thereby maketh a new Sacred fifteenth day of the Night of the Civil fourteenth day and the Day-light of the Civil fifteenth Day put together and from thence in an orderly Succession their Sacred time was measured for the due observing of those Feasts Sabbaths and Holy-days which God commanded the Children of Israel But for their Civil Affairs they still accounted their days from Morning to Morning as in 1 Sam. 19.10 And David fled and escaped that night Saul also sent Messengers unto Davids house to watch him and to slay him in the morning And Michal Davids wife told him saying If thou save not thy life to night to morrow thou shalt be slain from which Scripture it plainly appears that after that night the nex Morning or Day-light was accounted the Morrow which was another Day and not belonging to the Night going before And to this Mr. Tho. Godwin witnesseth in his Book called Moses and Aaron page 80. where he tells us That the Jews Natural Day was two-fold Civil a working Day which was destined for Civil Businesses and Works This saith he began at Sun-rising and held till the next Sun-rising Matth. 28.1 Or Sacred a Festival or holy-day destined for Holy Exercises This began at Sun-set and continued till the next Sun-set From all which both Sacred and Humane Evidence I shall make this Inference That if the Patriarchs before and after the Flood and the House of Israel successively had either kept the same precise seventh day Sabbath from the Creation or had reckoned the time of their beginning and ending of their Days and Weeks precisely and successively from thence althô their Sabbath might not have been duely observed in their bondage then the Jewish Sabbath from Evening to Evening after the Alteration of the account of the day could not be the precise successive seventh day from the Creation And seeing the Scripture is silent in fixing the Jewish seventh day or any other Day as that precise successive seventh day we cannot tell which is the same successive seventh day from the first seventh day of Rest which God Sanctified 3. I premise That if the Reasons I have given for Adams beginning his first Sabbath day in the Morning with the Day-light in that Hemisphere of the Garden of Eden should be counted by our Opponents too weak to draw a conclusion for a pattern to justifie us in beginning our Sabbath in the Morning and any should still hold the keeping of the Sabbath from Evening to Evening to be successively from the Creation then we have this to argue against their Opinion That as they have no Scripture for it so the Sun was not made till the fourth day of the Creation and we know not in what part of that day it was Sun-rising or Sun-setting or Noon or Mid-night in any Horizon or Hemisphere except we acknowledge that Adam began his first Sabbath with the Morning and then it follows that a little before the fourth day was ended it was about as much before the beginning of the fifth day with the Morning or Sun-rising in Eden otherwise as it cannot then be known where the seventh day of God's Rest which had the same successive proportion of time as the six days of Creation was bounded with the rising and setting of the Sun but that when God's seventh day of Rest after his sixth day of Creation began and ended any where it began and ended every where at the same instant season and it was no where then any other than the seventh day which began in some places at Evening in others at Morning in others at Midnight in others at Noon and in some or other places at all hours of the Day and Night and the Revolution of the Light and Darkness was the Day which is called Natural in distinction to that which is by some called the Artificial Day or Day-light only There cannot therefore from the first seventh day of God's Rest be any footing of account to measure out to us the time of day for the beginning of our Day nor consequently for the beginning and ending of our Sabbath-day for that it is not known to us where the Sun was when that seventh day of God's Rest first began unless we give way to what hath been clearly demonstrated from the Scripture that the Sun arose or was about rising then to Paradice and to believe as there is reason for it that Adam had that whole Day-light sanctified which preceded the Night of his Sabbath 4. It is very clear that God did never design the Law and Institution of the Sabbath to Israel in the Wilderness to bind either Jews or Gentiles to the observation of the precise orderly Succession of their seventh day Sabbath as from the Creation to the end of the World because we find that God himself did afterwards make an interruption of the Natural Order of the account of Time when the Sun was brought backward ten degrees in the Dial of Ahaz and when it stood still in the midst of Heaver about a whole Day 1. As to the Suns going backward ten degrees Isai 38.8 See his Book Page 157.158 Mr. Weems in his Christian Synagogue has made a draught of Ahaz Dial and explained the matter telling us that that Day was prolonged twenty two hours reckoning the ten degrees or divisions on the Dial to be five hours backward and then the Suns going forward again is 5 hours more with twelve hours is twenty two hours Day-light in all 2. It is said Josh 10.13 So the Sun stood still in the midst of Heaven and hasted not to go down about a whole day Now if we duely consider this place it seems by the Suns standing still in the midst of Heaven that it stood still in the Meridian or Noon-tide of Canaan about a whole day and add to the time of its standing still the half or that part of the Day that was past before and that followed after when the Sun moved forwards to its going down and then that Day or Day-light continued twenty four hours or was about as long as the Day and Night together and so if the Jews did reckon all that large Day-light to belong to the preceding Night then the beginning of their next Sabbath fell later than its usual course about twelve hours time and if they divided that long Day-light and put half of it to the former and half of it to the following Night then they did thereby alter the beginning of their Natural Day for Sacred things and reckon that last twelve hours of Day-light for the former part of the Day belonging to the following Night but such a succession of days for Sacred things was against the Command of God for the Time and Order of beginning and ending all their Sabbaths and Holy-days But instead of these if any should yet say That when the Sun had continued in their Hemisphere about twenty four hours time the Natural Course of the Night being altered
