And if I had supposed the Sun in his Declination to either of the Topicks the various Climates and obliquity of the Horizon might have occasioned disputes which what I can I avoid and therefore take the 11th of March 1692 3. Nor do I enquire the place of Paradice where it is about which there are many disputes which place Learned Mr. Chafie confesseth is not known And if we know not where Paradice is then I cannot begin to give Instances of the Scheme before from thence but if it lies East or West from Mount Synai that will make some difference of time in the beginning and end of Days at Synai and at Paradice and yet not alter the days of the Week in either for that the Seventh day of the Week in Paradice was is and will be in the weekly Circulation of days the Seventh day of the Week there And the Seventh day in the Week at Synai though it may differ in degrees of Longitude from Paradice yet was is and will be in the weekly Circulation of Days the Seventh day of the Week at Synai and so of the rest of the Days there and in every other place as in Aegypt Exod. 5. 5. where the Israelites kept the Sabbath and Exod. 16. 1 23 to 30. in the Wilderness of Sin And yet notwithstanding that difference in Degrees between Paradice and Aegypt and the Wilderness and Synai that made no difference between them as to the beginning or ending of Days In Paradice the Seventh day as the First Second and other Week-days began in the Evening and ended the next Evening and so the Seventh day in Aegypt in the Wilderness and at Synai began in the Evening and ended the next Evening And at all those places according to appointment at the making of the World Gen. 1. and Gen. 2. notwithstanding the different Degrees or Minutes there might be of the Sun-setting at Paradice and at those places The Lord who knows all his own Works the Beginning or Head of whose Word is Truth Gen. 1. 1. Psal 119. 160. The entrance of whose words will give light Psal 119. 130. Blessed and made holy the seventh day Sabbath Gen. 2. 3. at Paradice And blessed and made holy the seventh day at Synai Exod. 20. 11 12. although it is likely there are some Degrees or Minutes between But how ever that be yet we are pretty certain by the Maps where Synai was and is and where Jerusalem was and is And according to the common received Principles of Astronomy fifteen Degrees making an Hour Jerusalem is situate about six Degrees in Longitude Westward from Synai and so the Sun sets at Jerusalem after his setting at Synai twenty four Minutes of an Hour or thereabout that is two fifth parts of an Hour Westward from Synai and yet that difference in the beginning of the Seventh day at Synai and of the Seventh day at Jerusalem made no alteration of the beginning or ending of the Seventh day-Sabbath at either The same Seventh day which was commanded to be remembered to be kept Holy at Mount Synai and which was repeated by Moses in Deuteronomy near Jordan which place near Jordan may be about twenty two Minutes of Longitude from Synai was certainly remembered and kept Holy by the Israelites at Mount Zion in Jerusalem with this difference that the Seventh day began at Jerusalem twenty four Minutes of an Hour after it began at Synai and some Minutes after it began near Jordan which made no alteration of Days at either but the Seventh day at Synai began in the Evening twenty four Minutes of an Hour before it began at Jerusalem and at Jerusalem the Seventh day began twenty four Minutes of an Hour Westward after it began at Synai and yet was the Seventh day in both and began in the Evening at both that is at or about Sun set at both notwithstanding the difference in time of twenty four Minutes which may a little direct how to find when the Seventh day doth begin and so of the rest of the Days every where This may be illustrated by further Instances and for certainties sake I will set out and begin to reckon from Jerusalem where they observed the true Seventh day Westward without setting a Meridian there altho it be Arbitrary as the Doctor acknowledgeth and may be set where we will and by degrees bring the Account round the Earth to Jerusalem again From Jerusalem to Colosse are about seven Degrees that is twenty eight Minutes From Jerusalem to Ephesus 9 Degrees that is 36 Minutes From Jerusalem to Antioch where Paul and his Company kept the Sabbath Acts 13. 13 14 15 16 27 42. q From Jerusalem to Philippi now ruined and desolate which was situated on the confines of Thrace are about 14 Degrees that is 56 Minutes where they kept the Sabbath Acts 16. 12 13 14. From Jerusalem to Corinth are about 17 Degrees that is 1 Hour and 8 Minutes yet this difference of time and so of beginning of the Sabbath made no alteration of the Sabbath where they also kept the Sabbath Acts 18. 