Three Rhythms concerning the Faith

Three Rhythms concerning the Faith

continued

Rhythm 3.

1. THOUGH the Doctrine is older than teachers and learners, it became a comrade to children, that all thereof might be with all. It was a teacher with the doctors, and a learner with the disciples: it at once taught and learnt, for it ran among both parties. Among the speakers it was applauded, among the subtle it dealt prudently. It dwelt among the simple and the cunning, in all measures with all minds: it gave itself up to every thing, as the Mistress of every thing. It brought itself to measures, though it was greater than those that measured it. For the disciples did not measure it, because their mind's movements were not speedy enough: there were no doctors that meted it, because they reached not unto its fountains. And though that Doctrine was greater than masters and teachers, it is much less than its Creator, so that it attaineth not to a scrutiny of Him. No learner can comprehend how great the might of its Creator is: it doth not comprehend aught that He created, or how He was able to create it! For the whole that the Creator could do is

Thus, S. Jerome who had "according to the Hebrews and their opinion" interpreted it of the Prophet, paraphrases, "I Who ever was with the Father and in the Father and never was without the Father, speak now also, and after the weakness of the Flesh which I took say, that the Lord and His Spirit hath sent Me. In one little brief verse, is set forth the mystery of the Trinity," ad loc. And S. Cyril, who in his Comm. explains it simply of Cyrus, in the Expos. Fid. (as referred to by a Castro) alleges it of our Lord. (St. Cyril's Comm. on this place is quoted by Procopius, so that there is no ground to think with a Castro that it is interpolated.) It may be added that Eusebius says explicitly that "all who had interpreted Holy Scripture," understood the Person here speaking to be "the Word of God," (Eclog. Proph. iv. 23.) and besides the above, a Castro quotes Orig. c. Cels. i. Eus. Dem. Ev. vi. 22. S. Greg. Nyss. de cognit. Dei, Faustus, (as S. Aug. Serm. 234. App. Ben.) Idacius, (as S. Ath. de assumpt. hom. L. 3. T. 2. p. 613. ed. Ben.) S. Basil. de Sp. S. (c. 19. where he insists on the authority only with which the Spirit sendeth.) S. Athanasius (c. Serap. i. 13.) who, however, assumes that the Son is not mentioned here, and uses it to refute those who cavilled on

occasion of a like omission of the mention of the Holy Ghost. So that a Castro says too broadly, "None of the ancients but explains it of the Lord;" for Theodoret also interprets it of the Prophet. Procopius mentions both expositions, as to Cyrus and the Prophet. Ed.] * The former part of this §. might lead one to think St. E. meant the Son, by 'the Doctrine,' as St. Austin c. Max. ii. 20. §. 3. de Trin. i. §. 27. ii. §. 4. in Joan. xxix. §. 3. and St. Cyril in Joan. p. 412, e. think St. John vii. 16. may be explained. But this interpretation will not suit with the words 'it is much less than its Creator:' St. E. must therefore be taken to mean that definite amount of doctrine, which Christ was commissioned to deliver, (see p. 370, n. m.) and which was no more an adequate expression of His real knowledge than His actual operations are of His real power. In the same way he speaks in R. i. §. 23. of God 'Himself creating the art,' i. e. gave it such a subsistence as it has, one, namely, ideal, mental, and subjective, not one objective and independent of the being in which it is. As Solomon is thought by many to personify wisdom in Prov. viii. 22. (see Petav. de Trin. iv. 1. §. 10.) so St. E. may here personify Doctrine, and speak of it also as created.

p d 2 God's power not to be measured not merely these creatures that He did create, and these 1 p. 377, things made which He did make. It was not that He could ref. 1. not create that He left creating. His will hath no bounds Petav. set to it: if He willed He could create every day. But de Deo, there would be a confusion if the creatures kept multiplying v. 6. and departing; neither would the creatures know one another, when numerous; and though He would be adequate to all of them, they would not be adequate to themselves. And to what advantage would He create them to be strange to one another? All that the Creator did create, He did not create to aggrandise Himself; He was not the less, or ever He had created, nor aggrandised after He had created. 2. He wished to aggrandise His works; therefore He created them in measure. For He might have increased this present creation without bounds, but then would the inhabitants thereof have been perplexed; and with perplexity were mischief also, since they would not have perceived the righteous, nor have acquiesced in the Prophets. If this creation were one hundred-fold larger than it is, the preachers would not be able to avail to the whole creation. He placed world. Jerusalem b in the midst, that the whole creation might perceive it. For when He brought them up from Egypt, and when He took them up from Babylon, when He brought them down, and when He took them up, the whole creation perceived it.

