restlesse turbulencie of sinne for that is a very troublesome evill the sinne of Simeon and Levi troubled Jacob Gen. 34.30 the sinne of Jonas troubled the aire and the sea and made it restlesse untill hee was offered up as a sacrifice to becalme it and The wicked saith Isaiah are like the troubled sea whose waves cast up mire and dirt Esa 57.20 and though the godly having lesse sinne have thereby the more rest yet to them it is a very troublesome and toylesome evill which will not suffer them to sleepe Davids teares are eye-witnesses hereof Psal 6.6 and for a more solide assurance of this truth hee bringeth in his bones to give testimony to it I finde no rest in my bones saith hee by reason of my sin Psal 38.3 The third acception of the name Sabbath but adding it to the former the sixth is that which the Apostle useth Heb. 4.9 the word in the originall is not Sabbatum but Sabbatismos but the termination troubles not the rest of the former part of the word and therefore our best Bibles render it as if it had beene the word Sabbatum by our English word Rest and this is the best Sabbath or Rest of all others wherein the Elect shall wholly cease from sinne and labour and it is that eternall Sabbath whereof the externall or temporall Sabbath was a Type in respect of the time of it as the Tabernacle or Temple was a Type for the place to the kingdome of Heaven where it shall bee enjoyned CHAP. XII Whether the day called Lords day or Sunday may not also be called Sabbath day or the Sabbath The exceptions which are taken up by divers against it THese acceptions premised it will bee the more easie to answer the exceptions which some have taken at the use of the name Sabbath as applyed to the Lords day who would have that name under so rigorous an arrest at the sute of Saturday that it may not stirre one step to the day next unto it and so wee may not by their leave call the Lords day the Sabbath day Of this minde are some of the greatest friends of the Lords day as well as they that as enemies oppose the divine authority of it for a D. bound l. 1. de Sab. p. 110. Doctor Bound a man sincerely devoted to the doctrine and duties of the fourth Commandement saith The name of the Sabbath was changed into the name of the Lords day which must bee retained and if the old name bee to bee changed and the new must be retained then the old name must bee taken to bee abolished at least to bee prohibited as to the day now solemnely observed and generally received And b M. Brerew repl p. 73. 74 Master Brerewood an opponent against divers points of Doctor Bound his Booke of the Sabbath in his Reply to Mr. Byfields Answer saith The name of the Sabbath remained appropriated to the old Sabbath and was never attributed to the Lords day for many hundreds of yeers after our Savious time none of the Apostles nor of the ancient Christians for many hundreds of yeers after them ever intituled it by the name of Sabbath and since him c Bish white treat of the Sab. pag. 134 135. Bishop White hath written Wee Christians keep a weekly holiday namely Sunday which with the holy Apostle Revel 1.10 wee stile the Lords day not the Sabbath day d D. Heyl. Hist Sab. part 2. c. 8. pag. 255. Doctor Heylin in his History of the Sabbath having objected against some an intent to cry downe holidayes as superstitious and Popish ordinances mentioneth as in scorne their new found Sabbath and Sabbath now saith he it must be called And the Translator of e The Transl of D ◠Prid. his Lect. on the Sab. Praef. pag. ult edit 2. Doctor Prideaux his Lecture of the Sabbath in his Preface before it bringeth in Barkley a Papist with a notable Dilemma as hee calleth it the better to encounter those who still retaine the name of the Sabbath What is the cause saith hee that many of our sectaries call this day meaning the Christians weekely holiday by the name Sabbath If they must observe it because God rested on that day then they ought to keepe that day whereon God rested and not the first as now they doe whereon the Lord began his labour If they observe it as the day of our Saviours Resurrection why doe they call it still the Sabbath seeing especially that Christ did not altogether rest but valiantly overcame the powers of death His question God willing shall bee answered anon as yet wee are to note onely his disallowing of the name as applyed to the Lords day which wee may observe also in f M. Dowe in his Discourse pag. 4. 19. Master Dowe his late Discourse of the Sabbath or Lords day and in g Mr. Ironside quest 3. cap. 12 13. Master Ironside his seven questions concerning the Sabbath h Mr. Broad his MS. of the Sab. part 2. cap. 2. p. 26. propè sin Master Broad forbiddeth Preachers in their Sermons to say Remember the Sabbath day to sanctifie it and would have them in stead thereof to say Remember to sanctifie the Lords day for the Lords day saith hee may bee called no more Sabbath then the Sabbath may bee called Lords day If as much it will bee enough as shall be shewed afterward But Master Braburne as hee misliketh that the Lords day should lord it over the Jewish Sabbath more then any so he cavilleth more at the calling of it by the name of the Sabbath lest under that name it should take up some authority from the fourth Commandement Hee beginneth his Discourse which is his former Book against it thus i Mr. Braburns Discourse of the Sab. p. 1. Bee pleased Christian Reader first of all to note that wee now adayes apply the name Sabbath to the Lords day promiscuously and without difference now thus to confound two proper names of dayes is as if wee should call Sunday Saturday and Saturday Sunday And to restraine the name Sabbath to the old day of the Jewes which hee pleads for hee would have the words of the Commandement rendred thus k Ibid. pag. 7. pag. 68. Remember the Saturdayes Rest to keepe it holy from which saith l Ibid. p. 200. hee the name Sabbath cannot bee separated And in his other Booke which hee wrote in defence of the former hee saith m M. Brab Defence p. 164. edit 2. That it is an errour of our Ministers to call the Lords day or the first day of the weeke by the name of Sabbath and a n Ibid p. 164. 626. meere fiction since none of the Apostles ever called it so nor is it any where so named in the Scripture hee addeth that o Ib. pag. 52. by calling the Lords day by the name of Sabbath they have robbed the Sabbath of its honourable ornaments that
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
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
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
know not But the h The Soveraigne Antidote against Sabbathary errours qu. 1. p. 5. Authour of the Soveraigne Antidote against Sabbathary errours speaketh for a further compasse and with a fuller confidence thus Concerning the name Sabbatum or Sabbath I thus conceive that in Scripture Antiquity and Ecclesiasticall writers it is constantly appropriated to the day of the Jewes Sabbath or Saturday and not at all till of late yeares used to signifie our Lords day or Sunday We may here recall to mind what wee have said before out of Doctor Pocklington though to another purpose touching this point i Doct. Pockl. Serm. Sunday no Sabb. p. 21. No learned man Heathen nor Christian tooke the name Sabbath otherwise then for Saturday from the beginning of the world till the beginning of Schisme which was 1554. Lastly Master Braburne when hee was a Jew in his dis-affection of the dignity of the Lords day pleadeth for continuing the word Sabbath to Saturday and against applying it unto the Lords day by the phrase of the k M. Brab def p. 44. 164. 626. Scriptures by the l M. Brab pag. 44. testimony of the Jewes at Amsterdam and else-where and of the m M. Brab pag. 44. Latines to this day n M. Brab pag. 44. by all Latine Dictionaries and so ends with an appeale to all o M. Brab pag. 44. Divines if the word Sabbath be not used in Ecclesiasticall histories for Saturday Now the Objection is at the full both for weight of exception and the condition of persons that except against the title Sabbath to the Lords day I will make a full and I hope a satisfactory answer And first I desire it may be remembred what reasons have been formerly rendred for the application of the name Sabbath to the Lords day Secondly for the title Lords day I have acknowledged it to be given by the holy Ghost to the day of our Saviours resurrection and that others might do so I have proved it also though I dare not say as p M. Ironside qu. 3. ch 12. pag. 120. Master Ironside doth that the holy Ghost doth every where in the New Testament call it the Lords day for it is more usually there called the first day of the weeke and but in one place and but once called the Lords day viz. Revel 1.10 and if hee can shew it mee but once more he shall gratifie me much Thirdly for the negative exception against the name Sabbath as the q Bish White in his Treat of the Sab. and Lords day pag. 127.135 Bishop of Ely maketh it where he saith With the Apostles we call our weekly Holiday not Sabbath but Lords day the Lords day was not called Sabbath by our Saviour nor by any of his Apostles saith r Bish White Ibid. he and thence inferreth a conformity in our Christian phrase If that be a good reason wee must not call it Sunday for the Apostles called it no more Sunday then they called it Sabbath and the Primitive Fathers very seldome so termed it and yet in our Churches Liturgie it is usually called Sunday and seldome or not at all Lords day as before hath been observed Fourthly it may bee pertinently noted to this purpose that for the same thing in one age one word may be more in use in another age another as wee see by 1 Sam. chap. 9. ver 9. Before time in Israel when a man went to enquire of God thus he spake Come and let us goe to the Seer for hee that now is called a Prophet was in old time called a Seer Where you see the same men that is men of the same profession were not alwaies of the same denomination not called by the same name for in the former age they were called Seers who in the later which was the present time when that booke was penned were called Prophets so that day which in precedent times was commonly called by one name in after ages may bee called by another Master Ironside telleth us that Antiquity ever used one of these foure names for the holiday of Christians Sunday not from the Sun in the Firmament but from the Sunne of righteousnesse with healing in his wings or the day of light for the Sacrament of Baptisme called the Sacrament of illumination or the day of bread not from holy bread as the Papists now use it but from the Sacrament of the Supper administred every Lords day or the Lords day which doth and will continue to the worlds end He might have added a fifth or rather have brought in as the first and most ancient the first day of the week which though it were the first and hath the best Authority for it as being mentioned by all the foure Evangelists was not used by any Profession whether of orthodox or hereticall Christians in any age since but by the Brownists of late and though nothing bee more usefull or usuall then light and bread yet those names of light and bread are quite out of use for the denomination of the weekly holiday of the Christians CHAP. XXIII Though neither the Apostles nor the ancient Fathers calbed Sunday Sabbath we may and the reasons why 6. TO answer more particularly touching the title which the Church anciently used to signifie this day I confesse that in the holy Scriptures and in the Writings of the ancient Fathers the word Sabbath is familiarly set upon the Saturday the old weekly holiday of the Jewes but that therefore the Christians weekly holiday should not now be called by that name is an inference which I may justly deny since there was an especiall reason of the distinction of those two dayes in those times by the titles Sabbath and Lords day which now is not of force For it is acknowledged by those that took exception at the word Sabbath as set upon the Lords day that both those dayes were celebrated with solemne Assemblies in many Churches in the primitive times The primitive Church saith a Bish of Elic his treat of the Sab. pag. 71. Bishop White which had Jewes and Proselites in their Christian Assemblies made the Saturday of every weeke an holiday upon the same reasons the Apostles had formerly done And the reasons which he noteth out of b Existimo veram Germanam causam fuisse quòd cum primum inter fratres Judaeos disseminani Evangelium coepisset nollent aut certè non auderent ceremonias omnes Judaicas rescindere Sic Alb. obser in Optat. Concil Carthag Albaspin his observation upon Optatus and the Councell of Carthage were because having Assemblies mixt of Jewes and Gentiles when they begun the promulgation of the Gospel either they would not or they durst not abolish or cancell all the ceremonies of the Jewes Hee might have made his reason more particular and withall more pertinent from the Sabbath it selfe as that on that day the Jewes being accustomed to assemble themselves together they
is honoured yea and all weeke dayes as hee is Lord of all time however measured or entitled might bee called Lords daies and onely use hath shrunke in generality into a propriety and confined the title Lords day to that which hath a weekly recourse for religious observation as it hath done the name Scripture and Bible but now mentioned and in this also the name Sabbath hath as much propriety as it Object To succour this objection c M. Ironside qu. 3. ch 12. pag. 122. Master Ironside his Argument may be brought in which is this That name which doth lesse edifie is lesse proper this I thinke saith hee will be easily agreed on by all parties But the name Sabbath doth lesse edifie for it leads us onely to a cessation from bodily labour on the contrary the Lords day doth betoken and explaine the whole nature and duty of the day as the remembrance of Christs resurrection acknowledging his Lordship over the Church and over all other creatures in the world Ergo c. I answer Answ Both major and minor are infirme and unable to beget or bring forth the conclusion which hee desireth First for the major That name which doth lesse edifie is lesse proper saith he and hee saith it with confidence that all parties will yeeld consent to that conceipt But if his proposition bee generall and so it must be or it will be too narrow for a Logicall conclusion I conceive it is subject to just exception and so is not like to obtaine an acceptation of such an extent as he talketh of for it imports a neerer affinity betwixt propriety of words and edification then wee find in use and sets words not proper at a further distance from edification then there is cause First for the first Proper words doe not alwaies best edifie nor improper or figurative least nay many times improper words and figurative speeches give both most light to the understanding and worke with greatest force upon the affections and so are of best use for edification There are memorable instances hereof both in the Scripture and in other Authours which will be superfluous in this place since we need none other then his owne word edifie which as hee useth it is a figurative and not a proper terme for it signifieth properly the building of an house figuratively the bringing of light to the understanding working heat upon the affection or any furtherance in matter of Religion and in that sense it is usually both uttered and understood by men whether learned or illiterate Secondly if propriety and edification consort so well together as hee saith it maketh much for the preheminence we plead for for the name Sabbath is proper First as not figurative signifying a literall Rest which is requisite for celebration of our weekly Holiday and proper Secondly as not common to all Holidaies common use now having confined it to our weekly Holiday though called also Sunday or Lords day according to the different impressions set upon the fancy or affection of those that mention it Secondly for the minor which is But the name Sabbath doth lesse edifie then the Lords day doth for it leads us onely to an outward cessation I answer First that the name Sabbath doth lead us directly to the fourth Commandement the fundamentall Authority for a weekly Holiday and if the foundation be of most use in building and edification the name Sabbath leading us to that doth best edifie the word Lords day leads us to a tenure of lesse both evidence and assurance and consequently of lesse authority as hath partly been shewed already and we shall further manifest afterwards Secondly The name Sabbath leadeth not onely to a cessation from bodily labour but to holinesse also for it leadeth us to the Commandement which saith as well Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy as Thou shalt do no manner of work Thirdly Whereas hee saith The Lords day doth best open and explaine the nature and duty of the day as the remembrance of Christs Resurrection and acknowledgement of his Lordship over the Church and all other creatures of the world Let any one reade the fourth Commandement where the Sabbath is named and the first of the Revelat. ver 10. where the Lords day is named and let him tell mee which of them doth more explaine the duty of the day nay the name Lords day doth neither expressely nor by necessary consequence direct to the duties of the day nor to the Evangelicall ground of it the Resurrection of our Saviour since other dayes have been set up with our weekly holiday by way of competition for that title as hath before beene observed Besides When the name Sabbath leadeth to the fourth Commandement it bringeth us to the title Lords day for if it be the Sabbath of the Lord as it is there called it is the Lords day for the Sabbath is a day and hee is called Lord of the Sabbath Mat. 12.8 Mark 2.28 and the Lordship hee hath there is not onely particular over the Church but universall over the world for there it is said that in sixe dayes the Lord made heaven and earth and sea and every thing contained in them all Yet I deny not but the title Lords day is generally used for the day of our Saviours Resurrection wherein as a Lord of life and death he raised his body from the state of the dead and returned to the living accomplishing thereby actually his owne restitution to a glorious liberty and vertually ours but that consideration is more remote from the sanctification of one day in seven then that which the name Sabbath doth import Notwithstanding I deny not but that it might bee well used to edification if men would so take it to bee the Lords day as to take none of it from the advancement of his glory to the promotion of their owne profit or practice of their owne pleasures wherein most make as bold with it to serve their sâ—â—â—lar affaires or sensuall humours sometimes upon very sleight occasions as if not Christ but they were Lords of that day Object But the name Lords day inclineth to no erroneous conceipts and the name Sunday though once it did doth not in our dayes bring with it any perill of Paganisme but the name Sabbath may import some danger of Judaisme therefore the name Lords day is the best the name Sabbath the worst Answ I have in effect though not formally answered to this objection before and have made it plaine that Judaisme is best opposed and those that are Jewish most displeased by entitling our Lords day to the name Sabbath and to the authority of the fourth Commandement as it prescribeth the holy observation of one day in seven and by averring that their seventh day in order is not expressely there prescribed but a seventh day in number as shall be manifested in its proper place Object But a learned and zealous Pleader for a weekely Sabbath in the
their different Tenets come with indifferency to be examined In the meane time I thought this speech after so many inducements as before I have touched though directed to him was pertinent to mee And besides other respects somewhat more to mee then to Master Bifield in that a great f Mast W. C. Admirer of Master Breerwood brought mee divers of his Dictats on this Argument which are not in print that I might peruse them and so might either take the impression of his opinions from them or if my judgement swayed mee otherwise that I might endeavour to take off the errour of his and other mens mis-conceipts by some better evidence of truth herein then yet had been offered to their view At this marke while I direct mine aime and addresse mine endeavours my resolution is and care shall be to deale with such diligence as not to neglect any meanes of due information in matters of doubt and with such fidelity as not to tell a lye for God nor to out-face a truth against the meanest man And if while I devote my thoughts pains to make some truths not of meere speculation but of ordinary practice to shine which have been obscured with manifold scruples and to fence them from the storme of some mens oppositions it bee mine hap to derive contradictions upon my selfe it shall not discourage mee from any duty I owe unto the truth for he that gain-sayeth me in that maketh himselfe Gods adversary more then mine for truth is not any mans so much as his who I hope will give mee eyes to see both what wrong is done unto it and by what meanes and in what manner it should be righted But if the exception he taketh against what I write be true and just I will take it for a matter not of disgrace but of gratification for I shall accompt it a favour if he shew mee an errour of mine owne and it shall be no longer mine then untill it be seen which yet I see not For which discovery I shall hold it my duty to give him thankes without taking offence at any good office hee performeth for the truth and shall alwaies be ready to debate any doubtfull difference so as with the g Et refellere sine pertinacia refelli sine iracundia parati sumus Cicer. Tus qu. l. 2. p. 137. 5. Oratour to give or receive a refutation without pertinacy or passion and as h Nobiscum nulla contentio cum uterque pari jugo non pro sese sed pro causa niteretur Plin. opist lib. 3. pag. 85. Lucius Albinus and his friend to joyne my necke with his in the yoak sociably to draw not the waine of our vaine conceipts or selfe-wills but the chariot of truth that shee may ride on in state and triumph which will I am sure be the last issue of these Sabbathary dissentions wherein falshood though for a time it may advance as Pageants doe by an unnaturall and violent force shall fall under her wheele and receive the reward of the wicked by Solomons doome Prov. 20.26 In hope whereof and heart by that hope I shall betake my selfe to my taske which will bee a double discourse The former Historicall wherein I shall shew how the controversie of the Sabbath hath proceeded from the Primitive to the present times The later Doctrinall and Practicall in which the differences of the Doctrine shall be discussed and the duties of practise accordingly delivered But because we can treat of none of them without the use of Termes and Names which are called in question and by some condemned of profanenesse or Judaisme especially the name i In the book called Sunday no Sabbath made by Doct. Pockl. Sabbath whereof we must needs make frequent mention it will bee very convenient and neere unto necessary first of all to discusse the exceptions taken at the titles of our weekly Holiday Yet so as that the discourse of them may be a preparative to reall resolutions afterwards In all which the God of Truth and Piety be mine aide and guide Amen The Copie of the Letter mentioned in the Preface To the Reverend and our worthy Friend and Brother in the Ministery Mr. John Ley these Reverend and worthy Sir SInce the due observation of the Lords Sabbath is of so much importance both for Gods glory and mans good that the whole Decalogue is usually with more or lesse conscience regarded as the Sabbath doth abound with or is abated of its due respect and observance and being conscious of the variety of opinions in these dayes of contention and controversie both touching the day and duties thereof Which it is When it begins By what force and how farre it obligeth with the distractions which these differences may produce in the mindes of all especially of weake though well-affected Christians wee are bold in assurance of your wisdome and abilility this way as well as otherwise to entreat you to add light to the truth in these points by a serious sifting of them and a seasonable divulging of your judicious Labours on them wherein you shall not onely gratifie us in particular that much desire to partake of your pious endeavours but promote the publick good and peace of Gods Church stop the mouthes and stay the pens of such as are carryed away with mis-conceit and errour settle and comfort their consciences that hover betweene doubt and resolution having neede of all learned and religious helpes to cleare this doctrine from such clouds as doe eclipse the brightnesse and beauty of it The Lord incline your heart to undertake this work and so direct and assist you every way to plead his cause that Truth may triumph over all subtleties and sophismes that with their faire appearances are apt to deceive the simple So wee commend you to the Grace of God and rest Your very respective Friends and Brethren in the Ministery William Moston Andrew Wood. John Conny Samuel Clerke Matthew Clayton William Shenton Richard Holker Robert Whittell Charles Herle Nathaniel Lancaster Richard Wilson Alexander Clerke John Glindale Thomas Holford The Contents of the Discourse following CHAP. I. IN what cases we may be indifferent for the for bearance or use of Names In what wee must bee chary concerning both Pag. 1. Chap. II. The divers names of the Christians weekely holiday pag. 4. Chap. III. Of three most usuall names of the Christians weekely holiday and first of the name Lords day Revel 1.10 The strange opinion of Dr. Gomarus and Mr. Braburne charging the title as applyed to the Christians Sabbath with impertinency and noveltie pag. 7 Chap. IIII. A comparison of the old Sabbath day the day of our Saviours Birth of his Passion Ascension and of his Apparition to S. John with the day of his Resurrection as touching right to the title Lords day and the pertinency and propriety of that title to our weekly holiday p. 13. Chap. V. The imputation of novelty in applying the title
