regam juxta morem qui colunt honorant regunt uxores fideliter Do autem tibi dotem virginitatis tuae ducentos aureos i.e. 50 siclos quin etiam alimentum tuum vestitum atque sufficientem necessitatem tuam Cornel. Bertram item cognitionem tui juxta consuetudinem universae terrae That is to say Be thou a Wife to me according to the Law of Moses and Israel and I shall worship and honour thee according to the Word of God I shall seed and govern thee according to the custom of those who worship honour and govern their Wives faithfully I give thee for the Dowry of thy Virginity two hundred pence i. e. 50 Shekels as also thy food cloathing and all sufficient necessaries and knowledge of thee according to the custom of the whole earth A Shekel was a piece of money among the Jews amounting in our coyn to 1 s. 3 d. Judg. 14.11 1 Sam. 18.25 Ruth 4.2 Much of which form as to the main and substance of it is exceeding Ancient For in the Marriage of Sampson we find the Children of the Bride-Chamber being the thirty young men his Companions as they are there called in that of David unto Michael the Daughter of Saul the bringing in of an hundred Foreskins of the Philistins in loco dotis as the Dowry-money in that of Ruth the presence of ten men to bear witness to it Nor was this done being a business of such moment without a special Benediction For at the Marriage of Boaz to Ruth the People and the Elders said The Lord make the Woman which is come into thine House like Rachel and like Leah which two did build the House of Israel and do thou worthily in Ephrata and be famous in Bethlehem and let thy House be like the House of Pharez of the Seed which the Lord will give thee of this young Woman Ruth 4.11 12. Upon this ground it was that Marriage was not solemnized amonst them without Prayers and Blessings the form whereof in the ensuing times was this as followeth Benedictus sis Domine Deus noster Rex universi c. Blessed be the Lord our God the King of the World who hath Created Man after his own Image according to the Image of his own likeness and hath thereby prepared unto himself an everlasting building Blessed be thou O Lord God who hast Created him Moses Aaron l. 6. cap. 4. Then followeth again Blessed be thou O Lord our God who hast Created joy and gladness the Bridegroom and the Bride Charity and Brotherly love Rejoycing and Pleasure Peace and Society I beseech thee O Lord let there be suddenly heard in the Cities of Judah and the Streets of Hierusalem the voice of joy and gladness the voice of the Bridegroom and the Bride the voice of exaltation in the Bride-Chamber is sweeter than any Feast and Children sweeter than the sweetness of a song Which Prayer thus ended one of the Bride-men or Companions took a cup having before been blessed in the wonted form and drinks unto the Married-couple As for the form and rites of Burial not to say any thing either of the washing or embalming of the Corps which was common unto them with other Nations Chiristan Synagogue l. 1. cap. 6. sict 8. Paraph. 15. Diat 1. their custom was after the body was interred to speak something of the justice of God and of mans sin which meriteth death and they prayed God in justice to remember mercy This said they gave a Cup of Consolation to the sad-hearted Finally on the grave or Tombstone they caused these words ensuing to be written Sit anima ejus in fasciculo vitae cum caeteris justis Amen Amen Selah That is to say let his soul be in the bundle of life with the rest of the just Amen Amen So be it These as they were the ancient forms and ceremonies used in their Marriages and Burials so after when they had erected Synagogues in convenient places they solemnized their Marriages in a Tent Maymon cited in Fishter's defence cap. 17. set upon four Pillars near their Synagogue which shews that there was something in it wherewith the Priest or Prophet was to intermeddle and that they did esteem it of a nature not so meerly civil but that the blessing of the Minister was required unto it But it is time I now go forward to the Ages following CHAP. III. Of the condition and estate of the Jewish Liturgy from the time of David unto Christ 1. Several hours of prayer used amongst the Jews and that the prayers then used were of prescribed forms 2. The great improvement of the Jewish Liturgie in the time of David by the addition of Psalms and Instruments of Musick 3. The form of Celebrating Gods publick Service according unto Davids Institutions described by the Jewish Rabbins 4. The solemn form used in the dedicating of the first and second Temples 5. The Temple principally built for an House of Prayer 6. The several and accustomed gestures used among the Jews in the performance of Gods publick worship 7. The weekly reading of the Law on the Sabbath days not used until the time of Ezra 8. The reading of the Law prescribed and regulated according to the number of the Sections by the care of Ezra and of the 18 Benedictions by him composed 9. The Exposition of the Law prescribed and ordered by the Authority of the Church 10. The first foundation of Synagogues and Oratories and for what employments 11. The Church of Jewry ordained Holy-days and prescribed forms of prayer to be used thereon 12. Set days for publick annual Feasts appointed by the Jewish Church with a set form of prayer agreeable to the occasion 13. The form of Celebrating Gods publick Service according as it is described by Jesus the Son of Syrac 14. Jesus the Son of God conforms himself unto the forms established in the Jewish Church 15. A transition from the forms received in the Jewish Church to those in Vse amongst the Gentiles THE Nation of the Jews being thus setled into an established Church by the hand of Moses and several forms of Prayer and Praise and Benediction prescribed unto them either immediately by the Lord himself or by the Church directed by the wisdom of Almighty God it was not long before that divers other points were added by the like Authority until the Liturgy thereof became full and absolute Of these the first in course of time was the deputing of certain and determinate hours in every day for the performance of those moral duties of Prayer and Praises in which Gods publick worship did consist especially which were the third the sixth and the ninth For clearer knowledge of the which we shall add thus much that the Jews did usually divide their day into four great parts hours of the Temple they were called that is to say the third hour which began at six of the Clock in the Morning and held on
Sabbath knowest thou not that these days are Sisters and that whoever doth despise the one doth affront the other Sisters indeed and so accounted in those Churches not only in regard of the publick meetings but in this also that they were both exempt from the Lenten Fast of which more anon In the mean time we may remember how Saturday is by S. Basil made one of those four times whereon the Christians of those parts did assemble weekly to receive the Sacrament as before we noted And finally it is said by Epiphanius that howsoever it was not so in the Isle of Cyprus which it seems held more correspondence with the Church of Rome than those of Asia Expos fidei Cathol 24. yet in some places 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they used to celebrate the holy Sacrament and hold their publick meetings on the Sabbath day So as the difference was but this that whereas in the Eastern and Western Churches several days were in commission for Gods publick service the Lords day in both places was of the Quorum and therefore had the greater worship because more business They held their publick Meetings on the Sabbath-day yet did not keep it like a Sabbath The Fathers of this learned Age knew that Sabbath hath been abrogated and profest as much The Council of Laodicea before remembred though it ascribe much to this day in reference to the Congregations then held upon it yet it condemns the Jewish observations of the same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. It is not fit for Christians saith the 29. Canon to Judaize and do no manner of work on the Sabbath days but to pursue their ordinary labours on it Conceive it so far forth as they were no impediment to the publick Meetings then appointed And in the close of all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If any should be found so to play the Jews let them be Anathema So Athanasius though he defend the publick Meetings on this day stands strongly notwithstanding for the abrogation of the Jewish Sabbath Not on the by but in a whole discourse writ and continued especially for that end and purpose entituled De Sabbato circumcisione One might conjecture by the title by coupling of these two together what his meaning was that he contrived them both to be of the same condition And in his homily De semente he tells us of the New-moons and Sabbaths that they were Ushers unto Christ and to be in Authority till the Master came 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Master being come the Usher grew out of all imployment the Sun once risen v.p. 1. chap. 8. the Lamp was darkened To other of the Fathers which have said as much and whereof we have spoken in a place more proper add Nazianz. Orat. 43. S. Cyril of Hierusalem Cat. 4. and Epiphanius in the confutation of those several Hereticks that held the Sabbath for a necessary part of Gods publick worship and to be now observed as before it was Of which kind over and above the Ebionites and Cerinthians which before we spake of were the Nazarai in the second Century who as this Epiphanius tell us differed both from the Jew and Christian First from the Jew in that they did believe in Christ next from the Christian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in that they still retain the Law as Circumcision and the Sabbath and such things as those And these I have the rather noted in this place and time as being Cont. Cresconium l. 8. so Saint Austin tells us the Ancestors or Original of the Symmachiani who held out till this very Age and stood as much for Sabbaths and legal ceremonies as their founders did whereof consult S. Ambroses preface to the Galatians Now as these Nazarens or Symmachiani had made a mixt Religion of Jew and Christian Nazianz. Orat. 19. so did another sort of Hereticks in these present times contrive a miscellany of the Jew and Gentile Idols and Sacrifices they would not have and yet they worshipped the Fire and Candle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The Sabbath also they much reverenced and stood upon the difference of unclean and clean yet by no means would be induced to like of Circumcision These they called Hypsistarij or rather so those doughty fellows pleased to call themselves Add here that it was counted one of the great dotages of Appollinaris and afterwards of all his sect viz. that after the last Resurrection every thing should be done again Basil ep 74. according to the former Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. That we should be circumcised and observe the Sabbath and abstein from meats and offer Sacrifice and finally of Christians become Jews again Than which saith Basil who reports it what can be more absurd or more repugnant to the Gospel By which it is most plain and certain that though the Christians of the East retained the Saturday for a day of publick meeting yet they did never mean it to be a Sabbath reckoning them all for Hereticks that so observed it Next let us look upon the Sunday what they did on that For though it pleased the Emperor by his royal Edict to permit works of Husbandry in the Country and manumissions in the Cities on that sacred day yet probably there were some pure and pious souls who would not take the benefit of the declaration or think themselves beholden to him for so injurious and profane a dispensation This we will search into exactly that so the truth may be discovered And first beginning with the Council of Eliberis a Town of Spain in the beginning of this Age it was thus decreed Can. 21. Si quis in civitate positus per tres dominicas ecclesiam non accesserit tanto tempore abstineat ut correptus esse videatur If any Inhabitant of the Cities absent himself from Church three Lords days together let him be kept as long from the holy Sacrament that he may seem corrected for it Where note Si quis in civitate positus the Canon reacheth unto such only as dwelt in Cities near the Church and had no great business those of the Country being left unto their Husbandry and the like affairs no otherwise than in the Emperours Edict which came after this And in the Council of Laodicea not long after Can. 29. which clearly gave the Lords day place before the Sabbath it is commanded that the Christians should not Judaize on the Sabbath day but that they should prefer the Lords day before it and rest thereon from labour if at least they could but as Christians still The Canon is imperfect as it stands in the Greek Text of Binius edition no sense to be collected from it But the translation of Dionysius Exiguus which he acknowledgeth to be more near the Greek than the other two makes the meaning up Diem dominicum praeferentes ociari oportet si modo possint And this agreeably both unto Zonaras the Balsamon who
