aeternum diem consecravit nobis Dominicum Domini Qui vocatur Dominicus ipse propriè videtur ad Dominum pertinere quia eo die Dominus resurrexit Aug. de verbis Apost Serm. 15. Dominicum ergò diem Apostoli Apostolici viri ideò religiosâ— solennitate habeâ—dum sanxerunt quia in eodem Redemptor noster â— mortuis resurrexit Serm. de temp 251. The Lords Resurrection hath promised us an eternall day and hath consecrated to us the Dominicall day of the Lord. The day which is called the Lords day it seemeth properly to pertaine to the Lord because that day the Lord rose againe The same Father tells us that in this resurrection of Christ the Apostles and Apostolicall men saw as much he saith the Lords day the Apostles and Apostolicall men have ordained with religious solemnity to be kept because in the same our Redeemer rose from the dead Ignatius r 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epist ad Magnâ—s giveth this for the onely Reason binding every one to keepe this day saying Let every one that loveth Christ celebrate the Lords day the day pertaining to the Resurrection the Queene and Prince of all dayes Athanasius Å¿ Athanas de Sabbat circumcis Psal 118. 124. calls the Lords day in which Christ renewed the old Man the beginning of the new Creature and therefore hee saith when hee had renewed the Creature which was made within sixe dayes he would have that day consecrated to this instauration which the Spirit foretells in the Psalme This is the day which the Lord hath made Iunius t Tempus ad conventus sacros semper est dies octavus quem inde à resurrectione Christi Ecclesia vocavit Dominicum quod Christus suaresurrectione sacto sacris coetibus dicavit quem Apostoli observarunt coetibus dicatum esse docâ—erunt quem Christiana Ecclesia dictis corum obsequens facta imitans concelebrat Eccles lib. 1. cap. 4. sub sinem speaking of the time necessary to publike worship saith It is the eighth day for ever which the Church from the resurrection of Christ hath called the Lords day which Christ by his resurrection and deed hath dedicated to holy assemblies which the Apostles have observed and have taught that it is dedicated thereto and which the Christian Church obedient to their words and imitating their deeds doth joyntly celebrate In the Preface to the Assembly of the Church of Scotland at Perth Anno 1618. the question being moved how the particular and materiall day may bee knowne that the Christian Church should observe the answer is that the particular day was demonstrated by our Saviours Resurrection and his apparitions made thereon by the Apostolicall practice and the perpetuall observation of the Church ever since that time of the day which in Scripture is called the Lords day as that which the Iewes observed was called the Lords Sabbath because as the one was appointed by the Lord for a memoriall of his rest after the Creation so the other was instituted by the Lord for a memoriall of his Resurrection after the Redemption For this we must hold as a sure ground whatever the Catholike Church hath observed in all Ages and is found in Scripture expressely to have been practised by Christ and the Apostles such as is the sanctification of the Lords day the same most certainely was instituted by the Lord to bee observed and his practice in Word of the Lord and of equall worth as if the Lord by voice from heaven had spoken it and more sure for us than such a voice 1 Pet. 1. 12 25. and 2 Pet. 1. 19 20 21. Whence it is cleare that the Gospell preached by the Apostles with the holy Ghost sent downe from heaven is the Word of the Lord that endureth for ever Secondly it was enjoyned by the Apostles precept and observed by them enjoyned and the worke of the day in part prescribed 1 Cor. 16. 2. observed Act. 20. 7. Thirdly the Apostle saith that which you have seene and heard in me that doe and the God of peace shall be with you Phil. 4. 9. But this was seene and heard of to bee done by him Act. 20. 7. Therefore do it Perkins on Gal. 4. vers 10. Fourthly if the same reason grounded on Gods Word be as well for the first day of the weeke as it was once for the Sabbath of the Iewes then we are as certainely tyed by the Lord to the observation of this day as they were for their Sabbath for the same reason is of the same force But there is the same reason therefore wee are bound by the Lord. That there is the same reason is apparant by those three places laid together Exod. 20. 10. Mat. 12. 8. Ioh. 5. 23. The maine reason of the Iewes Sabbath is because it was the Sabbath of the Lord. In like manner ours is the Sabbath of the Lord Christ when hee had finished the worke of our redemption for which cause hee taketh this name the son of man is even Lord of the Sabbath as if in more words he should say when God the Father had once ended the making of the world hee rested and published himselfe to be the Lord of that rest and dedicated it to himselfe giving it the name of the Sabbath of the Lord. In like manner when I shall have finished the worke of mans Redemption I will rest have the day of my rest dedicated unto my selfe for which cause I say that the sonne of man is even Lord of the Sabbath also it shall be called the Lords day And thus the will of the Father shall be fulfilled which is that as they honoured the Father in keeping the Sabbath betwixt the Creation and Redemption so they should honour the Sonne in keeping the Sabbath betwixt the redemption and consummation of the world Fifthly the judgments of God fearefully and to miracles lighting on the contemners and prophaners of this day by worldlinesse the opposition of godlesse and most evill men the Conscience working on men for the observation and against the neglect thereof the errors of Familists Anabaptists Papists and such loose pleaders as you and others have shewed themselves to be are strong and impregnable arguments for the Divine Authority of it together with the contradictions and the grosse opinions you are forced to runne into which argue that you rebell against the light in you and your prophane Atheisticall hearts would have that true which yet your owne light disproveth in the truths that are forced thereby to drop from you Sixthly yea I shall through Gods grace evince this that it is of the Lords owne institution for besides that his resurrection institutes it as I sayd before First it is called the Lords day Rev. 1. 10. Which cannot bee for any reason but because it is of the Lords institution for so first the phrase his day not by creation for so all daies are his not by destinatioÌ„ for that
