observed as some compute from Joshua to Nehemiah which was for about One thousand years And for how many years the Seventh day Sabbath was before and under the Captivity turned into a Market-day Neh. 13. 15 to 21 I know not but 't is there written that their Fathers marketting upon the Sabbath occasioned the Captivity of Israel and Israel under their oppressing Persecutors was there particularly reproved for prophaning the Sabbath by Nehemiah as I shall shew more under the twelfth Question So that Commands may be broken and great and plain Duties may be long and generally omitted in the Churches and great Faults committed and yet Commands are still Commands and Duties continue Duties and Sins are still Transgressions of the Law and as soon as God does give us the knowledge of any Duty we ought to set about it and when He discovers to us any Sin we should bewail it and turn from it And in Truth the longer the observation of the Seventh day has been discontinued if it had been for Sixteen hundred years together which Reckoning I think you may hereafter find diminished the louder the Lord in the Fourth Command doth call upon us to return to the Law and to the Testimony the length of time wherein some Churches have given a Bill of Divorce to the Sabbath being a strong Argument to continue no longer in observance of the First day to which we never were married that I find by the Lord. And supposing the Churches had all for a long time observed the First day and by Tradition taken it for the Lord's day if they were long mistaken must they therefore persist in that wrong Observation and never be reclaimed And must no man dare under pain and peril of many Reproaches and other Persecutions and Ruin in this World so far as Angry men can do it practise it or speak or write a Word for it For all the Cry about the length of time if it were true has only this Force that because we have been out of our way for a long time therefore let no man presume or think to put us in our way again which is no good Arguing upon the Road nor in other Cases and why in this Ans 5. From Rev. 1. 10 it is plain That John was in the Island Patmos and was there in the Spirit i. e. in an Extasie and Rapture of Mind wherein the Understanding is raised and fixed in Contemplation of Divine things which were afterwards to come to pass in the Churches and the World Which also in part was the case of Peter Acts 10. 10 about the sixth hour but whether on the Sabbath I know not and of Paul 2 Cor. 12. 2 but whether on the Sabbath I know not and often of the Prophets and John being in the Spirit was on the Lord's day Now to find out which day of the week this was if it were a weekly day which is not written I shall offer the best Evidence I can from the Word Opinions in such undetermined Cases being only Conjectures which I heartily submit to the Word and better Judgments who are awed by the Word From the Text or Context we find nothing very considerable on either side that I know and therefore to find out what day this is shall collate other Scriptures for whatsoever is necessary to be known and not expressed in one Text is found in another for the Word of God is certainly compleat as to all necessary Truths I find a great deficiency in my own Understanding and Memory but nothing wanting in the Scriptures and whosoever is once poisoned with Conceits that the Scriptures are defective I do not wonder if such run to any thing that is uppermost For as the Scriptures are given by Inspiration of God so they are able to make us wise to Salvation 2 Tim. 3. 15 16 17. And he that thinks this Scripture or any other Scripture false will be no Rule to me And here I may first recollect what was offered on the Third Question viz. That after the Creation the seventh-Seventh-day Sabbath was instituted by the Lord Jesus Christ and by him was blessed and sanctified Gen. 2. 1 2 3 4 and thence thus reason 1st That day which the Lord blessed and sanctified is the Lord's day but the Seventh day of the week is that day which he blessed and sanctified therefore the Seventh day is the Lord's day That the Lord blessed and sanctified the Seventh day and thaâ— he that blessed it was the Lord Christ and that the Seventh day is the day he blessed and sanctified are expresly proved by Gen. 2 2 3 4 and in the first second and third Questions And if it be so it seems to follow somewhat strongly that then the Seventh day is the Lord's day Now although all the days of the week are the Lord's that is 't was he that made that division of Time into Seven days and there stayed and every day is his yet he having peculiarly blessed sanctified and called the Seventh day his day and rested upon it and set it apart for Man to rest on and He having no where that I can yet find in his Word said any such thing of the First day or of any other day of the week but only of the Seventh I dare not speak or think contrary to his express Command and Word and the Seventh day seems to me only to be and to be by Him called The Lord's day 2. Another Scripture to prove that the Seventh-day Sabbath is the Lord's day is Exod. 20. 10 where the Seventh day is directly affirmed to be the Sabbath of the Lord that is the Seventh day is the Lord's Sabbath day or the Lord's day of Rest or the Lord's day and the like is in Deut. 5. 14 The Seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God Now that which is the Lord's Sabbath day I should think cannot well be denied to be the Lord's day and it being his Sabbath day does not make it cease to be a day or cease to be his day and if it be his day then 't is the Lord's day Or we may reason thus That day which the Lord commanded to be kept holy is the Lord's day but the Seventh day is that day which the Lord commanded to be kept holy therefore the Seventh day is the Lord's day Now that the Seventh day is that day which the Lord commanded to be kept holy appears from Exod. 20. 8 10 and Deut. 5. 12 14 15. The latter end of that 15th Verse is very cogent For thus hath the Lord commanded thee to do or to make that day the Sabbath 3. Another Scripture to prove the Seventh day to be the Lord's day is Isa 58. 13 where the Sabbath is called the Lord's Holy-day and the Holy of the Lord. I think no Writer has yet doubted that the Sabbath there spoken of was the Seventh-day Sabbath then and still observed by the Israelites and it cannot be the less his day
true That in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision nor Uncircumcision availeth any thing but a new Creature Gal. 6. 15. In Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Uncircumcision but Faith which worketh by Love Gal. 5. 6. which Love is the fulfilling of the Law Gal. 5. 14. and the fruit of the Spirit Gal. 5. 22. And as many as walk according to this Rule Peace on them and Mercy Gal. 6. 16. Upon All whether Jews or Gentiles who believe in Christ and walk by Rule And Circumcision is nothing and Uncircumcision is nothing but the keeping the Commandments of God 1 Cor. 7. 19. Col. 3. 9 10 11. And upon the whole of this it seems to me the Law was given to Jews and Gentiles And through Christ both Jews and Gentiles have access by one Spirit to the Father Eph. 2. 11 14 18. where you have also Father Son and Holy Spirit 2dly That the seventh-day Sabbath after the promulgation of the Law by Christ at Mount Sinai and that ordinarily was called by the name of the Sabbath and by that name known and observed I think is agreed by all that I know and is so plain throughout the Old Testament that there needs little to be said thereto Six days thou shalt work and on the seventh day thou shalt rest Exod. 23. 12. Upon the seventh day the Lord called to Moses out of the Cloud Exod. 24. 16. which probably was the first Sabbath after the giving the Law Exod. 20. which seventh day is often called a sign for ever between him and his People and a perpetual Covenant Exod. 31. 13 to 17. to distinguish his People from others Where the Law of the Pool's Annot. on Exod. 31. 