that either it must begin in some one place or other first before it began in any place else either East or West thereto or else that it was infinite without any first beginning at all Either of which no understanding man will affirme much lesse that the day of Gods rest begins sooner in one place then in another Secondly I have proved sufficiently that the day of Gods rest could not be the same with the Iews Sabbath-day nor the same kinde of day and that all and every of the dayes of the creation were farre different from week-dayes that were in use with the Iews or are or at any time have been in use with men To this purpose I have shewed what kinde of dayes our week-dayes be and what the Iews week-dayes be and what the dayes of the creation were and how they all differ in kinde from each other in Chap. 2 3 4 5 6. And then what kinde of day the Sabbath-day must be in Chap. 7. Thirdly I have shew'd what day the Sabbath-day is to be in respect of order and tale That it is to be the seventh day Not the seventh day from the first beginning of the creation nor the seventh from any set Era or Epoche but the seventh day from the time we begin the week for labour where we live in Chap. 8. Concerning which I have shewed why the Lord set the Israelites a time when they after they came out of Egypt must begin their week whereby in count of their week-dayes and so also of their seventh sacred day they differed from all other Nations in Chap. 8 9 10. and what weeks be and the difference between a week and the week and between a seventh day of the week and the seventh day of the week which last is the Lords day or Sabbath of the Lord in Chap. 11 12. and also the antiquity of weeks and the answer unto to the main objection thereto in Chap. 13 14. Fourthly I have shewed that Sunday was of old the seventh day of the week with the Gentiles and most probably was the seventh day of the week also with the Patriarchs before the flood and hath continued with Christians their seventh day of the week even unto this present day and doubtlesse ever will to the worlds end in Chap. 15. Christian Reader my hearty desire is that thou and all other the obedient servants of Iesus Christ be rightly informed concerning our observation of the Sabbath-day Haply thou didst before the reading hereof hold that this fourth Commandment is a branch of the moral law that it is agreeable to the law of nature to have a day in seven to be for Gods worship that Sunday is our christian Sabbath as Saterday was the Jews Sabbath and that as God wrought six dayes and rested the seventh and consecrated the seventh day unto holinesse and rest even so all Gods obedient people should not be slothful but diligent in their callings on the six work dayes and rest on the Sunday according to Gods example and keep it holy If this was thine opinon thou wert in the right and didst hold nothing in all these but what godly and learned men and the servants of Iesus Christ did generally teach in former time the people of God here in England as may plainly appear to thee if thou readest only that Homily which is for the time and place of Gods worship But since that subtile heads have been imployed to the subverting hereof and bringing in a dangerous errour opening a floodgate to all licentionsnesse on the Lords Sabbath they have publickly taught and published to the world that the seventh day commanded to be kept holy is none other but the day of Gods rest They would bring People in hand that the Iewes Sabbath was the very seventh day from the Creation and none other but that to be the seventh day of the week with any People and so Sunday to be with us the first day of the week To this end I suppose they would have the name of our sabbath-Sabbath-day which the Jewes called in their tongue The first day of the Sabbath to be translated as it is in our Bibles not The Lords day or Sunday by which names Christians whose Ancestors were Gentiles ever called it but The first day of the week that so People may conceive hereby though a new name doth not alter the nature of the thing that Sunday with us is not in order the seventh day of the week viz. the day following the six dayes of labour but the day going before the six dayes of labour with us and therefore not the Sabbath-day here commanded for the rooting out of which errour and confirming all in the truth concerning the Lords day I have sent abroad this little Tract If now by thy serious perusal hereof thou art the more encouraged to render the Lord his due honour in the heedful observation of the Lords day which with us is Sunday not for customs sake because thy fore-fathers and the Church of God ever observed the same since the time of the Apostles nor for that the Magistrates have commanded us to keep this day holy Nor for that the seventh-day-Sabbath is abolished and this to be a new Sabbath instituted but for that God in this his law which is perpetual and unalterable hath commanded thee and all People expresly to keep holy the seventh day Give God the glory and lift up a Prayer unto him for me a poor sinner T. C. The Synopsis or Abridgement of the whole Tract In this fourth Commandment there be two parts viz. 1. The duty commanded in which we be to know What day the Sabbath of the Lord is concerning which know 1. What kinde of day the Sabbath-day is and therin note There be foure kindes of dayes which we shall meet with in the Holy Scripture which are these viz. the Artificial day Chap. 1. Universal day Chap. 2. Horizontal day Chap. 3. Meridional day Chap. 4. They differ every one from the other The Artificial day differeth from all other Chap. 5. The Universal day differeth from all other Chap. 5. Horizontal and Meridional dayes differ one from the other Chap. 6. Which of these foure kindes of days is the Lords Sabbath Chap. 7. 