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diff --git a/old/55818-8.txt b/old/55818-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index b282783..0000000 --- a/old/55818-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,4083 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Complete Testimony of the Fathers of -the First Three Centuries Concerning the Sabbath and First Day, by John Nevins Andrews - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - -Title: The Complete Testimony of the Fathers of the First Three Centuries Concerning the Sabbath and First Day - -Author: John Nevins Andrews - -Release Date: October 26, 2017 [EBook #55818] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SABBATH AND FIRST DAY *** - - - - -Produced by David E. Brown, Bryan Ness and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - - - - - - - - -CATALOGUE - -Of Books, Pamphlets, Tracts, &c., Issued by the Seventh-Day Adventist -Publishing Association. - - -THE ADVENT REVIEW & HERALD OF THE SABBATH, weekly. Terms, $2.00 a year, -in advance. - -THE YOUTH'S INSTRUCTOR, monthly, devoted to moral and religious -instruction. Terms, 50 cts. a year, in advance. - -THE HEALTH REFORMER, monthly, devoted to an exposition of the laws of -life, etc. Terms, $1.00 a year, in advance. - -THE ADVENT TIDENDE, a religious monthly in the Danish language. Terms, -$1.00 a year, in advance. - -THE SVENSK ADVENT HÀROLD, a religious monthly in the Swedish tongue. -Terms, $1.00 a year, in advance. - -HYMN AND TUNE BOOK.--536 hymns--147 tunes. $1.00. - -THE HISTORY OF THE SABBATH AND FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK. By J. N. Andrews. -528 pp., $1.25. - -THE CHRISTIAN LIFE AND PUBLIC LABORS OF WM. MILLER, the noted Lecturer -and Writer upon the Prophecies. $1.00. - -THOUGHTS ON THE BOOK OF DANIEL, critical and practical. By U. Smith. -Bound, $1.00; condensed edition, paper, 35 cts. - -THOUGHTS ON THE REVELATION, critical and practical. By U. Smith. 328 -pp., $1.00. - -THE NATURE AND DESTINY OF MAN. By U. Smith. 384 pp., bound, $1.00, -paper, 40 cts. - -THE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT: or a Discussion between W. H. Littlejohn -and the editor of the _Christian Statesman_ on the Sabbath question. -$1.00. - -THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY. By Mrs. E. G. White. $1.00. - -LIFE OF ELDER JOSEPH BATES. $1.25. - -THE GAME OF LIFE, with notes. Three illustrations, 5×6 inches each, -representing Satan playing with man for his soul. In board, 50 cts., in -paper, 30 cts. - -(POEM.) A WORD FOR THE SABBATH: or False Theories Exposed. By U. Smith. -3d ed. revised and enlarged. 40 cts. - -THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. By U. Smith. Bound, 50 cts.; paper, 25 -cts. - - PROGRESSIVE BIBLE LESSONS for Youth, in boards, 50 cts. - " " " Children, " 35 cts. - - (See third page of cover.) - - - - - THE COMPLETE - - TESTIMONY OF THE FATHERS - - OF THE - - _First Three Centuries_ - - CONCERNING - - The Sabbath and First Day - - BY ELD. J. N. ANDREWS - - SECOND EDITION. - - STEAM PRESS - OF THE SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION - BATTLE CREEK, MICH.: - - 1876. - - - - -PREFACE. - - -The testimony for first-day sacredness is very meager in the -Scriptures, as even its own advocates must admit. But they have been -wont to supply the deficiency by a plentiful array of testimonies from -the early fathers of the church. Here, in time past, they have had -the field all to themselves, and they have allowed their zeal for the -change of the Sabbath to get the better of their honesty and their -truthfulness. The first-day Sabbath was absolutely unknown before the -time of Constantine. Nearly one hundred years elapsed after John was in -vision on Patmos before the term "Lord's day" was applied to the first -day. During this time, it was called "the day of the sun," "the first -day of the week," and "the eighth day." The first writers who gave -it the name of "Lord's day," state the remarkable fact that in their -judgement the true Lord's day consists of every day of a Christian's -life, a very convincing proof that they did not give this title to -Sunday because John had so named it on Patmos. In fact, no one of those -who give this title to Sunday ever assigned as a reason for so doing -that it was thus called by John. Nor is there any intimation in one -of the fathers that first-day observance was an act of obedience to -the fourth commandment, nor one clear statement that ordinary labor on -that day was sinful. In order to show these facts, I have undertaken to -give every testimony of every one of the fathers, prior to A. D. 325, -who mentions either the Sabbath or the first day. Though some of these -quotations are comparatively unimportant, others are of very great -value. I have given them all, in order that the reader may actually -possess their entire testimony. I have principally followed the -translation of the "Ante-Nicene Christian Library," and have in every -case made use of first-day translations. The work has been one of great -labor to me, and I trust will be found of much profit to the candid -reader. - - J. N. ANDREWS. - - _Lancaster, Mass., Jan. 1, 1873._ - - -PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. - -In this edition every quotation has been carefully compared with the -works of the fathers from which they were taken. A few minor errors -have been detected, but none of importance. The work is commended to -the attention of candid inquirers with the prayer that God will make it -instrumental in opening the eyes of many to the truth concerning his -holy day. - - J. N. A. - - _Neuchátel, Switzerland, April 7, 1876._ - - - - -TESTIMONY OF THE FATHERS. - - - - -CHAPTER I. - -INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT. - - -With respect to the Sabbath, the religious world may be divided into -three classes:-- - -1. Those who retain the ancient seventh-day Sabbath. - -2. Those who observe the first-day Sabbath. - -3. Those who deny the existence of any Sabbath.[A] - -It is inevitable that controversy should exist between these parties. -Their first appeal is to the Bible, and this should decide the case; -for it reveals man's whole duty. But there is an appeal by the second -party, and sometimes by the third, to another authority, the early -fathers of the church, for the decision of the question. - -The controversy stands thus: The second and third parties agree with -the first that God did anciently require the observance of the seventh -day; but both deny the doctrine of the first, that he still requires -men to hallow that day; the second asserting that he has changed the -Sabbath to the first day of the week; and the third declaring that he -has totally abolished the institution itself. - -The first class plant themselves upon the plain letter of the law -of God, and adduce those scriptures which teach the perpetuity and -immutability of the moral law, and which show that the new covenant -does not abrogate that law, but puts it into the heart of every -Christian. - -The second class attempt to prove the change of the Sabbath by quoting -those texts which mention the first day of the week, and also those -which are said to refer to it. The first day is, on such authority, -called by this party the Christian Sabbath, and the fourth commandment -is used by them to enforce this new Sabbath. - -The third class adduce those texts which assert the dissolution of the -old covenant; and those which teach the abolition of the ceremonial -law with all its distinction of days, as new moons, feast days, and -annual sabbaths; and also those texts which declare that men cannot be -justified by that law which condemns sin; and from all these contend -that the law and the Sabbath are both abolished. - -But the first class answer to the second that the texts which they -bring forward do not meet the case, inasmuch as they say nothing -respecting the change of the Sabbath; and that it is not honest to use -the fourth commandment to enforce the observance of a day not therein -commanded. And the third class assent to this answer as truthful and -just. - -To the position of the third class, the first make this answer: That -the old covenant was made between God and his people _concerning_ his -law;[B] that it ceased because the people failed in its conditions, the -keeping of the commandments; that the new covenant does not abrogate -the law of God, but secures obedience to it by putting it into the -heart of every Christian; that there are two systems of law, one being -made up of typical and ceremonial precepts, and the other consisting of -moral principles only; that those texts which speak of the abrogation -of the handwriting of ordinances and of the distinction in meats, -drinks, and days, pertain alone to this shadowy system, and never to -the moral law which contains the Sabbath of the Lord; and that it is -not the fault of the law, but of sinners, that they are condemned by -it; and that justification being attained only by the sacrifice of -Christ as a sin offering, is in itself a most powerful attestation to -the perpetuity, immutability, and perfection, of that law which reveals -sin. And to this answer the second class heartily assent. - -But the second class have something further to say. The Bible, indeed, -fails to assert the change of the Sabbath, but these persons have -something else to offer, in their estimation, equally as good as the -Scriptures. The early fathers of the church, who conversed with the -apostles, or who conversed with some who had conversed with them, and -those who followed for several generations, are by this class presented -as authority, and their testimony is used to establish the so-called -Christian Sabbath on a firm basis. And this is what they assert -respecting the fathers: That they distinctly teach the change of the -Sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the week, and that the -first day is by divine authority the Christian Sabbath. - -But the third class squarely deny this statement, and affirm that the -fathers held the Sabbath as an institution made for the Jews when they -came out of Egypt, and that Christ abolished it at his death. They -also assert that the fathers held the first day, not as a Sabbath in -which men must not labor lest they break a divine precept, but as an -ecclesiastical institution, which they called the Lord's day, and -which was the proper day for religious assemblies because custom and -tradition thus concurred. And so the third class answer the second by -an explicit denial of its alleged facts. They also aim a blow at the -first by the assertion that the early fathers taught the no-Sabbath -doctrine, which must therefore be acknowledged as the real doctrine of -the New Testament. - -And now the first class respond to these conflicting statements of the -second and the third. And here is their response:-- - -1. That our duty respecting the Sabbath, and respecting every other -thing, can be learned only from the Scriptures. - -2. That the first three hundred years after the apostles nearly -accomplished the complete development of the great apostasy, which had -commenced even in Paul's time; and this age of apostatizing cannot be -good authority for making changes in the law of God. - -3. That only a small proportion of the ministers and teachers of -this period have transmitted any writings to our time; and these are -generally fragments of the original works, and they have come down to -us mainly through the hands of the Romanists, who have never scrupled -to destroy or to corrupt that which witnesses against themselves, -whenever it has been in their power to do it. - -4. But inasmuch as these two classes, viz., those who maintain the -first-day Sabbath, and those who deny the existence of any Sabbath, -both appeal to these fathers for testimony with which to sustain -themselves, and to put down the first class, viz., those who hallow -the ancient Sabbath, it becomes necessary that the exact truth -respecting the writings of that age, which now exist, should be shown. -There is but one method of doing this which will effectually end the -controversy. This is to give every one of their testimonies concerning -the Sabbath and first-day in their own words. In doing this the -following facts will appear:-- - -1. That in some important particulars there is a marked disagreement -on this subject among them. For while some teach that the Sabbath -originated at creation and should be hallowed even now, others assert -that it began with the fall of the manna, and ended with the death -of Christ. And while one class represent Christ as a violator of the -Sabbath, another class represent him as sacredly hallowing it, and -a third class declare that he certainly did violate it, and that -he certainly never did, but always observed it! Some of them also -affirm that the Sabbath was abolished, and in other places positively -affirm that it is perpetuated and made more sacred than it formerly -was. Moreover, some assert that the ten commandments are absolutely -abolished, whilst others declare that they are perpetuated, and are -the tests of Christian character in this dispensation. Some call the -day of Christ's resurrection the first day of the week; others call -it the day of the sun, and the eighth day; and a larger number call -it the Lord's day, but there are no examples of this application till -the close of the second century. Some enjoin the observance of both -the Sabbath and the first day, while others treat the seventh day as -despicable. - -2. But in several things of great importance there is perfect unity of -sentiment. They always distinguish between the Sabbath and the first -day of the week. The change of the Sabbath from the seventh day to the -first is never mentioned in a single instance. They never term the -first day the Christian Sabbath, nor do they treat it as a Sabbath of -any kind. Nor is there a single declaration in any of them that labor -on the first day of the week is sinful; the utmost that can be found -being one or two vague expressions which do not necessarily have any -such sense. - -3. Many of the fathers call the first day of the week the Lord's day. -But none of them claim for it any scriptural authority, and some -expressly state that it has none whatever, but rests solely upon custom -and tradition. - -4. But the writings of the fathers furnish positive proof that the -Sabbath was observed in the Christian church down to the time when they -wrote, and by no inconsiderable part of that body. For some of them -expressly enjoined its observance, and even some of those who held that -it was abolished speak of Christians who observed it, whom they would -consent to fellowship if they would not make it a test. - -5. And now mark the work of apostasy: This work never begins by -thrusting out God's institutions, but always by bringing in those of -men and at first only asking that they may be tolerated, while yet -the ones ordained of God are sacredly observed. This, in time, being -effected, the next effort is to make them equal with the divine. When -this has been accomplished, the third stage of the process is to honor -them above those divinely commanded; and this is speedily succeeded -by the fourth, in which the divine institution is thrust out with -contempt, and the whole ground given to its human rival. - -6. Before the first three centuries had expired, apostasy concerning -the Sabbath had, with many of the fathers, advanced to the third stage, -and with a considerable number had already entered upon the fourth. For -those fathers who hallow the Sabbath do generally associate with it the -festival called by them the Lord's day. And though they speak of the -Sabbath as a divine institution, and never speak thus of the so-called -Lord's day, they do, nevertheless, give the greater honor to this human -festival. So far had the apostasy progressed before the end of the -third century, that only one thing more was needed to accomplish the -work as far as the Sabbath was concerned, and this was to discard it, -and to honor the Sunday festival alone. Some of the fathers had already -gone thus far; and the work became general within five centuries after -Christ. - -7. The modern church historians make very conflicting statements -respecting the Sabbath during the first centuries. Some pass over it -almost in silence, or indicate that it was, at most, observed only by -Jewish Christians. Others, however, testify to its general observance -by the Gentile Christians; yet some of these assert that the Sabbath -was observed as a matter of expediency and not of moral obligation, -because those who kept it did not believe the commandments were -binding. (This is a great error, as will appear in due time.) What is -said, however, by these modern historians is comparatively unimportant -inasmuch as their sources of information were of necessity the very -writings which are about to be quoted. - -8. In the following pages will be found, in their own words, every -statement[C] which the fathers of the first three centuries make by -way of defining their views of the Sabbath and first-day. And even -when they merely allude to either day in giving their views of other -subjects, the nature of the allusion is stated, and, where practicable, -the sentence or phrase containing it is quoted. The different writings -are cited in the order in which they purport to have been written. A -considerable number were not written by the persons to whom they were -ascribed, but at a later date. As these have been largely quoted by -first-day writers, they are here given in full. And even these writings -possess a certain historical value. For though not written by the ones -whose names they bear, they are known to have been in existence since -the second or third century, and they give some idea of the views which -then prevailed. - -First of all let us hear the so-called "Apostolical Constitutions." -These were not the work of the apostles, but they were in existence -as early as the third century, and were then very generally believed -to express the doctrine of the apostles. They do therefore furnish -important historical testimony to the practice of the church at that -time. Mosheim in his Historical Commentaries, Cent. 1, sect. 51, speaks -thus of these "Constitutions":-- - - "The matter of this work is unquestionably ancient; since the - manners and discipline of which it exhibits a view are those which - prevailed amongst the Christians of the second and third centuries, - especially those resident in Greece and the oriental regions." - -Of the "Apostolical Constitutions," Guericke's Church History speaks -thus:-- - - "This is a collection of ecclesiastical statutes purporting to be - the work of the apostolic age, but in reality formed gradually - in the second, third, and fourth centuries, and is of much value - in reference to the history of polity, and Christian archæology - generally."--_Ancient Church_, p. 212. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -TESTIMONY OF THE APOSTOLICAL CONSTITUTIONS. - - - "Have before thine eyes the fear of God, and always remember the - ten commandments of God,--to love the one and only Lord God with - all thy strength; to give no heed to idols, or any other beings, - as being lifeless gods, or irrational beings or dæmons. Consider - the manifold workmanship of God, which received its beginning - through Christ. Thou shalt observe the Sabbath, on account of Him - who ceased from his work of creation, but ceased not from his work - of providence: it is a rest for meditation of the law, not for - idleness of the hands." Book ii., sect. 4, par. 36. - -This is sound Sabbatarian doctrine. But apostasy had begun its work in -the establishment of the so-called Lord's day, which was destined in -time to drive out the Sabbath. The next mention of the Sabbath also -introduces the festival called Lord's day, but the reader will remember -that this was written, not in the first century, but the third:-- - - "Let your judicatures be held on the second day of the week, that - if any controversy arise about your sentence, having an interval - till the Sabbath, you may be able to set the controversy right, and - to reduce those to peace who have the contests one with another - against the Lord's day." Book ii., sect. 6, par. 47. - -By the term Lord's day the first day of the week is here intended. But -the writer does not call the first day the Sabbath, that term being -applied to the seventh day. - - In section 7, paragraph 59, Christians are commanded to assemble - for worship "every day, morning and evening, singing psalms and - praying in the Lord's house: in the morning saying the sixty-second - psalm, and in the evening the hundred and fortieth, but principally - on the Sabbath day. And on the day of our Lord's resurrection, - which is the Lord's day, meet more diligently, sending praise to - God that made the universe by Jesus and sent him to us." "Otherwise - what apology will he make to God who does not assemble on that day - to hear the saving word concerning the resurrection, on which we - pray thrice standing, in memory of him who arose in three days, in - which is performed the reading of the prophets, the preaching of - the gospel, the oblation of the sacrifice, the gift of the holy - food." - -The writer of these "Constitutions" this time gives the first day great -prominence, though still honoring the Sabbath, and by no means giving -that title to Sunday. But in book v., section 2, paragraph 10, we have -a singular testimony to the manner in which Sunday was spent. Thus the -writer says:-- - - "Now we exhort you, brethren and fellow-servants, to avoid - vain talk and obscene discourses, and jestings, drunkenness, - lasciviousness, luxury, unbounded passions, with foolish - discourses, since we do not permit you so much as on the Lord's - days, which are days of joy, to speak or act anything unseemly." - -From this it appears that the so-called Lord's day was a day of greater -mirth than the other days of the week. In book v., section 3, paragraph -14, it is said:-- - - "But when the first day of the week dawned he arose from the dead, - and fulfilled those things which before his passion he foretold to - us, saying: 'The Son of man must continue in the heart of the earth - three days and three nights.'" - -In book v., section 3, paragraph 15, the writer names the days on which -Christians should fast:-- - - "But he commanded us to fast on the fourth and sixth days of the - week; the former on account of his being betrayed, and the latter - on account of his passion. But he appointed us to break our fast - on the seventh day at the cock-crowing, but to fast on the Sabbath - day. Not that the Sabbath day is a day of fasting, being the rest - from the creation, but because we ought to fast on this one Sabbath - only, while on this day the Creator was under the earth." - -In paragraph 17, Christians are forbidden to "celebrate the day of the -resurrection of our Lord on any other day than a Sunday." In paragraph -18, they are again charged to fast on that one Sabbath which comes -in connection with the anniversary of our Lord's death. In paragraph -19, the first day of the week is four times called the Lord's day. -The period of 40 days from his resurrection to his ascension is to be -observed. The anniversary of Christ's resurrection is to be celebrated -by the supper. - - "And let this be an everlasting ordinance till the consummation of - the world, until the Lord come. For to Jews the Lord is still dead, - but to Christians he is risen: to the former, by their unbelief; to - the latter, by their full assurance of faith. For the hope in him - is immortal and eternal life. After eight days let there be another - feast observed with honor, the eighth day itself, on which he gave - me, Thomas, who was hard of belief, full assurance, by showing - me the print of the nails, and the wound made in his side by the - spear. And again, from the first Lord's day count forty days, from - the Lord's day till the fifth day of the week, and celebrate the - feast of the ascension of the Lord, whereon he finished all his - dispensation and constitution," etc. - -The things here commanded can come only once in a year. These are the -anniversary of Christ's resurrection, and of that day on which he -appeared to Thomas, and these were to be celebrated by the supper. -The people were also to observe the day of the ascension on the fifth -day of the week, forty days from his resurrection, on which day he -finished his work. In paragraph 20, they are commanded to celebrate the -anniversary of the Pentecost. - - "But after ten days from the