SUNDAY NO SABBATH A SERMON Preached before the Lord Bishop of Lincolne at his Lordships visitation at Ampthill in the County of Bedford Aug. 17. 1635. BY JOHN POCKLINGTON Doctor of Divinitie late fellow and President both of Pembroke Hall and Sidney Colledge in Cambridge and Chaplaine to the Right Reverend Father in God the Lord Bishop of LINCOLNE 1 TIM 6.20 O Timothee depositum custodi devitans profanas vocum novitates oppositiones falsi nominis scientiae quam quidam promittentes circa fidem exciderunt LONDON Printed by ROBERT YOUNG 1636. SUNDAY NO SABBATH ACTS 20.7 8. 7 And upon the first day of the weeke when the Disciples came together to breake bread Paul preached unto them readie to depart on the morrow and continued his speech untill midnight 8. And there were many lights in the upper chamber where they were gathered together THis Text I conceive is not unfit for this time In the text is synaxis a meeting and at this time there is synodus a meeting In the text is a meeting of Disciples and such is the meeting at this time Hee that called the Disciples together and sate President in that meeting was the Apostle Paul and he that called us hither and sits President in this meeting is our Diocesan who can derive himselfe the successour of an Apostle otherwise we should have taken his call for the voice of a stranger and not have here appeared It is Saint Austines resolution S. Aug. cont Mâ—nich ep c. 4 â—om 6. Successio Episcoporum ab ipsâ sede Petri is that which amongst other things by him named keepes us in gremio Ecclesiae and subjects us to our Bishops jurisdiction The meeting in the text is intended for two Actions Breaking of bread and Preaching And the especiall intent of this meeting is to receive our Bishops directions for the administration of the Sacraments and Preaching as his Articles informe us Hitherto if I can but hold me by my text I hope not to fall into impertinencies But in the next place the day of meeting in the text jumpeth not with the day of meeting for this our Synod For that is the first day of the weeke yet this comes as neere it as may be for with Jacob it holds his brother by the heele this is the second And had it beene appointed on a Sunday the authority of the Councell of Constantinople Ephesus and Chalcedon would have justified it against all Sabbatarians For by the Emperours edict they were precisely commanded to meet and did meet and sate and gave suffrages and dispatched letters on a Sunday But in the other circumstances the text and the time are nothing at all allied The place of meeting then was an upper chamber ours a Church dedicated consecrated for those holy duties in the text and used also for Synods That meeting was in the night ours in the day They had the benefit of many lights we of one great light that ruleth the day In the text the Sermon continued till midnight but herein if I leave not my text you will leave me And if none of us all follow St. Paul in preaching in an upper chamber in the night and till midnight neither he nor his successours will taxe us For Saint Luke is faine to make an Apologie for him in these respects He was to depart the next morrow So that necessitie put him upon that time and place and the importunitie of his Disciples would not be satisfied with a shorter discourse For fons abiturus saies Saint Austine they knew they should never see his face any more S. Aug. ep 86. nor refresh their thirstie soules with those waters of life that issued from the fountaine of his blessed lips that he which could shake the Viper from his hand could not finde in his heart to cast these Babes from his breasts Therefore contrary to his owne rules given to the Corinthians he did administer the Sacrament and preach where men did both eat and drinke and continued the same out of order till midnight And so without any curious division I come after my plaine manner to handle the words in the text and for your better memorie take them up as they lie in order and begin with the time of this meeting Upon the first day of the weeke Herein I conceive foure things considerable 1. what is meant by the first day of the weeke 2. 3. next when and by whom was that day appointed for holy assemblies to meet on 4. when doth the holy observation of that day begin For the first S Basil Hâ—xam â—om 2. aâ— Sâ— Sâ—â—ct 27. The words in the Originall are one day of the Sabbaths one being put for first saies S. Basil as the evening and the morning were one day i.e. the first So una Sabbathi is that quam primam dicimus saies St. Ambrose as we finde it written S. Amb. ps 47. Mat. 28.1 Vesperi Sabbathi quae lucescit in primam Sabbathi In the end of the Sabbath when the first day of the week began to dawne S. Aug. ep 86. For that day saies Saint Augustine which three of the Evangelists call unam Sabbathi one Sabbath prima Sabbathi à Matthaeo dicitur Saint Matthew expounds them and calls the first day of the