more for edification and the Arguments to the contrary doe not conclude To the first true it is indeed that God himselfe in Scripture imposeth the name Sabbath upon all daies of publique worship in the Iewish Synagogue and the reason was because the very corporall rest was a chiefe thing aimed at in them being both memorative of some things passed and figurative of things also to come But that therefore the daies also of Christian Assemblies should be so called doth not follow because the reason is not the same as shall appear in it's proper place The name Sabbath therefore is no more Morall and to be retained in the times of the Gospell then the name Priest Altar Sacrifice which perhaps our adversaries themselves will allow of in a common large and Analogicall construction If therefore we look to the e Si vocis primaevam significationem spectemus Sabbathum erit omnis dies festus At Scripturae consuetudine Sabbathi nomâ— ferè appropriatum est diei septimo Estius 3. Sent. d. 37. first and originall signification of the word every Holy-day wherein men rest from their labours and attend the publique worship may be called a Sabbath but if we look at the application of it in Scripture we shall find it appropriated in the first and chiefest sense to the Sabbath day or Satturday in the fourth commandements in the next and subordinate construction to all the Iewish festivals never to the Lords day To the second No man will deny but that antiquity is a good guide in the search of the truth for all errors are upstarts even those that are gray-headed The f Ier. 6.16 Prophet therefore adviseth to ask for the the old way which is the good way but his meaning is that which is simply old not comparatively only The corrupt Glosses of the Pharisees were very ancient * Math. 5.38 Ye have heard that it was said to them of old time an eye for an eye The superstitions of the Romanists are like so many old aches in the body of the Church yet as the one so also the other meere novelties in religion Should I grant the name Sabbath as applyed to the Christian Feast to be of some good standing yet without all Controversy it was not known to the true Primitive times Indeed antiquity ever used one of these foure either Sunday not from g ' Dum solâ—s lâ—ttâ—iae indulgemus longè aliâ ratione quam religione solis Tert. Ap. cap. 16. the Sunne in the firmament but h Mal. 4.2 the Sonne of Righteousnesse with healing in his wings or the Day of light from the Sacrament of Baptisme called by the Fathers our Illumination or the Day of Bread not from holy bread as Papists now use it but from the other Sacrament of the Supper administred every Lords day or the Lords day which doth and will continue to the worlds end To the third The name Sabbath doth not best acquaint us with the Nature of the Lords day as is pretended For the nature thereof consisteth not either in our corporall or Spirituall Rest or in Remembring the Rest of God in the Creation or in being a pledge unto us of our eternall rest All these are accidentall considerations of the Lords day Indeed the memory of Christs resurrection is essentiall thereunto but not so much in regard of his rest as of his conquest over death and the grave and being made the Lord of the Quick and the Dead It being therefore the Lordship of Christ made evident to all creatures both in heaven and in earth by the Glory of his Resurrection which is then celebrated it ought to be stiled the Lords day not a Sabbath To the fourth What the duties of the day be we shall see hereafter Let it be granted therefore for the present whatsoever the Argument doth suggest the consequent is denied For whatsoever duties are then performed are or at the least ought to be directed in a speciall manner unto the Lord Christ as our service of him The day therefore is to be named not from the nature of the things done but from the quality of the person to whom they are intended and therefore not Sabbath but Lords day And whereas it is said that the name Sabbath may serve to confirme our faith and hope of our eternall Rest I answere that indeed it may be so used by us but was never so intended in the first institution thereof and being a consideration so remote it cannot claime to denominate To the fifth It is indeed most rue that we ought not especially in matters of Religion to innovate though but words and Phrases although perhaps insignificant and improper much lesse ought we to swarve from such language as is most savory and religious but which name hath most salt the Sabbath or Lords day I hope it doth appear by this which hath been said And who speaks most Religiously the Apostles and the whole Church or some few private persons of late yeares is easy to determine CHAP. 14. Wherein the Question concerning the duration of the day is proposed and the arguments for the day naturall are set down AMongst those things which disquiet and perplexe the consciences of the weak concerning the Lords day this is not the least where it is to begin and how long it lasteth For God requiring of us perfect and entire obedience without diminution or defalcation and h Iames 2.10 S. Iames saying that he that faileth in one point is guilty of all unlesse every minute of time which the Lord requireth of us as his tribute and homage be duly tendred to him our whole labour bestowed upon the parts and peices of the day is not regarded It is also that which concernes the most sort of our inferiour people to be satisfied in leâ—st the Commandement requiring one thing their employments another they many times wound their Consciences and rob themselves of that peace which otherwise they might enjoy We must therefore before we proceed any farther inquire whether the Lords day be to consist of any certain determinate number of houres as being a Naturall day or Artificiall And here our Adversaries are very positive that the Christian mans Sabbath as well as that of the Iewes is to consist of full twenty foure houres and they have these reasons First all the time that the Commandement requires is to be observed But that the Commandement of the Sabbath requires a whole naturall day from evening to evening is undenyable Therefore c. If any man say the Commandement was Ceremoniall and so proves nothing for the Christian observation it may be replied that this being granted of all the other branches yet it is not so in this For no man can shew how the time of twenty foure houres can be in any respect mysticall Though therefore the rest of the latter should vanish as a shadow yet in this particular it must needs continue Morall Secondly no one
