A Brief TRACT ON THE FOURTH Commandment Wherein is Discover'd The CAUSE of all our CONTROVERSIES ABOUT THE sabbath-Sabbath-DAY And the means 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 kind of day as was the Jews 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 days of labour with all People 3. That Sunday is with Christians as truly the Sabbath-day as was Saturday with the Jews Recommended by the Reverend Dr. Bates and Mr. John How LONDON Printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside near Mercers Chappel and for Jon. Robinson at the Golden-Lyoâ— in St. Pauls Church-Yard 1692. TO THE READER Courteous Reader I Believe thou art not ignorant of the many dissensions 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 Jews 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 days 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 days must be meant either the six days of Gods work or the six days of work with men either the six first days at the Creation in which God wrought and made all things or else the six work-work-days of the week in use with men where they live So also the seventh day must relate to the six days of Gods work or else to the six days 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 immediately followed the six days of his work or the day of rest with men which immediately follows their six days 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 days 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 Jews sabbath-Sabbath-day which was from Fridays Sun-setting to Saturdays Sun-setting was the precise day of Gods Rest and every of their other six days of the week to be the very same with the six days of the Creation whether they lived in Judea in Babylon in Spain in Ophyr or in any other place it maketh no matter think they Though Sunday with Christians be the day immediately following their six days of labour and on which they having laboured six days 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 where-ever they live From this common errour sprouted out various opinions which set them all at Variance 1. The Jews and such as adhere to their superstition do will still plead for the Saturday-Sabbath the Saturday 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 Son 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 â—lessing 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 days and rest on the seventh day according to Gods example Now they must rest on the first day and work the six days 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 nail 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 Jews 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 Jews Saturday 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 instead thereof do inferr that Christians now in time of the Gospel are to have and keep no Sabbath-day at all Thus kind 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 which are now on foot between them The only mean to stop all future Controversies and briâ—g all sides to accord in one truth about the Sabbath day is to take away and wipe off from their minds 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 days 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 days of work with men and so must be the day after the six week-days of labour with People wherever they dwell Agreement then of all sides will be had That great stumbling-block given the Jews 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 days 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 instead 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 mind and acknowledge that as the Jews 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 days 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 Jews 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 own 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 25th of December according to the Popes decree How can the English Papists who kept their Christmas-day full ten days after be said to keep their Christmas-day on the 25th 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 Christmas-day on the same day of the month on the 25th day of December according to the Popes Decree and that the reason why the 25th day of December with the French came to be ten days sooner than with the English was for that they began their months sooner by ten days than the English did ever since Pope Gregory altered their year The like answer I give thee the Jews 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 Jews came to be a day sooner then it did with Christians was because they began their week a day sooner than they did before and sooner than 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 months as I have shewed in the third and tenth 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 days of work but the day following mens six days 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 where-ever 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 pla n every day must be the same day with all People Every of the six days 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 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 days of the week begin sooner in some places than 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 than in other The day which men call Sunday at Jerusalem begins sooner than 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 than 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 affirm much less that the day of Gods Rest begins sooner in one place than in another Secondly I have proved sufficiently that the day of Gods Rest could not be the same with the Jews sabbath-Sabbath-day nor the same kind of day and that all and every of the days of the Creation were far different from week-days that were in use with the Jews or are or at any time have been in use with men To this purpose I have shewed what kind of days our week days be and what the Jews week-days be and what the days of the Creation were and how they all differ in kind from each other in Chap 2 3 4 5 6. And then what kind 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 day 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