Lords day to the Christians weekly holiday answered p. 26. Chap. VI. Of the name Sunday Whether we may call our weekly holiday by that name objections against the use of the name Sunday for our weekly holiday p. 34. Chap. VII How farre it may be lawfull to use Idolatrous names an Answer to the Objection against the name Sunday pag. 41. Chap. VIII Of the name Sabbath and first of the writing Sabboth Sabaoth and Sabbath which of them is the right and by occasion thereof some observations of skill and ignorance of the originall tongues pag. 50. Chap. IX The Etymologie of the name Sabbath and first of the abusive derivations of it by Justin and Plutarch by way of contempt of the Jewes their Religion and Manners pag. 60. Chap. X. The derivation of the name Sabbath from two Hebrew words the one signifying seven the other Rest the former being the errour of Lactantius the later the true and most received Etymologie pag. 67. Chap. XI The sever all acceptions of the name Sabbath pag. 69. Chap. XII Whether the day called Lords day or Sunday may not also be called Sabbath day or the Sabbath the exceptions which are taken up by divers against it pag. 73. Chap. XIII Reasons why Sunday or the Lords day may be called Sabbath day delivered and defended pag. 79. Chap. XIV Ancient evidence for calling the Lords day by the name of Sabbath observed especially against Doctor Pocklington his assertion viz. That no ancient Father nor learned man tooke the name Sabbath otherwise from the beginning of the world till the yeare 1554. then for Saturday observed by the Jewes pag. 91. Chap. XV. Royall and reverend Authority for putting the name Sabbath upon Sunday whereby it is cleared from schism as well as from novelty pag. 101. Chap. XVI Of such as are Adversaries to the name Sabbath as put for Sunday sometimes assenting thereto and using the name in that sense or yeelding that which doth inferre it pag. 116. Chap. XVII Exceptions against some of the precedent Testimonies alledged for calling the Lords day Sabbath propounded and answered pag. 119. Chap. XVIII A particular answer to the particular exceptions made against the name Sabbath as applyed to Sunday or Lords day and first of the dangerous plot pretended by Doctor Pocklington in the use of the name Sabbath for Sunday and of his prodigious comparison of the name Sabbath on the Lords day to the crowne of Thornes on the Lords head pag. 133. Chap. XIX An answer to Barkley the Papist his dilemma against the name Sabbath for Sunday or Lords day pag. 143. Chap. XX. Master Braburne his objection of confusion in calling Sunday Sabbath answered pag. 146. Chap. XXI The objection of Judaisme in using the name Sabbath answered and retorted as also the reproach of the name as from the Sabbatarian Heretickes removed pag. 148. Chap. XXII The Negative argument drawne from the Apostles not using the name Sabbath for the Lords day answered pag. 156. Chap. XXIII Though neither the Apostles nor the ancient Fathers called Sunday Sabbath we may and the reasons why pag. 161. Chap. XXIV The Objection taken from the use of the name Sabbath in Dictionaries Histories and the Romane and Reformed Churches answered pag. 168. Chap. XXV The Objection taken from the statute and language of Lawyers answered pag. 175. Chap. XXVI A comparison of the names Sabbath Lords day and Sunday with a resolution of the Question for the name Sabbath as the best and fittest to be the most usuall title of our weekly Holiday pag. 180. Chap. XXVII A briefe accommodation of this Nomenclature or nominall discourse to some purposes of importance concerning the Sabbath pag. 197. A Premonition concerning my Sonnes Verses after written THough a learned and worthy a Doct. Primrose in his Preface to the Reader before his Sons Treatise on the Sabbath Doctor of the French Church honoured his Sonne so much as to write to him to deliver his mind concerning the Sabbath I am not so fond a Father as to conceive my Sonne being yet by his yeares in his minority and among Graduates of the University but a meere fresh-man having but newly stepp'd up to the first and lowest degree of the Schooles fit with that hand which was but lately taken from the ferula to take the Censors rod and to passe his judgement or if that be too grave a terme for one so young his opinion or conceipt either upon the Doctrine or any Dictates of the Sabbath yet his filiall affection and poeticall fancy prompting him to put pen to paper in these ensuing Verses and to send them to mee with his desire that I would allow them some vacant page in my Book as some what of kinne to mine own conceptions because they be his I have assented to him but with these two advertisements to the Reader 1. The one That hee thinke not the better of mee or my Booke for any praise they bestow upon either for Poetry is an Art of deceit which measureth expressions not by the truth of the subject but by the strength of imagination working upon it nor is it more disposed to deceive then naturall affection to be deceived especially in relations of neerest degree as betwixt us two though it be usually as more forcible so more fallible in a descending then in an ascending operation 2. The other is That my meaning in this admittance of his Muse before my Sabbatary discourse is to engage him openly to this holy cause as * Hamilcar Hannibalem filium non amplius novem annis natum ad aram adduxit eamque caeteris remotis tenentem jurare jussit nunquam in amicitiam cum Romanis fore Aemil. Probus in vita Hannib fol. 115. Hamilcar did his young sonne Hannibal privately in the cause of the Carthaginians against the Romans that when time and studie with Gods blessing have ripened him for any religious undertaking hee may hold himselfe solemnely bound to bee zealous for Gods right in this behalfe and faithfull and resolute to plead for it against all opposers With these premisses I have left him roome and given him leave under my name to write to the Reader in his owne stile as followeth On the learned Treatise of my much honoured Father intituled Sunday a Sabbath Deare Sir PArdon my fault if 't be presumption here Before your sacred labours to appeare But if you will not I shall make my pen To keepe a Sabbath and not write agen In former times you meant to put to presse Your English Sabbath in a ″ ″ I purposed to publish it in Latin because it would not passe in English Romane dresse But'twould have griev'd you sure your work should be Abus'd by what you hate flat Popery For your own name would make most think it good And some to read what they not understood I still lamented that your deske should bee The Sabbath's prison and still kept from mee As well as others and 't
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
illustri visione patefecit futurum Ecclesiae statum pag. 78. Thes 36. Advent comming or appearing of the Lord Amos 5.8 Malach. 3.1 2. and this appearing hee taketh to bee either the day of Christs birth or that peculiar day wherein in an especiall vision hee appeared to Saint John and revealed unto him the state of the Church for future times or the day of judgement e Sic 1 Cor. 5.5 ut spiritus salvus sit in die Domini quo scil apparebit ad judicium Dr. Gamar Invest Sav. c. 6. Ibid. Thes 34. 1 Cor. 5.5 but he f Si verò diem natalem intelligamus aliquanto expressior erit circumstantia temporis Dr. Gomar Ibid. pitcheth upon our Saviours birth day applying unto it that which hee said of Abraham viz. That hee rejoyced to see his day Joh. 8.56 Upon that Text that rarely learned g Bp. Andrews in his Serm. Joh. 8. ver 56. Bishop of Winchester observeth That Christ had two eminent dayes his Genesis or his comming into the world and his Exodus or his going out of the world the first of his Nativity the last of his Passion But for one Genesis hee might have noted a threefold Exodus one out of the world of men into the grave another out of the grave into the world among men againe and a third out of the neather world into the upper by his ascension from earth into heaven Master Braburn in his first discourse of the Sabbath having brought in the Jewish h The Sabbaths were called the Lords holidayes Es 58.13 now if the Sabbath be the Lords holiday it is the Lords day M. Brab in his discourse pag. 8. Sabbath and all the fore-named dayes except that of his apparition to Saint John which is Dr. Gomarus his peculiar conceipt so far as yet I have observed as rivals with the day of Christs Resurrection for reputation and right to the title Lords day of that title saith thus And which of them John had respect unto scil when hee mentioned the Lords day the Scripture is altogether silent and if hee and Doctor Gomarus had beene silent too it had beene much better but to make the matter worse against the Antiquity of it they both take such exceptions as these Master i Mr. Brab Defence of the Sabbath p. 243. Braburne in generall saith The name of the Lords day was but new and put upon Sunday since Christ and that not many yeeres too since Christ hee might haply have read in Symeon Metaphrastes that Silvester the first first gave that title unto it which k Baron Annal. tom 3. ad an 315. num 16. col 163. See also Pol. â—nrg de Invent rerum lâ—b 6. â— 5. p. 366. who relates the comeipt and refutes it aâ— Baroniuâ— doth Baronius confuteth Doctor l Si ista appâ—lâ—atio ab Apostolis promanasset in Ecclesia suâ—ssâ—t recepta an crediâ—ile est potuisse fieri ut Justinus Martyr antiquis simus atque incorruptus Scriptâ—r ea in accurata rituum descriptiâ—ne omissa solis diem aut unum Sabbatorum aut primam hebdomadis tantummodo nominaret quemadmodum in Apologia pro Christianis Dialogo cum Triphone Gom. Investig Sab. cap. 6. pag. 76. The like is in his defence of his Investig c. 10. pag. 135 137 141 142. Gomarus more particularly telleth us That in Justine Martyr ' s time the Christians weekley holiday was not noted by that name since hee useth other titles as Sunday and the First day of the weeke but maketh no mention of it at all by the name of the Lords day albeit if it had beene in use from the Apostles time to his hee had good occasion both to note it in his Dialogue with Tryphon the Jew and in his Apologie to Antoninus where hee maketh an accurate description of the rites of the Christian Religion From his silence then in so commodious places for remembrance Doctor Gomarus inferreth that it was not derived from the Apostles nor received into the Church till after Justine Martyr his dayes so that in summe their objections against this title are reduced into two heads Impertinency and Novelty First for Impertinency they would make the title Lords day no more pertinent or proper to the Christians weekely holiday then to divers dayes called in the Scripture the day of the Lord nay more pertinent to others then to it Whereto I answer for the present reserving further satisfaction to the next Chapter First That wee may conceive as a late m Rejicimus Haebraïsmum illum multum enim interest inter diem Domini Dominicum illa enim est appellatio generalior haec strictior specialior mâ—ltae enim dicuntur Domini tamen non sunt Dominica ut arbores Domini Psal 104 16. quas puto arbores Dominicas Gomarus non vocabit multa Dei dicebantur quae tamen divina non erant ut montes Dei Inquisit de Sabbaâ— pag. 84 85. Writer distinguisheth a difference betwixt the day of the Lord and the Lords day or Dominicall day as the Rhemists in English turne the text Rev. 1.10 not so much for congruity to the Originall as to make obscurity in the Translation for many things in the generall may be said to be the things of the Lord which yet are not to bee named Dominicall things as the trees of the Lord Psal 104.16 which Doctor Gomarus himselfe would not think sit to bee called Dominicall trees and many things are said to be Gods which are not godly nor divine for in use of speech the former importeth a common right which is a right in God to the creatures in common the later a right of peculiar appropriation to himselfe Secondly Howsoever that distinction prove and though it be true and pertinent it is I confesse somewhat nice and curious so that few upon their owne reading of the Scripture will take notice of it yet the distinction of n Gomar Invest Sab. cap. 6. p. 74. Thes 33. Doctor Gomarus is manifestly faulty both in it selfe and in respect of the purpose for which hee frameth it For hee distinguisheth betwixt the day of the Lords Advent comming or appearing and his Resurrection as his words partly expresse and partly imply and this to the end that hee may transferre the title Lords day from the day of the Resurrection to some other whereas indeed that day on which hee arose was as well an Advent or day of appearance unto men as that which hee so nameth by way of opposition unto it for hee came that day and as by a new and admirable birth appeared to many Mark 16.9 Thirdly To prevent mistaking of the Tenet which I hold in the triall of right betwixt the day of our Saviours Resurrection and other dayes set up with it in competition for the title Lords day I professe with o Mr. Primrose his treat of the Sab. or Lords day part 3. c. 1. p. 198. Mr
Primrose though in many other points I must dissent from him that I doe not conceive there is any morall necessity that that day of the weeke on which Christ rose from the grave should bee kept holy in the Christian Church rather then the day wherein hee was borne or the day wherein he suffered on the Crosse or the day wherein he ascended into heaven Fourthly While therefore I plead for preheminence of right for the day of the Resurrection to the title in question I take not upon me to render reasons for it demonstratively necessary yet I doubt not but upon serious consideration they will bee found such as together with the consent of all or at least of the most and best approved Authours in all ages who have unanimously met in the explication of that title of Saint John and the application of it to the day of Christs Resurrection will appeare evidence sufficient in a point of no greater moment then this is and such as will not bee counterpoyzed by any proofe for the contrary Tenet CHAP. IIII. A comparison of the old Sabbath day the day of our Saviours Birth of the day of his Passion Ascension and of his Apparition to Saint John with the day of his Resurrection touching right to the Title Lords day and the preheminence and propriety of that Title to our weekly holiday THere bee many dayes that are set up with the day of our Saviours Resurrection in contestation for this title Lords day as in the precedent Chapter hath partly been observed viz. The old Sabbath our Saviours Birth day the day of his Passion Ascension the day of his Apparition to Saint John and the day of Judgement And first for the old Sabbath for here it may have the first place I The old Sabbath though I have given reasons why elsewhere I ranke it otherwise concerning which I say though in the fourth Commandement Exod. 20. it be called the Sabbath of the Lord thy God and so in that respect albeit it bee there rather declaratively then preceptively brought in it may bee named the Lords day as a Mr. Brab Discourse on the Sab. pag. 8. And in his Defence saith he The Son of man is Lord of the Sabbath Wherefore the seventh dayes Sabbath may be truly called the Lords day Mr. Brab Defence pag. 238. Master Braburne pleadeth yet that is but by vertuall intimation not by formall denomination as S. John hath it Rev. 1.10 Secondly Though it had been called expressely by the name of the Lords day in the old Testament and so long as it was in force it was indeed the Lords day in especiall maner as is the day we celebrate now yet it is not probable that day being generally noted by the name of the Sabbath from its first originall both in the old Testament and in the new that Saint John would entitle it by a new name having an old one already of pertinent importance and permanent continuance especially there being a new day of especiall note and capable of that new title as b Mr. Braburn Discourse of the Sab. p. 8. Master Braburne confesseth viz. the day of the Resurrection to which for its dignity in it selfe and for distinction from other dayes it might more properly bee applyed Secondly II The day of Christs Birth for the day of Christs Birth or his first comming albeit it bee a day of high account yet the time of it was so farre from being so illustrious in the primitive times as that day which wee call the Lords day that neither the day of the weeke is certainely knowne nor the day of the moneth nor the moneth of the yeere no nor the yeere of our Lord so cleared but that there is and hath beene much controversie about them Hence is that c Vide variantes de eare sententias à Bellarmino collectas Bell. l. 2. de Ro. Po. cap. 5. p. 336. col 2. diversity in computation of his age while some reckon his life at 30. some at 33. some 34. and some at 50. yeeres of age There was difference also I confesse about the Feasts of the Resurrection commonly called the Feast of Easter as d Euseb Eccles Hist l. 5. c. 21. pag 91. Eusebius and other Ecclesiasticall Writers have observed To which I answer that the dissention was about the time of solemnitie whether it should be ordered by the course of the Moon which would cast it upon any day of the weeke as it fell out among the Jewes or were to bee confined to the day wee celebrate but there was no difference for the day of the Resurrection which it was in the order of the weeke a matter of chiefe moment in a weekely holiday for that there was good agreement on all hands there being cleare texts of Scripture to take off all doubt in that respect Which doth plainly evince that our Saviour arose the first day of the weeke viz. on the day the heathens câ—lled Sunday and wee Christians Lords day But there neither is nor can bee just plaine and apparent proofe for the day of Christs birth which it was either for order among the dayes of the week or moneth of the yeere or for number in the yeeres of the world Ob. The learned e Bp. Anâ—rewes his Sermon on Job c. 8. v. 56. part 1. pag. 62. Bishop of Winchester saith There is no day so properly Christs as his Birth day which may appeare saith hee if wee set it in comparison with other dayes of most memorable note as the day of his Passion Resurrection and Ascension for the day of his Passion that was not so properly his because two theeves suffered with him at the same time in the same place after the same manner Nor the day of his Resurrection for as hee rose from the dead so did others the same day and went into the holy Citie Nor the day of his Ascension for Enoch and Elias had their ascension too and that long before his But his Birth day was his without a fellow none ever so borne none ever born such a one and therefore as no Festivitie is besides it it is attended as Christ himselfe with an Apostolicall retinue of Holidayes which reckoning every day in Christmas being usually freed from secular labours for a moneth make up the fulnesse of time and so it is the recapitulation of the whole yeere as the f Bp. Andrewes Serm. on Gal. 3.4 p. 23. Bishop maketh the allusion and accompt Whereto wee shall returne a reasonable Reply which shall want neither light of truth nor weight of authority for wee shall bring in that great and reverend Prelate to drive back that Objection and this it is Repl. Though that day of Christs Birth have much in it which is peculiar to Christ because as he saith none was ever so borne none ever borne such a one yet that is no more then wee may say for the day of his Resurrection
Rev. 1.10 may bee conceived the day of the Lords comming to his last Judgement for which the one citeth Luk. 17.30 the other 1 Cor. 5.5 I answer first to the opinion it selfe and then to the proofe For the first I say That Saint John speaketh as wee noted before in the readiest construction of the words as of a day that was in being before that Vision and so knowne that the Reader might take notice when the Vision came unto him but the day of Judgment is not yet come and so unknowne to man that our Saviour saith of it but of that day and houre knoweth no man no not the Angels of heaven but my Father onely Mat. 24.36 Secondly For their proofes though both places produced be meant of the day of Judgement yet that they appertaine not to the title now in question wee may observe that neither of them nameth the day as Saint John doth the Lords day for in the one viz. 1 Cor. 5.5 it is called the day of the Lord Jesus in the other viz. Luk. 17.30 the day of the Sonne of man So that this device of the day of judgement as to the day pointed out by Saint John in his appellation is void of all judgement and withall so full of presumption that if any man should goe on in commenting on the Revelation throughout to the last Chapter as hee begun with the first hee might thereby derive upon himselfe a wretched right to those plagues with commination whereof Saint John shuts up and seales up his mysticall Prophesie Revel 22.18 19. Ob. But if wee take the Lords day for the Resurrection for that as r M. Brab in his discourse pag. 8. Master Braburne notwithstanding his crosse conceits confesseth is properly the Lords day it will not follow that it should be a weekly Holiday it may suffice for that title being given it but once in Scripture f M. Brab in his Defence p. 163. and 175. if it be celebrated some one first day though but once a yeere as the Nativitie Passion and Ascension are and as the Feast of Easter is with us in reference unto it Ans To which I answer First That the question yet is not whether the Lords day should be a weekly Holiday or not But being such a one in fact for yet wee are not come to discusse in point of right whether it may not in its weekly recourse be intituled by that name Secondly That the day of the Resurrection being still noted in Scripture to bee the first day of the weeke and not such a day of the moneth as returnes but once a yeere or once in halfe a yeere or once a quarter or once a moneth onely it may bee called the Lords day once a weeke for its weekly recourse as well as once a yeere if as the Feast of Easter it came no oftner If it be said that no Friday is called good Friday nor any Thursday holy Thursday or Ascension day but one in the yeere it may bee replied to that if they were weekly observed as for a time good Friday was and the first day of the weeke hath beene since the Apostles time they might all be partners in the same appellation all holy Thursdaies all good Fridaies as well once a weeke as once a yeere though the first might have some preheminence above the rest and after the first that which answereth to the first in the season of the yeere as well as in the day of the week and by reason thereof as being no common guest it might have an Alablaster box of oyntment bestowed upon it more then upon those which were more ordinary guests as Easter Sunday was by a t A die Resurrectionis per integram hebdomadem sideles feriuntur Concil 6. gener Const Can. 66. pag. 646. Decree of the Councell of Constantinople to be kept holy and for its sake all the six dayes that followed next after it yet it might in its weekly recourse bee very well called the Lords day as though all the Jewish festivities were called Sabbaths and some in solemnity exceeded others yet the weekly holiday of the Jewes was best knowne by that name which was sometimes by especial priviledge u Shabbath Shabbathon given only to the Sabbath i.e. of the 4th Commandement or to such dayes as for cessation from worke were equivalent unto it Dr. Willet in Levit. 23. q. 31. p. 586. doubled upon it so the name of the Lords day howsoever it be sometimes attributed to other dayes all being his yet doth it most appertaine unto the weekly holiday of the Christians and the rather because it hath a more constant and continuall Lordship or dominion over the dayes of the weeke then any other by its comming in a weekely returne above fiftie times in the yeere for the other Festivities they have their turne but once a yeer And so we have answered the objection of Impertinency of that title Lords day to our weekly holiday which hath beene urged as if it did not more properly appertaine unto it then to some other daies before rehearsed CHAP. V. The imputation of Novelty in applying the title Lords day to the Christians weekly holiday answered WEE are now to answer the objection of Novelty which Doctor Gomarus and Master Braburne bring in against the setting of the title Lords day upon our weekly holiday and therewith wee shall further strengthen the truth against the last objection for which the best proofe alledged is a negative Argument or an Argument drawne from the negative testimony of one man which is of little authority in it selfe and the lesse in this case because it takes up with one Writer onely whereas if more could bee produced to that purpose the antiquity of that Name as now the Church applyeth it might yet be upheld by the advantage of a greater number of grave and ancient Authours positively which is better then negatively giving their votes and voyces to the contrary Tenet That singular Author who is brought in as a dumb shew speaking nothing of our weekly holiday by the name of the Lords day is Justin Martyr from whose silence Doctor Gomarus argueth thus a Si diei Dominici pro die Resurrectionis Domini seu primo hebdomadis appellatio ab Apostolis promanasset c. ut supra citatur cap. 3. lit m. If the title Lords day as applyed to the day of the Resurrection or the first day of the weeke had beene derived from the Apostles and received in the Primitive Church is it credible that Justin Martyr a most ancient and incorrupt Writer in his accurate description of the rites of the Christian Religion would have called the day by the name of Sunday or the first day of the week and not Lords day at all To which I dare not answer as b Dr. Bound on the Sabbath part 1. p. 114. Dr. Bound doth that Justin Martyr in his second Apologie hath the name of Lords