and its time spent by the long duration of that Day God was pleased in an instant either to pass the Sun thrô their Antipode Hemisphere or suddenly to turn it backward and make it Sun-rising to the Israelites in the Land of Canaan I Answer That if thus it was that in an instant the Sun was passed through their Horizon and the Antipode Hemisphere then they reckoned the first twelve hours of that long Day-light of twenty four hours for one Artificial Day or Day-light and the last twelve hours Day instead of Night adding one to its preceding Night and the other instead of a Night to the following Day-light and so did bring their days into their former course again But as this would have been a greater Miracle than the former which was only a stop to the Course of Nature for a time so there is reason to believe that if it had been so the Holy Ghost would have recorded it in the Scripture and Josephus would not have omitted the Notice of it in his History where he speaks of this larger Day than ordinary And as to the last if the Sun had been suddenly turned backward to make it Sun-rising in the Land of Canaan then it could not have been so properly said that the Sun hasted not to go down about a whole day For if the Sun had been suddenly put backward from its place of setting to its place of rising then the Sun had only hasted from its standing still to the place of its going down and went not down till a day-light and a halfs-time after it stood still in the midst of Heaven contrary to the plain meaning of the Text. And if we say the Sun was turned backwards from the place it stood still or from thence was passed in an instant through their Antipode Hemisphere to its place of rising or which ever way we reckon from that time the Account of the natural course of the Day and Night to settle the Jews could not possibly fall into their due Order of Time again as successively from their former Custom to begin their Sabbaths at Even according to the Law unless it were settled by a greater Miracle than the standing still of the Sun But if we reckon as there is the greatest Reason for it and it is most natural and fairly implyed in the Text that after the Sun had stood still about a whole day or twelve hours it then continued its natural course to go down and add to it the ten hours of the Suns going backward and returning in the Dial of Ahaz which twenty two hours together being computed after the Jewish Custom of some of their Days-light or artificial-Artificial-days may make a full day and nights time and then the Jewish Sabbath fell later than its former precise Order of Saccession by near or full a whole days time So that their weekly seventh-day Sabbath after these Afterations of days had but about two hours possibly no time at all in the time which by an orderly Succession should have been their Sabbath and the other twenty two hours and possibly their whole sabbath-Sabbath-day was in the Time if it had not been so interrupted of the first day of their Week by an orderly Succession from their first Sabbath in the Wilderness And therefore it is apparent that neither the Moral Law nor the Ceremonial Precept for their Sabbath was designed to bind us to the Observation of the precise successive seventh-day from the Creation for if it had God would never have so interrupted the course of Nature and his own Design and Institution unto Men. 5. Having premised these things I proceed to shew that the course of Nature maketh it impossible for all Nations to observe the seventh-day Sabbath after the Jewish Pattern 1. Sir Jonus Moor saith See his Sâ—sem of the Maâ—â—maticks Paâ—â— 48. that the Government of Wardhus is in seventy and seventy one Degrees And there they have the continual Presence of the Sun for many days together in the Summer and in the Winter they are as long without the Sun in their Horison or Hemisphere 2. See his Pilgrimage Page 431 432 433. Parchas gives us a large account of the Northern Parts of the World and tells us that the Samoyeds about the Banks of Pechore are in Subjection to the Moscovites and that in the Year 1611. Josias Logan wintered at the Town of Postozera and there observed that on December eleventh he could see but the way of the Sun Beams on the thirteenth the Beams but not the Sun Which it's there said on Christmas day he saw rising at South and by West and setting at South West and by South not wholly elevated from the Horison but all the way the nether part of the Sun seeming just and even with it Now this Town of Postozera I find in Speeds Maps and Description of the World to be but just over the Artick Circle which is in about sixty six Degrees and half So that Wardbus before mentioned being about four Degrees nearer the Pole has more of the continual Presence of the Sun in Summer and is a longer time without it in the Winter But to return to Purchas History he farther tells us that the Hollanders in the Year 1594. sent to discover a way to Cathay and China by the North-East that William Barentz was the Chief Pilot for this Discovery The next Year the last of August they had Speech with the Samoyeds who know no God The Sun whose Presence they are long deprived of in the Winter which is recompensed in their Nightless Summer is worshipped amongst them and when the Sun is declining out of their sight the Moon or North-Star is his Receiver or Successor if you will in that Tribute of their Devotions Moreover the aforesaid Author saith that they viz. the Hollanders learned of certain Muscovites that the Inhabitants of Nova Zemla had neither Religion â—or Civility prescribed them by any Law but worshipped the Sun Moon and North-Star And that in the Year 1596 there were sent other two Ships to prosecute this Discovery and after many dreadful Combates with the Ice and one of the Ships departing from the other they were forced to Winter in Nova Zemla where they indured a continual Night of many Weeks wherein neither the Sun nor any of his Courtly Train the least Rays to be the Harbingers of his desired Presence did present themselves to their Eyes from the fourth of November till the seven and twentieth of January they saw no Sun Our Author farther addeth in Page 740 741. That Henry Hudson 1607. discovered farther North towards the Pole he found himself in eighty Degrees where they felt it hot and drank Water to Cool their thirst they saw Land to eighty two Degrees and farther It is saith he colder in sixty two Degrees than in nine or ten Degrees more northerly towards the North Eest hence it is that those parts hear and perhaps under the Pole are
could not conveniently see the Church in a full Assembly before their usual appointed Time on the first day of the Week Secondly Then they came together to break Bread viz to eat the Lords Supper for so the same Expression is universally understood in Acts 2.42 So that on the first day of the Week the Church of Troas Assembled to hear the Word of God and to solemnize the Ordinances of Jesus Christ which pattern together with the Example of his Disciples before mentioned and the occasion of the change of the Jewish Sabbath answering the Precept of the Moral Law founded on the first sanctifying of the Sabbath with the Observation of the first and seventh-day Sabbath by Adam is a sufficient warrant for the keeping of our first-day Sabbath there being both a Precept and a double Example that justifieth our Observation of it And this I conceive to be the same day which St. John calls the Lords day as Dr. Wallis shews See his Defence of the Christian Sabbath in Answer to Mr. Thomas Bampfield Page 48. that we have the more Reason so to presume because we find it so called by others very soon after St. Johns time as Ignatius who was not only Contemporary with him but was a Disciple or Scholar of St. John now Ignatius in his Epistle to the Magnesians even according to the genuine Edition published by Bishop Vshâ—â— out of an Ancient Manuscript not that which is justly suspected to be interpolated he doth earnestly exhort them not to Judâ—â—ze but to live as Christians not any longer observing the Jewish Sabbath but the Lords day on which Christ our Life rose again It is manifest therefore