ascension, which from the first Lord's - day is the fiftieth day, do ye keep a great festival; for on that - day, at the third hour, the Lord Jesus sent on us the gift of the - Holy Ghost." - -This was not a weekly but a yearly festival. Fasting is also set forth -in this paragraph, but every Sabbath except the one Christ lay in the -tomb is exempted from this fast, and every so-called Lord's day:-- - - "We enjoin you to fast every fourth day of the week, and every day - of the preparation [the sixth day], and the surplusage of your fast - bestow upon the needy; every Sabbath day excepting one, and every - Lord's day, hold your solemn assemblies, and rejoice; for he will - be guilty of sin who fasts on the Lord's day, being the day of the - resurrection, or during the time of Pentecost, or, in general, - who is sad on a festival day to the Lord. For on them we ought to - rejoice, and not to mourn." - -This writer asserts that it is a sin to fast or mourn on Sunday, but -never intimates that it is a sin to labor on that day when not engaged -in worship. We shall next learn that the decalogue is in agreement with -the law of nature, and that it is of perpetual obligation:-- - - In book vi., section 4, paragraph 19, it is said: "He gave a - plain law to assist the law of nature, such an one as is pure, - saving, and holy, in which his own name was inscribed, perfect, - which is never to fail, being complete in ten commands, unspotted, - converting souls." - - In paragraph 20 it is said: "Now the law is the decalogue, which - the Lord promulgated to them with an audible voice." - - In paragraph 22 he says: "You therefore are blessed who are - delivered from the curse. For Christ, the Son of God, by his - coming has confirmed and completed the law, but has taken away the - additional precepts, although not all of them, yet at least the - more grievous ones; having confirmed the former, and abolished the - latter." And he further testifies as follows: "And besides, before - his coming he refused the sacrifices of the people, while they - frequently offered them, when they sinned against him, and thought - he was to be appeased by sacrifices, but not by repentance." - -For this reason the writer truthfully testifies that God refused to -accept their burnt-offerings and sacrifices, their new moons and their -Sabbaths. - - In book vi., section 23, he says: "He who had commanded to honor - our parents, was himself subject to them. He who had commanded to - keep the Sabbath, by resting thereon for the sake of meditating on - the laws, has now commanded us to consider of the law of creation, - and of providence every day, and to return thanks to God." - -This savors somewhat of the doctrine that all days are alike. Yet this -cannot be the meaning; for in book vii., section 2, paragraph 23, he -enjoins the observance of the Sabbath, and also of the Lord's-day -festival, but specifies one Sabbath in the year in which men should -fast. Thus he says:-- - - "But keep the Sabbath, and the Lord's-day festival; because the - former is the memorial of the creation, and the latter, of the - resurrection. But there is one only Sabbath to be observed by you - in the whole year, which is that of our Lord's burial, on which - men ought to keep a fast, but not a festival. For inasmuch as - the Creator was then under the earth, the sorrow for him is more - forcible than the joy for the creation; for the Creator is more - honorable by nature and dignity than his own creatures." - - In book vii., section 2, paragraph 30, he says: "On the day of - the resurrection of the Lord, that is, the Lord's day, assemble - yourselves together, without fail, giving thanks to God," etc. - - In paragraph 36, the writer brings in the Sabbath again: "O Lord - Almighty, thou hast created the world by Christ, and hast appointed - the Sabbath in memory thereof, because that on _that day_ thou hast - made us _rest from our works_, for the meditation upon thy laws." - -In the same paragraph, in speaking of the resurrection of Christ, the -writer says:-- - - "On which account we solemnly assemble to celebrate the feast of - the resurrection on the Lord's day," etc. In the same paragraph - he speaks again of the Sabbath: "Thou didst give them the law or - decalogue, which was pronounced by thy voice and written with - thy hand. Thou didst enjoin the observation of the Sabbath, not - affording them an occasion of idleness, but an opportunity of - piety, for their knowledge of thy power, and the prohibition of - evils; having limited them as within an holy circuit for the sake - of doctrine, for the rejoicing upon the seventh period." - -In this paragraph he also states his views of the Sabbath, and of -the day which he calls the Lord's day, giving the precedence to the -latter:-- - - "On this account he permitted men every Sabbath to rest, that - so no one might be willing to send one word out of his mouth in - anger on the day of the Sabbath. For the Sabbath is the ceasing - of the creation, the completion of the world, the inquiry after - laws, and the grateful praise to God for the blessings he has - bestowed upon men. All which the Lord's day excels, and shows the - Mediator himself, the Provider, the Law-giver, the Cause of the - resurrection, the First-born of the whole creation," etc. And he - adds: "So that the Lord's day commands us to offer unto thee, O - Lord, thanksgiving for all. For this is the grace afforded by thee, - which on account of its greatness has obscured all other blessings." - -It is certainly noteworthy that the so-called Lord's day, for which -no divine warrant is produced, is here exalted above the Sabbath -of the Lord notwithstanding the Sabbath is acknowledged to be the -divine memorial of the creation, and to be expressly enjoined in the -decalogue, which the writer declares to be of perpetual obligation. -Tested by his own principles, he had far advanced in apostasy; for he -held a human festival more honorable than one which he acknowledged to -be ordained of God; and only a single step remained; viz., to set aside -the commandment of God for the ordinance of man. - -In book viii., section 2, paragraph 4, it is said, when a bishop has -been chosen and is to be ordained,-- - - "Let the people assemble, with the presbytery and bishops that are - present, on the Lord's day, and let them give their consent." - -In book viii., section 4, paragraph 33, occurs the final mention of -these two days in the so-called "Apostolical Constitutions." - - "Let the slaves work five days; but on the Sabbath day and the - Lord's day let them have leisure to go to church for instruction in - piety. We have said that the Sabbath is on account of the creation, - and the Lord's day, of the resurrection." - -To this may be added the 64th Canon of the Apostles, which is appended -to the "Constitutions":-- - - "If any one of the clergy be found to fast on the Lord's day, or on - the Sabbath day, excepting one only, let him be deprived; but if he - be one of the laity, let him be suspended." - -Every mention of the Sabbath and first-day in that ancient book called -"Apostolical Constitutions" is now before the reader. This book comes -down to us from the third century, and contains what was at that time -very generally believed to be the doctrine of the apostles. It is -therefore valuable to us, not as authority respecting the teaching of -the apostles, but as giving us a knowledge of the views and practices -which prevailed in the third century. At the time these "Constitutions" -were put in writing, the ten commandments were revered as the immutable -rule of right, and the Sabbath of the Lord was by many observed as an -act of obedience to the fourth commandment, and as the divine memorial -of the creation. But the first-day festival had already attained such -strength and influence as to clearly indicate that ere long it would -claim the entire ground. But observe that the Sabbath and the so-called -Lord's day are treated as distinct institutions, and that no hint of -the change of the Sabbath to the first day of the week is ever once -given. The "Apostolical Constitutions" are cited first, not because -written by the apostles, but because of their title. For the same -reason the so-called Epistle of Barnabas is quoted next, not because -written by that apostle, for the proof is ample that it was not, but -because it is often quoted by first-day writers as the words of the -apostle Barnabas. It was in existence, however, as early as the middle -of the second century, and, like the "Apostolical Constitutions," is of -value to us in that it gives some clue to the opinions which prevailed -in the region where the writer lived, or at least which were held by -his party. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -Barnabas--Pliny--Ignatius--The Church at Smyrna--The Epistle to -Diognetus--Recognitions of Clement--Syriac Documents concerning -Edessa. - - -TESTIMONY OF THE EPISTLE OF BARNABAS. - -In his second chapter this writer speaks thus:-- - - "For he hath revealed to us by all the prophets that he needs - neither sacrifices, nor burnt-offerings, nor oblations, saying - thus, 'What is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me, saith - the Lord? I am full of burnt-offerings, and desire not the fat of - lambs, and the blood of bulls and goats, not when ye come to appear - before me: for who hath required these things at your hands? Tread - no more my courts, not though ye bring with you fine flour. Incense - is a vain abomination unto me, and your new moons and Sabbaths I - cannot endure.' He has therefore abolished these things, that the - new law of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is without the yoke of - necessity, might have a human oblation." - -The writer may have intended to assert the abolition of the sacrifices -only, as this was his special theme in this place. But he presently -asserts the abolition of the Sabbath of the Lord. Here is his fifteenth -chapter entire:-- - - "Further, also, it is written concerning the Sabbath in the - decalogue which [the Lord] spoke, face to face, to Moses on Mount - Sinai, 'And sanctify ye the Sabbath of the Lord with clean hands - and a pure heart.' And he says in another place, 'If my sons keep - the Sabbath, then will I cause my mercy to rest upon them.' The - Sabbath is mentioned at the beginning of the creation [thus]: 'And - God made in six days the works of his hands, and made an end on - the seventh day, and rested on it, and sanctified it.' Attend, my - children, to the meaning of this expression, 'He finished in six - days.' This implieth that the Lord will finish all things in six - thousand years, for a day is with him a thousand years. And he - himself testifieth, saying, 'Behold to-day will be as a thousand - years.' Therefore, my children, in six days, that is, in six - thousand years, all things will be finished. 'And he rested on the - seventh day.' This meaneth: when his Son, coming [again], shall - destroy the time of the wicked man, and judge the ungodly, and - change the sun, and the moon, and the stars, then shall he truly - rest on the seventh day. Moreover, he says, 'Thou shalt sanctify it - with pure hands and a pure heart.' If, therefore, any one can now - sanctify the day which God hath sanctified, except he is pure in - heart in all things, we are deceived. Behold, therefore: certainly - then one properly resting sanctifies it, when we ourselves, - having received the promise, wickedness no longer existing, and - all things having been made new by the Lord, shall be able to - work righteousness. Then we shall be able to sanctify it, having - been first sanctified ourselves. Further, he says to them, 'Your - new moons and your Sabbaths I cannot endure.' Ye perceive how he - speaks: Your present Sabbaths are not acceptable to me, but that is - which I have made [namely this], when, giving rest to all things, - I shall make a beginning of the eighth day, that is, a beginning - of another world. Wherefore, also, we keep the eighth day with - joyfulness, the day, also, on which Jesus rose again from the dead. - And when he had manifested himself, he ascended into the heavens." - -Here are some very strange specimens of reasoning. The substance of -what he says relative to the present observance of the Sabbath appears -to be this: No one "can now sanctify the day which God hath sanctified -except he is pure in heart in all things." But this cannot be the case -until the present world shall pass away, "when we ourselves, having -received the promise, wickedness no longer existing, and _all things -having been made new_ by the Lord, shall be able to work righteousness. -Then we shall be able to sanctify it, having been first sanctified -ourselves." Men cannot therefore keep the Sabbath while this wicked -world lasts. And so he says, "Your present Sabbaths are not acceptable -to me." That is to say, the keeping of the day which God has sanctified -is not possible in such a wicked world. But though the seventh day -cannot now be kept, the eighth day can be, and ought to be, because -when the seventh thousand years are past there will be at the beginning -of the eighth thousand the new creation. So the persons represented -by this writer, do not attempt to keep the seventh day which God -sanctified, for that is too pure to keep in this world, and can only -be kept after the Saviour comes at the commencement of the seventh -thousand years; but they "keep the eighth day with joyfulness, the day -also on which Jesus rose again from the dead." Sunday, which God never -sanctified, is exactly suitable for observance in the world as it now -is. But the sanctified seventh day "we shall be able to sanctify" when -all things have been made new. If our first-day friends think these -words of some unknown writer of the second century more honorable to -the first day of the week than to the seventh, they are welcome to -them. Had the writer said, "It is easier to keep Sunday than the -Sabbath while the world is so wicked," he would have stated the truth. -But when in substance he says, "It is more acceptable to God to keep a -common than a sanctified day while men are so sinful," he excuses his -disobedience by uttering a falsehood. Several things however should be -noted:-- - -1. In this quotation we have the reasons of a no-Sabbath man for -keeping the festival of Sunday. It is not God's commandment, for there -was none for that festival; but the day God hallowed being too pure to -keep while the world is so wicked, Sunday is therefore kept till the -return of the Lord, and then the seventh day shall be truly sanctified -by those who now regard it not. - -2. But this writer, though saying what he is able in behalf of the -first day of the week, applies to it no sacred name. He does not call -it Christian Sabbath, nor Lord's day, but simply "the eighth day," and -this because it succeeds the seventh day of the week. - -3. It is also to be noticed that he expressly dates the Sabbath from -the creation. - -4. The change of the Sabbath was unknown to this writer. He kept the -Sunday festival, not because it was purer than the sanctified seventh -day, but because the seventh day was too pure to keep while the world -is so wicked. - - -TESTIMONY OF THE EPISTLE OF PLINY. - -Pliny was the Roman governor of Bithynia in the years 103 and 104. -He wrote a letter to the emperor Trajan, in which he states what he -had learned of the Christians as the result of examining them at his -tribunal:-- - - "They affirmed that the whole of their guilt or error was, that - they met on a certain stated day [_stato die_], before it was - light, and addressed themselves in a form of prayer to Christ, - as to some God, binding themselves by a solemn oath, not for the - purposes of any wicked design, but never to commit any fraud, - theft, or adultery; never to falsify their word, nor deny a trust - when they should be called upon to deliver it up; after which it - was their custom to separate, and then reassemble to eat in common - a harmless meal."--_Coleman's Ancient Christianity_, chap. i. sect. - 1. - -The letter of Pliny is often referred to as though it testified that -the Christians of Bithynia celebrated the first day of the week. Yet -such is by no means the case, as the reader can plainly see. Coleman -says of it (page 528):-- - - "This statement is evidence that these Christians kept a day as - holy time, but whether it was the last, or the first day of the - week, does not appear." - -Such is the judgment of an able, candid, first-day church historian of -good repute as a scholar. An anti-Sabbatarian writer of some repute -speaks thus:-- - - "As the Sabbath day appears to have been quite as commonly observed - at this date as the Sun's day (if not even more so), it is just - as probable that this 'stated day' referred to by Pliny was the - _seventh_ day, as that it was the _first_ day; though the latter is - generally taken for granted."--_Obligation of the Sabbath_, p. 300. - -Every candid person must acknowledge that it is unjust to represent -the letter of Pliny as testifying in behalf of the so-called Christian -Sabbath. Next in order of time come the reputed epistles of Ignatius. - - -TESTIMONY OF THE EPISTLES OF IGNATIUS. - -Of the fifteen epistles ascribed to Ignatius, eight are, by universal -consent, accounted spurious; and eminent scholars have questioned the -genuineness of the remaining seven. There are, however, two forms to -these seven, a longer and a shorter, and while some doubt exists as -to the shorter form, the longer form is by common consent ascribed to -a later age than that of Ignatius. But the epistle to the Magnesians, -which exists both in the longer and in the shorter form, is the one -from which first-day writers obtain Ignatius' testimony in behalf of -Sunday, and they quote for this both these forms. We therefore give -both. Here is the shorter:-- - - "For the divinest prophets lived according to Christ Jesus. On this - account also they were persecuted, being inspired by his grace - to fully convince the unbelieving that there is one God, who has - manifested himself by Jesus Christ his Son, who is his eternal - Word, not proceeding forth from silence, and who in all things - pleased him that sent him. If, therefore, those who were brought up - in the ancient order of things have come to the possession of a new - hope, no longer observing the Sabbath, but living in the observance - of the Lord's day, on which also our life has sprung again by him - and by his death--whom some deny, by which mystery we have obtained - faith, and therefore endure, that we may be found the disciples of - Jesus Christ, our only master--how shall we be able to live apart - from him, whose disciples the prophets themselves in the Spirit did - wait for him as their teacher? And therefore he whom they rightly - waited for, being come, raised them from the dead." Chaps. viii. - and ix. - -This paragraph is the one out of which a part of a sentence is quoted -to show that Ignatius testifies in behalf of the Lord's-day festival, -or Christian Sabbath. But the so-called Lord's day is only brought in -by means of a false translation. This is the decisive sentence: -#mêketi sabbatizontes, alla kata kyriakên zôên zôntes#; literally: "no -longer sabbatizing, but living according to Lord's life." - -Eminent first-day scholars have called attention to this fact, and have -testified explicitly that the term Lord's day has no right to appear -in the translation; for the original is not #kyriakên hêmeran#, -Lord's day, but #kyriakên zôên#, Lord's life. This is absolutely -decisive, and shows that something akin to fraud has to be used in -order to find a reference in this place to the so-called Christian -Sabbath. - -But there is another fact quite as much to the point. The writer was -not speaking of those then alive, but of the ancient prophets. This is -proved by the opening and closing words of the above quotation, which -first-day writers always omit. The so-called Lord's day is inserted -by a fraudulent translation; and now see what absurdity comes of it. -The writer is speaking of the ancient prophets. If, therefore, the -Sunday festival be inserted in this quotation from Ignatius he is -made to declare that "the divinest prophets," who "were brought up in -the ancient order of things," kept the first day and did not keep the -Sabbath! Whereas, the truth is just the reverse of this. They certainly -did keep the Sabbath, and did not keep the first day of the week. The -writer speaks of the point when these men came "to the newness of -hope," which must be their individual conversion to God. They certainly -did observe and enforce the Sabbath after this act of conversion. See -Isa., chaps. 56, 58; Jer. 17; Eze., chaps. 20, 22, 23. But they did -also, as this writer truly affirms, live according to the Lord's life. -The sense of the writer respecting the prophets must therefore be -this: "No longer [after their conversion to God] observing the Sabbath -[merely, as natural men] but living according to the Lord's life," or -"according to Christ Jesus." - -So much for the shorter form of the epistle to the Magnesians. Though -the longer form is by almost universal consent of scholars and critics -pronounced the work of some centuries after the time of Ignatius, -yet as a portion of this also is often given by first-day writers to -support Sunday, and given too as the words of Ignatius, we here present -in full its reference to the first day of the week, and also to the -Sabbath, which they generally omit. Here are its statements:-- - - "Let us therefore no longer keep the Sabbath after the Jewish - manner, and rejoice in days of idleness; for 'he that does not - work, let him not eat.' For, say the [holy] oracles, 'In the sweat - of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread.' But let every one of you - keep the Sabbath after a spiritual manner, rejoicing in meditation - on the law, not in relaxation of the body, admiring the workmanship - of God, and not eating things prepared the day before, nor using - lukewarm drinks, and walking within a prescribed space, nor finding - delight in dancing and plaudits which have no sense in them. And - after the observance of the Sabbath, let every friend of Christ - keep the Lord's day as a festival, the resurrection day, the queen - and chief of all the days [of the week]. Looking forward to this, - the prophet declared, 'To the end, for the eighth day,' on which - our life both sprang up again, and the victory over death was - obtained in Christ," etc. Chapter ix. - -This epistle, though the work of a later hand than that of Ignatius, -is valuable for the light which it sheds upon the state of things -when it was written. It gives us a correct idea of the progress of -apostasy with respect to the Sabbath in the time of the writer. He -speaks against Jewish superstition in the observance of the Sabbath, -and condemns days of idleness as contrary to the declaration, "In the -sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread." But by days of idleness -he cannot refer to the Sabbath, for this would be to make the fourth -commandment clash with this text, whereas they must harmonize, inasmuch -as they existed together during the former dispensation. Moreover, -the Sabbath, though a day of abstinence from labor, is not a day of -idleness, but of active participation in religious duties. He enjoins -its observance after a spiritual manner. And after the Sabbath has -been thus observed, "let every friend of Christ keep the Lord's day -_as a festival_, the resurrection day, the queen and chief of all the -days." The divine institution of the Sabbath was not yet done away, -but the human institution of Sunday had become its equal, and was even -commended above it. Not long after this, it took the whole ground, and -the observance of the Sabbath was denounced as heretical and pernicious. - -The reputed epistle of Ignatius to the Trallians in its shorter form -does not allude to this subject. In its longer form, which is admitted -to be the work of a later age than that of Ignatius, these expressions -are found:-- - - "During the Sabbath, he continued under the earth;" "at the dawning - of the Lord's day he arose from the dead;" "the Sabbath embraces - the burial; the Lord's day contains the resurrection." Chap. ix. - -In the epistle to the Philippians, which is universally acknowledged -to be the work of a later person than Ignatius, it is said:-- - - "If any one fasts on the Lord's day or on the Sabbath, except on - the paschal Sabbath only, he is a murderer of Christ." Chap. xiii. - -We have now given every allusion to the Sabbath and first-day that -can be found in any writing attributed to