hath beene spoken before that they are not onely the seruants of men but also and especially the seruants of God who hath created redeemed doth preserue them hath as great care of them as of others will be serued of them as wel as of any other will therefore reward all equally alike for there is no respect of persons before him And therefore as they feare to displease men who haue authoritie to punish them so let them especially feare to displease the Lord who hath power to throw body and soule into hell Therefore let men away with these pretences which will not serue to say I am vnder authoritie therfore must obey alas I would faine do otherwise if I could I am thus commanded what would you haue me to do I grant it is a grieuous thing to be thus punished and that which must cause vs to mourne before God for our sin but yet when men commaund vs to worke at the same time that the Lord would haue vs to rest we must with all humilitie and reuerence answer them as the Apostles doe in the like case Whether it be right in the sight of God Act. 4.19 to obey you rather then God iudge ye And we must be willing rather with patience to suffer their displeasure to beare their rebukes and chidings yea to vndergo all their chastisements and corrections then to bee drawne one foote from this obedience to God which he requireth at our hands and will not leaue vnrewarded with manifold blessings both in this world and in the world to come Moreouer as the household gouernour is charged to see that all his familie do rest vpon the Sabbath as much as lyeth in him so the rulers in the Common-wealth are bound so much the more to see the same performed of themselues and all the people by how much the Lord hath giuen them more means in their hands to performe it both because their authoritie is greater to commaund and their power mightier to punish them that doe disobey Magistrates are bound to restraine the people by lawe from working vpon this day And indeede this is that which is ment in the words of the Commandement That is within thy gates For euen as the walles and the gates of the citie are the surthest part of it and whatsoeuer is within the gates is vnder the gouernment of him that ruleth the citie so by a figuratiue speech he meaneth the vtmost coasts and the furthest border of the iurisdiction of any euen vnto the very gates of it as it were and when he sayth within thy gates he speaketh by name to him that is ruler within the gates that he should diligently looke vnto all them that be vnder his gouernment that they doe obserue the rest of the Sabbath as well as himself yea euen vnto the stranger and him that is not of the same countrie and religion yet now as he enioyeth the benefit of his gouernment so he should yeeld to this outward practise of the Church at least that hee doe rest together with them that so it might no waies be broken neither publikely nor priuatly in the household nor in the Common-wealth by the freedenison nor by the stranger The Prophet Ieremie spying this abuse of the Sabbath in his time speaketh first vnto the Princes of Iudah saying Iere. 17.20 Heare the word of the Lord ye Kings of Iudah And Master Caluin vpon this place noteth that he was commanded to begin with the King himselfe because he as hauing authoritie should represse so great licentiousnes Therefore it behoueth al Princes and Magistrates that be in highest authoritie to prouide that lawes bee enacted for the preseruation of this rest with ciuill punishments to be inflicted vpon them that shall breake it according to the qualitie of their offence and that both themselues and other the inferiour officers should euery one of them within their circuite looke diligently vnto the faithfull obseruation of such wholsome lawes by al the subiects throughout the whole realme by which meanes as a great many sinnes might bee preuented that they should neuer bee committed so the Common-wealth might be preserued from many grieuous punishmēts and common plagues which either haue alreadie come vpon it or doe most iustly hāg ouer the head of it for the neglect of the same By which meanes it might come to passe that there should bee no Faires kept vpon that day no trauailing thitherward no such common carrying of wares from towne to towne as is no such haunting of Tauernes Ale-houses and Innes no buying selling of victuals any where no such making of Marriage dinners and other needles feasts riding and going vp and downe no such working in the time of hayfield and haruest in the fields and at other times in the shops of Taylors Shoomakers and others If vnto those good lawes that we haue alreadie in this behalfe others that bee wanting might bee adioyned vnto them which we pray for and hope shall be in time and for the good execution of euery one of them diligent inquirie might be made at the generall assises and quarter Sessions in euery shire throughout the whole land as for the keeping of other lawes so of these and the malefactors and offenders this way might be seuerely punished that others might feare to offend by their example the mouthes of the wicked might be stopped offences vnto the godly remoued sin taken away frō among vs. And this is that which they in the Councel of Paris laboured to effect when they sayd Concil Paris lib. 1. cap. 50. That they would humbly sue vnto the Emperours highnesse that the authoritie and power which was in them ordained of God for the honour and reuerence of so great a day might strike feare into all men that they might not fall into such breaches of the day as are there named euen the very same almost which I haue here set downe because as they doe alleadge there whiles men doe commit such things they both staine the honour of Christianitie and doe open the mouthes of blasphemers to speake euill of the name of Christ Vnto the which that you might be the rather encouraged take it vpon you happily in the feare of God I doe most humbly vpon * My knees meekenes beseech you vpon whose shoulders the whole burden of the common wealth doth lie that you would enter into the deepe consideration of so weightie a matter according to the sage and aduised wisdome that is within you and that amongst your manifold and earnest consulatations this might not bee the last as it is not the least The great zeale of Nehemiah in this behalfe is a◠worthie example to follow And therefore that you would set before your eyes as a great many of other things which the scripture doth affoord that might perswade you vnto it so especially that worthie example and practise of the famous and renowned Nehemiah
in our Idlenes but hee hath therefore sundered the Sabbath from other dayes which hee hath appoynted for worke It is then sanctified when we bestowe it vpon Gods worship that we resting from our workes vpon this one daye might more freelie heare the law of God and worship him For by this meanes in deede all the things that euer haue been vsed in the sacred worship of God haue been hallowed in so much that of what kinde or nature soeuer they were before yet now the holie God whom onely they serued and his holie worship vnto which they are made proper hath sanctified them and made them so wholly to differ from all other as though they were not of the same nature and kinde and so from that they were before as though they were not the same any more Thus we doe reade that the tabernacle and the temple were holy with all the ministers of both Which also sanctifieth all other creatures vsed therein Exod. 29.44 Leuit. 27.30 whatsoeuer thing els serued in them euen vnto the very garmēts of the priests as it is in the 29. verse of the same chapter and the tithes of the land giuen vnto the maintenance of Gods worship and them that serued in it So then as all other things are called most holie vnto the Lord in the same chapter because they are separated from that common vse vers 28. wherein other of the same nature are imployed and may not bee vsed but to the Lords vse So the Sabbath day or day of rest is then sanctified of vs when wee doe not vse it in the affayres of this life from the which it must be seperate and from which vpon it we must rest and therefore it is called a day of rest as wee haue seene but vse it in the Lords seruice and make that day proper vnto it and to nothing principally but that So likewise in the 40. chapter of Exod. where mention is made of the rearing vp of the Tabernacle and how euery thing was sanctified by Moses and made holie that which the Lord speaketh of Aaron is true of all other things that serued in the Tabernacle Thou shalt put vpon Aaron the holie garments Exod. 40.13 and shalt annoint him sanctifie him that he may minister vnto me in the Priests office where in the latter words he expoundeth what is ment by making him holie euen to appoynt him to that holie office that hee might serue the Lord in his holie seruice For as the Lord himselfe did then sanctifie the day when he appoynted it to this holie end so when he commandeth vs to sanctifie it he requireth that wee should vse it onely to that holie ende for which it was ordained and so by the right vse of it to maintaine as it were that holines which at the first was put vpon it Euen as Moses did then sanctifie all the forenamed things when he dedicated them to Gods worship and the Priests by vsing them in that manner alone did keepe them holie still which they should haue vnhallowed whensoeuer they had abused them to any other end or not vsed them to this holie end As the water bread wine in the Sacraments Thus wee may easily vnderstand what is the true hallowing of the day euen to spend it in all the parts of Gods worship which maketh euery thing appoynted vnto it holie euen the very time that is spent about it Therefore as the common water being once brought into the Church and appoynted for Baptisme is no more common but holie water being seperated from the common vse of water which is to wash c. and now appoynted to assure vs of the forgiuenes of our sinnes by Christ and of our new birth in him at the commandement of God which is holie And as the common bread and wine set vpon the table of the Lord appoynted for the Sacrament of the Lords Supper which is holy and so put apart from the common vse of these creatures which is to feede our bodies and applyed to that vse which is not common but holie namely that we thereby might bee assured as by most certaine pledges that our soules and bodies shall be nourished vp by faith in Iesus Christ vnto euerlasting life are no more common bread but holie during this most holie vse and the Lord Iesus Christ at the first by appoynting them to these endes did sanctifie them the Ministers and the people by thus vsing of them doe hallow them or keepe them holie So what time soeuer is bestowed of any vpon the seruice of God he keepeth that holie and the Lord commanding vs to keepe holie the day of rest doth require that wee should spend it in the holie seruice of his maiestie vnto which he himselfe appointed it at the first and so sanctified it And this that wee might doe the better he commandeth vs to rest from all other things in the world that so the day might not bee taken vp with any thing els saue this which maketh it holie And thus we doe not onely see that it is further required in this Commandement that Gods holie worship should be practised vpon this day To worship God vpon this day is the most principal thing in the Commandement but also that this is the most especiall thing contained in it and vnto which all other things are to be referred therefore the Lord himselfe in pronouncing the lawe vseth as many words to commend vnto vs the sanctifying of the day as he did to establish resting from worldly affayres as namely when first of all he sayth Remember the Sabbath day to keepe it holie and afterwards calleth it the Sabbath of the Lord thy God that is a day of resting from all other things that it might be bestowed in seruing the Lord thy God for it is called the Sabbath of the Lord not so much because it was appoynted by the Lord as for the Lords vse therfore ought rather thus to be translated Tremel Ari. Mont. Vatabl. The Sabbath vnto the Lord or day of rest for the Lord. And amongst other great learned men which thus reade it so also writeth Tertullian Septima die Sabbatiza Domino Deo tuo Tertull aduersus Marcion lib. 3. Keepe the seuenth day an holie Sabbath vnto the Lord thy God And to this ende as the Lord himselfe doth oftentimes call them his Sabbaths so the ancient and learned father well obserueth it Hierom. in Ezec. 45. Obseruandum saith he it is to be marked that he doth not say absolutely and you shall sanctifie the Sabbath but with a note of difference Sabbatha mea my Sabbaths And so writeth Wolphius Wolph Chronol lib. 2. cap. 4. De Sabbathis plerunque God doth often so speake of the Sabbaths that hee calles them his not for difference sake because the people of God then had none other but that he might shewe that the Sabbath was appoynted for the
other times but to bee occupied altogether in the holy seruice of God and in an holy place And this was a thing not peculiarly belonging to some one day but generallie commanded and practised vpon euery Sabbath day namely to haue holy meetings that the day might be kept holy And indeed it was so inseparably adioyned vnto the Sabbath that it was not onely ordinarie vpon the seuenth day which is onely properly called the Sabbath but vpon all other festiuall dayes of the Iewes commanded by God vnto them to obserue which had also the nature of the first and true Sabbath as appeareth most plentifullie in this one forenamed chapter of Leuiticus in many verses where their seuerall feastes are reckoned vp of which as he afterwards speaketh in particulars Leuit. 23.4 so thus of them all in generall These are the feasts of the Lord and holy conuocations which yee shall proclayme in their seasons calling them feastes vnto the Lord that is dayes of reioycing before him thanksgiuing to him for his benefites and praying to God for the continuance of them wherein that they might bee furthered they had the exercises of the worde and offering vp of sacrifices euen as they did rest from their other busines that they might wholy attend vpon these and so the conuocations or assemblies of the people were holie which if it were true of those daies that were but appurtenances vnto the weekely Sabbath then must it needes much more be verified of it whereunto all the other were referred And if the other dayes could not be feastes vnto the Lord as they are called vnlesse they were holie assemblies then much lesse can this bee a Sabbath vnto the Lord which is the very name of it vnlesse their meetings be in the Lord and for his worships sake For this cause the Prophet Esay calleth it the Lords holie day and a day consecrated as glorious vnto the Lord saying If thou turne away thy foote from the Sabbath Esay 58.13 from doing thy will on my holie day and call the Sabbath a delight to consecrate it as glorious vnto the Lord and shalt honour him c. whereby he doth declare that the especiall thing in the Sabbath day is the honor and seruice of God vpon which we must so altogether attend that it may appeare that wee haue dedicated the day vnto him indeede and made this the chiefe glorie of it that it is holie vnto him Therefore it was commanded in the lawe that the sacrifices and so consequently al other parts of Gods worship which were neuer seuered from them should bee doubled vpō the Sabbath day And then the daily seruice of God was doubled that so they might altogether be occupied about them and doe nothing els the whole time being taken vp with them as is in expresse words set downe by Moses Numb 28. Num. 28.9.10 where hauing spoken before of the daily morning and euening sacrifice he addeth But on the Sabbath day ye shall offer two lambes of a yeare old without spot and two tenth deales of fine flower for a meate offering mingled with oyle and the drinke offering thereof this is the burnt offering of euery Sabbath beside the continuall burnt offering and drinke offering thereof And Chrysostome speaking of this thing sayth Chrysost de Lazar. conc 1. The Sabbath was not giuen for idlenes sake but rather that wee being drawne away from the cares of temporall things might bestow all our leisure vpon spirituall things Nam sacerdos eo die duplicat hostiam For sayth he the priest vpon that day doth double his sacrifice And if wee looke into the 17. chapter of the Prophet Ieremie where he promiseth from God a blessing to the Iewes if they would keepe the Sabbath and threatneth a most grieuous destruction to them if they did breake it wee shall finde that in many verses speaking of the true manner of keeping that Commandement how he not onely requireth a resting from bodily labour but also the bestowing of it vpon Gods seruice when alwaies he ioyneth these two together Iere. 17.22 25.27 If ye doe no worke but sanctifie the Sabbath as I commanded your fathers Whereunto agreeth the practise of the whole Church from time to time as appeareth by the very reading of the storie of the new Testament in which from the one end of it vnto the other nothing is more cleare then the ordinarie reading preaching and hearing of the law publikely with all the rest of Gods seruice practised vpon the Sabbath with one consent which as it is confirmed by infinite testimonies so the time would not serue to stand vpon them I will content my selfe with that one which is set downe in the Acts of the Apostles For Moses of old time hath in euery citie them that preach him Act. 15.21 seeing he is read in the Synagogues euery Sabbath day And when the day was chaunged all the exercises of religion were chaunged together with it and did still accompanie it In the time of the Gospell these meetings are and ought to be vpon the Lords day So that the holie meetings of the Church were vpon the first day of the weeke I call them holie as before because they were taken in hand and continued only for the holie seruice of God as it is apparant in the 20. chapter of the same booke besides many other places where the Euangelist S. Luke writeth thus The first day of the weeke the Disciples being come together to breake bread Paul preacheth vnto them Act. 20.7 c. Whereunto no doubt the Apostle S. Iohn had respect in his Reuelation when he calleth this new day Reuel 1.10 by this new name the Lords day deriuing it from the Lord Iesus who was made Lord and heire of all things who as hee did rise againe vpon this day so he did institute a new seruice and a new ministerie and a new day in the honour of the new worke which he had now finished So that it is true which Master Bucer sayth Communi Christianorum consensu dies Dominicus cōuentibus ecclesijs publicis dicatus fuit ipso statim tēpore Apostolorū Bucer in Mat. 12.11 The Lords day was appoynted for the common assemblies of the Church euen in the Apostles time And therefore as it hath been declared before this was not first brought in by the Christian Emperours but allowed and approued by them or rather by publike authoritie established whereas the Christians did without law by the authoritie of Gods word obserue it before So that it may truely be called the Lords day as it is indeed not only because the Lord Iesus did arise from the dead vpon that day and so declared that he had made an end of the worke of our redemption but also and especially because by seruing of him vpon that day in that manner that he hath appoynted not onely the memorie of it is kept but we are made
