and of the knowledge of Good and Evil ceased as all men confess with that Estate And although God did not immediately upon the sin of man destroy that Garden no nor it may be untill the Flood leaving it as a Testimony against the wickedness of that Apostate Generation for whose sin the world was destroyed yet was neither it nor the Trees of it of any use or lawful to be used as to any significancy in the Worship of God And the Reason is because all Institutions are Appendixes and things annexed unto a Covenant and when that Covenant ceaseth or is broken they are of no use or signification at all § 36 There was a new state of the Church erected presently after the Fall and this also attended with sundry new Institutions especially with that concerning Sacrifices In this Church state some Alterations were made and sundry additional Institutions given unto it upon the Erection of the peculiar Church State of the Israelites in the Wilderness which yet hindred not but that it was in General the same Church State and the same Dispensation of the Covenant that the people of God before and after the giving of the Law enjoyed and lived under Hence it was that sundry Institutions of Worship were equally in force both before and after the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai as is evident in Sacrifices and some other Instances may be given But now when the State of the Church and the Dispensation of the Covenant came to be wholly altered as they were by the Gospel not any one of the old Institutions was continued or to be continued but they were all abolished and taken away Nothing at all was traduced over from the Old Church States neither from that in Innocency nor from that which ensued on the Fall in all its variations with any Obligatory Power but what was founded in the Law of Nature and had its force from thence We may then confidently assert that what God requireth equally in all Estates of the Church that is Moral and of an everlasting Obligation unto us and all men And this is the State of matters with the Sabbath and the Law thereof § 37 Of the Command of the Sabbath in the State of Innocency we have before treated and vindicated the Testimony given unto it Gen. 2. 2 3. It will God assisting be farther discoursed and confirmed in our Exposition of the fourth Chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews The Observation of it by vertue of its Original Law and Command before the Promulgation of the Decalogue in Sinai or the first Wilderness Observation of the Sabbath recorded on the occasion of giving Manna hath also been before confirmed Many Exceptions I acknowledge are laid in against the Testimonies insisted on for the proof of these things but those such as I suppose are not able to invalidate them in the minds of men void of Prejudice And the Pretence of the Obscurity that is in the Command will be easily removed by the consideration of another Instance of the same Antiquity All men acknowledge that a Promise of Christ for the Object and Guide of the Faith of the ancient Patriarchs was given in those Words of God immediately spoken unto the Serpent Gen. 3. 15. I will put Enmity between thee and the Woman and between thy seed and her seed it shall bruize thy head and thou shalt bruize its heel The Words in themselves seem obscure unto any such End or Purpose But yet there is such light given into them and the mind of God in them from the circumstances of Time Place Persons Occasions from the Nature of the things treated of from the whole ensuing Oeconomy or dealing of God with men revealed in the Scripture as that no sober man doubts of the Promissory Nature of those Words nor of the Intention of them in General nor of the proper subject of the Promise nor of the Grace intended in it This Promise therefore was the immediate Object of the faith of the Patriarchs of old the great motive and encouragement unto and of their Obedience But yet it will be hard from the Records of Scripture to prove that any particular Patriarch did believe in trust or plead that Promise which yet we know that they did all and every one nor was there any need for our Instruction that any such practice of theirs should be recorded seeing it is a general Rule that those Holy men of God did observe and do whatever he did command them Wherefore from the record of a Command we may conclude unto a suitable Practice though it be not recorded and from a recorded approved Practice on the other side we may conclude unto the Command or Institution of the thing practised though no where plainly recorded Let unprejudiced men consider those words Gen. 2. 2 3. and they will find the Command and Institution of the Sabbath as clear and conspicuous in them as the Promise of Grace in Christ is in them before considered especially as they are attended with the Interpretation given of them in Gods following dealings with his Church And therefore although particular Instances of the Obedience of the old Patriarchs in this part of it or the Observation of the Sabbath could not be given and evinced yet we ought no more on that account to deny that they did observe it than we ought to deny their Faith in the promised Seed because it is no where expresly recorded in the Story of their lives § 38 Under the Law that is after the giving of it in the Wilderness it is granted that the portion of Time insisted on was precisely required to be dedicate unto God although it may be for some Ages it will be hard to meet with a recorded Instance of its Observation But yet none