Ignatius. We have seen -that the term "Lord's day" is not found in any sentence written by -him. The first day is never called the Christian Sabbath, not even -in the writings falsely attributed to him; nor is there in any of -them a hint of the modern doctrine of the change of the Sabbath. -Though falsely ascribed to Ignatius, and actually written in a later -age, they are valuable in that they mark the progress of apostasy -in the establishment of the Sunday festival. Moreover, they furnish -conclusive evidence that the ancient Sabbath was retained for centuries -in the so-called Catholic church, and that the Sunday festival was -an institution entirely distinct from the Sabbath of the fourth -commandment. - - -TESTIMONY OF THE CHURCH AT SMYRNA. - -The epistle of Polycarp makes no reference to the Sabbath nor to the -first day of the week. But "the encyclical epistle of the church at -Smyrna concerning the martyrdom of the holy Polycarp," informs us that -"the blessed Polycarp suffered martyrdom" "on the great Sabbath at the -eighth hour." Chapter xxi. The margin says: "The great Sabbath is that -before the passover." This day, thus mentioned, is not Sunday, but is -the ancient Sabbath of the Lord. - - -TESTIMONY OF THE EPISTLE TO DIOGNETUS. - -This was written by an unknown author, and Diognetus himself is known -only by name, no facts concerning him having come down to us. It dates -from the first part of the second century. The writer speaks of "the -superstition as respects the Sabbaths" which the Jews manifested, and -he adds these words: "To speak falsely of God, as if he forbade us to -do what is good on the Sabbath days--how is not this impious?" But -there is nothing in this to which a commandment-keeper would object, or -which he might not freely utter. - -The "Recognitions of Clement" is a kind of philosophical and -theological romance. It purports to have been written by Clement of -Rome, in the time of the apostle Peter, but was actually written -"somewhere in the first half of the third century." - - -TESTIMONY OF THE RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. - -In book i., chapter xxxv., he speaks of the giving of the law thus:-- - - "Meantime they came to Mount Sinai, and thence the law was given to - them with voices and sights from heaven, written in ten precepts, - of which the first and greatest was that they should worship God - himself alone," etc. In book iii., chapter lv., he speaks of these - precepts as tests: "On account of those, therefore, who by neglect - of their own salvation please the evil one, and those who by study - of their own profit seek to please the good One, ten things have - been prescribed as a test to this present age, according to the - number of the ten plagues which were brought upon Egypt." In book - ix., chapter xxviii., he says of the Hebrews, "that no child born - among them is ever exposed, and that on every seventh day they all - rest," etc. In book x., chap. lxxii., is given the conversion of - one Faustinianus by St. Peter. And it is said, "He proclaimed a - fast to all the people, and on the next Lord's day he baptized him." - -This is all that I find in this work relating to the Sabbath and the -so-called Lord's day. The writer held the ten commandments to be tests -of character in the present dispensation. There is no reason to believe -that he, or any other person in that age, held the Sunday festival as -something to be observed in obedience to the fourth commandment. - - -TESTIMONY OF THE SYRIAC DOCUMENTS CONCERNING EDESSA. - -On pages 35-55 of this work is given what purports to be "The Teaching -of the Apostles." On page 36, the ascension of the Lord is said to have -been upon the "first day of the week, and the end of the Pentecost." -Two manifest falsehoods are here uttered; for the ascension was upon -Thursday, and the Pentecost came ten days after the ascension. It is -also said that the disciples came from Nazareth of Galilee to the mount -of Olives on that selfsame day before the ascension, and yet that the -ascension was "at the time of the early dawn." But Nazareth was distant -from the mount of Olives at least sixty miles! - -On page 38, a commandment from the apostles is given: "On the first -[day] of the week, let there be service, and the reading of the holy -Scriptures, and the oblation," because Christ arose on that day, was -born on that day, ascended on that day, and will come again on that -day. But here is one truth, one falsehood, and two mere assertions. The -apostles are represented, on page 39, as commanding a fast of forty -days, and they add: "Then celebrate the day of the passion [Friday], -and the day of the resurrection," Sunday. But this would be only an -annual celebration of these days. - -And on pages 38 and 39 they are also represented as commanding service -to be held on the fourth and sixth days of the week. The Sabbath is -not mentioned in these "Documents," which were written about the -commencement of the fourth century, when, in many parts of the world, -that day had ceased to be hallowed. - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -TESTIMONY OF JUSTIN MARTYR. - - -Justin's "Apology" was written at Rome about the year 140. His -"Dialogue with Trypho the Jew" was written some years later. In -searching his works, we shall see how much greater progress apostasy -had made at Rome than in the countries where those lived whose writings -we have been examining. And yet nearly all these writings were composed -at least a century later than those of Justin, though we have quoted -them before quoting his, because of their asserted apostolic origin, -or of their asserted origin within a few years of the times of the -apostles. - -It does not appear that Justin, and those at Rome who held with him in -doctrine, paid the slightest regard to the ancient Sabbath. He speaks -of it as abolished, and treats it with contempt. Unlike some whose -writings have been examined, he denies that it originated at creation, -and asserts that it was made in the days of Moses. He also differs with -some already quoted in that he denies the perpetuity of the law of ten -commandments. In his estimation, the Sabbath was a Jewish institution, -absolutely unknown to good men before the time of Moses, and of no -authority whatever since the death of Christ. The idea of the change -of the Sabbath from the seventh day of the week to the first, is not -only never found in his writings, but is absolutely irreconcilable with -such statements as the foregoing, which abound therein. And yet Justin -Martyr is prominently and constantly cited in behalf of the so-called -Christian Sabbath. - -The Roman people observed a festival on the first day of the week -in honor of the sun. And so Justin in his Apology, addressed to the -emperor of Rome, tells that monarch that the Christians met on "the -day of the sun," for worship. He gives the day no sacred title, and -does not even intimate that it was a day of abstinence from labor, only -as they spent a portion of it in worship. Here are the words of his -Apology on the Sunday festival:-- - - "And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the - country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the - apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time - permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally - instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things. - Then we all rise together and pray, and, as we before said, when - our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and - the president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, - according to his ability, and the people assent, saying, Amen; - and there is a distribution to each, and a participation of that - over which thanks have been given, and to those who are absent - a portion is sent by the deacons. And they who are well to do, - and willing, give what each thinks fit; and what is collected is - deposited with the president, who succors the orphans and widows, - and those who, through sickness or any other cause, are in want, - and those who are in bonds, and the strangers sojourning among us, - and, in a word, takes care of all who are in need. But Sunday is - the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the - first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and - matter, made the world; and Jesus Christ our Saviour on the same - day rose from the dead. For he was crucified on the day before that - of Saturn (Saturday); and on the day after that of Saturn, which is - the day of the sun, having appeared to his apostles and disciples, - he taught them these things, which we have submitted to you also - for your consideration." Chap. lxvii. - -Not one word of this indicates that Justin considered the Sunday -festival as a continuation of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. On -the contrary, he shows clearly that no such idea was cherished by him. -For though the fourth commandment enjoins the observance of the seventh -day because _God rested on that day_ from the work of creation, Justin -urged in behalf of the Sunday festival that it is _the day on which -he began his work_. The honor paid to that festival was not therefore -in Justin's estimation in any sense an act of obedience to the fourth -commandment. He mentions as his other reason for the celebration by -Christians of "the day of the sun," that the Saviour arose that day. -But he claims no divine or apostolic precept for this celebration; the -things which he says Christ taught his apostles being the doctrines -which he had embodied in this Apology for the information of the -emperor. And it is worthy of notice that though first-day writers -assert that "Lord's day" was the familiar title of the first day of -the week in the time of the Apocalypse, yet Justin, who is the first -person after the sacred writers that mentions the first day, and this -at a distance of only 44 years from the date of John's vision upon -Patmos, does not call it by that title, but by the name which it bore -as a heathen festival! If it be said that the term was omitted because -he was addressing a heathen emperor, there still remains the fact that -he mentions the day quite a number of times in his "Dialogue with -Trypho," and yet never calls it "Lord's day," nor indeed does he call -it by any name implying sacredness. - -Now we present the statements concerning the Sabbath and first-day -found in his "Dialogue with Trypho the Jew." The impropriety, not to -say dishonesty, of quoting Justin in behalf of the modern doctrine -of the change of the Sabbath, will be obvious to all. He was a most -decided no-law, no-Sabbath writer, who used the day commonly honored as -a festival by the Romans, as the most suitable, or most convenient, day -for public worship, a position identical with that of modern no-Sabbath -men. Justin may be called a law man in this sense, however, that while -he abolishes the ten commandments, he calls the gospel "the new law." -He is therefore really one who believes in the gospel and denies the -law. But let us hear his own words. Trypho, having in chapter viii. -advised Justin to observe the Sabbath, and "do all things which have -been written in the law," in chapter x. says to him, "You observe no -festivals or Sabbaths." - -This was exactly adapted to bring out from Justin the answer that -though he did not observe the seventh day as the Sabbath, he did thus -rest on the first day, if it were true that that day was with him a -day of abstinence from labor. And now observe Justin's answer given in -chapter twelve:-- - - "The new law requires you to keep perpetual Sabbath, and you, - because you are idle for one day, suppose you are pious, not - discerning why this has been commanded you; and if you eat - unleavened bread, you say the will of God has been fulfilled. The - Lord our God does not take pleasure in such observances: if there - is any perjured person or a thief among you, let him cease to be - so; if any adulterer, let him repent; then he has kept the sweet - and true Sabbaths of God." - -This language plainly implies that Justin held all days to be alike, -and did not observe any one day as a day of abstinence from labor. But -in chapter xviii., Justin asserts that the Sabbaths--and he doubtless -includes the weekly with the annual--were enjoined upon the Jews for -their wickedness:-- - - "For we too would observe the fleshly circumcision, and the - Sabbaths, and in short, all the feasts, if we did not know for - what reason they were enjoined you--namely, on account of your - transgressions and the hardness of your hearts. For if we patiently - endure all things contrived against us by wicked men and demons, so - that amid cruelties unutterable, death and torments, we pray for - mercy to those who inflict such things upon us, and do not wish - to give the least retort to any one, even as the new Law-giver - commanded us: how is it, Trypho, that we would not observe those - rites which do not harm us--I speak of fleshly circumcision, and - Sabbaths, and feasts?" - -Not only does he declare that the Jews were commanded to keep the -Sabbath because of their wickedness, but in chapter xix. he denies that -any Sabbath existed before Moses. Thus, after naming Adam, Abel, Enoch, -Lot, and Melchizedek, he says:-- - - "Moreover, all those righteous men already mentioned, though they - kept no Sabbaths, were pleasing to God." - -But though he thus denies the Sabbatic institution before the time of -Moses, he presently makes this statement concerning the Jews:-- - - "And you were commanded to keep Sabbaths, that you might retain - the memorial of God. For his word makes this announcement, saying, - 'That ye may know that I am God who redeemed you.'" [Eze. 20:12.] - -The Sabbath is indeed the memorial of the God that made the heavens and -the earth. And what an absurdity to deny that that memorial was set up -when the creative work was done, and to affirm that twenty-five hundred -years intervened between the work and the memorial! - -In chapter xxi. Justin asserts "that God enjoined you [the Jews] to -keep the Sabbath, and imposed on you other precepts for a sign, as I -have already said, on account of your unrighteousness, and that of your -fathers," &c., and quotes Ezekiel 20 to prove it. Yet that chapter -declares that it was in order that they might know who was that being -who sanctified them, _i. e._, that they might know that their God was -the Creator, that the Sabbath was made to them a sign. - -In chapter xxiii., he again asserts that "in the times of Enoch" no one -"observed Sabbaths." He then protests against Sabbatic observance as -follows:-- - - "Do you see that the elements are not idle, and keep no Sabbaths? - Remain as you were born. For if there was no need of circumcision - before Abraham, or of the observance of Sabbaths, of feasts and - sacrifices, before Moses; no more need is there of them now, after - that, according to the will of God, Jesus Christ the Son of God - has been born without sin, of a virgin sprung from the stock of - Abraham." - -That is to say, there was no Sabbatic institution before Moses, -and neither is there any since Christ. But in chapter xxiv., Justin -undertakes to bring in an argument for Sunday, not as a Sabbath, but -as having greater mystery in it, and as being more honorable than the -seventh day. Thus, alluding to circumcision on the eighth day of a -child's life as an argument for the first-day festival, he says:-- - - "It is possible for us to show how the eighth day possessed a - certain mysterious import, which the seventh day did not possess, - and which was promulgated by God through these rites." - -That is to say, because God commanded the Hebrews to circumcise their -children when they were eight days old, therefore all men should now -esteem the first day of the week more honorable than the seventh day, -which he commanded in the moral law, and which Justin himself, in -chapter xix., terms "the memorial of God." In chapter xxvi., Justin -says to Trypho that-- - - "The Gentiles, who have believed on him, and have repented of the - sins which they have committed, they shall receive the inheritance - along with the patriarchs and the prophets, and the just men who - are descended from Jacob, even although they neither keep the - Sabbath, nor are circumcised, nor observe the feasts." - -And in proof of this, he quotes from Isa. 42, and 62, and 63, -respecting the call of the Gentiles. Upon this (chapter xxvii.), Trypho -the Jew very pertinently asks:-- - - "Why do you select and quote whatever you wish from the prophetic - writings, but do not refer to those which expressly command the - Sabbath to be observed? For Isaiah thus speaks [chap. 58:13, 14], - 'If thou shalt turn away thy foot from the Sabbath,'" etc. - -To which Justin makes this uncandid answer:-- - - "I have passed them by, my friends, not because such prophecies - were contrary to me, but because you have understood, and do - understand, that although God commands you by all the prophets - to do the same things which he also commanded by Moses, it was - on account of the hardness of your hearts, and your ingratitude - towards him, that he continually proclaims them, in order that, - even in this way, if you repented, you might please him, and - neither sacrifice your children to demons, nor be partakers - with thieves," etc. And he adds: "So that, as in the beginning, - these things were enjoined you because of your wickedness, in - like manner, because of your steadfastness in it, or rather your - increased proneness to it, by means of the same precepts, he calls - you [by the prophets] to a remembrance or knowledge of it." - -These are bitter words from a Gentile who had been a pagan philosopher, -and they are in no sense a just answer unless it can be shown that the -law was given to the Jews because they were so wicked, and was withheld -from the Gentiles because they were so righteous. The truth is just -the reverse of this. Eph. 2. But to say something against the Sabbath, -Justin asks:-- - - "Did God wish the priests to sin when they offer the sacrifices - on the Sabbaths? or those to sin, who are circumcised and do - circumcise on the Sabbaths; since he commands that on the eighth - day--even though it happen to be a Sabbath--those who are born - shall be always circumcised?" And he asks if the rite could not be - one day earlier or later, and why those "who lived before Moses" - "observed no Sabbaths?" - -What Justin says concerning circumcision and sacrifices is absolutely -without weight as an objection to the Sabbath, inasmuch as the -commandment forbids, not the performance of religious duties, but our -own work. Ex. 20:8-11. And his often repeated declaration that good men -before the time of Moses did not keep the Sabbath, is mere assertion, -inasmuch as God appointed it to a holy use in the time of Adam, and we -do know of some in the patriarchal age who kept God's commandments, and -were perfect before him. - -In chapter xxix., Justin sneers at Sabbatic observance by saying, -"Think it not strange that we drink hot water on the Sabbaths." And as -arguments against the Sabbath he says that God "directs the government -of the universe on this day equally as on all others," as though this -were inconsistent with the present sacredness of the Sabbath, when -it was also true that God thus governed the world in the period when -Justin acknowledges the Sabbath to have been obligatory. And he again -refers to the sacrifices and to those who lived in the patriarchal age. - -In chapter xli., Justin again brings forward his argument for Sunday -from circumcision:-- - - "The command of circumcision, again, bidding [them] always - circumcise the children on the eighth day, was a type of the true - circumcision, by which we are circumcised from deceit and iniquity - through Him who rose from the dead on the first day after the - Sabbath [namely, through], our Lord Jesus Christ. For the first day - after the Sabbath, remaining the first of all the days, is called, - however, the eighth, according to the number of all the days of the - cycle, and [yet] remains the first." - -Sunday-keeping must be closely related to infant baptism, inasmuch as -one of the chief arguments in modern times for the baptism of infants -is drawn from the fact that God commanded the Hebrews to circumcise -their male children; and Justin found his scriptural authority for -first-day observance in the fact that this rite was to be performed -when the child was eight days old! Yet this eighth day did not come -on one day of the week, only, but on every day, and when it came on -the seventh day it furnished Justin with an argument against the -sacredness of the Sabbath! But let it come on what day of the week it -might (and it came on all alike), it was an argument for Sunday! O -wonderful _eighth_ day, that can thrive on that which is positively -fatal to the seventh, and that can come every week on the first day -thereof, though there be only seven days in each week! - -In chapters xliii., and xlvi., and xcii., Justin reiterates the -assertion that those who lived in the patriarchal age did not hallow -the Sabbath. But as he adds no new thought to what has been already -quoted from him, these need not be copied. - -But in chapter xlvii., we have something of interest. Trypho asks -Justin whether those who believe in Christ, and obey him, but who wish -to "observe these [institutions] will be saved?" Justin answers: "In -my opinion, Trypho, such an one will be saved, if he does not strive -in every way to persuade other men ... to observe the same things as -himself, telling them that they will not be saved unless they do so." -Trypho replied, "Why then have you said, 'In my opinion, such an one -will be saved,' unless there are some who affirm that such will not be -saved?" - -In reply, Justin tells Trypho that there were those who would have no -intercourse with, nor even extend hospitality to, such Christians as -observed the law. And for himself he says:-- - - "But if some, through weak-mindedness, wish to observe such - institutions as were given by Moses (from which they expect some - virtue, but which we believe were appointed by reason of the - hardness of the people's hearts), along with their hope in this - Christ, and [wish to perform] the eternal and natural acts of - righteousness and piety, yet choose to live with the Christians and - the faithful, as I said before, not inducing them either to be - circumcised like themselves, or to keep the Sabbath, or to observe - any other such ceremonies, then I hold that we ought to join - ourselves to such, and associate with them in all things as kinsmen - and brethren." - -Justin's language shows that there were Sabbath-keeping Christians in -his time. Such of them as were of Jewish descent no doubt generally -retained circumcision. But it is very unjust in him to represent the -Gentile Sabbath-keepers as observing this rite. That there were many -of these is evident from the so-called "Apostolical Constitutions," -and even from the Ignatian Epistles. One good thing, however, Justin -does say. The keeping of the commandments he terms the performance of -"the eternal and natural acts of righteousness." He would consent to -fellowship those who do these things provided they made them no test -for others. He well knew in such case that the Sabbath would die out in -a little time. Himself and the more popular party at Rome honored as -their festival the day observed by the heathen Romans, as he reminds -the emperor in his Apology, and he was willing to fellowship the -Sabbath-keepers if they would not test him by the commandments, -_i. e._, if they would fellowship him in violating them. - -That Justin held to the abrogation of the ten commandments is also -manifest. Trypho, in the tenth chapter of the Dialogue, having said -to Justin, "You do not obey his commandments," and again, "You do not -observe the law," Justin answers in chapter xi. as follows:-- - - "But we do not trust through Moses, or through the law; for then - we would do the same as yourselves. But now--for I have read that - there shall be a final law, and a covenant, the chiefest of all, - which it is now incumbent on all men to observe, as many as are - seeking after the inheritance of God. For the law promulgated on - Horeb is now old, and belongs to yourselves alone; but this is for - all universally. Now, law placed against law has abrogated that - which is before it, and a covenant which comes after in like manner - has put an end to the previous one." - -We must, therefore, pronounce Justin a man who held to the abrogation -of the ten commandments, and that the Sabbath was a Jewish institution -which was unknown before Moses, and of no authority since Christ. He -held Sunday to be the most suitable day for public worship, but not -upon the ground that the Sabbath had been changed to it, for he cuts up -the Sabbatic institution by the roots; and so far is he from calling -this day the Christian Sabbath that he gives to it the name which it -bore as a heathen festival. - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -Irenæus--Dionysius--Melito--Bardesanes. - - -TESTIMONY OF IRENÆUS. - -This father was born "somewhere between A. D. 120 and A. D. 140." He -was "bishop of Lyons in France during the latter quarter of the second -century," being ordained to that office "probably about A. D. 177." His -work _Against Heresies_ was written "between A. D. 182 and A. D. 188." -First-day writers assert that Irenæus "says that the Lord's day was the -Christian Sabbath." They profess to quote from him these words: "On the -Lord's day every one of us Christians keeps the Sabbath, meditating on -the law and rejoicing in the works of God." - -No such language is found in any of the writings of this father. We -will quote his entire testimony respecting the Sabbath and first-day, -and the reader can judge. He speaks of Christ's observance of the -Sabbath, and shows that he did not violate the day. Thus he says:-- - - "It is clear, therefore, that he loosed and vivified those who - believe in him as Abraham did, doing nothing contrary to the law - when he healed upon the Sabbath day. For the law did not prohibit - men from being healed upon the Sabbaths; [on the contrary] it - even circumcised them upon that day, and gave command that the - offices should be performed by the priests for the people; yea, - it did not disallow the healing even of dumb animals. Both at - Siloam and on frequent subsequent occasions, did he perform cures - upon the Sabbath; and for this reason many used to resort to - him on the Sabbath days. For the law commanded them to abstain - from every servile work, that is, from all grasping after wealth - which is procured by trading and by other worldly business; but - it exhorted them to attend to the exercises of the soul, which - consist in reflection, and to addresses of a beneficial kind for - their neighbor's benefit. And therefore the Lord reproved those who - unjustly blamed him for having healed upon the Sabbath days. For he - did not make void, but fulfilled the law, by performing the offices - of the high priest, propitiating God for men, and cleansing the - lepers, healing the sick, and himself suffering death, that exiled - man might go forth from condemnation, and might return without fear - to his own inheritance. And again, the law did not forbid those - who were hungry on the Sabbath days to take food lying ready at - hand: it did, however, forbid them to reap and to gather into the - barn."