that we should keep holy the Sabbath-day hath been at large handled before now it resteth that I speak somewhat of the second part also which I will do briefly in this Chapter In this second part is set out in many words the great care and provision had of the Lord that men should observe this law and keep holy the Sabbath-day as God commandeth And this provision of the Lord standeth not in one two or three only but in many and weighty inducements and reasons the least of which should have been sufficient to inforce our obedience had not our hearts been hardened and we most rebellious wilfully refusing to yield obedience unto the same The several inducements and reasons the Lord used to win us unto obedience to this law are these First is the Caveat prefixed only to this and to none other of the Commandments Remember Remember the Sabbath-day to sanctifie it This charge of heedfulnesse would mightily work upon an obedient heart he would every day of his six be thinking how to do and dispatch all his businesses in those dayes that when the seventh day come he may freely without any incumbrance betake himself to the worship and service of his God and when it cometh will be mindeful of the day and careful of observing and keeping the same holy as his God commandeth Secondly the Lord hath here plainly pointed out unto man what day is the Sabbath-day which he should sanctifie The Lord hath affixed as it were an Index to this law that as the true houre of the day is known and pointed out by the Index or Finger in a Dial whereby he that can but tell the number of the hour-lines may easily know what houre of the day it is so here he that can but tell the dayes of the week may easily tell what day is the Sabbath-day Six dayes shalt thou labour and do all thy work but the seventh day is the Sabbath The seventh day is the Sabbath not the seventh day from thy birth nor the seventh day from the first beginning of the Creation nor from any set Epoche for then it would have put the most skilful Mathematicians to a stand for the finding out when this seventh day should begin but it is the day following the six dayes of labour In what countrey soever a man is though he is not well skilled in the language of that place and doth not understand what the names of the week-dayes signifie yet if he can tell which be their six work-dayes he may then tell also which is their seventh day It maketh not much by what names the dayes of the week be called nor what the signification of either or any of the week-dayes should be The seventh day of the week with Christians hath been called by divers several names and that even by Christians themselves such as these Sunday The Lords day The first day of the week and in later times it hath been called also the Sabbath-day but in the first times Christians would not call it the Sabbath-day because all the Gentiles detested the name of Sabbath as the Jewes did the name of Sunday as before is shewed neither could they relish this name for a good while after their Conversion It is not much matter by which of these names we call our seventh day nor whether we understand the signification of the name as what Sunday or The Lords day or The first day of the week do signifie or why we do so call our seventh day Though he do not know it to be called Sunday from our Heathen Ancestors who called this day so in honour of the Sun whom they worshipped nor know it to be called the Lords day because it is his Sabbath who sanctified it nor know it to be called the first day of the week for that the Jewes called this day the first of the Sabbath and so was called by them in sacred Scripture and for that the latter Translators of the Bible would have this name by which the Jews called it to be in our tongue called the first day of the week So as that now we count it not the day of the Sun as our Heathen Ancestors did nor count it to be the first of our work-dayes or first in order and tale of our week-dayes as the Jewes did The name of the day doth neither adde nor alter any thing of the nature thereof Thirdly here is set down the equity of this law It is so reasonable that none need complain The Lord alloweth man six dayes and reserveth but one for himself Six dayes shalt thou labour and do all that thou hast to do but the seventh is the Sabbath How unreasonable are such who are not contented with the Lords liberal allowance but incroach on the Lords day also which he reserved for his own honour and worship Fourthly in that the Lord did in many words set down so punctually 1. The works from which men are restrained 2. The persons who are restrained The works forbidden are all kinde of Trades Professions and Occupations which on other dayes men do or may use for getting their living and maintenance There is no word in English which doth so fully expresse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which here the Lord forbiddeth to be done as doth Function Art or Occupation as I shewed before so that none can excuse himself saying that his Profession requireth little or no labour of the body as do husbandry and divers other Handicrafts for God forbids 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all Vocations Functions or Occupations Men ought to abstain from all their works of what Profession or Vocation soever they be Yea these works are not only forbidden in respect of the labour of the hand but of the tongue and minde also we should not be talking of them neither should our hearts and mindes run on them on the Lords day As God for the furtherance of mans true obedience to this law