flourishes and pleasing to the judicious provided they are to purpose and sound argument hath not beene wanting to justifie the doctrine they maintaine but when they are out of season or supply the want of better argument they want their grace and are pleasing only to the ignorant or partialist At length I am come unto the last Section For the one halfe of this Section there is little or nothing controverted betweene us But here we have a faire distinction as good as confessed betweene a ceremoniall rest and another rest which is described by a rest from workes as it is an impediment to the performance of such duties as are then commanded this I can a rest morall the rather that the distinction may not flye with one wing That of Saint Hierome is a quick passage on Act. 18. affirming that Saint Paul when hee had none to whom to preach in the congregation did on the Lords day use the workes of his occupation I will not answer as the outlandish Priests fashion was as Sir Thomas More reports the story Domine novi locum verum respondeo sumitur dupliciter so gratifying his adversaries argument with one member of his distinction and his owne in providing for escape out of the briers by the other least I might be served as Sir Thomas More served the Priest pretending to quote such a chapter of Saint Matthew or Marke when there were not so many in the whole Gospell or such a verse in a certaine Chapter when there were not so many verses at all Therefore I desire to consult Hierome but Hierome hath not at all written upon the Acts and where else to seeke it I know not Yet I deny not but that Dietericus the Lutheran upon the 17. Dominicall after Trinity Sunday hath such a passage Hieronymus ex Act. 18. v. 2. 4. colligit quod die etiam Dominica quando quibus in publico conciâ—naâ—etur Paâ—lus non habebat maâ—â—bus suis labâ—raviâ— But where it is that Hierome doth collect this he doth not specifie â—t our Saviour was borne under the Law and knew full well it became him to fulfill all righteousnesse and therefore undoubtedly he never did transgresse the fourth commandement indeed some there are who distaste the name of Sabbath now a dayes and truly the Ancients doe usually speake of the Lords day in distinction from the Sabbath because that denomination doth denote the Saturday but I doubt that in these dayes it is distasted in another respect even for the rest of it which I no where finde distasted amongst the Ancients nor any libertie given by them for sports and pastimes on the Lords day But our booke of Homilies speakes plainly in saying The Sunday is our Sabbath day And Proclamations that come forth in his Majesties name usually call the Lords day by the name of Sabbath And in the conference at Hampton Court Doctor Raynolds made a motion for preserving the Sabbath day from prophanation according to the Kings proclamation neither have we heard of any prelate of this kingdome that then interposed to alter that phrase And which is more our Saviour calls it the Sabbath speaking of the times of the Gospell when the Jewish Sabbath was to bee buried with Christ to wit Matth. 24.20 and Doctor Andrewes in his patterne of Catecheticall Doctrine justifieth this interpretation of that place and that to this end so to maintaine the continuance of a Sabbath amongst us Christians I doe highly approve the distinction following of things commanded and things permitted on the Lords day and the explication of each member the object of the one all actions advancing Gods service the object of the other such things as are no hinderance thereunto As in the first place workes of necessitie then workes of charitie yet the permitting of these is rightly to be understood not so as if the workes of necessity here mentioned were in such sort permitted as left to a mans liberty whether he will performe them or no. For undoubtedly we are bound as much as lyes in our power to quench a dangerous fire kindled in a Towne on the Sabbath day it being a worke of mercy necessarily required For if to returne a pledge ere the poore pawner of it went to his bed in case it were his covering were a worke of mercy how much more to save a mans house from burning how much more to save a whole Towne from being consumed whereby many might bee driven to lye without doores void of all comfort to the body So to draw the ox out of the ditch and to lead Cattels to watering I take it to bee a worke of mercy as tending to the preservation of life in a dum creature In like sort the dressing of meat for the health of mans body I take to bee a worke of mercy So that the performing of these in reference to the end whereto they tend I take to be of necessary duty as here they are called workes of necessitie and consequently not permitted only but commanded also in the generall though not in this commandement but in the second commandement of the second table only they are said to be permitted on the Lords day to signifie that the fourth commandement doth not enjoyne them nor forbid them in commanding rest from workes on that day and the sanctifying of that rest I doe not doubt but that charitie begins from it selfe and the Scripture commands us to love our neighbour as our selves And can wee performe better love to our selves in advancing our owne good then by making The Sabbath our delight to consecrate it as glorious to the Lord As for the recreations which are here said to serve lawfully to the refreshing of our Spirits this appellation is very ambiguous neither doe I know any difference betweene the recreating of our Spirits and the refreshing of our Spirits yet here the refreshing of our Spirits is made the end of recreation Againe it were good to distinguish betweene recreation of the body and recreation of the mind I thinke the refreshing of Spirits pertaines to the recreation of the body mens spirits are naturall and materiall things and they are apt to bee wasted first naturally for as life consists in calido in an hot matter so heate is apt to spend and waste the matter wherein it is and Spirits thus wasted are recreated that is repaired by eating and drinking And thus provisions of victuall are commonly called recreats 2. Secondly they are wasted also by labour voluntarily undertaken and these are repaired as by the former way so by rest also And each way we are allowed to recreate our spirits on the Lords day and as to allow such rest to our servants as a work of mercy so to our own bodies also But now a dayes many courses are called recreations wherein there is found little rest and the naturall Spirits of man are rather wasted and his nature tyred farre more then the one is repaired or the other eased
