vowed to God that hereafter they would neither buy nor sell any thing upon the Dominical days unless perhaps Food and Drink to such as passed by They vowed also That of all things which they sold of the value of Five Shillings de singulis quinque salidatis rerum they would give a Farthing or a fourth part to buy a Lamp or Candle for the Church and for the burial of the Poor And for the collecting of this the aforesaid Abbot ordained to be made an hollow piece of Wood in all Parish Churches under the Custody of two or three faithful men where the People should cast in the fore-mentioned Brass The aforesaid Abbot also ordained that an eleemosynarie or Alms-dish or Platter should be daily had to the Table of the Rich in which they should send part of their Meats to the use of those who were Indigent who had not prepared for themselves Which in part was a very charitable Appointment And the same Abbot prohibited That none should buy or sell any thing or litigate in Churches or in the Church-Porch or Church-yardâ— Then the Enemy of Mankind envying these and other Admonitions of this Holy Man put into the Heart of the King and Princes of Darkness so it seems the King and Nobility of England did not keep Sunday at that time that they commanded That all who should keep or observe the aforesaid Traditions and chiefly all who had cast down the Market for things vendible upon the Dominical days should be brought to the King's Court or to the King's Examination to make satisfaction or purge themselves about observing the the Dominical day But our Lord Jesus Christ whom we ought to obey rather than men who illustrated or made famous and as exceedingly renowned dedicated unto himself this day which we call Dominical or Lord's day by his Birth and by his Resurrection by his Coming and by the sending the Holy Spirit upon his Disciples he raised up Miracles of his Virtue and thus manifested it upon some Transgressors of the Dominical day Upon a certain Sabbath after the ninth hour a certain Carpenter in Beverlac making a Wooden Pin against the wholsome Admonitions of his Wife being struck with a Palsie fell to the Ground And a certain Woman knitting after the ninth hour of the Sabbath i. e. after Three of the Clock upon Saturday whilst she was very anxious to knit out part of her Work falling to the Earth struck with a Palsie she became dumb And at Nasfortun a Village of Master Roger Arundle a certain man made for himself Bread baked under the Ashes upon the Sabbath day after the ninth hour and eat of it and reserved to himself part until the Morning which when he brake upon the Dominical day Blood came out of it And he that saw it hath given Testimony and his Testimony is true And at Wakefield upon a certain Sabbath when a Miller after the ninth hour endeavoured to grind his Corn suddenly in the place of Meal there issued out so great a stream of Blood that the Vessel put under was almost filled with Blood and the Mill wheel stood immoveable against the vehement impulse of the Water and those who saw marvelled saying Forgive Lord forgive thy People And in Lincolinsiria whether he mean Lincolnshire or what place else I cannot tell a certain Woman had prepared Dough or 〈◊〉 or Pudding pye which carrying to the Oven after the 〈◊〉 â—ur of the Sabbath she put it into a very hot Oven and 〈◊〉 she had drawn it out she found it not baked and she put it again into the Oven made very hot and on the morning and on Monday when she thought to have found the Bread baked she found the Dough or Pudding-pye unbaked Also in the same Province when a certain Woman had prepared her Dough willing to carry it to the Oven her Husband said to her It is the Sabbath and the ninth hour is now past let it alone until Monday and the Woman obeying her Husband did as he commanded and wrapt the Dough in Linnen and in the morning when she went to look to her Dough lest it should exceed the Vessel because of the Leaven put into it she found by the Divine Will Bread made thereof and well baked without material Fire This is a Change of the Right Hand of the Most High and although the Almighty Lord by these and other Miracles of his Power did invite the People to the observation of the Dominical day yet the People fearing more Kingly and Humane Power than Divine and fearing those more who kill the Body and can do no more than Him who after he hath killed the Body can send the Soul to Hell and fearing more to lose Earthly things than Heavenly and Transitories than Eternals Oh sad as a Dog to the Vomit returned to keep Markets of things saleable upon the Dominical days Haec ille This referrs to England so Scotland did not receive the Change till 