The Doctrine of the Sabbath, Chapter 1
CHAP. 1.
IN the unfolding of this Text, and handling of this maine and necessary point, I will observe the Method and order which is most agreeable to the order of the words.
First, from these words, (And on the seventh day) J will observe, and declare the time of the Institution of the weekly Sabba…h, even the very day wherin the first occasion was given for the sanctification of it, and God did first sanctifie it, and commaund that it should be kept holy
Secondly, I will shew the true ground and occasion of the institution of it, laid downe in the next words: God ende… his work which he had made, and he rested the seventh day from all his worke which he had made, and God bl…ssed the seventh day.
Thirdly, I will declare what is the blessing, and sanctifying of the seventh day, where I shall have occasion to speake of the Law and Commandement by which God seperated it from other naturall dayes to holy Heavenly and supernaturall use. And of the dueties which that Law requires at the hands of all Gods people in all ages to the end of the World on the most blessed day of all the seven in every weeke, even the weekly Sabbath-day. Under these heades divers subordinate points will …ffer themselves to be handled, and divers necessarie questions will come to be answered and explaned.
First, concerning the time of the institution, there are severall opi…ions among learned Writers of former and later times.
First, some Heathen Writers, as Iustine & Tacitus, with others, have grossely and absurdly erred, as in the time, so also in the Author and in the occasion of the institution, though they had perhaps read the the writings of Moses; yet it seemes they beleeved him not concerning the fi…st institution of it by God; but finding the first expresse Law, concerning the keeping of the Sabbath given by Moses at mount Sina, written in Tables of stone, and afterwards recorded in the the Bookes of Moses; they make Moses the first Author of the Sabb…th, and that upon this occasion, because wandring with the Israelites out of Egypt in the wildernesse, and finding no sustenance, but being forced to fast six dayes, at length comming to mount Sina with the people, there found meate, and rested, and upon this occasion did appoint it to be keept weekly for a Sabbath or day of rest.
But all true Christians, who beleeve the Scriptures to be the sacred infallible VVord of God, being thereby better instructed, doe with one consent hold, confesse, and constantly teach, that God the Lord Iehovah, the onelyonly true God, is the Author and Ordainer of the Sabbath, and that he first ordained it upon the ground and occasion mentioned in this Text, and expressed in the words of the Law. But yet in the time they much d…ff…r among themselves; Some in the time of the first institution concurre with the infidell Heathens before mentioned; though they differ much concerning the Author and the occasion▪ For they hold that the Sabbath was neither commaunded by God, nor knowne to the Fathers and Patriarches, nor observed by any before the comming of Israel with Moses to mount Sina, and that the first inst…tution of it was in the fourth Commaundement given by God among the ten from Mount Sina, both by word of mouth, in the audience of all Israel, and also in Tables of stone written with his owne finger.
Iustine Martyr, Tertullian, Irenaeus, and others of the Auncient, seeme to have given the occasion of this opinion,Justin. Dialog. cū Triphone. Tertull. adversus Judoeos Irenaeus lib. 4. c. 20 where they make it a question, whether Adam, Abel, Noah, Abraham, Melchizedeck, or any of the holy Fathers kept the seventh day for an holy Sabbath, and affirme that Abraham beleeved and was justified, and called the friend of God without circumcision or observation of Sabbath; For from their words, which are but doubtfull, some late writers, both *Tostatus Pererius Gomarus.Papists and Protestants, doe goe about to prove that the Sabbath was not instituted by God untill the giving of the Law by Moses on Mount Sina.
