Answer to Two Books of the Sabbath, Part 11 – Part 13
His fourth Argument.
If God intended the Jews ſhould rather ſanctifie the ſeventh part of their time than the ſeventh day, then the fourth Commandement doth more directly command one day in ſeven than that ſeventh day.
But God intended that the Jews ſhould rather ſanctifie the ſeventh part of their time than the ſeventh day, Ergo, &c.
Anſwer.
I pray Sir, what difference make you of theſe two, the ſeventh part of the Jews time and their ſeventh day? Will you compare a thing with it ſelfe? And make a ſhew of two things where there is but one in divers words? Did not Nehemiah, and others of the Jews give God both the ſeventh part of their time, and alſo the ſeventh day? And doth not Mr Cawdry give Chriſt both the firſt part of his time, and alſo the firſt day? For ever ſince he was borne, or made conſcience of the Lords day, which is the firſt day of the weeke, hath he not given Chriſt both his firſt part of time, and alſo his firſt day? a worthy compariſon!
Againe, you diſpute comparatively, whereas you ſhould diſpute poſitively and abſolutely, as I ſaid before; and here againe you have Mr Cawdry's petitio principii, begging his queſtion where he ſhould have proved it, if he could; is this the way to prove that one day in ſeven is the true expoſition of the fourth Commandement? If it be, Sophiſtry is the way; now for theſe two faults mentioned I reject your Argument, and deſire you to take it home againe, and amend them, and then ſend it abroad againe, to try if it may find any better ſucceſſe.
As for your reaſon of the ſequell, you ſay, it is becauſe ſo it may extend to us Gentiles alſo. I pray Sir, why may not the ſeventh and laſt day of the weeke extend to us Gentiles as well as any one day of the ſeven?
But you thinke, Sir, that it was both uncertaine whether the Jews did preciſely keep the ſeventh day or not, and that in ſome caſe it was impoſſible to be kept. I anſwer, 1. It matters not whether it be certaine or not that the Jews kept the ſeventh day: for we diſpute not de facto, but de jure, of what they did do, but of what they ought to do. 2. Why may it not be as certaine that the Jews kept the ſeventh day, as that they kept your one day of ſeven?
As for the impoſſibility of their keeping it, becauſe once the Sun ſtood ſtill in Joſhuah's time; To this I ſay, this ſtanding ſtill of the Sun m…de that day a longer day than any other day of that weeke, but not another day: as if it ſtood ſtill on Friday the ſixth day of the weeke, yet Saturday next was the ſeventh day, and ſo might poſſibly be kept.
I but, in regard of the Jews diſperſions, as when they were carried into captivity in remote Countries, they could not poſſibly keep one and the ſame day for the Sabbath: for the daies in places of a different Longitude begin at different times, and as ſome ſay, the beginning of the daies differ ſo much as the Hollanders loſt a day in ſurrounding the World.
To theſe I anſwer; 1. If theſe things be ſo, how do the Jews keep the Sabbath day now at Amſterdam, and in other places of the world where they live? and how do we in England keep the Lords day? For our daies differ in their beginning from the daies at Jeruſalem where Chriſt roſe.
2. The ground of this errour lies in this, that they thinke when God commanded the Sabbath day at Mount Sinai he intended that whitherſoever his people travelled their Sabbath muſt begin at the very ſame point of time that it began at mount Sinai; the which is impoſſible, and ſo God ſhould command his people an impoſſible thing; for when they travelled from Sinai to the remoteſt parts in Canaan the daies had ſome difference in beginning.
Againe, the word day ſignifies the time of light, Gen. 1.5, God called the light day, and ſo the ſeventh day is the ſeventh light; now when the ſeventh light began in every horizon, then the ſeventh day began, be it ſooner or latter; and this is all that God intended in his fourth Commandement.
To conclude, give me leave, Sir, to retort this your Argument alſo, in this manner.
If God intended the Jews ſhould rather ſanctifie the ſeventh day than the ſeventh part of their time; then the fourth Commandement doth more directly command the ſeventh day than one day in ſeven.
But God intended that the Jews ſhould rather ſanctifie the ſeventh day than the ſeventh part of their time, Ergo, &c. I ſhall as ſoone make this Argument good, as you ſhall make yours good, as appeares by my Anſwers to your Argument.
His fifth Argument.
If the fourth Commandement did directly, or as the ſubſtance of it, command the ſeventh-day-Sabbath, then either we Chriſtians muſt keep the ſame day ſtill, or elſe the fourth Commandement is utterly void and aboliſhed.
But we muſt neither keepe that day ſtill, nor is the fourth Commandement, void and aboliſhed. E…go.
Anſwer.
