signes And I cannot see a cause why under the new Testament we should burthen our selves with a signe which God declareth to have beene ordained by him to the Iewes in their generations as if without it we could not remember the thing signified unto them by it Let us content our selves with the gracions signes and memorialls which Iesus Christ hath instituted and given us of the worke of our Redemption fulfilled by him of our justification of our sanctification c. These are Baptisme and the Lords Supper which being signes of a worke farre more excellent then the Creation have caused the ancient memoriall of that other worke to cease which notwithstanding we may and ought to record having in nature continually many memorialls thereof before our eyes to wit the heavens the earth all the creatures which advertise us of their Author and of the beginning of their existance And in holy Scripture many documents which entertaine and hold us most frequently in the consideration of this worke Yea the Sacraments also signifying unto us our Regeneration and new Creation draw us back consequently to the meditation of our first Creation And we may in all places and times indifferently call to minde and for it glorifie the Lord our God possessour of heauen and earth although we be not tyed by the Law to any particular day For of him and through him and to him are all things To him be glory for ever Rom. 11. 36. 13 The example of God who made in sixe daies heaven and earth and rested on the seventh day is of no force to this purpose For to say without restriction that Gods example is of necessity to be alwaies followed as being of it selfe and of its nature imitable or rather that God in all his works proposeth himselfe as a paterne and president to follow is a proposition too generall God may be considered either in regard of his attributes or in regard of his actions Of his attributes there be some which wee ought to imitate and they are in the Scripture laid downe unto us as examples of imitation Such are his goodnesse his mercy his love his justice as it is written Be yee holy for I am holy Levit. 19. vers 2. 1 Pet. 1. vers 16. Be yee perfect and mercifull as your Father which is in heaven is perfect and mercifull Matth. 6. vers 48. Luk. 6. vers 36. Let us love one another for love is of God for God is love 1 Ioh. 4. verse 7 8. If yee know that he is righteous yee know that every one that doth righteousnesse is borne of him 1 Ioh. 2. vers 29. There be others which to speake properly are not paterns of imitation neither are we in any sort able to imitate them Such are his Eternity the Infinity of his Essence and Knowledge his omnipotency c. which also we are nevâ—â— exhorted to imitate 14 It is consequently even so of his actions and of his fashion in working Of them some flow immediatly from these first attributes of his holinesse bounty mercy love righteousnesse c. and are essentially actions charitable mercifull bountifull righteous c. These of their nature and of themselves are imitable and that alwaies For example God is bountifull and doth good unto all forgiveth all those that have recourse to his mercy giveth a convenient and sutable reward unto vertue and a due punishment to vice protecteth those that are strengthlesse and oppressed upholdeth those that are infirme and weake c. whereof hee hath given triall by divers experiences From thence wee may conclude truely and soundly that by reason of the righteousnesse holinesse goodnesse which are essentially imprinted in these actions men ought to imitate them in all times to their power and abilitie according to the calling wherein they are called and the rules that he hath in his holy Word prescribed unto them There be other actions proceeding from these other attributes or proprieties of God For example from his omnipotency Such as are his miraculous actions God hath created the world of nothing hath framed man of the dust of the earth and doth a thousand more or such great wonders These actions oblige us not to imitate Gods example in them also God propoundeth them not unto us as examples to be followed for we are not able to imitate them Likewise wee are not bound to immitate the actions and proceedings of God which are grounded on his Will pure and simple whereof although God had the reasons in his owne brest yet we cannot on our part alledge any reason taken from an essentiall righteousnesse inherent in them but onely say for all reason he hath done as it pleased him As that he made the walls of Ierico to fall downe by seven blasts of seven trumpets of Rams-hornes in seven severall daies Iosh. 6. vers 3. 4. 20. cured Naaman of his leprosie sending him to Iordan to wash in it seven times 2 King 5. vers 10. 14 c. 15 Like in all things is unto this the course which God did observe in the Creation making all his works in sixe daies and resting on the seventh day For no man can tell why he did so saving onely because he would the thing it selfe not having in it any naturall equity or evident morality And therefore no kinde of obligation to doe the like can be naturally inferred from thence I meane to observe sixe daies of worke and one of rest All these and other semblable proceedings of God are not an example and oblige not any man to imitate them saving in case God be pleased to command them to doe so as hee would not through any necessity which was in the thing and whereby he was bound to make such a Commandement but because such was his good pleasure command the Iewes to worke sixe daies and rest the seventh day who also afterwards observed that precept not through necessity of imitation taken from the thing it selfe nor that naturally it was emplary unto them but because it pleased God to command them so to doe As also in the fourth Commandement this reason that God in sixe dayes made and finished all his workes and rested the seventh day is not alleadged immediately for an example and a cause of obligation to the Iewes to doe the like but as an occasion that GOD tooke according to his free will to bind them by that Commandement to this observation which also in consequence of the said Commandement they practised For it is said in expresse tearmes In sixe dayes God made all his workes and rested the seventh day Therefore he blessed the seventh day and hallowed it to wit to be observed by the Iewes And it was this blessing and hallowing notified by Commandement which obliged the Iewes to the observation of the seventh day and not Gods course of proceeding immediately For undoubtedly this will be advowed that if God had not declared his will by a Commandement the Iewes had not thought
established for the publike exercises of religion neverthelesse because Sunday hath beene alwayes used in the Christian Church for a day of divine service and all religious exercises he ought not to forbeare to apply himselfe unto them privately on that day with greater assiduity than on other dayes And because where there is an order and discipline established the Rulers of the State and of the Church to prevent all disorders and stirre up greater respect to the exercises of religion which are practised on Sunday have thought fit to forbid on that day the publike and ordinary workes of the other dayes of the weeke he shall doe well to refraine on it from the ordinary workes of his worldly trade and calling to obey these high powers that God hath subjected him unto It is then the order of the Church principally that must be to every Christian the rule of the abstinence and cessation from ordinary workes that he is to observe on Sunday or on another day That is he must not apply himselfe to such workes without great necessity during all the time wherein this order calleth upon him to resort to the house of God to come to the holy assemblies not to sit idle not to busie himselfe about bodily occupations when he ought to be in the congregation hearing the word of God with attention praying and singing with heart and mouth to the Lord in the company of his faithfull brethren If divine service be publikely practised before and after noone in the Church whereof he is a member he must not soothe himselfe with a fond opinion that he hath done his duty when he hath beene present at either of them and forsaken one of the two to bestow it on some other thing That time ordained by the Church being expired and the whole service of that day finished when he is come home and is alone he is free to doe what he will so it be honest and lawfull to worke or to refresh himselfe for in that he sinneth not against God transgresseth not his Commandements If he will passe the rest of the day in actions of religion he shall do well if he will spend it on other ordinarie and common actions of this life he shall not doe ill with this proviso that he be carefull to prepare himselfe by religious meditations for the publike and holy exercises before they begin and take time to call them to minde after they are ended that so he may make them faithfull and profitable to his soule feele in his heart their efficacie and shew it by an holy conversation in the whole sway of his life Otherwise the wicked one shall come and catch away that which was sowne in his heart Matt. 13. v. 19. 