and the proof are alike infirm For not to quarrel the Translation which is directly different from the Greek and Vulgar Latine and somewhat from the former English this Psalm if writ by David was not meant by him of any present misery which befel the Church There had been no such havock made thereof in all David's time as is there complained of And therefore Calvin rather thinks ad tempus Antiochi referri has querinonias that David as inspired with the spirit of Prophecy Calv. in Psal 74. reflected on those wretched and calamitous times wherein Antiochus made such havock of the Church of God Nor was there any Use of them in those former times because no reading of the Law of ordinary course in the Congregation as before was said But when the former course was changed and that the reading of the Law to the People of God was not licensed only but enjoyned then began the Jews to build them Synagogues which afterwards increased so strangely that there was no Town of any moment throughout all Judaea nor almost any City where they dwelt as Strangers in which they did not build some Synagogue God certainly had so disposed it in his holy Counsels that so his Word might be more generally known over all the world and a more easie way laid open for the receipt of the Messiah whom he meant to send that so Hierusalem and the Temple there might by degrees be lessened in their reputation and men might learn that neither of them was the only place where they ought to worship As for their Oratories which before I spake of although I find not their Original yet I can tell you of their Use For this saith Epiphanius of them Epiph. Haeres 80. n. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. There were saith he amongst the Jews without their Cities certain Oratories whither the people did sometimes resort to make their prayers unto the Lord. And this he proves out of the xvi of the Acts where it is said And on the Sabbath we went out of the City by a Rivers side where prayer was wont to be made vers 3. i.e. Vbi de more consuetudine haberi conventus consueverant as Beza notes upon the Text. The Latines called them from the Use they were put unto Proseuchas as in qua te quaero Proseucha in the Poet Juvenal Beza in Annot. in Act. 16.13 And although Beza take those Proseuchas to be the very same with the Jewish Synagogues Juvenal Sat. 5. Beza in Act. 16. yet sure there was a special difference between them For in those Proseuchas or Oratories they might only pray in the Synagogues they might not only make their prayers but also read the Law and Prophets and expound the same and in the Temple of the Lord besides those former duties they might offer Sacrifice which was not lawful to be done in other places And to these times when now the Jewish Church was settled and Synagogues erected in almost all places for reading and expounding the Law of God we must refer those passages from Philo and Josephus before remembred which cannot possibly be made good of the former times wherein this people wanted all conveniencies for those weekly meetings Thus have we seen what care the Rulers of that Church took for providing fit and convenient places for the performance of Gods publick worship and all the sacred Offices thereunto belonging Had they not think we equal power of adding days and times to the commemorating of Gods goodness and laying before him their afflictions s well as in appointing places Assuredly such power they had and made Use thereof according as they saw occasion Witness the feast of Purim ordained by Mordecai and Hester with the consent and approbation of the whole people of the Jews to be obsered on the 14 and 15 days of the moneth Adar yearly throughout their Generations for evermore Hest 9.17 c. that they should make them days of feasting and joy and of sending portions unto one another and gifts to the Poor Nor was this all to make them days of feasting and good fellowship and no more than so for this had been to make their belly their God and so by consequence their glory must have been their shame but in all probability there were ordained set forms of praise and prayer for so great a mercy and the continuance of the like Those who conceived themselves to have Authority of instituting a new Festival to the Lord their God could not but know they had Authority of instituting a new form of prayer and praise agreeable to the occasion And so much we may guess by that which remains thereof it being affirmed by one Antonius Margarita a converted Jew once one of the Professors for the tongue I take it in the University of Leipsich Fevardent in Hest cap. ult Hospinian de Origine Fest fol. 133. that to this day legunt diebus illis in Synagogis suis historiam istam they read upon the days of the said Feast of the book of Hester and anciently 't was not the custom of the Jewish Church to read the Scripture without set forms of Prayers and appointed Ceremonies The like may also be affirmed of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Feast of Dedication A Feast ordained by Judas Maccabeus and the Elders of the Jewish Nation who having cleansed the Temple and set up the Altar which had been impiously profaned by Antiochus did dedicate the same with Songs and Citternes 1 Maccab. 4.59 c. and with Harps and Cymbals and that being done ordained that the days of the Dedication should be kept in their season from year to year by the space of eight days c. with mirth and gladness Here we find mirth and gladness as before in the feast of Purim And doubt we not but there was in the Celebration of it as much spiritual mirth and gladness at least in the intention of the founders as there was of carnal although the forth and manner of it have not come unto us Our Saviour Christ had never honoured it with his blessed presence as we shall see he did hereafter if it had been otherwise Besides which annual Feasts recorded in the holy Scripture they had another which they called festivitatem legis or the feast of the Law ordained by the Rulers of the Church of Jewry for joy that they had finished the publick reading of the Law in their Congregations For as before I told you the Jews began the reading of the Law upon the Sabbath after the feast of Tabernacles and finished it at 5a readings against the feast of Tabernacles came about again Now 't is observed by Joseph Scaliger that the feast of Tabernacles beginning always on the 15th of the month Tisri and holding on until the 22d inclusively this Festival was always held on the morrow after being the three and twentieth of this month Which Feast
Eccles l. 4.21 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Five books he writ as both Eusebius and Saint Hierom tell us touching the Acts and Monuments of the Church of God this last affirming of the work that it contained many things ad utilitatem legentium pertinentia exceeding profitable to the Reader De scriptor Eccles though written in a plain and familiar stile Some fragments of his cited by Eusebius we have seen before the body of his Works being eaten by the teeth of Time and one we are to look on now being the remainder of a most accurate and full confession of his Faith Euseb ut supra which he left behind him There he relates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that in a Journey towards Rome he did confer with many Bishops and that he found amongst them all the same Form of Doctrine there being no City where he came no Episcopal succession wherein he found not all things so confirmed and setled as they were prescribed by the Word taught by the Prophets and Preached by our Lord and Saviour Particularly he tells us of the Church of Corinth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it continued constantly in the Orthodox Faith till the time that Primus was there Bishop with whom he had much conference as he sailed towards Rome staying with him many days at Corinth and being much delighted with his Conversation Of Rome he only doth inform us that he abode there till the time of Anicetus whose Deacon Eleutherus at that time was who not long after did succeed in his Pastors Chair Soter succeeding Anicetus Eleutherus succeeding Soter Where by the way De viris ill in Egesip I wonder how Saint Hierom came to place the coming of Egesippus unto Rome sub Aniceto when Anicetus was there Bishop considering that Egesippus tells us he was there before and that he there continued 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 until the time of Anicetus as before was said Discoursing of the Errours of the Jews his Countrey-men he sheweth that after James the Just was martyred in defence of Christs Truth and Gospel Simeon the son of Cleophas and Uncle to our Saviour was erected Bishop all the Disciples giving their voices unto him as being of their Masters kindred He addeth that Hierusalem whereof he speaketh was called for long time the Virgin Church as being undefiled with the filth of Heresies and that Thebulis was the first who broached strange Doctrine in the same the man being discontented as it seemed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because he was not made a Bishop So far the pieces of this Journal or Itinerary direct us in this present search as to discern how strong a bulwark the Episcopal succession hath been and been accounted also of Gods sacred Truths how strong a Pillar for support of that blessed building At the same time with Egesippus lived Dionysius the learned and renowned Bishop of the Church of Corinth Euseb Eccles hist l. 4. c. 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De scriptor Ecc. successor to that Primus whom before we spoke of A man as both Eusebius and Saint Hierom say of such both industry and Eloquence ut non solum suae Civitatis Provinciae populos that he instructed not alone by his Epistles the people of his own City and Province but also those of other Churches One writ he saith Eusebius to the Lacedemonians at once confirming them in faith and love another unto the Athenians about the time that Publius their Bishop suffered Martyrdom exhorting them to live according to the prescript of Christs holy Gospel In that Epistle he makes mention of Quadratus also who succeeded Publius in that charge declaring also that Dionysius the Areopagite being converted by Saint Paul was made the first Bishop of that City Of which three Bishops of Athens Quadratus is much celebrated by Eusebius for an Apologie by him written Euseb l. 4. c. 3. and tendred unto Adrian the Emperour in the behalf of Christians being the first piece of that kind that was ever written in the World and written as it seems with such power and efficacy Id. ibid. c. 9. that shortly after Adrian desisted from his persecuting of the Church of God making a Law or Edict for their future safety But to go on with Dionysius A third he writ unto the Nicomedians opposing in the same the Heresies of Marcion a fourth unto the Gortynaeans in which he much commended their Bishop Philip in that the Church committed to his care and governance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 had been made famous by so many tryals both for faith and constancy He writ unto the Church of Amastris also and the rest in Pontus speaking by name of Palma the Bishop there as also to the Church of Gnossus in the Isle of Crete in which he did persuade Pintus Bishop of the same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not to impose that grievous yoke of Chastity upon his brethren as a matter necessary but to consider rather the infirmity and weakness of them Finally there was extant in Eusebius's time another Epistle of this Dionysius to the Church of Rome wherein he magnifieth their abundant charity towards all the Brethren which were in want or persecution not only of their own but of other Cities highly commending Soter who was then their Bishop who did not only study to preserve them in so good a way 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but also did encourage them to improve their bounties So much remains of Dionysius and his publick Acts by which we may perceive that though the Bishops of those times as since had their particular Sees and Cities yet did their care extend unto others also maintaining a continual intercourse betwixt one another not only for their mutual comfort in those dangerous times but also for the better government of the Church it self the Unity whereof was then best preserved by that correspondence which the Bishops in the name of their several Churches had with one another For other Bishops of those times not to say any thing of Melito or Polycarpus whom before we spake of nor of the Bishops of the four Patriarchal Sees which we shall have occasion to remember shortly those of most fame were Papias and Apollinarius Euseb Hist l. 3. c 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bishops successively of Hierapolis a City of Phrygia Pothinus Bishop of Lyons in France Id. l. 4. c. 25. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Id. l. 5. c. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Id. c. 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Id. c. 25. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ibid. c. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theophilus Bishop of Caesarea Cassius Bishop of Tyre Clarius Bishop of Ptolomais all three in Palestine Publius Julius Bishop of Debelto a Colony in Thrace with many others of great eminency whereof consult Euseb Hist Eccles 5. c. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cap. 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By this that hath been said of Dionysius and other Bishops
four Sees in those early days 7. The use made of this Episcopal succession by Saint Irenaeus 8. As also by Tertullian and some other Ancients 9. Of the Authority enjoyed by Bishops in Tertullians time in the administration of the Sacraments 10. As also in enjoyning Fasts and the disposing of the Churches Treasury 11. And in the dispensation of the Keys 12. Tertullian misalledged in maintenance of the Lay-Presbytery 13. The great extent of Christianity and Episcopacy in Tertullians time concludes this Century HAVING thus setled the affairs of the Church of Britain we will look back again towards Rome where we find Victor sitting as successor unto Eleutherius and the whole Church though free from persecutions yet terribly embroyled with Schisms and Heresies For in the later end of Eleutherius Blastus and Florinus two notorious Hereticks had broached this doctrine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb Eccl. hist l. 5. c. 19. that God was the author of sin and possibly might have spread the venom of their Heresie exceeding far if Irenaeus that great and learned Bishop of Lyons being then at Rome had not prescribed a speedy and a sovereign Antidote in several Tractates and Discourses against the same But Eleutherius being dead and Victor in his place there hapned such a Schism in the Church of Christ by his precipitance and perversness that all the water which Irenaeus and many other godly men could pour into it Id. l. 5. c. 23. 24. was hardly sufficient to quench the flame The business which occasioned it was the feast of Easter or indeed not the Feast it self upon the keeping of the which all Christians had agreed from the first beginnings but for the day in which it was to be observed wherein the Churches of Asia had an old Tradition differing from the rest of Christendom For whereas generally that festival had been solemnized in the Church of Christ on the Lords Day next after the Jewish Passeover as being the day which our Redeemer honoured with his Resurrection the Christians of the Asian Churches kept it upon the 14th day of the month precisely being the very day prescribed for the Jewish Passeover A business of no great importance more than for a general conformity in the Church of Christ yet such as long had exercised the patience of it even from the time of Pius Pope of Rome who first decreed it to be kept on the Lords Day Die Dominico Pascha celebrari as it is in Platina Platina in vita Pii Pont. Euscb Ecc. hist l. 5. c. 24. but followed with most heat and violence by this Victor perhaps upon the Omen of his name Of whom Eusebius thus reporteth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. that he attempted to cut off the whole Church of Asia together with the Churches adjacent from the Communion of the Catholick 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if they had maintained some heterodox or dangerous Doctrine contrary to the Faith of Christ A matter taken very tenderly not only by the Asian Bishops whom it most concerned but also by some other of the Western parts who more endeavoured the preservation of the Churches peace than the advancement and authority of the See of Rome those of chief note which interessed themselves therein being Irenaeus Polycrates the one Bishop of the Metropolitan Church of Lyons in France the other of the Church of Ephesus the Queen of Asia both honourable in their times and places And first Polycrates begins deriving the occasion and descent of their observation from Philip 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Id. ibid. one of the twelve Apostles not of the seven Deacons as our Christopherson most ridiculously and falsly doth translate it who died at Hierapolis a City of Phrygia and from Saint John 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who rested on the bosom of our Lord and Saviour as also from Polycarpus and Thracias Bishops of Smyrna and both Martyrs Sagaris B. of Laodicea Papyrus and Melito and many others who kept the feast of Easter as the Asians did As for himself he certifieth that following the Traditions of his Elders he had done the like that seven of his kindred had been Bishops 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 himself being the eighth and all which did so observe the feast of Easter when the Jews did prepare the Passeover that having served God 65 years diligently canvassed over the holy Scriptures and held both intercourse and correspondence with many of the brethren over all the World 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he was the least disturbed at those Bruta fulmina Adding withal that he might here commemorate those several Bishops that were assembled at his call to debate the point 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but that this bare retital of their names was too great a trouble who though they could not but be sensible of his imperfections yet thinking that he bare not those gray hairs for nought did willingly subscribe unto his Epistle So far Id. ibid. c. 24. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and to this purpose he And on the other side Irenaeus writing unto Victor utterly dislikes that his severe and rigid manner of proceeding in cutting off so many Churches from the Communion of our Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 only because they did adhere to the Tradition of their Ancestors in a point of Ceremony shewing how much he differed in this business from the temper and moderation of his Predecessours Soter Anicetus Pius Higinus Sixtus and Telesphorus who though they held the same opinions that he did did notwithstanding entertain the Asian Bishops when they came unto them with great affection and humanity sending to those who lived far distant the most blessed Eucharist in testimony of their fellowship and Communion with them Nor did he write thus unto Victor only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but to the Governours or Bishops of many other Churches also And certainly it was but need that such a Moderator should be raised to atone the difference the billows beating very highly and Victor being beset on every side for his stiff perversness by the Prelates of the adverse party 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sharply assaulting him both with words and Writings For the composing of this business before it grew to such a heat there could no better means be thought of than that the Bishops of the Church in their several quarters should meet together to debate and determine of it And so accordingly they did Euseb hist Eccl. l. 5. c. 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and many Synods and assemblies of the Bishops were held about it viz. one in Caesarea of Palestine wherein Theophilus B. of the place and Narcissus B. of Hierusalem did sit as Presidents another at Rome a third of all the Bishops of Pontus in the which Palmas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the chief amongst them of that Order did then preside A fourth there was of the French or Gallick Churches in the which Irenaeus sat
they observed this order and decree of Moses and every seventh year read the Law as he appointed they had then questionless escaped many of those great afflictions which afterwards God brought upon them for contempt thereof That in the after-times the Law was read unto them every Sabbath in their several Synagogues is most clear and manifest as by the testimony of Philo and Josephus before related and by sufficient evidence from the holy Gospel But in these times and after for a thousand years there were no Synagogues no publick Reading of the Law in the Congregation excepting every seventh year only and that not often Sure I am not so often as it should have been So that in reference to the People we have but one thing only to regard as yet touching the keeping of the Sabbath which is rest from labour rest from all manner of work as the Law commanded and how far this was kept and how far dispensed with we shall see plainly by the story The private meditations and devotions of particular men stand not upon record at all and therefore we must only judg by external actions This said and shewn we will pass over Jordan with the house of Israel and trace their footsteps in that Countrey This happened on the tenth day of the first month or the month of Nisan forty days after the death of Moses Anno 2584. Josh 4.19 That day they pitched their Tents in Gilgal And the first thing they did was to erect an Altar in memorial of it that done to circumcise the people who all the time that they continued in the Wilderness as many as were born that time were uncircumcised The 14th of the same month did they keep the Passeover Josh 5.10 12. and on the morrow after God did cease from raining Mannah the people eating of the fruits of the Land of Canaan And here the first Sabbath which they kept as I conjecture was the day before the Siege of Hiericho which Sabbath probably was that very day Josh 5. whereon the Lord appeared to Joshuah and gave him order how he should proceed in that great Business The morrow after being the first day of the week they began to compass it as the Lord commanded The Priests some of them bearing the Ark Josh 6. some going before with Trumpets and the residue of the people some before the Trumpeters some behind the Ark. This did they once a day for six days together But when the seventh day came which was the Sabbath they compassed the Town about seven times and the Priests blew the Trumpets and the people shouted and they took the City destroying in it young and old man woman and children I said it was the Sabbath day for so it is agreed on generally both by Jews and Christians One of the seven days be it which it will must needs be the Sabbath day and be it which it will there had been work enough done on it but the seventh day whereon they went about seven times and destroyed it finally was indeed the Sabbath For first the Jews expresly say it that the overthrow of Jericho fell upon the Sabbath and that from thence did come the saying Qui sancificari jussit sabbatum is profanari jussit sabbatum So R. Kimchi hath resolved on the 6th of Joshuah In Josh 6. qu. 2. The like Tostatus tells us is affirmed by R. Solomon who adds that both the falling of the wall and slaughter of