be thus zealous and so if it be for the name of our Father or any of those that we receive benefit by wee will thinke ill of our selves if we take not the quarrell upon us God is not to be accused to punish those that take his name in vaine To conclude as it is most certaine that Gods name is glorious in it selfe Psal 8.1 How glorious is thy name in all the World So it must be in every one of us If thou wilt it shall be glorified by thee willingly if thou wilt not in spite of thy teeth whether thou wilt or no he will be glorified Exod. 14.4 And I will harden Pharaohs heart so I will get me honour upon Pharaoh and upon all his Host Deut. 14.2 Thou art an holy people unto the Lord. We must be as the Israelites or wee shall be as Pharaoh Hee that will not glorifie Gods name with the Israelites shall glorifie it with Pharaoh that is by suffering Gods punishing hand For the Lord will not hold him guiltlesse The end of the third Commandement The IV. Commandement Remember that thou keepe holy the Sabbath day c. THE outward worship was divided into the generall or state and temporall worship The reason is this because whereas God commandeth the inward worship of the Soule in the first Commandement both of knowledge and will and in the second hee would have manifest and knowne outwardly the submitting of our knowledge wisedome and reason by reverence a worship the submitting of our affections or will by yeelding reverence of gesture and for this outward gestnre because it could be performed onely to him he would not have it done then onely but when wee were dealing with others and to others that the glory of his name might be magnified in speech and therefore the duties of the third Commandement are injoyned and these three perpetuall and generall besides these three in the fourth Commandement he taketh order that there be not onely a generall profession but also a set day a solemne profession wherein there should be a publique profession of these duties and those and wherein they should all be brought to â—ight Levit. 23.2 3. The feasts of the Lord which ye shall call the holy assemblies even those are my feasts Six dayes shall worke be done but the seventh shall bee the Sabbath of rest an holy convocation ye shall doe no worke therein It is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings The end of the Sabbath A great and holy assembly for this end either that they might be sanctified and all taught or that they might practice them to his glory in the great congregation It is true and that the Heathen man saw well Publicorum cura minor the common care is not the best care But that that is looked to of all is cared for of none and cometh to be regarded of none and so no doubt would men have dealt with God had not he provided a particuler day for himselfe and setled it by a Commandement and that in very particuler manner By that continuall and generall Sabbath they have no day of rest The drift of God in adding this Commandement shall be seene For the Commandement it selfe generally it is full out as long and longer then the second Commandement of many words and therefore moveth us to a due and no lesse consideration of it We see for the duties of the second Table foure of them are ended in a word because common honesty and writers as Philosophers politick and civill Lawes have taken order for them as in manslaughter whoredome and theft c but the fifth because God seeth there is an humour in us that will not willingly yeeld to subjection therefore it was necessary that God should fence it with a reason So likewise in the tenth there is a great particularity used in it because men thinke that their thoughts are free and not to come into judgement and therefore they may have their Concupiscence and Will free But now in the first Table every Commandement hath his reason but above them all in particular this Commandement it includeth six respects that are not found in any of the rest 1. That where the rest runne either barely affirmative as the fifth or barely negative as the rest in this both parts are expressed Affirmative in these words Remember thou keepe holy c. Negative In it thou shalt doe no manner of worke c. So that our desire and inclination to the breach of this Commandement is both wayes met withall 2. That not onely to our selves but to all others that pertaine to us which in a full ennumeration and a wonderfull kind of particularity God proceedeth here to reckon them up that with us or by us may be violators of this Commandement 3. In the other we see how the case standeth they all are imperative and they runne peremptorily the word here used though it be of the Imperative Moode yet it is rather a word of intreaty Remember and may be a note of separation from the rest this Commandement therefore imperat persuadet doth both command and perswade in the word Remember 4. Againe beside the Commandement it yeeldeth a reason and perswadeth but not with one reason as the other but with one maine reason indeed and three others so that this exceedeth all by the multitude of perswasions 5. Another is this that we see in the former Commandement the reason is fearefull so it is in the second Commandement In this it is a farre more easie and reasonable for the great and maine reason is this that we should doe no more then God hath done 6. That as we see by the preface annexed Recordare Remember when we know it is that word that we expresse an especiall charge by because we thinke that it maketh no matter that it is but a trifle whether a duty be broken or kept and therefore he wileth and chargeth us to have an especiall regard of it and not forget him The Commandement as it standeth is divided into the 1. Precept and 2. Aetiologie that is the reason or perswasion First the Precept Remember that thou sandine a day unto me a day of rest to the Lord. For the understanding of it wee must know what is meant first by day of rest or Sabbath secondly what by sanctifying A day of rest or Sabbath properly in the Originall tongue betokeneth such a rest as there hath a worke gone before it Cessaâ—iâ— such a rest is plainely set downe Levit. 25. When the Land hath beene laboured and tilled six yeares he chargeth it to be suffered to rest the seventh yeare and lye fallow a politick Law So that after a labour of six dayes this is it that God requireth that there should be a day of ceasing Sanctifying is here attributed to two in this Commandement in the end that the Lord sanctifyed the Sabbath here in the beginning that wee must remember to sanctifie it The
delivered from the curse of the Law 2. In 2 Pet. 1.10 How we may be sure that this deliverance pertaineth to us if we make our calling and faith sure 3. Quid retribuam what we are to performe i. true obedience not secundum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 jus plectorium secundum jus praetorium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not according to the extremity of the Law the Law punishing but according to praeter Law equity and right in Christ Now for the Law naturall we learned in the generall prooemium or preface that we depend of Gods providence and therefore we must thinke of God as of a King For so it is Revel 19.16 and therefore as he hath rewards from us Revel 19.16 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The King of Kings and Lord of Lords In every law foure things are required 1. The worke 2. The manner 3. The reward 4. The punishment so he hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his worke house to try us in and this is the world Then we being in a work house must have our agenda things we are to doe and the Law being defined doctrina agendorum the doctrine of things which are to be done it is our agenda thing we are to doe And as there are foure things in every Law in mundo in the world so doth this which is Lex creatoris mundi the law of the Creator of the world containe them all 1. The worke this you must doe 2. The manner thus you shall doe 3. Reward in palatio in Court 4. Carcer the prison punishment in the prison All these are in every law and so are they in Gods law In the law of Moses who hath set downe in the decalogue a perfect pandect of all the workes and duties that God requireth at our hands These are the true Ethica Christiana Christian Ethickes passing all others Ethickes In this thing are they of the Church of Rome to be commended that teaching their youth Logicke Physicke and Metaphysicke three yeeres because they are not compleately to be found in these bookes referre them to these bookes for Ethiks propter regulam morum for the rule of manners For this is the just square of all our actions it ought neither to be longer or shorter then this This law was given by Moses saith he here Gods Law is the rule of our life in regard of the first of the foure things it is called our agenda or things to be done In respect of the other the rule or cubit of the Sanctuary Here may a doubt arise Seeing that the law was not given till 2600 yeeres after the creation it might seeme that men might aswell live still without the Law But to shew how the world was governed by the law and that which is Rom. 2.14 The Gentiles both before and after doing the things that belong to the law are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Law to themselves not to doe what they list but to doe the workes of the Law how that can be it is thus that they had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. they had the effect of the law written in their heart which was equivalent to the law it selfe This he proveth because they had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the accusing or excusing of their thoughts and that they had their conscience for a witnesse to them both Gen. 3. Man is the image of God Col. 1.10 The Image of God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the knowledge of God And therefore Augustine of the Trinity Ioh. 1.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the light shineth in darknesse and the darknesse comprehended it not Psal 119.142 Thy Law is from everlasting as concerning thy testimonies I have knowne long since that thou hast grounded than forever Effectumlegis praestitum esse ante legis traditionem Gen 31.53 Laban sware by the God of Abraham and Nahor and of their fathers but Iacob sware by the feare of his father Isaac lib. 14. ch 14. saith That every man had it in his heart which must be understood after the fall For before it was all perfection Mali multa rectè laudant rectè reprehendunt Quibus regulis hoc faciunt ubi habent hoc quod homines sic vivere debent cum ipsi sic non vivant hae regulae sunt justae mentes corum injustae hae regulae immutabiles mentes eorum mutabiles Evill men praise many things rightly and reprehend rightly upon what ground doe they this where have they this that men ought thus to live and yet they themselves live not so these rules are just their minds unjust these rules unchangeable their minds changeable then he concludeth Vident eas in libro lucis they see them in the booke of truth which truth being in God as a seale maketh a print in the mind of man and yet keepeth it it selfe which print they can never plucke out and so by this meanes all men have the effect of the Law in them To prove that this effect was performed before the giving of the Law For the first Commandement not so manifest Gen. 11.13 by the departure of Terah with Abraham Sarah and Lot out of Vr of the Chaldees from their idolatry into Canaan Gen. 35.2 Jacob said to his houshold and to all that were with him put away the strange Gods that are among you and clense your selves and change your garments For the second ibidem verse 5. where Jacob buried the idols under an Oake More plaine Gen. 31.34 Rachel hid her fathers idols in the Camels straw For the third Gen. 24 3. Abraham made his eldest servant to put his hand under his thigh and sweare by the Lord God of Heaven and earth that he should not take a wife to his sonne of the daughters of the Canaanites among whom he dwelt Gen. 31.53 The solemne oath betweene Laban and Iacob For the fourth Gen. 2.2 God hallowed the seventh day 2600. yeeres before the delivery of the Law God useth not to sanctifie a thing so long before when there shall be no use of it Gen 16.23 Tomorrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord bake that to day which ye will bake and seeth that ye will seeth and all that remaineth lay it up to keepe till the morning for you Gen. 2.2 For in the seventh day God ended his worke which he had made and in the seventh day he rested from all his workes that he had made For the fifth Gen. 27.28 Esaus howling and crying for his fathers blessing Verse 41. He stood in aw of his father though otherwise prophane For so long as his father lived he would not kill Iacob For the sixth a plaine precept Gen. 9.6 Whoso sheddeth mans blood by man shall his blood be shed For the seventh Gen. 38.24 Of Thâ—mar whom Iudah would have burned for playing the whore Gen. 34.31 The answer of Simeon and Levi that had put a whole Citty to the sword for their sister