dares take any countenance from thence to question whether it were so observed or no. All therefore is secure unto the great alteration that was made in Instituted Worship under the Gospel And to proceed unto that season there is no Practice in any part of Gods Publick Worship that appears earlier in the Records of the New Testament as to what was peculiar thereunto than the Observation of one Day in seven for the Celebration of it Hereof more must be spoken afterwards Some say indeed that the Appointment of one Day in seven and that the first Day of the Week for the Worship of God was only a voluntary Agreement or a matter consented unto by the Apostolical or first Churches meerly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gratia or to keep good Order and decorum amongst them without respect unto any Moral Command of God to that purpose This they say directly with respect to the first Day of the Week or the Lords Day and its Religious Observation But those who appoint the first Day of every Week to be so observed do without doubt appoint that that should be the Condition of one Day in seven Now I could incline to this
And hereby are we delivered from that anxious solicitude about particular instances in outward duties which was a great part of the yoke of the People of old For 1 Hence we may in all our duties look on God as a Father By the Spirit of his Son we may in them all cry Abba Father For through Christ we have an access in one Spirit unto tho Father Ephes. 2. 18. To God as a Father as one that will not alwayes chide that doth not watch our steps for our hurt but remembreth that we are but dust One who tyeth us not up to rigid exactness in outward things whilest we act in an holy spirit of filial obedience as his sons or children And there is great difference between the duties of servants and children neither hath a Father the same measure of them The consideration hereof regulated by the general Rules of the Scripture will resolve a thousand of such scruples as the Jews of old while servants were perplexed withall 2 Hence we come to know that he will be worshipped in spirit and in truth Therefore he more minds the inward frame of our hearts wherewith we serve him than the meer performance of outward duties which are alone so far accepted with him as they are expressions and demonstrations thereof If then in the observation of this Day our hearts are single and sincere in our aims at his Glory with delight it is of more price with him than the most rigid observation of outward duties by number and measure 3 Therefore the minds of Believers are no more influenced unto this duty by the curse of the Law and the terror thereof as represented in the threatned penalty of death The Authority and Love of Jesus Christ are the principal causes of our Obedience Hence our main duty lyeth in an endeavour to get spiritual joy and delight in the services of this Day which are the especial effects of spiritual liberty So the Prophet requires that we should call the Sabbath our delight holy and honourable of the Lord Isa. 58. 13. As also that on the other side we should not do our own pleasure nor do our own wayes nor find our own pleasure nor speak our own words And these Cautions seem to regard the Sabbath absolutely and not as Judaical But I much question whether they have not in the interpretation of some been extended beyond their original intention For the true meaning of them is no more but this that we should so delight our selves in the Lord on his holy Day as that being expresly forbidden our usual labour we should not need for want of satisfaction in our duties to turn aside unto our own pleasures and vain wayes which are only our own to spend our time and pass over the Sabbath a thing complained of by many whence sin and Satan have been more served on this Day than on all the Dayes of the Week beside But I no way think that here is a restraint laid on us from such Words Wayes and Works as neither hinder the performance of any religious duties belonging to the due celebration of the worship of God on the Day nor are apt in themselves to unframe our spirits or divert our affections from them And those whose minds are fixed in a spirit of liberty to glorifie God in and by this Day of Rest seeking after Communion with him in the wayes of his worship will be unto themselves a better Rule for their Words and Actions than those who may aim to reckon over all they do or say which may be done in such a manner as to become the Judaical Sabbath much more then the Lords-Day § 10 Thirdly Be sure to bring good and right Principles unto the performance of the duty of keeping a Day of Rest holy unto the Lord. Some of these I shall name as confirmed expresly in or drawn evidently from the preceding Discourses 1. Remember that there is a Weekly Rest or an holy Rest of one Day in the week due to the solemn work of glorifying God as God Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy We have had a Week unto our own occasions or we have a prospect of a Week in the patience of God for them Let us Remember that God puts in for some Time with us All is not our own We are not our own Lords Some time God will have to himself from all that own him in the World And this is that Time season or Day He esteems not himself acknowledged nor his Soveraignty owned in the World without it And therefore this Day of Rest he required the first Day as it were that the World stood upon its legs hath done so all along and will do so to the last Day of its duration When he had