saith he as may be there further seen that within eight or ten Years after St. Johns writing the Lords day did not signifie the Jewish Sabbath but the first day of the Week on which our Saviour rose again and that it was then observed in contradistinction to the Jewish Sabbath he also adds the evidence of Justin Martyr and farther saith that Dominica or dies Dominicus hath been so used not only by the Ancient Christian Writers Ignatius Clement Ireneus Origen Tertullian c. but by the Councils and Church History all along Now this Historical Testimony of Ignatius c. that the Lords day was accounted from St. Johns time the first day of the Week is the more to be regarded seeing Mr. Bampfield in his Reply to the Doctors Book does not as I can find in the least invalidate the Reputation or any ways deny the Truth of the aforesaid History SECT XIII HEre I shall observe that the first day Sabbath which I have been treating of is asserted by many Authors to be as its Heathen Name viz. Sunday that is still in Vulgar use does witness the same successive day which the Gentiles from great Antiquity have observed as the chief day of their Week in worship to the Sun See Dr. Nath. Hâ—lmes his Essay concerning the Sabbath Chap. 7.8 9. as Dr. Hâ—lmes sheweth how anciently the Sun was worshipped Jerem. 43.12 13. He shall break also the Images of Bethshemesh which in our Marginal Notes is translated the House of the Sun that is in the Land of Egypt and the Houses of the Gods of the Egyptians shall he burn with Fire And Gen. 41.45 And â—haraoh called Josephs name Zaphnath-Paaneah and he gave him to Wife Asenath the Daughter of Potipherah Priest of On which he translates from the Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Priest of the City of the Sun And he citeth divers Authors as Jo. Gr. Assyr Monarch idem Biblian to shew that Nimrod having given to the Sun his greatest God the Name of Baal Nimâ—od Gen. 10.8 was the Father of Belus See Mr. Tho. Chasiâ— on the Sabbath Page 29. he afterwards assumed that Name to himself And â—elus giving to their greatest God the Sun the Name of Jove the Contract of Jâ—lâ—vah the said Belus afterwards took that Name to himself and was called Jove Bel. I shall add that the Sâ—â—â— and Moon and the Host of Heaven were worshipped by the Gentiles before Israels coming out of Egypt as seemeth by the strict command given to them and the Penalty of Death to any Man or Woman that should worship the Sun and Moon Deut. 17.2 See Mr. Tho. Chasie on the Sabbath Chap. 15. 3 c. Also Mr. Chafie proves from divers Authors that the Heathens did of old Worship the Sun and that the weekly day to wit the seventh-day of every Week with the Gentiles which they call the day of the Sun or Sunday was the very same day which we call the Lords day Moreover Mr. Tho. Bampfield in his Reply to Doctor Walles page 56 57. saith That Mr. Chafie tells us page 40. That to take off the Israelites from this Idolatry viz. of worshipping the Sun the Lord used this means for one that they should not have the day of the Sun that is Sunday for the day of his Worship but the day before that is the Seventh day which saith Mr. Bampfield I think refers to the Time of the sixteenth or twentieth of Exodus which saith he proves not only the Observation of the seventh-day by the Israelites but of Sunday by the Heathens and that very Anciently and that continually in the Weekly Circulation of days to this day And Mr. Chafie's ninth and fifteenth Chapters saith Mr. Bampfield I think might give satisfaction that all Nations of Note under Heaven worshipped the Sun and that very anciently as far back at least as the Time of Moses and that upon Sunday and that weekly Now all the Use I intend to make hereof is that our first day Sabbath according to the Opinion of some Persons and to what Mr. Bampfield approveth of in Mr. Chafie's Book stands fairest to be the successive seventh-day Sabbath from the Creation of the World See Dr. H. Essay on the Sabbath Page 78.79.82 Gen 12.8 Chap. 13.4 as Dr. Holmeâ— saith We know that Idolaters were always the Apes as Divines call them of true Religion As because Abraham builded an Altar on the Mountain near Bethel and planted a Grove in Beersheba and prepared all things at Gods command to offer up his Son Isaac Therefore Idolaters planted Groves and worshipped in high Places their Idols Gen. 21.33 Chap. 22. and made their Children to pass through the Fire to them and therefore saith he nothing can be more probable than that the seventh-day with the ancient Patriaâ—â—ks was no other but that which afterwards was the Sunday or Day of or to the Sun with the 〈◊〉 and from them was called Sunday by other Nations also To which I add that the Astronomers say the measure of our days by the Revolutions of the Sun in a whole Years time differs between five and six hours from the Revolutions of the Stars which make a day every fourth or Leap Year and yet that the odd Minutes in which their Measure differs
of the Gospel for a successive Conversion of Souls and beinging of all Nations into Subjection to Chrills Righteous and Visible Kingdom cannot be accomplished unless the Christians of those Countreys remain inhabitants therein And for any to imagine that God should send a Moral Pattern by an Institution to men in general which is impossible to be observed by all Mankind in every Countrey under Heaven without the least Exception to accommodate the Necessity of the Course of Nature is both against the Nature of such a Precept the Righteousness of God and the Equiey of his Law But to conclude this Answer I shall make this remark on the Authors Words before recited That seeing he saith That they ought to return again into such Câ—umreys where they may be in a Capacity to serve God for Mens Habitations ought to stoop to Gods Law and not Gods Law to their Habitations It is plain he granteth the Law for the seventh-day Sabbath or the fourth Command which he Treats of as binding us to the Observation of the Jewish Sabbath cannot be kept in those Countreys after their Pattern from Evening to Evening and then it must needs be Ceremonial and the Moral keeping of that command is for them and us to observe our seventh-day after our six working days or our first-day before them as near as can be to answer the Gospel Pattern Object 12. Thô the Sun stood still in Joshua's time about a whole day and its going backward and sorward ten Degrees or Divisions in Abaz Dial might lose ten hours account of Time so that after these Interruptions of the orderly Course of the Sun their Sabbath began and ended near or about a whole days time later than they should have done if there had not been such an Interruption in the Order of Nature yet those longer days than ordinary were counted but for days and so the seventh-day was the seventh-day still successively from their first Sabbath Answer Altho' some have thus argued that the seventh-day was the seventh-day still Josh 10.13 Isa 38.8 See Page 29. yet after those Interruptions of the orderly course of the Sun if we count its ten Degrees or Divisions of going backward and then forward again to be ten hours lengthning of that day as there is the greatest Reason to believe that so it was then the Jewish seventh-day Sabbath fell near or about a days time later than their precise orderly Succession of Time would have placed it from their first Sabbath as