Sunday a Sabbath, Chapter 1 – Chapter 2
CHAP. I. In what caſes wee may bee indifferent for the for bearance or uſe of Names: In what wee must bee chary concerning both.
IF under the diverſity of words there were no diſſention touching the things that are treated of, (as aDe verbo (ut mea fert opinio) controverſia eſt, de re quidem convanit. Senec. de clement. l. 2. e. 7. pag. 102.Seneca obſerveth of the words clemencie and pardon) it were a waywardneſſe or wantonneſſe (well worthy of ſharpe reproofe) to wrangle, or ſpend many words about them; which bNe verbi controverſiam vel ſuperfluam faciam, v…l meritò patiar, quoniam cùm de re conſtat, non eſt opus certare de nomine. Aug. Ep. Hieronymo. Ep. 28, tom, 2. p. 108.Saint Auguſtine profeſſeth hee would neither willingly doe, nor deſervedly ſuffer: for where the ſenſe is ſound and conſonant to truth, (on both ſides embraced) there is little appearance of perill in the difference of termes, and as little cauſe to bee curiouſly nice either in the allowance or forbearance of their uſe. So, in effect, hath cDum res…ognoſcitur, non eſt de vocabulis laborandum. Aug. de Gen. ad lit. lib. 4. cap. 5. tom. 3. pag. 730.S. Auguſtine (after dNon obſtant verba cùm ſententia congruit veritati. Lactant. Inſtit. lib. 4. cap. 9.Lactantius) reſolved, as directed thereto, not onelyonly by the rule of Religion, which requireth among men, (Chriſtians eſpecially) as much union as may bee, 1 Cor. 1.10. but by the dictate of Reaſon; For Logick (which is artificiall and refined reaſon) eDocuit me (ſeil. Dialectica) cùm de re conſtat, propter quam verba di…untur, non de verbis debere contendi. Aug. contra Academ. lib. 3. cap. 13. tom. 1. pag. 618.(ſaith he) hath taught me in conſent of things, not to contend about the acception of words.
But ſince wee cannot hold diſcourſe of the one without helpe of the other, (for verball notions are to reall, (in the ſervice of the mind) as ″Verba quaſi vaſa. Auguſt. Confeſ. l. 1. c. 26.veſſels are to meats, (for the ſuſtenance of the body) to ſerve them in, to that both place and uſe for which they were before prepared).
Secondly, Since not onelyonly the things, but words alſo (which concerne the Chriſtians weekly holiday) are brought into vehement diſpute, and ſometimes cenſoriouſly reſolved on the wrong way.
Thirdly, Since (likewiſe) men ſeldome except againſt a Word or Name, but when they wiſh not altogether well to the thing it ſelfe (as the fNomen ferè non vellicat, nifi qui rei non omnino benè vult. Bp. Andrews Ep. 1. Pet. Du-Moulin opuſc. pag. 166.Biſhop of wincheſter writeth in his firſt Epiſtle to Doctor Du-Moulin).
Fourthly, Since ſometimes by giving up words in a matter of weight (to gratifie the deſire of the Adverſary) there is advantage given therewith to the left hand, and more courage taken to contend againſt the right of the cauſe in queſtion, which was the iſſue of that facility gDe ouſia vero nomine abjiciendo, placuit auferri; non erat curae Epiſcopis de vocabulo cum ſenſus eſſet in tuto. Hieron. adver. Luciferian. tom. 2. pag. 144. The Arrians required the like for the word Conſubſtantialis as Theodoret writeth. Hiſt. Eccleſ. lib. 2. cap. 18. pag. 533.which the Fathers at Ariminum ſhewed in condeſcending to the requeſt of the Arrians, for the abatement of the word [ouſia] in the doctrine of the Trinity.
Laſtly, Since (as hMr. Ironſide queſt. 3. cap. 13. pag. 123.Mr. Ironſide hath out of S. Auguſtine obſerved of the Academicks) They are not ſuch ſimple men as not to know how to give things their proper names, who purpoſely make choyce (I may ſay as well, purpoſely make refuſall) of words which may ſerve to hide from the ſimple, and to intimate to the wiſer ſort of their Diſciples their opinions, (whether Sabbatharie or Antiſabbatharie, if erroneous and dangerous, it is equally materiall,) It is (as I conceive, upon all theſe conſiderations of weight and moment) very requiſite to make ſearch, and to ſeeke for ſatisfaction of ſcruples (in this controverſie of the Sabbath) both for words and things: And (to conclude with our former compariſon) as veſſels muſt be ſcoured before meat be ſerved to the Table in them: ſo words muſt firſt bee cleared, (which is requiſite in the tryall of the title of the day of reſt, as well as in other Queſtions) before the matters in difference (which they import) can well be brought in to be diſcuſſed.
CHAP. II. Of the divers Names of the Chriſtians weekly holiday.
