An exposition of the morall lavv, or Ten Commandements of almightie God set dovvne by vvay of exercitations, wherein is contained an explanation of diverse questions and positions for the right understanding thereof, together with an explication of these scriptures which depend upon, or belong unto every one of the commandements, all which are cleared out of the originall languages, the customes of the Iewes, and the distinctions of the schoolemen / by Iohn Weemse ...

EXERCITAT. II. When the Sabbath day beginneth. Commandement IV.

Gen. 1.8. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

FOr the understanding of this, when the Sabbath be∣ginneth, we must know first, what is a naturall day, and what is an artificiall day: A naturall day is the space of twenty foure houres, measured by the presence and absence of the sunne; the presence of the sunne is called the day, and the absence of it is called the night.

An artificiall day is from the sunne rising to the sunne setting, as Exod. 18.14. Why sittest thou thy selfe alone, and all the people stand by thee from morning unto even, and so Ioh. 11.9. Are there not twelve houres in the day.

The naturall day began in the morning, because the light was the first thing that was created; this light mea∣sured the three first dayes when it shined; and it made the night when it withdrew it selfe: but from the fourth day after the creation, the sunne measured the day, and the moone the night.

That darkenesse which was upon the face of the earth made not the first night, it was no part of time, but punctum temporis; for time is the measure of motion, and it began with the light, and shall end with it. Rev. 10.6. Then there shall be no more time.

Secondly, the night is the privation of light, and the habit goeth alwayes before the privation; therefore

the day was before the night.

Psal. 104.19. Hee appointed the moone for seasons, [Obj.] the sunne knoweth her going downe. Hee appointed the moone for seasons, here the moone is reckoned first, because the night was before the day, and the sunne waiteth upon her and knoweth her seasons.

The sunne knoweth Mebhoo, occasum suum, [Answ.] his owne going downe, and not her going downe; for Shemesh is in the common gender: and the sunne waiteth not upon the moone, but she waiteth upon the sunne; because she hath all her light from the sunne. Secondly, David keepeth not the order of time here, no more then hee doth in reckoning up of the plagues of Egypt. Psal. 106.

But the evening and the morning were the first day, therefore the evening hath beene before the morning.

The evening is the ending of the light here, [Answ.] and the morning is the ending of the night; the evening is called Gnerebh from Gnarabh miscere, because it is partly day, and partly night; and it is called crepusculum, from the old Latine word crepera, which signifieth dubius, as when wee doubt whether it bee day or night, and it is amidst betwixt day and night.

There is a twofold midst, medietas aequidistantiae, & medietas interpositionis; as the sunne in the dayes of Io∣shua is said to stand upon Gibeon, and the moone in the val∣ley of Ajalon. Iosh. 10.13. The sunne stood South-west from the campe of Ioshua where it pitched at that time, in Makkedah as ye goe to Bethoron. Vers. 10. which lay be∣twixt Gibeon and Ajalon. The sunne in the South-west maketh three after noone, and yet the sunne is said to stand in the midst of heaven. Vers. 15. although it was three houres past the meridionall, this was medietas in∣terpositionis.

The second is, medietas aequidistantiae, as when a thing participateth equally of both the extreames; now when

Gnerebh is called the evening, what sort of midst is it? it is not medium aequidistantiae here, but medium interpo∣sitionis; and therefore it belongeth to the day, and not to the night.

When Christ is said to lye three dayes and three nights in the heart of the earth: Christ was crucified be∣twixt two evenings at that time when the Pascall Lamb was killed; the evening here is reckoned for the first day; and the next foure and twenty houres are recko∣ned for the second day; and he rose upon the third mor∣ning, that was the third day; the morning here Synecdochi∣ce is taken for the whole day, and the night following.

[Obj.] But it was said before, that the morning belonged to the night going before, how then beginneth it a new day when Christ is said to rise the third day?