altogether abhorred of the greatest part of the worlde that they will not so much as haue a purpose once to meddle with it yea and many that doe make a profession to serue God in the other parts of his worship and that as wee are to presume of them in a good measure of trueth yet haue an euill opinion of this and so bereaue themselues of much profit For they purposing to passe away their time in as much mirth as may bee and hauing determined to abandon all sorrowe 2. Cor. 7.9.10 yea though some be godly and necessarie as far from them as they can will not thus straightly deale with themselues least it should make them melancholie as they say and driue them into their dumps And left happily at any time they might through Gods mercy towards them vnwittingly fall as it were into this meditation they wil cut off al the meanes that might procure it and therefore be in merry company as they call it continually that they might not so much as be alone at any time and if perhaps they be and so this ouercreepe them the Lord seeking by all meanes possible to doe them good then fearefully they hasten out of it as fast as may be and for that purpose some that are of great calling are contented to maintaine at their charges one or other in their houses that can best feed their humor to be merrie companions or rather iesters vnto them to pull them away from this good though they will not be at halfe the cost yearely in making prouision for some godly bookes and learned preachers when they haue none of their owne that might bring them to the best mirth and might shewe them wherein the greatest ioye and soundest comfort doth consist euen that that would endure with them when all other shall forsake them and most of all accuse them But that we might be persuaded of the excellēcy of it The great good that may redound vnto vs by godly meditation let vs heare what the spirit of wisdom iudgment speaks of it First of all the Lord commandeth Ioshua that vnto the reading of the lawe he would ioyne meditation as an especiall meanes to keepe him in the continuall practise of it Iosh 1.8 saying Let not this booke of the law depart out of thy mouth but meditate therein day and night that thou maist obserue and doe according to all that is written therein Then the Prophet Dauid in the first Psalme maketh it an especiall token of a godly man and also commendeth it as a most singular meanes of his godlines vnto euerlasting life Psalm 1.2.3 when he sayth Blessed is hee whose delight is in the lawe of the Lorde and in his law doth meditate day and night for he shall be like a tree planted by the riuers of waters that shall bring foorth her fruite in due season whose leafe shall not fade for whatsoeuer hee shall doe shall prosper More ouer is wee looke but vnto the 119. Psalme and so content our selues with that wee shall see howe many times the man of God commendeth this vnto vs when first of all in the 15. verse he speaketh thus I will meditate in thy precepts and consider thy wayes and 23. Princes did sit and speake against mee but thy seruant did meditate in thy statutes and 78. Let the proud bee ashamed for they haue dealt wickedly and falsly with me but I meditate in thy precepts But aboue all that is most notable which is in the 13. part of that Psalme where with I will end Oh how loue I thy law it is my meditation continually where wee may plainly see what is the iudgement of the scriptures concerning this thing which doe so often and so highly cōmend the continuall meditation of the word And it is to bee obserued that this may and ought to be continuall that is vey often for when wee lacke oportunitie to reade and heare the word yet then may we meditate vpō some thing profitablie which that we might doe let vs remember what great things the Prophet speaketh of it in the verse following which he found true by his owne experience Psal 119. part 15. I haue had more vnderstanding sayth hee then all my teachers for thy testimonies are my meditation Wherein he doth assure vs that if we will meditate vpon those generall rules which wee haue heard out of Gods worde wee shall many times see more cleerely into the trueth of it then he that preacheth it at least wise more then he expressed vnto vs for by the spirite of God we shal be taught to apply it mote particularly to our selues then he did or could because wee are most priuie vnto our owne estates For as in all liberall Arts and Sciences nothing can be taught so plainly vnto which the scholler by meditation reasoning about it shall not be able to adde something and without the which the easiest teaching shall seeme somewhat hard so is it in Diuinitie that by Gods holie spirit vsing earnest and diligent meditation in the scripture wee shall most easily perceiue how to applie that to our own practise which hath been publikely taught and none can teach vs to haue so many sundrie vses of it in our lives and conuersation as our selues when wee giue our selues to the profitable meditation of it Without the which all that we reade and heare is but in a generall and confused knowledge How vnprofitable men are to themselues and others for want of meditation wee haue little comfort or edification thereby especially seeing Gods blessing is vpon his owne ordinance and his curse is vpon the neglect of the same This maketh great hearers and great readers to bee vnprofitable to themselues and others because for want of meditation they knowe not how to vse their knowledge thereupon it commeth to passe that many preachers can say no more then they finde in their bookes and therefore they tosse ouer so many Commentaries as they doe that they might haue matter enough and so can go no further because without meditation all reading is vaine whereas it would minister aboundant matter vnto their former readings Besides that they bring themselues into a bondage to beleeue that whatsoeuer their writer sayes because they do not meditate vpon it and they hinder their memories because they trust all to their bookes so that if they haue time sufficient and store of bookes they are able to speake with great admiration to the profite of the hearers and yet of the same matters can scarsely speake to a priuat man vpon the sudden tolerably to his ecdification and comfort because he hath but spoken it of the booke as it were and not laboured to make it his owne by meditation and thereby to finde out how he might apply it to his owne vse and the benefit of others And this thing is so much the more daungerous because it hath infected also many of the best students in
reuised mine owne labours in which hauing at the first contented my selfe with the bare proofes out of the scriptures which I then thought sufficient especially for that auditorie to whome they were first ment did now compare the seuerall positions therein contained with the doctrine of former times and other Churches as I found the same set downe in the writings of the fathers Greeke and Latine new and olde so many as I had or could conueniently get and as I had time to reade them whom I finding to agree with me in the same points or rather my selfe with them was thereby the rather confirmed therin and thought that by their testimony and consent as it were by the pillar of truth I might sustaine and defend the same against al those that should oppugne or gainsay it Thus hauing so many learned men on my side managing the same cause with me or rather my selfe fighting vnder their colours haue at the last brought foorth this treatise vnto the view of the world and haue adventured it vnto 〈◊〉 the censures and speeches of all men wherin as I haue sought the â—â—ory of GOD in the publishing of his truth so I pray the same â—ord to maintaine defend and blesse the same so far foorth as it 〈◊〉 his trueth And here derely beloued in the Lorde as I haue â—â—imply and as it were with a naked breast declared vnto you the â—auses of my beginning and proceeding in this worke and that I â—aue not rashly and on the sodaine fallen into these opinions and â—hrust foorth my selfe into the world so I most humbly craue of â—ou this fauoure that all preiudice and sinister affection being â—ayd aside al things might be weighed in an euen ballance before they be refused as not hauing their iust weight euen there where they might cary some shew of vntruth according to the Canoniâ—all rule of the Apostle much more that al friuolous wranglings contentions gaine saying ambitious desire to ouercome and peruerse drawing of things to a wrong sense beeing forborne where I seeme to erre as I acknowledge my selfe subiecte vnto it I might charitably and Christianly bee admonished by your godly wisdomes that so I might also either by better proofes second the truth or els vpon more mature deliberation retract mine errour â—f there be anie For I doe most willingly submit my selfe vnto the Church of God by it in all things to bee censured and reformed according to his word Which I doe so much the more earnestly entreate at your hands because besides the conscience of my great vnsufficiency to deale in so weightie a matter before so many hundreths as the Lord in our time hath raysed vp fit for euery purpose I am not ignorant that this argument of the Sabbath is full of controuersie aboue many other points of diuinitie wherein many learned godly men dissent one from another which as I was perswaded of at the first so now of late since I attempted the â—ublishing of this booke I haue founde it to bee true by a most â—nwilling experience euen among those who for their great vaâ—ietie of all learning deserue singularly to bee admired And â—â—ough it were to be wished that we should be like minded being â—â—one accord and of one iudgement yet seeing wee are men and haue but our measure of knowledge and that in euerie thing and so may easily dissent in that whereunto wee are come let vs proceede by one rule and if any be otherwise minded GOD shall reueale the same vnto him Thus commending my selfe vnto your praiers and these my labours vnto your fauourable good liking I bid you most heartily farewell in the Lorde who keepe vs alwaies his and one anothers in Christ Norton in Suffolke Iune 27. 1595. next after the yeare of Gods heauie and vnknowen iudgements by sundrie tempestes continued and renewed of boysterons windes great raine and outrage of waters fearefull thunders and lightnings pintching dearth and vntimely fruits to the destruction and losse of men cattell and goods Your dutifull brother and fellow seruant in the Gospel of Christ NICHOLAS BOVVNDE The first booke shewing the Institution and necessarie Continuance of the Sabbath and from what seuerall things we are commanded to rest vpon that day Exod. 20.8 Remember the Sabbath day to keepe it holie 9. Sixe daies shalt thou labour and doe all thy worke 10. But the seuenth day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God in it thou shalt not doe any worke thou nor thy sonne nor thy daughter thy manseruant nor thy mayd nor thy beast nor the stranger that is within thy gates 11. For in sixe daies the Lord made the heauen and the earth and the sea and all that in them is and rested the seuenth day wherefore the Lord blessed the seuenth day and hallowed it AS in the first Commandement the substance of Gods worship is set downe and in the second the manner of it in the third the end so here the time when and how long this should be openly and publikly thus practised In giuing of which Commandement the Lord vseth such manner of words and matter as might most stirre vs vp to the carefull keeping of it for in the practise of it consisteth the practise of all the other and in the neglect of it is the neglect of all religion Our naturall corruption rebellion therefore against this Commandement especially appeareth in that the Lord stirreth vs vp to it so many wayes yea in the first pronouncing of it How this CoÌ„mandement differeth from all the rest For first whereas in the other Commandements he contenteth himselfe with bare commanding this or forbidding that yet to this he putteth an especial marke saying Remember that is thinke of it afore hand for indeed the want of remembring it in due time is many times one cause that it is no better obserued when it commeth And in Deuter. Deut. 5.12 Moses repeating the Law forgetteth not this word but vseth another of like importance saying Obserue or looke vnto the Sabbath to sanctifie it and further addeth As the Lord thy God commandeth thee referring them to the first giuing of it yea euen in this marking Secondarily in all the other Commandements when he simply forbiddeth a sinne it is to be vnderstood that he commandeth the contrary vertue though not expressed and when he willeth the good to be done he forbiddeth the contrary euill though it bee not named as wee haue seene in expounding the other Commandements yet in this not onely the good is plainly commaunded Keepe holy the Sabbath day but the euill is expresly forbidden In it thou shalt doe no manner of worke Thirdly it differeth from all other Commandements in that the Lord hath adioyned more reasons to it then to any other because our nature is most against the obseruation of it for whereas some Commandements haue no reason at all ioyned vnto them and especially in the second table in which our nature is not so corrupt
as hauing the light of it shining more cleerely within vs for the preseruation of the societie of mankinde in Common-wealths as Thou shalt not kill Thou shalt not commit adulterie Thou shalt not steale c. yet in the first table in which we are as blind as beetles euery Commandement hath some reason annexed vnto it As in the first The first Commandement hath one reâ—son ioyned to it I the Lord am thy God which brought thee out of c. Where because of that mercifull Couenant that he hath made with vs to blesse vs in all things eternally which as he first made it in Christ so he confirmed it in our miraculous Redemption wrought by him whereof the deliuerance out of Egypt was a type and figure therefore he requireth that wee should serue him with all that wee haue and none but him and so that we should take him only to be our God And the third Commandement one In the third Commandement there is one reason vsed namely that the Lord will most assuredly and seuerely punish all them that do dishonor his name and therefore we are charged not at any time to empaire his credit but rather most highly to aduance it as the very end wherefore we were first created Yet the second Commandement is more fortified The seconde CommandemeÌ„t hath two and hath as it were a double barre I meane tvvo reasons as against the which the vanitie of our reason and crookednes of our heart hath yet more appeared in so cunningly deuising and willingly embracing so many kinds of false religion neither conceiuing nor liking that true manner of Gods seruice which he hath prescribed in his holie word And therefore as he requireth that neither in an Image nor in any thing els deuised by vs we should serue him but according to his owne wisedome and wil made knowne vnto vs in his written word so he first wil plentifully reward in mercie euen to the thousand generation them that shall in loue thus serue him according to his Commandement and secondarily howsoeuer passing ouer many other sinnes yet as a louing and iealous husband will prosecute to the full the punishment of that spirituall adulterie whereby the hatred vnto God appeareth in that the heart is stolen away from him by a false worship But yet in this fourth Commandement the Lord goeth beyond all that hath been spoken The 4. Commandement hath three and bindeth vs vp with a threefold cord that can hardly be broken For he setteth downe three reasons not onely to commend vnto vs the excellencie and to shew the necessitie of keeping of it but also to giue vs to vnderstand how rebellious and corrupt our nature is here especially As it is indeed for many are not perswaded that there should be any day at all kept others doe not agree vpon the day which it should be some preferre other daies before it or make them equall with it they that are otherwise minded yet are not established in the precise resting and straight ceasing from so many things as God requireth much lesse doe men agree vpon the publike and priuate manner of sanctifying and keeping it holie Therefore the Lord doth not onely command it but also first sheweth vs the equitie of it in that he hath giuen vs sixe daies to be occupied in for our selues and therefore it is good reason that we should rest vpon the seuenth to attend vpon his busines as it were Secondarily we should doe it so much the rather because he hath gone before vs in his owne example who therefore rested vpon the seuenth day when he had created the whole world in sixe that wee thereby might the rather be allured vnto that order which he was purposed to establish namely that wee should rest vpon the 7. day from our owne works as God did from his and so be like vnto our Creator Thirdly and most especially that we should doe thus because God hath bestowed an especiall blessing vpon this day distinct from the rest euen the blessing of sanctification and therefore it is not lawfull for vs to vse it to any other end but to this holie sanctified end for which God in the beginning created it The fourth difference of this commandement from all the rest Last of all whereas all the other Commandements are giuen forth in such manner of words as binde onely our selues Thou shalt not take the name of thy Lord thy God in vaine Thou shalt not steale c. though I grant that more is implyed and they not only binde vs thus to looke to our selues but to so many also as bee committed to our â—â—arge the Lord hauing giuen vs authoritie ouerthem â—â—at we might see them practise all the lawes of both Taâ—â—les so much as lyeth in vs yet I say much is not exâ—ressed in the deliuerie of them but in this Commandement in expresse words God speaketh to vs and chargeth vs with the care not onely of our selues but others â—lso saying Thou and thy son thy daughter thy manseruaÌ„t thy maidseruaÌ„t thy cattell the stranger that is within thy gates Thus we see how many waies this CoÌ„maÌ„demeÌ„t is charged vpon vs by the Lord how straightly he requireth it at our haÌ„ds how in the very giuing of it al things are ioyned vnto it by God himself that might commend â—â—t vnto vs with greatest credite and care of obedience It remaineth that wee should see That the Sabbath ought to be continued what are the speciall things contained in it but first of all it is needfull to proue vnto you that the Sabbath ought still to be continued with vs because without this perswasion all doctrine or exhortation tending to the true manner of sanctifying it falleth to the ground and is vnfruitfull First of all therefore it appeareth in the storie of Genesis that it was from the beginning Gen. 2.3 and that the seuenth day was sanctified at the first so soone as it was made in so much that Adam and his posteritie if they had continued in their first righteous estate should haue kept that day holie aboue the rest seeing the Lord sanctified it for their sakes and though it be so indeede that they should haue been occupied in some honest calling and work vpon the sixe daies according as it is sayd to Adam that the Lord put the man into the garden of Eden Gen. 2.16 that he might dresse it and â—eepe it yet notwithstanding vpon the seuenth day they â—hould haue ceased from all wordly labour and giuen â—hemselues to the meditation of Gods glorious workes and haue been occupied in some more immediate parts of his seruice according to the former Commandement And that we might vnderstand indeede that the law of sanctifying the Sabbath is so ancient the Prophet Moses in Genesis doth of purpose vse the same words which the Lord God himselfe doth in pronouncing it as it is set downe in Exodus namely
at the gates that there should be no burthen brought in on the Sabbath day 20. So the chapmen and Marchants of all marchandise remained once or twise all night without Ierusalem 21. And I protested among them and sayd vnto them why tarrie ye all night about the wall If you doe it once againe I will lay hands vpon you From that time they came no more vpon the Sabbath Out of which description of their vngodlie practise in the storie it is as cleere as the noone day that there was a common market or faire vpon the Sabbath it is set out so plainly and in so many words for there was selling of all wares and there were both Marchants and chapmen not onely within Ierusalem but which came from other places to buy and sell but he reproueth the one and the other and conuicteth them all of the manifest breach of the Sabbath in not obseruing the rest of it yea euen those that sold victuals and those that did but carrie things to and fro And so this scripture teacheth vs that the holie rest of the Sabbath is so inuiolably to bee obserued that no persons at any time may breake it no not vnder the pretence of buying and selling then when most may be gained either waies no nor vnder the colour that they doe but carrie things to bee bought or sold no nor vnder the shewe of doing that which might seeme most tolerable as buying and selling of victuals All which things are so palpable and grosse a breach of that Commandement which requireth a resting from such things that they are not onely condemned in the iudgement of them that haue seene most cleerely by the light of the word but also of such as being stone blind and therefore could not discerne them with the eye yet were able with their hands as it were to feele them For in the very depth of Poperie it was by the authoritie of the Parliament ordained Ann. 27. Hen. 6 cap. 5. That all manner of Faires and Markets should vpon the Sundaies cleerely cease and that there should not be any shewing of goods and marchandises vpon the same vnder paine of forfaiture of all the goods aforesayd so shewed to the Lord of the Franchise and therefore by authoritie aforesayd power was granted vnto all such as had no daies to keepe their Faires but these that they might keepe the same three daies before or after they signifying the same by proclamation vnto the Countrey aforehand And they which of old time had by speciall Commission sufficient daies before or after should in the manner as is aforesayd keepe their Faires and Markets the sayd Sundaies except Where also it is worthie to bee considered by what reasons the King the Lords spirituall and temporall and the whole Commons of this Realme of England were then induced vnto this resolution as they bee set downe at large in this statute Namely they did consider that I might vse their owne words the abominable iniuries and offences done to almightie God by the occasions of Faires and Markets vpon these daies accustomably and miserably holden and vsed in the Realme of England In which daies for great earthly couetousnes the people were more willingly vexed and in bodily labour troubled then in other workedaies as in fastning making their boothes and stalles lifting and setting their marchandise outward and homeward as though they had nothing in memorie the horrible defiling of their soule in buying and selling and so specially withdrawing themselues and their seruants from diuine seruice These are the words of the Statute in which though I am not ignorant that they made other daies in the weeke Saints daies as they bee called equall in this thing with the Lords day nay preferred them before it according to the ignorance of those times yet it is sufficient for my purpose that the Sundaies so called were not excluded but rather with the other included in a branch of this Statute Yea this law was in force here in this land long before this time euen before the Conquest when as in the daies of Canutus Canutus lege 14. 15. amongst other lawes made by a councell of his sages at Winchester which as some write are yet extant it was enacted Item that Sunday be kept holie Faires Courts Huntings and worldly worke on that day to bee forborne But to shut vp this matter in a word we doe vnderstand that the Lord hath not only by his generall Commandements often repeated shewed vnto vs that a rest vpon this day must needes bee obserued of vs but also hath in particulars met with all these exceptions of times and busines which might least of all seeme to be included within the compasse of it that we might not measure the length and breadth of this rest by the crooked rule of our owne imagination as the greatest part doe but by the vndeceiueable line of his holie word which is only able to giue vs the full measure of it But yet if you further demaund from what things wee should rest seeing it is agreed vpon among vs that wee must rest indeede 5 We must rest from whatsoeuer doth hinder vs from Gods seruice surely the answere partly appeareth by that which hath been alreadie spoken and doth more fullie arise from the words of the text For first of all seeing the principall end of resting is that the day time might be sanctified in the holie worship of God as the Worde the Sacraments and prayer it must of necessitie followe that whatsoeuer thing doth hinder vs from spēding the time profitably in these things we must rest from them And therfore wee see that alwaies this reason is brought why wee should rest from other things euen that wee might giue ouer our selues to Gods seruice As when Augustine sayth August de tēp serm 251. We are commanded to rest vpon the Lords day from earthly businesse that wee might bee more fit for Gods seruice And also in a Councel held vnder Charles the Great in which many worldly things are expresly by name forbidden as husbandrie keeping of Courts dealing in marchandise Arelat Synod 4 cap. 16. c. This is the conclusion His solummodo peractis those things onely being done quae noscuntur which are knowne to appertaine to the seruice of God So that I may say generally as M. Caluine saith Caluin vpon Deut. 5. Ser. 34 Wee ought to cease from those workes which hinder the workes of God let vs from calling vpon his name or stay vs from exercising our selues in his holy word Secondarily it may appeare by that opposition which is made betweene the workes of the sixe dayes and the Rest of the seuenth day that whatsoeuer are the workes of their calling wherein they are occupied in the sixe dayes from them they must rest vpon the seuenth according as it is said As from the workes of our callings Sixe dayes shalt thou labour and doe all thy