And although the words of this Text, written by Moses, doe here plainely affirme the contrarie, and tell us that on the seventh day God ended his worke, rested and sanctified the seventh day; Yet thus they wrangle and wrest the Text by a Childish forged sense and meaning; First, they grant the first words, that on the seventh day God ended his worke, and rested; But they deny that he blessed and sanctified the Sabbath on the same day, they say that here by way of Anticipation, Moses mentions the blessing and sanctifying of the Sabbath, not as a thing at this time done; but as a thing which was first done in the giving of the Law on Mount Sina, many ages after, and that upon this ground which is here mentioned, to witt, his ending of his worke, and resting on the first seventh day of the World. And here Moses his purpose was, to shew not the time, but the equitie of the institution; not the beginning but the ground of that Sabbath. The paraphrase of the Text in their sense was thus: And on the seventh day God ended his worke, and rested; and upon this ground he many ages after at Mount Sina instituted the seventh day to be kept by Jsrael for an holy Sabbath of rest. But though some men of learning, and divers out of effected errour and mal…ce stand for this opinion; yet indeed there is no ground for it in the Scriptures, but many plaine proofes to the contrarie. First, this Text (…f we take the words as they runne) shewes most manifestly, that on the seventh day, even th… next after the six dayes of the Crea…ion, God ended or perfected his worke, and on that day he rest…d, and also blessed and sanct…fied it to be his Sabbath. Secondly, there is no c…l…ur of reason for any man to thinke, that God sh…uld lay the ground and foundation of the Sabbath on the first seventh day of the World, and suffer it t… lye voide, and of no use, and never goe about to build on it till so many ages after, God cannot endure to doe any thing in vaine nor to suffer any thing to lye void, & to be of no use, which of it selfe is very useful. Surely, as he loved & chos al the holy Fathers from the begining,Heb. 11.10.16. & promisd to them the eternal rest of heaven, wich they loked for, and sought in t…e everlasting Citie, which hath sure foundations, and in the Countrie above in the World to come. So he kept not back from them the outward sign…, seal… & pledg therof, his holy Sabbath, wich was both a motive to make them bend t…eir whol cours towards that rest, & a meanes to further them in their way & jorney to it also.
Thirdly, the Lords owne words which he spake from Mount Sina in the commaundement of the Sabbath, are most cleare, and doe shew that God blessed and sanctified the Sabbath in the beginning, on the first seventh day wherein he ended his wo…k and rested. For he doth not say, I the Lord rested on the seventh day from works of creation, and therefore I now blesse and sanctifie every seventh day of every weeke hereafter. But the Lord rested the seventh day, wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath, and sanctified it, that is then of old in the beginning when he rested, he blessed and sanctified it.
Fourthly, the Sabbath-day was kept and observed by the Israelites a monethmonth before they came to Mount Sina, Exo. 16.25.26. And Moses and the people knew that the seventh day after that God began to raine Manna from Heaven, for to be their bread, was the Lords Sabbath, as his words doe plainely shew, and that the Lord before that time hath by his word appointed it to be the rest of the holie Sabbath. Ve…s. 23. And the words of the Lord to Moses, when some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather Manna, doe plainly shew, that God had before that time given them Commaundements and Lawes concerning the rest of the seventh day; For in the 28. Verse he saith: How long will ye refuse to keep my Commaundements and Lawes? Intimating that their going out on the seventh day was a refusing to k…ep his Lawes, which of old he had given, and before this had revealed to them. For otherwise they could not be said to transgresse: Lawes cannot be refused to be kept before they be given; Wherefore it is a vaine praetence and shift, which some use to decline this Argument, viz. that the ceasing …f the Manna on the seventh day, and Moses his admonishing of the people to rest that day, was but a praeludium of the fourth Commandement, and a preparation to Gods promulgation of it; For the words of the Text shew most plainely, that the intermission of Manna was an evidence of the Sabbath already sanctified by the Commaundement of God; the resting of the Jsraelites was observing and obeying of the Law already given, & the going out of some to gather Manna on the seventh day, was refusing to keep Gods Law given in the first institution.