1203 and the King and Princes of England would not then agree to change the Sabbath or keep Sunday by this Authority This was I think in the time of King John against whom the Popish Clergy had a great Pique as not favouring their Prelacy and Monks by one of whom he was poysoned So we have here an Authority and for Matter of Fact undedeniable for ought I know or can find of a Council held in Scotland for initiating that is for the first bringing in there the observation of the Dominical day i. e. the first day of the week or Sunday and the King Princes and People of England were then against observing Sunday That Kingdom of Scotland was Christian very early and generally received the Christian Religion about Ann. Dom. 435 as before and has this Honour that they were one of the last in this part of the World which admitted the First day and that was not till 〈◊〉 thousand Two hundred years after Christ And to Binius 〈◊〉 Hoveden and Matthew Paris and to the Records of that Kingdom of Scotland where so great a Transaction cannot probably be lost further Enquirers are referred Which Matter of Fact strikes off One thousand Two hundred years out of the Kingdoms of England and Scotland from the Sixteen hundred years universal Concurrence so confidently affirmed as before And take out 1201 out of 1690 and there remains 489. Which is a Prescription much too modern and weak to alter and lay aside a lesser matter than the ancient establish'd Law of God I may safely leave any Reader to make his own Inferences in so plain a case only there being here and afterward mention made of Judgments inflicted on such as violated the Dominical day this I may say of that though I doubt many supposed Judgments are mistaken wrested and misconstrued and the Instances before given may be better applied to Breakers of the Seventh day Sabbath than of Sunday they being Instances of Facts done about the ninth hour upon
observed Dominicam diem non colendam and this was An. 1555 in the sixteenth Century but they if it be true what is written of them by Popish Writers were otherwise Heretical as in their sence all Dissenters from them are And if they were Hereticks yet this will disprove part of the Assertion before mentioned but frequently the most Orthodox were by them called Hereticks as they are by them and others to this day In Lucius's Thirteenth Century f. 264 B and fol. 357 C D of introducing the Dominical day into Scotland we have before in the Story of the Abbot of Flay and the King's Council of Scotland An. Dom. 1203. Fol. 385 a Synod was held at Oxford An. 1223 by Stephen Archbishop of Canterbury where they determine That all Dominical days be kept with all veneration and a Fast upon the Sabbath c. So that how far some part of England then followed the Example of Scotland is worth further enquiry which is about Twenty one years after that of the Abbot of Flay And this is the sum of what I have collected out of those Books As for the Books quoted by Binius by the Magdeburgenses and by Lucius I had very few of them where those Passages probably would be found more at large which such as are furnished with or have the use of a better Study may collect if they please and give a more exact account thereof But these Writers as to Matters of Fact written by them I take to be of Credit although one of them viz. Binius were a profest Romanist and Canon of the Virgin Mary at Collen and writ permissu superiorunt But the Magdeburgenses and Lucius were Protestants and are generally allowed for ought I know as persons of Fidelity in their Collections So that as to the Matters of Fact which I have brokenly gathered from them some for and some against my Opinion I think there remains little doubt Inferences from what I have collected I leave to the impartial Reader Binius's 13th Century King John about Ann. Dom. 1208 and the Tenth year of his Reign upon occasion of a Popish imposing upon his Prerogative in a Case of Conge-de-lier was excommunicated by the Pope and his Kingdom interdicted which bred so great Troubles at home and abroad as at last forc'd him to lay down his Crown at the Feet of Pandulphus the Pope's Agent After he was humbled by that Excommunication and Interdiction this King An. 15. of his Reign by Writ removes the Market of the City of Exon from the Dominical or first day of the week on which it was formerly held to Monday Prinn's History of the Pope's Usurpations part 3 fol. 17. So that Exon kept Markets on Sunday above 1200 years after Christ And the Market of Launceston was from the first to the fifth day of the week And in the 2d and 3d of Henry III the next King succeeding King John K. Henry III removes another