eighth day to bee received and therein as e Octavus dies id est post Sabbatum primus quo Dominus Circumcisionem spiritualem daret hic dies octavus praecessit in imagine Cypr. lib. 3. Ep. 8. pag. 80. col 2. S. Cyprian thought and f August in Psalm 150. tom 8. part 2. pag. 1059. S. Augustine hath the like conceipt was the Christians weekly holiday prefigured With these Appellations of number order we may remember those Titles of honour ascribed unto it by g Chrysologus Serm. 77. Chrysologus who calleth it the primate of dayes and by h Ignat. Epist ad Magnens vocat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pag. 57. Edit Genev. 1623. Ignatius who advanced it to a denomination of an higher straine naming it the Queene and Princesse of dayes other feast-dayes being as i Mr. Godwin in his Moses and Aaron lib. 3. c. 3. p. 110 111. concubines and the worke-daies as hand-maids not as k Mr Brab in his Discourse upon the Sabbath in 8o. page 53. In his Defence in 4 to page 159. 488 490. Mr. Brab would have it as if hee left the Title of King and Prince for the Saturday Sabbath for if hee had meant such a titular prelation of that day above the Lords day hee would not surely where hee speaketh of them both have adorned the one with the title of a Queene and not the other with the title of a King which hee hath no where done nor any body else for ought that I have yet either read or heard but Mr. Brab it is his peculiar Courtship whereby he would restore the old Sabbath to the prerogative of a Crown after it hath been justly deposed from it for many hundred yeers together in the Christian Church Besides the Bishop of l Tho Bp. of Elie in his Treat of the Sab. pag. 75. Elie hath pertinently replyed to this imaginary preheminence of the Jewish Sabbath by giving instance of the Rabbins stiling it by the name not of a King but of a Queene and of the Philosopher and Oratour terming Justice Eloquence and Mony by the same title and hence hath hee rightly inferred that Ignatius named the Lords day the Queene of dayes not by way of derogation but to signifie the eminent and transcendent honour of the day But howsoever the words went in Ignatius his time to call the one a King the other a Queene in our daies would sound like an m The Ebionites keepe the Jewish Sabbath and celebrate the Sunday also Euseb Eccl. Hist l. 3. c. 24. pag. 50. Ebionitish combination or marriage of Saturday and Sunday together for the Ebionites honoured them both with a weekly observation but for that Mr. Brab while hee disavowed the Lords day on the one side and others of sounder judgement disclayming the Saturday Sabbath on the other would bee ready to forbid the banes of matrimony before-hand or afterwards to sue out a divorce There is another name of this day which hath a sound of dignity with a sense of diminution for some of late saith n Dr. Bound on the Sabbath part 1. p. 117. Dr. Bound have given it a new name unknowne to the world and not properly belonging to it calling it the Kings day the Queens day the Emperours day So have some Divines done saith he but he nameth them not and it is not worth the while to seek after the names of such ungodly godfathers ungodly doubtlesse if in giving it these names they meant as there is good cause to suspect thereby to degrade the day from all sacred to meere secular Authority But these Appellations already specified are either out of use or out of Question and so wee may quickly quit them and may betake our selves to the consideration of other Titles of more regardable observation in our dayes CHAP. III. Of three most usuall names of the Christians weekely Holiday Lords day Sunday and Sabbath And first of the name Lords day Rov 1.10 The strange opinion of Doctor Gomarus and Master Braburne charging the Title as applyed to the Christian Sabbath with impertinencie and novelty THe names of our weekly Holiday more frequent in use and yet not free from exception are three the Lords day Sunday and Sabbath day I put the Lords day first though it bee the youngest name of the three not as a Dr. Bound on the Sab. part 1. p. 110. 120. some who preferre it so farre as by it to put downe the use of the other two but because it hath so much in preheminence of dignity by its notation of neere reference to the Authour of Rests and Father of Lights as maketh amends for what it wanteth in age and feniority and the Sabbath I place last though it bee the eldest of all because I shall most insist upon it and best conclude with it in regard of the reall inquiries and observations which with reference to it must begin when this Logomachie or word-warre is at an end The title Lords day is not taken from Saint Paul 2 Cor. 10.26 wherein hee saith the earth is the Lords and so that day may be called the Lords day in a common sense because the Lord made it for a common use as b As the earth is the Lords 1 Cor. 10.26 because the Lord made it and all things therein to serve man in his ordinary and common use Gen. 1.26 9.3 So this day is called the Lords day because Christ ordained it for mans ordinary and common use that is for a working day Mr. Brab defence of his Discourse pag. 240. Master Brab not by any common but by his own singular conceit hath said but from Saint John Rev. 1.10 where he saith I was in the Spirit on the Lords day that is on the day on which Christ our Lord rose from the dead Upon this ground grew the observation of that day we celebrate under that name wherein both the most and the best Authours doe agree Against this exceptions have been taken by two late Divines who each of them have written two Treatises a piece upon the weekely Holiday of the Church and have in all foure sought by new surmises to shift off the title both as in and to this text of Saint John the one is Doctor Francis Gomarus the States Professour of Divinity in the Universitie of Groning the other Mr. Theophilus Braburn a Minister of the County of Norfolke a man as the Bishop of Elie of whose Diocesse hee was when hee was Bishop of Norwich c In his Epist Dedic pag. 22 23. before his Treat of the Sabbath noteth of him who laid a load of disgrace and contempt on his Puritan adversaries as hee termeth them Doctor Gomarus maketh the Lords day to bee the same with the day of the Lord and by the day of the Lord understandeth the day of the d De die apparitionis Domini aut in carne ut dies natalis aut quâ
Deut. 16. the feast of Tabernacles from the tents and boothes wherein the people lived in the Desart and which more punctually meets with this objection their weekly holiday had its name not from him to whom it is dedicated but from Rest the duty of the day enjoyned Secondly In the Christian Church his rule of denomination doth not hold for wee call one holiday dedicated to Christ by his Birth another by his Circumcision another by his Ascension which are the things done on the day not by his name onely to whom they were dedicated If it bee said when wee speake of the Nativitie we understand the Birth of the Lord and so also the Circumcision of the Lord and the Ascension of the Lord I grant wee doe so and so when wee say the Sabbath wee may meane as in the Commandement is expressed the Sabbath of the Lord or to the Lord. Thirdly That the names of dayes should not bee taken from the quality of the person onely to whom they are intended is plaine by the feast of Pentecost so called from the number of the dayes betwixt it and Easter and the name of the Lords day called from its order by the Evangelists and the Apostle Paul the first day of the weeke and by the Ancients the day of light from illumination at the Sacrament of Paptisme and the day of Bread from the Sacrament of the Lords Supper administred every Lords day as n Mr. Ironside quest 3. cap. 13. p. 124 125. Mr. Ironside himselfe hath observed Fourthly If the names of holidayes should be taken from the quality of the person to whom they are intended as because our weekly holiday is intended to the honour of the Lord it must be called the Lords day then all the holidayes which are named by the Saints should have their names from their Lord for though the portions of Scripture read on them concerne their lives and deaths the honour and service of the day is directed and intended not to them but to the Lord yea all holidayes of both Testaments are dayes dedicated to his honour by that reason then all must bee called the Lords dayes and so names that should bee given for distinction would turne to confusion Thus much for the first Reason for the name Sabbath as applyed to the Lords day or Sunday which were more then enough if there had not beene much more then there was need and cause objected against it but the rest we shall contract into a narrower compasse The second Reason why our weekly holiday may be called Sabbath day is this Reas 2 It is confessed by all that are not branded with the note of heresie that there are ten Commandements to us Christians as well as to the lewes and that the fourth Commandement is one of the ten and requireth at least the assigning or setting apart of some time to religious rest and that by vertue of these words Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy that time then which the Church keepeth as in obedience to that part of the Commandement expressed in the letter of the law by the name Sabbath may or rather must be called by that name By that word Sabbath in that Commandement as o B◠Andr. his Serm. de Natic pag. 37. Bishop Andrewes said of the words which shall bee wee hold and though wee say not as hee farther addeth it is our best tenure yet a tenure it is which wee must not let goe but wee must as hee said of the word p Idem In his second Serm. of the Nativ pag. 15. nobis make much of it for thereby our tenure and interest groweth up to a further degree of assurance and evidence Thirdly Reas 3 q B. Hall dec of Ep. 6. epist 2. p. 384. Bishop Hall saith The sonne of righteousnesse rising upon that day called the Lords day drew the strength of that mor all Precept unto it for all the vertue and vigour of it is vanish'd from the Jewes Sabbath so that it remaineth a meere working day and if so the title of Rest surely did not stay behinde it but with the strength was transferred to the day for which it was changed Fourthly Reas 4 It is enough to gaine a title from one thing to another to possesse the place as Successor upon the decease and in stead of another as the Christians Lords day by the ordinance of the Lord himselfe as r 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athanasius