Exod. 31. and then shewes whereof it was a signe Sabbath a perseverantiam totius diei erga Deum deservitionis edocebant their Sabbath taught our continuall service of God Orig. hoâ— 2â— in 〈◊〉 28. which Origen calls Sabbathum Christianum a Christian Sabbath And because no man is justified either by the Sabbath or Circumcision therefore in signo data sunt populo they were given the people for a signe This Theodoret largely sheweth out of the plaine words of the Prophet Ezechiel cap. 20. ver 11. S. Theod. in Ezech The Sabbath was none of those Commandements that could give life to the observers but was given them onely to be a signe in signum temporis illius Tert. de prâ—â—â— lib. c. 4. as Tertullian speakes and not in sallutis praerogativam not to bring them salvation but to make them knowne from other Nations Other Nations that descended of Abraham used circumcision as well as the Jewes but no Nation kept the Sabbath but Jewes onely Therefore 1541. years they were knowne by that signe to be Gods people but the keeping of the Sabbath made neither them nor the Pharisees to be Gods people This is evident For Abraham saith Saint Irenaeus was justified and called the friend of God S. Iren. l. 4. c. 30. sine observatione Sabbathorum without keeping any Sabbaths Nay there was not any of the Patriarchs saith Tertullian that kept the Sabbath neither Adam Tert. adv â—udaeos de praeserâ— c. 2.4 Enoch Noah Abraham nor Melchizedek for 2455. years yet were they just men and obtained salvation This is so cleare a truth that the Jewes could not denie it and Trypho doth confesse it being pressed thereunto by Saint Justin And for this 1635. S. Just iâ— Tryph. Tom. 2. yeares it hath not beene kept in the Christian world Manifestum est igitur saies Tertullian it is manifest therefore that that cannot be morall nor perpetuall that began but with Moses S. Tusti◠〈◊〉 verit l. 2. in Tryph as Saint Justin Martyr sayes and ended with Christ when hee nailed all the ceremoniall law to his Crosse with those words Consummatum est it is finished Therefore the third Commandement as Saint Austine or the fourth as Josephus and other Fathers call it touching the Sabbath must be understood onely figuratively and not after the letter as the other nine commandements are This is the doctrine of antiquitie which hath gotten a placet from Gomarus Goma invest sab c. 3. whose followers may perhaps embrace the same Ob. Dicunt autem Judaei quòd primordio c. Tertul. de praescrip c. 2. 4. But a Jew will object and say saies Tertullian that God from the beginning did sanctifie the Sabbath and therefore the Sabbath ought to be kept holy and no maner of worke must be done thereon Sol. This is the very argument which Marcion learned of the Pharisees John 9.16 and blasphemously useth to prove Christ not to the Sonne of God because he carried himselfe so crosse to his Fathers actions and Lawes For the Sabbath which his Father sanctified and rested on operatione destruxit Tert. in Mar. l. 4. he profaned and overthrew by working on it so did his Disciples for cibum operati marke how pure this blasphemous Hereticke was they dresse their meate on the Sabbath My answer therefore is this that the Law-giver best knew how to observe his owne lawes and if his Fathers rest did not binde him from doing some worke no more doth it us Besides we see the Patriaches even Melchizedek himselfe a Priest of the most high God did not take themselves bound to rest on the Sabbath at all For though they saw Gods example yet they heard no commandement to enjoyne them to rest on that day as he did therefore they never observed the Sabbath Thirdly though a Jew will little regard what the Patriarches did or what all good Christians resolve and practice but will force the Law-giver to keepe his owne law not after his owne meaning but after theirs as the Pharisees did our Saviour saying This man is not of God because he keepeth not the Sabbath day viz. as they construed and expounded the Commandement for the observation thereof yet that nothing concernes us that keepe the Lords day by vertue of Apostolical constitution and tradition of holy Church and not the Sabbath by force of the fourth Commandement which the Apostles by Christs doctrine and example understood solutum to be dissolved And cujus vis soluta nec nomen haerebat S. Ambâ—th Lu. 6. l. 5. saies Saint Ambrose when the Sabbath lost his force it forfeited the name therefore ought not so to be called and so having lost both force and name is become nothing at all but a meere Idoll An Idoll hath the shape of something but because it hath eyes and sees not c. it is nothing in the world So though their Sabbath hath the name of one of the Jewes holy dayes yet keepeth it not neither the day they kept nor the service belonging to it and so is become nothing in the world True it is that some that with great zeale and little judgement exclaime against recreations and dressing of meat and the like on Sundayes must make a Sabbath of Sunday and keepe up that name otherwise their many citations of Scripture mentioning onely the Sabbath of being applied to Sunday will appeare so ridiculously distorted and wry-neckt that they will be a