within three days what day of our week that five and twentieth day of March was which was the first day of the Creation All the art and indeavour of man is not sufficient to find out whether the first day of the Creation was Sunday or Satcrday or Munday c. and therefore not whether the day of Gods rest was Thursday Friday Saterday c. Let it yet be further granted that it was Sunday on which the first day of the Creation began and therefore the day of Gods rest must then have his beginning on Saterday No man can for all that tell within eleven houres at what time of the Sunday the first day of the Creation or at what time of the Saterday the day of Gods rest began either here or in Virginea or in Rome Ierusalem Paradise or in any other place whatsoever whether it was at Sun-rising Sun-setting Noone or at the houre of one or two c. in the forenoon or afternoon Wherefore if by the seventh here commanded had been meant an universal day it must be then that seventh universal day on which God rested the which cannot be observed by men because they cannot tell on what day of their week nor about what time of their day they should begin the observation thereof Secondly an universal day such as was the day of Gods rest cannot be observed of all the People of God Though it should be granted what is of some believed that the day of Gods rest began in Paradise on Saterday and at the rising of the Sun there yet all Gods People cannot observe that very day For 1. The earth being global and the true longitude of the place where Paradise was being unknown no man can tell when to begin that day in the place where he liveth We know when it is Saterday in some places it is then Sunday or Friday in some other places We know that when Christ rose from the grave it was then Sunday at Jerusalem in the forenoon and we know that it was then Saterday in Virginea in the afternoon but no man can knowingly say that the day of Gods rest beginneth on the Saterday in the forenoon with him though it be granted that it so began in Paradise 2. Though the day of Gods rest or any other universal day be made known unto men at what time and on what day it began in Paradise and the very place where Paradise was be made known also Yet all Gods people could not possibly keep that very day of Gods rest By reason of the diversity of longitudes of the places wherein they may live they cannot keep all of them one and the same day This hath been proved unto us fully and plainly even by the opposers of the Sabbath Dr. Heylyn hath even demonstrated the same that men could not possibly have kept one and the same day for their Sabbath had it been commanded a Heyl. part 1. pag. 45 46 47 48. And further sheweth that the Iewes themselves kept not the very day of Gods rest b Page 125. though they had one day in seven set apart for holy rest and meditation Mr. Ironside also c Irons chaf 18. pag. 164. from the diversity of Meridians proveth that one and the same day cannot be universally kept and therefore never commanded the whole Church One and the same day could not possibly be observed a Sabbath by all the Iewes in the East-parts and West-parts too of Iudea and in Babylon and in Rome by reason of their diversity of longitudes And if it be supposed to be but two or three degrees difference of longitude yet will that difference make the dayes as truly to differ from being the same as will an hundred and three though it will not make them so much to differ The like argument hath Doctor Francis White late Bishop of Ely f Dr. Francis White in his of the Sabbath Page 175. and divers others Wherefore sith the universal day such as was the day of Gods rest cannot be possibly kept by all Gods people no more then any other set particular day can it is not the day here commanded by the Lord The Sabbath-day here commanded to be kept holy is such a kinde of day as may be known kept and observed by men wheresoever they inhabit though in many and divers longitudes of the earth Such as might have been kept in the wildernesse where the law was delivered and in the East and West-parts of Canaan and in Babylon Rome Spain and in all other habitable places and therefore ought to be either an Horizontal or else a Meridional day In all places of the world none other but Horizontal or Meridional dayes are now or at any other time heretofore have been in use with men for measuring out unto them their seven dayes or week and such as are their six dayes of the week for labour such ought the seventh day even the day for holy rest to be also The Sabbath-day with the Iewes was an Horizontal day but then such were the other days of their week also and what Nation soever have their week to consist of Horizontal dayes ought to have their Sabbath-day to be so also In the North of Russia and of the King of Denmarks and Queen of Swedens Countreys where the Sun maketh many Revolutions at some seasons of the year between his rising and setting men cannot count their week by Horizontal dayes but they do and have counted their weeks by Meridional dayes And so do all Christians generally of what longitude or latitude of the earth soever they are of mete out their weeks by Meridional dayes then such ought their seventh day of their week to be also CHAP. VIII What day the Sabbath is to be in order or tale NOw is to be shown what day in tale is to be the Lords day or Sabbath of the Lord and this the Law-giver himselfe hath plainly pointed out unto us in this law to be the day following the six dayes of labour so that none need to say the knowledge hereof is hidden from us who shall ascend for us into heaven and bring the knowledge thereof to us that we may know it and observe it But it is clearly demonstrated unto us by the Lord God so that he that worketh with the Spade may know the same as well as he that handleth the pen. Six dayes shalt thou labour and c. but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God The seventh day that is the day following the six known dayes of labour is none of ours it is the Lords day We may not make the Sabbath-day to be the sixth day for then we should shew our selves unthankful in not receiving the Lords own bountiful allowance nor the eighth day for then we should encroach on the Lords right and not be contented with his liberal allowance of six dayes for our selves reserving only the seventh for himself much lesse ought we to
