Sunday a Sabbath, Chapter 8
CHAP. VIII. Of the name Sabbath: And firſt of the writing Sabboth, Sabaoth, and Sabbath, which of them is the right: And by occaſion thereof ſome obſervations of skill, and ignorance of the originall Tongues.
THere is difference, though not much controverſie (for it goeth rather by a diverſe practice, then by an adverſe poſition) about the writing of the word, more about the etymologie, but moſt (and that which is of moſt moment in the preſent ſubject) concerning the uſe of it, whether the Chriſtians weekly holiday or Lords day may bee fitly called by that name.
For the firſt, Some write Sabbath, which is the right; ſome Sabboth, and ſome Sabaoth; aM. Minſh. Guide of the Tongues. p. 638.Maſter Minſhaw in his Guide of the Tongues hath them all. In Maſter Brerewood his firſt Treatiſe, the title of the firſt edition was, A learned Treatiſe of the Sabaoth, and that word ſo written runneth on throughout the whole Book: Whereupon bM. R. Byf. pag. 1.Maſter R. Byfield (in the Preface of his Anſwer to it) ſaith, What the Treatiſe affords ſhall bee ſeene anon, God willing; that title ſavours of little learning, wherein for Sabbath is written Sabaoth, which ſignifieth hoaſts, as in Iſa. 1.9. And a little after, ſaith hee, I would have imputed this to the Printers overſight, if either the Errata had mentioned it, or the whole Booke in any one place had given the true Orthography. Wherein (though in many differences about the Sabbath) I ſhall (and I hope, upon juſt grounds) diſſent from Maſter Brerewood; yet I ſhall bee ready to doe him all right, and to quit him from all ſuch cauſeleſſe exceptions as come in my way, as this doth; and ſo I anſwer,
Firſt, That if the title of the Booke did bewray ſome ignorance of the Hebrew in the Authour; yet might hee bee a very learned man, and his Booke like himſelfe, a very learned Book for all that: for a man may bee very learned, and yet bee unacquainted with the originall tongues; ſo were many of thoſe Divines, who have had, and ſtill have the honour to bee ſtiled the Fathers of the Church, and yet have beene noted (for cWe have (over and above the benefit of all their works (i.e.) of the Fathers) much skilfulneſſe in the originall of the old Teſtament, which moſt of them wanted, and of the new alſo, wherewith ſome were but little acquainted. Mr. Downe 2d. part of his works. p. 220.the moſt part of them) to be unskilfull in the originall text of the old Teſtament, and divers of them alſo of the new.
And to inſtance in particulars, for the Latines, S. Auguſtine with his one tongue is ſet in compariſon, and preferred by dNon ideo quiſquam verè ſapiens quia Graecus ſit vel Hebraeus, quare & beatus Hieron. quinque linguis monogloſſam Auguſtinum non adaequavit, Luther To. 1. Ep. fol. 54. Epiſt. ad Jo…. Lang.Luther, before Hierome with his five tongues, and though Eraſmus, ſomewhat netled with the cenſure of Eckius, (who noted him for his eNihil eſt quod tibi deeſſe Eraſmici omnes conquerantur, niſi quod Aurel. Aug. non legeris. Eckius Epiſt. Eraſm. lib. 2. pag. 95.not reading of S. Auguſtine his works) in his Epiſtle to him, weigh and ſway the compariſon the contrary fEraſm. Epiſt. Eckio lib. 2. pag. 97, 98.way, giving the preheminence to S. Hierome; yet elſewhere bringing in the particular praiſes, not only of him, but of Athanaſius, Baſil, Cyprian, Hilary, Ambroſe, Gregory, gAt non arbitror alium eſſe Doctorem, in quem opulentus ille juxta ac benignus ſpiritus dotes ſuas omnes largius effuderit, quam in Auguſtinum: quaſi voluerit in una tabula vividum quoddam exemplum Epiſ…opi repreſentare. Eraſm. Epiſt. Archiep. Toled. praeſix. tom. 1. operum Aug. pag. 2.hee ſaith, Hee doth not thinke there is another Doctor into whom the Spirit hath powred out all his gifts in a more ample meaſure, then in Saint Auguſtine, as if hee meant in him (as in a Table) to repreſent the lively patterne of a Biſhop; and having ſtiled him an incomparable hIncomparabilis Eccleſiae D… ctor, invictus propugnator, quem tu non ſine cauſa ſic adamare prae caeteris, ſic in deliciis ſemper habere conſueviſti. Quid enim habet or bis Chriſtianus hoc Scriptore vel magis aureum, vel auguſtum, ut ipſa vocabula nequaquam fortuitò, ſed numinis Providentià videantur indita viro. I…. pag. 1.Doctor of the Church, and an unconquered Champion for the truth, and confeſſed that the Cardinall of Toledo (not without good cauſe) tooke delight in him before all others (alluding to his name, Aurelius, Auguſtinus, importing golden goodneſſe, and Imperiall greatneſſe) he asketh (as with admiration of him) What hath the whole Chriſtian world more golden, and more majeſticall then this Writer? theſe names ſurely, ſaith he, ſeem not by chance, but by eſpeciall Providence impoſed upon him.
