an opposer of the Sabbath and therefore it must needs be upon the first day of the weeke or Lords-day Again in the same place he quarrels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the 1 Cor. 16. 1. to intend the first day of the weeke under some authorities quoted to countenance his acceptation But Bishop White being in print before him might have given him better satisfaction saving that it seemeth he loves to vary who pag. 196. saith In the holy Gospel this day is styled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first day of the weeke following Matth. 28. 1. Mark 16. 2. Iohn 20. 1. likewise Acts 20. 7. 1 Cor. 16. 2. Besides his quotation of sundry authors to confirme this translation which phrase is an Hebraisme thus to expresse the first day by one day and so used in the 1. Gen. and the word Sabbath for weeke Levit. 25. 8. Luke 18. 12. as M r. Sprint affirmeth pag. 101. And sure I am the same phrase is used by the Evangelists to signifie the day of Christs resurrection to be on the first day of the weeke Moreover pag. 211. Bishop White in positive tearmes upon the argument in hand saith That the Apostles themselves at some times observed the Lords-day and brings with a for it is written these very places to prove it Acts 20. 7. The first day of the weeke c. and 1 Cor. 16. 1 2. Concerning the gathering for this Saints even as I have ordained in the Churches of Galatia so do ye Every first day of the weeke c. In that you say Every Apostolicall Ordinance doth not bind I grant it if the Ordinance be circumstantiall proper either to times or persons it cannot be properly said to be cominon but if it have for substance a Morall Law for order a Prophecy for confirmation an Apostolique ordinance and example me thinks this might be very well allowed to be binding And all this is as hath been proved true of the Christian Sabbath Some ordinances I confesse there are of the Apostles that are not of perpetuall obligation for that they were done only occasionally and to an exemplary end for to authorize their successours the Governours of the Church to order things of an indifferent nature to the benefit of the Church all which things the Church had and hath authoritie as well occasionally to abolish as occasionally to institute but this Ordinance of the Sabbath is beyond the authoritie of the Church to abolish or alter as much as it is to adde or detract from the new Testament And therefore is it not of those sorts of Apostolique Ordinances which bind not in perpetuum For the foundation of it is so laid in Scripture as aforesaid as neither time nor authoritie can expire nor alter it Broad 2. Because the Disciples at Troas being come together to breake bread on the first day of the weeke Saint Paul preached to them Answ. Granting that the Disciples assembled every first day and also by Pauls own ordinance neither of which can be proved yet doth it not follow that they kept it Holy-day and abstained altogether from works of their Callings Saint Augustine saith Tom. 2. Epist. 118. that in some places they communicated every day and in others on the Sabbath and Lords-day Socrates saith Hist lib. 1. cap. 21. that in all Churches of Christians two excepted they communicated every Sabbath-day Sozomenus saith Lib. 7. cap. 19. that at Constantinople and almost in all other places they came together on the Sabbath and the day following that is the Lords-day yet no man I trust will hence inferre Certainly such as communicated every day did not keep every day Holy-day that these who met and received the Communion both on the Sabbath-day and the Lords-day kept them both Holy-dayes and forbare worke altogether Adâ—e that in likelyhood they came together at Troas late in the Evening about that time of the day Consider that many Christian servants had heathens to their Masters who would not suffer them to keep the Lord-day Holy-day Againe this had beene 2 meanes to bewray Christian Masters wherein Christ did institute the Sacrament otherwise Saint Pauls preaching till midnight should have been very long and this they might well doe though they kept it not Holy-day The Disciples at Troas assembled on the first day to breake bread ergo Saint Paul ordained that all Christians should assemble on that day to breake bread is a likelier inference then this ergo Saint Paul ordained that all Christians should keep that day Holy-day If any thing may be inforced from their meeting at Troas this may as well or rather better that the Lords Supper must be celebrated every first day Answer That on that day the Disciples abstained from the workes of their callings exercised on the other sixe I have even now more then probably proved by a just and proper deduction or collection from 1 Cor. 2. 16. I have also quoted the authority of Ignat ad Mag. and Aug. serm de temp 251. And is it probable that the lewes were to abstaine from workes on their remissest Holy-dayes and that we must make a worke-day or a mixed day of our Caâ—itallest And as for the time of the day when they metâ— though it might bee in the Morning for ought the Scripture saith to the contrary it is not so materiall to us to know considering the Natures of those Times It sufficeth that that was the only day being also paralel with consonant places of Scripture of the same nature that they imployed solemnely in their sacred affaires And if there were diverse observed as you say it was because for a time Christians were diverse consisting of Iewes and Gentiles As touching your conclusions whereby you argue hence rather the practice of the Sacrament then the Sabbath I answer That if it was an ordinance yet it was but temporary for from those words of Christ So often as ye shall â—at it the times of celebrating the Sacrament are at the disposition of the Church and it was in the Churches then occasionally celebrated for the Christian Sabbaths sake as a means of its sanctifying and not the Sabbath for its sake whereas the time of the Sabbath and Lords-day is by Precept and practise determined Broad 3. Because Saint Iohn telleth us that he was in the spirit on the Lords-day Answ. I acknowledge that whereas Christians in many places used to assemble on the first day of the weeke Christ hereby may seeme to approve of their meetings on this day and this is the most that can be gathered from Saint Iohns being in the spirit Now whereas from the name Lords-day some would inferre that therefore the Lord himselfe enjoyned it Let them consider that this name might well be given because that upon occasion of Christs Resurrection the Churches held their meetings therein Psal. 74. 8. The Synagogues in Canaan are called the Synagogues of God and yet we finde not that God
