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^c^
IHP.3
THE
Divine Appointment
^l** OF THE
Lords Day
Proved : As a feparated Day for
Holy Worfhip ; efpecially in
the Church Aflemblies. And
confequently the C effation of the
Seventh day Sabbath.
Written for the fatisfadtion of, ^ fome Religious Perfons :whe are lately drawn into Error or doubting in both thele Pi>int,s.
«7
**(.*> Pnlfty (Richard [Baxter. *"^a
Rev. i. io. 1 was is the Spirit on the Lords- Day
Col. i. 1 6, 17. Let no rnu fudge you h Meat, or in Drk^, nr
in refpccl of an Holy day, ( orFeafl ) or or the New Moon,
or Sabbaths, which arc a ihadow of things to come, bkt
the Body is of Chrifi.
LONDON,
Printed for Nevil Simmons, at the three ■ Ctowns near Holborn Conduit. 1^71.
&&&&&&&&&&& ° A A A A<& A A A A A
THE
PREFACE
Reader,
thou think this Trea- tife both Juperfluons and l)efeBiyey when fd many larger have bet- ter done the work al- ready, I {lull not at all gainfay the latter, nor much the former. The reafon of my writing it was the Heceility and recjueftof fome very upright Godly perfons, who are lately fain into doubt or Errour, in point of the Sabbath day, conceiv- ing that becaule the fourth Com- mandment was Written ii* Ston?3 %z' it
The Preface. it is wholly unchangeable, and con- iequently the fevehth day Sabbath in force, and that the Lords day is not a Day leparated by God to holy Worfhip. I knew that there was enough written on this Subject long a^oe ; But, i. Much of it is in Latine • 2. Some Writings which prove the abrogation of the Jewifli Sabbath, do withal tieat fo loofly of the Lords day, as that they re- quire a Confutation in the latter as well as a commendation for the > former, y Some are fo large that the perfons that I write for will hardly be brought to read them. 4. Moft go upon thofe grounds, "which I take to be lefs clear • and •build fo much more than I can do -011 the fourth Commandment and onmanypaiTages of the.oldTefta- ment, and plead fo much for the old Sabbatical notion and reft, that I fear this is the chief occafion- of
many
The T re face.
many peoples Errours - who when they find themfelve-s in a wood of difficulties, and nothing plain and convincing that is pleaded with them, do therefore think it ftfeft to ftick to the old Jewifli Sabbath The -friends and acquaintance of fome of thefe perlons importuning me, to take the plaineft and neareft way to fatisfie fuch honeft doubters, I have here done it according to my judgement : not contending agairift any that go another way to work, but thinking my felf that this is very clear and fatisfa&ory ; Vi^ to prove, I . That Chrift did Commitfion his Apoflles to Teach us all things which he commanded^ and to fet- tle Orders in his Church , 2. And ; that he gave them his fpirit to ena- ! ble them to do all this Infallibly, by bringing all his words to their re- membrance, and by leading them 1 into all truth.j. And that his Apoftles
Aj by
The Preface.
by this fpirit did de facto feparate the Lords day, for holy Worfhip, espe- cially in Church- Aflemblies, and declared the ceffation of the Jewifh Sabbaths. 4. And that as this change had the very fame Author as the Holy Scriptures (the Holy Ghoft in the Apoftles ) fo that fatl hath the lame kind of proof, that we have of the Canon and the inte- grity and uncprruptnefs of the par- ticular Scripture Books and Texts : And that, if lb much Scripture as mencioneth the keeping of the Lords day, expounded by the Con- cent, and Practice of the Univerfal Church from the dayes of the Apoftles, (all keeping this day as holy, without the diffent of any one Seil,or (ingle per fon that I re- member to have rfcadof,) I lay if all this Hiftorjz will not fully prove the point of fa&, that this day was kejpt in the Apoftles times, and con-
fecjuently
weTrejace.
fequently by their appointment,' then the fame proof will not ferve to evince that any text of Scripture is Canonical and uncorrupted - nor can we think that any thing in th6 world, that is paft, can have Hiftori- cal proof.
I have been put to fay fomewhat particularly out of Antiquity for this evidence of the fad, becaufe it is that which Ilaythegreateft ftrefs upon. But I have not done it fo largely as might be done, i. Be- caufe I would not lofe the unlearn- ed Reader in a Wood of Hiftory, nor overwhelm him inftead of edi- fying him. z. Becaufe it is done already in Latine by Dr. Young in his pies Dominica ( under the name of Tlieophilus Loncardienfis . ) which I take to be the moderated, founded and ftrongeft Treatife on this fub- je£t that I have feen ; Though Mr. Cawdry7 and Palmer (joyntly)
A 4 have
1 he Trejace.
have clone.. well and at greater length : and Mr. E.tton9 Mr. Shfy* bard, Dr. ^Gund, WalUus^ %n\ety and my dear friend Mr. Qeorge Jbhot againft Broad have laid very much : And in their way, DtWhitey Dr.Hey* lin} Bifhop Ironfide^^Av. 'Brierwoodj&c. 3. I chole moll of the fame Cita- tions which Dr. Heylin himlelf pro- duced^ becavife lie being the man that I am rnoft put to defend my felf againfi, his confefTionsare my advantage. 4. And if I had been willing, I could not have been io full in this, astheSubjed will be- fpeak., becaufe I have almoft eleven years been feparated from my jLi- b.ravy, and long from the neigh- bourhood of any ones elfe.
I much piety and wonder at thofe Godly men, who are fo much for flretching the words of Scripture, to a fenfe tiiaf other n^en cannot find in them, as that in the word
[Graven
j. f/c * i tf ace.
[Graven Imdgw] inthefecond Com- mandment, they can find all fet formes of Prayer, all compofed ftudyed Sermons, and all things about Worihip of mans invention to be Images or Idolatry • and yet they cannot find the abrogation of the Jewifli Sabbaih in the exprefs words of Qol i. x 6: nor the other Texts which I have cited ; nor can they find the Inftitution of the Lords day in all the Texts and Evidences produced for it. But though Sa- tan may Tomewhat difiurbe our Concord and tempt fome mens Charity to remiflnefs, by thefe dif- ferences, he fliall never keep them out .of Heaven, who worfliip God, through Chrift, by the Spirit, even in fpirit and truth : Nor, lhall he, I hope ever draw me, to think fuch holy perfons as herein differ from me, to be worfe than my felf, though I think them in this to be
un
Jl:e Preface.
unhappily miftaken : much lefs to approve either of their own jepara* tion from others, or of other mens condemning them as Hereticks, and infli&ing fe verities upon them, for thefe their opinions fake.
THE
THE
CONTENTS.
C H A P. I.
THE ftate of the gueftion 0 with the fummary proof of the Divine fepa- ration of the Lords Day9 page I.
CHAP II.
That Chriji commijfioned hk Apofiles as his principal Church- Miniflers , to teach the Churches all his Do3nney and to deliver them all his Commands and Orders , and fo to fettle and guide thefirji Churches.
P. 5-
CHAR
The Contents*
CHAP. III.
Chrijl prowifed hk Spirit to his Apofiles to enable them to do what he had commif- (toned them to do 3 by leading them into all truth b and bringing his words and deeds to their remembrance , and by guiding them as his Churches Guides.
P- 9- CHAP.IV.
Chrijl performed all thefe Vromifes to hk Apojtles , and gave them hk Spirit to enable them to 41 their commijfioned worl^ p. 1 1
CHAP. V.
The Apofiles did a&ually Jeparate and ap- point the firjt day of the Week, for Holy Worfiip, efp'ecial/y in church Ajjemblies. Which is explained in fever al fubordi- nate rropofltions 5 And proved I. By Scripture 5 2 . By unquejiionable Hijiory > And the validity of tbh proof evinced •> and \ the doiyers of it proved to fubvert the Churches cirtainly oj greater matters.
p. 12
CHAP.
The Coatcats.
CHAP. VI.
This aU of the Apofiles appointing the Lords Day for holy Worfoip, was done by the ef fecial tnfpiration and guidance of the Holy Chofi. p. 69
CHAP. VII.
. Whether the f even th day Sahbath flfould he Aid k.pt by Ckrijiiansp as of Dnine ob- ligation? N*p. proved. Where kfhewed horv far the fourth Commandment is ah- rotated ( and all the Law of Moles. )
p. 71 CHAP. VIII.
Of the Beginning of the Day. p. 91
CHAP. IX.
Bow the Lords Day fiould be kept. Of the length ff the time , and the Objection about wearinefe* p. ^3
CHAp.
M. UW WUUUUIJI
CHAP. X.
How the Lords Day Jhould not be fpent $ or what is unlawful on it 5 Of worldly bu- finefs: Of recreations : of Idlenefs^Scc.
p.108
CHAP. XL
What things Jhould not be fcrupled as un- lawful on the Lords Day. p. i2^
CHAP. XII.
Of what importance the due obferving of the Lords Day is. Many great Reajons for it. p. 1 39
CHAP. XIII.
What other Church Fejiivals, or Jeparated Dayes are lawful. p. 1 48
The
THE
CONTENTS
OF THE
Appendix.
»l.n «!,. «'
CHAP. I.
A N Anfwer to certain Objeifions againft J\ the Lords Day, P^57
r
j
:h ap. u.
An Anfiotr to more Arguments fir the Je- venth day Sabbath^ P* 1 80
CHAR III.
Whether the feventh day Sabbath be part of the Law of Nature i or only a Fojttivt Law $ p. 202
CHAP.
The Contents*
CHAP IV.
I 1 Whether every word in tht Decalogue be of
the Law of Natw e ? and of perpetual ob- ligation ? And whether all that was of the Law of Nature was in the Decalogue ?
CHAP. \f.
Whether the trueji Antiquity bt for the fi* venth day Sabbath 3 as kfpt by the Churches vfChrijt? p. 220
UA
TK
CO
((vVYttt ttttYttttttVt
The Divine Appointment of the Lords Day, proved, as a feparated Day for holy Wor- fhip, efpecially in the Church- Aflemblies : And confequently the Ceflation of the Seventh -day- Sabbath.
CHAP. I.
HOUGH the principal thing de- (ircd by the Enquirers is, That I would prove to them the CeiTa- tion of the Seventh-day Sabbath, yet becaufe they caft off the Lords day, which I take to be a far greater error and (in, than the obfervation of both dayes ^ and becaufe that when I have proved the Inftitution of the Lords Day, I (hall the more eafilytake them off the other, by proving that there are not two weekly dayes fet apart by God for holy WorOiip : Therefore I will begin with the hrft Qu:ftion, Wlmbzt the Lords dayy or firft day of the mel^ , be feparated by Gods Infiitutioti
B fir
(2)
for holy Worfhip^ efpecially in public]^ Church-con- ventions ? ArT.
And here for the right ftating of the Queftion, let it be noted, i. That it is not the Name of a Sabbath that we now meddle with, or ft and up- on. Let us agree in the Things and we (lull ea- iilybear a difference about the name. Grant that it is [_ A day fcparated by Gods Injlitution for l.hr- ly Affemblies and Worfhip and then call it a Sabbath or Q the Lords day ] as you pleafc. Though for my felt, I add That [ the Lords day ~] is the name that the Holy Ghoit hath fet upon ir, and the name which the rirft Churches princi- -pally ufed j and that they call it alfo fomctimes by the name of the Chrifiian Sabbath • but that is only Analogically, as it is refembled to the Jewifh Sabbath '•> and as they ufed the names f Sacrifice and Altar 1 * at • ifpeakcnlyA/^, the fame time, for theChri- how the Anticnts uled n. ^ . r
thefe words. itians Commemoration ot
Chrifts Sacrifice in the Sa- crament of the Lords Supper, and for the Ta- ble, or as Dr. Toting faith, pag. 23. As in Scripture, Baptifm is called Circumctfwn. And that very rarely too.
2. That the Queftion of the manner of ob- ferving the Lords day, and what exercifts of Worfhip it muft be fpent jn„ and what Divcrfi- ons are lawful or unlawful, as alfo when the day beginncth, are not to be here medled within the beginning, but afterwards, when the Divine In- ftitution of the Day it felt is , firit fuflkiently proved. Which is done as followeth.
Arg-
O)
Arg. 'That day which was feparated to holy Worjhip by the Holy Ghofi, was feparated to holy IVorJhip by God the father and the Son* But the firfi day of the Wee\^ was feparated to h ly Jfor- jhip by the Holy Ghofi : Tfiierefore the firfi day cf the Week^ was feparated to holy TForJhip, by God the Father and the Son*
The Minor only needcth proof among Chri- ftians.
'that day which was feparated to holy Worship- by the Apojlles , by the infpiration of the Holy Ghofi, was feparated to holy JFerJhip by the Holy Ghofi. But the firfi day of the WetV^ was fepa- rated to holy Worship by the Apoftles by the in$i- ration of the Holy Ghofi. Therefore the firfi day of the Weeh^ was feparated to holy Iforjhip by the Holy Ghofi.
The Minor which only needeth proof, is thus proved.
That day which was feparated to holy Worfi>ip by the Apofiles who had the Holy Ghofi promt fed them by Chrift, and given them, to lead them ints all truth, and to bring all his Voftrints to their re- membrance, and to teach the Churches to do all his Commands, and to feed, and guide, and trder them, as his principal commijftoned Church- Minifiers, vpas feparated to hdy Worship by the Apofiles by the infpiration of the Holy Ghofi.
But fuch is the firfi day of the Weehj.
Therefore the firfi day of the TVeekjs feparated to holy Worship by the Apofiks by the infpiration of the Holy Ghofi.
I have rive Proportions now diftindtly to be psoved : four for the proof c£ the Major,
B a and
(4)
and one for the proof of the Minor.
The fait Propofition is , that Chrifi comrniffiv vied his Apojlles as bis principal Cbu-rcb-MiniJlcrs, to teach the Churches aU his ~DoCtrine, and deliver them all bis Commands and Orders ', and fo to fettle mid guide the firfi Churches*
The fecond Propofition is, 'that Cbrijl promifed tlxm hit Spirit, to enable them to do what be had commijjioned them to do, by leading them into all truth, and bringing his words and deeds to their remembrance, and by ginding them as his Churches Guides.
The third Propofition is, that Chrifi performed this promife, and gave his" Spirit accordingly to bis ,Apojiles, to enable them to all tbeh* commijfioned work*
The fourth Propofition is, 'that the Apoftles did atiually fcparate or appoint the firft day of the Wccj^, for holy Worship, efpecially in Cburch-af- femblies*
The fifth Propofition is, 'that tbis acl of theirs vcas done by the Guidance or infpiration of the Holy Ghoft, which was given them*
And when I have diitin&ly proved thefe ^ivz things, no fober undemanding Chrillian can ex- peel: that I (hould prove any more, towards the proof of the Queition in hand, Whether theririt day of the Week be feparafed by Gods Institution for holy Worftiip , efpecially in Church-aiTim- blies ?
CHAP.
(5>
CHAP. II.
Prop. I. ethatChri\l Commifioncd bis Apoflles, or bis principal Church-Minijlers jo teacb tbe Chur- ches all bis Dotlrine, and deliver tbtm all bis Commands- and Order s, and fb to fettle and guide the firjl Churches.
THis I prove, i. By their Commiffion it felf ; 2. By their performance with its proper feal. 3. By the Content of all the Chriftian world.
I. Lu\e 6. 13. He called to him his T>ifciplesy and sf them he chfe twelve, whom alfo he named Apoflles* Their firft Commiffion is recited, Matth. 10. at large.
Matth. 28. 18, ip, 2C. All Authority is given me in Heaven and in Earth : Go ye therefore and difciple all Nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Gboft > 'Teaching them to obferve all things wbatfoevtr I have commanded you* And, loe, I am with yon alway, even unto the end of the world \ Amen*
John 20. 21. Then faid Jefus to them again. Peace be unto you V As the Father bath fentme, evenfo fend I you: And when be bad faid this, be breathed en them , and faid, Receive ye the Holy Gbojt : IVhofefoever fins ye remit, they are remitted unta tbem^ and wbofefoever fins ye retain, they are retained.
Luke 10. 16. Even of the teventy it is faid, He that bearetb yon, bearetb me> and he that de- ft 3 ^fpifetb
fpifetb yiu, dcjpifetb me, and be that dcfpifetb me, dcfpifetb him that fent mc. And to the twelve, Matth. ic. 40. He that rcceivetb y^u, receivctb me, &c.
A&S2<5.i7. "Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, to whom now I fend thee, to open their eyes*
1 Cor. 1 5- 3. For I delivered to you firft of all that which I alfo received, &c.
1 Cor. 11. 23. For I received of the Lord, that which alfo I delivered unto yon*
1 Cor. 4. i32. Let a man fo account of us as of the Minijiers ofCbrift, and Stewards of the my ftcries of God,
Gal. 1. 11, 12. But Icertifie you,brcthre-t, that theGofpel which was preached of me, is not after man\ Fori neither received it of man, neither was I taught it ^ but by the revelation ofjefus Cbrifi.
John 2 1 1 5, 1 6, 17. Simon Son of Jonas /oi>- cft thou me Feed my Lambs*
Matth. id. ip. I will give unto thee the Keyes of the Kingdom of Heaven : and whatfever thou Jhalt bind on Earth, Jball be bound in Heaven : and wbatfoever thou Jhalt loofe on Earth, Jball be looftd in Heaven*
■ John 17. 18. As thou baft fent me into the world, fo have I alfo fent them into tin world* pte John 13. 16,20.
Ads 1. 24, 25. Sbew whether of thefe two thou haft cbofen, that be may take part of this Miniftry andjpoftlefhip,fromwbicb]udas by transgreffionfell.
Gal. 1.1. Paul an Apoftle, not of men, neither by man, but by Jefus Cbrift and God the Father.
AcSs 1. 2. After that he through the Holy
Ghojt,
• (7)
Ghof} , bad given commandment to the Applies whom be bid cbofen > to whom alfo be printed himfclf alive after bis fajjim, by many infallible prorfs, being feen of them forty daycs, andfpeakj tag of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.
Ads 2. 42. They continued fledfafi in the A- pojUes doftrine and fellow/hip^ dec.
Epn. 4. 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, \6. He gave fo me ApojUes, jbme Prophet /, dec.
1 Cor. 12. 28, 2p* Firft Apoftlcsy fecondarily Prophets^ dec Are all Apofiles, dec
Eph. 2. 20. Being built on the foundation of the Apoftles, dec.
2 Pet. 3.2. 'that ye may be rnindfull of the words which were fpoken before by the holy Pro- pirns, and of the Commandments of to the Apnjlles of the Lord and Saviour.
Ads 10. 5. Send men to Joppa, and,caJlfor Si- mon, Sec. andhejhall tell thee, dec
They that will not take all this plain evidence of Scripture for a proof of this firft Proportion, I fuppofe would not be ever the more moved by it, if I (hould be fo needletfy tedious, as to ftay to fetch Arguments from each Text.
2. The Apoftles cxercifed fuch a power, as the Propofition mentioneth, and God ict to it, the feal of Miracles. Therefore fuch a Powex or Office was given them by Chrifr.
The Confequence is undenyable. The Ante- cedent of this Enthimeme is fo plainly exprefTed in Scripture, that I am loth to take up much of my own 01 the Readers time, in proving fo known a thing.
B 4 They
-i8) ■
They founded the Churches i they delivered them the Doctrine and Commands of Chrift > they fetled the Churches, as to Officers, Orders, and Discipline, according to Chriits Commands and the Spirits determinations : Thus they or- dained the new Office of Deacons , and Deaco- nefTts or Widows ^ and they ordained them El- ders in every Church, or City ; • and they deter- mined of Church Con trover lies •, and gave the Church Decrees \ and delivered the Will of Chrift about the Sacrament, Church-AiTemblies, Prophecyings, &c. Jits 2. & 14. 23. Acts 6* 3, 4, &c 1 Tim. 3* Titus 1. AUs 15. 1 Cor. nf I Cor. 14 &c.
3. That all Chriftians ( faveHereticks) did acknowledge their power, and acquiefee in their Decrees and Conduct, being a matter of fad, needs no other proof, than the common Hiitory of former Ages , and practice of this. Which are fo well known, that 1 will net injure the Reader by proving it,
t
CHAP.
(9)
:
CHAP. III.
; Prop. 2. Chrifl promifed hi* Spirit to his Apofiles^ to enable them to do, what be had commijjioncd them to do, by leading them into all truths and bringing bis words and deeds to their remem- brance , and by guiding them as bis Churches GuideSf
i:
N the Old Teftament it is prophefied and _promi('ed, Jer. 3. 15. And I will give you Fa- (iors according to mine hearty which Jhall feed you with knowledge and undemanding.
See all the Texts that promife the pouring out of the Spirit , Ifa. 44. 3. Ezek^ 36. 27. & 37. 14. & 39. 29. Joel 2. 28, 29. Which were J principally fulfilled on the Apohies.
Luke 24. 49. And behold, I fend the promife of my Father upon you : But tarry ye in the City of Jerufalem, untiU ye be endued with power from on high.
John 15. 26, 27. But, when the Advocate is come, whom I will fend unto you from the Father , be jhall teftifieofme: and ye alfo Jhall bear wit- nefs, becaufe ye have been with me from the begin- ning'
John 16. 7, 12, 13, 14, 15. It is expedient for you, that I go away j for if I go not away, the Advocate will not come unto you : But if I depart,
I will fend him unto you 1 have yet many things
to fay unto you , but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit whenhe^ the Spirit of truth is come, he
veii
f 10)
wiU guide you into all the truth. For be fh all not /peak of himfclf; but wbatfoever be Jhall hear, that Jhall he fpea)^: And he pall JPjcw you things to come* He frail glorlfie me , for he (ball receive of mine , and Jhew it untoym. All things that the Father huh are mine. Therefore fad I that be (ball take of mine, and fljall Jbew it untoyou.
John 17.8. 1 have given to them the words which thou gave ft me, and they have received them — V. 17,18. Sanclifie them through thy truth: thy word is truth : As thou haftfent we into the world, fo have I aljo fent them into the world : And for their fakes IJanVufe myjclf, that they alfo might be Jantlificd through the truth.
Ma-tth. 28. 20. leaching them to obferve all things what fever I have" commanded you h and he I am with you alwayes to the end of the world.
Acl:s 1.4. And being affembled together with them, commanded them that they fiiould not depart from Jerufakm , but wait for the promife of the Father which ye have heard of me. For John truly b iptizcd with water i but ye Jhall be baptized with the Fiily Gholl not many dayes hence. V.#. But yc jhall receive Power after that the Holy Ghoji is come upon you, and ye Jhall be witneffes unto me, both in Jerusalem, j>/<2 to all Judaea, and in Samam, and unto the uttermvji parts of the earth.
By theie Texts it is molt evident that Chrifli promiieth the Apoftlis an extraordinary Spirit,or meafure pf the Spirit, (b to enable them to deliver his Commands, and execute their Commiilion, as that he will own what they do by. the guidance thereof, and the Churches may rett upon it as the lufallible revelation of the Will of God.
CHAP.
(II)
CHAP. IV.
Prop. 3. Chrift performed all thcfe promifes to bvs Jpoftlcs, and gave them his Spirit to enable them for all their commijfioned work*
THis is proved both from the fidelity of Chrift, and from the exprefs aflertions of the Scripture. He is faithful that hath promifccL Heb. 10. 23. Titus 1. 2. God that cannot lye hath
promifed. 2 Cor. 1. 18. As God is true
Rev. 6. 10. H>w long 0 Lord*, Holy and "true
Rev. ip. 11. He was called faithful and true
Rom.3.4. Let God he true, and every man a lyar
I John 5. 10 He that hclieveth not God , hath made him a lyar,
John 20. 22. He breathed on them, and faith unto them ^ Receive ye the Holy Ghoji.
Ads 2. Containeth the Narrative of the come- ing down of the Holy Ghoit upon them, at large.
Adls 15.28. It feemed good to the Holy Ghofi and to us
Heb. 2. 4. God alfo bearing them rvitnefs^ both with figns and wonders^ and with divers mighty rporkfi and distributions of the Holy Ghoft accor- ding to his own will.
1 Pet. 1. 12. "the things which are now report- ed unto you , by them that have preached the Gofpel unto you^ by the Holy Ghqji fent down from
Heaven- ;
Rom,
(A1)
Rom. 15. ip, 20. Through mighty figns and wonders , by the power tf the Spirit of God , fo that from Jerufalem, and round about to II- lyricum I have fully preached the Gofpel of Chriil.
Read al! the Texts in A&s and elfewhere, that fpeak of all the Apoftles Miracles , and their giving of the Holy Ghoft, &c. And 1 Cor. 7, 40. Atts 4. 8, 3 1. Acls 5. 3. & 6. 3., #•7.51,55. 0-8.15, i7>l8>'i?. e^p. 57. & 10. 44, 45,47. ■£• n. 15, r<5, 24. e^ 13. 2>4>P552- &'i6>6. Rom, 5. 5. #■ p. 1. 1 Cor, 2. 13. 2 Tztw. 1. 14. 1 Cor. 12. Ep/>. 4. 7,8,e^c ^3.5. But this Propofition is confefTed by all Chriftians.
CHAP. V.
Prop. 4. 'the Apples did atlually fcp.tr ate and appoint the firfl day of the Wtc\ for holy Wot- fhtpy efpccially- in Church-AJfemblies.
HEre the Reader muft remember , that it is >ncer matter of fact , that is to be proved m the proof of this Propofition \ and that all till this^ is clearly and undenyably proved \ (o that the whole Controverfie refteth upon the proof of the fad. I That indeed the Apoftles did fcparate <rr fit apart this diy fr ordinary ( publicly ) Wvihip.
And in order to -the fuller proof of this, 1 have thefe fubordirutc Propositions to prove. *
Prop.
d3)
Prop* i. Matter of paft fad is to be Vpovon to to by Hiftory ( Written, Verbal or Practical. )
This is evident in the nature of the thing. Hiftory is the Narration of fails that are paih We fpeak not of the fact of meer natural agents^ but of Moral or humane fads. It may be known without Hiftory what Eclipfes there have been of the Sun'-> what changes of the Moon, &c* But not what in particular Morals have been done by man.
The neceflity of other diftinU wayes of know- ledge, are eafily difproved. i. It need not be known by Divine f up er natural Revelation* Other- wife no men could know what is pail:, but Fro- phets or infpired perfons: nor Prophets but in few things; For it cannot be proved, that God ever revealed to Prophets or infpired perfons, the general knowledge of things paft > but on- ly fome particulars of fpecial ufe ( as the Crea- tiontoMofes^&c. ) Co that if Revelation by In- fpiration^ Voice or Viiions, were neceflary, Scri- pture it felf could be underftood by none but infpired perfons, or that had fuch revelation. U 2. It is not known by Natural Caufes, and by arguing from the Natural Caufe to the Effects. It is no more poflible to know all things paft this way, ( by knowing the Caufes ) than all things future* Therefore it muft be ordinarily known by Humane report, which wTe call Hiftory or 'tradition.
Prop. 2. Scripture Hiftory is not the only certain Hiftory ", much lejs the only credible*
Without Scripture Hiftory we may be certain, that there was in 1666* a great Fire in Lou-
(H) dony and a great plague in 1665. and that there were Wars in England^ 1^42, i6tf,&c. and that there have been Parliaments in England which have made the Statutes now in force > and that there have been fuch Kings of England for ma- ny Ages , as our Records and Hiftories men- tion, &c.
Prop. 3. Scripture Hiftory is not the only cer- tain Hiftvry of the things of the Ages in which it was written^ or of former Ages j much lefs the only credible Hiftory of them.
We may know by other Hiftory certainly, that there were fuch perfons as Cyrus^ Alexan- der^ &c. That the Macedonians had a large ex- tended Empire > that the Romans after by many Victories obtained a fpacious Empire j that there were fuch perfons as Julius Ctfar, Auguftusy 1 i- berius-, Nero, Cicero^ Vfrgil, Horace^ Ovidy &c.
Prop. 4. Scripture Hiftory is not the only means appointed by Gody to help us to the knowledge of Ecclefiaftical matters of fall, tranfaUed in Set i- pure times.
1. For if Humane Hiftory be certain or credible in other cafes , it is certain or credible inthefe* There being no reafon why thefe things, or much of them,(hould not be as capable of a certain deli- very to us by humane Hiftory as other matters. As that there were Chriftians in thofe times, may be known by what "facitus^ Sitetonius^&c. fay. And the antient Writers oft appeal in many cafes to the Heathens own Hiftory. And no man pretendeth as to the Civil matters mentio- ned in the Scriptures, that no other Hiftory of the fame is credible or certain. As of the Go- vernment
(i5) \ vernment of Attgjiftus^ TiUrius^ Herody Pilate^
2. There are other certain means known to us > of which I mull refer the Reader to v-'hat I
'have written in my Reafons of the Chriitian Rc- . ligion, Part 2. Cap. 7. (pecially p ag~ 335. 10340.
3. No man can doubt but that the Chriiiians of that fame age, ( as till the year one hundred ) might eatily and certainly know fuch a matter of publick fad, as whether the Lords day was conftantly fet apart and obferved by all the Chri- itian Churches for holy Worfhip : Fori. It is certain that they did know it by fight and fenfe , and therefore had no need of Hiftory.
2> It is certain that they knew it before the Scripture f were written, which we now (peak of : For it is not poilible that for all thofe years time before any of the New Teftament was written, the Chrimans who aiTembled to wor- ship God, fhould not know on what day they ufed to aiTcmble.
And if they knew it in the year 10c. they mult needs know it as well in the year 10 1. & 102. & 103. and (o on. For thole that were young Chriitians fifty years after Chrift, would be aged at an hundred: And thole that were young at an hundred, would be aged at an hundred and fifty, and io on. So that an age of people, not ending at the age of a lmgle perfon, Congrega- tions and focieties are like Rivers, that keep the fame channel, and name, while one part of wa- ter followeth another. Nay, fome of the fame men are there anno ico. who were there anno 50. fome anno 150. who were thcie anno 100. and
fo
( 16) Co on. Ten thoufand thoufand men, women and children, can tell on what day the Congre- gations of England ufe to affemble •, whereas it" an Apoftle were among us, and (hould write on what day we afTemble •, fewer would know it by that means » And they that knew it but by his writing, would know it lefs confidently, than they that knew itby fenj} and experience.
Yet, forget not, that 1 am far from afcribing a certainty or a credibility to all humane Hifto ry : Much more from equalling any with the credit of Divine Hiliory. But only 1 fay, i.That fenfe is more alluring, as to the fithjeci, than any Hiitory whatever : 2. And that tome Hiitory be- tides Divine is certain: 3. And that much Hi- itory is credible : 4. And that this inftance of the Day on which all Churches in the world af- (embled for holy Worfhip , is one of the molt palpable for certainty that poilibly could be imagined.
4. And I add, that if fame humane Hiftory or Tradition be not certain, there can be no cer- tainty of much of the Divine Hiftory, to any but the perfons who were themfelves infpired, or that faw the Vifions, or Miracles that continued them. For as internal fenfe or intuition mult affure the Infpired perfons themfelves , and external fenfe mud affure thofe that faxv the matters of fall > lb all the reft have no way to know them, but ei- ther flillby a fucccifion of New Revelations from Heaven ,( which God doth not give ) or elfe by Report. And lean no other wife know what was revealed to an Apoltle,nor what was done in thofe times ; ( Of which more anon. )
Prop.
i?rop. 5. 'fhefirft inftitution of Church Offices* and Orders, andfo of the Lords day, was not by Scripture.
The proof is undeniable : Becaufe the Old Teflament did not contain the Inftitution, (e* g. of particular Churches, Sacraments? Presbyters, Deacons, Veaconejfes, and the Lords day, &c.) And the New tcftament was none of it written till anno 40. at fooneft when fome fas Bucboltzer, Bellarm,dcc.) think Matthews Gofpel was written, though others fay many years after,) and it was not all written till ann. ??. Now it is certain that 1 the Church was not all thefe years without the 1 Orders now in queftion, nor without a day to imeet on for publick Worfhip. Even as Baptifm and the Lords Supper were inftituted by Chrift Ihimfelf, long before the writing of any part of (the New Teftament, and the Church was in long 'jpofleffiou of them, upon the bare verbal declara- tion of the Apoftles.
Prop. 6. therefore it is certain that no part of the New Teftament was written to any fuch end as to inflitute Sacraments, or Church Offices, or Jiand* ing Orders \ but to inftrutl men about thofe that were already inftituted, ( as to the ufe of tbofi times.)
For it could not be written to inftitute that which was inftituted before, (b many years.
LProp. 7. No part of the New i eft anient was , ritten to make known to the Churches of tbofi times, the f aid Sacraments, Offices, ftated Orders, jiand Time of Worfhip j (Still obferve that by a ban I mean any bookj> And I except the Decree, written in a Letter gf the Apoftles, Elders and C Brethren,
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Brethren, i4#. 15. concerning Circumcifion, not to be impofed on the Gentiles ^ which yet made no new inftitution, nor declared any, but only determined of the continued forbearance of fome things forbidden before of God, in the precepts called Noah^s > and Pauls Epiftles, which reduce the Churches to Orders before fctled, and urge them to duty, and decide fome doubts about particular cafes of Confcience.)
The proof is vifible, 1. In the Writings them- felvcs: 2. In that all the Churches were in the poflefiion and ufe of all the things in queftion, long before : (For mutable Orders and Circum- ftances are none of the things in queftion.) It would be vain to write a hiftory now, to tell Englifh men of this prefent age, that the Lords day is ufed in England as a day fet apart for publike worfliip } or that perforis are Baptized, or receive the Lords Supper in England. For feeing it is the common wfage of all the Christi- ans almoft of the Land, it is needlefs to tell men among uS by writing that it is Co (unlefs it be to inferr fomewhat elfe from it.)
Prop. 8. Tct tbofc holy Scriptures which were written to men of thofe times^ were alfo intended for the inftruclion of all fucxeeding ages j And fo the foure Evangelifts wrote the hilhry of Chrifty and Luke wrote thehiftory of Paul till his coming to Rome and longer ', and of fome more of tht Apoftles\ And on the by >in the Epiftles extant , the Churches Cuftomes of thofe times are much intima- ted > And all this together with the fitbordinate hiftory and the univerfA tenure and pr alike of the Churches^ is that hiftory by which we muft know
the
c 19 )
the matters of fail of thofi times j Nor is there any room left for a rational prctenfe of Rome or any other Church, to produce Divine Inititutions, which were committed only to them, or cntrufled to their particular keeping only, and were not delivered in Scripture, nor in Commm to the whole Church,
Prop. 5?. 'thus according to the ufe of the mi- tings of the NcwTcftament, the matter of f aft in cjuejtion (of the Lords dayes feparation) is histori- cally touched ony and proved y though but briefly and on the by, as a thing as well known to the Church before, as what day goeth over their head.
The Hiftorical hints of the New Teftament mutt be taken together, and not a part only j that they may prove a ufage.
And, 1. That Chrijl rofe on that day is paft doubt among Christians. Joh. 20. 1. LuJ^. 24. 1. Mar. 16. 2. Matth.2%. 1.
2. On that fame day he taught the two difci- (ples, Luk< 24. 13. And the fame day heappeared ito the Difciples, and inftru&ed them, and did eate with them, Luh^ 24. 33, 36. There the I Difciples were affembled, and there he blefled !:them, gave them their Commiflion, and the iHoly Ghoft, J oh. 20. ip, 20, 2 1, 22.
3. Thenextfirftdayofthe week Chrift chofe jtto appear to them again, when Thomas was with 1 them, and convinced him, J oh. 20.26.
j 4« In Acl* 20. 7. It is mentioned as the day of : their Affembling to breaks bread ( which though Ithey did oft on other daies, yet no day elfe was peculiarly appointed for it, ) As for the difTenters xavil about the Tranflation of '£? rn f*/* ffl <ra$~ C 2 $&iw%
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£*W, Beza hath given them Reafon enough againft it > And Grot'ms and almoft al] cxpofitors are againft them : And moft that tranilate it lite- rally una Sabbatorum, take Una and Prima here to be all one. And Calvin with others noteth, that the fame phrafe being ufed of the day of the Refurre&ion, Wlattb. 26. 1. Lu}^ 24. 1. Job. 20. 1. will dircdr us to expound this ^ un- Icfs you mean alfo to deny the Refurredlion to have been on the firft day.
And 1 Cor. 16. 1, 2. *? v'w mud needs have the fame tignirication > And Mar]^i6. 9. com- pared with the other Evangelifts 10 expounds them as Bcza noteth j who alfo telleth us that in one old Copy he found added [the Lords day~\ and citeth Hierome adv. Vigilant, faying [ Per tenant Sabbati j hoc eft, in die Vominico, &c] And Dr. Hammond well noteth that it plainly re- lated! to the Chriitian aiTemblies, to which they were not to come empty, but to dcpolite what they brought into the treafury of the Church \ or if it were in their private repofitories, it doth not much difference the cafe. Calvins excepti- on againft Chryfoftome here is groundlefs, as the reafons before evince. So that by this Text the cuftome of holding Church meetings on the Lords day, as a peculiar day, is intimated, though but on the by, as mod Expolitors agree.
And the denomination of the Lords day, Joh. 1. io. being the fame which the Chriftian Chur- ches ever ufed of the Firft day, puts it yet fur- ther out of doubt. As for his conjecture who doubteth whether it may be meant of the Anni-
verfary
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verfary day of Chrifts Refurredtion, when as the conftant ufe of the name by all the Churches, fheweth that it was taken ever fince for the weekly day, it defer veth no other refutation.
Now though all this fet together (hew that Scripture is not iilent of the matter of fad \ yet it is the full and unquestionable expoGtory evidence of the practice of all Churches in the world, fince the very daies of the Apoftles, which beyond all doubt afTureth us that de. fatto the Lords day was by the Apoftles feparated for holy Worfhip, efpecially in publick Church-afTemblies. But theie feveral intimations being feconded with fo full an Expoiition, tell us that the Scripture is not iilent in the cafe, nor doth pals it by. I was loth to name the day of the fending down of the Holy Ghoft as a proof : Becaufe that fome do controvert it. Eut it feemeth to me a very confiderable thing, i, That the day (that year J of the conclulion of Pentecoft on which the Holy Ghoft was given, was indeed the firft day of the week, even Dr. Heylin granteth without any queftion or ftop. And the Churches obfer- vation of Whitfunday as the day, and that fo very early as Epipbanius and many others fay, from the Apoftles, doth feem a very credible hiftory or tradition of it. 2. Its agreed on that the Paffoever that year fell on the Sabboth day, and that Pentecoft was rifty daies after the Paffo- ver : which falleth out on the Lords day. And Gro- tius noteth from Exod. 19. 1. that it was the day that the Law was given on, and foon which the Spirit was given for the new Law. 3 . And con- fidering that this great .gift of the Holy Ghoft
C 3 which
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which w^s to make the Apoflles Infallible, and to enable them fpr their commiflion-work? and bring all thrifts podrines and Commands to their remembrance, was fo memorable a thing, that it was as it were the Beginning of the fu\l Gojpcl-ftate of the Church, and Kingdom o( Chrift, (which through all Chrilts abode on Earth, was as the Infant, exiftent indeed but in the voomh^ and on this day was as it were Born before the world, and brought into the open light^) the Lords day al(o feemeth to me to be as it were Conceived on the day of Chrift s Befurretiion, but Born on this day of the Holy Ghofts defcent.
But Dr. Heylin- hath one poor reafon againft it, vii. fycauje it was but an accidental thing that the day felt out that year on the firft day.
Anfn\ j. Was it not according to the courfe of Nature ? How then can that be called Acci- dental ? 2. But however it was no contingent accidental thing fin his fenfej that the Holy Ghoft was fait dnvn on that day rather than ano- ther. If afparrow fall not to the ground with- out Gods providence, did God choofe that day He knew not why ? Or did it fall out hap hazard or by chance ?
I need not infift on the confutation of his Ca- vils about the other Texts forecited. Note only, j. That as to his exception about Chrifts travel on his Re furred: ion day, I have after anfwered it. 2. That he freely granrcfh that iAt>ty ^nCCttju^ ligniticth fbefidi day of the week, both in AlU 2C. 7. and 1 Cor. 16. 2. 3. That he himfelf citeth afterward many testimonies that oblations and contributions \sexz in the Churches a ufuaj
JL-ords
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Lords dayes work. 4. That he confeffcth that Rev. 10. 1* is meant of the Lords da^ as by that time grown into reputation. 5. Thathethink- eth it was in fmall reputation before, becaufe Paul chofe the Sabbath fo often to Preach on, to the Jews and Hellenics, or Greeks : whereas he himfelf is forced to confefs that it was not for the dayts fake, but the Affembliesy to do them good. tf. That he vainly conceiteth £that Becaufe the Lords day was kept on the, account of Chrijls Refurrettion,~] it implyeth that it was not kept by Gods command > which needeth no confutation. 7. That his labour to prove that Paul meant the Jewifh Sabbath as abrogated is vain j for we deny it not. 8. That he cannot deny that Chriftians had all that time of the Apoftles a ftatcd day fas Pliny himfelf witnelTeth) for folemn worfhip, above othtfr daies. p. That he vainly fnatcheth a little coun- tenance from Calvin and Beza? &c. when as no man ilnce CochUus writeth more deteftably of them. 10. That after he confelTeth that [its no doubt but the Religious obfervation of the day be- gan in the Apoftles age with their approbation and Authority, and hath fince continued in the fame refreft. ] And what needs he more for confuta- tion ?
And as to his allegations of the Judgement of the Reformed, Lutheran and Roman Church, 1. We take none of them for our Rule (fo im- partial are we) But, 2. He himfelf citeth Bezay Mercer , Parous , Cuchllnus^ Simlcr, Hojpi- nian, Zanchw^ &c. as holding that It w>asy an C 4 Apojlolical
(24) Apofiolical and T'ruly "Divine Tradition, that the Apoftlts turned the Sabbath into the Lords dayr that it was an Apofiolical cufiome, or a cuftome re- ctived in the Apofiles times, dec.