made all things and saw that they were good and was refreshed in them he required that we should own and acknowledge his Goodness and Power therein This duty we owe to God as God 2 That God appointed this Day to teach us that as he rested therein so we should seek after Rest in him here and look on this Day as a pledge of eternal Rest with him hereafter So was it from the beginning This was the End of the appointment of this Day Now our Rest in God in general consists in two things 1 In our Approbation of the Works of God and the Law of our Obedience with the Covenant of God thereon These things are expressive of and do represent unto us the Goodness Righteousness Holiness Faithfulness and Power of God For these and with respect unto them are we to give Glory to him What God rests in he requires that through it we should seek for our Rest in him As this was the duty of man in Innocency and under the Law so it is ours now much more For God hath now more eminently and gloriously unveiled and displayed the Excellencies of his Nature and the Counsels of his Wisdome in and by Jesus Christ than he had done under the first Covenant And this should work us to a greater and more holy admiration of them For if we are to acknowledge that the Law is holy just and good as our Apostle speaks although it is now useless as to the bringing of us to Rest in God how much more ought we to own and subscribe to the Gospel and the declaration that God hath made of himself therein that so it is 2 In an actual solemn compliance with his Will expressed in his Works Law and Covenant This brings us unto present satisfaction in him and leads us to the full enjoyment of him This is a Day of Rest but we cannot Rest in a Day nor any thing that a Day can afford only it is an help and means of bringing us to Rest in God Without this design all our Observation of a Sabbath is of no use nor advantage Nothing will thence redound to the Glory of God nor the benefit of our own souls And this they
among Christians Neither is it a small evil amongst us that the Disputes of some against the Divine Warranty of one Day in seven to be separated unto Sacred Uses and the Pretence of others to an equal regard unto all Dayes from their Christian Liberty together with an open visible neglect in the most of any conscientious Care in the Observance of it have cast not a few unwary and unadvised Persons to take up with the Judaical Sabbath both as to its Institution and manner of its Observation Now whereas the solemn Worship of God is the Spring Rule and Measure of all our Obedience unto him it may justly be thought that the neglect thereof so brought about as hath been declared hath been a great if not a principal Occasion of that sad Degeneracy from the Power Purity and Glory of Christian Religion which all men may see and many do complain of at this Day in the World The Truth is most of the Different Apprehensions recounted have been entertained and contended for by Persons Learned and Godly all equally pretending to a Love unto Truth and Care for the Preservation and Promotion of Holiness and Godliness amongst men And it were to be wished that this were the only Instance whereby we might evince that the best of men in this World do know but in part and Prophesie but in part But they are too many to be recounted although most men act in themselves and towards others as if they were themselves lyable to no mistakes and that it is an inexpiable crime in others to be in any thing mistaken But as this should make us jealous over our selves and our own Apprehensions in this matter so ought the Consideration of it to affect us with Tenderness and Forbearance towards those who dissent from us and whom we therefore judge to err and be mistaken But that which principally we are to learn from this Consideration is with what care and Diligence we ought to inquire into the certain Rule of Truth in this matter For whatever we do determine we shall be sure to find men Learned and Godly otherwise minded And yet in our Determinations are the Consciences of the Disciples of Christ greatly concerned which ought not by us to be causelesly burthened nor yet countenanced in the neglect of any Duty that God doth require Slight and Perfunctory Disquisitions will be of little use in this matter nor are men to think that their Opinions are firme and established when they have obtained a seeming countenance unto-them from two or three doubtful Texts of Scripture The Principles and Foundations of Truth in this matter lye deep and require a diligent Investigation And this is the Design wherein we are now engaged Whether we shall contribute any thing to the Declaration or Vindication of the Truth depends wholly on the Assistance which God is pleased to give or withhold Our part it is to use what Diligence we are able neither ought we to avoid any thing more than the assuming or ascribing of any thing unto our selves It is enough for us if in any thing or by any means God will use us not as Lords over the Faith of men but as Helpers of their Joy Now for the Particular Controversies before mentioned I shall not insist upon them all for that were endless but shall reduce them unto those general Heads under which they may be comprehended and by the right stating whereof they will be determined Nor shall I enter into any especial contest unless it be occasionally only with any particular Persons who of old or of late have eristically handled this subject Some of them have I confess given great provocations thereunto especially of