a yeare is as well the substance of the foresaid Law as the keeping of the Sabbath once in a weeke is the substance of the fourth Commandement and the worshipping of God was one end of the feast as well as of the Sabbath Yet Christ hath blotted out that whole Law The like may be said of that Law Exod. 23. 10 11. By this opinion not the substance but only the circumstances of the fourth Commandement are mentioned in the Decalogue which circumstances also are not to be observed Answer That in the fourth Commandement is both substance and circumstance is evident By substance I understand the sanctifying the seventh day not as it is last in order but as it is opposed to all other numbers by circumstance I understand the order and the reason * For the reason did as well bind to observe the order as to establish the Commandement it selfe til I there was a new reason of a new order but never of a new commandement Which two that I may use your phrase in the conclusion of your seuenth Chapter have been manifested to have been circumstantiall by the event I say the very reason of the Commandement as it did bind the order was circumstantiall and changable Wee see how it received an addition in that their remembrance of their deliverance out of Egypt which was a Type of our spirituall deliverance was made a reason of this fourth Commandement as well as the Creation And so is now our redemption it selfe by Christ and yet nothing of the substance abolished or altered but the maine duty of sanctifying the seventh day is still observed And the reason as I conceive why this Commandement was more circumstantiall then others was because it was preter-ordained to the Law of Nature for the continuall use of the Church in all states and conditions And therefore was it to be brought to the state and made sutable to the condition of the Church * In regard of the circumstantiall parts of it the morall part fitting all states as an help of their obedience and not the condition of the Church to be brought to it as were also the Sacraments and yet so as that God hath himselfe ever ordered these changable circumstances in it either by the doctrine or example of his Prophets or Apostles notvery darkly Indeed as touching the seventh day to be any other then the last in the time of the Prophets is not to be imagined because then that order was in force but now in the Apostles time the event doth cleerly manifest the contrary in the practice of the Apostles which giveth sufficient authority for ours * It is altogether an unlikely thing that the Church without a pregnant Commandement which there is none in scripture would take upon them to abolish the fourth commandement enjoyning a duty upon an universall and perpetuall benefit and yet of their owne authority bring up a custome equivalent And whereas you say that no other Commandement is to be interpreted with circumstances and substance I answer That beâ—ides that circumstance of the Israelites deliverance prefixed to the whole Law me thinks you should acknowledge this to be true in the fifth Commandement where there is a promise made of a reward in Canaan to them that keep it which yet is a changable circumstance * And in answer to your marginall note if it were not a changable circumstance you mâ—y imagine what absurdity would follow in respect of the precise meaning For though in that respect it be void yet it is still of force and use according to the present state and residence of the Church as appeareth in the 6. Eph. 2. And notwithstanding the cessation of the Egyptian Deliverance and the precise meaning of this promise in the fifth Commandement and their alterations into a more spirituall proper meaning for the present Church yet do the Commandements themselves for their substance remaine to this day the same For the change of significant circumstances may be upon good grounds without impeachment to the being of the law as the Israelites supposed changing the gesture from standing to sitting when they were a Sedentary Church did no whit abolish the Passeover And thus did David change the order that God had appointed among the Levites how that till thirtie yeeres old they were not to officiate when the reason of it failed and the Arke had rest then without prejudice to the Ordinance he ordained that they should officate at twentie as is 1 Chron. 23. As a man may alter his temperament and yet continue a man still so long as for substance he remaineth the same in soul and body So if so be the Sabbath had been changed from being kept every seventh day to every sixth then the whole frame of the fourth Commandement had suffered shipwrack But in the change of one seventh day to another upon such a ground and reason the substance suffereth not For as Bishop White observes pag. 136. against T. B. who affirmes that in all Divine lawes whensoever any part is taken away the whole is abolished That if by part he understand such a part as is substantiall and constituent his position is granted but if he understand a circumstantiall or accidentall part the position is false For saith he the Law of Prayer or Divine worship is still in force as it was in Davids and in Daniels time in respect of substantiall actions but many circumstances of time place and gesture are abolished in the time of the Gospel as Daniels praying with windows open toward Ierusalem c. And therefore a little to vary the words and sence of his conclusion against T. B. the substance of the fourth Commandement may be continued and yet the Circumstance altered As touching your following instance of the three feasts a yeere I see not that it holds good Analogie with the Sabbath But your marginal instance of the â—arths seventh yeere Sabbath is proper In which Commandement I say there is both circumstance and substance The substance is the Law it selfe of resting the seventh yeere in opposition to the other sixe But the precise order is added by the God of order for the better execution of this Law without confusion which must needs follow if it were left arbitrary Like as in the Law of Tythes God chose to himselfe one in ten which for orders sake and that they might have a rule to walke by he appointed to be every tenth as it passed under the rod. And so of the Sabbath wherein for order sake God did not only appoint the seventh day to be the last but also gave a computation from Mannah that so they might also know which should be that last and so avoid confusion Which yet doth nothing hinder but that the same God may upon occasion appoint another order by his Apostles as he did that by Moses and not harme the Law it selfe or the substance of the Commandement in so doing