I have done it see you doe not resist me but see yee submit you selves to my ordinance that is God is resisted if his Ordinance be resisted and Rom. 13.2 he that despiseth his ordinance despiseth him therefore that God hath hallowed we must not pollute We see then how farre this rest is to be kept and what is required to the sanctification The substance of the fourth Commandement consisteth especially in these two things 1. in the outward rest of the body 2. the other the End to Sanctifie it As before we must Remember it both in the weeke before the day come partly because then we are to yeeld account of the former dayes workes to God In singultu scrupulo cordis with sorrow and trouble of heart partly also as Augustine saith Ne quid operis rejiciatur in diem festum that we put not off any businesse untill the Sabbath and when it is come as Gregorie 11. Mor. 3d. Epist because there are two things the one Aliorum exempla the example of others will make us forget duely to sanctifie it The other Ludorum spectaculorum studia the desire we have after sports and pastimes wee are therefore then the rather to sanctifie it for Esay 58.13 Delicatum Domini Sabbatum the Sabbath of the Lord is a delicate thing Because these two therefore engender a forgetfulnesse we must both remember it aforehand add then also when it commeth The thing that we are to remember is a day of rest to sanctifie it Augustine in two words comprehendeth it well Otium sanctum a Holy Rest or returning from labour And if we aske A returning from what labour the words following shew from what workes A Canon of the Church sheweth it Quod ante fieri poterat quod post fieri poterit What might have beene done before and what may be done afterward must be rested from And whatsoever is meant by the labours and works of the weeke dayes that must be ceased from of us on the contrary Ab eo quod nec ante fieri poterat nec postea poterit non est ita avertendum that which could not be done before and that which cannot be done afterward may on that day be done by us The reason why it must be thus Aug. Epist 157. ad Optatum and Jerome upon Ezek. 20. concerning that the distinction of the bodily rest is for sanctification For out of Eccl. 3. they take this for a ground that there is nothing but must have his time and consequently that we appoint certaine times for our bodies for repast as of sleepe c. in which time we take such order as that we be not let by any thing and as he saith there the more serious a thing we are to deale with the more we seeke that nothing be done with it but that onely and wholly The cheifest care to be had of the soule that nothing trouble it frō his whole meditation but to this end it is meet wee be even solitarie as Augustine saith and we thinke we take a good order in it so So in the Law of Nature there is a time for the soule and the building of the same for procuring holinesse to it for declaring holinesse in it and so consequently that wee are because it is a serious matter to use no lesse diligence in the cases thereof then that there may be no other thing to hinder us And it is a matter so plaine that we see even the councell of Trent taking order for keeping of holy dayes hath set downe Quae abhis qui humanarum occupationum negotio detinentur omnino praestare non possent that this body entermeddle not it selfe with worldly affaires So many of the Fathers as write upon that Psal 46.10 Vacate videte quod ego sum Dominus be still and know that I am God shew by the course of wisedome the same that the Philosophers require that Postulandum secessum ut melius intendamus a full Vacation from cares that a mans head be not occupied with thoughts in worldly matters but that his soule might wholly intend this day and the body might be at command with the soule therefore the forbidding of workes in this Commandement is not therefore because the workes of themselves are evill but onely because they would distract the minde and would not suffer the whole man wholly to intend the workes of the Sabbath The substance of this Commandement I sayd consisteth of these two parts Rest and Sanctification The Rest is the first part otium It is a very strange thing that the nature of man is so altogether given to be contrary to Gods will and wisedome so that it falleth out on both sides contrary Where the precepts are laborious Nota. and of travell and paine there they will be idle and where the precepts are not laborious and of no paine there rather then they will not breake the Commandement they will take paines and wee will even against our natures make our selves businesse and we will pick out that day of all dayes of the weeke that he hath chosen so that we make it a kind of pollicie to make advantage of that day and to find labour in that day which hee hath denyed us to labour in This for the easinesse of the Commandement and perversenesse of man Concerning this rest there are six Countermands The first thing that wee finde Countermanded here is Exod. 16.26 there God taketh order in Elim before the Law was given that from their very necessary labour from gathering Manna they should cease the reason is because it is mercatura animae the soules Market there is a better thing then Manna John 6.58 and 1 Pet. 2.3 speaking there of the heavenly food of that day doth preferre it before Manna 2. A second forbidding in Nehem. 13.15 not onely the gathering of Manna or the going out to gather but though it bee brought us yet a plaine countermand and execution upon it sheweth that it is unlawfull So we are forbidden as from gathering of Manna so from buying of Manna To this belongeth Buying and Selling all Markets and Faires on that day forbidden 3. From carrying burthens Jer. 17.21 22. there is a great commination against those that carryed burthens on that day that made it their carriage day that hee would bring a plague upon them and that such as is there mentioned that is Captivity So we must not carry on that day except we will that God give us a burthen that is Captivitie 4. A fourth thing forbidden Exod. 34.21 because this carriage and inninge of harvest and grapes might seeme to be a matter of great necessity therefore he saith that both in Seed-time and Harvest and Vintage his Sabbaths should be kept that is so as that the provision of the whole Common-wealth must give place to the Rest of the Lord. And that is for carriage 5. For journeying and travelling on the Sabbath day Exod. 16.29 Cras erit
Sabbathum Jehovae maneat unusquisque in loco suo neque egrediatur quispiam to morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord abide ye every man in his place and let no man go out on the seventh day Which is a great abuse with us 6. In Exod. 31.13 there is a matter that goeth beyond all these neither may the contrary course be taken for there in the Chapters precedent in the 28 29 30. God having set downe this platforme for the building up of his Tabernacle and willed Moses presently to goe in hand with it yet he saith in that thirteenth verse Notwithstanding I will have my Sabbath kept which is as much to say that in that worke that might have best shew and might seeme the best and lawfullest and make most to his glory yet he would have his Sabbath kept and not broken for it because in other matters ye may refraine in this ye may not And so vers 15. he taketh order for the universall day Whosoever he be that doth any manner of worke on the Sabbath day is judged worthy of death Nomanner of worke the universall terme And Numb 15.35 it is executed upon one that brake the Sabbath Jer. 17.27 he there protesteth for polluting the places of his rest that he will visit them with a plague of fire and such a one as should burne up the Pallaces of Jerusalem and should not be quenched The Prophets are great urgers of this Commandement above all other Commandements and where this plague of fire is threatned there goeth before a prophaning of the Sabbath and we may observe that there hath not beene any strange visitation by fire but some notable profanation of this day hath gone before and it is usuall among us also So when it shall please God to visit us with the like judgement wee know where to have the cause of it Therefore to conclude this place those that goe out to gather Manna that carry burthens that buy or sell that gather in harvest or vintage that journey and travell up and downe and to speake as it is Exod. 31. generally let not them thinke it is otium or Sabbatum Jebovae that it is the keeping of the Sabbath Augusline 3. Serm. de quadrages non sabbathum Domini est sed sabbatum Tyri The 37. Canon of the councell of Ments tempore Caroli The 35. Canon of the first councell of Triburia The 1. Canon of the second councell of Mascon injoyne a holy observation of this day In the 37. Canon of Ments there is a deprivation of the Communion for three yeares against that party that goeth to pleade causes or keepe Markets belike it was their custome in those dayes to pleade causes on the Sabbath So in the councell of Triburia the like order was taken and likewise Concil matisconense it was larger for the fault milder for the punishment for it was but for halfe a yeare And as one saith God commanded the rest not for the rest it selfe but onely Quia toto die hoc Deo tantummodo vacandum and to give over himselfe body and soule to God Here then falleth in the question concerning the strict observation of the Sabbath Quest 1. which was injoyned the Jewes and whether the same also doth lye upon the Christians Unto this Commandement Resâ—l as to every Commandement there were ceremonies Two the one for not dressing their meate the other for not building their fire on the Sabbath day Exod. 35.3 which are both ceremoniall The reason for there is no externall duty of the Law but it may be performed of any man of any Nation throughout the World But it is well knowne that those that are under the Poles they cannot live one day without fire and to let their fire goe out it were the utter destruction of them all and therefore because it is such an externall action it is certaine it is not morall The like may be said concerning the provision of meate for they that are under the hot Zone under the Equinoctiall their provision will not last them but one day therefore these Acts cannot be kept in the whole World therefore ceremoniall So the Christian is released not but that they could be performed of the Jewes and therefore a peculiar precept to the Iewes because they had no hinderances To make yet a further question Quest 2. Whether all those six rests are absolutely to be holden or not and whether on the Sabbath all of those before mentioned as to gather Manna to travell c. be simply unlawfull We answer to this No no further then the precept Eth hasshabbath c. for that our rest must be a sanctification the outward rest is Destinatum sanctificationi ideo quiescimus ut sanctificemus So whereas our quies is not destinata sanctificationi where the sanctification can be cum quiete with Rest there it is lawfull where it cannot bee there it is unlawfull Certaine it is that a man may rest and not sanctifie and so he may sanctifie and not rest and therefore it is said there are many resters and few sanctifiers In these cases the sanctification standeth thus either upon the meanes of our sanctification or else in the declaring of our sanctification that is in the practice of it Whereas a mans rest cannot agree with both these the rest because it is not destinated to them may be left the rest being a subordinate end And the rule is in Logick Tantum destinati sumendum est quantum ad finem prodest so much of any thing appointed is to be taken as conduces to the end wherefore it is taken as if you will take a purge you must take so much as will serve to purge and where his end riseth there must also the destinate arise Mat. 12. for the meanes of sanctification Christ defending his Disciples against the Jewes which indeed were altogether urgers of the bodily rest he sheweth that the rest in regard of the sanctification may be broken as of the Priests in sacrificing and indeed it is the most laborious time for the Minister but hereby they are blamelesse because they are in opere cultus Domini exercised about divine worship And so shall you reade Acts 1.12 mention made of a Sabbath dayes journey out of 2 Kings 4.23 for there the Shunamite comming to het husband for her Asse he saith to her Why should you goe to him to day it is neither the Sabbath day nor the new Moone The meaning is this that the Shunamite was wont to goe out to heare the Prophet and because she had not meanes shee would ride forth Therefore where the meanes of sanctification are wanting a man may take a sabbath dayes journey he may goe where they are used to be gotten Thus for the first part of sanctification Now of this first part of sanctification the meanes is lesse acceptable to God then the second part thereof which is the practice of the worke of
sanctification For Christ Mat. 12.9 out of Hosea 6.6 when as he was there reproved for a worke of healing he defends himselfe and biddeth them goe and learne what that saying meant I will have mercy and not sacrifice Mercy being here indeed a worke of sanctification is preferred before the meanes So in regard of the practice of sanctification to shew a worke of mercy a man may leave the very meanes of sanctification for if in Sermon time there should happen a fire or man or woman sounding or travelling the meanes may be left because by this meanes they shew a worke of mercy saving those which should have perished therefore this is the thing that maketh that for the second part the bodily rest may be omitted It shall be convenient to consider this point that as God is glorified in his Creation and the memory of this from the beginning was the cause of this Institution so hath he glory in the preservation of his creatures and so consequently by the preserving of them As Iohn 6.12 Christ bids the fragments to be taken up his reason that nothing be lost and if the least things may not be lost much lesse the life of any thing much lesse mau or the life of man And wee see for mans life Matth. 12.13 and for beasts that serve man Luke 13.15 that hee will have workes of Mercie practised on the Sabbath day as contra for other perill Matth. 12.11 and 13. But wee must with all understand this that those cases of shewing mercie must bee onely praesente necessitate and not impellente or imminente necessitate When any present danger is offered to my life I am to defend my selfe and save my selfe without the helpe of the Magistrate yea even with the the taking away of the life of the other in casu praesentis necessitatis quisque magistratus est personam DEI gerit vt occidat potius quam occidatur But if the perill bee not present but imminent as if it bee tolde me I am way laid c. I may not take the matter into my handes but looke to the Magistrate so for the present perill or necessitie there is exemption and the LORD hath given his right into our handes but not for imminent perill And on the other side wee must marke another thing that because wee have to deale with GOD who searcheth the heart though happily men bee borne in hand that it was a present necessitie and could not bee prevented nor differred whereas before hand wee might have either prevented or differred it it must bee so that wee bee able to justifie our hearts in GODS eyes but that wee have beene carefull and laboured by all meanes possible to prevent that businesse and could not have prevented nor deferred it but that wee were overtaken with present necessitie Else it is no necessitie but we draw it unto us with coards For this ende tell them abroad touching their working in harvest on the Sabbath by what authority they doe these thinges presently they will have their answer that it is not GODS will that any of his creatures should perish And it is true And therefore that which they doe is onely for the preserving of the creatures and not for their gaine Therefore for this case a proviso must bee had and there was a good proviso in the Canonicall Church made for it that because they should make a distinction betwixt the workes of that day and other as 1. Cor. 16.2 Every first day of the weeke let every one as GOD hath prospered him lay up by him c. That whatsoever was then gathered it should bee given to the poore to the Glorie of GOD. And by this meanes the Church shall come to take good order And this shall try with what heart they doe it Wee see then what is commanded and in what cases and how farre in these two points The other Sanctification by what marke it may bee knowne When wee have our rest have wee all wee should have It is sure wee have not Leo hom 3. de quadrages Our people saith hee will hene vestiri nihil agere They thinke they have got enough if they have on their best apparell and doe nothing Whereas 1. â—â—m 4.8 GOD knoweth that as it is not the labour of the bodie so not the rest of the bodie that pleaseth him Hee that can give accompt that hee hath done nothing this the Fathers call Sabbathum boum asinorum c. The oxe and the asse keepe as good a Sabbath as hee Besides there bee yet two sorts they bee neither idle nor well occupied That neither buy nor sell nor yet are idle Augustine in his Booke de decem chordis Cap. 3. and serm 1. on Psal 32. Sheweth who they are 1. Such as did vacare nugis theatris speclaculis choreis such as did spend the day in toyes in running to playes and sights and dancing and 25. hom hee putteth another kinde in Carthage that spent the Sabbath in venatione in hunting Leo. serm 3. de quadrag in this behalfe worth the reading hee putteth more to it for hee saith they did vacare chartis aleis rationibus commessationibus they spent it in playing at dyce and cardes in discourse and feasting But yet so as the LORD knoweth they were not occupied in any worke of sanctification These mens Sabbaths as Augustine alluding to the people Exod. 32. that said cras observabimus sabbathum JEHOVAE they would keepe a sabbath to the LORD it was to eate and drinke and play Sabbathum aurei vituli this is the Sabbath of the golden calfe Against this carnall Sabbath severe order was taken Concil Gangrense in Paphlagonia 5. Can 18. and last and the Councell of Agatho in France 38. Can 1. For the other it was for the worldly sabbath but this for the carnall sabbath Concil Grangren 1. Can. 18. That the people the true Christians they gave themselves so wholly at that time to celebrate the Sabbath and to the sanctifying of it that they would sit all day in the Temple praying and doing other exercises without eating or drinking any thing so as that there grew diseases amongst the people insomuch as the Councell was faine to give such an Edict that hee should bee anathema quicunque remaneret in templo in die dominico that no man should fast so sit in the Temple till night if hee did hee was given over to the Devill These as they fall not into our time so certainly they shew unto us the excellent examples of Abstinence 2. The other sort for if the affaires of our calling bee not lawfull and the recreations at other times and at other dayes beeing lawfull may not bee used then the workes of our owne nature such as Esay speaketh against Cap. 58. much lesse as Gluttonie Lust Grunkennsse and such like Where such are no doubt there is a double Iniquitie 1. Because hee breaketh this Commandement of the Sabbath
