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 affirme much lesse that the day of Gods rest begins sooner in one place then in another Secondly I have proved sufficiently that the day of Gods rest could not be the same with the Iews Sabbath-day nor the same kinde of day and that all and every of the dayes of the creation were farre different from week-dayes that were in use with the Iews or are or at any time have been in use with men To this purpose I have shewed what kinde of dayes our week-dayes be and what the Iews week-dayes be and what the dayes of the creation were and how they all differ in kinde from each other in Chap. 2 3 4 5 6. And then what kinde 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 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 after they came out of Egypt must begin their week whereby in count of their week-dayes and so also of their seventh sacred day they differed from all other Nations in Chap. 8 9 10. and what weeks be and the difference between a week and the week and between a seventh day of the week and the seventh day of the week which last is the Lords day or Sabbath of the Lord in Chap. 11 12. and also the antiquity of weeks and the answer unto to the main objection thereto in Chap. 13 14. Fourthly I have shewed that Sunday was of old the seventh day of the week with the Gentiles and most probably was the seventh day of the week also with the Patriarchs before the flood and hath continued with Christians their seventh day of the week even unto this present day and doubtlesse ever will to the worlds end in Chap. 15. Christian Reader my hearty desire is that thou and all other the obedient servants of Iesus Christ be rightly informed concerning our observation of the Sabbath-day Haply thou didst before the reading hereof hold that this fourth Commandment is a branch of the moral law that it is agreeable to the law of nature to have a day in seven to be for Gods worship that Sunday is our christian Sabbath as Saterday was the Jews Sabbath and that as God wrought six dayes and rested the seventh and consecrated the seventh day unto holinesse and rest even so all Gods obedient people should not be slothful but diligent in their callings on the six work dayes and rest on the Sunday according to Gods example and keep it holy If this was thine opinon thou wert in the right and didst hold nothing in all these but what godly and learned men and the servants of Iesus Christ did generally teach in former time the people of God here in England as may plainly appear to thee if thou readest only that Homily which is for the time and place of Gods worship But since that subtile heads have been imployed to the subverting hereof and bringing in a dangerous errour opening a floodgate to all licentionsnesse on the Lords Sabbath they have publickly taught and published to the world that the seventh day commanded to be kept holy is none other but the day of Gods rest They would bring People in hand that the Iewes Sabbath was the very seventh day from the Creation and none other but that to be the seventh day of the week with any People and so Sunday to be with us the first day of the week To this end I suppose they would have the name of our Sabbath-day which the Jewes called in their tongue The first day of the Sabbath to be translated as it is in our Bibles not The Lords day or Sunday by which names Christians whose Ancestors were Gentiles ever called it but The first day of the week that so People may conceive hereby though a new name doth not alter the nature of the thing that Sunday with us is not in order the seventh day of the week viz. the day following the six dayes of labour but the day going before the six dayes of labour with us and therefore not the Sabbath-day here commanded for the rooting out of which errour and confirming all in the truth concerning the Lords day I have sent abroad this little Tract If now by thy serious perusal hereof thou art the more encouraged to render the Lord his due honour in the heedful observation of the Lords day which with us is Sunday not for customs sake because thy fore-fathers and the Church of God ever observed the same since the time of the Apostles nor for that the Magistrates have commanded us to keep this day holy Nor for that the seventh-day-Sabbath is abolished and this to be a new Sabbath instituted but for that God in this his law which is perpetual and unalterable hath commanded thee and all People expresly to keep holy the seventh day Give God the glory and lift up a Prayer unto him for me a poor sinner T. C. The Synopsis or Abridgement of the whole Tract In this fourth Commandment there be two parts viz. 1. The duty commanded in which we be to know What day the Sabbath of the Lord is concerning which know 1. What kinde of day the Sabbath-day is and therin note There be foure kindes of dayes which we shall meet with in the Holy Scripture which are these viz. the Artificial day Chap. 1. Universal day Chap. 2. Horizontal day Chap. 3. Meridional day Chap. 4. They differ every one from the other The Artificial day differeth from all other Chap. 5. The Universal day differeth from all other Chap. 5. Horizontal and Meridional dayes differ one from the other Chap. 6. Which of these foure kindes of days is the Lords Sabbath Chap. 7. 2. What day the Sabbath-day is to be in respect of orderand tale wherein note 1. The Sabbath-day is the seventh day of the week that is the day following the six known dayes of labour Chap. 8. 2. The cause why the Jewes had Saterday for their Sabbath was to take them off from the Assyrian idolatries concerning which note that 1. The Assyrian idolatries were their worshipping the Sun and the other planets all called the Host of heaven And also their worshipping Belus called Baal Chap. 9. 2. From their example all nations as well as Israel worshipped the Sun Chap. 9. 3. Among many meanes God used to take the Jewes off from worshipping the Sun one was that instead of Sunday they must have Saterday
their seventh day sacred Chap. 10 3. The vain opinion of some who think that the Sabbath that is the seventh day of the week must be the day of Gods rest Chap. 11 4. What a week is and what the week is and that the seventh day of the week is the Sabbath Also why many of the ancient Writers called the Jewes Sabbath the day of Gods rest sith they knew that it could not be that very day Chap. 12 5. Weeks proved to be from all Antiquity Chap. 13 6. Week-dayes had their names from the planets as they were the Heathen-gods and not from their supposed hourely Government Chap. 14 7. Sunday was the Gentiles seventh day of the week sacred to the Sun and most probably was the seventh day sacred with the Patriarchs before Noahs flood Also that Christians did not neither ought to have chosen any other then the Sunday for their seventh sacred day although it had been much abused before to idolatry Chap. 15 What it is to keep holy and sanctifie the Sabbath day Chap. 16 2. The Lords special provision to bring all people to a heedful keeping the duty commanded set out in sundry particulars Chap. 17 THE SEVENTH-DAY Sabbath EXOD. 20.8 9 10 11. Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy Six dayes 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 Commandement 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 Commandement 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 kinde 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 foure kindes of dayes 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 termes or appellations I confesse 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 kindes 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. Which of these kindes 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 kinde of day was especially in use with the Jewes They divided this day alwayes 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 houres and at Winter when their day was not ten of our houres yet was it twelve of theirs Of this kinde of day mention is made in divers places of sacred Scripture a Iohn 11.9 Psal 104.23 Mat. 20.2 3 6. And the houres thereof are now called Jewes houres b Horae Jndaicae And Antique houres c Horae Antiquae for that not only the Jewes but other nations also did anciently so divide the day into twelve such houres Thus was their Dial divided into twelve houre-lines whereof the fifth Persius d Pers Sat. 3. Quinta dum linea tangitur umbrá will have to note out the fifth houre with them which is about ten of the Clock with us Martial e Mart. li. 4. Epigr. 8. Prima salutantes atque altera continet â—oâ—a c. also in twelve verses distinguisheth the twelve houres of the day then in use in the like manner CHAP. II. The Vniversal day The dayes of the Creation Why Moses set the Evening before the Morning THe Vniversal 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 kinde of Day cannot properly be said to begin either in the East or in the West or at Sun-rising or at Sun setting or at Midnight or at Noon as other kinde of dayes do For there is neither East nor West nor Sun-rising nor Sun-setting nor midnight nor noon in respect of the world 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 midday to another part but neither of them properly can be so said to be the whole world Such kinde of dayes were those which Moses spake of in the first of Genesis a Gen. 1.5 8 13 19 23.31 And of which mention is made in this text and elsewhere b Ex. 20.11 and 31.17 Acts 2.20 Rev. 6.17 2 Pet. 2.9 and 3.7 10. Ioel. 2.31 In six dayes the Lord made heaven and earth c. and rested the seventh day That these dayes which some do terme and fitly enough may be called The dayes of the Creation were such Universal dayes 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 dayes was such an Universal day when it began any where it began every where no where then was it no day nor any other then the first day The first things God made were day and night or light and darknesse 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 darknesse which Moses called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c 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 darknesse d 2 Cor. 4.6 and had divided the light from the darknesse so as that they should never
within three days what day of our week that five and twentieth day of March was which was the first day of the Creation All the art and indeavour of man is not sufficient to find out whether the first day of the Creation was Sunday or Satcrday or Munday c. and therefore not whether the day of Gods rest was Thursday Friday Saterday c. Let it yet be further granted that it was Sunday on which the first day of the Creation began and therefore the day of Gods rest must then have his beginning on Saterday No man can for all that tell within eleven houres at what time of the Sunday the first day of the Creation or at what time of the Saterday the day of Gods rest began either here or in Virginea or in Rome Ierusalem Paradise or in any other place whatsoever whether it was at Sun-rising Sun-setting Noone or at the houre of one or two c. in the forenoon or afternoon Wherefore if by the seventh here commanded had been meant an universal day it must be then that seventh universal day on which God rested the which cannot be observed by men because they cannot tell on what day of their week nor about what time of their day they should begin the observation thereof Secondly an universal day such as was the day of Gods rest cannot be observed of all the People of God Though it should be granted what is of some believed that the day of Gods rest began in Paradise on Saterday and at the rising of the Sun there yet all Gods People cannot observe that very day For 1. The earth being global and the true longitude of the place where Paradise was being unknown no man can tell when to begin that day in the place where he liveth We know when it is Saterday in some places it is then Sunday or Friday in some other places We know that when Christ rose from the grave it was then Sunday at Jerusalem in the forenoon and we know that it was then Saterday in Virginea in the afternoon but no man can knowingly say that the day of Gods rest beginneth on the Saterday in the forenoon with him though it be granted that it so began in Paradise 2. Though the day of Gods rest or any other universal day be made known unto men at what time and on what day it began in Paradise and the very place where Paradise was be made known also Yet all Gods people could not possibly keep that very day of Gods rest By reason of the diversity of longitudes of the places wherein they may live they cannot keep all of them one and the same day This hath been proved unto us fully and plainly even by the opposers of the Sabbath Dr. Heylyn hath even demonstrated the same that men could not possibly have kept one and the same day for their Sabbath had it been commanded a Heyl. part 1. pag. 45 46 47 48. And further sheweth that the Iewes themselves kept not the very day of Gods rest b Page 125. though they had one day in seven set apart for holy rest and meditation Mr. Ironside also c Irons chaf 18. pag. 164. from the diversity of Meridians proveth that one and the same day cannot be universally kept and therefore never commanded the whole Church One and the same day could not possibly be observed a Sabbath by all the Iewes in the East-parts and West-parts too of Iudea and in Babylon and in Rome by reason of their diversity of longitudes And if it be supposed to be but two or three degrees difference of longitude yet will that difference make the dayes as truly to differ from being the same as will an hundred and three though it will not make them so much to differ The like argument hath Doctor Francis White late Bishop of Ely f Dr. Francis White in his of the Sabbath Page 175. and divers others Wherefore sith the universal day such as was the day of Gods rest cannot be possibly kept by all Gods people no more then any other set particular day can it is not the day here commanded by the Lord The Sabbath-day here commanded to be kept holy is such a kinde of day as may be known kept and observed by men wheresoever they inhabit though in many and divers longitudes of the earth Such as might have been kept in the wildernesse where the law was delivered and in the East and West-parts of Canaan and in Babylon Rome Spain and in all other habitable places and therefore ought to be either an Horizontal or else a Meridional day In all places of the world none other but Horizontal or Meridional dayes are now or at any other time heretofore have been in use with men for measuring out unto them their seven dayes or week and such as are their six dayes of the week for labour such ought the seventh day even the day for holy rest to be also The Sabbath-day with the Iewes was an Horizontal day but then such were the other days of their week also and what Nation soever have their week to consist of Horizontal dayes ought to have their Sabbath-day to be so also In the North of Russia and of the King of Denmarks and Queen of Swedens Countreys where the Sun maketh many Revolutions at some seasons of the year between his rising and setting men cannot count their week by Horizontal dayes but they do and have counted their weeks