3. If it were wider than it now is, it would not then have been able to perceive this: He would have been fully able to [do so], because He is greater than it in all respects. That creation could not be so much advantaged by Him; for if now that it is small, it is confused by the words of error, p. 320. how much more would it have been confused, if it were greater by much. The sun too could not have come down [upon it] from one end to the other, for a moment would become a great [space], a day would have been a year. It b. f. had been harm and loss to it that order had perished in it. Winter and summer would be lingering, day and night protracted. When would seed have matured? when would fruit have ripened? He could have made it thus: to us there

5 S. over would have been many hardships. It was not then answerably against b Jerusalem was thought from Ps. lxxiii. 13. Ez. xxxviii. 12. to be in the middle of the earth. see Quaresmius de Terra Sancta, ii. p. 436. Villalpand. ad Ezech. vol. iii. p. 13. Lorinus in Ps. ii. p. 480. St. E. here only speaks of it as such in respect of the opportunities it offered for spreading the Gospel; which is one of the opinions these authors mention. to His Power that the Creator created any thing, but answerably S. over against to our own advantage, that He created and made every thing. 4. From that boundless Womb came forth the Offspring, or Bosom p. 131. that cannot be searched out. If then thou wishest to search it out, I will be unto thee a counsellor. Go, first search into the Father; prove thy powers with His Begetter; make a beginning and an ending of prying into Him; measure Him in length and breadth. If thou canst measure that Essence, Comp. then hast thou measured the Son that is from His Bosom; p.25,n.y. p. 265, if thou art equal to measuring the Father, then art thou ref. 5. equal also to His Only-begotten. Thou then art unequal to the Eternal, and so neither art thou capable of His Son. p. 369, Go up, feeble man, from the sea! Come, let us turn to what n. l. we have cast aside; let us not let go of aught that is known, and strike off into what is not known.

5. It is not then by the measure of what He is able to do that the Creator createth: it is not as much as He can, that He createth, but as much as is expedient, thus much as He createth. If then He created, and went on without setting a bound to this working, nature would have been an untempered daub which was devoid of distinctness. It were S. like a fountain that flows forth and goes on turbidly. The Creator would have been a fountain, which in its nature is restricted, which could not restrain its stream, and hath no power over its will. As without a [fixt] course He could not declare unto us His Will, so, unless He put a restraint, He Comp. could not shew us His Power. He began that He might n. a. and p. 316, stablish, He ended that He might order. If every day He n. b. were creating heaven and earth and creatures, His workmanship would be confusedness without arrangement, neither would He be great in His workmanship who was little in His knowledge. Even for the mouth which is vocal, it is befitting that it speak orderly: its ability to speak is not any reason why it should not be fitting to leave off speaking. Words are not so easy to the mouth as creating to the Creator. Much R. vi. & 4. easier than sounds to the ready speakers, are works to the Comp. Maker; yet not on account of His ability to make, doth He G.Nyss. ii. p.768. keep on evermore making every thing. For He who gave order in n. a. to man as possessed of discourse, shall He not much rather p. 310. $ p. 293, be Himself orderly? Though He could create continually, n. b.

God's power transcends His actual operations, He yet left creating that He might set in order what He had created. Who then can ascertain precisely how much more He could have created? Much is that which He created, and much is that which He left [uncreate]. That which He made cannot be ascertained precisely, nor that which He passed over be scrutinized. For He who at His nod made all things out of nothing, is wholly hidden from them that pry. Of His revealed things, as well as His concealed, thou knowest not in what number He made them, nor in what number He could have made. The Only-begotten which is concealed in His Bosom, He knoweth both in what way and number [He could make]. For the Son that is concealed and revealed, knoweth the things created and the things revealed. But how should a learner be capable of fountains which are too difficult for Him? It is the weak and the feeble that Doctrine is able to profit: for it gives them power of doing multiplication by speedy advances; for ten when multiplied into ten advances to the number of a hundred, and ten when multiplied into a hundred reaches to the number of a thousand. It advances from thousand to thousand, and from ten thousand to its comrade. From this make trial of that which may be done in all these again as speedily!

His wide-working Wisdom its actual effects in man. 407 to go swiftly in the sea. It hath chariots in the sea; ships of the dry land doth it fashion: it participates with feebleness, and maketh it rich in power: it approacheth wantonness, and maketh it the possessor of discretion: it approacheth ordinary men, and teacheth them thousands of wise things. It approacheth silentness, and bringeth to it ready-speaking: it dealeth with strictness with the judge; it maketh itself lowly with the criminal: it teacheth the former how to avenge, and the latter how to beseech. It disputeth with the disputer, and questioneth with the knowing ones: it is itself seeking on one side, and on another side it is finding. To it both of them are bound, for that itself ministereth to both of them: though not constraining by necessity, its lordship is set over all. The same teacheth the workman to make aught out of any thing, for it could teach God who out of nothing maketh all things. For it teacheth the thing made, that the Maker thereof is greater than itself, in that the thing made maketh out of something, and the Maker maketh out of nothing.

7. My brethren, let us awaken us from our sleep, that Angels may rejoice in our wakefulness! Let us arm ourselves with faith, and kill the iniquity that killeth us! The stench of our rottenness smiteth our nostrils, in that we are not a sweet-smelling savour in Christ. The fighting of our strifes is awake, and lulleth the Angels to sleep with its fightings. Because priests have fallen into disputings, therefore kings are thrown into war. War without flaggeth not, because war within is in force. Pastor warreth with his comrade, and chief ruler with his yoke-fellow; by the strife of the pastors have the flock and the pasture been ruined; while the shepherds wished to feed us with subtleties, they trod down our sweet pasture which sustained us with sincere food. While wishing for our enrichment, they The heathen more faithful to their light, bereaved us of all our treasures. They have veiled the lamp of Truth, that they might search in the dark for the Truth. §. 8. p. 173, n.b. Verity thundereth in the world, and they seek for it in clefts [of the rocks]. Lo, the children of the light make a confusion of questions in the dark! The Truth is open as the light, and they seek for it as lost. Lo, they are looking for a mighty mountain in slender clefts! It is too great for the whole world, yet they pry into it as if a glimmering! Lo, they laboriously grope after the verity which is extended more than any thing! They will not see it; they seek for any thing instead of any thing else. Lo, they labour to lose the Truth which had found them!