retained and used in a sense not idolatrous as Hermes the name of Mercury mentioned Rom. 16.14 as it signifieth a particular person and not the Idol of the Gentiles called by that name so the names of Frier Monke Abbat Pope as they are names of Families not of Offices or Callings may bee retained still as b M. Ainsw Ibid. p. 143. Master Ainsworth hath acknowledged though he as well as Master c M. Paget ib. p. 145. Paget thinks the Popes have beene made great Idols by too many people of all ranks and so think I. Fourthly Names that have beene Idolatrous or any way impious may in time having beene long accustomed to a better sense bee ayred and purged from all impiety for words are like to fashions which varie with the times and so either get or lose grace and acceptation thereafter as the vulgar use and common custome giveth the construction of them in whose power it is as the d Multa renascentur quae jam cecidere cadentque Quae nuÌ„c sunt in honore vocabula si volet usus Morat de arte Poetic Poet hath observed to ratifie or reject them both for use and sense But what is that which in the fore-cited Scriptures is forbidden then Not all mention of idolatrous names as we have already proved But either swearing by Idols or praising or approving of them or maintaining superstition towards them or giving scandall by them against which wee should bee so carefull as to prevent all suspicion and appearance of that evill as e Aug. de Civ Dei li. 19. c. 22. part 2. p. 525. Saint Augustine did who fearing the translation of Sacrificiendum Domino soli would imply that the Sun was a God presently brought in some words of caution to guide the Reader to a better sense Sacrificiendum Domino soli i. e. Domino tantum to the Lord alone and with these limitations the sentences of the Fathers may be interpreted As for the Canon of the Councell of Nice I will not for this particular by way of exception say it is one of those which is supernumerary and not any of those which are acknowledged to bee the legitimate ordinance of the Fathers of that Councell because it is capable of a very good sense but I answer thus The difference is great betwixt the new imposing a name and the old and received use over that wee have power over this not so And for the word Sunday in particular though it bee no more idolatrous then the names of other dayes of the week and some moneths of the yeere it may be the better borne withall First Because the Sunne is not as many Idols are to which for want of reall entity out of the fancie wee may pertinently apply the words of Saint Paul An Idol is nothing in the world 1 Cor. 8.4 for it hath a true solide and glorious being of its owne and a name it must have to expresse that being Secondly For joyning it with the day in the name Sunday as if it were devoted to the honour of the Sun though that were the intention of the first imposers and the like was their meaning in the names of the rest of the dayes of the week as many Authours have observed especially f Hosp de orig Festor Jud. Etha c. 5. fol. 52. a. 53. b. Hospinian g Verslegan Restitut of decayed Intellig. cap. 3. p 69. Verstegan yet the Christians that used it did cleere themselves from all participation with their impious superstition long agoe viz. in Justin Martyrs and h Tertull. dpol cap. 16. tom 2. pag. 632. Tertullians time since whom so many well minded men have made use of it that wee may well thinke all Pagan apprehensions are by this time quite worne out of it as well as out of the names of other dayes of the weeke or of the moneths of the yeere as of January of March of May of June which are Idolatrous names as i August contra Faust Manich. l. 18. c. 5. tom 6 p. 420. Saint Augustine sheweth for where is there one of a thousand that when he nameth k Of this and the derivation of the rest of the dayes see Versteg Restit of decayed intellig à p. 71. ad 77. Tuesday hath any reverence or reference to the Idol Tuisco or to Woden when hee nameth Wednesday or to Thor when hee nameth Thursday or to Frigo or Frea when he nameth Friday or to Janus in the name of January or to Mars in March or Juno in the name of the moneth of June It is more like that our vulgar people use the word without setting any note on the notation or etymology of it at all or if they doe they may think it is called Sunday from the Son of God who is Lord of the Sabbath And if wee distinguish all men into two sorts viz. learned and ignorant wee may say of the learned that it is not like that they having beene trained up in Christian religion should retaine any respective relish of such absurd Idolatry and for the unlearned they have no apprehensions of words and things so obscure and remote as these etymologicall mysteries but take the sense of words according to the use of the times wherein they live But thirdly If as the Sunne in the Firmament makes the day so the Sunne and the day make up the name Sunday there is yet for ought I see no perill of applying unto it an idolatrous fancie for wee may with good congruity of reason meane by it the splendour and glory of our Christian holiday in the many prerogatives of that day above the work-dayes of the weeke elsewhere to bee declared as the Sun is a more bright and resplendent Planet then any of the rest And whereas l Dr. bound treat on the Sab. part 1 pag. 13. Dr. Bound saith That the Divel that hee might retaine men in this errour or heresie rather and thereby hee meaneth the kâ—eping them by the name of Sunday from inquiring into the cause of the name Lords day caused this probable conjecture of the name Sunday to be given namely that seeing the Sun was the chiefe of all the Planets as that which filleth all things with light therefore in the number of the seven dayes the chiefe place was given unto it Though it cannot bee denyed but there is a comparative conformity betwixt this day and the other sixe as betwixt the Sun and the rest of the Planets whereby in an odd number the dayes and Planets are even both making up the number of seven yet may the name Sunday bee as ready for an orthodox as for an erroneous sense if wee come without prejudice to consider it Nor can it impeach the title Lords day either for truth or evidence any more then the calling of Christ so often the Sonne of man in the sacred Scripture doth darken that glorious name the Sonne of God nay rather as wee may use
Christians why should the word Sabbath signifying rest be allowed as applyed to it Is there any reason why names should not in sense bee surable to things to which they are applyed but rather contrary to them To call that day by a name of rest which is a day allowed for labour and to deny that name to the day wherein we are required to rest is not so little an absurdity as that which Master Braburne remembred of deafe men who when a man calleth for a knife doe bring him a sheath for there is that neernesse betwixt them that they may bee both together the one within the other but rest and labour are like light and darknesse in a contradictory distance which cannot be reconciled nor brought together It is no marvell that Master Braburne who denyeth the thing holding the Lords day for no day of rest but for a workeday should deny the name Sabbath as in application to it for hee taketh it to bee a proper name of the day of rest in the old Testament which if it were granted would doe him no good nor the Lords day any hurt for its right to this title for Adam was the proper name of the first man Gen. 3.8 9. and yet it is used in Scripture for man in generall Psal 9.1 ver 12 20. But saith c M. Ironside quest 3. cap. 12. pag. 122. Master Ironside the name Sabbath leads us onely to an outward cessation from bodily labour which of it selfe and precisely considered was indeed a dutie of the Jewish Sabbath but it is not so of the Christian Festivall d Ibid. cap. 13. pag. 123. The corporall rest was a chiefe thing aymed at in all the dayes of publick worship in the Jewish Synagogue being both memorative of some things past and figurative of things to come The name Sabbath is therefore no more morall and to bee retained in the Gospel then the names Priest Altar and Sacrifice To which wee may say First that the word Sabbath signifieth not a cessation with limitation to outward worke nor precisely a Jewish memorative or sigur ative rest proper to the weekely holiday of the Jewes but rest absolutely and therefore e Master Ironside quest 3. cap. 13. pag. 124. Si vocis primaevam signisicationem spectemus Sabbatum erit omnis dies sestus Estius 3d. Cent. d. 37. hee confesseth out of Estius That if wee looke to the first and originall signification of the word every holiday wherein men rest from their labours may be called a Sabbath and that f M. Irons ubi supra p. 123. God himselfe in Scripture imposed the name Sabbath upon all the dayes of publik worship in the Jewish Synagogues Secondly Hee acknowledgeth g Ibid. quest 6. cap. 24. p. 223. That there is a cessation from works required of Christian people under the Gospel upon all dayes of their publick worship and assemblies for Nature her selfe saith hee out of h Natura dictat aliquando vacuam diem quieti Gers de decem Precept Gerson teacheth all men sometimes to rest from their owne imployment and to spend that time in the prayses of God and prayers to him for as i Ibid. cap. 24. pag. 223. he very well saith to attend Gods publick worship and at the same time to follow our owne imployment are incompatible and imply contradiction And that 's enough to qualifie the Lords day or Sunday for the title Sabbath which hee implicitly yeeldeth when upon that ground hee saith k Ibid. The Turks nay the Indians have their Sabbaths Thirdly Whereas hee saith as by way of distinction of the old Sabbath of the Jewes from that day which Christians celebrate that it was memorative of things past and sigurative of things to come I answer That that cannot consine the name Sabbath to their day nor restraine it from ours for in the former of the two wee have as much interest as the Jewes for wee are to remember Gods finishing his workes in sixe dayes and his resting the seventh as well as they and to have a gratefull memory of the benefit of creation as they had and we need such a remembrance so much more as wee are at more distance from it and for the later wee build not the title upon a figure which is but a feeble and sandie foundation but upon the letter or sense already confessed which is firme and solide Fourthly For that hee saith That the name Sabbath is no more morall and to bee retained in the Church then the names Priest Altar and Sacrifice wee will him to remember what elsewhere hee hath said viz. l Mr. Ironside quest 6. cap. 25. pag. 231. That there is a rest which is eternall and morall to all dayes of publick and solemne worship if so the name Sabbath may bee eternall and reach as farre as the thing it selfe And whereas hee saith That rest to the Jewes was an essentiall dutie i. e. of it selfe and in its owne nature without reference or publick worship which hee denyeth to the Christians weekly holiday I answer That the question is not here whether the Jewes were more restrained from labour then the Christians but whether there be not so much rest required now both in respect of publick duties and of private which require also cessation from outward workes as that our Sunday or Lords day hath thereby a better title to the name Sabbath then Saturday hath which hath been long agoe deposed from the dignity of an holiday and made an ordinary workeday Lastly For the names Priest Altar and Sacrifice I perswade my selfe he will not deny the name Priest since hee tooke orders under that name and doth under that name officiate according to the Liturgie of the Church of England which hee will not say is rather Jewish then Christian Legall then Evangelicall and for the words Altar and Sacrifice I remit him if hee doubt of them to bee resolved by the late Treatises wherein both the Names and Things are busily discussed onely I will say by way of answer to his comparison that since wee have a literall Rest of a weekly recourse and not literall Altars and Sacrifices the name Sabbath thus may bee retained under the Gospel though the names Priest Altar and Sacrifice be abolished But saith m M. Ironside quest 3. cap. 13. pag. 125. Mr. Ironside the day is to be named not from the nature of things done but from the quality of the person to whom they are intended and therefore not Sabbath but Lords day I answer The Antecedent is subject to exception many wayes First The chiefe holidayes in the old Testament were nominated from the things done and not from the quality of the person to whom they were intended as the Passeover from the Angels passing over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt without hurt Exod. 12.25 the feast of Trumpets from the solemne sounding of Trumpets at it Levit. 23. Levit. 23.
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
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
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.
of Elie in his Examinat of the title Dial. pag. 107. Bishop of Elie in his Examination of the Dialogue of the Sabbath taketh exceptions at it when it is brought in to this purpose and sheweth some reasons why it should be supposed to be none of his but of a later time and if it be none of Augustines when it is so cited it was none of his when himselfe cited it in his name and as his as he did in his r B. of Elie in his Treat of the Sab. pag. 110. former Treatise of the Sabbath After Augustine and as a neer follower of his both in tract of time and tractates of doctrine wee may note Prosper Aquitanie who in his sentences collected out of Å¿ Sententiae â—ine dubio sunt Augustini sed collectae à Sancto Prospero Bell. de Eccles script pag. 185. Saint Augustine saith t Malè celebrat Sabbatum qui ab operibus bonis vacat Prosper Aquitan sent 114. ex Aug. tom 3. part 2. p. 1402. that such celebrate the Sabbath in an ill sort who make it a vacation from doing good In which words hee vertually alloweth of the celebration of a Sabbath both for name and thing If the like exceptions be taken at these Testimonies out of Augustine and Prosper to those that have beene noted before concerning the saying of Ignatius the like answer may bee here returned which there was made By such authorities as these whereof I forbeare some being to bring them in upon another occasion I desire not to make shew that the Ancients did alwayes use to call the Lords day by the name of Sabbath as some u See B. White his treat of the Sab. pag. 201. have said or for the most part for no man can prove that And it is evident that in their Idiome it is more frequent and familiar to call the weekly holiday of the Jewes the Sabbath and the Christians weekly holiday Lords day but to observe that they did not condemne the name as in application to the Lords day nor forbeare it so constantly as some especially Doctor Pocklington have said nor upon such conceipts as hee and some others have imagined but upon some considerations which appertained to their times and not to ours as I shall seasonably shew in answer to another objection when it crosseth my way Now I will descend from the Primitive Church downeward where the Doctor may finde his Assertion gaine said by a Synod of Bishops and other Prelates collected by ″ Fox Mart. pag. 128. edit 2. Cuthbert Archbishop of Canterbury about the yeere 747. in which among other Ecclesiasticall matters it was decreed that the Sabbath day and by that was meant the day wee now keepe holy should bee reverently observed And in x M. Fox Ib. Dies Sabbati ab ipsa diei Saturni hora pomeridiana tertia usque in Lunaris diei diluculum festus agitator Sr. Hen. Spelman de concil c. cap. 5. an Christ 967. pag. 445. King Edgars dayes ann 959. the Christians weekly holiday was by a decree under the name of the Sabbath measured out from Saturday at three of the clock in the afternoone to Munday morning Against this Decree of King Edgar y D. Heyl. hist part 2. cap. 7. pag. 216. Dr. Heylin objecteth that though the Decree in Latine have the word Sabbath in the Saxon copie it is onely Heald which signifieth holiday which maketh nothing against our present observation unlesse he had shewed that the Latine edition of that constitution was much later then the Saxon and not a little for it Because First They that penned the Latine in likelihood were more learned and so the better able to judge of the fitnesse of the name then they that penned it in the Saxon language for it requireth lesse ability to speake a native tongue or to understand or translate a learned one then to pen or speake it Secondly As the Latine is a more learned language so it is more generall especially in the Christian world where the celebration of the day so named is received and so it implyeth either that the word was usually understood or that they would have it commonly taken in that sense And whereas the z D. Heyl. Hist Sab. part 2. c. 7. pag. 216. Doctor saith There is onely Heald or holiday in the Saxon Decree hee implyeth holiday to bee lesse then Sabbath whereas Sabbath in a meere Grammaticall sense signifieth lesse then holiday for so Sabbath signifieth rest and no more and so the a Levit. 25.2 chap. 26.34 earth hath its Sabbath when it is not tilled and the b Otium est Sabbatum Asinorum Bish Downam in his Analys of the ten Commandements Com. of the Sab. beasts their Sabbath when they are not toyled whereas the holinesse of the holiday belongeth to us as wee are c Sanctius his animal mentisque capacius altae Deerat adhuc quod dominari caetera posset Ovid. Met. l. 1. men and much more as wee are d Ephes 1.4 Christians yet I confesse where both names are in use so distinguished that the Sabbath standeth for the Lords day and holiday for other dayes ordained for religious exercises the name Sabbath is of more and better importance then holiday is but that maketh nothing for the Doctors purpose In the Lawes of e Fox Martyr tom 1. p. 1017 col 2. edit ult Canutus anno 1016. there was a constitution like that in King Edgars time concerning the Lords day by the name of the Sabbath making the measure of it from Saturday noon till Munday morning which might yet be all one for the measure with the Decree of Edgar for the ninth houre which is called nona or noon was at three of the clock which now with us is the third houre after noone Againe f Fox Martyr tom 1. p. 1017. col 1. King Edward the elder and Gythrum the Danish King forbidding buying and selling and all labour upon the holiday of the Christians make their prohibition of them in the name not of Sunday or Lords day but of the Sabbath And out of g Albert. Krantz Metrap lib. 4. cap. 8. Krantzius h D. Heyl. Hist Sab. part 2. c. 15. pag. 131. Doctor Heylin noteth of Olaus King of Norway anno 1028. that taken up one Sunday on the Lords day saith Krantzius in serious thoughts and having in his hand a small walking stick hee tooke his knife and whirled it as men do sometimes when they are troubled or intent on businesse and when it had beene told him how hee had trespassed therein against the Sabbath hee gathered the small chips up together put them upon his hand and sit fire unto them that hee might take a revenge upon himselfe for violation of the divine Precept The matter most remarkeable in this story is his scrupulous conscience and precise severity for which hee is k Gloriosissimus Rex Olaus
Christianae Religionis observantissimus inter alia virtutum suarum praeconia hoc reliquit exemplum sanctimoniae die Dominico c. Albert. Krant metr l. 4. c. 8. p. 106. highly commended by Krantzius but for i Cum die Dominico cogitationibus gravatum cum gereret animum baculumque manibus reneret cultello ut sit scindulas fâ—â—it admonitus ab astante per jocum de violatione Sabbati non leviter in se punivit admissum scindulas collegit diligentissimè manuique suae impositus jussit incendi ut in se ulcisceretur quòd contra divinum praeceptum incautus admisisset Albert. Krantz Metrap lib. 4. cap. 8. pag. 106. our present purpose we are especially to note that that day which Dr. Heylin calleth Sunday was then called the Sabbath Ob. He saith the King was told by way of jest that he had trespassed therein against the Sabbath Ans So it might have been in jest if the party had used another name whether Lords day or Sunday and in using the name Sabbath rather then either of them it is most like that was a name rather of common use then of speciall choice to breake a jest withall l D. Heyl. Hist Sab. part 2. c. 5. pag. 158 159. Hee addeth for the yeere 1120 the time of Rupertus an observation of one Petrus Alphonsus calling the Lords day the Sabbath of the Christians but saith hee he meant none otherwise then the feast of Easter is called the Christian Passeover for which hee bringeth nothing out of that Authour that may bee a just ground for such a glosse And on the contrary it may be said that there is a Sabbath or Rest according to the letter confessed in the observation of the Lords day but the word Passcover was figurative even to the Jewes after their comming out of the Land of Egypt much more is it so to Christians since the comming of Christ Besides hee bringeth in one John de Burie Chancellor of the University of Cambridge about the later end of the reigne of King Henry the eighth assirming That every day designed to divine service might be called Sabbath which seemeth also to be the judgement of Bernard who expounds the fourth Commandement thus m Observa diem Sabbati quod est in sacris feriis te exeâ—ce quatenus per requiem praesentem discas sperare aeternam Bern. super salv Regina Serm. 4. col 1744. Observe the Sabbath that is Exercise thy selfe upon the holidayes that by present rest thou mayest learne to hope for rest eternall If so much more may the Lords day be called Sabbath which hath the preheminence of other dayes as the old Sabbath had every weeke throughout the yeere and not onely once a yeere as Easter and other holidayes which have in an anniversary revolution one turne and no more We need say no more then this to confute the fond and new found conceipt of Doctor Pockl. concerning the novelty of the name Sabbath wherein also n D. Heyl Hist Sab. part 2. c. 8. pag. 269. Dr. Heylins negative observation That a Sabbath day was not heard of in the Church of Christ forty yeeres agoe is disproved for a day of cessation from worldly works for religious duties which indeed is a Sabbath hath been in use in the Christian Church in every age since our Saviour ascended and the name Sabbath hath been often and answerably applyed to the thing as hath been shewed And if the Doctor said right touching the late time of the Sabbath and made a true returne by his ″ Search we did with all care and dil gence to see if we could find a Sabbath in any evidence of Scripture or Writings of the holy Fathers or edicts of Emperours or decrees of Councels or finaliy in any one of the publick acts and monumeÌ„ts of the christiaÌ„ Churcl but after severall searches made upon the aâ—ias and the pluries wee still â—eturne non est inventus So in the second page of his Epist to the Reader before the second part of his Hist of the Sabbath non est inventus for the fore going ages hee gave a wrong Title to the second part of his History when he called it The History of the Sabbath from the first preaching of the Gospel to these present times for if there were no Sabbath day heard of from the beginning of the Gospel untill forty yeers since he should rather have called it for that time the History of no Sabbath And albeit it be as strange to write an History de non ente or of a meer nullity as it is untrue that there was no Sabbath all that while yet such a Title had beene though more contradictory to the truth more correspondent to his owne tenet which with greater desire and more diligent endeavour hee striveth to defend yet haply as the truth in his conceipt and so without any contestation against his owne conscience I will yet think so charitably of him and if hee had done so by others it had been better both for them and him CHAP. XV. Royall and reverend Authority for putting the name Sabbath upon Sunday whereby it is cleared from schisme as well as from novelty THat it is no novelty to call the Lords day or Sunday by the name Sabbath wee have proved in the precedent Chapter by sundry Testimonies all of them of much ancienter date then the yeer 1554. designed by Dr. Pockl. for the first use of the word in that sense And for the time since which is long enough to gain allowance to a word especially such a one as hath congruity of reason to the thing whereto it is applyed we can name Authority for it sufficient to over sway any thing that he hath said against it and to cleare the use of it from schisme which the same Doctor Pockl. hath objected against it 1. The Book of a Homil. of the time and place of prayer pag. 102.164 twice p. 166. twice The Author of the Dialog betwixt A. and B. reckoneth ten times edit 2. p. 25. Homilies ratified by the Royall Authority of three Princes and by subscription of all the conformable Clergy in their severall reignes calleth the Lords day the Sabbath divers times 2. King James in his b Apud D. bound on the Sab. l. 1. p. 268 269. And D. Heyl. Hist Sab. part 2. p. 257. Proclamation against profane sports dated at Theobalds May 7.1603 giveth to Sunday or the Lords day the name of Sabbath and in his second book of his c K. James Basilic Dor. lib. 2. pag. 164. Basilicon Doron having spoken of the lawfulnesse of recreations hee concludeth with a proviso that the Sabbath bee kept holy and no unlawfull thing done therein 3. 1639. 1. For the Towne of Weedenbeck 2. For John Cheny of Leftwich in Cheshire 3. For Walker in Yoâ—â—shire 1631. 4. For Riddlâ—hurâ—â— of Davâ—nhâ—m in Cheshire 5. For the Towne of Yaxall 6. For William Small of Cletham
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