de Semente Tom. 1. pag. 835. Edit Graeco-lat Commelian Ann. c 10.10 c. Athanasius saith succeeded the Jewish Sabbath whose name it may have in that respect if there were none other reason of more weight Here it will haply bee objected that so one might call Baptisme by the name of Circumcision and the Lords Supper by the name of the Passeover for these two Sacraments of the new Testament succeeded those two of the old which were to bring in a confusion of termes and times and so in part to incurre the scorne which the f Bish of Elie his examinat of the Dialogue pag. 85. Bishop of Elie putteth upon his Dialogist for his Argument drawn from the succession of the one day to the other I answer Howsoever the Argument of the Dialogist succeed which wee have nothing to doe withall at this time wee shall easily shake off this slight exception thus First Wee doe not ascribe the proper name of the old Sabbath to the Lords day for wee doe not say Saturday is Sunday or the Lords day but that name which is common to them both and wherein the one by a reall right and congruity of sense succeedeth the other and that is the name Sabbath signifying Rest which belongeth to them both and that is not as if one should call Baptisme Circumcision or the Lords Supper the Passeover but as if wee should call them Sacraments and Seales of the Covenant in which respect the later have both the authority and appellation of the former Or as if one should say Doctor White succeeded Doctor Buckeridge Bishop of Elie therefore hee hath the Title and Authoritie of the Bishop of Elie though hee bee not called by his Predecessors Christian or surname in particular hee saith indeede t Examinat of the Dialogue p. 63 69. marg That the fourth Commandement appointed a particular fixed day to wit Saturday but if that were true which I deny hee cannot say the word Saturday is named there and if it were wee would not take that but the name Sabbath for the true title of the Lords day against which no just exception hath yet beene taken nor in truth can bee And for a second Answer which in regard of the ground of it it will not become a Bishop to slight wee may say That upon a substitution of one thing in the roome of another it is not unusuall in our Church to assigne the name as well as the place to that which is substituted for a
Secondly If any apply any place to our weekly holiday which is peculiar to the Jewes Sabbath he may as easily be answered by distinction of the Jewish and Christian Sabbath as if from the name Altar much in use with some in our dayes any should make inferences of Jewish Sacrifices to bee offered upon it hee may bee stopped which the Authour of this objection I thinke will not deny by the distinction of a Jewish and Christian Altar and application accordingly Thirdly To disavow the name Sabbath would become a more dangerous snare to Judaisme for that were to give up the fourth Commandement wholly unto the Jewes both for title and tenure for without the title how can our Christian Holiday be in any good sense set upon that ground and to establish their day by the best Authority that can bee viz. by a most holy and expresse law as the Jewes assume and some Christians too easily assent And to leave our Lords day floting upon the uncertaine conjectures of an Apostolicall tradition as some account it Who can tell saith d Mr. Ironside quest 5. of the Sabb. cap. 20. p. 200 201. Master Ironside whether the Lords day of which Saint John speakes were the Lords day which wee keepe or Easter day which Saint John and his Disciples observed as it fell out any day of the weeke according to the Jewish supputation This as I have e In my historicall part of the Sabbath shewed was a snare and scandall to M. Braburne which made him relapse from Sunday to Saturday And if his Books were as commonly read as they are cunningly penned to this purpose many more might bee taken in that snare at unawares unlesse they were more soundly answered then yet they have been Lastly There is a snare to profanenesse as well as to Judaisme to bee shunned by Christians but the taking of the name Sabbath from the Lords day as those that most dislike that title would have it may bee a snare to profanenesse and that in a higher degree then the Judaisme pretended for they that most mislike the name Sabbath as applyed to Sunday or Lords day disavow both the honour and holinesse of the day and would depose it from being a Queene to make it a drudge an ordinary workeday and therefore with the name they deny its right to the fourth Commandement as the uncommunicable charter of a weekely holiday in the Jewish Church whence will follow that many will be more bold familiarly to profane it Therefore in this respect also there is more danger in refusing or forbearing the name Sabbath when we speak of our day of religious rest then in receiving or approving thereof Object 7. Though Master Braburne accompt it too great an honour to the Lords day as before wee have noted to bee called Sabbath yet the Christian Church hath observed some matter of reproach in it and therefore hath shee called a sort of Heretickes by way of contempt and censure Sabbatarii and it is a ready reproach in the mouthes of many to call them as in disdaine Sabbatharians who put the name Sabbath upon Sunday Answ It is true but first the Church condemneth them not for calling and holding the Lords day to bee a Sabbath but Saturday as the Ebionites did of old and Master Brab of late and the Jewes doe to this day Secondly though Heretickes have been so entitled from the name Sabbath and some who are not Heretickes be too forward to cast that terme in contempt upon their Orthodox brethren yet the word is never the worse or lesse honourable for that for there were Heretickes called f Aug. de Haeres ad quod vul haer 39. p. 22. Angelici g Ibid. haer 40. Apostolici h Ibid. haer 34. pag. 21. Melchisedechians as well as Sabbatarii yet the names of Angels Apostles and of Melchisedech are for all that sacred and venerable CHAP. XXII The negative Argument drawne from the Apostles not using the name Sabbath for the Lords day answered ob 8 HOwsoever it bee lawfull to call the Lords day by the name Sabbath yet the name wherewith the Christians have anciently christned Sunday is the Lords day and not Sabbath day yea the Holy Ghost saith a M. Ironside quest ch 12. p. 120 121. Master Ironside doth every where in the New Testament call it the Lords day and no where Sabbath so did the Primitive Church in precedent times for the first three hundred yeares and so doe both Romane and Reformed Churches who stile it Lords day and not Sabbath day wherein to vary from them may bee justly noted of singularity affectation and if it be said that religious persons call it Sabbath day who speakes most religiously saith he the Apostles the whole Church or some private persons of late yeares is easie to determine In setting downe his Objection I have contracted three Arguments into one abating from the number not from the vigour of his reasons of exception because the answer I shall returne unto them will for the most part give satisfaction to them altogether The b Bish Whites Treatise of the Sab. and Lords day p. 127. See the like p. 135. Bishop of Ely maketh the like Objection We Christians saith he observe a weekly Holiday namely Sunday which with the Apostles we call not Sabbath but Lords day He saith further That the Lords day was not called Sabbath day by our Saviour nor by any of his Apostles or their immediate successors It is farre different saith c Ibid. p. 201. he againe and the like hath d M. Dow in his discourse pag. 4. Mr. Dowe from the language of the Fathers to stile the Lords day by the name of Sabbath The Sabbath and the seventh day saith e M. Primrose Treatise of the Sab. or Lords day part 2. ch 6. p. 132. M. Primrose and he meaneth the seventh from the Creation are indifferently taken for the same thing and the one is the explication of the other to which purpose hee quoteth many places of the Scripture but our Lords day saith f Idem Ibid. part 2. c. 20. pag. 138 184. he wherein wee apply our selves to Gods outward service is alwaies called in the New Testament the first day of the weeke or the Lords day and not Sabbath which name the Apostles and first Beleevers had not failed to give unto it if Jesus Christ had not so qualified and stiled it but they never termed it by such a name Hereof Master Broad in his Treatise of the Sabbath and Lords day which was sent me in a MS. by Mr. D. of B. hath these words g M. Broad in his MS. Treat of the Sab. and Lords day p. 41. The Scripture never calleth the Lords day by the name of the Sabbath neither any other I beleeve for the space of two hundred yeares and more since Christs time and whether it were so called by the Fathers saith he I
parcell of Scripture is called by our Church the Epistle though it bee not taken out of those writings which are properly so called◠but out of some booke of * Prophes Isa ch 7. ver 10. On the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary 40. v. 1. On Saint John Baptists day 63. v. 1. On Munday in Passion week Jer. c. 23. ver 5. On the twenty fifth Sunday after Trinity Joel c. 2. v. 12. The first day in Lent Prophesie or ″ Hist Acts ch 1. ver 1. On Ascension day ver 15. On Saint Matthias day 2. v. 1. On whitsunday 5. v. 12. On Saint Bartholomewes day 7. v. 55. On Saint Stevens day 8. v. 14. On Tuesday in Whitsun week 9. ver 1. On the Convers of S. Paul 10. v. 34. On Munday in Easter week On Mund. in Whitsun week 11. ver 22. On Saint Barnabies day ver 27. On Saint James his day 12. ver 1. On Saint Peters day 13. v. 26. On Tuesday in Easter week Historie as in the Service of divers Sundayes and Holidayes in the yeer according to the Catalogue in the margine because it is read in the place and standeth in stead of the Epistle And thus u M. Brab Desence p. 600.601 Master Braburne will allow the Lords day not onely the name but the honour of a Sabbath viz. as in the roome of the old Sabbath for a time and for its sake Fifthly Reas 5 wee have already shewed out of Chrysostome of old and Jos Scaliger of late that the other holidays of the Jewes which were not weekely are called Sabbaths and * Doctor Hevl Hist Sab. part 1. c. 5. pag. 87 88. Doctor Heylin x M. Brab Discourse p. 81 82. Master Braburne and y Master Ironside queil 3. cap. 13. pag. 123. Master Ironside acknowledge no lesse and if they when the seventh dayes Sabbath was yet in force and use might be called by that name much more may the