afterward was held and maintained by the ancient Fathers that the earth was not round but plain as a Championfield They thought there could be no dwellers under the earth which go foot to foot against us and that if there should be any Antipodes imagined yet them not to be Adams Posterity whom they held to have all dwelt upon the earth and to have been all drowned except eight persons when Noahs flood covered all the face of the earth So strong did this opinion prevail with the said Fathers as that whoever held the contrary was counted near as bad as an Heretick Witnesse Vigilius whom some call Virgilius who was complained of by Boniface unto Zachary then Pope and was degraded for holding that there were Antipodes and that they had a Sun and Moon to shine unto them as well as to us This story may be seen in Aventine a Aven Annal. Bar. l. 3. and in Baronius who sought to cover the fact with fig-leaves Now that the adversaries to the Morality of this law held all those tenents before-said and that they all sprang from this errour of the earth 's supposed plain superficies I will next shew For the clearing whereof I need not cite many of them one may serve for all being approved by them all Neither will I tell here all that he writes hereabout but that which chiefly concernes the point in hand Mr. Ironside a Reverend Divine and of singular gifts and parts but over-swayed by the stream of late times doth in his book called the Seven Questions of the Sabbath dedicated to the late Arch-bishop of Canterbury William Laud tell us First that it is necessary not only for the learned but also for the weak and inferiour sort of people to know to a minute when the Lords day or Sabbath doth begin and when it doth end and that for two special reasons The one is for the Peace and quiet of their consciences which else would be wounded and disquieted The other is for that unlesse the very day and the whole day be kept to a Minute all the duties done on that day are lost His words are these It is necessary to inquire of the dimensions of this day of what duration and continuance of time it must be a Irens 7. Quest pag. 2. Amongst those things which disquiet and perplex the Consciences of the weak concerning the Lords day this is not the least where it is to begin and how long it lasteth For God requiring of us perfect and intire obedience without diminution or defalcation unlesse every minute of time which the Lord requireth of us as his tribute and homage be duly tendred to him our whole labour bestowed upon the parts and pieces of the day is not regarded b Page 126. It is also that which concerns the most sort of our inferiour People to be satisfied in lest the Commandment requiring one thing their employments another they many times wound their consciences and rob themselves of that Peace which otherwise they might enjoy c Page 127. 2ly that God might have his due tribute and the weak if they will may keep their consciences quiet in observing the true and full time of the Sabbath he setteth down the precise day of the Sabbath as he conceiveth and the exact time to a minute when the Sabbath-day is to begin As for the day he tells us that the sabbath-Sabbath-day must be precisely the day of Gods rest Thus Assoon as God had ended his work he ordained and appointed that the seventh day the day of his own rest else he will not conceive that it can be the seventh day should be that on which the Church should rest d Page 21. Vnlesse we rest that very seventh day in which God rested we no more resemble his rest then a man that hath a ladder resembles Jacob that had a vision of a ladder c Page 90. As for the exact time when the Sabbath is to begin and end he tells us that the very minute in which the Sun is in the Horizon at his rising is the true beginning of the day and he proveth that it must so be for that when the fourth day at the Creation began the Sun was then in the Horizon at his rising so that any of the inferiour sort of people he before spake of may by looking in his Almanack tell to a minute if Mr. Ironsides rule faile him not at any time throughout all the year and in any place through out the world when the 4th day of the Creation and the very day of Gods rest and so consequently when the Sabbath beginneth These are his words If the natural day be measured by the Revolution of the Sunne as all confesse sure it is that until the Sun begin his course the day cannot begin At what time now did the Sun set forth upon the fourth day at the Creation Common reason will say when he first appeared in the Horizon The rising therefore of the Sun in the Horizon must needs be the first Period of the natural day a I rons 7. Qu pag c 123. 3ly he tels us that the Jews Sabbath-day was the day of Gods rest and the same with that which God blessed sanctified making no difference between all these three His words are these That particular sabbath-Sabbath-day given unto the Jews even the day of Gods rest is not a Sabbath but the Sabbath even that which God sanctifyed The Sabbath must be the same with the seventh or else there is no tolerable sense or congruity in that law b Page 70. Whereas he saith the same with the 7th he meaneth by the 7th the 7th day from the Creation even the very day of Gods rest which he proved to begin at the rising of the Sun like as the 4th day did Now whereas some may and that not without just cause doubt how the day of Gods rest which began at Sun-rising as he saith and the Jews Sabbath which ever began at the setting of the Sun whersoever they dwelt could be one and the same day Sith that they as well in respect of their beginnings as also in respect of their endings are heavenly wide the one from the other even as farre as the Sun-rising is distant from Sun-setting between both which there must be half a dayes difference And so the day of Gods rest must begin either at Sun-rising before the Jews sabbath-Sabbath-day began or at the Sun-rising after If at the Sun-rising before that is on the Friday morning then the Turks Sabbath so Doctor Heylin calleth it may more truly be called the day of Gods rest a Heyl. part 1. pag. 48. then that of the Jews But if at the Sun-rising after then our Christian sabbath-Sabbath-day ever began on the day of Gods rest the which the Jews Sabbath never did For the wiping off this and all such doubts Mr. Ironside tells us both at what time and also by what means the day
places having one and the same Horizon must have their day to be one and the same and to begin at one and the same time 8. The seventh day which God blessed and sanctified and commanded in this law to be kept holy was not the day of Gods rest For this cannot any where be known when it beginneth or endeth and if it should be known yet all Gods people in all places could not keep the same though they had never fallen by Adam And whether there was or was not an inversion of the day made as aforesaid yet the day of Gods rest could not be the same day with the Iewes Sabbath for this they did or might keep from Sun-setting to Sun-setting in Arabia Jerusalem Babylon Rome Spaine Ophyr and in all other places of their abode but the day of Gods rest they did not nor possibly could they keep the same from Sun-setting to Sun-setting in all places where any of them had their abode unlesse the surface of the earth had been plain and not round 9. The Iewes had not rested on the seventh day according to Gods example had they not rested on that very seventh day on which God rested 9. The Iewes neither did nor could keep that very seventh day on which God rested in all places as hath been shewed But as we according to Gods example work six dayes and rest the 7th so did they As the Sunday with Christians was ever the day following their 6 days of labour so was the Saterday with the Iewes 10. The Iewes Sabbath-day being the day of Gods rest and the day which God appointed by this law to be kept holy is wholly abolished and abrogated by the coming of the Messias and no other day is commanded by the Lord instead thereof therefore it now resteth in the power of the Church and Magistrates to appoint what day they please for Gods publick worship 