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
RUSSIA (Council, Noscow, 1593)
"The accused [Sabbath-keepers] were summoned; they
openly acknowledged the new faith, and defended the same. The most
eminent of them, the secretary of state, Kuritzyn, Ivan Maximow,
Kassian, archimandrite of the Fury Monastery of Novgorod, were
condemned to death, and burned publicly in cages, at Moscow; Dec.
17,1503." H.Sternberfi,
"Geschichte der Juden" (Leipsig, 1873), pp.117-122
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 willedl 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 hholy 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.