weeke And it is manifest saith the same Father that this first day of the weeke is that day qui posteà dies Dominicus appellatus est which afterward was called the Lords day S. Cyril in Johan l. 8. c. 58. Saint Cyril affirmes the very same Christ appeared to his Disciples una Sabbathi on one Sabbath or on the first day of the weeke i.e. die Dominico on the Lords day It is manifest then that by one day of the Sabbaths is meant the first day of the weeke and the first day of the weeke is the Lords day So wee see what is meant by the first day of the weeke it is the Lords day The next points are when and by whom was the observation of the Lords day appointed The Church saith St. Ignatius hath set apart one day S Ignat. ep ad Magnes and called it the Lords day in confutation of those sonnes of perdition that deny the Lords worke performed on that day that is his resurrection So have you the time when and the authority that did appoint the observation of the Lords day delivered by Ignatius scholar to Saint John Niceph. l. 2. c. 35 that first so called it and as it is recorded one of those babes whom our Saviour tooke up into his armes as his master was received in his bosome The time was the time the Apostles lived in The authoritie was the Church What meane you by the Church Take that cleered out of St. Augustine S. Aug. ep 119. Apostoli Apostolici viri sanxerunt the Apostles and Apostolike men have ordained that the first day of the weeke should be set apart for the religious and
guilefull zeale to be thought to speake the Scripture phrase when indeed the dregs of Ashdod flow from their mouthes For that day which they nickname the Sabbath is either no day at all or not the day that they meane It were well therefore that they would forbeare to speake strange languages in the Church for Saint Pauls sake and use them then when they all meet together in new England amongst them that understand the language for with us the Sabbath is Saturday and no day else No ancient Father Father Nay no learned man Heathen or Christian tooke it otherwise from the beginning of the world till the beginning of their schisme in 1554. And if wee finde the word otherwise used in some writings that of late come unto our hands blame not the Clerkes good men for it nor intitle the misprision any higher or otherwise than to these pretenders to pietie who for their owne ends have for a long time deceived the world with their zealous and most ignorant or cunning clamours and rung the name of Sabbath so commonly into all mens eares that not Clerkes onely but men of judgement learning and vertue not heeding peradventure so much as is requisite what crafty and wicked device may be menaged under the vaile of a faire word used in Gods law doe likewise suffer the same often to scape the doore of their lips that detest the drift of the devisers in the closet of their hearts I will now shut up this point in Saint Hilaries words S. Hilar. l. 6. Non sum nescius difficillimo me asperrimoque tempore haec disserere multis jam per omnes fermè Romani Imperii provincias Ecclesiis morbo pestiferae hujus praedicationis infectis velut ad piae fidei hujus malà usurpatam persuasionem longo doctrinae usu ementito nomine verae religionis imbutis non ignorans difficilem esse ad emendationis profectum voluntatem quam in erroris sui studio per plurimorum assensum authoritas publicae sententiae contineret Gravis enim est periculosus error inplurimis multorum lapsus etiamsi se intellig at tamen exurgendi pudore authoritatem sibi praesumit ex numero habens hoc impudentiae ut quod errat intelligentiam esse veritatis asserat dum minus erroris esse existimatur in multis There are so many that see so little benefit will be suckt out of the constitutions of the Apostles practice and tradition of holy Church doctrine of godly and learned Fathers that they have got themselves heapes of teachers that to serve their owne turnes will call and keep the Lords day as a Sabbath and so proclaime it with such lowd outcries that the voice of truth will become silence and her selfe made errour and so made to beleeve of her selfe or to forgoe her owne modesty and to beleeve none but her selfe But with Moses liberavi animam meam being called hither very unwillingly I have set before you good and evill light and darknesse life and death the doctrine and practice of the Church of God and the leaven of Pharisees and fashion of Schismatickes and Novellists chuse which you will and the Lord be your guide Onely of this be you well assured that if you will have Manna rained downe unto you you must forgoe your Sabbath and sticke onely to the Lords day for in nostrâ Dominicâ die semper Dominus pluit Manna Orig. super 15. Exod. hom 7. in Sabbatho non pluit The last point touching the day of meeting is When doth the Lords day begin Resp I answer S. Ambra in Ps â—7 out of Saint Ambrose The first day of the weeke began when the