Section I.

THE Thesis or Position]: Our Sunday-Sabbath or Lords-day is the very same day of the week, which was anciently observed by Jews and Gentiles, for the Solemn day of their Solemn weekly Worship, before Israels coming out of Aegypt; and after that by the Gentiles.

Sect. II.

The explanation of the The­sis] 1. We call it Sunday. 1. Be­cause it is vulgarly so called, and best known by the genera­lity of the Nation. 2. Because the Jews anciently so called it, and observed it, in memorial of God (their Sun Ps. 84.11. ) Creating the World, and that eminentest part thereof the Sun. Exod. [...]0.11. If so long after the Creati­on, no don't but anciently nea [...]e [...] the Crea [...]ion. 3. Because the Gentiles of old called it Sun­day; though upon an ill occa­sion; that they on that day Wor­shiped the Sun. But it is to our purpose to note the number of the day, not the iniquity; the observation, not the misapplica­tion of the day.

¶. 2. We call it Sabbath. 1. Because many Christians so call it, and own it, against all Jewish Saturday Sabbatarians. [Page 45] 2. Because the Word ( [...]) Sabbath, signifies rest: which rest for Body and Soul we have mostly on this day. 3. Because in some way of proportion, the time of our Sabbath day an­swers to that of the Jews; both being a Seventh day of the week.

¶. 3. We call it The Lord's day: 1. Because the Scripture so calls it. I was (saith St. John the Disciple of Christ) in the Spirit on the LORDS DAY Rev. 1.10. mean­ing our Sabbath or Sunday, which we call the Lord's day. For surely if ( [...]) the Lords Supper doth sufficiently distinguish that Spiritual Supper of the Communion, to all ingenu­ous men from all common Sup­pers, then so doth ( [...]) the Lord's day sufficiently distin­guish to all, not willfully blind, that special day from all other [Page 43]days. For it follows, 2ly. That we call our Sabbath the Lord's day, because it was the day of the Lord Christ's Resurrection from the Dead; wherein he rested from his Sufferings. and we thereby from our Sins and Condemnation. 'Tis true, That the day of Christ's Resurrection is by the same Apostle called the First day of the week Joh. 20.1. But 'tis as true, That this same First day was the Jews and Gentiles Sabbath for Two thousand four hundred fifty four years, viz. From the Creation, to the reduction of Israel our Aegypt; and was the Gentiles Sabbath long after that. 3ly. We call it the Lord's Day, because on that day in every week we so­lemnly worship the Lord Christ with the Gospel Worship, which the Lord himself hath Institut­ed.

Sect. 3.

The probation or proof of the said Thesis] being made good by the orderly succeeding of the following Chapter, N. B. the lat­ter strengthning the former; it may be hoped, that according to the TITLE, there will fol­low a cessation, and rest of all Controversies about the Sunday Sabbath, or the Lord's day, ei­ther by the Quotidian or Hemeri­on Sabbatarians, that pretend no one day, but every day should be as a Sabbath. Or by the Plurian Sabbatarians, that would not have all days to be Sabbaths; but would have more then one day in Seven. Or by the Pro­sabbatarians, that are wholy for the Jewish Sabbath. Or by the Antisabbatarians that are against the Jewish Sabbath, in the be­half of the Christian Sabbath. [Page 48]Or touching the morality of th [...] Sabbath in general. Or touch­ing the warrantrie of Christian Lord's day Sabbath. Or touch­ing the Scruple, whether to cal [...] the day of Solemn Worship Sunday, or Sabbath day, o [...] Lord's day.

Sect. 1.

THE Natural day of Twen­ty four hours (as it is vulgarly called) is with any peo­ple, the space of time between Sun-rising, and Sun-rising; or between Sun-setting, and Sun-setting: called by the Learned the Horizontal day.

Sect. 2.

The parts of this Natural day are two. The one is the Arti­ficial day, that is, the days Light. The other part is (by relative consequence) the Artificial night, that is the Nights darkness, be­longing to that day. So that the [Page 50]Artificial day is the whole space between Sun-rising and Sun-setting.

Sect. 1.

THE Artificial day, or Day­light was anciently before Israels going out of Aegypt, count­ed the beginning, or former part of the Natural day; and the Night the latter part of the said natural day. This appears three ways.

¶. 1. In that when the parts of the Natural day are mentio­ned in Scripture, before Israels coming out of Aegypt, the Mor­ning was set before the Night. [Page 51] Gen. 1.16, 17, 18. God made two great Lights, the greater Light to rule the DAY, and the lesser Light to rule the Night, he made also the Stars. And God set them in the Firmament of Heaven. And to rule over the DAY, and over the NIGHT, and to divide the LIGHT from the DARKNESS. Likewise in Gen. 7.4. Yet seven DAYS and I will cause it to rain upon the Earth forty DAYS and forty Nights. And vers. 12. The rain was upon the Earth forty DAYES and forty Nights. Item Gen. 8. last. While the Earth remains, Seed-time and Harvest, and cold and heat, and Summer and Winter, and DAY and Night shall not cease.

¶. 2. Because at what time soever, or hour of the day light the Scripture speaks of the fol­lowing Night, it expresseth it in this manner, To Night; This [Page 52]Night; This same Night as be­longing to the same day, and not to the following day. See Gen. 19.34. Where THIS Night is exprest as the Night-darkness, that followed the day's, Day-light immediately foregoing, as belonging thereunto. So Gen. 26. 24. And Isaac went up from thence to Beersheba and the Lord ap­peared unto him THE SAME NIGHT; that is the Night be­longing to the immediate pre­ceding DAY LIGHT wherein Isaac Travelled up to Beersheba.