And whereas afterward he would perfwade us that they (pent but a little of the day in holy worfhip, he himfelf cited Mr. George Sandys Tra- vels, faying of the Copties, that [On Saturday frcfently after midnight, they repair unto their Churches, where they remain well nigh till Sunday at noon ( of the Evening he fpeaketh not, but of their rirfi: meeting) during which time they neither fit nor kneels hut fuppjrt thcmfelves on Crutches > And they fing over the m^fi part of Divids Ffalms j^ every meeting with divers parcels of the New <tefiament~] ("This is like the old way, And fuch a Liturgie we do not contradict nor fcruple.^
Sandys alfo informeth us of the Armenian Chriftians that coming into the place oftheAffembly on Sunday in the aftemwn ( no doubt they had been there in the Morning) he found one fitting in the midft of the Congregation, in habit not differing from the reft, reading on a Bible in the Chaldean , tonque : 'That anon after, came the Bijhop in a hood or Veft of blacj^, with aftaffe in his hand ? "that firft he prayed^ and then fung certain Pfalms af- filed by two or three. After all of them finging joyntly, at interims ptayhtg to thcmfelves, the Bijhop 0 th'vi while with hi* hands erected and W face to- wards the Altar h That Service being ended, they all kjffed his hand, and bejiowed their Almes, he hying bit other hand on their beads, and blejjing $hem^ dec.
And
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And of the Abaflines he reciteth out of Brier* wooh ( and ne fr°m Vamianus a Goes) that they honour the Lords day as the Cbriftian Sabbath, and the Saturday as the Jews Sabbath, becaufc they receive the Canons called the Apoftles which fpeak for both.
And King Edgar in England ordained that the Sabbath mould begin on Saturday at three a Clock Afternoon, and continue till break a Day on Uunday. Thefe Laws for the Sabbath oi Alfred, Edgar, &c. were confirmed by Etheldred, and more fully by Canutus.
But of thefe things I (hall fay more anoa under the Propofition following > In the mean time only remembring you, i.That it is well that we are required after the fourth Commandment to priy L Lord have Mercy upon us, and encline our hearts to kgep this Law ~\ And we accept his Conceflion , that this includeth all of that Commandment which is the Law of Nature ( Though I have told you that it reacheth fome- what further.) 2. That we approve of the plain Dodtrine of the Englifh Homilies on this point, and (land to the Expofition of fober im- partiality.
Prop. 10. It hath been the conftant praclice of all Chrifts Churches in the whole world, ever ftnee the dales of the Apoftles to this day, to affemhle for public^ worfhip on the Lords day, as a day fet apart thereunto by the Apoftles, Tea fo univerfal was this judgement and pra&ice, that there is no one ^Church, no one writer, or one heretic^ (that I re- member to have read of) that can he proved ever to have diffented or gainfaid if > till of late times.
The
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The proof of this is needlefs to any one that is verfed in the writings of the ancients •, And others cannot try what we {hall produce. I have been thefe ten years feparated from my Li- brary, and am therefore lefs furnifhed for this task than is requifitc : But I will defire no man to receive more, than the Testimonies produced by Dr. Pet- Heylin himfelf, which with pittiful weaknefs he would pervert. And he being the Grand Adverfary with whom I do now contend, I (hall only premife thefe few Obfervations, as • fufficient to confute all his Cavils and Eva- (ions.
i. When his great work is to prove that' the Lords day was not called the Sabbath (unlefs by allullon^) we grant it him (as to a ]ewi(h Sabbath J as nothing to the purpofe.
2. Whereas he ftrenuoufly proveth that the Lords day was not taken for a Sabbath de re, we grant it him alfo, taking the word in the primi- tive Jewifh fenfe.
3. When he labourcth to prove that Chrifti- ans met on other daies of the week befides the Lords day (though not for the Lords SupperJ we grant it him as nothing to the purpofe. So Calvin Preached or Le&ured daily at Geneva^ and yet kept not every day as a holy day feparated to Gods wor(hip, as they did the Lords day, though too remiily. So we do dill keep Week- day Ledures, and the Church of England re- quireth the Reading of Common Prayer on Wdmfiiyu and Fridays and holy day Evens > T)o they therefore keep them Holy as the Lords day >
4. When
4- When he tells us that Clemens Alexandria nus and Origen, plead againft them that would hear and pray on that day only, we grant it him \ and we are ready to fay as they do, that we fhould not confine Gods Service to one day only, as if we might be profane and worldly on all other daies j but fhould take all fit opportunities for religious helps, and mould all the week keep our minds as near as we can in a holy frame and tem- per, Of the reft of his Objections I ftiall fay more in due place.
5. But I muft note in the beginning that he granteth the main caufe which I plead for, ac- knowledging, Hi/r. Sab. I 2. page 30. it thus i £" So that the Religious observation of this day, cc beginning in the age ofnhe Apoftles, no doubt but " with their Approbation and Authority, and fince 1 cc continuing in the fame refpeti fur fo many " ages, may be very well accounted amongji "thofe Apojiolical Traditions, which have been ic univerfally received in the Church of God,~] And what need we more than the Religious Observa- tion, in the Apoftles time, by the Apojiles Approba- tion and Authority, and th'vs delivered to us by the univerfal Church-, as an Apojiolical 'tradi- tion.
But yet he faith that the Apoftles made it not a Sabbath. Anfiv. Give us the Religious obferva- tion, and call it by what name you pleafe. We are not fond of the name of the Sabbath.
6 And therefore we grant all that he Jabori- oufly proveth of the abolition of the Jewi(h Sab- bath, and that the Ancients commonly confent, that by the abclifhed Sabbath, Col. 2. 16. is
meant
C*8J meant inclufively the weekly Jevvifti Sabbath : Epiphan. /. i. hdref 33. n. 11. Ambrof.in loc. Hicron* Epift. adAlguf. qu.10.Cbryfoft.Hom.13. in Hdbr.j. Auguft. cont.Jud. cap. 2. & cont. Faujl. Munich. 1. 16. c. 28. I recite the places for them that doubt of it.
Now let us perufe the particular Teftimonies.
1. I begin with Ignatius, ( though Valltus have faid fo much to prove the beft Copy of him of latter date and fpurious v becaufe others think otherwife, and that Copy is by him thought to be written Cent. 3. ) who faith [Let us not keep the Sabbath in a Jervifh manner in Jloth and idlenefl, but after afpiritual manner \ not in bodily tafe, but in the fludy of the Law > mt eating meat dreft ycfterday, or drinking warm drinkj, and walking out a limited [pace? but in the contempla- tion of the works of God ■ 'And after the Sab- bath let every one that loveth Chrift keep the Lords day Fejiival, the Rcfnrreclion day, the §>xeen and Emprcft of all dues, in which our life was raifed again, and death was overcome by our Lord and Saviour.']
Either thefc Epift. of Ignatius (ad Philip. &c.J are genuine or fpurious. If genuine, than note how clearly it is aflerted that the Lords day was to be obferved as the Qjeen of all daies, by all that were lovers of Chnit. And that the (eventh day Sabbath was kept with it then and there ( in Aft* fo near the Apoftles daies ) no wonder > when it was* but the honourable, gradual, re- ceding from the Mofaical Ceremonies, with an avoiding the (candalous hinderance of the Jews Convention. And Dx.Heylin well noteth,that it was
only
1 only the Eafiern Churches next the Jews that for a time kept both daies, but not the Weftern, who rather turned the Sabbath to afaft.
But if Ignatius Ep. be fpurious written Ce nu$. then as VaVtus would prove, they were written by fome heretical or heterodox perfon •■> And (b it will be no wonder that holy dayes are pleaded for, when (as Dr. Heylin obferveth) Cerinthus and his followers in the Apoftles times, flood up for the Jewifh Sabbath and Ceremonies, and fo were for both daies : But it will be our Confir- mation that even the Hereticks held with the [ univerfal Church for the Lords day.
2. The great Controverfie about the Day of ILafter> which fpread fo early through all the Churches is a full Confirmation of our matter of fad* For when the Weftern Churches were for the Pajfover day (the better to content the Jews faith Heylin) the Eaftern thought it intolerable that it mould not be kept on a Lords day, becaufe that was the weekly day obferved on the fame account of the Refurredtion : The Eaftern Chur- ches never queftioned their fuppofition of the Lords day \ And the Weftern (after Vittors rafli excommunicating the Afian BifhopsJ never refted till they brought them to keep it on the Lords day : Pius, Anicetus, Victor, &c. profecuting the caufe.
3. The Book (though periftied ) which M:- lito wrote of the Lords day, Eufeb. /. 4. c. 2 5. by the title may be well fuppoted to confirm at leaft the matter of fad or ufage.
4. All thofe little Councils, mentioned by Heylin, f. \%* held at Ofroena, Corinth, in Gaul,
in
in Pontus^ in Rome prove this, 7&e Canons of them all, faith Heylin^ being extant in EufebiusV time, #>/^ in all which it was concluded for the Sunday. But faith Heylin by this [ Ton fee that the Sun- day and the Sabbath were long in firiving for the Victory ~] p* ±9* Anfrv. I fee that fome men can out-face the cleareft light. Here was no driving at all which day mould be the weekly day fet apart for holy worlhip , but only whether Eafier (hould follow the time of Pentccoft^ or be con- fined to the Lords day.
5. Jufiin Martyrs Teitimony is fo exprefs and fo commonly cited , that I need not recite the words at large £ Vpon the Sunday all of us sf femblc in the Congregation Vpon the day cal- led Sunday all within he Cities or in the Count reyy do meet together in fome place , where , &c. ] He proceedeth to (hew the worfhip there per- formed.
Now 1. Here being mention of no other day, no man can queftion but that this day was fet apart for thefe holy afTemblics in a peculiar4 manner as the other week dayes were not.
2. This being the writing of one of the moft Learned and antient of all the Chriftian Writers.
3. And being purpofely written to one of the wifeft of all the Emperours, as an Apologie for all the Chriit ians : 4 And being written at Romc^ where the matter of fact was eailly known, de- fervcth as much credit as any Christian Hiftory or Writing finue the Apoltles can deferve. Nor hath Heylin any thing to fay againft it.
6. The next lemembred by Heylin is Vionyfius Corinth, who lived 175. cited out of Eufebim
Hijl.
C30 Hifi. /. 4. c. 22. [ to day we keep the Holy Lords day, wherein tre read the Epijile yon wrote to w, &c* ~\ Againft this Heylin faith not a word.
7. The next is Clemens Alexandr. whoexprefly aflerteth the matter of fad, that the Lords day was then kept by Chriftians. Yea, Heylin de- rideth him for fetching it as far as Plato Strom. /. 7. But Heylin thinks he was againft keeping any dayes : But he that will examine his words (hall find , that he fpeaketh only againft them that would be Ceremonious obfervcrs of the day, more than of the work of the day, and would be religious on that day alone. And therefore he faith, that [ He that leadetb bis life according to the Ordinances of the Go/pel doth fyep the Lords Day, when he cafteth away every evil thought^ and doing things with knowledge and underfiand- ing, doth glorifie the Lord in his Refurrettion. ~] This is not to fpeak againft the Day, but to (hew how it ought to be iincerely kept. But if he had been againit it, its all one to my caufe, who only prove that defatto all ChrijHan Churches fypt it.
8. The next witnefs is tertuMan, who oft a£ ferteth this to be the holy day of the Chriftians Church-AlTemblies, and holy Wor(hip : His te- ftimony in Apolog.cap. 16. is fo commonly known that I need not recite it. It is the (ame in fenfe with Juft in Martyrs, and written in an Apology for the Chriftians , purpofely defcribing their cuftom of meeting and worshipping on the Sun- day ( as he calls it there ) as Jnftin did. And that it was not an hours work 6nly, he (hews in faying, that the day was kgpt as a day of rejoicing,
and
C32J and then defcribeth the work. And de Idokh c. 14. he faith, that every eighth day was the Chriftians feftival. And de Cor on. Mil. c. 3. and oft he calleth it the Lords day, and faith it was a crime to faft upon it. And the work of the day defcribed by Juftin, and by him Apolog. <•. 39. is juft the Came that we deiire now the day to be fpent in : we plead for no other.
But moft grofly faith Heyliny pag. 55. [ But Jure it is that their ajfemblies held no longer than our Morning Service 5 that they met only before noon > for ]\x(\in faith y that when they met they ufed tore* ceive the Sacrament^ and that the fervice being doney every man went again to his daily labours. 1 Anfw. Is this a proof to conclude a [ Certainty J from ? Moft certainly abundance ot teftimonies might be produced to prove that they came to- gether early in the Morning, and ftayed till Eve- ning, if not till within Night. The former Pliny and many others witnefs : And the later many accufations of the Heathens, that cenlured them for night-crimes at their meetings ; And all that report it almoft, tell us of the Sacrament adminiftred, and Tertullian and others, of their feafting together ( their Love Feafts ) a? a Supper before they parted : Now let but the time be meafured by the work : By that time the Scri- ; ptures of the Old Teftament and New were read, and all the prayers then made, and all the Preaching and Exhortations, and then all the | Prayers and Praifes at the Celebration of the Lords Supper ( efpecially if they were half as long as the Liturgies afcribed to Bafil, Cbryfoftom, and the reft in the Biblmh*Patrum) and by
that
(33) that time the Sacrament it felf was admmiftrecK with all the action and (ingingof Pfalms, and all the Oblations and Collections made > and be- tides this, all the Church Difcipline on parti- cular perfons excrcifed , where Qaeitions and Anfwers and Proofs mult take up a great deal or" time, fure one day would be at an end, or very near it. And after when the Love Feafts were left off, and the Church met twice, and made an intermiflion, they did as we do now. And the very Cuilom of Preaching all the Morn- ing to the Audkntts and Catechumens , till al- molt Noon, when they were difmiit with a Mif- fa £/f, and fpending the reft of the day in Teaching the Church, and Celebrating the Sa- crament with all the larger Euchariftical ads, do fully (hew how the day wasfpent ; Which I would quickly prove by particular Teftimonies, but that I am fcparated from my Library > and Dr. Young hath fully done it to my hand. The very Context of thefe teiti monies, with what Albajphuuf hath of their Catechizing and Church order will foon (atisfie the impartial fe archer. As for what he faith out of Juflinpf returning to ■beir labours, I can find no (uch word in him ■■> nor do J believe there is any (uch to be found, unlets of returning to their iix dayes weekly labour, -vhen the Religious work was ended with the Jay : And I imagine the Reader will find no e jfriore, if fo much*
s U 5>- The next proof is univerfal, even the con* !> :nt of all the Chriftian Churches without one f IJQMradi&ing Vote that ever I read of, that the « D Lords
C34) Lords dayesworftup was to be performed Jland- ing, and that it was not allowed them to pray or woriTiip kneeling, upon any Lords day in the year ( or any week day between Eaftcr and Whit- fontide ) : And the difficulty of thefe Rations is exprelTed ( fee Albaflintus of it ) which (heweth that it was for a long time. Whatever they did in Hearing ( its like they fate, for Jnjiin faith, We rife to pray ) but it is certain they flood in vporfhipping acls , as prayer and praife. This Juftin Martyr-hath before mentioned : "tertulian hath it exprefly, <and Heylin himfelf citeth him de Coron* Mil & Bafil /. de Spir. S. c. 27. & Hi- eron. adverf Luciferian. Augufc. Epijh 118. Hilar. Fr£f.in Pfal- Ambrof. Scrm.62. To which he may add Epiphanm^ and divers Councils efpeci- ally Nic. 1. & T>'hL of which after. ( I once pleaded this ancient cuftom with them that would have all excluded from the Sacrament that kneel not, to prove that kneeling at the Sacrament on the Lords dayes could not be in the Church of many hundred years after the Apoitles, when the universal Church condemned kneeling on all Lords dayes worlhip ) And Dr. Heylin himfelf faith \_What time this adorn r?as laid by I can hardly fay-, but fure lam, it was not laid afide in a long time after h not tiHthe time of Pope Alexander the third, rvho lived about the year 1 160. &c. ~] Now from all this it is molt evident that the Lords day was then ob- ferved.
10. In this place though by anticipation I add the two General Councils now named : The firit great General Council at Nice? Car.2G* which!
re-
C35) rcneweth and confirmeth this antient cuftom of not kneeling in prayer on the Lords dayes, that there might be an uniformity kept in the Chur- ches. And the ConciL Contr.Trul. have the fame again i which proveth what we feek, the matter or fadr of the dayes general obfervation.
1 1. The next is Origin , who is notdenyed to witncfs to the matter of fa#s but Heylin thinks he was againit the Right of it : But his miftake is the fame, as about Clemens Alex* Ori- gen did but detlrethat other dayes might be kept alfo as profitably as they could ', as our Lecture dayes are.
ii* Cyprian \s the next, whofe tefiimonies for matter of fadt are full, and Heylin hath nothing to fay againft him, but that it is his private opi- nion, that the Lords day was prefigured in the eighth day deftined to Circumciiion. Which is nothing at all to our buiinefs in hand.
13. And he himfelf cites Pope Fabians De- cretal Anno 237 '. (ateftimony therefore that he is not to refufej [for every man and woman on the Lords dayes to bring a quantity of bread and wine to be firft offered on the Altar ^ and then di- ftributed in the Sacrament ^
The Canon of Clem* before mentioned I now I pretermit.
But faith Dr. Heylin 1. All dayes between Eafter and Whitfunday had adoration by genuflection alfo frohibited on them* 2. And the Church had other Feftivals alfo.
Anfrv. 1 The Reafon of Station was to figni-
I fie Chrifts Refurredtion and ours: Therefore it
continued for thefe dayes : But that was for the
D 2 (hort
fhort occalicnal meetings of thofe dayes, which he himfclf will not (ay were itparated to wor- fliip. 2. And the other Feftivals of the Church make nothing againft us: For i.Some of them (zsEaftcr and Whitfnnday) were but the fame Lords day. 2. And fomeof them were but An- nivcrfary, and not weekly Holy dayes i as the Nativity, &c. 3. And he confeffeth even thefe were brought in long after the Apoiiles dayes, and therefore can lay no claim to Apoftolical in- stitution. Pag. 61. he himfelf faith, that [ The Feafi ofChrifts Nativity was trdainedor inftituted in the fecund Century , and that of his Incarnation in the third."] And befides Eaftcr and Whit f 10.- dty ( which are the Lords day ) Chrilirnas is all that he namtth out of Bcda ( fo long after ) as the Majora Solemia. The Eves were but hours for preparation.
14. To thefe ( though in the fourth Century) I may add Efifhaniuu who record eth the Stati- on ( and Adoration to theEalt ) on the Lords dayes as thofe Traditions received by the Uni-. verfal Church.
And here I would have it fpecially noted, that when Tertullian, Epfhanins and others note ft and- hig on the Lords dayes to he an unwritten Tradition received by the whole Church, they do not fay the fame of the Lords day it felf ( though the An- tients oft fay , that we received it from the A- ■foftles 0 Now by this it is plain, that they took the Lords day to be of Apoilolick Inititution paft all question , and the unwritten Vniverfal Traditions to be femewhat lower ( which .there was no Scripture for at alh ) ( Ajnong which the
white
(37) white Garment, and the Milk and Honey to'the Baptized, and the Adoration toward the Eaft arenumbred. ) For he that is appointed to wor- fhip on the Lords dayes jlanding^ or toward the £j/f, is fuppoied to know that on that day he is to worihip. It* the Mode on that day be of Univerfal Tradition as a Ceremony, the day is fuppofed to be fomewhat more than of unwritten Tradition.
15. I add here alfo (though in the fourth Century, becaufe it looks back to the Inftitution ) the words of Athanafius cited by Heylin himfelf, HomiL de Semente ( though Nannius quell ion it ) £ That our Lord transferred the Sabbath to the I! Lords day. ~] But faith Dr. Heylin [ This muft be underflood, not as if done by his Commandment, but on his occafion : the Kefurrcclion of our Lord on that day, being the principal Motive which did in- flue Ace his Church to makg choice thereof for the Af-
femblies -For othermfe it would crofs what
formerly had been faid by Athanafius in his ?tij.c»u.iV) &c. J Atifiv. It exprelTeth the common judgement of the Church , that Chrift himfelf made the Change by thefe degrees : 1. Funda- mentally and as an Exemplar by his own Refur- redion on that day i giving the firft caufe of it, as the Creation-reft did of the feventh day : Secretly commanding it to his Apoftles. fe. Commiifioning them to promulgate all his {Commands. 4. Sending down the Spirit on that fery day. 5. And by that Spirit determining [hem by promulgation to determine publickly of he day, and fettle all the Churches in long i>©fleflion of it before their death. That which
D 3 is
(38 ) is thus done, may well be faid to be done by Chrift, 2. And what (hew of Contradi&ion hath his Tipa/Aa to this ? \_It was commanded at firfi that the Sabbath day fhould be obftrvtd in memiry of the accomplishment of the World : fo do vpc celebrate the Lords day as a Memorial of the be- fanning of a nervCreation.~] Had not he a Creating head here that out of thefe words could gather, that we celebrate the Lords day without a com- mand Voluntarily? One would think [To] (hould iigniHe the contrary.
But ib. fsgf 8. he citeth Socrates for the fame, faying that [_ The defigne of the Apojiles was not to bufie tbemf elves in prefcribing fejiival dales, but to infirnVt the -people in the vp ayes of Godlinefi*~]
Anfw« Socrates plainly rebuketh the bufie Ceremonious arrogancy of after Ages, for making new holy dayts^ and doth not at all mean the Lords day i but faith that to make feftivals, that is, other and more, as iince they did, was none of the Apoftles buiinefs. Nor is this any thing at all to the matter of fact, which none denyed.
1 6. I will add that as another Teftimony which p. p. he citeth againft it. The Council at Park, An* 82p. c. 50. which as he fpeaketh afcribeth the keeping of the Lords day to Atwftolical Tradition, confirmed by the Authority of the Church : The words are \jtt credit ur Apofio- Ivmm traditimc^ immo Ecclefi* authoritatc defcen- */ii,&c.J Now I have proved that if the Apoftles did it, they did it by the Holy Ghoit, and by Authority from Chriir,
But he citeth p. 7, 8. the words of Atbanafi- pF) Maximus Taurincnfis and Auguftinc, faying
that
that \JVe honour the Lords day for the Kefiir- reUion , and becanfe Chrifi rfe, and (Aug.) 'the Lords day was declared to Chrijtians by the Refer- reciion of our Lord, and from that for from him ra- ther ) began to have its fejiivity ~\ From whence he gathercth that it was only done by the autho- rity of the Church and not by any precept of our Saviour.
Anfw. As if Chrifts Refurredtion could not be the fundamental occafion, and yet Chrifts Law the obliging caufe ? Would any elfe have thus argued, [the Jews obferved the feventh day Sabbath, becaufe the Creator refted the feventh day : therefore they had no command from God for it /] Woe to the Churches that have fuch expofi- tors of Gods commands ! Or as if Chrift who both Commiflioned and Infpired the Apoftles by the Holy Ghoft, to teach all his commands, and fettle Church Orders, were not thus the chief Au- thor of what they did by his Commiffionand Spi- rit ; What Church can (hew the like Commiflion or the like Miraculous and Infallible Spirit as they had ?
See further Auguft, deCivitau Dei I. 22. c. 30. & Serm. 15. de Verb. Apoftol.
But, faith he, Chrift and two of his Difciples travelled on the day of his Kefurretlion from Jeru- falem to Emaus, feven miles, and hac}^ again, which they would not have done if it had been a Sabbath.
Anfw. 1. They would not have done it if it
had been a Jewifli Sabbath of Ceremonial Reft s
But thofe that you count too precife will go as
far now in Cafe of need to. hear a Sermon : And
D 4 remember
(.40 )
remember that they fpent the time in Chrifts preaching and their Hearing and Conferring after of it. 2-But we grant that though the Foundation was laid by Chnfts Refurredtion, yet it was not a Law fully promulgate to, and underftood by the Apoliles till fhe Coming down of the Holy Gbojl ("nor many greater matters neither^ who was promifed and given to teach them all things 6cc.
And it is worth the noting how Heylin begin- ncth his Chap.3 1.2. [ 'the Lords day takgn up by the common confent of the Churchy not injlituted or ejljblijjjcd by any Text of Scripture^ or Editl of Emperour^ or Decree of Council, five that fome few Councils did refieci upon it ; In that which fol- lows ive fiall find both Empcrours and Councils Vtry frequent in ordering things about this day and the Service of it »~]
Anfn\ Note Reader, What could poilibly bo fides Chrifl and the Holy Ghoft in the Apoftks be the Inltituter of a day, which neither Empc* four nor Council initituted, and yet was received by the common confent of all Churches in the World, even from ,and in the Apofiles dayes I Yea, as this man conftflirh by their Approbation and Au- thority f
But hence forward in the fourth Century I am prevented from bringing in my molt numerous witntilts, by Heylhis Confeflion that now Em- p-.rours, Councils and all were for itT But yet let the Reader remember, 1, How few and imall Records be left of the fcond Century, and not many of the third. 2. And that Hiitorical co- pious leftimonies of the fourth Century, that is r mperours, Council^ and the molt pious and
karned
learned Fathers, attefting that the Univerfcl Church received it from the Apofths, is not vain or afmall Evidence, when as the fourth Century began but 2CO years after St. Johns death, or within kfs than a year.
And that the rirft Chriftian Emperour finding all Chriftians unanimous in the poilliTion of the day, {hould make a Law fas our Kings doj) for the due obferving of it ', And that the rirft Ge- neral Council (hould eftablifh uniformity in the veryGeftureof Worfhip on that day, are ftrong Confirmations of the matter of fad, that the Churches unanimoufly agreed in the holy ufe of it as a feparated day even from and in the Apoftles dsyes.
Obj. But the Emperour Conftantines Edicl al~ lorvctb Husbandmen to labour.
Anfe. Only in cafe of apparent hazard left the fruits of the Earth be loft > as we allow Sea- men to work at Sea, in cafe of neceffity. And fo though by his fecond Edict Manumifllon was allowed to the Judges as an act of Charity, yet they were forbidden Judging in all other ordi- nary caufes j left the day be profaned by wranglings.
Gratian> Vakntinian9 and Theodofms by their Edict forbad publick fpectades or Chews on the Lords day. And all feeking and judging of ! Pebts and litigious Suits. And afterwara Va~ ; lentinian and Valens make an Edict that no Chri- [ftianjhould oh that day be convent ed by tbeExattors I or Receivers.
Ob. But ( faith H. ) for 30c years there was no Law to bind men to that day.
Anfa*
f4»)
Anfrv. The Apoftles Inftitution was a Law of Chrift by his fplrit, Mat. 28. 20. And how fhould there be a humane Law before there was a Chriftian Ma%iftracie ?
Obj* SaithH. p. 95. The powers which raifed it up, may tak? it lower if they fleafe, yea takg it quite away, Sec.
Anf True : that is, Chrift may : And when he doth it by himfelf, or by new Apoftles, who confirm their Commiffion by Miracles, we will obey: But we expedt his prefence with the Apoftolical conftitutions to the end of the World, Mat. 28. 20.
*Xheodofim alio enadted that on the Lords day and in the ChrijlmM, and on Eafter and to Whit- funtide the publike Cirques and Theaters fhould be (hut up. (Tor we grant that when Chriftian Magiftrates took the matter in hand, other Holy dayes were brought in by degrees •, whereas be- fore the Chriftians indeed met fyea and Com- municated; as oft as they could, even moft daies in the week •, but did not feparate the daies as ho- ly to Gods fervice as they did the Lords day : Only Cbriftmas day, and the Memorials of thofe Martyrs that were ncer them ( to encourage the people to conitancy ) they honoured fomewhat early •, But thofe were anniversary, and not week? ■ ly. And the Wednesdays, and Fridays, were kept by them but as we keep them now, or as a Le&ureday.
I grant, alfo that when Chriftian Magiftracie arofe, as the Holy dayes multiplied, the manner of the dayes observation altered. For whereas from the beginning, the Chriilians ufed to ftay
together
U3)
» together from morning till nighty ("partly through
1 devotion, and partly for fear of perfecuthn, if they were noted to go in and outs ) Afterward being free, they met twice a day, with intermiifion as
; we do now. Not that their whole daycs Ser- vice was but an hour or two as ffeylin would prove from a perverted word of Chryfijiomes and another of Origcnes (or Kuffinus) and from the
"length of their publifned Homilies : For he per- verteth what was fpoken of the length of the Sermon^zs fpoken of the length of all the Service of the whole day : whereas there was much more time fpent in the Eucharifiical and Litur^ich^ offi- ces, of Prayer, Praife, Sacraments, and Exhorta- tions proper to the Church, than was in the Ser- mon. When I was fuflfered to exercife my Mi- niitry my felf, having four hundred or five hun- dred if not fix hundred to adminifter the Sacra- ment to (though twice the number kept them- felves away) it took up the time of two Sermons ufually to adminifter it, belides all the ordinary Readings, Prayers and Praifes Morning and Even- ing.
Heylin noteth by the way, i. That now of- ficiating in a white garment begun ; 2. And Kneeling at the Sacrament } which laft he prov- eth from two or three words where Adoration only is named : Bur, 1. A late Treatife hath fully proved that the White garment was not a Religi- ous Ceremony then at all,but the Ordinary ^Un- did Apparel of honourable perfbns in thofe times, which were thought meet for the honour of the Minifiry when Chriftian Princes did ' advance them. 2. And he quite forgot that Adoration on
the
f44) the Lords dayes was ever ufed finding, and that he had faid before, that it was above a thoufand yea rs before the cultome was altered.
The inclinations to overmuch ftri&nefs on the Lords day. The deltrucYion of the Gothifli Army by the Romans in Africa becaufe they would not fight on that day, &c. fee in Heylin, p. 1 12, 113, eK% His tranftation of the words of the Synod or Council at Mafcony 588. I think wor- thy the tranferibing.
[ " It is obferved that Chriftian people do very *c ra(hly flight and negle& the Lords day > giving <c themfelves thereon as on other dayes, to conti- w nual labours, &c. Therefore let every Chriitian, <c in cafe he carry not that name in vain, give eare <c to our inftrudtion h knowing that we have ?ccare that you mould do well, as well as the <c power to bridle you, that you do not ill. It <c followeth, Cttftoditc Diem Qominicum qui nos *c denttopeperit^&c. Keep the Lords day, the day u of our new birth, whereon we were delivered " from the fnares of tin. Let no man meddle in " Litigious Controveriies, or deal in actions or cc Law fuites > or put himfelf at all on fuch an cc exigent, that needs he mult prepare his Oxen " for their daily work, but exercife your felves <c in Hymnes, and linging pra/ifes unto God j be- ;< ing intent thereon both in mind and body. If cc any have a Church at hand, let him go unto fc it, and there pour forth his foul in tears and u Prayers j his Eyes and Hands being all that u day lifted up to God. It is the everlafting day " of relt, inlinuating to us under the (hadow of 44 the feventh day or Sabbath, in the Law and
u Prophets :
f45V
tc Prophets : And therefore it is very meet that 11 we (hould celebrate this day with one accord, " whereon we have been made what at hrft we " were not. Let us then offer to God our free ct and voluntary fcrvice, by whofe great good- cC nefs we sre freed fitm the Goal ot error: not " that the Lord exacts it of us, that we fhould "celebrate this day in a coiporal abftinence or cc reft from labour, who only looks that we do " yield obedience to his holy will , by which
* contemning earthly things, he may conduct ct us to the Heavens of his infinite mercy. How- " ever if any man flhall fet at naught this our "Exhortation, be he allured, that God fhall c< punifh him as he hathdefeived •, and that he jM (hall be alfo fubjedt unto the Cenfures of the,
cl Church. In cafe he be a Lawyer, he (hall
* lofe his caule i if that he be an Husbandman, ct or Serv: n:, he (hall be corporilly punifhed for tc ir : But if a Clergy-man or Monk, he mall be "fix Moneths (eparated frcm the Congrega- " tion. ]
His reproof of Gregorius 'furomnfis for his ftri&nefs tor the Lords day, (hewethbut his own JilTentfrom him and frcm the Churches of that Age.
King Alfreds Laws for the obfervation of the Lords day, and againft Dicing, Drinking, &c. on it, are vifible in our own Conftitutions, in \Splman and others. And many moreEdidts 'and Laws are recited by H* himfelf of other jCountrcys.
Two are werthy the cbfervation for theRea- fens cf them. j. A Law ef CktharUts King of
- France^
(40 France, forbidding fervile labours on the Lords day [ Becaufe the Law forbids it, and the holy Scripture wholly contradict c lb it. ] 2. A Confiitu- tion of the Emperour Leo Pbilofipbus , to the fame purpofe [Secundum quod Spiritui fantlo ab iffiqh inflitutU ApojiolU placuit ', As it fie a fed the Holy Ghofl and the Apfilcs inputted by him* ] You fee that then Chriftian Princes judged the Lord; day to be of Divine Inftitution. Yea, to thefe he addeth two more Princes of the fame mind, confetlin^ that Leo was himfelfa Scholar, and Chiles the Great had as Learned men about him, as the times then bred, and yet were thus perfwaded of the day j yea, and that many. Mi- racles were pretended in confirmation of it •, yet he affirmeth, that the Church and the moji learned men in it were of another mind. Let us hear his proofs
1. St he, Trdoire a Bifhop of Scvil ma^es it an A- floji \ 9 nlion only, no Divine Command- ment : i day Jrigned by the Apofiles, for Re- ligious "Exer&fit in honour of our Saviours refttr- recHms and h -,.\is called the Lords day therefore: to this end and purpofe, that rejling in the fame from all earthly ads and the temptations of the world, we mi^ht intend Gods holy IForJhip, giving this day due hmour for the hope of the rifntreci'ion which we have therein. Tthe fame verbatim is repeated by Bed a l.de Offic. and by Raban.Maurus l.deinft.Ckr. 1. 2. c. 24.. and by Alcuinus de T>ie Offic. c. 24. which plainly flews, that all thefe tool^ it only for an Ap^lical ufige, &c.
Anfw. Reader, is not here a ftrange kind of proof ?, This is but juft the fame thit we affert,
and
(47) rand I am proving ', fave that he moft grofly puts an Apoflolical ufage , anil fanttion ( fanxerunt ) as diftindt from, and exclufive of a Command^ which I have fully proved to be Chrifts own , Ad: and Law to us, by vertue of i. Their Com- ; million : 2. And the infallible Spirit given them. And having brought the Hiftory to fo fair an account by our chief Adverlaries own Citations and confelfions, I will not tire my felf and the Reader with any more \ but only wifh every Chriftian to eonfider, whether they that thusdi- ilinguifh between Afoftollcal Sanctions, and Di- vine Infiitutions as this man doth, do not teach , men to deny all the holy Scriptures of the New Teftamenf, as being but Apoil olica] writings ; and go far to deny or fubvert Chriftianity it felfi by denying the Divine Authority of thefe Commiflioned Infpired men, who are foundatn ©ns of the Church, and feakd their Dodfrine by ' Miracles, and from whom it is that our Chriftian Faith, and Laws, and Church conftitutions which are Univerfal and Divine, are received.
I only remember you of Pliny a Heathens te- ftimony, of the Chriftians practice ftato die* j No man can queftion Pliny on the account of Partiality : And therefore though a Heathen, j his Hiftorical teftimony as joyned with all the Chriftian Church Hiftory, hath its credibility. He telleth Trajan, that it was the ufe of Chrifti- ans on a flated day , be fire it tras light to meet together, tofng a Hymn to Chriji as to Cc-d Tecum invicem, among themselves by turns s ar.d to bind themfehes by a Sacrament, n't t to do any nickednefs, but that they commit not Thefts, Robberies, Adul- teries^
(4» ) tints \ that they breai^not their pfoti ( or irttfl ) that they deny not the fledge ( or pawn); which being ended they nfed to depart, and to come again together to tal^e meat, but promifcuous and harm- left. 3 Epift. 97. p* 3 ©6, 307.
Where note, 1. That by a ftated day, he can mean no other than the Lords day, as the con- fent of all other Hiftory will prove. 2. That this is much like the teiUmonies of Juftin and 1"ertullian, and ( fuppoiing what thty lay of the ufe of Reading the Scripture, and Intruding the Church ) it (heweth that their chief work on that day , was the Prailes of God for our Re- demption by Chriit, and the celebration of the Lords Supper '•> and the Difciplinary excrcifes of Covenanters thereto belonging, 3. That they bad at that time where Pliny was two meetings that day, that is, they went home, and came again to their Feait of Love, in the Evening* ( Which, no doubt, was varied, as (evcral times, and places, and occaiions required \ fomctimes departing and coming again , and fometimes (laying together all day. ) 4. That this Epiftle of Pliny was written in Trajans dayes, and it is fuppofed in his fecond year : And Trajan was Emperour the year that St. JJ.m the Apoltle died, if not a year before ', fothat it is the Churches cuitom in the end of the Apoitles dayes, which Pliny here writeth of. 5. That he had the fill* kit teftimony of what he wrote, it being the confent of the ChritVians whom he, as ]udge, examined •, even of the timorous that denyed their Religion, as well as of the reft. And ma- ny of them upon his prohibition forbore thefe
meetings.
meetings. 6. And th<: number of them he tel" kth Trajan in City and Countrcy was great, o* perfons of all degrees and rank?.
So that when i. Chriltun Hiftory, 2. And Heathen, acquaint us with the matter ef fatly that the day was kept in the Apoftles time > 3. Yea, when no Hcreticks or Sects ofChriftians are found contradicting it, but the Churches then and after univufally practifed it without any controveriie j what tuller hiftorical evidence can there be? And to fay, that 1. The Apoftles would not have reproved this, if it had not been their own doing : 2. Or that it could be done, and they not know it : 3 . And that all Chriftians who acknowledged their authority, would have contented in fuch a practice fuperititiouily be- fore their faces, and againit their wills , and no teilimony be left us of one faithful Church or Chriitian that contradicted it, and ftuck to the Apoftolical authority, even where the Churches received their writings , and publickly read them, all this is fuch, as is not by fober Chrifti- ans to be believed
But the great Objection will be, That other things alfo were then takgn for Apoftolical Traditi- ons, and were cujloms of tl$ ttniverfal Churchy as well as this , which things we now renounce as fitperftitioits.
Anfw* Though I anfwered this briefly before, I now give you this fuller anfwer : I. It is but few things that come under this charge, viz* the Unction, white Garment, with the tafte of Milk and Honty at Baptifm, Adoration towards the Ea/t, and that ftanding > and not kneeling on the
E Lords
C5°) Lords dayes, and the Anniverfary Obfervation ofEafter and Whitfuntide : And the laft is but the keeping of one or two Lords dayes in the year with fbme note of diftincTion from the reft, fo far as there was any agreement in it. 2. That thefe are not ufually by the Antients called Apo- ftolical Traditions , but Onflows of the 'Vniverfzl Church: 3. That when they are called 'traditi- ons from the Apoftles, it is not with any afferti- on that the Apoftles inftituted them, but that they are fuppofed to be from their times, be- caule their Original is not known. 4. That the Antients joyn not the Lords day with thefe, but take the Lords day for an Apoftolical institution written in Scripture, though the univerfal pra- ctice of all Churches fullier deliver the cer- tain Hiftory of it ; But the reft they take for unwritten Cuftoms, asdiftincT: from Scripture Or- dinances. ( As Epipbanius fully fheweth. ) 5. That moftChriftians are agreed, that if thefe later could be proved Apoftolical Inftitutions for the Church univerfal, it would be our duty to ufe them, though they were not in Scripture. So that we rejed tlum only for want of fuch proof: But the proof of the Lords dayes repa- ration being far belter ( by concurrence of Scri- pture and all antient Hiftory ) it followeth not that we muft doubt of that which hath full and certain proof, becaufe we muft doubt of that which wants it . 6. And if it were necefTary that they ftood or fell together fas it is not) it were neceifary that we did receive thofe three or four- Ceremonies, for the fake of the Lords day,which hath io great evidence, rather than that we caft
off
C5*J
off the Lords day, becaufe of thefe Ceremonies* Not onJy becaufe there is more Good in the Lords day, than there is evil to be any way fu- fpedred by a doubter in thefe Ceremonies i but efpecially becaufe the Evidence for the day is fo great, that it the faid Ccvc monies had but the fame, they were undoubtedly of Divine autho- rity or inititution. In a word, I have (hewed you fomewhat of the evidence for the Lords day ;, Do you now (he'w me the like for them, and then I will prove that both muff be receiv- ed ; But if you cannot, do not pretend a parity. 7. And the lame Churches laying by the Cuftoms aforefaid, or moft of them, did (hew that they took them not mdeed for Apoftolical inftitutions, as they did the Lords day which they continued to obferve •> not as a Ceremony, but as a nece£ fary thing, b. And the ancient Churches did believe, that even in the Apoftles dayes tome things were ufed as Indifferent which were mu- table, and were not Laws, but temporary cu- ffoms. And fome things were neceffary, fetled by Law for perpetuity : Of the former kind they thought were, the greeting one another with a J holy kifs, the Womens praying covered with a Veil, ( of which the Apoftle faith, that it was ; then and there lo decent , that the contrary ' would have been unfeernly, and the Churches of God had no fuch cuftom, ( by which he an- fwereth the contentious ) yet in other Countreys, where cuftom altercth the iignification, it may be otherwife : Alfo that a man wear not long hair i and that they have a Love Feafl on the Lords day, (which yet Paul feemeth to begin
E 2 to
(52) to alter in his rebuke of the abuftrs or .t , i Gpt* lj. ) And if thefe ancient Churches thought the Milk and Honey, and the white Garment, and the Station and Adoration Eait- wards, to be alfo fuch like indifferent mutable cuftoms, as it is apparent they did, this is no- thing at all to invalidate our proof , that the Lords day was ufcd ( and confcquently appoint- ed; in the dayes of the Apofiles.
Obj. At Icaji it mil prove it mutable as they were.
Anfiv. No fuch matter : Becaufe the very na- ture of fuch Circumftances, having no ftated ne- ceflity or ufefulnefs, fhewcth them to be mutable. But the reaibn of the Lords dayes ufe is perpe- tual : And it is founded partly in the Law of nature, which tellcth us that fome ftated dayes fhould befet apart for holy things =, and partly in the pofitive part of the fourth Command- ment 5 which ttlictli us, that once God determined of one day in feven , yea, and this upon the ground of his own QlTation of his Creation- work, that man on that day might obferve a Holy Reft in the worfhipping of the great Cre- ator, which is a Reafon belonging not to the Jews only, but to the whole world. Yea, and that Reafon (.whatever Dr. Heylin fay to the con- trary, from the meer filence of the former Hi- iloiy in Genefis ) dofhfeem plainly to intimate that this is but the repetition of that Law of the Sabbath which was given to Adam : For why mould God begin two thoufand years after to give men a Sabbath upon the reafon of his re V from the Creation, and for the Commemora- tion
I?
