Sunday a Sabbath, Chapter 13
CHAP. XIII. Reaſons why Sunday, or the Lords day may be called Sabbath day, delivered and defended.
BUt on the contrary (if impetuous paſſion may bee ſo huſht, that religious reaſon may be heard) wee ſhall ſhew cauſe ſufficient to take up an Antititle to that of Doctor Pocklington his Sermon, and to ſay, Sunday a Sabbath; and that upon ſuch evidence, both rationall and exemplary, as without cavilling (as I conceive) cannot bee contradicted: and firſt for Reaſon.
Firſt, The name aJoſeph. Ant. l. 1. c. 2. pag. 3. and in his firſt Book againſt Appion. p. 783. Iſidor. etymolog. l. 6. c. 18. fol. 32. p. 2. col 2. and all Hebrew Lexicons.Sabbath ſignifieth reſt, reaſon 1(reſt from the accuſtomed labours of the weeke); But the Sunday is a day of reſt, wherein men are reſtrained from their wonted workes, and ought to reſt, ſaith bB. White his Treat. on the Sabb. pag. 152, 153, 158.Biſhop white, and to give themſelves to religious exerciſes: Therefore the Sunday may bee called a Sabbath; For when the thing is acknowledged, why ſhould the word, by which it is moſt fitly ſignified, bee denyed? And when the thing is denyed (as reſt on the Saturday by us Chriſtians) why ſhould the word Sabbath, ſignifying reſt, be allowed, as applyed to it? Is there any reaſon why names ſhould not in ſenſe bee ſurable to things to which they are applyed, but rather contrary to them? To call that day by a name of reſt, which is a day allowed for labour, and to deny that name to the day wherein we are required to reſt, is not ſo little an abſurdity, as that which Maſter Braburne remembred of deafe men, who, when a man calleth for a knife, doe bring him a ſheath; for there is that neerneſſe betwixt them, that they may bee both together, the one within the other; but reſt and labour are like light and darkneſſe, in a contradictory diſtance, which cannot be reconciled nor brought together.
It is no marvell that Maſter Braburne, who denyeth the thing (holding the Lords day for no day of reſt, but for a workeday) ſhould deny the name Sabbath, as in application to it: for hee taketh it to bee a proper name of the day of reſt in the old Teſtament; which, if it were granted, would doe him no good, nor the Lords day any hurt (for its right to this title) for Adam was the proper name of the firſt man, Gen. 3.8, 9. and yet it is uſed in Scripture for man in generall, Pſal. 9.1. ver. 12, 20.
But, ſaith cM. Ironſide queſt. 3. cap. 12. pag. 122.Maſter Ironſide, the name Sabbath leads us onelyonly to an outward ceſſation from bodily labour, which, of it ſelfe, and preciſely conſidered, was indeed a dutie of the Jewiſh Sabbath; but it is not ſo of the Chriſtian Feſtivall. dIbid. cap. 13. pag. 123.The corporall reſt was a chiefe thing aymed at in all the dayes of publick worſhip in the Jewiſh Synagogue, being both memorative of ſome things paſt, and figurative of things to come. The name Sabbath is therefore no more morall, and to bee retained in the Goſpel, then the names Prieſt, Altar, and Sacrifice. To which wee may ſay;
Firſt, that the word Sabbath ſignifieth not a ceſſation (with limitation to outward worke) nor preciſely a Jewiſh memorative, or ſigur ative reſt, proper to the weekely holiday of the Jewes, but reſt abſolutely, and therefore eMaſter Ironſide queſt. 3. cap. 13. pag. 124. Si vocis primaevam ſigniſicationem ſpectemus, Sabbatum erit omnis dies ſeſtus, Eſtius 3d. Cent. d. 37.hee confeſſeth, out of Eſtius, That if wee looke to the firſt, and originall ſignification of the word, every holiday wherein men rest from their labours, may be called a Sabbath; and that fM. Ironſ. ubi ſupra. p. 123.God himſelfe in Scripture, impoſed the name Sabbath upon all the dayes of publik worſhip in the Jewiſh Synagogues.
