The manifoldfinfulnefs of the Pope Holy-days. 465 snore, then in all the twelve Months ofthe Year betide. Hence Mr. Perkins molt truly'and jufly complains, that the Feaft of Chrifls Nativi- ty, commonly fo called, is not [pent in praifing the Name ofGod, but in Revelling, Dicing, Carding, Masking, Mw ming, and in all licentious Liberty for th'é moft part, as tho' it were force Heathen Feaft of Ceres' or Bacchus. Perk on the Creed Art. ofChrift's Birth, apud Gillefp. Engl. Pop. Cerem. part z. cap. 9. pag. 48. 2. It is an unfpeakable difhonour to his bleffed Sabbaths, for Men to fet their Days by his Days, their Potts by his Potts, their Altars by his Altars, as Jeroboam devifed a Feaft of his own Heart, like unto the Feaft that was in Judah, r Kings i z. 23. yea, as Dr. Ames obferves, they mere from their fiat vfe not only equalled unto, but extolled above the Lord's Day. FrefhSuit, part z. pag. 84. Thofe Prelates, faith Mr. Git- lefpy, that will not abafe themfelves to preach upon ordinary Sabbaths, think the high Holy-days worthy of their Sermons, Engl. Pop. Cerem. part 3. cap. i. .pag. 13. Yea, they can write Books againft the Sabbath, as Hey- lin, White, Pocklinton 'and others have done, to pluck away that Crown of Glory and Pre-eminence, which God bath fet upon that Day which he bath chofen, and they fet up their own devifed Days inftead there- of. Common Experience proveth (faith Reverend Mr. Dod on the fecond Commandment, pag. 68.) that all they which hand molt for Superflitious Holy-days, are greateft profaners of the Lord's Sabbath, and contemners of his Word. 3. They do difhonour the Wifdom and Word. of Chrift ; for Chrift the LordofTime, and the Lord of the Sabbath hath fanaified and in- ftituted the firft Day of the Week, whereon he arofe from the dead, for the Commemoration of the great Work of our Redemption by him, -and what can the Man do that cones after the King, and in thofe things that bave been already done? As Ecclef. 2. 1 z. It is a bold and deep Refle- aion upon the Wifdom of Chrift, to add thus to his Appointments, as if the Lord Jefus Chrift himfelf were not wife enough to appoint Days and Times fufficient to keep his own Nativity, Death, Refur- re&ion, Afcenfion, and all the great Things he hath done for, us, in everlafting Remembrance in the Hearts of his Saints ; but the Devil and the Pope mutt help it out. It is therefore in plain Terms a pro- fane Speech of Dr. Hammond, that when the Feftivals are turned ocit of the Church, it will not be in the Power of weekly Sermons on force headofReligion to keep up the Knowledge of Chrift in Mens Hearts. View ofDirect. and Vindic. of Liturg. pag. 31. What are not the Inftitutions of Chrift powerful to attain his own blefhed Ends, . unlefs they be pieced out with the Addition of Mens Inventions ? Surely there is no Chriftian O o o that
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