therewith they might deck and trim up the Lords day p Ibid. which is as if one should take the crowne off the head of a King and set it upon a common subject q Ibid. pag. 35. for Saturday saith hee is a King or Mistresse to the Lords day Hee had spoken with more congruity to himselfe though not unto the truth if hee had kept to his gender and called it a King and Master or a Queene and Mistresse hee objecteth further r Ibid. p. 50. that wee may as well call Å¿ Ibid. Baptisme Circumcision and the Lords Supper the Passeover and t Ibid. p. 494. that when the Minister saith Remember to sanctifie the Sabbath day to take it for the Lords day and so to say Lord have mercy upon us c. is to make answer as deafe men doe who when a man calleth for a knife doe bring him a sheath The resolution at which hee would have his reasons and exceptions arrive is this Let mee saith he for conclusion exhort Minister and people to refraine putting the name Sabbath day on the Lords day and let them take with it u Ib. p. 54 55. that they must with forbearance of the name Sabbath day refraine the use of the fourth Commandement for these goe unseparably together Where wee may see in him as in others that of Bishop Andrewes made good of shewing ill will to the thing by carping at the name as before wee have noted for Mr. Braburne and wee may say the like of some others knowing the right and title claimed for the Lords day by the fourth Commandement to bee kept a foote by the title Sabbath first fettereth it to the Jewish weekly holiday by affixing the word Saturday unto it not daring to trust it alone lest being left loose it should bee ready for use as an appellation of the Lords day Much like the Papists who pinion the name Catholick with the addition of Romane that so they might keepe it captive to their owne side and by it as by a lock or bolt might let in or keep out of the Church as please themselves But the most severe Censurer of the name Sabbath as applyed to the Lords day is the Authour of the Book called Altare Christianum wherein speaking of him who wrote the Letter to the Vicar of Grantham hee saith ″ D. Pockl. his book called Altare Christianum cap. 22. p. 130. Hee had shewed himselfe more like a sonne of the Church if he had said that the name Sabbath had crept into the Church in a kinde of complying in phrase with the people of the Jewes and that in a shadow of things to come as if Christ were not come in the flesh against the Apostles expresse doctrine and charge Colos 2. and from hence would have sought to have cast that old leaven out of our Church which hath sowred the affections of too many toward the Church and disturbed the peace and hindred the pious devotion thereof This is enough and bad enough yet hee saith more and worse in his Sermon preached at the Visitation of the Bishop of Lincolne Aug. 7. 1635. wherein hee visiteth with the rod those that call the Lords day Sabbath day and with it giveth such sharp jerks as these x D. Poâ—kl Visitation Serm. called Sunday nâ— Sabbath pag. 6. What shall wee thinke of Knox Whittingham and their fellowes anabaptizing the Lords day or Sunday after the minde of some Jew hired to bee Godfather thereof who call it Sabbath and doe disguise it with that name and who were the first that so called it and the Testators who have so bequeathed it to their Disciples and Proselites y D. Pockl. Ib. pag. 6 7. It was saith he thirty yeers before their children could turne their tongues to hit on Sabbath and if the Gileadites that met with the Ephraemites before they could frame to pronounce Shibboleth had snapt up these two before they had got their Sabbath by the end their counsell had brought much peace to the Church For this name Sabbath saith hee is not a bare name like a spot in the forehead to know Labans sheepe from Jacobs but it is a mystery of iniquity intended against the Church and the mystery as hee reveales it is to shut out the Letanie and all the Service of the Communion Book for that is no Service for their Sabbath but for Sunday z Ibid. p. 19. Item they must make a Sabbath of Sunday to keepe up that name otherwise their many citations of Scripture mentioning onely the Sabbath being applyed to Sunday will appeare so ridiculously distorted and wry neck'd that they will be a scorne and derision to the simplest of their now deluded Auditors a Ibid. p. 20. Others saith hee againe for the plot 's sake must uphold the name Sabbath that stalking behinde it they may shoote at the Service appointed for the Lords day Yet further hee maketh the name of the Sabbath as on the face of the Lords day to bee as an ugly vizzard which doth as well become it as the crowne b