signe which was giuen to the ende this might restraine them so much the more and that they should be admonished by this meane to obserue the Sabbath day with all reuerence Ionah 3.7 And thus as in the daies of Ionah when the King of Niniue proclaimed a fast he sayd Let neither man nor beast bullocke nor sheepe taste any thing neither feede or drinke water but let man and beast put on sackcloth that by the sight of it they might be taught the greatnes of their sinnes and be the rather moued thereby to a more earnest repentance for the same Exod. 19.12 And as in the giuing of the law when the Lord would strike into the hearts of all the people a reuerence of his maiestie that they might the more obediently receiue his worde and content themselues with that manner and measure of reuealing himselfe vnto them that hee was then purposed in his wisedome to vse towards them and knew to bee most expedient for them and therfore would not haue them come neere the mountaine to gaze and too curiously to search after that which was not lawfull for them to know and therefore commanded Moses to set vp markes vnto the people round about the Mount charging them also not to breake out beyond them vnder the paine of a most execrable death and therefore would haue the very beast that should touch the mountaine bee stoned or striken through with darts to moue the people vnto a deeper consideration of it for whose sake onely euery thing there was then done Euen so here that all men might most carefully obserue that rest vnto the Lord which is so acceptable vnto him hee commaunded the bruit beasts and vnreasonable creatures to rest not that he had any care of them in giuing his law to whom it doth not appertaine but hauing a singular regard of his people and therefore taking away from among them all things that might bee any occasion to withdraw them from the obedience of this rest euen the working of the cattell and giuing vnto them all the good meanes that might make for their better proceeding herein euen the resting of the oxe and the asse For which cause also he commanded that the strangers And the strangers that be of another religion borne out of the stocke of Israel nor of the linage of the Iewes yet now adioyned vnto that people and being vnder their gouernment should howsoeuer in other things they knew not the true God of Israel neither did serue him according to his word yet in this should at leastwise bee subiect to the outward discipline and order of the Church and haue their rest common with them that thus the Church whom the Lord especially regarded whither soeuer it did looke and cast her eyes might haue nothing as a snare to entangle her by beholding the strangers and cattle to worke when themselues did rest And for the same cause he bound the strangers as well as his owne people to the outward obseruation of other lawes and statutes so farre forth as did make for the vniformitie of the Church and edification of it in godlines by their example Whereunto agreeth that Caluin vpon Deut. 5. serm 35. and is almost the same in words which Master Caluin writeth in his sermons of this matter For wee know sayth he that if things contrarie to the seruice of God be permitted although one shall happilie say these which offend are not of our societie and companie we shall notwithstanding by their euill examples be induced to follow them if the strangers had beene permitted to labour among the Iewes what might haue happened thereby The Iewes would haue had dealings with them and so haue defiled themselues they would haue made small difference between this day and others For when examples are set before our eies we are easily led away to that which is euill And in the same place a little after hee thus concludes So then to the ende all such occasion of transgressing against this rest might be remoued and that this day might bee obserued with greater reuerence as God willed that the beasts and cattel should rest so commandeth he that the strangers doe the like although they were of another faith and religion And as the Passeouer though it were a Sacrament only belonging vnto the Iewes and the difference of meates and of cleane and vncleane thinges was proper vnto them yet the Lorde would haue the strangers that dwelt among them be subiect to the same lawes for the good of his people and so that otherwise he would not haue them to haue any dealing with them for he threatneth to cut them off from his people which appeareth as in other places of the Scripture so Exod. 12.19 and Leuit. 17.12.15 All which doe euidently declare that the Lorde would haue this holy Sabbath of rest without all interruption and gainsaying to be duely obserued on all sides when vnto the particular commanding of all estates by name to rest he hath adioyned the beasts and the strangers vpon whom be layes the like charge The ground also had her Sabbath rest And to make an end of this matter that the excellencie and dignitie of this rest nay the necessitie of it may be knowne farre and neere to be so great as it is indeed the Lord did commaund the ground to keepe her sabbath and rest and so vpon it did engraue the liuely image of this true rest that by this babish instruction meete for the time they might learne of what moment waight the Sabbath was when as thus al creatures should stoup and doe homage vnto it yea the very insensible ground should not bee free from the subiection of it as it is at large in many wordes set downe by Moses Leuit. 25.3 Sixe yeares thou shalt sowe thy fielde and sixe yeares thou shalt cut thy vineyeard and gather the fruite thereof 4. But the seuenth yeare shall be a Sabbath of rest vnto the land it shall bee the LORDS Sabbath thou shalt neither sowe thy fielde nor cut thy vineyard that which groweth of it owne accord of thy haruest thou shalt not reape neither gather the grapes that thou hast left vnlaboured for it shall bee a yeare of rest vnto the lande All which thinges thus at large vnfoulded and layd forth before our eyes may determine and make an ende of this matter if vnto them I doe adde this one thing that whereas men might haue gone about to withdraw their obedience from this rest defrauding the law as it were vnder a vaine pretence of resting themselues whiles in the meane season they did abuse the labour of their seruants their cattel and the strangers to the doing of many of their owne works vpon the Sabbath contrarie to the true intent of the law giuer hee is not contented to haue in most plaine wordes forbidden them to worke themselues but because whatsoeuer they doe by others they are said to doe
it selfe but the Lord as he is the searcher of the harts and reines so his law reacheth thither and findeth out sinne in the very beginning of it when it first lifteth vp the head and tarrieth not to giue sentence against it till it bring forth the vnsauoury and vnfruitful fruits of it but proceedeth in iudgement against it when it is but in the blossome and bud nay in the very first rooting of it which if it bee true in all other commandements why shuld we imagine that the bounds of this are so straight that it will not reach so farre Obiection If the commādement be thus straite who is able to abide it And whereas men are afraid to say what they thinke and to confesse this trueth which they are conuicted of because they doe not see how then they shall be able to keepe this law we know that this is the thing in controuersie betweene vs and the Papists whether the lawe of God may be perfectly kept or no and therefore though they abhor all poperie yet if they stand vpon this point they shall fall into a popish opinion agree with them who when they haue set it downe Concil Trident. sext sess Canon 18. as a lawe of the Medes and Persians that may not be changed that the law of God may be fulfilled of vs then they must needes giue such an interpretation of this lawe as might carry with it some shew of possibilitie that it may bee fully kept indeede Answer For if we conceiue of the law of God to bee so loose as that it should onely restraine the parts of the bodie then wee may perceiue that the heathen Philosophers by the light of nature haue seene further into the truth of it then we haue done by the bright beames of the worde who sayd that a good man must haue not onely his hands and eies continent and free from sinne but also his minde And wee must endeuour our selues so much the more carefully to dispossesse our minds of all earthly matters because it is so hard a thing to attaine vnto For wee cannot so easily cast all worldly imaginations out of our heads as we can cast the things themselues out of our hands neither can we so farre remoue our affections from them as wee can separate our bodies from them which notwithstanding vnlesse we doe all the other is but popish and ceremoniall and whereby we cannot attaine vnto the sanctification of the Sabbath in any tolerable measure But let vs consider sayth Master Caluin whether they which call themselues Christians Caluin vpon Deut. 5. sermon 34. acquite themselues in this point as were requisite a great part of men thinke they haue the sunday that the better to attēd on their worldly affaires they reserue to themselues this day as if they had no other to deliberate for the whole weeke to come nowe though the bell should to a sermon they thinke they haue no other thing to doe but to thinke on their busines and to make the account of this and of that Therefore whatsoeuer hath beene spoken before of resting from the vsuall workes of our calling the same is true of the ordinary speaking common thinking of them all which because they be of the same nature must needes come vnder one and the same law and therfore looke what libertie the Lord hath giuen vs We may speak and thinke of thinges that be necessary for the workes of our calling in the time of necessitie as it hath declared vnto vs before the same haue we for our recreations our speeches our thoughts and desires that so farre we may be occupied about them all manner of waie in soule and in body as they shall not hinder vs but rather bee meanes to further vs in the true manner of sanctifying the day And we haue here so much the more libertie because we cannot do our necessarie busines but we must speake and thinke of them not onely in the doing of them but also before and after them But because I haue alreadie made a seuerall treatise before of the workes which necessitie maketh lawfull I will not here enter into it again left I should be confused and tedious but referre you vnto that place for guiding of your speeches and studies as well as your labours and works only desiring you to remember that which is there set down also that we iudge those things onely necessary for the time present which could not haue been thought vpon spoken of and done before neither might be put off to bee studied for conferred about or put in practise till afterward A conclusion of al that went before with an application of it to our selues And so we conclude the former part of this commandement in which we haue beene something the longer because it was needfull seeing it is so large and as it were the ground of all the rest wherein wee haue seene what kind of rest the Lord requireth euen such a one not as we might grossely dreame of because of our blindes but as is plainly and truely published in his word in the which he hath declared what is the height the bredth the depth and the length and the full measure of it And this the Lord requireth of all and euery one of vs continually from the beginning to the end of our liues without any interruption vnder the paine of euerlasting condemnation as it is alledged by the Apostle to the Galathians out of the law Galat. 3.10 Cursed is euery man that continueth not in all things which are written in the booke of the lawe to doe them in which curse is contained all the punishments of soule and bodie which can bee deuised in the greatest measure as it is most largely opened in many places of the scripture Deut. 29.20 namely in Deut. 29. where he threatneth to bring vpō thē euery curse written in that book and euery plague that is not written in the booke of the law 28.61 According to which rule if wee will examine our whole life past wee shall see howe great is our deserued miserie because of the infinite breaches of this commandement For first of all we are by nature altogether ignorant of the truth of it and when it is taught vs wee haue no conceiuing of it and lesse liking vnto it but all our reason and affections are cleane contrarie vnto it so that we haue many waies broken it in thought word and deede not onely in the dayes of our ignorance but since our knowledge and therefore there must needes bee a great handwriting of accusation against vs and wee may here truelie say Psalm 19.12 O Lord who doth vnderstand the errors of this life for setting all other sinnes apart the Lord hath many waies to pleade against vs in this one thing so that we must needes confesse that if he winke at all other our sinnes and yet marke narrowlie what wee
he be let him goe to the Church vpon the Lords daye And they bring their reason For it is iust that wee all celebrate this daye vnanimiter with one consent or all together in which we are made that which wee were not before for wee were the seruants of sinne but by it we are made the children of righteousnes August de temp serm 251 S. Augustine complaineth in his time of this abuse in one kinde Adhuc quoque quod valde dolendum est conqueri vobiscum volo I will further complaine vnto you of one thing for which there is great cause to bee grieued that there are some especially the great mightie men of this world who when they come to the church haue no deuotion to praise God but compell the Minister to curtall the seruice and to saye it accordiog to their pleasure and will not permit him to follow the order of the Church for their bellies sake and coueteousnes as though but one little parte of the daye were appoynted for Gods seruice and all the rest of the daye together with the night were ordained for their pleasures See how truelie hee setteth out as it were in their colours the manner of a great many in our time So that how many times soeuer we haue made vnnecessarie delayes and haue been afraide as it were least wee should come too soon though in al worldly matters we suspect that wee should come too late and wee are loath to lose the least part of that which might make for our profite we haue hindered our selues from dooing some parte of Gods seruice which the rest of our bretheren haue been occupied in and so haue not done vnto him all that same seruice which he required of vs vpon that daye which must be dedicated vnto him alone And least that we might imagine that the Lorde doth not so strictly require this seruice at our hands besides that wee must remember that it hath been proued vnto vs out of the word and declared how the practise of the Church in all times hath yeelded vnto it if wee doe further consider the reasons why the Lord would be thus openly and together of all his seruants worshipped wee shall easilie perceiue that they stand still in force and binde vs as much as euer any before so that wee cannot iustly say it is true in deed it was thus once God would haue vs to serue him publikely in the Church but now it is not so necessarie we haue more libertie then others and so discharge our selues of our obedience to God at least wise of some part of it For first of all the Lorde would haue such solemne assemblies of his people in one place worshipping him together in those principall partes of his seruice which otherwise cannot bee done and hath not left it to euery mans discretion alone in some corner to serue him when it pleaseth himselfe though hee require that of euery one also Mâ—tth 6.6 euen that entring into his chamber hee should shut the dore and there praye vnto him in secret which will rewarde him openly but would haue all resorte to the common meetings and there ioyntlie to agree in his seruice praysing him in the assemblies Psal 107.31.32 and declaring his name vnto our brethren in the middest of the congregation that thereby his Church might be knowne and discerned in this world from the synagogues of the idolaters and conuenticles of the Schismatickes that so it being as a citie set vpon an hill which cannot bee hid Matth 15.14 and the mountaine of the house of the Lorde being prepared in the top of the mountaines and exalted aboue the hils Esay 2.2 all nations might slow vnto it and they descrying it a farre off might repayre vnto it as the Eagles doe resorte thither where the dead carcas is Luk. 17.37 And so not onely the godlie might incourage one another saying Come and let vs go vp to the mountain of the Lord Esay 2.3 to the house of the God of Iacob and hee will teach vs his waies and wee will walke in his pathes For the law shall goe forth of Sion and the word of the Lord from Ierusalem but also that all the wicked which should by apostasie forsake it and reuolt from it or through contempt not ioyne themselues vnto it as too many haue and doe still in our time might iustly be condemned and left without all excuse where it should be so visible and as it were palpable vnto them Gualt in Marc. 3. Homil. 23. And therefore as Master Gualter sayth They that vse the Sabbath day rightly Sacros coetus adeunt goe to the publike assemblies to heare the word of God and pray and the same man in another place Idem in Act. 17 Homil. 108. It is euident that it was the ancient custome of the people of God to frequent the holy meetings for which cause we doe reade that holy daies and holy places in time past were ordayned of God Whereupon he inferreth in the same place that their peruersnes is to be detested who doe prophanely scoffe at the publike meetings of Christians wherein they manifestly bewray that they are not touched with any desire of wholesome doctrine or true religion For there the Lord doth offer vnto his Church those most notable and singular meanes of their saluation A commendation of the preaching of the worde which there is to be had Rom. 1.16 which as they cannot want so they can find no where but there for there is the preaching of the word which is Gods owne arme and power to saue all them that beleeue in so much that without the ministerie and preaching of those Rom. 1.16 that haue the publike authoritie and callings of the Church most ordinarily men are not saued Rom 10.14 as the Apostle saith How can they beleeue without a Preacher And how can they preach vnlesse they bee sent 1. Pet. 1.23 For indeede this is the incorruptible seede whereby we are borne againe without which we cannot enter into the kingdome of heauen Chap. 2.2 and this is that syncere milke whereby as new borne babes we are nourished and grow vnto eternall life Aâ—â—s 8.31 euen that word that is preached in so much that wee cannot vnderstand what is read vnderstande I meane to saluation except we haue a guide to preach vnto vs who may giue the sence Nehem. 8.8 and cause vs to vnderstand the reading For our Lord Iesus Christ when he ascended vp an hye and led captiuitie captiue Ephe. 4.8 vnto 17. gaue rich and plentiful giftes vnto men pastors and teachers for the gathering together of the Saints for the worke of the ministerie and for the building vp of the body of Christ til we al meet together in the vnitie of faith and knowledge of the sonne of God vnto a perfect man and vnto the ful measure of the age of Christ that we
