but the Sabbath and surely he understood his own Institution and was not mistaken in the Day And the Doctor p. 4. says The Words he Blessed and Sanctified it may be a strong Intimation for Mankind ever after to observe the Seventh day c. But he says is not expresly said And that the Seventh day Blessed and Sanctified Gen. 2. 2 3. is not only a strong Intimation as the Doctor but does include the Seventh day of every Week afterward in a continual Succession or Circulation of Days and Weeks I think is proved by the Words of Blessing and Sanctifying or making Holy the Seventh day which are comprehensive Words and from Exod. 20. 10 11. as that day of every Week which Men were and are to remember to keep Holy And God's Sabbatizing on the Seventh day was as I think that Man might keep the Sabbath day in the continual Circulation of Weeks in a Spiritual Rest And in this Scripture Gen. 2. 2. we have the Foundation for the Seventh day Sabbath where the Words are And on the seventh day God had ended his work which he had made and he rested or sabbatized on the seventh day from all his work which he had made Heb. 4. 4. Where it is said he spake of the Seventh day in this wise and God did rest the seventh day from all his works and Elohim blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because that in it he had rested from all his works which God created and made Gen. 2. 3. And from God's Sabbatizing here it is That the seventh day is called the sabbath Exod. 20. 9. 11. And throughout the Old and New-Testament from the Heb. root Shabath he kept Sabbath And the Lords Blessing the Seventh day Gen. 2. 3. makes it a day of his distributing the greatest heavenly Blessings upon all that obey his Voice And his Sanctifying the Seventh day shews it to be Consecrated and so separated from all common Works and earthly Employments and shews it to be Dedicated and Sanctified by him to his Worship as an Holy day and as his day i. e. the Lords day to be used in Holy Solemn Exercises of Religion as long as the World lasts till Believers come to that Sabbatism in Heaven which remains for the People of God Heb. 4. 4 8 9. And he that doubts the Seventh day Gen. 2. 2 3. does not include every Seventh day in the continual Succession of Weeks may see by comparing Exod. 20. that this Institution is not mentioned in Exod. 20. as then first given but as that which God had Instituted upon his creating the World and the keeping the weekly Sabbath was as absolutely necessary for the Spiritual good of those Believers and others who lived in the first Ages of the World after the Fall and of Adam and Eve also if they had not fallen as it is for us at this day to Contemplate his infinite Excellencies and mighty Works And p. 3. from Gen. 2. 2 3. and Exod. 20. 11. he does agree that God hath appointed after six days of ordinary Labour Man should observe a Seventh day of Holy rest and this in a continual Succession which I think goes far to resolve this question not a but the Seventh day only being first instituted Gen. 2. and afterward observed as a Sabbath throughout the Scriptures And if he agrees as he does p. 3. that it was the Seventh day that was Blessed and Sanctified Gen. 2. 3. and that this is a clear and ancient Testimony for the Holiness of time as he doth then till another Sanctified Day of the Week and another weekly time can be found which is Blessed and Sanctified by the Lord we are for ought I can see to rest or keep Sabbath upon the Seventh day as our Lord did by whom we have no other weekly Day or Time Consecrated or observed as Holy but only the Seventh day and the Doctor 's opinion of the Holiness of this time has confirmed and as I think established my Thoughts of the Holiness of the Seventh-day-Sabbath I agree also with him that the Law of the Sabbath is one of the Ten Commands Exod. 20. and am not only willing to think as the Doctor but am satisfied it was a Law before and that not only because we find it observed Exod. 16. before the Law given at Sinai Exod 20. in which Exod. 16. 25 26. the Seventh day is called a Sabbath to the Lord i. e. the Lord's day but especially as the Doctor acknowledges for that Gen. 2. 3. God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because in it he rested from all his Work and I do with the Doctor think this a clear Testimony and as ancient as the Creation for the Holiness of Time i. e. as far as I can possibly discern for the Holiness of the weekly Seventh day for there was no other weekly Day then or since made Holy that we can find in the Word but the Seventh day only and this alone will go very far to resolve and settle this question I agree also with the Doctor that the Law of the Decalogue or Ten Commandments tho' then given to Israel is binding to us also p. 3. 4. And I think we have sufficient Evidence from the Scriptures that the Sabbath was observed from the Creation to the Flood tho' he thinks in the short History Moses gives of that time there be no mention made of such Observation from the Creation to the Flood For First on the Seventh day God Heb. Elohim had ended his Work which he had made and he Sabbatized on the Seventh day from all his Work which he had made Gen. 2. 2. The Example of God's keeping the first seventh-day-Seventh-day-Sabbath is one undeniable Evidence of the seventh-day-Seventh-day-Sabbath kept after the Creation For Gen. 2. 1. The heavens and the earth and all the Hosts of them were finished before the seventh day and so the Seventh day was kept after the Creation and before the Flood A second Evidence is the same repeated Gen. 2. 3. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because that in it he had rested from all his Work which he had Created and Made Which Repetition of God's resting the Seventh day does strongly inculcate and inforce our Duty and certainly prove that God had rested the Seventh day after the Creation and before the Flood A third Evidence from the Case of Cain and Abel Gen. 4. 3. And in process of time Cain brought an offering to the Lord and v. 4. Abel also brought his offering In Process of Time Heb. Mikketz Jammin at the end of Days or at the cutting off of Days Enquiry p. 23. Which end or cutting off of days so far as God hath revealed seems to be the end of the Days of the Week when the reckoning of Days was cut off and after the Seventh day ended they were to begin to reckon again 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 and 't was the Seventh day the last day
Days began at or about Sun-set and supposing the Darkness and light were the Evening and Morning of the three first Days Gen. 1. 5 8 13. sure the Days then did not begin at mid-night when Darkness began the Day and Darkness and Light made up the First day and so the Second day and so the Third day which Word I think may settle that Point that the Days did not begin at mid-night Suppose also the Sun Created as it was the Fourth day and went round the Earth every day after it was created as it did and does to this Day But on what part of the Fourth day the Sun was created is not certainly revealed that I know The Fowls and the Fishes were created upon the fifth day And Adam was created on the Sixth day and being created in the image of God was made capable of knowing and contemplating the Perfections of him that created him and of observing and keeping Holy the Seventh day which presently after his Creation was Consecrated or made Holy and Blessed to let him into that Spiritual and Heavenly Life and Rest which his State of Innoceney made easie and pleasant to him And in Reply to one of the Doctor 's Expedients we may also suppose the Sun when set in the Firmament Gen. 1. 17. travelled Westward round the Earth daily as it still doth Now when the Sun did set the Fourth day then the Fifth day began at Paradice and when the Sun did set there next the Sixth day began there and when the Sun did next set there the Seventh day began there and that first Seventh day was probably as long as the other Days of the Week were and are And as the Posterity of Adam and so of Noah travelled East West North or South by degrees the Earth was overspread Gen. 9. 