treatise of the Sabbath having this Title Tractatus de Sabbatho in quo doctrina Ecclesiae primitivae tractatur defenditur And for proofe that the Doctrine of the primitive Church was such as is therein taught and declared besides certaine sayings of Augustine and others I alledged the testimony of Master Calvin in his institutions Vâ—bratile veteres nâ—ncuâ—are sâ—lent The ancients not onely some of the ancients accounted the fourth commandement shadowish not onely partly shadowish Inst. lib. 2. Cap. 8. Sect. 28. If any bee able to shew that wee Master Calvin I meane and my selfe have mistaken the Doctrine of the primitive Church in this matter I greatly marvaile that they have not gone about it hitherto If none bee able to shew this as it seemeth none are for doubtlesse many want no will then is it no lesse to bee marvailed at That the Doctrine of the primitive Church findeth no better entertainment amongst English Protestants Is it credible that the primitive Church should not keepe one of Gods Commandements That such a greevous errour should befall the godly learned Fathers as to esteeme that Commandement shadowish and temporall which is morall and perpetuall Answer Here you would seeme to beg credit to your opinion by Master Calvins authority who because hee quoteth the exposition of the ancients in this case you would insinuatingly perswade to give some countenance to your Tenet But that the World may know how he held in this particular his opinion is sufficiently manifested in his commentary on Gen. 2. where hee saith that first God rested and that then hee blessed this rest that in all ages among men it might be holy or he deâ—icated every seventh day to rest that his example might bee a perpetuall rule Moreover wee must know saith hee this exercise is not peculiar to one either age or people onely but common to all mankind Wherefore when wee heare that by Christs comming the Sabbath was abrogated this distinction must bee taken to What appertaineth to the ordering of humane life and what peculiarly agreeth to the old signes 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 it ought deservedly to endure even to the end of the World And besides this hee that observeth what followes upon ' his instance of the ancients in his institutions shall find that there hee saith how that though they say true yet they touch but halfe the matter And therefore doth hee largely discusse it afterwards wherein hee sheweth his opinion to bee thus much that the institution of the Sabbath for the better and more solemne performance of Gods worship and refreshment of his creature was with a perpetuall intent because of necessary use to all men in all times * Sect. 32. but in regard it was againe given to the Iewes it had somewhat peculiar in it which by Christ is abrogated and yet the force use and reason of the commandement in regard of its substance as it was given both at the first and as it was repeated doth still remaine So that hee confesseth that there was something peculiar to the Iewes which hung at it but that withall there is a substance in the commandement it selfe which it is sacriledge to violate the use thereof being universall both to persons and times so that in alledging him you bring in testem sine testimonio And put case there was some what that was more proper to those people and those times then to these in this fourth commandement as well as in the first and fifth for as I have said almost all scripture had some circumstantiall peculiarity and propriety to those people and those times to whom it was immediately given which yet nothing hindered the universality of the substance yet as the reasons in those commandements evangelically construed are of present force and being even in these our times though the letter strictly construed bee not so this commandement or the Sabbath may have somewhat more proper to them in it for so is that manner of expression the stranger within they gates or at least belonging to it such as was their not preparing Mannah and kindling of fires which yet is so farre from extinguishing the whole commandement * For it cannot be denied but a commandement may bee of force to mee though every circumstance of it doe not concerne mee as that the very type it selfe is of lively use to us under the Gospell and of present force and being also although not therefore of a like religious nature to us as it was to them but in an Evangelicall sense that is in respect of the inward and spirituall holines thereof not properly of the outward and literall For though the outward Sanction * By this word sanction I meane positive holines which was in their carnall externall worship of that rest being admitted to bee typicall may bee extinct because that the typicalnes of things are not properly parts but accidents and conducing helps to our profession and worship that live under the Gospell which if true and reall is spirituall Iohn 4. * See Master Hildersham lect 39. 40 upon the place where he opposeth the Spirit wherewith wee are to worship God in our times to the Ceremoniall worship which was in the time of the Iewes in respect it was an externall and carnall worship see also Rom. 7. 6. Yet is not the holy use of this rest extinct either as it is conducing or necessary to the present sanctifying of the Lords day or as it is significative pointing us to and minding us of our heavenly Sabbatisme Obj. But you will say how can we reject the typicall holines and yet retaine the sense Answ. 1. We refuse the whole Law as a covenant and yet wee retaine it as a rule for the perfection of that Church respectively to the foregoing times which is called the time of nature belongs to us but the imperfection of it respectively with our Church ended with it selfe and belongs not to us 2. If the Sabbath had had its originall after a Iewish manner to have beene instituted upon the fall and so to relate to Christ then wee could have retained it no more then the rest but wee derive this from the primitive institution in paradice principally and from the Iewes onely by way of enforcement or conveyance as wee doe water first from the fountaine and then from the pipe And though this rest had in it a typicall signification at first yet never a typicall sanction but onely by accident of the Iewish discipline then when types were in fashion as I may so speake like a fresh River which running through a peece of the Sea is made brinish but being quit of it it re-assumes its owne nature So that then the commandement is not abrogated as a speciall commandement but the speciality *
