Iohn Like as the Sabbath in the Old Testament is called the Lords Day which which if he had and withall considered how strange it were for us to set any day in the weeke apart for the exercises of Piety rather then the Lords Day I am perswaded hee would not have contented himselfe with this answer For certainly many other holy dayes have beene and are set apart for Divine Service yet never were called any one of them the Lords day He talkes of a bare custome of the Church for it a thing incredible that both Jewes and Gentiles throughout all Nations should so universally concurre without the guidance of some authorative constitution or some generally convincing evidence by the very light of common Christian evidence or both And as for liberty left to the Church hereabout it seemeth so unreasonable unto my poore judgement that if it were it should become us by earnest and hearty prayer to seeke unto God to take that liberty from us and bee pleased himselfe to guide us by some manifest ordinance to prevent dissension and confusion yet well fare Doctor Rivetus hee will not have this liberty extend any further then provided that some reason and necessity should urge the changing of the day for in the next columne hee professeth that a sufficient cause of the change and abrogation of the day cannot bee given The observation of other dayes and particularly of the Sabbath as well as the Lords Day by some in the Primitive Church is no evidence at all that it was indifferent unto them whether they would observe the Lords Day or no. Perk. The third argument Rivetus omits the fourth is this That which was prefigured in that it was prefigured was prescribed But the Lords Day was prefigured in the eighth day wherin the children of the Iewes were circumcised therefore it was prescribed to be kept the eighth day This the ancient Fathers by name Cyprian and Austin have reasoned and taught Rivet Answ To this Doctor Rivetus answers by denying the assumption and saying that no probable reason can be brought to prove that day was prefigured by the eighth day wherein children were circumcised Reply And indeed that day being the eighth day after birth doth not so conveniently denote the first day of the weeke But Master Perkins his argument hath another part farre more principall drawne from Psal 118.22.23.24 Which Doctor Rivetus relates after this menner Perk. The day of the Resurrection was prefigured by that day wherein the Stone which the builders refused was made the head of the Corner But that day was the Sabbath Day therefore by the Sabbath was prefigured the Lords Day To this he answers by denying that the Sabbath day was the day wherein the builders refused that stone For the Scribes Rivet Answ Pharises and rulers of the people did alwayes reject Christ and not the Sabbath day onely And if Austin and Cyprian before him apprehended any such figure that was by way of accommodation onely not that herein they acknowledged any proper figure For answer whereunto I say first Reply that Master Perkins delivers not this simply of the Sabbath day but of the Sabbath of the new Testament as much as to say the first day of the weeke whereon Christ rose For this was the day wherein the stone which the builders refused was made the head of the corner and of this day the Prophet speakes when he saith This is the day which the Lord hath made let us be glad and rejoyce in it That like as the Jewes had cause to make that day festivall and to rejoyce therein wherein God advanced David to the kingdome who was as a stone refused before by the builders in like sort Christians had as great cause nay farre greater to keepe that day festivall and to rejoyce therein when God raised Christ from the dead and gave all power unto him and making him the head of his Church as being now manifested to be the sonne of God who was before as a stone despised and refused of the builders but as on this day was made the head of the corner And not Cyprian and Austin onely but Ambrose upon the Psalmes so understands it and Arnobius also upon the Psalmes as Hereshbachius observeth And Doctor Rivetus is too blame in construing Perkins in such manner as if he should confine the builders rejection of Christ to the Sabbath day whereof there is no colour in Master Perkins but that which he insists upon is this that the day wherein Christ formerly rejected by the builders was made hhead the of corner was the day of Christs resurrection and of this day it is said by the Psalmist This is the day which the Lord hath made let us rejoyce and be glad in it Which is most remarkable for the justification of our celebration of the Lords Day as by Divine authority Especially considering what Bishop Lake that learned and pious and most rationall Divine hath observed that alwayes the worke of the day is the ground of hallowing the day and for proofe hereof hee appeales to the due consideration of all festivalls in the observation thereof whether Divine or humane Master Perkins his words are these but I know not how Doctor Rivetus might be deceived by a mis-translation of them The day of Christs resurrection was prefigured by that day wherein the stone which the builders refused was made the head of the corner Psal 118.24 and in that it was prefigured it was appointed by God For then it appeared to be true which Peter said of Christ that God had made him both Lord and Christ Act. 12.36 And whereas he saith the Fathers doe so construe the place by way of accommodation that hath place onely when the Text it selfe doth not