the first day of the Creation All the Art and indeavour of man is not sufficient to find out whether the first day of Creation was Sunday or Saturday or Monday c. and therefore not whether the day of Gods Rest was Thursday Friday or Saturday 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 its beginning on Saturday No man can for all that tell within eleven hours at what time of the Sunday the first day of the Creation or at what time of the Saturday the day of Gods Rest began either here or in Virginia or in Rome Jerusalem Paradise or in any other place whatsoever whether it was at Sun-rising Sun-setting noon or at the hour 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 God's Rest began in Paradise on Saturday 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 Saturday 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 fore-noon and we know that it was then Saturday in Virginia in the afternoon but no man can knowingly say that the day of Gods Rest beginneth on the Saturday 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 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. Heylin 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 Jews 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 chap. 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 Jews in the East-parts and West-parts too of Judea 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 days 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 (d) Dr. Francis White in his Treat of the Sabb. pag. 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 than 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 kind 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 Wilderness 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 days are now or at any other time heretofore have been in use with men for measuring out unto them their seven days or week and such as are their six days of the week for Labour such ought the seventh day even the day for Holy Rest to be also The Sabbath-day with the Jews 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 days 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 days but they do and have counted their weeks by Meridional days And so do all Christians generally of what Longitude or Latitude of the Earth soever they are mete out their weeks by Meridional days 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 shewn what day in tale is to be the Lords day or Sabbath of the Lord and this the Law-giver himself hath plainly pointed out unto us in this Law to be the day following the six days 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 days 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 days 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 days for our selves reserving only the seventh for himself much less ought we to make it the fifth or the ninth or tenth or any other than the seventh day Our weeks are not to consist
have kept the Sabbath on Sunday as on the Saturday St. Pauls practice taught Christians then that difference of days was taken away Unto the Jews saith he I became as a Jew 1 Cor. 9.20 When he was with the Jews he kept the Saturday-Sabbath as the Jews did 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 1 Cor. 16.2 Acts 20.7 There arose no small difference between the converted Jews and the converted Gentiles hereabout The Jews esteeming the Saturday to be more Holy than the Sunday condemned the Gentiles for Prophaners of the Sabbath because they observed not the Saturday and for that they kept the day of the Sun the Jews held them to be Worshippers of the Sun as other Gentiles were The Gentiles on the other side upbraided the Jews as superstitious for their observing their set Holy-days whereof their Saturday-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 Romans Rom. 14.5 and to the Colossians Col. 2.16 The Jews were no more bound thenceforth by the Law of God to keep their Sabbath on the Saturday than 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 six days 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 plainness 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-days of the Lord God and not to the six work-days with men as if the meaning of these words of the Commandment Six days shalt thou labour and do all thy VVork but the seventh day is the Sabbath to the Lord thy God so it is in the Hebrew should be thus The six days in which I wroutgh when I Created all things shall be thy six work-days in them thou shalt do all thy VVork but the seventh day wherein I rested thou shalt rest and do none of thy VVorks on any part of that day but shalt keep that day Holy it is the day of my Rest From hence they will have a week to be none other with any People but seven such days whereof the six former days be the same with the first six days of the Creation and the seventh be the same with the day of Gods Rest Weeks in use with the Jews they held to be such the first six days of their week to be the same with the six days on which God wrought and their seventh day which was from Friday at the setting of the Sun to Saturdays Sun-setting to be the very day of Gods Rest Though Sunday be the day following the six days of labour with us and on which we rest from our labour having wrought six days 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 Saturday to Saturday 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 Jews Sabbath only was the seventh-day Sabbath which in this Law is commanded to be observed Holy and that the Jews 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 bosom 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 odd but an Old conceit of some Philosophers which afterward was held and maintained by the Antient Fathers that the Earth was not roâ—nd but plain as a Champaign-field 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 Witness 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 Earths 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 concerns the point in hand Mr. Ironside a Reverend Divine and of singular gifts and Parts but overswayed 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 VVilliam 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 unless the very day and the whole day be kept to a minute all the duties done on that day are lost His words words are these It is necessary to inquire of the dimensions of this day of what duration and continuance of time it must be (b) 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 unless 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 (a) Pag. 