Exposition of the Principal Scriptures Used in our English Liturgy, Part 28 – Part 30
The 4. Commandement.
THe fourth Commandement doth set downe the time and place of Gods holy worship: the time expresly, Remember thou keepe holy the Sabbath day: the which insinuates also the place; for God was publikely worshipped in his Sanctuarie, in his Tabernacle, in his Temple. Leuiticus 19. 30. Yee shall keepe my Sabbaths, and reuerence my Sanctuarie. The Sabbath (askRamus de relig. lib. 2. cap. 6. one calles it) is Gods schooleday: the Preachers are his Vshers, and the Church is his open schoolehouse.
This Commandement is hedged in on eueryevery side, lest we should breake out from obseruing it: with a caueat before, Remember: and two reasons after, one drawne from the equitie of the law: Six daies shalt thou labour: As if God should speake thus: If I permit thee sixe whole daies to follow thine owne businesse, thou maiest well affoord one onelyonly for my seruice: but sixe daies shalt thou labour and doe all thine owne worke: therefore hallow the seuenth in doing my worke. Six daies shalt thou labour. lB. Babington & Caluin. Cat.A permission, or a remission of Gods right, who might challenge all, rather then an absolute commandement:mPerkins aurea Cat. cap. 23. for the Church vponupon iust occasion may separate some weeke daies also, to the seruice of the Lord and rest from labour. Ioel 2. 15. Blow the trumpet in Sion, sanctifie a fast, call a solemne assemblie. Daies of publique fasting, for some great iudgement: daies of publique reioicing, for some great benefit, are not vnlawfull, but exceeding commendable, yea necessarie. Yet this permission is anPerkins treat. of callings. commission against idlenesse, because eueryevery man must liue by theoGen. 3. 19. sweat of his browes, or sweat of his braines: hauing some profession or occupation orp1. Cor. 7. 20. vocation, wherein he must labour faithfully.
Another argument is taken from the Law-giuers example: For in six daies the Lord made heauen and earth, and rested the seuenth day. God requires no more then himselfe performed, his owne practise is a Commentarie vponupon his law. This may teach all Magistrates, all masters, all superiors who prescribe lawes vntounto other, to become first an vnprinted law themselues. If the Prince will hauehave his Court religious, himselfe must be forward in deuotion: if the father will hauehave his children possesse theirq1. Sam. 21. 5. vessels in chastity, then himselfe must notrIer. 5. 8. neigh after his neighbours wife. When Sabbath breakers are rebuked, all their answere is, other, and that the most doe so. If they will follow fashion and example, let them follow the best: Fashion not your selues like thesRom. 12. 2. world: but be ye followers oftEphes. 5. 1. God: who framed the whole world in six daies, and rested the seuenth: he rested from creating, not gouerning; from making of new kinds of creatures, not singuler things: he is not (as Epicurus imagined) idle, but alway working: Iohn 5. 17. My father worketh hitherto, and I worke.
The Commandement it selfe is
First, propounded briefly: Keepe holy the Sabbath day.
Then expounded more largely: shewing
1. What is the Sabbath day, namely, the seuenth.
2. How it must bee sanctified: In it thou shalt doe no manner of worke.
Keepe holy.] This day hath no more holinesse in it selfe then other times: only God hath appointed it to holy vses aboue other: and therefore wee must keepe it more holy then other.
The Sabbath.] There is sabbathum
Pectoris, of the mind.
Temporis, of time.
The sabbath of the minduTho…. 12…, quaest. 100. art. 5. is double:
Internall, peace of conscience in the kingdome of grace.
Eternall, rest of body and soule in the kingdome of glory.
When asxApocal. 14. 13. we shall rest from our labors,yApoc. 7. 17. all teares shall be wiped from our eies, and cares from our heart.
Among the Iewes the sabbath of time was of
Daies.
Yeeres.
Daies
Lesser: eueryevery seuenth day.
zIohn 19. 31.Greater: as when the Passeouer fell on the Sabbath: as it did when Christ suffered.
aLeuit. 25.Yeeres:
EueryEvery seuenth yeere, a Sabbath of rest to the land.