hath imposed are without all question most proper and most fit to be retained But God himselfe hath imposed the Name Sabbath upon all daies of his solemne and publique worship and such is the Christian mans feast day The Assumption appears For not only the seventh day in the fourth Commandement but all the new Moones and other festivals of the Iewes are commonly called Sabbaths Therefore c. Secondly those names are commonly best which are most ancient Inquire saith b Iob. 8.8 Iob of the former ages and prepare thy selfe to the search of their Fathers But the name Sabbath is more ancient then any other being the name that was first given to daies of this nature Therefore c. Thirdly that name is alwaies best which doth most acquaint us with the nature of the thing In this the excellent Wisdome which God gave unto Adam appeared that he gave names to all the creatures answerable to their natures But the name Sabbath given to the daies of publique worship is such for they are daies of rest unto us and they were instituted in remembrance of Gods rest at the Creation and of Christs rest in the Resurrection and are pledges of our future rest in glory What name therefore can better agree unto them then Sabbath which is as much as Rest Fourthly that name is doubtlesse best which best directs us to the duties of the day For if c 1. Cor. 1â— 26 all things must be done for edifying such names are best to be imposed and used as are most accommodated unto edifying But the name Sabbath best leads us unto the duties of this day both outward and inward Outward Resting from all Corporall and worldly employments Inward resting from the spirituall slavery of sin and Satan Adde thereunto that it doth not only best direct us unto the duties of the day but it doth also help to confirme our faith and hope in the promises of God concerning the life to come and our d Math. 8.11 sitting down to rest with Abraham Isaack and Iacob in Gods kingdome Therefore c. Fiftly we must not affect to be singular in anything not so much as in words and Phrases Loquendum cum vulgo saith the proverbe But not only the vulgar but all men whaâ—soever speak religiously and reverently of the Sabbath day Therefore c. CHAP. XII The reasons against the name of Sabbath are briefly alleadged FOr the Negative opinion stand these reasons First he speaks best of things whose language is most conformable to the holy Ghost in the Scripture But the holy Ghost doth every where in the new Testament which alone speaks of the Christian mans Holy-day as having being and existency call it the Lords day no where the Sabbath day The name of the Lords day is therefore best and fittest to be used Secondly we should retaine those names which the Primitive Church in the purest times the first three hundered yeares chiefly used unlesse through any corruption or abuse they are scandalous But the name of the Lords day hath been chiefly used in the Primitive Church and in the purest times neither is it since through any abuse become scandalous Ergo c. Thirdly we of the reformed Churches should not forsake the Roman Church but where necessity doth inforce us For then we are guilty of that Schisme which is made in the Christian world Neither should we vary from our selves so much as were it possible in sounds and Syllables for then we may be justly noted for singularity and affectation But both the Romane Church and all reformed Churches use to stile it the Lords day not the Sabbath Ergo c. Fourthly we that are Christians should beware how we gratify the Iewes in their superstitious obstinacy against Christ and his Gospell in the least things least we partake with them in their hardnesse of heart the ancient Christians fasted Saturday especially for this reason because the Iewes fasted on Sattâ—rday But in using the name Sabbath we gratify the Iewes in their obstinacy against Christ and his Gospell For they abhorre the name of the Lords day as the greatest Blasphemy Therefore c. Fiftly it is one of the chiefest points of a Christian mans wisdome so to speak as not to put a stumbling block before his weaker Brethren He that doth otherwise a Rom. 14.15 walketh not charitably saith the Apostle But the name Sabbath may be and is become a snare to many weak ones especially in reading of the Scriptures For where ever they find the name Sabbath they presently conceive it to be spoken of and to agree to the Lords day and many times by this means fall into flat Iudaisme as appears by their quoting of the old Testament in the Questions in hand Therefore c. Sixtly that name which doth lesse edify is lesse proper This I thinke will easily be agreed on by all parties But the name Sabbath doth lesse edify For it leads us only to an outward cessation from bodily labour which of it selfe and precisely considered was indeed a duty of the Iewish Sabbath but is not so of the Christian Festivall as hereafter shall appeare On the contrary the name Lords day doth best open and explain the whole nature and duty of the day as the remembrance of Christs resurrection the acknowledgment of his Lordship over the Church and all other Creatures in the world Ergo c. CHAP. XIII Wherein is briefly shewed what is to be thought of this Question IT is a frequent rule in c Cùm de re constat propter quam ver ba dicuntur de verbis non debere contendi si quis id facit imperitiâ docendum esse simalitiâ deserendum Aug. cont Acad. lib. 3. cap. 13. lib. 2. cap. 11. S. Austine that wise men should not strive about words unlesse when there is some reall difference in the things But I doubt whether this question be only a fight about words For as the d Non illos viros â—os fuisse arbitror qui rebus nescirent nomina imponere seâ— mihi videntur haec vocabula elegisse ad occultandum tardioribus ad significandum vigilantioribus scientiam suam Ibid. lib. 2. cap. 10. same father speaks of the Academicks so may we without breach of charity suspect of our Sabbatharians at this day They are not saith he such simple men as know not to give things their proper names but they purposely make choice of such words as may best serve both to hide from the simple and to intimate to the wiser sort of their disciples their opinions Else I see no reason at all why the name Sabbath should be so common and that of Lords day so seldome used I deny not but the name Sabbath is lawfull and may also be used by such as have their wits well exercised in Scriptures if without superstition fraud or scandall But yet notwithstanding the name Lords day is both more fit in it selfe serving
and no other Let no man therefore contend with me saying Moses meant not as thou saiest but as I say it were foolish and rash thus to affirme If the doubt be whether the place in the second of Genesis which lies at stake in this question may admit both interpretations without any prejudice to the Analogy of faith that g Quam stultum fit in tantâ copiâ verissunarum sententiarum quae erui possunt temere affirmare quam earum Moses potissmum senserit pernitiosis contentionibus ipsam offendere charitatem which is given by our Adversaries may justly be suspected ours I am sure cannot CAP. IV. The arguments proposed Chap. 2. are fully answered and the exposition of sanctification by destination is at large handled VNto the first supposing that the words of the text blessed and Sanctified are expository this I say supposed because b Aquin. p. 1. q. 7 3. art 3. some have distinguished between them the meaning of the place is that God bestowed a speciall prerogative and preferment upon the seventh day setting it apart from the rest of the weeke for so the word signifies That this was done we all agree when it was done is the question for this circumstance we have not expresly in the Text. Now because it may be doubted whether Moses wrote the story before the deliverance of Israel as c Lib. 7. de preparation Evangeliâ— c. 2. Eusebius Caesariensis thinkes or after the Law was given as d Hexamer Beda e Abulensis in Genes Abulensis and most others are of opinion let our Adversaries make their election and this Text nothing favours them For if Moses writ after the Law was given as is most probable then the proposition that Gods resting from his works and the Sabbaths sanctification were coetaneous is denyed and these words stand not in reference