Now, for Justine Martyr, Tertullian, Jraeneus, their words doe not prove any thing for the maintaining of this opinion; Tertullian denyes onelyonly the perpetuall moralitie of the Law, concerning the Iewish Sabbath, and calls into question▪ not the institution of it in the beginning, but the observation of it by the first Fathers and Patriarches. Iustine Martyr and J…aeneus say, that Abraham was justified without circumcision and observation of Sabbaths, that is, of the Ceremoniall Sabbaths commaunded by God in the Ceremoniall Lawes given by Moses, not without observation of the weekly Sabbath, as the word, Zabbaton, Origen.of the plurall number which they use, doeth clearely declare: That the weekly Sabba…h was instituted from the beginning,Hierom. trad. in 2 Gen. Austin in Psal. 80. the best learned of the Fathers affirme, as Origen, Hi…rome, Austine, and others. And although the Scriptures which briefly runne over the lives and acts of the Fathers, make no expresse mention of their observation of the weekely Sabbath; Yet we have divers places which minister very probable Arguments for this purpose. In Genesis, cap. 4.3. It is said, that at the end of dayes, Caine brought his offering to the Lord, that is on the Sabbath, which was the end of the weeke and the last of the dayes. The Hebrew words are foreign and signifie at the end of dayes, and howsoever they are taken to signifie in processe of time, by some Learned Translaters, yet in no other place of Scripture doe I finde, that they signifie any other end of dayes, but of a certaine sett number of dayes, either of thirtie or for…ie, or many dayes; Or of the dayes of a whole yeare, as 2 Sam. 14.26. where it is said at the end of dayes, according to dayes, t…at is of every yeare. Absalom polled his head. And 1 King. 17.7. at the end of dayes, that is of a yeare (…s Tremellius translates the words) the brooke dried up. Now, I see no reason why we sh…uld unde…st…nd by the end of dayes, the end of the yeare, that Caine and Abel did onelyonly at the end of the yeare offer to God, or after a long time; but that on every seventh day of the weeke, which is the weekely Sabbath, they sacrificed to God; undoubt…dly their Father Adam, who taught them to sacrifice (which Worsh…pp God first instituted on the seventh day) he also taught them the day of Gods holy worship even the Sabbath which God had sanctified, and this was the end of the dayes of the weeke.
Also in the same fourth of Genesis in the last verse, it is said, that when Seths Children began to increase, that then men began to call on the name of the Lord; that is as learned Iunius well expounds the words, they began to assemble themselves together in publicke assemblies to pray unto God and worship him, even all Seths seed who were Gods people. and were called by the name of the Lord, that is the Children of God, as we see Gen. 6.2. Now, as they had solemne and set meetings, so undoubtedly they had a set time, even every Sabbath or seventh day, and set places or Churches; for without set time and place there can be no solemne invocation or worshipp in solemne assemblies, as common sense teacheth.
And that Noah when he came out of the Arke began to observe the rest of the Sabbath, and did offer a sacrifice of the rest that is of the holy Sabbath, and that God was well pleased with it. Me thinkes the Hebrew words in the originall Text teach very plainely;foreign for it is said, that God smelled a savour of the rest; that is he accept…d it as a pleasing Sabbath sacrifice,Gen. 8 21 the Hebrew emp…raticall and demonstrative particle here added to sett forth a speciall rest, implies so much. And the word which is in the Hebrew,foreign rest, is of the same note and originall with the word which Exod. 20.11. in the fourth commaundement is used to signifie Gods resting on the seventh day.
Now, all these things well weighed and laid together doe shew that this opinion, though held by some learned men, is but a meere dreame and idle fancie. And indeed the very first words in which God gave the fourth commaundement, to wit, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy, are of themselves alone a sufficient argument to prove, that the Lord did not in giving the Law from Mount Sina first institute the Sabbath day; but onelyonly did renew the memory of it, and of the first institution thereof by renewing and receiving his old commandement, by which he on the first seventh day of the World did sanctifie it.
There is another opinion which divers both auncient and moderne Christians do hold upon a better ground; for they do gather & cōclude with one generall consent from the plaine words of this Text, that God in the beginning immediatly after the creation ended, did give the law of the Sabbath, and did blesse and sanctifie the seventh day of the first weeke of the world, and every seventh day of every weeke following, and commanded it to be kept an holy Sabbath, in memory of his rest on the seventh day.
But howsoever, they all agree in the generall; yet in divers speciall and particular things they doe much differ.
