for none was ever so raised none ever raised such a one and so in this respect even by his owne argument the dayes are even but herein the day of his Resurrection hath the advantage of dignity above the day of his Birth by his Resurrection hee was declared mightily to bee the Sonne of God Rom. 1.4 for hee rose by his owne power as none ever did and by his Birth hee was in some respects declared scarce to bee the Sonne of man for as Saint Luke sheweth chap. 2. ver 7. hee was borne in a stable among the beasts and laid in a manger for a cradle Hereof saith the learned Bishop g Bp. Andr. Serm. 12. on the Nat. p. 114. The Divell breathed upon our first Parents with Eritis sicut dii and infected them with it to make themselves equall with God which is plaine robbery for that robbery of theirs was the Sonne of God robbed as I may say and quite spoyled of his glory for their puffing up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hee was made empty for their lifting up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was hee brought low for their comparing with God came hee to compared with the beasts that perish lay in their manger Wee see this saith hee preaching of his Birth-day and therewith we may observe that though hee were a Lord hee shewed himselfe no Lord in this respect as at his Resurrection hee did and for the title of the day we celebrate to that title in Saint John as by a peculiar right the Bishop is expresse and peremptory as by h B. Andrewes in his Speech in the Starre-Chamber against Master Trask pag. 73 74. his words will appeare which here we forbear since we shall more seasonably bring them in another place Thirdly For the day of Christs Passion i Mr. Braburne his defence of his Discourse pag. 249 250. Hee saith also for Friday May not a man say thus Friday must bee a Sabbath day because on Friday Christ suffered and Thursday must bee a Sabbath day because on that Christ ascended thus wee may as well have three Sabbaths in a weeke as this one Lords day Master Braburne Defence page 249. Master Braburne saith that Friday was the greatest day for on it Christ bore the unsupportable wrath of his Father which made him cry out My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee But on the Resurrection day there was onely Christs soule put into his body and so revived again Now it was a greater matter as I think saith hee every one will confesse for the Deity to support the humanity on his Passion day then to put his soule into his dead body on the Resurrection day To which I answer that though it bee granted to be a ″ I say greater not harder for to the divine Power which is insinite nothing is hard but all things not only possible but easie greater worke for the Divinity to support the humanity in the Passion of our Saviour then to restore his soule to his body at his Resurrection from the grave yet was not the day of his Passion so fit to be set up for a constant Festivity which was to bee celebrated with rejoycing for the day of our Saviours Passion as the k Bish Andr. his Serm. on Joh. 8.56 p. 64. Bish of Winchester well noteth was no such day nay saith he that day was none of his for he saith to them that took him haec est hor a vestra this is your houre so theirs it was not his and if not his not so fit to be called by his name the Lords day Secondly It was not his day nay it was no day neither but the houre and power tenebrarum of darknesse This is your houre and the power of darknesse Luk. 22.53 and as he there addeth so night rather then day Thirdly But without all question no day of joy the heavens were darkned the earth quaking the stones renting every one going their wayes beating their breasts for sorrow that was no sight to rejoyce at that no day to rejoyce in Thus farre that reverend Prelate Fourthly Nor did the day of Ascension though an high day ever ascend to that height of this titular honour howsoever l Epiphan orat de Ascens Epiphanius preferre it before the Nativity Resurrection and the Feast of Pentecost to be stiled in the usuall language of the learned Fathers of the Church by the name of the Lords day as I shall shew anon as the day of the Resurrection was nor need it seeme strange that rather that day then either the day of his Passion on the one side or of his Ascension on the other should have the dignity of that denomination for it holds the middle place though with a different distance and the middle place for the most part is most honourable as in the request of the mother of Zebedees children for the next seats to our Saviour in his Kingdome though it were a presumptuous suit ″ Mat. 20. vers 21. that one might sit on his right hand and the other on his left yet it implyed a little modestie and good manners that shee left the middle place as the prime place to Christ himselfe as a Judge on the Bench with