to the begining of the world but to the Law given Object If any demand why then doth Moses speake of this sanctification in the history of the Creation whereas the proper place for this had been Exodus the History of Israel in the Wildernesse Answere It will be said that it is fitly mentioned by Moses in that place because there he had occasion to speak of the severall daies of the week and of the reason of the seventh daies Sanctification Gods resting from all his works As if Moses should have said you know how God hath lately separated the seventh day from others to his service here is the reason when he made the World he himselfe rested upon that day as is also expressed in the Law it selfe But sâ—â—ing Moses wrot that history before the Law we must distinguish for things are said in Scripture to be sanctified or set a part two manner of waies First by way of purpose and destination only as God sanctified Ieremy to be a Prophet unto him before he was born Secondly by way of actualluse and imployment as when the Levites were admitted to the actuall service of the Tabernacle True it is that Gods resting from his works and sanctifying the Sabbath were coetaneous in the first sense by way of purpose and intention which Moses relates but not in the latter by way of actuall execution As soone as he had ended his workes he ordained appointed that the seventh day the day of his owne rest should be that on which his Church should rest and follow his example and this was that great blessing and prerogative bestowed on that day Therefore a Musâ—m â—ee com Musculus doth well expresse sanctificatus by destinat us a day sanctified because a day destinated and fore-appointed And b Bysield against Brerewood M. Byfield himselfe hath observed and that rightly that the word in the Originall doth signifie to prepare to prepare is one thing and actually to appoint is another So then the Sabbath had not an actuall existence in the world from the begining it had only a Metaphysicall being as all naturall things are said to be in their causes For the cause or reason of the Sabbaths sanctification Gods rest was from the begining though the sanctification it selfe was long time after Object You will say doth any man write an history of things not existent Answ I answere that the Prophets and pen-men of holy writ usually doe so and this is one chiefe reason which doth manifest the Scripures to be the word of God I hope no man will deny that Moses also wrot by inspiration but heer we read what God hath done as well as what man should doe and so'tis an history of what was past if we rightly understand the Text this therefore is but a cavill Ob. It will be againe objected that never anything which had actuall being and ability unto thatservice whereunto it was used was thus sanctified and aforehand set apart and not presently employed but the seventh day was from the begining and every way fit to be the holy Sabbath Answ I would aske only Esai 45.1 whether Cyrus was not thus sanctified to be the destroyer of Babylon and restorer of Gods Church or whether this service were the first that ever Cyrus did when hee was every way fitted thereunto Nay was not Christ thus sanctified to be the Messias yet was he neere thirty yeares old before he actually manifested himselfe to be the Messias and shewed froth his glory I presume that no man will say that all the time before hee wanted abilities thereunto Ob. You perhaps will say Christ indeed was ready but the people were not fitted Answ I answere our Saviour himselfe saith the reason was neither in himselfe nor in the people but only in the time thereunto ordained his houre was not yet come And thus all things else are done by him as c Nihil incomptum â—tque intempestivum apud verbum Praecognita sunt enim huic omnia à patre perficiâ—â—â—tur autem à filio apto tempore expectante eamhoram qua est à patrc praecognita Irenae lib. 3. Cont. haeres c. 18. Ireneus well observes So heere indeed the seventh day was from the begining the day of Gods rest and might have been employed as the Lords Sabbath and some daies doubtlesse were thus bestowed and perhaps this But the time unto which God had destined or ordained it wherein solemnely to make it his holy Sabbath was not yet come viz. the redeeming of his Church out of the bondage of AEgypt for of it was the Sabbath a speciall memoriall For my part I cannot understand why any man should mislike this interpretation since the word sanctified when it is attributed to such things as are not capable of holinesse is mostly used in this sense especially since nothing hath hitherto been objected of any moment but what may be reduced unto these heads Ob. First they say there is no ground for such a destination in the text and to interpret Scripture without ground is to build without a foundation But who sees not
distinction that there be but nine litterally morall Oh! but this is to curtoll the Decalogue cutting it short by a distinction But what ingenuity there is in this exception let any man judge When our adversaries themselves say that the taxation of the particular seventh day and the rest required therein was at least in some respect Ceremoniall may we cry out you curtoll the Decalogue let us have ten wholy and entirely Morall There may therefore be ten Moralls though the letter of the fourth be more or lesse Ceremoniall by their own confession To the thirteenth this stands in termes of comparison between the Patrons of the two opposite opinions but all comparisons as they say are odious and such as these more then any other My charity shall cover the want of charity in this objection But because it is a very disputable point whether the more spirituall taking Spirituall for strict zealous well affected desirous to walk before God as the Apostle speaks unto all well pleasing for this I take to be meant by spirituall in this place whether I say the more spirituall the man be the more sound and Orthodox are his positions it will not be amisse by way of digression to speak a word or two hereof especially it being amongst the Vulgar in these daies a point of no small importance CHAP. X. Containing two digressions the first shewing who are the best Interpreters of holy things The second wherein the two opposite tenents in this question of the Sabbath are compared one with another AS light and truth multiply themselves by reflection so doth darknesse and errour One errour therefore admitted many others are entertained either by way of consequence or imitation It was heretofore an opinion which at this day is ingrafted in the hearts of many of our people that an unconverted Minister could not convert his hearers being unregenerate himselfe he could not be used as an instrument of an others regeneration This position the very pillar of Puritanisme being rejected at least in shew by those that wished well to the cause an other point of doctrine began to be broached in the roome thereof but in effect much the same viz. that an unsanctified man cannot acquaint the people with the truth of God at least so well as others that God hides himselfe from men of corrupt mindes revealing himselfe only to some peculiar and selected ones If therefore we would at any time have our understandings informed in things we know not our consciences satisfied in things doubtfull or be directed in any of our waies either with God or men we must repaire to those that are of strictest lives of precisest