point for it the first day of the weeke were the Lords day when Sermons and prayer and communicating in the Sacrament were made and received It follows that the Church had changed the Sabbath day from the seventh day unto the eight and so we are to resolve our selves against these innovators how this might be done for assure your selves although we be well resolved in the thing and long experience hath taught us to be quiet and to settle our selves in the authoritie of the Church yet there is nothing that is of weaker authoritie then the change of the Sabbath and if these new Hereticks can prevaile with us in other things it is no marvell if they prevaile in this for there is nothing that is left upon so weake a foundation that hath so slender proofe as this which makes them to get ground upon unstable soules that are their hearers being a multitude of men where there is varietie of affections and imbecillitie of judgement and every man is carried away with every blast of doctrine as children to and fro no marvell if they have sowne such seeds of pestilent schisme by these contrary blasts which are every where studied Therefore you shall understand that the holy Apostles presently after our Lords ascention into heaven The Sabbath changed by the Apostles they did ordaine that the meetings of Christians for the Sabbath that those exercises should be upon the eight day of the weeke I meane upon the eight day from the creation upon the Iews Munday which now is called Sunday or our Lords day and those feasts that formerly were wont to fall upon any day of the weeke as Easter day which was kept according to the course of the Moone and if it fell upon a Wednesday or a Thursday or the like still it was Easter day the Passeover day the feast of sweet bread when the paschall Lambe was offered But the Apostles changed it that it should alwayes be on the Sunday upon the day of our Lords resurrection and Whitsuntide which followes after Easter being a moveable Feast and as Easter was still that was to be referred to it now the feast of Pentecost was referred by the Apostles to the Lords day the day of our Lords resurrection our Sunday And this was not the devise of Pius Pius the first Pope or Dicta the first Pope as some have imagined which was many yeares after our Lords ascention but it is certaine it was the ordinance of the Apostles themselves as we may see in two famous places for we have but two as Beza Beza saith well in Acts 20.10 Act. 20 10. and in this place In these two places we observe that liberty that the Lord gave to his Church 1 Cor. 16.2 to change the seventh day to the eighth And whereupon upon what ground did they take this liberty for we have no direct word from the mouth of our Saviour for it but they did it onely upon the revelation of the spirit of God and they had such firme arguments and reasons as might sway them against the common tenents of the Iewish slavery and bondage whereby they were tyed and bound to the observation of their Sabbath The first maine reason that the Church had for the changing of the Sabbath 1 To shew the prerogative of Christ it was to shew the prerogative of the Sonne of God which saith of himself The sonne of man is Lord of the Sabbath also he is Lord even of the Sabbath Mark 3. Mark 3. Now therefore if he were Lord of the Sabbath then it lay in his power to change the time of the Sabbath the morall action he changed not that alway continueth we must have a day to worship God in we should worship God alway but the publique worship of God is the proper end and office of the Sabbath I but for the time why it should be upon the seventh day or on the eight day this was left in the Lordship of Christ being the Lord of the Sabbath which therefore could tell what he did when hee would rejourne the Sabbath to some other time where it might be a figure of some better signification therefore to shew the glory of the sonne of man the Church thought good to change the time of the Sabbath to another time 2 In remembrance of the work of redemption Secondly there was another reason as Athanasius Athanasius observeth upon those words of Christ All things are given to me of my Father he extends it thus far even to the change of the Ceremonies of Moses Law now saith he there are two great workes of God which are to be considered in their substance and in their ceremony The first is the worke of creation And the second is the worke of redemption wherin the world was recreated and made anew For the first the worke of creation the old Sabbath was instituted and ordained of God in remembrance of his worke for God rested the seventh day from all the worke that he had wrought and created in the sixe dayes before he rested the seventh day and blessed it and hallowed it for man to remember the workes he had created in the sixe working dayes and that man should also worke in sixe dayes as he had done and rest upon the seventh day for as the Lord had wrought sixe dayes so he saith sixe dayes shalt thou labour for all the life of man must be conformed to the example of Almighty God so now there being these two great workes the one of creation the other of redemption wee are to consider whether of these two are the greater and surely we shall finde the worke of redemption is a greater matter then the worke of creation When the Lord created the world by his omnipotent power he did but speake the word and it was done The Lord did but say let there be light and there was light Let there be a firmament and there was a firmament Let there be sea and land and there was presently sea and land and every thing else necessary But when he wrought redemption it was not done by a word but it cost the bloud it drew the bloud from the heart of his deare Sonne for it could not be done by way of omnipotency because it must be done by way of justice the justice of God must be satisfied which could not be satisfied but the sinner must loose his life which he had forfeited to God and God himselfe must doe it the person of God must take upon him the nature of man to suffer death for sinfull man that had deserved death everlasting this is the worke of recreation and redemption Now saith Athanasius these workes had their severall ages the worke of the creation was to be remembred untill Christ came to worke the worke of redemption and when he was come then the age of that was to passe away it was determined and terminate in Christ And now