--_Against Heresies_, b. iv. chap. viii. sects. 2, 3. - -The case of the priests on the Sabbath he thus presents:-- - - "And the priests in the temple profaned the Sabbath, and were - blameless. Wherefore, then, were they blameless? Because when in - the temple they were not engaged in secular affairs, but in the - service of the Lord, fulfilling the law, but not going beyond it, - as that man did, who of his own accord carried dry wood into the - camp of God, and was justly stoned to death." Book iv. chap. viii. - sect. 3. - -Of the necessity of keeping the ten commandments, he speaks thus:-- - - "Now, that the law did beforehand teach mankind the necessity of - following Christ, he does himself make manifest, when he replied - as follows to him who asked him what he should do that he might - inherit eternal life: 'If thou wilt enter into life, keep the - commandments.' But upon the other asking, 'which?' again the Lord - replied: 'Do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do - not bear false witness, honor father and mother, and thou shalt - love thy neighbor as thyself,'--setting as an ascending series - before those who wished to follow him, the precepts of the law, as - the entrance into life; and what he then said to one, he said to - all. But when the former said, 'All these have I done' (and most - likely he had not kept them, for in that case the Lord would not - have said to him, 'Keep the commandments'), the Lord, exposing his - covetousness, said to him, 'If thou wilt be perfect, go, sell all - that thou hast, and distribute to the poor; and come follow me,' - promising to those who would act thus, the portion belonging to the - apostles.... But he taught that they should obey the commandments - which God enjoined from the beginning, and do away with their - former covetousness by good works, and follow after Christ." Book - iv. chap. xii. sect. 5. - -Irenæus certainly teaches a very different doctrine from that of Justin -Martyr concerning the commandments. He believed that men must keep the -commandments, in order to enter eternal life. He says further:-- - - "And [we must] not only abstain from evil deeds, but even from the - desires after them. Now he did not teach us these things as being - opposed to the law, but as fulfilling the law, and implanting in us - the varied righteousness of the law. That would have been contrary - to the law, if he had commanded his disciples to do anything which - the law had prohibited." Book iv. chap. xiii. sect. 1. - -He also makes the observance of the decalogue the test of true piety. -Thus he says:-- - - "They (the Jews) had therefore a law, a course of discipline, and - a prophecy of future things. For God at the first, indeed, warning - them by means of natural precepts, which from the beginning he had - implanted in mankind, that is, by means of the decalogue (which, - if any one does not observe, he has no salvation), did then demand - nothing more of them." Book iv. chap. xv. sect. 1. - -The precepts of the decalogue he rightly terms "natural precepts," that -is, precepts which constitute "the work of the law" written by nature -in the hearts of all men, but marred by the presence of the carnal mind -or law of sin in the members. That this law of God pertains alike to -Jews and to Gentiles, he thus affirms:-- - - "Inasmuch, then, as all natural precepts are common to us and - to them (the Jews), they had in them, indeed, the beginning and - origin; but in us they have received growth and completion." Book - iv. chap. xiii. sect. 4. - -It is certain that Irenæus held the decalogue to be now binding on all -men; for he says of it in the quotation above, "Which if any one does -not observe, he has no salvation." But, though not consistent with his -statement respecting the decalogue as the law of nature, he classes -the Sabbath with circumcision, when speaking of it as a sign between -God and Israel, and says, "The Sabbaths taught that we should continue -day by day in God's service." "Moreover the Sabbath of God, that is, -the kingdom, was, as it were, indicated by created things; in which -[kingdom], the man who shall have persevered in serving God shall, in a -state of rest, partake of God's table." He says also of Abraham that he -was "without observance of Sabbaths." Book iv. chap. xvi. sects. 1, 2. -But in the same chapter he again asserts the perpetuity and authority -of the decalogue in these words:-- - - "Preparing man for this life, the Lord himself did speak in his - own person to all alike the words of the decalogue; and therefore, - in like manner, do they remain permanently with us, receiving, by - means of his advent in the flesh, extension and increase, but not - abrogation." Section 4. - -This statement establishes the authority of each of the ten -commandments in the gospel dispensation. Yet Irenæus seems to have -regarded the fourth commandment as only a typical precept, and not of -perpetual obligation like the others. - -Irenæus regarded the Sabbath as something which pointed forward to the -kingdom of God. Yet in stating this doctrine he actually indicates the -origin of the Sabbath at creation, though, as we have seen, elsewhere -asserting that it was not kept by Abraham. Thus, in speaking of the -reward to be given the righteous, he says:-- - - "These are [to take place] in the times of the kingdom, that is, - upon the seventh day, which has been sanctified, in which God - rested from all the works which he created, which is the true - Sabbath of the righteous, in which they shall not be engaged in - any earthly occupation; but shall have a table at hand prepared - for them by God, supplying them with all sorts of dishes." Book - v. chap. xxxiii. sect. 2. And he elsewhere says: "In as many - days as this world was made, in so many thousand years shall it - be concluded.... For the day of the Lord is as a thousand years: - and in six days created things were completed: it is evident, - therefore, that they will come to an end at the sixth thousand - year." Book v. chap. xxviii. sect. 3. - -Though Irenæus is made by first-day writers to bear a very explicit -testimony that Sunday is the Christian Sabbath, the following, which -constitutes the seventh fragment of what is called the "Lost Writings -of Irenæus," is the only instance which I have found in a careful -search through all his works in which he even mentions the first day. -Here is the entire first-day testimony of this father:-- - - "This [custom], of not bending the knee upon Sunday, is a symbol of - the resurrection, through which we have been set free, by the grace - of Christ, from sins, and from death, which has been put to death - under him. Now this custom took its rise from apostolic times, as - the blessed Irenæus, the martyr and bishop of Lyons, declares in - his treatise _On Easter_, in which he makes mention of Pentecost - also; upon which [feast] we do not bend the knee, because it is - of equal significance with the Lord's day, for the reason already - alleged concerning it." - -This is something very remarkable. It is not what Irenæus said, after -all, but is what an unknown writer, in a work entitled _Quæs. et Resp. -ad Othod._, says of him. And all that this writer says of Irenæus is -that he declares the custom of not kneeling upon Sunday "took its rise -from apostolic times"! It does not even appear that Irenæus even used -the term Lord's day as a title for the first day of the week. Its -use in the present quotation is by the unknown writer to whom we are -indebted for the statement here given respecting Irenæus. And this -writer, whoever he be, is of the opinion that the Pentecost is of equal -consequence with the so-called Lord's day! And well he may so judge, -inasmuch as both of these Catholic festivals are only established by -the authority of the church. The testimony of Irenæus in behalf of -Sunday does therefore amount simply to this: That the resurrection is -to be commemorated by "not bending the knee upon Sunday"! - -The fiftieth fragment of the "Lost Writings of Irenæus" is derived from -the Nitrian Collection of Syriac MSS. It relates to the resurrection of -the dead. In a note appended to it the Syriac editor says of Irenæus -that he "wrote to an Alexandrian to the effect that it is right, with -respect to the feast of the resurrection, that we should celebrate it -upon the first day of the week." No extant writing of Irenæus contains -this statement, but it is likely that the Syriac editor possessed some -portion of his works now lost. And here again it is worthy of notice -that we have from Irenæus only the plain name of "first day of the -week." As to the manner of celebrating it, the only thing which he sets -forth is "not bending the knee upon Sunday." - -In the thirty-eighth fragment of his "Lost Writings" he quotes Col. -2:16, but whether with reference to the seventh day, or merely -respecting the ceremonial sabbaths, his comments do not determine. -We have now given every statement of Irenæus which bears upon the -Sabbath and the Sunday. It is manifest that the advocates of first-day -sacredness have made Irenæus testify in its behalf to suit themselves. -He alludes to the first day of the week once or twice, but never uses -for it the title of Lord's day or Christian Sabbath, and the _only_ -thing which he mentions as entering into the celebration of the -festival was that Christians should not kneel in prayer on that day! -By first-day writers, Irenæus is made to bear an explicit testimony -that Sunday is the Lord's day and the Christian Sabbath! And to give -great weight to this alleged fact, they say that he was the disciple -of Polycarp, who was the disciple of John: and whereas John speaks of -the Lord's day, Irenæus, who must have known what he meant by the term, -says that the Lord's day is the first day of the week! But Polycarp, -in his epistle, does not even mention the first day of the week, and -Irenæus, in his extended writings, mentions it only twice, and that in -"lost fragments," preserved at secondhand, and in neither instance does -he call it any thing but plain "first day of the week"! And the only -honor which he mentions as due this day is that the knee should not be -bent upon it! And even this was not spoken of every Sunday in the year, -but only of "Easter Sunday," the anniversary of Christ's resurrection! - -Here we might dismiss the case of Irenæus. But our first-day friends -are determined at least to connect him with the use of Lord's day as -a name for Sunday. They therefore bring forward Eusebius, who wrote -150 years later, to prove that Irenæus did call Sunday by that name. -Eusebius alludes to the controversy in the time of Irenæus, respecting -the _annual_ celebration of Christ's resurrection in what was called -the festival of the passover. He says (Eccl. Hist., b. v. chap. xxiii.) -that the bishops of different countries, and Irenæus was of the -number, decreed "that the mystery of our Lord's resurrection should be -celebrated on no other day than the Lord's day; and that on this day -alone we should observe the close of the paschal fasts," and not on -the fourteenth of the first month as practiced by the other party. And -in the next chapter, Eusebius represents Irenæus as writing a letter -to this effect to the Bishop of Rome. But observe, Eusebius does -not quote the words of any of these bishops, but simply gives their -decisions in his own language. There is therefore no proof that they -used the term Lord's day instead of first day of the week. But we have -evidence that in the decision of this case which Irenæus sent forth, -he used the term "first day of the week." For the introduction to the -fiftieth fragment of his "Lost Writings," already quoted, gives an -ancient statement of his words in this decision, as plain "first day of -the week." It is Eusebius who gives us the term Lord's day in recording -what was said by these bishops concerning the first day of the week. -In his time, A. D. 324, Lord's day had become a common designation of -Sunday. But it was not such in the time of Irenæus, A. D. 178. We have -found no writer who flourished before him who applies it to Sunday; it -is not so applied by Irenæus; and we shall find no decisive instance of -such use till the close of the second century. - - -TESTIMONY OF DIONYSIUS, BISHOP OF CORINTH. - -This father, about A. D. 170, wrote a letter to the Roman church, in -which are found these words:-- - - "We passed this holy Lord's day, in which we read your letter, from - the constant reading of which we shall be able to draw admonition, - even as from the reading of the former one you sent us written - through Clement." - -This is the earliest use of the term Lord's day to be found in the -fathers. But it cannot be called a decisive testimony that Sunday -was thus known at this date, inasmuch as every writer who precedes -Dionysius calls it "first day of the week," "eighth day," or "Sunday," -but never once by this title; and Dionysius says nothing to indicate -that Sunday was intended, or to show that he did not refer to that day -which alone has the right to be called the Lord's "holy day." Isa. -58:13. We have found several express testimonies to the sacredness of -the Sabbath in the writers already examined. - - -TESTIMONY OF MELITO, BISHOP OF SARDIS. - -This father wrote about A. D. 177. We know little of this writer except -the titles of his books, which Eusebius has preserved to us. One of -these titles is this: "On the Lord's Day." But it should be remembered -that down to this date no writer has called Sunday the Lord's day; -and that every one who certainly spoke of that day called it by some -other name than Lord's day. To say, therefore, as do first-day writers, -that Melito wrote of Sunday, is to speak without just warrant. He uses -#Greek: tês kyriakês#, "the Lord's," but -does not join with it #hêmera#, a "day," as -does John. He wrote of something pertaining to the Lord, but it is not -certain that it was the Lord's day. Moreover, Clement, who next uses -this term, uses it in a mystical sense. - - -TESTIMONY OF THE HERETIC BARDESANES. - -Bardesanes, the Syrian, flourished about A. D. 180. He belonged to the -Gnostic sect of Valentinians, and abandoning them, "devised errors of -his own." In his "Book of the Laws of Countries," he replies to the -views of astrologers who assert that the stars govern men's actions. He -shows the folly of this by enumerating the peculiarities of different -races and sects. In doing this, he speaks of the strictness with which -the Jews kept the Sabbath. Of the new sect called Christians, which -"Christ at his advent planted in every country," he says:-- - - "On one day, the first of the week, we assemble ourselves - together, and on the days of the readings we abstain from [taking] - sustenance." - -This shows that the Gnostics used Sunday as the day for religious -assemblies. Whether he recognized others besides Gnostics, as -Christians, we cannot say. We find no allusion, however, to Sunday as -a day of abstinence from labor, except so far as necessary for their -meetings. What their days of fasting, which are here alluded to, were, -cannot now be determined. It is also worthy of notice that this writer, -who certainly speaks of Sunday, and this as late as A. D. 180, does not -call it Lord's day, nor give it any sacred title whatever, but speaks -of it as "first day of the week." No writer down to A. D. 180, who is -known to speak of Sunday, calls it the Lord's day. - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - -Theophilus--Clement of Alexandria. - - -TESTIMONY OF THEOPHILUS OF ANTIOCH. - -This father became Bishop of Antioch in A. D. 168, and died A. D. -181. First-day writers represent him as saying, "Both _custom_ and -_reason_ challenge from us that we should honor the Lord's day, seeing -on that day it was that our Lord Jesus completed his resurrection -from the dead." These writers, however, give no reference to the -particular place in the works of Theophilus where this is to be found. -I have carefully examined every paragraph of all the extant writings -of this father, and that several times over, without discovering any -such statement. I am constrained, therefore, to state that nothing of -the kind above quoted is to be found in Theophilus! And further than -this, the term Lord's day does not occur in this writer, nor does he -even refer to the first day of the week except in quoting Genesis 1, -in a _single instance_! But though he makes no mention of the Sunday -festival, he makes the following reference to the Sabbath in his -remarks concerning the creation of the world:-- - - "Moreover [they spoke], concerning the seventh day, which all men - acknowledge; but the most know not that what among the Hebrews - is called the 'Sabbath,' is translated into Greek the 'seventh' - (#hebdomas#), a name which is - adopted by every nation, although they know not the reason of the - appellation." _Theophilus to Autolycus_, b. ii. chap. xii. - -Though Theophilus is in error in saying that the Hebrew word _Sabbath_ -is translated into Greek _seventh_, his statement indicates that he -held the origin of the Sabbath to be when God sanctified the seventh -day. These are the words of Scripture, as given by him, on which he -wrote the above:-- - - "And on the sixth day God finished his works which he made, and - rested on the seventh day from all his works which he made. And God - blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because in it he rested - from all his works which God began to create." Book ii. chap. xi. - -In the fifteenth chapter of this book, he compares those who "keep the -law and commandments of God" to the fixed stars, while the "wandering -stars" are "a type of the men who have wandered from God, abandoning -his law and commandments." Of the law itself, he speaks thus:-- - - "We have learned a holy law; but we have as law-giver him who is - really God, who teaches us to act righteously, and to be pious, - and to do good." After quoting all but the third and fourth - commandments, he says: "Of this great and wonderful law which tends - to all righteousness, the TEN HEADS are such as we have already - rehearsed." Book iii. chap. ix. - -He makes the keeping of the law and commandments the condition of a -part in the resurrection to eternal life:-- - - "For God has given us a law and holy commandments; and every one - who keeps these can be saved, and, obtaining the resurrection, can - inherit incorruption." Book ii. chap. xxvii. - -And yet this man who bears such a noble testimony to the commandments -and the law, and who says not one word concerning the festival of -Sunday, is made to speak explicitly in behalf of this so-called -Christian Sabbath! - - -TESTIMONY OF CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA, A. D. 194. - -This father was born about A. D. 160, and died about A. D. 220. He -wrote about A. D. 194, and is the first of the fathers who uses the -term Lord's day in such a manner as possibly to signify by it the first -day of the week. And yet he expressly speaks of the Sabbath as a day of -rest, and of the first day of the week as a day for labor! The change -of the Sabbath and the institution of the so-called Christian Sabbath -were alike unknown to him. Of the ten commandments, he speaks thus:-- - - "We have the decalogue given by Moses, which, indicating by - an elementary principle, simple and of one kind, defines the - designation of sins in a way conducive to salvation," etc.--_The - Instructor_, b. iii. chap. xii. - -He thus alludes to the Sabbath:-- - - "Thus the Lord did not hinder from doing good while keeping the - Sabbath; but allowed us to communicate of those divine mysteries, - and of that holy light, to those who are able to receive - them."