Secondly, Hee acknowledgeth, gIbid. queſt. 6. cap. 24. p. 223.That there is a ceſſation from works required of Chriſtian people (under the Goſpel) upon all dayes of their publick worſhip and aſſemblies: for Nature her ſelfe, ſaith hee out of hNatura dictat aliquando vacuam diem quieti. Gerſ. de decem Precept.Gerſon, teacheth all men ſometimes to reſt from their owne imployment, and to ſpend that time in the prayſes of God, and prayers to him: for, as iIbid. cap. 24. pag. 223.he very well ſaith, to attend Gods publick worſhip, and at the ſame time to follow our owne imployment, are incompatible, and imply contradiction.
And thats enough to qualifie the Lords day, or Sunday for the title Sabbath; which hee implicitly yeeldeth, when upon that ground hee ſaith, kIbid.The Turks, nay, the Indians have their Sabbaths.
Thirdly, Whereas hee ſaith (as by way of diſtinction of the old Sabbath of the Jewes, from that day which Chriſtians celebrate) that it was memorative of things paſt, and ſigurative of things to come: I anſwer, That that cannot conſine the name Sabbath to their day, nor reſtraine it from ours: for in the former of the two wee have as much intereſt as the Jewes, for wee are to remember Gods finiſhing his workes in ſixe dayes, and his reſting the ſeventh, as well as they, and to have a gratefull memory of the benefit of creation as they had; and we need ſuch a remembrance ſo much more, as wee are at more diſtance from it: and for the later, wee build not the title upon a figure, (which is but a feeble and ſandie foundation) but upon the letter or ſenſe already confeſſed, which is firme and ſolide.
Fourthly, For that hee ſaith, That the name Sabbath is no more morall, and to bee retained in the Church, then the names Prieſt, Altar, and Sacrifice; wee will him to remember what elſewhere hee hath ſaid, viz. lMr. Ironſide queſt. 6. cap. 25. pag. 231.That there is a reſt which is eternall and morall to all dayes of publick and ſolemne worſhip; if ſo, the name Sabbath may bee eternall, and reach as farre as the thing it ſelfe.
And whereas hee ſaith, That reſt, to the Jewes, was an eſſentiall dutie, (i. e.) of it ſelfe, and in its owne nature, without reference or publick worſhip, which hee denyeth to the Chriſtians weekly holiday: I anſwer, That the queſtion is not here, whether the Jewes were more reſtrained from labour then the Chriſtians; but whether there be not ſo much reſt required now, both in reſpect of publick duties, and of private, (which require alſo ceſſation from outward workes) as that our Sunday or Lords day hath thereby a better title to the name Sabbath, then Saturday hath, which hath been long agoe depoſed from the dignity of an holiday, and made an ordinary workeday.
Laſtly, For the names Prieſt, Altar, and Sacrifice, I perſwade my ſelfe he will not deny the name Prieſt, ſince hee tooke orders under that name, and doth under that name officiate according to the Liturgie of the Church of England, which hee will not ſay is rather Jewiſh then Chriſtian, Legall then Evangelicall: and for the words Altar and Sacrifice, I remit him (if hee doubt of them) to bee reſolved by the late Treatiſes, wherein both the Names and Things are buſily diſcuſſed: onelyonly I will ſay (by way of anſwer to his compariſon) that ſince wee have a literall Rest of a weekly recourſe, and not literall Altars and Sacrifices, the name Sabbath thus may bee retained under the Goſpel, though the names Prieſt, Altar, and Sacrifice be aboliſhed.
But, ſaith mM. Ironſide queſt. 3. cap. 13. pag. 125.Mr. Ironſide, the day is to be named not from the nature of things done; but from the quality of the perſon to whom they are intended; and therefore not Sabbath, but Lords day.
I anſwer, The Antecedent is ſubject to exception many wayes.
Firſt, The chiefe holidayes in the old Teſtament were nominated from the things done, and not from the quality of the perſon to whom they were intended; as the Paſſeover from the Angels paſſing over the houſes of the Iſraelites in Egypt, without hurt: Exod. 12.25.the feaſt of Trumpets from the ſolemne ſounding of Trumpets at it: Levit. 23.Levit. 23. Deut. 16.the feaſt of Tabernacles from the tents and boothes wherein the people lived in the Deſart: and (which more punctually meets with this objection) their weekly holiday had its name, not from him to whom it is dedicated; but from Reſt, the duty of the day enjoyned.