16. Sabbath is confirmed and established to be perpetual and the reason given for the perpetuity of the Sabbath is such as hath its force till the end of the World and it 's fit and just men should retain this Monument or Memorial of the Worlds Creation even till its Dissolution And this was whilst the Lord was communing with Moses in the Mount and before the giving Moses the two Tables of Testimony Exod. 31. 18. which they were to observe in Earing-time and Harvest Exod. 34. 21. And the seventh day shall be to you an Holy day a Sabbath of rest to Jehovah Exod. 35. 2. which is repeated here and in Exod. 31. 13. before to teach them to remember that Precept above all their ceremonial Observations And the Weekly Sabbaths are called The Sabbaths of the Lord v. 38. in a way of distinction from other days of Rest which also appears in the fourth Command Exod. 20. 8 9 10 11. afterwards we have the Judgment against the Stick-gatherer Num. 15. 32 36. And after the Command renewed for lively fiery and not dead and formal Morning and Evening Word and Prayer Num 28. 3 to 8. Jehovah also repeats the Law for the Sabbath v. 9 10. which Israel prophan'd whereof we read much in the Prophets and Psal 92. is a Psalm for the Sabbath day I love thy Commandments above gold yea above fine gold I esteem all thy Precepts concerning all things right Psal 119. 127 128. As if he had said I make not all thy Commands void as some do nor am I partial in approving some and rejecting or altering those I like not which cross my Opinion as others do all thy Commands ever were are and ever will be right Which I take to be the import of the Hebrew leaving out the Verb there and in many other places And he that turneth away his Ear from hearing the Law his Prayer is an abomination Prov. 28. 9. it ever was so is so and will be so an abomination 1 John 3. 22. Thus saith Jehovah My Salvation is near to come Blessed the man that keepeth the Sabbath he will accept their services Isa 56. 1 2 6 7. such ever were are and ever will be blessed Which place referring to Gospel-times is the larger Promise now And it shall come to pass that from one Sabbath to another shall all flesh come to worship before me saith Jehovah Isa 66. See also Jer. 17. 21. 23 24. And with this that great Gospel-Prophet concludeth his Prophecy The Covenant which Jehovah made with their Fathers which they broke Jer. 31. 31 32. 33. was the Moral Law I will put my Laws in their inward parts and write them in their Hearts called an everlasting Covenant Jer. 32. 40 38 39. Rom. 2. 29. John 1. 47. Rom. 7. 22 Heb. 8. 8 9 10. The Lord charges Jerusalem as having changed his Statutes therefore I even I against thee Ezek. 5. 5 6 8. That the Sabbath was appointed as a sign between him and his People is often mentioned which because they polluted he gave them Statutes not good Ezek. 20. 12 13 16 20 21. 24. My Sabbaths they greatly polluted v. 13. the Lord threatned them not to bring them into Canaan because they polluted his Sabbaths v. 15 16. which should be a sign between him and them v. 20 21 24. Which Weekly Sabbaths were to be a weekly keeping alive their Hopes of an Eternal Rest with the Lord that Rest or Sabbatism or keeping Sabbath in Heaven which remaineth for the People of God Heb. 4. 8 9. of which the seventh-day Sabbath was and is a Pledge and Representation And the prophaning the Sabbath is reckoned amongst the greater sins of Israel whose Ministers hid their Eyes from his Sabbath Ezek. 22. 8 26. 23. 38. After many Threatnings against Aegypt and after the Promises in that Prophet of converting the Jews the Resurrection of the dry Bones the Promise of Christ's Kingdom God's Judgment on Gog and Ezekiel's Vision of the new Temple Thus saith the Lord God The gate of the inward Court that looketh toward the East shall be shut the six working days but on the Sabbath it shall be opened for the Prince to enter and offer upon the Sabbath day Ezek. 46. 1 2 4. and a little after that Prophet closeth his Prophecy and God threatens to cause the Sabbath to cease Hos 2. 11. And when will the Sabbath be gone that we may set forth Wheat Amos 8. 5. By all which I conclude that the seventh day was the Sabbath till our Lord's Incarnation These and other Voices of the Prophets do shew how highly the Sabbath was valued by the Lord who gave it to his People and was ordinarily called by the Prophets and afterwards by the Apostles the Sabbath or the Sabbath day and those terms of the Seventh day and the Sabbath were Synonimous in the Church noting all along throughout the Old and New Testament one and the same Seventh-day-Sabbath And it is very observable that the Old or New Testament do never call the First day the Sabbath Q. 6. If the Ten Commands without any exception of the fourth Command or any part or tittle of it were confirmed by the Lord Jesus Christ after his taking our Nature upon him
because it is his Holy-day And if it be His day then it is the Lord's day and that which He calls his day and says is his day is certainly his day and we ought to believe and acknowledge it to be his day In which plain Arguments I think there is some strength though weakly expressed 4. Another Argument I take from Mat. 12. 8 For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath day And the like Mark 2. 28 The Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath And the like in Luke 6. 5 Christ saith to the Pharisees That the Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath Which places also farther prove Christ's Deity That the Sabbath there in Matthew Mark and Luke spoken of is the Seventh day Sabbath I think is agreed by all Expositors and appears in those Chapters to be the Sabbath which the Israelites then observed which was then and is still the Seventh day of the week And we find in Mat. 12. 5 that the Exception was taken by the Pharisees as if Christ's Disciples by plucking Ears of Corn and eating them had done that which was not lawful to be done on the Sabbath day Mat. 12. 1 2. And surely they did not object against Christ as breaking Sunday i. e. the First day And so it must needs be the Seventh-day Sabbath that this Debate between the Lord and the Pharisees was about And the same may be said of Mark 2. 24 28 and of Luke 6. 2 3 5 in which Scriptures it was the Jewish Sabbath that was in question And that the Son of Man who is there said to be Lord of the Sabbath day is Christ I think also certain for that our Saviour useth this term of Son of Man about sixty times in the Gospel and always of himself and I think never with reference to any other man And Christ is called the Son of Man by John Rev. 1. 13 but three Verses from Rev. 1. 10. from whence this main Objection is taken And Rev. 14. 14 Christ is again called the Son of Man so that the Son of Man in Matthew Mark Luke and John who writ the Revelation is the Lord Jesus Christ who is Lord of the Sabbath day As for those who would interpret the Son of Man in those places of Matthew Mark and Luke to be ordinary Men and so give ordinary men a Lordship over a Moral Law as no such thing is written so I take that Interpretation to be wholly unscriptural and exploded by all sound Expositors and would give Men a Lordship over the Moral Laws which would be a very loose Interpretation And I take it to be plain that by the Son of Man in Matthew Mark Luke and John is meant the Lord Jesus Christ Then supposing the Sabbath mentioned by Matthew Mark and Luke to be the seventh-Seventh-day weekly Sabbath and the Son of Man mentioned by Matthew Mark Luke and John to be the Lord Jesus Christ which day then if the Scriptures may be Judge is the true Lord's day Whence I may thus reason That day whereof Christ the Son of Man is Lord is the Lord's day but the seventh-Seventh-day Sabbath is that day whereof Christ the Son of Man is Lord therefore the seventh-day Sabbath is the Lord's day And if the Scriptures may and must resolve the Case and the seventh day be the Lord's day sure then there is an end of this Objection I know some put a very wrong Gloss as I think upon these three plain Texts of Mat. 12. 8 Mark 2. 28 Luke 6. 