¶. 3. When at any hour of the day-light the Scripture men­tions Night, it speaks not of the Night as belonging to the day following, but as belonging to the day before-going, saying Yester-night, Gen. 19.34. YES­TERNIGHT I lay with my Fa­ther. And Gen. 31.42. God hath seen (saith Jacob to Laban) mine [Page 53]affliction, and the labours of my hands, and rebuked thee YESTER­NIGHT. But when at Night they spake of the Day following, they used not to say TO DAY, or THIS DAY, but to MORROW, or the MORROW AFTER Num. 33.3. They departed from Rameses, in the first Moneth, in the fifteenth day of the first moneth; on the MORROW AFTER the Passover the Children of Israel went out with an high hand &c. So 1 Sam. 19.11. And Saul sent Messengers to David's house to watch him, and to stay him in the MORNING. And Michael Da­vid's Wife told him saying, If thou save not thy life TO NIGHT, TO MORROW thou shalt be slain: signifying by the morrow another day, Mat. 6.34. Jam. 4. 13, 14.

Sect. 2.

Yea I might further assert, [Page 54]That after Israels coming out of Aegypt, the Jews (mentioned in Scripture) did commonly ac­compt the Artificial day, of Day light, to be the former part of the day, in respect of their Civil affairs, Exod. 13.21, 22. The Lord went before them by DAY in a Pillar of a Cloud, to lead them the WAY; and by night, in a Pillar of Fire, to give them Light. He took not away the Pillar of the Cloud by DAY, nor the Pillar of Fire by Night. So Levit. 8.35. Therefore shall ye abide at the door of the Taber­nacle of the Congregation DAY and Night. See also Num. 9.21. So it was when the Cloud was taken up in the MORNING, then they journyed, whether it was by DAY or by Night.

Sect. 1.

WHen the Israelites were come out of Aegypt, the NIGHT was made (excepted as before excepted) the former part of the Natural day. This appears,

¶. 1. Because a never to-be forgotten Memorial or Memoran­dum is solemnly put upon that Night wherein they march'd out of Aegypt. Exod. 12.42. It is a Night to be much observed unto the Lord, for bringing them out from the Land of Aegypt: This is that Night of the Lord, to be ob­served of all the Children of Is­rael in their Generations.

¶. 2. The Israelites were com­manded after their coming out of Aegypt, to celebrate the Sab­bath from Evening to Evening, Levit. 23.32. N. B. From Evening to Evening shall ye celebrate your Sabbath.

Sect. 2.

The new beginning of the Week. Whereupon they so begin their Week-days also, whereby their Sabbath day was measured out unto them, to be their Se­venth day, otherwise their Se­venth day would not have been proportionable to their six days of labour.

Sect. 3.

A new be­ginning of the Year. From hence also their Year had a new beginning. For whereas formerly they began their Year in the Month Tisri, N. B. (which consisted chiefly of our [Page 57] September) after all their inga­thering of all their Fruits of the Earth, Exod. 23.16. And the Feast of Harvest, the First-fruits of thy labours which thou hast sown in the Field, and the Feast of INGATHERING which is in the END of the YEAR, when thou hast gathered in the Labours out of the field: Likewise, Ex. 34.22. And thou shalt observe the Feast of weeks, of the First-fruits of Wheat-Harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the YEARS-END: Now hence forward they were to begin their Year with the Moneth in which they had their Freedom from Aegypt, Exod. 12. 2. This Moneth shall be unto you the BEGINNING of MONETHS, it shall be the FIRST MONETH of the YEAR to you. Which Moneth was called in the He­brew Abib, and by the Chaldee Nisan, consisting partly of our March, and partly of our April, [Page 58]being with them the first Moneth after the Vernal Aequinoctial, that is, after the Spring-Aequality of the Day and Night. So that from after their deliverance from Aegypt, the Israelites had a new Year, and a new Moneth, and a new day to begin their year withal. N. B. So that although in re­spect of their Civil Affairs they began their Year, their Moneth, and Day as they did before they came out of Aegypt; yet in this New Ecclesiastical, or Sacred Year, they began their Day at Even. All their Sabbaths and all other their Sacred days, and so also their Week-days, for measuring out to them their Sacred days they began at Even. They had the Evening to be the former part of the Day, Levit. 23.32.

Sect. 4.

To speak a little more parti­cularly [Page 59]to the said Change. That the Artificial day of Day-light among the Jews, consisted of Twelve hours is evident by Scripture, Act. 2.15. These men are not drunken as ye suppose seeing it is but the third hour of the day. (that is, Nine of the Clock in the Morning) so that Six in the Morning was the first hour of their day. And Mat. 27.45. Now from the Sixth hour (that is Twelve of the Clock at noon-day) there was darkness to the Ninth hour (i. e. Three of the Clock in the Afternoon). And consequently the Twelfth hour was Six of the Clock at Evening, the period of their day. And proportionably was the reckoning of their Night.

¶. 1. Now as Moses put back the account, saying, Levit 23.32. From Evening to Evening shall ye celebrate your Sabbath. And [Page 60]upon that footing of the account Exod. 12.41, 42. And it came to pass at the end of the Four hun­dred and thirty Years, even the the self same day it came to pass, that all the Hosts of Lord went out from the Land of Aegypt. It is a NIGHT to be much observed unto the Lord, for bringing them out of the Land of Aegypt, this is that Night of the Lord to be ob­served of all the Children of Israel, in their Generations. I say, as Moses thus put back the account, to begin the Sabbath-day at the Evening before, viz. from Six of the Clock that Evening, to con­tinue to Six of the Clock at Evening of the next ensuing day: So Christ re-assumed and brought forward all that day Light, and put it to the next day, with which, together with the Night following he made a new distinct day, by rising early in the Morn­ing of that new-made day; hav­ing [Page 61]put an end to the Jewish Sab­bath. Mat. 28.1. In the END of the Sabbath (Christ then put an end to the Jewish Sabbath) when it began [...] to dawn with some Light towards the FIRST DAY of the week; in which ri­sing, Christ ceased (as Learned Weemse notes, according to Heb. 4.10.) from his own Works, N. B.as God did from his.

