But yet since it 's no casie thing to obliterate and wholly to eradicate the matter of that Law which commands us to set apart a whole day within the compass of a week and refer it for Spiritual Labour therefore that sly Adversaries by his Emissaries whose wit is ready and that have a mercenary tongue for colouring Impostures changing their opinion at pleasure with the inconstant Ecebolius at the first only desputes after his crafty manner whether such a time be ordained of God These men more boldly than truly acknowledge the authority of time to be received not from Gods but Mens constitution as though the Lords-Day were like the Holy-dayes which were commanded the Romans namely such as the Praetors according to their arbitrary power did proclaim And so its observation should depend upon the civil Magistrate and Churches authority These things thus being handled after these mens will and others not strenuously applying their minds to retard the speedy course of their enterprises reasons are found out with a little ado for errour is a fruitful thing by which men not very religious and observant of piety may at last rush upon the constant sanctification of this time with unwashen hands and feet as the Proverb is and tread it under feet as if it were only instituted of God not for the sake of any Spiritual work but carnal idleness These things courteous Reader have given me occasion more narrowly to search out both the Institution and Sanctification of this time namely whether first it could be shown from the Fountain of holy Writ from whence wise men know we must always judge what is to be defined of every Divine Truth and the ancient practise of the following Church which learned it from the Apostles any part of time weekly be destined to performe the holy exercises of Religion Secondly by what Authority that time is imposed upon the Church Divine or Humane Thirdly in what things the solemn sanctifying thereof consisteth Touching all which what may be shown from the foresaid Fountains the following pages will briefly without prejudice of others judging according to truth by the grace of God inform us These are I say the things of which I have purposed to treat God assisting which before I enter on some things remain of which the Reader studihus of truth is timely to be admonished First of all though there be none of any authority and name amongst the Professors of more pure Christianity who beareth not most clear testimony to the Lords Festival yet in no case must we expect that all things which chiefly make for the illustrating it can be demonstrated out of the papers of the most approved Fathers in one age Nor can any one of right be offended or wonder at this since the reverend authority of the Fathers especially in the controversies that unhappily sprang up in their age is to be attended in weighing whereof they have professedly and openly declared what their mind was but in other things which they have touched upon only by the bye they have not so roundly shewed their judgements Besides we know there is no point of Christian Religion the illustration whereof hath not more and more increased in the Church by progress of time to effect which the succeeding Church was enforced through a certain necessity for sometimes the foolish frowardness of adversaries and sometimes the lewdly-imployed manners of their own men have required this that diverse Canons about some heads of Religion the knowledge whereof formerly increased in the Church should be appointed I believe none will deny that the most profound mystery of the Holy Trinity was known to the Christian Church from its infancy yet in several Councils of the succeeding Church diverse Canons were ordained about it The Reverend Fathers in the Council of Nice ordain that our Lord Jesus Christ is not a Creature and this they did according to Pauls word In the Council of Constantinople all profess they did believe that the Holy Ghost is true God as co-essential to God both Father and the Son In the Council of Ephesus under the Emperor Theodosius the younger the Divinity of the Son is again concluded These mysteries were illustrated by these new constitutions and yet who will be so mad as for that cause to contend they were first then known to the Church when these new Canons were set forth about them which only the Holy Fathers ordained to obviate the frowardness of Hereticks that either denyed er adulterated the received Truth that the Divine verity which the former Church embraced being obscured and held down by the wicked artifices of adversaries might be restored to its ancient vigour But not onely the madness of Hereticks but sometimes also the inordinate manners of Christians have occasioned new Canons ordaining about things formerly known for it was an usual thing for the Fathers to inquire into the manners of those Churches that were commended to their care and when they observed that their Christian people were ensnared in errour or wandring from the path of truth or at least walking not uprightly according to the received rule of piety they straightway used new Canons as medicines congruous to both these evils and so in the Church as in the Commonwealth good Laws grew out of evil manners And although the things that were before ordained were abundantly sufficient to quench those errours newly sprung up or reform their lewd manners yet either the new breaking out of errour or dilating of manners not at all consonant to the holy light of the Gospel and creeping every way like leaven were stopped by the bar of new Canons But thereupon we must not think that the former Church was not bound to the truth which was by a Postliminium established with new sanctions or to manners reformed by their authority Which is easie to be observed in this business of the Lords Day The succeeding Church through the care of the best Emperours having obtained peace established divers things about the Lords Festival which are not now extant in the Doctors of the Primitive Church But who will say that the piety established by new Canons for observing that solemnity was not known to the former Christians whenas even in the Apostles age as it shall afterwards appear from the Scriptures the Lords Day was solemnly used for all the exercises of Religion in which the true manner of keeping it holy doth consist And the Fathers of the succeeding Church ordaining new Canons about its solemnity have not concealed this as is to be seen in the second Council at Matiscon Can. 1. in which they gravely study to set forth the Lords solemnity but to this they were moved by the rash custome of some as they say who exposed the Lords day to contempt In Concil Cabilon held about the year 664. caution is taken for prohibiting Country labours on that day which thing when the Fathers did ordain they confess they did
manifest which it will be worth the while to know that for convocating the Church ordinarily more days were set apart after the Apostles death than the former Church observed Concerning the Assemblies of the Church while the Apostles were yet alive some things observable do occurr in the Evangelists the Holy Ghosts amanuenses and the faithful describers of the Acts of the Apostles in declaring whereof we will first consider what is recorded of the Apostles in this thing and then of the other members of the Church And first of all we will shortly touch upon the assemblies of the Apostles although they cannot truly be reputed amongst the ordinary conventions of the Church because which way soever the Apostles turned they took every occasion to preach the Gospel because they open us a way to understand others After the saving Passion of Jesus Christ our most merciful Redeemer the mention of the first of these at which were present the rest excepting Thomas occurrs Joh. 20. 19. in which Christ vouchsafed his presence The occasion of which meeting is not mentioned but doubtless as all Interpreters conjecture this was done that by their mutual presence they might comfort one another For as many as are Christs do perpetually incline to communicate all things whether their sorrows or joyes among themselves and then their Lord being gone their greatest fear was of the Jews for which cause we read that the place wherein they held their meeting was shut and barred when the Apostles were assembled they conferred among themselves of what divers related of Christs Resurrection the time of this meeting is noted in John it was the first day of the week and about evening of that day or after Sun-set at which time Christ having conquered the grave and death presented himself to them alive Secondly after eight dayes or the eighth day current from his appearing the same Evangelist tells us John 20. 26. that they were all met together where Jesus came again and stood in the midst of them Here some make a question whether the day of their second meeting was the eighth from the first or after the eighth day Cyril affirms it was the eighth or Lords day the first and last being reckoned neither doth it hinder that it 's said after eight dayes Christ taught that the Son of man must suffer many things c. and after three dayes rise again Mar. 8. 31. yet Christ rose from the dead on the third day from his burial not after the third day So also 't is said Luke 2. 21. When eight dayes were accomplished for the circumcising of the Child i. e. on the eighth very day for the H. Ghost speaks of the eighth day current and not finished so here after eight dayes or on the eighth day are all one It must be added also that Christ appeared in the evening of that day Afterwards some of the Apostles were together when they went to fish to whom also Jesus appeared Thirdly the General convention of all the Apostles is declared Act. 1. 