Market in Devon and Ten more in other Counties from the First day to other days of the week Which alteration of Markets which we find before in the Case of the Abbot of Flay King John would not then admit And 6 Hen. III Prinn's Jurisdiction of Courts fol. 153 there is the King's Writ Ballinis de Hastings to answer before the Justices for removing Markets from one day to another without the King's Licence unless it be from the Dominical day It seems some then held Markets on that day but might remove them to another day without the King's Licence And those who desire and need such Presidents may probably there find many more like these these coming to hand upon the perusal of a few Leaves of that voluminous Book In our Records we find by the Writs to summon Parliaments that they were of old appointed to meet upon Sundays Elsyng's Method of holding Parliaments fol. 91 92 in the time of Edw. I Edw. II and Edw. III which Edw. I. succeeded Henry III who succeeded King John But 5 Rich. II. who was deposed by his Popish rebellious Subjects and Clergy and who succeeded Edward III. the Parliament appointed to meet upon Sunday met that day and adjourned till Monday Prinn's Jurisdict of Courts fol. 4. From which time of 5 Rich. II. Prinn says no Parliaments have been summoned to meet on the Dominical days And Prinn thinks Modus tenendi Parliamentum was compiled after 5 Rich. II. for many ancient Parliaments of Edw. I Edw. II and Edw. III were summoned to meet on Sunday on which day the Modus c. says Parliaments ought not to be held but upon all other days that excepted So that it seems in Edward the Third's time Sunday was not much if at all observed by that King and the Civil Government of England See his Jurisd fol. 42 and his Register fol. 10 11 15. England which one lately in his Defence of the First day calls a barbarous and remote Corner of the World had the Gospel here preached in the First Century as Historians say and it was afterward generally entertained for some hundreds of years before they received the Change of the Passover to the Dominical day and by the best Collection I can make with my few Books about 1200 years or more before they received the observation of Sunday and yet had a weekly day of Rest which all the Records of old yet extant and down along to this day did then and do still call the Sabbath day And having once received the Gospel they did not so soon receive Alterations in Religion for the worse as other places nearer to Rome as appears by the Case of the Passover the change of which from the 14th day of the first Moon to the first day of the week was not here admitted as I take it till the Sixth or Seventh Century and then also but in part as appears in the Passage of Bishop Coleman which Alteration Scotland then refused And for the First day it seems to be introduced by the Popes and their Agents by degrees but not generally to obtain in England nor at all in Scotland till the beginning of the 13th Century and without any Law that I can recollect made by the King and Parliament till Edward the Sixth's time 5 6 Edw. VI cap. 3 which Act was made about 150. years since where Sunday and many Holy-days the Feast of All-saints and of Holy Innocents are established Festivals and jumbled all together it seems then esteemed much alike Which Act provides that it shall be lawful for Husband men Labourers Fishermen and all others in Harvest or any time of the year when Necessity shall require to labour ride fish or work any kind of Work at their free will and pleasure upon any of the said days So that the Civil Government of England did never that I find give Countenance to Sunday by any Act till about 150 years since and then allowed a Liberty so large as shews what Esteem they had of
of him because we keep his Commands 1 John 3. 21. which we are strictly required to walk after 2 John 6. The Eighth of the 39 Articles of the Church of England says No Christian man whatsoever is free from the Obedience of the Commandments which are called Moral Assemb Conf. chap. 19. of the Law of God says God gave to Adam a Law Par. I. This Law after his Fall continued to be a perfect Rule of Righteousness and as such was delivered by God upon Mount Sinai in Ten Commandments Par. II. This Law commonly called Moral doth for ever bind all as well justified persons as others neither doth Christ in the Gospel any way dissolve but much strengthen this Obligation Par. III V. Although true Believers be not under the Law as a Covenant of Works to be thereby justified or condemned Par. VI. So â—ar that great Assembly about the Ten Commands The Declaration of the Faith c. of the Congregational Churâ—hes before cited says the same things in the same words Ch. 19. Art 1 2 3 5 6. And so doth the Confession of Faith of the Antipoedobaptists â—efore mentioned Ch. 19. Art 1 2 3 5 6. And blessed are they who do his Commandments Rev. 22. 