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 imployments another they many times wound their Consciences and rob themselves of that Peace which otherwise they might enjoy (b) Pag. 127. 2ly That God might have his due tribute and the weak if they will may keep their Consciences quiet in observing the true and full time of the Sabbath he setteth down the precise day of the Sabbath as he conceiveth and the exact time to a minute when the Sabbath-day is to begin As for the day he tells us that the Sabbath-day must be precisely the day of Gods Rest Thus Assoon as God had ended his VVork 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 (c) Page 21. Unless we rest that very seventh day in which God Rested we no more resemble his Rest than a man that hath a Ladder resembles Jacob that had a Vision of a Ladder (d) 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 inferior sort of People he before spake of may by looking in his Almanack tell to a minute if Mr. Ironsides rule fail him not at any time throughout all the year and in any place throughout the World when the fourth 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 Sun as all confess sure it is that untill 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 (e) Irons 7. Quest page 12. 3. 3ly He tells us that the Jews Sabbath-day was the day of Gods Rest and the same with that which God blessed and sanctified making no difference between all these three His words are these That particular Sabbath-day given unto the Jews even the day of Gods Rest is not a Sabbath but the Sabbath even that which God sanctifyed The Sabbath must be the same with the seventh or else there is no tolerable sense or congruity in that Law (f) Page 70. Whereas he saith the same with the seventh he meaneth by the seventh the seventh 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 fourth day did Now whereas some may and that not without just cause doubt how the day of Gods Rest which began at Sunrising as he saith and the Jews Sabbath which ever began at the setting of the Sun wheresoever 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 far as the Sun-rising is distant from Sun-setting between both which there must be half a days difference And so the day of Gods Rest must begin either at Sun-rising before the Jews Sabbath day began or at the Sun-rising after If at the Sun-rising before that is on the Friday morning then the Turks Sabbath so Doctor Heylin (a) Heyl. part 1. page 48. calleth it may more truly be called the day of Gods Rest than that of the Jews But if at the Sun-rising after then our Christian Sabbath-day ever began on the day of Gods Rest the which the Jews Sabbath never did For the wiping off this and all such doubts Mr. Ironside tells us both at what time and also by what means the day of Gods Rest and the Jews Sabbath was made to be one and the same day which were always two before His words are VVhen God Commanded the Jews their Sabbaths from evening ot evening the order of the Natural day was inverted by him not so much looking to the number of four and twenty hours as to the time of Israels deliverance out of Egypt which began when the Passover was eaten at Even (b) Iron p. 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 Saturday and to begin the same at the Sun-setting of the day before-going that is on Friday at the setting of the Sun 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 they kissed each other as he saith the end of one contiguum is the beginning of the other (c) Iron p. 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 error is strong with him because the Jews 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 doth 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 publick 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 VVorks together with the manner in regard of the strictness thereof is wholly left to the power and wisdom of the Church and Magistrate (b) pag. 225. Now if any reasonable man will weigh these tenets of Mr. Ironside he may plainly perceive that they and every of them do flow from the supposal of the Earths plainness 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 roundness For Let it be granted that the Earth is plain all these following will be true and not otherwise 1. There is but one Horizon to all Nations and places 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 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 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 5. Every week-day is the same day in all places all having the same Sun-rising 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 Virginia 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 hour whether at midnight or at the Cock-crowing or at the day-dawning yet if it shall be on the Saturday with some it shall be on the Saturday with all and if it be at midnight with some it shall be at mid-night with all or if at the Cock-crowing or at the day-dawning with some then so shall it be with all 7. As the seventh day from the Creation even the day of Gods Rest is the Saturday that is the seventh day of the week with all People so be all the six days of the Creation the same with the six days 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 Jews Sabbath where ever they dwelt and began at Sun-setting in all places wherever the Jews abode as in Arabia Jerusalem Babylon Room Spain Ophyr and in all other places where the Jews had never any abiding place for all 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 9. The Jews had not rested on the seventh day according to Gods example had they not rested on that very seventh day on which God Rested 10. The Jews 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 If the Earth be plain all and every one of the ten before-going are true but if round they must be all false Let it be granted that the Earth is round all these following will be true and not otherwise 1. Every Nation and place have a several Horizon differing from other 2. The Sun when he first appeared was directly over some part of the Earth or other and shone most gloriously on half 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 unless it be meant to some particular place or other as in the Horizon to London c. 