2. What day the Sabbath-day is to be in respect of orderand tale wherein note 1. The Sabbath-day is the seventh day of the week that is the day following the six known dayes of labour Chap. 8. 2. The cause why the Jewes had Saterday for their Sabbath was to take them off from the Assyrian idolatries concerning which note that 1. The Assyrian idolatries were their worshipping the Sun and the other planets all called the Host of heaven And also their worshipping Belus called Baal Chap. 9. 2. From their example all nations as well as Israel worshipped the Sun Chap. 9. 3. Among many meanes God used to take the Jewes off from worshipping the Sun one was that instead of Sunday they must have Saterday
little Every degree that you went westward you pieced your day and made it the three hundred and sixtieth part of a day longer then it was but therewithal you losed the three hundred and sixtieth part of your day in tale you must look to lose one way if you gain another way In your travel of the whole round which is three hundred and sixty degrees you gained a whole day in the length of your dayes but you have lost thereby a whole day in tale For tell me when it was Sunday here at your coming home what day was it then with you Indeed quoth Iohn it was but Saturday with us and I wondred much why we in the count of the dayes of our week came still a day short of what they counted here But I pray tell me what counsel you will give me in the case between me and my brother why quoth Ployden be ruled by me and feare not make one voyage more and go back the same way that you came and you shall certainly finde again the day which you lost and then come to me and I will warrant your Case Though now I approve not Ploydens judgement in every point yet I say what he told Iohn of the lengthening his dayes and losing a day in tale at his return whereby he had not lived so many week-dayes as his brother Iohannes had by a day is very true whether he counted the week by Horizontal or by Meridional days But yet Iohn lived as many Universal days as did his brother and losed not one hour or minute of an houre of the Vniversal day it could neither be lengthened or shortened by continual travel When the Sun came to that Meridian in which it was when it began the fifth sixth or seventh day at the first Creation then did the Vniversal day end and the next began both with Iohn and with his brother though they were half the Compasse of the earth distant from each other 2. Week-dayes whether they be Horizontal or Meridional cannot be the same in all places much lesse can their parts or houres be the same But the Universal day is not only the same day in all places but every part or houre of that day is without any variation the same every where The last day in which Christ shall come to judge the world which must needs be on two week-dayes with People if it be on Sunday with some it will be on Saterday or Munday with some others and on different times also of the week-day if it shall be at midnight with some not only mid-night of security b Mat. 25.6 13 24.39 50. but in respect of the week-day it will be at noon with some others c. Yet will it be on one and the same Universal day therefore every where in holy Scripture that time is called a day c Iohn 6.39.40 54.11.24 Acts 2.20 Mat. 10.15 not dayes It shall not be on one day here and on another day elsewhere but on one and the same day It wil be a general day of judgement not only in respect of all conditions of men but also of all places they shal be gather'd from the foure windes d Mar. 13.27 from all quarters of the world Yea his coming shall then be not only on one and the same Vniversal or general day but on one and the same houre of that day in respect of all People In an houre of that day the trumpet shall sound e Mat. 24.36 1 Thes 4.16 then all in all places shall heare the voice thereof at that same moment even at the twinkling of an eye f 1 Cor. 1â— 52 In vaine shall the plea of any be alledging that it is Tuesday then with some people and it is but Munday with us O let us tarry till Tuesday too or that it is but one of the Clock with us and it is three or more with others and therefore too soon for them No for their account of the day will not serve the turn All shall finde that houre to be a general houre of a general or Universal day that is not sooner in one place then in another CHAP. VI. The difference between Horizontal and Meridional dayes THere is not a little difference between the Meridional and the Horizontal day as may appear by what hath been before said First they differ in length and duration for the Meridional day whereby the Jewes counted the dayes of their moneths and we the dayes of our weeks and moneths is in time foure and twenty houres without any sensible difference But the Horizontal day by which the Jewes count the dayes of their weeks from Sun-setting to Sun-setting or from Sun-rising to Sun-rising by which some other have counted the dayes of their week is sometimes in some places near five and twenty houres and at some other time in the same places it will be but about three and twenty houres in length When I say the Horizontal