day of Gods rest It is not á Sabbath but thé Sabbath even that which God sanctified and is pretended to have been as ancient as Adam The Sabbath must be the same with the seventh or else there is no tolerable sence or congruity in that Law Or Materially as challenging a tribute of our time As if it said put a part some certaine and set time from thine own employments for Gods publike worship and in this sence m Hocest quod usitatè rectè dicitur novum testamentum non genus quod morale est sed speciem quae caeremonialis est abrogâsse Chem. part 4. exam Morale est quant ùm ad hoc quo l homo leputet aliquod tempus vitae suae ad vacanduÌ„ divinis Aq. 2.2 ae q. 122. art 4. in corpore Festa quoà d genus instituta sunt quoad speciem manent in liber â potestate Ecclesiae Bald. c. de Sab. Casu 2. they affirme it to be Morall and not otherwise That God therefore must have some of our time allotted out for his publike service is the substance of that commandement to continue for ever unto the worlds end The whole letter as it is expressed in the decalogue is the shadow vanished away being either Ceremoniall Iudiciall or mysticall Therefore saith o An vero propter unum praeceptum quod ibi de Sabbatho positum est dictus est Decalogus littera occidens quoniam quisquis illum diem huc usque observat ficut litera sonat carnaliter sapit Aug. de spirit lit c. 14. S. Augustine he that keepeth the Sabbath as the letter soundeth is carnally wise not spirituall To which purpose p Quod in lege quae duabus tabulis lapide is conscripta est solum inter caetero in umbr â figurae positum est in qu â Iudaei Sabbathum observant ib. he speaketh continually And q Bedae Hexa Bede affirmes that the Apostles of Christ took clean away the letter of the Sabbath But we will as was promised descend to particulars declaring and following herein the footsteps of the holy Ghost and reverend Antiquity First that in regard of the rest and precisenesse thereof it was Ceremoniall Secondly that in regard of the persons it was Iudiciall Thirdly that in regard of the determination of the time and imitation of Gods rest it was mystically to be understood That is properly a leviticall ceremony which God commanded Moses in the Leviticall Law to shadow out Christ or his offices or his benefits and doctrine of the Gospell And therefore the Apostle defines the Ceremoniall Law to be r Heb. 10.1 Co. 2.17 a shadow of good things to come whose body is Christ These Ceremonials are farther marked unto us by s Vsus Caeremoniarum erat primo ut essent imagines cultus interioris secundo ut demonstrarent immunditiem hominis inhaerentem tertio ut palpabiles essent conciones de passione Christi quarto ut essent maceries quibus Jsraelis Ecclesia â— reliquis gentibus discerneretut Buc. de leg Divines by diverse characters First the Ceremonies were notes and badges of distinction between Iew and Gentile parts of the wall of separation set between them Secondly they were helps to discover unto them their naturall filthinesse in Gods sight Thirdly they did shadow out unto them that inward and invisible worship which God requireth of all such as worship him in spirit and truth Fourthly they were unto the people so many visible sermons of the death of Christ and glad tidings of the Gospell not that the ceremonials did alwaies look only to things to come for many of them had as it were two faces and pointed historically to things past as well as mysteriously to things to come The Passover did remember them of their deliverance out of Egypt the Pentecost of the law given in mount Sinai the feast of the Tabernacles of Gods protection of them the wildernesse the Sabbath of the Creation of the world in sixe daies Yet as s Quamvis instituta erant obrecordationem beneficiorum praeteritorum ut Sabbathum in memoriam creationis tamèn habebant coniunctam adumbrationem promissionem spiritualium beneficiorum in Christo exhibendornm scilicet Sabbathum gaudiâ—m spirituale et requiè confeientiae datam in Christo Ioh. Sarisb Episcop in Col. 2. v. 17. a learned Prelate of the Church hath observed all these had thereunto annexed the shadowes of things spirituall As their passover was a type of our redemption by the bloud of Christ their Pentecost of the powring out of the spirit writing Gods lawes in the tables of our hearts their feasts of Tabernacles of our present pilgrimage to Ierusalem which is above their Sabbath of the peace of conscience and joy of heart which we receive by a lively faith their new Moones of the Churches illumination So that their looking back to some remarkable Histories of things past did nothing hinder them from being shadowes of good things to come These therefore being the undoubted and generally received cognisances of Ceremoniall observances we must examine whether they doe agree unto the law of the Sabbath And first that the Sabbath was a part of the wall of partition given to distinguish Iewes from Gentiles