so accommodate it But the Text it selfe in this place doth manifestly evince that this is spoken in reference to the day of Christs resurrection Perkins The last reason of Master Perkins is this God is Lord of times and seasons and therefore in all equity the altering and disposing thereof is in his hands and belongs to him alone Act. 1.10 Times and seasons the Father hath kept in his own hands Againe Christ is called the Lord of the Sabbath And Antiochus Epiphanes is condemned by the Holy Ghost because hee tooke upon him to alter times Dan. 7.25 Besides that Daniel saith it is God alone that changeth times and seasons Dan. 2.4 Now if it be proper unto God as to create so to determine and dispose of times then he hath not left the same to the power of any creature And therefore as the knowledge thereof so the appointment and alteration of the same either in generall or particular belongs not to the Church but is reserved to him The Church then neither may nor can alter the Sabbath Day Rivet Answ To this D. Rivetus answereth that the words of Daniel touching the change of times and
not as so many Angels descending unto us the gracious motions that arise in our hearts upon meditation of his Word of thankesgiving to him of rejoycing in him yea of sorrowing for our sins are they not as so many Angels ascending to him Our teares have a double motion one naturall downwards another spiritual upwards for the Lord puts them into his bottels the hairs of our head are numbred how much more the sighes of our heart and groanes of our spirit And have we not great cause to inure our selves betimes thus to sabbatize with God as he sabbatizeth with us that we may be the fitter to keepe our eternall Sabbath with him for so is our eternall happinesse represented unto us in the enjoying of him for ever Es 66.23 and being filled with his glory which Austin calls a De civit Dei lib. 22. c. 30. Sabbatum maximum our greatest Sabbath and b Quaest supra Exo. quaest 173. 1 Cor. 15.24.28 Plenitudo Sabbati and to that purpose casts his eye upon that Sabbatum Sabbatorum Sabbath of Sabbaths Revel 25. For when Christ hath put downe all rule and all authority and power then shall he deliver up the Kingdome to God even the Father and God shall be all in all Yet I willingly confesse that in my observation two things there are which seeme to be of great moment in opposition to the morality of the fourth Commandement 1. The change of the day 2. The generall opinion of the Fathers pronouncing in an indefinit manner the fourth Commandement to be ceremoniall Yet notwithstanding the registring of it in the Decalogue which is generally accompted the Law morall I say this consideration hath even prevailed more with mee to accompt the substance thereof morall Neverthelesse for the honour I owe and respect I beare to Antiquity I have endevoured to understand the Antients aright and to enquire in what respect they accompted it ceremoniall For to my understanding the sanctification of the rest or the service of the day especially unto us Christians is meerely morall But as concerning the rest it selfe it may be some ceremoniality may be found therein especially considered in conjunction with the time appointed for the worship and service of God And herein I thanke God I have found good satisfaction unto my selfe at last how I shall satisfie others I know not And when sometimes I had waded thorow the Epistle to the Romans unto the fourteenth Chapter there occasion was given me to consider further of this controversie so farre as a few dayes would give libertie to provide my next Sermon and therein I made use of Hospinian and of Pererius and no more as I remember but in Pererius I came acquainted with Tostatus his Arguments directed against the ancient institution of the Sabbath from the Creation which till then I imagined had been generally received without contradiction according to that which the story of Genesis at first sight seemes to commend unto us And by this occasion my mind working hereupon in my meditations I thought fit for opening a way to the better clearing of the truth to distinguish three things in subordination the latter to the former 1. The first was a time in generall to be set apart for Gods service 2. The second was the proportion of this time 3. The third the particularity of the day according to the specified proportion 1. The first seemed to me of necessary duty by the very light of nature to as many as know God and acknowledge him to be their Creator and this I tooke and doe take to be the highest degree of morality in this precept and herein hitherto I have found no opposition 2. As touching the second by light of nature we are somewhat to seeke as whether one day in a weeke or more or one day in a month or more or one day in a yeare or more ought to be set apart for the solemne worship and service of God So that herein it is fit we should expect direction from God the Lord of the Sabbath 1. Because the service of the day is his and it seemes fit he should cut out what proportion of time he thinkes convenient 2. For the maintenance of uniformitie therein and lest otherwise there might be as many divisions hereabouts as there are Churches in the world and contentions also consequently each standing for their owne election For reason of a conjecturall nature is very various and therein commonly affection beares the greatest sway and drawes the judgement to comply with it But when God hath determined a certaine proportion of time it may be we shall find great