had place among the Iewes And though I marvell not at others who dealing in this argument dismember Calvins sentence so to make him to deliver that absolutely which hee delivers onely conditionally yet I cannot sufficiently marvell that Rivetus of rough improvidence should do so too especially considering the good paines that Doctor Walaeus hath taken to cleare Calvins meaning in this point Neither is Master Robert Low in his effigiation of the true Sabbatisme of any such authority as to counterpoise the concurrent testimonies of so many of our English Divines to the contrary not to speake of the multitude of outlandish Divines whom Doctor Walaeus mustereth up concurring in the same opinion and whereas hee saith as Doctor Rivetus reports him that some great men who vehemently contend that the perpetuall sanctity of manners doth require that one day in seven should be celebrated have more authority then reason I may bee bold to say that they who with him have hitherto opposed the Doctrine we maintaine what authority they have I know not but as for their reasons they are of so hungry a nature that hereby they manifest that nothing but affection and their private ends they have to beare them out in this And whereas I doubt not but Rivetus hath brought on the Stage the best reasons hee could picke both out of master Robert Low and out of Gomarus let every indifferent person judge of them as they deserve though I verily thinke that nothing but his affection to Calvin to hold up his credite and reputation hath carried him all along and yet either my selfe and Walaeus mystake Calvin or Rivetus miserably mystaketh him But as for our reason we call all the World to judge of it God did require one day in seven to be set apart for his publique service under the Law how much more doth he require as good a proportion of time under the Gospell Nay from the beginning of the World he hath required it and to this day both Iewes and Christian Gentiles have observed the same proportion Againe God in his morall Law hath required this and that not as ceremoniall never any man hitherunto having set his wits on worke to devise any ceremoniality herein neyther was it ever knowne that God abrogated this proportion of time to be allowed unto him for his service therefore it continueth still as a morall Law to bind us and shall continue untill God himselfe set an end unto it now let master Lowes reasons be compared with these in every indifferent conscience and let them have that authority which they deserve because being well conceited of the strength of his reasons hee sensibly complaines of his want of authority It seemes Pope Alexander the third was a man of more authority then reason For hee maintaines in Cap. licet de feriis as Doctor Rivetus relates it that both the old and new Testament have in speciall manner appointed the seventh day for man to rest thereon and hee takes it out of Suarez de relig l. 2. c. 2. but Rivetus cannot assent unto him if he delivers this of any morall institution yet that it was so appointed by the fourth Commandement unto the Iewes it cannot bee denied and that not as ceremoniall for we have seene how odly Rivetus hath carried himselfe in comming to speake of the ceremoniality For to make this good hee flyes to the particularity of the seventh day and if the ceremoniality thereof bee enough to inferre the ceremoniality of such a speciall proportion of time as of one day in seven it may suffice as well to constitute a ceremoniality in the generall namely in this that some time is to be set apart for Gods Service which yet all account to bee morall by the very light of nature If Zanchy hath no better argument to prove that the Decalogue as given by Moses to the Israelites doth not pertaine to us but onely so farre forth as it agrees with the Law of nature then by instancing in the Sabbath which the Gentiles were not bound to sanctifie it stands Rivetus upon to oppose him as much as any who maintaines that the Law concerning the sanctifying of the Sabbath was given to Adam and who brings diverse authorities to prove the observation of it generally by the Gentiles This I speake upon consideration of his reply to Gomarus taking exception against somewhat in this argument delivered by him in his explication of the Decalogue But I hope the morall Law shall be sufficient to binde us Christians if no other way yet by this argument of proportion If God required of the Iewes under the Law that one day in seven should bee set apart to his service how much more doth it become us Christians to allow as good a proportion of time for his service under the Gospell This I say shall suffice untill Rivetus answeareth it which never will be for he as good as confesseth that we are bound to allow God for his service rather a better proportion of time then a worse And as for Doctor Prideaux I nothing doubt but he will cleare us from Judaisme in arguing thus as who Sect. 7. professeth that if they against whom he disputes required no more but the Analogy the equity or the reason of that Commandement we would not sticke to yeeld unto it And whereas Rivetus addes that the argument which hee annexeth seemes to him of great weight namely that hee who stickes to the Commandement must exactly observe it And that therefore into the place of the seventh from the Creation no day is to bee substituted But this argument I have answered before all for the most part grant some ceremoniality in that Commandement now if rest on the seventh be found to bee ceremoniall but not the rest of one day in seven in an indefinite consideracion it will follow herehence that the seventh must not be observed as accomplished in Christ and that the proportion of time is still to continue as indeed by experience wee finde it verified in each For the observation of the seventh is ceased as prefiguring Christs rest in his Grave but the observation of one day in seven still continueth unto this day Next for the second Thesis that the alteration of the day is onely an humane and Ecclesiasticall constitution the Doctor sheweth in the first Section the generall consent of all sorts of Papists Jesuites Canonists and Schoolemen of some great Lutheranes by names and generally of the remonstrant or Arminian Divines in their confession whose tendries in this point wee may conceave with reason not to bee different from the Doctrine of the Belgicke Churches in that foure professors of Leyden in their examination or review of that confession have passed them over without note or opposition To these besides are added diverse of our own Et è nostris non pauci as hee speakes it in the generall that is as I conceave his meaning such as are neither of the Lutheran nor of
very suggestion of nature that God himselfe should set forth unto us his servants both the proportion of time according to which and the particularity of the day wherein he will be served by us 3. We judge that proportion which God hath designed and the day also which he hath marked out to us in his Word to be most agreeable unto reason in the consideration of his works And in all this I am very willing to remit my selfe to the judgement of Doctor Prideaux The next reason here mentioned followeth Can we conceive that this onely ceremoniall law crept in we know not how amongst the morall Or that the Prophet Moses would have used such care in ordering the Decalogue onely to bring the Church into greater troubles I answer that some time should be set apart for Gods service was never accounted ceremoniall As touching the proportion of one day in seven dayes to be consecrated unto God I never found any Divine ancient or moderne busie his wits about devising any ceremoniality therein neither did I observe any ancient produced to acknowledge any ceremoniality therein but as it is fit wee should wait upon God for designing the proportion of time in which respect divers count that positive so God having designed unto us the proportion of time we are bold to say with Azorius that rationi maxime comsent aneum est It is most agreeable to reason after six worke dayes to consecrate one unto God As touching the particularity of the day under the proportion of one in seven there is to be considered both rest and sanctification As for sanctification I never read nor heard any man that constituted any ceremoniality in the sanctification of the day but onely in the rest of the day yet all these are shuffled together and usually men talke of the ceremoniality of the fourth Commandement hand over-head without all distinction Now it is true the ancient Fathers generally conceived a ceremoniality in the rest of the seventh day but what was signified by this ceremony I no where find expressely neither in Master Broad nor in this discourse Other Divines of these dayes had rather call it positive but how Surely in reference onely to the particular day not to the rest of it there being a morall rest necessarily required to the sanctification of it namely so farre forth in resting from our works as they are avocamenta à sacris studiis meditationibus avocations from sacred studies and meditations as Calvin expresseth it and I know none that differ from him herein Aquinas is of the same judgement but withall he confesseth that the Jewes observed the rest of this day for a mysterious signification sake which is as much as to say ceremonially in which respect it ought to be abrogated when the body came that was signified thereby So that this nothing hinders the morality of one day in seven no nor the observation of any one particular day that Gods Word shall commend unto us for our Sabbath and that unalterable save by that authority whereby it was introduced Neither had Moses any hand that I know in ordering the Decalogue it being first pronounced by the mouth of God and afterwards written in tables by the finger of God Nor did the designing of a day expose the Church to any trouble much lesse the designing the proportion of time It being most requisite the Law-maker should designe each of these for the preventing of trouble and each being thus designed we find the designation of them to be most agreeable unto reason If Torniellus thought it hardly credible that Enosh should appart himselfe from the sonnes of Cain to call upon the Name of the Lord without some certaine and appointed time for that performance I doe not thinke that Doctor Prideaux conceaves it credible that any wise man would thinke if fit that the servant and not rather the Master should apportion out that service which is due unto his Lord and master or that it is more fit the servant should have the designation of the particular time rather then the master the former reasons duly considered Or is there any reason why Calvin should have so little authority when hee discourseth in reason for the originall institution of the Sabbath as from the Creation and so great authority when hee speakes upon his bare word against the morality of one day in seven as some thinke Septenarium numerum non ita moror ut ejus servituti quicquam astringerem It is an easy matter to say they conclude nothing though I may justly wonder any reasonable man should say so of the argument drawne from those words Gen. 2. 