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-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-Sabbath-day we are to know First What the sabbath-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
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
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-work-days of the Lord God and not to the six work-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-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
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
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-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-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
A Brief TRACT ON THE FOURTH Commandment Wherein is Discover'd The CAUSE of all our CONTROVERSIES ABOUT THE 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-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-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-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-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
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-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-Sabbath-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
week which will be as good He doth deceive himself herein he may not put off the seventh to another day but should defer his business rather When men take the seventh day which is Sacred to the Lord and imploy the same about their own business either in whole or in part they may as truly be said to Rob the Lord as they under the Law were said so to do in not paying their due Tithes and offerings Mal 3.8 9. Sixthly The Lord was pleased to set out unto us the ground of this Law why he would have a day in a week appointed for his Worship rather than a week in every month or a month in every year And why he would have the seventh day for his Service rather than the tenth the ground hereof the Lord here sheweth to be this In six days the Lord made Heaven and Earth the Sea and all that in them is and rested the seventh day The same ground for the Sanctification of the seventh day is also declared before in Gen. 2.3 Seventhly The Lord declareth and he would have his People hereby to know that he hath Annexed a Blessing unto this day God Blessed the seventh day They who wait on the Lord and Serve him sincerely during this their day of attendance shall find the Lord a bountiful rewarder their ceasing from labour for doing him service shall be for their profit they shall be gainers thereby Lastly If there had been none other reason or motive to stir us up unto Obedience in a careful keeping of the seventh day unto the Honour of Good yet this alone which the Lord hath given in the Close of this Commandment should suffice The Lord hath Sanctified it God hath Instituted it But when the Lord hath given us such a special Charge of remembring the sabbath-Sabbath-day to Sanctifie it and hath so plainly pointed out unto us what the day is which he will have us to Sanctifie that none may plead Ignorance about the time and how many words the Lord used in prohibiting all works and in the enumeration of all degrees prohibited laying down also the equity hereof and his own example together with his Blessing it and his Soveraign Institution hereof how can any without palpable Ignorance or wilful Rebellion plead Ignorance of the Sabbath or knowing it not yield ready Obedience thereto A POSTCRIPT TO THE READER I Pray thee when thou hast read this Tract consider seriously whether the day of rest the Seventh day in this Law commanded to be observed do relate to the six days of Gods Work or to the six days of mans labour It cannot relate to the six days of Gods work and so be the day of Gods Rest unless the day of Gods Rest and the Jews Sabbath day be the same and begin in all places at Sun-setting where-ever the Jews did or ought to observe their Sabbath which cannot possibly be except the Earth be plain as I have shewed Or except the day of Gods rest did at the first and doth begin sooner in some places than in other and so first at one particular place when it was no where else the day of Gods Rest either East or West thereto Both which are so against reason that no understanding man will hold either But if thou findest that the seventh day Commanded doth relate as truly it doth to the six days of labour with men and so must be the day following their six week-days of labour where-ever they live then consider whether Sunday be not as truly the day following the six days of labour with Christians as Saturday was with the Jews and as truly the seventh day with Christians and by the express words of this Law commanded to be kept Holy as the Saturday was with the Jews If so what cause thinkest thou have Jews Antinomians Libertines or any other to Scandalize or say of Christians that they do not nor at any time have observed the true time and day Commanded of God in this Law FINIS
according to their order that day was called by the name of that Planet so Worshipped As Saint-Worshippers do call the days of the month on which they gave special Worship to St. Peter St. John St. James St. Peters day St. Johns day and St. James day So did those Sun-Worshippers on what days of the week they gave special Woâ—ship to the Sun or Moon or Saturn those days were called by the names of the day of the Sun the day of the Moon the day of Saturn The time of the day for their Worship was ever the forenoon not the whole forenoon for them all but at the rising of the Sun when the first hour of their day for such Worship began And that Planet which came to be Worshipped by course the first hour of the day was counted Trump or Lord of that day They gave not equal Honour unto the Planets neither were the days of their week alike Sacred but they had the Sun in the greatest Honour and for their most high God next to him was the Moon and the next Saturn so accordingly were their days Sacred their chiefest day of the week being then the day of the Sun of which I will speak more when