was shewed before And farther as their seventh-day Sabbaths could not after those Interruptions he properly counted the precise orderly successive Sabbaths from the Creation or its Institution in the Wilderness so if this should be allowed as it is objected then we may also say in those Northern parts where the days are sometimes lengthened by the Suns continuing in their Hemisphere more than twenty four hours time unto Days Weeks and Months that we are still to reckon them but for days contrary to the Custom of those People See Mr. T. Chasie cited Page 33. and the length of days and weeks in Gods Pattern of meafuring time but after this account their days will differ in length of Time Days Weeks and Months from one another and so tho' they have the orderly Succession of the Settings and Risings of the Sun according to the orderly Course of Nature in those places yet the Jewish seventh-day Sabbath cannot possibly this way be successively kept precisely in Proportion of Time there like as it was in Canaan and other parts of the World So that for any to argue for the precise Succession of the Jewish seventh-day Sabbath from their first keeping it or from the Creation after those Interruptions of the orderly course of the Day will consequently tend to draw us into great Confusions about the Sabbath and to maintain that in Name which is not properly so in Nature Object 13. The journeying of the two Disciples to Emmaus Luke â—4 13 and back again was near fifteen Miles which is more than a Sabbath days journey how then could their Travelling consist with the keeping of that first-day of the Week a Sabbath Answer 1. We sind Christ reproved them for their unbelief and if this will not be allowed as inclusive for their journeying from Jerusalem when they should have continued in Faith with the eleven Apostles thaâ— were there gathered together then I may farther add that it cannot be proved whether their journey was then Lawful or Unlawful for thô it be not lawful on the Sabbath-day to journey at all on the account of any common or worldly Business of our own yet there may possibly be a Moral necessity to journey on the Sabbath-day without Sin as it may be for the saving a Persons Life and therefore we cannot conclude that the two Disciples sinned in Travelling on the first Christian Sabbath or did thereby make it a common day unless we knew the occasion of it 2. Those two Disciples were not of the number of the Eleven Disciples or Apostles of our Lord which were themselves then but weak in Faith and in the Knowledge of Gospel things and therefore it is the less to be wondered at if those two Disciples did not observe that day a Sabbath when they doubted of the occasion of it viz. the Resurrection of Christ till he appeared to them which he also did to the Eleven Luke 24.33 Math. 28.8 and others who were waiting together on that day for the Confirmation of their Faith Object 14 The Jews reckoned their days to begin at Evening and therefore the Church of 〈◊〉 Acts 20.7 came together to break Bread on the begiâ—â—â—â— of the first day of the Week viz. on Saturday Night 〈◊〉 so called after the Jewish Sabbath was over and the next Morning Paul did go a soot to Asses where he had appoâ—â—ted his Companions to meet him with the Ship So that Paul and his Company travelled on the first day of the Week and therefore tho' he preached and broke Bread on it the Night before yet he kept it not as a Sabbath Answer It s true the Jews were appointed to keep their Sacred days from Evening to Evening or from Sun set to Sun set as Mr. See his Reply to Dr. Wallis Page 28.29,30 Josh 10.26 27. Prov. 〈…〉 Mark 1.32 Chap. 13.35 Baâ—pfield largely proves that the Evening belonging to the days of the Week began at Sun-set and is called the twilight And also Moseâ— dated Israels Deliverance out of Egypt from the Sacrifice of the Passover at Even at the going doan of the Sun But yet I have clearly proved that the days before and after that Deliverance were also reâ—koned from Morning to Morning as in Math. 28.1 In the â—nd of the Sabbath as it began to dawn towards the first-day of the Week From whence its plain that the first-day of the Week on which Christ arose from the Dead was counted by the
the beginning and ending of their days to what they were before the Israelites were delivered out of Egypt or before their Bondage 1. For thô it 's said Gen. 1.2 3 5. That darkness was upon the face of the deep And God said Let there be-light and there was light and the evening and the morning was the first day Yet from hence there is no sufficient ground to conclude Mr. Tho. Chasie in his Tract on the Sabbath p. 4. saith The first things God made was day and night or light and darkness There was in Nature before thô not in time a mixed or confused darkness which Moses called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Arias Montanus correcting Pagnin translateth and calleth it Caligo it was neither perfect day nor perfect Night that the Night was created before the day for Mr. Chasie observes that the Hebrew word signifieth a mixed darkness neither perfect Day nor perfect Night and its rational to believe that those words In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth should be taken for God's creating the matter of the Heavens and the Earth before their form As it s said The Earth was without form and void and darkness or gloominess was upon the face of the deep And then the light and darkness was mixed and confused together and so if the order of expression of Gods perfecting any piece of the Creation does carry any precedency in order of time then the Day-light did Originally go before its Night but I conceive that neither of them was perfectly formed before the other for it s said ver 4. that God divided the light from the darkness which plainly sheweth they were mixed together and that he separated the Day from the Night that they should no more be mixed and confused together as they were before but should be distinctly placed in the two Hemispheres successively to circulate round the Heavens So that at the same time when the Light was separated into one Hemisphere or half part of the Heavens the Darkness was placed in the other and therefore neither of them were perfectly formed before the other in time It s true Isal 45.7 Moses was under a necessity to set either the Evening or the Morning or the Light or Darkness first in the account of the order of God's Creation which he wrote after the change of the account of the day And therefore least he should seem to dislike the Alteration which God had then but newly made of the beginning and euding of the account of the Natural Day for Sacred things he named the Evening before the Morning in the History of the Creation But yet we may plainly see that as the light was put tho not precreated before the darkness in the account of the first days Work of Creation and as it s said That God made two great lights Gen. 1.3.10.18 the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night to rule over the day and over the night and to divide the light from the darkness So the light was counted afterwards for the former part of the Natural Day which consisteth of a Day-light and its Night or the revolution of the Sun in twenty four hours time For 2. We find that God created the Fowls of the Air on the fifth day and the Beasts and Cattel and every