seventh day from the first beginning of the Creation they will never come to agree in the Truth but more and more differences will still rise Whereas if they all consent in the true understanding of the aforesaid words of the Commandment that the seventh day relateth to the six days of work with men and so must be the day after the six week-days of labour with People wherever they dwell Agreement then of all sides will be had That great stumbling-block given the Jews of our not keeping the seventh day according to Gods Precept and Example which doth so stave them off from affecting our Religion will be wholly taken away they cannot then but acknowledge that we keep the seventh day of the week the day following our six days of labour the very Sabbath-day pointed out unto us here in this Law They also who now stand for a new Sabbath-day who say the Sabbath-day is changed and the first day of the week to have been Instituted instead of the seventh will have no ground for such their assertion And lastly they who say the Church of Christ never observed the Sabbath since Christs Ascension and would from the practice of the Apostles and the Church of Christ argue the Abrogation of the seventh-day-Sabbath will quickly be of another mind and acknowledge that as the Jews observed that day for their Sabbath which in this Law was commanded by the Lord God so Christians also have ever done They have observed the same day the last day of the week the day following their six days of labour according to Gods example But Courteous Reader haply thou doubtest here and wouldest be satisfied that whereas God commandeth by this Law all his Obedient Children to keep the seventh day of the week which is the Sabbath day holy unto his Honour If the Jews then keep the Sabbath-day on the seventh day of the week according to Gods command How can Christians who keep their Sabbath a whole day after be said to keep their Sabbath on the seventh day of the week too according to Gods Commandment For thy satisfaction herein let me now ask thee one Question like unto thine thine answer to mine will satisfie thine own Suppose the Pope made a Decree that all his obedient Children should keep the 25. day of December which is Christmas-day holy to the honour of Christ If the French then keep Christmas-day on the 25th of December according to the Popes decree How can the English Papists who kept their Christmas-day full ten days after be said to keep their Christmas-day on the 25th day of December too according to the Popes Decree Thou wilt answer me that the French and English Papists did all of them keep their Christmas-day on the same day of the month on the 25th day of December according to the Popes Decree and that the reason why the 25th day of December with the French came to be ten days sooner than with the English was for that they began their months sooner by ten days than the English did ever since Pope Gregory altered their year The like answer I give thee the Jews and Christians all of them keep their Sabbath on the same day of the week on the seventh day of the week and that the reason why the seventh day of the week with the Jews came to be a day sooner then it did with Christians was because they began their week a day sooner than they did before and sooner than the Gentiles did and Christians now do and that did they ever since the Lord caused them after their coming out of Egypt to alter their year and their months as I have shewed in the third and tenth Chapters more fully So that if we could agree in the true understanding of the aforesaid words of the Commandment that by the seventh day is not meant the day following Gods six days of work but the day following mens six days of labour all our controversies about the Sabbath-day will soon end Wherefore to clear and make apparent unto all men that this is the true meaning and that the said words of the Commandment are so to be understood I have in this ensuing Tract First discover'd that old and rotten root from whence this error of holding the day of Gods Rest to be the same with the Jews Sabbath where-ever they lived had its first spring and that was from a meer supposal of the Earths superficies to be plain as a Champion field as is shewed fully in the 11. Chap. Indeed if the Earth be pla n every day must be the same day with all People Every of the six days at the Creation must be every where the same day of the week and so the seventh day from the first beginning of the Creation the day of Gods Rest must be the seventh day of the week with the Jews in Judea in Ophir in Spain and in all other places the which cannot be if the Earth be round as thou mayest see more at large in Chap. 11. Object But the days of the week begin sooner in some places than in other Then so may the day of Gods rest also Answ One and the same week-day doth not begin sooner in some places than in other The day which men call Sunday at Jerusalem begins sooner than the day we call Sunday here But they be not both one and the same day One and the same day is for one and the same place only If one and the same day should begin sooner in some places than in other then it must needs be that either it must begin in some one place or other first before it began in any place else either East or West thereto or else that it was infinite without any first beginning at all Either of which no understanding man will affirm much less that the day of Gods Rest begins sooner in one place than in another Secondly I have proved sufficiently that the day of Gods Rest could not be the same with the Jews Sabbath-day nor the same kind of day and that all and every of the days of the Creation were far different from week-days that were in use with the Jews or are or at any time have been in use with men To this purpose I have shewed what kind of days our week days be and what the Jews week-days be and what the days of the Creation were and how they all differ in kind from each other in Chap 2 3 4 5 6. And then what kind of day the Sabbath-day must be in Chap. 7. Thirdly I have shew'd what day the Sabbath-day is to be in respect of order and tale That it is to be the seventh day Not the seventh day from the first beginning of the Creation nor the seventh day from any set Era or Epoche but the seventh day from the time we begin the week for labour where we live in Chap. 8. Concerning which I have shewed why the Lord set the Israelites a time when they
A Brief TRACT ON THE FOURTH Commandment Wherein is Discover'd The CAUSE of all our CONTROVERSIES ABOUT THE Sabbath-DAY And the means of reconciling them More particularly is shewed 1. That the seventh day from the Creation which was the day of Gods Rest was not the seventh day which God in this Law commanded his People to keep Holy neither was it such a kind of day as was the Jews Sabbath-day 2. That the seventh day in this Law commanded to be kept holy is the seventh day of the week viz. the day following the six days of labour with all People 3. That Sunday is with Christians as truly the Sabbath-day as was Saturday with the Jews Recommended by the Reverend Dr. Bates and Mr. John How LONDON Printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside near Mercers Chappel and for Jon. Robinson at the Golden-Lyoâ— in St. Pauls Church-Yard 1692. TO THE READER Courteous Reader I Believe thou art not ignorant of the many dissensions contentions that have been among the People of God about the Sabbath-day Some stood for the old Sabbath so called by some meaning the Jews Sabbath-day Some for a new Sabbath so called by some meaning the day of Christs Resurrection And some for no Sabbath but what Magistrates do appoint No small Controversies have been between all these about the Sabbath-day as I believe thou knowest But the ground and cause of all such their Controversies and how for Peace and Agreement sake it may be removed and taken away I suppose thou dost not know both which I will discover unto thee The ground of such their differences is a misunderstanding of these words of the Commandment Six days shalt thou labour and do all thy work but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God in it thou shalt do no manner of work By the six days must be meant either the six days of Gods work or the six days of work with men either the six first days at the Creation in which God wrought and made all things or else the six work-days of the week in use with men where they live So also the seventh day must relate to the six days of Gods work or else to the six days of mens labour it must be the seventh day from the beginning of the Creation or the seventh day from mens beginning their six week-days of labour It must either be the day of Gods Rest which immediately followed the six days of his work or the day of rest with men which immediately follows their six days of work where they live They between whom the said dissensions have been and are have and do hold generally that the seventh day must and doth relate to the six days of Gods labour and not of mans It must be they all think the very day of Gods Rest the seventh day from the Creation Thus they all thought that the Jews Sabbath-day which was from Fridays Sun-setting to Saturdays Sun-setting was the precise day of Gods Rest and every of their other six days of the week to be the very same with the six days of the Creation whether they lived in Judea in Babylon in Spain in Ophyr or in any other place it maketh no matter think they Though Sunday with Christians be the day immediately following their six days of labour and on which they having laboured six days do then rest from their labour according unto Gods example Yet at no hand will they yield Sunday to be the seventh day and Sabbath of the Lord Sunday they hold to be the first day of the week and the very same with the first day of the Creation with Christians where-ever they live From this common errour sprouted out various opinions which set them all at Variance 1. The Jews and such as adhere to their superstition do will still plead for the saturday-Saturday-Sabbath the Saturday they believe to be the day of Gods Rest the day he Blessed and Sanctified they cannot conceit well of a new Sabbath they know not whence it is Though an Angel should come from Heaven and tell them that Christ the Son of God came into the World and hath taken away their Sabbath and hath established another contrary to what God the Father Instituted So that whereas before they had the seventh day for a day of rest Christ Instituted that seventh day to be a work day That whereas God the Father Blessed and Sanctified the seventh day Christ took off the â—lessing from it and gave it to the first day That whereas God the Father appointed his People to work before they did rest Christ appointed them to rest before they did work That whereas before they were to work and do all that they had to do in six days and rest on the seventh day according to Gods example Now they must rest on the first day and work the six days after which is contrary to Gods example I say if an Angel from Heaven should come and teach them thus they would not believe him 2. Some there be and they not a few Godly Precious and tender-hearted Christians who knowing that the Church of God hath ever since our Saviours Ascension observed the Sunday for their Sabbath and that not against but with the Approbation of the Apostles of Christ do slight the seventh-Seventh-day Sabbath and are tooth and nail for the first day of the week so they count Sunday to be neither can they count it otherwise as long as they hold the Jews Sabbath to be the seventh day from the Creation believing that the Apostles of Christ by the appointment of our Saviour changed the old Sabbath so they call the Seventh-day Sabbath to the Sabbath of the first day of the week so that now the Church of God is to rest before they labour and unto not from their labour 3. Some again knowing that the Jews Saturday Sabbath was Ceremonial and abrogated do thence hold and maintain the Seventh day Sabbath to be abrogated also and for that they know not any other Sabbath day appointed by Divine Authority instead thereof do inferr that Christians now in time of the Gospel are to have and keep no Sabbath-day at all Thus kind Reader I have shewed thee the ground and cause of these various and different Opinions about the Sabbath-day Whence have issued most if not all the Controversies which are now on foot between them The only mean to stop all future Controversies and briâ—g all sides to accord in one truth about the Sabbath day is to take away and wipe off from their minds the aforesaid errour which occasioned all their differences For as long as they or any side of them hold that the seventh day which God Blessed and Sanctified and commanded to be observed by all his People doth relate to the six days of Gods work and not of mans that is as long as they hold the seventh day here commanded to be the very day of Gods Rest the
had almost buried it And we reckon their performance herein very Commendable and capable of turning to publick good The discourse it self aptly serving a twofold design partly to shew the continuing Obligation upon Christians from the fourth Commandment to keep a weekly seventh day Holy to God partly to shew their no-Obligation to keep the same day which the Jews kept and do keep The former how much it tends to preserve and propagate serious Religion experience hath shewn and hath imprest upon England a laudable Character compared with the greater Latitude in this respect of divers Forreign Countries both in principle and practice even where the Reformed Religion hath obtained And for the latter it is of no little concernment to exempt some pious minds from scruple that seem sollicitous whether they ought not to return to the observation of the Jewish Sabbath For which there can be no pretence till it can be clearly shewn that the particular seventh day which the Jews were enjoyned to observe Exod. 16. was as to it's beginning and ending the very same day on which God himself rested from his Work of the Creation And that the fourth Commandment was intended to confine them and Christians in all places whatsoever to those same limits of time as Hallowed and Sacred which are things simply impossible ever to be shewn or indeed that any day can by just computation for all People and parts of the World be found to come nearer those first limits than the day which Christians do now keep Vnto which purposes we reckon what is very considerable is said in this Book And that the publishing of it anew is in this enquiring Age very seasonable as it may occasion not only a further search into the grounds here laid but also a further improvement of them William Bates John Howe THE Seventh-Day SABBATH EXOD. XX. 8 9 10 11. Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy Six days shalt thou labour and c. CHAP. I. The Division of the Text. The Artificial Day THE Lord God who made Heaven and Earth and all for the good of man made man for his own Honour in his own Image and to bear his Image in the World to his Glory done by the due observation of the Moral Law whereof this fourth Commandment is a part in which God maketh known unto man the special time and day which he hath destinated unto his Worship commanding man to sanctifie the same and keep it Holy to the Lord. In this Text are these two parts First The duty commanded which is to keep holy the Sabbath-day Secondly The care and provision had by the Lord for mans heedful keeping and observing the same in all the other words and branches of this Commandment I will first treat of the duty commanded and in it for our better observing the Sabbath-day we are to know First What the Sabbath-day is that is here commanded to be sanctified Secondly What it is to sanctifie the same or to keep it holy Touching the former of these we are to know First What kind of day the Sabbath is to be Secondly What day it is to be in order or tale Concerning the former of these There be four kinds of days which we shall meet with in Holy Scripture 1. The Artificial day 2. The Universal day 3. The Horizontal day 4. The Meridional day These terms or appellations I confess are not common but the use of them is needful for the better distinguishing them one from the other whereby it may the better appear which of these kinds of days the Sabbath-day ought to be And now I will 1. Shew what every of them is 2. How they differ the one from the other 3. VVhich of these kinds of days man is to observe and keep for his Sabbath Of the Artificial day The Artificial day as it is generally taken is the whole time between Sun-rising and Sun-setting with any People This kind of day was especially in use with the Jews They divided this day always into twelve equal parts which they called hours which hours were ever proportionable to the day In Summer-time the longer their day was the longer were their hours and at VVinter when their day was not ten of our hours yet was it twelve of theirs Of this kind of day mention is made in divers places of Sacred Scripture John 11.9 Psal 104.23 Mat. 20.2 3 6. And the hours thereof are now called Jews hours (a) Horae Judaicae And Antique hours (b) Horae Anquae for that not only the Jews but other Nations also did anciently so divide the day into twelve such hours Thus was their Dial divided into twelve hour lines whereof the fifth Persius (c) Pers Sat. 3. Quinta dum linea tangitur umbra will have to note out the fifth hour with them which is about ten of the Clock with us Martial (d) Mart. li. 4. Epigr. 8. Prima solutantes atque aloera continet hora c. also in twelve verses distinguishes the twelve hours of the day then in use in the like manner CHAP. II. The Universal day The days of the Creation Why Moses set the Evening before the Morning THE Universal day is that which is one and the same day in all places through the whole Universe as well in respect of its beginning as of its duration and ending It is not one day at one part of the Earth and another day at another part but when it beginneth or endeth any where it beginneth or endeth every where at the same time This kind of Day cannot properly be said to begin either in the East or in the VVest or at Sun-rising or at Sun-setting or at Mid-night or at Noon as other kind of days do For there is neither East nor VVest nor Sun-rising nor Sun-setting or at Midnight nor Noon in respect of the VVorld though in respect of the parts of the World all and every of these may be said to be yet so as what is East or morning to one part is West or Sun-setting to another part and midnight to one part is mid-day to another part but neither of them properly can be so said to be the whole World Such kind of days were those which Moses spake of in the first of Genesis Gen. 1.5 8 13 19 23 31. And of which mention is made in this text and elsewhere Exod. 20.11 and 31.17 Acts 2.20 Rev. 6.17 2 Pet. 2.9 and 3.7 10. Joel 2.31 In six days the Lord made Heaven and Earth c. and rested the seventh day That these days which some do term and fitly enough may be called The days of the Creation were such Universal days I will endeavour to clear by giving instances in every of them which Moses spake of in rehearsing the Works of the Creation The first of those seven days was such an Universal day when it began any where it began every where no where then was it no day nor any other than
the first day of the Creation All the Art and indeavour of man is not sufficient to find out whether the first day of Creation was Sunday or Saturday or Monday c. and therefore not whether the day of Gods Rest was Thursday Friday or Saturday Let it yet be further granted that it was Sunday on which the first day of the Creation began and therefore the day of Gods Rest must then have its beginning on Saturday No man can for all that tell within eleven hours at what time of the Sunday the first day of the Creation or at what time of the Saturday the day of Gods Rest began either here or in Virginia or in Rome Jerusalem Paradise or in any other place whatsoever whether it was at Sun-rising Sun-setting noon or at the hour of one or two c. in the forenoon or afternoon Wherefore if by the seventh here commanded had been meant an Universal day it must be then that seventh Universal day on which God Rested the which cannot be observed by men because they cannot tell on what day of their week nor about what time of their day they should begin the observation thereof Secondly an Universal day such as was the day of Gods Rest cannot be observed of all the People of God Though it should be granted what is of some believed that the day of God's Rest began in Paradise on Saturday and at the rising of the Sun there yet all Gods People cannot observe that very day For 1. The earth being Global and the true longitude of the place where Paradise was being unknown no man can tell when to begin that day in the place where he liveth We know when it is Saturday in some places it is then Sunday or Friday in some other places We know that when Christ Rose from the Grave it was then Sunday at Jerusalem in the fore-noon and we know that it was then Saturday in Virginia in the afternoon but no man can knowingly say that the day of Gods Rest beginneth on the Saturday in the forenoon with him though it be granted that it so began in Paradise 2. Though the day of Gods Rest or any other Universal day be made known unto men at what time and on what day it began in Paradise and the very place where Paradise was made known also Yet all Gods People could not possibly keep that very day of Gods Rest By reason of the diversity of Longitudes of the Places wherein they may Live they cannot keep all of them one and the same day This hath been proved unto us fully and plainly even by the opposers of the Sabbath Dr. Heylin hath even demonstrated the same that men could not possibly have kept one and the same day for their Sabbath had it been commanded (a) Heyl part 1. pag. 45 46 47 48. And further sheweth that the Jews themselves kept not the very day of Gods Rest (b) Page 125. though they had one day in seven set apart for Holy Rest and meditation Mr. Ironside also (c) Irons chap. 18. pag. 164. from the diversity of Meridians proveth that one and the same day cannot be Universally kept and therefore never commanded the whole Church One and the same day could not possibly be observed a Sabbath by all the Jews in the East-parts and West-parts too of Judea and in Babylon and in Rome by reason of their diversity of Longitudes And if it be supposed to be but two or three degrees difference of Longitude yet will that difference make the days as truly to differ from being the same as will an hundred and three though it will not make them so much to differ The like argument hath Doctor Francis White late Bishop of Ely (d) Dr. Francis White in his Treat of the Sabb. pag. 175. and divers others Wherefore sith the Universal day such as was the day of Gods Rest cannot be possibly kept by all Gods People no more than any other set particular day can it is not the day here commanded by the Lord. The Sabbath-day here commanded to be kept Holy is such a kind of day as may be known kept and observed by men wheresoever they inhabit though in many and divers Longitudes of the Earth Such as might have been kept in the Wilderness where the Law was delivered and in the East and West-parts of Canaan and in Babylon Rome Spain and in all other habitable places and therefore ought to be either an Horizontal or else a Meridional day In all places of the World none other but Horizontal or Meridional days are now or at any other time heretofore have been in use with men for measuring out unto them their seven days or week and such as are their six days of the week for Labour such ought the seventh day even the day for Holy Rest to be also The Sabbath-day with the Jews was an Horizontal day but then such were the other days of their week also and what Nation soever have their week to consist of Horizontal days ought to have their Sabbath-day to be so also In the North of Russia and of the King of Denmarks and Queen of Swedens Countreys where the Sun maketh many Revolutions at some seasons of the year between his rising and setting men cannot count their week by Horizontal days but they do and have counted their weeks by Meridional days And so do all Christians generally of what Longitude or Latitude of the Earth soever they are mete out their weeks by Meridional days then such ought their seventh day of their week to be also CHAP. VIII What day the Sabbath is to be in order or tale NOw is to be shewn what day in tale is to be the Lords day or Sabbath of the Lord and this the Law-giver himself hath plainly pointed out unto us in this Law to be the day following the six days of labour so that none need to say the knowledge hereof is hidden from us Who shall ascend for us into Heaven and bring the knowledge thereof to us that we may know it and observe it But it is clearly demonstrated unto us by the Lord God so that he that worketh with the Spade may know the same as well as he that handleth the Pen. Six days shalt thou labour and c. but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God The seventh day that is the day following the six known days of labour is none of ours it is the Lords day We may not make the Sabbath-day to be the sixth day for then we should shew our selves unthankful in not receiving the Lords own bountiful allowance nor the eighth day for then we should encroach on the Lords right and not be contented with his Liberal allowance of six days for our selves reserving only the seventh for himself much less ought we to make it the fifth or the ninth or tenth or any other than the seventh day Our weeks are not to consist
p. 197. speaking of the Pagans in general telleth us that they Worshipped the Sun Now to take off the Israelites from this Idolatry so generally practised by the Nations the Lord used divers means of which this was one that they should not have the day of the Sun for the day of his Worship but the day before that but of this in the next Chapter CHAP. X. The means God used to take the Israelites off from Worshipping the Sun THE Israelites living in Egypt were deeply tainted with the aforesaid Assyrian Idolatries which the Egyptians from them had learnt and set up Doctor Heylin proveth out of Cyril that the Jews Worshipped the Sun and Moon and Host of Heaven as in those times the Egyptians did And to the end they might acknowledge God alone to be the Creator their Sabbath day was set unto them c (a) Heyl. hist part 1.74 75 76. It is very true indeed that Doctor Heylin saith of them touching their Idolatries Insomuch that when the Lord brought them out of Egypt to be a peculiar people to himself God then used many means to draw them off from Worshipping the Sun Moon and the rest of the Planets all called the Host of Heaven whereof the Sun was the chief First God gave them a special charge that thenceforth not any of them should serve the Sun or Moon c. And that if any Man or Woman among them should be known to serve the Sun or Moon or any of the Host of Heaven then the party whether Man or Woman was to be stoned to Death without mercy Deut. 17.2 3 4 5. Secondly God charged them not to speak of those Gods or to have their names come out of any of their mouths Exod. 23.13 They might not call the days of the week by the names of the Planets the day of the Sun the day of the Moon c. as other Nations did and do for the most part but they called them thenceforth the first of the Sabbath the second of the Sabbath c. Insomuch that all the Evangelists in recording the day and time of our Saviours Resurrection say not In the morning of the day of the Sun as other Nations commonly called that time and we now In the Sunday morning but In the morning of the first day of the Sabbath so did they call our Sunday St. Paul also though he wrote to the Church in Corinth yet writing in the behalf of some Jews in Judea that were in want called their weekly meeting day not the day of the Sun as the Gentiles call'd that day but the first day of the Sabbath 1 Cor. 16.2 being the proper name thereof with the Jews It is true that St. John though he was a Jew yet writing not to the Jews but to the Gentiles lately converted (b) Diod. in loc that is to the seven Churches of Asia Rev. 1.4 called our Sunday not by the name of the day of the Sun as the Gentiles called it nor by the name of the first day of the Sabbath as he and the Jews commonly called it but he called it The Lords day John called it not the day of the Sun for he was a Jew nor did he call it the first day of the Sabbath for that he wrote to the Gentiles to whom the name of the Sabbath was odious as was the name of the day of the Sun to the Jews and we find not that Christians who descended of the Gentiles did in many years after this use the name of Sabbath in their Writings nor did the Jews use the name of the day of the Sun in theirs But John called it the Lords day being as truly the Lords day with the Churches of the Gentiles as was the Saturday with the Jews Thirdly the Lord caused them to alter their times which were measured out to them by the course of the Sun as years months weeks and days Whereas their year before began in Tisri when the Sun was in the Autumnal Equinox they must thenceforth begin the same when the Sun is most remote from it that is in Abib Abib now must be their first month and Tisri their seventh which was their first before See chap. 4. Their weeks were then wholly altered the day of the Sun which was the Gentiles seventh Sacred day as I shall shew anon See chap 15. must thenceforth be with them a common or ordinary work-day and the day which they must have for their seventh Sacred day was thenceforth to be that day which the Lord pointed out unto them by Moses that is the day following their six days of gathering Quails and Manna Ex. 16.23.26 when they were ready to perish through want of Food Also to draw the People unto an awful obedience hereto and that they might not think it to be an innovation raised by Moses as the Heathen generally thought it to be (a) Cornel. Tac. Diurn l. 21. Trog Pom. l. 36. the Lord confirmed this new order of their week-days miraculously insomuch as on that seventh pointed out unto them for their Sabbath there was no sign of Manna to be seen and the portion thereof gathered the day before and kept unto their Sabbath-day stank not The miraculous feeding them many years after this manner bred in them a custom of observing the week according to this new assignment The Lord by Moses caused them to alter the beginning of their days of the week too for whereas before they began their days as other Worshippers of the Sun did at the first appearance of the Sun in the Horizon counting the first hour of their day to begin at Sun-rising thenceforth they must begin their day for the service of God when the Sun is furthest off from his rising Sun-rising was the time when the Gentiles began their Worship to the Sun but theirs must begin at Sun-setting Their evening Sacrifice was their prime Sacrifice Psal 141.2 Their Feast of the Passover must be at the setting of the Sun Deut. 16.6 and their Sabbaths must begin with the evening from evening to evening were they to celebrate their Sabbaths Lev. 23.32 that so they may the better remember and acknowledge the Lord God their Creator and Governour that it was he and not the Sun Moon or Host of Heaven that wrought their great deliverance in bringing them out of Egypt Fourthly To bring the Israelites into the greater dislike and detestation of Worshipping the Sun towards the East as the Nations did the Lord would that they should turn their breech or back-parts toward the Sun-rising when they Worshipped him The Idolatrous Nations in those days when they Worshipped the Sun Moon or any of the Host of Heaven bowed towards the East that is towards the Sun-rising in Honour of the Sun but now in contempt of that Idolatry the Jews were to have their faces toward the West or Sunsetting and their breech toward the Sun-rising when they bowed and Worshipped God The Holy place therefore in
have kept the Sabbath on Sunday as on the Saturday St. Pauls practice taught Christians then that difference of days was taken away Unto the Jews saith he I became as a Jew 1 Cor. 9.20 When he was with the Jews he kept the saturday-Saturday-Sabbath as the Jews did Acts 17.2 and 18.4 and 13 14.42 But when he was with the Gentiles that were turned unto Christ and imbraced the Gospel he observed and kept the same seventh Sacred day they did which with them was called the day of the Sun on which day they usually met together 1 Cor. 16.2 Acts 20.7 There arose no small difference between the converted Jews and the converted Gentiles hereabout The Jews esteeming the Saturday to be more Holy than the Sunday condemned the Gentiles for Prophaners of the Sabbath because they observed not the Saturday and for that they kept the day of the Sun the Jews held them to be Worshippers of the Sun as other Gentiles were The Gentiles on the other side upbraided the Jews as superstitious for their observing their set Holy-days whereof their Saturday-Sabbath from evening to evening was one which were abolished This upbraiding and condemning one another in things indifferent St. Paul speaketh against and writeth to the contrary in his Epistle to the Romans Rom. 14.5 and to the Colossians Col. 2.16 The Jews were no more bound thenceforth by the Law of God to keep their Sabbath on the Saturday than on the Sunday The Sabbath-day by the Lord Commanded to them and to all in this Law being not this or that day but the seventh relating to the six days of our labour before-going is the seventh day of the week with all People Now that it may the better appear what the seventh day of the week is and that Sunday is the seventh day of the week with us and generally with all Christians I will shew 1. What some have held to be a week in chap. 11. 2. What a week and what the week is and what the seventh day of the week is in chap. 12. 3. The Antiquity of weeks in chap. 13. 4. What hath been chiefly objected against the Antiquity of weeks in chap. 14. 5. That Sunday was the seventh day Sacred with the Gentiles in chap. 15. 6. Why the Gentiles after their Conversion continued Sunday to be their standing day of the week for Gods Worship though it had been before Idolatrously abused to the Worship of the Sun in chap 16. CHAP. XI The Opinion of some concerning weeks How it 's hatched from the Earths supposed plainness IT hath been the general Opinion not only of the Vulgar but of the Learned also that the seventh day commanded us in this Law hath relation only to the six work-days of the Lord God and not to the six work-days with men as if the meaning of these words of the Commandment Six days shalt thou labour and do all thy VVork but the seventh day is the Sabbath to the Lord thy God so it is in the Hebrew should be thus The six days in which I wroutgh when I Created all things shall be thy six work-days in them thou shalt do all thy VVork but the seventh day wherein I rested thou shalt rest and do none of thy VVorks on any part of that day but shalt keep that day Holy it is the day of my Rest From hence they will have a week to be none other with any People but seven such days whereof the six former days be the same with the first six days of the Creation and the seventh be the same with the day of Gods Rest Weeks in use with the Jews they held to be such the first six days of their week to be the same with the six days on which God wrought and their seventh day which was from Friday at the setting of the Sun to Saturdays Sun-setting to be the very day of Gods Rest Though Sunday be the day following the six days of labour with us and on which we rest from our labour having wrought six days before yet we do not rest on the seventh day as they say according to Gods example but on the first day from Sunday to Sunday they will not have to be a week but from Saturday to Saturday only And from hence do they who deny the Morality of the seventh-day-Sabbath teach and write that the boundary or seventh day of the week must be the day of Gods Rest and that the day of Gods Rest was the very day which God Blessed and Sanctified and in this Law commanded to be kept holy and that the Jews Sabbath only was the seventh-day Sabbath which in this Law is commanded to be observed Holy and that the Jews Sabbath-day being Ceremonial and abolished by the coming of the Messias the seventh-day-Sabbath in this Law expresly commanded to be Sanctified is abolished also and not to be observed by Christians and that sith no other set day is instituted in stead thereof by any Divine Authority it resteth in the bosom of the Church or Magistrates to appoint what day they please for Gods publick Worship Though all and every of these be very false yet are they all by these men held to be even as true as their Creed they little considering from how unsound and rotten a root these and every of them have had their first spring and that is from a supposal that the Earth is plain and not round It is an odd but an Old conceit of some Philosophers which afterward was held and maintained by the Antient Fathers that the Earth was not roâ—nd but plain as a Champaign-field They thought there could be no dwellers under the earth which go foot to foot against us and that if there should be any Antipodes imagined yet them not to be Adams Posterity whom they held to have all dwelt upon the Earth and to have been all drowned except eight persons when Noahs flood covered all the face of the Earth So strong did this Opinion prevail with the said Fathers as that whoever held the contrary was counted near as bad as an Heretick Witness Vigilius whom some call Virgilius who was complained of by Boniface unto Zachary then Pope and was degraded for holding that there were Antipodes and that they had a Sun and Moon to shine unto them as well as to us This story may be seen in Aventine (a) Aven Annal Bar. l. 3. and in Baronius who sought to cover the fact with fig-leaves Now that the Adversaries to the Morality of this Law held all those tenents before-said and that they all sprang from this errour of the Earths supposed plain superficies I will next shew For the clearing whereof I need not cite many of them one may serve for all being approved by them all Neither will I tell here all that he Writes hereabout but that which chiefly concerns the point in hand Mr. Ironside a Reverend Divine and of singular gifts and Parts but overswayed by the stream of late times
they keep the same from Sun-setting to sun-setting in all places where any of them had their abode unless the surface of the Earth had been plaid and not round 9. The Jews neither did nor could keep that very seventh day on which God Rested in all places as hath been shewed But as we according to Gods example work six days and rest the seventh so did they As the Sunday with Christians was ever the day following their six days of labour so was the Saturday with the Jews 10. The Jews Sabbath-day was not the day of Gods Rest as hath been shewed Neither as it was the Saturday their seventh from their first gathering Quails and Manna Nor as it began at the setting of the Sun was it directly by this Law Commanded to any In these respects it was Ceremonial and abolished That which is expressed in this Commandment they and all else are still bound to which is that having wrought the six days of labour they rest on the seventh day according to Gods example and keep it holy to the Lord. From this neither they nor any else living is freed It is Gods Law it will be great impiety and intrenching into the Prerogative of the most high God for any Persons whatsoever and under any pretence soever to seek the alteration or change hereof or to set and appoint any other day for Gods publick Worship in the stead of that which he himself hath set and appointed If the Earth be round all and every one of the ten beforegoing are true but if plain they all must needs be false I Having now shewed the Opinion of the most concerning weeks and the ground from whence that and many other errours sprang among which this is none of the least That the day of Gods rest the precise seventh day from the beginning of the Creation was the seventh day which God Commanded his Church in this Law to keep Holy as if the seventh day which God Blessed and Sanctified and commanded us in this Law should not relate to the six days labour of the week in use with men where they live but to the six first days of the Creation and so should be with People whereever they dwell the very day of Gods Rest from whence all our many and great contentions about the Sabbath have been raised and fostered I will in the next shew what weeks are CHAP. XII What a Week is The Seventh day of the Week is the Lords day A Week is the space of time made by seven whole days without intermission By seven days I mean seven such days as are all of one and the same kind If any of them be Horizontal days they are all to be Horizontal days such as were the seven days of the Week with the Jews And if any be Meridional they are all to be Meridional days as are the days of the week with Christians The Jews Sabbath or seventh day was from Sun-setting to Sun-setting therefore so should the six days of their week be also The six days of our week are from mid-night to mid-night and therefore the seventh is not to be from Sun-setting to Sun setting but from mid-night to mid-night also The seventh day must relate to the six days before-going The seventh day which was the day of Gods Rest cannot relate to the six days of work with any People Nor can the seventh day of the week with any People relate to the six days of Gods Work at the Creation these were not of the same kind of days with the week-days that now are or at any time heretofore have been or can be in use with men as I have already fully proved See Chap. 5. That seven whole days without intermission from any time as from Sunday to Sunday or from Saturday to Saturday or from Munday to Munday is a week may appear First From the several names and appellations by which a week is called with People of several Tongues and Languages Our Antient Saxons and we from them call it Sennight and two such weeks fortnight that is seven nights and fourteen nights The Romans called it Septimana that is seven mornings taking the morning for the whole day as the Saxons did the night With the Greeks it was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is defined to be Intervallum septem dierum That is seven dayâ— The Hebrews called a week not seven nights as the Saxons did nor seven mornings as the Romans did but as the Greeks did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seven days or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a seveny of days Secondly Frequently in Holy Scripture seven days from any set time is counted a week Laban bade Jacob fulfill her her week Gen. 29.27 meaning the seven days of Leas Marriage Such was the usual time for Marriage-feasts in those days Judg. 14 10 12. If a Woman was at any time delivered of a Man-child she was to be unclean seven days or a week but if she was delivered of a Maid-child Lâ—v. 12.2 5 she was to be unclean 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is two weeks And so is it in our last Translation The Lord appointed the Jews to count for their feast of Pentecost called their feast of Weeks thus On the morrow after the First-day of the Passover which never fell on the same day of the week two years together shalt thou number unto thee seven weeks Levit. 23.11 15 16. Deut. 16.9 So that it is evident that these their weeks for meting out unto them their Feast of Pentecost began from different times or days of their Sabbatical week Thirdly seven days so succeeding each other as that their boundary be the seventh day every indifferent man will grant to be a week But such may be from any set time or day Such were the seven days of unleavened bread they began sometimes on Monday and sometimes on Tuesday and sometimes on other days and never two years together on one and the same day of the Jews Sabbatical week Yet were those seven days a week with them even their week of Sweet Bread the boundary whereof was the seventh day Lev. 23.8 Deut. 16.8 Exod. 12.16 There is no difference made either in respect of Letters Vowels or Accents between the seventh day of the week of sweet Bread before-said and the seventh day of their Sabbatical week which with them was the Sabbath-day of the Lord. The like is to be said of the weeks appointed to their Priests for their judgment in the case of Leprosie Lev. 13.5.27 And of the weeks of Daniels mourning Dan. 10.2 3. By all which it is clear that a week is seven days succeeding each other from any set time or day and that if the first day thereof be known the seventh day of the same will be known also Next We are to know what the seventh day of the week is being the day here in this Law commanded to be kept Holy There is much difference between a seventh day and
Honour of their greatest God the Sun rather than that which before was held to the Honour of God the Creator Surely not any other And when the Assyrian and Chaldean Powers had as much as in them lay robbed God if I may so say of his Titles Attributes Providence Works of Creation Government and Worship and gave the chief of all their spoils to their chiefest God the Sun Nimrod giving him the name Baal (a) Jo. Greg. Assyr Monar which he afterwards assumed to himself (b) Biblian Belus giving him the name Jove Jehovah in the Hebrew the which he assumed afterward unto himself and was called Jove Bel. They called the Sun God and held him the God of Gods and Lord of Lords and Governour of all things and that the World was not Created but was from everlasting governed by the Planets the Sun being Chief and Soveraign Ruler Would they not do the like may any one think with that day which was held to the Honour of the Creator All that was known to be for the Worship and Honour of God the Creator they gave to the Honour of the Sun and therefore doubtless they deputed to the Sun that day also Again When they assigned to every of those Gods the several days of the week no indifferent understanding man but will conceive that they would Dedicate to their greatest God the Sun the day held before to the Honour of the great God of Heaven and Earth rather than to the Moon Mercury or other inferior Gods So that most likely the seventh day with the Patriarks was none other but that which afterwards was the Suns day with the Assyrians and from them was called the day of the Sun with other Nations also as the other week-days were called by the names of the other Planets and so by custom have they continued to be called with all Nations of any note for Civility and Knowledge except with the Jews only who after their coming out of Egypt had another day assigned unto them for their seventh Sacred day and had a special Command given them not to make any mention of those Gods of the Nations nor to have their names at all in their mouth as I have shewed before 2. Sunday was the seventh day of the week with the Gentiles as may be Collected from the Pens of many Learned Authors as well Christian as Heathen Aug. Steuchius in Gen. 2. Speaking of the seventh day affirmed that it was in omni aetate inter omnes gentes venerabilis sacer The like do Chrysostome Beda and other more whose words I have before in the 13. Chapter expressed Also amongst the most Antient Poets divers of them do testifie the same as Linus Callimachus Hesiod and Homer who was above two hundred years before Eudoxus knew what Astrology was All of them were Heathen yet all of them spake very laudably of the seventh Sacred day Their words for brevities sake I will not here rehearse sith they are to be seen and are urged by many Writers as namely Clem. Alexand. Strom. l. 5. Euseb de Praep. Evang. l. 13. c. 17. Rivetus in Gen. c. 2. and in his Dissert de Origine Sabba Also Dr. Heylin in his History of the Sabbath part 1. c. 4. Now the seventh day so laudably by them spoken of was the day of the Sun For 1. It was not Saturday the Jews seventh day The Gentiles liked the Jews Saturday as said a Papist the Devil doth Holy-water It was counted by them a disdainful novelty their Poets commonly would have one lash or other at the Jews for it and never spake in honour thereof 2. The Adversaries themselves do grant that the day of the Sun was the seventh day and Sacred also with the Heathen but here 's their evasion The seventh day Sacred to the Sun with the Heathen say they was the seventh day of the Month and not the seventh day of the week Now that the day of the Sun was the seventh day of the week with the Heathen and not the seventh day of the month thus I prove 1. Clemens and Eusebius both alledge the said Poets to shew that the Gentiles had the seventh day of the week Sacred with them 2. Other Authors generally take Sunday with the Gentiles for a week-day and not for the day of a month 3. Had the seventh day Sacred to the Sun been the seventh day of every month as they affirm the Greeks doubtless would have noted the same down in their Calenders Though they could not set down constantly the seventh day of the week by reason of their intercaling so many days at a time no more than others then could do and no more than we can set down the moveable Feasts that were with us unless it be in a yearly Almanack before that Julius Caesar had corrected the year Yet never shall we see a Calender in which the Principal immovable Sacred days were omitted Now there is an Antient Attick Calendar to be seen in Scaliger de emend temp wherein things of less consequence are noted but this seventh day Sacred to the Sun in each month cannot be found 4. Dr. Francis White and Dr. Heylin also tell us (b) White of the Sabbath p. 197. Heyl. par 2. p. 53. that Christians of the first Ages because they kept the Sunday for their Sacred Services and bowed Eastward in their Worship were upbraided for Sun-Worshippers though they neither Worshipped the Sun nor called their day of Worshipping God Sunday but the Lords day being their Sabbath Sacred day of Rest to the Lord. Surely if Sunday had not been with the Heathen who were Sun Worshippers indeed a weekly service day but the seventh day of the month only there had been no cause or ground why either Jew or Gentile should have cast such an aspersion on them of being Worshippers of the Sun 5. This may further appear by the decree of Pope Milchiades whom some call Miltiades the last of all the Popes that were Martyrs He to make a clear difference between the observation of Sunday by Christians and the observation of Sunday by the Heathen ordained that all Gentiles who were converted and were Christians should not fast on the Sundays nor on Thursdays as the other Gentiles did Note that as Wednesday Friday and Sunday were now in late times called Sacred or Prayer-days so were Thursday and Sunday in old times on which days they filled not themselves as on other days till their Sacred Services were ended The decree Sever. Binius on the Life of the said Pope sets down thus Jejunium verò Dominici diei quintae feriae nemo celebrare debet ut inter jejunium Christianorum Gentilium veraciter c. He would not that Christians should fast on the Thursday and on the Lords day called by the Gentiles Sunday that so there might be an open and apparent distinction between Christians and the Heathen in the observation of those days From which time
till of late our Tables have testified obedience to that decree being usually furnished with more variety of Dishes on the Sundays and Thursdays than on any day of the week besides If any one here say that these days were not Sacred but Fasting days because Binius call them jejunia I would have him informed that Sacred days were with the Heathen called Fasts because they abstained from feeding themselves till their Services were ended the like did the Jews yea and Christians too in old time Trogus Writing the Customs of the Jews when he would tell us that Moses ordained the Saturday being the seventh day with the Jews to be a Sacred day perpetually he thus expresseth the same Septimum diem more Gentis Sabbatum appellatum in omne aevum jejunio sacravit Moses (a) Trog li. 36. Dr. Heylin sheweth plentifully that the Heathen Poets and others called Sacred days Fasting days (b) Heyl. part 1. page 102. But to put us out of doubt that the Thursday and Sunday were not only fasting days but Sacred also with the Heathen Platina resolveth the case who on the Life of the said Pope sets down his Decree thus Miltiadis institutum fuit né Dominico neve feriâ quintâ jejunaretur quia hos dies Pagani quasi sacros celebrant Whereby it appears that Sunday was a Sacred day not of the month but of the week with the Heathen 6. Lastly The Testimonies of divers Learned Writers shew that the day of the Sun with the Gentiles was a week-day even the same which we call the Lords day Sozomen telleth us that Constantine commanded Dominicum diem quem Ebraei primum Sabbati appellant Graeci Soli deputant c. à cunctis celebrari (c) Soz. Eccl. hist li. 1. cap. 8. Constantine then held that the day which the Heathen then Greeks deputed to the Sun was the very same which we call the Lords day Justin Martyr in several passages called the Lords day no otherwise than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as then the Gentiles or Greeks called it saith Dr. Heylin (d) Heyl. part 2. page 62. and we call it now Bonaventure acquaints us how Christians spoiled the day of the Sun of its Idolatrous Worship and so kept it in honour of Christ Secundum Gentiles dies Dominicus primus est cum principio illius diei incipit dominari principalis planeta Sol propter quod vocabant eundem diem Solis exhibebant ei venerationem Ut ergo error ille excluderetur reverentia cultûs Solis Deo exhiberetur praefixa fuit Dominica dies quâ populus Christianus vacaret cultui Divino (a) Borav in 3. Distin 37. Cael. Rhodigin lect Antiq. li. 13. cap. 22. thus sheweth Nos jure optimo diem quem Mathematici Solis vocant Domino ascripsimus dicavimúsque illius cultui totum mancipavimus It seemeth by these that Christians at first devested the Sun of the Worship given him on the day of the Sun and gave the whole right of Worship on that day unto the Lord God They served the day of the Sun as the men of Israel were to serve their Captive Maidens the things that grew excrementitiously on them as hair and nails were to be shaven and cut Deut. 21.12 and so cast away c. and then the men lawfully might keep and use them So Christians of the first Age after Christs Ascension pared off and cast away what did excrementitiously if I may so say grow on the day of the Sun as the Adoration and Superstitious Services given to it on that day and then they lawfully might and did make use of the same and it became their standing service-day unto Gods honour Divers other Testimonies of sundry Authors may be given to prove the day of the Sun with the Gentiles to be not their seventh day of the month but the seventh day of the week all which I here omit only I referr the Reader for his further satisfaction to Doctor Heylins History of the Sabbath (b) Heyl par 2. pag. 53 61 62 63. wherein he sheweth that not only the days of the Moon of Mars of Mercury c. with the Gentiles were the same which we call Munday Tuesday Wednesday c. But also that the day of the Sun is the same which we call Sunday proving the same out of Tertullian Justin Martyr Saint Augustine and others Quest But here it may be demanded that sith the Sunday was the day Sacred with the Heathen Dedicated to the Sun and to the dishonour of God so much abused by their Heathenish Superstition and Idolatry Whether Christians in the Apostles time or afterward should not have done well to have chosen Friday or Saturday or some other day for their standing day of the week for Gods service rather then the Sunday Answer To alter or change the Sabbath from the seventh day and to make it the eighth ninth sixth or any other than the seventh which is the last day of the week is against the express Law of God as before hath hath been shewed though it be no where forbidden to alter the whole week by beginning the same sooner or later Secondly They lawfully might and did alter and change both the name and also the Worship or service done on that day for they called it no longer Sunday unless in their common talk with the Heathen but they called it the Lords day being the day which the Lord in this Law commanded to be Sanctifyed Neither did they adore and Worship the Sun any more on that day but the Lord their Creator and Redeemer Thirdly It is true that all the week-days were abused to the Idolatrous Worship of the Planets though not in the like degree as was the Sunday And that one day in it self was no more holy than another Yet Christians should not have done well in changing or in their endeavouring to have changed their standing service day from Sunday to any other day of the week and that for these reasons 1. Because of the contempt scorn and derision they thereby should be had in among all the Gentiles with whom they lived and toward whom they ought by St. Pauls rule to live inoffensively 1 Cor. 10.32 in things indifferent If the Gentiles thought hardly and spake evil of them for that they ran not into the same excess of riot with them 1. Pe◠4.4 what would they have said of Christians for such an Innovation as would have been made by their change of their standing service-service-day If long before this the Jews were had in such disdain among the Gentiles for their saturday-Saturday-Sabbath which the Gentiles held to be a singularity and innovation brought in by Moses insomuch that Jeremy lamenteth the same Lam. 1.7 How grievous would be their Taunts and reproaches against the poor Christians living with them and under their power for their new set Sacred day had the Christians chosen any other than the Sunday Had Sr. Francis Drake
and Captain Cavendise and their companies who Travelled round the Earth with them either out of tenderness of Conscience or else out of obstinacy continued to keep that Sunday Sacred which fell to them by course and true tale of the days succeeding each other they must needs have had their Sunday on our Munday and our Sunday would be their Saturday When it was holy day with them it would be working day with us and holy day with us when they would work So Tacitus said of the Jews Profana illic quae apud nos sacra rursum concessa quae nobis illicita (a) Corn. Tacit. Diurnal li. 21. Now how unquiet may any one imagine should those Travellers have lived among us as long as our Sunday was a week-day with them Would not every Ballad-maker have had them in their Rimes Would they not have been a by-word with all and every Apparator would be ready with a Citation for them And can we conceive that Christians at first should find more favour from the Heathen for their wilfulness which was less excuseable 2. Most Christians then were either Servants or of the poorer sort of People and the Gentiles most probably would not give their servants liberty to cease from working on any other set day constantly except on their Sunday 3. Had they changed their seventh day from their Sunday to another day there must have followed an unsufferable confusion in the count of the week-days with whom they lived as for example had Sir Francis Drake and his company observed at his return the weeks which by his exact account fell to them by course and not have changed them and made them the same with our weeks there would have followed a miserable confusion even in their own families The third day of the week with some must have been the fourth with others of the same family And never a day would have been the same with them all The like would it have been with the Christians and Gentiles with whom they lived if they had changed their seventh standing day for Gods Worship which was Sunday for another 4. Because had they assayed such a change it would have been a Testimony against them of slighting the Glorious Resurrection of our Lord and Saviour The Sun of Righteousness Mal. 4.2 who on the Sunday most Triumphantly Rose from the Dead for the Justification of all his People 5. It would have been but labour in vain for them to have assayed the same they could never have brought it to pass For 1. They had no authoritative specification of any set day either by Jesus Christ or by his Apostles on which they ought to keep the Lords day Had there so been St. Paul would never have prest the indifferency of days as he did Rom 14.1 2 Col. 2.16 nor would he himself have with the believing Jews kept the Saturday Acts 13.14 42.17 2 18.4 and with the Christians by Christians I mean the Gentiles converted to Christ have kept the Sunday Acts 20.7 1 Cor. 16.2 neither would the believing Jews have remained so obstinate but would have kept that day for their Sabbath which was so pointed out unto them if there had been such Whereas they for the generality of them would never be withdrawn to keep any other than their Saturday for their Sabbath hundreds of years after the Apostles days 2. They had no coercive Power to draw refusers to the observation of any other day for the Lords day had they been so disposed to have set any other 3. Christians were not all of one City or of one Countrey or of one Nation Tongue or Government It would have been even a miracle to have gotten all Christians in all parts of the World to have observed one and the same day for the Lords day with them all which should be chosen not by a general meeting or by a general consent but by some of them only had they chosen any other than the day of the Sun which they were generally before their Conversion accustomed to keep The People of Israel were but one Nation all of one Tongue and severed from all other People and also had Moses their Captain-General yet Moses should never have withdrawn them from their old accustomed day to the observation of the Saturday-Sabbath different from the custom of all other Nations had not the Lord God miraculously in the fall of Quails and Manna Exod. 16.12 16 22 23 26. shewed that it was his good pleasure so to have it when he assigned unto them their six days for their labour and so pointing out to them the Saturday being the seventh from their first gathering Quails and Manna to be the day of Holy Rest unto the Lord. Sylvester the first Pope of that name when out of his hatred to the memory of the Heathen Gods he would have changed but the names of the week-days decreed them to be called by the names of Feriae as hath been before shewed though he was of great Authority and Command and highly beloved of the People yet he could not prevail herein but with very few except Schollars the vulgar People in their common talk called their week days as they did before by the names of the Planets and so have they continued to call them even to this day The Jews are now a weak People yet there is not a Prince or Power on earth able to withdraw them from their Superstitious Custom of keeping the Saturday Sacred yea the believing Jews as was shewed in the Apostles time and in many years after could not be won by any means that the Christians might use to give over their saturday-Saturday-Sabbath and for Unities sake to keep the Lords day on the Sunday except a very few of them who better knew and acknowledged their liberty by Christ How impossible may we then think it to be for any to bring to pass that all Christians in all quarters of the World should leave off their observing the Sunday Sacred and have another day instead thereof In vain therefore would it have been for poor Christians at first to have assayed the same These reasons if there were no more may suffice to shew that although all days be in themselves indifferent yet Christians should not have well done had they endeavoured to have changed their seventh Sacred day from Sunday to any other week-day no not to Thursday though it was the day of Christ his glorious Ascension nor to Friday though it was the day in which Christ paid our Ransom but better to retain the same day as they did and which the Church of Christ hath since that kept even to this present time and by Gods Grace will so do unto the end CHAP. XVI The Sabbath-day is to be sanctified Works of Piety Government and of Nature only are to be done on the Sabbath-day c. the necessary helps thereunto THere hath been before shewed that the Sabbath day in this Law commanded to be kept holy
beginning of the Creation nor from any set Epoche For then it would have put the most skilful Mathematicians to a stand for the finding out when this seventh day should begin but it is the day following the six days of labour In what Countrey soever a man is though he is not well skilled in the Language of that place and doth not understand what the names of the week-days signifie yet if he can tell which be their six work-days he may then tell also which is their seventh day It maketh not much by what names the days of the week be called nor what the signification of either or any of the week-days should be The seventh day of the week with Christians hath been called by divers several names and that even by Christians themselves such as these Sunday The Lords day The first day of the Week And in latter times it hath been called also the sabbath-Sabbath-day but in the first times Christians would not call it the sabbath-Sabbath-day because all the Gentiles detested the name of Sabbath as the Jews did the name of Sunday as before is shewed Neither could they relish this name for a good while after their Conversion It is not much matter by which of these names we call our seventh day nor whether we understand the signification of the name as what Sunday or The Lords day or The first day of the week do signifie or why we do so call our seventh day Though he do not know it to be called Sunday from our Heathen Ancestors who called this day so in honour of the Sun whom they Worshipped nor know it to be called the Lords day because it is his Sabbath who Sanctified it nor know it to be called the first day of the week for that the Jews called this day the first of the Sabbath and so was called by them in Sacred Scripture and for that the latter Translators of the Bible would have this name by which the Jews called it to be in our Tongue called the first day of the week So as that now we count it not the day of the Sun as our Heathen Ancestors did nor count it to be the first of our work-days or first in order and tale of our week-days as the Jews did The name of the day doth neither add or alter any thing of the nature thereof Thirdly Here is set down the equity of this Law It is so reasonable that none need complain The Lord alloweth man six days and reserveth but one for himself Six days shalt thou labour and do all that thou hast to do but the seventh day is the Sabbath How unreasonable are such who are not contented with the Lord 's liberal allowance but incroach on the Lords day also which he reserved for his own honour and worship Fourthly In that the Lord did in many words set down so punctually 1. The works from which men are restrained 2. The persons who are restrained The works forbidden are all kind of Trades Professions and Occupations which on other days men do or may use for getting their living and maintenance There is no word in English which doth so fully express 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which here the Lord forbiddeth to be done as doth Function Art or Occupation as I shewed before so that none can excuse himself saying that his Profession requireth little or no labour of the Body as do Husbandry and divers other Handicrafts for God forbids 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all Vocations Functions or Occupations Men ought to abstain from all their works of what Profession or Vocation soever they be Yea these works are not only forbidden in respect of the labour of the hand but of the Tongue and mind also we should not be talking of them neither should our hearts and minds run on them on the Lords day As God for the furtherance of Mans true Obedience to this Law hath fully shewed the works we are forbidden to do so doth he also as fully and in many words shew who are forbidden to do any of these works Thou nor thy Son nor thy Daughter nor c. Whosoever hath any authority and command over himself must not only be careful that he himself abstain from his labours but also if he hath authority and command over others as Son Daughter Man or Maid Ox or Ass he is to see that they also cease from all work-day labours on the seventh day he is not to imploy any of them He nor any of his may imploy either Ox or Ass nor lend or let them to hire for their labour on the seventh day or on any part of that day The Lords expressions are large herein that so all pretences and excuses may be taken away Fifthly The Lord sheweth here and would have us to know that we have no right unto the seventh day nor to any part thereof for doing of our own works thereon for the seventh day is the Lords day and not ours it is The Sabbath of the Lord thy God as it is in this place in our Bibles so Translated it is saith God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Sabbath to the Lord that is a Rest or Cessation to the Lord as before I have shewed See chap. 8. It is a day Holy to the Lord and therefore none other than the Lords All the Tithe of the Land whether the seed of the Land or of the Fruit of the Tree in the time of the Law was the Lords Levit. 27.30 and so was the Tithe of the Herd or of the Flock even of whatsoever passed under the rod verse 32. for the Tithe of all these were Holy to the Lord verse 30 32. and therefore they were the Lords they were his Seed his Fruit his Lambs c. One Lamb was no more Holy than another when they fell from their Damms and before they were Tithed out the Possessor of them might have mingled them at his pleasure he was not tied to begin his Tithing at one Lamb rather than at another but from what Lamb soever he began every tenth Lamb that in order passed under the Rod was the Lords he might not then change it nor search whether it was good or bad verse 33. it was then Holy to the Lord it was the Lords Lamb and of such as detained the tenth the Lord complained that they had robbed him Mal. 3.8 9. And so I say concerning the seventh day in the like sense that one day of it self is no more Holy than is another Christians were not tied by any Divine Law to begin their week or sevening from any set particular time but they continuing their accustomed week and so beginning their sevening from the day of Christs Resurrection the seventh from thence in an orderly course is Sacred to the Lord it is the Lord's day no man upon his particular occasions may change the same he may not say My business is such that I cannot keep this Sabbath-day but I will keep another day in the