that wicked people was purposely deferred In honorem sabbati to add the greater lustre unto the Sabbath l. 11. c. 10. Galatine proves the same out of divers Rabbins this Solomon before remembred and R. Joses in the Book called Sedar Olem and many of them joyned together in their Beresith ketanna or lesser exposition on the Book of Genesis they all agreeing upon this Dies sabbati erat cum fuit praelium in Hiericho and again Non capta fuit Hiericho nisi in sabbato That certainly both the Battel and the Execution fell upon the Sabbath So for the Christian Writers Adv. Marc. l. 2. Tertullian saith not only in the general that one of those seven days was the Sabbath day but makes that day to be the Sabbath wherein the Priests of God did not only work Sed in ore gladii praedata sit civitas ab omni populo but all the people sacked the City and put it to the sword Nec dubium est eas opus servile operatos c. Du. 61. ex n. Test 1. Exod. 20. And certainly saith he they did much servile work that day when they destroyed so great a City by the Lords Commandment Procopius Gazaeus doth affirm the same Sabbato Jesus expugnavit cepit Hiericho Austin thus Primus Jesus nunc divino praecepto sabbatum non servavit quo facto muri Hiericho ultro ceciderunt So lastly Lyra on the place who saith that dies septimus in quo capta Hiericho sabbatum erat and yet they did not sin saith he because they did it on that day by Gods own appointment this doth indeed excuse the parties both from the guilt of sin and from the penalty of the Law but then it shews withal that this Commandment is of a different quality from the other nine and that it is no part of the Law of Nature God never hath commanded any thing contrary to the Law of Nature unless it were tentandi causa as in the case of Abraham and Isaac As for the spoyling of the Eygptians that could be no Thest considering the Egyptians owed them more than they lent unto them in recompence of the service they had done them in the former times But was the Sabbath broken or neglected only on the Lords Commandment in some especial case and extraordinary occasion I think none will say it Nay was there ever any Sabbath which was not broken publickly by common approbation and of common course Surely not one In such a numerous Commonwealth as that of Jewry it is not to be thought but that each day was fruitful in the works of Nature Children born every Sabbath day as well as others and therefore to be Circumcised on the same day also And so they were continually Sabbath by Sabbath Feast by Feast not one day free in all the year from that Solemnity and this by no especial order and command from God but meerly to observe an ancient custom In case it was deferred some time as sometimes it was it was not sure in Conscience to observe the Sabbath but only on a tender care to preserve the Infant which was perchance infirm and weak not able to abide the torment No question but the Sabbath following the sack of Hiericho was in this kind broken and so were all that followed after In Job 7.21 Nullum enim Sabbatum praeteribat quin multi in Judaea infantes ' circumciderentur It is Calvins note broken I say For Circumcision though a
one other Reading of it publickly and before the people related in the thirteenth of Nehemiah when it was neither Feast of Tabernacles nor sabbatical year for ought we find in holy Scripture Therefore most like it is that it was the Sabbath which much about those times began to be ennobled with the constant reading of the Word in the Congregation First in Hierusalem and after by degrees in most places else as men could fit themselves with convenient Synagogues Houses selected for that purpose to hear the Word of God and observe the same Of which times and of none before those passages of Philo and Josephus before remembred Chap. 6. n. 4. touching the weekly reading of the Law and the behaviour of the people in the publick places of Assembles are to be understood and verified as there we noted For that there was no Synagogue nor weekly reading of the Law before these times besides what hath been said already we will now make manifest No Synagogue before these times for there is neither mention of them in all the body of the old Testament nor any use of them in those days wherein there were no Congregations in particular places And first there is no mention of them in the old Testament For where it is supposed by some that there were Synagogues in the time of David and for the proof thereof they produce these words Psal 74.8 they have burnt up all the Synagogues of God in the Land the supposition and the proof are alike infirm For not to quarrel the Translation which is directly different from the Greek and vulgar Latine and somewhat from the former English this Psalm if writ by David was not composed in reference to any present misery which fefell the Church There had been no such havock made thereof in all Davids time as is there complained of Therefore if David writ that Psalm he writ it as inspired with the spirit of Prophecy and in the spirit of Prophecy did reflect on those wretched times wherein Antiochus laid waste the Church of God and ransacked his inheritance To those most probably must it be referred the miseries which are there bemoaned not being so exactly true in any other time of trouble as it was in this Magis probabilis est conjectura ad tempus Antiochi referri has querimonias as Calvin notes it In Psal 74. And secondly there was no use of them before because no reading of the Law in the Congregation of ordinary course and on the Sabbath days For had the Law been read unto the people every Sabbath day we either should have found some Commandment for it or some practice of it but we meet with neither Rather we find strong arguments to persuade the contrary We read it of Jehosaphat 2 Chron. 17.7 that in the third year of his reign he sent his Princes Ben-hail and Obadiah and Zechariah and Nathaneel and Micaiah to teach in the Cities of Judah These were the principal in Commission and unto them he joyned nine Levites and two Priests to bear them company and to assist them It followeth And they taught in Judah Verse 9. and had the book of the Law of the Lord with them and they went about throughout all the Cities of Judah and taught the people And they taught in Judah and had the Book of the Law with them This must needs be a needless labour in case the people had been taught every Sabbath day or that the Book of the Law had as then been extant and extant must it be if it had been read in every Town and Village over all Judaea Therefore there was no Synagogue no reading of the Law every Sabbath day in Jehosaphats time But that which follows of Josiah is more full than this 2 Kings 12. That godly Prince intended to repair the Temple and in pursuit of that intendment Hilkiah the Priest to whom the ordering of the work had been committed found hidden an old Copy of the Law of God which had been given unto them by the hand of Moses This Book is brought unto the King and read unto him And when the King had heard the words of the Law he rent his cloths And not so only Verse 11. Chap. 23.1 2. but he gathered together all the Elders of Judah and Hierusalem and read in their ears all the words of the Book of the Covenant which was found in the house of the Lord. Had it been formerly the custom to read the Law each Sabbath unto all the people it is not to be thought that this good King Josiah could possibly have been such a stranger to the Law of God or that the finding of the Book had been related for so strange an accident when there was scarce a Town in Judah but was furnished with them Or what need such a sudden calling of all the Elders and on an extraordinary time to hear the Law if they had heard it every Sabbath and that of ordinary course Nay so far were they at this time from having the Law read amongst them every weekly Sabbath that as it seems it was not read amongst them in the sabbath of years as Moses had before appointed For if it had been read unto them once in seven years only that vertuous Prince had not so soon forgotten the contents thereof Therefore there was no Synagogue no weekly reading of the Law in Josiabs days And if not then and not before then not at all till Ezras time The finding of the Book of God before remembred is said to happen in the year 3412. of the Worlds Creation not forty years before the people were led Captives into Babylon in which short space the Princes being careless and the times distracted there could be nothing done that concern'd this business Now from this reading of the Law in the time of Ezra unto the Council holden in Hierusalem there passed 490 years or thereabouts Acts 15.21 Antiquity sufficient to give just cause to the Apostle there to affirm that Moses in old time in every City had them that preached him being read in the Synagogues every Sabbath day So that we may conclude for certain that till these times wherein we are there was no reading of the Law unto the people on the Sabbath days and in these times when it was taken up amongst them it was by Ecclesiastical institution only no divine Authority But being taken up on what ground soever it did continue afterwards though perhaps sometimes interrupted until the final dissolution of that Church and State and therewithal grew up a liberty of interpretation of the holy words which did at last divide the people into sects and factions Petrus Cunaeus doth affirm that howsoever the Law was read amongst them in the former times either in publick or in private De repub l. 2. ca. 17. yet the bare Text was only read without gloss or descant Interpretatio magistrorum commentatio nulla But in
vel sabbatum esset vel dies Dominicus as the Father hath it and choose you which you will we shall find little in it for a Christian Sabbath In case it was on the Sabbath then Peter did not keep the Lords day holy as he should have done in case that day was then selected for Gods worship for the Text tells us that the next day he did begin his journey to Cornelius house Acts 10.24 In case it was upon the Lords day as we call it now then neither did Saint Peter sanctifie that day in the Congregation as he ought to do had that day then been made the Sabbath and his conversion of Cornelius being three days after must of necessity be done on the Wednesday following So that we find no Lords day Sabbath either of S. Peters keeping or of S. Philips or else the preaching of the Word and the administring the Sacraments were not affixed at all unto the first day of the week as the peculiar marks and characers thereof So for Saint Paul the Doctor of the Gentiles who laboured more abundantly than the other Apostles besides what shall be said particularly in the following section it may appear in general that he observed no Lords-day-sabbath but taught on all days travelled on all days and wrought according to his Trade upon all days too when he had no employment in the Congregation That he did teach on all days is not to be questioned by any that considers how great a work he had to do and how little time That he did travel upon all days is no less notorious to all that look upon his life which was still in motion And howsoever he might rest sometimes on the Lords day as questionless he did on others as often as upon that day he Preached the Gospel yet when he was a Prisoner in the hands of the Roman Souldiers there is no doubt but that he travelled as they did Lords days and Sabbaths In Dominieam 17. post Trinit all days equally many days together Of this see what Saint Luke hath written in the last Chapters of the Acts. Lastly for working at his Trade which was Tent-making on the Lords day as well as others Conradus Dietericus proves â—t out of Hierom that when he had none unto whom to preach in the Congregation he followed on the Lords day the works of his Occupation Hieronymus colligit ex Act. 18. vers 3. 