his Assistants and Assessors on either side Secondly In this situation of the Resurrection of our Saviour it hath on the one side the black shadow of his Passion on the other the reslexive rayes of his Ascension to add to its glory for so soone as hee had raised himselfe from the dead his glorified bodie had its qualification for ascent and was readily disposed thereunto if the time had beene come and when it did come as his Resurrection made an addition of honour to his Passion for it gave proof that his life was rather freely given by himselfe then forcibly taken from him by others so did his Ascension to his Resurrection for that gave evidence that his bodie was raised with all those excellent qualifications which made it meet to mount up on high and much more sit for heaven then for earth and though hee tarried still below in his person his Resurrection was not the lesse glorious for that the Angels of heaven are as excellent spirits when they come downe Jacobs ladder as when they goe up Thirdly Though the Ascension of our Saviour locally considered be an high degree of elevation above his Resurrection yet Theologically taken it hath not such an exaltation of dignity above it for his high humility in conversing still among men on earth when hee might have immediately mounted up into heaven addeth much to the honour of his Resurrection for hereby as ″ Te ad siderâ— tollit humus Plin. Panegyr Plinie saith in his Panegyriâ—k to Trajane may the highest grow yet higher when hee comes downe and so may wee say when they keep downe below the elevation of his owne advancement And who would not think Solomon worthy of as much honour
honouring God upon his knees 2 Chron. 6.13 as sitting upon his Throne being no lesse a King on earth but an holyer humbler subject to the King of heaven in the one posture then in the other If altitude of place must carry away the preheminence of things and persons the fowles of the aire would flie up with it and leave men as their inferiours on earth below who by Gods primitive appointment were to bee their lords and to have dominion and soveraigntie over them Fourthly But howsoever the comparison betwixt the Resurrection and Ascension go in respect of themselves yet in respect of men who are to make observation of them both the Resurrection is more remarkeable in these respects First In that the Resurrection was made knowne unto more by his severall apparitions both to more in number and more oft in time for hee was seene at one time to no fewer then five hundred brethren at once 1 Cor. 15.6 His Ascension was seen but by a few viz. but by his Apostles Act. 1.2.9 Secondly As for number so for time his Resurrection was manifested more often then his Ascension for as Saint Luke observeth in that Chapter by many infallible tokens hee was seene of them by the space of forty dayes and spake of the things appertaining to the Kingdome of God But his Ascension was sudden in a manner in a moment Act. 1.9 Thirdly As Christs Resurrection was manifested to more and more often so more clearely also as the Sunne at his rising appeares to us more fully then when it is ascended to high noone And it is to bee observed that whereas our Saviours Resurrection is set downe with assured evidence of sense for hee was said to bee seene by many infallible tokens Acts 1.3 yea and hee was felt too for though hee said to Mary Joh. 20.17 Touch mee not for I am not yet ascended yet did Thomas touch him and put his hand into his side vers 27. But for his Ascension it was more sudden and at further distance and it is noted that it was lesse in sight for when hee ascended saith S. Luke a cloud took him out of their sight Act. 1.9 Fourthly Though the Ascension touching the particular day of the moneth be thought to have been the m Christus mortuus Martii 25. resurrexit Martii 27. ascendit Maii 5. Lorin in Act. 1. v. 11. pag. 33. sixth of May and for the day of the weeke by probable conjecture be supposed to have been Thursday for it is but probable else Saint Chrysostome would not have said as n Chrysost apud Lorin Ibid. hee did that hee ascended on the Sabbath nor would it bee doubted as it is by divers whether the forty dayes from our Saviours Resurrection to his Ascension mentioned Act. 1.3 be to be reckoned inclusively as taking in both ends of that accompt or exclusively for the one or both yet neither that viz. the day of his Ascension nor good Friday nor any other day which in any sense is called the Lords day is so often and so expressely and punctually noted with its place and order in the weeke as the day on which Christ rose from the dead which is precisely observed by all the Evangelists therefore none of them in all respects is so fit to bee set up for a weekly Holiday and to be named the Lords day as that is and being now weekely observed as the dayes of the