the Belgick Divines whose late Writings are full of Reflections on the Learned Writers of this Nation Our only design is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And herein I shall lay down the general regulating Principles of the Doctrine of the Scriptures in this matter confirming them with such Arguments as occurr to my mind and vindicating them from such Exceptions as they either seem liable unto or have met withal All with respect unto the Declaration given of the Doctrine and Practice of the Sabbath in the different Ages of the Church by our Apostle Chap. 4. of the Epistle to the Hebrews § 8 The Principles that I shall proceed upon or the Rules that I shall proceed by are 1. Express Testimonies of Scripture which are not wanting in this Cause Where this Light doth not go before us our best course is to sit still and where the Word of God doth not speak in the things of God it is our Wisdom to be silent Nothing I confess is more nauseous to me than Magisterial Dictates in Sacred things without an evident deduction and Confirmation of Assertions from Scripture Testimonies Some men write as if they were inspired or dreamed that they had obtained to themselves a Pythagorean Reverence Their Writings are full of strong Authoritative Assertions arguing the good Opinion they have of themselves which I wish did not include an equal contempt of others But any thing may be easily affirmed and as easily rejected 2. The Analogie of Faith in the Interpretation Exposition and Application of such Testimonies as are pleadable in this Cause Hic labor hoc opus Herein the Writers Diligence and the Readers Judgement are principally to be exercised I have of late been much surprised with the Plea of some for the Use of Reason in Religion and Sacred things not at all that such a Plea is insisted on but that it is by them built expresly on a supposition that it is by others whom they reflect upon denyed whereas some probably intended in those Reflections have pleaded for it against the Papists to speak within the bounds of sobriety with as much Reason and no less effectually than any amongst themselves I cannot but suppose their mistake to arise from what they have heard but not well considered that some do teach about the darkness of the mind of man by Nature with respect unto spiritual things with his disability by the utmost use of his rational faculties as corrupted or unrenewed spiritually and savingly to apprehend the things of God without the especial assistance of the Holy Ghost Now as no Truth is more plainly or evidently confirmed in the Scripture than this so to suppose that those by whom it is believed and asserted do therefore deny the use of Reason in Religion is a most fond imagination No doubt but whatever we do or have to do towards God or in the things of God we do it all as rational creatures that is in and by the use of our Reason And not to make use of it in its utmost improvement in all that we have to do in Religion or the Worship of God is to reject it as to the principal End for which it is bestowed upon us In particular in the pursuit of the Rule now laid down is the utmost exercise
of our Reason required of us To understand aright the sense and importance of the Words in Scripture Testimonies the nature of the Propositions and Assertions contained in them the lawful deduction of Inferences from them to judge and determine aright of what is proposed or deduced by just consequence from direct Propositions to compare what in one place seems to be affirmed with what in others seems to be asserted to the same purpose or denyed with other Instances innumerable of the exercise of our minds about the Interpretation of Scripture are all of them Acts of our Reason and as such are managed by us But I must not here farther divert unto the consideration of these things Only I fear that some men write Books about them because they read none This I know that they miserably mistake what is in Controversie and set up to themselves Men of Straw as their Adversaries and then cast Stones at them 3. The Dictates of General and incorrupted Reason suitable unto and explained by Scripture Light is another Principle that we shall in our progress have a due regard unto For whereas it is confessed that the separation of some portion of Time to the Worship of God is a part of the Law of our Creation the Light of Nature doth and must still on that supposition continue to give Testimony unto our Duty therein And although this Light is exceedingly weakned and impaired by sin in the things of the greatest importance and as to many things truly belonging unto it in our original Constitution so overwhelmed with Prejudices and contrary usages that of it self it owns them not at all yet let it be excited quickned rectified by Scripture Light it will return to perform its Office of testifying unto that Dutie a sense whereof and a Direction whereunto were concreated with it We shall therefore enquire what Intimations the Light of Nature hath continued to give concerning a Day of Sacred Rest to be observed unto God and what uncontrollable Testimonies we have of those Intimations in the knowledge confessions and expressions of them in and by those who had no other Way to come to an Acquaintance with them And where there is a common or prevailing Suffrage given amongst mankind unto any Truth and that to free us from entanglements about it declared to be such in the Scripture it must be acknowledged to proceed from that Light of Nature which is common unto all though the