14. Now how can any man perswade himself or others that Christ â—r his Apostles do not intend by the above cited Scriptures the Ten Commands And if he do mean them whence comes this alteâ—ation and Why do men open their Mouths so far against his Tabernacle Rev. 13. 6. i. e. his Law which Tabernacle of the Testimony will be opened again in the Churches and some have already gotten the Victory over the Beast in this also Rev. 15. 2 5. And the Tabernacle of God will be again with men when the new Heaven and the new Earth come Rev. 21. 1 3. And 't is remarkable that the Remnant of the Seed of the Woman are such as keep the Commandments of God with whom the Dragon makes War Rev. 12. 17 and Rev. 14. 12. Here is the patience of the Saints here are they that keep the Commandments of God and the Faith of Jesus And all this and much more there is without one word of Exception against the Seventh day Q. 7. Whether the weekly Seventh day Sabbath and no other day was observ'd by the Lord Jesus Christ after his Incarnation and that constantly Answ No Christian man that I know has ever pretended that the Lord did not keep the Seventh-day Sabbath perfectly or that he kept the First day or any other day as a weekly Sabbath nor is there any Scripture for such Pretences And that he kept the Seventh-day Sabbath I think is proveâ— by the Scriptures which in general express his being a Lamâ— without blemish 1 Pet. 1. 19 which he had not been if there hâ— been any defect in his Obedience nor had his Righteousneâ— been perfect if he had not fulfilled all the Law i. e. all Righteousness More particularly it appears besides his course of Education under Joseph and Mary that he observed the Sabbath for upoâ— his setting about his Ministry he with Simon Andrew Jamâ— and John at Capernaum entered into the Synagogue on the Saâ—bath day and taught Mark 1. 21. 6. 1 2 on the Sabbatâ— days Luke 4. 31. On the Sabbath day he went into the Synagogâ— Mat. 12. 1 9 and John 5. 9. The Synagogues seemâ— Synagogues be Houses somewhat of the nature of our Parish-Châ—ches for Prayer and for weekly reading the Law and Propheâ— and sanctifying the Sabbath to which our Lord when he wâ— in the Country did resort And the Sabbath day which Christ observed was the Jeâ— Seventh-day Sabbath as is agreed by all and appears plainly bâ— that Mat. 12 and John 5 by the Jews Exceptions against Chriâ— as breaking their Sabbath as they apprehended but were mistaken And it farther appears that Christ constantly observed the Seventh-day Sabbath for when he came to Nazareth where he had been brought up as his custom was he went into the Synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for to read Luke 4. 16 to 21. and then and there preached the Gospel and expounded the Scriptures Which shews it was his Custom i. e. his constant Course from his Childhood at Nazareth where he had been brought up to keep the weekly Sabbath days of which Custom I find little said in some Books the Greek Expression for as his Custom was I take to be very full That it was Christ's usual constant Course And as at Nazareth so at Capernaum Christ taught them on the Sabbath days v. 31. And I shall hereafter shew that what is said here Luke 4. 16 31. of Christ is after the Death Resurrection and Ascension of Christ said of Paul that it was Paul's Custom also to keep the Sabbath Acts 17. 2. so that Paul did not alter the Sabbath which may also stay the mistaken Cavils about some Expressions in his Epistles as if Paul writ one thing and did another which Custom of Paul and other Believers who attended the Apostle's Ministry I think was a good Custom in the general which held from the beginning of the World till the Ascension of Christ and long afâ—er that as I hope to shew more fully hereafter which was â—bove four thousand years a Custom which one long day in Joâ—hua's and another in Hezekiah's time or the variety of the time of the Sun 's setting in different Climates does no way disturb for â—hat a day longer or shorter than another by some hours is still â— day and but a day and so could not alter or disorder the numâ—er of seven days to a week and so did not alter the seventh day â—ut would puzzle those to answer who make the Objection â—gainst themselves who finding the plainness of the Commandment against them have now invented instead of the Seventh â—ay commanded a new seventh part of time which seventh part â—f time from the Creation to this