Sabbath ended The Sabbath ended when Christ arose Christ the true light arose with the light and spring of the morning for vesperi Sabbathi quae lucescit in primam Sabbathi are Saint Matthews words Nihil pulchrius nihil expressius saith hee this place is as fit and pat for our purpose as may be The Sabbaths evening is in the light of the first day of the weeke So Saint Leo resolveth Dioscorus Patriarch of Alexandria vespera Sabbathi initium diei Dominici S. Leo epist â—d Diosc the beginning of the Lords day is in the end of the Sabbath The end of the Sabbath is in the light of the first day of the weeke Looke then for Jacobs hand on Esau's heele or the beginning of the Lords day in the end of the Sabbath But Saint Nyssen is more punctuall and cleere S. Nyssen deresur orat 2. the Lords day saith he begins at Cock-crowing atque in hoc ipso articulo temporis and at that very knot and joint of time For then end we our Sabbaths or Saturdaies fast and then begin we nos oblectare laetari to keepe our Sundayes feast and that by an ancient custome which all are bound to observe For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he doth not signifie the evening or that part of the night which is post occasum Solis after Sun set but the rise of the morning with which the Sabbath ended Yet for all this the Church by way of preparation for the better sanctification of the Lords day hath prudently and piously appointed holy offices to be used on the Eve before And in obedience to this positive constitution of holy Church Saint Augustine would have his hearers to observe the Lords day S. Aug. ser de tem 25. à vesperâ ad vesperam from Even to Even sicut antiquis praeceptum est de Sabbatho as it was also commanded the Jewes concerning the Sabbath And therefore saith he look that from Saturday at Even us que ad vesperam diei Dominici till the Lords day at even we set aside all rurall and worldly businesse ut solo divino culiui vacemus that we may attend onely on the Lords service and begin to repaire to the Church to evening prayer on Saturday nights and he that cannot so doe let him be sure to pray at home Remember then that you which will needs have the Lords day a Sabbath doe set aside all businesse and flocke to the Church to say or heare Service on Saturday Evens which hitherto you have not done notwithstanding the order of the Church which prescribeth that part of that day to prepare us for the more devout observation of the Lords day Thus much of the day of meeting The first day of the weeke 2 In the next place we have in the next words to consider of the persons that then met These were not Jewes for then the Sabbath had beene the day of their meeting but Gentiles Asians Macedonians Thessalonians Paul with his companions and Disciples Now Paul had ordered before this time in Galatia and in Corinth that his Disciples were to have their meetings on the first day of the weeke whereunto they submitted themselves For on the first day of the week they now met and so did the whole Church
pergentibus S Aug. Ser. de tem 251. when others goe to Church or in such sort that publicum impediunt ministerium as Chemnitius speakes they hinder them from the publicke service of God Chem. de Fest p. 4. Those also are profaners of the Lords day as Origen saies qui sacris lectionibus terga vertunt Orig. hom 11. in Jer. that make base account of Scripture read and such as Saint Cyrill sayes that will not Ecclesiastico officio interesse S. Cyril in Je l. 8. c. 5. come to Church till Service be ended and the Sermon to begin and such as St. Austine sayes that cogunt Sacerdotem ut abbreviet missam make the Priest to curtaile divine Service S. Aug. Ser. de tem 251. aut ut ad eorum libitum cantet or sing or say it after their fancy not antiphonatim the Priest one verse and the people another which factious disposition St. Basil reproves in some Clergie men of Neocaesarea S. Basil ep 45◠that being against the practice of the universall Church continued from Ignatius who was directed thereunto by an Angell as Socrates affirmeth Those yet are worse profaners of the Lords day Socrat. l. 6. c. 8. that will not reade the Letanie on it for excitavit Diabolus saies St. Chrysostome in plaine termes the Divell himselfe and no body else S. Chrys Ser. antequam iret in exil Bed his l. 1. c. 25. hath stirred up those that make brabbles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 about the Letanie to bring it into contempt which was the meanes of the first conversion of our English Nation Trypho the Jew alledgeth Isa 58.13 to prove Justin Martyr a breaker of the Sabbath who tells him that the Prophet I say requireth no more than was before commanded by Moses in the law S. Just in Tryph. Tom. 2. whereunto he had given his answer This very place of Scripture our zealous Sabbatarians his issue borrow of that Jew and use as a sword to cut off all sports and recreations on their