A Threefold Treatise of the Sabbath, Chapter 9
CHAP. IX. The authority is divine by which it was eſtabliſhed.
THis our Lords day can have no leſſe than divine authoritie for it.
1 Whether it bee conceived to bee founded upon the perpetuall equitie of the fourth Commandement, as is made manifeſt in the former Treatiſe, and by that which is ſaid in the firſt chapter of this. Nor is this any new conception in theſe our now preſent dayes: For of this ſome began to think 600 yeeres agoe, as Doctor Heylin acknowledgeth: but no doubt it was before, for elſe how could the whole Church In his Hiſt. o… the Sabbath pag. 132.of Chriſt retaine the fourth Commandement in the Decalogue, without application to a weekly ſolemne day, ſeeing the ſubſtance of the Commamdenent is concerning the obſervation of a reſt day for his worſhip and ſervice every week? whereto elſe could; they properly and directly apply it, and hold the intention of the will of God in giving his ſaid Law? And if it have no ground from the Commandement, how is it, that in our Homily it is ſaid, wee have Gods expreſſe Commandement to keep it? and leſt the Makers of theſe Homilies might be thought to miſtake, they often mention the Commandement: now what other this is than the fourth I deſire to know: And let any tell me, in a minde affected with the love of the truth, and not in a contradicting ſpirit, how it truly can bee ſaid, that the Church of Chriſt hath kept, or rather not broken the ſaid Commandement, now theſe 1600 yeers, if it hath not been obſerved in our weekly Lords day?
2 Or whether we take the obſervation of this day, to have its ground from Scripture, as well we may: for this poſition, that Dies dominicus nititur verbo Dei, was publickly maintained by a Doctor at the Commencement in Cambridge, in Anno 1603. and by the Vice Chancellour ſo determined, nor was then oppoſed by any other Doctors, nor in the Univerſitie of Oxford any Antitheſis put up againſt it: Neither was there juſt cauſe why, for is it not called the Lords day, Rev. 1. 10. and are not alſo the Chriſtian meetings mentioned on this day in Act. 20. 7. & in 1 Cor. 11. 20 where it is ſaid, When yee therefore are gathered together (in die Domini noſtri) on our Lords day, as the ancient Syriack Tranſlation hath it? Sure it is that long ſince Clotaire Leg. Aleman tit. 39. ap. Briſſon.King of France grounded his Edict, about the keeping of this day, upon the Law and holy Scripture. So Charles the great, King of France, in Anno 789 had the ſame ground in his regall Edict, ſaying, Statuimus ſecundum quod in lege Dominus praecepit: And likewiſe Leo the Emperour of Conſtantinople, Conſtit. 54.called Phyloſophus, in Anno 886 ſeeking to reforme abuſes upon the Lords day, in his Conſtitution declared, that what he had in that behalfe determined, was, ſecundum quod Spiritui Sancto, ab ipſoque inſtitutis Apostolis plaucit, according to the minde of the Holy Ghoſt, and of the Apoſtles inſtructed by him.
Now may it reaſonably bee thought, that ſuch great Princes ſhould without the advice of the Learned Clergy in thoſe dayes, lay downe ſuch grounds for their proceedings, conſidering how Charles the Great cauſed five ſeverall Synods at one time to bee aſſembled about the ſame? Scripture there is for it, and ſo then held: And therefore the keeping of this day is of divine authority.
3 Or whether wee underſtand Divine, according to that judicious man, the Authour of the Antidote againſt Sabbath errours, That which may bee by humane diſcourſe upon reaſons of congruitie, probably deduced from the word of God, as a thing moſt conveniently to bee obſerved, by all ſuch as deſire unfeinedly to order their wayes according to Gods holy will: As alſo it may be proved from equitie, either in the Law of nature, or by vertue of divine institution, or by ſome Analogy and proportion which the Lawes given to the Jews, ſo far as reaſon and equity hold alike, or by ſome probable inſinuations thereof in the new Teſtament, whereto adde the continuall practice of the Church; for as he ſaith, Lex currit cum praxi: then may it be ſaid to be de jure divino. Now all theſe do, as he granteth (and may fully be proved, and eaſily diſcerned, from that which hath been ſaid in the two former Treatiſes, and what in this is already, and ſhall be delivered) in ſome meaſure concurre for the obſervation of the weekly Sabbath; and therefore is eſtabliſhed upon divine authority.