Secondly, In the Chriſtian Church, his rule of denomination doth not hold, for wee call one holiday dedicated to Chriſt by his Birth, another by his Circumciſion, another by his Aſcenſion, (which are the things done on the day) not by his name onelyonly to whom they were dedicated.
If it bee ſaid, when wee ſpeake of the Nativitie, we underſtand the Birth of the Lord, and ſo alſo the Circumciſion of the Lord, and the Aſcenſion of the Lord; I grant wee doe ſo, and ſo when wee ſay the Sabbath, wee may meane (as in the Commandement is expreſſed, the Sabbath of the Lord, or to the Lord.
Thirdly, That the names of dayes ſhould not bee taken from the quality of the perſon onelyonly, to whom they are intended, is plaine by the feaſt of Pentecoſt, ſo called from the number of the dayes betwixt it and Eaſter: and the name of the Lords day called from its order (by the Evangeliſts, and the Apoſtle Paul) the firſt day of the weeke; and by the Ancients the day of light, from illumination at the Sacrament of Paptiſme; and the day of Bread, from the Sacrament of the Lords Supper adminiſtred every Lords day, as nMr. Ironſide, queſt. 3. cap. 13. p. 124, 125.Mr. Ironſide himſelfe hath obſerved.
Fourthly, If the names of holidayes ſhould be taken from the quality of the perſon to whom they are intended, as becauſe our weekly holiday is intended to the honour of the Lord, it muſt be called the Lords day; then all the holidayes which are named by the Saints, ſhould have their names from their Lord: for, though the portions of Scripture read on them concerne their lives and deaths, the honour and ſervice of the day is directed and intended not to them, but to the Lord; yea, all holidayes of both Teſtaments are dayes dedicated to his honour; by that reaſon then all muſt bee called the Lords dayes: and ſo names that ſhould bee given for diſtinction, would turne to confuſion. Thus much for the firſt Reaſon for the name Sabbath, as applyed to the Lords day, or Sunday; which were more then enough, if there had not beene much more then there was need and cauſe objected againſt it; but the reſt we ſhall contract into a narrower compaſſe.
The ſecond Reaſon why our weekly holiday may be called Sabbath day, is this: Reaſ. 2 It is confeſſed by all (that are not branded with the note of hereſie) that there are ten Commandements to us Chriſtians, as well as to the lewes; and that the fourth Commandement is one of the ten, and requireth at leaſt the aſſigning, or ſetting apart of ſome time to religious reſt; and that by vertue of theſe words, Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy: that time then which the Church keepeth (as in obedience to that part of the Commandement expreſſed in the letter of the law by the name Sabbath) may, or rather muſt be called by that name. By that word Sabbath, in that Commandement, as oB…. Andr. his Serm. de Natic. pag. 37.Biſhop Andrewes ſaid of the words [which ſhall bee] wee hold; and though wee ſay not (as hee farther addeth) it is our beſt tenure, yet a tenure it is, which wee muſt not let goe, but wee muſt, as hee ſaid of the word [ pIdem. In his ſecond Serm. of the Nativ. pag. 15.nobis] make much of it, for thereby our tenure and intereſt groweth up to a further degree of aſſurance and evidence.
Thirdly, Reaſ. 3 qB. Hall, dec. of Ep. 6. epiſt. 2. p. 384.Biſhop Hall ſaith, The ſonne of righteouſneſſe riſing upon that day (called the Lords day) drew the ſtrength of that mor all Precept unto it: for all the vertue and vigour of it is vaniſh'd from the Jewes Sabbath, ſo that it remaineth a meere working day; and if ſo, the title of Reſt ſurely did not ſtay behinde it, but with the ſtrength was transferred to the day for which it was changed.
Fourthly, Reaſ. 4 It is enough to gaine a title from one thing to another, to poſſeſſe the place as Succeſſor upon the deceaſe, and in ſtead of another; as the Chriſtians Lords day by the ordinance of the Lord himſelfe, as rforeign. Athanaſius de Semente, Tom. 1. pag. 835. Edit. Graeco-lat. Commelian. Ann. c 10.10 c.Athanaſius ſaith, ſucceeded the Jewiſh Sabbath, whoſe name it may have (in that reſpect) if there were none other reaſon of more weight.