day by those two long days â— utterly impossible to be ascertain'd but however is a meer Fanâ—y there being no other Command but for the Seventh-day â—hich Christ and afterward Paul usually observed So as I may â—y this was a long undeniable and uninterrupted Custom time â—ut of Mind though 't is true the Sabbath had been somewhat â—rophaned in Nehemiah's time and by him reformed which â—ore confirms the Custom whereof more afterwards And I think all the Advocates for the First day as well as all the Reformed Christians in the World do agree that Christ has fulfilled all Righteousness and that he perfectly kept the Ten Commands whereof the Fourth was and is certainly one and the Seventh day certainly part thereof and that every true Believer has a part in Christ's perfect Obedience and consequently in his perfect keeping of the Seventh-day Sabbath Which I think sufficient for proving this point that the Seventh-day Sabbath and no other was constantly observed by him Q. 8. After the Lord Jesus had
holy beginning it from the twelfth hour on Saturday until Munday Boethius lib. 13. de Scotis and fol. 357 C D In Scotland An. Dom. 1203 William King of Scotland called a Council of the Principal of his Kingdom there it was decreed That Saturday from the Twelfth hour at Noon should be holy and that they should do no prophane Work and this they should observe till Monday Hoveden says this Council was about the observation of the Dominical So as I take it here are these Witnesses to the Truth of this Story Roger Hoveden and Matthew Paris great Authorities as to the truth of the Matter of Fact Says Binius The cause of celebrating this Council in Scotland seems to be what Roger Hoveden describes ann 1201 in these words The same year Eustachius Abbot of Flay returned into England and therein preaching the Word of God from City to City and from place to place he prohibited using Markets on the Dominical days for he said that this Command under written about the observation of the Dominical day came from Heaven So this Device by the Abbot of a new Command from Heaven was especially used by him to alter the Sabbath day in England Of the observation of the Dominical day an holy Command of the Dominical day which came from Heaven in Jerusalem and was found upon the Altar of St. Simeon which is in Golgotha where Christ was crucified for the Sins of the World and the Lord commanded this Epistle which was taken upon the Altar of St. Simeon which for three days and three nights men looking upon fell to the Earth praying GOD Mercy And after the third hour the Patriarch erected himself and Akarias the Archbishop and stretched out the Bishops Mitre or Label expanderunt infulam and they took the holy Epistle of God which when they had taken they found this written I The Lord who commanded you that ye should observe The Arts used to bring the Dâ—minical day into Scotland and England the Dominical Holy-day and ye have not kept it and ye have not repented of your sins as I said by my Gospel Heaven and Earth shall pass away but my Word shall not pass away I have caused Repentance unto life to be preached unto you and ye have not believed I sent Pagans against you who shed your Blood yet ye believed not and because ye kept not the Dominical Holy-day for a few days ye had Famine but I soon gave you Plenty and afterwards ye did worse I will again That none from the ninth hour of the Sabbath so the Abbot of Flay still called the Sâ—venth day the Sabbath and put part of the Sabbath into the First day until the rising of the Sun on Monday do work any thing unless what is good which if any do let him amend by Repentance And if ye be not obedient to this Command Amen I say unto you and I swear unto you by my Seat and Throne and Cherubims who keep my Holy Seat because I will not command you any thing by another Epistle but I will open the Heavens and for Rain I will rain upon you Stones and Loggs of Wood and hot Water by night that none may be able to prevent but that I may destroy all wicked men This I say unto you Ye shall die the Death because of the Dominical Holy-day and other Festivals So the Saints days are hooked in also of my Saints which ye have not kept I will send unto you Beasts having the Heads of Lions the Hair of Women the Tails of Camels and they shall be so hunger starved that they shall devour your Flesh and ye shall desire to flee to the Sepulchres of the Dead and hide you for fear of the Beasts and I will take away the Light of the Sun from your Eyes and will send upon you Darkness that without seeing ye may kill one another And I will take away my Face from you and will not shew you Mercy for I will burn your