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. The wisest man on Earth cannot tell either at York or at Rome or at any other place the just time when the day of Gods rest did or doth begin within eleven hours of our day 5. As People are distant in place so have they different Horizons and as their Horizons differ so do their week-days from being the very same 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 Saturday 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 Saturday with some it will not be on the Saturday with all but on the Sunday or Friday with some others also if it be at mid-night 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 day of Gods Rest cannot be the Saturday nor the seventh day of the week with all People so cannot the six days of the Creation be the same with the six days 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 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 Jews Sabbath for this they did or might keep from Sun-setting to Sun-setting in Arabia Jerusalem Babylon Rome Spain Ophyr and in all other places of their abode but the day of Gods Rest they did not nor possibly could
of them and gavâ— names to the Creatures suitable to their Natures He knew them to be not Eternal nor a year old and therefore might as well know their Age to a day When the Lord brought Eve unto him he knew her by sight He knew she was not three days nor a day Old He knew that she was made of him and on the same sixth day in which he himself was made and that the Lord on the next day rested from his Works of Creation By this Pattern and Standard of the Lord he might mete out time by weeks before he could have any Experimental knowledge of months and years which were afterward in time gotten by observation of the course of the Sun and Moon And we find that in Antient times there was much difference and variation in the count of years and months with People Some had but three months some ten the Jews had sometimes twelve and sometimes thirteen months to the year Their months did also much differ for length but never was the week counted to be more or less than seven days with any People Thirdly From the Testimony of sundry Learned and Pious Writers Chrysostome thus Jam hinc ab initio doctrinam hanc nobis insinuat Deus erudiens in circulo hebdomadae diem unum integrum segregandum reponendum ad spiritualem operationem (a) Christ Homil 10. in Gen. Aug. Steuchius on Gen. speaking of the seventh day affirmeth it to be in omni aetate inter omnes Gentes venerabilis sacer Beda in his Hexameron testifieth that the rest of the seventh day semper celebrari solebat They who compiled the Book of Homilies tell us That it is according to the Law of Nature to have a time as one day in the week wherein we ought to rest from our Lawful works (b) Hom. for the time of Prayer Mercer commended by Dr. Heylin for a Learned Protestant (c) Heyl. part 1. page 5. is of opinion that the first Fathers being taught of God keep the seventh day Holy Philo Judaeus also maketh this challenge Quis sacrum illum diem per singulas hebdomadas recurrentem non honorat (d) Phil. de vita Mos l. 2. Josephus to the same purpose Neque est ulla Civitas Graecorum aut Barbarorum neque ulla gens ad quam septimi diei in quo vacamus consuetudo minimè pervenerit (e) Jos Cont. App. l. 2. Fourthly From the Testimony of Antient Heathen Poets such as Homer Hesiod Callimachus and Linus who have spoken very Laudably of the Creation of the seventh day (f) Clem. Alex. Strom. l. 5. This knowledge of the Creation and of the seventh day and consequently of the count of days by sevens or weeks they could not have but by Tradition or from the Books of Moses From the Books of Moses doubtless they had it not for they were not Extant in the Greek Tongue until Ptolomie prevailed to get seventy two Seniors of the Jews to turn them into Greek which was many hundred of years after Homer While as the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah flourished the Gentiles could never get the least parcel of Sacred Scripture The Jews counted it to be an high Prophanation of the Books of Moses if they were any ways Communicated to the Heathen John Gregory plentifully sheweth and proveth that before this interpretation was made by the said 72 Seniors the Heathen had no light from the Books of Moses (a) Jo. Greg. discourse of the seventy c. If it should be supposed that the Poets got the knowledge of the seventh day from the Books of Moses then must it be the Jews Satturday-Sabbath which they spake so Laudably of but they knew that to be an Holy day with them no Antienter than Moses Septimum diem more Gentis Sabbatum appellatum in omne aevum jejunio sacravit Moses The seventh day with that Nation called the Sabbath Moses made a perpetual Holy day saith Trogius (a) Jo. Greg. discourse of the seventy c. (b) Trog l. 36. for which supposed Innovation brought in by Moses the Heathen generally envied them and their Poets wrote very disgracefully of them about their Sabbath-day It was not then from Moses but by Tradition that they had the knowledge of the Creation and of the seventh day Fifthly Gomarus who with all his might opposed the Morality of the Sabbath day doth yet acknowledge that Adam Methuselah Sem and Abraham had knowledge of the Creation and of the seventh day (c) Gomar de Sab. p. 113. And why not Moses also and thousands beside them Moses indeed had a full knowledge by Divine Revelation and infallible Inspiration by the Holy Ghost which guided him in the Historical Relation of the Creation of all things and of the day of Gods Rest as well as of other things related in his Books yet questionless he had some general knowledge by Tradition of most things he wrote of as they were delivered from Father to Son unto his days It would have been a very wild conceit of Gomarus to think when he wrote that the knowledge of the Creation and of the seventh day came from Adam to Methuselah and from him to Sem and from Sem to Abraham that the knowledge there of was intailed to the Heirs Male or to some Persons in a