SEVEN QVESTIONS OF THE SABBATH BRIEFLY DISPVTED after the manner of the SCHOOLES Wherein such cases and scruples as are incident to this subject are cleared and resolved By GILBERT IRONSIDE B. D. HEB. 4.9.10.11 There remaineth therefore a Rest to the people of God For he that is entred into his rest hath also ceased from his ovvne works as God did from his Let us study therefore to enter into that Rest c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iust Mart. dial cum Try OXFORD Printed by LEONARD LICHFIELD Printer to the Famous Vniversity and are to be sold by EDWARD FORREST Anno Salutis M.DC.XXXVII TO THE MOST REVEREND FATHER IN GOD WILLIAM by Divine providence LORD ARCH-BISHOP OF CANTERBVRY His Grace Primate of all England and Metropolitane CHANCELLOUR of the University of OXFORD and one of his MAIESTIES Most Honourable Privy Councell HIM that is weake in the Faith receive you Rom. 14.1 but not unto doubtfull disputations saith the Apostle It may please your GRACE to remember that the Church of Rome was at this time like the Moone when shee is orient illustrious for her faith spoken of through the whole world Rom. 1.8 shining in all Christian piety and made gloriously red with the blood of her Martyrs Yet was there a duskie mist raised about her which did much obscure her glory For though she erred not in fundamentalls as did the Church of Corinth in the article of the resurrection nor with the Church of Galatia mixed the Law with the Gospell as if Christian religion were an extract of both as the Socinians at this day yet in things of lesse consequence God permitted the envious man to sow the seeds of contention in this goodly field Gen. 16.12 till as so many Ishmaels every mans hand was against every man The things in question were if any can be such in the time of the Gospell of which no sober man doubts of an indifferent nature as meats and daies the parties contending were the strong and the weake in faith the manner of the contention amounted unto a Schisme whilst the strong rejected the weake with scorne and contempt and the weake fell to their common ward of judging and condemning the strong It was therefore high time for the Apostle to put to his hand he is a master-builder and knowes that a house divided cannot stand of all things therefore hee laboured to procure amongst them a setled peace since as a Inveniat vos diabolus munitos concordiâ armatos quia pax vestra bellum est illi Tert ad Martyres Tertullian saith the Churches peace is to Satan the old enemy thereof a continuall warre Now the way which the Apostle takes in the worke is such as never failes of its effect the way of knowledge and the way of love a mutuall receiving of one another into a good opinion and a moderate discussing of the points in controversy This latter will doe little good without the former for till we can be content to receiue one another as brethren wee shall never satisfie one another as Divines Till this Victory will be sought not Truth and as b Se nec resâ—â—dere nec tacere potuisse Aug. Retract 1. cap 49. St Augustine notes of Gaudentius the Donatist in his time though he knewe not how to answere yet he knew not how to hold his peace It is well observed that there is Discordia personarum as well as opinionum Schisme is commonly more in the man then in his tenents in the heart of the Schismatique then in the discord of his judgement That men should not dissent in opinions is not to bee expected the Angells doe thus differ Discordia fieri potest uâ— vel â—â—llum sit peccatum vel saltem veniale quandò quis probabiliter existimêt non esse bonum quod alter 〈◊〉 Greg. Valen. as the Schoolemen teach This therefore is no sinne unlesse we become undecently pertinacious nay when the heart it selfe is growne Schismaticall the sinne is the lesse while we proceed not to definitive sentences against our opposites But how difficult and almost unpossible a thing it is to be thus temperate the continually interrupted peace of the Church in all ages hath made too-too apparent especially in the weaklings here spoken of whose religion hath much more of zeale then of knowledge For that the Church should consist of none but of strong is an Vtopian fancie of the perfectists whose Church is a Moone without spots a family in which are no children a firmament in which are no starres but of the first magnitude The true Church of Christ ever was and will be a mixt congregation in this like Nebuchadnezars Image which had mixed feet of clay and Iron There remaineth therefore the Apostles other remedy which is not only to receive them into our hearts but to support them also with our hands whilst with the one eye we looke upon their persons with the other upon their opinions bringing these into publique light for commonly they lurke in corners and the touchstone of disputations a Tertullian Suspecta esse debuit quae vult occludi that doctrine justly deserves to be suspected which desires to be concealed But herein also the Apostle directs us by a distinction for some disputations are perplext and perplexing others not so but serve to cleare the Vnderstanding settle the Conscience The former sort have ever been the bane of the Church a worme bred in religion and eating out the very bowels thereof To represse these kinds of disputes to confine turbulent searching witts hath ever been the wisdome of the Church Such wranglings the Apostle doth even abhorre as fitter for the Schooles of Heathens 2 Tim 2.23 then of Christians being how profound soever they seeme foolish and unlearned good only to beget new janglings filling the Church with disputing not edifying Such therefore were ever dangerous ending alwaies in greater hazard saith a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I sid Pel. ad Theo. Scholasticum Ep. 93. Isidore the Pelusiote neither are they more dangerous then endlesse for difficulties assoyle not doubts as the same b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ad Alipium Epist 97. Father gives the reason Questions of this kind are raised either about fundamentals wherein our faith stands as the Temple upon her pillars and miserable is that Church whose foundations are shaken things of this kinde ought to be be-beleeved not disputed and herein we should gladly give the hand to them of Rome were the decisions of the Tridentine Fathers the decisions of the Catholique Church or consonant thereunto Or about the secret things of Gods counsell the Quòd sit whereof is indeed revealed the Quomodò sit not so in which viam quietativam intellectus as Pennottus calls it like the North-west passage long since promised no man as yet hath ever found The latter kind of disputes concerne either the publique peace of the Church or the outward
or lessen the time appointed by the Church for holy duties but this makes no more for twenty foure houres then it doth for forty or fifty or any other It is all men will confesse sacriledge to rob God of his time but it must be made to appear that God hath claimed unto himselfe this time in question till when nothing can be concluded The fourth indeed were unanswerable if the case were as is pretended between us and the Iewes But First the ground upon which this argument is builded is sandy for it supposeth that God appointed them from Evening to Evening to contemplate the mysteries of Godlinesse and mercies vouchsafed unto them whereas it was both memorative and mysticall as hath been proved neither did they spend the night of their Sabbath in contemplation but in bodily Rest Secondly it is utterly untrue that we under the Gospell have more work for the Lords day then the Iewes had for their Sabbath For as e Lib. 4. c. 4. Eusebius observes their religion was the same with Christian Religion which at this day we professe f 1. Cor. 10.2 For they all were baptized unto Moses and did all eat of the same spirituall meat and drink of the same spirituall Rock which was Christ his meaning is that the body and substance was the same only it was cloathed with many shadowes and as the Apostle cals them * Gal. 4.9 Beggarly rudiments so that their Sabbath daies work was in this respect as much as our Lords can be Thirdly I say it was much greater for how cumbersome was Gods worship to them by Sacrificings Purifyings Washings How did God seem to hide himselfe and his mercies from them in Types and figures whereas he reveales himselfe to us even in the face of Iesus Christ * 2. Cor. 3. And not only Moses had a vaile put upon him * 3.15 but also their hearts which remaineth unto this day There was also a restraint of Gods spirit unto them as of the raine in the daies of Elias whereas now the fountaine is opened and the spirit powred out All men know that when any thing is enquired after it is sooner found when it lies open then when it is hid by a man of understanding then by a child one that hath eyes to see then by one that is hoodwinked by one that hath many helpes then by one that hath none So is it between the Iewes and us in holy things This argument therefore is a meere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 neither can any more prevaricating reason be produced To the fift it were to be wished that Scripture might be handled if not with more reverence yet with greater gentlenesse not thus to be racked The 92. Psalme was the Psalme of the Sabbath and it makes mention of night and day to be spent in the Lords prayses But what then will any reasonable man imagine that they then had night meetings in the Temple or sate up late in their families that night Those times of morning and evening if we restraine them as spoken of the Sabbath day are metonymically to be understood for the whole worship of God whensoever performed upon that day and are as much as when we say Morning-prayer and Evening-prayer But farther notwithstanding the Psalme was the Sabbath-Psalme yet whatsoever is therein contained may not respectively be spoken of the Sabbath only And this is i Tantùm vult docere nisi nos nostra socordia impediat