6 All that can and should be propounded to teach us how wee ought to sanctifie the Lords day must be grounded upon the necessitie holinesse and utility of the religious exercises of divine service upon the respect due unto them and upon the authority of the Church commanding upon these grounds This is the only reason of the sanctification of that day In this is the strength of all the arguments whereby Gods servants ought to stirre up devotion in the hearts of their hearers And not in the nature of the day wherein God is publikely served not also in any obligation whereby the conscience is tied unto it Those that feare God and have respect unto his Commandements will not omit the observation of this day although they be informed that it obligeth them not neither of it self nor also by a divine commandement more than another day For it is not the day that they regard but the great need they have to be instructed comforted fortified in the knowledge of God in the love of his glorious Majestie in true godlinesse by the exercises which God hath ordained to that end not onely particular at home which they may doe at all times as they shall have occasion but also publike in the Church in any day whatsoever the Church shall appoint 7 On the other side those that have not the love God and of the exercises of religion in their hearts will never be moved to give their minde with more affection and assiduity to Gods service by beleeving that Sunday is a day of Gods owne institution For if they make no account of that which is the principall and the end which God hath injoyned and urgeth so carefully what reckoning can they make of a thing which putting the case it were a divine institution could not injoy that prerogative saving as a helpe and a meanes tending to that end If they should cover their forsaking of Gods service and of the holy exercises on Sunday with this pretext that it is not a divine institution should they not discover a manifest profanenesse for as much as that under a slight frivolous pretence they should disdaine that which they cannot be ignorant of but that God hath ordained it to wit the holy convocations the communion of the faithfull in them his word his Sacraments the publike calling upon his name Such profane ones must be left to the judgement of God who will finde them out in his owne time 8 As for the true faithfull the glory of God and their owne salvation being their principall end they will alwayes keepe religiously and chearefully all things whereby they come to their end First the meanes which essentially and by Gods ordinance belong unto it such as are the exercises of religion particular and publike Next those which being in themselves indifferent and having no obligatorie power over the conscience by a divine commandement are notwithstanding lawfully established by the Church for orders sake and to set forth the former by ordinary practice such as is the institution of Sunday By which behaviour they shall draw upon themselves from the Father of lights the blessing of grace during their abode in these low parts of the earth and of glory in heaven through the precious merits of our onely Saviour and Redeemer Iesus Christ to whom with the Father and the holy Ghost be all honour glory and praise for ever and ever AMEN A CONFIRMATION OF THE THINGS CONTAINED IN THE PRECEDING TREATISE BY humane Authorities THat the world may not thinke that in my tenets and proofes I have onely set down that which in my owne judgement I thought to be warrantable by the word of God and reason which are the chiefest foundations on which we ought to build I thought it not unfit for the further confirmation of the premisses to adde as an Appendix to my former Discourse some Passages of learned Writers both ancient and moderne especially of the reformed Churches who were first both in time and worth and who deservedly have great credit and authority amongst us In quoting the Passages I shall reduce them to the chiefe heads of my Treatise PASSAGES Concerning the nature and beginning of the Sabbath IUSTIN Martyr in Dialogo
the rest of the people were two types of the same thing but unknowne till the Law was given 8. This is acknowledged by the Iewes who confirme it by Scripture 9. Hereof it followeth that the Sabbath was not given to Adam 10. As also that it is not obligatory under the New Testament 11. Although the heavenly rest which it typed be not yet come 1 IT is manifest enough by the foresaid passages that the observation of a Seventh day of Sabbath is not a morall duty and obligeth not by a divine Commandement mens consciences under the New Testament Nay it is apparant that the Sabbath day was instituted to the Iewes only and appertained to the ceremonies of the Law I confirme this againe by these words of GOD in Exodus Chapter 31. verse 13. and in Ezekiel Chapter 20. ver 12 20. Verily my Sabbaths yee shall keepe for it is a signe betweene me and you throughout your generations that yee may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctifie you Where is to be marked the Sabbath is called a signe ordained of GOD not to all men but to the Israelites onely to signifie unto them their consecration to his service and their sanctification which consisted in a continuall abstinence from all vices and sinnes which verily trouble and disquiet the soule and also in a bodily rest sometimes from the turmoiles and cares of this life that they might bestow some fit and convenient time without hinderance upon the contemplation of God and meditation of his graces and so give place to the operation of the holy Ghost whereby they might bring forth workes of godlinesse and of true holinesse To the end that the Sabbath day might expresse this visibly and also be unto them a helpe and meane to so necessary a duty they were commanded to forbeare exactly all servile workes and all bodily labour belonging to the worldly imploiments of this present life Which figured and taught them sufficiently that God obliged them farre more to cease from the workes of sinne which are properly servile according as it is written Whosoever committeth sinne is servant of sinne Ioh. 8. ver 34. Rom. 6. v. 16. And to abstaine from the lusts and acts of the flesh and of the old man and to compose and quiet themselves conveniently with a spirituall rest that they might receive the heavenly inspirations of his grace And as it is said in Esaiah Chap. 58. v. 13. not follow their owne waies nor finde their owne pleasure nor speake their owne words For as I have said God purposed to figure by that bodily and externall abstinence from earâ—hly workes the inward and spirituall abstinence from sinne 2 Nay to instruct and assure them by the Sabbath as by a signe that it is hee even the Lord that sanctifieth his owne children that giveth them grace to rest in some measure from their sinnes and troubles in these lower parts of the earth and shall fully performe their sanctification in heaven where after the workes and turmoiles of the anger of this life there shall be as it were a seventh day of Sabbath a time of perfect and eternall rest for them For wee may esteeme not without some likenesse of truth that the generations of the world ought to be sixe composed each of them of a thousand yeeres and figured by the sixe daies of worke in respect whereof it is perhaps said that one day is with the Lord as a thousand yeeres and a thousand yeeres as one day Psal 9. vers 4. and 2 Peter 3. vers 8. 3 The Sabbath day was interrupted by other worke-daies and returned onely every seventh day by a continuall reciprocation and vicissitude whereby it represented but imperfectly the perpetuity of the true rest as figures can hardly represent in perfection the truth whereof they are figures But at the end of the world this reciprocation of daies shall cease and there shall be as it were one perpetuall day which as Zechariah saith Chap. 14. vers 6 7. Shall be all one day wherein there shall not be day and night light and darknesse but a perpetuall light without darknesse After this manner the spirituall rest hath its interruptions and discontinuance in this world the continuation of it is as it were by fits and new beginnings But in the world to come it shall have a continuance without intermission with an intire and solid perfection without any trouble of sinne or of labour God granteth this rest to his owne children for his Sonne the Messias his sake the onely consideration of whose death the force and efficacy whereof stretched out it selfe as well forward to those that went before as afterward to those that have or shall come after the accomplishment thereof was unto him in these times of the old Testament as since a most forcible motive to conferre upon his elect sanctification with other comfortable and saving benefits here on earth beneath and there in heaven above So the Sabbath diâ—ected the Iewes to Christ who was to come and was a figure thereof representing unto them a benefit of the Covenant which Christ was to purchase and ratifie with his owne blood and therefore it ought to have its accomplishment and end in