lineal descent from Noah to Abraham and not to others also Incredible is it that Noah should teach the knowledge thereof to Sem only and not to Cham and Japhet too and that Sem should reveal the same to Arphaxad only keeping it as a secret from all other his Sons and Daughters and that Arphaxad should do the like unto Sala and he to Hâ—ber and he to Peleg and he to Reu and he to Serug and he to Nahor and he to Terah and he to Abraham and that none of them should impart that knowledge to any other of their Sons and Daughters and that the remembrance as well of the seventh day as of the Creation was wholly extinct with Abraham Without all peradventure Cham and Japhet and their Posterities had and retained the knowledge thereof for many generations some of them to the days of the before-named Poets and long after too Orpheus Eschylus Aratus Pindarus Epicharmus and others mentioned by Clemens could else never have spoken so truly of Jehovah whom they called Jove as he relateth them to have done d Sixthly (a) Clem. Alex Strom. l. 5. From the Testimony of those who have been the chief Writers against the Sabbath 1. Mr. Ironside professeth that he maketh no question but that the Heathen who never heard of a seventh-day Sabbath have weeks as well as months and years (a) Irons ch 4. But he thinks they had the knowledge hereof by the subdivision of months as if knowing most of our months to consist of one and thirty days by subdividing them there must be just seven rather than eight days to
the first day The first things God made were day and night or light and darkness 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 darkness which Moses called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 darkness 2 Cor. 4.6 and had divided the light from the darkness so as that they should never be both in one Hemisphere but succeed in order each other which is called Gods Covenant of the day and of the night Jer. 33.20 God then called that light so divided Day and that darkness so divided called by Moses Emphatically 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God called night Gen. 1.4 5. the full Revolution of both which was the first day in this division of the light and darkness or day and night though the night was before the day in one Hemisphere and the day before the night in the other yet in respect of the whole Universe neither of them was before the other in time When the first day began somewhere when it was night at the same time that first day began some otherwhere when it was day-light every where did the first day begin at the same time The second day and the third day in like manner were Universal days When God stretched out the firmament on the second day it was every where then the second day On the next day also wheresoever God the Universal Worker did his work throughout the whole round in gathering together the Waters making the Seas and dry Land there every where was it the third day And after that every where was it the same third day where God made the Earth to bring forth Grass and Herbs and fruit-trees Gen. 1.11 12 13. no where was it then either the second or fourth day The fourth day in which the Sun Moon and Stars were made was an Universal day When it was the fourth day any where it was the fourth every where It is not revealed in what part of the fourth day those lights of Heaven were made but most certain is it that when the Sun first appeared to the World on that day it was over some part of the Earth at that time making it to be noon there and in all places in that Hemisphere which were in the same Meridian with the Sun And that in many places ninety degrees East from thence it was Sun-setting and in as many places ninety degrees West from thence it was then at the same time Sun-rising Also that in the other Hemisphere to which the Moon or Stars appeared it was then night and mid-night there in those places that were in the same Meridian with the Sun So that although on that fourth day Sun-setting was before Sun-rising in some places and Sun-rising before Sun-setting in some other places and in some places noon was before either of the other and in some other places mid-night was before them all yet in respect of the whole Earth not one of them was on that fourth day before the other But at the Suns first appearing and shining over half the Earth it was at that very instant the fourth day as well where it was Sun setting or Sun-rising as where it was noon and likewise it was then the fourth day also in the other part of the Earth to which the Moon or Stars first appeared For neither the Sun Moon or Stars appeared to any place on the third day which was the day before they were made and the fifth day was not then begun The like I say for the fifth day and for the sixth day when God made Fish and Foul on the fifth day or when he made Adam the last of his Creatures on the sixth day it was then after Sun-setting in some places and before Sun-rising in some other places and it was then noon in some places and mid-night in some other places yet all on the same day The like I say also for the seventh day the day of Gods rest When God rested from all his Works that he had made it was no where then the sixth day but every where the seventh day The day of Gods rest began in some places at Sun-rising in some places at Sun-setting and in some at noon and in other some at mid-night in the same day For so was it on the fourth day when the Sun first appeared and so when it was half ended and so likewise when it was fully ended and therefore so was it when the fifth sixth or seventh day began or ended It is not revealed and therefore no man can know what or where in the Earth those places are where it was Sun-rising or Sun-setting or noon or mid-night either when the Sun first shined forth to the World or when half of that fourth day was ended or when it was fully ended and therefore no man can tell nor possibly can any find out whether here in England or in any other particular place or Countrey it was Sun-setting or Sun-rising noon or mid-night day-light or night when the fifth sixth or seventh day the day of Gods Rest began and yet at the beginning of that seventh day it was either of these somewhere or other Quest But some may say why then