Sabbath with all other actions of our owne because we are forbidden to doe our owne will or to speake our owne words or vaine words on the Sabbath But let them beware that with Saul they fall not upon their owne sword For I pray you deale clearely and say whether those that will neither preach pray catechise administer the Sacraments nor performe any part of divine Service as Gods Magistrate appoints doe not their owne wills His I am sure they doe not And when they make new glosses and expositions of Scripture never received in the Church of God nor delivered by any ancient Father whom by Canon they are bound to follow and call the Lords day a Sabbath Lib. Can. An. 1571. Can. 19. whether they doe not speake their owne words And when they use vaine repetitions and babling in their prayers and preaching saying Lord Lord oftener in one prayer than there are words in all the Lords prayer doe not use vaine words and take the Lords name in vaine and be not punctually those whom our Saviour reproves by Saint Marke cap. 7. ver 7. In vanum me colunt they honour me with vaine words vaine glosses and expositions vaine babling and repetitions crying Lord Lord and all in vaine for they doe not the thing that I say For I say when you pray say Our Father c. and thus you will not doe but will pray an houre together before a Sermon yet though Christ and his Church command them to say it they will not doe it He that can say Corban and cry up the Sabbath the Sabbath it is a sufficient Supersedeas it is duty and piety enough though he neither honour Father nor Mother Christ nor the King his Vicegerent nor the Church his Spouse Let those then that are so violent against such as recreate themselves civilly and modestly in such wise as Gods Magistrate doth allow to prove them Sabbath breakers which is no sin at all look they be not found such as with an high hand and stiffe neck profane the Lords day in despite of Authority and so adde drunkennesse to thirst namely to their open profanation rebellion or disobedience which is as the sinne of witchcraft From which leprosie washing seven times in Jordan will not cleanse them unlesse they can prove Gods Magistrate Nebuchodonosor and themselves the three children Sure I am their disobedient and scornfull contempt of our Church Liturgie is to many godly and learned men farre their Superiours in these respects very scandalous and may drive many that reverence antiquity with us and for that cause stand well affected to our Church to withdraw themselves from us That it is not to be wondred at if Recusants should increase but rather it is a wonder that there are no more For how can any man of judgement and discretion like that Liturgie and forme of divine Service which our selves they say contemne scorne mangle and misuse as we list and some reject utterly as unlawfull and Antichristian Doe we tell them it is poison and doe they see us cast it out of our hands and doe we wonder that they will not run and take it up and eat it or that they refuse the use of it as we doe or rather forbeare the Church till it be used They will use no Crosse forsooth nor Surplice meet no coarse at the Church gate Church no women read no Service on Wednesdayes Fridayes Saturdayes Holy dayes nor on their Eeves will not stand at the Creed nor Gospel kneele at the Communion nor bowe the knee at the blessed name of the Lord JESUS nor goe in procession or keep their perambulations nor doe any thing at all as the Church appoints yet the worst is they would be esteemed members nay pillars of the Church whereas indeed they are neither the one nor the other but a disease a fretting canker a dangerous faction in the Church They are wandring starres and disasterous planets who have and doe blast the most flourishing and glorious Church under the cope of Heaven were it not that these withered branches doe appeare her onely spots of disgrace And because they are such hence it is that the Church for her owne safety is faine to renounce all defence of them and their doctrines against the Romanists Therefore she ought not in right to be upbraided or deserted for any thing they say or doe The Church knoweth and every member thereof of seeth that this generation had eaten out her bowels long since like Vipers and become her destruction but that by Gods providence they have as sufficiently discovered their malicious projects to be bent alike for the casting downe of Crownes and Scepters and lawes of the Land and the Professours thereof as for the trampling under their feet of Miters and corner'd Caps Bishops and such as exercise jurisdiction under them together with our Booke of Common Prayer and Canons Ecclesiasticall Therefore the Church
