the Feast of Unleavened Bread For though it were the fourteenth day at evening yet it was the fourteenth day not the fifteenth And Luke 23. 54. the evening after our Saviours Crucifixion on the sixth day when it was late at night as was shewed before and must be according to the story of what had been done before that time was yet but the preparation not the Sabbath the Seventh day being not yet begun For so we have it it was the preparation and the Sabbath drew on And the Women were then preparing their Spices and Oyntments yet rested the Sabbath day according to the Commandment So that the Sabbath day was not yet begun nor was it ended when the evening of the next day began but on the morning of the day following as was shewed above And as we shewed at large before the first day of the Week on which Christ rose began very early in the morning while it was dark and continued the same day till very late at night And this is the constant Language of the New Testament every where So that when the Congregation of Christians Acts 20. 7. did on the first day of the week assemble to break Bread and Paul Preached to them continuing his Sermon till Mid-night this must needs be on what we call Sunday and the morning following was Munday morning not Sunday morning as this Author would have it 'T is manifest therefore that there was a Religious Assembly of the Christian Congregation at Troas on the First day of the Week for celebration of the Lords Supper and Preaching and Paul with them Which I take to be the celebration of a Christian Sabbath However this he says is but One Instance True this is but one But we have heard of more before and shall hear of more by and by But this one is more than he can shew for more than Two Thousand Five Hundred Years from God's resting on the Seventh day Gen. 2. 3. till after Israel was come out of Egypt Ex. 16. during which time he would have us think the Seventh-day Sabbath was constantly observed And if he could shew any one such instance of Enoch Noah Abraham or other where such a Religious Assembly for the Worship of God was held on the seventh day in course from the Creation he would think his point well proved though no more were said of it than is of this Whereas now as to the time from thence to the Floud he brings no other proof but that Abel and Enoch and Noah were good men as no doubt they were and therefore it is to be presumed they kept a Sabbath and that upon the seventh day Which is to beg the question not to prove it From thence till Israels going into Egypt all that he brings to prove this matter of fact is but that of Gen. 13. 6. where speaking of Abram and Lot with the multitude of their Cattel it is said the land was not able to bear them that they might Dwell together for their substance was great so that they could not Dwell together and there was a strife between the Herd-men of Abrams Cattle and the Herd-men of Lots Cattle c. They could not Dwell together that is saith he they could not Rest together that is they could not keep a Sabbath together therefore he concludes they did use to keep a sabbath and that Sabbath was the seventh day in course from the Creation And is not this a goodly proof I should think if he would put a stress on the word Rest it should rather signify they could not live quietly together without their herd-mens quarrelling about their Pasture for so it follows in the next words there was a strife between their herds-men From thence till after their coming out of Egypt he brings no other proof but that of Ex. 5. 4 5. Where when Moses and Aaron had been pressing Pharaoh to let Israel go three days Iourney into the Wilderness to keep a Feast and Sacrifice to the Lord their God Pharaoh replies Wherefore do ye Lett or hinder the People from their Work you make them rest from their Burdens or you take them off from their Work that is says he you make them keep a Sabbath For the Word or Verb there Translated you make them Rest is he tells us a derivative from another Verb which signifies to Rest from which Verb the word Sabbath is also derived They did therefore Rest saith he that is keep a Sabbath and that Sabbath was every Week and it was on the seventh day in course from the Creation Alas how little do either or both of these places prove of what he would have to be granted him thence He tells us sometimes there were other Sabbaths besides that of the seventh day I am sure there were other Restings If Moses and Aaron had desired Pharaoh to excuse them from their Work one day in seven that on such day they might serve the Lord their God it would have looked like an Argument But when it is to go three days into the Wilderness to keep a Feast to the Lord what is this to a Weekly Sabbath This seventh-Seventh-day sabbath so runs in the mind of this Author that if any where he can lay hold of the word Rest it must presently prove a seventh-day-Seventh-day-sabbath Else who would have thought that because Abram and Lot could not dwell quietly together therefore they must needs keep a Sabbath and that upon the seventh day and in course from the Creation And the like of the Israelites in Egypt because Moses and Aaron are said to hinder them from their work Therefore they did constantly keep a weekly Sabbath and that upon the seventh day in course from the Creation He might have to better purpose alleged Pharaoh's seven fat kine and seven lean ones and the seven full Ears of Corn and seven empty for here we have the number seven signalized only these were Seven Years not Seven Days and the like of Nebuchadnezzar's being seven years turned out to the Beasts of the field Dan. 4. 