him and thereby be fully established in the faith which was the only end of his comming which could not have beene wrought nor obtained if these Decrees had not beene read at all or read by any other Wherefore I take it for a cleare truth that St. Paul read the Decrees and sure I am by the word used in the text that when he read them and did no more but reade them without adding or diminishing that he preached by way of Homilie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Reading of Homilies then is preaching Concil Rhem. Can. 15. and so adjudged by the learned Bishops in the Councell of Rhemes The Canon concerneth Bishops themselves Ut Episcopi Sermones Homilias sanctorum Patrum prout omnes intelligant secundum proprietatem linguae praedicare studeant The Canon saies not praedicari studeant but praedicare themselves must give good example not only in preaching Sermons of their owne making as it is appointed Can. 14. which some cry up for the only preaching but also read and interpret the Homilies of holy Fathers themselves which is also here called preaching So likewise when the Diptychs containing the Decrees of the foure first generall Councels Constantinop 5. Act. 10. and of Saint Leo were read pro utilitate pace Ecclesiae praedicantur they are said to be preached for the profit and peace of the Church This reading of Decrees is called preaching in the Councell of Constantinople If then reading of decrees of the Apostles and by that president reading of Diptychs and Homilies be preaching and used for the profit and peace of the Church and for the establishing of them in the faith then surely is reading of lessons Epistle and Gospel much more preaching and the Reader is a Preacher The Councell of Aquisgrane layeth downe the office of a Reader Concil Aq. c. 3. and to prevent all exceptions ex canonicâ authoritate and saith thus Lectores sunt qui verbum Dei praedicant Readers are Preachers This they might learne of Saint Ambrose S. Ambr. in eph c. 4. v. 11. S. Cypr. ep 4. l. 4. ep 5. l. 2. and he of Saint Cyprian Saint Cyprian gives onely a toleration to read unto Celerinus nobly descended yet sayes it will make more for his honour in coelesti praedicatione fieri generosum to be made a Gentleman for his heavenly preaching yet this preaching was but reading And further saith that there is nothing wherein a Confessour magis prosit can more profit his brethren than by reading the Gospel unde Martyres fiunt whereby Confessours are made Martyrs This was the doctrine of Origen before him Orig. hom 10. in Gen. Reading then is preaching nay heavenly preaching and there is nothing more profitable for the Church nor more powerfull to make the most perfect men of God of all other even to make Martyrs What shall we thinke then of T. C. and such as he hath seduced that traduce Readers for dumb dogs blinde guides empty feeders and say that reading is so farre from making the man of God perfect that rather the quite contrary may be confirmed Whether doe you not thinke that this blessed Archbishop and Martyr and these holy and learned Bishops would not sharpely have censured the broachers of such doctrine within their Diocesses or will you condemne them their doctrine and Canons to deifie T.C. For my part qui Bavium non odit amet tua Carmina Maevi he that detesteth not the Father of such Schismatickes with their Brood I wish him no worse but that he may fall so farre in love with the pure zeale of those wandring Danites their refined brethren led by such guides that they may beleeve their spies and follow them per mare per terras into new Laish to dwell in a Land of their owne Cottons Sermon and to goe no more out but make themselves happy without corrivalls under an Ephod and Priest of Micha's owne making And surely if they did beleeve their owne doctrines and would be honest and true to their owne positions I cannot see how they should stay here longer than for a good wind The government of our Church they say is Babylonish while they stay here they are in the midst of Babylon therefore the rites of Babylon they will not use and there is no reason that they should Why then doth not that loud cry awaken their consciences that calls them out hence Come out of her my people that you be not partaker in her plagues How doe they thinke that any man should trust them that are so false to their owne friends their own followers their owne faith and doctrine and will forsake them all and with Demas embrace this present world in the midst of Babylon with so great hazzard of the plagues of Babylon Doubtlesse these Church Schismatickes are the most grosse nay the most transparent Hypocrites and most void of conscience of all others They will take the benefit of the Church but abjure the doctrine and discipline of the Church These are whorish and Babylonish But tythe milke is not whorish if it be not mingled with water nor a tithe sheafe Babylonish till it be as big as great Babylon it selfe Is not this ridiculous hypocrisie If their stomackes be so queazie to