SUNDAY A SABBATH OR A Preparative Discourse for discussion of Sabbatary doubts By JOHN LEY Pastor of Great Budworth in Cheshire There remaineth therefore a Rest to the people of God Hebr. 4.4 Nos octava die quae ipsa prima est perfecti Sabbati festivitate laetamur Hilar. Prolog in Psalm pag. 335. LONDON Printed by R. Young for George Lathum at the signe of the Bishops Head in Pauls Church-yard 1641. TO The most reverend Father in God JAMES by the grace of God Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of all Ireland Most reverend Father in God and besides the ceremony of your stile really my very gracious Lord IT is become a formality of the times to enter bookes into the world under great names and to make them seeme greater then they be by studied straines of excessive commendation whereby many times they raise the Readers fancy much higher then his faith and while they advance their Patrons praise farre above all beliefe they depresse their owne reputations below a charitable hope and so make many instead of reading on when they have begun as it were with one foot on the threshold first to stop and then to step backe lest their entertainment in the second course should be answerable to the first their deceitfull flourishes in the dedication promising little sincerity in the ensuing discourse I have no cause to feare it will be my ill hap to take such handsale of any judicious and pious peruser of these papers while I doe but tell not you my Lord for it is already upon evident record whereof your owne great reading gives you intelligence at the first hand but others how you are valued by such as are best able to judge and seeme to have least of the Bias of advantagious interests or partiall affections to wry their censures from the streight line of truth to the crooked brace of a favourable falshood which I would have them know not so much for your honour as for their owne good that in the fulnesse of such an example as your Grace's others especially of our Tribe and most of all those of your own orbe may find both the discovery of their own defects and inducements to diligence in following so faire a patterne for their further proficiency Of many who have writtâ—n what your modesty will not acknowledge I will take up with the testimonie of three onely The first shall bee learned Master Selden a man of that profession which by some is held too emulous of the credit of the Clergy and who hath taken much paines against their profit in his history of Tythes he notwithstanding hath the most reverend Archbishop of Armagh in that esteeme that he holds him a Reverendissimus Antistes Jacobus Usserius Archiepisâ—opus Armachanus vir summâ pietate judicio singulari usque ad miraculum doctus Selden Marmora Aruâ—… deliana in editionis ansa p. 8. sine p. 9. princip A Prelate of exceeding great piety of singular judgement and of so much learning as is no lesse then miraculous The second shall bee b Ea certè pietatis tuae eruditionis apud nos est existimatio ut Usserii nomen pietatis nobis virtutis nomen sit quibus fama constans frequenter ingerit tot ingentes dotes quibus te Deus instruxit Frederic Spanhem epist Dedicator praefix 3. parâ—i dubiorum Evangelicoâ—um excus Genev. an 1639. Fredericus Spanhemius Pastor of the Church and Professor of Divinity in the University of Geneva a man who by his bookes of Evangelicall doubts hath given undoubted evidence of his Abilities both for the Pulpit of the one and the Chaire of the other and hee from Geneva writes thus Your piety and learning is of that accompt among us that the name of Usher to us is a name of piety and ″ So said Greg. Nazianz of Athanas A 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greg. Naz. orat 21. tom 1. p. 373. vertue constant and continuall fame ringing in our eares the many and great gifts wherewith the Lord hath endowed you And because piety is the Principall and therefore Master Selden did well to assigne it the first place in his Elogium he remembers it againe c Summa cum laude voce ac calamo plus tamen exemplo doces c. Seld. You teach saith he to your great praise by your tongue and by your pen but much more by your practice among them who daily look upon your life and observe the uprightnesse and integrity of your manners And d Vident in te non anxiam non affectatam pietatem sed gravem seriam quae in illum solum fertur cui soli debetur vident raram humilitatem per quam à fastigio tuo descendis nec quicquam infra tuam dignitatem existimas quod ad promovendum regnum Deâ— facit Ibid. Your serious and unaffected piety which is directed only towards God to whom alone of duty it belongeth and withall this they see that which makes these graces the more shining and more sure your rare humility whereby you descend from your height of dignity and desert and condescend to men of low estate Rom. 12.16 thinking nothing too meane for the eminence of your place which may any way conduce to advance the Kingdome of God Whence hee takes occasion e Publicè profiteor quanta Genevae nostrae nominis tui sit claritudo quantus apud nostrates honor Ibid. publickly to professe how glorious a name you have how great honour in the City of Geneva The third witnesse and that I may not turne your candor into another colour the last I will produce who gives ample attestation to your great worth is the late Author of an Epistle published principally against Bishop Halls tenet of Episcopacy by divine right under the borrowed name of Iraeneus Philadelphus who in the first page of his supplement of things omitted having left you out where hee names other Bishops with respect makes you amends with this honourable mention f Segrego etiam à choro Episcoporum Romanensium Jacobum Usserium Archiepiscopum Armachanum rarum non solum magnae Brittaniae Hiberniae sed universi Christiani Orbis ornamentum in quem quicquid superiori saeculo clara lumina Cranmerus Latimerus Hooperus Juellus habuerunt pietatis zeli suavitatis moram sanctitatis vitae doctrinae atque reconditae eruditionis videtur quasi soedere facto concurrisse Omiss fol. 1. post pag. 76. epist Iraenei Philadelph I except saith hee from the company of Romanizing Bishops James Usher Archbishop of Armagh a grace or ornament not onely of great Brittain and Ireland but of the whole Christian world in whom all the piety and sanctity of life all the zeale and sweetnesse of disposition and the learning the hidden learning hidden from the knowledge of other learned men of those famous lights of the former age Cranmer Latimer Hooper Jewell are met as it were
restlesse turbulencie of sinne for that is a very troublesome evill the sinne of Simeon and Levi troubled Jacob Gen. 34.30 the sinne of Jonas troubled the aire and the sea and made it restlesse untill hee was offered up as a sacrifice to becalme it and The wicked saith Isaiah are like the troubled sea whose waves cast up mire and dirt Esa 57.20 and though the godly having lesse sinne have thereby the more rest yet to them it is a very troublesome and toylesome evill which will not suffer them to sleepe Davids teares are eye-witnesses hereof Psal 6.6 and for a more solide assurance of this truth hee bringeth in his bones to give testimony to it I finde no rest in my bones saith hee by reason of my sin Psal 38.3 The third acception of the name Sabbath but adding it to the former the sixth is that which the Apostle useth Heb. 4.9 the word in the originall is not Sabbatum but Sabbatismos but the termination troubles not the rest of the former part of the word and therefore our best Bibles render it as if it had beene the word Sabbatum by our English word Rest and this is the best Sabbath or Rest of all others wherein the Elect shall wholly cease from sinne and labour and it is that eternall Sabbath whereof the externall or temporall Sabbath was a Type in respect of the time of it as the Tabernacle or Temple was a Type for the place to the kingdome of Heaven where it shall bee enjoyned CHAP. XII Whether the day called Lords day or Sunday may not also be called Sabbath day or the Sabbath The exceptions which are taken up by divers against it THese acceptions premised it will bee the more easie to answer the exceptions which some have taken at the use of the name Sabbath as applyed to the Lords day who would have that name under so rigorous an arrest at the sute of Saturday that it may not stirre one step to the day next unto it and so wee may not by their leave call the Lords day the Sabbath day Of this minde are some of the greatest friends of the Lords day as well as they that as enemies oppose the divine authority of it for a D. bound l. 1. de Sab. p. 110. Doctor Bound a man sincerely devoted to the doctrine and duties of the fourth Commandement saith The name of the Sabbath was changed into the name of the Lords day which must bee retained and if the old name bee to bee changed and the new must be retained then the old name must bee taken to bee abolished at least to bee prohibited as to the day now solemnely observed and generally received And b M. Brerew repl p. 73. 74 Master Brerewood an opponent against divers points of Doctor Bound his Booke of the Sabbath in his Reply to Mr. Byfields Answer saith The name of the Sabbath remained appropriated to the old Sabbath and was never attributed to the Lords day for many hundreds of yeers after our Savious time none of the Apostles nor of the ancient Christians for many hundreds of yeers after them ever intituled it by the name of Sabbath and since him c Bish white treat of the Sab. pag. 134 135. Bishop White hath written Wee Christians keep a weekly holiday namely Sunday which with the holy Apostle Revel 1.10 wee stile the Lords day not the Sabbath day d D. Heyl. Hist Sab. part 2. c. 8. pag. 255. Doctor Heylin in his History of the Sabbath having objected against some an intent to cry downe holidayes as superstitious and Popish ordinances mentioneth as in scorne their new found Sabbath and Sabbath now saith he it must be called And the Translator of e The Transl of D ◠Prid. his Lect. on the Sab. Praef. pag. ult edit 2. Doctor Prideaux his Lecture of the Sabbath in his Preface before it bringeth in Barkley a Papist with a notable Dilemma as hee calleth it the better to encounter those who still retaine the name of the Sabbath What is the cause saith hee that many of our sectaries call this day meaning the Christians weekely holiday by the name Sabbath If they must observe it because God rested on that day then they ought to keepe that day whereon God rested and not the first as now they doe whereon the Lord began his labour If they observe it as the day of our Saviours Resurrection why doe they call it still the Sabbath seeing especially that Christ did not altogether rest but valiantly overcame the powers of death His question God willing shall bee answered anon as yet wee are to note onely his disallowing of the name as applyed to the Lords day which wee may observe also in f M. Dowe in his Discourse pag. 4. 19. Master Dowe his late Discourse of the Sabbath or Lords day and in g Mr. Ironside quest 3. cap. 12 13. Master Ironside his seven questions concerning the Sabbath h Mr. Broad his MS. of the Sab. part 2. cap. 2. p. 26. propè sin Master Broad forbiddeth Preachers in their Sermons to say Remember the Sabbath day to sanctifie it and would have them in stead thereof to say Remember to sanctifie the Lords day for the Lords day saith hee may bee called no more Sabbath then the Sabbath may bee called Lords day If as much it will bee enough as shall be shewed afterward But Master Braburne as hee misliketh that the Lords day should lord it over the Jewish Sabbath more then any so he cavilleth more at the calling of it by the name of the Sabbath lest under that name it should take up some authority from the fourth Commandement Hee beginneth his Discourse which is his former Book against it thus i Mr. Braburns Discourse of the Sab. p. 1. Bee pleased Christian Reader first of all to note that wee now adayes apply the name Sabbath to the Lords day promiscuously and without difference now thus to confound two proper names of dayes is as if wee should call Sunday Saturday and Saturday Sunday And to restraine the name Sabbath to the old day of the Jewes which hee pleads for hee would have the words of the Commandement rendred thus k Ibid. pag. 7. pag. 68. Remember the Saturdayes Rest to keepe it holy from which saith l Ibid. p. 200. hee the name Sabbath cannot bee separated And in his other Booke which hee wrote in defence of the former hee saith m M. Brab Defence p. 164. edit 2. That it is an errour of our Ministers to call the Lords day or the first day of the weeke by the name of Sabbath and a n Ibid p. 164. 626. meere fiction since none of the Apostles ever called it so nor is it any where so named in the Scripture hee addeth that o Ib. pag. 52. by calling the Lords day by the name of Sabbath they have robbed the Sabbath of its honourable ornaments that