10. The Jewes sabbath-Sabbath-day was not the day of Gods rest as hath been shewed Neither as it was the Saterday their seventh from their first gathering Quails and Manna Nor as it began at the setting of the Sun was it directly by this law commanded to any In these respects it was Ceremonial and abolished That which is expressed in this Commandment they and all else are still bonnd to which is that having wrought the six dayes of labour they rest on the seventh day according to Gods example and keep it holy to the Lord. From this neither they nor any else living is freed It is Gods law it will be great impiety and intrenching into the Prerogative of the most high God for any persons whatsoever and under any pretence soever to seek the alteration or change hereof or to set and appoint any other day for Gods publick worship in the stead of that which he himself hath set and appointed If the earth be plain all and every one of the ten before-going are true but if round they must be all false If the earth be round all and every one of the ten before-going are true but if plain they all must needs be false I Having now shewed the opinion of the most concerning weeks the ground from whence that and many other errours sprang among which this is none of the least That the day of Gods rest the precise seventh day from the beginning of the Creation was the seventh day which God commanded his Church in this law to keep holy as if the seventh day which God blessed and sanctified and commanded us in this Law should not relate to the six dayes labour of the week in use with men where they live but to the six first days of the Creation and so should be with people where ever they dwell the very day of Gods rest from whence all our many and great contentions about the Sabbath have been raised and fostered I will in the next shew what weeks are CHAP. XII What a Week is The Seventh day of the Week is the Lords day A Week is the space of time made by seven whole dayes without intermission By seven dayes I mean seven such dayes as are all of one and the same kinde If any of them be horizontall dayes they are all to be horizontal dayes such as were the seven dayes of the Week with the Jews And if any be meridional they are all to be meridional dayes as are the dayes of the week with Christians The Jews Sabbath or seventg day was from Sun-fettinh to Sun-setting therefore so should the six dayes of their week be also The six dayes of our week are from midnight to midnight and therefore the seventh is not to be from Sun-setting to Sun-setting but from midnight to midnight also The seventh day must relate to the six dayes before-going The seventh day which was the day of Gods rest cannot relate to the six days of work with any people Nor can the seventh day of the week with any people relate to the six dayes of Gods work at the creation these were not of the same kinde of dayes with the week-dayes that now are or at any time heretofore have been or can be in use with men as I have already fully proved a See Chap. 5. That seven whole dayes without intermission from any time as from Sunday to Sunday or from Saterday to Saterday or from Munday to Munday is a week may appear First from the several names and appellations by which a week is called with people of several tongues and languages Our ancient Saxons we from them call it Sennight and two such weeks fortnight that is seven nights and fourteen nights The Romans called it Septimana that is seven mornings taking the morning for the whole day as the Saxons did the night With the Greeks it was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is defined to be Intervallum septem dierum That is seven dayes The Hebrews called a week not seven nights as the Saxons did nor seven mornings as the Romans did but as the Greeks did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seven dayes or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a seveny of dayes Secondly frequently in holy Scripture seven dayes from any set time is counted a week Laban bade Jacob fulfill her week b Gen 23.27 meaning the seven dayes of Leas marriage Such was the usual time for marriage-feasts in those dayes c Iudg. 14.10 12. If a woman was at any time delivered of a man-child she was to be unclean seven dayes or a week but if she was delivered of a maid-childe d Lev. 12 2 5. she was to be unclean 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is two weeks And so is it in our last Translation The Lord appointed the Jews to count for their feast of Pentecost called their feast of weeks thus On the morrow after the feast-day of the Passeover which never fell on the same day of the week two years together shalt thou number unto thee seven weeks f Levit. 23.11 15
THE SEVENTH-DAY Sabbath Or a Brief TRACT ON THE IV. Commandment WHEREIN Is discovered the Cause of all our Controversies about the Sabbath-day and the meanes of reconciling them More particularly is shewed 1. That the seventh day from the Creation which was the day of Gods rest was not the seventh day which God in this Law commanded his People to keep holy neither was it such a kinde of day as was the Jewes Sabbath-day 2. That the seventh day in this Law commanded to be kept holy is the seventh day of the week viz. the day following the six dayes of labour with all People 3. That Sunday is with Christians as truly the Sabbath-day as was Saterday with the Jewes By Thomas Chafie Parson of Nutshelling LONDON Printed by T. R. and E. M. and are to be sold by J. B. at the Guilded Acorne in Pauls Church-yard 1652. To the Worshipful RICHARD MAIJOR OF HURSLEY Esquire SIR THis Tract on the fourth Commandment though little in Bulk yet found great opposition before it could come to light The Author was charged to be such as Ishmael whose hand was against every man and every mans hand against him whereas next to the Glory of God in maintaining this his law to be in force and his Sabbath to be observed his principal scope is to discover the cause of all our Controversies about the Sabbath-day that so a mean may appear for ending all differences thereabout and that the great offence given the Jewes of Christians not keeping the Sabbath-day be wholly removed Yet is it likely for all this to finde evil-willers and not a few wherefore I have made my selfe bold to send it forth under your Protection You have so indeared unto you the whole Countrey round about by your uncessant indeavour for the Peoples Welfare that the credit of your name written in the front hereof shall procure it the better acceptance Yet will I not make so bold an adventure as to send this abroad under your name without your Approbation wherefore first I present it unto you as for your judicious trial and warrant so also to be a testimony of thankfulnesse for both your countenance and many benefits and also an Obligation wherein I stand bound to pray for you and be Your Worships in any Christian Office to be commanded THO. CHAFIE TO THE READER Courteous Reader I Believe thou art not ignorant of the many dissensions and contentions that have been among the People of God about the Sabbath-day Some stood for the old Sabbath so called by some meaning the Jewes Sabbath-day Some for a new Sabbath so called by some meaning the day of Christs