Answer to Two Books of the Sabbath, Part 15
Of the abſurdneſſe to reject the expoſition of the fourth Commandement for the Sabbath day definitely, and the ſeventh and laſt day of the ſeven definitely, and to expound it of a Sabbath day indefinitely, and of a ſeventh day indefinitely, or of one day in ſeven.
The firſt abſurdity.
If by the word Sabbath in the fourth Commandement we may underſtand a Sabbath day uncertainly, as a reſt upon any of the ſeven daies; and by the word ſeventh any one of the ſeven daies; then we may keep two Sabbath daies together without ſix daies labour going betweene them: As for example, we may keep the Saturday the laſt of the weeke, and Sunday the firſt of the next weeke; and ſo two S…bbaths go together, no working daies coming betweene them, and is not this abſurd? For Saturday is one day of the ſeven in the former weeke, and Sunday after is one day of the ſeven in the latter weeke.
Againe, If the former pleaſe nor, then take this; Chriſt did lye in his grave upon Saturday, which by the Jews was kept for the Sabbath day according to the fourth Commandement, Luk. 23 56. Now if Chriſtians kept the Sunday or Lords day, being the next day following the Sabbath day, were not then two Sabbath daies kept together without any working daies comming between them? And is not this abſurd? Furthermore, and if both daies were kept by the fourth Commandement, is not this much more abſurd? So far of the firſt abſurdity.
The ſecond abſurdity.
If by Sabbath we may underſtand a reſt on any day of the weeke; and by ſeventh any one of the ſeven daies; then we may keepe by the fourth Commandement Sunday the Lords day this weeke in memory of Chriſts Reſurrection, and Good Friday in the next weeke, or every other Friday in the yeare in memory of Chriſts Paſſion: for as Sunday is one day of the ſeven in this weeke, ſo Friday is one day of the ſeven in the next weeke; and is not this abſurd? And to keepe theſe two daies by the fourth Commandement alſo, is not this much more abſurd; ſo far of the ſecond abſurdity.
But perhaps you will ſay, we have Scripture for the Lords day, but you have none for Good Friday. I anſwer, If I would abuſe Scripture for Friday, as you abuſe Scripture for the Lords day, I could alledge a Text, having as much colour in it as the beſt of your Texts; ſee for this purpoſe, Zech. 12.10, &c. They ſhall looke upon me whom they have pierced, and mourne for him, as one mourneth for his only Son. This Text may be applyed to Good Friday, wherein Chriſt was pierced for our Sins, and wrought the worke of our eternall Redemption, and ſaid upon his Croſſe, now It is finiſhed, Ioh. 19.30. So we may keep the Lords day every other weeke in memory of Chriſts Reſurrection, and every other Friday as our Chriſtian Sabbath in memory of Chriſts Paſſion and our Redemption.
But you will ſay, the Sabbath day is a day of rejoycing, but Good Friday is a day of mourning. To this I anſwer, the Sabbath day in the fourth Commandement was kept in memory of the Creation, and yet you can keepe the Lords day by the fourth Commandement in memory of the Reſurrection; why then may we not keepe ſometimes the memory of Chriſts Paſſion and our Redemption on Friday by the fourth Commandement as well as Sunday, or the Lords day, in memory of the Reſurrection by the fourth Commandement? but a change in both; I know indeed that this Text, Zech. 12.10. is liable to many juſt exceptions, and ſo is the beſt Text alledged by Mr Cawdry for the Lords day; but would he be pleaſed to take Good Friday into his favour as he hath done the Lords day, he could with a little of his Logick, mingled with much of his Rhetorick, and ſome of his Sophiſtry, make this Text, Zech. 12.10. as plauſible a Text before the multitude for Good Friday, as is his beſt Text for the Lords day▪ And ſo I come to the third abſurdity.
The third abſurdity.
If by Sabbath we may underſtand any day of the weeke wherein we reſt; and by ſeventh any one day of the ſeven; then firſt, The Jews were no more bound to keepe Saturday the laſt day of ſeven than to keepe the Lords day, or Sunday the firſt day of the ſeven; for the Sunday was then ſome one day of the ſeven.
Secondly, Then we Chriſtians may keep the Saturday Sabbath; for this day is one day of the ſeven; but we may not keepe the Saturday, as they ſay, becauſe it is Judaiſme, as they call it; and it is expired, and aboliſhed, as they ſay.
Now are not theſe two things two abſurdities? So far of this third abſurdity.
The fourth abſurdity.