him as have had all other ancient figures whereby he was represented 4 And indeed in the passages before cited it is called a signe betweene GOD and the Israelites which is the same name that is given to the Circumcision the Passeover and other legall figures and moreover it is said that it shall be a signe betweene God and the Israelites for a perpetuall covenant and for ever but in the same sense that all other ordinances of the Law and divers temporall promises made to the Israelites are called perpetuall that is in their generations which is expresly marked in the forenamed place of Exodus Chap. 31. vers 16 17. where God saith Wherefore the children of Israel shall keepe my Sabbath to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations for a perpetuall covenant It is a signe betwene mee and the children of Israel for ever meaning that it should remaine till the comming of Messias during the oeconomy of the Law and whilest the people of Israel should be the onely people of God but no more in the time of Messias whose time and generation belongeth not to those generations which God allotted to the Israelites when he said that such and such things should be done and should continue in their generations words which are ordinarily spoken of things that were to persist only in the time of the old Testament As when God ordained the Sacrament of Circumcision he said to Abraham that it should be to him and to his seed after him in their generations for an everlasting covenant Gen. 17. vers 7. 9. 10. When he commanded the Israelites to fill an Omer of Manna and to keepe it he said it should be for their generations Exod. 16. vers 32. 33. that is till the
nor also of Gods rest which in effect hath continued ever since because this other rest which it figured shall never have an end 7 Now this figure of Gods resting from the works of grace which he had first resolved and determined in himselfe and founded upon his owne rest from the workes of nature was intimated by him when giving his Law to the Israelites he commanded to forbeare all workes and by that cessation to sanctifie the seventh day which he had rested in to the intent that this day and their cessation on it as an image correspondent in some sort to the example of his owne rest should be unto them likewise a type and figure of the eternall rest which they should obtaine in heaven after all the workes and toiles of this life according to his good pleasure whereby he had ordained from the beginning that it should be so And so Gods rest on the seventh day after the creation was ended and the rest which he ordained also to the Israelites on that same day after their six daies worke were in effect two types of one and the same thing to wit of the accomplishment of the salvation and of the blessednesse and glory of the faithfull in heaven but in divers respects according as this accomplishment may have relation either to God or to the faithfull To God as to the author who having begun and furthered it will also accomplish and perfect it in which respect it hath had properly Gods rest for figure To the faithfull as unto those which shall injoy and possesse the benefit thereof after the turmoile of their irkesome workes in this world In which regard it had properly for type the rest ordained to the Israelites It is likely that the Apostle in consideration of this mystery when he speaketh vers 9. of the heavenly rest calleth it not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as he doth in all the former verses but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 using a word taken from the Sabbath of the Iewes and that purposely to teach us that the Sabbath of the Iewes in the relation it had to Gods rest on the seventh day which it was founded upon was a figure of the eternall rest prepared for the faithfull 8 And indeed the Iewes have alwaies understood it so For they teach that this rest of the seventh day was a type of the rest prepared for Gods people in the world to come Whereunto they apply this Title of the 92. Psalme A Psame of song for the Sabbath day saying that this Psalme is a song for the time to come to wit for the day of eternall life which is all Sabbath all an holy rest signified also by the Sabbath named jointly with the new Moones in Isaiah 66. Chapter verse 23. Where God saith that from one New Moone to another and from one Sabbath to another shall all flesh come to worship before him Which words being applyed to the estate and condition of the world to come as they may be most fitly give to understand that the New Moones and the Sabbaths wherein holy convocations and solemne actions of Gods service were practised were types and figures of the great convocation of all that are his in his heavenly kingdome and of the eternall rest which they shall enjoy there serving him without interruption because there is no intervall no space there betweene the Sabbaths and the New Moones that is betweene the times appointed for rest and the solemne service of GOD as there was under the Law among the Iewes but one Sabbath following immediately another one New Moone succeeding without interposition another as the words of the Text doe import and the whole time being nothing else then a continuall Sabbath that is a perpetuall tenor an unintermitted continuance without change of serving God after a most glorious and unconceivable manner And as God after he had created and made all his workes in sixe dayes ceased on the seventh day ceased I say not simply but with pleasure and content enjoying that glory which from hence redounded unto him even so he shall then rejoyce and magnifie himselfe on that day in all his faithfull in whom he shall have accomplished his glorious work of their redemption and they reciprocally shall rejoyce in him shall rest from their labours and their workes shall follow them Revel 14. ver 3. That is they shall receive pleasure glory and reward of all their good works and shall inherite a glorious rest conformable in some sort to Gods rest Vndoubtedly the use which the Sabbath day had to be a type and figure of this heavenly rest was the cause that God did so precisely urge the Iewes to observe and keepe it inviolably For he designed by so severe an injunction of the exact observation of the typâ— the great importance and necessity of the thing signified thereby 9 Of this I inferre first that the day of rest seeing it was ordained to be a type and figure of the heavenly and eternall rest which Iesus Christ was to purchase to those that are his â—onsâ—â—ering â—â—so that the Scripture for no other â—ause maketh mention oâ— Gods resting on that day and hallowing of it out for this typicall and mâ—sterious use that say I that day was not ordained to Adam from the beginning to bee kept by him in the state of innocency because there is great cause to beleeve that although Adam had persevered in that state and condition he should not have entred into the heavenly rest but had enjoyed simply a terrestriall and eternall blessednesse here below in the Paradise of Heden where God had put him because the heavenly happinesse is alwayes proposed in the Scripture as a supernaturall gift of the grace of God through Christ Iesus and not at all as a naturall grace And it is in that respect that the Apostle in the Epistle to the Romanes Chapter 5. ver 15. 16 17. saith that we receive much more in Iesus Christ then we have lost in Adam and that there is a superaboundance of grace by IESUS CHRIST towards us going farre beyond all the losse wee have made in Adam which could not be said if we had lost any thing over and above an earthly felicity and immortality in these lower parts and if Adam persisting in the state of integrity was to be after many ages on earth received into the kingdome of heaven To which belongeth also that which is written in the fifteenth Chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians where the Apostle making a distinction betweene Adam and Christ saith verse 45. that Adam was made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into a living soule that is to live a naturall life on earth and to communicate it to his off-spring but Iesus Christ was made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into a quickning spirit that is to give to those that are his a spirituall and heavenly life by the mighty power of the grace of Sanctification Also that which he addeth Verse