Ibid. of thornes did the Lord himselfe this was platted saith hee to expose him to damnable derision and that was plotted to impose on it detestable superstition Yet to die for it saith hee they will call it Sabbath presuming in their zealous ignorance or guilefull zeale to bee thought to speake the Scripture phrase when indeed the dregs of Ashdod flow from their mouthes for that day which they nickname Sabbath is either no day at all or not the day they meane Thus farre hee who that his ill will to this word Sabbath as applyed to our Sunday might appeare in every page the Title throughout his Booke is Sunday no Sabbath CHAP. XIII Reasons why Sunday or the Lords day may be called Sabbath day delivered and defended BUt on the contrary if impetuous passion may bee so husht that religious reason may be heard wee shall shew cause sufficient to take up an Antititle to that of Doctor Pocklington his Sermon and to say Sunday a Sabbath and that upon such evidence both rationall and exemplary as without cavilling as I conceive cannot bee contradicted and first for Reason First The name a Joseph Ant. l. 1. c. 2. pag. 3. and in his first Book against Appion p. 783. Isidor etymolog l. 6. c. 18. fol. 32. p. 2. col 2. and all Hebrew Lexicons Sabbath signifieth rest reason 1 rest from the accustomed labours of the weeke But the Sunday is a day of rest wherein men are restrained from their wonted workes and ought to rest saith b B. White his Treat on the Sabb. pag. 152 153 158. Bishop white and to give themselves to religious exercises Therefore the Sunday may bee called a Sabbath For when the thing is acknowledged why should the word by which it is most fitly signified bee denyed And when the thing is denyed as rest on the Saturday by us
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.
the name Sabbath is That there is in it a double plot the a Doct. Pockl. Visit Serm. pag. 20. one is to stalke behind that name and to shoot at the service appointed for the Lords day the b Ibid. other is to impose upon the day damnable superstition which hee aggravates by this opprobrious comparison hee c Ibid. resembleth the putting of the name Sabbath upon the Lords day to the putting of a crowne of Thornes upon the head of the Lord himselfe making them both unsutable alike and saith This was platted to impose on him damnable derision that was plotted to impose on it damnable superstition Now because he was aware that his comparison might touch some to the quicke who were better then himselfe hee putteth on their heads as a linnen cap for an head-piece this poor Apology to save them from pricking d Ibid. p. 20. If we find the word Sabbath for Sunday saith he used in some writings that of late come unto our hands blame not the Clerks good men for it Nor entitle the misprision any higher or otherwise then to these pretenders of piety who for their own ends have for a long time deceived the world with their zealous and most ignorant or cunning clamours and rung the name Sabbath so commonly into all mens eares that not Clerkes onely but men of judgement learning and vertue not heeding peradventure so much as is requisite what crafty and wicked device may be managed under the vaile of a faire word used in Gods Law doe likewise suffer the name often to escape the doore of their lips that detest the drift of the deviser in the closet of their hearts In which speech to spare many other passages of his booke which lye open to just exception of reason and religion there are divers particulars worthy of examination and censure which we may referre First to the fault objected an impious plot Secondly to the persons for whom he putteth in a perplexed and impotent plea to acquit or excuse them from participation therein For the former viz. the plot it is twofold as hee takes it the one to stalke behind the name Sabbath and to shoot at the service appointed for the Lords day the other to impose upon the day damnable superstition For the first Let him remember what hee hath said page 7. viz. e Dr. Pockling Sunday no Sab. pag. â— Allow them their Sabbath and you must allow them the service that belongs to their Sabbath then must you have no Letany for that 's no service for their Sabbaths but for Sundayes To which I say First Hee seemeth to except against a Sabbatary service as faulty or offensive in some positive points but noteth nothing in particular but what is negative the leaving out of the Letany Secondly That those whom wee have produced for the use of the word Sabbath require no Jewish services on that day nor any other then such as the Church hath established under the name Sunday Thirdly That if the word Sabbath will