I meane lawfull though Christ had not commanded it being necessary because happily hee had never a one else being a poore man to ly on at night Or els in his absence his bed might have beene wronged or stolne * See paâ—alell to this Matth. 9. 6. And put case hee had left it and in his absence it had beene stolne and hee meeting the theife the theife threw it downe and runne away might not hee in your opinion have then taken it up and carried it home And why then might not hee lawfully carry it home before to prevent stealing as after it was stolne And wee have reason to beleeve it to bee commanded by Christ to one of these ends For it is like hee was poore or had no body to watch it nor yet to carry it for him for then hee might have had some man to have put him into the Poole when the water was troubled but hee had none In like case I appeale to your opinion whether you thinke it a breach of the Sabbath for a Iew in his Sabbath-dayes journey finding a cloake-bagge or a bagge of money to take it up and carry it away least if hee leave it there till the next day to avoide carriage on the Sabbath another that hath as little right to it as hee find it and carry it for him Secondly I answer that Christ neither could nor did command him to breake the Sabbath or prophane it First I say hee could not for that tye which the Law hath upon us by the condition of our nature because wee are borne under it it had upon Christ by the condition of his office and voluntary susception because hee was made under it So that it behoved him to fulfill all righteousnes And therefore hee is said in that respect to have beene obedient to his parents though hee were not onely the Son of Mary but the Lord of Mary Therefore when Scripture denieth all sin to have beene in him it implieth that hee was exactly conformable to the Law in doing all that it requires and in leaving undone all that it forbids Secondly I say hee did not upon that reason which you alleage to wit as being Lord of the Sabbath For 1. Though indeed hee was Lord of the Sabbath yet in his humane nature wherein hee was under the Law hee was not to shew his foveraigne authority to the breach of any part of it either morall or ceremoniall for so it behoved him to fulfill all righteousnes Secondly that place of Scripture whence you borrow your reason is mistaken by you For those words the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath-day doe not intend that Christ is Lord of it as you meane for him to keepe or breake it at pleasure But Son of man signifieth mankind as is evident 1. by comparing the 27. and 28. verses of the second of Mar. The 27. verse saith The Sabbath was made for Man and not Man for the Sabbath and then in the 28. verse it followeth with this word of coherence therefore the Son of Man is Lord c. where the one and the other doe intend man in genere and for Christ if you will secondly because that in that action it was not Christ himselfe that Lorded it over the Sabbaths-rest but his Disciples for though it was done in his service yet not by his commands as you reason but of themselves for the releife of their necessity But to conclude I see not then by these arguments how your first * To wit in the sense proposition can be made good For if so bee rest sanctifieth the Sabbath then doth man and beast sanctifie it alike then is there no difference betweene the stranger and the Israelite nor betweene the Israelite and his oxe If you had said that not resting in the prophaning of the Sabbath as bowing to Images is the prophaning of Gods worship wee had easily agreed But that by the sense of the fourth commandement it is properly or principally * Though occasionally and by accident I acknowledge it to be a part of the Sabbaths sanctification in the 〈◊〉 of the Iewes the sanctifying of the Sabbath I can no more yeild you then that not bowing to Images is properly or principally the worship of God by the sense of the second commandement Ohi. But you will say is not Gods commandement kept in both these when they doe not bow to Images and when they doe not labour but rest Ans. I answer that the things which the commandements properly and principally strike at are not observed thereby For these are rather preventions of Gods dis-worship then any parts of his worship And hee that knoweth these commandements aright knoweth they intend doing as well as not doing And therefore hee that out of a good conscience forbeareth to doe the one wherein indeed he negatively keepeth the commandement will by vertue of the same conscience set you the other For otherwise hee should give but a poore account to his Master at the last day who when hee asketh him what hee hath done answereth him with what hee hath not done and when hee asketh him an account how hee hath imployed his Sabbaths and what glory and worship hee hath done him in them hee answereth him I never prophaned thy Sabbaths with bodily labour but alwayes rested on that day neither did I ever bow to an Image surely his wayes shall bee as his that hid the talent in a napkin for hee hath reason to looke for no better thinking of God as hee did that hee was hard in his commandements and therefore hee kept them as hardly in the negative and not in the affirmative * Whereas Bishop Lake in his Sermons pag. 213. saith that negatives are but to attend affirmatives and God doth not reward the ferbearance of â—vill but the doing of good Master Dod pag. 74. saith one may forbeare the sins of the second commandement and yet bee a damnable breaker of that commandement for God commands not onely to turne from dumbe Idols but also that wee should serve the true and living God 1 Thes. 1. 9. else such are as well guilty of the breach of this Law as Idolaters they for doing that they should not wee for not doing that wee should So of the fourth commandement And for authority sake take notice what Thomas Aquinas saith to this purpose In the observance of the Sabbath saith hee two things are to bee considered one whereof as the end and this is that man bee vacant to divine things which is signifiâ—d in that which hee saith remember that thou sanctifie the Sabbath for those are said to bee sanctified in the Law which are applied to divine worship But the other is the cessation of works signified when it 〈◊〉 added on the seaventh day of the Lord thy God thou shalt not doe any workâ— And againe saith hee Spirituall works are not forbidden on the Sabbath-day for therefore doth a man abstaine