congruitie therein even to naturall reason and farre more than in any other D. Field as Master Broad reports professeth that to one who knowes the story of the Creation it is evident by light of nature that one day in seven is to be consecrated to Gods service Part. 2. lib. 1. cap. 2. And Azorius the Jesuit in his morall Institutions acknowledgeth that It is most agreeable to reason that after six work dayes one day should be consecrated to divine worship The least division of dayes is into a weeke the next greater division is into a month the next into a yeare Now by light of nature it seemes farre more reasonable that one day in seven should be imployed in Gods service than one day in a moneth And if a seventh part of our time be to be consecrated unto God better a seventh day than a seventh part of every day because the worldly occupations of each of those dayes must needs cause miserable distraction Thus reason may discourse in probable manner when God hath gone before us to open a way unto us Certainly when God hath once determined the proportion of time it is so farre from being accounted morall as perpetuall and still to hold untill God himselfe shall alter it 3. As for the particularity of the day according to the forenamed proportion therein we should be farre more to seeke were wee left unto our selves time consisting in a continuall flux and succession one part afore and another after As namely supposing one day in seven is to be consecrated to Gods service yet wee shall still be to seeke which day of the seven is to be set apart for an holy use And no marvell for in it selfe it is nothing materiall For a proportion of service being required within a certaine compasse so it be done within that compasse every Master rests satisfied with his servants worke But as for difference in the proportion every one accounts that a matter of great moment God himselfe acknowledgeth this therefore to whom he gives but little at their hands he expects but little to whom hee gives much of them he expects much as our Saviour teacheth And Saint John exhorts Christians so to carry themselves in the Lords service that they may receive a full reward 2 Iohn 8 Yet both for our assurance that
new 2 Cor. 5.17 and this he brings in upon shewing what Christ hath deserved at our hands in as much as he died for us and rose againe vers 15. the end whereof was this that he might be Lord both of quicke and dead Rom. 14.9 and concludes that whosoever is in Christ is a new creature 2 Cor. 5.17 And how are we in Christ but by faith Gal. 2.20 And what is the object of this our faith let the same Apostle answer us If thou confesse with the mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thine heart that God raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved so that this faith in Christs resurrection is to us the beginning of a new creature And Christs resurrection Sedulius calls nasâ—â—ntis mundi primordium And Athanasius saith That as the Sabbath was the end of the first creation so the Lords Day is the beginning of the second creature And this is it that Bishop Andrewes and Bishop Lake doe worke upon for the celebration of the Lords Day as by Divine institution But I am not a little sensible of some appearance of incongruity rising hereupon Almighty God did not thinke it fit that the first day of creation should be our Sabbath but the seventh from the creation as whereon himselfe rested but in the second creation the first day is made our Sabbath To this I answer two things the first is this if man should not rest unto God till the second creation is finished hee should not rest at all in this world And the sixe dayes being the dayes of Gods worke the seventh was the first of mans worke which God would have to be an holy worke most convenient whereby to take livery and seasin of the world For albeit God commanded Adam to dresse the garden and keepe it when he placed him in it yet it is nothing probable it had need of dressing so soone as it was made and no mention of rest commanded at the first onely it is said that because God rested that day from all his works therefore he blessed the seventh day and sanctified it This I deliver to save the expression of Athanasius 2. But in my judgement there is an exact congruity betweene rest and rest in each creation For as God rested the seventh day from the worke of creation so Christ rested the first day of the weeke from his worke of Redemption which was the meritorious cause of the new creation For Christs dying and continuing under the power of death for a certaine time I may justly reckon as one worke of Redemption in which time hee suffered ignominy not onely from the reproach of the world but from the weaknesse of his servants faith Acts 24. whose voyce was wee thought it had been he who should have redeemed Israel As for Zanchy in the place cited by Gomarus hee confesseth hunc diem ex traditione Apostolica esse optimo jure ab Ecclesia retentum That the Lords Day is to be observed by Apostolicall tradition and by the best right retained by the Church this the Prefacer in his wisedome omitted indeed hee saith we no where reade that the Apostles commanded it but left it free but take with you the rest ita liberum ut omnino ipse dies sanctificandus sit nisi charitas aliud postulat In such a manner free that omninò undoubtedly the day it selfe ought to be sanctified unlesse charity require otherwise I conceive his meaning is and the meaning of all that use this language that wee are to keepe it by no other obligation not of speciall commandement than the reason of the day doth minister unto us it being the day that the Lord hath made joyfull to Gods Church by the resurrection of Christ from the dead and in this sense they say it doth not bind mens consciences to wit as a Precept doth whether we know the equity of it or no. And it were very strange that Christians in keeping any holy day in the weeke should not make choice of the Lords Day for that without any expresse commandement Aretius saith no more than that Christians changed the Sabbath unto the Lords Day and can any man doubt but that the Apostles were meant hereby For which is most likely that the practice and judgement of others was a leading cause to the Apostles or rather that the judgement and practise of the Apostles was a leading cause unto all others Simler hath no more but this that he calls it the custome of the Church so doth Tilenus yet he proposeth it as likely to have had its institution from Christ Paraeus in the very place cited by Gomarus ascribeth the change of the day to the Apostolicall Church and expressely saith that the Apostle commanded the Corinthians to meet together the first day of the weeke and make their collections I wonder the Prefacer omits Cuchlinus was it because that which others call consuetudinem Ecclesiae hee calls consuetudinem Apostolicam In the last place Bucer is named by the Prefacer but Gomarus is well content to omit what is delivered by him But to the contrary I will not forbeare to set downe what I find in his booke De Regno Christi lib. 1. cap. 11. For having formerly described what are the true workes of holy rests added upon the backe of it Eapropter For this cause the Lords Day was consecrated by the Apostles themselves to these kind of actions Which ordinance of theirs institutum he calls it the antient Churches observed most religiously Then he shews the cause why they changed the day 1. The first reason given is to testifie that Christians are not obliged to the Pedagogie of Moses law 2. The second is to celebrate the memory of Christs resurrection which was performed on the first day of the weeke So that not one of the Authors mentioned by him makes any thing for him And if the passages of the sixe mentioned by him and related by Gomarus did make any thing for him we have no lesse of the ancient Fathers to the contrary as namely Athanasius Cyril Eusebius Austin lately mentioned to whom adde Sedulius operis Paschalis lib. 5. cap. 21. The glory of the eternall King illustrating the first day of the weeke with the trophy of his resurrection primatum cum religione concessum diâ—rum censuit retinere cunctorum thought good it should have the primacy of all dayes granted unto it with religion that is with an holy celebration thereof Adde unto him Gregory mentioned in the first Section affirming that Antichrist affecting to imitate Christ shall command the Lords Day to be kept holy Adde to these the universall consent of Christendome in antient times for when the question was proposed unto them as usually it was thus Dominicum servasti Hast thou kept the Sabbath their answer was this Christianus sum intermittere non possum For Brentius alleged by him to little purpose let mee represent what Gerard the Lutherane writes of our Christian
destroy the law but to fulfill it and that the least of them should not be abrogated in his kingdome of the new Testament In so much that whosoever breaketh one of the least of these tenne commandments and teacheth men so hee should be called the least in the Kingdome of heaven that is saith the Author he should have no place in his Church To the first of these here the Doctor answereth thus To which we say with the Apostle Doe we destroy the Law by faith God forbid We confirme it rather 2 Christ then hath put away the shadow but retained the light and spreads it wider then before shewing thereby the excellent harmony betweene the Gospell and the Law As touching the first part of this present answer that is too aliene from our present purpose the question betweene us being not whether the Law be destroyed by preaching justification by faith we know that as touching the ceremoniall Law whatsoever was prefigured thereby is fulfilled by Christ and as touching the morall Law Christ hath fulfilled that also partly in himselfe by perfect obedience thereunto and making satisfaction for our disobedience and partly in us by giving us more power to performe obedience thereunto through faith in him then ever we had before since the fall of Adam But our Saviour Matth. 5. treats of destroying the law by abrogating it or any part thereof which how they can avoid who teach that Christ by his death hath freed us from the Yoke of the fourth commandement I cannot comprehend Suppose it be but one of the least commandements yet let them looke to it who discourse of abrogating it and teach men that they are not obliged by it hand over head least they be accompted by the Lord of Sabbath the least in the kingdome of heaven therefore it stands them upon to confirme it rather as they professe but how they doe performe that which they pretend I am utterly to seeke 2. I come therefore to the consideration of the second part of the answer consisting of two parts 1. That Christ hath put away the shadow 2. That he hath retained the light spreads it further As for the first wee have heard the proportion of one day in seven allowed unto Gods service to be called a ceremony and consequently a shadow But what this prefigured is not explaned at all nor