serve for a stalking horse against the Letany and other service of the Church because that is enjoyned not under the name Sabbath but Sunday then the word Lords day which hee alloweth will serve as well for a stalking horse to the same purpose for the Service is entituled not with the name Lords day but with the name Sunday which as wee have observed before is the word that beareth the greatest sound and sway throughout all the Communion Books since the Reformation of Religion within this Realme yea the title Lords day will serve better to that purpose for the name Sabbath is incorporated into the service of the Church in the fourth Commandement where that title Sabbath is repeated thrice over and that Commandement with the other nine is appointed by the order of our Church to bee rehearsed in her publick Liturgie every Sunday and holiday and besides them on the fifth of November and on the dayes of solemne fasting prescribed upon especiall occasion of the Church and State and to bee learned by heart by the younger sort as a part of the Christian Catechisme but the name Lords day is not to my remembrance once mentioned in our Communion Book now in use Now for the other plot It is as hee saith to impose upon the day damnable superstition I answer That the day may lawfully be called by that name as before wee have proved the abuse of it in some if it were such as hee pretended but cannot prove cannot take away the Christian liberty of others for the lawfull use of it nor hinder but that good Christians may have their intentions when they use it truely pious though the mindes of others bee superstitious Secondly That this condemning censure of an harmelesse word in f Peccar qui damnat quasi peccata quae nulla sunt Aug. de lib. arb lib. 3. cap. 15. Saint Augustine his judgement is a sinne and that sinne may bee a severe and sowre superstition for there is a superstition negative as well as positive as in those who say Touch not taste not handle not Col. 2.21 The forbearance of a thing as unlawfull when it is lawfull is a superstition and the damning of such a thing may bee a damnable superstition but howsoever saith the Doctor it is a great indecorum to call the Lords day by the name Sabbath g D. Pockl. p. 20. The vizzard of the Sabbath on the face of the Lords day saith he doth as well become it as the crowne of thornes did the Lord himselfe A speech not sit to be delivered for shame without a vizzard on the face of him that speaketh it to hide his blushing at the guilt of such an excessive absurdity if hee have any modesty at all or to cover his impudency if hee have none Here by the way let him not thinke it much if we returne him a taste of rue or herbe grace for his full dos of vinegar and gall for what indecorum can bee conceived comparable to that of setting of a crowne of thornes upon his head who was so innocent and excellent that roses and the powder of gold were not good enough to bee strewed in his way nor worthy to be trodden on by the sandals of his feet Surely if there had beene an appearance of such uncomelinesse in calling the Lords day by the name of the Sabbath King James so pregnant in apprehension so sound in judgement and the learned Bishops with other Ecclesiasticks of especiall choice who were at the conference of Hampton Court would not have shewed an unanimous assent to the thing Doctor Reynolds proposed which was the Reformation of abuse of the Lords day by the name of the Sabbath day without any exception at the word used by him But indeed there was no cause of offence in it at all for want of comelinesse as Doctor Pocklington objecteth for the comelinesse of words chiefly consisteth in their congruity with
the things to which they are applyed and betwixt the name Sabbath and the Lords day there is that congruity for that word signifieth rest and the Lords day is a day of rest whether of such strict rest as the Jewes Sabbath was is a Question not now to be discussed Now if Master Doctor like his owne resemblance let him take the consequence of his odious comparison which is That it is as comely or not more uncomely to put a crowne of thornes upon the head of Christ then to call the Lords day by the name of Sabbath day and then hee may joyne hands and hold society for Paradoxes with them or rather bee the Ringleader to them in such absurd similitudes unto them who match in malignity and guilt h They cannot resolve whether the sinne bee greater to bowle shoot or dance on the Sabbath then to commit murther or the Father to cut the throat of his owne childe all which doubts will soone bee resolved by plucking off the vizzard of the Sabbath from the face of the Lords day