creeping thing of the Earth on the sixth day and made Adam and put him into the Garden of Eden and then brought them to him that he should give them Names before that God had caused a deep Sleep to fall upon him while he took out one of his Ribs and formed Eve and brought her unto him It is therefore rational to believe seeing it must necessarily take up time to name the Creatures and that Adam could not so well behold them in the Night as in the Day to distinguish every little Bird and every Fowl of the Air and all the Cattel and every Beast and creeping thing from each other to give them proper Names and to know them again by sight that he was formed in the day-light of that Hemisphere and that he spent the remaining part of it in that affair and that his sleep was in the following Night as the most proper time for it and then from this foot of account after Eve was formed at the Conclusion of the sixth days work of Creation both Adam and Eve first entred on God's seventh and their first day Sabbath at the beginning of the day-light or morning of the day to adore and worship God For as they had no need of the Night to sleep in for that they were newly made and fresh in the Strength and Perfection of their Nature Gen. 1.27 28. and as it best became our First Parents for the Lordship they received of God over the Creatures which he had made immediately to Attribute their Worship to him So it was most proper they should have first the Day-light to behold the Beauty of the Creation thereby to be excited from the Objects of their Eyes together with the Light of their Understandings to glorifie God on the first sanctified Day of his Rest from all his Works So that it is Rational to believe that Adam began his first First-day Sabbath with the morning or Day-light and consequently the following working days and Sabbath-days were all so to begin and successively to continue to others after him and according to this it s said a Exod. 10.13 Chap. 13.21 Lev. 8.35 Deut. 28.66 Job 26.10 Jer. 33.20 in Gen. 7.4 I will cause it to rain upon the Earth forty days and forty nights And so in Ver. 12. Forty days and forty nights And Moses was in the Mount forty days and forty nights Exod. 24.18 And in Gen. 8.6 At the end of forty days From which last place it is observable as well as from many other Scriptures b Gen. 8.10 12 Chap. 17.12 Exod. 21.21 Numb 14.34 that the Day and Night together is commonly called Day which is the most excellent part of that which is called the Natural Day of twenty four hours and therefore God might also give it the precedency in respect to its revolution with its Night originally unto Man 3. Leaving what I have already said of the beginning of the Natural Day to the serious Consideration of those that desire Information herein hoping it may be of use to them I proceed to bring in other Scripture Evidence also to prove that before the Israelites were delivered out of Egypt or were in bondage there the Day-light See Purchas Pilgrimage Page 118. lib 2.77 Emend Tem. lib. 1. Ainsworth on Gen. 10.10 Ezek. 23.15 Dan. 1.1 2. Ains Gen. 1.5 See Mr. G. Hughes Analytical Exposit of Genesis on Chap. 1.9 Gen. 10.8 9 10. Gen. 11.27 28 31. and not the Night was counted for the former part of the Natural Day As Purchas tells us citing Pliny and Scal. That the Babilouians began
their Natural Day of twenty four hours at the rising of the Sun the Egyptian and Romish Priests at Midnight Ainsworth and Mr. Hughes also say that the Chaldeans counted the beginning of the Day at San rising Now as for Babilon in Hebrew Babel the Metropolis of the Chaldeans it was first built by Nimrod before Abraham and Lots time who were Chaldeans born and it is plain from the Sacred Scriptures that Lots and Abrahams Generations reckoned their Natural days after the manner of the Chaldeans to begin with the Day-light and not the Night as appears in Gen. 19. 33 34. And they made their Father drink Wine that night and the first-born went in and lay with her Father and he perceived not when she lay down nor when she arose And it came to pass on the morrow that the first-born said unto the younger Behold I lay yesternight with my Father let us make him drink Wine this night also And in Gen. 31.26 29 36 42. And Laban said to Jacob the God of your Father spake unto me yesternight And Jacob answered God hath seen my Afflictions and the labour of my hands and rebuked thee yesternight The Hebrew word in these three places for yesternight is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Emesh heri sero Yesterday late in the Evening Pagnin Praterita Nocte last Night Arias Montanus Hesternâ Nocte Yesterdaynight Buxtorf Leigh Crit. Robertson's Lex c. Some add Evening or Yester Evening which is sometimes put for the whole Night as in the History of the Creation Gen. the Evening and the Morning is put for the Day and Night but that the Hebrew word Emesh does properly signifie Yester-night is farther evidenced because the Hebrews have another word for Yesterday viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Temol Exod. 5.14 1 Sam. 20.27 2 Sam. 15.20 Job 8.9 Psal 90.4 See Pagnin Arias Montan. Buxtorf Leigh Crit. c. And the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ghnereb or Ereb is properly the Evening and betokens the mixing of Light with Darkness after the Sun is set So that the word Emesh signifieth as it is rightly translated in our English Bibles See Ainsw Gen. 1.5 Leigh Gett. and as Ainsworth readeth it Yester-night or Yesterdayright which is the same Moreover this word in Gen. 19.34 cannot be otherwise understood without an apparent wrong to the Sacred Scripture For it 's said Ver. 33. And they made their Father drink Wine that night and the first-born went in and lay with her Father viz. that same Night And it came to pass on the morrow that the first-born said unto the younger Behold I lay yesternight with my Father let us make him drink Wine this Night also And they made their Father drink Wine that Night also Now let it be duely considered that the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lailah which is properly Night is in the Context used in those three places and that the word Lailah Night in Ver. 33. does undeniably confirm the word Emesh in ver 34. to be there put for Yesternight and not for Yesterday or Yesterday Evening because the Hebrew word Lailah Night is used in the foregoing Verse to express that same time and Night which is called Yesternight Besides the following words this Night also does also farther imply that the word Emesh is put for Yesternight So that beside the proper signification of the word the rendring of it according to our common English Translation is confirmed with a threefold Evidence viz. 1. That the Hebrew Tongue has other words to express Yesterday and Evening 2. That the following Context does imply that Emesh is put for Yesternight And 3. That the same time called Yesternight ver 34. is called Night ver 33. So that in Lots and Jacobs time by the Morrow next following to Yesternight it appears the Day-light was counted for the former part of the Natural Day 4. This is farther evident for when at Night they spake of the Day-light following they used not to say to day or this Day but to Morrow or the Morrow after Numb 33.3 They departed from Rameses in the first month Exod. 12.6 8 10. Dent. 10.6 Mark 14.17 Matth. 