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i tion of it, if he had never called man to that Commemoration before.
And it is certain that the Sabbath was ob- ferved at the falling of Manna before the giving of the La tv: And let any coniiderate Chriilian judge between Dt. Hcylin and us in this > i. Whe- ther the not falling of Manna, Qr the Reft of God
I after the Creation, was like to be the Original reafbn of the Sabbath. 2. And whether if it had been the fir{}, it would not have been (aid, Re- member to keep holy the Sabbath day \ for on fix dayes Manna fell, and not on the feventh, _ ra-
Ither than [For in fix diyes God created Heaven
l and Earth, &c. and rejfed the feventh day. ] And it is caufally added, [Wherefore the Lord blcffed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. "] Nay, confider whether this annexed Reafon intimate not, that the day on this ground being hallowed before, therefore it was that God fent not down the Manna on that day, and that he prohibited the people from feeking it.
And he that confidereth the brevity of the Hiftory in Gemfis, will think he is very bold, that obtrudeth on the world his Negative Argu-
i ment : ~ The Sabbath is not there mentioned :
[ therefore it was not then kept. ]
And if it was a Pofitive Law given to Adam
J on the reafon of the Creation Reft, it was then fitch a Pofitive, as mult be next to a Law of Na- ture, and was given to all mankind in Adam, and Adam mull needs be obliged to deliver it down to the world..
So that though the Mofaical Law ( even as given in Stone ) be ceafed, yea, and AdamsVc-
E3 iitives
(54) fitives too, fonnaMy as fuch j yet this is fure* that once Gid hbnjelf determined by a Lan?^ that one jiated day m [even, teas the fittejt proportion of time to be fcpir.tcdto holy JVorJhiP* And if it was fo once, yea, to all the world from the Creation, itisfoiiil): Becaufe there is Rill the fame reafon for it : And we are bound to judge Gods determination of the propoition to be wilcr than any that we can make. And (o by parity of Reafon confequentially even thole abrogated Laws do thus tar bind us frill i not fo far as ab- rogated > but becaufe the record and reafon of them, is Hill a figniheation of the due propor- tion or time, and confequcntly of our duty,
Now the Lorck day, (uppcling one weekly day to be due, and being but that day determi- ned of, and this upon the ileafon of the Resur- rection , and for the Commemoration of our Redemption, and that by fuch infpired and au- thorized perfons, it followeth clearly, that this is no fuch mutable ceremony, as a Love Fealt, or the Kifs of Love, or the Veil, or the warning of feet, or the anointing of the lick, which were ttioitly occahonall actions and cuttcms taken up upon reafons proper to thofe times and places.
Obj. Bftt by the reafon aforcfaid^ yen ivill •prove the ccniinuai-.ee of the feventh day Sabbath > US grounded on the Creation rcji-
Anfw. This is anon to be antwered in due place. I only prove that it continued, till a iucceilive difpentation, and Gods own change did put an end to it \ but no longer.
Obj. hut to commimorjic the Creation , and
praife
C 55 J>
praife the Creator is a Mora! wo)\, and therefore ccafeth not.
Anfw. True : but that it be done on the five tub day i is that which ceafefh. For tUefame rvor]^ is transferred to the Lords day i and the Creator andRcdeemerto be honoured together in our Com- memoration. For the Son is the only way to the Father ■-, who hath reitored us to Peace with our Creator > And as no man cometh to the Father but by the Son, and as we mutt not now wor- fhip God, as a Creator and Father never offended, but as a Creator and Father reconciled by Chritt, fo is it the appointment of Chrift by the Holy Qhoft, that we commemorate the work of Cre- ation now as repaired and reftored by the work of Redemption, on the Lords day , which is now feparated to thefe works.
That the Sabbath was appointed to Adam, JVallaus on the fourth Commandment, cap. 3. and Rivet differt. de fab. c. 1. have moft copi- oufly proved. . And Clem. Alex. Strom. I. 5. out of Homer, Hefiod, CaUimachm and others proveth that the Heathens knew of it.
We may therefore fumm up the prerogatives of the Lords day, as Leo did, Ep. 81. c. 1. On this day the world began h on this day by Chrifts RefurreUion, "Death did receive Death, and Life its beginning ; on this day the Apoftles taty the trum- pet of the Gofpel to be preached to all Nations j on this day the Holy Ghoft came from the Lord to the Apoftles, &c. See more in Athanaf de Sab. & Circ. & Augu!,h Serm. 1 54. de "tempore. There- fore faith Ifychiusin Levit. /. 2. c. 9. "the Church fetteth apart the Lords day for holy Affemblies.
' E 4 And
C50 And in the times of Heathenifh perfecution, when men were asked, Whether they were Cbrijli- ans, and kgpt the Lords dayes, tfuy anfwered that they were, and kept the Lords day, which Chriftians mult not omit : as you may fee Att* Martyr, apud Baron, an. 303. w. 37, 3S, 39. They would die rather than nor ' keep tru I 7 aifem- blies and the Lords dayes : For (aim Ignatius, Af- ter the Sabbath every lover of Chriji celebratetb the fjordsday+ennfyrned fa 'for by) the Lords re- jurrettion, the ghcea and chief of all diyes ( as is afore cited. ) For fa'ith Augujiine , *tbi Lords Refurrcclion hath promifed us an eternal Day , and consecrated tj us the Lords day > which is called thz Lords , and properly bdmgtth to the Lord, Sernu 1 5. de Verb. Apojl. And faith Hilary Prjlcg. in Pfalm. 'though the name and obfervance of a Sabbath was placed to the feventh day, yet is it the eighth day, which is alfi the firjl, on which tve rejoyce with the perfeil fcjhvity of the Sab- bath.
Of the full keeping of the whole day, and of the feveral Exerciles in which it was (pent, and of the more numerous teltimonies of Antiquity hereupon, Dr. Tmng in his Dies Dominica hath (kid (b much, with fo much evidence and judge- ment, that Ipurpofely omit abundance of iuch Teltimonies, becaufc I will not do that which he hath already done \ The Learned Reader may there hud unaniwerable proof, of the matter of fadt, that the Lords day was kept in the Apoftles dayes, and ever fines as by their appointment > And for the unlearned Reader, I fear ieii I have too much interrupted him with Citations alrca-
it.
(57 J dy. I only tell him in the Conclufion, that If Scrptare Hilary interpreted -and Jc <> did by ful- lejt pr alike and Hijtory of ah the Churches of'Cmijiy and by the confent of Heathens and Huetickj, avd not cr,ntraditte4 by any Sedt in the world, btto be believed, then we mull (ay, that the Lords day was commonly kept by the Chritiians in and from the Apuitles times
Prop. ii. Tth'vs evidence of the Churches nnivfr* fal conftant ufige, is a full ar.d fuffi.cicnt fr of of the matter of fad, that it was a day fet afar, by the Apo\iks for holy V/orJhif ■> cjftcialy in the fublki^Cbuicb-'Jf.mblies.
i. It is a full proof, that fuch Ajfernblies were held on that day above others, as a feparatcdd.iy. For if if was the ufage in Anno ioc. ( in which theApoftleJdb* dyed; it mult needs be the ufage in the year 99, in which he wrote his Re- velations, where he calleth it the Lords day : tor all the Churches could not filently agree on a fudden to take up a new day , without debate and publick notice, which could not be con- cealed. And if it was the univerfal ulage in the dayes of Ignatius or J ufl in Martyr, it was fo alio in the dayes of §Ujohny (andfo beiore ) For the Churches were then fo tar diipaied ; over the world, that it would have taken up j much time to have had Councils and meetings or any other means for agreement on fuch things.
And it is utterly improbable that there would have been no dillenters ? For, 1. Did no Chri\\ians in the world io neer to the Apoftles daies make any fcruple of fiqerftition ? or of fuch an addition
to
C5*0
to Divine inftitutions ? 2. Was there no Coun- trey, nor no perfons whofe intereft would not better fuit with another day, or an uncertain day? or at leaft their opinions ? when we rind it now fo hard a matter to bring men in one Countrey, to be all of one opinion. 3. And there was then no Magvirate to force them to fuch an Union ^ Aiid therefore it mull be voluntary. 4. And they had in the fecond age fuch Pallors as the Apoftks tbemjclvc had ordained, and as had converfed with them, and been trained up by them and knew their mind, and cannot foberly be thought likely to confent all on a fudden to iuch a new inftitution, without and contrary to the Apoitles fenfe and practice. 5. Yea, they had yet Mini- iters that had that extraordinary fpirit which was given by the laying on of the Apoftles hands : Tor if the aged Jpiftlcs ordained young men, it is to be fuppofed that molt of thofe young men, ( fuch as limothy) overlived them. 6. Yea and the ordinary Chri\U.ins in thofe times had thofe f xtraor din ury gifts by the laying on of the Apoftles hands, as appeareth evidently in the cafe of Sa- maria, Act. 8. and of the Corinthians , 1 Cor. 12. & 14. and of the Galathians, Gal. 3. 1,2, 3. . And it is not to be iiifp.&ed that all theie infpired Minivers and people would confent to afuperftiti- ous innovation, without and againfi the Apoftles minds.
2. Therefore this hiflory is a full proof, that thefe things were d>,ne by the confent and appoint- ment of the ApojUcs. for, 1. As is faid, the in- spired perfons and Churches could not fo fud- denly be brought to forfa{$ them university in
fuch
fuch a cafe. 2. The Churches had all fo high an eflcern of the Apoitles, that they took their Au- thority for the higheft, and their judgement for infallible, and therefore received their writings as Canonical and Divine. 3. The Churches pro- fefled to obferve the Lords day as an Afoftolical Ordinance, And they cannot be all fuppofed to have confpircd in a lie, yea to have belyed the Holy Gboft. 4-The Afoftles themselves would have control- led this courfe,it it had not been by their own ap- pointment.For I have proved that the ufage was in their own daies. And they were not fo carelefs of the prefervation of Chrifts Ordinances and Churches, as to let fuch things be done, without contradicti- on ", when it is known how Paul ftrove to rtiift and retrench all the corruptions of Church-order in the Churches to which he wrotc.lf the Apoftles,filently connived at fuch corruptions,how could we reft on their authority ? Efpecially the Apoftle John in an. 99 would rather have written againft it as the j fuperitition of Ufurpers (as he checkt JDiotrepbes for contempt of himj than have laid that he vpm in thl Sfirit on the Lords day when he faw Chrift, 2nd received his Revelation and mefTage to the Churches. 5 And if the Churches had taken up this practice univerfally without the Apoftles, it is utterly improbable that no Church writer would have committed to memory either that one Church that begun the cuftome, or the Council or means uied for a fudden Confederacy therein. If it had begun w'rthjome one Church, it would have been long before the reft would have been brought to an agreeing Content. It was many hundred years betore they all agreed of the Time pf Eajlcr j And it was till the middle of Cbry-
fofiomes
(to) ffjtomcs time (Tor he fairh it was bat ten yean agoe, when he wrote it) that they agreed of the time of Chrilts Nativity.
But if it had been done by Confederacy at once, the motion, the Council called about it, the debates , and the difTenters and re- finances would all have been matter of fad:, fo no- table, as would have found a place in fome Au- thor or Church Hiitory : Whereas there is not a Syllable of any fuch thing •, either of Council, letter, meiTenger, debate, refinance, &c. There- fore it is evident that the thing was done by the Apofiles.
Prop. 12. 'They tint will deny the validity of ifas Hijlorical evidence, do by confequence betray the Cbriftian faith, or give away or deny the neceffary means of proving the truth of it, and of many great particulars of Religion*
I fuppofe that in my Book called 'the Reafons of the Chrijiian Religion, I have proved that Chri- iiianity is proved true, by the SPIRIT as the great witnefs of Chriit, and of the Chriftian Verity ; But I have proved withall, the necelfity and certainty of hidorical means, to bring the matters of fad to our notice, as fenfe it (elf did bring them to the notice of the rirft receivers* For in fiance,
I. Without fuch hijlorical Evidence and Cer- tainty, we cannot be certain rvbat Boofy of Scri- pture are truly Canonical and of Vivine authority, and what not. This Frott Hants grant to Papiite in the Controvcriie of Tradition. Though the Canon be it felt compleat, and 'Tradition is no fupplement to make up the Scriptures, as it they were infuo genere imperfdi , yet it is commonly
granted
(6i)
granted that our Fathers and Teachers Tradition is the band to deliver us this perfect Rule, and to is what parts make up the Canon.
If any fay that the Books do prove themfelves to be Canonical or Divine, I anfwer, i. What man alive could tell without hiftorical proof that the Canticles, or Ejlbcr, are Canonical * yea or Ecclefiajies, or the Frwtrbs, and not the Books of Wifdome and EccUpaJHcia ?
2. How can any man know that the Scripture biftories are Canonical ? The fuitablenefs of them to a holy ioul, will do much to confirm one that is already holy, of the truth of the Doftrinet; But if the fpirit within us allure us immediately of the truth of the Hifiory, it muft be by Infpira- Hon and Revelation, which no Chriftians have, that ever I was yet acquainted with. For in- fiance, that the Books of Chronicles are Canoni- cal, or the Book of Either, or the Books of the Kings, or Samwl, or Judges* And how much doth the doclrine of Chriftianity depend on the hiftory ? As of the Creation, of the Ifraelites bon- dage, and deliverance, and the giving of the Law, and Mofis miracles, and of Chronologie and Chrifts Genealogie i and of the Hiftory of Chrifts own Nativity, Miracles and Life i and the Hiftory 'of the Apoftles afterward > To fay that the very Hiftory fo far proveth its own truth, as that without fubfequent Hiftory we can be fare of it, and muft be, is to reduce all Chrifts Church of right believers into a narrow room ; when I never knew the man thatf as far as I could perceive.) did know the Hiftory to be Divine by its proper evidence, without Tradition, aid fubfequent Hiftory. 3. And
(62)
3- And how can any man know the Ceremonial Law to be Divine, by its pioper evidence alone > Who is he that readcth over Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers, that will fay that without knowing by Hiftory that this is a Divine Record, he could have certainly perceived by the Book it felf, that all thefe were indeed Divine inftitutions or Laws ?
4. And how can any meet Fofuive inftitutions of the New Teftament be known proprio lumine, by their own evidence to be Divine ? As the in- ititution of Sacraments, Officers, Orders, &c. What is there in them that can infallibly prove it to us ?
5. And how can any Frophccies be known by their own evidence to be Divine, ( till they are fulfilled and that (hall prove it*)
I know that the whole frame together of the Chrijiian Religion hath its fufficient Evidence, but we muft not be guilty. of a peevifli rejecting it. The Moral part hath its witnefs within us, in that ftateof holinefs which it imprintethonthe foul i and the reft are witneffed to, or proved partly by that, and partly by Miracles, and thofe and the records by hiftorical evidence. But when God hath made many things necefTary to the full evi- dence, and wranglers through partiality and Con- tention againft each others will fome throw away one part and fome another, they will all prove deftroyers of the faith (as all dividers bev* If the Papift will fay, It is tradition and not inhe- rent Evidence, or if others will fay that it is inherent evidence alone, and not hijiory or Tradi- tion, where God hath made both needful here- unto
C*3) unto, both will be found injurious to the faith.
I I. Without this hiftorical evidence we cannot prove that any of the books of Scripture are not maimed or depraved. That they come to our hands as the Apoftles and Evangelifts wrote them, uncorrupted. It is certain by Hiftory, that many Hereticks did deprave and corrupt them, and would have obtruded thofe Copies or Corruptions on the Churches : And how 'we (hall certainly prove that they did not prevail, or that their copies zxefalfe, and ours are true, I know not without the help of Hiitory. Mahomet and his followers fmore numerous than the Chriftians) pretend that Mahomet s name was in the Gofpel of Jokit as the Paraclet or Comforter promifed by Chrift, and that the Chriflians have blotted it out, and altered the Writings of the Gofpel. And how (hall we difprove them but by Hiftorical Evi- dence ? As the Arrians, and Sccinians pretend that we have added, i John 5. 7. for the Trinity, fo others fay of other Texts s And how (hall we confute them without Hiilorical Evidence ?
III. Therefore we cannot make good the Authority of any one Jingle Verfe or 'Text of Scri- pture which we (hall alledge, without hifterical evidence. Becaufe we are not certain of that funicular text , ( or words, ) whether it have been altered or added, or corrupted, by the fraud of Hereticks, or the partiality of (ome Chriftians, or the overllght of Scribes : For if a Cujlome of fetting apart one day weekly, even the tirft, for publick Woi(hip, might creep into all the Chur- ches in the World, and ro man know how, nor
when 5
when *, much more might one or a few corrupt Copies become the exemplar of thole that fol- low. For, whxi day all the Churches m^et, men, women, ~nd children know \ Learned and un- learn d Kno«v •, the Orthodox tand. Keiencks know 9 and they fu kport>y as that they cannot eboqft but Know. But the alterations of 'a TV**, m y be unknown to all lave the Learned^ and the obferving dilizent part of the learned only, and thofe that they tell it to. And belides driven ( called a Heretick^) and Hierome, alas, how few of the Fathers were able and diligent Examiners of fuch things ? Therefore in the cafe of various Readings fuch as Ludru, Capclm treats of in his C itica Sacriy cont ididled in many things by B (hop 17$; ran u others,) wlio are thofe Divines th t law litnerto appealed either to the Spirit, or to the prfcr light of the words, for a decilion ? Who is it that doth not prefently fly to biftorical evidence ? And what that cannot determine we all confefs to be uncertain ? And if Copies and Hiftory had del vered to us as various Readings of every text as they have done of fome, every T xt would have remained uncertain to us.
Let nune fay chat this lea veth the Cbriftian Re- li ion, oi the Scriptuies uncertain: 1 have fully anfwered that ellewhep . I. Chrijlian Religion, that is, The Material pirts of the Scripture on which our falvathn lyeti. hath much fuller evi- dence, than ex b particular lext or Canonical Bool^ hath. Aiid wt n^ed not regard the pcrvcrfe zeal ror the Scriptures ot thofe men that would make all our Chriftian] y js uncertain, as the authority. of a particnla> 'fext or bovk^ is. And
therefore
1*5 J Therefore God in mercy hath (6 ordered it, that athoufand Texts may be uncertain to us, or not undeiftood ( no not by any or many Divines ) and yet the ChrijlLvt fditi be not at all (haken, or ever the more uncertain for this ; When as he that underftandeth not or believeth not every effential At tick of the faith, is no Chrijlian. 2. And thofe bocks and texts of Scripture, are fully certain by the fubfervient help of Hiftsry and ufage, which would be uncertain without them. Therefore it is the a<ftof an enemy of the Scriptures, to caft away, and diipute againft that Hifiory which is neceflary to our knowledge of its certainty, and afterwards to plead that they who take in thofe neceflary helps do make it un- certain : Even as it they mould go about to prove that all writings are uncertain, and therefore that they make Chrifts do&rine uncertain, who reft upon the credit of writings, that is, the Sacred Scriptures.
I V. Without hiftorical notice, how mould we know that thefe Books were written by any of the fame men that bear their names ? As Mat- tbevp, Mark^, Luke, John, Faul, Peter, &c. Efpe- daily when the Hereticks did put forth the Go- fpel of Thomas, Nicodemus, the Itinerary of Pe- ter and many Books under venerable names > Or when the name of the Author is not notified to all Chriftians certainly, either by the fpirit within us, or by the matter ? And though our falvation depend not on the notice of the Pen- man, yet it is of great moment in the matter of faith,
i
F V.AnJ
V. And how (hould we be certain that ho other Sacred Eoohj are loft, the knowledge of which would tell us of that which thefe contain not, and would help us to the better underftanding of thefe ? I know that a friorc we may argue from Gods Goodncfs, that he will not fo forfakc his Church, As a Jew might have done before Chrifts incarnation, that the Gofpel (hould be written, becaufe it is beft for the world or Church. But when weconfider how much of the. world and Church, God hath fprfaken, fince the Creati- on, and how dark we are in fuch Prognofticks, and how little we know what the Churches fins may provoke God to, we (hould be lefs confi- dent of fuch realonings, than we are of Hiftorical Evidence, whieh tells us de fatio what God hath done. So much of the ufe of the Hiftory, as to the Caufe of the Scriptures themfelves.
Next you may obferve that the denyal of the certainty of humane Hiftory and ufage, doth difadvantage Chriftianity in many great particu- lar concernments. As, I. Without it we (hould not fully know whether defafio the Church and Miniftry dyed, or almpft dyed with the Apoftles } And whether there have been any true Churches fince then till our own dayes > Chrifts prom ife indeed tells us much i but if we had no Hiftory of the performance of it, we (hould be ready to doubt that it might be yet m performed > as far asthepromife to Adam ( Gen. 3. 15.) and to Abraham ( in thy feed fiiah all the Nations of the earth be blefcd; were till :he coming of Chrift. Nor could we eafily cbmute the Kom^'i or any heretical Ufurpation, whieh would pretend pof-
fcflion
feffion itnce the Apoftles daies, and that all that are iince gone to Heaven, have gone thither by their way, and not by ours.
1 1. Nor could we much better tell de fattoy whether Baptiim have been adminiftred in the form appointed by Chrift,In the name oftheFatber, of the So^t, and of the Holy Ghoft ? Indeed we may well and truly argue a priore, Chrift commanded it, Ergo the Apoftles obeyed him : But, i. That Argument would hold good as . to none or few but the Apoftles : And, 2. It would as to them, be though true, yet much more dark than now it is, becaufe, i. We read that Peter difobeyed his Command, in Gal. 2. And, 2. That after he had commanded them to Preadi the Gofpel to every Creature, and all the World, Peter fcrupled ftili going to the Gentiles, Acl. 10. And, 3. That when he faid to them , Pray thus [Our Fa- thet,~&c.~\ yet we never read that they after ufed that form of words > (b when he faid to them [Baptize in the name of the Father^ &c.~\ yet the Scripture never mentioneth that they or any other perfon, ever ufed that form of words. But yet ufage and Hiftory aiTureth us that they did.
III. Nor have we any fuller Scripture proo£ that the Apoftles ufed to require of thofe that were to be Baptized any more than a general Profeflion of the fubftance of the Chriftian faith, in God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghoft i Or of the ancient ufe of the Chri- ftian Creed, either in the words now ufed, or any of the fame importance. From whence many would inferr that any one is to be Baptized, who will but lay, that [ I believe that Jefus F a Gkrif
Cbrifl U the Son of Gocf] with the Eunuch, AH. $. 37. or that Chrili is come in the flefh, 1 Job. 4. 2,3.
Bat Hiftorical evidence aflureth us, that it was ufual in thofe times, to require of men a more ex* flicite undemanding profcjjton of the Chriftian faith before they were admitted to Baptifme> And that they had afummaryorSyinbolc^tted to that ufe, commonly called The Apoftles Creed , at leaft as to the conftant tenour of the matter,though fome words might be left to the fpeakers will, and fome little fubordinate Articles may be lince added. And that it was long after the ufe to keep men in the (late of Catechifed perfons, till they underftood that Creed. And it is in it {elf exceeding probable that though among the intel- ligent Jews, who had long expected the Mclfiah, the Apoftles did 'Bapt'ne thoufands in a day, Aft* 2. Yet where the Miraculous communication of the Spirit did not antecede (as it did Aft* 10.) they would make poor Heathens who had been bred in ignorance to underftand what they did firft, and would require of them anunderftanding profeflion of their Belief in God the Father, Son^ and Holy Gbofi •, which could not pofiibly (if un- derftanding) contain much lefs than the Syrnbo- lumfidri, the Apoftles Creed.
I V. Nor have we any Scripture proof, (ex- cept by inferring obedience from the precept) that ever the Lords Frayer was ufed in words,, after Chrift commanded ox delivered it ; Whence fpme infefr that hfiould not be fo ufed : But Church Hiftory puttctn that pair doubt. Other (uch in- ftancesl pretermit.
I think now that I have fully proved to fober confiderate Chriftians, that the matter of faft (that the Lords day was appointed by the Apoftlcs peculiarly for Church- Worfhip) is certain to us by hiftorical Evidence, added to the historical in- timations in Scripture as a full expofition and confirmation of it : And that this is a proof that no Chriftian can deny without unfufferable injury to the Scriptures and the Chriftian caufe.
_-
CHAP. VI.
Prop. 5. *Ihti AS of the Apoftles appointing the Lords day for Chriftian Worfhip\ tpm done by the Jpecial infpiration or guidance oftheHolyGboft.
THis is proved, 1. Becaufe it is one of thofc Acts or works of their Office, to which the HolyGhoft was promifed them.
2. Becaufe that fuch like or fmaller things are by them afcribed to the Holy Ghoft, Act. 15. 28. [It feemcdgood to the Holy Ghoft and us~] when they did but declare an antecedent duty, and decide a Controverfie thereabout. See alfo, AS. 4. 8. AS> 5. 3. & 6. 3. with 7. 55. AS. 13. 2, 4. & \6. <5, 7. & 20. 23, 28. & 21. 11. 2 Tim. 1. 14. Jud. 20. AS. 11. 12, 28. & 19. 21. & 20. 22. I Cot. 5. 3, 4. & 14. 2, 15, 16. And 1 Cor. 7. 40. When Faul doth but counfel to a (ingle life, he afcribeth it to the Spirit of God.
F 3 3. And
(70 J 3. And if any will prefume to fay, that men purpofely indued with the Spirit, for the works of their commiffion, did notwithstanding do Fuch great things as this, without the condudt of that Spirit, they may by the fame way of pro- ceeding pretend it to be as uncertain,of every par- ticular Book and Chapter in the New Tcftament, whether or no they wrote it by the Spirit : For if it be a found inference, [They bad the promife and gift of the Spirit, that they might infallibly leave in writing to the Churches, the doftrines and precepts, of Chrift : Ergo whatever they have left in Writing to the Churches as the dotlrine and pre- cepts of Chrift, is Infallibly done by the Guidance of that Spirit,"] Then it will be as good an infe- rence [They bad the promife and gift of the Spirit, that they might infaiibly fettle Church-orders for all the Churches univcrfaLy : ergo, Whatever Church- orders they fetled for all the Churches univerfally, they fetled them by the infallible guidance of that Spi- rit.'} ,
But this few Chriftians will deny, except fome Papifls, who would bring down Apoftolical Constitutions to a lower rank and rate, that the Pope and his General Council may be capa- ble of laying claim to the like themfelves-, and lb may make as many more Laws for the Church as they pleafe, and pretend fuch an authority for it as the Apojtles had for theirs. By which pre- vents rmny would make too little diftin&ion be- tween Gods Laws, given by his Spirit, and the I wc of a IV>pe and Popifli Council \ and call m all but Jbe Laws of the Church. Whereas there js no Univerfal Head of the Church but
Chrift,
(7U Chrift, who hath referved Univerfal Legiflation to Himfelf alone, to be performed by himfelf perfonally, and by his Advocate the Holy Ghoft, in his Authorized and Infallibly-infpired Apoftles, who were the Promulgators and Recorders of them * All following Paftbrs, being but (as the Jewifli Prieits were to Mofes and the Prophets) the frejkrvtrS) the exfofiters^ and the applyers of that Law.
CHAP. VIL
Qu. 2. Whether the feventh day Sahhathjhould be jtill k$ft by Cbrijtians, as of Divine obliga- tion? Neg.
I Shall here premife, That as fomcfuperftition is lefs dangerous than prepbanenefl ( though it be troub lef owe, arid have ill csn/equents^) fo the Errour of them who keep both dates as of Di- vine appointment, is much lefs dangerous than theirs that keep none : yea and lefs dangerous, I think, than theirs who rejett the Lords diy, and keep the feventh day only. Becaufe thefe latter are guilty of two fin*) (the reletting of the right day3 and the keeping of the wrong i but the other are guilty but of one (the keeping of the wrong day.) Befides that if it were not done, with a fuperfti- tious conceit ( that it is Gods Lzw) in Ibme cafes a day may be voluntarily fet apart for holy duties, as daiesof Thankfgiving and Humiliation now are.
F 4 But
But yet, though the rejecting of the Cords day be the greater fault fand I have no uncharitable cenfures of them that through weaknefs keep both daies) I mud conclude it as the truth, that We are not obliged to the obfervnion of the Satur- day or feventh day as a Sabbath^ or feparated day of holy Worfoip.
Arg. i. Thaldayes obfetvation which we are not obliged to, either by the Law of Nature, the Pofitive Law given to Adam, the Pofitive Law given to Noah, the Law of Mofcs, nor the Law of Chrijl in- carnate, we arc not obliged to by any Law of Gcd fas dilhndt from humane Laws : ) But fuch is the obfervation of the feventh day m a Sabbath : Ergo we are not obliged u the vbfervation of the feventh day as a Sabbath by any Law of God,
The Minor I mufl prove by parts (Tor I think none will deny the fufficient enumeration in the Major.J
And, I. That the Law of Nature bindeth us not to the feventh, or any one day of the feven more than other, appeareth, i. In the nature and reafonoi the thing ; There is nothing in nature to evidence it to us to be Gods will. 2. By every Christians experience : No man rindeth himfelf convinced ot any fucli thing by meer nature. 3. By all the Worlds experience: No man can lay that a man of that opinion can bring any cogent evidence or argument from nature ahme to convince another, that the feventh day mull be rheSabbarh. Nor is it any where received as a Law cf N-itnre, but enly ds a 1'radition among tewic few Heathens, end as Law pofitive by the
: \ md kmc few Cfirijiyw* J am not feli- citous
f750
citous to profcaite this argument any further -, becaufe I can con fen t that all they take the feventh day for the Sabbath, who can prove it to be To by meet natural Evidence ; which will not be one.
II. That the Fofitive Law made to Adam (be- fore or after i\\zfo\\) or to Noah, bindeth not us to keep the feventh day as a Sabbath, is proved.
i.Becaufe we are under a more perfect fubfequent Law \ which being in force, the tormer more im- ferfeft ccafetb. As the force of the Tromife of the Incarnation of Chrift is ceafed by his incarnation, and fo is the precept which bound men to believe that he (hould de futttro be incarnate i and the Law of Sacrificing (which Abel doubtlefs re* ceived from Adam, though one of late would make it to be but will-worjhip '■>) fo alfo is the Sab- bath day, as giving place to the day in which our Redemption is primarily commemorated , as the imperfedt is done away when that which is more perfect cometh.
2. Becaufethat the Law of Chrift containeth an exprefs revocation of the feventh day Sabbath, as (hall be (hewed anon.
3. Becaufe God never required two dayes in feven to be kept as holy : Therefore the firji day being proved to be of Divine inftitution, the cef- fation of the feventh is thereby proved : For to keep two dayes is contrary to the command which they themfdves do build upon, which requireth us to fan&irie a Sabbath, and labour fix dayes.
4. And when it is not probable that moil or many Infidels are bound to Adams day, for want pt notice ( at leaft > ) For no Law can bind
without
f74) without promulgation (though I now pate by the queftion, how far a promulgation of a poiitive to our firft Parents may be faid to bind their pofterity, that have no intermediate notice) It ieemeth left probable that Cbrifiians fhould be bound by it, who have a more perfect Law pro- mulgate to them.
5. Nor is it probable that Chrift and his Apoftles and all the following Paftors of the Churches would have palled by this Polltive Law to Adam, without any mention of it, if our uni- verfal obligation had been thence to be colle&ed. Nay I never yet heard a Sabbatarian plead this Law, any otherwife than as fuppofed to be im- plyed or exemplified in the fourth Command- ment.
III. And that the fourth Commandment of Mofes Law bindethus not to the feventh day Sab- bath is proved.
1. B^caufe that Mofes Law never bjund any to it but the Jews, and thofe Profehtes that made themfelves inhabitants of their Land, or volun- tarily fubje&ed themfelves to their policy. For Mofes was Ruler of none but the Jews j nor a Legislator or deputed >fficcr from God to any other Nation. The Decalogue was but part of the Jewifh Law, if you coniider it not as it is written jn Nature, but in Tables of Stone : And the Jew- i(h Law was given as a Law to no other peo- ple but to them. It was a National Law, as they were a. peculiar people and holy Nation. So that even in Mofes daies it bound no other Nations of the World. Therefore it needed not any abrogation to the Gentiles, but a declaration that it did not bind them. 2. The
C75) 2. The whole Law of Mofes formally as fuch is ceafid or abrogated by Chrilt. I fay, As fuch > Becaule Materially, the fame things that are in that Law, may be the matter of the Law of Na- ture, and of the Law of Chrift : of which more anon. That the whole Law of Mofes as fuch is abrogated, is mod clearly proved, i. By thefre-
Sient arguings of Paul, who ever fpeaketh of at Law as ceafed without excepting any part, And Chrift faith, Luhg 16. 16. The Law and the Prophets were untill John, that is, were the chief doctrine of the Church till then, J oh. 1. 17. Ihe Law was given by Mofes, but grace and truth com- eth by Jifus Chrift. No Jew would have under- stood this, if the word [L*n?] had not con- tained the Decalogue. So Joh. 7. ip, 23. Aft* 1 5. 5, 24. It was the whole Law of Mofes, as fuch which by Circumcifton they would have bound men to. Gal. 5. 3. The Gentiles are (aid to fin without Law, even when they broke the Law of Nature jnezmng[_without the Law ofMoks]Rom. 2*12,14,1 5, 16. In all thefe following places its not part but the whole Law of Mofes, which Paul ex- cludeth (which I ever acknowledged to the An- tinomians, though they take me for their too great Adverfary, ) JLom. 3. ip, 20, 21, 27, 28,31. ^4.13,14,15,16. & 5.13.20.^7.
4> 5> 6> 7> 8> l6- & 9- 4> 3^32- & 10. 5. Gal. 2. 16, ip, 21. & 3. 2, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15?, 21,24. & 4.21. & 5.3,4, 14, 23. & 6. 13. Eph. 2. 15. Phil. 3. 6,$. Heb. 7, .11,12, ip. #• p. ip. d^ 10. 28. 1 C<?r. p. 21.
2. More particularly there are fome Texts which exfreji the cellation of the Decalogue as it
was
(76) t
was Afy/e/Liw, 2 Cor. 3. 3,7, u. Ndii tables of Stone, but in flejkly tables of the hem—— But if the Minift ration of death written and engraven in ftoncs wjs glorious, fo that the Children of Ifrael could not ftedfajlly behold the face of Mofes fir the glory of hit Countenance* which was to he done away ( or U done away.) They that fay the Glory, and not the Law is here faid to be done away, (peak againft the plain (cope of the Text : For the Glory of Mfes face, and the glorious manner of deliverance ceafed in a few daies, which is not the ceflation here intended 5 But (as Dr. Ham- mond fpeaketh it) [that Glory and that Liwfo glo- riiiufty delivered is done away ] And this the eleventh verfe fullyer expreffeth [ For if that which is done away was glorious ( or, by Glory,) much more that which rem xineth is glorious * or {in glory) (b that as it is not only the Glory, but the Glorious Law,G^fpcl orTeftament which is faid to remain, fo it is not only the Glory, but the Law which was delivered by Glory which is ex- prefly faid to be done away : And this is the Law
which was written in Stone Nothing but
partial violence can evade the force of this Text.
So Heb. 7. 11, 12. [Vnier it (the Levitical Tricfihood) the ptople received the Law— And the Pricfthood being changed there \* made of ne- cefiity a change alfo of the Law. 18. For there is verily a difinuHing of the Commandment going he- fore, for the weaknefl and unprofitabknefl thereof. For the Law made nothing per fc3\ but the bring- ing in of a better hope— 22. By fo mu:h was Jcfui mide afitretyof a better fcftament'] In all this it is plain that it is the whole frame of the
Mofaical
(77) Mofaical Law that is changed, and the New Teflgpent fet up in its ftead.
Heb. 9* 18, i£. Neither was the firft Dedicated without blood > for when Mofcs had fpokgn every precept to all the people according to the Law, &c. Here th e Law which is before faid to be changed is faid to contain Every Precept*
And Eph. 2.15. his the Law of Command* mentsconi nned in Ordinances, which Chrift abo- lished in Ws flefh •, which cannot be exclufive of the chief \>art of that Law.
Obj. TIm i* the Doclrine of the Antinomians^ that the Law is abrogated, even the Moral Law.
Anf* It is the Do&rine of the true Antinomi- ans that we are under no Divine Law, neither of Nature nor of Chrifl > But it is the Dodrine of faul and all Cbriitians, that the Jewifh Mofaical Law as fuch is abolifhed.
Obj. But do not all Diviner fay that the Moral Law it of perpetual obligation ?
Anf Yes v Becaufe it is Gods Law of Nature, and alfo the Law of Chrift.
Qb'yBut do not moftfay that the Decalegue written inftone,U the Moral Law and of perpetual obligation*
Anfw* Yes: for by the word [Moral"] they mean [Natural^] and fo take Moral, not in the large ienfe as it iignitieth a Law de mcribut as all Laws are whatfoever, but in a narrower lenfe as Cgnifying, that which by Nature is of Vniverfal and perpetual obligation. So that they mean not that it is perpetual as it is Mofes Law and | written in Stone formally, but as it is Moral f that is Natural •> And they mean that Materially the Decalogue containcth the fame Law which is
the
OS)
the Law of Nature* and therefore is materially ftill in force : But they ftill except certain points and circumftances in it, as the prefatory reafon £ I am the Lord that brought thee out of the Land QfJEgypt, &c,~] And efpecially this of the feventh day Sabbath.
Qj. Hqw far then are n>e hound by the De- calogue ?
Anfa. i. As it is the Law of Nature > 2. As it is owned by Chrift, and made part of his Law* Therefore no more of it bindeth dire&ly, than we can prove to be either the Law of Nature^ or the Law of Chrtfl, 3. As it was once a Law of God to the Jews, and was given them upon a reafon common to them with us or all man- kind, we muft ftill judge, that it was once a Divine determination of what is molt meet, and an expoiition of a Law of Nature , and therefore confequentially , and as that which intimateth by what God once commanded, what we (hould take for his will, and is moft meet, it obligeth ftill. And fo when the Law of Na- ture forbiddeth Inceft, or too near marriages, and God once told the Jews what degrees were to be accounted too near, this being once a Law to them direBly, is zVotlrine and Expofnion of the Law of Nature ftill to us i and fois confe- quentially a Law-, by parity of reafon. And fo we (hall {hew anon that it is by the fourth Com- mandment.
I V. The Law of Chrift bindeth us not to the ob" fervation of the feventh day Sabbath. Proved.
1. Becauie it is proved that Chrift abrogated Mcfes Law as fuch , and it is no where proved
that
(79) that he reaiTumed this , as a part of his own Law. For it is no part of the Law of Nature ( as is proved ) ( which we confefs now to be part of his Law. )
Object. Chriji faith ,' that he came not todeftroy the Law and Prophets, hut to fulfill them, and that a hot or tittle Jhali not fafs till all be ful~ filled*
Avfw* He is the end of the Law for righte- oufnefs to every one that btlkveth, Rom. 10. 4. *lht Law was a Schoolmaftcr to bring us to Chriji , Gal. 3. 24. He hath therefore fulfilled the Law according to his word, by his incarnation, life, death and refurre&ion. It is paft away, but not unfulfilled: And fulfilling it, is net destroying it. The ends of it arc all attained by him ; 2. And though having attained its end, itceaf- eth formally, as Mofes Law j yet materially, all that is of natural obligation continueth under another form * that is, as part of bU ferfeftLaw. Therefore as our childit; Knowledge is faid, as knowledge to be increafid and not done away, when we come to maturity > but as childijh to be done away i fo the Moiaical JewifhLaw, as Gods Law in general is ferfefted by the ceffati- on of the parts which were fitted to the Hate of bondage , and by addition of more perfect parts ( The natural part of it is made a part of a better Covenant or frame : ) But yet as Mo- faical and imprfeft it is abolished.
Briefly this much fufficeth for the anfwer of all the allegations, by which any would prove the continuation of Mofes Law, or any part of it formally as fuch. I only add, That all Mofts
fSo) Law, even fthe Decalogue was Political , evert Gods Law for the Government of that particular Theocratical Policy, as a Political body. There- fore when the Kingdom or Policy ceafed, the Law as Political could not continue.
2. It is proved that Chrift by his Spirit in his Apoftles did inftitute another day. And feeing the Spirit was given them to bring his words to remembrance, and to enable them to teach the Churches all things whatsoever he com- manded them, it is molt probable that this was at ririt one of drifts own perfonal Pre- cepts.
3. And to put all out o£ doubt, that neither the Law of Nature, nor any Politive Law, to Adam^ Noahy or Mofes, or by thrift doth oblige us to the. feventh day Sabbath, it is exprefly re- pealed by the Holy Ghoit, Col. 2. 16. [ Let no man therefore judge you in meats or in drinks , or i& refpettof an Holy day ( or Feali ) or of the New Moony or, of the Sabbaths^ which are ajhadotv of things to come i but the body is of Chrift. ] I know many of late fay, that by Sabbaths here is not meaiit the weekjy Sabbath , but only other Holy dayes, as Monethiy or Jubilee refts : But 1. This- is to limit without any proof from the word of God:: When God fpeaks of Sabbaths in general without exception, what is man that he fhould put in exceptions without any proof of Authority from God ? By fuch boldnefs we may pervert all his Laws. Read Dr. Toung upon this Text. 2. Yea, when it was the rveekjy Sabbath y which then was principally known by the Name u{%Sabbatby above all othei Feftivals whatfo-
ever,
e-
ever, it is yet greater boldnc(s without proof to exclude the principal part, from whence the reft did receive the name. 3. Bcfides the Feajis and New Moons being here named as diltindr from the Sabbath, are like to include fo much of JK* other feparated dayes, as will leave it itill more unmeet to exclude the weekly Sabbath in t1 Explication of that word [ Sabbaths^ .vhF (b many Feaflsare firft diitinguiflied : ' hM *iflh quit Grotw\ hie funt Azyma dies omer> fcenopt* gia^ dies lh€9fM- 1
Obj. But the Sabbath mentioned ty $e Deca- logue could not be included* ~
Anfo. This is fpoken without proof;' *uid the contrary is before proved.
Obj. By this you will make the Chriftian Sab- hath alfo to he excluded* Is not the Lords day a Sabbath ?