usuall dancings on the Lords day yet some and they no small ones as I have heard do professe them no otherwise to be allowed then as they may be done to the praise and glory of God Which calls to my remembrance what a Scotchman sometimes said as he was going in one of London streets and spying one of his acquaintance on the other side for calling him aloud by his name O Sir saith he when shall we meet at a Taverne to give God thanks for our deliverance out of the I le de Re But how comes that to bee accounted superstitious which all the Bishops of the land and the whole Kingdome accounts the prophanation of the Sabbath not to speake of particular Bishops though as great for learning and place as Bishop Andrewes who in his patterne of catecheticall doctrine tells us of some who on the Lords day vacant nugis spectaâ—ulis theatris choreis and approves the stiling of such a Sabbath SabbatuÌ„ aurei vituli the Sabbath of the golden Calf I make bold to translate it for the benefit of the coÌ„mon people and B. Downham bestowes the like denomination upon such a Sabbath Bishop Andrewes over and above cites Austin for the like saying but that is more then any quotation of his doth make good for ought I find hitherunto But what should I alleage one or two Doctors opinions hereupon though never so great when an whole Kingdome stands for the same in my judgement even the Kingdome of England as may appeare by the Act of Parliament 1. Caroli concerning the Sabbath The introduction thereunto manifesteth three grounds whereupon they proceed to make that Act. 1 That there is nothing more acceptable to God then his holy worship and service 2 That the due sanctification of the Lords day is a great part of Gods holy woship and service 3 That men are very prone to prophane it Now to prevent this prophanation of the Sabbath many things are there prohibited and one amongst the rest is this that none shall come forth out of his own parish about any sports or pastimes whence I conclude that to come out of a mans parish on the Lords day about any sports or pastimes is to prophane the Sabbath For to prevent the prophanation of our Christian Sabbath and to maintaine the sanctification thereof is this law made Now to come out of a mans owne parish about what businesse soever no wise man will say that it is to prophane the Sabbath but according to the nature of the businesse whereabout hee comes forth of his owne parish so shall hee bee found either to prophane the Sabbath or not to prophane it As for example for a man to come forth of his owne parish to heare a sermon no man I thinke will say that it is to prophane the Sabbath In like manner to come forth of his owne parish into an other parish to fetch a Physitian or Surgeon in case of necessitie no man will say that this is to prophane the Sabbath because the businesse about which hee comes is not to prophane the Sabbath But for a man to come out of his own parish to buy or sell to trade or traffique no necessitie urging thereunto this is to prophane the Sabbath because in such sort to trade on the Sabbath day is to prophane the Sabbath In like sort for a man to come out of his owne parish about any sports or pastimes is therefore to Prophane the Sabbath in the judgement of the Parliament because the keeping and performing of these sports and pastimes is a manifest profanation of the Sabbath in the judgement of the King and his Parliament Now if all sports and pastimes on the Lords day bee a prophanation of the Lords day our Christian Sabbath it followeth that may-games and moricings and dancings at such times usuall are also a manifest profanation of the Sabbath And hererin wee speake as I conceive in his Majesties meaning assisted with the great Councell of his Kingdome the Lords Spirituall and Temporall and the House of Commons and whosoever shall account it superstition to say so shall therewithall charge his royall Majestie and all the Lords both Spirituall and Temporall and in a word the whole Parliament with superstition Yet if it were onely the benefit of the common people that this Translator did intend I for my part should bee content to suffer him to enjoy the honour of seeking the benefit of the people onely admonishing the people commited to my charge to consider well whether there bee any such benefit to bee reaped thereby as is pretended 2 Pet. 3. And seeing Saint Peter exhorts us to give diligence that wee may bee found of Christ in peace when hee comes in flaming fire to render vengeance on all them that know not God nor obey not the Gospell of Christ Jesus Let every one examine himselfe whether hee could bee content to bee taken dancing about a may-pole on the Lords day when the Lord even the Lord of the Sabbath shall come and that to be found of him in this condition were to bee found of him in peace But seeing this translation and especially the Preface of this Author tends to the promoting of the most rigorous censures against many it stands us upon to plead our owne cause and to labour herein as for life even in examination of the doctrine here delivered that wee may finde upon how just ground it proceeds otherwise wee may bee justly condemned of all and in the censures that passe upon us whether of Excommunication or Suspension or Deprivation finde none to plead our cause or to commiserate us The second thing I observe in this title is the passage of Scripture here mentioned as justifying the doctrine here delivered out of Mark. 2.27 The Sabbath was made for man not man for the Sabbath Now none of us makes question but that the Sabbath was made for man Nay wee nothing doubt but that all the dayes of the weeke were made for man that is for the good of man but the Sabbath for the best good not the basest good of man in following his worldly pleasures The six dayes of the weeke are given us to labour in our ordinary callings for the maintenance of our life temporall but the seventh is sanctified by God that is dedicated to holy exercises in the service of God and to inure us to recreate our selves and to delight in the Lord that as his soule takes pleasure in us so our soules might be accustomed to take pleasure in him and to make his Sabbaths our delight to consecrate them as glorious unto the Lord. It is true there is another end of the Sabbath and that was ut vires recolligeret to recollect his strength which had been spent and wasted in the sixe dayes of labour whence it followes evidently that when a man was hungry as the disciples were when they plucked the eares of corne they were not bound by any religion of