EueryEvery seuen-times seuen yeere: which was 49. and then followed in the 50. yeere the Iubile.
This Sabbath is of daies, expressely, kept holie the seuenth day.
There is
A naturall day, which is the space of 24 houres: a night and a day: Gen. 1. 5.
An artificiall day: the space of 12. houres: as Christ: Iohn 11. 9. from the Sunne rising to the Sunne setting; of which I thinke this Commandement is vnderstood. For albeit the Iewes counted the Sabbath from euening to euening, yet it was but as they reckoned other daies; not to sit vp and watch all night: but to spend in Gods seruice so much of the naturall day, as may be spared without hurting the body.
The seuenth is the Sabbath.] It is the iudgement of the most and best Interpreters, that the Sabbath isbM…lancthon tom. 1. fol. 6. & tom. 2. sol. 362. morale quoad genus, but ceremoniale quoad speciem: Ceremoniall for the cChurch h…m. concerning the time and place of praier.manner, albeit morall for the matter. I say ceremoniall it. regard of the particular:dB. Babington. as the strict obseruation of the same day and same rest: precisely to keepe the Saturday, and strictly to cease from all labour, as the Iewes did, was a shadow: therefore abrogated by the comming of the body, Christ.
The blessed Apostles herein led by the spirit of truth, and (as some thinke) by Christs owneeIob. 20. 19. 28. example,fActs 20. 7. 1. Cor. 16. 2. Apocal. 1. 10. altered, and so by consequence abrogated the particular day. Consentaneum est Apostolos hanc ipsam ob causam mutassediem, vt oftenderent exemplum abrogationis legum ceremonialium in die septimo: Melanct. tom. 2. fol. 363.
Whereas therefore the Iewes obserued their Sabbath on the seuenth day, wee celebrate the eighth. They gaue God the last day of the weeke: but Christians better honour him with the first: they keepe their Sabbath in honour of the worlds creation; but Christians in memoriall of the worlds redemption, a worke of greater might and merciemercy: and therefore good reason the greater worke should carrie away the credit of the day. See the Gospell on Saint Thomas day.
The particular rest of the Iewes isgCaluins Cat. Perkins aurea Caten. cap. 23. Ram. …ereligione, lib. 2. c. 6. ceremoniall also: for it is a type of our inward resting from sin in this life: Exod. 31. 13. Ezek. 20. 12. and a figure of ourhCaluins Instit. lib. 2. cap. 8. §. 31. eternall Sabbath in the next: as S.iD. Fulk vponupon Heb. 4. 4. Master Deering lect. 19. vponupon Heb. Paul disputes, Heb. 4.
Yet this Commandement is morall in the generall. As for example, wee must keepe one day in the seuen holie to the Lord: wherein we must doe no manner of work, which may let the ministerie of Gods word, and other exercises of pietie. We must leaue to doe our worke, that the Lord may bring foorth in vsus his worke.
The duties then required on the Lords day be principally two:
Rest.
And a sanctification of this rest.
A double Sabbath; rest from labour, and rest from sinne: for askVbi supra. our Church doth determine, two sorts of people transgresse this Commandement especially:
1. Such as will not rest frō their ordinary labour, but driue & carry, row & ferry on Sūday.
2. Such as will rest in vngodlines, idlely spending this holy day in pampering, pointing, painting themselues. So that God is more dishonoured, and the Diuell better serued vponupon Sunday, then on all the daies of the weeke beside.
Thou shalt do no manner of worke.] That is, no seruile work of thine ordinarie calling; which may be done the day before, or left well vndone till the day after. But some workes are lawfull: namely, such as appertaine to the publike worship of God: as painfull preaching of the sacred word, reading of diuine prayers, administring of the blessed Sacraments, and eueryevery worke subordinate to these: as ringing of bels, and trauelling to Church, Acts 1. 12. 2. Kings 4. 23.