4. in which they were commanded not to depart from Jerusalem but there wait for the promise of the Father and thither they came after the glorious Ascension of Christ where being gathered together they tarried for the Spirit promised of God the Father and Christ Luke reports that women also were present at this Congregation of the Apostles where they continued their meeting till the Feast of Pentecost abiding with one accord in Prayer and Supplication which fell out also on the first day of the week So thinks Isychius who sayes the day of Pentecost fell out on that day which our Saviour rose on and indeed whoever shall compare his reckoning with the Law of God about keeping Pentecost will find that Isychius in this misses not the truth at all For the day of Pentecost which the Scripture elsewhere calls the Feast of Weeks or of New-fruits because on that day the Shew-bread was offered out of the new fruits was the fiftieth inclusively from the day of offering the First-fruits Lev. 23. which was the day immediately next after the Passover on which the Lord Jesus who was the first-fruits of the dead lay in the Grave and the fiftieth day from that inclusively was the first in the week upon which the H. Ghost descended on the Apostles as they were that day assembled Act. 2. These are the meetings which the Holy Scripture testifies the blessed Apostles held upon the fiftieth day from Christs resurrection which being held upon the first day of the Week Christ oftentimes honoured with his presence But why they met on that and not another day it is not easie to declare although one may guess at the cause of the first and last meeting yet hath the Holy Ghost shewn us nothing of the second occasion And it 's uncertain whether Christ before his death or for those forty dayes wherein he reasoned with them after his resurrection of things pertaining to the Kingdome of God gave his Apostles any command for setting apart some new time for their meetings Epiphanius sayes they knew very well that the Sabbath was at an end from his converse with them and Doctrine before his Passion This at least is an indubitable truth that they met on the first day of the week and that Christ made renowned their meeting held on that day by his own gracious presence and mission of the Holy Ghost And St. Cyril must be credited Holy Congregations are held at this day of right in Churches because on that day Jesus appeared to his Apostles as they were met together Nor doth Isychius think otherwise in the place afore quoted Therefore according to those most grave Fathers because the eighth day was made famous with the presence of Christ and the gifts of the Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven it is at this day also by the Church solemnized with a more honourable worship Afterwards the Apostles together with the faithful are said daily to meet to hear the word of God and receive bread Act. 2. 46. Yea the Apostles ceased not to teach from house to house and in the Temple Act. 5. 42. And these are the things which the Holy Ghost hath afterwards left us written in the Holy Scriptures concerning the Apostles meetings to the solemnizing whereof we read not that they observed a certain or set time because they had to do with the Jews to whom before others according to the ancient prophecies the Gospel was to be declared Therefore the Apostles were often present at the Jews assemblies â—nd that upon their Sabbaths And whether the Apostles when first they went forâ—â—â—o preach the Gospel met apart from the Jews amongst themselves on other daâ—â—s the Holy Ghost is silent in the Scriptâ—re But at that time the Candidates of Christianity being hindred with fear of the Jews could not without great difficulty meet together We must then think they held their
them out furnished with special authority to gather the Church to lay whose foundations belong to the Apostolical dignity out of the promiscuous multitude of all nations and so they were sent out by Christ to all Nations without any exception for which cause when a Church was planted in any part of the world whither they came they fixed not but removed some other way Thirdly They were endued with that abundance of Grace of the Holy Ghost for the Ministry committed to them by the Lord that they preached the truth of the Gospel infallibly I know sayes Hierom how to esteem of the Apostles in one manner of other Doctors after another that those alwayes taught the truth these in some things did erre as men Whence the Doctrine commended to the Church by the Apostles was alwayes accounted for the rule and Canon of all Christian Religion Fourthly The Apostles at the beginning of the Church by the visible sign of imposition of hands conferred the gifts of the Holy Ghost upon others that were instructed of them in the Doctrine of the Gospel and they were endued with divers other gifts of Miracles by which their call was rendred clear both to themselves and others Matth. 10. 8. And these are the signs by which the blessed Apostle teaches us that he had executed the office of a true Apostle in the Church of Corinth 1 Cor. 12. 2. Deservedly for these causes were they that were elected to the honourable state of Apostolical dignity preferred to other Ministers of the Church not only in the chief eminency of Order but of Power and hence it was that all questions respecting the affairs of the whole Church were propounded to be discussed by the Apostles whom all the Churches consulted in doubtful cases as may be seen Acts 15. 2. 1 Cor. 7. 1. and whatever they determined the whole Church every where embraced which made a conscience of departing a fingers breadth from those things that were committed to them by the Apostles If therefore the solemnity of the Lords Day was celebrated while the Apostles were living which the Scriptures testifie was done as we have seen chap. 2. it must of right chiefly be imputed to their ordination otherwise without doubt the Universal Church had not followed it Baronius thinks that all who are well in their wiâ—â— will say that since it is found that it was done in the Apostles times it could not be ordained and commanded to be kept of any other but of themselves Neither is any thing worthy consideration brought to the contrary except it be because the Blessed Apostles have left no singular command with the Church for the observation of this day although he that shall attend their practise may lawfully deny this since their example and practise hath the force of a precept But who will deny that some things were instituted of the Apostles in the Church whose use while they were alive I pass not for Traditions introduced into the Church when the Apostles were dead was grown out with the primitive Christians of whose first institution or necessary continuation afterwards no precept is extant in the Scriptures yet who will be bold to extenuate the authority of these commands or will affirm that the Church at this day is not obliged to observe them because their observation being mentioned in Scripture is as it were a command by vertue whereof the Church is bound to continue them The thing will be more plain by examples The Apostles ordained Deacons Act. 6. and Elders in every Church Act. 14. 23. In the Ordinations of all Ministers imposition of hands was used but where is there extant an express commanâ— from Christ for perpetuating the ordination of those the institution of these or for the use of this ceremony yet none doubts but that the Apostles in performing of these were acted by a Divine instinct of the Spirit and that the Church at this day is bound to them by vertue of Apostolical institution But that I may briefly shew that the blessed Apostles and no others were the authors of this solemnity that which follows may suffice If it were observed while they were yet living which the Scriptures do evidently enough manifest it is deservedly to be ascribed to their ordaining it for it was either instituted by them and their authority or by some other Doctors of the Church without their consent a third way is not given the latter whereof is absurd and never to be admitted of any exercised in the Christian Faith because the Apostolical authority as formerly we have abundantly enough shewn was supreme in the Church it belonged to them to declare to the Christian flock what was best to be done in all things and not to the Church to prescribe them Statutes and Laws Why therefore did it not appertain to the Apostles the faithful founders of the Church amongst other things to commend this also to the Church and not to the Church to prescribe it the blessed Apostles Moreover the general consent of all Churches in celebrating this festival evinceth the same otherwise they had dissented from one another as in other observations not received from the Apostles but observed for a time by the succeeding Church as in the Feast of the Passover in observing Fasts c. so doubtless it would have happened in celebrating the Lords Day if by Divine authority received from the Apostles its observation had not been used amongst the Christians Thirdly if the Christian Church had ordained that day to be celebrated without the advice of the Apostles either those that turned Christians from Jews or Gentiles had done this but not those to whom the cessation of their old Sabbath was not known but by the Apostles much less would they attempt to do this by themselves or on their own authority Neither will any wise man think that those whom the Apostles invited from Heathenism to embrace the Christian faith were the authors of this Festival because it is not usual with them to Sabbatize after the manner of the Church unless so far as they were instructed to it by the Apostles Fourthly if the Holy Apostles by authority committed to them from Christ had not instituted the Lords Day but had left its observation free to the judgment of the Church then we might on good reason have called the Church the Queen of the Sabbath which yet is a very clear argument of Christs Divinity as the Learned Dr. Paraeus piously for none is Lord of the Sabbath but he that hath instituted the Sabbath c. The Sabbath is of the Lord they God Lastly if its authority did depend upon the Churches institution then it may by it be again abolished when it shall think good but this was never hitherto since Christs ascension attempted because the Lords day being taken away the publick worship of God must of necessity fall Since therefore the observation of the Lords day was used while the Apostles were
