Sunday a Sabbath, Chapter 12
CHAP. XII. Whether the day called Lords day, or Sunday, may not alſo be called Sabbath day, or the Sabbath: The exceptions which are taken up by divers against it.
THeſe acceptions premiſed, it will bee the more eaſie to anſwer the exceptions which ſome have taken at the uſe of the name Sabbath, as applyed to the Lords day, who would have that name under ſo rigorous an arreſt, at the ſute of Saturday, that it may not ſtirre one ſtep to the day next unto it; and ſo wee may not (by their leave) call the Lords day the Sabbath day.
Of this minde are ſome of the greateſt friends of the Lords day, as well as they that (as enemies) oppoſe the divine authority of it: for, aD. Bound l. 1. de Sab. p. 110.Doctor Bound (a man ſincerely devoted to the doctrine and duties of the fourth Commandement) ſaith, The name of the Sabbath was changed into the name of the Lords day, which muſt bee retained: and if the old name bee to bee changed,, and the new muſt be retained, then the old name muſt bee taken to bee aboliſhed, at leaſt to bee prohibited, as to the day now ſolemnely obſerved, and generally received: And bM. Brerew. repl. p. 73. & 74Maſter Brerewood (an opponent againſt divers points of Doctor Bound his Booke of the Sabbath, in his Reply to Mr. Byfields Anſwer) ſaith, The name of the Sabbath remained appropriated to the old Sabbath, and was never attributed to the Lords day for many hundreds of yeers after our Savious time; none of the Apoſtles, nor of the ancient Chriſtians, for many hundreds of yeers after them, ever intituled it by the name of Sabbath: and ſince him cBiſh. white treat of the Sab. pag. 134, 135.Biſhop White hath written, Wee Chriſtians keep a weekly holiday, namely Sunday, which (with the holy Apoſtle, Revel. 1.10.) wee ſtile the Lords day, not the Sabbath day: dD. Heyl. Hiſt. Sab. part. 2. c. 8. pag. 255.Doctor Heylin in his Hiſtory of the Sabbath, having objected againſt ſome an intent to cry downe holidayes, as ſuperſtitious and Popiſh ordinances, mentioneth (as in ſcorne) their new found Sabbath; and Sabbath now, ſaith he, it muſt be called.
And the Tranſlator of eThe Tranſl. of D•. Prid. his Lect. on the Sab. Praef. pag. ult. edit. 2.Doctor Prideaux his Lecture of the Sabbath, in his Preface before it, bringeth in Barkley a Papiſt with a notable Dilemma (as hee calleth it) the better to encounter thoſe who ſtill retaine the name of the Sabbath; What is the cauſe, ſaith hee, that many of our ſectaries call this day (meaning the Chriſtians weekely holiday) by the name Sabbath? If they muſt obſerve it becauſe God reſted on that day; then they ought to keepe that day whereon God reſted, and not the firſt, as now they doe, whereon the Lord began his labour: If they obſerve it as the day of our Saviours Reſurrection, why doe they call it ſtill the Sabbath, ſeeing eſpecially, that Chriſt did not altogether reſt, but valiantly overcame the powers of death?
His queſtion (God willing) ſhall bee anſwered anon: as yet wee are to note onelyonly his diſallowing of the name, as applyed to the Lords day; which wee may obſerve alſo in fM. Dowe in his Diſcourſe, pag. 4. & 19.Maſter Dowe his late Diſcourſe of the Sabbath, or Lords day: and in gMr. Ironſide, queſt. 3. cap. 12, 13.Maſter Ironſide his ſeven queſtions concerning the Sabbath. hMr. Broad his MS. of the Sab. part. 2. cap. 2. p. 26. propè ſin.Maſter Broad forbiddeth Preachers, in their Sermons, to ſay, Remember the Sabbath day to ſanctifie it; and would have them, in ſtead thereof, to ſay, Remember to ſanctifie the Lords day, for the Lords day, ſaith hee, may bee called no more Sabbath, then the Sabbath may bee called Lords day: If as much, it will bee enough, as ſhall be ſhewed afterward.
But Maſter Braburne, as hee miſliketh that the Lords day ſhould lord it over the Jewiſh Sabbath more then any; ſo he cavilleth more at the calling of it by the name of the Sabbath, leſt, under that name, it ſhould take up ſome authority from the fourth Commandement. Hee beginneth his Diſcourſe, which is his former Book againſt it, thus, iMr. Braburns Diſcourſe of the Sab. p. 1.Bee pleaſed, Chriſtian Reader, first of all to note, that wee, now adayes, apply the name Sabbath to the Lords day promiſcuouſly, and without difference; now thus to confound two proper names of dayes, is as if wee ſhould call Sunday Saturday, and Saturday Sunday.
And to reſtraine the name Sabbath to the old day of the Jewes (which hee pleads for) hee would have the words of the Commandement rendred thus, kIbid. pag. 7. & pag. 68.Remember the Saturdayes Reſt, to keepe it holy; from which, ſaith lIbid. p. 200.hee the name Sabbath cannot bee ſeparated. And in his other Booke (which hee wrote in defence of the former) hee ſaith, mM. Brab. Defence p. 164. edit. 2.That it is an errour of our Miniſters, to call the Lords day, or the firſt day of the weeke by the name of Sabbath; and a nIbid p. 164. & 626.meere fiction, ſince none of the Apoſtles ever called it ſo, nor is it any where ſo named in the Scripture; hee addeth, that oIb. pag. 52.by calling the Lords day by the name of Sabbath, they have robbed the Sabbath of its honourable ornaments, that therewith they might deck and trim up the Lords day, pIbid.which is, as if one ſhould take the crowne off the head of a King, and ſet it upon a common ſubject: qIbid. pag. 35.for Saturday, ſaith hee, is a King or Miſtreſſe to the Lords day.