To expound the fourth Commandement for one day of ſeven is abſurd, becauſe we have but one day of ſixe if they reject the ſeventh and laſt day of the weeke; take away Saturday, the ſeventh day, as an aboliſhed, or expired day, which may not be kept for feare of Judaiſme, and then you have remaining but ſixe daies in every weeke; and therefore if you take any day of theſe ſixe daies for a Sabbath, you take but one day out of ſixe daies, not one day out of ſeven daies; for one of the ſeven daies is exempted and excepted, ſo as it may not be taken. In caſe we were wont to chooſe a Major out of ſeven Citizens, and now the King forbids us to chooſe the laſt man of the ſeven becauſe he is ſickly, and like to dye, or dead; though antiently our choice was one out of ſeven, yet now it is but one out of ſixe.
God commands to keepe the ſeventh day holy, but Mr Cawdry hath brought it down to one day of ſeven, and upon further ſearch it is come down to one day of ſixe; So far of this fourth Abſurdity.
The fifth Abſurdity.
It is abſurd, if not alſo impious and wicked, to alter the expoſition, ſenſe, and meaning of the Ceremoniall Commandements; and therefore it muſt be ſo to alter the expoſition of the fourth Commandement, or any of the ten morall Commandements; take theſe inſtances: firſt, ſee Lev. 23.24. In the ſeventh month, and the firſt day of the month ye ſhall have a Sabbath for the remembrance of blowing the Trumpet, &c. were it not an impious thing to alter the ſenſe of this Commandement, ſaying, God intended no more by this ordinall number the ſeventh month but this, that the people ſhould give him a Sabbath in any one of the ſeven months? Secondly, ſee Lev. 25.4. Sixe yeares thou ſhalt ſow thy field, but the ſeventh yeare ſhall be a Sabbath, &c. Had Mr Cawdry wrote in Moſes daies he could have taught the people that they might give God but ſome one or other of the ſeven yeares for a Sabbath. Thirdly, the Paſſeover was to be kept on the fourteenth day of the month; I, could Mr Cawdry ſay, that is upon ſome one or other of the fourteene daies. Fourthly, the eighth day was appointed for Circumciſion; yet, can Mr Cawdry ſay, by this ordinall number the eighth may be meant one of the eight daies, as the firſt, or third, &c. Fifthly, Chriſt roſe the third day, but it may be upon ſome one of the three daies, as on the firſt day or ſecond. God commanded Circumciſion on the eighth day; may not Mr Cawdry ſay, hence Chriſtians be bound to baptize Children on the ninth day, the day after, or on the firſt day? For he ſaith, we are to keep our Sabbath on the eighth or firſt day. Is not this to make the Scriptures a Noſe of Waxe? If it be abſurd, yea, and wickedly done to alter the ſenſe of of the Ceremoniall Laws, is it not ſo too to alter the ſenſe of a morall Law?
The ſixth Abſurdity.
Suppoſing, but not granting, that Mr Brabourne were bound in a bond to pay to Mr Cawdry twenty pounds upon Chriſtmas day the twenty fifth day of December, when Mr Cawdry can make him beleeve that this twenty pounds is due to him upon the firſt day of December, or upon any one of the twenty five daies of December; then ſhall he make him beleeve alſo, that when God binds men in the bond of the fourth Commandement to ſanctifie the Sabbath day, the ſeventh day of the weeke, then he binds men by his bond of the fourth Commandement to ſanctifie the firſt day of the week the Lords day, or any one of the ſeven daies. Our common Lawyers in pleading a Bond before a Judge, would be aſhamed of ſuch Law; but our eminent Divines in preaching to the people of the bond of the fourth Commandement are …ot aſhamed of ſuch Divinity. Againe, when Mr Cawdry will be willing to take for his tenth, or tithe Lambe any one of the ten, be it a rotten, lame, leane, or blind Lambe, then it may be he ſhall p…rſwade me, that by Gods ſeventh day we may underſtand ſome one day of the ſixe working daies.
The ſeventh Abſurdity.
All Divines that I have read, confeſſe, that the ſeventh day, and Saturday-Sabbath, was commanded to the Jews in the fourth Commandement; and the Jews now living whereſoever, do keepe the Saturday by the fourth Commandement; yea, and Mr Cawdry ſaith often in his Books of the Sabbath, that the ſeventh and laſt day was appointed to the old world, that is, to the Jews; but if now, and …ince Chriſt, the Saturday and ſev…nth-day-Sabbath be not comamnded in the fourth Commandement, but ſome other one day of ſeven, as the Lords day, the firſt day of the weeke, then the ſenſe and meaning of the fourth Commandement is altered and changed from what it was antiently, and a new ſenſe and meaning is given of it; if this be not an abſurdity, or rather a madneſſe, I know not what is.
Shall the words in the Scripture be thought to change their ſenſe with the times? Shall they have one ſenſe to day, and another to morrow? Is not this the ſin of him that thought he might change times and Laws, Dan. 7.25.