precedent words of the administration of the Lords Supper But we after those things for the remainder of the time doe ever remember one another of these things and those of us which have any thing helpe every one that wants and are alwayes together one with another A little after hee saith that the assemblies on that day were frequented of all in Citie and Countrie prayer preaching and the Sacrament was administred Collections for the poore which was after the assemblies distributed to the needy imprisoned stranger with the like whom they visited Tertullian in that 16 chapter of his Apologie against the Gentiles gives this as one cause of their conjecture that Christians worshipped the Sunne because they kept the Sunday Holy Wee give our selves to joy saith hee the Sunday for another farre wide reason than in honour of Diem solis laetitiae indulgemus the Sunne are we in the second place from them which appoint Saturday to idlenesse and feeding themselves also wandring from the Iewish custome which they know not What meaneth he hereby but that such a solemnitie is kept and ought to bee by Christians as should exceede in that kinde the feasts of the nations and Heathen as in his booke of Idolatrie chap. 14. he speaketh Ignatius speaketh enough to any man not prepossessed for he saith let every lover of Christ celebrate the Lords day as festivall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Greek word signifieth a solemne festivall free from worke and workeday labour That others also of the ancients did understand this celebration to be with exact vacation is evident Saint Austin saith come ye to the Church every Lords day for if the unhappy Iewes doe celebrate the Sabbath with such devotion that in it no earthly workes were done how much more ought Christians to bee vacant to God alone on the Lords day and come together for the Salvation of their soules Againe Apostles and Apostolike men have therefore ordained that the Lords day be kept with religious solemnitie because in it our Redeemer arose from the Dead and which is therefore called the Lords day that in it abstaining from earthly affaires and the enticements of the world we may serve onely in divine worship That of Saint Clement is also worthy note neither on the Lords dayes which are dayes of joyfulnesse doe we grant any thing may be said or done besides holinesse Austin also in the sixt booke de Civitate Dei chap. 11. speaking of Seneca's scoffing at the Iewes Sabbath that they lost the seventh part of their time in vacancie addeth this Notwithstanding he durst not speake of the Christians even then most contrarie to the Iewes on either part lest either hee should praise them against the old custome of his owne Countrey or reprove them perhaps against his owne will Saint Austine likewise reproveth their telling of tales their slanders playing at dice and such unprofitable sports as if one part of the day were set apart for dutie to God and the rest of the day together with the night to their owne pleasures In the same place also he condemnes walking about the fields and woods when they should bee at Serm. 251. De Temp. Divine Service with clamour and laughter and saith the day must be sequestred a rurali opere ab omni negotio from countrey worke and all businesse that wee may give our selves wholly to the worship of God Saint Chrysostome speaking of the fitnesse of the Lords day for almes saith it is a convenient time to practise liberalitie with a ready and willing minde not onely in this regard but also because it hath rest remission freedome and vacation from labours Saint Ambrose q Ambros tom 3. Serm. 1. de granosinapis p. 225. reproving the peoples neglect of Church on the Lords dayes saith Whatsoever brother is not present at the Lords Sacraments of necessity he is with God a forsaker of the Divine truth For how can he excuse himselfe who preparing his dinner at home on the day of the Sacraments contemneth that heavenly Banket and taking care of the belly neglecteth the physicke of his soule The same Father in another place r Id. Serm. 33. pag. 259. tom 3. saith Let us all the day bee conversant in prayer or reading hee that cannot reade let him aske of some holy man that he may bee fed with his conference let no secular acts hinder divine acts let no Table-play carry away the mind let no pleasure of Dogs call away the senses let no dispatch of a businesse pervert the mind with covetousnesse True this Father in this place speaketh of a Fast but we know that a Fast and Sabbath are alike for the point of rest Saint ſ Hieron ad Rustich Dominicos dies orationi tantum lectionibus vacant Hierom also On the Lords day saith he they onely give themselves to prayer and reading Secondly now for your contrary evidences what if they also make for us You alleage a constitution of Constantines Iurge First the same Emperours Constitutions found in Ecclesiasticall Writers Eusebius in his life saith Wherefore he ordained that all that obeyed the Romane Empire should rest from all labour on the dayes that are called from our Saviours Name Further hee saith of this