Lords day now which is a weekly day of rest as the old Sabbath was but now is not so that there is nothing in it much lesse in any other day of the week that may give it a better right to the title Sabbath then the Lords day hath Sixthly Reason 6 z There is a Sabbath or rest from sinne D. Heyl. Hist of the Sab. part 2. c. 5. pag. 157. Doctor Heylin alloweth the name Sabbath to bee given to cessation from sinne why then not rather to rest from labour Since this is literall and proper as the law of the Sabbath requireth that metaphoricall and sigurative and the right of appellation goeth rather by the letter then by the figure as a Bish Andr. 3. Serm. of the Nat. p. 64. Bishop Andrewes observing of the world day taken sometime figuratively for the whole time of mans life and sometimes properly and literally as in our ordinary speech for the seventh part of the weeke maketh his choice of the sense which consenteth with the letter and leaveth the figure Adde hereunto a further latitude of the word Sabbath allowed by b Mr. Broad in his 3d. quest p. 5. Master Broad and therewithall a greater liberty for the use of it to Christians which is That the Kingdome of heaven and the Sabbath have one common name and yet saith hee the difference betwixt them is as much as betwixt the sacrifices of beasts by the law and the sacrifice of Christ in the Gospel and if the difference bee lesse betwixt day and day rest and rest in observation of Jewish and Christians holidayes which cannot reasonably be denyed the same name may bee attributed to their holiday and to ours especially by turnes to theirs while it was in force to ours since that being put downe it hath obtained the honour of the day Seventhly Reas 7 Doctor Heylin againe notwithstanding his exceptions both against the name and thing it selfe noted by the name takes the name Sabbath to bee an honour where hee saith that the new Moones were not honoured with that title in the booke of God conceiving belike as c M. Brah. des of his disiourse pag. 53. Master Braburn said that the name was a crown on the head rather then as d D. Pockl. Visit Serm. p. 20. Doctor Pocklington held a deformed vizzard on the face And if the Lords day have gotten the honour of the Jewes Festivity as indeed it hath since that was put down and this set up in its stead that name as well agreeing with the precedent proofes may be the more fitly attributed to it Eightly e M. Dowe in his Discourse of the Sabbath and Lords day pag. 41. Master Dowe observeth though by way of complaint for which there is no great cause that the day we celebrate is vulgarly called and known by the name of the Sabbath the like hath f Mr. Brab def p. 626. Master Braburne Doe not they saith hee usually call Sunday or Lords day the Sabbath And if it bee vulgarly knowne and called by that name the rule is Wee must speake with the vulgar and think with the wise Master Ironside by way of exception to this vertually I meane not expressely for hee maketh no mention of the rule saith g Mr. Ironside quest 3. cap. 13. pag. 126. Who speaks most religiously the Apostles and the whole Church or some few private persons of late yeeres is easie to determine wherein hee implyeth that the first and best and most Christians forbeare the name Sabbath and use rather the word Lords day therefore the name Sabbath must cease as savouring both of novelty and schisme Whereto I answer for the present that all the foure Evangelists note the day wee celebrate by the name of the first day of the weeke and onely one of them viz. S. John and that but once viz. Rev. 1.10 calleth it the Lords day yet without any imputation of novelty or schisme which we shall more cleerly fully take off and avoid for the denomination of the L. day by the name of the Sab. in the ensuing Chapters CHAP. XIIII Ancient evidence for calling the Lords day by the name of Sabbath observed especially against a D. Pockl. Visitation Serm. called Sunday no Sabbath Dr. Pocklington his Assertion viz. That no ancient Father no learned man tooke the name Sabbath otherwise from the beginning of the world till the yeere 1554. then for Saturday observed by the Jewes USe of speech which for the name Sabbath as applyed to the Lords day hath for our age beene b See c. 12. and c. 13. propè sin confessed by the adversaries of it is as the c Si volet usus Quem penes arbitrium est vis norma loquēdi Hor. de art poet Poet saith the rule of speech and of such authority that wise men willingly submit unto it and that sometimes so farre as to speake amisse that they may bee understood aright so did d Ossum sic enim potius
p. 72. Bishop of Elie where hee observeth out of Athanasius his Tractate de semente That the Saturday Sabbath was so observed that it was not prohibited Thirdly For Africa Saint Augustine since hee was an African Bishop may informe us by that hee hath in the 91. Psalme where treating upon it as the text of his Sermon Å¿ Hodiernus dies Sabb. est Aug. in Psal 91. tom 8. part 1. pag. 158. hee saith this day is the Sabbath if it were the Jewes day on that day he preached to the people and they had an holy Assembly on that day with conformity it is like to other Churches for hee calleth it the Sabbath as a day designed to holy duties and as it is like with conformity to other Churches if it were the Lords day hee called that the Sabbath and so the title is authorised by his Testimony But whatsoever become of these Allegations or however they prove for force or feeblenesse certain it is that the Decree of the Councell of t Concil Laodicen can 29. Caranz sum concil p. 190. Bin. tom 1. p. 300. Laodicea about the yeare 368. prevailed not so far as quite to put downe the observation of the Saturday Sabbath though to u Si inventi fuerint Judaizare i. e. non operando in Sabbato non praeponendo diem Dominicam eidem diei Anathema sint Ibid. Sabbatize with a Jewish cessation were forbidden upon pain of an Anathema for in time of Pope Gregory the Great there were some who had it in too great honour and religious reverence but by this time the Lords day had so farre advanced in estimation above it and in operation against it that ″ Greg. â—p 3.11 hee is almost as sharpe with them who were precise observers of the Sabbath with the Lords day as Ignatius was with such as combined them both in superstitious abstinence or fasting Gregory held those who observed the old Sabbath to bee x Perversi spiritus homines die Sabbati operari prohibent quos quid aliud nisi Antichristi Praedicatores dixerim Greg. â—p ex Regist l. 11. c 3. fol. 452 p. 1. col 2. Antichristian and y 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ignat. ep ad Philip pag. 45. Ignatius termed those who fasted on the Lords day or Sabbath one day excepted the killers of Christ So in his Epistle to the Philippians But for all that of the Laodicean Councell and this of Gregory the Sabbath was in some places upheld with the sacred services not onely as that z Sabbat is evangelia cum alâ—is Scripturis legenda esse censemus Concil Laod. can 16 pag. 180. Councell decreed for the reading of Scripture for that day but as with an equall respect to the Lords day which the a Ibid. can 29. Councell forbad and so it is to this day in the Ethiopicke Churches as b Quod autem Sabbatâ—n aequè ac diem Dominicum ab opere immune habent id non est argumentum Judaisini sed veteris Christianismi quot enim Canones sunt qui vetant Sabbato opus facere Joseph Scal. de emend temp l. 7. p. 683. Joseph Scaliger sheweth which hee will have to bee no argument of Judaisme but of ancient Christianity for how many Canons saith hee are there to forbid men to worke on the Sabbath day meaning the Saturday I wish hee had set downe how many some I have met with but not many and of those that which is pretended to be of the greatest Authority is in true judgement of least accompt viz. that of c Clement const Apost l. 7. c. 24. Clement published in the name of the Apostles which commands to keep holy the Sabbath day in memory of the Creation and the Lords day in memory of the Resurrection which if Clement had received from the Apostles the Romans it is like would which they did not have received it from him for they reckon him for one of the prime successors of S. Peter in the Bishoprick of Rome The summe of these observations concerning sacred Assemblies twice a weeke viz. upon Saturday the old Sabbath and the Lords day the new begun by the Apostles for the quicker progresse of the Gospel and better advantage of devotion and continued by Christians in after ages after their examples is this In the primitive times the Lords day was seldome called the Sabbath because then the old Sabbath of the Jewes was religiously observed with solemne Assemblies and while and where two dayes were so solemnized i. e. Saturday and Sunday it was sit to call them for distinction sake and to avoid confusion by severall names and good reason that the Saturday having for some thousand of yeers had possession of the title Sabbath when yet the Lords day or Christian Sunday had never shined in the world should be called the Sabbath rather then any other day and that the Lords day should rather be called by another name then by that But now at least among us who use the day which was the Jewes holiday not as a Sabbath or a day of rest but as a workeday now that some Jewishly some prophanely affected doe deny the name of Sabbath to the day wee celebrate to supplant the support of it by the fourth Commandement not as it is the Lords day but as one of the seven there is no danger of confusion by calling the Lords day the Sabbath but due caution thereby given against such conceits as tend to impeach the preheminence thereof CHAP. XXIIII The objection taken from the use of the name Sabbath in Histories Dictionaries and the Roman and Reformed Churches answered NOr is it any thing to prejudice the preheminence of the title Sabbath among us that Latin Authours whether of Histories or Dictionaries take the word Sabbatum usually for Saturday as a M. Brab his defence p. 44. Master Braburn hath objected since so long a custome of the Sabbaths observation upon Saturday both in the Jewish the Christian Church might easily prevail with many Writers to take the terme as they found it in familiar use before their time wherein they might be more facile while they suspected none advantage would be made of it against the truth But if from that facility of phrase exception be taken against the right of the Christians weekely holiday though a day of rest to the name Sabbath a name of rest then we must have recourse to the proper sense of the word and correspondence of the thing and rather speake according to both then to the improper and abusive application of it though customarie or usuall And as for the word Catholick though many Protestants have familiarly called the Papists by that name yet since they have insolently gloryed in it and perversely inferred from our use of it agreeing with their usurpation that wee that call them Catholicks doe by consequence confesse that our selves are Hereticks who are opposite to them as Coqueus concluded from