Yet is this ſo great a Clerke, ſo accompliſh'd and admirable a Doctor noted (ſometimes by way of excuſe, ſometimes by way of exception) for ignorance in the Hebrew, and very little skill in the Greeke, by iNee Hebraicè ſciebat Auguſtinus, & Graecè minus quam mediocriter. Ludov. Viv. in Aug. de C. D. lib. 15. cap. 13. part. 2. pag. 133.Ludovicus Vives, kAuguſtinus vitioſam verſionem ſecutus, & quia Hebraeae linguae ignarus, minus culpandus quam hodierni Papiſtae. Polan. Syntag. Theol. lib. 1. cap. 42. col. 561.Polanus, lAuguſtinus dubitat Adam an Eva id dixerit? ſed gnarus linguae ſacrae videt foeminae verba [acquiſivi verum à Domino]. Pa…aeus in Gen. 4. col. 655. fine.Paraeus, and mAdeo Auguſtinum ex ſola ignorantia linguae Hebraeae eſſe deceptum, in voce Cephas. Bel. de Ro. Po. li. 1. cap. 10. p. 208. col. 2. So was S. Ambroſe deceived when he derived the Hebrew word foreign from the Greek word foreign ſignifying to ſuffer. Ambr. de myſt. Paſch. ch. 1. tom. 2. pag. 190.Bellarmine, and of Saint Hilary, though nDe Hilario nunc agimus, qui tum ob vitae ſanctimoniam, …m ob inſignem eruditionem, tum ob eloquentiam admirabilem, aevi ſic lumen ſuit. Eraſm. Ep. Johan. Carondeleto. Arch. ep. l. 28. pag. 1165.Eraſmus ſets him out (as a moſt illuſtrious light of his age) for holineſſe of life, learning, and eloquence; and brings in for an improvement of his praiſe, That oHieronymus qui pene contempſit Auguſtinum, nec ita multum tribuit Ambroſio toties tanta cum veneratione citat Hilarium, alibi vocans eum orbis Deucalionem, &c. Ibid. pag. 1168.Hierome, who almoſt contemned Saint Auguſtine, and did not attribute much to Saint Ambroſe, did admire him, calling him ſometimes the ″I doubt Eraſmus is miſtaken in this title, Deucalion of the world; for Hierom giveth this title to one Hilary, a Deacon of Rome, in contempt: for hee brings it in thus; Eſt praeterea aliud quod inferemus, adverſum quod ne muci…e quidem audeat, Helarius Deucalion orbis. Hieron. adverſ. Lucifer. propè finem. and hee calleth him ſo, becauſe he ſeparated from others, as if all the world but hee and his ſect were drowned in hereticall Baptiſme.Deucalion of the world, ſometime the Trumpet of the Latin tongue, ſometime the Rhodanus of Latin eloquence, noting withall, that Auguſtine would not cite him without a Preface of honour: yet after all this and more (which I forbeare to mention) hee ſaith of him, that pHebraei ſe…monis prorſus rudis fuit Hilar. Ibid. por…o Graecas literas tenniter attigerat ſe quidem Hier. credimus. Ibid. non admodum Graecè calluit. Eraſ. I…. p. 1169.hee was altogether ignorant of the Hebrew, and was but little acquainted with the Greeke.
