An exposition of the morall lavv, or Ten Commandements of almightie God set dovvne by vvay of exercitations, wherein is contained an explanation of diverse questions and positions for the right understanding thereof, together with an explication of these scriptures which depend upon, or belong unto every one of the commandements, all which are cleared out of the originall languages, the customes of the Iewes, and the distinctions of the schoolemen / by Iohn Weemse ...

EXERCITAT. X. That workes of necessity doe not violate or profane the Sabbath. Commandement IIII.

Mat. 12.11. What man shall there be amongst you that shall have one sheepe, and if it fall into a pit upon the Sabbath day, will not lay hold on it and lift it out?

ALthough the Lord hath discharged servile workes to be done upon the Sabbath,* 1.1 yet he alloweth such workes to bee done upon it which serve for his owne worship. To circumcise was a servile worke, yet be∣cause it served for his worship; therefore he allowed it. So the killing of beasts was a servile worke, yet because it served for his worship the Lord approved it.

Secondly,* 1.2 workes of charity are the workes of the Sabbath, as to cloath the naked and to feed the hungry, yet all workes of charity are not to bee done that day, especially such, quae sola intentione operantis ad misericor∣diam diriguntur. Example, a man upon the Sabbath buildeth a bridge, this worke he proposeth to himselfe as a worke of charity, yet this is a servile worke and may not be done that day, but in case of great necessity.

Workes of necessity may be done that day; there is a double necessity, inevitable necessity, and contracted necessity: Inevitable necessity is such that wee can no wayes eschew it, see it, nor helpe it;* 1.3 as when fire upon a suddaine cometh upon a house on the Sabbath day; this inevitable necessity breaketh not the Sabbath.* 1.4 The second sort of necessity is a contracted necessity, when

men doe not dispose of their affaires all the weeke long, they draw upon themselves a necessity to breake the Sabbath.

* 1.5Againe, wee must distinguish betwixt danger immi∣nent, and danger present; if the danger be not imminent, that sort of necessity profaneth the Sabbath. Example, the weather is like to bee stormy, therefore a man may cut downe his corne, or lead it home upon the Sabbath; this sort of necessity breaketh the Sabbath,* 1.6 but if the danger bee present, that sort of necessity breaketh not the Sabbath. Example, if a floud should carry away the corne, in that case a man may goe and save the corne, and that necessity doth not violate the Sabbath, and in this case wee profane the Sabbath unlesse wee profane it.

[Quest.] What if a poore tradesman cannot earne as much all the weeke as will intertaine his wife and family, whe∣ther may he worke upon the Sabbath day to intertaine them, or not?

[Answ.] There is a twofold necessity, first, a pinching necessi∣ty,* 1.7 secondly, an extreme necessity: if hee and his family be onely pinched, for that sort of necessity hee must not breake the Sabbath;* 1.8 but if his necessity be an extreame necessity, then albeit he worke upon the Sabbath, he pro∣faneth it not; but the Lord alloweth it.

As workes of necessity profane not the Sabbath, so the commandement of the superior profaneth it not.* 1.9 God commanded the Iewes to doe no servile worke upon the Sabbath, yet hee commandeth them to com∣passe the walls of Iericho seaven dayes;* 1.10 here the Iewes might safely breake the Sabbath at the commande∣ment of their superior.

* 1.11Servile workes are forbidden that day, but the Ro∣mish Casuists grant too much liberty to the people in teaching them what are servile workes, and what are

not. Example, they say that windemills, and water mills may grind that day, because they require no great worke, nor toile or labour; but they say, if a man should grinde at a man-mill, that were a servile worke: So they hold that fishes coming but once in the yeare,* 1.12 as hering, that it is lawfull for the fishers to fish that day: likewise they hold that men may make merchan∣dise that day, providing that it be of things on which a certaine price is set downe. So they held that workes of the minde are not servile workes, and that they may be done on the Sabbath, if they be not bodi∣ly workes; as a lawyer may informe his client: so such workes as are common to the master with the servant; as to write, they hold them no servile workes.