19. and into whatever Country they came as the Sun did set so every Day of the Week began and so on to this day I Write as plain as I can So as the weekly Seventh day did begin as the Sun did set in every place round the Earth from Paradice Westward till the Sun came about in 24 hours to Paradice again And for an instance and for certainties sake I will begin with the Eleventh of March the vernal Aequinox 1692 3 which falls out to be the Seventh day of the Week And the Seventh day at the Creation did begin as the three First days and the other Week-days did that is in the Evening as Mr. Chafie and many other Learned Men do agree at or about Sun set as I think is before shewn and lasted 24 Hours from Evening to Evening according to Gen. 1 and Gen. 2. And the Sabbath day then was as it still is proportionably as long as the other Six Days of the Week allowed for Work or rather wherein we are commanded to work every of which six Days hath a Night or Darkness as well as Day Light in which Night or Darkness if need be Men may as lawfully work as in the Day Light tho generally the Day is made for Work and the Night for Rest And so the Sabbath day hath an Evening and a Morning that is a Night and Day of Holy Rest in which Night we may take Rest as in other Nights As for those who begin the Sabbath day in the Morning they lose the Evening that is the Night of that Day which being no part of the Sixth day nor to such any part of the Seventh day yet 12 Hours of time between the End of the Sixth and Morning of their Seventh day would cease to them to be any part of the Week if their Opinion would hold who begin the Sabbath in the Morning unless they continue their Sabbath till the next Morning and so turn God's first Institution upside down Others who begin and end the Sabbath day at mid-night being then generally asleep at both when they begin and end it they cannot tell when they begin or end it and so must needs loose those Meditations which are peculiar to the one and to the other and how any can begin or end it at mid night I know not But supposing as before the Evening in all Parts of the Earth begins and ends the Day then it is easie for all to know the beginning and ending of it And as the Evening and Morning made up every Day of the Week in Paradice so Evening and Morning as Mankind came about the Earth made up every Day of the Week everywhere else and as the Evening of the Seventh day came so the Sabbath began and the Sabbath ended everywhere as the rest of the Days of the Week ended that is the Evening after And if this be the true Scheme of Days then somewhere in the Round of the Earth every Inhabitant of it the 11th of March 1692 3. may not only keep the Sabbath but certainly know when it begins and ends and will have also their full six Nights and Days in the Week for their Work and Callings And so as Adam or his Posterity and so as Noah or his Posterity travelled into any part of the Earth East West North or South where ever they came after six days of Travel or other Labour they might as the Sun did set Rest the Seventh day And all the tying up all parts of the Earth to the precise time or moment of the Lords resting in the Evening of the first Seventh day at the Creation and that the Seventh day Sabbath everywhere over the Earth ever after must begin and end the same minute the first Sabbath began and ended whether it be at mid-day or mid night or any other part of Night or Day seems a meer cramping of the Question without any Ground for it that I know from the Word Whereas if the days begin in the Evening as I think they do and if the Evening and the Morning do constitute and make up a day as they do then all the Scruples raised when every Day of the Week and in particular when the Seventh day-Sabbath all over the Earth doth begin and end are resolved that is in the Evening and so the two long days in Joshuah's and Ezekiah's times make no alteration of Days as in the Enquiry And so the Evening and the Morning make up every Day of the Week to us in England and to every other Nation in the Earth and for any other certain way to resolve when the days do begin and end but by Gods first appointment I know not for else it would put the most skilful Mathematicians everywhere to a stand when to begin and end the Days and leave all Computations of Days and Weeks and Time in uncertainties and great disorder I take the 11th of March the vernal Aequinox because Astronomers agree the Sun to be then in the Aequator as it is the 11th of September at the Autumnal Aequinox at which times the Days and Nights are by them said to be equal all over the Earth
not hard to say 't is probable that Aarons preaching to them all the words the Lord had spoken and their worshipping was upon the Sabbath day as will further appear in Exod. 5. 4 5 8 14 17 19. In Exod. 5. 1. Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh Thus saith the Lord God of Israel let my people go that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness and 't is not over hard to imagine what that Feast was which by comparing Exod. 14. where the Aegyptians were drowned Exod. 15. 1 22 23. where is Moses's song and the murmuring at Morah and Exod. 16. 1 23. it s likely was the Feast of the Sabbath Exod. 5. 2. Pharaoh said Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice to let Israel go and ver 3. Moses and Aaron said the God of the Hebrews bath met with us let us go we pray thee and sacrifice unto the Lord our God and ver 4. the King said unto them Wherefore do ye Moses and Aaron let the people or make them to cease from their work get you to your burdens and Exod 5. 5. Pharaoh said behold the people of the land now are many and you make them rest from their burdens You make them rest Heb. Vehishbattem which as I take it is in the conjugation Hiphil praeterit tense second Person plural number from the root Shabath he kept Sabbath and signifies and yemake them to keep sabbath from their burdens the very same root in Gen. 2. 2. God sabatized rested or kept Sabbath on the seventh Day from all his Work which he had made and from the same root Gen. 2. 3. and God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made So as Pharaoh charges Moses and Aaron as making the Israelites to cease from their Work and as making of them to keep Sabbath from their Burdens And when the Word of God is so plain and full and certain and that by the Mouth of Pharaoh an enemy that Moses and Aaron did make the Israelites cease from their Work ver 4. and did make them keep Sabbath ver 5. For the Doctor to say against such a plain Word beside what was said before of Abel Abraham c. as he does p. 7. And I think sometimes afterward to the like effect that we have not the least mention of the Sabbath from Gen. 2. 3. 'till after Israels coming out of Aegypt may excuse my so long insisting on these Scriptures So we have here in Exod. 5. 5. express mention of the Israelites ceasing from their work and keeping the Sabbath and the Taskmasters exacting their daily Tasks every day Exod. 5. 13 14. shews this which are evidences for keeping the Sabbath before they came out of Aegypt and Exod. 5. 17. Pharaoh upbraids them as idle therefore ye say let us go to do Sacrifice to the Lord. And the Sacrifices though they were to be offered every day yet as a Feast-day were offered on the Sabbath And Exod. 8. 1 8 25 26 27 28. and Exod. 9. 1 13. and Exod. 10. 3 7 8 9 11 22 24 25. are agreeable to Exod. 3. 4. 5. and Exod. 12. 12 13. After the Plague upon the first Born Pharaoh to Moses and Aaron rise up get you forth and go and serve the Lord as ye have said also take your Flocks and your Heards as ye have said and be gone and bless me also And that excellent History does shew how the Lord delivered his people out of Pharaoh's hand and all his strugling to hinder the Service of God and to debar them of the liberty to offer Spiritual Sacrifices unto him did all contribute to make the Deliverance more compleat from that oppressing Bondage sedately to serve God and keep his Sabbaths as in Exod. 16. 