first ages because they kept the Sunday for their sacred services and bowed Eastward in their worship were upbraided for sun-Sun-worshippers though they neither worshipped the Sun nor called their day of worshipping God Sunday but the Lords day being their Sabbathr sacred day of rest to the Lord. Surely if Sunday had not been with the Heathen who were sun-Sun-worshippers indeed a weekly service day but the seventh day of the moneth only there had been no cause or ground why either Jew or Gentile should have cast such an aspersion on them of being worshippers of the Sun 5. This may further appear by the decree of Pope Milchiades whom some call Miltiades the last of all the Popes that were Martyrs He to make a clear difference between the observation of Sunday by Christians and the observation of Sunday by the Heathen ordained that all Gentiles who were converted and were Christians should not fast on the Sundayes nor on the Thursdayes as the other Gentiles did Note that as Wednesday Friday and Sunday were now in late times called sacred or Prayer-dayes so were Thursday and Sunday in old times on which dayes they filled not themselves as on other dayes till their sacred services were ended The decree Sever. Binius on the life of the said Pope sets down thus Jejunium verò Dominici diei quintae feriae nemo celebrare debet ut inter jejunium Christianorum Gentilium veraciter c. He would not that Christians should fast on the Thursday and on the Lords day called by the Gentiles Sunday that so there might be an open and apparent distinction between Christians and the Heathen in the observation of those dayes From which time till of late our tables have testified obedience to that decree being usually furnished with more variety of dishes on the Sundayes and Thursdayes then on any day of the week besides If any one here say that these dayes were not sacred but Fasting dayes because Binius calls them jejunia I would have him informed that sacred dayes were with the Heathen called Fasts because they abstained from feeding themselves till their services were ended the like did the Jewes yea and Christians too in old time Trogus writing the customes of the Jewes when he would tell us that Moses ordained the Saterday being the seventh day with the Jewes to be a sacred day perpetually he thus expresseth the same Septimum diem more Gentis Sabbatum appellatum in omne aevum jejunio sacravit Moses a Trog li. 36. Doctor Heylin sheweth plentifully that the Heathen Poets and others called sacred dayes Fasting dayes b Heyl. part 1. pa. 102. But to put us out of doubt that the Thursday and Sunday were not only fasting dayes but sacred also with the Heathen Platina resolveth the case who on the life of the said Pope sets down his decree thus Miltiadis institutum fuit nè Dominico neve feriâ quintâ jejunaretur quia hos dies Pagani quasi sacros celebrant Whereby it appears that Sunday was a sacred day not of the moneth but of the week with the Heathen 6. Lastly the testimonies of diverse learned writers shew that the day of the Sunne with the Gentiles was a week-day even the same which we call the Lords day Sozomen telleth us that Constantine commanded Dominicum diem quem Ebraei primum Sabbati appellant Graeci Soli deputant c. à cunctis celebrari c Sozom. Eccl. hist. li. 1. cap. 8. Constantine then held that the day which the heathen Greeks deputed to the Sunne was the very same which we call the Lords day Justin Martyr in several passages called the Lords day no otherwise then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as then the Gentiles or Greeks called it saith Doctor Heylin d Heyl. par 2. pag. 62. and we call it now Bonaventure acquaints us how Christians spoiled the day of the Sunne of its Idolatrous worship and so kept it in honour of Christ Secundum Gentiles dies Dominicus primus est cùm principio illius diei incipit dominari principalis planeta Sol propter quod vocabant eundem diem Solis exhibebant ei venerationem Vt ergo error ille excluderetur reverentia cultús Solis Deo exhiberetur praefixa fuit Dominica dies quâ populus Christianus vacaret cultui Divino f Bonav in 3 Distin. 37. Cael. Rhodigin lect Antiq. li. 13. cap. 22. thus sheweth Nos jure optimo diem quem Mathematici Solis vocant Domino ascripsimus dicavimúsque illius cultui totum mancipavimus It seemeth by these that Christians at first devested the Sunne of the worship given him on the day of the Sunne and gave the whole right of worship on that day unto the Lord God They served the day of the Sunne as the men of Israel were to serve their captive maidens the things that grew excrementitiously on them as hair and nailes were to be shaven and cut a Deut 21.12 and so cast away c. and then the men lawfully might keep and use them So Christians of the first age after Christs ascension pared off and cast away what did excrementitiously if I may so say grow on the day of the Sunne as the adoration and superstitious services given to it on that day and then they lawfully might and did make use of the same and it became their standing service-day unto Gods honour Divers other testimonies of sundry authors may be given to prove the day of the Sunne with the Gentiles to be not their seventh day of the moneth but their seventh day of the week all which I here omit only I referre the reader for his further satisfaction to Doctor Heylins history of the Sabbath b Heyl. par 2. pag. 53 61 62 63. wherein he sheweth that not only the dayes of the Moon of Mars of Mercury c. with the Gentiles were the same which we call Munday Tuesday Wednesday c. But also that the day of the Sunne is the same which we call Sunday proving the same out of Tertullian Justin Martyr Saint Augustin and others Quest But here it may be demanded that sith the Sunday was the day sacred with the Heathen dedicated to the Sunne and to the dishonour of God so much abused by their Heathenish superstition and Idolatry Whether Christians in the Apostles time or afterward should not have done well to have chosen Friday or Saterday or some other day for their standing day of the week for Gods service rather then the Sunday Answer To alter or change the Sabbath from the seventh day and to make it the eighth ninth sixth or any other then the seventh which is the last day of the week is against the expresse law of God as before hath been shewed though it be nowhere forbidden to alter the whole week by beginning the same sooner or later Secondly they lawfully might and did alter and change both the name and also the worship or service done