3. Therefore God blessed the seventh day and sanctifyed it the author alleadging no other exception against it but the interpretation of Tostatus namely that it is delivered by way of anticipation For this is as good as to confesse that to blesse and sanctify the seventh day is all one as if hee had said that God commanded it to be sanctified Onely they will not have it understood of that time when the Lord rested from the works of Creation So that the meaning of Moses must be this In the seventh day God ended the works which he had made and the seventh day God rested from all the workes which he had made and because God rested on that seventh day from all the works that he had made therefore he commanded not then that that day from thence forward but 2400. yeares after that men should consecrate that day to divine service Now in disputing against the unreasonablenesse of this interpretation given by Tostatus I am very willing to make Doctor Prideaux my judge and as it were under his moderation to proceed in this And here I purpose not to revive the disputations of Walaeus and Rivetus against Tostatus his anticipation but onely to content my selfe with the ground layd by Doctor Lake Bishop of Bath and Wells in his Thesis of the Sabbath Thes 46. The worke of the day is the ground of hallowing the day whether it be weekly monthly or yearely as particulars evince in Scripture and History I make bold to lay this for my ground in this place because it is apparant that God made his worke on the seventh day the ground of hallowing that day namely because it was the day of Gods rest therfore to make it the day of mens rest for the sanctifying of it unto the Lord. Now I pray consider is it reasonable that because such or such a worke hath beene done in such a day provoking us to keepe it a festivall day unto the Lord therefore it becomes us accordingly to sanctify it but when not that day nor the same day senight nor throughout the 52. weekes of that yeare nor any of the 52. weekes the next yeare no nor for the space of a 1000 yeares or two thousand but after the expiration of 2500 yeares and more then and not till then to sanctify that day
I have already proved in the former Section and also that reason justifieth this drawne from the division of time into weekes as which had its course from the beginning of the World and how authority both ancient and moderne doth countenance this way of ours farre more then the contrary And Manasses ben Israel one of the ancient wise Doctors of the Jewes observes that when the Jewes are bid to remember that they were servants in Egypt this is as if it had beene sayd remember how that in Egypt where thou servedst thou wast constrayned to worke even upon the Sabbath day In Exod. quaest 36. Upon the Lords blessing the seventh day and sanctifying it from the beginning of the World and upon the fourth Commandement is founded our observation of the Sabbath as Chrysostome hath professed that God hath manifested from the beginning that one day in the circle of the weeke ought to be set apart for a spirituall rest All confesse that there is a difference betweene 1. Time in generall to be set apart for Gods service 2. And the proportion of that time 3. And the particularity of the day in that proportion The first is generally receaved to be morall the other two some had rather call positive then ceremoniall because they conceave it to have beene instituted in Paradise before the fall when there was no neede of any ceremony They who do most judiciously discourse of ceremony in the fourth Commandement doe not call it ceremoniall hand over head but with reference to the rest of the day And herein the ceremoniality they apply to the rest on the seventh day As for the ceremoniality to be found in the proportion of time indefinitely considered as in one day of seaven I never read nor heard till now Yet wherein this ceremoniality doth consist I meane the thing signified thereby is not explicated at all neither in respect of the proportion of time as of one day in seven nor in reference to the particular day Yet the Jewes rest on the seventh day is generally conceaved to prefigure Christs rest in the grave that day full and whole and onely that day And as Doctor Andrewes Bishop of Winchester in his Starre Chamber speech professeth that It hath ever been the Churches doctrine that Christ made an end of all Sabbaths by his Sabbath in the grave That Sabbath was the last of them So Austin de Gen. ad lit l. 4. c. 11. Beda in Hexameron on Genesis Aquin. 2. 2. q. 121. art 4. Piscat on Luc. 14. And albeit the rest from workes may have a ceremoniall signification of a rest from sinne in the way of grace as Ezech. 20. 12. and a rest both from sin and sorrow which is also a speciall worke of ours through sin Ier. 2. 17. hast thou not procured this unto thy selfe because thou hast forsaken the Lord. and that in the way of glory Hebr. 4. yet this is no such ceremony as to be abolished upon the fulfilling of the thing signified for even the Jewes under the Law had their rest from sinne in the way of grace as wee Christians under the Gospell yet neverthelesse observed the Sabbath and that glorious rest which shall not be accomplished till the end of the World is commonly called an eternall Sabbath And undoubtedly that is to be accompted as a rest morall whereunto the sanctification of the day calleth us namely to rest from all workes as they are Avocations from sacred studies and meditations But doth Abulensis accompt the rest of one day in seven ceremoniall and not morall Doctor Willet relates him as of an other opinion and distinguishing thus There are some things which are simply morall and some things simply ceremoniall and some things of a mixt kinde as being partly morall partly ceremoniall Simply morall are those things which are grounded on the judgement of naturall reason as when naturall reason doth dictate that some time is to be set apart for Gods service But precisely to appoint the seventh day more then any day of the weeke is simply ceremoniall quia non habet fundamentum à ratione sed à voluntate condentis legem because it is not groundedon reason but on the will of the law-maker But to appoint one day of seven and that day wholy for the space of 24. houres to consecrate to Gods service as therein to abstaine from all kinds of worke these things are not purely or simply ceremoniall but partly morall as grounded on the judgement of reason though not totally and wholy For the first if above one day in the weeke should be kept perpetually holy Gravamen esset laborantibus toties vacare it were a grievance to labourers to rest from worke so oft his meaning is in this case they could not sufficiently provide for themselves and their families as touching the maintenance of this life temporall and if but one day in a fortnight or a month should be appointed oblivisceremur Dei per desuetudinem cultus ipsius We should forget God through not accustoming our selves sufficiently to his service Therefore it stands with reason that one day in seven should be celebrated to the Lord. This surely is not to deny the proportion of one day in seven to be consecrated unto the Lord to be morall but to confirme it rather Neither doe I finde that Aquinas resolves it so as here it is pretended that which hee sayth to be ceremoniall is applied by him onely to the particular day of the weeke Indeed hee doth say that the proportion of one day in seven to be consecrated to the Lord is morall neither doth hee deny it onely hee sayth it is morall that some time should be set apart for Gods service And it may be under this he comprehends the proportion of one day in seven as Zanchy doth For albeit hee treads in Aquinas steps when hee sayth Morale est quatenus natura docet pietas postulat ut aliquis dies destinetur quieti ab operibus servilibus quo divino cultui vacare possit Ecclesiá ceremoniale est quatenus septimus dies fuit praescriptus non alius It is morall to have a day destinate to rest from servile workes so to be free for Gods service It is ceremoniall that the seventh day and no other is prescribed for this yet a little before hee manifesteth that by one day to be set apart for this he meanes one day in seven when he thus sayth Morale est mandatum quatenus praecipit ut è septem diebus unum consecremus cultui divino proinde quatenus tale mandatum est nunquam fuit abrogatum nec abrogari potest The Commandement is morall as it commands us to consecrate one day in seven unto divine service And so doth Dominicus Bannes 22. q. 44. art 1. Bellarmine de cultu Sanctorum lib. 3. cap. 11. And if no other be the opinion of Aquinas if the schoolmen of what sect soever say the same it