Birth Passion and Ascension of Christ are not it hath best right to the red Letter and to bee eminent above the rest both in brightnesse of colour and dignity of denomination and so to bee called the Dominicall day or the Lords day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both before and above all the rest which title it may hold now not onely by originall right but by ancient prescription as we shall shew in another place Nor can this title bee so shrunke up in that place where it is mentioned scil Rev. 1.10 as to be confined to the day of the Lords appearance and revelation to Saint John as o Sic dies hic à Johanne Dominici dici appellatione insignitus dicatur quòd in eo Deus quam admiranda pro Ecclesiae effet salute facturus declarabat Apud Rob. Locum of fig. veri Sabbatism pag. 51. some would have it for it is opposite to common sense which may appear thus First The Apostle beginneth the narration of the vision with the time I was in the Spirit on the Lords day as not onely distinguishing the time from the Apparition but premising it as being indeede before it Secondly He mentioneth the day as a time known already to the Church as those that report to others a thing done at such a time presuppose that that time is not unknowne unto them but the day of his Revelation to Saint John was unknowne and the day of the Lords Resurrection was not therefore it is much more like the day of his Resurrection then of his Apparition to Saint John was intended by the Apostle Thirdly If the Lords day and the day of Apparition in this place were the same it were no Revelation or giving of light to the matter but the drawing of a curtaine in stead of the opening of a casement for this glosse doth rather darken then cleare the text Fourthly To understand by the title Lords day Rev. 1.10 the day of his Apparition to Saint John or the day wherein hee was ravished in spirit is as some conceive to make a meere p Si pro die Apparitionis solùm intelligatur tautalogia erit divina sapientiâ indigna sicâ—enim esset sensus In die apparitionis hujus vel in die quo correptus eram à Spiritu correptus cram à Spiritu Inquisit de Sabbat per Nath. Eal. pag. 86. tautalogie in the text as if it should bee read thus In the day of this Apparition hee appeared unto mee or in the day I was in the spirit I was in the spirit So the Authour of the Booke called Inquisitio de Sabbato wherein hee keepeth closer to Gomarus his Comment then Gomarus his Comment to the Text of S. John Fifthly Before Doctor Gomarus not any at least none that was held for an orthodoxe Doctor did ever light upon such an exposition as this viz. that by the Lords day Revel 1.10 should bee meant the day of the Lords apparition to S. John which the Doctor himselfe seemes sometimes not so well to like but that for right to this title Lords day q Gomar Invest Sab. cap. 6. Thes 36. p. 75. hee preferreth the day of Christs Nativity the day of his appearing in the veile of his slesh before the day of his appearing by revelation to Saint John as wee have noted his opinion before and withall so farre as it proceedeth to the prejudice of the day wee plead for confuted it And for the fancie both of Dr. Gomarus and Mr. Braburne that by the title Lords day
Rev. 1.10 may bee conceived the day of the Lords comming to his last Judgement for which the one citeth Luk. 17.30 the other 1 Cor. 5.5 I answer first to the opinion it selfe and then to the proofe For the first I say That Saint John speaketh as wee noted before in the readiest construction of the words as of a day that was in being before that Vision and so knowne that the Reader might take notice when the Vision came unto him but the day of Judgment is not yet come and so unknowne to man that our Saviour saith of it but of that day and houre knoweth no man no not the Angels of heaven but my Father onely Mat. 24.36 Secondly For their proofes though both places produced be meant of the day of Judgement yet that they appertaine not to the title now in question wee may observe that neither of them nameth the day as Saint John doth the Lords day for in the one viz. 1 Cor. 5.5 it is called the day of the Lord Jesus in the other viz. Luk. 17.30 the day of the Sonne of man So that this device of the day of judgement as to the day pointed out by Saint John in his appellation is void of all judgement and withall so full of presumption that if any man should goe on in commenting on the Revelation throughout to the last Chapter as hee begun with the first hee might thereby derive upon himselfe a wretched right to those plagues with commination whereof Saint John shuts up and seales up his mysticall Prophesie Revel 22.18 19. Ob. But if wee take the Lords day for the Resurrection for that as r M. Brab in his discourse pag. 8. Master Braburne notwithstanding his crosse conceits confesseth is