rise against these things because their pure nostrill resenteth the dip of the Popes foot in them let them begin to abandon the Pope in that which he hath by Canons and Bulls allowed viz. in tiths and offrings and not in that which he never allowed in our Booke of Common Prayer wherein is set downe the onely direction we have for keeping the Lords day in such godly duties as the text specifieth If their condemnation or want of the Popes confirmation of that holy booke were of power to hang a mill-stone about it and to cast it into the bottome of the sea of their abominations we might lie downe in sorrow and cry our last Ichabod the glorie is departed from Israel And they might with the voice of melody sing and say With great wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister and have prevailed to make her a very Babylon and to cause her to sit in the dust and never to rise any more But praised be the Lord whose day we wil ever keep and not their Sabbath that hath delivered us as a prey out of their teeth I will now conclude this point We see that breaking of bread and preaching in such sort as hath beene explained are the holy exercises used by St. Paul and his Disciples and by the holy Martyrs and godly Fathers in the Primitive Church for the observation of the Lords day From hence then we may conclude who are profaners of that most holy day not those that use harmlesse recreations or do some small usefull chare or perhaps take a nap on the Lords day But those that do these with Eutichus when Paul is preaching or as St. Austine saies caeteris ad Ecclesiam
solemne service of God because our Redeemer arose on that day and therefore it is called ever since dies Dominicus the Lords day ex illo caepit habere festivitatem and from the very Apostles time and from their constitution it began to be kept as a festivall day A festivall day what meane you by that Why à sanctis patribus constitutum mandatum saies the same Father it is a constitution and command received from our holy Fathers S. Aug serm 251. de temp that men should leave all worldly businesse on Saints daves maximè diebus Dominicis and especially on the Lords day that they may betake themselves wholly to the Lords service The first day of the week then is the Lords day appointed to be kept as a holy feast for the Lords service by the Apostles themselves in their owne time And this day which the Apostles call the Lords day S. Justin ora◠ad Anton St. Justine Martyr an Apostolike man calls Sunday Solis autem die communiter omnes conventum agimus ad preces supplicationes on Sunday we all meet together to prayers and supplications because that is primus dies the first day on which our Saviour arose For he was crucified pridiè Saturni diei the day before Saturday and the next day after Saturday qui sc Solis est dies which is Sunday Apostolis Discipulis suis apparuit he appeared to his Apostles and Disciples And hereupon his Apostles and Disciples thought fit to appoint and command this day to be kept holy The Lords day then is by the Apostles so called and by this Apostolike man named Sunday and may fitly so be called because saies Saint Ambrose in eo ortus Sol justitiae illuminat S. Amb ser 61. the Sun of righteousnesse then arose that enlightneth every one of us The first day of the weeke then is the Lords day and Sunday And the Lords day was by the Apostles themselves in their owne time appointed for holy assemblies to meet on as on a feast day dedicated to the Lords service And so hath that day beene called and used ever since in the true Catholike Church of God for 1554. yeares together without interruption both in the Greeke and Latine Church What shall we thinke then of Knox and Whittingham Troubles at 〈◊〉 pag. 30. and their fellowes that in their letter to Calvin depart from the constitution ordinance and practice of the Apostles and Apostolike men and call not this day the Lords day or Sunday but with the pietie of Jeroboam make such a day of it as they have devised in their owne hearts to serve their owne turne and anabaptizing of it after the mind of some Jew hired to be the god-father thereof call it the Sabbath and so disguised with that name become both the first that so called it and the Testators that have so bequeathed it to their Disciples and Proselites to be observed accordingly It was full thirtie yeares before their children could turne their tongues from Sunday to hit on Sabbath and if the Gileadites that met with the Ephraimites before they could frame to pronounce Shibboleth had snapt these too before they had got their Sabbath by the end their counsell had brought much peace to the Church For this name Sabbath is not a bare name like a spot in their foreheads to know Labans sheepe from Jacobs but indeed it is a mysterie of iniquitie intended against the Church For allow them but their Sabbath and you must allow them the service that belongs to their Sabbath Then must you have no Letanie for that is no service for their Sabbath containing suffrages devised by Pope