scorne and derision to the simplest of their now deluded Auditors who are abused with the name of a Christian Sabbath out of Origen which is not kept on Sunday onely 〈…〉 but every day Christ is our Christian Sabbath saith Origen and he that lives in Christ semper in Sabbatho vivit requiescendo ab operibus malis operatur autem opera justitiae incessanter Others also for the plot-sake must uphold the name of Sabbath that stalking behind it they may shoot against the Service appointed for the Lords day Hence it is that some for want of wit some for too much adore the Sabbath as an Image dropt downe from Jupiter and cry before it as they did before the golden Calfe This is an holy day unto the Lord whereas indeed it is the great Diana of the Ephesians as they use it whereby the mindes of their Proselytes are so perplexed and bewitched that they cannot resolve whether the sinne be greater to bowle shoot or daunce on their Sabbath than to commit murder or the father to cut the throate of his owne childe All which doubts would soon be resolved by plucking the vizzard of the Sabbath from the face of the Lords day which doth as well and truely become it as the Crowne of thornes did the Lord himselfe This was platted to expose him to damnable derision and that was plotted to impose on it detestable superstition Yet to die for it they will call it a Sabbath presuming in their zealous ignorance or
SUNDAY NO SABBATH A SERMON Preached before the Lord Bishop of Lincolne at his Lordships visitation at Ampthill in the County of Bedford Aug. 17. 1635. BY JOHN POCKLINGTON Doctor of Divinitie late fellow and President both of Pembroke Hall and Sidney Colledge in Cambridge and Chaplaine to the Right Reverend Father in God the Lord Bishop of LINCOLNE 1 TIM 6.20 O Timothee depositum custodi devitans profanas vocum novitates oppositiones falsi nominis scientiae quam quidam promittentes circa fidem exciderunt LONDON Printed by ROBERT YOUNG 1636. SUNDAY NO SABBATH ACTS 20.7 8. 7 And upon the first day of the weeke when the Disciples came together to breake bread Paul preached unto them readie to depart on the morrow and continued his speech untill midnight 8. And there were many lights in the upper chamber where they were gathered together THis Text I conceive is not unfit for this time In the text is synaxis a meeting and at this time there is synodus a meeting In the text is a meeting of Disciples and such is the meeting at this time Hee that called the Disciples together and sate President in that meeting was the Apostle Paul and he that called us hither and sits President in this meeting is our Diocesan who can derive himselfe the successour of an Apostle otherwise we should have taken his call for the voice of a stranger and not have here appeared It is Saint Austines resolution S. Aug. cont Mâ—nich ep c. 4 â—om 6. Successio Episcoporum ab ipsâ sede Petri is that which amongst other things by him named keepes us in gremio Ecclesiae and subjects us to our Bishops jurisdiction The meeting in the text is intended for two Actions Breaking of bread and Preaching And the especiall intent of this meeting is to receive our Bishops directions for the administration of the Sacraments and Preaching as his Articles informe us Hitherto if I can but hold me by my text I hope not to fall into impertinencies But in the next place the day of meeting in the text jumpeth not with the day of meeting for this our Synod For that is the first day of the weeke yet this comes as neere it as may be for with Jacob it holds his brother by the heele this is the second And had it beene appointed on a Sunday the authority of the Councell of Constantinople Ephesus and Chalcedon would have justified it against all Sabbatarians For by the Emperours edict they were precisely commanded to meet and did meet and sate and gave suffrages and dispatched letters on a Sunday But in the other circumstances the text and the time are nothing at all allied The place of meeting then was an upper chamber ours a Church dedicated consecrated for those holy duties in the text and used also for Synods That meeting was in the night ours in the day They had the benefit of many lights we of one great light that ruleth the day In the text the Sermon continued till midnight but herein if I leave not my text you will leave me And if none of us all follow St. Paul in preaching in an upper chamber in the night and till midnight neither he nor his successours will taxe us For Saint Luke is faine to make an Apologie for him in these respects He was to depart the next morrow So that necessitie put him upon that time and place and the importunitie of his Disciples would not be satisfied with a shorter discourse For fons abiturus saies Saint Austine they knew they should never see his face any more S. Aug. ep 86. nor refresh their thirstie soules with those waters of life that issued from the fountaine of his blessed lips that he which could shake the Viper from his hand could not finde in his heart to cast these Babes from his breasts Therefore contrary to his owne rules given to the Corinthians he did administer the Sacrament and preach where men did both eat and drinke and continued the same out of order till midnight And so without any curious division I come after my plaine manner to handle the words in the text and for your better memorie take them up as they lie in order and begin with the time of this meeting Upon the first day of the weeke Herein I conceive foure things considerable 1. what is meant by the first day of the weeke 2. 