custome in sinne wee fill vp our periods with vnnecessarie oathes Wickednesse as when a wretch in his discontented humor shall binde himselfe with an oath to doe some notable mischiefe So certaine Iewes Acts 23. sware that they would neither eate nor drinke till they had killed Paul or when he shall despitefully sweare to vex the good spirit of God and to trample the bloud of Christ vnder his feet if cardes or bowles or dice runne against him he will make his tongue to runne so fast against God or when he doth sweare by heauen or earth or any other creature in stead of the Creator An oath is an inuocating of God he therefore that sweares by the light makes light his God hee that sweares by the Masse doth make that Idoll his God A man may forsweare himselfe three waies as Lombard out of Augustine whē he doth sweare 1. That which is false and hee knowes it false 2. That which is true but hee thought it false 3. That which is false but hee held it true The two first kinds are abominable namely when a man sweares either that hee knowes to be false or thinks to be false but the third in the Court of Conscience is no sinne because it is with forswearing as with lying Periurie is nothing else but a lie bound with an oath As then a man may tell an vntruth and yet not lie so likewise sweare that which is false and yet not sweare falsly Thou shalt sweare in truth that is as thou shalt in thy conscience and science thinke to be true for doubtlesse it is a lesser offence to sweare by a false god truly then to sweare by the true God falsly it is a sinne to lie but a double sinne to sweare and lie The 4. Commandement THe fourth Commandement doth set downe the time and place of Gods holy worship the time expresly Remember thou keepe holy the Sabbath day the which insinuates also the place for God was publikely worshipped in his Sanctuarie in his Tabernacle in his Temple Leuiticus 19. 30. Yee shall keepe my Sabbaths and reuerence my Sanctuarie The Sabbath as one calles it is Gods schooleday the Preachers are his Vshers and the Church is his open schoolehouse This Commandement is hedged in on euery side lest we should breake out from obseruing it with a caueat before Remember and two reasons after one drawne from the equitie of the law Six daies shalt thou labour As if God should speake thus If I permit thee sixe whole daies to follow thine owne businesse thou maiest well affoord one onely for my seruice but sixe daies shalt thou labour and doe all thine owne worke therefore hallow the seuenth in doing my worke Six daies shalt thou labour A permission or a remission of Gods right who might challenge all rather then an absolute commandement for the Church vpon iust occasion may separate some weeke daies also to the seruice of the Lord and rest from labour Ioel 2. 15. Blow the trumpet in Sion sanctifie a fast call a solemne assemblie Daies of publique fasting for some great iudgement daies of publique reioicing for some great benefit are not vnlawfull but exceeding commendable yea necessarie Yet this permission is a commission against idlenesse because euery man must liue by the sweat of his browes or sweat of his braines hauing some profession or occupation or vocation wherein he must labour faithfully Another argument is taken from the Law-giuers example For in six daies the Lord made heauen and earth and rested the seuenth day God requires no more then himselfe performed his owne practise is a Commentarie vpon his law This may teach all Magistrates all masters all superiors who prescribe lawes vnto other to become first an vnprinted law themselues If the Prince will haue his Court religious himselfe must be forward in deuotion if the father will haue his children possesse their vessels in chastity then himselfe must not neigh after his neighbours wife When Sabbath breakers are rebuked all their answere is other and that the most doe so If they will follow fashion and example let them follow the best Fashion not your selues like the world but be ye followers of God who framed the whole world in six daies and rested the seuenth he rested from creating not gouerning from making of new kinds of creatures not singuler things he is not as Epicurus imagined idle but alway working Iohn 5. 