25 32 33. Or that of the Clean Beasts and Fowls coming into the Ark by sevens Gen. 7. 2 3. But what is more to his purpose and which he should not have missed is that of Gen. 7. 4. and Gen. 8. 10 12. where we have the interval of seven days particularly mentioned For yet seven days and I will cause it to rain upon the Earth c. Chap. 7. 4. where God gives to Noah just a Weeks warning of the time when the Floud should begin during which interval if those days were Sabbath days he might remove himself and what was necessary into the Ark before the next Sabbath And toward the end of the Floud Noah sends out the Dove Chap. 8. 8. And he staid seven days and again sent forth the Dove ver 10. And he staid yet other seven days and sent forth the Dove c. ver 12. Where we have the Dove sent out three
judge hardly But the natural result of what he argues is as I told you He doth not think that Iohn was on the Lords day Rev. 1. 10. keeping the Anniversary of Christs Incarnation nor of his Resurrection No more do I. But why not Because saith he he may say as in the case of Moses's dead body No man knows of his Sepulchre to this day Now as to the Incarnation I am apt to think that no man doth At this day know certainly either on what day of the Year or what day of the Week Christ was born nor is it any matter whether we do or no. But I should rather say no man knows At this day than as he no man knoweth To this day as if no man hitherto had known it for certainly there have been those who knew it heretofore while he was alive though it be now forgotten and at this day no man knows it But will he say so as to the Resurrection I think it is plain that Christ was Crucified on the fourteenth day lay in the Grave the fifteenth and rose again the sixteenth day of the first month And that he rose on the first day of the week no man doubts He should rather have put it thus As no man knows To this day where is the Body of Moses that it might not be worshiped So no man knows At this day which is the Seventh in course from the Creation that we might not contend about it However I am contented to admit if that will please him that the Lords day there mentioned was neither meant of christmass-Christmass-day nor easter-Easter-day nor Whit-sunday nor the day of Iudgment but think it to be meant of the first day of the week which is the Christian Sabbath Not of any of those other days mentioned nor of the Iewish Sabbath as he would have it 'T is I think a new notion of his own at least I know none other of his mind that it should be meant of the Iewish Sabbath He grants there is nothing from the Circumstances of the place to determine it to this day Nor doth he pretend to shew that the Jewish Sabbath was ever so called But he thinks it might have been so called For he says God blessed and sanctified the seventh day that is the Seventh day after Six days of Labour therefore it might have been called the Lords day and so may as well the Christian Sabbath as the Iews Sabbath That the Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath day And so he is of every day in the Week and of the Christian Sabbath when that is the Sabbath as well as of the Iewish That the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord our God that is the Seventh day after Six days of Labour but whether the Seventh day in course from the Creation is no where said That Isai. 58. 13. The Sabbath is called my holy day True on what ever day the Sabbath be First or Seventh of the Week or whatever day God appoints to be kept Holy As for instance the first and seventh day of the Feast of Unleavened bread Ex. 12. 16. The First day shall be a Holy Convocation and the Seventh day shall be a Holy Convocation and each of them was the Lords Holy day on what ever day of the week they happened And the like for other days So Levit. 23. 2 4 7 8 21 24 25 27 28 30 32 35 36 39. and Num. 28. 18 25 26. Num. 29. 1 7 12 35. All the days here mentioned are the Lords Holy days yet I do not take any of them to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And all he can pretend to from these or whatever he produceth is no more but that the Iewish Sabbath while it was the Sabbath might have been so called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lords day he doth not pretend to shew that ever it was so called Now I would desire this Gentleman if he can but a little while lay aside his prejudice to consider first that the Lords day was the proper name of a day whereby it might be known as distinguished from other days else to what purpose is it said I was in the spirit on the Lords day whereas the proper name of the Iewish Sabbath and of that onely as he would have us think p. 64. was the Sabbath day and there is no appearance of reason why if he meant that day he should not rather have said I was in the spirit on the Sabbath day or the seventh day This therefore must needs be meant of some other day known by another name 2. I would have him next consider that the Lord in the Old Testament is the usual name of God indefinitely without particularizing this or that of the Three persons and the Sabbath of the Lord thy God doth not appropriate it to the second Person more than to the first and third And though I do not deny that our Christ was the God who gave the Ten Commandments for all the three Persons are the same God yet I do not think it to be Christ onely as contradistinguished to the other two And when it is