Christian Emperour He taught all his hoste to honour this day diligently those that partooke of the Divine Faith hee gave them leasure to frequent the Assemblies that no impediment should hinder their attendance on prayer but others that had no savor of Divine Doctrine hee gave charge of them by another Law that they should goe into the open fields of the Suburbs on the Lords day and that there altogether should use the same forme of prayer to God when asigne was given of some one of them for said he we ought not to use speares and place the hope of our affaires in weapons and bodily strength Sozomen in his tripartite history testifieth thus That day which is called the Lords day which the Hebrewes call the first day which the Grecians attribute to the Sunne and which is before the seventh day he ordained that all should cease from suites and other businesses and should onely bee occupied in prayers upon it t Sozom Hist Eccles tripert l. 1. c. 10. Behold Constantine against Constantine Secondly your Constitution is read Cod. l. 3. tit 12 l. 3. This Constitution was reversed by Leo the Emperour and another made in these words We ordaine according to the true meaning of the holy Ghost and of the Apostles thereby directed that on the sacred day wherein our integrity was restored all doe rest and surcease labour that neither husbandmen nor other on that day put their hands to forbidden workes for if the Iewes did so much reverence their Sabbath which was but a shadow of ours are not we which inhabit the light and truth of grace bound to honour that day which the Lord himselfe hath honoured and hath therein delivered
was past therefore of a third rest hee must needs speake Lastly the Prophet gathered a perpetuall Rule and Law for marriage from the first example in the creation of married persons Mal. 2. 15. Made hee not one And wherefore one Because hee sought a godly seed So here did not God rest the seventh day but why the seventh that wee should sanctifie to God the seventh Yea but the Prophet made no such collection Yes such a one though not that very one And a greater than that Prophet God himselfe puts into us that very collection when he saith that he Rested and that he blessed and sanctified this his resting day Fourthly you would make good your conceite by shewing the needlesnesse of such a command when there was no toyle to the body nor distraction to the mind that called for Rest or sanctification one day in seven There was labour in Paradise Gen. 2. 15. And therefore there might bee need of a Rest There was danger of sinne in Paradise and therefore need of some speciall time by Gods ordinance and that time blessed of him to uphold the sanctification of the soule If you reply there was no such toyle in labour I answer it was no toyle to God to worke the sixe dayes and yet God rested the seventh Besides God that knew mans estate knew reasons for his commandement and therefore it is ill divining against the light of Gods truth And if it had beene but a commandement of triall man ought to have obeyed Fifthly hitherto of the eversion of your Tenet now for the Text in Gen. 2. 2 3. That the true sense of the words is this The Lord blessed the seventh day that is hee appointed it to be a Fountaine of blessing to the observers of that day and sanctified it That is Commanded it to be set apart by men from common businesses and applied to holy uses That this I say is the true sense not only the Hebrew and Greeke words do both give but the universall opinion of Divines ancient and moderne Cyprian writes thus e Cyprian de Spiritu Sancto sc edition Pamelianam Antuerp 1589. This sacred number of seven obtained authority from the creation of the World because the first workes of God were made in sixe daies and the seventh day was consecrated to rest as holy hallowing honored with the solemnity of abidding and entitled to the Spirit the Sanctifier Epiphanius speaketh thus of those words in the Gospell of Saint Luke It came to passe on the second first Sabbath f Epiphan advers Haeres lib. 2. tom 1. contra Hares Anoetâ—n Haeres 51. that the first Sabbath is that which was defined from the beginning and called so of the Lord in the Creation of the world which returneth by circuit according to the revolution of seven dayes from that time untill now but the second Sabbath is that which is described by the Law Origen answereth Celsus objecting against the History of the Creation that God like some Artificer that were wearied should need a resting and vacation in this manner g Origen contra Celsum lib. 6. fol. 81. Truely this man seeth not after the creation of the world as soone as the world was made what a one the day of the Sabbath and of God resting was in which both men rest to God and keep this day a festivall unto him which have dispatched their workes on the sixt day and because they let passe nothing that is urgent they ascend by contemplation to the feast day of the just and blessed men Chrysostome unfolds the Text in Genesis thus h Chrysost tomâ— in Gen. serm 10. sc edit Savilianam What is this and hee sanctified it he separated it Then the Divine Scripture teaching us the cause also for which it is said hee sanctified it addeth because in it he rested from all his workes which hee began to make Now hence God giveth to us darkely i 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this instruction that we set apart and separate one day in the circuit of every weeke to the use of spirituall things for for this cause did the Lord finish all the fabricke of the world in six daies and honouring the seventh with his blessing sanctified it Hierome was of the mind that the k Hieron tradit Hebr. in Genes Sabbath was instituted in the beginning who reprehends the Iewes idlenesse on their Sabbath and empty rest in which yet they gloried from the