Sunday a Sabbath, Chapter 11
CHAP. XI. Of the ſever all acceptions of the name Sabbath.
THe next inquirie of it, is how farre the name Sabbath reacheth in ſenſe and uſe; eſpecially, whether this name of Reſt may not bee applyed to the Lords day, it being a day of Reſt; and that will the better appear, if wee obſerve the diſtinction by ſeverall acceptions, which are chiefly theſe:
It is taken for
1 Rest from labour.
2 Rest from ſinne.
3 Rest from both.
Firſt for the firſt, As the Sabbath ſignifieth a reſt from labour, it is uſed firſt generally, for all dayes ordained for the ſolemne ſervice and worſhip of God: for, as aOmnem Feſtivitatem Judaicam non ſolum Judaei, ſed & Gentiles Sabbatum vocant. Scal…g. de Emend. Temp. lib. 3. p. 223. edit. ult.Scaliger obſerveth, The Jewes and Gentiles both called every Festivall of the Jewes by the name of Sabbath. bIdem ferè apud Chryſoſt. Homil. 40. in Matth.Doctor Gomarus would not have the new Moones numbred among the reſt, under that name, though ſome learned men, ſaith hee, doe ſo, (hee might meane cUrſin catech. pag. 580.Urſinus for one, who reckoneth them for monethly Sabbaths) becauſe, ſaith Gomarus, there is no divine Authority for reſtraint of labour on thoſe dayes. Yet hee confeſſeth, the Gentiles called them Sabbaths; and they, it is like, had that name from the Jewes, whoſe practice it was to obſerve thoſe dayes, with ceſſation from ſervile workes.
But this was upon their owne ſuperſtition, ſaith hee, and not by precept: and yet hee confeſſeth that there were peculiar ſacrifices for thoſe ſolemnities for which hee quoteth Num. 28.11. & 15. And as they were Feſtivals, they were diſtinguiſhed from other dayes, and a good part of the diſtinction of them conſiſted in ceſſation from ſecular labours, which needs muſt be forborne while the people were imployed in other things; and ſo farre the name of Sabbath might be communicated to them.
Secondly, The name Sabbath is taken particularly, and that divers wayes.
1. The principall acception of it is for a weekely holiday, ordayned by God in the fourth Commandement.
2. By a Synechdoche (of the part for the whole) the word Sabbath is put ſometimes for the whole weeke; ſo in the ſpeech of the Phariſee, where hee ſaith, I faſt twice a weeke; which, preciſely rendred according to the originall, ſhould bee dforeign, Luk. 18.12. Jejuno bi… in Sabbato, hoc eſt, in Hebdomada. Cent. 1. lib. 1. cap. 6. col. 244.read, I faſt twice a Sabbath; which cannot bee meant of one day, for though a man may eate thrice, or oftner in a day, it cannot bee ſaid with good ſenſe, that in one day hee faſted more then once; for if the faſt be continued, it makes but one faſt, though it laſt the whole day; and if it bee broken by eating, it cannot for that day bee pieced up againe.
3. Sometimes the word is eſpecially applyed to the firſt and laſt dayes of ſuch ſolemne Feſtivals as conſiſted of many dayes together, Levit. 23. à ver. 24. &c.
4. From dayes, the Sabbath goeth on to the comprehenſion of yeers; to the Jewes every ſeventh yeere was a Sabbatharie yeere; wherein they were not to exact any debt of one another, Deut. 15.1. nor to exerciſe the ground, but to let it reſt from tillage, whereof wee have the Law at large, Levit. 25. à verſ. 2. ad 7. The circle of the Sabbath grows yet to a further compaſſe: for theſe ſeven-yeere Sabbaths multiplyed by ſevens, made up the whole number of 49. yeeres, and the yeere after was the yeere of Jubilee, a great Sabbath, which was proclaimed by the ſound of the Trumpet, and reſt from tillage, as before, with many other particulars preſcribed; whereof you may read more in the fore-cited Text, from the eighth verſe to the end of the Chapter. Theſe acceptions of the word Sabbath have eſpeciall reference to reſt from labour.
The ſecond acception of the name Sabbath (but counting on, the fifth) hath another ſenſe; it is that whereby it is taken for reſt, not from labour, but from ſinne: In this it is frequent among the Fathers of the Church; and well might they call it a Sabbath, or reſt in that ſenſe, as in oppoſition to the reſtleſſe turbulencie of ſinne, for that is a very troubleſome evill: the ſinne of Simeon and Levi troubled Jacob, Gen. 34.30. the ſinne of Jonas troubled the aire, and the ſea, and made it reſtleſſe, untill hee was offered up as a ſacrifice to becalme it; and, The wicked, ſaith Iſaiah, are like the troubled ſea, whoſe waves caſt up mire and dirt, Eſa. 57.20. and though the godly, having leſſe ſinne, have thereby the more reſt; yet to them it is a very troubleſome and toyleſome evill, which will not ſuffer them to ſleepe; Davids teares are eyewitneſſes hereof, Pſal. 6.6. and for a more ſolide aſſurance of this truth, hee bringeth in his bones to give teſtimony to it, I finde no reſt in my bones, ſaith hee, by reaſon of my ſin, Pſal. 38.3.
The third acception of the name Sabbath (but adding it to the former, the ſixth) is that which the Apoſtle uſeth, Heb. 4.9. the word in the originall is not Sabbatum, but Sabbatiſmos; but the termination troubles not the reſt of the former part of the word, and therefore our beſt Bibles render it (as if it had beene the word Sabbatum) by our Engliſh word Reſt; and this is the beſt Sabbath or Reſt of all others, wherein the Elect ſhall wholly ceaſe from ſinne and labour; and it is that eternall Sabbath, whereof the externall or temporall Sabbath was a Type (in reſpect of the time of it) as the Tabernacle or Temple was a Type (for the place) to the kingdome of Heaven, where it ſhall bee enjoyned.