properly the Lords day it will not follow that it should be a weekly Holiday it may suffice for that title being given it but once in Scripture f M. Brab in his Defence p. 163. and 175. if it be celebrated some one first day though but once a yeere as the Nativitie Passion and Ascension are and as the Feast of Easter is with us in reference unto it Ans To which I answer First That the question yet is not whether the Lords day should be a weekly Holiday or not But being such a one in fact for yet wee are not come to discusse in point of right whether it may not in its weekly recourse be intituled by that name Secondly That the day of the Resurrection being still noted in Scripture to bee the first day of the weeke and not such a day of the moneth as returnes but once a yeere or once in halfe a yeere or once a quarter or once a moneth onely it may bee called the Lords day once a weeke for its weekly recourse as well as once a yeere if as the Feast of Easter it came no oftner If it be said that no Friday is called good Friday nor any Thursday holy Thursday or Ascension day but one in the yeere it may bee replied to that if they were weekly observed as for a time good Friday was and the first day of the weeke hath beene since the Apostles time they might all be partners in the same appellation all holy Thursdaies all good Fridaies as well once a weeke as once a yeere though the first might have some preheminence above the rest and after the first that which answereth to the first in the season of the yeere as well as in the day of the week and by reason thereof as being no common guest it might have an Alablaster box of oyntment bestowed upon it more then upon those which were more ordinary guests as Easter Sunday was by a t A die Resurrectionis per integram hebdomadem sideles feriuntur Concil 6. gener Const Can. 66. pag. 646. Decree of the Councell of Constantinople to be kept holy and for its sake all the six dayes that followed next after it yet it might in its weekly recourse bee very well called the Lords day as though all the Jewish festivities were called Sabbaths and some in solemnity exceeded others yet the weekly holiday of the Jewes was best knowne by that name which was sometimes by especial priviledge u Shabbath Shabbathon given only to the Sabbath i.e. of the 4th Commandement or to such dayes as for cessation from worke were equivalent unto it Dr. Willet in Levit. 23. q. 31. p. 586. doubled upon it so the name of the Lords day howsoever it be sometimes attributed to other dayes all being his yet doth it most appertaine unto the weekly holiday of the Christians and the rather because it hath a more constant and continuall Lordship or dominion over the dayes of the weeke then any other by its comming in a weekely returne above fiftie times in the yeere for the other Festivities they have their turne but once a yeer And so we have answered the objection of Impertinency of that title Lords day to our weekly holiday which hath beene urged as if it did not more properly appertaine unto it then to some other daies before rehearsed CHAP. V. The imputation of Novelty in applying the title Lords day to the Christians weekly holiday answered WEE are now to answer the objection of Novelty which Doctor Gomarus and Master Braburne bring in against the setting of the title Lords day upon our weekly holiday and therewith wee shall further strengthen the truth against the last objection for which the best proofe alledged is a negative Argument or an Argument drawne from the negative testimony of one man which is of little authority in it selfe and the lesse in this case because it takes up with one Writer onely whereas if more could bee produced to that purpose the antiquity of that Name as now the Church applyeth it might yet be upheld by the advantage of a greater number of grave and ancient Authours positively which is better then negatively giving their votes and voyces to the contrary Tenet That singular Author who is brought in as a dumb shew speaking nothing of our weekly holiday by the name of the Lords day is Justin Martyr from whose silence Doctor Gomarus argueth thus a Si diei Dominici pro die Resurrectionis Domini seu primo hebdomadis appellatio ab Apostolis promanasset c. ut supra citatur cap. 3. lit m. If the title Lords day as applyed to the day of the Resurrection or the first day of the weeke had beene derived from the Apostles and received in the Primitive Church is it credible that Justin Martyr a most ancient and incorrupt Writer in his accurate description of the rites of the Christian Religion would have called the day by the name of Sunday or the first day of the week and not Lords day at all To which I dare not answer as b Dr. Bound on the Sabbath part 1. p. 114. Dr. Bound doth that Justin Martyr in his second Apologie hath the name of Lords