nunquam deesie argumentum laudandi Deum nec verè defungi officio gratitudinis nisi in eo siâ—â—us assidui sicut ipse bonitatem fidem erga nos perpetuat Calvin in locum Mr Calvins observation upon the very words alleadged affirming that day and night are there put in indefinitely for all times whatsoever as appears saith he by that which followes For his loving kindnesse and his truth are alwaies towards us But as those that have yellow eyes think every thing to be of that colour so these men cannot meet with the Lord to be praised night and day especially in the Sabbath-Psalme but it must presently conclude a foure and twenty houres-Sabbath To the sixt as Gods rest began so must ours is a proposition Atheologicall For the Iewes themselves who observed the Sabbath in imitation of Gods Rest looked not at their patterne in this particular but only at their deliverance out of Egypt into which deliverance they entred when they sacrificed the Passover The example of God is not proposed without limitation in the Commandement he so rested as that he never since returned to his labours from which he rested he so rested as that he blessed it in neither of which ought we to presume to imitate his Rest Lastly I wonder how the example of Gods rest proposed in the Commandement can concerne our Lords day which was not the day of the Lords Rest but the begining of his labours The seventh is not much unlike First therefore we observe not the Lords day in memory of Christs resting in the grave For though in some respects he may then be said to have entred into Rest yet was the grave part of his humiliation also and our Redemption and no compleat and perfect Rest Secondly let it be supposed that the grave to Christ was only a place of Rest and that he entred thereinto over-night what is this to a twenty foure houres-Sabbath unlesse perhaps Christ rested but just so many houres in the Grave but how then was he three daies and three nights in the Bowels of the earth This therefore is a meere pretence no proof The eight drawn from Apostolicall practice is in all parts thereof unsound Plaine it is that Apostolicall practice binds not the conscience but where there is a precept annexed Nay where there is a precept annexed both precept and practice may be as they say ambulatorium in lege of no lasting continuance But in this point we have neither precept nor practice either for the present or for after ages I presume that no man well considering the place alleadged can deny what k Curavit scriptor libri causam producendi sermonem produ cere Aug. epist 86. ad Cus S. Austine long since observed that S. Paul at that time took the advantage of the present occasion and necessity and not otherwise Sure I am that if the Apostles practice there recorded were a president for us to follow neither the whole Church of God can be excused who never since hath observed such a Sabbath nor the Apostle himselfe can be acquitted who for ought we read never did the like before or after in any part of the world Besides all this l Calv. in locum Mr Calvin thinks that the day there spoken of was the Iewes Sabbath not the Lords day reading in stead of uno Sabbathorum quodam Sabbatho upon a certain Sabbath day not Lords day But if any list to be contentions herein sure wee are out of
c Lex nova in exterioribus illa solum praecipere debuit vel prohibere per quae in gratiam intrâ—ducimur vel quae pertinenâ— ad rectum usum gratiae ex necessitate Aquin 1.2 q. 108. art 2. Gospell commands only such observations which are either meanes of Grace as the word and Sacraments or wherein the use and excercise of grace doth consist as the duties of love towards God and man But that the first day of the weeke should be observed Sabbath nothing concernes the kingdome of God within us because it s neither a meanes of grace nor exercise of grace Ob. If any man say the keeping of the Lords day Sabbath is both these first a meanes of grace by reason of the word and Sacraments then administred and an exercise of grace for then we returne prayses and send vp our prayers to the throne of grace and manifest our loue both to Christ and our brethren Sol. I answere that he wholy mistakes for the question is not whether the duties done upon the day be either meanes or exercises of grace for this is of it selfe manifest but whether the keeping of this day Sabbath more then an other be such The day is one thing the duties are an other these belong to the kingdome of God preserving and encreasing them in us that is but a circumstance of time and of it selfe nothing in this respect All things of this nature as time place manner are not precisely and of themselues considered of the essence or necessity of grace and therefore are not commanded in the Gospell but left to the wisdome and descretion of the Church Fiftly that day which cannot be kept universally through the whole world was never commanded the whole Church of Christ by an Evangelicall Law for the law of the Gospell is given to all nations But the first day of the weeke which is the Lords day observed in memory of the Lords resurrection cannot be thus universally kept considering the diversity of Meridians and the unequall rising and setting of the Sunne in diverse Climates in the world Some of our adversaries foresaw this objection but could never avoyd it only they tell us that it was so with the Iewes in regard of their Sabbath and therefore d Practice of piety affirme that they were not bound to keepe their Sabbath upon that precise and just distinction of time called the seventh day from the Creation For the Sunne stood still in Iosuah's time it went back ten degrees fiue houres in Hezekia's time besides the variation of the Climates throughout the world Vpon this they inferre two things 1. that God by his prerogatiue might dispence with men in these cases 2. that the Commandement meaneth not the determinate seventh from the Creation but indefinitely a seventh But what absurdities doe hence follow First they seem to affirme that the standing still and the going back of the Sunne made an alteration in the day as it was the seventh from the creation Indeed they made it longer and to consist of a greater number of houres for the present but what is this to the number of seven One and the selfe same day may be longer in Summer shorter in Winter yet keeps its ranke amongst the other daies of the week for place and number Secondly they affirme that the Iewes were not bound to any determinate day not to this seventh but a seventh Expresly contrary to the words of Moses * Exod. 20.10 the seventh is the Sabbath Thirdly there is the same reason in all the forenamed particulars between the Iewes Sabbath and the Christians If therefore their day were indefinitely a seventh ours must also be indefinitely a first and by this meanes they say and unsay with one and the same breath the first day is our Sabbath by divine institution and yet not the first but a first which is to yeeld the question Sixtly there is the same reason of keeping a determinate set Sabbath under the Gospell that there is of preaching praying and administring the Sacraments Ordaining of Ministers doing works of mercy at set-times For I think no man is so farre infatuated with this paradox as either to preferre the Sabbath before these or to sever the day from the duties which are the main end of the daies observation But all these are commanded in generall not prescribed in particular when or where or how so all things be done decently and in order We no where read how often in a year we must receive the Sacrament of the Lords supper how often we should hear a Sermon or when to give or how much either publikely or privatly If therefore there be no set times appointed for the maine duties of religion under the Gospell there is no set time appointed to be kept Sabbath Therefore c. Seventhly That which is expresly against Christian liberty was never commanded by Christ or his Apostles but to have the conscience burthened with any outward observations putting Religion in them as being parts and branches of Gods worship is directly against Christian liberty for how is he free that is thus bound to times and daies We have then only exchanged not shaken off the Iewish bondage If any man say that this was both the argument and error of the Patrobrusians of old and Anabaptists of late he is much mistaken for they pretend not to Christian liberty when the conscience is not burthened immediatly from God but to unchristian licence and confusion to be exempted from the lawes of men and decent order of the Church Eightly There is no duty I think essentiall in religion ordained by Christ or his Apostles of which we find not either exhortations in respect of performance or reprehensions in regard of their neglect either in the Gospell the Acts or the Epistles But the keeping of the first day of the week Sabbath is no where pressed or exhorted unto the neglect thereof no where reproved or forbidden in all the new Testament Ergo. Ob. If any man say it is frequently mentioned with approbation Resp I answer that so are divers things besides which are no divine institutions binding the Church of Christ as extream unction the Presbytery womens vayles widdowes these are mentioned with honour but so is not the manner of observing the Lords day which is now cried up nor any divine institution thereof Whereupon these things will necessarily follow That either the Apostles never held this observation to be a divine precept or that having given it for such to the primitive Christians in the Churches planted by them they never failed in the observation thereof which is not imaginable considering what grosse abuses and prophanations were found amongst them or lastly that the Apostles knowing the Lords day which they had injoyned theÌ„ as a divine precept to haue been neglected winked connived thereat though so ready even with the rod to reforme all other disorders which also cannot be well conceived Ninthly Had the
