THE LAW AND the Gospell reconciled OR The Euangelicall Fayth and the Morall Law how they stand together in the state of grace A treatise shewing the perpetuall vse of the Morall Law vnder the Gospell to beleeuers in answere to a letter written by an Antinomiâ—◠〈◊〉 a faithfull Christian Also how the moraâ—â—â—â— of the 4th Commandement is continued in the Lords day proued the Christian Sabbath by diuine institution â—â—fe Catalogue of the Antinomian doctrinoc By HENRY BVRTON 1 TIM 1.5 The end of the Commandement is charity out of a pure heart of a good conscience and of fayth vnfained Vt Rota intra rotam currit sic lex intra Gratiam et obseruantia legis intra diuinâ— curriculum misericordiae est Ambros. de Iacob c li. 2. cap 11. LONDON Printed by J. N. for Thomas Slatter and are to bee sould at his shoppe in Blackfryars 1631. TO THE HIGH and Mighty Prince Charles by the grace of God King of Great Britaine France and Ireland Defender of the Fayth c. GRatious Soueraine this small treatise humbly pleades your Royall Patronage by a double title the one from the Author of it your old seruant who oweth all he is to your Maiesty the other from the worke it selfe being a defence of the Morall Law of God against the Antinomian Libertines in these daies who deny to beleeuers any more vse thereof And what one subiect can more iustly clame your Maiesties protection then this of the Morall Law sith you are not only by a proper title Defender of the fayth but by a common trust committed to Kings keeper of both Tables The discharge of which trust as it tends much to the honour of the great Lawgiuer who hath made you his Vicegerent to see his Lawes well executed So it is the maine propp and pillar to support and secure your royall Throne The consideration whereof when I saw these sonnes of Belial thus vndermining the Kings Throne hath prouoked my zeale both to God and to your Maiesty to write this simple Treatise For to deny the Morall Law to be of any more vse to belieuers or to be so much as a rule of conuersation or that they owe obedience vnto it in poynt of duety and conscience this strikes at the very root and cutts in sunder the kâ—â—ot not onely of christian charity but euen of all ciuill society and happy vnion and communion betweene King and Subiects Head and Members For first the rule of Gods true and vnmixed worship commanded in the first Table is taken away Secondly the rule of all christian and ciuill duties betweene man and man in whatsoeuer relation they stand of equality or inequality Commanded in the second Table and all this with one stroke of cutting off the Morall Law from belieuers And particularly these Antinomians cut off all dutifull and conscionable obedience to Princes grounded on the fift Commandement wherein they being principall Parents namely of our Country all due honour and obedience in the Lord is commaunded to bee giuen them in the first place as of children to their Father Againe on the other side they breake downe the bankes that God himselfe hath pitched to confine the course of Kings whose hearts in the Lords hand like the riuers of waters keeping within their bankes refresh the Land on euery side with their sweete streames but being without the bankes of Gods sacred lawes how soone might they ouerflow and drowne all Therefore it was the care of the wise and good God to the end he might prouide for the hapy welfare both of the King and People to leaue it in charge to the King of Israell that he should haue a coppy of the Law alwaies by him to reade therein day and night Deut 17.18 19 20. to learne thereby to feare the Lord his God to walke humbly among his brethren to doe iustice and iudgement to the end hee may prolong his dayes in his Kingdome hee and his Children in the middest thereof But these Lawlesse Antinomians enemyes to God to Kings and States would robb Christian Kings of this blessed Booke of Gods Law that soe if they could strippe them of the grace and feare of God in their hearts letting loosse the reynes of all honestie and conscience they might vsurpe a gouernment after the lust of man not after the law of God and so precipitate ineuitable ruine to Princes and Common-weales For take away Gods Law and what law of man can bynde the conscience eyther in poynt of obeying or of commanding For though it hath euer beene a Maxime among the very heathen that humaine Lawes and such as were ratified by solemne oathes and couenants betweene Prince and people they held sacred and inuiolable as that Law of the Medes and Persians the Kings writing and seale c. Dan. 6.16 Yet the maine ground that bore vp all the rest was the conscience they had by naturall instinct of Gods eternall Law written in their hearts accusing or excusing knowing that God was an auenger of the breach of lawes oathes couenants such as were agreeable to his Law This then being the strongest ligature to combine the Head and Body politicke in a firme society whereby it becomes inuincible perpetuall and glorious these sonnes of Belial would dismember all Wherein they plainely shew who is their syre 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that lawlesse one whose Motto is Volumus et iubemus wee will and command which style Platina notes to be first taken vp by Boniface the third who first vsurped the Papall Headship ouer the Church So as casting off all lawes of God and man hee became that great Beast described in the Reuelation whom no law or reason can bound or limit accounting it a disparagement to his tyrannicall greatnesse to bee confined within the lists of any lawes oathes vowes couenants though neuer so iust and sacred Now the Lord Iesus so blesse your Maiesty that trampling this Antinomian Anomian heresie both syre and sonnes vnder your sacred feete you may long and happily raigne ouer your people as a tender father ouer his children while your chiefe care is first for the mayntenance of Gods pure worship without mixture and for the execution of iustice and iudgement these two being the summe of both the Tables and the supporters of the Kings Throne which the Lord euer defend from all Antinomian Anomian spirits In this Treatise also J haue occasionally proued the diuine institution of the Lords day our Christian Sabbath denyed by some And as your raigne hath beene honoured with a pious law for the due obseruation of this great Holy-day of Christ So I trust that this my vindicating of it to its owne right of diuine institution will not a little helpe to the better execution of that your Christian law Which that it may be more reuerently and religiously obserued both in Court City and Country to the purging out of profanesse and to the increase of all christian graces in your
