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  • THE HISTORY OF THE SABBATH
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    IN TWO BOOKES.

    BY PET. HEYLYN THE SECOND EDITION, REVISED. Deuteronomy 32.7. Remember the dayes of old, consider the yeeres of many Generations: aske thy Father, and hee will shew thee; by Elders, and they will tell thee.

    LONDON, Printed for Henry Seile, and are to bee sold at the Signe of the Tygers-head in Saint Pauls Church-yard. 1636.

    TO THE MOST HIGH AND MIGHTIE PRINCE,CHARLES, By the Grace of God, King of Great Brit- aine, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, etc.

    Most dread Soveraigne, YOur Majesties most Christian care, to suppresse those Rigours, which some, in maintenance of their Sabbath Doctrines, had pressed upon this Church in these latter dayes; justly deserves to be recorded amongst the principall Monuments of your zeale and pietie. Of the two great and public Enemies of Gods holy Worship, although Prophanenesse, in it selfe, be the more offensive; yet Superstition is more spreading, and more quicke of growth, In such a Church as this, so setled in a constant practice of Religious Offices, and so confirmed by godly Canons, for the performance of the same: there was no feare, that ever the Lords Day, (the Day appointed by Gods Church for his publike service) would have beene over-runne by the prophane neglect of any pious duties, on that day required. Rather the danger was, lest by the violent torrent of some mens xaffections, it might have been oreflowne by those Superstitions; wherewith, in imitation of the Iewes, they began to charge it.

    Alreadie they had made it farre more burthensome to their Christian Brethren, than was the Sabbath to the Israelites, by the Law of MOSES.

    Nor know wee where they would have stayed, had not your Majestie been pleased, out of a tender care of the Churches safetie, to give a checke to their proceedings: in licencing on that day, those lawful Pastimes, which some, without authoritie from Gods Word, or from the practice of Gods Church, had of late restrained. Yet so it is, your Majesties most pious, and most Christian purpose, hath not found answerable entertainment: especially amongst those men, who have so long dreamt of a Sabbath day, that now they will not be perswaded, that it is a Dreame. For the awakening of the which, and their reduction to more sound and sensible counsailes, (next to my dutie to Gods Church, and your sacred Majestie) have I applyed my selfe to compose this Story. Wherein I doubt not but to shew them, how much they have deceived both themselves and others, in making the old Iewish Sabbath, of equall age and observation with the Law of Nature: and preaching their new Sabbath Doctrines in the Church of Christ, with which the church hath no acquaintance. Wherein I doubt not but to shew them, that by their obstinate resolution, not to make publication of your Majesties pleasure, they tacitely condemne, not onely all the Fathers of the primitive times, the learned Writers of all Ages, many most godly Kings and Princes of the former dayes, and not few Councels of chiefe note, and of Faith unquestionable: but even all states of Men, Nations, and Churches, at this present, whom they most esteeme. This makes your Majesties interest so particular in this present Historie, that were I not obliged unto your Majestie in any neerer bond, than that of every common Subject, it could not be devoted unto any other, with so just proprietie. But being it is the Worke of your Majesties servant, and in part, fashioned at those times, which by your Majesties leave, were borrowed from attendance on your sacred Person; your Majestie hath also all the rights unto it, of a Lord, and Master. So, that according to that Maxime of the Civill Lawes, Quodcunque per servum acquiriritur, id domino acquirit suo; your Majestie hath as absolute power to dispose thereof, as of the Author: who is, Dread Soveraigne, Your Majesties, most obedient Subject, and most faithfull Servant, PET. HEYLYN THE PREFACE.