13 Acts 32. 33. These words 32. And we declare unto you glad tidings how that the promise which was made unto the fathers 33. God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children in that he hath raised us Iesus againe as it is also written in the second Psalme Thou art my â—onne this day haâ—e I begotten thee As touching the meeting on the first day of the weeke which you say we neither finde where nor by whom it began I have even now shewed you the originall of it both for time and persons to wit on the day of Christs resurrection by the Apostles and the day fennight after Had they only met the day of his reâ—urrection we might have thought it had been only accidentall and not of speciall providence or if it had been recorded that they had met any other day besides it might somewhat have weakened the force of this argument But meeting twice and it being recorded to be on the same day together with the effects thereof it doth wonderfully prove the thing to be of purposed providence both on Gods part in assembling them then and on Christs part in appearing to them thereby to give originall to this Ordinance which accordingly hath been so observed ever since And therefore it is not likely that the Apostles tooke it up by approbation from inferiour Christians nor yet that Christ honoured it only by way of approbation but also of institution for we see what honour he gave to it a principio by his often appearings thereon and the gift of the Holy Ghost Iohn 20. 22. on this day which you so Sophister like passe over and only instance in that which seemeth to serve your turne but that it was taken up from them Though this confessed approbation of Christs granteth it to be of the same authoritie with Baptisme which was brought in by Iohn Baptist and ratified by Christ. And if the people of the Iews held the Baptisme of Iohn to be from heaven and not of men though they had no expresse command for it but only his practice and though the chiefe Priests and Elders beleeved him not only for this reason because they held Iohn as a Prophet Matth. 21. 25 26. and this their beliefe of Iohn and his Baptisme producing sutable fruits of grace and holinesse in them was approved of Christ vers 32. I wonder how any dare deny the Lords-day to be of divine institution and affirme it humane that know and acknowledge Paul to be an Apostle the least whereof was greater then Iohn Baptist and the thing of such great consequence and benefit to the Church and otherwayes so backed But let us labour to imitate these contemned Publicanes and harlots in beleeving this point of the Lords-day to be from heaven by divine institution and not of men by humane ordination suffering Pauls practice as an Apostle to overrule 〈…〉 as Iohn Baptist as a Prophet did them and framing our practice to ouâ— faith like them And so obeying him and his Ministers let us not doubt in like case the approcation of Christ in our behalfes above the over-wiâ—e unbeleevers be they 〈…〉 And you shall 〈…〉 second Treatise pag. 22. 〈…〉 that oâ— taken 〈…〉 the Lords-day is in some sort de iure divino in some sort namely not by personall but by delegate authority that is not prescribed personally and immediatly by God himselfe but onely by vertue of that authority which by God was committed to the Apostles for the ordering and governing of his Church but being taken for divine Ordinance or Commandement it is not de iure divine And further he saith To entitle a Commandement divine is required 1. That the authority be divine wherby it is ordained 2. That the Author himselfe that ordaineth be so also that is that both the power whereby and the person that doth immediatly establish it be divine Which divine authority is confessed to be in the Apostolicall constitutions but the immediate Authors are denyed to be divine Now as all other events and actions receive their denomination from their immediate not remote causes so the constitutions of the Apostles although they proceed originally from the instinct and aspiration of the Holy Ghost Gods spirit yet proceeding immediatly from the institutions of the Apostles themselves which delivered them unto the Church in forme of Commandements they are to be tearmed humane constitutions and not properly divine Thus you have M r. Breerewoods opinion of the divine authority of the Lords-day much more Orthodox then yours only in answer to this later part where he saith that Apostolicall actions are to be tearmed humane from that principle That all actions are to receive their denominations from their immediate not remote causes He might have considered how that all the new Testament is called the word of God from the remote Cause the Spirit of God which inspired it though the Apostles and Evangelists writ it which were men and that by no expresse Commandement that we finde Bishop White averreth against T. B. pag. 91. That our weekly observation of the Lords-day in the time of the Gospell is an holy and godly practise for it is warranted by the example of the Apostles and those Primitive Churches which were planted by the Apostles and which received their Ecclesiasticall precepts and constitutions by tradition from the Apostles so that the Apostles first founded it as he further affirmes pag. 97. saith he It is an ignorant speech to tearme it a popish tradition for popish traditions had not their beginnings from the Apostles So also pag. 189. We beleeve saith he that the holy Apostles ordained the Sunday to be a weekly Holy-day because the Primitive Fathers who lived some of them in the Apostles dayes and others of them immediatly after and who succeedeth them in Apostolicall Churches did universally maintaine the religious observation of this day So againe pag. 192. It is probable that in the Churches at Corinth and Galatia the Lords-day was made a weekly Holy-day by the Apostles for they principally governed those Churches at this time 1 Cor. 16. 1 2. And yet Doctor Heylyn laboureth to prove this ordination of Paul to the Galathians to be upon a Sabbath-day and not upon the Lords-day And againe pag. 192. It could not possibly have come to passe that all and every Apostolicall Church throughout the universall world should so early and in the beginning of their plantation have consented together to make the Sunday a weekly Service-day unlesse they had been thus directed by their first founders the holy Apostles themselves c. Lastly it is a true that a long time after Christs Resurrection was the name of Lords-day given to the first day of the weeke * I have shewed before the significant use of the Sabbath paffing under the name of the first day of the week in scripture before it come to be stiled the Lords-day to wit when the first day of the week began to be most currantly
