Sunday a Sabbath, Chapter 6
CHAP. VI. Of the name Sunday: Whether wee may call our weekly holiday by that name. Objections againſt the uſe of the name Sunday for our weekly holiday.
THe next name of note which is ſtuck at, is the name Sunday; whereof ſome make ſcruple, as if it had in it (as wee uſe it) an unſavoury ſmack of heatheniſh ſuperſtition: and ſome againe (as if therein they bewrayed a ſpice of Puritan preciſeneſſe) flout at them, as for negative nicety in their forbearance of it, as one (who was in his time a man of eminent mark) in a pleaſant Poëm, which hee calleth Iter Boreale, ſpeaking of the Profeſſors of N. a Towne where hee lodged in his Northern journey from Oxford, among other particulars (at which hee ſcoffed, as ſavouring of too much preciſeneſſe) bringeth in this for one: aProque die Sabb. ſcelus eſt ibi dicere Sunday. Dr. Eades in his …er Boreale.That to call the Sabbath by the name of Sunday, they account a crime.
But againſt that name, ſome in ſober ſadneſſe have framed this Argument; Idolatrous names are not to bee uſed; But the name Sunday is an idolatrous name; Therefore the name Sunday is not to bee uſed.
To the major Propoſition there is ſome conſonant ſound both in the Scripture, and in the ſayings of Ancient and late Writers, both Proteſtants and Papiſts, which wee muſt firſt alledge, that wee may the better judge of the liberty of our lips for the uſe of that name.
Firſt, For Scripture, the proofe produced by bDr. Bound on the Sab. part. 1. p. 116.Dr. Bound (as moſt pertinent to oppoſe Idolatrous names, in particular, the name Sunday, and to depoſe it from the dignity it hath, in being taken into titular aſſociation with the Lords day) is Exod. 23.13. In all things that I have ſaid bee circumſpect, and make no mention of the names of other gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth: To which may be added the like prohibition, Joſ. 23.7. Neither make mention of the name of their gods; nor cauſe to ſweare by them: and that which goeth farther, Deut. 12.3. where God commandeth not onelyonly abſtinence from them, but an abolition of them, as was done by the children of Reuben, Num. 32.38. The children of Reuben built (with other Cities) Nebo and Baal, and their names being changed, they gave other names unto the Cities which they builded, for Nebo and Baal were the names of Idols; of Nebo wee read Iſa. 46.1. upon which, the note of Doway Bibles is, that, It was otherwiſe called Dagon, the Idol of the Philiſtines, mentioned 1 Sam. 5.2. and of Baal wee read, Judg. 6.30, 31. and in divers other places: and becauſe it lay not altogether in the power of men, as to leave out their names, ſo to put out their memory; God promiſeth to put to his helping hand for their ſuppreſſion, I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they ſhall no more remember their names, Hoſ. 2.17. and, I will deſtroy the names of Idols out of the earth, ſaith he, Zech. 13.2.
Anſwerably hereunto, we ſhould not only forbear the names of Idols, as David profeſſeth he will doe, Pſal. 16.5. but, ſo farre as lyeth in our power, utterly abandon and aboliſh them. All this, as well as that in Exod. 23.13. may be urged againſt the name Sunday; though all this and more may be well anſwered: but yet the objection is not at the ſtrongeſt, it muſt be further fortified by adding the Teſtimony of the Ancients to the Authority of the Scripture.