example of God who in the beginning wrought on the day which he blessed and so brake the Sabbath in the Iewes sense Learned Mercerus upon this place following the choise and greatest Lights saith I doubt not but by the first fathers before the Law this day was solemne and sacred God himselfe being their teacher c. That the people of God might know that the Fathers observed it not of themselves but as taught of God to reteine them in the exercise of Gods worship Athanasius l Athanas de Sabbat circumcis also giveth his voice Who sheweth that that seventh day had its observation among all men of those generations from the creation to the resurrection of our Saviour Augustine was of this mind When God saith he m August ad Casul epist 86. sanctified the seventh day because in it he rested from all his works he expressed not any thing concerning the fast or dinner of the Sabbath The Fathers alledged by Gomarus that plead the Sabbath was not kept by the Fathers before Moses as Iustin Martyr Tertullian Irenaeus and Eusebius are to bee understood of the Ceremoniall observation thereof and so the Fathers were no observers of the Sabbath as those ancients rightly maintained against the Iewes and wee readily subscribe unto it and that they thus meant is apparent by some passages in their foresaid bookes Iustin Martyr in his Dialogue with Tryphon the Iew saith Neither thinke ye it grievous that we drinke some warme thing on the Sabbath seeing God also governeth the world on this day in like manner as he doth on other dayes And Tertullian in his booke against the Iewes saith That the temporall observation of the Sabbath ceaseth as it is a type Irenaeus also affirmeth in his booke against Heresies lib. 4. c. 3. That the precepts spoken by Gods owne voice receive not diminution but increase by our Saviours comming which precepts he saith were naturall liberall and common to all And in his 30. chap. of the same booke he saith That the godly Fathers had the substance of the Decalogue written in their hearts and soules and had in themselves the righteousnesse of the Law Beda therefore upon the sixt chapter of Luke maketh a distinction betweene the observation of the legall Sabbath and the liberty of the Naturall Sabbath which till Moses time was like other dayes See hee acknowledgeth a Naturall Sabbath under those first times of liberty Annexe to these the Iewish Doctors Philo thus openeth the Text
ceremoniall you alledge the place in Col. 2. 16. but that the Apost speaketh not there of the fourth Commandement is evident First because hee treateth expresly of those Sabbaths which were of the same ranke with the New-Moones and were ceremoniall shadowes of things to come in Christ but the Sabbath prescribed in the Decalogue is altogether of another nature as hath beene and shall be further shewed Secondly he speaketh as the Apostles doth to the Galatians cap. 4. 10. but the place there treates only of the observation of the dayes moneths and yeeres which pertained to the servitude and bondage of weake and beggerly rudiments as in vers 9. appeareth Now that any precept of the Decalogue should bee so accounted and reckoned as a weake and beggerly rudiment was farre from the Apostle to thinke and is abhorred to Christian eares and religion Whatsoever also was Ceremoniall in the Sabbath if it bee granted according to the opinion of many Divines that some ceremony was in the day in respect of that precise day that is by constitution annexed to it extrinsecally and not of the nature of the Sabbath and first institution therof which nothing hinders the morality of the seventh dayes institution for so in the Authority of Fathers and first borne which pertaines to the fifth commandement there was annexed a Ceremoniall reason of a type namely the shadowing out of Christ the first borne among many brethren yet by this annexed typical figure the fifth commandement nor the priviledge of the first borne in respect of the first nature of it is not ceremoniall Nevertheles by Scripture there appeareth not unto me of certainty any ceremony or type in the observation of the seventh day properly so called for the mention of a spirituall Sabbatisme in Heb 4. 9. presignified in some type foregoing under the nature of a type if referred only to the rest in Canaan and by comparison of the like to the rest of God but by no meanes in the least signification is it referred to the rest commanded in the fourth precept as to a type and shadow And whereas the Fathers and many others include the Iewish Sabbath within the former text they must in my judgement bee understood of that day as it was the day in which the ceremoniall worship which was then the worship of God was the sanctification of the Sabbath and as that precise day was till Christ came apt and fit but now after Christs resurrection not fit for the new world but swallowed up of the greater namely the Lords day fit for the memoriall of the workes of Creation and Redemption For to observe the Sabbath with Moses Rites were to deny Christ come in the flesh whose Kingdome is not meat and drinke but righteousnesse peace and joy in the holy Ghost and to this the old Sabbatarian Heretikes had an aime and to observe the Iewish seventh for Sabbath now deserves worthily the Anathema of ancient Councels and Saint Austins sharpe sentence who saith thus t Quisque illum diem observat ut litera sonat carnaliter sapit Despir lit c. 14. Whosoever shall keepe that day as the letter soundeth savoureth of the flesh And lastly to observe the Sabbath in the devised assumed superstitious strictnesse Iewish which was never commanded but taken up of their owne heads or in the luxurious heathenish sports that others of them used is deservedly condemned by the Ancients and is against or Christian liberty or Christian sanctity Fourthly but to returne grant