said I am the Lord thy God thou shall have no other God but me the meaning is not I the second Person am so the Lord thy God that thou shalt own no other Person for thy God beside me the second Person But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lord in the New Testament is for the most part applied peculiarly to our Lord Christ God and Man and is understood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of him As he is called elsewhere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Son of Man And accordingly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 must be a day peculiarly appropriate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to our Lord Christ which the Jewish Sabbath was not nor that of the Fourth Commandment which is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God that is of God indefinitely for 't is in that notion that God speaks in the Ten Commandments not as one person contradistinct to the other two It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lords day in a like sense as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lords Supper 1 Cor. 11. 20. and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Cup of the Lord the Table of the Lord 1 Cor. 10. 21 22. 1 Cor. 11. 27. In all which by the Lord is meant the Lord Christ God and Man And because there being a double Sabbath then in use the Iewish Sabbath and the Christian Sabbath and the word Sabbath indefinitely having been a long time applied to the Iewish Sabbath and would be apt to be understood of it therefore by way of distinction that of the Christians though a Sabbath also within the sense of the Fourth Commandment was called the Lords day as being the Day or Sabbath appropriate to our Lord Iesus Christ. And therefore when he tells us so often the World was made by our Lord Iesus Christ and the Law given on Mount Sinai by our Lord
Congregation met together on a Religious account for the Service of God But let it be called if he please a Religious Discourse of the Holy Apostle to a Congregation of Christians met together for such a purpose He would then have it thought a favour or condescention to admit this breaking of bread to be meant of the Lords Supper and not barely a Common eating But since he doth not deny it we will accept the favour and take it so to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Disciples being congregated or assembled to break Bread 'T is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Disciples not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some of them and they were perhaps not every one but the generality of them as at other meetings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 congregated or assembled and it seems to be a good full Congregation by Eutychus's being mounted to the third loft whatever he meant by that third loft though but the third scaffold so high that by a fall from thence he was in great danger of being killed Now it is not likely that such a Congregation of Christians were thus assembled for common eating He says Paul was to go away on the Morrow True But it is not said they came together to take leave of Paul but came together to Break Bread Paul's going away on the Morrow might be the reason and I believe was why they continued there so long but the End for which they came together was to Break Bread and the occasion of their so coming because it was the first day of the Week On which it should seem they were wont so to do for that end And if he candidly consider it methinks it should seem so to him Paul came to them at Troas in five days where he abode seven days And on the first day of the week when the Disciples came together to break Bread Paul preachea to them Doth not the fair prospect of the place import thus much that they were then met to break Bread as being the first day of the week What other occasion was there of mentioning what day of the Week it was It had been otherwise a fairer transition to have said He staid there Seven days and on the Seventh day or the last of those Seven the Disciples came together to take leave of Paul and Sup with him over night who was to depart on the morrow Now if it had been said on the Seventh day though meaning but the last of those Seven it would no doubt have been urged as a great argument of Paul's keeping a Seventh day Sabbath and the Disciples with him not as a Iewish but as a Christiam Assembly for breaking of bread which was a Christian not a Iewish Service For then breaking of bread would certainly have been the Lords Supper But because it was on the first day of the Week it must now be but common eating to take leave of Paul and to Sup with him as he tells us p. 57. Friends commonly do when a Minister or any other special Acquaintance intends to take a Iourney in the morning to sup with him over night But if he thinks this to be all which is there meant by the Disciples coming together on the first day of the Week to Break Bread he must excuse me if I cannot be of his Opinion But because he is content to admit upon some terms their meeting might be upon a Religious account for the Lords Supper as no doubt it was I shall press him no further therein but accept of his condescension When he tells us that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Greek for one and therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may as well be rendered One day of the Week as the First day of the Week Surely he is not in earnest Such trifling doth more hurt than help his cause No doubt