¶. 2. 'Tis true (as ye have heard) that this day in the whole Matter, was the Jews Seventh day Sabbath. But when (as hath been explained) Christ had new formed and bounded it, by re­storing its Evening to it, and so making it as a new day in that respect; then was it called the FIRST DAY of the week; be­cause it was the primest day of the week, and was the beginning of the Christians new Measure, and Accompt of days; opposite to [Page 62]that old Measure, and Accompt that Moses delivered to Israel, Lev. 23.32.

Sect. 1.

Obj. IF it be objected, That before Israels coming out of Aegypt, the Evening, which is, as afore­said the Artificial Night, was set [Page 63]before the Morning, which is the Artificial Day; both being the two parts of the Natural Day; Gen. 1.5. &c. The Evening and the Morning were the First Day, Second Day, Third Day, Fourth Day &c. We answer,

¶. 1. Those days were Crea­tional days; Not Natural days of Twenty four hours, measured out by the Sun circling the Earth, once every Natural day: But they were Creational days, peculiar to the Creation, wherein God did work every days work, producing Entities out of Non­entities; Habits out of privati­ons; and rested the Seventh Day.

¶. 2. They were extraordi­nary days, not measured out by the Motion of the Sun (as now) For in the first, second, and third of those days there was no Sun [Page 64]as yet in being to measure them.

3 ¶. 3. And they were Ʋniver­sal days, that is, when it was day, it was day over the universal World; when it was Night it was Night every where over the whole Universe, both in regard of the beginning and ending of the Day and the Night. To make it more plain, that these were Ʋniversal days, let us con­sider an instance or two.

The Uni­versal day explained by instan­ces in one Day. The First Day was such a day, as when it began any where, it be­gan every where. No where then, was it no day: nor any other then the First day of God's Cre­ation. There was in Nature be­fore, though not before in time, a mixture of Light and Dark­ness. Gen. 1.2. But when God had out of it formed the Light, and made it shine out of that Duskishness, dividing the Light from the Darkness, so as they [Page 65]should never be both in one He­misphere, but orderly each suc­ceeding the other, God then called that Light so divided by the name of Day, that is, Day­light. And that Darknes so di­vided he called Night; that is, the Nights darkness. 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 (that is over one half of the World); And the Day before the Night in the other Hemisphere: 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 [Page 66]same may be said of the Second and Third Day before the Sun, Moon, and Stars were Created.

Yea, likewise the Fourth Day, in which the Sun, Moon, and Stars were Created (if they) moved as soon as they were Created) was notwithstanding an Universal Day (that so all Seven might in a just proporti­on of length and number answer to one another). When it was the Fourth day any where, it was the Fourth day every where. I say not Day-light every where, but it was the Fourth day con­sisting of Day-light, and Night-darkness. A Caution to the Rea­der. The Reader must al­ways distinguish between a Day, and Day-light. Now though it is not revealed in what hour, or time of the Fourth day the Sun, Moon, and Stars were Created (the whole Fourth Day being al­lotted by the Divine Story, N. B. to [Page 67]and for their Creation) yet this must, by natural necessity, be granted, That when the Sun first appeared to the World on that Fourth day, it was at that time, over some part of the Globe of the Earth, making it to be Noon there, and in all pla­ces within that Hemisphere, which 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 Mid­night 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 [Page 68]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 Sun, Moon, or Stars appear'd to any place on the Third Day, which was the day before they were made; and the Fifth Day was not then begun. The same may be said of the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Day, when either of these days began, it was 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 are of, and upon the same Day.

Seeing then these were Uni­versal Days, and so no Man can tell where on Earth those places are, at which it was Sun-rising, or Sun-setting, or Noon, or Mid­night; or when the Sun first [Page 69]shined forth to the World, or when half of that Fourth-Day, or when it was fully ended: I say therefore these days, these Universal days, cannot be made the footing of the Accompt for the measuring out of our Arti­ficial Day and Night, the parts of the Natural Day. Our or­dinary Seven days cannot de­rive their Number, and begin­ning from the said Ʋniversal Days to an hour.

¶. 4. We answer, That Moses wrote the Book of Genesis, when he had been Inspired by the ap­pearance of God to him, calling him, and enabling him to that Miraculous Work of bringing Israel out of Aegypt, Exod. 3.2. So that he wrote that Book after Israels coming out of Aegypt; at which deliverance their Year, Month, and Day was changed, Exod. 12.41.42. Levit. 23.32. [Page 70]The Natural Day was now to begin at Evening (as aforesaid) whereas before that it began in the Morning (as we have shew'd.) Therefore, if Moses should now have said, Gen. 1. The Morning and the Evening was the First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh Day, putting the Morning before the Evening, he might have seemed thereby to have disliked the said Change appointed by God as aforesaid, of making the Evening the be­ginning of each day, after their coming out of Aegypt.

Sect. 1.

THE First Reason was for a Memorial, or Memorandum of their deliverance out of Aegypt as before proved.

Sect. 2.

The Second was, because the Heathens did Dedicate and Ce­lebrate the Ancient Sunday (that was observed piously to God, be­fore Israels coming out of Aegypt) to the Sun, the Heathen I say De­dicated [Page 72]it to worship that Planet on that day. And for that rea­son the Lord would not have the Jews to observe it any longer, but would have them change it.