3. next when and by whom was that day appointed for holy assemblies to meet on 4. when doth the holy observation of that day begin For the first S Basil Hâ—xam â—om 2. aâ— Sâ— Sâ—â—ct 27. The words in the Originall are one day of the Sabbaths one being put for first saies S. Basil as the evening and the morning were one day i.e. the first So una Sabbathi is that quam primam dicimus saies St. Ambrose as we finde it written S. Amb. ps 47. Mat. 28.1 Vesperi Sabbathi quae lucescit in primam Sabbathi In the end of the Sabbath when the first day of the week began to dawne S. Aug. ep 86. For that day saies Saint Augustine which three of the Evangelists call unam Sabbathi one Sabbath prima Sabbathi à Matthaeo dicitur Saint Matthew expounds them and calls the first day of the weeke And it is manifest saith the same Father that this first day of the weeke is that day qui posteà dies Dominicus appellatus est which afterward was called the Lords day S. Cyril in Johan l. 8. c. 58. Saint Cyril affirmes the very same Christ appeared to his Disciples una Sabbathi on one Sabbath or on the first day of the weeke i.e. die Dominico on the Lords day It is manifest then that by one day of the Sabbaths is meant the first day of the weeke and the first day of the weeke is the Lords day So wee see what is meant by the first day of the weeke it is the Lords day The next points are when and by whom was the observation of the Lords day appointed The Church saith St. Ignatius hath set apart one day S Ignat. ep ad Magnes and called it the Lords day in confutation of those sonnes of perdition that deny the Lords worke performed on that day that is his resurrection So have you the time when and the authority that did appoint the observation of the Lords day delivered by Ignatius scholar to Saint John Niceph. l. 2. c. 35 that first so called it and as it is recorded one of those babes whom our Saviour tooke up into his armes as his master was received in his bosome The time was the time the Apostles lived in The authoritie was the Church What meane you by the Church Take that cleered out of St. Augustine S. Aug. ep 119. Apostoli Apostolici viri sanxerunt the Apostles and Apostolike men have ordained that the first day of the weeke should be set apart for the religious and
solemne service of God because our Redeemer arose on that day and therefore it is called ever since dies Dominicus the Lords day ex illo caepit habere festivitatem and from the very Apostles time and from their constitution it began to be kept as a festivall day A festivall day what meane you by that Why à sanctis patribus constitutum mandatum saies the same Father it is a constitution and command received from our holy Fathers S. Aug serm 251. de temp that men should leave all worldly businesse on Saints daves maximè diebus Dominicis and especially on the Lords day that they may betake themselves wholly to the Lords service The first day of the week then is the Lords day appointed to be kept as a holy feast for the Lords service by the Apostles themselves in their owne time And this day which the Apostles call the Lords day S. Justin ora◠ad Anton St. Justine Martyr an Apostolike man calls Sunday Solis autem die communiter omnes conventum agimus ad preces supplicationes on Sunday we all meet together to prayers and supplications because that is primus dies the first day on which our Saviour arose For he was crucified pridiè Saturni diei the day before Saturday and the next day after Saturday qui sc Solis est dies which is Sunday Apostolis Discipulis suis apparuit he appeared to his Apostles and Disciples And hereupon his Apostles and Disciples thought fit to appoint and command this day to be kept holy The Lords day then is by the Apostles so called and by this Apostolike man named Sunday and may fitly so be called because saies Saint Ambrose in eo ortus Sol justitiae illuminat S. Amb ser 61. the Sun of righteousnesse then arose that enlightneth every one of us The first day of the weeke then is the Lords day and Sunday And the Lords day was by the Apostles themselves in their owne time appointed for holy assemblies to meet on as on a feast day dedicated to the Lords service And so hath that day beene called and used ever since in the true Catholike Church of God for 1554. yeares together without interruption both in the Greeke and Latine Church What shall we thinke then of Knox and Whittingham Troubles at 〈◊〉 pag. 30. and their fellowes that in their letter to Calvin depart from the constitution ordinance and practice of the Apostles and Apostolike men and call not this day the Lords day or Sunday but with the pietie of Jeroboam make such a day of it as they have devised in their owne hearts to serve their owne turne and anabaptizing of it after the mind of some Jew hired to be the god-father thereof call it the