obseruation of the Lords day-Sabbath been of divine institution it is very probable that the * 1. Cor. 6. â— Apostle reproving the Corinthians for going to Law one with another under the heathen Iudges would not have omitted the advantage of this circumstance For plain it is that their pleadings were ordinarily upon the Lords day By their going to Law therefore they not only scandalized the Gospell and devoured one another but were also prophaners of that day which Christ himselfe had Commanded to be kept holy it being impossible at once to keep a Sabbath and attend a Court of Iudicature under an Heathen Iudge But the Apostle makes not the least mention of this circumstance though so pregnant and advantagious to his purpose it is therefore very likely there was not as yet any divine precept for the Lords Day Tenthly if Christ had appointed this day because it was the day of the Resurrection then the Eastern Churches which followed St Iohn did ill and transgressed this ordinance of Christ when they kept their Easter which only and properly is the day of Christs resurrection upon any other day as it happened in the Leviticall account And so d Apud Euseb lib. 5. c. 24. ' O 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Soc. lib. 5. c. 21. Pope Victor may well be justified who did excommunicate them for this offence but the Disciples of S. Iohn though perhaps they did not so well yet cannot be simply condemned for evill doers and to have been justly excommunicated by Pope Victor as Iraeneus in his Epistle to Victor makes it appear Ergo c. Eleventhly Had it been a divine institution doubtlesse those Fathers and Synods that have spoken so much in praise of the day displaying the glorious prerogatives thereof to commend it thereby to Christian mens observation would never have omitted this which is the greatest of all the rest But neither the Councell of Palestina setting down the severall Benedictions of this above other daies nor the Councell of Matiscon in France attributing the irruption and prevailing of the Gothes and Vandalls to the neglect of this day nor e Cyprian ep 66. S. Cyprian nor Leo which have writen large panegyricks hereof ever affirmed a divine institution Twelfthly That which the Orthodox condemne to be indeed Popery should not be consented unto by us especially by such of us as would be held the great Reformers of the Church and therefore startle at the very sight of harmlesse ceremonies because they have been polluted by Papists as the Crosse after Baptisme Surplice c. But that the Lords day is not only a part of the Churches order and policie but of Gods worship also and is more holy then other daies as it must needs be if from divine authority is condemned by f Paraeus in cap. 14. ad Rom. Ames Bell. enervat Reformists in the Papists farre therefore be it from our adversaries to Symbolize with them Lastly Authorities also are not wanting g 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Soc. ib. Socrates affirmes that the Apostles never intended to establish Lawes concerning Holy-daies to be observed by Christians but to be unto them the Masters of true piety and holinesse And because saith the Historian no man is able to produce any precept to this purpose upon authenticall record plaine it is that the Apostles left these things to the liberty and appointment of men The historian speaks indeed of Easter in that place but first he delivers for Maxims and Principles that which hath been said Secondly that question of Easter as I conceive differs not any thing from this of the Lords day viz. whether the day celebrated by the Church in memory of Christs resurrection ought necessarily and by vertue of Divine precept to be the first day of the week only h Hoc in iis culpat Apostolus in omnibus qui serviunt creaturae potius quà m creatori nam nos quoque dominicam diem Pascha solenniter celebramus sed quia intelligimuâ— quò pertineant non tempora observamus sed quae illis significantur temporibus Aug. cont Adam Man c. 16. S. Augustine also made it not only will-worship but the service of the creature which is Idolatry to observe any day as commanded of God and answering what the Manichee against whom he wrote might object viz. that Christians themselves diligently observe the Lords day and Easter true saith the Father we solemnly keep all these but the time is not that which we obserue as if it were coÌ„manded but we look wholy to those thins to which the times lead i Dicat aliquis nos quoque simile crimen incurrimus observantes diem dominicam ad quod qui simpliciter respondet diâ—et non eosdem Iudaicae observationis dies esse quos nostros ne inordinata congregatio populi fidem minueret in Christo quòd non celebrior sit dies illa qui verò acutius respondere conatur illud affirmat omnes dies aequales esse Hier. in Gal. c. 4. Tyndall in his answere to Sir Thom. Moores first booke Frâ—ths Declaration of Baptisme Barnes supplication to the King S. Hierom likewise makes the Quaere whether our Christian Lords-day incurre not the Apostles prohibition in his Epistle to the Galathians and resolves negatively upon these grounds They differ saith he from those there condemned first materially for they are not the same daies Secondly formally for our daies have not in them any holinesse and necessity from divine institution as theirs had but are at liberty to be kept upon any day whatsoever Thirdly in regard of their end which in ours is only to preserve order and to avoid confusion in our Ecclesiasticall Assemblies The book of Homilies affirmeth plainly that Christian men did of themselves without any divine precept follow the example of God commanding the Iewes a Sabbath so took upon them the observation of the Lords day we have also the unanimous consent of al the reformed Churches of God at this day in Christendom Adde hereunto the suffrages not to say the sufferings of our own Martyrs in those Marian daies How the tenent came to be changed Mr Rogers in his preface to his Comment upon the Articles of Religion established in the Church of England hath at large set down Lastly M. Perkins who I think was one of the first that took up this tenent speaks waveringly and doubtfully herein And surely his modesty is to be commended if you compare it with the violence of his followers with whom any man of contrary judgement is tantùm non a reprobate But * Mat. 11.19 wisdome is justified of her children CHAP. 19. The Question is briefly stated and resolved BEfore we come to answere the arguments made to the contrary some few things are to be premised for the better opening of the truth in this point And first though our adversaries agree in generall upon a divine institution of the Lords day yet they vary in
my method which being that of the Schooles is of all others if used with sobriety most satisfying It is not then the pleasing of thy fancy with quaint language and apt cadences of words nor the drawing of thy affections with patheticall exclamations of holinesse religion c. nor appeales to mens consciences by which they are artificilly caught before encountred which I intended to such straines I professe my selfe a stranger but the unmasking of all apparences and discovery of naked truth And here let no man be offended if I speak freely that I have not found any convincing proofe in any point of their doctrine wherein we differ either out of the word of God or well governed reason It is therefore to be feared that men seek themselves not truth herein And sure selfe-seeking is more waies then one not only the desire of profit preferment favour greatnesse but those poorer phantasmes of popularity opinion of being the un-erring Rabbies in the Church or making good a side hunted after makes us guilty thereof And amongst the rest there is no such selfe-seeking as singularity Signa singularitatis non continere se intra suos fines fastidire dostrinas resolutas indebita doctorum doctrinarum appropriatio gaudere potius de alienâ impugnatione quâ—â— eoâ—â— ad concordiam ducere Gers if the Schoolemen have given us its true characters amongst others these To loath common resolutions already given to appropriate to our selves the infallibility of our Doctors and Doctrines to take more delight in oppugning our adversaries then reconciling of controversies If this be singularity and singularity selfe-seeking it is easily seen who seek themselves For not to speak of the two latter Characters which are as the proper passions of our Sabbatharians I will only relate what you may read in Mr Sprint concerning the first In this controversy saith he those reverend and goodly writers living in the times next aboue us were of more remisse and weake judgements but those of latter daies more syncere and strict God as it were rewarding the paines and diligence of every age with revealing some part of truth The which thing as he did to them of other times before reuealing unto them sundry truths wherewith their predecessors never were acquainted so dealt he with the Primitve Fathers in their severall times and so perhaps he will doe with them that follow us So he hath done to this age of ours and as he hath done it in sundry other truths so also in this of the Christian Sabbath Mavult curiositas quaerere invenienda quà m inventa intelligere ib. Singularity it seemes is a curious fancy which chuseth rather to invent new then to understand those Tenents which are already received Such I confesse was my ignorance as to beleeve that all necessary truths had been sufficiently revealed as for unnecessary revelations we bequeath them to such Phanatique spirits as affect them My opinion also was that those Pillars of our Church that liv'd in the former age next above us in whom might be discerned the very spirit of Elias had beeen no weak remisse unsincere or to speak plain prophane Gospellers Sit studium solius veritatis absque fermento vanitatis Let truth alone be studied and all leaven of vanity avoided But it hath been an ill lesson instill'd into the heads of young