23. where they had a Feast of Bread from Heaven ver 4. and I think ver 13. of Quails also besides their Flocks and Heards Exod. 12. 12 13. Another proof that Moses and Aaron and the Israelites had the knowledge of the Seventh-day-Sabbath and did observe it and that before the Law at Sainai is from Exod. 16. As to the Doctor 's Opinion of a new Institution of another Sabbath Exod. 15. 23 25. at Marah I answer that upon their murmuring there because the Waters were bitter which were there cured by a Tree which the Lord shewed Moses he made a Statute and an Ordinance and there he proved them ver 25. 26. said If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of Jehovah thy God and wilt do that which is right in his sight and wilt give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes I will put none of these diseases upon thee which I have brought upon the Aegyptians for I am the Lord that healeth thee which seems expresly the Statute and Ordinances before mentioned which Statute and Ordinance confirms the Lords Commandments and all his Statutes but alters none of them so that the conceit of a new Sabbath day here instituted without any word from God is a meer conjecture by learned Mr. Chafie as afterward and what that Statute and Ordinance was the Doctor says p. 4. We cannot tell which I think is enough to set aside all new Epocha here And Exod. 15. 27. from Marah they came to Elim where they encamped by other Waters And Exod. 16. 1. They journyed from Elim to the Wilderness of Sin and there they murmured again for want of Bread and Exod. 16. 2 3. the Lord to Moses I will rain bread from heaven for you and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day ver 4. And the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily ver 5. And at even the quails came up ver 13. And every man gathered the Manna every morning ver 4. 21. which was every Day of the Week except the seventh Day ver 22. So the Lord there reckons the days the sixth Day and the seventh Day after the same manner as at the first Gen. 1. and Gen. 2. And this as it seems was not at Elim nor at Marah but at another place and time viz. in the Wilderness of Sin which is between Elim and Synai Exod. 16. 1. But that the Lord there altered the way of numbring the days or instituted a new Sabbath day no such thing is there that I can find but reckons the sixth and seventh days which supposes the 1 2 3 4 and 5 to make up the Week in the same manner as Gen. 1. and Gen. 2. to which seventh Day as Exod. 5. 5. the Israelites in Aegypt were no strangers And the Sabbath ver 23. is here called the Holy Sabbath that is the Sabbath hallowed or sanctified by the Lord Gen. 2. 3. and the Sabbath is four times called the seventh Day from ver 26. to 30. But not a word
but according to the pleasure of men as I think the First day is whereas the Seventh day is appointed by the Lord and the Conscience and whole life of man ought to be governed by the commandments of God without adding or diminishing Deut. 12. 32. Matth. 15. 6 9. Which commandments of men have indeed a shew of wisdom in will-worship Coloss 2. 23. Worship which some men imposed on themselves and others as if they could do and teach better and wiser then God had commanded which it seems is an old and humane Infirmity Mr. Cawdrey and Mr. Palmer in their Treatise of the Sabbath pag. 50. say That the Apostle in Col. 2. 16. speaks of the other Holy days and Sabbaths and not of the weekly Sabbath Mr. Sheppard in his Doctrine of the Sabbath pag. 166. Thes 181. speaking of Gal. 4. 10. Rom. 14. 4 5. Col. 2. 16 c. saith If we suppose that these places be meant of the weekly Sabbath and riggidly urge them we may quickly press Blood instead of Milk out of them and wholly abolish as Walleus the Observation of any Christian Sabbath Doctor Owen in his Treatise of the Sabbath pag. 214. speaking of Col. 2. 16 17. saith It is known and confessed that at that time all judaical Observations of Days whether Feasts or Fasts Weekly Monthly or Annual were by themselves and all others called their Sabbaths And that kind of speech was then in common use is here observed by our Apostles it must therefore necessarily be allowed that there were two sorts of Sabbaths amongst them the first and Principal was the Weekly Sabbath so called from the rest of God upon the finishing of his Works and that other day became from their Analogy thereto to be called Sabbaths also But that the difference between these Sabbaths was great The one of them was ordained from the foundation of the world before the entrance of Sin and so belonged to all mankind in general to all Mankind the other were appointed in the Wilderness as a part of the peculiar Church-worship of the Israelites That the one was directly commanded in the Decalogue wherein the Law of our creation the Learned Doctor calls it the Law of our Creation was revived and expressed and that the other have their Institution expresly among the residue of ceremonial temporary Ordinances See to the like purpose p. 215 216 217. Mr. Richard Byfield in his Treatise on the Sabbath p. 130. on Col. 2. 16. saith That the Apostle there speaketh not of the Fourth Commandment because he treateth expresly of those Sabbaths which were of the same rank with the New Moons And that he speaketh as he doth to the Galatians chap. 4. 10. of the Observation of Days Months and Years which pertained to the Servitude and Bondage of weak and beggarly Rudiments as in ver 9. Now saith he that any precept of the Decalogue should be so accounted and reckoned as a weak and beggarly Rudiment was far from the Apostle to think and is abhorred to Christian Ears and Religion Which I think Answer to the Doctor 's Objections from Col. 2. 16 c. Which four Opinons I had from another hand since I came to London and if I had the use of my own persecuted Study and other Books here 't were easie I think to gather many more And upon the whole I find Col. 2. 16. to be against judging of Christians then and there and for ought appears against judging either way and so this place in whatsoever sence we take it makes only against judging in those cases Pag. 59. the Doctor takes the Law for the Seventh day Sabbath to be a new Yoke to the Gentiles because it was given to the Jews as a Sign or a distinctive mark and for a perpetual Covenant Exod. 31. 13 16 17. Ezek. 20. 12 20. But this also will be against him as we shall see by and by That it was then new to the Heathens who observed Sunday I agree T is true it was a sign but such a sign as all Proselytes did embrace and obey till the coming of Christ and by him is made a perpetual law Matth. 5. 18 c. and so a perpetual sign between him and his people And tho Circumcision were a sign yet that is ceased as before and Baptism instituted And the Pascal Lamb tho it were a distinction between the Israelites c. and the Aegyptians yet being a Type of Christ was lain aside by him at his Institution of the Lords Supper as before by the words This do in remembrance of me Luke 22. 19. and ceased at his Death And if it be meerly circumstantial and doth not at all influence Religion whether in the Temple or other place God be Worshipped John 4. 21. as the Doctor p. 60. p. 2. Yet God having so directly resolved that the Seventh day is the Sabbath that is not a new Yoke but an old Institution for the good of all Mankind given at the Creation and commanded in the Decalogue and so given by Christ And with the rest of the Commandments Matth. 5. 18. and Luke 16. 17. made perpetual by him and so I think is Christs Yoke and an easie Yoke for it is only to take the commanded weekly Seventh instead of the First day Matth. 11. 