--_The Miscellanies_, b. i. chap. i. - - "To restrain one's self from doing good is the work of vice; but to - keep from wrong is the beginning of salvation. So the Sabbath, by - abstinence from evils, seems to indicate self-restraint." Book iv. - chap. iii. - -He calls love the Lord of the Sabbath:-- - - "He convicted the man, who boasted that he had fulfilled the - injunctions of the law, of not loving his neighbor; and it is by - beneficence that the love which, according to the Gnostic ascending - scale, is Lord of the Sabbath, proclaims itself." Book iv. chap. vi. - -Referring to the case of the priests in Eze. 43:27, he says:-- - - "And they purify themselves seven days, the period in which - creation was consummated. For on the seventh day the rest is - celebrated; and on the eighth, he brings a propitiation, as it is - written in Ezekiel, according to which propitiation the promise is - to be received." Book iv. chap. xxv. - -We come now to the first instance in the fathers in which the term -Lord's day is perhaps applied to Sunday. Clement is the father who does -this, and he very properly substantiates it with evidence. He does not -say that Saint John thus applied this name, but he finds authority for -this in the writings of the heathen philosopher Plato, who, he thinks, -spoke of it prophetically! - - "And the Lord's day Plato prophetically speaks of in the tenth book - of the _Republic_, in these words: 'And when seven days have passed - to each of them in the meadow, on the eighth day they are to set - out and arrive in four days.' By the meadow is to be understood the - fixed sphere, as being a mild and genial spot, and the locality of - the pious; and by the seven days each motion of the seven planets, - and the whole practical art which speeds to the end of the rest. - But after the wandering orbs the journey leads to Heaven, that - is, to the eighth motion and day. And he says that souls are gone - on the fourth day, pointing out the passage through the four - elements." Book v. chap. xiv. - -By the eighth day to which Clement here applies the name of Lord's day -the first day is possibly intended, though he appears to speak solely -of mystical days. But having said thus much in behalf of the eighth -day, he in the very next sentence commences to establish from the Greek -writers the sacredness of that seventh day which the Hebrews hallowed. -This shows that whatever regard he might have for the eighth day, he -certainly cherished the seventh day as sacred. Thus he continues:-- - - "But the seventh day is recognized as sacred, not by the Hebrews - only, but also by the Greeks; according to which the whole world of - all animals and plants revolves. Hesiod says of it:-- - - "'The first, and fourth, and seventh days were held sacred.' - - "And again: 'And on the seventh the sun's resplendent orb.' - - "And Homer: 'And on the seventh then came the sacred day.' - - "And: 'The seventh was sacred.' - - "And again: 'It was the seventh day, and all things were - accomplished.' - - "And again: 'And on the seventh morn we leave the stream of - Acheron.' - - "Callimachus the poet also writes: 'It was the seventh morn, and - they had all things done.' - - "And again: 'Among good days is the seventh day, and the seventh - race.' - - "And: 'The seventh is among the prime, and the seventh is perfect.' - - "And: - - 'Now all the seven were made in starry heaven, - In circles shining as the years appear.' - - "The Elegies of Solon, too, intensely deify the seventh day." Book - v. chap. xiv. - - -Some of these quotations are not now found in the writings which -Clement cites. And whether or not he rightly applies them to -the seventh-day Sabbath, the fact that he does so apply them is -incontestible proof that he honored that day as sacred, whatever might -also be his regard for that day which he distinguishes as the eighth. - -In book vi., chapter v., he alludes to the celebration of some of the -annual sabbaths. And in chapter xvi., he thus speaks of the fourth -commandment:-- - - "And the fourth word is that which intimates that the world - was created by God, and that _he gave us the seventh day as a - rest_, on account of the trouble that there is in life. For God - is incapable of weariness, and suffering, and want. _But we who - bear flesh need rest. The seventh day, therefore, is proclaimed a - rest_--abstraction from ills--preparing for the primal day, our - true rest; which, in truth, is the first creation of light, in - which all things are viewed and possessed. From this day the first - wisdom and knowledge illuminate us." - -This certainly teaches that the Sabbath was made for man, and that -he now needs it as a day of rest. It also indicates that Clement -recognized the authority of the fourth commandment, for he treats of -the ten commandments in order, and comments on what each enjoins or -forbids. In the next paragraph, however, he makes some remarkable -suggestions. Thus he says:-- - - "Having reached this point, we must mention these things by the - way; since the discourse has turned on the seventh and the eighth. - For the eighth may possibly turn out to be properly the seventh, - and the seventh, manifestly the sixth, and the latter,[D] properly - the Sabbath, and the seventh, a day of work. For the creation of - the world was concluded in six days." Book vi. chap. xvi. - -Clement thinks it possible that the eighth day (Sunday), may really -be the seventh day, and that the seventh day (Saturday) may in fact -be the true sixth day. But let not our Sunday friends exult at this, -for Clement by no means helps their case. Having said that Sunday may -be properly the seventh day, and Saturday manifestly the sixth day, -he calls "the LATTER properly the Sabbath, and the seventh a day of -work"! By "the latter," of necessity must be understood the day last -mentioned, which he says should be called not the seventh, but the -sixth; and by "the seventh," must certainly be intended that day which -he says is not the eighth, but the seventh, that is to say, Sunday. -It follows therefore in the estimation of Clement that Sunday was -a day of ordinary labor, and Saturday, the day of rest. He had an -excellent opportunity to say that the eighth day or Sunday was not -only the seventh day, but also the true Sabbath, but instead of doing -this he gives this honor to the day which he says is not the seventh -but the sixth, and declares that the real seventh day or Sunday is "a -day of work." And he proceeds at length to show the sacredness and -importance of the number six. His opinion of the numbering of the days -is unimportant; but the fact that this father who is the first writer -that connects the term Lord's day with the eighth day or Sunday, does -expressly represent that day as one of ordinary labor, and does also -give to the previous day the honors of the Sabbath is something that -should shut the mouths of those who claim him as a believer in the -so-called Christian Sabbath. - -In the same chapter, this writer alludes to the Sabbath vaguely, -apparently understanding it to prefigure the rest that remains to the -people of God:-- - - "Rightly, then, they reckon the number seven motherless and - childless, interpreting the Sabbath, and figuratively expressing - the nature of the rest, in which 'they neither marry nor are given - in marriage any more.'" - -The following quotation completes the testimony of Clement. He speaks -of the precept concerning fasting, that it is fulfilled by abstinence -from sinful pleasure. And thus he says:-- - - "He fasts, then, according to the law, abstaining from bad deeds, - and, according to the perfection of the gospel, from evil thoughts. - Temptations are applied to him, not for his purification, but, as - we have said, for the good of his neighbors, if, making trial of - toils and pains, he has despised and passed them by. The same holds - of pleasure. For it is the highest achievement for one who has had - trial of it, afterwards to abstain. For what great thing is it, if - a man restrains himself in what he knows not? He, in fulfillment of - the precept, according to the gospel, keeps the Lord's day, when - he abandons an evil disposition, and assumes that of the Gnostic, - glorifying the Lord's resurrection in himself." Book vii. chap. xii. - -Clement asserts that one fasts according to the law when he abstains -from evil deeds, and, according to the gospel, when he abstains -from evil thoughts. He shows how the precept respecting fasting is -fulfilled when he speaks of one who "in fulfillment of the precept, -according to the gospel, keeps the Lord's day when he abandons an evil -disposition." This abandonment of an evil disposition, according to -Clement, keeps the Lord's day, and glorifies the Lord's resurrection. -But this duty pertains to no one day of the week, but to all alike, so -that he seems evidently to inculcate a perpetual Lord's day, even as -Justin Martyr enjoins the observance of a "perpetual Sabbath," to be -acceptably sanctified by those who maintain true repentance. Though -these writers are not always consistent with themselves, yet two -facts go to show that Clement in this book means just what his words -literally import, viz., that the keeping of the Lord's day and the -glorifying of the resurrection is not the observance of a certain day -of the week, but the performance of a work which embraces every day of -one's whole life. - -1. The first of these facts is his express statement of this doctrine -in the first paragraph of the seventh chapter of this book. Thus he -says:-- - - "Now, we are commanded to reverence and to honor the same one, - being persuaded that he is Word, Saviour, and Leader, and by him, - the Father, NOT ON SPECIAL DAYS, AS SOME OTHERS, but _doing this - continually in our whole life_, and in every way. Certainly the - elect race, justified by the precept, says, 'Seven times a day have - I praised thee.' Whence _not_ in a specified place, or selected - temple, or at _certain festivals_, and on _appointed days_, but - _during his whole life_, the Gnostic in every place, even if he - be alone by himself, and wherever he has any of those who have - exercised the like faith, honors God; that is, acknowledges his - gratitude for the knowledge of the way to live." Book vii. chap. - vii. - -2. The second of these facts is that in book vi., chapter xvi., as -already quoted, he expressly represents Sunday as "a day of work." - -Certainly Clement of Alexandria should not be cited as teaching the -change of the Sabbath, or advocating the so-called Christian Sabbath. - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - -TESTIMONY OF TERTULLIAN, A. D. 200. - - -This writer contradicts himself in the most extraordinary manner -concerning the Sabbath and the law of God. He asserts that the Sabbath -was abolished by Christ, and elsewhere emphatically declares that he -did not abolish it. He says that Joshua violated the Sabbath, and then -expressly declares that he did not violate it. He says that Christ -broke the Sabbath, and then shows that he never did this. He represents -the eighth day as more honorable than the seventh, and elsewhere states -just the reverse. He asserts that the law is abolished, and in other -places affirms its perpetual obligation. He speaks of the Lord's day -as the eighth day, and is the second of the early writers who makes -an application of this term to Sunday, if we allow Clement to have -really spoken of it. But though he thus uses the term like Clement he -also like him teaches a perpetual Lord's day, or, like Justin Martyr, -a perpetual Sabbath in the observance of every day. And with the -observance of Sunday as the Lord's day he brings in "offerings for the -dead" and the perpetual use of the sign of the cross. But he expressly -affirms that these things rest, not upon the authority of the -Scriptures, but wholly upon that of tradition and custom. And though he -speaks of the Sabbath as abrogated by Christ, he expressly contradicts -this by asserting that Christ "did not at all rescind the Sabbath," -and that he imparted an additional sanctity to that day which from the -beginning had been consecrated by the benediction of the Father. This -strange mingling of light and darkness plainly indicates the age in -which this author lived. He was not so far removed from the time of the -apostles but that many clear rays of divine truth shone upon him; and -he was far enough advanced in the age of apostasy to have its dense -darkness materially affect him. He stood on the line between expiring -day and advancing night. Sometimes the law of God was unspeakably -sacred; at other times tradition was of higher authority than the law. -Sometimes divine institutions were alone precious in his estimation; at -others he was better satisfied with those which were sustained only by -custom and tradition. - -Tertullian's first reference to Sunday is found in that part of -his Apology in which he excuses his brethren from the charge of -sun-worship. Thus he says:-- - - "Others, again, certainly with more information and greater - verisimilitude, believe that the sun is our God. We shall be - counted Persians, perhaps, though we do not worship the orb of day - painted on a piece of linen cloth, having himself everywhere in - his own disk. The idea, no doubt, has originated from our being - known to turn to the east in prayer. But you, many of you, also, - under pretense sometimes of worshiping the heavenly bodies, move - your lips in the direction of the sunrise. In the same way, if - we devote Sunday to rejoicing, from a far different reason than - sun-worship, we have some resemblance to those of you who devote - the day of Saturn to ease and luxury, though they, too, go far away - from Jewish ways, of which indeed they are ignorant."--_Thelwell's - Translation_, sect. 16. - -Several important facts are presented in this quotation. - -1. Sunday was an ancient heathen festival in honor of the sun. - -2. Those Christians who observed the festival of Sunday were claimed by -the heathen as sun-worshipers. - -3. The entrance of the Sunday festival into the church in an age -of apostasy when men very generally honored it, was not merely not -difficult to be effected, it was actually difficult to be prevented. - -It would seem from the closing sentence that some of the heathen -used the seventh day as a day of ease and luxury. But Mr. Reeve's -Translation gives a very different sense. He renders Tertullian thus:-- - - "We solemnize the day after Saturday in contradistinction to those - who call this day their Sabbath, and devote it to ease and eating, - deviating from the old Jewish customs, which they are now very - ignorant of." - -The persons here mentioned so contemptuously could not be heathens, -for they do not call any day "their Sabbath." Nor could they be Jews, -as is plain from the form of expression used. If we accept Mr. Reeve's -Translation, these persons were Christians who observe the seventh day. -Tertullian does not say that the Sunday festival was observed by divine -authority, but that they might distinguish themselves from those who -call the seventh day the Sabbath. - -Tertullian again declares that his brethren did not observe the days -held sacred by the Jews. - - "We neither accord with the Jews in their peculiarities in regard - to food, nor in their sacred days."--_Apology_, sect. 21. - -But those Christians who would not keep the Sabbath because the -festival of Sunday was in their estimation more worthy of honor, or -more convenient to observe, were greatly given to the observance of -other days, in common with the heathen, besides Sunday. Thus Tertullian -charges home upon them this sin:-- - - "The Holy Spirit upbraids the Jews with their holy days. 'Your - sabbaths, and new moons, and ceremonies,' says he, 'my soul - hateth.' By us (to whom Sabbaths are strange, and the new - moons, and festivals formerly beloved by God) the Saturnalia - and New Year's and mid-winter's festivals and Matronalia are - frequented--presents come and go--New Year's gifts--games join - their noise--banquets join their din! Oh! better fidelity of - the nations to their own sect, which claims no solemnity of the - Christians for itself! Not the Lord's day, not Pentecost, even - if they had known them, would they have shared with us; for they - would fear lest they should seem to be Christians. _We_ are not - apprehensive lest we seem to be _heathens_! If any indulgence is - to be granted to the flesh, you have it. I will not say your own - days, but more too; for to the _heathens_ each festive day occurs - but once annually; _you_ have a festive day every eighth day."--_On - Idolatry_, chap. xiv. - -These Sunday-festival Christians, "to whom Sabbaths" were "strange," -could not have kept Sunday as a Sabbath. They had never heard that by -divine authority the Sabbath was changed from the seventh to the first -day of the week, and that Sunday is the Christian Sabbath. Let any -candid man read the above words from Tertullian, and then deny, if he -can, that these strangers to the Sabbath, and observers of heathen -festivals, were not a body of apostatizing Christians! - -Hereafter Tertullian will give an excellent commentary on his quotation -from Isaiah. It seems from him that the so-called Lord's day came once -in eight days. Were these words to be taken in their most obvious -sense, then it would come one day later each week than it did the -preceding week, and thus it would come successively on all the days of -the week in order, at intervals of eight days. He might in such case -well say:-- - - "However, _every_ day is the Lord's; every hour, every time, is apt - for baptism; if there is a difference in the _solemnity_, in the - _grace_, distinction there is none."--_On Baptism_, chap. xix. - -But it seems that Tertullian by the eighth day intended Sunday. And -here is something from him relative to the manner of keeping it. Thus -he says:-- - - "In the matter of _kneeling_ also, prayer is subject to diversity - of observance, through the act of some few who abstain from - kneeling on the Sabbath; and since this dissension is particularly - on its trial before the churches, the Lord will give his grace that - the dissentients may either yield, or else indulge their opinion - without offense to others. We, however (just as we have received), - only on the day of the Lord's resurrection ought to guard not only - against kneeling, but every posture and office of solicitude; - deferring even our businesses, lest we give any place to the - devil. Similarly, too, in the period of Pentecost; which period - we distinguish by the same solemnity of exultation. But who would - hesitate _every_ day to prostrate himself before God, at least - in the first prayer with which we enter on the daylight."--_On - Prayer_, chap. xxiii. - -A more literal translation of this passage would expressly connect the -term Lord's day with the day of Christ's resurrection, the original -being "die Dominico resurrexionis." The special weekly honor which -Tertullian would have men confer solely upon Sunday was to pray on that -day in a _standing_ posture. And somewhat to his annoyance, "some few" -would thus act with reference to the Sabbath. There is, however, some -reference to the deferral of business on Sunday. And this is worthy of -notice, for it is the first sentence we have discovered that looks like -abstinence from labor on Sunday, and we shall not find another before -the time of Constantine's famous Sunday law, A. D. 321. - -But this passage is far from asserting that labor on Sunday was sinful. -It speaks of "deferring even our businesses;" but this does not -necessarily imply anything beyond its postponement during the hours -devoted to religious services. And we shall find nothing in Tertullian, -nor in his cotemporaries, that will go beyond this, while we shall find -much to restrict us to the interpretation of his words here given. -Tertullian could not say that Sabbaths were strange to him and his -brethren if they religiously refrained from labor on each Sunday. But -let us hear him again concerning the observance of Sunday and kindred -practices:-- - - "We take also, in meetings before daybreak, and from the hand of - none but the presidents, the sacrament of the Eucharist, which the - Lord both commanded to be eaten at meal-times, and enjoined to be - taken by all [alike]. As often as the anniversary comes round, we - make offerings for the dead as birth-day honors. We count fasting - or kneeling in worship on the Lord's day to be unlawful. We rejoice - in the same privilege also from Easter to Whit-sunday. We feel - pained should any wine or bread, even though our own, be cast upon - the ground. At every forward step and movement, at every going in - and out, when we put on our clothes and shoes, when we bathe, when - we sit at table, when we light the lamps, on couch, on seat, in all - the ordinary actions of daily life, we trace upon the forehead the - sign [of the cross]. - - "If, for these and other such rules, you insist upon having - positive Scripture injunction, you will find none. Tradition will - be held forth to you as the originator of them, custom, as their - strengthener, and faith, as their observer. That reason will - support tradition, and custom, and faith, you will either yourself - perceive, or learn from some one who has."--_De Corona_, sects. 3 - and 4. - -The things which he counted unlawful on Sunday he expressly names. -These are fasting and kneeling on that day. But ordinary labor does -not come into his list of things unlawful on that day. And now observe -what progress apostasy and superstition had made in other things also. -"Offerings for the dead" were regularly made, and the sign of the cross -was repeated as often as God would have men rehearse his commandments. -See Deut. 6:6-9. And now if you wish to know Tertullian's authority -for the Sunday festival, offerings for the dead, and the sign of the -cross, he frankly tells you what it is. He had no authority from the -Scriptures. Custom and tradition were all that he could offer. Modern -divines can find plenty of authority, from the Scriptures, as they -assert, for maintaining the so-called Lord's day. Tertullian knew of -none. He took the Sunday festival, offerings for the dead, and the sign -of the cross, on the authority of custom and tradition; if you take the -first on such authority, why do you not, also, the other two? - -But Tertullian finds it necessary to write a second defense of his -brethren from the charge of being sun-worshipers, a charge directly -connected with their observance of the festival of Sunday. Here are his -words:-- - - "Others, with greater regard to good manners, it must be confessed, - suppose that the sun is the god of the Christians, because it is a - well-known fact that we pray towards the east, or because we make - Sunday a day of festivity. What then? Do you do less than this? Do - not many among you, with an affectation of sometimes worshiping - the heavenly bodies likewise, move your lips in the direction of - the sunrise? It is you, at all events, who have even admitted the - sun into the calendar of the week; and you have selected its day - [Sunday], in preference to the preceding day, as the most suitable - in the week for either an entire abstinence from the bath, or for - its postponement until the evening, or for taking rest, and for - banqueting. By resorting to these customs, you deliberately deviate - from your own religious rites to those of strangers. For the Jewish - feasts are the Sabbath and 'the Purification,' and Jewish also are - the ceremonies of the lamps, and the fasts of unleavened bread, and - the 'littoral prayers,' all which institutions and practices are of - course foreign from your gods. Wherefore, that I may return from - this digression, you who reproach us with the sun and Sunday should - consider your proximity to us. We are not far off from your Saturn - and your days of rest."--_Ad Nationes_, b. i. chap. xiii. - -Tertullian in this discourse addresses himself to the nations still in -idolatry. The heathen festival of Sunday, which was with some nations -more ancient, had been established among the Romans at a comparatively -recent date, though earlier than the time of Justin Martyr, the -first Christian writer in whom an authentic mention of the day is -found. The heathen reproached the early Sunday Christians with being -sun-worshipers, "because," says Tertullian, "we pray towards the east, -or because we make Sunday a day of festivity." And how does Tertullian -answer this grave charge? He could not say, We do it by command of God -to honor the first day of the week, for he expressly states in a former -quotation that no such precept exists. So he retorts thus: "What then? -Do you [heathen] do less than this?" And he adds: "You have selected -its day [Sunday] in preference to the preceding day" (Saturday), etc. -That is to say, Tertullian wishes to know why, if the heathen could -choose Sunday in preference to Saturday, the Christians could not have -the same privilege! Could there be a stronger incidental evidence that -Sunday was cherished by the early apostatizing Christians, not because -commanded of God, but because it was generally observed by their -heathen neighbors, and therefore more convenient to them? - -But Tertullian next avows his faith in the ten commandments as "the -rules of our regenerate life," that is to say, the rules which govern -Christian men; and he gives the preference to the seventh day over the -eighth:-- - - "I must also say something about the period of the soul's birth, - that I may omit nothing incidental in the whole process. A - mature and regular birth takes place, as a general rule, at the - commencement of the tenth month. They who theorize respecting - numbers, honor the number ten as the parent of all the others, - and as imparting perfection to the human nativity. For my own - part, I prefer viewing this measure of time in reference to God, - as if implying that the ten months rather initiated man into the - ten commandments; so that the numerical estimate of the time - needed to consummate our natural birth should correspond to the - numerical classification of _the rules of our regenerate life_. - But inasmuch as birth is also completed with the seventh month, I - more readily recognize in this number than in the eighth the honor - of a numerical agreement with the Sabbatical period; so that the - month in which God's image is sometimes produced in a human birth, - shall in its number tally with the day on which God's creation was - completed and hallowed."