therewith they might deck and trim up the Lords day p Ibid. which is as if one should take the crowne off the head of a King and set it upon a common subject q Ibid. pag. 35. for Saturday saith hee is a King or Mistresse to the Lords day Hee had spoken with more congruity to himselfe though not unto the truth if hee had kept to his gender and called it a King and Master or a Queene and Mistresse hee objecteth further r Ibid. p. 50. that wee may as well call Å¿ Ibid. Baptisme Circumcision and the Lords Supper the Passeover and t Ibid. p. 494. that when the Minister saith Remember to sanctifie the Sabbath day to take it for the Lords day and so to say Lord have mercy upon us c. is to make answer as deafe men doe who when a man calleth for a knife doe bring him a sheath The resolution at which hee would have his reasons and exceptions arrive is this Let mee saith he for conclusion exhort Minister and people to refraine putting the name Sabbath day on the Lords day and let them take with it u Ib. p. 54 55. that they must with forbearance of the name Sabbath day refraine the use of the fourth Commandement for these goe unseparably together Where wee may see in him as in others that of Bishop Andrewes made good of shewing ill will to the thing by carping at the name as before wee have noted for Mr. Braburne and wee may say the like of some others knowing the right and title claimed for the Lords day by the fourth Commandement to bee kept a foote by the title Sabbath first fettereth it to the Jewish weekly holiday by affixing the word Saturday unto it not daring to trust it alone lest being left loose it should bee ready for use as an appellation of the Lords day Much like the Papists who pinion the name Catholick with the addition of Romane that so they might keepe it captive to their owne side and by it as by a lock or bolt might let in or keep out of the Church as please themselves But the most severe Censurer of the name Sabbath as applyed to the Lords day is the Authour of the Book called Altare Christianum wherein speaking of him who wrote the Letter to the Vicar of Grantham hee saith ″ D. Pockl. his book called Altare Christianum cap. 22. p. 130. Hee had shewed himselfe more like a sonne of the Church if he had said that the name Sabbath had crept into the Church in a kinde of complying in phrase with the people of the Jewes and that in a shadow of things to come as if Christ were not come in the flesh against the Apostles expresse doctrine and charge Colos 2. and from hence would have sought to have cast that old leaven out of our Church which hath sowred the affections of too many toward the Church and disturbed the peace and hindred the pious devotion thereof This is enough and bad enough yet hee saith more and worse in his Sermon preached at the Visitation of the Bishop of Lincolne Aug. 7. 1635. wherein hee visiteth with the rod those that call the Lords day Sabbath day and with it giveth such sharp jerks as these x D. Poâ—kl Visitation Serm. called Sunday nâ— Sabbath pag. 6. What shall wee thinke of Knox Whittingham and their fellowes anabaptizing the Lords day or Sunday after the minde of some Jew hired to bee Godfather thereof who call it Sabbath and doe disguise it with that name and who were the first that so called it and the Testators who have so bequeathed it to their Disciples and Proselites y D. Pockl. Ib. pag. 6 7. It was saith he thirty yeers before their children could turne their tongues to hit on Sabbath and if the Gileadites that met with the Ephraemites before they could frame to pronounce Shibboleth had snapt up these two before they had got their Sabbath by the end their counsell had brought much peace to the Church For this name Sabbath saith hee is not a bare name like a spot in the forehead to know Labans sheepe from Jacobs but it is a mystery of iniquity intended against the Church and the mystery as hee reveales it is to shut out the Letanie and all the Service of the Communion Book for that is no Service for their Sabbath but for Sunday z Ibid. p. 19. Item they must make a Sabbath of Sunday to keepe up that name otherwise their many citations of Scripture mentioning onely the Sabbath being applyed to Sunday will appeare so ridiculously distorted and wry neck'd that they will be a scorne and derision to the simplest of their now deluded Auditors a Ibid. p. 20. Others saith hee againe for the plot 's sake must uphold the name Sabbath that stalking behinde it they may shoote at the Service appointed for the Lords day Yet further hee maketh the name of the Sabbath as on the face of the Lords day to bee as an ugly vizzard which doth as well become it as the crowne b Ibid. of thornes did the Lord himselfe this was platted saith hee to expose him to damnable derision and that was plotted to impose on it detestable superstition Yet to die for it saith hee they will call it Sabbath presuming in their zealous ignorance or guilefull zeale to bee thought to speake the Scripture phrase when indeed the dregs of Ashdod flow from their mouthes for that day which they nickname Sabbath is either no day at all or not the day they meane Thus farre hee who that his ill will to this word Sabbath as applyed to our Sunday might appeare in every page the Title throughout his Booke is Sunday no Sabbath CHAP. XIII Reasons why Sunday or the Lords day may be called Sabbath day delivered and defended BUt on the contrary if impetuous passion may bee so husht that religious reason may be heard wee shall shew cause sufficient to take up an Antititle to that of Doctor Pocklington his Sermon and to say Sunday a Sabbath and that upon such evidence both rationall and exemplary as without cavilling as I conceive cannot bee contradicted and first for Reason First The name a Joseph Ant. l. 1. c. 2. pag. 3. and in his first Book against Appion p. 783. Isidor etymolog l. 6. c. 18. fol. 32. p. 2. col 2. and all Hebrew Lexicons Sabbath signifieth rest reason 1 rest from the accustomed labours of the weeke But the Sunday is a day of rest wherein men are restrained from their wonted workes and ought to rest saith b B. White his Treat on the Sabb. pag. 152 153 158. Bishop white and to give themselves to religious exercises Therefore the Sunday may bee called a Sabbath For when the thing is acknowledged why should the word by which it is most fitly signified bee denyed And when the thing is denyed as rest on the Saturday by us
loquamur meliùs est ut reprehendant nos Grammatici quam non intelligant populi August enarrat in Psal 138. tom 8. part 2. p. 871 872. S. Augustine when he said e Ib. in Psal 36. part 1. p. 358. ossum for os and foenerat for foeneratur as being desirous rather that Grammarians should reprehend him then that the people should not understand him and among us many learned men use to say with the vulgar f The words Chirurgus and Apostema are so englished by Cooper in his Dictionary Surgeon for Chirurgeon and Impostume for Aposteme and there bee many more words of this sort But for the name Sabbath there being such sufficient reasons to set it as a title upon the Lords day when the more judicious make use of it in that sense they may well bee conceived to doe it not as complying with the erroneous dialect of the common sort but as guided to it by reason as well as by use And for such as have so taken it or the conjugate to it which is the same in sense wee may mention divers of eminent place both of ancient and of later times as first Ignatius the Disciple of Saint John the Evangelist who having spoken against the manner of the Jewes spending their Sabbath in sensuall jollity excessive feasting dancing and other revelling g 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ignat ep ad Magnes pag. 57. adviseth Christians every one of them to sabbatize or keep the Sabbath spiritually that is rather to bestow the time in religious delights then in carnall contentments If any one except and say that hee meaneth this of the Jewish Sabbath day which in his dayes and a good while after was kept holy with the Lords day wee may thence inferre that if Ignatius could brook the observation of Saturdayes rest without any feare of Judaisme when that day was to give up to the Lords day the holinesse and honour of a weekely holiday which necessarily requireth both Rest and Religion hee would not have made scruple to call it the Sabbath h 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. as it is fore-cited cap. 13. lit ◠Athanasius hath a sentence from whence wee may derive the like inference for his opinion of the name Sabbath with reference to the Lords day The Lord hath changed the Sabbath day saith he into the Lords day Whereof saith i D◠Twisse in a MS. of the Sabbath a learned Doctor of our Church what can be the meaning but that the Lord himselfe hath now in these times of grace made the Lords day to become our Christian Sabbath So that upon the change the Saturday is not what before it was a day of rest but the Lords is so as before it was not And if the holy rest of Saturday bee translated to the Lords day shall not the name that is answerable to the nature of it passe along with it If more expresse and formall Testimonies be expected for these are but implyed and vertuall evidences wee finde k Origen in Numb cap. 28. Hom 23. tom 1. pag. 259. Origen in his three and twentieth Homily upon the book of Numbers expresly applying the name Sabbath to the day set apart for Evangelicall devotion Ob. l Dr. Pockling Sunday no Sab. pag. 16. But it will be said he addeth the word Christian to it calling it not simply Sabbath but the Christian Sabbath Ans Let them allow of the name Sabbath and wee will not stick with them for the title Christian if for distinction sake and to prevent misprision there bee any reason to make that addition but where the word will bee readily referred to the right day without another to explaine or restraine it it is needelesse to adde it Ob. Here Doctor Pocklington to extenuate this Testimonie saith m Dr. Pockl. Sunday no Sab. pag. 19. That Origen his Christian Sabbath is not kept on Sunday onely but every day in the weeke he meaneth I suppose according to the conceipt of divers of the Ancients a Sabbath consisting in cessation from sinne and sanctity of life Christ saith hee out of Origen is our Christian Sabbath and hee that lives in Christ rests from evill works and worketh uncessantly the works of Justice Answ This is no contradiction to that wee have said but a concession of much more then wee demand Christ himselfe saith Doctor Pocklington and every day in regard of the holy life of a Christian might be called a Sabbath If so the Lords day which was ordained and must bee observed with more generall and solemne holinesse and with more rest and cessation from worldly affaires for holinesse sake might much more bee called a Sabbath In the Latin Fathers the name Sabbath in this sense may also bee observed I will give some instances as in n Nos octava die quae ipsa prima est perfecti Sabbati festivitate laetamur Hilar. Prolog in Psal oper p. 335. Hilary Upon the eighth day which is also the first day saith he we rejoyce in the festivity of a perfect Sabbath Whereby we are to understand not an every dayes Sabbath in forbearance of sinne but an especiall sabbatizing above other dayes as in the celebration of the Lords day by cessation from works of the weeke dayes and exercise of religious duties belonging unto it which hee calleth the eighth day though it have a weekly returne in the number of seven because in the first observation counting on beyond the Jewish tale of dayes comming next after their seventh that maketh the eighth To this purpose wee may produce Saint Augustine o Observa diem Sabbati non carnaliter non Judaicls deliciis quae otio abutuntur ad nequitiam August enar in Psal 32. tom 8. part pag. 242. in his enarration upon the 32. Psalme where hee exhorteth to observe the Sabbath day not carnally with Judaicall delights for they abuse their Rest c. And in his p Observa diem Sabbati Magis nobis praecipitur quia spiritualiter observandum praecipitur Judaei enim serviliter observant diem Sabbati ad luxuriam ebrietatem August Tract 3. in Johan 1. tom 9. pag. 30. fourth Tract upon S. John Wee Christians saith he are more strictly commanded to keep the Sabbath then the Jewes for we are to keepe it spiritually they keepe it carnally in luxurie and drunkennesse which in the readiest construction of the words must runne thus Wee Christians are more strictly commanded to keepe not the Saturday Sabbath from which we are discharged Col. 2.16 but our Christian Sabbath then the Jewes keep their Jewish Sabbath If then wee bee commanded to keep a Sabbath wee must have the thing and the thing may have the name that belongeth to it and that name properly is Sabbath There is another allegation for the name Sabbath taken out of the 251. Sermon de tempore in Augustine his name which I forbeare to urge as his because the q B.
