he bids rest then we labour è contra Six works in particular forbidden the Jews Whether the same be absolutely now forbidden the Christians Rest necessary onely for the means of sanctification or the practise of it as in works of mercy or necessity Sabbatum Bovum Asinorum Sabbatum aurei vituli Sabbatum Tyri Sabbatum satanae CHAP. VI. page 285 The second thing commanded is sanctification which is the end of the rest The kinds of sanctification publick and private How the holy Ghost works in us sanctification The special acts wherein the sanctification of the day consists 1. Prayer 2. The Word read and preached 3. Meditation of what we have heard and upon the works of God out of Psal. 92. 4. Conference 5. Praise 6. Sacraments and discipline at special times The end of these means our sanctification and Gods glory CHAP. VII page 291 Works of mercy proper for the Lords day They are of two sorts 1. First Corporeal feeding the hungry c. Burying of the dead a work of mercy Such works proper for a festival Objections answered 2. Spiritual 1. To instruct counsel and exhort 2. Comfort 3. Reproof 4. Forgiving 5. Bearing with the weak 6. Prayer 7. Reconciling those that are at odds CHAP. VIII page 294 The second rule of Homogenea Fasting reduced hither Commanded under the Gospel 1. Publick fasts for averting of evil of punishment which is either malum grassans or impendens or of sin for procuring of good 2. Private fasts and the causes of them The parts of a fast 1. External abstinence from meat sleep costly apparel pleasure servile work almes then to be given Secondly internal humiliation for sin promise of reformation The third rule our fast and observation of the Lords day must be spiritual CHAP. IX page 298 The fourth rule of the means and helps to keep this Commandement viz. 1. Places 2. Persons 3. Maintenance 1. Of publick places for Divine worship The place as well as the time holy and both to be reverenced Addition 25. out of the Authors other works concerning the adorning of Gods house and against Sacriledge in prophaning it Addition 26. Further additions concerning Churches or places of Gods worship set places used from the beginning the necessity of them from natural instinct Their dedication and the use of it God is sole proprietor as of places so of all the Churches patrimony All humane propriety extinct by dedication the Clergy have only usum ac fructum no fee-simple by the Law Civil or municipal in any man but a quasi feudum onely CHAP. X. page 280 Of persons set apart for Gods service The mission choice the reverence due to them The benefit received by them spiritual and temporal Preservers of Kingdoms Humane laws and policies not sufficient without a teaching Priest c. Examples in divers Monarchies and Kingdoms CHAP. XI page 304 Of maintenance for such as attend at the Altar Schools and Colledges seminaries of the Church The ancient use of them among the Jews when they were in Egypt and afterward in Canaan In the Primitive Church care to be taken against admitting Novices or young men into the sacred Calling Maintenance due by the Ordinance of Christ is 1. Tithes Reasons that the tenth is still due under the Gospel to the Priesthood of Christ. Addition 27. About Tithes That the tenth part was sacred to God from the beginning by positive Divine Law obliging all mankinde and still in force The Law of Nature dictates not the proportion Humane Laws and Customs about the modus decimandi to be followed provided that they give not lesse then the true value of the tenth if otherwise they are void 2. Oblations alwayes in use in the Church Addition 28. about Oblations some may be due and limited by Law Customs Contract or necessity of the Church others voluntary and free No power in the Magistrate to alienate things dedicated to God CHAP. XII page 308 The two last rules 1. The signes of keeping the day 2. Of procuring the observation by others The conclusion The Exposition of the fifth Commandement CHAP. I. page 310 Of the sum of the second Table The love of our Neighbour How the second Table is like the first 1. Of the act Love How Christian love differs from other love The fruits of it The parts of it 2. The object our Neighbour Who is our Neighbour Degrees of proximity and order in love 3. The manner of love as thy self This must appear in 1. The end 2. The means 3. The manner 4. The order CHAP. II. page 318 The division of the Commandments of the second Table Why this is set here between the first and second Table The parts of it 1. A precept 2. A promise In the precept 1. The duty Honour 2. The object Father and Mother The ground of honour 1. Excellency 2. Conjunction The order of honouring differs from that of love Why God did not make all men excellent and fit to be superiours All paternity is originally and properly in God In man onely instrumentally The Hebrew and Greek words translated Honour what they properly signifie The necessity and original of honouring Superiours Government a Divine Ordinance Power Principality and Excellency 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 how they differ Honour due to them all To natural Parents to the Country where we live to Princes to spiritual Fathers to Magistrates In respect of excellency of gifts honour due 1. In respect of years 2. Of the gifts of the minde 3. Of outward estate 4. Of benefits received CHAP. III. page 325 The mutual or reciprocal duties of superiours and inferiours 1 Love 2. To wish well and pray for one another The duties of inferiours 1. Honour Inward and outward 2. fear 3. Subjection and obedience active and passive 4. The protestation of our subjection by honouring them with our estates The manner how this duty must be performed CHAP. IIII. Page 330. The duties of superiours in four things Addition 29. Of the end of government and whether the people be above their governours The manner how they must govern Whether honour be due to one that is evil Whether he must be obeyed in maio Of disobeying the unlawful commands of a Superiour Add. 30. Of obedience in things doubtfull CHAP. V. Page 341 The first Combination between man and wife The special end of Matrimony implied in three words 1. Conjugium 2. Matrimoniam 3. Nuptiae The office of the husband 1. Knowledge to govern his wife 2. Conjugal love 3. To provide for her and the family The wives duties answerable to these officia resultantia Duties arising from these The duties of Parents and children The duties of Masters and servants CHAP. VI. Page 355 Of Tutors or Schoolmasters and their Scholars or Pupils The original of schools and Vniversities Mutual duties of Teacher and Scholar as the choice of such as are fit and capeable The particular qualifications of a Scholar Solertia
of Brabourn and 〈◊〉 who were censured the one in the high Commission the other in Star-chamber and were learnedly confuted by two learned Bishops of Winchester and Eli the one in a speech in Star-Chamber now extant the other in a full tract of this subject But though the day be altered from the last to the first day of the week yet I do not therefore say that the seventh day from the Creation was ceremonial or expired as a ceremony at Christs death as is commonly said by some Divines for wherein could the keeping of a seventh day typifie Christ or his benefits but it was observed as a positive Law yet of divine institution and being no natural Law but depending upon Gods will and pleasure might therefore by the same authority when the new creation was finished by Christs resurrection which overshadowed the first creation be altered to another day in memory of that greater benefit and so accordingly it was 6. Concerning the rest observed by the Jews it is certain t was partly moral and partly ceremonial moral in regard that the duties of publick worship cannot be performed without a cessation from other labours and ceremonial as it looked backward and forward backward as a signe of Gods rest after the creation and of their deliverance out of the Egyptian servitude forward as a type of Christs rest in the grave Hebrews 4. of our rest from the servile works of sin in the time of grace as S. Augustine faith and of the eternal rest in heaven 〈◊〉 4. Besides all which it was also a signe to distinguish them from other people Exodus 20. 12. Now for the rest required of us on the Lords day it is not the same with that of the Iews but differs 1. Because rest is now required onely in reference to the holy duties which cannot otherwise be performed not for it self as if it were pleasing to God or the works of mens callings unlawfull but that they might give way to works of a higher nature to sacred duties which if they be not performed the rest is a meere mockery Sabbatum asinorum whereas the rest of the Iewish Sabbath was required for it self they were to rest in their rest and hence it was that the Iewish sabbath is reckoned by S. Paul among the shadows that vanisht at Christs coming and the Fathers generally make the Commandment of the sabbath ceremonial which if any should now observe he should thereby revive Judaisme and in effect deny that Christ the body is come as S. Augustine in the place alledged and elsewhere Quisquis diem illum 〈◊〉 observat 〈◊〉 litera sonat carnaliter sapit whosoever observes that day according to the flesh is carnally wise and hence it is that generally the Fathers 〈◊〉 to call the Lords day by the the name of sabbath for we shall hardly finde in any ancient writers the Lords day called the sabbath till some of late in our Church sprung up who usually stile it by that name against all antiquity and reason whom some others of learning have 〈◊〉 followed being carried by the stream and not foreseeing the evils that have since followed and were then intended by those men 2. Another difference which follows from the former is that because the rest now is not required for it self but as it may further holy duties therefore it is not so strictly required of us as of them They might not do some works which were neither against 〈◊〉 or charity they might not kindle a fire or dresse meat or bury the dead on that day which no doubt are now lawful and the reason is because their rest was symbolical and figurative and therefore that it might the more exactly answer to the thing figured must be the more exact for as Bellar. saith Figurae 〈◊〉 esse 〈◊〉 alioquin non bone significant figures must be exact else they do not well represent the thing signified Now if any shall ask what labours and works we must abstain from and how long seeing to rest onely in the time of publick worship may seem to be enough in reference to the performance of holy duties I conceive it the most probable answer that herein we must be directed in particular by the Laws Canons and Customes of the Church wherein we live and that by divine Law as the sanctifying of the day is required in general so the resting from our ordinary labours in reference to that end is onely required in general by the Law of God but the particular determination of what works and how long and in what manner with 〈◊〉 circumstances of which no general Law could be so fitly given is left to the Bishops and Pastors of the Church for as God hath commanded publique worship by prayer and praises c in general but the modification of it for form order time and manner of performance hath been left to the Church who hath alwayes ordered these things and altered them as there was occasion so for the abstinence from labours what rest may be necessary not onely in the time of publick duties but before and after as preparatives thereto and means of better profiting thereby by meditations and other exercises and for the more solemnity of the day for these and the like I do not finde that Christ hath given any particular rules but that every one is herein to submit to the Canons and orders of the Church and to conform himself thereto and that this conformity in obedience to God who requires us to hear the Church and obey our Pastors is acceptable to God and therefore those that will not rest herein but look for particular directions out of Scripture for every thing which indeed they cannot finde by writing what ever they finde about the Sabbath and applying it to the Lords day do unawares sall into Judaisme and perplex mens consciences into inextricable Laborynths as daily experience shews whereas the constant practise of the Church of Christ in all ages shews that in these things she did use that authority which Christ hath given her as appears by the several constitutions both Ecclesiastical and Civil sometimes enlarging and sometimes restraining the liberty of people in these matters And hence it is that though the Fathers usually say that all the glory of the Sabbath is transferred to the Lords day and though it be commonly said that the Lords day succeeds the Sabbath yet the truth is that it succeeds not properly as the Heir doth his Father at least it is not Heres ex asse as Civilians speak but as the light follows darknes and the substance the shadow in regard that the rest of the Jews Sabbath as it was symbolical is expired and onely what was grounded upon moral equity in it is continued in the Lords day in which for the particular manner of observing we must look to the canons and customs of the Church which are of such force in these things
means to imploy and exercise us in the meditation of Gods works and in his praise for it as the 92. Psalm shews us which psalm was made especially for the sabbath day As also to the continuing of the memory of the Creation to keep us from Paganisme for if the duty of the memorial of the creation had been duly and successively kept from the beginning and so continued that great doubt which troubled all the Philosophers so much whether the world had a beginning had been taken away And therefore this day being one especial means to keep men from Atheisme was therefore sanctified by God to be a day of rest This was one reason why the not keeping this law was so severely punisht by the Mosaical Law as appeares by the man that gathered sticks upon that day and was therefore put to death which was not onely because the law of the sabbath was then newly made to wit for the ceremonial and typical part which consisted in rest and therefore required the severer punishment but also because the not observing of that day was in effect a denial that God created the world Augustine treating upon the Creation saith it is true that God might have been pleased to have said as well fiat mundus totus let all the world be made in a moment as fiat lux let there be light in the first day it had been all one to his omnipotency to have done it at once as in six 〈◊〉 and enquiring further into the cause why he did not so could finde no other reason but that God by creating one thing after another would teach us that we should proceed in the musing and meditation upon the works of creation severally and in order as God made them So did king David and so did Basile and Ambrose who wrote some books of it And this course of meditation was much in use in the primitive Church 3. The last reason is Because the Lord blessed the seventh day He did not onely rest on that day but he consecrated it also Besides exemplum his example there is institutio he hath solemnly instituted it So that it shall be to us 〈◊〉 animae the Market day of the soul for our amendment in that we 〈◊〉 amisse in the foregoing week and for the regulating of us in the week following But this is not all the force of this last reason is in this God saith because have blessed and hallowed it seeing I have appointed it see you do not resist me butsubmit your selves to my ordinance He that keepeth it not and resisteth Gods ordinance resisteth God himself and they that do so receive to themselves damnation Therfore that which God hath hallowed we must not pollute We see the reasons why this rest is to be kept let us now see how far it is to be kept and what is required to the sanctification of it CHAP. V. How far this rest is to be kept Why this word Remember is prefixed Such works to be fortorn which may be done before or after Necessity of a vacation from other works that we may attend Holy duties Mans opposition to God when he bids rest then we labour 〈◊〉 contra six works in particular forbidenthe Jews Whether the same 〈◊〉 absolutely now forbidden the Christians Rest necessary onely for the means of sanctification or the practise of it as in works of mercy or necessity sabbatum boum Asinorum Sabbatum aurei vituli Sabbatum 〈◊〉 Sabbatum Satane THe substance of this fourth Commandment consisteth especially in these two things 1. In the outward rest of the body otium 2. In the holy duties which are the end to sanctifie it Sanctificatio 1. As before we are willed to remember it both in the week before the day come partly because in the day it self we are to yield an account to God of the former fix dayes work in singultu scrupulo cordis with trouble and sorrow of heart partly also as Augustine speaketh ne quid operis rejiciatur in diem festum that no work that might be done in the former dayes be put of to the holy day so when it is come we must avoid two things which as Saint Gregory observes may cause us to forget to sanctifie it 1. The one is aliorum exempla other mens ill examples 2. The other is Ludorum spectaculorum studia the practise and desires we have to unlawful sports and sights to which men are more naturally addicted then to the sanctifying of the day And in as much as we are to esteem of the sabbath as Deliciae Domini the delight of the Lord and that these two things are main obstacles and impediments to such estimation of it we must not onely remember it before hand but when it cometh also That which we are to remember is A day of rest and to sanctifie it Augustine comprehends them both in two words otium sanctum a holy rest 1. A ceasing from labour and if we ask from what labour It is as an ancient Canon of the Church sheweth Ab eo quod antea fieri poterat aut quod postea fieri poterit from that which might have been done before and from that which may be done afterward And whatsoever is meant by the labour and work of the week day that must be forborn on this day with this proviso That Ab eo quod nec antea fieri poterat nec postea poterit non est abstinendum such works of necessity which cannot be de done either before or after are not to be forborn The grounds are laid by Augustine and Jerome thus There is nothing as the Preacher saith but must have its time As we destinate a set time for our bodies repast sleep and the like in 〈◊〉 time we usually take order that we be not interrupted or disturbed by any other occasions And so in other temporal things the more serious they are we go about the more care we take that we be not hindred in them but that we may wholly minde them hoc agere So in the case of spirituals there ought to be a set time for the building up of the soul and procuring holinesse to it and exercising holinesse by it wherein we are to use no lesse care being a matter of greatest importance but that in the promoting of it all impediments may be removed that may hinder us in it ut promptiores simus ad divinum cultum cum non habemus impedimentum saith S. Augustine that we may be more ready for divine worship when we have no lets or impediments to hinder us And this is so plain as that we see even the Councel of Trent taking order for observing of holy dayes hath set down concerning the holy duties which are to be performed on those dayes that they are such Quae ab his qui ab humanarum occupationum negotio detinentur omnino praestari non