began another age a more blessed and glorious age that of redemption that was now to flourish and to be esteemed in the world and so it was necessary that there should be a cessation of the former that there must be an introduction of this But how then will some say Quest shall we not remember the works of the creation still as well as wee should before Answ Yes but now the Lord hath given that grace and that light that wee may remember them every day we may meditate of them as we are doing our workes for the Gospell is so cleare and hath laid open the treasures of heaven so plainely that as we doe the workes of our hands we may remember the workes of the Lord too which the Iewes could not doe in their worke and labour for it was so hidden from them that they knew not that which was done before their faces as the Apostle saith 2 Cor. 3. 2 Cor. 3. Therefore this is one reason the gratious worke of the redemption and recreation of the world being the greatest worke that ever was requires the greatest memoriall Therefore it is necessary there should be a Sabbath day a time of rest for the contemplation and meditation of that rather then for the lesser worke the worke of the creation which may be meditated on and remembred every day as well as upon the Sabbath but the worke of redemption although it be to be thought upon and remembred every day and may be meditated upon daily yet then we must thinke of it more seriously with a more curious observation and meditation upon the Lords day because then upon that day was the resurrection of the Sonne of God who is the first fruits of all Christian beleevers 3 The Iewish Sabbath was for distinction Againe another reason of the change of the Sabbath is because the Sabbath was made for a matter of distinction to distinguish the Iewish nation from all other people in the world it was a matter of separation and privacy but the Lord Iesus came to be publique he would have none of those private signes continue he tooke down the partition wall which was made betweene Iewes and Gentiles they were before shut up one from another there was no agreement or correspondency betweene them and the symboll of this separation was the Sabbath day for the Gentiles scorned them and said they spent the seventh part of their time in idlenesse meaning their Sabbath day Now by this separation there grew enmity and hatred and outward opposition because the one had a rest and the other had not Now the Lord Iesus came to take downe this separation to take away this wall of distinction which was betweene them and so he made the eighth day the day of rest the Sabbath not for a day of separation as the seventh day was which separated them and made them strangers from all other men but to unite them so that now there is none strange in Christ but all are one Gal. Iewes and Gentiles male and female bond and free there is no nation nor no condition whatsoever but all are welcome to Christ the Saviour of the world Therfore he made the Sabbath upon a new day because the other was a day of separation and division but this is a day of common convocation and collection and gathering of all together as the Hen gathereth her chickens under her wings Mat. 23. Mat. 23. Further Reason 4 In memory of Christs resurrection because the Lord would assure us that both himselfe was risen and that wee also should rise by the vertue and power of his resurrection this is the maine head of our religion and all our faith therefore he would have us keepe the Sabbath upon the same day that he rose againe from the dead Therefore the Church changed that day from the Iewish Sabbath to rest not upon that day but upon the first day of the weeke which is our Lords day I say because the Lord would teach us the glorious article of his owne resurrection and would assure us of the consequent of it our resurrection by that power of his therefore he would have every Sabbath day to be a day of meditation upon that benefit that every Christian may say this is my resurrection day this day my Head rose againe which is the first fruits and I am assured that by the power of his resurrection I shall rise also therefore that Christ might make a way to my resurrection he hath ordained a day a Sabbath wherein I must contemplate upon that benefit and this I feed on this is my Sabbath dayes feast wherein I rest and quiet my soule and if it were not for the certainty of the resurrection of Christ and the certaine hope of my own resurrection I could keepe no Sabbath but now I keepe a Sabbath by the appoyntment of the Church by the wise judgement of my Mother as a symboll of my resurrection as a signe and symboll that my head is risen and that his body also shall rise in due time as certainly as the head is risen already Reason 5 From the end of the Sabbath Againe the Sabbath and the end of the Sabbath was a cessation from worke and it signifieth both a cessation from sinne and also the rest that our Lord and Saviour Christ was to have in the grave to make a cessation from our sinnes and from all sinne in his children Observe the argument ye shall see it in Heb. 4.10 Heb. 4.10 The Apostle there tels us that one of the ends of the Sabbath was this that a man should rest from his worke even as God rested from his what are mens works sinne what are Gods workes the glorious act of the creation therefore as God ceased from his worke and made a Sabbath to shew that then he had finished his worke and rested so there remaines a Sabbath to the people of God to shew that there is a cessation from their worke Now this cessation of Gods people it must come to the members from the head it must begin at our head Christ first he must cease from sinne but Christ had no sinne therefore he could not cease from sinne but because hee said consummatum est the day before the Sabbath that is the price of mans sinne which was cast upon him it was now payed therefore there is a cessation from sinne and wee must not live any longer therein but be dead to sinne as Christ was in his grave and rise to holinesse of life which is the proper end of his resurrection Marke how the Church concludes upon this the Sabbath was a type of Christs resting but he never rested till he was in his grave for saith he My Father workes hitherto and I worke and I worke to day and to morrow and the third day I shall be perfect still in this fraile life he was working but upon the Sabbath day then he rested to
Plato that God would change the seventh day to the eighth to signifie thereby that God would bring a rest to all the world so that our change of the Sabbath day saith he it is not onely of us not onely manifested to us but it was opened to the Gentiles themselves they also acknowledged it Cyprian Diacon Epist 41. Cyprian the Deacon saith he shall reade the next Lords day wherein the Church must bring their accustomed sacrifice to God that is the sacrifice of Almes-deeds the treasure of life eternall and in his 41. Epistle saith he in the station that is in the Church where we meet and stand together before God let you almes be ready and let no man appeare empty before the Lord alluding to the law speaking of the change of the Sabbath and the collection for the poore Saints named in this place by the common state of the Church Basil Hexamer secund Basile in the second of his Hexameron saith he that the Lord might bring us from this present life to the thought of a better life of the life to come he hath appointed the first fruits of the Sabbath wherein the first fruits of the living rose again from the dead the Lord Christ which was dead did then live which was the beginner and continuer of light in his Church I meane saith he the holy Sabbath day glorified by the resurrection of Christ and commended to the Church to be alway fulfilled and kept Nazianzinus orat 43. Nazianzen saith he there were two Lords dayes the one for the Iewes the other for the Gentiles but ours that we have is more excellent than that for that was belonging to mans salvation but this was the very nativity of salvation the birth of our Saviour The Iewes Sabbath was the intermedium the passage betweene the buriall of Christ and his resurrection for Christ lay in his grave upon their Sabbath day and there he rested and with him rested all the ceremonies of the law never any more to revive but this of the resurrection of Christ is plainly and fully the day of the second generation and regeneration of all the Saints and he gives a reason for it For saith he even as the first creation of the world begun from the Sabbath day so we must imagine that God began to make the world upon the Munday as we call our weeke for in his eternall rest whereby he rested from all eternitie he began then to worke although it were no worke to God but a rest even the creation it was a rest to him he did not worke then more then before yet it is signified to us by worke in the Scripture and that he began in the beginning of the weeke to set himselfe to worke therefore as that worke of the creation began from the Sabbath so the worke of the recreation and redemption of man must begin from the Sabbath And although this be the eighth day yet it is the best day of all that were before it and of all that shall come after it being more high and glorious then that glorious day that was before and being more wonderful and admirable then that wondrous time that preceded it Saint Ierome in the second Epistle of his booke against Vigil The Apostle Paul saith he S. Hierom. contra Vigil Epist 3. Vigitantius I suppose commanded almost all Churches that there should be collections for the poore made upon the Lords day which is the first day of the weeke that is the first of the Iewish weeke And in his fourth question to Hibibbia How soone saith he did the Apostles of Christ turne and change the Iewish Sabbath to shew the libertie of Christians from the bondage of the law how soone did they turne it to the Lords day Aug. 10. Tom. Saint Austin in the tenth Tome of his Sermon upon these words of the Apostle saith he When the seventh day was fulfilled which is the consummation of the world we must come backe againe to the first and reckon from seven to seven and this first will be found the eight day the seventh day is ended and then the Lord is buried the eight day begins and then the Lord is raised for the raising up of the Lord Iesus hath promised unto us a day eternall and hath consecrated to us the Lords day which is the signe and note and assurance unto us of that eternall day of that everlasting Sabbath for now the rocke is raised up againe Let all our hearts be circumcised speaking of the manner of circumcision which was done with a knife of stone with a piece of a stone taken out of the rock out of the rock which is Christ Chrysost on 1. Cor. 16.2 Saint Chrysostome upon this place In one of the Sabbaths that is saith he upon the Lords day for the time it selfe was of sufficient force saith he to bring a man to bee liberall to give almes plentifully Oecumenius Oecumenius saith the same saith hee it should rouze us up this time the Lords day to do good to the Lords Saints Theophilact Theophilact being the first day of the weeke the time wherein we meet together before God they never saith he went without love to God and to the Saints upon the first day of the weeke which is the Lords day Theodoret Theodoret. saith he the day and the worke are met together a man should do the works of the time in his owne time a worke done in season is the more gratefull and acceptable Therefore saith he the day of the Lord wherein the resurrection of Christ is honoured is the fittest time to shew our bountifulnesse to God which hath beene so bountifull to us in giving us the memoriall of him that was Lord of his owne and of our resurrection Athanasius Athanasius upon that place All things are delivered to me of my Father which I stood on the last day and shewed his reasons for the change of the Sabbath Cirill of Ierusalem in the fourteenth of his Catechisme saith he Yesterday Cirill of Ierus Catech. 14. upon the Lords day in the congregation of the Saints and at the generall prayers of the people you heard me speak and discourse of these things where we may see that in that countrey also the same manner was retained Epiphanius in his second booke Epiph. lib. 2. The Sabbath of the Iewes remained in the law till the presence and comming of Christ but Christ dissolved the Sabbath and gave a Sabbath of his owne which is a type of that true rest of that sabbatism wherby the Saints rest from ceremonies and are come to the substance the Sonne of God as the Apostle speaks Heb. 4.7 Cirill of Alexandria in his seventh booke to Palladius We know saith he Cirill Alexand. l. 7. ad Pallad that the Lord Christ came to make us a perfect rest from sinne from death from miserie and to give us conquest over death
spirit but the body This is the great mercie and blessing of God that although the body be never so naked yet the promise of the Resurrection is made unto that For the spirit needs no Resurrection the spirit cannot rise for it never falleth And as Saint Chrysostome saith the Resurrection must be of that which fals but the spirit never fell otherwise then by sinne and it is not otherwise raised then by repentance a spirituall kinde of resurrection But the Apostle meddles not with that here but he cals it the resurrection of the body and he shews that this comfort the body hath that although it be never so poore and never so bare though it bee cast into the furrows of the earth never so forlorne and forsaken and be stripped of all the glorious weedes that it had before yet it hath a promise that it shall resume unto it its former glory nay a farre greater glory a glory that shall indure for ever Indeed the corne when it comes out of the earth againe it flourisheth for a time and then afterward is resolved into the old corne againe and becomes like it selfe all the greennesse and goodlines of it with two or three moneths drying Sunne fades away or with the blast of a tempest it perisheth But these bodies when they shall be raised againe God shall give them that singular beautie that he intends to bring them to hee shall give them that durability that duration that no winde shall weather-beat them no Sunne shall scorch them the Sunne shall not hurt them by day Psal 121.6 nor the Moone by night for the Lord is their protection and their candle for evermore 2. Part. Gods part I come now to the second part of the Text which is Gods part He denyes it to man and saith that he doth not sow that which shall be but he saith God gives it a body that is that body that God meanes to give it man doth not sowe actually How comes it then By the hand of him that guides and governs all things he gives to every seed a body as he pleaseth and to every seed his owne proper body Where first the Apostle would reduce the glory of all the action of this creation to God all the operation in this great worke it is of God And to make us to settle onely in that he useth a phrase that is most sweet and gentle when he saith God gives it a body He doth not say God creates and makes it a body for those are works of labour we understand and conceive alwayes by those works something that is painfull and hard to be gotten And although God take no paines in the worke