hath fully shewed the works we are forbidden to do so doth he also as fully and in many words shew who are forbidden to do any of these works Thou nor thy sonne nor thy daughter nor c. Whosoever hath any authority and command over himself must not only be careful that he himself abstain from his labours but also if he hath authority and command over others as sonne daughter man or maid Oxe or Asse he is to see that they also cease from all work-day-labours on the seventh day he is not to imploy any of them he nor any of his may imploy either Oxe or Asse nor lend or let them to hire for their labour on the seventh day or on any part of that day The Lords expressions are large herein that so all pretences and excuses may be taken away Fifthly the Lord sheweth here and would have us to know that we have no right unto the seventh day nor to any part thereof for doing of our own works thereon for the seventh day is the Lords day
make it the fifth or the nineth or tenth or any other then the seventh day Our weeks are not to consist of more or lesse then seven dayes the last day whereof is the Lords day Some call this day the standing day of the week for Gods worship some the Lords day some the Sabbath of the Lord some the seventh day of the week and in this law it is set out to be the day after our six dayes of labour Though these appellations do much differ in letter sound and phrase yet they all signifie the same thing it cannot be the seventh day of the week but it will also be the day after our six known dayes of labour and the standing day of the week for Gods worship this is the Lords day or the Sabbath of the Lord or to the Lord and this is not only a seventh day of the week as all and every other of the week-dayes are but it is the seventh day of the week 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is not appointed from the Lord by this law any set time whence men should begin their week or sevening for to finde the Lords day so that no People Jew or Gentile are tied by this Commandment directly to keep their Sabbath precisely on such or such a day or to begin their Sabbath at any set particular time as from midnight or from Sun-rising noon or Sun-setting God separated the tenth of grapes of lambes of corn c to the use of the Priests and Levites As the seventh day is in this Commandment said to be the Lords and sanctified by the Lord so were those tenths said to be the Lords and sanctified or holy to the Lord. But it cannot there be meant of the very tenth Lambe that fell in order from the Damme or of the tenth eare of corn or of the tenth cluster of grapes first appearing or grown ripe this was too too difficult for to finde out but of the tenth in proportion successively according to the customary manner of their tithing in the places where they lived No more can it be meant here of the seventh day from the first beginning of the Creation which cannot be found out nor from any particular time set by the Lord but the seventh day in proportion successively according as any Nation or people do customarily begin their week in what longitude of the earth soever they do inhabit that seventh day by the expresse words of this law is the Lords day or Sabbath-day to or for the Lord not of the Lord in that sense which some take it as if it were the very day of Gods rest but the 7th day unto the Lord that is sacred or holy to or for the Lord so do the very words of the text import 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 On the seventh day is the Sabbath to the Lord so also in the Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hereto doth the Chaldee Paraphrase accord Die autem septimo Sabbatum est coram Domino And on the seventh day is the Sabbath before the Lord. Also Jun. and Tremel Dies verò septimus Sabbatum est Iehovae But the seventh day is the Sabbath to the Lord. The sense then and meaning of these words of this Commandment The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord is this The seventh day of the week or the day following the six dayes here allowed man for labour is the Lords day or is sacred to the Lord thy God As we say in tithing of corne wheresoever men by agreement do begin to tithe that nine cocks or stacks of corn are the Farmers but the tenth is the Parsons or is due to the Parson So in sevening out our dayes at what time soever according to mens custome they begin their week or sevening six days are ours but the seventh day is the Lords it is his due and not our own God hath not bound men by this law to any set time when to begin their week either at the Sun-setting as the Jews began their week or at midnight as Christians begin theirs or at any other set time but in every Nation however they begin their week the seventh day thereof is the Lords It is true that the Jewes had a set time when they should begin their week or sevening and so had a set and peculiar time or day on which they were to keep their Sabbath but this they were not bound unto by this law That Saterday was their seventh or sacred day and that it began at Sun-setting rather then at another time was not by any expresse out of this Commandment but accidentally that thereby they might be the better taken off from the Assyrians idolatry wherewith they and generally most Nations were deeply infected of which I will speak more particularly in the next Chapter CHAP. IX The Assyrians idolatrie All Nations worshipped the Sun THe Assyrians idolatrie wherewith Egypt the Israelites and generally other Nations were infected was both the worshipping of Baal the adoring of the Host of