Constantine was Emperor, changed the name of Sunday, giving it the more
imposing title of Lord's day.
It cannot be doubted, that the laws of Constantine did much to make the first
day conspicuous throughout the empire, as all public business was forbidden
upon it. They changed its character from a special day, in which, as a weekly
festival, all kinds of business and labor were performed in city and country, to be,
as Eusebius says, the very first. This imperial favor for the first day operated
against all who conscientiously regarded the Sabbath from respect to the fourth
commandment, in obedience to which the seventh day had always been
observed; and if it had produced a general abandonment of its observance, it
would not have been very surprising, considering the influence of court
26
example, and the general ignorance and darkness of the age. This, however,
does not appear to have been the case. The Sabbath was still extensively
observed; and to counteract it the Council of Laodicea, about A.D. 350, passed a
decree, saying, "It is not proper for Christians to Judaize, and to cease from labor
on the Sabbath, but they ought to work on that day, and put especial honor upon
the Lord's day, as Christians. If any be found Judaizing, let him be
anathematized."
But this did not produce any material change, for Socrates, a writer of the fifth
century, who resided at Constantinople, makes the following remarks upon the
celebration of the Sabbath at the time he wrote, A.D. 440. He says, "There are
various customs concerning assembling; for though all the churches throughout
the whole world celebrate the sacred mysteries on the Sabbath day, yet the
Alexandrians and the Romans, from an ancient tradition, refuse to do this; but the
Egyptians who are in the neighborhood of Alexandria, and those inhabiting
Thebais, indeed have assemblies on the Sabbath, but do not participate in the
mysteries, as is the custom of the Christians. At Caesarea, Cappadocia, and in
Cyprus, on the Sabbath and Dominical day, at twilight, with lighted lamps, the
presbyters and bishops interpret the Scriptures. At Rome they fast every
Sabbath."
This account of the manner of celebrating the Sabbath in the fifth century, is
corroborated by Sozomen, in his Ecclesiastical History, b. 7, c. 9. He says, "At
Constantinople, and almost among all, the Christians assembled upon the
Sabbath, and also upon the first day of the week, except at Rome and
Alexandria; the ecclesiastical assemblies at Rome were not upon the Sabbath,
as in almost all other churches of the rest of the world; and in many cities and
villages in Egypt, they used to commune in the evening of the Sabbath, on which
day there were public assemblies."
In regard to fasting on the Sabbath at Rome, referred to by Socrates, it ought
to be said, that from the earliest times to the fourth century, the practice had been
to observe the Sabbath as a holiday. But the Church of Rome, in its opposition to
the Jews, made it a fast day, that the separation might be marked and strong. In
the eastern churches they never fasted upon the Sabbath, excepting one
Sabbath in the year, which was the day before the Passover. But in the western
churches they celebrated a fast every week. It was in reference to this that
Ambrose said, "When I come to Rome, I fast upon the Sabbath; when I am here,
I do not fast." Augustine also said concerning this, "If they say it is sinful to fast
on the Sabbath, then they would condemn the Roman Church, and many places
near to and far from
27
it. And if they should think it a sin not to fast on the Sabbath, then they would
blame many eastern churches, and the far greater part of the world." This
Sabbath fasting was opposed by the eastern church; and in the sixth general
council, held at Constantinople, it was commanded that the Sabbath and
Dominical days be kept as festivals, and that no one fast or mourn upon them.
The practice of fasting, therefore, was chiefly in the western churches, about
Rome.
It is perhaps difficult to determine exactly the relative importance attached to
the seventh and first days of the week at this time. Sufficient may be found,
however, to assure us, that the Sabbath was observed, and that no one regarded
Sunday as having taken its place. This is shown by the provision of the Council
of Laodicea, A.D. 365, that the Gospels should be read on that day. It is shown
by the action of a Council in 517, (mentioned in Robinson's History of Baptism,)
which regulated and enforced the observance of the Sabbath. It is shown by the
expostulation of Gregory of Nyssa, "How can you look upon the Lord's day, if you
neglect the Sabbath? Do you not know that they are sisters, and that in despising
the one you affront the other?" And as sisters we find them hand in hand in the
ecclesiastical canons. Penalties were inflicted by the councils both of Laodicea
and Trullo, on clergymen who did not observe both days as festivals.
How the first day of the week, or Lord's day, was observed in the early part of
the fifth century, we may learn from the words of St. Jerome. In a funeral oration
for the Lady Paula, he says: "She, with all her virgins and widows who lived at
Bethlehem in cloister with her, upon the Lord's day, repaired duly to the church,
or house of God, which was near to her cell; and after her return from thence to
her own lodgings, she herself and all her company fell to work, and they all
performed their task, which was the making of clothes and garments for
themselves and for others, as they were appointed."
St. Chrysostom, patriarch of Constantinople, "recommended to his audience,
after impressing upon themselves and their families what they had heard on the
Lord's day, to return to their daily employments and trades."
Dr. Francis White, Lord Bishop of Ely, speaking of this matter, says, "The
Catholic Church, for more than six hundred years after Christ, permitted labor,
and gave license to many Christian people to work upon the Lord's day, at such
hours as they were not commanded to be present at the public service by the
precepts of the church."
In the sixth century efforts were made to prevent this labor.