Gregory but for Sundayes nay Troubles at Frankf pag. 30. for Wednesdayes and Fridayes which must not so be used for sixe dayes thou must labour nay you must have no part of the Service in the Communion booke used for that is Service also for holy dayes Welph detemp◠l. 2. c. 4. which are abominated as idolatricall being dedicated to Saints Well then the Sabbath must be yeelded them otherwise there will be no day left for God to be served on What Service then must you allow them for their Sabbath Why nothing but preaching How shall that be knowne Why out of their owne mouthes Thus soone after the Conventicle in London in 84. about the 31th yeare of the Sabbaths nativitie writeth one of them in his letter to some Superintendent amongst them to whom he gives an account of his Sabbaths exercise Ego singulis Sabbath is si non alius adveniens locum suppleat cum praescriptà Leiturgeias formulâ nihil habens commercit in caetu concionem habeo idque reverendorum fratrum consilio I preach every Sabbath in the congregation having nothing at all to doe with the order prescribed in the booke of Common Prayer and this he does not of his owne head but by the counsell of the reverend brethren delivered doubtlesse in that late Synode Now you see the Common Prayer booke which the Kings Majesties authority in causes Ecclesiasticall with the Convocation house have appointed and the Parliament the reunto assented is clean cast out of their Sabbath and no service allowed or used but preaching Marvaile not then at the casting out of lawfull sports their zeale could and did dispence with them well enough for a long time together as they of Genevah and the Low-countries even sitting the Synode of Dort did and still doe But the plot with us will not beare them for they must gaine elbow roome for their Sabbaths exercise or preaching falsely so called being for the most part as their hearers will justifie but violent discourses and personall invectives against the present State and settled lawes of the Land with the Governours thereby to get themselves magnified for the great power of God with Simon that having cryed downe all Lawes Ecclesiasticall and Temporall too in time that sute not with their Sabbath doctrine they may be able making their reliance on their inveigled thousands whereof they bragge to put their hands to their mouthes Mar. ju epiles and to say with him in the story Petition to his Majestie in 1603. Richard 2◠Behold the fountaine from whence all lawes for governement of Church and Common wealth must shortly spring You see then what the plot was that bred and still keepes the name of Sabbath on foot that if St. John or the Apostles that first called and appointed the Lords day should come amongst them and happen to call it the Lords day they would quickly finde him to be none of their Tribe nor for their turne being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without his watch word of the Sabbath But if Justin that blessed Martyr should be so profane as to call it Sunday he would be in danger under their discipline to be martyred the second time for not adoring their idoll Sabbath as he was under Antonius for not worshipping Jupiter
pergentibus S Aug. Ser. de tem 251. when others goe to Church or in such sort that publicum impediunt ministerium as Chemnitius speakes they hinder them from the publicke service of God Chem. de Fest p. 4. Those also are profaners of the Lords day as Origen saies qui sacris lectionibus terga vertunt Orig. hom 11. in Jer. that make base account of Scripture read and such as Saint Cyrill sayes that will not Ecclesiastico officio interesse S. Cyril in Je l. 8. c. 5. come to Church till Service be ended and the Sermon to begin and such as St. Austine sayes that cogunt Sacerdotem ut abbreviet missam make the Priest to curtaile divine Service S. Aug. Ser. de tem 251. aut ut ad eorum libitum cantet or sing or say it after their fancy not antiphonatim the Priest one verse and the people another which factious disposition St. Basil reproves in some Clergie men of Neocaesarea S. Basil ep 45◠that being against the practice of the universall Church continued from Ignatius who was directed thereunto by an Angell as Socrates affirmeth Those yet are worse profaners of the Lords day Socrat. l. 6. c. 8. that will not reade the Letanie on it for excitavit Diabolus saies St. Chrysostome in plaine termes the Divell himselfe and no body else S. Chrys Ser. antequam iret in exil Bed his l. 1. c. 25. hath stirred up those that make brabbles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 about the Letanie to bring it into contempt which was the meanes of the first conversion of our English Nation Trypho the Jew alledgeth Isa 58.13 to prove Justin Martyr a breaker of the Sabbath who tells him that the Prophet I say requireth no more than was before commanded by Moses in the law S. Just in Tryph. Tom. 2. whereunto he had given his answer This very place of Scripture our zealous Sabbatarians his issue borrow of that Jew and use as a sword