day for I finde it otherwise But c Dr. Rivet disscriat de orig Sab. cap. 10. pag. 180. Dr. Rivet replyeth very well whose answer I shall a little transpose and alter to make it more serviceable to the truth First That it is no marvell that Justin Martyr writing to an Heathen and discoursing with a Jew used such termes as they were best acquainted with and best liked of as did the Translater of the Bible out of which the Epistles and Gospels of our Liturgie were taken as we shall observe in the seventh Chapter and such was the name Sunday to the Heathens and the first day of the week to the Jewes and therefore which hee might further have observed out of d Justin Apol. ad Anson 2d. propè sin pag. 419. Justin speaking to the Gentiles hee calleth the day before it not the Sabbath though among the Religious it were both of most ancient and common use but Saturday or the day of Saturne Secondly Whereas Doctor Gomarus grounds the weight of his Argument upon Justin Martyrs accurate description of the rites of the Christian Religion as that if the name Lords day for the Christians weekly holiday had beene in use before that time in the Church it must either there bee mentioned or from the omission of it there it might well bee denyed to have beene the title of it in his time Doctor Rivet answereth by retortion of his reason out of Tertullian That when the Gentiles conceived from the Christians weekly Assemblies upon Sundaies c Tert. Apol. cap. 16. tom 2. pag. 632. that the Sun was the god they worshipped hee stands to the name with denyall of their sinister conceit of the Christians practice and takes not that occasion to tell them though it bee a better inducement then Justin had any in the place fore-alledged to mention the Lords day that they had another name for that day viz. the Lords day and another reason of their religious observation of it then they imagined viz. the memoriall of the Lords Resurrection their Lord and Saviour f An non hic erat opportunissimus declarandi locus Dr. Rivet ubi ante pag. 182. Here surely was a most meete place to have made some declaration of the day as under that title the Lords day and because hee did it not there will it follow that it was not in use in his time among the Christians the contrary will appeare by his Booke g Die Dominico jejunare nâ—sas ducimus vel de geniculis adorare Tertul. de corona milit cap. 3. com 1. pag. 747. de corona militis and h O melior sides nationum quae nullam solennitatem Christianorum sibi vendicar non Dominicum diem non Pentecosten Tert. de Idol cap. 14. tom 2. pag. 457. de Idololatria wherein having to do with Christians hee useth the name or title Lords day for the Christians weekly holiday And to answer both Doctor Gomarus and Master Braburne together the observation of i Bish Andrewes in his Speech in the Star-chamber against Master Trask pag. 73. 74. Bishop Andrewes is of some weight as himselfe setteth downe in these words This day this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 came to have the name of dies Dominicus in the Apostles time and is so expressely called by Saint John in the Revelation ch 1. ver 10. and that name from that day to this hath holden still with continuance of it from the Apostles age and may bee deduced downe from Fathers to Fathers even to the Councell of Nice and lower I trust saith hee we need not follow it no doubt is made since then by any one that hath read any thing Yet some raise a doubt upon the Constitution of Constantine by whose authority they say Sunday was made a generall and a publick holiday and with it Friday and both of them were to be observed weekly as k Euseb de vita Constantin l. 4. c. 18. p. 254. Eusebius sheweth why then may not Friday bee the day to which that title Lords day might belong especially since as in English wee commonly call it it hath an addition of especiall weight and worth good Friday good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by way of eminence and excellencie above all other dayes But notwithstanding this the day of the Resurrection hath the preheminence as in dignitie as before hath beene proved so in antiquitie perpetuitie and generalitie of solemne observation above all other dayes for it was a l Originem hujus denominationis ab ipso Apostolorum tempore accersendam omnibus ferè Scriptoribus placet D. Walaeus dissertat de quart praecept cap. 7. pag. 150. weekly holiday from the Apostles time as wee shall manifest elsewhere and though it were to gaine ground of the Jewish Sabbath but by degrees in Ignatius his time who lived in the first Centurie or hundred yeeres of Christianitie it was growne to that credit as not onely to bee well knowne by the name Lords day but to bee dignified with that royall title the Queene of daies as hath been observed and it is to bee noted that this Ignatius was his disciple