their seventh day sacred Chap. 10 3. The vain opinion of some who think that the Sabbath that is the seventh day of the week must be the day of Gods rest Chap. 11 4. What a week is and what the week is and that the seventh day of the week is the Sabbath Also why many of the ancient Writers called the Jewes Sabbath the day of Gods rest sith they knew that it could not be that very day Chap. 12 5. Weeks proved to be from all Antiquity Chap. 13 6. Week-dayes had their names from the planets as they were the Heathen-gods and not from their supposed hourely Government Chap. 14 7. Sunday was the Gentiles seventh day of the week sacred to the Sun and most probably was the seventh day sacred with the Patriarchs before Noahs flood Also that Christians did not neither ought to have chosen any other then the Sunday for their seventh sacred day although it had been much abused before to idolatry Chap. 15 What it is to keep holy and sanctifie the Sabbath day Chap. 16 2. The Lords special provision to bring all people to a heedful keeping the duty commanded set out in sundry particulars Chap. 17 THE seventh-SEVENTH-DAY Sabbath EXOD. 20.8 9 10 11. Remember the sabbath-Sabbath-day to keep it holy Six dayes shalt thou labour and c. CHAP. I. The Division of the Text. The Artificial Day THe Lord God who made Heaven and Earth and all for the good of man made man for his own honour in his own Image and to bear his Image in the world to his glory done by the due observation of the Moral Law whereof this fourth Commandement is a part in which God maketh known unto man the special time and day which he hath destinated unto his worship commanding man to sanctifie the same and keep it holy to the Lord. In this text are these two parts First the duty commanded which is to keep holy the Sabbath-day Secondly the care and provision had by the Lord for mans heedful keeping and observing the same in all the other words and branches of this Commandement I will first treat of the duty commanded and in it for our better observing the Sabbath-day we are to know First what the Sabbath-day is that is here commanded to be sanctified Secondly what it is to sanctifie the same or to keep it holy Touching the former of these we are to know First what kinde of day the Sabbath is to be Secondly what day it is to be in order or tale Concerning the former of these There be foure kindes of dayes which we shall meet with in holy Scripture 1. The Artificial day 2. The Universal day 3. The Horizontal day 4. The Meridional day These termes or appellations I confesse are not common but the use of them is needful for the better distinguishing them one from the other whereby it may the better appear which of these kindes of days the Sabbath-day ought to be And now I will 1. Shew what every of them is 2. How they differ the one from the other 3. Which of these kindes of days man is to observe and keep for his Sabbath Of the Artificial day The Artificial day as it is generally taken is the whole time between Sun-rising and Sun-setting with any people This kinde of day was especially in use with the Jewes They divided this day alwayes into twelve equal parts which they called hours which hours were ever proportionable to the day In Summer-time the longer their day was the longer were their houres and at Winter when their day was not ten of our houres yet was it twelve of theirs Of this kinde of day mention is made in divers places of sacred Scripture a Iohn 11.9 Psal 104.23 Mat. 20.2 3 6. And the houres thereof are now called Jewes houres b Horae Jndaicae And Antique houres c Horae Antiquae for that not only the Jewes but other nations also did anciently so divide the day into twelve such houres Thus was their Dial divided into twelve houre-lines whereof the fifth Persius d Pers Sat. 3. Quinta dum linea tangitur umbrá will have to note out the fifth houre with them which is about ten of the Clock with us Martial e Mart. li. 4. Epigr. 8. Prima salutantes atque altera continet â—oâ—a c. also in twelve verses distinguisheth the twelve houres of the day then in use in the like manner CHAP. II. The Vniversal day The dayes of the Creation Why Moses set the Evening before the Morning THe Vniversal day is that which is one and the same day in all places through the whole Universe as well in respect of its beginning as of its duration and ending It is not one day at one part of the earth and another day at another part but when it beginneth or endeth any where it beginneth or endeth every where at the same time This kinde of Day cannot properly be said to begin either in the East or in the West or at Sun-rising or at Sun setting or at Midnight or at Noon as other kinde of dayes do For there is neither East nor West nor Sun-rising nor Sun-setting nor midnight nor noon in respect of the world though in respect of the parts of the world all and every of these may be said to be yet so as what is East or morning to one part is West or Sun-setting to another part and midnight to one part is midday to another part but neither of them properly can be so said to be the whole world Such kinde of dayes were those which Moses spake of in the first of Genesis a Gen. 1.5 8 13 19 23.31 And of which mention is made in this text and elsewhere b Ex. 20.11 and 31.17 Acts 2.20 Rev. 6.17 2 Pet. 2.9 and 3.7 10. Ioel. 2.31 In six dayes the Lord made heaven and earth c. and rested the seventh day That these dayes which some do terme and fitly enough may be called The dayes of the Creation were such Universal dayes I will endeavour to clear by giving instances in every of them which Moses spake of in rehearsing the Works of the Creation The first of those seven dayes was such an Universal day when it began any where it began every where no where then was it no day nor any other then the first day The first things God made were day and night or light and darknesse They were neither of them in time before the other but were both coëtaneous There was in nature before though not in time a mixed or confused darknesse which Moses called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c Gen. 1.2 which Arias Montanus correcting Pagnin translateth and calleth it Caligo it was neither perfect day nor perfect night But when God had thence formed the light and made it to shine out of the darknesse d 2 Cor. 4.6 and had divided the light from the darknesse so as that they should never
