Correspondent to which the Canons called Apostolical and the Council of Antioch ordain that if any Presbyter setting light by his own Bishop shall withdraw and set up separate meetings and erect another Altar i. e. says Zonaras keep unlawful Conventicles preach privately and administer the Sacrament that in such a case he shall be deposed as ambitious and tyrannical and the people communicating with him be excommunicate as being factious and schismatical only this not to be done till after the third admonition After all that has been said I might further show what esteem and value the first Christians had of the Lords day by those great and honourable things they have spoken concerning it of which I 'll produce but two passages the one is that in the Epistle ad Magnesios which if not Ignatius must yet be acknowledged an ancient Authour Let every one says he that loves Christ keep the Lords day Festival the resurrection day the Queen and Empress of all days in which our life was raised again and death conquered by our Lord and Saviour The other that of Theophilus Bishop of Alexandria who speaks thus that both custom and reason challenge from us that we should honour the Lords day and keep it Festival seeing on that day it was that our Lord Jesus Christ compleated his resurrection from the dead Next to the Lords day the Sabbath or Saturday for so the word Sabbatum is constantly used in the Writings of the Fathers when speaking of it as it relates to Christians was held by them in great veneration and especially in the Eastern parts honoured with all the publick Solemnities of Religion For which we are to know that the Gospel in those parts mainly prevailing amongst the Jews they being generally the first Converts to the Christian Faith they still retained a mighty reverence for the Mosaick Institutions and especially for the Sabbath as that which had been appointed by God himself as the memorial of his rest from the work of Creation setled by their great Master Moses and celebrated by their Ancestors for so many Ages as the solemn day of their publick Worship and were therefore very loth that it should be wholly antiquated and laid aside For this reason it seemed good to the prudence of those times as in others of the Jewish Rites so in this to indulge the humour of that people and to keep the Sabbath as a day for religious offices Hence they usually had most parts of Divine Service performed upon that day they met together for publick Prayers for reading the Scriptures celebration of the Sacraments and such like duties This is plain not only from some passages in Ignatius and Clemens his Constitutions but from Writers of more unquestionable credit and authority Athanasius Bishop of Alexandria tells us that they assembled on Saturdays not that they were infected with Judaism but only to worship Jesus Christ the Lord of the Sabbath and Socrates speaking of the usual times of their publick meeting calls the Sabbath and the Lords day the weekly Festivals on which the Congregation was wont to meet in the Church for the performance of Divine Services Therefore the Council of Laodicea amongst other things decreed that upon Saturdays the Gospels and other Scriptures should be read that in Lent the Eucharist should not be celebrated but upon Saturday and the Lords day and upon those days only in the time of Lent it should be lawful to commemorate and rehearse the names of Martyrs Upon this day also aswel as upon Sunday all Fasts were severely prohibited an infallible argument they counted it a Festival day one Saturday in the year only excepted viz. that before Easter-day which was always observed as a solemn Fast Things so commonly known as to need no proof But though the Church thought fit thus far to correspond with Jewish Converts as solemnly to observe the Sabbath yet to take away all offence and to vindicate themselves from compliance with Judaism they openly declared that they did it only in a Christian way and kept it not as a Jewish Sabbath as is expresly affirmed by Athanasius Nazianzen and others and the forementioned Laodicean Synod has a Canon to this purpose that Christians should not judaize and rest from all labour on the Sabbath but follow their ordinary works i. e. so far as consisted with their attendance upon the publick Assemblies and should not entertain such thoughts of it but that still they should prefer the Lords day before it and on that day rest as Christians but if any were found to judaize they should be accursed Thus stood the case in the Eastern Church in those of the West we find it somewhat different amongst them it was not observed as a religious Festival but kept as a constant Fast the reason whereof as 't is given by Pope Innonocent in an Epistle to the Bishop of Eugubium where he treats of this very case seems most probable if says he we commemorate Christs resurrection not only at Easter but every Lords day and fast upon Friday because 't was the day of his passion we ought not to pass by Saturday which is the middle-time between the days of grief and joy the Apostles themselves spending those two days viz. Friday and the Sabbath in great sorrow and heaviness and he thinks no doubt ought to be made but that the Apostles fasted upon those two days whence the Church had a Tradition that the Sacraments were not to be administred on those days and therefore concludes that every Saturday or Sabbath ought to be kept a Fast To the same purpose the Council of Illiberis ordained that a Saturday Festival was an errour