A co[m]parison betwene the olde learnynge [and] the newe translated out of latin in Englysh by Wylliam Turner.

¶ The olde learninge.

Certayne dayes must be appoynted wher vpon men must forbeare frō handylaboure not that the daye shulde be holyer and wor∣thyer in the which we mete together, but y^t the inordinate commynge together shulde not mynish y^e fayth in Christ. And that we maye heare the better and more commodi∣ously, the worde of euerlastynge health, & maye receaue the supper of the Lorde, and shewe to God with commune peticyon the necessite and nede of the church, and y^t we maye praye together. Ther must nedes be certayne dayes appoynted in the whiche (whyle as the busynesse of the soule is in hande) we must absteyne from prophane & housholde labours. Yet for all that we must take hede lest we lese and destroye mēs sou¦les with snares of commaundemētes: and take hede that we playe not the Iewes and obserue dayes, as they obserued the sabbath day, & the feastes of y^e new Moone, against the doctrine of y^e holy goost, (Gala. iiii.) as thoughe they were necessarye to be kepte for ryghteousnesse. For that were to cast a∣waye the lyberte of fayth, & to turne agayn to the weake and beggerly elementes and ceremonyes, and to denye Christe. The Hebrues were commaunded to kepe y^e sab∣bath

daye, but whan the lyght came, y^e sha∣dow vanyshed awaye, so that it is not law∣full now to ony man, to orden ony lawe, or make synne, where scripture maketh none, and leaueth the liberte. Collos. ii. Let no mā iudge you in the parte of the Sabbath day &c. Saynt Austen speaketh thus of y^e Sab∣bath day in his boke of true innocency: Se¦yenge y^t the kepynge of y^e sabbath daye is ta¦ken away, the which is shadowed by the va¦cacyon & rest of one daye, he kepeth a perpe¦tuall sabbath daye y^t hauynge hope of y^e rest to come, geueth hymselfe to holy workes, & doth not boast ī his own workes, as though he had receaued them of none other, & know¦legeth y^t he worketh in hym, the which euen in workynge is quyet & at reste. Therfore saynt Ierome sayeth very well, y^t in y^e newe testament all dayes be equall, & lyke holy, & that euery day is the holy daye of the resur¦reccyon, & that it is lawfull to fast alwayes and to eate the body of the Lord, & alwayes to praye. And the Apostell Roma. xiiii. wyll not that he shulde be rashly iudged, y^t which iudgeth the same of euery day. Those thin¦ges that were cōmaunded or forbydden in the law, as concernynge dayes, meates, clo¦thynges, places and persones, or outwarde

thynges, they were ordened & layd on mens neckes, for y^e tyme of correccyon: But now whan y^e grace of the gospell doth shyne, they vanysh awaye, and lyberte raigneth, where by we worship God nomore with certayne dayes prefixed, and with outwarde workes, as the Iewes dyd, but in sprete and trueth. For these ceremonyes of the lawe dyd be∣longe to the Iewes, and not to the gentyles Actu. xv. Ye maye se playnly. Mat. xii. Mar ii. Luce. xiiii. Ioh. v. and .ix. how that Christe the auctour of our lyberte, dyd intreate the Sabbath day. Therfore it were the byshop¦pes dewty to put downe some of those holy daies, y^e which christen people haue no nede of, the whiche geue occasyon to the people, both to lese theyr monye and theyr soules.