carriages and sanctified conversations for the more holy the man the more sound and orthodox are all his resolutions Hence it hath come to passe that by pretending to holinesse so many Oracles have been of late yeares erected in sundry corners of this land unto which our well minded people have repayred as the Heathens did to the stoole of Apollo the Iewes to the breast of the high Priest the Papists this day to the Sea of Rome And to speak truth this point is nothing but Popery taken in at the back doore for why doe the Romanists think the Pope to be infallible but that they hold him to be as they stile him His holinesse being that spirituall man of whom the Apostle speaks that judgeth all things himselfe judged of none as a Soto in 4. sent dist 25. art 1. concl 1. Soto hath interpreted The difference only is the Pope challengeth unto himselfe absolute infallibility these men only likelyhood and probability and eminency above others This last errour is worse then the former for that was not only odious being raked out of the graves of some ancient Hereticks but destitute also of tolerable probability This latter is somewhat more refined and perfumed and seemes to be supported by Scripture reason and authority The ancient Prophets say they which only were the Lords Seers inabled to discover truth from falshood to separate the pretious from the vile and foretell the judgements of God upon the Church and State were as b Mich. 3. Micha speaks of himselfe full of the spirit of the Lord men sanctified throughout c 1. Cor. 7. St Paul when he would have his doctrine believed and imbraced sets it on with this I think that I also have the spirit of God d 1. Cor. 2. The naturall man as the same Apostle witnesseth perceiveth not the things of God they are spiritually discerned For it is the anointing that teacheth saith e 1. Iohn 2.27 S. Iohn f Rom. 12.2 Whosoever fashioneth himself according to the world can never prove try search or find out what the will of God is Men therefore g Math. 18 3. must be converted and become as Children new borne or else they cannot enter into the Kingdome of Heaven the doctrine of the Kingdome which is the Gospell This h Instituianimum meum intendere in sacras scripâ—uras ut videren quales essent ecce video rem non compertan superbis non eram talis ut intrare in eaÌ„ possem acies meanon penetrabat interiora 〈◊〉 Aug. Cons 3. c. 40. S. Augustine found verified when before his regeneration he addressed himselfe to the reading of the Scriptures he confesseth that he was not as yet such a one as could enter into theÌ„ He that will know Christs voice must be one of Christs sheep and if any man doe his will he shall know the doctrine whether it be of God And there is great reason it should be so because God and wicked men are meere strangers nay enemies and we know that amongst strangers and enemies there is no communication of counsels and secrets On the contrary those that are spirituall are not only his servants but i Iohn 10. friends nor friends alone but sons and daughters from whom their father concealeth nothing but k Psal 25. the very secret of the Lord is revealed to them that fear him This the very Schoolemen themselves faw and acknowledged Iohannes Damascenas videtur non parum â—rrâ—sse in vitâ cur ergo non potuit errare similiter in dectrinâ— Brad lib. 2. de causâ— Dei cap. 3â— Bradwardine setting down how many of the Ancients either did indeed or might be thought to comply with Pelagius reckons up Damascene amongst the rest but slighting his authority saith Damascene erred greatly in his life he meanes his dissembling at the Tombe of Mahomet and being thus erronious in his life why might he not also erre in his doctrine The learned m Contingit sâ—pe quòd Simplex aliqua bona persona melius intelligit aliquod Dei mysterium quà m magnus aliquis Doctor cum malus sit iniquâ—â— Ideo dicebat Christus Gratias tibi ago c. Gers par 4. serm de nativit Chancellour of Paris acknowledgeth that one good pious holy
Synod and Fathers produced in the argument are nothing to the purpose For in the first place S. Cyprian is wilfully mistaken he treats in the place cited of Baptisme for Infants at two or three dayes old this Fidus a Bishop to whom he wrot held very unfit if not unlawfull for diverse reasons amongst the rest because circumcision was not administred unto any untill the eight day To this p Quod in Iadaticâ circumcisione carnali octavus dies observabatur sacramentum est in umbrâ in imagine nam quia octavus dies iâ—est post SabbathuÌ„ primus futurus erat nos viâ—iâ—icaret quo dominus resargeret circumcisâ—nem spiritualem daret hic dies praecessit in imagine Cyp. ad Fidum S. Cyprian replyes that to the Iewes the eight day was to be that where on Christ should rise and spiritually circumcise us the legall circumcision was given upon that day as a Type and figure thereof In which words of S. Cyprian we haue two Types and two things Typified first the carnall Circumcision is made a Type of the spiritual secondly the day wherein one was administred is made a Type of that day wherein the other should be performed but what is either of these to thâ— keeping of the Sabbath S. Augustine ad Ianuarium is no better handled for he saith indeed that the Type of the eight day was not unknowne to the Fathers filled with the spirit of prophecy for David hath a * Psal 118. Psalme intituled for the eight day Infants also were circumcised on that day A figure it was then and well knowne unto the Fathers but of what This followes expressely in S. Augustine of Christs resurrection and of our quickning and circumcision by him The q Inchoante noctis initio idest vespere Sabbathi c. 13. Omnibus mandamus Christi anis abstinere ab omni peccato ab omni opere carnali etiam â propriis coniugibus Ibid. Synod called Foro-Iuliensis commands divers things concerning the Lords day viz. to begin with Saturday Evening prayer to abstaine from all works sinnes companing of Men with their Wives c. Their reason is because the choysest of Gods mercies were vouchsafed unto the Church on this day they adde also that this is the Sabbath of the Lords delight spoken of by the Prophet * Isai 58.13 Isaiah for r Diceret taÌ„tùm Sabbathum non delicatum Jbid. saith the Synod had he spoken in that place of the Iewes Sabbath he would haue called it barely a Sabbath without any such attributes of delightfull or mine When this interpretation of the Prophet shall be averred by the Opponents we will thinke of an answer to this authority The Synod of Matiscon is more ancient then the former and purposely held concerning the Lords day here amongst other things we have this passage This is the perpetuall day of rest which is knowne by the law and the Prophets and insinuated unto us by the shaddow of the seventh day But that Synod intends no more then the former viz. That upon the day of Christs resurrection we were admitted into everlasting rest appeares evidently by that which followes it is Å¿ Iustum est ut hanc diem celebremus per quam facti sumus quod non fuimus Con. Matis ubi supra but equall therefore that we should celebrate this day by which we are made that which we were not Not therefore the keeping of the day it selfe but the mercies of the day peace and liberty in Christ is that which the Synod affirmes to be intimated unto us in the Type and to be knowne by the law and the Prophets To the fift the day of which the Psalmist speaks is literally the