Anfa. I am here to fpeak but of the name i of which I fay, that, the common fenfe of the word Sabbath was, a Day fo appointed to Reft, as that the bodily Reft of it, was a primary part of its okfervatiun , to he l^ept for it felf ', and fuch the Jewifli Sabbaths were. Though fpiritual Worfhip was then al(o commanded, yet the corporal Reft was more expreily or frequently urged in the Law, and this not only fubordinate- ly as an advantage to the fpiritual worftiip, but for it felf as an immediate and moft viiible and notable part of Sabbatiiing. Even as other Ce- remonies under the Law were commanded, not only as do&rinal Types of things fpiritual, but as external A&s of Ceremonious operous obedi* 1 encs fuited to the jews Minority, which is after G sailed
i*2)
called the yoke which they and their Fathers were unable to bear, Acts 1 5. Whereas the Lrds day is appointed but as a Jeafinablc time fubferviently to the fpiriiual rrork^ of the day •, And the bodily KdL not required as primary obedience for it felfy burtiiily for the fpiritual rsork^fafy : and there- fore nb bodily labour is now unlawful, but fuch 'he ^ *u\{ c;crance t0 tne fpritual worl^ of the \ £;***- Accidentally a fcandal and temptation *.y others ) whereas the breach of the outward Reft- of the Jews Sabbath, was z fin directly of it felf without hindcrance of, or refpeft to the fuiritua! Wofmip. So that the firji notion and fenfe of a Sfbbath in thefe dayes being ( in com- mon u(e ) A day of fuch Ceremonial Corporal Kcjl, as the Jcwijh Sabbath was, the Lords day isnevtr in Scripture called by that name •, but tfce ^proper name is [ 7he Lords day. ~] And the ancient Churches called it conftantly by that name, and never called it the Sabbath, but when they ipakc Analogically by allufion to the Jews SabBath '■> even as they called the holy Table, the Altar, and the Bread and Wine, the Sacrifice. Therefore it is plain, that Taul is to be under-
fibod pf zWbroifr Sabbaths, and not of the Lords AT.i .,.!,:-! tills *£kx o.,j i — ~ ~s*-*.~ mtiKLL-Hkix
vras lb Uriel, that the Ccrcmonioufnefs made them fcom "of trie [Heathens, as appeareth by the uon s» of Herat, lu 1. Jiff. 5?. Ferfius fat. 5. fdvenal. fau 6. Martial, lib. 4. and others : wTJ&ras they derided not the Chriftians for the CenmcmousReJl, but fox their lVorJhty on that
day.
day. The Lrds day being not called a Sabbath in the old fenfe then only in ufc, but difiinguifhed from the Sabbath,cannot be meant by the Apoftlc in his exclufion of the SMatb.
Obj. But the Apoftles then met in the Synagogues with tlie Jews on the Sabbaths '-, 'Therefore it is not tbifc dayes th it he memcth here. Col. 2.16.
Anfw. 1. You might as well fry, that there- fore he is not for the ceflation of the Jemfh manner of Wo)ftn\>, or Communion with them init^ becaufe he met with them*
2. And you may as well fay, that he was for the continuance of Circumcilion and Purificati- on., becaufe he purified himfe.lf and circu^ncifed Timothy.
3. Or that he was for the continuance of their other Feafts, in which alfo he rcfufed not to joyn with them. .
4. But Paul did not keep their Sabbaths for- mally as Sabbaths, but only take the advantage of their AfTemblies, to teach them and convince them h and to keep an interell in them : And not fcandalize them by an unfeafonable violation and contradiction.
5. And you mult note alfo, that the Text faith not [ Obferve not Sabbath dayes ~] but £ Let no man judge you ~] that is, Let none take it tor your fin, that you obferve them not , nor do you re- ceive any fuch Doctrine of the neceflity of keep- ing the Law of Mofes. ~] The cafe feemeth like that of things fir angled and blood, which were to be forborn among the Jews while they were offenfive, and the ufe of them hindred their coAvcrfion. -
' G 2 Obi.
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Ob). But the ancient Chriftians did obferve both dayes.
Anfo. i. In the firft Ages they did as the Apojtles did v that is, i. They obfervtd no day iki&ly as a Sabbath in the notjon then in ufe :
2. They obferved the Lords day, as a day fet apart by the Holy Gholt for Chriitian Worfhip.
3. They fo far obferved the Jews Sabbath mate- rialy, as to avoid their fcandal, and to take op- portunity to win them.
2. But thofe that lived far from all Jews, and thofe that lived after the Law was (ufficicntly taken down , did keep but out day, even the Lords day, as fcparated to holy uks : except fome Cfyfriftians who differed from the reft, as the followers of FapM did in the Millenary point.
3. And note that even thefe diflenters, did ftill make no quellion of keeping the Lords day, which fheweth that it was on foot from the times of the Apoftles. So IqnatiM ( whoever it was, and whenever he wrote ) faith that |[ After the Sabbath r?e keep the Lords day, ] And Ffeudo-Ck- tnens Car,* 33. faith [ Servants rrorl^ five d ayes, ha on the Sabbath and Lo ds day, they l^ecp holy d*y in theChnrch, for the Votlrine- { or Learning ). 0] Guftlincfs ~\
* The Tail of (I*/. 4. ic is of the fame fenfe v?\xhCoL 2. 16. againft the Jews Sabbath, and rbciclore needcth no other defence.
And I would have you coniider , whether as 0 ifts Refurrcclion was the foundation of the L< ids day, (0 Chriils lying dead and buried in a Gx.ve on the feventh day Sabbath, was not a
fund*-
rs5j
fundamental abrogation of it : I lay not the Actual and plenary abrogation : For it was the Command of Chrift by his Word, Spirit, or both to the Apoftles before proved, which fully made the change : But as the RefurrecTion was the Ground of the new day, fo his Burial fcemeth to intimate, that the day with all the Jewifli Law which it was the fymbolical profession of, lay dead and buried with him. Sure I. am that he faith, when the Bridegroom is taken from them, then mall they faft and mourn *, but he was molt notably taken from them, when he lay dead in the Grave » And if they muft fjft and mourn that day, they could not keep it as>d Sabbath, which was a day of joy. Therefore as by death he overcame him that had the power of death,. Heb. 2. 14. and as he nailed the hand- writing of Ordinances to his Crofs % io he buried the Sabbath in his Grave, by lying buried on that day.
And therefore the Weftern Churches , who had fewer Jews among them , did faji on the Sabbath day, to (hew the change that Chrifts bu- rial intimated : Though the Eaftern Churches did not, left they mould offend the Jews.
And that the ancient Chriftians were not for
fabbatizing on the feventh day, is vifible in the
writings of moft, fave the Eaftern ones before
mentioned. 'tertuU. cont. Marcion lu I. cap. 20.
I & Cbryfoft. Tbeodoret, Primafius, &c. on Gal. 4.
! expound that Text, as that by Vayes is meant
thejewilh Sabbath, and by Moneths, the New
I Moonsa &c*
G 3 Cyprian
(80 .
Cyprian 5^. E/w?. ad Hidum faith, that tie eighth day is to Christians, what the Sabbath was to the jforr, and calkth the Sabbath, the Image of the Lord s day. Atbanafw de Sab. & Circum- cif. is full and plain on it. See fertuUian Ad- vcrfi Jud£. c. 4. Awbrof. i;i Eph. 2. Auguft. Ep' 118. CUryfift. in Gal. 1. & Horn. 12. ad pop. Hilary before cited Prolog, in Tfilm. Origen Horn* 23. in Num. Item tcriull. de Idol. c. 14. Epiphan. /. 1. num. 30. noting the Nazzrti and Ebionti Hereticks, that they kept the Jews Sabbath. In a word, The Council of Laodi:£a doth Anathe- matize them that did Judaizeby forbearing their Labours on the Sabbath or feventh day. And asSczimcn tells us, that at Alexandria and Rome they ufed no Afllmblies on the Sabbath, fo where they did, in molt Churehes they communicated not in the Sacrament.
Yea, that Ignatius himftlf ( true or falfe ) who faith as aforecited [ /ftcr the. S abb 2th let every hver of Chrifi celebrate the Lords day ] doth yet in the fame Epi'ftle ( ad Ishgnef. ) before fay \_0 Id things arc p. fed away, beheld all things an made new'. For if rrc yet live after the jervifh Laiv, and the Circirnclfon of the flejh , rrc deny that tve h.ive reamed Grace -Let us not there- fore kgcp the Sabbath ( or fjbbatizo ) Jcmfl)!y, as delighting in Idiom fs ( or Rcji from labour. ) For b? that will n't MMkr, lot him nit cat. Lt the fwcat rf thy brofrj thiM jbfllt A >t thy bread. J I eonfefs J taKe the cited Texts to have been added jinccthc body of the Epiftle was written 5 but though the Writer favour of the Eaftern cuiiom, yrtt he fheweth they did not fabbatize on the ac- count
(S7) count of the fourth Commandment, or (uppofed continuation of the Jewifh Sabbath as a Sabbath : For bodily labour was ftri&ly forbidden in the fourth Commandment.
Dionyfwr Alexandr. hath an Epiftle toBafili- desa Bifhop on the Queftion, Whei the Sabbath Faft muft end, and the obfervation ot the Lords day begin , Biblioth. Patr. Grtc. Lat. Vol. i. p. 306. In which he is again!* them that end their Fait too foon. And plainly intimatcth that the (tvcHth day was to be kept, but as a prepara- tory Faft ( being the day that Chrift lay in the grave ) and not as a Sabbath, or as the Lords day.
1 cite not any of thefe, as a humane autho- rity to be fet againft the authority of the fourth Commandment > But as the certain Hiftory of the change of the day which the Apoftles made.
Qu. How far then U the fourth Command-* went Moral ? you feem to fubvert the old foun- dation , which moft others build the Lords day upon,
Anfw. Let us not entangle our felves with the ambiguities of the word [_ Moral ] which moft properly (ignifieth Ethical, as diftindfr from Phyfical, &c. By Moral here is meant that which is (on what ground foever ) of perpetual or continued obligation : And fo it is all one as to ask how far it is (till obligatory or in force i To which I anfwer,
1. It is a part of the Law of 'Nature, that God \be folemnly worjhipped, in families and in' holy of" ftmblies. " •
G 4. 2; It
(88)
a. It is a part ofrthe Lav? of Nature, that where greater things do not forbid it , a ftated time be appointed for this fervice, and that it be not left at Randomc to every mans will*
3. It is of the Law of Nature , that where greater matters do not binder it, this day be one and the fame in the fame Countreyss yea,- if it may he tbrcugh the world*.
4. It is oi tht Law of Nature, that this day be ftot fo rarely as to hinder the ends of the day, nor yet fo frequently as to deprive us of opportunity for our neceffary corporal labour*
5. It is of the Law of Nature, that the holy du- ties of this day be ft t hindered by any corporal fpork^? or flcJh{y plcafure, or any unneceffary thing which contradiUeth the holy ends of 'the day,
<?. It is of the Law <f Nature, that liulers, and in fpecial Majiers of families , do takg care that their bferieurs thus obferve it.
In all thtfe points the tourth Commandment being but a tranfeript of the Law of Nature, jyhich we can yet prove from the nature of the reafn of the thing, the matter of it continueth ( not as Jewifh,but ) as Natural.
7. Eciidcs all this, when no mn of himfelf could tell, whether one day mjhc or feven or eight \\ at his duty t^pbicrvc, God hath come in, and i? By Voltrhtc or Hijtory told u§, that he made the ir odd infxdaycs,2\)d rejiedthe feventb. 2. f>y Lev; \ and hzlh commanded one day in fev en to tie J err: ; by which he hath made known con- fcqvential'y to all me*:, that one dy in fezen it the fititjl prnporticn rf time. And the cafe being flips determined by God, by a Law to others, doth
: con-
eonfequentialfy become a Law to w, beeaufc it is the determination of Divine Wifdom •, unlefs it were done upon Tome realons in which their condition, dijfereth from ours. And thus the Doctrine and Reafons of an abrogated Law, continuing, may induce on us an obligation to duty. And in this fenfe the fourth Command- ment may be faid ft ill to bind us to one day in feven.
But in two points the obligation f even as to (he Matter ) ceafeth. i. We are not bound to the feventh day, bccaufe God our Redeemer who is Lord of the Sabbath, hath made a change. ?. We are not bound to a Sabbath in the old no- tion*, that is, to a day of Ceremonial Reft for it filf required > but to a day to be fpent in Evan- gelical Worfhip.
And though I am not of their mind who fay, that the feventh day is not commanded in the fourth Commandment j but a Sabbath only \ yet, I think that it is evident in the words, that the Ratio Sabbati, and the Ratio diet fep- timi are diftinguifhable : And that the Sabbath as a Sabbath^ is firft in the precept , and the particular day is there but fecondarily , and fo \mutably s as if God had faid, I will have a particular day fet apart for a holy Reft, and for my Worfhip > And that day jhall he one in feven, and the feventh alfo on which I refted from my workj.
And thus I have faid as much as I think needful to fatisrie the confiderate about the day : Again profefling i. That I believe that Jie is in the right that maketh Confcience of
ther
090 )
the Lords day only. 2. But yet I will not break Charity with any Brother that (hall in tendernefs of Confcience keep both dayes ^ efpe- cially in times ot prophanefs when tew will be brought to the true obfervation of one, 3. But I think him that keepeth the feventh day on- ly and neglecteth the Lords day, to fin againft very evident light , with many aggravations. 4. But I think him that keepeth no day ( whe- ther profelTedly , or pra&ifing contrary to his profeflion i whether on pretence of avoiding Superftition, or on pretence of keeping every day as a Sabbath ) to be far the word of all. I (hall now add (omewhat to fome appen- dant Queftions.
CHAP.
(9D
CHAP. VIII.
Of the beginning of the Day*
Queft. I'TTT^w doth the Lords day begin?
W Avfo- 1. If we can tell when any d.ty beginneth, we may know when that beginneth. If we cannot, the neceflity of our ignorance, will (horten the trouble of our fcftfcf ples by excufing us.
2. Becauiethe Lords day is not to be kept as a Jervijh Sabbath ceremonioufly , but the 'time and the Reft are here commanded fub- ferviently for the iror}^ fake, therefore we have not fo much reafon to be (crupulous about the hours of beginning and ending, as the Jews had about their Sabbath.
3. I think he that judgeth of the beginning and ending of the day, according to the com* mon eftimation of the Countrey where he liv- eth, will beft anfwer the ends of the Inftituti- on. For he will ftill keep the fame proportion of time*, andfo much as is ordinarily allowed on other dayes for rvorJ^, he will fpend this day in holy reorkj i and fo much in reft as is ufed to be fpent in reft on other dayes * ( which may ordinarily fatisfie a well informed Conlcience )
I And if any extraordinary occafions ( as jour- neying or the like) require him to doubt of
- any
....
any hours of the night, whether they be part of the Lords day or not, I. Ft will be but his Jleeping time , and not his worjhippinz, time* which he will be in doubt of: and 2. He will avoid all fiandal and tempting others to break the day , if he meafure the day by the com- mon eftimate : whereas if the Countrey where he liveth do efteem the day to begin at Sun- fating^ and he fuppofe it to begin at Mid- night , he may be fcandalous by doing that which in the common opinion is a violation of the day. If I thought that this fhort kind of folution, were not the fitted to afford juft quietncfs to the minds of fober Chriftians in this point, I would take the pains to fcan the Controverfie about the true beginning of dayes : But left it more puzzle and perplex, than edifie or refolve and quiet the Confcience, I favemy felf and the Reader that trouble.
CHAP.
(93)
C H A P. I X.
Queft. i.TTOw fhould the Lords day be kept JLXor ufed? Avfvp, The Pra&ical Directions I have given in another Treatife. I (hall now give you but thefe generals.
I.
I. The day being feparated or fet apart for HdyWorfhip, mult accordingly befr5ent therein. To (an&itie it, is to fpend it in holy exercifes: How elfe fhould it be ufed as a Holy Day > I was in the Spirit on the Lords day> faith St.Jobn> Rev. i. ic.
I I. The principal work of the day is, the Communion of Chriftians in the public}^ exercifes of Gods worfhip. It is principally to be fpent in holy ajfcmblies. And this is the ufe that the Scripture cxpreily mentioneth, Alls 20. 7. and •intimateth 1 Cor. 16. 1, 2. And asmoft Expo- tors think, John 21. when the Difciples were gathered together with the door (hut for fear, of the Jews. And all Church Hiftory affureth us, that iu thefe holy AJfemblies principally, the day was (pent by the ancient Chriftians. They fpent almoft all the day together.
3. It is not only to be fpent in holy exercifes, but alfo in fitch fpecial holy excrciits as are fui- table to the purpofes of the day. That is, it
is
is a day of Commemorating the whole work of our Redemption > but efpecially the Refurre- Qion of Chrift. Therefore it is a day ttTbanhi* giving and Praife ■■> and the fpecial fcrvices of it muft be Laudatory and joyful exercifes.
4. But yet fyecauie it is finncrs that are cal- led to their work , who are not' yet fully deli- vered frorp their fin and mifery, thefe praifcs ttiuft.be mixed with penitent Confeifions, and with earnefVPetitions, and with diligent Learn- ing the will of God*
More particularly, the publick exercifes of the day are, i. Humble and penitent Confeifions of fin. 2. The faithful and fervent prayers of the Church. 3. The Reading, Preaching and f Hearing of the Word of God, 4. The Com- munion of the Church in the- Lords Supper. I 5. The Laudatory Exhortations which attend h h ; And the ftnging^ and fpeakjng of the praifcs of our 'Creator and Redeemer and Sanclifier ^ with -i joyful Thanksgiving for his wonderful benefit?. : <5. The feafonable exercifepf holy Difcipline on j particular perfdns , for comforting the weak, ; reforming" the fcandalous, -'calling out the ob- flinately impenitent, and abfofving and rectiv- , ing the penitent. 7. The Pallors bleffing the ;' people, in the name of the Lord. 8. And as art Appurtenance in due feafon, Oblations or Con- tributions for/ holy and Charitable ufes 5 even for the Church and Poor, which yet may be put off to other <Jayes,. when >t is more convenient iptodo.
Qy. But who ii it that w$ h prefent in all thefe exercifes r
Jnfw*
:
( 95J
Anfo. Where there is no Church yet called, the whole day may be fpent in Preaching to> and | teaching the unconverted Infidels : But where there is a Church, and no other perfons mixt, the whole exercifes of the day muft be fuch as are fitted to the date of the Church. But where there is a Church and other ferfons (Infidels, or impeni- tent ones; with them , the day muft be fpent proportionably in exercifes fuitable to the good of both * yet fb that Cburch-exercifes mould be the principal work of the day. And the ancient laudable practice of the Churches was, to Preach to the Infidel auditors and Catechumens in the morning, on fuch Subjects as were mod fuitable to them, and then to difmifs them, and retain the faithful ( or baptized ) only j And to 'teach . them all the Commands of Cjirift j To ftir them up to the Joyful commemoration of Cbrift and his Refurre&ion, and to frig Gods praifes , and ce- lebrate the Lords Supper with Eucharifiical ac- knowledgments and joy. And they never kept a Lords day in the Church, without the Lords Supper > In which the bare admipiftration of the fignes was not their whole work •, but all their Thankfgiviiig and Praifing exercifes, were prin- cipally then ufed, and connexed to the Lords Supper > which the Liturgies yet extant do at large exprefs.
Andl know no reafpn but thus it (hould be ftilh or at lea ft but that this courfe (hould be :he ordinary celebration of the day.
Qj. "But feeing the Sabbath was infiitutedin the hgW'iirigi to commemorate the worl{ of the Crea- )^«, muji that be laid by now^ becaufe of our com- memoration
(96) mcmordtion of the worj^ofour Redemption?
Anfrv* No : Our Redeemers work is to re- (tore us to the acknowledgement and Love of our Creator. And the Commemoration of our Redemption fitteth us to a holy acknowledge- ment of the Almighty Creator in his works : Thefe therefore are ftill to go together \ accord- ing to their feveral proper places : Even as the Son is the way to the Father, and we mud never icparate them in the exercife of our Faith, obe- dience or Love. A Chriftian is a fan&ified Phi- lotopher: And no min knoweth or acknowledg- ed Gods works of Creation and Providence aright, in their true (enfe, but he that feeth God the Creator and Redeemer, the Beginning, the Governour and the End of all. Other Philofo- phers are but as thofe Children, that phy with the Book and Letters, but underitand not the matter contained in it \ or like one that teach- eth boyes nitide litcras fingcre, to write a curious hand, while he undexftands not what he ivritctb.
Obj. Bttt to fpendfo much of the day in publicly' as ymfpeak^of -mil tire out the Minijler by Jpcak? ingfo long". Few men are able to endure it*
Anfo. i.' How did the Chriitians in the PrK mitiveChurches ?■ They met in the morning, and often (as far as I can gather) parted not till night, (And when they did go home between the Morning and Evening Service, it was but for a litHe time; )'
Obj. *jChen they made it afafl and not afeftiv.il.
Anftv. It was not the ufe then to eat dinners in thofe hot Countreys •, much lefs three meals a day, as we do now. And they accounted it a
* Efficient
C97)
fufficient feafting, to feail once, at Supper \ which they did at the hrit all together at their Church- meeting, with the Sacrament i But afterward finding the inconvenience of that they feafted at fiome, and ufed only the Sacrament in die Ghurch : which change was not made without the allowance of the Apoftles * Paul faying, i Cor. 1 1 . Have ye not houfes to eat and (Irinl^ in ? or dtfpfe ye the Church of God f
2. I further anfwer that the work of the day being done according to the primitive ufe, it will ■be no exceflive labour to the Minifter : Becaufe in the Celebration of the Lords Supper, he is not ftill in one continued fpeech, but hath the intermiflion of Action, and ufeth fhoiter Speeches which do not fo much fpend him. And the people bear a conliderable part, to wit, in Gods praifes, which were fpoken then in their laudatory tone, and are now uttered by the tinging of Pfalms ( which fhould not be the leaft part of the work.^) And though their manner of finging was not like ours, in Ritbmey and 'Tunes melodioujly, (zs neither were the Hebrew, Greek or Latine Poems fo fung*,) but as mod think, more like to our Ca- thedral {inging, or laying', yet it followeth not that this is the beft way for us, feeing ufe hath made our Tunes and Meeter, and way of finging mpre meet for the ends to which we ufe them, that is, for the chearful confent of all the Church *> Neither (hould any think that it is a humane unlawful invention, and a finful change, to turn the old way of finging ( ufed in Scri- pture times and long after) into ours *, For the old way of ^Cnging was not a Divine infiitutiottj H but
but a ufe > and feveral Countreys had their f$vt- ralufes herein : And God commandeth us but to Praife him, zndJuigPfdlmes-, but doth not tell us what mcetcr or tunes we (hall ufe^ or manner of finging, but leaveth this to the ufe and con- venience of every Countrey : And if our way and tunes be to us by cuftcme more convenient than thofe of other Nations in Scripture times, we have no reafon to forfake them, and return to the old ("Though yet the old way is not to be judged a thing forbidden.) And we fee that cuftome hath to far prevailed with us, that many thoufand Religious people, do cheerfully fing Pfalmes in the Church in our Tunes and way, who cannot endure to ling in the Cathedral or the ancient Scripture or primitive way, nor to ufe fo much as the Laudatory Refponfes.
3. And I further . anfwer that every Church fhould have more Minifters than one, as the an- cient Churches had hefides their Readers * and then one may in fpeaking eafe another*
4. But latiiy I anfwer, that Thefe circumftances being alterable according to the ftate et Countreys & Conveniences,! do not difcommend the cuftome of our Countrey, and of mod Chriftian Churches in our times, in making an intermiiiion, and go- ing home to dinner •, as being fitted to cur con^ dition. And then there remaineth the lefs force in the. objection, as to the weariiu(s of the Mi- nifters, or the people.
I forbear to fay more of the publick Church- performances, having defcribed them all in a (mail Bqok called Vniverfal Concord, and . having exemplified all except Preaching, in our Re- formed
formed Liturgie given in to the Bifhops at the Savoy*
Only here, I will anfwer them, who object much that the Ancient Churches fpent not the whole. day in exercifes of Religion^ nor forbad other exer- cifes out of the time of publicl^worjhip-, becjufe we read of little other ohfervation of it by th$my but i what was done in the publick^ Affembhes*
An f tv. i. We rind that they took it to be a fandlitied or ftp ar a ted day ', And they never diitinguifh, and fay, that Part of the day only was feparated and fandfified to fuckufes. If they d^d,' which part is the fanftitied part of the day ? what houres were they which they thought thus ftpa- rated ? But there rs no fuch diftin&ion or limi- tation, in the writings of the ancient Doctors. 2. What need you rind much mention, what they did out of the time of publick Worfhip, when they fpent all the day frequently at firit, and almoft all the day in after times f with fmall in- termiflion; in publick WTor(hip ? Do you ftay but as long at Church as they did, even almoft rrom Morning till Night, and then you will find little rime to Dance or Play in. But yet, 3. There want not Teftimonies that they thought it unlaw- ad to fpend any part of the day, in unneceffary iiverfions from holy things, as Di.Touxg hath Jhewed.
♦III. So much of the day as can be fpared from j> ublick Church- wor{hip,(aud diverlions ofneceffi- jy^fhould be next fpenf molt in holyfamily-cxercifes. \nd in thofe unhappy places where the publick Jvorfhip is flenderly and negligently performcd,(on H 2 fome
C ioo )
fome fmall part only of the day) or not at all, or not fo as it is lawful to joyne in it, (as in Ido- latrous Wor(hip, &c.) there Family mrjbip muft take up raoft of the day : And in better places, it muft take up fomuch as the publick Worfliip fpareth.
And here the fumm of holy cxercifes in Fa- milies is this ( which having elfewhere directed you in, I muft but briefly name.)
1. To fee that the Family rife as early on this day as on others,and make it not a day of fleep and idlenefi: Andnotto futfer them to violate pro* phane or neglett the day, by any of the fins here- after named,
2. To call them together before they go to the folemn Aflembly, and to Pray with them and praife God, and if there be time, to read the Scripture, and tell them what they have to do in publick.
5. To fee that Dinner and other common em- ployments make no longer an intermiflion than is needful ^ And to advife them that at their meat and neccjfary bufineff, they (hew by their holy fpeecbes, that their minds do not forget the day, and the employments of it.
4. To fing Gads praife s with tbetn^ if there be time, and bring them again together to the Chwrch-aflembly.
5* When they return either to take fome account of them what they have learned, or *to call them together to pray for a bkffing on what they have heard, and to ling praifes to God, and to urge the things which they have heard upon'them*
tf.At
fioi)
6. At Sapper to behave themfelves foberjy and piou.fly : And after Supper to (hut up the day in Prayer and Praife > And either then or before, either to examine or exhort inferiours, according as the cafe of the perlons and families (hall require (Tor in fome Families it will be beft on the fame day to take an account of their pro- fiting, and to Catechize them : And in other Families that have leifure, ether daies may be more convenient for Catechiimg and Examina- tions, that the greater works of the Lords day may not be (hortened. )
I V. So much of the day as can be fpared from fublicl^ and family worfhip, mull be fpent in fecret^ holy duties : fuch as are, i. Secret Prayer. 2. Reading of the Scriptures and good Books.
?|. Holy Meditation > 4. And the fecret Confe- ence of bofome friends. Of which I further adde,
1. That where public}^ or family worfhip can- j not be had ("as in impious places) there fecret . duties rnuft be the chief, and make up the de- fect of others. And it is a great happinefs of good Chriftians who have willing minds, that they have fuch fecret fubftitutes and fuppliesi That they have Bibles and fo many good Books to read, That they may have a friend to talk with of holy things > But much more that they have
; a God to go to, and a Heaven to Meditate on, fbefides fomany Sacred Verities.
2. That my judgement is, that inthofe places where the publick Worflnp taketh up almoft all the day, it is no fin to attend on it to the utmoft,
H 3 and
. ( 102 )
and to omit all fuch Family and fecret cxcrcifcs as cannot be done, without omiffioh of the pub- Tick. And that where the % publick exercifes allow but a little time at home, the Family du- ties fhould take up all that little time, except what fome (horter fecret Prayers or Meditations may have,which will, not'hinder family duties.And that jt is a finful diforder to do other wife. Becaufe itHe Lords day is principally fet apart for ptblic}^ nwjh:p > And .the more private or fecret is as it were included in the' publick : Your Families are at Church with you > The fame Prayers which you wculd put up in fecret, you may (ufuallyj put up in publick, and in Families: And it is a turning Gods Woifhip into a Ceremony and Su- 'pcriUtioiyo think that you mud nectffarily put up rhe fame Prayers in a.Clofct, which you put up in the Faipily or Church, when you have not time for both. (Though when you have time, fecret prayer, hath its proper advantages, which are not to be neglected.) And alfo, what fecret or family duty you have not time for on that day, you iiiay do on another day, .when you cannot
me to Church AfTemblies. And. therefore it is an Errour to think that the day mult be di- vided jn equal proportions, between Public^ f?awly\ and Secret Duties ; Though yet I think knot amifs that feme convenient time for Family and: Secret duties be left on that day-, but not (o much as is 'fpent in publick, nor nothing nee* it.
If any (hall now object, [I do not believe that we are bound to all tbk ado^ nor fa to tire out our felves in Religious exercifes ; (fbere is all this ado com" minded m ? ^ 'I ai>
C 103 )
'I anfwer, 1. I have proved to you that in Nature and in Scripture fet together as great a proportion of time as this for holy exercifes'is required.
2. But O what a Carnalttnthankful heart, doth this objection ngnifie ? What, do you account your Love to God, and the Commemoration of his Love in Chrift3a toi/e ? What if God had only given you leave, to layby your worldly buflnefs, and idle talk and Childifh play, for one dayes time, and to learn how robe like Chrift and An- gels, and how to make fure of a Heavenly Glory, inould you not gladly have accepted it as ah un« fpeakable benefit ? O what hearts have thefe wretched men that mult be contained by fiar to all that is good, and holy, and fpiritual ^ and will have none of Gods greateft mercies5 unlefs it be for fear of hell (And they (hall never have themindeed till they tovfibemJ) What hearts have thofemeri, that had rather be in an Ale- houfe, or a' Play-houfe, or afleep, than to be in heart with God ? That can rind fo much plea- foe in jetting and idle talking and foolery, that they can better endure it, than to perufe a Map of Heaven, and to read and hear the Sacred Oracles! Who think it a toile to praife their Maker and Redeemer; and a pkafore to game and dance and drink ! Who turn the glafs upoa the Preacher, and grudge if he exceed his hour \ and can lit at a Tavern or Alehoufc^ or hold on in any thing thats vain, many hours and never complain of wear in efs ! -Do they not tell the world what enemies they are to God, who love a pair of Cards:* or Dicej or Wanton Dalliance., H 4 better
( 104;
better than his Word and Worfhip ? Who think fix dayes together little enougfi for their worldly work and profit, and one day in (even too much to fpcnd in the thoughts of God and life Eter- j nal ? Who love the dung of this prefent World, * fp much better than all the joyes above, as that they are weary to hear of Heaven above an hour at a time, and long to be wallowing in the dirt again ? Is it not made by the Holy Ghoft, a mark not only of wic\ed men, but of men noteirioufly ivickgdy to be Lovers . of pleafures more than of God? 2 Tim. 3.4.
O Sinners, that in thefe workings of the7 wickednefs and malignity of your hearts, you would at laft but know your {"elves f Is it not the*. Carnal mind that is thus at enmity to Goa\ and \ juither, is nor can be fabjett to bti Law, Rom. 8. <$, 7, 8 ? Which will you take to be your friend > Him that lovctb your company, or him that is a weary of it, and is glad when he hath done with yon, and is got 3way > what would you thiiik of Wife, or Child, or Friend, if they mould reafpn as yon do, 3nd lay, What Live doth bind me. to be jo many hours in the Huufe^ or Company , or Service of my Husband, my Father, or my Ftiend > You do not ufe if you have afeait, or a, Cup of Wine before you, to ask, Where d,Jth God Command me to Eat or Drinks it / You can do this without a Command i if you hear but of a gainful Market i ypu ask not, Where doth God make it my duty to go to it ? If one would give you Money or Land, you would fcarcely ^sk, How prove ypu that lam bound to take } Ypu wpuld.be glad of, Leave, without
Commands^
Cio5 )
Commands. If the King fhould &y to you, Ask what you will, and I will give it you, you would not fay, Where am 1 bound of God to ask ? And when God.ialth, Ask and it fliall be given you, you fay, How prove you that 1 am bound to ask ? You can fing ribbakL Songs, and Dance without a Command \ You canFeaft, and Playy and Prate, and Sleep, and Loyter in idlenefs without a Command v But you cannot learn how to be faved, nor praife your Re- deemer without a Command. A Thief can^ Steal, a Fornicator can Play the Bruit, a Drunk* arcl can be Drunk, an OppreiTour can make him* felf hateful to the OppreiTed, not only with- out Law, but againft it > But you cannot Re- joice in God, nor live one day together in his Love and Service, without a Law, no nor mtb it neither. For becaule you had rather not Love him, it is certain that you do net Love him : And becaufe you had rather play than pray, and ferve the fle(h than ferve your Maker > it is a certain fign that you do not ferve him* with any thing which he will ac- cept as Service, for while he hath not your hearts, he hath nothing which he accepteth. Your Knee and Tongue only is forced againft your will to that which you call ferving him i But your Hearts or Wills cannot be forced. when you had rather be elfewhere, and fay When will the Sermon and Prayer be done, that I may be at my Work or Play ? God taketh it as if you were there where you had rather be/ I pray you deal openly, and tell rne? you that think a day. too long for God, and are
weary
(106)
wesry of all holy work, What would you'' oe .
doing that while, if you had your choice ? Is it
any thing which you dare fay is better }t Dare
you fay, that p hying is better than Praying, and
a FipejJik Dancing is better than prailing G'od
wittaffalrns ? Or that your Sleep, or Gamesp or
Chat* or Worldly bufinefs il better thin" the
Contemplation of God and\Gl'ory ! And will
thofe deceivers -of the .people '4!fii fay/ this,.
who teach th<tfri that it' is a tedious urtcoin-
nnanded .thing, to (erve .God fo long? I ''think
they dare not fpeak it out. / If they dare- let
them not grudge that irnei muft'be for ever
(hut out of 'Heaven, where there will be nothing
tlfe but holiheil. But it ybu dare not TaV io:
the^'
e 'W(
. cry thing than of 'holinefs, unlefs 4 you thmk every thing better thanholineis.
Specially" thofe men, i. whole judgment is for rrin-nnrfiu^ mould not ask; where inhere a Command^ for, any good which. they' are willing of. : But doth ' noc. this '(hew fyitWcL had rather ?-her.e were no Cpmirund Writ > Be judges 'your felye?. '2. "AWT they, that* are tor making trie Churches' a Sreflj deaf more work than" God Bath made' them, " ( O what abundance 'n.iiv fopery made H and' what u multJrudeJol [rfew Rdfjfiffii particles ! j me- thinks mould no-f for matte lay that Go;d; hath tired them out, and nlade them too much work already ? Do you cry out, What. a wearinefs is this "on: day , when you
would
C 107 J would addc of your own fuch a multitude of more dayes, and more work ?
Yet though I talk of doing it willingly if you had no forcing Law of God, but bare leave to receive fuch Benefits, my meaning is not that God hath left any fuch things indifferent or made them only the matter of Counfels and not of Cemmands : For he hath made it our duty to receive our own benefits^ and to do that which tendeth to our own good and Salvation. But if it had.been fo, that we, had only leave to receive fp great mercies without any other pe- nalty for refufing, than the lofs.of them, it fhould be enough to men that Love themfelves, and know what is for their good. Much more when commands concurr.
CHAP,
(io8)
CHAP. X.
How the Lords Jayjhoutd not be §enl : Or, What U unlawful on it ?
r A S to the rcfolving of this Que ft ion alio, XJL I would wifh for no greater advantage on him that Idifpute with, but that he be, a man, that Lovetb God. and Holinefc and knoweth fome- what of the difference between things temporal and things Eternal i and knoweth what is for the good of his foul > and preferreth it before his body *, and hath an appetite to relifh the delights of Wifdom, and of things moft excellent and Divine. And that he be one that knoweth his own necedltks, and repenteth of his former lofs of time ? and livtth in a daily preparation for death > that is, that he be a real Chriftian i And then by all this it will appear, how the Lords day tnuii not be fpent > or what things are unlawful to be done thereon*
/] f. Undoubtedly it mufl not be (pent in mckj ednefs : In gluttony or drunkcnnefsy chambering or wantonnefs , ftrife or envying , or any of thofe works of the flcfli, which are at all times fin- fuf. An evil work is moft unfuitable to a holy dty. And yet, alas, what day hath more ryot- ting
Crop)
ting and excefs, of meat, and drink, and wan- tonnefs, and floth, and luit, than it >
1 1. It ought not to be fpent in our worldly
bufineffes, which arc the labours allowed us on the fix dayes i unlefs Ntceffity or hbrcy make them at any time become fuch duties of the Law of Nature, as Pofuives muft for that time give place to. For how is ir a day feparated to holy employments, if we rpend it in the common bufinefs of the world > It is the great advantage that we have by fuch a feparated day, that we may wholly call orT our minds from the world, and let them on the world to come, and exer- cife them in -holy communion with God and his Church, without the interruptions and di- ftra&ions of any earthly cogitations,, A di« vided mind doth never perform any holy work, with that integrity and life., as the nature of it requireth. Heavenly con ttmpiat ions are never well managed with the intermixture of divert- ing worldly thoughts : So great a work as to converfe in Heaven, to be rapt up in the admi- rations of the Divine perfections , to kindle a fervent Love to God, by the contemplation of his Love and Goodnefs, to triumph over fin -and Satan with our triumphing glorified Head, to Commemorate his Refurre&ion , and the whole work of our Redemption with a lively working faith, doth require the whole heart, and will not confift with alienc thoughts, and the diverfion of flefhfy employments or delights. Nay, had we no higher work to do, than to fcaich our hearts, -and lament x>ui Ens, and heg
for
for mercy, and learn Gods Word, and treat with our Redeemer about the faving of our fouls, and to prepare for death and judgement, furely it mould challenge all- our faculties, and tell us that voluntary diverflons, do too much favour of impiety and contempt. It is the great mercy of God, that we have leave to lay by thefe clogs and impediments of the foul, and to feek his face with greater freedom , than the incumbrances of our week day labours will . allow us. No flave can be fo glad of a Sab- baths eafe from his for eft toil and bafeft drud- gery, as a believer mould be to be releafed from his earthly thoughts and bufinefs, that he may freely, entirely and delightfully converfe with God.
III. The Lords day muft not be fpent in tempting, diverting, unneceifary recreations, or pleafures of the flefh. i. For thefe are as great an impediment to the holy employment of the foul, as worldly labours , if not much more. It is eafier for a man to be exercifed in heavenly cogitations, at the Plow or Cart, or other fuch labours of his place and. Calling, than at Bowls, or Hunting, or Cards, or Dice, or Stage-playes, or Races, or Dancing, or Bear-bait- ings, or Cock-fights, or. any fuch fenfual fports, Ineed no proof of this to any man, that hath himfelf any experience, of the holy employ- ments of a believing foul, or that ever knew what it was to fpend one Day of the Lord •alright *, And no proof will fuffice them that have
V9
< ■
V 111 )
m experience, becaufe they know not cfTe&ually what it is that they talk of.
2. We hnd that even on other daies, the worft menaremoft addi&ed to thefe fports, and arc the greatest pleaders for them, and that the more they ufe them the worfe they grow > yea that the times of ufmg them are frequently the times of the eruption of many heynous fins. I have lived in my Youth in many places where fometimes Shews or uncouth Spe&acles have been their fports at certain feafons of the year, and fome- times Morrice^-dancings, and fometimes St2ge- playcs, and fometimes Wtkes and Revels y And all men obferved that thefe were the times of the moft flagitious crimes ', and that there was then more drunkennefs, more fighting, more horrid Oathes andCurfes urtered than in many weeks at other times i Then it was that the enraged fen- fualills did ad the part of furious Devils, in fcorning and reviling all that were foberer and better than themfelves, and railing at thofe that minded God and their everlafting ftate, as Preci- fians, Puritans and Hypocrites •, Then it was that they were ready in rheir tury, if they durft, to affault the very perfons and houfes of them that would not do as they did. Whatever is done in fuch Crowdes and Tumults, is done with the impetuofity of rage and paflion, and with the greateft, audacity, and the violation of all Laws and regulating rellraints. As many waters make a furious ftream, and great rires where ; much fuel is conjunct do difdain rcftraint, and quickly devour all before them •> fo is it with the ! raging folly of Youth, when voluptuous perfons
once
once get together, and their lufts take fire, and they fall into, a torrent of qprofufe fenfuality. Yea thofe that at other times are fober, and when f hey come home do feem of another mind, yet do as the reft when they are among them, and fom as bad and furious as they : As we fee among the London Apprentices on the day called Good- tides tuefday, or May dayy when they once gef out together and are in motion, they feem all alike, and thofe that are moft fober and timerous alone, in the rowt are heightened to the audacity of the reft , And as in an Army the fight of the 'multitude, and the noife of Drums and Guns', •puts valour into the fearful *, and they will go on with others, that elfe would run away from a proportionable fingle combate and dangers And as Boyes at School that fear to offend fingly,yet fear not to barr out their Matter in a combination when all concurr *, fo all feem wicked in a crowd and rowt of wicked perfbns j And fen- fuality and licentioufnefs is not theftmlleit part of wickednefs.
O how unfit is Youth in fuch a Crowd, to (think of God, or Eternity, or Death > or to hear the fober warnings of a Preacher, in comparifon of what the fame perfons be, when they are at Church, and Congregated purpofely to hear Gods Word. Go among them and try them then, with any grave and wholefome Counfel : Ask them whether they are penitent Converts, and whether they are prepared for another world* Try what anfwer they Will give you, and whe- ther they will not deride yQU more than at .ano- ther time ? I would thofe that write and plead
for
CM3)
for this under the name of harmlefl recreations? would go amongft them fometimes with fober Counfel, and learn to be wile by their own ex* perience \ that their errours might not be of fuch pernicious coniequence to mens fouls as it hath been. Reafon it felf hath no place or audience in the noifc of youthful furious lulls. They will laugh at Reafon, as well as at Scripture > and fcorn fobriety, as well (though not fo much,) as bolineft* If even in the meetings of grave perfons, it have ever been obferved that indivi- dual perfons are apt to be carryed by the itream, and otherwife than their talk importeth at other times when they are (Ingle, what wonder if it be I foin evil with unbridled youth ?