8. clean possessors. The heathen perceived that it brake the graven images by its Divinity. The Truth crieth §. 7. aloud in the world, and the disputers are seeking where it is! they that hated the Son felt it, and they that preach Him are seeking for it! 9. Though the [Jewish] people had indeed denied Him, they knew who had rooted them up: they felt, although they owned it not, whence all this came upon them. The Church which He espoused convicted them, that Jerusalem through p. 77, her was deserted: the priesthood which He had given, taught n. k. that their priesthood was dissolved by Him. The Prophets that He gave unto us cried aloud, that in Him all things were completed. Satan in his envy set up perversities on Palm among the disputers, that by the perversities which he flin. brought in, perversities might be uttered; outwardly they p. 266, n. a. p. 326, come decorous, inwardly they come designing ill! n. c.

10. With unlearned men is the finding of the Son: and the n. c. prying into Him with the learned. They that were far off came and proved disciples: strangers came in and partook; those without were astonied at those within, that they kept R. on prying until now. Like is this which happeneth at the end xxxv. unto that which happened at the beginning. The Magi from R. vii. afar perceived the King that was born in Bethlehem; the Magi being single-hearted, thought thereon more than the Scribes and the Hebrews, on whose hands was borne about the King's Son who was born there. They who were from afar came and found Him whom they that were near perceived not. The King stood among them, and they were raising captious questions; the King was born as He was born, and they were scrutinizing His Generation. The strangers were astonied, that even until now they were seeking in the books, concerning His Genealogy. The pledge of Him was with The laity not to be shaken by disputes among

those without, and the scrutinizing of Him with those within. His ambassador was before the strangers, and the dispute about Him with those of the household. But the Magi were not perplexed at them who kept seeking for Him: they left them, and went straight on in the way with their offerings unto the First-born. The Truth was revealed to the Magi, and to the Pharisees there was questioning! 11. Ye also, O learners, be not disturbed at this, that up to now your teachers keep seeking for the Truth! As He was found in Bethlehem of the Magi that searched diligently for Him, [so] is He found in Holy Church for him that seeketh Him uprightly. In the Magi compare and weigh their conversation, as also their offerings. Worship the Son as thou hast found Him, healthily, as He was revealed to thee! For as the Magi at the bright star which was from Him rose up after Him, so may the enquirer at the revelation which Simon revealed, find Him. Let not the present time distress thee, which is like the former time. That coming of the Son wherewith He did come, is like unto that whereby He shall come. For the questionings of the learned were perplexed by that coming, and thus are the questionings perplexed now before His Coming.

12. is the Appellation which is written in the Writings that belong to the blind. They began learning the interpretation of it—Hebrews from Gentiles. This spelling of their own books did strangers teach them: the interpretation of their writings did they teach who came from far. 13. Be not perplexed, thou hearer, if the learned get himself entangled; be not thou unnerved, O learner, if the disputer be distracted. If thy master have turned out of the way, go, get thee understanding in the Scriptures, for where the disputers have gone astray, the discerning have not gotten themselves into error, and where the doctors have gone astray, the hearers have not found themselves perplexed. It is not the word of man that sustaineth the preaching [of the Gospel]. The word of man may be cut off, and all that hangeth thereby will fall; on the Word of God hangeth the preaching of the Truth. By that Word which sustaineth all is thy doctrine hanging, O learner. Whoso perverteth the way, he himself gets perverted by it; whoso knoweth not which path to take, the way is lost before him: yet is the way for the discerning planted with milestones and with inns!

14. If the whole congregation repented and prayed in sackcloth and ashes, the Most High would not wink at the perverseness of the chief men. Priest was unto Him as people, and people were likened to the priest; both parties alike tore each other in pieces. The lax master hath no peace from his disciples: they are corrupted by him, and he also is tarnished by them. To the sterner ruler, ministers of quiet temper become a refreshment to himself; they are themselves preserved by him; and he too hath sweet comfort of them. Our masters have neglected us, and we have neglected our masters: they are not pained at our pain, nor we at their sufferings. In the united body are there divisions, since the head and the members are divided: the beasts in the forest are at one: in the Church souls are divided. For who is there

for us while we study them... When we deal with pagans, and shew that that is now coming to pass in the Church of Christ which was predicted before of the name of Christ, of the head and body of Christ, to prevent their thinking that we have forged these predictions, and put them together out of circumstances which have already happened, as if they had yet to come, we produce in testimony the books of the Jews." The miserable effects of divisions. who is pained at this common suffering, that now we have gotten to the way, we turn about to seek for the beginning of it? We have reached to the end of the way, and where the beginning of it is we comprehend not: our course is by the end of it, and our search for the beginning of it. When we had grown old among the doctors we have come to be disciples, after we had worn out the book, we begin to learn the spelling.