an exemption the Lord hath resigned his right into our hands but not upon an imminent peril or necessity which may be prevented or avoided On the other side we are to observe another Proviso We must be careful that because God seeth the heart and we are to deal with him we be sure the danger could not be prevented nor the work be deferred but that present danger and necessity enforceth us to it For we must not draw a necessity upon our selves or pretend a necessity when there is none because God will not be mocked though we may delude the eyes of men This is to be remembred because of the practise of some who Inne their harvest on the Sunday pretending that it is not Gods will that any of his creatures should perish which is true and might lessen the offence if they did it onely for preserving the creature and not for their own gain and profit which if they pretend let them know that God sees their hearts and knows their intentions Therefore for tryal of men in this case it were good if to put a dfference between their works on that day and upon other dayes they would do as they did 1 Cor. 16. 2. lay up on the first day of the week whatsoever they gain or save by their work on that day and give it to the poor by this means it would appear with what hearts they wrought on this day whether onely to save the Creature or out of a desire of lucre and gain Thus we see what rest is commanded and how these cases may be resolved 3. But here ariseth another question When we have rested is that all we are to do Surely no. It is not sufficient that we rest if we do not sanctifie too Leo said of the people of his time that on this day their care was bene vestiri nibil agere keep holy day by wearing gay clothes and doing nothing Now as S. Paul said of bodily labour that it profitteth little so we may say of bodily rest that it profiteth lesse This rest is to holinesse and not to idlenesse We must not be 〈◊〉 on that day of rest To keep a Sabbath therefore and not be able to give accompt of some good thing done by us in it is that which the Fathers call Sabbatum boum asinorum the oxen and asses keep as good a sabbath as such do Besides these Idle sabbath keepers there are two other sorts of people that are neither idle nor well imployed 1. Of the first sort Augustine speaks and they were either 1. such as did vacare 〈◊〉 theatris spectaculis choreis spend their time in pastimes shewes stage-playes and dancing or else those that 2. gave themselves on the Sabbath venationi to hunting To which Leo addes such as did vacare chartis rationibus commessationibus passed the day in playing at Cards and in revelling and so addicted were they to these things as that they were not at al occupied in any work ofsanctification These mens Sabbath as Augustine well observeth is like that of the people in Exodus Cras observabimus 〈◊〉 Jebovae To morrow shall be a sabbath to the Lord they would keep a sabbath to him but it should be as in the next verse to eat and drink and play this sabbath I say was kept to the Calf and therefore he calleth it Sabbatum vituli 〈◊〉 the sabbath of the golden Calf For as we may not keep open markets go to plough or to Law on that day so neither should we spend the time in hunting nor yet in dancing and sporting Nor spend our time ordained for sanctification in beholding sights stageplaies and the like Not because these are in themselves evil or unlawful but in that they hinder our sanctification against such prophanation of this day severe order was taken by diverse councels as Concil Gangr 5. Can. 8. Concil Agath 38. Can. 1. Some christians in the primitive times were so far from this that they would sit in the oratory all the Lords day praying and hearing without eating or drinking insomuch as by their long fasting diverse diseases grew among them wherupon the same council of Gangra in Paphlagonia held 〈◊〉 Dom. 327. Was forced to make a Canon with an Anathema annexed to it against those who thenceforward should fast upon the Lords day But though we shall not need to fear such zeal in our times yet it sheweth to us the great and excellent examples of abstinence used in the Primitive Church to make them more fit for the service of God 1. The other sort are they that spend their time this day in gluttony Lust drunkennesse and such like vices which ought not at any time much lesse on that day be practised For if the affaires of our calling or the sports lawful on another day must not be used on this day much lesse any vice which is unlawful at any time for hereby a double iniquity is committed 1. first because the commandment is violated and this day seemes to be picked and singled out of all other dayes despitefully against the Majesty of God 2. Secondly because it is an abuse of the Creatures of God and a breach of other commandments And therefore as the other was Sabbatum Tyri so these do celebrare sabbatum 〈◊〉 keep a sabbath to the devil CHAP. VI. The second thing commanded is sanctification which is the end of the 〈◊〉 The kindes of sanctification publick and private How the holy Ghost works in 〈◊〉 sanctification The special acts wherein the sanctification of the day consists 1. prayer 2. The word read and preached 3. Meditation of what we have heard and upon the works of God out of Psal. 92. 4. Conference 5. Praise 6. Sacraments and discipline at special times The end of these means our sanctification and Gods glory TO what end then must this rest be why to holines we must apply it to that end to which God hath appointed it and use that holily which God hath sanctified The right sabbath is called Deliciae 〈◊〉 the delight of the Lord wherein he taketh pleasure and that is truly observed when we not onely cease from our own work as those of our calling but of those of our corrupt nature and will by ceasing from that which is pleasant in our own eyes this is to keep Sabbatum 〈◊〉 a sabbath the delight of the Lord to make it a day honour God and to learn Gods wil and having learnt it to practise it whereby he may blesse us and bring us to the inheritance of our heavenly rest Whereas on the contrary if the high-wayes of Sion complain that none come to her sanctuary or that if we come we so behave our selves in it that the adversary mock at her sabbaths Then God himself will take acourse as the prophet speakes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nostrarum he will cast dong upun our faces even the
by 1. his power 2. his jealousie How jealousie is ascribed to God Why humane affections are ascribed to God CHAP. IX page 224 Of the Commination wherein 1. The censure of the sin 2. The punishment 1. In the censure The sin viz. of Idolatry Is called 1. Hatred of God How God can be hated 2. Iniquity The punishment visitation upon the children The 〈◊〉 of this punishment by 1. The greatnesse 2. The multiplicity 3. The continuance Of Gods justice in punishing the sins of the fathers upon the children That it is not unjust in respect of the father nor 2. of the sin The use of all CHAP. X. page 228 The third part of the sanction a promise of mercy Gods rewards proceed from mercy which is the fountain of all our happinesse His mercy is promised to the 1000 generation the threatning extends onely to the third and fourth The object of his mercy such as love him Our love must be manifested by keeping his Commandements How they must be kept The benefit they will keep and preserve us The Exposition of the third Commandement CHAP. I. page 231 The general scope of the third Commandement Of glorifying the name of God by praise The manner how it must be done Several motives to stir men up to the duty CHAP. II. page 234 What is meant by Gods name The use of names 1. To distinguish 2. To dignifie Gods name in respect of his Essence Attributes and works and how they are to be reverenced What it is to take his Name as glorious as necessary Glorifying his Name inwardly outwardly by confessing defending it remembring it honourable mention of it threefold it must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 often 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 well spoken of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 venerable Applyed to our own actions by prayer and to others by blessing c. Of glorifying it in our lives What it is to take Gods Name in vain in respect of 1. the end 2. agent 3. the work CHAP. III. page 239 Of taking Gods Name by an oath The causes and grounds of an oath The parts of it Contestation Execration How God is glorified by an oath What is here commanded 1. To swear In what cases For Gods glory Mans necessity For the publick good The Oath Ex Officio whether lawful or no. Of private and voluntary oathes 2. To swear by God not by Idols or Creatures 3. Not to take his Name in vain but to swear in 1. Truth in oathes assertorie promissorie 2. Judgement 3. Justice Against voluntary oathes whether lawful Of swearing from the heart The means to be used against vain swearing The signes of keeping this Commandement Of drawing others to keep it CHAP. IV. page 250 What a vow is Whether a bare purpose without a promise Whether a thing commanded may be the matter of a vow The necessity and use of vows in respect of God of our selves What things a man may vow se suos sua Vows in the times of the Gospel Of performing vows Qualifications in a vow for the person the matter The time of vowing Of paying our vows CHAP. V. page 255 Of glorifying Gods Name from the heart The means of glorifying it The signes Of causing others to glorifie it The second part of this precept the Commination Reasons why such a threatning is here denounced Gods punishing the breach of this Commandment by visible judgements God is jealous of his Name The Exposition of the Fourth Commandement CHAP. I. page 259 The excellent order of the Commandements Why God himself appointed a set time for publick worship Why this Commandement is larger then the rest Six special things to be observed in this Commandement which are not in the rest The general parts of it 1. The precept 2. The reasons In the precept 1. The affirmative part what is meant by Sabbath what by sanctifying How things sanctified differ from other things God sanctified it not for himself but for us We must sanctifie it 1. In our estimation of it 2. In our use of it CHAP. II. page 262 What is commanded here 1. A rest 2. Sanctification Rest is required not for it self but for the duties of sanctification Reasons that the Sabbath is not wholly nor principally remonial Addition 21. out of the Authors other works declaring his meaning in two things 1. That the Lords day is Jure Divino 2. That the Jewish Sabbath is abolisht by Christs death proved by him at large out of Scriptures and Antiquity in his Speech against Trask in Star-Chamber CHAP. III. page 268 Additional considerations upon the doctrine of the Sabbath laid down in seven conclusions 1. It is certain some time is to be set apart for publick worship proved by Schoolmen Canonists and Reasons 2. Certain that the law of Nature doth not dictate the proportion of seven or any other in particular 3. It is most probable that the seventh day was appointed by God from the beginning as a day of publick worship in memory of the creation and did oblige all mankinde though the symbolical or typical rest afterwards was enjoyned to the Jews onely This proved from Scripture Fathers Jewish Doctors late Divines reasons c. How the Fathers are to be understood that deny Sabbatizing before the Mosaical Law 4. The Lords day is of divine institution proved by Scripture Fathers publick Declarations of the Church Edicts of Princes Canonists some Schoolmen late Divines 5. The fourth Commandement is in force for the moral equity that at least a seventh part be given to God literally it requires onely the seventh day from the creation not a seventh day The day altered by the Apostles by special authority 6. The rest of the Iewish-sabbath partly moral which continues still partly symbolical which is expired How the rest of the Lords day differs from the rest of the Sabbath rest from ordinary labours forbidden by God but the special determination left to the Church How the Lords day succeeds the Sabbath 7. The Sabbath kept with the Lords day by the Primitive Christians till the Councel of Laodicea was not in a Jewish manner CHAP. IV. page 276 Reasons of this Commandement 1. Gods liberality in allowing us six dayes and requiring but one for himself 2. The seventh is his own proper day Who are comprehended in the prohibition 1. The Master of the family 2. Children 3. Servants 4. Cattel 5. Strangers The general reasons of this precept 1. Gods rest from the creation Addition 22. Moral reasons sometimes given of a ceremonial precept The reason why a rest and why on this day are different things out of Maimon Abenezra 2. Reason the benefit coming to mankinde by the creation 3. Reason God blessed the seventh day CHAP. V. page 280 How far this rest is to be kept Why this word remember is prefixed Such work to be forborn which may be done before or after Necessity of a vacation from other works that we may attend holy duties Mans opposition to God when
other Imperat suadet it both commands and intreats 4. And whereas the reasons of the former Commandments are terrible fearful and threatning in this they are easy and reasonable the main reason of this being that no more is required to be done by us then was done by God himself we ought to do it because God hath done it 5. Whereas none of the rest have above one reason to perswade and move us to the duty this hath besides one principal tria statumina three other props or reasons so that it exceeds them all in the multitude of reasons to perswade us to the observance of it 6. Lastly to move and stir up our regard to this Commandment in a more especial manner and that it might not be thought a light matter either to break or keep it as we are apt to think God hath in the very 〈◊〉 of it set notas non leves no slight notes Recordare remember and observa keep it We must have a special care of the keeping of it and to that end we must remember it The Commandment hath two parts 1. A Precept 2. The Aetimologie that is the Reasons or the perswasions to keep it The Precept contains in it an affirmative part and a negative The affirmative in the eighth verse Remember the sabbath day to keep it 〈◊〉 The Negative in the ninth and tenth verses in it thou shalt do no manner c. For the first that we may understand it the better we must know what is meant by sabbath and what by sanctifying 1. Sabbath in the original signifieth rest and such a rest which some labour hath gone before a rest after labour 〈◊〉 a ceasing or intermission from labour Such a rest is described in the law When the land had been laboured and tilled six years before God gave the people charge that it should lie fallow and rest the seaventh year and this was a politick law So after the labour of six dayes God requireth here a cessation from work the seventh day let that be a day set apart rest on that day 2. The word Sanctifie is twice used in this commandment in the beginning and in the end and is applied to two 1. To God in the end verse 11. The Lord blessed and sanctified it 2. To man vers 8. remember the sabbath to sanctifie it Now it is a rule in divinity that when any word is given to God and man both it is to be applied in a different respect and so here this word ascribed to God is to be understood sub modo destinandi by way of appointing it so to be and to man sub 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by way of applying it to that it was appointed So when God appointeth any thing to an holy vse he is said to sanctifie it and when man applieth it to the use to which God hath so appointed it he is said also to sanctifie it As it is sure that by nature all men are alike before God and differ not by nature so may it be said of bread water wine dayes c. by nature all are alike and one is not more holy then another Yet in the law saith God concerning the Israelites I have separated you from other people that you should be mine When God setteth man a part that he should be his either as a minister in the Church or as a Magistrate in the commonwealth then this his separation or putting a part is the beginning of his sanctifying So water which is separated from common uses and destinated to 〈◊〉 and the Creatures of Bread and wine in the administration of the Lords supper there is naturally no more in them then in the other of the like kinde till they be so separated and set apart from the other and appropriated to God and holy vses So may we likewise say of dayes naturally there is no more holines in one then in another onely Gods ordinance by separating one day from another for himself makes it to be more holy then the rest Now it is the nature of such things whether it be man or beast so separated from common vse and thereby sanctified to the Lord that they must continue so and be neither bought nor sold nor other wayes alienated Therefore we finde that under the Law the Tabernacle and whatsoever was vsed in it about the service of God must be put to no other use the fire-pans flesh-hooks 〈◊〉 made for the sacrifice yea the basest instruments to stir the fire and the meat in the caldron whereof a libamen or offering was to be should not be put into any other nor the pots on no other fire nor the snuffers to any other lamp but to these in the Tabernacle So this is the nature of a thing sanctified and it therein differeth from other things that what is sanctified or separate for God must not be converted or applied to any other use and so for dayes such as are sanctified or set apart for God must be applied to no other use unlesse God himself or his church by authority from him and that upon grounds warranted by God dispence therein in some special cases Other things may bedone in part upon other dayes but not upon this The Psalmist as before saith he will meditate every day and night and every day he wil praise God and give thanks to him and in the evening morning and at noon day thrice a day he will pray Nay seven times a day he will praise God yet all these are but on part of the day for in the six dayes other things may be joyntly done with those holy exercises and may lawfully take up a part of the day but this day being a most holy day as separated to Gods use and service must be sanctified not in part or joyntly with other imployments but must solely be kept to his service and use Now a question may arise whether God sanctified this day to himself or to us Certainly the Apostle tells us that omnia munda mundis all things are cleane to the clean and God is most pure and holy and therefore needs nothing to be sanctified to him therefore this sanctifying must needs be for us And the same Apostle 〈◊〉 this is the will of God even your not his sanctification for without holines none shall see God and therefore to the end that we might be holy did he sanctifie this day his word and other things c. And so by the second part of sanctification by annexing a blessing to this day he blessed it and made it holy as in the Sacrament of the Eucharist he blessed the bread and his dicere is facere he gave it power to increase holines in us And as to the bread there so to this day here he hath annexed a special blessing whereby it is sanctified to us and that in a twofold respect 1. Relative as applied to the means of holines