If you fay that the Law ftrbiddeth rorvts and riots, and it U no fuch unruly ajfemblies that &e defend.
Anfw. Difclaim not the name only while you defend the thing. Be not like them that fay, We ferfwade men to voluntary untruths but not to lyitig h to breaJ^ their Vows andOathts inlaw- ful matters, but not to perjury \ to kill thofe that anger them, but not to murder *, to take other mens goods by force, but not to rob- 'bery, &c. Is not a Waives and Revels and Mor- rice-Dances, and Dancing-afTemtyies, and Specta- cles, and Stage playes, and the like, fuch a con- couife as I am fpeaking of. Do you limit -Dancers, and Players to any numbers ? I fpeak ict of the Laws. I am too much unacquainted rith them. If they lay, that above four meet- tg to Dance or Drink on the Lords day (hall be iccountcd a Conventicle or unlawful Affembly,
(H4) if is more than ever I heard oFi But I am fpeak- ing'of the common practice of the contrary, and of thofe that ordinarily defend it, and labour to bring both Godly Miniftcrs.and fober people, un- der the (corn of foolilh precifenefs and fuperftition, becaufe they would hinder the fin and ruine of the people. If you will allow them to alTemble for their Dancings, Shews, and Sports, you will encourage them to break the Laws both of God and Man, though you pretend never fo much care that they be obferved. You may as well allow them to be Drunk, and when you have done, forbid them to break Gods Laws and the Kings in their Drunkennefs. There are few in inch fportful AfTemblies that are not Drunk with Concupifcence, and whofe rcafon is not drowned in voluptuoufnefs and vain imaginations. Let thofe Divines ( if I may focal 1 the Advocates of Scrifuality and Sin ) which are otherwife mind- ed, give us leave to oppofe againlt all their Ca- vils, and the falfe names of barmlefl recreations, biit, i. Our own experience, who in our youth, have alwaics found fuch fports and revelling Af- femblfcs to be corrupters of our minds, and temptations to evil, and quenchers of every holy "motion, and enemies to all thats good. 2. The experience of the vifibly corrupted undone fen- Tual youtn, that are round about us, in all Coun- tfc'ys where we have lived. 3". And the judge- \i:6£ S / v! io faith cis much for plea-
dire as any Sacred Writer) tec!. 7. 2, 3, 4, 5/6. ji'Ubcitcr io go to the hou'fe of mourning, than to the 1' ufe of feafting : For that H the 'end of all men, and the living mil lay ittoh'vi heart : Sorrow it
better
Cn5)
better than laughter 'y forbythefadtiefs of the Coun- tenance the heart is made better, Toe heart of the rvife vs in the boufi of mourning hut the heart of fools is in theboufe of mirth (T pray you do not fay I raile at you by the reciting of thefe words, nor that I diminifh the honour of the Reverend Advocates for Wakes and Lords day Sports and Dancings :) It vs better to hear the rebuke of the rrife, than for a man to hear the Song of fools. For as the found of thorns under a fot, foisjhe ; laughter of the fool*']
3. Moreover, thefe (ports, and pleafures, and riotings, are worfe than Plowing and La- bouring on the Lords day, becaufe (as they are more adverfe to fpiritual and heavenly joyes, fo ) they do lefs good to recompenfe trie "hurt. A Carpenter, a Mafon, a Hloxvman, frc* may do. fame good by his unlawful, unfeafohabje labour '•> fome one may be the better for it : But, Dancing, and Sports, and Gaming, do no gooil but hurt. They corrupt the Fantafie > They im- print upon the Jhinkjng faculty, fo firing an inclination to run out after fuch things j and upon the Appetite fo ftrong a lift and longing for them, that carnality is much encrcafed by them > Mortification hindred j Concupifcence gratified i the flefh prevaileth, the fpirit is quenched i and the foul made as unfit for heavenly things, as a School-boy is for his Book, whole heart is fet upon his play : Yea abundance more > as Nature by Corruption is more averfe to fpiritual things, :than to the things of Art or Nature.
4. Thefe Dancings, and Piayes, and Wakes
ajid.pther riotous fports, are a ftrong temptation
I 2 alfo
alfo to them that are not of the riotous fccicties, but have convi&ions on their hearts, that they have greater ai:d better things to mind. I Without accufing others, I may fay that I know this by bad experience. I cannot forget, when my Confcience was againft their couries, and called me to better things, how hardly when I was young, I paiTed by the Dancing, and the Playing Congregations > and cfpecially when in thePaiTage I muft bear their (corn.
And I was one Year a School- matter, and found how hard it was for the poor Children, to avoid fuch fnares, even when they were fure to be whipt the next day for their pleafurcs.
5. And thofe Riots and Playesare injurious to the pious and fobcr perfons who diflike them. For it is they that (hall be made the Rabbles Scorn, and the Drunkards Song \ Betides that the noife oft times annoy eth them when they mould be calmely ferving God. And they are hindered from governing and initru&ing their Families, while their Children and Savants are thus tempted to be gone, and their hearts are all the while in the playing place. Never did a hungry dog more grudge at his reftraint from meat, than Children and young Servants ufually grudge, to be Catechifed, or kept to holy exer- cifes, when they hear the pipe, or the noife pf the licentious multitude in the Streets. I can- not forget; that in my Youth in thole late times, when we ioftthe labours of iome of our Con- formable Godly Teachers, for not Reading pub* HcXly the' Bock for Sports and Dancing < n the
Lords
(M7)
Lords dayes, one of my Fathers own Tenants was the Town Piper, hired by the Year (Tor ma- ny Years together; and the place of the Dancing Affembly was not an hundred yards from our door j and we could not on the Lords d.:y, ei- ther read a Chapter, or Pray, or fing aPfalm, or Catechifc or inftrucl a Servant, but with the noife of the Pip- and Taber, and ihe Whootifigs in the Street, continually in our Ears \ And even among a tradable people, we were the common Scorn of all the Rabble in the Streets, and called Puritans, PreciGans and Hypocrites, becaufe we rather chofe but to read the Scriptures, than to do as they did (Though there was no favour of any Non-conformity in our Family. ) And when the people by the Book were allow- ed to Play and Dance, out of publick Service- time^ they could fo hardly break off their Sports, | that many a time the Reader was fain to flay , till the Piper and Players would give over > And \ fometimes the Morrice-Dancers would come into the Church, in all their Linnen and Scarfs and Amick DrefTes, with Morrice-bells jingling at ! their leggs. And as foon as Common Prayer was read, did hafte out prefently to their Play again. Was this a Heavenly Coverfation ? Was this a help to holineis and Devotion ? or to the Mortification of flefhly Lulls > Was this the way ; to train up youth in the Nurture and Admonition , of the Lord > And were fuch AfTemblies like to | the primitive Churches ? Or fuch Families go- verned Chriftianly and in the fear of God > O ; Lord fet wife and holy Paftors over thy poor Hocks, that have learnt thcmfelves the holy
I 3 Doctrine
[<tr£.
c i)v .
Docfruie which they Preach, and who love, ( or
atlea-ft ahhorr not ) the fervice and imitation of aOudhed Chrift, and the practice of that Re- ligion-which they themfdves profefs.
•• Obj. Bat poor labouring people tmift have fume resretfioH) and they cannot through their poverty have leifure any other day.
An fa* i. A tad Argument to be ufed by them tjiat by racking of Rents do keep them in Po- verty. They that cannot live without all thofe fuperflujties, which rcquireth many hundred pounds a Year to. maintain them mull for this gratifying pride. and iielhly lufts,, fct men bar- gain to their popr Tenants, ■ as that they confefs they 'Cannot live, wuhout taking the- Lords day to recreate them fr,Qrruhe toile and wearinefs o£ tnejr-exceilive.Lboius : And will not God judge iivjh {elf-condemning oppr- e flours as thefe are ? i & jBut is this an Araunxnt ritfor the mouth oi; a..Mkufter £>r any Chrifnan9 who knoweth how much the -foul is more worth than the body > j;pcy£ttrn'ity mojre valuable- than the pica lures of f Witt'le timei? H Poverty deny the people li- berty to p'ay on .the week dayes, doth it not as /nweh.deny 'th^iVjjib^rty to Pray, and to read the Scriptures, and ^fcfjnf their Catechifms3 and the Word of God i" /Surely -it better bciumcth fflf man that bdieveth.aajQphcr life, a Heaven and a £k!Vtofiy, Poo* Labourers nave fo little time,, to Learn, to Medsra<$,<to Read, to .Pray, on .the OMcU dayes, that it" they do not fellow ic '■clofc upon the Lards day, they are like t^ perifn in their ignorance : {Jbor k the Gofpel be hid, ius hid to them that are loir, 2 Cor. 4.. jO wnich ao
you
(H9 J
you think it better to leave undone, if one of them muft be left undone > Whether the learn- ing of Gods Word, or the Pleaiures and Recrea- tions of the flcfV
3. It is cither their Bodies or their Minds, that need Recreation. When the Body is tired with toikfome labour, it is eafe, rather than toilefome Dancings or Plays, that are fit to recreate it. Or elfe God will be charged with miftake in the reafons of the ancient Sabbath* But if it be the Mind that needeth recreation, why fhould not the Learning of Heavenly truth, and the Joyful Commemoration of our Redemption, and the forefightof Heaven and the Praifes of God, be more delightful than the noife of Thornes under a pott h even than the laughter and fport of fools, Or than the Dancings and Games that now you plead for ? But the truth is, It is not the Minds of poor labouring men, that are over-workt and , tired on thd week dayes, but it. is their bodies : I And therefore there is no Recreation fo (unable to them, as the cafe of the body, and the holy J and joyful exercife of the mind, upon their Cre- ator, their Redeemer, and their Everlalting :Reit.
4. But if you will needs have daies 'of tempta- tion and linful fports and pleafures for them, kt Landlords abate their Tenants as much Rent, as one dayes vacancy from labour in a Month or a Fortnight will amount to , or let the Common Saints dayes, which of the two are more at mans difpofal, be made their fporting dayes, and rob not their fouls of that one weekly day, which pod hath feparated for his Worfliip.
I 4 Obj.
( 120)
Obj. But there are Students, and Lawyers, and Minificrs, and Gentlemen, rvbofe labour it mofi that of the Brain, and not the Plow-mans bodily toile \ and tbefe have need oj bodily Recreation.
Anfiv. And there are few or thefe fo poor but they can take their bodily Recreation on the week dayes : And many of them need as much the whole Lords day for their fouls Edification as any others : And no one that knoweth him- felf will fay that he needs it not. If any men need remiflion of Studies, and bodily Exercife it is Minifters themfelves : And is it themfelves that they plead for Sports and Dancing for > Would they be companions of the vain in fuch like vanities ?
Obj, But the mind of mm it not able to endure a conftjnt btknfk n and elevation of devotion all the day long without recreation and inter ruijft.rn > And putting men upon more than tiny can do, will but binder them i when a little re ere an rn willmal^e them morefrefh and fervent when they return to G?d»
J»fw. O what an advantage is it to know by experience what One talkuh of ? And what an inconvenience to talk of Holinefs and Heaven- linefs by hearfay only ! i. To poor people that have but one day in (even, that one day fhould not feem too long. 2. It it be from a Carnal enmity to God and fp'nifual things, (hortnefs and fildomcneis will be no Cure. But they have v.rxd rather to be provoked to diligence till they itrrtvrcd, than to be indulged in that averfeneis and iloth, which till its cured will prevail, when you have done your belt againlt it. 3. But if it be a weaiinefsof the ikfli, as the Diiciplts when
they
they flept while Chrift was Praying, or a weari- nefs through fuch imperfection of Grace and Remnant of Carnality, which the fincerc are lya- Lie to, then giving way to it will increafe it, and refitting it is the way to overcome it. 4. How many neceflary intermiffions are there, which confute this prctenfe of wear inefs? Sometime is taken up in drefling •, And fome with poor Ser- vants in waiting on their Matters and MiftrifTcs, and in preparing Meat and drink *, fome in going to Church and coming home \ fome in eating, ufually more than once '•> iorne in preparing again for lleep * befideswhat Cattle and by-occafions will require ? And is the remainder of one day in a. week yet too much for the bufineis which we are Created, preferved, and Redeemed for, and on which our endlefs life dependeth ? O that we knew what the Love of God is ? and what it is to regard our fouls according to their worth ! Would not a foul that loveth God rather iay, AIm, bonrjhori is the Lords day ? How quickly ps it gone ? How many interruptions hinder my de- light f Shall I think a Week ftioit enough for my worldly labours, ) and one day ("thus par- celled ) too long tofcek the face of God ? I fee blind Worldlings and fenfualitts can be longer unwearied at Market, in their Shops and Fields, efpecially when their gain comes in •, and at Cards and Dice, and Bowling and idle Prating, &/:. And (hall I be weary 10 foon of the moft noble and necelTary Work, and of the fwceteft pleafures upon Earth ?
An Hypocrite that draweth near to God but with the lips, whileft his heart is far from him, as
he
be never toly feeketh God, Co he never truly foideth him, and hath none of the true fpiritual delights of holinefs, nor ever feeleth the plcafure of exerciling his Love to God by the help o(faitby in the b«pc sot' Heaven : And therefore no won- der if he be weary of fuch unprofitable, faplefs and unpleafarit work, as his dead formalities and affectations are. But it is not io with the fincerc experienced Chriftian, who laving God in fpirit and truths hath true and fpiritual recreation, pleafure and benefit in and by his Service. And therefore we fee that the holy experienced be- lievers, areftill averfe to theie feniual diverfions, 4hd do not think the Lords day or his Service too long. And O Chriftian what a happy ad- vantage in fuch controverfies have you, in your "holy imccrity and iweet experience )
5. But yet I am not fuch a Granger to man, to my (d{ or others, as to deny that our naughty hearts are inclined to be weary of well doing: But mark what a cure God in Wifdom and mercy hath provided for us : As iris bat one day in C.:Vca which is thus1 to be wholly em- ployed with- God, and aSv.rouch ofxhis day is [taken up with the bodily- ne<rdTaries aforefaid > To for the reft, GcA r.ppointeth us variety of ex- creifes, that when we are weary of -one, another rn.iy be or rc~reafion. Wftri we have beard we muft j i when we have prayed we mirft
r&ear ag:-in': W, mutt Read, we mud Sing and ' (peak Gods Praifcs, we muft celebrate the me- . Uioiial of Ciuiiis death. in the Sacrament', we me-ft M< we mull Confcrr, we muft in-
ixaCc cur Families : And we have variety of
fubje&s
( *33 ) ! fubje&s for each of thefe. As a fuident that is weary hath variety of Books and Studies to re- create his mind > Co hath every Christian variety of holy employment on the Lords day. And all of it excellent profitable and delightful ! Chriitian, believe not that Minifter or Man what- ever he be, that tellcth thee that Chrifts Yoak is heavy, or that his Commandments are grievous. Hath he done fo much to deliver us from the ftrait Yoak, the heavy Burden, and the grievous nmandments ? and now (hall we accufe him of bringing us under a toylefome task ? Is it a toile to love or count your money ? to love and lookjapgn your Corn and Cattle ? to love and converfe with your Friend ? to feaft your Body outhepleafanteft Food ? If not, why mould it be a toile to any but a wicked heart, to fpend a day in Loving God, and hearing the Meffages of his Love to us,, and in the forefight and foretafts of ev.erlafting love.
Caviller, come but unto Chrift, and caft off the wearifome, toilefome burden of. thy iin, and Satajjs drudgery, and take Chrifts Yoak and Burden on thee, and learn of him, and try then whether his daies and work be grievous. Come and fpend but a day in Loving God^ as thou doft in tsJkjng of him, and try whether Love, and the holicit Love, be a wearifome work. But if thou wilt make a Religion of all Shell and no Kernel, all Carkafs and no Life, like that which the J an fe nip charge the Jefuites with, that fay, We are bound to love God but once in four or five yearly or once in all our lives^ no wonder if thou be weary of fuch zRzligion.
6. But
( IH)
6. But I will tell them that are the Teachers of the people, an honefter way to Cure the peo- ples wearinels, than to fend them to a Piper or to a Play to cure it. Preach with fuch life and awakening ferioufnefs '•> Preach with fuch grate- ful holy eloquence, and with luch eafle method, and with fuch variety ofwholefome matter, that the people may never be aweary of you. Pour out the rehearfal of the Love and benefits of God, open fo to them the priviledges of faith, and the Joyes of hope, that they may never be aweary. How oft have 1 heard the people fay of fuch as thefe, I could hear him all day and never be aweary ! They are troubled at the fhortnefs of fuch Ser- mons and wi(h they had been longer. Pray with that Heavenly life and fervour as may rap up the fouls of thofe that joyne with you, and try then whether they will be aweary: Praife God with that joyful alacrity which befeemeth one that is ready to pafs into Glory, and try whether this will not Cure the peoples wearinefs.
Mifunderftand me not. I am now fpeaking to none but guilty hypocrites, and not to any faithful holy Mini iters \ And to fuch I fay, whew you have done nothing but coldly read over the publick Pruyers,.or as coldly and crudely added your own, and tired the hearers, with a dry, a (aplcfs, litelefs, unexperienced difcourfe, and then {end them as a wearied people, to dancing and fports for a needful recreation, is this like the work of a Paitour of Souls. When you have cryed down other mens Praying and Preaching, and then tell the people that the Fnying and YrcMbwg which you recommend to them as
better,
better, will not digeft well, without a Dance or Recreation after it, to expel the peoples weari- refs y is net this to difgrace your own Prayers and Preaching which you before commanded to them ? rind when you hare done, if after this you fpeal ?mft others tor their long Praying, and tor fo much Freaching and Hearing, as if thcytieyei . enough, :s not this to commend wK you difcommerd ? and to tell the people thn thole mens Praying and Preaching whom you revile, is fuch as doth not tceary their Audi- tours \ when yours is fuch, as will tire men, if it be long, or if they be not Recreated after it with a Piper, a liuler, or a Dance ? O that the hhacian Bifhops of the World, and all the Clergie of their mind, would at leaft hear Hooker in the Preface to his E kf. poL how little their caufe is beholden to fuch Patrons, and how well it might (pare them !
Fox my own part, as my flefh is weak, fo my heart is too bad, too backward to thefe Divine and Heavenly works ! And yet I never have time to fpare. God knoweth that it is my daily groans, How great is wor^yea and how fwett > and how Jhort is the day, the weeh^ , the year ! How quickly U it night ! How f aft do weekj and years roU away ! And ihall any man that is called a Minifter of Chrift, periwade poor Labottrirs and Servants who have but one day for retirement from the world, 10 coriveife with God without diftradi- on,that */?& one day is too long, and that their work mult be ealed by carnal iports ? Nay (hall a man that would be called a Minifttr or a Chri- ft ian, perfwade men a^aiiaft all the experience
of
(126)
•of the World, that the diverfions and interrupts ons of a pance or May game, or a Race or a Comedie, will difpofe their minds to return to God with more Heavenly alacrity and purity than before, or than variety of holy e*ercifes will do ? Or rather, are we conftrained to fay C though it difpleafe ) that Hypocrites are. all for Imagery and hypocritical Religion > and that whe- ther he be at Church or at home, in Praying or in drinking and fenfuality and voluptuofnefs, a Worldling is every where a Worldling (till, and an hypocrite is an hypocrite dill i And it is not his Book or Pulpit that maketh him another man. And that as the man is, iuch will be his Work, Operari fequitue cjfc* And that the Jefuites are not the only men in the world, that would make a Religion to fuite mens lufts, and would ferve Satan and the flefti, in the livery of drift. But I fear I have been too long on this obje&ion.
IV, The Lords day muft not be fpent in Uk- nefii not in unneceflary fleep, or in vain walk- ing, or vain talking, or long drelfings, or too long feaftings, or any thing unneceflary which divert- eth our fouls from their Sacred feafonable work. It is not a Jewifti Ceremonious Sabbath of bodily reft which we are to Keep : But it is a day of holy and (piritual works : of the needfulleft work in all the world : To do that which is ten thcufand times more neceflary and excellent, than all our Lbours and provifion for theflefh. And if no man hath time to fpare on the week day, but he that knoweth^not aright what it is to be a Chriftian or. a
man
C 127 J
man or why God maintaineth and continueth him in the world* What (hall we think of them that can find time to fpare on the Lords own day, and can walk and idle away the moft precious of all their time ? If it be folly to caft away your Silver, it is not wifdom to caft away your gcrtdL O that God would but open mens eyes, to fee what is before them, and how near to Eternity they ftand, and awaken mens ileepy fenfual fouk, to live as men that do not dream of another world, but unfeignedly believe it j and then a littlb reafoning would fcrve turn to convince them, that the Lords day fhould be fpent in the duties of ferious holinefs, and not in Idlcnefs, or unne- celTary works or fports.
Obj. But by all this you feem to csfl tt great reproach on Calvin, Beza, and mofi oftfe great Divines of the forreign Churches^ who have not been fo ftrift for the obfervation of the Lords day.
Anfrv. Let thefe things be obferved by the im- partial Reader. 1. It cannot be proved to be Tnoft of them, that were fo faulty herein as the objection intimateth. Many of them have writ- ten much for the holy fpending of the day. 2. It muft be noted, that it is a fuperftitious Ceremo- nious Sabbatizing which many of them write -againft, who feem to thl unobfervant to mean more. It is not the fpending of the day in fpi- ritual exercifes. 3. And you muft remember that they came newly out of Popery, and had feen the Lords day and a fuperabundance of other Humane Holy dayes impofed on the Churches to be Ceremonioufiy obferved 5 and they did not all
of
(128)
of them fo clearly as they ought, difcern the dif# ference between the Lords day and chofe holy dayes or Church Feftivals, and fo did too pro- mifcuoufly conjoine them in their reproofs of the burdens impofed on the Church. And it being the Papifts Ceremonioufnefs, and their multitude of Feftivals that flood all together in their eye, it tempted them to too undiftinguifiYing and unac- curate a reformation. 4. And for Calvin you muft know that he fpent every day fo like to a Lords day, in hard Study, and Prayer, and nu- merous Writings, and publick Preaching, or Le&uring and Dtfputings, either every day in the week, or very near it, fcarce allowing himfelf time for his c e only fpare meale a day, that he might the ealllifr be tempted, to make lefs diffe- rence in his judgement between the Lords day and other dayes, than he (hould have done, and to plead for more recreation on that day for others, than he took on any day himfelf. 5. And then his followers having alfo many of the fame temptations, were apt to tread in his fteps through the deferved eftimation of his worth and judgement and left they (hould kern to be of dif- ferent minds. But as Ewland hath been the happyeft in this piece of reformation, fo all men are unexcufable that will encourage idlenefs, fen- fuality or neglect of till important duties of th« day*
CHAP.
(129)
,
CHAP. XI.
Jf7u* things Jhould not be Scrupled at unlawful, on the Lords day,
AS I have told you the Lords day is not a Sabbath in the Jewifh fenfe, or a day of Ceremonious Reft, but a Day of Worshiping our Creator and Redeemer with thankful Comme- morations and with holy Joy, &c And a day of vacancy from fuch earthly things as may be any hinderance to this Jholy work i (b now I mult refolvc the Qj eft ion rirft in the General, that no- thing lawful at another time is unlawful on this day, which hath not the Nature, of an Impedi- ment to the holy duties of the days unlefs it be accidentally on the account of Jiandal or ill ex- ample unto others, or difobeying the Laws of Magiftrates, or eroding the Concord of the Churches, or fuch like. Therefore hence I de- duce thefe particular refolutions following.
I. It is not unlawful to be at fuch bodily or j mental labour as is needful to the fpiritual duties ! of the day. If the Priefts in the temple f£aith I Chrift ) did breaks the Sabbath and tverc blamelcfi \ (that is, not the Command of God to them for keeping the Sabbath, but the external Reft of the K Sibbath,
d3°) Sabbath, which was commanded to others \vith an exception to their cafe, ) we may well fay that it is no fin, for a Minifter now to fpend hU ftrengtb in laborious Preaching and Praying i or for the people to travel as far as is needful, to the Church AiTemblies : nor do we need to tye our (elves to a Sabbath dayes journey, ("that is$ according to the Scribes 2000 Cubits, which is 3000 feet, and quinque ftadia : ) It is lawful to go many miles when it is neceflfary to the work of the day.
I T. It is not unlawful to be at the labour of dreffing our felves iomewbat more ornately or comely than on another day. Becaufe it is fui- table to the rejoycing of a Feftival. But to wafte time needleily in curiofrty, and proud at- tiring, to the hinderance of greater things, is detefteble.
1 1 L It is not unlawful to drefs meat, even in Come fuller and better manner than on other dayes •, Becaufe it is a Feftival, or day of Thankf- giving. And it is a vain felf-contradidtion of (bme men, who think that another day of Thankfgiving is not well kept, if there be not two feaiting meals at leaf}, and yet think it un- lawful to drefs one on the Lords day : But yet to make it a day of Gluttony, or to waife more of the day in eating or dreffing meat than is agree- able to the fpiritual work of the day, which is our end ^ or to make our felves fleepy by ful- nefs ;> or to ufe our fervants like Bealts, to pro- vide for our bellies, with the neglect of their
own
030
' own fouls 3 or to pamper the flc(h to the fatisfa- ' cYion and irritation of itslufts b All this is to bz I detefkd.
I V. It is not unlawful to do the necefTary t works of mercy to our felves or others, to man or bcalt > Thofe which rnufi he done^ and cannot be delayed without more hurt than the doing of them will procure (for that is tl»e defcription of a necefTary work.) As to eat and drink and cloth our felves, and our Children i To carry meat to the poor that are in prefent neceffity > To give or take Phylick •, and to go for advice to the Phyfician or Surgeon : To travel upon a bu- finefs of importance and neceffity > To quench a nre i or prop a houfe that is about to fall i To march or right in a necefTary cafe of Warr ;, To Saile or labour at Sea in cafes of neceffity i To Boat men over a River that go to Church i To purfue a Robber, or defend him that is afTaulted ^ To pull a man out of fire or water h To dreis a mans fores, or to give Phylick to the fick •> To pull anOxe or Horfe or other Cattle out of a pit or water j To drive or lead them to water, and to give them meat : To fave Cattle, Come or Hay from the fudden inundations of the Sea, or of Rivers, or from Floods ', To drive Cattle or Swine out of the grounds where they break in to fpoile '•> fuch necefTary actions are not unlaw- ful but a duty '•> It being a Moral or Natural (precept, which Chrift twice bid the Ceremo- nious Pharifes learn [I will have mercy and not Sacrifice*~]
.
K 2 And
C 132 )
And it is not only works of neceflity to a wans life, that are here meant by neceffary mrkj > Bat fuch alfo as are neccjjary to a (mailer and lower end or life.
And yet it is not all fuch neccjjity neither that will allow us to do the thing. Other wife a Tradeiman or Plowman might (ay that his la- bour is ncceffary to the getting or faving of this or that fmall commodity ■•> I (hall be a lofer if \ do not Work. And on the other iide, if it were piilv a neceflity for life, limbs or livelihood that would allow us. labour, than it would be unlaw- ful to drefs Meat, and to drive Cattle out of the
?rn, and rr.awy fuch things before mentioned » And then it would be lawful to give meat only to Oxen orHorfcs of great-price, and not to Hens, Ducks, Geefe, Dogs, and other Animals of little
value-
Therefore there is a great deal of prudent difcretionneeciUiy to the avoiding of extreams. God oath not enumerated all the particulars which are allowed or forbidden in their generals. ivhiffhtu (hall we do ? Shall we violate the j^twajed reft of the day for the worth of a Grqat or fwo Pence fas the feeding of Hens or fuch It k may be ?) Or (hall we fuffer the lofs of many pounds ratjaef than ltirr to fave them ? As for inliunce, Is it lawful to open, or turn, or : ury in Corn or Hay. which in all rational pro- Orihijin ( though not certainly) is like to be! U>(\ or very much fpoiled, if it be let alone to <hc next day } The Corn or Hay may be of ma- ny pounds value, when the feeding of Swine or Hens may be little ; The Corn or Hay is like to i
be;
U33J
be loft > when the Swine, or Hens, or Horfes, or Oxen, may eaiily recover the hunger or abftinence of a day > What mud be done in fuch cafes as thefe >
I anfwer, i. It is nece/Tary to know that where God hath not made p^rricular determi- nations, yet general Laws do liill oblige us.
2. And that Chriftian Prudence is nccefTary to the right difecrning how far our a&ions fall under thofe General Laws of God.
3. That he that will difcern thefe things muft be a man, that truly underftandeth, valueth and loveth the true Ends and Work of the Lords day, and not a man that hateth it, or careth not for it ■•> And a man that hath a right eftimate alfo of thofe outward things, which ftand in queftion to be medled with. And he mult be One that hath no fuperftitious Jewifti conceits of the ex- ternal Rett of the day : And he rauft be one that looketh, not only to one thing or a few, but to dl! things how numerous foever which the de- termination of his cafe dependeth on.
4. And becaufe very few are fuch, it is need- ful that thofe few that are fuch, be Cafuiftsand Advifers to the reft, and that the more ignorant confult with them ( cfpecially if they be their proper Pallors ) as they do with Phyficians and Lawyers for their health and their eftates.
5. It mutt be known that oft times the Laws
; of the Land do interpofe in fuch cafes > And if they do determine fo ftri&ly, as to forbid that which elfe would to fome be lawful, they muft be. obeyed j Becaufe bad men cannot be kept from doing ill by excefTes, unlefs fom^good men be hindered by the fame Laws from feme things K 3 - that
t>34> that are to them indifferent, nay pofllbly eligible, if there were no fuch Law,
6. And accordingly the cafe of Standal or Tempt Jtion to others, that will turn our Examplt to their fin, muft be confldered in our Practice. Yea it is not only things meerly Indifferent that we mult deny our liberty in, to prevent anothers fall, but oft times that which would elfe be a Duty may become a fin, when it will fcandalize ano- ther, or tempt him to a fair greater and more dangerous fin. As it may be my duty to (peak (pme word, or do fome action, as moft ufeful and beneficial, when there is nothing againft it > And yet if I may forefee that another will turn that fpeech or adion to his ruine, to the hatred of piety, or to take occafion from it to exercifc cruelty upon other Chriftians, &c. it may become my hainous fin. So it muft here be confidered, who will know of the Adion which you do ? and what ufe they are like to make of it >
7. And a little publick hurt muft be more re- garded than more private benefit *, And the hurt of a mans foul cannot be countervailed- by your corporal Commodities.
8. Thefe things being premifed, I fuppofethat the great Rule to guide you in fuch undetermi- ned Cjrcumftances is the Intercft of the End > All things muft be done to the Glory of God, and to Edification.A truly impartial prudent man can dif- tern.by comparing all the circumftances whether his adion (as if it were carrying in Endangered Corn nvere likely to do more good or harm > On one tide you muft put in the ballance the value of the thing to be faved i your own neceffity of it > the pooys need of it j and Chrifts command,
G$tbet
Gather up the fragments that nothing be loft ; on the other iide you muft coniider, how far it will
i hinder your spiritual benefit and duty > and how far the example may be like to encourage fuch as
I will do fuch things without juft caufe i And fo*
I try which is the way otGods honour and your own and your neighbours geod \ and that is the way which you muft take (As in the Difciples rubbing the ears of Corn, &c.) For the Rule is, that your labour U then lartful and a duty, when in the judge ment of a truly judicious perfon, it is like to do more good than hurt i And it kthen finful when it is like to do more hurt than good* Though all cannot dis- cern this, yet (as fax as I know) this is the true rule, to judge fuch a&ions by. As for them that fuppofe our Lords day to be under the fame Laws of Pveft with the JewiCh Sabbath, and fo think that they have a readyer way to decide thefe doubts, I will not contend with them, but I have told you why I am not of their mind. i V. From hence I further conclude, that where- as there are fome adtions which bring fome little benefit , but yet are no apparent hinderances of any of the work of the day, it feemeth to me too much Ceremonioulnefs, and too ungofpel-like, to trouble our own or other mens Confciences, by concluding, (iich things to be unlawful. If one have a word to fpeak of fome coniiderable worldly bufinefs, which may be forgotten if it. be not prefently fpoken * or if I meet one with whom I mult (peak the next day al|put fome worldly bufinefs, and if I then wilh him not to csme fpeak with me, I muft fend a great way
I 4 to
to him afterwards, I will not fay that k is a fin to fpeak fuch a word. I will tiril look at a mans potitive duties on the Lords day, how he hear- cth,and readethyandprayeth, and fpendeth his time* and how . he inftrudtcth and helpeth his Family \ And it he be diligent in fteking God, (Heb. ir. d. ) and ply his Heavenly bufineis, I (hall be very backward to judge him for a word or a<£tion about worldly things that falls in on the by without any hinderancte to his fpiritual work. And if another fpeak not a word of any common thing, and yet do little in fpiritual things, for his own or others edification, I (hall think him a great abufer or negle&er of the Lords day. "A few words about a common thing that falleth in the way, may be fpoken without any hiilderance of any holy duty : But < {till we muft fee that it be riot a fcandalous temptation to others. If I fee a man that unex- pectedly fmdeth fome uncomely hole or rent in his Cloaths, either pin it up, or few it up before he goeth abroad, 1 will not blame him : But if he do it To 3* to embolden another who ufeth need- lefty to mend his Cloaths on the Lords day, it will be a fin offcandal. If I fee one cut fome undecent ftragling haires before he go forth, i will not blame him : But if he do it before one who will be encouraged by it, to be barbed need- kfly on that day, he will otfenfcl. And fo in other cafes.
V I. BflJUjefe fame Rules alio we may judge of Recreations on the Lords day. The Recreati- ons of the mind mutt be the various holy em- . i ployments
ploynrcntsof the day. No bodily Recreations: are lawful which needlefly wafte time, or hinder our duty* or divert our minds from holy things, or are a (hare to others. Unlefs it be fome weak perfons whofe health requireth bodily motion, tew perfons need any other than holy recreations on that day. I know no one man that fo much needeth it as my felf, who thefe twenty years cannot digeft one dayes meat, unlefs I walk, or run, or exercife my body before it, till I am hot or fweat \ And therefore neceflity re- quireth me to walk or fa ft : But I do it privately on that day, left; I tetnpt others to tin. But I will not cenfure one whom I fee walking at fit houres, when for ought I know he may be taken up in fome fruitful Meditation. But if perfons* will walk in.the Streets or Fields in idlene(s, or for vain delight, or difcourfe, as if the day were too long for them, and they had no buiinefs to do for their fouls, this is not only a fin, but a very-ill fignof one that is fenfelefs of his fouls neceflity and his duty.
i VII. To read Hiftory, Philofophy, or com- mon things, unneceifarily on the Lords day, is a finful diverfion from the more Spiritual work of it \ and unfuitable to the appointed ufes of the day ( much more Romances, Play Books, or idle (lories :) Yea or thole parts of Divinity it felf, which are lefs practical and ufeful to the railing of Thankful and Heavenly affe&ions. But yet fometimes fuch other matter *my fall in„ « a Sermon, or Conference, or in Meditation, which will require .a prefent fatisfa&ion in tbmc
goint
03S) point of Hiftory, Philofophie4 or controverfal Divinity, which may be fubferviently ufed to Edification, without (in. Here therefore we muft judge prudently.
VIII, A thing that may be lawful finglyin it felf, unlefs it be of great neceflity is unlawful when he that ferveth us in it is drawn or encou- raged to make a trade of it. As to ufe a Barber to cut your hair i or a Tailor to mtnd your Cloaths, or a Coblar to mend your Shooes : Be- caufe if you may ufe him •, fo may others as well as you, and fo he will follow his Calling on the Lords day. And yet I dare not fay, if when you are to travel to Church, you find your Shooes or Boots by breaking fomething> to make you unca- pable of going out, but you may get them mend- ed privately, where it may be done without this inconvenience. And though Cooks and Bakers fhould not be unnecejfarily ufed in their trade, yet is it not alwaies unlawful, but fometimes very well. Becaufe as one fervant • in the Kitcbin may be ufed to drefs meat for all the family, fo one Bahgr ior "Coobg may ferve many families, and iave ten times as many perfons the labour which elfe they muft be at ^ And perhaps with eafier and quicker difpatch than -others. The trade of the Apothecary, Surgeon and Phyfician is ordinarily ufed but for neceflity.
I X. There is no fufficient avoidance of fuch •bufes, but by careful forefight, and prevention and preparation the week before y which there- fore muft be confeionably" done.
CHAP.
(»5?)
CHAP. XII.
Of what importance the due Obfervathn ef tit Lords day U.
THefe lingular benefits of keeping the Lords day aright, fhould make all that Love God, or holinefs or the Church, or their own or other mens fouls, take heed how they grow into a neg- left or abufe of it > much more that they plead not for fuch negligence or abufe,
I. The due obfervation of the Lords day is needful to ksty #p *he filemn worjhip of Gody and fnblick^ owning and honouring him in the world ; If all men were left to themfelves, what time they would beftow in the worshipping of God, the greateft part would caft off all, and grow in- to Atheifme or utter prophanenefs \ And the reft would grow into confufion. And if all Princes and Rulers or Churches in the world were left to their own wills to, appoint the people on what dayes to meet, fome Kingdoms and Churches would have one day, in eight, or nine, or ten, or twenty, and fome only now and then an hour, and fome one day, and fome another, and fome next to none at all. For there is no one univer- fal Monareh on Earth to make Laws for them
all
(140)
all ( whatever the Pope or his nominal-General Councils may pretend to : ) And they would ne- ver all come to any reafonable agreement volun- | tarily among themfelves. Therefore the Light of Nature telleth us, that as a day is meet and nqedful to be ftated, fb it is meet that God him- felf the true Univerfal Monarch (hould determine of if, which accordingly he hath done. And this is the very hedge and defenfative of Gods publick Worfhip. When he hath made a Law that one whole day in [even fhall be fpent in it3 men ate engaged to attend it.
O what a happy acknowledgement of God our Creatour and Redeemer is it, and an honour- ing of his bkfled name, when all the Churches throughout all the World, are at once prailing the (ame God, with the'fame praifes, and hearing and learning the fame Gofpel, and profeffing the fatne faith, arid thankfully commemorating the fame benefits ! The Church is then indeed, like an Army with Banners. And were it not for tbvs dayts oblervation, alas, how different would the cafe be \ And what greater thing can man be bound to, than thus, to keep up the folemn acknowledgement and worfhip of God and our Redeemer in the world ?
\
1 1. The due Sandtification of the Lords day, doth tend to makg Religion Vnivcrfal, as to Coun- treys and individual perions, which elle would be of narrower extent When all the world are under a Divine obligation, to fp;:nd one day every week in the exercifes of Religion, (and fuperiour* fee to the performance of their fub-
je<fts
( HD jcdb obedience to this Law, ) it will make men to be in fome fort Religious whether they will or not : Though they cannot be truly Religious L againft their will, it will make them vifibly reli- gious* Yea Gods own Law, if mans did no- thing, would lay an awe on the Confciences of molt, who believe that there is a God that made that Law. And the weekly Aflemblies keep up the knowledge and profeffion of the Chriftian faith, and keep God and Heaven in the peoples remembrance, and keep fin under conftant re- bukes and difgrace : And were it not, for this, Heathenifme, Infidelity and prophanenefs would quickly overfpread the world. The Lords day keepeth up the Chriftian Religion in the World.
III. The lamentable Ignorance of the genera- lity in the world, doth require the ftrid and di- ligent obfervation of the whole Lords day. Children and Servants^ and ordinary Cotmtrcy peo- pie, yea and too many of higher quality, are fo exceeding Ignorant of the things of God and. their Salvation, that all the conftanteft diligence that can be ufed with them, in Preaching, Ex- horting, Catechizing, &c will not overcome it with the moll. The moft diligent Matters of Families lament it, how Ignorant their Families are when they have done the beli they can. Let thofe that plead for dancing and fporting away much of the day, but do like men that do not fecretly fcorn Chriftianity, nor defpife their fer- vants fouls, and let them but try what meafure of knowledge the bare hearing of Common
Prayer i
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Prayer, yea and a Sermon or two with it, will beget in their fervants, if the reft of the day be fpent in fports j and let them judge according to experience. If ever knowledge be propagated to fuch, and families made fit to live like Chri- itians, it is likeft to be by the holy improvement of this day, in the diligent teaching and Learn- ing the fubftance of Religion, and in the Sacred exercifes thereof.
IV. The great Carnality, Wordlinefs and Carelefnefs of the moil, and their great averfe- nefs to the things of God, doth require that they be called and kept to a clofe and diligent improve- ment of the Lords day. Whatever unexperi- enced or carnal perfons may pretend, that fuch conftant duty fo long together will make them worfe and more averfe, reafon, experience and Scripture are all againft them. If there be fome backwardnefs at the tirft, it is not fports and idlenefs that will cure it *, but refitting of the flothful humour, and keeping to the work. , For there is that in Religion that tendeth to over- come mens averfencfi to Religion •, And it muft be overcome by Religion^ and not by flaying or idlcmfc if ever it be overcome. It is want of knowledge and experience of it, which maketh them loath it or be weary of it : when they have tryed it more and tyiow it better, they will (if ever ) \>c reconciled to it. Six dayes in a Week are a fufticient diverflon. Apprentices, and Pu- pils and Schcol-boyes will hold on in learning, though they be averfe j And you think not all *he fix dayes too much to hold them to it.
A
A School-boy muft learn daily, eight or nine hou* in a day s and yet fome wretched men (yea Teachers) would perfwade poor fouls that muft learn how to be faved or perilh for ever, that lefs than eight hours one day in feven, is too much to be fpent in the needfulleft, ex- cellenteit and pleafanteft matters in all the World.
If you fay that the fublimity or difficulty maketh it wearilbme, I anfwer, that Philofo- phers do much longer hold on in harder (pecu- lations.