5 and pretend that the Son of Man's being Lord of the Sabbath imports that Christ the Son of Man hath power to change the Sabbath by which Gloss they do acknowledge that the Son of Man there is Christ and that by the Sabbath in those Texts is meant the Seventh-day Sabbath and that Christ is Lord of the Seventh-day Sabbath which also farther proves Christ to be Jehovah which no Christian man can deny but that there was any Thought of changing it there is not a tittle written And if Christ's words had had that meaning and the Jews to whom he spake had so understood him they would surely have taken greater Offence at such Doctrine whereof there is not a word in those Texts where the Case was this in short The Jews by misunderstanding the true meaning of the Fourth Command thought Christ broke that Law by working miraculous Cures on the Seventh-day and that his Disciples broke it by plucking and rubbing Ears of Corn for their necessary Food upon the Sabbath day This Mistake of the Jews Christ who gave the Sabbath and who was and is Lord of it and so best understood the true scope and meaning of the Law which he himself gave reproves and rectifies by a clear Exposition of that Law When the Pharisees Mat. 12. 1 2 and Mark 2. 23 24 25 took exception against Christ's Disciples for plucking Ears of Corn c. as doing that upon the Sabbath which was not lawful Christ referrs them to what they read about David's eating Shew-bread which was only lawful for Priests but in case of necessity was lawful for David to do v. 4. And Christ for farther answer referrs them to the Case of the Priests in the Temple who upon the Sabbath day did divers acts of much servile Labour as offering Sacrifices and many other things which in their sence would have been a Profanation of the Sabbath yet being Labour appointed by the LORD and about his then instituted Worship the Priests in doing of it were blameless v 5. And Christ farther tells them that if they had known what that meaneth I will have mercy and not sacrifice Hos 6. 6 they would not have condemned the Guiltless And when in the Case of the man with a withered Hand they asked Christ Whether it were lawful to heal on the Sabbath day Mat. 12. 10 and Mark 3. 1 2 5 Christ answers What man having a Sheep fallen into a pit on the sabbath day will not lay hold of it and lift it out Ver. 11. This they themselves would do and they also knew that the Life or Good of a Man was to be preferred before the Life or Good of a Beast and so Christ appeals to them as condemning themselves in a Case which they allowed that it was lawful to do well on the sabbath day v. 12 and cures the withered Hand v. 14. see also his curing and defending the Cure of the Woman who had an Infirmity eighteen years on the Sabbath Luke 13 10 to 17 where all his Adversaries were ashamed of their false Glosses upon the Law of the Sabbath v. 17. We have also Christ curing and defending that Cure of the man who had a Dropsy by the case of an Ass or Ox fallen into a Pit on the Sabbath day Luke 14. 1 2 5 and of a man who had an Infirmity thirty eight years on the Sabbath John 5. 5 to 9 and v. 16 at which
great deal of Rubbish and before mentioned may be sufficient in my weak Opinion to prove to the satisfaction of the unprejudic'd that the Word of God fully and a strong Tradition are for the Seventh-day Sabbath and against the First day And if the Seventh day be the true Christian Sabbath and that day and that day only be commanded to be kept as it plainly seems to me by the Scriptures and very far by Tradition except that of Rome and its Followers then do we weekly and wilfully break the Fourth Command in a point wherein there seems no sound Reason can be assigned for God expresly commands to keep the Seventh day and we will keep not that which he commands but one of those upon which he has commanded us to labour What a learned Noble Gentleman means by his Inequality of days in his Cosmical Suspicions I know not See Isa 30. 19 26. Prov. 3. 1 2 16. Orek Jammim Nor what of Truth there may be in the Story of Fluvius Sabbaticus in Palestine which some say only flows another that it only rests upon the Seventh day but divers take notice of it Baronius An. Chr. 33 fol. 28 sect 12. Josephus 7. de bello 24. Plin. 31 Hist 2. c. but on these I build not And here I think it may be of some use to bestow a Sheet or two upon the case of Easter to shew how that came in and is held up As to the time of keeping the Passover the Lamb was to be taken up the tenth day of the first Moon or Month Nisan which Nisan they say answered to part of our March and part of April and was to be killed the fourteenth day of that Month Exod. 12. 1 6. The Month Nisan I take to be the first New Moon after the Vernal Aequinox which Vernal Aequinox is our Eleventh or Twelfth day of March and whether the Fourteenth day was not to be reckoned from the day of the Aequinox which Fourteenth day was alwaies in the Month Nisan I cannot tell Lucius Cent. 2. 117 D. But this I doubt and rather take the first viz. That the Month or Moon Nisan began after the Vernal Aequinox and that the Paschal Lamb was to be killed the Fourteenth day of that Moon Or what other Reckoning they had I cannot certainly resolve To this Feast of the Passover i. e. passing over the Houses of the Israelites when God slew the First born of the Aegyptians our Lord's Parents went up to Jerusalem every year Luke 2. 41. This Passover though it preserved the Memory of the great Deliverance the Israelites had out of Aegypt yet the Lamb then killed was eminently a Type of Christ This Passover was also observed by Christ Mat. 26. 1 17 18 19. Mark 14. 12. Luke 22. 7. John 13. 1. The day when Christ went with his Disciples to keep the Passover was probably the Evening before our Friday and that Evening i. e. the beginning of Friday he and his Disciples probably began to keep it and that night he was betray'd and taken and on Friday was crucified which Passover the Jews observed upon the next day after being the Sabbath day The Ancients say the Jews had a Custom when two Feasts viz. the Passover and the Sabbath came so near together as to be next one another that by Rabbinical Tradition they observed both upon one day viz. upon the Sabbath day 'T is said thereupon that the Jews by that Rule then kept the Passover upon the Seventh-day Sabbath which began in the Evening which they should have observed upon Friday the Sixth day of the week And that Christ kept it upon the Evening of the Sixth day which was the right day which was the Evening after our Thursday Mark 15. 42. Luke 23. 54. John 19. 14. See Lucius Cent. 1 lib. 1. fol. 259 E Whether the Apostles kept it after the Death of Christ I cannot yet resolve although in Acts 18. 21 the Feast which the Apostle says he was to keep at Jerusalem seems to be the Passover though that be not named and if it were I think Paul took occasion to be there at that publick great Concourse of People to preach Christ to that Multitude And so in 1 Cor. 5. 8 the Feast there spoken of might be the Passover though it be not named But that the Apostles were under no obligation to keep that Feast of the Passover after the Death of Christ is to me past doubt because the Passover and Lamb then slain were a Type of Christ and prefigured him who is our Paschal Lamb who being himself slain and sacrificed for us 1 Cor. 5. 7 at his Death the Passover the Type and Figure wholly ceased and was abolished by his Death the true Antitype and so the Apostles and all others were by his Death delivered from that as Lucius Cent. 1. well as other Ceremonies which are all nailed to his Cross and the keeping the Feast with Unleaveneds the Apostle v. 8 expounds of their sincerity of Life who believed in Christ Lucius Cent. 1. lib. 2. 