day wherein David was setled in his Kingdome and the unction of Samuell took effect As if the prophet should have said God long since annointed me to be King over his people but this was a day on which he decreed to settle me actually in my Kingdome There is no question but that Psalme is mystically spiritually to be understood as well as litterally of Christ and his Throne as of David and his Scepter one was a figure of the other I deny not also but that Davids day was a figure of Christs day though it did not appeare that David was setled in his Kingdome the same day of the week that Christ rose out of his grave But understand the place how we please all that can be gathered thence are but these three things First that God had in his counsell determined a sett day to performe his promise unto David making him King of Israel Secondly that God had also decreed a sett period of time wherein Christ should be exalted and set upon the Throne of his glory in the Kingdome of the Church Thirdly that as the Iewes had cause to rejoyce in the dayes of David God having given them a man after his own heart so the Christians have much more reason to rejoyce in Christ their King and to embrace the mercies of his glorious resurrection If any man now say that either the ancient or moderne Arnobius mentioned in the argument collect from hence the institution of the Lords day I answere they find it there instituted no otherwise then the whole Church hath ever found it viz. Logically because they ground the observation of the day upon the mercy of the day not morally as being formally and positively instituted either in that or any other Scripture To the sixt we have here a well known fallacy the effect being attributed to that which is no way the true cause thereof As when the wolfe in the fable quarrelled with the Lamb for troubling the water when the Lamb stood all the while below the Woolfe in the river And when the heathen in the daies of t Mala quae civitas pertulit Christo imputant bonâ— verò non imputant Christo nostro sed fato suo Aug. de civit lib. 10. c. 1. S. Austine charged the Christian religion to be the cause of the scourge of the Goths and Vandalls and all other evills which then afflicted the world But to returne to our Opponents I will only demand whether God doth not blesse his ordinance unto his people upon Lecture daies as well as upon Lords daies If not why are they in vaine so much frequented if so then evident it is that Gods ordinance may blesse the day and make it happy unto his people But the day doth not blesse the ordinance unto us the words in the Commandement hath blessed and sanctified are Exegetically put the one expounding the other To the seventh the example of God the Father resting from his works of creation was that indeed upon which the institution of the Iewes Sabbath was grounded but not the institution it selfe For to this there was required a law to be given which was not untill the daies of Moses and the fall of Manna in the wildernesse The
like we also affirme of the example of God the Sonne at the worlds redemption resting from all his labours for though it be not a Law instituting yet it is sufficient ground and warrant why it was at first instituted and hath ever since been observed To the eight all arguments of this kind from the lesse to the greater are but probable and must be understood of great and lesse in the same kind For that which is lesse in one respect may be greater in another it 's so in this particular For the creation of the world is a greater work of power 〈…〉 then the redemption and the redemption is a greater work of goodnes then the creation Besides in reasons of this kind we must alwaies adde si caeterasint paria for any disparity in any circumstance of time place person overthroweth all conclusions built upon comparisons Now suppose that the argument speak of the same kind of great and lesse which yet it doth not nothing can be concluded because the circumstances of time and persons are not equall For the Iewish Sabbath was given in the child-hood and nonage of the Church to a people of dull eares stiffe necks heavy hearts to such the appointing of a determinate time was necessary but the children of the light men of ripe eares that have their eares bored their hearts illuminated need no such childish rudiments as the observation of daies And this a Sicùt praeceptum de sacrificiis habuit aliquam causam moralem non simplicitèr sèdsecunduÌ„ congruentiam llorum quibus ilex dabatur qui ad Idololatriam proni erant sic praeceptum de observatione Sabbathi habuit aliquam causam moralem ex conditione eorum quibus lex dabatur qui propter avaritiam iis inditam c. Aqu. in 3. sent dist 37. art 5. in corp Aquinas long since observed The words of Athanasius alleadged in the Homily of the Sower c. are a meere allusion or illustration shewing only the conveniencie which was never doubted not the necessity of this observation which is the point in question To the ninth I briefly answer that he whose conscience is not over-awed by the lawes of the Church states in outward observations in things lawfull and in different established upon good grounds Christian considerations is neither good subject nor good Christian It is true indeed that the conscience is the Throne of God yet I think no man will so restrain him to that Throne as to say he cannot put another thereinto That b Lex aliqua potest condâ— cui sit necessariò etià m 〈◊〉 mortali parendum quaeque vi suâ quamvis non nisi dependentèr à lege divinâ aeternâ obliget sub mortali Greg. Val. de lege hum Vbi pater iubet quod centra dominum non sit sic audiendus est quomodo Deus Aug. in Ps 70. our superiors especially those that derive their power immediatly from God himselfe may if cause so require lay their authority immediatly upon the conscience binding it to sinne in cause either of neglect disobedience or contempt is to all sober mindes a Maxime in Divinity To the tenth the mysticall signification of any ceremony or observation whatsoever is either of divine imposing as in the sacraments and all such ceremonies as are parts branches of Gods worship or of humane invention as building of Churches East and west bowing towards the Altar usingthe surplice the Crosse after baptisme upon infants or otherwise as the Primitive Christians used Such as those are no parts of Gods worship neither is the conscience bound thereunto but in obedience only to authority To the eleventh the observation of the Lords day is not only metaphysically and speculatively mutable but also Morally and practically as well in our times as in the Primitive Church For amongst the first Christians for some hundred yeares we cannot find any regular and constant practice thereof Supposing therefore the decrees of Councells the practice of the Christian world the edicts of Emperors the statutes of the Land it is unchangeable in sensu composito all things standing as they doe but supposing c Neque Christus neque Apostolus celebrationem primi diei lege aliquâ praeccperunt sed propter praesentem commtaitatem ita sanxeâ—â—nâ— Ã qua quidem sanctione recedere possumus si evidens Ecclesiae utilitas posâ—ulaverit Bald. de Sabbath cap. 20. that the Church and state should find sufficient cause to repeal all such constitutions it may and ought to be changed in sensu diviso as well as any other observation whose ground is only decency and order when it comes to be abused to superstition