by Meridional dayes And so do all Christians generally of what longitude or latitude of the earth soever they are of mete out their weeks by Meridional dayes then such ought their seventh day of their week to be also CHAP. VIII What day the Sabbath is to be in order or tale NOw is to be shown what day in tale is to be the Lords day or Sabbath of the Lord and this the Law-giver himselfe hath plainly pointed out unto us in this law to be the day following the six dayes of labour so that none need to say the knowledge hereof is hidden from us who shall ascend for us into heaven and bring the knowledge thereof to us that we may know it and observe it But it is clearly demonstrated unto us by the Lord God so that he that worketh with the Spade may know the same as well as he that handleth the pen. Six dayes shalt thou labour and c. but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God The seventh day that is the day following the six known dayes of labour is none of ours it is the Lords day We may not make the Sabbath-day to be the sixth day for then we should shew our selves unthankful in not receiving the Lords own bountiful allowance nor the eighth day for then we should encroach on the Lords right and not be contented with his liberal allowance of six dayes for our selves reserving only the seventh for himself much lesse ought we to
went out of Vr a town of the Chaldees and therefore according to Bibliander before the Egyptians had learnt Astrology For it seems the Egyptians as well as other Nations severing themselves from Noahs Posterity remaining about Chaldea Assyria and other parts of Shinar busied themselves so about their new plantation in Egypt that they neglected and forgat Astrology till Abraham came out of Chaldea and went down into Egypt where as Iosephus saith he taught Astronomy unto them being ignorant thereof before a Joseph Antiq Jud. l. 1. c. 15 16. See Chap. 9. The Germanes were a Nation and a Kingdom before Eudoxus knew what a planet was Verstegan also tells us that the Saxons had in ancient times the seven planets for their gods whom they called Son Mone Tuisco c. and also called the dayes of the week by the names of those their gods before ever they had any Commerce with the Grecians or Romanes either 3. Week-dayes bear the names of the planets not from the said late invented hourely rule supposed to be given them by God when he created them but as they were the Heathens gods and were orderly worshipped and adored by them Thus the day we call Sunday was by the Heathen anciently called the day of the Sun because of all the planets who were held to be the Lords and Governours of the world he was that Lord and Governour which had special worship done unto him on that day and for that his worship began with that dayes beginning even at the Sun-rising for at that time did the Heathen begin their worship to the Sun and to every of the rest of the Host of heaven as I have shewed before which was the first houre of the day with them he hath been said and held to begin his Lordship or Government on the beginning or first houre of that day and hence is it that that day was by the ancient Heathen called the day of the Sun the like may be said of the other names of all the week-dayes That the week-dayes were by the Heathens called by the names of the planets as they were the Heathens gods adored by them is evident not only from the testimonies of sundry learned men but also from Dr. Heylins own pen. He himself doth say as much for ask this question of him and he will tell you yea and saith That they are more nice then wise who out of a desire to have all things new would have new names for every day or call them as sometimes they were the first day of the week the second day of the week sic de caeteris and all for fear lest it be thought that we do still adore those gods whom the Gentiles worshipped a Heyl. part 2. page 63. Ask by whose Authority he proveth week-dayes to have their names from the gods of the heathen He tells us by St. Augustines and alledgeth these his words Deorum suorum nomina Gentes imposuerunt diebus istis c. The Gentiles saith the Father gave to every day of the week the name of one or other of their Gods c. Ask him again why Pope Sylvester changed the names of the week-dayes and would no week-day to be called by the name of any of the planets but all to be called by the names of Feria prima Feria secunda c. was it for that Eudoxus had learn't the aforesaid Government of the planets and so he and other Astrologers after him taught this rariety in their schooles whereby many admit all Grecians had weeks and called the week-dayes by the names of the planets as their Astronomers taught them and now the Pope fearing lest the Romanes from the example of the Greeks should in time come to have weeks for till that time and after that too until the Romanes had admitted Christianity throughout their Empire Dr. Heylin saith they had no weeks b Heyl. part 1. pag. 84. and should call the week-days by the names of the planets as the Grecians did No sure it was for that the Gentiles generally as Romanes and Greeks did call the dayes of the week as they were taught from their Ancestors and they from theirs even by the names of their gods which of old they adored who were the seven planets and for that Christians also generally except Jewes did call them so in like manner as their Heathen Ancestors did even in the time when this Pope lived which so displeased the said Pope that in detestation of the memory of those Heathen gods he changed the names of the week-dayes and decreed to have them called by the names of Feriae Dr. Heylin proving this citeth Polydore Virgil for his authority Sylvester Romanus Pontifex ejus nominis primus vanorum deorum memoriam in abhorrens a Pol. Vir. de Inv. rerum l. 6. c. c. Sylvester the first Pope of that name hating the name and memory of the Gentile gods gave order that the dayes should be called by the name of Feriae b Heyl. part 2. pag. 62. c. Had the planets such power and vertue given them of God so to govern by an hourely course as that thereby every week-day was designed and pointed out Sylvester had cause rather to magnifie the Creator who revealed the knowledge hereof unto some which was kept secret from all generations till then and to have in love and laud the Parties though Heathen to whom the Lord had made known this rarity whereby the Grecians had weeks in his life time and the Romanes and other Nations might in short time come to have weeks also then to bear such spite and hatred to the planets for such their vertue given them or to the finders out of this Planetary Government as should move him to take away the memory either of the Planets or of this their Government or of the finders out thereof by changing the names of the week-dayes sure his dislike and hatred was against the idolatry of the Heathen who still continued to count the Planets as gods and to call the week-dayes by their names hence is it that he made the change even to take away theremembrance of their names out of mens especially out of Christians mouths Thus having now been shewed first that there is indeed no such hourly Government as is pretended And secondly that the week dayes had not their names from thence Any man may see the weaknesse of Dr Heylins principal argument to prove thereby that neither of the foure great Monarchies nor any People else the Jewes only excepted had weeks and therefore no Sabbath CHAP. XV. Sunday was the seventh day with the Gentiles Sunday continued to be the seventh day of the week with Christians HAving declared what weeks are and the long continuance of them and also answered the main objection made against their Antiquity I will now indeavour to make apparent that Sunday was not only a seventh but the seventh day with the Gentiles Concerning which