36. H However there were some particularly those at Rome in conformity to the Jews Passover though in crossness to the day the Jews kept the Passover on or it may be out of a good Intention in memory of the Resurrection or for what other reason I cannot tell who it seems by the Histories did about the Second and Third Centuries observe one yearly Festival in commemoration of the Resurrection which Resurrection falling out to be the First day of the week they would have others yearly observe upon the First day which the Eastern Churches generally opposed those there who kept it keeping it the fourteenth day of the first Month the day Christ kept it upon whatever day of the week it fell out to be But what Law from Christ either they or any others had or have to make any such Observation now upon either of those days or upon any other day I am wholly to seek 'T is true the Jews observed the Passover as appears Acts 12. 4 where the Passover is rendered Easter And that some yearly Feast was kept by divers Christians in lieu of the Passover is very likely Lucius 1 Cent. lib. 2. fol. 387. C D where John and Philip the Evangelist and other Apostles are said to keep that yearly Feast the fourteenth day of the first Moon and that some cast it rejecisse upon the Dominical day Cent. 2 fol. 7. C D where a Question being moved Who first preached the Gospel in Britain 't is said It does not sufficiently appear but certainly this is not unlikely to Truth That that Church i. e. in Britain was planted in the beginning by the Grecian or Oriental Teachers and not by the Romans or Western Teachers and that the Grecians transferred their Riâ—es and Ceremonies to them and he so thinks first because Petrus Cluniacensis Abbas writing to St. Bernard affirms The Scots according to the manner of
AN ENQUIRY Whether the LORD JESUS CHRIST made the World and be Jehovah and gave the Moral Law AND Whether the Fourth Command be Repealed or Altered By THO. BAMPFIELD LONDON Printed for the Author and are to be sold by Tho. Fabian at the Bible in St. Paul's Church-yard a Corner-Shop next Cheapside 1692. AN ENQUIRY Whether the Lord JESUS CHRIST made the World and be JEHOVAH c. THE Word of God and the general Consent of the Christian and of much of the Heathen World being agreed for a weekly day of rest And Opinions and Practice varying which day of the week is to be observed some affirming it to be one day and some another And those agreeing upon the day differing in the Grounds of its observation and the time of its beginning and ending And these Questions concerning a Moral Duty to which All are weekly obliged do make it worth while to look into it to find if possible whether the Question be as doubtful as the many Treatises thereof have left it and whether the Unresolvedness which is upon and still afresh ariseth in the Minds of Men be incurable And when we consider the number and weight of Books and their Authors for about an Hundred years last past pleading for the first day of the week as the weekly day of rest it is some marvel whence that Unresolvedness does come and how it is maintained and with some gets Strength under many endeavours to suppress it private Consciences raising sometimes the old and sometimes new Objections and Doubts which neither themselves nor any Man or Book did yet ever answer to their satisfaction The plain Word and Law of Jehovah seeming expresly to command the observation of one day and many writing for and keeping up another Consciences are commonly startled out of all that settlement which they seem sometimes to have gotten from the Opinions good Intentions Practice Authority and Books of Men and are still suspicious that a positive Command of God and that one of the ten Commands requires positive Obedience from Man Wherein that I may commuâ—icate what I can I premise 1. First The Persons herein eminently treated with being such as are professedly awed by a Principle of Subjection to the Will of Christ if it can be known what it is and who resolve their Perswasion in Religion into the Word of God and who acknowledge themselves obliged to practise his Will whatsoever it shall prove to be I take this for granted That whatever is the Mind of Christ in this as in other Cases in his Word ought to be observed by us all 2. Secondly That Christ's Will in this is revealed to us in the Scripture or no where As for those who because they find not a Command for the first day in the Scriptures do reflect upon them as not perfect and resort to Traditions to make up what they surmise is defective in them and who to supply the want of a particular Command for the First day lodge a general Power in the Church to make Laws in this Case to bind after-Ages I answer That the Scriptures do teach us all Truths and Duties necessary to Salvation and that it is so full a Direction 2 Tim. 3. 16 17. in all cases that Christians need not go down to what is not written for direction what to do Peace on them who walk according to this Rule Gal. 6. 16. And if the Church had such Power as some pretend there being such variety of Churches which of the Churches shall give the World a Rule in this And if all Churches had been of one mind all along quo jure by what Right could they alter any Law of God And after such a loose Principle admitted where shall any man and who shall set Bounds to that loose Principle And generally the most Learned of the Prelatical as well Romanists as others go that way Mr. Calvin Calvin's Instit Book 2. chap. 8. sect 33 34. also lays the greatest stress for the observation of the First day upon the Authority of the Church he says the old Fathers have not without reason of their choice put in place of the Sabbath-day the day we call Sunday so Mr. Calvin allows the alteration to be made by the old Fathers but Mr. Calvin's particular Opinion in this case was for a seventh part of every day And for those who think the Seventh day in the fourth Command was ceremonial and that keeping one day in seven that is the First day of the week is moral and remaineth Calvin calls this a trifling of false Prophets and an infecting the people with a Jewish Opinion and he adds that such do as much exceed as the Jews in gross and carnal Superstition Some of those again but those few and mean who are for the Seventh day have run far into another Extreme and endeavoured to introduce some of the Mosaical Ceremonies which are all abolish'd by the death of Christ and are nailed to his Cross and buried in his Grave and by such Col. 2. 14. conceits occasion Slanders upon others and discourage Eph. 2. 15 16. further Enquirers which Extravagancies I take to be the usual Artifice of Satan to prejudice and hinder us from using due means to givâ— our selves or others that satisfaction we need in so weighty a case and by how much the more Wanderings there are about this Question by so much the more it is requisite that we do what we can to clear our way therein And some who have written for the First day are so confident that they count all contrary Reasoning vain Cavils and say they think they have fully proved that point And some represent such as think that Seventh day is still the Christian Sabbath as Jews On the other hand same few of those who think the Seventh day the Christian Sabbath set out the First-day-men as decliniâ—g the determining Authority of the Scriptures And these Heats are carried so high on both sides that the Bonds of Love are much broken and Christian Communion almost cut asunder which ways of speaking and writing as vehement we much dislike and I am perswaded many of both sides whoever do mistake do conscientiously mistake and I hope if it be possible to come at the certain knowledge of the Will of Christ our common Lord would sit down thereby and a right way herein we may well presume has been often and earnestly sought on all hands of Him about it and the Scriptures and Histories searched and those who love Christ are undoubtedly or ought to be willing to keep his Commands Joh. 14. 15. And here without prejudice it cannot be denied but those worthy learned pious and excellent Ministers of Christ and others who have written so many elaborate Tracts for the First day have done it with good intentions as thinking it for the Honour of Christ to keep up a day in memory of his Resurrection Nor can they or any others without