actings of it be stifled in many 4. The Custom and Practice of the Church of God in all Ages is to be enquired into I intend not meerly the Church of Christ under the Gospel but the whole Church from the Beginning of the World in the various Dispensations of the Will and Grace of God unto it before the giving of the Law under the Toke of it and since the Promulgation of the Gospel And great weight may certainly be laid upon its Harmonious consent in any practice relating to the Worship of God Nay what may be so confirmed will thence appear not to be an Institution peculiar to any especial Mode of Worship that may belong unto one season and not unto another but to have an everlasting Obligation in it on all that worship God as such never to be altered or dispensed withal And if every particular Church be the Ground and Pillar of Truth whose Testimony thereunto is much to be esteemed how much more is the Universal Church of all Ages so to be accounted And it is a brutish Apprehension to suppose that God would permit a Perswasion to befall the Church in all Ages with respect unto his Worship which was not from himself and the Expression of its Practice accepted with him This therefore is diligently to be enquired into as far as we may have certain light into things involved in so much Darkness as are all things of so great Antiquity 5. A due consideration of the Spirit and Liberty of the Gospel with the Nature of its Worship the Reasons of it and manner of its performance is to be had in this matter No particular Instance of Worship is to be introduced or admitted contrary to the Nature Genius and Reason of the whole If therefore such a Sabbatical Rest or such an Observation of it be urged as is inconsistent with the Principles and Reasons of Evangelical Worship as is built upon Motives not taken from the Gospel and in the manner of its Observance enterferes with the Liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free it discovers it self not to belong unto the present state of the Worshippers of God in Christ. Nor is any thing to commend it self unto us under the meer Notion of strictness or preciseness or the Appearance of more than ordinary severity in Religion It is only walking according unto Rule that will please God justifie us unto others and give us peace in our selves Other seeming Duties that may be recommended because they have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Pretence of Wisdom in doing even more than is required of us through Humility and Mortification are of no price with God nor useful unto men And commonly those who are most ready to overdo in one thing are prone also to underdo in others And this Rule we shall find plainly rejecting the rigid Observation of the Seventh Day as a Sabbath out of the Verge of Gospel Order and Worship 6. The Tendency of Principles Doctrines and Practices to the Promotion or Hinderance of Piety Godliness and Universal Holy Obedience unto God is to be enquired into This is the End of all Religious Worship and of all the Institutions thereof And a due Observation of the regular Tendency of things unto this End will give a great discovery of their Nature and Acceptance with God Let things be urged under never so specious pretences if they be found by Experience not to promote Gospel Holiness in the Hearts and Lives of men they discover themselves not to be of God Much more when Principles and Practices conformable unto them shall be evidenced to obstruct and hinder it to introduce Profaness and countenance Licentiousness of life to prejudice the due Reverence of God and his Worship do they manifest themselves to be of the Tares sowed by the Evil One. And by this Rule we may try the Opinion which denies all Divine Institution unto a Day of holy Rest under the New Testament These are the Principal Rules which in this Disquisition after a Sabbatical Rest we shall attend unto And they are such as will not fail to direct us aright in our course if through Negligence or Prejudice we miss not of a due regard unto them These the Reader is desired to have respect unto in his perusal of the ensuing Discourses and if what is proposed or concluded be not found suitable unto them let it be rejected For I can assure him that no self-assuming no contempt of others no prejudicing Adherence to any Way or Party no
in his Apologie cap. 16. tells the Gentiles of their Sabbaths or Feasts on Saturday But yet as was intimated I shall grant that the Observation of a Weekly Sacred Feast is not proved by the Testimonies produced which is all that those who oppose them do labour to disprove But I desire to know from what Original these Traditions were derived and whether any can be assigned unto them but that of the Original Institution of the Sabbatical Rest. It is known that this was common amongst them that when they had a general Notion or Tradition of any thing whose true Cause Reason and Beginning they knew not they would faign a Reason or occasion of it accommodate to their present Apprehensions and Practices as I have elsewhere evinced and cleared Having therefore amongst them the Tradition of a seventh Days Sacred Rest which was originally Catholick and having long lost the Practice and Observance of it as well as its Cause and Reason they laid hold on any thing to affix it unto which might have any Resemblance unto what was vulgarly received amongst them or what they could divine in their more curious speculations § 15 The Hebdomadal Revolution of Time generally admitted in the world is also a great Testimony