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
implendas praeter inscitiam incuâ—iam impudentiam singularem dum ad suum Genevatismum antiquitatem detorquet invitissimam non autem quod oportuit Calvinismum amussitat ad antiquitatem Ibid. p. 19 20. That bold and importunate Censor of Ignatius hath brought nothing to fill up his pages but ignorance and carelesnesse and egregious imposture whereby hee writhes Antiquity back to his Genevatisme and doth not as he ought regulate Calvinisme by Antiquity In whose defence I need say nothing they of Geneva are enow and old enough to answer for themselves and I doubt not but will doe it in due time I am sorry that I have occasion to observe the like lashing out in him of whom by his bookes of devotion and moderation I was made to expect rather no reproofes of such men then any such reproaches as I read against Master Parker who having said l Non volentes sed nescientes non per apostasiam aut contemptum sed per infirmitatem ignorantiam lapsi sunt qui in disciplina aberrârunt Park de Polit. Eccles lib. 2. c. 8. The Fathers which erred in this matter of Discipline did not offend out of will but out of want of knowledge not through apostacy or contempt but through infirmity and ignorance receiveth his refutation in these words of high disdaine viz. m Bish Hall of Episcopacy part 1. p. 60. But can I now forbeare to aske Who can endure to heare the braying of this proud Schismaticke If I say any thing to succour the credit of Master Parker against this contempt to which my charity enclines mee I shall with some men perhaps endanger mine owne who will be ready to suggest as the Jews against the blind man in the Gospel John 9.28 that I am one of his disciples and if they doe I will ingenuously acknowledge that having read his booke against symbolizing with Antichrist in Ceremonies and being required by a great and learned Prelate to give my judgement of it many yeares ago I answered then and I am of the same opinion still hee hath carried the cause against you my Lord but not against me What meane you by that said the Bishop I meane said I that he hath written enough against your urging of the Ceremonies but not against my yeelding to them if I may not enjoy my Ministry without them Thus much for my selfe now for Master P. I should have thought that his great learning well knowne by his printed workes though against the Crosse and crosse to the Crosier might have secured him from such a brutish scorne especially from that which degrades him to the lowest forme not only of men but of beasts and that as it is hard to prove so none should be hasty to impute either pride or schism where conscience is pretended reasons abundantly alledged and secular comforts deserted as in his case it was his words did not mee thinkes so much as tempt much lesse authorize any one to returne upon him with such contumelious termes for did hee say any thing against the Fathers that he must for that be held unworthy to be called a sonne yea so worthlesse as to bee excommunicated from men and sorted to beasts hee said they erred and why might hee not for were they not men they erred in Discipline they might for all that in matter of doctrine be very learned and Orthodox Doctors They erred said hee not out of will or through apostacy or contempt but through want of knowledge in that particular and of infirmity they might then notwithstanding all this bee very good and holy men as indeed they were and must Master P. for saying but this bee so farre undervalued and vilified as to bee made but as the embleme of grossest stupidity For right against this inhumane wrong I appeale from the Pontificall Tribunall of the Judge decreeing the divine Right of Episcopacy to the closet of the devout Doctor where if hee meditate seriously upon this passionate reproach hee will vow I hope to doe so no more and because hee hath not been wont in this sort to breake out of the way of Christian moderation the plea of Balaams Asse may serve him for some excuse Was I ever wont to doe so unto thee Numb 22.30 Wherein that none may accompt mee like Cham to bee a mocker of so reverend a Father Reverend and Father both without borrowing any reputation from his Rochet I professe though his word braying brought that story to mind I would not have noted it with any reference to him whom both in this booke and elsewhere I have mentioned with affectionate and venerable respect but that the Asse did not bray but speak and speak not the words of a man but of an Angel And O that all our Prelates who plead their preheminence from the title Angels Revel 2.3 had been really Angelicall that wee might have seene by their workes their heart-strings were tuned to the song of the blessed Angels Glory to God in the highest on earth peace good will towards men that wee might have discern'd their desires by their endeavours as your Graces to be seriously set upon the happy union of those sacred Sisters Truth and Peace Zach. 8.19 Peace and Holinesse Hebr. 12.14 to which your zeal hath burned with such a bright blaze and ardent and constant heat and yet hath it beene guided with so much prudent circumspection that I cannot but hope God will make you an effectuall instrument of a most blessed accord both of Churches and Kingdomes and I heartily wish that you had and pray that you may have many Iraeneos Philadelphos like him whom as such an one I have heard you many times mention with much commendation who may give most hopefull assistance of happy successe to such a worthy designe God forbid that either we of England or our brethren of Scotland should be so stupid as not to apprehend that the safety of both Nations is bound up in our union one with another and our ruine like to be let loose in our rent and distraction or so stubborne in asserting our owne interests or working of our owne wills as to fall out for them and by our mutuall hostility so to weaken each part that the common enemie may come in upon us and overcome us both rather then so we should yeeld to any thing but sinne part with any thing but with a good conscience In that which I have hitherto said my good Lord I have shewed but some part of that good report which by such as are least lyable to suspitions of partiality is published of you and because opposites doe illustrate the evidence of truth I have noted some examples of another straine whereby it may appeare that the great schisme and distraction among us hath been made and maintained not by a kind and respective correspondence betwixt persons or Churches of a different Discipline as some not onely untruly but absurdly suggest but by proud and
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
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
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