15. Youths have lately made themselves disciples; they have blossomed like Jonah's gourd. Lo! they shadow forth a new picture, instead of the pictures which holy men have p. 371, shadowed out, a picture that is full of strifes, a fountain of ref. 4. contentions and of fightings, which intoxicateth and maddeneth the humble, so that they should keep changing themselves at every word [they speak]. For the mouth he Comp. made a channel and a passage for the hearing; the still p. 260, and silent looked at it; they became quarrelsome and contentious. The loving and affectionate looked on it, and they n. l. §.24. R. unsheathed their tongues against one another. They that lxviii. were mutual lovers looked thereon, and they became mutual §. 1. haters. They that were friends and equals looked thereon, and gat sects and divisions. They that were lovers from of old looked thereon, they broke off their love that was from of old. Gravity looked upon it, and became by it dissipation; p. 274, discretion looked thereon, and made savourless the salt of ref. 1. truth; meekness looked thereon, and gat her the horns of the butting ram. Again, he that was a mere child looked thereon, and insulted the old man of threescore; the old man of threescore and ten looked thereon, and he became seventy times seven the more abusive. The pastors looked thereon, and thereby became lorders [over the heritage]; the silent lambs looked thereon, they became leopards in disputing; doves also looked thereon, and became serpents full of gall.

16. There are two sides to the Only-begotten, one concealed and the other revealed. The revealed side is not to p. 155. be veiled, and the concealed is not to be searched out. p. 173, Satan, who is more crafty than all, took us from the revealed n. b. Comp. side, and by the concealed side he choked us, that we might p. 396, not be quickened by the revealed one. They saw that the n. l. Not only God but all things have a mysterious side. 413 Father which begat Him had also two sides; for that He exists every man comprehended, but His concealed Nature is unsearchable. His revealed side is plainly revealed, so that even fools know that He exists. Concealed is His concealed Side, so that not even Angels know the manner of it. And not only is it so with that Majesty incomprehensible, but all creatures have each of them two sides, in that the one side is revealed and the other side is concealed. They are comprehended themselves, but the ends of them cannot be comprehended.

17. If then even the creatures have these two points, that they are concealed while they are revealed, that they are known while not known, how much more is this so with the Maker and with the Son of the Creator! Two knowledges are discovered, one that is revealed and one that is concealed—a knowledge of His revealed side, and a not-knowledge of His concealed side; the more it is known that He exists, the less is it known in what mode He exists. There is a way to His revealed side, but a maze on His concealed side. If thou askest if the Son exists, thou learnest in the twinkling of an eye; but if thou askest of the mode in which He exists, until He cometh, wilt thou question! Neither yet, when thou hast seen Him, couldest thou know the mode of His existence. And if when there thou shouldest ask of this, thou wouldest not even see when thou hadst seen Him; and if thou wert to pry into the Glory which thou didst see, thou wouldest not even know that thou hadst seen it.

18. And if thou shouldest, when there, pry into this, lo, [even] in the Kingdom wouldest thou be tormented, since every one would be rejoicing in the Messiah, and thou wouldest torment thyself with prying into Him! and sooner is there hope to come out from the midst of hell! Yet that torment of thine remaineth, if thou dost not lay it aside. And if thou wert to dispute there in this way, the Kingdom would not receive thee, that thou mightest not go in and cast in division in a place full of concord. That Kingdom then will execute vengeance, and that for Holy Church, seeing that there shall not enter into that Kingdom the troublers that troubled it here; there shall not enter into the garden of The judgments of war and the like peace those that threw in strifes. A likeness of that Kingdom is this true Church!

19. For as it is right that there be harmony in the Kingdom, so is it right that there be concord in Holy Church. If there be no disputing there, wherefore prying here? If in that there be tranquillity and peace, wherefore strugglings in this? Upon the One Son they look there, and by Him hidden its power and hath not made Verity victorious, the Truth also hath hidden its power, that the heathens might scorn us! 22. Stern avengers have come in, violent spoilers have entered: because we were divided by disputing, they are all agreed in the war. Because we were divided by prying, they are of one accord for leading into captivity. Because we listened not obediently unto the Son, they have listened obediently unto their head. Because we despised the commandment, there the commandment is urgent. Because the ordinances are dashed down here, there they stand in awe of the orderings [of the army]. There have the laws risen up to life again, which here are defunct. Because we are divided one against one, all of them listen obediently to one. There is none there that asketh of the plan, scrutinizing about the manner and the person: but we keep hourly prying into the Generation of the Lord of all. At the nod of that mortal his hosts tremble: in the Church clerks are raising disturbances, and there is that relateth his own dream. What is here we have let them borrow, it has been repaid us from there. Rapaciousness is extinguished yonder; here the flame of it blazes: thefts which are sickly there, here have their full health. When they had straitened inordinate gluttony, jollity was what we met it with; when fraud was there feeble, we gave it twice the power. And if it should come for the Truth, who is there in whom this is really remaining?

23. Lo! this also is against us, that He judgeth us by heathens. There the sun is honoured, and there is none p. 379, that pries into it, though made: here we have despised the n. s. Creator, for that every one prieth into the Adorable! In the place of that fire which is worshipped, here the Lord of it is scrutinized: there waters are honoured; we have p. 224, despised our Baptism. They, though in error, have hon. n. e.oured the creatures in the stead of the Creator, and as for us that know the truth, mammon is chosen by us before it. In this we pride ourselves much, and though we know it we go astray. Since there is no hedge to our mind, they have R. dug down the walls of our city; and because our mind is xxxvii. not at peace, those without have destroyed our peace; and because our heart was wholly upon the earth, lo, with mounds §. 4. 5.

