A Threefold Treatise of the Sabbath, Chapter 1 – Chapter 2
CHAP. I. The Preface, ſhewing wherein wee generally conſent and agree in one.
IT will not be amiſſe (ere I enter upon the Treatiſe, which for the honour of Jeſus, God bleſſed for ever, I here undertake) briefly to lay before the judicious, a few things, for feare of miſtake, while wee maintaine the obſervation of a ſet ſolemn day weekly, for the worſhip of Chriſt, and a Chriſtianlike ſtrickt keeping of it holy.
1 Wee hereby reject the looſe opinions of the Familiſts, Anabaptiſts, and wicked Libertines; who would be free from any time of ſet ſolemn dayes, for Gods publick ſervice and worſhip, contrary to the command of God under the Law; and the conſtant cuſtome of the Church under the Goſpel, among all Orthodox Chriſtians, in all places, throughout the whole Chriſtian world, in all ages, for theſe 1600 yeers; ſo that, ſaith Chemnitius, it is barbarica petulantia, In exam. Trident Concil.moſt rude impudencie, barbarous folly, as one tranſlateth it, not to obſerve that day with all due ſolemnity, which hath ſo long time beene kept by the Church of God: This witneſſeth, Ignatius, Iohn the Apoſtles Diſciple, Iustine Martyr, S. Auguſtine, Tertullian, Athanaſius, Maximus Tauronenſis, Dionyſius Biſhop of Corinth, in an Epiſtle of his to Soter Biſhop of Rome: Againſt theſe Familiſts, Anabaptiſts, and Libertines, hath written Ʋrſin in his Chatechiſme, Zanchie in his Oper. ſex dierum, and Maſter Rogers in his Diſplay of the Family of Love.
2 Wee renounce all Traskits and Brabornian errours, in their points of Judaiſme: Againſt the Author of the firſt ſort, learned Biſhop Andrews hath fully ſhewed himſelfe, by his ſpeech in the Starre Chamber: Againſt the later, the late learned Biſhop of Ely, Doctor White, hath written at large, purpoſely to confute Brabornes Judaizing, in ſtanding for the Jewiſh Sabbath: Againſt which tenent, Muſculus, Ʋrſin, and Bellarmine, hath alſo written: yea, Hereticks, as Irenaeus lib. 1. cap. 26. & Ephan. de Haereſ. cap. 30.the Ebionits and Cerinthians holding this, have been condemned, as the Fathers witneſſe. The ſeventh day Sabbath from the Creation, now called Saturday, is changed, and not under the Goſpel to be obſerved of us, as an holy day to the Lord.
3 Albeit we doe hold the fourth Commandement to be perpetuall, yet we conceive it to be ſo, without any of thoſe See the former Treatiſe.acceſſorie percepts delivered by Moſes, whereby though it was in it ſelfe originally not ceremoniall, yet was it by the keeping of thoſe precepts ceremoniouſly obſerved.
4 As that Law required reſt, and the holy uſe of that reſt, to be imployed on that Sabbath day, for the keeping of it holy; ſo doth it now, by analogie and proportion, for the holy obſervation of our weekly Sabbath. Reſt wee doe hold neceſſary for the day, yet not like the fooliſh ſuperſtitious reſt of the later Jewes, grounded on vaine Traditions, confuted by Chriſt. Nor doe we require it otherwiſe than a neceſſary meanes to further us to holy duties, not as a worſhip of God in it ſelfe; nor doe wee deny works to be done, works of pietie, and for pietie, works of charity, and thoſe that be works of neceſſitie; for all were allowed under the Law, as in the other Treatiſe is proved. Moreover, wee account the day holy, yet not for any inherent holineſſe therein, but for that it is ſet apart for holy uſes: And the difference betweene this and other ſolemn holy dayes, dedicated to the honour of Chriſt, we take to be; that this is grounded on authoritie divine, and unchangeable, and ſo not the other; yet to be obſerved with reſt to religious duties, as is ordeyned by the authority of the Church, which is not at any time to be deſpiſed.
