16th Century Sabbath Observance
ENGLAND "In the reign of Elizabeth,
it occurred to many conscientious and independent thinkers (as it previously had done to some
Protestants in Bohemia) that the fourth commandment required of them the observance, not of
the first, but of the specified 'seventh' day of the week." Chambers' Cyclopaedia, article "Sabbath,"
Vol. 8, p. 462, 1537
SWEDEN
"This zeal for Saturday-keeping continued for a long time: even little things which might strengthen
the practice of keeping Saturday were punished." Bishop Anjou, "Svenska Kirkans Historia after
Motetthiers, Upsala
LICHENSTEIN FAMILY
(estates in Austria, Bohemia, Morovia, Hungary. Lichenstein in the Rhine Valley wasn't their
country until the end of the 7th century). "The Sabbatarians teach that the outward Sabbath,
i.e. Saturday, still must be observed, They say that Sunday is the Pope's invention." Refutation
of Sabbath, by Wolfgang Capito, published 1599
BOHEMIA (the Bohemian Brethren)
Dr. R. Cox says: "I find from a passage in Erasmus that at the early period of the Reformantion
when he wrote, there were Sabbatarians in Bohemia, who not only kept the seventh day, but were
said to be...scrupulous in resting on it." Literature of the Sabbath Question, Cox, Vol. II,
pp. 201, 202
HISTORIAN'S LIST OF CHURCHES (16th Century)
"Sabbatarians, so called because they reject the observance of the Lord's day as not commanded
in Scripture, they consider the Sabbath alone to be holy, as God rested on that day and commanded
to keep it holy and to rest on it." A. Ross
GERMANY
-Dr. Esk (while refuting the Reformers) "However, the church has transferred the observance
from Saturday to Sunday by virtue of her own power, without Scripture." Dr. Esk's "Enchiridion,"
1533, pp.78,79
PRINCES OF LICHTENSTEIN (Europe)
About the hear 1520 many of these Sabbath-keepers found shelter on the estate of Lord Leonhardt
of Lichtensein held to the observance of the true Sabbath." J.N.Andrews, History of the Sabbath,
p. 649, ed.
INDIA
"The famous Jesuit, Francis Xavier, called for the Inquisition, which was set up in Goa, India,
in 1560, to check the 'Jewish wickedness' (Sabbath-keeping)." Adeney, "The Greek and Eastern
Churches," p.527, 528
NORWAY-1544
"Some of you, contrary to the warning, keep Saturday. You ought to be severely punished. Whoever
shall be found keeping Saturday, must pay a fine of ten marks." History of King Christian the
Third," Niels Krag and S. Stephanius
AUSTRIA
"Sabatarians now exist in Austria." Luther, "Lectures on Genesis," A.D.1523-27
ABYSSINIA--A.D. 1534
(Abyssinian legate at court of Lisbon) "It is not therefore, in imitation of the Jews, but
in obedience to Christ and His holy apostles, that we observe the day." Gedde's "Church History
of Ethiopia," pp. 87,8
DR. MARTIN LUTHER
"God blessed the Sabbath and sanctified it to Himself. God willed that this command concerning
the Sabbath should remain. He willed that on the seventh day the word should be preached."
Commentary on Genesis, Vol.1, pp.138-140
BAPTISTS
"Some have suffered torture because they would not rest when others kept Sunday, for they declared
it to be the holiday and law of Antichrist." Sebastian Frank (A.D. 1536)
FINLAND-Dec. 6,1554
(King Gustavus Vasa I, of Sweden's letter to the people of Finland) "Some time ago we heard
that some people in Finland had fallen into a great error and observed the seventh day, called
Saturday." State Library at Helsingfors, Reichsregister, Vom J., 1554, Teil B.B. leaf 1120,
pp.175-180a
SWITZERLAND
"The observance of the Sabbath is a part of the moral law. It has been kept holy since the
beginning of the world." Ref. Noted Swiss writer, R Hospinian, 1592
HOLLAND AND GERMANY
Barbara of Thiers, who was executed in 1529, declared: "God has commanded us to rest on the
seventh day." Another martyr, Christina Tolingerin, is mentioned thus: "Concerning holy days
and Sundays, she said: 'In six days the Lord made the world, on the seventh day he rested.
The other holy days have been instituted by popes, cardinals, and archbishops.'" Martyrology
of the Churches of Christ, commonly called Baptists, during the era of the Reformation, from
the Dutch of T.J. Van Bright, London, 1850,1, pp.113-4.
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