loquamur meliùs est ut reprehendant nos Grammatici quam non intelligant populi August enarrat in Psal 138. tom 8. part 2. p. 871 872. S. Augustine when he said e Ib. in Psal 36. part 1. p. 358. ossum for os and foenerat for foeneratur as being desirous rather that Grammarians should reprehend him then that the people should not understand him and among us many learned men use to say with the vulgar f The words Chirurgus and Apostema are so englished by Cooper in his Dictionary Surgeon for Chirurgeon and Impostume for Aposteme and there bee many more words of this sort But for the name Sabbath there being such sufficient reasons to set it as a title upon the Lords day when the more judicious make use of it in that sense they may well bee conceived to doe it not as complying with the erroneous dialect of the common sort but as guided to it by reason as well as by use And for such as have so taken it or the conjugate to it which is the same in sense wee may mention divers of eminent place both of ancient and of later times as first Ignatius the Disciple of Saint John the Evangelist who having spoken against the manner of the Jewes spending their Sabbath in sensuall jollity excessive feasting dancing and other revelling g 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ignat ep ad Magnes pag. 57. adviseth Christians every one of them to sabbatize or keep the Sabbath spiritually that is rather to bestow the time in religious delights then in carnall contentments If any one except and say that hee meaneth this of the Jewish Sabbath day which in his dayes and a good while after was kept holy with the Lords day wee may thence inferre that if Ignatius could brook the observation of Saturdayes rest without any feare of Judaisme when that day was to give up to the Lords day the holinesse and honour of a weekely holiday which necessarily requireth both Rest and Religion hee would not have made scruple to call it the Sabbath h 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. as it is fore-cited cap. 13. lit ◠Athanasius hath a sentence from whence wee may derive the like inference for his opinion of the name Sabbath with reference to the Lords day The Lord hath changed the Sabbath day saith he into the Lords day Whereof saith i D◠Twisse in a MS. of the Sabbath a learned Doctor of our Church what can be the meaning but that the Lord himselfe hath now in these times of grace made the Lords day to become our Christian Sabbath So that upon the change the Saturday is not what before it was a day of rest but the Lords is so as before it was not And if the holy rest of Saturday bee translated to the Lords day shall not the name that is answerable to the nature of it passe along with it If more expresse and formall Testimonies be expected for these are but implyed and vertuall evidences wee finde k Origen in Numb cap. 28. Hom 23. tom 1. pag. 259. Origen in his three and twentieth Homily upon the book of Numbers expresly applying the name Sabbath to the day set apart for Evangelicall devotion Ob. l Dr. Pockling Sunday no Sab. pag. 16. But it will be said he addeth the word Christian to it calling it not simply Sabbath but the Christian Sabbath Ans Let them allow of the name Sabbath and wee will not stick with them for the title Christian if for distinction sake and to prevent misprision there bee any reason to make that addition but where the word will bee readily referred to the right day without another to explaine or restraine it it is needelesse to adde it Ob. Here Doctor Pocklington to extenuate this Testimonie saith m Dr. Pockl. Sunday no Sab. pag. 19. That Origen his Christian Sabbath is not kept on Sunday onely but every day in the weeke he meaneth I suppose according to the conceipt of divers of the Ancients a Sabbath consisting in cessation from sinne and sanctity of life Christ saith hee out of Origen is our Christian Sabbath and hee that lives in Christ rests from evill works and worketh uncessantly the works of Justice Answ This is no contradiction to that wee have said but a concession of much more then wee demand Christ himselfe saith Doctor Pocklington and every day in regard of the holy life of a Christian might be called a Sabbath If so the Lords day which was ordained and must bee observed with more generall and solemne holinesse and with more rest and cessation from worldly affaires for holinesse sake might much more bee called a Sabbath In the Latin Fathers the name Sabbath in this sense may also bee observed I will give some instances as in n Nos octava die quae ipsa prima est perfecti Sabbati festivitate laetamur Hilar. Prolog in Psal oper p. 335. Hilary Upon the eighth day which is also the first day saith he we rejoyce in the festivity of a perfect Sabbath Whereby we are to understand not an every dayes Sabbath in forbearance of sinne but an especiall sabbatizing above other dayes as in the celebration of the Lords day by cessation from works of the weeke dayes and exercise of religious duties belonging unto it which hee calleth the eighth day though it have a weekly returne in the number of seven because in the first observation counting on beyond the Jewish tale of dayes comming next after their seventh that maketh the eighth To this purpose wee may produce Saint Augustine o Observa diem Sabbati non carnaliter non Judaicls deliciis quae otio abutuntur ad nequitiam August enar in Psal 32. tom 8. part pag. 242. in his enarration upon the 32. Psalme where hee exhorteth to observe the Sabbath day not carnally with Judaicall delights for they abuse their Rest c. And in his p Observa diem Sabbati Magis nobis praecipitur quia spiritualiter observandum praecipitur Judaei enim serviliter observant diem Sabbati ad luxuriam ebrietatem August Tract 3. in Johan 1. tom 9. pag. 30. fourth Tract upon S. John Wee Christians saith he are more strictly commanded to keep the Sabbath then the Jewes for we are to keepe it spiritually they keepe it carnally in luxurie and drunkennesse which in the readiest construction of the words must runne thus Wee Christians are more strictly commanded to keepe not the Saturday Sabbath from which we are discharged Col. 2.16 but our Christian Sabbath then the Jewes keep their Jewish Sabbath If then wee bee commanded to keep a Sabbath wee must have the thing and the thing may have the name that belongeth to it and that name properly is Sabbath There is another allegation for the name Sabbath taken out of the 251. Sermon de tempore in Augustine his name which I forbeare to urge as his because the q B.
1632. 7. For Richard Wood of Haâ—ton 8. For East and West Rebford 9. For Mariners of Hâ—lbâ—iâ— 10. For Amos Bedford a Minister in Lincolne shire 11. For Thomas Wilson of old Whitingham in Cheshire 1633. 12. For Underhill in Shropshire 13. For one Hubie in Yorkeshire 14. For Roger Posterne of Salop. 15. For the Town of Stone in Staffordshire 1634. 16. For Lincolneshire poore 17. For the poore of Haâ—lscot in the County of Salop. 18. For John Jackson of Langer in Nottingham shire 1635. 19. For Port Patricke and Doneghday in Scotland 20. For Broughton of Southampton where the Church Parsonage house and Schoole-house c. were burnt K. Charles our gracious Soveraigne that now is in his Briefes appointing the time for collections under his broad Seale setting downe the day when they shall be made nameth it the Sabbath day wherby it is plaine he meaneth not Saturday but Sunday and so which is directly against Dr. Pockl. his tenet and title that Sunday is a Sabbath The most that I have seen untill the yeer 1636. have directed to our weekely Holiday under the name Sabbath For intimation of the frequencie of that word in the sence wherein wee take it I have made a List of twenty Instances of Briefs for this County of Cheshire within these few yeeres and noted them in the margine not doubting but there have been many more both within it without which have not come to my view And I doubt not when the truth upon impartiall triall hath broken through all clouds of contradiction as certainely it will doe but the name Sabbath will out-shine the name Sunday and be again received into the stile of the Kings Briefes as formerly it hath been 4. The Reverend Bishops of the Land in the d Confer at Hamp Court p. 44 and 45. Conference at Hampton Court as conscious of the lawfull use of the word Sabbath day for Sunday when Doctor Reynolds desired a reformation of the abuse of the Sabbath before his Majesty that late was and themselves gave a generall and unanimous assent thereunto none of them for ought appeareth in the Booke taking exception that hee called the Lords day by that name And howsoever the name of the Lords day bee more usuall in their Ecclesiasticall Courts for our weekely holiday then the name Sabbath day is yet that they condemne not the use of it is plaine by the seventh Canon wherein they prescribe the use of the Register booke upon every Sabbath day In the Latin edition I confesse the words are diebus Dominicis and not Sabbath and there might bee reason for it because in Latine the word might bee more ambiguous that tongue being more generall and reaching haply to such places as yet have both the Saturday and Sunday in honour and use for the exercise of Religion yet had it beene Sabbath in the Latine also it had beene no prejudice but rather an advantage to the truth if withall it had beene understood to bee meant not of the old Sabbath but of the new Besides they meant no doubt by using the name Sabbath in the Canon in English to shew the lawfull use of that word as well as of others by which the same day is signified unto us and if the Latin bee of more authority then the English which in some respects may be so as before hath been observed wee can quote a Latin Booke of good authority for it it is the Book called Reformatio legum Ecclesiasticarum which mentioning the observation of our religious rest doth it under this e Praecipuus Sabbatorum cultus Reform Leg. Eccles fol. 18. b. Title the principall celebration of the Sabbath The high Commissioners of whom the Archbishop of Canterbury is chiefe are in Ecclesiasticall authority next to a publick Synod and of their indifferency for the use of the word Sabbath as well as the word Sunday or Lords day may appeare by the recantation enjoyned by them to John Hethrington wherein hee was to f The Sermon called the White Wolfe by Steph. Denison preached at Pauls Crosse the same day pag. 34. disavow that which formerly hee had delivered viz. that the Sabbath day or Sunday which wee commonly call Lords day since the Apostles time was of no force and that every day is as much a Sabbath day as that which wee call the Sabbath day Lords day or Sunday and in these termes hee was to publish it at Pauls Crosse Febr. 11. 