deliberately to do and may with like reason deny almost any thing for which we have full Authority from the Word That a very contrary Custom was afterwards introduced into many Churches I think we may say is evident a Custom of observing another day viz. the First day instead of the Seventh day which has been as it is maintained with great Authority and doth prove a Plant impossible for Man to pluck up without a full Testimony of the Word and Holy Spirit especially being supported as it is by such mighty men dead and alive as have written for it who are opposed only by a few weak persons 'T is plain that Paul preached in the Synagogue every Sabbath i. e. every seventh-day Sabbath for all Writers agree that the Sabbath which the Jews observed was the seventh day and that he perswaded Jews and Gentiles So that we have here Scripture-Instances of Ministers and of Believers in Christ after his Resurrection and Ascension and after the pouring out the Holy Spirit by deliberate choice keeping the seventh-day Sabbath in the Synagogue or Church where they came together for their publick Worship and the Ministers there preaching Christ to Jews and Gentiles And who can considerately think that the Holy Spirit misnamed the Sabbath and calls the Seventh day the Sabbath if it were changed to the First day And if I had offered no more than those few Lines in answer to the Tenth Question in my weak Judgment this were sufficient to answer all that I know is written for the First day and I have read much about it and this consisting of Matters of Fact has no need of being argued search the Scriptures as the Bereans did Acts 17. 11 and see if these things be so or no. Q. 11. Whether the Holy Spirit calls the Seventh day the Sabbath and no other day of the week both in the Old and in the New Testament throughout Answ I answer affirmatively as appears in the Answer to the former Questions and in particular That the Seventh day has the name of the Sabbath and was kept as the Sabbath after the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ and after the pouring out of the Holy Spirit appears in the Answer to the Tenth Question And the Advocates for the First day do not pretend that the First day is any where in the Scriptures called the Sabbath as Mr. Baxter a very learned Writer for the First day doth acknowledge in Print Nor has any man yet shewn any Word or Command from God to observe it Nor are there two weekly days set apart by God for holy Worship and so I think this Eleventh Question needs no farther Labour Objections which are made in this Case although they seem to me to arise mostly from Conjectures at the meaning of some Expressions in the Word which seem Objections and Answers to others to have no such sence now come to be considered it being reasonable that the Evidence of the other side be heard also that the Reader may make a right Judgment thereon Object 1. The first Objection which I consider is that raised from the Resurrection of Christ which Resurrection some think convenient should be celebrated by a particular weekly day and the rather as one says because it is possible the Seventh day was changed Others more frankly say it was changed but they are not sure whether by Christ during his Life or by him after his Resurrection or whether by his Apostles or any of them after his Ascension or when or where or by whom any of these Uncertainties they do not yet resolve us and I think we are sure and some of the other side do acknowledge that no such Change is recorded in the Scriptures But however they suppose it for the Honour of Christ that one day in a week be set apart to commemorate his Resurrection Answ They do suppose this Our Law and all Mankind do admit that there is as much reason for those things that have no Existence i. e. which are not as there is for those things which do not appear If once Suppositions be allowed instead of Evidence and Proof any man of Parts and Credit may introduce great Absurdities When it can be truly said that the Lord has no where in his Word enjoyn'd the observation of the First day that they can shew or after the strictest search that we can find What Colour has any man to observe it And when it can be truly said that the Lord has no where in his Word repealed the Fourth Command nor altered the Seventh day or any way blotted it out of his Law by which Law we are to walk and by which we are to be judged that they can shew or we can find how can we presume to alter it Or if the Lord had any where in his Word transferred Power to any Man or Men to invent a new way of honouring Christ and to set apart a new day to commemorate his Resurrection this were something but where is there any such Power recorded in the Scriptures to be given to any Man or Men whatsoever And if there be no such new Command given by Christ to keep the First day and no such Authority given by him to any persons whatsoever to alter the Seventh day who then shall set Bounds to such as once undertake of their own Heads without any Commission from Christ to vary from and to add to the Commands of Christ However specious and plausible the Pretences be can any think it is for the Honour of Christ or the Resurrection that Men of their own minds should take the liberty and boldness to add to or to alter any of his Commands Why may not others command us to kneel to the consecrated Bread and pretend as many do that it is for the Honour of Christ And why may not one as well maintain the yearly Observation of Christmas in memory of his Birth and of Good-Friday in memory of his Passion and of Easter in memory of his Resurrection and of Whitsuntide in memory of his Ascension and of Altars and Adoration towards the East and that standing and not kneeling in expectation of his second Coming which some pretend to guess may be from the East as well as a new weekly Sabbath All which Conceits and many other such-like do pretend to be for the Honour of Christ and are ancient Traditions and seem to intend and mean very well When any persons whatsoever shall with pretended good Intentions assume an Authority of their own heads to add to the Word of God or any way to alter it in a tittle in comes therewith not only the common Tides of Christmas c. as they call them but the whole Romish Kalendar of Saints and all their Mass and Monkery which have specious Pretences and cannot be resisted if the Churches corrupted or the purest Churches be once admitted to have such a Power for if the Church or any part thereof may invent and
alter one day of the week and the World of Christians be thereby concluded and bound to observe such alterations I know no Bolts or Locks strong enough for such a Door to keep it from letting in upon the Churches of Christ whatsoever pleaseth those in Power in any part of the World whether it do concern God's immediate solemn Worship or Matters of Doctrine Discipline or Conversation Men may as well take the other six as one day as the Romanists for many weeks in the year do and they may as well make any other alteration in the Essentials of Christianity if such Gapps be laid open and by the like reason lay as great Burthens upon the Christian Churches as were upon the Jews of old or as are now upon the Romanists such as are utterly inconsistent with all Instituted Worship and all true Liberty wherein Christ by his Word has made his Churches free in which Liberty we are to stand fast Gal. 5. 1 which Liberty eminently consists in a Freedom not only from the Ceremonial Laws of old contained in Ordinances which are laid aside by Christ which Liberty is purchased by him but also in a Liberty not to be entangled with a new Yoke of Mens Devices and Inventions whereof there is no end Christ has left Laws enough for the well governing of his Churches to which Laws of his if we yield entire subjection we have certainly no need farther to trouble our selves and whilst no man has yet shewn us from the Scriptures any Institution of the First day nor any Alteration of the Seventh after One thousand Six hundred and Ninety years elapsed I do not now expect it for places have been already searched by many Writers and not being yet found I think we may conclude that Change never will be found Obj. This change of the Seventh day to the First some have endeavoured to find in John 20. 