If you fay Divinity being unfuitable to carnal min^s, their fick Stomachs muft take no more than they vcan digeft, I anfwer, i. Cannot a Carnal Preacher for his gain, and honour, and fancy, hold on all the year in the ftudy even of Divinity, perhaps eight or ten hours every day in the week ? And may not ignorant people be brought one day to endure to be taught as Ipng > 2. That which you call Digeftin^ is but Vnderftanding, and believing, and receiving it ; And one truth tendeth to introduce another > And he that cannot Ieam with an hours labour may learn more in two. 3. And it is hearing and exercife that muft cure their want of appe- tite. Experience telleth us, that when people take the liberty of playes, and fports, and idlenefs for a recreation, they come back with much more want of Love to holy exercifes, than they that continue longer at them. Gratifying iloth and fenfuality, increafeth it, and increafeth an averfe- nefs to all that is good > For who are more avexfe than they that are moft voluptuous > If ever
people
people be made ferioufly holy, it is a due obier- vation of the whole Lords day, that is like to bring them to it f I mean obferving it in fuch Learning and feekjng duties as they are capable of, till they can do better^ For when the mind long dwelleth on the truth, it will fink in and work > And many ftrokes will drive the nail to the head.
Let the Advef faries of this day and diligence but obferve, And if true experience tell not the World that more fouls ar£ Converted on the Lords dayes than on all other dayes befides, and thit Religion beft profperetb both as to the Number and the knowledge and feriom Holinefs of the pro- feflburs of it., where the Lords day is carefully fan&iried, rather than where Idlenefs and play- ing do make intermiffion, than I willconfefs that I am uncapjble of knowing any thing of this nature by experiences. But if it be fo, right not againit the common light.
V. The Poverty, Servitude and worldly neccjji- ties of the mod, do require a ft rift obfer vation of the whole Lords day. 'tenants, and Labour- ers, Carters and Cirryers, and abundance of Traddmen are io poor, that they can hardly ipare any other coniiderable proportion of time : much lefs all their Children and Servants, whofe jlib'-jcLHon, with their Parents and Matters poverty, refrrauiah them. Alas, they are fain to rife early and halkn to their work, and (carce have leifurc to cat and deep as nature requireth : And they are (o toiled and wearied with hard la- bour, that if they have at night a quarter of an
hour
C«4S>
hour to read a Chapter and Pray, they can fcarce hold open their eyes from fleeping. What time hath the Minifter then to come and teach them (if we had fuch Minifters again as would be at fhe pains to do it ?) And what time have they to hear or learn ? You muft teach them on the Lords day, or fcarcely at all. Almoft all that they mult learn, muft be then learnt.
I deny not but in thofe former years, when the Law forbad me not to Preach the Gofpel, the people came to me on the week day, houfe by houfe , and alfo that they Learned much in their (hops while they were working. But, i. It came to each Families turn but one hour, or little more in a whole Year ( For about fourteen families a week fo Catechized and inftru&ed, did no (bon> er bring their courfe about.) 2. And our people were moftly Weavers, whofe labour was not like ; the Plowmans, Mafons, Carpenters, Carryers, &c. to take up their thoughts > but they could lay a Book before them and read, or meditate, or Difcourfe to Edification whileft they were work- ing. But this is not the cafe of the Multi- tude.
And let any fober man but confider, whether with people fo ignorant and averfe as the mod are, mould he be never fo diligent on the Lords day, the fix dayes intermiflion be not a great cooling of arTc&ion? and a great delayer of their growth in knowledge \ when they are like by the weeks end to forget all that they had learned on the Lords day. What then would thefe poor people come to, if the Lords day it felf muft be alio lpitcred or played away ?
L VI. The
( I4« )
V I The tyranny of many Matters maketh the Lords day a great mercy to the world : For if God had not made a Law for their Reft and Li- berty, abundance of worldly impious perfbns, would have allowed them little Reft for their bo* die*; and lefs opportunity for the good of their fouls. Therefore they have caufe with great thankfulnefs to improve the holy liberty which God hath given therm, and not ca'ft it away on play or idLnefs.
V 1 1. The full improvement of the Lords" rl'aycs doth tend to breed and keep up an able faithful Miniftry in the Churches (o\\ which the prefcrvation and glory of Religion much de- pcncleth.J When there is dncccjjity of full Eccltfi- dftkal perf .nnances impofed on M'mifters, they are aifoneccflitated to prepare the mfclvts with anfwe- rable abilities and tttnefs. But when no more is required of them, but to read the Liturgie, ei* to lay ' athort and: dry Difcourl^ thjuy that kiic no more is neceffiry (to ChCW " ends > are la ftrcngly temp;ed to get ability and preparations' for no more, that few will overcome the tempta- tion. And thcrtlore the World knowcth that in M)f:jiy, Abiuia^ and tor the-'moft part of the Greek and Armenian Churches, as nothing or Iktle more than Reading is required," fo little triors ability than to Read is laboured after , And the Ministers are ordinarily To ignorant and weak, as is the fcorn and decay of the Chriftian Religion.
VIII. Yea'
(H7)
VIII. Yea ir will firongly encline Maters of Families to labour more tor abilities, to inftruft and Catechife their Families, and pray with them, and guide them inthe tear of God,when they know that the whole day mull be improved to the fpiri- tual good of their Families. And fo knowledge,abi- lities, and farhily-holinefs will increafe : Whereas thofe that think themfelves under no fuch obli- gations, what ignorant, profane and ungodly families have they ? becauie . for the molt part, ihey are fuch themfelves.
I X. A multitude of. grofs fins will be pre- vented by the due obfervation of the Lords day. Nothing more ufual than for the fports , riots, id lenefs and ferrfuality of that day, to be nurferies of Oathes, Curies, Ribaldry, Fornicati- on, Gluttony, Drunktrinefs, Frayes and Blood- fried. And is not Gods Service better work than thefe ?
X. Laftly, This holy order and profperity of the Churches, and this knowledge and piety in individual Subjects, will become the fafety , Beau- ty,ordtr and felicity, ot Kingdomes, and all Civil focieties of men. For when the people are fit but duly to ufe and fanctifie the Lords day,they are fit . to ufe all things in a fandHried manner, and to be an honour to their Countrey, and an eafe, and comfort to their Governours, and a common" bkifing to all about them.
t z CHAP.
(148)
CHAP. XIIL
What other Church Fcfiivals or fcparated dales are lawful.
1 Shall conclude this Difcourfe with the brief anfwer of this Queftion.
I. No fober Chriftian doubteth, but tnat fome part of every day is to be fpent in Religious exer- cifes > And that even our earthly bufinefs mud be: done with a Spiritual intent and mind. And that every day mult be kept as likg to the Lords day, as our weaknefi, and our other duties, which God hath laid upon us, will allow.
I L Few make any queftion but the whole d ayes' of Humiliatim and of fbankjgiving may and rp^ift be kept: upon great and extraordinary occasions, of Judgements or of mercies, And that many Churches may agree in thefe. And I know no juft reafon why the Magiftrate may not f with Charity and Moderation to the weak J irnpole them, and command fuch an agreement among his Subjects.
III. Few doubt but the Commemoration of great Mercies or Judgements may be made ami-
virfary
verfary, and of long continuance. As the Pow- der-plot day ( Nov. 5. ) is now made among us, to preferve the memorial of that deliverance. And why may it not be continued, whileft the great fenfe of the benefit mould be continued > And fo the fecond of Sep* is fet apart for the Anniverfary humbling remembrance, of the Firing of London. And fo in divers other cafes,
I V. The great bleffing of an Apoftolick Mi- niftry, and of the /lability of the Martyrs in their fuflferings for Chrift, being fo rare and notable a Mercy to the Church, I confefs I know no rea- fon why the Churches of all fucceeding ages may not keep an Anniverfary day of Thanksgiving to God for Peter or Paul, or Stephen, as well as for the Powder plot-deliverance. I know not where God hath forbidden it, dire&ly or in- directly. If his inftituting the Lords day were a virtual prohibition for man to feparate any more, or if the prohibition of adding to Gods Word were againft it, they would be againft other daies of Humiliation and Thankfgiving, cfpecially Anniverfarily j which we confefs they are not. If the reafon be fcandal, left the Men mould have the honour inftead of God, I An- swer, 1. An honour is due to Apoftles and Martyrs in their places, in meet fubordination to God. 2. Where the cafe of fcandal is noto- rious, it may become by that accident unlaw- ful , and yet not be fo in other times and places.
t 3 V* The
:
V. The Devil hah here been a great Vndotr by Overdoing : When he knew not how ehe to cpfi out the holy obfeivation of the Lords day, with zealous people he Found out^he trick of deviling fo many dajyes called Holy dayls to fit up by it, that the .people might perceive that the obfervation of them all as bdy^ was never to be cxpedted. And fo the Lords day was jumbled in the heap of holy dayes^ and all turned into Ce- remony, by the Papiits and too many other Churches in the World, Which became Calvhu temptation ( as his own words make plain ) to think too meanly of the Lords day with the
Kit.
V I. In the lawful obfervation of dales, it is molt orderly to do as the Churches do wluch we live among and arc to joine with.
VIT. But if Church tyranny would over- whelm any place with over-numerous daies (or Ceremonies,; which arc ( flngly conlider- ed ) lawful, we (hould do nothing needleily tp countenance aud encourage fuch uturpation.
VIII. Yet is it lawful to hear a Sermon, which (hall be Preached on a humane Holy duy^ which is impokd by Ufurpation. Seeing fuch a a Moral duty may be done, and fo great a bene- fit received, without- any approbation of the in- convenient feaion,
IX. And when we think it unlawful to joyne
in
{ 1 5 l ) in the pofitive Celebration of unlawful dayes ("as the Mahometan Sabbath, ) yet h m3y become a duty for the civil peace and our own fafety, to obey the M3giftrate in forbeaiirig open oppofition or contempt, or working upon that day ? And fo Paul juttitieth himfclf againft the Jews accu- fations,that they found him not in the Temple dis- puting with a*iy man, nor raifmg up the people, nor in the Synagogues, nor in the City,A&* 34. 12. unlefs it be when we have a fpecial call, to re- prove the errour which we forbear complying with.
X. It is long agoe decided by the Holy Ghofr, Kom. 14. & 15. that wemuft not be contenti- ous, contemptuous, nor cenforious againft one another, about things of no greater moment, than the Jewifh dayes were, though fome obfer- ved them without juft caufe: Becaufe the King- dom of God confifteth not in Meats, and Drinks, and Daies, but >n righteoufnefs and peaceabkneft and joy in the Holy Ghoft. And he that in thefe things fcrveth Chrifi, i* acceptable to God (and received by him ) and approved of ( wife ) men, and Jhould be received to Communim with them, Rom. 14. 17, 18. & 15. 7. We mud therefore follow after the things that makg for peace, and things wherewith one may edifie another, Rom. 14. ip.
XI. The Controverfie, whether it be lawful to feparate an Anniverfary day for the Commemo- ration of Chrifts Nativity, Circumcifionand fuch like things which were equally exiftent in the
L 4 Apoftles
Apoftles dayes, and the reafon for obferving them equal with following times, (and fo the Apoftles had the fame reafon to have appointed fuch dayes had they thought it beft, as we have) I acknowledge too hard for me to determine : not being able to prove it lawful, I cannot own and juftirieit* And not feeing a plain prohibi- tion I will not condemn it, nor be guilty of un- peaceable oppofing Church Cuftomes or Autho- rity in it, but behave my felf as a peaceable doubter.
X 1 1. But that no earthly power may appoint a weekly day, in commemoration of any part of our Redemption, betides the Lords day, and fo make another feparated weekly dated Holy day, I think plainly unlawful, Becaufe it is a doing the fame thing for one day which God hath done already by another •, And fo fecmeth to me, i. An usurpation of a power not given, and 2. An accufationof Chrift and the Holy Ghon\ as if he had not done his work furficiently, but man muft come after and do it better.
But efpecially if fuch (or any day or Ceremo- ny J be by an univerfal Law impofed on the Uni- verfal Church, it is arrogant uiurpation of the Divine Authority \ there being no Vicarious Head or Monarch under Chrift of all the World or all the Church, nor any Univerfal Governour who may exercife fuch Legiflat ion, whether per- fonalor Collc&ive.
The feme I may fay of any that would pre- fame to abrogate the Lords day.
And fo much (hall fuffice in gteat hafie of this fubject. And
(153;
And to thee O mod Glorious and Gracious Ireatour and Redeemer, I humbly return my un- signed thanks, for the unfpeakable mercies which [ have received on thy day > And much more for b great a Mercy to all thy Churches and the World : And craving the pardon ( among the :eft ) of the (ins which I have committed on thy Day, I befeech thee to continue this exceeding •nercy, to thy Churches and to Me > and reftorc Tie and other of thy Servants, to the priviledges, and comforts of this Day j which we have for- feited and loft i And let me ferve thee in the Life, and Light, and Love of thy Spirit, in thefe thy Holy Dayes on Earth, till I be prepared for, and received to, the Everlafting Reft in Heavenly Glory, Amen,
Ottob. ii. 1670.
FI^IS.
■
AN
APPENDIX
For further Confirmation of Gods own Separation of the Lords day ^ and Di (proving the Conti- nuation of the Jewifh Seventh day Sabbath.
Written fince the Treatife went to
the Prefs, upon the Invitations of
fome latter Obje&ions.
Heb. 7. 12. Forth: Pi icftkond being changed, there is made
of nccejjity a change alfo of the I aw. iCor. 3. 7, 11. But if the Mini(l>ation of Death , in Let-
ters Engraven in Stones was glorious, Sec. if that which
was done away was glorious, much more that which re-
maincth is gioriow. Aft. iy. 28. Itfcemcdgood tothe HolyGhoft and to us, to
lay upon you no greater Bur dm than thsjc neceffary things— Col. i.
of Cbriji.
LONDON,
Printed for Nevil Simmons, at the three Crowns near Holborn Conduit. 16 j 1.
(*57>
CHAP. I.
An Anfoer to certain Obje&iont a^ainft the Lord* Day*
Hough they are anfwered before,
the Reader muft pardon me, if
upon the particular urgencies of
|f fome Obje&ors, I again make an-
fwer to thefe that follow.
Obj. A&.20.7. The firfl day >/ the Wee\ > Gr. [one of the Sabbaths] that he breaking of Bread there wot common Eatings compare the /% greeh^ phrafe , Aft. 27. 35. dc 1*42. fee Efa. 58.7. However it vpm but an sample of Preaching, and breaking Breads upon 4 fecial Qccafton*
Anfa* 1. That *E» t» /u/£ W c&CC&tm (igni- iethonthe^r/J dayoi the weekly the Generality )f the ancients both Greek and Latine agree, .vhofe teftimony about the fenfe of a word, is the )eft Dictionary and evidence that we can expeft. And the fame phrafe ufed of the Day of Chrifts Refurre&ion by the Evangelifts proveth it. Though I am forry to hear of one that denyeth that alfo, and aflertcth that Chrift rofe on the I fecond
r 1580
fccond day morning, becaufe elfe he could not as j^?#vbe tb^e dayes and nights buried. But I am hot fo proad as to think rny felt capable. of convincing, that; man in fuch a matter of fad, whi will riot: Bel fcvt fhe* hirtorlcal witriefs of the whole Church of Chrifi, and expedteth to be believed againft them <§1L ^t iuch a dillance in the end of the World.
2. There is no doubt but that *a*V/< to apr^ fy^gn^pfoBread, was ;vUgth'a Cowm.ojt'znd a Sacred action": And the phrafe is to be inter- preted by the context, to know when it figniii- cth the cmimon* and when the Sacred* In AU. 2,7* 35J ihse context teacheth us to interpret it §f coomjehmi; eating : But -tftat it doth not fo, 'Mfl<2.-%xAiy6* 'or Aft.'' 2X>^ is- plain to him thai ■i^nfidffibeBb,' 1. That it was then ufual to commttmcztieiimcxdirntntally ;in all their Church £flat>b%s^ V 2.;;. That thefe- ^mentioned were ChtoftJi-ajfemMies •-> ! the Gbnhb * -Being m«tj)«r- pfely for sSaored works. , Yet it is to be remtm- hrjedj-that^fhC'JLc;^ ftah\ did ufually co&CUrr in the beginning with the $kcra!pe*if?-arkl the name wigbf be, oiodiwith, refpeclr. to both.
3. That it was not ameer occasional meeting, k apparent to the unprejudiced, ^1. Bedaufe' thty rteyed at'^r^tffe-yeridayes, V. '6. and in all the I^vch ma^rvA mention oP this exereife, but bn one only^which was the hrlt,- 2. 'Becaufe as is faid ic was not Z family, or by-meeting, but a J3bxr$* meting; ]^Ij)e Difciples came or affembled together^ 3.;Becaultit is faid that they aflembled for this very/end) to break bread \jruotiyfApdv <%f |u*£M7ar n \hdnu ifcprctoi] 4. The great length of time
which
which was fpent in the holy exercifes : Befides, the reft of the Worfhip, and breaking of Bread, Paul Preaching till midnight : which intimateth thatfuch work took up the day. 5. Becaufe it is mentioned as a matter of their, cuftome: They did not aflemfele' becaufe Paul called them to hear bifnonly, as being to depart on the morrow > But Paul afTembled with them at the time of their ajfcmbling to breaks Bread j And it feeineth that he deferred his journey for that opportunity, 6. Be- caufe other Texts' ;as 'joyned wit!?, this,' and in- fallible Church Hiftory following*, do prove paft all doubt that it was the conftant cuftome of all the Churches fo to do.
Obj. 1 Cor. 16. 1,2. fhefirjl dayofthewee^ cVc. gr. one of the SJbb'aths* It is an ordinance to lay afidefor charitable ufes •, but not one word about '. changing of the Sabbath.
' Anfip- The abolition of the Sabbath we prove not by this Text, but by others : All that we bring this for, is but to (hew in conjunction* with Others, as part of the Sacred Hiftory, that the firft day Was the Churches feparated day. And I pray mark the ftrength of the proof, that the Apoftle did [give order that all' the Churches of Galatia as well as the^ Corinthians, Jhould depofite^ their Almes on one and the fame day, viz* on the rrrft day : Was it not enough to tie them to the contribution, but he muft tie them all to onefet day to lay it by, or depolite it ? if it hsd not been be- caule the Churches ufed to aflemble on this day, ! and not to appear before God empty ( as Dr. Hammond noteth on the Text ? ) Whoever heard elfe that God or man tyed feveral Coun-
tceys
(i6o)- treys to one fet day for the private depofiting of their own moneys afterward to be diitributed > IVitb fitch Sacrifices God U wellpleafed > And there- fore it was ever accounted by Chrinians a lit work for the fancTilied'day : But no other day was ever appointed peculiarly for the fet time of laying by rfciens gifts of Charity.
Obj. Rev. i. 10. Johnnw in the Spirit on the Lands day* Compare Exod. 20. iq, &c. Efa. 58. 1^ 8cc. Luk. 6. 5. Mark 2. 28. Mat. 12. 8, &c. jfyid if the Scriptures be the rule to judge, refolve whether that 4ay be not the Lords day, of which day, (and of which only as difiinguijhed from the other dayes of the tvee^) the Son- of man is Lord.
Anfn>. We are not upon a QpntroverGe of title or ' propriety x whether God be Lord. of other dayes : For fo no doubt, he is Lord of al!0 and therefore no more of one than another ,becaufe his propriety in each one is abfohm ', And it can be no more in any. Thus 'alfo he is abfolute Lord of all things, all places, all perfons, e*h% And yet fome things, fome places \(omc perfms have been ftp a- rated to his fervice by a peculiar Dedication and Relation ; and thence have been peculiarly called %he Lords. And the Texts cited by you out Of thp old Teftamcnt prove that iuch was the fe- venth day Sabi: . ': then : But not that it is fo now > or was i k (b for perpetuity.
And the w< . . of 1 he new Teftament cited ["the Son of man U Lord alfo, or even of the Sab- bath day,"] (hews no more, then that it was, in his power: He &iveth -it &s a reafon for his doing that which (es qounted Sabbath- break-
ing (By whiu .. oftentimes offended themO
and
( i6l)
and not as a reafon of his eftMifking it. And it fecmeth plainly to mean, that being but a Pofitive Larv> and a Law of Mofcs, he had power to change it, and difpenfe with it, as well as with other Pufitives and Mnfaical Lzrvs. As it is faid, Ephef. j. 22, 33* be bath made him Head over all thivgs to tbe Church > not Head to all things \ Co he is Lord over, or of all diyes \ But all are not feparated to his Worfliip. As it is faid, Joh. 17. 2. As thou, baft given him power over all flejhy that be Jhould give eternal life to as many as thorn hafl given him : fo it may be faid, he hath power over all dayes, that he may fon&itie one to his peculiar fervice, and ufe the reft in more com- mon works.
But that which we bring this text for is but to know what day is notified to the world by this title of 'the Lords day, and confequently was then ac- counted his feparated peculiar day.Now the fignifi- cation of words is known but by ufe : They are not Natural fignes, but Arbitrary : You know not the fenfe of one word of Hebrew, Greek, or Latine, but by the Hiftory of their ufe, by Dictionaries, Authors or other Traditjon. Now it is unque- stionable to any man verft in antiquity, that all the Churches, and Authors, Greek and Latine, Syriack, iEthiopick, Perfian, Arabick, that have been known among us, and fpcak of iuch things* do unanimouily call the firftday of the week by the name of the Lords day, as being Co called from the beginning, even from the Arftftles > And all old expofitors fo interpret this prefent Text. And you may as well queftion what day the word S.*klwtk fignitied in the Old Teftament
M almoft
almoft, as what day the name of [7 be Lords day\ iignirkd in the new ; Or what fort of people they were that were called Chriftians firft at An- tioch, when only one fort hath ever tmce been no- tified by that name j Even the Difciples of Chrift. The Greek, with the Syriack Tranflatibn, the Arabick, the vulgar Latine, have all [7 be Lords day \ ] and the Ethiopick as equipollent, hath [ ibe firft day ~] And Dv. Heylin ( who would find icmething againft it if any thing were to be found) fpeak ingot fome of late that otherwifc expound it, is (o ingenious as to fay (Par. 2* cap. 1. p. 37O Touching this vpe will not meddle : Let them that own it ho\ to it : The rather fwet St. John hath generally been expounded in the other fcnfc) by Aretasy and Andr. C^farienfis on the place, and by Bed£ de rat.tctvp.c.6. and by the fuffrage of the Churchy the be ft expo fit or of the word of God > wherein thti day hath conftantly fnee the time of the Apoftles been honoured with that name above other d.nes ~] And I know no one man (nor many) that at 1600 years diitance almolt, is fo worthy to be believed for th^ bare fetife of a word, as the con- ftant ufe and uiiivcrfal teftimony of all ages from that time till now.
As Chritf is the Lord of all our Suppers, yet all are not named The Lords Supper ', fo is it in this cafe.
I mult needs conclude therefore, that if I (hottld cafl^orf the evidence of this Text, upon no greater reafon than you offer mc, I think, I (hould refilt the holy.Ghoft, and ufe violence againft Gods word which I (hould obey.
Obj,
(i6$)
Obj. There U no Law in the Scripture to obfervt thefirjlday^nofromifemade to obfervers of it^ no tbreatning agsinft: the breakers of *>, &c. Jhcw it* And if no Law, notranfgreffion^ Rom. 4. 1 5. Sin it a tranfgrejjim of the Law.
Anfw. I have (hewed you full proof of a Law for it before. Though it is not Chrifts way to ena<fr his Laws in that Majettick Commanding form as God did to M'/e/on the Mount : But as he condefcended into rlefh, to be a Teacher and Saviour, in the form of a Servant, under the Law himfelf, to redeem thofe that were under it, (6 he maketh his Laws in a merciful Teaching ftile. All that is revealed by him as his will ap- pointing our duty is his Law. But that we ob- serve the Lords day is revealed by him as his will, making it our duty.
Thefe are his Laws requiring us to Hear and obey his fpirit in his Apoftles, Joh. 20. 21, 22. As the Father hath fent we, fo fend I you : And when he hadfaid this, he breathed on them and J aid. Receive )e the Holy Ghoft^ &c. Luk. 10. 16. He that beareth you% heareth me*
And this is his Law requiring his Apoftles by that fpirit to promulgate his Laws, and make known his will. Mat. 28. 19, 20. Go, difciple me all Nations, Baptizing them, &c. Teaching them to obferve all things whatever I have command- ed you^ and lot lam with you alwaies to the end of the world (or age) with the other Texts fore- cited.
And that the Spirit in the Apoftles hath fetled
the Lords day, as the fcparated day for holy af-
fembliss and Worihip, I have proved to you,
M 2 both
C 164 ) both by the Texts which you now fought in vain to make void* and by the unqueftionable pra&ice and hiitory pf the univerfal Church, from that age untill this. And withal by othejr Texts which you omit : which (not alone, but^) all let together make up the proof, becaule it is historical evidence of a matter of fait, which we have to feek after.
1. Chrifts. Refurre&ion laid the foundation, t>r gave the Caufe -, as Gods ceaiing from his works did of the Sabbath. 2. Chrifts appear- ing to them aflembled on that day, began the a&ual feparation^.The Holy Ghoi* coming down on them, on that day, did more notably fan&i- iie it. 4. The Holy Ghoft as an infallible fpirit in them, did caufe them to make apublick fettle- ment of that day in all the Churches, which was the full and aciual eftablifhment, 5. This fettle- ment is fully proved de facto in Scripture and in- fallible hiilory. 6. And that there are promifes and threatnings, to the obeyersand rejecters, of Chrifts commands, ( whom the Father com- manded us to hear, and who is the great Prophet of the Church, _) I hope you believe. Rev.2c.14. Happy are they ppbo do bit commandments that they may haze right to the tree of life, 8cc. Heb. 13.25. See thatyee refufe not him that fpea^eth > For if they efcaped not who refuftd him that fpakg on earth, much more, &c. A&. 3. 23. It fl)aU come to paft that every foul that mU not hear that Prophet, (hall he dejtroyed from among the people : 1 Joh» 4. 6. We are of God : He that tyomtb God bear- eth m : he that tf not of God, heareth not m : Hereby kyow we thtffirh of truths and the fpirit of aWfrr. If
If befides all this you muft have particular pre- cept s^fromifes and threatnings in the form which you imagine to be titteft, you may for want of thofe.deny many other Gofpel Laws as well as this. Have you not much more for the fepanti- on of the Lords day, than you have for Infants Baptifm, for a Chriftian Magiftrate, for Chrijlians rvjgeing JVarr, for prohibited degrees as to Mar- riage. Sec.
I am perfwaded the fober ftudy of thefe points would do much to convince the contrary minded. i. How much of Chrifts work as to the fettle- ment of Church* Orders, was committed to the Apoftles to be done, and how little he publickly fetled himfelf in perfon, before his Refurre- #ion.
2. How much the Gofpel adminiftration ex- celleth that of the Law. And what eminent Glory God defigneth to himfelf by the work of mans Redemption, and how.much more now he calleth man to Read, and Study and Know him in the face of Jefus Chrift, than in the Creation, And hew largely the change of the Covenant is proved in the Epiftle to the Hebrews.
3. What a change is made herein as to mans duty, fmce the fall of man under the tvrath of the Creator^ who is not now his Reft, but his terrour and a consuming fire, till Reconciled and Adopting us in Chrift j, And iince the Earth U curfed to us as a punifhment for our fins.
4. How much of the certainty, and Glory of the Chriftian faith, and of all our Reft and Con- ization in it, is laid in the Gofpel on the RESURRECTION of ow Lwd, as be- M 3 ginning
ginning a new World, or Creation as it were, and as conquering and triumphing over death and Satan, and fealing the promife and bringing Life and Immortality to Light, and opening the Kingdom of Heaven to Believers.
c. How much of Chiifts Legislation, and ad- miniftration of his Church-fettlement and Go- vernment was to be done by the H>ly Gbojl ! And how glorious tKis office of the Holy Gbojl is, and of what grand importance to be underltood : As he was the promifed Paraclete or Advocate or Agent of our glorified Lord, to do his Work on Earth in his bodily abfence *, To whom the Infal- libility of the Scriptures, the fealing operation of Miracles, the San edification of Believers, and forming them for Glory in the Image of God, is to beafcribed : Whom to Bhftbcme is the unpjr- dmable fix.
6. How dangerous a thing it is made by the Holy Ghoft to feek to fet up Motes Lw, (as the whole Epiille to the Gal. befides molt of the other EpifUes teftiric ) as intimating a denyal of Chrift, and a falling from Grace, and a perverfe fetting up of that which Chrift came to take down, as part of our own redemption. And how large and plain Paul is upon this Sub j eel: > and how the ftirit in all the Apoftles did determine it, AH* 1 5. And how the CerintbiattSy Ntcolaitansy JLbhniits, ]>Jazar£jnS) and many more of the condemned Heretics of that age, which troubled the Churches, and whom the ApofUes wrote againft, went all that way of mingling the Jew- h Law with the Gofpel.
7. How
j. How plainly and exprcfly faul numbrcth Sabbaths with the-fhaddows that ceafe, CoLi.\6. ( to pafs by other Texts ) And what violence mens own wits muft ufe, in denying the evidence of fo plain a Text. Their reafon, that he faith not Sabbath but Sabbttbs, is againit themfelves * the plural number being mod comprehenlivc, and other Sabbaths receiving their name from this j And the word Sabbath alwaies ufed in Scripture, for a Rett which was partly Ceremonial. See what Dr Toung fh his excellent Vies Domin faith of this Text ( Though I know fome fay other- wife to the injury of their own caufe,]
8. How many years together the Churches had been in poflellion, and confequently in the undoubted knowledge, of the true eftablimed day of holy Worftiip, before a word of the New Teftament was Written. And therefore that it was not written to be the firft ena&ing of this day or change 5 but for other ufes.
p. And yet how much evidence of the facl; there is in the Scripture it felf, that really fuch a day was ufed for the ordinary Church-aHem> blies, as a peculiar feparated days even by the Common order of the Apoftles in the Churches, as i Cor. 16. 1, 2. fpeaks. . ,
10. And how impoflible it is that all the Churches in the World mould from their begin- ning keep this as the feparated day, even by the Apottles and from their times, if it had not been fo ordered by them indeed. And whether it be poilible that in no age neer the original hereof, no Paftor, no Chriftian, no Heretick, no Enemy would have dete&ed the fraud ox common M 4 Errour,
Errour, or once have written, that this day was not feparated or ufed by the Apoftles or Apofto- lical Churches \ no nor any one (that I know of, that denyed not the RefurretftionJ ever to have fcruftled or oppoled the day.
II. Whether they that can reject fuch Hifto- rical evidence as this is, do not unwittingly caft away the hdy Scriptures, what zeal (oever they pretend or have tor their honour and perfe- ction.
t2. Whether they that can reject all this evi- dence, and yet can hnd in the fecond Command- roent,the prohibition of all formes of Prayer, Scr- inons,Catechiimes,6c all modal inventions of men, as Images, if not Idols, are without partiality, or do not walk as men, by very different meafures, and partial conceptions.,
I would on my knees intreat fome mod dear and worthy friends, on their knees to ponder ' thefe twelve particulars.
But becaufe by their pretention of the Text, Act, 2. 1,2. I perceive they obferve not, that the Holy Ghoii came down on the Lords day, Let them coniider that the PafTeover was on the Sabbath day that year, and therefore it mult needs be juit fifty daves to that Lords day, and it mult be the day ot Pemecoft.
And ir is not a trifle, that the fir ft Sermon to the people was Preached by Peter on that day, and $cco Converted by it and Baptized-
Dr. Heylins own words are thefe, £ Part. 2. p. 13. %ht firjt partpcubr p'JJ'agc which did oc- enn in holy Scripture touching the firji day of the week^i ^ that upon that day the Holy Ghoji did
. firll
firfi come down on the Apoftlef, and that on the fame day St. Peter Preached bis firfi Sermon, to the Jews, and Baptized fuch as believed, there being added to the Church that day 3000 fouls'] And to prove the day he faith, p. 14. [ The rule being this, that on vdiat day foever the fecond of the Paffover did fall, on that alfo fell the great t Fe aft of Fentecoji ( as Scaligcr de Emend, "temp. U 2. ) So that as often as the Paffover did fall on the Sab- bath, as this year it did, then- Pentecoft fell on- the Sunday.]
The laft part of our Obje&ions are from Hiitory *, anditisfaid,
Obj. [Qu. Whether the obfervation of the' firfi day was not brought into this Ifland. by Antichrift, about 408 or 409 years agoe ? Roger Hoveden about an. 1202 ( above 1200 years after Chrifi ) mentioneth a Council held in Scotland for the initi- ation orfirft bringing in that which he calls the Do- minical day : fee this teftimony mentioned by Binius in his Councils, and fomewhat enlarged by Matth. Paris tbeoldimprejjionfol. 192, ip$. and the laft Edition fol. 200 and 201 *, And how the King of England and the Nobility would not then receive this alteration. — I conceive that in the firfi Centuries the great Controverfie relating to this was about translating the keeping the Pajfover, which they now call Eafter, jrow the fourteenth day of the firft Moon, &c. (under the colour of honouring Chrift) to the firft day of the Wee\ as the Domini- cal day \ which the Popes firft fet themfelves with great vehemency to introduce • ■ And as the Pope obtained hvspurpofe for one day in a year, fo by degrees in fme places, came in one day in a
wee\,
*>ee^ the firjl day to be obfervcd, and the fevcnth day by one of the Popes turned from a Feftival to a Faft, tvMleft many of the Eaftcrn and fonte of the Weihrn Churches did Jlill retain rvitball the objcrva~. tion ofthefeventb-day Sabbath together y>itb the firjl day, and others of the Churches in the Eajl and Weil ksp* of1b i0 *ke five nth day at the ChrijHan Sabbath, &c.
Anfrv. How much more deilrablc an Adver- fary \sHeylin by his acquaintance with Hiftory ! j. Were any of the Authors I before cited either Antichriftian or 1200 years after Chrift }
Ignatius, if genuine was about an. 102. If not, as VaUus thinks then he was about 300. The Canons called the Apoftles, and the Confti- futions called the Apoftles, very ancient.
Juftin Martyr wrote his Afol9 an. 1 50. about 50 years after St. Johns death > where his tefti- mony is as plain as can be fpoken. To which Flinyes who wrote about 107. fome feven years aiter St. Johns death, may be joynedthat he may be undcrftood of the day.
Clemens Alex.md. about 94 years after St. J ?hn, an. J 9 4.
% rtuil'un who is mod exprtfs, and full, and frequent, about ipS, that is, p8 years after St. John.
Origcn about 206 began his Teaching.
Cyprian about an. 25c.
Athanafats who wrote largely of it, about "M 53 c.
To what purpofe fhould I mention again Eit- fcbiM, Gr%. Njzianzen, Nyffen, and all the reft. It was but about an. $cp: that Ccnfiantine began
his
his raign, who made Laws for the Lords day, which other Chriftian Emperours enlarged. But how much earlier were all thofe Synods which Eufebim mentioned, which in the determi- nation of Eaflcr owned the Lords day ? And that otNice was but about an. 327. The Council of Laodicea but about <*#. 3 14 or 320.
The Council of Elibcri* about an. 307.Cjtf.21. faith. If any that live in the Cities Jhall jfay from Church three Lords daies, let him be fo long fuff ended from the Sacrament, til! be be Jenfible of his punifhment.
After this how many Councils and how many Imperial Laws take care of the Lords dayes? It is tedious to cite them.
To thefe may be added, 1. The common agreement that it is founded in the Refurrefiiov, and was from that time. 2. The early conteft for keeping Eafter only on that day, which you note, as being a day by all Chriftians received. 3. The common deteihtion of Fafling on that day. 4. And the univerfal cuftome of not kpceling in adoration on that day : which all ihew that the day was lpecially obferved.
Athanaftus faith de fab. & Circ. Even as at the firfl it was commanded that the Sabbath Jhould be obferved in memory of the finijhing of the World, fo do we celebrate the Lords day as the commemoration of the beginning of a new Creation. And Horn, de Sem. The Lord transferred the Sab- bath to the Lords day. Though Nanniu* queftion the Horn, de femente, fo do few others, and none that I know of, queftion that de Sab. & Circ.
*j Greg.
c 1727
Greg. Nyjf. Or at. inf.Pafc. faith, As Godrefied on the Sabbath from all his rvorkj which he had d me in the Creation, fo did the only begotten Son of God reft in truth from at! his voorhj, 6cc.
Attgufi. Epifl. up. 'the Lords day teas declared to ChrifUans by the Lords Refurreclion. From that time for thencej it began to have its Feftivity.
Mjximus Tawinenfu faith, Horn. 3. de Pentec. *fhe Lords day is therefore fet apart becaufe on it ftur Saviour as the rifing Sun, difcujjing the infernal darfytefi, did (hine forth in his refurre&ion.
And for Failing, T'ertul. deCor. Mil. c. 3. faith, We account it unlawful to fafl on the Lords day. And though the Montanifts failed exceffively, they excepted the Lords day, T'ertul. adv. Pfycb* c> 15.
• Ignatius and the Apfl. Conft. & Can* are fore- cited of this.
Aujlin faith, Ej>. 86. It is a great f caudal to fafl on the Lords day. ( Which the Manichees were accufed of.)
The Concil. Gangr. Can. 18. faith, If any on ■pretenfe of abftinence fafl on the Lords day, let him be Anathema.
The Cont'd. Ctfar-augufl. c. 2. is againft raft- ing on the Lords day either for the fa^e of any time ( as Lent ) or ferjlvafion, or fuperjlition whatfoeicr. So the Concil. Agath. c. 12. ConciL Am-el. 4. c. 2. And the ConciL Carth. an. 3p8. Can. 6\. Let him be takfri for no Catholic}^ rvb» pH/pofcly fuflcth on the Lords day.
And the prohibition of kneeling in adotatiori, I have opened before, ex Concil. Nic. c. 20. Concil. truH. Ebitihan. &c. To which I adde Collecl.
Can.
(173)
Can. Johan. Antioch. fub titulo L. 'fertuh de Cer. Mil. ck 3. ( now cited ) Hieronym. adv. Lucifer, cap. 4. Vie domimco & per omnem Pentecoflen nee de geniculis adorare^ & jejunium folvere, multaque alia qtu non Scripta funt, rationabilis fibi obfer- vatio v'mdicavit. (yet Paul kneeled,.^?. 20. in that time, vid. Jufiell. ad Can. 20.. Cone Nic, ) §jucftion. ad Ortbod. inter Juftin. opera qu. 1 1 5. p. 283. Die Dominica genua non fletlere fymbolum eft Refurreflioniii &c. Germanus Conftantinop. in ffleoria Ecclef. p. 149. Our not kneeling on the Lords day, fignirieth our erection from our Fall, by Chrifts ReFurre&ion, &c. Fee alFo Bafil de Jpir. Sane. c. 27. To. 2. p. 112, 113. & Balj anion theron^. 1032. & Zonari. in c. 20. Cone. Nic* p. 66. Fee Cafj>. Suicerns de kifcefacr. obferv. c. 6.
2. Your Hiftorical obFervations are utterly miftaken.The obFervation of the Lords day was in all the Churches pait all Controverfie From the be- ginning, while the time of JLafter was in Contro- verfie,as I have proved. Wh'y would you not name thoFe Churches in Eaft and We(t (which I never read or heard q{) yea or that perfon, that was For the Feventh day alone ? I am confident becaufe you could not do it. Indeed all Churches called the Feventh day alone by the old name Sabbath, while they maintained the Sabbath to be ceaFed i But under the name of the Lords day, the firft was Folemnly obFerved.
3 . In Hoveden and Mat. Fans, there is not a word of what you Fay j Fo much do you mi£cite Hiftory. There is indeed an. I2QJ« (which as I remember is Hovedens laft ) the fiory that ma- ny Authors talk oF, and Heylin mentioned), Qf
one
( 174) one that found a Letter pretended from Heaved upon the Altar, reproving the crying iins of the times, and efpecially the prophanation of the Lords day, and requiring them to keep it ftridtly for the time to come: which was fo far from being the initiation of the Lords day, that it was about i i6y years after it. And how could men pretend fuch a Divine reproof for fuch a fin, if the day not been received before ? I pray read Hcylins Hiftory againft us, which will fet you lighter in the matter of fa&. And there is no mention of any fuch Council as you talk of, for the initiation, of the Lords day, nor any re- ilftance of the Kings, or Scots : There is no- thing of all this in Huvedcn or Mat. Paris.
4. But what if England had been ignorant of the Lords day till then (which is utterly untrue) it followeth not that they kept the Sabbath on the feventh day. Nor would a Barbarous re- mote corner of the World, prejudice the tcfti- mony of all Chrifts Churches in every age,
5. But that you may fee how greatly you miitake the cafe of England, read but our eld eft Englifti Hiltorian, Beda Hift. Ecckf. As /. 1. 2 6. he mentioneth an old Church named St. Martins built in the Romans time, and cap. 33. a Church built by the ancient faithful Romans j ( And by the way, I think it moft probable that the Roman Souldiers rirft brought Chriftianity into Brit- tain ) Co he oft defcribeth the Worflnp as agree- able to other Churches : And /. 2. c. 2. he begins his reproof of the Bri tains for not keeping Eafler on the due Lords day, but never reproveth them for not keeping the Lords day it felf And though
the
075) the Britans and the Scots had fo little regard of the Englifh Bifhofs fent from Rome, that they awhile refufed fo much as to eat with them, yea or to eate in the fame Inne ( cap. 4. It. 2. ) yet about the Lords day there was no Controvcrfie. Lib. 3. c. 4. he tells you that the Scots difference about Eafter day continued till, an.y 16. for want of intelligence from other Churches, though Columbanw and his followers were very holy per- fons. And (that you may fee your errour ) he there tells you that they did not keep Eafter day with the Jews on the fourteenth day jUL\ as form thought , hut on the Lords day y hut not in the right week^: For (faith he) they tytew ( as being Chri- ftians ) that the Lords Refurretlion which was on the hrft day of the week, was alwaies to he cele- brated on the rirft day of the week ', But being Barbarous and Rufticks-> they had not yet learn' ed when that fame firfi day of the wee^ winch H now called the Lords day., did comeJ]
Here you fee that it was paft Controverilc with them that the Lords day muft be Celebra- ted in memorial of drifts Refurredion, and the Scots kept not Eafter on any other Week day \ And that they had not been like Chriftians, if they had not owned and kept the Lords day > only they had not skill enough in Calculating the times, fo as to know when the true Anniverfary Lords day came about, but kept Eafter on a wrong Lords day.