16.20 on the fifteenth day of the first month on the morrow after the Passeover which was killed on the fourteenth day at Even and prepared at the going down of the Sun and was eaten within that Night and not in the Evening as our Saviour sheweth how the Passeover was to be kept according to Law for it s said In the Evening he cometh with the twelve And when the Even was come he sat down with them Matth. 26.26 1 Cor. 11.23 and as they were eating it he instituted the Holy Supper as 't is said The same Night in which he was betrayed According as it was expresly commanded that the Passeover should be eaten in or within that Night which belong'd to the fourteenth day as they reckoned their days for Civil things for after the Lord had passed over the Children of Israel and smote the first-born of Egypt at Mid-night Exod. 11.29 c. 37 38. Numb 1.1 2 45 46. and Pharaoh and all his Servants were risen and had called Moses and Aaron and bid them and the Children of Israel with their Flocks and Herds to be gone and 600000 Footmen besides Women and Children could depart thô they were in some readiness yet it is rational to believe it musts needs be in the next Day-light and to confirm this we find they were expesly commanded that none of them should go out of the Door of his house until the Morning viz. of the morrow after the passeover Night Exod. 12 2◠called the fifteenth day and therefore it did neither belong to the Passover Night nor the fourteenth day But from this Passeover the account of the Natural Day was altered and by God's Appointment was put back a whole Night for the Passeover was killed and prepared on the fourteenth day at Evening from whence the first day of unleavened Bread began and the Feast continued till the one and twentieth day at Evening which is just seven days according to the Commandment Exod. 12.17 18 19. But yet observe in Levit. 23.6 and Numb 28.17 it is said that on the fifteenth day is the Feast of unleavened Bread seven days which to reckon it to begin from the morrow or next morning after the Passeover as before is shewed Numb 33.3 on account of their Civil days like as was reckon'd in Lot and Jacob's time would come short a whole night of the seven days appointed from the fourteenth day at Even till the one and twentieth day at Even And therefore I see no other way to make up the full seven days than to begin their fifteenth Sacred Day at or after the Evening and end of their Civil or common fourteenth artificial Day of Day-light which cuts off its following Night belonging to it and so puts that Night to the following Day-light and
before his six working days but as for our first-day Sabbath we are justified in keeping it by the Example of Christs Disciples and the Primitive Churches and the more because as it was changed from the Jewish Sabbath it is our first-day Sabbath before our six working days and so it better agrees with Adams Pattern than the Jewish Sabbath then can do 4. If it should be said as I acknowledge it may that the Jewish Sabbath may be called their first-day Sabbath respecting their first observing it in the Wilderness as a boundary before and after their six working days and so by Imitation does answer the Pattern of Adams Sabbath I have this to Answer that yet the Jewith Sabbath did not imitate Adams Pattern as our Christian Sabbath doth in beginning it with the Morning Day light for the Jews began their Sabbath at Even contrary to Adams Pattern as there is Reason from Scripture to believe And if it be objected that the Pattern of Adam respecting the beginning of his Sabâ—ath in the Morning is not plainly exprest but drawn by Interence from the Scripture but the Jewish Pattern is expresly commanded and therefore there is better ground of the two to observe the Sabbath after the Pattern in the Mosaical Precept I answer 1. It is not expressy said that Adams first Sabbath was his first-days Sabbath Mark 2.27 But yet seeing Christ hath said the Sabbath was made for Man and that none can deny but that Adam was bound in Duty to God to observe Gods seventh day Sabbath wherein he rested from his Works of Creation then we may insist on the sufficiency of our Evidence for Adams beginning his Sabbath in the Morning it being so rationally inserred thô it is not in Words expressed in the Scriptures 2. It hath been shewed how our Lord made void the Mesaical Precept of Divorcement and justified the doing of it by the Moral Pattern in our first Parents tho' it was not by any express Word of God nor by so clear an evidence from Adam and Eves being one Fresh that he nor his Posterity but by a special permission of God should not put away their Wives except for Fornication as there is Reason to believe that Adam began his Sabbath in the Morning day light And therefore tho' Christ might have abolished that Precept without setting a Moral Pattern against it yet his justifying the doing of it from thence 2 Tim 3.16 is an Example to be of use to us in other Cases 3. We have greater Reason to begin our Sabbath in the Morning in every Countrey where it can be so observed after the Pattern of Adams Sabbath and the Reason of its change in the New Testament tho' his beginning of it so is but inferred from the Scripture and not expressed in it rather than to begin it after the Jewish Precept at Evening for were this universally binding it could not being a Positive Command accommodate the Necessity of Nature for the different beginning and ending of the Sabbath as the Pattern in Adam and the New Testament Example doth And this I conceive to be one chief Reason that the Jewish Sabbath is abrogated and that we have only the Pattern of Adams Sabbath left us by rational Inference from the Scripture and the Reason of the change of the Sabbath in the New Testament for our beginning of it in the Morning and that we have not any command fixing of it as it was to Israel For 1. That would have either bound us to the precise Point of Time of its beginning in the Lard of Canaan and then the Memorial of Christs Resurrection early in the Morning had not been signified by its beginning in other Nations remote from their Borders for in some places it must then begin at Noon c. and so its day-light there had been divided and the Service of God distructed and our worldly Affairs too much intruding on the meetest time for solemn Worship Or 2. Such a command to six the beginning of the Sabbath would have required it univerfally to begin in the Morning or at the dawning of the Day which is inconsistent with the course of Nature for many Weeks together in some Northern Parts of the World And therefore that those People should not be obliged by any Law to keep such a Sabbath which they are not capable constantly to observe God was pleased to leave only the Moral Precept of the fourth command founded on his first sanctifying of the Sabbath to be binding to us all that those Northern People should answer it by beginning their Sabbath with the first and seventh-day or proportionable Division of a day bounding before and after their six working days and allow it the same Proportion of Time and should preserve the Memorial of the Resurrection of Christ by observing the first day of the Week from and in Distinction to the Jewish seventh-day as near as they can to Answer the Example of the Primitive Churches in the New Testament And that we and all others that have constantly our natural