17. My father worketh hitherto and I worke The Commandement it selfe is First propounded briefly Keepe holy the Sabbath day Then expounded more largely shewing 1. What is the Sabbath day namely the seuenth 2. How it must bee sanctified In it thou shalt doe no manner of worke Keepe holy This day hath no more holinesse in it selfe then other times only God hath appointed it to holy vses aboue other and therefore wee must keepe it more holy then other The Sabbath There is sabbathum Pectoris of the mind Temporis of time The sabbath of the mind is double Internall peace of conscience in the kingdome of grace Eternall rest of body and soule in the kingdome of glory When as we shall rest from our labors all teares shall be wiped from our eies and cares from our heart Among the Iewes the sabbath of time was of Daies Yeeres Daies Lesser euery seuenth day Greater as when the Passeouer fell on the Sabbath as it did when Christ suffered Yeeres Euery seuenth yeere a Sabbath of rest to the land Euery seuen-times seuen yeere which was 49. and then followed in the 50. yeere the Iubile This Sabbath is of daies expressely kept holie the seuenth day There is A naturall day which is the space of 24 houres a night and a day Gen. 1. 5. An artificiall day the space of 12. houres as Christ Iohn 11. 9. from the Sunne rising to the Sunne setting of which I thinke this Commandement is vnderstood For albeit the Iewes counted the Sabbath from euening to euening yet it was but as they reckoned other daies not to sit vp and watch all night but to spend in Gods seruice so much of the naturall day as may be spared without hurting the body The seuenth is the Sabbath It is the iudgement of the most and best Interpreters that the Sabbath is morale quoad genus but ceremoniale quoad speciem Ceremoniall for the manner albeit morall for the matter I say ceremoniall it regard of the particular as the strict obseruation of the same day and same rest precisely to keepe the Saturday and strictly to cease from all labour as the Iewes did was a shadow therefore abrogated by the comming of the body Christ. The blessed Apostles herein led by the spirit of truth and as some thinke by Christs owne example altered and so by consequence abrogated the particular day Consentaneum est Apostolos hanc ipsam ob causam
mutassediem vt oftenderent exemplum abrogationis legum ceremonialium in die septimo Melanct. tom 2. fol. 363. Whereas therefore the Iewes obserued their Sabbath on the seuenth day wee celebrate the eighth They gaue God the last day of the weeke but Christians better honour him with the first they keepe their Sabbath in honour of the worlds creation but Christians in memoriall of the worlds redemption a worke of greater might and mercie and therefore good reason the greater worke should carrie away the credit of the day See the Gospell on Saint Thomas day The particular rest of the Iewes is ceremoniall also for it is a type of our inward resting from sin in this life Exod. 31. 13. Ezek. 20. 12. and a figure of our eternall Sabbath in the next as S. Paul disputes Heb. 4. Yet this Commandement is morall in the generall As for example wee must keepe one day in the seuen holie to the Lord wherein we must doe no manner of work which may let the ministerie of Gods word and other exercises of pietie We must leaue to doe our worke that the Lord may bring foorth in vs his worke The duties then required on the Lords day be principally two Rest. And a sanctification of this rest A double Sabbath rest from labour and rest from sinne for as our Church doth determine two sorts of people transgresse this Commandement especially 1. Such as will not rest froÌ„ their ordinary labour but driue carry row ferry on SuÌ„day 2. Such as will rest in vngodlines idlely spending this holy day in pampering pointing painting themselues So that God is more dishonoured and the Diuell better serued vpon Sunday then on all the daies of the weeke beside Thou shalt do no manner of worke That is no seruile work of thine ordinarie calling which may be done the day before or left well vndone till the day after But some workes are lawfull namely such as appertaine to the publike worship of God as painfull preaching of the sacred word reading of diuine prayers administring of the blessed Sacraments and euery worke subordinate to these as ringing of bels and trauelling to Church Acts 1. 12. 2. Kings 4. 23. And workes of mercie toward Our selues as prouision of meate and drinke Matth. 12. 1. Other Men our Sauiour healed the man with the dâ—ied hand on the Sabbath Mark 3. 5. Beasts in watering cattell and helping them out of pound and pit Luk. 14. 5. Workes of present necessitie Physitions on the Lords day may visit their patients Midwiues helpe women with child Shepheards attend their flock Mariners their voiage Souldiers may fight and messengers ride post for the great good of the Common-wealth Works of honest recreations also so farre as they may rather helpe then hinder our cheerefull seruing of the Lord and the reason of all this is giuen by Christ Mar. 2. 