474, The manifoldfnfulnefs ofPop/i Roly -days. either by Fatting or ' Feas%ing. Dod on the Second Commandment, pag. 67.68. In Scotland they were laid afide in the firft Reformation, and have been witneffed againft by the Godly there ever fince. They were re- vived indeed by thofe Back-sliders in the Afl'embly of Perth in the Year 1618. For one of the five Articles of that Afl'embly was concerning Fe- ltival Days ; but they found little Acceptance with fuch as adhered to the Reformation of Religion, as appears by the Books and Writings of many godly learned Men againft the Aas of that Affembiy. Yea, King lames himfelf before his Apoftacy bore witnefs againft them. Right excellent was that Speech of his to a National_AfVembly in Scot- land anno 159o. He praifed God that he was King in the fincereît Church in the World, /incerer then the Church of England, for their Service was an illfaidMafs in Englifh ; fincerer then Geneva it felf, for they obferved Pafche and Yoole, that is, Eafter and Chriftmas ; and what warrant, faid he, have theyfor that. I find this Speech of his recorded in Didocla- vius his Altare Damafcenum, pag. 666. and in the Book intituled Perth .If fembly, the Proceedings, the Nullity thereof, &c. printed i 619. p. 64. and in the Re-examination of thefive Articles of Perth, printed 1636. pag. 340. How far he did fin againft thefe Enlightenings and Conviaions, and how the Bilhops did poyfon him, and pervert his Spirit in his de- clining Times, it is needlefs here to Difcourfe. But thefe were his Principles in his firfh, which were his heft Times. In England, betides the frequent Teftimonies of the Martyrs againft them, Authority hath (mitten them once and again, the Lord dually carrying on theWork of Reformation by degrees. The firft blow they received by publick Authority was by the Injun&ions of King Henry the Eighth, in the Year 1536. in the Preface whereto, he reafons thus againft them : Forafmucb as the Number of Holy-days isfo exceffively grown, and yet daily more and more by Man's Devotion ; yea, rather Su- pershition, was likefurther to increafe, that the fame was and lhould be not only prejudicial to the Commonwealth, by reafon that it is occa(ion as well of muchfloth and idlenefs, the very Nurfe of Thieves, Vagabonds, and divers other Vnthriftinefs and Inconveniences, as of decay ofgood Myfteries and Arts profitable and neceffary for the Commonwealth, and lofs ofMan's Food many times, being clean deftroyed thro' the fuperffitious Obfervance of the faid Holy-days, in not taking the Opportunity ofgood and ferene Weather offered upon the fame in the time of Harvelt ; but alfo pernicious to the Souls of many Men, which being inticed by the Licentious Vacation andLi- berty of thefe Holy-days, do upon the fame commonly Vfe and Praelife more Excel, Riot, and Superfluity then upon any other Days, &c. See Mr. Fox
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