Bodies and Hearts and of all those who keep not the Dominical Holy-day Hear my voice lest ye perish in the Land because of the Dominical Holy-day recede from Evil and be penitent for your Evils which if ye do not ye shall perish as Sodom and Gomorrah Now know ye that ye are safe by the Prayers of my most holy Mother Mary and of my holy Angels who daily pray for you I gave you Corn and Wine abundantly and then ye did not obey me for Widows and Orphans daily cry unto you to whom you do no mercy Pagans have mercy but ye have not The Trees which bear Fruit I will make to dry up for your sins the Rivers and Fountains shall not yield Water I gave you the Law in Mount Sinai which ye have not kept by my self I gave the Law which ye have not observed For you I was born in the World and my Festival ye have not known this I think referrs to Christmas-day whereof it seems they were then also ignorant naughty men the Dominical day of my Resurrection i. e. Easter-day ye have not kept So they neither knew Christmas day nor kept Easter-day I swear to you by my right Hand unless ye keep the Dominical day and the Festivals of my Saints I will send Pagans Holy-days to kill you Yet ye take away the things of others and of this ye have no consideration for this I will send upon you worse Beasts which shall devour the Breasts of your Women I will curse those who do any Evil upon the Dominical day I will curse those who do unjustly towards their Brethren I will curse those who evilly judge the Poor and Orphans whom the Earth beareth but ye forsake me and follow the Prince of this World Hear my voice and ye shall have good Mercy but ye cease not from evil Works nor from the Works of the Devil because ye commit Perjuries and Adulteries therefore the Nations shall encompass you round and shall devour you as Beasts Then the Lord Eustachius Abbot of Flay came to York in England and being honourably received by Galfrid Archbishop of York and the Clergy and the People of that City he preached the Word of the Lord and of the transgressing the Dominical day and other Festivals or Holy-days he gave the People Repentance and Absolution under such or this Condition That they hereafter should bestow due Reverence to the Dominical day and other Festivals of the Saints it seems the People here in England had little Reverence for Sunday before this or for Holy-days not doing in them any servile Labour nor should exercise or keep Market of things vendible on the Dominical days but should devoutly employ themselves in Good Works and Prayers These things he constituted to be observed from the ninth hour i. e. our Three of the Clock in the Afternoon of the Seventh-day Sabbath until the rising of the Sun on Monday and the People devoted to God upon his preaching
the Sabbath day Yet I know not why without any damage to the Question it may not be admitted that whilst persons are perswaded tho' mistaken any thing is to be religiously observed and yet violate it the Lord might then and may still in like cases punish that Violation by Judgments as we find in the Histories he frequently punished Heathens when they prophaned their Heathenish Worship and Temples Particularly Xerxes's Army who were sent to pillage and destroy the Temple and Oracle of Apollo at Delphos for which themselves had some veneration were said to be destroyed by Thunder and Lightning And Herod's Messengers digging that so they might rifle the Temple for hidden Gold a Fire is said to break out of David's and Solomon's Coffins and to have consumed them to Ashes And Marcus Crassus a Roman Consul and General taking Two thousand Talents of Gold out of the Temple at Jerusalem which Pompey left there his whole Army was routed a little after Crassus was taken and some of that melted Gold poured into his Mouth which was thought a Judgment for that Sacrilege And Caepio a Consul of Rome after he with his Army had destroyed the Church of Tholouse in France and had taken thence a great Mass of Gold the History saâ—â— every man in his Army came to a miserable End whence whâ—n any man was remarkably followed by the Hand of God they used this Proverb saying of him Aurum habet Tolosanum He hath some of the Gold of Tholouse And whatever gross Mistakes some men have been and are still under in their own devised mediums of Worship whereof some have been as that of Apollo at Delphos was plainly Diabolical and others very diverse from what God has instituted in his Word yet how far the Lord may make men Examples of suffer them to be so made for sinning against their own Consciences though they be Misinformed Consciences I cannot tell And I think it may be true also that some Judgments have