To the twelfth if we consider all daies which the Church hath set apart for publique worship absolutely as being so set apart I hope it will not be thought blasphemy to affirme that the Lords day and all other holy-daies are equall So I am sure d Omnes diâ—s aeaquales esse Hier. in Gal. 4 S. Hierome affirmed of old and our learned Bishop e Down tables Downham of late but in some respecttive and accidentall considerations one day may be said to be greater and better then another And this may be either from the ground or reason of its observation so it is said by the * Ioh. 19.31 Evangelist that the Sabbath was a high day because the feast of the passover fell upon that day by translation which was the manner of the Iewes when any of their feasts fell out to be the day before the Sabbath and in this respect we may call the Lords day the Queen of daies because it is kept in memory of Christs resurrection which is farre to be preferred before any festivall celebration in memory and for imitation of any Saint whatsoever Or from the solemnity of the publique worship according to the custome of the Church Or lastly from the intention of the Church appointing as when she intends only halfe or some part of the day to be kept holy forbiding all manner of works upon some daies but allowing them upon others as Markets and Faires In this latter respect also no Holy-day is equall with the Lords day especially in the Church of England however it be in forraine parts notwithstanding if we look to the outward solemnity of Gods worship some holy-dayes may be greater then it To the thirteenth that one day should have more holinesse in it then another as it is this day or that day by divine institution under the Gospell is a proposition Atheologicall and part of the Egyptian and Iudaicall superstition which the Apostle condemneth in the Epistle to the Galathians and against which S. Hierom reasons irrefragably For then this holinesse faith a Aut haberent sanctitatem ex lapsu syderum aut Dei beneficio aut hominum inssituto hee must be derived either from the motion and influence of the heavens or from the impression of Gods holinesse made upon it
to understand the text Papists indeed gladly extend it farther but cannot To the three and twentieth that it descended from the Apostles by tradition may with more ease be denied then ever the contrary can be proved But we must remember to distinguish of Apostolicall inspirations and traditions according to the doctrine of the Traditionaries themselves before delivered that it descended from them as Pastors not Apostles as a thing of their owne instituting not of the Lords commanding S. Augustines definition we acknowledge and desire no other Iudge For first it is cleare that d Quo tempore Christiani se à Iudaeis seiunxerunt diem dominicam feâ—iari caeperunt non est memoriae proditum Magd. Cent. 1. lib. 2. c. 6. no man can shew when the Iewes and Christians severed their assemblies Secondly many particular Churches varied one from another in this poynt as it hath been said Thirdly the Lords day was never observed as a Sabbath with cessation from works till Constantines edicts commanded it which were afterwards enlarged or restrained by Ecclesiasticall constitutions That the Primitive Church in the time of persecution observed the Lords day as a Sabbath hath no ground at all in Scripture and is not consonant unto reason because certaine it is that they kept the Iewish Sabbath till the Synagogue was buried Neither is it likely that they kept two daies together or if they did is it probable that neither the Iewes should quarrell at this observation nor the Heathens who derided the Iewes for mispending the seventh part of their lives in idlenesse note it in the Christians over whom they held watchfull eyes Or is it likely that the Primitive Fathers who wrote Apologies for the Church either to the Emperour or against the Gentiles in which they expressed the whole carriage of the Church should never so much as mention this daies observation as taken up and kept as the Iewish Sabbath by divine institution If we consider Sabbath duties named in the argument certaine it is that they preached no more nor so much on that day as they did upon others for this they alwaies did on the Iewes Sabbath because of the concourse of people S. Peters sermon upon the day of Pentecost which was the Lords day was accidentall occasioned by those that mocked at them and their gifts of tongues S. Pauls sermon at Troas hath beene already examined and as for their collections on the Lords day I wonder from whence it should be so generally conceived that they were then either commanded or made S. Paul bids theÌ„ indeed provide a benevolence for the poore Saints at Hierusalem against his comming and that they might be in readinesse he wils every man the * 1 Cor. 16.2 first day of the weeke to lay apart by himselfe not to collect in the assembly So that this being a particular occasion was particularly ordered by the Apostle as their wise Pastor not as a ruled case to bind the Church for ever Nay farther we may affirme that collections are no essentiall duties of the Lords day neither are they so esteemed and used in most congregations living as we doe in a setled estate wherein the law hath provided for the poore in another kind The Sacrament of the supper was indeed constantly administred every Lords day but the reason was no way Sabbatharian for the Sacrament being the badg of Christianity could not be received in the Iewish Synagogue wherein they performed other duties Besides they much mistake which judge of their Communions by ours as if they only received upoÌ„ resting daies with sermons before and collections after they only met together in some private Chamber to break bread without any more adoe And this they did upon the Lords day as most sutable to that service wherein Christ was to be remembred Lastly admitte all the argument requires we have only the ancient practice of the Church but this makes no divine institution by the confession of them that most advance the Churches power e Non ideò aliquid est iuris divini quiâ— olim illud Ecclesâ—a usurpaverit Greg. Val. de Euch. q. 7 the Papists themselves To the foure and twentieth That the Apostles should be guilty themselves and make the Church guilty of so damnable a presumption as this argument speaketh of were indeed a blasphemous consequence but the best is this terrible inference hath no acquaintance at all with the antecedent the reputed Father thereof For what was the presumption of Ieroboam and Antiochus figures of that which shall be practised by Antichrist But the changing of those times which God appointed to be observed by his Church commanding others to be kept in their places and that out of impious and blasphemous intentions to subvert true Religion and to set up Idolatry in the roome thereof Did the Apostles so God forbid But the Iewish Sabbath being expired and having breathed out its last gaspe that the publike worship of God might be upheld with decency and order they commanded the observation of the Lords day unto the Primitive Christians which hath no likenesse at all with those things here spoken of To the five and twentieth It is true that the practise of holy men in Scripture not seconded by precept bindeth not the conscience only their example sheweth us the lawfulnesse and expediency of the things practised upon like occasions with like