1 4. As they did also as Thessalonica Acts 17. 1 2. where the Sun sets about 1 Hour and 10 Minutes after it sets at Jerusalem And every where as the Sun did set so the Sabbath day as every other Day of the Week did begin and end as before From Jerusalem to Warsaw in Poland are about 22 Degrees that is 1 Hour and 28 Minutes difference of Sun-setting From Jerusalem Westward to Vienna are about 29 Degrees that is 1 Hour 56 Minutes From Jerusalem to Rome are about 30 Degrees that is 2 Hours From Jerusalem to Amsterdam are about 40 Degrees i. e. 2 Hours and 40 Minutes From Jerusalem to Paris are 44 Degrees that is 2 Hours 56 Minutes From Jerusalem to London are about 48 Degres that is 3 Hours and 12 Minutes From Jerusalem to Edinburgh 49 Degrees that is 3 H. 16 Min. From Jerusalem to Dublin about 53 Degrees that is 3 Hours and 32 Minutes From Jerusalem to Lisbon are about 57 Degrees that is 3 Hours and 48 Minutes From Jerusalem to New England are about 120 Deg. that is 8 H. I have passed over the first Meridian which is Arbitrary as before and follow the Sun as it goes round the Globe of the Earth till it comes about to Jerusalem again which as to this way of accounting I think makes no alteration And all these differences in Hours and Minutes from the setting of the Sun at Jerusalem and the setting of the Sun in all these before-mentioned and all other places in the Earth make no alteration of the Days or of the Sabbath all which begin every where as the Sun sets every where and when the Sun every where did set so the Sabbath day as every other Day of the Week did begin and end as before I still follow the Sun from Jerusalem to Japan the Sun may be said to set seventeen Hours at Japan after it
Days began at or about Sun-set and supposing the Darkness and light were the Evening and Morning of the three first Days Gen. 1. 5 8 13. sure the Days then did not begin at mid-night when Darkness began the Day and Darkness and Light made up the First day and so the Second day and so the Third day which Word I think may settle that Point that the Days did not begin at mid-night Suppose also the Sun Created as it was the Fourth day and went round the Earth every day after it was created as it did and does to this Day But on what part of the Fourth day the Sun was created is not certainly revealed that I know The Fowls and the Fishes were created upon the fifth day And Adam was created on the Sixth day and being created in the image of God was made capable of knowing and contemplating the Perfections of him that created him and of observing and keeping Holy the Seventh day which presently after his Creation was Consecrated or made Holy and Blessed to let him into that Spiritual and Heavenly Life and Rest which his State of Innoceney made easie and pleasant to him And in Reply to one of the Doctor 's Expedients we may also suppose the Sun when set in the Firmament Gen. 1. 17. travelled Westward round the Earth daily as it still doth Now when the Sun did set the Fourth day then the Fifth day began at Paradice and when the Sun did set there next the Sixth day began there and when the Sun did next set there the Seventh day began there and that first Seventh day was probably as long as the other Days of the Week were and are And as the Posterity of Adam and so of Noah travelled East West North or South by degrees the Earth was overspread Gen. 9. 19. and into whatever Country they came as the Sun did set so every Day of the Week began and so on to this day I Write as plain as I can So as the weekly Seventh day did begin as the Sun did set in every place round the Earth from Paradice Westward till the Sun came about in 24 hours to Paradice again And for an instance and for certainties sake I will begin with the Eleventh of March the vernal Aequinox 1692 3 which falls out to be the Seventh day of the Week And the Seventh day at the Creation did begin as the three First days and the other Week-days did that is in the Evening as Mr. Chafie and many other Learned Men do agree at or about Sun set as I think is before shewn and lasted 24 Hours from Evening to Evening according to Gen. 1 and Gen. 2. And the Sabbath day then was as it still is proportionably as long as the other Six Days of the Week allowed for Work or rather wherein we are commanded to work every of which six Days hath a Night or Darkness as well as Day Light in which Night or Darkness if need be Men may as lawfully work as in the Day Light tho generally the Day is made for Work and the Night for Rest And so the Sabbath day hath an Evening and a Morning that is a Night and Day of Holy Rest in which Night we may take Rest as in other Nights As for those who begin the Sabbath day in the Morning they lose the Evening that is the Night of that Day which being