beginning of the Creation nor from any set Epoche For then it would have put the most skilful Mathematicians to a stand for the finding out when this seventh day should begin but it is the day following the six days of labour In what Countrey soever a man is though he is not well skilled in the Language of that place and doth not understand what the names of the week-days signifie yet if he can tell which be their six work-days he may then tell also which is their seventh day It maketh not much by what names the days of the week be called nor what the signification of either or any of the week-days should be The seventh day of the week with Christians hath been called by divers several names and that even by Christians themselves such as these Sunday The Lords day The first day of the Week And in latter times it hath been called also the Sabbath-day but in the first times Christians would not call it the Sabbath-day because all the Gentiles detested the name of Sabbath as the Jews did the name of Sunday as before is shewed Neither could they relish this name for a good while after their Conversion It is not much matter by which of these names we call our seventh day nor whether we understand the signification of the name as what Sunday or The Lords day or The first day of the week do signifie or why we do so call our seventh day Though he do not know it to be called Sunday from our Heathen Ancestors who called this day so in honour of the Sun whom they Worshipped nor know it to be called the Lords day because it is his Sabbath who Sanctified it nor know it to be called the first day of the week for that the Jews called this day the first of the Sabbath and so was called by them in Sacred Scripture and for that the latter Translators of the Bible would have this name by which the Jews called it to be in our Tongue called the first day of the week So as that now we count it not the day of the Sun as our Heathen Ancestors did nor count it to be the first of our work-days or first in order and tale of our week-days as the Jews did The name of the day doth neither add or alter any thing of the nature thereof Thirdly Here is set down the equity of this Law It is so reasonable that none need complain The Lord alloweth man six days and reserveth but one for himself Six days shalt thou labour and do all that thou hast to do but the seventh day is the Sabbath How unreasonable are such who are not contented with the Lord 's liberal allowance but incroach on the Lords day also which he reserved for his own honour and worship Fourthly In that the Lord did in many words set down so punctually 1. The works from which men are restrained 2. The persons who are restrained The works forbidden are all kind of Trades Professions and Occupations which on other days men do or may use for getting their living and maintenance There is no word in English which doth so fully express 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which here the Lord forbiddeth to be done as doth Function Art or Occupation as I shewed before so that none can excuse himself saying that his Profession requireth little or no labour of the Body as do Husbandry and divers other Handicrafts for God forbids 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all Vocations Functions or Occupations Men ought to abstain from all their works of what Profession or Vocation soever they be Yea these works are not only forbidden in respect of the labour of the hand but of the Tongue and mind also we should not be talking of them neither should our hearts and minds run on them on the Lords day As God for the furtherance of Mans true Obedience to this Law hath fully shewed the works we are forbidden to do so doth he also as fully and in many words shew who are forbidden to do any of these works Thou nor thy Son nor thy Daughter nor c. Whosoever hath any authority and command over himself must not only be careful that he himself abstain from his labours but also if he hath authority and command over others as Son Daughter Man or Maid Ox or Ass he is to see that they also cease from all work-day labours on the seventh day he is not to imploy any of them He nor any of his may imploy either Ox or Ass nor lend or let them to hire for their labour on the seventh day or on any part of that day The Lords expressions are large herein that so all pretences and excuses may be taken away Fifthly The Lord sheweth here and would have us to know that we have no right unto the seventh day nor to any part thereof for doing of our own works thereon for the seventh day is the Lords day and not ours it is The Sabbath of the Lord thy God as it is in this place in our Bibles so Translated it is saith God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Sabbath to the Lord that is a Rest or Cessation to the Lord as before I have shewed See chap. 8. It is a day Holy to the Lord and therefore none other than the Lords All the Tithe of the Land whether the seed of the Land or of the Fruit of the Tree in the time of the Law was the Lords Levit. 27.30 and so was the Tithe of the Herd or of the Flock even of whatsoever passed under the rod verse 32. for the Tithe of all these were Holy to the Lord verse 30 32. and therefore they were the Lords they were his Seed his Fruit his Lambs c. One Lamb was no more Holy than another when they fell from their Damms 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 Lamb rather than at another but from what Lamb soever he began every tenth Lamb that in order passed under the Rod was the Lords he might not then change it nor search whether it was good or bad verse 33. it was then Holy to the Lord it was the Lords Lamb and of such as detained the tenth the Lord complained that they had robbed him 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 than 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 Lord's day no man upon his particular occasions may change the same he may not say My business is such that I cannot keep this Sabbath-day but I will keep another day in the