which doth as well and truly become it as the crowne of thornes did the Lord himselfe D. Pockl. Visit Serm. p. 20. bowling shooting or dancing on the Sabbath with the commitâ—ing of murther or the Fathers cutting the throat of his owne childe which barbarous absurdities he condemnes and within foure lines after commits the like himselfe in his comparison of the word Sabbath set upon the Lords day with the crowne of thornes on our Lords head Secondly for the persons for whom he seemeth to plead and put in an excuse saying If wee find the word Sabbath for Sunday used in some writings that of late came to our hands blame not the Clerkes good men for it c. It would be knowne First whom hee calleth these good men whether Clerkes or others for his words are ambiguous Secondly whether hee take the word Clerkes for Clergy-men or for such onely as transcribe the Dictats of others if of these as it seemeth he doth then Thirdly how hee knoweth that in such late writings as have the name Sabbath for Sunday or the Lords day the Clerkes who copied them out mistook the Authors mind and hand so much as to write the one for the other there being no such vicinity in the words as might lead them to such a misprision Fourthly whether it bee not more likely that the word might drop from the Authors pens as well as it did often escape the lips as he confesseth of such as he commends for men of judgement learning and vertue rather then that these Clerkes good men as hee calls them should corrupt their manuscripts in their transcription Fifthly how is it probable that a few pretenders to piety should so long deceive the world with zealous clamours of the word Sabbath men of judgment learning and vertue not excepted as hee pretendeth especially since as he saith they were most ignorant clamours hee addeth I grant or cunning clamours but how ignorance and cunning being so contrary should so indifferently bee disposed to produce the same effect in men of judgement and why ignorant clamours should not as much withhold from assent unto them as cunning clamours induce them to consort with them is that which my shallownesse cannot conceive and his wisdome I thinke will not bee able to manifest Sixthly how could hee come to know that these whom hee exempteth from society in this Sabbathary stratagem should detest the drift of the devisers in the closet of their hearts since not hee nor any but God onely hath the key of that closet and if they did so how could they have the name Sabbath whereby it is advanced so frequently in their mouthes If they knew it not how could they detest it If they did know it how could they being such men of judgment as hee taketh them for so familiarly use it without feare of scandall or danger by it Lastly how could so many reverend and learned men Prelates Deanes and other Doctors or these men of judgement learning and vertue i Men of learning judgement and verzue not heeding perhaps what crafty and wicked device may be managed under the vaile of a faire word Doct. Pockl. Visit Serm. p. 21. whom hee commendeth be so blinded as not to see or so mindlesse as not to heed this crafty and wicked device managed under the vaile of a faire word as he suggesteth that not any one from the yeare 1554. when as hee feignes it was first set on foot apprehended it until this Doctor made discovery of such a dangerous plot and withall of their dulnesse who all the while could not discerne it Pardon me good Sir if I beleeve they were so wise and watchfull over the safety of the publicke service of the Church and the purity of Religion as to give due warning against such damnable superstition If there had been any such danger in the use of the word Sabbath as you seeme to conceive they would not have left the honour of that discovery and caution to you much lesse would they have used the word themselves as they have done whereto they were not induced by the Clamours of the pretenders of piety as k Doct. Pockl pag. 21. you pretend but rather in all likelihood by the fourth Commandement it selfe by the Liturgie of the Church requiring that to bee said as a part of divine Service and to be learned by heart as a part of the Catechisme as before was observed wherein all her children by her prescription are to be instructed and examined from hence might the word Sabbath be a name of vulgar use for our weekly Holiday and not from the noise which such men have rung in the eares of all men Here if a man should returne to Master Doctor some of his own language and say No ancient Father no learned man Heathen or Christian ever imagined such a plot or mystery of iniquity to lye hid under the name Sabbath before the yeare 1554. yea not one besides himselfe and yet one besides himselfe were the likest to light upon such fantastick Bugbeares from the beginning of the world untill the day and yeare of his preaching the Visitation Sermon at Ampthill August 17. 