Students by those that were heretofore the great leaders of the Disciplinarians that howsoever the Ceremonies of the Church were in themselves tollerable yet no way to be used by such as had preached against them And the reason was as good as the Doctrine least the people seeing them in an errour in this should believe them in nothing else therefore needs must we magnify all our dictats whatsoever But first the supposition of the peoples scandalized infidelity is a meer fiction was St Peters doctrine the worse thought of because his errour was reproved by St Paul Are the errours of Origen Tertullian Cyprian Retractatiâ— Augustini non inhonoravit eum nec authoritatis dictorum suorum robuâ— evertit Gers or any other of the ancient Fathers prejudiciall to their other truths But suppose the people should thus stumble must we therefore pertinaciously adhere to our mis-opinions though but in Ceremonies Surely then they were not wise whosoever wrote Retractations The best that is may possibly be mistaken and if so let God have the honour of our humility To have erred may be the shame of our naturall frailty but to acknowledge our errors is the praise of our Christian ingenuity and to reforme them our glory I speak not this out of any hope conceived that this poore piece of mine should prevaile with any in this kind It is storied that when Philo the Iew was sent to Cajus the Emperour in behalfe of his nation against the Greekes that Appian who was sent by the Greeks against the Iewes spake first and the Emperour was so enraged by Appian that Philo was commanded out of his sight unheard 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb lib. z. c. 5. It will be heer not much unlike save that Philo the Iew hath first spoken our Sabbatharians have filled the eares of our people these many yeares and hearts fore-stalled with prejudice are unteachable saith S. Augustin I shall therefore think I am well dealt with if this be not avoided as a prohibited book for this Iesuited trick is also taken up but most happy if I may escape that which the * Psal 57.4 Psalmist stiles and I have already felt to be sharper then swords If any list to be contentious a book in Print is at every mans mercy if his arguments be gotten in his spleen be prosecuted by his passions till they conclude in evill speakings in some corner-creeping or scurriloâ—s invectives fitter for a Player then Divine let him know his answer shall be contempt But if any will be pleased in the spirit of meeknesse to shew me a better way I trust I shall neither be so wayward as to take it amisse nor so weak as not to profit by him My only suit unto thee Christian Reader is that thou peruse it with as single an eye as the heart was syncere from whence it proceeded Vpon this condition I bid thee heartily Farewell Thine in the truth of the Gospell of Christ Iesus GILBERT IRONSIDE The severall Chapters with their Contents The PROEME The Proeme containing the partition of the whole worke CAP. I. Wherein the first question is proposed with the arguments seeming to prove the Sabbath to be as ancient as Adam in Paradise CAP. II. The Arguments for the negative opinion are set downe CAP. III. Wherein it briefly declared what is to be thought of the present question CAP. IV. The Arguments proposed Chap. 2. are fully answered and the exposition of sanctification by destination is at large handled CAP. V. The second Question is proposed whether the letter of the fourth Commandement be a Morall precept CAP. VI. The
which God rested and which he sanctified which the Church of Christ neither doth nor ought to keep Ergo. Fiftly if the Sabbath had been observed by the Patriarches before Moses it is no way likely but that some footsteps of such their observation would have appeared in the Story wherein many things of lesse weight lesse tending to edification are punctually recited In the first sacrifice Moses observes the names of the men the quality of their oblations the successe of both All men know that the fittest time for such observances was the Sabbath would Moses think you haue omitted this circumstance who is so exact in all other For ' its most congruous to think if they had then a Sabbath they would have offered their Sacrifices chiefly upon that Sabbath In the daies of Seth men began to call upon the name of the Lord replanting and reforming religion every man will acknowledge that the observation of the Sabbath is a maine point of reformation and therefore sure if their fore-fathers had ever observed a Sabbath day that especially defaced no question among other things would have been reformed and this had been a materiall point in the story which yet speakes nothing thereof It is afterwards said that Noah offered a sacrifice of rest what fitter time for a sacrifice of rest then the day of rest But had this sacrifice of rest been offered upon the day of rest it had been as remarkable a thing in the story as that he builded an altar and offered of every beast and every fowle yet not a word hereof Come to Abraham we read of many Altars which he made to call upon the name of the Lord a world of small things are recorded of him yet no mention of any Sabbath which he ever observed If he had been bound to any set Sabbath doubtlesse he would have sealed the promises of God unto himselfe and his family upon that day especially but the Texttels us He circumcised himselfe and his houshold the selfe same day in which the Lord talked with him It is hard to proue that this was the seventh-day Sabbath and suppose it every man will confesse it to be an important circumstance which yet we read not The story of Iacob is full and exact but neither in his flight to Padan-Aram nor in his returne to Canaan nor going up to Bethel upon speciall command and reforming his houshold nor going down into Egypt nor in his abode there the least mention is made of a Sabbath observed by him I confesse that a negative argument from authority doth not conclude de rebus agendis to shew what is or is not to be done but de rebus actis to prove what was or was not done with such a concurrence of circumstances of times places persons occasions in this case I say a negative argument is more then probable a Lâ—gant proserant aliquem ducem norbarum praecepisse ut arrup to oppido naâ—us serireâ—ur qui in illo out in illo teÌ„plo suisset inventus de civ lib. 1. c. 6. Saint Austin thinkes it strong enough even against Heathens for being to prove that Christian religion is indeed the true religion and came from God he useth this medium because the barbarous Gothes in all their bloody conquests in Italy Spaine and Africa spared the temple of Christians and all such as fled unto them for sanctuary which was never vouchsafed in any conquests to the Idolatrous worshippers of Heathen Gods But how doth this appeare His proofe is only negative from authority let men saith b An illi saciebant et scriptores earunden rerum gestarum isla rettechantâ— It inc vero qui ea quâ— laudarent maxime requir ebant ill a praeclarissima pietatis indicia praeteâ—nent lb. c. 6. he read and alleadge any such example was any such thing done and did their historians hold their peace what would they who diligently sought for matter and occasion to commend the states and persons of whom they write passe over in silence such excellent monuments of piety Sure if this argument of Saint Austin be strong enough ours much more for the Holy Ghost omits not any thing in the story of the Saints which might apparently make for the pious instructions of after ages Sixtly had the Sabbath been so anciently observed by the Patriarches in all likely hood either Moses or some of the Prophets would have reproved the profanation and pressed the observation thereof upon the Israelites from their practice and examples I am sure Nehemiah doth so after the Law was given Nehem. 13.17 Then reproved I the rulers of Iudah and said unto them what evill thing is this that you doe and breake the Sabbath day did not your fathers thus and our God brought all this plague upon us Certaine also it is that the Israelites were superstitious observers of their fathers especially of Abraham Isaac and Iacob They eate not of the sinew that shranke in the hollow of his thigh unto this day saith Moses But neither Moses nor any of the Prophets though in other things they make frequent mention of their forefathers examples speake a syllable of this upon any occasion ergo Lastly this opinion is supported by men of farre greater authority then the former c Instituta legalia quae in typo data sunt populo Jsrael Orig. Hom. 5. in Num. Gen. 32.32 Origen reckons it amongst those legalls instituted by Moses and given unto Israell as types Tertullians treatise against the Iewes is nothing but the relation of a conference which passed betweene him and a Iew in which hee proves that the legall ceremonies of Moses are no way necessary unto salvation and amongst the rest d Qui contendunt Sabbathum adhuc observandum quasi salutis medelam doceant in praeteritum iustos Sabbatizasse Et paulo post Doceant sicut iam prâ—locuti sumus Adam Sabbatizasse ant Abel c. Tert adv Iuâ— daeos Sed dicturi sunt Iudaei ex quo hoc praeceptum datum est Per Mosen exin de observan dum suisse hee speakes of the Sabbath saying let them shew us that Adam or Abel or Enoch or Noah or Abraham or Melchisedech received the precept of the Sabbath Having made this challenge hee brings in the Iew replying that because it was given to Moses therefore it was to bee observed of all nations in Tertullians time therefore this truth was acknowledged even by the Iewes themselves To this purpose also is e Dicit Rabbi magister observatio Sabbathi in lege fuit instituta ut in fide po puli firmitèr permaneret novit is mundi Tho. in l. 2. Sent. dist 15. art 3. Rabbi Moses cited by Aquinas that the observation of the Sabbath was instituted in the Law S. f Cessanti a servilibus operibus populo iubetur ut dies Sabbathi sanctificet Cypr. de spirit Sancto Cyprian following the foot-steps of his master saith that it was commanded the