If wee ſhould gradually draw downe all examples of this ſort from the Ancients to our owne times, wee ſhould make this occaſionall digreſſion too long, and ſo perhaps over-weary the Reader, who would not be too much taken up with impertinent paines, having made his recourſe hither for a Reſt, or Sabbatharie repoſe of his apprehenſion. I will therefore add but one Inſtance more of a man famous for his learning, and yet unlearned in the originall tongues of both Teſtaments, and it ſhall bee that of Cardinall Cajetane, of whom the judicious Writer of the Hiſtory of the Tridentine Councell, maketh this obſervation:
″Hiſt. Concil. Trident. lib. 2. pag. 155.Cardinall Cajetane, the Popes Legate in Germany, a man very well read in Divinity, having ſtudied it even from a childe, who, for the happineſſe of his wit, and for his laborious diligence, became the prime Divine of that, and many more ages, unto whom there was no Prelate or perſon in the Councell who would not yeeld in learning, or thought himſelfe too good to learne of him. This Cardinall, going Legate into Germany, Anno 1523. ſtudying exactly how thoſe that erred might bee reduced to the Church, found out the true Remedy, which was the literall meaning of the text of Scripture, expounding not the latine Tranſlation, but the Hebrew roots of the old, and the Greeke of the new Teſtament: In which tongues (having no knowledge himſelfe) hee imployed men of underſtanding, who made conſtruction of the text unto him word by word; as his workes upon the holy books do ſhew.
Nor was this, or the like note on the names of others any impeachment of the high Commendation given of him before: for mans knowledge was at the beſt when hee ſpake but one tongue; and untill it come to that againe, wee ſhall know but in part, underſtand but in part, 1 Cor. 13. and howſoever (ſince the confuſion of tongues) there have been more uſe of verball learning then before, and therefore the Apoſtles had the gift of qQuindecim linguarum dona tunc acceperunt Apoſtoli (quemadmodum Chryſoſtomus inquit) ad uſum eorum qui praeſentes erant: Quid enim opus fuiſſet linguâ Perſicâ, vel aliis, non praeſentibus iis qui uterentur. Glycas Annal. part. 3. pag. 315.fifteene tongues (fifteene and no more, as ſome affirme) conferred upon them, (for there was need of no more, ſay they rIbid., and they had not any that were not needfull) yet the knowledge of things is farre better then the knowledge of words, as ſMultò melior doctrina quam verba. Aug. de magiſt. tom. 1. pag. 793.Saint Auguſtine reſolveth; for words are but means to give intimation to and of the minde for reall notions: ſo that, if wee could intuitively know (as the Angels doe) without words, wee might know ſo much more and better, that words would be ſuperſluous; and ſo words are tOmne quod ad aliud eſt, vilius eſt quam id propter quod eſt. Ibid. pag. 792.inferiour to things, as the means is inferiour to the end.
And wee may well conceive variety of languages to bee now leſſe needfull, becauſe the community of the Latine tongue is a great part of the cure of the babling confuſion: beſides, a man may ſo much more abound in the knowledge of things, as to make amends with copia rerum, for want of copia verborum, in the multiplicity of tongues: for the uNacti peritiam Graecae linguae, patent fontes omnium d'ſciplinarum quae a Graecis manarunt, adeſt & cognitio maximorum ingeniorum, quorum ſuit ſemper Graecia feraciſſima. Lud. Viv. de Adoleſcent. Inſtit. pag. 549.Grecians (who were more learned then other nations, and the very fountains of liberall arts and ſciences, and among them, hee that is magnified for naturall knowledge above *The very firſt man that to any purpoſe knew the way wee ſpeake of, hath alone thereby performed more, very neere in all parts of naturall knowledge, then ſithence in any one part thereof, the whole world beſides hath done. So Mr. Hooker ſpeaking of Ariſtotle, in Eccleſ. Pol. lib. 1. pag. 13.all other men) had little acquaintance with any language but their owne, and therefore ſet out their learnedſt Workes in their owne tongue. The ignorance then of an Hebrew word ſhould carry no great prejudice againſt either the Book of the Sabbath, or the Authour that made it.
