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-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
the first day The first things God made were day and night or light and darkness They were neither of them in time before the other but were both Coëtaneous There was in nature before though not in time a mixed or confused darkness which Moses called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen. 1.2 which Arias Montanus correcting Pagnin translateth and calleth it Caligo it was neither perfect day nor perfect night But when God had thence formed the light and made it to shine out of the darkness 2 Cor. 4.6 and had divided the light from the darkness so as that they should never be both in one Hemisphere but succeed in order each other which is called Gods Covenant of the day and of the night Jer. 33.20 God then called that light so divided Day and that darkness so divided called by Moses Emphatically 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God called night Gen. 1.4 5. the full Revolution of both which was the first day in this division of the light and darkness or day and night though the night was before the day in one Hemisphere and the day before the night in the other yet in respect of the whole Universe neither of them was before the other in time When the first day began somewhere when it was night at the same time that first day began some otherwhere when it was day-light every where did the first day begin at the same time The second day and the third day in like manner were Universal days When God stretched out the firmament on the second day it was every where then the second day On the next day also wheresoever God the Universal Worker did his work throughout the whole round in gathering together the Waters making the Seas and dry Land there every where was it the third day And after that every where was it the same third day where God made the Earth to bring forth Grass and Herbs and fruit-trees Gen. 1.11 12 13. no where was it then either the second or fourth day The fourth day in which the Sun Moon and Stars were made was an Universal day When it was the fourth day any where it was the fourth every where It is not revealed in what part of the fourth day those lights of Heaven were made but most certain is it that when the Sun first appeared to the World on that day it was over some part of the Earth at that time making it to be noon there and in all places in that Hemisphere which were in the same Meridian with the Sun And that in many places ninety degrees East from thence it was Sun-setting and in as many places ninety degrees West from thence it was then at the same time Sun-rising Also that in the other Hemisphere to which the Moon or Stars appeared it was then night and mid-night there in those places that were in the same Meridian with the Sun So that although on that fourth day Sun-setting was before Sun-rising in some places and Sun-rising before Sun-setting in some other places and in some places noon was before either of the other and in some other places mid-night was before them all yet in respect of the whole Earth not one of them was on that fourth day before the other But at the Suns first appearing and shining over half the Earth it was at that very instant the fourth day as well where it was Sun setting or Sun-rising as where it was noon and likewise it was then the fourth day also in the other part of the Earth to which the Moon or Stars first appeared For neither the Sun Moon or Stars appeared to any place on the third day which was the day before they were made and the fifth day was not then begun The like I say for the fifth day and for the sixth day when God made Fish and Foul on the fifth day or when he made Adam the last of his Creatures on the sixth day it was then after Sun-setting in some places and before Sun-rising in some other places and it was then noon in some places and mid-night in some other places yet all on the same day The like I say also for the seventh day the day of Gods rest When God rested from all his Works that he had made it was no where then the sixth day but every where the seventh day The day of Gods rest began in some places at Sun-rising in some places at Sun-setting and in some at noon and in other some at mid-night in the same day For so was it on the fourth day when the Sun first appeared and so when it was half ended and so likewise when it was fully ended and therefore so was it when the fifth sixth or seventh day began or ended It is not revealed and therefore no man can know what or where in the Earth those places are where it was Sun-rising or Sun-setting or noon or mid-night either when the Sun first shined forth to the World or when half of that fourth day was ended or when it was fully ended and therefore no man can tell nor possibly can any find out whether here in England or in any other particular place or Countrey it was Sun-setting or Sun-rising noon or mid-night day-light or night when the fifth sixth or seventh day the day of Gods Rest began and yet at the beginning of that seventh day it was either of these somewhere or other Quest But some may say why then did Moses rehearsing every of the six days Works of the Creation set the evening before the morning so if the evening was not before the morning Answ I answer Moses naming the evening in order before the morning in the first of Genesis Gen. 1.5.8 13 19 23 31. doth not thereby make either of them to be in time before the other one he was to name first and the reasons why he named the evening before the morning may be these First For that after the Israelites deliverance out of Egypt and I suppose this History to be written after that their Year their Months and the days of their Week were all changed in respect of their beginnings and endings so that whereas they began their days with the morning thenceforth they constantly began their Week-days with the evening See chap. 3. as I shall shew more at large in the next Chapter If Moses now should have set the morning before the evening he might have seemed to dislike this their new custom of beginning their days of the Week with the evening for which he had direction from the Lord God Secondly Or else it may be for that they who were best skill'd in dividing and distinguishing of time as were Astronomers such as doubtless Moses was who was Learned in all the Wisdom of the Egyptians Acts 7.22 began the day at noon making the evening that is all the time from noon to midnight to be the former part of the day and the evening that is all the time from mid-night to noon
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
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-Sabbath-day is to begin As for the day he tells us that the sabbath-Sabbath-day must be precisely the day of Gods Rest Thus Assoon as God had ended his VVork he ordained and appointed that the seventh day the day of his own Rest else he will not conceive that it can be the seventh day should be that on which the Church should rest (c) Page 21. Unless we rest that very seventh day in which God Rested we no more resemble his Rest than a man that hath a Ladder resembles Jacob that had a Vision of a Ladder (d) Page 90. As for the exact time when the Sabbath is to begin and end he tells us that the very minute in which the Sun is in the Horizon at his rising is the true beginning of the day and he proveth that it must so be for that when the fourth day at the Creation began the Sun was then in the Horizon at his rising so that any of the inferior sort of People he before spake of may by looking in his Almanack tell to a minute if Mr. Ironsides rule fail him not at any time throughout all the year and in any place throughout the World when the fourth day of the Creation and the very day of Gods Rest and so consequently when the Sabbath beginneth These are his words If the natural day be measured by the Revolution of the Sun as all confess sure it is that untill the Sun begin his course the day cannot begin At what time now did the Sun set forth upon the fourth day at the Creation Common reason will say when he first appeared in the Horizon The rising therefore of the Sun in the Horizon must needs be the first Period of the Natural day (e) Irons 7. Quest page 12. 3. 