Resurrection And some for no Sabbath but what Magistrates do appoint No small Controversies have been between all these about the Sabbath-day as I believe thou knowest But the ground and cause of all such their Controversies and how for Peace and Agreement sake it may be removed and taken away I suppose thou dost not know both which I will discover unto thee The ground of such their differences is a misunderstanding of these words of the Commandment Six dayes shalt thou labour and do all thy work but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God in it thou shalt do no manner of work By the six dayes must be meant either the six dayes of Gods work or the six dayes of work with men either the six first dayes at the Creation in which God wrought and made all things or else the six work-dayes of the week in use with men where they live So also the seventh day must relate to the six dayes of Gods work or else to the six dayes of mens labour it must be the seventh day from the beginning of the Creation or the seventh day from mens beginning their six week-days of labour It must either be the day of Gods rest which immediatly followed the six days of his work or the day of rest with men which immediately follows their six dayes of work where they live They between whom the said dissensions have been and are have and do hold generally that the seventh day must and doth relate to the six dayes of Gods labour and not of mans It must be they all think the very day of Gods rest the seventh day from the Creation Thus they all thought that the Jewes Sabbath-day which was from Fridayes Sun-setting to Saterdayes Sun-setting was the precise day of Gods rest and every of their other six dayes of the week to be the very same with the six dayes of the Creation whether they lived in Judea in Babylon in Spaine in Ophyr or in any other place it maketh no matter think they Though Sunday with Christians be the day immediately following their six dayes of labour and on which they having laboured six dayes do then rest from their labour according unto Gods example yet at no hand will they yield Sunday to be the seventh day and Sabbath of the Lord Sunday they hold to be the first day of the week and the very same with the first day of the Creation with Christians whereever they live From this common errour sprouted out various opinions which set them all at variance 1. The Jewes and such as adhere to their superstition do and will still plead for the Saterday-Sabbath the Saterday they believe to be the day of Gods rest the day he blessed and sanctified they cannot conceit well of a new Sabbath they know not whence it is Though an Angel should come from heaven and tell them that Christ the Sonne of God came into the world and hath taken away their Sabbath and hath established another contrary to what God the Father instituted so that whereas before they had the seventh day for a day of rest Christ instituted that seventh day to be a work-day That whereas God the Father blessed and sanctified the seventh day Christ took off the blessing from it and gave it to the first day That whereas God the Father appointed his people to work before they did rest Christ appointed them to rest before they did work That whereas before they were to work and do all that they had to do in six dayes and rest on the seventh day according to Gods example now they must rest on the first day and work the six dayes after which is contrary to Gods example I say if an Angel from heaven should come and teach them thus they would not believe him 2. Some there be and they not a few godly precious and tender-hearted Christians who knowing that the Church of God hath ever since our Saviours Ascension observed the Sunday for their Sabbath and that not against but with the approbation of the Apostles of Christ do slight the Seventh-day Sabbath and are tooth and naile for the first day of the week so they count Sunday to be neither can they count it otherwise as long as they hold the Jewes Sabbath to be the seventh day from the Creation
believing that the Apostles of Christ by the appointment of our Saviour changed the old Sabbath so they call the Seventh-day Sabbath to the Sabbath of the first day of the week so that now the Church of God is to rest before they labour and unto not from their labour 3. Some again knowing that the Jewes Saterday-Sabbath was Ceremonial and abrogated do thence hold and maintain the Seventh-day Sabbath to be abrogated also and for that they know not any other Sabbath-day appointed by divine Authority in stead thereof do inferre that Christians now in time of the Gospel are to have and keep no Sabbath-day at all Thus kinde Reader I have shewed thee the ground and cause of these various and different opinions about the Sabbath-day Whence have issued most if not all the Controversies that are now on foot between them The only mean to stop all future Controversies and bring all sides to accord in one truth about the Sabbath-day is to take away and wipe off from their mindes the aforesaid errour which occasioned all their differences For as long as they or any side of them hold that the seventh day which God blessed and sanctified and commanded to be observed by all his people doth relate to the six dayes of Gods work and not of mans that is as long as they hold the seventh day here commanded to be the very day of Gods rest the seventh day from the first beginning of the Creation they will never come to agree in the truth but more and more differences will still rise Whereas if they all consent in the true understanding of the aforesaid words of the Commandment that the seventh day relateth to the six dayes of work with men and so must be the day after the six week-dayes of labour with people whereever they dwell Agreement then of all sides will be had That great stumbling block given the Jewes of our not keeping the seventh day according to Gods Precept and Example which doth so stave them off from affecting our Religion will be wholly taken away they cannot then but acknowledge that we keep the seventh day of the week the day following our six dayes of labour the very Sabbath-day pointed out unto us here in this law They also who now stand for a new Sabbath-day who say the Sabbath-day is changed and the first day of the week to have been instituted in stead of the seventh will have no ground for such their assertion And lastly they who say the Church of Christ never observed the Sabbath since Christs Ascension and would from the practice of the Apostles and the Church of Christ argue the abrogation of the Seventh-day-Sabbath will quickly be of another minde and acknowledge that as the Jewes observed that day for their Sabbath which in this law was commanded by the Lord God so Christians also have ever done they have observed the same day the last day of the week the day following their six dayes of labour according to Gods example But Courteous Reader haply thou doubtest here and wouldest be satisfied that whereas God commandeth by this law all his obedient children to keep the seventh day of the week which is the Sabbath-day holy unto his honour If the Jewes then keep the Sabbath-day on the seventh day of the week according to Gods command How can Christians who keep