day is the time between Sun-setting and Sun-setting or between Sun-rising and Sun-rising I mean so in all places in and between the temperate zones and not in places near either of the Poles where it is continual day-light for many dayes together From Sun-setting to Sun-setting in those places cannot properly be termed a day having in it many revolutions of the Sun never was it in use with any People to mete out unto them their week moneth year or age Men living in such places measure out their weeks and moneths by Meridional dayes as we do Neither is there any mention made of such dayes any where in sacred Scripture and it is of such kinde of dayes as are there mentioned which I promised to speak of c See chap. 1. Secondly they differ much in respect of their beginning and ending Here in York and other places of England there is sometimes five sometimes eight and never so little as three houres difference between their beginnings and the like between their endings Whence it must follow that every of the week-dayes with the Jewes consisted partly of two dayes of their moneth and that every day of the moneth with them consisted partly of two of their week-dayes the dayes of their moneth being meridional and their dayes of the week Horizontal dayes as I said before The knowledge hereof is very useful for the reconciling divers places and resolving divers doubts in the sacred Scripture about the Jewes customes in observing their feasts as for instance if it be demanded 1. Whether the Israelites ate the Passeover in Egypt and came out of Egypt from Rameses on one and the same day Sith it is said that on the fourteenth day at Even they ate the Passeover b Exod. 12.8 but it was the next day being the morrow after viz. the fifteenth day when they came from Rameses d Num. 33.3 Or whether our Saviour Christ ate the Passeover with his disciples and after that suffered death on the Crosse on one
afterward was held and maintained by the ancient Fathers that the earth was not round but plain as a Championfield They thought there could be no dwellers under the earth which go foot to foot against us and that if there should be any Antipodes imagined yet them not to be Adams Posterity whom they held to have all dwelt upon the earth and to have been all drowned except eight persons when Noahs flood covered all the face of the earth So strong did this opinion prevail with the said Fathers as that whoever held the contrary was counted near as bad as an Heretick Witnesse Vigilius whom some call Virgilius who was complained of by Boniface unto Zachary then Pope and was degraded for holding that there were Antipodes and that they had a Sun and Moon to shine unto them as well as to us This story may be seen in Aventine a Aven Annal. Bar. l. 3. and in Baronius who sought to cover the fact with fig-leaves Now that the adversaries to the Morality of this law held all those tenents before-said and that they all sprang from this errour of the earth 's supposed plain superficies I will next shew For the clearing whereof I need not cite many of them one may serve for all being approved by them all Neither will I tell here all that he writes hereabout but that which chiefly concernes the point in hand Mr. Ironside a Reverend Divine and of singular gifts and parts but over-swayed by the stream of late times doth in his book called the Seven Questions of the Sabbath dedicated to the late Arch-bishop of Canterbury William Laud tell us First that it is necessary not only for the learned but also for the weak and inferiour sort of people to know to a minute when the Lords day or Sabbath doth begin and when it doth end and that for two special reasons The one is for the Peace and quiet of their consciences which else would be wounded and disquieted The other is for that unlesse the very day and the whole day be kept to a Minute all the duties done on that day are lost His words are these It is necessary to inquire of the dimensions of this day of what duration and continuance of time it must be a Irens 7. Quest pag. 2. Amongst those things which disquiet and perplex the Consciences of the weak concerning the Lords day this is not the least where it is to begin and how long it lasteth For God requiring of us perfect and intire obedience without diminution or defalcation unlesse every minute of time which the Lord requireth of us as his tribute and homage be duly tendred to him our whole labour bestowed upon the parts and pieces of the day is not regarded b Page 126. It is also that which concerns the most sort of our inferiour People to be satisfied in lest the Commandment requiring one thing their employments another they many times wound their consciences and rob themselves of that Peace which otherwise they might enjoy c Page 127. 