1635. ever found out or feigned such a dangerous device in the use of that word as hee hath invented in his study or elsewhere and vented in the Pulpit and since made publicke by the presse I am consident he cannot give one Instance to confute it nor name one man who may be thought to lead him to it and I hope he will find no more to follow him in his strange and extravagant surmises And may not a man cry quittance with him in it by taking a liberty to imagine that he who so vehemently inveigheth against the name Sabbath had a plot therein to shake the foundation of the Lords day which as it is a weekly day of Rest resteth on the fourth Commandement to slacken if
Jewish in opinion as n Mast Brab in his discours pag. 44. Master Braburne was in this point affixe the name Sabbath to Saturday whence it is that hee in his plea against applying the name to the Lords day appealeth to the Jewes at Amsterdam and elsewhere who call Saturday the Sabbath day o Ibid. whereto saith hee I may adde the Jewes reckoning of the dayes of the weeke Saturday they call Sabbath day Sunday they call the first day of the Sabbath Munday the second of the Sabbath c. In which accompt saith he no day is called Sabbath but Saturday nor can the Jewes or those that are Jewish abide to have the Lords day to be called Sabbath because they would exclude it from all right and title to the fourth Commandement as is plaine enough by that wee have already noted out of Master Brab and therefore that of p Doct. Pockl. Visit Serm. pag. 6. Doctor Pocklington before remembred viz. That a Jew should bee the Godfather and give it the name Sabbath as hee saith is a fancie which both superstitious Jewes and religious Christians will deny and deride Fourthly let those that thinke to call the Christian weekly Holiday by the name of Sabbath is Jewish consider whether it bee not now either Jewish or foolish to call Saturday by that name rather then the Lords day since Sabbath signifieth Rest and to say that Saturday must now be a day of Rest is Jewish and if it bee a workeday as wee take it to entitle it with a name so contrary to work is little lesse then foolish especially since wee have a day of rest to which that name with more congruity may be applyed For now to give Saturday a workeday with us that name of rest and to deny it to the Lords day wherein wee rest indeede is as if wee should call the body of a deceased King by the name of a King and deny that Royall title to the living person of his surviving Sonne and heire the heire of his Crowne Lastly For that which Master Ironside saith of gratifying the Jewes by applying the name Sabbath to ours Lords day and of their abhorring of the title Lords day as the greatest blasphemy I answer That wee shall gratifie the Jewes and those that are Jewish much more by giving up the name and title Sabbath unto their day then by applying it to ours for q M. Brab des of the Sab p. 54. Master Braburne when hee was most Jewish in this point made his exhortations to Ministers and people to refraine putting the name Sabbath day on the Lords day and with forbearance of the name hee requireth them r Ib. pag. 55. 288. to forbeare the use of the fourth Commandement the name Sabbath day therefore and the fourth Commandement saith hee must goe unseparable together hold the one and hold the other Ibid. renounce the one and renounce the other also But for the name of Lords day he was well enough pleased that it should be applyed to the day wee celebrate for when hee had exhorted to a forbearance of the name Sabbath hee enforceth his exhortation by this reason Å¿ Ibid. pag. 54. Wee have names enough besides wee may call it Sunday Lords day or First day of the weeke And which is more hee was then when hee did so Judaize in that point as never Christian did before him so farre from being offended at the title Lords day that hee pleaded for a right in it to the Jewes Sabbath t M. Brab defensâ— pag. 238. and in his discourse pag. 8. The Sonne of man saith hee is Lord of the Sabbath wherefore the seventh day may bee truely called the Lords day And if hee had beene a compleat Jew and so would not have allowed Christ to be called Lord yet it would have offended him more to heare the Lords day called Sabbath then Lords day simply For the name Sabbath in his conceipt dignifieth the Lords day with too high and holy a title u M. Brab his defence p. 52. for saith hee it is as if one should