Sabbath and so disguised with that name become both the first that so called it and the Testators that have so bequeathed it to their Disciples and Proselites to be observed accordingly It was full thirtie yeares before their children could turne their tongues from Sunday to hit on Sabbath and if the Gileadites that met with the Ephraimites before they could frame to pronounce Shibboleth had snapt these too before they had got their Sabbath by the end their counsell had brought much peace to the Church For this name Sabbath is not a bare name like a spot in their foreheads to know Labans sheepe from Jacobs but indeed it is a mysterie of iniquitie intended against the Church For allow them but their Sabbath and you must allow them the service that belongs to their Sabbath Then must you have no Letanie for that is no service for their Sabbath containing suffrages devised by Pope Gregory but for Sundayes nay Troubles at Frankf pag. 30. for Wednesdayes and Fridayes which must not so be used for sixe dayes thou must labour nay you must have no part of the Service in the Communion booke used for that is Service also for holy dayes Welph detemp◠l. 2. c. 4. which are abominated as idolatricall being dedicated to Saints Well then the Sabbath must be yeelded them otherwise there will be no day left for God to be served on What Service then must you allow them for their Sabbath Why nothing but preaching How shall that be knowne Why out of their owne mouthes Thus soone after the Conventicle in London in 84. about the 31th yeare of the Sabbaths nativitie writeth one of them in his letter to some Superintendent amongst them to whom he gives an account of his Sabbaths exercise Ego singulis Sabbath is si non alius adveniens locum suppleat cum praescriptà Leiturgeias formulâ nihil habens commercit in caetu concionem habeo idque reverendorum fratrum consilio I preach every Sabbath in the congregation having nothing at all to doe with the order prescribed in the booke of Common Prayer and this he does not of his owne head but by the counsell of the reverend brethren delivered doubtlesse in that late Synode Now you see the Common Prayer booke which the Kings Majesties authority in causes Ecclesiasticall with the Convocation house have appointed and the Parliament the reunto assented is clean cast out of their Sabbath and no service allowed or used but preaching Marvaile not then at the casting out of lawfull sports their zeale could and did dispence with them well enough for a long time together as they of Genevah and the Low-countries even sitting the Synode of Dort did and still doe But the plot with us will not beare them for they must gaine elbow roome for their Sabbaths exercise or preaching falsely so called being for the most part as their hearers will justifie but violent discourses and personall invectives against the present State and settled lawes of the Land with the Governours thereby to get themselves magnified for the great power of God with Simon that having cryed downe all Lawes Ecclesiasticall and Temporall too in time that sute not with their Sabbath doctrine they may be able making their reliance on their inveigled thousands whereof they bragge to put their hands to their mouthes Mar. ju epiles and to say with him in the story Petition to his Majestie in 1603. Richard 2◠Behold the fountaine from whence all lawes for governement of Church and Common wealth must shortly spring You see then what the plot was that bred and still keepes the name of Sabbath on foot that if St. John or the Apostles that first called and appointed the Lords day should come amongst them and happen to call it the Lords day they would quickly finde him to be none of their Tribe nor for their turne being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without his watch word of the Sabbath But if Justin that blessed Martyr should be so profane as to call it Sunday he would be in danger under their discipline to be martyred the second time for not adoring their idoll Sabbath as he was under Antonius for not worshipping Jupiter
guilefull zeale to be thought to speake the Scripture phrase when indeed the dregs of Ashdod flow from their mouthes For that day which they nickname the Sabbath is either no day at all or not the day that they meane It were well therefore that they would forbeare to speake strange languages in the Church for Saint Pauls sake and use them then when they all meet together in new England amongst them that understand the language for with us the Sabbath is Saturday and no day else No ancient Father Father Nay no learned man Heathen or Christian tooke it otherwise from the beginning of the world till the beginning of their schisme in 1554. And if wee finde the word otherwise used in some writings that of late come unto our hands blame not the Clerkes good men for it nor intitle the misprision any higher or otherwise than to these pretenders to pietie who for their owne ends have for a long time deceived the world with their zealous and most ignorant or cunning clamours and rung the name of 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 menaged under the vaile of a faire word used in Gods law doe likewise