doe stand in neede to sanctifie the Sabbath againe and againe in all the meanes of Gods worship and especially then in the most principall that thereby happily we might be recouered into our former estate Nay what a blockish presumption were it for a man to thinke that Adam was bound to sanctifie the Sabbath according to the Commandement that being holie and righteous still he might haue been preserued in the fauour of God for euer and that we our selues being through sinne fallen away from his loue might make lesse account of these meanes whereby he doth first of all offer himselfe to be recōciled vnto vs and then neuer to fall away from that estate as though it were not so needfull for vs to sanctifie the day by them Therefore let vs confesse that these are though not all yet the most especiall parts of Gods seruice wherein wee are to bee occupied vpon the Sabbath and without which we are nothing neere that manner of keeping holie the day which the Lord requireth at our hands And so I conclude this poynt with the saying of Master Gualter Dei bonitatem exosculemur Gualt in Mark 1. Homil 11. Let vs thankefully acknowledge the goodnes of God who hath consecrated vnto his seruice that rest which wee stand in neede of for the refreshing of our bodies least that it should degenerate into filthie and hurtfull idlenes And here because wee speake of the Lords seruice which onely sanctifieth the day wee must consider All these parts of Gods seruice must be performed with our whole hearts and not onely outwardly of a custome Ioh. 4 24. that he is a spirit and therefore will be worshipped of vs in spirit and in trueth and therefore in all the aboue named parts of his worship we must performe a spirituall obedience if we will serue him so that whensoeuer the word is read preached or heard the Sacraments ministred and receiued and prayers made vpon the Sabbath of custome and not for conscience sake because we would doe as others doe and would not be noted to be singular and so in doing of these things we as it were doe them not For hearing we vnderstand not reading we conceiue not praying we desire not and all is done in the letter and not in the spirit wee serue our selues rather then God and so though the day bee holie wee make it not holie to him and for his sake Thus many when they haue seemed most of all to haue kept holy the day haue done nothing lesse thē that Therefore as wee must repent vs of all our hypocrisie in Gods seruice so wee must at all times endeuour that the holie exercises bee not vnhallowed of vs least the Lords seruice being neglected which is spirituall in al things we be found breakers of the Commaundement in that very thing wherein we did most of all presume that wee had kept it and if the best things that wee doe bee thus iustly refused what shall become of those which in our owne eyes carrie not that credite with them much more in the eyes of the Lord who examineth all things more narrowly Furthermore And so as by them we may be furthered in our saluation because the Lord in commanding vs to serue him hath not so much respect to himselfe who hath no neede of vs as to our owne good which may by this meanes be procured we must so behaue our selues in all the parts of Gods worship as may bring greatest profite to our soules health 1. Cor. 14.26 For in the Church of God all things must be done to edifying that al may learne and haue comfort as it is in the 31. verse of the same chapter And therfore in the 11. chapter finding fault iustly with the abuses that were in their meetings generally he chargeth thē with this 1. Cor. 11.17 that they came not together with profite Therefore both minister people must so behaue themselues in Gods house that they may depart with profit to themselues others Which that they might attain vnto they must vse all such good meanes priuatly both before and after the publike exercises as might make thē most profitable which what they be we shall hereafter see more particularly and in the very worship it selfe behaue our selues so reuerently and attentiuely as whereby greatest commoditie might redound to vs. And indeed as Master Caluin sayth Caluin in Exod. 20.8 in this Commandement is included a promise For God promiseth that as he hath sanctified the seuenth day for his seruice so he will thereby sanctifie them that rightly keepe it and therefore the promise of this blessing should be a principall motiue to our obedience And if in all other things we are carefull not so much to vse them as to vse them to the best aduantage why should we not put that out to the greatest gayne which in it owne nature is most gainfull indeede For seeing that there is nothing in the world that hath so great a promise made vnto it as the publike seruice of GOD should we not so behaue our selues in it that wee might be made partakers of it And whereas it is blessed for our sakes with the full treasure of all Gods graces in this life and eternall happines in the ende can it bee but a most grieuous sinne by our negligence to spoyle it of that honour and to make it vnprofitable to our selues Wherefore though I am not ignorant that the proper place to speake of the manner of Gods worship is in another Commaundement where also it hath been handled at large yet because all things comprehended in the other Commandements must bee practised vpon the Sabbath we must vnderstand that it is not impertinent to this treatise and that the Sabbath is then onely truely sanctified when of Gods worship there commeth some fruite and commoditie vnto vs. For this cause the Prophet Esay telleth the Iewes that then they shall haue truely sanctified the Sabbath and made it holie to the Lord when thereby they are made more able to rest from vanitie and sinne both in word deede and be made more fit to serue the Lord in all dueties afterwards Esay 58.13 If thou turne away thy foote from the Sabbath from doing thy will vpon my holie day and call the Sabbath a delight to consecrate it as glorious to the Lord and shall honour him not doing thine owne wayes nor seeking thine owne will nor speaking a vaine word Where his meaning is not that the whole sanctifying of the Sabbath consisteth onely in these as though he would exclude all the Sacrifices the reading and the preaching of the lawe prayer and the whole ministerie of that time established by the Lord whereof he speaketh not a word but he rather aimeth at this to correct their hypocrisie in these things and to shewe them that all was to no purpose vnlesse this fruite followed of it for which cause the whole worship of God and
the Sabbath was first of al ordained For as when Dauid sayth Psal 40.6 Sacrifice and burnt offering thou diddest not desire but mine eares hast thou prepared burnt offering and sinne offering hast thou not required then sayd I loe I come to doe thy will O my God as it is written of me in the roule of thy booke for thy law is within my heart He doth not say that the Lord required no sacrifice and burnt offering at all for he had commaunded them in his word but he testifieth that all sacrifice and all the outward worship is nothing accepted when it is seuered from obedience and when wee thereby are not made more fit to obey God in all other dueties euen as it is expounded in another place 1. Sam. 15.22 Hath the Lord as great pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices as when the voyce of the Lord is obeyed Behold to obey is better then sacrifice and to hearken is better then the fat of rammes So the Prophet Esay in the place aboue mentioned expounding the lawe as it was the chiefest office of a Prophet preacheth vnto them the true interpretation of it that though all Gods seruice bee obserued in euery outward poynt vpon the Sabbath yet all is ceremoniall without these fruites appearing in vs afterwards neither is it done in that manner that GOD alloweth or that they thereby could looke to inherite that promise which in the same place hee maketh to them that shall truely keepe holie the Sabbath And thus are all other places to bee vnderstood which are of the like nature in this Prophet and others neither doe they proue that to rest from sinne is a proper duetie of this Commandement more then any other to which purpose they are alleadged of some that I may speake it with their fauour but onely shewe what should bee the fruite of these exercises both vpon that day and all other besides And therefore in like manner the same Prophet exhorting the Iewes to vnfained repentantance for their sinne and a diligent care to please God framing their liues according to his word in all dueties to his maiestie and to their brethren and then promiseth all manner of blessings vnto them so doing in the midst of this exhortation once or twise speaketh of sanctifying the Sabbath day as a chiefe meanes to bring them to this saying He that keepeth the Sabbath and polluteth it not and keepeth his hand from doing any ill And verse Esay 56.2 4. He that keepeth my sabbaths and chooseth the thing that pleaseth me and taketh hold of my couenant Wherein as he declareth vnto them that this is the way to come to this faith and repentance which hath those promises annexed vnto them euen to serue God in all parts of his worship vpon the Sabbath so he there requireth this at their hands that they would in such wise sanctifie the day that they may be thus altered and chaunged thereby Whereunto agreeth that which is in the Prophet Ezekiell where he telleth the Iewes how many meanes the Lord had bestowed vpon them to doe them good and yet how vnprofitable they were vnder them and therefore that their sinne was so much the greater and their punishment so much the more due speaking of their forefathers I gaue them my statutes Ezek. 20.11.12 and declared my iudgements vnto them which if a man doe hee shall liue in them Moreouer also I gaue them my sabbaths to bee a signe betweene mee and them that they might knowe that I am the Lord that sanctifie them Which mercie of his he continued with their posteritie for he said vnto their children in the wildernes verse 19. Walke in my statutes and keepe my iudgements and doe them 20. And sanctifie my Sabbaths and they shall be a signe betweene me and you that yee may knowe that I am the Lord your God c. His meaning is that hee offered vnto them life euerlasting in his holy worde hee gaue them also the Sabbaths wherein they being wholly and profitably occupyed in all the exercises of religion might thereby knowe that the Lorde their God would by his holy spirite worke in them all that faith and obedience which he required of them that they might come to life euerlasting So then he required of them so to behaue themselues on the Sabbaths as that thereby they might attaine vnto that for which he especially gaue them vnto them But this may bee sufficient to let vs see into so playne and easie a matter as this namely that though we come to the Churche all our life euery Sabbath and remaine there from the beginning to the ending yet onely so many dayes no more haue we kept holy as we ought by how many wee haue been bettered and furthered I meane in the waies of our saluation and made more fit to serue God and our brethren thereby Here we haue cause to repent vs of our vnprofitable cō ming to the Church what shall wee say then to all our vnprofitable wandrings to the Church and home againe And how shall we giue an account to the Lord for them And if the case stand so betwixt the Lord vs that many times when we thought our selues best occupied euen that is turned into sin vnto vs what great cause haue we to be truely humbled before him by repentance for our sinnes that so wee might bee exalted of him in due time And in deede this is so great an euill that wee cannot tell where to make an ende of it For letting passe all the dayes of our vanitie and ignorance spent either in poperie or in the light of the Gospell wherein wee were alwaies vnprofitable in the seruice of God wee may with heauie hearts remember how many times since our calling we haue met in the Church with the least profit that may be or rather none at all in respect of the meanes that did offer vnto vs so great profite in so much that though our profiting in worldly things haue been so great that it may be seene a farre off yet our increase in heauenly things is so small or rather none at all that it cannot bee descryed come as nere as you will And when as in all other things we doe reioyce at the greatnes of our gayne whether wee looke within the doores or without in the house or the fieldes to our cattell or to our goods onely in spirituall matters I will not say our gayne is so small but our decaye and losse is so great that wee haue great cause to be ashamed of it And though from the markets and fayres we come not without some prouision yet vpon the Sabbath which is the market day for our soules we come home many times and carrie nothing whereby we might liue the better the whole weeke following To be short though from a common person we haue not many times departed without some profit yet from the minister of Gods word euen
stande still in his proper force and that it appertaineth to vs Christians now most euidently appeaâ—eth by that authoritie and credite which it receiueth â—rom the Gospell and newe Testament also in which it is so highly commended vnto vs that I might not in this place speake of the manifold other testimonies that it hath in the old And by name we may see how our Sauiour Christ all his Apostles establisheth it by their â—ractise for they vpon the Sabbath ordinarily enter into â—he Synagogues of the Iewes and preach vnto the peoâ—le doing such things vpon those dayes as appertaine â—o sanctifying of them according to the commandement Obiect Against which lest we might except that our Redeemer Christ Iesus being made vnder the law as the Apostle sayth came to fulfill the whole law for vs Galath 4.4 and therefore he indeede submitted himselfe vnto the obseruation of the least ceremonie therof al his life long till at his death he cryed out It is finished Ioh. 19.30 Math. 27.51 when the vayle of the Temple rent in twaine from the top to the bottome to shew that all types and figures were abrogated and taken away and therefore that his obseruation of the Sabbath maketh no more for the certaintie of it then his obseruing of Circumcision keeping the Passeouer and offering vp of â—â—crifices doe make for their continuance now vnder the Gospell Answer Wee must further consider that the Apostles themselues long after Christs death and after they had receiued the holy Ghost Iohn 16.13 euen the spirite of truth that should leade them into all trueth doe by their practise and writings shewe that the Sabbath stoode vpon a surer ground then the whole ceremoniall lawe and therefore could not with it bee taken away Acts 13.14 Paul and Barnabas as it is in the Acts comming into Antiochia went into the Synagogue vpon the Sabbath day and sate downe and after the reading of the Lawe and the Prophets the rulers of the Synagogue sent vnto them saying Yee men and brethren if ye haue any worde of exhortation to the people say on then Paul stoode vp and beckened with the hand and sayd Men of Israell c. going on forward with that notable sermon that is set downe there and when hee had ended verse 42. as it is in the same chapter The Gentiles besought them that they would preach those words vnto them the next Sabbath day which also they did And the next Sabbath day came almost the whole citie together to heare the word of God verse 44. Moreouer the same Apostle at Thessalonica Acts 17 2. went into the Synagogue of the Iewes and three Sabbath daies disputed with them by the scriptures And thus hee did not once or twise but continually and ordinarily shewing the ordinary continuance of the Sabbath and the sanctifying of it as the Euangelist precisely noteth saying Paul as his manner was went in vnto them Now though we are to presume that Paul neither taught nor practised any thing contrarie to the rest of the Apostles but that they agreed in one vniforme order of doctrine and gouernement of the Church as who had receiued of one and the selfe same spirite and therefore this might bee sufficient to shew their consent herein Yet notwithstanding wee may reade how in the last booke of the Bible and by the last Apostle I meane who liued longest the same thing is confirmed where he is so farre from teaching that the Sabbath for the space of 97. yeares after Christ was taken away about what time it is thought that hee wrote that booke that â—â—e plainly auoucheth the coÌ„tinuance of it in the Church â—y this new and honourable name Reuel 1.10 The Lords day where â—â—ne of purpose noting the time that he receiued those Reuelations in calleth it by that name that was best known to the Church at that time otherwise he should not so fitly haue expressed his mind to those to whoÌ„ he wrote which day thus called all writers doe agree vpon it new and old yea the Papists themselues to bee this very Sabbath which wee obserue Thus it is sufficiently proued that the Sabbath was none of those Ceremonies which were iustly abrogated at the comming of Christ as being appoynted of God for no further time but that it coÌ„tinued in the practise of the Church when all other ceased yea was kept faithfully in the Church by al them who had with one consent shut out all the rest And that it is so commanded in the first booke of holy scriptures Genesis where is shewed what was from the beginning that it wanteth not his due praise in the last booke of the same Reuelation where is a prophesie of things to bee fulfilled vnto the ende and therefore wee must hearken vnto the trueth of this doctrine so much the rather least that fearefull iudgement doe fall vpon vs which the Lord Iesus himselfe threatned to bring vpon them that shall diminish any thing contained in this booke and therefore which shall in whole or in part take away this day which is so honored there when he sayth Reuel 22.19 If any man shall diminish of the words of the booke of this prophesie God shall take away his part out of the booke of life and out of the holy citie and from those things which are written in this booke But that I might not seeme tedious vnto you we shall further heare in one word that the Sabbath still bindeth vs and that it ought to stand in his greatest force That two ends of ordayning the Sabbath sheweth the continuance of it that euer it had and that we haue as great neede of it as euer any people had in the world and that our posteritie shall haue so likewise and therefore cannot be without it if we consider the principall ends of the first instituting and ordaining of it by God vnto Adam in Paradise A day of rest is necessarie Commanding him to rest vpon that day and to keepe holie the day of rest And first of all to rest because he was not of an infinite nature though perfect and therefore could not be occupied wholly about many I doe not say contrarie but sundrie and diuers things at once as about the busines of this world and the worship of God wherefore being bound by his calling to dresse and keepe the garden Gen. 2.15 verse 3. and yet charged to keepe holie the seuenth day meditating vpon the wisedome and mercie of God appearing as in all the creatures so especially in himselfe and thus beholding the inuisible things of God in them Rom. 1.20 giuing thankes to God for them praying for the continuance of them teaching them to his posteritie c. it was needfull that the seuenth day should bee vnto him as it was indeed a Sabbath day that is a day of rest resting from all his other necessarie businesse that so he might
