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A27442
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The Church of England evidently proved the holy catholick church by Peter Berault ...
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Berault, Peter.
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1682
(1682)
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Wing B1948A; ESTC R22975
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53,217
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264
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adjured upon Oath St. Paul oftentimes called God to witness for the Confirmation of what he saith seeing David and several others have used it in the Old Testament and God himself who cannot give us a bad Example used it for the Confirmation of his Promises it is a clear and evident sign that it is lawful and that we are to explain these words of St. Matthew I say unto you swear not at all as also these others of St. James above all things my Brethren swear not they ought to be interpreted not generally but in a limited sence as only forbidding swearing in common Conversation and in our ordinary Commerce and Affairs as it appears by the words immediately following viz. Let your Communication be yea yea and nay nay for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil From whence it follows though Swearing or Oaths ought to be avoided in our Conversations because they are then so many sins yet there is a time and there are occasions as when the matter is doubtful and of concern and no Evidence can be had to clear and decide it when they are not only lawful but also very necessary And therefore when at certain times and upon certain occasions the Church of England commands to sware or take an Oath and believes it lawful she doth neitherbelieve nor practise any thing forbidden in the holy Scripture Object It is written in the 20th Chapter of Exod. Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day six days shalt thou labour and do all thy work but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God in it thou shalt not do any work thou nor thy Son nor thy Daughter thy man-Servant nor thy maid-Servant nor thy Cattel nor thy Stranger that is within thy Gates for in six days the Lord made Heaven and Earth the Sea and all that in them is and rested the seventh day wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it The Church of England doth not keep this divine Commandment but observes the first day of the week instead of the seventh therefore she is not the holy Catholick Church Before I give an Answer to this Objection I will give leave to my Adversary to say all that he can to establish his Opinion When I read saith he these words in the 20th Chapter of Exodus or when I see them written in great Letters in our Churches or hear them pronounced aloud at the Communion Table the first day of the week which we call Sunday I think that the words of Isaiah Hear ye indeed but understand not and see ye indeed but perceive not may be well here adapted And may not this be justly attributed unto us since the Jews excepted with a small number of Christians scattered in the North we neither practise what we read nor what we hear And that this may appear clearly it is necessary to consider without any prejudice that the aforesaid words contain a day determined by God which we are bound to keep holy and whereon we ought to rest But it is the seventh day which God kept holy and whereon he rested therefore it is that and no other which we ought to keep holy and whereon we are bound to rest That it is the day upon which God rested which we are bound to keep holy appears evidently by these words In it thou shalt not do any work For what mean these words but thou shalt not do any work in the day whereon God rested This is the most natural Explication that a man can give to them But God foreseeing he should be forgot by his Creatures gives us warning saying Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day And that that day is the seventh which we call Saturday appears again evidently First by these words But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God Secondly by the next In six days the Lord made Heaven and Earth the Sea and all that in them is and rested the seventh day Thirdly because we read in Genesis God rested on the seventh day from all his works which he had made and God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it Therefore it is that day which is to be kept holy for it is an Axiome received in Divinity viz. that men neither can nor ought to change what was established and determined by God as for Example Water in Baptism and Bread and Wine in the Lord's Supper cannot be changed by men because they have been established and determined by Jesus Christ who is received as God among Christians Is it not written Cursed is he that addeth any thing to the Law or diminisheth from it doth not St. Paul forbid not to think of men above that which is written and doth not Christ himself say in St. Matthew In vain they do worship me teaching for Doctrines the Commandments of men That the seventh day is our Saturday is again manifested First because since Moses the Jews who did always and do still keep the seventh day do keep our Saturday for their Sabbath Secondly Because as Sabbath among the Hebrews is the seventh day Sabbato among the Italians Sabbado among the Spaniards Samedy among the French so is Saturday among the English men Thirdly Because the Evangelists saying in our Translation that Jesus Christ was risen the first day of the week which according to the Language of the Scriptures is the next day after the Sabbath it follows evidently our Saturday preceding the first day of the week and the Sabbath being the seventh day that the seventh day is our Sabbath But it is in vain to bring such Proofs unto them who acknowledg to have changed the Saturday or seventh to the first day of the week Therefore since our Saturday is the seventh day of the week and God rested on it blessed sanctified it and commanded us to keep it holy is it not just in Obedience to God to keep it so Some will answer saith my Adversary that that change was made First That we might have no Communication with the Jews Secondly Because Jesus Christ arose upon the first day of the week Thirdly Because we read that the Apostles met on that day To the first Objection my Adversary replyeth that we ought to have Communication with the Jews in all things which are good Otherwise the Jews believing in one God we should not believe so and they believing in the Old Testament it should not be the Object of our Faith To the Second he saith that a Question may be made whether he rose on the first day of the week none of the Evangelists in the Original saying in express words the first day of the week but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But though this be true is it a sufficient Reason to change the day which God himself hath prescribed unto us blessed sanctified and commanded We may remember the day of his Resurrection and keep it holy but we ought not because he rose