Maiesty and vs your people it is and shall bee the daily and dutyfull prayer of Your Maiesties loyall subiect and old seruant Henry Burton To the Reader CHristian Reader if this Treatise may seeme to any to bee superfluous as defending that which noe good Christians deny yet considering how fruitfull these last times are in bringing forth the spurious spawnes and monstrous birthes of all kinds of heresies among which this of the Antinomians a most pestilent and pernicious sest is not the least which denyeth any further vse of the Morall Law to belieuers no not as a rule of conuersation as of duty to be conformed vnto and seeing also how many counterfeit Christians are ready do daily intertaine this Libertine doctrine which lets loosse the raines to all licentiousnesse as both the Doctors and Disciples of this Antinomian heresie the Sons of Belial do euidently proue in the practise of their lawlesse and gracelesse life lastly waighing how this Antinomian frye is as an enemy to true fayth and the power of religion so a friend to all other heresies now on foote specially to Popery seruing as a way maker for it by breaking downe the wals of the City of God that so Romes Troian Horse full of traiterous Engines and armed Engineers may finde the easier reentry for the erecting of their Dagon instead of Gods Arke I hope thou wilt not esteeme either my paines lost in writing or thyne in reading this small tract And howsoeuer there is small hope that those who haue already deepely drunke in this sweete deadly poyson will easily admit of any Antidote or Preseruatiue or suffer it kindly to worke vpon them so intoxicated they are with the spirit of giddynesse and I feare many of them iustly giuen ouer of God to a reprobate sense hauing fallen from the truth of the Ghospell once acknowledged of them Yet I doubt not but by Gods grace this Treatise will be a meanes to preserue all sound and simple-hearted christians in the true fayth of Iesus Christ neuer to be seduced by such spirits of errour and perhaps to reduce into the way of the truth all such honest-hearted poore soules as haue beene beguiled by them Onely this let mee premonish thee of that whereas in the fourth page I promise to affix the Copy of that letter at large which gaue occasion of this Treatise I haue since altered my minde for these reasons 1. Because 〈◊〉 coppy is very large 2. Because I haue set downe the substance of it in all the particulars throughout this Tract 3. Instead thereof I haue added vpon occasion offered when I had ended this treatise as a branch thereof a short discourse toucbing the Sabbath day the Morality whereof some haue of late impugned as not binding Christians in the obseruation of the Lords day the diuine Institution whereof they also deny So as if I haue not made good my promise in a matter of no necessity nor of much moment thou wilt pardon mee if J haue made thee amends in adding that which is of farre greater importance and benefit And if herein also I haue not in all poynts satisfied thy iudgement to the full concerning the Law of the Sabbath and of the diuine institution of the Lords day instead of the Iewes Sabbath I shall by Gods grace shortly giue thee further satisfaction in a fuller and ampler Treatise purposely penned in answere to a booke lately come forth which would vtterly euacuate the Lords day for the Christian Sabbath and reduce vs to the Iewes Sabbath-day agayne Which will bee a worke somuch the more necessary by how much this Iewish Sabbatarian findes already many Maléferiatos homiâ—es idle and giddy-brained Christians to imbrace his booke which is written with Amighty confident and Gyantlike spirit as if the Arguments thereof were inuincible Jn the meane time inioy this and pray for mee that God would assist me in that greater worke and in all things that may most concerne his glory and the benefit of his Church Farewell Thine in Christ Iesus Henry Burton Faults in the Printing to be corrected with the pen. Page 10. liue 10 read Calumniations So also l. 15 blot out the p 26 l. 17 r. close p. 27. l. 6. r to the ground p. 30. l. 8. r. preaching p. 33. l. 1. r. syllogisticall p. 43. l 5. r. morality of the Cmmandement p. 51. l. 24. r initiation p. 52. l. 36. r. first-fruits p. 55. l. 6. r. Titulus l. 9. r. signe p. 56. l. 1. r placuent p. 57. l. 11. r. Arians Aerians l. 25. r. christian l. 29. blot out his p. 58. l. 17 r slip p. 59. l 6. r lye vnder p. 60. l. 19. r. pretty reasons l 30. r. impose p. 61. l. 8. blot out communing p. 62. l. 313 r detrect p. 6. l. r. commandal 28. r. sacred ordinances p. 69. in the margent l. â—â— r. pawber and l. 26. r. 515. to 15. lighter escapes the eye well correct THE LAVV AND the Gospell reconciled The Euangelicall fayth and the Morall Law how they stand together in the State of Grace Vpon occasion of a letter written by an Antinomian to a faithfull Christian THat which holy Iude deemed so needfull to write Iude 3 and to exhort vnto all true Christians should bee ready to intertaine that is earnestly to contend for that fayth which was once deliuered to the Saints This was that which the Apostle gaue chiefely in charge to the Philippians Phil. i. 27. Onely let your conuersation be such as becommeth the Gospell of Christ that whither I come and see you or else be absent I may heare of your affaires that yee stand fast in one spirit with one minde striuing together for the fayth of the Gospell This is indeede that onely thing worthy to bee contended for and that with earnestnesse And if those two mothers before King Solomon did so plead about the liuing child which yet was mortall and a sinfull brood how should the true Church of God plead her titles to that which brings immortality the blessed fruit and issue of the liuing fayth But how shall we know who hath best right to this liuing fayth One saith Mine is the liuing fayth and thine the dead fayth another sayth No but thine is the dead and mine the liuing As therefore Solomons sword deciding the quarrell gaue the liuing childe to the true mother So the sword of the spirit Christs word a greater then Solomon onely can determine who is the true mother the true Church to which the liuing fayth of right belongeth sith it is deliuered to none but to the Saints Nor were it a matter of wonder to heare the whore of Babylon the old Romish beldame to make claime to the liuing fayth as her naturall child which now long agoe by ouerlaying it in the night of blacke ignorance and supine security with her vnwealdy body become so grosse and monstrous with the infinite additions of humaine Traditions standing in stead