the Sun and assigned unto them the Saterday for their Sabbath Concerning which we may truly say that as their Sabbath-day was their seventh day from their first gathering Quailes and Manna and as it was to begin at Sun-setting which Moses termed the season that they came out of Egypt b Deut 16.6 so was it Ceremonial a signe and token whereby they were known to be Gods peculiar people c Exod. 31.13 and distinguished from all Nations that adored the Sun Unto the observation of which seventh day from their first labouring for Manna were they bound and none but they and they no longer then till the coming of him of whom Moses their Captain said A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your Brethren like unto me him shall ye hear d Acts 7.37 Even Iesus Christ who is the Captain of our salvation f Heb. 2.10 who is greater then Moses who brought us out of a greater bondage then Moses did the Israelites and who gave us not Quailes and Manna but his own flesh he gave us the true bread that came down from heaven that we might live through him After whose coming as all other shadows and Ceremonies so this of their Saterday Sabbath from Sun-setting to Sun-setting did vanish also The day of Saturn was thenceforth no more holy then the day of the Sun The Jewes might as lawfully with their general consent have kept the Sabbath on the Sunday as on the Saterday Saint Pauls practice taught Christians then that difference of dayes was taken away Vnto the Iewes saith he I became as a lew a 1 Cor 9.20 When he was with the Jewes he kept the Saterday-Sabbath as the Jewes did b Acts 17.2 and 18.4 and 13.14 42. But when he was with the Gentiles that were turned unto Christ and imbraced the Gospel he observed and kept the same seventh sacred day they did which with them was called the day of the Sun on which day they usually met together c 1 Cor. 16.2 Acts 20.7 There arose no small difference between the converted Jewes and the converted Gentiles hereabout The Jewes esteeming the Saterday to be more holy then the Sunday condemned the Gentiles for Prophaners of the Sabbath because they observed not the Saterday and for that they kept the day of the Sun the Jewes held them to be Worshippers of the Sun as other Gentises were The Gentiles on the other side upbraided the Jewes as superstitious for their observing their set holy-dayes whereof their Saterday-Sabbath from evening to evening was one which were abolished This upbraiding and condemning one another in things indifferent St. Paul speaketh against and writeth to the contrary in his Epistle to the Romanes d Rom. 14.5 and to the Colossiaus f Col. 2.16 The Jewes were no more bound thenceforth by the law of God to keep their Sabbath on the Saterday then on the Sunday The Sabbath-day by the Lord commanded to them and to all in this law being not this or that day but the seventh relating to the fix dayes of our labour before-going is the seventh day of the week with all people Now that it may the better appear what the seventh day of the week is and that Sunday is the seventh day of the week with us and generally with all Christians I will shew 1. What some have held to be a week in chap. 11. 2. What a week and what the week is and what the seventh day of the week is in chap. 12. 3. The Antiquity of weeks in chap. 13. 4. What hath been chiefly objected against the Antiquity of weeks in chap. 14. 5. That Sunday was the seventh day sacred with the Gentiles in chap. 15. 6. Why the Gentiles after their Conversion continued Sunday to be their standing day of the week for Gods worship though it had been before idolatrously abused to the worship of the Sun in chap. 16. CHAP. XI The Opinion of some concerning weeks How it 's hatched from the earths supposed plainnesse IT hath been the general Opinion not only of the vulgar but of the learned also that the seventh day commanded us in this law hath relation only to the six work-dayes of the Lord God and not to the six work-dayes with men as if the meaning of these words of the Commandment Six dayes shalt thou labour and do all thy work but the seventh day is the Sabbath to the Lord thy God so it is in the Hebrew should be thus The six dayes in which I wrought when I created all things shall be thy six work-dayes in them thou shalt do all thy work but the seventh day wherein I rested thou shalt rest and do none of thy works on any part of that day but shalt keep that day holy it is the day of my rest From hence they wil have a week to be none other with any people but seven such dayes whereof the six former dayes be the same with the first six dayes of the Creation and the seventh be the same with the day of Gods rest Weeks in use with the Jewes they held to be such the first six dayes of their week to be the same with the six dayes on which God wrought and their seventh day which was from Friday at the setting of the Sun to Saterdays Sun-setting to be the very day of Gods rest Though Sunday be the day following the six dayes of labour with us and on which we rest from our labour having wrought six dayes before yet we do not rest on the seventh day as they say according to Gods example but on the first day from Sunday to Sunday they will not have to be a week but from Saterday to Saterday only And from hence do they who deny the Morality of the seventh-day-Sabbath teach and write that the boundary or seventh day of the week must be the day of Gods rest and that the day of Gods rest was the very day which God blessed and sanctified and in this law commanded to be kept holy and that the Jewes Sabbath only was the seventh-day Sabbath which in this law is commanded to be observed holy and that the Jewes Sabbath-day being Ceremonial and abolished by the coming of the Messias the seventh-day Sabbath in this law expresly commanded to be sanctified is abolished also and not to be observed by Christians and that sith no other set day is instituted in stead thereof by any divine authority it resteth in the bosome of the Church or Magistrates to appoint what day they please for Gods publick worship Though all and every of these be very false yet are they all by these men held to be even as true as their Creed they little considering from how unsound and rotten a root these and every of them have had their first spring and that is from a supposal that the earth is plain and not round It is an odde but an old conceit of some Philosophers which
THE SEVENTH-DAY Sabbath Or a Brief TRACT ON THE IV. Commandment WHEREIN Is discovered the Cause of all our Controversies about the Sabbath-day and the meanes of reconciling them More particularly is shewed 1. That the seventh day from the Creation which was the day of Gods rest was not the seventh day which God in this Law commanded his People to keep holy neither was it such a kinde of day as was the Jewes Sabbath-day 2. That the seventh day in this Law commanded to be kept holy is the seventh day of the week viz. the day following the six dayes of labour with all People 3. That Sunday is with Christians as truly the Sabbath-day as was Saterday with the Jewes By Thomas Chafie Parson of Nutshelling LONDON Printed by T. R. and E. M. and are to be sold by J. B. at the Guilded Acorne in Pauls Church-yard 1652. To the Worshipful RICHARD MAIJOR OF HURSLEY Esquire SIR THis Tract on the fourth Commandment though little in Bulk yet found great opposition before it could come to light The Author was charged to be such as Ishmael whose hand was against every man and every mans hand against him whereas next to the Glory of God in maintaining this his law to be in force and his Sabbath to be observed his principal scope is to discover the cause of all our Controversies about the Sabbath-day that so a mean may appear for ending all differences thereabout and that the great offence given the Jewes of Christians not keeping the Sabbath-day be wholly removed Yet is it likely for all this to finde evil-willers and not a few wherefore I have made my selfe bold to send it forth under your Protection You have so indeared unto you the whole Countrey round about by your uncessant indeavour for the Peoples Welfare that the credit of your name written in