but when ever they met it was one day of the Week we need not be told it nor need the word Week be added he might as well have said one day nor need he have said so much But this Author cannot think nor doth he that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth any where signify other than the first day of the Week In the whole story of Christs Resurrection and what followed on that day in all the Four Evangelists we have no other word for it but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor have we any other word for it that I know of there or any where else I do not know that it is any where called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Such shifting doth not look well 'T is somewhat like the Story of a man who bought a Horse for Five Pounds to be paid the next day And accordingly on the next day he sent Five Pounds of Candles Perhaps in the Bargain it was not said expresly in words at length Five Pounds of Lawful Money of England But by common intendment it must be so understood And an honest English Iury upon a Tryal would so Find it The Latin word Pridie is a Derivative or Compound rather from prae prior and Postridie from post posterior and accordingly in Latin pridie Calendarum and postridie Calendarum must signify a day before and a day after the Calends But can any man think it is meant of any day No but the next day before and the next day after So if we say Christ was Crucified one day before the Sabbath and Rose again one day after the Sabbath This one day is the next day And so any man who hath not a mind to Cavil will understand it And so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one day after the Sabbath must needs be understood of the next day after the Sabbath Nor is it ever used in any other sense If it were to be understood of any indefinitely it should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some day after the Sabbath not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one day after But the most pleasant shift of all is when he would have us think that this Evening which is called the first day of the Week was the Evening after the Seventh day that is Saturday night and the next morning when Paul was to go away was Sunday morning and he to travel that Sunday And that the Evening of Saturday was the beginning of Sunday and was therefore called the First day of the Week Because it is said Gen. 1. the evening and the morning was the First day and so of the rest and therefore the evening was the beginning of every day See what shift a man will make rather than quit an Opinion he hath once taken up We are taught that on the Fourteenth day of the first month at even the Pass-over was to be killed Doth he think that this Fourteenth day at even was the end of the Thirteenth day the Fourteenth day then beginning I think every body else takes it to be the evening at the end of the fourteenth day and the Fifteenth day on the morrow was the first day of
tell If he would go on to reckon the days according as they had happened to him in his Voyage then this Expedient must fully satisfy him For then he keeps his Saturday-Sabbath on our Sunday If he thinks the account should be rectified when or before he comes home and call the days thenceforth as he finds those to do that staid here what shall be come of that day he hath lost and which day of the Week shall he reckon that to be And When must he rectify that account when he comes home or somewhere by the way For it would be just the same if before he come at England he should have landed in France or Spain or on the Coast of Africk or even at the East-Indies and all the way from thence he would still be a day behind them And so he would be with every Ship that in his way he should meet with If he and such other Ship meet at the Isle of St. Helens to take fresh water his Saturday will be their Sunday and on which of the two days are they to keep their Sabbath or must they keep it one on the one day and the other on the other If he say that the account is to be rectified by the way before he comes home then Where or When and by What rule For when ever he doth so rectify it he must then begin to call Sunday what just before he was to call Saturday If he say This must be left to Discretion when and where Then must it be matter of discretion and not determin'd by the Fourth Commandment on which of the two days in question the Sabbath shall be kept But then here will again come in our amazing demand as p. 48 86 87. What man or men without an high Usurpation of the Divine Authority contrary to the First Commandment shall with pretended good intentions assume an authority of their own heads to appoint for this or that place suppose the Streights of Magellan what day shall be the Lords holy Sabbath Who but our Lord Iesus Christ that is Lord of the Sabbath hath power to institute a Sabbath day If the Church or any part thereof be once admitted to have such Power what Bolts or Locks will be strong enough for such a Door to keep it from letting in upon the Churches of Christ what soever pleaseth those in Power I shall not much trouble my self to answer all this Warmth But when that is over if at or near the Streights of Magellan a place I think not inhabited or not by Christian a Colony be planted by some from hence and some from the East-Indies those who come thither from hence will according to their account call that Saturday which those who come thither from the other side will according to their account call Sunday Must they have no Sabbath