solemne service of God because our Redeemer arose on that day and therefore it is called ever since dies Dominicus the Lords day ex illo caepit habere festivitatem and from the very Apostles time and from their constitution it began to be kept as a festivall day A festivall day what meane you by that Why à sanctis patribus constitutum mandatum saies the same Father it is a constitution and command received from our holy Fathers S. Aug serm 251. de temp that men should leave all worldly businesse on Saints daves maximè diebus Dominicis and especially on the Lords day that they may betake themselves wholly to the Lords service The first day of the week then is the Lords day appointed to be kept as a holy feast for the Lords service by the Apostles themselves in their owne time And this day which the Apostles call the Lords day S. Justin ora◠ad Anton St. Justine Martyr an Apostolike man calls Sunday Solis autem die communiter omnes conventum agimus ad preces supplicationes on Sunday we all meet together to prayers and supplications because that is primus dies the first day on which our Saviour arose For he was crucified pridiè Saturni diei the day before Saturday and the next day after Saturday qui sc Solis est dies which is Sunday Apostolis Discipulis suis apparuit he appeared to his Apostles and Disciples And hereupon his Apostles and Disciples thought fit to appoint and command this day to be kept holy The Lords day then is by the Apostles so called and by this Apostolike man named Sunday and may fitly so be called because saies Saint Ambrose in eo ortus Sol justitiae illuminat S. Amb ser 61. the Sun of righteousnesse then arose that enlightneth every one of us The first day of the weeke then is the Lords day and Sunday And the Lords day was by the Apostles themselves in their owne time appointed for holy assemblies to meet on as on a feast day dedicated to the Lords service And so hath that day beene called and used ever since in the true Catholike Church of God for 1554. yeares together without interruption both in the Greeke and Latine Church What shall we thinke then of Knox and Whittingham Troubles at 〈◊〉 pag. 30. and their fellowes that in their letter to Calvin depart from the constitution ordinance and practice of the Apostles and Apostolike men and call not this day the Lords day or Sunday but with the pietie of Jeroboam make such a day of it as they have devised in their owne hearts to serve their owne turne and anabaptizing of it after the mind of some Jew hired to be the god-father thereof call it the Sabbath and so disguised with that name become both the first that so called it and the Testators that have so bequeathed it to their Disciples and Proselites to be observed accordingly It was full thirtie yeares before their children could turne their tongues from Sunday to hit on Sabbath and if the Gileadites that met with the Ephraimites before they could frame to pronounce Shibboleth had snapt these too before they had got their Sabbath by the end their counsell had brought much peace to the Church For this name Sabbath is not a bare name like a spot in their foreheads to know Labans sheepe from Jacobs but indeed it is a mysterie of iniquitie intended against the Church For allow them but their Sabbath and you must allow them the service that belongs to their Sabbath Then must you have no Letanie for that is no service for their Sabbath containing suffrages devised by Pope Gregory but for Sundayes nay Troubles at Frankf pag. 30. for Wednesdayes and Fridayes which must not so be used for sixe dayes thou must labour nay you must have no part of the Service in the Communion booke used for that is Service also for holy dayes Welph detemp◠l. 2. c. 4. which are abominated as idolatricall being dedicated to Saints Well then the Sabbath must be yeelded them otherwise there will be no day left for God to be served on What Service then must you allow them for their Sabbath Why nothing but preaching How shall that be knowne Why out of their owne mouthes Thus soone after the Conventicle in London in 84. about the 31th yeare of the Sabbaths nativitie writeth one of them in his letter to some Superintendent amongst them to whom he gives an account of his Sabbaths exercise Ego singulis Sabbath is si non alius adveniens locum suppleat cum praescriptà Leiturgeias formulâ nihil habens commercit in caetu concionem habeo idque reverendorum fratrum consilio I preach every Sabbath in the congregation having nothing at all to doe with the order prescribed in the booke of Common Prayer and this he does not of his owne head but by the counsell of the reverend brethren delivered doubtlesse in that late Synode Now you see the Common Prayer booke which the Kings Majesties authority in causes Ecclesiasticall with the Convocation house have appointed and the Parliament the reunto assented is clean cast out of their Sabbath and no service allowed or used but preaching Marvaile not then at the casting out of lawfull sports their zeale could and did dispence with them well enough for a long time together as they of Genevah and the Low-countries even sitting the Synode of Dort