days with Evenings and Mornings twenty four hours long should answer the same Moral Law after the Gospel Pattern and as precisely as we can to begin our first-first-days Sabbaths early or at the dawning of the Morning in every Nation For if we and all other such Nations should be tyed successively to begin our Sabbath at the very precise Point of Time of the dâ—wning of the first-day in Jerusalem to contemporize with them in the Land of Canaan where our Lord afore from the Dead then they must either in other Countries Eastward to the Sun from the Land of Canaan begin their Christian Sabbath later in their Day-light or Westward from them sooner in their Night than they should in Judea and so in the Compass of the whole World Eastward or Westward there would be a beginning and ending of the Sabbath near a day and night differing in their Time of day to the dawning of the day in the Land of Canaan and by this means in some parts of the World the Christian Sabbath would begin at Noon at Evening and at all hours of the Day and Night and so except in that very spot in and about the Land of Canaan they would lose its Memorial of Christs Resurrection at the Dawning of the Day But if other Countries Eastward and Westward from Canaan begin as they ought their first-days Sabbath like them at the same time of the day then they must either begin their first day sooner or later than the first day began in Canaan and so in the Compass of the World Eastward or Westward it must begin and end in all Hours of the Jewish seventh or second day of the Week and in some place their first-day must be in the same time and contemporize with their seventh * Or within a very small time of it viz. of their seventh or second-day or in some place with their second-day
places and come to the Light for mens Habitations ought to stoop to Gods Law and not Gods Law to their Habitations Answer 1. The Psalmist faith Psal 74 1â— 20 21. O deliver not the Soul of thy Turtle Dove unto the Multitude of the Wicked forget not the Congregation of thy Poor for ever Have respect unto the Covenant For the dark places of the Earth are full of the Habitations of Cruelty O let not the oppressed return ashamed let the Poor and Needy Praise thy Name This is a Prayer pleaded from the Covenant that the oppressed Turtle Dove and Congregation of Gods Poor might be delivered from the wicked for saith the Psalmist The dark places of the Earth are full of the Habitations of Cruelty As if he should say O deliver thy Poor and Needy in those places of the Earth that are dark with Blind and Cruel Inhabitants that oppress them for as there is not one Word of Wild Beasts mentioned in the Text or any Agreement of its connexed Matter to imply the darkness of place to be understood for want of the Light of the Sun and the Natural Day So those Countreys are no more deseribed to us by being called dark places than if they were called the Light places of the Earth Because they have the same Proportion of Light together more than other Countreys have in the Summer as they have of Darkness together in the Winter and in the whole Year they have equal Light and Darkness to other places And therefore as it cannot be proved by any other Scripture that by dark places in the Text are meant those Countreys but that the matter connexed to the Text implies it to and expounds it of dark Persons if it were granted as it is not that by dark places is meant those Countreys it is sufficient to invalidate all that is there said by Mr. Stennet against our proving that the Jewish seventh-day Sâ—bbath from Evening to Evening is not morall â—â—â—ding to all Nations for the â—â—â—â—bitants of such Countreys having no Sun nor Day for several Weeks in Wâ—â—ter not any Night not Evening for several Weeks in Summer they mast of Neâ—â—shty â—vide their â—une and bound their Sabbâ—â—hs some other ways Vz In Summer the account of their Time must be preservâ—â— and their hight measâ—ed and divided into their hight days oâ— twenty soâ—â— hours by their Meridian and in Winter Astâ—oâ—â—mers say when the Sun is absent from them for several Weeks they may preserve the account of Time and Measure and divide their Darkness into dark days of twenty four hours by the help of the Staâ—s And by Clocks or Glasses of Sand as we do our hours of the Day and Night So that tho' their Sabbath may be duely kept with the same Proportion of Time as we do in our Nation yet seeing it cannot there be observed after the Jewish Pattern from Evening to Evening that Precept was therefore never designed for all Nations to exert their Obedience by it to the Moral Law 2. See Mr. Edw. Stennets Book on the seventh-day in Page 47. I now come to speak to the other Text Psaâ—m 19.2 3. which the Author thus citeth saith he David faith There is no Speech nor Language under Heaven where the Voice of Day and Night is not heard But he hath not dealt ingeniously with this Scripture so to transpose the matter in citing of it to make it savour his Cause contrary to its true Order and Sence as it lies in the Holy Bible for the Psalmist saith Vor. 1.2 3. The Heavens declare the Glory of God and the Firmament sheweth his handy Work Day unto Day mâ—â—reth Speech and Night unto Night sheweth Knowledge There as no Speech nor Language where their Voice is not heard Their Line is gone out through all the Earth and their Words to the â—nd of the World Now let the Reader consider whether this place of Scripture hath any thing in into his purpose surely if it be duely considered it will appear strongly against him for if those Words There is no Speech nor Language where their Voice is not heard relate to the two preceding Verses then we must understand them of the Voice of Gods handy-work in the Creation and orderly abiding of the Firmament and Ordinances of the Heavens and Day and Night or Light and Darkness which declare the glorious Wisdom and Power of God to every People according to the Scituation of their Countreys throughout the World but if those Words are expounded as they are most propeâ—â— connexed to the following Verse then the Aposâ—le in Rom. 10. Rom 10.15 16 17 18. Math. 28.19 applies them to the Preathing of the Gospel to the ends of the World and the Lord hath promised in Isa 66.19 which relates to a different Time after the sust Promulga â—on of the Gospâ—â— and therefore may reach to those Blind and â—gnorant Notâ—here People we are treatâ—â—g of that 〈…〉 esâ—â—pe to I arshish Pull and 〈◊〉 c. and to the 〈◊〉 a at oâ—â— that have not heard of his Name nor seen his Glory and the shall declare his Glory among the Gemtles So that the Word of the Gospel and consequently the Moral Law in the Old â—estament annexed to it and consirmed by it was to be 〈◊〉 to Mens Habitations for tho' all Nations shall go up to the Moâ—â—â—ain oâ— the Lords House Isa 2.3 Isâ— 60.1 2 3 c. yet this shall be either their volâ—â—â—â—â— Act to 〈◊〉 their Knowledge of his ways from the extrandinary Light that shall 〈◊〉 oâ— the Tribes of Israel when they shall be returned into their own Land in the Time of Christs Gloâ—ous Kingdom here on Eâ—â—th or to do subjective Homage every car once a year Zach. 14 like to the other Text Isa 66.23 where its 〈◊〉 Teat 〈…〉 new Moon to another and from one Sabbath to 〈◊〉 shaâ— all Plesh come to norship before me saith the Lord And whatever is intended by this monthly worship to be in the suture Glotions Time of Christs Kingdom yet as we have nothing of it now in the New Testament and so this Text can no ways prove that any Nation should in our present day remove their Habitations to another Countrey so it cannot be taken that all Nations should assemble into one place once a Month or every Sabbath for thus they cannot appear before the Lord but once a year and I Question if it be then required of every individual Person but of some of all Nations as it cannot be monthly shictly considered or rather of all those Nations only that came against Jâ—rusalem as it is expresly said Zâ—â—h 14.16 And I do not sind it otherwise that Men should now or then remove their Habitations into any Countrey or the Land of Canaan unto the Gospel for as this can never be until it comes first into the places where they are to convince them and bring them over to the Obedience of it so the end