As for his major I grant it; and himſelfe confirmes it, ſaying, the Commandement is morall as well as the other Laws in the Decalogue, for our Saviour confirmes it, Mat. 5.18. ſaying, not one jot or tittle of the Law ſhall paſſe away, &c. Now the the ſeventh-day-Sabbath is more than a jot or tittle of the fourth Commandement wherefore we muſt turne Sabbatarians, or elſe the fourth Commandement is void and aboliſhed; thus ſaith Mr Cawdry.
As for his minor, I utterly deny the former part of it, ſaying we muſt not keepe that day ſtill; meaning it of the ſeventh day. But why ſo? I pray Sir, what hinders but that we may keepe the old Sabbath day ſtill? If it pleaſed you to keep it as it pleaſed God to command it, Exo. 20.8. and as it pleaſed Chriſt to ratifie it, Mat. 5.18. I know nothing againſt our keeping it but your, and other mens ſlanderous words of it, as that it is Judaiſme, and we muſt turne Jews to loath Gods people of his Sabbath. But do you thinke God commanded any thing in his ten Commandements, the doing whereof, would make Chriſtians turne Jews? is any thing in the fourth Commandement Ceremoniall, ſhadowing out Chriſt as yet to come in the fleſh? If in this ſenſe we ſhould keep the Sabbath, it were properly called Judaiſme: but where is the Chriſtian that keeps it in this ſenſe, or deſires to keepe it in this ſenſe?
But ſince he hath not proved this former part of his Aſſumption, I may ſafely deny it: and ſo this his fi…th Argument ſtands for a Cypher; ſo ſtil you ſee how far Mr Cawdry falls ſhort of proving by theſe Arguments that the ſeventh day is not commanded as the ſubſtance of the fourth Commandement, and that one day of ſeven is the ſubſtance of it.
His ſixth and laſt Argument.
If the ſeventh-day-Sabbath was directly commanded in the fourth Commandement, then there can no ſufficient reaſon be given why the fourth Commandement ſhould be put into the Decalogue, and not amongſt other Ceremoniall Commandements peculiar to the Jews.
Anſwer.
1. I anſwer to his propoſition thus: why may there not be as good reaſon given, and as ſufficient, for the ſeventh-day-Sabbath to be put into the Decalogue, as for one day in ſeven indefinitely, which never was in the fourth Commandement, or in the Decalogue, neither expreſſely, nor by conſequence.
2. Whereas you ſay, the fourth Commandement muſt not be put into the Decalogue among the Morals, but amongſt the Ceremonials; it muſt be ſo, becauſe you take it for granted that the ſeventh-day-Sabbath was a Ceremony; and is not this to beg a queſtion? For you do not ſo much as attempt to prove it a Ceremony; and I beleeve all the skill you have cannot prove it a Ceremony; ſo by this A gument you do but beg a queſtion, which you ſhould have proved, but have not, nor can prove it; but begging the queſtion when, and where you ſhould prove it, is no rare thing with you: this is your Logick, whereby you would prove that the fourth Commandement is to be expounded for one day of ſeven.
I have now made punctuall anſwers unto all Mr Cawdry's ſixe Arguments, whereby he hath endeavoured, but all in vaine, to prove that the ſeventh-day Sabbath is not directly and expreſſely commanded in the fourth Commandement, a thing ſo ſtrangely abſurd, that I never read any Author beſides himſelfe to deny it; and beſides, he hath endeavoured, though alſo in vaine, to prove, that one day in ſeven indefinitely, that is, any one day of the ſeven is directly commanded in the fourth Commandement; and that this is the true expoſition, ſenſe, and meaning of the fourth Commandement; but never did Jeſuite more ſhamefully corrupt the ſecond Commandement about Images, or any other Scripture, than Mr Cawdry hath corrupted Gods fourth Commandement, as appeares by my ſeverall anſwers to his ſixe Arguments; He hath done good ſervice to Almighty God to uſe his wits to overthrow his Sabbaths, and corrupt one of his Ten Commandements: wherefore he may expect his reward when God ſhall come to give every one according as his own works have beene.
Having vindicated the fourth Commandement from Mr Cawdry's corrupt gloſſes, and falſe Expoſition of it: now in the laſt place I ſhall prove againſt Mr Cawdry that one day of ſeven is not the ſenſe and meaning of the fourth Commandement, but the ſeventh and laſt day of the week, which fals upon our Saturday; in my proofe whereof Mr Cawdry ſhall ſee that we have many more Arguments out of the fourth Commandement to prove this point than the ordinall number ſeventh.
By the great paines Mr Cawdry hath taken to draw the fourth Commandement to the expoſition of one day in ſeven; and alſo, for that by this Expoſition he hath made anſwer to many of my twenty foure Arguments; hereby you may perceive that the maine and chiefe controverſie about the Sabbath will be determined by his or n y Expoſition of the fourth Commandement; wherefore I ſhall be the larger in proving my Expoſition for the ſeventh and laſt day of the weeke: and ſo I come to prove this point;