same yoake Chemnitius his discourse I have formerly examined somewhat at large The voluntary consecration of it by Christians no man hath cause to embrace who professeth himselfe not satisfied with the bare ordinance of the Church as but erst the Doctor did Of Brentius I have spoken enough yet well fare him that professeth the authority of the day to be so farre divine that he who shall neglect it or rashly breake it doth forthwith become worse then the Jew or Infidell As for the Arminians what respect soever they pretend to the patterne of the primitive Church like enough they could be very well content with the Socinians to make all dayes equall in use as well as they are in nature or in respect of any mysterious signification I leave Azorius to refresh himselfe with the juyce of his owne distinction It is well that Suarez comes so farre as to professe that practically it is not alterable by the Church As for Calvin Bucer Chemnitius and the rest who are onely sayd to affirme that still the Church hath power to change the Lords day to some other I finde no such thing in Calvin and Bucer as for what Chemnitius delivers hereupon in my judgement hee sayth no more then Calvin though some particulars in him I have found to be weake enough upon discussion in the 6 Section of my answer to the Preface having there met with the same names named to the same purpose It is not credible to mee they should give power to the Church to bring us backe to the Jewish Sabbath in that case who should savour most of Judaisme or preferre us to the Turkes festivall day which is the Friday To be instituted in memory of our redemption admits an ambiguous signification That bringing with it a new Creation and so requiring a new Sabbath as Bishop Andrewes discourseth and Athanasius 1200 yeares before him No day had a better marke for this to be preferred into the place of the Jewes Sabbath then the day of Christs Resurrection yet considering that not that day of the yeare but that day of the weeke is called in Scripture the Lords Day this maketh it evidently to savour of Divine institution yet it is well that here it is acknowledged to be expresly of traditions Apostolicall Beza addeth vere Divinae on Revel 1. 10. I trust we shall ever give due respect both to Law and Gospell and the better concurrence wee finde of them for the maintenance of any doctrine of ours the more cause wee shall have to rejoyce therein without feare of censure for the mixing of them or framing any Sabbaticall Idoll out of them It is not the first time I have read of some such aspersion in Rogers his preface to his Analysis of the Articles of the Church of England And the next yeere was printed D. Willet upon Genesis dedicated to King Iames where on the. 2. ch 3. v. he concludes his discourse on this argument after this manner But these allegations are here superfluous seeing there is a learned treatise of the Sabbath already published of this argument meaning D. Bownds discourse thereon Which containeth a most sound doctrine of the Sabbath as is layd downe in the former positions which shal be able to abide the triall of the Word of God and stand warranted thereby when other humane fantasies shall vanish howsoever some in their heate and intemperance are not afraid to call them Sabbatarian errors yea hereticall assertions a new Iubily Saint Sabbath more then either Iewish or Popish institution much lesse doe wee feare the story of the Jew of Teukesbury Solomon hath taught us that the righteous spareth his beast and in our Saviours dayes the Jewes themselves though very superstitious in the observation of their Sabbath yet shewed mercy towards their beasts in leading to them to water and helping them out of the ditch on their Sabbath day But God can give men over into a minde voyd of all judgement as to the destruction of their soules so to the temporall destruction of their bodies also and that as in the way of profanenes wherof we have manifold experience so in the way of superstition Now such stories are pretty flourishes and pleasing to the judicious provided they are to purpose and sound argument hath not beene wanting to justifie the doctrine they maintaine but when they are out of season or supply the want of better argument they want their grace and are pleasing only to the ignorant or partialist At length I am come unto the last Section For the one halfe of this Section there is little or nothing controverted betweene us But here we have a faire distinction as good as confessed betweene a ceremoniall rest and another rest which is described by a rest from workes as it is an impediment to the performance of such duties as are then commanded this I can a rest morall the rather that the distinction may not flye with one wing That of Saint Hierome is a quick passage on Act. 18. affirming that Saint Paul when hee had none to whom to preach in the congregation did on the Lords day use the workes of his occupation I will not answer as the outlandish Priests fashion was as Sir Thomas More reports the story Domine novi locum verum respondeo sumitur dupliciter so gratifying his adversaries argument with one member of his distinction and his owne in providing for escape out of the briers by the other least I might be served as Sir Thomas More served the Priest pretending to quote such a chapter of Saint Matthew or Marke when there were not so many in the whole Gospell or such a verse in a certaine Chapter when there were not so many verses at all Therefore I desire to consult Hierome but Hierome hath not at all written upon the Acts and where else to seeke it I know not Yet I deny not but that Dietericus the Lutheran upon the 17. Dominicall after Trinity Sunday hath such a passage Hieronymus ex Act. 18. v. 2. 4. colligit quod die etiam Dominica quando quibus in publico concionaretur Paulus non habebat manibus suis laboravit But where it is that Hierome doth collect this he doth not specifie our Saviour was borne under the Law and knew full well it became him to fulfill all righteousnesse and therefore undoubtedly he never did transgresse the fourth commandement indeed some there are who distaste the name of Sabbath now a dayes and truly the Ancients doe usually speake of the Lords day in distinction from the Sabbath because that denomination doth denote the Saturday but I doubt that in these dayes it is distasted in another respect even for the rest of it which I no where finde distasted amongst the Ancients nor any libertie given by them for sports and pastimes on the Lords day But our booke of Homilies speakes plainly in saying The Sunday is our Sabbath day And Proclamations that come forth in
after them And in his last blessing upon the people when now he was going out of the world Moses as a King putteth them in mind of this saying The Lord came from Sinai and rose up from Seir unto them he shined forth from mount Paran and he came with ten thousands of Saints from his right hand went a fiery law for them Yea he loved the people all his Saints are in thy hands and they sate downe at thy feet every one shall receive of thy words Moses commanded a Law even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob. And he was King in Jeshurun when the heads of the people and the Tribes of Israel were gathered together It is true there is an hole pickt in the fourth Commandement concerning the sanctifying of the Sabbath as if that among all the rest were not morall but ceremoniall Yet this honour it hath from God that immediatly after the Creation the Lord resting on the seventh day from his works therefore he blessed the seventh day and sanctified it And therefore Doctor Andrewes ere he died Bishop of Winchester in his patterne of Catecheticall doctrine I commonly cite it under his name because it is commonly received to bee his and as I have heard upon divers good grounds treating upon this Commandement and having proposed this question But is not the Sabbath a Ceremony and so abrogated by Christ Makes answer to it in this manner Doe as Christ did in the cause of divorce look whether it were so from the beginning Now the beginning of the Sabbath was in Paradise before there was any sinne and so before there needed any Saviour and so before there was any Ceremony or figure of a Saviour And if they say it prefigured the rest that we shall have from our sinnes in Christ we grant it and therefore the day is changed but no ceremony proved And yet we are not ignorant how Papists have practised to raze the second commandement also out of the Law given on mount Sina as if that also were out of date being as they conceive but of a positive nature at first so little evidence doe they finde for it by the light of Nature and now the world is growne so wise that they know how to worship God by Images without committing any idolatry at all though this mystery of religious state is not thought fit to be communicated unto the vulgar But doe we not all acknowledge the light of Nature to be much corrupted since the fall of Adam how much more our judgement of morall things wherein Aristotle confesseth that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 demonstration is not to be expected only but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 perswasion And if way be given to mens wanton wils for the gratisying of corrupt affections more breaches than these are like to be made in the Decalogue I have heard that Cardinall Cusanus undertooke to justifie the sin of Sodome Sure I am amongst the Lacedemonians wives were common And Brennus that Ancient Invader of other Nations made profession that he knew no other Law of Nature but this that The weaker should be in subjection to the stronger like as King Pyrrhus in his death-bed being demanded who should succeed him in the Kingdom made answer even He whose sword is the longest Carneades I thinke was the man who having on a day made a singular speech in commendation of Justice afterwards discoursed as eloquently to the contrary shewing that there was no justice