Synod and Fathers produced in the argument are nothing to the purpose For in the first place S. Cyprian is wilfully mistaken he treats in the place cited of Baptisme for Infants at two or three dayes old this Fidus a Bishop to whom he wrot held very unfit if not unlawfull for diverse reasons amongst the rest because circumcision was not administred unto any untill the eight day To this p Quod in Iadaticâ circumcisione carnali octavus dies observabatur sacramentum est in umbrâ in imagine nam quia octavus dies iâ—est post SabbathuÌ„ primus futurus erat nos viâ—iâ—icaret quo dominus resargeret circumcisâ—nem spiritualem daret hic dies praecessit in imagine Cyp. ad Fidum S. Cyprian replyes that to the Iewes the eight day was to be that where on Christ should rise and spiritually circumcise us the legall circumcision was given upon that day as a Type and figure thereof In which words of S. Cyprian we haue two Types and two things Typified first the carnall Circumcision is made a Type of the spiritual secondly the day wherein one was administred is made a Type of that day wherein the other should be performed but what is either of these to thâ— keeping of the Sabbath S. Augustine ad Ianuarium is no better handled for he saith indeed that the Type of the eight day was not unknowne to the Fathers filled with the spirit of prophecy for David hath a * Psal 118. Psalme intituled for the eight day Infants also were circumcised on that day A figure it was then and well knowne unto the Fathers but of what This followes expressely in S. Augustine of Christs resurrection and of our quickning and circumcision by him The q Inchoante noctis initio idest vespere Sabbathi c. 13. Omnibus mandamus Christi anis abstinere ab omni peccato ab omni opere carnali etiam â propriis coniugibus Ibid. Synod called Foro-Iuliensis commands divers things concerning the Lords day viz. to begin with Saturday Evening prayer to abstaine from all works sinnes companing of Men with their Wives c. Their reason is because the choysest of Gods mercies were vouchsafed unto the Church on this day they adde also that this is the Sabbath of the Lords delight spoken of by the Prophet * Isai 58.13 Isaiah for r Diceret taÌ„tùm Sabbathum non delicatum Jbid. saith the Synod had he spoken in that place of the Iewes Sabbath he would haue called it barely a Sabbath without any such attributes of delightfull or mine When this interpretation of the Prophet shall be averred by the Opponents we will thinke of an answer to this authority The Synod of Matiscon is more ancient then the former and purposely held concerning the Lords day here amongst other things we have this passage This is the perpetuall day of rest which is knowne by the law and the Prophets and insinuated unto us by the shaddow of the seventh day But that Synod intends no more then the former viz. That upon the day of Christs resurrection we were admitted into everlasting rest appeares evidently by that which followes it is Å¿ Iustum est ut hanc diem celebremus per quam facti sumus quod non fuimus Con. Matis ubi supra but equall therefore that we should celebrate this day by which we are made that which we were not Not therefore the keeping of the day it selfe but the mercies of the day peace and liberty in Christ is that which the Synod affirmes to be intimated unto us in the Type and to be knowne by the law and the Prophets To the fift the day of which the Psalmist speaks is literally the day wherein David was setled in his Kingdome and the unction of Samuell took effect As if the prophet should have said God long since annointed me to be King over his people but this was a day on which he decreed to settle me actually in my Kingdome There is no question but that Psalme is mystically spiritually to be understood as well as litterally of Christ and his Throne as of David and his Scepter one was a figure of the other I deny not also but that Davids day was a figure of Christs day though it did not appeare that David was setled in his Kingdome the same day of the week that Christ rose out of his grave But understand the place how we please all that can be gathered thence are but these three things First that God had in his counsell determined a sett day to performe his promise unto David making him King of Israel Secondly that God had also decreed a sett period of time wherein Christ should be exalted and set upon the Throne of his glory in the Kingdome of the Church Thirdly that as the Iewes had cause to rejoyce in the dayes of David God having given them a man after his own heart so the Christians have much more reason to rejoyce in Christ their King and to embrace the mercies of his glorious resurrection If any man now say that either the ancient or moderne Arnobius mentioned in the argument collect from hence the institution of the Lords day I answere they find it there instituted no otherwise then the whole Church hath ever found it viz. Logically because they ground the observation of the day upon the mercy of the day not morally as being formally and positively instituted either in that or any other Scripture To the sixt we have here a well known fallacy the effect being attributed to that which is no way the true cause thereof As when the wolfe in the fable quarrelled with the Lamb for troubling the water when the Lamb stood all the while below the Woolfe in the river And when the heathen in the daies of t Mala quae civitas pertulit Christo imputant bonâ— verò non imputant Christo nostro sed fato suo Aug. de civit lib. 10. c. 1. S. Austine charged the Christian religion to be the cause of the scourge of the Goths and Vandalls and all other evills which then afflicted the world But to returne to our Opponents I will only demand whether God doth not blesse his ordinance unto his people upon Lecture daies as well as upon Lords daies If not why are they in vaine so much frequented if so then evident it is that Gods ordinance may blesse the day and make it happy unto his people But the day doth not blesse the ordinance unto us the words in the Commandement hath blessed and sanctified are Exegetically put the one expounding the other To the seventh the example of God the Father resting from his works of creation was that indeed upon which the institution of the Iewes Sabbath was grounded but not the institution it selfe For to this there was required a law to be given which was not untill the daies of Moses and the fall of Manna in the wildernesse The
The former no man will affirme and for the latter if ever any such impression of Gods holinesse were communicated to any day doubtlesse it was to the seventh from the Creation But this in the time of the Gospell is accounted but as other common daies If any man say it may receive its holinesse from man sure we are that all the men in the world cannot make any creature in the world to be formally holy Daies are well stiled holy by accident and in regard of their end and appointment because set a part for holy things and no otherwise And this agrees not only to the Lords-day but to all Holy-daies whatsoever and that equally being all set apart by the same authority of the Church To the foureteenth the publique worship is an especiall part of our serving of God and in this the Church is to hearken only unâ—â— Christ her Soveraign Lord in regard of the 〈…〉 thereof but for ritualls and accidentals 〈…〉 liberty so all things be done decently and in order Who knowes not that the day wherein the worship is performed is meerely circumstantiall Only for orders sake least as b Hieron in Gal. 4. S. Hierom speaks the confused and unprescribed Assemblies should by degrees lessen the faith of men in Christ himselfe To the fifteenth it goes hard when to resolve a case of conscience men are forced to fly to Criticismes But if here a man should deny that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth signify an exchange or putting of one thing in the room of another store of work would be cut out for Grammarians But this needs not for that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth to retract alter reverse as well as to exchange every man knowes We therefore grant that Christ hath brought in a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 having recalled and utterly abolished the Iewish Sabbath established in the letter of the fourth Commandement Furthermore I answere that if the exchange of the Priesthood had made only an exchange of the Law putting one thing in the roome of another Christian religion should now be as burthensome as the Iewish was heretofore in regard of the number though not for the quality of their observations which how absurd it is appears at first sight To the sixteenth we all acknowledge Christ to be the Lord of the Sabbath and of all things else in his Church The Iewish Sabbath also is abolished yet it followes not but this might be done by the authority of the Church For what doth he that is Lord in a house doe all things with his own hands In the house is nothing left to the power of wife and servants Christ indeed is Lord of the Church gives orders with his own mouth concerning things necessary and substantiall but he leaves ritualls and ceremonialls such as are time place manners of his worship to his wife and servants the Church and Magistrates To the seventeenth no man denies that * all things are become new so we take the rest of the text with us * 2. Cor. 5.17 old things are passed away for it was the passing of old things away which maketh all things to become new In the Gospell all things are become new no otherwise then the reformed religion is said to be new because it hath receded from the corruptions of Popery which had a long while stuck to the Church as an old ach lyes in the body The Ceremonies of Moses are vanished things themselves are exhibited and this is the novelty there spoken of But granting what the argument requireth that all things are become not only negatively but positively