at all that 's against the Fourth Commandment Or must they by consent agree upon the day this I should think if he would give me leave Or must they keep it some upon one day some on the other This I would by no means advise if it may be avoided Because it would be a manifest confusion and disorder And they would not both if either be the Seventh-day in course from the Creation And which of them is so is not possible for any man to know And it would be more for common Edification that they do agree upon a common day And not much matter whether of the Two This Gentleman if he can consider of it calmly I am apt to think will be of the same mind and think it better to have such a Sabbath than none at all and that the little circumstance whether on this or that day should be disregarded in comparison of the Substantials of the Duty There be many things which the Word of God or the Divine Law doth determine in Thesi which when in Hypothesi they come in practise will require the intervention of Prudentials or Humane Laws The Eighth Commandment says I must not Steal or take unduly from my Neighbour what is His But What is Mine and what is my Neighbours will depend much upon Humane Laws and what shall be reputed a Trespass on my Neighbours land or a forfeiture of his right The Seventh Commandment says Thou shalt not commit Adultery But it will depend much upon Humane Law what shall be reputed a Good Marriage The Sixth Commandment says Thou shalt not Kill But it will much depend upon Humane Law what shall be reputed Self-defense or a Just War or a Forfeiture of Life The Fifth Commandment requires us to Honour and Obey our Parents But in many cases 't is Humane Law that is to determine who is to be reputed the Father If a Widow be left whith Child by a former Husband and marry another before that Child be born which sometime happens 't will be a point in Law not in Divinity to whether of the Two Fathers this Son shall be Heir And if my Father require me to part with what Estate is my own 't will be a point in Law how far I am required to obey such a Command And the like as to other Superiours as well as Natural Parents And those Laws which seem Absolute as Thou shalt not Kill Thou shalt not Steal c. Have yet their Tacite Limitations implied For no man doubts but there are cases wherein to Kill may be lawful as in Self-defense in a just War and for Capital Crimes And in such cases to take from our Neighbour what was His. And notwithstanding the Command of Honour thy Father and Mother or that of Children obey your Parents in all things there may things happen wherein we are not obliged to do what they bid us And in all such cases there is room for Prudence to interpose Not to Abrogate or Repeal a Law of God But to judge what is the true Intent of that Law So not withstanding that Command of the Sabbath In it thou shall do no manner of work yet our Saviour tells us The Priests in the Temple profane the Sabbath and are blameless and against the Pharisees superstitious rigour he argues not onely from his own Authority The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath-day But from the Reason of the Law The Sabbath was made for Man and not Man for the Sabbath and consequently is so to be understood as may be for the Good of Man spiritual and bodily not for his Hurt And our Author allows the emergent cases of Necessity and Mercy And no man doubts but that if a House be on Fire we may Labour to quench it In all which cases Prudence may be used but must not upon that pretense be Abused Not as if it were left to our Prudence whether or no the Law of God shall be Obeyed But what is in such cases the true Intendment of the Law of God And there needs no other Locks or Bolts as our Author speaks to confine Prudence in such
to Us Now as it did Then to Israel I cannot assent to it For it cannot be said of all Us who are under that Law that God hath Brought us out of the land of Egypt out of the house of Bondage or that We are to expect long life in the land of Canaan which he Gave Them If he say that our deliverance from spiritual bondage is equivalent to theirs from Egypt and our land the same to us as Canaan was to them I grant it But so is our Lords Day equivalent to their Seventh-day-sabbath and Christ the true Manna more than equivalent to that of theirs from the raining of which they reckoned their Iewish Sabbaths As to what he says of Mat. 24. 20. Pray that your flight be not in the Winter nor on the Sabbath-day which he thinks to be understood of the Iewish Sabbath 38 years after Christs Resurrection Perhaps it may For the obstinate Jews who would not in their day understand the things that belonged to their peace but rejected Christ did no doubt continue to observe their Jewish Sabbath and thought themselves obliged so to do And it would then be as great an Affliction to them as if their Sabbath were yet in force But no more a sin to fly on that day than to fly in the Winter It would be so to the Christians if put to flight on the Christian Sabbath for the case would be the like of both and they might as well Pray against it That is Against their Flight on the Christian Sabbath as the Iews on the Iewish Sabbath This therefore makes nothing at all to his purpose He might as well argue from hence that it were a sin to labour in Winter as on the Iewish Sabbath He hath many other little excursions as little to the purpose with which I shall not trouble my self or you having fully answered what seems to me to have any appearance of Argument But he takes great