of those who hauing a forme of godlinesse deny the power thereof from such turne away Of which sort are they which creepe into houses and lead captiue silly women laden with sins led away with diuerse lusts euer learning and neuer able to come to the knowledge of the truth And as Iannes and Iambres withstood Moses soe do these also resist the truth men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the fayth But they shall proceede no farther for their folly shall bee manifest to all men as theirs also was All which how fully it is verefied and exemplified in the Author we haue to deale withall this little discourse seconded with the subscription of his owne handy worke will abundantly testifye Now because the letter is teadious so as to answere to euery circumstance would clogge our discourse with many vnnecessary and vnprofitable matters therefore I will epitomize or contract the whole into one briefe view and pitch vpon such points as the Author stands most vpon and wherein he placeth the maine strength of his battalion And first I will muster vp his scattered skirmishes and brauadoes And those I finde to be diuided into two speciall companies The first is a brauado setting forth his cause with many specious and glorious titles as his ascribing it to Gods gratious calling that it is the true liuely iustifying faith which he maintaineth which words hee often repeateth that it is of the household of true faith the most holy and heauenly calling into the true liuely iustifying fayth that it is the gracious leauening of the Gospell that it is the effectuall calling to true christianity and assured free saluation that this leauen is the wedding garment of Christs perfect holinesse and that this is the good and old way which Abraham walkt in that it is the established protestant doctrine of our Church of England grounded vpon the word of God which euery one ought to imbrace if hee will be a loyall subiect to his Protestant King againe This is the Protestant fayth this is the established doctrine of our Church that he is as one true Prophet to a great number of false Prophets that he with a few more goe with a right foot to the truth of the Gospell such as call the people to a chearefull zealous godly life onely for and by the ioy and excellency of free iustification but marke how deepely considered onely those few doe apply the law purely and truely that these are the few foresayd true ministers of Christ and such as follow them the true beleeuers that they onely bring in the true meanes of true sanctification and of doing all good workes that these are the true teachers who doe truely establish the law that these are the onely true ministers and their followers the onely true people of God that this doctrine is and may bee proued in euery point with two or three plaine scriptures and two or three plaine testimonies of Orthodox Protestant writers These and the like bee the glorious guildings wherewith hee doth so fairely inammile his leaden cause which anon will come to the Test The second company wherewith he skirmisheth all along is of such reproches as hee casts vpon all those that are aduersaries to his opinion I take them in order as they lie That to auouch the contrary is a sinfull preiudice of Gods truth that it is a blaspheming of the true liuely iustifying fayth such are too much leauened with the sowre leauen of the deuouter sort of Pharisees which with the false brethren among the Galatians leauened and corrupted the faith of the Galatians Thus the pentificians where they find certainety of Saluation they call it presumption c. and that with a conceited holinesse of doing and keeping the morall law this is a dangerous leauen of the Pharisees which vnder the visour and conceit and opinion of sincerity and obedience to God and zeale of God is but hipocrisie Christs marriage garment is now a dayes eagerly opposed and subtilly betrayed with a Iudasses kisse in this regard these are the perilous times wherein men and women are euer learning and neuer able to come to the truth of the assurance of their free saluation and that there is in a manner now no fayth on the earth because the dead fayth before God is no fayth although it be varnished and guilded ouer with a blinde prepostrous zeale and opinion of obedience and walking in all gods commandements as Paul before his conuersion was in this blind zealous dead fayth which phrase is very frequent with him that it is another Ghospell that the blinde zealous dead faith thinkes it knowes something when it knowes nothing as it ought to know that they are not some few teachers among vs that trouble the people of God by Preaching another Gospell but especially when God meanes to punish an vngratefull Church and Nation many false teachers This great prophet Iwis as of old there are many hundred false Prophets to one true Prophet hanging relying and depending yea bragging of their obedience workes and weldoings and keeping of the law these bad ministers and teachers that trouble the people of God are and for the iuster iudgement and scourge of the great vnthankefull multitude euer haue beene the greatest multitude and these are deuided into two sorts the first sort are such as are euill beasts slow bellies that vse to preach a little for their liuing sake and for their bellie but care not for the sauing of soules but for their ease their pompe and worldly esteeme and those ministers make onely Hoggschristians that trampling free iustification and the Pearles of the Gospell vnder the feete of their durty affections doe care for nothing but rooting in the earth and filling the belly but the other sort of bad teachers although their right eye also of true fayth bee out and doe more deepely delude themselues and others in the dead fayth yet they haue the light of nature more strongly stirring in them described Rom. 2.14.15 where it is sayd that the Gentiles which haue not the law doe by nature the things conteined in the law which shew the effect or worke of the law written in their hearts their consciences also bearing witnesse and their thoughts accusing them that is with feare of punishment when they doe ill and will preach it as the true Gospell I warrant you and excusing them that is hoping to speede well when they doe well and this light of nature they varnish ouer with titles of the Gospell whereby especially young Ministers being carryed with a preposterous zeale of Gods glory Rom. 10.2.3 in workes and conceited weldoings they slight ouer fayth and free iustification with a wet finger thinking with the Papists by a carnall vnderstanding of them that they are quickly or rather learned too fast and so doe preach neyther true law nor true Gospell but a corrupting blending and marring of both law and Gospell whereby they put out the right eye of