27. The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath Thou Thy wife is not named because she is presumed to be thy selfe that whatsoeuer is forbidden thy selfe must also be knowne to be forbidden thy second selfe Thy sonne and thy daughter Euery man is a gouernour in his owne house and therefore must take charge of such as are vnder him Adduc eos ad domum dei tecum qui sunt in domo tua tecum mater Ecclesia aliquos à te petit aliquos repetit petit eos quos apud te inuenit repetit quos per te perdidit Thy man seruant This is for Thy good Their good The common good Thy good For hee that on Sunday shall learne his dutie will be more fit all the weeke to doe his dutie such as obey God with a good conscience will serue their master with an vpright heart as Iacob serued Laban and Ioseph Pharaoh Againe it is for thy good often to remember with thankfulnesse that God hath made thee master and him seruant whereas hee might haue made thee seruant and him master For their good that they may know God and whom he hath sent Christ Iesus the way the truth and the life Thy seruants are men of the same mold with thee Iisdem constant nâ—triuntur elementis eundem spiritum ab eodem principio carpunt eodem fruun ur coelo aequa viuunt aeque moriuntur serui sunt imo conserui That is in the words of scripture Thy seruants are all one with thee in Christ made of the same God redeemed with the same price subiect to the same law belonging to the same master Ephes. 6. 9. Pitie then and pietie require that thou see them obserue the Lords day for the good as well of their bodies as soules For the common good For euery man hath iust cause to be ready willingly to labour all the weeke when as he is assured he shall rest on Sunday Thy cattell Hence we may gather much comfort for if God in his mercy prouide for the welfare euen of our brute beasts of which he hath made vs Lords he will assuredly much more respect vs his seruants and children he cannot be carelesse for men who is so carefull for oxen The Commandements are so well knowne and often expounded that as Augustine speakes in the like case Desiderant auditorem magis quà m expositorem I passe therefore from the first table containing all dutie to God vnto the second teaching all dutie to man I say to man as the proper immediat object of them Otherwise these Commandements are done vnto God also for he that clotheth the naked and visiteth the sicke doth it vnto Christ Matth. 25. 40. The law then concerning our neighbour is partly Affirmatiue teaching vs to do him all good Honour thy father and mother c. Negatiue teaching vs to doe him no hurt Thou shalt not kill c. This table begins with honour of our father First because next vnto God we must honour those who are in the place of God Secondly because the neglect of this one Commandement occasioneth all disorder against the rest for if superiours gouerne well and inferiours obey well how can any man be wronged in word or deed Thirdly because of all neighbours our parents are most neere to vs as being most bound to them of whom we haue receiued our life Thy parent is Gods instrument for thy naturall being thy Prince Gods instrument for thy ciuill being thy Pastor Gods instrument for thy spirituall being Wherefore as thou art a man thou must honour thy naturall father as a citizen honour thy ciuill father as a Christian honour thy ecclesiasticall father Honour imports especially 3. things Obedience Reuerence Maintenance Obedience Children obey your parents in all things Coloss 3. 20 that is as Paul doth interpret himselfe Ephes. 6. 1 in the Lord. In all things agreeable to the will of God otherwise for Christs loue wee must hate father and mother Luke 14. 26.
peace in earth towards men good will a song which the world neuer heard before that the seede of the woman should bruse the Serpents head is an old song the first that euer was sung but this was no plaine song till Christ did manifest himselfe in the flesh In the old Testament there were many old songs but in the new Testament a new song That vnto vs is borne a Sauiour which is Christ the Lord in many respects a new song for whereas Christ was but shadowed in the Law he is shewed in the Gospell and new because sung of new meÌ„ of all men For the sound of the Gospell is gone through all the earth vnto the ends of the world whereas in old time Gods old songs were sung in Iury his name great in Israel at Salem his Tabernacle and dwelling in Sion Psal. 76. 3. Whereto To the Lord. See before Psalme 95. 4. Wherefore For he hath done maruellous things he hath opened his greatnes and goodnesse to the whole world in his creation and preseruation in his redemption especially being a worke of greater might and mercie then all the rest for in the creation he made man like himselfe but in the redemption he made himselfe like man Illic participes nos fecit bonorum suorum hîc particeps est factus malorum nostrorum In making the world hee spake the word onely and it was done but to redeeme the world dixit multa fecit mira saith the text Passus est dura verba duriora verbera The creation of the world was a worke as it were of his fingers Psal. 8. 