at all by the law of nature every naturall thing seeking to maintaine it selfe by the destruction of others So the fire maintaines itselfe by the combustion of each combustible thing whereunto it approacheth and the water overflowes all naturally and beats downe all dammes it can to make roome for it selfe And the greatest Beasts maintain themselves by preying on those that have no power to resist them The more cause have wee to blesse God for giving us the Law Morall in writing which grew so miserably defaced in the hearts of men And that herein the sanctifying of the Sabbath is mentioned among the rest this hath ever satisfied mee and assured that the substance thereof is Morall and that accordingly wee ought to inure our selves to the sanctification of the Sabbath though naturally we find in our selves no greater reluctation to any Commandement than to this Pardon me if I judge of others by my selfe in this particular Nay upon this very consideration have we not the more cause to strive against this intestine corruption of ours His Majesty is much delighted in hunting it is a recreation mixt with manly exercise well becomming a King but I he are he never useth to hunt on the Lords day And so much the rather should the Lords Sabbaths be deare unto us because the goodnesse and mercy of God appeares no where more than in giving us his Sabbaths calling upon us thereby to rest from the world unto him and God knowes a Christian soule finds no rest any where but in him and to walke with him in holy meditation as he is pleased to walk in the midst of us as the Holy One of Israel so to draw us away from worldly cares and pleasures to the entertaining of heavenly and holy cares to enrich our selves with the knowledge of God and to recreate our soules in the Lord as hee solaceth himselfe in us according to that Hee tooke his solace in the compasse of the earth and his delight was in the children of men On the Lords day it is that in speciall sort we Christians take hold of that holy Cōmunion which God in great mercy in his Son Jesus Christ vouchsafeth unto us with himselfe speaking unto us as from heaven in his holy Word and giving us liberty to speak unto him The Lord pitcheth his Tabernacle amongst us here on earth and we are as it were taken up into the mount of God there to be transfigured before him When the Lord appeared unto Jacob in a vision by night when he fled from his brother Esau and he saw a ladder erected between heaven and earth and the Lord on the top of it the Angels ascending and descending by it when he awoke How dreadfull saith he is this place The Lord was here and I was not a ware surely it is no other than the house of God and the gate of heaven And are not our Temples the houses of God are they not the very gates of heaven In our solemne assemblies is not aladder erected betweene earth and heaven is not the Lord on the top of it and are not we humbled at his feet to heare his Word The gracious instructions which we receive from him are they not as so many Angels descending unto us the gracious motions that arise in our hearts upon meditation of his Word of thankesgiving to him of rejoycing in him yea of sorrowing for our sins are they not as so many Angels ascending to him Our teares have
as different courses therin it is fit that herein we should wait for the Lords direction and designation of the particular day And even this also was so ordered by God himselfe and that in great congruitie as appeares to as many as are acquainted with the story of the Creation For the Lord having dispatched all his workes in six dayes and resting on the seventh commanded man to imitate him For in this respect it was that at the first the Lord blessed the seventh day and sanctified it and some thousand of yeares after gives this reason why after six dayes of labour the seventh being the Sabbath of the Lord our God no manner of worke should be done therein which being once thus ordered by the Lord of the Sabbath it must be in force of perpetuall observation as a requisite determination of the morality of this Law and not of an alterable nature save only by the same authority whereby it was ordained Now to my understanding by the fourth Commandement it is cleare First that God commanded some time to bee set apart and sanctified unto his service Secondly that the proportion of this time he hath defined to be one day in seven Thirdly that the particular day under this proportion was designed to be the seventh and that unto the Iews in correspondencie to the seventh day from the first creation where in God commanded them to rest from all their workes like as on that day the Lord rested from his works And I thinke there is no question amongst Christians but that all this ought to be religiously observed by the people of God untill the Lord himselfe manifest his pleasure for alteration and no farther in any particular than God shall manifest his pleasure for alteration As for example First for the time then for the rest lastly for the service of the day itselfe First If God hath not manifested his will for any alteration of setting apart some time for divine service we must still continue to set some time apart for divine service Likewise if God hath not manifested his pleasure to have the proportion of time altered which hath bin originally allotted unto his service we must not presume to allow a lesse proportion of time for his service than hath been formerly prescribed by him Only both Gomarus and Rivet concur in this that we may allow more and that in reason it is sit now under the Gospell to allow more time for Gods service rather than lesse in comparison to that which he would have allowed him under the Law And as for the particularity of the day if God hath manifested his pleasure to have it altered it must be altered as in case it appeare to have been ceremoniall in respect of the rest commanded thereon and another in the seven substituted in the place thereof and that according to Gods direction and not otherwise Secondly so as touching the rest of the day commanded upon Mount Sinaunto the Jewes not so unto Adam upon the Creation but onely wee reade that God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it which sanctification yet on mans part drawes a rest with it if there be found a just distinction betweene a rest morall so far forth as the sanctification of the day requireth and a rest ceremonial of a more rigorous nature and that prefiguring something in Christ it will follow herehence that the rest morall still continueth together with the sanctification of the day as much as ever and that the rigorous rest must fall and be abolished Thirdly so in the last place as touching the service of the day whatsoever was prescribed unto the Jewes thereon as ceremoniall is at end as namely the Sabbath sacrifice which doubled the daily sacrifice Only the publique ministery of the Word and Prayer as morall still continueth together with our Sacramentall ceremonies which Christ hath given unto his Church Baptisme and the Lords Supper and therefore the Lords day was called by the Ancients the day of light in reference unto Baptisme Baptisme being called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 illumination the first worke of grace and the day of Bread in reference to the Lords Supper Now all this I hope to make appeare before I give over this taske which I have taken in hand And I was the more confirmed in my meditations when I heard by one of my Auditors a Divine that in this doctrine of mine concerning the Sabbath as touching the substance of that which was delivered by me I nothing differed from the opinion of D. Prideaux whose discourse on that argument at that time I had not been acquainted with But since I finde that Sect. 8. of that his Lecture he professeth that the Jewish rest cannot stand with our Christian libertie I say so too and withall endevour to give evidence for the abrogation thereof Further the same Reverend Doctor professeth That we only are so farre to abstaine from worke as it is an impediment to the performance of such duties as are then commanded I am not only of his opinion herein but withall desire no more than this to be granted for the maintenance of the morall rest of the fourth Commandement But I have observed some to deny any thing in the Iewish Sabbath to have been ceremoniall yet will not have that fourth Commandement morall but positive rather as touching both the observation of one day in seven and as touching the particularity of the day And therefore they deny it to be morall because it hath not evidence by light of nature But was it evident to the Jewes by light of nature that the God of their Fathers Abraham Isaac and Jacob and that brought them out of the land of Aegypt was the true God of the world and that therefore they ought to have no other gods but him Is it evident by the light of nature that God is not to be worshipped by an Image Or if naturall evidence hereof faile us in this state of corrupt nature wherein we are shall these lawes be denied to be the morall Law of God yet I nothing doubt but the proportion of time allowed for Gods service much more the particularity of the day appointed thereunto is alterable at the pleasure of God And ceremonials I confesse are in such a sense positive or rather more than positive namely such as not only may but must like shadowes fly away when the body of them comes in place And yet I find that Cajetan in this point confounds ceremoniall with positive though I think he would not call it ceremoniall unlesse he conceived that this which he cals positive had some ceremoniality in it But their reason whereupon they deny the ceremoniality of it in my judgment is not sufficient 1. Because they ground it upon a supposition very questionable namely that the Sabbath was instituted before the fall which some deny and that with very great probability in my judgment 2. Their consequence is not good For though it were no ceremony
