Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	good_a	life_n	see_v	9,943	5	3.4753	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A17418	The doctrine of the Sabbath vindicated in a confutation of a treatise of the Sabbath, written by M. Edward Breerwood against M. Nic. Byfield, wherein these five things are maintained: first, that the fourth Commandement is given to the servant and not to the master onely. Seecondly, that the fourth Commandement is morall. Thirdly, that our owne light workes as well as gainefull and toilesome are forbidden on the Sabbath. Fourthly, that the Lords day is of divine institution. Fifthly, that the Sabbath was instituted from the beginning. By the industrie of an unworthy labourer in Gods vineyard, Richard Byfield, pastor in Long Ditton in Surrey.	Byfield, Richard, 1598?-1664.	1631 (1631)	STC 4238; ESTC S107155	139,589	186

shall live and if need bee shall dye being faithfully obedient to the commandements which dying were but to be made alive by death we certainely know both children and women and servants to have beene no lesse than excellent oftentimes their parents and husbands and masters being set against it They ought therefore which would leade an holy life not to be of a lesse cheerefull and ready minde when they see some to chase them from it But it is meete much more that they contend and strive stoutly that they fall not off as conquered from the best and most necessary counsels for I doe not thinke it may admit any compare whether it be better to be received into the fellowship of the Almighty or to choose the darkenesse of divels Things which are done of us for others sake we will alwayes doe endeavoring to have an eye to them for whose sake they seeme to bee done taking the measure to be that which is acceptable to them but things which are done rather for our owne sake than for others shall be done by us with equall study whether they seeme or seeme not to please any man Secondly it is neither of my ability nor beseeming a worke of this nature to alledge all that might be cited here to this purpose this shall suffice to shew either your wilfull blindnesse or daring presumption upon your great reading It is very dangerous to oppose the truth and to trust unto your oppositions of Sciences falsely so called no man ever attempted it but God polluted him in his gifts in a just judgement In this Treatise it may bee seene and in this particular passage For Clemens Alexandrinus f Cle. Alex. st●o 4. Iustine g Iustin. Apel. 2. Augustine h Aug. in Psal 118. Co●●io 31. and almost all the ancients which published Apologies for Christians testifie that among other causes why the Gentiles persecuted the Christians this was one that they withdrew themselves from obedience to their superiours under pretence of Religion Now this was only in matter of the publike worship of the true God wherein else did their disobedience as they called it consist They worshipped the true God on his day and refused communion with Idolaters on their daies dedicated to their idoles but this you could not see You know moreover that the histories of the first three hundred yeeres are of little weight for their brevity imperfection and the iniquity of those times through rage of persecutors and malice of falsifying Heretikes and Seducers Therefore your bold and large assertion herein is of little worth Thirdly had you remembred that there is the same proportion in matter of obedience in one sort of inferiours as in another you might soone have knowne what servants did in those times towards their masters for all Antiquity teacheth that it is perversenesse to call that obedience wherein the obedience to God is forgone to obey man and that the superior of any sort is to bee obeyed in whatever he commandeth that is not contrary to Gods Command not otherwise Thus taught Hierome Ambrose Augustine Fabian i Decret 11. q. 3. c. 92 93. to 101. Basil k Basil reg 7. ex brevi 114. 203. 204. de instit Mona c. 14. 16. Bernard l Bern. Epi. 7. li. de praecept dispensat c. 12. and the like But Saint Austine m Serm. 6. De verbis Dom. Ep 166. in Psal 124. chiefely is most notable in this point both for his lively expressions and instances and for his reasoning from humane things to divine where obedience is denied to the inferiour magistrate when it is contrary to the superiour Fourthly I am sure godly superiors will never thanke you for this doctrine which cannot will to bee obeyed of inferiors if they command ought against Gods Law and reason Heathen Princes have refused such an obedience and desired the contrary Antiochus the third wrote to the cities that if he should command by letters any thing repugnant to the lawes they would not care for it but take it as if it were written he not knowing of it Antigonus king of the Macedonians answered a Flatterer who said All things were honest and just for kings to doe They are so onely to kings of Barbarians but to us those things onely are honest which are honest and just which are just Pericles answere is knowne n 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that a man ought to doe for his friends but yet onely as farre as he may not goe against God Fifthly the Papists can see where the light did put out your eyes they teach o Possevinus lib. 3. de stud cas Consc c. 23. tom 1. p. 147. that the father and mother of the houshold which have servants and maids sonnes and daughters and doe not see that they obey the precepts of the Decalogue or which is worse hinder them from the observation thereof and worke them so hard on the Eves that on the Festivals and Lords dayes they are by necessity of their owne in a manner compelled to worke or that give them not time to be present at the Assemblies without promise of amendment they shall by no meanes be absolved of the Confessour Molina p Molin de inst tract 2. disp 38. Col. 200. 