I ſpeake not this to diminiſh any part of the praiſe which may bee due to ſome learned men, who have excelled both in languages and other learning; nor to diſcourage any from being ſtudious of theſe ſacred tongues, by exact knowledge whereof ſome have done great and profitable ſervice to the Church; for ſo farre I am from allowing of the fancie of xGalen apud Petrum Gregor. Tholoſan. de rep. l. 15. c. 4. p. 1088Galen (who thought it a diſparagement to Alcibiades, that hee ſpake ſeverall languages, and reſolved it as beſt to make uſe but of one) that beſides my deſire to bee competently furniſhed with the knowledge of the originals of both Teſtaments, I have (ſo farre as my leaſure would give mee leave) beſtowed ſome time upon other tongues.
But if any have deſired to have better ſtore of things, then of words, (the ſhort and uncertaine life of man keeping him ſo farre below the omniſcience of both, that if hee abound in the one, hee muſt abate in the other) I thinke, his more ſolide and ſubſtantiall learning ſhould not bee undervalued for the defect of that wherein he that knoweth not much, may have that ignorance recompenced otherwiſe, and that with advantage, both for kinde and meaſure, as much as reall learning is better then verball, and a great deale of that better then a little of this.
And on the contrary, the knowledge of that language may bee had without any great ſtore of other learning beſides; for ySir Edwin Sands Relat. of Relig. of the Weſt Church. p. 222.little children of three yeers old are ſet to learne Hebrew among the Jewes, (as Sir Edwin Sands hath obſerved in his Relation of Religion): and if the fundamentall rules of it may be attained in foure and twenty houres (as zEdidit horologium Hebraeum Guilielmus Schickardus Tubingenſi Suevor. Academia Profeſſor, ubi ait ſe expertum eſſe fundamenta linguae Hebraeae ſpatio 24. horarum à Tyrone percipi & addiſci poſſe. Editus eſt liber in 8…. Lipſiae, an. 1633.Schickardus, Profeſſor of that tongue at Tubinge, upon experience hath averred) they may attaine to remarkeable proficiencie therein before they can be furniſhed with reall knowledge. And I remember one Wolfgangus a Jew, a Teacher of the Hebrew tongue in my time, in Oxford; who (as both my ſelfe and others, who were his Schollers with mee, eaſily obſerved) had but little learning, either in divinity or humanity, and ſo little acquaintance with the Latin tongue, that hee could not (without much difficulty) dictate two lines in that language with congruity.
So farre ſhort was hee of a facility for elegant ſpeech, and yet hee tooke upon him to read his Lecture to us in Latine: and I have heard of ſome (by ſuch as I may well beleeve) who are meere aliens in Logick and Philoſophy, and ſo little acquainted with the Latin tongue, that they cannot conſtrue one ſentence in the eaſieſt Latin Authour, without conſulting with a Dictionary; who yet are ſo familiar with the Hebrew, that their people are in danger to bee choaked with Hebrew roots, which they obtrude upon them in their ordinary Sermons, and in as much danger to bee ſtarved too, for want of the ſap and juice of good inſtruction; which they are not like to receive from them who are become ″Priùs imperitorum magiſtri, quàm doctorum diſcipuli. Hieron. ad Demetriad. p. 70Teachers of the ignorant, before they have beene Schollers to the learned; which puts mee in minde of the cenſure which an ingenious Student aMaſter N.S.(ſometimes my Chamber-fellow, and Proctor of the Univerſity) made of the Sermon of a verball Doctor, who, with very little matter, had a Babell of words in his head and mouth; which was, That hee ſpake nothing in as many languages as ever hee heard any man. And I doubt not but there bee many ſuch as deſerve the cenſure of Tacitus, upon Secundus Carinates, viz. bHi… Graecā doctrinâ ore tenus exercitatus, animum bonis artibus non imbuerat. Tacit. Annal. lib. 15. f. 236. b.That hee had ſome wordy learning in his mouth, and little knowledge of the Arts in his minde.
Secondly, I ſay for Maſter Brerewood, that his Booke of Inquiries into Languages and Religions, (beſides other evidence of his great knowledge in the Hebrew tongue, and other learning) might have ſet him farre enough out of the reach of all ſuſpicion of ſuch ignorance, as the miſtaking of that title may import in him that made it.