did and still doe But the plot with us will not beare them for they must gaine elbow roome for their Sabbaths exercise or preaching falsely so called being for the most part as their hearers will justifie but violent discourses and personall invectives against the present State and settled lawes of the Land with the Governours thereby to get themselves magnified for the great power of God with Simon that having cryed downe all Lawes Ecclesiasticall and Temporall too in time that sute not with their Sabbath doctrine they may be able making their reliance on their inveigled thousands whereof they bragge to put their hands to their mouthes Mar. ju epiles and to say with him in the story Petition to his Majestie in 1603. Richard 2◠Behold the fountaine from whence all lawes for governement of Church and Common wealth must shortly spring You see then what the plot was that bred and still keepes the name of Sabbath on foot that if St. John or the Apostles that first called and appointed the Lords day should come amongst them and happen to call it the Lords day they would quickly finde him to be none of their Tribe nor for their turne being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without his watch word of the Sabbath But if Justin that blessed Martyr should be so profane as to call it Sunday he would be in danger under their discipline to be martyred the second time for not adoring their idoll Sabbath as he was under Antonius for not worshipping Jupiter
notorious sinners were put to open penance and that it is a thing much to be wished for that such discipline were restored againe Bishop Latimer soone missed it or some such thing and complaines of the want thereof therefore he with the other godly Bishops of his time send their wishes after it to fetch it againe till God be pleased to provide meanes powerfull for the restoring thereof Tertullian taxeth the Heretickes of his time for neglect of this decent and godly discipline Tertul. de praeser c. 16. They kept no distinction of places nor of Service in their Conventicles Quis catechumenus quis fidelis incertum est pariter adeunt pariter audiunt pariter orant The whole heard of them ranne in a rout together both to Prayers Sermon and Sacrament that you could not know one from another Euseb l. 5. c. 28 l. 6. c. 34. It was quite otherwise in the holy Catholike Church That which Zepherinus required of Natalius Fabianus of Philip and Saint Cyprian of the Penitents of his time S. Cyp. l. 2. ep 7 make it manifest that there were distinction of places in the Church to ranke all sorts of Christians in And Saint Ambrose his practice sheweth a distinction of Service The Catechumeni being dismissed missam facere caepi S. Amb. ep 33. Saint Ambrose began not the second Service as our Church calleth it at the Altar Booke of Fast 1. Dâ—m Râ—giâ— before the first Service in the body of the Church was finished and the Catechumeni sent out which still is the custome in our Church and none will ever goe about to put that sweet harmonie which wee keepe with the Primitive Church out of tune but such as Tertullian complaines of Schismatickes and Sectaries And so we see that all those holy actions which are distinctly performed both in the first and second service are all included in this action of breaking of bread sicut frangitur in Sacramento corporis Christi And so I come to the second holy action 2. This is Preaching The Preacher is Saint Paul What kinde of Sermon then did Saint Paul make for fit it is that his action be our direction Saint Pauls preaching is of three kinds 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he reasoned with them or taught them by way of dialogue 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he continued his speech 3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ver 11. he used a long homily which held from midnight till morning For the first Saint Pauls preaching did not stand onely in making a long discourse which some pitifully perishing in a dearth of matter and in an inundation of light and froathie words trumpet up for the onely preaching But he gave others leave to speake as well as himselfe for that must needs be to hold up the dialogue in the text yet he preached for all that Wherefore if the Curate catechise in the afternoone as he is commanded by question and answer which makes the dialogue in the text this man preacheth There is therefore no cause at all why some should take the matter so grievously that charge should be given by the King whom they never meane to obey therein that afternoone Sermons should be turned into catechising that is that one kinde of preaching should be exchanged for another the lesse profitable for the more usefull Certaine also it is that whether they travell all the Scriptures over and then passe on to the ancient Fathers they shall finde no ground at all for the fruitlesse and disobedient exercise of their