after they came out of Egypt must begin their week whereby in count of their week-days 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 the main Objection thereto in Chapters 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 doubtless ever will to the Worlds end in Chap. 15. Christian Reader my hearty desire is that thou and all other the Obedient Servants of Jesus 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 Saturday was the Jews Sabbath and that as God wrought six days and rested the seventh and Consecrated the seventh day unto Holiness and Rest even so all Gods Obedient People should not be slothful but diligent in their callings on the six work-days and rest on the Sunday according to Gods example and keep it Holy If this was thine Opinion thou wert in the right and didst hold nothing in all these but what Godly and Learned men and the Servants of Jesus 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 flood-gate to all licentiousness on the Lords Sabbath they have publickly Taught and Published to the World that the seventh day commanded to bept holy is none other but the day of Gods rest They would bring People in hand that the Jews 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 Jews 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 days of labour but the day going before the six days 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 theti me 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 Abridgment 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 kind of day the sabbath-Sabbath-day is therein note There be four kinds of days which we shall meet with in the Holy Scripture which are these viz. the Artificial day 1. Vniversal day 2. Horizontal day 3. Meridional day 4. They differ every one from the other The Artificial day differeth from all other 5. The Vniversal day differeth from all other 5. Horizontal and Meridional days differ one from the other 6. Which of these four kinds of days is the Lords Sabbath 7. 2. What day the Sabbath-day is to be in respect of order and tale wherein note 1. The Sabbath-day is the seventh day of the week that is the day following the six known days of labour 8. 2. The cause why the Jews had Saturday 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 9. 2. From their example all nations as well as Israel worshipped the Sun 9. 3. Among many means God used to take the Jews off from Worshipping the Sun one was that instead of Sunday they must have Saturday their seventh day Sacred 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 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 Antient Writers called the Jews Sabbath the day of Gods Rest sith they knew that it could not be that very day 12. 5. Weeks proved to be from all Antiquity 13. 6. Week-days had their names from the Planets as they were the Heathen Gods and not from their supposed hourly Government 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 than the Sunday for their seventh Sacred day although it had been much abused before to Idolatry 15. What it is to keep Holy and Sanctifie the Sabbath-day 16. 2. The Lords special provision to bring all People to a heedful keeping the duty commanded set out in sundry particulars 17. Christian Reader THis following Treatise published forty years ago by the Reverend Author Mr. Thomas Chafie then Minister of Nutshelling being now become rare as not easie to be met with as indeed it was before for the peculiarity of the notion pursued in it these Book-sellers have by a new Impression recover'd it out of the obscurity wherein time
had almost buried it And we reckon their performance herein very Commendable and capable of turning to publick good The discourse it self aptly serving a twofold design partly to shew the continuing Obligation upon Christians from the fourth Commandment to keep a weekly seventh day Holy to God partly to shew their no-Obligation to keep the same day which the Jews kept and do keep The former how much it tends to preserve and propagate serious Religion experience hath shewn and hath imprest upon England a laudable Character compared with the greater Latitude in this respect of divers Forreign Countries both in principle and practice even where the Reformed Religion hath obtained And for the latter it is of no little concernment to exempt some pious minds from scruple that seem sollicitous whether they ought not to return to the observation of the Jewish Sabbath For which there can be no pretence till it can be clearly shewn that the particular seventh day which the Jews were enjoyned to observe Exod. 16. was as to it's beginning and ending the very same day on which God himself rested from his Work of the Creation And that the fourth Commandment was intended to confine them and Christians in all places whatsoever to those same limits of time as Hallowed and Sacred which are things simply impossible ever to be shewn or indeed that any day can by just computation for all People and parts of the World be found to come nearer those first limits than the day which Christians do now keep Vnto which purposes we reckon what is very considerable is said in this Book And that the publishing of it anew is in this enquiring Age very seasonable as it may occasion not only a further search into the grounds here laid but also a further improvement of them William Bates John Howe THE Seventh-Day SABBATH EXOD. XX. 8 9 10 11. Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy Six days 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 Commandment 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 Commandment 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 kind 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 four kinds of days 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 terms or appellations I confess 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 kinds 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. VVhich of these kinds 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 kind of day was especially in use with the Jews They divided this day always 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 hours and at VVinter when their day was not ten of our hours yet was it twelve of theirs Of this kind of day mention is made in divers places of Sacred Scripture John 11.9 Psal 104.23 Mat. 20.2 3 6. And the hours thereof are now called Jews hours (a) Horae Judaicae And Antique hours (b) Horae Anquae for that not only the Jews but other Nations also did anciently so divide the day into twelve such hours Thus was their Dial divided into twelve hour lines whereof the fifth Persius (c) Pers Sat. 3. Quinta dum linea tangitur umbra will have to note out the fifth hour with them which is about ten of the Clock with us Martial (d) Mart. li. 4. Epigr. 8. Prima solutantes atque aloera continet hora c. also in twelve verses distinguishes the twelve hours of the day then in use in the like manner CHAP. II. The Universal day The days of the Creation Why Moses set the Evening before the Morning THE Universal 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 kind of Day cannot properly be said to begin either in the East or in the VVest or at Sun-rising or at Sun-setting or at Mid-night or at Noon as other kind of days do For there is neither East nor VVest nor Sun-rising nor Sun-setting or at Midnight nor Noon in respect of the VVorld 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 mid-day to another part but neither of them properly can be so said to be the whole World Such kind of days were those which Moses spake of in the first of Genesis Gen. 1.5 8 13 19 23 31. And of which mention is made in this text and elsewhere Exod. 20.11 and 31.17 Acts 2.20 Rev. 6.17 2 Pet. 2.9 and 3.7 10. Joel 2.31 In six days the Lord made Heaven and Earth c. and rested the seventh day That these days which some do term and fitly enough may be called The days of the Creation were such Universal days 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 days was such an Universal day when it began any where it began every where no where then was it no day nor any other than
they keep the same from Sun-setting to sun-setting in all places where any of them had their abode unless the surface of the Earth had been plaid and not round 9. The Jews 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 days and rest the seventh so did they As the Sunday with Christians was ever the day following their six days of labour so was the Saturday with the Jews 10. The Jews Sabbath-day was not the day of Gods Rest as hath been shewed Neither as it was the Saturday 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 bound to which is that having wrought the six days 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 round all and every one of the ten beforegoing are true but if plain they all must needs be false I Having now shewed the Opinion of the most concerning weeks and 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 days 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 whereever 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 days without intermission By seven days I mean seven such days as are all of one and the same kind If any of them be Horizontal days they are all to be Horizontal days such as were the seven days of the Week with the Jews And if any be Meridional they are all to be Meridional days as are the days of the week with Christians The Jews Sabbath or seventh day was from Sun-setting to Sun-setting therefore so should the six days of their week be also The six days of our week are from mid-night to mid-night and therefore the seventh is not to be from Sun-setting to Sun setting but from mid-night to mid-night also The seventh day must relate to the six days 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 days of Gods Work at the Creation these were not of the same kind of days with the week-days that now are or at any time heretofore