that ought to be reformed and that men ought to fast upon every Sabbath But though this seems to have been the general practice yet it did not obtain in all places of the West alike In Italy it self 't was otherwise at Milain where Saturday was a Festival and 't is said in the life of S. Ambrose who was Bishop of that See that he constantly dined as well upon Saturday as the Lords day it being his custom to dine upon no other days but those and the memorials of the Martyrs and used also upon that day to preach to the people though so great was the prudence and moderation of that good man that he bound not up himself in these indifferent things but when he was at Millain he dined upon Saturdays and when he was at Rome he fasted as they did upon those days This S. Augustine assures us he had from his own mouth for when his Mother Monica came after him to Millain where he then resided she was greatly troubled to find the Saturday Fast not kept there as she had found it in other places for her satisfaction he immediately went to consult S. Ambrose then Bishop of that place who told him he could give him no better
we are here we must worship God with respect to our present state and consequently of necessity have some definite and particular time to do it in Now that man might not be left to a floating uncertainty in a matter of so great importance in all Ages and Nations men have been guided by the very dictates of Nature to pitch upon some certain seasons wherein to assemble and meet together to perform the publick offices of Religion What and how many were the publick Festivals instituted and observed either amongst Jews or Gentiles I am not concerned to take notice of For the ancient Christians they ever had their peculiar seasons their solemn and stated times of meeting together to perform the common duties of Divine Worship of which because the Lords-Day challenges the precedency of all the rest we shall begin first with that And being unconcern'd in all the controversies which in the late times were raised about it I shall only note some instances of the piety of Christians in reference to this day which I have observed in passing through the Writers of those times For the name of this day of Publick Worship it is sometimes especially by Justin Martyr and Tertullian called Sunday because it hapned upon that day of the week which by the Heathens was dedicated to the Sun and therefore as being best known to them the Fathers commonly made use of it in their Apologies to the Heathen Governours This title continued after the world became Christian and seldom it is that it passes under any other name in the Imperial Edicts of the first Christian Emperours But the more proper and prevailing name was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Dies Dominica the Lords-day as 't is called by S. John himself as being that day of the Week whereon our Lord made his triumphant return from the dead this Justin Martyr assures us was the true original of the title upon Sunday says he we all assemble and meet together as being the first day wherein God parting the darkness from the rude chaos created the world and the same day whereon Jesus Christ our Saviour rose again from the dead for he was crucified the day before Saturday and the day after which is Sunday he appeared to his Apostles and Disciples by this means observing a kind of analogy and proportion with the Jewish Sabbath which had been instituted by God himself For as that day was kept as a commemoration of Gods Sabbath or resting from the work of Creation so was this set apart to religious uses as the solemn memorial of Christs resting from the work of our redemption in this world compleated upon the day of his resurrection Which brings into my mind that custom of theirs so universally common in those days that whereas at other times they kneeled at prayers on the Lords day they always prayed standing as is expresly affirmed both by Justin Martyr and Tertullian the reason of which we find in the Authour of the Questions and Answers in J. Martyr it is says he that by this means we may be put in mind both of our fall by sin our resurrection or restitution by the grace of Christ that for six days we pray upon our knees is in token of our fall by sin but that on the Lords day we do not bow the knee does symbolically represent our resurrection by which through the grace of Christ we are delivered from our sins and the powers of death this he there tells us was a custom deriv'd from the very times of the Apostles for which he cites Irenaeus in his Book concerning Easter And this custom was maintained with so much vigour that when some began to neglect it the great Council of Nice took notice of it and ordained that there should be a constant uniformity in this case and that on the Lords day and at such other times as were usual men should stand when they made their prayers to God So fit and reasonable did they think it to do all possible honour to that day on which Christ rose from the dead Therefore we may observe all along in the sacred story that after Christs resurrection the Apostles and primitive Christians did especially assemble upon the first day of the week and whatever they might do at other times yet there are many passages that intimate that the first day of the week was their more solemn time of meeting on this day it was that they were met together when our Saviour first appeared to them and so again the next week after on this day they were assembled when the Holy Ghost