29 30. which the Doctor and others should willingly take upon them Pag. 60. he adds That the Jewish Sabbath so he often calls it and the Word Jewish runs much in his mind seems to be not a continuation of a former Sabbath but rather a new Institution which I cannot find in the Word as he says he has shewed before which upon all the search I have made I cannot find in all his Book and I am loath to observe what I often read therein the great Latitude he takes that way The Doctor p. 60. quotes the Enquiry p. 26. and says I press and put great weight upon it that the Seventh day is a Sign and perpetual Covenant to distinguish his People from other that is saith he the People of the Jews from other Nations which last words the People of the Jews from other Nations are added by the Doctor whereas my words and meaning was and is throughout that the Sabbath was and is a perpetual Sign and Covenant with all true Israelites that is all true Believers of all Nations in all Ages from the beginning of the World to the end of it to distinguish such from the disobedient to Gods Laws And such Artifice to add somewhat of his own to turn what is offered into his own Notion are blameable And for the Doctor to say as he there That Circumcision the Passover and the Seventh-day-Sabbath were distinctive Marks and at an end by the Death of Christ is not so 'T is true of Circumcision and the Passover that they are at an end as before but not of the Sabbath So that a particular unravelling the many Allegations which I think are not so would make
this Reply too large And he there makes the Sabbath abolished By which affirmings he may make other Commands abolished if his Sayings and Comments may pass for Doctrine to abolish and overthrow any part of the Law of God And adds there That it is as meerly circumstantial as the place of Worship is whether a Sabbath be kept on this or another day which is the Doctor 's Opinion I think directly against Gen. 2. 2 3. and against the Moral Law Exod. 20. 9 10 11. Established and made perpetual by Christ Matth. 5. 17 18. Luke 16. 17. besides his indifferency to this or another day My taking notice of the Doctor 's Allegations about Facts which much concern this question may be excused for that otherways some Readers may take them for true and so be misled in their judging this Case and many I have passed by which observing Readers may note Pag. 61. he repeats from Exod. 31. 13. that the Sabbath is a Sign and yet p. 60. 61. doubts was either not observed at all or long before this time had been forgot To which I Reply if the Sabbath were a Sign and such a perpetual Sign to be kept throughout their Generations as it was as the Doctor and if it were a perpetual Covenant between the Lord and them as it was as the Doctor and made known to them as before then surely they knew what day of the Week it was and forgot it not but observed it as they do every where where they live to this day which the Doctor has no reason that I know to doubt And if that were so that the Sabbath was long before forgot and if the days of the Week are all uncertain and none can tell which was which Where are we then but in utter uncertainties And these Objections from the Seventh-day-Sabbath being abolished and a perpetual Sign and yet forgot and uncertain contradict one another Pag. 61. he says God had a particular respect to their Rest from their Bondage in Aegypt by the Preface to all the Commands I the Lord thy God which brought thee out of Aegypt and by the close of this Command as repeated Deut. 5. 15. I Reply be it so yet that was such a Deliverance as the Gentiles then had a share in and as concerned all the People of God at that time in the World to take special notice of and such a Deliverance as is celebrated by all the Christians in the World to this day and doubtless will be so by all such to the end of the World and is celebrated as such I think in the English Common Prayer Book See their Catechism He there again recurs to Exod. 16. for a new Epocha of days which is Replyed to before that I find no such thing there as a new Epocha And pag. 62. he says As God by Moses did give a new Epocha or Beginning to a Circulation of Sabbaths at Marah so might Christ by himself or his Apostles fix another Epocha from his Resurrection I Reply that neither of these Epocha's being found in the Word I think the Doctor blameable for saying God did give a new Epocha by Moses which we do not read he did give and if it be not in the Word Why does the Doctor affirm that God by Moses gave it And he says It is not expresly said that Christ did bid his Apostles to fix another Epocha from his Resurrection yet he says he gave them Commandments for that purpose Acts 1. 2 3. Now for the Greatest Man living to say Christ gave them Commandments for that purpose without a word from Christ for that purpose seems to me highly blameable Every word of God is pure add thou not unto his words least he reprove thee Prov. 30. 5 6. We do suppose with Reason the Commandments given by Christ to the Apostles were to preach the Gospel to disciple all Nations to baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and to teach all things he had commanded them Matth. 28. 19 20. And see Mark 16. 15 16 17 18. Luke 24. 46. to 52 c. And we have other Commandments of Christ to some of his Disciples John 21. 1 2. where he gave this to Peter and in Peter I think to all the rest and to all succeeding Ministers of Christ ver 15. feed my Lambs ver 16 17. feed my Sheep ver 19. follow me which things did and do pertain to the Kingdom of God of which things Acts 1. 3. Christ spake but what Commandments in particular Christ gave to the Apostles for a new Epocha does not appear that I know there or elsewhere in the Word But when they are produced I hope his Ministers and Churches will receive them and what else the Apostles had by Inspiration of the Holy Spirit after Christs Ascension concerning the ordering of his Churchse and rightly constituted Offices or concerning any thing else which are recorded in the Scriptures we readily embrace And I may request the Doctor to take heed how he grafts any other Commandments for any purpose on Christ but what are written in his Word and if there be no such Commandment from Christ in the Word for that purpose for his Apostles to fix another Epocha from his Resurrection Why does the Doctor affirm it if his Cause were good yet such means to defend it I think cannot be justified and such affirmations in Facts material to the main question I think ought to be reproved As to what is said p. 62. That not one jott or tittle of the law meaning the Decalogue is destroyed I think he means that in Matth. 5. 17 18. but doth still continue in force and that we are all under that Law as to the substance of the Duty I Reply that he there again acknowledges that we are all under that Law that is under the Ten Commands and that they still continue in force And if so I would ask the Doctor one Question who asks me Divers Who can resolve us what is and what is not Substance in Gods Commands but God himself who gave them he knows what bad work several have made by endeavouring to mangle them especially those of the first Table and indeed those of both Tables For what is said p. 62. that Matth. 24. 20. Pray that your flight be not in winter nor on the sabbath day which flight was about thirty eight Years after Christs Resurrection that that makes nothing at all to my purpose I think a fair answer to that is in the Enquiry p. 73. 74 to which I add that we cannot as well argue from hence that it were a Sin to Labour in Winter as on the Sabbath day as the Doctor p. 63. for that the Sabbath and Winter stand on different Reasons which are obvious the Sabbath was commanded and the Winter bad to fly in because of the Cold Wet c. and work was not forbidden in Winter which was forbidden on the
