must needs be better and safer then the contrary Resp I answer it doth no way follow for though the practice may be better being rightly qualified which seldome is yet the doctrine is worse for First it is false in it selfe Secondly unnecessary burthens are laid upon the conscience Thirdly many doubtfull perplexities are occasioned thereby Lastly an apparant schisme is made and fomented in the Church CAP. XXXI Wherein is contained the conclusion of the whole setting downe a short delineation of both the opinions and tenents in these severall Questions FOR conclusion of the whole it will not be amisse to present the Reader with a summary of the doctrine on both sides that so with one cast of his eye he may be able to see both wherein they dissent and which is more rationall in it selfe and more suitable to the word of God And here let the Reader take notice first of that which a The observation of the Christian Sabbath Pag 15. Mr Sprint hath well observed that in the most materiall points we consentingly agree though in certaine circumstances we differ each one abounding in his severall fence which makes it strange to me that our Adversaries should so stick in these points even against Authority it selfe since we so consentingly agree in points materiall This I say being premised not to take notice of every thing which might be collected out of the severall treatises hitherto extant I conceiue that the finest thread in which these Sabbatharian positions can be spun may be thus drawn First that God having created Adam in Paradise revealed unto him the creation with the order and manner and time thereof within the compasse of six dayes That the seventh therefore was the day of his rest which he would haue observed as a Sabbath by him and his posterity That this day was most fit to be appointed not only in regard of God who then rested but in regard of man also who was on the seventh day to enter upon the domion of the world as the Master thereof and what better entrance then with the service of his Creatour in sanctifying the Sabbath day That hence came all his time to be divided by weeks the boundary whereof was and that by diuine institution the Sabbath God having blessed the seventh day and hallowed it That this hallowing the day was the declaration of Gods will not what himselfe meant to doe long after but what he would haue men to doe from that time forth in all their generations That thus it continued in the practice of the Patriarches before and after the flood for else it had been impossible for the Israelites to haue known as it is plaine they did by their gathering of Manna which were the six dayes of the creation and which the seuenth of Gods resting For sure we are the time was first divided into weeks moneths yeares being not knowne till by long observation found out by the course of the Sunne Moone That though in this manner the Sabbath was given Adam by positiue Law yet easy it is to follow the footsteps of nature guiding us thereunto For all men acknowledge even by naturall light that some time is to be sett a-part for the publique worship but being to seek of the proportion in speciall and portion in particular nature kindly reacheth forth her hand guiding us to these also assuming as followeth That not only some time but a sufficient proportion there of is necessarily required as to all other workes so to this of the publique service That reason teacheth it is fit the Creature should waite the leasure of his Creatour in the designation of this sufficient proportion the Creature being under his absolute power and being no equall carver to it selfe in things of this kind and reaping also greater comfort in any observance for which it hath the warrant of its Creatour That seeing the week was the originall partition of time it must needs be more convenient to sett one day of the week a-part for the service of God then one in a fortnight or one in a month That herein an uniformity ought to be observed by all man-kind throughout all generations
without which there must needs follow a manifest Schisme in the Church rent in the State and also in the world if some in some places obserue one day Sabbath others in other places another day That there is no such ground of uniformity as the word of God to whom all men owe and professe there ready subjection as for mens constitutions though upon never so good groundes there are others as wise good as they at least in their owne opinions which will take liberty to vary from them That therefore it is fit God himselfe should shew us not only the specificate proportion but the particularity of that specification That in such designations as these the will of God is made manifest unto us sometimes by his words sometimes by his works so that if the Scripture were silent as it is not yet this is a generall direction that the work of God done upon any day is and ought to be the ground of its hallowing If therefore we discerne one day to be preferred before another in some great and notable work naturall reason teacheth that day of all others to be chosen for our publique Sabbath That thus stands the case both in regard of the Iewish and Christian Sabbath God having marked out unto them their Sabbath by the work of creation ours by the work of resurrection That there needs no such recourse notwithstanding to the works of God having so