on that day for they called it no longer Sunday unlesse in their common-talk with the Heathen but they called it the Lords day being the day which the Lord in this law commanded to be sanctifyed Neither did they adore and worship the Sunne any more on that day but the Lord their Creatour and Redeemer Thirdly It is true that all the week-dayes were abused to the Idolatrous worship of the planets though not in the like degree as was the Sunday And that one day in it self was no more holy then another Yet Christians should not have done well in changing or in their endeavouring to have changed their standing service-day from Sunday to any other day of the week and that for these reasons 1. Because of the contempt scorn and derision they thereby should be had in among all the Gentiles with whom they lived and toward whom they ought by Saint Pauls rule to live inoffensively a 1 Cor. 10.32 in things indifferent If the Gentiles thought hardly and spake evil of them for that they ran not into the same excesse of riot with them b 1 Pet. 4.4 what would they have said of Christians for such an Innovation as would have been made by their change of their standing service-day If long before this the Jews were had in such disdain among the Gentiles for their Saterday-Sabbath which the Gentiles held to be a singularity and innovation brought in by Moses insomuch that Jeremy lamenteth the same a Lam. 1.17 How grievous would be their Taunts and reproaches against the poore Christians living with them and under their power for their new set sacred day had the Christians chosen any other then the Sunday Had Sir Francis Drake and Captain Cavendise and their companies who travelled round the earth with them either out of tendernesse of conscience or else out of obstinacy continued to keep that Sunday sacred which fel to them by course true tale of the days succeeding each other they must needs have had their Sunday on our Munday our Sunday would be their Saterday When it was holy day with them it would be workingday 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 nobisillicita a Cornel. Tacit. Diurnal li. 2â— 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 wilfulnesse which was lesse 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 dayes with whom they lived As for example had Sir Francis Drake and his company observed at his returne 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 Sunne of Righteousnesse a 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 vaine for them to have assayed the same they could never have brought it to passe 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 Saint Paul would never have prest the indifferency of dayes as he did b Rom. 14.1 2 3. Col. 2.16 nor would he himself have with the believing Jewes kept the Saterday c 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 d Act. 20.7 1 Cor. 16.2 neither would the believing Jewes 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 then their Saterday for their Sabbath hundreds of years after the Apostles dayes 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 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 then 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 Saterday-Sabbath different from the custome of all other Nations had not the Lord God miraculously in the fal of Quails Manna e 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 dayes for their labour and so pointing out to them the Saterday being the seventh from their first gathering Quailes 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-dayes 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 Schollers the vulgar people in their common talk called their week-dayes as they did before
by the names of the Planets and so have they continued to call them even to this day The Jewes are now a weak People yet there is not a Prince or Power on earth able to withdraw them from their superstitious custome of keeping the Saterday sacred yea the believing Jewes as was shewed in the Apostles time and in many years after could not be wonne by any means that the Christians might use to give over their Saterday-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 passe that all Christians in all quarters of the world should leave off their observing the Sunday sacred and have another day in stead 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 dayes 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 ransome but betrer 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-day is to be sanctified Works of Piety Government and of Nature only are to be done on the Sabbath-day c. the necessary helpes thereunto THere hath been before shewed that the Sabbath-day in this law commanded to be kept holy is not a part of a day as is the Artificial day but an whole day And that it is not such a kinde of day as are the dayes of the Creation mentioned in the first of Genesis but such a kinde of day as is or hath been in use with men And also that it is not in tale the fifth sixth eighth or nineth day but the seventh not the seventh day of the moneth but the seventh day of the week the day following the six known dayes 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 d 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 dayes they lawfully may yea and ought to do for the maintenance of themselves and theirs Six dayes shall work be done but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest ye shall do no work therein f Lev. 23.3 So are the words here in this law Thou shalt not do any work But whereas we are here forbidden to do any work we must not so understand the words as if on the Sabbath-day we should rest from all kinde 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 not do all thy trade Art or occupation and such are the words of the text in divers other places of Scripture a 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 Rabbines 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 b Deut. 5.14 where Pagnine translateth thus Omnis quifecerit in eo opus c. Montanus hath it Omnis faciens in eo functionem c 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 die cessationis d Exod. 31.15 c. The like may be seen in divers other places of Scripture so translated by the one and so corrected by the other Whence we may gather that the true meaning of these words commonly read in our translations Thou shalt not do any work is not that we should do no manner of work at all but that we should do on the Sabbath-day no manner of the works of our trade function and occupation The Smith is not to work at his Anvil nor the Shoomaker with his Awle nor any other about any works that belong to mens trade and profession which on the six dayes of labour they may and should do for getting their maintenance and livelihood There be some other works which on every day may lawfully be done even on the Sabbath-day it self without the least breach of this law and they are of three sorts 1. Works of Piety 2. Works of Government towards the creature subjected to us 3. Works needful to the preservation of mans life These works may be done on every day without any violation to 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 Sabbath When we have been diligent on the Sabbath-day in doing service unto God and the duties he requireth of us for his honour we may therein be said not to make the day a day of rest but to break the rest or Sabbath yet not to break the Commandment by doing these works Thus Christ told the Pharisees that the Priests in the Temple did profane the Sabbath and are blamelesse a Mat. 12.5 Sure they could not be said to be blamelesse had they by their sacrificing bullocks or sheep broken the Commandment they brake the Sabbath they made it not