The judgments of war and the like of dust have they hidden us. Because we thirsted not after love, thirst hath taken vengeance of us; and because we went gadding after possessions, our captives straggle among the mountains. Because we were pollard instead of wheat, the Comp. R. xxxviii. §. 4. and Assem. Acta Mart. i. p.29. fin. east wind hath scattered us: because we went straggling to all quarters, we are dispersed to all quarters. Because we hasted not to the one Refuge, forts after forts have they destroyed. Because we were dead in the midst of peace, we have been shut up amongst the roads. Because we provided not for the poor, the ravenous bird gluts itself from our bodies. Since our pastors behaved themselves proudly, lo, they are scattered in the land of the Magi; the unclean have burnt our Churches, because we prayed not aright in them; they have hewn down the Altar, because we ministered p. 196, n. c. not before it with due solemnity; they have torn to pieces the sacred writings, because we have not kept their commandments.

24. Yet hath He not left us, because we have left Him! lo, He wisheth to chastise us, and to win! The united force entered, and came against our union which was divided: the stern generals entered: the rapacious judges came in: distant war came prematurely [upon us]; lo, there was great fighting among ourselves! Before the bowmen had R.lxvi. §. 2. §. 15. come, there were invisible bowmen with us; before the swords were unsheathed to come, tongues were unsheathed with us; by hatred, that inward bow, sharp arrows did we shoot out: there was none that shot not at his brother; all of us at all were shooting. The Just One brought in evils, that He might therewith still our evils; He brought the bowmen, that the bow of envy might be stilled thereby. He shot at us visible arrows, that He might still the unseen arrows. He brought men clad in spangles, that we might put off our hatreds, that by the breastplates of them without we might put on the breastplate of truth. If He brought unsheathed swords, [it was] that they might still unsheathed tongues; if He brought the bows of Assyria, [it was] that wrath might not cast [its] arrows, that by the tinkling of the bowstring without, mocking within might grow quiet, and by the fear and mightiness of the elephants we might be not lifted up above the degraded. Penitency and humbleness let us be diligent to sow amongst ourselves, that we may quench on all sides wars hidden or visible.

Note A, on p. 391, n. e. By the Editor. "The Fathers speak commonly, as in the text, as if the whole principle of observing one day more than another was Jewish and blameable." This statement appeared to the Editor much too broad. Since the writer did not wish to make any alterations, it seemed best to state more at length what is said by the Fathers in the passages quoted. To the Editor they seemed only to apply the language of Holy Scripture, (Col. ii. 16. which speaks of the Jewish sabbath, as something past, "a shadow of things to come; and Heb. iv. 10. which points out, whereof it was a figure, the rest in Christ, "There remaineth yet a keeping of a sabbath, E. M. to the people of God," of which resting from sin is a part and a condition. The stress in the above passage should probably be on the words "as if," since the writer must have had in mind that the Lord's Day was kept from the time of the Apostles, and consequently, the Fathers could not have meant to condemn "the principle of observing one day more than another," under which they themselves were acting. Rather, there was the less risk in speaking broadly of the cessation of the Jewish sabbath, or of the rest from sin, or our eternal rest, as its spiritual meaning, without any mention of the Lord's Day, because the Lord's Day was an Apostolic Ordinance, every where observed as a chief part of Christian devotion, and which therefore could not be meant to be disparaged. The Lord's Day is mentioned in the two first passages, which speak of the abolition of the Jewish sabbath.

At the end of the second century, Tertullian speaks of abstinence from business, as a traditional religious act. "We, as we have received, ought, on the day of the Lord's Resurrection alone, [not on the sabbath,] to keep from not only that, [kneeling,] but every posture of painfulness, and to forbear offices, deferring even our business, that we give no place to the Devil. (de Orat. c. 23. p. 317. Oxf. Tr. S. Chrysostome (Hom. 43. §. 2. in Cor. 16. 1. p. 606. O. T. says, "the Lord's day hath rest and immunity from toils. In the fourth E C century, continued neglect to attend Divine worship on the Lord's Day was punished by excommunication by the Councils of Eliberis and Sardica, (see Bingham, 16. 8. 1. whom see as to further sanctions; and the Council of Laodicea A. 361. directs the mode of its observance, much in accordance with modern religious practice. (see p. 391, n. e. end. The same word is used of the rest which was not to be used with the Jews on the sabbath, and that which was to be used on the Lord's Day, and this Balsamon explains, "they are to abstain from manual labour, and frequent the Churches," and the clause "if able," he explains, "of destitution, or any other necessity. He notes also that agricultural labours were forbidden by Leo Sap. which were expressly prohibited by French Councils in the sixth cent. (The Sermon, formerly attributed to St. Augustine, (Serm. 280. App. which says, "the holy Doctors of the Church decreed to transfer all the glory of the Jewish rest (sabbatismi) to the Lord's Day," is later than the eighth cent., since it incorporates a passage of Alcuin. The Council of Trullo, Can. 66. prohibits races or any public show in the octave of Easter, being, (Balsamon notes) "as one Lord's Day. As soon as the Empire became Christian, there were Imperial decrees to secure the rest of the Lord's Day. In the beginning of the fourth cent.

were those of Constantine, closing the courts of Law, and prohibiting military exercises, followed by those of the two Valentinians, prohibiting arrest for debt, &c.; and at its close, (and so contemporary with St. Augustine and St. Jerome) are the edicts of the two Theodosii, obtained, (there is no doubt) by the Bishops, the first prohibiting shows on the Lord's Day, the other on the great Christian Festivals. (see Bingham, 20. 2. These are, of course, comments on what the Church wished to enforce. In the Council of Orleans (A. 538. there is a trace of the popular religious feeling, going, in some instances, into excess on the side of strictness. "In as much as the people are persuaded that on the Lord's Day journeys ought not to be made with horses or oxen and carriages, nor ought they to prepare any thing for food, nor in any degree to do any thing appertaining to the cleanliness [or neatness, nitorem] of either house or person, (which thing is approved to belong to Jewish rather than Christian observance) we decree that on the Lord's Day what was afore lawful to be done, is lawful. The Council then proceeds to forbid all works of agriculture, "in order that coming together to Church they may the more easily give themselves to the grace of prayer. (can. 28.)