Christianae Religionis observantissimus inter alia virtutum suarum praeconia hoc reliquit exemplum sanctimoniae die Dominico c. Albert. Krant metr l. 4. c. 8. p. 106. highly commended by Krantzius but for i Cum die Dominico cogitationibus gravatum cum gereret animum baculumque manibus reneret cultello ut sit scindulas fâ—â—it admonitus ab astante per jocum de violatione Sabbati non leviter in se punivit admissum scindulas collegit diligentissimè manuique suae impositus jussit incendi ut in se ulcisceretur quòd contra divinum praeceptum incautus admisisset Albert. Krantz Metrap lib. 4. cap. 8. pag. 106. our present purpose we are especially to note that that day which Dr. Heylin calleth Sunday was then called the Sabbath Ob. He saith the King was told by way of jest that he had trespassed therein against the Sabbath Ans So it might have been in jest if the party had used another name whether Lords day or Sunday and in using the name Sabbath rather then either of them it is most like that was a name rather of common use then of speciall choice to breake a jest withall l D. Heyl. Hist Sab. part 2. c. 5. pag. 158 159. Hee addeth for the yeere 1120 the time of Rupertus an observation of one Petrus Alphonsus calling the Lords day the Sabbath of the Christians but saith hee he meant none otherwise then the feast of Easter is called the Christian Passeover for which hee bringeth nothing out of that Authour that may bee a just ground for such a glosse And on the contrary it may be said that there is a Sabbath or Rest according to the letter confessed in the observation of the Lords day but the word Passcover was figurative even to the Jewes after their comming out of the Land of Egypt much more is it so to Christians since the comming of Christ Besides hee bringeth in one John de Burie Chancellor of the University of Cambridge about the later end of the reigne of King Henry the eighth assirming That every day designed to divine service might be called Sabbath which seemeth also to be the judgement of Bernard who expounds the fourth Commandement thus m Observa diem Sabbati quod est in sacris feriis te exeâ—ce quatenus per requiem praesentem discas sperare aeternam Bern. super salv Regina Serm. 4. col 1744. Observe the Sabbath that is Exercise thy selfe upon the holidayes that by present rest thou mayest learne to hope for rest eternall If so much more may the Lords day be called Sabbath which hath the preheminence of other dayes as the old Sabbath had every weeke throughout the yeere and not onely once a yeere as Easter and other holidayes which have in an anniversary revolution one turne and no more We need say no more then this to confute the fond and new found conceipt of Doctor Pockl. concerning the novelty of the name Sabbath wherein also n D. Heyl Hist Sab. part 2. c. 8. pag. 269. Dr. Heylins negative observation That a Sabbath day was not heard of in the Church of Christ forty yeeres agoe is disproved for a day of cessation from worldly works for religious duties which indeed is a Sabbath hath been in use in the Christian Church in every age since our Saviour ascended and the name Sabbath hath been often and answerably applyed to the thing as hath been shewed And if the Doctor said right touching the late time of the Sabbath and made a true returne by his ″ Search we did with all care and dil gence to see if we could find a Sabbath in any evidence of Scripture or Writings of the holy Fathers or edicts of Emperours or decrees of Councels or finaliy in any one of the publick acts and monumeÌ„ts of the christiaÌ„ Churcl but after severall searches made upon the aâ—ias and the pluries wee still â—eturne non est inventus So in the second page of his Epist to the Reader before the second part of his Hist of the Sabbath non est inventus for the fore going ages hee gave a wrong Title to the second part of his History when he called it The History of the Sabbath from the first preaching of the Gospel to these present times for if there were no Sabbath day heard of from the beginning of the Gospel untill forty yeers since he should rather have called it for that time the History of no Sabbath And albeit it be as strange to write an History de non ente or of a meer nullity as it is untrue that there was no Sabbath all that while yet such a Title had beene though more contradictory to the truth more correspondent to his owne tenet which with greater desire and more diligent endeavour hee striveth to defend yet haply as the truth in his conceipt and so without any contestation against his owne conscience I will yet think so charitably of him and if hee had done so by others it had been better both for them and him CHAP. XV. Royall and reverend Authority for putting the name Sabbath upon Sunday whereby it is cleared from schisme as well as from novelty THat it is no novelty to call the Lords day or Sunday by the name Sabbath wee have proved in the precedent Chapter by sundry Testimonies all of them of much ancienter date then the yeer 1554. designed by Dr. Pockl. for the first use of the word in that sense And for the time since which is long enough to gain allowance to a word especially such a one as hath congruity of reason to the thing whereto it is applyed we can name Authority for it sufficient to over sway any thing that he hath said against it and to cleare the use of it from schisme which the same Doctor Pockl. hath objected against it 1. The Book of a Homil. of the time and place of prayer pag. 102.164 twice p. 166. twice The Author of the Dialog betwixt A. and B. reckoneth ten times edit 2. p. 25. Homilies ratified by the Royall Authority of three Princes and by subscription of all the conformable Clergy in their severall reignes calleth the Lords day the Sabbath divers times 2. King James in his b Apud D. bound on the Sab. l. 1. p. 268 269. And D. Heyl. Hist Sab. part 2. p. 257. Proclamation against profane sports dated at Theobalds May 7.1603 giveth to Sunday or the Lords day the name of Sabbath and in his second book of his c K. James Basilic Dor. lib. 2. pag. 164. Basilicon Doron having spoken of the lawfulnesse of recreations hee concludeth with a proviso that the Sabbath bee kept holy and no unlawfull thing done therein 3. 1639. 1. For the Towne of Weedenbeck 2. For John Cheny of Leftwich in Cheshire 3. For Walker in Yoâ—â—shire 1631. 4. For Riddlâ—hurâ—â— of Davâ—nhâ—m in Cheshire 5. For the Towne of Yaxall 6. For William Small of Cletham
1632. 7. For Richard Wood of Haâ—ton 8. For East and West Rebford 9. For Mariners of Hâ—lbâ—iâ— 10. For Amos Bedford a Minister in Lincolne shire 11. For Thomas Wilson of old Whitingham in Cheshire 1633. 12. For Underhill in Shropshire 13. For one Hubie in Yorkeshire 14. For Roger Posterne of Salop. 15. For the Town of Stone in Staffordshire 1634. 16. For Lincolneshire poore 17. For the poore of Haâ—lscot in the County of Salop. 18. For John Jackson of Langer in Nottingham shire 1635. 19. For Port Patricke and Doneghday in Scotland 20. For Broughton of Southampton where the Church Parsonage house and Schoole-house c. were burnt K. Charles our gracious Soveraigne that now is in his Briefes appointing the time for collections under his broad Seale setting downe the day when they shall be made nameth it the Sabbath day wherby it is plaine he meaneth not Saturday but Sunday and so which is directly against Dr. Pockl. his tenet and title that Sunday is a Sabbath The most that I have seen untill the yeer 1636. have directed to our weekely Holiday under the name Sabbath For intimation of the frequencie of that word in the sence wherein wee take it I have made a List of twenty Instances of Briefs for this County of Cheshire within these few yeeres and noted them in the margine not doubting but there have been many more both within it without which have not come to my view And I doubt not when the truth upon impartiall triall hath broken through all clouds of contradiction as certainely it will doe but the name Sabbath will out-shine the name Sunday and be again received into the stile of the Kings Briefes as formerly it hath been 4. The Reverend Bishops of the Land in the d Confer at Hamp Court p. 44 and 45. Conference at Hampton Court as conscious of the lawfull use of the word Sabbath day for Sunday when Doctor Reynolds desired a reformation of the abuse of the Sabbath before his Majesty that late was and themselves gave a generall and unanimous assent thereunto none of them for ought appeareth in the Booke taking exception that hee called the Lords day by that name And howsoever the name of the Lords day bee more usuall in their Ecclesiasticall Courts for our weekely holiday then the name Sabbath day is yet that they condemne not the use of it is plaine by the seventh Canon wherein they prescribe the use of the Register booke upon every Sabbath day In the Latin edition I confesse the words are diebus Dominicis and not Sabbath and there might bee reason for it because in Latine the word might bee more ambiguous that tongue being more generall and reaching haply to such places as yet have both the Saturday and Sunday in honour and use for the exercise of Religion yet had it beene Sabbath in the Latine also it had beene no prejudice but rather an advantage to the truth if withall it had beene understood to bee meant not of the old Sabbath but of the new Besides they meant no doubt by using the name Sabbath in the Canon in English to shew the lawfull use of that word as well as of others by which the same day is signified unto us and if the Latin bee of more authority then the English which in some respects may be so as before hath been observed wee can quote a Latin Booke of good authority for it it is the Book called Reformatio legum Ecclesiasticarum which mentioning the observation of our religious rest doth it under this e Praecipuus Sabbatorum cultus Reform Leg. Eccles fol. 18. b. Title the principall celebration of the Sabbath The high Commissioners of whom the Archbishop of Canterbury is chiefe are in Ecclesiasticall authority next to a publick Synod and of their indifferency for the use of the word Sabbath as well as the word Sunday or Lords day may appeare by the recantation enjoyned by them to John Hethrington wherein hee was to f The Sermon called the White Wolfe by Steph. Denison preached at Pauls Crosse the same day pag. 34. disavow that which formerly hee had delivered viz. that the Sabbath day or Sunday which wee commonly call Lords day since the Apostles time was of no force and that every day is as much a Sabbath day as that which wee call the Sabbath day Lords day or Sunday and in these termes hee was to publish it at Pauls Crosse Febr. 11. 1627. If it bee needfull to add particular testimonies for calling Sunday by the name Sabbath and such scandalous invectives as some have made against it will not suffer it to be superfluous we may note by name divers Reverend Bishops who take the word Sabbath in that sense as to begin with Bishop Latimer whom g D. Pockl. Visit Serm. p. 28 29. Doctor Pocklington brings in expresly with other Bishops unnamed as a godly Prelate and well affected to the godly discipline of the Church and he was besides that a Martyr h B. Latimer he in his Sermon upon the Gospel of a King that marryed his sonne after he hath cited the story of the man stoned for gathering sticks upon the Sabbath day hath these words i Bish Latimer in his Sermon upon the Gospel of a King that married his sonne preached an 1552. as the title sheweth sol 188. p. 1. Which is an example for us to take heed that wee transgresse not the law of the Sabbath day and a little after hee addeth These words pertaine as well to us at this time as they pertained to them in their time for God hateth the dis-hallowing of the Sabbath as well now as then for hee is and still remaineth the old God hee will have us to keepe his Sabbath as well now as then for upon the Sabbath day Gods seede-plow goeth that is to say the ministery of the Word is executed for the ministery of Gods Words is Gods plow In which few lines hee calleth the Lords day Sabbath no fewer then foure times he calleth it Sunday also I confesse but that is nothing to this purpose since the name Sabbath is in question not the name Sunday which we have treated on before and proved to bee lawfull k Archb. Whit. Ans to T. C. p. 578. or 758. Archbishop Whitgift was after him in time though above him in degree and dignity of the Church and he translating a Testimony out of Justin Martyrs Apologie turneth dies solis into the Sabbath day l B. Babington Bish Babington sometimes his Chaplaine was Bishop of Worcester in the late Queenes reign as Bishop Latimer was in King Edwards daies a venerable Prelate and a frequent and famous Preacher and hee useth the same name of the same day * B. Babington in com 4. p. 72. printed 1594. in 4th wee plainely see saith hee what day the Apostles celebrated and met upon having their solemne Assemblies namely on this our Sabbath and it addeth