4 Or whether we maintaine it to be an inſtitution Apoſtolicall, as many do, it is divine: We beleeve, ſaith that Father of our Church, Biſhop White, that the holy Apostles ordained Againſt Brab. pag. 189.the Sunday to be a weekly holy day, and he addeth his reaſon, becauſe the primitive Fathers, who lived ſome of them in the Apoſtles dayes, and others of them immediatly after, and who ſucceeded them in the Apostolicall Churches, did univerſally De bap. contr. Donat. l. 4. c. 23maintaine the religious obſervation of this day: For ſaith Saint Auguſtine, Quod univerſalitertenet Eccleſia, nec Conciliis inſtitutum, ſed ſemper retentum est, non niſi authoritate Apoſtolica traditum, rectiſſimè creditur. Saint Chryſoſtome affirmeth On 1. Cor. Hom. 43.it, that the Lords day was made a weekly holy day by the Apostles: Who, ſaith Biſhop White, at ſometimes obſerved this day themſelves, Act. 20. 7. Saint Baſill and Iſichius numbers Againſt Brab. pag. 213.the obſervation of the Lords day among Apoſtolicall traditions, and Saint Auguſtine proveth it by his former generall In his Ser. p. 24 ſee alſo morerule, ſaith the ſame Father, Biſhop White. Doctor Pocklington ſaith, that Saint Paul had ordered in Galatia and Corinth, that his Diſciples were to have their meetings on the firſt day of the week, whereunto they ſubmitted themſelves, and ſo did, ſaith In pag. 5.he, the whole Church of God by their example for ever after; He telleth us alſo, that the Apoſtles and Diſciples of Chriſt thought it fit to appoint, and command the day to be kept holy: And, indeed, in the place of 1. Cor. 16. 2. is a plain Apoſtolicall ordinance, which carrieth the force of a Commandment, In Gen. 2. 3. on f…urth Com.as Piſcator noteth; and Biſhop Hooper, which albeit it be about a Collection, yet he appointeth it upon the firſt day of the week. And heare for this what the Learned Biſhop White ſaith of this place: Although this text of Saint Againſt Brab. 211.Paul make no expreſſe mention of Church-aſſemblies this day, yet becauſe it was the Cuſtome of Chriſtians, and likewiſe a thing convenient to give almes upon the Church-dayes, it cannot well be gainſaid, but that, if in Corinth and Galatia, the firſt day of every week was appointed to be the day for almes and charitable contributions; the ſame was alſo the Chriſtians weekly holy day for their religious aſſemblies.
This opinion for the Apoſtolicall tradition, as it hath the fuffrage of the ancient, ſo of later writers, men very Learned: Beza ſaith it is Apoſtolicae & verae divin… traditionis. Apoſtoli, In Rev. 1. 10. In Gen. Rhem. on Rev. 1. 10. Hoſ. confeſ. Rom. Catech. on 3. Com. Ieliſins fol. 292. Cat. Rom. on 3. precept. Bell. Tom 1. de cult. ſancto li. 3. ca. 10. 11. with others cited by Sprint. pag. 13.ſaith Mercer, in Dominicum diem converterunt, to wit, the Sabbath: Hereto agree many Papiſtes, who hold that the Lords day was eſtabliſhed by the Apoſtles, and that Juſſu Dominico, as ſome ſay, by Chriſts Commandment: And that theſe places Act. 20. 7. 1. Cor. 16. 1. Rev. 1. 10. do manifeſtly confirm the ſame; Doctor Heylin acknowledgeth without doubting, that the religious obſervation of this day had the approbation and authority of the Apoſtles, and may very well be accounted amongſt Apoſtolicall traditions.
Now their authority is no leſſe than divine. 1. Becauſe they were inſtructed by Jeſus Chriſt himſelfe in all things which he heard from his Father, John 15. 15. who gave them Commandments concerning the Kingdom of God, by the infuſion of his ſpirit, to make them receive the ſame, Act. 1. 2. Secondly, For that they had this holy ſpirit to guide them into all truth, John 16. 13. in teaching, both for matter, Act. 2. 4. 14. and 4. 8. and manner, 1. Cor. 2. 13. Act. 2. 4. In anſwering Adverſaries Matth. 10. 20. Mar. 13. 11. Luk. 12. 12. In reſolving doubts, Act. 10. 19. and 11. 12. In decreeing Canons, and judging of Controverſies, for ſetling of mens minds in the Church, Act. 15. 28. In rebukeing ſharply the wicked Act. 13. 9. In ordering matters in the Congregation, 1. Cor. 14. 37. with cap. 7. 13. In ordination of Miniſters, whom they ordained in every Church, Act. 14. 23. and theſe ſo ordained by them, are ſaid to be ſet over the people by the Holy Ghoſt, Act. 20. 28. no doubt, becauſe the holy Apoſtles were guided by the Holy Ghoſt in ſuch ordinations: yea, in their advice about things indifferent they had aſſiſtance of Gods ſpirit, 1. Cor. 7. 40. Now then put all theſe things together, can it be imagined, that the Apoſtles obſerving this day, Act. 20. 7. and ſetting a glorious title upon it, Rev. 1. 10. that it can be other than divine, they guided herein by the Holy Ghoſt? who ordained alſo upon this day, the firſt day of the week, to prepare for the poor: and why on this day? becauſe; as Biſhop White ſaith, it was the Chriſtians weekly holy-day: which being, as is afore witneſſed, Apoſtolicall, and the Apoſtles ſo in all things guided by the holy Ghoſt, this day muſt needs be of Divine authority.
This the Church of Auſpurg, Act. 7. confeſſeth, that the day was changed by Apostolicall authority, directed by the spirit.
Laſtly, as it is in theſe reſpects of Divine authority, ſo farther alſo, becauſe it hath Jeſus Chriſt the Inſtitutor of it: Of which in the next Chapter.