the front hereof shall procure it the better acceptance Yet will I not make so bold an adventure as to send this abroad under your name without your Approbation wherefore first I present it unto you as for your judicious trial and warrant so also to be a testimony of thankfulnesse for both your countenance and many benefits and also an Obligation wherein I stand bound to pray for you and be Your Worships in any Christian Office to be commanded THO. CHAFIE TO THE READER Courteous Reader I Believe thou art not ignorant of the many dissensions and contentions that have been among the People of God about the Sabbath-day Some stood for the old Sabbath so called by some meaning the Jewes Sabbath-day Some for a new Sabbath so called by some meaning the day of Christs Resurrection And some for no Sabbath but what Magistrates do appoint No small Controversies have been between all these about the Sabbath-day as I believe thou knowest But the ground and cause of all such their Controversies and how for Peace and Agreement sake it may be removed and taken away I suppose thou dost not know both which I will discover unto thee The ground of such their differences is a misunderstanding of these words of the Commandment Six dayes shalt thou labour and do all thy work but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God in it thou shalt do no manner of work By the six dayes must be meant either the six dayes of Gods work or the six dayes of work with men either the six first dayes at the Creation in which God wrought and made all things or else the six work-dayes of the week in use with men where they live So also the seventh day must relate to the six dayes of Gods work or else to the six dayes of mens labour it must be the seventh day from the beginning of the Creation or the seventh day from mens beginning their six week-days of labour It must either be the day of Gods rest which immediatly followed the six days of his work or the day of rest with men which immediately follows their six dayes of work where they live They between whom the said dissensions have been and are have and do hold generally that the seventh day must and doth relate to the six dayes of Gods labour and not of mans It must be they all think the very day of Gods rest the seventh day from the Creation Thus they all thought that the Jewes Sabbath-day which was from Fridayes Sun-setting to Saterdayes Sun-setting was the precise day of Gods rest and every of their other six dayes of the week to be the very same with the six dayes of the Creation whether they lived in Judea in Babylon in Spaine in Ophyr or in any other place it maketh no matter think they Though Sunday with Christians be the day immediately following their six dayes of labour and on which they having laboured six dayes do then rest from their labour according unto Gods example yet at no hand will they yield Sunday to be the seventh day and Sabbath of the Lord Sunday they hold to be the first day of the week and the very same with the first day of the Creation with Christians whereever they live From this common errour sprouted out various opinions which set them all at variance 1. The Jewes and such as adhere to their superstition do and will still plead for the Saterday-Sabbath the Saterday they believe to be the day of Gods rest the day he blessed and sanctified they cannot conceit well of a new Sabbath they know not whence it is Though an Angel should come from heaven and tell them that Christ the Sonne of God came into the world and hath taken away their Sabbath and hath established another contrary to what God the Father instituted so that whereas before they had the seventh day for a day of rest Christ instituted that seventh day to be a work-day That whereas God the Father blessed and sanctified the seventh day Christ took off the blessing from it and gave it to the first day That whereas God the Father appointed his people to work before they did rest Christ appointed them to rest before they did work That whereas before they were to work and do all that they had to do in six dayes and rest on the seventh day according to Gods example now they must rest on the first day and work the six dayes after which is contrary to Gods example I say if an Angel from heaven should come and teach them thus they would not believe him 2. Some there be and they not a few godly precious and tender-hearted Christians who knowing that the Church of God hath ever since our Saviours Ascension observed the Sunday for their Sabbath and that not against but with the approbation of the Apostles of Christ do slight the Seventh-day Sabbath and are tooth and naile for the first day of the week so they count Sunday to be neither can they count it otherwise as long as they hold the Jewes Sabbath to be the seventh day from the Creation
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-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
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
within three days what day of our week that five and twentieth day of March was which was the first day of the Creation All the art and indeavour of man is not sufficient to find out whether the first day of the Creation was Sunday or Satcrday or Munday c. and therefore not whether the day of Gods rest was Thursday Friday Saterday c. Let it yet be further granted that it was Sunday on which the first day of the Creation began and therefore the day of Gods rest must then have his beginning on Saterday No man can for all that tell within eleven houres at what time of the Sunday the first day of the Creation or at what time of the Saterday the day of Gods rest began either here or in Virginea or in Rome Ierusalem Paradise or in any other place whatsoever whether it was at Sun-rising Sun-setting Noone or at the houre of one or two c. in the forenoon or afternoon Wherefore if by the seventh here commanded had been meant an universal day it must be then that seventh universal day on which God rested the which cannot be observed by men because they cannot tell on what day of their week nor about what time of their day they should begin the observation thereof Secondly an universal day such as was the day of Gods rest cannot be observed of all the People of God Though it should be granted what is of some believed that the day of Gods rest began in Paradise on Saterday and at the rising of the Sun there yet all Gods People cannot observe that very day For 1. The earth being global and the true longitude of the place where Paradise was being unknown no man can tell when to begin that day in the place where he liveth We know when it is Saterday in some places it is then Sunday or Friday in some other places We know that when Christ rose from the grave it was then Sunday at Jerusalem in the forenoon and we know that it was then Saterday in Virginea in the afternoon but no man can knowingly say that the day of Gods rest beginneth on the Saterday in the forenoon with him though it be granted that it so began in Paradise 2. Though the day of Gods rest or any other universal day be made known unto men at what time and on what day it began in Paradise and the very place where Paradise was be made known also Yet all Gods people could not possibly keep that very day of Gods rest By