And workes of merciemercy toward
Our selues: as prouision of meate and drinke, Matth. 12. 1.
Other
Men: our Sauiour healed the man with the d…ied hand on the Sabbath, Mark. 3. 5.
Beasts: in watering cattell, and helping them out of pound and pit: Luk. 14. 5.
Workes of present necessitie:lPerkins vbi supra. Physitions on the Lords day may visit their patients; Midwiues helpe women with child, Shepheards attend their flock, Mariners their voiage, m1. Mac. 2. 41.Souldiers may fight, andnEsday …n the 4. Commandement. messengers ride post for the great good of the Common-wealth.
Works of honest recreations also, so farre as they may rather helpe then hinder our cheerefull seruing of the Lord: and the reason of all this is giuen by Christ; Mar. 2. 27. The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.
Thou.] Thy wife is not named, because she is presumed to be thy selfe: that whatsoeuer is forbidden thy selfe, must also be knowne to be forbidden thy second selfe.
Thy sonne and thy daughter.] EueryEvery man is aoEster 1. 21. gouernour in his owne house; and therefore must take charge of such as are vnderunder him: pAugustine.Adduc eos ad domum dei tecum, qui sunt in domo tua tecum: mater Ecclesia aliquos à te petit, aliquos repetit; petit eos quos apud te inuenit, repetit quos per te perdidit.
Thy man seruant.] This is for
Thy good.
Their good.
The common good.
Thy good: For hee that on Sunday shall learne his dutie, will be more fit all the weeke to doe his dutie: such as obey God with a good conscience, will serue their master with an vpright heart, asqGen. 30. 27. Iacob serued Laban, andrGen. 39. 5. Ioseph Pharaoh.
Againe, it is for thy good often tosDeut. 5. 15. remember with thankfulnesse, that God hath made thee master, and him seruant: whereas hee might hauehave made thee seruant, and him master.
For their good: that they maytIohn 17. 3. know God, and whom he hath sent Christ Iesus,uIohn 14. 6. the way, the truth, and the life. Thy seruants are men of the same mold with thee:xMacrob. saturnal. lib. 1. cap. 11. & Ambros. serm. 33. Iisdem & constant & n…triuntur elementis, eundem spiritum ab eodem principio carpunt, eodem fruun. ur coelo, aequa viuunt, aeque moriuntur, serui, sunt, imo conserui. That is, in the words of scripture,yGal. 3. 28. Thy seruants are all one with thee in Christ: made of the same God, redeemed with the same price, subiect to the same law, belonging to the same master: Ephes. 6. 9. Pitie then and pietie require that thou see them obserue the Lords day, for the good as well of their bodies as soules.
For the common good: zCaluin. Cat.For eueryevery man hath iust cause to be ready willingly to labour all the weeke, when as he is assured he shall rest on Sunday.
Thy cattell.] Hence we may gather much comfort: for if God in his mercy prouide for the welfare euen of our brute beasts, of which he hath made vsus Lords; he will assuredly much more respect vsus his seruants and children: he cannot be carelesse for men, who is so carefull for oxen.
The Commandements are so well knowne, and often expounded, that asaTract. 50. in Iobannem. Augustine speakes in the like case: Desiderant auditorem magis quàm expositorem. I passe therefore from the first table, containing all dutie to God, vntounto the second, teaching all dutie to man: I say to man as the proper immediat object of them. Otherwise these Commandements are done vntounto God also: for he that clotheth the naked, and visiteth the sicke, doth it vntounto Christ: Matth. 25. 40.
The law then concerning our neighbour is partly
Affirmatiue, teaching vsus to do him all good: Honour thy father and mother, &c.
Negatiue, teaching vsus to doe him no hurt: Thou shalt not kill, &c.
This table begins with honour of our father:bHerman. explicat. decalog. First, because next vntounto God we must honour those who are in the place of God.