It should further be taken into account, that the Jews, while abstaining from work, gave license to all excess and dissoluteness; and this must often be included in what is said against Jewish sabbatizing, at least in the fourth and fifth centuries; (see S. Chrysostome, S. Augustine, Ruffinus, Prudentius, S. Cyril Al., Theodoret quoted by Bingham, 24. 2. 3. Thus when S. Augustine (in Ps. 91. §. 2. says, "Our rest is from evil works, their rest is from good works. For it is better to plow than to dance. They rest from a good work; they do not rest from a frivolous work; he is contrasting only what the Jews did not and did, not implying that works in the field were allowed to Christians, although the laws of the Church which we have against them, are later. For such is the contrast in his Serm. 9. de Chordis, §. 3. "Thou art commanded to observe sabbath (rest) spiritually, not as the Jews observe sabbath with carnal idleness. For they would have full leisure for their toys and luxuries. For better would the Jew do some useful work in his fields, than be seditious in the theatre; and better would their women weave wool on the sabbath-day, than all day dance unchastely on their solars. And again, in Ps. 32. Enarr. 2. §. 6. "Observe sabbath-day, not carnally, not with Jewish luxuries, who abuse leisure to wickedness. For better would they dig all day, than all day dance.

But do thou, meditating on rest in thy God, and doing all for that very rest, abstain from all servile work," [i. e. sin. S. Augustine in Ps. 91. says, that the Jews celebrate the sabbath-day (in præsenti tempore) with a certain sickly and relaxed and luxurious ease, carnally. Bingham (20. 2. 4. renders this "in our time," as if S. Augustine were speaking of the corrupt state of the Jews in his day; but it is rather, "in this present time," looking to nothing beyond, a temporal instead of an eternal rest. (see in Ps. 22. p. 421. This profane way of keeping sabbath perhaps Justin M. has in view, (Dial. c. 12. see ab. p. 10. "Ye by idling one day think ye are religious, not understanding why it [the sabbath] was commanded you." At all events, however, negatively, the fourth commandment is not alleged by the Fathers as the ground of keeping the Lord's Day holy. It sufficed that it was an Apostolic institution, whereof there are traces in Holy Scripture, received by the whole Church thenceforward. The bearing of the several passages referred to, p. 391, n. e. is, as follows; S. Barnabas (Ep. §. 15.) is contrasting the Jewish Sabbath with the Lord's Day. "See how He saith, The sabbaths which now are, are not acceptable to Me, but those which I made, when having closed all, I shall make the beginning of the eighth day, i. e. the beginning of another world. Wherefore also we keep the eighth day in joy, wherein Jesus arose from the dead;" so also S. Ignat. ad Magnes. §. 9. "no longer keeping sabbath, but living according to the Lord's Day, whereon also our life dawned through Him, and through His death." In the Interpol. Ep. the Jewish mode of observing the Sabbath, "eating things cooked the day before, or lukewarm, walking a certain distance, &c." is specified; and it adds, "And after sabbatizing, let every lover of Christ celebrate the Lord's Day, the Day of the Resurrection, the Royal, the Sovereign of all days, &c."

S. Justin's argument (Dial. c. 12.) is that the Jews, denying the Gospel, fell short of the meaning of their own law. "Ye have need of a second circumcision, and ye think much of that in the flesh. The new law willeth you to keep sabbath always, and ye think ye are godly if ye are idle on one day, not perceiving why it was commanded you." In the Constit. Ap. vi. 23. the expansion of the doctrine of the sabbath is dwelt upon, not the keeping of one day disparaged. "He Who ordained that the sabbath be passed without working, for the meditating on the law, hath now commanded daily considering the law of creation and Providence, to give E c 2 thanks unto God." St. Clement Alex. Strom. iii. p. 201. iv. p. 204. explains the spiritual meaning of the sabbath to be keeping from sin, "if he keep the sabbath (Is. 56.) by abstaining from sin," "to me the sabbath seems to indicate continence by abstaining from evils." The other passage, strictly taken, would go against the whole principle of keeping any festivals at all, but it is plain that S. Clement means not to speak negatively, but positively that the Christian's devotion should be "at all times and in all places." "We are enjoined to worship and honour Him Whom we believe to be the Word and Saviour and Guide, and through Him, The Father, not doing this on special days, as some others, but continue our whole life through, and in every way. Of a truth the elect race, justified according to the commandment, said, 'Seven times a day have I given praise unto Thee.' Whence the true Gnostic, not in one definite place or chosen temple, or during certain appointed feasts and days, but all his life, in every place, whether he be alone, or have others who believe with him, honoureth God, i. e. giveth thanks for the knowledge of a right life." He contrasts the conduct of one who is unceasingly present with God "by knowledge and life and thanksgiving," with one who thinks of Him as circumscribed by place, so that he may be at times without Him, and day and night give himself to dissoluteness, and sums up, "we then, persuaded that God is present in all places, on all sides, passing all life as a festival, cultivate the ground, praising Him, sail hymning Him, in our whole course of life act according to His rules."