and 2. the other of the Commander And that people that hath picked out this day of all the dayes in the weeke to deale exceeding despitefully with GOD as the other did celebrare Sabbatum Tyri c. did keepe the sabbath like the man of Tyre So these doe celebrare sabbathum satanae Doe serve the devill in their sabbath But Esay 58.3 the right Sabbath is called Deliciae JEHOVAE that wherin the LORD taketh great Delight and pleasure and that is kept by ceasing from our owne workes Whether it bee from our owne nature and will or calling on the six days or ceasing from that that is Pleasant in our eyes from our owne pastime then wee shall keepe Sabbathum JEHOVAE delicatum and GOD will make it a day to learne his will in and learning it to practise it and practising it shall blesse us and so wee shall come to the inheritance of our crowne And on the contrarie side if Lament 1.4 and 7. he complaineth that the high ways of Sion shall complain That none came to and fro to GODS Sanctuarie or if it fall out as it is Verse 7. that the enemie mocke at her sabbaths if order bee not taken GOD himselfe Mal. 2.3 will take orde projiciet stercus solemnitatum vestrarum hee will make them as odious to us as dung and wee shall loath it or as Jer. 17. the last Verse hee shall punish it by fire But if yee will not heare mee to sanctifie the sabbath c. To sanctifie it It is well sayth an heathen man if one alone doe it but better if many together or an whole citie Psal 40.10 The speciall reason of the instituting this day was that his trueth and glorie might have the prayse thereof and that in the great Congregation hee might have the Glorie In this sense Joel 1.13 Gird your selves and lament you Priests howle yee Ministers of the Altar for meat-offrings and drink-offrings are taken from the house of your GOD. And Joel 2.15 Sanctifying is taken from assembling together The reason in regard of the Church was 1 vniformitie That they might bee knowne all to keepe one profession of fayth and to bee in one bond of obedience that did meete in one place at one time in one day to glorifie GOD. And 2. The Meanes Prayer And 3. for the Common wealth Psal 68.6 Hee is the GOD that maketh men to bee of one minde in an house and as the heathen men saw that this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meeting together in one place was because of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it was a way to maintaine amitie Therefore those that set up tyrannie seperate men 4. For each private man that as was said before from these nundinae animae from this spirituall faire they might carrie commeatum animae provision for the soule for the lightening of their understanding For the restrayning of their will even as in the market day before men gather for their use to serve them the whole weeke after And so consequently beeing thus stored and provided for the great ende may bee gained in Ezek. 38.23 That GOD might bee sanctified id est That hee might bee magnified Exod. 31.13 The Sabbath was a Signe betwixt GOD and us whereby wee may know that it is hee that sanctifieth us So when this is wrought wee might bring forth fruite of this sanctification Whereas GOD Gen. 2.3 did first make holy this Day out of the proportion of it John 17.19 hee sanctified it for our sakes and not for his owne and his sanctification was as it is Jer. 1.5 The ordaining of it to an holy use and that as Zach. 7.3 appointed by a separation to that exercise from other dayes and then as 1. Cor. 10.16 by giving a blessing to the exercise that is upon that day And that that was his to make holy is our dutie to keepe holy For if a thing bee destinated to an use and bee not applied to it it is perverted See Ezechias his course 2. Chron. 29.5 whatsoever God hath sanctified or made holy that the fruite thereof may redound to us it needs not that we should sanctifie the thing but we must first sanctifie our selves We cannot make it holy but keepe it holy as the destination is of God so the application is of our selves but Exod. 30.29 what thing soever is holy he must see he be holy that toucheth it So he that liveth in that day that he doe not touch it nor looke upon the Sunne that shineth in it but that hee be able to make it and himselfe holy all that looke on the sunne that day must be holy For the use of the meanes For this cause Rom. 15.16 it is plaine that we are sanctified by the Holy Ghost And there is therein a resemblance to Levit. 8.10 the Leviticall sanctifying There was nothing could be sanctified but it must first be annoynted 1 Iohn 2.27 it is said to be as the figure of the spirituall Unction which is nothing else but the spirituall working of the Holy Ghost in our hearts So then first we must see that the Unction be in us then as before Luke 11.13 because the Holy Ghost which onely can sanctifie us is the gift of God and is not denyed to any to whom hee hath given grace to receive it the spirit expresseth it in this manner and compareth himselfe to fire the sparke is given by God so that the matter must be gathered and prepared by us that wee 1 Thes 5.19 doe not quench the spirit that is Prophesies or the ordinary meanes which God hath ordained Deut. 12.8 That sanctification shall not come to any man by his owne braine by doing that which is good in his owne eyes but onely the prescript method that God hath set downe for the gathering of Matter for this Sparke which the Holy Ghost must set on fire that so it might not goe out The Fathers in the Councell of Gangara last Canon have set it downe thus That if any man keeping his house that day be never so fruitfully occupied and thinke he pleaseth God they give him Anathema for it especially at those times The meanes of sanctification In which nothing else can be said but that was said before in knowledge how the true knowledge might be come by Onely that that Augustine saith of the often iteration that this is the fruit of iteration that he that speaketh may say Domine scis quia dixi Domine scis quia iteravi Domine scis quia contestatus sum Lord thou knowest I have sanctified thy Name because I have preacht thy Name I have talked of it againe and againe I have beene witnesse unto thy truth In 1 Tim. 4.4 the Apostle attributeth the sanctification of every thing to Prayer that is used before and therefore they have termed it the Preparative to all the duties of a Christian More plainely Mar. 1.35 Christ in the morning before day arose and prayed so long and came into the
the the state of a Learner and yet shewed a great gift that way above his yeares And if points of doctrine faile Luke 3.10 and Act. 2.37 what other points were to bee resolved of as there were divers questions moved by some how they might live accordingly id est by the Souldiours and by the Publicanes Now because there are no doubts it is a signe that feare is cleane extinguished out of mens hearts and if there bee any it is not of doing or leaving undone but of detracting 2. Betweene equalls Gal. 2.2 2. Kings 2.11 Luke 24.17 Mal. 3.16 When as hearers or two of like calling whether they bee Teachers as in the two first places as Elias and Eliseus went talking The word in the originall beareth a further signification and as Paul with Peter and the disciples in Luke with CHRISTS approbation and in Malachie it is accompanied with a blessing id est because that thing in the preaching of the Word doth good to one which doth not to the other by the laying together as it were a symbolum in a common shot they receive a more generall benefit As on the other side those imperfections and infirmities that hinder mee happly the same may fall into the minde of my brother and I may shew him how his case and how I was delivered out of it The third is Deuter. 11.19 Where it is sayd Of the exercise of the Law there shall bee an examination in families and the father or chiefe thereof hee shall question with the younger and that shall enter and whet them more and make it sticke faster So these three make a full member 4. Concerning the fourth and last It is not to bee passed over Aug. lib. 10. de Civit. DEI accompteth it totum opus Sabbathi as if the Sabbath was made for nothing else But onely for thanksgiving and prayse For this ende was as is aforesayd penned Psal 92. for that ende appointed Howbeit they have drawne Psalmes generally to these three points That the Church of GOD publikely that every man particularly may make use Either of those that containe generall matter or of some particular custome For generall instruction Psal 91. the generall Psal 103. of some particular benefit as Psal 68. When as wee have had too much raine and pray for faire weather or when there is too much drought the latter part of Psal 65. Then for these particular benefites particular Thanksgiving or as Psal 35.18 the neglect of which is a blemish in our Church Hee desireth deliverance and promiseth that beeing heard hee will sing His Praise in the Congregation So Psal 65.1 the very word there is due There is due to thee an Hymne The reason is because thou hast heard our prayers Tibi debetur Hymnus à SION These actions are so generall as that they may serve for every action of the Sabbath In wicked exercises wee can never bee frequent enough God requires that wee should bee as faithfull in his worke The celebration of the Sacraments Exod. 12.16 and performing of the discipline of the Church It is the Sabbath dayes worke The order doth pertaine to all and it so pertaineth to all that least any man should thinke it is enough to doe it once Revel 22.11 Qui sanctisicatus est sanctisicetur adhuc Hee that is holy let him bee holy still There is still a necessitie every Sabbath day wee must continue 1. Cor. 13.9 Our knowledge is but in part and our prophecying but in part There shall still remaine scrutamini scripturas search the Scripture Revel 7.14 That wee should still wash our Robes in the bloud of the Lambe id est Come still nearer and nearer to cleannesse so farre forth as 1. Tim. 4. If wee continue there in wee shall save our selves This for the Meanes The Meanes are for the Fruit and therefore hee that planteth a Vineyard hoc est vltimum fructus ejus Though hee hope when it is yet aframing yet last is the Fruit. This is the fruit that GOD looketh for the great ende of the Commandement that His Name may be sanctified in us We must not use the Meanes only For the Meanes the phrase is set downe Numb 20.12 Because ye beleeved mee not to sanctifie mee in the presence of the children c. Levit. 20.7 Sanctificate sancti estote Sanctifie your selves and bee yee holy Such wordes because of the two folde glorie that redoundeth to GOD have a double use GOD is glorified 1. either by us directly or 2. from us by others indirectly Matth. 5.16 That they seeing our good workes might glorifie Him Therefore commeth it to passe that these wordes as sanctification and justification c. have a double sense First it signifieth a making holy When wee are indeed made holy and that is by Meanes for this cause sanctification is a making holy Second in regard of the other a declaring of this made sanctification And of our selves The first beeing 2. Pet. 1.10 And second shewing it to all other men to bee so and so wee may glorifie GOD our selves and GOD may bee glorified in others Whereby it falleth out that because good workes make this Therefore CHRIST Matth. 12.12 sayth That a good worke is lawfull on the Sabbath day What worke soever sheweth Regeneration is lawfull 2. Tim. 2.21 for there the Apostle sayth thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 id est Prepared or made fit to every good worke But because that the day is specially instituted for the remembrance of his great Mercies as 1. Making us when wee were nothing 2. Redeeming us when wee were in a worse case and 3. The beginning of Sanctification for these three great Mercies Therefore it is that no worke doth so well agree as Thanksgiving for these Mercies Hee is so delighted in no worke as in the worke of Mercie And therefore commeth it that there is an especiall affinitie betwixt sanctification and workes of mercie Ose 6.6 When hee had sacrifice without this hee abjecteth all Therefore to compare this with the rituall sanctification of the law As you had annointing so you had the second part every thing was sanctified by two meanes First If hee were a person his hand was filled by Aaron implevit manum ejus Aaron And if it were an Altar then there was somewhat offered on it So oblation or filling the hand is the second Deut. 16.16 There is a charge to Aaron that whensoever they came to appeare before the LORD none of them should appeare emptie Therefore Levit. 8.31 There is mention made of a Basket of sanctification in which were reserved those thinges that afterward they would consecrate to the LORD The very same order was taken 1. Cor. 16.1.2 On the LORDS Day there should bee collection for the poore There is nothing that so setteth out the matter as Deut. 26. wholly The workes are either outward and performed to the bodie or inward and performed to the spirit of man For the first Matth. 25.
Shall it not be good if peace and truth be in my dayes Tantum sit pax in diebus meis it makes no matter so long as there is peace in my dayes If that were taken away and a care were had of posterity so well as is in other things and order taken for the government there is no doubt but this must needs be seene that the observation of the Civill Law would be the better maintained by the observation of the Spirituall Law of God 3. The next is that for the maintenance of this there must be such places as where these kind of persons must be maintained Maintenancâ— that are for to spend their dayes in the ministery and for giving of oracles it is necessary that there should be order taken for education and so consequently for the education of such there ought to be institution of Schooles and Colledges As soone as the worship of God ceased in one familie in Egypt 1 King 4.31 that in Egypt these Ethan the Ezrahite and Heman and Chalcol and Darda the sonnes of Maholl foure men famous for learning and knowledge above all the rest they were raised by God Ethan as we read 2 Chron. was Judahs sonne by Thamar and the other three being his brothers children Mahols sonnes And as those were during the time of the captivity so Moses is said Act. 7.22 to have been brought up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in all arts and sciences as in the Mathematickes Josh 15.15 before the Israelites comming into Canaan they came to a City called Debiroth afterward v. 49. made a City of learning it was called Debir their Oracle their places then were infinite greater then ours 1 Sam. 3.9 There were studies round about the Church to occupie themselves and 1 Sam. 10.5 there was familia Prophetarum a whole company of Prophets The first Colledge we read of there where the garrisons of the Philistines lay which the Philistines so reverently used that they passed to and fro by them and never endangered them 1 Sam. 19.18 that he himselfe built Naioth in Ramah i. the Beauty of Ramah and so consequently to the times of the latter Prophets 2 King 4.38 that Elisha had a great number of the children of the Prophets daily sitting before him and the very ceremony of powring water on Elias his hands is not pretermitted In 2 King 3.11 in the time of captivity there was Daniel and the rest afterward there was the magna synagoga called Sanedrim of the Greeke word corrupted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 After that as Philo Judeus reporteth De vita contemplativa concerning students in Alexandria in Egypt Act. 13.3 2.3 6.6 that there were Colledges in Jerusalem And lastly we may see Pauls good affection Act. 19.9 that disputed daily in the Schoole of one Tiranus and that which is above all 1 Tim. 4.15 that he should be altogether conversant in the studie of those things which cannot be except there should be a place And this doth shew plainly that there should be such a calling And as this is so is the next part of it that concerneth maintenance of these both Neh. 10.33 The covenant taken that they would take order for the Tenths which standeth alwaies as of a stipend so of free oblation For a set stipend 1 Cor. 9.7 the Apostle proveth it sufficiently and the Law of the Lord for the tenth part to the Levite to be of the same part of the commandement But the Apostle reasoneth thus that every man that laboureth for another must eate of the fruit of his labours He beginneth with the oxen first then he riseth to the souldier from thence to the spirituall Sower that it is nothing to bestow of the bodily harvest upon him that worketh in the spirituall harvest And for Tenths 1 Corin. 31. lesse then a tenth part cannot be by these reasons 1. By the annexing of it to the Priesthood of Melchisedek to whom Abraham gave Tithe of all that he had Gen. 14.20 Hebr. 7.2 2. Gen. 28.21 The promise of Jacob 1 Tim. 5.3 is made morall 3. Because the reason of it was not particular to the Jewes and therefore that to pay the tenth was not particular to them but lasted to us Num. 18.3 Lastly by Christs deniall Matth. 23.23 to the Scribes and Pharisees And the Apostles bidding to communicate all things with order Non est respicienda analogia ubi non habenda Come to oblations Oblation Deut. 26.19 God hath taken order hath made it free So the practise of the godly Samuel Abner Joab 1 Chron. 26.28 And after Salomons answer to the Rabbins In the opinion of the Rabbins that whosoever did so he did certainly and the answer made by Christ Joh. 12.8 He accounted it no defrauding the poore of that that was bestowed on him So likewise Pauls testimony Rom. 15.16 That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ toward the Gentiles ministring the Gospell of God that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable being sanctified by the Holy Ghost They are commanded Ezek. 48.14 not to sell nor change nor alienate their first fruits Levit. 5.25 Zach. 5.4 I will bring it forth saith the Lord of Hosts and it shall enter into the house of the theefe and into the house of him that falsly sweareth by my Name and it shall remaine in the middest of his house and shall consume it with the timber thereof stones thereof Because it is a booke against theft therefore it shall be in their families but it shall eate and consume that familie The signes are two first Esay 66. vers last save one Sâ—â—â—â— where he saith 1. The people shall be so carefull that they shall take order that from Sabbath to Sabbath from moneth to moneth they shall give of their owne From Sabbath to Sabbath all flesh shall come to worship before mee 2. Ex superabundanti If that day every nation be like mount Sion and every mans house be instar templi as a Church and the whole people every man be instar Sacerdotis as a Priest The last rule for procuring it in others 6 Rule plaine in the Commandement Thou and thy sonne c. example for families Job 1.5 and for the Common-wealth Nehem. 10.31 he would suffer no wares to be brought in Sabbato upon the Sabbath Contrary to all these is he whosoever he be that maketh many Sabbaths or holy-daies to his pleasure or that maketh no Sabbath as they of the Family but every day a Sabbath and so none If either we so account of it as the Pharisee Matth. 12. not to thinke it lawfull to do a good worke on the Sabbath or contra of we indeed do abrogate i. if either we be given to the meanes alone Ezek. 33.3 but never the better or contra if we thinke the meanes not to be esteemed Hos 6.6 or if we thinke mercie to be such that the knowledge of God is to be neglected and last for
saith that then shall be blacknesse of darknesse and that because as it is in Joel 3.15 The Sunne and the Moone shall be darkned and the Starres shall loose their light For the third namely 3. Thunder-claps Thunderclaps 2. Pet. 3.10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But the day of the Lord will come as a Thiefe in the night in the which the Heavens shall passe away with a great noise and the elements shall melt with fervent heate the earth also and the workes that are therein shall be burnt up The beames of the earth shall cracke in pieces And no doubt the noyse of the Heavens passing away of the elements melting of the earth burning must needs be greater then a thunderclap That spectacle both to the eye and eare must needs be much more fearefull then this The effect of this last day not temporall for the other 4. Fire they had a remedy but for this they had none at all 4. For fire It was then but on one simple mountaine Sinai but here it shall be on all the earth this fire was but as the fire in the bush the bush was not a whit consumed by it no more was Sinai by it But our God Heb. 12. v. last is himselfe a consuming fire and such Revel 19.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And her smoke rose up for ever and ever As it shall inflict on us paines for ever so the smoke of it shall ascend forever 5. Earthquake and the flame never be quenched 5. For the shaking of the earth this shall passe that there one mountaine quaked but here both Heaven Earth shall shake Heb. 12.26 27. Whose voice then shooke the earth but now he hath promised saying yet once more I shake not the earth onely but also heaven c. So as that there shall be a manifest moving of them Hag. 2.7 Yet a little while I will shake the Heavens and the Earth the Sea and dry Land Whereas this hill standeth stil as it did before 6. Sound of Trumpet in the wildernesse 6. For the sound of the Trumpet that pierced the eares of the living this shall raise up the dead also Here shall be the Trump of the Archangell That removed not the mount nor the wildernesse but here shall be such a sound that it shal raise the dead And as we compare the circumstances of both so may we compare the effects of both The giving made Moses to shake and tremble but at the requiring againe of it as it is 1 Pet. 4.18 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And if the righteous scarcely be saved where shall the ungodly and the sinner appeare There shall be a like trembling of all For Justus vix servabitur the righteous scarce shall be saved And as for the unjust they shall smite their knees together and shall cry to the mountaines though in vaine for they cannot be heard to fall on them and to cover them from the face of the just judge Apoc. 6.16 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And they said to the mountaines and rockes fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the Throne and from the wrath of the Lambe So that thus we see by way of comparison that the delivery did in some part answer the requiring of it but the terriblenesse of that day cannot be expressed Let us therefore say as the people to Moses Lord let us heare the ministerie of man Hebr. 12.28 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wherefore we receiving a Kingdome which cannot be moved Let us have grace whereby we may serve God with reverence and godlinesse for Deut. 33.2 The Lord came from Sinai and rose up from Seir unto them and appeared clearely from mount Paran and he came with 10000. of Saints and at his right hand a fiery law for them No doubt when Christ commeth from Heaven he shall bring with him a fiery law executed with fire and brimstone And thus much for the preparation The use and end of the Law 4. Circumstance THere is yet one thing to be considered namely the use or end of the law which shall be explained out of the circumstances of a proposition of the giving of the law The proposition is Heb. 7.19 Heb. 7.19 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For the law made nothing perfect but the bringing in of a better hope by the which we draw nigh unto God The end of the law bringeth two uses 1. It bringeth us to know perfection it selfe 2. It leadeth us to a better thing it is our schoolemaster to Christ 1. For the first though it be a law that carrieth with it the marke of the Law-giver as Solons lawes a marke of their giver to wit mildnesse and Dracoes lawes cruelty and stubbornnesse And that it is Mandatum sanctum a holy commandement in respect of the duties to God Justum just in respect of the duties to other men bonum good in respect of our selves Rom. 7.12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wherefore the Law is holy and the Commandement holy and just and good yet by occasion of transgression and infection it bringeth no perfection with it as may be shewed out of the circumstances 1. Of the place a waste and barren Wildernesse that yeelded no fruit which signifieth that the law should be so barren that it should not yeeld so much as one soule to God Legem non perficere è circumstantiis legis cum traderetur 1. á loco That the law bringeth no perfection appeares from the circumstances of the law when it was delivered 1. From the place Secondly this Agar Galat. 4.25 standeth in Arabia therefore it holdeth of Ishmael the sonne of Agar the bond-woman And the effect and right of bond-men is to be cast out with their children and not to receive the inheritance due to Isaac so those that thinke to bring forth fruit of their owne righteousnesse they are as Ishmael which was borne by nature and not by promise not as Isaac whose birth was supernaturall not consisting in the likenesse of the parents but in the promise and the inheritance is by promise therefore the children of the law because they cannot be perfected by it are to be cast out with their mother Those that seeke to bring forth fruit by their owne nature must be cast forth for the inheritance is not by nature but by promise 3. Againe this mountaine namely Sinai none might ascend into none might touch it but the condition of the Gospell is contrary Sion the hill of grace must be gone up to and many have ascended it Esay 2.3 And many people shall goe and say come and let us goe up into the mountaine of the Lord to the house of the God of Iacob and he will teach us his waies and we will walke in his paths For the law shall goe forth of Sion and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem Salvation is from Sion the Law unperfect before it was perfectly delivered 2. A