ever hath beene that ever I read or heard Neither is this put away but continueth still in the observation of the Lords day all the Christian world over and I doubt not but it will continue to the end of the world The restraint of the worship to the seventh day hath beene also called a ceremony but too too crudely and without all explication of what it figured yet we willingly grant a faire prefiguration of somewhat concerning Christ is found in the seventh day acknowledged by the Ancients and by moderne writers both Papists and Protestants both Lutherans and Calvinists but that is not in reference to the worship restrained to that day but in reference to the test fairely representing Christs rest that day in his grave and thereupon grounding the rigorous condition of the Jewish rest which is the practise both of Papists of Protestants so that the Sabbath is not taken away neither as touching some time in generall to be sanctified unto God nor as touching the proportion of time in speciall as of one day in seven but only as touching the particular day which is changed into the Lords day Our Saviour professing that a Sabbath still was to bee kept of Christians as Doctor Andrewes proveth out of Matth. 24 20. As for the second to wit the light that is said to be retained and spread wider then before this is meere darknesse unto me for I cannot by any meanes comprehend the meaning of it Neither is here any course taken to expound it and bring us acquainted with the interpretation of it Suppose by the light is meant the thing prefigured and that is devised to bee a spirituall rest from sinne Sect. 4. But this I hope the Prophets and holy servants of God under the Law were partakers of together with the rest of the Sabbath and the sanctification of it as well as we under the Gospell and if the sanctification of the Sabbath I speak of our Christian Sabbath according to our Saviours language Matth. 24.20 be taken from us I doubt wee shall enjoy that spirituall rest from sinne in farre lesse measure under the Gospell then the Jewes did under the law Yet neither they nor we shall enjoy it intirely till we are brought to our rest in glory Certainely the conscionable observation of the Sabbath ever was and is a principall meanes to draw us to that spirituall rest from sin and eternall rest in glory If Saint Paul by taxing the Jewish observation of dayes times doth therewithall tax the observation of the Lords day in place of the Jewish then let us turne Anabaptists and Socinians and utterly renounce the observation of the Lords day as well as of the Jewish Sabbath The same Apostle Col. 2. speakes not of the Sabbath but of Sabbaths and there were dayes enough so called amongst the Jewes and that by the Lord both of dayes and yeares besides the weekely Sabbath yet we are content the rest of the seventh may be ranged amongst other Sabbaths as prefiguring Christs rest that day in the grave But to speake of the Sabbath hand-over-head without distinction we love not nor see I any cause why men should be in love therewith unlesse withall they love confusion and to fish in troubled waters is many times an advantage to serve turnes Let the rest of the seventh be in Gods name crucified with Christ upon the crosse or at least be buryed with him in his grave and so as never to rise with him but let our Christian Sabbath our Saviour speakes of Matth. 24.20 take life together with our Saviours resurrection that brought with it a new creation a new world and there withall a new Sabbath as Doctor Andrewes Bishop of Winchester delivers it in his Starre Chamber speech in the case of Trask As reason tells us that there must be some certaine appointed time for Gods publique Service so as good reason tells us wee Christians cannot without sinne allow unto God for his publique service a worse proportion of time under the Gospell then the Jewes were bound to allow unto him under the Law God himselfe never having deserved so much at the hands of man as under the Gospell and there never being greater necessitie of observing a Sabbath then under the Gospell the way of truth and holinesse being so beset and with such encombrances as the like were never knowne to the world before yet still from the bondage and necessitie of the Iewish Sabbath we are delivered by the Gospell for neither doe we keepe their day then called the Lords holy day but the first day of the weeke the
Observationis so that under God I know no power that can alter it Thes 49. The Fathers speake of the Jewish Sabbath and Allegorize that as it was carnally used by the Jewes But we shall wrong the Fathers if we thinke they held that there was no Morality in the Letter of the Commandement For though there were a mystery figured in it yet they doe not deny that there was a morall proportioning of time for Divine Service prescribed therein which is the seventh part of the weeke It is one thing to say that all our life time we must be religious in our conversation and keepe a spirituall Sabbath another thing to affirme that we must not have a solemne weekely day wherein to intend onely Divine worship This last point the Fathers doe not say the former they doe and to argue from their Omission is to extend their words beyond their meaning at least their meaning is not adaequate to the sense of the Commandement No nor to their practise For they did constantly observe a seventh part of the weeke which I say is the first principle contained in the fourth Commandement Though I deny not but there is moreover a limitation to