prayer word c. As a thing may be said to be holy as the place where Moses stood as also all that belonged to the Tabernacle because they were applied to the means of holines 2. Effective in regard of the fruit of holines which is wrought in us on that day and practized in our selves Sanctificamini et sancti estote Be sanctified and be holy So that all which hath bin said amounteth to thus much God hath set apart or sanctified this day to the end that it may be applied wholly either to the means of sanctification as hearing the word prayer meditation and other religious duties or to the practize of sanctification by these means wrought in us And he sanctified it or gave it a blessing that what means we use this day of sanctification shall be two fold blessed and of more effect and force to us then what we do upon another day not sanctified and set apart as this is Now seeing God hath so sanctified it it is our duties that as he hath sanctified it with is blessing we must do the like and sanctifie it too which consists in two things 1. In our estimation and accompt of it which is for our judgement 2. Secondly in the use of it which is for our Practize 1. We must account of it in our judgement as a day holy unto God not as a common day but as a Prince is sacred among men so this is to be reputed holy among dayes a day of dayes that of God to S. Peter must be our Rule What God hath sanctified make not thou common 2. For use that we so use it This use is well set down by the Prophet We must not do our own work No common thoughts are to exercise our brains and as our thoughts must be taken up with common affairs so neither must our communication be of such things nor our practise but our thoughts words and actions must be sanctified and such as tend to the practise of holinesse For according to that of the Prophet If that which is sanctified touch that which is common it imparteth not holines to the thing prophane or common but the common polluteth the thing which is sanctified so that the touching or dealing in any unholy action that day is a polluting of the day This we must take heed of else as our Saviour saith in another case A woman may be chast yet adultery may be committed if a wicked eye look upon her to lust after her so though holy things remain holy in themselves yet we may pollute them and make them unholy as much as in us lieth by our polluted actions CHAP. II. What is commanded here 1. A rest 2. Sanctification Rest is required not for it self but for the duties of sanctification Reasons that the Sabbath is not wholly nor principally ceremonial Addition 21. out of the Authors other works declaring his meaning in two things 1. That the Lords day is jure divino 2. That the 〈◊〉 Sabbath is abolisht by Christs death proved by him at large out of Scriptures and Antiquity in his speech against Trask in Star-Chamber NOw here are two things and both commanded but not alike or equally but the one for the other 1. The first is Sanctification which is the last end and drift of God in this commandment and that which is required for it self 2. The other which is the means subordinate to it is Rest without which sanctification of the day cannot be had as God requireth To make it plain The heathen by the light of nature could see that every thing is then best ordered when it hath but one Office and is ordained to do but one thing at once for whatsoever would be throughly done would be done alone the reason is because we are res 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 creatures and if two things be done at once and together one will be done imperfectly because our thoughts will be distracted between both for part of our thoughts will be taken of when they are set upon several objects so that we cannot wholly intend two things at once It was Adams case in the state of Inno cency for he having a natural soul and finite was not able to intend the dressing of the garden commanded him and the sanctification of the sabbath together and therefore God would have him imploy six dayes upon the first and blessed the seventh day to be bestowed in his worship And this was the end why God instituted blessed and sanctified the seventh day for a remedy against distraction especially in the solemne worship of God which is enough to take up the whole man and ought to be without all distractions and therefore permitteth none to be intent to any other thing during the performance of it Now if Adam in that estate could not be free from distraction much more have we need of remedy against it And therefore is this rest and ceasing from servile work commanded to free us from it and to further our sanctification and thus cometh in this rest because this total sanctification cannot be performed without ceasing from labour and doing our own works for without rest we cannot sanctifie and if our rest should hinder our sanctification it ought to be taken away and omitted And indeed our Saviour Christ acknowledgeth that man was not made for the rest but for sanctification Sanctification was his end and man was created and made for that Rest is but a subordinate end and man was not made for it but rather rest was made for man Rest is but the means to attain to sanctification which is mans end and that for which he was made For as the Apostle saith of bodily exercise it profiteth 〈◊〉 so it may be said of bodily rest that bodily rest profiteth little or indeed nothing at all except it be applied to sanctification which is the end nor doth God approve of it without this but wholly disliketh it The scope of this reverend Author is not here to prove that the command of the sabbath is wholly Moral and in no part ceremonial but to prove against the Anabaptists Familists aud other sectaries who denie all distinction of dayes under the Gospel that it is not wholly or principally ceremonial as his reasons do plainly shew for that it is so in part is confessed afterwards where the Author saith that the strict rest enjoyned the jews of not 〈◊〉 a fire nor dressing meat on the sabbath was ceremonial and obliged onely the jews Nor can it be imagined but that he know very well that as the sabbath was a type of Christs rest in the grave of our daily rest from sinne and of our eternal rest Heb. 4. And as it signified a rest from the Egyptian servitude Deut. 5. That in these respects it was ceremonial and is abolisht And although his opinion seems to be that the Lords day which we observe instead of the
as well in spirit as in body and in grace and holines and the means thereof the service of God as in nature even natural love if it be true and rightly guided teaches man curare 〈◊〉 to take care for their childrens good as well as their own and that for their souls as well as their bodies 3. In the third place Servants are prohibited from work on that day We see in the place before quoted that Abraham was commended by God for the care 〈◊〉 took for his household to do his service And the Apostle saith that in the service of God God takes no notice of the difference of 〈◊〉 from others in Christ is no difference of bond or free thy servants must rest as well as thy self And God elsewhere gives another reason for it Remember thou wast a servant where thou wast opprest with labour God hath a care of them and charity and humanity requires that we weare not out our family with too much toyle lest the Common-wealth be endangered by their hard vsage We read that in the Spartan and other common-wealths diverse insurrections have troubled the states by overburdening of servants therefore God for the preservation of commonwealths provides here that they may have a day of rest and refreshment 4. So likewise of 〈◊〉 Gods mercy care and providence extends likewise to them Thou Lord saith the psalmist shalt save both man and beast how excellent is thy mercy O God it extendeth to the bodies and lives of them for A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast saith Solomon God therefore here takes order that the beast be not overtired He hath also charged that the earth shall have its sabbath if it have not it will cry against us and the furrows there of will complain as holy Job speaks for Quod caret alterna requie durabile non est neither land nor cattel if they rest not sometimes cannot hold out one end of Gods providence herein is to restrain our covetous humour and desire which is such that rather then lose the least gain we will put our land and cattle to the utmost therefore by this clause God takes order to restrain it Another end is that by beholding the beasts to rest we might be the more stirred up and moved to sanctifie a rest our selves not that the rest of beasts is acceptable to God or required for it self but that we may be affected therewith and put in minde of our duties we read that in the fast of Nineveh command was given let neither man nor beast herd nor flock tast any thing let them not feed nor drink water not that God tooke any delight in the fasting of beasts nor that it was acceptable to him but that the 〈◊〉 seeing their beasts pined before them 〈◊〉 be moved the more to repent and humble themselves for their sinnes so here 〈◊〉 Jews seeing their beasts to keep a kinde of sabbath might the better 〈◊〉 to keep it themselves 5. The last is the stranger within thy gates Now the gates of a house or of a city 〈◊〉 scripture signifie a jurisdiction or protection He that is within anothers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 under his jurisdiction and as he enjoys thereby protection against injuries by coming within anothers gates so also he must be subiect to his jurisdiction when God told Abraham that his seed should possesse the gates of his enemies his meaning was they should conquer and be Lords of their cities And when Lot told the 〈◊〉 that the Angels came under his roof he signified that they came thither to be under his protection So that if a stranger come to remain within our 〈◊〉 or under our roof he is to be under our government as well as he enjoys our protection and therefore is to be under our care in point of religious duties 〈◊〉 case of jurisdiction Nehemiah as long as he had hope to reclaime the men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Ashdod 〈◊〉 them to come within the gates of Jerusalem with their 〈◊〉 ut when he found that notwithstanding his threats they would come in and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 markets upon the sabbath he shut the gates against them at the 〈◊〉 of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or preparation of the sabbath And thus we see the meaning of 〈◊〉 Commandment for works and persons in general and particular Now there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reasons for it 〈◊〉 first which is the general and main reason is for in six dayes the Lord 〈◊〉 heaven and earth c. the rule as we said before of 〈◊〉 precepts is 〈◊〉 be observed that a moral reason is often given of a ceremonial precept 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in ceremonies there is a general moral equity 〈◊〉 instances may be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Law but when a reason is given as a ful and adequate cause of such a precept 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the immediate and essential cause of 〈◊〉 it is true that if such a reason be moral 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there the precept is so too Besides it is observed by Maimonides and others that the cause why a rest is enjoyned and the cause why it was upon this day are two different things The first 〈◊〉 was the true and original cause of the rest is expressed Deut. 5. because of their deliverance from the Egyptian bondage to keep a memorial of it The other is expressed here for whereas any other day might have been chosen for this rest yet God thought fit to pitch upon this day because it had been consecrated for a day of joy and praise from the beginning by a greatful remembrance of 〈◊〉 creation and because on that day God gave over and finished his work So Aben-Ezra presat in Decal Isaac Arania and others and hence it was called the sabbath But yet though it were granted that Gods rest from the creation was the principal and immediate reason of this precept yet this makes it not so simply moral or immutable as 〈◊〉 law of nature for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 still a positive precept jure divino positivo which may be changed by the same authority that made it and soits certain that the day is de facto changed and 〈◊〉 it was by divine authority is most probable as is formerly proved in the 〈◊〉 observations 〈◊〉 immutabilis precepti facit preceptum immutabile If the reason of the commandment be immutable as this is then it makes the commandment unchangeable for the substance of it Because I have rested saith God therefore shalt thou rest in honour of me Creator imitandus a creatura the Creator is to be imitated by the creature is a firme reason and immutable 2. Another reason may be gathered out of the same words namely the benefit that 〈◊〉 to mankinde by that which the Lord did in these six 〈◊〉 Other reasons elsewhere God vseth as proper and peculiar onely to the Jews but this benefit by the creation being general is most fit for all and may be a
possunt which cannot be performed by those that are busied with worldly or secular affairs So many of the Fathers that write upon this place vacate videte quia ego sum Dominus Be still and know that I am God shew that by the rule of natural wisdom the Philosophers held Postulandum esse secessum ut melius intendamus a vacation from worldly affairs is necessary that we may the better intend contemplate on heavenly things Our heads must not be occupied with worldly thoughts when we are about the affairs of the soul not that the works of the other six dayes are evil in themselves but because they are apt to distract the minde from that which is proper to this day Now Otium Rest being the first part it is a very strange thing that the nature of man should be altogether so averse from Gods will that when the Precept is difficult and laborious requiring some pains and travail then they will be idle and where this precept is not laborious but easy as this to rest they will rather then not break the Commandment take pains that is they will even against their nature make themselvs businesse and pick out that day of all the dayes of the week that he hath chosen so that it shall be a kinde of policy to make advantage of that day and to finde out some labour on that day on which he hath forbid us to labour And so much for the easinesse of the Commandment and the perversenesse of man We finde in Scripture six several kindes of prohibitions from working on this day 1. Before the Law given when the people departed from Elim and came to the wildernesse of Sin there was a prohibition from gathering Manna there was better food to gather of which he that eateth shall live for ever The Lord is to be tasted 2. A second is As there must be no gathering of Manna nor going out to gather it that day so there must be no buying of it though it should be brought to us So Nehemiah protested against buying and selling which sheweth the unlawfulnesse of it because on that day is Mercatura animae it is the market day of the soul buying and selling on that day is forbidden 3. A third is that which the Prophet Jerem. mentions that is the carrying of burthens on that day and the better to dissuade the people from that kinde of work the Prophet promiseth in the person of God great blessings to them if they forbear and threatneth great plagues upon them if they did not for if they made that their day of 〈◊〉 God would send upon them a burden which they should sink under viz. Captivity and desolation by the Enemy he would kindle a fire in Jerusalem and burn up the gates and palaces thereof verse ult 4. Another thing prohibited by the Law is working in harvest time because the inning of harvest and gathering of grapes might seem to be a matter of great necessity Six dayes shalt thou work but on the seventh day thou shalt rest in earing time and in harvest time thou shalt rest so that the provision for the whole common-wealth must give place unto the rest of this day 5. A fifth thing prohibited is Travailing or Journeying on the Sabbath day Cras erit Sabbatum jehovae maneat quisque in loco suo neque egrediatur quisquam die septimo to morrow is the Sabbath of the Lord Abide ye every man in his place let no man go out of his place the seventh day 6. The last is above the rest For whereas God in the three Chapters before had given Moses a platform for the building of a Tabernacle and taken order that he should go presently in hand with it yet in the 31 Chapter he saith notwithstanding Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep whosever worketh on that day the same person shall be surely put to death Which is as much as if he had said Though that work may seem most lawful and tending most to my glory of all other yet ye shall not break the Sabbath to do it and so verse 15 he gives an universal restraint whosoever doth any manner of work on that day shall be put to death any manner of work an universal prohibition and the penalty threatned was accordingly executed upon him that gathered sticks Numb 6. 15. 35. he was stoned to death by Gods special appointment And the Lord tells the people that if they pollute the Sabbath by bearing burdens he would kindle such a fire in the gates of Jerusalem that should devour the palaces of it and not be quenched The Prophets generally urge the observation of this Commandment above the rest And we may observe that there hath seldom been any strange visitation by fire but where there hath some notorious prophanation of the Sabbath gone before So that when it shall please God to visit us with the like judgement we may conjecture what hath been the cause of it Concerning the rest now required on the Lords day and the difference thereof from the Jewish symbolical rest which was therefore more strict see the former Additional observation observation 6. Therefore to conclude this point let them that go out to gather Manna carry burdens buy and sell gather harvest journey and travail up and down or do any the most lawful work not think these things to be otium sanctum or Sabbatum Jehovae a holy rest or the Sabbath of the Lord but as Leo saith Sabbatum Tyri the Sabbath of Tyre The Councel of Mentz held in the time of Charlemain Anno Dom. 813 hath this Canon Omnes 〈◊〉 Dominicos cum omni veneratione decrevimus observari a servili opere abstineri ut 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 minime sit nec placitum ubi aliquis ad mortem vel poenam judicetur we have decreed that all the Lords dayes be observed with all reverence and that servile labour shall be forborne and that no market be kept on those dayes nor that any Courts be kept either to condemn men to death or punish them Those that offend are to be deprived of the communion for three years And the Council of Tyburis Anno 895. in the time of the Emperor Arnulph hath one Canon to the like purpose as well for the observation of other holy dayes as the Lords day In the second Council of Mascon held anno 582 severe punishments were to be inflicted upon those that should not observe the Lords day and that toto die all the day long As it was larger for the fault so it was milder for the punishment for they suspended those that violated this Canon from the Communion but for half a year so strict were they for the sanctifying of this day and that as one saith because God requires the rest not for the rest it self sed quia hoc die Deo tantummodo vacandum because we must this
day consecrate our selves wholly to God Now here will arise some questions Whether the strict Commandment given to the Jews of kindling no fire and consequently of dressing no meat upon the Sabbath be to be observed by us Christians To this we answer Negatively for this was Ceremonial and belonged onely to the Jews For it is a general rule that every moral or eternal dutie of the Law may be performed by all men at all times But they which inhabit under the North-pole as it is well known cannot be without fire one day and to let it go out were to their utter destruction and so they that dwell under the burning Zone under the Equinoctial cannot well keep their meat above one day so that this being Ceremonial the Christian is exempted from the observing of it as being a thing not observable through the whole world though it might have been observed by the Jews and therefore was it a peculiar precept to them onely because they had no obstacle but might have kept it 2. The second question is Whether the six several works formerly prohibited the Jews be absolutely forbidden to Christians as to travail c. For answer to this we will go no further then the Precept it self The Sabbath must be remembred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Our rest must be ad sanctificandum to sanctifie it the outward rest is destinate sanctificationi to sanctity ideo quiescimus ut sanctificemus we therefore rest because we should sanctifie so that where our rest is not destinata sanctificationi applied to sanctification it is not required and where sanctification cannot be sine quiete without rest there a rest is required Certain it is that a man may rest and not sanctifie so likewise he may sanctifie and not rest and therefore in the first case it is said there are many resters and but few sanctifiers Now sanctification consists either 1. In the means of sanctification Or 2. in declaring our inward sanctification by the practise and works of it in our lives And where the rest is not necessary for one of these or not destinated to them it being a subordinate thing it may be forborn The rule in Logick is tantum destinati sumendum est quantum prodest ad finem we must take so much of that which is appointed for the end as conduceth to the attaining of that end As in the case of Medicine so much is to be taken as will serve to the end for which it is taken Again for the means of sanctification Christ defending his Disciples against the Jews who were altogether urgers of the bodily rest onely sheweth that the rest in regard of the sanctification may be broken as in the Priest in sacrificing that time being the most laborious time for him as it is now the greatest day of labour for our Minister was blamelesse because he was in opere cultus Divini imployed in the work of Gods worship We read also in the Acts of the Apostles of a Sabbath dayes journey and of the like in the Old Testament where the Shunamitish woman coming to her husband for the Asse he saith to her Wherefore wilt thou go to the Prophet to day It is neither new moon nor Sabbath as if the custom had been then to go to the Prophet that day when they had no publick meetings elsewhere So that where publick and lawful assemblies are not a man may take a Sabbath dayes journey to joyn in publick worship with others Thus much for the first part of sanctification But this is lesse acceptable to God then the other part which is the practise of sanctification for this is the end the other but the means and therefore our Saviour being reproved by the Pharisees for a work of healing upon the Sabbath tells them that if they had known what this meaneth which he citeth out of the Prophet 〈◊〉 I will have mercy and not sacrifice you would not have condemned the guiltlesse Mercy being indeed a practical work of sanctification and preferred before the means So that in regard of the practise of sanctification a man may leave the very means as to shew a work of mercy As if there should happen a fire or a man or woman to fall into a swoun or a woman to be in travail in time of divine service or sermon we are to leave the means and practise the work in shewing mercy by saving the life or goods of those that need our help and would otherwise have perished for it is a true rule that periculum vitae pellit Sabbatum the danger of life excludes the Sabbath For as God will be glorified on this day for the works of his Creation the memorial whereof was a cause of the institution of this day from the beginning so no lesse is he glorified in the preservation of his creatures We read that our Saviour Christ was careful to save the fragments and commanded them to be taken up and his reason was because he would have nothing lost If not the least much less the life of any thing may be lost and if he be careful of the life of other things how much more then think you is he careful for the life of man He practised himself this work of mercy upon the Sabbath upon the man that was in peril of his life And indeed Necessitas facit legem exlegem Necessity makes law an Outlaw In the Law it is said Thou shalt not see thy brothers Asse or his Ox fall down by the way and hide thy self from them but thou shalt surely help to lift them up again Nay we see in the Law that God himself is not so strict in observing the practise as many now adayes are For in one place where he appointeth the sanctification of the 7 th day Sabbath and prohibits all works yet he hath there a Proviso Save that which every man must eat that may be done of you And in the Gospel our Saviour tells the Jews that they watered their cattel on the Sabbath day But we must take this caution by the way that we use not this liberty according to the flesh nor as a cloak as the Apostles speak and that these works of Mercy in preserving the life of Man and beasts and other of Gods creatures be used presente non imminente necessitate in case of present not imminent necessity As when any present danger appears against my life I am to defend my self for in presenti necessitate quisque Magistratus est quisque personam Dei habet ut potius occidat quam occidatur in urgent and present necessity every one is a Magistrate and representeth the person of God to kill rather then to be killed But if the danger be not present but onely imminent as one tells me there is wait laid to kill me I must then repair to the Magistrate so that for present necessity or peril there is