the greatest multitude of zealous professors they drowne them with themselues in the dead fayth and instead of a true fayth in Christs righteousnesse doe make them to rely and hang vpon their owne holinesse workes and well-doings whereby people are euer troubled in conscience or else glory with the Pharises Luke 8.11 in a prepostrous false bastard sanctification and Anabaptisticall mortification and obedience in doing the law of God flowing from no true loue or charity and so as the former profaine Ministers doe make dogg-christians so greedily feeding vpon the fifthy pleasing carrion of the secret lurking vaine glory of their owne holynesse obedience workes and well-doings that these most Iudas-like and traiterously trample the pearle of free iustification and free grace vnder the feete of their Pharisaicall affections and doe not onely fall a barking like doggs at the few * Meaning those of his Antinomian and lawlesse sect foresayd true Ministers of Christ and so trouble the true beleeuers with all manner of caluminations raylings and slanderings as that they are against sanctification and good workes whereas they onely bring in the true meanes of true sanctification and of doing all good workes and that those true teachers destroy the law when they truely stablish the law with such-like innumerable caluminations but also sticke euen violently like doggs to fly in the true Ministers and people of Gods faces and are ready if they can to teare out their very throats with bitter hatred and cruell persecution are not these truely Christs dogg-christians the Disciples of such false masters plainely declaring that whilst they contend for the law they are both in words and deedes the greatest destroyers of the law and that their bragging obedience is most grieuous disobedience all their holy sanctification is dubble sin and iniquity and that their whole worship of high esteeme with men is idolatrous and abomination before God traiterous to their King and dangerous to the betraying and destruction of their whole Country and Kingdome wherein such liue Therefore in my hearty loue and in the sincerity of my bettered affections I pray you take heed of this blinde zealous dead fayth and content not your selues in the carnall knowledge of free iustification c. Thus farre of his skirmish Wherein thou mayest good reader obserue how he magnifieth himselfe as the onely true Prophet opposed by many hundred of false Prophets those hee rankes together with their hearers and seuerall congregations into two companies the one a heard of hoggs the other a kennell of doggs and of these two he makes vp the vniuersall body of the Church of England as which God hath giuen vp to bee plagued with such ministers of the blind dead fayth as his vsuall manner of language is to call it So as in summe he makes the Church and nation of England to be an accursed Isle of hoggs and doggs Againe for all this note how sliely like the subtile serpent hee seekes by insinuation to patronize his doctrine vnder the authority of the Church of Englands established doctrine as grounded thereon and consonant thereunto and so consequently vnder the Kings protection a pestilent peece of policy and practice though by necessary consequence hee makes the Defender of the fayth no better that which my very thought abhorreth then one of his hogg or dogg-christians and on the other side labours to make all his aduersaries odious as being in their doctrines enemyes to the King and State a notable practise of heretickes in all ages and such are all Ministers in Court City Country all Courtiers Citizens Country-men that follow not this man in his conceited true liuely fayth Come we in the next place to his maine battalion which hee rangeth into 3 squadrons Namely hee sets downe the state of the doctrine in 3 Propositions which he cals his 3 Protestant positions The first is that the horrible filthinesse of sin is such to Gods infinite pure and righteous nature that God cannot but abhorre curse and detest the creature that hath any sin in his sight as these and such like scriptures teach Deut. 27.26 2. Pet. 2.4 Rom. 5.12.15 Esa 59 2. Iob. 15.16 The second is I beleeue that for remedy of this my misery by sin God by the power of his imputation doth though mystically yet soe truely cloth mee with the wedding garment of his sons perfect holinesse and righteousnesse Esa 61.10 that all my sins both of my person and works being truely abolished not out of me 1 Ioh. 1.8 that there may be place for fayth Heb. 11.1 Rom. 4.18.19 to 21. but yet vtterly abolished out of Gods sight Col. 1.22 I and all my workes are of vniust made iust before God that is perfectly holy righteous from all spot of sin in the sight of God freely by faith only without works And I say By fayth onely without workes because onely true fayth seeth this and onely true fayth inioyeth this And thus by Christs stripes am I healed Esa 53.5 And so God is well pleased and at peace with mee For being iustified by fayth we haue peace with God Rom. 5.1 And am truely blessed Rom. 4.6 For as many as are of this fayth of free iustification are blessed with faithfull Abraham Gal. 3.8.9 and shall be certainely glorified for whom God iustifieth them he also glorifieth Rem 8.30 All which Protestant position of free iustification is abundantly and clearely taught by these and such like scriptures Esa 43.25 Esa 44.22.23 Ioh. 1.29 Heb. 1.3 Heb. 9.26 1. Ioh. 1.7 Reu. 1.5.6 Dan. 9.24 Rom. 3.21.22 Rom. 5.17.18.19.21 Eph. 5.26.27 Reu. 3.18 Col. 1.22.23 Rom. 8.4 Col. 2.10 Rom. 9.30 Heb. 10.14 Esa 62. Phil. 3.8.9 Tit. 1.15 Heb. 11.4 The 3 is my third position is that this true fayth of free iustification doth infallibly inflame the heart with true loue Gal. 5.6 which makes the true beleeuer to breake off from and mortifie his former corrupt and profane conuersation and brings forth a declaratiue obedience and redinesse to euery good worke and a free and cherefull walking in all Gods will and commandements declaratiuely to manward which is true sanctification as these and such like scriptures teach Tim. 2.11 to 15. 1. Ioh. 3.5.6.9 Eph 2.10 Rom. 6. Eph. 4.22.23.24 Math. 5.16 This is the Protestant fayth this is the established doctrine of our Church these are the 3 positions that here hee makes the woman-Disciple to speake I haue too lately receiued and which haue so changed mee out of the blinde zealous dead fayth into the true liuely iustifying fayth Thus you haue his 3 Protestant positions as hee calls them set downe word for word which an indifferent reader yea a sound Protestant perusing and knowing no more of the authors minde then what is here expressed hee would at the first sight perhapps take all for harmelesse and sound doctrine But when he shall consider how all these positions as Protestant as they bee stand in opposition to all that doctrine which is