Prudence to interpose and of tacit Limitations implyed I doubt reserves a liberty inconsistent with the Word and Law of God and very hard to be defended For with those Limitations and if Humane Laws shall determine the Divine Laws in some Parts of the World bad Men may find Pretences for the rankest Atheism Theism Arrianism and Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit notwithstanding the First Command for the foulest Corruptions and Invasions on Christian instituted Spiritual Worship notwithstanding the Second for the highest Prophanations of the Name of the Divine Majesty notwithstanding the Third as well as for polluting the Sabbath notwithstanding the Fourth and for Rebellion Murder Adultery Stealing False-witnessing and Covetting notwithstanding the other Six And so it seems to me such Limitations c. have need of many Cautions to correct them Now before I answer the Doctor 's two Expedients I first Reply to somewhat more I find in Mr. Chafie's Learned Tract Mr. Chafie in p. 2. of his Epistle says That Christ the Son of God hath taken away the Jews Sabbath and Established another contrary to what God the Father instituted c. Now tho I hope he was a very Good as well as a Learned Man yet he seems not to have then had clear Apprehensions of Christ as creating the World and then resting nor of Christ as instituting the Sabbath Gen. 2. 2 3. nor of Christ confirming the Moral Law at Synai c. Exod. 20. nor of Christ making it perpetual in Matth. 5. 18. Luke 16. 17. And in that Tract Mr. Chafie speaks of one Sabbath at the Creation another in Exod. 16. and another at the Resurrection of Christ by which Notion he makes to have been three Sabbaths from whom I think the Doctor takes up if I mistake him not the like opinion of three Sabbaths wherein I think they are both out as before And hereafter for Mr. Chafie's Notion of one Seventh-day-Sabbath at the Creation and another Seventh-day Sabbath in Exod. 16. I doubt would make two Seventh-day-Sabbaths in one Week of seven Days which seems to me inconsistent and would make the First day more uncertain also besides the uncertainties of the Doctor Mr. Chafie's opinion p. 19 20. That God hath not bound men to any set time to begin their Week and chap. 8. p. 18. he says The Law-giver himself hath plainly pointed out unto us in this Law that is in the Fourth Command which is the Lords Day or Sabbath of the Lord and that is the day following the six days of Labour with Men and that in every nation however they begin their Week the Seventhday thereof is the Lords p. 20. l. 9. p. 44. l. 6 7. and his Epistle p. 7. l. 4. and that the Seventh day is not to be reckoned from the six days of God's Labour but from the six days of Labour with Men and so also in his Postscript but doth acknowledge chap. 11. p. 35. it hath been the general opinion not only of the Vulgar but of the Learned also which opinion of the Learned I think is right that the Seventh day commanded us in this Law hath Relation only to the six Work-days of the Lord God and not to the six Work-days with Men which opinion of Mr. Chafie's for Mans Day is I think contrary to Gen. 2. 2. for on the seventh day God ended his work c. and rested the seventh day from all his work so as t was the six days God wrought which were the six working-Working-days and the Seventh day God rested when he ended his Work which was and is the Holy and Blessed Sabbath which first appointment of the Lord I find no where changed and so Exod. 20. 9 10 11. Six days shalt thou labour but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord in it thou shalt not do any work c. For in six days the Lord made Heaven and Earth and rested the seventh day wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy and so it seems very plain that the six Working-days are those on which the Lord wrought and the Resting or Sabbath day that which the Lord made Holy and Blessed and on which he Rested And Mr. Chafie in chap. 12. says God by his Law tyeth all Nations that at what time soever they begin the Week they work not on the Seventh day but sanctifie it Which would be true if men began the Week as the Lord directed in Gen. 1. but else by that Rule of Mr. Chafie's Friday in Turkey being their weekly Sabbath the Christians living in Turkey are bound by the Fourth Command to sanctifie Friday i. e. the sixth Day of the Week as the Lords Sabbath day because the Turks there so do And by the same Rule those Christians who live in any Heathen Nation where they Worship the Sun and observe Sunday there they must keep Sunday and Sanctifie it because the Heathens where they live so do And those Christians who live in those Christian Provinces who keep the Seventh day must keep the Seventh day as the Lords Day because others so keep it and for that reason And the like of those who live in any part of the World amongst the Israelites And those Christians who live in those Christian Countries where they keep the Seventh-day-Sabbath and the First day also must keep I know not which of them by Mr. Chafie's Rule And I take it as agreed we are not to keep two Days in a Week and that there are some such people of these sorts see Enquiry p. 119 c. Which Rule of Mr. Chafie's to resolve which is the Sabbath day commanded by the Practice of the Country where we live and that God hath not bound men when to begin their Week is to set up Mans Day as it seems to me against the Lords Day and I think the Doctor writes by for he seems to take it as he finds it Which Rule I doubt will agree neither with the letter or meaning of Gen. 2. 2 3. or of the Fourth Command What Mr. Chafie objects That by the different Horizons where-ever Paradice was which p. 17. he says is unknown no man can tell in the place where he liveth when to begin the Day of Gods resting at the Creation I Answer if our Sabbath did begin at the same instant of time that Gods first Rest did and Men were obliged to that instant then that were an hard objection But I know no place in the Word where it is said that every Sabbath afterward was to begin the same moment or time that the first Sabbath began in Paradice or at Synai c. Nor do I remember any thing so offered in any Writer But that the Sabbath then did and that Sabbaths afterward were to begin in the Evening everywhere as Time was distributed into Days at the Creation I think is before shewn and that every Day of the Week began in the Evening and lasted from Evening to Evening and that the
And if I had supposed the Sun in his Declination to either of the Topicks the various Climates and obliquity of the Horizon might have occasioned disputes which what I can I avoid and therefore take the 11th of March 1692 3. Nor do I enquire the place of Paradice where it is about which there are many disputes which place Learned Mr. Chafie confesseth is not known And if we know not where Paradice is then I cannot begin to give Instances of the Scheme before from thence but if it lies East or West from Mount Synai that will make some difference of time in the beginning and end of Days at Synai and at Paradice and yet not alter the days of the Week in either for that the Seventh day of the Week in Paradice was is and will be in the weekly Circulation of days the Seventh day of the Week there And the Seventh day in the Week at Synai though it may differ in degrees of Longitude from Paradice yet was is and will be in the weekly Circulation of Days the Seventh day of the Week at Synai and so of the rest of the Days there and in every other place as in Aegypt Exod. 5. 5. where the Israelites kept the Sabbath and Exod. 16. 1 23 to 30. in the Wilderness of Sin And yet notwithstanding that difference in Degrees between Paradice and Aegypt and the Wilderness and Synai that made no difference between them as to the beginning or ending of Days In Paradice the Seventh day as the First Second and other Week-days began in the Evening and ended the next Evening and so the Seventh day in Aegypt in the Wilderness and at Synai began in the Evening and ended the next Evening And at all those places according to appointment at the making of the World Gen. 1. and Gen. 2. notwithstanding the different Degrees or Minutes there might be of the Sun-setting at Paradice and at those places The Lord who knows all his own Works the Beginning or Head of whose Word is Truth Gen. 1. 