of creation yet it is so propounded to us as a matter of great difficultie Therefore he tooke sixe dayes to make the world in to raise our intentions to understand the greatnesse of the worke and the order that God tooke it was not a confusion therefore hee did not all things at once as he might have done but in succession of time But I say those words when they are used in Scripture they are spoken still in the sence and notion of labour But the word giving is alway taken in another sence as a matter of facilitie and easinesse to shew both the quicknesse and facilitie and also the goodnesse of the giver So in this that hee saith that God gives it a body he shews that it is a customarie thing for him out of his hidden treasures still to draw forth and to poure downe his benefits upon mankinde with chearfulnesse and good will his minde is set to do it not onely to his friends but to his enemies Mat. 5.45 for he makes his Sunne to shine and his raine to fall upon the just and unjust and hee makes that corne to grow even the corne of Infidels as well as Christians So great is his goodnesse to mankinde Vse And withall in that he saith God gives it a body It should teach us alway to receive these creatures as gifts from God as earnests of Gods love unto us A man that useth these temporall things either hee must make them assurances of things eternall or else he must abuse them And being the gifts of God of whom we receive every thing therefore they must be used to the honour of God which is the donour Our bread and food and all the parts of our maintenance as they spring and issue from him so they should be returned to him with a retribution of thankfulnesse and a gracious conversation God gives it a body and to every seed his owne body This is the maine point with which the Apostle intends to comfort the present body that is afflicted in this world For there were certaine Heretiques that said there was one body that fel and another body that rose that there was one body that rotted and corrupted in the grave and instead of that God gave another body And so there was a kinde of mutation or substitution to let one body dye but another to be raised out of the ashes as the Phoenix is said to rise out of the ashes of her mother But it is not so saith the Apostle There is no substitution there is onely by the blessing of God a restitution of the same thing unto a higher and a better and a more beautifull estate There is not one body that dyes and another body that is raised for then there could be no resurrection For what kinde of victory can this be said to be over death if the same thing that was foyled and conquered be not conquerour againe by the powerfull hand of God Therefore Christ is so carefull to prove this point unto us that it was the same body of Christ that rose that suffered upon the crosse hee was so carefull I say that wee should know this that he ordained it so that Thomas should be so distrustfull that he should gage his wounds Joh. 20.27 and finde the print of the nayles that he might looke on them that he might touch them and handle them that he might see that it was the same identicall body that he had before he went to the grave For he foresaw that there would such a doctrine of devils arise in the latter end of the world to say that Christ both in his body personall and in his body mysticall that there was a mutation of bodies that one body should dye and another rise in the place of it But against this the Apostle saith He gives to every seed his owne body In the body of nature the corne doth oftentimes so degenerate that wheat will turne to barley and barley to oates the better corne will turne to worser by reason of the badnesse and hungrinesse of the ground or by reason of the weaknesse of the seed or the unseasonablenesse of the times or the indiligence of the husbandman These things oft times cause these mutations But in this seed our bodies
shew that now he had given the Sabbath a perfect rest for ever that there should be no more ceremoniall worke he had then fulfilled all the ceremonies the sinne of man was payd for and all the troublesome ceremonies of the law were abrogate and to shew that the Sabbath was ended he celebrated it in his grave and then upon the Munday the Iewes Munday the day of his resurrection hee rose againe to shew that ours must be an active life not in idle circumstances to passe it away in ceremonies as in the law but to remaine as an eternall Sabbath for ever we keepe a publique Sabbath to God though not in the same time and in memory of the same thing yet in the remembrance of a farre greater benefit 6 From the apparitions of Christ To conclude the point our Lord graced this constitution of the Church by his own presence most of his apparitions were upon the eighth day as wee may see in the Gospell that day that he rose still he glorified it with his presence eight dayes after he rose he came and shewed himselfe to his Disciples and the next day to Thomas and the rest of the Disciples and so for the time of 40. dayes that he continued on earth after his resurrection look how many Mundayes of the Iewes there was which is our Lords day so many apparitions hee made upon that day whereby they gathered that it was the will of the Lord and that hee meant to make that day glorious by his comfortable apparitions for still as I said his apparitions were upon that day he was absent all the weeke before hee appeared to none except it were to some few persons as Peter and Iohn but he made no publique apparition but onely upon the Lords day And upon this the Church of God was induced to make this change and we see it acted Acts 20.10 Acts 20.10 1 Cor. 16. and this chapter is a publique testimony of it and likewise in Rev. 1. Rev. 1. Saint Iohn saith I was in the spirit upon the Lords day which is generally taken by the fathers of the Church and by the Interpreters of the Gospell for this that we hold instead of the Sabbath day But because these kinde of people will never be satisfied except wee can answer their reasons as well as they can heare ours give me leave a little to goe forward in this poynt and heare what they can object for this Arguments against the change of the Saâ—bâ—th which thinke the Iewish Sabbath still to remaine in force I have spent the time against my minde and purpose therefore I will but name the chiefe heads of their arguments and refute them They conclude therefore that there is no certaine warrant for the changing of the Iewish Sabbath to ours 1 There is no written word for it because there is no direct written Scripture to prove it we have no Text of Scripture to worke it into us But for that we are to answer them Answ The Apostles in this guided by the spirit of God whatsoever the Apostles did being guided by the spirit of God their practise is a sufficient direction to us it is warrant enough that they have done it before us For so we have in many other things the practise of the Apostles to be a rule of our faith Christ not determining many particular things in the Church but leaving it to the discretion of the wise those that should be well furnished with knowledge for the directing of things in their places where they were therefore that which the Apostles did it was the act of Christ for they did it not of themselves but from a higher person from him that sent them Another reason they have and that is this 2 It is a part of the decalogue the decalogue or tenne Commandements are a perpetuall law but this is a part of the decalogue therefore this is a perpetuall law and the precepts that be in the tenne Commandements are all morall they are precepts that belong to all men to all times and places in the world Thirdly God is pleased to call the Sabbath an everlasting covenant God cals the Sabbath an everlasting covenant Deut. 12.16 I have made an everlasting covnant saith the Lord Deuter. 