--_De Anima_, chap. xxxvii. - -This kind of reasoning is of course destitute of any force. But in -adducing such an argument Tertullian avows his faith in the ten -commandments as the rule of the Christian's life, gives the preference -to the seventh day as the Sabbath, and deduces the origin of the -Sabbath from God's act of hallowing the seventh day at creation. - -Though Tertullian elsewhere, as we shall see, speaks lightly of the -law of God, and represents it as abolished, his next testimony most -sacredly honors that law, and while acknowledging the Sabbath as one of -its precepts, he recognizes the authority of the whole code. Thus he -says:-- - - "Of how deep guilt, then, adultery--which is likewise a matter - of fornication, in accordance with its criminal function--is to - be accounted, the law of God first comes to hand to show us; if - it is true [as it is], that after interdicting the superstitious - service of alien gods, and the making of idols themselves, after - commending [to religious observance] the veneration of the Sabbath, - after commanding a religious regard toward parents, second [only - to that] toward God, [that law] laid, as the next substratum in - strengthening and fortifying such counts, no other precept than - 'Thou shalt not commit adultery.'"--_On Modesty_, chap. v. - -And of this precept Tertullian presently tells us that it stands "in -the very forefront of _the most holy law_, among the primary counts of -_the celestial edict_." - -In his treatise "On Fasting," chapter xiv., he terms "the Sabbath--a -day never to be kept as a fast except at the passover season, according -to a reason elsewhere given." And in chapter xv., he excepts from the -two weeks in which meat was not eaten "the Sabbaths" and "the Lord's -days." - -But in his "Answer to the Jews," chapter ii., he represents the law as -variously modified from Adam to Christ; he denies "that the Sabbath -is still to be observed;" classes it with circumcision; declares -that Adam was "inobservant of the Sabbath," affirms the same of Abel, -Noah, Enoch, and Melchizedek, and asserts that Lot "was freed from -the conflagration of the Sodomites" "for the merits of righteousness, -without observance of the law." And in the beginning of chapter iii., -he again classes the Sabbath with circumcision, and asserts that -Abraham did not "observe the Sabbath." - -In chapter iv., he declares that "the observance of the Sabbath" was -"temporary." And he continues thus:-- - - "For the Jews say, that from the beginning God sanctified the - seventh day, by resting on it from all his works which he made; - and that thence it was, likewise, that Moses said to the people: - 'Remember the day of the Sabbaths,'" etc. - -Now see how Tertullian and his brethren disposed of this commandment -respecting the seventh day:-- - - "Whence we [Christians] understand that _we_ still more ought to - observe a Sabbath from all 'servile work' always, and not only - every seventh day, but through all time." - -That is to say in plain language, they would, under pretense of keeping -every day as a Sabbath, not only work on the seventh day of the -week, but on all the days of the week. But this plainly proves that -Tertullian did not think the seventh day was superseded by the first. -And thus he proceeds:-- - - "And through this arises the question for us, _what_ Sabbath God - willed us to keep." - -Our first-day friends quote Tertullian in behalf of what they call -the Christian Sabbath. Had he believed in such an institution he -would certainly have named it in answer to this question. But mark his -answer:-- - - "For the Scriptures point to a Sabbath eternal and a Sabbath - temporal. For Isaiah the prophet says, '_Your_ Sabbaths my soul - hateth.' And in another place he says, 'My Sabbaths ye have - profaned.' Whence we discern that the temporal Sabbath is human, - and the eternal Sabbath is accounted divine." - -This temporal Sabbath is the seventh day; this eternal Sabbath is the -keeping of all days alike, as Tertullian affirms that he and those with -him did. - -He next declares that Isaiah's prediction respecting the Sabbath in the -new earth (Isa. 66: 22, 23), was "fulfilled in the times of Christ, -when all flesh--that is, every nation--came to adore in Jerusalem -God the Father." And he adds: "Thus, therefore, before this temporal -Sabbath [the seventh day], there was withal an eternal Sabbath -foreshown and foretold," _i. e._, the keeping of all days alike. And -this he fortifies by the assertion that the holy men before Moses did -not observe the seventh day. And in proof that the Sabbath was one day -to cease, he cites the compassing of Jericho for seven days, one of -which must have been the Sabbath. And to this he adds the case of the -Maccabees who fought certain battles on the Sabbath. In due time we -shall see how admirably he answers such objections as these of his own -raising. - -In chapter vi., he repeats his theory of the "Sabbath temporal" [the -seventh day], and the "Sabbath eternal" or the "Spiritual Sabbath," -which is "to observe a Sabbath from all 'servile works' always, and -not only every seventh day, but through all time." He says that the -ancient law has ceased, and that "the new law" and the "Spiritual -Sabbath" have come. - -In the twentieth chapter of his first book against Marcion, Tertullian -cites Hosea 2:11, and Isa. 1:13, 14, to prove that the Sabbath is -now abrogated. And in his fifth book against Marcion, chapter iv., -he quotes Gal. 4:10; John 19:31; Isa. 1:13, 14; Amos 5:21, and Hosea -2:11, to prove that "the Creator abolished his own laws," and that he -"destroyed the institutions which he set up himself." These quotations -are apparently designed to prove that the Sabbath is abolished, but he -does not enter into argument from them. But in the nineteenth chapter -of this book he quotes Col. 2:16, 17, and simply says of the law: -"The apostle here teaches clearly how it has been abolished, even by -passing from shadow to substance--that is, from figurative types to the -reality, which is Christ." This remark is truthful and would justly -exclude the moral law from this abolition. - -But in chapter xxi. of his second book against Marcion, he answers -the very objection against the Sabbath which himself has elsewhere -urged, as we have noticed, drawn from the case of Jericho. He says to -Marcion:-- - - "You do not, however, consider the law of the Sabbath: they are - human works, not divine, which it prohibits. For it says, 'Six days - shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the - Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work.' - What work? Of course your own. The conclusion is, that from the - Sabbath day he removes those works which he had before enjoined for - the six days, that is, your own works; in other words, human works - of daily life. Now, the carrying around of the ark is evidently - not an ordinary daily duty, nor yet a human one; but a rare and - a sacred work, and, as being then ordered by the direct precept - of God, a divine one.... Thus, in the present instance, there is - a clear distinction respecting the Sabbath's prohibition of human - labors, not divine ones. Accordingly, the man who went and gathered - sticks on the Sabbath day was punished with death. For it was his - own work which he did; and this the law forbade. They, however, who - on the Sabbath carried the ark round Jericho, did it with impunity. - For it was not their own work, but God's, which they executed, and - that, too, from his express commandment." - -In the following chapter he again cites Isa. 1:11-14, as proof that the -Sabbath is abolished. He will, however, presently explain this text -which he has so many times used against the Sabbath, and show that it -actually has no such bearing. In the meantime he will again declare -that Joshua did not break the Sabbath, and having done this he will -find it in order again to assert that "the Sabbath was actually then -broken by Joshua." In his fourth book against Marcion, chapter xii., he -discusses the question whether Christ as Lord of the Sabbath had the -right to annul the Sabbath, and whether in his life he did actually -violate it. To do this he again cites the case of Jericho, and actually -affirms that the Sabbath was broken on that occasion, and at the same -time denies it. Thus he says:-- - - "If Christ interfered with the Sabbath, he simply acted after the - Creator's example; inasmuch as in the siege of the city of Jericho - the carrying around the walls of the ark of the covenant for eight - days running, and therefore on a Sabbath day, actually annulled - the Sabbath, by the Creator's command--according to the opinion of - those who think this of Christ [Luke 6:1-5] in their ignorance that - neither Christ nor the Creator violated the Sabbath, as we shall - by-and-by show. And yet the Sabbath was actually then broken by - Joshua, so that the present charge might be alleged also against - Christ." - -The Sabbath was not violated in the case of Jericho, and yet it -certainly was there violated! Tertullian adds that if Christ hated the -Sabbath he was in this like the Creator himself, who declares [Isa. -1:14] that he hates it. He forgets that the Creator has expressly -declared his great regard for the Sabbath by this very prophet -[chap. 58:13, 14], and overlooks the fact that what God hates is the -hypocritical conduct of the people as set forth in Isaiah 1. In his -fourth book against Marcion, chapter xvi., Christ is mentioned as -the Lord of the Sabbath, but nothing is said bearing upon Sabbatic -obligation. In chapter xxx., of this same book, he alludes to the cure -wrought by Christ upon the Sabbath day, mentioned in Luke 13:11-16, -and says, "When, therefore, he did a work according to the condition -prescribed by the law, he affirmed, instead of breaking, the law," etc. - -In the twelfth chapter of this book, however, he asserts many things -relative to Christ. He says that the disciples in rubbing out the ears -of corn on the Sabbath "had violated the holy day. Christ excuses them -and became their accomplice in breaking the Sabbath." He argues that -as the Sabbath from the beginning, which he here places at the fall -of the manna though elsewhere dating it from the creation, had never -been designed as a day of fasting, the Saviour did right in justifying -the act of the disciples in the cornfield. And he terms the example of -David a "colorable precedent" to justify the eating of the corn. But -though he represents the Saviour as "annulling the Sabbath" at this -time, he also asserts that in this very case "he maintains the honor of -the Sabbath as a day which is to be free from gloom rather than from -work." He justifies the Saviour in his acts of healing on the Sabbath, -declaring that in this he was doing that which the Sabbath law did not -forbid. Tertullian next affirms precisely the reverse of many things -which he has advanced against the Sabbath, and even answers his own -objections against it. Thus he says:-- - - "In order that he might, whilst allowing that amount of work - which he was about to perform for a soul, remind them what works - the law of the Sabbath forbade--even human works; and what it - enjoined--even divine works, which might be done for the benefit of - any soul, he was called 'Lord of the Sabbath' because he maintained - the Sabbath as his own institution. Now, even if he had annulled - the Sabbath, he would have had the right to do so, as being its - Lord, [and] still more as he who instituted it. But lie did not - utterly destroy it, although its Lord, in order that it might - henceforth be plain that the Sabbath was not broken by the Creator, - even at the time when the ark was carried around Jericho. For that - was really God's work, which he commanded himself, and which he had - ordered for the sake of the lives of his servants when exposed to - the perils of war." Book iv. chap. xii. - -In this paragraph Tertullian explains the law of God in the clearest -manner. He shows beyond all dispute that neither Joshua nor Christ ever -violated it. He also declares that Christ did not abolish the Sabbath. -In the next sentence he goes on to answer most admirably his own -repeated perversion of Isaiah 1:13, 14, and to contradict some of his -own serious errors. Listen to him:-- - - "Now, although he has in a certain place expressed an aversion of - Sabbaths, by calling them '_your Sabbaths_,' reckoning them as - men's Sabbaths, not his own, because they were celebrated without - the fear of God by a people full of iniquities, and loving God - 'with the lip, not the heart,' he has yet put his own Sabbaths - (those, that is, which were kept according to his prescription) in - a different position; for by the same prophet, in a later passage, - he declares them to be 'true, delightful, and inviolable.' [Isa - 58:13; 56:2.] Thus _Christ did not at all rescind the Sabbath_: he - kept the law thereof, and both in the former case did a work which - was beneficial to the life of his disciples (for he indulged them - with the relief of food when they were hungry), and in the present - instance cured the withered hand; in each case intimating by facts, - 'I came not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it,' although - Marcion has gagged his mouth by this word." - -Here Tertullian shows that God did not hate his own Sabbath, but only -the hypocrisy of those who professed to keep it. He also expressly -declares that the Saviour "did not at all rescind the Sabbath." And now -that he has his hand in, he will not cease till he has testified to a -noble Sabbatarian confession of faith, placing its origin at creation, -and perpetuating the institution with divine safeguards and additional -sanctity. Moreover he asserts that Christ's adversary [Satan] would -have had him do this to some other days, a heavy blow as it happens -upon those who in modern times so stoutly maintain that he consecrated -the first day of the week to take the place of the Creator's rest-day. -Listen again to Tertullian, who continues as follows:-- - - "For even in the case before us he fulfilled the law, while - interpreting its condition; [moreover,] he exhibits in a clear - light the different kinds of work, while doing what the law excepts - from the sacredness of the Sabbath, [and] while imparting to the - Sabbath day itself, which _from the beginning_ had been consecrated - by the benediction of the Father, an additional sanctity by - his own beneficent action. For he furnished to this day divine - safeguards,--a course which his adversary would have pursued for - some other days, to avoid honoring the Creator's Sabbath, and - restoring to the Sabbath the works which were proper for it. - Since, in like manner, the prophet Elisha on this day restored to - life the dead son of the Shunammite woman, you see, O Pharisee, - and you too, O Marcion, how that it was [proper employment] for - the Creator's Sabbaths of old to do good, to save life, not to - destroy it; how that Christ introduced nothing new, which was not - after the example, the gentleness, the mercy, and the prediction - also of the Creator. For in this very example he fulfills the - prophetic announcement of a specific healing: 'The weak hands are - strengthened,' as were also 'the feeble knees' in the sick of the - palsy."--_Tertullian against Marcion_, b. iv. chap. xii. - -Tertullian mistakes in his reference to the Shunammite woman. It was -not the Sabbath day on which she went to the prophet. 2 Kings 4:23. But -in the last three paragraphs quoted from him, which in his work form -one continuous statement, he affirms many important truths which are -worthy of careful enumeration. They are as follows:-- - -1. Christ, in determining what should, and what should not, be done on -the Sabbath, "was called 'Lord of the Sabbath,' because he maintained -the Sabbath as his own institution." - -2. "The Sabbath was not broken by the Creator, even at the time when -the ark was carried around Jericho." - -3. The reason why God expressed his aversion to "your Sabbaths," as -though they were "men's Sabbaths, not his own," was "because they were -celebrated without the fear of God, by a people full of iniquities." -See Isa. 1:13, 14. - -4. "By the same prophet [Isa. 58:13; 56:2], he declares them [the -Sabbaths] to be 'true and delightful and inviolable.'" - -5. "Thus Christ did not at all rescind the Sabbath." - -6. "He kept the law thereof." - -7. "The Sabbath day itself, which from the beginning had been -consecrated by the benediction of the Father." This language expressly -assigns the origin of the Sabbath to the act of the Creator at the -close of the first week of time. - -8. Christ imparted to the Sabbath "an additional sanctity by his own -beneficent action." - -9. "He furnished to this day divine safeguards,--a course which his -adversary would have pursued for some other days, to avoid honoring the -Creator's Sabbath, and restoring to the Sabbath the works which were -proper for it." - -This last statement is indeed very remarkable. Christ furnished "the -Creator's Sabbath," the seventh day, with "divine safeguards." His -adversary (THE adversary of Christ is the devil) would have had this -course "pursued for some other days." That is to say, the devil would -have been pleased had Christ consecrated some other day, instead of -adding to the sanctity of his Father's Sabbath. What Tertullian says -that the devil would have been pleased to have Christ do, that our -first-day friends now assert that he did do in the establishment of -what they call the Christian Sabbath! Such an institution, however, -was never heard of in the days of the so-called Christian fathers. -Notwithstanding Tertullian's many erroneous statements concerning the -Sabbath and the law, he has here borne a noble testimony to the truth, -and this completes his words. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - -Fabian--Origen--Hippolytus--Novatian. - - -TESTIMONY OF THE EPISTLES AND DECREES OF POPE FABIAN. - -This man was bishop of Rome from A. D. 236 to A. D. 250. The letters -ascribed to Fabian were probably written at a considerably later date. -We quote them, however, at the very point of time wherein they claim -to have been written. Their testimony is of little importance, but -they breathe the self-important spirit of a Roman bishop. We quote as -follows:-- - - "You ought to know what is being done in things sacred in the - church of Rome, in order that, by following her example, ye may - be found to be true children of her who is called your mother. - Accordingly, as we have received the institution from our fathers, - we maintain seven deacons in the city of Rome, distributed over - seven districts of the state, who attend to the services enjoined - on them week by week, and on the Lord's days, and the solemn - festivals," etc.--_Epistle First._ - -This pope is said to have made the following decree, which contains the -only other reference to the so-called Lord's day to be found in the -writings attributed to him:-- - - "We decree that on each Lord's day the oblation of the altar should - be made by all men and women in bread and wine, in order that by - means of these sacrifices they may be released from the burden of - their sins."--_Decrees of Fabian_, b. v. chap. vii. - -In these quotations we see that the Roman church is made the mother -of all churches, and also that the Roman bishop thinks himself the -rightful ruler over all Christian people. And it is in fit keeping with -these features of the great apostasy that the pope, instead of pointing -sinful men to the sacrifice made on Calvary, should "decree that on -each Lord's day" every person should offer an "oblation" of "bread and -wine" on the altar, "that by means of THESE SACRIFICES they may be -released from the burden of their sins"! - - -TESTIMONY OF ORIGEN. - -Origen was born about A. D. 185, probably at Alexandria in Egypt. -He was a man of immense learning, but unfortunately adopted a -spiritualizing system in the interpretation of the Scriptures that was -the means of flooding the church with many errors. He wrote during the -first half of the third century. I have carefully examined all the -writings of every Christian writer preceding the council of Nice with -the single exception of Origen. Some of his works, as yet, I have not -been able to obtain. While, therefore, I give the entire testimony of -every other father on the subject of inquiry, in his case I am unable -to do this. But I can give it with sufficient fullness to present him -in a just light. His first reference to the Sabbath is a denial that it -should be literally understood. Thus he says:-- - - "There are countless multitudes of believers who, although unable - to unfold methodically and clearly the results of their spiritual - understanding, are nevertheless most firmly persuaded that neither - ought circumcision to be understood literally, nor the rest of the - Sabbath, nor the pouring out of the blood of an animal, nor that - answers were given by God to Moses on these points. And this method - of apprehension is undoubtedly suggested to the minds of all by the - power of the Holy Spirit."--_De Principiis_, b. ii. chap. vii. - -Origen asserts that the spiritual interpretation of the Scriptures -whereby their literal meaning is set aside is something divinely -inspired! But when this is accepted as the truth who can tell what they -mean by what they say? - -In the next chapter he quotes Isa. 1:13, 14, but with reference to -the subject of the soul and not to that of the Sabbath. In chapter -xi., alluding again to the hidden meaning of the things commanded in -the Scriptures, he asserts that when the Christian has "returned to -Christ" he will, amongst other things enumerated, "see also the reasons -for the festival days, and holy days, and for all the sacrifices and -purifications." So it seems that Origen thought the spiritual meaning -of the Sabbath, which he asserted in the place of the literal, was to -be known only in the future state! - -In book iv. chapter i., he quotes Col. 2:16, but gives no exposition of -its meaning. But having asserted that the things commanded in the law -were not to be understood literally, and having intimated that their -hidden meaning cannot be known until the saints are with Christ, he -proceeds in section 17 of this chapter to prove that the literal sense -of the law is impossible. One of the arguments by which he proves the -point is, that men were commanded not to go out of their houses on the -Sabbath. He thus quotes and comments on Ex. 16:29:-- - - "'Ye shall sit, every one in your dwellings; no one shall move - from his place on the Sabbath day,' which precept it is impossible - to observe literally; for no man can sit a whole day so as not to - move from the place where he sat down." Origen quotes a certain - Samaritan who declares that one must not change his posture on the - Sabbath, and he adds, "Moreover the injunction which runs, 'Bear no - burden on the Sabbath day,' seems to me an impossibility." - -This argument is framed for the purpose of proving that the Scriptures -cannot be taken in their literal sense. But had he quoted the text -correctly there would be no force at all to his argument. They must not -go out to gather manna, but were expressly commanded to use the Sabbath -for holy convocations, that is, for religious assemblies. Lev. 23:3. -And as to the burdens mentioned in Jer. 17:21-27, they are sufficiently -explained by Neh. 13:15-22. Such reasons as these for denying the -obvious, simple signification of what God has commanded, are worthy of -no confidence. In his letter to Africanus, Origen thus alludes to the -Sabbath, but without further remarking upon it:-- - - "You will find the law about not bearing a burden on the Sabbath - day in Jeremiah as well as in Moses." - -Though these allusions of Origen to the Sabbath are not in themselves -of much importance, we give them all, that his testimony may be -presented as fully as possible. His next mention of the Sabbath seems -from the connection to relate to Paul:-- - - "Was it impious to abstain from corporeal circumcision, and from a - literal Sabbath, and literal festivals, and literal new moons, and - from clean and unclean meats, and to turn the mind to the good and - true and spiritual law of God," etc.