Origen, Hom. 8. in Jos. §. 2. speaks simply of the abolition of the Jewish Sabbath. "Those who follow Jesus seem to flee from legal burdens and precepts, the observation of the sabbath, the circumcision of the flesh, the killing of sacrifices. And so again, c. Cels. ii. 7. (p. 61. ed. Sp. "Was it unholy to remove men from circumcision of the body, and a sabbath of the body, and bodily feasts, and bodily new moons, and things clean and unclean, and transfer the mind to a law worthy of God, true and spiritual? in v. 59. (p. 270. noticing what Celsus had said in irony, "that the great Church admitted as true the cosmogony received among the Jews, as to the six days, and the seventh wherein, as Scripture saith, God rested from His works," he says, "as to the making of the world and the period of rest, (sabbatizing) which after it is reserved for the people of God, it would be a large, deep, mysterious, and difficult discussion. In the remaining passage, viii. 22. 23. (p. 392, 93. after having in a very eloquent passage (like one in S. Chrys. de Pentecost. i. §. 1.

said, "Now the perfect Christian who is ever in the Words and Works and Thoughts of God the Word, by Nature, His Lord, might ever keep Lord's Day," and the other fasts or festivals, Origen speaks of festivals as necessary for imperfect Christians only, yet allows them to be necessary for these, the greater part being unwilling or unable to keep all days such. "But the great body of those who seem to believe, and not being such, [perfect,] needs, for reminiscence, sensible tokens of these things; and such I think Paul meant, when he named a feast on fixed days above others 'part of a feast,' (Col. 2, 16. because a life which is ever according to the Divine Word, is not in a partial feast, but in an entire and unceasing feast. In which passage, Origen rather undervalues the blessedness of our great festivals for the most perfect, but does not disparage them for ordinary Christians. Elsewhere (Hom. vii. in Exod. §. 5. he speaks of the Lord's Day as typified in the Old Testament, and even then preferred to the sabbath. "The sabbath is the seventh day. I ask them on what day the manna began to be given from heaven, and would compare our Lord's Day with the sabbath of the Jews. For it appears from the Divine Scriptures, that the manna was first given on the earth on the Lord's Day.

For if (as Scripture saith) it was collected on six days continuously, but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, it ceased, without doubt its beginning was on the first day, which is the Lord's Day. But if this is certain from the Divine Scriptures, that on the Lord's Day God rained manna from heaven, and on the sabbath did not rain it, let the Jews understand that even then our Lord's Day was preferred to the Jewish sabbath, even then it was understood that in their sabbath no grace of God descended to them from heaven, no bread of heaven, which is the word of God, came to them, (coll. Hos. 3, 2. But on our Lord's Day the Lord ever rained manna from heaven. Yea and on this day I say, that the Lord raineth manna from heaven. Archelaus (c. Man. xliii. says that the sabbath was not abolished, but fulfilled.

Tertullian, c. Jud. c. 4. speaks strongly, denying (after Justin M. Dial. §. 19. and S. Irenæus, 4. 16. 2.) that the sabbath was before Moses, and declaring that it had ceased. "Before this temporal sabbath, the eternal sabbath was foreshewn and foretold, (Gen. 2, 3.) Let them shew, as we have already said, that Adam kept sabbath, or that Abel offering to God a holy sacrifice, pleased Him through the religion of the sabbath, or that Enoch who was translated was an observer of the sabbath, or that Noah the builder of the ark for that universal deluge kept sabbath, or that Abraham, amid the observance of the sabbath, offered his son Isaac, or Melchisedech in his priesthood received the law of the sabbath. But the Jews will say, that from the time this precept was given by Moses thenceforward it was to be observed. It is plain then, that it was not an eternal or spiritual, but a temporal command, which should at some time cease." His argument, however, is directed against the non-employment of the sabbath, rest for its own sake; as he goes on to say, "So far is this solemnity to be kept by the idleness (vacatio) of the sabbath, i. e. the seventh day," that it was broken by God's command in the taking of Jericho, and that afterwards the Maccabees, "fighting by God's command, did servile works." In Apol. c. 16. there is the like contrast of the rejoicing of the Lord's Day with the heathen way of "setting apart the day of Saturn" (the seventh day of the month) "for rest and feasting, themselves also deflecting from the Jewish custom, of which they are ignorant." (see also p. 417.)

S. Augustine (in Ps. 22. Enarr. 2. §. 6.) is speaking against Jewish dissipation, (see the passage above) and so again de cons. Ev. ii. 157. "that your flight be not on the sabbath-day," for which St. Luke has, "that your hearts be not overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness," he says, "for these drown and overwhelm the heart with carnal joy and luxury, which evil is therefore signified by the name of the sabbath, because such then was, and as it is now also, the most wretched habit of the Jews, on that day to indulge in all luxury, because they know not the spiritual sabbath." On Ps. 37. §. 2. 12. he says that the inscription "for the remembrance of the sabbath must mean not the sabbath which was observed, since we remember things absent, and that 'sabbath' therefore here means our eternal rest." c. Faust. he speaks generally of the cessation of the Jewish Sabbath, with which (18. 5.) he incidentally compares the Lord's Day.