Secondly then for the ancient Fathers, The moſt learned and religious of them have expreſſed their diſlike of Idolatrous names; cAbſit ab ore Chriſtiano ſonet Jupiter omnipotens, & Mebercule, & Mecaſter, & caetera, magis portenta quam nomina. Hier. Epiſt. de filio prodigo & frugi ad Damaſ. tom. 3. p. 231.Farre bee it from any Chriſtians mouth, ſaith Saint Hierome, to take up the titles of Jupiter omnipotent, or to ſay, Mehercule, or Mecaſter, or other ſuch words; which are rather prodigies, then appellations. And dDiſplicit mihi, quòd Muſas quaſi Deas (quamvis jocando) commemorarim. Auguſt. retract. lib. 1. cap. 3.S. Auguſtine cenſured himſelfe for having named the Muſes Goddeſſes, though but in jeſt. And (which cometh home to the point wee have in hand) having mentioned the Pagan names of divers dayes in the week, as of Munday, Tueſday, Wedneſday, &c. uſed by ſome Chriſtians, as well as by Pagans, eSecunda Sab. ſecunda feria, quam ſeculares diem Lunae vocant; tertia Sabbat. tertia feria, quam diem illi Martis vocant; quarta Sabbatorum quarta ſeria, qui Mercurii dies dicitur à Paganis, & à muitis Chriſtianis; ſed noluimus ut dicant, atque utinam corrigantur, ut non dicant. Auguſt. enarrat. in Pſal. 93. tom. 8. part. 2. pag. 181.he ſaith (as to the Chriſtians) I would not have them ſo to doe; and I would to God that errour were corrected in them. fMelius e…gò de ore Chriſtiano ritus loquēdi Eccleſiaſticus procedit. Aug. Ibid.It were better, ſaith hee, that Chriſtians ſhould ſpeake in the phraſe and ſtile of the Church, which noteth them by other names. And, that this may ſeeme no uncanonicall nicetie of theirs, there may be quoted for it, a Canon of the firſt Councell of Nice gNe fideles imponant nomina Gentilium ſuis filiis, ſed iis inter baptizandum, nomina Chriſtianorum indant. Concil. Nicen. Can. 30. Alph. Piſan. Edit. Can. Concil. Nicen. lib. 3. Can. 30. tom. 1. Concil. p. 355. Edit. Bin. 1606. & apud Caranz. Summa Concil. fol. 632.; where (for feare of giving countenance to Idolatry by names) the faithfull are forbidden to impoſe heathen names upon their children in Baptiſme, and preſcribed to put upon them onelyonly Chriſtian names.
Thirdly, For Proteſtants, hBiſh. Pilking. in Hag. c. 1. v. 1.Biſhop Pilkington miſliketh the heatheniſh names of the moneths and dayes, ſuſpecting great danger in the uſe of them, though there ſeeme matter of ſmall moment in them; whoſe cenſure is cited, (as alſo that of iBeroald. Chro. lib. 1. c. 4.Beroaldus, touching the ſubtilty of Satan in putting Pagan names in ſtead of Chriſtian names upon the dayes of the week) and approved by kD. Bound of the Sab. part. 1. pag. 112, 113.Doctor Bound, in his firſt part of his Book of the Sabbath.
Fourthly, For Papiſts; though they deteſt not Idolatry ſo much as they ſhould doe, yet againſt the Idolatrous names of dayes they are very zealous, as wee may well perceive by their ſayings, which wee ſhall have occaſion preſently to cite in the proofe of the minor Propoſition, which is this [But the name Sunday is an Idolatrous name.]
Of the dayes of the weeke wee have ſhewed the conceit of S. Auguſtine already, which may be applyed to Sunday as well as to the reſt: For the Sunne was made an Idol by the Gentiles, as is notorious to all the world; and (which cometh neerer unto us) the Saxons (our Predeceſſors in this Kingdome) did adore it in this figure, It was made (as lVerſtegan. Reſtitut. of decayed Intellig. cap. 3. p. 68, 69.Verſtegan giveth the deſcription of it both by ſcheme and gloſſe) like an halfe naked man, ſet upon a pillar, his face as it were brightned with gleames, and holding (with both his armes ſtretched out) a burning wheele before his breaſt; the wheele being to ſignifie the courſe which hee runneth round about the world, and the fiery gleames and brightneſſe, the light and heat wherewith hee warmeth and comforteth the things that grow: This Idol thus figured, was placed in the Temple, and there adored and ſacrificed unto, for that they beleeved, that the Sun in the firmament did with, or in this Idol correſpond and co-operate.
And, as the Chriſtians (for keeping holy that day which the Pagans dedicated to the Sunne, and for directing their worſhip toward the Eaſt) were ſuſpected by them in that reſpeſt to bee of the ſame Religion with them (which gave mSi diem Solis laetitiae indulgemus, aliâ longè ratione quàm religione Solis, &c. Tertull. Apol. cap. 16. tom. 2. pag. 632.Tertullian occaſion to cleer himſelfe and his fellow Chriſtians from it, by obſerving the difference betwixt themſelves and thoſe ſunburnt Idolaters, who did indeed adore it as their god, which they did not;) ſo by the retaining of idolatrous names of dayes, it is conceived by divers (as in part wee have ſhewed) that ſome ſpice of that ſuperſtition is like to bee retained, with no little prejudice to true Religion, by keeping better names out of ordinarie uſe.