living it must altogether be ascribed to them as the first founders of the Church Moreover if it should be granted that this solemnity was instituted of the Apostles others ask Whether therefore doth this Ordination lean upon a Divine right We passing by this rather curious than sound Disputation Whether the Ordinance of the Lords day be an institution of God or his Apostles discussed by some doltish and drowsie men do acknowledge with all willingness as the ancients did that it was introduced by Divine authority And although its authority should be granted to be of Apostolical institution it would not thence follow that it is not Divine unless something be ordained in the Church by the Apostles which the Holy Ghost did not inspire them with which will not easily be admitted of any that is in his senses because the postles in all matters delivered those things to the Churches which they received from Christ as St. Paul witnesseth 1 Cor. 11. 23. and according to Christs precept taught men that embraced the Gospel to observe those things which Christ had commanded them Matth. 28. 20. So judgeth Tertullian The Apostles saith he chose nothing which they brought in at their own pleasure but faithfully appointed to the nations that discipline they received from Christ. And why should I believe that the Apostles were less acted with the Divine Spirit in their Sacred Institutions which they imposed upon the Churches than in promulgating the Doctrine of the Gospel For there is nothing Apostolical done by a right that is not Apostolical i. e. Divine and nothing done by them but the Holy Ghost endites it to them and therefore what they did they did by Divine right and that their facts which are certain and not onely their saying or writings are of Divine right cannot be denied The Apostle shews it necessary that he that is a Prophet or spiritual man must acknowledge that they are the Lords Precepts which he hath written to the Churches 2 Cor. 14. 37. Surely nothing was enjoyned the Church by the Apostles which was not first prescribed by the Lord because the Apostles were to teach what they learned of Christ which thing they performed with great faithfulness neither will any one who savours the things of the spirit deny this and yet I acknowledge that some things were instituted of them for a time inasmuch as whose occasions were singular and not to be continued wherefore those ordinations were mutable which yet cannot be affirmed of the Lords Day If there be any of the Fathers therefore who think that the institution of the Lords day was made by the Apostles they are not so to be understood as if they acknowledged it not for Divine but Humane because the same Fathers elsewhere are not affraid to ascribe it to God and Christ and they acknowledge that the blessed Apostles were not the authors of this solemnity but the Holy Ghosts amanuenses i. e. as Leo interprets it who writ their Decrees by virtue of a Divine authority in propounding it to the Church For which cause the most pious Leo hath ordained abstinence from labours on the Lords Day because this seemed good to the Holy Ghost and the Apostles instituted thereby and confesseth that that day was abundantly honoured by the Lord. The Lords Day therefore was instituted of the Apostles as the faithful Architects of the Christian Church by extraordinary power which continues not now in the Church and by inspiration of the Holy Ghost that Christians might be obliged not by Humane but by Divine authority to keep holy Convocations and to celebrate the private exercises of godliness on that day Apostolical grace saith Ambrose hath raised up the dead which although it was not the grace of the Apostles but of Christ as the Apostles themselves confess Acts 3. 12. 16. is called Apostolical because it was poured out upon them and by his help they raised up the dead So here the Lords day is called an Apostolical Institution not because it is a mere ordinance of the Apostles as they were Christians but because it was instituted of Christ by those who were endowed with extraordinary power But as I have said this is the onely thing that vexes them that call in question the authority of this institution that there is no place extant in Scripture in which by Divine authority the solemn observation of this day seems to be enjoyned These are men of subtil wits who as the Proverb goes cannot see the wood for trees Whose opinion when I consider that in the Author Oper. Imperf in Matthae comes into my mind where the Priests of old that rail'd upon the people that paid not their tythes are sharply reproved for not reproving those that sinned against God If any of the people faith he offer not his tithes the Priests did so reprove him as if he had committed some great fault because he had not offered the tenth part of any thing though never so little but if any of the people had sinned against God or injured any one or done any such thing none cared for reproving him as though he had committed no fault who had sinned against God and very careful they were of their own gain but careless of the glory of God and salvation of men Whose fault in this thing he accommodates to the Bishops Elders and Deacons of the Church as guilty of this crime Even so must we judge of these men With what heat of mind and earnestness do the very authors of this doubt contend for tythes which they cry out that the Lord hath indulged to the Church under the Gospel by a Divine right whenas yet they cannot produce one plain testimony out of the New Testament for their bestowing on the Ministers of the Gospel but about the Lords Day whose being observed more than once by the Christian Church is plain enough in the Scriptures their faith is wavering nor can they be perswaded to believe that its authority can be demonstrated out of the Word of God Let others judge whether they be worthy Tenths who deny Sevenths if I may say so to God But for their sakes admitting the Law about Tythes I would ask this Whether it 's likely that the most good great and wise God who hath put the seasons of times in his own power Act. 1. 7. would determine any thing certain of a Salary to be bestowed on the administrators of his Worship when yet he left nothing certain in the Church of the time in which his worship should be performed It 's a wise mans part first to determine the work and a fit time to do it in and then the wages where with they that under went it are to be rewarded The Parable Math. 20. relates how the housholder hired Labourers but first he signified what he would have them do and then he agreed with them for a penny a day If therefore they assert that Tythes are allowed
de Idol cap. 14. saith the Sabbaths are extraneous to Christians and that Holy dayes were sometime time beloved of God The Nazaraei observing the Sabbath are branded for Heresie by Epiphanius l. 1. num 30. and likewise the Ebionites If it had been the Christians duty to observe Sabbaths why had the Catholicks imputed its observation as a fault to the Hereticks which yet they have done more than once as sure as sure can be But Christians have celebrated their Lords day every where without brand of heresie or any other crime and therefore since the festivity of the Sabbath was not every where in use with the Christian Church nor doth any where occurr any Apostolical ordination for continuing it in the Church we do by good right affirm that Christians are not obliged to its celebration which to affirm of the Lords day that was observed in the Apostles age and ever after is an heirrous thing 2. When meetings were held on Sabbath dayes they met not weekly on all Sabbaths as they came about for on one Sabbath publick Conventions were to be omitted if we may believe the foresaid Constitutions so it 's ordained Constit Ap. lib. 5. cap. 19. and what that is they explain the Sabbath in the great week Constit Ap. c. 24. lib. 7. The Sabbath of the Lords burial on which it's fit we should fast but not celebrate a festival So also August to Casulanus Ep. 86. but for the omitting Church-assemblies on the Lords day as often as it came about and were safe for the Church for the Persecution of the Tyrants we read nothing was ever ordained of the ancients There is a sanction in the same Constitutions that the Lords day should be celebrated without intermission Lib. 7. cap. 31. 3. In populous Cities where without dammage to their Estates they could be present at reading of Scripture and their interpretation meetings were more frequently kept Therefore the Council of Laodicea decrees that the Gospels should be read on the Sabbath Can. 16. Ambrose treated of Prayer the same day de Sacram. lib. 4. c. 6. But all the exercises of piety were not every where performed in those assemblies that yet were not omitted on the Lords day Augustine saith in another place On the Lords day only the Communion of the Lords Body and Blood is used Socrates doth not record that they of Alexandria and Rome did celebrate those mysteries on the Sabbath While Chrysostom requireth it of the rich Lords of Villages that they build Churches in them Hom. 18. in Act. he distinguisheth those congregations that were on other days from those that were held upon the Lords day Upon those Congregations Prayers and hymns were had in these an oblation was made on every Lords day and for that cause the Lords day is in Chrysostom called dies panis i. the day of bread Athanasius purgeth himself of a calumny imputed to him for breaking the cup because it was not the time of administring the holy mysteries for it is not saith he the Lords day Whence it is evident that the Lords Supper was administred on the Lords dayes otherwise the argument wherewith Athanasius purgeth himself were of no weight Although therefore they met upon the Sabbath day yet did they not every where observe it equally to the Lords day on which they celebrated all the mysteries of Religion 4. The people were free to be present or absent from Sabbath-day meetings as they saw good that is they were not obliged by any necessity of law to meet on that day for the Sabbatarii contending for a necessary observation of the seventh day were of the whole Christian Church condemned of heresie in this behalf as I have briefly shewn before I confess Origen reproves his hearers which came seldom to hear the Word of God that scarce did come to the Church on Feast dayes Gregory Nyssen in that Oration which he made against those that would scarce endure reproofs nips the people that met not on the Sabbath With what eyes saith he lookest thou on the Lords Day that despisest the Sabbath Dost thou not know that these dayes are Sisters that if thou reproach the one thou offendest the other But he speaks of those who had oftener liberty to meet for hearing the Word which they regarded not to embrace out of a certain supine negligence or being puffed up with pride despised the Church-meetings on Sabbath-dayes Whether it was the sluggishness or arrogance of these men it was deservedly blameable whenas they might divers dayes meet at Church without dammage of their worldly affairs which yet to do they were not easily moved although the duties of their calling would bear it In the old Testament some hours in a week were consecrated to Gods Worship Numb 28. 3. but yet all the day long the whole people of Israel should not attend on the holy duties of piety this was only enjoyned to them that could commodiously do it So in the Churches planted by the Apostles they met on other dayes as often as they could besides the Lords dayes but on the Lords dayes appointed for this end they were bound to be present at the publick assemblies and their absence for a certain time from these on the Lords day was to be reprehended by the sentence of the first Concil Eliberitan Can. 21. And yet where are any Canons established for punishing their absence from Sabbathday-meetings Although the Fathers do often reprove those that come seldome on the Sabbath and other dayes to hear the Word 5. Although on the Sabbath dayes they might meet to hear the holy Oracles of God yet when that dayes meetings were ended they might not be idle but an Anathema is denounced to them that work not on that day Conc. Laodic Can. 29. Ignatius in an Epistle to the Magnesians exhorts them to spend the Sabbath in labours without rest and therefore the Sabbath had not its vacation from labours So Athan. de semente Ambros Ep. 72. which we never read was ordained of the Lords day on which it's a sin to give our selves to labour And let these things suffice for the Lords dayes prerogatives above the Sabbath by which we find that the Sabbath day was not kept holy of the Church i. e. the ancients did not separate it from common use and labour nor consecrate it wholly to God in an holy rest that on it the acts of Divine Worship and those things that pertain to a spiritual life should only be exercised neither were the conventions on that day to be compared with those held on the Lords day which things surely once to define had been much to our profit For the Institution of other dayes to hold meetings on it 's not needful to take much pains since we have nothing writ of it in the Word of God as of the Lords day and many things which were not instituted of the Apostles but first arose in