201. saith that the power of the master over the servant reacheth not to his life and much lesse to his spirituall salvation as if hee might command him or exact of him any thing that might fight against his spirituall safety The Magistrate in this case is to vindicate the servant if the master shall impose on the servants a necessitie of sinning the Bishops may deliver them from servitude And Antoninus affirmeth in such case q Antoninus 3. par titulo 3. ca. 6. §. 7. the servant may lawfully flee from his master if being admonished hee will not leave off Wee know it is better to suffer hard usage than to flee but see what master Breerwood might have knowne to have set his heart at a stand in his so forward and eager proceeding CHAP. XXXIIII Breerwood Pag. 53 54. ANd therefore Sir to draw to an end for I grow wearie and have already both dulled my penne and my selfe I would advise you in the Name of Iesus Christ whose Minister you are and whose worke you have in hand to examine this doctrine of yours what foundation it may have in the Word of God and what effect in the Church of God lest the foundation happily be your owne phantasie not Gods Word and the effect prove the poysoning not the nourishing of the Church I know Sir you are not the first that set this doctrine abroach nor the onely man that drawes of the vessell although few as I am told draw so freely as you But I would advise you Sir in the Name of God to beware betimes and draw not too deepe It is all nought it relisheth already with them that

not worke on the Sabaoth was by the judiciall to be punished with death if the servant did worke that day by his commandement Answer First that place is to be understood of the presumptuous offender as appeareth in Numb 15. 35 36. with that in vers 30 31. The soule that doth ought presumptuously reproacheth the Lord and shall be cut off For if the sinne were of ignorance infirmity and errour he was bound to bring a sinne-offring vers 27 28. thus the Iewes understand that place in Exodus Now the servants worke at the masters command will not come under a wilfull and presumptuous sinne yet that law sheweth this truth that men for breach of Sabbath shall be punished according to the nature of their offence so shall he that forgoeth Gods to doe his masters worke This is the true Answere you meerly trifle and therefore the force of the objection lieth still upon you and your Answere falls like an untimely fruite or rotten nut And your hard cases for they seeme full of pitty and yet would have a servant to be in the condition of a beast are meer conceits And for that phrase of yours saying The servants may be compelled to work by men speaking there of such worke as the fourth commandement hath forbidden doth contradict your former Tenet expressely who say that the master may not command his servant to worke may he not command him and may he yet compell him Good stuffe I promise you Secondly in this place also seeing you offer to our thoughts Gods judiciall Law and so his judiciary proceeding I urge you with the just hand of Gods yengeance that lighteth oftentimes on children and servants working at the command of their parents and masters on that day God punisheth none but those that offend lesse or more But this ungodlinesse he hath punished from heaven And all wise Christians will esteeme more of one Demonstration of Gods wrath than of two hundered sophisticated Rhetoricall Demonstrations of any Disputer in the world At Kimstat a towne in France m Iob. si●col l. 3. De mirac there lived in the yeere 1559. a certaine covetous woman who was so greedy of gaine that shee would not frequent the Church her selfe nor suffer any of her family to doe it but continually toyled a bout drving and pilling of flaxe and doing other houshold businesses neither would she bee reclaimed by her neighbours who admonished and disswaded her from such unseasonable workes One Sabbath day as they were thus busily occupied fire seemed to issue out of the flaxe without doing any hurt The next Sabbath it tooke fire indeed but was quickly extinct Yet this wretch continued obstinate in her prophanenesse even the third Sabbath when the flax againe taking fire could not bee quenched till it burnt her and two of her children to death for though they were recovered out of the fire alive yet the next day they all three died and that which was much to be wondred at a young infant in the cradle was taken out of the midst of the flame without any hurt God we see tooke vengeance on the children that wrought at the mothers commandement Are there not strange punishments for the workers of iniquitie n Iob 31. 