Deut. 16. the feast of Tabernacles from the tents and boothes wherein the people lived in the Desart and which more punctually meets with this objection their weekly holiday had its name not from him to whom it is dedicated but from Rest the duty of the day enjoyned Secondly In the Christian Church his rule of denomination doth not hold for wee call one holiday dedicated to Christ by his Birth another by his Circumcision another by his Ascension which are the things done on the day not by his name onely to whom they were dedicated If it bee said when wee speake of the Nativitie we understand the Birth of the Lord and so also the Circumcision of the Lord and the Ascension of the Lord I grant wee doe so and so when wee say the Sabbath wee may meane as in the Commandement is expressed the Sabbath of the Lord or to the Lord. Thirdly That the names of dayes should not bee taken from the quality of the person onely to whom they are intended is plaine by the feast of Pentecost so called from the number of the dayes betwixt it and Easter and the name of the Lords day called from its order by the Evangelists and the Apostle Paul the first day of the weeke and by the Ancients the day of light from illumination at the Sacrament of Paptisme and the day of Bread from the Sacrament of the Lords Supper administred every Lords day as n Mr. Ironside quest 3. cap. 13. p. 124 125. Mr. Ironside himselfe hath observed Fourthly If the names of holidayes should be taken from the quality of the person to whom they are intended as because our weekly holiday is intended to the honour of the Lord it must be called the Lords day then all the holidayes which are named by the Saints should have their names from their Lord for though the portions of Scripture read on them concerne their lives and deaths the honour and service of the day is directed and intended not to them but to the Lord yea all holidayes of both Testaments are dayes dedicated to his honour by that reason then all must bee called the Lords dayes and so names that should bee given for distinction would turne to confusion Thus much for the first Reason for the name Sabbath as applyed to the Lords day or Sunday which were more then enough if there had not beene much more then there was need and cause objected against it but the rest we shall contract into a narrower compasse The second Reason why our weekly holiday may be called Sabbath day is this Reas 2 It is confessed by all that are not branded with the note of heresie that there are ten Commandements to us Christians as well as to the lewes and that the fourth Commandement is one of the ten and requireth at least the assigning or setting apart of some time to religious rest and that by vertue of these words Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy that time then which the Church keepeth as in obedience to that part of the Commandement expressed in the letter of the law by the name Sabbath may or rather must be called by that name By that word Sabbath in that Commandement as o B◠Andr. his Serm. de Natic pag. 37. Bishop Andrewes said of the words which shall bee wee hold and though wee say not as hee farther addeth it is our best tenure yet a tenure it is which wee must not let goe but wee must as hee said of the word p Idem In his second Serm. of the Nativ pag. 15. nobis make much of it for thereby our tenure and interest groweth up to a further degree of assurance and evidence Thirdly Reas 3 q B. Hall dec of Ep. 6. epist 2. p. 384. Bishop Hall saith The sonne of righteousnesse rising upon that day called the Lords day drew the strength of that mor all Precept unto it for all the vertue and vigour of it is vanish'd from the Jewes Sabbath so that it remaineth a meere working day and if so the title of Rest surely did not stay behinde it but with the strength was transferred to the day for which it was changed Fourthly Reas 4 It is enough to gaine a title from one thing to another to possesse the place as Successor upon the decease and in stead of another as the Christians Lords day by the ordinance of the Lord himselfe as r 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athanasius de Semente Tom. 1. pag. 835. Edit Graeco-lat Commelian Ann. c 10.10 c. Athanasius saith succeeded the Jewish Sabbath whose name it may have in that respect if there were none other reason of more weight Here it will haply bee objected that so one might call Baptisme by the name of Circumcision and the Lords Supper by the name of the Passeover for these two Sacraments of the new Testament succeeded those two of the old which were to bring in a confusion of termes and times and so in part to incurre the scorne which the f Bish of Elie his examinat of the Dialogue pag. 85. Bishop of Elie putteth upon his Dialogist for his Argument drawn from the succession of the one day to the other I answer Howsoever the Argument of the Dialogist succeed