Here it will haply bee objected, that ſo one might call Baptiſme by the name of Circumciſion, and the Lords Supper by the name of the Paſſeover (for theſe two Sacraments of the new Teſtament ſucceeded thoſe two of the old) which were to bring in a confuſion of termes and times, and ſo in part to incurre the ſcorne which the fBiſh. of Elie his examinat. of the Dialogue. pag. 85.Biſhop of Elie putteth upon his Dialogiſt, for his Argument drawn from the ſucceſſion of the one day to the other.
I anſwer; Howſoever the Argument of the Dialogiſt ſucceed (which wee have nothing to doe withall at this time) wee ſhall eaſily ſhake off this ſlight exception, thus:
Firſt, Wee doe not aſcribe the proper name of the old Sabbath to the Lords day (for wee doe not ſay Saturday is Sunday, or the Lords day) but that name which is common to them both, and wherein the one by a reall right and congruity of ſenſe ſucceedeth the other, and that is the name Sabbath, ſignifying Rest, which belongeth to them both; and that is not, as if one ſhould call Baptiſme Circumciſion, or the Lords Supper the Paſſeover; but as if wee ſhould call them Sacraments and Seales of the Covenant, in which reſpect the later have both the authority and appellation of the former.
Or, as if one ſhould ſay, Doctor White ſucceeded Doctor Buckeridge, Biſhop of Elie, therefore hee hath the Title and Authoritie of the Biſhop of Elie, though hee bee not called by his Predeceſſors Chriſtian, or ſurname in particular; hee ſaith indeede, tExaminat, of the Dialogue, p. 63, 69. marg.That the fourth Commandement appointed a particular fixed day, to wit, Saturday; but if that were true, (which I deny) hee cannot ſay the word Saturday is named there; and if it were, wee would not take that, but the name Sabbath for the true title of the Lords day, againſt which no juſt exception hath yet beene taken, nor in truth can bee.
And for a ſecond Anſwer (which, in regard of the ground of it, it will not become a Biſhop to ſlight) wee may ſay, That upon a ſubſtitution of one thing in the roome of another, it is not unuſuall (in our Church) to aſſigne the name, as well as the place, to that which is ſubſtituted: for a parcell of Scripture is called by our Church the Epiſtle, though it bee not taken out of thoſe writings which are properly ſo called… but out of ſome booke of *Propheſ. Iſa. ch. 7. ver. 10. On the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary. 40. v. 1. On Saint John Baptiſts day. 63. v. 1. On Munday in Paſsion week. Jer. c. 23. ver. 5. On the twenty fifth Sunday after Trinity. Joel c. 2. v. 12. The firſt day in Lent.Propheſie, or ″Hiſt. Acts ch. 1. ver. 1. On Aſcenſion day. ver. 15. On Saint Matthias day. 2. v. 1. On whitſunday. 5. v. 12. On Saint Bartholomewes day. 7. v. 55. On Saint Stevens day. 8. v. 14. On Tueſday in Whitſun week. 9. ver. 1. On the Converſ. of S. Paul. 10. v. 34. On Munday in Eaſter week. On Mund. in Whitſun week. 11. ver. 22. On Saint Barnabies day. ver. 27. On Saint James his day. 12. ver. 1. On Saint Peters day. 13. v. 26. On Tueſday in Eaſter week.Hiſtorie, as in the Service of divers Sundayes and Holidayes in the yeer, according to the Catalogue in the margine; becauſe it is read in the place, and ſtandeth in ſtead of the Epiſtle.
And thus uM. Brab. Deſence p. 600.601.Maſter Braburne will allow the Lords day, not onelyonly the name, but the honour of a Sabbath, viz. as in the roome of the old Sabbath, for a time, and for its ſake.
Fifthly, Reaſ. 5 wee have already ſhewed (out of Chryſoſtome of old, and Joſ. Scaliger of late) that the other holidays of the Jewes, which were not weekely, are called Sabbaths; and *Doctor Hevl. Hiſt. Sab. part. 1. c. 5. pag. 87, 88.Doctor Heylin, xM. Brab. Diſcourſe p. 81, 82.Maſter Braburne, and yMaſter Ironſide queil. 3. cap. 13. pag. 123.Maſter Ironſide acknowledge no leſſe: and if they (when the ſeventh dayes Sabbath was yet in force and uſe) might be called by that name; much more may the Lords day now, which is a weekly day of reſt, as the old Sabbath was, but now is not; ſo that there is nothing in it, much leſſe in any other day of the week, that may give it a better right to the title Sabbath, then the Lords day hath.
