FACTS of FAITH

(Part B)

By CHRISTIAN EDWARDSON
(Revised) Copyright, 1943

 

THE NEW TESTAMENT REST DAY

p 80 --Christ is "the way, the truth, and the life." John 14: 6. He has gone all the way before us, "leaving us an example, that ye should follow His steps" (I Peter 2:21), and "he that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked" (1 John 2: 6), and all will admit that the footsteps of Jesus cannot lead any one astray. Let us therefore agree to follow His steps in regard to Sabbath observance. He worked as a "carpenter" at Nazareth during "the six working days," but rested on the seventh-day Sabbath. (Mark 6: 2, 3; Ezekiel 46: 1; Luke 4: 16.) And after He began His ministry, He faithfully continued His Sabbath-keeping. (V. 31.)

While He taught His disciples that such necessary work as eating, healing the sick, or lifting a sheep out of a pit, was lawful to do on the Sabbath days (Matthew 12: 1-12), He thereby acknowledged the claims of the Sabbath law, which makes ordinary work not lawful on that day. It was "the Spirit of Christ" in the prophets (I Peter 1: 10, 11) who instructed His people to "bear no burden on the Sabbath day" through the gates of Jerusalem (Jeremiah 17: 21, 22, 27). And when fore-telling the destruction of that city (which took place A. D. 70) Jesus warned His disciples saying: "But pray ye that your flight be not . . . on the Sabbath day." Matthew 24: 20. This warning was not, as some would have us believe, on account of the gates being closed on that day, for in the same connection Jesus says: "Let him which is on the housetop not come down."' V. 17. But how could he flee without coming down from the housetop? There can be only one answer. There was an elevated road from one flat roof to another on which they could flee till they reached the wall, where they could be let down. (See Acts 9: 25; Joshua 2: 15; 1 Samuel 19: 12.) In such a case closed

p 81 -- gates could hardly come into consideration. This instruction shows Christ's sacred regard for the Sabbath, and His anxiety that His church should keep it properly. A Lutheran minister says: " When God gave the third [fourth] commandment, . . . He designated definitely the seventh day, which already had been sanctified by Him at creation, as this rest day. And as Christ says that He had not come to destroy the law (Matthew 5: 17), so He has also in the words of His last prophetic speech (Matthew 24: 20), which has reference to the destruction of Jerusalem, and the flight of the Christian church from the
doomed city, expressly emphasized the Sabbath, or Saturday, as the still valid rest day, by saying: 'Pray, that your flight be not on the Sabbath' (on which day ye according to the third [fourth] commandment should rest, and not undertake any long journey). For this reason many godly Christians have solemnly upbraided the Christian church for keeping Sunday instead of Saturday: it [the church] can have no right to change God's commandment, and, if in the catechism the whole commandment had been embodied verbatim in its entire wording from Exodus 20: 8-11, as has been done in the Heidelberg Catechism, then we should still keep the Saturday holy, and not the Sunday." -- ''Opbyggelig Katekismus undervisning," ("Edifying Instruction in the Catechism,") K. A. Dachsel, pp. 23, 24. Bergen: 1887.

"'Neither on the Sabbath day.' The Jewish Christians might entertain scruples against traveling on the Sabbath beyond the legal distance, which was about five furlongs." -- "A
Commentary on the Gospels of Matthew and Mark," John J. Owen, D. D., LL. D., p. 314. New York: Scribner and Co., 1868.

Christ had so carefully instructed His followers about proper Sabbath-keeping, that they would not even anoint His sacred body on the Sabbath. They "prepared spices and ointments" on Friday, "and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment," but early the next morning, " the first day of the week, " they came to the grave to anoint Him. (Luke 23:52-56; 24:1.) They left their work unfinished from Friday evening

p 82 -- until Sunday morning, because they "rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment." Luke wrote this thirty-five years after the resurrection. Some claim that the Sabbath was abolished at the cross, and that therefore the Sabbath commandment is not mentioned in the New Testament. But here we find the Sabbath commandment in the New Testament, and we find that it enjoins the keeping of the "Sabbath" which comes between Friday and the "first day of the week" and that Christ's followers were keeping it.