The fame he faith again in the praife of Finan lib. 3. cap. 17. that though he kept not Eafter at the due time, yet he did not^ as fame falfly thin^ hgep it on any weekday in the fourteenth Moon
with
070
with the Jews > but he alwayes typt it on the Lords day, from the fourteenth Moon to the twentieth, be- caufe of the Belief of the Lords Refurreclion, which the Church truly believed was on thefirft day of the wee^ for the hope of our Refurrefiion, and which ( they believed ) will fall out on the famefirft day, of the weel^, which is novo called the Lords day.
So cap. 25. the King and the Q^een kept Eafier on feveral Lords dayes, and the difference made the ftir : And Wilfrid in his Speech there faith the fame, that the Scots kept Rafter only on the Lords day > ( by whom the King at that time was changed.)
And li. 3. c 2(5. Beda faith that Tuda, ( ano- ther holy follower of the Scots) being made Bifhop,
On the rLords daies the people flockt by crowds together either to the Church, or to the Monafterier, not to rtfrejh their bodies, but to learn the word of God\ and if any Priefthapt to come into a Village, pefentlythe Inhabitants, Congregati in vmum, ga- thered together, tool^ care to feekjrom him the word 4 life,']
Cap. 2. ii- 4. Tbeodows his Confecration on the Lords day is mentioned.
Li^.4. Ctff .5 In the Synod at Herudfotd the rirft Canon is that all keep Rafter on the Lords day next after the fourteenth Moon of the hrtf Month.
Lib. 5. cap. 22. Ceolfridus fendcth an Epifile to the King of the Pi&s, in which are thefe words \_Poftquamvero Pafcha noftrum immolatns eft Chrijius, tyumque nobis Vominicam, qit£ apitd antiquos m* vel prima $abbati five Sabbatorum
vocat$fry
('77 > Voc.atur^gaurlin fi<£ Refurfcclionis fecit effe foleH* nem; it a banc nunc Apojiolica tr a ditto fcjl'tf Pafcha- libus infer int. J rhat is, [_ But when Cbrift our Pajfover was Sacrificed for us, and by the Joy of bit Refurreciion made the Lords day, which by the Ancients was called one or the firfi of the Sabbath or Sabbaths, to be a folemn day to us \ fo now Apoftolical tradition bath ingraffed it into the PafchalFeftivals : ] Where you fee that trie Lords day fettled as folemn by the Refurrcftion, he taketh for uncontroverted , but the grafting it into the Eajhr Feftivals, he alcribeth to Apollo- lical Tradition, meaning St. Peters.
And after in the fame Epiftle \_§hu tenia poji immolationcm fu£ pajfiontt die rejurgens a. mortuti, banc dwrinicam vocari, & in ea nos annuatim Pafchalia ejufdem RefurreHiom voluit fefla celebrare i J that is, [Cbrift rifmg from the dead, the third day after the Sacrifice of his pafliony would have this called the Lords day, and would have us on it to Celebrate the Pafcbal Feaji of bis Rcfurredion.'] The like is after again in that Epiftle, with this addition, that we bold that our own Kefurretlion will be on the Lords day. By this Epiftle the King of the Pi&s was brought to Conformity in that day and made Laws for it z And Cap. 23. The Scots of lly who flood out fo long, were brought to it by the perfwafioii of Eigbertus. Judge now of your Hiftorical note of England.
But that you may fee more of this, you may Read BedSs mind that lived in England in other of his Works, On Aft 20. [In una Sabbatbi cum convtmffkmus vd- fraugendnm pamm > id eft,
N P/«
Die JDominico qui eft primus a Sabbato^ cum *d\ myliaiLi celebranda Congregaii effcmus,~] that is, [On the Lords day, which. U the firft from the Sabbath j 'when we were Congregated to Celebrate
theMyficrief ] And he thinks it called, the
Lords diy, because it M the Remembrance of the Lords Kcfurreal'd or ours*
And on. Luc. 6. fir!. 78. he faith [±The obfer* . vation p£ th Legal Sabbath, ought of it ftlf to ccafc, and jhe natural liberty of a Sabbath to be refined, which till Moles time was like other dayes. Ibat as it is not cirewncifion or the Cere- monies of the Law that fiavc the Church but the faith of Abraham working by Love, by which being uncircumcifed he was juftified, fo he calletb the fecund Sabbath after the .firft, no other but the fpirhud Sabbath, in which as on other daies,it is lawful to do any profitable rvorl^, fitr diftinclion from the^jfwijh Sabbath, in which it was not law~ fut to 't/kyel, to gather Wood, nor to do other needful things'] Pardon his Errour about that word •, I only cite it for the historical ufc.
"And on Luc. 24. 1. fol 143. [One of the Sab- baths, or the firft of the Sabbaths, is the firft day after the. Sabbath, which the Chriftian cuftome hath called the Lords day, becaufe of the Lords Refer- recti >■«.]
And ibid. fol. 143. [Whence Ecclefiaftical cuftome hath obtained, that either in memory of Chrifts Refurretlion, or for the hope of ours, we Fray not with bended k^ees, but only with faces declined towards the Earth, on every Lords day, and all the quadragelimae.]
And in A6t. 2. 1. [iht Holy Choft fent >the
example
d79)
example of the ancient fign returning, did bimfelf by bisovrn coming moft manifeftly Consecrate the Lords day*"]
And on Col. i.fol. 308. he fheweth that the Sabbath was a (hadow, and Chrift that made it was Lord of it and ended it \ and that to abftain from tin is now our Sabbath* See him alfo on Rev. j. 10. Heb* 4. fol. 308- 2 Cor. 3. foU i76. V.
And becaufe he was a Scot, I will adde Sedulius who lived 430. In Col. 2. fol 91. [7 be Sabbath being a ft adore ceafed when the Body came, becaufe the Iruth being prefent, the Image is needleft. And on Heb. 4 p. There remaineth a Reft, that isy The Eternal Reft which the Jewiftj Sabbath fig- niftedJ]
See Pbilaftrius Htref 8. Abundance more of this kind I might Cite, but for making the Book tedious to thofe that need it not. And fo much of the Hiftory, to fatistie your Objections and Miftakes,
N 2 6HAP.
CHAP. II.
An Anfver to more Arguments for the feventb day Sabbath.
Reafons.
i. *~T*iHat the Lord
X Jefus Chrijl is
Jehovah, Zach. n. 13.
&i2,4, 10. Gen.
19. 24. A&.2.25. com- pared' rvith Pfal. 16. 8, &c. "The Lor dour Righ- teonfncfs,]tt. 23. 6\
2» 'that the World rv as made by Jehovah Chrift, Joh. 1. 3, 10. Hcb. 1. 2, 3, 10. Col. U14, 15, 16, 17. Eph. 3. p. Pfal. 102. 22, 24, 25. Heb. 3. 4. Pvom. 11. 3 6. 1 Cor. 8. d. Gen. 2. 4, e^c
3. The feventb day
Sabbath was injlituted
by Jehevah Chrijl, and
kept by hint, Gen. 2. 2,
3>4-
Anftvirs.
X tr<
us is no Con- troverfie among, us, meaning of Chriits Divine Nature \ and his perfon in refpedt there- of.
2. Nor is tliis any Controverfie, if meant of the fecond perfon in the eternal Trinity, not yet Incarnate, nor in the fiefli Annointed(ChriftO
3. Though this have
long been doubted in
the Church , fome
thinking it mentioned
but
(iSi)
3,4. whilefl man was in but by Anticipation' innoccncy , before the yet I deny it not, but Fall, Gen. 3.6. f and believe that it was San- before any Types* ) dined and kept from
the beginning, becaufe the Rcafon of the Confccration was from the be- ginning. But, 1. The fecond Perfon is not called Cbrijl before the fall, nor without refpeel: to his humane Nature. 2. It is uncertain whe- ther it was before the fall i becaufe we know not whether man fell on the fame day in which- he was Created, which is the commoneft opinion, ( though unproved ) Whereupon Mr. J. Wal]^r in his "treat, of the Sabbath maintaineth, that the fall and promife went before the Sabbath, and Co that Gods reft had refpeel to Chrift promifed, as the perfection of his works, and that the Sab- bath was firft founded on Chrift and the promife. But becaufe all this is unproved Opinion, I incline to the Obje&ors, and the common fenfe*
4. The feventb day 4. I am of the fame Sabbath was kgpt by opinion •, but it is un- Abraham, Gen, 26.5. certain* fo far as it is by the Ifraelites, Exod. uncertain whether it 5. 5. The Law for the- was inftituted a&ually feventh day was repeated at ftrft. But the reft, Exod. 16. 22, 23. Etf.5.5. feemeth plainly
to reterr to no Sabbath, but to the peoples neglect of their tasks, while Mofes kept them in hppe of deliverance, and treated for them. And their tasks, with their dellre, to go into the Wildernefs to Sacrifice, maketh it probable that Fbaraob never allowed them the Sabbaths reft. N 3 5 The
( l82
5. Tbe Decalogue tvm fpo^en by Jebovah Cbrifi^ Exod. 20. 1. (fee tbe Affemblies leJJ'er Cate- cbifme on .tbe Preamble to tbe Commands : ) Be- caufe tbe Lord is cur God^ &c» Redeemer^ &c. therefore we are bound to keep , &c. Exod. 1 p. 3. compared with Ad. 7. 38. Efa. 63.9. Ex. 1 p. 17. Tbe Decalogue written by bis Finger ^ Ex.31. 18. On Tables of Stone i Ex. 32. 15, 16, i$>. & 34, 1, 28. and J^ept by all tbe Pre phtts*
)
5. All true, and un- controverted, with thefe fuppofitions : 1. That the Father as well as the Son gave the Decalogue : 2. That the fecond perfon was not yet Incarnate, rChriftO 3. That the Law was given by the Miniftration of Angels, who its like are called the Voice and Finger of God. 4. That God our Redeemer did variouily Govern his Kingdom, by his Law and Cove- nant in various Editi- ons : of which more anon.
6, Tbe Decalogue vpm confirmed by Jebovah^ Cbriii, Mar. 5. 17, 18,
1 p. Luk. id. 17. Mat. 28. 20. Joh. 14. 15. & 15. 14. Rom 3. 31. & 7. 12. Jam. 2. 8, 12. NeivCovenani yHcb.S- 1 o. J Joh.3.22,24.jJoh.5.3.
2 Ep. Joh. 5. 6. Rev. J2. 17. & 14. 12. & 22. 14, 18. compared with Mai. 4. 4.
6. Here beginneth our fundamental diffe- rence : I (hall rirft tell you what we take for the truth, and then confider of what you alledge againft it.
1. Wc hold that every Law is the Law cf fome one j fome Law- maker ox Sove- raign power : And therefore Chrift being now
fi83) now the Head over all things to the Church, Efh. i. 22, 23. whatever Law is now in Being to the Church, mutt needs be the Law of Chrift.
2. We hold that Chrrfts Redeemed Kingdom hath been Governed by him, with variety of Adminillrations, by various Editions of his Law or Covenant : That is, I. Uiiiverfally to Man- kind i viz* 1. Before his Incarnation : which was j firft, To Adam, and fecondly to Noah, and to mankind in them both : 2. After his Incarna- tion. II, Particularly, to the feed of Abra- bam even the Jews as a particular Political foc;ety \ chofen out of the World ( not as the only people or Church of God on Earth, but J for peculiar extraordinary mercies as a peculiar people.
3. We believe that each of thefe Adminiftra- tions was ritteft for its proper time and fubjed, according to the manifold Wifdom of God : But yet the Alterations were many and great, and all tended towards perfection : fo that the laft Edi- tion of the Covenant by Chrifx Incarnate and his Holy Spirit, much excelled all that went before, in the Kingdom of the Mediatour. And all thefe changes were made by God-Redeemer himfelf.
4. As it was the work of the Redeemer to be the Repairer of Nature, and recoverer of man to God > fo in all the feveral Adminiitrations, the great Laws ot Nature containing mans duty to God, refulting from and manifelted in our Na- ture as related to God, and in the Natnr a return or the Works of God, was flill made the chief part of the Redeemers Law : fo that this Law
N 4. of
( i§40
of Nature, whofe fumme is the Love vf Gvd, and of his Image, is (Tver the Primitive unchangeable Law •, and the reft are fecondary fubfervlent Laws, either Fsfitivc, or remedying, cr both._And no tittle of this (hall ever ceafe, if nature ceafe not.
5. But yet there are temporary Laws of Na- ture, which are about Temporary things > or where the Nature of the thing it felf is mutable, from whence the Natural duty doth remit. As it was a duty by the then Law of Nature it felf ^ for Adams Sons and Daughters to Marry [ In- crease and multiply "] being made a natural Be- nediction, and the means a natural Duty. And yet now, it is inceft againft the Law of Nature, for Brother and Siller to Marry. So it was a Natural duty for Adam and Eve before their Fall to love each other as innocent ■> but not fo when they ceated to be innocent : For cejfante materia ccjfat obligatio.
6* So alfo fome Pofitive Commands made to Adam in Innocence ceaftd on the fall, and fen- tencei fAs t0 drefs .that Garden-) Andfbme pofitives of the rirft Adminiftrations -of Grace, did ceafe by the fupcrvening of a more pertedfc adminiftration. As the txvo Symbolical or Sa- cramental Trees in the Garden, were no longer flich to man when he was turned out \ fo no pofitive Ordinance of Grace, was any longer in torce, when God himfclf repealed it, by the in- troduction of a more perfect Adminiitration.
j. Accordingly we hold, that a change is now made of the fandtified day. Where note, i.That we take noLthtfivfntbda)^ ( no nor one day in
(even,
C 185 )
fcven, though that be nothing to our Controver- fie ) to be a Duty by the proper Law of Nature, but by a Pofitive Law : 2. That the feventh day is never called a Sabbath till Mofes time, but only a Sanclified and blejfed diy \ the word Sab- bath being ever taken in Scripture for a day of Ceremonial Reft, as well as of fpiritual Reft and . Worfhip. 3. That Chritt himfclf hath conti- nued a feventh day, but changed the feventh day to the fir ft/ not as a Sabbath, that is, A day of Ceremonial Reft, for he hath ended all Sabbaths as fhadows of things that were to come, even of reft which remained for the people of God, Ikb. 4.9. Col* 2. 16. And this is it which is incumbent upon us to prove, and I think I have fully proved already. 4. That having proved the thing done ( the pofitive Law of the feventh day changed by the Holy Ghoft to the firft day J it concerneth us not much to give the reafons of Gods doings : But yet this reafon may fecondarily be obierved : That God having made the whole frame of Na- ture very gocdj- did thereby make it the glafs in which he was to be feen by man, and the Book which he would have man chiefly ftudy, for the knowledge of his Maker and his Will. But fin having introduced, diforder, confufion and a curfe upon part of the Creation for mans fake, . God purpofed at once, both to notifie to man, what he had done by fin, in bringing diforder and a curfe upon the Creature, and blotting the Book of Nature which he fhould have chiefly uftd, and alfo that it was his good pleafure to fet up a clearer Glafs, even Chriji Incarnate^ in wj;.jch man might fee his Makers face, in a reprc-
fentation
fentation fuitable to our need •, not now zsfmik- ingnfton an Innocent man, nor as frowning on a guilty man, but as reconciled to Redeemed man ; and to Write a Book in which his will mould be more plainly read, than in the blotted Book of Nature: Yea in which he that in the Creature appeared meft eminently in Power , might now ap- pear moft eminently in LOVE, even redeem- ing, reconciling, adopting, juftifying and faving Love. So that, though God did not change the day, till the Pcrfon of the Incarnate Mediator, with his perfeclrlaft edition of the Covenant, was exhibited, and fet up as this clearer Glafs and Book, yet then as the feafonable time of Refor- mation (Heb.p, 10, ii. ) he did it. To teach man that though mil he mult honour God as the Creator, and know him in the Glafs and Book of the Creature, yet that muft be now but his fecondary ftudy 5 for he muft primarily ftudy God in Cbrifl ; where he is revealed in Love, even mo(i confpicuous, wonderous Love.
And how fuitable' this is to man after fin and curfeand wrath, may thus evidently appear.
1. We were fo Dead in fin3 and utterly de- prived of the fpiritual Lift, that the Book of the Creatures, was not a fufficient means of our re- viving : But as we mult have the QJJ I G K- NING SPIRIT of lefts the Mediator, fo we mult have a jaitablc weans for that Spirit to work by: which that the curfed mortified Crea- ture is not, appeartth in the experience of the cafe of Heathens
2. Wc were lb ~Da)\ in fin, that the Creature was not a fuflicknt means of our Illumination :
But
( if7)
But aswemufthavethelLLUMlNATING SPIRIT of Jcfus , fo we muft have a Glais and Book that was fuited to that illumi- nating work.
3. We were (oalienatedkom God, by Enmity and malignity, and iofs of L O V E, that as it muft be the fpirit of Jefus which muft regenerate us unto LOVE, fo it muft be a clearer demon- ftration of L O V E than the Creature maketh in its curfed ftate, which muft be the fit means for the fpirit to work by in the reftitution of our LOVE.
Where further note, 1. That L O V E isffo- lincfs and Happinefi it (elf : and the operations of Divine Love are his VerfeUive operations, and fo fit for the laft perfective adr. 2. That man had many wayes fallen from LOVE: As he had actually and habitually turned away his own heart from God i and as he had fallen un- der Gods wrath, and fo loft thofe fulleft emanati- ons of Gods Love, which fhould cherifh bis own Love to God s and as he had forfeited the afliftance of the fpirit which fhould repair it \ and as he was fallen in Love with the accurfed Creature, and laftly as he was under the Curie or threatning himfelf, and the penalties begun \ It being impctfible to Humane Nature, to Love a God who we think will damn us, and feel doth punifti us in order thereunto. So that nothing could be more fuitable to Lapfed man, or more perfecYive of the Appearance and Operations of God, than mis demonftration of Reconciling fuvingLove, in our Incarnate Crucified, Raifed, Glorified, Interceding Redeemer. AD which
fheyveth
088)
fheweth tliat Gods removal of the fenfiificd day from the feventh to the firft of the Week, and his preferring the Commemoration of Redem- ption, and our ufe of the Glafl and Book^ of an Incarnate Saviour before that of the now accurfed Creature, is a work of the admirable wildom of God, and exceeding (uitable to the nature of the things.
II. Now I come to confider of what you fay againft all this. You Cite the numbers of many Chapters and Verfes ( contrary to your grand principles, thefe divisions being Humane Inventi- ons -, j in all which there is nothing about the Controvertie in hand. The Texts fpeak not of the Decalogue only, but of the Law, and of Gods Commandments , and Cbrifls Commandments. Now I mull tell you before-hand, that I will take no mans word for the Word of God, nor believe any thing that you fay, God fpeaj^th > without proof. Prove it, or it goeth for nothing with me. For as I know that adding to Gods Word is Curfed, Rev* 22. iS as well as taking away j fo if I mutt once come to belkve that God faith this or that without proof,Ifhall never know whom to believe : For twenty men may tell me twenty fcveral tajtes, and lay that God faith them all.
I expedt your proof then of one of thefe two aiTettions ( tor which it is that you hold, no man can gather by your own words, or citations.) 1. That all the Law which was in being at •Chrifts Incarnation, was confirmed and continu- ed by him (which yet I do not Imagine you to hold, becaufe all Pauls Epiiiks, and cfpccially the
Ep.
Ep . to the Heb. do fo fully plead againft it. ) 2. Or clfe that by the Law in all thofe Texts is meant all the Decalogue, and the Decalogue alone.
The Texts cited by you prove no more than what we hold as confidently as you : tiz, i.That all the Law of Nature,(where the Matter oxNature of the things continue;is continued by Chrift,and is his principal Law. 2. That the Decalogue as to that matter of it, is continued as it is the Law of Nature ( which is almoft all that is in it, ) but not as the Jewifh Law given by Mofes hands to the Political body. 3. That the Natural part of all the reft of Mofes Law is continued as well as the Decalogue. 4. That all Mofes Law as well as the Decalogue (hall be fullfilled, and Hea- ven and Earth (hall fooncr pafs away than one jot or tittle of it (hall pafs till it be fulfilled. 5. That the Elements, Shadows, Predictions, Preparations,^, are 'all fulfilled by the coming of Chrift, and by a more perfect Adminiftrati- on. For Chrift fulfilled all Righteoufnefs, Mat. 3.15. (ftweewn is fometimes put materially for <ftyjjeifj.ala^ ) 6. That a change may be two waies made, 1. By deftroy'wg a thing. 2. By perfecting it. And mat by the Law in Matth. 5. 17, &c. Chrift meaneth, the whole body of Gods Law then in force to the Jews, conlldered as one frame, confining of Natural and Pofitive parts. Of which he faith, that he came not kclI*m<!cu £ vo/jlop, tp diiTolve, pull in pieces or deftroy the Law, as a licentious Teacher, that would take off Gods obligations, and leave the Wills and Lufts of men to a Lawlefs liberty (which was it that the Pharifes imputed to fuch as were againft the
Law;)
Law :) But that he came to bring in a greater ftritlnefs, a right evufnefs not only exceeding that of his accufers, v. 20. but inftead of deftroying it, to perfect the Law it felf, that is, to bring in a perfedter Adminiftration and Edition 01 the Law. So that as Generation turneth fernen in fuppofttum, and fo doth do awuy the feed, not by deftroying it, but by changing it into a perfeder being ', and as Faul faith, 1 Cor. 13. id, 17, 18. Wlien that which itperfett is come, then that which U in part (hall he done away : When I was a child, IJpaks as & child, I nnderftood ( or was affected ) as a child, I thought ( or reafoned J as a child *, hut when I hecame a man I put away childish things, &c not that the child or his knowledge is deftroyed, but perfected, and changed into better i And yet many Ads of his childifh reafonings may ceaie \ And as he that would repair the Temple to a greater glory, may take away the brafs, and put Gold inftead of it, and Co not change one pin of the Temple by a dcfirutlive change but by a perfecting change, which ( to the frame) is to cdifie, and not to deflroy -•> Even fo (Thrift profef- feth that he came not to gratifie the lufts of men, nor to deftroy the Law in the fmalleit point, but
1. Himfelf to fulfill it in the very letter, and
2. Toaccomplifh the fhadows, Predictions and Types, by coming himfelf as the 'Truth and End, which when they had attained they were fulfil- led j And 3. By a more perfect Edition and fpiritual Adminiftration, advancing the Law to a higher degree of excellency } by which not the Law is faid to be put awayt or defiroyed, but the imperfections or weakness of it to be done
away.
TWTT
away. Not but that all Gcds Laws are perfeft as to the time and fubjetl which they are fitted toi) but not in companion of the future timey znd'degrees to be added. It is a Better Tcflament that Chrift bringeth in h Heb. 7. 22. & 8. 6. ejlablifbed on better promifes, and procured by &£f- ter Sacrifice , and bringing a &mo* &0pe, Heb, 8. tf. #•7. i£. and better things that are provided for usy that they without us Jhould not be made perfetty Heb. 1 1. 40. . So that when Mufes Law is confi- dered as fuch, in that Imperfedt Hate, it is effenti- ally or formally all done away > but not materi- ally > for it is done away but by changing it into a better Teftament and more perfect adminiftra- tion, which retaineth all that is natural in if, and addeth better pofitives fuited to riper times.
So that the Law as denominated from the no- bler Natural part, and as fignifying the whole Law or fyfteme of precepts, then in force, is not deftroyed,but perfected •, ButtheL^«?as figni- fying that called Jewifh delivered by Mofes to that Republick, as fuch, though part of the faid fyfteme, yet is the Imperfect part, and is taken down and is now no Law, though it be not de- ftroyed, but fulfilledy and turned into a more per- fect Teftament and Adminifiration*
Now that by the Law and Commandments I am not to under ft and the Decalogue only, in any of your cited Texts, I thus prove.
i. From the notation of the name* The word [L^w?3 m *ts u^ua^ proper fenfe, doth fig- nVrie the whole, or other parts as well as that ; and not that one part only* Therefore I muft
fo
fo take it, till you prove that in any Text it hath a limited (enie. Elfe I (hall turn Gods univerfal or indefinite terms into particular, and pervert hisword,by limiting by my own invention where God hath not limited.
2. Becaufe the common fenfe in which the Jewes, Cagainft whom ChriftfpakeJ did take the word [JLaw] Was not for the Decalogue only but for the Pentateuch, or all Mofes Law. And if Chrilt fpeak to them, he is to be fuppoied to (peak intelligibly, and therefore in their fenfe.
3. Becaufe Chrift in this very Chapter, Mat. 5. extendeth the fenfe further than the Decalogue : As v. 17- he adjoynes the Prophets equally with the Law, which he came not to deltroy. And thus he fpeaketh as the Jews, who did ributed the OldTeftament into the Law and Prophets, when by the Law they meant the Pentateuch- Now it is certain that all the Prophefies that fay f The Mejfiah is not yet come, butfljall come, and be incarnate, and that (hew the time and man- ner,] &c are not now true de futttro, as they then fpake 5 And yet they are not dejiroyed but fulfilled, and fo ceafe as prophecies of things yet future. And fo it is with the Pofitives of Mofes Law.. 2. V* 18. he faith univerfaly, fill all he fulfilled, and not the Decalogue only. 3. V. 1?. he extendeth it to the Leait command. 4. F.20. he extendeth it to all the Pharifcs Righteoufnels, which was Righteoufnefs indeed. 5. V.nSjVho- foevcrfloall hjll, Jhall he in danger of the Judg- ment?] hath the political penalty in it, above the bare fixth Commandment.^. V.^iWh of ever Jhall put away his Wife-, &* him give her a writing
of
CrmJ
of divorcement, is not the bare feventh Co rritriand" ment, but fetcht from TJeut.5^. i. And this in* ftance it felf expoundeth, v. 17, 18. For when Ctttift had protected againft deftroying zn'iota or tittle of the Law, yet he changeth this very Law now cited' by himfelf, fc* far as it/indulgeth putting away i fo that it is hence evident that bemeaneth not that he came not to make a per- fetiive change, but that he came not to indulge licentioufnefs, and Luff by a deftru&ive- Change. Luk. 16. 18. 1 Cot. 7. 10.- Mat. 1 p. p. So 7. V% 33. ihoufhalt not furfwear thy felf, Sec. is fetcht trom,- Lev. ip. 12, &c.[: 8. V. 38. jln eye for dri-cyt^&ti is fetcht from Exod. 21.24..- P^* 24.20. Vein. ip.-2i. and not from the Deca- logue alone. ~;p. So V. 43. is from Lev* iq.HS. and other places; '
4. Becaufejnall P auls Epiftles, and commonly in all the New Ttilament the word Law is ordi- narily, if'not'alwayes, taken, more extenfively than the Decalogue : Therefore to expound it for the Decalogue only, is to contradict the conftant ufe of the Scripture, under pretenfe of expound- ing the Scripture.
If then by the Law, be meant e'lther the Whole' fyfteme of 'God's Laws, Natural 'and Pofitive, or all Mofcs LaW?ror the Pentateuch, then I may' thus argue. It ps moft certain thai much of this Law of Moles u ceaftd or abrogate* therefore- it tf certain, that it was none of Chrijis meaning that he would abrogate none of that Law which ht fteah^tWof, or change it for a better.
That all and every word of the Decalogue is not of the dureable Law of Nature, I (hall prove anon, l O That
\ MM A
That by the word [L<«p] the Scripture mcaneth more than the meer Decalogue thefe Texts among others prove, Exod.i^.p. & 24.12- Dm* i. 5. & 4. 8. & 17. 18, 19. dr 28- di.
($29; 2p, & 31. p. 2 J&Wg. 17. 37. #* 2J.
2.4,25. 2 Cbrom H-2l». & 33. 18. #* 34. ip. Ezra 7. 6. #* 14. 2<5. & IC 3. i\fc&. 8.2,7, p,
33,14. eir 10. 2p. #• 13. 3. A/*/. 2. d, 7, 8,$>. #• 4.4. A/^/k 11. 13. #• i2- 5. &. z$. 36,40.
& 23. 23. Luk^ 2. 22, 27. Job. 1 17, 45. & 7. j*?, 23, 51. & 8. 5. €^ 10. 34. & 12. 34. & 15.25. 40. rf. 13. > i3-i5> ?>•-. (ft »5- 5>24*
C^.21^ 2C, 28. & 22. 3, 12. & 23. 3, 25>. &
28. 23,. Kw;. 2. 12/13, 14,17, 18,20,23. &\ 3. i^2c, 21,28,31. &* 4- iW&raVtft ^ ft 13? ,* && 2V3,4>5, d,e^c. Anifo to the end of *the New Tcllamcnt j which t need mot
further number. ■
7. lI bat the ftventh 7. 1. So Chrift was: flSy Saibatb was kept by Circumcifed ? and joyn- tbe- Lord Jehovah, Cbrijl ed in the Synagogue. during W 8fa> Mark. Worfhip, and held 1 2ri. & 6. 2. L#^. 4 Communion with the 3\.'& 66.i.t).& 13.10. Jewifh Church, and Mat. 12. i,5>. 6" 13.1,2. Priefthood, .and ^obfer- arid couftantly, Luk. 4. ved all the Law of Mo- id. 17. SeeChrifis conn- fes> never violating any fcl which was to come to part \ For he was ww^r p'oft about forty years af- under the . haw to tcrhls Aj^.Mat.24.20. redeem them that were
under the Law, Gal. 4. 4*, 5. Do you think that all this is eftablifhed for ik? .2. And his Counfel, Mat. 24. 20. had refpe<3r to rile Jews mjfery and not to their duty. He
chetefctrc
therefore foretellcth their deftru&ion, becaufe they would rejed him and his Law, in a perverfc zeal for Mofes Law i, And therefore intimatcth that even Mofes mould condemn them, and their , mifery mould be increafed by their zeal for his Law i For their City was taken on the Sabbath day , which increafed their Calamity, who (crupled on that day to fight or fly. And can you think Chrift approved of that opinion, who had fo oft before condemned the like, about their over rigid fabbatiiing ? Or as Dr. Hammond thinks, it is liker to be fpoken of a Sabbath year, when the War and Famine would come together- However it be, it only fuppofeth their adherence to their Law and Sabbath, but jujUfietb it not at all : Though yet the total and full abrogation of the Jewi(h Law, was not fuJly declared, tillD at that time of the deltru&ion of their City and Temple, their policy more fully ceafed.
8. that after Jcho- ' 8. You again adde vah had finished the to the Word of God : upork^ of Redemption , It is not faid that be Joh;i£ 30. h'vs body reft- had finijhedihe work^ of ed in . the Grave, Mat. Redemption. But only 27- 66. and himfelf in [It U finifhed'] which Heaven, Luk.23.42,43. ieemeth to mean but as he refied when he end- that, 1 . This was the ed the worl^of Creation, laft adfc of his life, in Gen. 2. 2, 4. which he was actively
to fulfill the Law and oflsr- himfelf a Sacrifice for man ', 2. And in which all- the Law and Prophets were fulfilled' which foretold this Sacrifice. For that it is not meant of- the whole work of Redemption as
O 2 rinifhed
finifhed when he (poke thefe words, is evident,
1. Becaufe after, thole words he was to diei
2. Becaufe his ftate in death and his burial were part of his humiliation as is implycd, i Cor. I5'4' J°b* 1: "7* Rom. 6. /{* Col. 2. 12. Ifa. 53- £. 1 Cor. iy 55. Ad. 2.24. I Cor. 15. 26. Phil. 3. 10. 2 %\m. 1, 10. Heb. 2. 14, 15.
3. Becaufe his Refurre&ion was his victorious a&, and a part of the work of mans Redempti- on v 4. And fo is his Interceilion. For Re- demption is larger than Humiliation or Sacrifice for fin. As Exod. 6 6. L?/^. 24. 21* Rom* 3. 24. & $. 23. 1 Cor. 1. 30. Epb. 1. 14. Lttk; 21. 28. It is the Refurredfion by which we are made Righteous and receive our hope of life, and vidory over death and Satan, Kom. 1. 4. Phil. $. 40,11. 1 Pet. 1.3. & 3. 21. Rom. ^. 25.
2. The clean contrary therefore to your Col- lection is true: viz. That God did indeed end the Work of his Creation on the (ixth day, and retted in it, as iini(hed on the fevcrith : But thrift was (0 for from ending his on the fixth, and reliing in it on the feventh, that on that day above all other he tic mol conquered by men and by him that had the power or death,. Jleb.
14 and w.is held as Captive by the Grave, ib that his "Dijciples hopes did feem dead with him, Lukz 24. 21.. This State of Death being not the kali, if not the lowcit part of his Humilia- tion : Whence came the Churches Article that he defcended into Hades. 3. I did more proba- bly before prove from Chrilts own words com- pared with his burial, a calling down of the fe- vj'nth day Sabbath, thus. That day on which
the
(w)
the Difc'ples arc to faji, is not to be kept as 4 Sabbath (For that is a day of Thank (giving J But on the day of Chrifts Burial, the Dnciples were to fa(l, (that is, to walk heavily: ; Which ap- peareth from Markc 2. 20. When the .Bride- groom is taken from them, then they (hall tall. Now though this meant not to command any one day for failing, much lefs the whole time of his bodily abfence, yet both the fenfe of the words themfelves, and the interpretation of the Event tell us, that as there was no day in which he was (o fadly taken from them as that Sabbath day, which almoft broke their hearts and hopes, C for the next day he was reftored to them ) So there was no day in which they were fo deje&ed, and unlike to the Celebraters of a Gofpcl day of Joy, or Sabbath. Do you call the day of Satans power, and triumph, and of the Difcples greattft fear and grief that ever befell them, the Celebra- tion of a Sabbath reft ? It had indeed fomewhat like an outward?\t:{\, butfo as feemed plainly to burie in his Grave the feventh day Ceremonial Sabbath. And from the Reafons now pleaded it was that the Weftern Churches kept the fe- venth day as a Faft.
£. Wbileft the Lord 9 A- They did inv Jehovah Chrijl refiedy deed keep yet the Jew- private believers rejhd ifh Sabbath, till Chrifts according to the Com- Refurre&ion, and the mandment , Luk. 23. coming down of the 55,56. Mar. 15. 42.6c Holy Ghoft : And fo 1$. 1. compared. they did the reft of the
Jewifti Law. For they
yet knew not that it was abrogated \ But muft
Q 5 W£
1, I?° )
vJt do fo too ? You may as well argue from their keeping the Sabbath before Ch rifts Death, as on that day when he was dead. The change of the day was made by Degrees, by three feveral ads or means, i. The Refurredion of Chriit, was the founding act, which gave the Caufe of chang- ing it \ Like Gods rinifhing his works of Crea- tion at rirft. 2. The Infpiration of the Holy Ghoft in the Apoitles doth teach them, and bring all things to their remembrance which Chriit commanded, aud was the authorillng means of the change : And the Apoitles adual fettlement thereupon was the Promulgation. 3. The gra- dual notification by the Preachers to the Chur- ches, and finally the deftrudion of the Jewifh Policie, and Temple, and Prieithood, were the fuller proclamation of it, and the way of bring- ing the change that was made by Command into fuller Execution.
ic> Jhcfiventb day Sabbath was obferv-.d by the Apoftles after the Rcfurrc&im and Afcen- jfftrfu Ad. 13. 14, 15, 16) 42,44. & 16. 13, J 4. And conftantly, Ad. 17. 2- (the fame Grccl^ phrafi with that Luk. j 4. 16 far phrijlj con- fiam k$efiyig the feventh diy Sabbath at before J Ad. 18. 1, 4. &ti
10 A' 1. But withal, in this time they fta- bliihed the Lords day, as foon as ( on that day ) the Holy Ghoit came down upon them.
2. So all that while they kept other parts of the Jewifh Law : They fcruplcd, yea re- futed a while Commu- nion with the Gentiles as Afi. jo. (hews. They fo carryed it to the
it to Jew that Foul made it his defence, that he had
Hvt
1
not of ended any thinz at all* either againfl the Larp if the Jews oragainji the Temple* A&. 2 5. 8. And when he Circumcifcd Timothy* purified bimfelf* Jhaved hit head* for his Vow, &c. Do you think that all thefe are duties to Believers >
3. None of the Texts cited -by you do prove that the Apoftles kept the Sabbath at all as a Sabbath* that is, a day on which it was tbrir duty to Reft* But only that they f reached on that day irt the Synagogues, and to the people * For when mould they Preach to them but when they were Congregated, and capable ot hearing \ They took it for no fin to Preach on the Sabbat i no more than I would do to Preach Chrift on Friday ^ which is their Sabbath, to the Turks, if they would hear me. But Sabbatizing accord;ng to the Law, was foraething elfe than Preaching.
4. And it is molt evident that for a long time the Chriftian Jews did ftili keep the Law of Mofis : And that all that the Apoftles did againft it then, was, but 1. To declare that Chrilt was the end of the Law, and fo to declare the keep- ing of it to be unneccjfary to Salvation, but not unlawful* laying by the opinion of neceftity. 2. That the Gentile Chriftians (hould not be brought to ufe it, becaufe it was unneceffary. For the Apoftles ^ 15. do rot forbid it to the Jews* but only t6 the Gentiles, (who were never under it. J Therefore the Apoftles who liv^d among the Jews no doubt did fo tar comply with them to win them, as to keep the Law fe£r ternally, though not as a necejfjry thini* that is, not as a Law in force obliging them, but as a tiling yet lawful to further the Gofjpcl. And
0 4 therefore
C 200)
therefore no wonder -if Peter went fo far as to withdraw from the Gentiles when the Jews were prefent, when even Paul the Apoftle of the Gentiles who (peaketh To much more than all the reft againft the Law, doth yet as aforefaid Circumcife Timothy, (hive his head, puririe him- felf, &c. and as he became all things to all men, fo to the Jews he became a Jew. But when the Jews Policie and Temple ceafed, the change was executively yet further made, and the Jewifti Chriftians themfelves were weaned from their Law. In the mean time Paul and John, Rev. 2. & 3. do openly rebuke the Judaizing Hereticks, the Ebionites and Cerimhians, and Nicolaitans, and fhew the pemiciouinefs of their conceits.
11. 7be Holy Sfirit 1 1. A* Though it be calls the feventh d iy not true that the le- ( and no other day ) the venth is called the Sab- Sabbatb, throughout the bath,Ge«.2. and though Scriptures, before and others deny the fuffici- after the Death, Refttr- ency of your enumera- tion and Afenfwn of tion, yet I grant your ■she Lord Jehovah Cbri(t, alfertion as true. And Gen. 2.2,3,4. Exod. therefore am fatisfied 20. 10, &c. Ad. 13. that it is the feventh day 14, 15, 16,42, 44. & whichisputdown,when 16. 13, 14. & iy. z.& Sabbatizing was put 18.1,4. down *, and that it could
be none but the feventh day which Paul meant, Col. 2. 16. Let no man judge you in meats^ &c. and Sabbaths which were Shadows of things to (come. For the hrft day is never called a Sabbath as you truly fay j therefore it was not put down with the
Sabbath*
(201 )
Sabbath. See Dr. Toungs Dies Dom* o» CeU 2. 16.
12. The feventb day 12. This is all grant- Sabbath was propbaned ed. Sacrificing alfo by the Church heretofore was then Prophaned and reformed : Neh. 10. and Reformed , and 28, 2£, 3'i. e^ 13. 15, polluted and deftroyed 17, 18, 22. See Belg. by Antiocbu* ■> And yet Annot. on ZX*#. 7. 25, we are not (till under dec. as prtfhcfied who the obligation of Sacii- xvould change ii\ ficing. We are not
under the Law, but under Giucet
■ ■ ' ■ »■
CHAP.
(202)
CHAP. III.
Whether the feventb day Sabbath be part tf the Law of Nature > or only a Toftive Law ?
IT is but few that I have any Controvcrfie with on this point : But yet one there is, who objefteth and argueth as folio weth.
God bath put this into nature, Ex.2.0.10. Thy Stranger, feeut. 5. 14. The tbree firft Chapters of Romans. Particularly Cnap. 2. 14, 15, 26, 27. & 3. 9. 21. 1 Cor. 11. 14. Nature bath its teach- ings* The humane Nature in the firji Adam was made and framed to the perfection of the ten words , feme Notions whereof are jlili retained, even in the corrupt (late of fallen nun* Gen. 1. 26,27. Ecd. j. 29. Eph. 4. 20. Col. 3. ic. 7 be Law of the ftvtntb day Sabbath was given before the ten words were proclaimed at Sinai, Exod. 16. 23* Even from the Creation* Gen. 2.2,3. Given to Adam in refpcel of his humane nature, and in him to all the world of humane creatures, Gen. 1. 14. Pfalm 104, jp. Lev. 10. 23. Numb. 28. 2,9, 10. 'Ttf the fame word in the Original* Set times of Di- vine appointment fr folcmn affemblimr, and for Gods injiitutcd fcrvicc are directed to and pointed aty by thofe great Lights which the Creator hath fet up in the Heavens, Pfal. ip. with Rom. 10. 4, 5,6, 7,8,18,19,20. Deut.30.10,15. John 1. 9. Every nun bath a Light and Law of Nature which he car- ricth about hurt, and is born and bred together with
Urn*
(203)
him : 'Ibefe feeds of truth and light% though they will not jniHfie in the fight of God, and bring a foul throughly a, A fafely home to glory , Rom, j. 20. Tet there are even fince Adams fall-, thoft reliques and darl^Letters of this holy Law of th$ ten words, to prefcrve the memory of our fir ji cre- ated dignity, and for fome other ends, though thefe feeds are utterly corrupted now, Titus i- 1 5. Na- tural reafon mil tell men, that feeing all men in all Nations, do meifure their 'lime by IFeeks , and their IFeekj by feven dayes , they fhould ( hefides what of their time they offer up as due to Gad eve- ry day ) give one whole d.iy of every W'eeh^ to their Maker, who hath allowed them fo liberal a portion of time, wherein to provide for themfelves and their families* Ihert being no other proportion of time that canfo well provide for the neceffnies of families, as fix dayes of every JFeel^, and that is fo well fit- • ted to all functions , Callings and Employments* And the light of Nature ( when clear cl up ) will tell men, that all labour and motion being in order to reft, and reft being the perfefiin and end of la- bour, into which labour work^ and motion doth pafsf that therefore the feventh diy which is the laji dxy in every JFeeJ^ is the fittejl and propereft day for a religious reft unto the Creator, for his Worfhip^ Gen. 2. 1 j &c. Exod. 20. p. Deut. 5. 13, 14. Heb. 4. 1. 11. Exod. 3 1. 17. Rom. 14. 13, I Exod. 23. 12. &34» 21.