have been observed by Christian Emperours thereupon moved more strictly to give in charge the observation of the Lords day as Ludovicus Pius by name as thus Didicimus quosdam in hoc die opera ruralia exercētes fulmine intèremptos quosdam artuum contractione multatos quosdam visibili igne absumptos subito in cincrē resolutos poenaliter occubuisse Proinde necesse est ut primum Sacerdotes Reges Principes cunctique fideles huic dici debitam observationem atque reverentiam devotissimè exhibeant We have knowne some busied in workes of husbandry on this day to have beene slaine with lightning some punished with the contraction of their limbes some with visible fire consumed on a sudden turned into ashes and so to have perished as by way of punishment Wherefore it is a necessary duty that in the first place Priests then Kings Princes and all faithfull persons most devoutly exhibite due observation and reverence unto this day The other miracles mentioned by the Monke are of another nature as of a cake bak't on the hearth on Saturday after three a clocke in the afternoone and how that part of it reserved to the morning and being then broken blood came out of it and another of the like nature and two more I say these are of Roger Hovedens relation not of Eustachius his preaching whom the Monke relates to have been in great esteeme of the Clergie in those dayes and to have prevailed much with many of the people though for the generall he could not bring them off from their marketing on the Lords day Yet what are these to be talkt of in comparison to those which are comprised in two bookes of miracles written by Cluniacensis and albeit those times may be accounted times of darknesse in comparison of ages fore-going yet this Prefacer is ready to make answer that that is but the opinion of some But whereas hee saith That this strange opinion is now revived and published first I desire to know his meaning For as for a preparation to the Sabbath and that to begin from about three a clock in the afternoone the whole Kingdome observes it as for the strict observation thereof here mentioned I have shewed that Eustachius speakes of no such thing If hee did what is that to those who suffer for standing for the strict observation of the Sabbath against those who would have the Lords day at least in part to be a day of sports and pastimes Can he shew this to be their opinion If he can why doth he not And if from three a clock on Saturday in the afternoone people doe prepare for the Lords day and abstaine from such workes dispatching both their baking bread and other works in the morning what danger or detriment is hereby likely to arise either to our faith or manners What danger either to Prince Church or State The third Section BUt to proceed Preface Immediately upon the Reformation of Religion in these Westerne parts the Controversie brake out a fresh though in another manner than before it did For there were some of whom Calvin speakes Instit lib. 2. sect 33. who would have had all dayes alike all equally to be regarded he means the Anabaptists as I take it and reckoned that the Lords day as the Church continued it was a Jewish ceremony Affirming it to crosse the doctrine of Saint Paul who in the text before remembred and in the fourteenth to the Romans did seeme to them to cry downe all such difference of dayes and times as the Church retained To meet which vaine and peccant humour Calvin was faine to bend his forces declaring how the Church might lawfully retaine set times for Gods service without infringing any of Saint Pauls commandements But on the other side as commonly the excesse is more exorbitant than the defect there wanted not some others who thought they could not honour the Lords day sufficiently unlesse they did affix as great a sanctitie unto it as the Jewes did unto their Sabbath So that the change seemed to be onely of the day the superstition still remaining no lesse Jewish than before it was These taught as now some doe moralem esse unius diei observationem in hebdomada Ibid. sect 34. the keeping holy to the Lord one day in seven to bee the morall part of the fourth Commandement which doctrine what else is it so he proceeds as here the Doctor so repeats it in his third section then in contempt of the Jews to change the day and to affix a greater sanctity to the day than those ever did As for himselfe so farre was he from favouring any such wayward fancie that as Iohn Barklay makes report he had a consultation once de transferenda solennitate Dominica in feriam quintam to alter the Lords day from Sunday to Thursday How true this is I cannot say But sure it is that Calvin tooke the Lords day to be an ecclesiasticall and humane constitution only Quem veteres in locum Sabbati subrogarunt appointed by our Ancestors to supply the place of the Jewish Sabbath and as our Doctor tells us from him in his seventh section as alterable by the Church at this present time as first it was when from Saturday they translated it unto the Sunday So that we see that Calvin here resolves upon three Conclusions First that the keeping holy one day in seven is not the morall part of the fourth Commandement Secondly that the day was changed from the last day of the weeke unto the first by this authority of the Church and not by any divine Ordinance And thirdly that the day is yet alterable by the Church as at first it was Exam. Thus at length this Prefacer observes that look upon what Scripture passages some did contend the Jewish Sabbath to be ceremoniall and accordingly to be abrogated by the Death and Resurrection of Christ Upon the very same grounds others contended against the observation of all Holy dayes even of the Lords day also as if that were Jewish This is the course of the Anabaptists unto whom Wallaeus addes the Socinians and Hospinian the Petrobrusians By what authoritie the Lords day was introduced Calvin disputes not He saith Dominicum diem veteres in locum Sabbati substituerunt Instit lib. 2. c. 8. sect 34. Calvin in 1. ad Corin. cap. 16. The Ancients brought the Lords day into the place of the Sabbath and that the day the Apostle prescribed to the Corinthians wherein they should lay apart something for the relieving of the Saints at Ierusalem was the day quo sacros conventus agebant whereon they kept their holy meetings Lib. 2. c. 8. sect 34. And that which moved the Apostles to change the Sabbath to the Lords day he shewes both in his institutions thus for seeing in the Lords Resurrection is found the end and fulfilling of the true rest which the old Sabbath shadowed by that very day which set an end