2ly that God might have his due tribute and the weak if they will may keep their consciences quiet in observing the true and full time of the Sabbath he setteth down the precise day of the Sabbath as he conceiveth and the exact time to a minute when the Sabbath-day is to begin As for the day he tells us that the Sabbath-day must be precisely the day of Gods rest Thus Assoon as God had ended his work he ordained and appointed that the seventh day the day of his own rest else he will not conceive that it can be the seventh day should be that on which the Church should rest d Page 21. Vnlesse we rest that very seventh day in which God rested we no more resemble his rest then a man that hath a ladder resembles Jacob that had a vision of a ladder c Page 90. As for the exact time when the Sabbath is to begin and end he tells us that the very minute in which the Sun is in the Horizon at his rising is the true beginning of the day and he proveth that it must so be for that when the fourth day at the Creation began the Sun was then in the Horizon at his rising so that any of the inferiour sort of people he before spake of may by looking in his Almanack tell to a minute if Mr. Ironsides rule faile him not at any time throughout all the year and in any place through out the world when the 4th day of the Creation and the very day of Gods rest and so consequently when the Sabbath beginneth These are his words If the natural day be measured by the Revolution of the Sunne as all confesse sure it is that until the Sun begin his course the day cannot begin At what time now did the Sun set forth upon the fourth day at the Creation Common reason will say when he first appeared in the Horizon The rising therefore of the Sun in the Horizon must needs be the first Period of the natural day a I rons 7. Qu pag c 123. 3ly he tels us that the Jews Sabbath-day was the day of Gods rest and the same with that which God blessed sanctified making no difference between all these three His words are these That particular Sabbath-day given unto the Jews even the day of Gods rest is not a Sabbath but the Sabbath even that which God sanctifyed The Sabbath must be the same with the seventh or else there is no tolerable sense or congruity in that law b Page 70. Whereas he saith the same with the 7th he meaneth by the 7th the 7th day from the Creation even the very day of Gods rest which he proved to begin at the rising of the Sun like as the 4th day did Now whereas some may and that not without just cause doubt how the day of Gods rest which began at Sun-rising as he saith and the Jews Sabbath which ever began at the setting of the Sun whersoever they dwelt could be one and the same day Sith that they as well in respect of their beginnings as also in respect of their endings are heavenly wide the one from the other even as farre as the Sun-rising is distant from Sun-setting between both which there must be half a dayes difference And so the day of Gods rest must begin either at Sun-rising before the Jews Sabbath-day began or at the Sun-rising after If at the Sun-rising before that is on the Friday morning then the Turks Sabbath so Doctor Heylin calleth it may more truly be called the day of Gods rest a Heyl. part 1. pag. 48. then that of the Jews But if at the Sun-rising after then our Christian Sabbath-day ever began on the day of Gods rest the which the Jews Sabbath never did For the wiping off this and all such doubts Mr. Ironside tells us both at what time and also by what means the day
be both in one Hemisphere but succeed in order each other which is called Gods Covenant of the day and of the night a Ier. 33.20 God then called that light so divided Day and that darknesse so divided called by Moses emphatically 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God called night b Gen. 1.4 5. the full Revolution of both which was the first day in this division of the light and darknesse or day and night though the night was before the day in one Hemisphere and the day before the night in the other yet in respect of the whole Universe neither of them was before the other in time When the first day began somewhere when it was night at the same time that first day began some otherwhere when it was day-light every where did the first day begin at the same time The second day the third day in like maner were universal days When God stretchd out the firmament on the second day it was every where then the second day On the next day also whersoever God the Universal Worker did his work throughout the whole round in gathering together the waters making the seas and dry land there every where was it the third day And after that every where was it the same third day where God made the earth to bring forth grasse and herbes and fruit-trees d Gen. 1.11 12 13. no where was it then either the second or fourth day The fourth day in which the Sunne Moone and Starres were made was an Universal day When it was the fourth day any where it was the fourth every where It is not revealed in what part of the fourth day those lights of heaven were made but most certain is it that when the Sunne first appeared to the world on that day it was over some part of the earth at that time making it to be noone there and in all places in that Hemisphere which were in the same Meridian with the Sunne And that in many places ninety degrees East from thence it was Sun-setting and in as many places ninety degrees West from thence it was then at the same time Sun-rising Also that in the other Hemisphere to which the Moon or Stars appeared it was then night and midnight there in those places that were in the same Meridian with the Sunne So that although on that fourth day Sun-setting was before Sun-rising in some places and Sun-rising before Sun-setting in some other places and in some places noone was before either of the other and in some other places mid-night was before them all yet in respect of the whole earth not one of them was on that fourth day before the other But at the Sunnes first appearing and shining over half the earth it was at that very instant the fourth day as well where it was Sun-setting or Sun-rising as where it was noone and likewise it was then the