Theſe things premiſed, I ſuppoſe, wee that deſire for the honour of Jeſus Chriſt, that his day be ſolemnly kept, none of ripe judgement will condemne us of Judaiſme, if they well underſtand either us, or themſelves, hereafter. A charitable interpretation would amend all, which were to bee wiſhed, to quench the heat of contention, by either ignorantly or wilfully miſconceiving of us: For we hold nothing, but what hath beene held by Orthodox Divines, the beſt, and moſt in all ages, as in the enſuing chapters of this Treatiſe, framed to the capacitie of the common ſort, will clearly be made manifeſt.
CHAP. II. Of the title of Lords day, and of the name Sunday.
THis terme of Lords day, though none can deny it to belong to the day, yet ſome few, and but very few (to ſhew perhaps more wit, as they think, to be able to ſay ſomething to any thing, than worth of matter) do make it, as it were, doubtfull to underſtand what day ſhould be meant by the Lords day in Revel. 1. 10.
But this place of Iohn hath generally beene expounded, and taken for the day which wee now call Sunday, the firſt day of the weeke, by Aretas, Andreas Caeſarienſis, by Beda, by out later Divines, and by the ſuffrage of the De rat. tempo. cap. 6.Church, the beſt Expoſitor of the word: which day hath conſtantly ſince the time of the Apoſtle S. John, been honoured with this name, above all others; under this it hath paſſed along in the writings of all the ancient Fathers, in Councels, in Hiſtories Eccleſiaſticall, in Emperiall Conſtitutions, and Edicts of Emperours, and Kings. Beda on S. Luke ſaith, It is a Chriſtian custome to call it the Lords day; which cuſtome hath continued hitherto in all reformed Churches. And this name our King and State, giveth it in Statute Lawes, and Acts of Parliament, and our Church in her Eccleſiaſticall Conſtitutions. This therefore may bee uſed without offence; nor is it fit that any ſcoffe at ſuch, who conſtantly call it ſo, as being the moſt ancient name, and the moſt common and uſuall religious appellation at the firſt, in the Primitive time.
This day hath alſo had another name given it, and hath beene called Sunday: this appellation is very ancient, for Justine Martyr in his ſecond Apologie, cals it diem Sol…s. Lib. 4. cap. 22. Lib. 5. cap. 21.So doth Tertullian in his Apologie, cap. 16. This name we may alſo finde in Euſebius his Eccleſiaſticall Hiſtory, and in Socrates; in the Edicts of Emperours, Conſtantine, Ʋalentinian, Valens, Gratian, Honorius, Arcadius, and Theodoſius. S. Augustine telleth us, how it may be uſed in a tolerable Contra Fauſt. 18. 5. on Pſ. 93.ſenſe: This name hath beene kept in the ancient Lawes of our Land, in King Edgar and Canutus his raigne. Thus it is called commonly in our Statute Lawes, Eccleſiaſticall Lawes, in our Homilies, and in our Common Prayer Book, and in the moſt uſuall and common vulgar ſpeech. And though it hath had a note of diſlike, even by S. Auguſtine, and of later time by Beza, Doctor Fulke, and Doctor Anot. 1 Cor. 16. 1 In Rhem. Teſt. Apoc. 1. Synopſ. controverſ. 9. queſt. 8.Willet; nevertheleſſe ſcruple is not to bee made of it, no more than to call a place Areopagus, Mars-Hill, Act. 17. or the ſigne of the Ship, Caſtor and Pollux, Act. 28. 11. Nor more than our week dayes, to call them Munday, Tueſday; nor our Months, Ianuary, February, March, &c. which are names from the Heathen: So be it, that none ſo call the day purpoſely with contempt and deriſion of thoſe who uſe the firſt title, nameing it the Lords day, as ſome have done, not many yeers ago, how ever now it paſſeth for currant without check.