rob the Mistresse of her Jewels and bestow them on her Maid or should take the Crowne off the head of a King and set it upon a common subject as before wee had occasion to observe For Saturday saith hee hee meaneth as the Sabbath * Ib. pag. 53. is as the King or Mistresse to the Lords day which is x Ib. p. 52. but a common working day in Gods accompt And for that y M. Ironside cap. 12. of his quest of the Sab. pag. 121. Master Ironside saith of the Christians crossing of the Jewes in fasting on Saturday when they feasted it was not generall nay the greater part of the Christian world in z Aug. Ep. 19. ad Hier. p. 81. Saint Augustine his time did not fast on Saturday as hee hath recorded in his Epistle to Saint Hierom. Ob. 6. Yet by keeping up the name Sabbath some pretenders of piety cite many places of Scripture under that title which may incline to Jewish rigour and so cometh in the perill of Judaisme which the Bishop of Elie seemeth to suspect in the former objection Doctor a D. Pockl. Visitation Serm. p. 19. Pocklington more plainely complaineth of it when hee saith thus they must make a Sabbath of Sunday and keep up that name otherwise their many citations of Scripture mentioning onely the Sabbath applyed to Sunday will appeare so ridiculously distorted and wry neck'd that they will be a scorne and derision to the simplest of their deluded Auditorie And so doth b M. Brab def p. 53. Master Braburne in his Discourse By translating the name Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday saith hee the common people when they reade in the Scripture any thing of note touching the Sabbath day they presently cast that in their mindes upon the Lords day thinking it to bee meant of that The like is objected by c M. Irons Sab. quest 3. cap. 12. pag. 121 122. Master Ironside The name Sabbath may be and is become a snare to many weake ones and especially in reading of the Scriptures for wheresoever they finde the name Sabbath they presently conceive it to bee spoken of the Lords day and many times by this meanes fall into flat Judaisme as appeares by their quoting of the old Testament in the question in hand Answ First This objection if it have any weight in it maketh more against the reading of the fourth Commandement in our Communion Book and the Prayer annexed to it for inclination of the heart to keep that Law then against the simple name or title Sabbath for there is much more conformity with the Jewes in that then in this especially as some expound the Commandement with particular limitation of it to the Saturday Sabbath and whether it reach not also in part to prohibite the publick reading of some parts of Canonicall Scripture I will not determine
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
efficacie to edification which ought to bee of most accompt with us we may say First That the name Sabbath and Lords day at first apprehension are more ready and effectuall to minde us of and dispose us to pious conceits then the name Sunday is which at first blench according to the literall sense and primitive use hath an idolatrous intimation for it was so called with reference to and reverence of the Planet Sol which was made an Idol by the Saxons our predecessors in this Kingdome though the word be capable of a better sense as before hath beene shewed upon Malach. 4.2 and hath beene a good while since purged from the smack and suspicion of idolatry or superstition wherewith it hath been tainted in former times Secondly That though the title Lords day designe some day of eminent note and by consent of most be taken for the day on which Christ rose from the dead and though it may also import with a little working of the understanding upon it that he is Lord both of times and persons with other religious documents which conduce much to the edification of the Church yet the name Sabbath edifieth much more as to the solemne services of religion which ought to prevail in this comparison for it signifieth rest or cessation from secular labours without which no day can be holily and solemnly observed and that by an easie transition from the letter to a figure may admonish us of our Saviours resting in the grave all the Sabbath day which hee punctually observed while it was in force and of his resting from all further paine or suffering for our Redemption upon his Resurrection and of Gods resting satisfied with us hee having then fully discharged all our debt and quit himselfe from prison as by a most compleat satisfaction to his Fathers Justice and last of all of that everlasting rest Hebr. 4.9 which in the literall Sabbath was partly prefigured Besides the name Sabbath guides us to the