fourth day also in the other part of the earth to which the Moone or Starres first appeared For neither the Sun Moone or Starres appeared to any place on the third day which was the day before they were made and the fifth day was not then begun The like I say for the fifth day and for the sixth day when God made fish and fowle on the fifth day or when he made Adam the last of his creatures on the sixth day it was then after Sun-setting in some places and before Sun-rising in some other places and it was then noone in some places and mid-night in some other places yet all on the same day The like I say also for the seventh day the day of Gods rest When God rested from all his works that he had made it was no where then the sixth day but every where the seventh day The day of Gods rest began in some places at Sun-rising in some places at Sun-setting and in some at noone and in other some at mid-night in the same day For so was it on the fourth day when the Sunne first appeared and so when it was halfe ended and so likewise when it was fully ended and therefore so was it when the fifth sixth or seventh day began or ended It is not revealed and therefore no man can know what or where in the earth those places are where it was Sun-rising or Sun setting or noone or mid-night either when the Sun first shined forth to the world or when halfe of that fourth day was ended or when it was fully ended and therefore no man can tell nor possibly can any finde out whether here in England or in any other particular place or Countrey it was Sun-setting or Sun-rising noone or mid-night day-light or night when the fifth sixth or seventh day the day of Gods rest began and yet at the beginning of that seventh day it was either of these somewhere or other Quest But some may say why then did Moses rehearsing every of the six dayes work of the Creation set the evening before the morning so if the evening was not before the morning Answ I answer Moses naming the evening in order before the morning in the first of Genesis a Gen. 1.5 8 13 19 23 31. doth not thereby make either of them to be in time before the other one he was to name first and the reasons why he named the evening before the morning may be these First for that after the Israelites deliverance out of Egypt and I suppose this History to be written after that their year their moneths and the dayes of their week were all changed in respect of their beginnings and endings so that whereas they began their dayes with the morning thenceforth they constantly began their week-dayes with the evening b Sec chap. 3. as I shall shew more at large in the next Chapter If Moses now should have set the morning before the evening he might have seemed to dislike this their new custome of beginning their dayes of the week with the evening for which he had direction from the Lord God Secondly or else it may be for that they who were best skild in dividing and distinguishing of time as were Astronomers such as doubtlesse Moses was who was learned in all the wisdome of the Egyptians d Acts 7.22 began the day at noone making the evening that is all the time from noone to midnight to be the former part of the day and the evening that is all the time from mid-night to noone to be the latter part as I will more fully shew in the fourth Chapter a See cap. 4. CHAP. III. The Horizontal day What the parts of the Horizontal day are And which part is the former THe Horizontalday with any Nation is that space of time in which the Sunne is in going from their Horizon at its rising untill it cometh again into their Horizon at its next rising or from their Horizon at its setting untill it come unto their Horizon again at its next setting or more briefly thus
of Gods rest and the Jews Sabbath was made to be one and the same day which were alwayes two before His words are When God commanded the Jews their Sabbaths from evening to evening the order of the natural day was inverted by him not so much looking to the number of four twenty hours as to the time of Israels deliverance out of Egypt which began when the Passeover was eaten at even b Iron pa. 138. c. His meaning in these his Words may be conceived to be this When God commanded the Jews after their coming out of Egypt to keep their Sabbath on the Saterday and to begin the same at the Sun-setting of the day before-going that is on the Friday at the setting of the Sunne God miraculously at an instant turned the East into the West and so the place of Sun-rising came unto the place of Sun-setting so close as that they kissed each other as he saith the end of one contiguum is the beginning of the other c Iron pa. 138. If such should not be his meaning it is not to be conceived how he should make Sun-rising and Sun-setting or the day of Gods rest which he saith began at Sun-rising and the Jews Sabbath which began at Sun-setting to be one and the same Fourthly and lastly he tells us that the observation of the Sabbath is abrogated this errour is strong with him because the Jews Sabbath-day is abrogated he thinking no difference to be made between the Jews Sabbath-day and the Sabbath-day here in this Law commanded to be kept holy whereas they differ as doeth the species from its Genus And from hence he inferreth that it wholly resteth in the power of the Church and Magistrates to appoint the time for Gods publique worship His words are these The Observation of that Sabbath which is pretended to have been commanded Adam in Paradise is abrogated by Christ as he is the Messias even that day on which God rested and which he sanctified a Iron pa. 12. The letter of the Law of Moses being wholly ceremonial it must be that the determinate time of cessation from works together with the manner in regard of the strictnesse thereof is wholly left to the power and wisdome of the Church and Magistrate b pa. 225. Now if any reasonable man will weigh these tenents of Master Ironside he may plainly perceive that they and every of them do flow from the supposal of the earths plainnesse If this be true so must the other and if false then so must all and every of the other be false also they all either stand or fall together and so will their contraries also issuing from the earths roundnesse For Let it be granted that the earth is plain all these following will be true and not otherwise Let it be granted that the Earth is round all these following will be true and not otherwise 1. There is but one Horizon to all nations and places 1. Every Nation and place have a several Horizon differing from other 2. The Sun was in the Horizon at his rising when on the fourth day of the Creation he first appeared and began his course for that day 2. The Sun when he first appeared was directly over some part of the earth or other and shone most gloriously on halfe the earth making it to be noon then in the place under him and in all places of the same Meridian The Sun cannot properly be said to be then in the Horizon unlesse it be meant to some particular place or other as in the Horizon to London c. 3. The rising of the Sun in the Horizon was the first period of the fourth day and of the seventh day the day of Gods rest 3. The first period of the fourth day and so of the day of Gods rest was noon in some places and one two three c. of the Clock in the afternoon in some and eight nine ten c. of the Clock in the forenoon in some other places 4. Men who can tell exactly when it is Sun-rising with them may tell to a minute when the day of Gods rest doth begin with them in any place 4. The wisest man on earth cannot tell either at York or at Rome or at at any other place the just time when the day of Gods rest did or doth begin within eleven houres of our day 5. Every week-day is the same day in all places all having the same Sun-rising 5. As People are distant in place so have they different Horizons and as their Horizons differ so do their week-dayes from being the very same 6. The seventh day even the day of Gods rest is the seventh day of the week with all people as well in Dublin Salisbury Jerusalem Virginea Japan as in all other places all having the same Horizon Though the day of the coming of the Son of man in glory be unknown and likewise the houre whether at midnight or at the Cock-crowing or at the day-dawning yet if it shall be on the Saterday with some it shall be on the Saterday with all and if it be at midnight with some it shall be at midnight with all or if at the Cock-crowing or at the day-dawning with some then so shall it be with all 6. The day of Gods rest which is the seventh day from the Creation is the same universal day with all people but it cannot be the same day of the week with all people If the day of Gods rest be Saterday with some it must needs be Friday or Sunday with some other people So likewise the time of Christs coming to judge the world if it be on the Saterday with some it will not be on the Saterday with all but on the Sunday or Friday with some others also if it be at midnight with some it shall be at Cock-crowing with other some and at day-dawning with some others but it will not be at midnight with all nor at Cock-crowing nor at day-dawning with all 7. As the seventh day from the Creation even the day of Gods rest is the Saterday that is the seventh day of the week with all people so be all the six dayes of the Creation the same with the six dayes of the week with all people 7. As the day of Gods rest cannot be the Saterday nor the seventh day of the week with all people so cannot the six dayes of the Creation be the same with the six dayes of the week with all people 8. The seventh day which God blessed and sanctified and commanded in this law to be kept holy was the very day of Gods rest which after God had inverted the day turning morning into evening came to be the same day with the Iewes Sabbath where ever they dwelt and began at Sun-setting in all places where-ever the Iewes abode as in Arabia Jerusalem Babylon Rome Spain Ophyr and in all other places where the Iewes had never any abiding place for all
by the names of the Planets and so have they continued to call them even to this day The Jewes are now a weak People yet there is not a Prince or Power on earth able to withdraw them from their superstitious custome of keeping the Saterday sacred yea the believing Jewes as was shewed in the Apostles time and in many years after could not be wonne by any means that the Christians might use to give over their Saterday-Sabbath and for unities sake to keep the Lords day on the Sunday except a very few of them who better knew and acknowledged their liberty by Christ How impossible may we then think it to be for any to bring to passe that all Christians in all quarters of the world should leave off their observing the Sunday sacred and have another day in stead thereof In vain therefore would it have been for poor Christians at first to have assayed the same These reasons if there were no more may suffice to shew that although all dayes be in