Christ manifested before his death that his Christian Churches should observe a Sabbath as well as the Jewes did this appeares Matth. 24. 20. Pray that your flight be not in the Winter nor on the Sabbath day and thus Bishop Andrewes accommodates that place in his patterne of Catecheticall doctrine It is as manifest that the day of Christs resurrection is called in the cripture the Lords Day as manifest that not the day of the yeere but the day of the week whereon Christ rose is called the Lords Day which few take notice of Likewise in the old Testament is manifest that the Jews Sabbath is called the Lords holy Day Then the congruity in reference to the reason of the originall institution is most exact For first Christ by his resurrection brought with him a new creation and this new creation as D. Andrewes expresseth it treading herein in the steps of the ancients requireth a new Sabbath and as the Lord rested on the seventh day from the worke of creation so our Saviour on the first day of the weeke from the worke of Redemption And lastly the day of Christs resurrection was the day whereon Christ the stone formerly refused by the builders was made the head of the corner and of this day the Prophet professeth of old saying This is the day which the Lord hath mad let us be glad and rejoyce in it which can have no other congruous meaning but this this is the day which the Lord hath made festivall especially considering the doctrine of Bishop Lake which is this that the worke of the day is the ground of hallowing the day as is to be seene in the institution of all festivalls both Humane and Divine And I have already shewed how absurd it is that wee should expect it should be left unto the Church her liberty to appoint it considering the great danger of dissention thereabouts and extreme confusion thereupon And it cannot be denyed but this day was established by the Apostles and that as of authority Divine as appeares generally by the ancients Athanasius professing that Dominus consecravit hunc diem Austin that Apostoli sanxerunt and Gregory that Antichrist when hee comes into an humour of imitating Christ should command the observation of the Lords Day and Eusebius hath as pregnant a testimony to the same purpose as any and Sedulius and that not one of the Ancients as I know alleged to the contrary So that to ascribe the institution of it to humane authority that every way were a scandalous doctrine and so would the practice be also according thereunto And consequently the Church hath no authority to change the day as Doctor Fulke professeth against the Rhemists And to say the contrary is to say that the Church hath authority to concurre with the Jewes in keeping with them the Saturday with the Turks in keeping with them the Friday yea that they have authority to divide the dayes of the weeke one nation taken one day to observe and another another which is as much as to say that the Church hath authority to be notoriously scandalous In the fifth he delivers more truth than in all his preface besides we make no question but that workes of necessity and workes of charity may be done on this day though the proper workes of the day are the workes of holinesse I know none that thinkes it unlawfull to dresse meat proportionable to a mans estate on this day some are of opinion that this was not forbidden unto the Jewes and that albeit to go abroad on that day to gather Manna was forbidden yet not the preparing or dressing of it though the most common opinion of our Divines is to the contrary Some thinke a greater strictnesse was enjoyned them in the wildernesse than afterward observed by them As in the story of Nehemiah it is said there was prepared for his table daily an Oxe and five chosen Sheepe and our Saviours entertainment by some on the Sabbath day doth seeme to them to intimate as much howsoever in after times it came to passe that they grew superstitious this way As Austin observes of them in his dayes that Iudaei neque occidunt neque coquunt Others who think it was both enjoyned to them and practised by them with greater strictnesse conceive that this was by reason of the mysterious signification to wit of some exact rest in Christ this was their ceremoniall rest we acknowledge no rest but morall which we understand in that sense which here is expressed in part and but in part after a halting manner For hee professeth that on the Lords Day we are to abstaine from such workes as are an hinderance to Gods service but he delivers this onely of the publique service as if to spend an houre and an halfe in the morning and an houre and an halfe in the afternoone in Gods service were enough for the sanctifying of the day yet Gerardus the Lutherane observes that God commands the day to be sanctified not a part of the day And let the law of this nation or of any nation of the world be judge between us whether in case one man owe another a dayes service I say let the world judge whether in common equity this be to be interpreted of an houre and an halfe in the morning and an houre and an halfe in the evening or onely of a part of the day and not rather the whole day And what vile courses are these that men should carry themselves so basely in dispensing unto God the proportion of his service In the sixth and last place we have that wherunto all the former discourse is consecrated namely to make way for such profane sports and pastimes which here are glosed with the cleanely stiles of recreations to refresh the spirits and for the increase of mutuall love and neighbourhood amongst us as if he were ashamed to speake our that all this tends to the countenance of May-games and morricing and dancing about May-poles on the Lords Day D Andrewes sometimes Bishop of Winchester spared not to professe that vacare choreis to be at leisure on that day for dancing is the Sabbath of the golden calfe and hee allegeth Austin for it though hee cannot justifie his quotation Doctor Downeham Bishop of Derry calls such like courses profane sports and pastimes which more distract and more hinder our workes than honest labours and he censures also such a Sabbath calling it the Sabbath of the calfe Exod. 23. 6. 18. 19. Bishop Babington on Exod. 16. puts a Christian soule upon this meditation Good Lord what doe I upon the Sabbath day This people of his might not gather Manna and may I safely gad to faires and markets to dancings and drinkings to wakes and wantons to Bearcbaitings and Bulbaitings with such like wicked profanations of the Lords Day Are these workes for the Sabbath Is this to keepe the holy day Can I answer this to my God that gives mee six dayes for
the Jewes had As touching the three particulars wherein Tostatus is vouched to affirme the fourth Commandement to bee an unstable and alterable ceremony First I have not hitherto found that Tostatus confoundeth the proportion of one day in seven with the particular day under this proportion as if these were equally ceremoniall The rest on the seventh day in the judgement of the ancients prefigured the rest of Christ that day in his grave and in that respect was accompted by them ceremoniall But as for the proportion of one day in seven never yet did I meete with any who set his wits on worke to devise any thing in Christ to be prefigured thereby that so it also might be accompted ceremoniall Yet I nothing doubt but this proportion is alterable by that power whereby it was prescribed but not by any inferiour power and so it is accompted by Jacobus de Valentia stabile aeternum stable and everlasting and most unreasonable that wee should not be bound to allow as good a proportion of service unto God under the Gospell as the Jewes were bound to allow him under the Law The rest of the seventh day being ceremoniall wee hold not onely with Tostatus that it is alterable but with Stella that it must be altered and I hope the word it selfe affords evidence enough for this It is true the fourth Commandement in the very front commands the sanctifying the Sabbath not the seventh day but the Sabbath and in like maner it ends with professing that the Lord Blessed the Sabbath day not the seventh sanctified it But when the question is made what Sabbath I should rather answer a rest from all servile works then as here it is answered The seventh day For undoubtedly God doth not therein command us to rest the seventh day in correspondency to the seventh day from the Creation there is commanded one day in seven and a seventh after six dayes of worke But wee must leave it unto God as to prescribe unto us the Master to his servants the proportion of time to be set apart for his service so the particularity of the day also under the specified proportion least otherwise there might be as many different opinions hereabouts and courses according thereunto amongst the people of God as there be dayes in the weeke Now God did appoint the seventh day of the weeke unto the Jewes for their Sabbath but the first day of the weeke hee hath appointed unto us for our Sabbath still observing six dayes worke before and a seventh of rest unto God after And thus Zanchy a learned and judicious Divine interpreteth the fourth Commandement in 4. praecept p. 599. Col. 2. Stat sententia non sine causa factum esse ut in substantia praecepti dictum non sit Memento ut diem septimum sed ut diem Sabbati i. quietis sanctifices Hac enim ratione nos quoque praeceptum hoc servamus dum sanctificamus diem Dominicum quia hic quietis dies nobis est sicut Judaeis fuit septimus I am still of opinion that not without cause it is so ordered that in the substance of the precept it is not sayd remember the seventh day but remember the Sabbath day that is the day of rest to sanctifie it For by this meanes wee also keepe this precept in sanctifying the Lords Day So that this is not the opinion of Doctor Bownde onely and of Master Perkins but of Zanchy also and Iacobus de Valentia advers Iudaeos qu. 2. conclus 4. Christian Religion celebrates a true morall Sabbath on the Lords Day as touching the time in as much as it celebrates it on the day whereon it ought to be celebrated and concludes So the precept of the Sabbath as it is morall remaines in the new time celebrated on the Lords day So Dominicus Bannes formerly alleaged distinguisheth the substance of the praecept from the particular determination of the day and addes that by a positive precept the seventh day was designed unto the Iewes but afterwards under the Law of grace was designed the day of the Lords Resurrection So that alwayes to Gods faithfull people was designed one day in the weeke for Divine Service Whereas other festivities sayth hee are in course by the institution of the Church And Doctor Andreues also sheweth out of Math. 24. 