fourth Commandement of the Decalogue where the proportion of time for the weekly recourse of it is to be read and the personall extent of the Commandement to superiours and inferiours home-borne or aliens together with the duties of the day both affirmative and negative and the reasons both of the institution and observation of them and those both many and weighty and so it upholdeth our solemne and sacred Assemblies once a weeke then which nothing is of more moment to edisication And all this it doth in such sort that no cavills of men can either weaken or darken its tenure from that text in the judgement of any reasonable man nor can any one who considereth that hold himselfe so little obliged to an holy celebration of one day in the weeke as if no more should be pleaded for it then what is either formally or vertually contained in the title Lords day or in any part of holy Scripture besides the fourth Commandement whereto it directeth us Thirdly the name Sabbath keepeth title to that ground which while it is made good for the proportion of one day in seven and not for Saturday Sabbath in particular as it easily may is the best meanes to maintaine the Authority of our weekly Holiday against any Adversary whatsoever To wind up those comparisons to a conclusion though every one of the words may lawfully be used as before hath been said I conceive and hope in the vertue of the premisses I may resolve that for our Church and time the name Sabbath is fittest to bee familiarly used for the day wee keep holy every weeke since for Antiquity Authority Propriety Significancie Facility Frequency of use among the religious of later times and which is most to bee heeded for efficacie to edification it hath the preheminence of the other two names compared with it To which wee may adde and it is a consideration of some moment that those that have most ill will to our Christian Holiday as b Mast Brab in his defence pag. 54. Master Braburne had would rob it of its right to the name Sabbath and therewith of its right for this authenticke Tenure by the fourth Commandement which it cannot claime under the name Sunday nor will it bee allowed under the name Lords day for I marvell with what face saith c Ibid. p. 55 56. he men can presse the fourth Commandement upon that day which themselves confesse is named Lords day and not Sabbath day and if hee could have supplanted it for that support hee would have had it to depend upon the meere power of man so as to stand or fall at his pleasure and rather to fall then to stand for that was his drift in both his bookes to which purpose hee hath said so much as requireth a farther and fuller answer then hath been made unto them for the Bishop of Ely who professedly undertooke the defence of our Christian Sabbath against his Judaizing Arguments dealeth but with one of his bookes and for the other it seemeth hee hath not seen it for hee never maketh any mention of it Object Against this prelation of the name Sabbath it may bee said by way of exception that the name Sabbath is lesse proper then the name Lords day or Sunday for it is a name for any day of Rest as hath been observed and acknowledged on all hands Answ It is true the name Sabbath may be communicated to more dayes then the weekly Holiday whereof we treat if there bee a cessation from labour upon them and so it was in the Old Testament for the Jewes had many Holidayes which were named sometimes Sabbaths and yet the weekly Sabbath by an excellency had that denomination belonging unto it which other Holidayes had not If a Papist object this I will give for instance the word Pope which anciently was a generall title for all Bishops as I have d In my Christian Nomenclature observed and proved at large in another worke but now use hath confined it to the Bishop of Rome If a Protestant the word Bible may serve to answer him which as the learned know signifieth in the Greeke tongue a booke in generall and hath been in use with that latitude of extent yet by an Antinomasie or excellency and we may say the same of the word Scripture it is now taken onely for the booke of the holy Scripture and it is though a common word of old now become so proper as that we know what one meaneth when hee saith a Bible as well as if hee said Gods Booke so wee may know as most men use the word Sabbath as well what day is meant by it as if we said the Lords day or Sunday Besides the Lords day is in its Grammaticall signification of as large extent as the Sabbath both because the Apostle saith there be Lords many 1 Cor. 8.5 as wee noted even now and for that it may belong to all dayes dedicated to publicke devotion whereby God our great Lord