been executed upon Violaters of the Sabbath whereof the Stick gatherer of old is one famous Example and whereof I could assign some very Signal within these few years past if that were a good way of reasoning And what more there may yet be I know not Christ can vindicate his Commands and recover his own when and by what methods shall please him and to him I wholly leave it But this I am fully satisfied in that he that walks according to his Commands has no manner of cause to fear his Displeasure for obedience to his Will And this I assign as Answer to the many Reflections about Judgments supposed to be inflicted in this Case which Judgments of God I acknowledge to be a great Deep and hard to be fathom'd by the Wisest and are sometimes easie to be wrested both ways by willing Minds but are then best understood when considered as directly punishing Sins against the plain Commands and Word of God Now although this Precedent of Eustachius be somewhat long yet being Seconded by a Council and that transmitted and published to all the World in one of the Volumes of the General and Provincial Councils out of which I have translated it and this passing at the initiating or first bringing in of the Celebration of the First day of the week or Sunday into the Kingdom of Scotland which is famous for having the Gospel early preached there and in this as famous viz. for not receiving this Innovation so soon as some other parts of the World and England being then much of the same mind as before has been said and this being one Precedent which may serve to abate what is printed about the First day as if all the World since Christ and the Apostles time had observed it and as if the Sabbath ever since had been universally laid aside I have therefore inserted it and from hence at present shall only observe That the First day which some call the Dominical or Lord's day was not observed by the Christian Kingdom of Scotland nor I think by England Twelve hundred years after Christ Of the Dominical day the Magdeburgenses say It was ordained in a Council in Scotland about the observation of the Dominical day newly and lately brought into that Kingdom as is before noted out of Binius That it should be holy from the Twelfth hour of Saturday Even till Monday And fol. 788 a Synod in Scotland under Pope Innocent III. An. Dom. 1203 for inaugurating the King and the Feast of the Sabbath which I think might be about a year or two after the Abbot of Flay's being there William King of Scotland called a Council of the Chief of his Kingdom and commanded them to do Homage to his Son Alexander There came also a Legate from the Pope with a Sword and a purple Hat Indulgences and Priviledges to the young King also there it is decreed That Saturday from the Twelfth hour at Noon should be holy That the People should do nothing prophane but apply themselves to things sacred and this they should do even until Monday Boetius lib. 13 de Scotis fol. 788 which place in an hasty seeking I could not find By inaugurating the Sabbath was the more solemn settling of that matter which was as I guess about a year or two before first initiated or brought in by the Abbot of Flay As Binius Or whether this inaugurating were not by the King and Parliament of Scotland because it is said to be by the King and the Council of the Chief of his Kingdom I cannot say but this last seems to me most probable But that makes no difference in the case there and this well agrees with that of the Abbot of Flay as I think about a year or two before And how far this Precedent after the fine Device of the Epistle from Heaven and after this Abbot of Flay's coming to York may reach to this Kingdom of England you may see there I shall quote Binius once more the same Book fol. 1445 where he says At a Council at London celebrated by Hubert Archbishop of Canterbury in the time of Pope Innocent III Ann. Christi 1200 they decree That every Dominical day the Hostia should he renewed The Hostia is the Host in the Popish Mass i. e. a round Wafer Cake which after the Priest's Consecration they suppose to be the Body of Christ The Church of England then and some time before and long after till Edward the Sixth's time were devoted to the Church of Rome howsoever the Kings and Civil Government were disposed whereof we find a little in the President before cited of Eustachius and we have no Statute made for Sunday till that in Edward the Sixth which was but about 150 years since whereof more hereafter And Binius fol. 877 878 In the time of Pope Marcellus II there were some who kept the Sabbath day Sabbatarii which I think was in Rome who it seems held that the Dominical day was not to be