themselves indifferent yet Christians should not have well done had they endeavoured to have changed their seventh sacred day from Sunday to any other week-day no not to Thursday though it was the day of Christ his glorious Ascension nor to Friday though it was the day in which Christ paid our ransome but betrer to retain the same day as they did and which the Church of Christ hath since that kept even to this present time and by Gods grace will so do unto the end CHAP. XVI The Sabbath-day is to be sanctified Works of Piety Government and of Nature only are to be done on the Sabbath-day c. the necessary helpes thereunto THere hath been before shewed that the Sabbath-day in this law commanded to be kept holy is not a part of a day as is the Artificial day but an whole day And that it is not such a kinde of day as are the dayes of the Creation mentioned in the first of Genesis but such a kinde of day as is or hath been in use with men And also that it is not in tale the fifth sixth eighth or nineth day but the seventh not the seventh day of the moneth but the seventh day of the week the day following the six known dayes of labour where men dwell and inhabit Which day with Christians is vulgarly called Sunday otherwise more fitly and as indeed it is The Lords day even our Sabbath-day to the Lord. Now in the next place is to be shewed how the Lords day is to be sanctified To the sanctification of the Sabbath-day of the Lord which we call the Lords day two things are required 1. That we keep it a day of rest 2. That we sanctifie that time of rest That we are to keep it a day of rest the Scripture fully sheweth On the seventh day thou shalt rest in earing time and in harvest d Exod. 34.21 The like have we in divers other places of Scripture calling it a day of rest All men are to cease from the works of their calling which on other dayes they lawfully may yea and ought to do for the maintenance of themselves and theirs Six dayes shall work be done but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest ye shall do no work therein f Lev. 23.3 So are the words here in this law Thou shalt not do any work But whereas we are here forbidden to do any work we must not so understand the words as if on the Sabbath-day we should rest from all kinde and manner of works and so do no work at all upon that day the words of the text do not bear such a sense These are the words of the Commandment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou shalt not do all thy trade Art or occupation and such are the words of the text in divers other places of Scripture a Deut. 5.14 Exod. 35.2 and 31.15 Lev. 23.3 7. Val. Schindler in his Pentaglot on the root 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 telleth us thus The Rabbines take 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for Art or vocation and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the plural for Arts and vocations So Arias Montanus also correcteth Pagnines translation of the Bible that whereas Pagnine hath it Non facies omne opus he turneth it Non facies omnem functionem b Deut. 5.14 where Pagnine translateth thus Omnis quifecerit in eo opus c. Montanus hath it Omnis faciens in eo functionem c Exod. 35.2 Where Pagnine saith Omnis faciens opus in die Sabbati it is thus to be read according to Montanus Omnis faciens opificium in die cessationis d Exod. 31.15 c. The like may be seen in divers other places of Scripture so translated by the one and so corrected by the other Whence we may gather that the true meaning of these words commonly read in our translations Thou shalt not do any work is not that we should do no manner of work at all but that we should do on the Sabbath-day no manner of the works of our trade function and occupation The Smith is not to work at his Anvil nor the Shoomaker with his Awle nor any other about any works that belong to mens trade and profession which on the six dayes of labour they may and should do for getting their maintenance and livelihood There be some other works which on every day may lawfully be done even on the Sabbath-day it self without the least breach of this law and they are of three sorts 1. Works of Piety 2. Works of Government towards the creature subjected to us 3. Works needful to the preservation of mans life These works may be done on every day without any violation to the Law of the Sabbath Neither doth the law of the Sabbath abridge us from doing them on any day What God ordained before ever the seventh day was in being was not and is not nulled or abridged by the law of the Sabbath but these works were before ordained by the Lord. First Man was made and had his being to serve God to honour and worship him to perform duties of Piety in such manner as he should appoint him The doing of these duties on the Sabbath-day doth no violation to the law of the Sabbath Men doing them may be said to break or profane the Sabbath yet not break the law of the Sabbath When we have been diligent on the Sabbath-day in doing service unto God and the duties he requireth of us for his honour we may therein be said not to make the day a day of rest but to break the rest or Sabbath yet not to break the Commandment by doing these works Thus Christ told the Pharisees that the Priests in the Temple did profane the Sabbath and are blamelesse a Mat. 12.5 Sure they could not be said to be blamelesse had they by their sacrificing bullocks or sheep broken the Commandment they brake the Sabbath they made it not