all the benefits that he hath bestowed on me the beginning middle end and chiefe end of it is the glory of God For this glory all that is made is made therefore after the accomplishment of the dayes of his worke presently he instituted the seventh day for his praise and glory Gen. 2.3 this was mans state in Paradise after man fell all had perished Esa 24.13 but that God might have a company to glorifie him and of those that perish Prov. 16.4 they are kept for the day of evill that his glory might beshewed How God may be exactly glorified it is shewed in the Psalmes and Psal 50.23 he saith plainely he that ossereth me thankes giveth me glory and yet more plainely and fully 2 Cor. 4.15 all things are to this end that most plenteous grace through the thanksgiving of many might returne to his glory For as the Heathen said it is certaine that graius animus est meta benignitatis gratitude is the end of bounty and it is the Lords aime in penning and therefore we see in the Obligation wherein he bindeth himselfe and us Psal 50.15 Call upon me and I will heare you and if I doe heare you you shall praise me he that receiveth ought receiveth it with this condition else he is but an usurper and is to make account for it This thanksgiving by the learned of the Hebrewes is made to consist of foure parts according to the foure words that they finde usually set downe by them that give thankes 1. The first is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a confession and for that 1 Cor. 4.7 we have nothing but we have received it Psal 121.1 and that from above the hils i. no inferiour creature hath given it us and from above these hils not to imagine as the Priests of Israel 1 Sam. 6.9 that if the Kine went not with the Arke that way that it was wont it was by chance 1 Iam. 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from above and how from the Father of lights this is our confession so neither are we to dissemble that which we have received August Qui habere se affirmat quod non habet is temerarius est so qui non confiâ—etur se habere quod habet ingratus est He that saith he hath that which he hath not is rash and he which confesseth not that he hath that which he hath is unthankfull and so consequently we are to use them as dans and not as innatis as free not naturall gifts 2. The second part 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal 16.6 it is I like well I am content he saith his lot is well fallen unto him it liketh him and so consequently whatsoever we have that we finde a rich portion in it and are content this is the worthy valuing of Gods gifts which excludeth the disease of the Israelites that could never be content and were never well though they received very much but murmured 40. yeeres for all his promises 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 annunciabo I will declare it that we tell it to others so Psal 66.16 he cals them that feare the Lord I will tell you saith he what he hath done for my soule and Psal 111.1 he professeth that he will tell it in the congregation in a publike assembly and Psal 40.9 in magna congregatione in the great congregation and because that was not enough therefore Psal 56.5 omnibus gentibus to all the Nations as indeed he hath and that being not great enough Psal 22.31 to his seede Psal 71.18 to all posterity and Psal 40.9.10 that which is contrary to this I will not refraine my lips I will not keepe backe I will not hide thy righteousnesse c. 4. The fourth is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Venue Come ye but that pertaineth to the sixth Precept or Rule This thanksgiving is prayer made as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for that good that we did want so thankes for receiving that good the first example is out of Abrahams houshold Gen. 24.27 his servant gave thankes presently after he had found a wife for his Masters sonne Dan. 2.20 for a secret revealed to him So for the deliverance of the Israelites from the Egyptians Exod. 15.1.20 the song of Moses Iudg. 5. the song of Deborah and Baraâ— after the victory over Sisera As there is a deprecation for others Dâ—pâ—â—â—â—◠〈…〉 so an interpellation for others Act. 11.18 for the benefit of the Gentiles It is called complementum oraâ—ionis the perfection and end of prayer because it is the especiallest thing in prayer which tends at Gods glory it is especially to be commended therefore we will speake a little more of the excellencie of it and how it pleaseth God David hath this testimony that he was a man after Gods heart Chrysostome examining why he was a man after Gods heart more then Abraham or Moses c. he saith he can finde no other reason then that he did perceive Gods desire to have his name praised more then the rest of the Saints and so laboured more plenteously then any other and so deserved that title above any other for Psal 55.17 he protesteth for prayer that he will keep his houres morning noone and evening every day thrice hee will pray but Psal 119.164 it is not thrice that will serve him but that must be done seven times a day but vers 62. Psal 119. he would give thankes to God at midnight according to that wisdome God revealed unto him that he knew Gods minde did he pray Psal 6.5 that he might yet live to give him thanks for in death no man remembreth thee and who will give thee thankes in the pit Ps 118.17 I will not die but live and declare the workes of the Lord this is his desire that he may not yet die and he giveth no other reason but this if his body come once into the grave he cannot glorifie God Thus ought every man desire to live and therefore our life to be deare unto us for this end Psal 39.15 O spare me a little that I may recover my strength before I goe hence and be no more seene therefore this is the end of mans life and consequently it must not be slacked while we live here and it is not the end of mans creation alone but it is also the end of the creation of the Angles to put us in minde of an excellencie that then we doe that the Angels doe as Luke 2.14 their song is Gloria in excelsis Deo Glory to God in the highest Revel 7.12 they cry and say Let all praise glory honour thankes power be given to God c. In which consideration David Psal 108.1 when his tongue was to be occupied in praise and thanksgiving then he calleth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his glory his glorious member his best member and in deede this is the way to make all our members glorious to bestow them on Gods praise in glorifying him so if any man be
this is the punishment of God upon Ministers that they shall fall into such a company that will not heare because they had dull eares themselves in hearing before and not onely that Pro. 28.9 but also to speake to a dull people The fifth Rule of signes The Commandemâ—nt it selfe is signum i. Mal. 1.14 a way to examine us God maketh there a very abject and as Augustine saith an unlawfull comparison to compare himselfe to a great King on earth and vers 8. he reasoneth If you should offer such a gift to your Prince would he accept thy person If we would heare him as we would heare a great Prince 1 Sam. 19.8 Jonathan to David To morrow is the day of the month you will be looked for for my Father will see your place empty And our place may be empty that is we may be absent for divers causes First 1 Sam. 19.14 sicknesse Lawfull causes of absence from Church for so Micholl answered to Saul for David Secondly 2 Sam. 20.28 the answer of Jonathan for David He went to Bethel for my family said he offereth a sacrifice to day so if a man be to offer a sacrifice himselfe he may be absent from Sauls sacrifice for it is best to be the principall agent in Gods service Thirdly Mat. 9.13 Misericordiam volo potius quam sacrisicium the workes of mercy to visit the sicke is lawfull c. because they be meanes ordained for the duty of charity therefore for such a duty we may depart and leave the other duty The second signe Judg. 9.7 the meditation of this talio Looke as you heare so you shall be heard Heare what I say and I will heare what you say It is a good signe if we can say Even as I heare even so heare me O Lord. The third signe Psalm 119.63 79. If we be companions of those that worship God and if those persons be more deare to us because they are reverent and zealous in Gods service and the other more odious because they be cold it is a good signe The sixth Rule Accessory to procure it in others Hierome on Numb 36.13 no man may be a curtaine in the Lords house unlesse he hath a hooke and a tache Quilibet verus Christianus est cortina patris to draw on another brother Psalm 42.4 Davids affection I remember it with joy John 1.41 45. of Andrew to his brother We have found that Messiah and of Philip to Nathaniel We have found him of whom Moses in the Law did speake c. 1 Cor. 11.33 the Rule spoken of before one to stay for another and one to bring another that they may by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the same mind and one accord The contrary condemned and punished Acts 13.8 in Elymas for seeking to hinder the Deputy from receiving the Gospell he was stricken with bodily blindnesse c. Order is taken Com. 1. for the inward worship and Com. 2. for the outward now he proceeds to the Commination or Sanction which containeth a penalty on the breakers and a reward for the keepers of the Commandement Every Commandement sancitur praemo poena If it be asked why this Commandement is the first that hath this punishment set downe as the fifth Commandement is said to be the first with promise Ephes 6.2 We have three reasons for the justifying of Gods worke in it First because that as Deut. 25.2 the punishment must be proportionable to the fault and the sinne against the first Commandement is hidden and in the wombe in our hearts and bosomes that God onely can see it and view it therefore the punishment of it also is left to God and Acts 17.30 he is content to oversee it But this because it comes into the light of the Sunne and is to be seene of every body in this respect God hath more particularly pronounced a punishment against it 1 Tim. 5.20 that others may feare According to the rule of justice Malum ubi contingit ibi moriatur if the fault be open so shall the punishment also be if private so also And seeing this is committed in the sight of all therefore to be punished in the sight of all The second is that whereas every punishment is brought in Ut prohibeat impetum ad turpia and our impetus or inclination being marvellously whetted to the breach of this by profit and safety the best Oratours annexed to it I speake of that corruption wherein every head is full of new platformes that it will devise to it selfe and that we cannot be vile in our owne eyes as David was 2 Sam. 6.22 but of this that sometimes it falleth out as God foretold Revel 14.9 that the Beast getteth place and then he that will not receive the marke of the Beast in his forehead he shall neither buy nor sell and not that onely but hee shall be rent in pieces Here then is the motive that man can be content to leave God and bow downe to the Beast if they can be perswaded they may thereby enjoy temporall commodities and security of this life for come what Religion will they are ready for all And in regard of the comming with these reasons not onely of that the Devill counted a great thing Job 2. the saving of mens Skinnes but the Fleeces also peace and tranquillity so because this profit was annexed it was necessary there should be a punishment cohibere impetum hunc to stop our inclination Thirdly because we see Dan. 3.6 6.8 and Acts 4.18 Edicts and Commandements contrary given out i. for receiving of a false invented worship that men should at the sound of the Trumpet fall downe and worship the golden Image else to be cast into the middest of a hot fiery Furnace And that who so should pray to God within thirty dayes should be cast into the Lyons denne And an edict that the Apostles should speake no more in Christs name Therefore it was necessary that God should give a countermaund and a contrary edict And that as Princes say Qui secus faxit he that transgresseth shall forfeit this and this So God should say If you will not bow downe and give me this worship you shall forfeit you and your children after you and your childrens children shall be subject to mine indignation This for the reason why God hath made it a penall Statute The Sanction or establishment is divided into Commination visiting the iniquity c. Promise and shew mercy c. The preface was touched before in the beginning of the Law Of Jehovah thy God Now of fortis zelotes strong and zealous the two words that remaine they containe the certainty of bringing to passe that which he threatneth or promiseth here in this Commandement For mighty signifieth that there is no hinderance in performance of it He is able to doe it It falleth out that where men whose armes and hands are shortened conceive mighty wrath and indignation but there wanteth