19 26. In the 19th Verse it is said That the same day at Evening viz. the Evening after his Resurrection being the First day of the week when the Doors were shut Jesus stood in the midst and said unto them viz. to the Disciples Peace unto you Whence some gather because Christ rose upon the First day and appeared to the Disciples in the Evening therefore we must observe the First day And in the 26th Verse it is said And after eight days his Disciples within and Thomas with them came Jesus the doors being shut and stood in the midst and said Peace unto you Now say some after eight days signifieth here the Eighth day from the Resurrection counting the day wherein Christ rose for one as we call those third days Agues which have but one days intermission Tertians and those Agues which have but two days intermission Quartans and so the Disciples having met on the Resurrection day met again that day Sevennight Answ 1. All which if we do admit here is no Institution of the First day nor any pretence of laying aside or altering the Seventh which I take to be an Answer sufficient to all the Objections that I ever met with upon this Question viz. The First day has no Word-Institution Answ 2. But more particularly the First day John 20. 19 26 is understood by Expositors to be the same day mentioned in Luke 24. 13 29 where two Disciples travelled to Emmaus and Christ with them which Emmaus was about seven miles and an half according to our computation from Jerusalem and so more than a Sabbath-days Journey which they say was about two miles So then these two Disciples did not observe the First day the day of the Resurrection nor assemble to worship nor rest upon it but travelled as far as does appear to us about their ordinary occasions upon the same day that Christ rose Luke 24. 1 13. and Christ travelled with them also upon the same day and how that day was observed by him or them as a day of Rest and Travel too that is to journey and to rest at the same time is very hard for me to conceive Obj. And as to that in John 20. 26 where Jesus is said to come again after eight days when the Disciples were within with Thomas Answ First It is not said they were assembled about any Religious Worship whatsoever is affirmed of that nature is meerly guessed it 's said only that they were within with Thomas with them it 's probable the Persecution against them being then hot upon the crucifying of our Lord they lay concealed from the Jews and locked the Doors and were seldom abroad and at that time were certainly within when Christ miraculously stood in the midst and appeared to them But then Secondly That this second appearing was upon the First day of the week is gratis dictum freely said but is not there written the Text says It was after eight days say these Objectors It was the Eighth day including the former First day that is the day sevennight after his Resurrection So the Text says it was after eight days say they 'T was after six or seven days which seems to me impossible for let any man tell eight upon his Fingers and if he do not find that day after eight days to be Monday or Tuesday as we now call the days then I misreckon and this being an account easie to be cast up I leave it But for men to say that after Eight is after Seven or Six days and must be so understood because some would fain have it so and thereupon to build this Change seems to me contrary to all Sence and further Answer to this I think needless And as to that which they offer from Mark 8. 31 I find divers learned Expositors understand that Mark reckons the time from his first being betrayed and apprehended and that Matthew speaks only of the time that he lay in the Grave which was but part of three days other Answers are given but this part of the Objection seems not to be over-ingenious for that those who make it seem to go about to shake the day of his Resurrection if they could rather than want some Pretence for the First day weekly But however this or that in John 20 be understood yet here is no Institution of the First day nothing of the Worship the Disciples were met about either the one or the other of these Days and consequently little Colour for such a Conceit And as to the Resurrection it is so fully proved by many Eye-witnesses throughout the New Testament as I need to add no more to that Obj. Some fancy the day which Christ says to the Jews that their Father Abraham rejoyced to see and saw and was glad John 8. 56 was the day of the Resurrection and therefore the First day of the week as the day of the Resurrection must be for ever kept holy Ans Which day that Abraham saw others think referrs to the day of his Incarnation and thence inferr the Observation of Christmas-day
emera and heard behind him a great voice as of a Trumpet saying I am Alpha and Omega The Question is What day this was Ans 1. Some have thought this to be a yearly day in Commemoration of the Birth of our Lord Jesus Christ which some think was in December and therefore we in England and a few others who observe the old Style keep the 25th of December and the rest of the Christian and Romish World in the Western part of it who observe any day upon that account keep the 15th day of December i. e. ten days sooner than we in remembrance of it And some thought the day of Christ's Birth was in September and I find in Gregory's Posthuma p. 164 that the day of Christ's Nativity was not in use till 532 years after He says the Alexandrians Aethiopians and Armenians hold he was born the Sixth of January and the Bishop of Middleburgh that he was born in April Beroaldus in October Scaliger and Calvisius that 't was in September Hospinian that Christians did not celebrate the 25th of December as to Christ then born but to make amends for the Saturâ—alia p. 166. And as to the time of Christ's Birth and the time of making the World he says there are forty several Opinions p. 171. And which of these forty the World should follow in so doubtful a matter which was not in use in 532 yeaâ— after Christ and about which there are so many several opinions who shall resolve us Which Gregory was a very learned man and if these Matters of Fact be true about Christmas-day they may somewhat stumble Christmas-day-men But supposing â— were in December either those who observe the 15th of December or those who observe the 25th are certainly out in that observation one of those must needs be out and mistaken unleâ—â— they will both yield That if Men observe any one day upon thâ— account it sufficeth no matter which or unless they will say That if the Church in France or Rome command the observing the 15th there that is the right day there upon which Christ was born because the Church there says it And if the Church here observe the 25th that is the right day here because the Church here says it By which large Rule other Churches may as well observe any day they please but no one day at all being appointed that I ever read of in the Scripture for commemorating the Nativity of our Lord I know no good ground for observing any day upon that account Ans 2. Some think the Lord's day in Rev. 1. 10 is a yearly day in Commemoration of the Resurrection of Christ which is commonly kept upon Easter-day which Resurrection-day John and his Disciples observed if the History be true upon the Fourteenth Day of the First Month upon whatever day of the week it fell according to the Jewish Account Ans 3. And some think the Lord's day in Rev. 1. 10 to be that Great Providential day in the latter days when Christ will appear to plead the Cause of his Lordly Authority and Kingly Power which they think John might see in that Vision And some may take it to be the day of Christ's Coming which 1 Thess 5. 2 is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Day of the Lord or the Lord's day which day Phil. 1. 6 10 is called the day of Jesus Christ and the day of Christ Ans 4. Some think the Lord's day in Rev. 1. 10 to be a Weekly day of which sort some have thought it to be the First day of the week which we commonly call Sunday for which they alledge Ecclesiastical Tradition Others think if it be a Weekly day that it is the seventh day of the week for which they alledge divers Scriptures and which is to be preferred in such Cases which God has thought fit to leave so undetermin'd as this in Rev. 1. 