12.16 and in divers other places hee cals it a perpetuall covenant betweene me and my people Israel therefore it follows it must last as long as the world lasts and consequently it cannot be changed for then we alter the covenant of God 4 It was aucienter then Moses A fourth objection is this all the laws that are ancienter then Moses are immutable but this was more ancient then Moses law for it was given to man in paradise the Lord there by resting upon the seventh day did consecrate the Sabbath to be kept although some of the Fathers say as Iustin Martyr Iustin Martyr that they did not keepe it before the Floud but yet there was the institutioÌ„ of it therfore seeing it was a law given before Moses and before the fall of man it follows it is immutable and unchangeable because if there be any change it must be for imperfection and if there be any imperfection it must be for sinne and there was no sinne before the fall Therefore whatsoever was commanded before the fall was so perfect that it could not be altered it had no respect of imperfection in it 5 The cause of it is perpetuall And lastly the perpetuall cause of a law makes the law continue if the cause of it remaine the law must also continue and therefore there are many lawes that are made and abrogate againe because there is no use of them they were made in such a time for such things and the cause failing the law ceaseth but where the law hath a perpetuall cause there the law is in force to continue alway but the cause of the Iewish Sabbath continueth the meditation and contemplation upon the works of God and the holy operation of his hands this is the cause of the Sabbath and this alwayes continueth therefore the Iewish sabbath must continue These are the prime and chiefe grounds of their arguments I will answer a word to these and so conclude First in that they say the decalogue or ten Commandements is a law perpetuall Ans to Ob. 2. The Iewish Sabbath partly ceremoniall and bindes the consciences of all men It is true as farre forth as it is morall it doth but those parts that bee ceremoniall as the Sabbath is partly morall and partly ceremoniall and as it is moral it binds but as it is ceremoniall it doth not For the moralitie of the Sabbath is this to worship God in a publique service that wee are bound unto that which is ceremoniall that we should serve him upon such a day upon the seventh day rather then any other that doth not binde there is no part of moralitie in that that
is but an appendix but a reference but a consequence for that it is a limited ordinance and is not to have a continuall succession and perpetuitie no more then circumcision and the rest of the figures of the law And for that they say Ans to Ob. 3. The Sabbath not said to be everlasting property that God made an everlasting covenant of the Sabbath you must understand that word there Legnolam it signifieth not that eternitie that never ceaseth but a diuturnitie a long time so it was for the law it continued 2000. yeares which is said in Scripture to bee eternall and those things which exceed the age of a man which passe the conceit and opinion of man that no mans memory can extend so farre they are called eternall many times in Scripture It is said of the kingdome of David that it should last unto eternitie and yet we know it lasted but five hundred yeares which is farre short of eternitie So for the land of Israel it is said the people of Israel should inhabite it for eternitie and yet in a thousand yeares they were outed and expelled But the word signifieth that which is of long induring of long continuance such a thing was the Sabbath for the testimony and covenant of God in ceremoniall things they were long but they were not eternall Ans to Ob. 4. All laws before Moses not immutable And then where it is said that those lawes that were before Moses those lawes that were in the state of paradice they are unchangeable and immutable because there is no imperfection in them First of al I denie their ground that the law of the Sabbath was given in Paradise And secondly that such lawes as were before Moses as onely thus farre immutable unlesse they may be otherwise better supplyed for it was Gods will that those things that were before should be types and figures and shaddowes of things that were to come after Now when the perfect body was once come in place all those figures and shaddowes were to be removed So was circumcision foure hundred yeares before Moses yet we see it is abrogate and ceaseth by the comming of our Lord and Saviour Christ So was the Sabbath the Lord Christ being the summe of circumcision and also being the summe of the Sabbath day being our rest in God and assuring us of our rest from all sinne from all torment from all feare and all paine which our nature is subject unto it was needfull therefore that he should come in the place of all these shaddows and that they should cease and have no further intelligence or operation And for the last Ans to Ob. 5. Meditation of Gods works not tyed to one day where they say the cause of the law continueth and therfore the law must continue but the cause of this law was the meditation of Gods works and that must be continuall therefore the Sabbath must be continuall It is true if the meditation of the works of God were of necessity put to one day then the argument were good and strong but because it may be done upon the eight or first or second as well as upon that the argument concludes not Indeed where the cause of the law and the end of it can be no otherwise attained but by the direct word and letter of the law there the law must continue as long as the end of it continueth But the end of the law of the Sabbath is the meditation of Gods creatures which may be attained unto another way for we see in Christ better then they could in Moses for we see the fulnesse of God the excellencie of the creation that cleare light of contemplation in the Sonne of God which was not to be discerned in the old Testament The grace of God hath appeared to all men 2. Tit. 11. and hath removed the clouds of darknesse that were before that we might walke in a new light that we might walk from glory to glory we see face to face 2. Cor. 3. as the Apostle saith I have beene too troublesome to you in this point to speake to them that are well setled but it is for this respect to cleare this point to make it appeare what phanaticall spirits these be that after so much and so long peace and quiet of the Church would begin to trouble the faith of Christians again by renewing the Iewish Sabbath For they go in effect to proove that