new as a new Testament a new and living way May not his spirit make other things new as new hearts new creatures May not the Church also make some thing new as new forme of goverment new exercise of publique worship with new circumstances thereof But as all things else are become new so I wish these men would leave their old abusing of Scripture and think of a new and better kind of reasoning To the eighteenth that Christ hath left his Church in worse estate then he found the Synagogue because he hath not burthened it with observations of dayes is a mystery in Divinity It is as if a man should say the Heire is in worst case when he is Lord of all then when being a Child he differed not from a servant because now he is no longer under Tutors and governours this is such a Paradox as few Wards will beleive To be freed from putting holynesse in dayes is part of the liberties of the Sonnes of God in which the Apostle wisheth * Gal. 5.1 vs to stand To the nineteenth To turne Iewes therefore in this poynt and upon this ground because they had a Sabbath of Gods owne appointing and we haue not were as great madnesse as for a Slaue that is once manumitted to returne unto bondage What if they had a day of Gods immediate appointment Had they not also Priests Vestments Sacrifices a set day of humiliation yearely c If it be best to turne Iewe in one why were it not so in all But this needes not for God hath hitherto and ever will giue vs our appointed Feasts though from men and by men as he giues vs Priests Altars Temples Sacrifices and all things belonging to his worship and service To the twentieth many things have the Lords name stampt upon them which never were of Gods immediate particular appointment Our Churches are called the houses of God our Communion-table the Lords table our Ministers the Lords Ministers yet are none of these of immediate institution from the Lord himselfe though all are such as appertaine to the Lords worship It is an old rule à nomine ad rem non valet argumentum from the name to the thing the argument doth conclude To the one and twentieth concerning our Saviours keeping of the Lords day with his Disciples as their Pastor after his resurrection enough hath already been spoken and the Scriptures alleadged haue been also cleared in which there is not any one footstep of an institution To the two and twentieth its most true that Christ after he was risen was fortie daies on the earth and conversed diverse times with his Disciples which times are particularly set downe in the history He gave them also instructions and commands but these are also upon record They were of two sorts either such as belong to their Apostolicall function as * Math. 28.19 to goe to all nations teaching and Baptizing having neither staffe nor scrip c. or some locall mandates as * Luk 24.49 to stay at Ierusalem till they received the promise These are all the commands of which I find Protestant c Per haec maÌ„data quidam nihil aliud intelligunt quà m illud ipsum mandatum quod pòst clariùs exponit ne Hierosolymis discedant sed rectius alij de praedicando Evangelio c. Marl. in locum Interpreters
the feasts of dedication of Churches or occasionall as marriages and Christning-dinners be forbidden Christian people as prophanations of the Lords day The second generall head and Lerna of perplexities is whether the duties of holinesse by which the day is sanctified be only acts of the publique worship of God in the Congregation or whether the private exercises also of Religion appertaine unto the day as necessary and immediate duties thereof and that during the whole time And under this head a world of particular cases are raised also and many times such as neither wise men nor learned men would imagine as daily appeares by experience to men of Pastorall employment in the Church But these and the forenamed particulars being delivered as Magisteriall dictates and conclusions out of the former Positions my purpose is only to make enquirie into the two generall heads under which they are contained For these being weighed in the Ballance of the Sanctuary and true iudgement the rest will evidence themselues as Corollaries CHAP. XXII The Question concerning the Corporall rest is proposed with the Arguments for the affirmatiue THat the outward bodily cessation from all secular employments whatsoever is of it selfe a duty of the Christians mans Feast-day may seeme to be proved by many undenyable arguments First that which is an essentiall duty of all Sabbaths in generall is an essential duty of every Sabbath in particular But the Lords day is the Christian mans Sabbath may so be called though improperly as hath beene formerly confessed and bodily rest is an essentiall duty of all Sabbaths in generall as appeares both by the very name of Sabbath which signifies as much as cessation and more expresly by the letter of the fourth Commandement In it thou shalt doe no manner of work confirm'd by the a Exod â—â— 15 commination of death from the Lords owne mouth upon all those that shall transgresse this Law Ergo c. Secondly the Prophets are the best Commentators of the Law and are therefore usually put together b Math. â—â— 40 The Law and the Prophets But the Prophet Isaiah saith that those who will honour the Lord in his Sabbath must not doe their owne works nor follow their own pleasures nor speak their owne words In which three whatsoever may be any businesse of our own is expresly forbidden us on the Lords Sabbath by which we honour him Therefore c. Thirdly in all Lawes whatsoever that is essentiall and for its owne sake commanded for whose sake other things in the Law are enjoyned according to the common Maxime Illud est perse propter quod est aliud But many things in the fourth precept are commanded that this duty of utter cessation from all secular employments may be performed For wherefore would God haue not only our Children and servants rest but our beasts also to rest unlesse only that all meanes and occasions of not resting might be taken from the Parents Masters and owners themselues Therefore c. Fourthly All theft is directly immediatly and for its owne sake forbidden and of thefts the cheife and capital is Sacriledge But to work upon the Lords day is theft nay sacriledge for we steale so much from God this day being his as we bestow upon our selues and our owne employments whereas on the contrary by resting on that day we abstaine from holy things and giue the Lord his own Therefore c. Fiftly whatsoever doth immediatly hinder any thing which God commandeth is immediatly forbidden in the Negatiue of every Affirmatiue This is a Maxime generally received in expounding the Decalogue But all kinds of works upon the Lords day whether serious or lusorie doe immediatly hinder that which God commands viz. To attend his worship and service suffering him to work effectually in us by his word and Spirit This Moses doth plainely teach us in saying * Lev. 23.3 There shall no work be done therein in is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings c. Where first he repeats his Commandement There shall no work be done therein Secondly he giues the reason for it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings It is not possible for you to performe the duties of the Lords Sabbath or that God should work on you therein unlesse there be an utter cessatioÌ„ from all kindes of works It stands also with reason for worldly imployments steale away the heart from holy things and according to our Saviours rule * Mat 6.24 We cannot serue God and Mammon Sixtly that which immediatly resisteth and overthroweth the Kingdome of God in us * Rom. 14.17 Which is righteousnesse peace ioy in the holy Ghost must needs be immediatly and for its owne sake forbidden by the Law of God But all secular imployments of what nature soever upon the Lords day immediatly resist and subvert the kingdome of God in us Righteousnesse take it how we will either for the righteousnesse of justification which is imputed or righteousnesse of sanctification which is inherent commeth by hearing groweth by praier is strengthned by meditating and conferring not by journying working and sporting on the Lords day and the more these are practised by us on that day the lesse righteousnesse must needs be in us The conscience also is deeply wounded by such grosse prophanations if it be not senselesse seared as appeares by the confessions of Converts Penitents and the Godly feele in themselues by daily experience And it cannot but diminish the joy of the holy Ghost for this is chiefly fed and nourished by holy meetings and godly exercises of religion Nay if it be true which many learned men affirme at least for probable that Christ shall come to judgement on the Lords day What little joy can any man finde in things earthly and sensuall on the day when for ought he knowes he may suddenly heare the voice of the Archangell summoning him before the Tribunall of the Lord whose Sabbath he is then prophaning Seventhly if there were no law prohibiting works on this day the very law of expediency were enough For it 's no way expedient on that day to make such a medly of things heavenly with things earthly to mix the holy things of God with things prophane base and vile things with things honourable and glorious this were to make the Lords-day a garment of linsy-woolsy But the Lords day and the duties thereof are things holy heavenly and glorious All secular imployments prophane vile contemptible The * 1. Cor. 6.2 Apostle calls the things of this life the smallest things Therefore c. Eightly that which was ever blasted in all ages with some extraordinary curse remarkable judgement is doubtlesse not only unlawfull but in an high manner abominable in Gods sight For the Lord * Exod. 34.6 being gracious long-suffering and slow to anger doth not usually reveale his wrath from heaven but against some unsufferable ungodlinesse of men But the prophanation of