and temporal Preservers of kingdoms Humane laws and policies not sufficient without a teaching priest c. examples in diverse monarchies and kingdoms COncerning whom we know that God hath said of him that he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts he is appointed by God to stand between God and man and Saint Paul saith of himself and other ministers of God that they are the Ambassadors of Christ to deliver Gods message to men of all sorts aswell to the highest Prince as to the lowest of the people They are sent with a commission they come not of themselves mittam te I will send thee saith God to Moses and vade ad populum go to the people saith God to Esay And this custome of sending by commission was continued by Christ and his Apostles and by their successors in all ages of the Church As my Father sent me so send I you saith Christ to his Apostles And though God by the Prophet calleth these 〈◊〉 thus sent his own mouth and that the message they deliver to us is not 〈◊〉 own but Gods yet it falleth out with them oft times as with the day and 〈◊〉 they are disesteemed and neglected 〈◊〉 as in former times wicked Princes thought meanly of them as that to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nothing but to burn in cense and make ready sacrifices and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 appointed to their office the lowest of the people such as would fill their hands insomuch as the Priests office grew into contempt in like 〈◊〉 there are now some that think the office of a minister of God to be nothing but the reading of a few prayers and going up into a pulpit and speaking there an hour which some do without sence or reason and without any reverence or regard to the dignity of the worke and high place to which they are called Therefore God himself takes order for procuring the more honour to the calling and that for the peoples good that they shall not onely teach and instruct the people set Jacob to school and learn Israel his lesson but they shall teach even kings and princes themselves they must give Joshua his charge and the highest on earth must not 〈◊〉 to be directed and instructed by them in things concerning God and their own salvation Princes have need of such to assist them as in other acts of government so especially in matters of religion and in particular for sanctifying the Lords day They may by their statutes and penall laws enjoyne the external rest on that day but the works of sanctification wherein the celebration of the day chiefly consists are the proper work of the priest he it is that must teach the Laws of God which reach to the soul and inward man It is the duty of Princes who are custodes utriusque tabulae keepers of both tables 〈◊〉 they cannot perform the work of sanctification themselves to take care that fit persons be provided and encouraged in this work It s true if a Prince were onely as the Heathen man said Tanquam subulcus like a herdsman that keepeth cattel to take care of mens bodies and of their outward estate onely and that they wrong not one another by fraud or force and had no charge of mens souls nor of Religion he might neglect this work but seeing it is otherwise and that the care of the Church is committed to him and that the soul is the principal part therefore it his duty to see that fit and able persons be provided for this work such as may be Doctores Gentium Teachers of the Nations Therefore God would not have such as were to do his work to be chosen ex tumultuario grege out of the common people hand over head but out of those that had been trained up in the knowledge of the Law for which purpose they had their several Schools or Universities as at * Kirjath-Sepher ‖ Ramoth-Sophim and †Naioth Nor were they to do Gods work till they were well studied and able to give reasons for that they did or said by Gods own order they were under the law to be from thirty years old and upward to do the work in the Tabernacle of the congregation And as good care was to be taken in the choice of them so ought there be as great in the cherishing and esteem of them To esteem them very highly in love for their worke sake As Saint Paul speaketh We should receive them as Angels of God as the Galatians did Saint Paul and cleave to them as his Auditours did to him and use them as honorably and as with as much respect as Princes receive and entertain forreign Ambassadors otherwise they will neither profit us we shall receive no benefit by them nor they be encouraged to go on cheerfully in their calling Besides which is worst of all if we disesteem of them and despise them God will take it as an affront done to himself He that despiseth you saith Christ despiseth me It is a despight done to God not to the minister onely and God will take it to heart and avenge his own quarrel Corah and the rest that murmured against Gods servants felt his heavy indignation for it Miriam Moses own sister was made a Leper for the like offence we see what became of them that scorned Elisha though their age might have pleaded some excuse for them And not to trouble you with many presidents it is said of the Jews that they mocked the messengers of God and despised his words how long until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people till there was no remedy But it is objected what if the minister be of bad life and conversation we finde that those that were polluted were put from the Priesthood To this we answer many times it falls out that either for a small cause or sometime upon no just one the Minister may be accounted scandalous If the offence be given really and that without hope of the parties reclaiming that gives it there is a legal course yet with charity to be taken against him the censures of the Church must be exercised against him but in the mean time we must carry a fair respect to them for his sake by whom they are sent for the word we hear of them is not the word of men but of God Health is not refused though it come to us by the prescription of a sick man Elias refused not his food though brought to him by Ravens Nor was Christs almes one jote the worse though distributed by the hands of Judas Indeed it cannot be 〈◊〉 that Gods intent was to have them all lights all holy for he brought them neer to himself and therefore are called men of God they should be like the Baptist burning and shining lights and if we well consider the work they are to undergo we shall finde
a passage to the Corinthians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that I may catechize others We finde three eminent persons noted to us in Scripture that were catechumeni catechized The first was Theophilus of whom Saint Luke testifieth It seemed good to me saith he to write to thee in order that thou mightest know the certainty of those things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 concerning which thou wert catechized or instructed The second was Apollos of whom also Saint Luke gives this commendation that he was mighty in the Scriptures and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this man was catechized or instructed in the way of the Lord. The third was Timothy of whom saint Paul testifies that he had known the the Scriptures from a childe And in one place mention is made both of the Catechist and Catechized 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. After the Apostles times the first Catechist of any fame was the Evangelist Mark in Alexandria after him Pantenus then Clemens Origen Cyril of Jerusalem Gregory Nyssen Athanasius Fulgentius S. Augustine and others And that there were catechumeni in the Church in all ages may appear by the canons of diverse Councels Hegesippus converted from Judaism to Christianity in his Ecclesiasticall story reports that this work of catechizing wrought so great effect that there was no known commonwealth inhabited in that part of the world but within fourty years after our saviours passion 〈◊〉 superstition was shaken in it by Catechizing So that Julian the Apostata the greatest enemy that ever Christians had found no speedier way to root out Christian religion then by suppressing Christian schools and places of catechizing and if he had not been as a Cloud that soon passeth away it might have been feared that in a short time he had overshadowed true Religion 1 And when Catechizing was left off in the Church it soon became darkned and over-spread with ignorance The Papists therefore acknowledge that all the advantage which the protestants have gotten of them hath come by this exercise and it is to be feared that if ever thy get ground of us it will be by their more exact and frequent Catechizing then ours 3. Concerning the third quaere The reasons why this custome of catechizing by way of question and answer hath ever been continued seem to be these 1 Because of the account every one must give Our Saviour tells it us reddes rationem we must render an accompt And every man will will be most wary in that for which he must be accomptable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Because we are all young and old to give an accompt of our faith Be ready saith Saint Peter alwayes to give answer to every one that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you a solid reason not a phanatique opinion And by this we shall be the better fitted to these four necessary duties 1 of examining the doctrine we heare 2 Of examining our selves before we heare the word and receive the sacrements 3 Of admonishing our brethren which we cannot doe unlesse we be fitted with knowledge 4 Of adhering to the truth Because being children we doe imbibere errcres ergo exuendi sunt et induendaveritas we drink in errours which must be shaken of and our loynes must be girt with truth The Heathen man adviseth us that in all our actions we propound to our selves Cui bono What good will arise by that we goe about In this certainly the fruit is great diverse wayes 1 It will be acceptable to God to spend our hours in his service 2 We shall learn hereby to know God and his son Jesus Christ. Whom to know is life eternal 3 It will procure length of happy dayes in this life 4 Lastly the fruit of it is holines and the end everlasting life Now 〈◊〉 the fruit is so great we are to take especial care that the hours we spend in this exercise be not lost and so we be deprived of the fruit For as in natural Philosophy it is held a great absurdity ut aliquid frustra fiat that any thing be done in vain or to no purpose and in morall ut sit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that there be a vain and fruitlesse desire so in divinity much more S. Paul useth it as an argument to the corinthians to prove the resurrection that if there should be none then both his preaching and their faith were in vain And in another place he did so forecast his manner of the conversion of the gentiles ne forte currat in vanum lest he might run in vain Therefore as the same Apostle desired the Corinthians not to receive the grace of God in vain so are we to be careful that we heare nothing in vain lest we be like those in Jeremy that let the bellows blow and the lead consume in the fire and the founder melt in vain upon which place saith the glosse that all pains and labour which is taken with such people is in vain and lost But the word of God cannot be in vain in three respects 1 In respect of it self 2 In respect of the Catechist 3 In respect of the Catechized 1 In respect of it self it cannot be in vain For God himself maintaineth the contrary As the rain cometh down saith he by the Prophet and the snow from heaven and returneth not thither but watereth the earth and maketh it bring forth and budd that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater So shall the word be that goeth forth out of my mouth it shall not return to me void but it shall accomplish that which I please and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I send it 2 Nor can it be in vain in respect of the Catechizer or him that delivereth it I have laboured in vain saith the Prophet I have spent my strength for nought and in 〈◊〉 yet surely mark that my judgement is with the Lord and my work with my God The paines which the Catechizer takes is not in vain because God seeing he hath done his part will accept of his endeavours though his 〈◊〉 reject and 〈◊〉 them And if the son of peace be there 〈◊〉 peace shall rest upon him if not redibit ad vos it shall returne to you again saith Christ to his disciples And the Apostle most plainly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We are unto God a sweet savour of Christ in them that are saved and in them that perish Therefore we ought to be very carefull how we behave our selves in hearing 3 Lastly it cannot be in vain to the Catechized If we come to heare with a good intent the spirit of God takes order that the word shall be profitable and fruitful like good seed sowed in good ground And to this purpose it is that Saint Gregory saith Cum verbiboni auditores 〈◊〉 pro reficiendis eis majora
thing required in every law and so in this is the manner how it must be done which by learned men is much dilated We will reduce them all to three things We are to do it 1. Toti 2. Totum 3. Toto tempore or Semper 1. Toti as Jacob said to Rachel you know that with all my power I have served your father and no doubt but he would yeeld as much service to God as he did to Man 2. Totum with our whole souls and bodies we must endeavour to keep the whole Law not as Naaman did keep it by halfes but as Noah who did all that the Lord commanded him about the Ark. 3. Toto tempore not for a time onely but all the dayes of our life Noah was 〈◊〉 tempore justus righteous all his life and Abraham was juvenis senex idem the same man in his age that he was in his youth Now for the Reward or Punishment which are the two other things required in a law it stands thus That if a man break one part of the law the commanding part it is impossible that he should escape the other part the sanction which bindes over to punishment Therefore God hath taken order that though men can over-reach the law in one part that is in contemning it yet on the other part punishment shall over-reach them So saith S. Augustine Aut faciendum aut patiendum quod debemus we must either do what we should or suffer what is due And this was known before the giving of the law That God was righteous and the people wicked It was the confession of a wicked Egyptian King And both reward and punishment were set before Cain If thou do well shalt thou not be accepted And if thou doest not well sin lyeth at the door Like a savage Bear or Mastiffe-dog or a Blood-hound So long as thou keepest within doors that is as the Fathers expound it as long as thou livest thou mayest happily escape punishment for thy sin but whensoever thou goest out of the doors out of this life then vae tibi he will flye upon thee then this Blood-hound will never lose the sent till he have brought thee to perdition and destruction More directly for the Reward it s to them that doe well 1. For temporal benefits in this life Because Joseph feared God the Lord made all things prosper under his hand 2. And secondly for eternal benefits felicity after this life Enoch was 〈◊〉 to everlasting life because he walked with God For punishment t is to them that do evil First temporal punishment in this life as we see in the case of Adam Eve Cain and Josephs brethren but especially in Pharaoh which made him cry out as we heard before Justus est Dominus c. The Lord is righteous and I and my people are wicked It was his sin drew those temporal plagues upon him 2. And secondly eternal punishment in the life to come So we read of the Spirits in prison for being disobedient in the dayes of Noah who preached repentance to them so that they were condemned for transgressing the law of God preached by Noah CHAP. XVI That the moral Law of God written by Moses was known to the Heathen 1. The act or work was known to them as it is proved in every precept of the 〈◊〉 yet their light more dimme in the 1. 2. 4. 10. S. Pauls three rules of Pie sobrie juste known to them 2. They knew the manner of performance Toti Totum Semper 3. They knew the rewards and punishments AND thus we see that Gods written Law which is Natures Law hath all those conditions that any Law should have For this Law which was before Moses was nothing else but Moses's Law in the hearts of men as if a man would get a thing by heart that is not written For what Laws then they had from GOD they kept in their hearts by tradition But now peradventure they will say that these Laws and the four Rules appear onely in the Scripture and were observed by the Jewes and those mentioned in the Scripture onely but other Heathen took no notice of them nor used them by the light of Nature and therefore think themselves not bound to them but are at liberty to use or not use them To this we say that by the writings of the Heathen themselves it appears that they had these rules written in their hearts and received many of them the son from the fathers ascending even to Noahs sons Sem Ham and Japhet though in some of the Commandements it may not seem so plain as in the rest for in every Commandement they introduced some corruptions of their own heads and declined diversly from Gods Law First for six of the Commandements it is manifest as the 3. 5. 6. 7. 8 9. the more obscure are the 1. 2. 4. 10. 3. For the third Commandement It was a law among the Egyptians Perjuri poena capitali plectentur let the perjured be punished with death as Diodorus Siculus reporteth And it was the law of Rome in the 12 Tables 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 swear not rashly And Sophocles saith that when an oath is taken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the soul will be more cautions to sin against God and to injure man 5. For the fifth Homer saith of one that had a misfortune that it came quia parentes non honoravit because he honoured not his parents 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he would not render the duty of a childe to his father therefore his dayes were not prolonged and another saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 live well and nourish thy parents in their age And Menander saith that he which honoured his parents shall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 live long and happily And for superiours Charondas said in his laws 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the neglect of our aged parents is extremity of wrong 6. For the sixth there is no question every Nation held it as a Canon of their Law Homicida quod fecit expectet Let a murtherer expect losse of life as he deprived another of it and therefore they all punished murtherers with losse of life 7. For the seventh it was the saying of Licurgus Fuge nomen Moechi si mortem fugies Avoid adultery so shalt thou avoid untimely death and Stephanus out of Nicostratus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that will live in this city and not dye let him abhor adultery And Menander censureth adultery as a sin disgraceful 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because the price of it is death 8. For the eighth Demosthenes against Timocrates alledgeth plainly the Lacedemonian law in the very words of this Law Thou shalt not steal And He siods precent enjoyneth men not to possesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stolne goods but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 given by Gods providence 9. For the ninth it was one