1627. If it bee needfull to add particular testimonies for calling Sunday by the name Sabbath and such scandalous invectives as some have made against it will not suffer it to be superfluous we may note by name divers Reverend Bishops who take the word Sabbath in that sense as to begin with Bishop Latimer whom g D. Pockl. Visit Serm. p. 28 29. Doctor Pocklington brings in expresly with other Bishops unnamed as a godly Prelate and well affected to the godly discipline of the Church and he was besides that a Martyr h B. Latimer he in his Sermon upon the Gospel of a King that marryed his sonne after he hath cited the story of the man stoned for gathering sticks upon the Sabbath day hath these words i Bish Latimer in his Sermon upon the Gospel of a King that married his sonne preached an 1552. as the title sheweth sol 188. p. 1. Which is an example for us to take heed that wee transgresse not the law of the Sabbath day and a little after hee addeth These words pertaine as well to us at this time as they pertained to them in their time for God hateth the dis-hallowing of the Sabbath as well now as then for hee is and still remaineth the old God hee will have us to keepe his Sabbath as well now as then for upon the Sabbath day Gods seede-plow goeth that is to say the ministery of the Word is executed for the ministery of Gods Words is Gods plow In which few lines hee calleth the Lords day Sabbath no fewer then foure times he calleth it Sunday also I confesse but that is nothing to this purpose since the name Sabbath is in question not the name Sunday which we have treated on before and proved to bee lawfull k Archb. Whit. Ans to T. C. p. 578. or 758. Archbishop Whitgift was after him in time though above him in degree and dignity of the Church and he translating a Testimony out of Justin Martyrs Apologie turneth dies solis into the Sabbath day l B. Babington Bish Babington sometimes his Chaplaine was Bishop of Worcester in the late Queenes reign as Bishop Latimer was in King Edwards daies a venerable Prelate and a frequent and famous Preacher and hee useth the same name of the same day * B. Babington in com 4. p. 72. printed 1594. in 4th wee plainely see saith hee what day the Apostles celebrated and met upon having their solemne Assemblies namely on this our Sabbath and it addeth
also further strength to this that Saint John in his Revel calleth this our Sabbath day the Sunday Dominicumdiem and afterward having set downe some generall duties of the day saith he m Ibid. p. 74. These things are not to bee done onely on the Sabbath day but every day even all our life long So doth that renowned and so admired n Sacratissimus antistes Lancelotus Andrewes linguarum artium scientiarum humanorum divinorum omnium infinitus Thesaurus stupendium oraâ—ulum c. So in the Title page the second edition of his Sermons Bishop of Winchester Bishop Andrewes who used to make a curious choice of his words as well as of his matter in his third Sermon of the Resurrection where speaking of the women that would have embalmed our blessed Saviour hee saith o B. Andrewes his 3d Sermâ—n on the Resurrection p. 406 407. Though they faine would have been embalming him yet not with breach of the Sabbath their diligence leap'd over none of Gods Commandements for haste no not this Commandement which of all other the world is most bold with and if they have haste somewhat else may but sure the Sabbath shall never stay them And beginning his Sermon at the Court on Whitsunday 1606. hee saith thus p B. Andr. his Serm. Acts 2. vers 2 3 4. pag. 595. Wee are this day besides our weekly due of the Sabbath to renew and to celebrate the yeerely memory of the sending down of the holy Ghost And even there where he set himselfe most seriously against Judaicall opinions viz. in his Speech against Mr. Traske in the Star-chamber hee saith thus q Ibid. In his Speech to the Starre-Chamber against Master Tracke pag. 72 73. and this name new Sabbath hee hath if the Authour of the Dialogue betwixt A. and B. reckon right twenty times in his Book called Catec Doctr. So the Dialogue betwixt two Divines A. B. edit 2. pag. 20. the Sabbath had reference to the old creation but in Christ wee are a new creature a new creation by him and so to have a new Sabbath if a new Sabbath then not no Sabbath as Doctor Pocklington would have it And the Bishop meaneth by that the Lords day which hee maintaineth against Master Traske who stood for Saturday the Sabbath of the Jewes Bishop Alley Bishop of Exceter in his Book called The poore mans Library printed Anno 1560. speaking of the due observation of the day wee celebrate saith r Bish Alleys Poore mans Library miscelan praelect 5. fol. 143. p. 2. All Governours and Housholders offend against this precept if they doe not their diligence to retaine the sanctifying of the Sabbath in their houses whosoever despise the Religion of the Sabbath give evident testimony in themselves of impiety and contempt of God c. Bishop King not long since Bishop of London Bishop King who in his time was accompted a very venerable Prelate and alwaies well affected to the Government of the Church before himselfe was made a Governour of it in his Lectures upon Jonah of severall impressions useth the name Sabbath divers times for Sunday or the Lords day as in his sixth Lecture where he reproveth carelesse dissolute and ill disposed persons he saith f Bishop King lect 6. p. 90. They love the thresholds of their private doores upon the Sabbaths of the Lord and their benches and ale-houses better then the Courts of the Lords house And a little after he taxeth them by the name of Profaners of our sanctified Sabbaths And in his seventh Lecture he hath these words t Ibid. lect 7. pag. 96. The Sabbath is reserved as the unprofitablest day of the seven for idlenesse sleeping walking rioting tipling bowling dancing and what not I speake what I know saith he upon a principall Sabbath For if the resurrection of Christ deserve to alter the Sabbath from day to day I see no cause but the comming downe of the Holy Ghost should adde honour and ornament to it I say upon a principall Sabbath c. Doctor Howson late Bishop of Durham though a reall opposite to the Sabbath in some particulars was not an enemy to that name when hee made mention of the thing for in his Sermon u Bish Howsons Sermon of Festiv pag. 6. edit 2. in defence of Festivities he hath these words Beloved Christians were any of those excellent Fathers in our times what thinke you he would say if he should see Oratoria turned into Auditoria Churches into Schooles our Sabbaths and Festivities not spent in cultu latriae but in hearing of Exercises as some call it c. though hee were no friend to the Sabbath either for the dignity of the day or the duties belonging unto it for both in opinion and practice he was opposite to preaching yet was hee not so ill affected to the name as Doctor Pocklington and others have been That very learned Bishop of Bath and Wells whose Sermons were so approved by Doctor Reynolds Bishop Lake that what he heard him preach hee still desired to reade and therefore used to crave a copy of his Sermon was not onely a friend to the name Sabbath for Sunday but a zealous pleader for it as we shall observe in another place And the Bishop of Exceter that now is who hath so decently dressed Devotion and Piety with delicacie of conceipt and elegancy of expression as to make it amiable in all eyes in his art of divine meditation saith in approbation of it thus * Bish Hall in the art of divine meditation cap. 10. p. 111. No Manna fell to the Israelites on their Sabbath on ours it doth Where the word Sabbath must bee necessarily understood in the word Ours And if so it be not plaine enough see further in his second booke of Characters where part of his description of a distrustfull man is this x Lib. 2. Charact p. 196. Hee dares not come to the Church for feare of the croud nor spare the Sabbaths labour for feare of want nor come neere the Parliament house for feare it should be blowne up I make no doubt but the Articles of Episcopall Visitations give allowance for the like use of the name Sabbath for Sunday or Lords day for so it is in the 15. Article of Archbishop Parker his Visitation Nor is it to be doubted but in Archbishop Whitgifts Articles the word was in the same sense for as we have noted before hee turned the word Sunday into Sabbath in translating a testimony out of Justin Martyr And sure wee are that Archbishop Bancroft used the word Sabbath for the Lords day foure times in his Articles of Visitation twice in two Articles viz. 75 76. whence it is probable that other Bishops were in phrase and forme of speech for that name conformable to them for in the Province of Yorke much more in that of Canterbury it was so as in our Diocesse of Chester Bishop Lloyd in his Visitation