regnare To these two Reverend Deanes I will add two worthy Doctors who are witnesses to the warrantable application of the word Sabbath to the Sunday and who though neither Bishops nor Deanes have had the reputation and not without desert of very learned and religious men viz. Doctor John White brother to Doctor Fr. White late Bishop of Elie and Doctor Daniel Featly houshold Chaplain to the late ″ Archbish Abbot Archbishop of Canterbury Doctor Joh. White in his answer to the Papists bragging of the holinesse of their Church and upbraiding of our Church for want of holinesse hath among other accusations of their courses these words i D. Joh. White in his way to the true Church §. 38. p. 210. And for mine owne part having spent most of my time among them this I have found that in all excesse of sinnes Papists have been the ring-leaders in royotous companies in drunken meetings in seditious assemblies and practices in profaning the Sabbath c. And againe Papists hold that it is lawfull on the Sabbath day to follow suits travell hunt dance keepe Faires and such like this is that which hath made Papists the most notorious Sabbath breakers that live And Doctor Featly as hee had more occasion to mention the day and the duties thereof so hee more frequently maketh use of the name Sabbath as in his Hand-maid to Devotion wee finde mention of an k Dr. Featly Hand-maid to Devotion in the direction for the use of the book p. 4. hymne and prayer before the Sabbath wherein saith hee the duties of the Sabbath are expressed and in preparation for the receiving of the Sacrament there is a confession in these words l Hand maid to devotion pag. 107. Thou commandest me to keepe holy thy Sabbath and settest an especiall marke of Remembrance upon it yet I have not remembred to put off my ordinary businesse and in the Devotion for the Christian Sabbath the name is m Ib. â— p. 172. ad pag. 200. often used for the day wee celebrate sometimes with the word Christian joyned to it sometimes the name Sabbath is set without it and in his volume of printed Sermons treating on these words Wherefore God hath highly exalted him hee saith n Dr. Featly Serm. which he calleth Lowlinesse exalted pag. 735. If the rest of God from the works of Creation were just cause of sanctifying a perpetuall Sabbath to the memory thereof may not the rest of our Lord from the worke of Redemption more painefull to him and more beneficiall to us challenge the like prerogative of a day to bee hallowed and consecrated unto it shall wee not keepe it as a Sabbath on earth for him which hath procured for us an eternall Sabbath in heaven And a little after hee addeth o Ib. pag. 735 736. The holy Apostles and their successors fixed the Christian Sabbath upon the first day of the weeke to eternize the memory of our Lords Resurrection and speaking of Easter day With what Religion saith p Ib. pag. 736. he is the Christian Sabbath of Sabbaths to be kept I could lengthen this Catalogue for the name Sabbath thus applyed with many more names of those whose sufficiencie and sincerity is such that it would little become them that carpe most at the name Sabbath in this sense to teach them how to speake without corrupting their dialect with the dregs of Ashdod as of q Mr. Hooker Eccles Pol. l. 5 p. 183. 385 M. Mâ—son who wrote of the consecrat of Bishops anno 1613. p. 269. Pet. Ramus de Relig. l. 2. c. 6. Master Hooker with divers others but that will not need especially if wee add unto these that which hath beene confessed or rather complained of by r M. Brab in his Desence p. 626. Master Braburne and Å¿ M. Dowe his discourse p. 4. Master Dowe viz. That the Lords day is usually and vulgarly called and known by the name Sabbath and then there will bee a full answer to Master Ironside his objection which soundeth as if the name Sabbath for the Lords day were a meere mistake of a t Mr. Ironside quest 3. cap. 13. pag. 126. few private persons of late yeeres I hope Kings Archbishops Bishops and Deanes and other eminent Doctors are not private persons nor they together with the vulgar few and wee may yet make them more by bringing in some of those to beare witnesse to the lawfull use of the word Sabbath for Sunday or the Lords day being drawne to yeeld some assent unto it by the force of truth who otherwise shew their great dislike of that denomination CHAP. XVI Of such as are adversaries to the name Sabbath as put for Sunday sometimes assenting thereunto and using the name in that sense or yeelding that which doth inferre it AS first Master Braburne in his discourse to this Objection the name Sabbath signifieth Rest Now on the Lords day we Rest therefore wee may call it Sabbath day answereth a M. Brab discourse p. 81. 'T is true the Sabbath signifieth Rest and so the Lords day might bee called Sabbath day but yet in no other sense then every common Holiday wherein we worke not may bee called Sabbath day that is Resting day We take his concession for the Lords day to be called Sabbath but not his comparison for as much as that hath more right to the name which hath a weekly recourse of Rest then that which cometh but once a yeare which himselfe doth in effect acknowledge when he so ″ In his Defence p. 276 277 481. often mentioneth the Lords day Sabbath as out of a kind of necessity to expresse his owne conceptions otherwise to use his owne b M Brab Defens p. 50. phrase hee would not so often have taken the crowne off his King Saturnes head and set it upon that day which in his conceipt is but a common Subject 2. Doctor Heylin notwithstanding what wee have before observed of him appeareth sometimes indifferently disposed to give to the Lords day the name of Sabbath as c Doct. Hâ—yl hist Sab. part 2. c. 6 pag. 182. where he saith By the Doctrine of the Helvetian Churches if I conceive their meaning rightly every particular Church may destinate what day they please to religious meetings and every day may bee a Lords day or a Sabbath If we were to judge of his opinion by this place we could not tell which word hee liked better Sabbath or Lords day hee sheweth himselfe so equally affected to them both seeming to bee the same man and of the same mind with him who in another booke wrote thus d Pet. Heylin Geogr. p. 702. I dare not so farre put my sickle into this harvest as to limit out the extent of Sabbath keeping which commanding us to doe no manner of worke doth seeme to prohibit us to worke for our owne safeguard Wherein hee sheweth such modesty in himselfe and such equity both to
the word and to the thing which is signified by it as if hee had observed the same throughout his booke of the History of the Sabbath it had neither been so bad nor so bigge as we see it is 3. Master e Mr. Primrose part 1. ch 13. paâ— 73. See also part 4. p. 302 304 305. to the same purpose Primrose though otherwise neither fondly nor friendly affected to the Christian Sabbath is sometimes so facile and liberall in his allowance of the use of the name Sabbath in the time and state of the Christian Church as to allow Christians liberty to keep every day holy and to say that all daies under the Gospel should be as so many Sabbaths all the dayes of the weeke and the whole yeare should bee as Sabbaths unto them If so the Sunday may be a Sabbath much more for the reasons and authority fore-alledged and if it have more of the thing it hath more right to the name Master f Mr. Ironside quest 3. c. 13. p. 123. Ironside also though he dispute against the title Sabbath as to our Christian Holiday ingenuously confesseth that the name Sabbath is lawfull and may be also used by such as have their wits well exercised in Scripture if without superstition fraud or scandall g Mr Ironside quaest 2. cap. 9. pag. 96 97. And that God must have his rest and appointed Sabbaths which is the essence life and spirit of that Commandement and for ever morall And if the thing Sabbath be morall and perpetuall and the effence life and spirit of the Law as hee saith can any one deny the title Sabbath Master Ironside cannot well doe it who affirmeth this and that by the expresse title of the Sabbath And of the Friday made a weekly Holiday by Constantine he faith h M. Ironside concius of his quest cap. 31. pag. 293. that he made it a Sabbath Object But when hee saith that the Lords day is Sabbath he meaneth not that it is properly so called but analogically and in its proportion To which I answer 1. That when men call the Lords day Sabbath there is no need to adde either properly or improperly or analogically therefore for ordinary speech it is no exception against the use of the word It is familiar with many to call the Lords Table Altar though it be not properly an Altar but analogically and yet he will not say they are bound to bring in this distinction when they mention it and to say it is an analogicall Altar and when Christ is called the Lambe of God the Lion of the Tribe of Juda hee is not properly but analogically a Lamb or a Lion yet he is commonly so called without adding either part of the distinction of properly or analogically 2. But the Lords day may bee called Sabbath properly because as it is an Holiday it is a day of Rest properly so taken a day of weekly Rest as the old Sabbath was And even in Doctor Pocklingtons Seâ—mon though we should not much accompt of his Testimony but where it is against himselfe there is something albeit hee meant it not which makes for the title Sabbath to belong to the Lords day viz. this i Doct. Pockl. Visitat Serm. p. 19. Cujus vis soluta nec nomen haerebit Ambr. so cited by Doct. Pockl. Ibid. When the Sabbath lost its force it forfeited its name saith hee out of Saint Ambrose and therefore ought not so to be called and so having lost both force and name is become nothing at all but a meere Idoll The Saturday then which was the day of Rest unto the Jewes is now no Sabbath nor must be so called which by the way is contradictory to that k With us the Sabbath is Saturday and no day else Doct. Pockl. Serm. pag. 21. which hee saith elsewhere for if it have forfeited its name forfeiture is not an annihilation but an alienation of a right from one to another and if that bee so let any body judge what day hath most right to that forfeiture Can any other day of the week put in for an interest in it before the Lords day or Sunday If the Lord of the Sabbath may be Judge he will give no sentence surely for any day against his owne CHAP. XVII Exceptions against some of the precedent Testimonies alledged for calling the Lords day Sabbath propounded and answered THe Bishop of Elie in his Treatise on the Sabbath day and in his Examination of the little Dialogue made in answer to it would avoid the allegations for the name Sabbath taken out of the Fathers the Book of Homilies Bishop Andrewes and Master Hooker and his brother Doctor John Whites Booke of the Way to the true Church by such exceptions as these The first Exception touching the Fathers First for the Fathers The Question is not saith a Bish Whites exam pag. 109. he whether the ancient Fathers have at any time stiled the Lords day a Sabbath in a mysticall or spirituall sense that is a day wherein Christian people ought to abstaine from sinne for in this sense they have stiled every day of the weeke wherein Christians rest from sin a b His former Treatise of the Sabb. p. 203. Sabbath yea every day throughout their whole lives I have diligently searched saith c Ibid. p. 202. hee into Antiquitie and observed in the Fathers their formes of speech when they treat of the Lords day and I find it farre different from the usuall language of the Fathers to stile the Lords day the Sabbath and that they by the name Sabbath either understand the old legall Sabbath taken away by Christ or the spirituall or mysticall Sabbath which was typed and represented by the Sabbath of the fourth Commandement Wherein hee speaketh more warily though not altogether truly then d No ancient Father no learned man Heathen nor Christian took the name Sabbath otherwise then for Saturday from the beginning of the world untill the beginning of Schisme An. 1554. Doct. Pockl. visit Serm. p. 21. Doctor Pocklington did And when the Fathers distinguish and give proper names to the particular dayes of the weeke saith the Bishop they alwaies stile the Saturday Sabbatum the Sabbath and the Sunday or the first day of the weeke Dominicum the Lords day This is his reply to the Testimonies taken out of the Fathers whereto I answer This distinction of mysticall and literall is familiar with the Bishop and may serve for a shift to elude other Testimonies for the name Sabbath as well as those particularly mentioned But it is but a shift and will serve but for a while for to answer First concerning the Fathers though they in their times distinguished two dayes by the names of Sabbath and Lords day to avoid confusion when they celebrated both with services of devotion as the e Bish White his Treat of the Sab. pag. 202. Bishop hath observed out of Ignatius Ambrose Socrates
the name Sabbath is That there is in it a double plot the a Doct. Pockl. Visit Serm. pag. 20. one is to stalke behind that name and to shoot at the service appointed for the Lords day the b Ibid. other is to impose upon the day damnable superstition which hee aggravates by this opprobrious comparison hee c Ibid. resembleth the putting of the name Sabbath upon the Lords day to the putting of a crowne of Thornes upon the head of the Lord himselfe making them both unsutable alike and saith This was platted to impose on him damnable derision that was plotted to impose on it damnable superstition Now because he was aware that his comparison might touch some to the quicke who were better then himselfe hee putteth on their heads as a linnen cap for an head-piece this poor Apology to save them from pricking d Ibid. p. 20. If we find the word Sabbath for Sunday saith he used in some writings that of late come unto our hands blame not the Clerks good men for it Nor entitle the misprision any higher or otherwise then to these pretenders of piety who for their own ends have for a long time deceived the world with their zealous and most ignorant or cunning clamours and rung the name Sabbath so commonly into all mens eares that not Clerkes onely but men of judgement learning and vertue not heeding peradventure so much as is requisite what crafty and wicked device may be managed under the vaile of a faire word used in Gods Law doe likewise suffer the name often to escape the doore of their lips that detest the drift of the deviser in the closet of their hearts In which speech to spare many other passages of his booke which lye open to just exception of reason and religion there are divers particulars worthy of examination and censure which we may referre First to the fault objected an impious plot Secondly to the persons for whom he putteth in a perplexed and impotent plea to acquit or excuse them from participation therein For the former viz. the plot it is twofold as hee takes it the one to stalke behind the name Sabbath and to shoot at the service appointed for the Lords day the other to impose upon the day damnable superstition For the first Let him remember what hee hath said page 7. viz. e Dr. Pockling Sunday no Sab. pag. â— Allow them their Sabbath and you must allow them the service that belongs to their Sabbath then must you have no Letany for that 's no service for their Sabbaths but for Sundayes To which I say First Hee seemeth to except against a Sabbatary service as faulty or offensive in some positive points but noteth nothing in particular but what is negative the leaving out of the Letany Secondly That those whom wee have produced for the use of the word Sabbath require no Jewish services on that day nor any other then such as the Church hath established under the name Sunday Thirdly That if the word Sabbath will serve for a stalking horse against the Letany and other service of the Church because that is enjoyned not under the name Sabbath but Sunday then the word Lords day which hee alloweth will serve as well for a stalking horse to the same purpose for the Service is entituled not with the name Lords day but with the name Sunday which as wee have observed before is the word that beareth the greatest sound and sway throughout all the Communion Books since the Reformation of Religion within this Realme yea the title Lords day will serve better to that purpose for the name Sabbath is incorporated into the service of the Church in the fourth Commandement where that title Sabbath is repeated thrice over and that Commandement with the other nine is appointed by the order of our Church to bee rehearsed in her publick Liturgie every Sunday and holiday and besides them on the fifth of November and on the dayes of solemne fasting prescribed upon especiall occasion of the Church and State and to bee learned by heart by the younger sort as a part of the Christian Catechisme but the name Lords day is not to my remembrance once mentioned in our Communion Book now in use Now for the other plot It is as hee saith to impose upon the day damnable superstition I answer That the day may lawfully be called by that name as before wee have proved the abuse of it in some if it were such as hee pretended but cannot prove cannot take away the Christian liberty of others for the lawfull use of it nor hinder but that good Christians may have their intentions when they use it truely pious though the mindes of others bee superstitious Secondly That this condemning censure of an harmelesse word in f Peccar qui damnat quasi peccata quae nulla sunt Aug. de lib. arb lib. 3. cap. 15. Saint Augustine his judgement is a sinne and that sinne may bee a severe and sowre superstition for there is a superstition negative as well as positive as in those who say Touch not taste not handle not Col. 2.21 The forbearance of a thing as unlawfull when it is lawfull is a superstition and the damning of such a thing may bee a damnable superstition but howsoever saith the Doctor it is a great indecorum to call the Lords day by the name Sabbath g D. Pockl. p. 20. The vizzard of the Sabbath on the face of the Lords day saith he doth as well become it as the crowne of thornes did the Lord himselfe A speech not sit to be delivered for shame without a vizzard on the face of him that speaketh it to hide his blushing at the guilt of such an excessive absurdity if hee have any modesty at all or to cover his impudency if hee have none Here by the way let him not thinke it much if we returne him a taste of rue or herbe grace for his full dos of vinegar and gall for what indecorum can bee conceived comparable to that of setting of a crowne of thornes upon his head who was so innocent and excellent that roses and the powder of gold were not good enough to bee strewed in his way nor worthy to be trodden on by the sandals of his feet Surely if there had beene an appearance of such uncomelinesse in calling the Lords day by the name of the Sabbath King James so pregnant in apprehension so sound in judgement and the learned Bishops with other Ecclesiasticks of especiall choice who were at the conference of Hampton Court would not have shewed an unanimous assent to the thing Doctor Reynolds proposed which was the Reformation of abuse of the Lords day by the name of the Sabbath day without any exception at the word used by him But indeed there was no cause of offence in it at all for want of comelinesse as Doctor Pocklington objecteth for the comelinesse of words chiefly consisteth in their congruity with