[Answ.] There is a threefold morning, First, when there is more darknesse than light. Secondly, when there is a like darknesse and light. Thirdly, when there is more light than darknesse. The first morning belongeth to the night going before; the second standeth as a midst betwixt both the day and the night; and the third mor∣ning belongeth to the day following: this is cleare out of the scripture; for Mathew Cap. 28.1. saith, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 that is, Serum Sabbathi, the Iewes Sabbath being ended, it began to dawne to the first day of the weeke; the first part of those words have relation to the first morning, in which there is more darknesse than light, and the latter part hath relation to the third morning, in which there is more light than darknesse. The first morning Marke calleth it 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, the Iewes Sabbath being ended, Luke calleth it 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, upon the first day of the weeke when there was great darknesse as yet. Marke calleth the third morning 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, earely in the morning the first

day of the weeke, when there was more light then darknesse, and Iohn explaineth this, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, while as yet there was some darknesse; when the women rose to goe to the sepulchre, it was the first morning being very darke: when they were going to it it was betwixt light and darknesse, this was the second morning; but when they were at the sepulchre, Christ was risen, that was the third morning. Now when it is said the evening and the morning was the first day; by the morning here is understood the first part of the morning ending the night, rather than beginning the day, as by the first part of Gnereb is understood, the en∣ding of the day, and not the beginning of the night.

Ezek. 24.26.27. [Object.] The Lord sheweth the Prophet in a vision that Ierusalem should bee destroyed, and hee commanded him to hold his peace and not to speake of the destruction of it to the people; and the Lord giveth him a signe, that his mouth should bee opened in that day that the citie should be destroyed, and that in that day he would send one to tell him; hee was dumbe all this while, and the accomplishment of this prophecy we see. Ezek, 33.22. Where the Prophets mouth was opened unto him in the evening, and the messenger came to him in the morning: therefore the morning is a part of the night preceeding, and the day beginneth at the night.

Ezekiel setteth downe expressely the yeare, [Answ.] the mo∣neth, and the day when he saw this vision. Ezek. 24.1. And he opened not his mouth concerning this matter; from the nineth yeare to the twelfth, at which time Ierusalem was destroyed. Cap. 33.22. Then the hand of the Lord was upon him, and opened his mouth, and hee spake the selfe same night that the citie was destroyed, and in the morning of that day the messenger came to him; but this morning could not be a part of that day in

which the citie was destroyed, and in which his mouth was opened; because there was three dayes journey be∣twixt Ierusalem and Babylon, where Ezekiel was in the captivitie for the present: therefore this testimonie will not serue the turne to prove that the morning was a part of that day in which his mouth was opened.

[Obj.] If it be said that all this was done in vision; therefore hee that escaped that night came to Ezekiel that mor∣ning.

[Answ.] Was Ierusalem destroyed onely in vision? did Ezekiel hold his peace all this time onely in vision? and saw the Prophet this day of the destruction of Ierusalem only in a vision? this cannot stand; wherefore all these were re∣ally done, and he told him of the destruction of the citie; which hee could not doe in one night being such a de∣stance betwixt Ierusalem and Babylon. This text then will afford no more but this, in that day that the man escapeth hee shall come to thee, and tell thee of the di∣struction of the citie; and not this, that hee shall come the selfe same day that he escapeth.

[Ob.] Gen. 29.23. Leah was brought to Iacob in the evening, that is, in the night; otherwise Iacob would have discer∣ned her: therefore the evening belonged to the night, and not to the day.

[Answ.] The evening hath sundry periods in the scripture, be∣fore it bee called night properly, as the morning hath. First, when the sunne is declining, secondly, when the sunne is setting, the time betwixt these two was called inter duas vesperas, betwixt two evenings. Exod. 12.6. These two evenings belong properly to the day; then there is a third part of the evening, when it is darke night, and this belongeth to the night▪ and it was in this evening that Laban brought Leah to Iacob.

Now because the day beginneth at the morning and not at the evening, it followeth, that the Sabbath must

begin at the same period, at which the day began at the creation.

This fixed period at which the Sabbath beginneth must be after midnight, when it is dawning towards the day, that is, when the day is ascending upward, there∣fore Matthew saith, Cap. 28.1. When it began to dawne to∣wards the first day of the weeke: in the originall it is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 from 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 which signifieth to waxe towards the light, although it bee not light; it signifieth not Habhdil the candle of separation, with which the Iewes used to make a distinction betwixt the Sabbath and the day following; neither doth it signifie the light of the starres, as some would have it; neither the rising of the morning starre; but that time onely when the Sab∣bath beginneth to be kept, and dawneth towards it.

If this bee the true beginning of the day after mid∣night, then the nations who keepe a diverse period of the beginning of their day from this, decline from the first institution; as the Vmbrians at midnight, the Astro∣nomers at mid-day, the Babylonians at the sunne rising, the Athenians at the sunne setting.