the Lords day by servile works hath beene ever thus blasted whether done about sun-rising that day and being a matter of no great importance or after evening prayer in the afternoone to take away all evasions from the circumstance of time Of this there hath beene much and lamentable experience ever since the Kings Declaration he being confuted as it were herein by the King of Kings Ninthly The consent of the whole Church ever since Constantines time as appeares by the Edicts of that Emperour with sundry Synodicall constitutions in all ages many wholsome statutes made to this purpose in all parts of the Christian world The Fathers also haue been large in the same argument utterly condemning even those speeches and conferences which withdraw our mindes from the serious meditation of what we haue heard in the congregation a Chrys Ho◠5. c. 1. Math. S. Chrysostome hath much to this purpose which he doth also illustrate by two familiar similitudes The one of men that goe into the hot Bathes for their health as soone as they come out they retire themselues to rest and sweat in their beds least by going abroad about their businesse they depriue themselues of the benefit of their bathing The Lords day is as it were the day of the soules spirituall bathing in the living and wholsome waters of the word of God and the blood of Christ. This day therefore should be a most retired day wherein we should be secluded frō all earthly things least we depriue our selues of the wholsome profit thereof The second is of Scholars at Schoole when they haue their tasks sett them they labour and beat upon it the whole day and all is little enough Vpon the Lords day we sitt at Christ feet in his Schoole to be taught from his mouth What we haue heard from him in the Congregation must be our worke the whole day after unlesse we affect to be like broken vessels which receiue much but retaine little S. b Aug. in Ps 32. Augustine also bitterly inveighs against sports and pastimes upon this day and by name against Dancing saying a man were better upon the Lords day goe to plough By which it seems he condemnes all kinde of works and recreations concuring with that c Oportet Christianos in laude Dei gratiarum actione usque ad vesperam perseverare Syn. Tur. c. 4. Synod held at Tours in France which faith that Christians ought upon the same day to persevere in the praises of God and in giving of thanks untill the night To which purpose runnes the unanimous consent of all those worthies in the Church of England which haue treated on this subject almost since the Reformation CAP. XXIII The Arguments for the Negative are also related THE Negatiue also is supported by sundry reasons First that which is not under any Law Naturall or Positiue can be no essentiall duty unto which the conscience is bound under the penalty of sinne for where there is no Law there can be no Transgression But cessation from work upon the Lords day is under no Law Naturall or Positiue not naturall for it is neither a principle in nature knowne unto all men nor any conclusion to be deriv'd from any naturall principle I meane such a totall cessation as is here questioned For that men should haue times of rest and refreshing is naturall that God should haue part of our time sequestred for his worship is also naturall but neither the question nor arguments produced intend this naturall rest but an artisiciall kinde of cessation which our Sabbatharians haue fancied unto themselues and cannot be knowne unto us unlesse by Revelation Neither is it under any positiue precept for then it might be shewed in some Evangelicall writer and we need not fly to the Law and the Prophets of the old Testament to which satisfaction will soone be given Secondly Nothing commanded the Iew as a Ceremonie under Moses is or can be an essentiall duty of Religion unto the Christians in the time of the Gospell And the reason is plaine for the ceremoniall law was the application of things in their own natures indifferent to mysticall and holy uses and otherwise there could be no distinction between Morall Ceremoniall But that utter and totall cessation from works here spoken of was a ceremony commanded the Iew under Moses hath already been manifested Therefore c. Thirdly That which is not in it's selfe in its own nature an act of Religion cannot be in its selfe and its own nature a universall Christian duty binding all men under the penalty of sinne But an utter cessation from bodily labour upon the Lords day is not in its selfe and its own nature an act of Religion for then it must be some part of Gods worship inward or outward wherewith if rightly performed God is well pleased But God saith M. Calvin is not taken with any bodily rest and cessation of his creatures precisely and of it selfe considered upon what day soever which I think all men of sober mindes will acknowledge it cannot therefore be of it selfe a Christian duty upon the Lords day If any man say it is a part of Gods worship being an ordinance commanded by him Let him shew us any such command for the Christian festivall and I will subscribe Fourthly that which of it selfe doth no way further our spirituall edification in Christ is not a Christian duty binding the conscience upon any day But corporall rest from the works of our lawfull callings doth no way further our spirituall edification For if * 2. Tim. 4.8 Bodily exercise profiteth nothing bodily cessation profiteth lesse If any man say it helpeth much to Edification for by this meanes we may wholy attend the things of God I answer that is not the thing in question for then it edifieth not by and of it selfe but by and through the holy exercises If it be further said that it doth edifie remembring us of our spirituall rest required of us and the eternall rest promised unto us I answer that this Edification proceedeth not from the d Significatio alia est divina seu à Deo rebus addita a◠ob signationem cultum ut significatio Sacramentorum alia humana ecclesiastica hominū instituto rebus addita utsit occasio memorandi rem gestam illa est necessaria haec libera significatio dominicae est humanitūs Parae in Ro. 14. thing it selfe but as affix't thereunto by our own inventions and institutions And so the Surplice the Crosse standing at the Creed all Church Ceremonies doe edifie which yet of themselues are not Christian duties Fiftly if Christian liberty extend it selfe to things of greater consequence carrying with them far greater shew of divine command then doubtlesse we are much more free in things of lesse importance But we are left free under the Gospell to many things of greater weight as Vowing Fasting Preaching Catechizing receiving the Sacraments Confession
Mor. l. 1. c. 10. Gregory setting before their eyes our Saviours mildnesse we men saith he for for the most part labouring to preserue judgement justice utterly abandon mildnesse and mercy and on the contrary when we would be milde we cease to be just But our Saviour cloathed with our flesh was never so milde but that withall he was just neither was he so severely just as to forget to be mercifull and he giues instance in the womaÌ„ taken in adultery in which he excellently observed both For when he said Cast the first stone at her he satisfied the rule of justice even in the rigour of the letter of the Law but when he added Let him that is without sinne amongst you cast this first stone he so qualified it with equity and moderation that the woman escaped Let us be zealous in Gods name against all prophaners of the Lords day but let us not be so intemperate in our zeale as to usurpe Gods throne pronounce our pleasures upon our brethren take them out of their graues and brand them to posterity as men plagued and smitten of God for prophanation I will conclude with the words of the same c Postulatus â—udicare dominus de peccatrice non station dedit judicium sed priùs incâ—inans se deorsùm digito scribebat in â—errâ nos typicè instituens ut cùm proximorum peâ—â—ata conspicimus non haec antè reprehendenda iudicemus quà m digito discretionis soâ—ertèr exculp amus Greg. S. Gregory upon the same story in another place Our Lord saith he being required to judge the Adulteresse did not presently pronounce her doome but first stooped downe and wrote with his finger upon the ground he intended hereby to instruct us saith the Father that when we seethe apparent errors of our brethren before we proceed to our peremptory sentences we first wisely consider of the thing and with the finger of discretion note what was pleasing or displeasing unto God therein What our Saviours intention was in this action of his I cannot say I am sure S. Gregories observation is graue and substantiall according unto which if we reflect upon the clamorous determinations of our Sabbatharians the point being yet in controversie and defin'd against them by the most and the learned'st in the Church it will appeare that they neither weigh things in the ballance of moderation nor distinguish of things with the finger of discretion To the ninth the authorities alleaged speak for the most part as forced witnesses quite contrary to that for which they are produced as the Edicts of Constantine the Synodicall decrees The rest shall receiue answer in the next Question to which they more properly belong Those who haue writen to this purpose in the Church of England of late yeares are parties and therefore cannot be competent judges in this controversie CAP. XXVI Wherein is inquired after those duties of holinesse unto which the Conscience is bound on the Lords day THere remaines only the last scruple which is or can be incident to this subject viz. What duties of holinesse are proper and essentiall to the Lords day whether only the acts of publike worship with the congregation or the private exercises also of those head-graces faith hope loue unto which whatsoever is in Christian Religion may be reduced And this is indeed a point of chiefest consideration because it is practicall and practice being the life and spirit of knowledge the conscience can never be throughly