no part of the Sixth day nor to such any part of the Seventh day yet 12 Hours of time between the End of the Sixth and Morning of their Seventh day would cease to them to be any part of the Week if their Opinion would hold who begin the Sabbath in the Morning unless they continue their Sabbath till the next Morning and so turn God's first Institution upside down Others who begin and end the Sabbath day at mid-night being then generally asleep at both when they begin and end it they cannot tell when they begin or end it and so must needs loose those Meditations which are peculiar to the one and to the other and how any can begin or end it at mid night I know not But supposing as before the Evening in all Parts of the Earth begins and ends the Day then it is easie for all to know the beginning and ending of it And as the Evening and Morning made up every Day of the Week in Paradice so Evening and Morning as Mankind came about the Earth made up every Day of the Week everywhere else and as the Evening of the Seventh day came so the Sabbath began and the Sabbath ended everywhere as the rest of the Days of the Week ended that is the Evening after And if this be the true Scheme of Days then somewhere in the Round of the Earth every Inhabitant of it the 11th of March 1692 3. may not only keep the Sabbath but certainly know when it begins and ends and will have also their full six Nights and Days in the Week for their Work and Callings And so as Adam or his Posterity and so as Noah or his Posterity travelled into any part of the Earth East West North or South where ever they came after six days of Travel or other Labour they might as the Sun did set Rest the Seventh day And all the tying up all parts of the Earth to the precise time or moment of the Lords resting in the Evening of the first Seventh day at the Creation and that the Seventh day Sabbath everywhere over the Earth ever after must begin and end the same minute the first Sabbath began and ended whether it be at mid-day or mid night or any other part of Night or Day seems a meer cramping of the Question without any Ground for it that I know from the Word Whereas if the days begin in the Evening as I think they do and if the Evening and the Morning do constitute and make up a day as they do then all the Scruples raised when every Day of the Week and in particular when the Seventh day-Sabbath all over the Earth doth begin and end are resolved that is in the Evening and so the two long days in Joshuah's and Ezekiah's times make no alteration of Days as in the Enquiry And so the Evening and the Morning make up every Day of the Week to us in England and to every other Nation in the Earth and for any other certain way to resolve when the days do begin and end but by Gods first appointment I know not for else it would put the most skilful Mathematicians everywhere to a stand when to begin and end the Days and leave all Computations of Days and Weeks and Time in uncertainties and great disorder I take the 11th of March the vernal Aequinox because Astronomers agree the Sun to be then in the Aequator as it is the 11th of September at the Autumnal Aequinox at which times the Days and Nights are by them said to be equal all over the Earth
sets at Jerusalem and when the Sun sets at Japan then the Seventh day begins at Japan 11 of March 1694 5. And from Japan to pass over the other Meridian and Rest of the Land in Asia to Jerusalem again about seven Hours And so from Jerusalem as the Sun goeth round the Earth to Jerusalem again are 24 Hours that is from the Sun-setting at Jerusalem the 11th of March 169â— â— to the Sun-setting at Jerusalem the 12th of March 169â— are 17 Hours from Jerusalem to Japan and 7 Hours from Japan to Jerusalem and 17 and 7 are 24 Hours the Evening and the Morning which make up the Day Which Scheme does as I weakly can travel round the World and if it be right in the main may answer some Doubts about the Days in this case And if I mistake I think I do not wilfully mistake in which account I had no help from Globes and so I have no great assurance but that there may be mistakes and I am content to be corrected by the Learned Doctor who excels in Astronomy in Geography and I think in most other Learning Or any other Ingenious Unprejudiced and Skilful who may find mistakes in the Degrees of Longitude and in the Hours or Minutes which however I think may not hurt the Opinion built upon it that the difference in the time of the Sun setting in any of and all those places and so of all other places in the Earth the 11 of March 1692 3. makes no alteration in the beginning or ending of the Sabbath day supposing as before that day with the rest of the Days of the Week did begin at the Creation and does still begin and end about the time of the Sun setting and suppose also that beginning and ending never altered since the Creation to this day And if this be so it seems demonstrable that every Day of the Week began every where in the Evening and to the Seventh day also round the World as the Sun did set The Doctor 's other expedient he would have me begin my Week on Monday and then Sunday will be the Seventh day I suppose he means if I can tell seven But if the Doctor please to begin the Week as God begins it Gen. 1. 