47. The first man made of the earth was earthy ordained to abide on earth But the second man is the Lord from heaven ordained to have his residence in heaven and to introduce thither all that are his So in all likelihood Adam was not to be transported into the kingdome of heaven although he had continued constantly in his first integrity and uprightnesse Nay in case hee had beene received into that glorious felicity that could not nor should not have befallen him by Iesus Christ as such an one that is as Saviour and Mediator And therefore it is not likely that God ordained in the state of innocency the Seventh day of rest which was never established by him but to be a figure of the heavenly rest and eternall blessednesse which Iesus Christ imparts to all those that beleeve in him 10 Secondly I inferre againe from the same doctrine that seeing the day of rest was first established to bee a figure of the heavenly rest whereof CHRIST is author it hath no obligatory force under the New Testament but ought to cease as have done all other signes figuring the graces which Iesus Christ hath brought unto us and among the rest the type and figure of the rest of the Israelites in the land of Canaan which the Apostle joyneth together with the rest of the Seventh day setting downe the one and the other as types in the same fashion and of the same nature of the heavenly rest 11 The exception which some take against this inference is most absurd when they say that if the Sabbath day was a type of the heavenly rest it ought to remaine in its vigor and strength till this rest come and all the faithfull have obtained it For to the end it should continue no longer it sufficeth that this heavenly and eternall rest hath beene purchased by IESUS CHRIST and that the faithfull possesse it already in part some of them being in heaven happy in their soules and resting from their labours the rest being here beneath where they receive the first fruits and an essay of that blessednesse by the spirituall consolations contentments and delights which in the middest of their greatest afflictions are shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in them Otherwise if the foresaid reason were of any value the other Sabbaths to wit the Sabbath of the seventh yeere and the Iubile of the fiftieth yeere which were Sabbaths of rest unto the the land should continue still because they were figures of that rest which is not yet come Nay all the signes of the Old Testament should remaine because they figured spirituall benefits which are alwayes to come either wholly or in part to all GODs Elect while they are here on earrh The signification of the Iewish circumcision to wit the circumcision of the heart shall not be brought to perfection and absolutely finished till wee be in the kingdome of heaven But it sufficeth for an absolute abolishment of all the signes of the Old Testament that Iesus Christ hath actually acquired all the benefits figured by them although the Elect inherite them not yet totally and perfectly As for the day which the Church hath appointed to be a day of rest under the New Testament it hath not beene ordained to serve for a type and figure which it neither could nor ought to doe but only for order and to be a meanes of the practise of holy duties whereunto some day was of necessity to be allowed CHAPTER Twelfth Answer to the replyes made unto the former Argument 1. First reply the Sabbath being morall from the beginning of the world the figure was accidentally annexed unto it 2. Answer The Sabbath was a legall figure and no thing else 3. Second reply The Sabbath was never a figurative and Typicall signe but only doctrinall marking the straite communion betweene GOD and those that are his and is still such a signe 4. Answer to this reply by the distinction of signes in those that are onely doctrinall and onely memoriall or which besides are figurative or typicall 5. Of which last sort was the Sabbath 6. And therefore it was to be abrogated as well as all other types and figures of the Law 7. Which were all not only typicall but also doctrinall 8. Why the signes of the Christian Church are not figures types 9. Third reply concerning the Raine-bow which is a signe only and no type at all answered 10. Some things yet subsisting which were signes figures and types under the LÃ w may be yet lawfully used but not as signes figures types 11. For cleering of this the types of the Law are distinguished into those whose whole essence consisted in their typicall use as the Circumcision Passeover sacrifices c. 12 And in those which besides the type may in the new Testament have some other good and religious use as abstinence of certaine meats observation of the first day of Moneths of feasts of Sabbaths c. but not as any part of Gods service or through necessity of obedience to Gods Commandement 13 Of this last sort is the Sabbath 14 Fourth reply The Sabbath did not figure Christ therefore it was not a type 15 Answer by a distinction of legall types in those which represented directly Christs person and actions 16 And in those which represented directly his benefits such as were the Circumcision all kinde of Sabbaths the weekely Sabbath all these are abrogated and therefore this also 17 All other judaicall ceremonies although they had no relation to Christ have beene abrogated how much more the Sabbath 1 TO the last reason heretofore alledged some doe reply that indeed in the Sabbath there was a kind of figure ceremony annexed only unto it accidentally but as for the thing it selfe the Sabbath hath beene since the beginning of the world and continueth still a morall thing seeing it was ordained to Adam before sinne came unto the world and to the Israelites before the Law since the giving whereof God added the ceremony to the day to the intent it might be a part not onely of the morall but also of the ceremoniall Law that Christ hath taken away the ceremony but a seventh day of Sabbath hath alwaies the same vigor and force it had from the beginning 2 It sufficeth to answer that this reply layeth a false foundation to wit that a seventh day of Sabbath is of it selfe morall that it was in the time of innocency ordained to Adam and commanded to the Israelites before the Law Whereas it was first ordained by the Law and not before and the figure was not annexed unto it as an accident to a thing already subsisting Nay it was never of its owne nature but a legall figure belonging to the government and ceremonies of the Law as hath beene already and shall be more abundantly confirmed in the refutation of the arguments broached for the contrary opinion 3 Others doe reply by denying that in the observation of
that only which was made in behalfe of the Israelites as is cleere by the repetition of the Law in the fifth Chapter of Deuteronomie where that which was absolutely said in Exodus Therfore the Lord blessed the Seventh day is restrained to the Israelites v. 15. Therefore the Lord commanded thee to keepe the Sabbath day And in Exodus 16. v. 29. The Lord hath given you the Sabbath And in the 31. Chap. ver 16 17. The Children of Israel shall keepe the Sabbath to observe the Sabbath throughout their generation for a perpetuall covenant It is a signe betweene mee and the children of Israel for ever For in sixe dayes the Lord made heaven and earth and on the Seventh day he rested where it cannot be denyed but that with the end of the Creation and Gods rest on the Seventh day is immediately joyned the institution of the Sabbath to the Israelites at least in quality of a signe If then in that place Moses might speake after this manner and say God created in sixe dayes heaven and earth and rested the Seventh day and therefore he hath ordained to the Israelites the Sabbath day for a signe wherefore in the second of Genesis might he not say after the same manner God made heaven and earth in sixe dayes and finished them on the Seventh day and rested from all his workes and this his Rest on the Seventh day hath moved him to blesse ánd sanctifie that day to wit to the Israelites to be a signe unto them according to that hath been said in the places before mentioned which are an evident and cleere explication thereof 11 Neither is it any wise necessary as is pretended that in the second Chapter of Genesis in the second and third verses one and the same singular seventh day should be understood and that God hath precisely sanctified the same seventh day wherein he rested and rested on the same day that he sanctified and therefore because in the second verse the first seventh day after the Creation is understood it must be taken so in the third verse For it sufficeth to understand in the third verse the same seventh day in likenesse and revolution and generally a seventh day correspondent continually in order to that which GOD rested on after his workes of the sixe dayes And this reason that God rested on the first seventh day might have been to God a most reasonable cause to ordaine long after the sanctification of a seventh day answerable in all points to that first seventh day The sequell of Moses his discourse is as fitting in this regard as in the other As if I said our Lord Iesus Christ rose againe and rested from the worke of our redemption on the first day of the weeke wherefore the Church hath dedicated the first day of the weeke that hee rose in to be holy and solemne the sequele is good although it be not the same first singular day that Christ rose on and the Church hath consecrated but the same onely in likenesse and revolution yea although there passed a long time after the Resurrection of our Lord and Saviour before the first day of the weeke could be well setled as a day of holy and religious exercises We say on Friday before Easter this day Christ hath suffered on the Ascension day this day Christ is ascended into heaven At Whitsunday On this day the Holy Ghost is come downe although