their Sabbath a whole day after be said to keep their Sabbath on the seventh day of the week too according to Gods Commandment For thy satisfaction herein let me now ask thee one Question like unto thine thine answer to mine will satisfie thine owne Suppose the Pope made a decree that all his obedient children should keep the 25. day of December which is Christmas day holy to the honour of Christ If the French then keep Christmas-day on the 25. of December according to the Popes decree How can the English Papists who keep their Christmas-day full ten dayes after be said to keep their Christmas-day on the 25. day of December too according to the Popes decree Thou wilt answer me that the French and English Papists did all of them keep their Christians-day on the same day of the moneth on the 25 day of December according to the Popes decree and that the reason why the 25. day of December with the French came to be ten dayes sooner then with the English was for that they began their moneths sooner by ten dayes then the English did ever since Pope Gregory altered their year The like answer I give thee the Iewes and Christians all of them keep their Sabbath on the same day of the week on the seventh day of the week and that the reason why the seventh day of the week with the Iewes came to be a day sooner then it did with Christians was because they began their week a day sooner then they did before and sooner then the Gentiles did and Christians now do and that did they ever since the Lord caused them after their coming out of Egypt to alter their year and their moneths as I have shewed in the 3. and 10. Chapters more fully So that if we could agree in the true understanding of the aforesaid words of the Commandment that by the seventh day is not meant the day following Gods six dayes of work but the day following mens six dayes of labour all our controversies about the Sabbath-day will soon end Wherefore to clear and make apparent unto all men that this is the true meaning and that the said words of the Commandment are so to be understood I have in this ensuing Tract First discover'd that old and rotten root from whence this error of holding the day of Gods rest to be the same with the Jews Sabbath whereever they lived had its first spring and that was from a meer supposal of the earths superficies to be plain as a champion field as is shewed fully in the 11. Chap. Indeed if the earth be plain every day must be the same day with all people Every of the six dayes at the creation must be every where the same day of the week and so the seventh day from the first beginning of the creation the day of Gods rest must be the seventh day of the week with the the Jews in Judea in Ophir in Spain and in all other places the which cannot be if the earth be round as thou mayest see more at large in Chap. 11. Object But the dayes of the week begin sooner in some places then in other Then so may the day of Gods rest also Answ One and the same week-day doth not begin sooner in some places then in other The day which men call Sunday at Jerusalem begins sooner then the day we call Sunday here But they be not both one and the same day One and the same day is for one and the same place only If one and the same day should begin sooner in some places then in other then it must needs be
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 Sun and assigned unto them the Saterday for their Sabbath Concerning which we may truly say that as their Sabbath-day was their seventh day from their first gathering Quailes and Manna and as it was to begin at Sun-setting which Moses termed the season that they came out of Egypt b Deut 16.6 so was it Ceremonial a signe and token whereby they were known to be Gods peculiar people c Exod. 31.13 and distinguished from all Nations that adored the Sun Unto the observation of which seventh day from their first labouring for Manna were they bound and none but they and they no longer then till the coming of him of whom Moses their Captain said A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your Brethren like unto me him shall ye hear d Acts 7.37 Even Iesus Christ who is the Captain of our salvation f Heb. 2.10 who is greater then Moses who brought us out of a greater bondage then Moses did the Israelites and who gave us not Quailes and Manna but his own flesh he gave us the true bread that came down from heaven that we might live through him After whose coming as all other shadows and Ceremonies so this of their Saterday Sabbath from Sun-setting to Sun-setting did vanish also The day of Saturn was thenceforth no more holy then the day of the Sun The Jewes might as lawfully with their general consent have kept the Sabbath on the Sunday as on the Saterday Saint Pauls practice taught Christians then that difference of dayes was taken away Vnto the Iewes saith he I became as a lew a 1 Cor 9.20 When he was with the Jewes he kept the Saterday-Sabbath as the Jewes did b Acts 17.2 and 18.4 and 13.14 42. But when he was with the Gentiles that were turned unto Christ and imbraced the Gospel he observed and kept the same seventh sacred day they did which with them was called the day of the Sun on which day they usually met together c 1 Cor. 16.2 Acts 20.7 There arose no small difference between the converted Jewes and the converted Gentiles hereabout The Jewes esteeming the Saterday to be more holy then the Sunday condemned the Gentiles for Prophaners of the Sabbath because they observed not the Saterday and for that they kept the day of the Sun the Jewes held them to be Worshippers of the Sun as other Gentises were The Gentiles on the other side upbraided the Jewes as superstitious for their observing their set holy-dayes whereof their Saterday-Sabbath from evening to evening was one which were abolished This upbraiding and condemning one another in things indifferent St. Paul speaketh against and writeth to the contrary in his Epistle to the Romanes d Rom. 14.5 and to the Colossiaus f Col. 2.16 The Jewes were no more bound thenceforth by the law of God to keep their Sabbath on the Saterday then on the Sunday The Sabbath-day by the Lord commanded to them and to all in this law being not this or that day but the seventh relating to the fix dayes of our labour before-going is the seventh day of the week with all people Now that it may the better appear what the seventh day of the week is and that Sunday is the seventh day of the week with us and generally with all Christians I will shew 1. What some have held to be a week in chap. 11. 2. What a week and what the week is and what the seventh day of the week is in chap. 12. 3. The Antiquity of weeks in chap. 13. 4. What hath been chiefly objected against the Antiquity of weeks in chap. 14. 5. That Sunday was the seventh day sacred with the Gentiles in chap. 15. 