Secondly, because the neglect of this one Commandement occasioneth all disorder against the rest: for if superiours gouerne well, and inferiours obey well; how can any man be wronged in word or deed?
cBellarm. Cat.Thirdly, because of all neighbours our parents are most neere to vsus, as being most bound to them, of whom we hauehave receiued our life. Thy parent is Gods instrument for thy naturall being: thy Prince Gods instrument for thy ciuill being: thy Pastor Gods instrument for thy spirituall being. Wherefore as thou art a man thou must honour thy naturall father; as a citizen honour thy ciuill father; as a Christian honour thy ecclesiasticall father.
Honour imports especially 3. things:
Obedience.
Reuerence.
Maintenance.
Obedience. Children obey your parents in all things: Coloss. 3. 20: that is, as Paul doth interpret himselfe, Ephes. 6. 1 in the Lord. In all things agreeable to the will of God: otherwise for Christs louelove wee must hate father and mother, Luke 14. 26.dDe vita Eremit. ad Heliodorum, tom. 1▪ fol. 1. Hierome notably: Licèt sparso crine & scissis vestibus vbera quibus te nutrier at m…ter oftendat, licèt in lim… ne pater iaceat, per calcatum perge patrē, siccis oculis ad vexillum crucis euola. The most eminent paternes of obedience to father and mother are theeIerem. 35. Rechabits, fGen. 22.Isaac,gLuke 2. 51. Christ: hHieron, …pist. de vitando suspecto con…bernio, tom. 1. fol. 224.Venerabatur matrem, cuius ipse erat pater, colebat nutritium quem nutriuerat.
Reuerence: Bearing them respect in words, and outward behauiour, though they be neuer so meane, and wee neuer so mightie. Prouerbs 23. 22. Honour thy father that begat thee, and thy mother that bare thee. As if hee should say, Be dutifull vntounto thy parents: not because they be rich and in great place, but because they be thy parents, how base soeuer they bee.iHieron. vbi supra. Matris angustam domum Iudicas, cuius tibi non fuit venter angustus:kSen…cade beneficijs, lib. 3. cap. 1. parentes non amare impietas est, non agnoscere insania est. Examples of this vertue, recorded in holy Scriptures arelGen. 26. 27. 28. cap. Ioseph andm1. King. 2. 19. Salomon: and in our English Chronicles, SirnStapleton in eius vita, cap. 1. Thomas More, who being Lord Chancellor of England, vsually did aske his father blessing in Westminster Hall publikely: the which custome of our nation is good and godly.
Maintenance. If the parent be blind, the child must be his oIob 29. 15.eye: if lame, the child must be his foote: if in any want, the pTobit 5. 17.staffe of his decaied age. SoqIohn 19. 27. Christ tooke care for his mother at his death:rArist. Ethic. lib. 9. cap. 2. for it is great reason that children hauing receiued life of their father and mother, should procure to preserue vntounto them the same life. Nature doth reade this lesson.sLib. 5. cap. 4. Valerius Maximus hath a memorable historie of a young woman who gaue sucke to her mother in prison, and so kept her aliue, who otherwise was adiudged to be famished. A pious office, so well accepted of the Iudge, that he did both pardon the mother, and prefer the daughter. tAristophanes in …uibus.Aristophanes affirmes also, that the young Stroke doth feed the old.
There is a dutie required of the parent toward the child, as well as of the child toward the parent: yet the law speaketh expresly to the one, and not to the other. That the father being in order of nature & in wisdome superior, might suspect his duty to be written in himselfe: father and mother areuHieron. vbi supra. nominapietatis, officiorum vocabula, naturae vincula. The dutie then of superiours is infolded in the word father: a Minister is a father, a Master a father, a Magistrate a father: teaching them to be so well affected to their inferiors, as parents are to their children.