those things came to passe on a certaine singular day which is past long agoe But we name so all the dayes following which correspond to that first day according to the similitude which is betweene them And we call the day of the Passion of the Ascension of the descent of the Holy Ghost those which are not such properly but onely have by revolution correspondancie with the first dayes wherein such things were done Even so when it is said in the third verse of the second Chapter of Genesis And therefore the Lord hath blessed the Seventh day and hath hallowed it because in it he hath rested from all his workes that is to be understood not of the same first day wherein hee rested but of a Seventh day answering unto it in the order and continuall succeson of dayes 12 The Article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 put in the third verse before the word that signifieth seven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 proveth not that it is a peculiar seventh even that seventh day that God rested in verse 2. For although the Article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be often used to betoken emphatically a thing singular and individuall already knowne and mentioned yet this is not universall For it is used much without any emphasis or expresse demonstration of any thing either singular or certaine yea simply to serve for an ornament and to make the word that it is joyned unto more full which use hath also in the Greeke tongue the article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Verily in the third ver which we speak of in this place it is cleere that the said Article cannot be restrained to a seventh singular day as it is in the second verse Nay it betokeneth more generally a seventh day comprehending in it many singular dayes which by similitude in regard of the order and succession of times have reference and analogie to the first seventh day mentioned in the said second verse and have followed it from time to time at the end of sixe dayes For it is such a seventh day that God hath sanctified and not a singular seventh And that seventh day may bee called a particular seventh and considered as particularised by the Article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is in effect in as much as it is not indifferently all seventh day or any of the seven dayes of the weeke that God hath sanctified but it is the last of them We seeke only to know when God began to blesse and to hallow it to men to be kept by them And I maintaine that this hallowing began not incontinent after the Creation was finished but more than two thousand yeeres after Neither is the contrary proved by this passage of Genesis 13 No greater weight hath another instance which is much urged that as in the course of the Creation when it is said that God after he had created every living thing blessed them Gen. 1. v. 21 22 27 28. is to be understood a present benediction and not put off to a long time Even so when in the second of Genesis with the perfection of the Creation on the seventh day is joyned the blessing and hallowing of that day a present sanctification is to be understood 14 For the reason is not alike in the one and in the other First the blessing of all living creatures and the blessing of the seventh day are not to be taken in the same sence That is a blessing of actuall and reall communication of goods and graces This is a blessing of destination to be solemnized by men Secondly
of Nehemiah not for their owne sake but only in consideration of the Iewes lest they should offend them and give them occasion to breake the Sabbath after their example For the observation of the Sabbath did no more oblige them naturally then the other observation of the Iewish religion lust as in all politick regiment which is well ordered it is usuall to hinder those that are strangers to the religion professed in it from giving any disturbance to the exercises of devotion namely in the solemnities and holy daies To urge this point is it not true that among the Iewes strangers were obliged to keep all other Sabbaths new Moons holy daies solemnities after the same manner that they were constrained to keepe the Sabhath that is not to violate them publikely and with offence Were they not forbidden as well as the Iewes to eate leavened bread during the seven daies of the Passeover Exodus 12. verse 19. as also to eate blood Levit. 17 vers 10. 12 13. Will any man upon this inferre that the ordinances of all these Sabbaths new Moones Feasts unleavened bread abstinence from eating blood were not ceremonies but morall ordinances obliging for ever all men and consequently all Christians under the new Testament Sure this must be concluded by the same reasoning the vanity whereof is by this sufficiently demonstrated and discredited 10 Fifthly they inforce their opinion with these words For in sixe daies the LORD maae heaven and earth the sea and all that in them is and rested the seventh day Whence they gather that sith the creation must be in perpetuall remembrance and God ordained to the Iewes the seventh day for a memoriall therof and of his rest all men ought to keepe it continually for the same end and in that follow his example which also hee proposeth in the words before mentioned to the end that as hee made his workes in sixe daies and rested the seventh day so likewise men following his example should give themselves to the workes of their calling during the sixe daies of the weeke and rest on the seventh day that they may apply it to the consideration of the works of God which they pretend to be no lesse obligatory towards Christians under the new Testament then towards the Iewes under the old Testament because wee cannot follow and imitate a better example then the example of God 11 To this I answer first that it may be denyed that Gods end in the institution of the Sabbath day was that it should be a memoriall of the creation of all his workes on sixe daies and of his rest on the seventh day That is not said any where but this onely is specified that God sanctified the seventh day because in it he rested from his workes after he had made them in sixe daies Which sheweth only the occasion that God tooke to ordaine and establish the Sabbath day but not the end of the institution thereof which is declared unto us in the foresaid places of Exodus 31. vers 13. and of Ezech. 20. vers 12. where it is said that God ordained it to be a signe between him and the Israelites that he was the Lord that did sanctifie them This end of the said institution as likewise the motive and occasion thereof are coupled together in the 16. and 17. verses of the said 31. Chapter of Exodus in these words The children of Israel shall keepe the Sabbath throughout their generations for a perpetuall covenant It is a signe betwene me and the children of Israel for ever Whereof a signe Certainly that they may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctifie them as it is written in the 13. verse This is the end of the Institution of the Sabbath which must be supplyed from thence After that it followeth For in sixe daies the LORD made heaven and earth and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed This is the occasion and motive of the said institution There be some that would faine of this For make That and joine the two members of the 17. verse as if they were but one after this manner It is a signe betweene me and the children of Israel for ever that in sixe daies the Lord made heaven and earth to inferre from thence that the Sabbath was ordained expresly to the end it might be a memoriall of the Creation but although the particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth That as well as For yet that in the foresaid verse it should rather signifie For and that the said verse should have two distinct members and each of them its owne particular sentence it appeareth probably both by the changing of the forme of speech that God useth speaking of himselfe in the first person in the first member It is a signe betweene mee and the children of Israel for ever and in the third person in the second member For in sixe daies the LORD made heaven and earth whereas if it had beene the continuance of the same period without distinction hee should have rather have said It is a signe betweene me and the children of Israel that I have created in sixe daies or that I am the Lord who have created in sixe daies heaven and earth c. As also by the Hebrew accent Athnach which it put at the end of the first member and is an accent denoting usually a pause and notable respiration and a distinction of a compleate sentence 12 Secondly to stand longer upon this first answer although I should yeeld that the seventh day of Sabbath was instituted of God purposely to be a memoriall of the Creation the argument is neverthelesse inconsequent For although things past should be in perpetuall remembrance It followeth not that the signes and memorialls of such things instituted under the old Testament should be perpetuall Nay they ought not to be if they have beene therewith types and figures relative to the Messias God made a covenant with Abraham and promised unto him to be God unto him and to his seed after him Gen. 17. vers 7. which is a perpetuall benefit and worthy to be remembred by all his spirituall posterity till the end of the world Yet the signe and memoriall that hee gave him at that time of this covenant to wit the Circumcision was not to be perpetuall and hath continued onely till the time of the new Testament Likewise all the Sacraments under the old Testament have beene signes and memorialls of perpetuall benefits to wit of justification sanctification c. Notwithstanding they ought not to persist for ever because they also were types The same is the condition of the Sabbath We may and ought to call to minde under the new Testament the benefit of the Creation and of Gods rest after it although we have no particular signe thereof which by Gods ordinance is a signe of remembrance In the Kingdome of heaven we shall celebrate eternally the remembrance of our Creation and Redemption without any