1. Some hold, that the law of the Sabbath was given to man in the state of innocency, before his fall on the sixth day, and that it was written in mans heart, that he ought to keepe the seventh day holy; and that if man had continued in his integrity, he would have kept the seventh day of every weeke an holy rest unto the Lord his God.
2. Others hold, that the Sabbath was instituted not in the state of innocency, nor before mans fall, which happened towards the end of the sixth day; but that on the seventh day when God rested from the worke of Creation, he then did blesse & sanctifie that & every seventh day and appointed it to be a weekly Sabbath, & the law by which he instituted the Sabbath: was no other but such as was written in mans heart in the creat…ō, & that man by the instinct of nature would hauehave obeyed that law and kept the Sabbath in the state of innocnecy, if he h…d stood & continued therein.
3 A third sort are of opinion, that the Sabbath was instituted and the Commandement for the keeping therof given in the state of innocency, and yet not till the seventh day: for they imagine that man stood more then one day, and did in his innocency keepe the Sabbath, and if he had continued would hauehave alwaies kept it; not by any instinct of nature or light of naturall reason created in him & moveing him so to do, but by a possitiue law and Precept giuen by God: of the same nature and kinde with the Commandement of abstaining from the tree of knowledge of good and euill.
In all and eueryevery of these opinions I finde some failling, and noe consent and perfect agreement with the word of God.
First they all go too farre, and hauehave not one word in scripture to warrant their opinion: that Adam in the state of innocency should and would hauehave kept every seventh day for an holy rest, & that God would hauehave required it at his hands. For all Scriptures which mention the Sabbath do speake of it as of an holy signe looking altogether towards Christ and towards the state of grace and glory in him, and not towards the state of innocency. It is most certain that man in that state was perfect with naturall perfection, at all times equally disposed to obey God & to serue him, and to remember his Creation and to honour his Creatour. He needed no obseruation of any day to put him in minde of any thing which he had before known, & which god had revealed to him, his memorie was perfect, and he knew whatsoever was needfull for him to know or doe in that present state. And his will was every m…ment ready to doe wha…soever he knew to be right, hee needed no signe to ad…onish him of his duty, or to moue him to do it in due seas…n. He did not labour nor weary himselfe, every day was to him a da…e of delight and pleasure of rest and recreation, and in every creature which he did see or medle with, he did behold & take notice of the wisdome & goodnesse of God, In a word: his whole life was a constant & obedient seruice of God, and there was no inequality nor lesse worship of God in one then in another, for he fully serued God at all times: W…osoever denyes this must needs deny therein mans perfection & constant conformity to God in the state of innocency. For where one day is kept better then another, there is inequality, and noe constant vniformity in himselfe nor conformitie to Gods will.
In the Second place, they who hold that the Sabbath was first instituted after mans fall, & yet that it was writtē in mans heart in the state of innocency, and he then was bound to keepe it: they fall into many absurdities.
First that a man was bound to keepe a Sabbath before ever it was instituted.
Secōdly, that God did by his word & cōmādmēt teach má in vain that which he was fully taught alreadie & had writtē in his heart.
Thirdly, that God gaue to man a law in vaine after his fall when he knew he was become vnable to keep it.
3. They who hold that the Law of the Sabbath was not written in mans heart, but was a positiue Law given in the state of innocency, of the same nature with that Commandement of mans not eating of the tree of knowledge, They doe make this Commandement of the Sabbath vtterly voyd by mans fall, euen as that of not eating is now voyd, and was not to bee renued after mans fall. But of the vnsoundnesse and vanity of these opinions I shall speake more fully, when I come to shew what kind of law that of the Sabbath is, and how that commandement bindes men.