I come to speak of their seventh day Sacred Boëmus telleth us Writing of Assyria and their Customs that four of the Planets they had in less esteem than the rest His words are these Martem Venerem Mercurium Jovem prae caeteris observari quoniam velut proprium cursum sortiti futura ostenderent tanquam Deorum interpretes (a) Boëus ubi de Assyria quod ipsum adâ—o persuasum habuerunt ut quatuor ista astra uno nomine Mercurios appellâ—rent b That they diligently observed Mars Venus Mercury and Jupiter for these by their proper course would foreshew things to come as being Interpreters of the Gods out of confidence whereof they called all these four Stars Mercuries And my opinion is that as Boëmus doth here orderly recite their names in the same order did the Idolaters place them aloft in their Temples Mars on the right hand and Venus on the left hand of the other three chief then Mercury on the right hand next to Mars and Jupiter last on the left hand The reasons moving me to think these Idols to be thus placed aloft in their Temples are especially two First For that the Romish Church when they had got some power into their hands and did in Pope Boniface the fourth his days suppress the Idolatries of the Heathen who Worshipped their Idols in the Temple at Rome which was Dedicated to all the Gods and then called Pantheon and having instead thereof set up another kind of Worship like unto that even of the Virgin Mary and all Saâ—nts Whereupon that day was by that Pope Boniface made an Holy day called by the name of All Saints day and the Temple also Dedicated to the Virgin Mary and All Saints called thenceforth Ecclesia Beatae Mariae rotunda (b) Too Val. Nic. Triveth Com. in Aug. de Civit. Dei l. 2. c. 4. I will deliver the words of an Old Chronologer hereof Iste Bonifacius scilicet Quartus consecravit Pantheon id est Templum omnium Deorum ubi Christiani periclitabantur à Daemonibus Et est pulchra similitudo quomodo Spiritus Sanctus ex malis institutis Paganorum scit eligere Sanctum exercitium devotionis quasi medicina fiat ex veneno Vbi enim impii colebant Daemones ibi Christiani colunt omnes Sanctos sic ars deluditur arte (c) Fascicul temporum And a little after Festum omnium Sanctorum instituitur à Bonifacio quarto Then at that time I suppose were the Images of the Saints placed up on high in their Rood which common People here with us call their Roodloft in imitation of the Heathen For commonly when the Romish Church put down any Idolatrous custom of the Heathen then they set up another resembling that which they put down and this did they either for avoiding the greater scandal of the Heathen which were then potent or to win them the better by degrees to Christian Religion or for some other by respect As the Heathen had some one or other particular Planet or Idol to be the Patron and Protector of some one People or other anâ— so many Protectors as there were nations Belus for Assyria Diana for Ephesus Jupiter for Rome Juno for Samos Bacchus for Thebes c. So when that Idolatry was supprest instead of these Idols the Roman Church had Holy Saints to be invocated and had for Protectors in like manner Thus was St. James for Spain St. Dionysius for France St. Andrew for Scotland c. As the Heathen Idolaters had for several occasions several Gods and Goddesses on whom they called for help Bellona in time of War Cunina for Infants Segetia for standing Corn Forculus to keep the doors (a) Aug de Civ Dei l. 4. c. 1. c. So the Roman Church to win the Heathens by degrees suffered them to continue in Idolatry still but instead of their Demi-Gods they should invocate Saints St. Rumbal for the Tooth-ache St. Petronel for the Ague St. Loye for Horses St. Anthony for Pigs St. Gregory for Schollars St. George for Souldiers c. What were the Monks and Friars the Chast Shavelings and Holy Nuns but the Natural successors of Berecynthia's and Vesta's Priests and Virgins Rome Heathen had two Goddesses in special reverence Berecynthia and Vesta Berecynthia they held to be the Mother of the Gods (b) Aug. de Civ Dei l. 2. c. 4. Her Priests where Chast un-married men and if it happened that any one of them could not Live Chastly yet he lived Warily until that Atys (c) Tho. Vallois Nic. Triveth in Aug. de Civ Dei l. 2. c. 4 7. l. 7. c. 25. one of her dearest Priests lived neither Chastly nor Warily wherefore he was caused to be Gelded (d) Ovid. de fast l 4. after which time the Priests of Berecynthia otherwise called Cybel were Gelded also and as some Commentators on Augustine say were called Galli id est Castrati (e) Tho Val. Nic. Triveth locis praedic When these were put down by Christians Popish Priests and Fryars succeeded in their room untill this time It hath been wished by not a few that these had been Gelded also as were the former for though these have lived cautè warily yet is it notoriously known that they lived not castè Chastly no more than Atys did witness the many Bones and Sculls of Infants that have been credibly reported to have been found in their Motes and Ponds (f) Nic. Fox his Mart. p. 1155. Andr. Willet Synops Pap. Controv. 5. Quest 5. As for the other Goddess Vesta Ovid and Augustine witness and none denieth that her Priests were Virgins that Idolatrous custom being put down also this of Nuns and Votaries of Chastity unto the Honour of the Virgin Mary