themselves bound to this observation and Gods proceeding alone had not beene obligatory unto them nor had the force of a Law among them Which sheweth that in it there is no morality no example binding the conscience necessarily and for ever 16 This being so it followeth not that if God was pleased to give this ordinance to the Iewes by occasion of the order that he observed in the Creation he would also have it to continue among Christians seeing it was not grounded in any morall thing which should have life and vigor for ever no more than so many other ordinances which he had given to that people upon good considerations oblige not Christians because the reasons were not morall And as these ordinances are changed and abolished without any blame of variablenesse or of turning that God hath incurred on his part even so that ordinance concerning the Sabbath might and ought to cease likewise All the morality that can be gathered from Gods example is that as God after he had made all his workes in the space of some dayes rested on another day so we should have some day wherein leaving off our ordinary occupations we may busie our selves about Gods service But not that Gods example obligeth us to the same day of rest which God observed 17 And indeed the Christians in the observation of their day of rest doe not any more ground themselves upon Gods example in the Creation For although they keepe sixe dayes of worke and a seventh of rest yet it is not the seventh day that God rested in for they work on that day and rest on the first day of the weeke which God began in to make all his workes and so they change Gods order Which sheweth that this example of God is not obligatory of it selfe and for ever For if it were we should be bound to keepe not only one of seven but the same seventh which God gave us example to rest in there being no reason wherefore one and the same example of God should neither be obligatory for ever in one of its parts to wit in that hee observed sixe dayes of labour and a seventh of rest then in the other to wit in that hee imployed the first sixe dayes of the weeke to worke in and the last to rest in 18 They get no advantage to say that under the New Testament the alteration of the Sabbath day hath beene made from the last day of the weeke to the first because IESUS CHRIST rising on this day rested from the worke of our redemption which is greater and more excellent than the worke of Creation seeing that by it man who was created in the flat mutable state of nature and of a naturall grace from which he fell away and was also to remaine upon earth is put in the supernaturall and immutable state of grace to be received in heaven to be admitted to the contemplation of God himselfe and to live there in a light and purity farre more perfect then that which he had in the first Creation That also heaven and earth shall be renewed and established in a state a great deale more beautifull and excellent then the state they were created in Nay that the Angels themselves have thereby received many and great benefits In a word that in vertue of that worke hath in part beene already made and one day shall be made compleately a new Creation of all things as Christ himselfe speaketh Matth. 19. verse 28. And therefore it deserved well that the day wherein Christ after he had finished it did rest should be consecrated by all those that pretend to have part in it and to whom the benefit thereof is offered if they reject it not by their owne fault to be a day of rest under the New Testament instead of the day which was observed under the Old Testament in remembrance of Gods resting from the workes of the Creation 19 For I grant willingly this to be true But with all I say that the altering of the Sabbath day upon the occasion of Christs Resurrection sheweth plainely that the example of Gods proceeding in the Creation and the observation of one of seven dayes and of the last of seven founded thereupon under the Old Testament was not morall For if it had beene no alteration no changing could have beene made of that time neither altogether nor in part for any occasion occurring and falling out sithence because all morall things are perpetuall have beene confirmed and ratified by Iesus Christ and have not been casheered by him nor by his Church Now it is constant by the practise of all Christian Churches that a change hath beene made and in the beginning of that innovation the order of the observation of one of seven dayes was of necessity subject to be changed and ceased to be obligatory For when Christians began or might have begun to omit the last day of the weeke and to keepe the first they might also then have neglected and violated the foresaid order of dedicating to GOD one day of seven which neverthelesse is pretended to be morall sith by the death of Iesus Christ all the Iewish ceremonies and amongst them the ancient day of Sabbath that is the precise observation of the seventh or the last day of the weeke which is not denyed to have beene ceremoniall being abrogated of right in the weeke wherein hapned the death of Christ and on the Friday of that weeke the Disciples were not obliged to observe the last day of that weeke which was Saturday or the Sabbath of the Iewes immediately following but they might have observed another in the weeke following which being true it followeth that they might have overslipt all the seven dayes of the said weeke without consecrating any of them to God And in effect in whatsoever time the Church begun at first to overpasse the last day of the weeke of necessity she passed a whole weeke wherein there was no seventh day of Sabbath which she could not have done lawfully if to observe one day of seven were a morall point 20 Furthermore according to this maxime which proposeth the necessity of the observation of one day in the weeke yea of a whole day as of a pointmorall sith none can institute such a day but God alone this also of necessity must be layd as a fundamentall point of our Religion that our Lord Iesus Christ on the same day that he rose from death to life made this alteration of the last day into the first and gave notice of it to his Disciples who other wayes could not have acknowledged so soone the necessity of this changing For if he did it not seeing they were no more obliged to the Sabbath day of the Iewes which was abrogated by his death they might have beene not only in the weeke wherein Christ died but also in the weeke following wherein he rose againe free from all obligation tying them to any Sabbath day which the aforesaid
Testament and to grant willingly that it is to be understood of the dayes of the New Testament it is a thing notorious that when God in the Old Testament speaketh by his Prophets of the service that should bee yeelded unto him under the New Testament he expresseth himselfe ordinarily in termes taken from the fashions and formes used in his service under the Old Testament so he saith that under the New Testament he should have Altars every where that in every place incense should be offered unto his name that from one new Moone to another all flesh should come to worship before him c. And in this same Chap. 56. ver 7. he saith concerning these Eunuches and the sonnes of the stranger which shall keepe his Sabbaths that hee will bring them to his holy mountaine and make them joyfull in his house of prayer and that their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon his Altar 4 If then of that which is said that they shall keepe his Sabbaths they will inferre that the Sabbath day is obligatory under the New Testament as it was under the Ancient by the same reason any may inferre that the Temple of Ierusalem the Altar and the sacrifices should remaine in use namely seeing God in the fourth verse speaketh of his Sabbaths in the plurall number and it is manifest that besides the seventh ordinary day there was a great deale of other Sabbaths ordained of God to the Iewes it may be as truly gathered that under the New Testament the faithfull ought to keepe all the Sabbaths of the Iewes and the same dayes of Sabbaths that the Iewes did keepe and particularly the same seventh day to