this would make us to number our days and lavbor to spend our time well therefore Moses prayed that God would teach men to number their dayes that they might apply their hearts to wisdom 2. Terror Judicii the terrour of Gods jndgement after death and what account we are able to give when as the Apostle speake We shall appear before the judgement seat of God which judgement seat cannot but be terrible 1. If we consider the Authority of the Judge from whose sentence there lies no appeale it is sententia definitiva a definitive sentence 2. In regard of his wisdom and knowledge of all our offences Omnia nuda all things are naked in his sight neither will he leave any of our acts indiscussed I know your manifold transgressions saith God And he judgeth not as man for man looketh on the outward appearance but God looketh on the heart He searcheth all hearts and understandeth all the immaginations of the thoughs 3. In respect of his omnipotency He is God of all power and might power belongs to him saith the Psalmist If he whet his glittering sword and his hand take hold on judgement he will render vengeance to his enemies At his reproofe all the pillars of the earth tremble saith Job 4. In regard of his justice He hateth all workers of iniquity ther 's no corrupting of this judge Riches profit not in the day of wrath but he will do that which is just he will reward every man according to his works 5. In consideration of the fearfull signes which will go before this judgement which will be so strange and terrible that as the Prophet speaks All the inhabitants of the world shall tremble when the day of the Lord shall come Our Saviour describes them in the Gospel And Saint Gregory saith vltima tribulatio multis tribulationibus pervenitur et per crebra mala quae perveniunt judicantur mala perpeta quae sequantur there are many tribulations which precede the last and by those foregoing we may conceive of them which are to come 6. Lastly in regard of the accsers God himself and Christ will be both Judge and witnesse I will be a swift witnes saith God The Angels Devils our own Consciences our works for they will follow us The Creatures which we have abused and the wounds of Christ caused by our sinnes 3. The third Consideration is Terror poenarum the terrour of punishments which is commonly divided into Poena sensus Poena Damni the pain of sense and losse The pain and grief we have in that we feel or in that we forgo 1. In that we feel Christs fan is in his hand and he will thorowly purrge his floor and gather his wheat into his garner but will burne up the chaff with unquenchable fire The grievousnesse of these pains we shall finde if we consider particularly what they are 1. The sharpnes of them there shall be fire And as in this particular so in the rest we may truly say that the least of hell pains are greater then all the pains of this world put together this fire shall far exceed that in the fornace heated seven times at the command of Nebuchadnezzar It is a lake burning with fire and brimstone 2. There shall be darknesse worse then that of Egypt Job calls it a land of darknesse were the light is as darknesse Saint Gregory saith Ignis infernalis concremationem habet lumen non habet flanima illa comburit sed tenebras non expellit The fire of hell hath burning but no light the flame of it burns but expells no darknes 3. There shall be noisome stench And so much the materialls of this fire may intimate to us wich is brimstone as bad a smell as may be besides as the bodies of the Godly shall be a sweet smelling Savour so shall the bodies of the wicked yeild and send forth a noisome stench 4 There shall be hunger and thirst never to be satisfied For the first our Saviour denounceth this judgement upon the wicked wo unto you that are ful for ye shal hunger for the other the rich man mentioned by our Saviour found the want of as much water as would lie upon the tip of Lazarus finger And for them both the Prophet saith My servants shall eat but ye shall be hungry and my servants shall drink but ye shall be thirsty 5. If you adde the company which the wicked shall enjoy notwithstanding there shall be many other miseries it will make the Paena sensus full enough to cause fear in us And they be the Divills which torment them and the wicked tormented whose the cruelty and ghastly looks of the first sort and the howlinglamentations and gnashings of teeth of the other will make disconsolate enough their sense of hearing For Paena damni this instead of much may be said That as it is the chiefest good of man and the height of his felicity to enjoy the infinite goodnes of God and his beatificall vision so is it his greatest misery to be deprived of it And though the wicked and reprobate love not God nor desire to be united to him in respect to do him honour yet desire they to be in heaven in regard it would be to their profit to enjoy eternal happines The last consideration of the pains of hell which is not the least and hath reference both to poena sensus Damni is the eternity of their misery for as they shall never enjoy the comfortable presence of Allmighty God so shall they never be freed from their miserable torments And that this shall be eternal we may see by the words of our Saviour taken out of Esay where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched And no doubt our Saviour repeated it not five several times in one Chapter but to confirm the truth of it against all that should gainsay it The signes of fear are these 1. The first signe of fear is If we give credit to that which is taught by them that have authority and knowledge for timor est credulus as the heathen man said fear is credulous or easy of belief and if we be not desirous to busie our selves in questions and frivolous distinctions for this questioning of what we hear is a signe we fear it not but do as they did and said to Moses Goe thou neer and hear all that the Lord our God shall say and speak thou unto us all that the Lord our God shall speak to thee and we will do it and hear it 2. The next is diligence negligence is an ill signe Qui timent Dominum nihil negligunt fear is very diligent Jacob being in fear of his brother could not rest all night but was either praying to God or sending messengers to his brother or ordering his family 3.
of the friend that called up his neighbor at midnight by both telling us how much importunity prevails with God 4. A fourth is God though he gives not quod petimus what we ask yet he will give quod novit utilius what he knows to be more profitable for us as in the case of S. Paul My grace shall be sufficient for thee 5. Some things we pray for may be hurtful to us as knives for children so as that non accipiendo accepimus we are better by wanting then possessing them Chrysostome calls prayers for such things childish and aguish prayers as S. Aug. male usurus eo quod vnlt accipere Deo potius miserante non accepit God in compassion lets not him receive that which he meant to use ill And therefore sometime to misse that which we conceive to be a benefit is a blessing And therfore we will conclude this point with a saying of S. Aug. fideliter supplicans Deo pro necessitatibus hujus vitae 〈◊〉 auditur misecorditer non auditur quid enim infirmo sit utilius magis 〈◊〉 medicus quam aegrotus God in mercy hears and in mercy hears not a faithful suppliant for the necestities of this life for the Physitian knows what is profitable for the sick man better then himself These reasons are from the matter of our prayers others taken from the manner of our asking may be mentioned hereafter The third part of Invocation is Interpellation or Intercession which is prayer either for the prosperity or against the crosses of others The Fathers seldome quote the Fathers but in this S. Aug. cites S. Ambrose Frater mi si pro te rogas tantum pro te unus orabit si autem pro omnibus rogas omnes pro te rogabunt My brother if thou only pray for thy self one shall pray alone for thy self but if thou pray for all men all men will pray for thee And S. Gregory saith Quisquis pro aliis intercedere nititur sibi potius ex charitate suffragat pro semet ipso tanto citius audiri meretur quanto magis devote pro aliis intercedit whosoever prayes for others doth the rather pray for himself and by so much the sooner deserves to be heard for himself by how much the more devoutly he intercedes for others S. Chrysostome hath an excellent speech to this purpose Pro se orare necessitas cogit pro aliis charitas fraternitatis hortatur dulcior autem ante Deum est oratio non quam necessitas transmittit sed quam charitas fraternitatis commendat it is meere necessity that compels a man to pray for himself but it is a brotherly affection that draws a man to pray for others and that prayer is more acceptable to God which is caused by love then necessity This part of invocation hath divers branches As we are to pray for all men 1. For sinners that have not sinned unto death and there is a promise that prayer shall be heard In which respect there is a prayer in our Liturgie first for them that are without the Church for their conversion as Heathens Jews Turks Hereticks Schismaticks then for those that are in the Church which are with us and yet not of us but are still in blindnesse and ignorance or know but practise not 2. We are to pray for them that not onely are oppressed with outward afflictions but inward temptations and the 〈◊〉 of their sins 3. For those that stand that they fall not but persevere 4. For them that are our enemies and persecute us And for this we have not onely our Saviours percept but the practise of holy men Saint Gregory Hum. 27. in Evang. upon that place in Jeremiah 15. 1. where God saith though Moses and Samuel stood before me yet my heart could not be towards this people c. asks the question why Moses and Samuel are especially named and gives this reason Because the prayers of such are most powerful with God who having received an injury can presently pray for those that wronged them Now such are Moses and Samuel For Moses when the people were ready to stone him presently prayeth for them Samuel though the people desired to cast off his government yet saith God forbid that I should cease to pray for you And of these prayers it is said that they shall return into our own bosome They are very effectuall for in these cases Qui pro aliis orat prose laborat he that prayes for others labours for himself 5. For Kings and Magistrates as the Apostle adviseth 6. Lastly but most especially for the peace and good of the Church O pray for the peace of Jerusalem saith the Psalmist who also wished that his tongue might cleave to the roof of his mouth if he forgate to pray for it The fourth branch of Invocation is Thanksgiving Invocation is for that we want and desire Thanksgiving is for that we have received So that whether we be answered before we call as the Prophet speaks when God gives before we ask or whether it be given us when we ask in both cases we have cause to enter into this consideration Quid retribuam Domino what shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits And indeed the chief end of all should be the glory of God For for his glory all things that are made were created the seventh day when he had finished his work of creation was instituted for his praise and glory And for this purpose man was placed in Paradise to praise him and after his fall mankinde had perished and all things had been again reduced to nothing but that God might have some to glorifie him Now it is plain that God takes and accepts of thanks as a great part of his glory And therefore were the thank-offerings among other sacrifices for Gods service and glory instituted of old and he that offereth me thanks saith God by the Prophet giveth me glory and the Apostle All things are for your sakes that the aboundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God That which the Heathen said is true Gratus animus est meta benignitatis gratitude is the end of bounty And it is the condition of our obligation to God and of Gods to us Call upon me in i me of trouble and I will hear you there is Gods and thou shalt glorifie me there is ours The Hebrews make Thanksgiving to consist of four parts according to the four words used by thankful persons in Scripture 1. Confession or acknowledgement Confitebor I will confesse that we have nothing but that we have received from God That our help cometh from the hills from no inferiour creature from above 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the Father of lights Nor must we conceal what we have received Saint
receive rules from God 2. And as we must heare with the eare so with the heart too Auditus est sensus disciplinae we are perhaps content to heare but that is not all that is required Quod cor non facit non fit The eares without the heart are but like Idoll ears that heare nothing aures aequivocae There is praeputium and this foreskin must be taken away else we have but uncircumcised eares Jer. 6. 10. We use to say that such an one will not heare good counsel that is will not follow it for though he will not stop his eares yet if his heart be not bent to follow it his hearing is to no purpose for as the heathen man said mens videt non oculus it is not the eye but the minde that seeth so it s not the eare but the heart that heareth To shew the truth of this lest men should think obedience consists onely in hearing God used to put an et a copulative after it as audiant et custolient et ambulent et faciant c. they shall heare and keep hear and walk hear and do c. There is an apt similitude of a fishhook cum capit capitur et tum capitur cum attrahitur when it taketh it is taken and it is taken when it is drawn to us and it is a signe that our hearing stick to us when we hear to obey 2. As we must audire so also obandire heare and follow him before and against all others this is implyed in the preposition ob As there is a saying loqui and obloqui a gainsaying so there is an hearing and a hearing against audire and obedire There is never a hearing of God but even when he speaketh there will be an obloquutor one that speaks against what he speaks There are three speakers Deus Homo Mundus 1. Deus God is a speaker by his word and his works 1. By his word O that God would speak saith Zophar to Job And speak Lord for thy servant heareth saith Samuel Hear O my people saith God himself and I will speak They that will not heare him to obey when he speaketh in mercy shall heare him speak in his wrath And he continually speaks to us now by the Church and her pastors as he did in former ages by his Prophets and Apostles 2. By his works every man may see and behold them And therefore Elihu bids Job stand still and consider the wonderous works of God There 's none of them but are as so many speakers to us The Heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handy work One day telleth another and one night certifieth another There is neither speech nor language but their voices are heard among them No nation but may understand that God speaks to them by these works 2. The other two speakers which gainsay what God speaks are the world and our selves here we must obaudire to what God sayes contrary to what the world sayes to us and to what we speak to our selves 1. For the world it hated Christ and so it is like to speak no good of him or his wayes now as Enoch walked with God so must wee for God and the world cannot walk together Can two go together saith the Prophet unlesse they be agreed The world cannot walk with Christ because it hateth him Enoch therefore forsook the company of the world and chose to walk with God alone and so was translated so must we whatsoever evil counsel we heare whether from prophane men or others if they be gain-sayers if they do obloqui we must obaudire heare God against them The King had a Michaiah to speak the truth to him from God so had he a Zedekiah who spake against it so when we preach the truth there are others which preach placentia that will tell men id quod volunt sanctum est that whatsoever they like is the best that will loose let others binde as fast as they can these we must take heed of hearkening to we must not frame ourselves to the world whether to the old world as they that would burne incense to the Queen of heaven because they and their fathers had done so before or to this present world as the people who would needs have a king before Gods time because they would be like other nations 2. The other speaker that doth obloqui speak against what God sayes is our selves for we are at as great odds with God as the world is The wisdom of the flesh is enmity with God there is in us a desire to follow our own spirit and as the wise man saith every way of a man is right in his own eyes and this way we are not to follow but God speaks cleane contrary to this Revertatur quis que a via sua return ye every man from his own way for that 's a wrong way we have Gods own testimony that mans thoughts are naught and exceeding naught and therefore we are like to finde little good by this oblocutor These thoughts and lusts do militari 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 war against the soul and above all it is a great punishment from God to give men up to follow their own lusts The Isralites lusted for quailes which God gave them but withal his wrath fell upon them and when they refused to heare his voice in his anger he gave them up to their own desires This is the punishment for the greatest offenders The Heathen Idolaters were punisht by being given up to follow their own lusts It is a great punishment to be delivered over to Sathan yet this may be for ones good that the soul may be saved as 1 Cor. 5. 5. but to be deli ered up to the desires of our own hearts is far greater 2 Cor. 2. 8. Therefore Moses when God appointed him an office very plausible and desireable by men to be a Magistrate he being suspicious of himself left his heart which did not obloqui should beguile him denied it fower times and would not take it upon him till God was very angry for true obedience hath nothing de suo of its own but totum de alieno all from another it is a continual gainsayer of it self 3. Some will joyn these two together they will heare God and then call a conference and heare what flesh and blood can say and they will sit judges between both This was not Saint Paules practise when God called him to preach he consulted not with flesh and blood Our affections are like lyme hottest when they should be coldest as in water and e contra we are suspicious and wary when we come to hear God though we ought to be then most secure as if he were persona mala fidei one not to be trusted we fear most when we need not fear we are afraid in hearing the minister of
