We propose to take up the chain of testimony which we have traced to the last of the apostles, and carry it forward to a date when the observance of this day becomes a part of the legal history of the Roman empire. There are but few writings remaining from the close of the New-Testament canon to the time of Constantine; but it is remarkable that there is scarcely one which does not contain a recognition of the practice of the Church in this particular. We subjoin a few of these testimonies, giving, as nearly as possible, the date of the writer's birth, and omitting controverted details. Barnabas, the companion of Paul, and one of the seventy, thus. speaks in his catholic epistle:-"For which cause" [namely, the declarations of God in prophecy] "we keep the eighth day with gladness, in which Jesus rose from the dead, and having manifested himself, (to his disciples,) ascended into heaven."* Ignatius of Antioch, whom tradition declares to have been one of the children blessed by our Lord, and therefore born before the middle of the first century, thus writes:-"Let us no longer Sabbatize," [that is, keep the Jewish Sabbath,] "but keep the Lord's day, on which our life arose by him."+ Justin Martyr, born about A. D. 114, in his Second Apology for the Christians, says :-" On the day that is called Sunday, all both of country and city assemble together, and the commentaries of the apostles and the writings of the prophets are read, as time and occasion permit."‡ On Sunday we all assemble together, because it is the first day, (of the week,) on which God, transforming the darkness and chaos, made the world; and Jesus Christ, our Saviour, on that day arose from the dead: for on Friday he was crucified, and on Sunday, appearing to his disciples, he taught them those things which we now present to you as our belief."§ Tertullian, who was born about A. D. 160, declares: "On the day of our Lord's resurrection, we ought not only to avoid this, (namely, bowing the knee in prayer,) but every species of anxiety; and also * Αγομεν τὴν ἡμέραν τὴν ὀγδόην εἰς εὐφροσύνην, ἐν ᾧ καὶ ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἀνέστη ἐκ νεκρῶν καὶ φανερωθεὶς ἀνέβη εἰς τοὺς οὐρανούς.—Epist. Barnab. c. 15. † Μηκέτι σαββατίζοντες, ἀλλὰ κατὰ Κυριακὴν ζωὴν ζῶντες, ἐν ᾗ καὶ ἡ ζωὴ ἡμῶν ἀνέτειλεν δι' αὐτοῦ.—Εp. ad Magnes, c. 9. † Τῇ δὲ τοῦ ἡλίου λεγομένῃ ἡμέρᾳ, πάντων κατὰ πόλεις ἢ ἀγροὺς μενοντῶν ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ συνέλευσις γίνεται, καὶ τὰ, &c.-Pro Christianis Apologia, II. Opera, p. 98. § Τὴν δὲ τοῦ ἡλίου ἡμέραν κοινῇ πάντες τὴν συνέλευσιν ποιούμεθα, ἐπειδὴ πρώτη ἐστιν ἡμέρα, ἐν ᾗ ὁ Θεὸς τὸ σκότος καὶ τὴν ὕλην τρέψας, κόσμον ἐποίησε, καὶ Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς ὁ ἡμέτερος σωτὴρ τῇ αὐτῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀνέστη, &c., i. g. s., p. 99. See also Dialog. cum Tryphone Judoo, pp. 241, 245, 260; and the unknown author of Quæst. et Respons. ad Orthodox, p. 469. ! lay aside our ordinary business, lest we give place to the devil."* Irenæus, the disciple of Polycarp, who was born about A. D. 120, wrote an express treatise on this point, as we learn from Eusebius : -"Among these, also, was Irenæus, who, in the name of those brethren in Gaul over whom he presided, wrote an epistle, in which he maintains the duty of celebrating the mystery of the resurrection of our Lord, only on the day of the Lord.”+ Theophilus of Antioch, contemporary with Irenæus, declares:— “Both custom and reason challenge from us that we should honour the Lord's day, seeing it was on that day that our Lord Jesus Christ completed his resurrection from the dead."+ Dionysius of Corinth, who flourished about A. D. 170, declares: Melito of Sardis, who is one of our most important witnesses concerning the canon of Scripture, wrote a work on the Lord's day.|| Origen, born A. D. 185, says, in his Homily on Exodus :-" But if it appears from the Holy Scriptures that God rained manna from heaven on the Lord's day, and did not on the Sabbath, the Jews can thereby understand that our Lord's day is preferred to the Jewish Sabbath."T The Apostolical Constitutions, which, though not of apostolic origin, are yet of very great antiquity, and date about this period, declare :-" What apology will he make to God, who does not assemble on the Lord's day to hear the saving word concerning the resurrection," &c.