who first used that title Lords day viz. the disciple of the Evangelist S. John and so was most like to know what day he meant by that appellation Secondly For that Decree of Constantine it was not made untill the fourth Century was begun above two hundred yeers after this of Ignatius Thirdly As Friday was made a weekely holiday much later then Sunday was not to stand upon comparisons betwixt Apostolicall and Imperiall powers for the making of holidaies in which respect Sunday hath the advantage above good Friday so hath Sunday continued much longer by many hundred yeers and hath been both for time more perpetuall and for place in the Christian Church more generall then Friday ever was And as the observation of that day hath been almost universall so hath the application of this title Lords day been unto it likewise for as Doctor m Omnes ferè sacrae Scripturae interpretes tam veteres quam recentiores de primo dic Septimanae intelligunt ac proinde nova planè interpretatio est corum qui Apocalypscos diem c. Wallaeus dissertat de quart praecept cap. 6. pag. 150. Walaeus noteth the deriving of the originall of that name from the Apostles time out of Apoc. 1.10 is approved almost by all Writers and Doctor ″ D. Heyl. Hist Sab. part 2. c. 1. ad sinem cap. p. 37. Heylin though otherwise farre from doting on the dignity of our weekly holiday not onely for the tenure of it but for the title too having referred the originall of it to the yeere of our Lord 94. wherein he followeth n M. Broad his MS. part 2. c. 10. p. 62. M. Broad his note upon it which sheweth but little good will unto it saith thus o D. Heyl. Hist Sab. part 2. a. 1. pag. 30. So long it
the word and to the thing which is signified by it as if hee had observed the same throughout his booke of the History of the Sabbath it had neither been so bad nor so bigge as we see it is 3. Master e Mr. Primrose part 1. ch 13. paâ— 73. See also part 4. p. 302 304 305. to the same purpose Primrose though otherwise neither fondly nor friendly affected to the Christian Sabbath is sometimes so facile and liberall in his allowance of the use of the name Sabbath in the time and state of the Christian Church as to allow Christians liberty to keep every day holy and to say that all daies under the Gospel should be as so many Sabbaths all the dayes of the weeke and the whole yeare should bee as Sabbaths unto them If so the Sunday may be a Sabbath much more for the reasons and authority fore-alledged and if it have more of the thing it hath more right to the name Master f Mr. Ironside quest 3. c. 13. p. 123. Ironside also though he dispute against the title Sabbath as to our Christian Holiday ingenuously confesseth that the name Sabbath is lawfull and may be also used by such as have their wits well exercised in Scripture if without superstition fraud or scandall g Mr Ironside quaest 2. cap. 9. pag. 96 97. And that God must have his rest and appointed Sabbaths which is the essence life and spirit of that Commandement and for ever morall And if the thing Sabbath be morall and perpetuall and the effence life and spirit of the Law as hee saith can any one deny the title Sabbath Master Ironside cannot well doe it who affirmeth this and that by the expresse title of the Sabbath And of the Friday made a weekly Holiday by Constantine he faith h M. Ironside concius of his quest cap. 31. pag. 293. that he made it a Sabbath Object But when hee saith that the Lords day is Sabbath he meaneth not that it is properly so called but analogically and in its proportion To which I answer 1. That when men call the Lords day Sabbath there is no need to adde either properly or improperly or analogically therefore for ordinary speech it is no exception against the use of the word It is familiar with many to call the Lords Table Altar though it be not properly an Altar but analogically and yet he will not say they are bound to bring in this distinction when they mention it and to say it is an analogicall Altar and when Christ is called the Lambe of God the Lion of the Tribe of Juda hee is not properly but analogically a Lamb or a Lion yet he is commonly so called without adding either part of the distinction of properly or analogically 2. But the Lords day may bee called Sabbath properly because as it is an Holiday it is a day of Rest properly so taken a day of weekly Rest as the old Sabbath was And even in Doctor Pocklingtons Seâ—mon though we should not much accompt of his Testimony but where it is against himselfe there is something albeit hee meant it not which makes for the title Sabbath to belong to the Lords day viz. this i Doct. Pockl. Visitat Serm. p. 19. Cujus vis soluta nec nomen haerebit Ambr. so cited by Doct. Pockl. Ibid. When the Sabbath lost its force it forfeited its name saith hee out of Saint Ambrose and therefore ought not so to