regnare To these two Reverend Deanes I will add two worthy Doctors who are witnesses to the warrantable application of the word Sabbath to the Sunday and who though neither Bishops nor Deanes have had the reputation and not without desert of very learned and religious men viz. Doctor John White brother to Doctor Fr. White late Bishop of Elie and Doctor Daniel Featly houshold Chaplain to the late ″ Archbish Abbot Archbishop of Canterbury Doctor Joh. White in his answer to the Papists bragging of the holinesse of their Church and upbraiding of our Church for want of holinesse hath among other accusations of their courses these words i D. Joh. White in his way to the true Church §. 38. p. 210. And for mine owne part having spent most of my time among them this I have found that in all excesse of sinnes Papists have been the ring-leaders in royotous companies in drunken meetings in seditious assemblies and practices in profaning the Sabbath c. And againe Papists hold that it is lawfull on the Sabbath day to follow suits travell hunt dance keepe Faires and such like this is that which hath made Papists the most notorious Sabbath breakers that live And Doctor Featly as hee had more occasion to mention the day and the duties thereof so hee more frequently maketh use of the name Sabbath as in his Hand-maid to Devotion wee finde mention of an k Dr. Featly Hand-maid to Devotion in the direction for the use of the book p. 4. hymne and prayer before the Sabbath wherein saith hee the duties of the Sabbath are expressed and in preparation for the receiving of the Sacrament there is a confession in these words l Hand maid to devotion pag. 107. Thou commandest me to keepe holy thy Sabbath and settest an especiall marke of Remembrance upon it yet I have not remembred to put off my ordinary businesse and in the Devotion for the Christian Sabbath the name is m Ib. â— p. 172. ad pag. 200. often used for the day wee celebrate sometimes with the word Christian joyned to it sometimes the name Sabbath is set without it and in his volume of printed Sermons treating on these words Wherefore God hath highly exalted him hee saith n Dr. Featly Serm. which he calleth Lowlinesse exalted pag. 735. If the rest of God from the works of Creation were just cause of sanctifying a perpetuall Sabbath to the memory thereof may not the rest of our Lord from the worke of Redemption more painefull to him and more beneficiall to us challenge the like prerogative of a day to bee hallowed and consecrated unto it shall wee not keepe it as a Sabbath on earth for him which hath procured for us an eternall Sabbath in heaven And a little after hee addeth o Ib. pag. 735 736. The holy Apostles and their successors fixed the Christian Sabbath upon the first day of the weeke to eternize the memory of our Lords Resurrection and speaking of Easter day With what Religion saith p Ib. pag. 736. he is the Christian Sabbath of Sabbaths to be kept I could lengthen this Catalogue for the name Sabbath thus applyed with many more names of those whose sufficiencie and sincerity is such that it would little become them that carpe most at the name Sabbath in this sense to teach them how to speake without corrupting their dialect with the dregs of Ashdod as of q Mr. Hooker Eccles Pol. l. 5 p. 183. 385 M. Mâ—son who wrote of the consecrat of Bishops anno 1613. p. 269. Pet. Ramus de Relig. l. 2. c. 6. Master Hooker with divers others but that will not need especially if wee add unto these that which hath beene confessed or rather complained of by r M. Brab in his Desence p. 626. Master Braburne and Å¿ M. Dowe his discourse p. 4. Master Dowe viz. That the Lords day is usually and vulgarly called and known by the name Sabbath and then there will bee a full answer to Master Ironside his objection which soundeth as if the name Sabbath for the Lords day were a meere mistake of a t Mr. Ironside quest 3. cap. 13. pag. 126. few private persons of late yeeres I hope Kings Archbishops Bishops and Deanes and other eminent Doctors are not private persons nor they together with the vulgar few and wee may yet make them more by bringing in some of those to beare witnesse to the lawfull use of the word Sabbath for Sunday or the Lords day being drawne to yeeld some assent unto it by the force of truth who otherwise shew their great dislike of that denomination CHAP. XVI Of such as are adversaries to the name Sabbath as put for Sunday sometimes assenting thereunto and using the name in that sense or yeelding that which doth inferre it AS first Master Braburne in his discourse to this Objection the name Sabbath signifieth Rest Now on the Lords day we Rest therefore wee may call it Sabbath day answereth a M. Brab discourse p. 81. 'T is true the Sabbath signifieth Rest and so the Lords day might bee called Sabbath day but yet in no other sense then every common Holiday wherein we worke not may bee called Sabbath day that is Resting day We take his concession for the Lords day to be called Sabbath but not his comparison for as much as that hath more right to the name which hath a weekly recourse of Rest then that which cometh but once a yeare which himselfe doth in effect acknowledge when he so ″ In his Defence p. 276 277 481. often mentioneth the Lords day Sabbath as out of a kind of necessity to expresse his owne conceptions otherwise to use his owne b M Brab Defens p. 50. phrase hee would not so often have taken the crowne off his King Saturnes head and set it upon that day which in his conceipt is but a common Subject 2. Doctor Heylin notwithstanding what wee have before observed of him appeareth sometimes indifferently disposed to give to the Lords day the name of Sabbath as c Doct. Hâ—yl hist Sab. part 2. c. 6 pag. 182. where he saith By the Doctrine of the Helvetian Churches if I conceive their meaning rightly every particular Church may destinate what day they please to religious meetings and every day may bee a Lords day or a Sabbath If we were to judge of his opinion by this place we could not tell which word hee liked better Sabbath or Lords day hee sheweth himselfe so equally affected to them both seeming to bee the same man and of the same mind with him who in another booke wrote thus d Pet. Heylin Geogr. p. 702. I dare not so farre put my sickle into this harvest as to limit out the extent of Sabbath keeping which commanding us to doe no manner of worke doth seeme to prohibit us to worke for our owne safeguard Wherein hee sheweth such modesty in himselfe and such equity both to
the word and to the thing which is signified by it as if hee had observed the same throughout his booke of the History of the Sabbath it had neither been so bad nor so bigge as we see it is 3. Master e Mr. Primrose part 1. ch 13. paâ— 73. See also part 4. p. 302 304 305. to the same purpose Primrose though otherwise neither fondly nor friendly affected to the Christian Sabbath is sometimes so facile and liberall in his allowance of the use of the name Sabbath in the time and state of the Christian Church as to allow Christians liberty to keep every day holy and to say that all daies under the Gospel should be as so many Sabbaths all the dayes of the weeke and the whole yeare should bee as Sabbaths unto them If so the Sunday may be a Sabbath much more for the reasons and authority fore-alledged and if it have more of the thing it hath more right to the name Master f Mr. Ironside quest 3. c. 13. p. 123. Ironside also though he dispute against the title Sabbath as to our Christian Holiday ingenuously confesseth that the name Sabbath is lawfull and may be also used by such as have their wits well exercised in Scripture if without superstition fraud or scandall g Mr Ironside quaest 2. cap. 9. pag. 96 97. And that God must have his rest and appointed Sabbaths which is the essence life and spirit of that Commandement and for ever morall And if the thing Sabbath be morall and perpetuall and the effence life and spirit of the Law as hee saith can any one deny the title Sabbath Master Ironside cannot well doe it who affirmeth this and that by the expresse title of the Sabbath And of the Friday made a weekly Holiday by Constantine he faith h M. Ironside concius of his quest cap. 31. pag. 293. that he made it a Sabbath Object But when hee saith that the Lords day is Sabbath he meaneth not that it is properly so called but analogically and in its proportion To which I answer 1. That when men call the Lords day Sabbath there is no need to adde either properly or improperly or analogically therefore for ordinary speech it is no exception against the use of the word It is familiar with many to call the Lords Table Altar though it be not properly an Altar but analogically and yet he will not say they are bound to bring in this distinction when they mention it and to say it is an analogicall Altar and when Christ is called the Lambe of God the Lion of the Tribe of Juda hee is not properly but analogically a Lamb or a Lion yet he is commonly so called without adding either part of the distinction of properly or analogically 2. But the Lords day may bee called Sabbath properly because as it is an Holiday it is a day of Rest properly so taken a day of weekly Rest as the old Sabbath was And even in Doctor Pocklingtons Seâ—mon though we should not much accompt of his Testimony but where it is against himselfe there is something albeit hee meant it not which makes for the title Sabbath to belong to the Lords day viz. this i Doct. Pockl. Visitat Serm. p. 19. Cujus vis soluta nec nomen haerebit Ambr. so cited by Doct. Pockl. Ibid. When the Sabbath lost its force it forfeited its name saith hee out of Saint Ambrose and therefore ought not so to be called and so having lost both force and name is become nothing at all but a meere Idoll The Saturday then which was the day of Rest unto the Jewes is now no Sabbath nor must be so called which by the way is contradictory to that k With us the Sabbath is Saturday and no day else Doct. Pockl. Serm. pag. 21. which hee saith elsewhere for if it have forfeited its name forfeiture is not an annihilation but an alienation of a right from one to another and if that bee so let any body judge what day hath most right to that forfeiture Can any other day of the week put in for an interest in it before the Lords day or Sunday If the Lord of the Sabbath may be Judge he will give no sentence surely for any day against his owne CHAP. XVII Exceptions against some of the precedent Testimonies alledged for calling the Lords day Sabbath propounded and answered THe Bishop of Elie in his Treatise on the Sabbath day and in his Examination of the little Dialogue made in answer to it would avoid the allegations for the name Sabbath taken out of the Fathers the Book of Homilies Bishop Andrewes and Master Hooker and his brother Doctor John Whites Booke of the Way to the true Church by such exceptions as these The first Exception touching the Fathers First for the Fathers The Question is not saith a Bish Whites exam pag. 109. he whether the ancient Fathers have at any time stiled the Lords day a Sabbath in a mysticall or spirituall sense that is a day wherein Christian people ought to abstaine from sinne for in this sense they have stiled every day of the weeke wherein Christians rest from sin a b His former Treatise of the Sabb. p. 203. Sabbath yea every day throughout their whole lives I have diligently searched saith c Ibid. p. 202. hee into Antiquitie and observed in the Fathers their formes of speech when they treat of the Lords day and I find it farre different from the usuall language of the Fathers to stile the Lords day the Sabbath and that they by the name Sabbath either understand the old legall Sabbath taken away by Christ or the spirituall or mysticall Sabbath which was typed and represented by the Sabbath of the fourth Commandement Wherein hee speaketh more warily though not altogether truly then d No ancient Father no learned man Heathen nor Christian took the name Sabbath otherwise then for Saturday from the beginning of the world untill the beginning of Schisme An. 1554. Doct. Pockl. visit Serm. p. 21. Doctor Pocklington did And when the Fathers distinguish and give proper names to the particular dayes of the weeke saith the Bishop they alwaies stile the Saturday Sabbatum the Sabbath and the Sunday or the first day of the weeke Dominicum the Lords day This is his reply to the Testimonies taken out of the Fathers whereto I answer This distinction of mysticall and literall is familiar with the Bishop and may serve for a shift to elude other Testimonies for the name Sabbath as well as those particularly mentioned But it is but a shift and will serve but for a while for to answer First concerning the Fathers though they in their times distinguished two dayes by the names of Sabbath and Lords day to avoid confusion when they celebrated both with services of devotion as the e Bish White his Treat of the Sab. pag. 202. Bishop hath observed out of Ignatius Ambrose Socrates
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
as Sabbathary errours And though the Bishop pretend the errour of the old Sabbath and rigour of the new to have been so new that Bishop Andrewes and Master Hooker could not take notice of it being before their time and that therefore they tooke the lesse heed to their termes when they spake of our Christian and Weekly Holiday yet it is not like that either was unknowne unto them as he saith the heresie of Pelagius was to Chrysostome and Augustine when they wrote somewhat uncircumspectly concerning some points which he perverted For the conceipt of the necessity and perpetuity of the Saturday Sabbath hath bin the heresie of all Jewes and of some Christians ever since the Christian Sabbath was ordained and the most rigorous excesses touching the observation of the Lords day were published in a n M Rogers Prefat to the Art of Relig. printed anno 1607. Booke of generall note and common use before the passages cited out of Bishop Andrewes writings were published by himselfe or any one else at least before his Starre-chamber speech against Mr. Traske was made and in that speech though Traske were Jewishly conceipted of the Saturday Sabbath he gives the name Sabbath to the Lords day as hath been noted and even Doctor Howson Bishop of Durham though in his Sermon of Festivities hee mention the same straines of ever-strained severity in observation of the Christian Sabbath calleth Sunday or the Lords day for all that by the name Sabbath Besides the wiser sort well knew that to prejudice the piety and authority of the Lords day as from the fourth Commandement from whence the name Sabbath is derived upon it would bee to give too much countenance to Libertines and Antinomists whose heresie being plausible to the flesh by the craft of the Divell was like to find more welcome entertainment with the world then that opinion of the Saturday Sabbath or then those extreme severities in observation of the Lords day So that all doubts and dangers duely considered on both sides I make no doubt if most of those Worthies whose testimonies wee have produced for the name Sabbath were now alive to see the carriage of the cause in our daies but they would thinke it most convenient to continue the title Sabbath to the Lords day to make good their precedent by subsequent attestations to this truth and to adde their further care to oppose profanenesse which hath mightily advanced since the Legall and Evangelicall authority and piety of this day hath been so opposed I may say in the Bishops owne words and with reference to him opposed with an high hand for no hand so high as his did ever strive so to weaken the one and darken the other since the darknesse of Popery was by the light of the Gospel driven out of our English Horizon as his hath done Fourthly yet for all that as he desires I will judge charitably of him for my charity inclines mee to conceive that he wrote what he thought but withall my discretion telleth me that his pen marched in this quarrell after Jehu's pace in some pangs of passion which are no helps to true information in any difference whether of Religion or otherwise else hee would not have stained his stile with such infected phrases as o Bish Whites answer to the Dialogue p. 72. the mangy objections of the Dialogue-dropper and the scabby similitudes of old Thomas Cartwright termes more meet for the Frocke then for the Rochet If his Adversary dealt uncivilly with him I excuse him not if I might be so bold as to speak my mind of them both I should freely blame them for mingling so much of the drosse of their owne corruptions with the pure Gold of the Sanctuary in this cause of the Sabbath The fourth exception of the Bishop touching the testimony of his Brother Doctor John White answered Fourthly for that which is brought in in the name of his brother Doctor John White calling the Lords day by the name of Sabbath he replyeth thus There is not any contradiction between the two brethren in this Doctrine for the one brother calleth the Lords day Sabbath in a mysticall sense and the other brother saith that it is not the Sabbath of the fourth Commandement in a literall and proper sense Where he bringeth in againe the distinction of literall and mysticall taking literall in a negative sense for his owne part for he denieth the name in that sense and giving mysticall in a positive acception but with an implicite negation of the letter to his brother to which I answer First that had Doctor John White been alive when the Bishop wrote thus he could not I beleeve have made him such a yonger brother though hee were the elder brother and a Bishop both as to put upon him his opinions of the Sabbath either for the title or tenure Secondly the mist of that mis-application of mysticall and literall is already dispelled by the exposition of the Homily which containeth the Tenet of the Church of England so that we may say supposing his brother an Orthodox Doctor of this Church hee did not howsoever he should not so take the name Sabbath in a mysticall sense as to deny the literall in application to the Lords day Thirdly by that I have heard of that learned and godly Doctor both for his Doctrine where he preached and for his conversation where he lived I have cause to suspect his brother imposeth an opinion on him which he did not hold as he did on our Churches Homily before rehearsed Fourthly whosoever shall please to peruse the p Chap. 16. quotation out of Doctor John Whites Booke shall evidently see that he tooke the word Sabbath not in a mysticall but in a literall sense and without absurd and perverse wrestling of his words they cannot otherwise be expounded CHAP. XVIII A particular Answer to the particular exceptions made against the name Sabbath as applyed to Sunday or Lords day and first of the dangerous plot pretended by Doctor Pocklington in the use of the name Sabbath for Sunday and of his prodigious comparison of the name Sabbath on the Lords day and the crowne of Thornes on the Lords head WHat before wee have observed by way of exception against the word Sabbath was onely to note how farre by some it was disliked now wee must particularly examine the grounds and reasons of their dislike and give answer to them though some of them be rather passionate reproaches then probable objections Here the clamours of Doctor Pocklington are so loud that hee must needs first be heard with his accusations against the word Sabbath which if they be as true as they are hainous just cause there is to decree downe and cry down the name Sabbath as the name of him who to bee famous burned the Temple of Diana at Ephesus and thereupon became so infamous that all mention of his name was forbidden by a solemne Decree His charge on the use of
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
not to breake the bond of conscience to the duties of the day and to make way for more living and lesse labour to heap up Benefices and shrinke in the services due to the Lord of the Sabbath and to the soules of the people on that day to give them leave to turne a Christian Holiday into a profane play-day that his paines may be lesse looked for at his Pastor all charge and his negligence the lesse blamed when hee is absent from it or idle at it And if a man reade his booke over and give way to the working of his imagination as hee hath done may hee not haply thinke that by his setting upon the name Sabbath his plot was to prostitute the dignity of that day to such profanation as might bee a preparation to Popish superstition for if ever Popery like the uncleane spirit return to the place whence it was expelled the common breach of the fourth Commandement by violation of the Sabbath will be if not a wide gate yet at least an open wicket or window to receive it againe For as Bellarmine observeth well though hee apply it ill l Nec fere solet accidere ut ante circa fidem aliquis naufraget quà m naufragare caeperit circa mores Bellar. orat in Schol. ant tom 4 fine orat The shipwracke of manners is the readiest way to the shipwracke of faith And for shipwracke of manners there is not a readier way then profanely to rush upon the breach of that Commandement which is as a pale or wall to all the rest CHAP. XIX An Answer to Barkley the Papist his Dilemma against the name Sabbath for Sunday or Lords day THe next Exception to bee answered against the word Sabbath is the Quaere and a Dilemma of Barkley the Papist in his Parenaesis ad Sectar translated thence by the Translator of Doctor Prideaux his Lecture and by him called a notable Dilemma a The Translator of Dr. Prid. Lectine in Epist to the Reader p. ult but in Barkley his Paraenes ad Sectar it is l. 1. pag. 161. What is the cause saith hee that many of our Sectaries call this day meaning the Christian weekely Holiday by the name of Sabbath If they observe it saith hee as a Sabbath they must observe it because God rested on that day and then they ought to keepe that day wherein God rested and not the first as now they doe wherein the Lord began his labours If they observe it as the day of our Saviours Resurrection why doe they call it still the Sabbath seeing that Christ did not altogether rest but valiantly overcame the power of death To which I answer Ans First That not onely Sectaries but prudent and potent Kings reverend and learned Bishops and other orthodox Divines have allowed of the word Sabbath for the Lords day as the Testimonies premised sufficiently shew Secondly for the Dilemma it is an absurd impertinency to the point in question for the Question is of the appellation and the Dilemma is made of the observation of the Sabbath yet as if it were not a squint-eyed and distorted Argument but looked directly to the title I answer 1. To the first part of it that to call a day Sabbath there is no necessity it should bee the same day on which God rested for the name is given to it not onely because of Gods example of rest but also because of his ordinance of rest for if he had not rested himselfe but onely instituted a day of rest such a day might significantly and sutably be called by such a name as wee have observed The Holidayes of the Jewes were so called besides the Sabbath of weekly recourse yet is not God said to have rested on them nor did hee for they were dayes of worke both to him and to us 2. The second part of it is If they observe it as the day of our Saviours Resurrection why doe they call it still the Sabbath seeing especially that Christ did not altogether rest but valiantly overcame the powers of death Which words are liable to the like exceptions as the former for the Resurrection containeth not the nature of the Christian Sabbath but the occasion of it nor is the day called Sabbath from Christs example and practice on that day but from Christians resting from their secular affaires for a religious gratefull and solemne memoriall thereof Secondly It is called Sabbath with reference to the Creation which was finished in sixe dayes and Gods rest on the seventh and to our duty to sinish our secular affaires in the like number of working dayes and after them to rest as God did after his workes but with reference to the Resurrection it is called not Sabbath day but Lords day because on that day the Lord of the Sabbath shewed his Lordship and Dominion over the Divell death and the grave in breaking their bonds and rising up in despigh◠of their power when they had him at their greatest advantage being under their Arrest And for that hee faith our Saviour did not rest on the day of his Resurrection wee may say with b See B. White his examinat of the Dialog pag. 110 111 113. Bishop White and his ″ Ibid. Adversary also for therein they are not adversaries but agree well together that though he were in action yet did he not labour for his glorifyed body had that ability and perfection in it that all motions and actions were as pleasing to it as any ease or rest could be and not onely that day but all the dayes betwixt the Resurrection and Ascension hee was conversant in Sabbatary or sanctified employment speaking of the things appertaining to the Kingdome of God for forty daies together Act. 1.3 and though hee did not rest nor needed it as wee doe yet wee must And if we may call the Sacrament of the body and bloud of Christ the Lords Supper though wee take it before dinner as Christ did not wee may call our day Sabbath since we rest though he did not So this notable Dilemma brought in with its two hornes against the two syllables of the word Sabbath hath not defaced one letter but left it entire for a title of the Lords day and Barkley hath but barked at it not bitten it to doe it any manner of hurt CHAP. XX. Master Braburne his objection of confusion in calling Sunday Sabbath answered ob 3 THe third objection may be that of M. Braburne who chargeth the Appellation with confusion a Mr. Braburns discourse pag. 1. 79. And in his def of the discourse p. 494. To call Sunday Sabbath day is saith he as if a man should call Sunday Saturday and what a confusion would this breed in time b M. Primrose Treat of the Sab. or Lords day part 2. c. 6. pag. 123. For this name Sabbath is the proper particular name of the seventh day i.e. from the Creation c M. Brab def p. 43 44 522