    APREFACE To them, who being themselves mistaken, have misguided others, in these new Doctrines of the Sabbath. NOT out of any humor or desire of being in action, or that I love to have my hands in any of those public quarrels, wherewith our peace has been disturbed: but that posterity might not say we have been wanting, for our parts, to your information and the direction of God’s people in the ways of truth; have I adventured on this Story. A Story which shall represent unto you the constant practice of God’s Church in the present business from the Creation to these days: that so you may the better see how you are gone astray from the paths of truth, and tendries of Antiquity, and from the present judgment of all Men and Churches. The Arguments whereto you trust, and upon seeming strength whereof you have been hitherto emboldened to press these Sabbatarian Doctrines upon the consciences of poor people, I purpose not to meddle with in this Discourse, *. They have been elsewhere thoroughly canvassed, and all those seeming strengths beat down, by which were yourselves misguided; and by the which you have since wrought on the affections of unlearned men, or such at least who judged not of them by their weight but by their numbers. But where you give it out, as in matter of fact, how that the Sabbath was ordained by God in Paradise, and kept accordingly by all the Patriarchs before Moses’ time; or otherwise ingraft by Nature in the soul of man, and so in use also amongst the Gentiles: in that, I have adventured to let men see that you are very much mistaken, and tell us things directly contrary unto truth of Story.

    Next, where it is the groundwork of all your building that the Commandment of the Sabbath is moral, natural and perpetual; as punctually to be observed as any other of the first or second Table: I doubt not but it will appear by this following History that it was never so esteemed of by the Jews themselves; no not when as the observation of the same was most severely pressed upon them by the Laws and Prophets, nor when the day was made most burdensome unto them by the Scribes and Pharisees. Lastly, whereas you make the Lord’s day to be an institution of our Savior Christ, confirmed by the continual usage of the holy Apostles, and both by him and them imposed as a perpetual ordinance on the Christian Church; making yourselves believe that so it was observed in the times before, as you have taught us to observe it in these latter days: I have made manifest to the world that there is no such matter to be found at all, either in any Writings of the Apostles, or Monument of true Antiquity, or in the practice of the middle or the present Churches: What said I, of the present Churches? so I said indeed; and doubt not but it will appear so in this following Story: the present Churches, all of them, both Greek and Latin, together with the Protestants of what name soever being far different, both in their Doctrine and their practice, from the new conceptions. And here I cannot choose but note, That whereas those who first did set on foot these Doctrines, in all their other practices to subvert this Church, did bear themselves continually on the authority of Calvin and the example of those Churches which came most near unto the Platform of Geneva: in these their Sabbath-Speculations they had not only none to follow; but they found Calvin, and Geneva, and those other Churches directly contrary unto them. However, in all other matters, they cried up Calvin and his Writings, making his Books the very Canon to which both Discipline and Doctrine was to be conformed: yet, his Magister non tenetur, here, by his leave, they would forsake him and leave him fairly to himself; that they themselves might also have the glory of a new invention.