Perth an 1618. our Church of England hath a Canon for the Crosse after Baptisme and bowing at the name of Jesus many Reformed Churches have none for either of them and in England Cathedrall Churches differ from most others in the use of Copes Organs prick-song tunes and many other waies besides Of these with the rest of the differences we may say they are such as no necessity doth inforce yet will not Master Ironside I suppose be forward to charge the later Church in departing from the former nor the Reformed in dissenting from the Romish nor the English in differing from the Scottish Church nor Cathedralls in varying from other Churches for such particulars with schisme singularity or affectation Which I doe not mention with any mind to maintain any thing that is amisse in the different manner of Cathedralls from other Churches for I wish rather a reformation then a ratification of them as now they are but to give fit instance against Master Ironside his position Secondly I say and shall where it is requisite prove it that neither the Romish nor many of the Reformed Churches out of England are so Orthodox in the Doctrine of the Sabbath in particular for the explication of the fourth Commandement as they should be and as the Churches of England and Scotland are and it is no marvell if their dialect be like unto their Doctrine Thirdly it is too late to impute schisme singularity or affectation to the word Sabbath when the use of it is justified by such both reasons and authorities as have been produced and when not onely persons of chiefe preheminence so call it but that it is as well received into use by most as approved by the best as hath been observed Fourthly for the Reformed Churches the Waldenses who first separated themselves from the Church of Rome as the Whore of Babylon called the Lords day Sabbath and that so familiarly that nothing was more usuall among them as a learned h Doct. Twisse in a MS. of the Sabbath Doctor hath observed of them Fifthly wee must not accompt it schisme singularity and affectation to conforme rather to our brethren about us then to either brethren or adversaries that are separated from us Sixthly nor are wee more liable to exception of schisme singularity or affectation by using the word Sabbath for Lords day then by putting Sunday for it the most usuall name in our Service Booke which is as unwonted a word in the reformed Churches as the word Sabbath is and hath been i Pope Silvest See Polyd. Virg de invent rer lib. 5. c. 6. forbidden by the most Cathedrall Doctor of the Popish Church with more probability of reason then hath been urged by way of exception against the name Sabbath CHAP. XXV The objection taken from the Statute and language of Lawyers answered THere remaine yet two objections more and but two that I have read or can call to minde which are brought in by Master Broad a Mr. Broad his 3d. quest p. 22. marg in his printed book of three questions the one is That a Processe to appeare die Sabbati is meant and understood upon Saturday The other in b Mr. Brad his 2d. MS. p. 18. marg another book of his which is yet a MS. wherein saith hee the last Parliament may well bee thought to dislike the name Sabbath as to the Lords day for neither in the title of the Act which is for the keeping of the Lords day nor yet throughout the body thereof is this name used though the heathenish name Sunday be in both yea and though the Commandement read in the Church speaketh of sanctifying of the Sabbath Hee might have alledged two Acts of two Parliaments the one anno 1. of King Charles chap. 1. The other anno 3. ch 1. In the former whereof there is the name of Sunday in the title of the Act though not in the body of it as in the Statute anno 5. 6. of King Edward the sixth chap. 3. pag. 133. of the Stat. at large and the name Lords day once in the title and thrice in the body of the Act and in the later Act they are each of them named once in the title and once in the body of the Act but the name Sabbath not at all Whereto I answer first for the Processe concerning which I say First That such a Processe might be taken up when there were many Jewes and much Judaisme in the Land as in the reignes of many of our Popish Kings which gave occasion of warrant in contracts and bargaines against Jewes by especiall mention who kept a foot the name and observation of the old Sabbath and so it might bee then as in the dayes of ancient Fathers a word of distinction betwixt the Jewish and Christians holiday Or Secondly If not for that reason yet the use of the name in that sense having obtained such generall passage in the times precedent might bee a motive to the Lawyers to continue it though the reason which began it descended not so low as to their age as wee call an houre-glasse in Greek and Latin Clepsydra which signifieth the stealing away of water drop by drop from one bottle to another for at first it was made to measure time by water though now it bee made to run with sand only Thirdly Their Processe being Latine haply they made choice rather of that word which had in it some relish of Religion both among Jewes and ancient Christians and so hath the word Sabbath then of that which was for that language in a manner meerly heathenish to wit Saturday and though the word Sunday which is originally heathenish as wel as Saturday be used in our Church Liturgie yet we call the Lords day Sunday not from the Sunne in the Firmament but from the Sun of Righteousnesse Mal. 4.2 as hath been formerly observed the word Saturday is not capable of a signification so sacred and sutable to the person of our Saviour the Lord of the Sabbath Fourthly Though the Lawyers did in their Latin writs use the word Sabbath for Saturday yet they did neither forbid nor forbeare to use it of the Lords day in French and in English as in Fitzherberts natura Brevium it is said Pleas cannot be held upon Quindena Paschae c Que est le Sabot jour Fitzherb natur Brev. fol. 17. because it is the Sabbath day whereby not Saturday but Sunday or the Lords day must be meant for on the Saturday it was lawfull not onely to hold Pleas but to keepe Markets as Judge Fairfax in the Prior of Lantonies case resolveth viz. d Devant le Incarnation le Sabbadi suit le Sabat jour solenize mes ore est change per les eglise at jour demain c. the yeer book 12. of Ed. 4. b. That before the incarnation Saturday was the Sabbath day but since it is changed by the Church into the Lords day that day is
to bee kept holy and Markets may bee kept upon the other And in Sir Edward Coke his first part of the Institutes of Litleton resolving what day is not dies Juridicus he saith In e Sir Edward Coke in that first part of his Institutes lib. 12. c. 11. Sect. 2. of Villenage pag. 135. calleth it â—oure times the Sabbath day in this page all the foure termes the Sabbath day is not dies Juridicus for that ought to be consecrated to divine service and in his Reports in the case of the Citie of London it is said f Le jour de Sabaoth so it is written for Sabbath solemnit Except Cokes reports part 8. p. 127. a. That every day in the week is a Market day the Sabbath day by which is understood the Lords day onely excepted And in Machellies case who being arrested on the Sunday slew the Sergeant it was objected against the Sergeant g Le jour de soleile est le Sabbath Idem Ib. part 9. p. 66. that Sunday was the Sabbath day and answer made that no judiciall act may be done that day but ministeriall may In this instance is both the word Sunday and Sabbath for the same day And those two and a third are all of them by an eminent h Sir Jo. Finch in his first book of the Law cap. 3. p. 7. Lawyer it is Sir John Finch in one side of a lease indifferently used for the day wee Christians celebrate and another bird of the same golden feather Master Henry Finch in his Nomotechnia shewing besides the lawfull use of the name Sabbath for the Lords day the separation of it from secular affaires i Si le jour del returne vel si le primer ou darraine jour del terme hap sur le Sabaoth jour donque se jour procheine en suaul server en lin de ceo So Master Hen. Finch in fol. 52. in which edition the figures are mis-reckoned for on that lease is set num 58. which commeth twice but the former should be 52. as I have cited it saith If the day of returne or the first or last day of the terme happen upon the Sabbath day by which must needs bee understood the Lords day then the day next ensuing shall serve or bee kept in stead thereof for the beginning of the terme or day of returne Now to answer to the objection taken from the Acts of Parliament I say First That in the k M. Pultons Abridgement fol. 134. p. b. Parliament of the 19. of Queen Elisabeth cap. 13. which is of Hats and Caps the name Sabbath is used for the Lords day Secondly For the Act fore-cited concerning the observation of the day wee Christians keepe giving it the name of Lords day or Sunday not of Sabbath I answer That I have heard a ″ M. Ed. Whitby late Recorder of Chester Parliament man of eminent note in his time say that the bill was penned and passed in the Commons House in the name of the Sabbath day and I have read that when an Act was made for reformation of abuse by profanation of the Sabbath l In a MS. of Doct. Twisse concerning the Sabbath Doct. Lake Bishop of Bath and Wells was somewhat eager to have it called by the name of Sabbath and it had not been the worse if that reverend Father had been allowed as a Godfather to give the name and title in the Statute Thirdly though some prime persons of the upper House thought it fit in the Act to make use rather of the word Sunday and Lords day then of the word Sabbath it doth not follow they disallowed or condemned the use of that word for they were not ignorant of his Majesties Proclamation and Briefes calling our weekly Holiday by the name Sabbath nor how the name and day were incorporated into our Communion Booke with a prayer at the end of the fourth Commandement for pardon of profanation past and for grace to shun the like in time to come nor that that Commandement as well as the rest was a part of the common Catechisme prescribed for the instruction of children before their confirmation Fourthly they might haply mention the day wee observe for a Sabbath by the name of Sunday because that name was used in the Statute of the 5. and 6. Stat. 5. 6. Ed. 6. c. 3. p. 133 of Edward the sixth wherein it was enacted that all Sundaies in the yeare should be kept holy and by the name Lords day because that is the name which S. John giveth it Revel 1.10 and which the Latine Church most used to distinguish it from the Saturday Sabbath and for the name Sabbath they might at that time forbeare it First because these two names chosen for these reasons were sufficient to make it well enough known unto all Secondly because the name Sabbath in the Communion Booke was like to bee upheld with so much honour and reputation so long as the fourth Commandement is a part of the Liturgy and Catechisme and both of them are in force and use that there was no such need to grace it with a particular mention in the Act as the other two titles yet if all three had been brought to a serious consultation for the choice and use of one above the rest the name Sabbath of right might have had the preheminence and so much I hope to manifest in the next Chapter CHAP. XXVI A comparison of the names Sabbath Lords day and Sunday with a resolution of the Question for the name Sabbath as the best and fittest to be the most usuall title of our weekly Holiday THough all the three names be lawfull enough and may each of them as just occasion requireth bee used without either sinne or scandall if there be not more fault in the mind of the speaker or hearer then in the words themselves yet since they are not all at such an equipoize for sense or acceptation but that there may be observed a preheminence among them which may incline the custome of speech to one more then to another thereafter as it is apprehended when the name is uttered or heard It will bee a matter of some use to observe the importance and prelation of these names so farre as to resolve which of them in our Church and age is most sit to become most common among us Names are of chiefe accompt for these seven particulars First for Antiquity secondly for Authority thirdly for Significancy fourthly for Facility to the speaker fifthly for Acceptability with the hearer sixthly for Frequency seventhly for Efficacy First if we compare them for Antiquity the name Sunday in the language of the world is more ancient then Lords day the name Lords day in the language of the Church a more ancient name then Sunday for we find the Lords day in Revelat. 1.10 about the 94. yeare after Christ but the first mention of Sunday as a Christian Holiday is