550. as John and Thomas are two proper names of two of Christs Apostles so the Sabbath is a proper name to Saturday Answ The comparison hath two parts The ground of it and the inconformity betwixt Sabbath and Sunday which hee maketh to bee as much as betwixt Sunday and Saturday and no more For the first Hee saith the name Sabbath is a proper name as Sunday and Saturday are which is not true for Sabbath is rather a name of office as King then a proper name as Edward or James or Charles and therefore any day of religious rest what day of the weeke soever it fell was called a Sabbath and so may the Lords day bee much more because it succeeds the Sabbath of the old Testament as a weekely day of rest as that was and other holidayes were not and exceeds it too in as much as the occasion of it and motive to observe it is doubled Secondly For his comparison saying That it is as great confusion to call Sunday Sabbath as to call Sunday Saturday hee will make it good when he can prove that the Sun and d Verstegan seemes to derive the word Saturday from Seater an Idol of the Saxons which hee saith is fondly supposed by some to be Saturne Versteg restuut of decayed Intelligence cap. 3 p. 77. but most learned men take the name of Saturday from the Planet Saturne Saturne are not two distinct Planets but that one may as well be called by the name of the other as the Sunne Saturne and Saturne the Sunne as either Saturday or Sunday when they be dayes of Rest may be called by a name of Rest Sabbath In the meane time it is but a Planetary or wandering comparison so farre from truth that it draweth neere to absurdity object 4 But saith hee againe e Mast Brab discours p. 200. The name Sabbath and the time of the seventh day cannot be separated I answer If that were true it maketh nothing against us for wee apply it to a seventh day now and to none else though not to that seventh day which was at first observed and if hee say that the name Sabbath and that seventh day which was Saturday cannot bee separated which is indeed his meaning I say First the name Sabbath may bee communicable to other dayes though it were not separable from the Saturday for if the day had never been changed yet other daies agreeing with it in cessation from worke might and did partake with it in the appellation of Rest At this day we may find it so in the Ethiopicke Church keeping both Saturday and Sunday holy and calling them both Sabbaths though with the distinction of Jewish and Christian as wee shall pertinently note afterward Secondly I say the name Sabbath and the seventh day from the Creation are separable for if Saturday may bee made a working day as the Christian world acknowledgeth both in position and practice and Master Brab himselfe in his dispensation whereof we shall speake in another place confesseth it may then the name of Rest viz. Sabbath may be separated from it unlesse the day shall be called by a name quite contrary to the nature and condition thereof CHAP. XXI The objection of Judaisme in using the name Sabbath answered and retorted as also the reproach of the name as from the Sabbatarian Heretickes removed object 5 BUt the a Bish of Ely his Treat pag. 207. Bishop of Ely misliketh the name Sabbath for the perill of Judaisme and the heresie of Judaizants The name Sabbath saith b Mast Dowe in his discourse of the Sab. and Lords day p. 4. Mr. Dowe is Jewish and which is more c Doct. Pockl. Visit Serm. p. 6. Doctor Pocklington saith That Sunday was anabaptized after the mind of some Jew hired to be Godfather thereof and so called the Sabbath And d M. wonside q. 3. of the Sab. ch 12. p. 121. Master Ironside also objecteth That in using the name Sabbath we gratifie the Jewes in their superstitious obstinacy against Christ and his Gospel for they abhorre the name of the Lords day as the greatest blasphemy e Ibid. p. 121. adding withall that the ancient Christians fasted on Saturday when the Jewes feasted that they might be so farre from gratifying of them as to be quite contrary to them To all which I answer That many points of Religion both Jewes and Christians hold in common and that onely is to be refused as I wish which is peculiar to them but so is not the keeping of a day of religious Rest nor the proper name of that Rest if the word Sabbath did properly import sacrifices or shadowes of things to come as f Doct. Heyl. hist Sab. part 1. c. 6. pag. 111. Doctor Heylin would have it it might have some Jewish favour in the mouth of a Christian but that it doth not The word Altar hath a neerer reference to Judaisme and Popery and yet they g Doct. Pockâ— Visit Serm. pag. 28 29. the title of another book of his is Altare Christianum p. 50.80 doth D. Heyl. in Antidot Lincol. familiarly use it and thinke there is no danger of Jewish or Popish errour by calling the Communion Table by the name of an Altar but rather the discovery of a h Bish Whites Treatise of the Sab. pag. 207. perverse disposition of novell Sabbatarians by the way I doe not approve of his words but onely repeat them to make scruple of that while they call the Lords day by the name of a Sabbath as Bishop White objecteth Secondly i Bish White in his Treatise of the Sab. pag. 5. Bishop White and k Doct. Heyl. part 2. p. 236 237. hist of the Sab. Doct. Heylin bring in the sayings of John Frith and William Tindall for the Churches liberty to have chosen any other day then the Lords day for religious Rest the Jewes day not excepted and the Apostles and many Churches since the Apostles for three hundred years and more kept Saturday holy every weeke as well as Sunday as l Bish Whites Treatise of the Sab. pag. 109. Bishop White alledgeth and m M. Primros Treat p. 1. c. 12 Master Primrose alloweth a liberty to Christians to observe that day and in it to give themselves to all exercises of our Christian Religion and if any Holiday light upon a Saturday no man is to make scruple to observe it as an Holiday Besides our Church commandeth with the rest of the Decalogue the reading of the fourth Commandement for sanctification and this weekly with a prayer for pardon of profanation past and for grace for better observation in time to come and if there bee no danger of Judaisme in all this there is none surely in retaining the name of the Sabbath with another day then that which the Jewes solemnized Thirdly to deny the name of the Sabbath to the day wee Christians celebrate is rather Jewish for those that are Jewes indeed or
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
would then bee more willing to meet and the Gentiles being now converts would easily joyne with them having no holidayes of their own to pitch upon but such as were stained with odious idolatry and so the Apostles had the better opportunity to sow their sacred seed in larger fields with better hope of greater fruit And afterward the c B. of Elie Ib. p. 189. Bishop sheweth how long this double devotion of Christians was in use The Apostles saith he and likewise the successors of the Apostles for many ages at least three hundred yeers in some Churches kept holy the Saturday in every week as well as the Sunday Dr. Prid. who is brought in by the Translator of his Lecture as not well affected to the title Sabbath for the Christians holiday having said that Christ ascended up on high and left behind him his Apostles to preach the Gospel asketh d D. Prid. Lect. Sect. 6. p. 24. English And what did they not keep the Jewish Sabbath without noise or scruple and gladly teach the people congregated on the Sabbath dayes nay more then this did not the primitive Church designe as well the Sabbath day as the Lords day to sacred meetings Little doe you know saith e M. Breerwood his first treat against M. Byf. pag. 77. MS. pag. 48. Mr. Breerwood to Mr. Byfield if you know it not that the ancient Sabbath did remaine and was observed together with the Lords day by the Christians of the Easterne Church three hundred yeers and more after our Saviours Passion And f D. Heyl. Hist Sab. part 2. c. 2. pag. 56. c. 3. p. 57. Doct. Heylin hath an observation out of Basil That the Christians assembled foure times a week and Saturday and the Lords day were two of them and of these two the observation was more generall then of the other both for time and place both while the Apostles lived and after their decease which I note rather for the Jewes day for the present then for the Lords daies sake for that belongeth to another place To these Testimonies most what of the adverse party assenting to that which will inferre their conviction for application of the name Sabbath I will annexe other evidences both for the Apostles time and for some succeeding ages of the Church First for the time of the Apostles their practice for religious and solemne Assemblies on the Jewes Sabbath is plaine in the relation of their acts by St. Luke whereof they that doubt may reade their owne resolution and receive satisfaction in Act. 13. ver 14 42 44. Act. 16.23 and chap. 27. ver 2. besides other places Secondly from the Apostles time untill the counsell of Laodicea which was about the yeare 364. the holy observation of the Jewes Sabbath continued as may be proved out of many g Ignat. â—p ad Magnes p. 77. edit Vedel Athanas tract de semente Socrat Scholast hist lib. 6. ca. 8. ca. 29. Centuriat Cent. 406. col 410. Concil Laod. can 29. tom 1. concil pag. 300. edit Bin. 1636. Paris in lib. qui inscrib Canon Apost Sanctor Concil 4. per Jo. Tilium Hospin de orig Festor Christian cap. 9. Authors yea notwithstanding the Decree of that Councell against it about the yeare 380. h Quibus oculis diem Dominicum intueris qui Sabbathum dedecorâsti an nescis hos dies germanos fratres esse si in alterum injuriosus sis in alterum impingis Greg. Nyssen de castig in cos qui aegrè ferunt reprehens Greg. Nyssen passionately complained of the violation of the old Sabbath as an holy brother to the new Lords day questioning the profaners of it thus as the i Bish Whites Treat pag. 80. Bishop of Ely brings him in With what face saith he dost thou looke upon the Lords day who hast dishonoured the Sabbath Knowest thou not that they are Germane brethren and that thou canst doe wrong to neither but thou must be injurious to both But saith the k Bish of Ely his Treat of the Sab. p. 72. Bishop Saturday was not made a weekly Holiday universally in all Primitive Churches for l Cent. 4. ch 6. col 477. at Rome Alexandria and throughout Africa it was a work day To which I answer First that though Saturday were not universally kept as an Holiday in the Primitive Church yet it was observed as a sacred time and noted by its ancient name in so many places and I thinke I may say in most for the Easterne Church for divers hundred yeares after Christ as the places fore-cited in the margin shew So that then to have put the name Sabbath upon the Lords day had been to speak with confusion unlesse some other terme were added to it for distinction sake Secondly for the Churches specified by the Bishop viz. the Churches of Rome Alexandria and Africa I answer first for Rome First that there might bee some especiall reasons why they kept not holy the old Sabbath as the Eastern Church did and that either because they had a religious respect to Wednesdaies and Fridaies m Hieron com in â—p ad Galat. c. 4. as Saint Hierome sheweth more then the Easterne Church had Secondly or because the Jewes and the Romanes were by the warres betwixt them become most odious to each other as appeareth by the history of n Joseph de bello Jud. l. 6. 〈◊〉 26 l. 7. c. 18. Josephus and otherwise as I have observed in mine historicall part of the Sabbath though now which I point at but for a glance by the way toward the Popish Metropolis they bee better accepted at Rome then the best Christians who are not suffered there to live while the Jewes are o Sr. Ed. Sands his Relat. pag. 218. edit 1632. toler ated to trade in usury straining it up upon Christians after eighteene in the hundred whereas halfe that summe in a Christian is not allowed Thirdly Though the old Sabbath were sleighted at Rome it was not so farre out of request but that elsewhere even in Italie it was sociably observed with the Lords day and that in Millaine and there by p Crastino die Sabbati Dominico de orationis ordine dicemus Amb. de Sacr. l. 4. c. 6. Saint Ambrose and the people of his Church to whom it seemes by what hee saith in his discourse of the Sacraments hee preached as well on the one day as on the other Secondly For the Church of Alexandria we have cause to conceive that there the old Sabbath was observed for the Centurists observe out of Athanasius who was Bishop there a saying of his to that purpose q Cent. 4. col 410. q. Wee assemble on the Sabbath day saith hee not as if wee were infected with Judaisme but therefore wee meet together on the Sabbath that wee may worship the Lord of the Sabbath which in part is acknowledged by the r B. of Elie his Treat of the Sabb.
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
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
Perth an 1618. our Church of England hath a Canon for the Crosse after Baptisme and bowing at the name of Jesus many Reformed Churches have none for either of them and in England Cathedrall Churches differ from most others in the use of Copes Organs prick-song tunes and many other waies besides Of these with the rest of the differences we may say they are such as no necessity doth inforce yet will not Master Ironside I suppose be forward to charge the later Church in departing from the former nor the Reformed in dissenting from the Romish nor the English in differing from the Scottish Church nor Cathedralls in varying from other Churches for such particulars with schisme singularity or affectation Which I doe not mention with any mind to maintain any thing that is amisse in the different manner of Cathedralls from other Churches for I wish rather a reformation then a ratification of them as now they are but to give fit instance against Master Ironside his position Secondly I say and shall where it is requisite prove it that neither the Romish nor many of the Reformed Churches out of England are so Orthodox in the Doctrine of the Sabbath in particular for the explication of the fourth Commandement as they should be and as the Churches of England and Scotland are and it is no marvell if their dialect be like unto their Doctrine Thirdly it is too late to impute schisme singularity or affectation to the word Sabbath when the use of it is justified by such both reasons and authorities as have been produced and when not onely persons of chiefe preheminence so call it but that it is as well received into use by most as approved by the best as hath been observed Fourthly for the Reformed Churches the Waldenses who first separated themselves from the Church of Rome as the Whore of Babylon called the Lords day Sabbath and that so familiarly that nothing was more usuall among them as a learned h Doct. Twisse in a MS. of the Sabbath Doctor hath observed of them Fifthly wee must not accompt it schisme singularity and affectation to conforme rather to our brethren about us then to either brethren or adversaries that are separated from us Sixthly nor are wee more liable to exception of schisme singularity or affectation by using the word Sabbath for Lords day then by putting Sunday for it the most usuall name in our Service Booke which is as unwonted a word in the reformed Churches as the word Sabbath is and hath been i Pope Silvest See Polyd. Virg de invent rer lib. 5. c. 6. forbidden by the most Cathedrall Doctor of the Popish Church with more probability of reason then hath been urged by way of exception against the name Sabbath CHAP. XXV The objection taken from the Statute and language of Lawyers answered THere remaine yet two objections more and but two that I have read or can call to minde which are brought in by Master Broad a Mr. Broad his 3d. quest p. 22. marg in his printed book of three questions the one is That a Processe to appeare die Sabbati is meant and understood upon Saturday The other in b Mr. Brad his 2d. MS. p. 18. marg another book of his which is yet a MS. wherein saith hee the last Parliament may well bee thought to dislike the name Sabbath as to the Lords day for neither in the title of the Act which is for the keeping of the Lords day nor yet throughout the body thereof is this name used though the heathenish name Sunday be in both yea and though the Commandement read in the Church speaketh of sanctifying of the Sabbath Hee might have alledged two Acts of two Parliaments the one anno 1. of King Charles chap. 1. The other anno 3. ch 1. In the former whereof there is the name of Sunday in the title of the Act though not in the body of it as in the Statute anno 5. 6. of King Edward the sixth chap. 3. pag. 133. of the Stat. at large and the name Lords day once in the title and thrice in the body of the Act and in the later Act they are each of them named once in the title and once in the body of the Act but the name Sabbath not at all Whereto I answer first for the Processe concerning which I say First That such a Processe might be taken up when there were many Jewes and much Judaisme in the Land as in the reignes of many of our Popish Kings which gave occasion of warrant in contracts and bargaines against Jewes by especiall mention who kept a foot the name and observation of the old Sabbath and so it might bee then as in the dayes of ancient Fathers a word of distinction betwixt the Jewish and Christians holiday Or Secondly If not for that reason yet the use of the name in that sense having obtained such generall passage in the times precedent might bee a motive to the Lawyers to continue it though the reason which began it descended not so low as to their age as wee call an houre-glasse in Greek and Latin Clepsydra which signifieth the stealing away of water drop by drop from one bottle to another for at first it was made to measure time by water though now it bee made to run with sand only Thirdly Their Processe being Latine haply they made choice rather of that word which had in it some relish of Religion both among Jewes and ancient Christians and so hath the word Sabbath then of that which was for that language in a manner meerly heathenish to wit Saturday and though the word Sunday which is originally heathenish as wel as Saturday be used in our Church Liturgie yet we call the Lords day Sunday not from the Sunne in the Firmament but from the Sun of Righteousnesse Mal. 4.2 as hath been formerly observed the word Saturday is not capable of a signification so sacred and sutable to the person of our Saviour the Lord of the Sabbath Fourthly Though the Lawyers did in their Latin writs use the word Sabbath for Saturday yet they did neither forbid nor forbeare to use it of the Lords day in French and in English as in Fitzherberts natura Brevium it is said Pleas cannot be held upon Quindena Paschae c Que est le Sabot jour Fitzherb natur Brev. fol. 17. because it is the Sabbath day whereby not Saturday but Sunday or the Lords day must be meant for on the Saturday it was lawfull not onely to hold Pleas but to keepe Markets as Judge Fairfax in the Prior of Lantonies case resolveth viz. d Devant le Incarnation le Sabbadi suit le Sabat jour solenize mes ore est change per les eglise at jour demain c. the yeer book 12. of Ed. 4. b. That before the incarnation Saturday was the Sabbath day but since it is changed by the Church into the Lords day that day is
to bee kept holy and Markets may bee kept upon the other And in Sir Edward Coke his first part of the Institutes of Litleton resolving what day is not dies Juridicus he saith In e Sir Edward Coke in that first part of his Institutes lib. 12. c. 11. Sect. 2. of Villenage pag. 135. calleth it â—oure times the Sabbath day in this page all the foure termes the Sabbath day is not dies Juridicus for that ought to be consecrated to divine service and in his Reports in the case of the Citie of London it is said f Le jour de Sabaoth so it is written for Sabbath solemnit Except Cokes reports part 8. p. 127. a. That every day in the week is a Market day the Sabbath day by which is understood the Lords day onely excepted And in Machellies case who being arrested on the Sunday slew the Sergeant it was objected against the Sergeant g Le jour de soleile est le Sabbath Idem Ib. part 9. p. 66. that Sunday was the Sabbath day and answer made that no judiciall act may be done that day but ministeriall may In this instance is both the word Sunday and Sabbath for the same day And those two and a third are all of them by an eminent h Sir Jo. Finch in his first book of the Law cap. 3. p. 7. Lawyer it is Sir John Finch in one side of a lease indifferently used for the day wee Christians celebrate and another bird of the same golden feather Master Henry Finch in his Nomotechnia shewing besides the lawfull use of the name Sabbath for the Lords day the separation of it from secular affaires i Si le jour del returne vel si le primer ou darraine jour del terme hap sur le Sabaoth jour donque se jour procheine en suaul server en lin de ceo So Master Hen. Finch in fol. 52. in which edition the figures are mis-reckoned for on that lease is set num 58. which commeth twice but the former should be 52. as I have cited it saith If the day of returne or the first or last day of the terme happen upon the Sabbath day by which must needs bee understood the Lords day then the day next ensuing shall serve or bee kept in stead thereof for the beginning of the terme or day of returne Now to answer to the objection taken from the Acts of Parliament I say First That in the k M. Pultons Abridgement fol. 134. p. b. Parliament of the 19. of Queen Elisabeth cap. 13. which is of Hats and Caps the name Sabbath is used for the Lords day Secondly For the Act fore-cited concerning the observation of the day wee Christians keepe giving it the name of Lords day or Sunday not of Sabbath I answer That I have heard a ″ M. Ed. Whitby late Recorder of Chester Parliament man of eminent note in his time say that the bill was penned and passed in the Commons House in the name of the Sabbath day and I have read that when an Act was made for reformation of abuse by profanation of the Sabbath l In a MS. of Doct. Twisse concerning the Sabbath Doct. Lake Bishop of Bath and Wells was somewhat eager to have it called by the name of Sabbath and it had not been the worse if that reverend Father had been allowed as a Godfather to give the name and title in the Statute Thirdly though some prime persons of the upper House thought it fit in the Act to make use rather of the word Sunday and Lords day then of the word Sabbath it doth not follow they disallowed or condemned the use of that word for they were not ignorant of his Majesties Proclamation and Briefes calling our weekly Holiday by the name Sabbath nor how the name and day were incorporated into our Communion Booke with a prayer at the end of the fourth Commandement for pardon of profanation past and for grace to shun the like in time to come nor that that Commandement as well as the rest was a part of the common Catechisme prescribed for the instruction of children before their confirmation Fourthly they might haply mention the day wee observe for a Sabbath by the name of Sunday because that name was used in the Statute of the 5. and 6. Stat. 5. 6. Ed. 6. c. 3. p. 133 of Edward the sixth wherein it was enacted that all Sundaies in the yeare should be kept holy and by the name Lords day because that is the name which S. John giveth it Revel 1.10 and which the Latine Church most used to distinguish it from the Saturday Sabbath and for the name Sabbath they might at that time forbeare it First because these two names chosen for these reasons were sufficient to make it well enough known unto all Secondly because the name Sabbath in the Communion Booke was like to bee upheld with so much honour and reputation so long as the fourth Commandement is a part of the Liturgy and Catechisme and both of them are in force and use that there was no such need to grace it with a particular mention in the Act as the other two titles yet if all three had been brought to a serious consultation for the choice and use of one above the rest the name Sabbath of right might have had the preheminence and so much I hope to manifest in the next Chapter CHAP. XXVI A comparison of the names Sabbath Lords day and Sunday with a resolution of the Question for the name Sabbath as the best and fittest to be the most usuall title of our weekly Holiday THough all the three names be lawfull enough and may each of them as just occasion requireth bee used without either sinne or scandall if there be not more fault in the mind of the speaker or hearer then in the words themselves yet since they are not all at such an equipoize for sense or acceptation but that there may be observed a preheminence among them which may incline the custome of speech to one more then to another thereafter as it is apprehended when the name is uttered or heard It will bee a matter of some use to observe the importance and prelation of these names so farre as to resolve which of them in our Church and age is most sit to become most common among us Names are of chiefe accompt for these seven particulars First for Antiquity secondly for Authority thirdly for Significancy fourthly for Facility to the speaker fifthly for Acceptability with the hearer sixthly for Frequency seventhly for Efficacy First if we compare them for Antiquity the name Sunday in the language of the world is more ancient then Lords day the name Lords day in the language of the Church a more ancient name then Sunday for we find the Lords day in Revelat. 1.10 about the 94. yeare after Christ but the first mention of Sunday as a Christian Holiday is
in Justin Martyrs 2d. Apol. ad Antoninum pium about the yeare 150. but the name Sabbath for a weekly Holiday is ancienter then them both Secondly if we compare them for Authority we may consider it in a double sense as divine and humane First by divine Authority the Sabbath and Lords day have the best warrant for they are both Scripture names and the name Sunday is not so I confesse in the translation of the Bible published in King Henry the eight his daies anno 1540. before which Archbishop Cranmer prefixed a Preface the words of Saint John Revel 1.10 are rendred thus I was in the spret on a Sunday as I noted before but in the originall there is not that word which signifieth either Sun or Son and in all other translations that I have seen it is rendred according to the originall Lords day and not Sunday Secondly the name Sabbath for a weekly Holiday is in the fourth Commandement of the Decalogue the greatest warrant of Authority that can be thrice mentioned neither the name Lords day nor Sunday are so And for humane Authority in the Liturgy of our Church the name Sabbath and Sunday are both mentioned and the name Lords day to my remembrance not at all In the Canons of the Church though the name Sabbath for the English edition as I have already observed be not omitted the names Sunday or Lords day are more often mentioned and in the Latine Canons the title Lords day onely Thirdly if we compare them for significancy that swayeth the preheminence by three respects First by Dignity secondly Propriety thirdly Perspicuity First for Dignity the name Lords day hath prelation over the other two and carrieth a signification of his dignity who is Lord of all both Angels Men and Divels and imports with his person his absolute Lordship over the world especially over his Church and the name Sunday sheweth his illustrious excellency if wee understand the terme according to the Prophet Malachy for the Sunne of Righteousnesse but the name Sabbath in its Grammaticall sense signifieth onely Rest which is in dignity inferiour to them both Secondly for Propriety that is to be considered as opposed either to figurativenesse or to community taking proper for that which is not figurative the name Sabbath signifying in the Grammaticall sense a literall rest which is required on an holiday is a more proper word then either of the other which are not well understood without a figure for wee call the Sabbath Lords day by an a For all dayes are the Lords but this by an especiall eminency Antinomasie and Sunday by a b In the sense of the Heathens who dedicated the day to the Sun and thence gave it that name Metonymie or c In the religious sense in the Prophet Malach. c. 4. v. 2. Metaphor But taking propriety as opposed to generality or community the names Lords day and Sunday as in application to dayes are more proper and particular noting a set and certaine day in the weeke viz. that which wee Christians celebrate and none other as the d Soveraigne Antidote against Sabbatary errors pag. 7. Authour of the soveraigne Antidote well observeth Whereas Sabbath hath been a name for any holiday which may fall out any day of the weeke In which respect if there had not been other considerable reasons to the contrary hee had well resolved that when wee speake of a time of rest undeterminately and in generall the name Sabbath is the fittest the other two Lords day and Sunday when we speake determinately of that day which is observed in the Christian Church Thirdly For Perspicuitie that is most perspicuous which is least ambiguous so is the name Sunday which presently points all to the day wee observe but the names Sabbath and Lords day are not at all times and in all places so cleare since the name Sabbath hath beene for a long time taken for Saturday and the name Lords day hath beene taken not onely for the weekly Sabbath of the Resurrection but also for the day of Christs Nativity Passion Ascension and last Judgement as hath beene shewed in the second Chapter Besides the Apostle saith there bee Lords many 1 Cor. 8.5 and the more they bee the more ambiguous is the name whereof that word maketh up the one halfe Yet to say the truth in our Church and age they are all perspicuous and cleere enough so that there is scarce any one so silly but hee presently knoweth if hee heare the name Sabbath Lords day or Sunday what day of the week is understood by them Fourthly If wee compare them for facilitie or readinesse of speech the names Sabbath day or Sunday are more apt to be taken up as when wee speake of the weekly holiday past or to come it is readier to say and withall more distinctly understood the last Sabbath or the last Sunday next Sabbath or next Sunday some Sabbath or some Sunday as in his Majesties Briefes fore-noted then the last Lords day or the next Lords day or some Lords day Fifthly If for acceptation with speaker or hearer they are every one of them single for the most part of better relish then the other two with some or other some like best of the name Sabbath some of the name Lords day some of Sunday and by that wee have observed of each of them before it appeareth that there are many of the better sort of men who stand divided in their inclinations and prelations according to the diversity of the titles fore-mentioned and yet when two holidaies were observed in a week the name Lords day for the day wee celebrate was most acceptable to most men and since they have all of them beene taken to indifferent use by the wiser sort it hath been lesse obvious to exception then either the name Sabbath or Sunday have beene while some though without just cause have charged the one with Judaisme the other with Paganisme which is worse since our Religion hath more affinity with Jewish then with Heathenish principles Sixthly For frequencie or community of use all in our Church are bound to assent unto the name Sabbath and to use it also by the obligation that tyeth them to the Liturgy and Catechisme of the Church and as Religion hath advanced so hath that name prevailed and bin most frequently used by the religious of our Church untill that a very few yeers agoe some tooke up such exceptions against it as have beene seene in the precedent Discourse which either reason may work out or time wear out of mens opinions as in the title Lords day hath come to passe for that at at the first did not passe without cavill and contempt for in the memory of some yet alive many were as much offended suspecting a tang of excessive precisenesse that some said Lords day for Sunday as any now are at those who say rather Sabbath then either Seventhly and lastly If wee compare the three names for
