Answer to Two Books of the Sabbath, Part 1 – Part 3
The words of Mr Cawdry.
SEE Mr Cawdries book on the Sabbath, his third part, in p. 429, 430. thus writing: Of all that have wrote of this ſubject (to wit the Sabbath day) Mr. Brabourne is the largeſt, and hath the greateſt ſhew of Scripture and Reaſon for his opinion: and therefore in confuting him we ſhall eaſily confute all the reſt; He hath produced five Texts of Scripture for himſ…lfe, we conſider their ſtrength in order. Objection the firſt out of Gen. 2.3.
The firſt is taken from Gen. 2.3. whence thus he argueth: An Ordinance given in the ſtate of innocency, not peculiar to that ſtate is perpetuall. But by divine inſtitution the ſeventh day was appointed to be the time of reſt in Innocency, and not appropriated to that ſtate. Ergo.
To this Text, and to this Argument deduced from it, I anſwer; At my firſt reading them my heart roſe againſt them, ſaying in my ſelfe, ſurely Mr Cawdry hath done me wrong: then I tooke my firſt booke of the Sabbath, printed 1628. and ſought among my twelve Arguments there for proofe of the perpetuity of the ancient ſeventh-day-Sabbath, but there I could not find theſe things; then I ſought in my ſecond book of the Sabbath▪ printed 1632. among my twenty foure Arguments for the antient Sabbath, and there I could not find theſe things; Laſtly, becauſe I would make a through and full ſearch, I ſpent ſome houres to turne over both my books page by page, but neither ſo could I find theſe things; wherefore I diſclaime this firſt Text and Argument as none of mine.
Mr Cawdry, in charging this, and two other Texts upon me, doth not ſay in which of my two books the Reader might find them; nor in which of my twelve or twenty foure Arguments theſe things may be found, nor in what page they may be found, ſo the Reader is left to ſeek a needle in a bottle of hay; there are 238. pages in my former booke, and 632. pages in my latter booke, ſo it is not eaſie for any man to find a thing without direction, but it is too common with ſome Writers, in a weake cauſe, wittily, I might ſay wickedly, to omit the quotation of the booke and page, and then to foiſt in what they pleaſe of their owne, the eaſilier to deceive the Reader, to abuſe the Author, and the better to gaine credit to their weake cauſe, by begetting a ſleighty opinion of their Adverſary.
The ſecond Text.
Mr Cawdry in the place fore cited, and page 430. thus writeth. Objection the ſecond. The ſecond place of Scripture is that of Exod. 31.16. where the Sabbath is call'd (An everlaſting Covenant) and therefore it is ſtill in force.
To this Text, and the Argument deduced from it, I anſwer as before, that I have ſought for theſe things in my firſt booke, and in my twelve Arguments, and in my ſecond booke, and in my twenty foure Arguments there for the ſeventh-day. Sabbath: for where elſe ſhould I ſeeke but among my Arguments for this Text and Argument? But there I finde them not; yea, I have curſorily ſought page by page in both my books, but yet I cannot find them; wherefore I diſclaime them as none of mine.
I yet remember, that before I printed my firſt book I had thoughts of this Text, Exod 31.16. where the Sabbath is called an Everlaſting Covenant, but I then fore-ſaw that I could not from theſe words frame a ſound Argument to prove the perpetuity of the ancient Sabbath, becauſe Circumciſion is called an Everlaſting Covenant alſo, wherefore I laid it aſide; and will Mr Cawdry now father this weake Argument upon me? What can his end of it be but to render me, & the cauſe I have in hand, ridiculous and contemptible? To deceive his Reader? And to winne vaine applauſe to himſelfe and his cauſe?
The third Text.
Mr Cawdry in the place firſt cited, and in page 430. thus writeth; Objection the third from Iſa. 66.23. The third Text is Iſa. 66.23. where the Prophet, ſpeaking of the renewed ſtate of the Church by Chriſt, ſaith, from month to month, and Sabbath to Sabbath, all fleſh ſhould come to worſhip the Lord. To this Text he anſwereth, that the continuance and perpetuity of the S…bbath can no more be concluded hence than of the New Moons which are mentioned with the Sabbath, yet by himſelfe granted to be aboliſhed.
I have ſought among my twelve Arguments in one of my books, and my twenty foure Arguments in my other booke, but cannot find any where that I alledged this text to prove the perpetuity of the ſeventh day-Saturday-Sabbath; wherefore I diſclaime this text alſo as none of mine, but of Mr Cawdry's own deviſing.
As for his anſwer to it, doth Mr Cawdry thinke Mr Brabourne ſo raſh in chooſing a Text to prove the Sabbaths perpetuity, as to make choice of this text, where the Sabbath is not preferred above the New Moons for perpetuity? But Mr Cawdry, it ſeems, knew no better way to bring Mr Brabourne into contempt with his Reader, than to forge ſuch ſhallow-brain'd things as this is, and then to father them upon Mr Brabourne.
Having ſpoken of the three texts ſeverally, now I ſhall ſpeake of them joyntly; Mr Cawdry placeth theſe his, and not mine, three texts in the front, before my two texts which I owne (of which too by and by) here I note his ſophiſtry and carnall policy, hoping by the weakneſſe of theſe three Texts, and my arguing ſo weakely from them, to bring me and my two texts following into a weake eſtimation with his Reader, that ſo he may thinke there is no more ſtrength of Argument in my two following texts, than is in the three texts going before.