unto the Original Institution of the Sabbath Of old it was Catholick and is at present received among those Nations whose converse was not begun until of late with any of those parts of the world where there is a light gone forth in these things from the Scripture All Nations I say in all Ages have from Time immemorial made the Revolution of seven Dayes to be the first stated Period of Time And this Observation is still continued throughout the world unless amongst them who in other things are openly degenerated from the Law of Nature as those barbarous Indians who have no computation of times but by Sleeps Moons and Winters The measure of time by a Day and Night is directed unto sense by the diurnal course of the Sun Lunar Months and Solar years are of an unavoidable Observation unto all Rational Creatures Whence therefore all men have reckoned Time by Dayes Months and Years is obvious unto all But whence the Hebdomadal Revolution or Weekly Period of Time should make its Entrance and obtain a Catholick Admittance no man can give an Account but with respect to some Impressions on the minds of men from the Constitution and Law of our Natures with the Tradition of a Sabbatical Rest instituted from the Foundation of the world Other Original whether Artificial and Arbitrary or Occasional it could not have Nothing of any such thing hath left the least footsteps of its ever being in any of the Memorials of Times past Neither could any thing of so low an Original or Spring be elevated to such an Height as to diffuse it self through the whole world A derivation of this Observation from the Chaldaeans and Aegyptians who retained the deepest tincture of Original Traditions hath been manifested by others And so fixed was this computation of time on their minds who knew not the Reason of it that when they made a disposition of the Dayes of the year into any other Period on accounts Civil or Sacred yet they still retained this also So the Romans as appears by the Fragments of their old Kalendars had their Nundinae which were dayes of Vacation from Labour on the eighth or as some think the ninth Dayes recurring but yet still made use of the stated Weekly period It is of some consideration in this cause and is usually urged to this purpose that Noah observed the septenary Revolution of Dayes in sending forth the Dove out of the Ark Gen. 8. 10 12. That this was done casually is not to be imagined Nor can any Reason be given why notwithstanding the disappointment he met with the first and second time he should still abide seven dayes before he sent again if you consider only the natural condition of the Flood or the Waters in their abatement A Revolution of Dayes and that upon a sacred account was doubtless attended unto by him And I should suppose that he still sent out the Dove the next day after the Sabbath to see as it were whether God had returned again to Rest in the works of his hands And Gen. 29. 27. a Week is spoken of as a known account of Dayes or Time Fulfill her Week that is not a Week of years as he had done for Rachel but fulfill a Week of Dayes in the Festivals of his marriage with Leah For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 can have no other sense seeing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Feminine Gender relates unto Leah whose Nuptials were to be celebrated and not to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Week which is of the Masculine And it was the custom in those antient times of the world to continue the celebration of a Marriage Feast for seven Dayes or a Week as Judg. 14. 12 15 17. The seven dayes of the Feast is spoken of as a thing commonly known and in vulgar use § 16 Let us therefore consider what is offered to weaken the Force of this Observation It is pretended that the Antient Heathen or the contemplative Persons amongst them observing the unfixed various Motions of the seven Planetary Luminaries as they used and abused it to other Ends so they applyed their Number and Names unto so many dayes which were thereby as it were dedicated unto them which shut them up in that septenary Number But that the Observation of the Weekly Revolution of Time was from the Philosophers and not the common consent of the people doth not appear For those observed also the twelve Signs of the Zodiack and yet made that no Rule to reckon Time or Dayes by Besides the Observation of the Site and Positure of the seven Planets as to their Height or Elevation with Respect unto one another is as antient as the Observation of their peculiar and various motions And upon the first discovery thereof all granted this to be their Order Saturne Jupiter Mars Sol Venus Mercury Luna What Alteration is made herein by the late Hypothesis fixing the Sun as in the Center of the World built on fallible Phaenomena and advanced by many arbitrary Presumptions against evident Testimonies of Scripture and Reasons as probable as any are produced in its confirmation is here of no consideration For it is certain that all the world in former Ages was otherwise minded And our Argument is not taken in this matter from what really was true but from what was universally apprehended so to be Now whence should it be that if this limiting the first Revolution of Time unto seven Dayes proceeded from the Planetary Denominations fixed to the Dayes of the year arbitrarily the Order among the Planets should be so changed as every one sees it to be For in the Assignation of the Names of the Planets to the Dayes of the Week the midst is taken out first