THe Names of that day, which wee Chriſtians keep for our weekly holiday, are divers; the firſt name was the firſt day of the week: a name (for Antiquity) as old as the beginning of the firſt weeke of the world, Gen. 1.5. And that title is given it by all the foure Evangeliſts; by Saint Matthew, chap. 28. ver. 1. Saint Mark, chap. 16. ver. 2. by Saint Luke in Acts 20. ver. 7. and by Saint John chap. 20. ver. 1. as alſo by S. Paul, 1 Cor. 16.2. eight times (as aMr. Braburn. Defence, p. 162Maſter Braburne numbers them) it is called the firſt day of the weeke by the holy writers of the new Teſtament, all of them uſing, in the Greek, a cardinall number for the ordinall, as Moſes doth in the Hebrew, in the forecited Text, Gen. 1.5. bEthnicis ſemel annuus dies quiſque feſtus eſt, tibi octavo queque die. Tert. de Idol. cap. 14. tom. 2. p. 457.Tertullian, cHic dies octavus, id eſt, poſt Sabbatum primus, & dominicus. Cypr. lib. 3. Epiſt. 8. p. 80. col. 2.Cyprian, and dDominicus verò poſt ſeptimum, quid niſi octavus? Aug. praefat. in Pſal. 150. tom. 8. part. 2. p. 1058.1059.Augustine; and, if wee may beleeve Maſter Braburne (but wee finde no proofe for it) all Churches call it the eighth day, not that they would have a Chriſtian weeke longer then after the old computation, (which took up with the number of ſeven) but for that, (as it is cleare by the words of Saint Auguſtine) it being after the Saturday, which was the ſeventh, if a man count on, the next day following maketh the eighth: and (without any intention to make the circle of the weeke one day wider then it was before) they made the account in this ſort, and named it the eighth day, the rather, with reference to Circumciſion, which was on the eighth day to bee received: and therein (as eOctavus dies, id eſt, poſt Sabbatum primus, quo Dominus Circumciſionem ſpiritualem daret, hic dies octavus praeceſſit in imagine. Cypr. lib. 3. Ep. 8. pag. 80. col. 2.S. Cyprian thought, and fAuguſt. in Pſalm. 150. tom. 8. part. 2. pag. 1059.S. Auguſtine hath the like conceipt) was the Chriſtians weekly holiday prefigured.
With theſe Appellations of number & order, we may remember thoſe Titles of honour aſcribed unto it by gChryſologus. Serm. 77.Chryſologus, who calleth it the primate of dayes, and by hIgnat. Epiſt. ad Magnenſ. vocat. foreign. pag. 57. Edit. Genev. 1623.Ignatius, who advanced it to a denomination of an higher ſtraine, naming it the Queene and Princeſſe of dayes (other feaſtdayes being as iMr. Godwin in his Moſes and Aaron. lib. 3. c. 3. p. 110, 111.concubines, and the worke-daies as hand-maids) not (as kMr, Brab. in his Diſcourſe upon the Sabbath, in 8o. page 53. In his Defence in 4to. page 159. & 488, 490.Mr. Brab. would have it) as if hee left the Title of King and Prince for the Saturday Sabbath: for if hee had meant ſuch a titular prelation of that day above the Lords day, hee would not ſurely (where hee ſpeaketh of them both) have adorned the one with the title of a Queene, and not the other with the title of a King; which hee hath no where done, nor any body elſe (for ought that I have yet either read or heard) but Mr. Brab. it is his peculiar Courtſhip, whereby he would reſtore the old Sabbath to the prerogative of a Crown, after it hath been juſtly depoſed from it for many hundred yeers together in the Chriſtian Church.
Beſides, the Biſhop of lTho Bp. of Elie in his Treat. of the Sab. pag. 75.Elie hath pertinently replyed to this imaginary preheminence of the Jewiſh Sabbath, by giving inſtance of the Rabbins ſtiling it by the name, not of a King, but of a Queene; and of the Philoſopher and Oratour terming Juſtice, Eloquence, and Mony by the ſame title: and hence hath hee rightly inferred, that Ignatius named the Lords day the Queene of dayes, not by way of derogation, but to ſignifie the eminent and tranſcendent honour of the day. But, howſoever the words went in Ignatius his time, to call the one a King, the other a Queene, in our daies, would ſound like an mThe Ebionites keepe the Jewiſh Sabbath; and celebrate the Sunday alſo. Euſeb. Eccl. Hiſt. l. 3. c. 24. pag. 50.Ebionitiſh combination, or marriage of Saturday and Sunday together, (for the Ebionites honoured them both with a weekly obſervation); but, for that, Mr. Brab. (while hee diſavowed the Lords day on the one ſide) and others of ſounder judgement (diſclayming the Saturday Sabbath on the other) would bee ready to forbid the banes of matrimony beforehand, or afterwards to ſue out a divorce.
There is another name of this day, which hath a ſound of dignity, with a ſenſe of diminution; for ſome of late (ſaith nDr. Bound on the Sabbath. part. 1. p. 117.Dr. Bound) have given it a new name (unknowne to the world, and not properly belonging to it) calling it the Kings day, the Queens day, the Emperours day. So have ſome Divines done, ſaith he, but he nameth them not, and it is not worth the while to ſeek after the names of ſuch ungodly godfathers: ungodly (doubtleſſe) if, in giving it theſe names, they meant, as there is good cauſe to ſuſpect, thereby to degrade the day from all ſacred, to meere ſecular Authority. But theſe Appellations already ſpecified are either out of uſe, or out of Queſtion; and ſo wee may quickly quit them, and may betake our ſelves to the conſideration of other Titles, of more regardable obſervation in our dayes.