there is no Christ come into the world for seeing their Sabbath was a type of Christs resting in the grave and that he should bury it in the grave with all other ceremonies they do in effect deny that Christ dyed and that he is risen againe they deny his resurrection by drowning the memory of that in remembring their Sabbath by obscuring our Lords day in keeping that Sabbath in which he lay in the grave and by keeping that they put a cessation to this But it is good also that we should understand the tenents of our faith upon firme and strong arguments that the powers of darknesse the gates of hell may have no prevailing against us in the time when they come to fight with us It is true this argument doth afford to wrangling spirits as much contradiction as any matter of Divinitie but we have the authoritie of the Church grounded upon good reasons and arguments why we do so to commemorate the glorious worke of the resurrection of our head To assure us that we which are his members shall rise with him Now follows to speake of the incentives and motives concerning this worke of charitie but I am afraid too much to oppresse your patience therefore I will conclude The third Sermon 1. Cor. 16.1.2.3 Now concerning the collection for the Saints as I have ordained in the Churches of Galatia even so do you In the first of the Sabbath let every one of you lay up by himselfe treasure of whatsoever God hath prospered him that there be no gathering when I come And when I come those whom you shall appoint and approve by your letters those will I send to carry your grace to Ierusalem THere are but two places in the Scripture that gives a powerfull warrant to the Church of God for the change of the Sabbath day from the seventh to the eighth day And therefore I thought it fit falling upon this Text not to leave that point negligently or sleightly handled but to regard it so farre as my weaknesse could attaine unto The last time I shewed the reasons of the change of it It was a thing that was partly ceremoniall and the Church of God is bound to it no further then it is morall It was a matter of distinction it made a separation betweene Iewes and Gentiles Christ came to take downe the wall of separation It was a memoriall of the Resurrection of Christ and the comfort of us all in that the root of life was raised therefore there
is a lively hope made over to all the branches that they shall rise againe with the root It was graced by the manifold apparitions of Christ and confirmed unto us according as the Apostles had receiued it from the will of Christ to grace that day the eighth day with his apparitions It was confirmed unto us by the Apostle Saint Iohn who maketh mention of the Lords day hee was rapt in the Spirit upon the Lords day And by these two places Act. 20.10 and this present place 1. Cor. 16.2 The time prevented me that I could not shew you the authoritie from age to age and the concurrence of these two things which was the gathering of collections upon that day for the Apostle includes both these both that the day should be changed to the first of the Sabbath that is to the first day of the weeke And secondly that upon this first day of the weeke it should be a particular appendix of the Sabbath dayes worke to lay up somewhat for the Saints because then there were no such officers appointed in the Church therefore every man waâ— his owne Treasurer every man was his owne overseer for the poore to lay up by himselfe as Chrysostome saith this priesthood thy charitie and thy love to thy brother hath bestowed upon thee that a man should provide and ordaine by his owne hands till such time as the Church should provide overseers and collectors for the poore and Deacons that they should be every where as they were then at Ierusalem Now it may seeme a matter not worth the labour to prove this point concerning the time of the Sabbath if it were not that some phanaticall spirits in these latter dayes had raised such a mist and vapour to cloud this truth and to bring backe the Iews ceremoniall Sabbath which saith Gregory if any go about to do he must bring in the Iews sacrifice and so he shall derogate and destroy the bloud and sacrifice of Christ which was offered once for all Give me leave therefore a little before I come to the residue of the Text for indeed it is full of matter to shew you how the Church of God in the first beginning acknowledged this day for the true Sabbath of the Lord. And upon these grounds out of Scripture I need not do it I know among you that are fully perswaded but there are some men that do infringe the glory and purpose of this Text and contradict the Fathers even some of our late Writers that are otherwise worthy Interpreters of the word of God yet here they hold that the Apostles meaning is where he saith One of the Sabbath that it is not to be understood upon the Lords day but they thinke it may be any one day in the week Wherein it is a wonder that they should give such a scandall to the Church of God in weakening the arguments and the faith of the Fathers that were before us and to make us uncertaine what to adhere and cleave unto I spare their names because they are worthy instruments of the Gospell Onely I go about to refute and cast down their opinion which I will do briefly and by the libertie and licence of the time that I may make the shorter worke The first of the Sabbath the Lords day Therefore that this first of the Sabbath is the Lords day it is manifest by other places of Scripture whose consent make an absolute verity every where for the rule of Scripture is to expound one place by another In Matth. 28.2 The woman came to the grave upon the first of the Sabbath when as it shined up when the light shined up upon the first of the Sabbath then came the woman to the grave the same word is used there as there is here The first of the Sabbath which was the day of the Lords resurrection and not every day in the weeke but the eight day from the creation So againe more clearly in Mark 16.2 and vers 9. it is said there verse 2. the women came very early in the morning upon the first of the Sabbath or of the weeke And in the 9. verse it is said Iesus did rise upon the first of the Sabbath in the morning that is upon the first day of the week This phrase in Scripture alludeth to that in Gen. 1.7 the morning and the evening were the one day that is the first day for one and first in the Hebrew tongue are promiscuously taken which is in every one day of the Sabbath that is in every Sabbath or upon the Lords day or in every first day of the weeke which is the Lords day Then the authoritie of the Acts of the Apostles and this place and that of Saint Iohn which saith he was rapt in the spirit upon the Lords day The judgement of the Fathers for the obâ—ervation of the Lords day All these things be firme and true establishers of the point we have declared Now for the Fathers that they were all also of the same minde you shall heare Iustin Martyr Iustin Martyr Apolog 1.2 that lived an hundred yeares after Christ within an hundred and foure yeares after he saith in the second of his Apollogeticks In the day saith he that we call Sunday the day which the Heathen men called Sunday which is now our Sabbath day for the other