have been or can be in use with men as I have already fully proved See Chap. 5. That seven whole days without intermission from any time as from Sunday to Sunday or from Saturday to Saturday 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 Antient Saxons and 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 dayâ— 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 days or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a seveny of days Secondly Frequently in Holy Scripture seven days from any set time is counted a week Laban bade Jacob fulfill her her week Gen. 29.27 meaning the seven days of Leas Marriage Such was the usual time for Marriage-feasts in those days Judg. 14 10 12. If a Woman was at any time delivered of a Man-child she was to be unclean seven days or a week but if she was delivered of a Maid-child Lâ—v. 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 First-day of the Passover which never fell on the same day of the week two years together shalt thou number unto thee seven weeks Levit. 23.11 15 16. Deut. 16.9 So that it is evident that these their weeks for meting out unto them their Feast of Pentecost began from different times or days of their Sabbatical week Thirdly seven days so succeeding each other as that their boundary be the seventh day every indifferent man will grant to be a week But such may be from any set time or day Such were the seven days of unleavened bread they began sometimes on Monday and sometimes on Tuesday and sometimes on other days and never two years together on one and the same day of the Jews Sabbatical week Yet were those seven days a week with them even their week of Sweet Bread the boundary whereof was the seventh day Lev. 23.8 Deut. 16.8 Exod. 12.16 There is no difference made either in respect of Letters Vowels or Accents between the seventh day of the week of sweet Bread before-said and the seventh day of their Sabbatical week which with them was the Sabbath-day of the Lord. The like is to be said of the weeks appointed to their Priests for their judgment in the case of Leprosie Lev. 13.5.27 And of the weeks of Daniels mourning Dan. 10.2 3. By all which it is clear that a week is seven days succeeding each other from any set time or day and that if the first day thereof be known the seventh day of the same will be known also Next We are to know what the seventh day of the week is being the day here in this Law commanded to be kept Holy There is much difference between a seventh day and
near about the time of Dionisius Exiguus who lived about the year of Christ 520 (b) Heyl. par 1. page 84. But he holds that they being ignorant of the Scriptures could not have weeks before they had gotten this knowledge by the motions of the Planets And from hence concludeth that the Chaldees Persians Greeks and Romans all the four great Monarchies did observe no Sabbaths because they did observe no weeks In answer hereunto I say that if it be true which the Doctor would that without the Holy Scripture weeks could not be known but by the knowledge of the said hourly government of the Planets and that this government of the Planets was not found till the Egyptians of late times and Eudoxus from them had gotten the knowledge thereof it must needs be confessed not only what the Doctor thence inferreth that all the four great Monarchies did observe no Sabbath because they did observe no weeks But that the Patriarchs before the Flood and all Nations and People whatsoever the Jews only excepted were without a Sabbath-day and could not have the seventh-day Sacred with any of them till about the time of Eudoxus who was Plato's Schollar because they neither had nor could have weeks before But for answer in plain terms It is very untrue what the Dr. alledgeth There was never any such hourly government of the Planets found out but feigned Neither had the week-days their names first from the Planets governing the first hour of the day Both which I will clear and make apparent Touching the former There is no such hourly government found out in deed and truth but there hath such an one feigned to be and that uppon a new order or situation of the Planets made by Astronomers in later times For in ancient times the Moon was held to be the lowest Planet and the Sun to be next unto her and all the other five Planets to be above the Sun This was the order of the Planets generally in Antient times by Astronomers (a) Macrob. in Somn. Scip. l. 1. cap. 19. Plut. brev de Dâ—â—r Naâ— l. 2. Clav. aâ— Sphae p. 97. excepting very few as Aristarchus Samius and two or three other whom Copernicus follow'd making the Sun to be below them all but afterward about Eudoxus time or not long after Astronomers partly by the Aspects and Parallaxes of the Planets and partly by the difference of the time in which they finished their courses found out a new order and situation of them making the Sun to be the middle Planet three to be above him and three below him according to this common Versicle Post SIM SUM sequitur ultima Luna subest This new-found order of the Planets set many Wits to the grinding-stone a sharpening to bring forth some rare inventions in Laud of the Planets new situation Two whereof that were more remarkable remain yet in memory The one was that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which as many