Thirdly, The word Sabaoth is in that part of the Booke which is Maſter N. Byfields dictate, as well as in that which is Maſter Brerewoods; and it is ſo alſo in Maſter Byfields owne handwriting, as I can ſhew; yet will I not impute that unto ignorance; for it might bee the ſliding of his pen into a word neere unto it, as I have often taken my ſelfe with miſpriſion of prophet for profit; and contrariwiſe, through curſory writing. Or,
Fourthly, It may be the Tranſcribers miſtaking of his dictates, into which he might eaſily be induced by the like writing in many Bookes of Common prayer, in the fourth Commandement of divers editions, and in the parcels of Scripture therein rehearſed, and in the books of cIn the Homily of the place and time of prayer. p. 161, 162, 164.Homilies, dArchbiſh. Whitgift. pag. 541.Archbiſhop Whitgift againſt Mr. Cartwright, eBiſh. Bilſon. part. 2. pag. 270.Biſhop Bilſon in the true difference betwixt Chriſtian ſubjection, and unchriſtian rebellion; fDr. John White. pag. 210.D. White in his Way to the Church; gMaſter Perkins, in the Order of cauſes of ſalvation and damnation. chap. 5. pag. 14. col. 2.Maſter Perkins in the Order of cauſes of ſalvation and damnation; hMr. Sprint, his Propoſitions of the Chriſtian Sabbath; in which Book the word Sabaoth is in every leafe at leaſt, and in ſome it is divers times repeated.Maſter Sprint his Propoſitions of the Chriſtian Sabbath; for in the Bookes that beare their names, and particularly in the places quoted in the margine, the name is miſ-written, either Sabaoth, or Sabboth for Sabbath.
Fifthly, Some Authours have that word ſo miſwritten in their Works, who yet were verys kilfull in the Hebrew tongue, as is evident by iBp. Andrewes, in his Speech in the Star-chamber. p. 72, 73.Biſhop Andrewes, in his Speech in the Star-chamber; and in his kAnd in his third S…rm. of the Reſurrect. pag. 406, 407.third Sermon of the Reſurrection; by lWeemſe Exercit cerem. exer. 3. p. 7.Mr. Weemſe in his Exercit. and in his mIn his Chriſt. Synag. lib. 1. cap. 4. pag. 45. cap. 5. pag. 71. & p. 74. eight times, & p. 75. eleven times.Chriſt. Synag. nTeſt. Rev. 1.10.Mr. Cartwright in his Anſwer to the Rhemiſts.
Sixthly, Whereas as oMr. R. Byfield Praef. pag. 1.Maſter R. Byfield ſaith, I would have imputed this to the Printers overſight, if either the errata had mentioned it, or the whole Treatiſe in any one place had given the true orthography of it: It may be replyed,
Firſt, That there is no neceſſity, that either the Printer or the Authour ſhould beare the blame of that miſtaking; but rather the Publiſher betwixt them both: and ſo (as I have ″By Mr. A. Byfield, Mr. N. Byfields ſonne. Febr. 1640.heard ſince my comming to London) it was Maſter Richard Byfields meaning, to impute the ignorance to the Publiſher and none elſe, which I conceive he had juſt cauſe to doe.
Secondly, For Maſter Brerewood, I can ſhew it in a manuſcript of his owne hand, many times ſo lettered as it ſhould have beene throughout the Treatiſe, and not once as it is in the miſtaken title.
And laſtly, In the Anſwer to Maſter Brerewoods Book, Mr. R. Byfield himſelf hath brought a Letter of his to Alder…n Ratcliffe, wherein the word is written right, by Maſter Brerewood, five times in one page (the pMr. R. Byfield his Anſwer to Mr. Brerewood, pag. 224.later page of the laſt leafe but one) and not otherwiſe by him at all in that Letter.
I have inſiſted longer on this erroneous writing, and the exception made againſt it, then a Criticall Reader would require, or perhaps allow of; but I was induced unto it, partly to correct the indiſcreet oſtentation and compariſons of ſome who have vaunted themſelves of a little Hebrew, and diſvalued Latine learning, in all faculties, in thoſe men, whoſe Bookes, (if they be balanced with them in Scholaſticall abilities) they are not worthy to beare, nor are they able to beare the volumes which ſome of them have written: and partly by this pleading for Maſter Brerewood, (whom in many things I ſhall have cauſe to contradict) to advertiſe the indifferent Reader, that my purpoſe is to deale indifferently, and without partiality in the Controverſies of the Sabbath; which hee may obſerve by my readineſſe to right him, even to a word or letter, from whom (in many points of more importance) I muſt diſſent, and againſt whom (for them) I muſt diſpute.