Now because I cannot find any solidity, or satisfaction in any of these opinions, J hauehave left humane writings even of the best learned, and hauehave betaken my selfe wholy to the searching of the Holy Scriptures, Gods most pure infallible W…rd, and what light J finde therein for the manifestation of the truth I will not hide nor cover, but set it before you openly. And for the time when God first instituted the Sabbath, I conceive it to hauehave been not in the state of innocency, but after mans fal imediately, & yet upon the seventh day wherein God rested from the worke of the creation, as my text here sayth, and although this may seeme to crosse the order of the History as is here laid down by Moses, because mans fall related a while after his sanctification of the Sabbath, even in the third Chapt. Yet let this moue no man, for Moses doth not set downe al thi…gs in order as they were done in this & the next Chapter, but first he speaks of the finishing of Heaven and Earth, and all the host of them, and then of Gods rest, and of the sanctifying of the seventh day, & then returnes to speak of thi…gs which were done before: as the planting of the garden in Eden, which was a worke of the third day, and the making of the woman and forming her of a rib taken out of mans side, and mans naming of al living creatures before the woman was made, which things were done on the sixt day. Also in this chapter the forming of the man is related before the planting of the garden and the watering of it with a river which was devided into foure Heads, though it is most euident that before there was a man to till the ground, God made every plant & tree that was pleasant to the eye and good for food, to grow out of the ground, that is all the trees of the garden amongst the rest ver. 5, Wherefore we must not cleave strictly to the order in which Moses sets things downe in this Chapter, nor take all things to be first done which are here first related, for then wee should beleeve that plants, herbes, trees, man and woman were all created after that the workes of creation were finished, and after Gods resting one the seventh day. But to passe by all needlesse doubts, let us come to the proofes of this point which proue strongly that Gods institution of the Sabbath was not in mans innocency but af…er his fall▪
First, the very words of my text affirme that the Sabbath was instituted on the seventh day, for first it is said in expresse words, that on the seventh day God rested & blessed & sanctified that day.
Secondly, the things which gaue God occation to sanctifie the seventh day; & upon which the first institution of the Sabbath was grounded came not to passe, neither were they in being vntill the seventh day, that is Gods perfecting of the worke and resting from al he work which he had made: the words of the text are very plain On, or in the seven…h day God ended his worke and rested, and because of this resting he blessed and sanctified the seventh day, And therefore the sanctifying of the seventh day which was the institution of the Sabbath, cannot be before the seventh day; The building could not bee beefore their was ground to build on, neither could the worke goe before the cause and occation of it.
Thirdly, it is against all reason to thinke that God actually blessed and sanctified the seventh day, and made …it his Holy Sabbath before it came into being. Now this ground being very cleare, that the Sabbath was instituted on the seuenth day from the beginning of the creatiō & not before. I proceed to a second ground, to weet: that man did fall towards the end of the sixt day, even on the same day in which he was created, which being fully proved, Jt well necessarily follow That the fi…st institution of the Sabbath was after mans fall and not in the state of innocency.
First that man did fall vponupon the very day of his creation the sixt day, I proue by plaine Scriptures and by strong arguments grounded on them. The first testemony is that speech of David, Psalme 49.12. Man beeing in honour lodged not a night therein, but became like the Beasts that perish. Soe the words runne in the originall text, & we cānot without wresting of the words from their proper sence in the Hebrew, expound them of any other person but of the fir…t Adam, & of his fall, the word which is in our translation (man) is Adam in the Hebrew, and the words which we read in our Engglish (abideth not) Bal-jalim, and in the Hebrew signifie, lodged not a night therein: as appeareth by other Scriptures, in which it is continually vsed to signifie lodging or tarrying for a night, viz. Exod. 23.18. & 34.25. Devt. 16.4. where God forbids the Israelites to let the fat of their Sacrifice, or any part of the fl…sh of the Paschall lambe: lodge with them all night till the morning. and 2 Sam. 17.8. where Hushai saith to Absalom of his Father David, that he was a man of warre, and would not lodge with the