circumstances and this is our warrant for observing the Lords day But for despising the Saturday-sabbath we have more then the naked practice of the Apostles For in all their Epistles they proclaime all Leviticall ordinances and such was that Sabbath to be ceased under the Gospell Christ who was the substance being come To the six and twentieth Whether Pentecost fell on the Lords day is questioned by some and denied by many their reason is because the fifty daies were to begin the morrow after the Passover Levi. 23.16 But plaine it is that our Saviour did eate the Passover upon Thursday-night and so Saturday the Iewes Sabbath must be the first and last from the fifty daies To avoyde this objection f In Ex. c. 39. Rupertus reads the text Thou shalt account from the next day after the Sabbath understanding it of the Sabbath properly so called or weekely Saturday-sabbath and so our Lords day being the next following is made the first and the last of the fifty But this is a plaine mistake of the text For the first day of unleavened bread being commanded to be a Sabbath is that Sabbath there spoken of from whence they were to begin their account Secondly therefore others interpret those words Thou shalt number fifty dayes from the first day of unleavened bread for not only the first but the last also of those dayes was a Sabbath exclusively shutting out the first day after from the beginning of the number of the fifty and by this meanes they bring it also to be the Lords day But whether doth this hold for
Mor. l. 1. c. 10. Gregory setting before their eyes our Saviours mildnesse we men saith he for for the most part labouring to preserue judgement justice utterly abandon mildnesse and mercy and on the contrary when we would be milde we cease to be just But our Saviour cloathed with our flesh was never so milde but that withall he was just neither was he so severely just as to forget to be mercifull and he giues instance in the womaÌ„ taken in adultery in which he excellently observed both For when he said Cast the first stone at her he satisfied the rule of justice even in the rigour of the letter of the Law but when he added Let him that is without sinne amongst you cast this first stone he so qualified it with equity and moderation that the woman escaped Let us be zealous in Gods name against all prophaners of the Lords day but let us not be so intemperate in our zeale as to usurpe Gods throne pronounce our pleasures upon our brethren take them out of their graues and brand them to posterity as men plagued and smitten of God for prophanation I will conclude with the words of the same c Postulatus â—udicare dominus de peccatrice non station dedit judicium sed priùs incâ—inans se deorsùm digito scribebat in â—errâ nos typicè instituens ut cùm proximorum peâ—â—ata conspicimus non haec antè reprehendenda iudicemus quà m digito discretionis soâ—ertèr exculp amus Greg. S. Gregory upon the same story in another place Our Lord saith he being required to judge the Adulteresse did not presently pronounce her doome but first stooped downe and wrote with his finger upon the ground he intended hereby to instruct us saith the Father that when we seethe apparent errors of our brethren before we proceed to our peremptory sentences we first wisely consider of the thing and with the finger of discretion note what was pleasing or displeasing unto God therein What our Saviours intention was in this action of his I cannot say I am sure S. Gregories observation is graue and substantiall according unto which if we reflect upon the clamorous determinations of our Sabbatharians the point being yet in controversie and defin'd against them by the most and the learned'st in the Church it will appeare that they neither weigh things in the ballance of moderation nor distinguish of things with the finger of discretion To the ninth the authorities alleaged speak for the most part as forced witnesses quite contrary to that for which they are produced as the Edicts of Constantine the Synodicall decrees The rest shall receiue answer in the next Question to which they more properly belong Those who haue writen to this purpose in the Church of England of late yeares are parties and therefore cannot be competent judges in this controversie CAP. XXVI Wherein is inquired after those duties of holinesse unto which the Conscience is bound on the Lords day THere remaines only the last scruple which is or can be incident to this subject viz. What duties of holinesse are proper and essentiall to the Lords day whether only the acts of publike worship with the congregation or the private exercises also of those head-graces faith hope loue unto which whatsoever is in Christian Religion may be reduced And this is indeed a point of chiefest consideration because it is practicall and practice being the life and spirit of knowledge the conscience can never be throughly setled untill this be discovered Our literall Sabbatharians affirme in this question and so affirme that they make the observation of the Lords day the very abridgment of Godlinesse in respect of the first Table and of righteousnesse in respect of the second Table And from hence proceed these wide outcries against any that shall contradict them that Religion is laid upon the back and prophanenesse set up in the roome thereof Nay they so affirme in this point as that their doctrine is made an open and professed snare such a manner of holinesse being exacted as that it is impossible for any man living in the state of corruption to sanctifie a Sabbath in that manner as is required of him either in thought word or deed I confesse were it true that upon the Lords day a man forsaking the naturall rest of his bed sooner then vpon other daies must begin early in the morning with the acts of repentance then proceed to the acts of faith and after the duties of loue conclude with repentance and this with that manner of solemnity and formality which some require it must needs be even to the best an utter impossibility whether we looke at parts or degrees But that the observation of the Lords day in that manner as the Lord himselfe expects whatsoever men please to impose is not such a Chimaera as they fancy will appeare I hope in its due place In the meane while we will set downe these arguments which seeme to support this opinion CHAP. XXVII The Arguments which seeme to conclude for all duties of holinesse in generall are set downe FIrst from the letter of the Commandement Remember to keepe holy the Sabbath day we many reason thus where no one kind of holy-daâ—â—s are spoken of there all duties of holinesse are to be understood it is generally so in other places of Scripture as in that of the Apostle * Peter 1.16 be yee holy for I am holy and elswhere * Heb. 12.14 follow holinesse without which no man shall see God But in the words of the Commandement holinesse in generall is required of us Therefore c. Secondly that which is and ought to be a common duty of all daies is much more a particular duty on the Lords day The reason hereof is both because the Lords day is in many respects to be preferred before all other daies and because it is set apart from all others unto holinesse But the private exercises of all gracious habits with our selues and our families are and ought to be common performances upon all daies For as they binde alwayes so are they indefinitely commanded without restraint to any set dayes they are therefore much more required upon the Lords day being the common duties of all dayes Thirdly any duty is more required upon that time on which if rightly performed it is more acceptable to God then at any other time For by this appeares that God hath regard as well to the time as to the duty But all the duties of holinesse even the private and personall and oeconomicall are more acceptable unto God if performed on the day of his Sabbath this appeares first by the words of the * Isay 58.13 Prophet saying if thou turne away thy foote from the Sabbath from doeing thy pleasure upon my Holy-day and call my Sabbath a delight the holy of the Lord honourable and shalt honour him not doing thine owne wayes c. In which words plaine it is that the