pleasure to expose the Name of Sunday Yet I do not find any more fond of using it than he Not that he would be thought to like the Word but because he thinks it a Reproach If he do not like that name he may call it as we do the Lords Day the Christian Sabbath or if he think these too good names for it he may call it the First day of the Week But why not as angry with the Monday or other of the Week days If on Monday the Heathens as he would have us think did worship the Moon as the Sun on Sunday why is he not as angry with that It is as much Idolatry to worship the Moon on Monday as the Sun on Sunday True But that doth not concern the Christians Sabbath which is what he hath a mind to reproach and therefore he speaks little of the other and but seldome But Sunday is to be snubbed upon every occasion He would not have a Sabbath upon Sunday because he says on that day they worshiped the Sun But why upon Saturday if on that day as he would have us think they worshiped Saturn Now 't is true that some of the Heathen did worship the Sun and the Moon and the Host of Heaven But that they did worship the Sun more upon Sunday than they did upon Monday or Tuesday is more than I know or he can prove He tells us Verstegan says that the Heathen Saxons did so But Verstegan is too young an Author to settle this upon his own Authority unless he can bring Vouchers for it more ancient than himself It was I suppose a Fansy of Verstegan Then as it is of our Author Now But I do not remember that he cites any Author ancienter than himself And though some others may say the like Yet I look upon it but as a plausible conjecture without any good foundation in History And even the Heathen Suxons are too late for his purpose He tells us p. 88. The Heathen Nations long before Christs Birth did offer Sacrifice to the Sun and worship it as a God upon Sunday His proof is from Iob 31. 26 27 28. If I beheld the Sun when it shined or the Moon walking in brightness and my heart hath been secretly enticed or my mouth hath kissed my hand this were an iniquity to be punished by the Iudges for I should have denied the Lord above But what is all this to Sunday It may perhaps be a disclaimer of worshiping the Sun but says nothing of Sunday Doth our Author think the name of Sunday to be as old as Iob's times If Iob had said If I have worshiped the Sun upon Sunday or the Moon upon Monday and not the Lord upon Saturday it had been to his purpose But here is nothing of that Not a word of what day it was on which they worshiped the Sun But I would not have him lay too great a load upon Sunday For Hesiod tells us as was said before that in his time one of the oldest of the Heathen Writers though younger than Iob the Seventh day was Sun-day not the First And he hath nothing to shew more than the bare Name of Sunday to make us believe that those of the Heathen who worshiped the Sun did confine that worship to this day of the Week or Did more worship it on this day than on others I do not certainly know how Ancient those Names are of Saturday Sunday Monday c. nor upon what occasion they were first taken up nor is it much to our purpose The most ancient Heathen Writer whom I know to have mentioned them is Dio Cassius who lived about the Year of our Lord 230. Who speaking of the Destruction of Ierusalem and the Temple tells us that the Iews had such a reverence for Saturn's day as that they would not Labour on that day for their Defense which the Romans understanding did on that day assault them and prevailed Against their Temple and Sabbath both at once Not as if the Iews did then call it Saturn's day nor am I sure that any other did then so call it for they called it their Sabbath-day But it was that day of the Week which in Dio's time was called Saturday But Dio speaks of it as a new Thing so to call the Days of the Week and which the Ancient Greeks he tells us knew not 'T was therefore not very Ancient And therefore he supposeth the Romans to have taken it up from the Egyptians Not the Old Egyptians of Moses's time but rather from those about the time of Ptolomy not of King Ptolomy but of Claudius Ptolomaeus the Astronomer or perhaps somewhat earlier when Astronomy there flourished and from whom the Romans had it In a Christian Writer I find it earlier than Dio in Iustin Martyr's Apology written about the Year of Christ 150. who mentions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Day of the Sun as the Christian Sabbath And Tertullian in his Apology mentions Saturday and Sunday And it may perhaps be found in Writers
them the Lords Supper and afterward the same day to those assembled at Ierusalem with other Sabbatical works and solemnly Blessing that Convention And if our Author by blessing the Seventh day Gen. 2. would have us understand an Institution or Command to observe it We have as much here Christ joined in this Assembly and Blessed it For so much is intimated in that his solemn Benediction a first and second time Ioh. 20. 