vpon the holy Sabbath we must not doe our owne will nor doe our owne waies nor seeke our owne will for thus many wordes there hee vseth but consecrate it as glorious vnto the Lord Esay 58.13 Loe say they he requireth this on the Sabbath that we should rest from doing our own will and this alone which ought to bee perpetuall not restrayned to any certaine day and therefore the Sabbath that he speaketh of is of this nature and of none other And of this iudgement there are too many in the world not onely those who vnder this colour doe abolish this day as the Familists and other prophane men but also those who retaining the day make this the principall thing in it to rest from sinne which I take to bee generall to the whole lawe and common to all dayes and therefore they doe restraine these words No worke Thy worke Any seruile worke vnto sinne and make it almost proper vnto that at leastwise principally to include it and therefore vnder that pretence take more libertie to themselues vpon this day then they should so that they rest from sinne And of this minde are not onely the Schoolemen but also so many newe and olde writers that I need not to name any from whom with all humilitie reseruing their due praise to themselues let mee a while with your fauours differ in iudgement without all suspition of singularitie till you heare what I can say to the contrarie Vnto this therefore wee doe first of all answere Answer that the Prophet Moses doth oftentimes speake of a set day and the seuenth day is oftentimes repeated and he standeth vpon a day and therefore if Esay bee otherwise taken he is against Moses one Prophet against another which cannot bee and thus by the authoritie of Moses in those daies his mouth might soone haue been stopped Secondarily To râ—st from sinne is the fruite of the true keeping holie of the Sabbath we say that the true meaning of the Prophet in that place is to teach the right manner of sanctifying the Sabbath indeede and therefore he correcteth that abuse which was among them by name that they straightly obseruing the outward rests had not that care of the fruitfull vse of Gods worship which they should haue had but either altogether neglected it or did it but in Ceremonie Therefore he telleth them that all their resting was to no purpose if they did not so spend that time in the holy seruice of God as that thereby they might be made afterward more fit to rest from sinne and to doe Gods will and so doth giue them to vnderstand that theÌ„ they had sanctified the Sabbath indeed when as thereby they were more furthered in the spirituall rest not altogether taking away the Sabbath day but shewing what fruit shuld come therof without the which the other was but an outward and bare and vnprofitable Ceremonie Whereunto agreeth Master Caluin Cal. in Exod. 20.8 Legitimus Sabbati vsus The right vse of the Sabbath must be referred to our sanctification and the deniall of our selues He doth not say that this is all in all but that we must make this good vse of the day to profite thereby in mortification and that must the fruite of the worship of God therein And that this is the proper meaning and naturall sense of the place further appeareth by that which goeth before in the same chapter Esay 58.5.6 Is it such a fast that I haue choâ—â—â—n that a man should afflict his soule for a day As also it is of keeping the day of fast and to bowe downe his head as a bulrush and to lye downe in sacke cloth and ashes wilt thou call this a fasting or an acceptable day vnto the Lord Is not this the fast that I haue chosen to loose the bands of wickednesse to take off the heauie burdens and to let the oppressed goe free and that ye breake euery yoake Is it not to deale thy bread to the hungry that thou bring the poore that wander into thy house When thou seest the naked that thou couer him and hide not thy selfe from thine owne flesh In all which words it cannot be the meaning of the Prophet to take away the outward abstinence froÌ„ the creatures of God in the day of fasting which was commanded in the law and the Prophets and warranted by our Sauiour Christ afterward in the Gospel according to the nature of it but to shew that though they did fast neuer so much so that their bodies were brought lowe thereby and made weake like a bulrush yet that their hearts were haughtie and proude stil hard and cruell to their brethren and were not thereby humbled in their soules before God and men and did not shewe their humiliation according as they did outwardly professe it by the ceremonie of fasting did not shewe it I say by the deedes of loue vnto men that all their fasting was not regarded of the Lord neither was it acceptable vnto him So that in both the places he speaketh incomparison as in many other places of the scriptures giuing vs to vnderstand assuredly that neither the ceremonie of fasting was allowed of God though commanded by him vnles that afterwards by the fruites of true humilitie they did shew that they had vsed it in trueth neither the precise obseruing of the Rest vpon the Sabbath was pleasing in his eyes though necessarilie required by him vnles by the power that they got therby against sinne to rest from it they did declare that by the religious vse of Gods holie seruice they had sanctified it aright so that he doth not forbid the one to establish the other but sheweth that it is in vaine and to no purpose when it is secured from that end for which it was ordained and bringeth not foorth that fruite which it would doe if it were rightly vsed As we may see the spirit of God speaking thus And it must be the fruit of all true religioÌ„ Iam. 1.27 Pure religioÌ„ and vndefiled euen before God the father is this to visite the fatherlesse and widows in their aduersitie and to keep himselfe vnspotted of the world Where his purpose is not to exclude all the parts of Gods seruice as though no religion consisted in the hearing of Gods word receiuing the Sacraments and praying and as though if a man did â—eade an outward ciuill life so that he could not be openly charged with any sinne among men but were pitifull to the poore then it made no matter of what religion hee were for this was all in all but he speaketh against the hypocrisie of such as making a great shewe of religion and carrying the name of professors there appeared no fruites of true religion in their liues and conuersations assuring them that all their religion was in vaine more in shewe then in trueth vnlesse these fruites did followe vpon it as appeared by the verse immediatly going before If
any of you seemeth religious and refraineth not his tongue but deceiueth his owne heart this mans religion is vaine And so telleth vs that a maÌ„ may be sayd to be of a good religion indeed when he serueth God in the word Sacraments and prayer so that thereby he is made more fit to doe all dueties vnto men especially to shew mercie to the fatherlesse and widowes in their aduersitie So that a man can no more vnder that fore-named pretence out of Esay take away the obseruing of one particular day distinct and put apart from the rest to Gods vse in his seruice and yet to imagine that the law of the Sabbath should not bee broken then bee may from this other place of Iames conclude that to heare the preaching of the word to receiue the Sacraments to pray vnto God are none of the things which God requireth neither doth pure region consist in them but as wee would rightly iudge â—im to mistake the scripture that should vpon this or any such place as certaine schismatikes or rather heretikes haue done seuer and cut themselues off from the publike meetings of the Church and that manner of Gods seruice which is now receiued among vs. So that we say that hee is led with some priuate sense of his owne and dooth not wisely consider the circumstance of the text nor indifferently compare it with the bodie of the rest of the Scriptures which shall vpon that other place of Esay disanull the keeping of any one certaine daye and so to race out as it were that Commandement out of the Canon of the Scripture But that I might not stand too long in one thing I will hasten to that which followeth Obiect 3 The aduersaries of this truth haue also snatched something out of the new Testament to impugne it and haue left no corner vnsought from whence they might gaine any thing to confirme them in their error They say Christ hath taken away the Sabbath in the Gospell Mark 2.27 that Christ taketh it away in the Gospell of Marke and other places where he saith that the Sabbath is made for man and not man for the Sabbath therefore it must serue man and not man be bound vnto it it is at the will and disposition of man and is to bee ordered by him and he not to be brought into the seruitude and bondage of it it is in his power to keepe it or not to keepe it and how and after what manner to keep it seeing it was made for him Answer For answere vnto which first I may say as Master Caluin sayth vpon the miracle of healing him that was sicke of the palsie Videndum c. We must remember what kinde of defence Christ doth vse Caluin in Ioh. 5.17 he doth not say that the law of keeping the Sabbath was temporarie and now to be abrogated but rather doth denye that he hath broken this law Then the same Master Caluin sets downe his iudgement plainly of this matter Caluin in hunc locum Falluntur meo iudicio c. They are deceiued in my opinion who thinke that here the Sabbath is altogether abrogated seeing that our Sauiour Christ doth but simplie teach what is the right vse of it for although he had sayd before that he was the Lord of the Sabbath yet the time of abrogating things was not yet come because the vaile of the Temple was not rent in sunder And therefore wee must further remember that our Sauiour Christ being the onely Prophet of the Church and perfectly knowing the will of his father Iohn 1.18 1.2 as being in his bosome and a teacher sent of God into the world at that ignorant time when the trueth was so darkened by the false glosses and corrupt interpretations of the teachers yea almost put out doth in this and other like places entreating of the Sabbath interprete the true meaning of the law bringing it into light and redeeming it as it were from the thicke mists of ignorance into which the Rabbins and Doctors of the Church had throwne it And as in that notable sermon which he maketh Matth. 5.6 â—nd 7. chapters he doth not dispute against the law but against their false meaning and corrupt sense vnto which they had wrested it so here he sheweth that it was neuer the meaning of this Commandement that the rest vpon the Sabbath day should bee so seuerely required that for want of things necessarie man should take hurt â—hereby seeing that the Sabbath and day of rest was ordained by God for the profite and commoditie of man and not for his hinderance and so iustifieth the doing of â—is Disciples in gathering corne preparing and eating it because that otherwise they should haue fainted in their iourney for so it was that they so followed their Lord and master trauailing from towne to towne to preach that they had no leisure to eate their meate therefore going through the corne fields they gathered here and there to satisfie their weake and wearie bodies Now whereas the Pharisies that were present were offended at it because â—t stood not with their tradition of resting from all bodily â—abour our Sauiour Christ vpon that occasioÌ„ teacheth the â—rue maner end of resting vpoÌ„ the Sabbath which was â—om the beginning bringeth not in any new libertie which was not granted before saying The Sabbath was made for man not man for the Sabbath where we must vnderstand that by Sabbath he meaneth the Rest euen as the word doth import and so it is true indeede that God ordained a time of rest for mans sake that he being holpen thereby and his nature refreshed might bee made more fit to doe the workes of God and his owne workes in his calling So that the Pharisies did peruert the right end of resting when they turned it to the hurt of man for want of doing such things as the nature of man did presently stand in need of as now the Disciples being readie to faint if they had not gathered for themselues they should haue been more vnfit to serue God in their callings And this selfe same thing Master Gualter very learnedly obserueth Gualt in Mar. 2. Homil. 22. Sabbathi otium Deus hominis causa instituit God hath ordained rest or ceasing from worke vpon the Sabbath for man We must vse rest and all Gods creatures to fuâ—ther vs in his seruice So to draw these things into a narrow roome I grant vnto them that rest was made and ordained for man as meate and drink apparrel and sleep and all other things here belowe and man was made to glorifie God and therefore he is so to eate and drinke sleepe and rest as he thereby may bee furthered in the seruice of God and a man can no more from hence gather that a man may vse the day of rest at his pleasure and that it is in his owne power to dispose of it as it liketh him best then
the shaddowe which none other are bound vnto but they So that the Iewes hauing these reasons to moue thē to this rest besides the aboue mētioned were more seuerely tied vnto it thē any other people but yet so that it was required at the handes of all men long before these causes were annexed vnto it and therefore though these be remoued and taken away yea and the people to whome they onely appertained yet notwithstanding the Sabbath and day of Rest is not gone with them but is still in his first vertue and ancient strength which vpon good groundes it had in the beginning which I doe therefore speak least that men might ignorantly imagine that because the Sabbath and rest was a figure and shadowe of another thing to that people that now the bodie being come Which being taken away yet we are still straightly bound to rest vpon the sabbath and therefore the shadowe remoued the sabbath should be no more and the rest should haue an end seeing that the sabbath of rest was for many hundreth yeare before the Iewes were much more before it was made a figure vnto them The which thing that it might not seeme strange vnto vs we may consider the like almost in euery morall precept which though euery one of them was from the beginning yet as they were giuen to the people of the Iewes had certaine things added vnto them as accessory helpes to keepe them in the better obedience of them which now being taken away againe the first commandements themselues haue lost nothing of their former authoritie but doe binde as much as euer they did Thus all kings and princes are still bound to prouide that the true religion of God be publikely professed in all places of their dominions farre and neere though they be deliuered from this rudimentall instruction of writing the Lawe of God vpon the borders of their coasts Iosh 8.32 which the Iewes were precisely tyed vnto that they might be holpen in the other Thus all householders must have a care still of instructing their familie in the feare of the Lord that it may bee saide of them as of Abraham Gen. 18.19 Hee commanded his sonnes and household after him to keepe the way of the Lorde and to doe righteousnes and iudgement and that they may say with Ioshua Iosh 24.15 I and my household will serue the Lord though they be deliuered by Christ from the Iewish ceremonie of writing the Law Deut. 6.8 vpon the poastes of their dores and vpon their gates Thus euery Christian is still charged to meditate vpon the law of God day and night Psal 1.2 Colos 3.16 and to haue Gods worde dwelling in him plenteously in all wisdome though that be taken away which was vnto the Iewes a childish instruction of this commaundement which they were bound vnto to further them in the obedience of the other namely Deut. 6.8 of hauing it written vpon their bracelets and vpon their frontlets The like mighty be said of many other things though the ceremonie of singing in such musicall times and playing vpon instruments in the Temple to serue God by them as were vsed in the Law appoynted by the Prophets Dauid and Nathan be taken away vnder the Gospell as meerely Iewish which did signifie vnto them the glorie and acceptation before God of the spirituall worship commanded yet the truth of this which was before remaineth still Colos 3 1◠that we should teach our selues in Psalmes and Himnes and spirituall songes singing with a grace in our hearts to the Lord. Though the fruitefull and pleasant Land of Canaan be taken away which was specially ment vnto the Iewes in the promise ioyned to the fift Commandement yet the promise of long life here in the earth is not taken away from obedient children but is as large and as sure as euer it was and now the whole world is blessed vnto vs in stead of it By all which wee see that it hath been an vsuall thing vnto the Commandements that were before the Iewes to adioyne certaine things to further them in the better keeping of them which onely agreed vnto them which when they were taken away with that people to whom onely they were ment that yet the first Commandements did not only not dye with thē but being reuiued as it were doe continue to this day as those which haue lost nothing of their vertue nor suffered any ecclipse by taking away of the other And it is no good reason to say this commandement had such a ceremonie ioyned vnto it therefore the whole Commandement is ceremoniall or the ceremonie of this Commandement is ended therefore the Commandement is taken away for then all the forenamed things which are so commended to vs in the new Testament should be disanulled which no man will say because all the Iewish ceremonies belonging to them are quite vanished and as it were melted away like snow before the sunne All which is most true in the sabbath of the holy rest wherein we haue seene that the rest was commanded at the first and we say it is still required notwithstanding we grant that in respect of the Iewes in time was adioyned vnto it the remembrance of both their deliuerances The one from Egypt by Moses which was past the other from sin by Christ that was to come in respect of which as it was a monument of a thing already performed so it was a figure of another thing promised and hoped for and therefore though the ceremonie of the rest be ended and the figure of it be taken away with that which was the substance of it and the shadow of it bee ouershadowed as it were with the body which was Christ yet there is no reason why the rest it selfe should bee taken away which was commaunded long before any such type or figure or shadow was adioyned vnto it Insomuch that we still keepe the rest of the sabbath but not to that ende that the Iewes kept it not as a badge of our deliuerance from Egypt in the which wee neuer were nor as a token of our freedome from that bondage wherewith we neuer were oppressed neither as a figure of our redemption to be wrought by Christ which in his worde most clearely wee see is alreadie performed nor that in it wee might as in a shadow obscurely and darkely behold our eternall resting and ceasing from sinne which he hath already purchased vnto vs in his death and hath in his Gospell most liuely poynted out before our eyes but we doe obserue the rest and confesse that it most neerely concerneth vs because of the first institution that we resting from our ordinarie businesse might bestowe the daye in the holy seruice of God in the which we cannot in any acceptable manner be occupied at all vnlesse we rest from the other according to the Commaundement Bulling in Rom. 14.5 Euen as M. Bullinger also doth very excellently set it downe The
worke but the seuenth daye is the sabbath of the Lord thy God in it thou shalt not doe any worke that is any of that worke which thou vsest to doe vpon the sixe dayes which is also proued by the example and patterne of Gods Rest who in sixe dayes made the Heauen and the earth the sea and all that in them is and rested the seuenth day from which time he hath not rested from doing euery thing for he preserueth and gouerneth the things that hee hath made but hee resteth from such workes as he did vpon those sixe dayes namely of making new kindes of creatures or framing any more worlds which example of his must be our imitation for he rested for our sakes to teach vs that though we haue our seuerall callings wherein we must be diligently occupyed in the sixe dayes yet we must rest vpon the seuenth and rest from those things which we vsually doe vpon the sixe dayes by vertue of our calling for so hee rested himselfe Therefore whereas one man is occupyed in this thing and another in that and euery man hath or ought to haue some speciall businesse to attend vpon in the sixe dayes and being in an honest calling hee should labour in it diligently that he might not eate the breade of idlenes he ought vpon the seuenth day to put himselfe apart from all those affayres and as though they did not appertaine vnto him to haue no dealing with them And this is that which TertulliaÌ„ saith speaking of the seuenth day Tertul. aduers Marcion lib. 3. In it thou shalt not doe any worke Quod vtÃque tuum What worke saith he thine owne worke Consequens n. est vt ea opera sabbatho auferret quae sex diebus suprà indixerat for it must needes follow that he should forbid those workes vpon the sabbath day which he had before appoynted for the sixe dayes and therefore hee further addeth Tua id est humana quotidiana I say thine owne workes are forbidden that is worldly and dayly businesse So that here wee neede not to descend further into particulars or to vse many words for the opening of this matter it doth so plainely offer it selfe vnto vs that it may bee both seen and felt of vs and here needeth no great capacitie for the conceiuing of this poynt For if we liue not altogether in idlenes vnprofitably spending away the time and our selues and be as it were an heauie and vnprofitable burthen vpon the earth whereof there be two many in the world and it is one of the greatest sinnes of our time if I say we can but tell what is our daylie businesse and wherein we are or should be occupyed euen these are the things that be ment in this commandement that we should rest from So that here we had neede rather of a good conscience that might moue vs in the feare of God in a carefull obedience to his commandements to enter into this rest which we haue seen so many waies commended vnto vs and that euery one must examine his owne proper workes and so hee shall easely discerne what be the very special things from which he must rest as though they did not belong vnto him at all Thus shall the labourer perceiue that vpon this day he must rest from his dayes labour whether it be digging or thrashing or hedging or any thing else and the artificer from his dayly crafte and trade of making such things as bee incident to his calling and the husbandmen from sowing and tilling and manuring the earth and gathering the fruites of it and such like yea euen in the time of haruest as we haue seene Exod. 34. To this end besides that that hath been alleaged heretofore for this purpose I may put you in minde of one of those worthie Lawes which Charles the Emperor deliuered vnto his visiters whom he sent with his authoritie to reforme the Church Item we decree Centur. 8. Eccles luster c. 6. that as God hath commanded no seruile worke be taken in hand on the Lords day as also the Prince my father of blessed memorie gaue charge by his Synodall edict to wit no kinde of husbandrie neither cutting of vines nor tilling the ground neither reaping nor mowing nor hedging neither rooting or felling of trees nor digging in rockes nor building nor gardening nor hunting The women likewise to forbeare al Manuall worke as weauing sowing embroydring kemming of woll dressing of flaxe shearing of sheep and washing of clothes c. The Marchant and chapman must rest from buying and selling of wares making of bargaines vpon this day yea euen from buying of victuals fish or flesh meate breade or drinke for the sixe dayes are giuen them to make their prouision in as it hath been alreadie declared vnto vs out of Nehemiah 13. And whereas this abuse was common among the Iewes in the time of their captiuitie by reason of the great ignorance and because they were mingled with the heathen after their returne vnder Nehemiah when things began to be reformed they bound themselues by couenant to redresse this fault also for this was one article in the couenant Nehem. 10.31 That if the peâ—ple of the land brought ware on the sabbath or any victuals to sell that they would not take it of them on the sabbath and on the holy dayes Wolph lib. 3. in Nehem. 10. And M. Wolphius very excellentlie vpon this place Ijs vtuntur verbis They vse such wordes as doe somewhat declare that this custome had been among them that if other forraine people who had no conscience of the sabbath had brought any corne or wares vpon the sabbaths they preferring their owne commoditie and lusts before the obseruation of the sabbath they did not sticke to buy all that of them whatsoeuer it was By what meanes both the religious obseruation of the sabbath and the number of them that offered sacrifices and heard the word of God was greatly decayed because they were occupied about other things And whereas they speake of the people of the land thereby meaning other nations they secretly preuent their obiection who might reply that the strangers in no case were to bee tyed vnto the Lawes of the Iewes and that this delay was to their hinderance if they might not be ridde of their wares before the day following and that many of them did offend of ignorance and that if they should be thus hindered it would come to passe in time that they would bring nothing and by that meanes the Citie should want victuals and things necessary all which did cary with it a very probable shew of reason Nehemias aliam rationem init Nehemias he taketh another course sheweth that the ancient lawes of our forefathers yea of God and for religion ought to be so esteemed of vs that we should not suffer them to be broken for any strangers sake And the same Wolphius doth further adde That this people doth promise