reason of the diversity of longitudes of the places wherein they may live they cannot keep all of them one and the same day This hath been proved unto us fully and plainly even by the opposers of the Sabbath Dr. Heylyn hath even demonstrated the same that men could not possibly have kept one and the same day for their Sabbath had it been commanded a Heyl. part 1. pag. 45 46 47 48. And further sheweth that the Iewes themselves kept not the very day of Gods rest b Page 125. though they had one day in seven set apart for holy rest and meditation Mr. Ironside also c Irons chaf 18. pag. 164. from the diversity of Meridians proveth that one and the same day cannot be universally kept and therefore never commanded the whole Church One and the same day could not possibly be observed a Sabbath by all the Iewes in the East-parts and West-parts too of Iudea and in Babylon and in Rome by reason of their diversity of longitudes And if it be supposed to be but two or three degrees difference of longitude yet will that difference make the dayes as truly to differ from being the same as will an hundred and three though it will not make them so much to differ The like argument hath Doctor Francis White late Bishop of Ely f Dr. Francis White in his of the Sabbath Page 175. and divers others Wherefore sith the universal day such as was the day of Gods rest cannot be possibly kept by all Gods people no more then any other set particular day can it is not the day here commanded by the Lord The Sabbath-day here commanded to be kept holy is such a kinde of day as may be known kept and observed by men wheresoever they inhabit though in many and divers longitudes of the earth Such as might have been kept in the wildernesse where the law was delivered and in the East and West-parts of Canaan and in Babylon Rome Spain and in all other habitable places and therefore ought to be either an Horizontal or else a Meridional day In all places of the world none other but Horizontal or Meridional dayes are now or at any other time heretofore have been in use with men for measuring out unto them their seven dayes or week and such as are their six dayes of the week for labour such ought the seventh day even the day for holy rest to be also The Sabbath-day with the Iewes was an Horizontal day but then such were the other days of their week also and what Nation soever have their week to consist of Horizontal dayes ought to have their Sabbath-day to be so also In the North of Russia and of the King of Denmarks and Queen of Swedens Countreys where the Sun maketh many Revolutions at some seasons of the year between his rising and setting men cannot count their week by Horizontal dayes but they do and have counted their weeks by Meridional dayes And so do all Christians generally of what longitude or latitude of the earth soever they are of mete out their weeks by Meridional dayes then such ought their seventh day of their week to be also CHAP. VIII What day the Sabbath is to be in order or tale NOw is to be shown what day in tale is to be the Lords day or Sabbath of the Lord and this the Law-giver himselfe hath plainly pointed out unto us in this law to be the day following the six dayes of labour so that none need to say the knowledge hereof is hidden from us who shall ascend for us into heaven and bring the knowledge thereof to us that we may know it and observe it But it is clearly demonstrated unto us by the Lord God so that he that worketh with the Spade may know the same as well as he that handleth the pen. Six dayes shalt thou labour and c. but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God The seventh day that is the day following the six known dayes of labour is none of ours it is the Lords day We may not make the Sabbath-day to be the sixth day for then we should shew our selves unthankful in not receiving the Lords own bountiful allowance nor the eighth day for then we should encroach on the Lords right and not be contented with his liberal allowance of six dayes for our selves reserving only the seventh for himself much lesse ought we to
seeing it pleased Ninus reverenced this image by degrees more and more and had faults often pardoned for the image-sake insomuch that at length Bel or Belus his image was held to be the Protector of Assyria and so adored as their Protector Yet was he not worshipped in a Temple till after Ninus was dead Semiramis the Emperesse and the Relict of Ninus amplifying yet more the dominions of her late husband built for Belus a sumptuous Temple and in it a costly pillar for this idol in which pillar was ingraven these words or Epitaph Mihi pater Jupiter Belus Avus Saturnus Babylonicus Proavus Chush Saturnus Aethiops Abavus Saturnus Aegyptius Atavus Caelius Phoenix Ogyges Ab Ogyge ad meum Avum Sol orbem suum circumlustravit semel tricies centies Ab Avo ad Patrem sexies quinquagies A Patre ad me his sexagies Columnam Templum Statuam Jovi Belo Socero Matri Rheae in Olympo Semiramis dicavi a Guevara ep to Don. Fra. Villo Guevara that great Antiquary maketh no mention who first translated this Epitaph or in what language it was engraven but thus is it from his words Englished My Father was Jupiter Belus my Grandfather was Saturnus Babylonicus my great Grandfather was Chush Saturnus Aethiops my great Grandfathers father was Saturnus Aegyptiacus my great Grandfathers Grandfather was Caelius Phoenix Ogyges so she called Noah From Noah unto my Grandfather Nimrod were one thirty and an hundred years note that the Chaldees and Assyrians reade and count their numbers from their right hand as we do from the left From my Grandfather Nimrod unto my father Belus were six and fifty so long Nimrod reigned My father Belus reigned two and sixty yeares I Semiramis have dedicated this Pillar Temple and Image unto Belus my father in law and Rhea his mother in law in Olympia in the name of my late husband Ninus This was the first idol that ever we could reade of to be worshipped in a Temple Assyria becoming a great Monarchy other Nations either for feare or favour had this Belus also for their Protector too calling it according to their several languages a Fascicul tempor Bel Baal Baalim Beelphegor Beelzebub c. with this idolatry as were the Egyptians so were the Israelites much infected The other maine idolatry set up by the power of the Assyrians trough the help of their Chaldees was the worshipping of the Host of heaven that is the Sun and Moon and the rest of the Planets The skilful in Astronomy and Astrology do unanimously testifie of the Fathers and Patriarchs before the flood that they were the first Founders and excellently skilful in Astrology or Astronomy and this may witnesse the two Columnes which they built the one of brick the other of stone in which were engraven the principles thereof that Posterities after the flood may be skill'd also in the knowledge of the heavens and motion of the stars as well as they one where of remained in Syria in the time of Iosephus as he himself relateth b Josehus Antiq Jud. l. 1. c. 4 8. Clav. de Sphae in Jo. de Sacro c. 1. Snd. in Ram. Yea it is not altogether unlikely that the idolatry of worshipping the Host of heaven was long before the flood and that men called then the week-dayes by the names of the Planets as now men do