The Iewes were profane violaters of the Sabbath,* 1.13 as we may see in the dayes of Esay, and Ieremie, and so con∣tinued on till the dayes of Nehemiah; but afterward they fell into another extremitie in the dayes of the Macchabes,* 1.14 and then they became superstitious obser∣vers of the Sabbath, 1. Macch. 2.36. They fled into a ci∣ty upon the Sabbath, neither threw they ston••s at them who pursued them; but said let us all dye in our innocencie; hea∣ven and earth shall testifie for us,* 1.15 that yee put us to death wrongfully. So they rose up against them upon the Sabbath, and slew them with their wives and children, to the num∣ber of a thousand people. but Matthias verse 41. made this decree, If it fall out upon the Sabbath that our enemies invade us, we will defendour selves, that there may be a people left upon the Sabbath to keepe the Sabbath.

Philo in his second booke of the life of Moses, saith, Sabbatum quietem adferre, non tantum mancipijs, sed etiam arboribus & stirpibus. Therefore Matt. 12. and Luc. 6. When the Disciples pulled the eares of corne upon the Sabbath; they said, that the Disciples did that which was not lawfull upon the Sabbath. They would bury no body

upon the Sabbath, therefore the body of Christ was ta∣ken downe from the crosse before the sunne set.* 1.16 The Lord commanded, Ier. 17. that they should carrie no burdens upon the Sabbath, but the Pharisies extended it thus farre,* 1.17 * 1.18 that it was not lawfull for the sick man to take up his bed upon the Sabbath.* 1.19 Ioh. 5. They might make no journey upon the Sabbath,* 1.20 but the Pharisies extended it thus farre (as Origen testifieth of those who were called Dosithaei) that they would not stirre out of the place where they sat upon the Sabbath;* 1.21 and Cynesi∣us reporteth of a Iew, who was at the helme of the ship before the Sabbath, but so soone as the sunne set, hee left the helme of the ship and cast himselfe along in the ship, and read all that night, and the day follow∣ing upon the booke of the law: and although they threatened him with death, yet hee would not take the helme in his hand to guide the ship again: yet Christ & his Disciples went through the corn upon the Sabbath.

Workes of necessity may be done that day, but the Iewes hold,* 1.22 that they might not bury the dead that day; this is a worke of piety, and oftentimes of necessity, therefore it might be performed that day. A physitian may goe to visit his patient that day, and the mid∣wife may goe to helpe a woman in childbirth that day, and a smith may shoe a post-horse that day, providing that hee be about the businesse that concerneth the estate.

The superstitious Iewes will suffer their beasts to carry no more upon them then their haltar or bridle;* 1.23 they will not saddle their horse that day; whereas the Shunamitish woman desired one of the asses to be made ready, and a servant to be sent, that shee might goe to the man of God; her husband said, Wherefore wilt thou goe to him to day, it is neither new moone nor Sabbath. 2. King. 4.22.23. It was their custome to doe so on the

Sabbath and new moones. In the dayes of Christ they would have pulled out their sheepe or oxe out of a pit upon the Sabbath, Matt. 12.13.* 1.24 but afterward they would let the beast lye still untill the morrow;* 1.25 but if it was a marish place or deepe ditch wherein the beast was in present danger, then they used to hire some poore Christian for a trifle to pull out the beast for them. They hold that it is not lawfull for the blinde to leane upon a staffe that day, but for the lame it is lawfull:* 1.26 be∣cause the blinde may want the staffe, but not the lame. They teach, that if a man be wounded a day before the Sabbath, and the plaster be laid to his wound,* 1.27 hee may suffer the plaster that day to lye still at the wound, but if he take it away, he may not lay to a new plaster that day.* 1.28 They hold that if a flea bite a man that day, hee may take it, but not kill it; & if a thorn pricke him in the foote that day, he may not pull it out. And last, they hold that a Tailor may not carry a needle, farre lesse a sword.

Men runne into extremities in religion,* 1.29 Peter will not have Christ to wash his feete at the first, but then he falleth into the other extremitie, Not my feete onely but also my hands and my head. Ioh. 13.9. So here they were profane breakers of the Sabbath, and then they became superstitious observers of it: but we should keepe the golden mediocritie, and turne neither to the right hand nor to the left. Deut. 5.32.

The conclusion of this is, The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath, and therefore in ne∣cessity [Conclusion. 1] man is Lord of the Sabbath (albeit not the su∣preme Lord) and may breake it, but hee must take heed that he draw not on this necessitie; for then hee shall be answerable to him who is the great and supreme Lord of the Sabbath, and shall be holden guilty as transgres∣sor of his law.