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
Christian Church first giveth the Lords day a reall preeminence above the old Sabbath saying f M. J. Walker in his book of the Doctrine of the Sabbath p. 89.90 that the old Sabbath had no other light nor life in it but onely from obscure promises and dark shadowes through which Christ was seen as things afarre off are seene and in the starre-light nights but the Lords day the first day of the weeke hath light and life from the Sunne of Righteousnesse who in it rose up to bee the light of life to all Nations And after that hee giveth it a nominall preheminence under the title Lords day g Ib. p. 90 91. God saith hee hath given it a most honourable name and title above all the daies of the weeke for the holy Evangelist and divine Apostle Saint John who was the intimate beloved and bosome Disciple of the Lord and did best know his minde calls it the Lords day Revel 1.10 and the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lord is the same in signification with Gods proper Name Jehovah and most commonly is used in the new Testament to expresse that sacred Name And if that day and name both be more excellent then that of the old Testament the denomination should be taken according to it and so we should call it rather Lords day then Sabbath To which I answer First That howsoever the new Sabbath bee in many respects more excellent then the old yet the name Sabbath may be very agreeable to them both Secondly that if name Lords day be a more excellent name then the name Sabbath it doth not follow it should be more usuall ordinary for there be many other intimatious of moment for the use of a name as before we have noted and for instance though the name Sonne of God bee a more excellent name then Sonne of man yet our Saviour who best knew how to speake for he spake as no man ever did John 7.46 called himselfe oftner Son of man then Son of God Thirdly the name Sabbath doth import more clearly and assuredly a weekly Holiday as wee observe it then the name Lords day doth for that is questionable as before wee have shewed whether it be to be taken for the day of our Saviours Resurrection or no and if that be resolved on then whether it note that individuall day onely on which he arose or other daies also that succeed it and if others whether onely an Anniversary day as Easter or a weekly day as the Sabbath is and hath been since it was first ordained but the word Sabbath without all question signifieth a day of Rest among sixe daies of labour and so one set day within the circle of the weeke Fourthly the name Sabbath being the title of the fourth Commandement which is the best warrant for a weekly Holiday and which prescribeth our duty both for what we must forbeare and what performe and presseth it by many effectuall reasons there is great reason that it should bee more used then any other which in such materiall considerations is not comparable to it Fifthly the name Sabbath guiding us to the fourth Commandement will bring us readily to the title Lords day as before hath been observed but the name Lords day in that text where it is noted viz. Revel 1.10 the chiefe if not the onely text for that title in the New Testament giveth none intimation of a Sabbath neither in Deed nor in Name therefore the name Sabbath as more significant and monitory is fitter for instruction and use then the name Lords day is Sixthly for such reasons as these or some other of like importance the fore-cited Authour useth the name Sabbath more frequently throughout his whole booke then any other whatsoever and setteth it as the title in the highest place of every page though no man expresse a dearer affection to the dignity of the Lords day then he doth Lastly he so far approves of the name Sabbath for our weekly Holiday that he setteth upon them who say the Lords day was not called Sabbath in the Primitive times next to the Apostles nor since by any but onely Jewish Sabbatharians with some sharp termes calling them h M. Walker in his Doctrine of the Sabb. ch 16. p. 113. but pag. 112 of the impression at London 1641. Adversaries of a bold and impudent face who make that objection Thus farre the exceptions against the name Sabbath both simple and comparative with other titles Though I have set my wits on worke on the Antisabbatarian side both to multiply fortifie objections against that name as applyed to the day of our Christian devotion I can find nothing more which is of any weight or worth to bee objected or answered concerning the comparison of the names of Sabbath Sunday and Lords day and the resolution for the name Sabbath of which we may now I hope without all appearance of partiality or presumption conclude That the name Sabbath is of best use to support the true Doctrine of our Christian Holiday both for the time and tenure of it for discovery of duties required on it and for incitement to the conscionable practice of them accordingly and therefore notwithstanding the contrary determination of i Better by farre and farre lesse danger to be feared in calling it the Sunday as the Gentiles did and as our Ancestors have done before us then calling it the Sabbath as too many doe and on lesse Authority nay contrary indeed to all Antiquity and Scripture Doct. Heyl. hist Sab. part 2. c. 2. p. 163 164. Doctor Heylin to bee most used when we speake of the weekly Holiday of the Christian Church yet without prejudice to the liberty of any one to call it Lords day or Sunday as just occasion shall incline them or religious discretion induce them to terme it CHAP. XXVII A briefe accommodation of this Nomenclature or nominall discourse to some purposes of importance concernning the Sabbath HE that doth reade thus farre will not I hope conceive I have need to make an Apology for this discourse as if it were some idle Logomachy or word war which the Apostle forbids 1 Tim. 6.4 for First it may serve to stint the strife of words Esay 29.21 which some have already raised up making a man an offender for a word which affords not a syllable of just exception or offence and to prevent the like in after times since by what we have said our lawfull liberty is fully declared and firmly assured so that we may without doubt or danger of sinne call the time or day we celebrate Lords day Sabbath day or both as the holy place of Gods publicke service was called the Lords house and the Temple And for the name Sunday wee have shewed the lawfull use of it if it be not brought in like the Sunne with a burning glasse as Doctor Pocklington doth to scortch the name Sabbath or to cast a shadow upon it to conceale or obscure
Lords sacred ordinance of the Sabbath Some endeavouring to undermine and supplant the fabricke of it from the very foundation on which it is set and others piling upon it so many over rigorous positions and observances as with their sad and sullen weight may incline it to crack and fall asunder Thirdly The necessary instruction of the people in the heads of Catechisme pressed by especiall command of our dread Soveraigne that late was and of his Majestie that now is maketh the Decalogue and within it the Commandement of the Sabbath a more common Theme for popular discourses and therewith all a more fruitfull ground of erroneous descants then heretofore if in such variety of opinions which cast a mist upon the truth there be not some more means to cleare it and to guide men to that choice from which too many now endeavour to seduce them Fourthly I observed that as some set their wits on worke to impeach the piety of the doctrine of the Sabbath so many set their wils either to worke or play and so to pursue their profit or pleasure as to make the Lords holiday every way in practice as unholy and profane as in position it could be Irreligion and Libertinisme being a descent from Sion hill which hath no need of hands to thrust it downewards towards hell It was well said of a grave c The Bish of S. Asaph Prelate when hee heard of some too indulgent doctrines this way that therules of manners should be strict for mens behaviour would incline fast enough to loosenesse of themselves Besides there is a sinister zeale in some against superstition which proveth many times prejudiciall to the practice of religion for as our late learned d King James his Cign cant â— 8 Soveraigne hath observed under colour of weeding out superstition it will pluck up by the roots many plants of Paradise And wee see but too many ill harvest men using the weeding hooke to the wheat which should bee exercised onely to plucke up the tares of whose ill worke I shall beware for my selfe and I hope shall give such warning unto others as may not only withhold them from the like but may bee a direction to the simpler sort what to take and what to take heed of as either of them shall bee offered to their choice Fifthly While men make no scruple to violate the holy rest of the Lords day they become the more bold to disobey their Superiours whether supreme or subordinate for Mat. 22. v. 31. as giving to God the things that are Gods and unto Caesar the things that are Caesars are sociable duties and well sort together so commonly where dues are denyed detained from God the King is not like to receive his right either for aid or obedience for the fourth and fifth Commandements are so neere neighbours that the like lot whether of observance or of sleighting is like to befall them which wee may well perceive if wee doe but observe how our people have lately fallen not onely from piety but from civility and broke out into manifold offences against the lawes of the King since they were taught a lesson too easily learned to make light of this holy Commandement of God Nor is there any cause to expect any better behaviour among them untill their consciences let loose from this bond bee tucked up to it by a more religious regard both of the authority and observation of the Sabbath Then may wee have more hope and not till then under our Governours for whom the Apostle prescribeth all manner of prayer to lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godlinesse and honesty 1 Tim. 2.1 2. Sixthly These motives were the more sharpned and I the more quickned for the safer conduct of them that doubt to set out my light whether candle or torch I must leave to other men to judge by severall sollicitations of many religious and learned friends but especially by a joynt Letter the copie whereof I shall present to the view of the Reader next after this Preface sent me under the hands of many of my Brethren of the Ministery of whom there are divers for their gifts and parts of especiall note and all of them painefull and profitable Preachers in their places and such as build up the walls of our Jerusalem as with both hands with sound doctrine and religious conversation Seventhly Since that time I have received not onely incouragement but incitement to the same service with a Manuscript Treatise of the Sabbath from the hand of a great Prelate a glorious Starre of the first magnitude shining illustriously in the Church both by his admirable learning and answerable living Eighthly I was not a little provoked to lend my poore ability to the protection of the truth herein by the importunate pressing of Master Breerewood whereby Master Nic. Byfield was forced to the field when hee had no thought nor minde to fight as wee shall seasonably note in another place for when hee had excused himselfe for being unwilling to enter the lists of controversie with him as wanting warrant to leave his calling and to spend his time about such confutations Mast Breerwood returnes upon him with this patheticall expostulation e M Breerw his first Treat of the Sabbath p. 89 90. How Sir is the defending of the doctrine you have taught a leaving of your calling Are you called to teach the truth and not to defend it Are not Gods Ministers to defend Christs truth is that no part of their calling or have you no warrant say you for such confutations What no warrant to confute them in the behalfe of the truth whom ye yet condemn for adversaries of the truth Why Christ is the authour of the truth John 14.6 or the truth it selfe you are a Minister of Christ there is a warrant for you The holy Ghost is the spirit of truth Ephes 1.13 and he sanctified you to that Ministry there is a warrant for you The Gospel is the word of truth you are a Preacher of the Gospel there is a warrant for you The Church is the Pillar of truth you are a Pillar of the Church there is a more warrant for you For would not the Authour of the truth the spirit of truth c. and to all these you owe your service and allegiance have their Minister to defend the truth A strange thing that Christs Ministers should have no warrant to confute oppositions made against the truth who are bound to give their lives in defence of it Must they spend their life and bloud for confirmation of it and may they not spend a little labour and time about such confutations So farre he Where whether the goodnesse of Master Breerwood his cause or the apprehension of his owne better abilities and more list and leasure then Master Bifield had to reciprocate disputes of this sort did more prompt him to these braving provocations may bee better discerned when
for none was ever so raised none ever raised such a one and so in this respect even by his owne argument the dayes are even but herein the day of his Resurrection hath the advantage of dignity above the day of his Birth by his Resurrection hee was declared mightily to bee the Sonne of God Rom. 1.4 for hee rose by his owne power as none ever did and by his Birth hee was in some respects declared scarce to bee the Sonne of man for as Saint Luke sheweth chap. 2. ver 7. hee was borne in a stable among the beasts and laid in a manger for a cradle Hereof saith the learned Bishop g Bp. Andr. Serm. 12. on the Nat. p. 114. The Divell breathed upon our first Parents with Eritis sicut dii and infected them with it to make themselves equall with God which is plaine robbery for that robbery of theirs was the Sonne of God robbed as I may say and quite spoyled of his glory for their puffing up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hee was made empty for their lifting up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was hee brought low for their comparing with God came hee to compared with the beasts that perish lay in their manger Wee see this saith hee preaching of his Birth-day and therewith we may observe that though hee were a Lord hee shewed himselfe no Lord in this respect as at his Resurrection hee did and for the title of the day we celebrate to that title in Saint John as by a peculiar right the Bishop is expresse and peremptory as by h B. Andrewes in his Speech in the Starre-Chamber against Master Trask pag. 73 74. his words will appeare which here we forbear since we shall more seasonably bring them in another place Thirdly For the day of Christs Passion i Mr. Braburne his defence of his Discourse pag. 249 250. Hee saith also for Friday May not a man say thus Friday must bee a Sabbath day because on Friday Christ suffered and Thursday must bee a Sabbath day because on that Christ ascended thus wee may as well have three Sabbaths in a weeke as this one Lords day Master Braburne Defence page 249. Master Braburne saith that Friday was the greatest day for on it Christ bore the unsupportable wrath of his Father which made him cry out My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee But on the Resurrection day there was onely Christs soule put into his body and so revived again Now it was a greater matter as I think saith hee every one will confesse for the Deity to support the humanity on his Passion day then to put his soule into his dead body on the Resurrection day To which I answer that though it bee granted to be a ″ I say greater not harder for to the divine Power which is insinite nothing is hard but all things not only possible but easie greater worke for the Divinity to support the humanity in the Passion of our Saviour then to restore his soule to his body at his Resurrection from the grave yet was not the day of his Passion so fit to be set up for a constant Festivity which was to bee celebrated with rejoycing for the day of our Saviours Passion as the k Bish Andr. his Serm. on Joh. 8.56 p. 64. Bish of Winchester well noteth was no such day nay saith he that day was none of his for he saith to them that took him haec est hor a vestra this is your houre so theirs it was not his and if not his not so fit to be called by his name the Lords day Secondly It was not his day nay it was no day neither but the houre and power tenebrarum of darknesse This is your houre and the power of darknesse Luk. 22.53 and as he there addeth so night rather then day Thirdly But without all question no day of joy the heavens were darkned the earth quaking the stones renting every one going their wayes beating their breasts for sorrow that was no sight to rejoyce at that no day to rejoyce in Thus farre that reverend Prelate Fourthly Nor did the day of Ascension though an high day ever ascend to that height of this titular honour howsoever l Epiphan orat de Ascens Epiphanius preferre it before the Nativity Resurrection and the Feast of Pentecost to be stiled in the usuall language of the learned Fathers of the Church by the name of the Lords day as I shall shew anon as the day of the Resurrection was nor need it seeme strange that rather that day then either the day of his Passion on the one side or of his Ascension on the other should have the dignity of that denomination for it holds the middle place though with a different distance and the middle place for the most part is most honourable as in the request of the mother of Zebedees children for the next seats to our Saviour in his Kingdome though it were a presumptuous suit ″ Mat. 20. vers 21. that one might sit on his right hand and the other on his left yet it implyed a little modestie and good manners that shee left the middle place as the prime place to Christ himselfe as a Judge on the Bench with his Assistants and Assessors on either side Secondly In this situation of the Resurrection of our Saviour it hath on the one side the black shadow of his Passion on the other the reslexive rayes of his Ascension to add to its glory for so soone as hee had raised himselfe from the dead his glorified bodie had its qualification for ascent and was readily disposed thereunto if the time had beene come and when it did come as his Resurrection made an addition of honour to his Passion for it gave proof that his life was rather freely given by himselfe then forcibly taken from him by others so did his Ascension to his Resurrection for that gave evidence that his bodie was raised with all those excellent qualifications which made it meet to mount up on high and much more sit for heaven then for earth and though hee tarried still below in his person his Resurrection was not the lesse glorious for that the Angels of heaven are as excellent spirits when they come downe Jacobs ladder as when they goe up Thirdly Though the Ascension of our Saviour locally considered be an high degree of elevation above his Resurrection yet Theologically taken it hath not such an exaltation of dignity above it for his high humility in conversing still among men on earth when hee might have immediately mounted up into heaven addeth much to the honour of his Resurrection for hereby as ″ Te ad siderâ— tollit humus Plin. Panegyr Plinie saith in his Panegyriâ—k to Trajane may the highest grow yet higher when hee comes downe and so may wee say when they keep downe below the elevation of his owne advancement And who would not think Solomon worthy of as much honour
honouring God upon his knees 2 Chron. 6.13 as sitting upon his Throne being no lesse a King on earth but an holyer humbler subject to the King of heaven in the one posture then in the other If altitude of place must carry away the preheminence of things and persons the fowles of the aire would flie up with it and leave men as their inferiours on earth below who by Gods primitive appointment were to bee their lords and to have dominion and soveraigntie over them Fourthly But howsoever the comparison betwixt the Resurrection and Ascension go in respect of themselves yet in respect of men who are to make observation of them both the Resurrection is more remarkeable in these respects First In that the Resurrection was made knowne unto more by his severall apparitions both to more in number and more oft in time for hee was seene at one time to no fewer then five hundred brethren at once 1 Cor. 15.6 His Ascension was seen but by a few viz. but by his Apostles Act. 1.2.9 Secondly As for number so for time his Resurrection was manifested more often then his Ascension for as Saint Luke observeth in that Chapter by many infallible tokens hee was seene of them by the space of forty dayes and spake of the things appertaining to the Kingdome of God But his Ascension was sudden in a manner in a moment Act. 1.9 Thirdly As Christs Resurrection was manifested to more and more often so more clearely also as the Sunne at his rising appeares to us more fully then when it is ascended to high noone And it is to bee observed that whereas our Saviours Resurrection is set downe with assured evidence of sense for hee was said to bee seene by many infallible tokens Acts 1.3 yea and hee was felt too for though hee said to Mary Joh. 20.17 Touch mee not for I am not yet ascended yet did Thomas touch him and put his hand into his side vers 27. But for his Ascension it was more sudden and at further distance and it is noted that it was lesse in sight for when hee ascended saith S. Luke a cloud took him out of their sight Act. 1.9 Fourthly Though the Ascension touching the particular day of the moneth be thought to have been the m Christus mortuus Martii 25. resurrexit Martii 27. ascendit Maii 5. Lorin in Act. 1. v. 11. pag. 33. sixth of May and for the day of the weeke by probable conjecture be supposed to have been Thursday for it is but probable else Saint Chrysostome would not have said as n Chrysost apud Lorin Ibid. hee did that hee ascended on the Sabbath nor would it bee doubted as it is by divers whether the forty dayes from our Saviours Resurrection to his Ascension mentioned Act. 1.3 be to be reckoned inclusively as taking in both ends of that accompt or exclusively for the one or both yet neither that viz. the day of his Ascension nor good Friday nor any other day which in any sense is called the Lords day is so often and so expressely and punctually noted with its place and order in the weeke as the day on which Christ rose from the dead which is precisely observed by all the Evangelists therefore none of them in all respects is so fit to bee set up for a weekly Holiday and to be named the Lords day as that is and being now weekely observed as the dayes of the Birth Passion and Ascension of Christ are not it hath best right to the red Letter and to bee eminent above the rest both in brightnesse of colour and dignity of denomination and so to bee called the Dominicall day or the Lords day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both before and above all the rest which title it may hold now not onely by originall right but by ancient prescription as we shall shew in another place Nor can this title bee so shrunke up in that place where it is mentioned scil Rev. 1.10 as to be confined to the day of the Lords appearance and revelation to Saint John as o Sic dies hic à Johanne Dominici dici appellatione insignitus dicatur quòd in eo Deus quam admiranda pro Ecclesiae effet salute facturus declarabat Apud Rob. Locum of fig. veri Sabbatism pag. 51. some would have it for it is opposite to common sense which may appear thus First The Apostle beginneth the narration of the vision with the time I was in the Spirit on the Lords day as not onely distinguishing the time from the Apparition but premising it as being indeede before it Secondly He mentioneth the day as a time known already to the Church as those that report to others a thing done at such a time presuppose that that time is not unknowne unto them but the day of his Revelation to Saint John was unknowne and the day of the Lords Resurrection was not therefore it is much more like the day of his Resurrection then of his Apparition to Saint John was intended by the Apostle Thirdly If the Lords day and the day of Apparition in this place were the same it were no Revelation or giving of light to the matter but the drawing of a curtaine in stead of the opening of a casement for this glosse doth rather darken then cleare the text Fourthly To understand by the title Lords day Rev. 1.10 the day of his Apparition to Saint John or the day wherein hee was ravished in spirit is as some conceive to make a meere p Si pro die Apparitionis solùm intelligatur tautalogia erit divina sapientiâ indigna sicâ—enim esset sensus In die apparitionis hujus vel in die quo correptus eram à Spiritu correptus cram à Spiritu Inquisit de Sabbat per Nath. Eal. pag. 86. tautalogie in the text as if it should bee read thus In the day of this Apparition hee appeared unto mee or in the day I was in the spirit I was in the spirit So the Authour of the Booke called Inquisitio de Sabbato wherein hee keepeth closer to Gomarus his Comment then Gomarus his Comment to the Text of S. John Fifthly Before Doctor Gomarus not any at least none that was held for an orthodoxe Doctor did ever light upon such an exposition as this viz. that by the Lords day Revel 1.10 should bee meant the day of the Lords apparition to S. John which the Doctor himselfe seemes sometimes not so well to like but that for right to this title Lords day q Gomar Invest Sab. cap. 6. Thes 36. p. 75. hee preferreth the day of Christs Nativity the day of his appearing in the veile of his slesh before the day of his appearing by revelation to Saint John as wee have noted his opinion before and withall so farre as it proceedeth to the prejudice of the day wee plead for confuted it And for the fancie both of Dr. Gomarus and Mr. Braburne that by the title Lords day