    For you, my Brethren, and beloved in our Lord and Savior, as I do willingly believe that you have entertained these Tenets upon mispersuasion; not out of any ill intentions to the Church, your Mother; and that it is an error in your judgments only, not of your affections: so, upon that belief, have I spared no pains, as much as in me is, to remove that error and rectify what is amiss in your opinion. I hope you are not of those men, Quos non persuadebis, etiamsi persuaseris, who either hate to be reformed; or have so far espoused a quarrel that neither truth nor reason can divorce them from it. Nor would I gladly you should be of their resolutions, Qui volunt id verum esse quod credunt, nolunt id credere quod verum est; who are more apt to think all true which themselves believe, than to be persuaded to believe such things as are true indeed. In confidence whereof, as I was first induced to compose this Historie; so, in continuance of those hopes, I have presumed to address it to you, to tender it to your perusal, and to submit it to your censure: that if you are not better furnished, you may learn from hence that you have trusted more unto other men than you had just reason. It is my chief endeavor, as it is my prayer, that possibly I may behold Jerusalem in prosperity all my life long. Nor doubt I, by the grace of God, to reduce some of you, at least, to such conformity with the practice of the Catholic Church; that even your hands may also labor in the advancement and promotion of that full prosperity which I do desire. This that I may the better do, I shall present you, as I said, with the true Story of the Sabbath: and therein lay before your eyes both what the Doctrine was, and what the practice, of all former times; and how it stands in both respects, with all God’s Churches at this present. First, for the Sabbath, I shall show you that it was not instituted by the Lord in Paradise, nor naturally imprinted in the soul of man, nor ever kept by any of the ancient Fathers before Moses’ time: and this, not generally said, and no more but so; but proved particularly and successively, in a continued descent of times and men. Next, that being given unto the Jews by Moses, it was not so observed or reckoned of as any of the Moral Precepts; but sometimes kept, and sometimes not; according as men’s private business, or the necessities of the State might give way unto it: and finally was for ever abrogated, with the other Ceremonies, at the destruction of the Temple. As for the Gentiles all this while, it shall hereby appear that they took no more notice of it (except a little, at the latter end of the Jewish State), than to deride both it, and all them that kept it. Then for the Lord’s day, that it was not instituted by our Savior Christ, commanded by the Apostles, or ordained first by any other authority than the voluntary consecration of it by the Church to Religious uses: and being consecrated to those uses, was not advanced to that esteem which it now enjoys, but leisurely and by degrees; partly by the Edicts of secular Princes; partly by Canons of particular Councils; and finally by the Decretals of several Popes, and Orders of inferior Prelates: and being so advanced, is subject still, as many Protestant Doctors say, to the Authority of the Church, to be retained or changed as the Church thinks fit. Finally that in all Ages heretofore, and in all Churches at this present, it neither was nor is esteemed of as a Sabbath day, nor reckoned of so near a kin to the former Sabbath: but that all such leisure times as were not destinate by the Church to God’s public service; men might apply their minds and bestow their thoughts, either about their business, or upon their pleasures such as are lawful in themselves, and not prohibited by those Powers under which they lived. Which showed and manifestly proved unto you, I doubt not but those Paper- walls, which have been raised heretofore to defend these Doctrines, how fair soever they may seem to the outward eye, and whatsoever colors have been laid upon them; will in the end appear unto you to be but Paper-walls indeed: some beaten down by the report only of those many Canons which have successively been mounted in the Church of God; either to fortify the Lord’s day, which itself did institute, or to cast down those Jewish fancies which some had labored to restore. Such passages as occurred concerning England, I purposely have deferred till the two last Chapters, that you may look upon the actions of our Ancestors with a clearer eye: both those who lived at the first planting of Religion; and those who had so great an hand in the reforming of the same. And yet not look upon them only, but by comparing your new Doctrines with those which were delivered in the former times: your severe practice, with the innocent liberty which they used amongst them: you may the better see your errors, and what strange incense you have offered in the Church of God. A way in which I have the rather made choice to walk, that by the practice of the Church in general you may the better judge of those Texts of Scripture which seem to you to so speak in the behalf of that new Divinity which you have preached unto the people: and by the practice of this Church particularly, it may with greater ease be showed you that you did never suck these Doctrines from your Mother’s breasts. A church, I dare be bold to say it, than which there is not any in the Christian World wherein the Lord’s day is observed with more due solemnity; nor that observance better countenanced by godly Laws and Constitutions; not any one which walks an evener and more equal way ‘twixt Superstition and Profaneness, than this most flourishing Church of England; however she be thought by you, deficient in so great a matter. It is an observation and a rule in Law; that custom is the best interpreter of a doubtful statute; and we are lessoned thereupon to cast our eyes, in all such questionable matters, unto the practice of the state in the selfsame case. Si de interpretatione laegis