Dr. Hammond in his tract of idolatry commends Maimonides for the soberest of the Jewish Writers he telleth us that from the days of Enosh the stars were worshipped as gods to whom were built Temples and Sacrifices were offered After which in time the great God was generally forgotten no man knew the true God save Henoch Methusalah Noah Sem and Heber and so continued till Abraham was borne Thus much Maimon d Maimor de idol primo How he should come to the knowledge hereof I cannot conjecture But be it granted that before the flood when Astrology principally flourished men were not so wicked then to be carried away to the adoration of any of the Planets yet sure enough Sem who lived a long time before the flood did also live unto the time or near to the time when the Planets were held to be the universal Governours of the world Though he lived not unto Moses dayes yet did he live till Abraham was an old man if so he lived not after Abraham was buried and this idolatry of worshipping the Host of Heaven was before that set up by the Assyrians and their Chaldees After the flood Astrology continued to flourish in and about the countreys of Shinar but especially in Chaldea and such as excelled others there in Astrology were advanced by the Assyrian and Chaldean Monarchs However Nebuchadnezzar would in his wrath had them to be killed for not telling him his dreams a Dan. 2.12 They were called the wise men b Dan. 2.12 13 14. and 4.6 And by those who had their plantations westward they and such Astrologers as they were were stiled the wise men of the East These Chaldees or Magi were held in that honour and esteem with the Assyrians as were the Sophi with the Persians or Priests with the Egyptians c Boömus ubi d. Assyria Boëmus certifieth us further of them that the planets were their proper and peculiar gods and that as Schollers now study Divinity so did they Astrology and as we catechize and teach our children in the knowledge of God so did they theirs in the knowledge of the stars Children were taught Astrology of their Parents they sucked it according to him even from their mothers brests d Boëmus ib. They who went from thence into remote places to finde new Plantations could not apply their time unto such studies building and fencing and planting gave not them the leasure Egypt had small knowledge hereof when Abraham came out of Chaldea and after that came into Egypt and there as losephus e Josephus de Antiq. Jud. l. 1. cap. 15 16. others write instructed their Priests more fully in the knowledge of the stars for which he was of the King rewarded with rich gifts f Rudolph Snel in P. Rami Geom. in prooemio The Grecians were farre more ignorant thereof till near about six hundred yeares before Christ-his incarnation when Anaximander Melisius Thales Milisius Pythagoras and in Platoes time Eudoxus nidius brought the knowledge of Astrology into Greece having learned the same of the Egyptian Priests and Chaldees g Clavius in Sphaer Jo. Sacr. The Romanes grew more ignoraut then the Grecians the farther off Shinar they went the more ignorant rude and base they grew even to worship beasts and base creatures for their gods which we finde not that ever the Assyrians or Chaldeans did before they were subdued and mixed with other nations but the Host of heaven that is the Planets were their gods These their gods they worshipped by course a Jo. Gregory in his
God when the Sun is furthest off from his rising Sun-rising was the time when the Gentiles began their worship to the Sun but theirs must begin at Sun-setting Their evening sacrifice was their prime sacrifice c Psal 141.2 Their Feast of the Passeover must be at the setting of the Sun d Deut. 16.6 and their Sabbaths must begin with the evening from evening to evening were they to celebrate their Sabbaths f Lev. 23.32 that so they may the better remember and acknowledge the Lord God their Creator and Governour that it was he and not the Sun Moon or Host of heaven that wrought their great deliverance in bringing them out of Egypt Fourthly to bring the Israelites into the greater dislike and detestation of worshipping the Sun towards the East as the Nations did the Lord would that they should turn their breech or back-parts toward the Sun-rising when they worshipped him The idolatrous Nations in those dayes when they worshipped the Sun Moon or any of the Host of heaven bowed towards the East that is towards the Sun-rising in honour of the Sun but now in contempt of that idolatry the Jewes were to have their faces toward the West or Sun-setting and their breech toward the Sun-rising when they bowed and worshipped God The holy place therefore in the Tabernacle was toward the West as Dr. Willet proveth h Willet Syn. Con. 9. And when the Temple of God was built the house of God was so placed in the inner Court as that they who came thither to pray when they bowed had their Posteriours as it is in the Hebrew towards the Sun-rising and their faces Westward towards the house of God 5. Lastly the day of the Sun must no longer be their seventh sacred day The having that day sacred might have nursed them in or have drawn them again to the said idolatry of worshipping the Sun but that they might be taken wholly off from it the day of the Sun was to be with them common or prophane and another day the day before the day of the Sun even that which was the seventh from their first gathering Quailes and Manna k Exod. 6.12 13 23 26. The day which the ancient Saxons called the day of Seater and we from them Saterday was thenceforth to be their seventh-day sacred Yet all these courses which the most wise God took with them prevailed not they would not be reclaimed from their idolatry they were resolved to uphold their wicked custom not only the meaner sort but the Kings of Judah the Princes the Priests and wicked Prophets loved sought served worshipped and walked after the Sun Moon a Ier. 8.1 2. c. Great charges were their Kings at for making horses and chariots which they dedicated to the Sun the which good Josiah afterward in zeal to the Lord of Hosts did burn with fire b 2 Kings 23.11 Yet could he not root out this monstrous abomination of worshipping the Sun but they strengthened themselves therin insomuch that even in the Temple of God in the place where they should worship the Lord of Glory with their faces Westward towards the house of God they would in a most high contempt worship the Sun and bow with their breech towards the house of God having their faces towards the Sun-rising Of which contempt the Lord complaineth to his Prophet Ezechiel to whom he shewed their great abominations and greater yea and greater then those at length he shewed him this which out-passed all the other Turn thee again saith the Lord and thou shalt see greater abominations then these and he brought me into the inner Court of the Lords house and behold at the door of the Temple of the Lord between the Porch and the Altar were about five and twenty men with their Posteriors toward the Temple of the Lord and their faces toward the East and they worshipped the Sun towards the East c Ezecb. 