h the church in his time observed, that they were _pro
varietate regionum diversa_. The first who established a law about any
festival day,(214) is thought to have been Pius I, bishop of Rome, yet it
is marked that the Asiatican doctors did not care much for this
constitution of Pius. I conclude with Cartwright,(215) that those feasts
of the primitive church "came by custom, and not by commandment, by the
free choice of men, and not by constraint." So that from these, no
commendation ariseth to our feasts, which are not only established by
laws, but also imposed with such necessity and constraint, as spoileth us
of our liberty.

2. The festival days observed by the ancient church, were not accounted
more excellent than other days, for, saith Jerome,(216) _non quod
celebrior sit dies illa qua conveniumus, &c._ But our festival days are
made _aliis diebus celebriores_, yea, are taken to be holier than other
days, as I will afterwards prove.(217)

_Sect._ 3. Moreover, the proctors for holidays among us think to make
advantage of the practice of other reformed churches, and the judgment of
modern divines. But we are to consider, 1. As they have the example of
some churches for them, so we have the example of other churches for us,
for the church of Geneva in Savoy, and the church of Strasburg in Germany,
did abolish festival days, as Calvin writeth.(218) Yea, _in hac tota
provincia aboliti fuerunt dies festi_, saith he. The church of Zurich in
Helvetia did also banish them all away, as Bullinger writeth to
Calvin.(219) 2. The practice of the greatest part of the reformed churches
in observing holidays, cannot commend them in the church of Scotland, 1.
Because she did spue them out with so great detestation, that she is more
bound to abhor them than other churches which did not the like, and I may
well apply to them that which Calvin saith(220) of the ceremonies of the
Interim, to Valentinus Pacaeus, _Ut concedam faetidas illas sordes quibus
purgatae fuerunt vestrae ecclesiae, inrebus medus posse censeri: earum
tamen restitutio eritne res media?_ 2. The church of Scotland is tied yet
with another bond to hate holidays, of which other churches are free; for,
by a solemn oath sworn to the God of heaven, she hath abjured all
antichristian and popish rites, and dedicating of days particularly. When
Tilen would make answer to this argument, he saith,(221) that men's
consciences should not be snared with rash oaths and superstitio