and Clemens Romanus yet there is no reason we should give up the proper title of the religious Rest of the fourth Commandement to a day which wee use neither for Rest nor for Religion Secondly If they held a mysticall conformity betwixt the Jewes Sabbath and a Christians holy conversation sufficient ground for bestowing the name Sabbath upon a spirituall rest from sin it must needs bee so much more warrantable to call the Lords day Sabbath as there is the more agreement betwixt it and the Jewish Sabbath now betwixt them there is an agreement much more then mysticall for whereas that mysticall Sabbath as the Bishop taketh it may bee every day in the weeke and all the dayes of mans life our solemne Sabbath commeth onely once every weeke as the Jewes Sabbath did In ours wee forbid and forbeare secular imployments so was it with the Jewes there was a cessation from such works with them that they might the better attend upon religious exercises and those principally publick and so it is with us Christians The reason of the Commandement drawne from Gods example in his proportion of working six dayes and resting on the seventh is exemplary to us as well as to the Jewes it belongeth to Christians to deale as equally with God in letting him have one day in seven for his honour who alloweth us sixe for one for our owne occasions as to the Jewes And for their end and use of the Sabbath which is a gratefull remembrance of their creation and the blessing of God upon their carefull and holy observation of it wee Christians are as much bound to the one and may hope for as much benefit by the other as the Jewes All which literall conformities considered betwixt their Sabbath and ours with reference to the letter of the fourth Commandement our Church taketh that Commandement wholly into her Liturgy and prayeth as after the other nine Lord have mercy upon us c. and therefore the distinction of literall and mysticall to say the least of it is impertinently applyed to preclude the title Sabbath in a literall sense from the day wee celebrate Bishop Whites second Exception touching the name Sabbath in the Homilies answered Secondly Against that which is propounded for the name Sabbath out of the Homilies of our Church hee saith f Exam. p. 37. It may be questioned in what sense the Homilie stileth Sunday the Sabbath whether in a proper and a literall sense according to the stile of the old Law or in a mysticall and analogicall sense as Christ is called our Passeover 1 Cor. 5.7 But a little after hee putteth the matter out of question by a peremptory resolution which is this The Lords day is not the literall Sabbath of the fourth Commandement and therefore in propriety of speech it cannot be called the Sabbath day expresly and in particular commanded in the Decalogue but the same is stiled by the Homily our Christian Sabbath in a mysticall and analogicall sense even as mortification is called circumcision g Circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit not in the letter Rom. 2.29 Rom. 2.29 sincerity truth are called unleavened bread 1 Cor. 8.5 This exception of his touching the name Sabbath taken out of our Homilies is obnoxious to so many exceptions that I wish rather some weak and worthlesse Adversary to our cause had made it then a man of so great learning gravity and authority as he was for whose sake I will deale as respectively in the returne of mine answer as I well may without betraying the truth and so first I say 1. That in saying That the Lords day is not expresly and in particular commanded in the fourth Commandement hee implyeth which h Bish White in his treat of the Sab. day p. 112 126 269. and in his examinat of the Decalog p. 46 52 63. marg 69. marg elsewhere hee expresly delivereth that the Jewes Sabbath which was Saturday is expresly and in particular there commanded which is not true in it selfe as I shall prove in handling the materiall points of that Commandement and being yet acknowledged by learned Christians doth gratifie the Jewes and prejudice our Christian Holiday so much that upon that ground Master Braburne set up the Saturday for a Sabbath and did what hee could to demolish the doctrine and observation of the Lords day and others have and many more may if that be granted incurre the like scandall It is not i April 26. 1636. long since a woman one Margaret Former examined before Sir John Lambe Doct. Turner and Doctor Somes disclaimed our Saviours Doctrine by the name of Ceremonies Rites and Sabbaths and professed to keep the Sabbath of the Lord of Hosts which said she is Saturday If shee had been examined why shee did so could shee have given a better answer then such a one as the Bishops examination of the Dialogue ministreth to the Reader viz. k Bish Thites examinat pag. 63. marg p. 69. marg That the fourth Commandement appointed a particular fixed day to wit Saturday The time commanded in the fourth Commandement is Saturday Who can desire a better warrant for any thing hee will say or doe then that and what is there to bee alledged for the Lords day which may preponderate such a proofe which yet is no proofe but against such as are so inconsiderate as to confesse that which the adversary cannot prove viz. that Saturday is particularly prescribed in the fourth Commandement Secondly the Commandement appointeth the proportion of one day in seven for sacred and solemne services of Religion which is as the Characteristicon to the Jewes Sabbath and the Christians which are the variations into which it is divided while neither of them is expresly and in particular there commanded so that to say the Jewes Sabbath is literall and the Christians onely mysticall is as if one should say that Homo signifieth literally a man but hominis homini and hominem note not a man literally but mystically Thirdly whereas hee saith the Homily useth the word Sabbath for the Lords day but in a mysticall and analogicall sense even as Mortification is called Circumcision c. There bee two particulars very faulty The one is his assertion the other his similitude 1. For his assertion l The Homily of the time place of praier pag. 164. edit 1582. That the Homily useth the name Sabbath but in a mysticall and analogicall sense the contrary is evident to any intelligent Reader of the Homily for such a one may out of it deduce these literall observations 1. That by the fourth Commandement Christians must have one standing day in a week for the exercises of Religion 2. That they must rest upon it after Gods example 3. That on that day lawfull workes must bee forborne 4. That yet they must not be idle but wholly give themselves to exercises of Gods true Religion and Service There bee other deductions
King James his courteous charientismes in the use of that title it is requisite that wee take it according to the right sense and signification which it properly importeth and so to deny them and affirme our selves to be Catholicks as the learned and judicious Chamier hath done who in his controversies continually calleth the Protestant tenets and arguments by the name of Catholick and the contrary Popish or the doctrine arguments or objections of the Papists So since the name Sabbath is impertinently applyed to the wrong day and wrongfully with-held from the right with purpose to impeach the tenure of our Christian Sabbath by the fourth Commandement wee must not so much regard how it hath been rightly used in former times while Saturday was allowed and observed for a Sabbath or day of rest or how the tyranny of custome hath carryed the name along where there is no realty to answer it as what it properly signifieth and how that propriety of signification now belongeth rather to our day which we celebrate with religious rest then to the Jewes day which we hold not for an holiday but for a workday as the other dayes of the week allowed and imployed in secular labours and wee must inure our tongues with correspondent titles to make mention of them And for the proper signification of the word wee may appeale more pertinently and truely then Master Braburn could to all Dictionaries in all languages which render the word Sabbath according to the ″ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sabbatum à radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cessavit quievit destitit is dies quietis Hebraeis est septimus vel dies Saturni Christianis verò est primus vel Solis So Schindler Pentaglot pag. 1801. col 1. Hebrew originall by rest repose or cessation from bodily labours And though it bee usuall with them to take the terme rather according to custome then to truth and to apply it to Saturday the day of rest which anciently was but now is not many of the b So Thomasius word for word followeth Morelius in exposition and application of the name Sabbath later transcribing what they find in the former yet c Sabbath a day of rest among the Jewes celebrated on Saturday among the Christians on Sunday or the Lords day Minshei Dictionarium 10437. some more wisely and warily distinguish the name and render it according to the difference of time first to Saturday and then to Sunday for that day first and for a long time had and this now hath and shall have the honour of a sacred Sabbath untill the worlds end and therefore if it bee fit to speake rather according to the tenour of things as for the present they are and in perpetuity they shall bee then as formerly they were but now are not and must be no more when wee render the word Sabbath without distinction and difference of times wee should rather say according to d Cotgraves French Dictionary verb. Sab. printed 1632. the French Dictionarie that the Sabbath is Sunday then as Master Braburn would have it Saturday Ob. But then it will bee said though wee may differ in phrase and forme of speech from the primitive times because wee differ in practice from them wee should not so dissent from the Churches of later ages who have left off the observation of the Jewish Sabbath and with it the word Sabbath also Wee of the reformed Churches saith e Mr. Ironside quest 3. cap. 17. pag. 121. Master Ironside should not forsake the Roman Church but where necessity doth inforce us for then wee are guilty of the schisme made in the Christian world f Ibid. neither should we vary from our selves so much as were it possible in a sound or syllable for then wee may justly bee noted of singularity and affectation but both the Roman Churches and all the Reformed use to stile it the Lords day not Sabbath day Ergo c. This Argument is made up of three particulars whereof there is not one but it is liable to reasonable exception The first is That there should bee a strict union betwixt the Church of Rome and the Reformed and betwixt other reformed Churches among themselves except where necessity doth enforce a difference Secondly That to differ except in such a case from the Romane Church is to become guilty of Schisme and from the Reformed is to bee guilty of singularity and affectation Thirdly that to stile the Lords day Sabbath is to make our selves obnoxious to the charge of both Whereto I answer First that not to allow one Church to differ from another but where necessity doth inforce is to take away the Christian liberty which God hath granted to his Church contrary to the 34. Article of subscription which runneth thus It is not necessary that traditions and ceremonies be in all places one or utterly alike for at all times they have been diverse and may be changed according to diversity of countries times and manners so that nothing be ordained against Gods Word and a little afterward every particular or nationall Church hath authority to ordaine change or abolish Ceremonies or Rites of the Church ordained onely by mens authority And accordingly we find them exercising their power in varieties of Rites and Ceremonies for the ancient g Die Dominico jejunare nefas ducimus vel de geniculis adorare Tert. de Coron milit c 3. tom 1 pag. 747. quoniam sunt in Dominico die quidam adoratione genua flectentes propterea utique statutum est à sancto Synodo quoniam consona conveniens per omnes Ecclesias custodienda consuetudo est ut stantes ad orationem vota Domino reddamus Concil Nicen. 