day for I finde it otherwise But c Dr. Rivet disscriat de orig Sab. cap. 10. pag. 180. Dr. Rivet replyeth very well whose answer I shall a little transpose and alter to make it more serviceable to the truth First That it is no marvell that Justin Martyr writing to an Heathen and discoursing with a Jew used such termes as they were best acquainted with and best liked of as did the Translater of the Bible out of which the Epistles and Gospels of our Liturgie were taken as we shall observe in the seventh Chapter and such was the name Sunday to the Heathens and the first day of the week to the Jewes and therefore which hee might further have observed out of d Justin Apol. ad Anson 2d. propè sin pag. 419. Justin speaking to the Gentiles hee calleth the day before it not the Sabbath though among the Religious it were both of most ancient and common use but Saturday or the day of Saturne Secondly Whereas Doctor Gomarus grounds the weight of his Argument upon Justin Martyrs accurate description of the rites of the Christian Religion as that if the name Lords day for the Christians weekly holiday had beene in use before that time in the Church it must either there bee mentioned or from the omission of it there it might well bee denyed to have beene the title of it in his time Doctor Rivet answereth by retortion of his reason out of Tertullian That when the Gentiles conceived from the Christians weekly Assemblies upon Sundaies c Tert. Apol. cap. 16. tom 2. pag. 632. that the Sun was the god they worshipped hee stands to the name with denyall of their sinister conceit of the Christians practice and takes not that occasion to tell them though it bee a better inducement then Justin had any in the place fore-alledged to mention the Lords day that they had another name for that day viz. the Lords day and another reason of their religious observation of it then they imagined viz. the memoriall of the Lords Resurrection their Lord and Saviour f An non hic erat opportunissimus declarandi locus Dr. Rivet ubi ante pag. 182. Here surely was a most meete place to have made some declaration of the day as under that title the Lords day and because hee did it not there will it follow that it was not in use in his time among the Christians the contrary will appeare by his Booke g Die Dominico jejunare nâ—sas ducimus vel de geniculis adorare Tertul. de corona milit cap. 3. com 1. pag. 747. de corona militis and h O melior sides nationum quae nullam solennitatem Christianorum sibi vendicar non Dominicum diem non Pentecosten Tert. de Idol cap. 14. tom 2. pag. 457. de Idololatria wherein having to do with Christians hee useth the name or title Lords day for the Christians weekly holiday And to answer both Doctor Gomarus and Master Braburne together the observation of i Bish Andrewes in his Speech in the Star-chamber against Master Trask pag. 73. 74. Bishop Andrewes is of some weight as himselfe setteth downe in these words This day this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 came to have the name of dies Dominicus in the Apostles time and is so expressely called by Saint John in the Revelation ch 1. ver 10. and that name from that day to this hath holden still with continuance of it from the Apostles age and may bee deduced downe from Fathers to Fathers even to the Councell of Nice and lower I trust saith hee we need not follow it no doubt is made since then by any one that hath read any thing Yet some raise a doubt upon the Constitution of Constantine by whose authority they say Sunday was made a generall and a publick holiday and with it Friday and both of them were to be observed weekly as k Euseb de vita Constantin l. 4. c. 18. p. 254. Eusebius sheweth why then may not Friday bee the day to which that title Lords day might belong especially since as in English wee commonly call it it hath an addition of especiall weight and worth good Friday good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by way of eminence and excellencie above all other dayes But notwithstanding this the day of the Resurrection hath the preheminence as in dignitie as before hath beene proved so in antiquitie perpetuitie and generalitie of solemne observation above all other dayes for it was a l Originem hujus denominationis ab ipso Apostolorum tempore accersendam omnibus ferè Scriptoribus placet D. Walaeus dissertat de quart praecept cap. 7. pag. 150. weekly holiday from the Apostles time as wee shall manifest elsewhere and though it were to gaine ground of the Jewish Sabbath but by degrees in Ignatius his time who lived in the first Centurie or hundred yeeres of Christianitie it was growne to that credit as not onely to bee well knowne by the name Lords day but to bee dignified with that royall title the Queene of daies as hath been observed and it is to bee noted that this Ignatius was his disciple who first used that title Lords day viz. the disciple of the Evangelist S. John and so was most like to know what day he meant by that appellation Secondly For that Decree of Constantine it was not made untill the fourth Century was begun above two hundred yeers after this of Ignatius Thirdly As Friday was made a weekely holiday much later then Sunday was not to stand upon comparisons betwixt Apostolicall and Imperiall powers for the making of holidaies in which respect Sunday hath the advantage above good Friday so hath Sunday continued much longer by many hundred yeers and hath been both for time more perpetuall and for place in the Christian Church more generall then Friday ever was And as the observation of that day hath been almost universall so hath the application of this title Lords day been unto it likewise for as Doctor m Omnes ferè sacrae Scripturae interpretes tam veteres quam recentiores de primo dic Septimanae intelligunt ac proinde nova planè interpretatio est corum qui Apocalypscos diem c. Wallaeus dissertat de quart praecept cap. 6. pag. 150. Walaeus noteth the deriving of the originall of that name from the Apostles time out of Apoc. 1.10 is approved almost by all Writers and Doctor ″ D. Heyl. Hist Sab. part 2. c. 1. ad sinem cap. p. 37. Heylin though otherwise farre from doting on the dignity of our weekly holiday not onely for the tenure of it but for the title too having referred the originall of it to the yeere of our Lord 94. wherein he followeth n M. Broad his MS. part 2. c. 10. p. 62. M. Broad his note upon it which sheweth but little good will unto it saith thus o D. Heyl. Hist Sab. part 2. a. 1. pag. 30. So long it
was scil the 94. yeare after Christ before wee finde the Church took notice of it by a proper name and when hee hath brought in the opinion of Gomarus against it with a smile as if hee meant to favour it hee puts it out againe with a frowne saying p D. Heyl. Hist Sab. part 2. c. 1. pag. 73. But touching this meaning i. e. of Doctor Gomarus applying of that name to the day of judgement which Saint John might see being rapt in Spirit as if it were come already wee will not meddle let them that owne it looke unto it the rather since Saint John hath generally beene expounded in the other sense by q Arethas Andr. Caesariens taken by D. Heyl. for two Writers are but severall names of the same Authour or Work in Vos his Thes de Advent Christ pag. 273. but the reconciliation may be that though the men were two the work in a manner was but one for Arethas Caesariens made a compendium out of the larger commentary of Andr. Caesariens Bellarm. de Eccles Script pag. 134. Arethas and Andr. Caesariensis upon the place and by Bede de Rat. Temp. cap. 6. and by the suffrage of the Church the best exposition of Gods Word wherein this day hath constantly since the time of that Apostle beene honoured by that name above other daies yea and r Qâ—ae ratio etsi non mihi sufficere videtur ad rejiciendum communem interpretationeÌ„ facilè concedam diem Dominicum eam significare quâ Dominus resurrexit c. D. Gomar def Invest Sab. c. 10. p. 133. Doctor Gomarus himselfe confesseth it to bee the common interpretation of those words the Lords day and that they signifie the day wherein Christ rose from the dead I need the lesse here to bring in a Catalogue of the names of the Ancients to this purpose they will come in to doe more service when wee treat of the Authority and Antiquitie of the day where we shall with one labour further cleare both the title and tenure of it by such testimonies as make indifferently for them both and for the present that which hath been said may I conceive be sufficient to secure the title of the Lords day to the day wee celebrate against such exceptions as have been taken by these two opposites Doctor Gomarus or Master Braburne and two more I think will hardly be found since the first spring of that day who have shut their eyes against such light of truth or opened their mouthes to speake or moved their pens to write in such sort against it as they two have done In whose confutation is virtually included an answer to that which Mr. Primrose since them hath affirmed by way of comparison of the daies of Christs Passion Ascension and of Pentecost viz. Å¿ M. Primrose part 3. c. 8. pag. 140. that the day of the Resurrection hath none advantage beyond the daies of Christs Passion Ascension or of Pentecost For it was saith hee inferiour to the day of Christs Passion in regard of the merit to purchase and to the day of Pentecost in regard of efficacie to communicate the spirituall and heavenly gifts the Ascension day is conforme unto it in the same correspondency both to the acquisition and to the execution of the establishment of the Church For disproofe whereof wee have already said enough save that wee must adde that which himselfe hath said viz. That though the Resurrection of our Saviour be not the merit of our Redemption but rather the reward of it as t Aquia part 3. quast 57. art 2. Aquinas resolveth of his Ascension yet it is a demonstration that our debt is paid as when u M. Primrose part 3. cap. 8. pag. 139. a debter commeth out of prison and that is matter of more manifest rejoycing and so the fitter ground for a solemne and sacred gratulation then the payment of a debt especially then such a payment as was so painfull and pensive as our Saviours Passion was And for the day of Pentecost of which alone wee have said nothing hitherto it may bee sufficient to alledge First ″ In die Dominico venisse Spiritum sanctum communis traditio est Lorin in Act. 1. ver 1. pag. 74. col 1. That many have and not without reason taken it to have beene the same day of the weeke which we call Lords day Secondly That no age since that time hath observed a weekly holiday upon that occasion as all ages from the Apostles time have done upon the Resurrection But x Ea discrepantia exigui est momenti quia in re ipsa est consensus Gomar cap. 10. pa. 132. Defens Investig Sab. Doctor Gomarus saith It is a difference of small moment since in the thing it selfe there is consent and if so there hath been much waste of words about it in drawing on the dispute thus farre Not so neither for First Wee have under the title of words and names made some preparations for materiall points that come in question for the words we have here used have not beene an empty sound without solide and reall notions under them Secondly It is not a matter of small moment to set seducing glosses upon that sacred text which in the controversie of the Christians weekely holiday hath alwayes beene of speciall note and use from the Apostles time to this day Thirdly If it were a small difference and drew after it none evill consequence at all as it doth for it layeth a stumbling block at the doore of the Sanctuary causing men to stop or stumble at the very entrance of the cause which for the new Testament if Testimonies bee taken in due order beginneth there it was no small fault in him and the other for a small difference to runne out of the road way from so good and so great company to tread out a Schismaticall track by themselves CHAP. VI. Of the name Sunday Whether wee may call our weekly holiday by that name Objections against the use of the name Sunday for our weekly holiday THe next name of note which is stuck at is the name Sunday whereof some make scruple as if it had in it as wee use it an unsavoury smack of heathenish superstition and some againe as if therein they bewrayed a spice of Puritan precisenesse flout at them as for negative nicety in their forbearance of it as one who was in his time a man of eminent mark in a pleasant Poëm which hee calleth Iter Boreale speaking of the Professors of N. a Towne where hee lodged in his Northern journey from Oxford among other particulars at which hee scoffed as savouring of too much precisenesse bringeth in this for one a Proque die Sabb. scelus est ibi dicere Sunday Dr. Eades in his â—er Boreale That to call the Sabbath by the name of Sunday they account a crime But against that name some in sober sadnesse have framed this Argument
same Religion with them which gave m Si diem Solis laetitiae indulgemus aliâ longè ratione quà m religione Solis c. Tertull. Apol. cap. 16. tom 2. pag. 632. Tertullian occasion to cleer himselfe and his fellow Christians from it by observing the difference betwixt themselves and those sun-burnt Idolaters who did indeed adore it as their god which they did not so by the retaining of idolatrous names of dayes it is conceived by divers as in part wee have shewed that some spice of that superstition is like to bee retained with no little prejudice to true Religion by keeping better names out of ordinarie use The Divell saith n D. bound on the Sab. part 1. pag. 13. Doctor bound caused the Mathematicians to call the first day of the weeke Sunday lest that any ignorant man hearing the name of the Lords day should inquire what that Lord was of whom the day was so called The o Rhem. Test cap. 1. ver 10. Rhemists dislike it in part for the same reason The name Sunday say they is an heathenish calling as well as all other of the week dayes bee in our language some imposed after the names of certaine Idols which the Saxons worshipped and to which they dedicated the dayes before they were Christians which have so long continued that p Profectò pudendum est simulque dolendum quòd non antehac data sint istis diebus Christiana nomina ne dii gentium inter nos tam memorabile monumentum haberent Polydor. Virg. de Invent. rer lib. 6. cap. 5. pag. 367. Polydore Virgil complaineth of it as matter of sorrow and shame to the Christian world that the dayes of the weeke have not hitherto been called by Christian but by heathen names whereby the Gentile gods have had too honourable a memoriall among us To which opinion q Doctor Fulkes answer to the Rhem. Test Rev. 1. vers 10. propè sinem Sect. 6. The like dislike is shewed by that other industrious Writer of our Church Doctor Willet Synops controvers quest 8. part 2. err 72. p. Dr. Fulke inclineth where he saith That the name of Sunday and the rest of the dayes were of heathenish beginning and therefore were better to be left off Here are then against those names severall sorts of Testimonies divine and humane and these both ancient and of later time Protestants and Papists and in these Testimonies are included sundry reasons against the name Sunday especially these First That it is of heathenish beginning Secondly That it hardneth men in Idolatry and hindreth the progresse of true Christianity Thirdly That it may bring those that use it into suspicion of heathenish superstition The Conclusion or Inference from these Premises will bee the forbearance of these names as r D. Fulke his answer to the Rhem. Test in Rev. 1.10 S. 6. Dr. Fulke would have it and the observation of some such Decree as is said to bee made by the Pope Silvester the first at the request of the Emperour Constantine which in f Durand rational l. 7. f. 426. pag. 1. Durandus t Polid. Virg. de Invent. rer l. 6. c. 5. p. 366. Polidore and u Rhem. in Luk. 24.1 ex Brev. Rom. Decem. 31. and in Rev. 1.10 Sect. 6. others wee finde to bee brought in thus Pope Silvester abhorring the Idolatrous appellation of daies and having a minde to reforme it was yet loath to imitate the nomenclature of the Jewes who reckoned the weeke thus the first of the Sabbath the second of the Sabbath c. I say the first of the Sabbath not the first after the Sabbath as the x Rhem. in Luk. 24. ver 1. Rhemists expound it for in the Jewish computation the Sabbath day was the last day of the seven and so the accomplishment of the whole weeke wherefore the word Sabbath is sometimes taken not for a day but for a weeke as Luk. 18.12 chap. 24.1 as our best English Translators render it and the accompt being made with such particular mention of the Sabbath every day it might bee a meanes daily to keepe in minde the memento of the fourth Commandement that all profanation of the day by provident forecast of secular affaires might be prevented and that other dayes of the week wearing as it were the Sabbaths livery they might bee so regulated with reference unto it that there might bee none occasion to make inchroachments upon it Notwithstanding this that Pope having no liking of the Jewish reckoning though with this intimation it did not deserve to be disliked nor yet of the Gentiles who count Sunday Munday c. gave them this numerall denomination calling the first day of the weeke prima feria or the Dominicall day the second secunda feria and so to the sixth naming the last of the seven by the old name Sabbath This is the most and worst that can be said against the usuall appellation of the dayes especially against the name Sunday which is the chiefe in acceptation with some and in exception with others Notwithstanding I conceive that in our times and in our Church the name Sunday is not so to be censured or shunned as by some it hath been and this will appeare chiefely by clearing it from such objections as are made against it which now wee shall offer to the judgement of the indifferent Reader CHAP. VII How farre it may bee lawfull to use Idolatrous names An Answer to the Objection against the name Sunday ANd first for the places of Scripture before alledged they doe not imply in their proprer sense so precise a prohibition of all names of idolatrous or otherwise of sinfull intimation or acception in all respects that it should be utterly unlawfull to mention them the name of evill is forbidden sometimes to make us more estranged from that which is evill yet not wholly and altogether For First An evill as it is evill may bee reproved and that under that name by which it is knowne so though the Apostle forbid the naming of fornication in his Epistle to the Ephes chap. 5. ver 3. yet himselfe nameth fornication and fornicator by way of reproofe well toward twenty times in his Epistles and in that very place hee could not so well have forbidden the thing it selfe if he had not at all made use of the name Secondly It may bee lawfull to mention an idolatrous name without reproofe as a M. Ainsworth in Mr. Pagets arrow against the Brownists p. 142 143. Master Ainsworth though a Brownist and so a vehement adversary to all appearance of idolatry acknowledgeth and giveth instance in the names Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzer and others to which may be added the idolatrous name of the Ship wherein Paul was carried which hee called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Castor Pollux Act. 28.11 and this in an idolatrous sense though without either approbation or reproofe of Idolatry Thirdly An idolatrous name may bee
the matter this name may give us light to see the shining beauty of that day M. Herb. Temple pag 66.67 and in a religious and sound sense to say as that pious and ingenious Poet doth O day most calme and bright The week were dark but for thy light the other dayes and thou Make up one man See many pertinent conformities betwixt Christ and the Sun in Dr. Tailors Meditat. on the creatures from pa. 44. to 55. at the end of his treatise of the practice of Repentance whose face thou art Knocking at heaven with thy brow The working dayes are but thy back part The Sundayes of mans life Thredded together on times string Make bracelets to adorne the wife Of the eternall glorious King Thou art the day of mirth And where the work-daies traile on ground Thy flight is higher as thy birth O let mee take thee at thy bound Leaping with thee from seven to seven Till that we both being toss'd from earth Fly hand in hand to heaven If yet any bee afraid of Idolatry or Superstition in the use of the word and wee may so shun one superstition as to slip into another as Pope Sylvester did when he left the old names of the dayes of the week and called them ferias that m Feriae dictae à feriendis victimis Polidor Virg. de Invent. rer l. 6. c. 5. pag. 367. The like hath Dr. Fulke observed out of Isidor orig l. 6. Sext. Pomp. de verb. veteribus in Rev. c. 1. v. 10. Sect. 6. word as some give the Etymologie of it being very much stained with idolatrous bloud wee may call the day Sunday as n Dominica nobis ideo venerabilis atque solennis est quia in ea Salvator velut Sol oriens discussis infernorum tenebris luce Resurrectionis emicuit propterea ipsa dies ab hominibus dies Solis vocatur quòd ortus eum Sol Justitiae Christus illuminet Ambr. Serm. l. 6. tom 3. pag. 286. Saint Ambrose o Aug. cont Faust Manich. tom 6. lib. 18. c. 5. p. 420. Saint Augustine and others do with especiall respect to that of the Prophet Malachy chap. 4. ver 2. where Christ is called the Sunne of Righteousnesse enlightning as the Sunne doth every one that cometh into the world Joh. 1.9 And if the Lord bee likened to the Sun and for that likenesse be called by that name as he is by David Psal 19 the Lords day as his day may in that sense bee called Sunday and so the title will not as Dr. Bound feareth lead us from the Lord but light us to him Hereto if wee add Saint Hieromes note upon the text in Malachy the name Sunday may bee improved to a more profitable use thus p Orietur Sol Justitiae quiverè omnia indicabit nec bona nec mala nec virtutes nec vitia latere patietur Hier. in Mal. 4.2 tom 6. pag. 365. col 2. The Lord as the Sun will bring every thing to light so that as he saith he will suffer neither good nor bad vertue nor vice any more to lye hid I will say no more for the warrant of this word Sunday for I think I need not save that it hath had the honour to bee many times named in the publick Liturgie of the Church of England and hath beene allowed by divers who were so farre estranged from that grosse Idolatry of the heathens in offering up Sacrifice to the Sun that they offered themselves to be sacrificed in the fire for the Sonne of God rather then they would yeeld to the Idolatry of the Papists for there were of those that approved of the Communion Booke in King Edwards dayes who suffered martyrdome in the dayes of Queene Mary and in that Book the name Sunday is brought in in the titles of the Epistles and Gospels five and twenty severall times in order without interruption besides that it is mentioned often also in other places of the same Booke and with that Book for this note agree our Service Books of all editions in the dayes of Queene Elizabeth King James and our Soveraigne that now is And that the name Sunday was taken up by them who first penned the Communion Book not as a profane but as a Scripture name it is very probable by this The Epistles and Gospels in the Communion Booke agree with the ancient Translation of the Bible printed in the yeere 1540. to which Archbishop Cranmer prefixed a Preface and that Translation rendereth Saint John Revel 1.10 I was in the Spirit upon a Sunday So also in 1 Cor. 16.2 q In Master Tindall his second edition of his Translation printed 1540. hee useth the same word thus Upon some Sunday c. 1 Cor. 16.2 Upon some Sunday let every one of you put aside c. Wherein the Translator descended to the capacity of simple persons to whom the day in those times was best knowne by that name Of that Translation is the Bible of the Chapelrie of Warburton in Cheshire which is the eldest of that sort and best accordeth with the Service book in use of any that I have seene That which hath beene said on both sides if duely considered will serve to commend a caveat unto us against that fault which the Prophet Isaiah reproveth in making a man an offendor for a word Isa 29.21 either for not speaking of a word as those who with some scruple of conscience doe forbeare the name Sunday whom for Saint Hieromes and Saint Augustines sake as before wee have produced their Authorities wee should not too sharply censure or for speaking of a word as if men could not name it without some savour of Pagan superstition Whereas the common people use it out of common custome and without any intention or intimation of ill and the wiser sort may well bee thought to mention it with an intimation of good as out of Saint Ambrose and Saint Hierome we have observed And so wee will shut up all for this question of the name Sunday with a conclusion like that which the Apostle maketh concerning the difference of meates Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not and let not him that eateth not judge him that eateth Rom. 14.3 So let not him who useth the word Sunday despise him as foolishly precise that useth it not and let not him who useth it not judge him as carelesly prophane that useth it since in that sense wherein wee have taken it there is neither duty nor sinne either in the use or forbearance of it CHAP. VIII Of the name Sabbath And first of the writing Sabboth Sabaoth and Sabbath which of them is the right And by occasion thereof some observations of skill and ignorance of the originall Tongues THere is difference though not much controversie for it goeth rather by a diverse practice then by an adverse position about the writing of the word more about the etymologie but most and that which is of