be called and so having lost both force and name is become nothing at all but a meere Idoll The Saturday then which was the day of Rest unto the Jewes is now no Sabbath nor must be so called which by the way is contradictory to that k With us the Sabbath is Saturday and no day else Doct. Pockl. Serm. pag. 21. which hee saith elsewhere for if it have forfeited its name forfeiture is not an annihilation but an alienation of a right from one to another and if that bee so let any body judge what day hath most right to that forfeiture Can any other day of the week put in for an interest in it before the Lords day or Sunday If the Lord of the Sabbath may be Judge he will give no sentence surely for any day against his owne CHAP. XVII Exceptions against some of the precedent Testimonies alledged for calling the Lords day Sabbath propounded and answered THe Bishop of Elie in his Treatise on the Sabbath day and in his Examination of the little Dialogue made in answer to it would avoid the allegations for the name Sabbath taken out of the Fathers the Book of Homilies Bishop Andrewes and Master Hooker and his brother Doctor John Whites Booke of the Way to the true Church by such exceptions as these The first Exception touching the Fathers First for the Fathers The Question is not saith a Bish Whites exam pag. 109. he whether the ancient Fathers have at any time stiled the Lords day a Sabbath in a mysticall or spirituall sense that is a day wherein Christian people ought to abstaine from sinne for in this sense they have stiled every day of the weeke wherein Christians rest from sin a b His former Treatise of the Sabb. p. 203. Sabbath yea every day throughout their whole lives I have diligently searched saith c Ibid. p. 202. hee into Antiquitie and observed in the Fathers their formes of speech when they treat of the Lords day and I find it farre different from the usuall language of the Fathers to stile the Lords day the Sabbath and that they by the name Sabbath either understand the old legall Sabbath taken away by Christ or the spirituall or mysticall Sabbath which was typed and represented by the Sabbath of the fourth Commandement Wherein hee speaketh more warily though not altogether truly then d No ancient Father no learned man Heathen nor Christian took the name Sabbath otherwise then for Saturday from the beginning of the world untill the beginning of Schisme An. 1554. Doct. Pockl. visit Serm. p. 21. Doctor Pocklington did And when the Fathers distinguish and give proper names to the particular dayes of the weeke saith the Bishop they alwaies stile the Saturday Sabbatum the Sabbath and the Sunday or the first day of the weeke Dominicum the Lords day This is his reply to the Testimonies taken out of the Fathers whereto I answer This distinction of mysticall and literall is familiar with the Bishop and may serve for a shift to elude other Testimonies for the name Sabbath as well as those particularly mentioned But it is but a shift and will serve but for a while for to answer First concerning the Fathers though they in their times distinguished two dayes by the names of Sabbath and Lords day to avoid confusion when they celebrated both with services of devotion as the e Bish White his Treat of the Sab. pag. 202. Bishop hath observed out of Ignatius Ambrose Socrates
retained and used in a sense not idolatrous as Hermes the name of Mercury mentioned Rom. 16.14 as it signifieth a particular person and not the Idol of the Gentiles called by that name so the names of Frier Monke Abbat Pope as they are names of Families not of Offices or Callings may bee retained still as b M. Ainsw Ibid. p. 143. Master Ainsworth hath acknowledged though he as well as Master c M. Paget ib. p. 145. Paget thinks the Popes have beene made great Idols by too many people of all ranks and so think I. Fourthly Names that have beene Idolatrous or any way impious may in time having beene long accustomed to a better sense bee ayred and purged from all impiety for words are like to fashions which varie with the times and so either get or lose grace and acceptation thereafter as the vulgar use and common custome giveth the construction of them in whose power it is as the d Multa renascentur quae jam cecidere cadentque Quae nuÌ„c sunt in honore vocabula si volet usus Morat de arte Poetic Poet hath observed to ratifie or reject them both for use and sense But what is that which in the fore-cited Scriptures is forbidden then Not all mention of idolatrous names as we have already proved But either swearing by Idols or praising or approving of them or maintaining superstition towards them or giving scandall by them against which wee should bee so carefull as to prevent all suspicion and appearance of that evill as e Aug. de Civ Dei li. 19. c. 22. part 2. p. 525. Saint Augustine did who fearing the translation