down the writings of the Apostles and turne Anabaptist in point of baptizing of Infants For as for the Scriptures what expresse precept of Christs have we to his Apostles for writing of them and 〈◊〉 the Epistles were most of them occasionally written by the Apostles and yet who of us for these reasons denyeth them to be the work of God universall and 〈◊〉 diviâ—o Fâ—urth Poâ—ke Church châ—p 〈◊〉 For as Feild saith in answer to the Papists 〈◊〉 the imperfection of the Scriptures because they were written by the Apostles and Apostolicall men of their own motions and not by Commandement from Christ which is a paralel argument to this of the Christian Sabbath and the answer equall to both who knoweth not saith he that the Scriptures are not of any private motion but that the holy 〈◊〉 of God were moved impelled and carryed by the Spirit of truth thâ— the performance of this worke doing nothing without the instinct of the Spirit which was 〈◊〉 theâ— a Commandement And why may not all these reasons and grounds warrant and give equall force to their practice in the point of our Christian Sabbath or Lords-day as well as to their writing of Scripture So speaketh D r. Ames med pag. 359. Si dies bac dominica concedâ—â—ur fuisse Apostoâ—â—◠〈◊〉 author it as 〈…〉 est divina quia divino Spiritâ— agebantur Apostoli non minus in Sacris institutionibus quam in ipsa doctrina Evâ—ngelii vel verbo vel script is proponenda Especially seeing that the same things that accompanied the Gospel did accompany the Sabbath the better to approve it to be of God to wit The gift of the holy Ghost And now we know there is nothing more ordinary in Scripture then for God to grace the first institutions of his Ordinances with extraordinary tokens of his savour which are of an argumentative nature and of an establishing and instituting force As at the first setting up of the Sanâ—drin among the Iewes Numb 11. 25. Every one of the seventy Elders prophecyed for a while to testifie that their calling was from heaven And though divers others besides these have had the Spirit of Prophecy bestowed on them that yet nothing detracts from Gods sealing the ordination of this Councell or Sanedrin by the Seventies prophecying So though Christ appeared to his Disciples on other dayes besides the first day of the weeke yet it detracteth not from his instituting and authorizing that day by his remarkable apparitions and operations thereon as D r. Heylyn would insinuate part 2. pag. 13. Againe at the instituting of the Leviticall priesthood and sacrifices there came a fire from the Lord and consumed the burnt offering also at Christs baptizing we see how extraordinarily the Spirit came down in likenesse of a Dove and so at Peters first preaching to the Gentiles what an extraordinary worke was there wrought Acts 10. 44. And may not we well conclude the divinity of the Lords-day from these manifold rare occurrences which fell out in the practice or usage of it * We have Davids example in a like case for in the 1 Chron. 22. he there concludeth Ieruselem to be the place that God had chosen for his more solemne worship by that speciall token of Gods favour to it in delivering it from the destroying Angell and such as are most remarkably and eminently recorded in Scripture mentioning the Time as well as the things themselves As That Christ appeared to them on the first day of the weeke and the first day of the weeke they had the gifts of the Holy Ghost given them and on the Lords day Saint Iohn was ravished in the Spirit not any other day in the weeke having the honour to be denominated the day of his appearance in all the New Testament though no doubt he did appeare to them on other dayes of the weeke besides the first in those other times of his appearances And why is all this But to give the better authority and estimate to that day Which we may the rather judge because that since then God hath shewne extraordinary judgements upon the breakers and prophaners of it which being frequently and remarkably instanced I will referre you for them to the Martyr-booke Practice of Piety and M r. Richard Byfeild pag. 99. 100. 101. As also if we consider the benefits which nationally we have enjoyed therby above all other Protestant Churches of Peace Plenty and also powerfull Preaching and Professing * Which now begin to leave us and to decline together with the Sabbaths declension For as one piously observeth The Ark shaketh through the old Sinnes and new Doctrines of our land for a long season and which doe experimentally and personally redound to the due observers of it how extraordinarily and feelingly they delight themselves in the Lord according to that promise Isai. 58. ult So that then beleeve it for the works sake as Christ saith in another case And indeed Argumentum ab effectis is an argument of no small evidence and power with those that professe Christianity in the power of it The want of which medium in the experiences of men either not at all wrought in them or else not taken notice of by them is the cause of so many false conclusions in these dayes as well as it was amongst the Galathians till Paul a man of spirit put them in minde Gal. 3. 2. And observe it as a maine argument in this way of experience That at the first beginning of mens conversions when God enlighteneth and convinceth the Conscience commonly the first thing the Conscience fastens on is the mispending the Sabbath and the first duty that he conscionably putteth in practice upon his conversion is commonly the better sanctifying and keeping the Sabbath Now as touching the baptizing of Infants there is neither an expresse precept for it nor yet an example of expresse practise delivered in Scripture and yet the grounds causes and reasons of the necessity of that practice and the benefit or good that followeth on it are evidently contained in the Scripture and for this respect it is named a tradition But yet the grounds of it being in Scripture as Feild in the fore-quoted place observes it is not therefore a bare tradition but is therefore of Divine authority and unalterable in the Church of God The same in all respects holdeth good concerning the Sabbath and with some advantage for that there is the expresse practice of the Apostle Paul in this point mentioned in the Scripture which is not so in the baptizing of Children And this is apparant that those things which had their grounds and reasons in Scripture the Apostles were not curious or exact in commanding them expressely nor intreating of them largely except they were then controverted and scrupled at which it seemeth the Lords-day was not but was currantly received and practised among the Gentile converts the Infant Iewes being born withall for on that day they ordinarily were wont