Christian Church first giveth the Lords day a reall preeminence above the old Sabbath saying f M. J. Walker in his book of the Doctrine of the Sabbath p. 89.90 that the old Sabbath had no other light nor life in it but onely from obscure promises and dark shadowes through which Christ was seen as things afarre off are seene and in the starre-light nights but the Lords day the first day of the weeke hath light and life from the Sunne of Righteousnesse who in it rose up to bee the light of life to all Nations And after that hee giveth it a nominall preheminence under the title Lords day g Ib. p. 90 91. God saith hee hath given it a most honourable name and title above all the daies of the weeke for the holy Evangelist and divine Apostle Saint John who was the intimate beloved and bosome Disciple of the Lord and did best know his minde calls it the Lords day Revel 1.10 and the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lord is the same in signification with Gods proper Name Jehovah and most commonly is used in the new Testament to expresse that sacred Name And if that day and name both be more excellent then that of the old Testament the denomination should be taken according to it and so we should call it rather Lords day then Sabbath To which I answer First That howsoever the new Sabbath bee in many respects more excellent then the old yet the name Sabbath may be very agreeable to them both Secondly that if name Lords day be a more excellent name then the name Sabbath it doth not follow it should be more usuall ordinary for there be many other intimatious of moment for the use of a name as before we have noted and for instance though the name Sonne of God bee a more excellent name then Sonne of man yet our Saviour who best knew how to speake for he spake as no man ever did John 7.46 called himselfe oftner Son of man then Son of God Thirdly the name Sabbath doth import more clearly and assuredly a weekly Holiday as wee observe it then the name Lords day doth for that is questionable as before wee have shewed whether it be to be taken for the day of our Saviours Resurrection or no and if that be resolved on then whether it note that individuall day onely on which he arose or other daies also that succeed it and if others whether onely an Anniversary day as Easter or a weekly day as the Sabbath is and hath been since it was first ordained but the word Sabbath without all question signifieth a day of Rest among sixe daies of labour and so one set day within the circle of the weeke Fourthly the name Sabbath being the title of the fourth Commandement which is the best warrant for a weekly Holiday and which prescribeth our duty both for what we must forbeare and what performe and presseth it by many effectuall reasons there is great reason that it should bee more used then any other which in such materiall considerations is not comparable to it Fifthly the name Sabbath guiding us to the fourth Commandement will bring us readily to the title Lords day as before hath been observed but the name Lords day in that text where it is noted viz. Revel 1.10 the chiefe if not the onely text for that title in the New Testament giveth none intimation of a Sabbath neither in Deed nor in Name therefore the name Sabbath as more significant and monitory is fitter for instruction and use then the name Lords day is Sixthly for such reasons as these or some other of like importance the fore-cited Authour useth the name Sabbath more frequently throughout his whole booke then any other whatsoever and setteth it as the title in the highest place of every page though no man expresse a dearer affection to the dignity of the Lords day then he doth Lastly he so far approves of the name Sabbath for our weekly Holiday that he setteth upon them who say the Lords day was not called Sabbath in the Primitive times next to the Apostles nor since by any but onely Jewish Sabbatharians with some sharp termes calling them h M. Walker in his Doctrine of the Sabb. ch 16. p. 113. but pag. 112 of the impression at London 1641. Adversaries of a bold and impudent face who make that objection Thus farre the exceptions against the name Sabbath both simple and comparative with other titles Though I have set my wits on worke on the Antisabbatarian side both to multiply fortifie objections against that name as applyed to the day of our Christian devotion I can find nothing more which is of any weight or worth to bee objected or answered concerning the comparison of the names of Sabbath Sunday and Lords day and the resolution for the name Sabbath of which we may now I hope without all appearance of partiality or presumption conclude That the name Sabbath is of best use to support the true Doctrine of our Christian Holiday both for the time and tenure of it for discovery of duties required on it and for incitement to the conscionable practice of them accordingly and therefore notwithstanding the contrary determination of i Better by farre and farre lesse danger to be feared in calling it the Sunday as the Gentiles did and as our Ancestors have done before us then calling it the Sabbath as too many doe and on lesse Authority nay contrary indeed to all Antiquity and Scripture Doct. Heyl. hist Sab. part 2. c. 2. p. 163 164. Doctor Heylin to bee most used when we speake of the weekly Holiday of the Christian Church yet without prejudice to the liberty of any one to call it Lords day or Sunday as just occasion shall incline them or religious discretion induce them to terme it CHAP. XXVII A briefe accommodation of this Nomenclature or nominall discourse to some purposes of importance concernning the Sabbath HE that doth reade thus farre will not I hope conceive I have need to make an Apology for this discourse as if it were some idle Logomachy or word war which the Apostle forbids 1 Tim. 6.4 for First it may serve to stint the strife of words Esay 29.21 which some have already raised up making a man an offender for a word which affords not a syllable of just exception or offence and to prevent the like in after times since by what we have said our lawfull liberty is fully declared and firmly assured so that we may without doubt or danger of sinne call the time or day we celebrate Lords day Sabbath day or both as the holy place of Gods publicke service was called the Lords house and the Temple And for the name Sunday wee have shewed the lawfull use of it if it be not brought in like the Sunne with a burning glasse as Doctor Pocklington doth to scortch the name Sabbath or to cast a shadow upon it to conceale or obscure
day for I finde it otherwise But c Dr. Rivet disscriat de orig Sab. cap. 10. pag. 180. Dr. Rivet replyeth very well whose answer I shall a little transpose and alter to make it more serviceable to the truth First That it is no marvell that Justin Martyr writing to an Heathen and discoursing with a Jew used such termes as they were best acquainted with and best liked of as did the Translater of the Bible out of which the Epistles and Gospels of our Liturgie were taken as we shall observe in the seventh Chapter and such was the name Sunday to the Heathens and the first day of the week to the Jewes and therefore which hee might further have observed out of d Justin Apol. ad Anson 2d. propè sin pag. 419. Justin speaking to the Gentiles hee calleth the day before it not the Sabbath though among the Religious it were both of most ancient and common use but Saturday or the day of Saturne Secondly Whereas Doctor Gomarus grounds the weight of his Argument upon Justin Martyrs accurate description of the rites of the Christian Religion as that if the name Lords day for the Christians weekly holiday had beene in use before that time in the Church it must either there bee mentioned or from the omission of it there it might well bee denyed to have beene the title of it in his time Doctor Rivet answereth by retortion of his reason out of Tertullian That when the Gentiles conceived from the Christians weekly Assemblies upon Sundaies c Tert. Apol. cap. 16. tom 2. pag. 632. that the Sun was the god they worshipped hee stands to the name with denyall of their sinister conceit of the Christians practice and takes not that occasion to tell them though it bee a better inducement then Justin had any in the place fore-alledged to mention the Lords day that they had another name for that day viz. the Lords day and another reason of their religious observation of it then they imagined viz. the memoriall of the Lords Resurrection their Lord and Saviour f An non hic erat opportunissimus declarandi locus Dr. Rivet ubi ante pag. 182. Here surely was a most meete place to have made some declaration of the day as under that title the Lords day and because hee did it not there will it follow that it was not in use in his time among the Christians the contrary will appeare by his Booke g Die Dominico jejunare nâ—sas ducimus vel de geniculis adorare Tertul. de corona milit cap. 3. com 1. pag. 747. de corona militis and h O melior sides nationum quae nullam solennitatem Christianorum sibi vendicar non Dominicum diem non Pentecosten Tert. de Idol cap. 14. tom 2. pag. 457. de Idololatria wherein having to do with Christians hee useth the name or title Lords day for the Christians weekly holiday And to answer both Doctor Gomarus and Master Braburne together the observation of i Bish Andrewes in his Speech in the Star-chamber against Master Trask pag. 73. 74. Bishop Andrewes is of some weight as himselfe setteth downe in these words This day this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 came to have the name of dies Dominicus in the Apostles time and is so expressely called by Saint John in the Revelation ch 1. ver 10. and that name from that day to this hath holden still with continuance of it from the Apostles age and may bee deduced downe from Fathers to Fathers even to the Councell of Nice and lower I trust saith hee we need not follow it no doubt is made since then by any one that hath read any thing Yet some raise a doubt upon the Constitution of Constantine by whose authority they say Sunday was made a generall and a publick holiday and with it Friday and both of them were to be observed weekly as k Euseb de vita Constantin l. 4. c. 18. p. 254. Eusebius sheweth why then may not Friday bee the day to which that title Lords day might belong especially since as in English wee commonly call it it hath an addition of especiall weight and worth good Friday good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by way of eminence and excellencie above all other dayes But notwithstanding this the day of the Resurrection hath the preheminence as in dignitie as before hath beene proved so in antiquitie perpetuitie and generalitie of solemne observation above all other dayes for it was a l Originem hujus denominationis ab ipso Apostolorum tempore accersendam omnibus ferè Scriptoribus placet D. Walaeus dissertat de quart praecept cap. 7. pag. 150. weekly holiday from the Apostles time as wee shall manifest elsewhere and though it were to gaine ground of the Jewish Sabbath but by degrees in Ignatius his time who lived in the first Centurie or hundred yeeres of Christianitie it was growne to that credit as not onely to bee well knowne by the name Lords day but to bee dignified with that royall title the Queene of daies as hath been observed and it is to bee noted that this Ignatius was his disciple who first used that title Lords day viz. the disciple of the Evangelist S. John and so was most like to know what day he meant by that appellation Secondly For that Decree of Constantine it was not made untill the fourth Century was begun above two hundred yeers after this of Ignatius Thirdly As Friday was made a weekely holiday much later then Sunday was not to stand upon comparisons betwixt Apostolicall and Imperiall powers for the making of holidaies in which respect Sunday hath the advantage above good Friday so hath Sunday continued much longer by many hundred yeers and hath been both for time more perpetuall and for place in the Christian Church more generall then Friday ever was And as the observation of that day hath been almost universall so hath the application of this title Lords day been unto it likewise for as Doctor m Omnes ferè sacrae Scripturae interpretes tam veteres quam recentiores de primo dic Septimanae intelligunt ac proinde nova planè interpretatio est corum qui Apocalypscos diem c. Wallaeus dissertat de quart praecept cap. 6. pag. 150. Walaeus noteth the deriving of the originall of that name from the Apostles time out of Apoc. 1.10 is approved almost by all Writers and Doctor ″ D. Heyl. Hist Sab. part 2. c. 1. ad sinem cap. p. 37. Heylin though otherwise farre from doting on the dignity of our weekly holiday not onely for the tenure of it but for the title too having referred the originall of it to the yeere of our Lord 94. wherein he followeth n M. Broad his MS. part 2. c. 10. p. 62. M. Broad his note upon it which sheweth but little good will unto it saith thus o D. Heyl. Hist Sab. part 2. a. 1. pag. 30. So long it