8.15 16. The women were resolute to worship the Moon too after the manner of the Heathen We will certainly do said they d Ier. 44.17 18. whatsoever thing goeth out of our own mouth to burne incense to the Queen of Heaven and to poure out drink-offerings unto her as we have done we and our Fathers our Kings and our Princes in the Cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem c. The Heathenish women against their time of Childe-bearing sought and implored the Moon for ease and safety the like custome the Hebrew women seemed to have had who did knead their dough to make Cakes to the Queen of Heaven f Ier. 7.18 Of this I will be sparing of my own but deliver you the very words of that learned Iohn Gregory as he layeth them down in his Assyrian Monarchy thus The Assyrians worshipped the Moon under the name of Mylitta which word Scaliger hath well noted in their language signifieth Genetricem in which sense it may not unaptly be applied to the Moon The reason he gives for it is for that If the Moon did nothing help the second causes in generation yet in the bringing forth it is evident for this is most certain though every Midwife hath not observed so much that the most easie delivery a woman can have is alwayes in the increase toward and in the full of the Moon and the hardest labours in the new and silent Moon which was the reason that the Midwives heretofore he meaneth among the Jewes as well as the Heathen did alwayes in such a Case implore the aide of that Planet for the safe and easie delivery of their infants an example hereof you may have one among many in the Comedy a Terent. Aâ—â—dria where the woman in the extremity of her travel cries out to the Moon Juno Lucina fer opem and this amongst others must needs be a reason why the Assyrians worshipped the Moon and why they worshipped her under that name The Prophet Jeremy maketh mention of this worship in the seventh Chapter where he calleth the Moon the Queen of Heaven as our English Translation hath very well rendred The reason which he giveth why the women called on the Moon at such times I omit here to relate being the same which Physicians commonly do give The Prophet addeth that the women made Cakes to this Queen This Custom of offering Cakes to the Moon our Ancestors may seem not to have been ignorant of to this day our women make Cakes at such times yea the childe it self is no sooner born but 't is baptized into the names of these Cakes for so the women call their Babes Cake-bread So much John Gregory and more Though Israel forsook the Covenant of their God and went a whoring after the gods of the Nations chiefly after the Sun yet the Lord was not wanting in affording the many means aforesaid for reclaiming them where of this was not the least in that he took them off from the memory of the day of
went out of Vr a town of the Chaldees and therefore according to Bibliander before the Egyptians had learnt Astrology For it seems the Egyptians as well as other Nations severing themselves from Noahs Posterity remaining about Chaldea Assyria and other parts of Shinar busied themselves so about their new plantation in Egypt that they neglected and forgat Astrology till Abraham came out of Chaldea and went down into Egypt where as Iosephus saith he taught Astronomy unto them being ignorant thereof before a Joseph Antiq Jud. l. 1. c. 15 16. See Chap. 9. The Germanes were a Nation and a Kingdom before Eudoxus knew what a planet was Verstegan also tells us that the Saxons had in ancient times the seven planets for their gods whom they called Son Mone Tuisco c. and also called the dayes of the week by the names of those their gods before ever they had any Commerce with the Grecians or Romanes either 3. Week-dayes bear the names of the planets not from the said late invented hourely rule supposed to be given them by God when he created them but as they were the Heathens gods and were orderly worshipped and adored by them Thus the day we call Sunday was by the Heathen anciently called the day of the Sun because of all the planets who were held to be the Lords and Governours of the world he was that Lord and Governour which had special worship done unto him on that day and for that his worship began with that dayes beginning even at the Sun-rising for at that time did the Heathen begin their worship to the Sun and to every of the rest of the Host of heaven as I have shewed before which was the first houre of the day with them he hath been said and held to begin his Lordship or Government on the beginning or first houre of that day and hence is it that that day was by the ancient Heathen called the day of the Sun the like may be said of the other names of all the week-dayes That the week-dayes were by the Heathens called by the names of the planets as they were the Heathens gods adored by them is evident not only from the testimonies of sundry learned men but also from Dr. Heylins own pen. He himself doth say as much for ask this question of him and he will tell you yea and saith That they are more nice then wise who out of a desire to have all things new would have new names for every day or call them as sometimes they were the first day of the week the second day of the week sic de caeteris and all for fear lest it be thought that we do still adore those gods whom the Gentiles worshipped a Heyl. part 2. page 63. Ask by whose Authority he proveth week-dayes to have their names from the gods of the heathen He tells us by St. Augustines and alledgeth these his words Deorum suorum nomina Gentes imposuerunt diebus istis c. The Gentiles saith the Father gave to every day of the week the name of one or other of their Gods c. Ask him again why Pope Sylvester changed the names of the week-dayes and would no week-day to be called by the name of any of the planets but all to be called by the names of Feria prima Feria secunda c. was it for that Eudoxus had learn't the aforesaid Government of the planets and so he and other Astrologers after him taught this rariety in their schooles whereby many admit all Grecians had weeks and called the week-dayes by the names of the planets as their Astronomers taught them and now the Pope fearing lest the Romanes from the example of the Greeks should in time come to have weeks for till that time and after that too until the Romanes had admitted Christianity throughout their Empire Dr. Heylin saith they had no weeks b Heyl. part 1. pag. 84. and should call the week-days by the names of the planets as the Grecians did No sure it was for that the Gentiles generally as Romanes and Greeks did call the dayes of the week as they were taught from their Ancestors and they from theirs even by the names of their gods which of old they adored who were the seven planets and for that Christians also generally except Jewes did call them so in like manner as their Heathen Ancestors did even in the time when this Pope lived which so displeased the said Pope that in detestation of the memory of those Heathen gods he changed the names of the week-dayes and decreed to have them called by the names of Feriae Dr. Heylin proving this citeth Polydore Virgil for his authority Sylvester Romanus Pontifex ejus nominis primus vanorum deorum memoriam in abhorrens a Pol. Vir. de Inv. rerum l. 6. c. c. Sylvester the first Pope of that name hating the name and memory of the Gentile gods gave order that the dayes should be called by the name of Feriae b Heyl. part 2. pag. 62. c. Had the