people. And 2 Sam. 19.8. where Joab saith to David, there will not one abide with thee one night. And Psal. 30.5. where it is said, that weeping may lodge for a night, but joy commeth in the morning. And soe in all other Scriptures this word is vsed. And the learned Hebrews who best know the propriety of the phrase: vnderstand this place of Adam and of his falling on the day of his Creation, and not continving one night in the honourable state of innocency· The Second testimonie is that speach of our Sauiour Ioh. 8.44. where he saith that the Devill was a murtherer of mā & alier from the beg…nning & abode not in the truth. By the beginning is meant the first day of mans Creation, & it is never absolutely vsed in any other sence but for the time of the first Creation. Now if the Devill did lie & deceiue & murther mā by drawing him to sin frō the first day, of mās being, it follows that man did fall the sixt day, on which was the day of his creation. The third proofe is grounded on the words which passed between the woman & the serpent T;he serpents speech implies that as yet they had not eaten of any tree, & that he set upō the woman immediately after that God had given them commandement not to eate of the tree of knowledg; the words which he uset… (Y…a, or is it even soe) they are a forme of speech vsed by one that standing aloofe and ouer hearing what was forbidden, doth immediatelie step in and askes the party to whom the commandement was given if it were even soe as he conceived. And the womans answ…r is in such a word as is of …he future tence in Hebrew, and signifies not an act past or present,Gen. 31.2. but a power & liberty to eate heereafter when they sh…uld hauehave occation, and the true translation of her words is: we may or will hereafter eate of the fruite of the trees of the garden. Alsoe it is very likely that if they had eaten of the fruite of any tree of their owne accord before their temptation & fall, their reason will, and appetite would hauehave led them to the tree of life, which was neere at hand even in the midest of the garden close by the forbidden tree Ver. 9. The very name wher…of was amiable, and vntounto which the naturall desire of man did of it selfe cheifly carry him, as Gods words do intimate Chapt. 3.2. But that they had not yet re…ched forth their hands to take and eate of that tree, that speech of God shews Chap. 3.23. wher he saith that he wil cast Adam out of the garden. Least hee put forth his h…nd and …ake and eate of the tree of life, which was the state of naturall life; Now this had beene too late if they had alreadie before eaten of it.
Fourthly, soe soone as God had created the woman, and given her to the man, he gaue them the blessing of fruitfulnesse, and the desire of procreation of children which is most naturall to man, & he did bid them increase and multiply, soe we reade Chapt. 1.28. & vndoubtedly they would not hauehave neglected the blessing of multiplying and increasing mankind, but if they had continued in their integrity one night, the woman by companying with the man would hauehave conceiued a pure seed without sinne, for there was no barrennesse of the wombe in innocency, that came in as a curse after the fall. Chapt, 3.16.
F…ftly, the v…rity of God threatening, and the strictness… …f his justice required that in the same day w…erein man sinned, in the same should the sentence of death, bee executed, the words of the law are very peremtory ver. 17. In the day that thou ea…st thou shalt surely dye. Which sentence was fully and truly execu…ed, though not on Adam himselfe, yet on Christ the second Adam mans surety. The fi…st Adam all his posterity are the same day made subject to death, wherein they act or pertake actually of this transgression, & Christ the secōd Adam who vndertooke to satisfie the Law for this sinne and to suffer the punishment due to it and all sin w…ich spring f…ō this root, did certainly dy on the same day, & at the same houre of the day in which the first Adam transgressed, so Irenaeus & divers of the ancients & other acute writers do hold, & they well observe, that on the sixt day of the weeke on which day Adam was created and after the ninth houre of that day, that is in the afternoone and to…ards the end of the day Christ suffered both a cursed bodily death on the Crosse, and also the agonies and paynes of t…e second death, as he sheweth by his crying out My God, My God, why hast thou fo…saken mee. And by his word Consummatum est, that is the fulnesse and vtmost extremity of torments is come, or now is the utmost ex…remity of my paynfull suffering. And therefore it is very probable and cannot without scornefull wrangling be denied, that Adams fall was about the same time of the sixt day, which doth make good the word of God and shew the verity of his threatning law, and his admirable wisdome and providence in thinking of man… Redemption before he would suffer man to fall.