which wee have nothing to doe withall at this time wee shall easily shake off this slight exception thus First Wee doe not ascribe the proper name of the old Sabbath to the Lords day for wee doe not say Saturday is Sunday or the Lords day but that name which is common to them both and wherein the one by a reall right and congruity of sense succeedeth the other and that is the name Sabbath signifying Rest which belongeth to them both and that is not as if one should call Baptisme Circumcision or the Lords Supper the Passeover but as if wee should call them Sacraments and Seales of the Covenant in which respect the later have both the authority and appellation of the former Or as if one should say Doctor White succeeded Doctor Buckeridge Bishop of Elie therefore hee hath the Title and Authoritie of the Bishop of Elie though hee bee not called by his Predecessors Christian or surname in particular hee saith indeede t Examinat of the Dialogue p. 63 69. marg That the fourth Commandement appointed a particular fixed day to wit Saturday but if that were true which I deny hee cannot say the word Saturday is named there and if it were wee would not take that but the name Sabbath for the true title of the Lords day against which no just exception hath yet beene taken nor in truth can bee And for a second Answer which in regard of the ground of it it will not become a Bishop to slight wee may say That upon a substitution of one thing in the roome of another it is not unusuall in our Church to assigne the name as well as the place to that which is substituted for a
the things to which they are applyed and betwixt the name Sabbath and the Lords day there is that congruity for that word signifieth rest and the Lords day is a day of rest whether of such strict rest as the Jewes Sabbath was is a Question not now to be discussed Now if Master Doctor like his owne resemblance let him take the consequence of his odious comparison which is That it is as comely or not more uncomely to put a crowne of thornes upon the head of Christ then to call the Lords day by the name of Sabbath day and then hee may joyne hands and hold society for Paradoxes with them or rather bee the Ringleader to them in such absurd similitudes unto them who match in malignity and guilt h They cannot resolve whether the sinne bee greater to bowle shoot or dance on the Sabbath then to commit murther or the Father to cut the throat of his owne childe all which doubts will soone bee resolved by plucking off the vizzard of the Sabbath from the face of the Lords day which doth as well and truly become it as the crowne of thornes did the Lord himselfe D. Pockl. Visit Serm. p. 20. bowling shooting or dancing on the Sabbath with the commitâ—ing of murther or the Fathers cutting the throat of his owne childe which barbarous absurdities he condemnes and within foure lines after commits the like himselfe in his comparison of the word Sabbath set upon the Lords day with the crowne of thornes on our Lords head Secondly for the persons for whom he seemeth to plead and put in an excuse saying If wee find the word Sabbath for Sunday used in some writings that of late came to our hands blame not the Clerkes good men for it c. It would be knowne First whom hee calleth these good men whether Clerkes or others for his words are ambiguous Secondly whether hee take the word Clerkes for Clergy-men or for such onely as transcribe the Dictats of others if of these as it seemeth he doth then Thirdly how hee knoweth that in such late writings as have the name Sabbath for Sunday or the Lords day the Clerkes who copied them out mistook the Authors mind and hand so much as to write the one for the other there being no such vicinity in the words as might lead them to such a misprision Fourthly whether it bee not more likely that the word might drop from the Authors pens as well as it did often escape the lips as he confesseth of such as he commends for men of judgement learning and vertue rather then that these Clerkes good men as hee calls them should corrupt their manuscripts in their transcription Fifthly how is it probable that a few pretenders to piety should so long deceive the world with zealous clamours of the word Sabbath men of judgment learning and vertue not excepted as hee pretendeth especially since as he saith they were most ignorant clamours hee addeth I grant or cunning clamours but how ignorance and cunning being so contrary should so indifferently bee disposed to produce the same effect in men of judgement and why ignorant clamours should not as much withhold from assent unto them as cunning clamours induce them to consort with them is that which my shallownesse cannot conceive and his wisdome I thinke will not bee able to manifest Sixthly how could hee come to know that these whom hee exempteth from society in this Sabbathary stratagem should detest the drift of the devisers in the