upon the first day of the week to abolish the true Sabbath to transpose it to another day without an express Commandment either of Christ or of his Apostles And if that Reason were good might we not say because he dyed on such a day we ought also to transfer the Sabbath unto it And to the third Objection it is true saith he we read in our Translation that the Apostles met on the first day of the week but mark ye that it was Concerning the Collection for the Saints as ye may read in the 16th Chapter of the first to the Corinthians And though it were also to Preach and break Bread as it appears in the Acts yet saith he if this Reason were sufficient for the changing of the Sabbath into the first day of the week this should be sufficient also for the continuing of it in the seventh since we read that the Apostles met oftentimes together on the Sabbath to pray preach and baptize And Christ himself and his Apostles were strict Sabbath-keepers they even after his death And Christ seems to favour this Opinion when in the 24th Chapter of St. Matthew speaking not only concerning the Destruction of Hierusalem but also concerning the last day of Judgment he saith Pray ye that your flight be not in the Winter neither on the Sabbath day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 From which words this Argument is deduced In Christ's time the Sabbath was on the seventh day therefore when he commanded us to pray that at the day of Judgment our flight should not be on the Sabbath day he commanded us to pray that it should not come on the seventh day and since this Commandment of Christ is still the same at that time in reference to the last day of Judgment the same day ought to continue still otherwise his Commandments and Threatnings are vain And it signifieth nothing to say that in the words of the fourth Commandment there is something moral as the Sanctification of days without any determination which cannot be abolished and something Ceremonial as the determination of a day which may be changed For if the determination of the seventh day be meerly Ceremonial and consequently may be changed likewise the Determination of the first day of the week is meerly Ceremonial and therefore may be changed also Wherefore the Reason why this is kept rather than another is meer Policy and to avoid Confusion which we could not prevent if there were not a day determined But if that Reason be valid is it not better to take the day assigned by God whereon he rested which he sanctified and blessed above all others upon which he declares he will bless them that keep it holy as he will curse and punish the Transgressors of it which was kept by Jesus Christ and his Apostles which God commanded usin express words and which Christ doth now command for as I have made it appear this Ordinance Pray ye that your flight be not in the winter neither on the Sabbath stands at this very day Is it not better I say to take that day than that whereof we find no Commandment in the holy Scripture Again It signifieth nothing to say it is written in the 2d Chapter to the Colossians Let no man judge you in meat or in drink or in respect of an holy day or of the new Moon or of the Sabbath days which are a shadow of things to come but the body is of Christ for in this place the word Sabbaths instead of shewing that the seventh day could be changed into the first of the week serves only to make it appear we ought to have no determined day Therefore since it is certain and granted by all men that though we are to sanctifie all the days of our life that is to say to live holily yet we ought particularly to set aside one day of the week whereon we ought to rest and keep holy to God Almighty These words then of St. Paul to the Colossians are not to be understood concerning the Sabbath assigned in the 20th Chapter of Exodus but concerning other Sabbaths which besides this the Jews did keep It is then evident if we lay down all prejudices that the said Objections are not strong enough to contradict what is before asserted viz. that men neither can nor ought to change what is established and determined by God as it is the consent of all Divines and holy Scriptures and notwithstanding all that I have just now alledged the Church of England changing the seventh unto the first day of the week to keep it holy it is manifest she breaks the fourth Commandment of the Decalogue and consequently is not the holy Catholick Church Answ All the words contained in the fourth Commandment do not bind equally some containing a Commandment as Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day and some including a Permission as Six days shalt thou labour and do all thy work as likewise these of St. Paul to the Corinthians Whatsoever is sold in the shambles that eat asking no Question for Conscience sake In these sorts of Expressions God doth not command but gives only permission and leave to eat of whatsoever is sold in the Shambles As well as to eat of the Fruit of the Trees of the Garden excepting the Tree of Life which was forbidden our first Parents It is then clear that these words Six days shalt thou labour and do all thy work include but a Permission for I think no body will say that it is not lawful to a man on any other day of the week to abstain from gross and slavish works to the end he might meditate God's Works and Perfections and apply himself unto Exercises of Charity and Piety Second Answer All that are contained in the Decalogue are not ex Jure naturali nor belong to the Moral Law and consequently are not Immutable for the Preface Hear Israel I am the Lord thy God who brought thee out of the Land of Aegypt out of the House of bondage sheweth evidently that God speaks unto Israel according to the Flesh as they were a Type of Israel according to the Spirit and puts them in mind of his renowned favours towards them in delivering them out of the bondage of Aegypt as a Type of our spiritual Redemption and slavery under the Devil Sin and Death Now if either we consider the Type or the thing signified thereby neither of them are ex Jure naturali or belong to the Moral Law which is the same and Immutable at all times and among all Nations but are grounded upon the good pleasure of God who by his special goodness towards that People was pleased so to deal with them Third Answer These words of the fourth Commandment In it thou shalt not do any work thou nor thy Son nor thy Daughter thy man-Servant nor thy maid-Servant nor thy Cattel nor the Stranger which is within thy Gates could not have relation to