say was the ground of Musick a (b) Macrob. Clav. de sphâ—â—era page 84. Feigning the week-days to answer the supposed harmony of the Spheres every fourth Planet in that order perpetually to sound out the name of the next succeeding day The other was this hourly government before-said first brought to light in Egypt as is supposed by which it will so fall out that let every Planet be supposed to govern his hour successively according to this new order it will so fall out that the Planet which shall come to rule the first hour of the next day will be the very same whose name that day doth bear Both these I confess are very witty but a meer fancy And they who urge from hence that the Planets have such an hourly rule and government given them by their Creator by which every one in seven days doth constantly and by course Rule the first hour of a week-day and that thereby men came to have seven days to the week and to call the days of the week by the names of the Planets orderly as they came to govern the first hour of the day are meerly deluded For had there been in truth such an hourly government given them and had they exercised the same then sure First Adam should have gotten this knowledge before all men And then it would follow hence that men had weeks from the beginning even from this hourly Rule of the Planets but indeed Adam had better ground for weeks than the Planets could afford which was Gods working six days and resting the seventh 2. If Adam had not known this rarity or if he had known it and would reveal it to none of his Children Yet the Astrologers before the Flood would doubtless have found out the same they were most excellent in the knowledge of Astrology as Josephus and many other in their Writings tell us they had such experiments in and of their observations which men in future times living not the tenth of their days could never attain unto Doubtless had there been such a Rule indeed they would have known it and also written this rarity in those Pillars Josephus mentioneth (a) Josep Anti. Jud. l. 1. c. 4 8. that future Ages might not be ignorant thereof Surely those long-liv'd Astrologers deserved not to be of that name and fame if ignorant of the said hourly government of the Planets had there been any such Rule or Government then in being 3. If it be supposed that none before the Flood were such excellent Astrologers yet the Chaldees whose Religion was in adoring the Host of Heaven and in searching after the motions and effects of the Planets who bestowed their whole time therein even from their Childhood who instructed their little Children in the knowledge of the Stars (b) Boemus ubi de Assyria as we teach Children the Catechism these I say of all other since the Flood should have been the finders out of this Rule and Government of the Planets had there been any such among them A vanity is it to imagine that such an excellency should be kept secret from the Creation during thousand of years and not found out till late times by some Egyptians of no Note or Name whereas the discoverers thereof had there been such a thing indeed found out deserved to have their names Ingraven in Marble for their lasting memory to all succeeding Ages 4. If this hourly Government be really true then there can but one Planet govern the first hour of one and the same day at one and the same place and which shall give name to that day if otherwise then this hourly rule is not sound but feigned Now we know that one and the same day at one and the same place may be Friday Saturday and Sunday to several persons I will clear this in Dr. Heylins own words Suppose saith he that a Turk a Jew and a Christian should dwell together at Jerusalem whereof the one doth keep his Sabbath on the Friday the other on
seed to you it shall be for meat Gen. 1.29 It was Gods will and Ordinance that man being made a living soul should use the means for the preservation of his life And this his Ordinance was never repealed by any succeeding Law All these three kind of works may be done on the Sabbath-day as well as on other days always provided that there be no irregularity in performing them We must have regard to necessity requiring present help when this giveth way the duties more excellent are more especially to be regarded And as these works may be done on the Lords day so may the necessary helps thereunto be then done also A man may on the Sabbath-day Travel on foot to the meeting place and assembly of Gods People and if he cannot well go on foot he may ride Also as men may feed fold or house their Cattle on the Lords day so may they use the necessary helps thereunto which could not be done the day before And so also may they not only eat drink sleep and take Physick according as need requireth but also may use needful helps thereunto as heating their meat and such like for all stomacks cannot feed on cold meat But let all take heed lest under a pretence of necessity he robs God of his due Honour and his Conscience of true Peace Object But here some will object that this Commandment tyed the Jâ—ws from kindling any fire on their Sabbath-day If then we are bound to keep this Law as strictly as the Jews were we ought not to kindle fire at all upon the Sabbath-day for any occasion whatsoever though for saving ones life Answer To which I answer that this precept in