10. either Tradition if Tradition were for it or the Scriptures collated with Rev. 1. 10 is much of the Question between these two Now as to the first Opinion That the day in Rev. 1. 10 was an Anniversary day observed by John in remembrance of the Incarnation or that it was an Anniversary day observed by him in remembrance of the Resurrection I may say as in the case of Moses's dead Body Deut. 34. 6 No man knoweth of his Sepulchre to this day so I say here the Lord has no where in his Word certainly revealed what day this was but has as it seems to me if we may be allowed humbly so to write purposely hidden it and if we may humbly enquire into the reason of that hiding it the notorious Idolatries Debaucheries Uncleannesses Blasphemies and great Wickednesses to which God in his Word gives no Countenance accompanying its observation may somewhat resolve us As 't is generally thought the reason why the Lord did not make known where be buried Moses was that his Body or Sepulchre might not be to the Israelites an occasion of Idolatry and consequently of all other Wickedness as it was in the case of Aaron's Golden Calf Exod. 32. 4 5 6 7 which Moses burnt powdered and strewed upon the Water and so made it impossible ever to be found v. 20. But the main doubt from Rev. 1. 10 is Whether it be a Weekly day and what day of the week it is One of the great Writers for the First day says There is an Universal Testimony for its observation for Sixteen hundred years together to which if that Account were true which I think will appear after in this Book to be mistaken I answer That from Lamech Gen. 4. 19 to the Prophet Malachi Mal. 2. 14 15 which as some compute was about 2480 years together Polygamy or the having many Wives was frequently practis'd by some eminent in the Church at that time and was doubtless held lawful by them for we cannot charitably suppose they commonly and openly lived in gross Sins and practised what they condemned in their Judgments as sinful and yet there were Laws in the Word at that time as we now find expresly against it as Gen. 2. 23 24 The man and his Wife shall be one flesh and after Lamech Thou shalt not take a Wife to her Sister during her life Lev. 18. 18 for that two Wives at once for one man they two would be to one another as two Sisters and yet the having more Wives than one was for a long time practised and little taken notice of if at all by the Prophets who sharply reproved other Sins of that People till the time of Malachi which sinful practice is fully refuted by our Lord upon occasion of his rightly stating the Case of putting away a Wife Mat. 19. 3 4 5 6 Mark 10. 7 8 They two viz. the Man and his Wife not they three four or five shall be one flesh and by the Apostle 1 Cor. 6. 16 Eph. 5. 3. And so the Feast of Booths in Nehemiah 8. 17 was not
it as a God upon Sunday My first Authority shall be out of Job who probably was iâ— the time of the ancient Patriarchs If I beheld the Sun when it shined or the Moon walking in brightness and my Heart hath been secretly enticed or my Mouth hath kissed my Hand this were an Iniquity to be punished by the Judges for I should have denied the God abovâ— Job in answer to Bildad chap. 25 and it may be especially â—â— ver 5. in his Apology professeth his Innocency as to open oâ— secret idolizing of the Sun or Moon which in his days it seemâ— was a common practice which probably had its Rise from somâ— broken Traditions touching the Dominion given to the Suâ— Gen. 1. 16 whence they termed the Sun Molech i. e. he thaâ— reigneth or ruleth or the King mentioned Lev. 18. 21 anâ— in many other Scriptures The Sun had also the Name of Baa i. e. Lord Num. 22. 4 41 the Idol of the Moabites whom theâ— supposed to be Lord of All for with these great Titles they honoured this Idol and worshipped him as the Great visible Lord and Ruler of the World whose glorious Light and other Influences together with that Blindness contracted by the Fall and Dispersion of Mankind led them to make and worship various Images thereof The Priests of this Idol were called Chemarim Chemarim Garments of Heathen Priests black from their black Garments whom Josiah put down 2 Kin. 23. 5 which Name of Chemarim the Lord threatens to cut off Zeph. 1. 4. And it is likely the Romanists have that black Colour and Habit from the Heathen Priests for any thing from Christ or his Apostles in precept practise or in favour thereof I do not remember Unto which Idol of the Sun some of the Kings of Israel did sacrifice and build high places which other gracious Kings as Hezekiah Josiah c. broke down whereof see the Histories at large in Kings and Chronicles which the Lord forbad as that which he had not commanded Deut. 17. 3 and which also the Prophets sharply reproved Jer. 19. 5. 32. 35 as that which the Lord never commanded which was the manner used by the Prophets to reprove and brand Corrupt Worship That it was not commanded by the Lord which is the same Exception we take against the First day And he that went a whoring after Molech the Lord would set his face against that man which high Places and Images of the Sun he threatens to cut down and destroy Lev. 26. 30. And the Aegyptians to whom the Remnant of Judah would go down had Temples dedicated to the Sun whereupon the Lord threatens to send the King of Babylon into Aegypt to break the Images in Bethshemesh i. e. in the House of the Sun Jer. 43. 10 to 13. And this sort of Idolatry was anciently performed about the rising of the Sun and this was that Sin which in a Vision the Lord shewed Ezekiel viz. 25 men of Judah with their Faces towards the East worshipping the Sun towards the East Ezek. 8. 16. And hence it was as I remember that the Heathen Temples were generally built toward the East the East being the Point wherein the Sun riseth in the Vernal and to which it returns in the Autumnal Aequinox which as some think from Gen. 2. 8 is directly over Paradice where the Sun is supposed first to have shined whence might arise a Custom amongst Idolaters of praying towards the East which is also very ancient though Solomon's Temple had its Priests and Sacrifices turning towards the West to avoid that Superstition Ezek. 8. 16 where their Backs are said to be towards the Temple of the Lord when their Faces were towards the East worshipping the Sun towards the East And in the Temple in Ezekiel there were three Gates one in the East another in the North and the third in the South Ezek. 46. 1 9 but none in the West And that the day for worshipping the Idol of the Sun was Sunday the First day of the week I offer one Authority from our own Country for our Ancestors in England before the Light of the Gospel came amongst them went very far if they did not outstrip others in this Idolatry and dedicated the First day of the week to the Adoration of the Idol of the Sun and gave it the name of Sunday from whom we have the name Sunday and hold fast that name to this day and this Idol they placed in a Temple and there sacrificed to it See Verstegan's Antiquities fol. 68. And upon like reason they made an Idol for every other day of the week by the names of which Idols they called the several days which names we still retain concerning which names consider Exod. 23. 13 Hos 2. 17 Psal 16. 4 Gen. 26. 18 Num. 32. 38 Zech. 13. 2 Josh 23. 7 Deut. 12. 3. And I think I do remember to have read in the Histories that a very great part of the World and particularly those parts of it which have since embraced Christianity did anciently adore the Sun upon Sunday Obj. A Learned Writer objects That the First day was set apart by the Apostles and that there is not the least Trace for any other day besides the First for Sabbath services and for this they have he says the universal Concurrence of all the Christian Churches for One thousand Six hundred years Ans In answer to which Affirmation I premise That all the Tradition in the World cannot add to take from lay aside or alter any Word of Christ or any Duty of any Man Obj. And the same Learned Objector on Rev. 1. 