3ly He tells us that the Jews Sabbath-day was the day of Gods Rest and the same with that which God blessed and sanctified making no difference between all these three His words are these That particular Sabbath-day given unto the Jews even the day of Gods Rest is not a Sabbath but the Sabbath even that which God sanctifyed The Sabbath must be the same with the seventh or else there is no tolerable sense or congruity in that Law (f) Page 70. Whereas he saith the same with the seventh he meaneth by the seventh the seventh day from the Creation even the very day of Gods Rest which he proved to begin at the rising of the Sun like as the fourth day did Now whereas some may and that not without just cause doubt how the day of Gods Rest which began at Sunrising as he saith and the Jews Sabbath which ever began at the setting of the Sun wheresoever they dwelt could be one and the same day Sith that they as well in respect of their beginnings as also in respect of their endings are Heavenly wide the one from the other even as far as the Sun-rising is distant from Sun-setting between both which there must be half a days difference And so the day of Gods Rest must begin either at Sun-rising before the Jews Sabbath day began or at the Sun-rising after If at the Sun-rising before that is on the Friday morning then the Turks Sabbath so Doctor Heylin (a) Heyl. part 1. page 48. calleth it may more truly be called the day of Gods Rest than that of the Jews But if at the Sun-rising after then our Christian Sabbath-day ever began on the day of Gods Rest the which the Jews Sabbath never did For the wiping off this and all such doubts Mr. Ironside tells us both at what time and also by what means the day of Gods Rest and the Jews Sabbath was made to be one and the same day which were always two before His words are VVhen God Commanded the Jews their Sabbaths from evening ot evening the order of the Natural day was inverted by him not so much looking to the number of four and twenty hours as to the time of Israels deliverance out of Egypt which began when the Passover was eaten at Even (b) Iron p. 138. c. His meaning in these his Words may be conceived to be this When God Commanded the Jews after their coming out of Egypt to keep their Sabbath on the Saturday and to begin the same at the Sun-setting of the day before-going that is on Friday at the setting of the Sun God miraculously at an instant turned the East into the West and so the place of Sun-rising came unto the place of Sun-setting so close as they kissed each other as he saith the end of one contiguum is the beginning of the other (c) Iron p. 138. If such should not be his meaning it is not to be conceived how he should make Sun-rising and Sun-setting or the day of Gods Rest which he saith began at Sun-rising and the Jews Sabbath which began at Sun-setting to be one and the same Fourthly and lastly He tells us that the observation of the Sabbath is abrogated this error is strong with him because the Jews Sabbath-day is abrogated he thinking no difference to be made between the Jews Sabbath-day and
of them and gavâ— names to the Creatures suitable to their Natures He knew them to be not Eternal nor a year old and therefore might as well know their Age to a day When the Lord brought Eve unto him he knew her by sight He knew she was not three days nor a day Old He knew that she was made of him and on the same sixth day in which he himself was made and that the Lord on the next day rested from his Works of Creation By this Pattern and Standard of the Lord he might mete out time by weeks before he could have any Experimental knowledge of months and years which were afterward in time gotten by observation of the course of the Sun and Moon And we find that in Antient times there was much difference and variation in the count of years and months with People Some had but three months some ten the Jews had sometimes twelve and sometimes thirteen months to the year Their months did also much differ for length but never was the week counted to be more or less than seven days with any People Thirdly From the Testimony of sundry Learned and Pious Writers Chrysostome thus Jam hinc ab initio doctrinam hanc nobis insinuat Deus erudiens in circulo hebdomadae diem unum integrum segregandum reponendum ad spiritualem operationem (a) Christ Homil 10. in Gen. Aug. Steuchius on Gen. speaking of the seventh day affirmeth it to be in omni aetate inter omnes Gentes venerabilis sacer Beda in his Hexameron testifieth that the rest of the seventh day semper celebrari solebat They who compiled the Book of Homilies tell us That it is according to the Law of Nature to have a time as one day in the week wherein we ought to rest from our Lawful works (b) Hom. for the time of Prayer Mercer commended by Dr. Heylin for a Learned Protestant (c) Heyl. part 1. page 5. is of opinion that the first Fathers being taught of God keep the seventh day Holy Philo Judaeus also maketh this challenge Quis sacrum illum diem per singulas hebdomadas recurrentem non honorat (d) Phil. de vita Mos l. 2. Josephus to the same purpose Neque est ulla Civitas Graecorum aut Barbarorum neque ulla gens ad quam septimi diei in quo vacamus consuetudo minimè pervenerit (e) Jos Cont. App. l. 2. Fourthly From the Testimony of Antient Heathen Poets such as Homer Hesiod Callimachus and Linus who have spoken very Laudably of the Creation of the seventh day (f) Clem. Alex. Strom. l. 5. This knowledge of the Creation and of the seventh day and consequently of the count of days by sevens or weeks they could not have but by Tradition or from the Books of Moses From the Books of Moses doubtless they had it not for they were not Extant in the Greek Tongue until Ptolomie prevailed to get seventy two Seniors of the Jews to turn them into Greek which was many hundred of years after Homer While as the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah flourished the Gentiles could never get the least parcel of Sacred Scripture The Jews counted it to be an high Prophanation of the Books of Moses if they were any ways Communicated to the Heathen John Gregory plentifully sheweth and proveth that before this interpretation was made by the said 72 Seniors the Heathen had no light from the Books of Moses (a) Jo. Greg. discourse of the seventy c. If it should be supposed that the Poets got the knowledge of the seventh day from the Books of Moses then must it be the Jews Satturday-Sabbath which they spake so Laudably of but they knew that to be an Holy day with them no Antienter than Moses Septimum diem more Gentis Sabbatum appellatum in omne aevum jejunio sacravit Moses The seventh day with that Nation called the Sabbath Moses made a perpetual Holy day saith Trogius (a) Jo. Greg. discourse of the seventy c. (b) Trog l. 36. for which supposed Innovation brought in by Moses the Heathen generally envied them and their Poets wrote very disgracefully of them about their Sabbath-day It was not then from Moses but by Tradition that they had the knowledge of the Creation and of the seventh day Fifthly Gomarus who with all his might opposed the Morality of the Sabbath day doth yet acknowledge that Adam Methuselah Sem and Abraham had knowledge of the Creation and of the seventh day (c) Gomar de Sab. p. 113. And why not Moses also and thousands beside them Moses indeed had a full knowledge by Divine Revelation and infallible Inspiration by the Holy Ghost which guided him in the Historical Relation of the Creation of all things and of the day of Gods Rest as well as of other things related in his Books yet questionless he had some general knowledge by Tradition of most things he wrote of as they were delivered from Father to Son unto his days It would have been a very wild conceit of Gomarus to think when he wrote that the knowledge of the Creation and of the seventh day came from Adam to Methuselah and from him to Sem and from Sem to Abraham that the knowledge there of was intailed to the Heirs Male or to some Persons in a lineal descent from Noah to Abraham and not to others also Incredible is it that Noah should teach the knowledge thereof to Sem only and not to Cham and Japhet too and that Sem should reveal the same to Arphaxad only keeping it as a secret from all other his Sons and Daughters and that Arphaxad should do the like unto Sala and he to Hâ—ber and he to Peleg and he to Reu and he to Serug and he to Nahor and he to Terah and he to Abraham and that none of them should impart that knowledge to any other of their Sons and Daughters and that the remembrance as well of the seventh day as of the Creation was wholly extinct with Abraham Without all peradventure Cham and Japhet and their Posterities had and retained the knowledge thereof for many generations some of them to the days of the before-named Poets and long after too Orpheus Eschylus Aratus Pindarus Epicharmus and others mentioned by Clemens could else never have spoken so truly of Jehovah whom they called Jove as he relateth them to have done d Sixthly (a) Clem. Alex Strom. l. 5. From the Testimony of those who have been the chief Writers against the Sabbath 1. Mr. Ironside professeth that he maketh no question but that the Heathen who never heard of a seventh-day Sabbath have weeks as well as months and years (a) Irons ch 4. But he thinks they had the knowledge hereof by the subdivision of months as if knowing most of our months to consist of one and thirty days by subdividing them there must be just seven rather than eight days to
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-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-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-Sabbath-day in doing service unto God and the duties he requireth of us for his Honour we may therein be said not to make the day a day of rest but to break the rest or Sabbath yet not to break the Commandment by doing these works Thus Christ told the Pharisees that the Priests in the Temple did profane the Sabbath and are blameless Mat. 12.5 Sure they could not be said to be blameless had they by their Sacrificing Bullocks or Sheep broken the Commandment they brake the Sabbath they made it not a day of rest from these works and so were said to profane it that is in respect of these labours they made it common with other days all days being alike Lawful or common for doing works of Piety Secondly Works of Government of the Creatures subjected unto man were ordained of the Lord before man was made Let us make man saith God in our Image after our likeness and let them have dominion over c. Gen. 1.26 28. and when God had made man he commanded them to have Dominion over the Fish of the Sea over the Foul over Cattle and over every living thing upon the Earth This Law and Ordinance was not repealed or nulled by any succeeding Law Man is to exercise this his Rule and Government committed unto him on any day If fire should threaten to destroy a house or houses Corn or such like on the Sabbath-day man is as well bound to use his power in suppressing the same on the Sabbath-day as on any other If Water indanger drowning of Cattle or if Cattle strive together whereby some are like to perish and man do not succour and seek to preserve what was in danger because it was on the Sabbath day he sheweth himself to be a bad Governour of the Creature or if he should suffer Sheep or other Cattle to perish for want of Foddering Folding or Housing them as need requireth he is not worthy to have the Government of Cattle The like I say concerning works needful for the preservation of mans life When Adam was in the state of Innocency before ever the seventh day was even on the day of his Creation the Lord ordained him food Behold I have given you said God every herb bearing seed some whereof were Physical which is upon the face of all the Earth and every Tree in which is the fruit of a Tree yielding
the which could not be done without their making a fire Or otherwise if by this precept the Jews were not to make any fire at all on their Sabbath-day neither for the furtherance of their Services and duties towards God nor for the preservation of the health and life of man then I say that that precept was particularly given to the Jews and peculiarly concerned that Nation and no other Common-Wealth whatsoever And that this Commandment bound them not thereto no more than it bindeth us or any other People whatsoever This Law bound and doth bind all men to make the seventh day with them a day of rest not only from works of slavery commonly called servile works from which the Jews were bound on their Feast of the Passover Lev. 23.7 Num. 28.18 and on certain other of their feast-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-Sabbath-day that is in English the day of cessation or rest for that is the Sabbath of the Lord. We may well call it the Lords day or the Lords Sabbath for that it is a day holy to the Lord we are not only to cease from the works of our Professions and Callings on that day but are then to perform also and do duties and works of Holiness unto the Lord. On the seventh day is a cessation to rest a Convocation of holiness Lev. 23.3 Or as it is in our Translation The seventh day is the Sabbath of rest and Holy Convocation And in Exodus In the seventh day is the rest of cessation Holiness to the Lord Exod. 31.15 And a little after that In the seventh day shall be to you Holiness a rest of cessation unto the Lord Exod. 35.2 All which do shew that on the sabbath-Sabbath-day which is the day following our six days of labour we should not only rest from all our Functions and works of our Professions for getting of worldly Wealth and Maintenance but we are to keep this rest cessation or Sabbath holy to the Glory and Honour of the most great God our Creator and Redeemer Quest If any ask here whether it be lawful for an Apothecary to let Blood in case of great need or for a Physician to minister Physick to his sick Patient on the Sabbath-day Answ Doubtless it is lawful and not only so but either of them may go or ride for that purpose it being of the duties before spoken of for the preservation of the life and health of Mankind which are not forbidden by this Law provided neither of them do the same for his fee reward and gain for then he maketh it a work of his Profession for gaining of Worldly Wealth and maintenance which may be done on other days but not on the Sabbath without making himself a Transgressor And now I conclude this point with the express words of the Homily for the time of Prayer Thus it may plainly appear that Gods Will and Commandment was to have a solemn time and standing day in the week wherein the People should come together and have in remembrance his wonderful benefits and to render him thanks for them as appertaineth to loving kind and Obedient People And with that a little before And therefore by this Commandment we ought to have a time as one day in the week wherein we ought to rest yea from our lawful and needful works for like as it appeareth by the Commandment that no man in six days ought to be slothful or idle but diligently to labour in that state wherein God hath set him Even so God hath given express charge to all men that upon the sabbath-Sabbath-day which is now our Sunday they should cease from all weekly and work-work-day labour to the intent that like as God himself wrought six days and rested the seventh and Blessed and Sanctified it and Consecrated it to quietness and rest from labour even so Gods Obedient People should use the Sunday Holily As concerning the particular duties to be done on the Sabbath-day there being so many Learned and Godly men who have Written so fully of them and are or may be in most mens Hands or Closets I forbear to speak of them here for brevities sake referring the Reader to their Plenty and now in the next place will speak of the second part of this Commandment CHAP. XVII The great care and provision had by the Lord for mans keeping and Sanctifying the Sabbath day THE former part of this fourth Commandment which is that we should keep Holy the Sabbath-day hath been at large handled before now it resteth that I speak somewhat of the second part also which I will do briefly in this Chapter In this second part is set out in many words the great care and provision had of the Lord that men should observe this Law and keep holy the Sabbath day as God commandeth And this provision of the Lord standeth not in one two or three only but in many and weighty Inducements and reasons the least of which should have been sufficient to inforce our Obedience had not our hearts been hardned and we most rebellious wilfully refusing to yield Obedience unto the same The several inducements and reasons the Lord used to win us unto obedience to this Law are these First Is the Caveat prefixed only to this and to none other of the Commandments Remember Remember the Sabbath day to Sanctifie it This charge of heedfulness would mightily work upon an Obedient heart he would every day of his six be thinking how to do and dispatch all his businesses in those days that when the seventh day come he may freely without any incumbrance betake himself to the Worship and Service of his God and when it cometh will be mindful of the day and careful of observing and keeping the same Holy as his God Commandeth Secondly The Lord hath here plainly pointed out unto man what day is the Sabbath-day which he should Sanctifie The Lord hath affixed as it were an Index to this Law that as the true hour of the day is known and pointed out by the Index or Finger in a Dial whereby he that can but tell the number of the hour-lines may easily know what hour of the day it is so here he that can but tell the days of the week may easily tell what day is the sabbath-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
they keep the same from Sun-setting to sun-setting in all places where any of them had their abode unless the surface of the Earth had been plaid and not round 9. The Jews neither did nor could keep that very seventh day on which God Rested in all places as hath been shewed But as we according to Gods example work six days and rest the seventh so did they As the Sunday with Christians was ever the day following their six days of labour so was the Saturday with the Jews 10. The Jews Sabbath-day was not the day of Gods Rest as hath been shewed Neither as it was the Saturday their seventh from their first gathering Quails and Manna Nor as it began at the setting of the Sun was it directly by this Law Commanded to any In these respects it was Ceremonial and abolished That which is expressed in this Commandment they and all else are still bound to which is that having wrought the six days of labour they rest on the seventh day according to Gods example and keep it holy to the Lord. From this neither they nor any else living is freed It is Gods Law it will be great impiety and intrenching into the Prerogative of the most high God for any Persons whatsoever and under any pretence soever to seek the alteration or change hereof or to set and appoint any other day for Gods publick Worship in the stead of that which he himself hath set and appointed If the Earth be round all and every one of the ten beforegoing are true but if plain they all must needs be false I Having now shewed the Opinion of the most concerning weeks and the ground from whence that and many other errours sprang among which this is none of the least That the day of Gods rest the precise seventh day from the beginning of the Creation was the seventh day which God Commanded his Church in this Law to keep Holy as if the seventh day which God Blessed and Sanctified and commanded us in this Law should not relate to the six days labour of the week in use with men where they live but to the six first days of the Creation and so should be with People whereever they dwell the very day of Gods Rest from whence all our many and great contentions about the Sabbath have been raised and fostered I will in the next shew what weeks are CHAP. XII What a Week is The Seventh day of the Week is the Lords day A Week is the space of time made by seven whole days without intermission By seven days I mean seven such days as are all of one and the same kind If any of them be Horizontal days they are all to be Horizontal days such as were the seven days of the Week with the Jews And if any be Meridional they are all to be Meridional days as are the days of the week with Christians The Jews Sabbath or seventh day was from Sun-setting to Sun-setting therefore so should the six days of their week be also The six days of our week are from mid-night to mid-night and therefore the seventh is not to be from Sun-setting to Sun setting but from mid-night to mid-night also The seventh day must relate to the six days before-going The seventh day which was the day of Gods Rest cannot relate to the six days of work with any People Nor can the seventh day of the week with any People relate to the six days of Gods Work at the Creation these were not of the same kind of days with the week-days that now are or at any time heretofore have been or can be in use with men as I have already fully proved See Chap. 5. That seven whole days without intermission from any time as from Sunday to Sunday or from Saturday to Saturday or from Munday to Munday is a week may appear First From the several names and appellations by which a week is called with People of several Tongues and Languages Our Antient Saxons and we from them call it Sennight and two such weeks fortnight that is seven nights and fourteen nights The Romans called it Septimana that is seven mornings taking the morning for the whole day as the Saxons did the night With the Greeks it was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is defined to be Intervallum septem dierum That is seven dayâ— The Hebrews called a week not seven nights as the Saxons did nor seven mornings as the Romans did but as the Greeks did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seven days or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a seveny of days Secondly Frequently in Holy Scripture seven days from any set time is counted a week Laban bade Jacob fulfill her her week Gen. 29.27 meaning the seven days of Leas Marriage Such was the usual time for Marriage-feasts in those days Judg. 14 10 12. If a Woman was at any time delivered of a Man-child she was to be unclean seven days or a week but if she was delivered of a Maid-child Lâ—v. 12.2 5 she was to be unclean 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is two weeks And so is it in our last Translation The Lord appointed the Jews to count for their feast of Pentecost called their feast of Weeks thus On the morrow after the First-day of the Passover which never fell on the same day of the week two years together shalt thou number unto thee seven weeks Levit. 23.11 15 16. Deut. 16.9 So that it is evident that these their weeks for meting out unto them their Feast of Pentecost began from different times or days of their Sabbatical week Thirdly seven days so succeeding each other as that their boundary be the seventh day every indifferent man will grant to be a week But such may be from any set time or day Such were the seven days of unleavened bread they began sometimes on Monday and sometimes on Tuesday and sometimes on other days and never two years together on one and the same day of the Jews Sabbatical week Yet were those seven days a week with them even their week of Sweet Bread the boundary whereof was the seventh day Lev. 23.8 Deut. 16.8 Exod. 12.16 There is no difference made either in respect of Letters Vowels or Accents between the seventh day of the week of sweet Bread before-said and the seventh day of their Sabbatical week which with them was the Sabbath-day of the Lord. The like is to be said of the weeks appointed to their Priests for their judgment in the case of Leprosie Lev. 13.5.27 And of the weeks of Daniels mourning Dan. 10.2 3. By all which it is clear that a week is seven days succeeding each other from any set time or day and that if the first day thereof be known the seventh day of the same will be known also Next We are to know what the seventh day of the week is being the day here in this Law commanded to be kept Holy There is much difference between a seventh day and
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-Sabbath-day as well as on other days always provided that there be no irregularity in performing them We must have regard to necessity requiring present help when this giveth way the duties more excellent are more especially to be regarded And as these works may be done on the Lords day so may the necessary helps thereunto be then done also A man may on the Sabbath-day Travel on foot to the meeting place and assembly of Gods People and if he cannot well go on foot he may ride Also as men may feed fold or house their Cattle on the Lords day so may they use the necessary helps thereunto which could not be done the day before And so also may they not only eat drink sleep and take Physick according as need requireth but also may use needful helps thereunto as heating their meat and such like for all stomacks cannot feed on cold meat But let all take heed lest under a pretence of necessity he robs God of his due Honour and his Conscience of true Peace Object But here some will object that this Commandment tyed the Jâ—ws from kindling any fire on their Sabbath-day If then we are bound to keep this Law as strictly as the Jews were we ought not to kindle fire at all upon the Sabbath-day for any occasion whatsoever though for saving ones life Answer To which I answer that this precept in Exodus the five and thirtieth Chapter and third Verse forbade the Jews not from making any fire at all whether it be a help towards the duties of piety or mens health and safety But from making fire whereby it should be a help towards their Trades Occupations or Functions which are expresly forbidden to be done in this Commandment on the Sabbath day And that this is the meaning may appear for that First This precept hath an eye and reflecteth on the words immediately going before in the former Verse in which is a rehearsal of the summ of this fourth Commandment In these words according to the Hebrew Text (a) Arias Monta. Six days shall Function Occupation or Trade be done and in the seventh there shall be to you holiness a rest of cessation to the Lord every one doing his Function in that day shall die Then immediately followeth There shall no fire be kindled in all your habitations in the day of cessation The works about mens personal callings and functions for getting wealth being forbidden in the former Verse in this is forbidden the means tending thereto as the kindling of fire And haply kindling fire is here mentioned rather than any other means for that they being all Brick-makers in Egypt before they kindled fire throughout their Habitations for the burning their tale of Bricks But when works are lawful and needful to be done on the sabbath-Sabbath-day such as are works of piety and works of preserving the Life of Man the necessary helps thereunto as making fire is lawful also Secondly The continued and never blamed practice of the Jews of making fire on the Sabbath-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
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
seventh day from the first beginning of the Creation they will never come to agree in the Truth but more and more differences will still rise Whereas if they all consent in the true understanding of the aforesaid words of the Commandment that the seventh day relateth to the six days of work with men and so must be the day after the six week-days of labour with People wherever they dwell Agreement then of all sides will be had That great stumbling-block given the Jews of our not keeping the seventh day according to Gods Precept and Example which doth so stave them off from affecting our Religion will be wholly taken away they cannot then but acknowledge that we keep the seventh day of the week the day following our six days of labour the very Sabbath-day pointed out unto us here in this Law They also who now stand for a new Sabbath-day who say the Sabbath-day is changed and the first day of the week to have been Instituted instead of the seventh will have no ground for such their assertion And lastly they who say the Church of Christ never observed the Sabbath since Christs Ascension and would from the practice of the Apostles and the Church of Christ argue the Abrogation of the seventh-day-Sabbath will quickly be of another mind and acknowledge that as the Jews observed that day for their Sabbath which in this Law was commanded by the Lord God so Christians also have ever done They have observed the same day the last day of the week the day following their six days of labour according to Gods example But Courteous Reader haply thou doubtest here and wouldest be satisfied that whereas God commandeth by this Law all his Obedient Children to keep the seventh day of the week which is the Sabbath day holy unto his Honour If the Jews then keep the Sabbath-day on the seventh day of the week according to Gods command How can Christians who keep their Sabbath a whole day after be said to keep their Sabbath on the seventh day of the week too according to Gods Commandment For thy satisfaction herein let me now ask thee one Question like unto thine thine answer to mine will satisfie thine own Suppose the Pope made a Decree that all his obedient Children should keep the 25. day of December which is Christmas-day holy to the honour of Christ If the French then keep Christmas-day on the 25th of December according to the Popes decree How can the English Papists who kept their Christmas-day full ten days after be said to keep their Christmas-day on the 25th day of December too according to the Popes Decree Thou wilt answer me that the French and English Papists did all of them keep their Christmas-day on the same day of the month on the 25th day of December according to the Popes Decree and that the reason why the 25th day of December with the French came to be ten days sooner than with the English was for that they began their months sooner by ten days than the English did ever since Pope Gregory altered their year The like answer I give thee the Jews and Christians all of them keep their Sabbath on the same day of the week on the seventh day of the week and that the reason why the seventh day of the week with the Jews came to be a day sooner then it did with Christians was because they began their week a day sooner than they did before and sooner than the Gentiles did and Christians now do and that did they ever since the Lord caused them after their coming out of Egypt to alter their year and their months as I have shewed in the third and tenth Chapters more fully So that if we could agree in the true understanding of the aforesaid words of the Commandment that by the seventh day is not meant the day following Gods six days of work but the day following mens six days of labour all our controversies about the Sabbath-day will soon end Wherefore to clear and make apparent unto all men that this is the true meaning and that the said words of the Commandment are so to be understood I have in this ensuing Tract First discover'd that old and rotten root from whence this error of holding the day of Gods Rest to be the same with the Jews Sabbath where-ever they lived had its first spring and that was from a meer supposal of the Earths superficies to be plain as a Champion field as is shewed fully in the 11. Chap. Indeed if the Earth be pla n every day must be the same day with all People Every of the six days at the Creation must be every where the same day of the week and so the seventh day from the first beginning of the Creation the day of Gods Rest must be the seventh day of the week with the Jews in Judea in Ophir in Spain and in all other places the which cannot be if the Earth be round as thou mayest see more at large in Chap. 11. Object But the days of the week begin sooner in some places than in other Then so may the day of Gods rest also Answ One and the same week-day doth not begin sooner in some places than in other The day which men call Sunday at Jerusalem begins sooner than the day we call Sunday here But they be not both one and the same day One and the same day is for one and the same place only If one and the same day should begin sooner in some places than in other then it must needs be that either it must begin in some one place or other first before it began in any place else either East or West thereto or else that it was infinite without any first beginning at all Either of which no understanding man will affirm much less that the day of Gods Rest begins sooner in one place than in another Secondly I have proved sufficiently that the day of Gods Rest could not be the same with the Jews Sabbath-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
had almost buried it And we reckon their performance herein very Commendable and capable of turning to publick good The discourse it self aptly serving a twofold design partly to shew the continuing Obligation upon Christians from the fourth Commandment to keep a weekly seventh day Holy to God partly to shew their no-Obligation to keep the same day which the Jews kept and do keep The former how much it tends to preserve and propagate serious Religion experience hath shewn and hath imprest upon England a laudable Character compared with the greater Latitude in this respect of divers Forreign Countries both in principle and practice even where the Reformed Religion hath obtained And for the latter it is of no little concernment to exempt some pious minds from scruple that seem sollicitous whether they ought not to return to the observation of the Jewish Sabbath For which there can be no pretence till it can be clearly shewn that the particular seventh day which the Jews were enjoyned to observe Exod. 16. was as to it's beginning and ending the very same day on which God himself rested from his Work of the Creation And that the fourth Commandment was intended to confine them and Christians in all places whatsoever to those same limits of time as Hallowed and Sacred which are things simply impossible ever to be shewn or indeed that any day can by just computation for all People and parts of the World be found to come nearer those first limits than the day which Christians do now keep Vnto which purposes we reckon what is very considerable is said in this Book And that the publishing of it anew is in this enquiring Age very seasonable as it may occasion not only a further search into the grounds here laid but also a further improvement of them William Bates John Howe THE Seventh-Day SABBATH EXOD. XX. 8 9 10 11. Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy Six days shalt thou labour and c. CHAP. I. The Division of the Text. The Artificial Day THE Lord God who made Heaven and Earth and all for the good of man made man for his own Honour in his own Image and to bear his Image in the World to his Glory done by the due observation of the Moral Law whereof this fourth Commandment is a part in which God maketh known unto man the special time and day which he hath destinated unto his Worship commanding man to sanctifie the same and keep it Holy to the Lord. In this Text are these two parts First The duty commanded which is to keep holy the Sabbath-day Secondly The care and provision had by the Lord for mans heedful keeping and observing the same in all the other words and branches of this Commandment I will first treat of the duty commanded and in it for our better observing the Sabbath-day we are to know First What the Sabbath-day is that is here commanded to be sanctified Secondly What it is to sanctifie the same or to keep it holy Touching the former of these we are to know First What kind of day the Sabbath is to be Secondly What day it is to be in order or tale Concerning the former of these There be four kinds of days which we shall meet with in Holy Scripture 1. The Artificial day 2. The Universal day 3. The Horizontal day 4. The Meridional day These terms or appellations I confess are not common but the use of them is needful for the better distinguishing them one from the other whereby it may the better appear which of these kinds of days the Sabbath-day ought to be And now I will 1. Shew what every of them is 2. How they differ the one from the other 3. VVhich of these kinds of days man is to observe and keep for his Sabbath Of the Artificial day The Artificial day as it is generally taken is the whole time between Sun-rising and Sun-setting with any People This kind of day was especially in use with the Jews They divided this day always into twelve equal parts which they called hours which hours were ever proportionable to the day In Summer-time the longer their day was the longer were their hours and at VVinter when their day was not ten of our hours yet was it twelve of theirs Of this kind of day mention is made in divers places of Sacred Scripture John 11.9 Psal 104.23 Mat. 20.2 3 6. And the hours thereof are now called Jews hours (a) Horae Judaicae And Antique hours (b) Horae Anquae for that not only the Jews but other Nations also did anciently so divide the day into twelve such hours Thus was their Dial divided into twelve hour lines whereof the fifth Persius (c) Pers Sat. 3. Quinta dum linea tangitur umbra will have to note out the fifth hour with them which is about ten of the Clock with us Martial (d) Mart. li. 4. Epigr. 8. Prima solutantes atque aloera continet hora c. also in twelve verses distinguishes the twelve hours of the day then in use in the like manner CHAP. II. The Universal day The days of the Creation Why Moses set the Evening before the Morning THE Universal day is that which is one and the same day in all places through the whole Universe as well in respect of its beginning as of its duration and ending It is not one day at one part of the Earth and another day at another part but when it beginneth or endeth any where it beginneth or endeth every where at the same time This kind of Day cannot properly be said to begin either in the East or in the VVest or at Sun-rising or at Sun-setting or at Mid-night or at Noon as other kind of days do For there is neither East nor VVest nor Sun-rising nor Sun-setting or at Midnight nor Noon in respect of the VVorld though in respect of the parts of the World all and every of these may be said to be yet so as what is East or morning to one part is West or Sun-setting to another part and midnight to one part is mid-day to another part but neither of them properly can be so said to be the whole World Such kind of days were those which Moses spake of in the first of Genesis Gen. 1.5 8 13 19 23 31. And of which mention is made in this text and elsewhere Exod. 20.11 and 31.17 Acts 2.20 Rev. 6.17 2 Pet. 2.9 and 3.7 10. Joel 2.31 In six days the Lord made Heaven and Earth c. and rested the seventh day That these days which some do term and fitly enough may be called The days of the Creation were such Universal days I will endeavour to clear by giving instances in every of them which Moses spake of in rehearsing the Works of the Creation The first of those seven days was such an Universal day when it began any where it began every where no where then was it no day nor any other than
to be the latter part as I will more fully shew in the fourth Chapter See chap. 4. CHAP. III. The Horizontal day What the parts of the Horizontal day are And which part is the former THE Horizontal day with any Nation is that space of time in which the Sun is in going from their Horizon at its rising until it cometh again into their Horizon at its next rising or from their Horizon at its setting until it come unto their Horizon again at its next setting or more briefly thus The Horizontal day is the time between Sun-rising and Sun-rising or between Sun-setting and Sun-setting The parts of the Horizontal day are two the one is the Artificial day or day-light of which we may read in Genesis Gen. 1.5 14 16. and 8.22 and 31 39. the other part is the night or darkness called by (a) Clav. de Sphoâ—r Clavius the Artificial night and which in Antient timâ—e was divided with the Jews into three watches the evening watch the middle watch and the morning watch but after that when they were subdued by the Romans they divided the night as the Romans did into four watches The Artificial day or day-light was Antiently counted to be the former part of this day and the night the latter part and so not only before the Israelites coming out of Egypt but after their deliverance did they count this day so to begin in respect of their civil affairs as may appear First For that when the parts of this day were mentioned the morning was set before the night before the Israelites coming out of Egypt Gen. 1.16 18. and 8.22 and 7.4.12.38 39 40. yea and commonly afterwards too Lev. 8.35 Ex. 13.21 22. Numb 9.21 though they had the beginning of their days altered Secondly because at what time soever of the day-light they spake of the night following they expressed the same thus To night this night the same night Gen. 19.34 and 26.24 1 Chron. 