Secondly, if wee sanctifie the Lord in this life,* 1.30 wee

shall keepe that eternall sabbath with him in the hea∣vens; the sanctification of the Sabbath in this life is but the first fruits, and the full harvest shall be in the life to come. When the foundation of the second temple was laid, all the people shouted for joy, Ezra 3.11. In hope that the temple should be finished: so if we lay the foun∣dation of the sanctifying of the Sabbath in this life, wee may rejoice, because it shall be finished in the life to come.

[Conclusion. 2] It is said of all the rest of the dayes, The evening and the morning were the first day, the second day; the third day &c. but it is not said, that the evening and the morning were the seventh day; to put us in remembrance that our Sabbath shall be an eternall Sabbath, and never have an end.

Of the punishment for the breach of the Sabbath.

Those who brake the Sabbath under the law were to be put to death Exod. 21.* 1.31 and Levit. 24. the reason of this was, because their Sabbath was a pledge to them of all the benefits which they were to receive in Christ to come. So the priests daughter was to be burnt quick if she defiled her selfe by committing whoredome, the reason was because her father was a type of Christ to come:* 1.32 if a preachers daughter now should commit whoredome, shee should not be burnt quicke for it, be∣cause her father is not a type now of Christ to come; I grant she should be more severely punished in respect of her offence, than any other woman, the breach of the Sabbath now is to be punished with death: but other∣wayes at the magistrates arbitrement.

[Quest.] Why did they put him in prison who gathered sticks upon the Sabbath, doubting whether he should be put to death or not, seeing it expressely commands, Exod.

21. that he who breaketh the Sabbath should be put to death.

They knew not that this which seemed but a small fault to them, should be punished with death. [Answ.] Second∣ly, they knew not what sort of death hee should be put to; and therefore they put him in prison to know the minde of the Lord.

Domine Deus, quaecunque dixi de tuo, agnos∣cant & tui: si qua de meo,* 1.33 & tu ignosce & tui.

Notes

• * 1.1

  God alloweth such ser∣vile workes as belong to his worship to bee done upon the Sabbath.
• * 1.2

  Workes of charity may be done upon the Sab∣bath.
• * 1.3

  Necessitas

  • Inevitabilis
  • Contracta.
• * 1.4

  Inevitable necessity pro∣faneth not the Sabbath.
• * 1.5

  Necessitas

  • Imminens.
  • Prasens.
• * 1.6

  Present necessity profa∣neth not the Sabbath.
• * 1.7

  Necessitas non habet le∣gem sed sibi legem facit.
• * 1.8

  Non licet sumere lucrum hoc die, nisi mera neces∣sitas cogat, si principali∣ter ob lucrum fiat tunc est opu•• servile.
• * 1.9

  Extreme necessity pro∣faneth not the Sabbath.
• * 1.10

  The commandement of God the superior, brea∣keth not the Sabbath.
• * 1.11

  The casuists grant too much liberty to the peo••le in doing servile workes.
• * 1.12

  Vide Azpilaetam de violatione sesiorum.
• * 1.13

  Seyrus de festis.
• * 1.14

  The superstition of the Iewes in keeping of the Sabbath.
• * 1.15

  They would not fight to de••••••d them upon the Sabbath.
• * 1.16

  The Pharisees extent in superstitious observing of the Sabbath.
• * 1.17

  The precept.
• * 1.18

  The Pharisees extent.
• * 1.19

  The precept.
• * 1.20

  The Pharisees extent.
• * 1.21

  Cynesius apud Euoptium.
• * 1.22

  The precept. The Pharisees extent.
• * 1.23

  The Pharisees extent.
• * 1.24

  The precept.
• * 1.25

  The Pharisees extent.
• * 1.26

  Schichardus de Sabba∣tho ex Tal.
• * 1.27

  The Pharisees extent.
• * 1.28

  The Pharisees extent.
• * 1.29

  Men oftentimes run in∣to extremities in religi∣on.
• * 1.30

  Conclusion.
• * 1.31

  Why they were put to death under the law who brake the Sab∣bath.
• * 1.32

  Why the Priests daugh∣ter was burnt quicke.
• * 1.33

  Augustinus lib. 15. de Trin. cap. ult.