** Clement of Alexandria, who flourished during the latter part of the second and beginning of the third century, says that "Plato predicts the Lord's day as holy, and explains the proper mode of keeping the day."++ Athanasius, born about A. D. 298, declares:-"We assemble on the Sabbath day, not returning again to Judaism, for we do not keep false Sabbaths; but we come together on the Sabbath, adoring Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath. Formerly among the ancients the *"Solo die dominico resurrectionis non ab isto tantum, sed omni anxietatis habitu et officio carere debemus, differentes etiam negotia, ne quem diabolo locum demus."-Tertullian de Oratione, c. 23. † Eusebius, Eccles. Hist, lib. v, cap. 24. ‡ Quoted in Bingham, Orig. Eccles., lib. xx, cap. ii, § 5. § See Original in Bingham, ut supra. || Eusebius, Eccles. Hist., lib. iv, cap. 26. ¶ Quoted in Bingham, lib. xx, cap. ii, § 1. ** Lib. ii, cap. 59, quoted in Pearce's Vindication of the Dissenters, p. 499. ff Clem. Stromata, vii, quoted in Bingham, ut supra. (Jewish) Sabbath was honoured, but the Lord changed the day of the Sabbath into the Lord's day."* This testimony brings us to the time of Constantine, when the Lord's day was ordained to be a dies non juridicus, and its observance made a part of the laws of the Roman empire. In the edict proclaiming this ordinance, we find it recognized as an ancient and unquestioned institution; and although agricultural labours are allowed on that day, it is distinctly stated that it was only as works of necessity and mercy; and even this permission, in the unguarded form in which it was given in the law, was protested against by many councils, the canons of seven of which are given by Bingham.† From the time of Constantine the usage is conceded; although the language of Christian writers does not materially vary from that used in the testimonies already quoted. We ask any candid mind to look at this chain of evidence, showing an unvarying observance of this day from the time of the apostles, and of apostolic men down to the present day; and evincing a unanimity on this point that we scarcely find on any other, except the essentials of Christianity; and explain it fairly on any other ground than that the Lord's day was made the Christian Sabbath, by the same authority that ordained every other part of the New Dispensation. 9. Our last argument is drawn from the blessing of God on the observance of the Lord's day. It is difficult to conceive that God could allow the Church to remain in so serious an error as this would be for eighteen hundred years; and that this error, unlike any other that has ever been held, should produce no perceptible evil. If the Church is mistaken on this point, it is the most gigantic Sabbath-breaking institution the world ever saw; and the God who so fearfully punished the Sabbath violations of the Old Testament Church, could not but frown upon this stupendous crime of the New. But, instead of this, the observance of the day has been pre-eminently blessed. The holiest names that glow in the Church's history are blended with its hallowed scenes; the richest ingatherings of souls that have ever been made, were made during its hours; the lands that have most sacredly cherished its observance have been the greenest spots among the nations; and the sweetest memories of piety, the richest trophies of grace, the prayers of the sainted dead, the blood of the noble martyred, the bright recollections of the past, and the brighter anticipations of the future; in a word, all that is most lovely, most glo* Augusti Archäologie, die Feste der Heretiker, 3, 346, note. ↑ Bingham, lib. xx, cap. ii, § iii. rious, and most precious, in the heritage of the Church, cluster around and consecrate the observance of this "queen of the week." Would God thus endorse a lie? Has he ever thus blessed an error? What, then, is all the wondrous history of Lord's-day blessings and Lord's-day judgments, that stretches its belt of light along the past, but the permanent, cumulative testimony of the Great Head of the Church, that this change has been made by his direction, and according to his purpose ? Gathering together all these multiplied items of proof, we regard the conclusion as irresistible, that the Lord's day is, by the authority of God, the Christian Sabbath. We had intended, as a corollary to this argument, to subjoin some remarks on the proper means of promoting the observance of the Lord's day; but our limits forbid farther enlargement. We will only remark, in conclusion, that while we most earnestly