day before was called Saturne day of Saturne which was the Iews Sabbath in that day saith he the congregation come together and there are prayers offered up to God and after the Sacraments are received there is a collection made every man layes up as much as his own good will is according to his own election and it is given to the superintendent or to the chiefe Minister of the place and he seeth the poore provided for with it he seeth it be bestowed upon them Tertullian which lived two hundred and foure yeares after Christ in his booke called Tertull. in sould Crowne Apolog. ca. 16. The souldiers Crowne he saith Vpon the Lords day wee abhorre fasting for it is a time of feasting with us And in his Apolloget Chap. 16. saith he If we give one day in seven to merrinesse and joy to joyfulnesse in the holy Ghost it is but all one as the Iewes do which give yet superstitiously the day of Saturne to idlenesse and meere superstition so saith Tertullian there is a certaine little chest in the Church and every man puts into it what seemes good to him if he can and if he will for there is no man constrained and this is done once in a moneth For the place could not endure that it should be done every Sabbath as the Apostle saith here upon every first of the Sabbath but because of the povertie of the countrey it was but once in a moneth that they brought their charitie for the poore Clemens Alexandrinus in the fifth of his Stromata Clem. Alexan. Strom. 5. Pâ—ato he brings a prophesie out of
of custome and dutie these men shame themselves infinitely and disturbe the order of nature and perhaps lay up a curse for their owne soules The last thing that I observe hence is this how will he make the Church of Galatia to provoke them how will hee bring the Corinthians to this how shall it be brought about The Corinthians might have objected and said What do you tell us of the Church of Galatia Have not we poore enow of our owne as we use to say now adayes we will give nothing abroad because wee have poore at home It is true a poore mans neighbour that is neere unto him ought in the first and principall place to be regarded no question of it yet there ought something to be done to the poore at large Now lest the Corinthians should say they would be at their choice and they would either do or they would not do and the Church of Galatia was of no power to prescribe them or their example was of no force to move them by way of necessitie The Apostle therefore tels them I did appoint So by this he shews that he came with full authoritie as speaking more authentically and more powerfully not by perswasion and counsell but by his Apostolicall authoritie which he had received by Christs command As I have appointed The Church hath power to dispose of mens goods We learne by this that the Church hath power to dispose of mens goods and yet this must be done in a gentle manner with a reservation of their owne will for the quantitie for in the quantitie it cannot say saith Saint Chrysostome thus much or thus much but must leave it to a mans owne conscience according as God hath inriched him but as I said before whensoever God hath given a prosperous voyage according as a man hath had a good journey in his trade so he must prosper Gods Saints according as God hath prospered him But for the maine point that he must give something it lyes in the Churches power to command that almes-deeds and works of charitie should be done that is as much in the Churches power as that we should keepe a Sabbath day that men should meet together and heare the word and administer Baptisme and the Lords Supper in the Church wee know these things the Church hath power to ordaine and constitute and as much power hath the Church to ordaine the collection for the poore for all come from one authoritie Therefore the Apostle saith here As I have appointed So then the Corinthians were bound not onely by the example of the Church of Galatia but by that Apostolicall power by that authoritie which the Apostles had received from Christ Feed my sheepe feed them with your prayers feed them with your preaching feed them with your exhortations feed them in giving them bread for the body feed them by your example feed them every way that may be helpfull and commodious to them Howbeit out of this we must not gather that the Church hath that fulnesse of power to impose what they list and to oppresse by way of exaction to thrust in upon the members of Christ what it pleaseth them No the Apostle gives no way here for annates he gives no way for Peter-pence nor for such kinde of collections for those were exactions and extortions against the good wils of the parties to the impoverishing of them that gave it and to the exceeding enriching of those that received it Therefore in such a case we must take notice how farre the Churches authoritie doth extend that is when it is to do good to them of Ierusalem for the Saints of Ierusalem for the good of them that want of them that are disabled by age or by nature or by misfortune to do good to them this is the will of God and this the Church hath power to raise out of a mans substance and there is nothing that is a mans owne there is nothing that he can say hee takes comfort in unlesse the poore man take part of it there is no pound that thou hast except the poore man have a quantitie out of it if it be but a farthing in a pound except he have something from it there can be no rest nor quiet to thee of it the Lord hath appointed unto men that as he hath blessed them so they should returne some tribute some acknowledgement to his poore members on earth As I have appointed in the Churches of Galatia This is the first motive I lay no new thing upon your shoulders no new burthen upon you but that which other Churches beare as well as you nay that which poorer Churches as that of Galatia which is not comparable to you beares the same burthen therefore I pray do you beare it It is the common taxation of the Church of God the collection for the poore the taxing for the poore it hath beene still a follower and a concomitant of the Gospell to have mind of the poore Saints it was the charge given to Paul and Barnabas Gal. 2. as a chiefe part of their office to be mindfull of the poore 2. Motive The safe carriage of it The second motive is taken from the faire carriage that shall bee in this matter for the Corinthians might feare when they had made this collection and should send it that it would miscarry for Ierusalem was almost a thousand miles off from Corinth take the neerest way that might be and there might many casualties fall out before it came there it might be taken by tyrants or they might be false among themselves so that they knew not whether ever it should come to the hands of them that should have it tendred them Therefore for that he saith he will see to it they shall be sure it shall be carried safe and sent to Ierusalem It is a great comfort and a great argument to stirre up mens hearts to do good when they know there shall be no fraud nor deceit in the conveyance of it it was that onely incentive that moved our forefathers to be so bountifull to the Church of God as they were that they went from the giving of almes-deeds to the building of Cels and Colledges and Monasteries and great Churches and goodly Pallaces a strange and wondrous height there was of pietie and devotion Indeed there was much superstition mingled with it there was much vanitie mixed with it but yet we may well thinke that if those men had ever thought of such sharkers as came after them to pull downe all and to make every thing equall with the ground they would have saved a labour and would never have beene so bountifull to the Church If they had thought that such a sort of intruders and ravenners would have taken the goods and the stocke of the Church and the stocke of the poore and have made such havocke of them not caring for the honour and respect of the Church But here for this the Apostle