Midnight can not be properly the beginning of the day, because it partly partaketh of the day going before and partly of the day following; for the beginning of the day must be after midnight, and it is de media nocte, and not media nox when it beginneth.

It cannot begin at the mid-day, for this is contrary to the first institution; for here there is neither morning nor evening.

Thirdly, it cannot begin at the light with the Babylo∣nians; for here there would follow a great absurditie: because they who dwell farre North from the equino∣ctiall line, or farre South from it; they have the sunne in summer the whole foure and twenty houres, and in winter they want the light of the sunne the whole day:

therefore if the Sabbath began here with the light, then their Sabbath should bee twice as long in the summer, and none in the winter: therefore there must be another period at which the day beginneth, than the light, or the rising of the sunne.

Lastly, the setting of the sunne cannot be the begin∣ning of the naturall day, for this is contrary to the order of creation, as is said before: therefore no man ought to invert the order of nature for the beginning of the day, except God come in by his divine institution & change it, as when hee brought the children of Israel out of Egypt in the evening, and instituted the Passover as a memoriall of that deliverance, he began that day at the evening, which observation they kept from that night in which they came out of Egypt, untill that morning when Christ rose againe from the dead.

The Evangelists when they speake of the morning when Christ rose, they speake according to the recko∣ning of the Romans, and not according to the recko∣ning of the Iewes. The Iewes at this time had many customes of the Romans amongst them, because they were subject to them; the Iewes divided their night in three watches, the first they called caput vigiliarum, La∣ment. 2.19. then they had the middle watch. Iud. 7.19. and the morning watch. Exod. 14.14. But after the manner of the Romans they divided their night into foure watches, And hee came to them in the fourth watch. Marc. 6.48. So they dated their yeares accor∣ding to the reigne of the Princes, who reigned over them, as Luc. 3.1. In the fifteenth yeare of the reigne of Tiberius Caesar. So the Prophets often times doe reckon by the heathen Kings. So when Alexander came to Ie∣rusalem, they reckoned their times from his comming, and they called it Aera Alexandri, and so, Aera Seleuci∣darum Alexandri: and so here they followed the Ro∣mans

in counting of their day. The Romans divided their day and night into sixtene parts, the first part was called Diluculum, 2 Ortus solis, 3 Ascensio diei, 4 Antime∣dium diei, 5 Meredies, 6 Pomeridianum tempus, 7 Declina∣tio diei, 8 Occasus solis, 9 Crepusculum, 10 Conticinium, 11 Ascensio noctis, 12 ante medium noctis, 13 Intempestiva nox, 14 De media nocte, 15 Declinatio noctis, 16 Gallici∣nium: all this time De media nocte, untill the rising of the sunne is called the morning.

[illustration]

A Demonstration to show at what time the day began in the creation.

Thy Sunne shall no more goe downe, neyther thy Moone withdraw it selfe: for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light and the dayes of thy mourning shall be ended. Esay. 60.20.

god who comanded light to shine out of darknes hath shyned in our harts to giue y^e light of his glorie in christ 2 cor. 4.6.

Notes

• The naturall day what.
• An artificiall day what.
• When the naturall day began.
• The darkenesse which was upon the face of the depth was not the first night.
• 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Sol novit occasum su∣um, et non ejus, scilicet Lunae.
• The order of time not alwayes kept in the scriptures. Object.
• 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 vespera finis diei a 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 miscere, sic dicta, quod tunc lux te∣nebris commisceri inci∣ptat▪
• Medietas

  • Interpositio∣nis.
  • AEquidi∣stantiae.
• Gnerebh the evening be∣longeth to the day, and not to the night,
• How Christ lay three dayes and three nights in the grave.
• Varro de lingua latina.
• A three fold morning.
• The Evangelists recon∣ciled concerning the time when Christ rose.
• The time when the women came to the se∣pulchre.
• Gnerebh the even is the ending of the day, and not the begining of the night.
• All these things concer∣ning the destruction of the temple, were really done and not in vision.
• The evening hath sun∣dry periods.
• The time when the Sab∣bath doth begin is after midnight.
• 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Candela separationis.
• Ludovicus de Dieu in∣annotat. in Matth.
• The inconveniences that would follow if the Sabba••h began at any other time than af∣ter midnight.
• Why the Sabbath can∣not begin at the light.
• Why it cannot begin at the sunne setting.
• The Evangelists speake of the division of the day, according to the Romans computation.
• The Romans divided their day and night into sixtene parts.
• Vide Rosini antiquita∣tes.