so visibly came down upon them when Peter preached that excellent Sermon converted and baptized three thousand souls Thus when S. Paul was taking his leave at Troas upon the first day of the week when the Disciples came together to break Bread i.e. as almost all agree to celebrate the holy Sacrament he preached to them sufficiently intimating that upon that day 't was their usual custom to meet in that manner and elsewhere giving directions to the Church of Corinth as he had done in the like case to other Churches concerning their contributions to the poor suffering Brethren he bids them lay it aside upon the first day of the week which seems plainly to respect their religious assemblies upon that day for then it was that every one according to his ability deposited something for the relief of the poor and the uses of the Church After the Apostles the Christians constantly observed this day meeting together for prayer expounding and hearing of the Scriptures celebration of the Sacraments and other publick duties of Religion Vpon the day called Sunday says J. Martyr all of us that live either in City or Country meet together in one place and what they then did he there describes of which afterwards This doubtless Pliny meant when giving Trajan an account of the Christians he tells him that they were wont to meet together to worship Christ stato die upon a set certain day by which he can be reasonably understood to design no other but the Lords day for though they probably met at other times yet he takes notice of this only either because the Christians whom he had examin'd had not told him of their meeting at other times or because this was their most publick and solemn convention and which in a manner swallowed up the rest By the violent persecutions of those times the Christians were forced to meet together before day so Pliny in the same place tells the Emperour that they assembled before day-light to sing their morning hymns to Christ Whence it is that Tertullian so often mentions their nocturnal convocations for putting the case that his Wife after his decease should marry with a Gentile-Husband amongst other inconveniencies he asks her whether she thought he would be willing to let her rise from his Bed to go to their night-meetings
and in the case of persecution he tells Fabius that if they could not celebrate Dominica solennia their Lords-Day Solemnities in the day time they had the night sufficiently clear with the light of Christ This gave occasion to their spightful Adversaries to calumniate and asperse them the Heathen in Minucius charges them with their night-Congregations upon which account they are there scornfully called latebrosa lucifugax natio an obscure and skulking Generation and the very first thing that Celsus objects is that the Christians had private and clancular Assemblies or Combinations to which Origen answers that if it were so they might thank them for it who would not suffer them to exercise it more openly that the Christian Doctrine was sufficiently evident and obvious and better known through the world than the opinion and sentiments of their best Philosophers and that if there were some mysteries in the Christian Religion which were not communicated to every one 't was no other thing than what was common in the several Sects of their own Philosophy But to return They looked upon the Lords-Day as a time to be celebrated with great expressions of joy as being the happy memory of Christs resurrection and accordingly restrained whatever might savour of sorrow and sadness fasting on that day they prohibited with the greatest severity accounting it utterly unlawful as Tertullian informs us It was a very bitter censure that of Ignatius or whoseever that Epistle was for certainly it was not his that who ever fasts on a Lords-Day is a murderer of Christ however 't is certain that they never fasted on those days no not in the time of Lent it self nay the Montanists though otherwise great pretenders to fasting and mortification did yet abstain from it on the Lords-day And as they accounted it a joyful and good day so they did what ever they thought might contribute to the honour of it No sooner was Constantine come over to the Church but his principal care was about the Lords-day he commanded it to be solemnly observed and that by all persons whatsoever he made it to all a day of rest that men might have nothing to do but to worship God and be better instructed in the Christian Faith and spend their whole time without any thing to hinder them in prayer and devotion according to the custom and discipline of the Church and for those in his Army who yet remained in their Paganism and infidelity he commanded them upon lords-Lords-days to go out into the Fields and there pour out their souls in hearty prayers to God and that none might pretend their own inability to the duty he himself composed and gave them a short form of prayer which he enjoin'd them to make use of every Lords-Day so careful was he that this day should not be dishonoured or mis-imployed even by those who were yet strangers and enemies to Christianity He moreover ordained that there should be no Courts of Judicature open upon this day no Suits or Tryals at Law but that for any works of mercy such as the emancipating and setting free of Slaves or Servants this might be done That there should be no Suits nor demanding debts upon this day was confirmed by several Laws of succeeding Emperours and that no Arbitrators who had the Umpirage of any business