of Sacrificiendum Domino soli would imply that the Sun was a God presently brought in some words of caution to guide the Reader to a better sense Sacrificiendum Domino soli i. e. Domino tantum to the Lord alone and with these limitations the sentences of the Fathers may be interpreted As for the Canon of the Councell of Nice I will not for this particular by way of exception say it is one of those which is supernumerary and not any of those which are acknowledged to bee the legitimate ordinance of the Fathers of that Councell because it is capable of a very good sense but I answer thus The difference is great betwixt the new imposing a name and the old and received use over that wee have power over this not so And for the word Sunday in particular though it bee no more idolatrous then the names of other dayes of the week and some moneths of the yeere it may be the better borne withall First Because the Sunne is not as many Idols are to which for want of reall entity out of the fancie wee may pertinently apply the words of Saint Paul An Idol is nothing in the world 1 Cor. 8.4 for it hath a true solide and glorious being of its owne and a name it must have to expresse that being Secondly For joyning it with the day in the name Sunday as if it were devoted to the honour of the Sun though that were the intention of the first imposers and the like was their meaning in the names of the rest of the dayes of the week as many Authours have observed especially f Hosp de orig Festor Jud. Etha c. 5. fol. 52. a. 53. b. Hospinian g Verslegan Restitut of decayed Intellig. cap. 3. p 69. Verstegan yet the Christians that used it did cleere themselves from all participation with their impious superstition long agoe viz. in Justin Martyrs and h Tertull. dpol cap. 16. tom 2. pag. 632. Tertullians time since whom so many well minded men have made use of it that wee may well thinke all Pagan apprehensions are by this time quite worne out of it as well as out of the names of other dayes of the weeke or of the moneths of the yeere as of January of March of May of June which are Idolatrous names as i August contra Faust Manich. l. 18. c. 5. tom 6 p. 420. Saint Augustine sheweth for where is there one of a thousand that when he nameth k Of this and the derivation of the rest of the dayes see Versteg Restit of decayed intellig à p. 71. ad 77. Tuesday hath any reverence or reference to the Idol Tuisco or to Woden when hee nameth Wednesday or to Thor when hee nameth Thursday or to Frigo or Frea when he nameth Friday or to Janus in the name of January or to Mars in March or Juno in the name of the moneth of June It is more like that our vulgar people use the word without setting any note on the notation or etymology of it at all or if they doe they may think it is called Sunday from the Son of God who is Lord of the Sabbath And if wee distinguish all men into two sorts viz. learned and ignorant wee may say of the learned that it is not like that they having beene trained up in Christian religion should retaine any respective relish of such absurd Idolatry and for the unlearned they have no apprehensions of words and things so obscure and remote as these etymologicall mysteries but take the sense of words according to the use of the times wherein they live But thirdly If as the Sunne in the Firmament makes the day so the Sunne and the day make up the name Sunday there is yet for ought I see no perill of applying unto it an idolatrous fancie for wee may with good congruity of reason meane by it the splendour and glory of our Christian holiday in the many prerogatives of that day above the work-dayes of the weeke elsewhere to bee declared as the Sun is a more bright and resplendent Planet then any of the rest And whereas l Dr. bound treat on the Sab. part 1 pag. 13. Dr. Bound saith That the Divel that hee might retaine men in this errour or heresie rather and thereby hee meaneth the kâ—eping them by the name of Sunday from inquiring into the cause of the name Lords day caused this probable conjecture of the name Sunday to be given namely that seeing the Sun was the chiefe of all the Planets as that which filleth all things with light therefore in the number of the seven dayes the chiefe place was given unto it Though it cannot bee denyed but there is a comparative conformity betwixt this day and the other sixe as betwixt the Sun and the rest of the Planets whereby in an odd number the dayes and Planets are even both making up the number of seven yet may the name Sunday bee as ready for an orthodox as for an erroneous sense if wee come without prejudice to consider it Nor can it impeach the title Lords day either for truth or evidence any more then the calling of Christ so often the Sonne of man in the sacred Scripture doth darken that glorious name the Sonne of God nay rather as wee may use