--_Origen against Celsus_, b. - ii. chap. vii. - -We shall soon get his idea of the true Sabbath as distinguished from -the "literal" one. He gives the following reason for the "literal -Sabbath" among the Hebrews:-- - - "In order that there might be leisure to listen to their sacred - laws, the days termed 'Sabbath,' and the other festivals which - existed among them, were instituted." Book iv. chap. xxxi. - -What Origen mentions as the reason for the institution of the Sabbath -is in fact only one of its incidental benefits. The real reason for -its institution, viz., that the creation of the heavens and the earth -should be remembered, he seems to have overlooked because so literally -expressed in the commandment. Of God's rest-day he thus speaks:-- - - "With respect, however, to the creation of the world, and the 'rest - [_Sabbatismou_] which is reserved after it for the people of God,' - the subject is extensive, and mystical, and profound, and difficult - of explanation." Book v. chap. lix. - -Origen's next mention of the Sabbath not only places the institution of -the Sabbath at the creation, but gives us some idea of his "mystical" -Sabbath as distinguished from "a literal" one. Speaking of the -Creator's rest from the six days' work he thus alludes to Celsus:-- - - "For he [Celsus] knows nothing of the day of the Sabbath and rest - of God, _which follows the completion of the world's creation_, - and _which lasts during the duration of the world_, and in which - all those will keep festival with God who have done all _their_ - works in _their_ six days, and who, because they have omitted none - of their duties, will ascend to the contemplation [of celestial - things], and to the assembly of righteous and blessed beings." Book - vi. chap. lxi. - -Here we get an insight into Origen's mystical Sabbath. It began at -creation, and will continue while the world endures. To those who -follow the letter it is indeed only a weekly rest, but to those who -know the truth it is a perpetual Sabbath, enjoyed by God during all -the days of time, and entered by believers either at conversion or at -death. And this last thought perhaps explains why he said before that -the reasons for days observed by the Hebrews would be understood after -this life. - -But last of all we come to a mention of the so-called Lord's day by -Origen. As he has a mystical or perpetual Sabbath like some of the -earlier fathers, in which, under pretense of keeping every day as a -Sabbath, they actually labor on every one, so has he also, like what -we have found in some of them, a Lord's day which is not merely one -definite day of the week, but which embraces every day, and covers all -time. Here are his words:-- - - "For 'to keep a feast,' as one of the wise men of Greece has well - said, 'is nothing else than to do one's duty;' and that man truly - celebrates a feast who does his duty and prays always, offering up - continually bloodless sacrifices in prayer to God. That therefore - seems to me a most noble saying of Paul, 'Ye observe days, and - months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have - bestowed upon you labor in vain.' - - "If it be objected to us on this subject that we ourselves are - accustomed to observe certain days, as, for example, the Lord's - day, the Preparation, the Passover, or Pentecost, I have to answer, - that to the perfect Christian, who is ever in his thoughts, words, - and deeds, serving his natural Lord, God the Word, _all his days - are the Lord's_, and _he is always keeping the Lord's day_." Book - viii., close of chapter xxi. and beginning of chapter xxii. - -With respect to what he calls the Lord's day, Origen divides his -brethren into two classes, as he had before divided the people of -God into two classes with respect to the Sabbath. One class are the -imperfect Christians, who content themselves with the literal day; the -other are the perfect Christians, whose Lord's day embraces all the -days of their life. Undoubtedly Origen reckoned himself one of the -perfect Christians. His observance of the Lord's day did not consist -in the elevation of one day above another, for he counted them all -alike as constituting one perpetual Lord's day, the very doctrine -which we found in Clement of Alexandria, who was Origen's teacher in -his early life. The keeping of the Lord's day with Origen as with -Clement embraced all the days of his life, and consisted according to -Origen in serving God in thought, word, and deed, continually; or as -expressed by Clement, one "keeps the Lord's day when he abandons an -evil disposition, and assumes that of the Gnostic." - -These things prove that Origen did not count Sunday as the Lord's -day to be honored above the other days as a divine memorial of the -resurrection, for he kept the Lord's day during every day in the -week. Nor did he hold Sunday as the Lord's day to be kept as a day of -abstinence from labor, while all the other days were days of business, -for whatever was necessary to keeping Lord's day he did on every day of -the week. - -As to the imperfect Christians who honored a literal day as the Lord's -day, Origen shows what rank it stood in by associating it with the -Preparation, the Passover, and the Pentecost, all of which in this -dispensation are mere church institutions, and none of them days of -abstinence from labor. The change of the Sabbath from the seventh day -to the first, or the existence of the so-called Christian Sabbath was -in Origen's time absolutely unknown. - - -TESTIMONY OF HIPPOLYTUS, BISHOP OF PORTUS. - -Hippolytus, who was bishop of Portus, near Rome, wrote about A. D. -230. It is evident from his testimony that he believed the Sabbath was -made by God's act of sanctifying the seventh day at the beginning. He -held that day to be the type of the seventh period of a thousand years. -Thus he says:-- - - "And 6000 years must needs be accomplished, in order that the - Sabbath may come, the rest, the holy day on which God rested from - all his works. For the Sabbath is the type and emblem of the future - kingdom of the saints, when they shall reign with Christ, when - he comes from Heaven, as John says in his Apocalypse: for a day - with the Lord is as a thousand years. Since, then, in six days - God made all things, it follows that six thousand years must be - fulfilled."--_Commentaries on Various Books of Scripture._ Sect. 4, - on Daniel. - -The churches of Ethiopia have a series of Canons, or church rules, -which they attribute to this father. Number thirty-three reads thus:-- - - "That commemoration should be made of the faithful dead every day, - with the exception of the Lord's day." - -The church of Alexandria have also a series which they ascribe to him. -The thirty-third is thus given:-- - - "Of the _Atalmsas_ (the oblation), which they shall present for - those who are dead, that it be not done on the Lord's day." - -The thirty-eighth one has these words:-- - - "Of the night on which our Lord Jesus Christ rose. That no one - shall sleep on that night, and wash himself with water." - -These are the only things in Hippolytus that can be referred to the -Sunday festival. Prayers and offerings for the dead, which we find -some fifty years earlier in Tertullian, are, according to Hippolytus, -lawful on every day but the so-called Lord's day. They grew up with -the Sunday festival, and are of equal authority with it. Tertullian, as -we have already observed, tells us frankly that there is no scriptural -authority for the one or the other, and that they rest on custom and -tradition alone. - - -TESTIMONY OF NOVATIAN, A ROMAN PRESBYTER. - -Novatian, who wrote about A. D. 250, is accounted the founder of the -sect called _Cathari_, or _Puritans_. He tried to resist some of the -gross corruptions of the church of Rome. He wrote a treatise on the -Sabbath, which is not extant. There is no reference to Sunday in any of -his writings. In his treatise "On the Jewish Meats," he speaks of the -Sabbath thus:-- - - "But how perverse are the Jews, and remote from the understanding - of their law, I have fully shown, as I believe, in two former - letters, wherein it was absolutely proved that they are ignorant of - what is the true circumcision, and what the true Sabbath." Chapter - i. - -If we contrast the doctrine of the Pharisees concerning the Sabbath -with the teaching of the Saviour, or with that of Isaiah in his -fifty-eighth chapter, we shall not think Novatian far from the truth -in his views of the Jewish people. In his treatise "Concerning the -Trinity" is the following allusion to the Sabbath:-- - - "For in the manner that as man he is of Abraham, so also as God he - is before Abraham himself. And in the same manner as he is as man - the 'Son of David,' so as God he is proclaimed David's Lord. And in - the same manner as he was made as man 'under the law,' so as God he - is declared to be 'Lord of the Sabbath.'" Chapter xi. - -These are the only references to the Sabbath in what remains of -the writings of Novatian. He makes the following striking remarks -concerning the moral law:-- - - "The law was given to the children of Israel for this purpose, that - they might profit by it, and RETURN _to those virtuous manners_, - which, although _they have received them from their fathers_, - they had corrupted in Egypt by reason of their intercourse with a - barbarous people. Finally, also, those _ten commandments_ on the - tables _teach nothing new_, but _remind_ them of _what had been - obliterated_--that righteousness in them, which had been put to - sleep, might revive again as it were by the afflatus of the law, - after the manner of a fire [nearly extinguished]."--_On the Jewish - Meats_, chap. iii. - -It is therefore certain that in the judgment of Novatian, the ten -commandments enjoined nothing that was not sacredly regarded by -the patriarchs before that Jacob went down into Egypt. It follows, -therefore, that in his opinion the Sabbath was made, not at the fall of -the manna, but when God sanctified the seventh day, and that holy men -from the earliest ages observed it. The Sunday festival with its varied -names and titles he never mentions. - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - -Cyprian--Dionysius of Alexandria--Anatolius--Commodianus--Archelaus. - - -TESTIMONY OF CYPRIAN, BISHOP OF CARTHAGE. - -Cyprian wrote about A. D. 255. I find only two references to Sunday in -his works. The first is in his thirty-second epistle (the thirty-eighth -of the Oxford edition), in which he says of one Aurelius that "he reads -on the Lord's day" for him. But in the second instance he defines the -meaning of the term, and gives evidence in support of his application -of it to the first day of the week. He is arguing in behalf of infant -baptism, or rather in controverting the opinion that baptism should -be deferred till the child is eight days old. Though the command to -circumcise infants when eight days of age is one of the chief grounds -of authority for infant baptism, yet the time in that precept according -to Cyprian does not indicate the age of the child to be baptized, but -prefigures the fact that the eighth day is the Lord's day. Thus he -says:-- - - "For in respect of the observance of the eighth day in the Jewish - circumcision of the flesh, a sacrament was given beforehand in - shadow and in usage; but when Christ came, it was fulfilled in - truth. For because the eighth day, that is, the first day after - the Sabbath, was to be that on which the Lord should rise again, - and should quicken us, and give us circumcision of the Spirit, - the eighth day, that is, the first day after the Sabbath, and the - Lord's day, went before in the figure; which figure ceased when - by and by the truth came, and spiritual circumcision was given to - us."--_Epistle_ lviii. sect. 4; in the Oxford edition, _Epistle_ - lxiv. - -Circumcision is made to prove twin errors of the great apostasy, -_infant baptism_ and that _the eighth day is the Lord's day_. But the -eighth day in the case of circumcision was not the day succeeding the -seventh, that is, the first day of the week, but the eighth day of the -life of each infant, and therefore it fell on one day of the week as -often as upon another. Such is the only argument addressed by Cyprian -for first-day sacredness, and this one seems to have been borrowed from -Justin Martyr, who, as we have seen, used it about one hundred years -before him. It is however quite as weighty as the argument of Clement -of Alexandria, who adduced in its support what he calls a prophecy of -the eighth day out of the writings of the heathen philosopher Plato! -And both are in the same rank with that of Tertullian, who confessed -that they had not the authority of Scripture, but accepted in its stead -that of custom and tradition! - -In his "Exhortation to Martyrdom," section 11, Cyprian quotes the -larger part of Matt. 24, and in that quotation at verse 20, the Sabbath -is mentioned, but he says nothing concerning that institution. In his -"Testimonies against the Jews," book i., sections 9 and 10, he says -"that the former law which was given by Moses, was about to cease," -and that "a new law was to be given;" and in the conclusion of his -"Treatise against the Jews," section 119, he says "that the yoke of the -law was heavy which is cast off by us," but it is not certain that he -meant to include in these statements the precepts of the moral law. - - -TESTIMONY OF DIONYSIUS, BISHOP OF ALEXANDRIA. - -This father, who was one of Origen's disciples, wrote about A. D. 260. -In the first canon of his "Epistle to Bishop Basilides" he treats -of "the proper hour for bringing the fast to a close on the day of -Pentecost." He has occasion to quote what the four evangelists say -of the Sabbath and first-day in connection with the resurrection of -Christ. But in doing this he adds not one word expressive of first-day -sacredness, nor does he give it any other title than that of plain -"first day of the week." The seventh day is simply called "the -Sabbath." He also speaks of "the preparation and the Sabbath" as the -"last two days" of a six days' fast, at the anniversary of the week of -Christ's death. - - -TESTIMONY OF ANATOLIUS, BISHOP OF LAODICEA. - -This father wrote about A. D. 270. He participated in the discussion -of the question whether the festival of Easter, or passover, should be -celebrated on the fourteenth day of the first month, the same day on -which the Jews observed the passover, or whether it should be observed -on the so-called Lord's day next following. In this discussion he -uses the term Lord's day, in his first canon once, quoting it from -Origen; in his seventh, twice; in his tenth, twice; in his eleventh, -four times; in his twelfth, once; in his sixteenth, twice. These are -all the instances in which he uses the term. We quote such of them as -shed any light upon the meaning of it as used by him. In his seventh -canon he says: "The obligation of the Lord's resurrection binds to -keep the paschal festival on the Lord's day." In his tenth canon he -uses this language: "The solemn festival of the resurrection of the -Lord can be celebrated only on the Lord's day." And also "that it -should not be lawful to celebrate the Lord's mystery of the passover -at any other time but on the Lord's day, on which the resurrection -of the Lord from death took place, and on which rose also for us the -cause of everlasting joy." In his eleventh canon he says: "On the -Lord's day was it that light was shown to us in the beginning, and now -also in the end, the comforts of all present and the tokens of all -future blessings." In his sixteenth canon he says: "Our regard for the -Lord's resurrection which took place on the Lord's day will lead us to -celebrate it on the same principle." - -The reader may be curious to know why a controversy should have arisen -respecting the proper day for the celebration of the passover in the -Christian church when no such celebration had ever been commanded. -The explanation is this: The festival was celebrated solely on the -authority of tradition, and there were in this case two directly -conflicting traditions, as is fully shown in the tenth canon of this -father. One party had their tradition from John the apostle, and held -that the paschal feast should be celebrated every year "whenever the -fourteenth day of the moon had come, and the lamb was sacrificed by -the Jews." But the other party had their tradition from the apostles -Peter and Paul that this festival should not be celebrated on that -day, but upon the so-called Lord's day next following. And so a fierce -controversy arose which was decided in A. D. 325, by the council of -Nice, in favor of Saint Peter, who had on his side his pretended -successor, the powerful and crafty bishop of Rome. - -The term Lord's day is never applied to Sunday till the closing years -of the second century. And Clement, who is the first to make such an -application, represents the true Lord's day as made up of every day of -the Christian's life. And this opinion is avowed by others after him. - -But after we enter the third century the name Lord's day is quite -frequently applied to Sunday. Tertullian, who lived at the epoch where -we first find this application, frankly declares that the festival of -Sunday, to which he gives the name of Lord's day, had no Scriptural -authority, but that it was founded upon tradition. But should not the -traditions of the third century be esteemed sufficient authority for -calling Sunday the Lord's day? The very men of that century who speak -thus of Sunday strenuously urge the observance of the feast of the -passover. Shall we accept this festival which they offer to us on the -authority of their apostolic tradition? As if to teach us the folly -of adding tradition to the Bible as a part of our rule of faith, it -happens that there are, even from the early part of the second century, -two directly conflicting traditions as to what day should be kept for -the passover. And one party had theirs from Saint John, the other had -theirs from Saint Peter and Saint Paul! And it is very remarkable that -although each of these parties claimed to know from one or the other -of these apostles that they had the right day for the passover and the -other had the wrong one, there is never a claim by one of these fathers -that Sunday is the Lord's day because John on the isle of Patmos -called it such! If men in the second and third centuries were totally -mistaken in their traditions respecting the passover, as they certainly -were, shall we consider the traditions of the third century sufficient -authority for asserting that the title of Lord's day belongs to Sunday -by apostolic authority? - - -TESTIMONY OF COMMODIANUS. - -This person was a native of Africa, and does not appear to have ever -held any office in the Christian church. He wrote about A. D. 270. The -only allusions made by him to the Sabbath are in the following words -addressed to the Jews:-- - - "There is not an unbelieving people such as yours. O evil men! in - so many places, and so often rebuked by the law of those who cry - aloud. And the Lofty One despises your Sabbaths, and altogether - rejects your universal monthly feasts according to law, that ye - should not make to him the commanded sacrifices; who told you - to throw a stone for your offense."--_Instructions in Favor of - Christian Discipline_, sect. 40. - -This statement is very obscure, and there is nothing in the connection -that sheds any light upon it. His language may have reference to the -ceremonial sabbaths, or it may include also the Sabbath of the Lord. If -it includes the Sabbath made for man it may be intended, like the words -of Isa. 1:13, 14, to rebuke the hypocrisy of those who profess to keep -it rather than to condemn the institution itself. - -He makes only one use of the term Lord's day, and that is as obscure as -is his reference to the subject of the Sabbath. Here it is:-- - - "Neither dost thou fear the Lord, who cries aloud with such an - utterance; even he who commands us to give food even to our - enemies. Look forward to thy meals from that Tobias who always on - _every day_ shared them entirely with the poor man. Thou seekest to - feed him, O fool, who feedeth thee again. Dost thou wish that he - should prepare for me, who is setting before him his burial? The - brother oppressed with want, nearly languishing away, cries out at - the splendidly fed, and with distended belly. What sayest thou of - the Lord's day? If he have not placed himself before, call forth a - poor man from the crowd whom thou mayest take to thy dinner. In the - tablets is your hope from a Christ refreshed." Section 61. - -Whether Commodianus meant to charge his brethren to relieve the hungry -on one day only of the week, or whether he held to such a Lord's day -as that of Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and others (namely, one that -includes every day of the life of him who refrains from sin), and so -would have his brethren imitate Tobias, who fed the hungry _every -day_, must be left undetermined. He could not have believed that Sunday -was the Lord's day by divine appointment, for he refers to the passover -festival (which rests solely upon the traditions and commandments of -men) as coming "once in the year" and he designates it as "Easter that -day of ours _most blessed_." Section 75. The day of the passover was -therefore in his estimation the most sacred day in the Christian church. - - -TESTIMONY OF ARCHELAUS, BISHOP OF CASCAR. - -This person wrote about A. D. 277, or according to other authorities -he wrote not far from A. D. 300. He flourished in Mesopotamia. What -remains of his writings is simply the record of his "Disputation with -Manes," the heretic. I do not find that he ever uses the term "Lord's -day." He introduces the Sabbath and states his views of it thus:-- - - "Moses, that illustrious servant of God, committed to those who - wished to have the right vision, an emblematic law, and also a real - law. Thus, to take an example, after God had made the world, and - all things that are in it, in the space of six days, he rested on - the seventh day from all his works; by which statement I do not - mean to affirm that he rested because he was fatigued, but that he - did so as having brought to its perfection every creature which he - had resolved to introduce. And yet in the sequel it (the new law) - says: 'My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.' Does that mean, - then, that he is still making heaven, or sun, or man, or animals, - or trees, or any such thing? Nay; but the meaning is, that when - these visible objects were perfectly finished, he rested from that - kind of work; while, however, he still continues to work at objects - invisible with an inward mode of action, and saves men. In like - manner, then, the legislator desires also that every individual - among us should be devoted unceasingly to this kind of work, - even as God himself is; and he enjoins us consequently to rest - continuously from secular things, and to engage in no worldly sort - of work whatsoever; and this is called our Sabbath. This he also - added in the law, that nothing senseless should be done, but that - we should be careful and direct our life in accordance with what is - just and righteous." Section 31. - -These words appear to teach that he held to a perpetual Sabbath, -like Justin Martyr, Tertullian, and others. Yet this does not seem -possible, inasmuch as, unlike Justin, who despises what he calls days -of "idleness," this writer says that we are "to engage in no worldly -sort of work whatsoever and this is that our Sabbath." It is hardly -possible that he could hold it a wicked thing to labor on one or all of -the six working days. Yet he either means to assert that it is sinful -to work on a single one of the days, or else he asserts the perpetual -obligation of that Sabbath which it is manifest he believed originated -when God set apart the seventh day, and which he acknowledges on the -authority of what "he also added in the law." We shall shortly come to -his final statement, which seems clearly to show that the second of -these views was the one held by this writer. - -After showing in this same section that the death penalty at the hand -of the magistrate for the violation of the Sabbath is no longer in -force because of forgiveness through the Saviour, and after answering -the objection of Manes in sections 40, 41, 42, that Christ in healing -on the Sabbath directly contradicted what Moses did to those who in his -time violated the Sabbath, he states his views of the perpetuity of the -ancient Sabbath in very clear language. Thus he says:-- - - "Again, as to the assertion that the Sabbath has been abolished, - we deny that he has abolished it plainly (_plane_); for he was - himself also Lord of the Sabbath. And this (the law's relation - to the Sabbath) was like the servant who has charge of the - bridegroom's couch, and who prepares the same with all carefulness, - and does not suffer it to be disturbed or touched by any stranger, - but keeps it intact against the time of the bridegroom's arrival; - so that when he is come, the bed may be used as it pleases himself, - or as it is granted to those to use it whom he has bidden enter - along with him." Section 42. - -Three things are plainly taught. 