19 21. Peace be unto you and he Breathed on them saying Receive ye the Holy Ghost He did so a second time on the same day the next Week he Assembled with them in Religious Services and Blessed them He did according to his Promise made on that First day of his Resurrection send on them that miraculous Effusion of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost which being the Fiftieth day from his Resurrection was therefore the first day of the week as was that of the Resurrection On which day of Pentecost we find them also otherwise exercised in Religious Employments and attested further by a miraculous conversion of three thousand souls We find St. Paul at Troas Act. 20. Preaching to the Disciples assembled as it seems their manner was on the first day of the week to break bread that is to celebrate the Lords Supper That such Assemblies were wont to be at Corinth on the first day of the Week the Apostle presumes or takes for granted and gives direction for a Collection to be then made 1 Cor. 16. And he had so done before as he there signifies to the Churches of Galatia presuming or taking for granted that they also did so use to meet on the first day of the Week And we have no reason to doubt but that such Meetings were wont to be in other Churches We cannot doubt but that other of the Apostles did disperse themselves in other parts of the World though we have not a like account of their Travels as we have of Paul's recorded by St. Luke But we are to presume though it be not recorded that their Doctrine and Practise was consonant to his and that accordingly they had such weekly meetings on the Lords Day as these Churches had of whom we have the History Hence that day had the name given of the Lords day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as we find it called Rev. 1. 10. as that of the Sacrament is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lords Supper 1 Cor. 11. 20. which name it retaineth to this day and for such purpose And all this I think is sufficient for us to continue our Observation of the same day I am sure 't is much more than he can shew for his seventh-day Sabbath for more than two thousand five hundred years from the first Creation It is not necessary that we have express words of Command Recorded We have no Record in Scripture of such express words of Command for the Seventh-day Sabbath till after Israels coming out of Egypt nor for the Worshiping of God by Sacrifice nor for other things which yet were Duties before any Record of such express words of Command It is enough if we can otherwise Collect it to be Gods Will according to the best light we have If this Gentleman think himself obliged to keep the Jewish Sabbath also this doth not hurt us This I think was the case of the Christian Iews at first I do not much question but that they did as other Christians observe the Lords Day The doubt was whether they were not to observe also the Jewish Sabbath as before they did And these Believers who were yet zealous of the Law and thought themselves obliged together with Christianity to observe the Law of Moses did no doubt think themselves equally obliged to the Iewish Sabbath Those who thought themselves obliged to be Baptized and to be Circumcised also thought themselves in like manner obliged to observe the Lords day and also the Iewish Sabbath And till they should be better satified the Apostles permit the Iews so to do If this do not satisfy him I have yet two Expedients for him 1. Let him begin his Week on Monday and then Sunday will be the Seventh day Whether the Seventh in course from the Creation I cannot tell nor can any Man living inform me But it will at least be the Seventh day of His Week 2. If he be not satisfied with this My next Expedient is thus Let him take a Voyage round the World as Sir Francis Drake did Going out of the Atlantick Ocean West-ward by the Streights of Magellan to the East-Indies and then from the East returning by the Cape of Good Hope the usual way homeward And take with him as many as please of those who are of his mind And let them keep their saturday-Saturday-Sabbath all the way When they come home to England they will find their Saturday to fall upon our Sunday and they may thenceforth continue to observe their Saturday-Sabbath on the same day with us Which is the second Expedient If you ask How this can be I will make it very plain that so it will be and so it must be For Supposing the Earth to be Round and the Sun moving from East to West you must allow that it comes sooner to the Eastern parts than to the Western It will sooner be Noon in Holland than in England and sooner here than in Ireland If you ask How much sooner We say that Fifteen Degrees of Longitude West-ward makes it an Hour later As if he Embark about Dover Yarmouth or other Port on the East-side of England and Sail as far West-ward as the West of Ireland or a little farther it will be an Hour later and not be Noon there till it be One a Clock at the place where he Embarked And so in proportion an Hour for every Fifteen degrees And accordingly when he hath gone round the whole Circle of Three hundred and Sixty Degrees that is Four and twenty times Fifteen it will be later by Four and twenty hours That is it will be but Saturday-noon with him when it is Sundaynoon with those who staid here That is His Saturday will be Our Sunday And thenceforth his Saturday-Sabbath will be the same day with our Sunday-Sabbath ever after And this I think should fully satisfy him For he tells us p. 39. The variety of the time of the Sun-rising or setting in different Climates doth no way disturb for that a day longer or shorter is still a day and but a day Most certain it is he who shall have thus Sailed round the World will have had one day fewer than those who staid here So it was with Sir Francis Drake and his Company And so it hath been with all who have taken such a Voyage as many have done for it is not a rare case and so will be to any who shall so do What he would resolve upon this case or what he thinks Sir Francis Drake was to do when this happened I cannot