There are a number of old resources on the Sabbath from the puritan and broader reformation era, as shown here and here .
Naphtali Press and RHB released Bownd's book in a new edition several years ago, but others remain largely unknown. I am curious as to the other books and their value today. Has anyone done a deep dive into the old literature, especially from the Puritans? Do any particular works stand out of enduring merit, and should we be retrieving more in this area?
I have been wanting to do John Wells "The Practical Sabbatarian" but havent got around to getting all the Hebrew and Greek prepped for it. L.W. will get to it within 6 months. From what I have read, it has good reviews.
...I am desirous of making my readers acquainted with "The Practical Sabbatarian; or, Sabbath-Holiness crowned with Superlative Happiness." By John Wells, minister of the Gospel.
...
The "Practical Sabbatarian" of John Wells is beyond compare the most valuable treatise on the Sabbath in the English language; yet, to the disgrace of the present day, it is so scarce a book that a copy of it cannot without difficulty be obtained. The copy in my possession was printed in 1668, in small quarto, containing nearly eight hundred pages in small type closely printed.
Clement Carlyon, Early Years and Late Reflections (1858), Vol. 4, pp. 226-227:
From an old Board post here:
I have the text of Daniel Cawdrey's and Herbert Palmer's Sabbathum Redivium. I have a first edition (big really fat quarto work) and it was typed up many years ago before the Bownd project, by a fellow PB member who needed the work. I shelved it when RHB released a photoreprint but that has been quite a few years past now as well, and having given my all in the Bownd project, didn't think the market or my resources would bear tackling it. I fancy doing it sometime; but time is the problem for now. If Bownd is the first and grandfather of all subsequent puritan works on the topic, both of the mid 19th century bibliographers of works on the fourth commandment agree that Sabbathum Redivium as the apex, not in time, but in quality as the best work or capstone from the puritans on the topic. So it'll be nice to have done the granddaddy and the apex works if I could get to it. The first part was released in 1645 during the Westminster Assembly of which both were members; the second some years later in 1652, just by Cawdrey, as Palmer had died a year or two after the first part came out. It was an elaborate production; the first part used red ink on the title page!