3. Above fifty persons were consumed in the fire which burnt the towne of Fevertone in Devonshire in the yeere 1598. where 400. dwelling houses were all at once on fire and consumed for their horrible prophanation of the Lords day Can any thinke that of those fifty none were children and servants whose worke that day had been usually abused Here also Christian Reader I thought it my part to lay before thy more serious consideration these notable and late examples of Gods wrath from heaven against mens ungodlinesse on the Sabbath day Blackesmith by trade he is yet alive the Lord give him an heart to repent and all the Towne to learne by that hand of God this woman was with her yong childe in her armes within her owne gate looking on them and so it was that while she looked on one of the greatest ropes failed and broke and the Pole fell downe upon the pale that parteth their gate and the streete and the upper end of it with the fall lapped over and strucke the childe on the head in the mothers armes and killed it It was the edge of the weather-cocke that hit the childe on the head marke it well and cleft the skull and it dyed the next day It is time for thee Lord to worke for men have made voide thy Law Psal 119. 126. The Lord is known by the judgement which he executeth The wicked is snared in the worke of his owne hands Higgaion Selah Psal 9. 16. That place in Exo. 23. 12. which commeth in on the left side is abusively rendred by you when you read that thy son and thy maide may be refreshed whereas it is thus in the text the sonne of thine handmaid and when you say it is manifest that the servants worke is accounted the masters seeing the rest from the masters worke is the refreshing of the servant is it not as manifest that it is the servants when the rest is his refreshing For by another rest I am not refreshed if I worke and what if in some respects it may be called the masters worke is it therefore no sinne in the servant to doe it This is a begging of the question and a shame in a professed Disputant CHAP. XIX Breerwood Pag. 32 33 34. ANd thus have I proved my assertion namely that the commandement of the Sabaoth was not given nor fit to be given to the servants themselves but to their governours both by arguments of reason which is the rule of men and authoritie of Scriptures which is the rule of Christians and cannot finde any thing materiall in either of both that may reprove it but yet if I should admit which I doubt you will never prove that the commandement was directly given to servants themselves as servants and that they might lawfully disobey their masters touching those workes whereby the precept of the Sabaoth might bee transgressed yet have I another exception against your doctrine namely for condemning every light worke such as inviting of guests or fetching of wine from a neighbours house or giving a horse provender for these are the very instances which bred the question for transgression of Gods commandements forbidden on the Sabaoth no it is not the commandements importeth no such thing for it is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is every worke but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is there forbidden that is every servile worke for such the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly doth import and servile worke by the interpretation of the best Divines is accounted either that which is attended with the toyle of the body or at least intended and directed to lucre and gaine of riches with some care of the minde such as mens ordinary worke is wont to

must he therefore succeede him in equality of power The Lords day therefore succeedeth the Sabaoth in the point of sanctification for celebration of the assemblies for the Church hath precisely commanded that but not in the point of exact and extreme vacation from every kind of worke for that the Church hath not commanded and so although the Lords day may well be tearmed the heire of the Sabaoth yet is it not ex asse haeres as the civill Lawyers speake It inheriteth not the whole right of the Sabaoth for that right and prerogative of the Sabaoth was not given to the Sabaoth and its heires it was no fee simple and if I may speake in the Lawyers stile it was onely a tenure for tearme of life namely during the life of the ceremoniall law which life ended in the death of our Saviour This reason therefore of the succession of the Lords day in place of the Sabaoth is no reason Answer First what was acknowledged by the Church as injoyned by the point of vacancie from all labour without the least rellish of Iewish ceremonies wee shall see in the next Chapter Here onely wee examine your supposed confutation of a reason to prove it which reason is this The Lords day is succeeded in the place of the Sabbath or as some say as Heire of the Sabbath therefore to bee kept Sabbath-like You confute it thus If it succeeds it in place must it succeede in equall precisenesse of observation No It succeeded in point of Sanctification not of exact vacation I reply your distinction is not distinct for if in Sanctification then in exact vacation namely vacation Sabbaticall for if in the end in the meanes necessary to that end and for that end ordained which is exact vacation so farre as it may further Sanctification Now for your playing on the termes about an Heire it is frivolous Secondly for your instance in the Pope succeeding Peter arguing from place to power it little conduceth to this matter for the Pope succeedeth not in place Apostolicall if he did I should not much doubt of his power Apostolicall Had there beene a certaine Commandement of God to shew that God in his eternall Law commanded his people to obey the Apostolicall place But by place you mean roome not Officiall function and then what kinne betweene your instance and the matter in hand CHAP. XXIX Breerwood Pag. 45 46 47. ANy other reason besides this or else authority which I might in your behalfe object to my selfe I know none worthy mentioning for the commandement of God as I have proved is not of this day The commandement of the Church is of this day but not of these workes neither will all the histories of the ancient Church nor canons of the ancient councels nor any other monuments or registers of antiquity afford you as I am certainely perswaded search them as curiously as you can record of any such constitution of the Church for the generall restraint of workes on the Lords day You may finde I know in some of the ancient Fathers much sounding the prerogative of that day as that it was a holy day in * Hist Eccles lib. 4. cap. 22. Eusebius a day of Christian emblies in * Apolog. 