6. Why the Gentiles after their Conversion continued Sunday to be their standing day of the week for Gods worship though it had been before idolatrously abused to the worship of the Sun in chap. 16. CHAP. XI The Opinion of some concerning weeks How it 's hatched from the earths supposed plainnesse IT hath been the general Opinion not only of the vulgar but of the learned also that the seventh day commanded us in this law hath relation only to the six work-dayes of the Lord God and not to the six work-dayes with men as if the meaning of these words of the Commandment Six dayes shalt thou labour and do all thy work but the seventh day is the Sabbath to the Lord thy God so it is in the Hebrew should be thus The six dayes in which I wrought when I created all things shall be thy six work-dayes in them thou shalt do all thy work but the seventh day wherein I rested thou shalt rest and do none of thy works on any part of that day but shalt keep that day holy it is the day of my rest From hence they wil have a week to be none other with any people but seven such dayes whereof the six former dayes be the same with the first six dayes of the Creation and the seventh be the same with the day of Gods rest Weeks in use with the Jewes they held to be such the first six dayes of their week to be the same with the six dayes on which God wrought and their seventh day which was from Friday at the setting of the Sun to Saterdays Sun-setting to be the very day of Gods rest Though Sunday be the day following the six dayes of labour with us and on which we rest from our labour having wrought six dayes before yet we do not rest on the seventh day as they say according to Gods example but on the first day from Sunday to Sunday they will not have to be a week but from Saterday to Saterday only And from hence do they who deny the Morality of the seventh-day-Sabbath teach and write that the boundary or seventh day of the week must be the day of Gods rest and that the day of Gods rest was the very day which God blessed and sanctified and in this law commanded to be kept holy and that the Jewes Sabbath only was the seventh-seventh-day Sabbath which in this law is commanded to be observed holy and that the Jewes Sabbath-day being Ceremonial and abolished by the coming of the Messias the seventh-day Sabbath in this law expresly commanded to be sanctified is abolished also and not to be observed by Christians and that sith no other set day is instituted in stead thereof by any divine authority it resteth in the bosome of the Church or Magistrates to appoint what day they please for Gods publick worship Though all and every of these be very false yet are they all by these men held to be even as true as their Creed they little considering from how unsound and rotten a root these and every of them have had their first spring and that is from a supposal that the earth is plain and not round It is an odde but an old conceit of some Philosophers which
of Gods rest and the Jews Sabbath was made to be one and the same day which were alwayes two before His words are When God commanded the Jews their Sabbaths from evening to evening the order of the natural day was inverted by him not so much looking to the number of four twenty hours as to the time of Israels deliverance out of Egypt which began when the Passeover was eaten at even b Iron pa. 138. c. His meaning in these his Words may be conceived to be this When God commanded the Jews after their coming out of Egypt to keep their Sabbath on the Saterday and to begin the same at the Sun-setting of the day before-going that is on the Friday at the setting of the Sunne God miraculously at an instant turned the East into the West and so the place of Sun-rising came unto the place of Sun-setting so close as that they kissed each other as he saith the end of one contiguum is the beginning of the other c Iron pa. 138. If such should not be his meaning it is not to be conceived how he should make Sun-rising and Sun-setting or the day of Gods rest which he saith began at Sun-rising and the Jews Sabbath which began at Sun-setting to be one and the same Fourthly and lastly he tells us that the observation of the Sabbath is abrogated this errour is strong with him because the Jews sabbath-Sabbath-day is abrogated he thinking no difference to be made between the Jews Sabbath-day and the Sabbath-day here in this Law commanded to be kept holy whereas they differ as doeth the species from its Genus And from hence he inferreth that it wholly resteth in the power of the Church and Magistrates to appoint the time for Gods publique worship His words are these The Observation of that Sabbath which is pretended to have been commanded Adam in Paradise is abrogated by Christ as he is the Messias even that day on which God rested and which he sanctified a Iron pa. 12. The letter of the Law of Moses being wholly ceremonial it must be that the determinate time of cessation from works together with the manner in regard of the strictnesse thereof is wholly left to the power and wisdome of the Church and Magistrate b pa. 225. Now if any reasonable man will weigh these tenents of Master Ironside he may plainly perceive that they and every of them do flow from the supposal of the earths plainnesse If this be true so must the other and if false then so must all and every of the other be false also they all either stand or fall together and so will their contraries also issuing from the earths roundnesse For Let it be granted that the earth is plain all these following will be true and not otherwise Let it be granted that the Earth is round all these following will be true and not otherwise 1. There is but one Horizon to all nations and places 1. Every Nation and place have a several Horizon differing from other 2. The Sun was in the Horizon at his rising when on the fourth day of the Creation he first appeared and began his course for that day 2. The Sun when he first appeared was directly over some part of the earth or other and shone most gloriously on halfe the earth making it to be noon then in the place under him and in all places of the same Meridian The Sun cannot properly be said to be then in the Horizon unlesse it be meant to some particular place or other as in the Horizon to London c. 3. The rising of the Sun in the Horizon was the first period of the fourth day and of the seventh day the day of Gods rest 3. The first period of the fourth day and so of the day of Gods rest was noon in some places and one two three c. of the Clock in the afternoon in some and eight nine ten c. of the Clock in the forenoon in some other places 4. Men who can tell exactly when it is Sun-rising with them may tell to a minute when the day of Gods rest doth begin with them in any place 4. The wisest man on earth cannot tell either at York or at Rome or at at any other place the just time when the day of Gods rest did or doth begin within eleven houres of our day 5. Every week-day is the same day in all places all having the same Sun-rising 5. As People are distant in place so have they different Horizons and as their Horizons differ so do their week-dayes from being the very same 6. The seventh day even the day of Gods rest is the seventh day of the week with all people as well in Dublin Salisbury Jerusalem Virginea Japan as in all other places all having the same Horizon Though the day of the coming of the Son of man in glory be unknown and likewise the houre whether at midnight or at the Cock-crowing or at the day-dawning yet if it shall be on the Saterday with some it shall be on the Saterday with all and if it be at midnight with some it shall be at midnight with all or if at the Cock-crowing or at the day-dawning