alone can search the heart therefore he delights in it and requires our obedience to be coram facie mea as in his sight Therefore it is that the Wise man counselleth a man to keep his heart with all diligence He gives a double reason for it is the principal member and therefore gives God the chief glory and further it is the fountain of all our actions by none of which is God honoured if they come from a corrupt fountain nay they are so far from being accepted that they are abominable and therefore according to the disposition of the heart life or death proceeds if we worship God with a right heart then we shall reap life if that be unsound death eternall follows And therefore necessitas incumbit we had need to keep that member right For all those glorious duties before spoken of if they want integrity or a good heart they are so far from Gods acceptation that they become abomination For if we believe our faith must come from the heart if we love it must be not in word but in truth which comes from the heart Our obedience also must proceed from the heart To conclude this whatsoever we do we must do it heartily as to the Lord and not to men That which is here commanded is called virtus integritatis by the Fathers inward soundnesse against hollownesse and sincerity against mixture And they ground it upon Gods charge to Abraham when he made the covenant of Circumcision Ambula coram me what that is God explained in the next words esto integer walk before me and be upright or perfect without hypocrisie It is commonly joyned in Scripture with another word Job was an upright and just man the words signifie properly straight and sound upright and pure in another place and an honest and good heart in another The nature of the word integer is taken from timber it must be straight without and sound within straight that it be not crooked coram facie humana and sound that it be not hollow coram facie divina before God Therefore the Ark was overlaid with gold without and within and in this respect it was that the Psalmist distinguished the Church the Kings daughter from other Kings daughters her outward beauty might be parraleld but she was all glorious within It is the inward beauty which is required chiefly That which is forbidden is hypocrisie Our Saviour taxed it in the Pharisees by telling them they had a care to make clean the outside of the cup and platter but had no regard to that which was intus within This is the sin of seven woes more then we read that any other sin had Of which S. Chrysostome saith Pharisaeorum justitia erat in ostentatione operis non in rectitudine intentionis the righteousnesse of the Pharisees consisted in ostentation of their works not in the uprightnesse of their intents The other extream is that the Prophet taxes in Ephraim whom he calld a silly dove without heart this is simplicity without wisdom when there is as our Saviour intimates Columba sine serpente the dove without the serpent Of such speaks Solomon when he saith that a fool uttereth all his minde he poures out his spirit without any manner of wisdom and discretion before every man our integrity therefore must be preserved with wisdom 1. The way to keep our selves in this integrity First Seneca's councel to Lucillus who desired this vertue was when he took any thing in hand to imagine that Cato Scipio or some other of the ancient Romans renowned for vertue stood before him But it is a better way for us to do as the Psalmist did to set God alwayes before our eyes conceiving and that truely that whatsoever we do is in his presence If that will not work with us then to set God not absolutely but as he will sit when the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed at the day of judgment The day as the Apostle speaks when God shall judge the secrets of all men for as the Preacher saith God shall bring every work into judgement with every secret thing 2. Another motive and that a forceable one to perswade us will be that God requires an exact and sincere service of us to himself because he commandeth singlenesse of heart from servants to their Masters even with fear and trembling If this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eye-service will not be allowed by God as current towards men much lesse will he allow it to himself 3. Lastly if we consider the integrity of Christs heart to us of whom we read that it was pierced and that he spent his very heart blood for us if we consider that it will stir us up to have a reciprocal heart to him and say with S. Bernard juste cor nostrum vindicat qui cor suum pro nostro dedit he may justly challenge our hearts that gave his for ours When he had offered his hands feet and other members for us yet thought it not sufficient but gave his heart for us also It is not our tongue hands or feet that can requite it our hearts will be too little if we give them also up to him 1. And we shall know whether our hearts be upright or no first by the Heathen mans rule Nil conscire sibi nulla pallescere culpa hic murns 〈◊〉 us 〈◊〉 A sound heart is like a wall of brasse and is so full of courage that it can say with the Apostle 〈◊〉 perminimum est ut a vobis judicer it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you It is the soundnesse of the heart that will make it bold if we be not 〈◊〉 mali to our selves that we know no evil in our selves This made John Baptists heart to be above King Herodes power the want of it made Peter afraid at a silly Damsels speech charging him to be of Christs company 2. Another mark like to this is if we be firm and upright under the crosse If afflictions alter us not for troubles and crosses will dishonour the integrity of our hearts Look how we stand affected in them if firm then no doubt but we are right If we can say with King Hezekiah Remember O Lord how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart this upheld him when he was sick even unto death but e contra if the heart be not sound then in any crosse it melts within us like wax as the Psalmist speaks Psalm 22. 14. 3. If we derest sin in our selves and punish it no lesse in our selves then others Judah at the first in the case of Thamar cried Bring her away let her be burnt but upon further consideration when it came to be his own case there was a sudden alteration she was more righteous then I. This is much like that the Heathen man
his glory As the Apostle And whatsoever we doe it must be to the glory of God and so to demeane our selves and order our actions and thoughts that the name of the Lord Jesus Christ may be glor 〈◊〉 in us The taking of the name of God is an external act an act of the tongue which we know though it be but a little member as Saint James speaks yet if it be not well looked too it is of all the members the most unruly and breaks out to the dishonour of God but if it be rightly ordered then none more meet for his service as the same Apostle saith therwith we blesse God the father And indeed it 〈◊〉 the proper instrument for his praise his praise shall ever be in my mouth the mouth and tongue being one and the same in this act And my mouth shall shew forth thy praise My lips shall praise thee and when my mouth shall praise thee both in one Psalm and in divers other places And so of the tongue My tongue shall talk of thy praise all the day long And my tongue shall sing of thy righteousnes The manner how it is to be done Moses in his song of praise tells us Enuntiabo I will publish the name of the Lord there must be no whispering in this work but Gods praise must be sounded out and in this work one must report the excellency of God and they that hear are to give glory to him for glory as was touched before as the word is taken both in scripture and in humane writers imports more then either honour praise or worship for all these must be directed that the party on whom they are bestowed may be glorified so that glory is the end of those actions and the nature of glory hath some resemblance to claritas the brightnesse of glasse or other resplendent obects that are seen a far off so God is glorified when he is so praised or honored that is name may be seen and known afar off and therefore the psalmist exhorting men to praise God adds further make his praise glorious so that he may be seen and known to all the world and the several steps or degrees of doing this are these First by filling our mouthes with his praise and then secondly by filling other mens eares with it O praise our God yee people and make his praise to be 〈◊〉 And thirdly that not once but our mouths must daily speak of it ever more more And fourtly to them that are ready to hear of it which are they that fear God The Saints And 5. this is not in asmal assembly or meeting but in the great congregation And sixthly the greater the be ter let them give glory unto the Lord saith the prophet and declare his praise in the Islands nay he wishes that all the world may be filled with his praises and that he might be heard of all nations Psal. 71. 18. The sound must go out into all lands and the words of his praise into the ends of the world Seventhly and lastly this celebrating of Gods praise must continue to the end of the world His name saith the psalmist shall endure for ever so long as the Sun and Moon endureth And we will shew forth thy praise from generation to generation and he would have it continue so long as the world endureth Thus you see the scope and end of this Commandment is Gods glory and you see that it must not be restrained but it must have a large extent and that as large as may be for place and perpetuity You may see the reasons briefly that this is no voluntary act but a necessary duty 1. Man was created for this end and purpose as you have heard and Saint Chrysostom saith Animalia fecit Deus propter hominem hominem propter seipsum God made other creatures for man but man for himself that is for his own glory So saith S. Gregory Homo ad contemplandum laudandum creatorem suum conditus est man was made to contemplate and praise his maker Therefore it is observed that the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bara and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Barak creare benediccre are little differing because the end of creation is that God may be blessed or praised 2. Assoon as the world was made God sanctified a sabbath to be spent in his praise being a Type of what we must do hereafter Dies enim septinus not ipsi erimus 〈◊〉 ejus fuerimus benedictione sanetificatione pleni atque referti saith Saint Augustine And therefore our Saviour delivering us a forme of prayer though God requires his inward worship in the first place as in the first Commandment because it must be first in execution or performance yet because his praise and glory is the end and the end is first in intetion though last in execution therefore Christ puts it in the first petition wherein we desire his name may be hallowed or glorified 3. If we mean to do it hereafter in patria in heaven our countrey we must doe it here in via in the way thither on earth It will be our continual exercise there and by vsing it here we come to have a heaven upon earth 4. We being little lower then Angels must imitate them in this duty It is an exaltation of our nature while we are here in corruption to be made like the Angels They sing Hallelujahs salvation glory honour and power to God Let us do the like 5. If we do it not we shal be so much lower then the Angels and we shal be worse and more unthankful then the Heavens and firmament baser then the basest creatures for they do in their kinde 6. The Church militant doth it It is the work of the Temple and to be preferred before the works of other places as that is the place of all places or chief of places so is praise the work of all works the chiefest work to be done 7. Man ought to be delighted in that wherein God hath made him to excell all other creatures that is in the distinction of voice no creature but man having a tongue to speak the rest onely having a sound but no articulate voice whence man is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from his articulate voice 8. This gift is not onely proper to man but the parts exercised herein as the tongue lips and mouth are honoured much by being imployed in this service it it is more then necessary for him to use it to that end Saint James 3. 8. debaseth the tongue which is lewdly employed David extolleth it when it is well occupied It is the highest degree of glory to be thus imployed Awake my glory Psalm 57. 8. 9. It is not onely a good act but pleasant seemly and profitable David saith
be placed among the ten Commandments One of the Fathers upon the words Nunquid Saul 〈◊〉 inter Prophetas Is Saul also among the Prophets saith that Saul being no Prophet by profession est heterogeneus of another kinde and an irregular person among the Prophets so it will fall out to be against order for a meer ceremonial Precept to stand in the midst of moral Commandments For every ceremony or type of the Law is as it was a foretelling of something in the Gospel so it must be referred to the Gospel as the shadow to the body And indeed no typical ceremonies are in their own nature for the type or ceremony is to cease when the substance comes as the shadow when the body appears But this Commandment for the substance of it continues in the time of the Gospel 3. Thirdly this being a principle that the Law of Moses expressed in the Decalogue is nothing but the Law of nature revived and the Law of nature being a resemblance of Gods image If we say this precept is in its substance ceremonial then we must also say that in the image of God something is ceremonial not to abide but for a time onely but all things in him and in his image are eternal according to his Nature 4. In the Law of grace Christ delivering the sum of the ten Commandments to the Scribes and Pharisees Thou shalt love the Lord c. there 's no question but that it is the sum of the Decalogue and therefore therein is included the religious observation of the Sabbath and so it will be for the substance moral as the love of God is in which it is contained or else our Saviour had delivered an imperfect sum 5. Again it is dangerous to hold that any precept in the Decalogue is ceremonial for by this the Papists as Parisius and Politianus will bring another of them to be so and will say that the second Commandment concerning images is ceremonial and then why not three as well as two and so four and five and all The best way therefore to hold the duties eternall and to keep them without blemish is to deny that any of these ten precepts is ceremonial in the substance or nature of the Commandment but that they are plainly moral 6. To come to the time of the Gospel We hold that all typical ceremonies of the law are ended and abrogated by Christs death Then if the day of rest be not abrogated by his death it is not a meer Ceremony or ceremonial And that it is not is plain by our Saviour himself for his denouncing the destruction of Jerusalem bids them pray that their calamity fall not in the winter nor on the Sabbath day Now we know that Jerusalem was destroyed many years after Christs death when all ceremonies were ended Therefore if Christ knew that the Sabbath as a ceremony should be wholly abrogated by his death his counsel might well have bin spared that they should pray that their flight might not be on the Sabbath day Matth. 24. 20. which if it had been quite abolished should have been no day Again in things meerly ceremonia ' there is not commutatio a change but abrogatio an abrogating of them wholly but we see in this matter of the Sabbath there is commutatio not abrogatio the Lords day is appointed instead of the Sabbath but no total abrogation of the Sabbath Thus the seals of the Covenant though they had something typical yet being in their general nature moral therefore they are changed but not quite abrogated whereas in things meerly typical there 's no maner of commutation but they are clean taken away for Christ having broken down the partition wall Ephes. 2. 14 15. hath wholly taken away the law of ordinances c. But it is manifest that instead of the Jews seventh day another seventh day was ordained in the Apostles dayes therefore as the ministery and seals of the Covenant and the chief place of it to wit the Temple were not abolished but changed as having a moral 〈◊〉 in them so also was the day of the Covenant for we read Acts 20. 7. that the 〈◊〉 and Disciples came together on the first day of the week to hear the word and to break bread and in 1 Corin. 16. 2. the Apostle wills them in their meetings on the first day of the week to lay aside for the poor and Revel 1. 10. it is plainly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lords day So that we see in the whole time of the Apostles it was not taken away but changed by them and therefore cannot be a meere ceremonie nor of the nature of the types of the Law But when the old Covenant ceased then ceased the Ministery thereof the Priesthood of Levi was changed and given to choice men of all Tribes and instead of it is our Ministery And as the seals of the Covenant ceased as of Circumcision and the Paschal lamb and in place thereof came our Sacraments of Baptism and the Lords supper so the day of the old Covenant is taken away and instead thereof is put the Lords day none of them in the first end being ceremonial but having a continual use and to last as long as the Church militant The reasons which might seem to have moved the Apostles to change this day may be 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 the creation so when it pleased God that old things should cease and that there should be a new creation and that there was a benefit that did overshadow the former the benefit of redemption therefore when that was accomplished by Christs resurrection from that day we celebrate the memorial of it on the first day of the week and whereas that other great work of the sending the holy Ghost which was fifty dayes after concurd on the same day whereby that inestimable benefit of sanctification and speaking with strange tongues was conferred upon the Church and because the memory of the benefit of the creation may also be kept on the first day of the week as well as on the last Hence we may see upon what great reasons this day is establisht wherein do concur the three special works and benefits of the three persons to be for ever thankfully remembred viz. that of Creation by the Father Redemption by the Son and Sanctification by the holy Ghost And so much for the clearing of that point ¶ CHAP. III. Additionall considerations upon the doctrine of the Sabbath laid down in seven conclusions 1. It is certain some time is to be set apart for publick worship 〈◊〉 by School-men Canonists and reasons 2. Certain that the law of nature doth not dictate the proportion of seven or any other in particular 3. It is most probable that the seventh day was appointed by God from the beginning as a day of publick worship in
that though by the common Canon-law all festivals are from evening to evening Cap. 1. 2. de Feriis 〈◊〉 cap. 13. n. 5. Covar in 4. variar resol cap. 19. n. 9. yet where the custom is to observe them from midnight to midnight or from morning to morning such custom ought to be kept if there be lawful prescription for it as Panorm resolves 7. Before we conclude this observation about the Sabbath it may be fit to consider why it was so long observed after our Saviour together with the Lords day for we finde that for many years after the Apostles times the Sabbath was kept as well as the Lords day until the Councel of Laodicea which was not long before the Councel of Nice and that it is still observed among the Abyssines and that Balsam saith that the holy Fathers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 did in a manner equall the Sabbath with the Lords day Gregory Nyssen calls those two dayes fratres brethren Clem. constit l. 7. cap. 24. Diem Sabbati Diem Dominicam festas habete quoniam illa creationis altera resurrectionis memoria dicata est observe those two festivals the sabbath and the Lords day the one in memory of the creation the other of the resurrection hence was that old Custome of not fasting upon the sabbath or Saturday because it was a day of rejoycing and therefore those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 festival dayes in the 53 Canon of the Apostles are expounded by Zonaras to be the Sabbath or Saturday and the Lords day and in the 65 Canon it is prohibited to fast either on the Sabbath or Lords day 〈◊〉 onely the Sabbath before Easter Ignatius in Epist. ad Philadelph saith If any fast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on the Lords day or on the Sabbath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he is a murderer of Christ. Tertul de jejuniis saith Sabbatum nunquam nisi in Pascha jejunandum est none must fast on the Sabbath or Saturday save before Easter And from this cause it was that Constantine whose Edict we may read in Eusebius for the free exercise of Christian Religion forbids that they should be impleaded on the Sabbath or Saturday as well as on the Sunday because both dayes were observed with publick meetings And in the Synod of Laodicea it was appointed that besides the Law which was anciently read upon the Saturdayes the Gospel should be also read on that day By all which it may seem that the Jewish Sabbath and the Lords day are both to be kept and by some learned men it is hence urged that the sunday doth not succeed the 〈◊〉 but wassuperadded to the sabbath But to this I answer 1. That the sabbath was for some time used as a thing indifferent as were some other legal rites in favour of the Jews and that they might be the lesse offended and more easily gained to the Christian Church as S. Paul circumcised timothy and S. Peter abstained from some meats c. not as things necessary but 〈◊〉 2. That though the legal rites were void at 〈◊〉 death and then expired yet as S. Augustine saith some time was required for their decent burial 3. That though holy duties were performed in public on the Saturday for many years yet the symbolical and typical rest which was proper to the Jewish sabbath was not allowed or practised in the Church and therefore when some began to 〈◊〉 on the Saturday by resting on that day it was forbid by several Councels as that of Laodicea cap. 29. the Councel of Lyons in cap. 1. de consecr d. 3. and the Sabbatarians were generally condemned for Hereticks And therfore the observing of Saturday as a half holy day as it is still in a manner kept in many places with us was not with reference to the Jewish sabbath but for the more honour of the Lords day as a preparative to that great festival and therefore though the Church did allow some publick meetings on that day in the Church yet we never finde that the symbolical rest which is the proper and characteristical difference of the Jewish sabbath from Christian festivals was ever allowed but generally condemned And thus I have done with these observations and positions which I conceived necessary to insert concerning the 〈◊〉 to give some light if possible to this so much agitated question submitting all to the judgement of my superiours in the Church and ready to yield to what any judicious and learned man shall upon better reasons propound CHAP. IIII. Reasons of this Commandment 1. Gods liberality in allowing 〈◊〉 six dayes and requiring but one for himself 2 The seventh is his own proper day Who are comprehended in the prohibition 1. The Master of the family 2. Children 3. Servants 4. Cattel 5 Srangers The general reasons of this precept 1. Gods rest from the creation Addition 22. Moral reasons sometimes given of a ceremonial precept The reason why a rest and why on this day are different things out of Maimon Abenezra 2. Reason the benefit coming to mankinde by the creation 3. Reason God blessed the seventh day IN the three next verses namely the ninth tenth and eleventh God first explaineth his meaning or gives an explication or further exposition of this Commandment verse 9. 