most moment in the present subject concerning the use of it whether the Christians weekly holiday or Lords day may bee fitly called by that name For the first Some write Sabbath which is the right some Sabboth and some Sabaoth a M. Minsh Guide of the Tongues p. 638. Master Minshaw in his Guide of the Tongues hath them all In Master Brerewood his first Treatise the title of the first edition was A learned Treatise of the Sabaoth and that word so written runneth on throughout the whole Book Whereupon b M. R. Byf. pag. 1. Master R. Byfield in the Preface of his Answer to it saith What the Treatise affords shall bee seene anon God willing that title savours of little learning wherein for Sabbath is written Sabaoth which signifieth hoasts as in Isa 1.9 And a little after saith hee I would have imputed this to the Printers oversight if either the Errata had mentioned it or the whole Booke in any one place had given the true Orthography Wherein though in many differences about the Sabbath I shall and I hope upon just grounds dissent from Master Brerewood yet I shall bee ready to doe him all right and to quit him from all such causelesse exceptions as come in my way as this doth and so I answer First That if the title of the Booke did bewray some ignorance of the Hebrew in the Authour yet might hee bee a very learned man and his Booke like himselfe a very learned Book for all that for a man may bee very learned and yet bee unacquainted with the originall tongues so were many of those Divines who have had and still have the honour to bee stiled the Fathers of the Church and yet have beene noted for c We have over and above the benefit of all their works i.e. of the Fathers much skilfulnesse in the originall of the old Testament which most of them wanted and of the new also wherewith some were but little acquainted Mr. Downe 2d. part of his works p. 220. the most part of them to be unskilfull in the originall text of the old Testament and divers of them also of the new And to instance in particulars for the Latines S. Augustine with his one tongue is set in comparison and preferred by d Non ideo quisquam verè sapiens quia Graecus sit vel Hebraeus quare beatus Hieron quinque linguis monoglossam Augustinum non adaequavit Luther To. 1. Ep. fol. 54. Epist ad Joâ— Lang. Luther before Hierome with his five tongues and though Erasmus somewhat netled with the censure of Eckius who noted him for his e Nihil est quod tibi deesse Erasmici omnes conquerantur nisi quod Aurel. Aug. non legeris Eckius Epist Erasm lib. 2. pag. 95. not reading of S. Augustine his works in his Epistle to him weigh and sway the comparison the contrary f Erasm Epist Eckio lib. 2. pag. 97 98. way giving the preheminence to S. Hierome yet elsewhere bringing in the particular praises not only of him but of Athanasius Basil Cyprian Hilary Ambrose Gregory g At non arbitror alium esse Doctorem in quem opulentus ille juxta ac benignus spiritus dotes suas omnes largius effuderit quam in Augustinum quasi voluerit in una tabula vividum quoddam exemplum Episâ—opi representare Erasm Epist Archiep. Toled praesix tom 1. operum Aug. pag. 2. hee saith Hee doth not thinke there is another Doctor into whom the Spirit hath powred out all his gifts in a more ample measure then in Saint Augustine as if hee meant in him as in a Table to represent the lively patterne of a Bishop and having stiled him an incomparable h Incomparabilis Ecclesiae Dâ—ctor invictus propugnator quem tu non sine causa sic adamare prae caeteris sic in deliciis semper habere consuevisti Quid enim habet or bis Christianus hoc Scriptore vel magis aureum vel augustum ut ipsa vocabula nequaquam fortuitò sed numinis Providentià videantur indita viro Iâ— pag. 1. Doctor of the Church and an unconquered Champion for the truth and confessed that the Cardinall of Toledo not without good cause tooke delight in him before all others alluding to his name Aurelius Augustinus importing golden goodnesse and Imperiall greatnesse he asketh as with admiration of him What hath the whole Christian world more golden and more majesticall then this Writer these names surely saith he seem not by chance but by especiall Providence imposed upon him Yet is this so great a Clerke so accomplish'd and admirable a Doctor noted sometimes by way of excuse sometimes by way of exception for ignorance in the Hebrew and very little skill in the Greeke by i Nee Hebraicè sciebat Augustinus Graecè minus quam mediocriter Ludov. Viv. in Aug. de C. D. lib. 15. cap. 13. part 2. pag. 133. Ludovicus Vives k Augustinus vitiosam versionem secutus quia Hebraeae linguae ignarus minus culpandus quam hodierni Papistae Polan Syntag. Theol. lib. 1. cap. 42. col 561. Polanus l Augustinus dubitat Adam an Eva id dixerit sed gnarus linguae sacrae videt foeminae verba acquisivi verum à Domino Paâ—aeus in Gen. 4. col 655. fine Paraeus and m Adeo Augustinum ex sola ignorantia linguae Hebraeae esse deceptum in voce Cephas Bel. de Ro. Po. li. 1. cap. 10. p. 208. col 2. So was S. Ambrose deceived when he derived the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying to suffer Ambr. de myst Pasch ch 1. tom 2. pag. 190. Bellarmine and of Saint Hilary though n De Hilario nunc agimus qui tum ob vitae sanctimoniam â—â—m ob insignem eruditionem tum ob eloquentiam admirabilem aevi sic lumen suit Erasm Ep. Johan Carondeleto Arch. ep l. 28. pag. 1165. Erasmus sets him out as a most illustrious light of his age for holinesse of life learning and eloquence and brings in for an improvement of his praise That o Hieronymus qui pene contempsit Augustinum nec ita multum tribuit Ambrosio toties tanta cum veneratione citat Hilarium alibi vocans eum orbis Deucalionem c. Ibid. pag. 1168. Hierome who almost contemned Saint Augustine and did not attribute much to Saint Ambrose did admire him calling him sometimes the ″ I doubt Erasmus is mistaken in this title Deucalion of the world for Hierom giveth this title to one Hilary a Deacon of Rome in contempt for hee brings it in thus Est praeterea aliud quod inferemus adversum quod ne muciâ—e quidem audeat Helarius Deucalion orbis Hieron advers Lucifer propè finem and hee calleth him so because he separated from others as if all the world but hee and his sect were drowned in hereticall Baptisme Deucalion of the world
8â— Lipsiae an 1633. Schickardus Professor of that tongue at Tubinge upon experience hath averred they may attaine to remarkeable proficiencie therein before they can be furnished with reall knowledge And I remember one Wolfgangus a Jew a Teacher of the Hebrew tongue in my time in Oxford who as both my selfe and others who were his Schollers with mee easily observed had but little learning either in divinity or humanity and so little acquaintance with the Latin tongue that hee could not without much difficulty dictate two lines in that language with congruity So farre short was hee of a facility for elegant speech and yet hee tooke upon him to read his Lecture to us in Latine and I have heard of some by such as I may well beleeve who are meere aliens in Logick and Philosophy and so little acquainted with the Latin tongue that they cannot construe one sentence in the easiest Latin Authour without consulting with a Dictionary who yet are so familiar with the Hebrew that their people are in danger to bee choaked with Hebrew roots which they obtrude upon them in their ordinary Sermons and in as much danger to bee starved too for want of the sap and juice of good instruction which they are not like to receive from them who are become ″ Priùs imperitorum magistri quà m doctorum discipuli Hieron ad Demetriad p. 70 Teachers of the ignorant before they have beene Schollers to the learned which puts mee in minde of the censure which an ingenious Student a Master N.S. sometimes my Chamber-fellow and Proctor of the University made of the Sermon of a verball Doctor who with very little matter had a Babell of words in his head and mouth which was That hee spake nothing in as many languages as ever hee heard any man And I doubt not but there bee many such as deserve the censure of Tacitus upon Secundus Carinates viz. b Hiâ— GraecaÌ„ doctrinâ ore tenus exercitatus animum bonis artibus non imbuerat Tacit. Annal. lib. 15. f. 236. b. That hee had some wordy learning in his mouth and little knowledge of the Arts in his minde Secondly I say for Master Brerewood that his Booke of Inquiries into Languages and Religions besides other evidence of his great knowledge in the Hebrew tongue and other learning might have set him farre enough out of the reach of all suspicion of such ignorance as the mistaking of that title may import in him that made it Thirdly The word Sabaoth is in that part of the Booke which is Master N. Byfields dictate as well as in that which is Master Brerewoods and it is so also in Master Byfields owne handwriting as I can shew yet will I not impute that unto ignorance for it might bee the sliding of his pen into a word neere unto it as I have often taken my selfe with misprision of prophet for profit and contrariwise through cursory writing Or Fourthly It may be the Transcribers mistaking of his dictates into which he might easily be induced by the like writing in many Bookes of Common prayer in the fourth Commandement of divers editions and in the parcels of Scripture therein rehearsed and in the books of c In the Homily of the place and time of prayer p. 161 162 164. Homilies d Archbish Whitgift pag. 541. Archbishop Whitgift against Mr. Cartwright e Bish Bilson part 2. pag. 270. Bishop Bilson in the true difference betwixt Christian subjection and unchristian rebellion f Dr. John White pag. 210. D. White in his Way to the Church g Master Perkins in the Order of causes of salvation and damnation chap. 5. pag. 14. col 2. Master Perkins in the Order of causes of salvation and damnation h Mr. Sprint his Propositions of the Christian Sabbath in which Book the word Sabaoth is in every leafe at least and in some it is divers times repeated Master Sprint his Propositions of the Christian Sabbath for in the Bookes that beare their names and particularly in the places quoted in the margine the name is mis-written either Sabaoth or Sabboth for Sabbath Fifthly Some Authours have that word so miswritten in their Works who yet were verys kilfull in the Hebrew tongue as is evident by i Bp. Andrewes in his Speech in the Star-chamber p. 72 73. Bishop Andrewes in his Speech in the Star-chamber and in his k And in his third Sâ—rm of the Resurrect pag. 406 407. third Sermon of the Resurrection by l Weemse Exercit cerem exer 3. p. 7. Mr. Weemse in his Exercit. and in his m In his Christ Synag lib. 1. cap. 4. pag. 45. cap. 5. pag. 71. p. 74. eight times p. 75. eleven times Christ Synag n Test Rev. 1.10 Mr. Cartwright in his Answer to the Rhemists Sixthly Whereas as o Mr. R. Byfield Praef. pag. 1. Master R. Byfield saith I would have imputed this to the Printers oversight if either the errata had mentioned it or the whole Treatise in any one place had given the true orthography of it It may be replyed First That there is no necessity that either the Printer or the Authour should beare the blame of that mistaking but rather the Publisher betwixt them both and so as I have ″ By Mr. A. Byfield Mr. N. Byfields sonne Febr. 1640. heard since my comming to London it was Master Richard Byfields meaning to impute the ignorance to the Publisher and none else which I conceive he had just cause to doe Secondly For Master Brerewood I can shew it in a manuscript of his owne hand many times so lettered as it should have beene throughout the Treatise and not once as it is in the mistaken title And lastly In the Answer to Master Brerewoods Book Mr. R. Byfield himself hath brought a Letter of his to Alderâ—…n Ratcliffe wherein the word is written right by Master Brerewood five times in one page the p Mr. R. Byfield his Answer to Mr. Brerewood pag. 224. later page of the last leafe but one and not otherwise by him at all in that Letter I have insisted longer on this erroneous writing and the exception made against it then a Criticall Reader would require or perhaps allow of but I was induced unto it partly to correct the indiscreet ostentation and comparisons of some who have vaunted themselves of a little Hebrew and disvalued Latine learning in all faculties in those men whose Bookes if they be balanced with them in Scholasticall abilities they are not worthy to beare nor are they able to beare the volumes which some of them have written and partly by this pleading for Master Brerewood whom in many things I shall have cause to contradict to advertise the indifferent Reader that my purpose is to deale indifferently and without partiality in the Controversies of the Sabbath which hee may observe by my readinesse to right him even to a word or letter from whom
also further strength to this that Saint John in his Revel calleth this our Sabbath day the Sunday Dominicumdiem and afterward having set downe some generall duties of the day saith he m Ibid. p. 74. These things are not to bee done onely on the Sabbath day but every day even all our life long So doth that renowned and so admired n Sacratissimus antistes Lancelotus Andrewes linguarum artium scientiarum humanorum divinorum omnium infinitus Thesaurus stupendium oraâ—ulum c. So in the Title page the second edition of his Sermons Bishop of Winchester Bishop Andrewes who used to make a curious choice of his words as well as of his matter in his third Sermon of the Resurrection where speaking of the women that would have embalmed our blessed Saviour hee saith o B. Andrewes his 3d Sermâ—n on the Resurrection p. 406 407. Though they faine would have been embalming him yet not with breach of the Sabbath their diligence leap'd over none of Gods Commandements for haste no not this Commandement which of all other the world is most bold with and if they have haste somewhat else may but sure the Sabbath shall never stay them And beginning his Sermon at the Court on Whitsunday 1606. hee saith thus p B. Andr. his Serm. Acts 2. vers 2 3 4. pag. 595. Wee are this day besides our weekly due of the Sabbath to renew and to celebrate the yeerely memory of the sending down of the holy Ghost And even there where he set himselfe most seriously against Judaicall opinions viz. in his Speech against Mr. Traske in the Star-chamber hee saith thus q Ibid. In his Speech to the Starre-Chamber against Master Tracke pag. 72 73. and this name new Sabbath hee hath if the Authour of the Dialogue betwixt A. and B. reckon right twenty times in his Book called Catec Doctr. So the Dialogue betwixt two Divines A. B. edit 2. pag. 20. the Sabbath had reference to the old creation but in Christ wee are a new creature a new creation by him and so to have a new Sabbath if a new Sabbath then not no Sabbath as Doctor Pocklington would have it And the Bishop meaneth by that the Lords day which hee maintaineth against Master Traske who stood for Saturday the Sabbath of the Jewes Bishop Alley Bishop of Exceter in his Book called The poore mans Library printed Anno 1560. speaking of the due observation of the day wee celebrate saith r Bish Alleys Poore mans Library miscelan praelect 5. fol. 143. p. 2. All Governours and Housholders offend against this precept if they doe not their diligence to retaine the sanctifying of the Sabbath in their houses whosoever despise the Religion of the Sabbath give evident testimony in themselves of impiety and contempt of God c. Bishop King not long since Bishop of London Bishop King who in his time was accompted a very venerable Prelate and alwaies well affected to the Government of the Church before himselfe was made a Governour of it in his Lectures upon Jonah of severall impressions useth the name Sabbath divers times for Sunday or the Lords day as in his sixth Lecture where he reproveth carelesse dissolute and ill disposed persons he saith f Bishop King lect 6. p. 90. They love the thresholds of their private doores upon the Sabbaths of the Lord and their benches and ale-houses better then the Courts of the Lords house And a little after he taxeth them by the name of Profaners of our sanctified Sabbaths And in his seventh Lecture he hath these words t Ibid. lect 7. pag. 96. The Sabbath is reserved as the unprofitablest day of the seven for idlenesse sleeping walking rioting tipling bowling dancing and what not I speake what I know saith he upon a principall Sabbath For if the resurrection of Christ deserve to alter the Sabbath from day to day I see no cause but the comming downe of the Holy Ghost should adde honour and ornament to it I say upon a principall Sabbath c. Doctor Howson late Bishop of Durham though a reall opposite to the Sabbath in some particulars was not an enemy to that name when hee made mention of the thing for in his Sermon u Bish Howsons Sermon of Festiv pag. 6. edit 2. in defence of Festivities he hath these words Beloved Christians were any of those excellent Fathers in our times what thinke you he would say if he should see Oratoria turned into Auditoria Churches into Schooles our Sabbaths and Festivities not spent in cultu latriae but in hearing of Exercises as some call it c. though hee were no friend to the Sabbath either for the dignity of the day or the duties belonging unto it for both in opinion and practice he was opposite to preaching yet was hee not so ill affected to the name as Doctor Pocklington and others have been That very learned Bishop of Bath and Wells whose Sermons were so approved by Doctor Reynolds Bishop Lake that what he heard him preach hee still desired to reade and therefore used to crave a copy of his Sermon was not onely a friend to the name Sabbath for Sunday but a zealous pleader for it as we shall observe in another place And the Bishop of Exceter that now is who hath so decently dressed Devotion and Piety with delicacie of conceipt and elegancy of expression as to make it amiable in all eyes in his art of divine meditation saith in approbation of it thus * Bish Hall in the art of divine meditation cap. 10. p. 111. No Manna fell to the Israelites on their Sabbath on ours it doth Where the word Sabbath must bee necessarily understood in the word Ours And if so it be not plaine enough see further in his second booke of Characters where part of his description of a distrustfull man is this x Lib. 2. Charact p. 196. Hee dares not come to the Church for feare of the croud nor spare the Sabbaths labour for feare of want nor come neere the Parliament house for feare it should be blowne up I make no doubt but the Articles of Episcopall Visitations give allowance for the like use of the name Sabbath for Sunday or Lords day for so it is in the 15. Article of Archbishop Parker his Visitation Nor is it to be doubted but in Archbishop Whitgifts Articles the word was in the same sense for as we have noted before hee turned the word Sunday into Sabbath in translating a testimony out of Justin Martyr And sure wee are that Archbishop Bancroft used the word Sabbath for the Lords day foure times in his Articles of Visitation twice in two Articles viz. 75 76. whence it is probable that other Bishops were in phrase and forme of speech for that name conformable to them for in the Province of Yorke much more in that of Canterbury it was so as in our Diocesse of Chester Bishop Lloyd in his Visitation