heaven The one was a man deified and worshipped the other were the Starres viz. the Sun Moone and the rest of the Planets a The other stars were honoured but as subservient unto these whom they magnified and adored as gods and governours of the world Concerning Baal and how he came to be worshipped we shall thus finde in Histories and ancient Chronologies Nimrod that mighty Hunter before the Lord being a great and strong Giant began to suppresse and tyrannize over others bringing others in Shinar under him and he ruled as King over them The beginning of his Kingdome was Babel wherefore he was called Saturnus Babylonicus For the most ancient Kings and first founders of a Realme or People they called by the name of Saturne and his eldest son or heire by the name of Jupiter and his daughters were called Junoes c Guevar Epist Thus they cal'd his father Cush Gush Saturnus Aethiops for that Aethiopia was peopled by him And his Grandfather Cham they cal'd Saturnus Aegyptius for that he and his son Jupiter Mizraim peopled Egypt Beside Babel this Nimrod had Erech and Accad and Calneh in the land of Shinar d Gen. 10.9 10 11 12. In Processe of time Nimrod left the Kingdom of Babel unto his son Belus whom they called Iupiter Belus not driven out of his Kingdom by his son but Nimrod left the same unto him and went into Ashur there he tyrannized over the children of Ashur and there he built Cities also Niniveh and Rehoboth and Calah and Rezen Ninus succeeded his Father Belus and his Grandfather Nimrod in their Kingdomes and inlarged Niniveh calling it by his own name Niniveh and much inlarged his dominions and became a Monarch This Ninus so condoled and took such grief for the death of his father Belus that for his own comfort and his fathers honour he had a goodly image and representation of his father made which he had in much honour Others
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.
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
the world to be eternal like as the Chaldees before them did 6. The like I say for Rome that was built by the posterity of the Trojane fugitives though Pantheus was dead yet they had their Temple Pantheon which continued to be so called till the dayes of Boniface the fourth as I shewed before c See chap. 9. Under divers formes and names did the Romanes worship the Sun as Macrobius sheweth Romani solem sub nomine specie Iani Dydimaei Apollinis c Appellatione venerantur saith he d Macrob. Sacarn l. 1. c. 17. 7. The Massagethites that Scythian and unhumane Nation had the Sun for their God though they would not acknowledge any other as Boëmns recordeth of them Deum quendam sed non Deos agnoscunt ex Diis enim Vnum Solem venerantur cui equos immolant ut pernicissimo sideri è pecoribus omnibus pernicissimum mactent e Boëm. ubi de Scythia 8. The Ethiopians Cathaines Tartars and other Nations worshipped the Sun their god as the said Boëmus recordeth writing of their manners and customes 9. Doctor Francis White late B. of Ely in his Book against Theophilus Brabourne f White p. 197. speaking of the Pagans in general telleth us that they worshipped the Sun Now to take off the Israelites from this Idolatry so generally practised by the Nations the Lord used divers means of which this was one that they should not have the day of the Sun for the day of his worship but the day before that but of this in the next chapter CHAP. X. The means God used to take the Israelites off from worshipping the Sun THe Israelites living in Egypt were deeply tainted with the aforesaid Assyrian Idolatries which the Egyptians from them had learnt and set up Doctor Heylin proveth out of Cyril that the Jews worshipped the Sun and Moon and Host of heaven as in those times the Egyptians did And to the end they mght acknowledge God alone to be the Creatour their Sabbath-day was set unto them c. a Heyl. hist. part 1. p. 74 75 76. It is very true indeed what Doctor Heylin saith of them touching their Idolatries Insomuch that when the Lord brought them out of Egypt to be a peculiar people to himself God then used many means to draw them off from worshipping the Sun Moon and the rest of the Planets all called the Host of heaven whereof the Sun was the chief First God gave them a special charge that thenceforth not any of them should serve the Sun or Moon c. And that if any man or woman among them should be known to serve the Sun or Moon or any of the Host of heaven then the party whether man or woman was to be stoned to death without mercy b De t. 17.2 3 4 5. Secondly God charged them not to speak of those gods or to have their names come out of any of their mouths c Exod. 23.13 They might not call the dayes of the week by the names of the Planets the day of the Sun the day of the Moon c. as other Nations did and do for the most part but they called them thenceforth the first of the Sabbath the second of the Sabbath c. Insomuch that all the Evangelists in recording the day and time of our Saviours Resurrection say not In the morning of the day of the Sun as other Nations commonly called that time and we now In the Sunday-morning but In the morning of the first day of the Sabbath so did they call our Sunday Saint Paul also though he wrote to the Church in Corinth yet writing in the behalf of somes Jews in Judea that were in want called their weekly meeting day not the day of the Sun as the Gentiles cal'd that day but the first day of the Sabbath b 1. Cor. 16.2 being the proper name thereof with the Jewes It is true that Saint John though he was a Jew yet writing not to the Jews but to the Gentiles lately