might be occupied about worldly busines when other men should rest from them For the Lord beginneth with them first saying Thou euen thou that art a father a master a gouernour and hast any within thy gouernment and vnder thy hand as it were within thy gates And al that be in subiection And as the gouernour may not pretend his authoritie for excuse as though hee might escape by that no more may the inferiour his subiection as though that should hide him seeing the Lord who is gouernour of both speaketh vnto both and nameth both whether he be sonne or daughter manseruant or maydseruant bond or free borne at home or a stranger as it is in the words of the text And there is great reason of this if we consider the subiects themselues and especially the seruāts As seruants especially whose condition were intolerable and not to be borne if when they haue for many daies been wearied with continuall labour they should not haue some good time to rest in and the Lord in his wisedom hath appoynted one whole day in seuen and therefore no lesse can be giuen And seeing that the rest was made for man that is Mark 2.27 appointed for the benefit and commoditie of man there can be no shewe of reason that they should want it who doe stand in most neede of the benefite of it but because it is most commodious vnto seruants it ought especially to be affoorded vnto them And therfore Exod. 23. Exod. 23.12 where this lawe is repeated hee bringeth this reason That the sonne and the mayd and the stranger should rest namely Arias Mont. Vattabl Tremel Deut. 5.14 that he might bee refreshed thereby and as it were take his breath as the word doth import and is so translated by the most skilfull in that tongue And in Deut. when Moses would perswade the gouernours willingly to bestow vpon their seruants this benefit of rest he willeth them to remember the heauie bondage of Egypt in the which they had no rest that by their own experience they might confesse that it was equall and iust before God and men that the wearied seruants should haue rest Master Caluin vpon this place sayth Let thy seruant rest and why For thou wast sometime in bondage Caluin vpon Deut. 5. Ser. 35 the time hath been thou couldest haue wished that one had giuen thee some rest and release from thy labours thou oughtest then to vse such gentlenes towards them which are vnder thy hand If thou wert in bondage wouldest thou not that one should giue thee some release Wouldest thou alwayes bee oppressed with labour and trauaile Surely by thy good will thou wouldest not it behoueth then that thou beare also with others And how full of discomfort and continuall miserie should their liues be if this comfortable refreshing common vnto all the creatures euen to the oxe and the asse should bee denied vnto them Moreouer if the masters doe but looke to their owne priuate gaine they may bee induced to shewe this mercie vnto their seruants that thereby they might be more inabled vnto all new dueties of their calling the weeke following hauing thereby renewed their strength which otherwise would haue decayed which when it is not in that conuenient measure extended towards them that the Lord requireth some of them fall into sicknes others into great weakenes and manifold aches lamenes in their limmes or haue their bodies consumed and their bloud dried vp before the naturall terme of their life bee expired wherein besides the crueltie offered vnto their persons they doe wrong vnto themselues that they cannot inioy their labours so long and with so great profite as otherwise no doubt they might doe And this is that which Master Caluin in the same place obserueth Caluin ibid. When you shall haue this consideration namely of dealing thus mercifully with your seruants then shall you knowe that this day shall further serue you for some earthly profite and commoditie albeit in the meane time this is not that you ought to seeke after To speake in a word our Lord in this place declareth vnto vs that which in like manner hath been pronounced by Iesus Christ Matth. 6.33 that when we shall seeke the kingdome of God all other things shall be cast vpon vs. But last of all if wee looke into that which is the chiefest the honor and seruice of God in sanctifying the Sabbath which he as straightly requireth at the hands of the seruants as of the masters Ephe. 6.9 Coloss 3.11 seeing there is no respect of persons before him neither Grecian nor Iew circumcision nor vncircumcision Barbarian Scythian bond or free For he that is called in the Lord being a seruant 1. Cor. 7.22 is the Lords freeman Likewise also he that is called being free is Christs seruant Therefore that they might serue their high Lord and heauenly master who is aboue all and Lord ouer al vpon the seuenth day as they haue serued their earthly masters vpon the sixe we must needes confesse that they also ought to rest from those workes of their calling which otherwise would hinder them in it or altogether keepe them from it vnles besides the hinderance of their saluation wee would set our selues against the glorie of God to our endles confusion whilest wee hinder them from doing that seruice that he requireth of them seeing because of our busines they can in no wise performe it vnto him The like is to bee sayd in some part of the beasts The cattell must rest vpon this day as the oxe and the asse or any other cattell as wee haue alreadie heard it Deut. 5.14 that they also might haue the benefite of rest which they cannot want that so they might more commodiously be preserued for the vse of man for the which purpose they were made in the beginning and which is the very end of this rest And therefore it is sayd of them also In the seuenth day thou shalt rest Exod. 23.12 that thine oxe and thine asse may rest and be refreshed But chiefly and aboue all this was commanded vnto them that thereby as by a sure bond themselues might bee kept vnder obedience of this rest whom it did most of al concerne when they did see that the beasts themselues might not breake beyond the libertie of it of whom notwithstanding the Lord had a lesse principall regard but as they might be seruiceable vnto men in this behalfe Euen as Master Caluin doth very plainly lay it foorth intreating of this matter Caluin vpon Deut. ◠ser 35. This was to the end the Iewes seeing the stables closed vp should be put in minde to say God setteth here before our eyes this signe euē in the bruit beasts and this is to the end that wee on our part should be the better kept and holden in his seruice Thus it behoued the Iewes deeplie to weigh euen in the bruit beasts this visible
prince of the Iewes Nehe. 13.15 after their returne from the captiuitie as it is set downe in the last chapter of that booke where he thus speaketh of himselfe In those daies saw I them in Iudah that trode wine presses on the sabbath and that brought in sheaues and which laded asses also with wine grapes and figges and all burdens and brought them into Ierusalem vpon the sabbath day and I protested to them in the day that they solde victuales 16. There dwelt men of Tyrus also therein which brought fish and all wares and solde on the sabbath vnto the children of Iudah and in Ierusalem 17. Then reproued I the rulers of Iudah and saide vnto them What euill is this that ye doe and breake the sabbath daye 18. Did not your fathers thus and our God brought all this plague vpon vs and vpon this citie Yet yee encrease the wrath vpon Israel in breaking the sabbath 19. And when the gates of Ierusalem began to be darke before the sabbath I commanded to shut the gates and charged that they should not bee opened till after the sabbath and some of my seruants set I at the gates that there should no burdē be brought in on the sabbath day 20. So the chapmen and marchants of al marchandize remained once or twise al night without Ierusalem 21. And I protested among them and said vnto them why tarrie ye all night about the wall if ye doe it once againe I will lay hands vpon you From that time came they no more vpon the sabbath In which words is fullie described vnto vs a most liuely picture both of that religious boldnes and zealous courage that should be in a magistrate bending al his force to the suppressing of such abuses as doe most dishonour the name of God as the breaking of the sabbath and also of the good blessing and prosperous successe of God vpon the worthie labours and Christian interprises of all such For though this abuse of prophaning the sabbath by breaking the rest of it so many waies as we see was so vniuersall and that through the iniquitie of the time preuayled so long that it had gotten a strong head and could not bee bridled at the first for though the gates were shut yet they tarried without at the wals all night hoping to come in in the morning with the formost according to their former custome so obstinate and peruerse were they in their wickednes yet when hee was as constant in Gods cause which he knew he had taken in hand as they were froward in their sinne God gaue him to deale so wisely being not discouraged first by proclayming the lawe of resting which he knew before was in the word then by threatning imprisonment vpon them that would not keep it commanding the inferiour magistrates to looke to the execution of it and rebuking them for their negligence and sloth in it in former times fearing them by the consideration of Gods iudgement euen their present captiuitie which came vpon their forefathers from the which they were not all returned and into the which or some other they might fall againe because of this one sinne that hee preuayled with them euen as it is set downe to his great commendation and to the singular incouraging of all Christian Magistrates in their offices What good successe God gaue him in it to the vnspeakeable comfort of the church and the immortall prayse of God that from that time they came no more vpon the sabbath A worthie rewarde for so noble an enterprise an honourable triumph for so rare a conquest And if we doe see so happie an ende of the trauaile of one man in so corrupt a time dealing against a sinne so deepelie rooted so publickely defended by the practise of the common people so generallie winked at by the inferiour magistrates and that in Iudah and in Ierusalem what hope might wee haue of the blessed endeuours of so many Nehemias in a time more religious among so many worthie gouernours in the Church and common-wealth if our sinnes did not hinder it and if they would deale in the faith and zeale and constancie of Nehemiah and wee would helpe them with our prayers That so first of all it might bee established by a generall meeting of all estates ciuill and ecclesiasticall as it was in his dayes by the Priests Leuits and chiefe of the people that none should doe any thing contrarie to the obseruation of the sabbath Nehe. 10.8.9.14 no not vnder the pretēce of dealing with strangers and then that those lawes might be diligently executed with great seueritie vpon all transgressors yea though they were strangers as they were in his time rebuking and sharplie punishing all inferiour officers by whose negligence the faulte should bee committed as hee did with great grauitie and moderation So then to drawe this whole treatise into a narrowe roome and to shut it vp in a worde the summe of all is that the Lord hath commanded so precise a rest vnto all sortes of men that it may not by any fraude deceite or circumuention whatsoeuer be broken but that hee will most seuerely require it at their hands vnder the payne of his euerlasting displeasure And this is the first duetie here required that both wee our selues and all vnder vs doe vpon the seuenth day rest from all such workes as by vertue of our callings appertaine vnto vs vpon the other sixe and this is the thing that wee should bee perswaded of Obiection If men should thus rest from all worke how should they liue But now if any vngodly man through the coueteousnes that is in him cannot yeeld vnto this because hee sauoureth not the things that bee of God but is worldlie minded and therefore is ready to obiect and say if we doe not labour how shall we eate you see the world is hard and things are at a great price and we haue a charge of wife and children that must bee cared for and when wee haue wrought sore the whole sixe dayes it will scarsely find vs bread therefore what reason is it to binde vs from working vpon the seuenth And why may not a poore man then earne a pennie as well as at any other time What I thinke you would haue vs to starue It is true in deede as M. Caluin saith Caluin vpon Deut. 5. serm 35. That all of vs naturally are of that minde that if we endeuour to mounte on hye to the heauenlie life and bestowe our studies herein we thinke we shall dye for hunger and this shall be to turne vs from our profites and commodities For as hee further saith the diuell commeth alwaies to perswade vs vnder this shadow and wilines that if we imploy our selues to the seruice of God we must needs dye of famine and that we liue to be pittied of others for our miserie Answer Therefore for answer I first of all say as he doth Of a truth we cannot serue
wisedome in our calling and so we shall be deliuered from that necessitie of working many times which otherwise we doe voluntarily pull vpon our selues Thus wee may conclude this point that seeing the Lord of his great liberalitie euen vpon that day wherein hee requireth our rest most precisely hath not cast vs into that bondage that we should doe nothing at all but hath left vs that freedome that in needfull things we may labour it standeth vs in hand so much the more carefully to looke to our selues that wee be sure the things we go about could not haue bin done before not deferred any longer and therefore were necessary to be done at that time which when wee bee throughly persuaded of by Gods word then may wee in faith and a good conscience take them in hand knowing that the Lord exempteth vs as it were at that presēt from the generall lawe of resting and by some speciall occasion calleth vs to worke and therefore wee doe it as vnto him Works of necessitie vpon the Lords day must not be done for gaine but of mercy and pitie In which consideration wee ought not to take any thing for our worldly labours vpon the Sabbath and we should not make a gaine of our trauaile vpon that day if necessitie driue vs vnto it for we do it not as a worke of our calling from the which wee must cease nor as that by the which wee get our liuing with which wee must not meddle but only because some of the creatures doe stand in neede of our helpe for whose preseruation the day of rest is appointed and therefore in pitie and compassion vnto them we yeelde them our labour and doe it as a deed of mercy and vnto the Lord. And therfore though that constitution of Gregorie the 9. Cent. 13. cap. 6. be not in all points sound when he saith Let men and cattell rest vpon the Lords day vnlesse vrgent necessitie compell them vel nisi gratis fiat or vnlesse it be done freely for the poore or for the Church because the free doing of a thing will not excuse it when there is no necessitie or when it is not a worke proper vnto this day yet it seemeth that herein he aymed at the truth when he requires that that which is done should not be for gaine but of loue to the poore and to the Church of God and therefore freely And this is that indeed which commonly men do pretend when they are charged with their needlesse trauailings that it was a good deed to help such a one in miserie and it did lye vpon his vndoing and hee could not but doe it for very pitie and a great deale more they can say for themselues Therefore let it appeare by their doings that nothing mooued them but pitie and that of very conscience to relieue the necessity of others thy were mooued vnto it by not onely not receiuing but not looking for any reward of men no more then you doe of the almes which you giue and for visiting the sicke and imprisoned that so it may be counted as an holy worke indeed when you doe it not respecting your owne profite in it but onely the good of others Therefore let the Phisition or chirurgian and such as attend vpon the sicke or are any wayes imployed about him take nothing for their paines vpon the Sabbath but let them doe it freely that it may be a gift and not accounted as a work of their calling but a deede of loue and the apothecarie though he receiue money for his stuffe yet let his labour be free The like must be vnderstoode of all other works of necessitie And therefore if the lawyer counsellor or sergeant will needs trauaile then about his clients cause let him doe it onely for Gods sake and not bee occupied about it as a worldly thing and a matter of gaine for that is proper to the sixe daies in the which God would haue them in the sweat of their face to eate their bread Obiection But if they say it may be the men with and for whom we deale stand in no such need of our liberalitie nay they would thinke scorne of it and they may better giue vs a pound then wee them a penny Answer then yet at least wise dedicate it to the poore and taking it with the one hand giue it with the other that you may haue the testimony of a good conscience the spirite of God bearing you witnes that your worke was onely for the Lorde as this day is appointed out wholly for his seruice and that no priuate commoditie of your owne mooued you vnto it for the Lord hath giuen you the sixe dayes to make prouision for yourselfe for otherwise we shall make no difference betwixt the sixe daies and the seuenth the works of the one and of the other if we shall in all of them alike be conuersant in the same things with the same minde and for the same ende and purpose Therefore that I might end this matter we doe see that excepting these cases of necessitie in which the Lord would haue vs thus cheerefully to be occupied as about the works of mercy and his seruice onely from whence no gaine is to be looked for 1. Tim. 6.6 though godlines indeed be great gaine and he that hath pitie vpon the poore lendeth vnto the Lorde and looke what he layeth out Prou. 19.17 it shall be repayed him wee are bound most straitly in this commandement to rest and that the Lord looketh for a rare and singular kinde of rest euen such a one as wee haue heard out of his worde and that hee will not dispence with vs in any wise but as it hath beene shewed and therefore that wee ought to haue a principall respect and regard vnto it as to the thing that doth most neerely concerne vs. And in this one point though I am not ignorant that I haue a great cloud of aduersaries against me who are otherwise minded and cannot be thus persuaded as indeed many things in this commandement are greatly controuersied yea among the learned as in any one that I know yet I desire them in the feare of God that as they will obserue the rule of the Apostle Iames 1.19 who would haue vs swift to heare slowe to speake and slow to wrath they would indifferently and as it were in an eeuen ballance weigh such things at haue been alreadie alledged for the proofe of it before they begin to giue out their censures against it Obiection If we be thus straitly bound to rest we are still in as great bondage as the Iewes were vnder the law Therefore whereas some men might hereupon gather that if the case be thus betwixt the Lorde and vs in the matter of the Sabbath and that the commandement of resting doth stand in such force and strength and bindeth vs so strongly as it doth then our estate is no better then the Iewes the same