Hee had ſpoken with more congruity to himſelfe, though not unto the truth, if hee had kept to his gender, and called it a King and Maſter, or a Queene and Miſtreſſe: hee objecteth further, rIbid. p. 50.that wee may as well call ſIbid.Baptiſme Circumciſion, and the Lords Supper the Paſſeover, and tIbid. p. 494.that when the Miniſter ſaith, Remember to ſanctifie the Sabbath day, to take it for the Lords day; and ſo to ſay, Lord have mercy upon us, &c. is to make anſwer (as deafe men doe) who, when a man calleth for a knife, doe bring him a ſheath.
The reſolution at which hee would have his reaſons and exceptions arrive, is this; Let mee, ſaith he, for concluſion, exhort Miniſter and people to refraine putting the name Sabbath day on the Lords day; and let them take with it, uIb. p. 54, 55.that they must, with forbearance of the name Sabbath day, refraine the uſe of the fourth Commandement; for theſe goe unſeparably together.
Where wee may ſee in him (as in others) that of Biſhop Andrewes made good, of ſhewing ill will to the thing, by carping at the name, as before wee have noted: for, Mr. Braburne (and wee may ſay the like of ſome others) knowing the right and title (claimed for the Lords day) by the fourth Commandement to bee kept a foote by the title Sabbath, firſt fettereth it to the Jewiſh weekly holiday, by affixing the word Saturday unto it; not daring to truſt it alone, leſt, being left looſe, it ſhould bee ready for uſe, as an appellation of the Lords day: Much like the Papiſts, who pinion the name Catholick with the addition of Romane, that ſo they might keepe it captive to their owne ſide, and by it, as by a lock or bolt, might let in, or keep out of the Church as pleaſe themſelves.
But the moſt ſevere Cenſurer of the name Sabbath (as applyed to the Lords day) is the Authour of the Book called Altare Chriſtianum; wherein, ſpeaking of him who wrote the Letter to the Vicar of Grantham, hee ſaith, ″D. Pockl. his book called Altare Chriſtianum, cap. 22. p. 130.Hee had ſhewed himſelfe more like a ſonne of the Church, if he had ſaid that the name Sabbath had crept into the Church, in a kinde of complying, in phraſe, with the people of the Jewes, and that in a ſhadow of things to come, as if Chriſt were not come in the fleſh, againſt the Apoſtles expreſſe doctrine and charge, Coloſ. 2. and from hence would have ſought to have caſt that old leaven out of our Church, which hath ſowred the affections of too many toward the Church, and diſturbed the peace, and hindred the pious devotion thereof.
This is enough, and bad enough; yet hee ſaith more and worſe in his Sermon preached at the Viſitation of the Biſhop of Lincolne, Aug. 7. 1635. wherein hee viſiteth with the rod thoſe that call the Lords day Sabbath day; and with it, giveth ſuch ſharp jerks as theſe; xD. Po…kl. Viſitation Serm. called Sunday n… Sabbath, pag. 6.What ſhall wee thinke of Knox, Whittingham, and their fellowes (anabaptizing the Lords day, or Sunday, after the minde of ſome Jew, hired to bee Godfather thereof) who call it Sabbath, and doe diſguiſe it with that name, and who were the firſt that ſo called it, and the Teſtators, who have ſo bequeathed it to their Diſciples, and Proſelites. yD. Pockl. Ib. pag. 6, 7.It was, ſaith he, thirty yeers before their children could turne their tongues to hit on Sabbath; and if the Gileadites (that met with the Ephraemites before they could frame to pronounce Shibboleth) had ſnapt up theſe two before they had got their Sabbath by the end, their counſell had brought much peace to the Church.
For this name Sabbath, ſaith hee, is not a bare name, like a ſpot in the forehead, to know Labans ſheepe from Jacobs; but it is a myſtery of iniquity intended againſt the Church; and the myſtery (as hee reveales it) is to ſhut out the Letanie, and all the Service of the Communion Book: for that is no Service for their Sabbath, but for Sunday.
zIbid. p. 19.Item, they muſt make a Sabbath of Sunday, to keepe up that name; otherwiſe their many citations of Scripture, mentioning onelyonly the Sabbath, being applyed to Sunday, will appeare ſo ridiculouſly diſtorted and wry neck'd, that they will be a ſcorne and deriſion to the ſimpleſt of their now deluded Auditors.
aIbid. p. 20.Others (ſaith hee) againe, for the plot's ſake, muſt uphold the name Sabbath, that ſtalking behinde it, they may ſhoote at the Service appointed for the Lords day. Yet further, hee maketh the name of the Sabbath (as on the face of the Lords day) to bee as an ugly vizzard, which doth as well become it, as the crowne bIbid.of thornes did the Lord himſelfe; this was platted, ſaith hee, to expoſe him to damnable deriſion, and that was plotted to impoſe on it deteſtable ſuperſtition: Yet to die for it, ſaith hee, they will call it Sabbath, preſuming, in their zealous ignorance, or guilefull zeale, to bee thought to ſpeake the Scripture phraſe, when indeed the dregs of Aſhdod flow from their mouthes: for that day which they nickname Sabbath, is either no day at all, or not the day they meane. Thus farre hee, who, that his ill will to this word Sabbath, (as applyed to our Sunday) might appeare in every page, the Title throughout his Booke, is [Sunday no Sabbath.]