20. that there must needs be a Sabbath after Christs death and addes that Those which were ceremonies were abrogated but those which were not ceremonies were changed as the Ministery from the Levites to be chosen throughout the World So here the day changed from the day of the Jewes to the Lords Day Revel 1. 10. And accordingly interpreteth the fourth Commandement as belonging unto us Christians as bound to observe the Sabbath 1. in our judgment by a reverend esteeming of it not as a day appointed by man 2. in our use set downe Esay 58. 13. not following our owne will nor doing our owne workes Hereupon a question is proposed thus But is not the Sabbath a ceremony and so abrogated by Christ and the answer is this Do as Christ did in the case of divorce looke whether it were so from the beginning Now the beginning of the Sabbath was in Paradise before there was any sin and so before there needed any Saviour and if they say it prefigured the rest we shall have from our sins in Christ We grant it and therefore the day is changed but no ceremony proved The practise of piety is a booke dedicated unto his Majesty that now is when hee was Prince Carles in the yeere 1626. which is now 15. yeeres agoe came forth the 10 th Edition of it wee have heard it highly commended by King Iames and that it commended the author of the dedication to a Bishoprick The author of this treatise is large upon the Sabbath and concurres with us in every particular wherein wee are by the Prefacer to this translation opposed Amongst other particulars this is one that hee interpreteth the fourth Commandement as Zanchy doth saying The Commandement doth not say Remember to keepe holy the seventh day next following the sixt day of the Creation or this or that seventh day but indefinitely Remember that thou keepe holy a Sabbath day and that Our Lord Iesus having authority as Lord over the Sabbath had likewise far greater reason to translate the Sabbath day from the Iewish seventh unto the seventh day whereon Christians doe keepe their Sabbath which also hee proves by diverse reasons And the booke of Homilies whereunto all our Ministers are required to subscribe professeth that wee Christians are still bound to the observation of the Sabbath and that the Sunday is now our Sabbath So then as the Jewes were tied to the observation of the Sabbath on the day prescribed too them so are wee Christians tied to the observation of the Sabbath too but on the day prescribed unto us should wee observe the same day with the Jewes wee should fall
of fire was forbidden onely for the works to be done about making the Tabernacle This being delivered as a preface Exod. 35. 2. when the free will offerings were now to be receaved for the promoting of the workemanship of that which formerly was commanded And that dressing of meate was not forbidden them no not in the gathering of Manna as some thinke if then yet not as a generall course to be observed for ever And as touching the Table that Nehemiah kept thus we reade Moreover there were at my Table an 150. of the Iewes and rulers which came unto us from among the Heathen that are about us And there was prepared daily an Oxe and six chosen Sheepe and Birds were prepared for me and hee was so farre from consciousnesse of profaning the Lords Sabbath herein that hee concludes thus Remember me O my God in goodnesse according to all that I have done for this people But suppose they were tied so strictly to such a rest as from workes not servile onely in seeking againe as Zanchy instanceth the condition of a worke servile but even from such as tended to the refreshing of their natures yet the reason hereof depended upon the mysterious signification of this rest as formerly I have represented out of Lyra from which ceremoniality wee are absolved and consequently freed from that rigorous rest depending thereupon and rest onely from works so farre forth as they are avocations from Sacred Studies and meditations as Calvin expresseth it and this wee accompt a morall rest distinguished from ceremoniall And whereas the Doctor tells us that such a like distinction is infirme being content to say nothing to confirme it save that the Text as hee saith affords it not I had thought the very light of nature had beene sufficient to embolden us to conclude that where the sanctification of the day is commanded therewithall is commanded abstinence from all such things as would hinder the sanctification of it And as for the text it selfe it is apparent that neither the kindling of the fire nor dressing of meate is particularly forbidden in the fourth Commandement Neither doth hee so much as obtrude upon his adversaries that they derive the sanctification of their christian Sabbath from ought in the old Testament save from Gen. 2. 3. and from the fourth Commandement In neither of which doth he deale fairely but is content to confound things that differ as if in this particular he affected to fish in troubled waters and we have better evidence and indeed it is our only evidence therence out of the old Testament for the festivity of the Lords day then he is willing to take notice of namely out of the Psal 118. 24. Neither is it possible he should be ignorant thereof howsoever hee doth dissemble his knowledge of it Yet I hope it is enough for us to finde evidence for it in the Sunshine of the Gospell and indeed here alone we have the originall observation of it though that it should be observed is as evidently prophecied in the old Testament as that Christ is the stone which was first refused of the builders and after made the head of the corner adding only this unto it that the day wherein the Lord did this and made so glorious a worke marvellous in the eyes of men was the day of the resurrection which I suppose no intelligent Christian will deny I come unto the 6. Section 6 Who they be that make their boast that they have found the institution of the Lords day in the new Testament expressely J willingly professe I know not neither doe I thinke the Doctor knowes It is true our Saviour oftentimes disputed with the Pharisees about their superstitious observation of the Sabbath day which at length degenerated into voluptuous living on that day in so much that Austin tells the Jewes plainly It is better to goe to plough then to dance but if hereupon you aske where is any the least suspicion of the abrogating of it I answer every one knowes The time was not yet come for the abrogating of it Nay he discourseth so as if 40. yeares after his death the observation of the Sabbath should continue as when he exhorts them at such a time to pray that their flight be not in the Winter nor on the Sabbath day Matth. 24. 20. what will you conclude herence therefore the observation of the Jewish Sabbath was still to continue among Christians if you doe who shall more deservedly be obnoxious to the censure of Judaisme you or wee yet when he tells them that the Sonne of man is Lord of the Sabbath how few interpreters writing hereupon doe not take notice of his power to abrogat it But is it not enough that Paul cryeth downe the ceremonies of the Jewes and in speciall their holy dayes and particularly Sabbaths to wit so far forth as they are found to be shadowes the body whereof was Christ such was the rest on the seventh day as prefiguring Christs rest in the grave But no sober man I trow will herence conclude that herewithall hee cryeth downe the setting apart of any time for Gods service that having no colour of ceremony or rest from such workes as hinder us in the service of God this being as little ceremoniall as the former I make bold to goe one step farther and conclude by the same reason that neither doth he cry downe the proportion of time to wit of one day in seven to be set a part for the exercises of piety because in this particular there is no more ceremonialitie to be found then in any one of the former But to proceed what indifferent man would once expect that in our Saviours disputations with the Pharisees about the Sabbath mention should bee made of the Lords day instituted in the place thereof It is enough wee find it instituted after our Saviours resurrection and sufficient I trowe it is to prove that it was instituted and that in the best manner namely by establishing it de facto in practise amongst the Churches I say this is sufficiently proved by the observation of it which undoubtedly neither was nor could be by chance A Sowe musling in the earth may make something like the letter A. but not Ennius his Andromacha saith Cicero In like sort the concurrence of the Churches in the observation hereof from the Apostles and continuance therein unto this day could not be by chance but by order and that from the Apostles When you aske Did not the Apostles keepe the Iewish Sabbath I answer I doe not finde they did yet I finde revelations were made unto them of what was to be done by degrees Peter was challenged Acts 11. by the rest of the Apostles for preaching the Gospell unto the Gentiles They tooke indeed advantage of the Jewes Sabbath to preach the Gospell unto them congregated together Act. 13. so did they to the same end take the oppotunity of the feast of Pentecost Acts 18. 21. I