suffer the same often to scape the doore of their lips that detest the drift of the devisers in the closet of their hearts I will now shut up this point in Saint Hilaries words S. Hilar. l. 6. Non sum nescius difficillimo me asperrimoque tempore haec disserere multis jam per omnes fermè Romani Imperii provincias Ecclesiis morbo pestiferae hujus praedicationis infectis velut ad piae fidei hujus malà usurpatam persuasionem longo doctrinae usu ementito nomine verae religionis imbutis non ignorans difficilem esse ad emendationis profectum voluntatem quam in erroris sui studio per plurimorum assensum authoritas publicae sententiae contineret Gravis enim est periculosus error inplurimis multorum lapsus etiamsi se intellig at tamen exurgendi pudore authoritatem sibi praesumit ex numero habens hoc impudentiae ut quod errat intelligentiam esse veritatis asserat dum minus erroris esse existimatur in multis There are so many that see so little benefit will be suckt out of the constitutions of the Apostles practice and tradition of holy Church doctrine of godly and learned Fathers that they have got themselves heapes of teachers that to serve their owne turnes will call and keep the Lords day as a Sabbath and so proclaime it with such lowd outcries that the voice of truth will become silence and her selfe made errour and so made to beleeve of her selfe or to forgoe her owne modesty and to beleeve none but her selfe But with Moses liberavi animam meam being called hither very unwillingly I have set before you good and evill light and darknesse life and death the doctrine and practice of the Church of God and the leaven of Pharisees and fashion of Schismatickes and Novellists chuse which you will and the Lord be your guide Onely of this be you well assured that if you will have Manna rained downe unto you you must forgoe your Sabbath and sticke onely to the Lords day for in nostrâ Dominicâ die semper Dominus pluit Manna Orig. super 15. Exod. hom 7. in Sabbatho non pluit The last point touching the day of meeting is When doth the Lords day begin Resp I answer S. Ambra in Ps â—7 out of Saint Ambrose The first day of the weeke began when the Sabbath ended The Sabbath ended when Christ arose Christ the true light arose with the light and spring of the morning for vesperi Sabbathi quae lucescit in primam Sabbathi are Saint Matthews words Nihil pulchrius nihil expressius saith hee this place is as fit and pat for our purpose as may be The Sabbaths evening is in the light of the first day of the weeke So Saint Leo resolveth Dioscorus Patriarch of Alexandria vespera Sabbathi initium diei Dominici S. Leo epist â—d Diosc the beginning of the Lords day is in the end of the Sabbath The end of the Sabbath is in the light of the first day of the weeke Looke then for Jacobs hand on Esau's heele or the beginning of the Lords day in the end of the Sabbath But Saint Nyssen is more punctuall and cleere S. Nyssen deresur orat 2. the Lords day saith he begins at Cock-crowing atque in hoc ipso articulo temporis and at that very knot and joint of time For then end we our Sabbaths or Saturdaies fast and then begin we nos oblectare laetari to keepe our Sundayes feast and that by an ancient custome which all are bound to observe For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he doth not signifie the evening or that part of the night which is post occasum Solis after Sun set but the rise of the morning with which the Sabbath ended Yet for all this the Church by way of preparation for the better sanctification of the Lords day hath prudently and piously appointed holy offices to be used on the Eve before And in obedience to this positive constitution of holy Church Saint Augustine would have his hearers to observe the Lords day S. Aug. ser de tem 25. à vesperâ ad vesperam from Even to Even sicut antiquis praeceptum est de Sabbatho as it was also commanded the Jewes concerning the Sabbath And therefore saith he look that from Saturday at Even us que ad vesperam diei Dominici till the Lords day at even we set aside all rurall and worldly businesse ut solo divino culiui vacemus that we may attend onely on the Lords service and begin to repaire to the Church to evening prayer on Saturday nights and he that cannot so doe let him be sure to pray at home Remember then that you which will needs have the Lords day a Sabbath doe set aside all businesse and flocke to the Church to say or heare Service on Saturday Evens which hitherto you have not done notwithstanding the order of the Church which prescribeth that part of that day to prepare us for the more devout observation of the Lords day Thus much of the day of meeting The first day of the weeke 2 In the next place we have in the next words to consider of the persons that then met These were not Jewes for then the Sabbath had beene the day of their meeting but Gentiles Asians Macedonians Thessalonians Paul with his companions and Disciples Now Paul had ordered before this time in Galatia and in Corinth that his Disciples were to have their meetings on the first day of the weeke whereunto they submitted themselves For on the first day of the week they now met and so did the whole Church