THE SEVENTH-DAY Sabbath Or a Brief TRACT ON THE IV. Commandment WHEREIN Is discovered the Cause of all our Controversies about the Sabbath-day and the meanes 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 kinde of day as was the Jewes 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 dayes of labour with all People 3. That Sunday is with Christians as truly the Sabbath-day as was Saterday with the Jewes By Thomas Chafie Parson of Nutshelling LONDON Printed by T. R. and E. M. and are to be sold by J. B. at the Guilded Acorne in Pauls Church-yard 1652. To the Worshipful RICHARD MAIJOR OF HURSLEY Esquire SIR THis Tract on the fourth Commandment though little in Bulk yet found great opposition before it could come to light The Author was charged to be such as Ishmael whose hand was against every man and every mans hand against him whereas next to the Glory of God in maintaining this his law to be in force and his Sabbath to be observed his principal scope is to discover the cause of all our Controversies about the Sabbath-day that so a mean may appear for ending all differences thereabout and that the great offence given the Jewes of Christians not keeping the Sabbath-day be wholly removed Yet is it likely for all this to finde evil-willers and not a few wherefore I have made my selfe bold to send it forth under your Protection You have so indeared unto you the whole Countrey round about by your uncessant indeavour for the Peoples Welfare that the credit of your name written in the front hereof shall procure it the better acceptance Yet will I not make so bold an adventure as to send this abroad under your name without your Approbation wherefore first I present it unto you as for your judicious trial and warrant so also to be a testimony of thankfulnesse for both your countenance and many benefits and also an Obligation wherein I stand bound to pray for you and be Your Worships in any Christian Office to be commanded THO. CHAFIE TO THE READER Courteous Reader I Believe thou art not ignorant of the many dissensions and 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 Jewes 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 dayes 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 dayes must be meant either the six dayes of Gods work or the six dayes of work with men either the six first dayes at the Creation in which God wrought and made all things or else the six work-dayes of the week in use with men where they live So also the seventh day must relate to the six dayes of Gods work or else to the six dayes 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 immediatly followed the six days of his work or the day of rest with men which immediately follows their six dayes 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 dayes 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 Jewes Sabbath-day which was from Fridayes Sun-setting to Saterdayes Sun-setting was the precise day of Gods rest and every of their other six dayes of the week to be the very same with the six dayes of the Creation whether they lived in Judea in Babylon in Spaine in Ophyr or in any other place it maketh no matter think they Though Sunday with Christians be the day immediately following their six dayes of labour and on which they having laboured six dayes 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 whereever they live From this common errour sprouted out various opinions which set them all at variance 1. The Jewes and such as adhere to their superstition do and will still plead for the Saterday-Sabbath the Saterday 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 Sonne 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 blessing 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 dayes and rest on the seventh day according to Gods example now they must rest on the first day and work the six dayes 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 naile 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 Jewes Sabbath to be the seventh day from the Creation
be both in one Hemisphere but succeed in order each other which is called Gods Covenant of the day and of the night a Ier. 33.20 God then called that light so divided Day and that darknesse so divided called by Moses emphatically 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God called night b Gen. 1.4 5. the full Revolution of both which was the first day in this division of the light and darknesse 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 the third day in like maner were universal days When God stretchd out the firmament on the second day it was every where then the second day On the next day also whersoever 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 grasse and herbes and fruit-trees d Gen. 1.11 12 13. no where was it then either the second or fourth day The fourth day in which the Sunne Moone and Starres 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 Sunne first appeared to the world on that day it was over some part of the earth at that time making it to be noone there and in all places in that Hemisphere which were in the same Meridian with the Sunne 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 midnight there in those places that were in the same Meridian with the Sunne 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 noone 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 Sunnes 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 noone and likewise it was then the fourth day also in the other part of the earth to which the Moone or Starres first appeared For neither the Sun Moone or Starres 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 fowle 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 noone 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 noone and in other some at mid-night in the same day For so was it on the fourth day when the Sunne first appeared and so when it was halfe 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 noone or mid-night either when the Sun first shined forth to the world or when halfe of that fourth day was ended or when it was fully ended and therefore no man can tell nor possibly can any finde out whether here in England or in any other particular place or Countrey it was Sun-setting or Sun-rising noone 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 dayes work 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 a 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 moneths and the dayes of their week were all changed in respect of their beginnings and endings so that whereas they began their dayes with the morning thenceforth they constantly began their week-dayes with the evening b Sec 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 custome of beginning their dayes 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 skild in dividing and distinguishing of time as were Astronomers such as doubtlesse Moses was who was learned in all the wisdome of the Egyptians d Acts 7.22 began the day at noone making the evening that is all the time from noone to midnight to be the former part of the day and the evening that is all the time from mid-night to noone to be the latter part as I will more fully shew in the fourth Chapter a See cap. 4. CHAP. III. The Horizontal day What the parts of the Horizontal day are And which part is the former THe Horizontalday with any Nation is that space of time in which the Sunne is in going from their Horizon at its rising untill it cometh again into their Horizon at its next rising or from their Horizon at its setting untill it come unto their Horizon again at its next setting or more briefly thus