Honour of their greatest God the Sun rather than that which before was held to the Honour of God the Creator Surely not any other And when the Assyrian and Chaldean Powers had as much as in them lay robbed God if I may so say of his Titles Attributes Providence Works of Creation Government and Worship and gave the chief of all their spoils to their chiefest God the Sun Nimrod giving him the name Baal (a) Jo. Greg. Assyr Monar which he afterwards assumed to himself (b) Biblian Belus giving him the name Jove Jehovah in the Hebrew the which he assumed afterward unto himself and was called Jove Bel. They called the Sun God and held him the God of Gods and Lord of Lords and Governour of all things and that the World was not Created but was from everlasting governed by the Planets the Sun being Chief and Soveraign Ruler Would they not do the like may any one think with that day which was held to the Honour of the Creator All that was known to be for the Worship and Honour of God the Creator they gave to the Honour of the Sun and therefore doubtless they deputed to the Sun that day also Again When they assigned to every of those Gods the several days of the week no indifferent understanding man but will conceive that they would Dedicate to their greatest God the Sun the day held before to the Honour of the great God of Heaven and Earth rather than to the Moon Mercury or other inferior Gods So that most likely the seventh day with the Patriarks was none other but that which afterwards was the Suns day with the Assyrians and from them was called the day of the Sun with other Nations also as the other week-days were called by the names of the other Planets and so by custom have they continued to be called with all Nations of any note for Civility and Knowledge except with the Jews only who after their coming out of Egypt had another day assigned unto them for their seventh Sacred day and had a special Command given them not to make any mention of those Gods of the Nations nor to have their names at all in their mouth as I have shewed before 2. Sunday was the seventh day of the week with the Gentiles as may be Collected from the Pens of many Learned Authors as well Christian as Heathen Aug. Steuchius in Gen. 2. Speaking of the seventh day affirmed that it was in omni aetate inter omnes gentes venerabilis sacer The like do Chrysostome Beda and other more whose words I have before in the 13. Chapter expressed Also amongst the most Antient Poets divers of them do testifie the same as Linus Callimachus Hesiod and Homer who was above two hundred years before Eudoxus knew what Astrology was All of them were Heathen yet all of them spake very laudably of the seventh Sacred day Their words for brevities sake I will not here rehearse sith they are to be seen and are urged by many Writers as namely Clem. Alexand. Strom. l. 5. Euseb de Praep. Evang. l. 13. c. 17. Rivetus in Gen. c. 2. and in his Dissert de Origine Sabba Also Dr. Heylin in his History of the Sabbath part 1. c. 4. Now the seventh day so laudably by them spoken of was the day of the Sun For 1. It was not Saturday the Jews seventh day The Gentiles liked the Jews Saturday as said a Papist the Devil doth Holy-water It was counted by them a disdainful novelty their Poets commonly would have one lash or other at the Jews for it and never spake in honour thereof 2. The Adversaries themselves do grant that the day of the Sun was the seventh day and Sacred also with the Heathen but here 's their evasion The seventh day Sacred to the Sun with the Heathen say they was the seventh day of the Month and not the seventh day of the week Now that the day of the Sun was the seventh day of the week with the Heathen and not the seventh day of the month thus I prove 1. Clemens and Eusebius both alledge the said Poets to shew that the Gentiles had the seventh day of the week Sacred with them 2. Other Authors generally take Sunday with the Gentiles for a week-day and not for the day of a month 3. Had the seventh day Sacred to the Sun been the seventh day of every month as they affirm the Greeks doubtless would have noted the same down in their Calenders Though they could not set down constantly the seventh day of the week by reason of their intercaling so many days at a time no more than others then could do and no more than we can set down the moveable Feasts that were with us unless it be in a yearly Almanack before that Julius Caesar had corrected the year Yet never shall we see a Calender in which the Principal immovable Sacred days were omitted Now there is an Antient Attick Calendar to be seen in Scaliger de emend temp wherein things of less consequence are noted but this seventh day Sacred to the Sun in each month cannot be found 4. Dr. Francis White and Dr. Heylin also tell us (b) White of the Sabbath p. 197. Heyl. par 2. p. 53. that Christians of the first Ages because they kept the Sunday for their Sacred Services and bowed Eastward in their Worship were upbraided for Sun-Worshippers though they neither Worshipped the Sun nor called their day of Worshipping God Sunday but the Lords day being their Sabbath Sacred day of Rest to the Lord. Surely if Sunday had not been with the Heathen who were Sun Worshippers indeed a weekly service day but the seventh day of the month only there had been no cause or ground why either Jew or Gentile should have cast such an aspersion on them of being Worshippers of the Sun 5. This may further appear by the decree of Pope Milchiades whom some call Miltiades the last of all the Popes that were Martyrs He to make a clear difference between the observation of Sunday by Christians and the observation of Sunday by the Heathen ordained that all Gentiles who were converted and were Christians should not fast on the Sundays nor on Thursdays as the other Gentiles did Note that as Wednesday Friday and Sunday were now in late times called Sacred or Prayer-days so were Thursday and Sunday in old times on which days they filled not themselves as on other days till their Sacred Services were ended The decree Sever. Binius on the Life of the said Pope sets down thus Jejunium verò Dominici diei quintae feriae nemo celebrare debet ut inter jejunium Christianorum Gentilium veraciter c. He would not that Christians should fast on the Thursday and on the Lords day called by the Gentiles Sunday that so there might be an open and apparent distinction between Christians and the Heathen in the observation of those days From which time
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
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-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-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
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