The Seventh-day Men: Sabbatarians and Sabbatarianism in England and Wales, 1600-1800

Abstract

‘The Seventh-day Men’ was a title given by contemporaries in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to an emerging body of Christians who observed Saturday, rather than Sunday, as the divinely appointed day of rest and worship. This is the first fully documented history of the Sabbatarian movement in England and Wales in the two centuries following the Reformation. Drawing on many rare manuscripts and printed works, Dr Ball provides clear evidence that the movement was far more extensive than is often recognised, appearing in more than thirty countries. The author suggests that the origins of the movement can be traced as far back as the Celtic tradition, and shows that the first ‘modern’ Sabbatarian appeared as early as 1402. He also explores the reasons why the movement declined in the eighteenth century. As the first comprehensive study of the subject, this book establishes the Sabbatarian movement as a significant strand of thought in the history of English Nonconformity, with considerable influence on the religious life of the period.