particular Churches were introduced by little and little into other which at length in process of time are made more common which Socrates ascribes to the Bishops of divers Churches and those that received such rites from the Bishops transmitted them as a law to Posterity as in other things so in the meetings of the Church it 's to be observed whose original was not used by the Church in the Apostles age Epiphanius in Panario tells us of Synaxes Ecclesiae quarta Prosabbato Dominico fartas Constantine the Great ordained by Law the Parasceve to be celebrated of which nothing is yet extant in Scripture but Sozomen seems to touch upon the cause of its institution who sayes that Constantine gave great honour to the holy Cross both for the help that was brought him in managing his wars against his enemies through its vertūe and also for the heavenly Vision that was offered him about it which things teach us that Constantine if we may say so of so godly an Emperour did very superstitiously worship the Cross whence it happened that he attributed more to the Cross than was fitting and for that cause instituted that day to be set a part for meetings in memorial of Christs Passion on that day accomplished Yet who will from that sanction compare the observation of that day ordained of Constantine and not of the Apostles with the Lords day which was long before Constantines dayes observed of the Church which we must take for certain did so often meet to hear the word of God as it fitly could Afterwards we shall see that the Fathers did treat to their people out of the Scriptures almost every day yet I trust none will equallize every day on which these assemblies were holden to the Lords day But these assemblies were free neither was the universal Church obliged by any law to keep them which yet we acknowledge of the Lords day therefore I will add no more of them And from what hath been said the attentive Reader will easily perceive that no day was observed of the whole Catholick Church with that solemnity that the Lords day was and that on the Sabbath day the Christians did not intermit their ordinary labours Now having gotten out of a very troublesome disputation I hasten to that which in the third place I thought to enquire about namely Whether Anniversary Feasts were observed of the Church with greater solemnity than the Lords day as some think especially because amongst the ancients they were sometimes equalled to the Lords day and sometimes far preferred to it From the Passover-holy-dayes until Pentecost being intentive on Prayers they did no more bend the knees than on the Lords dayes yea the answer in Justin affirms the same things that Pentecost was in equal power with the Lords day The same is ordained in the twentieth Canon Conc. Nic. 1. Mention also is made of this custome in other Fathers Basil de S. Sancto cap. 27. Tertul. de corona milit cap. 3. Hieron advers Luciferianos Aug. Epist 118. cap. 15 17 c. From their freedom from kneeling some conclude the equality of these dayes which I acknowledge was interdicted on those dayes and they were glad for their immunity at that time from their Fasts and yet I do not think that those dayes are to be compared with the Lords Verily if these prerogatives had constituted an holy day they that for this cause judge the dayes of Pentecost to be equalled to the Lords had said something but if they so think I doubt not at all but they are mistaken and what St. Austin sometime answered Urbicus disputing against those that dined on the Lords day is hither to be referred Austin concludes the Lords day must be preferred to the Sabbath for the faith of the Resurrection not for custom of refection that is they prefer not the Lords day to the Sabbath because they remit fasting on it which yet they do not on the Sabbaths but because it was declared to the Christians to be the Lords day by the Resurrection of the Lord and thereupon began to have its own festivity So we say here the dayes of Pentecost are not to be compared with the Lords Day although as well on those as on this the time was passed without bowing and fastings because the ordination whereby bowing and fasting were interdicted them was merely humane Austin thinks it is not defined by the Lords command or the Apostles on what dayes to fast and not many ages since while the Lords solemnity remained in the Church that ordination was vanisht No body therefore that 's alwaies one can by right compare the solemnity of Pentecost with the Lords whose institution afterwards we will prove Divine neither is there in the places cited made any comparison of that with this amongst the Fathers but only in regard of that immunity Ambrose saith For these fifty dayes the Church knoweth not fasting as the Lords day Afterwards he addeth they are all as the Lords day because upon them as he said as on the Lords day there was a relaxation of fasting After the same manner are Justin Martyr and Tertullian de cor mil. to be understood That I may therefore dispatch in a word if the Lords day had not been celebrated in the Apostles age and if it had been honoured with no other prerogatives than immunity from bowing and fasting then certainly they would have equallized them to this day but that this is false even as the Proverb is the blearcyed and barbers know and so they conclude arguing like Sophisters from that which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And thus far of the equality of some dayes with the Lords which some men dream of It will farther also be worthy our consideration to know whether some Feasts which they call anniversary were preferred of the Church to the Lords day To those that think thus it is enough to answer them once after this manner Whereas we cannot read that the Holy Ghost in Scripture affords a testimony to the institution or observation of these they are to be received as humane institutions which omitting others may be cleared by this one argument If those feasts had been instituted of the Apostles then they had been observed every where by the Church in the same manner and time according to the rule of Vincentius Lirinensis yet the contrary doth plainly appear by Ecclesiastical Writers and Fathers which it will not be irksome to demonstrate in some of them If the Feast of the Passover had been ordained by the law of Christ or his Apostles sayes the learned Chamier then that law had unanimously been propounded of the Apostles and accordingly celebrated of all Churches in the same manner at least at the beginning But that is not to be found which the unhappy controversie about this matter whereby the concord of divers Churches hath wonderfully been interrupted sheweth
manner as the Church did in remembrance of the Lords Resurrection doth make mention of this day whence it is collected that the Church did celebrate the Lords day otherwise Eusebius had not affirmed that the Ebionites had done it after the same manner as the Church did And the testimonies which follow teach us the same Cyprian mentions this day which he calls the first after the Sabbath Basilius M. saith the Church standing up made their supplications on the first day of the week which he calls the beginning of dayes De Sp. Sanct. c. 27. Chrysostom saith on the first day of the week or the Lords day the Christians ceased from all labour that by their relaxation and holy dayes the minds of the offerers might become more cheerful Ambrose on the Lords day after the readings and treating of the Creed communicated Baptism to the Competentes i. to those who being instructed in the Christian faith sought Baptism Aug. Retract lib. 1. ch 17. libro de Fide operibus cap. 6. at the Fonts of the Church We meet with frequent mention of this day in St. Austin Ep. 119. c. 13. and in the end of those Books De Civit. Dei lib. 22. c. 30. also Serm. 15. de verbis Apostoli and many times elsewhere Hilary saith the Church doth joyfully celebrate a Festival on the eighth day which is also it self the first of a perfect week Prol. in Psalmos Amongst the Holy-dayes confirmed by the laws of the Emperours Valens Theodosius and Arcadius the Sundayes which their Ancestors rightly called the Lords-dayes were reckoned Leo also and Athenius ordain the Lords day to be alwayes venerable and honoured a Leo in the same place by his eleventh law ordains that all should cease from their labours on the Lords dayes I can also bring forth many more testimonies for confirming the truth of this solemnity yea of all that have flourish'd in the Church of Christ to this very day But I will add no more lest I should seem to lend light to the Sun and those that have been cited hitherto do abundantly enough declare that the Lords day was alwayes solemnly kept of the Church because the holy Fathers acknowledge it for the chief yea for an holy day On it the Church ceased from their labours on it solemn assemblies were kept or they rejoyced in the festival of the Sabbath perfected on it the Scriptures were handled the Sacraments were administred on it the Church made supplications and therefore it is numbred amongst the chief solemnities of the Christians and is provided for by the laws of godly Emperours that studied all they could to promote the Worship of God that the holy solemnity of that day should not be defiled by labours or any pleasures But although those most Religious Emperours ordained the Lords day as was fitting to be celebrated it would be ridiculous from thence to conclude that the Lords Festival was not celebrated in the Church before they came to the Empire The Christians as hath appeared from the premises attended to celebrate this Festival when as yet there were no Magistrates Christian on whose authority the ordination of the Lords day doth not depend even over the whole world when the preaching of the Gospel came For which cause as we shall by and by hear divers under Dioclesians Reign were punished But when the Emperours became Christian they ordained that the solemnity which was