That one word in divers Texts may ſignifie divers things is nothing ſtrange; but that one and the ſame word in one and the ſame Text, the fourth Commandement, ſhould ſignifie antiently one thing, and in our daies another thing, this is an abſurdity matchleſſe.
That by Sabbath, and ſeventh day the fourth Commandement ſhould …joyne the Saturday to the Jews, and the Sunday to the Gentiles; the Saturday for thouſands of years unto Chriſt, and the Sunday for ever after Chriſt; this may well be called the Queene of abſurdities.
Hath the approach of the Goſpell changed the meaning of the words in the Law? If words in the Decalogue ſhall have one ſenſe before Chriſt came, and another ſenſe after Chriſts comming, there will be no certaine ſenſe of any of the ten Commandements.
Were a Schoolemaſter to conſtrue Terence, or other profane Author to his Scholars, he would be aſhamed to give any ſenſe divers from an antient known ſenſe; but we have Miniſters not aſhamed to abuſe their Auditors worſe than a Schoolemaſter would abuſe his Schollers: wherefore Schoolemaſters ſhall riſe up in judgement to condemne ſuch Miniſters; God never beſtowed wit and learning on ſuch Miniſters, and I may ſay honeſty too, to corrupt his Scriptures, and to abuſe their Auditors; Is this to take charge of the Soules of the people?
For my part, laying aſide the reſpects I beare to God, and to the Scriptures, I care not whether you keepe Saturday-Sabbath, Sunday-Sabbath, or Monday Sabbath; and if we kept none at all it were beſt of all: but if we have reſpect to God or to his Scriptures, let us give him the day of his own choice, not another; let us not ſo ſhamefully and abominably corrupt his Scriptures by notorious falſe expoſitions; it were far better for the Church and State to have no Scriptures, than to have Scriptures falſely expounded to the people.
The eighth Abſurdity
Suppoſe we that Chriſt had left a Commandement in the New Teſtament for the Lords day, as certainly God left a Commandement for Saturday the ſeventh day in the Old Teſtament; and ſuppoſe that Chriſt had ſaid, Remember the Lords day to ſanctifie it; the firſt day of the weeke is the Lords day, in it thou ſhalt do no worke; for the Lord Chriſt re…ed, or roſe from the dead on the firſt day of the weeke, and therefore the Lord Chriſt bleſſed the Lords day, and ſanctified it.
If now Mr Brabourne ſhould preach on this Commandement, or write a book for the true Expoſition of it, and inſtruct the people of the Land, ſaying,
1. By the Lords day, you are to underſtand a Lords day, but not the Lords day, for every day of the weeke is the Lord Chriſts day in ſome ſenſe. 2. By the firſt day of the weeke you may underſtand ſome one day of the weeke or other. 3. We may imitate Chriſts reſting or riſing from death, on the firſt day of the weeke, if we Chriſtians reſt upon ſome one or other day of the weeke, as on Saturday the laſt day of the weeke. 4. The Lords day was appointed to the Grecians in the firſt Age of the Church, but Saturday the ſeventh day to us Chriſtians. 5. The Lords day, and firſt day of the weeke are not the ſubſtance of Chriſts Commandement, but Saturday the laſt of the weeke. 6 The Lords day, and firſt day of the weeke, are indirectly commanded by Chriſt, but Saturday, the ſeventh day of the weeke, are directly commanded.
Should I thus expound this Commandement of Chriſt, oh, how would the Patrons of the Lords day rage, ſtampe, and ſtorme at me? Saying, how ſhamefully doth this Brabourne corrupt Chriſt his Law for the Lords day? How abominably doth he abuſe Gods people by his falſe Expoſitions? Never did Jeſuite ſo abuſe and corrupt any Texts of Scripture as this man hath abuſed our Lord Chriſt his Commandement; the Devils themſelves did never ſo abuſe the Scriptures; it is pitty the man is ſuffered to live any longer, hanging is too good for him, burne him like an Heretick, I cannot expreſſe the one halfe of their zeale in this kind; and I confeſſe all this were worthily ſpoken againſt me if I had ſo done; but now I pray compare my ſuppoſed Expoſition of Chriſts ſuppoſed Commandement with Mr Cawdrie's reall Expoſition of Gods reall fourth Commandement in the ſixe particulars mentioned, and behold how paralell and alike they are one to the other point by point! now if my Expoſition be abominably abſurd, what then is theirs? and if Jeſuits, yea, and the Devill never did the like, what may too many of our moſt zealous Miniſters thinke of themſelves who do the ſame d…yly, and are the moſt forward and ſtirring in this kind of expoſition? ſo far of the Abſurdities, and now I come to my Concluſion,