Exodus the five and thirtieth Chapter and third Verse forbade the Jews not from making any fire at all whether it be a help towards the duties of piety or mens health and safety But from making fire whereby it should be a help towards their Trades Occupations or Functions which are expresly forbidden to be done in this Commandment on the Sabbath day And that this is the meaning may appear for that First This precept hath an eye and reflecteth on the words immediately going before in the former Verse in which is a rehearsal of the summ of this fourth Commandment In these words according to the Hebrew Text (a) Arias Monta. Six days shall Function Occupation or Trade be done and in the seventh there shall be to you holiness a rest of cessation to the Lord every one doing his Function in that day shall die Then immediately followeth There shall no fire be kindled in all your habitations in the day of cessation The works about mens personal callings and functions for getting wealth being forbidden in the former Verse in this is forbidden the means tending thereto as the kindling of fire And haply kindling fire is here mentioned rather than any other means for that they being all Brick-makers in Egypt before they kindled fire throughout their Habitations for the burning their tale of Bricks But when works are lawful and needful to be done on the sabbath-Sabbath-day such as are works of piety and works of preserving the Life of Man the necessary helps thereunto as making fire is lawful also Secondly The continued and never blamed practice of the Jews of making fire on the sabbath-Sabbath-day for these duties proveth the same They were never at any time blamed for making fire on the Sabbath for these duties as far as we can read in Sacred Scripture The man that was put to death for gathering wood whether to faggot it or to add it to his Pile or Heap is not expressed on the Sabbath day Num. 15.32 doth make nothing hereto And that they did make fire on the Sabbath-days for these duties is undeniable How else should the meat-offerings baken in Ovens and in Pans and in Frying-pans be made which they were to bring to the Priests as oblations Levit. 2.4 5 7. How else could the Shew-bread be Baked which were constantly provided and set on the pure Table of the Lord every Sabbath-day Levit. 24.5 6 c. And how else should the Paschal Lamb be Roasted when the Feast of the Passover fell on the Sabbath-day Every family was then to eat Roast-meat throughout their Habitations and the remains to burnt in the fire that nothing be left until the morning Exod. 12.10 Sure these things could not be done without making fire In like manner did they make fire on the Sabbath for preservation of their life and health For doubtless the Israelites baken and sod their Manna on their Sabbath-days as they did on the other days of the week Cold Manna and unpound would not agree with many mens stomacks on the Sabbath who on every of the other days did eat it hot either Baked or Sodder On every of the other six days they gathered every man according to his eating an Omer for every man Exod. 16.16 18. And then ground it or beat it in a Mortar and baked it in Pans and made Cakes of it Numb 11.8 And in that week which was set for the measuring out to them their first Saturday-Sabbath which was their seventh day from their first beginning of gathering Quails and Manna Moses on the sixth 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 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 Seethe 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 worms appear therein Now if the Israelites might not pound the said Manna laid up for their Food nor Bake nor Boyl the same and so eâ—t it hot as on other days the Sabbath-day which should be a delight unto them would breed them sorrow and be burthensome unto them and doubtless than 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 dried away there is nothing beside this Manna c. Numb 11.6 How would they have complained if on the Sabbath-days 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 Boyl their Manna and so eat it hot as they did on the other days
may I say for the day you have lost you lost it not all at one time but by little and little every degree that you went Westward you pieced your day and made it the three hundred and sixtieth part of a day longer than it was but therewithal you losed the three hundred and sixtieth part of your day in tale you must look to lose one way if you gain another way In your travel of the whole round which is three hundred and sixty degrees you gained a whole day in the length of your days but you have lost thereby a whole day in tale For tell me when it was Sunday at your coming home what day was it then with you Indeed quoth John it was but Saturday with us and I wondered much why we in the count of the days of our Week came still to a day short of what they counted here But I pray tell me what counsel you will give me in the Case between me and my Brother Why quoth Ployden be ruled by me and fear not make one Voyage more and go back the same way that you came and you shall certainly find again the day which you lost and then come to me and I will warrant your Case Though now I approve not Ploydens Judgment in every point yet I say what he told John of the lengthning of his days and