lying before them should at that time have power to determine or take up litigious causes penalties being entail'd upon any that transgressed herein Theodosius the Great anno 386. by a second Law ratified one which he had passed long before wherein he expresly prohibited all publick Shews upon the Lords-Day that the worship of God might not be confounded with those prophane Solemnities This Law the younger Theodosius some few years after confirmed and enlarged enacting that on the Lords day and some other Festivals there mentioned not only Christians but even Jews and Heathens should be restrained from the pleasure of all Sights and Spectacles and the Theatres be shut up in every place and whereas it might so happen that the Birth-day or inauguration of the Emperour might fall upon that day therefore to let the people know how infinitely he preferred the honour of God before the concerns of his own majesty and greatness he commanded that if it should so happen that then the imperial Solemnity should be put off and deferred till another day I shall take notice but of one instance more of their great observance of this day and that was their constant attendance upon the Solemnities of publick Worship they did not think it enough to read and pray and praise God at home but made conscience of appearing in the publick Assemblies from which nothing but sickness and absolute necessity did detain them and if sick or in prison or under banishment nothing troubled them more than that they could not come to Church and join their devotions to the common Services If persecution at any time forced them to keep a little close yet no sooner was there the least mitigation but they presently returned to their open duty and publickly met all together No trivial pretences no light excuses were then admitted for any ones absence from the Congregation but according to the merit of the cause severe censures were passed upon them The Synod of Illiberis provided that if any man dwelling in a City where usually Churches were nearest hand should for three Lords Days absent himself from the Church he should for some time be suspended the Communion that he might appear to be corrected for his fault They allowed no separate Assemblies no Congregations but what met in the publick Church if any man took upon him to make a breach and to draw people into corners he was presently condemned and a sutable penalty put upon him When Eustathius Bishop of Sebastia a man petending to great strictness and austerity of life began to cast off the Discipline of the Church and to introduce many odd observations of his own amongst others to contemn Priests that were married to fast on the Lords day and to keep meetings in private houses drawing away many but especially women as the Historian observes who leaving their Husbands were led away with errour and from that into great filthiness and impurity No sooner did the Bishops of those parts discover it but meeting in Council at Gangra the Metropolis of Paphlagonia about the year 340. they condemned and cast them out of the Church passing these two Canons among the rest If any one shall teach that the House of God is to be despised and the assemblies that are held in it let him be accursed If any shall take upon him out of the Church privately to preach at home and making light of the Church shall do those things that belong only to the Church without the presence of the Priest and the leave and allowance of the Bishop let him be accursed
Worship of God we are next to see wherein their Worship it self did consist which we shall consider both as private and publick that which they performed at home and that which was done in their solemn and Church-Assemblies only let it be remembred that under the notion of Worship I here comprehend all those duties of piety that refer to God the duties of their private worship were of two sorts either such as were more solemn and stated and concerned the whole Family or such as persons discharged alone or at least did not tye up themselves to usual times For the first which are properly Family duties they were usually performed in this order at their first rising in the morning they were wont to meet together and to betake themselves to prayer as is plainly implied in Chrysostoms exhortation to praise God for the protection and refreshment of the night and to beg his grace and blessing for the following day this was done by the Master of the house unless some Minister of Religion were present 't is probable that at this time they recited the Creed or some confession of their Faith by which they professed themselves Christians and as 't were armed themselves against the assaults of dangers and temptations however I question not but that now they read some parts of Scripture which they were most ready to do at all times and therefore certainly would not omit it now That they had their set hours for prayer the third sixth and ninth hour is plain both from Cyprian Clem. Alexandrinus and others this they borrowed from the Jews who divided the day into four greater hours the first third sixth and ninth hour three last whereof were stated hours of prayer the first hour began at six in the morning and held till nine the third from nine till twelve and at this hour it was that the Apostles and Christians were met together when the Holy Ghost descended upon them the sixth hour was from twelve till three in the afternoon and at this time Peter went up to the house top to pray the ninth was from three till six at