equity of bringing our Lords Day into the place of the Jewish Sabbath In his speech in the Starre Chamber against Traske The Sabbath saith hee had reference to the old Creation but in Christ we are a new Creature a new Creation and so to have a new Sabbath And againe It hath ever beene the Churches doctrine that Christ made an end of all Sabbaths by his Sabbath in the Grave That Sabbath was the last of them And that the Lords Day presently came in place of it And for the confirmation hereof brings in that of Austin Ep. 119 ad Ianuarium The Lords Day by Christs Resurrection hath beene declared unto Christians and from that time began to have its festivity These Theses of his were written as it seemes in opposition to Broade Doctor Lakes Bishop of Wells maintaines the same Doctrine after the same manner in his Theses de Sabbato thes 27. Man having sinned and so by sinne abolished the first Creation De jure though not de facto God was pleased by Christ to make a new instauration of the World 28. He as the Scripture speakes of Christs redemptions made a new Heaven and a new Earth Old things passed then away and so all things were made new 29. Yea every man in Christ is a new Creature 30. As God then when he ended the first Creation made a day of rest and sanctified it 31. So did Christ when he ended his worke made a day of rest and sanctified it 32. Not altering the proportion of time which is eternall but taking the first day of seven for his portion because sin had made the seventh alterable But a man may easily perceive whither this Prefacer tends and such as are of his Spirit The Rhemists upon the first of the Revel and 10. verse doe observe that the Apostles and the faithfull abrogated the Sabbath which was the seventh day and made holy day for it the next day following being the eighth day in compt from the Creation and that without all Scriptures and Commandements of Christ that we read of yea which is more not only otherwise then was by the Law observed but plainly otherwise than was prescribed by God himselfe in the second Commandement yea otherwise than he ordained in the first Creation when he sanctified precisely the Sabbath day and not the day following Such great power did Christ leave to his Church and for such causes gave he the Holy Ghost to be resident in it to guide it into all truthes even such as in the Scripture are not expressed And if the Church had authority and inspiration from God to make Sunday being a working day before an everlasting holy day and the Saturday that before was holy day now a common work-day why may not the same Church prescribe and appoint the other feasts of Easter Whitsontide Christmas and the rest for the same warrant she hath for the one as she hath for the other Now to this Doctor Fulk makes answer after this manner The Apostles did not abrogate the Jewish Sabbath but Christ himselfe by his death as he did all other ceremonies of the Law that were figures and shadowes of things to come whereof he was the body and they were fulfulled and accomplished in him and by him And this the Apostles knew both by the Scriptures and by the Word of Christ and his holy Spirit By the Scriptures also they knew that one day of seven was appointed to be observed for ever during the World as consecrated and hallowed to the publike exercise of the Religion of God Although the ceremoniall rest and prescript day according to the Law were abrogated by the death of Christ Now for the prescription of this day before any other of seven they had without doubt either the expresse commandement of Christ before his ascension when he gave them precepts concerning the Kingdome of God and the order and government of the Church Acts 1.2 or else the certaine direction of his Spirit that it was his will and pleasure it should be so and that also according to the Scriptures And observe how in the words following he falls in upon the same reason of the change of the day which of old was mentioned by Athanasius formerly rehearsed herein by Beza Doctor Andrews D. Lake as I have already shewed Seeing there is the same reason of sanctifying the day in which our Saviour Christ accomplished our redemption and the restitution of the world by his resurrection from death that was of sanctifying the day in which the Lord rested from the creation of the world And after many lines nothing necessary to be recited he comes to the comparison made betweene the Lords Day and other Festivalls saying Although the Church in dayes or times which are indifferent may take order for some other dayes or times to be solemnized for the exercises of Religion or the remembrance of Christs nativity resurrection ascension or the comming of the holy Ghost may be celebrated either on the Lords Day or any other time yet there is great difference between the authority of the Church in this case and the prescription of the Lords Day by the Apostles for the speciall memory of those things are indifferent of their nature either to be kept on certaine daies or left to the discretion of the Governours of the Church But to change the Lords Day or to keepe it on Munday Tuesday or any other day the Church hath no authority For it is not a matter of indifferency but a necessary prescription of Christ himselfe delivered to us by his Apostles And againe in the next place The cause of this change it was not our estimation that either we have or ought to have of our redemption before our creation but the Ordinance of God who as first he sanctified the rest from creation for the glory of that weeke so now also he sanctifieth the day of the restitution of the world for his glory of the accomplishment of our redemption Thus wee have not onely authority Humane but authority Divine for the alteration of the Day and that by the testimony of more Bishops antient and late than this Prefacer makes shew of amongst farre meaner names Yet he doth immodestly abuse Doctor Prideaux in putting it upon him that in the fifth Section he maintaines the alteration of the day to be onely an humane and Ecclesiasticall institution For in that Section he onely opposeth them who would derive the Divine authority which they stand for of the alteration of the Day from the old Testament but as for those who derive the Divine authority thereof from the new they hee confesseth doe carry themselves herein more warily the other more weakly and them alone he disputes against in that Section In the sixth Section he comes to the deriving thereof from the new Testament and first he challengeth them who boast that they have found the insti ution of the Lords Day in the new Testament expressely