would abound more and more For yee know what commandements wee gaue you by the Lord Iesus For this is the will of God euen your sanctification that yee should abstaine from fornication The exhortation is very forcible and full of waight Hee presseth it by the authority of the Lord Iesus he mindeth them of it as one of those lessons he had deliuered formerly by word of mouth and they had receiued hee calls it a duty How yee ought to walke yea a duty to God How yee ought to walke and please God hee calls it a speciall commandement which hee gaue them by the Lord Iesus as which the Lord Iesus gaue him in charge to deliuer to them hee calls it the will of God he calls it their sanctification Now what is all this which the Apostle here aymeth at What but this That yee abstaine from fornication Whence I argue thus Proposition Abstinence from fornication is a part of keeping of the Morall Law Assumption But this abstinence from fornication is a duty acceptable to God is a doctrine to be taught by the Ministers of Christ to be receaued by the people of God is a commandement of the Lord Iesus it is the will of God it is our sanctification or a fruite and effect of it Conclusion Therefore the keeping of the Morall Law is commanded of God of Christ as a duty to all true beleeuers To what part of this Argument will the aduersary answere To the Proposition That hee dare not for the Law sayth Thou shalt not commit adultery To the Assumption That he cannot for that is the Apostles in the fore alledged place Therefore I will conclude with this conclusion That the keeping of the Morall law is commanded of God and of Christ as a duty to all true beleeuers When I vrged this argument or the * as rhis What soeuer is Gods will we should doe is our duty to doe But the doing of Gods Law is Gods will wee Should doe therefore it is our duety to doe Gods law so farre as we are able Now all this is plainely concluded by the Apostle This is the will of God euen your sanctification that ye should abstaine from fornication To abstaine froÌ„ fornication is a part of keeping the Moral Law and what is true of a part is true of the whole as Iam. 2.10 11. like in forme syelogisticall out of this very place of the Apostle to this our aduersarie occasionally face to face and had to satisfie his demande repeated it ouer twice or thrice hee could not giue a present answere but desired to haue it written downe But I expect not an answere because none can be giuen to this which is here written No can he not in all his budget finde an answere doth hee not as I heare hee was wont to doe at least carry his trunk-hose full farsed stuffed with Protestant Authors as Luther Zanchee Paraeus with sundry others of good note that with their graue authority and reuerend names he may the more easily impose vpon his credulous and ignorant Disciples who admire that most which they vnderstand least cannot he out of all these beate out an answere to these things For of these he braggs much in the conclusion of his letter But till hee can bring some I will content my selfe to bring his belweather Author euen Luther whose no lesse puissant then elegant and heauenly speech wherewith I will for this time conclude this short discourse shall run full butt vppon and push downe all that he hath sayd for his pretended counterfet false hereticall scandalous Anabaptisticall libertine fayth Luthers words are Admittimus quidem Mosen legendum audiendum a nobis vt predictorem testem Christi Deinde vt petamus ab eo exempla optimarum logum morum Cetaerùm dominium in conscientiam nullo modo concedimus ei ibi mortuus et sepultus esto nemoque sciat vbi sepulchrum eius sit we indeede admit of Moses to bee read heard of vs as a Prophet witnesse of Christ Againe that wee may fetch from him examples of good lawes and manners But dominion ouer the conscience to a man in the state of grace as Rom. 6.10 wee by no meanes yealde him there let him bee dead and buried and let no man know where his sepulchre is So Luther And in his argument vpon the Galatians Sum quidem peccator c. I am indeed a sinner according to this present life and the righteousnesse of it as the son of Adam where the Law accuseth me death raigneth and will deuoure mee but aboue this life I haue another righteousnesse another life which is the Sonne of God who knoweth not sin and death but is righteousnesse and life eternall for which also this dead body of mine shall be raysed vp againe and freed from the bondage of the Law and of sin and together with the spirit it shall bee sanctified So both these remaine while we liue here the flesh is accused exercised made sad and contrite with the actiue righteousnesse of the Law but the spirit raigneth reioyceth and is saued by passiue righteousnesse because it knoweth it hath the Lord sitting in heauen at the fathers right hand who hath abolished the Law Sin Death and hath tâ—ampled vnder feete all euill things hath led them captiue and tryumphed ouer them all So he Now God forbid that I should glory but in the crosse of our Lord Iesus Christ by whom the world is crucified vnto me Gal. 6.14 and I vnto the world For in Christ neyther Circumcision auayleth any thing nor vncircumcision but a new creature 15 And as many as walke according to this rule peace bee on them and mercy and vpon the Israel of God I thought here should haue bin an end But as the Prouerbe is 16 One absurdity begets a thousand as one of Lerna his 7 heads being cut off 3 grew in the place thereof Parua mâ—tu primo mox sese attollit in auras Ingred túrque solo et caput inter nubila condit Monstrum horrendum ingens c. Virgil. Aenead Such is the nature of heresie which of a small seede growes to be an hiddeous monster if it bee not strangled in the first conception Like Fame which for feare at first is small but finding entertainment with Dame Credulity and loquacity growes bold and big vpon it Or like a small leprous spot in the beginnig which quickly runneth ouer the whole body Or like a drop of sweet poyson which at first goes pleasantly downe but in a short time insinuateth it selfe to the infecting of the vitall spirits and ceasseth not till it hath wrought its mortall effect Or like a Gangreene or like a Canker as the Apostle compares it This Antinomian leprosie doth spread and get strength and boldnesse euery day euen vnto impudency madnes And the reason it finds so many disciples to imbrace it because cutting off sanctification denying