10 notes The vain Gavil of those that deny the Lord's day here to mean the Christian's day of Holy Worship even the First of the week I have fully confuted in a Book upon that Subject and it needs no confutation to those that are acquainted with Church-History who know that this day hath been kept holy as of Apostolical Ordination and Practice by the Universal Church ever since the Apostles days the Hereticks themselves consenting An Answer to that place Rev. 1. 10 I think you have before and that the Lord's day there mentioned is not the First but rather the Seventh day of the week the true Lord's day Ans And for further answer to the rest of that positive Affirmation I shall shew that there have been many Christian Churches who have for some Hundreds of years after Christ assembled for Publick Worship on the Seventh day Sabbath which will prove there have been some Dissenters from his Opinion in former times And to the rest 1st I answer first That the Seventh-day Sabbath was observed for Publick Worship during the Apostles time I think is plain in the Scriptures and so prov'd before in the Answers to the Ninth and Tenth Questions And who could change it after that Non Constat 2dly And if it were true that the Churches ever since the Apostles days One thousand Six hundred
the Grecians were used of old to celebrate the Passover their time not the Roman time And then secondly he quotes Cardinal Galfridus who witnesseth That the Britains wholly refused to receive Augustine the younger the Legate of Pope Gregory the Great nor would they acknowledge any Primacy the Pope of Rome had over them Which Galfridus lived about Seven hundred years after Christ So that the Romish Observation of the Passover was not received in Britain for some hundred years after Christ and so there is that Tradition against Easter Lucius Cent. 2 fol. 89 C D E F G H of the Passover That some Observations stuck long in Christianity fetch'd from the Old Testament the celebrating the Passover in many places was accommodated to the Rites and Customs of the Jews either because being born and educated in Judaism they did not understand Christian Liberty or because some great and excellent men in the Church thought that a sudden abrogating all the Jewish Rites could not be without troubling the Weak of which opinion was Augustine who celebrated this Saying That the Synagogue was to be buried with Honour but it seems he thought it must be buried In the observation of the Passover it is certain many Pious and Praise-worthy men were tenacious of the Jewish Custom for that Diversity remained from the Apostle's times even till Victor Bishop of Rome and long after for it is not written what time in the Eastern Churches the Custom of celebrating the Passover in the Jewish manner was wholly abrogated unless that after a sharp Dissention between Pope Victor and the Eastern Churches it was decreed That no man should ever revive that Controversie The French then observed it the Eighth of the Kalends of April according to the Jewish account But in the Roman Church they observed it upon the Dominical day after the fourteenth day of the Moon and this Pope Pius first instituted And some draw it from the Vision of the Hermits But when that Decree was not observed by all Churches Pope Victor not without great Dissention repeated it and the Arian Churches not being willing to receive that Custom he excommunicated them all together Here now this says Lucius is to be observed that the Apostles and Apostolical men never constituted any Law neither of the Pasch or Passover nor of any other Festivals whatsoever which do include Sunday but left Liberty safe and entire to all and cites Socrates that neither the Saviour nor the Apostles commanded this to be observed by any Law So it is here acknowledged that there was no Law of Christ or of his Apostles for this yearly Observation only Rome would have it so and excommunicated those Churches as above which would not obey their Will And Cent. 2 fol. 100 A Pope Pius is said to command the Feast of the Passover to be celebrated upon the Dominical day And fol. 113 D it 's said That Pope Pius and Victor in their Letters command that the Passover ought to be observed by all Churches in the same manner They add a Reason Because it does not become the Members i. e. other Churches to diffent from the Head which is the Roman See So the Headship was claimed by Rome very early if that be true But of this Reason there is some doubt whether it be not foisted in and whether it were then assigned for that Headship of Rome seems not assumed in divers Centuries after More to the same purpose we have fol. 117 118 about the different observation of the Passover and that it is evident the Apostles left the Churches at liberty Fol. 120 121 we have Pope Victor blamed for his resoluteness to bring all Churches to his Observation and for damning and nick naming them Quarto decimani Hereticks who observed the Passover the Fourteenth day of the Moon And the Mischief of this is said to be the greater for that hereby the Bishops of Rome were made more insolent to constitute other Ceremonies and obtrude them on other Churches And this was an abuse of Excommunication and an Example of excommunicating those for not observing human Traditions who otherwise were of sound and right Minds Lucius fol. 121 quotes Nicephorus saying That some in Asia pertinaciously retained their own Manner Which Nicephorus lib. 4 cap. 39 I find speaks also of the Differences that were about Fasting as well as about the day of the Passover-Festival for some thought they ought to fast but one day others two days others more days others measured the day by Forty hours Night and Day So great Diversity and Uncertainty there is in all these devised Feasts and Fasts which God has not appointed And fol. 123 124 we have a little more to like purpose as before which is what I find in the second Century Lucius Cent. 3 Fol. 82 A the Manichees are said to frequent no Passover nor Vigils Fol. 86 E Tertullian says that the Passover and Pentecost were solemn days for Baptizing Fol. 95 D the Passover is said to be one of the Christian Festivals Fol. 134 B he says Without doubt the Controversie about holding the Passover with the Jews was agitated in divers places And that the Passover was to be celebrated when the Sun and Moon had passed the Aequinoctial Caesure And fol. 156 F and 157 A B C we have a Learned Disputation of Jerome about the Passover when it was observed where the Romans say Before the Eleventh of the Calends of April Fol. 161 E Eusebius says It was not to be celebrated till after the Vernal Aequinox Lucius Cent. 4 Fol. 208 C F the Anthropomorphites Hereticks kept the Passover with the Jews Fol. 224 B D the Arrians of Indifferent things they say The Passover is not to be observed because Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us Who though they were erroneous in great Christian Principles yet in this they were I think in the right Fol. 231 H At Constantinople in the first day of the Paschal Feast the Bishop read the Book of the Gospel which the Deacons repeated Fol. 233 In Thessalia they used to Baptize only on the Passover-days Fol. 247 F they say In this Age human Traditions were more and more heaped on and the Christians were cumbred with long Fasts And they say a Fast for Six days of the Passover which is now grown up to about Six weeks is affirmed to be instituted by the Apostles But no body I think yet can tell us where that Institution is no more than one for the First day Fol. 248 G they say When the whole East in celebrating the Passover imitated the Observation of the Jews Constantine by the Synod of Nice rejecting Jewish Observations caused the Christians through the whole World to keep the Passover the same day together which the Western Churches and Rome kept it viz. after the Vernal Aequinox And fol. 249 B there is mention of Diversity about celebrating the Passover Fol. 253 In the African Churches how the Passover is celebrated