wit the last which should be a conclusion most absurd 5 The truth is that the Sabbath according to the stile of the Ancient Testament was taken of old for all the outward service of God and God using the same stile or manner of speech according to his custome in this prophesie concerning the time of the New Testament when hee saith the Eunuches and the sonnes of the stranger shall keepe the Sabbath by the Sabbath denoteth all the outward and solemne service which was to be rendred to him in that time of the New Covenant but joyned with the spirituall service signified in the second verse by these other words And keepeth his hands from doing evill And consequently he signifieth that that outward service should have its times ordained in the Church even as the Sabbath day was of old the time appointed for his service But that it was Gods intention to stint to the Church of the New Testament a seventh day or any other particular day whatsoever for a Sabbath day and that he hath not left the determination thereof to the liberty of the Church that shall never be proved by the aforesaid passage 6 This answer may serve for a sufficient reply to the passage of the 46. Chapter of Ezekiel where God continuing to represent unto the Prophet in a high and magnificent vision and difficult to bee understood of a most glorious and sumptuous Temple the state of the Church under the New Testament saith in the first and third verses that the gate of the inner Court shall be shut the sixe working dayes but on the Sabbath it shall be opened and the people of the land shall worship at the entrance of this gate From whence it is fancied that a necessity of keeping the Sabbath under the New Testament may be inferred 7 But it is evident that in all this vision contained in the nine last Chapters of Ezekiel the state of the Christian Church and of the Evangelicall service is designed in tearmes and phrases taken from the Temple and legall service which must not be understood literally but mystically if we will not under the Gospell bring backe not only the Sabbath but also a great deale of other ceremonies which are mentioned in that vision As for example The New Moones which in the aforesaid verses are joyned with the Sabbath For it is said there verse 1. that the gate shall bee opened on the Sabbath day and in the day of the New Moone it shall be opened and that the people of the Land shall worship at the entrie of this gate before the Lord on the Sabbaths and in the New Moones verse 3. Which must be understood spiritually of the truth figured by the Sabbaths and New Moones and not properly of these things themselves which were but figures that is not that the faithfull should celebrate Sabbaths and New Moones but that they should rest from their workes of iniquity to practise the workes of the spirit of Sanctification and of Gods true spirituall service and should be renewed and illuminated for ever by the Lord Iesus their true and only Saviour and by him have alwayes free accesse and entrance to the throne of grace 8 All that can be at the most inferred of the forealleadged passage concerning the externall service of the Christian Church is that the New Testament shall have solemne dayes wherein God shall be publikely served by all his people but in no wise that they should be the same which were stinted under the Old Testament For so we should be bound to observe the dayes of New Moones the last day of the weeke and other holy dayes of the Iewes mentioned in the aforesaid place and betokened in the plurall number by the name of Sabbaths 9 Whereunto I adde that it may be said that the Sabbath day and the day of the New Moone spoken of there representeth the time of eternall life in heaven where the faithful are in a perfect rest and are new Creatures without any blemish of sin or defect of righteousnes As the sixe work dayes are a representation of the time of this present life during which they travel they rove and trot up and downe upon earth where so long as they sojourne the Prophet signifieth that the marvels of the glorious grace of God are alwayes shut unto them but in heaven shal be opened unto them by a full and unconceivable manifestation and perfect fruition of that joy which is in the face of God and of those pleasures that are at his right hand for evermore whereby they shall worship and serve God perfectly for ever and ever Amen This then is in meaning the same that wee read of in the 66. Chapter of Isaiah verse 23. where it is said that in the new heavens and in the new earth which God should make from moneth to moneth and from Sabbath to Sabbath all flesh i. all the faithfull should come to worship before him Of which passage I have spoken before Of all that hath beene said it is manifest that all the passages of this kinde which are to bee found in the Prophets are not to any purpose when they are produced to prove that which is debated about the Sabbath day CHAPTER Ninth 1. Answer to the seventh Reason 1. Ob. Iesus
Christ is not come to abolish the Law whereof the Sabbath is a part 2. Answer sometimes by the Law and the Prophets are understood the morall precepts only 3. Sometimes the ceremoniall only 4. In Christs words both are to be understood but principally the ceremoniall 5. This is proved by the 18. verse 6. Frivolous instance from Christs words Heaven and earth shall not passe c. 7. The same is proved by the scope of Iesus-Christ in the foresaid words 8. Falsity of a second instance that the Lawes expounded in the rest of the Chapter are all morall 9. Although it were true it followeth not that Christs words in the 17. verse should bee understood of the morall Law 10. Christs words rightly understood favour not the morality of the Sabbath 11. Third instance from the 19. verse 12. First Answer Christ in that verse speaketh of an annihilating of the Commandements and not of the abrogating of some of them 13. Second Answer by retorsion 14. Third Answer Christ speaketh of the whole Law of Moses and not of the Decalogue only 15. Fourth instance from Saint Iames words Chapter 2. verse ten 16. Uanity of this instance 1 AS little to this purpose are the words of Christ in the fifth Chapter of Saint Matthew verse 17. I am not come to destroy the Law and the Prophets but to fulfill them From which words they make this conclusion that seeing the Commandement of the Sabbath day is a Commandement of the Law confirmed from time to time by the Prophets IESUS CHRIST hath not abolished it And therefore the obligation to keep the Sabbath day lieth upon us still and shall dure to the worlds end 2 To this allegation of Christs words I returne this answer that indeed sometimes to wit when a morall matter is in hand the Scripture by the Law and the Prophets understandeth only the precepts of the Law and of the Prophets pertaining to this morality As when in the twelfth verse of the seventh Chapter of Saint Matthew Christ saith All things whatsoever yee would that men should doe to you doe yee even so to them For this is the Law and the Prophets 3 But sometimes also when the speech is of the fulfilling of things foretold or figured of old by the Law and the Prophets are to be understood only the prophesies and the typike ceremonies of the ancient Testament as in S. Matthew 11. Chap. v. 13. S. Luke 24. verse 27. Acts 24. ver 26. Acts 26. verse 22. 4 To apply this to the passage objected out of the fifth Chapter of Saint Matthew I say that in it by the Law and the Prophets are to be understood not only the precepts concerning the morall duties of this life but also the ceremonies of the Law as may be clearely seene by these words of our Saviour that are generall I am not come to destroy the Law nor the Prophets but to fulfill them Now the ceremonies are a part of the Law of Moses are called in the Scripture by the Name of the Law and make a part of the Sermons of the Prophets as well as the moralities The conjunction of the Law and of the Prophets in a generall matter such as this is sheweth that by the Law we must understand all that is contained in the bookes of Moses as by the Prophets all things contained in their bookes Now of the bookes of Moses and of the Prophets the ceremonies make a notable portion 5 I adde to this that the predictions types and promises are here as much nay much more to be understood then morall duties as may be seene evidently by these words of our LORD in the 18. verse following Uerily I say unto you Till heaven and earth passe one Iot nor one title one point or one pricke of a letter shall in no wise passe from the Law till all be fulfilled It is certaine that these words Iota Title or pricke are not to be in this sentence taken properly because letters and titles or pricks of letters are not capable of accomplishment but by them Christ understandeth the least things propounded in the Law Having properly regard to all the things whether great or small figured by the ceremonies of the Law and foretold and promised by Moses and the Prophets whereof he confirmed by these words the future accomplishment Neither can these words of the 18. verse be so fitly applyed to the morall Commandements as to the ceremonies