4. quod die etiam Dominica quando quibus in publico conventu concionaretur non habebat manibus suis laboravit So Dietericus speaking of our Apostle Now what is proved of these Apostles and of S. Philip the Evangelist may be affirmed of all the rest whose lives and actions are not left upon record in holy Scripture Their Ministery being the same and their work as great no question but their liberty was correspondent and that they took all times to be alike in the advancing of the business which they went about and cherished all occasions presented to them on what day soever What further may be said hereof in reference to Saint John who lived longest of them and saw the Church established and her publick meetings in some order we shall see hereafter in his own place and time Mean while we may conclude for certain that in the planting of the Church he used all days equally kept none more holy than another and after when the Church was setled however he might keep this holy and honour it for the use which was made thereof yet he kept other days so used as holy but never any like a Sabbath Proceed we next unto Saint Paul in this particular of whom the Scripture tells us more than of all the rest and we shall find that he no sooner was converted but that forthwith he Preached in the Synagogues that Jesus was the Christ Acts 9.20 If in the Synagogues most likely that it was on the Jewish Sabbath the Synagogues being destinate especially to the Sabbath days So after he was called to the publick Ministery he came to Antiochia Acts 13.14 and went into the Synagogue on the Sabbath day and there Preached the Word What was the issue of his Sermon That the Text informs us And when the Jews were gone out of the Synagogue the Gentiles besought that these words might be Preached again the next Sabbath Verse 42 Saint Paul assented thereunto and the next Sabbath day as the Text tells us Verse 44 came almost the whole City together to hear the Word of God It seems the Lords day was not grown as yet into any credit especially not into the repute of the Jewish Sabbath for if it had Saint Paul might easily have told these Gentiles that is such Gentiles as had been converted to the Jewish Church that the next day would be a more convenient time and indeed opus diei in die suo the doctrine of the Resurrection on the day thereof This hapned in the forty sixth year of Christs Nativity some twelve years after his Passion and Resurrection and often after this did the Apostle shew himself in the Jewish Synagogues on the Sabbath days which I shall speak of here together that so we may go on unto the rest of this Discourse with less interruption And first it was upon the Sabbath that he did preach to the Philippians and baptized Lydia with her houshold Acts 16. Amongst the Thessalonians he reasoned three sabbath days together out of the Scriptures Acts 17. At Corinth every sabbath day with the Jews and Greeks Acts 18. besides those many Texts of Scripture when it is said of him that he went into the Synagogues and therefore probably that it was upon the Sabbath as before we said Not that Saint Paul was so affected to the Sabbath as to prefer that day before any other but that he found the people at those times assembled and so might preach the Word with the greater profit Saint Chrysostom for the Ancients have resolved it so In Acts 13.14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Father hath it So Calvin for the modern Writers makes this the special cause of St. Pauls resort unto the places of Assembly on the Sabbath day quod profecium aliquem sperabat In Acts 16.13 because in such concourse of people he hoped the Word of God would find the better entertainment Any thing rather to be thought than that S. Paul who had withstood so stoutly those false Apostles who would have Circumcision and the Law observed when there was nothing publickly determined of it would after the decision of so great a Council wherein the Law of Moses was for ever abrogated eieither himself observe the Sabbath for the sabbaths sake or by his own example teach the Gentiles how to Judaize which he so blamed in St. Peter The sabbath with the legal Ceremonies did receive their doom as they related to the Gentiles in that great Council holden in Hierusalem which though it was not
only in our common speech but in the Canons of the Church and our Acts of Parliament as being used indifferently by so many eminent persons in the Primitive Church as also in an open Synod as before was thewn from thence transmitted by our Fathers unto their posterity Better by far and far less danger to be feared in calling it the Sunday as the Gentiles did and as our Ancestors have done before us than calling it the Sabbath as too many do and on less authority nay contrary indeed to all Antiquity and Scripture CHAP. III. That in the fourth Age from the time of Constantine to Saint Austin the Lords day was not taken for a Sabbath day 1. The Lords day first established by the Emperour Constantine 2. What Labours were permitted and what restrained on the Lords day by this Emperours Edict 3. Of other Holy days and Saints days instituted in the time of Constantine 4. That weekly other days particularly the Wednesday and the Friday were in this Age and those before appointed for the meetings of the Congregation 5. The Saturday as highly honoured in the Eastern Churches as the Lords day was 6. The Fathers of the Eastern Churches cry down the Jewish Sabbath though they held the Saturday 7. The Lords day not spent wholly in Religious Exercises and what was done with that part of it which was left at large 8. The Lords day in this Age a day of Feasting and that it hath been always deemed Heretical to hold Fasts thereon 9. Of Recreation on the Lords day and of what kind those Dancings were against the which the Fathers inveigh so sharply 10. Other Imperial Edicts about the keeping of the Lords day and the other Holy-days 11. The Orders at this time in use on the Lords day and other days of publick meeting in the Congregation 12. The infinite differences between the Lords day and the Sabbath HItherto have we spoken of the Lords day as taken up by the common consent of the Church not instituted or established by any Text of Scripture or Edict of Emperour or Decree of Council save that some few particular Councils did reflect upon it in the point of Esater In that which followeth we shall find both Emperours and Councils very frequent in ordering things about this day and the service of it And first we have the Emperour Constantine who being the first Christian Prince that publickly profest the Gospel was the first also that made any Law about the keeping of the Lords day or Sunday De vit Const lib. 4. c. 18. Of him Eusebius tells us that thinking that the chiefest and most proper day for the devotion of his Subjects he presently declared his pleasure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that every one who lived in the Roman Empire should take their ease or rest in that day weekly which is intituled to our Saviour Now where the Souldiers in his Camp were partly Christians and partly the Gentiles it was permitted unto them who professed the Gospel upon the Sunday so he calls it freely to go unto the Churches and there offer up their Prayers to Almighty God But such as had continued still in their ancient Errours were ordered to assemble in the open Fields upon those days and on a signal given to make their prayers unto the Lord after a form by him prescribed The Form being in the Latin Tongue was this that followeth Te solum Deum agnoscimus te regem prositemur te adjutorem invocamus per te victorias consecuti sumus Cap. 20. per te hostes superavimus à te praesentem felicitatem consecuntos fatemur futuram adepturos speramus tui omnes supplices sumus à te petimus ut Constantinum Imperatorem nostrum una cum piis ejus liberis quam diutissime nobis salvum victorem conserves In English thus We do acknowledge thee to be the only God we confess thee to be the King we call upon thee as our helper and defender by thee alone it is that we have got the Victory and subdued our Enemies to thee as we refer all our present happiness so from thee also do we expect our future Thee therefore we beseech that thou wouldest please to keep in all health and safety our noble Emperour Constantine with his hopeful Progeny Nor was this only to be done in the Fields of Rome in patentibus suburbiorum campis as the Edict ran but after by another Proclamation he did command the same over all the Provinces of the Empire Cap. 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Eusebius hath it So natural a power it is in a Christian Prince to order things about Religion that he not only took upon him to command the day but also to prescribe the scrvice to those I mean who had no publick Liturgy or set Form of Prayer Nor did he only take upon him to command or appoint the day as to all his subjects and to prescribe a form of Prayer as unto the Gentiles but to decree what works should be allowed upon it and what intermitted In former times though the Lords day had got the credit as to be honoured with the publick meetings of the Congregation yet was it not so strictly kept no not in time of divine service but that the publick Magistrates Judges and other Ministers of State were to attend those great Employments they were called unto without relation to this day or cessation on it and so did other men that had less employments and those not so necessary These things this pious Emperour taking into consideration and finding no necessity but that his Judges and other publick Ministers might attend Gods service on that day at least not be a means to keep others from it and knowing that such as dwelt in Cities had sufficient leisure to frequent the Church and that Artificers without any publick discommodity might for that time forbear their ordinary labours he ordered and appointed that all of them in their several places should this day lay aside their own Business to attend the Lords But then withal considering that such as followed Husbandry could not so well neglect the times of Seed and Harvest but that they were to take advantage of the fairest and most seasonable weather as God pleased to send it he left it free to them to follow their affairs on what day soever left otherwise they might lose those blessings which God in his great bounty had bestowed upon them This mentioned in the very Edict he set forth about it First for his Judges Citizens or inhabitants of the greater Towns L. Omnes cap. de feriis and all Artificers therein dwelling Omnes Judices urbanaeque plebes cunctarum artium officia venerabili die Solis quiescant Next for the people of the Contrey Rure tamen positi libere licenterque agrorum culture inserviant quoniam frequenter evenit ut non aptius alio die frumenta sulcis vinea scrobibus mandentur
upon the Lords day shall yoak his Oxen and drive forth his wain dextrum bovem perdat his right hand Oxe shall be forthwith forfeit if he make Hay or carry it in if he now Corn or carry it in let him be once or twice admonished and if he amend not thereupon let him receive no less than 50 stripes Yet notwithstanding all this care when Charles the Great being King of France had mastered Germany which was 789. or thereabouts there had been little reformation in this point amongst them Therefore that Prince first published his own Regal Edict grounding himself secundum quod in lege praecepit dominus upon the prescript of Gods Law and there commands that all men do abstain from the works of Husbandry Which Edict since it speaks of more particulars at that time prohibited we will speak more thereof anon That not prevailing as it seems he caused five several Synods to be assembled at one time Anno 813. at Mentz at Rhemes at Tours at Chalons and Arles in all of which it was concluded against the Husband-man and many others more as we shall see in the next Section And yet we find some grudging still of the old disease as is apparent by a Synod held at Rome Anno 826. under Eugenius the second chap. 30. another in the same place Anno 853. under Leo the fourth Can. 30. the like in that of Compeigne held by Alexander the third what time he lived an exile in the Realm of France So for restraint of Law days or Courts of judgment those chiefly that determined of mens lives it was not brought about in these Western parts without great difficulty Witness besides the several Imperial Edicts before remembred Conc. Mogunt Anno. 813. Can. 37. Rhemens Can. 35. Turonens Can. 40. Arelatens Can. 16. being four of those Councils which were called by Charles as before was said as also that of Aken Anno 836. Can. 20. And though it was determined in the Roman Synod under Leo the fourth that no suspected person should receive judgment on that day a clause being added in the Canâ—â— legibus infirmari judicium eo die depromptum that