Sixtly if Adam had stood any while, even one daie or night or more vntill he had eaten of the tree of life, which seemes to be aseale of the first Couenant of life by workes of natural righteousnes, it is likely that he could not hauehave falne, nor the Devill been suffered to tempt him, or if after the tast of the sweetnes of the tree of life, and the sealing of the couenant of life by his owne workes of obedience, he had fallen: surelie his fall had been more desperate, even totall and finall apostacy: for which God alloweth no Sacrifice to be offered nor prayer to be made,Heb. 10.26. 1 Ioh. 5.16. Heb. 6·6. & from which there is no recoverie nor renueing by repentance. The Devill being created with the Angells amongst the supernaturall host on the first day, and having seene the glory of God and tasted of the Heavenly joys all the sixt dayes of the creation vntill man was created and all the frame of the world finished, and Lordship given to man over all inferiour creatures, he then after this tast falling away and not abiding in the tru…h but leaving his first estate, did sin more disperately & rebelliously against the light, and his sinne is so hatefull to God, that hee will not accept of any satisfaction for it, neither could the Sonne of God under take for him. But mans fall being at the first before he had tasted of the tree of life & the full sweetnesse & fruision of earthly fellicity, and springing not Originally from himselfe, but from the Devill who deceived him, therefore there is mercy with God for him, Gods giving of Christ, and Christs vndertaking for man, is an argument that Adam did fall in the day of his creation before he had tasted of the tree of life, and that he was made, ma…d, formed and deformed in one day, as the Greeke writers speake.
Lastly, it seems by divers other Reasons very probable, that man did fall on the sixt day before he had eaten of the tree of life, which if he had beene left to himselfe, and if he had not beene prevented and seduced by the Devill he would hauehave done.
First because the Covenant of life by mans owne workes of obedience, being sealed by his eating of that tree which was the seale of that Covenant: as appeares by Gods speech Gen. 3.23. Man had beene confirmed in that naturall life & estate wherein God created him, and the Devill could hauehave had no power either to seduce him or to prevaile by his temptations.
Secondly the things which Adam did after his creation and before his fall: could not be done orderly and distinctly in lesse then a good part of a day. First God brought all living creatures before him, and hee tooke notice of them and gaue to every kinde of creature fitt names, before the woman was made, as appeares ver. 20. Then God cast him into a deep sleep and tooke one of his ribs, and formed it into a woman and brought her to him. After that God gaue them the blessing of fruitfulnesse, and said be fruitfull and multiply, he also gaue them rule and dominion over all creatures, and appointed them all Trees bearing fruit, and Hearbes bearing seed for their meat, and set man to keep and dresse the garden, and withall hee gaue them the commandement to abstain from the tree of knowledge of good & evill, before they were tempted & drawne into sinne & transgression. Therefore their fall must needes be towards the end of the day, after the ninth houre, at the same time of the day in which Christ sufferd death and gaue vp the ghost: as the Gospell shewes Math. 27.46. and soe the day and houre of mans first sinne, was the daie and houre of death for sinne according to Gods threatning ver. 17.
Thirdly after their fall & the sight of their nakednesse, they sewed fig leaues together & made them Aprones, & by this time we may suppose that the sunne did set & the coole of the day approached, even the breathing winde which cōmonly blowes af…er the setting of the sun & did blow in the night of the seuenth day, at which time they heard Gods voice walking in the garden, which was tirrible vntounto them, partly by reason of the darknes of the night, and partly through the conscience of their sinne, and the shame of nakednesse which sin brought vponupon them, & hereupon they hid themselues frō Gods presence among the trees of the garden, which shelter was too vaine & foolish no way able to hide them frō Gods pure eyes. Therefore certainly they did sinne and fall towards the end of the sixt day in which they were created. And justly might Adam hauehave cursed the day of his creation, if Christ had not immediatly betimes on the seventh day been promised, and had not actually and openly vndertaken to become the seed of the woman, and began to be an actuall mediatour for mans redemption.
And thus I hauehave by the help & light of Scriptures made it plaine and manifest, that mans first sinne and fall was on the sixt daie. And that the first institution of the Sabbath being vponupon the seventh day, must needs be after mans fall and not in the state of innocency.