it to bee ceremoniall yet your arguing will not hold that the Sabbath in the Commandement is utterly vanished for all that place ceremony in that rest do hold that the rest in heaven was that which was chiefely aymed at Now this maketh against you for then a Sabbaths rest must remaine till that eternall rest bee come for though it bee assured yet it is not come And if the assurance by word and pledge would have cut off the necessity of a Sabbath rest to shadow it then might all the shadowes of the ceremoniall Law have been spared for they had the Word Oath and Spirit of God to assume Christs comming and from that place in Heb. 4. Doctor Willet u D. Willet on Gen. 2. his places of doctrine saw enough to prove the divine institution of the Lords day as a Sabbath rest he thus reasoneth Every simbole significative or representing signe mentioned in Scripture had a divine institution but so is the Sabbath a simbole or type of our everlasting rest Heb. 4. 9. there remaineth therefore Sabbatismus a Sabbath rest to the people of God Which words doe conclude that both the type remaineth that is a Sabbatisme and the signification of the type everlasting rest CHAP. XXIV Breerwood Pag. 39. BVt might not the celebration of the Sabaoth which thus ceased bee justly translated by the Church to the first day of the weeke Yes certainely both might and was iustly For I consider that the generality was of the morall law of the law of nature namely that men should sequester sometime from worldly affaires which they might dedicate to the honour of God onely the speciality that is the limitation and designement of that time was the churches ordinance appointing first one certaine day and that in relation of Christian assemblies namely that they might meete and pray and and praise God together with one voyce in the congregation And secondly designing that one day to the first day of the weeke for some speciall reasons and remembrances For first it was the day of Christs resurrection from the dead Secondly it was the day of the holy Ghosts descention from Heauen to powre infinite graces vpon Christians The first of them for our iustification as the Apostle speaketh The second for the sanctification and edification of the whole Church to omit some other reasons of lesse importance iustly therefore was the consecration of the Sabaoth translated to that day Answer First Yea a shadow Of which we have the substance in Christ Out of Date and expired of it selfe Part of the partition wall And yet the celebration and consecration of the Sabbath translated justly Then the Church by your Doctrine may revive the ceremoniall law and put life into the dead carcase thereof the Church may not alone embrace the shadow of which Christ is the body but also appoint it to bee embraced the Church may translate part of the ceremonial Law which yet Moses the typicall mediator would not might not order a tittle of it to a loope lace or placing of either but keepe to the patterne shewed him in the Mount and so by the same reason translate priesthood and all Heb. 6. The Church then is Lord of the Sabbath and can consecrate and not only celebrate the Sabbath all full of blasphemy against Christ and blemish to his chast spouse Secondly and for your distinction of generality and speciality of the commandement besides what hath been said before if you
yeeld not the speciality to bee morall you turne out one commandement of the ten from being morall for all your generality for to say that this is the morality of the commandment no more that some time shuld be sequestred to divine worship maketh this commandment no more morall then the building of the Tabernacle or Temple is morall for therein this perpetuall will of God was shewed that some place must bee assigned for Church assemblies and publike worship By this also it will follow that the Papists that in their Catechismes render the fourth commandement thus keepe holy the festivall dayes doe render the full sâ—nse of it Which being yeelded this also will follow that you may aswell put it downe thus frequent the assemblies Moreover all the feast daies of the Iewes conteined this generall equity Lastly then God should in this command nothing to particular men because it is not in their power to institute these daies and so nothing shal be commanded to them further than what publike persons shall injoyne be it but one day in the yeere and for them neither is there any thing commanded in speciall and they sinne not if they appoint but one day in a Moone or if they appoint but one in a quarter then also the Feasts of Christs Nativity of Easter of Whitsontide c. are of equall authority with the Lords day which thing what eares can heare with patience These also are constitutions of the ancient primitive Church CHAP. XXV Breerwood Pag. 39 40 41. BVt what of that What if the consecration of the Sabaoth was by the Church translated to the first day of the weeke Was therefore the commandement of God translated also That that day ought to be observed under the same obligation with the Sabaoth For if the commandement of God were not translated by the Church together with the celebration from the seventh day to the first day then is working on the first no violation of Gods commandement Was the commandement of God then translated from the Sabaoth to the Lords day by the decree of the Church No the Church did it not let mee see the act The Church could not doe it let me see the authority the Church could not translate the commandement to the first day which God himselfe had namely limited to the seventh For could the Church make that Gods commandement which was not his commandement Gods commandment was to rest on the seventh day and worke on the first therefore to rest on the first and worke on the seventh was not his commandement For doth the same