2. Iustin Martyr and a day of rejoycing in * Apolog. c. 16 Tertullian a festivall day in * Epi. ad mag Ignatius and some more of the like but doth any of all these import or imply a generall restraint a desistance from all worke No they doe not neither shall you finde in these nor in any other records of antiquity any constitutions of the Apostles and of the first Church extant to that effect no nor any relation or remembrance that such a constitution had ever beene made by them nay I finde cleare evidence to the contrary for would Constantine the Great that most holy Emperour and best nursing Father of Christian religion that ever Prince was would he I say have licensed by his decree the country people freely liberè liciteque are the words of the constitution to attend their sowing of graine setting of vines and other husbandry on the Lords day if those workes had beene forbidden by the commandement of God or decree of the Apostles and first Church Or would the Fathers in the councell of Laodicea one of the most ancient and approved councells of the Church inioyne the vacancy of the Lords day with this condition And if men can Certainely servants full ill can if they be constrained by their Masters to worke would they I say have added such a condition had it beene simply unlawfull for all sorts of people by the ancient sanctification of the first Church to doe any worke that day It appeareth therefore that there were no such universall constitutions of the Church The actuall forbearing of all workes by some Christians that day stand not on nor on the exhortations of some ancient Fathers to that purpose some remembrances of both are to be found I know but these are particular examples and perswasions constitutions of the Church they are not edicts of sundry Princes likewise and decrees of some provinciall councells are extant I confesse in record to the same effect and those are constitutions indeede but partly not of the Church partly not universall nor very ancient and therefore are no sanctions to oblige the whole Church which beside the law of God and decrees of the Apostles to whom the government of the whole Church by our Saviour was committed and the canons of the universall Synods no positive constitution can doe Answer Having made it evident that the Commandement of God stands in force for our Sabbath I might easily cast off all that you shall say to the end of your Discourse but to cleare and scoure the coast and make it apparant that what you say is nothing and all maketh for us who in this thing hold the Truth we proceede You say you finde nothing for the generall restraint of works on the Lords day in any Historie cannon monument and register of Antiquitie but cleare evidence to the contrarie First for the first let the places you alleage speake out that all may heare them and not be blindly huddled up That in Euseb l. 4. cap. 22. is a passage in the Epistle of Dionysius Bishop of Corinth to Soter Bishop of Rome concerning the accustomed reading of the Epistle of Clement to the Corinths in their publike assemblies on the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lords day of which hee saith thus Wee have spent or passed through to the end of it the Lords day to day an Holy day Now to spend the Lords day throughout an holy day is not to spend any of it in servile worke let Scripture Heathen writers and all men testifie this was done saith that Bishop 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 After their ancient custome Iustin Martyr after he hath recorded all the duties of their publike assemblies addeth this having spoken in the

wrongfully for he is to be obedient to his lawfull commands that day and to his unjust corrections for the Lords sake which will breake the heart of any Master and winne him but your course would take away the very practice of religion in the servant for where is religion if the publike worship be gone Nor will this deprive them of their service but make them in higher esteeme as Ioseph was and the famous courtier Daniel for refusing to obey the king decree when Parasites shall bee loathed and cast out Yet if this should not alwaies be the Spirit of glory and of God will rest upon him that suffers in these cases If this bee the blasphemie wee must avoide we all are undone while we are saith Tertullian y let his name be blasphemed in the observation and Tertul. de Idolat ca. 14. not the exorbitation of discipline so long as we are proved not reproved this malediction of preserved discipline is the benediction of Gods Name This would propagate the Gospell as in Daniels case is to be seene and in the case of the three children This is absolute meekenesse obedience humilitie and patience and such servants for their vertue and