all Acts sped upon that day were void in Law yet more than 300 years after it was so resolved of was Alexander the third in Council of Compeigne before remembred enforced particularly to revive it and then and there to set it down Ne aliquis ad mortem vel ad poenam judicetur that no man should upon that day be doomed to death or otherwise condemned unto bodily punishment So difficult a thing it was to wean the People from their labours and other civil business unto which they had been accustomed there being nothing to inforce or induce them to it but humane authority On the same reason as it seems Leo Philosophus Emperour of Constantinople did make use of Scripture when in conformity with the Western Churches he purposed to restrain the works of Husbandry on that day which till his time had been permitted The Emperour Constantine had ordained as before was shewn that all Artificers and such as dwelt in Cities should on the Sunday leave their trades but by the same Edict gave licence to the Husbandman to pursue his business as well upon that day as on any other But contrary this Leo surnamed Philosophus he began his Reign Ann 886. grounding himself for so he tells us on the Authority of the Holy Ghost and of the Apostles but where he sound that warrant from the Holy Ghost and from the holy Apostles that he tells us not restrained the Husbandman from his work as well as men of other callings Nicephorus mistakes the man and attributes it to the former Leo whom before we spake of in our fourth Chapter Eccl. hist c. 22. Quo tempore primus etiam Leo constitutione lata ut dies dominicus ab omnibus absque labore omni per ocium transigeretur festusque venerabilis esset quemadmodum divis Apostolis visum est praecepit Where the last clause with the substance of the Edict make the matter plain that he mistook the man though he hit the busineses the former Leo using no such motive in all his Edict Constit 54. But take it from the Emperour himself who having told us first that the Lords day was to be honoured with rest from labour adds next that he had seen a Law he means that of Constantine quae non omnes simul operari prohibendos nonnullosque uti operentur indulgendum censuit which having not restrained all works but permitted some did upon no sufficient reason dishonour that so sacred day Then followeth Statuimus nos etiam quod Sp. Sancto ab ipsoque institutis Apostolis placuit ut omnes in die sacro c. Ã labore vacent Neque Agricolae c. It is our will saith he according to the true meaning of the Holy Ghost and of the Apostles by him directed that on that sacred day whereon we were restored unto our integrity all men should rest themselves and surcease from labour neither the Husbandmen nor others putting their hand that day to prohibited work For if the Jews did so much reverence their Sabbath which only was a shadow of ours are not we which inhabit light and the truth of grace obliged to honour that day which the Lord hath honoured and hath therein delivered us both from dishonour and from death Are not we bound to keep it singularly and inviolably sufficiently contented with a liberal grant of all the rest and not encroaching on that one which God hath chosen for his service Nay were it not a retchless slighting and contempt of all Religion to make that day common and think that we may do thereon as we do on others So far this Emperour determins of it first and disputes it afterwards I only note it for the close that it was near 900 years from our Saviours birth if not quite so much before restraint of Husbandry on this day had been first thought of in the East and probably being thus restrained did find no more obedience there than it had done before in the Western parts As great a difficulty did it prove to restrain other things in these times projected although they carried it at the last The Emperour Constantine had before commanded that all Artificers in the Cities should surcease from labour on the Lords day as well as those whom he imployed in his seats of justice and questionless he found obedience answerable to his expectation But when the Western parts became a prey to new Kings and Nations and that those Kings and Nations had admitted the Laws of Christ yet did they not conceive it necessary to submit themselves to the Laws of Constantine and therefore followed their imployments as before they did And so it stood until the time of Charles the Great who in the year 789. published his regal Edict in this form that followeth In Legib.
as well upon the Saturday as upon the Sunday it is now time we turned our course and set sail for England where we shall find as little of it as in other places until that forty years ago no more some men began to introduce a Sabbath thereunto in hope thereby to countenance and advance their other projects CHAP. VII In what estate the Lords day stood in this Isle of Brittain from the first Planting of Religion to the Reformation 1. What doth occur about the Lords day and the other Festivals amongst the Churches of the Brittains 2. Of the estate of the Lords day and the other Holy-days in the Saxon Heptarchy 3. The honours done unto the Sunday and the other Holy-days by the Saxon Monarchs 4. Of the publick actions Civil Ecclesiastical mixt and Military done on the Lords day under the first six Norman Kings 5. New Sabbath Doctrins broached in England in King Johns Reign and the miraculous original of the same 6. The prosecution of the former story and ill success therein of the undertakers 7. Restraint of worldly business on the Lords day and the other Holy-days admitted in those times in Scotland 8. Restraint of certain servile works on Sundays Holy-days and the Wakes concluded in the Council of Oxon under Henry III. 9. Husbandry and Legal process prohibited on the Lords day first in the Reign of Edward III. 10. Selling of Wools on the Lords day and the solemn Feasts forbidden first by the said King Edward as after Fairs and Markets generally by King Henry VI. 11. The Cordwainers of London restrained from selling their Wares on the Lords day and some other Festivals by King Edward IV. and the repealing of that Act by King Henry VIII 12. In what estate the Lords day stood both for the doctrine and the practice in the beginning of the Reign of the said King Henry AND now at last we are for England that we may see what hath been done amongst our selves in this particular and thereby be the better lessoned what we are to do For as before I noted the Canons of particular Churches and Edicts of particular Princes though they sufficiently declare both what their practice and opinion was in the present point yet are no general rule nor prescript to others which lived not in the compass of their Authority Nor can they further bind us as was then observed than as they have been since admitted into our Church or State either by adding them unto the body of our Canon or imitating them in the composition of our Acts and Statutes Only the Decretals of the Popes the body of their Canon Law is to be excepted which being made for the direction and reiglement of the Church in general were by degrees admitted and obeyed in these parts of Christendome and are by Act of Parliament so far still in force as they oppose not the Prerogative Royal or the municipal Laws and Statutes of this Realm of England Now that we may the better see how it hath been adjudged of here and what hath been decreed ordome touching the Lords day and the other Holy-days we will ascend as high as possibly we can even to the Church and Empire of the Brittains Of them indeed we find not much and that delivered in as little it being said of them by Beda Hist l. 1. c. 8. that in the time of Constantine they did dies festos celebrare observe those Holy-days which were then in use which as before we said were Easter Whitsontide the Feasts of Christs Nativity and his Incarnation every year together with the Lords day weekly And yet it may be thought that in those times the Lords day was not here of any great account in that they kept the Feast of Easter after the fashion of the Churches in the Eastern parts decima quarta luna on what day of the week soever which certainly they had not done had the Lords day obtained amongst them that esteem which generally it had found in the Western Churches And howsoever a late writer of Ecclesiastical History endeavour to acquit the Brittains of these first Ages from the erroneous observation of that Feast Brought hist l. 4. c. 13. and make them therein followers of the Church of Rome yet I conceive not that his proofs come home to make good his purpose For where it is his purpose to prove by computation that that erroneous observation came not in amongst the Brittains till 30 years before the entrance of S. Austin and his associates into this Island and for that end hath brought a passage out of Beda touching the continuance of that custom It 's plain that Beda speaks not of the Brittish but the Scottish Christians Permansit autem apud eos the Scottish-Irish Christians as himself confesseth hujusmodi observantia Paschalis tempore non pauco hoc est usque ad annum Domini 717. per annos 150. which was as he computes it somewhat near the point but 30 years before the entrance of that Austin Now for the Scots it is apparent that they received not the faith till the year of Christ 430 not to say any thing of the time wherein they first set footing in this Island which was not very long before and probably might about that time of which Beda speaks receive the custom of keeping Easter from the Brittains who were next neighbours to them and a long time lived mingled with them But for the Brittains it is most certain that they had longer been accustomed to that observation though for the time thereof whether it came in with the first plantation of the Gospel here we will not contend as not pertaining to the business which we have in hand Suffice it that the Brittains anciently were observant of those publick Festivals which had been generally entertained in the Church of God though for the time of celebrating the Feast of Easter they might adhere more unto one Church than unto another As for the Canon of the Council of Nice Anno 198. which is there alledged Baronius rightly hath observed out of Athanasius that notwithstaning both the Canon and the Emperours Edicts thereupon tamen etiam postea Syros Cilices Mesopotamios in eodem errore permansisse the Syrians Cilicians and Mesopotamians continued in their former errours And why not then the Brittains which lay farther off as well as those that dwelt so near the then Regal City Proceed we next unto the Saxons who as they first received the faith from the Church of Rome so did they therewithal receive such institutions as were at that time generally entertained in the Roman Church the celebration of the Lords day and the other Festivals which were allowed of and observed when Gregory the Great attained the Popedom And here to take things as they lie in order we must begin with a narration concerning Westminster which for the prettiness of the story I will here insert Sebert the first Christian King of the East Saxons