¶. 1. Thus God of old, would not have his people use the names of lawful things, nor mention such names, which the Idolaters were wont to use, Hos. 2.16.17. It shall be at that day, saith the Lord, that thou shalt call me ISHI, and shalt call me no more BAALIM. For I will take away the Names of BAALIM out of her mouth, &c. Why would not the Lord be called Baalim but Ishi seeing both fignifie the same thing, that is, My Husband, or my Lord? The Reason was, because Baal was the name that Heathens gave to their Gods. And therefore God would have the name of Baalim (the plural of Baal) to be utter­ly removed out of the mouths of his people.

¶. 2. For the same Reason he would not have his people to observe the Ancient Sunday in use before Israels return from Aegypt, because the Heathen cal­led it by that name, in relation to their Worshiping the Sun on that day. And therefore God would have the day changed. This will more appear in the next Chapter.

Sect. I.

TIS untradictably probable, beyond all demonstration to the contrary, and with fair reason on our part, that the an­cient Sunday (for solemn Wor­ship of God) before Israels re­turn from Aegypt (which Sunday is now our LORD'S DAY) was observed by the Patriarchs be­fore the Flood, and by them af­ter the Flood, in honour to the true God who had Created that wonderful frame of Heaven, and in it that transcendent shining Planet the Sun, whom that is [Page 75]God that Creator, they of the Patriarches before the Flood, worshiped on that day, by imi­tation of God's resting on the Se­venth day of his Creation; which is urged in the Fourth Com­mandement as to a Seventh day Sabbath, if not to THE Se­venth day Sabbath, which we now observe, as our Lords-day: of which more after. N. B. I note it chiefly here to intimat, that Gods example of resting the Seventh day at the Creation, hath in it, an Argument for Imitation, that his people should observe that most ancient Sunday of which we speak; that example of God's resting being then fresher to the Patriarchs and those times by Two thousand of years, then at the giving of the Moral Law. And the practise of the after­times do much shew us, what was the practise of former-times; Men being very apt to follow [Page 76]their Fore-fathers in the out­ward profession of Religion: And to use those forms of speech relating to Religion, which of old were wont to be used. The Patriarches therefore before the Flood, no doubt called and ac­compted God to be their Sun in a figurative sense as the Pa­triarches that were after the Flood, and their succeeding Generations did likewise, Num. 6.25. Aaron and his Sons shall on this wise bless the Children of Israel, saying unto them; The Lord bless thee, and keep thee, the Lord make HIS FACE TO SHINE ƲPON thee. So, Deut 33.1, 2. And this is the blessing wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the Children of Israel be­fore his death; And he said the Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he SHINED FORTH from Mount Paran. And Job (at least as an­cient [Page 77]as Moses, if not ancienter) argues with God, that he would not shine upon the Wicked, and therefore would not oppress or despise him; that is, would SHINE upon him. And it is a common phrase with David in Prayer to say, Make thy face to SHINE upon me, or upon us, Psal. 31.16. Psal. 71.1. And Psal. 8. It is the burden or foot of the divine Song. And Psal. 84. ver. 11. He calls God by the name of the Sun, The Lord God (saith he) is a SƲN and a Shield to them that walk uprightly. And Malac. 4.2. He viz. Christ is cal­led the SƲN of Righteousness with healing in his wings, that is in his Beams.

Sect. 2.

Now as 'tis true that the Pi­ous Patriarchs of old, in a figu­rative sense calling and accompt­ing [Page 78]God to be as their Sun, did call and accompt their weekly solemn day of their Solemn Wor­ship of him, by the name of Sun­day, or Suns-day, See before Chap. 7. or day of the Sun (as aforesaid): So it is as true (which further confirms the Section next before) that Idola­trous Heathen, of very ancient times, and downward, in imi­tation of the Jews Worshiping the true God, their Metapho­rical Sun, did on the said Sun­day, worship the Material and Natural Sun, and upon that ac­compt called it their Sunday, or Day of the Sun.

For we know that Idolaters were always the Apes (as Di­vines call them) of true Religi­on. Upon their mis-apprehen­sions, and mal-applications of di­vine Inspirations and Institutions given by God to Godly men, they grounded their Idolatrous Superstitions. Of many, take [Page 79]but two or three Instances. viz. Because Abraham (whiles there was no solemn set place appoin­ted of God for Worship) built an Altar on the Mountain neer Bethel, Gen. 12.8. and Chap. 13.4. and there called on the name of the Lord, the true God, And likewise he planted a Grove in Beer-sheba and there called on the name of the Lord, Gen. [...]1.33. the Ever­lasting God: And prepared all things at God's command to offer up his Son Isaac for a burnt-offering, though afterwards he was forbidden the Execution: Therefore Idolaters planted Groves, Gen. 22. and Worshiped in High-places, their Idols, and made their Children to pass through the fire to them; mentioned as high Crimes, throughout the Old Testament. Even such is the Rise of the highest Idolatry, to wit, of worshiping of false Gods. That because Godly men Wor­shiped the true God according [Page 80]to his divine Inspirations, and In­stitutions; therefore Idolaters it an inique and unequel imitation Worshiped their false Gods, ac­cording to their own inventions. And this Idolatry is most Anci­ent, N. B. and practised by Abraham Terah, and Nachor in Chaldea, be­fore they were called out, Josh. 24. v. 3. and Converted from it. Gen. 12.31. And Chap. 12.1. Now to draw down our discourse to the particular point in hand.