it another case the Daughter hath eaten up the Mother Farre be it from me to speak or so much as think in secret any thing in the prejudice of that great and glorious work of Preaching Sooner shall my tongue cleaue to the roofe of my mouth for I know it to be Gods ordinance * Rom. â— â—6 even his mighty power unto salvation it â—owes the seed whereby we are begotten it is meat whereby we are nourished Medicine whereby we are healed both Oile and wine being powred thereby into our wounds By it the understanding is informed the memory refreshed the will inclined the affections made pliable the heart comforted truth preserved errours and heresies beaten downe But yet farre be it from any man to make an Idole of it which is done when either we advance it aboue or equall it with the publique worship By this preposterous conceit of many well-mined people a grand inconvenience hath befallen the Church of England from which most of her other mischiefes are hatched First in opinion that he is no lawfull Minister which is not a Preacher Secondly in practice for all men to avoid this exception or brand rather as suddainly turne Preachers as they doe Ministers So that if any man conceiue a good opinion of himselfe that he may doe good in Gods Church by some wayes or other he shuffles into holy orders and immediately from them into the Pulpit And every Youth whose maintenance extends not it selfe beyond three or foure years in the Vniversity as soone as he is old enough will be a Minister and then 't is a foule disparagement to him not to be a Preacher Hence especially partly through ignorance partly through impudence faction is fomented the people humoured and mislead Religion is made a Maze quite changed from that which originally it was Seventhly it is not to be doubted that there may be also many personall furtherances of the publique worship whereby particular men may be made more apt therevnto more devoute therein receiving great comfort and profit thereby But that such preparations or previous dispositions or what else we please to call them are under the precept of the Lords day as it is our Christian Sabbath doth not follow For First they are not of absolute necessity without which the publique worship must needs fall to the ground I think no man will say it is unpossible that a man should worship God in publique which hath not done it in private otherwise then habitually It is not here as in acting a part upon the Stage to which a man comes as a new thing never heard of before for we are bred in a Christian state nursed in a solicitous Church acquainted with God his word his worship as it were from the Cradle Few men I think there are in our congregations which cannot suddainly recollect themselues from other distractions to ioyne with our brethren in publique unlesse transported with unexpected and violent temptations Secondly no particular rules can be prescribed which shall universally direct all men of all rankes endowments which not observed they cannot worship God in publique Must we read the word of God in private What shall become of them whose education hath not extended to the Primmer Must they pray in private and secret otherwise then the Church hath taught them What shall such doe as haue not the help of books and are not arrived to their imagined perfection of extemporary effusions Must they repeat a Sermon or Catechize their families c what if they cannot Where are those duties commanded pro hic nunc as they speak upon the Lords day but in publique Assemblies Thirdly supposing therefore a generall precept of preparation to the publique which no man will deny for the * Eccles 5 1â— holy Ghost commandeth it expressely keep thy foot when thou goest into the house of God The Schooles teach us that the manner of performing the duty fals not under the precept in which the duties is commanded If thy foot be kept it matters not by what meanes thou keep it In a word therefore personall private helps of the publique worship not as it is publike and regarding the whole congregation but looking to our owne profiting thereby are only generally commanded us the particulars being left to every mans discretion and no mans conscience is further burthened Eightly with reservation therefore of Christian liberty those that can and will spend the vacant times of the Lords day in the private exercises of piety are by no law prohibited by no authority discountenanced ought not by others to be disheartened but encouraged rather with these Provisoes First that they put no Religion therein as if God required it at their hands as a part of the dayes sanctification for then are they guilty of will-worship Secondly that being personall devotions they be performed in secret for so * Math. 6.6 our Saviour hath directed Thirdly that when they are extended unto the whole family the Master of that oeconomicall discipline be well fitted and qualified thereunto and presume not beyond his measure Fourthly that he keep himselfe within the compasse of his owne charge not admitting any of other places for then he becomes offensiue to the State who hath and that justly a iealousy over all such Assemblies Fiftly that what is done herein proceed from the sincerity of his heart without any respect unto sinister ends else they are meere pretences Lastly that they be not burthensome to their servants herein so as to make them weary of good things of which our natures are impatient but so as that the day be unto them both a spirituall and a corporall refreshing Ninthly all such things whatsoever as keep us from or hinder us in the publique worship are altogether unlawfull upon the Lords day This conclusion is evident of it selfe from the premises and conclusions of the former questions and is generally assented unto only the scruple is Ob. Whether any thing saue that which is a holy exercise of Religion be not such a hinderance as walking in the fields talking of other things honest recreations For by this meanes we are debarred of that profit in whole or at least in part which otherwise we might reape from the publique exercise Resp To which I answer first that publique worship is one thing and our private profiting thereby is another both commanded indeed but in sundry precepts the one in the law of the Lords day the other in those generall precepts * Mark 15.1 beleeue the Gospell * Iames 1.22 be doers not hearers * Cor. 6.1 receiue not the grace of God in vaine * Col. 3.16 let the word dwell plentifull in you c. are in some sort the end of the precept of the publique worship in some sort I say because not the first and chiefest end For this is to acknowledge Gods supreme dominion preservation of the Catholique doctrine and the vnity of