King c. hath ordained and established that no Cordwainer or Cobler within the City of London or within three miles of any part of the said City c. do upon any Sunday in the year or on the Feasts of the Ascension or Nativity of our Lord or on the Feasi of Corpus Christi sell or command to be sold any Shwe Huseans i. e. Bootes or Galoches or upon the Sunday or any other of the said Feasts shall set or put upon the feet or legs of any person any Shwes Huseans or Galoches upon pain of forfeiture and loss of O shillings as often as any person shall do contrary to this Ordinance Where note that this restraint was only for the City of London and the parts about it which shews that it was counted lawful in all places clse And therefore there must be some particular motive why this restraint was laid on those of London only either their insolencies or some notorious neglect of Gods publick service the Gentle craft had otherwise been ungently handled that they of all the Tradesmen in that populous City should be so restrained Note also that in this very Act there is a reservation or indulgence for the Inhabitants of S. Martins le Grand to do as formerly they were accustomed the said Act or Statute not withstanding 14 15 of H. 8. cap. 9. Which very clause did after move King Henry VIII to repeal this Statute that so all others of that trade might be free as they or as the very words of the Statute are That to the Honour of Almighty God all the Kings Subjects might be hereafter at their liberty as well as the Inbabitants of S. Martins le Grand Now where it seemeth by the Proeme of the Statute 17. of this King Edward IV. c. 3. that many in that time did spend their Holy-days in dice Quoits Tennis bowling and the like unlawful Games forbidden as is there affirmed by the Laws of the Realm which said unlawful Games are thereupon prohibited under a certain penalty in the Statute mentioned It is most manisest that the Prohibition was not in reference to the time Sundays or any other Holy-days but only to the Games themselves which were unlawful at all times For publick actions in the times of these two last Princes the greatest were the battels of Towton and Barnet one on Palm-Sunday and the other on Easter-day the greatest Fields that ever were fought in England And in this State things stood till King Henry VIII Now for the doctrine and the practice of these times before King Henry the VIII and the Reformation we cannot take a better view than in John de Burgo Chancellor of the University of Cambridg I pitta Oâ—â—i Pl. 12. 11. D. about the latter end of King Henry the sixth First Doctrinally he determincth as before was said that the Lords day was instituted by the authority of the Church and that it is no otherwise to be observed than by the Canons of the Church we are bound to keep it Then for the name of Sabbath that the Lords day quaelibet dies statuta ad divinam culturam Id. lb. E. and every day appointed for Gods publick service may be so entituled because in them we are to rest from all servile works such as are Arts Mechanick Husbandry Law-days and going to Markets with other things quae ab Ecclesia determinantur I l ply 5.9 cap. 7. H. which are determined by the Church Lastly that on those days insistendum est orationibus c. We must be busied at our prayers the publick service of the Church in Hymns and in spiritual Songs and in hearing Sermons Next practically for such things as were then allowed of he doth sort them thus First generally Non tamen prohibentur his diebus faccre quae pertinent ad providentiam necessariorum c. We are not those days restrained from doing such things as conduce to the providing of necessaries either for our selves or for our Neighbours as in preserving of our persons or of our substance or in avoiding any loss that might happen to us Id. ib. J. Particularly next si jacentibus c. In case our Corn and Hay in the Fields abroad be in danger of a Tempest we may bring it in yea though it be upon the Sabbath Butchers and Victualers if they make ready on the Holy days what they must sell the morrow after either in open Market or in their shops in case they cannot dress it on the day before or being dressed they cannot keep it Id. ib. L. non peccant mortaliter they fall not by so doing into mortal sin vectores mercium c. Carriers of Wares or Men or Victuals unto distant places in case they cannot do it upon other days without inconvenience are to be excused Barbers and Chirurgions Smiths or Farriers if on the Holy days they do the works of their daily labour Id. ib. M. especially propter necessitatem eorum quibus serviunt for the necessities of those who want their help are excusable also but not in case they do it chiefly for desire of gain Id. ib. N. Messengers Posts and Travellers that travel if some special occasion be on the Holy days whether they do it for reward or not non audeo condemnare are not at all to be condemned As neither Millers which do grind either with Water-mils or Wind-mils and so can do their Work without much labour but they may keep the custom of the place in the which they live not being otherwise commanded by their Ordinaries Id. ib. O. secus si traciu jumentorum multuram faciunt but if it be an Horse-mill then the case is altered So buying and selling on those days in some present exigent as the providing necessary Victuals for the day was not held unlawful dum tamen exercentes ea non subtrabunt se divinis officiis in case they did not thereby keep themselves from Gods publick Service Lastly Id. ib. Q. for Recreations for dancing on those days he determins thus that they which dance on any of the Holy days either to stir themselves or others unto carnal lusts commit mortal sin and so they do saith he in case they do it any day But it is otherwise if they dance upon honest causes and no naughty purpose and that the persons be not by Law restrained Choreas ducentes maxime in diebus sestis causa incitanda se vel alios ad peccatum mortale peccant mortaliter similiter si in profestis diebus hoc fiat secus si hoc fiat ex causa honesta intentione non corrupta à persona cui talia non sunt probibita With which determination I conclude this Chapter CHAP. VIII The story of the Lords Day from the Reformation of Religion in this Kingdom till this present time 1. The doctrine of the Sabbath and the Lords day delivered by three several Martyrs conformably
being thus discharged he shews in the next place Ibid. 48. that as God desireth not the death of man without relation to his sin so he desireth not the death of the sinful man or of the wicked sinful man but rather that they shoudl turn from their wickedness and live And he observes it is said unto the Goats in St. Matthews Gospel Ite malidicti in ignem paratum he doth not say Maledicti patris Go ye cursed of the Father as it is Benedicti patris when he speaks of the sheep God intituling himself to the blessing only and that the fire is prepared but for whom Non vobis sed Diabolo Angelis ejus not for you but for the Devil and his Angels So that God delighteth to prepare neither Death nor Hell for damned men The last branch of his Discourse he resolves into six consequences as links depending on his Chain 1. Gods absolute Will is not the cause of Reprobation but sin 2. No man is of an absolute necessity the child of Hell so as by Gods grace he may not avoid it 3. God simply willeth every living soul to be saved and to come to the Kingdom of Heaven 4. God sent his Son to save every soul and to bring it to the Kingdom of Heaven 5. God offereth Grace effectually to save every one and to direct him to the Kingdom of Heaven 6. The nelgect and contempt of this Grace is the cause why every one doth not come to Heaven and not any privative Decree Council and Determination of God The stating and canvasing of which points so plainly curtly to the Doctrines of che old Zuinglian Gospellers and the modern Calvinians as they take up the rest of the Sermon so to the Sermon I refer the Reader for his furtehr satisfaction in them I note this only in the close that there is none of the five Arminian Articles as they commonly call them which is not contained in terms express or may not easily be found by way of Deduction in one or more of the six consequences before recited Now in this Sermon there are sundry things to be considered as namely first That the Zuinglian or Calvinian Gospel in these points was grown so strong that the Preacher calls it their Goliah so huge and monstrous that many quaked and trembled at it but none that is to say but few or none vel duo vel nemo in the words of Persius durst take up Davids sling to throw it down Secondly That in canvasing the absolute Decree of Reprobation the Preacher spared none of those odious aggravations which have been charged upon the Doctrines of the modern Calvinists by the Remonstrants and their party in these latter times Thirdly That the Sermon was preached at St. Pauls Cross the greatest Auditory of the Kingdom consisting not only of the Lord Mayor the Aldermen and the rest of the chief men in the City but in those times of such Bishops and other learned men as lived occasionally in London and the City of Westminster as also of the Judges and most learned Lawyers some of the Lords of the Council being for the most part present also Fourthly That for all this we cannot find that any offence was taken at it or any Recantation enjoyned upon it either by the high Commission or Bishop of London or any other having Authority in the Church of England nor any complaint made of it to the Queen or the Council-Table as certainly there would have been if the matter of the Sermon had been contrary to the Rules of the Church and the appointments of the same And finally we may observe that though he was made Archbiship of York in the Reign of King Charles 1628. when the times are thought to have been inclinable to those of the Arminian Doctrines yet he was made Master of Pembrook Hill Bishop of Chichester and from thence translated unto Norwich in the time of King James And thereupon we may conclude that King James neither thought this Doctrine to be against the Articles of Religion here by Law established nor was so great an Enemy to them or the men that held them as some of our Calvinians have lately made him But against this it is objected by Mr. Prin in his book of Perpetuity c. printed at London in the year 1627. 1. That the said Mr. Harsnet was convented for this Sermon and forced to recant it as Heretical 2. That upon this Sermon Perpetulty c. 304. and the Controversies that arose upon it in Cambridg between Baroe and Whitacres not only the Articles of Lambeth were composed of which more hereafter but Mr. Wotton was appointed by the University to confute the same 3. That the siad Sermon was so far from being published or printed that it was injoyned by Authority to be recanted For Answer whereunto it would first be known where the said Sermon was recanted and by whose Authority Not in or by the University of Cambridg where Mr. Harsnet lived both then and a long time after for the Sermon was preached at St. Pauls Cross and so the University could take no cognisance of it nor proceed against him for the same And if the Recantation was madea t St. Pauls Cross where the supposed offence was given it would be known by whose Authority it was enjoyned Not by the Bishop of London in whose Diocess the Sermon was preached for his Authority did not reach so far as Cambridg whither the Preacher had retited after he had performed the service he was called unto and if it were injoyned by the High Commission and performed accordingly there is no question to be made but that we should have heard of in the Anti-Arminianism where there are no less than eight leaves spend in relating the story of a like Recantation pretended to be made by one Mr. Barret on the tenth of May 1595. and where it is affirmed that the said Mr. Harsnet held and maintained the same errors for which Barret was to make his Recantation But as it will be proved hereafter that no such Recantation wass made by Barret so we have reason to believe that no such Recantation was imposed on Harsnet Nor secondly can it be made good that the Controversies between Doctor Whitacres and Dr. Baroe were first occasioned by this Sermon or that Mr. Wotton was appointed by the University to confute the same For it appears by a Letter written from the heads of that University to their Chancellor the Lord Treasurer Burleigh dated March 18. 1595. that Baroe had maintained the same Doctrines and his Lectures and Determinations above 14 years before by their own account for which see Chap. 21. Numb 80. which must be three years at the least before the preaching of that Sermon by Mr. Harsnet And though it is probable enopugh that Mr. Wotton might give himself the trouble of confuting the Sermon yet it is more than probable that he was not required so to do by that