closet of their hearts since not hee nor any but God onely hath the key of that closet and if they did so how could they have the name Sabbath whereby it is advanced so frequently in their mouthes If they knew it not how could they detest it If they did know it how could they being such men of judgment as hee taketh them for so familiarly use it without feare of scandall or danger by it Lastly how could so many reverend and learned men Prelates Deanes and other Doctors or these men of judgement learning and vertue i Men of learning judgement and verzue not heeding perhaps what crafty and wicked device may be managed under the vaile of a faire word Doct. Pockl. Visit Serm. p. 21. whom hee commendeth be so blinded as not to see or so mindlesse as not to heed this crafty and wicked device managed under the vaile of a faire word as he suggesteth that not any one from the yeare 1554. when as hee feignes it was first set on foot apprehended it until this Doctor made discovery of such a dangerous plot and withall of their dulnesse who all the while could not discerne it Pardon me good Sir if I beleeve they were so wise and watchfull over the safety of the publicke service of the Church and the purity of Religion as to give due warning against such damnable superstition If there had been any such danger in the use of the word Sabbath as you seeme to conceive they would not have left the honour of that discovery and caution to you much lesse would they have used the word themselves as they have done whereto they were not induced by the Clamours of the pretenders of piety as k Doct. Pockl pag. 21. you pretend but rather in all likelihood by the fourth Commandement it selfe by the Liturgie of the Church requiring that to bee said as a part of divine Service and to be learned by heart as a part of the Catechisme as before was observed wherein all her children by her prescription are to be instructed and examined from hence might the word Sabbath be a name of vulgar use for our weekly Holiday and not from the noise which such men have rung in the eares of all men Here if a man should returne to Master Doctor some of his own language and say No ancient Father no learned man Heathen or Christian ever imagined such a plot or mystery of iniquity to lye hid under the name Sabbath before the yeare 1554. yea not one besides himselfe and yet one besides himselfe were the likest to light upon such fantastick Bugbeares from the beginning of the world untill the day and yeare of his preaching the Visitation Sermon at Ampthill August 17. 1635. ever found out or feigned such a dangerous device in the use of that word as hee hath invented in his study or elsewhere and vented in the Pulpit and since made publicke by the presse I am consident he cannot give one Instance to confute it nor name one man who may be thought to lead him to it and I hope he will find no more to follow him in his strange and extravagant surmises And may not a man cry quittance with him in it by taking a liberty to imagine that he who so vehemently inveigheth against the name Sabbath had a plot therein to shake the foundation of the Lords day which as it is a weekly day of Rest resteth on the fourth Commandement to slacken if
efficacie to edification which ought to bee of most accompt with us we may say First That the name Sabbath and Lords day at first apprehension are more ready and effectuall to minde us of and dispose us to pious conceits then the name Sunday is which at first blench according to the literall sense and primitive use hath an idolatrous intimation for it was so called with reference to and reverence of the Planet Sol which was made an Idol by the Saxons our predecessors in this Kingdome though the word be capable of a better sense as before hath beene shewed upon Malach. 4.2 and hath beene a good while since purged from the smack and suspicion of idolatry or superstition wherewith it hath been tainted in former times Secondly That though the title Lords day designe some day of eminent note and by consent of most be taken for the day on which Christ rose from the dead and though it may also import with a little working of the understanding upon it that he is Lord both of times and persons with other religious documents which conduce much to the edification of the Church yet the name Sabbath edifieth much more as to the solemne services of religion which ought to prevail in this comparison for it signifieth rest or cessation from secular labours without which no day can be holily and solemnly observed and that by an easie transition from the letter to a figure may admonish us of our Saviours resting in the grave all the Sabbath day which hee punctually observed while it was in force and of his resting from all further paine or suffering for our Redemption upon his Resurrection and of Gods resting satisfied with us hee having then fully discharged all our debt