Againe: the louelove of parents towards their children is so naturall and ordinary, that there is lesse need to put parents in mind of their dutie. But contrariwise children are not vsually so dutifull to their parents (as thexThom. 12 ae. quaest. 26. art. 12. & Aristot. Ethic. lib. 9. c. 7. Schoole speakes): Amor descendit, non ascendit: benefactor plus d…ligit quam benefici…tus: and therefore it was necessary to admonish them of their louelove: neither is God content with a bare precept, but hath adioined a promise, That thy daies may bee long: for there is no reason hee should inioy long life, who dishonoureth those of whom hee receiued life: but if God shorten the daies of dutifull children, and in stead of long life giuegive them euerlasting life; hee doth not breake but keepe his promise: for hee doth promise long life, not absolutely, but so farre forth as it is a blessing; that it may be well with thee: and that thou maiest liue long on earth. Ephes. 6. 3.
The 6. Commandement.
THe negatiue part forbiddeth all euill, and that is committed against our neighbour threeylo. Combis lib. …. cap. 59. Aq…inas in 13. ad Rom. lect. 2. waies:
In
Thought.
Word.
Deed.
But because bad deeds are worse then bad words: and bad words worse then bad thoughts, it pleased the God of order first to forbid bad deeds: Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not commit adulterie, Thou shalt not steale. Then bad words: Thou shalt not beare false witnesse. Last of all, bad thoughts: Thou shalt not couet thy neighbors house, &c.
All our bad deeds against our neighbors concerne his
Life: Thou shalt not kill.
Honour: Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Goods: Thou shalt not steale.
Thou shalt not kill.] To wit, a man: for to kill other liuing things is not forbidden: and the reason is plaine; because they were created for man, and so man is master of their life. But one man was not created for another man, but for God: and therefore not man, but only God is master of our life: for a magistrate doth not put malefactors to death as master of their life, but as azRom. 13. 4. minister of God: and so by consequence not murther, but an act of iustice:aMat. 26. 52. Such as strike with the sword shall perish with the sword: bAugust. cont. Faustum, lib. 22. cap. 70.that is, such as take the sword vponupon their owne authoritie: Dominus iusserat, vt ferrum discipuli ferrent, non vt ferirent. But if God put a sword into their hand, then they may, then they must strike. In a word, killing is vniust when either it is done without authoritie, or by publike authoritie vponupon priuate grudge; non amore i…stitiae, sed libidine vindictae, Concerning inward rancour and outward disdaine, in deed, word or gesture, see the Gospell Dom. 6. post Trin.
The 7. Commandement.
IN this Commandement are forbiddencLombard. 3. sent. dist. 37. Church hom. against adulterie, part. 1. all vnchast lusts, aswell burningdMat. 5. 28. 1. Cor. 7. 9. within, as breaking forth.
Into
Allurements,
Ribald talke: Ephes. 4. 29.
Wanton lookes: Gen. 6. 2. 39. 7.
Lasciuious attire: Esay 3. 16.
Acts of vncleannesse.
Acts of vncleannesse vnnaturall: as
Committing filthinesse with
A man of the same sex: Rom. 1. 27.
Abeast: Leu. 18. 23.
eParacelsus, iucubi, succubi.A Diuell: as witches doe by their owne confession.
Naturall,
Adulterie: when both, or one of the parties are married: Deut. 22. 22.
Fornication between single persons: as
Deflouring of virgins: Deut. 22. 28.
Hunting of common whores: 1. Cor. 10. 8.
Incest: with such as be within the degrees of consanguinitie or affinitie prohibited in law: Leuit. 18. 6.
Sinne in this kind is more dangerous, then in another, because a man can hardly repent heartily for it. The murtherer, and swearer, and theese become many times exceeding sorrowfull after the fact: but the wanton (asfEpist. Amando …om. 3 fol. 135. Hierome notes) euen in the middest of his repentance sinneth afresh: the very conceit of his old pleasure doth occasion a new fault: so that when his deuotion ends, he presently begins to repent that he did repent. Example hereof Augustine: who being in the heat of his youth (as himselfegConfess. lib. 8. cap. 7. writes of himselfe) begged of God earnestly the gift of continencie: but, saith he, to tell the truth, I was afraid lest hee should heare me too soone: Malebam enim explers concupiscentiam quàm extingu…. See the Gospell Dom. 15. post. Trin.