afternoone talent till they come home to their owne wilfull selfe-conceitednesse Our Saviour came not to breake the law but to fulfill it who being at Capernaum on a Sabbath day preached but once For statim è Synagogâ from the Synagogue he went immediately to Simons house to dinner where Simons wives mother ministred unto them Mar. 1.31 and there stayed healing diseases till sunne set and went no more to the Synagogue to preach in the afternoon The law that enjoined afternoon Sermons for keeping their Sabbath was not then knowne to the Pharises themselves who else were apt enough to have laid it in his dish at supper Troubles at Franckford pag. 194. no nor to these mens progenitors for 1565. yeares after as by their owne confession may appeare True it is Saint Peter preached once at the ninth houre or at three a clocke in the afternoone Act. 3.1 but the occasion place and other circumstances being so extraordinary his example binds us no more to doe the like than Saint Pauls here doth to preach in an upper chamber all night long The holy Fathers also in the best times had their Sermons in the forenoons and it will be hard for the best or stubbornest of them all to shew a Sermon preached by any of the Fathers in the afternoone Saint Basil onely excepted who had his second and ninth homily in the afternoone Socrat l. 5. c. 21. Niceph. l. 12. c. 34. because as Socrates and Nicephorus affirme the custome in Caesare a was not to preach in the forenoone but Episcopi Sacerdotes post lucernarum accensiones sacras Scripturae populo exponunt the people have the Scripture expounded to them in the afternoone Their preaching was but expounding as they call it and that but once neither Why then should they not yeeld to change their afternoone discoursing into preaching by way of dialogue as St. Paul here did Secondly St. Paul preached 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all the while he was in his Homilie What his Homilie was it is hard for me to say whether it was one that himselfe made and did not reade or one that he read and another made An Homilie I am sure it was and it may be made by all the Apostles or the chiefe of the Apostles as Bucer saies our Homilies were penned by some eminent Preachers I pray you tell me when Saint Paul went through divers Churches as now he did to establish them in the faith and to that end took with him dogmata the decrees made by the Apostles and Elders that were at Jerusalem Act 16.4 and delivered them to the Churches to be kept whether he did reade them or no or delivered them as a Roll sealed up If he read them there 's his homilie And most certaine it is he read them even by his owne rule For if he caused Epistles from some one man to be read in the Church by him that brought them it is more than evident that himselfe bringing the Decrees of the Apostles and Elders he would not in any sort transgresse his owne rule but doe the decrees himselfe and the Church that right as to reade them that the Churches might see what it was that he delivered them to keep and be fully assured that himselfe walked in the selfe same steps with the rest of the Apostles and so be enabled to stop the mouths of all false Apostles who objected that against
him and thereby be fully established in the faith which was the only end of his comming which could not have beene wrought nor obtained if these Decrees had not beene read at all or read by any other Wherefore I take it for a cleare truth that St. Paul read the Decrees and sure I am by the word used in the text that when he read them and did no more but reade them without adding or diminishing that he preached by way of Homilie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Reading of Homilies then is preaching Concil Rhem. Can. 15. and so adjudged by the learned Bishops in the Councell of Rhemes The Canon concerneth Bishops themselves Ut Episcopi Sermones Homilias sanctorum Patrum prout omnes intelligant secundum proprietatem linguae praedicare studeant The Canon saies not praedicari studeant but praedicare themselves must give good example not only in preaching Sermons of their owne making as it is appointed Can. 14. which some cry up for the only preaching but also read and interpret the Homilies of holy Fathers themselves which is also here called preaching So likewise when the Diptychs containing the Decrees of the foure first generall Councels Constantinop 5. Act. 10. and of Saint Leo were read pro utilitate pace Ecclesiae praedicantur they are said to be preached for the profit and peace of the Church This reading of Decrees is called preaching in the Councell of Constantinople If then reading of decrees of the Apostles and by that president reading of Diptychs and Homilies be preaching and used for the profit and peace of the Church and for the establishing of them in the faith then surely is reading of lessons Epistle and Gospel much more preaching and the