¶. 2. The great and Univer­sal Monarches Saturnus Babylo­nicus, and Belus his Son, and other Potentates of Assyria, and Chaldea having Idolatrously se [...] up the whole Host of Heaven, i. e The Sun, Moon, and Stars to be their Gods; it is not imaginable that they would Dedicate any other day to the honour of their greatest God, viz. the Sun, the [...] the day which the Patriarchs be­fore the Flood Dedicated to [Page 81]God the Creator of the Sun. which doth further appear, in that those Worshippers of the Sun, having robbed God of his Worship, they robbed him also of his Name. For Nimrod hav­ing given to the Sun (his grea­test God) the Name of Baal; [...]e afterwards assumed that name [...]o himself. Jo. Gr. Assyr. Mo­narch. And Belus giving, [...]o their greatest God the Sun, [...]he name of Jove (the Contract of Jehovah) the said Belus after­wards took that name to him­self, and was called Jove Bel. Idem Bib­lian.

¶. 3. And moreover, seeing [...]he Idolaters assigned to every of their Seven Planet-Gods one of the seven days in the week; [...]o considering sober man can [...]hink otherwise, but that they would Dedicate and Celebrate [...]o their greatest God, the SƲN, (whom they called God of Gods, and Lord of Lords) the day for­merly [Page 82]observed and celebrated to the great and true God of Heaven and Earth, rather then to the Moon and Mercury, or other their inferior Gods. And therefore nothing can be more probable, then that the Seventh day with the ancient Patriarchs, was no other but that which af­terwards was the SUN-DAY, Sonnes-day, or Day of, or to the Sun, with the Assyrians; and from them was called Sunday, or Day of the Sun by other Na­tions also, as the other days of the week were called by the other names of the Planets, as we do to this day; viz. Moon­day, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, all Saxon names of the Six inferiour Planet-Gods. Whereupon, as I said before, this was one reason why the Lord changed to the Jews the Seventh day from our Sunday to the Jews Saturday.

Sect. 1.

HAving shew'd how, and by what means the Heathen Gentiles of old took cognizance of the Supereminency of Sun­day, or day of the Sun; and hinted that they on that day worshiped the Sun: Now for Confirmation of it, and to make way to that which must follow, it is requisite that I should prove [That the Heathen Gentiles did [...]n all Countries and Generati­ons of old, Worship the Sun.]

¶. 1. The Assyrians with the help of the Chaldeans set up the [Page 84]Idolatry of Worshiping the Host of Heaven, viz. Sun Moon, and the rest of the Planets Macrob. Saturn. l. 1. c. 9.17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23. And Rabbi Maimonides, one of the soberest of the Jew­ish Writers (as some Learned assert) affirms, That from the days of Enosh, the Stars were Worshiped as Gods. After which time, the great God was generally forgotten. No man scarcely knew the true God but Enoch, Methusalah, Noah, Sem. and Heber. De Jol. 1. Quest. Thus Maimonides Maimon. Some (yea and of the Learned) Quaere, How Maimonides should come to know what he hath said. Ans. 1 To this first we Answer from Gen. 4.26. And to Seth was born a SON and he cal­led his name ENOS: then began men (saith our English Translati­on) to call upon the Name of the Lord. But the Learned H. Brough­ton, Brough­tons works in Folio p. 11. p. 64. p. 219. p. 339. Pre­sented it to King J [...]s in Print. five times at least, in his [Page 85]Works blame this Translation, and thus Translates it, Also to Seth was born a Son and he called his name (Sorrowful) Enos. Then had sprung up pro­phaneness, instead of calling up­on the name of the Eternal. And gives these reasons. 1. At Enos Birth Religion is sorrow­fully corrupted, through Mar­riage with Cain's House. Enos Sorrowful, and Kenan Lamen­table so called, for Idolatry then arising. For he saith in another place of his Works, That the Ten Fathers or Pa­triarchs, before the Flood, had names given to them Consig­nificant to the time. And 2. Because presently, in the next Chapter save one, Moses tells us, viz. in Chap. 6. is the declining of the Sons of God, in Religi­on; and of the coming of the Flood. And it seems by Nicho­las de Lyra, That the Learned [Page 86] Jews did understand this Scrip­ture of the corrupting Religi­on in those times. The Chalde [...] Paraphrase likewise Translates [...] The Sons of Men gave off from calling upon the name of the Lord. And in that Edition in 4^o. Printed at London of that accurate Transla­tion of the Bible, by F. Junius a Learned Christian, and J. Tre­melius a Pious and Learned Jew, Printed at London, this Text is thus Translated, Tunc coeptum est profanari in invocando nomine Jehovae, That is, then began men to be Prophane in calling up­on the name of Jehovah. And sutable are his notes upon the place. Tunc sub Enoschi tempo­ra Caeptum est profanari, id est, Alii posteri Schethi, apud quos mansura est Ecclesia a Caiinitis corrupti, caeperunt prophanare se. In invocando] i. e. in cultu Dei, vide (inquit) Cap. 5.22, & [Page 87]cap. 6.2. Now this Enos living above Five hundred years be­fore the Flood, shews us no small antiquity of Idolatry. 2. We answer to the Quaere, That the knowledg of the Planetary Idolatry might come down to the Ancient Rabbies by sure Tra­dition. For as Sem lived about an hundred years before the Flood, when the Planets were deemed to be the Universal Go­vernors of the World; So he lived long, viz. Five hundred years after the Flood. Though he lived not to Moses's time, yet did he live till Abraham was an old Man, if he did not live af­ter Abraham's Burial. Before which time, the Idolatrous Wor­shiping of the Host of Heaven, was set up by the Assyrians and Chaldeans, Josh. 24.2, 3. &c. as aforesaid.