night and now it was that Peter and John went up to the Temple it being the ninth hour of prayer this division was observed by the Christians of succeeding times though whether punctually kept to in their Family devotions I am not able to affirm About noon before their going to dinner some portions of Scripture were read and the meat being set upon the Table a blessing was solemnly begged of God as the fountain of all blessings and so religious herein was the good Emperour Theodosius junior that he would never taste any meat no not so much as a Fig or any other Fruit before he had first given thanks to the great Soveraign Creator and both meat and drink set apart with the sign of the Cross a custom they used in the most common actions of life as is expresly affirmed both by Tertullian and Origen where he also gives a form of such prayers as they were wont to use before meals viz. that lifting up their eyes to Heaven they prayed thus Thou that givest food to all flesh grant that we may receive this food with thy blessing thou Lord hast said that if we drink any thing that is deadly if we call upon thy name it shall not hurt us thou therefore who art Lord of all power and glory turn away all evil and malignant quality from our food and what ever pernicious influence it may have upon us when they were at dinner they sung Hymns and Psalms a practice which Clem. Alexandrinus commends as very suitable to Christians as a modest and decent way of praising God while we are partaking of his Creatures Chrysostom greatly pleads for it that men should be careful to teach them their Wives and Children and which they should use even at their ordinary works but especially at meals such divine Songs being an excellent antidote against temptations for says he as the Devil is never more ready to ensnare us than at meals either by intemperance ease or immoderate mirth therefore both before and at meals we should fortifie our selves with Psalms nay and when we rise from the Table with our Wives and Children we should again sing Hymns to God They used also to have the Scriptures read and as I have elsewhere noted out of Nazianzen every time they took the Cup to drink made the sign of the Cross and called upon Christ Dinner being ended they concluded with prayer giving thanks to God for their present refreshment and begging his continued provision of those good things which he had promised to them So great a place had Religion in those days even in mens common and natural actions and so careful were they not to starve the soul while they were feeding of the body Much after the same rate they spent the rest of the day till the night approached when before their going to rest the Family was again called to prayer after which they went to bed about midnight they were generally wont to rise to pray and to sing hymns to God this custom was very ancient and doubtless took its original from the first times of persecution when not daring to meet together in the day they were forced to keep their religious Assemblies in the night and though this was afterwards antiquated as being found inconvenient for the generality of Christians yet did it still continue in the nocturnal hours of Monasteries and religious Orders But besides these stated and ordinary devotions performed by a joint concurrence of the Family the Christians of those days were careful to spend all the time they could even when alone in actions of peity and religion they were most frequent in prayer Eusebius reports of S. James the just that he was wont every day to go alone into the Church and there kneeling upon the pavement so long to pour out his prayers to God till his knees became as hard and brawny as a Camels the same which Nazianzen also tells us of his good Sister Gorgonia that by often praying her knees were become hard and did as 't were stick to the ground Constantine the Great though burdened with the cares of so vast an Empire did yet every day at his wonted hours withdraw from all the company of the Court retire into his Closet and upon his knees offer up his prayers to God and to let the world know how much he was devoted to this duty he caused his Image in all his Gold Coins in his Pictures and Statues to be represented in the posture of a person praying with his hands spread abroad and his eyes lift up to Heaven Their next care was diligently and seriously to read the Scripture to be mighty in the Divine Oracles as indeed they had an invaluable esteem of and reverence for the Word
were of a fearful and bashful temper which he utterly refused and openly made it before all the people affirming it to be unreasonable that he should be ashamed to confess his hopes of Salvation before the people who while he taught Rhetorick wherein he hoped for no such reward had publickly professed it every day An action that begat great wonder in Rome as it was no less matter of rejoycing to the Church No dangers could then sway good men from doing of their duty Cyprian highly commends Cornelius for taking the Bishoprick of Rome upon him in so dangerous a time for the greatness of his mind and the unshaken firmness of his Faith and the undaunted managery of his place at a time when Decius the Tyrant threatn'd such heavy severities to the Ministers of Christianity and would sooner endure a Corrival in the Empire than a Bishop to sit at Rome How freely how impartially did they speak their minds even to the face of their bitterest enemies When Maris Bishop of Chalcedon a man blind with age met Julian the