Sunday a Sabbath, Chapter 16
CHAP. XVI. Of ſuch as are adverſaries to the name Sabbath (as put for Sunday) ſometimes aſſenting thereunto, and uſing the name in that ſenſe, or yeelding that which doth inferre it.
AS firſt, Maſter Braburne in his diſcourſe to this Objection (the name Sabbath ſignifieth Reſt: Now on the Lords day we Reſt; therefore wee may call it Sabbath day) anſwereth, aM. Brab. diſcourſe. p. 81.'Tis true, the Sabbath ſignifieth Reſt, and ſo the Lords day might bee called Sabbath day; but yet in no other ſenſe then every common Holiday, wherein we worke not, may bee called Sabbath day, that is, Reſting day.
We take his conceſſion, for the Lords day to be called Sabbath; but not his compariſon: for, as much as that hath more right to the name, which hath a weekly recourſe of Reſt, then that which cometh but once a yeare; which himſelfe doth in effect acknowledge, when he ſo ″In his Defence p. 276, 277, 481.often mentioneth the Lords day Sabbath, as out of a kind of neceſſity to expreſſe his owne conceptions: otherwiſe (to uſe his owne bM Brab. Defenſ p. 50.phraſe) hee would not ſo often have taken the crowne off his King Saturnes head, and ſet it upon that day, which (in his conceipt) is but a common Subject.
2. Doctor Heylin (notwithſtanding what wee have before obſerved of him) appeareth ſometimes indifferently diſpoſed to give to the Lords day the name of Sabbath, as cDoct. H…yl. hiſt. Sab. part. 2. c. 6 pag. 182.where he ſaith, By the Doctrine of the Helvetian Churches (if I conceive their meaning rightly) every particular Church may deſtinate what day they pleaſe to religious meetings, and every day may bee a Lords day, or a Sabbath. If we were to judge of his opinion, by this place, we could not tell which word hee liked better, Sabbath, or Lords day, hee ſheweth himſelfe ſo equally affected to them both, ſeeming to bee the ſame man, and of the ſame mind with him, who in another booke wrote thus: dPet. Heylin. Geogr. p. 702.I dare not ſo farre put my ſickle into this harveſt, as to limit out the extent of Sabbath keeping, which, commanding us to doe no manner of worke, doth ſeeme to prohibit us to worke for our owne ſafeguard. Wherein hee ſheweth ſuch modeſty in himſelfe, and ſuch equity, both to the word and to the thing (which is ſignified by it) as if hee had obſerved the ſame throughout his booke of the Hiſtory of the Sabbath, it had neither been ſo bad, nor ſo bigge as we ſee it is.
3. Maſter eMr. Primroſe. part. 1. ch. 13. pa…. 73. See alſo part. 4. p. 302, 304, 305. to the ſame purpoſe.Primroſe (though otherwiſe neither fondly nor friendly affected to the Chriſtian Sabbath) is ſometimes ſo facile and liberall in his allowance of the uſe of the name Sabbath, in the time and ſtate of the Chriſtian Church, as to allow Chriſtians liberty to keep every day holy, and to ſay, that all daies under the Goſpel ſhould be as ſo many Sabbaths; all the dayes of the weeke, and the whole yeare, ſhould bee as Sabbaths unto them. If ſo the Sunday may be a Sabbath, much more for the reaſons and authority fore-alledged; and if it have more of the thing, it hath more right to the name.
Maſter fMr. Ironſide. queſt. 3. c. 13. p. 123.Ironſide alſo (though he diſpute againſt the title Sabbath, as to our Chriſtian Holiday) ingenuouſly confeſſeth, that the name Sabbath is lawfull, and may be alſo uſed by ſuch as have their wits well exerciſed in Scripture, if without ſuperſtition, fraud, or ſcandall. gMr Ironſide. quaeſt. 2. cap. 9. pag. 96, 97.And that God muſt have his rest, and appointed Sabbaths; which is the eſſence, life, and ſpirit of that Commandement, and for ever morall. And if the thing Sabbath be morall and perpetuall, and the effence, life, and ſpirit of the Law (as hee ſaith,) can any one deny the title Sabbath? Maſter Ironſide cannot well doe it, who affirmeth this, and that by the expreſſe title of the Sabbath. And of the Friday (made a weekly Holiday by Conſtantine) he faith, hM. Ironſide. conciuſ. of his queſt. cap. 31. pag. 293.that he made it a Sabbath.
Object. But when hee ſaith, that the Lords day is Sabbath, he meaneth not that it is properly ſo called; but analogically, and in its proportion. To which I anſwer,
1. That when men call the Lords day Sabbath, there is no need to adde, either properly, or improperly, or analogically; therefore (for ordinary ſpeech) it is no exception againſt the uſe of the word. It is familiar with many to call the Lords Table, Altar, though it be not properly an Altar, but analogically: and yet he will not ſay, they are bound to bring in this diſtinction when they mention it, and to ſay, it is an analogicall Altar; and when Chriſt is called the Lambe of God, the Lion of the Tribe of Juda, hee is not properly, but analogically a Lamb, or a Lion: yet he is commonly ſo called, without adding either part of the diſtinction of properly, or analogically.
2. But the Lords day may bee called Sabbath properly, becauſe (as it is an Holiday) it is a day of Reſt, properly ſo taken a day of weekly Reſt, as the old Sabbath was. And even in Doctor Pocklingtons Se… mon (though we ſhould not much accompt of his Teſtimony, but where it is againſt himſelfe) there is ſomething (albeit hee meant it not) which makes for the title Sabbath, to belong to the Lords day, viz. this, iDoct. Pockl. Viſitat. Serm. p. 19. Cujus vis ſoluta, nec nomen haerebit. Ambr. ſo cited by Doct. Pockl. Ibid.When the Sabbath loſt its force, it forfeited its name (ſaith hee out of Saint Ambroſe) and therefore ought not ſo to be called; and ſo, having loſt both force and name, is become nothing at all but a meere Idoll: The Saturday then, which was the day of Reſt unto the Jewes, is now no Sabbath, nor muſt be ſo called; which by the way is contradictory to that kWith us the Sabbath is Saturday, and no day elſe. Doct. Pockl. Serm. pag. 21.which hee ſaith elſewhere: for, if it have forfeited its name; forfeiture is not an annihilation, but an alienation of a right from one to another: and if that bee ſo, let any body judge what day hath moſt right to that forfeiture. Can any other day of the week put in for an intereſt in it, before the Lords day, or Sunday? If the Lord of the Sabbath may be Judge, he will give no ſentence ſurely for any day againſt his owne.