Sabbath in his common places tom 3. pag. 146. Est Sabbatum Christianum quo juxta Apostolorum constitutionem dies hebdomadae primus publicis ecclesiae congressibus destinatus est Our Christian Sabbath is that whereby the first day of the weeke is destinated to the publique assemblies of the Church by the constitution of the Apostles See how plainly hee referres the celebration of this day to Apostolicall constitution and pag. 148. he sheweth the analogie between the Jewes Sabbath and our Christian Sabbath consisting in two or three particulars 1. As on the seventh day God rested from the six dayes worke of creation in remembrance of which benefit the Sabbath was instituted in the old Testament so in the first day of the weeke after Christ-by his death and passion had accomplished the mysterie of our Redemption he returned gloriously as a conqueror from the dead in remembrance of which benefit the first day of the weeke is celebrated in the new Testament 2. As in the old Testament the Sabbath was instituted that it might be a memoriall of their deliverance out of Egypt Deut. 5.15 So in the new Testament the Lords Day is a memoriall of our spirituall deliverance out of the kingdome and captivity of Satan procured unto us by the resurrection of Christ a type whereof was that deliverance of the children of Israel out of Egypt 3. By Christs death and resurrection were abrogated Leviticall ceremonies and legall shadowes amongst which the Sabbath is reckoned Col. 2.17 Therfore the change of the Sabbath into the Lords Day is a publique testimony that Christians are freed from legall shadowes and that difference of dayes which in antient time was ordained Adde to him Melanchthon alleged by Walaeus pag. 265. affirming that the Apostles for this cause changed the day that in this particular they might give an example of the abrogation of the ceremoniall Lawes of Mosaicall policy As for our Popish Divines for which he referres us to Doctor Prideaux it is apparent that more of them are alleaged for the jus divinum of the celebration of the Lords Day then for the contrary one of them Silvester by name professeth expresly that his opinion was the common opinion which was for the Divine institution of it And Azorius the Jesuite as hee professeth it a thing most agreeable to reason that after six worke dayes one intire day should bee consecrated to Divine worship so withall saith that it is most agreeable to reason that the Lords Day should be that Day Adde unto these Sixtus Senensis Biblioth lib. 7. p. 603. Col. 1. but that which they object saith hee concerning the Lords Day not as yet instituted in the time of John is most false the consent of the whole Church disclaiming it which doth beleeve the solemnity of the Lords Day was appointed by the Appostles themselves in memory of the Lords Resurrection concerning the institution whereof by the Apostles Austin Ser. 25. de temp testifyeth in these words therefore the Apostles themselves Apostolicall men appointed that the Lords Day should for that reason bee religiously solemnized because on it our Redeemer rose from the dead In the last place come wee to our Divines Now Bucer I have already shewed to stand for us rather then for him 2. And Calvin expresly acknowledgeth that the Apostles did change the day 3. Beza upon Re. 1. v. 10. hath an excellent passage to the same purpose For hee considers Christs resurrection to bee as it were a second creation of a World spirituall and thereupon doubts not but that the spirit of God did suggest unto them the change of the seventh day into the Lords day as to bee consecrated to Divine Service 4. Iunius on Gen. 2. writes that the cause of the change of the day was the resurrection of Christ and the benefit of instauration of the Church in Christ The commemoration of which benefit succeeded to the commemoration of the Creation not by humane tradition but by the observation of Christ himselfe and his institution 5. Piscator on Exod. 20.10 It is to bee observed that the circumstance of the seventh day in celebrating the Sabbath is abolished by Christ as who for that day ordained the first day of the weeke which wee call the Lords Day and that in remembrance of the Lords Resurrection performed on that day And upon Luk. 14. v. 2. He makes this observation By occasion of this story it is fit to consider what was the religion of the Sabbath in the new Testament and what place it hath at this day among us Christians and how it is to be observed And first we must hold that the Sabbath is abrogated by Christs comming as touching the seventh or last day in the week and that in the place thereof is ordained the first day which we call the Lords Day because on that day the Lord rose from the dead and shewed himselfe alive to his Disciples and divers times speaking with them of the Kingdom of God aod so by his own example consecrating that day to Church assemblies and for the performance of the outward service of God The reason of the abrogation is because that ceremoniall rest observed in the Law was a type of that rest which the Lord made in his grave as is perceived by the words of Paul Col. 2.16.17 Now of the apparitions of the Lord S. John testifies Chap. 21. where he shewes how first he appeared to them gathered together on that very day whereon he rose And againe eight dayes after Now that in these dayes he spake unto them of the Kingdom of God Luke shewes Acts 1.3 Whence it was undoubtedly that the Apostles observed that day by the Lords ordinance to keep their Ecclesiasticall assemblies thereon as it appeares they did Acts 20.7 1 Cor. 16.2 And hence it was without doubt on the Lords day John was in the spirit and receaved the Revelation To the same purpose is that which Doctor Walaeus alleageth out of Piscators Aphoris 18. It may be doubted concerning the Lords Day whether it be appointed by God for his service in the New Testament My opinion hereof is this although we read no expresse Commandement concerning it yet that such an institution may be gathered from the example of Christ and his Disciples For on that day whereon the Lord rose from the dead therefore called the Lords-Day he shewed himselfe alive to his Disciples and spake to them of the Kingdom of God And Paul on that day in an assembly of the faithfull met together to celebrate the Lords Supper preached to them on that day Acts 20.7 and that the Christians at Corinth were wont to meet on that day for publique prayer appeares 1 Cor. 16.2 Now it cannot be doubted but Paul ordained that day amongst them as also the manner of celebrating the Lords Supper and that according to the Commandement of Christ Math. 28. the last Teach them to wit as many as receave the Gospell to