with some then so shall it be with all 6. The day of Gods rest which is the seventh day from the Creation is the same universal day with all people but it cannot be the same day of the week with all people If the day of Gods rest be Saterday with some it must needs be Friday or Sunday with some other people So likewise the time of Christs coming to judge the world if it be on the Saterday with some it will not be on the Saterday with all but on the Sunday or Friday with some others also if it be at midnight with some it shall be at Cock-crowing with other some and at day-dawning with some others but it will not be at midnight with all nor at Cock-crowing nor at day-dawning with all 7. As the seventh day from the Creation even the day of Gods rest is the Saterday that is the seventh day of the week with all people so be all the six dayes of the Creation the same with the six dayes of the week with all people 7. As the day of Gods rest cannot be the Saterday nor the seventh day of the week with all people so cannot the six dayes of the Creation be the same with the six dayes of the week with all people 8. The seventh day which God blessed and sanctified and commanded in this law to be kept holy was the very day of Gods rest which after God had inverted the day turning morning into evening came to be the same day with the Iewes Sabbath where ever they dwelt and began at Sun-setting in all places where-ever the Iewes abode as in Arabia Jerusalem Babylon Rome Spain Ophyr and in all other places where the Iewes had never any abiding place for all
by the names of the Planets and so have they continued to call them even to this day The Jewes are now a weak People yet there is not a Prince or Power on earth able to withdraw them from their superstitious custome of keeping the Saterday sacred yea the believing Jewes as was shewed in the Apostles time and in many years after could not be wonne by any means that the Christians might use to give over their Saterday-Sabbath and for unities sake to keep the Lords day on the Sunday except a very few of them who better knew and acknowledged their liberty by Christ How impossible may we then think it to be for any to bring to passe that all Christians in all quarters of the world should leave off their observing the Sunday sacred and have another day in stead thereof In vain therefore would it have been for poor Christians at first to have assayed the same These reasons if there were no more may suffice to shew that although all dayes be in themselves indifferent yet Christians should not have well done had they endeavoured to have changed their seventh sacred day from Sunday to any other week-day no not to Thursday though it was the day of Christ his glorious Ascension nor to Friday though it was the day in which Christ paid our ransome but betrer to retain the same day as they did and which the Church of Christ hath since that kept even to this present time and by Gods grace will so do unto the end CHAP. XVI The Sabbath-day is to be sanctified Works of Piety Government and of Nature only are to be done on the Sabbath-day c. the necessary helpes thereunto THere hath been before shewed that the Sabbath-day in this law commanded to be kept holy is not a part of a day as is the Artificial day but an whole day And that it is not such a kinde of day as are the dayes of the Creation mentioned in the first of Genesis but such a kinde of day as is or hath been in use with men And also that it is not in tale the fifth sixth eighth or nineth day but the seventh not the seventh day of the moneth but the seventh day of the week the day following the six known dayes of labour where men dwell and inhabit Which day with Christians is vulgarly called Sunday otherwise more fitly and as indeed it is The Lords day even our Sabbath-day to the Lord. Now in the next place is to be shewed how the Lords day is to be sanctified To the sanctification of the Sabbath-day of the Lord which we call the Lords day two things are required 1. That we keep it a day of rest 2. That we sanctifie that time of rest That we are to keep it a day of rest the Scripture fully sheweth On the seventh day thou shalt rest in earing time and in harvest d Exod. 34.21 The like have we in divers other places of Scripture calling it a day of rest All men are to cease from the works of their calling which on other dayes they lawfully may yea and ought to do for the maintenance of themselves and theirs Six dayes shall work be done but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest ye shall do no work therein f Lev. 23.3 So are the words here in this law Thou shalt not do any work But whereas we are here forbidden to do any work we must not so understand the words as if on the Sabbath-day we should rest from all kinde and manner of works and so do no work at all upon that day the words of the text do not bear such a sense These are the words of the Commandment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou shalt not do all thy trade Art or occupation and such are the words of the text in divers other places of Scripture a Deut. 5.14 Exod. 35.2 and 31.15 Lev. 23.3 7. Val. Schindler in his Pentaglot on the root 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 telleth us thus The Rabbines take 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for Art or vocation and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the plural for Arts and vocations So Arias Montanus also correcteth Pagnines translation of the Bible that whereas Pagnine hath it Non facies omne opus he turneth it Non facies omnem functionem b Deut. 5.14 where Pagnine translateth thus Omnis quifecerit in eo opus c. Montanus hath it Omnis faciens in eo functionem c Exod. 35.2 Where Pagnine saith Omnis faciens opus in die Sabbati it is thus to be read according to Montanus Omnis faciens opificium in die cessationis d Exod. 31.15 c. The like may be seen in divers other places of Scripture so translated by the one and so corrected by the other Whence we may gather that the true meaning of these words commonly read in our translations Thou shalt not do any work is not that we should do no manner of work at all but that we should do on the Sabbath-day no manner of the works of our trade function and occupation The Smith is not to work at his Anvil nor the Shoomaker with his Awle nor any other about any works that belong to mens trade and profession which on the six dayes of labour they may and should do for getting their maintenance and livelihood There be some other works which on every day may lawfully be done even on the Sabbath-day it self without the least breach of this law and they are of three sorts 1. Works of Piety 2. Works of Government towards the creature subjected to us 3. Works needful to the preservation of mans life These works may be done on every day without any violation to the Law of the Sabbath Neither doth the law of the Sabbath abridge us from doing them on any day What God ordained before ever the seventh day was in being was not and is not nulled or abridged by the law of the Sabbath but these works were before ordained by the Lord. First Man was made and had his being to serve God to honour and worship him to perform duties of Piety in such manner as he should appoint him The doing of these duties on the Sabbath-day doth no violation to the law of the Sabbath Men doing them may be said to break or profane the Sabbath yet not break the law of the Sabbath When we have been diligent on the Sabbath-day in doing service unto God and the duties he requireth of us for his honour we may therein be said not to make the day a day of rest but to break the rest or Sabbath yet not to break the Commandment by doing these works Thus Christ told the Pharisees that the Priests in the Temple did profane the Sabbath and are blamelesse a Mat. 12.5 Sure they could not be said to be blamelesse had they by their sacrificing bullocks or sheep broken the Commandment they brake the Sabbath they made it not