1. can 20. apud Caranz sum Concil pag. 109 edit 1633. in 8no. Bin. tom 1. pag. 345. edit Paris 1636. Die Dominico per omnem Pentecosten nec de geniculis adorare jejunium solvere Hieron advers Lucifer tom 2. epist p. 140. So also in a Councell of Towers an 813. can 57. Patr. Symps hist of the Church lib. 4. pag. 557. Church for many hundred yeares partly forbad and partly forbore kneeling at prayer all the Lords daies in the yeare and all the daies betwixt Easter and Whitsuntide the later Churches neither forbad nor forbore it The Popish Church keeps the celebration of our Lords Nativity and other Holidaies according to the Gregorian Calendar ten daies sooner then the Reformed especially in England Scotland and Ireland And in many other points they differ besides these which are not of necessity as if necessity required might bee abundantly manifested out of William Durandus his Rationale and John Steph. Durantus his three bookes de Ritibus Eccles Cathol The Reformed Churches differ among themselves in many particulars For instance we in England observe more Holidaies then the Transmarine Churches more then his Majesty that last was required to be kept of the Church of Scotland by the Articles enacted at
the divine Authority of the day or to diminish ought of the duties of devotion belonging to it so that all three names if there bee not more fault in their minds that make use of them then in the words themselves may and will with peaceable men be passable without any cavill at all Secondly hereby may bee precluded their intents that they take not effect who by cavilling at the name bewray a mind to undermine and overthrow the thing it selfe which I will not say nor do I think of all that take exception at that name yet I have shewed it of some that they plead against the word Sabbath to supplant its fundamentall right by the fourth Commandement and there is no little power in the use or refusall of words to advance or undervalue the things themselves to which they are applyed as hath been proved in that wee have before produced yea sometimes as b Nescio quid veneni in syllabis latet Hier. ad Damasc tom 2. pag. 132. Saint Hierome observeth there lurketh a kind of poyson under syllables as in every page of Doctor Pocklington his booke which weares this title Sunday no Sabbath whereof I have said enough before and hee too much though very little to the purpose for proofe of his distructive determination against the name Sabbath Thirdly In clearing the doubts that are made of those names and titles of our Christian Sabbath divers personages of highest place with many more of the better sort though of inferiour rank in the Church or Common-weale are cleared from such reproachfull imputations as by taunting at or traducing of the lawfull use of those names especially that of the Sabbath some with Ismaelitish malignity expressely or by consequence have cast upon them to which purpose the fore noted judicious Divine hath said somewhat in his Antidote against Sabbatary errours though me thinks a little too faintly viz. c A soveraign Antidote against Sabbatary errors qu. 1. pag. 5. That men otherwise sober and moderate ought not to bee censured with too much severity not with any severity at all hee might have said nor charged with Judaisme if sometime they call Sunday by the name of Sabbath if hee had said if commonly they call Sunday by the name of Sabbath hee had spoken no more then the truth will beare d Ibid. p. 8. for there is none of the three names saith hee to bee condemned as unlawfull but every one is to bee left to his Christian liberty herein so long as superiour Authority restraineth it not and so that hee doe it without vanity or affectation in himselfe and without judging or despising of his brother that doth otherwise which is a pious and prudent proviso though so farre defective as it importeth a meere paritie without any preheminence on the Sabbaths behalfe Fourthly By explication of these titles in this sort wee may answer many passages of the ancient Fathers produced against our weekly holiday in the name of the Sabbath whereby they meane not as many misconceive them and so misapply them any prejudice to the holy observation of the Lords day as in weekely recourse in the Christian Church but precisely and punctually the Saturday Sabbath which we hold as much as they to be abolished and much more then some of them did Fifthly If all the names bee lawfull and that of the Sabbath most usefull as hath beene shewed let us bee sure to make use of it upon all faire and fit occasions though wee neither wholly forbeare the other two titles nor quarrell with any for their more familiar use of them that wee may uphold the tenure of the day together with the title of it by the fourth Commandement whereto I desire to exhort the Reader with the more earnest intreaty First Because some with such supercilious disdaine have indeavoured to disgrace that title that others as much too modest as they too bold have beene affraid or ashamed to use it and I remember one who was of eminent parts and place and who formerly had divers times used it in a printed booke having upon occasion named the Sabbath presently recalled the word as if it had beene a fault and tooke up the title Sunday in stead thereof Secondly Because if wee let goe the name of the time wee may bee like to lose the thing in time to come or at least to loosen and weaken its claime to the best authority on which it depends for as it is a weekly holiday wee cannot plead better for it then by the proportion of the fourth Commandement and that being made good upon that ground the difference about the particular day within the circle of seven will bee the more easily composed since it is no more then other proofe and evidence inferiour to an expresse precept of the Decalogue may well support I would now put a sinall period to this comparative discourse but that opportunity prompts mee and it may bee a twofold duty which I owe both to my superiours and to this sacred cause wherein they are interessed as supreme Judges over it and I as a faithfull Advocate for it bindes mee to bend my conclusion towards the Barre of the most awfull Court in the Kingdome and with prostrate humility to beseech you most Noble Lords and you most worthy Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the high Court of Parliament now assembled to take into your prudent and pious consideration the weighing of the precedent titles and the poyse of Religious reason swaying the resolution on the Sabbath side and that as you have occasion to mention the day by divine ordinance designed to the solemne service of God and the salvation of man in your Discussions or Decrees you will bee pleased to give it that authentick and edifying appellation which best serveth to uphold the surest tenure by which it holdeth and most mindeth us of that holy observation to which by many and weighty reasons we are obliged whereby as it haâ—h been most highly honoured from heaven by Gods owne hand writing in the fourth Commandement so it may bee ratified by the highest authority on earth the highest to us viz. an Act of Parliament to secure it from contempt and to restore it to the right whereof many either in simple ignorance or inconsiderate rashnesse or audacious profanenesse or partiall prejudice or in politicke impiety for all these are Antisabbatary symptomes in some or other have endeavoured to deprive it You have already to the great joy of the godly throughout the Land raised your devout indignation against the indignity done to Religion by the most irreligious Pamphlet of Doctor Pocklington though composed and published under the sacred title of a Sermon and if now as by an act of your Justice SUNDAY NO SABBATH must burn so by some act of your Grace SUNDAY A SABBATH may shine and the same holy zeale will dispose you to this double devotion you will further advance his honour who hath promised to returne you like for like in that kinde 1 Sam. 2.30 and hee will doe it not onely in kinde but in degree and give us of the Clergie the better meanes to perswade the people with better mindes to compose themselves to all due obedience for what your Honours shall decree concerning their dutie both to God and man And so I conclude the titles of our weekly Holiday which will both conduce to the contracting of our taske and to the clearing of the truth to our understandings when wee come to deliver more materiall observations which from henceforward are to follow and which we shall begin in another Booke and goe on withall as God giveth ability to performe and opportunity to publish what this great and weighty cause of his and his Church requireth at our hands FINIS Errata PAge 1. line 2. after the word times adde with many pag. 4. line 3. aâ— the end of the quotation c leave out Selden pag. 5. lin 8. for the word for read and. pag. 8. lin 5. for desire reade more pag. 8. lin 24. for Videlius reade Vedelius pag. 9. lin 3. after but adde the. pag. 10. lin 6. after the words crosse and blot the words crosse to pag. 12. in the margent over against the third line reade Mr. Duraeus and lin 11. for distraction reade division pag. penult lin 3. for grace reade honour In the subscript of the Letter to the Authour for Samuel reade Sabbath and for Glindale Glendole p. 15. l. 21. or reade of p. 16. initio lâ— 30. adde be pag. 38. l. 18. respest reade respect p. 63. in the mar for in locico reade in lexico pag. 64. lin 16. after the word is adde but. pag. 82. lin 22. for or reade to pag. 89. lin 21. for Christians reade Christian pag. 124. lin 25. for hominum reade hominem pag. 143. lin 7. for Parenaesis reade Paranesis pag. 179. lin 1. for Sabbath reade Lords day pag. 195. lin 2. after the word if adde the.