Reader is a Preacher The Councell of Aquisgrane layeth downe the office of a Reader Concil Aq. c. 3. and to prevent all exceptions ex canonicâ authoritate and saith thus Lectores sunt qui verbum Dei praedicant Readers are Preachers This they might learne of Saint Ambrose S. Ambr. in eph c. 4. v. 11. S. Cypr. ep 4. l. 4. ep 5. l. 2. and he of Saint Cyprian Saint Cyprian gives onely a toleration to read unto Celerinus nobly descended yet sayes it will make more for his honour in coelesti praedicatione fieri generosum to be made a Gentleman for his heavenly preaching yet this preaching was but reading And further saith that there is nothing wherein a Confessour magis prosit can more profit his brethren than by reading the Gospel unde Martyres fiunt whereby Confessours are made Martyrs This was the doctrine of Origen before him Orig. hom 10. in Gen. Reading then is preaching nay heavenly preaching and there is nothing more profitable for the Church nor more powerfull to make the most perfect men of God of all other even to make Martyrs What shall we thinke then of T. C. and such as he hath seduced that traduce Readers for dumb dogs blinde guides empty feeders and say that reading is so farre from making the man of God perfect that rather the quite contrary may be confirmed Whether doe you not thinke that this blessed Archbishop and Martyr and these holy and learned Bishops would not sharpely have censured the broachers of such doctrine within their Diocesses or will you condemne them their doctrine and Canons to deifie T.C. For my part qui Bavium non odit amet tua Carmina Maevi he that detesteth not the Father of such Schismatickes with their Brood I wish him no worse but that he may fall so farre in love with the pure zeale of those wandring Danites their refined brethren led by such guides that they may beleeve their spies and follow them per mare per terras into new Laish to dwell in a Land of their owne Cottons Sermon and to goe no more out but make themselves happy without corrivalls under an Ephod and Priest of Micha's owne making And surely if they did beleeve their owne doctrines and would be honest and true to their owne positions I cannot see how they should stay here longer than for a good wind The government of our Church they say is Babylonish while they stay here they are in the midst of Babylon therefore the rites of Babylon they will not use and there is no reason that they should Why then doth not that loud cry awaken their consciences that calls them out hence Come out of her my people that you be not partaker in her plagues How doe they thinke that any man should trust them that are so false to their owne friends their own followers their owne faith and doctrine and will forsake them all and with Demas embrace this present world in the midst of Babylon with so great hazzard of the plagues of Babylon Doubtlesse these Church Schismatickes are the most grosse nay the most transparent Hypocrites and most void of conscience of all others They will take the benefit of the Church but abjure the doctrine and discipline of the Church These are whorish and Babylonish But tythe milke is not whorish if it be not mingled with water nor a tithe sheafe Babylonish till it be as big as great Babylon it selfe Is not this ridiculous hypocrisie If their stomackes be so queazie to rise against these things because their pure nostrill resenteth the dip of the Popes foot in them let them begin to abandon the Pope in that which he hath by Canons and Bulls allowed viz. in tiths and offrings and not in that which he never allowed in our Booke of Common Prayer wherein is set downe the onely direction we have for keeping the Lords day in such godly duties as the text specifieth If their condemnation or want of the Popes confirmation of that holy booke were of power to hang a mill-stone about it and to cast it into the bottome of the sea of their abominations we might lie downe in sorrow and cry our last Ichabod the glorie is departed from Israel And they might with the voice of melody sing and say With great wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister and have prevailed to make her a very Babylon and to cause her to sit in the dust and never to rise any more But praised be the Lord whose day we wil ever keep and not their Sabbath that hath delivered us as a prey out of their teeth I will now conclude this point We see that breaking of bread and preaching in such sort as hath beene explained are the holy exercises used by St. Paul and his Disciples and by the holy Martyrs and godly Fathers in the Primitive Church for the observation of the Lords day From hence then we may conclude who are profaners of that most holy day not those that use harmlesse recreations or do some small usefull chare or perhaps take a nap on the Lords day But those that do these with Eutichus when Paul is preaching or as St. Austine saies caeteris ad Ecclesiam