of Christs Resurrection upon the noise whereof for they were commanded to carry word of it to his Disciples the Apostles as it seemes were gathered together and in the evening after hee had shewed himselfe to his Disciplcs going to Emaus Christ presented himselfe in the midst of them Eight dayes after they were met together and Thomas with them who being absent the time before gave out sperches of peremptory incredulity concerning his Resurrection therefore then and not till then also the dores being shut Christ came before them and calls unto Thomas to see his hand and to put his singer into his side These apparitions of our Saviour twice on the first day of the weeke might well adde somewhat to the confirmation of them in the festivity of this day and howsoever betweene his ascension and the day of Pentecost they had their meetings yet how improbable is it they should put no difference betweene such a festivall and other dayes of the weeke A second answer Walaeus gives namely that others say that from the day of Pentecost it was not necessary that the Lords Day should bee observed but that at the first the Apostles together with the Jewes observed their Sabbath not as a ceremony of the Old Testament but as a free circumstance of divine worship as for a while they reteyned Circumcision and difference of meats which they gave over after the Jewes were found obstinately to refuse the Gospell So that in these mens judgements the Lords Day was no festivall to the Apostles till by occasion of the Jewes obstinatenesse a proper occasion for the institution of a new festivall And give mee leave to differ from them in yoking Circumcision and difference of meats with the Jewes Sabbath neither of them prefiguring Christ as to come like as the Jewes Sabbath did prefiguring his rest that day in the grave as the ancients have conceived it without any contradiction that I know Had they permitted sacrifices for a time their comparison had beene more congruous I see no reason to withhold me from concurring with Austin and in him with all the ancients for ought I know to the contrary that Dies Dominicus Resurrectione Domini declaratus est Christianis ex illo coepit habere festivitatem suam yea with the very words of Scripture Psal 118.22 The stone which the builders refused is become the head of the corner 23. This is the Lords doing and it is marvellous in our eyes 24. This is the day which the Lord hath made we will rejoyce and be glad in it Neither is it credible to mee that the Apostles were ignorant of it or of its application the day of Christs Resurrection from the very day thereof Heresbachius upon these words Haec dies quam fecit dominus They are saith hee the words of the people exulting in the Kingdome of David most of all of the glorious Resurrection of Christ which of all others was most glorious to mankinde as whereon Christ redeemed us in a triumphant manner from the Tyarnny of Satan and from everlasting death and restored unto us everlasting righteousnesse Arnobius interprets it of the Lords Day Eightly the last argument and which hee acknowledgeth of greatest moment is that which is taken out of Apoc. 1.10 Where the first day of the weeke is called the Lords Day whence they conclude that it is of the Lords institution And indeed Doctor Andrewes Bishop of Winchester in his Starre Camber speech professeth that this denomination is given onely to the first day of the weeke as called in Scripture the Lords day and to the Sacrament of the body and bloud of Christ as called the Lords Supper and that to shew that the word Dominicum the Lords is to bee taken alike in both In the same sense wee call the Prayer which our Savious taught his Disciples the Lords Prayer But let us heare Walaeus his answer that we may consider it This consequence saith hee is not necessary for it may bee called the Lords not onely that which is of his institution but even that which is made to the remembrance or in the honour of him or for his worship as the ancients speake as the altar of the Lord and feast of the Lord are often so called And that in this sence it was taken of the ancients it appeares by this that the ancient Fathers both Greeke and Latine called Temples by the name of Dominica and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That which wee urge is the language of the Holy Ghost now throughout the holy Scripture it is not the language of the Holy Ghost to call either Altars the Lords Altars or Feasts the Lords Feasts but such as are of the Lords institution Neither doe the fathers in my observation call the first day of the weeke the Lords day otherwise then in reference to Christs Resurrection as the cause of the festivall nature thereof Temples indeed they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as consecrated to the Lord but the denomination is not to distinguish it from other Temples as the Lords Day hath its denomination to distinguish it from other dayes But the day of Christs Resurrection being called the Lords Day not as such a day in the yeare but as such a day in the weeke this to my understanding doth manifestly inferre the succession of it into the place of the Lords day of the weeke amongst the Jewes Both ancient and moderne Divines doe hold it lawfull to consecrate other dayes to the service of of God such as wee usually call holy dayes But never any man I thinke was found that durst call any of them Diem dominicum the Lords Day Adde to this wherefore doth our Saviour say that the sonne of man is Lord of the Sabbath but plainely to conclude herence that hee can dispense with it hee can abrogate it and bring another into the place of it and none hath power for this but hee who is Lord of the Sabbath Lastly when he saith pray that your flight be not in the winter nor on the Sabbath day what is the reason hereof but religio Sabbati as all confesse the religious observation of the Sabbath and did they understand any other religion of the Sabbath but as from Divine institution Now the time concerning which our Saviour delivers this now about the destruction of the Temple by Titus Sect. 6. after that no other Sabbath but of the Lords Day was generally established in the Churches Last of all for the third and last conclusion Pref. that still the Church hath power to change the day our Doctor in the 7. Section bringeth in Bullinger Bucer Brentius Vrsinus and Chemnitius aliisque nostris with divers others not named particularly as they are which thinke no otherwise thereof then Calvin did and shewes by what distinction Suarez though otherwise no friend unto the men doth defend their Doctrine Now as the doctrine was such also is the practise of those men and Churches devoid of