expresse a Text as that of the second of Genesis for the making good whereof against the fond Dreame of Anticipation may be brought whole Iuries of Fathers and moderne Divines And reason it selfe averreth it by an unanswerable Dilemma for that passage must be written either before the Law and then God must reveale to Moses before hand what he meant to doe in the Mount which is not probable or after the law and then what reason had Moses to speak there of in the story since it was so fully declared in the Tables That of those three things before spoken of the time in generall the proportion in speciall and taxation in particular the first only is generally received for Moral the other two are Positiue rather then Ceremoniall for what need of Ceremonies in Paradise That the specification of one in seven was ceremoniall only respectiuely to the rest of the seventh day not of the seventh it selfe for what ceremony can be found in the time indefinitely considered which is one of seven That the Iewes resting upon their seventh did prefigure Christs rest in the graue in which fence also it is abolished but not our rest from sinne here and from misery hereafter for these were common to the Iewes together with the Christians The rest therefore of the day was partly Morall partly Ceremoniall but not that one in seven should be sanctified for that this is simply Morall we haue the full cry of the Schoole-men themselues That the particular taxation of this one in seven more then of another was also Positiue not Ceremoniall for there is the same taxation of one in seven under the Gospell and yet no Ceremony is put therein nay God having as it were chalked it out unto us by his works it may well be reputed Moral As therefore God commanded the Iewes their day so hath he also appointed us ours even the first day of the week for our Christian Sabbath That herein the wisdome of God is most remarkable in his Law saying not Remember the Seventh day but Remember the Sabbath day the day of Rest to sanctifie it For by this meanes we also keep the fourth Commandement in sanctifying the Lords day For as the Jewes were tyed to the observation of the Sabbath and had one of he seven preferred unto them So we haue also our Sabbath and one also of seven prescribed us That though we take not the Lords day as it is such a day of seven from the Commandement yet the rest and sanctification thereof we justly deriue from thence That undoubtedly the Gospell doth not allow a worse proportion of time for the worship of God nor a worse manner of observing it then the law did and a greater doth not well stand with our ordinary callings That seeing the day of the Creatours rest is abolished none of the seven can be more proper for a Christian mans observation then the day on which his Redeemer rested whom the * Mark 2.23 Scripture stiles Lord of the Sabbath For God marked it out unto the Apostles to whom the translation of the day appertained by the resurrection of Christ a work no way inferiour to the Creation This therefore is the day which the Lord himselfe hath made faith the Prophet Psalme 118. ver 4. That although there be no expresse proofe in Scripture yet sufficient it is to proue an institution from the continuate un-inrerrupted practice of the Church which cannot be casuall and indeed nothing else can satisfie any whose judgment and conscience cannot be overawed by the ordinance of the Church That therefore we must remember this to be our Christian Sabbath for so we may justly call it though neither Scripture nor Antiquity so stile it because all acts of Parliament and Proclamations of the State so entitle it being I say our Sabbath we are to sanctifie it in all points as the Iewes did theirs both for the time which must be 24. houres and for the rest doing nothing which may be an avocation from holy things As for sports and pastimes howsoeuer the guilded titles of Christian liberty honest recreations and the like be put upon them yet it may justly be feared least prophanesse and luxurie be thereby intended and a wide gapp set open to all licentiousnesse That all men know how syncere soever the mind of the Magistrate be how greedily the vulgar are set upon these sports how incroaching upon liberty how undiscreet in enjoying it how impatient of any restraint therein On the other side that the Saints delight in consecrating a Sabbath gloriously unto the Lord so that when others instead of refreshing toyle themselues in May games or Morricedaunces or worse finding perhaps their own pleasure therein the Saints finde nothing so sweet as the Lords statutes nothing so ravishing as the refreshings of the holy Ghost nothing so amiable as the Assemblies of their Brethren being made thereby more painefull and conscionable in their severall callings the whole weeke after How these things which seeme thus handsomely contrived doe hang together like a rope of sand consisting of some truths more falsehoods most uncertainties let the indifferent Reader judge It is true that God created Adam in Paradise but not true that the creation of the world was made knowne unto him by revelation for then to what pupose was his excellent knowledge in which he was created and which many preferre beyond that of Solomons imparted unto him That God commanded the first seventh day to be his Sabbath is very improbable for what needed Adam a