The like is said of Moses f Exod. 34.4 Mary Magdalene's coming to the Sepulchre was before day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the darknesse or night yet in being g Iohn 20.1 notwithstanding that time was counted to be in the morning and the time of our Saviours Resurrection was before that yet was it in the morning This kinde of day that is the Meridional day is and ever hath been in common use with all Christians who do and have counted the day as their Heathen ancestors did before them after midnight reckoning one two three and so to twelve of the Clock in the morning and the like in the afternoon for the evening So we at this time do begin the day from midnight making the morning to be the former part of the day and the evening the latter part So did the Egyptians who were for dividing and observing of time excellent and so did the Romanes and accordingly so did Christians begin the day from midnight Aegyptii Sacerdotes Romani à media nocte in alteram mediam noctem numerabant diem quae consuetudo adhuc in Ecclesia Romana permansit saith Clavius a Clav. in Sphaera Jo. de sacro Bos ubi de officiis Meridian In like manner did the Jewes begin the day with them in their ordinary common account of time making the morning to be the former part of the day though the Jewes from their coming out of Egypt began all their sacred dayes or Sabbaths from the time of the setting of the Sun d See chap. 3. and also the dayes serving to mete out to them their sacred dayes f Exod. 13.6 7. Lev. 23.5 6. Ex. 12.18 19 Deut. 16.4 all which were Sabbatical dayes and called by the Jewes The first day of the Sabbath the second day of the Sabbath c. for thus they called the dayes of their week or Sabbath Yet otherwise commonly and generally they continued to count their day to begin with the morning as before Never did they begin any day of their moneth but with the morning making the evening to be the latter part of the day As for instance the day before their coming out of Rameses was the fourteenth day of Abib g Num. 33.3 Ex. 12.6.18 In that night that is in the night of that fourteenth day they did eate the Passeover a Exod. 12.8 and in that night before the morrow they burned what of the Passeover they are not b Exod. 12.10 and not one after that till midnight was past and the morrow come was to go out of the door of his house c Exod. 12.22 At midnight all the first-born in Egypt were slain d Exod. 12.29 But the next day that is after midnight Pharaoh and the Egyptians urged them while it was night to rise and haste away Insomuch that the Israelites took their dough before it was leavened and so in haste went from Rameses f Exod. 12.30 31 32 33 34 37. Whence it is evident that the evening in which they ate the Passeover and were not to stir out of doors till the morning was part of the fourteenth day and that the time after midnight in which they were urged to haste away and in which they went abroad out of doors to provide their cattel to consult about their journey and their going from Rameses was on the fifteenth day They ate the Passeover on the fourteenth and took their journey on the fifteenth day h Numb 33.3 Secondly The flesh of the Peace-offering was to be eaten on the same day it was offered and might not be eaten after the whole evening was fully past The same may appear also if the offering had been a vow k Lev. 7.15 16 17 18. Thirdly the day in which Jesus Christ ate the Passeover with his disciples was the fourteenth day of the moneth on the same day Christs disciples asked him where they should provide and prepare for him to eat the Passeover and on the same day Peter denied his Master and the Cock crew m Mar. 14.30 Luke 22.34 I say the Question demanded of Christ by his disciples the killing the Paschal Lambe the eating the Passeover Peters denying this Master and the Cocks crowing were all done on one and the same day of the moneth though the eating the Passeover Peters denial and the Cocks crowing were done in the evening in the latter part of that fourteenth day The Astronomers especially and some others in ancient times began the Meridional day at noon John of Holifax telleth us that the Arabians began their day at noon and giveth this reason for it Because when the Sun was made and appeared to the world it was then in a Meridian p Jo. de sacr Bosc in libello de Computo Ecclesiastice In the day so beginning at noon they had the same parts of the day viz. morning and evening only they made the evening to be the former part And it is more probable then otherwise that when the Sun was made and first appeared to the world it was then in the same Meridian that Paradise was of making it then to be noon there At that time doth the Sun shew it self with the greatest light a Deut 28.29 Iob 11.17 5.14 Psal 37.6 Isa 59.10 Amos 8.9 lustre strength and glory making it to be Sun-rising ninety degrees from it westward and Sun-setting ninety degrees from it Eastward and day-light in all places in either side Now I see no reason and I think no man can give any to the contrary but that the Sun should rather thus appear in its glory unto Paradise first then unto Spain Judea America or to any other place whatsoever And then if so Moses had good reason even from hence to set the evening before the morning c See chap. 2. And then it is likely that God made the living creature after his kinde and Adam also in the afternoon and that in the night following I mean when it was night in Paradise though it was then day in some other places the deep sleep fell on Adam when God made the woman and that she was brought unto him in the morning The naming of the creatures may be after this for ought we know to the contrary yet all before the next evening that is before the next day beginning at noon there But if any will contend that unlesse there be better proofs given then probabilities we should not conceive the dayes of the Creation either the fourth sixth or seventh to begin in Paradise rather at noon then at midnight Sun-rising or at Sun-setting Yet sure it is more then probable that Moses would have the evening to begin at noon What else could he mean by the two Evenings which he in divers places mentioneth f Exod. 29.39 Numb 28.4 8. if he meant not thereby the time between noon and Sun-setting viz. the time between the evening of the day in