any the least superstitious rigour esteeming it to bee a day left arbitrary and therefore open to all honest exercises and lawfull recreations by which the mind may bee refreshed and the spirits quickened Even in Geneva it selfe according as it is related in the enlargement of Boterus by Robert Johnson all honest exercises shooting in pieces long Bowes crossebowes c. are used on the Sabbath Day and that both in the morning before and after Sermon neither doe the Ministers finde fault therewithall so that they hinder not from hearing of the word at the time appointed Dancing indeed they doe not suffer But this is not in relation to the Sunday but the sport it selfe which is held unlawfull and generally forbidden in the French Churches which strictnesse as some note considering how the French doe delight in dancing hath beene a great hinderance to the growth of the reformed religion in that Kingdome The Doctor indeed saith that Calvin Bullenger Bucerus Exam. Brentius Chemnitius Vrsine and others of the reformed Churches affirme that still the Church hath power to change the Lords Day to some other but hee neither cites their words nor quotes any place out of their writings And as for Calvin whom this Prefacer proposeth as chiefe and the rest as thinking no otherwise thereof then hee did I make no doubt but the passage in Calvin is instit 2. cap. 8. sect 34. where thus he writeth Neque sic tamen septenarium numerum moror ut ejus servituti Ecclesiam astringerem I doe not so regard the number of seven as to tie the Church to the servitude thereof which considered in it selfe might intimate that in his opinion it is indifferent whether wee keepe holy one day in seven or one day in foureteene but the words immediately following doe manifest his meaning to be farre otherwise as namely that we are not so tied to a seventh but that we may solemnize other dayes also by our holy assemblies For thus it followes Neque enim damnavero qui alios conventibus suis solennes dies habeant I condemne not them that keep other dayes holy will any man suppose that some there were well knowne to Calvin who kept other dayes solemn and not the Lords Day and that these men Calvin would not condemne And Gomarus who is most opposite to us in this argument professeth that seeing not onely a time but a sufficient proportion of time is to be set apart for Divine service therefore we must now under the Gospel allow rather a better proportion of time for Divine service than a worse And in this also Rivetus rests in his answer to the first argument of Walaeus contending for one day in seven as necessarily to be allowed to the worship of God De reg Chr. lib. 1. ap 11. For Bullinger I know not where to seeke that which the Doctor aimes at As for Bucer I have shewed before out of him that the Lords Day was by the Apostles themselves consecrated to Divine actions which ordinance the antient Churches observed most religiously and that one of the chief causes hereof was that they might celebrate the memory of Christs resurrection which fell out on the first day of the weeke of power to abrogate this day left unto the Church he saith nothing but to the contrary rather that all they who desire the restoring of Christs Kingdome ought to labour that the religion of the Lords Day may be soundly called backe and be of force Yet saith he it is agreeable to our piety to sanctifie other festivalls also to the commemoration of the Lords chiefe workes whereby he perfected our redemption as the day of his incarnation nativity the Epiphany the passion the resurrection ascension and Pentecost And the place which Doctor Rivet explic decal pag. 189. col 2. allegeth out of Bucer in Mat. 10. to prove that he maintained the day to be alterable is nothing to the purpose and as little doe they make for it which hee allegeth out of Musculus To find out what Chemnitius saith hereupon I turne to his Examen of the connsell of Trent concerning festivalls There pag. 154. col 2. he saith that Christ to show that he kept the Jewes Sabbath freely and not of necessitie against the opinion of necessity touching the abrogation of the Mosaicall Sabbath hee taught both by word and deed By word in saying that the Sonne of man is Lord of the Sabbath and by his deeds as in healing on the Sabbath day and defending his Disciples in plucking the eares of corne Now hereby I take it to be manifest and acknowledged by Chemnitius that none hath power to abrogate the Sabbath but he that is Lord of the Sabbath And seeing even Christians were to have their Sabbath as appeareth by those words of our Saviour pray that your flight be not in the winter nor on the Sabbath day which is delivered of the time about the destruction of the Temple by Titus at what time Paul had suffered martyrdome divers yeeres before by whose writings it doth appeare that the Lords Day was kept in place of the Jewes Sabbath both by the practice of the Apostles and the Churches of Galatia and Achaia as Chemnitius acknowledgeth from the force of those places Acts 20.7 1 Cor. 16.2 and Apoc. 1.10 in the next columne it followeth that the Lords Day was the Christian Sabbath and so to this day continueth and consequently that none hath power to alter it but hee that is Lord of the Sabbath which is Christ himselfe it being accordingly called the Lords Day Therefore if any pretend that Christ hath delegated this power of his unto the Church it stands upon them to make it good But Chemnitius proceeds pag. 155. col 1. and shewes how the Apostles at the first tolerated their weak faith who without superstition observed dayes Mosaicall Rom. 14. and that such as were stronger in faith after the abrogation of the old Testament judged all dayes to be equall in themselves and none more holy then another We willingly grant as much and adde the reason hereof to wit because the holinesse of the day preferred before his fellowes consisted in some mysterious signification which had reference unto Christ as to come all which kind of shadowes the body being come are now vanished away Hee proceeds saying The Apostles also manifested by their example that in the new Testament it was free to come together either every day or what day soever they thought good to handle the Word and Sacraments and to the publique or common exercises of piety So the Sabbath day and other festivall dayes they taught All this wee willingly grant but here-hence it followeth not that one day of the weeke was not of more necessary observation for the exercises of piety than another Farther saith he that they might manifest that the exercises of Ecclesiasticall assemblies were not tied to certaine dayes they daily persevered in the doctrine of the Apostles