17.3 Numb 11.32 Jos 4.3 Judg. 6.25 and 7.9 as belonging to the same day and not to the day after that And whenever they at any time of the day-light spake of the night past they never used such expressions whereby it may seem to belong as a part of the day following but contrariwise shewing it to be a part of the day before-going as yesternight Gen. 31.42 and 19.33 34. the night of yesterday Also at night when they spake of the day following they used not to say To day or this day as they did of the day before-going but To morrow or the morrow after Numb 33.3 1 Sam. 19.11 and to morrow signifieth another day Mat. 6.34 Jam. 4.13 14. When the Israelites came out of Egypt the night was made the former part of the day even from that night in which they had their deliverance It was a night to be much observed unto the Lord for bringing them out from the Land of Egypt This is that night of the Lord to be observed of all the Children of Israel in their generations Exod. 12.42 They were commanded after that time to Celebrate their Sabbath from Even to Even Lev. 23.32 And therefore so did they begin their week-days also whereby their Sabbath-day was measured out to be unto them their seventh day otherwise their seventh day would not have been proportionable to their six days of labour Their year also had thenceforth a new beginning They must not begin their year in Tisri as they did before but with that Month in which they had their freedom This month shall be unto you the beginning of months Exod. 12.2 This month called by the Hebrews Abib Exod. 13.4 and 23.15 Deut. 16.1 and by the Chaldeans Nisan Esth 4.7 which consisted partly of our March and partly of April being with them the month after the Vernal Equinoctial was their first month thenceforth so that whereas before they began their year after their Harvest and after all their in-gathering of the fruits of the Earth was ended Exod. 23.16 and 34.22 which was partly in our September after this they were to begin their year farthest off from that time They had then a new-year and a new month and a new day to begin the year withal No otherwise than if the day of their deliverance had been their birth day for their deliverance was a kind of a new birth unto them The beginning of the year was then changed for the greater lustre unto the birth of the Church saith Calvin And the new time of the day had they to begin their first day of the year for their Caput anni or New years-day was a sacred day with them they began it at even at the going down of the Sun at the season they came forth out of the land of Egypt Deut. 16.6 then was their deliverance made and Sealed up unto them in the Passover So that although in respect of their Civil affairs they begun their year their months their days as they did before yet in this their New Ecclesiastical or Sacred year or Computation of time they began their day at Even All their sabbath-Sabbath-days and all other their sacred days and so all their week days for measuring out unto them their Sacred days began at the Even they had the evening to be the former part of the day And this may be one reason why Moses in rehearsing the works of Creation setteth the evening before the morning as I said before See chap. 2. CHAP. IV. Meridional day what it is The parts thereof and which the former part THE Meridional day is the time from mid-night to mid-night or from noon to noon with any People or more largely thus The Meridional day with any People is that space of time in which the Sun is in going from their Meridian at mid-night untill it come into that of their Meridian again at their next mid-night Or else from their Meridian at noon untill it come into that part of their Meridian again at noon The parts of the Meridional day are these two the Morning and the Evening The Morning is all the time in which the Sun is in its rising until it come unto its greatest height that is all the time between mid-night and noon is the Morning And the Evening is all the time the Sun is in its descending that is all the time between noon and midnight Thus Christians generally now do and formerly have counted and called these parts of this day If common service unto God hath been done in Churches or Colledges at any time in the forenoon either at three four six nine or eleven of the Clock it was commonly called by the name of Mattius Morning-Service or Morning-Prayer and if it had been done at any time in the afternoon it was then commonly called Evening-Song Evening-Prayer Evening-Service or such like though it had been done by day-light or by Candle-light So also the People of God did in Antient times divide the day into such parts
the week And a little after It is true saith he that Clemens Alexandrinus brings many Authorities out of Homer Hesiod and Callimachus to prove that the very Heathen know that the seventh day was to be kept holy (b) Irons ch 9. which they could not know or do without the observation of weeks but herein he holds them to be Thieves of Holy things having stoln this light out of Moses writings which they had Translated Whereas the Heathen had not Moses books Translated hundreds of years after Homer as I before shewed concerning which I referr the Reader to that Learned Discourse of John Gregory of the seventy Interpreters 2. Dr. Heylin in his History of the Sabbath and in the second part tells us That Christians of the first Ages called the days of the week according as they found the time divided and that we retain those names amongst us whereat some a e become offended which were commended to us by our Ancestors and to them by theirs (c) Heyl. Part. 2. page 61. He sheweth out of Polydore Virgil that Pope Sylvester hating the name and memory of the Gentile Gods by whose names they called the week-days gave order that the days should be called by the name of Feriae and the distinction to be made by Prima feria Secunda feria c. And out of Honorius Augustodunensis that the Hebrews call their days he meaneth their week-days the first of the Sabbath c. The Pagans thus The day of the Sun the day of the Moon c And Christians thus The Lords day Feria Prima c. (d) Page 62. He saith further That they are more nice than wise who out of a desire to have all things new would have new names for every day of the week he meaneth or call them as sometimes they were The first day of the week the second day of the week c. and all for fear lest it be thought that we do still adore those Gods whom the Gentiles Worshipped St Augustine as it seems had met with some this way affected and thus disputes the Case with Faustus Manichaeus The Gentiles saith the Father gave unto every day of the week the name of one or other of their Gods and so they did also unto every mâ—neth If then we keep the name of March and not think of Mars why may we not preserve the day of Saturn and not think of Saturn Dr. Heylin addeth Why may we then not keep the name of Sunday and not think of Phoebus or Apollo or by what other name soever the old Poets call him (e) Heyl part 2. Page 63. 3. Dr. Francis White late Bishop of Ely who hath also written against the Morality of the Sabbath doth yet acknowledge one day in seven for Gods Worship to be most agreeaable to reason (f) Dr. White de Sab. pag. 90. 107 151. which presupposeth weeks to be from the beginning unless men were then void of reason 4. Gomarus also who hath stoutly written against the Sabbath doth confess that Methuselah Sem and Abraham retained the knowledge of the Creation and of the seventh day (a) Gomar de Sab. p. 113. though he will at no hand grant that they keep it holy yet their retaining the memory and knowledge of the seventh day proveth them to have observation of weeks Seventhly they who compiled the book of Homilies tell us That it is according to the Law of Nature to have a time as one day in the week wherein we ought to rest from our lawful works (b) Hom. for the time of Prayer but this could never be done without the observation of weeks Lastly Dr. Twisse sheweth and proveth that the distinction of time by weeks was observed by the Gentiles from all Antiquity and confirmeth the same out of many Learned Writers to whose book of the Moraltty of the fourth Commandment I referr the Reader and therein chiefly to these pages 12 13 15 59 60 63 77 78 151 152 153 189 199 200 208. to 214. As also to Rivetus de Origine Sabbati and therein chiefly to the pages 15 16 63 64. 