and quit himselfe from prison as by a most compleat satisfaction to his Fathers Justice and last of all of that everlasting rest Hebr. 4.9 which in the literall Sabbath was partly prefigured Besides the name Sabbath guides us to the fourth Commandement of the Decalogue where the proportion of time for the weekly recourse of it is to be read and the personall extent of the Commandement to superiours and inferiours home-borne or aliens together with the duties of the day both affirmative and negative and the reasons both of the institution and observation of them and those both many and weighty and so it upholdeth our solemne and sacred Assemblies once a weeke then which nothing is of more moment to edisication And all this it doth in such sort that no cavills of men can either weaken or darken its tenure from that text in the judgement of any reasonable man nor can any one who considereth that hold himselfe so little obliged to an holy celebration of one day in the weeke as if no more should be pleaded for it then what is either formally or vertually contained in the title Lords day or in any part of holy Scripture besides the fourth Commandement whereto it directeth us Thirdly the name Sabbath keepeth title to that ground which while it is made good for the proportion of one day in seven and not for Saturday Sabbath in particular as it easily may is the best meanes to maintaine the Authority of our weekly Holiday against any Adversary whatsoever To wind up those comparisons to a conclusion though every one of the words may lawfully be used as before hath been said I conceive and hope in the vertue of the premisses I may resolve that for our Church and time the name Sabbath is fittest to bee familiarly used for the day wee keep holy every weeke since for Antiquity Authority Propriety Significancie Facility Frequency of use among the religious of later times and which is most to bee heeded for efficacie to edification it hath the preheminence of the other two names compared with it To which wee may adde and it is a consideration of some moment that those that have most ill will to our Christian Holiday as b Mast Brab in his defence pag. 54. Master Braburne had would rob it of its right to the name Sabbath and therewith of its right for this authenticke Tenure by the fourth Commandement which it cannot claime under the name Sunday nor will it bee allowed under the name Lords day for I marvell with what face saith c Ibid. p. 55 56. he men can presse the fourth Commandement upon that day which themselves confesse is named Lords day and not Sabbath day and if hee could have supplanted it for that support hee would have had it to depend upon the meere power of man so as to stand or fall at his pleasure and rather to fall then to stand for that was his drift in both his bookes to which purpose hee hath said so much as requireth a farther and fuller answer then hath been made unto them for the Bishop of Ely who professedly undertooke the defence of our Christian Sabbath against his Judaizing Arguments dealeth but with one of his bookes and for the other it seemeth hee hath not seen it for hee never maketh any mention of it Object Against this prelation of the name Sabbath it may bee said by way of exception that the name Sabbath is lesse proper then the name Lords day or Sunday for it is a name for any day of Rest as hath been observed and acknowledged on all hands Answ It is true the name Sabbath may be communicated to more dayes then the weekly Holiday whereof we treat if there bee a cessation from labour upon them and so it was in the Old Testament for the Jewes had many Holidayes which were named sometimes Sabbaths and yet the weekly Sabbath by an excellency had that denomination belonging unto it which other Holidayes had not If a Papist object this I will give for instance the word Pope which anciently was a generall title for all Bishops as I have d In my Christian Nomenclature observed and proved at large in another worke but now use hath confined it to the Bishop of Rome If a Protestant the word Bible may serve to answer him which as the learned know signifieth in the Greeke tongue a booke in generall and hath been in use with that latitude of extent yet by an Antinomasie or excellency and we may say the same of the word Scripture it is now taken onely for the booke of the holy Scripture and it is though a common word of old now become so proper as that we know what one meaneth when hee saith a Bible as well as if hee said Gods Booke so wee may know as most men use the word Sabbath as well what day is meant by it as if we said the Lords day or Sunday Besides the Lords day is in its Grammaticall signification of as large extent as the Sabbath both because the Apostle saith there be Lords many 1 Cor. 8.5 as wee noted even now and for that it may belong to all dayes dedicated to publicke devotion whereby God our great Lord