The Divell, ſaith nD. Bound on the Sab. part. 1. pag. 13.Doctor Bound, cauſed the Mathematicians to call the firſt day of the weeke Sunday, leſt that any ignorant man hearing the name of the Lords day, ſhould inquire what that Lord was of whom the day was ſo called. The oRhem. Teſt. cap. 1. ver. 10.Rhemiſts diſlike it in part for the ſame reaſon: The name Sunday, ſay they, is an heatheniſh calling, as well as all other of the week dayes bee in our language, ſome impoſed after the names of certaine Idols (which the Saxons worſhipped) and to which they dedicated the dayes before they were Chriſtians: which have ſo long continued, that pProfectò pudendum eſt, ſimulque dolendum, quòd non antehac data ſint iſtis diebus Chriſtiana nomina, ne dii gentium (inter nos) tam memorabile monumentum haberent. Polydor. Virg. de Invent. rer. lib. 6. cap. 5. pag. 367.Polydore Virgil complaineth of it, as matter of ſorrow and ſhame to the Chriſtian world, that the dayes of the weeke have not hitherto been called by Chriſtian, but by heathen names; whereby the Gentile gods have had too honourable a memoriall among us. To which opinion qDoctor Fulkes anſwer to the Rhem. Teſt. Rev. 1. verſ. 10. propè ſinem, Sect. 6. The like diſlike is ſhewed by that other induſtrious Writer of our Church, Doctor Willet. Synopſ. controverſ. queſt. 8. part. 2. err. 72. p.Dr. Fulke inclineth, where he ſaith, That the name of Sunday, and the reſt of the dayes were of heatheniſh beginning; and therefore were better to be left off.
Here are then againſt thoſe names ſeverall ſorts of Teſtimonies, divine and humane, and theſe both ancient and of later time, Proteſtants and Papiſts; and in theſe Teſtimonies are included ſundry reaſons againſt the name Sunday, eſpecially theſe:
Firſt, That it is of heatheniſh beginning.
Secondly, That it hardneth men in Idolatry, and hindreth the progreſſe of true Chriſtianity.
Thirdly, That it may bring thoſe that uſe it into ſuſpicion of heatheniſh ſuperſtition.
The Concluſion or Inference from theſe Premiſes, will bee the forbearance of theſe names, as rD. Fulke his anſwer to the Rhem. Teſt. in Rev. 1.10. S. 6.Dr. Fulke would have it, and the obſervation of ſome ſuch Decree as is ſaid to bee made by the Pope Silveſter the firſt, at the requeſt of the Emperour Conſtantine, which in fDurand. rational. l. 7. f. 426. pag. 1.Durandus, tPolid. Virg. de Invent. rer. l. 6. c. 5. p. 366.Polidore, and uRhem. in Luk. 24.1. ex Brev. Rom. Decem. 31. and in Rev. 1.10. Sect. 6.others, wee finde to bee brought in thus; Pope Silveſter, abhorring the Idolatrous appellation of daies, and having a minde to reforme it, was yet loath to imitate the nomenclature of the Jewes, who reckoned the weeke thus, the firſt of the Sabbath, the ſecond of the Sabbath, &c. I ſay, the firſt of the Sabbath, not the firſt after the Sabbath, as the xRhem. in Luk. 24. ver. 1.Rhemiſts expound it; for in the Jewiſh computation, the Sabbath day was the laſt day of the ſeven, and ſo the accompliſhment of the whole weeke; wherefore the word Sabbath is ſometimes taken, not for a day, but for a weeke, as Luk. 18.12. & chap. 24.1. as our beſt Engliſh Tranſlators render it; and the accompt being made with ſuch particular mention of the Sabbath every day, it might bee a meanes daily to keepe in minde the memento of the fourth Commandement, that all profanation of the day by provident forecaſt of ſecular affaires might be prevented; and that other dayes of the week wearing as it were the Sabbaths livery, they might bee ſo regulated with reference unto it, that there might bee none occaſion to make inchroachments upon it.
Notwithſtanding this, that Pope having no liking of the Jewiſh reckoning (though with this intimation it did not deſerve to be diſliked), nor yet of the Gentiles, who count Sunday, Munday, &c. gave them this numerall denomination, calling the firſt day of the weeke, prima feria, or the Dominicall day: the ſecond ſecunda feria, and ſo to the ſixth, naming the laſt of the ſeven by the old name Sabbath.
This is the moſt and worſt that can be ſaid againſt the uſuall appellation of the dayes, eſpecially againſt the name Sunday, which is the chiefe in acceptation with ſome, and in exception with others. Notwithſtanding, I conceive, that in our times, and in our Church, the name Sunday is not ſo to be cenſured or ſhunned, as by ſome it hath been; and this will appeare, chiefely by clearing it from ſuch objections as are made againſt it, which now wee ſhall offer to the judgement of the indifferent Reader.