65 66. to 81. CHAP. XIV Objection against Antiquity of Weeks answered The hourly Government of the Planets is feigned THere may be many who have published abroad to the World that there is a certain hourly Rule or Government which the Planets have given them of the Creator by which every of them successively and in a vicissitude doth govern his hour according to this common distich Cynthia Mercurius Venus Sol Mars Jove Satur Ordine retrogrado sibi quivis vendicat horam Hence they say that untill this hourly Government was by skilful Astronomers found out and known the Gentiles had no weeks and having no weeks they could not have the seventh-day Sacred supposing none before this to have week but the Jews only and therefore none but they to have a Sabbath-day Among many other Dr. Heylin was of this opinion who from hence doth argue the Sabbath-day not to be moral being not observed or known but by the Jews only He would have us take it for granted that no Nation without the knowledge of Astrology the Jews excepted whereby men came first to know the Planets hourly Government and so consequently what Planet governed the first hour in every day could have weeks or call the week-days by the names of the Planets The Gentiles saith he following the motion of the Planets gave to each day the name of that particular Planet by which the first hour of the day was governed as their Astrologers had taught them (c) Heyl par 2. pag. 61. And he assumeth that Astrologers found out this knowledge of the Planetary government but in latter times All the Chaldean Astrologers all the Magicians among the Persians he held to be ignorant herein and therefore during the Assyrian and Persian Monarchy weeks not to be in use Yea he tells us farther that neither the Greeks nor Romans when they were in their greatest flourish for Arts and Empire had weeks because they had not as then gotten this supposed excellency of Astrology to know by the motions of the Planets what Planet governed the first hour in every day (a) Heyl. part 1. page 84. Though the Planets had as some say this orderly and hourly government even from the day of their Creation Yet the Dr. holds that neither Plato nor Pythagoras nor any of the famous Astronomers before Eudoxus had gotten this excellency First saith he the Greeks learnt the motions of the Planets of Eudoxus and therefore could not know the week before He doth grant that they might have great Astrologers among them and yet be Ignorant of this hourly government of the Planets whereby they constantly point out the week and the days of the week For he saith of the Romans that they were well enough acquainted with the Planets in their later times Yet they diviâ—ed not their Calendar into weeks till
and Captain Cavendise and their companies who Travelled round the Earth with them either out of tenderness of Conscience or else out of obstinacy continued to keep that Sunday Sacred which fell to them by course and true tale of the days succeeding each other they must needs have had their Sunday on our Munday and our Sunday would be their Saturday When it was holy day with them it would be working day with us and holy day with us when they would work So Tacitus said of the Jews Profana illic quae apud nos sacra rursum concessa quae nobis illicita (a) Corn. Tacit. Diurnal li. 21. Now how unquiet may any one imagine should those Travellers have lived among us as long as our Sunday was a week-day with them Would not every Ballad-maker have had them in their Rimes Would they not have been a by-word with all and every Apparator would be ready with a Citation for them And can we conceive that Christians at first should find more favour from the Heathen for their wilfulness which was less excuseable 2. Most Christians then were either Servants or of the poorer sort of People and the Gentiles most probably would not give their servants liberty to cease from working on any other set day constantly except on their Sunday 3. Had they changed their seventh day from their Sunday to another day there must have followed an unsufferable confusion in the count of the week-days with whom they lived as for example had Sir Francis Drake and his company observed at his return the weeks which by his exact account fell to them by course and not have changed them and made them the same with our weeks there would have followed a miserable confusion even in their own families The third day of the week with some must have been the fourth with others of the same family And never a day would have been the same with them all The like would it have been with the Christians and Gentiles with whom they lived if they had changed their seventh standing day for Gods Worship which was Sunday for another 4. Because had they assayed such a change it would have been a Testimony against them of slighting the Glorious Resurrection of our Lord and Saviour The Sun of Righteousness Mal. 4.2 who on the Sunday most Triumphantly Rose from the Dead for the Justification of all his People 5. It would have been but labour in vain for them to have assayed the same they could never have brought it to pass For 1. They had no authoritative specification of any set day either by Jesus Christ or by his Apostles on which they ought to keep the Lords day Had there so been St. Paul would never have prest the indifferency of days as he did Rom 14.1 2 Col. 2.16 nor would he himself have with the believing Jews kept the Saturday Acts 13.14 42.17 2 18.4 and with the Christians by Christians I mean the Gentiles converted to Christ have kept the Sunday Acts 20.7 1 Cor. 16.2 neither would the believing Jews have remained so obstinate but would have kept that day for their Sabbath which was so pointed out unto them if there had been such Whereas they for the generality of them would never be withdrawn to keep any other than their Saturday for their Sabbath hundreds of years after the Apostles days 2. They had no coercive Power to draw refusers to the observation of any other day for the Lords day had they been so disposed to have set any other 3. Christians were not all of one City or of one Countrey or of one Nation Tongue or Government It would have been even a miracle to have gotten all Christians in all parts of the World to have observed one and the same day for the Lords day with them all which should be chosen not by a general meeting or by a general consent but by some of them only had they chosen any other than the day of the Sun which they were generally before their Conversion accustomed to keep The People of Israel were but one Nation all of one Tongue and severed from all other People and also had Moses their Captain-General yet Moses should never have withdrawn them from their old accustomed day to the observation of the Saturday-Sabbath different from the custom of all other Nations had not the Lord God miraculously in the fall of Quails and Manna Exod. 16.12 16 22 23 26. shewed that it was his good pleasure so to have it when he assigned unto them their six days for their labour and so pointing out to them the Saturday being the seventh from their first gathering Quails and Manna to be the day of Holy Rest unto the Lord. Sylvester the first Pope of that name when out of his hatred to the memory of the Heathen Gods he would have changed but the names of the week-days decreed them to be called by the names of Feriae as hath been before shewed though he was of great Authority and Command and highly beloved of the People yet he could not prevail herein but with very few except Schollars the vulgar People in their common talk called their week days as they did before by the names of the Planets and so have they continued to call them even to this day The Jews are now a weak People yet there is not a Prince or Power on earth able to withdraw them from their Superstitious Custom of keeping the Saturday Sacred yea the believing Jews as was shewed in the Apostles time and in many years after could not be won by any means that the Christians might use to give over their Saturday-Sabbath and for Unities sake to keep the Lords day on the Sunday except a very few of them who better knew and acknowledged their liberty by Christ How impossible may we then think it to be for any to bring to pass that all Christians in all quarters of the World should leave off their observing the Sunday Sacred and have another day instead thereof In vain therefore would it have been for poor Christians at first to have assayed the same These reasons if there were no more may suffice to shew that although all days be in themselves indifferent yet Christians should not have well done had they endeavoured to have changed their seventh Sacred day from Sunday to any other week-day no not to Thursday though it was the day of Christ his glorious Ascension nor to Friday though it was the day in which Christ paid our Ransom but better to retain the same day as they did and which the Church of Christ hath since that kept even to this present time and by Gods Grace will so do unto the end CHAP. XVI The sabbath-Sabbath-day is to be sanctified Works of Piety Government and of Nature only are to be done on the Sabbath-day c. the necessary helps thereunto THere hath been before shewed that the Sabbath day in this Law commanded to be kept holy
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