Emperour he boldly charged him with his Atheism and Apostasie from the Christian Faith Julian reproach'd him with his blindness and told him his Galilean God would never cure him to which the good old man presently answered I thank my God who has taken away my sight that I might not behold the face of one that has laps'd into so great impiety Were they at any time attempted by arts of flattery and enticement the charms would not take place upon them So when Julian both by himself and the Officers of his Army set upon the Souldiers and by fair promises of preferments and rewards sought to fetch them off from Christianity though he prevail'd upon some few weak and instable minds yet the far greatest part stood off yea by many even of the meanest and most inconsiderable quality his temptations were as resolutely beaten back as the blow of an Engine is by a wall of marble Nor were they any more shaken by storms and threatnings When Modestus the Governour under Valens the Arrian Emperour could not by any means bring over S. Basil to the party he threatned him with severity Dost thou not fear this power that I have Why should I fear said Basil what canst thou do or what can I suffer the other answered the loss of thy Estate Banishnent Torment and Death but threaten us with something else if thou canst said Basil for none of these things can reach us confiscation of Estate cannot hurt him that has nothing to lose unless thou wantest these tatter'd and thread-bare garments and a few Books wherein all my estate lies nor can I be properly banished who am not tied to any place where-ever I am 't will be my Country the whole earth is Gods in which I am but a Pilgrim and a stranger I fear no torments my body not being able to hold out beyond the first stroke and for death 't will be a kindness to me for 't will but so much the sooner send me unto God for whose sake I live and am indeed in a great measure already dead towards which I have been a long time hastning And there 's no reason to wonder at this freedom of speech in other things we are meek and yielding but when the Cause of God and Religion is concerned over-looking all other things we direct our thoughts only unto him and then fire and sword wild beasts and engines to tear off our flesh are so far from being a terrour that they are rather a pleasure and recreation to us Reproach and threaten and use your power to the utmost yet let the Emperour know that you shall never be able to make us assent to your wicked Doctrine no though you should threaten ten thousand times worse than all this The Governour was strangely surpriz'd with the spirit and resolution of the man and went and told the Emperour that one poor Bishop was too hard for them all And indeed so big were their spirits with a desire to assert and propagate their Religion that they would not hide their heads to decline the greatest dangers When the Officers were sent to apprehend S. Polycarp and had with great industry and cruelty found out the place where he was though he had timely notice to have escaped by going into another house yet he refus'd saying the will of the Lord be done and coming down out of his Chamber saluted the Officers with a chearful and a pleasant countenance as they were carrying him back two persons of eminency and authority met him in the way took him up into their Chariot labour'd by all means to perswade him to do sacrifice which when he absolutely refus'd after all their importunities they turn'd their kindness into reproaches and tumbled him with so much violence out of the Chariot that he was sorely bruised with the fall but nothing daunted as if he had received no harm he chearfully went on his way a voice being heard as he went along as it were from Heaven Polycarp be strong and quit thy self like a man When he came before the Tribunal the Proconsul asked him whether he was Polycarp which he presently confessed then he attempted by all arts of perswasion to urge him to deny Christ or to do but something that might look like it but all in vain These fourscore and six years says he have I served Christ and he never did me any harm and how then can I blaspheme my Master and my Saviour Being urg'd to swear by the Emperours Genius he replyed Forasmuch as thou pressest me to do this pretending thou knowest not who I am know I am a Christian then the Proconsul told him he would throw him to the wild beasts unless he alter'd his Opinion Call for them answered Polycarp for we have no mind to change from better to worse as counting that change only to be honest and laudable which is from Vice to Vertue But if thou makest so light of wild beasts added the Proconsul I 'le have a fire that shall tame thee to which the good old man return'd You threaten Sir a fire that will burn for an hour and presently be extinguish'd but know not that there is a fire of eternal damnation in the judgement to come reserv'd for the punishment of all wicked men But why delay you execute what ever you have a mind to This and much more to the same purpose he discoursed of to the great admiration of the Proconsul being so far from being terrified with what was said to him that he was filled with joy and chearfulness and a certain grace and loveliness over-spread his face So likewise when Cyprian was brought before the Proconsul Thou art said he Thascius Cyprian who hast been a ringleader to men of a wicked mind the Emperours command thee to do sacrifice and therefore consult thy welfare To which he answered I am Cyprian I am a Christian