did Moses rehearsing every of the six days Works of the Creation set the evening before the morning so if the evening was not before the morning Answ I answer Moses naming the evening in order before the morning in the first of Genesis Gen. 1.5.8 13 19 23 31. doth not thereby make either of them to be in time before the other one he was to name first and the reasons why he named the evening before the morning may be these First For that after the Israelites deliverance out of Egypt and I suppose this History to be written after that their Year their Months and the days of their Week were all changed in respect of their beginnings and endings so that whereas they began their days with the morning thenceforth they constantly began their Week-days with the evening See chap. 3. as I shall shew more at large in the next Chapter If Moses now should have set the morning before the evening he might have seemed to dislike this their new custom of beginning their days of the Week with the evening for which he had direction from the Lord God Secondly Or else it may be for that they who were best skill'd in dividing and distinguishing of time as were Astronomers such as doubtless Moses was who was Learned in all the Wisdom of the Egyptians Acts 7.22 began the day at noon making the evening that is all the time from noon to midnight to be the former part of the day and the evening that is all the time from mid-night to noon
of more or less than seven days 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 days 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 days 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-days 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 find the Lords day so that no People Jew or Gentile are tyed 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 Sunsetting God separated the tenth of Grapes of Lambs 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 Lamb that fell in order from the Damm or of the tenth ear of Corn or of the tenth cluster of Grapes first appearing or grown ripe this was too too difficult for to find 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 express words of this Law is the Lords day or sabbath-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 seventh 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 Jehovae 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 days here allowed man for labour is the Lords day or is Sacred to the Lord thy God As we say in Tithing of Corn wheresoever men by agreement do begin the 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 days at what time soever according to mens custom 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 begin 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 Jews 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 Saturday was their seventh or Sacred day and that it began at Sun-setting rather than at another time was not by any express 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 Idolatry All Nations Worshipped the Sun THE Assyrians Idolatry wherewith Egypt the Israelites and generally other Nations were infected was both the worshiping of Baal and the adoring of the Host of Heaven The one was a man deified and Worshipped the other were the Starrs viz. the Sun Moon and the rest of the Planets (a) The other stars were honoured but as subservient unto those whom they magnified and adored as Gods and Governours of the World Concerning Baal and how he came to be Worshipped we shall thus find in Histories and Antient Chronnologies Nimrod that mighty Hunter before the Lord being a great and strong Giant began to Suppress and Tyrannize over others bringing others in Shinar under him and he ruled as King over them The beginning of his Kingdom was Babel wherefore he was called Saturnus Babylonicus For the most Antient Kings and first founders of a Realm or People they called by the name of Saturn and his eldest Son or Heir by the name of Jupiter and his Daughter were called Juno's (b) Guevar Ep. Thus they call'd his Father Cush Cush Saturnus Ethiops for that Aethiopia was Peopled by him And his Grandfather Cham they call'd Saturnus Aegyptius for that he and his Son Jupiter Mizraim Peopled Egypt Beside Babel this Nimrod had Erech and Acad ond Calneb in the Land of Shinar Gen. 10.9 10 11 12. In Process of time Nimrod left the Kingdom of Babel unto his Son Belus whom they called Jupiter Belus not driven out of his Kingdom by his Son but Nimrod left the same unto him and went into Ashur and there he Tyrannized over the Children of Ashur and there he built Cities also Niniveh and Rohoboth and Calah and Reze◠Ninus succeeded his Father Belus and his Grandfather Nimrod in their Kingdoms 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 seeing it pleased Ninus reverenced this Image by degrees more and more and had faults often pardoned for the Image sake insomuch that at
is not a part of a day as is the Artificial day but an whole day And that it is not such a kind of day as are the days of the Creation mentioned in the first of Genesis but such a kind of day as is or hath been in use with men And also that it is not in tale the fifth sixth eighth or ninth day but the seventh not the seventh day of the month but the seventh day of the week the day following the six known days 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 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 days they lawfully may yea and ought to do for the maintenance of themselves and theirs Six days shall work be done but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest ye shall do no work therein 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-Sabbath-day we should rest from all kind 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 do all thy Trade Art or Occupation and such are the words of the Text in divers other places of Scripture 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 Rabbins 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 Deut. 5.14 where Pagnine Translateth thus Omnis qui fecerit in eo opus c. Montanus hath it Omnis faciens in eo functionem 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 the die cessationis c. Exod. 31.15 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 Awl nor any