nor any that I know that in this sense all or any are bound to keep the seventh or a seventh day holy but onely by vertue of Gods command Yet this wee professe that seeing it is generally confessed that by the very light of nature some time is to be set apart for Gods service Wee cannot devise in reason any better course then to set one day in seaven apart for this considering the first division of dayes is into weekes and if a seventh part of our time be in reason to be consecrated unto God wee thinke it more convenient to set one intire day in seven apart for this then the seventh part of every day because the other businesses of every day are apt to cause distraction from the Lords service And as I have but erst discoursed it is more fit the Master should appoint unto the servant what proportion of service hee shall performe unto him then that this should be left to the discretion or liberty of the servant 1. both the honour of the Master requiring this 2. and the good of the servant for hereby hee shall be assured of the better acceptance at the hands of his master And so for the particular day it is fit the Master should marke out that also unto him by some prerogative set upon the day as hee did the seventh day by finishing the worke of Creation and by his rest thereon from his workes to call man to an holy rest from his so to be more free for the service of his Creator In which cases both touching the proportion of the time and particularity of the day the Law being made it shall continue immutable and unalterable by the will of the Creature but mutable and alterable according to the will of the Creator so that things being well distinguished and rightly considered and stated I see no bug-beare of inconvenience in all this Neyther doe I see any reason why the spending of one day in Gods holy worship as a morall and perpetuall duty should seeme distastfull to any Since it is apparant that God commanded it unto his people of the Jewes and for 1600 yeares it hath beene continually observed by Christian Churches unto this day and I make no doubt but it shall hold till Christs comming though from the beginning of the World it was never found to be so hotly opposed as at this day And why should any man stick in acknowledging it to be morall when never any man busied himselfe to finde out any ceremoniality in reference to the proportion of one day in seven Neither doe I thinke ever any man called it judiciall but Azorius professeth it to be rationi maximè consontaneum most agreeable to reason and no man that I know hath at any time set himselfe to devise a proportion of time to be spent in Gods service more agreeable to reason then this And as for the third offence taken for I know not any that give it The fourth Commandement is brought by none that I know to prove that the Lords Day is now become our Christian Sabbath but supposing it to be our Sabbath as the booke of Homilies sayth it is and our Saviour signified that Christians should have their Sabbath as well as the Jewes had theirs Math. 24. 20. wee produce the fourth Commandement to prove that wee ought to sanctifie it and that we may the better sanctifie it to rest from all workes that hinder the sanctification thereof And indeed the Commandedement is so drawen as to command one day in seaven to be observed and whatsoever is that seventh prescribed by lawfull authority to sanctifie it and abstaine from all works whereby the hallowing of it is disturbed and all this we take to be morall namely the worshipping of God in a certaine proportion of time prescribed by him and to that purpose to rest from workes not for any mysterious signification sake as did the Jewes wee thinke the practise of the Church in the Apostles dayes is sufficient to inferre the apostolicall and divine institution thereof from hence Athanasius Cyrill Austin and the Fathers generally for I know not one alleaged to the contrary so take it And the Lords Day hath no other notion in Scripture language then a day of the Lords institution and this is confirmed in that it comes in the place of the Jewes Sabbath which is called in Scripture the Lords holy day Esay 58. and Psal 118. 24. of the day wherein Christ was made the head of the corner having beene formerly refused of the builders it is expresly said that it is the day that the Lord hath made and thereupon wee are called to rejoyce and be glad in it And it hath this congruity in the cause of its institution to the first Sabbath that as on the seventh day the Lord rested from his worke of Creation so on the first day of the weeke the Lord Christ rising from the dead then rested from his worke of redemption And lastly Christ bringing with him a new Creation is it strange that he should bring with him a new Sabbath and no day so fit for this as the day of his Resurrection And lastly whosoever doth not rest satisfied with the bare ordinance of the Church must hee not be driven to acknowledge an ordination more then humane requirable thereunto Of the necessity of my consequences and evidence of expresse Scripture formerly mentioned I leave it to the indifferent to judge and to none sooner then to Doctor Prideaux himselfe none being more able to judge of consequences then hee being so versed therein and I am well persuaded of the indifferency of his affections and had those writings in the canvassing of this point beene extant before this Lecture of his which hath since come to the light of the presse I am apt to conceave that either hee would have given way to that which seemes in my judgement to be the truth or represented good reason of his dissenting from it The Apostles example nor so onely but drawing the Churches generally to the same practise doth argue a constitution yet more is brought for the confirmation of the authority of the Lords Day then example That of searching into the veyles and shadowes of the old Testament to finde this institution is a mystery unto mee and so farre am I from that course that I know none guilty of it The ancient Fathers sometimes doe expatiate this way for the setting forth of the honorable condition of the Lords Day but they build not doctrines thereupon which if they had done in some particular case advantageous to our adversaries it had beene enough to have cryed us downe As for Judaisme I have often shewed how little colour there is for any such imputation to be cast upon us but rather upon our adversaries I see no cause to range the Petrobusian with the Ebionite but were they yoake-fellowes whereof I finde not the least evidence yet should not wee draw with them under the
hallowing the day whether it be weekly monethly or yearly as particulars evince in Scripture and History 47 No man can translate the worke therefore can no man translate the day this is an undoubted rule in Theology 48 And no man can in reason deny due respect unto the worke therefore hee cannot deny the hallowing of the day a true rule in morality 49 Now then seeing the Lords Day hath not altered the proportion of time but onely changed the day though not properly yet by analogy though not with the accessories yet according to the Originall Sabbath It may well agree with the tenor of the fourth Commandement and the observance thereof be commanded therein According to these Theses which I hold true untill any of them he confuted I will point out what I mislike in the Questions or the Answers not every particular but some principall points Figure the Section of the Answers in your booke and you shall the better fit my Theses to them Question 1. VVHat doe you mean when you pray after the fourth Commandement Lord have mercy upon us c. The 49 Theses answereth that we meane not the Jewish Sabbath but that which analogically to the Originall Sabbath we observe The Lords Day Question 2. Sect. 1. The observation of the Sabbath some say is morall and perpetuall By Sabbath you must understand the Lords Day otherwise none but Hereticks hold this opinion Then I thinke the proportion of time is perpetuall Thesi 15 though if you looke to the assiguation of the day it is not perpetuall sin hath altered it occasionally and God Causally absque hoc it was intended that it should be perpetuall Thesi 26. But whether is the observation of the Lords Day morall Certainly this is a morall rule to hallow the day wherein God doth some remarkable worke Thes 43. 48. But Christ did rise for the restauration of the World this day therefore the observance thereof morall Were it an absolute assignation of time the appointing of the Lords Day it might be doubted but take this circumstance as it cloatheth the worke then I hold it cleare that though time be but a circumstance yet the observance of time so understood is Morall But there is a mutability in the observance of such times as cloath Gods works because the works themselves are subject to mutability and so the seventh day was changed for the first because the first Creation needed an instauration and he that caused the Instauration might make the alteration Thesi 33. Question 1. Section 1. The Text is cleare Colos 2. that the observation of the Sabbath was ceremoniall As a shadow meane you this of the originall Sabbath or the declaratory cloathed with the accessories Thes 18 19 c. It is certaine the originall could be no shaddow for it is precedent to the fall The declaration may true as considered with his accessories but the author of the Questions I thinke mistaketh the text of S. Paul For the words referre to the controversie betweene the Jewes and Gentiles both believers but the beleeving Jew would have put upon the believing Gentile the ceremonies which S. Paul indureth not either here or in the Galat. As for the place to the Rom that tempereth the presumption of the Gentile who out of the conceipt of Christian liberty forgot to beare with the weake Jew All this is nothing to the Originall Sabbath whereunto I say the Lords Day succeedeth and is by analogy in the fourth Commandement which hath no mixture of those accessories