S. Jerome in Is. (as S. Augustine in Ps. 32.) is chiefly speaking of the indolence and self-indulgence of the Jewish sabbath, or again of the strict observance of its literal provisions. On Is. 53 fin. (p. 197.) he instances as supposed practices of a carnal millennium, "to sacrifice, be circumcised, sit still on the sabbath, sleep, eat and drink to the full, and rise up to play;" on Is. 56, 2. "What sabbath He enjoins to be kept, the following verse shews; 'keeping his hands that they do no evil.' For it is of no avail to sit still on the sabbath, or sleep, or revel; but if doing good, he resteth from evil and hold an unceasing sabbath, i. e. rest from iniquity, and do those things only which pertain to the health of the soul and undertake no servile work. For he who doeth sin, is the servant of sin;" on c. 58, 13. (p. 220.) "By the law it is commanded, not to do any servile work on the sabbath, not to light a fire, to sit in one place, to do those works only which pertain to the health of the soul. Which, if we take literally, they cannot be fulfilled. For who could sit all day and night on the sabbath, not moving ever so slightly from one place; else to be a transgressor? From one command then, which in the letter is impossible, we are compelled to understand the rest also spiritually, not to do any servile work and lose freedom of soul. For he who doeth sin, is the servant of sin, &c."

S. Epiphanius, Hær. 5, 6. p. 19. mentions the typical meaning of the Jewish sabbath. "And then was the Sabbath, keeping us for the great Sabbath, i. e. the rest of Christ, that in Christ we may keep a sabbath from sin." Hær. 2. §. 7. p. 123. he puts together as "Jewish rites, Circumcision and the Sabbath," and p. 124. "that the Lord has bestowed upon us things more perfect." Hær. 30, 32. p. 159. a little enlarges p. 19. In the Expos. Fid. c. 22. he mentions the observance of the Lord's Day as an Apostolic Ordinance. S. Greg. Nyss. de Vit. Mos. speaks of the cessation of all employment as something past. "For one of the days of the week having been, for certain mystic meanings, honoured by abstinence from employment." S. Cyril (de Adorat.) gives the spiritual meaning of the sabbath, and the rest on it, with express reference to Heb. iv. 10. (l. vii. p. 227. l. x.

p. 346. l. xvi. p. 558, and 600. p. 619. he gives the like explanation of the sabbaths, wherewith the Feast of Tabernacles began and closed, as pour-traying the rest in Paradise before the fall, and that in Christ Risen on the eighth day. p. 629, 30. he dwells on the rest in Christ. The first passage will stand for the rest, "The sabbath, being the last day of the week, may signify, I think, the time of the Advent of the Lord, Who appeared at the close, and all but at the very setting of this present world; but to us He became the Beginning, and Door and Way to the washing away of sin, to freedom and remission, to immortality and life and hope to come. But manifoldly doth the faith of the Holy Scriptures hint to us this sabbath-rest in Christ. By faith in Christ, we keep a spiritual sabbath, when, ceasing from the distractions in this world, and resting from a vain whirl, and severed from wickedness, and withdrawing from the yoke of sin, we are released for a free holiness. S. Greg. Mor. xviii. 68. explains the meaning of "the Sabbath" to be "the rest of the spirit. (see t. ii. p. 369. O. T. Arethas. in Apoc. xi. 2. regards it as a prophecy, that "the Church shall be free from the legal contractedness of the minute ordinances, circumcision, sabbatizings, and other superfluous purifyings. Corderii Cat. in Ps. 91. t. ii. p. 896, 7.

preserves the scholia of Diodorus and Timotheus, who give the spiritual meaning; Diodorus, "The sabbath is as it were an image of the life in Christ and the dispensation of the Gospel, which the Saviour of the world formed once for us, changing the shadows of the law into the spiritual service. Timotheus, "By the sabbath-day, he signifies the time of the Divine Incarnation, which they who believe, have as it were the prelude of the sabbath, (foresabbatize) laying aside the burthens of sin, and taking to them the rest of the future and more perfect sabbath." It is apparent from this examination, that the Fathers 1) spoke absolutely of the abolition of the Jewish Sabbath; 2) that they did not speak of the Lord's Day as being a transfer of it; (see Dr. Routh, Reliquiæ Sacra, T. iii. p. 475. ed.) 3) yet that they do speak of it as an Apostolic ordinance; (see also Bingham 16. 2. l.) and 4) as a substitution for it; displacing it. (see S. Ignat.; Ep. S. Barn.; S. Ath. and Concil. Laod. above, p. 391, &c.) 5) that abstinence from business on the Lord's Day, as a religious duty, was an early universal tradition, and 6) enforced by the laws of the Church. According to that larger acceptance of the ten Commandments whereby they contain the summary of all moral duty, as the 6th forbids anger or spiritual murder, or the 7th all uncleanness, so the 4th enjoins the hallowing of all days, appointed by authority, whether Apostolic or of the Church. And of these the Lord's Day, of course, with the great Festivals of our Lord, holds the highest place; so that it is still the chief object and intent of the 4th Commandment. The ten Commandments, placed as the commencement of Alfred's code, are a testimony as to the 9th cent.