before observed of the Christians by Christs authority should also by their own laws be celebrated and took care that others should not defile it by worldly businesses or the pleasures of the Flesh but they did not institute it at the first Constantine the Great the first of the Christian Emperours having got the whole Roman Empire by publick Edict commanded his Subjects that they should observe the Christian Religion as witnesseth Sozomen yet no man well in his wits will thence inseâ—r that the Christian Religion was then first known to the world although the free exercise of it was not safe before he was set happily over the Government of the Empire So must we think of the Lords solemnity which the Church of God observed not without great danger before the Emperours embraced the Christian Faith but after that the Emperours became nursing-fathers of the Christian Religion they did it freely a Law being made of the Emperours for this end Moreover let none be offended that before the times of Constantine publick Judges did attend the hearing of Law-suits on the Lords day which to do was declared unlawful in his Reign as though if the Lords day had been formerly known to the World Magistrates had been forbidden the exercise of publick judicatures on that day that most godly Emperour greatly contended by all means that he could to promote our Religion and for the greater solemnity of this Festival provided that all Court clamour should on that day cease Before his most auspicious Government the publick Magistrates did attend Judicatures even on the Lords day and no wonder for before he got the stern of Government the Judges were not Christian but under his Reign the Christians began to bear almost all the Offices of the Roman Empire most whereof he dignified with authority some with the Senators office many also with the Consular dignity But after the Judges embraced the Christian truth they submitted themselves to this law of celebrating the Lords day with greatest good will and did rest the parties from their controversies in honour of that day I might also add this It was needful that one law being made for observing the Lords day by another he should interdict the Judges from the cognizance of causes on that day For it was provided by the Roman Laws That no Judge should presume on his own authority to make any holy dayes He therefore made this Law in favour of the Judges who might know on what dayes they should attend the Office which the Emperour committed to them and on what they should keep holy dayes free from the same These things thus being weighed in an equal scale it appeareth that the Law for not hearing Law-suits on the Lords day doth detract nothing from the honour of its solemnity but rather much conduce to favour it That I may at length put an end to this Chapter We have seen how the Fathers have piously admonished the Church to celebrate the Lords day and the Emperours by their Laws made for this purpose very carefully provided that the Christian people should obey their admonitions so also we may find it observable from the Writers of those times that the Christians did celebrate this day's solemnity with as much devotion of Religion as they could and therefore while they prayed on that day towards the East they fell into a suspicion of worshipping the Sun with the Heathen amongst whom they lived that hated the Christian name Yet could they by
celebrate the Sabbath He grants then that the Sabbaths observation was according to the law of Nature that is that it was constituted by God at the Creation of Nature St. Austin sayes also that the Jews acknowledge that God sanctified a day since which he began as it were to rest from his labours So Solomon Iarchi in Gen. 26. By whom is cited R. Simson in Is 58. Aben Ezra in Exod. 20. Da. Kimchi Manasses Ben-Israel in Deut. 5. and all the Doctors of the Jews excepting Maimonides These things shew that the Jews had knowledge that the Sabbath was observed from the Creation from whom the observation of the Sabbath was very well known to the inhabitants of the whole World Of the Christians also divers both antient and modern were of this opinion a few of whose testimonies we will lightly touch Theophilus Antiochenus lib. 2. ad Antolicum saith That God finished the work that he made on the seventh day and blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because on it he rested from every work he made c. He saith not that God did consecrate the seventh day that afterwards only it might be sanctified of the Israelitish Church but so soon as the work of Creation was consummate the seventh day was of God both blessed and sanctified Afterwards he acknowledges that the seventh day was solemnized amongst all men which the Hebrews call the Sabbath and Greeks the seventh day although most know not the cause of that name And what cause was unknown to the most namely the holy resting of God on that day and its sanctification whereof Theophilus made mention a little before Tertullian saith that Christ fulfilled the Law while he made the Sabbath day which was holy from the beginning by the blessing of the Father more holy by his own doing good on it Cyprian confesseth that the Seventh day Holy day from the Creation of the world obtained authority because in six dayes Gods works were finished and the seventh consecrated to rest as holy and sanctifying honoured with a solemnity of vacation and entitled to the sanctifying Spirit Lactantius is of the same opinion God finished the world and this admirable work of the Creation in six dayes space and then ordained the seventh day whereon he rested from his works This is the Sabbath day Lactantius therefore fetcheth the sanctification of the Sabbath from the Creation and not from the History of Manna St. Athanasius saith that God rested when he had finished the former Creation and therefore the men of that generation observed the Sabbath on the seventh day Where he acknowledges that the Sabbath was observed from the Creation till Christ for he saith that all men of that generation did observe the Sabbath where he speaketh of the whole time from the beginning of the world till Christ Greg. Nyssen Lo here is for thee the Sabhath blessed from the beginning of the world mark it by that Sabbath this Sabbath the day of rest which God hath blessed above other dayes Chrysost God hath blessed and sanctified that day What is it that he hath sanctified it he hath set it apart from other dayes After when he tells us the cause why he hath sanctified it he addeth because on that he rested from all his works which God began to make Now God intimateth to us this Doctrine from the beginning teaching us that within the compass of a week one whole day is to be set apart and spent in spiritual work Therefore according to Chrysostom the Sabbath Day since the Creation was set apart from other dayes and plainly it appears that for that ordination the world is bound to dedicate one whole day of the week to the worship of God Aug. ult cap. postrem lib. de Civitate Dei while he is describing that everlasting Sabbath which the Saints shall enjoy in heaven he referrs the institution of the Sabbath to the resting of God from the work of creation He doth the like in Epist. ad Casulanum where he saith that God sanctified the seventh day when he rested on it from all his works and afterwards gave command about its observation to the Hebrew people Augustine therefore doth acknowledge that the use of the Sabbath was amongst the ancients before it grew common amongst the Hebrews namely first at the beginning before Moses and afterwards in the Church of the Jews Theodoret. He hath bestowed a blessing on the seventh day instead of creating lesâ— that day only above others should want its hoâ— nour and he hath put Hallowed it foâ— set it apart And afterwards In blessing the seventh day he hath shown that he thought it not an unprofitable and superfluous day but hath ordained it to be applied to rest Who doth not see that in Theodorets opinion from the beginning the Sabbath was set apart for the worship of God from other dayes So when he answers the question why he commanded not the Sabbath to be celebrated on another day because the God of all hath created every thing in six dayes but on the seventh day he made nothing but honoured this day with a blessing as it is added in six dayes the Lord thy God made Heaven and Earth and rested the seventh wherein he teaches us that even then this day was consecrated of God to rest and sanctification from the beginning of the world Alexander Hales affirmes that the Sabbath before the Law was observed of the Fathers and of the same opinion are divers of the Schoolmen Now if any have a mind to reckon up the grave opinions of the aforesaid Fathers he will not deny that the Sabbath day was solemnly kept from the very beginning of the world because by the judgment of them all the Sabbath was sanctified by God nor do the Fathers speak of the purpose of God as though it was not then really set apart for the worship of God but according to his purpose it was only destined for this that after two thousand years it should be set apart for this end for say they when God had finished his work of Creation the Sabbath was sanctified from the beginning or from the creation of the world when he had rested from his works from the Creation till Christ c. and therefore they acknowledge that the Sabbath day was solemnized amongst all men or all men of the former generation that is from the beginning of the world till Christ a long time before its use was established amongst the Jews All these things are affirmed in round words by the Fathers Out of which it clearly appears that one day of the week was alwayes set apart to the worshipping of God publickly And as the best of the ancients were of this opinion so the chief of our late writers that have flourished in the Reformed Churches do affirm that God did from the beginning of the world sanctifie the seventh day for his