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
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
8â— Lipsiae an 1633. Schickardus Professor of that tongue at Tubinge upon experience hath averred they may attaine to remarkeable proficiencie therein before they can be furnished with reall knowledge And I remember one Wolfgangus a Jew a Teacher of the Hebrew tongue in my time in Oxford who as both my selfe and others who were his Schollers with mee easily observed had but little learning either in divinity or humanity and so little acquaintance with the Latin tongue that hee could not without much difficulty dictate two lines in that language with congruity So farre short was hee of a facility for elegant speech and yet hee tooke upon him to read his Lecture to us in Latine and I have heard of some by such as I may well beleeve who are meere aliens in Logick and Philosophy and so little acquainted with the Latin tongue that they cannot construe one sentence in the easiest Latin Authour without consulting with a Dictionary who yet are so familiar with the Hebrew that their people are in danger to bee choaked with Hebrew roots which they obtrude upon them in their ordinary Sermons and in as much danger to bee starved too for want of the sap and juice of good instruction which they are not like to receive from them who are become ″ Priùs imperitorum magistri quà m doctorum discipuli Hieron ad Demetriad p. 70 Teachers of the ignorant before they have beene Schollers to the learned which puts mee in minde of the censure which an ingenious Student a Master N.S. sometimes my Chamber-fellow and Proctor of the University made of the Sermon of a verball Doctor who with very little matter had a Babell of words in his head and mouth which was That hee spake nothing in as many languages as ever hee heard any man And I doubt not but there bee many such as deserve the censure of Tacitus upon Secundus Carinates viz. b Hiâ— GraecaÌ„ doctrinâ ore tenus exercitatus animum bonis artibus non imbuerat Tacit. Annal. lib. 15. f. 236. b. That hee had some wordy learning in his mouth and little knowledge of the Arts in his minde Secondly I say for Master Brerewood that his Booke of Inquiries into Languages and Religions besides other evidence of his great knowledge in the Hebrew tongue and other learning might have set him farre enough out of the reach of all suspicion of such ignorance as the mistaking of that title may import in him that made it Thirdly The word Sabaoth is in that part of the Booke which is Master N. Byfields dictate as well as in that which is Master Brerewoods and it is so also in Master Byfields owne handwriting as I can shew yet will I not impute that unto ignorance for it might bee the sliding of his pen into a word neere unto it as I have often taken my selfe with misprision of prophet for profit and contrariwise through cursory writing Or Fourthly It may be the Transcribers mistaking of his dictates into which he might easily be induced by the like writing in many Bookes of Common prayer in the fourth Commandement of divers editions and in the parcels of Scripture therein rehearsed and in the books of c In the Homily of the place and time of prayer p. 161 162 164. Homilies d Archbish Whitgift pag. 541. Archbishop Whitgift against Mr. Cartwright e Bish Bilson part 2. pag. 270. Bishop Bilson in the true difference betwixt Christian subjection and unchristian rebellion f Dr. John White pag. 210. D. White in his Way to the Church g Master Perkins in the Order of causes of salvation and damnation chap. 5. pag. 14. col 2. Master Perkins in the Order of causes of salvation and damnation h Mr. Sprint his Propositions of the Christian Sabbath in which Book the word Sabaoth is in every leafe at least and in some it is divers times repeated Master Sprint his Propositions of the Christian Sabbath for in the Bookes that beare their names and particularly in the places quoted in the margine the name is mis-written either Sabaoth or Sabboth for Sabbath Fifthly Some Authours have that word so miswritten in their Works who yet were verys kilfull in the Hebrew tongue as is evident by i Bp. Andrewes in his Speech in the Star-chamber p. 72 73. Bishop Andrewes in his Speech in the Star-chamber and in his k And in his third Sâ—rm of the Resurrect pag. 406 407. third Sermon of the Resurrection by l Weemse Exercit cerem exer 3. p. 7. Mr. Weemse in his Exercit. and in his m In his Christ Synag lib. 1. cap. 4. pag. 45. cap. 5. pag. 71. p. 74. eight times p. 75. eleven times Christ Synag n Test Rev. 1.10 Mr. Cartwright in his Answer to the Rhemists Sixthly Whereas as o Mr. R. Byfield Praef. pag. 1. Master R. Byfield saith I would have imputed this to the Printers oversight if either the errata had mentioned it or the whole Treatise in any one place had given the true orthography of it It may be replyed First That there is no necessity that either the Printer or the Authour should beare the blame of that mistaking but rather the Publisher betwixt them both and so as I have ″ By Mr. A. Byfield Mr. N. Byfields sonne Febr. 1640. heard since my comming to London it was Master Richard Byfields meaning to impute the ignorance to the Publisher and none else which I conceive he had just cause to doe Secondly For Master Brerewood I can shew it in a manuscript of his owne hand many times so lettered as it should have beene throughout the Treatise and not once as it is in the mistaken title And lastly In the Answer to Master Brerewoods Book Mr. R. Byfield himself hath brought a Letter of his to Alderâ—…n Ratcliffe wherein the word is written right by Master Brerewood five times in one page the p Mr. R. Byfield his Answer to Mr. Brerewood pag. 224. later page of the last leafe but one and not otherwise by him at all in that Letter I have insisted longer on this erroneous writing and the exception made against it then a Criticall Reader would require or perhaps allow of but I was induced unto it partly to correct the indiscreet ostentation and comparisons of some who have vaunted themselves of a little Hebrew and disvalued Latine learning in all faculties in those men whose Bookes if they be balanced with them in Scholasticall abilities they are not worthy to beare nor are they able to beare the volumes which some of them have written and partly by this pleading for Master Brerewood whom in many things I shall have cause to contradict to advertise the indifferent Reader that my purpose is to deale indifferently and without partiality in the Controversies of the Sabbath which hee may observe by my readinesse to right him even to a word or letter from whom
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
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
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
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