exhorteth them to make his praise glorious that is doing as he sheweth us in the booke of Prayses that is the Psalmes as Psal 71.8 First by filling our owne mouths with it and then with filling other mens eares as Psal 66.8 O praise our God yee people and make the voyce ef his praise to be heard And this is to be done Psal 34.1 continually and so continually as that there be no staying but ever more and more as Psal 71.14.15 But I will waite continually and will praise thee more and more My soule shall dayly rehearse thy righteousnesse and thy salvation for I know no end thereof In the duty of praise touching this point of it that when wee have resolved our selves thus to fill our mouthes with it it must be as it is Psal 66.16 before them that feare him and not before them alone birds of our owne feather but also before the Congregation as Psal 149.1 Let his praise be heard in the congregation of the Saints and not only before every assembly but before the great assembly as Psal 40. I have declared thy righteousnesse in the great Congregation Gather all into one place and one assembly yet this is his wish Psal 71.18 that he might fill all the World with his praise and that he might speake to a company of all Nations Forsake mee not untill I have declared thine arme to this generation and thy power to all them that shall come And that that goeth beyond all this that he is not content with this but is desirous to deliver over this affection so as Psal 22.31 and 72.17 it should continue so long as the world endureth So much of the end of this Commandement The necessity of this Precept The necessity of this was handled before and standeth upon 12. Reasons and as wee have heard before that therefore man was made and therefore consequently wee must exercise it Then he is in vaine if he have not his end 1 The Hebrue sheweth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 creare benedicere to create and blesse because the element added is nothing els by reason of the affixe but an effect of the Creation 2. They gather the necessity of the end out of the word Creation by Gen. 2.2 It may be better gathered out of the words following The first thing that he did after his Creation was the sanctifying of a day to that end to be wholly spent in his praise In which respect of favour Christ delivering to us a forme of Prayer though God in the first place commanded that the internall worship should be first yet having regard to the end and knowing that the end in our intention is the first he giveth it for the first petition and teacheth that we might first desire Gods name to be hallowed 3. That was said before it was the worke of the Sabbath and that is a figure and resemblance of all the actions wee shall be occupied about in patriâ i. e. in Heaven This is a third thing that commendeth it unto us that it shall be our continuall opus in our Countrey and therefore if any be desirous to participate the Celestiall exercises here let him spend his time in glorifying God while he is here 4. The setting of us while wee are here in earth being somewhat lower then the Angells in their estate Their delight is as Luk. 1. to sing Hallelujah praise to the Lord. It is the exaltation of the nature of man while he is yet in the way of corruption and while he is on earth to be made equall to the Angells in this worke of praise 5. The casting downe of a man when he is not fit to do it as Chrysostome on Psal 148. saith that seing the basest of them are called to doe it then he is baser then the vilest creatures that will not doe it 6. From the exercise of the Church militant it is best acceptable to him as Psal 29. vers ult it is the worke of the Temple and so consequently to be preferred before the work of the Market place The reason of the place as that place is the place of all places 7. This is alone the thing that distinguisheth a man from all other creatures all other creatures have but one sound they have no voyce And as he is a Reasonable soule he is distinguished in regard of the first commandement so his voyce in regard of this commandement man alone hath a distinct voyce and therefore can praise God with the tongue and therefore ought to be delighted in that wherein he excelleth all other Creatures i. e. with the glorifying of the name of God 8. Not onely because it is a proper worke of Man but that which is next that by this meanes whatsoever is occupied about it whether it be tongue lippe or penne c. it getteth a dignity by it And as James 5.8 casteth downe the tongue when it is lewdly occupied so David extolleth it when it is thus occupied It is in the highest degree of dignity 9. For the reverence of the great commendations and motives that this yeelding of praises hath Psal 147.1 It is not only good and honest but also pleasant Davids soule at the praise of God was as delightfull as his mouth filled with marrow and that it is seemly and profitable honorisicantes me honorificabo they that honour me I will honour God will bestow what he can upon him and for the reward it is to be chosen 10. Whereas the excellency of man standeth rather in dare then accipere in giving rather then in receiving and rather in facere quà m in fieri in doing rather then suffering here is only our facere dare In all other things wee are made and wee receive but this wee give glorify to God magnifie him sanctify him There is as it were magnifying and as it were an holinesse wrought in him by our praise 11. This duty lyeth so straite on us as that though Christ commands the contrary as in the man delivered from the Devill yet he must not be obeyed whereas all other precepts are such as the contrary of that commandement is not to be done there is no such thing here there can be no precept against this precept 12. That which is Prov. 12.14 A man shall be satiate with good things by the fruit of his mouth and Christ Mat. 12.36.37 not onely mens workes but even their words shall justify or condemne them The employing of our tongue will either receive fruit to life or gall and wormwood to confusion and so consequently there lyeth a necessity of this duty on us to hallow his name Wee see by the petition what is here commanded i. e. that Gods name may be hallowed inwardly by our intent making it the end and scope of all our doings outwardly by making it the matter of our speech and writing and that our tongue be an instrument of speaking his praise and that our
that Saul is heterogeneum amongst the Prophets it will fall against order for a Ceremoniall precept to stand in the middest amongst morall commandements For every Ceremonie or Type because it was a foretelling of the Gospell therefore must bee referred to the Gospell as the shadow to the bodie for indeed Ceremonies are Evangelicall So there is not onely this but also a Confession of the Law and the Gospell in the Decalogue Againe this being helde as a principle that the Law of Moses is nothing else but the Law of Nature revived and that a resemblance of GODs Image if that wee say that this Precept is Ceremoniall then must wee say that in the Image of GOD some thing is Ceremoniall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not to abide but for a time But all things in him and in his image are eternall according to his nature And so consequently in the Law of Grace Againe when CHRIST delivereth to the Scribes the summe of the ten Commandements Thou shalt love the LORD c. It is no question but it is a summe of the Commandements Then in that part of the summe Thou shalt love the LORD c. Wee must finde the religious observation of the Sabbath and so Morall the love of GOD in which it is contained else our Saviour had delivered an imperfect summe Lastly a dangerous way is taken for bringing in one Ceremonie and the Papists as Parosius and Politian◠they will bring in another for they will have the second Commandement also to bee ceremoniall and there is no reason why there may not bee as well three as two and so foure and five and so all Therefore the best institution the best way for upholding the duties Eternall and to keepe them without blemish is to hold that part of the ten Commandements to deny all Ceremonies in the law as comming of the nature of the Commandement but they are plainly Morall 6. To come to the time of the Gospel Eph. 2.15 wee hold that all ceremonies are ended and abrogated by CHRISTS death but the Sabbath is not which is plaine by Matth. 24.20 for there CHRIST denouncing the overthrow of Jerusalem bids them pray that their calamitie befall not in the winter or on the Sabbath day Wee know this destruction fell out long and many years after CHRISTS death when all ceremonies were ended the Vaile rent c. Now then if hee should have prayed that their flight might not bee on the Sabbath and that were abrogated as a Ceremonie hee should have prayed that it might not have beene on that day which indeed should have beene no day Therefore it is necessarie that it bee counted no Ceremonie 7. Another is that to chop and change one day for another is not abrogatio but commutatio Judaismi 2. So the Seales of the Covenant of their owne nature are thinges morall though in regard of some other respect they bee ceremoniall Yet in the other that are meere typicall there is no manner of commutation but they are cleane taken away for if wee grant that the waxe candles the copes c. are not the Jewes but changed where as Judaisme is not to bee but as it is Eph. 2.15 Hee hath broken downe the wall hee hath taken away c. It is manifest that in stead of the Jewes seventh day in the Apostles dayes another seventh day was ordained Therefore it was not as the Ceremonies but as the Ministerie of the Covenant and Seales of the Covenant and the Day of the Covenant For wee see Act. 20.7 where as the Apostles called together the Disciples in the first day of the weeke which is our Sabbath now to heare the Word and breake bread And 1. Cor. 16.2 hee willeth them in their meetinges they should every one in the first day of the weeke put aside by him and lay up as GOD had prospered him that there might not bee gatheringes when hee came And Revel 1.10 it is plainelie called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The LORDS Day So then we see plainly in the whole time the Apostles lived it being changed by them and not taken away Therefore not of the nature of the Types of the Law But when the old Covenant ceased then ceased the Ministerie of the old Covenant The Priesthood of Levi was changed and given to all Tribes and in stead of it is our Ministerie And as the Seales of the Covenant ceased the Ceremonies of the Covenant as Circumcision and the Paschall Lambe and in their place our Sacraments Baptisme and the LORDS Supper so the Day of the Covenant is taken away and in place of it is put the LORDS Day None of them being in his first end ceremoniall but as having a continuall use the Sabbath lasteth as long as the Church militant The reason which might seeme to have moved the Apostles to change this day De ratioue mutationis Sabbath may bee fitly taken from the institution of the Sabbath in the time of the Law For as then nothing was more memorable then the day of his Creation so when it pleased GOD that old thinges should cease there was a benefit that did overshadow the former Therefore from that day wee now celebrate the memoriall of CHRISTS Resurrection and became of the other worke also concurring fifty dayes after the great and inestimable benefit of Sanctification and the people by speaking with strange tongues and the memorie of the benefit of creation being as well shewed in the first day of the weeke as in the last and so have wee it by great reason established of the Creation Redemption Sanctification of the three speciall benefites wrought by the three Persons And so much for the clearing of that place The three Verses that follow 9.10.11 they are thus divided First they give light to the Commandement thus the 9. and 10. is nothing els but an expounding what the LORD meaneth And secondly at the eleventh Verse There is a reason yeelded why they should yeeld obedience to this And in the first there is an order taken as well concerning Works as concerning Persons For works sixe dayes shalt thou labour and doe all thou hast to doe For persons thou thy sonne c. Againe in the first part there is an affirmative six dayes shalt thou labour c. and a negative In it thou shalt doe no manner of worke c. 2. There is a permission sixe dayes thou shalt worke and doe all c. Sixe dayes hath GOD bestowed on thee but the seventh day hee hath kept to himselfe hee hath bestowed sixe dayes on thee the seventh is GODS Now in these two oppositions there are two by-reasons included for the maine reason is in the 11. Verse 1. By right of Creation we are GODS and all ours for he made us of nothing and so might challenge us and our dayes so that standing in this case we could not challenge one day to our selves insomuch as if it had pleased GOD but to give us but one