to cut off all sports and recreations on their Sabbath with all other actions of our owne because we are forbidden to doe our owne will or to speake our owne words or vaine words on the Sabbath But let them beware that with Saul they fall not upon their owne sword For I pray you deale clearely and say whether those that will neither preach pray catechise administer the Sacraments nor performe any part of divine Service as Gods Magistrate appoints doe not their owne wills His I am sure they doe not And when they make new glosses and expositions of Scripture never received in the Church of God nor delivered by any ancient Father whom by Canon they are bound to follow and call the Lords day a Sabbath Lib. Can. An. 1571. Can. 19. whether they doe not speake their owne words And when they use vaine repetitions and babling in their prayers and preaching saying Lord Lord oftener in one prayer than there are words in all the Lords prayer doe not use vaine words and take the Lords name in vaine and be not punctually those whom our Saviour reproves by Saint Marke cap. 7. ver 7. In vanum me colunt they honour me with vaine words vaine glosses and expositions vaine babling and repetitions crying Lord Lord and all in vaine for they doe not the thing that I say For I say when you pray say Our Father c. and thus you will not doe but will pray an houre together before a Sermon yet though Christ and his Church command them to say it they will not doe it He that can say Corban and cry up the Sabbath the Sabbath it is a sufficient Supersedeas it is duty and piety enough though he neither honour Father nor Mother Christ nor the King his Vicegerent nor the Church his Spouse Let those then that are so violent against such as recreate themselves civilly and modestly in such wise as Gods Magistrate doth allow to prove them Sabbath breakers which is no sin at all look they be not found such as with an high hand and stiffe neck profane the Lords day in despite of Authority and so adde drunkennesse to thirst namely to their open profanation rebellion or disobedience which is as the sinne of witchcraft From which leprosie washing seven times in Jordan will not cleanse them unlesse they can prove Gods Magistrate Nebuchodonosor and themselves the three children Sure I am their disobedient and scornfull contempt of our Church Liturgie is to many godly and learned men farre their Superiours in these respects very scandalous and may drive many that reverence antiquity with us and for that cause stand well affected to our Church to withdraw themselves from us That it is not to be wondred at if Recusants should increase but rather it is a wonder that there are no more For how can any man of judgement and discretion like that Liturgie and forme of divine Service which our selves they say contemne scorne mangle and misuse as we list and some reject utterly as unlawfull and Antichristian Doe we tell them it is poison and doe they see us cast it out of our hands and doe we wonder that they will not run and take it up and eat it or that they refuse the use of it as we doe or rather forbeare the Church till it be used They will use no Crosse forsooth nor Surplice meet no coarse at the Church gate Church no women read no Service on Wednesdayes Fridayes Saturdayes Holy dayes nor on their Eeves will not stand at the Creed nor Gospel kneele at the Communion nor bowe the knee at the blessed name of the Lord JESUS nor goe in procession or keep their perambulations nor doe any thing at all as the Church appoints yet the worst is they would be esteemed members nay pillars of the Church whereas indeed they are neither the one nor the other but a disease a fretting canker a dangerous faction in the Church They are wandring starres and disasterous planets who have and doe blast the most flourishing and glorious Church under the cope of Heaven were it not that these withered branches doe appeare her onely spots of disgrace And because they are such hence it is that the Church for her owne safety is faine to renounce all defence of them and their doctrines against the Romanists Therefore she ought not in right to be upbraided or deserted for any thing they say or doe The Church knoweth and every member thereof of seeth that this generation had eaten out her bowels long since like Vipers and become her destruction but that by Gods providence they have as sufficiently discovered their malicious projects to be bent alike for the casting downe of Crownes and Scepters and lawes of the Land and the Professours thereof as for the trampling under their feet of Miters and corner'd Caps Bishops and such as exercise jurisdiction under them together with our Booke of Common Prayer and Canons Ecclesiasticall Therefore the Church hath little cause to honour them as her children with her defence before they will be brought to honour her and her orders nay to honour the Lord and his day in breaking of bread and preaching in such sort as shee hath learned of St. Paul and delivered in the Booke of Common Prayer And