made Cakes of it d Num. 11.8 And in that week which was set for the measuring out to them their first Saterday-Sabbath which was their seventh day from their first beginning of gathering Quailes and manna Moses on the sixt day that is on the day before their new Sabbath appointed said unto them This is that which the Lord hath said To morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord bake that which you will bake to day and seethe that you will seethe and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning f Exod. 16.23 24. On this sixth day they gathered double to what they did before whereof Moses told them that the one part they should bake or seeth at their pleasure but the remainder that is the other part they were not willed either to bake or to seethe on that day but to lay it up for the next day the which they did and although it was neither baked nor sodden yet it stank not neither did wormes appear therein Now if the Israelites might not pound the said manna laid up for their food nor bake nor boile the same and so eat it hot as on other dayes the Sabbath-day which should be a delight unto them would breed them sorrow and be burthensome unto them and doubtlesse then we should read of their complaints hereof We read how they complained for want of change and wept when they remembred the flesh Cucumbers Melons Leeks Onions and Garlick which they had in Egypt But now said they our soul is dryed away there is nothing beside this Manna c g Num. 11.6 How would they have complained if on the Sabbath-dayes they should have been driven to have eaten the manna not pound nor baked nor sod Their silence herein argueth them not to have been driven to such a strait but that they did either bake or boile their Manna and so eat it hot as they did on the other dayes the which could not be done without their making a fire Or otherwise if by this precept the Jews were not to make any fire at all on their Sabbath-day neither for the furtherance of their services and duties towards God nor for the preservation of the health and life of man then I say that that precept was particularly given to the Jews and peculiarly concerned that Nation and no other Common-wealth whatsoever And that this Commandment bound them not thereto no more then it bindeth us or any other people whatsoever This law bound and doth binde all men to make the seventh day with them a day of rest not only from works of slavery commonly called servile works from which the Jews were bound on their feast of the Passeover b Lev. 23.7 Nun. 28.18 and on certaine other of their feast-dayes c Lev. 23.8 21.25 35 36. Num. 28.25.26 But also from all the works of mens trade occupation or function whatsoever Yea our thoughts and mindes are not to be upon them on the Lords day as the one are called our works d Exod. 23.12 so the other are called our thoughts This Law bindeth all that they should not only make the seventh day to be a day of rest and cessation from all the works of our callings but also that we sanctifie that rest Remember saith God that thou sanctifie the sabbath-Sabbath-day that is in English the day of cessation or rest for that it is the Sabbath of the Lord. We may well call it the Lords day or the Lords Sabbath for that it is a day holy to the Lord we are not only to cease from the works of our professions and callings on that day but are then to performe also and do duties and works of holinesse unto the Lord. On the seventh day is a cessation to rest a Convocation of holinesse d Lev. 23.3 Or as it is in our translation The seventh day is the Sabbath of rest and holy convocation And in Exodus In the seventh day is the rest of cessation holinesse to the Lord f Exod. 31.15 And a little after that In the seventh day shall be to you holinesse a rest of cessation unto the Lord g Exod. 35.22 All which do shew that on the Sabbath-day which is the day following our six dayes of labour we should not only rest from all our functions and works of our professions for getting of worldly wealth and maintenance but we are to keep this rest cessation or sabbath holy to the glory and honour of the most great God our Creatour and Redeemer Quest If any ask here whether it be lawful for an Apothecary to let blood in case of great need or for a Physician to minister Physick to his sick Patient on the sabbath-Sabbath-day Answ Doubtlesse it is lawful and not only so but either of them may go or ride for that purpose it being of the duties before spoken of for the preservation of the life and health of mankinde which are not forbidden by this Law provided neither of them do the same for his fee reward and gaine for then he maketh it a work of his Profession for gaining of worldly wealth and maintenance which may be done on other dayes but not on the Sabbath without making himself a transgressor And now I conclude this point with the expresse words of the Homily for the time of Prayer Thus it may plainly appear that Gods Will and Commandment was to have a solemn time and standing day in the week wherein the People should come together and have in remembrance his wonderful benefits and to render him thanks for them as appertaineth to loving kinde and obedient People And with that a little before And therefore by this Commandment we ought to have a time as one day in the week wherein we ought to rest yea from our lawful and needful works for like as it appeareth by the Commandment that no man in six dayes ought to be slothful or idle but diligently to labour in that state wherein God hath set him Even so God hath given expresse charge to all men that upon the Sabbath-day which is now our Sunday they should cease from all weekly and work-day labour to the intent that like as God himself wrought six dayes and rested the seventh and blessed and sanctified it and consecrated it to quietnesse and rest from labour even so Gods obedient People should use the Sunday holily As concerning the particular duties to be done on the Sabbath-day there being so many learned and godly men who have written so fully of them and are or may be in most mens hands or closets I forbear to speak of them here for brevities sake referring the Reader to their plenty and now in the next place will speak of the second part of this Commandment CHAP. XVII The great care and provision had by the Lord for mans keeping and sanctifying the Sabbath-day THe former part of this fourth Commandment which is
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-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.