5. and if he reckon on v. 8. 13 19 23 31 as God does he will find Gen. 2. 2 3. the Seventh day to be the Sabbath and as it seems to me to begin in the Evening And in lieu of his two Expedients I will with his Favour advise him and others two things 1st Upon the Fourth Command Exod. 20. 8 9. To take heed how they assume a liberty to alter any Command of God or any jot or tittle thereof because of Mat. 5. 18 19. Rev. 22. 18 19 c. 2dly Upon the Second Command Whatever be the manner of Worship in the place where he or they live unless they be sure that for Matter and Manner it be according to Christs Institutions That they beware how they take it as they there find it which though it may be a probable means of worldly Advantages yet I have some doubt it is no sound Rule to Worship by because the Lord thy God is a jealous God visiting iniquity c. and shewing mercy to those who love him and keep his commandments Exod. 20. 4 5 6. Deut. 5. 8 9 10 c. And upon the whole I think not A but the Seventh-day-Sabbath was observed by the Lord Gen. 2. 2 3. and afterward by the Patriarchs by Moses and by the Israelites in Aegypt and in the Wilderness of Sin where they had Mannah and at Mount Synai and at Mount Zion in Jerusalem and to the end of the Old Testament to whom the Lord made known his sabbath Neh. 9. 13 14. his Sabbaths as before and to whom he gave them as a sign and as an everlasting covenant and that not A but The Sabbath was observed perfectly and constantly by Christ during his life which I think proves it not forgotten nor altered to his time and that not A but The Sabbath was observed by his Disciples inspired by the Holy Spirit after his Resurrection and Ascension which also proves it not forgotten nor altered then And as their losing the Knowledge which was the Seventh day is not in the Word that I know so the certain Seventh day was preserved by all Nations Worshipping the Sun on Sunday Mr. Chafie p. 20 c. and all the Israelites before Christ and all the Jews since that we can read or hear of and some Christians still keep not A but The Seventh day and many Christians keep the first day other Christians keep both Seventh and First day as in the Enquiry and the early and long Controversies about what Days to keep the Passover on and the Histories Counsels Centuries and our own Records Ancient and Modern as in the Enquiry seem plainly to prove that the Seventh day was never altered from Christs time to this day nor from the Creation to Christs time and that the Seventh day in England is the same Seventh day varying the Hours and Minutes as before which was observed by Christ which was made perpetual by Christ which was observed at Mount Zion which was given at Synai and which was blest and made holy at the Creation Gen. 2. And here I might also observe that the Doctor neither denys nor answers the Authorities in the Enquiry for observing the Sabbath 400 and 700 years c. after Christ and for the changing the Seventh day to the First day by Rome c. not the clear Evidence for the first bringing in the First day into Scotland by a Counsel there above 1200 years after Christ nor that of the King and Nobles of England here to like purpose Enquiry p. 106. to 114 c. Nor that how all our Antient and Modern Records in England to this day call the Seventh day of the Week the Sabbath day Enquiry p. 117. to which the Doctor says nothing nor to that of the many Provinces and one Empire still observing the Seventh day Enq. p. 119. 120. And all put together I think may sufficiently disprove the uncertainty which is the Seventh day which the Doctor so often would leave doubtful against himself and may prove that our Seventh day of the Week is the true Seventh day blessed and made holy at the creation And I insist that Christs Command to keep Holy the Seventh day not being altered nor repealed but with all the rest confirmed and made perpetual by him still binds as all the rest of the Commands do I have passed by divers Expressions in the Doctor 's Book but have not that I know declined any thing that required as I think further Reply and what he objects again and again I often think it enough to answer to but once And if I do not fully repeat his Objections or Words at large it is to make this Reply as short as I can and the Reader