in heaven and when a man is not cumbred with the labours of the world his minde is better and more easily induced to do good a man that is puzzelled about his worke he saith he hath other mattrrs to do then to attend a poore man he cannot be for him now he puts him off till another time and bids him come to morrow as the wise man saith Say not to thy neighbour Come againe to morrow Prov. 3. if thou have it now by thee A man being distracted with his businesse he takes his opportunitie and makes these excuses to answer God and his owne conscience with these or the like and saith he cannot now intend it he is otherwise busied But when hee hath a relaxation from his labour which is the proper fruit of the Sabbath the minde of man is made more gentle and more easily perswaded to do any good worke because it knows that therefore a man is lift up from the cares and troubles of this life to the speculation of heavenly things therefore he is the more easily perswaded to do the works of heavenly charitie and divine operation which the Spirit of God acts in the hearts and soules of all his children So that is one reason why the Apostle bids that this gathering should be on the first of the Sabbath because then men are at leasure then they are not cumbred with the world they are freed from peevishnesse and impatience which oft times hinders a poore man of an almes which if he had come when the partie was at quiet and rest he might have obtained 2 Reason The benefits received on that day Another reason is because of the benefits that we receive upon that day the commemoration of the blessings God hath vouchsafed us upon that day upon that day the root of life rose the Lord Iesus who rising againe from the dead hath opened to us a certaine gappe and hope of life everlasting the meditation of the good creatures of God the state of the Gospell cals us unto the liberty of the sonnes of God all the whole blessings of the Gospell be represented and accumulated unto us upon that day Therefore that was the fittest time to be thankfull to God for his mercies wherein God is most abundant in mercy to us that then wee should returne somewhat backe againe some small widdows mite some little portion to Gods children for all those infinite treasures we have received for this is all that God requires that we should give but something of his owne of some but the thousand part of some but the hundreth part this is all that he requires for that great store those mighty summes and infinite riches and treasures and masses of wealth he hath given us That we should make a little acknowledgement by giving some small sprinkling for all this That is another reason why the Apostle would have this collection be upon the Sunday wherin the memory of al the blessings of God upon body and soule are the goodliest in every thing therefore it makes men more prone and inclined to do some good for him that hath wrought so much good for them The third reason is Reas 3 The exercises of the day because upon that day the publique meetings were made where there was prophesie and preaching and praying and singing of Psalmes and holy revelations and instructions from heaven all which were as fire to kindle the zeale of a man to be for God and for his brethren and to joyne together the members of the Lord Iesus in a firmer conjunction then any other societie in the world If a man love a man abroad in the market he will love him ten times better in the Church if there be any pietie or any coales of love to kindle his affections elsewhere it will be much more in the Church where every word of God every Sermon every prayer every thanksgiving every Psalme that is sung brings some fuell to that heavenly flame Therefore for this cause the Apostle chuseth that time as being the most select and choise opportunitie for the conferring of that which God had blessed them withall upon the first day of the weeke that is upon the Lords day 4 Reason The Sacrament was th n received And lastly because that upon that day the Church was alway wont to receive the Sacrament of the Lords Supper it was not with them then as it is with us now men will receive it when they list but every Sunday was with them a Sacrament day and oft times every day in the weeke but on the Lords day they never failed Therefore as a testimony of their thankfulnesse to God for the benefit of the body and bloud of Christ which was offered on the Crosse as a ransome and propitiation for all their sins they thought they were bound in conscience and they were easily induced and perswaded upon the receiving of the Sacrament to give something to the sacred and holy Saints that belong unto the Lord. And so indeed after our Sacrament we have still a collection in remembrance of that there it was according to the greatnesse of their spirits and the greatnesse of their meanes which were supereminent ours are according to our poore meanes and measure and according to the scantinesse of our affections which is every day colder then other For these reasons the Apostle requireth that these things should be done and layd up upon the Sabbath day For then men are best affected of all times if ever a man will give any thing he will give it then when he is at rest for God and when he is expressing his thankfulnesse to God for the great mercies that he hath powred upon him in all the course of his life then he heares the word that stirres him up to good actions then he joynes in prayer with the Church of God then he understands that God hath not spared the precious bloud of Christ much lesse therefore should he spare a peny a small thing to give for his sake that hath given his bloud for his redemption Thus wee see great reason why the Apostle appointed the collection to bee made at this time It is true the collection for the Saints is due and seasonable at all times but especially when there is the fairest and goodliest opportunitie and then it is likely to prove best when there are the strongest motives to worke men unto it Vpon the first of the weeke But now we must launch into a great Sea to prove this doctrine which I need not do for men that are setled But because these last times affoord a number of monstrous doctrines and this Citie especially is plagued with those Iewish Sabbatarians that would still retaine the Iewish Sabbath and can very hardly be drawne from it but in their conventicles they draw away Gods children and trouble them that are not able to give a reason of their faith let us therefore a little search into this