10. and then gives a reason of the Commandment verse 11 why they should yield obedience to it In the explication there is order taken as well concerning works as persons First for works Six dayes shalt thou labour c. verse 9. Secondly for persons Thou and thy son c. verse 10. And again in the same verses there is 1. An Affirmative Six dayes thou shalt labour c. verse 9. and 2. secondly A Negative Thou shalt do no manner of work c. verse 10. Again there is 1. a Permission Six dayes God hath given thee wherein thou mayest labour and do all that thou hast to do 2. And secondly an Opposition or Antithesis But the seventh day he hath reserved to himself Six dayes are thine but the seventh his He hath bestowed six dayes on thee but the seventh he hath reserved to himself In the six dayes thou shalt do all but on the seventh no manner of work Now in the opposition there are two by-reasons included for the main reason is in the 11. verse for in six dayes c. The first is That because God hath dealt so liberally with us as to give us six dayes for our selves and to reserve onely one to himself therefore we should be the more ready to give him that day for by right of Creation we and all ours are the Lords for he made us of nothing and in that regard he might justly challenge 〈◊〉 and our service all our dayes and we being but his Creatures could not justly challenge to our selves one day In so much as if it had pleased God to have given us but one day and reserved the other six to himself we should
have had no just cause of complaint if he had given us day for day we could not onely have no iust cause of murmuring but also ought to have opened our mouthes to praise him for it But seeing he hath dealt so liberally with us in granting us six dayes for our own 〈◊〉 and to do our work and reserving but one to himself we must acknowledge it to be a liberal proportion and so it is 〈◊〉 judice and therefore if we be not clean void of good nature it cannot but content us and keep us from 〈◊〉 We see in Adams case that when God had finished the Creation and put him in Paradise notwithstanding Gods bounty to him in granting him all the trees in the garden one onely excepted yet the devil was presently upon him and upbraided God with his niggardlines in that he had not given him freedom to eat of all the trees in the garden and no doubt but the same devil useth the same pollicy with us still in this 〈◊〉 May you not doe what you will with all the dayes of the week Now the consideration of Gods bounty to us should answer all such suggestions for we cannot say but that we are well dealt withall he having granted us two times and a time to his one time six dayes to one and therefore how careful should we be to give him that one This should draw from us an answer like to that of Joseph to his Mistris My Master hath kept nothing from me but thee how then can I do this great wickednesse and sinne against God All the dayes of the week hath God granted me onely one hath he reserved to himself how can I then be so unkinde and unthankfull as 〈◊〉 deny him that Let not David in this be our patterne who having many sheep of his own would notwithstanding pluck the one and onely sheep out of the poor mans bosom for if we having many dayes of our own take from God his one day and pluck that one sheep out of Gods bosom and make it common for our selves by doing in it our opus servile servile work we are worthy to 〈◊〉 1000. deathes and God being so liberal and dealing with us in so unequal proportion to himself as 6. to us for one to him taking of us but one for six if we do not his work on that day we are to be taxed of extream injustice and ingratitude This is the meaning of those words and do all thy worke that whereas God might have imployed us in his worke and musing on his will all the dayes of our life but he is content to forbeare and spare us the rest of the week that in that time all our own affaires might be dispatched and none left undone or to be done on this day God might say to us as Nathan said to David All this have I given thee and more I would have given thee if that had not been enough but certain it is that he saw in his wisdom that these six dayes were sufficient and therefore willeth us to remember and still be so carefull to order our affaires on these dayes that against his seventh day comes we may be at leasure to sanctifie it 2. The second reason implyed is in these words But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God which contain the second opposition and intimate to us that the seventh day is Gods own proper day with which we have nothing to do to imploy it as we please and that it is plain theft and sacriledge to rob God of this part of time which he hath reserved to himself For if God had thought fit to have given us the seventh day too then might we have wrought on that day also but seeing he hath reserved it to himself we cannot without plain theft or robbery breake in upon this day to which we have no right by doing our own worke upon it Render therefore unto God that which is Gods for it cannot be withheld from him without sacriledge It is as if a man should say you may wear those clothes which are your own and bought with your mony but this garment which is bought with mine you cannot without violence take from me so likewise because of Gods bounty to us we cannot without ingratitude and manifest injury to him take this day from him because it is his he will have it wholly to himself In it thou shalt do no manner of worke Those who are comprehended within the Prohibition stand in five ranks 1. Thou secondly Thy son and thy daughter thirdly Thy man 〈◊〉 and maid-servant 4. Thy cattel 5. The stranger that is within thy gates 1. First for the Paterfamilias the master of the family It is reputed to be an especial preferment to be set over the family by the Lord of the family And as it is honos an honour so it is onus too a charge for Cui plus datur ab eo plus petetur to whom much is given of him shall be much required and therefore the first charge is laid here upon him that is the chief For as long as man is in the condition of a son or a servant so long he may say Ego serviam I will serve but if once he come to have the charge of a family then he must say with Joshua Ego domus 〈◊〉 I and my house will serve the Lord. In reference whereto when Christ had converted Zacheus he said This day is salvation come to this house why because this man who is chief of the family is the son of Abraham and Abraham instructed his family He must say to his family as Christ did to his Apostles exemplum dedi vobis I have given you an example For if Peter or whosoever is principal fall away then others yea Barnabas himself will be drawn away too So though he discharge the duty himself yet if he take not care that others under him discharge it also he is a debtor That is he ought to 〈◊〉 so far from giving occasion himself or suffering others to violate that day by working or setting them that are under him to servile worke that he together with them must see the day sanctified and take care that all joyn in those holy duties which are requisite to the sanctification of the day 2. The second is concerning children Saint Augustines argument is good upon that in Deut. 20. Where if a man had new built an house the manner was to consecrate it That if a man that hath built a house be carefull to consecrate it being but the fruit of his hands then much more lieth the care upon him of consecrateing the fruit of his loins We see this careful affection in Abraham that he would command his sons to keep the way of the Lord for where the greatest love is there is also the greatest desire of conjunction
his writeing as he did of his verbal exposition Therefore hath God ordeyned expositions such as the book Jasher which as some think was a commentary upon the law written for this end to explicate the hard Texts of Scriptures and 〈◊〉 them 2. Another Means to sanctification is the word preached of which the Apostle speaks to the Romans how shall they hear without a preacher and this is one of the ordinary means of faith and so of sanctification The Apostle in that placeq uoteth out of two of the Prophets this text How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things And our Saviour Christ in his prayer before his passion for his Apostles who were to be such preachers saith sanctifie them with thy truth and thy word is truth and by his own practise in preaching he sanctified this means of preaching And the Apostle tells us that the wisdom of God hath appointed by the foolishnesse of preaching to save them that beleeve this way of saving men the wisdom of God hath pitcht upon which is not to be altered but to continue to th end of the world For though reading of the word be a necessary means to sanctification yet are not all men capable to understand what they read The 〈◊〉 Custome therefore of the Church was and so continued in the Apostles times that after the reading the of Law and the Prophets some that were learned in Gods Law and sent by him to that purpose stood up and expounded to the people some text of that which was read We may see this plainly in the book of Nehemiah that after Ezra and others had read in the book of the Law to the people in the congregation they gave the sence and caused them to understand the reading And the Apostle S. James puts the Jews in minde that Moses was preached in the Synagogues on the Sabbath day This practise continued as I said even in the Apostles time For we see in the place before mentioned that the Rulers of the Synagogue at Antioch entreated the Apostles to bestow 〈◊〉 words of exhortation upon them after the reading of the Law and the Prophets The Eunuch no doubt but was a man of as great capacity as many who now adayes take upon them the exposition and preaching both of Law and Gospel yet had not he met with S. Philip he would have been to seek in that place of the Prophet which the Apostle found him reading 3. A third duty is the pondering of that which we have heard read or preached This we read that Mary did who pondered all the 〈◊〉 of Christ in her heart And so did David when he said Oh how I love thy Law it is my 〈◊〉 continually Besides the meditation of the Word that we shall hear read or preached the 92 Psalm which was a Psalm peculiarly made for the Sabbath and was usually sung on that day the two first verses whereof if credit may be given to the Jews traditions came from Adam who used to sing them in Paradise giveth us three further points to consider 1. The first is in the fourth verse which indeed is that which God here expressely urgeth in this Commandment the Consideration of the works of his hands the raising to our selves a Contemplative use of the Creatures that as all the week before we have had a naturall use of them so on this day we should make a spiritual Thou Lord hast made me glad through thy works and I will rejoyce in giving praise for the operation of thy hands 2. A second is in the seventh verse a meditation of the judgements of God when the ungodly are green as the grasse and when all the workers of wickednesse do flourish then shall they be destroyed for ever And this meditation is most necessary to keep men within the bounds of obedience for upon the Consideration of the severe judgements which God inflicts upon Malefactors men are held in as with a bridle from swerving from his Commandments 3. The third is at the tenth and twelfth verses a Meditation of Gods benefits and Mercies or of his mercies towards them that love him as well as his visitations upon their enemies both which may be included in the Hebrew word taking judgements for the genus of them both Such as be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the Courts of the house of our God c. These whether they extend to our own persons or concerne our fathers house or the place wherein we live or the Church round about us every one of these affoord us an object of Meditation And as we see the other Creatures of God as the wilde asses sparrows cranes lilies pismires c. yield matter of Meditation thereby to stir us up to praise the Creator Upon which we may frame an argument a minore ad majus from the lesse to the greater If God have made them thus how much more are we bound to be thankful to him for whom he hath done infinitely more So the Apostle setteth forth Gods judgements to provoke us to repentance and his mercy to move and stir us up to thankfulnesse And thus when we are wearied with prayer and that reading and preaching of the word is ended meditation still remaineth wherein to exercise our selves and in this dutie we may continue the rest of the day and be furnished with matter sufficient to work upon 4. The fourth duty of this day is not to be contented onely with meditating upon these things in our Closets privately but there must be conference also between our selves and others about what we have heard And this is done two manner of waye s. 1. The first is with them that have taught us if we doubt of any thing we are to confer with the Priest The prophet tells us that the Priests lips should keep knowledge and we are to seek the Law at his mouth we read that it was our Saviours practise For it was a custom of old that after the solemnity on the eighth day the last of the feast that the Teachers sate down at the Table and the Auditors standing about them propounded 〈◊〉 and questions that they might be resolved in them And so no doubt was Christ at twelves years old not as an Opposer but in the state of a Learner though he discovered a great guift that way above his years And if points of doctrine fail then others concerning practise are to be resolved such as the souldiers and Publicans put to John and the people to the Apostles Now because there are now adayes no doubts no putting of questions it is a signe that fear of God is utterly extinguisht in mens hearts and if there be any doubts at all they are not propounded with that heart which they did it that said
Men and brethren what shall we do or what shall we leave undone but onely for some sinister ends 2. The second is between the hearers themselves and that 1. either among equalls as S. Paul with S. Peter and Elias and Elizens who communed together and the two Disciples with whom Christ made a third And it was the old Custom as it is in the Prophet that they that feared the Lord spake every one to his neighbour c. to which a special blessing is promised That God would keep a book of remembrance for such men and that he would spare them c. By this means a more general benefit may be reaped of what is heard when many shall lay together what they have observed as in a symbolum or common shot whereby some that had no benefit by the word when they first heard it may receive some good by it afterwards and by mutual conference men may lay open their infirmities and imperfections which hinder them in hearing and applying the word and may receive directions from others whose case hath been the same how they were holpen and freed from the like 2. Or else between superiours and inferiours as the Master and his family And this was Gods Commandement to the Israelites concerning his Law they were to teach their children and to whet it upon them as the word imports Thou shalt talk of it when thou sittest in thine 〈◊〉 and when thoulyest down and when thou risest up c. 5. The fift and last duty for sanctifying the day not to be passed over is praise and thanksgiving Augustine accompteth it to be totum opus Sabbati the whole work of the Sabbath as if the day were made for nothing else And to this end as hath been said before the ninety second Psalm was penned to be sung as a Hymne or song to praise God Now praise and thanksgiving may be either for general or particular benefits For general benefits we have the ninety first sixty eight and hundred and third Psalms For particular benefits as for fair weather after rain or rain after too much drought c. we have the sixty fift Psalm For these we must with David praise God in the great Congregation Especially seeing thanksgiving is accounted by David to be a debt due unto God in respect of his goodnesse in hearing our prayers and it is the very reason the Psalmist gives for it Praise watcheth for thee in Sion or as others read it Tibi debetur Hymnus a hymn is due to thee from Sion the reason is expressed in the next words because thou art a God that hearest prayers Besides all these mentioned the Sacraments and Discipline are parts of the sanctification of the day but are not for every day but to be performed on speciall dayes and by some speciall persons whereas the other duties of the day pertain generally to all and ought to be continually performed So that no man ought to conceive that he hath done enough in performing them once Qui sanctificatus est sanctificetur adhuc he that is holy let him be holy still There is a necessity of continuing in these means of sanctification every sabbath day For as our knowledge is but in part and our prophesying but in part as the Apostle speaks so our sanctification is but in part there will still remain a necessity of that exhortation Scrutamini Scripturas search the Scriptures We are continually to wash our robes in the blood of the Lamb that is we must still come neerer and neerer to cleannesse until by continuing in these holy exercises we may at last save our selves And thus much for the several duties wherein the sanctifying of the day consists Now the means are for the end which is the fruit of them Nemo mediis utitur propter media no man ever useth means onely for the means but for some end And therefore he that planteth a vineyard and he that tilleth and soweth his ground hoc est ultimum fructus that which he aimeth at is the fruit and harvest This is the fruit that God expects the great end of this Commandment that his Name may be sanctified in and by us We have the very phrase of speech in the book of Numbers Because ye beleeved me not to sanctifie me in the presence of the Children of Israel therefore ye shall not bring the Congregation into the land which I have given them this was Gods speech to Moses and Aaron And in another place the like Sanctificate sancti estote sanctifie your selves and be ye holy Such words in respect of the two fold glory that redoundeth to God have a double sence God is glorified 1. Either by us directly or 2. from us by other indirectly as it is in the Gospel when men seeing our good works are stirred up also to glorifie him And therefore it is that these words Sanctification Glorification c. have a double sense 1. First to signifie a making holy c. and that by means in which respect sanctification is a making holy 2. in regard of others a declaring of this sanctification so made By the first according to S. Peter we make sure to our selves our calling and election And by the second we declare it to others that as we glorifie God our selves so God may be glorified by others also Shew me thy faith by thy works saith S. James Whereby it falleth out that because good works have this operation to stir up others to glorifie God that our Saviour saith That a good work is lawful on the Sabbath day such works discover our regeneration and if we be purged and sanctified we shall be as the Apostle saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prepared or made fit for every good work So that when God hath used the means we must bring forth the fruit CHAP. VII Works of Mercy proper for the Lords day They are of two sorts 1. First Corporeal feeding the hungry c. Burying of the dead a work of mercy Such works proper for a festival Objections answered 2. Spirituals 1. To Instruct Counsel and exhort 2. Comfort 3. Reproofe 4. Forgiving 5. Bearing with the weak 6. Prayer 7. Reconciling those that are at odds BUt because the day was chiefly instituted for a memorial of Gods great mercies as 1. For making us when we were nothing 2. Secondly for redeeming us when we were worse then nothing 3. And lastly For the beginning of our sanctification therefore in regard of these three great mercies it is that no work doth so well agree with the day nor that God is so much delighted in as the works of mercy when we shew our thankfulnesse for those great mercies which we celebrate on that day by exercising mercy towards others whose necessity requires our assistance And in this regard it is that there is a special affinity between