commandement of God enioyne both labour and rest on the same day is there fast and lose in the same commandement â—â—th God Thou shalt work on the first day saith that and worke â—â— the seventh saith this Can the Church make these the same commandement But say the Church hath this incredible and uncoâ—ceivable power Say it may forbid to worke on the first day by the vertue of the very same precept That doth neither expresly command or license to worke on that day Say that the Church of God may translate the commandement of God from one day to another at their pleasure did they it therefore I spake before of their authority whether they might doe it I enquire now of the act whether they did it did the Church I say ever constitute that the same obligation of Gods commandement which lay on the Iewes for keeping of the Sabaoth day should be translated and laid upon the Christians for keeping of the Lords day Did the Church this no no they did it not all the wit and learning in the World will not prove it Answer First this reasoning is on false grounds supposed as hath beene proved and therefore fals to the ground Secondly yet take their owne grounds If the Church have powre to translate the day and consecrate it a Sabbath they may have power and had so to translate the Commandement for the Commandement is but the consecration of the Sabbath and determination thereof to a certaine day And if they doe not translate the Commandement yet the Commandement stands in force for that day to which by just power they have translated the Sabbath For the Commandement is in force as a law of nature you confesse for the celebration of a Sabbath or else you deny a moralitie in any part of that Commandement but if that your moralitie stand as without doubt it doth then is working on that day equally a violation of the Commandement of God as working on the seventh from the creation for then it was sinfull because that day was then Sabbath and now it is so because this is now Sabbath Thirdly and for those quaeres let me see the Act Let me see the Authoritie as they may bee retorted to your conceite of their translating the seventh day and consecrating it a Sabbath so in the true sense of consecrating that day you have seen before the Act and Authority and may now see if you winke not that the Commandement is not translated but remaines the same it was namely to keepe holy the Sabbath day Neither is there a making of that Gods Commandement which was not his nor yet doth the commandment containe any impossibilities and contradictions Distingue tempora tolle dubia Distinguish the times and the doubts vanish the Commandement enjoyneth rest and holinesse Sabbath-like on the Lords Sabbath then that seventh day now this seventh day and of both is it true the seventh is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God Then the seventh day was it and so enjoyned thereon Now the first day of the weeke and so enjoyned thereon Hence this reasoning is easily answered First God commanded to worke on the first and rest on the seventh therefore to rest on the first and work on the seventh was not his Commandement it was not then it is now moreover sixe dayes thou shalt worke doth not point out which sixe daies and the seventh day will containe both ours and theirs and their seventh they knew then by the worke of Creation as our seventh we know by the worke of Redemption For the authoritie and Act of the Church we need it not the Scripture as before hath saved the labour But that the act of this power was put forth the Church hath acknowledged and your selfe doe while you yeeld the first day consecrated Sabbath CHAP. XXVI Breerwood Pag. 41 42 43. Object BVt you may object if the old Sabaoth vanished and the commandement of God was limited and fixed to that day only then is one of Gods commandements perished Sol. I answere that the generality of that commandement to keepe a Sabaoth wherein God might be honoured was morall But the speciality of it namely to keepe 1 one day of seven 2 the seventh 3 one whole day 4 with precise vacancy from all worke were meerely ceremoniall the specialitie then of the commandements are vanished But for the generality of it it
o Philo de mundi opificio After that this Vniverse was perfected according to the perfect nature of the number of sixe the Father added honour to the following seventh day which when he had praised presently he vouchsafed to call it holy For it is the feast not of one people or Region but of all universally which alone is worthy to be called a popular festivity and the birth-day of the world Broughton in his consent of Scriptures alleageth Ramban upon Gen. 26. fol. 46. And Aben Ezra upon Exodus the twentieth to prove that the Lord appointed the seventh day from creating to bee an holy rest and that the fathers observed it before Moses Peter Matyr alleadgeth p Pet. Mart. â—oâ— in Genes Rabbi Agnon for that same point Thomas Aquinas interpreteth it on this wise q he sanctified it that is he deputed it to sanctitie for he willeth that the Lords day be kept holy of us therefore that especially we be also vacant to Gods holy worship and in it and the memoriall therof we call to mind the continuall benefit of our creation and therefore in the old law it is commanded that on that day we cease from servile workes that we may intend more freely God and his divine worship whence that day is called Sabbath which is the same that rest it Selneccerus saith that r Nicol selnecceri Com. in Genes God would by this very sanctifying of the Sabbath institute a certaine worship in which mankind even in innocencie that is although Adam had not falled should publish the goodnesse of God and celebrate worship acceptable to God when as other things on other dayes were to be looked unto And then he giveth foure causes or ends of the