to celebrate both the death and resurrection of Christ the one by the Sacrament and the other by the Sabbath as appeareth Acts 20. 7. And therefore Saint Paul when he speaketh of it still mentioneth it as a thing granted and not doubted of although the Ceremoniall or Iewish temporary Sabbaths as like wise the Ceremoniall meats were which maketh the Apostle so often and so largely handle that point Thus Eatonus pag. 69. Nullum praeceptum de ritu aliquo Iudaico abrogando à Domino nostro Apostolis Discipulis suis relictum legitur Nusquam dicitur Pascham non comedetis non circumcidemini similia Solum enim controversia in Ecclesiiis de illis orta est ex occasione ista Apostoliritus illos prohibuerunt iam autem cum in confessâ— est diem nostrum dominicum à nullo Christiano impugnatum fuisse non mirandum est si nullum de illo observando vel abrogando Sabbato Iudaico mandatum expressum reperimus Est tamen generale mandâ—tum de illo observando comprehensum in illo Apostoli Estote imitatores mei sieut ego sum Christi And thus much may serve for answer both to your opinion and reasons as also for the remainder of your Treatise excepting some short observations for what followeth hath been mostly spoken of before both by you and me Broad CHAP. III. The former Opinion confuted 1. CHrist did not command us to sanctifie the Lords-day Such as would have us beleeve that our Saviour Christ himselfe enjoyned the Lords-day goe about to prove it by his practice 1. Because he appeared to his Disciples on the first day as they were assembled together Iohn 20. Answ. This assembling was for feare of the Iewes and it was a very strange kinde of teaching them by his practice to observe the day not to come unto them till late in the Evening about halfe an houre before the end thereof for the night following belonged unto the second day other wise either that first day had two nights belonging to it or else I cannot see how Christ lay three dayes in his grave Answer Had this record of the Apostles being assembled and Christ appearing at this time been alone recorded there might have been some probable conjecture that it might be but accidentan although the Text is very exact and expressive concerning the time for having in the first verse of the 20. Iohn spoken of the first day of the weeke the 19. verse reduplicateth that with a significant explanation as if the Evangelist would be loth to be mistaken in that point of Time saying The same day then at night which was the first day of the weeke c. But being seconded with the like afterwards it argueth it to be ordered by God of a purposed providence especially if we take along the event and succeeding practice of the Apostles and Church ever after which to all sober minds putteth it past doubt And as touching that you say their meeting was for feare of the Iewes happily the privacy of it was so but why they should feare the Iewes more on that day then on any other I see no reason and therefore can it be no reason of their then assembling And now concerning Christs appearing to them at the Evening of the same day it is so farre from lessening the authority of this institution as that being compared with Gods institution of the first Sabbath which according to your own confession was about the end thereof it giveth much force thereto And although I meane to be briefe in what followeth yet I must needs by the way shew you M. Breerewoods refutation in this point by M r. Richard Byfeild pag. 211. Saith he there Concerning the authority that translated the Sabbath you say it is certaine that the translation thereof was actually and immediately prescribed by the Church deale ingenuously and shew me where if in Scripture then I answer that it was not immediately prescribed by the Church for the Apostles were not Authors of the institution but ministers of Christ and pen-men of the holy-â—host 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 certainly false You say againe That certainly Christ never gave his Apostles particular charge of instituting a new Sabbath either while he 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 not themselves expressely say that 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 maketh to prove that it was given them in charge by Christ for else when the Apostles enjoyned it they would have said of that their injunction as of other things 1 Cor. 7. 6 12 25. We speake this by permission and not by Commandement We have no Commandement of the Lord but we speake our iudgement Herein speak we not the Lord. This institution then to use your owne language of a new day of solemnity instead of an old Sabbath was of the 〈◊〉 and necessity of the Apostles Commission not of the libeâ—ty The Apestles did nothing in ordering the Church but from and by Christ either by precept or example or divine inspiration And it is more then probable they had speciall warrant from Christ in expresse change when we compare together their precept and practice with these two Texts Matt. 28. 20 Acts 1. The first enjoyning the Apostles to teach what he commanded and to teach and baptize in which Ordinances teaching such things he would be with them to the worlds end â— The later declaring that Christ spake the things pertaining to the kingdome of God to his Disciples in these forty dayes before his ascension * Besides this in the 2. verse of 1 Acts it is said untill the day that hee was taken up after that he through the holy Ghost had given Commandements to the Apostles whom he had chosen For all that you say therefore it is certaine the Sabbath was translated by the same authority that first commanded it Broad 2. Because after eight dayes he came to them againe Iohn 20. 26. Ans. This were more strange for how can they prove that a weeke is meant thereby A weeke after is but seven dayes and should thy friend departing from thine house on Sunday at night promise to come again after eight dayes wouldst thou expect his coming upon that day seven-night either it was not a weeke or Saint Iohn dreamt not of such a collection for otherwise he would have said so plainly Matthew and Marke have the like phrase Matt. 17. 1. Mark 92 compared with Luk. 9. 28. and seeing by after six dayes they meane on the seventh it is some likelyhood that Iohn by after eight dayes may meane on the ninth this is more