the judgement of all the Prelates of this Kingdome and of the whole Parliament Now let every sober Reader judge whether my selfe as an English man have not better ground from an act of Parliament to censure them of Geneva for prophaners of the Sabbath in the case here pretended then this Praefacer from the practise of Geneva by the relation of Robert Iohnson to consure us that doe mislike them herein if this bee their practise for superstitious observers of the Sabbath especially considering that hee cannot fasten this censure upon such as my selfe but withall hee must passe the same upon all Prelates of the Kingdome together with the Lords temporall and the whole house of Commons And as for the exercises here mentioned I finde them to fall wondrously short of that which the author avoucheth as namely that they esteeme the Sabbath to lie open to all honest exercises and lawfull recreations for I make no question but in this Praefacer his opinion there are farre more exercises and lawfull recreations then that of shooting which alone is here mentioned and whereas such things are permitted in the very morning of the Sabbath and aswell afore as after Sermon I finde no thing answerable hereunto in the practise of our Church Neither doe I finde that the exercises here mentioned are so much accommodated to the refreshing of the minde and quickning of the spirit as to make their bodies active and expedite in some functions which may be for the service of the common Wealth And lately upon enquiry hereabout I have receaved information that at Geneva after evening prayer onely the youth doth practise shooting in Guns to make them more ready and expert for the defence of the City which is never out of danger They have also at foure a Clocke on the Morning both Service and a Sermon for their servants and 2. more in every Church the one in the Fore-noone the other in the After-noon beside Catechizing the youth on the Sabbath Day And Bishop Lake wished that such a course were generall as is in his Majesties Court to have a Sermon in the Morning for the servants on the Sabbath day And I see no cause to dissent from Gerardus in specifying 4. particulars whereby the Sabbath is not violated Parva Necessarium Respublica cum pietate Undoubtedly hunting is as commendable as and more generous exercise then any of these and the Kings Majesty though much delighted herein yet never useth to hunt on the Sabbath Day Morning or Evening And I have cause to come but slowly to the believing hereof because it is Calvins Doctrine concerning the Sabbath that albeit under the Gospell we are not bound to so rigorous a rest as the Jewes were yet that still wee are obliged to abstaine from all other works as they are Avocamenta à sacris studiis meditationibus Avocations from holy studies and Meditations and their Ministers I should thinke doe not well if they faile to minde them hereof unlesse both they and the people are fallen from Calvins Doctrine in this point in which case I see no just cause why any should choake us therewith but give us as much liberty to dissent from him in the Doctrine of the Sabbath as they of Geneva take unto themselves Againe Beza is well knowne to have professed upon Revel 1.10 that the observation of the Lords Day is traditionis Apostolicae verè Divinae and consequently that the day is not left arbitrary neither hath this author proved that the Presbytery and states of Geneva both Ecclesiasticall and politicall have committed any revolt or apostacy thereto from Beza in this point It is well hee acknowledgeth some recreation not suffered there as namely dancing but this hee sayth they hold unlawfull which simply delivered as by this author it is is incredible unto mee neither hath this authors word any sufficient authority to deliver mee from this incredulity yet some manner of dancing may perhaps bee generally forbidden in the French Protestant Churches This strictnesse the Prefacer saith is noted by some to have beene a great hinderer to the growth of the reformed Religion which belike is advantaged so much the more with us in as much as it is not hindred but he quotes no author for that As for the author he quotes I have not hitherto found that hee hath arrived to any great authority or credit in the World for the truth of his relations Neither hath the wisdome of our Church or state taken any contrary course hitherto either by Statute or Canon to promote reformation amongst us what they may doe hereafter I know not when such spirits as this Prefacer may bee so fortunate as to sit neare the sterne Whether the French Churches have found it so as this Geographer is sayd to report I know not but for their judgment herein I must expect untill I heare more therof Sect. 7. Pref. Which being so the judgement and practice of so many men and of such severall perswasions in the controverted point of the Christian faith concurring unanimously together the miracle is the greater that we in England should take up a contrary opinion and thereby separate our selves from all that are called Christian yet so it is Sect. 7. I skill not how it comes to passe but so it is that some among us have revived againe the Jewish Sabbath though not the day it selfe yet the name and thing Teaching that the commandement of sanctifying every seventh day as in the Mosaicall Decalogue is naturall morall and perpetuall that whereas all things else in the Jewish Church were so changed that they were cleane taken away This day meaning the Sabbath was so changed that it still remaineth and lastly that the Sabbath was not any of those ceremonies which were justly abrogated at Christs comming All which positions are condemned for contrary to the Articles of the Church of England as in a comment on those Articles perused and by the lawfull authority of the Church allowed to be publique is most cleare and manifest which doctrinalls though dangerous in themselves and different from the judgement of the ancient Fathers and of the greatest Clerks of the later times are not yet halfe so desperate as that which followeth thereupon in point of practice For these positions granted and entertained as orthodox what can we else expect but such strange paradoxes as in the consideration of the premisses have beene delivered from some pulpits in this kingdome as viz. That to doe any servile worke or businesse on the Lords Day is as great a sinne as to kill a man or to commit adultery that to throw a bowle to make a feast or dresse a wedding dinner on the Lords Day is as great a sinne as for a man to take a knife and cut his childs throat that to ring more bells than one on the Lords Day is as great a sinne as to commit murther The author which reports them all was present when the