1. Psal 119. 160. The entrance of whose words will give light Psal 119. 130. Blessed and made holy the seventh day Sabbath Gen. 2. 3. at Paradice And blessed and made holy the seventh day at Synai Exod. 20. 11 12. although it is likely there are some Degrees or Minutes between But how ever that be yet we are pretty certain by the Maps where Synai was and is and where Jerusalem was and is And according to the common received Principles of Astronomy fifteen Degrees making an Hour Jerusalem is situate about six Degrees in Longitude Westward from Synai and so the Sun sets at Jerusalem after his setting at Synai twenty four Minutes of an Hour or thereabout that is two fifth parts of an Hour Westward from Synai and yet that difference in the beginning of the Seventh day at Synai and of the Seventh day at Jerusalem made no alteration of the beginning or ending of the Seventh day-Sabbath at either The same Seventh day which was commanded to be remembered to be kept Holy at Mount Synai and which was repeated by Moses in Deuteronomy near Jordan which place near Jordan may be about twenty two Minutes of Longitude from Synai was certainly remembered and kept Holy by the Israelites at Mount Zion in Jerusalem with this difference that the Seventh day began at Jerusalem twenty four Minutes of an Hour after it began at Synai and some Minutes after it began near Jordan which made no alteration of Days at either but the Seventh day at Synai began in the Evening twenty four Minutes of an Hour before it began at Jerusalem and at Jerusalem the Seventh day began twenty four Minutes of an Hour Westward after it began at Synai and yet was the Seventh day in both and began in the Evening at both that is at or about Sun set at both notwithstanding the difference in time of twenty four Minutes which may a little direct how to find when the Seventh day doth begin and so of the rest of the Days every where This may be illustrated by further Instances and for certainties sake I will set out and begin to reckon from Jerusalem where they observed the true Seventh day Westward without setting a Meridian there altho it be Arbitrary as the Doctor acknowledgeth and may be set where we will and by degrees bring the Account round the Earth to Jerusalem again From Jerusalem to Colosse are about seven Degrees that is twenty eight Minutes From Jerusalem to Ephesus 9 Degrees that is 36 Minutes From Jerusalem to Antioch where Paul and his Company kept the Sabbath Acts 13. 13 14 15 16 27 42. q From Jerusalem to Philippi now ruined and desolate which was situated on the confines of Thrace are about 14 Degrees that is 56 Minutes where they kept the Sabbath Acts 16. 12 13 14. From Jerusalem to Corinth are about 17 Degrees that is 1 Hour and 8 Minutes yet this difference of time and so of beginning of the Sabbath made no alteration of the Sabbath where they also kept the Sabbath Acts 18. 1 4. As they did also as Thessalonica Acts 17. 1 2. where the Sun sets about 1 Hour and 10 Minutes after it sets at Jerusalem And every where as the Sun did set so the Sabbath day as every other Day of the Week did begin and end as before From Jerusalem to Warsaw in Poland are about 22 Degrees that is 1 Hour and 28 Minutes difference of Sun-setting From Jerusalem Westward to Vienna are about 29 Degrees that is 1 Hour 56 Minutes From Jerusalem to Rome are about 30 Degrees that is 2 Hours From Jerusalem to Amsterdam are about 40 Degrees i. e. 2 Hours and 40 Minutes From Jerusalem to Paris are 44 Degrees that is 2 Hours 56 Minutes From Jerusalem to London are about 48 Degres that is 3 Hours and 12 Minutes From Jerusalem to Edinburgh 49 Degrees that is 3 H. 16 Min. From Jerusalem to Dublin about 53 Degrees that is 3 Hours and 32 Minutes From Jerusalem to Lisbon are about 57 Degrees that is 3 Hours and 48 Minutes From Jerusalem to New England are about 120 Deg. that is 8 H. I have passed over the first Meridian which is Arbitrary as before and follow the Sun as it goes round the Globe of the Earth till it comes about to Jerusalem again which as to this way of accounting I think makes no alteration And all these differences in Hours and Minutes from the setting of the Sun at Jerusalem and the setting of the Sun in all these before-mentioned and all other places in the Earth make no alteration of the Days or of the Sabbath all which begin every where as the Sun sets every where and when the Sun every where did set so the Sabbath day as every other Day of the Week did begin and end as before I still follow the Sun from Jerusalem to Japan the Sun may be said to set seventeen Hours at Japan after it
may resort to the Book And to conclude Instead of further summing up what I have weakly written here in Reply to the Learned Doctor and others as I could I commend to the Reader a few Scriptures Gen. 2. 2 3 4. On the seventh day God ended his work which he had made and he rested the seventh day from all his work which he had made and God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because that in it he had rested from all his work which he had created and made and so the Sabbath is the day upon which God rested after his Work and which he Blessed and made Holy who is v. 4. Jehovah Aelohim the Lord God so the Seventh day is the Lords day Exod. 16. 29. The seventh-day-seventh-day-sabbath is said to be as it is a gift The Lord hath given you the sabbath and so we should take it as a Gift from him as his Gift and as the Lords day Exod. 20. 8 9 10 11. Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy c. The seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God and so the Seventh day is the Lords day Exod. 31. 13. The Lord calls them my sabbaths verily my sabbaths ye shall keep so the Sabbath is the Lords day it is a sign between me and you c. that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctifie you v. 14. and ye shall keep the sabbath because it is holiness to you v. 15. Six days work shall be done but the seventh is the sabbath of rest holiness to the Lord v. 16. the sabbath a perpetual covenant t is holiness to you v. 14. and holy to the Lord v. 15. v. 16. the sabbath a perpetual covenant and v. 17 a sign for ever For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed so the Seventh day is the Lords day And v. 18. The Lord gave to Moses to tables of testimony written with the finger of God And Exod. 32. 15 16. the tables were the work of God and the writing the writing of God upon which tables of testimony or witness the fourth command was one Exod. 35. 2. Six days shall work be done and on the seventh day it shall be to you holiness Lev. 23. 3. Six days shall work be done but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest an holy convocation ye shall do no work therein it is the sabbath of the Lord c. so the Seventh day is the Lords day Lev. 23. 32. from even unto even shall ye celebrate your sabbath which I think is directing in an Humiliation day which is there to begin in the Evening when they were to afflict themselves And I think states this part of the Question when the Days began that is in the Evening and when they ended that is at the next Evening which the Dr. p. 27. thinks began and ended at mid-night In Numb 15. 32. we have the case of the Man who gathered sticks not A but The Sabbath day which is a great certain undeniable example against the least prophaning of the Sabbath day Deut. 5. 12. Keep the sabbath day to sanctifie it as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee 13. Six days labour c. v. 14. But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God c. so the Seventh day is the Lords day of Rest i. e. the seventh day is the Lords day Psal 119. 