planets such power and vertue given them of God so to govern by an hourely course as that thereby every week-day was designed and pointed out Sylvester had cause rather to magnifie the Creator who revealed the knowledge hereof unto some which was kept secret from all generations till then and to have in love and laud the Parties though Heathen to whom the Lord had made known this rarity whereby the Grecians had weeks in his life time and the Romanes and other Nations might in short time come to have weeks also then to bear such spite and hatred to the planets for such their vertue given them or to the finders out of this Planetary Government as should move him to take away the memory either of the Planets or of this their Government or of the finders out thereof by changing the names of the week-dayes sure his dislike and hatred was against the idolatry of the Heathen who still continued to count the Planets as gods and to call the week-dayes by their names hence is it that he made the change even to take away theremembrance of their names out of mens especially out of Christians mouths Thus having now been shewed first that there is indeed no such hourly Government as is pretended And secondly that the week dayes had not their names from thence Any man may see the weaknesse of Dr Heylins principal argument to prove thereby that neither of the foure great Monarchies nor any People else the Jewes only excepted had weeks and therefore no Sabbath CHAP. XV. Sunday was the seventh day with the Gentiles Sunday continued to be the seventh day of the week with Christians HAving declared what weeks are and the long continuance of them and also answered the main objection made against their Antiquity I will now indeavour to make apparent that Sunday was not only a seventh but the seventh day with the Gentiles Concerning which
it hath already been proved 1. That the seven planets were of old the Gentiles gods 2. That the seven dayes of the week were deputed to those their gods and as John Gregory doth assure us a Jo. Greg. in his Assyrian Monarchy in his Assyrian Monarchy that the dayes of the week were called of the Assyrians by the names of the same planets unto whom the week-dayes were severally dedicated and that all Nations did from them call the dayes of the week in like manner 3. That the Sun was of all their gods held the chiefest and supreme Now common sense and reason will tell us that the day which was by them dedicated to their chiefest God and bare his name the day of the Sun which we call Sunday must be with them the chiefest day of all the seven in their estimation and therefore was it with them not only a seventh day of the week but the seventh day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Neither was Sunday the 7th day of the week with the idolatrous Gentiles only but was also as it is most probable that seventh day which the Patriarchs before the flood held to the honour of the Creator in remembrance of the Creation and of Gods resting on the seventh day For when Nimrod otherwise called Saturnus Babylonicus Belus his sonne and other Potentates of Assyria and Chaldea had idolatrously set up the whole Host of heaven that is the Sunne Moon and the other planets with constellations subservient to them which of the seven dayes of the week will any reasonable man imagine did they dedicate to the honour of their greatest god the Sun rather then that which before was held to the honour of God the Creatour surely not any other And when these Assyrian and Chaldean Powers had as much as in them lay robbed God if I may so say of his Titles Attributes Providence Works of Creation Government and Worship and gave the chief of all their spoiles to their chiefest god the Sun Nimrod giving him the name Baal b Jo Greg. Assyr Monar which he afterwards assumed to himself b Jo Greg. Assyr Monar Belus giving him the name Jove b Jo Greg. Assyr Monar Jehovah in the Hebrew the which he assumed afterward unto himself b Jo Greg. Assyr Monar and was called Jove Bel c Biblian They called the Sun God and held him the God of Gods and Lord of Lords and Governour of all things and that the world was not created but was from everlasting governed by the planets the Sunbeing chief and soveraign Ruler Would they not do the like may any one think with that day which was held to the honour of the Creatour All that was known to be for the worship and honour of God the Creatour they gave to the honour of the Sun and therefore doubtlesse they deputed to the Sun that day also Again when they assigned to every of those gods the seseveral dayes of the week no indifferent understanding man but will conceive that they would dedicate to their greatest god the Sun the day held before to the honour of the great God of heaven and earth rather then to the Moon Mercury or other inferiour gods So that most likely the seventh day with the Patriarchs was none other but that which afterward was the Suns day with the Assyrians and from them was called the day of the Sun with other Nations also as the other week-dayes were called by the names of the other planets and so by custome have they continued to be called with all Nations of any note for Civility and Knowledge except with the Jewes only who after their coming our of Egypt had another day assigned unto them for their seventh sacred day and had a special command given them not to make any mention of those gods of the Nations nor to have their names at all in their mouth as I have shewed before 2. Sunday was the seventh day of the week with the Gentiles as may be collected from the pens of many learned Authors as well Christian as Heathen Aug. Steuchius in Gen. 2. speaking of the seventh day affirmed that it was in omniaetate inter omnes gentes venerabilis sacer The like do Chrysostome Beda and other more whose words I have before in the 13. chapter expressed Also amongst the most ancient Poets divers of them do testifie the same as Linus Callimacus Hesiod and Homer who was above two hundred years before Eudoxus knew what Astrology was All of them were Heathen yet all of them spake very laudably of the seventh sacred day Their words for brevities sake I will not here rehearse sith they are to be seen and are urged by many Writers as namely Clem. Alexand. Strom. l. 5. Euseb de Praep. Evang. l. 13. c. 17. Rivetus in Gen. c. 2. and in his Dissert de Origine Sabba Also Dr. Heylin in his History of the Sabbath par 1. c. 4. Now the seventh day so laudably by them spoken of was the day of the Sun For 1. It was not Saterday the Jewes seventh day The Gentiles liked the Jewes Saterday as said a Papist the devil doth holy water It was counted by them a disdainful novelty their Poets commonly would have one lash or other at the Jewes for it and never spake in honour thereof 2. The Adversaries themselves do grant that the day of the Sun was the seventh day and sacred also with the Heathen but here 's their evasion The seventh day sacred to the Sun with the Heathen say they was the seventh day of the moneth and not the seventh day of the week Now that the day of the Sun was the seventh day of the week with the Heathen and not the seventh day of the moneth thus I prove 1. Clemens and Eusebius both alledge the said Poets to shew that the Gentiles had the seventh day of the week sacred with them 2. Other Authors generally take Sunday with the Gentiles for a week-day and not for the day of a moneth 3. Had the seventh day sacred to the Sun been the seventh day of every moneth as they affirme the Greeks doubtlesse would have noted the same down in their Calenders Though they could not set down constantly the seventh day of the week by reason of their intercaling so many dayes at a time no more then others then could do and no more then we can set down the moveable Feasts that were with us unlesse it be in a yearly Almanack before that Julius Caesar had corrected the year Yet never shall we see a Calender in which the principal immovable sacred dayes were omitted Now there is an ancient Attick Calender to be seen in Scaliger de emend temp wherein things of lesse consequence are noted but this seventh day sacred to the Sun in each moneth cannot be found 4. Dr. Frances White and Dr Heylin also tell us b White of the Sabbath p. 197. Heyl. part 2. p. 53. that Christians of the