promises and prophesies This sense The heaven and earth shall passe rather then whatsoever hath beene figured promised and foretold by the Law and the Prophets shall not be effected and fulfilled being manifestly more sutable to the foresaid words then this The heaven and the earth shall rather passe then the morall Commandements shall not be kept and executed 6 The instance made upon these words Till heaven and earth passe c. is vaine when they conclude that there Iesus Christ speaketh of things of the Law that were to continue in their being and oblige all men to observe and keepe them till the worlds end which is not true of the ceremonies which soone after expired by his death For Iesus Christ doth in no wise say that whatsoever is contained in the Law was to continue stable in force and vigour and to be kept till heaven and earth passe But his meaning in this kind of speech is the same that I have touched to wit that heaven and earth shall passe more easily and rather than the Law shall fall short of a full accomplishment and the truth thereof shall faile to be ratified and exhibited in all the things contained therein the impossibility of this being denoted by a comparison with that we have this explication in the 16. Chapter of S. Luke vers 17. where Christs intention is thus expressed It is easier for heaven and earth to passe then one title of the Law to faile where also the Evangelist sheweth of what points of the Law Iesus Christ did purposely speake to wit of the types and prophesies For in the sixteenth verse immediatly preceeding he had said The Law and the Prophets untill Iohn where we must understand the Verbe prophefied which S. Matthew addeth in the eleventh Chapter and 13. verse saying For all the Prophets and the Law prophefied untill Iohn that is the ancient prophesies and figures as having respect to Iesus Christ finished in the time of Iohn Baptist not in him but in Iesus Christ who lived in the same time and whom Iohn seeing comming unto him shewed with his finger saying Behold the Lambe of God which taketh away the sinne of the world Ioh. 1. vers 29. After then that Christ had said the Law and Prophets prophesied untill Iohn S. Luke addeth these words following as spoken by Christ to that purpose And it is easier for heaven and earth to passe then one title of the Law to faile where by one title are to be understood all the ceremonies figures and productions
jarring for one day some for another and so contending one against another without hope of agreement and comming to a certaine resolution Yea they shall take licence themselves to observe any day whatsoever they shall thinke good and dispence with keeping of Sunday when they shall thinke that they are not tied unto it by Gods Commandement 10 I answer that none of these inconveniences is to bee feared As for the first That the Church should have authority to sanctifie a day for Gods service if so be God hath not appointed one I see no inconvenience in it It is true that it is Gods prerogative exclusively to all men and Angels to sanctifie a thing if sanctification be taken for a reall and inherent sanctification by impression of holinesse in the thing or if a thing is to be sanctified to bee an essentiall part and properly so called of Gods service For God will be served according to his Ordinances and not according to the ordinances of men But this is not the sanctification that wee treat of here for a day is not susceptible of such an impression of holinesse And to speake properly it maketh no part of Gods service under the new Testament but is onely an accidentall circumstance thereof whereof God hath left the determination to the liberty of the Church For in that he hath not in himselfe given an expresse and particular Ordinance concerning it hee hath testified that hee did leave that power to his Church teaching her onely in generall to doe it conveniently And indeed doth not she sanctifie places when she appointeth and setteth them apart that in them God may be served Doth she not sanctifie times other than Sunday ordaining fasting dayes when necessity doth require it and feast dayes which she causeth to be solemnized in remembrance of the Birth Passion Ascension of Iesus Christ and of the sending of the holy Ghost c. All Christians hold this sanctification to bee indifferent and no man brings her authority in question in that respect neither doth any blame the holy use of those dayes providing shee carry her selfe wisely and keepe a due proportion and fit moderation in her stinting of them Why then might she not in the same manner after Iesus Christ had abolished the Iewish Sabbath sanctifie the first day of the weeke to be an ordinary day of Gods service in remembrance that on it Christ rose from the dead Wherein she takes not upon her a masterie that belongs not unto her It is true that she is not Mistresse of the Sabbath to change a day that God hath ordained and to dispence at her pleasure with the keeping thereof But since there is no day ordained of God to the Christian Church for his service and that which he had ordained of old being expired she hath as great authority to appoint a day for Gods service as to ordaine other circumstances and helpes thereof 11 To the second inconvenience I say that the two extremities of excesse and defect are to be avoided in this point For there must be neither so many Holy dayes ordained that the faithfull bee inthralled and surcharged with them as with an onerous yoke which they are not able to beare Act. 15. vers 10. nor so few that they become unto them an occasion to give themselves over unto profanenesse and irreligion It is certaine that a day ordinary and frequent is necessary for many good and excellent uses as for the maintenance of the true religion godlines of union and Christian society among the faithfull for the celebration of the Name of God and conservation of the remembrance of his benefits towards us by hearing the same Word receiving the same Sacraments and above all by Common-Prayers and other points of Divine Service which being practised in the same time and place with an holy affection by many faithfull incouraging and exhorting one another both by word and by example are of great efficacie and availe much with God If there were not such a day these exercises not being practised ordinarily these duties would also easily decay by little and little and men would become slacke and faint-hearted in the performance of them As on the contrary if this day returned too often and the one upon the heele of the other that might bee troublesome to the faithfull and would not onely incommodate them in their temporall affaires which God is well pleased they apply themselves unto but also would make the exercises of religion to bee grievous and loathsome unto them by reason of their infirmities in this life 12 Therefore the Church ought not to sinne in this point neither by excesse nor by defect and farre lesse through defect than through excesse but having the establishing of Gods publike service committed to her wisedome ought to refraine from establishing either an excessive number of dayes lest shee should render the yoke too heavie or too few as one in a fortnight in a moneth in a yeere or in many yeeres lest she should seeme to be slightly affected to devotion and carelesse of Gods service For dayes so rare and so distant should not be sufficient for the entertainment of the ends above specified which be so necessary for her edification Also God hath so governed her by his providence that although Iesus Christ hath given her no ordinance for a particular day yet we see that from her beginnings she hath alwayes kept at least one in the weeke to wit Sunday not through an opinion that in a seventh day there was some greater moment and efficacie for the entertainment of godlinesse for the obtaining of Gods blessing then in another number but judging it a fit and convenient thing to keepe the distinction of weekes which was already accustomed and usuall in the Church and to consecrate to God as many dayes at least as did the Church of the Iewes that is one of seven in ordinary and some others extraordinarily returning and following the one the other afarre off as from yeere to yeere in remembrance of some things considerable either in the person of Iesus Christ or of some of his most excellent servants 13 This hath by time growne to a great abuse through the multiplication of too many and divers feasts serving almost for no use but for idlenesse and riot This we see in the Romane Church which hath ordained an excessive number of Holy dayes not onely to the honour of God but also of Angels of he and she Saints of Paradise yea of sundry which having never beene men on earth cannot be Saints in heaven to which dayes they oblige mens consciences as to dayes more holy and more capable to sanctifie the actions of religion done in them than all other dayes nay as more holy than those things which God hath commanded founding that attempt but most fondly upon the fourth Commandement Therefore the Church in her reformation hath most justly redressed this abuse and hath reduced the observation of