Church when the image is removed Ruffinus contendeth for observing the Sabbath though not carnally or in Jewish delights To these let be added a place in Constit Apost lib. 7. cap. 37. which tells us that the Lords day supplies the room of the Sabbath All these things argue that the pious Fathers did not under the Gospel explode that precept in the Decalogue about the Sabbath and therefore sometimes under the name of the Sabbath which to them the Lords day is signified as we have seen chap. 3. For they yield that Christ fulfilled and not destroyed the Law by his coming and that Christians are to rejoyce on the Sabbaths festival and that the solemnity of this festival is grounded on the Command in the Decologue and seem only to stand for this that now it should not be in that manner celebrated of Christians that the Sabbath was amongst the Jews They celebrated the Sabbath on the seventh day and flinging off the weighty care of godliness gave themselves up to idleness and delights of this world but the Fathers taught that Christians ought not so to keep the Sabbath who should keep the first day of the week holy not carnally but spiritually For they judged it far better under the light of purer Christianity as after shall appear to labour on the Sabbath than to attend on the alluring pleasures of the world But though they abhorred the Jewish manner of observing the Sabbath yet they alwayes ordained one day of the seven as Chrysostom speaks to be bestowed in the worship and service of the common Lord of us all And therefore passing by the abrogating of observing the Sabbath in the Jewish manner being confirmed by testimonies both of Scriptures and Fathers Thirdly it remains to be considered what may be brought from the same fountains to assert the authority of observing the Lords day For it is most sure that the Apostle although he call back in the foresaid places the Church from observing the festival of the Sabbath in the Jewish manner doth not forbid Christians all observing of every day otherwise the Apostle himself had given an offence to the Church in keeping the Lords day with a Church which it appears he did Act. 20. which to think of him the candour of a Christian mind will not admit Therefore we doubt not but by the Apostle's sentence whom we believe did not ordain it by that ordinary power which yet continueth in the Church a certain day is to be employed about spiritual labour otherwise the Church had not met at a stated time in the dayes of the Apostles And whereas a certain day is appointed whereon weekly Divine worship is to be attended only that neither diminisheth nor abolisheth Christian liberty it only directeth Christians that their minds fluctuate not in observing it which is not to destroy Christian liberty but rightly to instruct Christians in the use thereof the better that they miss it not in performing service to their God Now for the weekly conventions of the Christian Church no day was deputed of the Apostles but the Lords day the first mention whereof in their writings we meet with is Rev. 1. 10. where John saith that he was in the spirit on the Lords day And although that be the first time that it 's mentioned in the Scriptures under that appellation yet might it before John writ the Revelation be known in the Church by that name No Evangelist before St. John called Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. the Word yet the same author being witness In the beginning was the word Joh. 1. 1. So that day doubtless was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lords day before not as by some new institution which lately was established in the Church but as a thing well known to the Church otherwise he would not so have named that day without farther explication but that he knew for certain it was named in the Church by that agnomination Which shews that the Lords day was celebrated in the Church before that John was in the Spirit Neither could the Lords day be so solemn throughout all Churches in John's time but that all the Apostles before him had dispersed abroad this Doctrine Secondly it appears from Scripture also that this day was by Apostolical ordination destined to the collecting of almes 1 Cor. 16. 2. Where he gives order that upon the first day of the week every one should lay by him in store the Collection for the Saints of which he had spoken in the former verse The primary intention indeed of that place is to give order about the collections made for relieving the necessity of the poor but since he orders that they may be made on the Lords day there is no doubt but he changes them to celebrate the day it self For whenas he requires the end why should he not also prescribe the means directly conducing to that end without doubt the effect which was on that day to be performed presupposeth the day it self and in commanding the end the command of the means is alwayes included without which we obtain not the end To Chrysostom that searches out the causes of this Apostolical ordination that time seems very commodious to exercise mercy on First because the mind being free from labours it is more easily perswaded to commiâ—eration And secondly because the communicating of celestial holy things being had on that day will strongly provoke men to the duties of mercy Tertullian and Justin Martyr do testifie that almes were collected on that day doubtless by authority of the aforesaid Apostolical ordination which they had laid by them in store till this day as we have seen in the second chapter These collections were by the Christian people observed of their own accord as pledges of piety as Tertullian which Iustin Martyr affirms in his second Apology were on the Sunday deposited with the President out of which provision was made for pupils widows and those who were in want through sickness or any other cause Thirdly it also appears by the Scripture that on that day assemblies were held for hearing the Word and administring the Eucharist which are chiefly to be counted amongst the sacred offices of holy dayes St. Paul as in the second Chapter although he abode seven dayes at Troas we read not that the Disciples met to break bread but on the first day of the week Whence it is collected conveniently that even then the Church had on that day solemn conventions to perform the sacred exercises of Religion on in the preaching of the Word and administration of the Sacraments neither did this custome grow out of use with the succeeding Church as after when we shall treat of sanctifying the Lords day we will shew but the devout preaching of Gods Word being happily begun on that day by the Apostles Acts 2. 1. was ever after continued at the same time to the honour of God and
reconciled to one another and then come and offer their gift which reconciliation could not be made without mention of their bargains and transactions upon whose account they were at difference And thus much for avoiding worldly affairs and especially gainful labours on the Lords day CHAP. XIII The Lords Day not to be profaned by surfeiting Servants not to be called off from sanctifying the Lords day we ought not fast on the Lords Day whether Ambrose was wont to banquet on that day EVen as the solemn observation of this day is not to be profaned by labour tending to our profit so neither is it for us to give our selves to the pleasures or delights of the world on it We do not saith Primasius in Gal. 4. celebrate festival dayes in luxury and banquettings and that justly for if a work be for bidden on a feast day that by the body may be exercised for necessity of life that we may more entirely attend on Divine matters are not those things by better right prohibited which cannot be done without sin and grievous offending of God It 's for Christians therefore neither by surâ—eiting nor sports to defile the religious observation of this day In celebrating festivals divers of the Fathers do to their power reprove rioting and drunkenness Greg. Naz. when he describes the manner how Christian festivals are to be celebrated admonisheth that we rejoyce not with the varnish of the body nor change of garments and their gorgeousness not in rioting and drunkenness whose fruit you have learned chambering and wantonness are nor let us crown our streets with flowers nor our tables with the deformity of oyntments neither let us adorn our porches nor let our houses shine with a visible light nor sound with a concord and shouting of Minstrels for this is the manner of Heathens celebrating their festivals c. when he judgeth all kind of luxury is to be removed from Christians in their festivals not only because the body being stuffed with meat and overcharged with wine easily falleth into wantonness but because amongst the Heathens with whom the Church in celebrating festivals ought to have nothing common this was an usual thing Festivals are not to be celebrated in drinking off cups of wine but in renewing the spirit of the mind and purging the heart for he that facrificeth to the belly and Bacchus doth more stir up to anger the Lord of the celebrity Scholion 5. in Johannis Chinacâ— gradum decimum quartum de Gula. It grieved Cyril that so many amongst the Christians did on festival dayes give up themselves either to honest sports surfeiting dances or other vanities of the world and he affirms that these rites tend to no other end than the derision of Gods name and slighting of the day and they that follow these things do grievously sin the rather that they go about these things at a more holy time for surely they that give the reins to the belly and pleasures cannot celebrate a festival day St. Chrysostom by two arguments of great weight and authority doth perswade his hearers spiritually to observe the Lords day In the first place from the various good things which we do enjoy on that day and secondly from our happy freedome from evils and at length descends to remove those means whereby that spiritual honour is wont to be hindred not by banquetting not by pouring out wine nor attending on drunkenness in his judgment such wicked deeds as these do no little detract from the honour of the Lords day Yet many in this our age especially the richer sort for these causes cannot avoid a just reprehension who above measure on the Lords day filling themselves with surfeit keep their servants at home to prepare meat finer than ordinary to satisfie their insatiable luxury and think much to give them leave to go to Church to feed their souls with the holy bread of life It once grieved Ambrose that a certain Christian in the time of a fast did draw with him to an hunting some servants that were accidentally hasting to the Church because thereby he heaped others sins on his own pleasures not knowing that he would be both guilty of his own offence and the perdition of the servants And why should not we as well grieve when we see divers professing themselves Christians to the world not to be more careful for promoting the salvation of their Christian servants whilst they hinder them from the publick assemblies of the Church on the Lords day that they may serve their lust Especially while as saith Ambrose they do not consider that although they be servants in condition yet are they brethren by grace for they have as well put on Christ partake of the same Sacraments and have the same God for their father which their Masters have St. Paul would eat no flesh whilst the world stood rather than that his eating should make his brother to offend 1 Cor. 8. 13. David scrupled the very once tasting of the water which was drawn out of the well of Bethlem by his Worthies with the great peril of their lives 2 Sam. 23. With how more heinous a spot do they brand themselves therefore who do expose the souls of their servants whom they detain at home from the publick meeting of the Church to serve their vanities unto so great a danger a wickedness it is rather beseeming those that sacrifice to Bacchus than those that keep a festival to God In the Council of Paris this very same wickedness grieved the Fathers for though the Lords day seemed to be kept in some reverent manner by certain Masters yet was it found very seldome to be observed with due honour of their servants under subjection I wish that the Christian Religion even defiled with the blot of this wickedness in our age were not ill spoken of amongst divers At least I beseech in Christ those that are the cause of others absence from the publick exercises of piety that they would with their servants which they keep at home be pleased to do that which Chrysostom requires of his hearers namely to discourse of what they heard with them that were absent by which means they might hear and learn from them what they lost themselves in preparing of corporal food being held from spiritual Let them consider this who cause those that are under them to be hindred of spiritual food that they may prepare corporal meat for their use Gregory allowed not at all the custom of Laicks feasting ordinarily on Lords dayes from which they could not easily be moved In the mean while I am not ignorant that in the old Church divers Canons are extant of not keeping fasts on the Lords day Although they condemned not a Fast of it self and in the general as a work contrary to Gods command or that is repugnant to his Word because divers illustrious examples thereof are afforded in the rules both