appears both by the law and the Prophets keep you my Sabbath saith god by t Exod. 31.12 Moses for it is a signe between me and you in your generations that ye may know that I the Lord doe sanctisy you therefore shall ye keep my Sabbath And by z Ezek. 20 21â— Ezechiel the Lord saith I gave them also my Sabbaths to be a signe between me and them By comparing of which places plaine it is that God spake this not of their other feasts and solemnities the common evasion but also chiefly of the weekly Sabbath for though in the Prophet it be in the plurall number Sabbaths yet in Moses it is the Sabbath The Sabbath was a signe between God and his people viz. Of his covenant made with them having discarded all other nations making them only a holy and a peculiar people to himselfe leaving others in their pollutions and to their manifold abominations The Law of the Sabbath was of the same nature with that of the circumcision as a Ergo Sabbathum circumcisio in signum data sunt veri Sabbathi verae circumcisionis Hier. in Eze. 20. S. Hierom hath well observed upon that place of Ezechiel b Hoc quidem illustre esse voluit Deus discriminis symbolum inter Iudaeos profanas gentes unde diabolus quo infamiam aspergeret purae sanctaeque religioni per protervas linguas Iudaica Sabbatha saepe traduxit Cal. in Exod. praeceâ— 4. M. Calvin calls it an illustrious sign of greater note and use to separate the Iew from the Gentile then circumcision could be And this was the reason why the Devill raised up so many blasphemous tongues against it amongst the heathen c
which God rested and which he sanctified which the Church of Christ neither doth nor ought to keep Ergo. Fiftly if the Sabbath had been observed by the Patriarches before Moses it is no way likely but that some footsteps of such their observation would have appeared in the Story wherein many things of lesse weight lesse tending to edification are punctually recited In the first sacrifice Moses observes the names of the men the quality of their oblations the successe of both All men know that the fittest time for such observances was the Sabbath would Moses think you haue omitted this circumstance who is so exact in all other For ' its most congruous to think if they had then a Sabbath they would have offered their Sacrifices chiefly upon that Sabbath In the daies of Seth men began to call upon the name of the Lord replanting and reforming religion every man will acknowledge that the observation of the Sabbath is a maine point of reformation and therefore sure if their fore-fathers had ever observed a Sabbath day that especially defaced no question among other things would have been reformed and this had been a materiall point in the story which yet speakes nothing thereof It is afterwards said that Noah offered a sacrifice of rest what fitter time for a sacrifice of rest then the day of rest But had this sacrifice of rest been offered upon the day of rest it had been as remarkable a thing in the story as that he builded an altar and offered of every beast and every fowle yet not a word hereof Come to Abraham we read of many Altars which he made to call upon the name of the Lord a world of small things are recorded of him yet no mention of any Sabbath which he ever observed If he had been bound to any set Sabbath doubtlesse he would have sealed the promises of God unto himselfe and his family upon that day especially but the Texttels us He circumcised himselfe and his houshold the selfe same day in which the Lord talked with him It is hard to proue that this was the seventh-day Sabbath and suppose it every man will confesse it to be an important circumstance which yet we read not The story of Iacob is full and exact but neither in his flight to Padan-Aram nor in his returne to Canaan nor going up to Bethel upon speciall command and reforming his houshold nor going down into Egypt nor in his abode there the least mention is made of a Sabbath observed by him I confesse that a negative argument from authority doth not conclude de rebus agendis to shew what is or is not to be done but de rebus actis to prove what was or was not done with such a concurrence of circumstances of times places persons occasions in this case I say a negative argument is more then probable a Lâ—gant proserant aliquem ducem norbarum praecepisse ut arrup to oppido naâ—us serireâ—ur qui in illo out in illo teÌ„plo suisset inventus de civ lib. 1. c. 6. Saint Austin thinkes it strong enough even against Heathens for being to prove that Christian religion is indeed the true religion and came from God he useth this medium because the barbarous Gothes in all their bloody conquests in Italy Spaine and Africa spared the temple of Christians and all such as fled unto them for sanctuary which was never vouchsafed in any conquests to the Idolatrous worshippers of Heathen Gods But how doth this appeare His proofe is only negative from authority let