1 6. blessed are those who walk in his law and in keeping of his commandments there is great reward Psal 19. 11. Esai 56. 2. Blessed is the man who keepeth the sabbath from polluting it v. 4. 6. from polluting it Ezek. 20. 13 16 24 my sabbath they greatly polluted if we would be Blessed keep his Sabbaths and dont pollute them which it seems was Israels Sin of old Esai 58. 13. If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath from doing thy pleasure on my holy day and call the sabbath a delight or delights the holy of the Lord so the Sabbath day is the Lords day honourable and shalt honour him not doing thine own ways nor finding thine own pleasure nor speaking thine own words v. 14. then shalt thou delight thy self in the Lord c. and is not that a desirable frame Ezek. 22. 1 2. The word of the Lord thou hast prophaned my sabbath v. 26. her Priests have violated my law c. and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths So the Sabbath day is the Lords day Ezek. 44. 4 5 15 24. in the prophesie of the new temple there is a promise that the Priests who shall come near unto the Lord to minister unto him they shall hallow my sabbaths So the Sabbath day is the Lords day Matth. 5. 17. Think not that I am come to destroy the law v. 18. For verity I say unto you till heaven and earth pass one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled dont think that Christ altered one tittle of the Law and so not one jot or tittle is yet passed from the Law Matth. 18. 8. Christ is said to be Lord of the Sabbath day and if Christ be Lord of the Sabbath day then the Sabbath day is the Lords day Mat. 24. 20. Pray that your flight be not on the sabbath day which flight was about 38 years after Christs Death which I think shews it was to continue after his Death that is as I think as long as the World lasts Matth. 28. 18 19 20. Christ to his Disciples go teach all nations teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and Christ with the Father and holy Spirit one Jehovah gave the commands as before Mark 1. 21. after Christs Baptism by John v. 9. Jesus came into Galilee preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God v. 14. repent ye and believe the Gospel v. 15. then he calls Simon and Andrew James and John and they followed him v. 16 to 20. and they went into Capernaum and straitway on the sabbath day he entered into the Synagogue and taught and Mark 2. 27. the sabbath was made for man for his good for his spiritual good Mark 16. 1 2. Jesus came into his own country and his disciples followed him and when the sabbath day was come he began to preach in the synagogue which also proves the Sab. made for the spiritual use of man Luke 4. 16 to 27. in v. 14. after his being tempted v. 13. Jesus returned in the power of the spirit into Galilee and v. 15. taught in their Synagogues and v 16. he came to Nazareth where he had been brought up and as his custom was he went into the Synagogue on the sabbath day and stood up for to read and preached the Gospel v. 17 to 29. and then he came down to Capernaum and taught them on the sabbath day besides divers other places in the Evangelists which do all prove
21 23. 1 Tim. 2. 8. God is a Spirit and his true worshippers did do and shall worship him in spirit and in truth And I know no colour now for the Holiness of Places for which yet as the Dr. p. 3. some are zealous I agree with him that Christmas is of Human Institution which I think he admits by the words so be it p. 3. which I think does also lay aside all other Holy Days which are but of Human Institution and p. 13. about Christmas the Doctor says It is not agreed amongst Chronologies either what Year or what Month much less what day of that Month our Saviour was Born yet he says we keep December the 25th in memory of his Birth as supposing him to have been then Born And p. 45. he says No Man at this Day knows what Day it was and p. 13. That we are at so great uncertainty as we reckon the Year 1692 from his Circumcision to begin the first of January and the same Year his Conception not till the 25th of March after as if his Birth and Circumcision had been a quarter of a Year before his Conception And so the Doctor leaves those days If I mistake not utterly uncertain In p. 12. he tells us The Pascal Tables which should direct us what day to keep Easter on do put us further out then if we had none at all I agree with the Doctor p. 2 3. that our Lord Jesus Christ according to his Divinity was God and is so the true God the God that made Heaven and Earth the God who delivered the Law at Mount Synai and I think those three the father the Son and the Holy Spirit are on Jehovah Deut. 6. 4. 5. Jehovah Aelohenu Jehovah our Mightiest is Jehovah Aechad is one Jehovah was is and will be one Jehovah i. e. the Lord our God is one Lord and Mark 12. 29 30. The Lord our God is one Lord which are the words of Jesus And I agree also that the Blessing and Sanctifying the seventh Day Gen. 2. 3. was by Jehovah the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit which goes far in this Question and I think proves the seventh Day to be the Lord's Day And when he has acknowledged the Father Son and the Holy Spirit to be three yet but one God the Lord Jehovah c. he adds p. 3. But he cannot agree that Christ as God and Man in Contradistinction to the Father and Holy Spirit did all those things for he that is Christ was not then Man Which Words of the Doctor of what he does agree and what he cannot agree insinuates as if I had said that Christ as God-Man did all those things which the Doctor cannot agree whereas he must needs know that is not so for I neither say nor ever thought till that I read it in Mr. G. T. and the Doctor that Christ was Incarnate at the making of the World or at his giving of the Law on Sinai so as the Doctor has not well surmized in this and any Reader may see it is not so for Christ took our Nature on him about 4000 years after the Creation and I find not a word of any Contradistinction between the Father and the Holy Spirit and the Son in the Enquiry but the direct contrary viz. their oneness with the Son in those Works which they both cannot but know And he adds p. 3. what he should rather say about our Lord Jesus Christ's blessing the seventh Day because he was not then the Lord Christ God and Man c. seems to make the Surmize somewhat worse upon which he says that I p. 64. lay great stress for neither I nor any other that I know has said or thought that Christ when he Blessed the seventh Day was then in the Flesh so that in this I think the Doctor blamable But the Doctor does acknowledge that the Son is Jehovah i. e. that he is Lord for which see Enquiry p. 9. 10. c. and I think he does believe that the Son of God is Jesus that is the Saviour the only Saviour and that he is Christ that is the anointed for that Glorious Blessed Work of Redemption that is the Messiah he is called as I think often in the Old-Testament For the Father has chosen us in him before the foundation of the World in him that is in the Lord Jesus Christ and our Lord Jesus Christ as Christ is expresly named Eph. 1. 2 3 4. And in Colos 1. 16. speaking of Christ as he by whom all things were created that are in Heaven and that are in Earth v. 17. and he is before all things he that is Christ is expresly Colos 1. 