day and had reserved the other sixe to himselfe wee had no just cause of complaining But if hee had dealt thus liberally with us to grant us day for day wee should not have murmured but have opened our mouthes to prayse Him then the order hee hath taken now if we be not cleane voyde of good nature must needs content us in granting to us six and reserving to himselfe but one Wee see likewise GODS bountifulnesse with Adam Gen. 2. When hee granted him all the Trees in the Garden except one then presently the Devill was at him and upbraided him with GODS niggardnesse that he had not granted him all the Trees of the Garden may yee not eat of all the trees c. And so no doubt the Devill useth this pollicie now a dayes in this May yee not doe what yee will all the dayes of the weeke The consideration of this the great bountie of GOD. That wee cannot say but that wee are well dealt withall having granted to us two times and a time six dayes to his one time and consequently that wee bee carefull to give him his And that by this great liberalitie wee may learne to make him a better answer then Adam did and say as Joseph to his Mistris Gen. 39.9 All that is in the house my Master hath granted mee onely thee hath hee reserved for himselfe how then can I doe this thing So that our answer bee all the dayes of the weeke hee hath granted us onely one day hee hath reserved to himselfe how then can I bee so unkinde as not to let him have that Hee having granted so richly and largely And if not that then to paterne our selves by David 2. Sam. 12.5 hee being so richly provided for of GOD if that one sheepe the poore man hath he will not suffer but pull it out of his bosome so we if we cannot suffer that one sheepe but plucke it out of GODS bosome and make it common to our selves having many of our owne making it onus servile that because wee deale so wee are worthie a thousand times to bee the children of death And this is one first reason that might move us 2. The second is the greatnesse of the permission of GOD of these dayes one is permitted to thee to doe as that in Gen. 2. of all shalt thou eate there is not a necessitie Though one thing bee handled in divers Commandements as prayer was handled in the first Commandement as a part of inward worship in the second as a part of outward worship in the third as a sacrifice of the lippes and heere as it is an exercise of the Sabbath Where in there is an vneven proportion Hee hath but one to our six And therefore the seventh day to that one So that the vice of idlenesse of forbearing of worke is forbidden in the eight Commandement and so doeth Paul put it Eph. 4.28 to stealing is opposed painfull working So then this liberall permission of GOD wherein there is such an vnequall and vneven proportion if it bee broken wee are to bee charged of great wickednesse That that followeth And doe all thy worke The meaning of it is this that indeede GOD might have dealt with us as before hee might have made all our life to bee bestowed on musing of his will but hee is content to forbeare us and to spare us the rest of the weeke that in those dayes all our businesse might bee dispatched and none to bee done on His day As Nathan said to David So much have I given thee and more would I have done if this had not beene sufficient so certaine it is hee saw in his wisdome that this was sufficient Therefore hee willeth us to remember when it is a comming that wee may ende all according as the thing sanctified requireth Then in the tenth Verse there followeth another opposition which comprehendeth a second reason But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD c. idest If as GOD hath permitted you sixe dayes so likewise Hee had made the seventh day yours to then in it yee might have done as in the other but now hath hee reserved this seventh day from you and hath kept it to himselfe and therefore you cannot without open stealth breake upon this day to doe your worke wherein you have no manner of right as much as if a man should say You may weare that which you have bought but this that I have bought with mine owne money you cannot without violent injurie plucke it from mee So because his dealing is liberall you cannot without manifest injurie to GOD take it away from him And because this is his hee will keepe it and wholly to himselfe Therefore is it that followeth In it thou shalt doe no manner of worke This for the first part of the tenth Verse Now to the other to the Persons They stand in five rankes 1. Thou 2. thy children 3. thy servants 4. thy cattell 5. strangers within thy gates 1. Thou Matth. 24.45 it is said that it is a preferment to one to bee set over the familie of the LORD and therefore Cui plus datur plus ab eo petetur Luke 12.48 unto whom much is given of him shall much bee required Therefore the first charge is in this Even upon him that is Chiefe As there is in this upon Jos 24.15 so long as a man is alone in the state of a sonne or servant hee may answer Ego serviam I will serve but if hee come once to have a charge a familie then hee must say Ego domus mea I my house will serve the LORD Because CHRIST as Luke 19.9 When hee had once converted Zacheus sayd This day is salvation come to this whole house Why Because this man that is chiefe is become the childe of Abraham Eexmplum dedi vobis So Gal. 2.13 Whereas the principall fall away there all the other even Barnabas himselfe will bee drawne away so though hee discharge the dutie himselfe yet if hee see not that other discharge it hee is a debter id est hee ought to bee so farre from giving occasion to others and not onely that but from sitting them on his businesse that hee ought to see that both hee and they discharge it 2. Concerning Children The argument of Augustine is good on Deut. 20.15 After a man had builded a new house the manner was to consecrate If a care lye upon him to consecrate the workes of his hands much more to consecrate those which are the fruit of his loynes as his Wife Sonnes Daughters and the affection of Abraham Gen. 18.19 Where the greatest love is there is the greatest desire as well of conjunction in Spirit as in Body It is true naturall love Curare liberos to have a care of our children as of our selves 3. Concerning Servants because Col. 3.11 God knoweth no servants that is he hath no respect of persons in this regard all bound to worship him therefore it
Synagogue which may necessarily be gathered to be the Sabbath day Then we see here Christ for the meanes of sanctification tooke order first beginning with Prayer For the exercise thereof that is Prayer it hath two parts either it is before or after Before either private as of the faithfull Psal 111.1 and Mark 6.46 of Christ Or publick Acts 16.13 that even the Heathen themselves went out to pray at the rivers side But especially by 1 Cor. 14.16 that to the prayers of the Congregation every one should joyne his owne Amen And secondly After Numb 6.24 because as before we be not fit to receive so after wee have received unlesse God cover his spirit which he hath given unto us the enemie will seeke power against us to take it away as Luke 8.12 except we desire the Lord that his word may remaine with us still and bring forth his worke 2. After that succeedeth the use of the word that is sanctified for sanctification Esay 42.21 more plainely Deut. 4.10 Gather me the people together for this end and I will cause them to heare my words Therefore the end is to heare the word The word in that day hath a double use First as it is read or heard read onely Secondly as it is Preached or heard preached 1. The first the Church in great wisedome alwayes thought best and most necessary that it should goe before that men might not be estranged when the word was read that the other should not be strange to them But it is a strange thing that we at the hearing thinke we have done enough if wee can apprehend it whereas if before we would meditate well of it when it is reade wee might make better use of it and at the hearing afterward might be confirmed in the same The ordinary course and time of reading the Scriptures among the Jewes was their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the preparation to the Sabbath at the ninth houre at rhree of the clock and was told them before that they might be acquainted with it the better 2. To come to the publick reading in the congregation it is warranted by Acts 13.17 and 15.21 by the Gospell 1 Thes 5.27 I charge you that this Epistle bee reade to all the Brethren the Saints Then for private reading after the congregation is broken up because Christ sheweth plainely that his witnesses be the Scriptures and therefore will have the Scriptures to be searched because they were Prophecies of him and Esay 8.20 for threatning and Esay 34.16 Seeke in the booke of the Lord and reade none of all these things shall faile none shall want her mate for his mouth hath commanded and his very spirit hath gathered them And for the examination of that that is taught Revel 3. a practise Acts 17.11 for the acquainting of the Berreans to examine the Apostles doctrine There are two more uses in reading Revel 1.3 There is a blessing pronounced to them that reade or heare the words of the Prophecie because it exciteth men to praise God Men seeing the Prophecies fulfilled and executed they may not doubt but consent to God For which cause these were monuments of the Church of the fulfilling of any promise or threatning yea they suffered in the old Church the Monuments of the Warres of God for the Israelites Num. 21.14 their liber bellorum Dei and their verba dierum of Nathan Gad Shemajah c. they suffered them privately in an holy use to be read that seeing his promises with the denouncing of his threatnings they might be excited to the greater praise and feare of God Another use is as they gather by the Analogie of Daniel 2.2 and Acts 8.28 Daniel was occupied in the exposition of the Prophet Jeremie so the Evnuch reading Esay asked the exposition of it of Philip and no doubt if Philip had written on that day he might have had use of his writing as of Preaching Therefore God hath ordained Expositors such as the booke of Iasher Ios 10.13 a commentor of the Law his workes being for this end to make knowne the hard texts of Scripture and expound them unto us The second part in the meanes of sanctification is the Word preached that is it that Rom. 10.15 the Apostle speakes of For Sanctification which is the ordinary meanes of Faith and Christ in his Prayer Iohn 17.17 Sanctifie them in thy truth and thy word is truth Christ himselfe Luke 4.16 by his Preaching hath sanctified it and the Apostle 1 Cor. 1.21 hath pronounced not to receive any other alteration to the Worlds end 3. The third followeth the pondering of that that wee have heard read or preached as Luke 2.19 according to the example of David Psal 119.97 O how love I thy Law it is my meditation continually the occupying of our mindes and meditations to apply it hereafter and make fruit of it Beside the meditation of the word that wee shall heare read or preached the 92. Psalme which was a Psalme made for the Sabbath and is sung as on that day and if credit may be given to the Jewes traditions they tell us that the two first verses came from Adam and hee used to sing them in Paradise giveth three further points to consider First vers 4. which is indeed that which God here urgeth the consideration of the workes of his hands the making to our selves a contemplative use as we have made all the week long an active of them so wee should have a spirituall And the second is vers 7. a meditation of the judgements of God The third is vers 10. and 12. a meditation of the mercies of God of the mercies and visitations taking judgements for the genus to both These whether they extend to our owne persons or come on our Fathers house or the place wherein we live or the Church round about us there is none of these but they afford us an object of meditation and as we see the meditation of the creatures of God of the wild Asses Sparrow Crane Lillies c. they yeeld still meditation from tha lesse to the greater if they be thus thankfull how much more are wee bound to him So Rom. 2. he sets downe his judgements to move us to repentance and his mercy to move us to thankfulnesse and thus when we are wearied with prayer and reading and preaching is ceased our meditation remaineth to continue the whole day and stil findeth matter to worke upon 4. The fourth Which is not a beating within our selves in our counting house of any great calamitie but the examining of it betwixt us and others and that is done three manner of wayes 1. With them that have taught us as Luke 2.42 it appeareth plainly that after the solemnitie in the eight day the last of the feast it was the manner the teachers sate them downe at the Table and the Auditors propounded Doubts and Questions to bee resolved of them And so was CHRIST no doubt not an apposer but as in