other about any works that belong to mens Trade and Profession which on the six days of labour they may and should do for getting their maintenance and livelyhood 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 one every day without any violation of 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 Sabbâ—th 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 blameless Mat. 12.5 Sure they could not be said to be blameless had they by their Sacrificing Bullocks or Sheep broken the Commandment they brake the Sabbath they made it not a day of rest from these works and so were said to profane it that is in respect of these labours they made it common with other days all days being alike Lawful or common for doing works of Piety Secondly Works of Government of the Creatures subjected unto man were ordained of the Lord before man was made Let us make man saith God in our Image after our likeness and let them have dominion over c. Gen. 1.26 28. and when God had made man he commanded them to have Dominion over the Fish of the Sea over the Foul over Cattle and over every living thing upon the Earth This Law and Ordinance was not repealed or nulled by any succeeding Law Man is to exercise this his Rule and Government committed unto him on any day If fire should threaten to destroy a house or houses Corn or such like on the Sabbath-day man is as well bound to use his power in suppressing the same on the Sabbath-day as on any other If Water indanger drowning of Cattle or if Cattle strive together whereby some are like to perish and man do not succour and seek to preserve what was in danger because it was on the Sabbath day he sheweth himself to be a bad Governour of the Creature or if he should suffer Sheep or other Cattle to perish for want of Foddering Folding or Housing them as need requireth he is not worthy to have the Government of Cattle The like I say concerning works needful for the preservation of mans life When Adam was in the state of Innocency before ever the seventh day was even on the day of his Creation the Lord ordained him food Behold I have given you said God every herb bearing seed some whereof were Physical which is upon the face of all the Earth and every Tree in which is the fruit of a Tree yielding
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 than it bindeth us or any other People whatsoever This Law bound and doth bind 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 Passover Lev. 23.7 Num. 28.18 and on certain other of their Feast-days 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 minds are not to be upon them on the Lords day as the one are called our works 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-day that is in English the day of cessation or rest for that 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 perform also and do duties and works of Holiness unto the Lord. On the seventh day is a cessation to rest a Convocation of holiness 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 Holiness to the Lord Exod. 31.15 And a little after that In the seventh day shall be to you Holiness a rest of cessation unto the Lord Exod. 35.2 All which do shew that on the sabbath-Sabbath-day which is the day following our six days 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 Creator 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-day Answ Doubtless 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 Mankind which are not forbidden by this Law provided neither of them do the same for his fee reward and gain for then he maketh it a work of his Profession for gaining of Worldly Wealth and maintenance which may be done on other days but not on the Sabbath without making himself a Transgressor And now I conclude this point with the express 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 kind 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 days ought to be slothful or idle but diligently to labour in that state wherein God hath set him Even so God hath given express 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 days and rested the seventh and Blessed and Sanctified it and Consecrated it to quietness 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 that we should keep Holy the Sabbath-day hath been at large handled before now it resteth that I speak somewhat of the second part also which I will do briefly in this Chapter In this second part is set out in many words the great care and provision had of the Lord that men should observe this Law and keep holy the Sabbath day as God commandeth And this provision of the Lord standeth not in one two or three only but in many and weighty Inducements and reasons the least of which should have been sufficient to inforce our Obedience had not our hearts been hardned and we most rebellious wilfully refusing to yield Obedience unto the same The several inducements and reasons the Lord used to win us unto obedience to this Law are these First Is the Caveat prefixed only to this and to none other of the Commandments Remember Remember the Sabbath day to Sanctifie it This charge of heedfulness would mightily work upon an Obedient heart he would every day of his six be thinking how to do and dispatch all his businesses in those days that when the seventh day come he may freely without any incumbrance betake himself to the Worship and Service of his God and when it cometh will be mindful of the day and careful of observing and keeping the same Holy as his God Commandeth Secondly The Lord hath here plainly pointed out unto man what day is the Sabbath-day which he should Sanctifie The Lord hath affixed as it were an Index to this Law that as the true hour of the day is known and pointed out by the Index or Finger in a Dial whereby he that can but tell the number of the hour-lines may easily know what hour of the day it is so here he that can but tell the days of the week may easily tell what day is the Sabbath-day Six days shalt thou labour and do all thy work but the seventh day is the Sabbath The seventh day is the Sabbath not the seventh day from thy Birth nor the seventh day from the first