3. When I consider the heauen euen the work of thy fingers But the redemption as it is here called is the worke of his arme With his owne right hand and with his holy arme hath he gotten himselfe the victorie So that if the Iewes obserued a Sabbath in honour of the worlds creation how many festiuals ought we to keepe in thankfull remembrance of our redemption As Diogenes said euery day was an holy day to a good man so euery day should be a Sunday to the Christian man Aquinas excellently Bonum gratiae vnius maius est quà m bonum naturae totius vniuersi The sauing of one soule is a greater work then the making of a whole world 12. quaest 113. art 9. 5. Wherewith in a literall sense with all kinde of musicke Vocall Sing to the Lord. Chordall Praise him vpon the Harpe Pneumatical With trumpets c. In an allegoricall exposition as Euthymius interpretes it we must praise God in our actions and praise him in our contemplation praise him in our words praise him in our workes praise him in our life praise him at our death being not only temples as Paul but as Clemens Alexandrinus calles vs Timbrels also of the holy Ghost Nunc dimittis or the song of Simeon Luke 2. 29. Lord now lettest thou thy seruant depart in peace Sic vbi fâ—ta vocant vdis abiectus in herbis Ad vada Maeandri conciâ—it albus olor As the Swanue so Simeon in his old age readie â—o leaue the world did sing more sweetly then euer he did before Lord now lettest c. The which Hymne is a thanksgiuing to God for giuing his Sonne to redeeme his seruants And it hath two principall parts in the 1. He reioyceth in regard of his owne particular vers 29. 30. 2. In regard of the generall good our Sauiour Christ brought to y e whole world vers 31. 32. In the first note 2. things especially 1. His willingnes to die Lord now lettest thou thy seruant depart in peace 2. The reason of this willingnes For mine eyes haue seene thy saluation Lord The Papists often in their life specially at their death vse to commend themselues and their soules vnto the protection of the blessed Virgin Maria mater gratiae tu nos ab hoste protege horamortis suscâ—pe This is their doctrine Bellarmine auoweth it this is their practise Father Garnet at his execution vsed this forme of praier twice publiquely But old Simeon heere forgetting our Lady though she were present commends his soule to the Lord who redeâ—med it Lord now lettest thou c. Now Simeon assuredly was not afraid to die before but because a reuelation was giuen vnto him from the holie Ghost that he should not see death vntill he saw the Messias he was exceeding desirous to liue that he might see the word of the Lord fulfilled And therefore men abuse this example saying they will be contented to die when such and such things come to passe when all their daughters be well married and all their sonnes well placed Old Simeon had a reuelation for that he did whereas we haue no warraÌ„t from God for many things we fondly desire so that whether God grant them or not we must submit our selues vnto his good pleasure Now and euer ready to depart in peace when he doth call taking vnto vs the resolution of Iob The Lord giueth the Lord taketh blessed be the name of the Lord. Lettest thou We may not our selues loose our soules but let God let them out of prison We must seeke to mortifie the flesh and to cast the world out of vs but to cast our selues out of the world is an offence against God Our neighbour Our selues Against God who saith Thou shalt not kill if not another much lesse thy selfe For thou must loue thy neighbor as thy selfe first thy selfe then thy neighbour as thy selfe The neerer the deerer I kill and giue life saith the Lord we are not masters of our life but only stewards and therefore may not spend it or end it as we please but as God who bestowed it will Agâ—inst our neighbours because men are not borne for themselues alone but for other also being all members of one common-weale and politike body so that as Paul saith if one member suffer all suffer with it Homo quilibet est pars communitatis Euery particular person is part of the whole State This is the true reason why the King doth take so precise an account of the death euen of his basest subiect because himselfe and the whole kingdome had interest in him Against our selues Because by naturall instinct euerie creature labours to preserue it selfe the fire striueth with the water the water fighteth with the fire the most sillie worme doth contend with the most strong man to preserue it selfe and therefore we may not butcher our selues but expect Gods leasure and pleasute to let vs depart in peace Thy seruant It is not a seruile seruice but a perfect freedome to serue the Lord. And therefore as the good Empetour Theodosius held it more noble to be membrum Ecclesis qâ—â—â—â—caput Imperij so may we resolue that it is better to be a seruant of God then Lord of all the world For while we serue him all other