the profit that commeth to their masters by their faithfull service in the times and seasons due and their unfained respect even when they receive wrong shall carry in the eyes of the vilest high respects and praise but if your course were held that the servant should neglect the assemblies to doe his masters worke on that day we speake of workes unlawfull to be done on the Sabbath and should carry an heart to God while his feete and hands carried him to his masters worke which is all one as if one should sweare with his tongue and thinke to keepe his heart unsworne then where is the solemne worship of God And that gone where is Religion And that gone what vertue And that gone what profitable service Masters that respect but their owne lucre can conne you little thankes for this doctrine Besides this were the scandall and defamation of the Gospell for ever that whereas all Religions teach the followers thereof a time for pietie with all attendance of body and soule for that time this Christian Religion should teach that the servant hath no time at all nor doth God require it of him but the contrary if his master will but bid him worke This can be no seminarie of disturbance or contumacie for he is subject to his masters power for correction so as not to resist in wrongfull sufferings but yours sheweth it manifestly while it leaveth a man in anothers hands against two such principles that when they have beene by tyrannie prest to goe against them rebellion hath ever followed The principles are these First God must bee solemnely and publikely worshipped and that on some times weekly in which hee is to bee attended upon without avocations Secondly that Nature sheweth the preservation of it selfe Now to go about to blot out sense of God religion to keepe men to taskes of insupportable burdens which nature breaketh under while it beares them this is the ready way to overturne all This alienates not masters from their Christian servants let the experience of all ages shew it In this nation the servants that make conscience of the Sabbath are sought after by all sober and wise masters that onely are wise for the world for these are those that will not be night-walkers nor drunkards nor filchers with the like I know none but choose such and greatly affect them and for their fidelity otherwise and industry give them great liberties for Gods worship True I have heard of some of our Gentry that will by no meanes have such a servant especially to waite on their persons or to be their Clerkes but one may easily smell the reason it is not for any matter of Sabbaths labour or rest but first there is a divellish principle amongst them that it is for their reputation to have their men such as will make the servant of their neighbour-Gentleman Answer First that the subjection due to men in respect of obedience to execute their commands extendeth only so farre as it may not diminish the empire of God hath been sufficiently proved but you call for antiquity to beare out the servant in refusing his masters commands of servile worke on the Lords day I shewed you before out of Chrysostome what he taught were the bounds which a servant might not passe namely the commandements of God if the master command ought against them he may by no meanes execute his masters command Tertullian b Tertul. lib. de Idolat c. 17. saith that if a servant doe but by some word helpe the sacrifice he shall be accounted a minister of the sinne of idolatry he speakes of them as attending on their masters and that the place Give to Casar the things that are Caesars binds no subject to keepe the daies consecrated to idoles nor to set up lights at their doores or Laurell branches on their doore posts And then saith further c Ibid. ca. 15. it is well added and to God the things that are Gods Vnto which lay but that which went before in Chapter 14. d Ibid. cap. 14. where hee saith the Ethnickes have every festivall day yeerely once the Christian hath his on the eight day lay these together I say according to the true meaning of that Author and it is cleare that the servant might not for his masters command keepe a day in honour to an idoll nor any way be minister of that sinne nor might he neglect the day consecrated in honour to God for his master Clemens Alexandrinus e Clemens Alex. stromat l. 4. hath these words Discipline is necessary to all sorts of men and vertue since all tend to felicity And after quotation of the texts in Ephes 5. Col. 3. and 4. He concludeth out of these Therefore it is manifest to us what the unitie that is of faith is and is shewed also who is perfect wherefore the servant and the woman shall professe philosophy be any against it and exceedingly resisting although punishment hang ●ver their heads from their masters and husbands The free man also though the tyrant threaten death to him though he be led to judgement and drawne to utmost torments and runne the hazzard of all his goods and fortunes shall by no meanes abstaine from piety and the true worship of God nor shall ever dissent from it the woman likewise which dwelleth with an evill husband and the sonne if he have an evill father or the servant that hath an evill master pursuing vertue with a valiant and generous mind But as it is comely and honest for the man to dye both for vertue and for liberty and for himselfe so also is it for the woman for this is not proper to the nature of males but of good folkes Therefore both old and young both woman and servant