on the Cross on one and the same day Sith it was the fourteenth day at Even when he eat the Passover and gave then his Body and Blood Sacramentally when he instituted the Lords Supper but it was the fifteenth day when he wrought our full Redemption and actually and really gave his Body and Blood for us on the Cross The answer to both these are the same It was on one and the same day of their Week but not of their month for it was on the fourteenth day of Abib on which the Israelites ate the Passover in Egypt but their going out of Egypt from Rameses was on the fifteenth day So also Christ ate the Passover with his Disciples on the fourteenth day of the first month according to the Law of the Passover but he was Crucified on the next day which was the fifteenth day In the fourteenth day of the first month at Even is the Lords Passover on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast Num. 28.16 17. Lev. 23.15 6. Yet both in one and the same day of their week for the days of their week ever after their freedom from slavery were as I shewed before Horizontal days every of which began at the Sun-setting of the former day at the time they ate the Passover in Egypt so they were commanded to begin their Sabbath days Lev. 23.32 and therefore so also did they begin the days of their week called the Sabbath for meting out to them their Sabbath-days And herein the Romanists do not a little Judaize who continued the like custom of beginning all their Sacred days as Lyranus tells us In diem seriam viz. decimam quartam c. On the fourteenth day of the month in the Even whereof the Lamb was sacrificed and the Solemnity of the Passover began which was celebrated on the fifteenth day of the month According to which custom the Solemnities of our Church do begin with the evening of the day before going (a) Lyra. Postil in Joan. 13. Christ with the Disciples ate the Passover and was Crucified also on one and the same week day which was the sixth day of the week with the Jews which consisted partly of our Thursday and partly of our Friday as their Sabbath-day consisted partly of our Friday and partly of our Saturday 2. If it be demanded whether the demand made by the Disciples where they should prepare the Passover and their killing the Paschal Lamb and their eating the Passover and Peters denial and the Cocks Crowing were all done in the same day The answer hereto is like the former They were done in the same day of the month but not in the same day of their week The Disciples demand the killing and preparing the Passover was all in the fifth day of their week but their eating it and Peters denial and the Cocks Crowing were done on the sixth day of their week Yet all on the fourteenth day of the month and all done on our day of the week which we call Thursday 3. If it be demanded How we may conceive it to be on the first day of unleavened bread in which the Disciples asked of Christ where they should prepare for him to eat the Passover Sith the Evangelists Mark and Luke do affirm it to be on that day Mar. 14.12 Luke 22.7 yet the first of the seven days of unleavened bread began not till the time of eating the Passover The answer is as before The first day of the week of unleavened bread was not then begun but the first day of the month of unleavened bread was begun long before Though there was just one week or seven days of unleavened bread yet were there eight days of the month of unleavened bread On the fourteenth day of the first month they were commanded to eat unleavened bread and so to the one and twentieth day at even Exod. 12.18 From the Even of one to the Even of the other was just a week or seven days but sith they began to eat unleavened bread on the fourteenth day according to the Commandment that fourteenth day of the month was properly their first day of unleavened bread and the one and twentieth was the eighth or last Thus St. Matthew calleth the first of those eight days in which they ate unleavened bread the first day of the Feast of unleavened Bread Mat. 26.17 The like answer is made unto those who object out of John 13.1 that Christ ate not the Passover on the Feast-day of the Passover but one day foregoing And many more such like questions and doubts may hereby be resolved CHAP. VII What kind of day the Sabbath-day is Not known when the day of Gods rest beginneth THe Sabbath-day of the Lord is not an Artificial day which hath no night nor is but a part of the Horizontal day See chap. 1. For the Sabbath-day is proportionable unto the other six days of the week allowed for labour every of which hath a night or darkness as well as day-light and in which night men may as lawfully labour as in the day-light Joseph and Mary fled by night Mat. 2 14. The Disciples of Christ rowed by night and in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them Mat. 14.25 Some Countreys are so hot that their chiefest work is in the night and so dangerous by reason of Wild Beasts that their chiefest care over their flocks is by night Jacobs special care over Labans flock was such Gen. 31.40 And when Christ was born an Angel brought the glad tidings thereof to the Shepherds by night as they were watching their flocks Luke 2.8 If the six days of labour which God alloweth Man be such as have nights as well as day-lights then such ought the Sabbath-day of the Lord to be also Neither is the Sabbath-day here commanded an Universal day such as was the very day of Gods rest For then there would have been an impossibility in respect of the thing it self for men to keep the same and that for these two reasons First It is impossible for any man to know within half a year what time of the year it is with us when the first year of the World began Some have presumed to tell the same to a day and in the Calendar prefixed to our Church-Bibles and Common Prayer Books suppose it to be the five and twentieth day of March and there the same day is supposed to be that in which Christ was Conceived in the Womb of the Virgin Mary which if granted the thirtieth day of the same month of March must be yearly the day of Gods Rest For if one be the first day of the Creation the other must be the seventh Again Let it be as supposed so granted that the 25th day of March yearly is truly the first day of the Creation yet not a man living is there that can tell within three days what day of our week that five and twentieth day of March was which was