When did the Church of Scotland first Oppose the Pretended Holy Days
- Thread starter Sam Jer
- Start date
Northern Crofter
Puritan Board Junior
First Reformation - see the Scots' First Book of Discipline, The explication of the first head:
"By the contrary doctrine we understand whatsoever men by laws, counsels, or constitutions, have imposed upon the consciences of men, without the expressed commandment of Gods word, such as be the vows to chastity, forswearing of marriage, binding of men and women to several and disguised apparels, to the superstitious observation of fasting days, difference of meat for conscience sake, prayer for the dead, and keeping of holy days of certain Saints commanded by man, such as be all those that the Papists have invented, as the feasts (as they term them) of the Apostles, Martyrs, Virgins, of Christmass, Circumcision, Epiphany, Purification, and other fond [foolish] feasts of our Lady: which things because in Gods Scriptures they neither have commandment nor assurance, we judge them utterly to be abolished from this Realm: affirming farther that the obstinate maintainers and teachers of such abominations ought not to escape the punishment of the civil Magistrate."
Would it be right to assume they extended this to Easter and it's associated feasts (i.e that the ommission of those in that statement was unintentional)?
Northern Crofter
Puritan Board Junior
I think that is a fair assumption based on statements like "the superstitious observation of fasting days" which would include things like Lent - I don't think this was intended to be an exhaustive list.
Also, you find later, in The Ninth Head, when discussing the Lord's Supper, reference to "...how superstitiously the people run to that action at Pasche* even as [if] the time gave virtue to the sacrament..." and then it lists out the times to hold the Lord's Supper - "the first Sunday of March be appointed for one; the first Sunday of June for another; the first Sunday of September for the third; and the first Sunday of December for the fourth," all of which would avoid any observance overlapping with "Easter."
*The old English word for "Easter." The word "Easter" is found only in English and German - other Germanic languages, and most European languages, use some variant of "pascha" which is a Latin transliteration of the Hebrew pesah / Passover.
Phil D.
ὁ βαπτιστὴς
I wonder if the omission of Easter in this particular instance is due to the given contextual heading, "such as be all those that the Papists have invented," as the observance of Pascha clearly extends back to the pre-Romish early church (Hislop's and others' assertions to the contrary notwithstanding...) But there is no question the Scottish church under Knox did not observe Easter, as they dissented from the Reformed Continental practice of doing so.
Northern Crofter
Puritan Board Junior
That is what I suspect - of all the pretended holydays, I can see how some folks justify observing "Easter" since, unlike Christ's birth, Scripture does give us the account of the crucifixion and resurrection relative to the observance of Passover (not that that is without problems - see the Quartodeciman controversy). But I have never met someone who celebrates Easter and not also Christmas - maybe they exist, I just haven't met them.
And like @NaphtaliPress likes to occasionally point out:
