the Feast of Unleavened Bread For though it were the fourteenth day at evening yet it was the fourteenth day not the fifteenth And Luke 23. 54. the evening after our Saviours Crucifixion on the sixth day when it was late at night as was shewed before and must be according to the story of what had been done before that time was yet but the preparation not the Sabbath the Seventh day being not yet begun For so we have it it was the preparation and the Sabbath drew on And the Women were then preparing their Spices and Oyntments yet rested the Sabbath day according to the Commandment So that the Sabbath day was not yet begun nor was it ended when the evening of the next day began but on the morning of the day following as was shewed above And as we shewed at large before the first day of the Week on which Christ rose began very early in the morning while it was dark and continued the same day till very late at night And this is the constant Language of the New Testament every where So that when the Congregation of Christians Acts 20. 7. did on the first day of the week assemble to break Bread and Paul Preached to them continuing his Sermon till Mid-night this must needs be on what we call Sunday and the morning following was Munday morning not Sunday morning as this Author would have it 'T is manifest therefore that there was a Religious Assembly of the Christian Congregation at Troas on the First day of the Week for celebration of the Lords Supper and Preaching and Paul with them Which I take to be the celebration of a Christian Sabbath However this he says is but One Instance True this is but one But we have heard of more before and shall hear of more by and by But this one is more than he can shew for more than Two Thousand Five Hundred Years from God's resting on the Seventh day Gen. 2. 3. till after Israel was come out of Egypt Ex. 16. during which time he would have us think the Seventh-day Sabbath was constantly observed And if he could shew any one such instance of Enoch Noah Abraham or other where such a Religious Assembly for the Worship of God was held on the seventh day in course from the Creation he would think his point well proved though no more were said of it than is of this Whereas now as to the time from thence to the Floud he brings no other proof but that Abel and Enoch and Noah were good men as no doubt they were and therefore it is to be presumed they kept a Sabbath and that upon the seventh day Which is to beg the question not to prove it From thence till Israels going into Egypt all that he brings to prove this matter of fact is but that of Gen. 13. 6. where speaking of Abram and Lot with the multitude of their Cattel it is said the land was not able to bear them that they might Dwell together for their substance was great so that they could not Dwell together and there was a strife between the Herd-men of Abrams Cattle and the Herd-men of Lots Cattle c. They could not Dwell together that is saith he they could not Rest together that is they could not keep a Sabbath together therefore he concludes they did use to keep a sabbath and that Sabbath was the seventh day in course from the Creation And is not this a goodly proof I should think if he would put a stress on the word Rest it should rather signify they could not live quietly together without their herd-mens quarrelling about their Pasture for so it follows in the next words there was a strife between their herds-men From thence till after their coming out of Egypt he brings no other proof but that of Ex. 5. 4 5. Where when Moses and Aaron had been pressing Pharaoh to let Israel go three days Iourney into the Wilderness to keep a Feast and Sacrifice to the Lord their God Pharaoh replies Wherefore do ye Lett or hinder the People from their Work you make them rest from their Burdens or you take them off from their Work that is says he you make them keep a Sabbath For the Word or Verb there Translated you make them Rest is he tells us a derivative from another Verb which signifies to Rest from which Verb the word Sabbath is also derived They did therefore Rest saith he that is keep a Sabbath and that Sabbath was every Week and it was on the seventh day in course from the Creation Alas how little do either or both of these places prove of what he would have to be granted him thence He tells us sometimes there were other Sabbaths besides that of the seventh day I am sure there were other Restings If Moses and Aaron had desired Pharaoh to excuse them from their Work one day in seven that on such day they might serve the Lord their God it would have looked like an Argument But when it is to go three days into the Wilderness to keep a Feast to the Lord what is this to a Weekly Sabbath This Seventh-day sabbath so runs in the mind of this Author that if any where he can lay hold of the word Rest it must presently prove a Seventh-day-sabbath Else who would have thought that because Abram and Lot could not dwell quietly together therefore they must needs keep a Sabbath and that upon the seventh day and in course from the Creation And the like of the Israelites in Egypt because Moses and Aaron are said to hinder them from their work Therefore they did constantly keep a weekly Sabbath and that upon the seventh day in course from the Creation He might have to better purpose alleged Pharaoh's seven fat kine and seven lean ones and the seven full Ears of Corn and seven empty for here we have the number seven signalized only these were Seven Years not Seven Days and the like of Nebuchadnezzar's being seven years turned out to the Beasts of the field Dan. 4. 25 32 33. Or that of the Clean Beasts and Fowls coming into the Ark by sevens Gen. 7. 2 3. But what is more to his purpose and which he should not have missed is that of Gen. 7. 4. and Gen. 8. 10 12. where we have the interval of seven days particularly mentioned For yet seven days and I will cause it to rain upon the Earth c. Chap. 7. 4. where God gives to Noah just a Weeks warning of the time when the Floud should begin during which interval if those days were Sabbath days he might remove himself and what was necessary into the Ark before the next Sabbath And toward the end of the Floud Noah sends out the Dove Chap. 8. 8. And he staid seven days and again sent forth the Dove ver 10. And he staid yet other seven days and sent forth the Dove c. ver 12. Where we have the Dove sent out three
Congregation met together on a Religious account for the Service of God But let it be called if he please a Religious Discourse of the Holy Apostle to a Congregation of Christians met together for such a purpose He would then have it thought a favour or condescention to admit this breaking of bread to be meant of the Lords Supper and not barely a Common eating But since he doth not deny it we will accept the favour and take it so to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Disciples being congregated or assembled to break Bread 'T is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Disciples not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some of them and they were perhaps not every one but the generality of them as at other meetings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 congregated or assembled and it seems to be a good full Congregation by Eutychus's being mounted to the third loft whatever he meant by that third loft though but the third scaffold so high that by a fall from thence he was in great danger of being killed Now it is not likely that such a Congregation of Christians were thus assembled for common eating He says Paul was to go away on the Morrow True But it is not said they came together to take leave of Paul but came together to Break Bread Paul's going away on the Morrow might be the reason and I believe was why they continued there so long but the End for which they came together was to Break Bread and the occasion of their so coming because it was the first day of the Week On which it should seem they were wont so to do for that end And if he candidly consider it methinks it should seem so to him Paul came to them at Troas in five days where he abode seven days And on the first day of the week when the Disciples came together to break Bread Paul preachea to them Doth not the fair prospect of the place import thus much that they were then met to break Bread as being the first day of the week What other occasion was there of mentioning what day of the Week it was It had been otherwise a fairer transition to have said He staid there Seven days and on the Seventh day or the last of those Seven the Disciples came together to take leave of Paul and Sup with him over night who was to depart on the morrow Now if it had been said on the Seventh day though meaning but the last of those Seven it would no doubt have been urged as a great argument of Paul's keeping a Seventh day Sabbath and the Disciples with him not as a Iewish but as a Christiam Assembly for breaking of bread which was a Christian not a Iewish Service For then breaking of bread would certainly have been the Lords Supper But because it was on the first day of the Week it must now be but common eating to take leave of Paul and to Sup with him as he tells us p. 57. Friends commonly do when a Minister or any other special Acquaintance intends to take a Iourney in the morning to sup with him over night But if he thinks this to be all which is there meant by the Disciples coming together on the first day of the Week to Break Bread he must excuse me if I cannot be of his Opinion But because he is content to admit upon some terms their meeting might be upon a Religious account for the Lords Supper as no doubt it was I shall press him no further therein but accept of his condescension When he tells us that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Greek for one and therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may as well be rendered One day of the Week as the First day of the Week Surely he is not in earnest Such trifling doth more hurt than help his cause No doubt but when ever they met it was one day of the Week we need not be told it nor need the word Week be added he might as well have said one day nor need he have said so much But this Author cannot think nor doth he that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth any where signify other than the first day of the Week In the whole story of Christs Resurrection and what followed on that day in all the Four Evangelists we have no other word for it but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor have we any other word for it that I know of there or any where else I do not know that it is any where called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Such shifting doth not look well 'T is somewhat like the Story of a man who bought a Horse for Five Pounds to be paid the next day And accordingly on the next day he sent Five Pounds of Candles Perhaps in the Bargain it was not said expresly in words at length Five Pounds of Lawful Money of England But by common intendment it must be so understood And an honest English Iury upon a Tryal would so Find it The Latin word Pridie is a Derivative or Compound rather from prae prior and Postridie from post posterior and accordingly in Latin pridie Calendarum and postridie Calendarum must signify a day before and a day after the Calends But can any man think it is meant of any day No but the next day before and the next day after So if we say Christ was Crucified one day before the Sabbath and Rose again one day after the Sabbath This one day is the next day And so any man who hath not a mind to Cavil will understand it And so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one day after the Sabbath must needs be understood of the next day after the Sabbath Nor is it ever used in any other sense If it were to be understood of any indefinitely it should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some day after the Sabbath not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one day after But the most pleasant shift of all is when he would have us think that this Evening which is called the first day of the Week was the Evening after the Seventh day that is Saturday night and the next morning when Paul was to go away was Sunday morning and he to travel that Sunday And that the Evening of Saturday was the beginning of Sunday and was therefore called the First day of the Week Because it is said Gen. 1. the evening and the morning was the First day and so of the rest and therefore the evening was the beginning of every day See what shift a man will make rather than quit an Opinion he hath once taken up We are taught that on the Fourteenth day of the first month at even the Pass-over was to be killed Doth he think that this Fourteenth day at even was the end of the Thirteenth day the Fourteenth day then beginning I think every body else takes it to be the evening at the end of the fourteenth day and the Fifteenth day on the morrow was the first day of
them with Bread from Heaven I do presume also that they did from this first raining of Manna continue a circulation of Weeks for a long time and perhaps till the time of our Saviour Yet we are not sure but that it might be intermitted in the seventy years of the Babylonish Captivity and the day forgotten and then restored a-new by Nehemiah from a new beginning Neh. 13. as he restored the Feast of Tabernacles Chap. 8. which had been intermitted from the days of Ioshua the son of Nun to that day But I rather think the memory was preserved by Tradition during those seventy years I agree also that the Church of the Jews was the most visible Church of God but I am loth to say with him p. 79. it was the whole visible Church For I presume there might be many Good men of other Nations who worshiped the true God of whom we have no History though not joined to the Jewish Church nor were that I know of obliged so to be Such was Melchizedek whoever he were not of the seed of Abraham much less of Israel And such was Iob and his Friends from divers Countries of whom were it not for the story of Iob we should have had no knowledge nor are we to think these were the onely persons of those Countries who worshiped the true God And how many such were in other Nations we cannot tell Who might if they had opportunity join as Proselites with the Iewish Church when established But I do not think they were necessarily obliged so to do or to keep the same Sabbath with them For I take it to be true even before Christs coming that God is no respecter of persons but in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted with him Act. 10. 34 35. Whether Iew or Greek Rom. 2. 10 11. 1 Pet. 1. 17. Which are but Quotations from Deut. 10. 19. Nor do I find that any Nation except the Iews did observe the Iewish Sabbath But I rather take it to be a distinctive sign of them from other Nations Ex. 31. 13 17. as Circumcision and the Pass-over were which when the wall of partition was taken away ceased also Yet as to what was Moral in them the Circumcision of the heart being pointed at by that of the Flesh and the old leaven of malice and wickedness to be put away instead of that of Bread and a rest from Sin of more respect with God than that from Labour we have instead thereof Baptism in the room of Circumcision the Lords Supper in the room of the Pass-over and the Lords Day or Christian Sabbath instead of the Iewish And as that took date from the raining of Manna after their deliverance from Egypt so ours from the Resurrection of Christ the true Manna I agree also that the Apostle and other Christians even after Christs Resurrection did go to the Temple and the Jewish Synagogues on their Sabbath days and did there assist at Prayers and Reading the Law and other services common to Jews and Christians on a like account as when we now meet to hear a Sermon or keep a Fast or Thanksgiving on a Week-day But so they did as to Circumcision and other Iewish Rites As when Paul circumcised Timothy and joined in the Jewish Rites of Purification Act. 21. on account of those believing Iews who were yet zealous of the Law To testify to them that he had been misrepresented by those who said he did teach the Iews which are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses and that they ought not to circumcise their Children nor to walk after the Customs Whereas indeed he taught that Gentiles ought so to forbear as being a new yoke to which before they were not subject but as to the Iews which were amongst the Gentiles he did allow them if not yet satisfied of their Christian Liberty so to practise For he puts a great difference between the Gentiles and the Iews among the Gentiles of which I doubt our Author doth not take notice else he would not tell us p. 39. of Paul's writing one thing and practising another He preached and wrote against Circumcision as to the Gentiles but allowed it to the Iews and himself practised it As to Timothy a Jew but not as to Titus who was no Iew. And the like we may say as to the Iewish Sabbath on their Seventh day As to what Services were peculiarly Christian as breaking of Bread they did it not at the Temple or Synagogues but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at home or from house to house Act. 2. 46. and on another day the first day of the Week Act. 20. 7. Now this is all that he hath to urge for the Iewish Sabbath in particular which he cannot shew to be commanded to all the World but rather to them in particular in contradistinction to the rest of the World nor that it was a Seventh day from the Creation but from the first raining of Manna For the Fourth Commandment saith nothing of this Sabbath in particular but onely of the seventh day after six days of labour As to that Imperious demand p. 40 48 64. Where is there any such Power recorded in Scripture to be given to any Man or Men whatsoever after Christ had said It is finished to alter the Seventh-day Sabbath instituted by our Lord Iesus Christ I doubt he hath forgotten that the same God who gave the Law of the Ten Commandments gave also the Ceremonial Law and if it were the Lord Iesus Christ who gave the one it was he that gave the other also And will he then ask Where is there any power recorded in scripture to be given to any man or number of men to abolish Circumcision and the rest of the Mosaick Rites instituted by the Lord Iesus Christ I know no such power recorded in Scripture to be given as to Circumcision and the rest more than as to the Iewish Sabbath And we find them both put together Col. 2. 11 16. Or will he say Where is any Power recorded in Scripture to be given to any Man or Men after Christ had said It is finished to appoint Elders and Deacons and other Officers in the Christian Church and give Orders concerning it which Christ before he so said had not given Yet we know Circumcision was abolished and such Officers and Orders given So that all this is but Flourish As to that of Christ having said It is finished whatever be meant by that we know that the whole Order and Constitution of the Christian Church was settled after that time And whatever else be signified by it it is not meant that there was nothing to be done further concerning it For if so to what purpose did Christ give Commandments to his Apostles of things pertaining to the Kingdome of God after his Resurrection if nothing were to be further done And if we consider the Apostles deportment We do not find them any where insist Authoritatively upon
cases than in all other Prudential Acts. So when the Fourth Commandment requires us to keep holy the Sabath-day it may yet in many cases depend much upon Prudence or Humane Laws which day shall be reputed the Sabbath And if this Author tell us it must be the Seventh in course from the Creation We are never a whit the nearer For though he take great pleasure on all occasions to exclaim against Tradition yet he must admit a great deal of Tradition to intervene before he can prove this or that day to be a Seventh in course from the Creation I am apt to think also that when he hath well consider'd the case of Sr. Francis Drake and many more since that time who sailing round the world as he did have lost a day he will come to one of these two Resolutions Either that when he comes back to England he must continue to call that Saturday which on his account was so and then his Saturday-Sabbath will be the same with our Sunday Or else that his account must be somewhere rectified in his Voyage by skipping a day and then and there beginning to call Sunday what just before he was to call Saturday Now because there is nothing in Nature to determine where this must be nor is there any thing of divine Institution that I know of to determine where it shall be It seems to me to be Prudential or most rational if nothing intervene to counterbalance it to be at what we call the first Meridian from whence we reckon the Degrees of Longitude East-ward 1 2 3 c. and so onward till we come round to 360 at the same Meridian again and thence begin to reckon onward 1 2 3 c. as before for another round This first Meridian in Ptolemy's time was accounted to be about the Western part of the African shore as being the most Western part of the World then known Of later times Geographers have been pleased to remove it more West about the Islands called Azores or the Flemish Islands But all agree to place it between our Continent and that of America And if from that Meridian from whence we reckon the beginning of Longitude we reckon also the beginning of Days then the last of Saturday must there end and the first of Sunday must there begin And therefore at that Meridian the sailers round the World should rectify their account calling it Saturday on the one side of it and Sunday on the other that being the latest of Saturday and the soonest of Sunday He will tell me perhaps that by this account if We keep our Sabbath on Sunday those in New-England must be said to keep theirs on Monday as being on the other side of that Meridian And 't is true it would so follow And therefore I did interpose if nothing else do intervene to counterbalance it And this is what I did at first intimate as disputable whether we and they in New-England are to be said to keep our Sabbath on the same day But it is the same case as to the whole Continent of America And the same resolution will reach all And therefore the thing being once settled by the common consent of all I would by no means advise to change the day For the placing the first Meridian is purely Arbitrary It might as well have been placed beyond America if men had so pleased and that America had been known in Ptolemy's time as on this side And we might have numbred our Degrees of Longitude Westward as now we do Eastward And may be so reputed now if men so please as it is now reputed about 10 or 15 degrees more to the Westward than it was in Ptolemy's days And it is purely Arbitrary where to begin to change the name of the day which is to be so called whether at the First Meridian or else-where And consequently 't is purely Arbitrary or Discretional whether in America such day shall be called Sunday or Monday There is nothing in the fourth Commandment nor in the Word of God to determine it But it so happening that America hath been peopled from Europe traveling Westward from hence without taking notice that we cross the first Meridian we have reckoned the days and so named them according as they appeared to those upon their Voyage who went thither Whereas if it had been peopled I mean as to the Christians there from Asia and the East-Indies by people coming thence to the other side of America what there is now called Sunday would for the like reason have been called Monday and the Fourth Commandment equally observed either way And upon a like account Christians in the East-Indies and in China and Iapan traveling Eastward from hence thither do call their days there according as they appeared to fall out to them in the course of their Voyage Now 't is true that some part of the day which we here call Sunday is coincident with some part of what is so called in Iapan and also some part of our Sunday though not the same part is coincident with part of theirs in America But very little of theirs in the East of Iapan with theirs in the West of America About Eleven a clock at night in the one or yet later before it begins to be one a clock in the morning in the other scarce an hour in common according to our ancient Maps Our later Maps make it somewhat more as if it might be Ten at night in the one when it begins to be Two in the morning at the other Yet these pass for the same sunday And 't is well enough so to reckon But it is Prudentially so Because the chief Trade and intercourse of America is with Europe not with Asia And therefore it is considered as lying West from Europe rather than as East from Iapan And accordingly it is so placed in our Maps And though we continue to reckon our Longitude as from a Meridian between Us and America yet the account of our days we begin as from a Meridian beyond it between America and Asia Which is not said to raise new scruples as if I would advise an alteration of a received computation which is well enough as it is and I know not how to mend it But to shew there is an unavoidable Necessity of leaving much to Prudential considerations What day shall be reputed sunday and what the sabbath in this or that place And therefore it cannot reasonably be thought the design of the fourth Commandment to confine us to such Circumstantial Niceties which do not at all influence the substantials of Worship The fourth Commandment requires the seventh day of Holy Rest after six days of ordinary Labour But of a Seventh day in course from the Creation to be so observed it saith nothing Nor is it possible for us to know The Iews observed a seventh day in course from the first raining of Manna but I do not know how that concerns us or if it did how we shall know which is that day for this Gentleman will not allow Tradition to be a good proof We observe a seventh day in course from what we think the Apostles did observe If we mistake our reckoning which I think we do not it is not a Culpable Ignorance for it is according to the best Light we have This day we are in possession of and the Christian Church hath so been for many Hundred years And he that would dispossess us of it must shew a better Title The old rule is Possidentis potior est ratio To change meerly for change sake is Foolish If he would lay a Divine Necessity on us to observe the Iewish Sabbath from the first raining of Manna if at least that be the day by them observed in our Saviours time he must make it clear to us which is that day by a better argument if he can than Tradition And that we are of necessity obliged to that day which was himself acknowledges a distinctive sign of them from other Nations as Circumcision also was And if this distinctive mark when the partition wall is broken down do as much cease as that did 'T is as truly superstition now to put a necessity upon it as upon Circumcision Which though the Apostles would for a while permit to the Jews to whom it had once been a Law till they should be better satisfied Yet would by no means allow to the Gentiles to whom it had not before been a Law And I think the case is just the same of the Iewish Sabbath as contradistinguished to the Lords day I am Yours c. FINIS