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The following promulgation of a synod held by command of King Junthran, of
Burgundy, will show the condition of things, and the means used to improve it:
"We see the Christian people, in an unadvised manner, deliver to contempt the
Dominical day, and, as in other days, indulge in continual labor." Therefore they
determined to teach the people subject to them to keep the Dominical day, which,
in not observed by the lawyer, he should irreparably lose his cause, and if a
countryman or servant did not keep it, he should be beaten with heavier blows of
cudgels. The council of Orleans, held 538, prohibited the country labor on
Sunday which Constantine by his laws permitted. According to Chambers, this
council also declared, "that to hold it unlawful to travel with horses, cattle, and
carriages, to prepare food, or to do any thing necessary to the cleanliness and
decency of houses or persons, savors more of Judaism than Christianity."
According to Lucius, in another council held in Narbonne, in France, in the
seventh century, they also forbid this country work.
Early in the seventh century, in the time of Pope Gregory I., the subject of the
Sabbath attracted considerable attention. There was one class of persons who
declared, "that it was not lawful to do any manner of work upon the Saturday, or
the old Sabbath; another, that no man ought to bathe himself on the Lord's day,
or their new Sabbath." Against both of these doctrines Pope Gregory wrote a
letter to the Roman citizens. Baronius, in his Councils, says, "This year (603) at
Rome, St. Gregory, the Pope, corrected that error which some preached, by
Jewish superstition, or the Grecian custom, that it was a duty to worship on the
Sabbath, as likewise upon the Dominical day;" and he calls such preachers the
preachers of Antichrist. Nearly the same doctrine was preached again in the time
of Gregory VIL, A.D. 1074, about five hundred years after what we are now
speaking of. This is sufficient to show that the Sabbath was kept until those times
of decline which introduced so many errors in faith and practice. Indeed, it is
sufficient to show, that wherever the subject has been under discussion, the
Sabbath has found its advocates, both in theory and in practice.
According to Lucius, "Pope Urban II., in the eleventh century, dedicated the
Sabbath to the Virgin Mary, with a mass. Binius says, "Pope Innocent I.
constituted a fast on the Sabbath day, which seems to be the first constitution of
that fact; but dedicating the Sabbath to the Virgin Mary was by Urban II., in the
latter part of the eleventh century." About this time we find Esychius teaching the
doctrine that the precept for the observance of the Sabbath is not one of the
commandments, because it is not at all times to be observed according to the
letter;
29
and Thomas Aquinas, another Romish Ecclesiastic, saying, "that it seems to be
inconvenient that the precept for observing the Sabbath should be put among the
precepts of the Decalogue, if it do not at all belong to it; that the precept, 'Thou
shalt not make a graven image,' and the precept for observing the Sabbath, are
ceremonial."
FIRST DAY OBSERVANCE INTRODUCED INTO GREAT BRITAIN
First day observance in this country being derived from England, mainly, we
are interested in learning the origin of the observance in that country. As the
great body of the professed church drink from this stream, a knowledge of its
fountain head is of much value. The "History of the Sabbath" testifies to the point:
The observance of the first day was not so early in England and in Scotland
as in most other parts of the Roman Empire. According to Heylyn, there were
Christian societies established in Scotland as early as A.D. 435; and it is
supposed that the gospel was preached in England in the first century by St.
Paul. For many ages after Christianity was received in those kingdoms, they paid
no respect to the first day. Binius, a Catholic writer, in the second volume of his
works, give some account of the bringing into use of the Dominical day [Sunday]
in Scotland, as late as A.D. 1203. "This year," he says, "a council was held in
Scotland concerning the introduction of the Lord's day, which council was held in
1203, in the time of Pope Innocent III.," and he quotes as his authority Roger
Hoveden, Matth. Paris, and Lucius' Eccl. Hist. He says, "By this council it was
enacted that it should be holy time from the twelfth hour on Saturday noon until
Monday."
Boethus (de Scottis, page 344,) says, "In 1203, William, king of Scotland,
called a council of the principal of his kingdom, by which it was decreed, that
Saturday, from the twelfth hour at noon, should be holy, that they should do no
profane work, and this they should observe until Monday."
Binius says that in 1201, Eustachius, Abbot of Flay, came to England, and
therein preached from city to city, and from place to place. He prohibited using
markets on Dominical days; and for this he professed to have a special
command from heaven. The history of this singular document, entitled, A holy
Command of the Dominical Day, the pious Abbot stated to be this: "It came from
Heaven to Jerusalem, and was found on St. Simon's tomb in Golgotha. And the
Lord commanded this epistle, which for three days and three nights men looked
upon, and falling to
30
the earth, prayed for God's mercy. And after the third hour, the patriarch stood up;
and Akarias the archbishop stretched out his mitre, and they took the holy epistle
of God and found it thus written."
"I, the Lord, who commanded you that ye should observe the Dominical Day,
and ye have not kept it, and ye have not repented of your sins, as I said by my
gospel, heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away; I
have caused repentance unto life to be preached unto you, and ye have not
believed; I sent pagans against you, who shed your blood, yet ye believed not;
and because ye kept not the Dominical day, for a few days ye had famine; but I
soon gave you plenty, and afterwards ye did worse; I will again, that none from
the ninth hour of the Sabbath until the rising of the sun on Monday, do work any
thing unless what is good, which if any do, let him amend by repentance; and if
ye be not obedient to this command, amen, I say unto you, and I swear unto you
by my seat, and throne, and cherubims, who keep my holy seat, because I will
not change any thing by another epistle; but I will open the heavens, and for rain
I will rain upon you stones, and logs of wood, and hot water by night, and none
may be able to prevent, but that I may destroy all wicked men. This I say unto
you, ye shall die the death, because of the Dominical holy day and other festivals
of my saints which ye have not kept. I will send unto you beasts having the heads