converted c Diod. in loe that is to the seven Churches of Asia d Rev. 1.4 called our Sunday not by the name of the day of the Sun as the Gentiles called it nor by the name of the first day of the Sabbath as he and the Jews commonly called it but he called it The Lords day John called it not the day of the Sun for he was a Jew nor did he call it the first day of the Sabbath for that he wrote to the Gentiles to whom the name of the Sabbath was odious as was the name of the day of the Sun to the Jews and we finde not that Christians who descended of the Gentiles did in many yeers after this use the name of Sabbath in their writings nor did the Jews use the name of the day of the Sun in theirs But Iohn called it the Lords day being as truly the Lords day with the Churches of the Gentiles as was the Saterday with the Jews Thirdly the Lord caused them to alter their times which were measured out to them by the course of the Sun as years moneths weeks and dayes Whereas their year before began in Tisri when the Sun was in the Autumnal Equinox they must thenceforth begin the same when the Sun is most remote from it that is in Abib Abib now must be their first moneth and Tisri their seventh which was their first before d See chap. 4. Their weeks were then wholly altered the day of the Sun which was the Gentiles seventh sacred day as I shall shew anon f See chap. 15. must thenceforth be with them a common or ordinary work-day and the day which they must have for their seventh sacred day was thenceforth to be that day which the Lord pointed out unto them by Moses that is the day following their six dayes of gathering Quailes and Manna g Ex. 16.23 26 when they were ready to perish through want of food Also to draw the people unto an awful obedience hereto and that they might not think it to be an innovation raised by Moses as the Heathen generally thought it to be a Cornel. Ta. Diurn l. 21. Trog Pom. l. 36 the Lord confirmed this new order of their week-dayes miraculously insomuch as on that seventh pointed out unto them for their Sabbath there was no signe of Manna to be seen and the portion thereof gathered the day before and kept unto their Sabbath-day stanck not The miraculous feeding them many years after this maner bred in them a custome of observing the week according to this new assignment The Lord by Moses caused them to alter the beginning of their dayes of the week too for wheras before they began their dayes as other worshippers of the Sun did at the first appearance of the Sun in the Horizon counting the first houre of their day to begin at Sun rising thenceforth they must begin their day for the service of
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
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
places having one and the same Horizon must have their day to be one and the same and to begin at one and the same time 8. The seventh day which God blessed and sanctified and commanded in this law to be kept holy was not the day of Gods rest For this cannot any where be known when it beginneth or endeth and if it should be known yet all Gods people in all places could not keep the same though they had never fallen by Adam And whether there was or was not an inversion of the day made as aforesaid yet the day of Gods rest could not be the same day with the Iewes Sabbath for this they did or might keep from Sun-setting to Sun-setting in Arabia Jerusalem Babylon Rome Spaine Ophyr and in all other places of their abode but the day of Gods rest they did not nor possibly could they keep the same from Sun-setting to Sun-setting in all places where any of them had their abode unlesse the surface of the earth had been plain and not round 9. The Iewes had not rested on the seventh day according to Gods example had they not rested on that very seventh day on which God rested 9. The Iewes neither did nor could keep that very seventh day on which God rested in all places as hath been shewed But as we according to Gods example work six dayes and rest the 7th so did they As the Sunday with Christians was ever the day following their 6 days of labour so was the Saterday with the Iewes 10. The Iewes Sabbath-day being the day of Gods rest and the day which God appointed by this law to be kept holy is wholly abolished and abrogated by the coming of the Messias and no other day is commanded by the Lord instead thereof therefore it now resteth in the power of the Church and Magistrates to appoint what day they please for Gods publick worship 10. The Jewes Sabbath-day was not the day of Gods rest as hath been shewed Neither as it was the Saterday their seventh from their first gathering Quails and Manna Nor as it began at the setting of the Sun was it directly by this law commanded to any In these respects it was Ceremonial and abolished That which is expressed in this Commandment they and all else are still bonnd to which is that having wrought the six dayes of labour they rest on the seventh day according to Gods example and keep it holy to the Lord. From this neither they nor any else living is freed It is Gods law it will be great impiety and intrenching into the Prerogative of the most high God for any persons whatsoever and under any pretence soever to seek the alteration or change hereof or to set and appoint any other day for Gods publick worship in the stead of that which he himself hath set and appointed If the earth be plain all and every one of the ten before-going are true but if round they must be all false If the earth be round all and every one of the ten before-going are true but if plain