losing a day in tale at his return whereby he had not lived so many Week-days as his brother Johannes had by a day is very true whether he counted the Week by Horizontal or by Meridional days But yet John lived as many Universal days as did his Brother and losed not one hour or minute of an hour in the Universal day it could neither be lengthned or shortned by continual travel When the Sun came to that Meridian in which it was when it began the fifth sixth or seventh day at the first Creation then did the Universal day end and the next began both with John and with his Brother though they were half the Compass of the Earth distant from each other 2. Week-days whether they be Horizontal or Meridional cannot be the same in all places much less can their parts or hours be the same But the Universal day is not only the same day in all places but every part or hour of that day is without any variation the same every where The last day in which Christ shall come to judge the World which must needs be on two week days with People if it be on Sunday with some it will be on Saturday or Monday with some others and on different times also of the week-day if it shall be at mid-night with some not only mid-night of security Mat. 25.6 13 24 39 50. but in respect of the week-day it will be at noon with some others c. Yet will it be one and the same Universal day therefore every where in Holy Scripture that time is called a day John 6.39 40 54.11.24 Acts 2.20 Mat. 10.15 not days It shall not be on one day here and on another day elsewhere but on one and the same day It will be a general day of Judgment not only in respect of all conditions of men but also of all places they shall be gathered from the four Winds Mar. 13.27 from all quarters of the World Yea his coming shall then be not only on one and the same Universal or general day but on one and the same hour of that day in respect of all People In an hour of that day the Trumpet shall sound Mat. 24.31 1 Thes 4.16 then all in all places shall hear the Voice thereof at that same moment even at the twinkling of an eye 1 Cor. 15.52 In vain shall the Plea of any be alledging that it is Tuesday then with some People and it is but Monday with us O let us tarry till Tuseday too or that it is but one of the Clock with us and it is three or more with others and therefore too soon for them No for their account of the day will not serve the turn All shall find that hour to be a general hour of a general or Universal day that is not sooner in one place than in another CHAP. VI. The difference between Horizontal and Meridional days THere is not a little difference between the Meridional and the Horizontal day as may appear by what hath been before said First They differ in length and duration for the Meridional day whereby the Jews counted the days of their Months and we the days of our Weeks and Months is in time four and twenty hours without any sensible difference But the Horizontal day by which the Jews count the days of their weeks from Sun-setting to Sun-setting or from Sun-rising to Sun-rising by which some other have counted the days of their week is sometimes in some places near five and twenty hours and at some other time in the same places it will be but about three and twenty hours in length When I say the Horizontal day is the time between Sun-setting and Sun-setting or between Sun-rising and Sun-rising I mean so in all places in and between the temperate Zones and not in places near either of the Poles where it is continual day-light for many days together From Sun-setting to Sun-setting in those places cannot properly be termed a day having in it many revolutions of the Sun never was it in use with any People to mete out unto them their Week Month Year or Age. Men living in such places measure out their weeks and months by Meridional days as we do Neither is there any mention made of such days any where in Sacred Scripture and it is of such kind of days as are there mentioned which I promised to speak of See chap. 1. Secondly they differ much in respect of their beginning and ending Here in York and other places of England there is sometimes five sometimes eight and never so little as three hours difference between their beginnings and the like between their endings Whence it must follow that every of the week-days with the Jews consisted partly of two days of their month and that every day of the month with them consisted partly of two of their week-days the days of their month being Meridional and their days of the week Horizontal days as I said before The knowledge hereof is very useful for the reconciling divers places and resolving divers doubts in the Sacred Scripture about the Jews customs in observing their feasts as for instance if it be demanded 1. Whether the Israelites ate the Passover in Egypt and came out of Egypt from Rameses on one and the same day Sith it is said that on the fourteenth day at Even they ate the Passover Exod. 12.8 but it was the next day being the morrow after viz. the fifteenth day when they came from Rameses Numb 33.3 Or whether our Saviour Christ ate the Passover with his Disciples and after that suffered Death
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-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-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