and not ours it is The Sabbath of the Lord thy God as it is in this place in our Bibles so translated it is saith God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Sabbath to the Lord that is a Rest or Cessation to the Lord as before I have shewed d See Chap. 8. It is a day holy to the Lord and therefore none other then the Lords All the tithe of the land whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree in the time of the law was the Lords f Levit. 27.30 and so was the tithe of the herd or of the flock even of whatsoever passed under the rod g Verse 32. for the tithe of all these were holy to the Lord h Verse 30.32 and therefore they were the Lords they were his seed his fruit his Lambes c. One Lambe was no more holy then another when they fell from their Dammes and before they were tithed out the Possessor of them might have mingled them at his pleasure he was not tied to begin his tithing at one Lambe rather then at another but from what Lambe soever he began every tenth Lambe that in order passed under the rod was the Lords he might not then change it nor search whether it was good or bad k Verse 33. it was then holy to the Lord it was the Lords Lambe and of such as detained the tenth the Lord complained that they had robbed him l Mal. 3.8 9. And so I say concerning the seventh day in the like sense That one day of it self is no more holy then is another Christians were not tied by any divine law to begin their week or sevening from any set particular time but they continuing their accustomed week and so beginning their sevening from the day of Christs Resurrection the seventh from thence in an orderly course is sacred to the Lord it is the Lords day no man upon his particular occasions may change the same he may not say My businesse is such that I cannot keep this Sabbath-day but I will keep another day in the week which will be as good He doth deceive himself herein he may not put off the seventh to another day but should defer his businesse rather When men take the seventh day which is sacred to the Lord and imploy the same about their own businesse either in whole or in part they may as truly be said to rob the Lord as they under the law were said so to do in not paying their due tithes and offerings m Mal. 3 8 9. Sixthly the Lord was pleased to set out unto us the ground of this law why he would have a day in a week appointed for his worship rather then a week in every moneth or a moneth in every yeare And why he would have the seventh day for his service rather then the tenth the ground hereof the Lord here sheweth to be this In six dayes the Lord made heaven and earth the sea and all that in them is and rested the seventh day The same ground for the sanctification of the seventh day is also declared before in Genesis n Gen. 2.3 Seventhly the Lord declareth and he would have his People hereby to know that he hath annexed a blessing unto this day God blessed the seventh day They who wait on the Lord and serve him sincerely during this their day of attendance shall finde the Lord a bountiful rewarder their ceasing from labour for doing him service shall be for their profit they shall be gainers thereby Lastly if there had been none other reason or motive to stir us up unto obedience in a careful keeping of the seventh day unto the honour of God yet this alone which the Lord hath given in the close of this Commandment should suffice The Lord hath sanctified it God hath instituted it But when the Lord hath given us such a special charge of remembring the Sabbath-day to sanctifie it and hath so plainly pointed out unto us what the day is whith he will have us to sanctifie that none may plead ignorance about the time and how many words the Lord used in prohibiting all works and in the enumeration of all degrees prohibited laying down also the equity hereof his own example together with his blessing it and his sovereign institution hereof how can any without palpable ignorance or wilful rebellion plead ignorance of the Sabbath or knowing it not yield ready obedience thereto Imprimatur JOHN DOWNAME A POSTSCRIPT To the READER I Pray thee before thou readest correct these faults which alter the sense the other though many amend in reading And when thou hast read this Tract consider seriously whether the day of rest the Seventh day in this law commanded to be observed do relate to the six dayes of Gods work or to the six dayes of mans labour It cannot relate to the six dayes of Gods work and so be the day of Gods rest unlesse the day of Gods rest and the Jews Sabbath-day be the same and begin in all places at Sun-setting whereever the Jews did or ought to observe their Sabbath which cannot possibly be except the earth be plain as I have shewed Or except the day of Gods rest did at the first and doth begin sooner in some places then in other and so first at one particular place when it was no where else the day of Gods rest either East or West thereto Both which are so against reason that no understanding man will hold either But if thou findest that the seventh day commanded doth relate as truly it doth to the six dayes of Labour with men and so must be the day following their six week-dayes of labour whereever they live then consider whether Sunday be not as truly the day following the six dayes of labour with Christians as Saterday was with the Jews and as truly the seventh day with Christians and by the expresse words of this law commanded to be kept holy as the Saterday was with the Jews If so what cause thinkest thou have Jews Antinomians Libertines or any other to scandalize or say of Christians that they do not nor at any time have observed the true time and day commanded of God in this law FINIS ERRATA PAge 3. line 28. the whole Read to the whole p. 6. l. 22. so if r. if so p. 7. l. 6. and the evening r. and the morning p. 12. l. 2. this r. his p. 22. l. 9. thirtieth r. one and thirtieth p. 35. l. 10. noâ—e thus their r. nose thus Their. p. 39 l. 33. Hemer r. Homer p. 39. l. 34. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 63. l. 28. Gallimachus r. Callimachus p. 69. l. 16. feigned r. been feigned p. 80. l. 1. Sabbathrsacred r. Sabbath or sacred p. 86. l. 22. betrer r. better In the Margin pag. 41. line 22. Det read Deut.