men to rest from such workes and pleasures as wee haue seene We must rest also from speaking and hearing of worldly matters but also from speaking and talking of them seeing his purpose is not onely to restraine the hand and the foote but the lippes and tongue also because they hinder our selues and others from keeping holy the day as well as any thing else For vnlesse we will restraine and shorten this commandement more then all the other why should not idle words bee forbidden here as well as in all the rest And seeing in the first both Atheisme prophane speeches are forbidden it is a sin against the second cōmandement to name false gods vs well as to worship them Psal 16.4 and in the third the name of God is dishonoured by our vngodly conuersation and by our vaine and false othes why should not the lawe of the Sabbath bee as large in forbidding long communication and large discourses about worldly busines and pleasures as well as the things themselues especially when wee see the same equitie and proportion in the lawes of the second table also In which not only murder is forbidden but all rayling words Math. 5.22 proud and scornefull speeches and that lawe which forbiddeth adulterie Ephes 4.29 ◠3 sayth that no filthy communication must proceed out of your mouthes therefore seeing the other commandements are giuen to frame the whole body of man and euery part of it vnto obedience why should it not be presumed of the commandement of the Sabbath also that it ordereth our words as well as our works especially seeing the one is more disordered then the other and they which can rule their hands and their feet cannot so well gouerne their tongues of which trueth seem it neuer so new and strange vnto vs though no truth indeede be new we shall so much the rather be persuaded if we consider that much talke about worldly matters doth as well hinder the sanctification of the day as much worke and so much the more because wee may worke with our selues alone yet cannot talke but with others and so doe hinder both our selues and them For our mindes cannot bee wholly set vpon the worship of God as they should and at the same time bee speaking of and listning vnto the affaires of this life euen of our commodities profites and pleasures Besides that the Lord would haue our mouthes and eares otherwise occupied vpon this day as well as our handes and feete as shall more fully appeare hereafter So that vpon this day men must cease from making of bargaines and broaking of matters from talking about their marchandise trades from questioning and debating of things about their cattel corne and white meate and generally from all worldly matters incident to our calling and then we must speake with new tongues as it were and put newe words into our mouthes as well as new works into our hands that it may appeare vnto all men which beholde vs that it is a day of rest indeede when wee thus rest in whole not in part and that it is a new day differing from the other sixe when we are so altogether made new and as it were differ from that which we were before both in worde and deede And therefore we must be farre from the practise of a great many who make this the onely day of reckoning with their seruants and of accounts with their labourers and chapmen and bestow it for the most part in hearing what hath been done the weeke before and prescribing what should be done the weeke following Much lesse should we draw neere the practise of such who as they know no end of their pleasures so they can neuer make an end of talking and hearing of them so ouerfilled are they with them that out of the aboundance of their hearts their mouthes must needes speake and as they haue many fruitles discourses abuot their hawking and hunting at home in their houses before and after it besides that which they haue abroad in their fields when they are in the game so that there is more time and words mispent afterwards about it then was well spent before in it euen so they make all daies alike and looke how farre their hawkes are from their fists and their dogges from their heeles vpon that day so farre are the vnprofitable and endlesse tales concerning the same from their mouthes and cares and a little lesse because when necessitie driueth them to leaue the one because they are at their meate such like yet they cannot giue ouer the other but pursue it to the vttermost euen to the disturbance of others and filling their heads so full of vanitie as their own are besides their owne sinne in abusing of the time and the dishonor of Gods name in breaking of the Sabbath And now if vnto all this which hath been spoken you will giue me leaue to adde but one thing more you shall see how absolute and perfect this lawe is euen like vnto the lawgiuer himselfe who as he is a spirit so will bee worshipped in spirit and trueth in all the seuerall parts of his worship which he requireth in euery one of his commandements For this is that which was deliuered vnto vs in the first entrance into the Commandements namely that the whole lawe of God was giuen vnto whole man and as the Lord God created him both in soule and bodie redeemed him by Christ Iesus sanctifieth and preserueth here and is purposed elsewhere to glorifie him in both for euer so he hath set him down that forme of obedience whereby in both he might bee reformed to that image according to the which hee was first created in righteousnes and true holines and therefore in this commandement doth shew vs And from hauing our minds occupied about the same what in bodie and soule wee should keepe vs from euen that we must rest from hauing our mindes occupied about all those things which are not lawfull to be done vpon that day and that we must not only lay our worldly busines out of our hands but put them out of our heads so that we may not spend our time in studying about the workes of our calling nor beate our heads about thē laying platformes as it were for the weeke following and so haue our heads fully fraught with thē but wee must haue our vnderstanding and affections cleane emptie voyd of them that there may be roome for such heauenly meditations to dwell in vs as the Lord would haue vs to be filled with them Caluin in Gen. 2.3 Master Caluin expounding these words The Lord blessed the seuenth day sayth this blessing is nothing els but a solemne consecration Qua sibi Deus studia occupationes asserit die septimo whereby the Lord doth chalenge to himselfe vpon the seuenth day all our studies and labours and therefore wee must not be such grosse hypocrites as to imagine that if
we haue washed our hands clean from the workes of our calling so that none of them do cleaue to our fingers that this were an acceptable obedience vnto God when in the meane season our mindes are as worldly as euer they were and our thoughts bee as fresh vpon them and our affections are raysed vp to as great delight in them as though wee were in the middest of them But as the whole lawe is spirituall so this commandement hath a spirituall trueth in it and contenteth not it selfe with an outward obedience but requireth the inward truth of the heart that as we make a shew of resting from earthly things so we should doe it indeede without the which the other is but a fruitlesse and idle ceremonie For seeing this is the very end of putting our selues apart from all worldly busines that our mindes might not be entangled with them which because they must needes be so long as wee are dealing about them such is our nature that we cannot doe things and haue no feeling of them as though we were a sleepe or in a traunce therefore doe we dispatch our hands of them that our mindes might not bee disturbed by them Seeing then this is the principall ende that wee aime at to vnburden our mindes of these earthly cares that we might bee more quicke and free in Gods worship wee must especially labour for it and not stay in these other which though they be great in themselues yet are they but helpes and furtherances vnto this in so much that if on the Sabbath we leaue all our worke at home and come neuer so farre from it to the Church yet if our mindes be working as it were because they are occupied about it and wee would bee working if wee might and if we might not be knowne and if wee might not be punished or blamed and our mindes haue carried vs this way that wee would gladly haue stollen a working cunningly as wee say if wee might not haue been spied all that we doe is but meere hypocrisie so farre are we from the true obedience of this commandement And this wee haue seene sufficiently proued heretofore that we therefore rest from all worldly things Vt paratiores promptiores ad cultum diuinum as sayth S. Augustine in that excellent sermon of his That we might be more readie fit for Gods seruice Agust de tēp serm 251. when there is nothing to encomber vs and wee leaue at that time terrenam sollicitudinem the care of earthly things that wee might the more easily attend vpon the word of God which we cannot if still our mindes haue these burthens vpon them and be not released from worldly thoughts which presse them downe from being lifted vp vnto that heauenly life Master Caluin in his Sermons vpon Deut. giueth this reason why Christians should not goe to lawe vpon the Sabbath Caluin vpon Deut. 5. Ser. 39. Because vpon that day euery man ought to withdraw himselfe to Godward to minde his works that we may all of vs be prouoked to serue and honour him And afterwards addeth Common meetings are made that mē might heare the common doctrine of saluation and it is good reason that on the Sabbath day all other cares and thoughts should be layd aside And in another Sermon he sayth For we must rest Idem serm 34. and how rest forsooth wee must abide still and quiet our thought must not stirre to wander and deuise this and that Gualt in Act 13. Homil 88. For as Master Gualter sayth God doth therfore call the Sabbath his day that wee might knowe when that day is Ab omnibus alijs curis studijs abstinendum est that wee ought to abstaine from all other cares and dueties According vnto which exquisite rule if we doe measure out the obedience of all men we shall easily see how short they are of that perfect righteousnes which is here required and that many shall bee euen then found breakers of this commandement when they did most of all presume of the keeping of it and were puffed vp with a speciall pride for it For let vs graunt it vnto them which it may bee is true that they haue borne themselues in an euen and ciuill course not breaking out into any open contempt or wilfull and grosse breach of this Commandement yet if they will call themselues before Gods iudgement seate they shall find that many of these times they had a good desire to worke and would faine haue been at it if they might haue been couered and as wee say their fingers did tickle at it which as it hath been true at other times so most of all when as wee imagined that we might haue gained something if we would haue wrought and our ceasing from it was something vnprofitable vnto vs as in the time of any common Fayres or in the dayes of haruest of whom the Prophet Amos iustly complaineth speaking in their person Amos. 8.5 When will this new moone be gone that we may sell corne and the Sabbath that we may set forth wheate But if we iudge this doctrine too seuere and we cannot yeeld vnto it let vs compare this Commandement with the other which bee of the like nature with it and it may be they will perswade vs and leade vs into the trueth of it In the second Commandement we know that not only the making and worshipping of Images is forbidden but also to set vp an Idoll in our heart and to wish that we had it and to bee desirous to returne vnto Poperie liking of those times better then of this time of the Gospell and to be gaping after the Masse so that we are readie to imbrace it if it were thrust vpon vs againe and we could be very well contented with it so that we want but the oportunitie to furnish a Masse So in this not onely the bodily labour is forbidden which the lawes of men may prouide for but also the cogitations and desires of the minde towards them which none is able to meete with but the Lord that this law might bee like vnto himselfe And seeing that as our Sauiour Christ expoundeth the law he that is angrie with his brother vnadauisedly is guiltie of the law of murther Matth. 5.22 vers 28. And whosoeuer looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adulterie alreadie with her in his hearte why should we not say that hee that looketh on his busines with a mind desirous to bee occupied about them hath broken the commaundement of resting alreadie in his heart vnlesse he will make the one vnlike the other and to bee as it were of another broode For is not this that dignitie and preferment which wee giue to all the whole lawe of God aboue all the lawes of men that as they doe behold but the words and works of men therefore their lawes can forbid and punish sinne but when it thus breaketh out bewrayeth
teach vs that these are the meanes to sanctifie it by and that they are proper vnto the day Now though prayer be not here named yet we are to presume that neither the word nor sacraments were ministred withouth it seeing the fruite of both dependeth vpon the blessing of God which is obtained by prayer and seeing that in other places they are ioyned together And that the ministrie of the word is so vnseparably ioyned to the Sabbath and hath alwaies beene further appeareth by that which is most plainely in many words set downe in the 13. Acts 13.14 chapter of the same storie where it is thus written When Paul and Barnabas departed from Perga they came to Antiochia a citie of Pisidia and went into the Synagogue on the Sabbath day and sate downe 15. And after the lecture of the law and Prophets the rulers of the synagogue sent vnto them saying Ye men and brethren if yee haue any worde of exhortation for the people say on 16. Then Paul stood vp and beckened with the hande and sayd Men of Israell c. as followeth in that chapter to the 42. verse where againe it is written that when they were come out of the Synagogue of the Iewes the Gentiles besought that they would preach these wordes to them the next Sabbath day 44. And the next Sabbath day came almost the whole citie to heare the world of GOD which words doe sufficiently shew that it hath alwaies beene diligently obserued of the Church to sanctifie the Sabbath day in the publike reading and preaching of the word as in the most singular part of Gods seruice For Paul came and founde the Church alreadie met together vpon the Sabbath and reading the lawe and the Prophets and then was desired to preach and afterwards being desired to preach againe they came and heard him vpon the Sabbath And in the 15. chapter wee haue heard alreadie That Moses hath of old time Acts 15.21 in euery citie them that preach him seeing he is read euery Sabbath day in the Synagogues Besides that which is written of Paul in the 17. Chap 17.1.2.3 chapter that he comming to Thessalonica where was a Synagogue of the Iewes as his manner was went in vnto them and three Sabbath daies disputed with them by the scriptures opening and alledging that Christ must haue suffered and risen againe from the dead and this is Iesus Christ whom sayd he I preach vnto you But it were an endlesse labour though profitable in order to reckon vp all the seuerall places which shewe that these are the holy works of the Sabbath which the Lord requiteth all men to bee occupied in if they will sanctifie the day according to his commandement and as the practise of the Church giueth vs example And vpon these considerations it seemeth it was enacted in a councell held in Germanie vnder Charles the great for the maintaining of the publike preaching euery Lords day Concil Mogūt cap. 25. that Si forte Episcopus If the Bishop be not at home or be sicke or vpon any other vrgent cause be not able himselfe Nunquam tamen desit diebus Dominicis qui verbum Dei praedicet Yet let it bee so prouided that there neuer want one to preach the worde of God vnto the people on the Lords daies Phil. Melanct. in praecept 3. Master Melancthon reckoning vp many parts of sanctifying the Sabbath sayth Piè fungi ministerio where he makes this not onely one but the principall thing for a man well to discharge his ministerie in which answer he includeth the preaching of the word because a little before he sayth that the Prophets when they lament the desolation of the Sabbath they complaine Abolitum esse ministerium docendi That the ministerie of teaching was abolished and that the priests lips did not keepe knowledge But as themselues say they were dumme dogs and delighted in sleeping Bucer in Mat. 12.11 And Master Bucer in this argument writing of the practise of that Church wherein himselfe liued sayth Dominicis diebus in singulis Parochijs ad minimum duae si non tres habentur conciones Vpon the Lords dayes in euery parish there are two sermons at the least if not three Which also as it may be truely sayd of a great number of Churches in England for the space of these many yeares vnder the most happy raigne of her maiestie to the great glory of God her singular renowne and the saluation of many soules so in that respect we are to bow our knees vnto God day and night for the preseruation of her royal maiestie that it may be so by her meanes for euer as also that in those places where it is yet wanting it might be brought in in Gods most blessed time if our vnthankfulnes doe not hinder vs euen as that zealous and good King Iehosaphat could not doe all things in his time that he would for the reformation of the Church because the people then had not prepared their hearts to serue the GOD of their fathers 2. Chron. 20.33 Therefore to be short let vs looke vnto that which is in the chapter immediatly following Chap. 18.4 That Paul abiding at Corinth disputed in the Synagogue euery Sabbath day and exhorted the Iewes and the Grecians Here the holy Ghost witnesseth of him that hee did openly teach the scriptures euery Sabbath day and in the forenamed place that it was his manner so to doe then it must needs be the custome of the Church to come to the publike ministrie of the word vpon those dayes Al men ought to resort to those places where the word is preached and it must be a common manner with them which is spoken to this end that we might not be of that brutish mind that some are of that know no other thing to do vpon the Sabbath but to rest and take their ease and therfore lye many times at home sleeping most prophanely and so their oxe and their asse in ceasing from their worke keepe as good a Sabbath as they neither to be so ignorant as others are who content thēselues with their owne priuate readings at home or with the bare reading of the word in the Church neglecting the preaching of it not labouring to procure it to themselues nor repairing to those places in the meane season where it is though it be the chiefest part of Gods seruice and therefore the most especiall meanes whereby the Sabbath is sanctified and without the which all other things in the seruice of God are lesse accepted of God and more vnprofitable to our owne selues Therefore how many places of scripture haue wee seene before commanding vs so straightly to sanctifie the Sabbath so many are there binding all men of what estate and cōdition soeuer to listen after the preaching of the word and to be at it euery Sabbath if they haue any care to discharge themselues of that obedience vnto God which he
our selues from the Church without any iust cause or by not seeking to the Prophets to teach vs when wee had not them at home and which doe so continuallie see our brethren in many places for want of teaching willingly to breake this law and which must needes foresee ours and their posteritie to fall into the same sinne nay to continue and dye in it vnles by establishing a preaching ministrie euery where which all are commanded publikely to pray the disease be now cured and so to be preuented in time to come In our English Letanie And if this be the estate of the poore people The ministers that cannot or wil not preach are special causes of vnhallowing this day that haue not the preaching of the word among thē that by breaking the Sabbath continually they must needes prouoke the most patient Lordes wrath at the last and endanger their owne soules health what can bee saide or thought sufficiently and answerably vnto the sinne of them who being called the ministers of God as they that should be the chiefe in his seruice and goe before others in it by preaching vnto them are able and willing to do nothing lesse in the world then that For partlie they are ignorant and cannot doe it partlie they are giuen to ease and will not doe it and partly they haue so many charges to looke vnto that they know not where to begin to doe it And so doe not onely vnhallow euery Sabbath daye that the liue and doe bestow no daye in the weeke so ill as that which they should bestow best of all because they neglect that which God requireth most of all at their hands but also are the onely chiefe causes euerie where of vnhallowing the Sabbath and doe compell the people to breake it whether they will or no which sinne is yet so much the greater in them because it is not accounted of and so there is no care to amend it But let them bee assured that all the charges giuen concerning the sanctifying of the Sabbath in the scripture must bee double charged vpon them for themselues their people and looke how earnestlie this is by the Lord commanded so seuerely will it one day bee required at their hands when they shall haue no bodie to speake for them nay they shall pleade against themselues and better were it for them a thousand times to begge in the meane season then to eate vp and to liue vpon as it were their owne sinnes and the sinnes of their people and to carry about with them their owne bayne not by slipping into of humaine frailty but stubbornely falling into and more wilfullie lying in so manifest a breach of so great a commandement and that in the highest poynte of it Psalm 95.7.8 2. Thes 2.10.11 Therefore to daye if we will heare Gods voyce let vs not harden our hearts against it but let vs receiue the trueth in loue least he giue vs vp to strong illusions effectuallie to be deceiued and to beleeue a lye and let vs confesse as the trueth is that the Lord would haue euerie Sabbath to bee sanctified by the Minister and the people and that in the Church he ought to preach the word and they to heare it euery Sabbath daye And though we bee not so grosselie blinded to imagine that it is not necessarie one whit vpon that day we must not also be deceiued to thinke that now and then is sufficient once a moneth or twise a quarter and so sometime both Minister and people should be exempted from it as though they could sanctifie the daye after some other manner And though I haue iustly stood vpon the preaching of the worde especially because it is the greatest parte of Gods seruice and yet that which is most neglected my meaning is not to exclude the other as though they appertained not vnto vs for it wholly and euery parte of it doth concerne vs and is to bee practised vpon this daye Therefore wee must also come to the reading of the worde We must be present also at the reading of the worde common prayer and administration of the Sacraments from the beginning to the ende and common prayer and receiue the Sacrament so oft as it is administred yea though we receiued it the Lords day immediatlie before and be present at the Baptisme of others For wee haue in the forenamed places seene all these practised together seeing they be parts of Gods publike worship we must leaue no holy worke of his vndone whereby the day might be sanctified vnto him So we must bee present at the whole action and continue at the diuine seruice from the beginning to the ending as it is prouided by the lawe of the realme which is grounded vpon Gods worde neither foreslowing to come at the beginning nor hastening to depart at the ending which is so much the more diligently to bee taken heede of on euery side because herein many doe offend carelesselie and yet the danger of it is very great Some vnder the pretence of comming to the Sermon tarrie at home a great part of the seruice and so neither are they at the confession of sinnes with Gods people nor are made partakers of the prayers of the Church for the forgiuenes of their sinnes neither doe euer heare much of the scripture read other vnder the colour of being at all these departe away before the blessing is pronounced vpon them and so many times lose the fruite of all as Iudas did or else tarie not the ministring of the Sacrament as though it were a thing impertinent vnto them Therefore it is in expresse wordes set downe by the Prophet Ezekiel cap. 46. Where hee speaketh of Gods worship vpon the Sabbath daye that the prince shall be in the temple in the middest of the people he shall goe in Ezek. 46.10 when they goe in and when they goe forth they shall goe forth together where we see he requireth that all should be present from the beginning to the ending euen the very chiefest in euery congregation as well as the meanest and no priuiledge is to be giuen to any one more then to another for comming vnto abiding at and departing from the seruice of GOD which concerneth them all like in the whole and in euery parte of it then the which nothing can be spoken more truely nor more plainely which the Prophet Dauid as he knew very well so laboured to perswade the people of it Psalm 84.10 when in the Psal 84. He accounteth the dore keepers of Gods house blessed who were first and last in the temple so partakers of the whole worship Wherefore whensoeuer wee doe voluntarilie bereaue our selues of any part of the publike Ministerie we cannot sanctifie the daye so in euery portion of Gods worke as he would haue vs to doe Hereunto it seemeth they had respect in that councell Concil Malisgon 2. cap. 1. wherein they say Si quis whosoeuer