Assyrian Monarchy Pag. 203. every one on his day had some peculiar worship done unto it and the day on which any of the Planets had his worship according to their order that day was called by the name of that Planet so worshipped As Saint-worshippers do call the dayes of the moneth on which they give special worship to St. Peter St. Iohn St. Iames St. Peters day St. Iohns day and St. James day So did those Sun-worshippers on what days of the week they gave special worship to the Sun or Moon or Saturn those dayes were called by the names of the day of the Sun the day of the Moon the day of Saturn The time of the day for their worship was ever the forenoon not the whole forenoon for them all but at the rising of the Sun when the first houre of their day for such worship began And that Planet which came to be worshipped by course the first houre of the day was counted trump or Lord of that day They gave not equal honour unto the Planets neither were the dayes of their week alike sacred but they had the Sun in the greatest honour and for their most high God next to him was the Moon and next Saturn so accordingly were their dayes sacred their chiefest day of the week being then the day of the Sun of which I shall speak more when I come to speak of their seventh day sacred Boëmus telleth us writing of Assyria and their customes that foure of the Planets they had in lesse esteem then the rest His words are these Martem Venerem Mercurium Jovem prae caeteris observari quoniam velut proprium cursum sortiti futura ostenderent tanquam Deorum interpretes quod ipsum adeò persuasum habuerunt ut quatuor ista astrauno nomine Mercurios appellarent b Boëmus ubi de Assyria That they diligently observed Mars Venus Mercury and Jupiter for these by their proper course would foreshew things to come as being Interpreters of the gods out of considence whereof they called all these foure starres Mercuries And my opinion is that as Boëmus doth here orderly recite their names in the same order did the idolaters place them aloft in their Temples Mars on the right hand and Venus on the lest hand of the other three chief then Mercury on the right hand next to Mars and Iupiter last on the left hand according to this forme presented to the eye Whereto for distinguishing them I have set their usual characters being not skill'd to make a lively draught of them as Verstegan hath done in his Restitution of decayed Intelligence in Antiquities And I have set down under them their names also not in the Assyrian language but as the ancient Saxons of old when they were Heathen called them according to Verstegan aforesaid and worshipped them calling the dayes of their week also by the names of these their gods or planets which then they worshipped Sunday Monday Tuescoes day Woodensday Thorsday Frigaesday Saterday And we from them to this houre so call our week-dayes Munday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday c. I suppose the Saxons to be a very ancient Nation for that among many other they come nearest to the Assyrians in their ancient idolatry But behold the forme ☿ Woden ♂ Tuisco ☾ Mone ☉ Sone ♄ Sater ♀ Friga ♃ Thor Note here that the Assyrians reade from the right hand to the left and so we are to read the names of these Planets The reasons moving me to think these Idols to be thus placed aloft in their Temples are especially two First for that the Romish Church when they had got some power into their hands and did in Pope Boniface the fourth his dayes suppresse the Idolatries of the Heathen who worshipped their Idols in the Temple at Rome which was dedicated to all the gods and then called Pantheon and having instead thereof set up another kinde of worship like unto that even of the Virgin Mary and All Saints whereupon that day was by that Pope Boniface made an holy day called by the Name of All-Saints day and the Temple also dedicated to the Virgin Mary and All Saints called thenceforth Ecclesia Beatae Mariae rotunda a Tho. Val. Nic. Triveth Com. in Aug. de Civit. Dei l. 2. c. 4. I will deliver the words of an old Chronologer hereof Iste Bonifacius scilicet Quartus consecravit Pantheon id est Templum omnium Deorum ubi Christiani periclitabantur à Daemonibus Et est pulchra similitudo quomdo Spiritus Sanctus ex malis institut is Paganorum scit eligere Sanctum exercitium devotionis quasi medicina fiat ex veneno Vbienim impii colebant Daemones ibi Christiani colunt omnes Sanctos sic ars deluditur arte b Fascicu tempotum And a little after Festum omnium Sanctorum institur à Bonifacio quarto Then at that time I suppose were the images of the Saints placed up on high in their roode which common people here with us call their rood-loft in imitation of the Heathen For commonly when the Romish Church put down any idolatrous custom of the Heathen then they set up another resembling that which they put down and this did they either for avoiding the greater scandal of the Heathen which were then potent or to winne them the better by degrees to Christian Religion or for some other by-respect As the Heathen had some one or other particular Planet or Idol to be the Patron and Protector of some one people or other and so many Protectors as there were nations Belus for Assyria Diana for Ephesus Jupiter for Rome Juno for Samos Bacchus for Thebes c. So when that idolatry was supprest in stead of these idols the Romane Church had holy Saints to be invocated and had for Protectors in like manner Thus was St James for Spaine St. Dionysius for France St. Andrew for Scotland c. As the heathen idolaters had for several occasions several gods and goddesses on whom they called for help Bellona in time of warre Cunina for infants Segetia for standing corne Forculus to keep the doors c Aug. de Civ Dei l. 4. c. 1. c. So the Romane Church to winne the heathens by degrees suffered them to continue in idolatry still but instead of their Demi-gods they should invocate Saints St. Rumbal for the tooth-ache St. Petronel for the ague St. Loye for horses St. Anthony for pigs St. Gregory for Schollers St. George for souldiers c. What were the Monks and Friars the chaste shavelings and holy Nunnes but the natural successors of Berecynthia's and Vesta's Priests and Virgins Rome heathen had two goddesses in special reverence Berecynthia and Vesta Berecynthia they held to be the mother of the gods a Aug. de Civ Dei l. 2. c. 4. Her Priests were chaste unmarried men and if it hapned that any one of them could not live chastely yet he lived warily until that Atys b Tho. Vallois
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
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-DAY Sabbath EXOD. 20.8 9 10 11. Remember the 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
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
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
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
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
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.