cloyed with luxurious banquets drunken feasts and lewd drunkenness cannot devoutly consecrate the Lords day to God so they that delighting in luxury do give up themselves to pleasures are unfit for the sanctifying thereof because with their pleasures they defile the Lords holy day pleasure is the individual companion of drunkenness and intemperance in many becomes a cause of lasciviousness as we say in the Proverb When the belly is well filled then follow dances we read that these have been condemned with great fervour of mind and most holy zeal with the old friends of sincere piety which Chrysostom Hom. de Eleemosyna would not have any attend on and no wonder for all such worldly spectacles with Chrysostom are called Sathans Festivals from which he exhorts his hearers to abstain and sharply reproveth Parents that bring their children to spectacles and exhort them not to Doctrine Cyril was sorry as we have seen in the former Chapter that Christians should on feast dayes run to playes pageants and dancings because in his judgment these things cannot be done without mocking of Gods name and violation of the day for the holiness of festivals is miserably distained by petulant dancings therefore Leo and Authemius those good Emperours ordain that festivals being dedicated to the most High Majesty are by no pleasures which afterwards in detestation of them they call obscene to be defiled They say also We decree the Lords day alwayes to be so honourable and reverent that it be excused from all executions c. And after Nor yet do we relaxing the rest of this holy day suffer any one to be witholden by obscene pleasures Let the scene of the Theatre or the fights in the Cirque or the doleful sights of wild beasts challenge nothing to themselves on that day and if any solemnity fall out to be celebrated on our Birth-day let it be deferred If any one shall ever be present at â—â—ghts on this Feast-day he shall sustain the loss of his command in the Militia and the sale of his patrimony and likewise the Serjeant of every Judge that under pretence of either publick or private business doth believe that these things which are ordained in this law are to be violated The Fathers in the Council of Carthage were of the same mind who provided that no sights should be shewed on the Lords day or any other of the festivals Yea even in the thickest darkness of Popery so solemn was the splendour of this day that the Cimmerian darkness of Antichristianism could never overcome it Therefore it was provided Can. 10. part 9. of the Provincial Council of Colen that there should be an abstinence from these Wherefore say they it is our mind that on these dayes they speak of Festivals Fairs be prohibited Taverns be shut Riot Drunkenness Expences Strifes wicked Sports Dances full of madness evil Communication Bawdy Songs be avoided briefly all Luxury for by these and the blasphemies and perjuries which usually attend these the name of God is profaned and the Sabbath which admonisheth us to cease from doing perversly and learn to do well is defiled In the third Council also of Millain they decree Let the Bishop carefully prohibit and see to it that it be done that not only no leapings and dancings but no riot playes in honour of the Saints and other profane actions unmeet for the worship of those festival dayes and pious institutions be any wayes publickly acted on these dayes or brought in under pretence or occasion of them If men brought up in the Cimmerian darkness of Antichristianism declining the pure light of the Gospel like Owls yet could not through the splendour of truth but bear an illustrious testimony to the Lords festival and thereupon condemned what was opposite to its sanctification as dances which they call full of madness and wicked sports by which the Sabbath on which Christians are to cease from doing evil is violated if by no means under any pretence they permit leapings and danings to be acted to how tremendous a judgment do the ill-employed Libertines of this age expose themselves who now having the face of the Church happily discovered by the sacred Light of the Gospel are not afraid to tread under foot the holiness of this day by giving the reins to pleasures and dances running out into folly so often condemned by the Fathers As if they made haste to pass over into the heretical tents of the Heicetae who in other things following the Churches authority in their Monasteries by a company of Monks praised God using tripudiations and dances thereunto A wickedness indeed more becoming Hereticks than Christians What once the learned Morton in his Catholic Apolog lib. 2. cap. 14. related of Tollet we will apposirely apply to the Patrons of dancing on the Lords day Tollet affirms that a man is bound under a mortal sin to sanctifie a Festival but he is not bound to SANCTIFIE IT WELL. On the other side Morton cryes out and that justly What the foul ill what a sanctifying is this that wants Well without which no action can be acceptable to God So these mens sanctifying of this day while they grant the Lords day must be sanctified but labour not to sanctifie it Well is rather to be reckoned a profanation than sanctification thereof Alas Are these fruits beseeming so long a preaching of the holy Gospel while men do on the Lords day so profusely serve the pleasures of the flesh The primitive Christians whose souls are now in rest celebrated not so the Lords day who made conscience of intermitting its solemnity upon any occasion If on holy dayes we must abstain from lawful and necessary labours must we therefore attend upon unlawful vain and unhonest works God forbid The women of the Jews had better on the Sabbath day spin than dance on their New Moons as Augustin judgeth And on Psal 39. It is better to dig than dance on the Sabbath But these things are not so to be expounded as if St. Austin had commended the undertaking of gainful labour on that day but that grave Father doth praise the scope of those men rather who do apply their just and lawful labour than their unlawful vanities as otherwhere he relates of Socrates that swore by flesh a stone or any thing that was at hand to swear by not that he approved Socrates's fact but by this means he would instruct his hearers that although neither be agreeable to reason yet it is better to transferr Gods honour to Gods workmanship than to the works of mens hands So although we must not attend on the Lords day on labour undertaken for gain-sake but only on Divine worship yet the good Father judged it better on that day to employ our pains about labours lawful on other dayes than about vanities alwayes unlawful and severely condemned of God although neither will very well agree with the solemnity of that day If
any one till his ground on the Lords day he violates the holy rest but if the refore he leaving his husbandry be drunk or commit whoredome shall he not be thought to profane the holiness of the Lords Day If all profaneness and carnal delight ought to be banished from the Church then especially it should when man doth peculiarly apply himself to the worship of God If Tertullian thought it an uncomely thing and altogether alien from the Religion of publick joy to celebrate those dayes which were dedicated to the Nativities of the Emperours with that vanity which the Heathens abused in such kind of Festivals whereas what was acted on the solemn birth-dayes of Princes would not be thought comely on other dayes with what spirit are they acted to whom unchaste dancings obscene sports and mad tripudiations shall seem lawful on the Day dedicated to our Lords honour Shall the licentiousness of evil manners be piety an occasion of Luxury be reckoned Religion We must rather say with Tertullian That it is for men of the true Religion to celebrate both the Emperours solemnities and the Lords day out of conscience rather than licentiousness And if any like dancing I earnestly ask it of him that he would apply his mind to those spiritual dances which Chrysostom mentions in which there is much comeliness and modesty with which Christians must dance not to the measures of harp and pipe for they themselves ought to be both harp and pipe to the Holy Ghost and when others lead the dance to the Devil these being in the Church offer themselves the organs and vessels to the Spirit and afford their souls as musical instruments which the Holy Ghost should play upon and move and they give their hearts as Organs into which he may inspire his grace These are those dances of the Angels and what can be more blessed than upon the earth to imitate the dance of Angels approved by the Holy Ghost and worthy the Christian name in which he that on the Lords day shall diligently be busied will not bend his mind to those immodest leapings or dancings which Chrysostom calls Diabolical Hom. 55. in Gen. because where this wanton dancing is there the Devil is Chrysost Hom. 49. in Math. so often condemned but will refresh his soul wearied with the sad burden of his fins by the spiritual joy of these dances and prepare himself the better to celebrate that eternal Sabbath in the Heavens which must be observed for ever with all the Saints And that this is the solemnity which beseemeth the Feasts of Christians Gregory Nazianzen sheweth at large and exhorts us to take hymns for timbrels singing Psalms for filthy and ribald songs a clapping of hands when we give thanks for clapping the hands in the Theatre gravity for laughter prudent speech for drunkenness comliness and honesty for delicious pleasures And if it be convenient for thee when thou celebratest a Festival merrily to dance then dance yet not the dance of Herodias but of David when he danced for the resting of the Ark by which I think mystically is meant the nimbleness and volubility of our holy journeying and that which is pleasing to God Thus he Ephrem Syrus gives the same counsel whose testimony deserves to be added here Let us honour saith he the Lords Festivals divinely not in a worldly manner but spiritually not after the custome of the Heathens but Christians let us not lead dances nor effeminate our ears with pipes and harps You both small and great men and women let us in a Christian manner celebrate the Lords Festivals in Psalms and Hymns in spiritual Songs and Angelical melody That blessed Soul uttered this about the Lords Festivity the reason of all which is extant in Chrysostom There is saith he a time for Prayers not for drunkenness and that alwayes and especially at solemnities For a solemnity is therefore instituted not to live filthily nor to abound in sin but to extoll present things These and many other testimonies of the Ancients do shew that all carnal following of worldly delights whereby the sparks of the Holy Ghost being stirred up in the Lords day holy exercises of piety are choaked by which either Divine worship may be hindred or the fruit thereof prevented ought far to be banished from the Christian Church For it is as sure as can be as sometimes Ruffinus that when we are idle and negligent when we lift not up our mind in heavenly desires when we grow cold in the love of our Lord when we spend the day in fables and wicked cogitations then we more attend upon the Devil than God And after The enemy derides our Sabbaths when they see us to be at leisure for the idleness and vanities of the evil spirit If Plutarch thought that the Jews did worship Bacchus on their Sabbath because they then strove at their cups and riotings and gave themselves wholly to drunkenness and for that cause called the Sabbath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies Bacchus or the son of Bacchus how much more truly might he at this day say it of many in the Church if he observed how they are given to Bacchus Venus sports and mad dances and yet these sins do rage all abroad without danger of punishment to the great ignominy of the Christian name for there is no wickedness so heinous which is not most of all committed on the Lords holy day While the greatest part of men do daily more and more spend the rest of Festival dayes not in praying not in hearing the Scriptures for which cause the rest was given but for all manner of encreasing the corruption of good manners saying that they do it for their mind sake as if they were altogether of Plato's mind who said that for that very purpose did God institute such holy Festivals And he repeats the same complaint in his Exposition of the Lords Prayer when he explains the fourth Petition and thus laments At this day no time is usually more spent in all manner of sports in dances wanton love company-keeping dicing bargains and fairs These do abundantly shew that dancings sports and sights were both forbidden of the Emperours and Fathers that they should not at all be kept on the Lords day which he that views the sacred Decrees of the one and the grave Records of the other will not deny Yet when all is done lest some think whom the Doctrine of the â—…e delights and those who release their minds to pleasure more than is fitting that not all but some kinds of those sports were forbidden and that only while the Church-assemblies were held as though the Christian people were at their liberty to use certain kinds of dances and sights even upon the Lords day when the publick Church-assemblies were finished to whom it seems such extrinsecal solaces of the eyes and ears do nothing interrupt the Religion in their mind and conscience
other interpreting of the law used under the former Temple besides that which the Prophets being extraordinarily called undertook Which opinion being once admitted it will not be easie to avoid the aforesaid incommodities as to any one it will appear by a more narrow search into them Unto whose conjecture we will with their good-leave oppose the authorities both of Jews and Christians in that particular being bottomed upon the Holy Scripture Flavius Josephus whom according to Cunaeus we are to believe next to the Pen-men of Holy Writ pleading the Cause of the Jews against Appion in his Apology which in the famous Cunaeus opinion is learned to a miracle in express words affirms that Moses would have us hear the Law not once or twice or oftner but he commands all men leaving their other works to meet together to hear the Law and perfectly to learn it c. Thus he And if this Ordinance of a weekly meeting to hear and learn the Law was in force in Moses age then was it long before the Babylonish Captivity While Philo Judaeus contends that the Playes and ridiculous spectacles of Fools and Dancers ought to be put away he saith that it was the manner to study Philosophy on Sabbath dayes the Prince going before and teaching what was needful to be done or spoken the rest giving ear Whereupon he also affirms that they now should play the Philosophers upon Sabbath dayes more patrio in their country manner and he acknowledgeth that Oratories in Cities were for Schools of Virtue More credit therefore is deservedly to be given to the Jewes relating their countrey customes than to other mens conjectures of them Among the Christians divers very learned men treating of the Hebrews Common-wealth have taught the same Amongst whom Carolus Sigonius de Rep. Hebraeorum l. 5. c. 10. and Cornelius Bertramus p. 96. The famous Cunaeus to whom the Christian Church is much beholden for his labours in explaining the antiquities of the Hebrews saith that the right observation of Sabbaths consisted in the holiness of all their words and deeds and in Divine worship and Prayers All which doth plainly evidence that they used to read the Law and interpret it to the peoples capacity on the Sabbath dayes otherwise neither their words nor deeds had been noted for holiness or how else could the minds of the Jews have been furnished piously to conceive Prayers on Sabbath dayes without the explaining of the Scripture Yea the Learned Cunaeus confesses that the Levites in the Synagogues did deliver to the people in the Towns of Judaea the chief knowledge of all Laws both of Humane and Divine things and when could the Levites do this with greater profit than on the Sabbath dayes In a word although we deny that at that time the Talmudical interpretation of Scripture was grown in use which we confess the ancient Church of the Jews knew nothing of yet we cannot affirm this of the vocal interpretation of the Scriptures by the Levites But to return to our purpose We find that under the Old Testament the Scriptures were read and opened in the Jews assemblie even the Holy Ghost being witness although some doubt of the period of time at which their interpretation on Sabbath dayes began As for the Churches in the New Testament planted by the Apostles they could not so long as their Peace was disturbed with a storm of Persecutions meet together without very great difficulty for which cause as we said Chap. 1. they had their meetings sometime on the night and sometimes on the day neither again was it safe for them to hold a meeting all the day For which cause Tertullian judges that it was best for Christians if the Lords dayes solemnities could not be celebrated on the day time for persecutions whereof he speaks then ought they to keep them on the night if not with every one of them yet at least with three These things teach us that the Church was not permitted in that age with safety and as often as they list to meet together on the day time to perform the exercises of piety He therefore that requires of us some one example for expounding Scripture twice while the fire of Persecution raged with which that age abounded I desire him to tell me whether the Christians did during that Persecution twice every Lords day keep their meetings For if it were safe for them to meet why may they not as well be believed to meâ—t for interpreting of Scripture and Prayer to God since these duties are joyned by the Apostle 1 Cor. 14. and observed by Cyprian as he faithfully expounded the Scriptures Especially when it was the custom of the Church so often as Scripture was read to interpret the same This we have largely enough shewn out of Justin Origen Tertullian Ambrose Augustine and other Fathers of great authority chap. 4. Since therefore in the Jewish Apostolical and other Churches succeeding the Apostles there followed after the reading of the Scriptures an exposition of them it seems necessarily to follow that if they had liberty to meet on Lords dayes then they used to treat twice out of Scripture of which there is frequent mention in their assemblies And it 's certainly evident from the continual practiâ—â— of the Church that from the very Apostles times prayers and reading were reckoned both together which were celebrated both morning and evening No man therefore can judge it unreasonable to say that there followed an interpretation of those things which were read because reading was used to instruct the people But how could the people be instructed in the Scripture read without an interpretation The Eunucâ— answered Acts 8. 31. that he could not understand what he read except some one should guide him Yea they were wont to Treat out of the Reading or Lesson as was formerly said The calamitous condition also of those times wherein so many cruel persecutions were stirred up required the same Daily exhortations were very needful to the Christians for to bear the Cross of the Gospel patiently Neither must we think that these skilful Pastours who were set over the Church by the Apostles and Apostolical men did not endeavour as often as they could to instruct the People committed to them in the matters of Faith St. Cyprian Ep. 40. professes that he was sore troubled when he could not go to and exhort every one as the Lords and his Gospel Ministry required while he was in his banishment If it were a grief to this vigilant Bishop that because being hindred by his exile he could not provoke all who were commended to his inspection and care by his holy Exhortations to piety and patience certainly when he was with his people if he took care that by a Reader the bare reading of the Gospel was recited to them although he stirred not them up by his Exhortations to practise what they had heard read he would never in very deed have thought