most moment in the present subject concerning the use of it whether the Christians weekly holiday or Lords day may bee fitly called by that name For the first Some write Sabbath which is the right some Sabboth and some Sabaoth a M. Minsh Guide of the Tongues p. 638. Master Minshaw in his Guide of the Tongues hath them all In Master Brerewood his first Treatise the title of the first edition was A learned Treatise of the Sabaoth and that word so written runneth on throughout the whole Book Whereupon b M. R. Byf. pag. 1. Master R. Byfield in the Preface of his Answer to it saith What the Treatise affords shall bee seene anon God willing that title savours of little learning wherein for Sabbath is written Sabaoth which signifieth hoasts as in Isa 1.9 And a little after saith hee I would have imputed this to the Printers oversight if either the Errata had mentioned it or the whole Booke in any one place had given the true Orthography Wherein though in many differences about the Sabbath I shall and I hope upon just grounds dissent from Master Brerewood yet I shall bee ready to doe him all right and to quit him from all such causelesse exceptions as come in my way as this doth and so I answer First That if the title of the Booke did bewray some ignorance of the Hebrew in the Authour yet might hee bee a very learned man and his Booke like himselfe a very learned Book for all that for a man may bee very learned and yet bee unacquainted with the originall tongues so were many of those Divines who have had and still have the honour to bee stiled the Fathers of the Church and yet have beene noted for c We have over and above the benefit of all their works i.e. of the Fathers much skilfulnesse in the originall of the old Testament which most of them wanted and of the new also wherewith some were but little acquainted Mr. Downe 2d. part of his works p. 220. the most part of them to be unskilfull in the originall text of the old Testament and divers of them also of the new And to instance in particulars for the Latines S. Augustine with his one tongue is set in comparison and preferred by d Non ideo quisquam verè sapiens quia Graecus sit vel Hebraeus quare beatus Hieron quinque linguis monoglossam Augustinum non adaequavit Luther To. 1. Ep. fol. 54. Epist ad Joâ— Lang. Luther before Hierome with his five tongues and though Erasmus somewhat netled with the censure of Eckius who noted him for his e Nihil est quod tibi deesse Erasmici omnes conquerantur nisi quod Aurel. Aug. non legeris Eckius Epist Erasm lib. 2. pag. 95. not reading of S. Augustine his works in his Epistle to him weigh and sway the comparison the contrary f Erasm Epist Eckio lib. 2. pag. 97 98. way giving the preheminence to S. Hierome yet elsewhere bringing in the particular praises not only of him but of Athanasius Basil Cyprian Hilary Ambrose Gregory g At non arbitror alium esse Doctorem in quem opulentus ille juxta ac benignus spiritus dotes suas omnes largius effuderit quam in Augustinum quasi voluerit in una tabula vividum quoddam exemplum Episâ—opi representare Erasm Epist Archiep. Toled praesix tom 1. operum Aug. pag. 2. hee saith Hee doth not thinke there is another Doctor into whom the Spirit hath powred out all his gifts in a more ample measure then in Saint Augustine as if hee meant in him as in a Table to represent the lively patterne of a Bishop and having stiled him an incomparable h Incomparabilis Ecclesiae Dâ—ctor invictus propugnator quem tu non sine causa sic adamare prae caeteris sic in deliciis semper habere consuevisti Quid enim habet or bis Christianus hoc Scriptore vel magis aureum vel augustum ut ipsa vocabula nequaquam fortuitò sed numinis Providentià videantur indita viro Iâ— pag. 1. Doctor of the Church and an unconquered Champion for the truth and confessed that the Cardinall of Toledo not without good cause tooke delight in him before all others alluding to his name Aurelius Augustinus importing golden goodnesse and Imperiall greatnesse he asketh as with admiration of him What hath the whole Christian world more golden and more majesticall then this Writer these names surely saith he seem not by chance but by especiall Providence imposed upon him Yet is this so great a Clerke so accomplish'd and admirable a Doctor noted sometimes by way of excuse sometimes by way of exception for ignorance in the Hebrew and very little skill in the Greeke by i Nee Hebraicè sciebat Augustinus Graecè minus quam mediocriter Ludov. Viv. in Aug. de C. D. lib. 15. cap. 13. part 2. pag. 133. Ludovicus Vives k Augustinus vitiosam versionem secutus quia Hebraeae linguae ignarus minus culpandus quam hodierni Papistae Polan Syntag. Theol. lib. 1. cap. 42. col 561. Polanus l Augustinus dubitat Adam an Eva id dixerit sed gnarus linguae sacrae videt foeminae verba acquisivi verum à Domino Paâ—aeus in Gen. 4. col 655. fine Paraeus and m Adeo Augustinum ex sola ignorantia linguae Hebraeae esse deceptum in voce Cephas Bel. de Ro. Po. li. 1. cap. 10. p. 208. col 2. So was S. Ambrose deceived when he derived the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying to suffer Ambr. de myst Pasch ch 1. tom 2. pag. 190. Bellarmine and of Saint Hilary though n De Hilario nunc agimus qui tum ob vitae sanctimoniam â—â—m ob insignem eruditionem tum ob eloquentiam admirabilem aevi sic lumen suit Erasm Ep. Johan Carondeleto Arch. ep l. 28. pag. 1165. Erasmus sets him out as a most illustrious light of his age for holinesse of life learning and eloquence and brings in for an improvement of his praise That o Hieronymus qui pene contempsit Augustinum nec ita multum tribuit Ambrosio toties tanta cum veneratione citat Hilarium alibi vocans eum orbis Deucalionem c. Ibid. pag. 1168. Hierome who almost contemned Saint Augustine and did not attribute much to Saint Ambrose did admire him calling him sometimes the ″ I doubt Erasmus is mistaken in this title Deucalion of the world for Hierom giveth this title to one Hilary a Deacon of Rome in contempt for hee brings it in thus Est praeterea aliud quod inferemus adversum quod ne muciâ—e quidem audeat Helarius Deucalion orbis Hieron advers Lucifer propè finem and hee calleth him so because he separated from others as if all the world but hee and his sect were drowned in hereticall Baptisme Deucalion of the world
sometime the Trumpet of the Latin tongue sometime the Rhodanus of Latin eloquence noting withall that Augustine would not cite him without a Preface of honour yet after all this and more which I forbeare to mention hee saith of him that p Hebraei seâ—monis prorsus rudis fuit Hilar. Ibid. porâ—o Graecas literas tenniter attigerat se quidem Hier. credimus Ibid. non admodum Graecè calluit Eras Iâ— p. 1169. hee was altogether ignorant of the Hebrew and was but little acquainted with the Greeke If wee should gradually draw downe all examples of this sort from the Ancients to our owne times wee should make this occasionall digression too long and so perhaps over-weary the Reader who would not be too much taken up with impertinent paines having made his recourse hither for a Rest or Sabbatharie repose of his apprehension I will therefore add but one Instance more of a man famous for his learning and yet unlearned in the originall tongues of both Testaments and it shall bee that of Cardinall Cajetane of whom the judicious Writer of the History of the Tridentine Councell maketh this observation ″ Hist Concil Trident. lib. 2. pag. 155. Cardinall Cajetane the Popes Legate in Germany a man very well read in Divinity having studied it even from a childe who for the happinesse of his wit and for his laborious diligence became the prime Divine of that and many more ages unto whom there was no Prelate or person in the Councell who would not yeeld in learning or thought himselfe too good to learne of him This Cardinall going Legate into Germany Anno 1523. studying exactly how those that erred might bee reduced to the Church found out the true Remedy which was the literall meaning of the text of Scripture expounding not the latine Translation but the Hebrew roots of the old and the Greeke of the new Testament In which tongues having no knowledge himselfe hee imployed men of understanding who made construction of the text unto him word by word as his workes upon the holy books do shew Nor was this or the like note on the names of others any impeachment of the high Commendation given of him before for mans knowledge was at the best when hee spake but one tongue and untill it come to that againe wee shall know but in part understand but in part 1 Cor. 13. and howsoever since the confusion of tongues there have been more use of verball learning then before and therefore the Apostles had the gift of q Quindecim linguarum dona tunc acceperunt Apostoli quemadmodum Chrysostomus inquit ad usum eorum qui praesentes erant Quid enim opus fuisset linguâ Persicâ vel aliis non praesentibus iis qui uterentur Glycas Annal. part 3. pag. 315. fifteene tongues fifteene and no more as some affirme conferred upon them for there was need of no more say they r Ibid. and they had not any that were not needfull yet the knowledge of things is farre better then the knowledge of words as Å¿ Multò melior doctrina quam verba Aug. de magist tom 1. pag. 793. Saint Augustine resolveth for words are but means to give intimation to and of the minde for reall notions so that if wee could intuitively know as the Angels doe without words wee might know so much more and better that words would be supersluous and so words are t Omne quod ad aliud est vilius est quam id propter quod est Ibid. pag. 792. inferiour to things as the means is inferiour to the end And wee may well conceive variety of languages to bee now lesse needfull because the community of the Latine tongue is a great part of the cure of the babling confusion besides a man may so much more abound in the knowledge of things as to make amends with copia rerum for want of copia verborum in the multiplicity of tongues for the u Nacti peritiam Graecae linguae patent fontes omnium d'sciplinarum quae a Graecis manarunt adest cognitio maximorum ingeniorum quorum suit semper Graecia feracissima Lud. Viv. de Adolescent Instit pag. 549. Grecians who were more learned then other nations and the very fountains of liberall arts and sciences and among them hee that is magnified for naturall knowledge above * The very first man that to any purpose knew the way wee speake of hath alone thereby performed more very neere in all parts of naturall knowledge then sithence in any one part thereof the whole world besides hath done So Mr. Hooker speaking of Aristotle in Eccles Pol. lib. 1. pag. 13. all other men had little acquaintance with any language but their owne and therefore set out their learnedst Workes in their owne tongue The ignorance then of an Hebrew word should carry no great prejudice against either the Book of the Sabbath or the Authour that made it I speake not this to diminish any part of the praise which may bee due to some learned men who have excelled both in languages and other learning nor to discourage any from being studious of these sacred tongues by exact knowledge whereof some have done great and profitable service to the Church for so farre I am from allowing of the fancie of x Galen apud Petrum Gregor Tholosan de rep l. 15. c. 4. p. 1088 Galen who thought it a disparagement to Alcibiades that hee spake severall languages and resolved it as best to make use but of one that besides my desire to bee competently furnished with the knowledge of the originals of both Testaments I have so farre as my leasure would give mee leave bestowed some time upon other tongues But if any have desired to have better store of things then of words the short and uncertaine life of man keeping him so farre below the omniscience of both that if hee abound in the one hee must abate in the other I thinke his more solide and substantiall learning should not bee undervalued for the defect of that wherein he that knoweth not much may have that ignorance recompenced otherwise and that with advantage both for kinde and measure as much as reall learning is better then verball and a great deale of that better then a little of this And on the contrary the knowledge of that language may bee had without any great store of other learning besides for y Sir Edwin Sands Relat. of Relig. of the West Church p. 222. little children of three yeers old are set to learne Hebrew among the Jewes as Sir Edwin Sands hath observed in his Relation of Religion and if the fundamentall rules of it may be attained in foure and twenty houres as z Edidit horologium Hebraeum Guilielmus Schickardus Tubingensi Suevor Academia Professor ubi ait se expertum esse fundamenta linguae Hebraeae spatio 24. horarum à Tyrone percipi addisci posse Editus est liber in