quaeritur, imprimis inspiciendum est, quo jure civitas retro, in juhusmodi casibus, usa fuit: Consuetudo enim optima interpretatio legis est. If you submit unto this rule and stand unto the Plea which you oft have made: I verily persuade myself that you will quickly find your error; and that withal you will discover how to abet a new and dangerous Doctrine, you have deserted the whole practice of the Christian Church, which for the space of 1600 years has been embraced and followed by all godly men. These are the hopes which we project unto ourselves. The cause of this our undertaking was your information; and the chief end we aim at is your reformation: Your selves, my Brethren, and your good, if I may procure it, are the occasion and the recompense of these poor endeavors: pretiumq; & causa laboris, in the Poets’ language. Nor would I, you should think it any blemish to your reputation, should you desert a cause which with so vehement affections you have erst maintained: or that the world would censure you of too deep a folly, should you retract what you have either taught or written in the times before. Rather the world and all good men shall praise both your integrity and ingenuity, in that you think it no disparagement to yield the better unto truth whensoever you find it. Being men, conceive it not impossible but that you may be in an error; and having erred, think it your greatest victory that you are conquered by the truth: which being mighty will prevail, and either here or elsewhere, enforce all of us to confess the great powers thereof. Saint Austin and the Cardinal, two as great Clerks as almost any in their times, have herein shewed the way unto you; one in his retractions, the other in his Recognitions: nor did it ever turn unto their disgrace. Therefore abandoning all such fond conceits as enemies unto the Truth, which I trust you seek, and above all things wish to find: let me beseech you to possess your souls with desire of knowledge; and that you would not shut your eyes against the tendrie of those truths, which either here or else-where are presented to you for your information. Which that you may the better do, I do adjure you in the name, and for the sake of Jesus Christ, to lay aside all prejudice which possibly you may be possessed withal, either in reference to the Argument or unto the Author: and to peruse this following Story with as much singleness of heart, and desire of truth, and invocation of God’s Spirit to find out the same, as was by me used in the writing of it. It is your welfare which I aim at, as before was said; your restitution to your functions, and reconciliation to the Church from which you are at point of falling: that we with you, and you with us, laying aside those jealousies and distrusts which commonly attend on divided minds; may join our hearts and hands together for the advancement of God’s Honor, and the Church’s peace. And God even our own God, shall give us his blessing. For others which shall read this Story, whether by you misguided, or yet left entire; I do desire them to take notice that there is none so much a stranger to good Arts and Learning, whom in this case and kind of writing, I dare not trust with the full cognizance of the cause herein related. In points of Law, when as the matter seems to be above the wit of common persons; or otherwise is so involved and intricate, that there has been no Precedent thereof in former times: it is put off to a demurrer, and argued by my Lords the Judges, with their best maturity of deliberation. But in a matter of fact, we put ourselves upon an ordinary Jury, not doubting, if the evidence proves fair, the Witnesses of faith unquestioned, and the Records without suspicion of imposture, but they will do their conscience, and find for Plaintiff or Defendant as the cause appears. So in the business now in hand, that part thereof which consists most of argument and strength of disputation, in the examining of those reasons which pro or Con have been alleged; are by me left to be discussed and weighed by them who either by their place are called, or by their learning are enabled to so great a business. But for the point of practice, which is a matter of fact, how long it was before the Sabbath was commanded, and how it was observed, being once commanded; how the Lord’s day has stood in the Christian Church, by what authority first instituted, in what kind regarded: these things are offered to the judgment and consideration of the meanest Reader. No man that is to be returned on the present Jury, but may be able to give up his verdict touching the title now in question; unless he come with passion and so will not hear, or else with prejudice and so will not value the evidence which is produced for his information. For my part, I shall deal ingenuously, as the cause requires, as of sworn counsel to the truth; not using any of the mysteries or Arts of pleading, but as the holy Fathers of the Church, the learned Writers of all Ages, the most renowned Divines of these latter times, and finally as the public Monuments and Records of most Nations christened have furnished me in this inquiry. What these, or any of them have herein either said or done, or otherwise left upon the Register for our direction, I shall lay down in order in their several times; either the times in which they lived, or whereof they writ: that so we may the better see the whole succession both of the Doctrine, and the practice of God’s Church, in the present business. And this with all integrity and sincere proceeding, not making use of any Author who has been probably suspected of fraud or forgery; nor dealing otherwise in this search than as becomes a man who aims at nothing more than God’s public service, and the conducting of God’s people in the ways of truth. This is the sum of what I had to say in this present Preface; beseeching God, the God of Truth, yea, the Truth itself, to give us all a right understanding, and a good will to do thereafter.

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