Abolishing of Things Abused to Superstition and Idolatry, Tract · Section 5
Sect. 5.
3. HE would have ſuch times as have been devoted to ſuperſtitious and idolatrous ſervices, and thereby have been defiled, to be laid aſide. It hath been the manner of ſuperſtitious and Idolatrous people, out of the blind reverence and indiſcreet devotion which they have born to their reſpective deities, to ſet apart ſome ſpecial times in their behalf, which they have eſteem'd holy, and ſpent in the ſolemnities belonging to them. As the Jews celebrated feaſt dayes in the honour of their God, ſo did Idolaters in the honour of theirs. Jeroboam did ſo in the honour of his Gods, 1 Kings 12.32. Dan. 5.1, 5.and Belſhazzar in the honour of his. And who hath not heard of the Saturnalia, Bacchanalia, Lupercalia, and ſuch like feſtivals among the Romans, in the celebration whereof they committed ſuch horrible wickedneſs? Now when men do either appropriate time to falſe gods, take up ſuperſtitious opinions of them, or imploy them in unlawful ſervices, they do thereby imprint ſuch defilement on them, as renders them unfit for more pious and holy uſe. The Jews not thinking it ſufficient to give their feſtivals the ſober and juſt reſpect belonging to them, did no leſs than make Idols of them, in aſcribing to them thoſe virtues and excellencies which were not in them, and thereby caſt ſuch filth upon them, as rendred them unmeet for thoſe who profeſſed the Goſpel, and deſired to keep themſelves pure, to have any thing to do with them. This the Apostles ſaw, and therefore would not give way that the people under their charge ſhould joyn in the obſervance of them. And when Paul took notice that the Galatians, notwithſtanding this, did obſerve them, he blames them for it: Ye obſerve (ſaith he) dayes, Gal. 4.10and months, and times, and years. Nay he was ſo affected with it, that he tells them in plain terms, he was affraid he had bestowed upon them labour in vain. The reaſon wherefore he was ſo much ſet againſt the obſerving of theſe feſtivals, was not only becauſe Chriſt was come, and the Ceremonial Law, whereon they depended, abrogated, Cultum & meritum, &c. in loc.but becauſe the Jews both had, and did (as Pareus ſhews) abuſe them to ſuperstition, by aſcribing merit and ſatisfaction to them, which was highly injurious to the intereſt of Chriſt, and the deſign of the Gospel. Concil. Tolet. 4. can. 10. Grat. decret. part 2. cauſ. 26. q. 7. c. 13. Baron. ad ann. 184.And if we conſult the Records of the Church, we ſhall find that the Godly Paſtors, Teachers, and Chriſtians of ſucceeding ages, look'd upon the abuſe of ſuch and ſuch times and dayes, as a good and ſufficient reaſon wherefore they ſhould decline the obſervation of them. They would not obſerve the Calends of January, nor Playdayes in the beginning of the Spring, nor Eaſter at the uſual time, and that becauſe Heathens and Jews had defiled them with their ſuperſtitions. And if the grounds whereon ſome of the ableſt defenders of abuſed things, amongſt us, be ſound, they did no more herein than what was juſt and reaſonable. Hooker Eccl. Pol. l. 5. ſect. 69. p. 271.They teach, that the works which God does in times give reputation to them, and that his extraordinary works have advanced certain times to ſuch a degree of eminency, that all thoſe who honour God ought to eſteem them holy. Now if this be ſo, may we not fairly inferre, that evil works do in like manner disparage times, and that the extraordinary wicked works that have been done by ſuperſtitious, idolatrous, prophane men, have ſunk them down to ſuch a degree of vileneſs, that all thoſe who honour God, ought to look upon them as unclean and loathſome? If the old Maxime, contrariorum eadem eſt ratio, be true, certainly we may: for good and evil works are contrary, and therefore if the former have power to make holy and honourable, the latter have power to make unholy and diſgracefull. Much more might be ſaid on this point, but I ſhall have occaſion to reſume it hereafter, and therefore for the preſent ſhall diſmiſs it.