¶. 2. As the Chaldeans had [Page 88]the Sun for their Supream God, everlastingly Governing not on­ly the rest of the Planets, but all things else: even so had other Nations also, the Sun for their chiefest Governour of the World. For thus they argued; Si Sol ut placuit veteribus, Dux est, & Moderator reliquorum lu­minum, &c. That is, If the Sun (as it was the opinion of Men in ancient times) be the chief, and Governour of other Luminaries, he alone surmounting in excellen­cie the other Planets, according to the vertue of whose Motions, the order of all human affairs is dis­posed; it necessarily followeth that we should acknowledge the Sun, who governs those, that governs our affairs, to be the Author of all things, that are brought to pass among us Macrob. in Som­no Scip. Lib. 16. Cap. 2. To the same effect Gloss. mag. in Gen. c. 1. Diodor. Si­cul. Ant. l. 1 c. 2. To come to par­ticular Nations, The PERSIANS Worshiped the SƲN for their God. For Simeon the A. Bishop [Page 89]of Salucia was Martyred by them because he would not Worship the Sun. So Ʋsthasar, Guardian and Educator of Saporis, then King of Persia, was by him Mar­tyred, because being Converted by the said Simeon, refused to Worship the Sun, of these things, and see at large in Sozom. Eccles. Hist l. 2 cap. 8. The AEGYPTIANS likewise Worship­ed the SƲN Saying, The Sun and Moon were everlasting Gods, and Governours of all things Euseb. de preparat. Evang. l. 1. cap. 9. . This Idolatry was in Aegypt long before Joseph, or Jacob, or any of his Posterity set footing in Aegypt. N. B. Touching that their Idolatry, worshiping the SƲN. See Jer. 43.12, 13. Babylon shall kindle a Fire in the Houses of the God of Aegypt; and he shall break in pieces the Images of ( [...]) Beth-shemesh, that is the House of the Sun. And so Arias Montan. Translates it. And so doth the Sept by [...], That is the City of the Sun. And [Page 90]touching the Antiquity of that Idolatrous Sun-worshiping in Aegypt, that it was in use there, long before Joseph, or Jacob, or any of his Posterity were in Aegypt, it is evidently held forth to us in Gen. 41. v. 45. And Pharaoh call'd Joseph's name Zap­nath-paaneah; and he gave him to Wife Asenath the Daughter of Potiphera PRIEST OF ON; which last Clause the Sept. render ( [...]) Of Potiphera the Priest of the City of the Sun, which the vulgar Latin imitates saying, Sacerdotis Heliopoleos. And this Antiquity of Sun-wor­shiping Idolatry is a considera­ble Notion, N. B. to strengthen that before, touching the Ancient Pa­triarchs weekly worship of God the Creator of the Sun, upon the Sunday. For Truth is ancienter then Error; and Religious Wor­ship, then Idolatrous. And the brutish Barbarians could not so [Page 91]much turn Votaries, as to Wor­ship the Sun, without some pat­tern (which they corruptly fol­lowed) of them that Worship­ed the God of the Sun. We know that but One thousand six hun­dred years since (which is but as yesterday, to the Ancient Patri­arches) it was the Heathen Ro­mans opinion, That the Christi­ans rising before day-light, and singing of Psalms, was but to Worship the Sun-rising Plin. 2. Fox Mart. . The PHENICIANS also had the SUN for their God. And the Idol in which they worshiped the Sun was called Heliogabalus Herodot. de vita Im­per. Lib. 5. . Moreover the SUN was the TROJANES God. They had many Gods, but the chiefest was the Sun and Pallas. The Image of Pallas, they esteemed the Protectress of Troy, and her Image (called Palladium) to be sent them from the Sun; which they kept in the Tower, or Temple [Page 92]of Phaebus (that is of the Sun) and there they adored it. And Pantheus was the Priest of the Sun when Troy was taken Austin de Civit. Dei. l. 1. cap. 2. & Virg. Aene. Lib. 2. . Yea the SUN was the GRECIANS God. In Athens their chief City, the place of giving Judgment, was to be open to the SUN, pre­suming that the Judge durst not give a wrong judgment in the face of the SUN, who is said by Homer Iliad. l. 3. to have ( [...] &c.) A revenging Eye, who seeth, and heareth all things Homer. Lib. 3. which is the property of God alone saith Plato Plat. de Legibus. . The Judge of the Court had his Name from the SUN, and was therefore called [...] q. d. The Sun-Judge. And the Judgment [...], as much as to say The Judgment of the SUN. The ROMANS, the Posterity of the Trojan Fugitives, did un­der several Formes and Names, as of Janus, Apollo, Dydemaeus, &c. Worship the SUN. Ma­crob. Saturn lib. 1. c. 17. The [Page 93]inhuman Nation of the SCYTHI­ANS, though they acknowledg no other God, yet they Wor­ship the SUN as God, and offer up to him an Horse, the swiftest of Cattel, because the SUN is the swiftest of Creatures Boë. ubi de Scythea. In a word, The AETHIOPIANS, CATHANES, TARTARS, and the rest of the Pagan-Nations Worshiped the SUN So Boe­mus write­ing of their man­ners and Customs. So D. Fr. White. .

Sect. 1.

WE need not spend time and words to prove a known thing, That a Week is a portion of time, measured out by seven days of the same kind, c1on­tinued without interval. If any of the Seven days be Horizon­tal, that is from Sun-rising to Sun-rising; or from Sunset, to Sunset; or Meridional, that is, from Noon to noon, or from [Page 95]Midnight to Midnight; then all must be Horizontal, as the Jews days of their week were, from Sunset to Sunset. Or all must be Meridional, as the Christians week consisting of Seven days, from Midnight to Midnight. So that from Saturday to Saturday, from Sunday to Sunday, from Munday to Munday is a week.