1. The law sacredly guarded the -Sabbath till the coming of Christ. 2. When Christ came, he did not -abolish the Sabbath, for he was its Lord. 3. And the whole tenor of -this writer's language shows that he had no knowledge of the change of -the Sabbath in honor of Christ's resurrection, nor does he even once -allude to the first day of the week. - - - - -CHAPTER X. - -Victorinus--Peter--Methodius--Lactantius--Poem on Genesis--Conclusion. - - -TESTIMONY OF VICTORINUS, BISHOP OF PETAU. - -This person wrote about A. D. 300. His bishopric was in Germany. Of his -work on the "Creation of the World," only a fragment is now preserved. -In the first section he speaks thus of the sanctification of the -seventh day:-- - - "God produced that entire mass for the adornment of his majesty in - six days; on the seventh to which he consecrated it [some words - are here lost out of the text] with a blessing. For this reason, - therefore, because in the septenary number of days both heavenly - and earthly things are ordered, in place of the beginning. I will - consider of this seventh day after the principle of all matters - pertaining to the number seven." - -Victorinus, like some other of the fathers, held that the "true and -just Sabbath should be observed in the seventh millenary." He believed -that the Sabbath was abolished by the Saviour. He was in sympathy with -the act of the church of Rome in turning the Sabbath into a fast. He -held to a two days' weekly fast, as his words necessarily imply. He -would have men fast on the sixth day to commemorate Christ's death, -and on the seventh, lest they should seem to keep the Sabbath with the -Jews, but on the so-called Lord's day they were to go forth to their -bread with giving of thanks. Thus he reasons:-- - - "On this day [the sixth] also, on account of the passion of the - Lord Jesus Christ, we make either a station to God, or a fast. On - the seventh day he rested from all his works, and blessed it, and - sanctified it. On the former day [the sixth] we are accustomed to - fast rigorously, that on the Lord's day we may go forth to our - bread with giving of thanks. And let the _parasceve_ [the sixth - day] become a rigorous fast, lest we should appear to observe - any Sabbath with the Jews, which Christ himself, the Lord of the - Sabbath, says by his prophet that 'his soul hateth;' which Sabbath - he in his body abolished, although, however, he had formerly - himself commanded Moses that circumcision should not pass over the - eighth day, which day very frequently happens on the Sabbath, as we - read written in the gospel. Moses, foreseeing the hardness of that - people, on the Sabbath raised up his hands, therefore, and thus - fastened himself to a cross. And in the battle they were sought - for by the foreigners on the Sabbath day, that they might be taken - captive, and, as if by the very strictness of the law, might be - fashioned to the avoidance of its teachings." Section 4. - -These statements are in general of little consequence, but some of -them deserve notice. First, we have one of the grand elements which -contributed to the abandonment of the Sabbath of the Lord, viz., hatred -toward the Jews for their conduct toward Christ. Those who acted -thus forgot that Christ himself was the Lord of the Sabbath, and that -it was his institution and not that of the Jews to which they were -doing despite. Secondly, it was the church of Rome that turned the -Sabbath into a fast one hundred years before this, in order to suppress -its observance, and Victorinus was acting under its instructions. -Thirdly, we have a reference to the so-called Lord's day, as a day of -thanksgiving, but no connection between it and the Sabbath is indicated -for in his time the change of the Sabbath had not been thought of. He -has other reasons for neglecting the seventh day which here follow:-- - - "And thus in the sixth psalm for the eighth day, David asks the - Lord that he would not rebuke him in his anger, nor judge him - in his fury; for this is indeed the eighth day of that future - judgment, which will pass beyond the order of the sevenfold - arrangement. Jesus also, the son of Nave, the successor of - Moses, himself broke the Sabbath day; for on the Sabbath day he - commanded the children of Israel to go round the walls of the city - of Jericho with trumpets, and declare war against the aliens. - Matthias also, prince of Judah, broke the Sabbath; for he slew the - prefect of Antiochus the king of Syria on the Sabbath, and subdued - the foreigners by pursuing them. And in Matthew we read, that it - is written Isaiah also and the rest of his colleagues broke the - Sabbath--that that true and just Sabbath should be observed in the - seventh millenary of years. Wherefore to those seven days the Lord - attributed to each a thousand years; for thus went the warning: 'In - mine eyes, 0 Lord, a thousand years are as one day.' Therefore in - the eyes of the Lord each thousand of years is ordained, for I find - that the Lord's eyes are seven. Wherefore, as I have narrated, that - true Sabbath will be in the seventh millenary of years, when Christ - with his elect shall reign." Section 5. - -This completes the testimony of Victorinus. He evidently held that -the Sabbath originated at the sanctification of the seventh day, but -for the reasons here given, the most of which are trivial, and all of -which are false, he held that it was abolished by Christ. His argument -from the sixth psalm, and from Isaiah's violation of the Sabbath, is -something extraordinary. He had an excellent opportunity to say that -though the seventh-day Sabbath was abolished, yet we have the Christian -Sabbath, or the Lord's day, to take its place. But he shows positively -that he knew of no such institution; for he says, "That true and just -Sabbath" will be "in the seventh millenary of years." - - -TESTIMONY OF PETER, BISHOP OF ALEXANDRIA. - -This father wrote about A. D. 306. In his "Canon 15" he thus sets forth -the celebration of the fourth, the sixth, and the first days of the -week:-- - - "No one shall find fault with us for observing the fourth day of - the week, and the preparation [the sixth day], on which it is - reasonably enjoined us to fast according to the tradition. On the - fourth day, indeed, because on it the Jews took counsel for the - betrayal of the Lord; and on the sixth, because on it he himself - suffered for us. But the Lord's day we celebrate as a day of joy, - because on it he rose again, on which day we have received it for a - custom not even to bow the knee." - -On this Balsamon, an ancient writer whose commentary is appended -to this canon, remarks that this canon is in harmony with the 64th -apostolical canon, which declares "that we are not to fast on the -Sabbath, with one exception, the great Sabbath [the one connected with -the passover], and to the 69th canon, which severely punishes those -who do not fast in the Holy Lent, and on every fourth day of the week -and day of preparation." So it appears that they were commanded by the -canons to fast on the fourth and sixth days of the week, and forbidden -to do this on the Sabbath and first-day. - -Zonaras, another ancient commentator upon the canons of Peter, gives us -the authority upon which these observances rest. No one of these three -days is honored by God's commandment. Zonaras mentions the fasts on the -fourth and sixth days, and says no one will find fault with these. But -he deems it proper to mark Peter's reason for the Lord's-day festival, -and the nature of that festival. Thus he says:-- - - "But on the Lord's day we ought not to fast, for it is a day of - joy for the resurrection of the Lord, and on it, says he, we - have received that we ought not even to bow the knee. This word, - therefore, is to be carefully observed, 'we have received' and 'it - is enjoined upon us according to the tradition.' For from hence - it is evident that long-established custom was taken for law. - Moreover, the great Basil annexes also the causes for which it was - forbidden to bend the knee on the Lord's day, and from the passover - to Pentecost." - -The honors which were conferred upon this so-called Lord's day are -specified. They are two in number. 1. It was "a day of joy," and -therefore not a day of fasting. 2. On it they "ought not even to bow -the knee." This last honor however applied to the entire period of -fifty days between the passover and the Pentecost as well as to each -Sunday in the year. So that the first honor was the only one which -belonged to Sunday exclusively. That honor excluded fasting, but it is -never said to exclude labor, or to render it sinful. And the authority -for these two first-day honors is frankly given. It is not the words -of holy Scripture nor the commandment of God, but "it is enjoined -upon us according to the tradition. For from hence it is evident that -long-established custom was taken for law." Such is the testimony of -men who knew the facts. In our days men dare not thus acknowledge them, -and therefore they assert that the fourth commandment has been changed -by divine authority, and that it is sinful to labor upon the first day -of the week. - - -TESTIMONY OF METHODIUS, BISHOP OF TYRE. - -This father wrote about A. D. 308, and suffered martyrdom in A. D. 312. -A considerable portion of his writings have come down to our time, -but in them all I find not one mention of the first day of the week. -He held to the perpetuity of the ten commandments, for he says of the -beast with ten horns:-- - - "Moreover, the ten horns and stings which he is said to have upon - his heads are the ten opposites, O virgins, to the decalogue, by - which he was accustomed to gore and cast down the souls of many, - imagining and contriving things in opposition to the law, 'Thou - shalt love the Lord thy God,' and to the other precepts which - follow."--_Banquet of the Ten Virgins_, Discourse viii. chap. xiii. - -In commenting on the feast of tabernacles (Lev. 23:39-43) he says:-- - - "These things being like air and phantom shadows, foretell the - resurrection and the putting up of our tabernacle that had fallen - upon the earth, which at length, in the seventh thousand of years, - resuming again immortal, we shall celebrate the great feast of true - tabernacles in the new and indissoluble creation, the fruits of - the earth having been gathered in, and men no longer begetting and - begotten, but God resting from the works of creation." Discourse - ix. chap. i. - -Methodius understood the six days of creation, and the seventh day -sanctified by the Creator, to teach that at the end of 6000 years the -great day of joy shall come to the saints of God:-- - - "For since in six days God made the heaven and the earth, and - finished the whole world, and rested on the seventh day from all - his works which he had made, and blessed the seventh day and - sanctified it, so by a figure in the seventh month, when the fruits - of the earth have been gathered in, we are commanded to keep the - feast to the Lord, which signifies that, when this world shall - be terminated at the seventh thousand years, when God shall have - completed the world, he shall rejoice in us." Discourse ix. chap. - i. sect. 4. - -In the fifth chapter of this discourse he speaks of the day of Judgment -as "the millennium of rest, which is called the seventh day, even the -true Sabbath." He believed that each day of the first seven represented -one thousand years, and so the true Sabbath of the Lord sets forth the -final triumph of the saints in the seventh period of a thousand years. -And in his work "On Things Created," section 9, he refers to this -representation of one day as a thousand years, and quotes in proof of -it Ps. 90:2, 4. Then he says:-- - - "For when a thousand years are reckoned as one day in the sight of - God, and from the creation of the world to his rest is six days, so - also to our time, six days are defined, as those say who are clever - arithmeticians. Therefore, they say that an age of six thousand - years extends from Adam to our time. For they say that the Judgment - will come on the seventh day, that is, in the seventh thousand - years." - -The only weekly Sabbath known to Methodius was the ancient seventh -day sanctified by God in Eden. He does not intimate that this -divine institution has been abolished; and what he says of the ten -commandments implies the reverse of that, and he certainly makes no -allusion to the festival of Sunday, which on the authority of "custom" -and "tradition" had been by so many elevated above the Sabbath of the -Lord. - - -TESTIMONY OF LACTANTIUS. - -Lactantius was born in the latter half of the third century, was -converted about A. D. 315, and died at Treves about A. D. 325. He -was very eminent as a teacher of rhetoric, and was intrusted with -the education of Crispus, the son of Constantine. The writings of -Lactantius are quite extensive; they contain, however, no reference to -the first day of the week. Of the Sabbath he speaks twice. In the first -instance he says that one reason alleged by the Jews for rejecting -Christ was, - - "That he destroyed the obligation of the law given by Moses; that - is, that he did not rest on the Sabbath, but labored for the good - of men," etc.--_Divine Institutes_, b. iv. chap. xvii. - -It is not clear whether Lactantius believed that Christ violated the -Sabbath, nor whether he did away with the moral law while teaching -the abrogation of the ceremonial code. But he bears a most decisive -testimony to the origin of the Sabbath at creation:-- - - "God completed the world and this admirable work of nature in - the space of six days (as is contained in the secrets of holy - Scripture), and CONSECRATED the seventh day, on which he had rested - from his works. But this is the Sabbath day, which in the language - of the Hebrews received its name from the number, whence the - seventh is the legitimate and complete number." Book vii. chap. xiv. - -It is certain that Lactantius did not regard the Sabbath as the -memorial of the flight out of Egypt, but as that of the creation of the -heavens and the earth. He also believed that the seven days prefigured -the seven thousand years of our earth's history:-- - - "Therefore, since all the works of God were completed in six days, - the world must continue in its present state through six ages, that - is, six thousand years. For the great day of God is limited by a - circle of a thousand years, as the prophet shows, who says, 'In thy - sight, O Lord, a thousand years are as one day.' And as God labored - during those six days in creating such great works, so his religion - and truth must labor during these six thousand years, while - wickedness prevails and bears rule. And again, since God, having - finished his works, rested the seventh day and blessed it, at the - end of the six thousandth year all wickedness must be abolished - from the earth, and righteousness reign for a thousand years and - there must be tranquility and rest from the labors which the world - now has long endured." Book vii. chap. xiv. - -Thus much for Lactantius. He could not have believed in first-day -sacredness, and there is no clear evidence that he held to the -abrogation of the Sabbath. Finally we come to a poem on Genesis by an -unknown author, but variously attributed to Cyprian, to Victorinus, to -Tertullian, and to later writers. - - -TESTIMONY OF THE POEM ON GENESIS. - - "The seventh came, when God - At his works' end did rest, DECREEING IT - SACRED UNTO THE COMING AGES' JOYS." - - Lines 51-53. - -Here again we have an explicit testimony to the divine appointment of -the seventh day to a holy use while man was yet in Eden, the garden of -God. And this completes the testimony of the fathers to the time of -Constantine and the Council of Nice. - -One thing is everywhere open to the reader's eye as he passes through -these testimonies from the fathers: they lived in what may with -propriety be called the age of apostatizing. The apostasy was not -complete, but it was steadily developing itself. Some of the fathers -had the Sabbath in the dust, and honored as their weekly festival the -day of the sun, though claiming for it no divine authority. Others -recognize the Sabbath as a divine institution which should be honored -by all mankind in memory of the creation, and yet at the same time -they exalt above it the festival of Sunday, which they acknowledge -had nothing but custom and tradition for its support. The end may be -foreseen: in due time the Sunday festival obtained the whole ground for -itself, and the Sabbath was driven out. Several things conspired to -accomplish this result:-- - -1. The Jews, who retained the ancient Sabbath, had slain Christ. It was -easy for men to forget that Christ as Lord of the Sabbath had claimed -it as his institution, and to call the Sabbath a Jewish institution -which Christians should not regard. - -2. The church of Rome as the chief in the work of apostasy took the -lead in the earliest effort to suppress the Sabbath by turning it into -a fast. - -3. In the Christian church almost from the beginning men voluntarily -honored the fourth, the sixth, and the first days of the week to -commemorate the betrayal, the death, and the resurrection of Christ, -acts of respect in themselves innocent enough. - -4. But the first day of the week corresponded to the widely observed -heathen festival of the sun, and it was therefore easy to unite -the honor of Christ with the convenience and worldly advantage of -his people, and to justify the neglect of the ancient Sabbath by -stigmatizing it as a Jewish institution with which Christians should -have no concern. - -The _progressive_ character of the work of apostasy with respect to the -Sabbath is incidentally illustrated by what Giesler, the distinguished -historian of the church, says of the Sabbath and first-day in his -record of the first, the second, and the third century. Of the first -century he says:-- - - "Whilst the Christians of Palestine, who kept the whole Jewish law, - celebrated of course all the Jewish festivals, the heathen converts - observed only the Sabbath, and, in remembrance of the closing - scenes of our Saviour's life, the passover (1 Cor. 5:6-8), though - without the Jewish superstitions, Gal. 4:10; Col. 2:16. Besides - these the Sunday as the day of our Saviour's resurrection (Acts - 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:2; Rev. 1:10), #hê kyriakê hêmera#, was - devoted to religious worship."--_Giesler's Ecclesiastical History_, - vol. i. sect. 29, edition 1836. - -Sunday having obtained a foothold, see how the case stands in the -second century. Here are the words of Giesler again:-- - - "Both Sunday and the Sabbath were observed as festivals; the - latter however without the Jewish superstitions therewith - connected."--_Id._ vol. i. sect. 52. - -This time, as Giesler presents the case, Sunday has begun to get the -precedence. But when he gives the events of the third century he drops -the Sabbath from his record and gives the whole ground to the Sunday -and the yearly festivals of the church. Thus he says:-- - - "In Origen's time the Christians had no general festivals, - excepting the Sunday, the Parasceve (or preparation), the passover, - and the feast of Pentecost. Soon after, however, the Christians in - Egypt began to observe the festival of the Epiphany, on the sixth - of January."--_Id._ vol. i. sect. 70. - -These three statements of Giesler, relating as they do to the first, -second, and third centuries, are peculiarly calculated to mark the -progress of the work of apostasy. Coleman tersely states this work in -these words:-- - - "The observance of the Lord's day was ordered while the Sabbath - of the Jews was continued; nor was the latter superseded until - the former had acquired the same solemnity and importance, which - belonged, at first, to that great day which God originally - ordained and blessed.... But in time, after the Lord's day - was fully established, the observance of the Sabbath of the - Jews was gradually discontinued, and was finally denounced as - heretical."--_Ancient Christianity Exemplified_, chap. xxvi. sect. - 2. - -We have traced the work of apostasy in the church of Christ, and have -noted the combination of circumstances which contributed to suppress -the Sabbath, and to elevate the first day of the week. And now we -conclude this series of testimonies out of the fathers by stating the -well-known but remarkable fact, that at the very point to which we -are brought by these testimonies, the emperor Constantine while yet, -according to Mosheim, a heathen, put forth the following edict, A. D. -321, concerning the ancient Sunday festival:-- - - "Let all the judges and town people, and the occupation of all - trades, rest on the venerable day of the sun: but let those who are - situated in the country, freely and at full liberty, attend to the - business of agriculture; because it often happens that no other day - is so fit for sowing corn and planting vines; lest, the critical - moment being let slip, men should lose the commodities granted by - Heaven." - -By the act of a wicked man the heathen festival of Sunday has now -ascended the throne of the Roman Empire. We cannot here follow its -history through the long ages of papal darkness and apostasy. But as we -close, we cite the words of Mosheim respecting this law as a positive -proof that up to this time, as shown from the fathers, Sunday had been -a day of ordinary labor when men were not engaged in worship. He says -of it:-- - - "The first day of the week, which was the ordinary and stated time - for the public assemblies of the Christians, _was, in consequence - of a peculiar law enacted by Constantine, observed with greater - solemnity than it had formerly been_."--Mosheim, century 4, part - ii. chap. iv. sect. 5. - -This law restrained merchants and mechanics, but did not hinder the -farmer in his work. Yet it caused the day to be observed with greater -solemnity than formerly it had been. These words are spoken with -reference to Christians, and prove that in Mosheim's judgment, as a -historian, Sunday was a day on which ordinary labor was customary and -lawful with them prior to A. D. 321, as the record of the fathers -indicates, and as many historians testify. - -But even after this the Sabbath once more rallied, and became strong -even in the so-called Catholic church, until the Council of Laodicea A. -D. 364 prohibited its observance under a grievous curse. Thenceforward -its history is principally to be traced in the records of those bodies -which the Catholic church has anathematized as heretics. - - - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[A] Those who compose this class are unanimous in the view that the -Sunday festival was established by the church; and they all agree in -making it their day of worship, but not for the same reason; for, while -one part of them devoutly accept the institution as the Lord's day -on the authority of the church, the other part make it their day for -worship simply because it is the most convenient day. - -[B] Such is the exact nature of the covenant mentioned in Ex. 24:8; -and Paul, in Heb. 9:18-20, quotes this passage, calling the covenant -therein mentioned "the first testament," or covenant. - -[C] The case of Origen is a partial exception. Not all his works -have been accessible to the writer, but sufficient of them have been -examined to lay before the reader a just representation of his doctrine. - -[D] We notice that one first-day writer is so determined that Clement -shall testify in behalf of Sunday, that he deliberately changes his -words. Instead of giving his words as they are, thus: "the _latter_, -properly the Sabbath," in which case, as the connection shows, Saturday -is the day intended, he gives them thus: "The _eighth_, properly -the Sabbath," thereby making him call Sunday the Sabbath. This is a -remarkable fraud, but it shows that the words as written by Clement -could not be made to uphold Sunday. See "The Lord's Day," by Rev. G. H. -Jenks, p. 50. - - - - -TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES: - - Text in italics is surrounded by underscores: _italics_. - - Greek transliterations are surrounded by pound signs: #hebdomas#. - - Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Complete Testimony of the Fathers -of the First Three Centuries Concerning the Sabbath and First Day, by John Nevins Andrews - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SABBATH AND FIRST DAY *** - -***** This file should be named 55818-8.txt or 55818-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/5/8/1/55818/ - -Produced by David E. 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