2 3. there named the Lord Jesus Christ and our Lord Jesus Christ who v. 19. created all things and Christ is named our Lord Jesus Christ in every Epistle from Rom. to the Heb. for so far I searched a little and that frequently and sometime after also Mr. G. T. whom the Doctor in this Objection seems to follow writes of this great Mystery in two or three places under the like and greater mistakes and so at present I leave him But for the Doctor to impose upon his Readers herein as he does p. 2 3. seems blameable And why he thus begins in a Case which relates to the Deity of Christ with such Insinuations for which he has no colour that I know from the Enquiry wherein Christ's Deity and his being Jehovah is directly affirmed unless it be at first to infuse some Prejudice I am not willing to conjecture And as to this if the Holy Spirit by Paul names Christ the Lord Jesus Christ and our Lord Jesus Christ in whom the Father hath chosen his before the foundation of the world by whom all things were created and who was before all things I see no reason why Mr. G. T. and the Doctor should vary from the Apostles expressions and divers other Scriptures And such Artifices the Reader may discern afterward I agree also with the Doctor That God who made the world in six days rested the seventh day Gen. 2. 2 3. Exod. 20. 11. And that he blessed the sabbath day and hallowed or Sanctified it Doctor p. 3. and here he does read it not a seventh bue the seventh Day the same Hebrew word here in Gen. 2. 2 3. Hashebigni which is used in Exod. 20. 10 11. which some would render there a seventh and the Reason and Sence of Gen. 2. 2 3. does require that it be rendered as the word signifies the Seventh Day for no man that I know does imagine that the Lord Gen. 2. 2 3. Blessed and Sanctified any other Day of the Week for Rest but that only on which he Rested and that was expresly not a but the Seventh and no other day of the Week and so I think for all after Seventh days in the Circulation of after Weeks and Christ in the time of his Incarnation kept not a Sabbath
Sabbath as the Doctor knows and so Matth. 24. 20. feems to the purpose for the Sabbath was to continue by that Text after the Death of Christ Pag. 63. my many other little Excursions as little to the purpose he will not name which is a short way of answering But says I take great pleasure to expose the name of Sunday by which name for distinction I sometimes call it as himself does often which if he pleaseth he may henceforth call the First day its true name as I often do and other snubbing of Sunday as the Doctor there I remember none but he often calls the Lords Sabbath by a reflecting addition which I often pass by without snubbing again He says 'T is true some of the Heathens did Worship the Sun but that they did it more on Sunday then on Monday or Tuesday is more then he knows or I can prove For Reply to which see Enquiry p. 88 89 90. And for his and others satisfaction herein I refer them to Mr. Chafies Learned Tract on the Fourth Command Reprinted 1692. which Reprinting I think of use being a Learned and Moderate Tract tho I think Mr. Chafie is out in the main Question about the Seventh day but helps much to prove the Worshipping the Sun weekly upon Sundays and many other Truths In which Tract Mr. Chafie p. 20. chap. 9. does shew that the Assyrians which seems to have been before Moses and one of the first Heathenish Dominions and that all Nations Worshipped the Sun with which Idolatry he says the Aegyptians and many of the Israelites and generally other Nations were infected where p. 23. Mr. Chafie tells us That those Sun-Worshippers on what Days of the Week they gave especial Worship to the Sun or Moon those Days were called by the Names of the Day of the Sun that is Sunday and the Day of the Moon that is Monday So as Sunday is a very ancient day of the Week and by him it appears they did very anciently divide their time by Weeks which ancient weekly Sun-Worship I think is proved by the Prohibition Deut. 4. 19. See also Ezek. 8. 16. 2 Kings 23. 5. Deut. 17. 3 c. In which 9th Chap. of Mr. Chafie's we have also how the Heathens always Worshipped towards the Sun rising pag. 26. 27 28 29. which Authorities the Doctor may easily sind Mr. Chafie says not any Nation of Note under Heaven but adored the Sun as their God the Sun was King and the Moon was Queen but the Sun was Trump The Chaldeans Persians Aegyptians Phenecians Trojans Grecians Romans Scythians Aethiopians Tartars c. all Worshipped the Sun And p. 71. Mr. Chafie says That Sunday was so called from our Heathen Ancestors who called this day that is Sunday so in honour of the Sun whom they Worshipped upon Sunday And p. 30. Mr. Chafie tells us That to take off the Israelites from this Idolatry the Lord used this means for one that they should not have the day of the Sun that is Sunday for the day of his Worship but the day before that is the Seventh day which I think refers to the time of the 16th or 20th of Exodus which proves not only the Observation of the Seventh day by the Israelites but of Sunday by the Heathens and that very anciently and that continually in the weekly Circulation of Days to this day tho' I think Mr. Chafie be out about the change of the Seventh day as before and after And Mr. Chafie chap. 15. p. 59. gives the Testimony of divers Ancient and Learned Writers which shew that the day of the Sun with the Gentiles was a Week-day even the same which Mathematici the Mathematicians of old called Sunday which seem sufficient Proofs that the Sun was Worshipped on Sunday and that weekly and that very anciently Which 9th and 15th Chapters of Mr. Chafie I think might give satisfaction that all Nations of Note under Heaven Worshipped the Sun and that very anciently as far back at least as the time of Moses and that upon Sunday and that towards Sun-rising that is towards the East and that weekly whilst the Israelites Worshipped weekly towards the West upon the Seventh day And Mr. Chafie p. 32. chap. 10. tells us That the Holy Place or Holy of Holies in the Temple at Jerusalem was towards the West and that when Worshippers Prayed there and Bowed their Posteriors were towards the Sun-rising and their Faces Westward and that Temple was built by the Lords special Direction Which is one of the means assigned by Mr. Chafie God used to take off the Israelites from Worshipping the Sun so Sun-Worship was long before that Which Tract of Mr. Chafie I shall a little further consider afterward Pag. 65 66 67. the Doctor considers the Names of our Days Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday which being now the known Names of the Days he thinks we need no more scruple the use of these Names then to talk of Pope Pious Clement c. Which I think he gives as answer to what is in the Enquiry p. 90. against those Names of Days whose Original the Doctor agrees to be from Heathenish Idols To which I Reply from one of the Texts quoted in the Enquiry Exod. 23. 13. Make no mention of the names of other Gods neither let it be heard out of thy mouth which Learned Mr. Chafie p. 30. l. 25. 26 27. thinks refers to the Idol Names of the Days of the Week which also proves the Antiquity of Sunday and the Antiquity of Weeks And the changing those Names of Days I remember was propounded by some of the Reformers about the beginning of the Reformation in England And Pope Sylvester the first of that Name hating the Name and Memory of the Gentile Gods gave order that the Days should be called by the Name of feriae as I remember they are named in the Centuries And it seems to me in this and some other cases the main Doubt is Whether we shall be ruled by the Word or no And the Names of our Days of the Week being Idolatrous as the Doctor agrees I did in the Enquiry p. 90. upon the occasion of Sunday say a little about them upon which the Doctor expatiates and falls hard upon Scruples Now causeless Scruples I yield are a Weakness but a true Conscientious Tenderness of Mind not to offend God in any thing wherein his Will in his Word is made known is as I think one of the most excellent Frames in Man And if the Doctor under his Notion of Scruples thinks to reflect upon Conscientious Obedience to the Word or any part thereof which I hope he does not he will be much to blame and God having so expresly forbidden the mention of the Names of Idols as these were by which the Days are called Sunsday Moonsday Tuiscosday Wodensday Thorsday Frizasday Saturnsday And having also expresly given us in his Word the proper true Names of the first second third fourth fifth