Evange list according to their Civil days not to begin till the dawning of the Day or Sun-rising and agreeable to Mr. Bampfields Discourse against the first-days beginning at Midnight after the Roman account it must necessarily follow that the first-day Acts 20.7 11. must be reckoned to begin with the Morning day-light For it s said Vpon the first-day of the Week when the Disciples came together to break Bread Paul preached unto them ready to depart on the Morrow and continaâ—d his Speech until Midnight When he therefore had broken Bread and eaten and talked a long while even till break of day so he departed And here I observe that the Morning in which Paul departed was the Morrow which betokens another day and therefore it was no part of the first day of the Week So that it is not only undeâ—iably clear from the Text it self that the Night in which Paul preached was part of the first-day belonging to the preceeding day-light joining to it but it s also evident that the first day of the Week began in the Morning before and not on that Evening in which the Apostle preached and so it appears that the Morrow on which Paul travelled was the second day of the Week and the Text clearly proves that on the day before being the first day of the Week Paul with the Church of Troas Assembled to solemnize the Ordinances of the Gospel as on the Sabbath day Object 15. It s said Math. 12.40 As â—onas was three days and three Nights in the Whales belly So shall the Sun of man be three days and three Nights in the Heart of the Earth And this seemeth to disagree with other places of Scripture concerning the Resurrection of Jesus Christ Answer 1. It cannot be thought St. Matthew or the other Evangelists faw any Discord in the Testimony they bore of Christ or that the three Days and three Nights expressed by our Saviour should be repugnant to the other Evangelsts undeniable Evidence that Christ was not in the Grave three Nights Now to reconcile this Difficulty I shall cite Dr. Hammond on the Text saith he The way of Interpreting this place mast be taken from a Figure which expresseth one whole thing by two parts of it Thus the Heavens and the Earth in St. Peter 2 Pet. 3.7 signifie the World and so Christ is said to be three Days and three Nights in the Earth thô the first natural Day he was not in the Grave any part of the Night but the latter part of the Fryday all Saturday and so much of Sunday as until the Sun approached their Horizon And as it is practised in the business of Circumcision This of Circuâ—â—ision is alâ—â— affirmed by Mr. Wâ—â—mâ—â— in his Christ Sâ—nag Page 114. which was precifely observed the eighth day if the Child were born in one day thô but half an hour before the end of it that is before the beginning or Evening of the next that half hour was counted for one of the eight days because say they legal days are not accounted from Time to Time or from Hour to Hour Thus when Luke 9.28 'T is said about eight days after Math. 17.1 and Mark 9.2 'T is after six Days that is after six Days compleat the first and the last being not compleat and so thô numbred by one yet omitted by two Evangelists And accordingly the space of those very three days of Christs lying in the Grave until his Resurrection are when it is Prophetically mentioned in Hosea 6 â— said to be after two days 2. The Dutch Annotations also say of those three Days and three Nights For a part of the Days is here taken whole days and nights like that is Customary with the Hebrews see Esth 4.16 compared with Chap. 5.1 And so they take it after the Romanists reckoning that the days began and ended on the Midnight and so it falleth yet clearer To which I shall add this brief Note That seeing 't is said As Jonas was three Days and three Nights c. so Christ should be three days and three Nights c. 'T is thought from our Saviours Words that sonas was not compleatly three Nights in the Whales Belly but as Christ was in the Grave Object 16. Christs Body rested in the Grave on the Jews Sabbath and his Soul in Paraaice and therefore he never intended by his Death to make it a common work-day Answer Luke 2.21 Gal. 4.4 Math. 5.17 18. As Christ was born a Jew and was Circumcised and came to fulfil the whole Law so every Jot and Little of it was rulsilled by him and therefore he always observed the Jewish Sabbath and if his Body being in the Grave and his Soul in Paradice should in some Sence be taken for a rest in Comparison of what he laboured under before for our Redemption yet then it must be only so considered with respect to the Law tâ—â— our Justification was compleatly Purchased by the Resurrection of Christ from the Dead Rom. 4.25 â— Cor. 15.17 18. who was delivered that is to be Crucisied for our Offences and was raised again for our Justification And the Apostle also saith That if Christ be not raised your Faith is vain ye are yet in your Sins Then they also that are fallen asleep in Christ are perished So that thô the Vail of the Temple was Rent at his Passion as a Sign that there was thereby a Rent made in the Types and Shadows of Heavenly Things which was then making void yet the Heavenly Things themselves were not compleatly purchased for us until the Body of Christ was raised for our Justification Heb. 9.12 And then as the Apostle saith By his own Blood he entred in once into the Holy Place having obtained Eternal Redemption for us Now therefore thô Christs being in the Grave should be called a Comparative Rest to what he suffered on the Cross yet it cannot be understood of his Ceasing from the Work of purchasing our Redemption until the Omnipotency of his Divine Nature was put forth in loosing him from the Pains of Death Heb. 2.10 Chap. 5.9 and Chap. 11.40 Acts 2.24 or part of the Sentence of the Law and raising his Body to Life again for till then the New Creation was not perfected in the second Adam And then on the first day of the Week having ceased from this Work and so rested it was thereby sanctified in stead of the Jewish seventh-day Sabbath which was then to be abolished as all other Legal Ceremonial Things were And the Gospel first and seventh day Sabbath taking its place was to answer the Moral Law and to bear the Type of the Rest that remaineth to the People of God as also principally the Memorial of Christs Resurrection and to continue our Sabbath unto his second Personal Coming To close this Treatise seeing we are obliged to keep the first day of the Week a Sabbath or Day of Rest from our worldly Business to worship and