A Defense of the Sabbath Day, Chapter 3 · Commentary · Section 19
SECT. XIX.
Their ſecond argument fetched from Teſtimony, is from the practiſe of the primitiue Churches, after the Apoſtles: for, the Hiſtories of the Church (ſay they) make mention, that they kept the Lords day conſtantly.
Herevnto I anſwer, 1. that it ſeemeth this practiſe, was not vniuerſall, & in all Churches, but onelyonly in ſome places: or not in all times, but at ſome time onelyonly: for Mr. Perkins vponupon the 4th Com. affirmeth out of the Hiſtories of the Church, that the Sabbath (meaning it of the Lords day Sabbath) was neglected of thoſe Churches which ſucceeded the Apoſtles, but afterwards it was reuiued & eſtabliſhed by Chriſtian Emperours: And for confirmation hereof, he alleageth his Author Leo and Anton. Edict. of Holy dayes. Whereby it appeareth, by the Hiſtory of the Church & alſo by confeſſion of M. Perkins, that this Lords day, vvas not kept in the primitiue Churches conſtantly, as now we keepe it, in our Churches; for it was not kept vntill Chriſtian Emperours eſtabliſhed it, now the firſt Chriſtian Emperour that enacted a Law for the Lords day, as farr as I can find, was Conſtantine, & this was about 300 yeeres after Chriſt; ſo that this Lords day, was not onelyonly not kept by the primitiue Churches, but alſo it was not kept in all probability, not of 300 yeeres after Chriſt: ſo that they hauehave no greate cauſe to alleage the practiſe of the primitiue Church for their Lords day.
2. I anſvver, but admit the primitiue Churches had kept it conſtātly in all places, & at all times alwaies; yet there is a tvvofould keeping or ſolemnizing of a day; the one is the keeping it a Sabbath day; the other is the keeping of it for an Holy day: now I deny that they kept it for a Sabbath day; for, it is moſt likly that they kept it for an holy day, vvhichwhich is more remiſe and ſlenderly kept then a Sabbath day: and this appeareth 1. by Ignatius in his Epiſtle to the Magneſians where he exhorteth both to the keeping of the Sabbath day, & alſo to the keeping of the Lords day, & both in one & the ſame page: novv it is not likely that Ignatius did exhorte his people to keepe two Sabbath dayes in a vveeke, the Saturday & Sunday; and therfore it is likely that the Lords day they kept it ſlenderly as an holy day. Againe, hee cales the Lords day there, the Quene & Princeſse of dayes; where you ſee he left an higher roome for the Sabbath day, accounting it as the King & prince of dayes; & therfore it is likly kept not the Lords day, as they did the Sabbath day. Yet furher, it is to be noted, that Ignatius exhorting his people, to the keeping of both the Sabbath day, & the Lords day, he refuſeth to giuegive that word vntounto the Lords day, vvhichwhich he giueth to the Sabbath day, & vvhichwhich is moſt proper for a Sabbath day: for, in exhorting to the Sabbath day, he vſeth this vvord Sabbatizet, but in exhorting to the Lords day, he changeth the vvord and vſeth this vvord celebret foreign which in liklihood noteth a difference in the vſe of theſe two dayes, the one being kept as a Sabbath, the other as a Feſtiuall day.
2. It appeareth by a law made by Constantine, as any may reade it reported, by M. Fox in his booke of Martyres, the new Edition pag. 93. thus; The Sunday hee commanded to be kept holy of all men, and free from all Iudiciary cauſes, from markets, Martes, fayers, & all other manuall laboures, onelyonly huſhandry excepted. Where you ſee the workes of huſbandry, as plowing & the like excepted, this might be done in thoſe dayes, and in that Church, on the Lords day. Now Conſtantine was the moſt famouſe defender of the Lords day, of any Emperour; & would he thinke you hauehave giuen men leaue to goe to plough & carte on the Lords day, if hee had eſteemed it as a Sabbath day? no ſurely; for this is plaine contrary to the very letter of the 4th com. In it thou ſhalt doe no manner of worke: no not in earing time nor in harueſt Exod. 34.21. wherefore ſince Conſtantine gaue leaue to plough & ſowe, & the like workes of husbandry, on the Lords day; it is a manifeſt thing, that in his time, the Lords day was not kept for a Sabbath day, but rather as a light holy day: hereby it appeareth, that the patrones of the Lords day, hauehave little cauſe to glorie ſo much, in the law that Conſtantine made for the keeping of the Lords day holy.
3. It appeareth by this, that Conſtantine made a law, for the keeping holy of Friday, & of Sunday, both: the Friday, becauſe of Chriſt his paſſion, & the Sunday or Lords day, becauſe of Chriſts reſurrection. For this ſee Euſeb: de vita Conſtant. lib. 4. Cap, 18. and ſee Sozom. lib. 1. Cap. 8. theſe ij dayes were inacted in one & the ſame law, & in one & the ſame manner; whereby you ſee, that the Lords day vvas accounted in the primitiue Churches, no more an holy day, then Friday was an holy day; now I truſt no man will think, that the primitiue Churches, kept Friday for a Sabbath day: no nor yet that they kept both theſe as Sabbathes, the Friday, & the Lords day; for ſo they ſhould hauehave kept ij or iij Sabbathes in a weeke. Thus you ſee their argument fetched from the practiſe of the primitiue Churches for the Lords day, will doe them no good.