Anfw, Hovv far a day is of Natural due , I
; have (hewed before : In all the words of
this reafon ( which I fet down as I received
them ) there is much which is no matter of
ntioverfie bctwen us j As that there is a Light
and
( 204 )
and Law of Nature ( which few men doubt oft ' who are worthy to be called men ) And that by this Law of Nature God (hould be folemnly worfhipped, and that at a fet or feparated time. I hope the Reader will not expect that I weary him with examining the Texts which prove this before it is denyed. But the thing denyed by us iSj that the fevmth day Sabbath as tbefeventh^ is of Natural Obligation. The proofs which arc brought for this I muft examine : For indeed this is the very hindge of all our Controverfie : For if this be once proved, we (hall eafily confefs . that it is not abrogate : For Chrift came not to abrogate any of the Law of Nature ( though as I have (aid, fuch particles of it may ceafe, whofe Matter ceafethj by a change in Nature it felf. ) The fir ft proof is Exad. 20. io. 'the granger. To which I anfwer, Our queilion is not Whether the Sabbath was to be refted on* by Strangers that are among the Jews, but, Whether it was part of the Law of Nature > If it be intended that [ whatever fuch grangers were bound to, was of the Law of Nature : But jt rangers were bound to igep the Sabbath — 1 — Ergo — ^-] I deny the Major^ which they offer not to prove : And I do more than deny it : I difproveit by the Inftances of EW. 12. ip. Was eating leavened bread for- bidden by' the Law of Nature > V. 48. 49. One Law fl) all be to him that is home-born^ and to the jirangcr that fojourmth amwg y>u : Circumciilon was not ol the Law of Nature. Lev. 16.29. Reft- irrg from all work on the tenth day of the fe- venth Moneth, was not of the Law of Nature, though made a4fo the Grangers duty. Bo eat- ing
(205) ing blood, and that which dyeth, or was tori!, Lev.ij. 12, 15. So Lev. 25. 6* -Numb. 15. 14, 15,1(5,26.29. & 19* 10. €^35.15. Vent. 31, 12. >/• 8.33,34,35- ^20.p,-^c.
The next pretended proof is, Rom. 2. 14, &c. where there is not one fyllable mentioning the Decalogue as (ucri, but only in general, the La»% io far as it was written in the Gentiles hearts* But where is it proved, that the Law or the De- calogue, are words of the lame fignifkation, or en- tent > any more, than the vphok and a part are ? Or where is it proved, that none of the reft, of the Law is written in Nature, but the Decalogue only > Or elfe that every word in the Decalogue it felf is part oi the Law of Nature, (which is the queftion. J Ifhall prove the contrary anon: In the mean time, the bare numbring of Chapters and Verfes is no proof.
3. It is next (aid, that \_Adam was made and framed to the perfection of the ten words* ]] Anftv. Adam was made in the Image of God, before the ten words were given in ft one ; But fo much of them as is of the Law of Nature, and had mat- ter exigent in Adams dayes, no doubt,was a Law to him as well as it is to us. But that's nothing to the queihon, Whether all things in the tea* Words are of Natural Obligation }
4. It is faid, that the Law of the fiventh day Sabbath was given before the ten words were pro- claimed in Sinai. Anfw. So was Circuimciiion > and fo was facrifieing : yea,fo was the Law about the dreffing of the Garden of Eden, and about the eating or not eating of the fruit thereof, even in innocency >' which yet were no parts of Na- tures
tures Laws, b»t Pofitives which now ceafc. 5. It is faid, that it was ghen to Adam in re-
/peel of bis humane nature, and in him to all the rv or Id of Iiumane creatures. Anftv. So was the Covenant of Works, or Innocency, which yet is at an tnd. But what refpttt is it ( to his hu- mane nature ) that you mean. If you fuppofc this Propoiicion, \_ Whatever Lav> is given vpit\: refpett to humane nature, and to all men, is of na- tural and perpetual Obligation']- I deny it- The Law of Sacrifices arid Oblations was given with reipedf to humane nature, that is, in order to its reparation, and itJ was given to mankind, and yet not of natural peTpctual obligation. The Law of diiiinguifhing clean Bcafts from unclean, and the Law againft eating blood, were given to Noah and to ail mankind, with refpec-T. to hu- mane nature , Gen. 8. 20.- & p. 4. and yet not Wholly of natural or perpetual obligation* • All Common Laws have forne refpe& to humane na- ture. But if your meaning be , that this Law was given in) and. with the Nature of Man him- felfy or that it is. founded d%, and provable by the vLiy'effcntialxof majts nature, or any- thing penna* mni^titherbt-^m nature of man, or the nature* cf the world* I ftill deny it , and call for your proof, Pofitives may have refpttt to humane Na± ture as obliged by, them > and yet. nor be written in humane nature, nor provable by any meer na- tural evidence.
£ It is faid [_ Set 'timer of JJivine appointment pr folcmn affembling, &c. are dircttcd to by the gpeat Light s,<kc* YfaLi^Rom* ior &c] AnfiBut thequeitionis oat ot jet times in /general ( Mat
feme
( 207)
forne there be ) But of this fct time, the fevtntb day in particular. It will be long before you can fetch any cogent evidence from the Lights of Heaven tor it. Nor do any of the Texts cited mention any (uch thing, or any thing that can tempt a man into fuch an opinion. Ic mult be the Divine appointment and inititution ( which you mention, ; that muft prove our obligation to a particular day, and not any nature within us or without us.
7. The only appearance of a proof is at theend, that time being mtafured by Weeks, and the tndof tbeWeekj bet'gfitttjl for Rejl7 therefore nature points us to the lajiday, ,.
Anfer* But 1. You do not at all prote-, that nsr iuxe teacbetb all men to meafure their- time by We&£. 2. Nor is your Philofopby true, that all motion is in order to rejh Indeed all Labour is,that is, aU the Motion- pf any Creatiare which, is out of its proper place, and xnoveth towards ;/y But if you will call the Action of Aclive nature^ fuch as our fouls are, by the, name of \ fpititml tnotim, or Metaphyseal motion 9 as many, do^ j then nq doubt but ceflation is as contrary to .their .nature, as corporal motion is to the nature, of a ftone; And the Reft, that is, the perfetliot^ fleafure aact felicity of Spirits , confkleth in their greateft acti- vity in good \ They nft mt faying, Holy,Holy,&e* 3. You transfer the caie from a day oiWorfbip to a duy ot 1U\U And io make your caufe worfe : Becaufc natuic faith much for one ftated day of Wcrjhip \ but not tor one dated day of Reft, from labour, further than the Worfkip itjelf muit have a vacancy trom other things, fox reaion can
prove
i 205 J
prove no neceihty to humane nature of Retting a whole day, any mere than-for a due proporti- oning of Reft unto Labour every day. -The Reft of one hour in fevenv'-is'^s much as the Reft of one Day:in feven. Or if feme more additional conveniences may be found -for Vayes than Hwrs, there being no convenience- without. its inconVeni- erice, this will but ihew us, that the Law' is ; well made v^hen it is made, but not prove a priqre that there is or muft be fuch an univerfal Law. A* your- never prove, ! that' Ttf-atu re teScheth men th* distribution of. Time by Weeks ( ?• It beir g a tiling of Tradition, Cuftom and Gonfent. 2, And no man naturally Know eth it, till others tell him of it. 3.' Arid 'many Nations' do not fo mealure their time. 4-And no man can bring a Natural Reafon to prove that it mull: be fo, yvhich they might do if it were a Law of Natural Rea- fon ) (o alfo that every Family^ or Countrt'y at leaft, mould not have leave "to vary their dayes of Reft, according to diverllty of Riches *and Po- verty, Health and Sicknefs,'' Youth ana Age, Peace and Wary and other futh cafes, you cannot prove neceffary by Nature (talohe , though you may prove it well done #heri it is done. 4/ You cannot prove the loft day more' neceifary for Reft, than the h¥n\ ' of any 6tfreVi For there are* few Countrtys, where Wars, orfbrne other necf Ar- ties, have not conftraincd them fometimes to vi- olate the Sabbaths Reft : ' which -when they have done, it is as many dayes from the third day to the third* as 'from the feventh to the feventh. 5. If Time were naturally mcafured by Weeks, yet it fblkrweth not, that Reft muft be fo : iomc
Countreys
(2cp ;
Coun treys are ftrong and can labour longer, and others tender and weak, and can labour left. 6. And feeing that the Reafon of a day for wor- shipping AiTemblies, is greater and more noble, than the Reafon of a day for Bodily Red, Na- ture will rather tell us, that God (hould have the firft day^thui the I aft \ A Jove frmcipmm : As God was to have the firft born , the firft fruits, &c. 7. If we might frame Laws for Di- vine Worfhip by fuch concerts of convenience, as this is of thelaftday in feven as fitted for Reft, and call them all the Laws of Nature, what a multitude of additions would be made, and of how^great diversity ? whilft every mans conceit went for Reafon, and Reafon for Nature, and fo we (hould have as many Laws of Nature, as there are diverfities of conceits. And yet that there is fuch a thing as a Law of Nature in which all Reafon (hould agree, we doubt not. But having in vain expected your proof, that the fe- venth day Sabbath is the Law of Nature, or of univerfal natural obligation, I (hall briefly prove the Negative ( that it is not )
i* That which is of natural obligation may be proved by Natural Reafon (that is, by Reafon ar- guing from the nature of the thing ) to be a du- ty. But that the feventh day mult be kept holy as a Sabbath, cannot be proved from the nature of the thing. Therefore it is not of Natural obligation. He that will deny the Minor, let him inftance in his natural proof.
2. That is not an univerfal Law. of Nature, which Learned, Godly men , and the grcateft number of thefe, yea, almoft all the world, know
P no
no fuch thing by, and confefs they cannot prove* by Nature. But fuch is the feventh day Sab- bath. —&c. It is not I alone that know no- thing o£ any ftich Law, nor am able by any Na- tural Evidence to prove it, but alio all the Di- vines and other Chriftians that t am or ever was acquainted with : Nay, I never knew one man that could (ay, that he either had fuch a Law in Mis own nature ( unlefs tome one did take his c&nceij; for a Law ) nor that he could (hew fuch a Law in natura rerum. And it is a ftrange Law of Nature, which is to be found in no ones Na- ture but perhaps twenty mens or very few in a, whole age ^ nor is difcerned by q\\ the reft of the world. If you fay, that few underftand nature or improve their reafon : I anfwer i .If it be fuch a Law of Nature as is obliterated in alrnoft all mankind, it is a very great argument that na- ture being changed, the Law is changed. How can that oblige which cannot be known ? 2. Are not women as well as you? Have not feveral Ages had as great improvers of nature as you? If grace muft be the improver, are there, or have there been none as gracious } If Learning muft hi the improver, have there been none as learn- e.4^ \k diligence or impartiality muft be the im- provers of nature, have there not been many as 4>]jgent, ftudious and impartial as your felves h Ifcej:,aU rational men judge which of thefe is the bestir argument, [_ I and twenty men more in the world do difctrnin Nature an, univerfal ob- ligation en manjqnd to kgef the feiey&b day Sab- hflth : Therefore it is the Lav? of Nature* 3 Ot [y The world of mankind, godly and ungodly,
learned
C2ii ;
learned and unlearned, difcern no fuch natural obligation , except you and. the few of your mind : Therefore it is no Law of Nature. ]
3. That is not like to be ah Univcrfal Law of Nature, which no one man iince the Creation can be proved to have known and received as fuch by meer natural reafons without tradition. But no one man iince the Creation can be proved to have known and received the feventh day Sab- bath by meer natural reafon without tradi- tion : Therefore it is not like to be an Uni- verfal Law of Nature. If you know any man, name him and prove it j For I never read or heard of fuch a man.
4. If the Text mention it only as a Poiltive Institution, then it is not to be accounted a Law of nature. But the Text mentioneth it only as
a Poiltive inftitution As is plain, Gen. 2.3.
Gid blejfed the feventh day and facelifted it^ be* caufe that in it he had rented from all his wor^&c. If it had been a Law of nature, it had been made in Nature , and the making of Nature would have been the making of the Law. But here are two arguments againft that in the Text.
1. Blejpng and fanftifying are pofitive afts of fupernatural institution, fuperadded to the works of nature : They are not Divine Creating a<$s, but Divine inftituting ads.
2. That which is blelled and (ancTified , Be- caufe God reftid in it from aU h'vt workj-, is noc bleffed and fan&itied meerly by thofe rrarkf or that Reft : And if neither the xporkj of Nature, nor the Reft ^f God from thofe worlQ did fanfti-
P 2 he
fie it, then it is not of natural fan&ihcation, and fo not of natural obligation.
5. If the very Reafm of the day be not of na- tural, but of fupcrnatural Revelation^ then the fan&irication of the day is not of natural, but fupematural revelation and obligation. But the former is certain. For no man breathing ever did or can prove by Nature, without fupema- tural Revelation, that God made and finifhed his works in lix dayes, and reftedthefeventh. Arijhtk had been like to have efcaped his Opi- nion of the worlds eternity, if he could have found out this by nature.
6. The diitin&ion of JFeekj is not known by nature, to be any neceflary meafurc of our time , Therefore much lefs, that the feventh day of the Week muft be a Sabbath. The Antecedent is iufficiently proved, in that no man can give a cogent rcafon for the necellity of fuch a mea- fure. And becaufe it hath been unknown to a grea,t part of the world. The Peruvians, Mcxi- cans, and many fuch others knew not the mea- furc of Weeks. And Hcylin noteth out oijof Scaligcrdc Emend, 'Temp. //. 3. & 4. and Rojfjnus Antiq* and Dion, that neither the Cbaldeesy the PcrfunSy Grttkit vox Romans did of old obferve Weeks , and that the Romans meafured their times by ekhts, as the ]cws did by fevens. Hiji. Sab. P. 1. Ch 4. />. 83, 84. And p. 78. he citeth Dr. Bounds own words, f. 65. Ed, 2. confefiing the like, citing B&paidus for it as to the Roman cuftom. Yea, heaiTcrteth that till near the time of Diovyf. Exig* an* 500. they divided not their time into Weeks as now. In which he muft
needs
(213)
needs except the Chriftians.and confcquently the ruling powers iince ConlUntine. And i£ they were (o unfetled through the world in their mea- fure by Moneths, as Bifliop VJher at large ope- neth in his Dijfcrt. de Maadonum & Afiancvum Anno fulari^ ( fee efpecially his Epbetneris in the end, where all the dayes of each Moneth are named without Weeks J the other will be no won- wonder.
I conclude therefore i. That one day in feven, rather than in fix or eight, may by Reafin be dif- cerned to be convenient when God hath fo Infti- tuted it : But cannot by Nature be known to be of natural univerfal obligation.
2. That this one day mould be the feventh^ no Light of Nature doth difcover : Therefore Dr. Bound, Dr. Ames, and the generality of the Defenders of one day in feven againft the Anti- fabbatarians, do unanimoufly aiferf it to be of Pofitive fupernatural inftitution , and not any part of the Law of Nature : Though ft and dayef at a convenient diftance is of the Law of Nature.
"-T-
P3 CHAP
(3H)
CHAP. IV.
Whether every word in the Decalogue be of the Law of Nature } and of perpetual obligation ? And whether all that w. is of the Law' of Nature was in the Decalogue ?
BUt the great argument to prove it the law of Nature is, becaufe it was part of the tea words written in (lone. To which I fay, that the Decalogue is an excellent fummary of the Ge- nerals of the Law of Nature, as to the ends to which it was given ', but that,
I. It hath more in rt than the Law of Nature.
II. It hath Icfs in it than the Law of Nature : And therefore was never intended for a meer or perfect tranfcrlpt of the Law of Nature : but for a pei ft ft general fummary of fo much of that Law as God thought meet to give the Jews by fupernatural revelation , containing the chief heads oi Natures Law (left they (hould not be dear enough in Nature it felf ) with the additi- on of fomething more.
I. That the Decalogue written in ftone hath iH'tre than the Law of Nature, is proved k By thrfe instances h i. That God brought them out of the Land <// iEgyjpt, and cut the houfe of fervantr, and that he is to be worshipped in that relation,
is
(215). ...
is none of the Law of Nature, univerfally Cv called.
2. That God is merciful ( and therefore re- conciled) to thoufand Generations of them that Love him, notwithstanding mans natural (late of fin and mifery, and all mens actual (in, this is of fupernatural Grace, and not the Law of meer Nature.
3. The great difference between the wayes of Jultice and mercy, exprefled by the third and tourth Generation, compared to Thoufands, is more than the meer Law of Nature.
4. Thole Divines who take all Gods pofitive Inftitutions of Worfhip, to be contained in the Af- firmative part of the fecond Commandment, fnuft needs think that it containeth more than the Law of nature ( Though I fay not as they > but only that as a General Law^ it obiigeth us to perform them, when another Law hath institu- ted them.)
5. To reft one day infeven is more than the Law of Nature.
6. To reft the feventh day rather than the fixth or rirft is more than the Law of Nature.
7. The ftricfaiefe of the Reft, to do no man- ner of Work, is more than a Law of Nature.
8. That there be Man fervants, and Maid fervants, befides natural inferiours, is not of the primitive or univerfal Law of Nature. 9 ;\|
p. The diftin6Kon of the Ifraelites from ftrangers within their Gates, was not by the Law of Nature.
io. That Cattle mould do no manner of work fas for a Dog to turn the (pit in a wheel, or
P 4 fuch
fuch Uke ) is moK than a Law of Na- ture.
1 1. That God made Heaven, and Earth in Cix dayes and refted the fevcnth, is not of Natural Revelation.
12. That this was the reafon wherefore God yefTed the Sabbath day aud hallowed it, is not of Natural Revelation.
13. Some will fay that more Relations than Natural being meant in t>he rifth Commandment, rnaketh it more than a Law of Nature.
14. That the Land of Canaan is made their reward, is a pofitive refpe&ing the Ifraelites only.
15. That length of dayes in that Land mould be given by Promife, is a.n aft of Grace, and not of Nature only.
16. That this promife of length of dayes in that Land, is made more to the Honouring of Superiours, than to the other commanded duties, jsmore than Natural
2. I prove it alfo by the Abrogation of the Law written injlone, which I proved before '•> If the Decalogue had been the Only and Perfeel Law of Nature, it would not have been fo far done away, as the Apoftle faith it is ( of which be- fore. )
1 1. AH the Law of Nature vcm not In the Tables tf Stone. Here I premife thefefuppofitions.
I. That a General Law alone, obligeth not to all particulars, without a Particular Law. £. g. If the fecond Command fay, Ihcu Jhatt perform all Gdds inflitnied Jforjfjij* : Or, TboH fhalt JFor/bip
me
(217) *we, at. I appoint thee ? This bindeth no man to Baptifm,the Lords Supper, &c. till another Law appoint them. Therefore there is not To much in the general Law alone, as is in that and the par- ticular alio.
2. All that is prefuppofed in a particular Law, is not part of that Law.
3. It is not fo much to inferr a duty indirectly and by far tetcht Confequences, as to command itdire&ly.
Now I prove the alTertion by inftances. All thefe following are Naturai duties, and cora- matided alfo in other parts of Scripture, and yet are not in the Law of Mefes as Written in Stone. •* 1. To believe that the foul is Immortal. 2. To believe that there is a Heaven where we (hall be perfedly bleffed in the Knowledge, Love and fruition of God. 3. To believe that there is a Hell, or life of future punimment for all the im- penitent. 4. To Love our felves, with a juft and neceflary Love, as fuch. 5. To take greateft care to fave our fouls, above our bodies. 6. To tame and mortifie all our flemly lufts in order to pur own Salvation. 7. To deny all bodily plea- fure, profit, honour, liberty and life, for the fe- curing of our falvation. 8. To forbear all outward a&s of Gluttony, Drunkennefs, Sloth, &c. as they tend to our own damnation. 9.T0 re- joice in perfecution becaufe of our great reward in Heaven. 10. To- pray confiantly, and fervently for Heaven, as the means of our obtaining it*
Let none fay that many of thefe fame things are commanded in order to Gody and our neigh- bour. For I grant that the ftme material adte be
foi
(2l8.)
fo *, as they are'expreffions of Love to God and Man : But to do them in Love to our felves and for our own Salvation, is another principle and end, not contrary to,but ireceflarily conjund with the former two : And indeed all the duties o£ Jelf-love as fuch are paft by ( as fuppofed ) in Mofes Decalogue =, becaufe they are deeply writ- ten in mans Nature, and becaufe the Law was Written as Political, for another ufe.
Obj. But tbcfc arc all fuppofed in the firft Com- mand of Loving God> and in the fecond Table, Thou Jh alt Love thy Neighbour as thy felf.
Anfw.i. Theielaftarenot the words of the Decalogue : but a part of the fummary of all the Law. 2. Both Tables indeed fuppofe the Love of our felves, but that which is fuppofed) is not a fart of them.
Obj. But it if the Socinians that fay the Old Teftament fpeabgth of no reward or punijkment but in th'vi life.
Anfw. True: But Camera (detripl.ftd.) and others that rightly underftand the matter affirm, that, i. The Law of Nature containeth future rewards and punifhments in another life, 2. And ib doth the Covenant of Grace made with Adam and all mankind in him, and renewed to Noahy Abraham arid the Ifraelites, which by Paul is called The Promifcis diftindt. from the Law. 3. But the Law of Mofes in its own fror tier Nature as fuch) was only Political, and fpake but of Temporal Reward 5 and Punifhments. 4. Though yet all the faithful were bound to take the Law and Promife together, and fo to have yifpcd both to Temporal and Eternal things.
For
(21?)
For the Law it felf connoted and fuppofed things Eternal as our great concernment.
III. 'There is more of the Law 0/ , Nature in other farts of Mofes Law, conjunct with the Deca- logue, than \a in the Decalogue alone* I will ftav no longer in the proof of this, than to cite the places as you do. Exod. 23. 13, 32. &
22. 18, 20. Lev. 20. 1, 4, 6. Dent- 13. & 17. Exod. 23. 24. Deut. 12. & 23. Lev. 24. & 23.3. Exod. j 2. 16. Deut. 23. 18. Exod. 22. 28. &
23. 20. & 21. 15,17* Lev. 19.32. Deut. 21. & 1. #* 16. & 6. & n. Exod. 21. 12, 13, 18, 20, 22, &c. & 22. 2,3. Lev. 13. 14. #* 17. Dent. %u Exod. 22. ip. Let'. 18. d^ ip. 2p. & 20. Dtort. 22. Exod. 21. 16,21,32,35. dr*
22. 1. 4. to 17. Lev. ip. 30, 35. Deut. 24. #* 2$r 14. #• 21. #• 25. Exod. 23. 1. *ap. !><•«*.
23. & 24. Lev. ip. 11, 15* Exod. 22. 21, 22. & 25. #• 26. e^ 23. 4. Lev. ip. 14, i6y 18, &c.
By all this I (hew you why, 1. I allow not of your making the word Law in the New Tefta- ment to (ignifie the Decalogue only, or taking them for equipollent terms. 2. Why I take not the Decalogue and the Law of Nature, for equi- pollent termes, or their matter to be of the fame extent : And confequently why I take it for no proof that all things in the Decalogue are perpe- tual, becaufe all things in the Law of Nature are fo.
CHAP.
(220)
CHAP. V.
Whether the truefi Antiquity he for the feventh day Sabbath a ]^ep by the Churches of Chrift $
17* ii here further objettcd that the feventh day Sabbath hath the truefl tefiimomes of Anti- quity : that it is controvertible when and bore the Lords day came in > but the Antiquity of the fe- venth day Sabbath is pafi Controverfie : that the Eaftern Chriftians long obferved ity and Antichrift in the Weft did turn it into a Faft : that the Empire of Abailia kgepeth it to t\M day.
Anfw. There is enough faid of this before, were it not that fome Obje&ors cauflefly look for more. I aufwer therefore, i. That it is true that the Sabbath is more ancient than the Lords day -, And fo is Mvfis more ancient than Chrift Incarnate, and his Law than the Gofpel as delivered by Chrift and his Apoftles, and Cir- cumcifion thanBaptifm, and the PaiTover than the Lords Supper > And fo every mans Conce- ption, Nativity, Infancie and Ignorance was before his Maturity and Knowledge. And what can you gather from all this ? Thus the Papifts (ay that their way of Religion was in England before ours, and that the reliques of it
in
{ 221 ; in our Monuments [Orate fro ttmmahnf9 Sec.] is their ftanding witnefs, which we cannot totally deface : And its true, if by our way they mean the Reformation of theirs as fuch : For the Cure is ever after the difeafe : Though its falfe if they fpeak of our Religion it felf » ; which was here before their errours, as H:alth is before (kknefs. But they fhould confider, that by this prerogative the Heathens excell us both : . And that they may fay, you have yet. many Mo- numents of our more ancient Religion, which you have not been able to obliterate ^ You ftill . call youi Week dayes by our ancient names, Sunday, Mmday^ dec Your adoration towards the Eaji was fetcht from us, and fo were abun- dance of your Cuftomes : Which we hope may recover the reputation of our Religion.
2. I have (hewed you already how and why
' the Eaftern Chriftians kept the Sabbath :
I. They kept it not as a Sabbath, but only met
on that day as they did on the fourth and the
| fixth dayes, ( Wednefdayes and Fridays ) as it
is ufed iii England to this day. And for the
molt part they Celebrated not the Lords Supper on
* -that day. And they abhorred the keeping it as
J a day of Reft.
2. They met on that day for all thefe Reafons. i. Bccaufe having been ufed in the beginning to meet every day in the Week ( when they had all things common, and were to (hew the power of the Evangelical Do6trine to the height, Aft* 2. 44, 45, 46. & 4. 33, 34, 35. ) as they found caufe to retrive their community, fo did they to meet feldomer, and yet not fo feldome as
once
(222 )
once a Week : And therefore as we now keep other meetings for Lectures and Prayers, befides ^ the Lords day, fo did they then on IPednefdayes, Fridayesy and Saturday a. 2. Becaufe the Con* verfion of the Jews was a great part of their work and hope : And therefore to win them, ^ they would with Paul become Jews, that is, not affedr, an unneceffary diftance, but come as neer them as Lawfully they could, 3.Becaufe Converted Jews were no fmall part of the Eaftern Churches : who could not eafily be quite brought off from Jewifh Cuftomes > And the reft were unwilling to offend them, being taught not to defpife the weak that cbferved meats and dayes, Rom. 14. & 15. Gal. 2. 4. Becaufe the Aftemblies on the feventh day were taken as fit preparatories to the fancTifying of the Lords day, on which account the Church of England now u appointeth them, Thcfe things one that is ac- quainted with Church Hiftory needeth no proof of.
And they are fufficicntry proved before. Ig- natius words before cited are full. And thofe of the Council of Laodicea, Can. 29. are more full, who do at once appoint meetings on the feventh day, and yet Anathemamc them that Judai2e thereon, by bodily reft *, and would have men labour on it, and preferr the Lords day be- fore it. \
JjfjUn Martyr in his Dialogue with Trypbot ' doth largely fhew that Circumcifion and the Sabbath are ceafed by the coming of Chrift, and his Inftitutions, and ate not now to be ufed by * Chriftians. And what writer have we of full
reputation
I **5 )
reputation and credibility more ancient than JujUny from whom any teftimony in this cafe might be fought ?
'Tertullian (one of the next) li. 2. againft Mar don faith, that the Sabbath was for that Time, and prefent occafion, or u£e, and not for perpetuity.
Athanafm was one that was for meeting on the Sabbath ; And yet writeth his Book de Ssb* & Circum. purpofely to prove that the Sabbath is ceafed with Circumcifion as a Shadow, and that now the Lords day is the fan&ified day* And the like he hath moft cxprefly in Homil. de Semens as is cited before, faying that, the Maftev being come> the VJher wests out of ufe > and the Sun being rifen the Lamps are darkened.
BafilEp. 74. Writeth againft ApolUnaris for
folding that after the Refurre&ieu, we (hould
keep Sabbaths, and Judaixe i As if that were
the perfection to which Chrift would reftore
men.
See Greg. Nazism. Orat. 43. And Cbryfoft. Horn. ip. in Mat. 12. againft the ufe of the Sab- bath, Cyril. Hierof cat. 4. & Epipban. againft the Nazar£iy condemn them for keeping the Sabbath and Circumcifion, though withal they kept the Lords day. The fame doth Epiphanm li. 1. H*r. 3c. n. 2. and before him Enfebius HijL #.3. fay of the Ebienites. Auguftine oit telleth us, that the obfervation or keeping of the feventh day Sabbath is ceafed, and not ro be done by Chrifii- ans. <%h. ex. N. 7c/J. 69. Ad Bonif. U 3. Contr. Fauft. Manich. li. 6. c. 4. De Genef. ad lit. U 4* c. I3# de fir, & liu c. 14. de mil* Grid* c 3.
3. And
( 224;
£. And as for the Abaflians keeping the Sab- bath, Its true, they keep that day in (ome fort : But it is as true, that they ufe Cir- cumeffion, and many other Jewifti Ceremonies i befictes oft Baptizings ^ And that they protefs not to ufe thefe as the Jews do, but only as an- cient Cuftomes, and as Faul did while he com- plyed with them, ufing the outward action for other ends than IJuijozers do. And the rather becaufe they think their Emperours dcfyeiftftd from Solomon. But the Lords day they keep on the fame account as other Chrtftians. And if thisinftance make any thing tor Sabbatizing, it will make as much tor Circumcifmg, and other Jewifh rites, but nothing againft the Sanctifying of the Lords day.
4. And as for the matter of Tufting on the Sabbath, the Churches greatly Varyed in their Cuftomes* The Eaftern Churches, and Milldn in the Weft, were againft Fafting on the'Sabbath on two accounts, 1. Becaufe, as is faid, they would not offend the Jewes. Even as many peaceable Non-Conformifts, who are- againft many Holy dayes now eftablifhed, do yet forbear labouring and opening their Shops on thofe dayes, becauie they will not give orftnee •, Yea and go to* Hear the Sermons on thofe dayes, though they keep them not Holy asfucb dayes. 2. Becaufe there were many forts of Hereticks in thofe times, who held that the World was made by. an evil God, and thence came evil, and fo they Fafted on the feventh day on that reafon : Which, made the Chfrftians avoid it left they (hould Symbolize with thofe Hereticks. And therefore the ( teal
or
(225 )
or pretended ) Ignat'm fpeaketh fo -fcvcrcly againfl Fafthtg on the Sabbath, as well as on the Lords day. And fo do the Conftitutions called theApoltksj yea and the Canons called theirs, Cm* 65.
But in the JFeftern Churches, fas is aforefaid) both Jews and Heretickj were more diftant, cr lefs coniiderable for numbers > and therefore they fafted on the leventh day, and that the rather left they fhould feem by Sabbatizing to Judaize. Which was before Antichrifts appearing, unlefs you think all the holy Doctors before cited, and all the Weitern Churches to be Anti- chriftian.
Having gone thus far I here add two more Scripture Arguments to prove the abolition of thejewifh Sabbath. The rirft is becauie it is frequently made ("as Circumcifion is) a iign of the particular Covenant between God, and that Nation as they were apolitical body, arid pecu- liar people* Therefore Jf their Policy ceafe, and Gods relation to rhem as a Political body, and peculiar people, and fo that Political Cove- nant with them, then alfo the figne of the Cove- nant and Relation ceafeth. And though the word [_for ever"] is fometime added, it is no other than is oft added alfo to the Jewilh Law and Ceremonies.
2. From^#. 15. Where the cafe is determi- ned by a Council of Apoltles, Elders and Bre- thren, yea by the Holy Ghoii. V. 28. It appear- eth by V. 2 4. that the thing aflerted by the falfc Teachers was, [that the Gentiles rnu'ibe Circum- cifed andlyep the Law \ that is, of Mofts~] V* %*
Q_ Now
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Now the feverith day Sabbath was part of tha* Law ( As Sacrificing was, though it was a Law before. ) But the Holy Ghoft determineth the cafe, [to lay on them no greater burden than theft ncccjfary things^] after named •, where the Sabbath is none of them, and therefore hereby (hut out. The precepts given to Noab are named ( of which the Sabbath was not one.)
Obj. By this Expofition you may fay that the reft of the Decalogue k excluded : For Idolatry^ Murder^ &c. are not here forbidden by name. Anfcv. I have fully proved that the Decalogue as written in Stone, and part of the Law or Cove- nant of Mofes is not at all in force, efpecially to the Gentiles > nor yet as part of the Covenant (orpromife j of Works, made with Adam in Innoctncy : For the form of the Promif- ' fory Covenant of Works ceated upon mans im, and the promife of a Saviour \ And the form of the Mofaical Law or Covenant* never reached to the Gentile Nations and is ceafed to the Jews : Therefore the Matter muft ceafe as it conftituted the lame Covenant, when the forme ceafed : And faul faith exprefly that this Law Written in Stone is done away : But, i. The Law of Na- ture as a meer Law never ceafed : 2. And Chrift hath taken it into his Covenant, as part of the Matter of it : So that it is wholly in force, though not as part of the Covenant of Works, either Adamical or Mofaical. But the Sabbath as to the ftventh day, was no part of the Law ' of Nature, as is proved : And Paul exprefly faith that it was a fhadow of things to comex and is therefore vanHhed away, Col. 2. 16.
Had
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frad it been part of the Law of Nature, it had bound us as iuch and as Chrifts Law : or had it been one of the Enumerated particulars, Aft* 1 5. it had bound the Neighbour Gentiles, pro tempore at leaft. But being neither, that Council difchargeth Chrim'ans from the obferva- tion of it, as far as I can underftand the Text.
FIS^IS.
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;T is long fioee the forego- ingTreatifc was prcmifed to aPcrfoa of Honourable Raokj who was encHned to the Jewifli Sabbath 5 but before it was fioifhed, or well begun, I had a fight of a Trea- tife on the fame fubjeft/ by the late Reverend Worthy Servant of Chrift Mr* Hughes of ?limonth% which enclined me to take my promifed work as unnc- cefTary. But yet fome reafons moved me to reafliime it. Near two Moneths after it went from me tothePrefs, the faidTreatife of Mr. HigAe/firft, and af- ter another on the fame fubjeft by
Q.3 !>'•
C230)
Dr. jf. Owen came abroad. Yet do I not teverfe mine, becaufe many Witnefles in *a Age of Enmity and NegleS0 can be no injury to a truth fo fcrviceablc to the Gaufe of Chriftianity, and the pro- fperity of the Church, and the good of fouls. Though if I were one that took the Churches profperity to confift in the Riches, Grandeur, pale and Domination or Empire of Papal Paftors, rather than in the humble, holy, heavenly, fclf- denying imitation of a Crucified Chrijiy I would have forborn a fubjeft which is a}l for pur preparation for a Hea- veoly Sabbatifcn, aqd carriethmen above the fenfual Reft of plelhly men, and therefore is Co much difrelilhed by thetn, flom.8. 6, 7, 8. {Jut fuppofing it my duty to do what J have done , I think mget to advertife the R?ad*r, that wheq fcvcral men treat of the fatjie fubjeft, though they (peak the fame things in the main , yet ufually each of tjieai bringcth fome considerable light, which is emitted by the reft : And as the fame Spirit fets them all oq wo.k , fo all together give fuller evi- dence to the trijth » than any one of them alone- And I hope the Concourfe
of
f23i ) of thcfe three Traftates doth progao- fticate, chat ( though the Devil hath fo contrived the bufinefi Tor the Pro- phane, that like Papifts, they will hear and read none, but th>fe that are not like to change them} yet) God will awaken the fober and ferious believ- ers of this Age 9 to a more holy and fruitful improvement of his days which will greitly tend to the encreafe of real Godlinefs, andcoufcqaenrly to the recovery of the dying hopes of this apojiatizing and divided Age.
But that which moveth me to write this Pojlftript , is to acquaint thee, for the prevention of fcandal by any fecm- ing differences in ourWritings^ I. That it cannot be expc&ed , that all who plead the fame Caufe, (hould fay juft the fame things for it , for matter and manner of argumentation.
2. That if I own the Name Sabbath lefs than fome others, and adhere more to the name of the Lords Day> I do not thereby oppofe the ufe of the name of sabbath abfolutely s nor is that in it felf a Controverfie about the Matter^ but the Name, which though not coa- temptible, yet is of far lefs moment than the Thing. 3. That
g. That if I make not ufe of fo ma- ny Old Teftament Texts as fome otheis, 1 do not thereby deny thcufefulnefsof them, nor call you off from the confi- deration of any argumentation or evi^ dence thence offered you,
4, That if I feem to be more for the ccflation of Atofcs Law thanfome others, even of that part which was written in Stone, yet no part of the Law of Nature is thereby denyed by me any more than by any of them ; And they that are 3ngry with me, for writing fo much againtt the Antinoroians , fhould not alfo be ^ngry with me for going no further from ihcm, than the force of Truth conltraineth me.
5. That ycu rnuft pardon me formy purpoiely avoiding trie name of the [ Moral Zjjtp~] Mr. Carcdry and Mr. Palmer Who have written mo(t largely of the Sabbath 5 have told you the reafon. I love cot luch names , as are not fitted to the nature of things^ but are fitted to fignifiealmoft what the Speaker plcaferh. I know no ^iw which is not formal- ly Atonal^ as being KeguU a&ionum Mp-- ralium. And men may if they will, as well confine the fignification of the
Word
(235) word [ L<*tt> "] it felf, as of a \_Aford law'] Nor doth rt/e it felf fufficiently notifie the di ft ingui fhing iignification of h : For one meaneth by that name, all the Law of Nature as fuch. Ano- ther meaneth only fo much of the Law of Nature as is common to all man- kind. Another meaneth all Pofitive Liws of fupernatural Revelation, which are perpetual aiad univerfal, as well as the* Law of Nature. Therefore with- out finding fault \ with others , it fuf- ficeth tne, to diftinguifh Laws by fuch names as plainly (ignifie the intended difference. And though by the Law of Naturt- I mean not formally the Fame thbg that lome others do, I have fuf* ficicntly opened my fenfe and the rea- fons of it, in my Reafons of the Ghri- (tian Religion.
6. That they who fay, that the Old Covenant, or the Covenant of Works made by Mo/es with the Jews is ab- rogate or ceafed, and the Decalogue as a part of, or belonging to that Co- venant , do fay the fame thing that I do 5 when I maintain that the Deca- logue and whole Law as Mofaical is ceafed, but that all the Natural fart is
by
(*3+) by Chrift afiumcd into his Law or Co- venant of Grace. For it is the fame thing which is denominated the Law C of Mofes, or of Ghrift ) from the pre- ceptive parr, and and a Coveaant from the terms , or fan&ion , efpecially the Promiffory part. Nor is there any part of the taw of Mofes , which was not a part of the Mofaical Covenant. And if the Form ceafe which denomi- nated, the Being and denomination ceafe- eth, and all the parts as parts of that \vhich ceafetb. So that if the Cove- nant of Works made with the Jews ceafe ( which Camero calleth a third or middle Covenant , and feveral men do varioulty denominate, -but the Scri- pture calleth the old , or former Cove- nant, or Tejiament, or IjXifpofition) thea all the Law as part of that Covenant ceafeth: And that As as much as to fay alfo that it ceafeth as meerly Mofaical, or Political to the Jews. And then the Argument is vain, This or that word was written in the Tables of Stone: There- fore it is of perpetual obligation. For as it was written in Scone, it was Mofa. ical, and is done away y and under the New Covenant all that is Natural and
Con-
(235^ Continued, (hall by the Spirit be writ- ten upon the Heart; whence fiaatfirft did obliterate it.
7. That as the Reft of God in the Creation is defcribed by a Cejfation from l^is work, with a complacency in the goodnefsof it : butChrifts Reft is defcribed more by Vital A&ivity and Operation, than by Cejfation from worJ^9 even his Triumphant Refurre&ion as the Cooqucft of Death, and beginning of a New Life : fo I think the Old Sabbath is more defcribed by fuch Cor- poreal Reft , or Ccflition from work , which was partly Ceremonial, or a fig* nifying fhadow , and that the word Sabbath is never ufed in the Scripture, but for (iich a day of Ceremonial Reft ( though including holy Worfhip ). Put that the Lords day and its due ob- fervation is more defcribed by fpiritual Afiivity and Operation, in the fpiritual Refurre&ion of the foul , and its new Life to Godi And that the Bodily Reft is co longer Ceremonial or Jhadowy, but fitted to the promoting and fubferv- ing ofthe fpiritual Activity and Complacen- cy in God and holy cxercifes of the mind, as the W? it felf is to the fervice of the foul. ' 8. That
(£1*3 8. That I am not ignorant that ma- ny of the Efiglifi Divines long ago expound Jktattb. 24. 20. of the Chrifti- an Sabbath3and C0/.2.16. as exclufivc of the Jewifh Weekly Sabbath ; But fo do not moft Expofitors J for which I think they give very good reafons , which I will not ftand here to repeat.
9. That I intended not a full and elaborate Treatife of the Lords Day, but a brief Explication of that Method of proof which I conceive moft eafie and convincing, and fitteft for the ufc of doubting Chriftians , who are many of them toft in doubts in the multi- tude andobfcurity of arguments from the Old Teftament : when I thinkthat the Tpeedy and fatisfaftory difpatch of the Contrpverfie is be ft made by a plain prooi; of the Inftitutionof Chrift by the Holy Ghoft in the Apoftles 5 which I thought to have (hewed in two or three Sheets, but that thene- ceffity of producing fome evidence of the fatS , and anfwertng other mens Objtftion9, Adrew ityoUt to ^greater length. Atfaoatyfc&thod iVquirtd me to fay more b£N the practice of Anti- quity, than fome other mens. But
again,
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again, I muft give notice that Dr. T. Toungs Dies Dominica is the Book which I agree with in the Method and Mid- dle way of determining this Gostro- verfie, and which I take to be the ftrongeft written of it : And that I omit moft which he hath , as taking mine but as an Appendix to his, and defire him that will write againft mine, ro anfwer both together, or clfe I (hall fuppofe his work to be undone-
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