the seventh day from the Creation exprest which Christ and his Apostles altered but this alteration cannot overthrow the first principle they may both well goe together To the particular allegations out of the Fathers I will answer no more then that what they say is true but doth not contradict what I hold For the mysticall sense doth not overthrow the literall of the Commandement And they understand the seventh day precisely from the Creation which we confesse altered and speake not of the divine Ordinance for the apportioning of time but the carnall observation of the Jewes And your answer to the first Question grounded on the Fathers words may passe for good but there is more in the Commandement then so Your Answer to the second I cannot so well approve because it is Exclusive As for your third answer That the fourth Commandement is not the Law of nature but a positive law take the Law of Nature for Morall Reason then I think there is more then meere positivenesse in it For morall reason teacheth to honour the day whereon the work is done and that morall reason which gave this in charge was Apostolicall and so of a commanding power in both And then you see that it is neither meerely positive nor meerely naturall but mixt and so binding accordingly ut supra ad Thesin 37. 43. You adde two Questions 1 Whether seeing the Lords day succeeds the Jewish Sabbath wee are to keepe it in the same manner and with the same strictnesse First I hold in my Theses that our Lords day doth properly succeed the Sabbath instituted at the Creation Whereupon I separate all the Accessories from Moses Law Secondly The Jewes did misconstrue the stricknesse of their Sabbath as appeareth by the many corrections of our Saviour in the Gospell and his Generall Rule The Sabbath was made from man not man for the Sabbath Thirdly They held that they might not so much as kindle a fire or dresse Meat upon that day grounding their conceipt upon the Texts that are Ex. 35. cap. 16. But both Texts seeme to be wrested for that Exod. 35. about kindling a fire must be limited by the verse going before and is not to be understood of any other kindling of fire then for following of their Trades or Servile workes as they are called And so Munster Vatable and others upon that place censure their mistake And that it is a mistake against the meaning of the Commandment I gather from hence For the Jewes that will not put their owne hands to kindle a fire will hire Christians to doe it for them as if the Commandment did not reach Servants and strangers within their gates and they offend as much in doing it by others as if they did it by themselves But so doe they use to abuse the Scripture and confute their Glosses by their owne practice As for the 16. Chapter of Exod. which seemeth to forbid the dressing of Meat I hold that mistaken also Read the Chapter and mark whether you can finde that upon the sixth day they were to dresse any more then served for that day and to lay up the rest undressed untill the Sabbath at what time I hope they were to dresse it before they did eat it And indeed only the providing of Manna is there forbidden and a promise whereof they had experience that it would not putrifie upon the Sabbath though they kept it till then whereas upon other dayes it would And in this sense doe I understand the severe punishment of him that gathered sticks upon the seventh day it was because he then made his provision and did it it should seeme with an high hand Numb cap. 15. As for recreations I can say nothing but that seeing the Lords day is to be the exercise of that life which is spirituall and as a foretast of that which is eternall it were to be wisht that wee did intend those things as farre as our frailty will reach But Vivitur non cum perfectis hominibus and wee must be content to have men as good as we may when it is not to be hoped they will be as good as they should Yet we must take heed that we doe not solemnize our feast vainly as either the Iewes or Gentiles did Against whom Nazianzene is very tart Tertul. in his Apolog. In the Civill Law we finde a dispensation for Husbandmen in case of necessity contrary to the Jewish policy Exod. 34. Which is followed by our Law Edward the 6. Wee may in apparrell and diet be more liberall and costly on feasts then on other dayes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were Corporall feasts joyned to the Eucharist wherein the rich did feed the poore Which afterward for inconvenience was removed out of the Church I meane the Corporall feast although in Saint Austins confessions you shall find that in Saint Ambrose days there were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at the Toombs of Martyrs which Saint Ambrose tooke away But though the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were taken out of the Church yet upon those dayes the rich relieved their poore Brethren Which they little thinke of that for feare of breaking the Sabbath have taken away Hospitality Some men are over-nice in this point more nice then Christ himselfe Luc. 14. who on the Sabbath went to a feast and that was to a wedding feast And why not seeing the Sabbath is Symbolum Aeternae not only quietis but Laetitiae therefore resembled to a feast without the toyle of Acquisition So that the Sabbath is not violated by feasts if wee exceed not Necessitatem Personae though Naturae wee doe Now Necessitas Personae requireth that more be imployed in providing feasts as a Kings diet then a Subjects a Noble then a Common mans a Colledge then a