men saith b An illi saciebant et scriptores earunden rerum gestarum isla rettechantâ— It inc vero qui ea quâ— laudarent maxime requir ebant ill a praeclarissima pietatis indicia praeteâ—nent lb. c. 6. he read and alleadge any such example was any such thing done and did their historians hold their peace what would they who diligently sought for matter and occasion to commend the states and persons of whom they write passe over in silence such excellent monuments of piety Sure if this argument of Saint Austin be strong enough ours much more for the Holy Ghost omits not any thing in the story of the Saints which might apparently make for the pious instructions of after ages Sixtly had the Sabbath been so anciently observed by the Patriarches in all likely hood either Moses or some of the Prophets would have reproved the profanation and pressed the observation thereof upon the Israelites from their practice and examples I am sure Nehemiah doth so after the Law was given Nehem. 13.17 Then reproved I the rulers of Iudah and said unto them what evill thing is this that you doe and breake the Sabbath day did not your fathers thus and our God brought all this plague upon us Certaine also it is that the Israelites were superstitious observers of their fathers especially of Abraham Isaac and Iacob They eate not of the sinew that shranke in the hollow of his thigh unto this day saith Moses But neither Moses nor any of the Prophets though in other things they make frequent mention of their forefathers examples speake a syllable of this upon any occasion ergo Lastly this opinion is supported by men of farre greater authority then the former c Instituta legalia quae in typo data sunt populo Jsrael Orig. Hom. 5. in Num. Gen. 32.32 Origen reckons it amongst those legalls instituted by Moses and given unto Israell as types Tertullians treatise against the Iewes is nothing but the relation of a conference which passed betweene him and a Iew in which hee proves that the legall ceremonies of Moses are no way necessary unto salvation and amongst the rest d Qui contendunt Sabbathum adhuc observandum quasi salutis medelam doceant in praeteritum iustos Sabbatizasse Et paulo post Doceant sicut iam prâ—locuti sumus Adam Sabbatizasse ant Abel c. Tert adv Iuâ— daeos Sed dicturi sunt Iudaei ex quo hoc praeceptum datum est Per Mosen exin de observan dum suisse hee speakes of the Sabbath saying let them shew us that Adam or Abel or Enoch or Noah or Abraham or Melchisedech received the precept of the Sabbath Having made this challenge hee brings in the Iew replying that because it was given to Moses therefore it was to bee observed of all nations in Tertullians time therefore this truth was acknowledged even by the Iewes themselves To this purpose also is e Dicit Rabbi magister observatio Sabbathi in lege fuit instituta ut in fide po puli firmitèr permaneret novit is mundi Tho. in l. 2. Sent. dist 15. art 3. Rabbi Moses cited by Aquinas that the observation of the Sabbath was instituted in the Law S. f Cessanti a servilibus operibus populo iubetur ut dies Sabbathi sanctificet Cypr. de spirit Sancto Cyprian following the foot-steps of his master saith that it was commanded the
distinction that there be but nine litterally morall Oh! but this is to curtoll the Decalogue cutting it short by a distinction But what ingenuity there is in this exception let any man judge When our adversaries themselves say that the taxation of the particular seventh day and the rest required therein was at least in some respect Ceremoniall may we cry out you curtoll the Decalogue let us have ten wholy and entirely Morall There may therefore be ten Moralls though the letter of the fourth be more or lesse Ceremoniall by their own confession To the thirteenth this stands in termes of comparison between the Patrons of the two opposite opinions but all comparisons as they say are odious and such as these more then any other My charity shall cover the want of charity in this objection But because it is a very disputable point whether the more spirituall taking Spirituall for strict zealous well affected desirous to walk before God as the Apostle speaks unto all well pleasing for this I take to be meant by spirituall in this place whether I say the more spirituall the man be the more sound and Orthodox are his positions it will not be amisse by way of digression to speak a word or two hereof especially it being amongst the Vulgar in these daies a point of no small importance CHAP. X. Containing two digressions the first shewing who are the best Interpreters of holy things The second wherein the two opposite tenents in this question of the Sabbath are compared one with another AS light and truth multiply themselves by reflection so doth darknesse and errour One errour therefore admitted many others are entertained either by way of consequence or imitation It was heretofore an opinion which at this day is