for ought I can see in the words Question 1. Section 2. It cannot be proved that the Apostles commanded to sanctifie the Lords day in memory of Christs Resurrection No can what author ancient is there that doth not hold it to have had his originall from the Apostles he should doe well to alleage them It is something discrepant from the doctrine of our Church You alleage the words of the Homily but streighten the tense of them for the Christian People that chose the first day were those that lived in the dayes of the Apostles all of them and their posterity successively to us Doth it therefore follow that wee may not keepe the seventh day in memory of the worlds Creation It doth for the Lords Day succeedeth in stead of that ut Thes 33. Therefore they cannot consist with the purpose of the alteration which is to note a New Creation Ib. Constantine commanded the sixt day should be kept in memory of Christs death Kept as a fasting day not as a festivall day and so the Church keepeth it still Ibid. Sabbato postridie Sabbati conveniunt So doth the Church now but Saturday is Parasceve to the Lords Day and least they should seeme to Judaize they did and do begin the Eve after noon to note it is but a preparation to Sunday Ibid. Saint Austin termeth the Sabbath in the fourth Commandement Sacramentum Umbratile True as the Jewes did observe it So himselfe there expoundeth himselfe Question 1. Section 4. The observance of the Sabbath day by Christ compared to Jewish sacrifice This speaketh not of the assignation of dayes but how strictly the day must be kept and it is as true of the Lords Day Section 5. Hebrewes 4. mention is made of three rests Or one rest rather which is Gods rest and the participation thereof 2 wayes Typically Spiritually The Typicall is the entrance into Canaan which carried with it a cessation from labours of the Jewish servitude and Pilgrimage From this Typicall many saith the Apostle were excluded through infidelity and by fayth some did partake it But there was another participation a spirituall which came by Jesus whereunto Iosuah could not bring which is a ceasing not from corporall but spirituall toyles and sinnes immediatly but mediately it will bring unto a spirituall blessed rest both of body and soule in Heaven This spirituall immediate rest or participation of Gods rest is called Sabbatismus populi Dei If this be as I conceave it is the meaning of the place what is this to dayes Ib. Section 6. Some will have a weekely Sabbath a shaddow in regard of the strictnesse of the Rest I thinke the strictnesse was not it at least not principally but the Accession of which in the Theses But you are out of your argument for S. Paul speakes of shadow whereof the body is Christ Now before the fall the Sabbath was a kinde of shadow of our eternall rest but not of that whereof Christ is the body And to us the Lords day is a foretast of that eternall rest and I hold this shadow to be as lasting as the World Ib. New Moone Et caetera shadowes in their substance not their accessories Ergo the Sabbath A weake collection for other feasts were instituted after the fall under the Pedagogy of the Law the Sabbath before therefore this might be made a shadow by accessorie these not so Ibid. Shall I demand of them when this
the fall which I thinke more then probable though the Broughtonists hasten the fall before the Sabbath And I cannot without good reason yield that the patriarchs had no set time for divine service I meane a weekely time 31 True it is that Christ did rest from suffering upon the seventh but the last enemy death was not apparently overthrowne untill the reunion of his soule and body till he rose againe for our justification c. Therefore did the apostles make that the consummation of redemption in Christs Person 35 You cannot finde in all the 14. to the Romans that the Apostle is positive in the doctrine of dayes he expresseth a mutuall indulgence untill men had attained 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 concerning the liberty from Moses Law Neither doth he beare out the Gentiles against the Jewes but qualifie rather the destempered zeale of the Gentiles that were too hot against the Jewes Sensus dictorum sumendus est ex causis dicendorum It is plaine that there was a questioÌ„ whether the Christian gentile should be pressed to observe the ceremonies whereunto the christian Jewes were pertinaciously addicted but never was there for ought I read a question whether the Jewes should keepe the Lords day for I think they never refused it Had there been such a quarrell I would enlarge the sense of that Chapter as you doe to our question but seeing there was not I see not how it should be reasonably done 36 I say not that the Apostles imprinted any holinesse upon the first day of the weeke It was Christs resurrection that honoured that day which I say the Apostles were to respect not arbitrarily but necessarily You may perceive the reason in my Theses You cannot observe from the beginning of the world any other inducement to the institution of feasts but Gods worke done on the day If it were not a continued worke as the dwelling in Tabernacles But you thinke the Apostles did not prescribe the observation of that day No you confesse they made choice of it and were moved so to doe by the reason which I alleage And were they not scattered over all the world where they came did they not all give the same order for the sacred assemblies And shall we thinke that this could be done without an apostolicall prescript 37. 43. I conjoyne them because one answer will cleare both Let us then first agree what it is for a thing to be Liberae observationis The Questionist in his interpretation which commonly is received leaveth a possibility for an alteration by humane auctority if any reason shall perswade a conveniency so to doe though so long as publike auctority commandeth it he will have it dutifully observed Whereupon will follow a Consectary or two First that this Law doth not immediately bind the conscience because Merè humani Iuris positivi Secondly that Extra scandalum a man may transgresse it For example a Tradesman may worke in his Chamber if no body bee privy to it If this be the Commentary upon Libera observatio and if it be well inquired into you will finde that I doe not mistake the meaning then I professe I cannot like of such a Libera observatio For I am perswaded that if all Christendome should meete and have never so plausible a ground they cannot alter the day de jure though de facto they may but it is worse then pâ—evishnesse so to doe And why they cannot alter the first ground Christs rising upon that day Secondly they cannot alter the uniforme order that upon that undenyable ground was set down by the Apostles themselves which were infallibly guided by the Holy Ghost And out of these grounds I deduce that the Law doth immediately bind their conscience And that it is to be observed even where it may be transgressed without any scandall Christ and the Apostles were not absolutely bound to lay such a foundation of the Lords Day and so it was Liberae institutionis but they having layd it I deny that it is now Liberae Observationis so that under God I know no power that can alter it The Fathers speake of the Jewish Sabbath and Allegorize that as it was carnally used by the Jewes But we shall wrong the Fathers if we thinke they held that there was no Morality in the Letter of the Commandement For though there were a mystery figured in it yet they doe not deny that there was a morall proportioning of time for Divine Service prescribed therein which is the seventh part of the weeke It is one thing to say that all our life time we must be religious in our conversation and keepe a spirituall Sabbath anotherthing to affirme that we must not have a solemne weekely day wherein to intend onely Divine worship This last point the Fathers doe not say the former they doe and to argue from their Omission is to extend their words beyond their meaning at least their meaning is not adaequate to the sense of the Commandement No nor to their practise For they did constantly observe a seventh part of the weeke which I say is the first principle contained in the fourth Commandement Though I deny not but there is moreover a limitation to the seventh day from the Creation exprest which Christ and his Apostles altered but this alteration cannot overthrow the first principle they may both well goe together To the particular allegations out of the Fathers I will answer no more then that what they say is true but doth not contradict what I hold For the mysticall sense doth not overthrow the literall of the Commandement And they understand the seventh day precisely from the Creation which we confesse altered and speake not of the divine Ordinance for the apportioning of time but the carnall observation of the Jewes And your answer to the first Question grounded on the Fathers words may passe for good but there is more in the Commandement then so Your Answer to the second I cannot so well approve because it is Exclusive As for your third answer That the fourth Commandement is not the Law of nature but a positive law take the Law of Nature for Morall Reason then I think there is more then meere positivenesse in it For morall reason teacheth to honour the day whereon the work is done and that morall reason which gave this in charge was Apostolicall and so of a commanding power in both And then you see that it is neither meerely positive nor meerely naturall but mixt and so binding accordingly ut supra ad Thesin 37. 43. You adde two Questions 1 Whether seeing the Lords day succeeds the Jewish Sabbath wee are to keepe it in the same manner and with the same strictnesse First I hold in my Theses that our Lords day doth properly succeed the Sabbath instituted at the Creation Whereupon I separate all the Accessories from Moses Law Secondly The Jewes did misconsture the stricknesse of their Sabbath as appeareth by the many