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
touching that number which seduced his opinion to that mis-conceipt besides that the congruity of the word in sound and confining of the weeke to that number of dayes both in the commandement and common practice might readily incline a man to that imagination for even those fables both of Appion the Grammarian and Justine the Historian before mentioned how wide soever they wander from the truth of the Sabbath in other points keepe within the compasse of the septenary number which is as a girdle of the dayes of the weeke of which the Sabbath is as a golden claspe or buckle binding them together Wee have reserved the best derivation as our Saviour did the best wine John 2. for the last place it is of the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cessavit quievit hath rested which rendred with exact correspondence to the Hebrew characters should be written ″ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Schabbath but for sweeter sound somewhat is abated of compleat expression and so it is usually written in the ″ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greek translation of the old and the Greeke edition of the new Testament and the Latines in conformity to it rather then to the originall use the word Sabbatum and wee our English word Sabbath which as a participle in the former syllable taketh part with the Hebrew Greek and Latine in the later with the Hebrew onely And very fitly doth a name of rest agree with the day of rest or cessation from secular labours as the Sabbath day is and of this deduction and doctrine it is agreed by the best Divines on both sides In respect of this both rest and ranke the seventh being after all the rest hath the Planet Saturne a name of neere cognation to it signifying ease and lazinesse as e Planeta sedeÌ„tarius Gualper Syllog vocum exotic part prior pag. 106. Gualperius noteth which hee reckoneth for the last of the seven Planets beginning his account with the Moon as the first so still remembring what wee have before observed wee may say the number of seven the title of rest are joyned together in observations of the Sabbath whether with the religious or profane and so I could willingly derive it if the radicall characters would beare it from both words as a childe from its Parents of both sexes for as the Sabbath is every seventh day so it hath a neere affinity with the word which signifieth seven from whence Lactantius taketh it to be derived as hath been shewed And as it is a time of vacation from worldly labour so it hath as neere consanguinity with the word which signifieth rest But this derivation of it from rest is the right and to it wee shall stand CHAP. XI Of the sever all acceptions of the name Sabbath THe next inquirie of it is how farre the name Sabbath reacheth in sense and use especially whether this name of Rest may not bee applyed to the Lords day it being a day of Rest and that will the better appear if wee observe the distinction by severall acceptions which are chiefly these It is taken for 1 Rest from labour 2 Rest from sinne 3 Rest from both First for the first As the Sabbath signifieth a rest from labour it is used first generally for all dayes ordained for the solemne service and worship of God for as a Omnem Festivitatem Judaicam non solum Judaei sed Gentiles Sabbatum vocant Scalâ—g de Emend Temp. lib. 3. p. 223. edit ult Scaliger observeth The Jewes and Gentiles both called every Festivall of the Jewes by the name of Sabbath b Idem ferè apud Chrysost Homil 40. in Matth. Doctor Gomarus would not have the new Moones numbred among the rest under that name though some learned men saith hee doe so hee might meane c Ursin catech pag. 580. Ursinus for one who reckoneth them for monethly Sabbaths because saith Gomarus there is no divine Authority for restraint of labour on those dayes Yet hee confesseth the Gentiles called them Sabbaths and they it is like had that name from the Jewes whose practice it was to observe those dayes with cessation from servile workes But this was upon their owne superstition saith hee and not by precept and yet hee confesseth that there were peculiar sacrifices for those solemnities for which hee quoteth Num. 28.11 15. And as they were Festivals they were distinguished from other dayes and a good part of the distinction of them consisted in cessation from secular labours which needs must be forborne while the people were imployed in other things and so farre the name of Sabbath might be communicated to them Secondly The name Sabbath is taken particularly and that divers wayes 1. The principall acception of it is for a weekely holiday ordayned by God in the fourth Commandement 2. By a Synechdoche of the part for the whole the word Sabbath is put sometimes for the whole weeke so in the speech of the Pharisee where hee saith I fast twice a weeke which precisely rendred according to the originall should bee d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luk. 18.12 Jejuno biâ— in Sabbato hoc est in Hebdomada Cent. 1. lib. 1. cap. 6. col 244. read I fast twice a Sabbath which cannot bee meant of one day for though a man may eate thrice or oftner in a day it cannot bee said with good sense that in one day hee fasted more then once for if the fast be continued it makes but one fast though it last the whole day and if it bee broken by eating it cannot for that day bee pieced up againe 3. Sometimes the word is especially applyed to the first and last dayes of such solemne Festivals as consisted of many dayes together Levit. 23. à ver 24. c. 4. From dayes the Sabbath goeth on to the comprehension of yeers to the Jewes every seventh yeere was a Sabbatharie yeere wherein they were not to exact any debt of one another Deut. 15.1 nor to exercise the ground but to let it rest from tillage whereof wee have the Law at large Levit. 25. à vers 2. ad 7. The circle of the Sabbath grows yet to a further compasse for these seven-yeere Sabbaths multiplyed by sevens made up the whole number of 49. yeeres and the yeere after was the yeere of Jubilee a great Sabbath which was proclaimed by the sound of the Trumpet and rest from tillage as before with many other particulars prescribed whereof you may read more in the fore-cited Text from the eighth verse to the end of the Chapter These acceptions of the word Sabbath have especiall reference to rest from labour The second acception of the name Sabbath but counting on the fifth hath another sense it is that whereby it is taken for rest not from labour but from sinne In this it is frequent among the Fathers of the Church and well might they call it a Sabbath or rest in that sense as in opposition to the
Anno 1605. Bishop Lloyd in the 2.4.8.44 45. Artic. calls that day Sabbath day So did Bishop Morton in his Visitation of the same Diocesse Anno 1617. Artic. 11.30.33.39 Bishop Morton And Bishop Bridgman in his trienniall Visitation Anno 1631. Bish Bridgman Artic. 11.41.43 used the word Sabbath for the weekly Holiday of our Church who were yet all of them both in judgement language and practice far enough from siding with Schismaticall Novelties To these Bishops of England I will adde two out of Ireland and so conclude my Episcopall Testimonies for the name Sabbath The one is Bishop Usher the most reverend Archbishop and Primate of Armagh who I know by conference with him approveth of the application of the name Sabbath to our Sunday or Lords day The other is Bishop Downham the Bishop of Derty who hath done and suffered much in the defence of the Prelacie he in his abstract of the duties commanded and sinnes forbidden in the Decalogue treating of the fourth Commandement taxeth with reference to our times those that are mindfull of the Sabbath to profane it who having extraordinary businesse will not bestow any part of the weeke upon it but will reserve it for the Sabbath and make bold with God to borrow part of his day and those who observe the Sabbath for fashion sake keeping the outward rest onely putting on gay clothes and doing nothing c. After these reverend Prelates in number sixteene whereof foure are Archbishops wee will give in the names of some Cathedrall Deanes and Doctours of venerable estimation in our Church noting the Lords day by the name Sabbath as y Doct. Boys expos of the Liturgy p. 92. Doctor Boys Archbish Whitgifts Chaplaine and Deane of Canterbury and Doctor Donne Deane of Pauls The Deane of Canterbury saith The Sabbath is as one calls it Gods Schoole-day the Preachers are his ushers and the Church is his open Schoole house which he doth not onely repeat but approve of and when Sabbath breakers are rebuked saith z Doct. Boys ubi sup pag. 93. he all their answer is that most doe so If they will follow fashion and example let them follow the best scil Gods example And againe a Ibid. pag. 95. The duties required on the Lords day are principally two Rest and Sanctification of this rest a double Sabbath rest from labour and rest from sinne and if there bee a double Sabbath in it it hath a double right to the title Sabbath Doctor Donne the Deane of Pauls Dr. Donne preaching at the dedication of a new Chappell in Lincolnes Inne where hee was Lecturer speaketh thus b Doctor Donne of Pauls in his Sermon Joâ—n 10. vers 22. which hee calls the Feast of Dedication at the dedication of a new Chappell in Lincolnes Inne consecrated by the Bishop of London anno 1623. pag. 7. Though God take a seventh part of our time in the Sabbath yet hee takes more too for hee appoints other Sabbaths other Festivals and in all the Sabbaths there is still a cessation Hee saith not God tooke but takes in the present tense a seventh part of our time not of the Jewes onely though hee tooke it first of theirs and though hee call other Festivals Sabbaths also the seventh day may have an especiall right to the name Sabbath above the Rest for so it had under the old Testament though then there were other holidaies which for their congruity with it in rest or cessation for in all Sabbaths saith hee there is still a cessation might be partakers of the same title and prosecuting the same point afterwards he reproveth some who think we are bound to no festivals at all but to the Sabbath but God requires as much service from us as from the Jewes saith c Ib. pag. 10 of his dedication Sermon he and to them hee enlarged his Sabbaths and made them divers And to the same purpose hee speaketh in his Sermon on the 10. of John As God taketh the tenth part of our goods in Tythes but yet more in Sacrifices so though hee take a seventh part of our time in the Sabbath yet hee takes more too for hee appoints other Sabbaths or Festivals There bee some to take in a doubt by the way which his coupling of Sabbaths and Festivals as Synonymaes induceth us to consider who so precisely distinguish betwixt Sabbaths and Festivals as to deny that the Sabbath may be called by the name of a Festivall The Sabbath saith the d Re-examiner of Perth Assemb p. 187. printed in anno 1636. Re-examiner of Perth Assembly under the Law was never called Jom tob a good that is a merry day as were the solemn Feasts which seemeth to bee a portion of Sacrifice taken from the e Altare Damasc pag. 666 667. Altar of Damascus where the same observation is made and concerning Festivals in particular the Authour saith It was not lawfull to fast on a Festivall But it may bee answered that though there bee difference betwixt the Sabbath and other dayes properly called dies festi in regard of particular occasion of the institution and of more liberty in meats and delights then on the Sabbath yet might the Sabbaths yea all publick solemnities even the Fast of Expiation not excepted bee sometimes called Feasts or Festivals and so much the Authour of the f Ib. pag. 666. Altar of Damascus not without some apparant contradiction to himselfe hath acknowledged And as the old Sabbath was unto the Jewes a day of spirituall delight for which purpose some cite Isa 58. how fitly wee shall note in another place so is the new Sabbath to the Christians on which in g Die dominico jâ—junium nesas ducimus vel de geniculis adorare Tert. de coronmilit c. 3. tom 2. pag. 747. Tertullians time it was held a great offence to fast and in all times when the Sacrament of the Lords Supper is administred which in the Primitive times was as oft as that day returned it exhibiteth a Feast of the body and bloud of Christ the best and most delicious cheer that can be desired to him who is rightly prepared to receive it But this onely by the way or rather as an occasionall digression out of the way takâ—n from the doubt in the words of the Deane concerning the Sabbath from whom wee have one observation more to remember and that is in his Sermon on Mat. 21. h Idem Serm. on Mat. 21.44 pag. 16. printed 1634. at Cambridge We will admit of Christ saith hee but wee will not admit him to reigne over us If hee will bee content with a Consulship with a Colleagueship that hee and the world may joyne in Governement that wee may give the weeke to the world and the Sabbath unto him that of the day wee may give the forenoone to him the afternoone to our pleasures If this will serve Christ wee can bee content to admit him but nolumus
besides these which found to the same sense but these sufficiently shew that the Compilers of the Homily tooke the name Sabbath not in a meere mysticall sense but in a literall and herein their Doctrine is conformable to the letter of that Commandement Secondly for his similitude that our Lords day is called Sabbath but as Mortification is called Circumcision the circumcision of the heart Rom. 2.29 or as sincerity and truth are called unleavened bread 1 Cor. 8.5 or as Christ our Passover 1 Cor. 5.7 it is guilty of grosse disproportion for 1. In a naturall acception no two numerall things are more like then one day is like another but circumcision of the flesh and mortification of the corruptions of the heart sincerity and unleavened bread Christ and the Passover though in some respects semblable as the Kingdome of heaven and a graine of Mat. 13.31 mustard seed are yet in their kinds at very great distance for Circumcision is an act of the hand Mortification an act or rather an habit wrought by the spirit upon the mind unleavened bread is a visible substance sincerity an invisible quality Christ is a most excellent person consisting of a divine and humane nature the Passover an action literally the Angels passing over the doores which were sprinckled with the bloud of the Paschall Lambe which after the Angell was immediatly yet figuratively applyed to the Lambe it selfe and afterward by another figure more remote from the letter and so more mysticall our Saviour was called the Passover Secondly if wee take the two dayes in a religious as well as in a naturall acception there is much more conformity betwixt them then betwixt the termes of the Bishops comparison so much that the name Sabbath may bee literall to them both though in his instances one part be purely mysticall and analogicall For to say nothing of other conformities forementioned it may suffice to make them both partakers of the name Sabbath which signifieth Rest that rest or cessation from secular labours was on the one and is required and observed on the other wherein the advantage now rests upon the part of our Christian Sabbath since that is still and will be to the worlds end a day of religious rest and the Jewes day though it were so from the beginning was many an hundred years ago degraded from the dignity of a weekly Holiday and made a work-day and so shall be untill our temporall Sabbath on earth be changed into the eternall Sabbatism in heaven which the Apostle promiseth Heb. 4.9 The third Exception of Bishop White touching Bishop Andrewes and Master Hooker applying the name Sabbath to our Sunday answered Thirdly For the Allegations out of Bishop Andrewes and Master Hooker for application of the name Sabbath to the Lords day the Bishop taketh occasion to observe that m Bish White his examinat of the Dialog p. 89. 96. the greatest Doctors at some times and before errours and heresies are openly defended are not neither can bee so circumspect in their writing as to avoid all formes and expressions all sentences and propositions all and every Tenet which in after times may yeeld advantage to the adversaries of the truth and hee giveth instance in Augustine and Chrysostome speaking not so warily as they should have done concerning the naturall power of freewill before the Pelagian heresie did arise which hee applyeth to the precedent Testimonies thus Before there arose a controversie in our Church concerning the Sabbath or at least wise before the controversie grew to an height Divines spake and writ more freely and they were not alwayes so cautelous circumspect as to foresee the evill construction which the adversaries of the truth might make of their writing and speaking but now when the Sabbatarian heresie for necessary observation of the old Sabbath and a fanaticall opinion of some others for the observation of the Lords day in a more precise forme then the very Judaicall Law it selfe obliged the Jewes to keepe the old Sabbath when I say these errours sprang up and were defended with an high hand and obtruded upon the Church a necessity was cast upon us to examine all such positions as were the grounds and formes of speaking which were incident to the question in hand Now if upon evidence of truth saith hee wee shall in some passages dissent from some men of note living in this Church before us or use other termes in our writing or disputing nay if we should in some things have altered our owne former opinion and formes of speaking wee trust that godly Christians will not impute this unto us as an offence but in their charity will judge of us as the ancient Church did of Saint Augustine to wit that what wee doe in this kinde proceedeth from the care wee have in a faire and perspicuous manner to maintaine and defend the truth Thus farre the Bishop I have set downe his exception at large because I meane to make a full answer to it for that purpose three particulars are especially to be observed in this the saying of the Bishop The first Of the ancient Fathers unwary writings before heresies arose which is true but not to the purpose for none that reads them at the first hand unlesse hee bring with him a violent impression of prejudice against the Sabbath will conceive one syllable in them to sound to that sense which the Bishop intendeth The second His application thereof to the Sabbatarie controversies which is to the purpose but as hee states the difference not true The third is a request for charitable construction which in regard of the second he hath need of We need say nothing of the first and for the second it may be said First that though some have exceeded in severity both for the doctrine and practice of the Sabbath and yet I accompt not all to bee excessive which the Bishop approveth not many have much more exceeded in loosnesse and profanenesse which is more dangerous to the actors and more scandalous to the observers of their excesses and there was more need that all the Bishops of the Land should oppose this then that he should set upon that in such sort as he did Secondly for that he saith of the Sabbatarian heresie for the necessary observation of the old Sabbath the way to withstand it is not as he doth to take the title Sabbath from the Lords day and to shift it from the firme ground of the fourth Commandement and to make it stand so much upon meere tradition as hee doth nay so to give up that both title and text as hee hath done to the old Sabbath is to confirme rather then to confute the Sabbathary errour which by his manner of handling the matter neither is nor can be soundly convinced as it should be Thirdly whosoever will advisedly reade and consider what hath been lately written concerning the Sabbath will find as great cause to give caution against Anti-sabbathary
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.
of all good meanes to keepe them out for future time Gods Providence which doth nothing in vaine may well bee thought after so long absence and so great distance of your ordinary residence to have brought you hither at this time for so great so good a purpose So that though there be some ſ Sunt qui quod sentiunt etiamsi optimum sit invidiae metu non audent dicere Cicero l. 1. de Offic. p. 362. who think better then for feare of envie they dare speake and so doe a great deale worse then perhaps they think for as t Veritatem reticere quoddam sacrilegium est Sedul in epist ad Rom. c. 11. sol 8. Sedulius saith to conceale the truth when there is just cause and a fit season to set it forth is a kind of sacriledge It is both beleeved and looked for that your Grace as you can upon occasion shew your selfe a Paul in eminence of knowledge and a Barnabas in sweetnesse of spirituall consolation so with Paul and Barnabas you will waxe bold in the cause of God and his truth though as it was their lot you should meet with contradiction even unto blasphemy Act. 13 ver 45 46. and indeed the sincerest and wisest working may sometimes not onely faile of due acceptance and successe but bee as wilfully withstood on the one side as it is zealously pursued on the other Yet your Grace may take the more heart to give free scope to your conscience herein because you are so generally gracious that as Hierome said to u Tuae dilectionis fama dispergitur ut non tam laudandus sit qui te amat quà m scelus putetur facere qui non amat Hier. ad Florentium priore epist tom 1. p. 53. Florentius To love you is not so much to be reputed a praise as not to love you a crime I should be guilty of no lesse if I should not in mine heartiest prayers to Almighty God commend your good health and long life for his glory and his Churches comfort and sincerely professe all humble observance to you as the duty of Your Graces most cordially devoted client and servant JOHN LEY From my lodging in Pauls Church-yard March 19. 1640. The PREFACE to the Reader THe Name and Lot of the Sabbath as many of this generation have used the matter are very unlike for that is fixed on an Hebrew root which signifieth Rest this as a watery reed tossed to and fro with contrary winds by the manifold oppositions that are made about it almost if not altogether Restlesse Not all the Commandements of the Decalogue besides that of the Sabbath which for number have the oddes of nine to one have suffered more or worse under the strife of tongues or conflict of pens then it hath done It was by divine Ordinance to be as Noahs Arke for in that not men alone but the unreasonable creatures likewise though most disposed to range abroad were under an arrest confined to a narrow compasse and though otherwise adverse to each other united in a quiet and peaceable repose among themselves So on the Sabbath both man and beast for that day were to have each of them their quietus est by the one sort Rest was only to be enjoyed as a benefit to the other it was enjoyned as a duty but not Rest onely but Religion with it nor Rest meerly for it selfe but for Religions sake and that so farre as it consisteth in communion with God is another kind of Rest and of all kinds the best and most delightfull But now is this Sabbath or day of rest and quietnesse become as a Ball betwixt two Rackets bandied this way and that way by mutuall contradiction not onely betwixt the godly and the profane which is no newes but among many of those who are in no mean accompt in the Church of God whether they bee valued by the eminence of their places the excellency of their parts or the holinesse of their lives The more is the griefe of religious hearts that doe observe it and the more hearty their desires no doubt to see some good accord at least betwixt the better sort or which is next unto a peace that the differences about it may bee carried with such pious and prudent moderation on both sides as that God may lose no part of his tribute of honour nor his servants be defrauded of the fruit of their holinesse nor fall to a change or cooling of those charitable affections towards each other without which Pomegranats even the golden Bells of Aaron are but like sounding brasse or tinkling Cimballs Towards this purpose if the employment of the Talent committed to my trust may any way conduce I shall make no scruple to adde unto my other taskes an assay of satisfaction to their Doubts or Reasons who either waver in the right or are already swayed to wrong opinions in this point And to this endeavour I shall with more diligence addresse my selfe First because the day in question is the training day of military Discipline by which the Church of Christ is unto the Synagogue of Satan as is said in the Canticles terrible as an Army with Banners Cantic 6.4 which if it should not be well united and often exercised the powers of darknesse would be mightily exalted It containeth as a Cùm subyersam omnem religionem vult apud Prophetas signisicare polluta violata non custodita non sanctificata sua Sabbatha conqueritur quasi omisso hoc obsequio nihil ampliùs restaret in quo posset honorari Calvin Instil l. 2. cap 8. parag 29. pag. 140. Calvin sheweth and b Mast Perk. exhortat to Repent vol. 3. pag. 421. col 2. Doct. Prid. his lect on the Sab. Doct. Rivet in Exod c. 31. ver 12. pag. 253. Grotius de jure belli ac pacis l. 2. c. 20. pag. 244. Mast Primrose Treat of the Sab. part 2. c. 6. p. 120 121. other learned Divines in effect say the same the summe and substance of all Religion The Sabbath is unto it as the border of Sinai to that mountaine of terrour and as the tower of Sion to that city of perfection and so cannot be battered or broken down without an open breach upon Religion it selfe Secondly because as it stands in eminency for force and use so it is the fairest marke for Satans malignity to aime at and as if he had given his souldiers some such charge against it as the King of Syria did once against the King of Israel fight against neither small nor great 1 Kin. 22.31 but against the King of Israel spend all your might against his person so against this whether King or Queen of dayes for both these titles are attributed to the day of Rest as I shall note in another place are all his forces set in battell array and though in some respects adverse to one another yet in their way they all of them doe violence to the