as Sabbathary errours And though the Bishop pretend the errour of the old Sabbath and rigour of the new to have been so new that Bishop Andrewes and Master Hooker could not take notice of it being before their time and that therefore they tooke the lesse heed to their termes when they spake of our Christian and Weekly Holiday yet it is not like that either was unknowne unto them as he saith the heresie of Pelagius was to Chrysostome and Augustine when they wrote somewhat uncircumspectly concerning some points which he perverted For the conceipt of the necessity and perpetuity of the Saturday Sabbath hath bin the heresie of all Jewes and of some Christians ever since the Christian Sabbath was ordained and the most rigorous excesses touching the observation of the Lords day were published in a n M Rogers Prefat to the Art of Relig. printed anno 1607. Booke of generall note and common use before the passages cited out of Bishop Andrewes writings were published by himselfe or any one else at least before his Starre-chamber speech against Mr. Traske was made and in that speech though Traske were Jewishly conceipted of the Saturday Sabbath he gives the name Sabbath to the Lords day as hath been noted and even Doctor Howson Bishop of Durham though in his Sermon of Festivities hee mention the same straines of ever-strained severity in observation of the Christian Sabbath calleth Sunday or the Lords day for all that by the name Sabbath Besides the wiser sort well knew that to prejudice the piety and authority of the Lords day as from the fourth Commandement from whence the name Sabbath is derived upon it would bee to give too much countenance to Libertines and Antinomists whose heresie being plausible to the flesh by the craft of the Divell was like to find more welcome entertainment with the world then that opinion of the Saturday Sabbath or then those extreme severities in observation of the Lords day So that all doubts and dangers duely considered on both sides I make no doubt if most of those Worthies whose testimonies wee have produced for the name Sabbath were now alive to see the carriage of the cause in our daies but they would thinke it most convenient to continue the title Sabbath to the Lords day to make good their precedent by subsequent attestations to this truth and to adde their further care to oppose profanenesse which hath mightily advanced since the Legall and Evangelicall authority and piety of this day hath been so opposed I may say in the Bishops owne words and with reference to him opposed with an high hand for no hand so high as his did ever strive so to weaken the one and darken the other since the darknesse of Popery was by the light of the Gospel driven out of our English Horizon as his hath done Fourthly yet for all that as he desires I will judge charitably of him for my charity inclines mee to conceive that he wrote what he thought but withall my discretion telleth me that his pen marched in this quarrell after Jehu's pace in some pangs of passion which are no helps to true information in any difference whether of Religion or otherwise else hee would not have stained his stile with such infected phrases as o Bish Whites answer to the Dialogue p. 72. the mangy objections of the Dialogue-dropper and the scabby similitudes of old Thomas Cartwright termes more meet for the Frocke then for the Rochet If his Adversary dealt uncivilly with him I excuse him not if I might be so bold as to speak my mind of them both I should freely blame them for mingling so much of the drosse of their owne corruptions with the pure Gold of the Sanctuary in this cause of the Sabbath The fourth exception of the Bishop touching the testimony of his Brother Doctor John White answered Fourthly for that which is brought in in the name of his brother Doctor John White calling the Lords day by the name of Sabbath he replyeth thus There is not any contradiction between the two brethren in this Doctrine for the one brother calleth the Lords day Sabbath in a mysticall sense and the other brother saith that it is not the Sabbath of the fourth Commandement in a literall and proper sense Where he bringeth in againe the distinction of literall and mysticall taking literall in a negative sense for his owne part for he denieth the name in that sense and giving mysticall in a positive acception but with an implicite negation of the letter to his brother to which I answer First that had Doctor John White been alive when the Bishop wrote thus he could not I beleeve have made him such a yonger brother though hee were the elder brother and a Bishop both as to put upon him his opinions of the Sabbath either for the title or tenure Secondly the mist of that mis-application of mysticall and literall is already dispelled by the exposition of the Homily which containeth the Tenet of the Church of England so that we may say supposing his brother an Orthodox Doctor of this Church hee did not howsoever he should not so take the name Sabbath in a mysticall sense as to deny the literall in application to the Lords day Thirdly by that I have heard of that learned and godly Doctor both for his Doctrine where he preached and for his conversation where he lived I have cause to suspect his brother imposeth an opinion on him which he did not hold as he did on our Churches Homily before rehearsed Fourthly whosoever shall please to peruse the p Chap. 16. quotation out of Doctor John Whites Booke shall evidently see that he tooke the word Sabbath not in a mysticall but in a literall sense and without absurd and perverse wrestling of his words they cannot otherwise be expounded CHAP. XVIII A particular Answer to the particular exceptions made against the name Sabbath as applyed to Sunday or Lords day and first of the dangerous plot pretended by Doctor Pocklington in the use of the name Sabbath for Sunday and of his prodigious comparison of the name Sabbath on the Lords day and the crowne of Thornes on the Lords head WHat before wee have observed by way of exception against the word Sabbath was onely to note how farre by some it was disliked now wee must particularly examine the grounds and reasons of their dislike and give answer to them though some of them be rather passionate reproaches then probable objections Here the clamours of Doctor Pocklington are so loud that hee must needs first be heard with his accusations against the word Sabbath which if they be as true as they are hainous just cause there is to decree downe and cry down the name Sabbath as the name of him who to bee famous burned the Temple of Diana at Ephesus and thereupon became so infamous that all mention of his name was forbidden by a solemne Decree His charge on the use of
Jewish in opinion as n Mast Brab in his discours pag. 44. Master Braburne was in this point affixe the name Sabbath to Saturday whence it is that hee in his plea against applying the name to the Lords day appealeth to the Jewes at Amsterdam and elsewhere who call Saturday the Sabbath day o Ibid. whereto saith hee I may adde the Jewes reckoning of the dayes of the weeke Saturday they call Sabbath day Sunday they call the first day of the Sabbath Munday the second of the Sabbath c. In which accompt saith he no day is called Sabbath but Saturday nor can the Jewes or those that are Jewish abide to have the Lords day to be called Sabbath because they would exclude it from all right and title to the fourth Commandement as is plaine enough by that wee have already noted out of Master Brab and therefore that of p Doct. Pockl. Visit Serm. pag. 6. Doctor Pocklington before remembred viz. That a Jew should bee the Godfather and give it the name Sabbath as hee saith is a fancie which both superstitious Jewes and religious Christians will deny and deride Fourthly let those that thinke to call the Christian weekly Holiday by the name of Sabbath is Jewish consider whether it bee not now either Jewish or foolish to call Saturday by that name rather then the Lords day since Sabbath signifieth Rest and to say that Saturday must now be a day of Rest is Jewish and if it bee a workeday as wee take it to entitle it with a name so contrary to work is little lesse then foolish especially since wee have a day of rest to which that name with more congruity may be applyed For now to give Saturday a workeday with us that name of rest and to deny it to the Lords day wherein wee rest indeede is as if wee should call the body of a deceased King by the name of a King and deny that Royall title to the living person of his surviving Sonne and heire the heire of his Crowne Lastly For that which Master Ironside saith of gratifying the Jewes by applying the name Sabbath to ours Lords day and of their abhorring of the title Lords day as the greatest blasphemy I answer That wee shall gratifie the Jewes and those that are Jewish much more by giving up the name and title Sabbath unto their day then by applying it to ours for q M. Brab des of the Sab p. 54. Master Braburne when hee was most Jewish in this point made his exhortations to Ministers and people to refraine putting the name Sabbath day on the Lords day and with forbearance of the name hee requireth them r Ib. pag. 55. 288. to forbeare the use of the fourth Commandement the name Sabbath day therefore and the fourth Commandement saith hee must goe unseparable together hold the one and hold the other Ibid. renounce the one and renounce the other also But for the name of Lords day he was well enough pleased that it should be applyed to the day wee celebrate for when hee had exhorted to a forbearance of the name Sabbath hee enforceth his exhortation by this reason Å¿ Ibid. pag. 54. Wee have names enough besides wee may call it Sunday Lords day or First day of the weeke And which is more hee was then when hee did so Judaize in that point as never Christian did before him so farre from being offended at the title Lords day that hee pleaded for a right in it to the Jewes Sabbath t M. Brab defensâ— pag. 238. and in his discourse pag. 8. The Sonne of man saith hee is Lord of the Sabbath wherefore the seventh day may bee truely called the Lords day And if hee had beene a compleat Jew and so would not have allowed Christ to be called Lord yet it would have offended him more to heare the Lords day called Sabbath then Lords day simply For the name Sabbath in his conceipt dignifieth the Lords day with too high and holy a title u M. Brab his defence p. 52. for saith hee it is as if one should rob the Mistresse of her Jewels and bestow them on her Maid or should take the Crowne off the head of a King and set it upon a common subject as before wee had occasion to observe For Saturday saith hee hee meaneth as the Sabbath * Ib. pag. 53. is as the King or Mistresse to the Lords day which is x Ib. p. 52. but a common working day in Gods accompt And for that y M. Ironside cap. 12. of his quest of the Sab. pag. 121. Master Ironside saith of the Christians crossing of the Jewes in fasting on Saturday when they feasted it was not generall nay the greater part of the Christian world in z Aug. Ep. 19. ad Hier. p. 81. Saint Augustine his time did not fast on Saturday as hee hath recorded in his Epistle to Saint Hierom. Ob. 6. Yet by keeping up the name Sabbath some pretenders of piety cite many places of Scripture under that title which may incline to Jewish rigour and so cometh in the perill of Judaisme which the Bishop of Elie seemeth to suspect in the former objection Doctor a D. Pockl. Visitation Serm. p. 19. Pocklington more plainely complaineth of it when hee saith thus they must make a Sabbath of Sunday and keep up that name otherwise their many citations of Scripture mentioning onely the Sabbath applyed to Sunday will appeare so ridiculously distorted and wry neck'd that they will be a scorne and derision to the simplest of their deluded Auditorie And so doth b M. Brab def p. 53. Master Braburne in his Discourse By translating the name Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday saith hee the common people when they reade in the Scripture any thing of note touching the Sabbath day they presently cast that in their mindes upon the Lords day thinking it to bee meant of that The like is objected by c M. Irons Sab. quest 3. cap. 12. pag. 121 122. Master Ironside The name Sabbath may be and is become a snare to many weake ones and especially in reading of the Scriptures for wheresoever they finde the name Sabbath they presently conceive it to bee spoken of the Lords day and many times by this meanes fall into flat Judaisme as appeares by their quoting of the old Testament in the question in hand Answ First This objection if it have any weight in it maketh more against the reading of the fourth Commandement in our Communion Book and the Prayer annexed to it for inclination of the heart to keep that Law then against the simple name or title Sabbath for there is much more conformity with the Jewes in that then in this especially as some expound the Commandement with particular limitation of it to the Saturday Sabbath and whether it reach not also in part to prohibite the publick reading of some parts of Canonicall Scripture I will not determine