ingrafted in the hearts of many of our people that an unconverted Minister could not convert his hearers being unregenerate himselfe he could not be used as an instrument of an others regeneration This position the very pillar of Puritanisme being rejected at least in shew by those that wished well to the cause an other point of doctrine began to be broached in the roome thereof but in effect much the same viz. that an unsanctified man cannot acquaint the people with the truth of God at least so well as others that God hides himselfe from men of corrupt mindes revealing himselfe only to some peculiar and selected ones If therefore we would at any time have our understandings informed in things we know not our consciences satisfied in things doubtfull or be directed in any of our waies either with God or men we must repaire to those that are of strictest lives of precisest carriages and sanctified conversations for the more holy the man the more sound and orthodox are all his resolutions Hence it hath come to passe that by pretending to holinesse so many Oracles have been of late yeares erected in sundry corners of this land unto which our well minded people have repayred as the Heathens did to the stoole of Apollo the Iewes to the breast of the high Priest the Papists this day to the Sea of Rome And to speak truth this point is nothing but Popery taken in at the back doore for why doe the Romanists think the Pope to be infallible but that they hold him to be as they stile him His holinesse being that spirituall man of whom the Apostle speaks that judgeth all things himselfe judged of none as a Soto in 4. sent dist 25. art 1. concl 1. Soto hath interpreted The difference only is the Pope challengeth unto himselfe absolute infallibility these men only likelyhood and probability and eminency above others This last errour is worse then the former for that was not only odious being raked out of the graves of some ancient Hereticks but destitute also of tolerable probability This latter is somewhat more refined and perfumed and seemes to be supported by Scripture reason and authority The ancient Prophets say they which only were the Lords Seers inabled to discover truth from falshood to separate the pretious from the vile and foretell the judgements of God upon the Church and State were as b Mich. 3. Micha speaks of himselfe full of the spirit of the Lord men sanctified throughout c 1. Cor. 7. St Paul when he would have his doctrine believed and imbraced sets it on with this I think that I also have the spirit of God d 1. Cor. 2. The naturall man as the same Apostle witnesseth perceiveth not the things of God they are spiritually discerned For it is the anointing that teacheth saith e 1. Iohn 2.27 S. Iohn f Rom. 12.2 Whosoever fashioneth himself according to the world can never prove try search or find out what the will of God is Men therefore g Math. 18 3. must be converted and become as Children new borne or else they cannot enter into the Kingdome of Heaven the doctrine of the Kingdome which is the Gospell This h Instituianimum meum intendere in sacras scripâ—uras ut videren quales essent ecce video rem non compertan superbis non eram talis ut intrare in eaÌ„ possem acies meanon penetrabat interiora 〈◊〉 Aug. Cons 3. c. 40. S. Augustine found verified when before his regeneration he addressed himselfe to the reading of the Scriptures he confesseth that he was not as yet such a one as could enter into theÌ„ He that will know Christs voice must be one of Christs sheep and if any man doe his will he shall know the doctrine whether it be of God And there is great reason it should be so because God and wicked men are meere strangers nay enemies and we know that amongst strangers and enemies there is no communication of counsels and secrets On the contrary those that are spirituall are not only his servants but i Iohn 10. friends nor friends alone but sons and daughters from whom their father concealeth nothing but k Psal 25. the very secret of the Lord is revealed to them that fear him This the very Schoolemen themselves faw and acknowledged Iohannes Damascenas videtur non parum â—rrâ—sse in vitâ cur ergo non potuit errare similiter in dectrinâ— Brad lib. 2. de causâ— Dei cap. 3â— Bradwardine setting down how many of the Ancients either did indeed or might be thought to comply with Pelagius reckons up Damascene amongst the rest but slighting his authority saith Damascene erred greatly in his life he meanes his dissembling at the Tombe of Mahomet and being thus erronious in his life why might he not also erre in his doctrine The learned m Contingit sâ—pe quòd Simplex aliqua bona persona melius intelligit aliquod Dei mysterium quà m magnus aliquis Doctor cum malus sit iniquâ—â— Ideo dicebat Christus Gratias tibi ago c. Gers par 4. serm de nativit Chancellour of Paris acknowledgeth that one good pious holy
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