the fulnesse of the vessels and thirdly by dissolution of some great exercise or heate as in great journeys not tending hereto in these respects it commeth to be no sinne So if not being in thought of man it passe from him Of Divines to speake of it against it or Physitians for the cure of it without any affected minde if of this thought it doth proceed it is certaine that in both these it is quit and no sinne As on the other side that a man doth it after excesse it is sinne as in drunkennesse though he commit it not ex ratione actus subsequentis by reason of the act subsequent that is purposely to sinne yet he is punished for it ex ratione actus praecedentis by reason of the precedent act that is his drukennesse so if a man give himselfe to surfetting and of that commeth profluvium seminis in this he is not quit Or againe if by often rolling of that cogitation in the minde in the day time it is procured in the night so it is sinne as likewise in the former if there be not ingraia recordatâ—o a sorrow in remembring it This sinne the Apostle calleth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 uncleannesse the Fathers call it mollities soeminea effeminarenesse In the Law it is called the sinne of Onan Gen. 38.9 It is said he spilled it on the ground and the censure of it is vers next It was exceeding wicked in Gods eyes 2. Cum alio with another and first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bestialitâ— an abomination not to be named Buggery forbidden Levit. 18.13 punished with death Levit. 20.13 the beast also And with death of soule also Revel 21.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the abominable shall have their portion in the lake c. ratio est because it is abominable confusion 3. With mankinde 1. where violence is offered Rapius as well to males as females as Aloisius bastard to Paulus tertius to females Deut. 22.25 that if a man offer to force a Virgin or woman she seeking to resist him is innocent but he shall die because beside that sinne there is violence breaking the former Commandement and so there is a double guilt and death its reward 4. Of those parties that yeeld consent they are males or females Sedomie for so strong is our concupiscence and so strangely affected in it that every thing is sufficient to stirre up the coales of it And the Heathen quod in foe nina sexus facit id in puero aetas what the sexe doth in a woman that doth youth in the male It is forbidden Levit. 18.22 and 20.13 present death enacted and decreed for both The reasons of it 1. Ephes 5.11 because it is an unfruitfull worke of darknesse it is contra bonum prolis against the benefit of procreation which is the end of matrimony 2. Against nature Rom. 1.26 the naturall use is in the other sexe vers 24. it is a pollution vers 27. not onely a sinne but also a recompence of other sinnes vers 28. it is a signe of a reprobate minde For the same sinne God sate in judgement Gen. 19.5 and punished the five Cities therefore that plot of ground is an unfruitfull Sea to this day called mare morinum the dead Sea because it nourisheth no live thing and lacus asphaltites of an unprofitable worke Gen. 18.20 he faith it is an exceeding grievous sinne and a loathsome So there is Gods owne censure for it 5. In the other sexe 1. a man with a woman if it be with many and that without all colour of Law it is scortatio whoremongers Scortatio Deut. 23.17 God saith there shall be no whore among the daughters of Israel nor whoremonger among the children of Israel and as vers 18. God compareth them with a homely comparison but good enough the adulteresse to a bitch and the scortatorès to a great number of dogges The civill punishment of this sinne by the light of nature Gen. 38.24 death and Heb. 13.4 if the civill punishment take no hold of it if in the Common wealth it be forborne yet he himselfe will judge it both in the life to come Revel 21.8 and in this time with strange and extraordinary judgements as lues Gallica the French poxe an abominable and filthy disease not heard of in former ages 6. Under colour of Law came that vice of polygamie Polygamy wherewith sundry of the Patriarchs and others were intangled yeelding to the corrupt customes of the Countries about where they lived not requiring Gods will But both nature it selfe might have taught them that whereas the care and foresight of both father and mother the male and damme or female is required for education there the very beasts admit but one but whereas the damme or female may bring up alone there it is otherwise The creation is plaine and plainer by Matth. 19.5 They two shall be one flesh expressing the number and Marke 10.11 he saith plainly that if a man should put away his wife and marry another wife he commits adultery against her so Levit. 18.18 as it is best understood when he saith Ye shall not take a woman and her sister both The termes and names of brother and sister are joyned to any thing in things without life as if one halfe and the other were added together it may be called the brother or sister of it But whether it be so to be understood or no yet the reason Lest you vex her the vexation of the soule and the trouble as in the house of Abraham betweene Sarah and Agar and in Iacobs house betweene Leah and Rachel and in 1 Sam. 1.2 betweene Annah and Peninnah in all these we see the inconvenience that redounds to bonum oeconomicum the peace of the family a motive strong enough to evince the inexpediencie if not the unlawfulnesse of it Polygamie and that is to have a woman and her sister Mal. 2.15 calling men to that ab initio non fuit sic from the beginning it was not so for we speake not what God can permit he sheweth plainely that if ever polygamie had been to be allowed it had been in the beginning of the world for that is the colour they have that for increase of children and propagation of the world it was lawfull but he saith there that God having plenty of spirit and power to have made more yet he made but one for Adam Eve therefore polygamie unlawfull for any age that came after Againe whereas Gen. 4.19 Lamech one of Cains race is the first that the holy Ghost noteth to have had two wives and that Iacob learned it in Padan Aram among the idolaters and so consequently was unlawfull then and afterwards seeing the Prophets condemne it and Christ and the Apostle 1 Cor. 7.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 her owne husband for a woman and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his owne wife for the man it is flat that it is of it selfe unlawfull In
knew not what Luke 9.32 we cannot receive the truth But if as Moses speakes we seeke the Lord with all our heart Deut. 4.29 If we doe with Paul orare spiritu orare mente 1 Cor. 14. then we may conceive hope to be heard for the commandement to aske is given Cordi non pulmoni to the heart not to the lungs Id quod cor non facit non fit that which the heart doth not is not done Secondly touching the manner as with fervencie so we must pray with reverence not having our heads covered as we see many doe which behaviour how rude and unbeseeming it is we may easily discerne as the Prophet speakes Offer this kinde of behaviour to thy Lord or Master and see whether he will accept it Mal. 1. If thou having a suite to an earthly Prince darest not speake but upon thy knees with all submission how much more ought we to reverence the Lord God in comparison of whom all the Princes in the earth are but Crickets and Grashoppers Esa 40. Therefore the manner of our prayer to God must be in all reverence Solomon prayed upon his knees 2 Chron. 6. Daniel fell downe upon his knees Dan. 6. So did Saint Peter Acts 9. So Paul Ephes 3.14 And not onely men upon earth but the glorious spirits in Heaven cast themselves and their crownes downe before him that sits upon the Throne Apoc. 4. Yea Jesus Christ the Sonne of God fell downe upon his knees and prayed to his Father Luke 22. exauditus propter reverentiam Heb. 5. So did Paul serve God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 20.19 Secondly If we would obtaine any thing at Gods hand we must not onely aske it but seeke for it He that having prayed sits still without adding his endeavour shall not receive the thing he prayes for for he must not onely orare but lahorare pro quibus enim orandum pro eis laborandum est to this end the Apostle would have us to pull up our faint hands and weake knees Heb. 12. And when we have asked grace we must be carefull that we our selves be not wanting unto grace as well as we were carefull that grace should not be wanting unto us This diligence is noted in the word petite which as it is used in the first place so also it signifieth to goe to or to hit and knocke so that it containeth all the three vertues that are required unto prayer but for our instruction our Saviour hath expressed them in three severall termes Thirdly having found the way we may not rest there there is a dore whereby we must enter and that shall not stand open for us against we come we must knocke at it It pleaseth God to entreate us 2 Cor. 5. to seeke and finde us when we are lost Luke 15. He stands and knockes at our dore Apoc. 3. Therefore as Moses speakes in Deut. We are to consider what he doth require at our hands The service that we owe him is likewise to entreate him to seeke for grace at him to knocke continually till he open the gate of his mercie If God heare us not so soone as we aske we may not cease to knocke as Saul did who because that God answered him not neither by dreames nor by Urim nor Prophet asked counsell of a Witch 1 Sam. 28. Importunity as our Saviour speakes Luke 11. is a meanes whereby often times men obtaine their suites The unjust Judge will be content to heare the Widowes cause at length even because he would bee rid of cumber if she be earnest with him she shall at last obtaine her suite by importunity So howsoever God be not inclined to doe us good and have his eares open to our prayers yet he is much delighted with our importunate suites If the unjust Judge that neither feared God nor reverenced man may be overcome with importunate suite much more will God revenge them which give not over their suites but cry to him night and day Luke 18. Let us not be weary of well doing for in due season we shall reape if we faint not These conditions being performed that we seek in the desire of our heart and in humility secondly that we be not wanting to grace but worke with it thirdly if we doe it with continuance not giving over then we shall finde it true which Christ saith Omnis qui petit accipit The summe is as when God said Seek ye my face David answered Thy face O Lord I will seeke Psal 27. So when Christ saith to us aske our answer must be we will at least dispose our selves thereunto especially seeing he doth not onely praeire exemplo but dicere ut petas seeing he doth not onely by his commandement permitiere but praecipere ut petas Lastly seeing by his promise he doth not onely allure them ut petani but doth minari si non petas threaten if thou aske not for if we aske of any but from him he is angry as he was with the King of Israel that required of Baal-zebub when he should recover 2 Reg. 1. Is there not a God in Israel And Christ was offended with his Disciples for the neglect of this duty Hitherio ye have asked nothing Iohn 16. And when we come to aske of God we must not cease our suite if he grant us not our suite at the first but say with Iacob Non dimittam te Gen. 32. We must be instant as the Canaanite was Mat. 15. We must be earnest as he that came at midnight to borrow bread Luke 11. and importunate as the Widow with the Iudge Luke 18. and then we may assure our selves of a comfortable effect of prayers THE FOVRTH SERMON ROM 8.26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities for we know not what to pray for as we ought but the Spirit it selfe maketh request for us with sighs which cannot be uttered OUt of Saint Paul 2 Cor. 3. we may see first that of our selves we are not sufficient at all to do good and that all good comes from the Father of lights Jam. 1.17 and that in that regard we must aske and receive at his hands from whom it comes Matth. 7.7 Now the Apostle meeteth with another difficulty which is how we may pray for as we cannot performe any good thing of our selves unlesse God minister power so we know not how to aske this grace at his hands Therefore to answer that question of the Disciples which desired that Christ should teach them how to pray Luk. 11. the Apostle saith that because we know not what to pray for as we ought therefore the Spirit doth helpe our infirmities The Apostle begins at our infirmities which he laies downe in such sort as wee may plainly see that our defects and wants are many for as there are infirmities of the body which the Scripture calls the infirmities of Egypt Deut. 7.15 Whereunto the Saints of God are subject as well as other as the Apostle speakes