they all must needs be false I Having now shewed the opinion of the most concerning weeks the ground from whence that and many other errours sprang among which this is none of the least That the day of Gods rest the precise seventh day from the beginning of the Creation was the seventh day which God commanded his Church in this law to keep holy as if the seventh day which God blessed and sanctified and commanded us in this Law should not relate to the six dayes labour of the week in use with men where they live but to the six first days of the Creation and so should be with people where ever they dwell the very day of Gods rest from whence all our many and great contentions about the Sabbath have been raised and fostered I will in the next shew what weeks are CHAP. XII What a Week is The Seventh day of the Week is the Lords day A Week is the space of time made by seven whole dayes without intermission By seven dayes I mean seven such dayes as are all of one and the same kinde If any of them be horizontall dayes they are all to be horizontal dayes such as were the seven dayes of the Week with the Jews And if any be meridional they are all to be meridional dayes as are the dayes of the week with Christians The Jews Sabbath or seventg day was from Sun-fettinh to Sun-setting therefore so should the six dayes of their week be also The six dayes of our week are from midnight to midnight and therefore the seventh is not to be from Sun-setting to Sun-setting but from midnight to midnight also The seventh day must relate to the six dayes before-going The seventh day which was the day of Gods rest cannot relate to the six days of work with any people Nor can the seventh day of the week with any people relate to the six dayes of Gods work at the creation these were not of the same kinde of dayes with the week-dayes that now are or at any time heretofore have been or can be in use with men as I have already fully proved a See Chap. 5. That seven whole dayes without intermission from any time as from Sunday to Sunday or from Saterday to Saterday or from Munday to Munday is a week may appear First from the several names and appellations by which a week is called with people of several tongues and languages Our ancient Saxons we from them call it Sennight and two such weeks fortnight that is seven nights and fourteen nights The Romans called it Septimana that is seven mornings taking the morning for the whole day as the Saxons did the night With the Greeks it was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is defined to be Intervallum septem dierum That is seven dayes The Hebrews called a week not seven nights as the Saxons did nor seven mornings as the Romans did but as the Greeks did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seven dayes or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a seveny of dayes Secondly frequently in holy Scripture seven dayes from any set time is counted a week Laban bade Jacob fulfill her week b Gen 23.27 meaning the seven dayes of Leas marriage Such was the usual time for marriage-feasts in those dayes c Iudg. 14.10 12. If a woman was at any time delivered of a man-child she was to be unclean seven dayes or a week but if she was delivered of a maid-childe d Lev. 12 2 5. she was to be unclean 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is two weeks And so is it in our last Translation The Lord appointed the Jews to count for their feast of Pentecost called their feast of weeks thus On the morrow after the feast-day of the Passeover which never fell on the same day of the week two years together shalt thou number unto thee seven weeks f Levit. 23.11 15
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
on that day for they called it no longer Sunday unlesse in their common-talk with the Heathen but they called it the Lords day being the day which the Lord in this law commanded to be sanctifyed Neither did they adore and worship the Sunne any more on that day but the Lord their Creatour and Redeemer Thirdly It is true that all the week-dayes were abused to the Idolatrous worship of the planets though not in the like degree as was the Sunday And that one day in it self was no more holy then another Yet Christians should not have done well in changing or in their endeavouring to have changed their standing service-day from Sunday to any other day of the week and that for these reasons 1. Because of the contempt scorn and derision they thereby should be had in among all the Gentiles with whom they lived and toward whom they ought by Saint Pauls rule to live inoffensively a 1 Cor. 10.32 in things indifferent If the Gentiles thought hardly and spake evil of them for that they ran not into the same excesse of riot with them b 1 Pet. 4.4 what would they have said of Christians for such an Innovation as would have been made by their change of their standing service-day If long before this the Jews were had in such disdain among the Gentiles for their Saterday-Sabbath which the Gentiles held to be a singularity and innovation brought in by Moses insomuch that Jeremy lamenteth the same a Lam. 1.17 How grievous would be their Taunts and reproaches against the poore Christians living with them and under their power for their new set sacred day had the Christians chosen any other then the Sunday Had Sir Francis Drake and Captain Cavendise and their companies who travelled round the earth with them either out of tendernesse of conscience or else out of obstinacy continued to keep that Sunday sacred which fel to them by course true tale of the days succeeding each