it For besides all the forenamed places which doe shew that this duetie is generally layd vpon al men we may see that the Apostle writing to the whole Church of God at Ephesus dooth require this of them al alike speaking of it first of all chap. 4. Ephes 4.29 Let no corrupt communication proceede out of your mouthes but that which is good to the vse of edyfying that it may minister grace to the hearers And in the next chapter Chap 5.18 ver 18. Would haue them filled with the spirit speaking one of them to another in Psalmes and hymnes and spirituall songs Coloss 4.6 And then vnto all the Colossians Let your speech bee gratious alwaies and powdered with salte that ye may know how to answer euery man And therefore when we be in the companie of others we must not onlie not leaue it vndone but we may not put it off and as it were straine curtesie to begin I doe not deny but that we must haue wisdome in speaking and that we must be swift to heare Iam. 1.19 and slow to speake especially in the presence of them that haue more knowledge then our selues but we must not lay it so whollie vpon the minister as that if hee neglect it vpon any occasion wee should thinke our selues free from it Iob. 32.4.5 But rather follow the example of the godly man Elihu in the like case Who after hee had waited till Iob had spoken and saw that there was none answer in the mouth of the three men began his speech rather then the truth should not be maintained Vers 6.7 c. First making that preface which is set down of him in the same place Our ignorance ought not to keepe vs from conferring with other Moreouer let vs not bee kept backe from performing this duetie by the guiltines of our ignorance for though it be a sinne in vs in deed that the worde of Christ doth not dwell in vs more plenteouslie and that we bee no more filled with the spirit and so cannot speake so profitablie as we should yet none that is desirous to learne can bee so ignorant but hee may aske a question concerning some thing that hath been taught say what is the meaning of this Or how doe you vnderstand that or how was such a thing proued and so begin the conference and giue occasion to other to prosecute it which if he doe in the feare of God he shal finde his blessing to be such that though he conferre with others that haue as little knowledge as himselfe he shall not depart from them altogether vnprofitable The great benefit of mutuall conference For that which euery man seuerallie cannot doe al of them together as it were ioyning their strengths shall be able to bring to passe and as in a commō gathering though euery one giue but a little yet the summe amounteth to a great deale so the knowledge of many being put together shall increase that which was in euery man before For the meetings of the godlie is like a great many of firebrands layde together in which though there be some heate when they are apart by themselues yet being laid together it is doubled and otherwise euery one would dye of it selfe so though euery man hath some grace of Gods spirit in himselfe yet it is greatly increased by conference as it were by borrowing of the heate of others without the which euen those that they haue would by little little decrease come to nothing Nay it is most true that the blessing of God is so great and so certaine vpon his owne ordinance that all men might bee moued to submit themselues vnto it as that men conferring about things whereof they are altogether ignorant keeping themselues within the compasse of Gods word shall come to that knowledge in them which not onely none of them had before but not any one of them could haue by himselfe alone attained vnto For euen as though there be no fire in the flint stones yet one of them striking vpon another do bring forth fire betweene them which commeth not from any one of them but from both and both of them striken together so by the conference of many that is found out as a totall summe in the end which the seuerall monie as it were of euery one of them was in no wise able to reach vnto Whereunto agreeth that Prouerbe of Salomon Euen as iron sharpeneth iron Pro. 27.17 so doth the face of a man sharpen his friend That is euen as the knife that is blunt being rubbed vpon the whetstone though it be more blunt then it selfe receiueth thereby a sharpnes which it had not before so one man by the presence and conference of another receiueth instruction getteth that which he had not before Which if the children of this world doe finde true by experience in all worldly matters that by debating vpon them they see further into them then at the first why should wee thinke that our conference about heauenly thinges would bee barren which besides the helpes of all naturall guiftes common with other the Lord hath promised to water with the especiall blessing of his holy spirite that it might not be vnfruitfull vnto vs which that we might doe to our greatest aduantage the Lord would haue not onely the people thus to conferre amongst themselues The people ought to conferre with the Minister and he with them and they one with another Malac. 2.7 but all of them with the minister and him with them And that this was the practise of the one and of the other as it appeareth by sundry places of the old and new Testament so by that which the Prophet Malachie speaketh of both 2. 7. The Priests lips should keepe knowledge and they should seeke the law at his mouth wherunto agreeth thar of the Prophet Haggai Aske now of the Priests concerning the lawe Haggai 2.12 and say 13. If one beare holy flesh in the skirt of his garment and with his skirt doe touch the bread or the pottage or the wine or oyle or any meate shall it be holy and the Priests answered and sayd No. In both which places it is manifest that in those daies it was the mnnner of the people and Priests to conferre together about the law of God vnto which if all in our time were compelled as the word of God bindeth them vnto it I knowe very well that the conferences of a great many would be as fruitlesse as might bee For whereas the people should seeke the lawe at their mouthes you may seeke and finde any thing at them rather then that and you may conferre with them rather of the plough and of the flayle then of the worde of God seeing their hands are more fit to hold either of them then their lips to keepe the other Beside others in a stately pride of themselues and a contempt of their brethren will
to bee regarded vpon the Lords day appeareth by that which Moses speaketh of it Deut. 5.14 The seuenth day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God thou shalt not doe any worke therein thou nor thy sonne nor thy daughter nor thy manseruant nor thy maidseruant nor thy oxe nor thy asse neither any of thy cattell nor the stranger that is within thy gates that thy manseruant and thy maidseruant may rest as well as thou Where he maketh this a reason why rest is vpon the Sabbath day especially to bee giuen vnto all that are imployed vnto any bodily labour euen vnto the dumbe beast that they might be eased thereby without the which their estate were too intollerable And therefore it appeareth that the Lord would haue men exercised vnto pitie vpon this day most of all when by his Prophet he perswadeth them to ease their seruaÌ„ts cattel of their labour vpon this day least otherwise by continuance they should be most cruelly oppressed Whereunto agreeth that which is most plaine to conceiue and forcible to moue Exod. 23.12 Sixe daies shalt thou labour to doe thy worke and in the seuenth day shalt thou rest that thine oxe and thine asse may rest and the sonne of thy maid and the stranger may bee refreshed Where besides that it is to be obserued that in the former part of the chapter hee speaketh of shewing mercie and compassion as to the poore man in his cause to the enemies oxe going astray to his asse lying vnder his burden to him that is wrongfully oppressed to the stranger that is farre from his owne countrie and friends and to the fields and vineyards that they might rest vpon the seuenth yeare for the benefite of the poore and the cattell as may most euidently appeare vnto him that will but reade the text and then adioyneth this vnto it as that which is of the like nature and kind the words themselues that he vseth in setting of it downe doe sufficiently declare that mercy must be especially regarded vpon this day when hee reckoneth so many by name that most of all stande in neede of it and would haue them to rest because otherwise they cannot sufficiently bee refreshed and drawe their breath with ease as it were euen as the worde doth import as hath beene declared before Hereupon the Prophet Ieremie speaking of sanctifying the Sabbath Iere. 17.21.22 requireth of them that they shuld set their seruants free from their burdens and their worke By all which it may be most certainely gathered that all louing kindnes and pitie is to be shewed vnto our brethren as at all other times so most of all vpon the Sabbath and more then after an vsuall manner when it is one of the ends why it was ordayned by GOD and therefore the thing whereunto we ought to haue an especiall regard most of all if we consider the practise of it in the whole new Testament For it is written of our Sauiour Christ by the Euangelists in the Gospell that vsually hee vpon the Sabbath daies visited the sicke healed the cripples restored the blind to their sight and doth not onely defend his doings herein by the law against the cauils of his aduersaries but also leaueth his owne example in this to be our president and patterne to followe whereof that is a proof that Saint Iohn testifieth in many words There was a feast of the Iewes Iohn 5.1 and Iesus went vp to Ierusalem 2. And there is by the sheepe market a poole called in Hebrue Bethesda hauing fiue portes 3. In the which lay a great multitude of people of sicke folke of blinde halt and withered wayting for the moouing of the water 4. For an Angell went downe at a certaine time into the poole and troubled the water whosoeuer then first after the stirring of the water stepped in was healed of whatsoeuer disease hee had 5. And a certaine man was there which had beene diseased eight and thirtie yeares 6. When Iesus sawe him lye and knew that hee now long time had beene diseased he said vnto him wilt thou be made whole 7. The sicke man answered him Sir I haue no man to put mee into the poole when the water is troubled but while I am comming another steppeth downe before mee 8. Iesus sayd vnto him Rise take vp thy bed and walke and the same day was the Sabbath Where wee see that our Sauiour Christ commeth of purpose to the place where a great many of impotent and diseased people vsed to lie vpon the Sabbath and healed one of them And in the seuenth chapter he defendeth this fact of his saying Chap. 7.23 If a man vpon the Sabbath receiue circumcision that the lawe of Moses should not be broken be ye angrie with me because I haue made a man euery whit whole on the Sabbath day If the law of circumcision doe bind men to minister and receiue it vpon the Sabbath then much more doth the lawe of loue bind men to shewe mercy vpon the Sabbath seeing that it is appointed of God not to hinder vs from but to further vs in all his works among which the relieuing of them that bee in necessitie is one of the chiefe and principall And as the Lord Iesus Christ came not to destroy the lawe but to fulfill it Math. 5.17 so hee obserued it very carefully in this poynt and being most full of compassion did declare it aboundantly by taking all oportunitie to succour them that were in miserie euen vpon the Sabbath as the fittest time for it For this is that also which Saint Luke reporteth of him in his gospel That he taught in one of the Synagogues on the Sabbath day 11. Luk. 13.10 And beholde there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteene yeâ—res was bowed together and could not lift vp her selfe in any wise 12. When Iesus saw her hee called her to him and saide to her Woman thou art loosed from thy disease 13. And he laid his hands on her and immediately she was made straight againe and glorified God 14. And the ruler of the Synagogue was mooued with indignation because that Iesus had healed on the Sabbath day and sayd vnto the people there are sixe dayes in which men ought to worke in them therefore come and be healed not on the Sabbath day 15. Then answered him the Lorde and sayd Hypocrite doth not each one of you on the Sabbath day loose his oxe or his asse from the stall and leade him away to the water 16. And ought not this daughter of Abraham whome Sathan hath bound loe eighteene yeares be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day Where we doe euidently see that Iesus Christ not onely in wonderfull great pitie vnto this long diseased creature bestoweth the benefite of health vpon her but also when as the rulers of the Synagogue either through a grosse ignorance or palpable hypocrisie did find fault with it as a
it must needs be a greater sinne if that through their negligence they do not sanctifie and keepe holy the day of rest They ought not to leaue it to their discretion as a thing indifferent but compell them thereunto So that here the Lord God doth require that in al places there should be such good lawes and orders publikely in the Common-wealth and priuatly in mens houses established and diligently executed as whereby not only the rulers but also all in subiection should be compelled to sanctifie the Lords day and that they should bee sure that they doe it indeede And as he must not leaue it indifferent to them to choose whether they will work or rest and so thinke it sufficient that they doe not lay any work vpon them so it is not enough that they hinder them not from seruing God vpon that day vnlesse they procure all the meanes vnto them whereby God might bee worshipped of them and see that they worship God in them as well as themselues Therefore the Masters of families must prouide as much as lyeth in them that the word be publikely preached where they dwell not for themselues alone but for their children and seruants sake that they might keepe holie the day together with them and they must not onely come themselues to the place of common prayer and diuine seruice but bring these also with them and so spend the rest of the day in all priuat godly exercises themselues and cause others to doe so also And here least this might seeme too heauie vnto vs and that it might not bee grieuous to take so great a charge vpon vs wee must remember that as wee haue great help by our inferiours in many things so the Lord would haue vs to helpe them in the chiefe and principal and as he hath made them our seruants so wee should make them his seruants and when they haue serued vs sixe daies wee might cause them to serue him vpon the seuenth and as the Lord hath preferred vs aboue them with their seruice so he would hūble vs with this charge and care ouer them or rather exalt vs in that hee would haue vs to be as it were the ouerseers of his worke not onely serue him our selues but also see his seruice done by others committed to our charge which if wee doe not wherein shal the Christian gouernours of housholds differ from the Infidels and Heathen and what greater thing shall we doe for our seruants then they Nay what shall we doe more for them then for the bruit beasts and cattell that worke vnder vs to whom wee giue rest and ease from labour vpon the Sabbath if we cause them not to sanctifie the day of rest in which they shall differ from all other not onely beasts but men And this is the meaning of that lawe which Moses gaue to the Israelites Deut. 11.20 commanding them to write the word of God vpon the posts of their houses and vpon their gates whereby all vnder gouernment were taught what should be required of them so long as they liued in those houses namely to serue God So haue the seruants of God done in time past in their seuerall families and all gouernours were taught what especially to looke after in all them that went in and out of their gates and liued vnder the roofe of their houses euen to serue the Lord in all parts of his worship for which end he hath giuen them such authoritie ouer them According to which Commandement the worthie Captaine of Gods people Iehoshua made this protestation before all the Elders of Israel a little before his death exhorting them to doe the like Iosh 24.15 I and mine house will serue the Lord. Promising not onely for himselfe but for all his which though it was hard to doe yet because he knew how many meanes the Lord had giuen him to bring it to passe which also God would blesse as all godly exhortations admonitions and chastisements whereby if they did not profit he had authoritie to thrust them out of his house and to rid himselfe of them all which he was purposed to put in practise therefore he was bolde thus to speake of himselfe thereby shewing what all men should propound to themselues and may attaine vnto The like whereof Dauid speaketh of himselfe in that worthie Psalme 101. which is left as a paterne for all Christian gouernours to rule by wherein he sheweth how he would rule not onely himselfe but his houshold nay the whole kingdome by hauing an eye to thē that were good to reward thē and to thē that were bad to punish them that so not only himselfe but all his might serue the Lord. After the same manner in the time of the captiuitie when the noble Queene Hester willed all the dispersed Iewes to keepe holie three dayes together in fasting and prayer that so they might intreate the Lord for that finall destruction and vtter rasing of them out which Haman the cursed Amalekite and sworne enemy of Gods people had determined to bring vpon them speedilie that it I say might be preuented in time she sayd that she and her maydes would doe the like Hest 4.16 Whereby no doubt she insinuated vnto them that in euery houshold her meaning was that it should bee thorowly kept on all sides not onely the rulers and some fewe but all others euen vnto the maidseruants Now this is that which we haue seene heretofore that the Sabbath and the day of fast are both of one nature and it is that which the word doth sufficiently beare witnesse vnto therefore if this hath been the practise of the Church vpon that day to fast not onely of the chiefe alone but with their families then must wee needes bee perswaded that vpon the Lords day we ought our selues and our housholds to serue the Lord and to say with Ioshua I and mine house will serue the Lord and with Hester I and my seruants will doe the like And how could that haue been verified of the religious Captaine Cornelius which is written of him Acts. 10.2 that he was a deuout man and one that feared God with all his houshold vnlesse he had not onely frequented the common assemblies vpon the Sabbath dayes but had also acquainted his seruants therewith Therefore as the Lord himselfe speaketh of Abraham Gen. 18.19 who is the father of all beleeuers I know that he will command his sonnes and his houshold after him that they keepe the way of the Lord to doe righteousnes and iudgement that the Lord may bring vpon Abraham that he hath spoken vnto him So it must bee practised of all them that will be children of this faithfull Abraham and enioy the same promises that he and his posteritie did euen that they cause their children and their seruants to keepe holie the Sabbath wherein consisteth the true worship of the Lord that so they might walke in that way which hath