setled untill this be discovered Our literall Sabbatharians affirme in this question and so affirme that they make the observation of the Lords day the very abridgment of Godlinesse in respect of the first Table and of righteousnesse in respect of the second Table And from hence proceed these wide outcries against any that shall contradict them that Religion is laid upon the back and prophanenesse set up in the roome thereof Nay they so affirme in this point as that their doctrine is made an open and professed snare such a manner of holinesse being exacted as that it is impossible for any man living in the state of corruption to sanctifie a Sabbath in that manner as is required of him either in thought word or deed I confesse were it true that upon the Lords day a man forsaking the naturall rest of his bed sooner then vpon other daies must begin early in the morning with the acts of repentance then proceed to the acts of faith and after the duties of loue conclude with repentance and this with that manner of solemnity and formality which some require it must needs be even to the best an utter impossibility whether we looke at parts or degrees But that the observation of the Lords day in that manner as the Lord himselfe expects whatsoever men please to impose is not such a Chimaera as they fancy will appeare I hope in its due place In the meane while we will set downe these arguments which seeme to support this opinion CHAP. XXVII The Arguments which seeme to conclude for all duties of holinesse in generall are set downe FIrst from the letter of the Commandement Remember to keepe holy the Sabbath day we many reason thus where no one kind of holy-daâ—â—s are spoken of there all duties of holinesse are to be understood it is generally so in other places of Scripture as in that of the Apostle * Peter 1.16 be yee holy for I am holy and elswhere * Heb. 12.14 follow holinesse without which no man shall see God But in the words of the Commandement holinesse in generall is required of us Therefore c. Secondly that which is and ought to be a common duty of all daies is much more a particular duty on the Lords day The reason hereof is both because the Lords day is in many respects to be preferred before all other daies and because it is set apart from all others unto holinesse But the private exercises of all gracious habits with our selues and our families are and ought to be common performances upon all daies For as they binde alwayes so are they indefinitely commanded without restraint to any set dayes they are therefore much more required upon the Lords day being the common duties of all dayes Thirdly any duty is more required upon that time on which if rightly performed it is more acceptable to God then at any other time For by this appeares that God hath regard as well to the time as to the duty But all the duties of holinesse even the private and personall and oeconomicall are more acceptable unto God if performed on the day of his Sabbath this appeares first by the words of the * Isay 58.13 Prophet saying if thou turne away thy foote from the Sabbath from doeing thy pleasure upon my Holy-day and call my Sabbath a delight the holy of the Lord honourable and shalt honour him not doing thine owne wayes c. In which words plaine it is that the
it another case the Daughter hath eaten up the Mother Farre be it from me to speak or so much as think in secret any thing in the prejudice of that great and glorious work of Preaching Sooner shall my tongue cleaue to the roofe of my mouth for I know it to be Gods ordinance * Rom. â— â—6 even his mighty power unto salvation it â—owes the seed whereby we are begotten it is meat whereby we are nourished Medicine whereby we are healed both Oile and wine being powred thereby into our wounds By it the understanding is informed the memory refreshed the will inclined the affections made pliable the heart comforted truth preserved errours and heresies beaten downe But yet farre be it from any man to make an Idole of it which is done when either we advance it aboue or equall it with the publique worship By this preposterous conceit of many well-mined people a grand inconvenience hath befallen the Church of England from which most of her other mischiefes are hatched First in opinion that he is no lawfull Minister which is not a Preacher Secondly in practice for all men to avoid this exception or brand rather as suddainly turne Preachers as they doe Ministers So that if any man conceiue a good opinion of himselfe that he may doe good in Gods Church by some wayes or other he shuffles into holy orders and immediately from them into the Pulpit And every Youth whose maintenance extends not it selfe beyond three or foure years in the Vniversity as soone as he is old enough will be a Minister and then 't is a foule disparagement to him not to be a Preacher Hence especially partly through ignorance partly through impudence faction is fomented the people humoured and mislead Religion is made a Maze quite changed from that which originally it was Seventhly it is not to be doubted that there may be also many personall furtherances of the publique worship whereby particular men may be made more apt therevnto more devoute therein receiving great comfort and profit thereby But that such preparations or previous dispositions or what else we please to call them are under the precept of the Lords day as it is our Christian Sabbath doth not follow For First they are not of absolute necessity without which the publique worship must needs fall to the ground I think no man will say it is unpossible that a man should worship God in publique which hath not done it in private otherwise then habitually It is not here as in acting a part upon the Stage to which a man comes as a new thing never heard of before for we are bred in a Christian state nursed in a solicitous Church acquainted with God his word his worship as it were from the Cradle Few men I think there are in our congregations which cannot suddainly recollect themselues from other distractions to ioyne with our brethren in publique unlesse transported with unexpected and violent temptations Secondly no particular rules can be prescribed which shall universally direct all men of all rankes endowments which not observed they cannot worship God in publique Must we read the word of God in private What shall become of them whose education hath not extended to the Primmer Must they pray in private and secret otherwise then the Church hath taught them What shall such doe as haue not the help of books and are not arrived to their imagined perfection of extemporary effusions Must they repeat a Sermon or Catechize their families c what if they cannot Where are those duties commanded pro hic nunc as they speak upon the Lords day but in publique Assemblies Thirdly supposing therefore a generall precept of preparation to the publique which no man will deny for the * Eccles 5 1â— holy Ghost commandeth it expressely keep thy foot when thou goest into the house of God The Schooles teach us that the manner of performing the duty fals not under the precept in which the duties is commanded If thy foot be kept it matters not by what meanes thou keep it In a word therefore personall private helps of the publique worship not as it is publike and regarding the whole congregation but looking to our owne profiting thereby are only generally commanded us the particulars being left to every mans discretion and no mans conscience is further burthened Eightly with reservation therefore of Christian liberty those that can and will spend the vacant times of the Lords day in the private exercises of piety are by no law prohibited by no authority discountenanced ought not by others to be disheartened but encouraged rather with these Provisoes First that they put no Religion therein as if God required it at their hands as a part of the dayes sanctification for then are they guilty of will-worship Secondly that being personall devotions they be performed in secret for so * Math. 6.6 our Saviour hath directed Thirdly that when they are extended unto the whole family the Master of that oeconomicall discipline be well fitted and qualified thereunto and presume not beyond his measure Fourthly that he keep himselfe within the compasse of his owne charge not admitting any of other places for then he becomes offensiue to the State who hath and that justly a iealousy over all such Assemblies Fiftly that what is done herein proceed from the sincerity of his heart without any respect unto sinister ends else they are meere pretences Lastly that they be not burthensome to their servants herein so as to make them weary of good things of which our natures are impatient but so as that the day be unto them both a spirituall and a corporall refreshing Ninthly all such things whatsoever as keep us from or hinder us in the publique worship are altogether unlawfull upon the Lords day This conclusion is evident of it selfe from the premises and conclusions of the former questions and is generally assented unto only the scruple is Ob. Whether any thing saue that which is a holy exercise of Religion be not such a hinderance as walking in the fields talking of other things honest recreations For by this meanes we are debarred of that profit in whole or at least in part which otherwise we might reape from the publique exercise Resp To which I answer first that publique worship is one thing and our private profiting thereby is another both commanded indeed but in sundry precepts the one in the law of the Lords day the other in those generall precepts * Mark 15.1 beleeue the Gospell * Iames 1.22 be doers not hearers * Cor. 6.1 receiue not the grace of God in vaine * Col. 3.16 let the word dwell plentifull in you c. are in some sort the end of the precept of the publique worship in some sort I say because not the first and chiefest end For this is to acknowledge Gods supreme dominion preservation of the Catholique doctrine and the vnity of