other they must needs have had their Sunday on our Munday our Sunday would be their Saterday When it was holy day with them it would be workingday with us and holy day with us when they would work So Tacitus said of the Jews Profana illic quae apud nos sacra rursum concessa quae nobisillicita a Cornel. Tacit. Diurnal li. 2â— Now how unquiet may any one imagine should those Travellers have lived among us as long as our Sunday was a week-day with them Would not every ballad-maker have had them in their rimes would they not have been a by-word with all and every Apparator would be ready with a Citation for them And can we conceive that Christians at first should find more favour from the Heathen for their wilfulnesse which was lesse excuseable 2. Most Christians then were either Servants or of the poorer sort of people and the Gentiles most probably would not give their servants liberty to cease from working on any other set day constantly except on their Sunday 3. Had they changed their seventh day from their Sunday to another day there must have followed an unsufferable confusion in the count of the week dayes with whom they lived As for example had Sir Francis Drake and his company observed at his returne the weeks which by his exact account fell to them by course and not have changed them and made them the same with our weeks there would have followed a miserable confusion even in their own families The third day of the week with some must have been the fourth with others of the same family And never a day would have been the same with them all The like would it have been with the Christians and Gentiles with whom they lived if they had changed their seventh standing day for Gods worship which was Sunday for another 4. Because had they assayed such a change it would have been a testimony against them of slighting the glorious resurrection of our Lord and Saviour the Sunne of Righteousnesse a Mal. 4.2 who on the Sunday most triumphantly rose from the dead for the justification of all his people 5. It would have been but labour in vaine for them to have assayed the same they could never have brought it to passe For 1. They had no authoritative specification of any set day either by Jesus Christ or by his Apostles on which they ought to keep the Lords day Had there so been Saint Paul would never have prest the indifferency of dayes as he did b Rom. 14.1 2 3. Col. 2.16 nor would he himself have with the believing Jewes kept the Saterday c Acts 13.14 42.17 2 18 4. and with the Christians by Christians I mean the Gentiles converted to Christ have kept the Sunday d Act. 20.7 1 Cor. 16.2 neither would the believing Jewes have remained so obstinate but would have kept that day for their Sabbath which was so pointed out unto them if there had been such Whereas they for the generality of them would never be withdrawn to keep any other then their Saterday for their Sabbath hundreds of years after the Apostles dayes 2. They had no coercive power to draw refusers to the observation of any other day for the Lords day had they been so disposed to have set any other 3. Christians were not all of one City or of one countrey or of one Nation Tongue or Government It would have been even a miracle to have gotten all Christians in all parts of the world to have observed one the same day for the Lords day with them all which should be chosen not by a general meeting or by a general consent but by some of them only had they chosen any other then the day of the Sun which they were generally before their Conversion accustomed to keep The People of Israel were but one Nation all of one Tongue and severed from all other People and also had Moses their Captain-General yet Moses should never have withdrawn them from their old accustomed day to the observation of the Saterday-Sabbath different from the custome of all other Nations had not the Lord God miraculously in the fal of Quails Manna e Exod. 16.12 16 22 23 26. shewed that it was his good pleasure so to have it when he assigned unto them their six dayes for their labour and so pointing out to them the Saterday being the seventh from their first gathering Quailes and Manna to be the day of holy rest unto the Lord. Sylvester the first Pope of that name when out of his hatred to the memory of the Heathen-gods he would have changed but the names of the week-dayes decreed them to be called by the names of Feriae as hath been before shewed though he was of great authority and command and highly beloved of the people yet he could not prevail herein but with very few except Schollers the vulgar people in their common talk called their week-dayes as they did before
a day of rest from these works and so were said to profane it that is in respect of these labours they made it common with other dayes all dayes being alike lawful or common for doing works of Piety Secondly works of Government of the Creatures subjected unto man were ordained of the Lord before man was made Let us make man saith God in our image after our likenesse and let them have dominion over c b Gen. 1.26 28 and when God had made man he commanded them to have dominion over the fish of the sea over the fowle over cattel and over every living thing upon the earth This law and ordinance was not repealed or nulled by any succeding law Man is to exercise this his Rule and Government committed unto him on any day If fire should threaten to destroy house or houses corne or such like on the Sabbath-day man is as well bound to use his power in suppressing the same on the Sabbath-day as on any other If water indanger