institution of the Sabbath It was instituted First for rest Secondly for the excellencie of man Thirdly for the upholding of a certaine worship Fourthly and for the testimonie of immortalitie And here saith he Children may learne the answer of that Schoole argument the Apostle in Col. 2. bids that none judge in respect of the Sabbath dayes therefore we are not to keepe a Sabbath Answer the antecedent Paul speaketh of the ceremonie and the observation of externall circumstances he speaketh not of the generall or the principall meaning of the precept and the finall cause thereof which is naturall and unchangeable This Author calleth our Sabbath the Sabbath of Redemption Marius is full in this thing Å¿ Marius in Gen. 2. He blessed that is hee consecrated it to his blessing to bee kept of men and sanctified it not as if he estamped holinesse on it but because hee appointed it to his sanctification and praise and to the holy conversation of men Because with the Hebrewes to sanctifie is the same as to separate from pollution a day is said to be sanctified in which we ought to be separated from pollution It was made presently from that very day of the World as the letter sheweth a positive precept given to our first Parents concerning this thing which they passed over to posteritie by tradition as in the Church the celebration of the first or eight day is passed over for since it is of the Law of Nature that some time be peculiarly insinuated for the worship of God it was meete that that should be determined in the very beginning by a positive law whence even among the Gentiles the Religion on the Seventh day was famous Beza affirmeth t Beza paraph. in Iob 1. 5. of Iob That as oft as his children had made an end of feasting one another in their severall houses he sanctified them and offered burnt offerings according to their number but notwithstanding there is no doubt but that the dayly worship of God was diligently observed besides in this most holy family at least every seventh day was carefully sanctified as God from the beginning of the world had appointed This blessing saith reverend Calvin was nothing else but Calvin Com. in Gen. ca. 2. a solemne consecration whereby God claimes to himselfe the studies and imployments of men on the seventh day First God rested then hee blessed this rest that in all ages amongst men it might bee holy or he dedicated every seventh day to rest that his example might be a perpetuall rule Moreover we must know this exercise is not peculiar to one either age or people onely but common to all mankinde Wherefore when wee heare that by Christs comming the Sabbath was abrogated this distinction must be taken too What appertaines to the perpetuall ordering of humane life and what peculiarly agreeth to the old figures that the Sabbath figured the mortification of the flesh I say was temporall but that from the beginning it was commanded men that they should exercise themselves in the worship of God deservedly it ought to endure even to the end of the world Hereunto agree Zuinglius Iunius and Tremellius Vatablus Vrsin Catech. Bulling in Rom. 4 5. Decad. Danaeaeth Chri. l. 2 c. 10. Bertram pol. Iudaic. c. 2. Vrsinus Bullinger Danaeus Aretius Piscator Bertramus Hospinian Chemnitius and Zanchy who after this sense given upon the words of the Text in Genesis delivers his opinion of the manner of keeping the first Sabbath I doubt not saith he but that the Sonne of God Hospin de orig templ li. 2. c. 14. Chemnit loc Theo. de lege Dei Zanch. de hominis creat l. 1. c. 1 sub finem libri taking on him the shape of man was busied that whole seventh day in most holy colloquies with Adam and that he did also fully make himselfe knowne to Adam and Eve and did reveale the manner and order which hee had used in creating of all things and did exhort them both to meditate on these workes and in them to acknowledge their Creator and to prayse him and that by his owne example he did admonish them to imploy themselves in this exercise of godlinesse setting all other businesse aside and also that they would so instruct and teach their children To be short I doubtnot but that in that seventh day he taught them all Divinitie and did hold them busied in hearing of him and in praysing God their Creator for so many and so great benefits To this interpretation I am led by these two reasons The first taken from the Sanctification of the Sabbath which God hath prescribed in the Law the second because Adam ought to understand this sanctification of such a day therefore it is probable that the Sonne of God did open this unto Adam and Eve both in plaine words and by his owne example For even God also is said to rest upon that day and in Exodus hee doth exhort to the sanctification of the Sabbath by his owne example therefore he did sanctifie it with Adam and Eve Of this the Son of God gave us a shew for having finished the workes of our re-creating or Redemption being raised from the dead he conversed with his