resist the fanatical crusade that Infidelity is now waging against all laws prohibiting certain violations of the Sabbath, we have no confidence in any effort of civil law to enforce its observance. The province of human legislation here, as on all similar subjects, is negative rather than positive; preventing the invasion of right, rather than enforcing the performance of duty. We hold the Sabbath to be the Paradise of the poor man's week; and all that we ask of those who bear the sword of earthly authority, is to take their stand at the portals of this "garden enclosed," and, with "the flaming brand,” prohibit the unhallowed intrusion of King, or Congress, or lawless rapacity, to invade its sweet seclusion or disturb its holy rest. But we desire not that this guard shall itself intrude, to drive unwilling feet to these grateful shades, as to a weekly prison; and enforce where they are at liberty only to protect. And this we may rightfully demand: for the majority of every political community, be it Christian, Pagan, Mussulman, or Jewish, have a right to enact laws for the protection of their lawful privileges; and a minority have no right to disturb them in its peaceful exercise. It is trifling with our common sense to say, that the rights of the poor artisan, labourer, or shop-keeper, are not seriously invaded by permitting his rapacious employer to force him to labour seven days in the week or lose his place; or by allowing his unscrupulous neighbour to open his shop beside him, attract his customers, and diminish his sales, as well as disturb his Sabbath quiet by the noise and bustle of trade. To protect the weary labourer and the humble trader from this petty, but, in the aggregate, most formidable oppression, we have a right to demand the interposing arm of legal prohibition, and to resist every effort to break down this munition of laws, as the beginning of a tyranny the most cruel and heartless, because its sorest pressure must be felt in the end by the poor, the defenceless, and the unfriended. To secure the proper observance of the Sabbath, we must look to other agencies than human law. We must teach men to love the Sabbath, as the lent day of Eden, and the prophetic type of Heaven, embodying a relic of the peace of the one, and a promise of the rest of the other. We must convince them that it is not only an obligation, but a blessing; that it is God's great gift to toiling man and beast; the link he has given to bind together things sacred and profane, things temporal and eternal; and by interfusing a heavenly spirit into our earthly life, to elevate, civilize, and refine society. We must teach the poor man to hail its soft light, as it steals into his cottage window, as the glad signal of Heaven to welcome him to the bosom of his family; to sweeten the joys of his humble home; to call him to the house of God, where his mind shall expand and his heart soften, as his hopes are remembered and his cares forgotten; while his toilsome lot on earth is gilded with a calm and holy light, as there rises to his gladdened vision the heritage of rest above. We must convince the rich man of the wise political economy of the Sabbath; its relation to a nation's wealth and greatness; its action as a great balance-wheel in human affairs, checking over-production and under-payment; preventing over-working and deterioration; restoring wasted energies; keeping alive the pure and powerful influence of domestic joys; compensating for the neglect of early education; and preparing the labourer to return refreshed, elevated, and cheered to the toil of another week. We must cause them to feel that the violation of Sabbath rest is as blind, suicidal, and ruinous an economy, as the robbery of the refreshing sleep of the night. When to this pervading sense of the value and sweetness of the Sabbath, there shall be added a waking church; a ministry burning with light as well as love; a membership emulous of the fervent spirit of their spiritual chiefs; a sanctified press; a purified literature, and a Christianized education; then shall we hope to see that Sabbath which is "a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable;" that Sabbath whose golden promise has brightened the horizon of the future to the eye of prophecy; and which, when it weekly draws its girdle of light around the glad earth, shall aptly prefigure that blessed Sabbatism, where "the wicked shall cease from troubling, and the weary be at rest.” FOURTH SERIES, VOL. 1-3 |