how the day of Christs Resurrection is made solemne and sacred not onely by Christ himselfe but by the Holy Ghost sent downe from heauen sanctifying this day for holy Conuocations or publicke assemblies of Gods people for his publique seruice and this to stand as a perpetuall statute to the end of the world hauing also euident and ample testimony from the Mosaicall Law and those Euangelicall types whence we conclude with M. Perkins his argument in his Cases of conscience pag. 113. That which is prefigured is prescribed But the Lords day was prefigured Leuit. 23.10 therefore it is prescribed and instituted of God A third place wee haue Psal 118.24 where the Prophet speaking v. 22.23 of Christs Resurrection he addeth This is the day which the Lord hath made we will reioyce and be glad in it This is a plane Propheticall institution of this day to bee solemnized vnder the new Testament For first the Lord hath made it that is appointed and set it a part by marking it out with a glorious worke And secondly it is so taken of the Church of God who saith We will reioyce and be glad in it which sheweth the festiuity gratefull solemnity of the Lords day And although many take this day for the whole time under the Gospell as 2. Cor. 6.2 yet none doe exclude or deny the particular acception of it for the Lords day St. Ambrose vnderstands this to be the Lords day the day of the Lords Resurrection which day saith hee on Psal 47 Titneus hath its holines from the Lords Resurrection What shall I say of Circumcision which was limited to the eighth day loking vpon Christs Resurrection which was the eighth day Circumcision being a singe of that hollines Christ brought vnto vs in the day of his Resurrection who rose againe for our Iustification But let this suffice Thus hath the Lords day not onely reall institution by Christ himselfe but also testimony from the Law and the Prophets And thus as Hugo saith The fathers of the old Testament obserued the septenary number or the seuenth of Dayes Wekes Moneths Yeares wee of the New the octonary number or the eight day to wit the Lords day for the reuerence of the Lords resurrection and of the sending of the Holy Ghost Hugo in Psal 1â—9 Ob. But here it is obiected that the Lords day hath noe diuine institution but meerely an hamane and Ecclesiasticall For else how came it to bee instituted by Constantine the Great who made a Law and prescribed limits for the keeping of it The like also did other Emperours Princes and States Councels and Synods in seuerall ages Answ This is no good argument that because pious Princes make Lawes for the keeping of the Lords day therfore it is not of diuine institution For so good Princes make Lawes against Adultery c. Therfore the forbidding of these sinnes is it not of diuine institution King Darius makes a decree that in euery Nation of his Kingdome men tremble before the God of Daniell c. therefore is not this Law of diuine institutioÌ„ Thou shalt worsbip the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serue And because Tyberius Caesar would haue the Romane Senate passe a Decree for the deifying of Christ or ranking him among their Gods therefor Christ was not God whereupon sayth Tertullian Ergo nisi homini placucurit Deus non erit Deus therefore if it doe not please man God shall not be God But it became Christian Princes when they saw how subiect the Lords day was to bee profaned with all licenciousnesse and how prone carnall men were to leape ouer all the bankes and bounds which God had set to keepe them in for to helpe to make vp the breaches againe and to strengthen the diuine ordinance by their humane and penall constitutions as wee see our noble Kings of England haue done by name our pious King Charles whose raigne hath bene honoured with a religious Law for the better keeping of the Lords day if lawes were as well kept as they haue bene wisely piously and iustly enacted by our Progenitors Yet because notwithstanding all Lawes diuine and humane this holy day of the Lord is for the generality of men little regarded as not requiring the like sanctification of vs which the Sabbath did of the Iewes let vs further shew what a reuerend esteeme the ancient holy men in former ages had and what pious rules they gaue concerning the religious keeping of this day Wee haue noted some of their excellent sayings a little before wee will adde a few more And first wee obserue that they euer did vse to call the Lords day by the name of the Sabbath Obseruamus sabbatum Aug Contra Adamantum c. 15 hoc est Dominicam in signum nempe aeterni sabbati We obserue the Sabbath that is the Lords day for a signe of the eternall Sabbath The same Augustine in his 95 sermon de Tempore sayth They which in the obseruation of the Sabbath doe not apply themselues to good works and prayer which is to sanctifie the Sabbath and sanctification is where the Holy Ghost is are like to the small flies bred of the mud which disquieted the Egyptians And elsewhere vpon those words Aug de Conseusu Euang. lib 1. c. 77. Math. 24.20 Pray that your slight be not in the winter nor on the Sabbath day hee sayth by winter is signified the cares of this life and by the Sabbath gluttony and drunkennesse which euil is therefore signifyed by the name of Sabbath because this was as now it is the wicked custome of the Iewes on that day to swimme in delicacies while they are ignorant of the spirituall Sabbath For the Iewes doe seruilely obserue the Sabbath day vnto ryotousnesse and drunkennesse How much better were it for their women to spin then on that day to daunce And thus while they carnally kept the Sabbath they knew it not sayth hee And Melius tota die foderent c. The men were better to digg all that day then to tread is out in daunces and measures Againe the Sabbath to wit the Lords day is more commaunded vs then the Iewes They celebrate the Sabbath seruilely but we spiritually And how spiritualy not in chambering wantonnesse not in gluttony druÌ„kennesse For these are forbidden Christians any day much more on the Lords day For it were better to plough harrow to spin card wooll which in themselues are lawfull then to doe those things on the Sabbath or Lords day which christians should blush at and be ashamed of to do at any time as to dance to reuell to heare playes to goe to masking and mumning and the like which are exercises fitter for heathen then christians for Bacchanalls then such as celebrate the Lords Festiuall How then is this day of the Lords to be kept Neyther as the Eneratites Aeriancs and Aerians who fasted all the Lords day but madly reueld on other festiuals These are