purpose which we intend I know not they are words of a disjoynted minde The fifth Section answered Concerning the authoritie that translated the Sabbath you say it is certaine that the translation thereof was actually and immediatly prescribed by the Church Deale ingenuously and shew me where if in Scripture then I answer that it was not immediatly prescribed by the Church for the Apostles were not Authors of the institution but Ministers of Christ and pen-men of the holy Ghost If in Ecclesiasticall writers I answer they all referre us to the Apostles and the Scriptures This opinion therefore is so farre from certaine that it is certainely false You say againe that certainely Christ never gave his Apostles particular charge of Instituting a new Sabbath either while hee conversed with them on Earth or afterwards by Revelation How know you this The Apostles delivered many things that the Evangelists did not set downe nor themselves expresly say they received them from the Lords mouth that they concealed Christs Command from the Church that is this particular expression in so many words that Christ commanded it this makes to prove it was given them in charge by Christ for else whē the Apostles enjoyned it they would have said of that their injunction as of other things x 1 Cor. 7. 6. 12. 25. We speake this by permission not by commandement wee have no commandement of the Lord but wee speake our judgement Herein speake wee not the Lord. This institution then to use your owne language of a new day of solemnitie in stead of the old Sabbath was of the exigence and necessitie of the Apostles commission not of the libertie The Apostles did nothing in ordering the Church but from Ioh 14. 26. and by Christ either by precept or by example or by divine inspiration It is out of question they had speciall warrant from Christ in expresse charge when you compare together their precept and practice with those two Texts Math. 28. 20. Act. 1. The first enjoyning the Apostles to teach what hee commanded and to teach and baptize in which ordinances teaching such things he would bee with them to the worlds end The latter declaring that Christ spake the things pertaining to the kingdome of God to his disciples in those fortie dayes before his assension For all that you say therefore it is certaine the Sabbath was translated by the same authoritie that first commanded it The Sixt Section answered First concerning that place in Matth. 24. 20. first you affirme that it is understood by all Divines of the old Sabbath by all the ancient without exception by all the latter for ought you know Could you know the judgement of the Ancients to be such because they held that there was a transgression of a law in hasting their flight on the Sabbath Did they hold thinke you that the fourth Commandement was in force then for the sanctifying of the Iewes Sabbath Or was there any other than the fourth Commandement which could bee transgressed by flight on the Sabbath Hierome saith That our Saviour bid them pray that their flight might not be in the winter nor on the Sabbath day because in the one the extremity of cold forbids to goe to the wildernesse and to lie hid in mountaines and desarts in the other there is either the transgression of the Law if they be willing to flie or imminent death if they abide Thus runneth also the ordinarie glosse and what a vaine boast is this concerning the judgement of the Ancients when they all almost give no other interpretation of that Text than what is Allegoricall as Origen Austine and others Many later Divines by Sabbath understand all inconveniences of flight caused by the necessary and enjoyned attendance on Gods worship This little favoureth your opinion and most understand the place of the Christian Sabbath And that this is the proper sense of the place will bee manifest to him that observeth three things First the persons to whom these words were spoken viz. to the Disciples privately and apart on the Mount of Olives vers 3. Secondly the time immediately before his death hee spake of that which should fall out fortie yeeres after Thirdly the intent of our Saviour which was to shew the great evils should then come to passe and the miserable exigents the enemies should put them to Now if it be not spoken of the Christian Sabbath what force could there bee in our Saviours speech saying pray that your flight bee not on the Sabbath who hereby intended to signifie that it should bee a singular griefe to them to flie on that day If the Sabbath had not beene in force what vexation had it beene to the Disciples to flie on that day more than any other nay it had beene an argument of comfort and our Saviour might have shewed them then that it was a singular mercie of God to them in such straites that now they were ridde of the obligation to the Sabbath and so might flie on that day as well as any of the rest otherwise they had more neede to have prayed for knowledge to see their libertie in Christ than to pray that they might not flie on such a Sabbath as should binde them but onely in their owne conceit Christ in this place acknowledgeth this day as His for it is manifest that this flight happened about forty yeares after when the Iewish Sabbath was gone As therefore when God gave to the people the Law of the Sabbath on Mount Sinai He said Remember the Sabbath day to keepe it Holy so the Lord Iesus in the Mount of Olives commands that they should studiously remember even in their Prayers the Christian Sabbath many yeeres before lest when the calamity came its holy rest should bee intercepted with the noyse of warlike tumults and with a tumultuary slight Secondly you say that to flie farre off on the Lords day in case of necessitie was never held unlawfull but on that Sabbath it was If it were not unlawfull to flie on the Lords day in such cases doth that make that it is not inconvenient and a griefe to a Christian heart to bee forced that day to forgoe the worship of God and misse the Lord in his ordinances and to taste that day of his heavie wrath in which he expects and uses to taste of his comforting and satiating blessings It was not unlawfull to flie in the winter yet it was needfull to pray that this flight might not then be and was it ever unlawfull in case of danger to flie on the Sabbath Have you forgot all while you eagerly pursue your owne phantasie The Iewes hold that being set upon by Theeves or enemies it was lawfull to flie that day as Rabbi Thanchuma teacheth in Ilmedenu 83. 4. the old rule amongst them is knowne to all Perill of life driveth away the Sabbath and as well knowne is their practice in the Maccabees The Sabbath-dayes journey was not an allowance in case of