great 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philo de vita Mosis or Court of Sanhedrim And this is that which Casaubon doth also tell us from the most learned and expert of the Jewish Rabbins Non nisi nobilissimos è sacerdotibus Levitis caeteroque populo in lege peritissimos in Sanhedrim eligi Casaub Exercit in Baron 1. Sect. 3. that is to say that none but the most eminent of the Priests the Levites and the rest of the People and such as were most conversant in the Book of the Law were to be chosen into the Sanhedrim But to return again to the Book of God the power and reputation of this Court and Consistory having been much diminished in the times of the Kings of Judah was again revived by Jehosaphat Of whom we read that he not only did appoint Judges in the Land throughout all the fenced Cities of Judah 2 Chron. 19.5 but that he established at Hierusalem a standing Council consisting of the Levites and of the Priests and of the chief of the Fathers of Israel for the judgments of the Lord Ibid. r. 8. and for controversies according to the model formerly laid by God himself in the Book of Deuteronomy Which Court or Council thus revived continued in full force authority and power during the time of the captivity of Babilon as appears plainly by that passage in the Prophesie of Ezekiel where it is said of the Priests even by God himself Ezek. 44. v. 24. in controversie they shall stand in judgment compared with another place of the same Prophet where he makes mention of the Seventy of the Antients of the House of Israel Id. c. 8. v. 11. and Jaazaniah the Son of Shaphan standing in the midst as Prince of the Senate And after their return from that house of bondage they were confirmed in this authority by the Edict and Decree of Artaxerxes who gave Commission unto Ezra to set Magistrates and Judges over the People not after a new way of his own devising Ezra 6.7 v. 25. but after the wisdom of his God declared in the foregoing Ages by his Servant Moses In which estate they stood all the times succeeding until the final dissolution of that State and Nation with this addition to the power of the holy Priesthood that they had not only all that while their place and suffrage in the Court of Sanhedrim as will appear to any one who hath either read Josephus or the four Evangelists but for a great part of that time till the Reign of Herod the Supream Government of the State was in the hands of the Priests In which regard besides what was affirmed from Synesius formerly it is said by Justin Morem esse apud Judaeos ut eosdem Reges sacerdotes haberent that it was the custom of the Jews for the same men to be Kings and Priests Justin hist l. 36. and Tacitus gives this general note Judaeis Sacerdotu honorem firmamentum potentiae esse that the honour given unto the Priesthood amongst the Jews did most espeeially conduce to the establishment of their power and Empire And yet I cannot yield to Baronius neither Tacit. hist l. 3. where he affirms the better to establish a Supremacy in the Popes of Rome Summum Pont. arbitrio suo moderari magnum illud Concilium Baron Annal. An. 57. c. that the High Priest was always President of the Council or Court of Sanhedrim it being generally declared in the Jewish Writers that the High Priest could challenge no place at all therein in regard of his offence and descent but meerly in respect of such personal abilities as made himself to undergo such a weighty burden for which see Phagius in his notes on the 16 of Deuteronomy Thus have we seen of what authority and power the Priests were formerly as well amongst the Jews as amongst the Gentiles we must next see whether they have not been employed in the like affairs under the Gospel of Christ and that too in the best and happiest times of the Christian Church In search whereof it is not to be looked for by the ingenuous Reader that we should aim so high as the first 300 years after Christs Nativity The Prelates of the Church were suspected then to have their different aims and interesses from those who had the government of the Civil State and therefore thought uncapable of trust and imployment in it But after that according to that memorable maxim of Optatus Deschismat Donatist l. 3. Ecclesia erat in Republicâ the Church became a part of the Common-wealth and had their ends and aims united there followed these two things upon it first that the Supream Government of the Church depended much upon the will and pleasure of the Supream Magistrate Scorat Eccl. hist lib. 5. c. 1. insomuch as Socrates observeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the greatest Councils have been called by their authority and appointment And 2ly That the Governours and Rulers of the Church of God came to have place and power in disposing matter that appertained to the well ordering of the Civil State And this they did not our of any busie or pragmatical desire to draw the cognizance of secular causes into their own hands or to increase their power and reputation with the common People but meerly for the ease and benefit of those who did repair unto them for their help and counsel and to comply with the command of the Apostle who imposed it on them S. Austin tells us of S. Ambrose with how great difficulty he obtained an opportunity of conversing with him privately and at large as his case required Secludentibus eum ab ejus aure atque ore catervis negociosorum hominum August Confes l. 6. c. 3. the multitude of those who had business to him and suits to be determined by him debarring him from all advantages of access and conference Which took up so much of his time that he had little leisure to refresh his body with necessary food or his mind with the reading of good Authors And Posidonius tells us of S. Austin causas audisse diligenter pie that he diligently and religiously attended such businesses as were brought before him not only spending all the morning in that troublesome exercise Posidon in vita August c. 19. but sometimes fasting all day long the better to content the suitor and dispatch the business The like S. Austin tells us of himself and his fellow Prelates first that the Christians of those times pro secularibus causis suis nos non raro quaererent August in Psal 118. serm 74 Epist 147. did ordinarily apply themselves unto them for the determining of secular causes and chearfully submitted unto their decisions next that the Prelates did comply with their earnest solicitations and desires therein Tu multuosissimas eausarum alienarum perplexitates patiendo Id. de opere Monach. c. 29. by
honour of the Empire and the publick safety Nor is this any new authority which the Ecclesiastical Estate hath gained in the latter times but such wherein they were intrusted from the first beginning of that Empire It being affirmed by Aventinus a Writer of unquestioned credit that long before the institution of the seven Electors which was in An. 996. the Prelates the Nobility and the chief of the People had the election of the Emperour Aventini Annal Boiorum l. 5. And if the Prelates were intrusted in so high a point as the Election of the Emperour or the Soveraign Prince no question but they were imployed also in his publick Councels in matters which concerned the managery of the Common-wealth Next pass we over into France and there we find the Subjects marshalled into three Estates whereof the Clergy is the first Rex coactis tribus Ordinibus Sacerdotio Nobilitate Plebe Paul Aemilius hist Franc. l. 9. subsidia rei pecuniariae petiit that is to say the King assembling or conveening the three Estates viz. the Clergy the Nobility and the Commons demanded subsidies for the support of his Estate So Paulus Aemilius doth inform us Out of these three are chosen certain Delegates or Commissioners some for each Estate as often as the Kings occasions do require their meeting the time and place whereof is absolutely left unto his disposing and these thus met do make up the Conventus Ordinum or L' Assemblie des Estats as the French men call it in form much like the English Parliament but in nothing else the power and reputation of it being much diminished in these latter times especially since the great improvement of the Court of Parliament fixed and of long time fixed in Paris Which Court of Parliament as it was instituted at the first by Charles Martel Mayre of the Palace to the Merovignian line of France and Grand-father to Charle magne so it consisted at the first of the same ingredients of which the great Assembly des Estats consisteth now that is to say the Prelates and the Peers and certain of the principal Gentry which they call La Nebless together with some few of the most considerable Officers of the Kings houshold A Court of such esteem in the former time that the Kings of Sicily Cyprus Bohemia Scotland and Navar Andre du Chesne have thought it no disparagement unto them to be members of it and which is more when Frederick the second had spent much time and treasure in his quarrels with Pope Innocent the fourth he was content to submit the whole cause in difference unto the judgement of this Court But being at last become sedentaire and fixed at Paris as other ordinary Courts of Justice were which was in An. 1286. or thereabouts the Nobles first and after them the Bishops withdrew themselves from the troubles of it and left it to the ordering of the Civil Lawyers though still the Peers do challenge and enjoy a place therein as oft as any point of moment is in agitation the Bishop of Paris and the Abbot of St. Denys continuing constant members of it to this very day But for the Assembly des Estats or Conventus Ordinum made up of the Clergy the Nobility and the Commons as before I told you he that would see the manner of it the points there handled and that remainder of authority which is left unto them let him repair unto Thuanus Thuan. hist sui temp lib. and look upon the great Assembly held at Bloys An. 1573. He shall find it there Pass we next over the Pyrenees to the Realms of Spain and we shall find in each the same three Estates whose meeting they call there by the name of Curia Bodin de Repub lib. 3. c. the Court 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or by way of eminency consisting of the Clergy the Nobility and Commissioners of the Provinces and most antient Cities But we must tell you by the way that long before the institution of these Courts and long before the division of Spain into so many Kingdoms the Prelates of that Church were of such authority that a chief stroke in the election of their Kings did belong to them For in the eighth Council of Toledo summoned by Recesvintus the 25th of the Gothish race of the Kings of Spain An. 653. so long agoe in which were present 52 Bishops 12 Abbots and the Delegates of Vicars of ten other Bishops who could not personally attend the service it was ordered with the Kings consent that from thenceforth the Kings of Spain should be elected in the Regal City or in what other place soever the King should happen to decease by the joynt suffrages of the Prelates and the great Lords of the Court Majores Palatii as the Canon calls them Concil Tolet. VIII Can. 10. But take the whole Canon with you for the more assurance and you find it thus Abhinc ergo deinceps ita erunt in Regni gloria praeficiendi Rectores ut aut in urbe Regia aut in loco ubi Princeps decesserit cum Pontisicum Majorumque Palatii omnimodo eligantur assensu But after Spain became divided into several Kingdoms and that each Kingdom had its Court or Curia as they call their Parliament the Clergy were esteemed in each for the third Estate the first indeed of all the three and either in person or by their Proxies made up the most considerable part in those publick meetings For proof of which we need but look into the General History of Spain translated out of French by Grimston and we shall find a Court or Parliament for the Realm of Aragon consisting of the Bishops Nobles and Deputies of Towns and Commonalties having place in the said Estates conveened by King James at Saragossa Anno 1325. for setling the Succession and declaring the Heir another at Monson Gen. hist of Spain l. 14. Id. lib. 11. where the Estates of Aragon and Catalogne did conveen together 1236. to consult about the Conquest of Valentia and before that another Assembly of the Bishops and Noblemen called at Saragossa by Alfonso the Great touching the War against the Moores Id. lib. 9. And as for the Realm of Naples and Sicily being appends on this Crown there is little question to be made but that the Bishops and Clergy of both enjoyed the place and priviledges of the third Estate both Kingdoms being antiently hoden of the Pope and of his Erection and the Italian Bishops as lying directly under his nose more amply priviledged for the most part than in other Countries Thus for Castile we find a Parliament of Lords Prelates and Deputies of Towns summoned at Toledo by Alfonso the Noble An. 1210. upon occasion of an invasion made by the Moores another before that at Burgos Id. lib. 10. under the same King Anno 1179. for levying of money on the people to maintain the Wars that great Convention of the States held