¶. 1. Accordingly the Nation of the Romans in their Language called the Week Septimana; that is Seven Mornings. The Saxons in their Tongue called it a Sen­night. The Greeks called it [...], that is, the space of Se­ven days. And so the Hebrews call a Week [...], that is a Se­ven days space.

¶. 2. And likewise by Scrip­ture accompt, Seven days, from any set time, is counted a Week. Laban Gen. 29.27. bid Jacob [Page 96] fulfil her Week, that is the Se­ven days of Leahs Nuptials. For that was the usual time in So­lemnizing Marriages. Judg. 14.12. So also is a week measured out by Seven days, Levit. 12. v. 2, 3, 5.

Sect. 2.

Nor need we to mind the difference between A Seventh day (every day of the week be­ing a Seventh) and THE Se­venth day, which is the term, period, and boundaries of the week.

Sect. 3.

The first main thing we have to prove is, That our Sunday (which we call the Lord's day) was the SEVENTH DAY of the week with the Heathen Gentiles. As for our proof it [Page 97]must be partly by reason, and partly by quotation of Learned Authors (both Christians and Heathens) whither we must send the Reader, if he believes not our breviat; for neither can this little Pamphlet brook long nar­rations, nor can our Occasions spare time to write them out at large.

¶. 1. For reason, thus we ar­gue: If Adam being Created the Sixth day at the close of all God's Works (now entring upon his rest) had not thence learned, what was a Natural Day, and what was a Week, and how the Seventh day was the boundary thereof (before he could come to know by experience, what was a Moneth, by the Motion of the Moon; or what a Year by the Motion of the Sun;) he could not have told how for a long time to have measured out [Page 98]his Age. Doubtless therefore he learned from the Standard of Gods working Six days, and resting the Seventh, what was a Day, a Week, and the boun­dary thereof; and thereby mea­sured out the time of his Life, and so it was kept, and left up­on Record for after Ages. Months and Years among several Nati­ons have much varied: but ne­ver was the Week counted to be more or less then Seven days, N. B. with any people.

¶. 2. For Authors: The an­cient Beda witnesseth, That the Rest on the Seventh day (Sem­per celebrari solet) was wont al­ways to be celebrated. Bed. in his Hexa­meron. Like­wise Philo-Judaeus maketh this bold challenge, Quis Sacrum illum diem per singulas hebdoma­das recurrentem non honorat. Phil. De vita Mosis. Lib. 2. That is, Who is there that doth not honour that SACRED day [Page 99]returning each Septinary of Se­ven days. To the same purpose Josephus: Neque est ulla Civitas Graecorum, aut Barbarorum; ae (que) ULLA GENS, ad quam SEPTIMI diei, in quo VACA­MUS Consuetudo, minime perve­nerit. Jos. contra Ap. Lib. 2. That is, There is neither any City of the Greeks, or of the Barbarians, nor ANY NATION to whom the Custom of the Se­venth day, in which we REST hath not come. Learned Mercer, commended for such, Heyl. part 1. p. 5. by Dr. Hey­lin, was of Opinion (as he saith) That the first Fathers being taught of God, kept the Seventh day holy to [...] Chrysost Hom. 10. in Gen. Chrysostom saith, Ja [...]c ab initio &c. God hath insinuated into us from the very beginning of the World this Doctrin, instructing us thereof in the Circle of the Week, THAT ONE WHOLE DAY should be set apart, and laid out for Spiritual Actions. (f) Aug. [Page 100]Steuchius, speaking of the Seventh day affirmeth IT TO HAVE BEEN (in omni aetate, inter om­nes Gentes, venerabilis & Sacer) VENERABLE and SACRED IN ALL AGES, AMONG ALL NATIONS Steuch. on Gen. 2. And our Book of Homiles 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 Labours. We will conclude this Paragraph with the Testimony of the most ancient Heathen Gr. Poets, as Ho­mer the ancientest, Hesiod next, and Callimachus and Linus who have spoken very hon [...]ably of the Creation, and o [...] Se­venth Day, Their words are set down at large by Clemens Alex­andrinus, Clem Strom. l. 5. : Eusebeus Euseb. de preparat. Evang. L. 13. c. 17. Ri­vet, Rivet. on Gen. c. 2. & in his De­ [...]ert. de Orig. Sab. . Now this laudable Opinion of the Sunday (now ou [...] Lord's Day) they could not have from the Books of Moses; for [Page 101]they were not extant in the Greek Tongue, till Ptolomy pro­cured the Seventy Translators to Translate it into Greek, which was many hundreds of years af­ter Homer aforesaid. Besides, whiles the Kingdom of Israel and Judah flourished the Gentiles got not a Script of the Sacred Scriptures. And the Jews thought it a prophaning of Moses's Writ­ings to communicate any of them to the Heathens. And Mr. John Gregory doth prove, Jo. Greg. his dis­course of the Sept. That before that Translation of the Septuagint, the Gentiles had no light from the Books of Moses. Therefore (note it well) it must n [...] follow, N. B. That the Heathen-Gentiles had that honourable opinion, and spake so laudably of the SUN DAY by very anci­ent successive Tradition, amongst themselves. Now this Seventh day of which they so well thought and spake, could not [Page 102]be the Jews Saturday-Sabbath. For the Heathen utterly disliked it, N. B. and disdainfully counted it an innovation, brought in by Moses; and therefore the Poets would commonly have one Lash, or another at it, and never spoke honourably of it. Therefore it must be the ancient SUNDAY (before Moses's time, and after that, among the Heathen) that was by the Heathens honoured as the Seventh-day of the Week, the high day of their prime, and solemn Worship every Week called by them their Sunday; and by us called the Lord's day: Of which more in the next [...]a­ragraph.