of his worship consist in the observation of times or places neither did Christ or his Apostles command us Christians to any day whatsoever yet this generall Commandement we have 1 Cor. 14. Let all things be done to edifying decently and in order yea and Nature teacheth that there should be Times and Places set apart for publike meetings as we see the Gentiles had by the very light of nature 2. This order to assemble on the Lords-day had his beginning in the time of the Apostles and was approved by them neither is there the least doubt to be made but that were Saint Paul now alive he would approve of it in like manner onely he would be much more earnest then I have been aâ— or can be to have all superstition cleere weeded out of mens minds After the Apostles time the succeeding churches observed the same order as partly appeareth by these sayings of Iustin Martyr and others before alleadged and thus it hath continued ever since and no doubt shall so continue to the second coming of Christ. Some of late have made it a question whether the Church may change the Lords-day into any other day of the weeke but in my judgement they might well have spared their pains therein for what can be imagined wherefore any Church should attempt such a matter unlesse it be to withdraw some from a superstitious conceit they have of the day Let this errour be reformed and there is no feare of a change Answer To this changing of the Lords-day into another I answer That as the order of the last day in the weeke was significant in the time of the Iewes So is the first day now as I have observed before and as therefore that was commanded so was this prophecyed by Isaiah * I have formerly shewne how both by Isaiah and David this was cleerly foretoâ—dand promised in the old Testament and accordingly practised in the new and therefore can no more be altered now without contradiction of divine authority then the other could in the time of the Iewes Except you can imagine God hereafter to bestow a benefit on us as much greater then our Redemption as our Redemption was then our Creation Besides the Church hath no liberty to alter any day the which hath a cleare ground and warrant in the word which the Christian Sabbath or Lords-day hath And moreover you say Christ is Lord of the Sabbath if so then sure the priviledge and authority of altering belongeth only to him Broad The Apostle Hebrews 13. giveth this charge Obey them that have the rule over you and submit your selves and againe Rom. 13. Wherefore ye must needs be subject not only for wrath but also for conscience sake Some peradventure hearing that God hath not immediately commanded us Christians to sanctifie the Lords-day as he did the Israelites to sanctifie the Sabbath will be ready to demand what need we then forbeare any worldly businesse on the Sunday for answer unto whom though unworthy of any let me also demand what need you repaire to the Church the place of prayer That you may so doe must we teach that God in expresse termes hath commanded to build Churches and in such places in every Parish Had these men lived in the time of the Law though they had forborne worke on the Sabbath yet certainly they would not have repaired to the Synagogues when they had been called they would have answered with Dathan and Abiram we will not come for God hath not bidden us come to such a place nor at such a time of the day Even in the time of the Law some things were lest to bee ordered by the Magistrate Should thy soâ—â—e being sent of thee into the field thinke with himselfe I need not goe for it is not written in the Scriptures that I should goe plow to day As God in generall termes hath charged thy sonne to obey his father so God in generall tearmes hath charged thee an inferiour to obey thy Governours both spirituall and temporall by whose joynt Commandement thou art bound to sanctifie the Lords-day and if thou wilfully breakest this double bond know that it is by the comming of another spirit upon thee then came upon Sampson heretofore even such a spirit as the man had that brake the yron chaines and setters in pieces Mark 5. Answer Pray you turne the point of this Argument into your owne breast and consider if the same authority which commandeth you to sanctifie the Lords-day doe not likewise in the Liturgy command you to pray for inablement to keep the fourth Commandement * Have a better nion of your 〈◊〉 then to think she wil command you to pray for that which you oâ—ght not to beleeve and practise but it sâ—emeth whosoever is in authority you will be supreme binding that authority that should rather bind you But if the authority be thus as you would make it in the hand of the Magistrate onely to appoint the time of Gods solemne worship and that the fourth Commandement is now of no force nor yet the prophecy or Apostolicke practice to bind us then you may say with Ames in his Medulla pag. 355. ut si ipsis videatur diem 〈◊〉 ex viginti aut triginta huic usui assignare non posint hoc nomine argui alicuius 〈…〉 aut scripturae Nay rather we may hence argue it as a fault in the Apostles and primitive times that they would take upon them of their authority to create so neere a semblance to the Sabbath and not rather an annuall remembrance of the Resuâ—â—ection and by an humane institution to shoulder out a divine one anâ— yet the substance thereof to wit the benefit of the Creation still remaineth to be remembred But it is strange that the Church should either assume this liberty or that we should give it to the Church 1. Seeing the fourth Commandement doth dictate to us both the proportion of time which we are to celebrate to God and the reason of that celebration the Time is the seventh day the reason is Gods resting from or consummating his greatest and beneficiallest worke which Christ the author and actor of the new Creation God and Man hath now fulfilled by his Resurrection and so pointed and appointed us the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the particular seventh day nothing dissenting from the Commandement nor destroying it but fulfilling and establishing it upon better tearmes 2. Seeing God commandeth to labour six dayes and to rest a seventh And Christ hath not exempted us from labouring in our calling to the end of our lives therfore a seventh day is to be kept for Sabbath weekly to the end of the world And it is not left in the power either of the Church or any humane authority doctrinally to shorten or enlarge this proportion of dayes for our labour and holy Rest or any way to abrogate or alter this Commandement Broad  Gal. 5. 13. For brethren ye