The Jews Sabbath Antiquated and the Lords Day Instituted, Position 6
POSITION VI. That the Sabbath begins in the Morning.
THis Poſition hath been alſo handled and proved abundantly by others, chiefly by Mr. Cawdrey, and Mr. Pynchon, whoſe Arguments I judge unanſwerable. 'Tis to me an unqueſtionable concluſion, That the Sabbath being a natural day conſiſting of 24 hours, it muſt begin and end as the natural day it ſelf does. Now in Scripture-account the natural day begins and ends at or about midnight, that it begins in the dark night, is evident from that fore-mentioned place, Mark 1.35. Where we read of our Saviours riſing in the morning a great while before day; or while it was deep in the night. Hence alſo the evening of the natural day is reckoned from about noon or mid-day, Matth. 14.13. When the evening was come the Diſciples came to Chriſt, The Scripture ſpeaks of two evenings. Exod. 30.8. Chap. 16.12.about ſending away the multitude to ſeek their dinner in the Villages, and that this was not the ſun-ſet-evening is clear; for after the multitude had dined and were diſmiſſed, we read of another evening, v. 23. ſo that the former evening (all circumſtances conſidered) muſt needs be about mid-day, therefore it muſt have a morning anſwerable to it, which muſt neceſſarily begin about mid-night, when theaJonah 4.7. morning-Sun begins to aſcend; as it does from mid-night till mid-day, orbProv. 4.18. perfect day, and then it declines again, and thecJer. 6.4. ſhadows begin to be ſtretched out (called the ſhadows of the evening) till they fall into the darkneſs of the night, which is deepeſt at mid-night.
Againſt thoſe that begin the natural day, and ſo the Sabbath at Sun-ſet evening, we may object this, (which they can never anſwer) That by their reckoning, Chriſt muſt riſe from the dead the ſecond, not the third day after his burial. For 'tis clear that he was not buried or incloſed in the heart of the earth, till after the ſun-ſet evening.Matth. 27.57. Mark 15.42. For Joſeph went not to Pilate to beg the body, till the even was come; namely, the later evening which begins at Sun-ſet, and after this, there were many things to be done before the bleſſed body of Chriſt was laid in the Sepulchre. As the(c)Mark 15.46. buying of fine linnen to wrap it in, beſides the imbalming or perfuming it withdJohn 19.40. ſpices and odours, as the manner of the Jews was to bury. This (together with other Funeral rites) took up ſome time, ſo that it muſt needs be after Sun-ſet before this ſad Funeral was finiſhed. Now if the Sabbath had begun with the Sun-ſet evening, Chriſts Reſurrection-day being the morrow after the Sabbath, could be but the ſecond day; whereas it is a great Article of our faith, grounded upon thee1 Cor. 15.4. Scriptures, That Chriſt roſe from the dead the third day, to fulfill the type of Jonas.
Further, however the Jews in later times begun their Sabbath at evening (as we grant they did) ſuperſtitiouſly reckoning their preparation-time part of their Sabbath-time, yet it is very conſiderable, that the Holy Ghoſt keeps a contrary account, ſtating the end of the Sabbath towards the dawning of the day following: as Matth. 28.1. in the end of the Sabbath which dawned towards the firſt day of the week: Now if the Sabbath ended at the dawning towards the next day, then it muſt needs begin about the ſame time the day before, and as the old Sabbath began and ended in Gods account, ſo muſt the Lords day.
In a word, how prepoſterous is it and incongruous both to Scripture and nature to begin the day at evening? how ill does this agree with thoſe Texts of Scripture, that make the morning the firſt part of the day, and evening the laſt? The Angels we know are calledfJob 38.7. morning ſtars, not evening ſtart, becauſe they were created in the beginning of the Creation, and the days of the Goſpel are calledgZech. 14.7. evening (in the evening it ſhall be light) becauſe they are the laſt days; according to the common Dialect of Scripture,hPſal. 5.3. Pſal. 143.8 Gen. 49.27. morning time is firſt, evening laſt, and evening never ſignifies early but late, becauſe it is the later part of the day. But others have ſufficiently cleared this truth already, to add any more were but to light a candle to the Sun. A word or two in anſwer to the Objections, and we have done.
Firſt, Object. 1 T. T. p. 56.We are told that Gen. 1. the day began at evening, for the darkneſs went before the light, and this darkneſs with the enſuing light (ſaies the Objector) made the firſt day, and ſo the ſecond, third, fourth, &c.
This is a meer miſtake; Anſw. For we deny, that the firſt darkneſs, Gen. 1. was the evening or night of the firſt day, that darkneſs upon the face of the deep (for ought appears to the contrary) laſted not longer than a moment; the night of the firſt day was that which followed the light, after God had ſeparated the light which he called day, from the darkneſs which he called night; to object the order of the words is vain, Moſes himſelf takes off that Objection by inverting that order in the following words, for v. 4. he puts light before darkneſs, and day before night.
The Ceremonial Sabbaths (becauſe honoured as Sabbaths) were to begin at even, as 'tis ſaid, Obj. 2 Levit. 23.32. From even to even ſhall ye celebrate your Sabbath.
This law concerned only the day of atonement, Anſw. which was an extraordinary Sabbath for reſt and ſtrictneſs, being their yearly Faſt, wherein they were to afflict themſelves by abſtinence fromiJoel 1.13. and 2.16. ſleep as well as food; and this is ſo far from proving that their weekly Sabbath began at even, that to me it is a good Argument to prove the contrary, for it looks like a particular exception from a general rule; and to ſpecifie the beginning of this extraordinary Sabbath at Even had been needleſs, if their ordinary Sabbaths had begun at the ſame time.
Nehemiah cauſed Jeruſalems gates to be ſhut before the Sabbath, even while the declining Sun caſt ſome obſcurity on the city gates. Obj. 3Neh. 13.…9.
This was to prevent the profanation of the Sabbath the next day, Anſw. and it were to be wiſhed all Chriſtian Magiſtrates would have the like care of the Lords day. Beſides 'tis ſaid, he cauſed the gates to be ſhut, when they began to be dark, and yet ſaies the Text, this was before the Sabbath, which ſeems rather to intimate that in Nebemiahs time, the Sabbath did not begin in the evening; otherwiſe (as Mr. C. notes) he had done it not before, but in the Sabbath.
The precious women having attended our Saviour to his Sepulchre, returned and prepared ſpices and ointments, Obj. 4 and reſted the Sabbath according to the Commandment.
This (as we ſaid before) was after the ſun-ſet evening beſides the holy Women did not forbear to anoint the body of Chriſt that evening, becauſe of the weekly Sabbath, Anſw. but poſſibly becauſe of the Jews Paſſeover-Sabbath,John 19.31. or rather the Jews preparation to it; of which we read John 19.42. We are ſure,Mark 16.2. they came not to anoint him till the morning of the Reſurrection-day; and it may be they ſtayed ſo long in conſcience of the Sabbath, which was not ended till the morning after mid-night; therefore 'tis moſt likely our Lord had taught them that the Sabbath begins and ends in the morning; if it had ended at Sun-ſet, we may rationally think, they had viſited the Sepulchre before they ſlept that night, and not have put it off till the next morning. As for thoſe multiplied Scriptures that call for evening-ſacrifices, Pſal. 92 1. Iſai. 30.29, they make as much for us, as for him; if not more: Since as we count the after-evening from ſun-ſet till mid-night a part of the Sabbath, and ſpend it (our waking houres at leaſt) in Sabbath-duties, repetition, meditation, prayer and praiſe; ſo we hold a preparation neceſſary the evening before. Of which in the next Poſition.