¶. 3. The Adversaries them­selves do grant, that the day of the Sun or Sunday, was with the Heathen Gentiles the Seventh day, and Sacred with them. But it was say they the Seventh day of [Page 103]the Month, and not the Seventh day of the Week. Against which, we must boldly assert the con­trary, viz. That the day of the Sun was the Seventh day of the Week, and Sacred with the Gen­tiles, and not the Seventh day of the Moneth. To warrant this Assertion, we have not only much in the Authors cited in the for­mer Paragraph, but also in Cle­mens Alexandrinus, and Euse­beus, alledging the afore named Poets to shew particularly, That the Heathen Gentiles held the Se­venth day of the Week Sacred with them. And moreover in the Greek Calender, there is no mention at all of a Seventh day of the Month. Had there been any such thing, they that ob­serve therein things of lesser con­sequence, would have observed that much more Scalig. De emendat. temp. de Calenda­rio Attico. Adde that Decree of Miltiades (the last Bi­shop of Rome that was a Mar­tyr); [Page 104]who, that he might make a difference between the Ob­servation of Sunday, by Christi­ans, and the Observation of the same Sunday by the Heathen, de­creed, That all Gentiles that were turned Christians, should not Fast on Sundays, as other Gentiles did. Binii Concil. And Plat. Divita Mil­tiadis. For in those times, Sa­cred days were called by the Heathen Fasts; Because they ab­stained from feeding themselves till their Services were ended. Thus of the proof of the first main thing intended in this Ninth Chapter is, viz. That the Weekly day, to wit, the Seventh day every Week, with the Gentiles, which they call the day of the Sun, or Sunday, was the very same day which we call THE LORD'S DAY. We have already, in se­veral Sections and Paragraphs of the fore-going Chapters, drop­ped some proofs of this. But now we shall bring more par­ticularly, [Page 105]direct and express Testi­monies to this point.

¶. 1. Dr. F. White, and Dr. Hey­lin (though they were Opposers of the Morality of the Sabbath) do confess, That Christians of the first ages, because they ob­served the Sunday for their Sa­cred Services bowing in Prayer towards the East, were upbraid­ed for Worshippers of the Sun; though they neither Worshiped the Sun as the Heathen, nor cal­led the day, of their Worshiping God, Sunday, as they called it; but the Lord's day being their Sabbath, or Sacred day of REST to the Lord. Therefore if Sun­day had not been with the Hea­then (who were Sun Worship­pers indeed) a weekly day of solemn Worship, there had been no cause of that upbraiding by the Jews, or Heathen-Gentiles. White of the Sab­bath and Heylin part 2. p. 53. But we have more ap­proved [Page 106]Authors then these, as it follows,

¶. 2. Sozomen telleth us, That Constantine Commanded Diem Dominicum quem Hebraei primum Hebdomadae appellant, & craeci Solis deputant a cunctis celebrari. Sozom. Eccles. Histor. L. 1. c. 8. That is, Constantine com­manded that the Lords day which the Jews call the First day of the week, and the Greeks depute to the Sun, to be celebrated of all. Whence it is justly inferred, That Constantine then held, That the Day which the Heathen-Greeks deputed to the Sun, was the very same which we call the Lord's day.

¶. 3. Coeli Rhodignin, tells us, Nos jure optimo, diem quem Ma­thematici Solis vocant, Domino ascripsimus, dicavimusque, & illi­us Cultui totum mancipavimus; That is, with the greatest Equity we have ascribed, and Dedica­ted to the Lord, and wholly gi­ven [Page 107]up to his Worship, that day which the Mathematicians call THE DAY OF THE SƲN Coel. Rho. Antiq. L. 13. c. 22. .

¶. 4. Bonaventure tells of the pious fraud that Christians acted, to rob the Sun of its Idolatrous Worship, and transfer the obser­vation of that day to Christ, His Words are these, Secundum Gentiles, dies Dominicus primus est; Cum Principio illius diei in­cipit dominari principalis Plane­ta Sol: propter quod vocabant eundem Diem Solis; & exhibe­bant ei venerationem. Ʋt ergo error ille excluderetur, & reve­rentia cultus Solis Deo exhibere­tur, praefixa fuit Dominica Dies, qua populus Christianus vacaret cultui Divino Bona­vent. 3. Dist 37. That is; Ac­cording to the Heathen the LORD'S DAY is a CHIEF day; when in the beginning of that day, the Principle Planet the SUN, be­gins to Rule: For which cause [Page 108]they called it the Day of the SUN, and gave Worship thereunto. To the intent therefore, that Error might be shut out of doors, and that reverence of Worship of the Sun might be given to God, The LORD'S DAY was prefixed, wherein the Christian people gave themselves to Divine Worship. For a close of this Chapter we add a Fifth Paragraph.

¶. 5. Justin Martyr doth di­verse times in his Works, call the LORD'S DAY ( [...]) THE DAY OF THE SƲN, as then the Gentiles or Greeks called it. Just. Mar. Apol. 2 pro Chri­stian. & 2. centur. So also Tertullian, sometimes calles it, Diem Solis; Sunday sometimes Diem Dominicum, The Lord's day. And in the Edicts of Con­stantine, Valentinian, Valens, Gra­tian, Honorius, Arcadius, & Theo­dosius (all of them Christian Prin­ces) our LORDS DAY is com­monly called Dies Solis, Sunday.