sanctification of the day and works of mercy The Prophet tells us that God refuseth all sacrifice and requireth Mercy so that sacrifice without Mercy was rejected Let us compare this with the Ritual sanctification in the Law As anoynting was the first part of typical sanctifying of which we spake formerly so was there also a second If it were a Person his hand was filled by Aaron Implevit manus ejus Aaron If it were an Altar then was there some what offered on it So that Oblation or filling the hand was the second way of legal sanctifying In the Law there was a charge to Aaron that whensoever men came to appear before the Lord none should appear empty And therefore in another place there is mention made of a basket of sanctification at the door of the Tabernacle in which was reserved the bread offered by the people which the Priests were to eat with the flesh of the sacrifices And the very same order was taken in the time of the Gospel that on the Lords day there should be collections for the poor But there is no place that setteth this out more plainly then the 26 Chapter of Deuteronomy the whole Chapter throughout where the manner is particularly set down how the people were to bring their baskets of first fruits to the tabernacle and offer them there to the Lord in token of thankfulnesse and as an acknowledgement that they received all from God And likewise every third yeer besides the ordinary tythes they were to bring the tythe of the remainder to the Tabernacle for the use of the Levite the poor the fatherlesse and stranger that they might rejoyce together c. Now mercy as misery is two fold 1. Corporeal and 2. Spiritual Either outward and such as are for the good of the body of him that is in misery or inward and such as concerne his soul or spirit 1. For the first of these our Saviour himself mentions six works of mercy in 2 verses of one Chapter which as sure as he is Christ he will acknowledge and take special notice of when he comes to judge the world and as he will pronounce those happy and blessed that have exercised them so he will denounce a curse upon those that have neglected them three of them are in the first of the two 1. Feeding the hungry 2. Giving drink to the thirsty 3. Merciful dealing with and entertaining the stranger And the other three are in the next verse 1. Clothing the naked 2. Visiting the sick 3. And succouring them that be in prison To which may be added a seventh which is the care of the dead we see that King David pronounceth a blessing from God to the men of Jabesh Gilead because they had buried the body of Saul And our Saviour commendeth the work of Mary in her anointing him as having relation to the day of his burial We finde also Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus recommended to posterity for their work of mercy in this kinde the one for begging the body of Jesus to bury it and the other for assisting him in the charge of interring it Augustine gives a reason why the burial of the dead ought to be accounted a work of mercy It is done saith he Ne pateat miseria that this misery of rotting being both lothsome to the eye and nose should not appear to every man As also because every one loveth his own flesh so well that he would have it after his death well and honestly used and therefore this is a benefit done to him when he cannot help himself And in these respects it is a work of mercy That the works of mercy are most requisite and especially upon our feasts appears by that which is related of David who upon his sacrifice on a festival day dealt to everyman and woman the poorer sort no doubt a loaf of bread and a good piece of flesh and a flagon of drink And by that which is storied of Nehemiah who upon the Sabbath day after the law read and expounded commanded the better sort to eat the fat and drink the sweet and to send portions to them for whom nothing was prepared And certainly there is a blessing or sanctifying proper to them and their actions that shall be mindefull of the poor and shew mercy to them S. Paul tells the Milesians that it is a more blessed thing to give then to receive especially seeing God so accepteth works of mercy as that he imputeth not sin to the truly charitable Therefore it was that Daniel gave that counsel to Nebuchadnezzar Break off thy sins by righteousnesse and 〈◊〉 iniquity by mercy to the poor And our Saviour gave the like in his sermon Give Alms of such things as you have and all things are clean to you Whereas he that stoppeth his ears at the cry of the Poor he also shall cry himself and not be heard But it is an easy matter for flesh and blood to finde objections against performing these works of mercy As how know I whether a man be hungry or not I see none go naked and so of the rest To this we answer with the fathers potius est occurrere necessitati quam succurvere It is better to prevent or keep a man from misery then to help him out of misery And for the practise of that they 〈◊〉 taught the monuments of their charity which they have left behinde them shew that they were more frequent in works of mercy then we And their rule was In die domini ne extende manus ad 〈◊〉 nisi extendas ad pauperem if you stretch not your hands to the poor on the Lords day it will be in vain to stretch out your hands to God And indeed when God requireth thy Almes to the poore he asketh but his own and that which he gave thee and but that which thou canst not keep long He requireth but pauxillum a very little from thee for them meaning to repay thee Centuplum a hundred fold for it He asketh of thee but Caducum that which is fraile and transitory to reward thee in aternum eternally 2. And as there were in their time some so are there now more that plead their inability to releeve the poor Our answer to this must be as theirs was si 〈◊〉 non sufficient restuae ad 〈◊〉 Christianos parcendum est ut tu sufficias illis if thou hast not sufficient for pious uses be the better husband that thou mayest be enabled to do some good though never so little for God regardeth not the quantum how much thou givest 〈◊〉 ex quanto out of what thou hast to give The widowes mites were more accepted by God then the gifts the rich men cast into the Treasury why Quia multum obtulit quae parum sibi reliquit she offered much that left but little to her self Lastly there
erit ut hodie amplius to morrow shall be as to day and much more abundant This saith he I do and then he cometh to this exhortation fratres 〈◊〉 quam lenissime sed tamen instantissime vos rogo brethren though but gently yet most instantly I beseech you do you the like 2. As gluttony or excesse of meat is here forbidden of which we have spoken so also drunkennesse or excesse of drink The Apostle dehorting from drunkennesse saith there is in it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 luxury or lust be not drunken with wine wherein is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because it inclines to unclean lusts And the same saith Solomon Look not upon the Wine when it is red and sheweth his colour in the cup or goeth down pleasantly and why Thine eyes shall look upon strange women And therefore S. Peter doth not onely forbid drunkennesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 drunkennesse which the Fathers call voluntarium Daemonem a voluntary Devil when a man willingly bereaves himself of reason but also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 drinkings or compotations whether they be such as enflame us and though they take not away our reason yet kindle our blood and spirits or whether by using them we get such a custome and habit that we are strong to do it and being free from drunkennesse can behold the infirmity of others with pleasure for there is a woe pronounced against this strength And in any of these cases the excesse of drinking is forbidden not onely because it deceives a man and the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty but also because it disposes a man to this sin as we see in Lot who by too much wine committed incest even without knowledge and unwittingly but most commonly a man doth it knowingly and wittingly and so maketh him self a fit mold for the Devils impression The Wise man saith that they are like to a man sleeping in the midst of the sea when they are awaked they return to it again For it is such a vice that a man having gotten a habit of it can hardly leave it off Yet are we not altogether prohibited the drinking of wine but in some cases it is allowed as these and the like 1. For bodily infirmities according to the Apostles counsel to Timothie In this case the use of wine is lawful Timothie was so far from excesse that having an infirmity upon him he would not adventure upon wine without Pauls direction 2. In heavinesse of minde whether natural or accidental Give wine to those that are of heavy heart 3. Upon some publick benefit of the Church or Common-wealth there may be a publick gratulation and therein a more free use of the Creatures and whatsoever doth not hinder or oppose Temperance may be lawfully used to solemnize a day of publick joy When the people were ready to mourn Nehemiah forbids it and instead of mourning bids them eat the fat and drink the sweet and testifie their joy by the lawsul use of the Creatures for the benefit which God had vouchsafed to his Church This is the third But ont of these or the like cases it must not be used as they did of whom the Prophet speaketh When God called to mourning and weeping they fell to joy and gladnesse to slaying of Oxen and killing of sheep to eating flesh and drinking wine And there be still some men that can take hold of the Apostles counsel to drink wine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but of that part of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a little they take no notice at all The sum of all is there must not be Redundantia excesse It was accounted an especial fault of the Princes of Israel They drank wine in bowls c. The five rules above mentioned you may apply to prevent this sin and to govern your self in the use of wine or strong drink Both these vices are salved by one vertue called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 temperance a vertue here commanded S. Paul makes it a special fruit of the spirit and exhorts Titus to preach it and exhort young men especially to it and such as bend their mindes to knowledge and studie of learning and therefore S. Peter exhorts as to adde to vertue knowledge so to joyn to knowledge temperance for scientia est cum abstinentia temperance is the way to knowledge CHAP. IIII. Of idlenesse the second thing which fits the soyl for this sin Diverse reasons against it It consists in two things 1. too much sleep 2. want of exercise when we are 〈◊〉 Against sleepinesse Rules for 1. the quantity 2. the manner Of idlenesse in our callings The remedy against sleep and idlenesse THe second thing which makes solum subactum fits the soyl for this sin of lust is idlenesse For as fulnesse of bread so abundance of idlenesse was one of the causes of Sodoms sin One answered by the light of nature to him that asked what Luxury was that it was nothing els but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the passion of an idle minde And this is a sin highly displeasing to God in many respects 1. Evertit consilium Dei finem hominis it doth what may be to overthrow Gods purpose and the end whereto man was created For God in the very beginning created man to labour He put man into the garden of Eden to dresse it not onely ut coleret eum to serve him but ut coleret terram to till the earth neither without the other Afterwards when he had transgressed Gods command this labour was enjoyned him as a perpetual penance for his offence In sorrow shalt thou eat all the dayes of thy life and in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread Nor doth the Gospel shew it self more favourable in dispensing with this law Why stand ye idle saith our Saviour And it was the Apostles complaint that he heard that there were some that wrought not at all Nor shall it ever be abrogated Man saith David goeth forth to his work and to his labour till the evening Therefore is it that Solomon sends the idle person to the Ant and that the son of Syrach compares a slothful man to the filth of a dunghill In this respect therefore is this sin to be condemned 2. In regard of the losse of time a thing 〈◊〉 precious that the Apostle exhorts us by all means to redeem it if we have mispent it And the Psalmist sets it down as a curse upon the people that God consumed their dayes in vanity 3. In regard of the breach of the next Commandment which forbids stealing For he that consumes his dayes in idlenesse maketh use of the creatures to which he hath no right The Apostle saith He that doth not work should not eat The Heathen call such men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an unnecessary burden The Scriptures compare them to
Locusts that devour all where they come and the Fathers term them unprofitable and superfluous Creatures The Apostle alluding to this saith Let him that stole steal no more but rather let him labour 4. In regard of the breach of the sixth Commandment forbidding 〈◊〉 For idlenesse is the mother of many diseases For as there are none of Gods creatures but putrifie without motion as the air and water stagnantes 〈◊〉 stantes aque nec dulces nec salubres 〈◊〉 Seneca standing waters are neither sweet nor wholsom so ease in the body bringeth forth 〈◊〉 the gout and other diseases Computrescit in stercore saith the Prophet the seed rots under the clod And it were to be wisht that not onely the losse of time wasting the creatures and the hurt of the body were all the prejudice that came by idlenesse so that the soul might be kept untainted by it but that also is subject to detriment by it for from nihil agere doing nothing comes male agere doing ill Idlenesse teacheth much evil saith the son of Syrach and by this comes the disease which S. Basil calls podagram animi the gowt of the soul. Now idlenesse consists in two things Either 1. in too much sleep or 2. in not being exercised when we are awake in the works of our calling 1. For the first of too much sleeping After the Apostle had told the Romans it was high time to awake out of sleep he gives them a caveat to walk honestly as in the day not in gluttony vnd drunkennesse nor in chambering and wantonnesse after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 drunkennesse then he comes to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we translate 〈◊〉 but it is properly lying long in bed and there is joyned with it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wantonnesse the companion of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and beginning of concupiscence The Prophet 〈◊〉 those of his time with stretching themselves upon their beds and not without cause for another Prophet tells us that by it men begin 〈◊〉 nequam to devise iniquity to have wicked thoughts We see the experience of it in David who after his sleep was disposed to take the air in his Turret and by that means was made fit for the impression of this vice upon the sight of a tempting object for which cause Solomon gives good counsel 〈◊〉 this purpose Love not sleep lest thou come to poverty open thine eyes and thou 〈◊〉 be satisfied with bread for having spoken verse 11. of young men that by their actions they may be known whether their work be pure and whether it be right and in the 12. verse that they may be known by this whether they apply their ears and eyes to knowledge as God created them he 〈◊〉 in the 13. verse that otherwise if they love sleep these effects of it shall come upon them For remedy hereof two things are to be observed in sleep 1. The Quantitie 2. The manner 1. For the quantitie Our sleep must not be too long Vsque quo dormis How long wilt thou sleep O sluggard ultra horam beyond the hour there is an hour when to arise Hora est jam saith the Apostle the hour is at hand or as we read it it is now high time to awake out of sleep but the sluggard when the hour cometh when he should arise lies still in his bed and is as a dore which turneth alwayes upon the hinges and yet remains in the 〈◊〉 place 2. For the manner of our sleep It must not be like that of Ionah who was in a dead sleep in a time of danger It must not be as S. Jerome calls it sepultura suffocati as the burial of one without breath but requies lassi the rest of one that is weary The Prophet threatens it as a great plague from God to be given up to the spirit of slumber which is true of all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 drowsinesse of the body as well as the soul. And as Ionah was in the midst of the tempest when he slept soundly so these are under Gods visitation who are possest with this spirit of slumber 2. The second point of idlenesse is when we are not exercised in the duties of our calling but give our selves to ease Desidiae est somnium vigilantis sloth is the dream of him that is awake and by want of labour and exercise and giving our selves to ease we come to the hanging down of the hands and the feeble knees of which the Apostle speaks and so become fit for no good thing For as all other creatures of God by standing still grow corrupt as we see in standing water which putrifies and being putrified ingenders toads and such venemous creatures so in man ease brings discases both in body and soul it produces in the body podagram the gout and it brings forth the like indisposition in the soul which made S. Basil call it podagram animi the gout of the soul. And therefore S. Ambrose calls idle persons creaturas Dei superfluas superfluous creatures of God which do no way profit the body politick where they live but are as the Heathen man saith of the 〈◊〉 such qui animam pro sale habent who have their souls instead of salt to keep their bodies sweet S. Paul measureth not idlenesse onely by doing nothing but also by not doing the duties of a mans place As he that is placed in the Vniversity and studies not though he hawk hunt or dance or uses other exercises that are laborious yet because he doth not that which he ought to do he is to be accounted an idle fellow If men be as he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not working at all then they become busie bodies and if women be idle then wil they be pratlers or tatlers upon which cometh tale-carrying lying 〈◊〉 and forging whereby they disquiet others And not onely so but they are busie bodies medling out of their callings where they have nothing to do These are to be restrained And because hereby groweth a disposition from the body for evil motions in the soul therefore S. Peter enjoyns the vertue of abstinence and commands us to abstain from such fleshly lusts as do militare contra animam 〈◊〉 against the soul. The remedy against sleep is that which the Apostle calleth sobriety properly watchfulnesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be sober be vigilant saith he in another place for sleep and drunkennesse are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 works of the night and we are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 children of light and of the day our desires therefore ought to be after the works of the light and of the day and we must walk accordingly 2. The remedie against idlenesse the Apostle gives us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to set our selves to do our own businesse and the works of our calling And blessed shall