The manifoldfinfulnefs of Pop0Holy-thys. 473 Council of Conflantinople in the Year of Chrift five hundred fifty three. Celebrata eft ( faith he ) Conflantinopoli Synodus Oecumenica quinta circa annum Cbrifli 553. in eadem Synodo dies naafis Chrifli 0' dies Puriftca- tionos Maria primumflint inflituti ut folenniter quotannis celebrarentur. Pe - zel Mellific. Hift. par. 2. fuflinian. i pag. 326. But be their Antiquity'' more or lefs, they have been abundantly teftified againft by the faith- ful Servants of Cbrift both in former and later Times. Socrates, who wrote the Hiftory of the Church above twelve hun- dred Years ago, hath a whole Chapter concerning Faller, wherein he bath many notable Arguments againft thole that contend fo much for it He faith, " that as many other things crept in ofCuftom in fun- " dry Places, fo the Feaft of Eafter prevailed amongft all People ofa " certain private Cuftom and Obfervation, feeing not one of the A- " potties hath any where prefcribed any thing about it. He fheweth alfo, " that the Apoftles have fet the Churches free " from the Yoke of Bondage, by their Letters to them, Ats 15. But- " fome neglecting thefe Things, account of Fornication, as a thing " indifferent ; yet they contend about Holy-days as it were for'Life " and Death ; they defpife the Commandments of God, and eftablifh " Canons of their own ; they fet at nought, theymake no Account of " the Law publifhed by the Apoftles, but raife a foul ftir about Days " and Months, dlrc. Thus Socrates Hiss. lib. 5. cap. 22. Which Te- ftimony of his is fo plain and panaual, that Bellarmine knew not how to rid his Hands of it, but by flying out uponSocrates, and calling him a Novatian Heretick, ( Bell. de Cultu Sani. lib. 3. -cap. t o.) which is but a poor Ihift, inftead of anfwering his Arguments, to reproach his Perfora. But the Book he hath written, I mean his .Ecclefaflical Hiflo- ry, is evidence enough for him, that he was a Man ofan excellent Spirit. It was one of the Articles held and owned by the Waldenfes, as Mr. Fox fheweth, five hundred Years ago, Conflrained and prefixed Fails bound to Days and Times, difference ofMeats, fuperfluous-Holy-days, and nÁi the rabblement of Rites and Ceremonies brought in by Man, to be abolifh- ed. Fox Ail and Mon. vol. i. p. 30o. art. 6. It was Luther'sDelire no lefs then fevenfcore Years ago, in his Book de Bonis Operibus fet forth anno i 520. that there were no other Feftival Days amongft Chriflians, but only the Lord's Day. Beza faith, Superfti- tiofum.effe docemus, arbitrari annum aliquem diem alterofanfïiorem, Bez. Confef cap. 5. art. 41. And Reverend Mr. Dod condemns it as Idolatry againft the fecond Commandment, either to pray unto the Saints, or -to fwear by them, or to dedicate let.days and times to the Honour ofthem, PPP either
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