brought thee out of the Land of Egypt out of the house of bondage wherevpon followes Thou shalt haue none other Gods before me Thou shalt not make c. For these words I am the Lord thy God whicb brought thee out of the Land of Egypt out of the house of bondage are a preface to the whole Decalogue or ten Commandements setting forth the Author of them vnto us not onely by his name Iehouah but by that neere relation of Confederacy or Couenant of grace made to vs in Christ saying Thy God And that this is the very Couenant of grace made to vs in Christ vnder which the Law is giuen appeareth by this that the words of the Preface containe not onely a history of that peoples temporall deliuerance from the Egyptian bondage but also and especialy the mystery of the Redemption of all the true Israel of God by Christ or their spirituall deliuerance from the bondage of sin and Satan This is a thing most cleare though few obserue it For was not the Paschall Lambe slaine and the blood sprinckled vpon all Israels doore posts and the Angell passed ouer them and Egypts first-borne were slaine and Gods first-borne deliuered And was not Christ prefigured thereby as the Lambe slaine from before the foundation of the world Yea all those passages of Gods people from Egypt to Canaan came to them in Types as the Apostle sayth 1. Cor. 10 Besides other types obserue here two notable ones which ioyntly are pregnant to our purpose first of Christs ascension secondly of sending the Holy Ghost 1. the history in Exodus well obserued makes it plaine that vpon the 40th day after their comming out of Egypt Moses Aron and Hur went vp into the Mount where Moses hands are by Aron and Hur supported while Ioshuah with Gods people fight against Amaleck Now Moses the Prophet Aron the Priest and * Hur signifieth a Prince and he was of the family and tribe of Iuda Hur the Prince for so was his name by interpretation all put together were a type of Christ who on the fortith day after his resurrection ascended into the Mount of Heauen where as our Prophet Priest and Prince hee holds vp the hands of his intercession for his Church militant while she fights with spirituall Amaleck Sin Sathan Antichrist the World the Flesh c. The other Type I note was iust 10. dayes after which from Egypt makes 50. dayes and that was the giuing of the Law in Mount Sina Acts. 2 and therefore called the Iewes Pentecost and we know that on the day of Pentecost iust 50 daies after Christs Resurrection and 10 daies after his Ascention did the Father and Christ send downe the Holy Ghost in his manifold gifts and graces to lead his people into all truth and to reueale fully the Law of Christ vnto them Now therefore the as the type thing typed are for their vse to the faythfull people of God one and the same thing So as the ancient Isralites did all eate the same spirituall meate and did all drinke the same spirituall drinke 1. Cor. 10.3.4 for they drank of that spirituall rock that followed them and that Rock was Christ So that giuing of the Law in Mount Sina being a type of the comming down of the holy Ghost bringing reuealing the Law of Christ to his Church both of them in summe and vse are to the faithfull one and the same law for though they differ in the manner of administration and in the measure of manifestation yet not in the matter it selfe Christ being the summe and matter of both And thus we clearely see that the Morall Law giuen in Mount Sina being giuen by Iehouah our God in Christ the Redeemer and that vnder the couenant of grace being giuen to the Israel of God in the old Testament to which the comming downe of the Holy Ghost in the new Testament fully answereth that it remaines as a perpetuall rule of a holy life to all Gods people to the end of the world So that here by the way an inuincible argument is hence drawne to proue the perpetuall morality of the sabbath to the end of the world against all Antisabbatarians because it was giuen vnder the couenant of grace to be kept But wee will reserue the further discussing of this poynt to the choise of all least the intermingling of it here should interrupt the maine matters in hand Obiection But the Apostle sayth The law is not of fayth How then comes the Law to bee giuen vnder fayth Answere The Law in that place is to bee taken for the first Couenant to wit of workes giuen to Adam in Paradise in the state of innocency which hath no communion with fayth belonging to the second couenant namely of grace But the Law as it was giuen in Mount Sina the literall veile being remooued was not deliuered as the first Couenant but as a rule of conuersation to the faythfull vnder the second Couenant Obiection But the Apostle calls the giuing of the Law in Mount Sina the first Couenant in opposition to the second as Agar to Sara the bond-woman to the free Sina to Sion and Hierusalem Answere The Apostle compares it so onely in regard of the literall killing sense to which the Carnall Iew was captiuated and thereby slaine while not looking vnto Christ the Redeemer that brought his people out of the spirituall Egypt and bondage they sought to bee iustified by the workes of the Law which Saint Paul beats downe the to ground in that Epistle to the Galatians But to the belieuing Iewes the Morall Law was none other but the sweete yoake and light burthen of Christ while they behold him as it were on the top of Iacobs ladder a Redeemer of his people by his owne innocent blood whereby hee expiated all their breaches of the Law fulfilling the Law for them And in no other regard doth the Law in Mount Sina and that in Mount Sion stand opposite but as the letter to the spirit 2 Cor. 3.6 while the carnall Iewes could not diserne the pith of the spirit vnder the barke of the letter or by way of comparison the one excelling the other in the manner and measure of mynifestation as 2 Cor. 3.10 Wherevpon the learned and iudicious Caluin vpon those words Gal. 4.24 fayth that the Iewes liberty was hidden vnder the vaile of ceremonies and of the whole economy or dispensation of the Law by which they were then gouerned So that in externall shew nothing but seruitude appeared Yet the seruile generation of the Law hindred not but that the godly fathers who liued vnder the old Testament had for their mother the spirituall Ierusalem which is free â—o that it was partly the Iewes blindnesse and partly the veile couering those Mosaicall mysteries which made that Law in Sina seeme to bee no other but the Couenant of workes made with Adam in his Innocency Question But here by the way it may bee
