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his writings , " there are the following probabilities , if not authorities ; joined to the obvious consideration that any one who , iike Calvin , had exploded the superstition of a Christian Sabbath , would be likelv to avail himself of the
benefit derived even to his most serious pursuits , from the occasional relief of innocent recreation . Those who have endured or witnessed , dinging the intervals of public worship , on a LordVday , the ennui , or sombrous indolence , which is sometimes
imposed on a Sabbatarian family , by a pious dread of innocent recreation , will be most sensible of its moral and religious uses . While such " stand fast in the liberty with which Christ hath made us . free , " " let their moderation be known unto all men . " But I
have mentioned authorities . Among the exiles on Mary ' s accession was Archdeacon Ay liner , who had enjoyed the honour of being tutor to Lady Jane Grey . He resided , till the death of Mary , at Strasbnrgh and Zurich . In 15 ? 6 , he became Bishop
of London , and was soon distinguished as a persecutor of the Pu ritans . These , of course , became rigid censors of the Bishop ' s conduct , and according to Strype , { Life of Aylmer , 17 01 , p . # 15 , ) 4 i they charged him , " among other improprieties , " that he was a defender of the breach of the Sabbath ,
and that he used to play at bowls on those days- The Bishop thus either justified or excused himself - that he never withdrew himself from service or sermon on the LordVdays . That
Christ , the best expositor of the Sabbath , said , that the Sabbath was made for man , and not man for the Sabbath , That man might have his meat drest for his health upon the Sabbath ; and why might he not have some
convenient exercise of his body for the health thereof on that day ? Indeed , " adds Strype , " it was the general custom in those days , both at Geneva and in all other places where Protestants inhabited , after the service of the LordVday was over , to refresh
themselves with bowling , walking abroad , or other innocent recreations , and the Bishop followed that which in his travels abroad he had seen ordinarily practised among them . " As Calvin hved till 1564 , it is highly probable that he was personally known to Aylmer during his exile .
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I add a passage which shews how the English Calvinists regarded Calvin upon this subject a century ago . Mr . James Peirce , in " the Dissenter ' s Reasons for not Writing in behalf of Persecution , " 1718 , addressed to Dr .
Snape , says , ( p . 30 , ) " Yon cannot but know , that as we never professed to make Calvin s judgment the stand * ard of truth , so we have always testified our dislike of some of his opinions . I will here mention one opinion of his , which it is vrell known has been
always disagreeable to us ; and that is concerning the Lord ' s-day . You never knew any of us profess an approbation of his doctrine in this respect , or the practice of the church of Geneva , which is founded thereon .
" Could you know we have constantly condemned his opinion in this matter ; and yet think we looked upon ourselves bound to defend him in every thing he said or did ? " Mr . Peirce and the Calvinists of his time do not
appear to have been satisfied that Calvin , in his Commentary , quoted p . 488 , had designed to recant the anti-sabbatical motions , maintained in his Institutes . Nor , indeed , does it
appear certain that he is treating on the uses of the LordVday among Christians , till the last sentence of that paragraph , on 4 t the need of a Sabbath . " If Walceus ( p . 489 ) be correct that Calvin did not write the
anti-sabbatical passages " against his colleagues and fellow-labourers in the Reformation - " this forms an additional presumption , that the Reformers , generally , were of his opinion , and that the English Puritans had the chief concern in bringing into the Protestant church the Sabbatical rigours of their Saxon ancestors . Thus would
be confirmed the judgment of the Divines of the United Provinces , p . 425 , who called «« the doctrine of the Snhhnih figmentum AnglicanvmJ" Nor is it any objection that individuals ,
among " the most estimable Dutch divines , ' as quoted by your Correspondent , ( p . 489 , ) should have adopted the Sabbatical notions of the
English Puritans . However this may be , I trust some things may have been here brought to the knowledge , or nUhcr to the recollection , of the learned author of The Serif tare I ' estinwny , which may have- a salutary influence . If , instead
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CalvMs Notion of the Sabbath . 557
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vol . xiy . 4 K
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1819, page 557, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1776/page/33/
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