drowning of cattel or if cattel strive together whereby some are like to perish and man do not succour and seek to preserve what was in danger because it was on the Sabbath-day he sheweth himself to be a bad Governour of the creature or if he should suffer sheep or other cattel to perish for want of foddering folding or housing them as need requireth he is not worthy to have the Government of cattel The like Isay concerning works needful for the preservation of mans life When Adam was in the state of innocency before ever the seventh day was even on the day of his Creation the Lord ordained him food Behold I have given you said God every herbe bearing seed some whereof were Physical which is upon the face of all the earth and every tree in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed to you it shall be for meat d Gen. 1.29 It was Gods Will and Ordinance then that man being made a living soul should use the means for the preservation of his life And this his ordinance was never repealed by any succeeding law All these three kinde of works may be done on the Sabbath-day as well as on other dayes alwayes provided that there be no irregularity in performing them We must have regard to necessity requiring present help when this giveth way the duties more excellent are more especially to be regarded And as these works may be done on the Lords day so may the necessary helps thereunto be then done also A man may on the Sabbath-day travel on foot to the meeting place and assembly of Gods people and if he cannot well go on foot he may ride Also as men may feed folde or house their Cattel on the Lords day so may they use the necessary helps thereto which could not be done the day before And so also may they not only eat drink sleep and take Physick according as need requireth but also may use needfull helps thereunto as heating their meat and such like for all stomacks cannot feed on cold meat But let all take heed lest under a pretence of necessity he robs God of his due honour and his conscience of true peace Object But here some will object that this Commandment tyed the Jews from kindling any fire on their Sabbath-day If then we are bound to keep this law as strictly as the Jews were we ought not to kindle fire at all upon the Sabbath-day for any occasion whatsoever though for saving ones life Answer To which I answer that this precept in Exodus the five and thirtieth Chapter b Exod. 35.3 and third Verse forbade the Jews not from making any fire at all whether it be a help towards the duties of piety or mens health and safety But from making fire whereby it should be a help towards their trades occupations or functions which are expresly forbidden to be done in this commandment on the Sabbath-day And that this is the meaning may appear for that First this precept hath an eye and refiecteth on the words immediately going before in the former verse in which is a rehearsal of the summe of this fourth commandment In these words according to the Hebrew text d Arias Monte. Six dayes shall function occupation or trade be done and in the seventh day there shall be to you holinesse a rest of cessation to the Lord every one doing his function in that day shall die Then immediately followeth There shall no fire be kindled in all your habitations in the day of cessation The works about mens personal callings and functions for getting wealth being forbidden in the former verse in this is forbidden the means tending thereto as the kindling of fire And haply kindling fire is here mentioned rather then any other means for that they being all Brickmakers in Egypt before they kindled fire throughout their habitations for the burning their tale of Bricks But when workes are lawful and needful to be done on the Sabbath-day such as are works of piety and works of preserving the life of man the necessary helps thereunto as making fire is lawful also Secondly the continued and never blamed practice of the Jews of making fire on the Sabbath-day for these duties proveth the same They were never at any time blamed for making fire on the Sabbath for these duties as farre as we can read in sacred Scripture The man that was put to death for gathering wood whether to fagot it or to adde it to his Pile or heap is not expressed on the Sabbath-day b Num. 15.32 doth make nothing hereto And that they did make fire on the Sabbath-dayes for these duties is undeniable How else should the meat-offrings baken in ovens and in pannes and in frying-pannes be made which they were to bring to the Priests as obligations d Levit. 2.4 5 7. How else could the Shewbread be baked which were constantly provided and set on the pure Table of the Lord every Sabbath day f Levit. 24.5 6 c. And how else should the Paschal lambe be roasted when the feast of the Passeover fell on the Sabbath-day Every family was then to eat rostmeat throughout their habitations and the remaines to be burnt in the fire that nothing be left untill the morning g Exod. 12.10 Sure these things could not be done without making fire In like manner did they make fire on the Sabbath for preservation of their life and health For doubtlesse the Israelites baked and sod their Manna on their Sabbath-dayes as they did on the other dayes of the week Cold Manna and unpound would not agree with many mens stomakes on the Sabbath who on every of the other dayes did eat it hot either baked or sodden On every of the other six dayes they gathered every man according to his eating an Omer for every man b Exod. 16.16 18. And then ground it or beat it in a mortar and baked it in pannes and