and therefore Christians haue nothing to doe with the commandement no more then the rest of the Decalogue I answere It followeth not for though the Iewes sabboth day be abolished yet there remaines a sabboth to bee kept of Christians seeing that the commandement of the sabboth is Morall and so no lesse perpetuall then all the rest For if none of the rest of the commandements be abolished then neither the fourth And so though the ceremoniall part of the Iewes sabboth be abrogated yet not the morality of it Ob. But how or wherein was the Iewes Sabbath day ceremoniall Answ In two regards first because it was appoynted them to bee a memoriall of their deliuerance out of Egypt as Deut. 5.15 where the Lord sayth And remember that thou wast a seruant in the Land of Egypt and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arme therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keepe the Sabbath day So that the Iewes were commaunded to keepe the sabbath day in a thankefull remembrance of their deliuerance from the Egyptian bondage therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keepe the Sabbath day Ob. But in Exo. 20.11 the Sabbath day hath relation to the Creation Answ True yet herein Deuteronomy Moses tells them that euen then when this commandement was giuen the Lord had a speciall respect to the deliuerance from Egypt and therefore hee sayth the Lord commanded thee as referring to the time past when the Law was giuen And in that respect the Sabboth day was to them ceremoniall Secondly in regard of some ceremonies proper as some say to that Nation being inhabitants of the Land of Canaan a hot climate as the not kindling of a fire on the Sabboth as also the not dressing of their meat in that day which was in remembrance of the Manna in the desert whereof they gathered enough for the sabboth on the day before God miraculously and plentifully prouiding it for them But in very truth so farre as I can yet conceiue till I be conuinced otherwise by better reasons then I haue yet seene that obseruance of not kindling a fire nor dressing of meate on the sabboth which was lawfull allowed vpon all other festiuall dayes was not so much proper to that people in regard of their hot Country and climate as in regard of that Mosaicall Pedagogie and dispensation vnder which that onely people and Church was subiugated and subiected so as this not kindling a fire not dressing of meate was a meere Ceremony Mosaicall a type of the eternall sabbath brought in by Christ in his resurrection which puts an end to all sabbaticall ceremonies as these are which typed the estate of the euerlasting sabbath wherein is no need of bodily prouision For in heauen there shall bee neyther kindling of fire nor dressing of meat nor the like Whereupon Isychius in leuit lib. 6. cap. 19. speaking of the Omer of Manna which euery one was to gather euery day and two before the sabboth An Omer sayth he was so much as could feede one man Hereby he would teach and instruct them of the intelligible rest and end of the world because then it was impossible to boyle or worke or gather Some againe limit the not dressing of meate ro the time of their trauell in the Desart 40 yeares during the Manna and not to extend to the Land of Canaan where the Manna ceassed And this lis not improbable sith their iourney in the wildernesse was to type out the time of out heauenly Country where all the prouision for the body should ceasse Some also restrayne the not kindling of a fire to the worke of the Tabernacle onely as Vatablus in Exod. 35.3 but I see no probabillity hereof seeing the Priests about the Tabernacle had liberty on the sabbath to performe their rites as sacrificing and the like Yet by the way the abrogation of these ceremonies ought not Christians to turne into surquedry and excesse of feasting as too many doe so abusing their christian liberty but to bee vsed with all sobriety such as may not hinder but helpe the holy spirituall dueties of this day by a due refreshing of the body for necessity not for superfluity Now these Ceremonies dying together with the whole Mosaicall economy which stood in types and Ceremonies yet the Morality remaines a perpetuall suruiuer in and with and vnder the Gospell For else if the Morality of the Sabbath were antiquated and abolished then also the whole Decalogue But the Decalogue or ten Commandements remaine still in force not onely in their curse and full rigour to all transgressing Infidels such as are out of Christ but also as a rule of holy conuersation to all true beleeuers And that the Morall Law still remaines as a rule of Christian obedience to euery true Israelite appeareth by the very manner of giuing of it in Mount Sinai For it was giuen by the Lawgiuer Christ the Redeemer of his people who sayth I am the Lord thy God which haue brought thee out of the Land of Egypt out of the house of bondage and thereupon inferreth Thou shalt haue no other Gods before me c. Now the deliuerance out of the Egyptian bondage what was it but a type of our spiritual deliuerance from sin and sathan by Christ And therefore by his owne argument it followeth that the same Morall Law giuen by and vnder Christ to the Iewes in the old Testament is propagated and perpetuated to all christians in the new Testament and so consequently the Sabbath as touching the morality of it Thus the Morall Law is no lesse a rule to beleeuing christians then it was once to the beleeuing Iewes all one ioynt spirituall seed of Abraham to whose posterity this Law was giuen And thus also by the selfe same reason the fourth Commandement for the sanctification of the sabbath is still in force with the Christian Church as well as the other 9. vnlesse as the Papists haue by their sacrilegious practise nimmed away the second Commandement out of their vulgar Catechisme and by their corrupt glosses guelded the masculine sense of it in their Doway Bibles wee will take their part in the polluting and profaining the Sabbath by denying the perpetuall morality of it and so leaue but two Commandements for God according to the Popish acompt in the first Table or rather none at all when by this meanes there is noe day allowed for his seruice no nor meanes to teach vs the true worship of the onely true God the honour due vnto his name which meanes is the publique Ministry of his word together with publique and priuate inuocasion So that the whole worship and seruice of God and his sauing knowledge for mans saluation to speake nothing of bodily refreshing and workes of Charity for the reliefe of the poore hauing a necessary dependance as touching the externall meanes vpon the due obseruation of the fourth Commandement