Sixthly, Reaſon 6 zThere is a Sabbath or reſt from ſinne, D. Heyl. Hiſt. of the Sab. part. 2. c. 5. pag. 157.Doctor Heylin alloweth the name Sabbath, to bee given to ceſſation from ſinne; why then not rather to reſt from labour? Since this is literall and proper, (as the law of the Sabbath requireth,) that metaphoricall and ſigurative: and the right of appellation goeth rather by the letter then by the figure, as aBiſh. Andr. 3. Serm. of the Nat. p. 64.Biſhop Andrewes (obſerving of the world [day] taken ſometime figuratively, for the whole time of mans life, and ſometimes properly and literally, as in our ordinary ſpeech, for the ſeventh part of the weeke) maketh his choice of the ſenſe which conſenteth with the letter, and leaveth the figure.
Adde hereunto a further latitude of the word Sabbath, (allowed by bMr. Broad in his 3d. queſt p. 5.Maſter Broad) and therewithall a greater liberty for the uſe of it to Chriſtians, which is, That the Kingdome of heaven and the Sabbath have one common name; and yet, ſaith hee, the difference betwixt them is as much, as betwixt the ſacrifices of beaſts by the law, and the ſacrifice of Chriſt in the Goſpel: and if the difference bee leſſe betwixt day and day, reſt and reſt, in obſervation of Jewiſh and Chriſtians holidayes (which cannot reaſonably be denyed) the ſame name may bee attributed to their holiday and to ours, eſpecially by turnes; to theirs while it was in force, to ours ſince (that being put downe) it hath obtained the honour of the day.
Seventhly, Reaſ. 7 Doctor Heylin againe (notwithſtanding his exceptions both againſt the name, and thing it ſelfe noted by the name) takes the name Sabbath to bee an honour; where hee ſaith, that the new Moones were not honoured with that title in the booke of God: conceiving belike, as cM. Brah. deſ. of his diſiourſe. pag. 53.Maſter Braburn ſaid, that the name was a crown on the head, rather then, as dD. Pockl. Viſit. Serm. p. 20.Doctor Pocklington held, a deformed vizzard on the face. And if the Lords day have gotten the honour of the Jewes Feſtivity (as indeed it hath) ſince that was put down, and this ſet up in its ſtead, that name as well agreeing with the precedent proofes, may be the more fitly attributed to it.
Eightly, eM. Dowe in his Diſcourſe of the Sabbath, and Lords day, pag. 41.Maſter Dowe obſerveth (though by way of complaint, for which there is no great cauſe) that the day we celebrate is vulgarly called and known by the name of the Sabbath: the like hath fMr. Brab. def. p. 626.Maſter Braburne, Doe not they, ſaith hee, uſually call Sunday, or Lords day, the Sabbath? And if it bee vulgarly knowne and called by that name, the rule is, Wee muſt ſpeake with the vulgar, and think with the wiſe. Maſter Ironſide, by way of exception to this (vertually I meane, not expreſſely, for hee maketh no mention of the rule) ſaith, gMr. Ironſide queſt. 3. cap. 13. pag. 126.Who ſpeaks moſt religiouſly, the Apoſtles, and the whole Church, or ſome few private perſons of late yeeres, is eaſie to determine: wherein hee implyeth, that the firſt, and beſt, and moſt Chriſtians forbeare the name Sabbath, and uſe rather the word Lords day; therefore the name Sabbath muſt ceaſe, as ſavouring both of novelty and ſchiſme.
Whereto I anſwer, for the preſent, that all the foure Evangeliſts note the day wee celebrate by the name of the firſt day of the weeke, and onelyonly one of them, viz. S. John, and that but once, viz. Rev. 1.10. calleth it the Lords day: yet without any imputation of novelty or ſchiſme, which we ſhall more cleerly & fully take off and avoid (for the denomination of the L. day by the name of the Sab.) in the enſuing Chapters.