little Every degree that you went westward you pieced your day and made it the three hundred and sixtieth part of a day longer then it was but therewithal you losed the three hundred and sixtieth part of your day in tale you must look to lose one way if you gain another way In your travel of the whole round which is three hundred and sixty degrees you gained a whole day in the length of your dayes but you have lost thereby a whole day in tale For tell me when it was Sunday here at your coming home what day was it then with you Indeed quoth Iohn it was but Saturday with us and I wondred much why we in the count of the dayes of our week came still a day short of what they counted here But I pray tell me what counsel you will give me in the case between me and my brother why quoth Ployden be ruled by me and feare not make one voyage more and go back the same way that you came and you shall certainly finde again the day which you lost and then come to me and I will warrant your Case Though now I approve not Ploydens judgement in every point yet I say what he told Iohn of the lengthening his dayes and losing a day in tale at his return whereby he had not lived so many week-dayes as his brother Iohannes had by a day is very true whether he counted the week by Horizontal or by Meridional days But yet Iohn lived as many Universal days as did his brother and losed not one hour or minute of an houre of the Vniversal day it could neither be lengthened or shortened by continual travel When the Sun came to that Meridian in which it was when it began the fifth sixth or seventh day at the first Creation then did the Vniversal day end and the next began both with Iohn and with his brother though they were half the Compasse of the earth distant from each other 2. Week-dayes whether they be Horizontal or Meridional cannot be the same in all places much lesse can their parts or houres be the same But the Universal day is not only the same day in all places but every part or houre of that day is without any variation the same every where The last day in which Christ shall come to judge the world which must needs be on two week-dayes with People if it be on Sunday with some it will be on Saterday or Munday with some others and on different times also of the week-day if it shall be at midnight with some not only mid-night of security b Mat. 25.6 13 24.39 50. but in respect of the week-day it will be at noon with some others c. Yet will it be on one and the same Universal day therefore every where in holy Scripture that time is called a day c Iohn 6.39.40 54.11.24 Acts 2.20 Mat. 10.15 not dayes It shall not be on one day here and on another day elsewhere but on one and the same day It wil be a general day of judgement not only in respect of all conditions of men but also of all places they shal be gather'd from the foure windes d Mar. 13.27 from all quarters of the world Yea his coming shall then be not only on one and the same Vniversal or general day but on one and the same houre of that day in respect of all People In an houre of that day the trumpet shall sound e Mat. 24.36 1 Thes 4.16 then all in all places shall heare the voice thereof at that same moment even at the twinkling of an eye f 1 Cor. 1â— 52 In vaine shall the plea of any be alledging that it is Tuesday then with some people and it is but Munday with us O let us tarry till Tuesday too or that it is but one of the Clock with us and it is three or more with others and therefore too soon for them No for their account of the day will not serve the turn All shall finde that houre to be a general houre of a general or Universal day that is not sooner in one place then in another CHAP. VI. The difference between Horizontal and Meridional dayes THere is not a little difference between the Meridional and the Horizontal day as may appear by what hath been before said First they differ in length and duration for the Meridional day whereby the Jewes counted the dayes of their moneths and we the dayes of our weeks and moneths is in time foure and twenty houres without any sensible difference But the Horizontal day by which the Jewes count the dayes of their weeks from Sun-setting to Sun-setting or from Sun-rising to Sun-rising by which some other have counted the dayes of their week is sometimes in some places near five and twenty houres and at some other time in the same places it will be but about three and twenty houres in length When I say the Horizontal day is the time between Sun-setting and Sun-setting or between Sun-rising and Sun-rising I mean so in all places in and between the temperate zones and not in places near either of the Poles where it is continual day-light for many dayes together From Sun-setting to Sun-setting in those places cannot properly be termed a day having in it many revolutions of the Sun never was it in use with any People to mete out unto them their week moneth year or age Men living in such places measure out their weeks and moneths by Meridional dayes as we do Neither is there any mention made of such dayes any where in sacred Scripture and it is of such kinde of dayes as are there mentioned which I promised to speak of c See chap. 1. Secondly they differ much in respect of their beginning and ending Here in York and other places of England there is sometimes five sometimes eight and never so little as three houres difference between their beginnings and the like between their endings Whence it must follow that every of the week-dayes with the Jewes consisted partly of two dayes of their moneth and that every day of the moneth with them consisted partly of two of their week-dayes the dayes of their moneth being meridional and their dayes of the week Horizontal dayes as I said before The knowledge hereof is very useful for the reconciling divers places and resolving divers doubts in the sacred Scripture about the Jewes customes in observing their feasts as for instance if it be demanded 1. Whether the Israelites ate the Passeover in Egypt and came out of Egypt from Rameses on one and the same day Sith it is said that on the fourteenth day at Even they ate the Passeover b Exod. 12.8 but it was the next day being the morrow after viz. the fifteenth day when they came from Rameses d Num. 33.3 Or whether our Saviour Christ ate the Passeover with his disciples and after that suffered death on the Crosse on one
of Gods rest and the Jews Sabbath was made to be one and the same day which were alwayes two before His words are When God commanded the Jews their Sabbaths from evening to evening the order of the natural day was inverted by him not so much looking to the number of four twenty hours as to the time of Israels deliverance out of Egypt which began when the Passeover was eaten at even b Iron pa. 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 Saterday and to begin the same at the Sun-setting of the day before-going that is on the Friday at the setting of the Sunne 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 that they kissed each other as he saith the end of one contiguum is the beginning of the other c Iron pa. 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 errour is strong with him because the Jews Sabbath-day is abrogated he thinking no difference to be made between the Jews Sabbath-day and the Sabbath-day here in this Law commanded to be kept holy whereas they differ as doeth the species from its Genus And from hence he inferreth that it wholly resteth in the power of the Church and Magistrates to appoint the time for Gods publique worship His words are these The Observation of that Sabbath which is pretended to have been commanded Adam in Paradise is abrogated by Christ as he is the Messias even that day on which God rested and which he sanctified a Iron pa. 12. The letter of the Law of Moses being wholly ceremonial it must be that the determinate time of cessation from works together with the manner in regard of the strictnesse thereof is wholly left to the power and wisdome of the Church and Magistrate b pa. 225. Now if any reasonable man will weigh these tenents of Master Ironside he may plainly perceive that they and every of them do flow from the supposal of the earths plainnesse If this be true so must the other and if false then so must all and every of the other be false also they all either stand or fall together and so will their contraries also issuing from the earths roundnesse For Let it be granted that the earth is plain all these following will be true and not otherwise Let it be granted that the Earth is round all these following will be true and not otherwise 1. There is but one Horizon to all nations and places 1. Every Nation and place have a several Horizon differing from other 2. The Sun was in the Horizon at his rising when on the fourth day of the Creation he first appeared and began his course for that day 2. The Sun when he first appeared was directly over some part of the earth or other and shone most gloriously on halfe the earth making it to be noon then in the place under him and in all places of the same Meridian The Sun cannot properly be said to be then in the Horizon unlesse it be meant to some particular place or other as in the Horizon to London c. 3. The rising of the Sun in the Horizon was the first period of the fourth day and of the seventh day the day of Gods rest 3. The first period of the fourth day and so of the day of Gods rest was noon in some places and one two three c. of the Clock in the afternoon in some and eight nine ten c. of the Clock in the forenoon in some other places 4. Men who can tell exactly when it is Sun-rising with them may tell to a minute when the day of Gods rest doth begin with them in any place 4. The wisest man on earth cannot tell either at York or at Rome or at at any other place the just time when the day of Gods rest did or doth begin within eleven houres of our day 5. Every week-day is the same day in all places all having the same Sun-rising 5. As People are distant in place so have they different Horizons and as their Horizons differ so do their week-dayes from being the very same 6. The seventh day even the day of Gods rest is the seventh day of the week with all people as well in Dublin Salisbury Jerusalem Virginea Japan as in all other places all having the same Horizon Though the day of the coming of the Son of man in glory be unknown and likewise the houre whether at midnight or at the Cock-crowing or at the day-dawning yet if it shall be on the Saterday with some it shall be on the Saterday with all and if it be at midnight with some it shall be at midnight with all or if at the Cock-crowing or at the day-dawning with some then so shall it be with all 6. The day of Gods rest which is the seventh day from the Creation is the same universal day with all people but it cannot be the same day of the week with all people If the day of Gods rest be Saterday with some it must needs be Friday or Sunday with some other people So likewise the time of Christs coming to judge the world if it be on the Saterday with some it will not be on the Saterday with all but on the Sunday or Friday with some others also if it be at midnight with some it shall be at Cock-crowing with other some and at day-dawning with some others but it will not be at midnight with all nor at Cock-crowing nor at day-dawning with all 7. As the seventh day from the Creation even the day of Gods rest is the Saterday that is the seventh day of the week with all people so be all the six dayes of the Creation the same with the six dayes of the week with all people 7. As the day of Gods rest cannot be the Saterday nor the seventh day of the week with all people so cannot the six dayes of the Creation be the same with the six dayes of the week with all people 8. The seventh day which God blessed and sanctified and commanded in this law to be kept holy was the very day of Gods rest which after God had inverted the day turning morning into evening came to be the same day with the Iewes Sabbath where ever they dwelt and began at Sun-setting in all places where-ever the Iewes abode as in Arabia Jerusalem Babylon Rome Spain Ophyr and in all other places where the Iewes had never any abiding place for all
and Assyria under the Assyrian Monarchy in the time the planets were held the gods of the world so counted the week and called every week-day by the name of the same planet as now generally we do They who shall be alive in America three hundred yeares hence and see there so many Nations of different tongues and all to have just seven dayes to the week and all to have Sunday for their seventh sacred day and call every of their other week-dayes alike will they not say or conceive that this could never have so happened had not their Ancestors in Europe observed weeks and had just so many dayes to the week and call every day of the week by the same names before ever they removed thence and were dispersed into so many and various plantations in America The like may we well conceive of the ancient Saxons Romanes Egyptians and other ancient Nations that it could never so have happened that every of them should have weeks and just seven dayes to the week and every week-day to be called by the name of the same planet with them all had not their Ancestors under the Assyrian Monarchs who first set up the idolatry of worshipping the planets observed seven dayes to the week and called the week-dayes by the same names of the planets before they came to be planted abroad in several Nations Secondly Adam at first had no other measure to mete out his age and time but dayes and weeks These he had from the Lords standard who having wrought six dayes and rested the seventh did sanctifie the seventh day Adam knew all ereatures at the first sight of them and gave 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 dayes 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 patterne and standard of the Lord he might mete out time by weeks before he could have any experimental knowledge of moneths and years which were afterward in time gotten by observation of the course of the Sun and Moon And we finde that in ancient times there was much difference and variation in the count of yeares and moneths with people Some had but three moneths some ten the Jewes had sometimes twelve and sometimes thirteen moneths to the yeare Their moneths did also much differ for length but never was the week counted to be more or lesse then seven dayes 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 Chrys Homil 10. in Gen. Aug. Steuchius on Gen. 2. 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 kept 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 f Ioseph Cont. App. l. 2. Fourthly from the testimony of ancient heathen Poets such as Homer Hesiod Gallimachus Liuus who have spoken very laudably of the Creation and of the seventh day g Clem. Alexan. Strom. l. 5. This knowledge of the Creation and of the seventh day and consequently of the count of dayes by sevens or weeks they could not have but by tradition or from the Books of Moses From the Books of Moses doubtlesse they had it not for they were not extant in the Greek tongue untill Prolomie prevailed to get seventy two Seniors of the Jewes to turn them into Greek which was many hundreds of yeares after Homer While-as the Kingdomes of Israel and Judah flourished the Gentiles could never get the least parcel of sacred Scripture The Jewes counted it to be an high prophanation of the Books of Moses if they were any wayes 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 Jewes Saterday-Sabbath which they spake so laudably of but they knew that to be an holy day with them no ancienter then Moses Septimum diem more Gentis Sabbatum appellatum in omne oevum jejunio sacravit Moses The seventh day with that Nation called the Sabbath Moses made a perpetual Holy day saith Trogus 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 questionlesse he had some general knowledge by tradition of most things he wrote of as they were delivered from father to son unto his dayes It would have been a very wilde 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 thereof was intailed to the heires male or to some persons in a lineal descent from Noah to Abraham and