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GEN. 1. 3. And the Evening and the Morning were the first day.
A Day in the Scripture, is either a naturall, artifi∣ciall,* 1.1 or a propheticall day.
The naturall day consisteth of foure and twen∣tie* 1.2 houres, comprehending day and night, Num. 8. 17. In that day that I smote every first borne in the land of E∣gypt. But Exod. 12. 29. it is said, that at midnight the Lord smote the first borne of Egypt; so that by day here is meant the whole twentie foure houres.
The artificiall day began at the Sunne-rising, and en∣ded at the Sunne-setting, Exod. 16. 14. Why sit yee all the day from morning till night? And it had three Peri∣ods in it, morning, mid-day, and evening; and the mid∣day is called Zeharaijm, and it is put in the duall num∣ber,* 1.3 because it containeth a part of the forenoone, and a part of the afternoone.
Psal. 65. 8. Thou makest the outgoings of the morning, and the evening to rejoyce; the outgoings of the morne, is the rising of the starres before the Sunne rise, as 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, and the outgoings of the evening, that is, when the Moone riseth, and the starres with her, as Hesperus; the Sunne is said to go out as it were out of his chamber, when he ariseth out of the Sea, or the earth, Psal. 19. And he is said to goe in and to dip in the Sea, Mark. 4. when he setteth.
Ortus Heliacus, is when the starres arise with the* 1.4 Sunne; Ortus Chronicus, is the rising of the starres with the Moone; Ortus Cosmicus, is when the starres rise at certaine seasons in the yeare, as Orion, Plejades, &c.
A Propheticall day is taken for a yeare in the Scrip∣tures; as they had a propheticall day, so they had pro∣pheticall weekes, propheticall moneths, and propheti∣call yeares.
A weeke signifieth a weeke of yeares, as Daniels se∣ventie* 1.5 weekes, Dan. 9. 25. So the moneth signifieth a moneth of yeares, according to the Greeke computati∣on, counting thirtie dayes to a moneth; so the yeare sig∣nifieth a yeare of yeares, Iere. 28. 3. Adhuc duo anni an∣norū; So these places in the Revelation, Forty two moneths an hundreth and sixtie dayes three yeares and an halfe, so time, times, and halfe a time, are prophetically to be un∣derstood; A propheticall day, is a yeare; the weeke se∣ven yeares, the moneth thirtie yeares, and the prophe∣ticall yeare three hundreth and sixtie yeares, and this
way they counted, to signifie the shortnesse of the time.* 1.6
A day is applyed in the Scripture first to our estate in grace, Heb. 4. To day if ye will heare his voyce, harden not your hearts; and all the Comparisons in the Scriptures are taken from the forenoone, to shew the growth of grace; First, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, or the morning Starre, and the dawning of the day, and the day-starre arise in your hearts, 2 Pet. 1. 19. Secondly, to the Sunne-rising, Esay 8. 20. It is because there is no morning in them; and thirdly, to the Sunne in the strength of the day, Iudg. 5. 3.
Then the declination of grace is compared to the* 1.7 Sunne in the afternoone, Iere. 6. 4. Arise, let us goe up at noone; woe unto us for the day goeth away, for the sha∣dowes of the evening are stretched out, Micah 3. And the Sunne set upon the Prophets.
The forenoone is compared to the time of grace be∣fore it come to the declining, therefore let us make great reckoning of this time to redeeme it, Psal. 108. ••. I my selfe will awake early: but in the Originall it is more emphaticall, [Hagnira shahher] Expergefaciam auroram.* 1.8 As if David should say, the morning never tooke me napping, but I wakened it still.
Secondly, the day representeth the shortnesse of our* 1.9 life to us, and it is compared to an artificiall day, Psal. 90. 5. In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up, but in the evening it is cut downe and withereth: it is like Ionas Gourd, which groweth up in one artificiall day, and decayeth againe; and the houres of the day whereunto our life is compared, are like planetary houres, long in the Summer, and short in the Winter: Compare our dayes with the dayes of our fathers, they are but few and evill, in respect of their dayes, therefore our dayes are called dies palmares.
The Lord made the day for man to travaile, and the* 1.10
night for him to rest in, therefore they are monsters in nature, that invert this order, who sleepe in the day and wake in the night, Psal. 104. 23. Man goeth forth unto his worke, and to his labour, untill the evening. And Vers. 20. Thou makest darknesse, and it is night, wherein all the beasts of the Forrest doe creepe forth: Those who turne day into night, follow the beasts, and not man; such a monster was Heliogabalus, who would rise at night, and then cause morning salutations to be given unto him: the History saith, that the world seemed to goe backward in this monsters dayes: this sort of people Seneca calleth them our Antipodes, for when we rise they goe to bed & contrà.
THe Iewes reckoned their dayes thus; Prima Sabbath, secunda sabbath, the first day of the weeke, the se∣cond day of the weeke, &c. Secondly, the Latine Church reckoned from the Passeover, Prima feria, se∣cunda feria, &c. Thirdly, they borrowed afterward a∣nother sort of reckoning from the Heathen, who recko∣ned their dayes by the Planets, the Sunne, the Moone, Mercurie, Mars, &c.
What is the reason that they reckoned not the dayes [Quest.] of the weeke according to the order of the Planets, for the Planets stand after this order, Saturne stands in the highest place, then Iupiter, next Mars, and so in order Sol, Mercurie, Venus, and then Luna. Iupiter followeth not Saturne in the dayes of the weeke, but Sol; so Mer∣curie followeth not Sol but Luna.
The order of the dayes of the weeke is Mathemati∣call; [Answ.] for the seven Planets being set downe in a circle according to their owne naturall order, by an equall di∣stance, they make seven triangles, reaching from their
bases to the Hemisphere, whose bases arise from the se∣verall corners drawne in the circle, in whose circumfe∣rence, the seven Planets are set downe according to their owne order, making up one equall triangle in e∣very one of their two sides, as, ☉ Sol, ☽ Luna, ♂ Mars; ☉ Sol is in the right side of the triangle, ☽ Luna in the top, and ♂ Mars in the left side of the triangle; and so from ♂ Mars to ♃ Iupiter by ☿ Mercurie; and from ♃ Iu∣piter to ♄ Saturne by ♀ Venus; and from ♄ Saturne to ☽ Luna by ☉ Sol, and from the ☽ Moone to ☿ Mercurie by ♂ Mars; and from ☿ Mercurie to ♀ Venus by ♃ Iupi∣ter, as yee may see in the figure following.
Whether may these names of the weeke dayes which [Quest.] are imposed by the Heathen, be used in the Christian Church or not?
The Apostles themselues used such names for di∣stinction, [Answ.] as Areopagus, Mars streete, Act. 17. So; we sai∣led in a Shippe whose Badge was Castor and Pollux. Act. 28. and such like.
A day put for 24. houres.
〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Meridies.
Propheticall dayes, weekes, and yeares.
A day applied to the e∣state of grace.
Declination of grace compared to the de¦clining of the Sunne.
〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Expergefaciam Auroram.
The day representeth the shortnesse of our life.
The day was made for man to travaile in it.