The apostles are entirely silent in regard to any change of the day of rest from the seventh to the first day of the week. Paul, while working among the Gentiles, knew of no change. At Antioch he preached on the Sabbath, and when asked by the Gentiles to preach the same sermon again, he did not suggest a meeting on Sunday, but waited till "the next Sabbath day." (Acts 13: 14, 42, 44.) He knew of no other weekly rest day than the Sabbath, for he worked at his trade as tent maker during the " six working days " (Ezekiel 46: 1), but " he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks" (Acts 18: 1-4). And this was his custom. (Acts 17: 2.) When he came where there were no Jewish synagogues, he did not stay in the hustling, bustling, heathen city on God's holy day, but the record says: "And on the Sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made." Acts 16: 12, 13. This shows it was a matter of conscience with him to keep the Sabbath. He says: " Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law." Romans 3: 31.

If Christ or the apostles had changed the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the week, does it not seem strange that they never informed us about it in the New Testament, which is the only record they left us? Could they have neglected to inform us regarding so important a matter? Paul declares emphatically: "I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you." Acts 20: 20. History reveals that most of the Christian church kept the seventh-day Sabbath till the seventh century.

THE SABBATH IN HISTORY

p 83 -- As we continue our study of the Sabbath question, we shall first consult an eyewitness, who had traveled over the greater part of Christendom: Socrates, the Greek historian, who was born about 380 A. D. M'Clintock and Strong's Cyclopedia says of him: "He is generally considered the most exact and judicious of the three continuators of the history of Eusebius, being less florid in his style and more careful in his statements than Sozomen, and less credulous than Theodoret. 'His impartiality is so strikingly displayed,' says Waddington, 'as to make his orthodoxy questionable to Baronius, the celebrated Roman Catholic historian; but Valesius, in his life, has shown that there is no reason for such suspicion.'" -- Vol. IX, art. "Socrates," p. 854.

Socrates says of the year 391 A. D: "For although almost all Churches throughout the world celebrate the sacred mysteries [the Lord's Supper] on the Sabbath of every week, yet the Christians of Alexandria and at Rome, on account of some ancient tradition, refuse to do this. The Egyptians in the neighborhood of Alexandria, and the inhabitants of Thebais, hold their religious meetings on the Sabbath, but do not participate of the mysteries in the manner usual among Christians in general: for . . . in the evening . . . they partake of the mysteries. " -- "Ecclesiastical History," Book 5, chap. 22, page 289. London: G. Bell and Sons, 1892.

The footnote which accompanies the foregoing quotation explains the use of the word "Sabbath." It says: "That is, upon the Saturday. It should be observed, that Sunday is never called 'the Sabbath' (to sabbaton) by the ancient Fathers and historians. . . . The Latins kept the Sabbath as a fast, the Greeks as a feast; and the 64th of the Apostolical Canons forbids any of the clergy to fast on the Sabbath (Saturday) under pain of being deposed, and likewise a lay-

p 84 -- man under the penalty of excommunication." -- Id., p. 289.

This shows that all the churches throughout the world kept Saturday as the Sabbath in 391, but that some did not have the Lord's Supper till in the evening. There had sprung up a hot controversy in regard to fasting on the Sabbath. Who was it that urged this Sabbath fasting against the will of the churches in general? Pope Sylvester (314-335) was the first to order the churches to fast on Saturday, and Pope Innocent (402-417) made it a binding law in the churches that obeyed him.

Dr. Peter Heylyn says: " Innocentius did ordaine the Saturday or Sabbath to be alwayes fasted. . . . It was by him intended for a binding law. [Most of the churches refused, however, to obey him.] And in this difference it stood a long time together, till in the end of the Roman Church obtained the cause, and Saturday became a fast, almost through all the parts of the Westerne world. I say the Westerne world, and of that alone: The Easterne Churches being so farre from altering their ancient custome, that in the sixth Councell of Constantinople, Anno 692, they did admonish those of Rome to forbeare fasting on that day, upon pain of censures. Which I have noted here, in its proper place, that we might know the better how the matter stood betweene the Lord's Day, and the Sabbath; how hard a thing it was for one to get the mastery of the other." -- " History of the Sabbath," part 2, chap. 2, pp. 44, 45. London: 1636. (The original spelling is retained.)

This shows how the popes tried to get rid of the Sabbath. They knew that the churches generally would not give it up willingly, and as yet the popes did not have the power to force them to do it. But if the Sabbath was made a day of fasting, the children would soon tire of it, and after a few generations the majority would gladly give up the gloomy fast day. This effort continued from about A. D. 391 to 692, and even then it was hard for the Sunday to get the mastery over the Sabbath, says

Dr. Heylyn. Here we can readily see that it was not changed at the time of the apostles. TOP

Rev. Joseph Bingham, M. A., says:

p 85 -- "The ancient Christians were very careful in the observation of Saturday, or the seventh day, which was the ancient Jewish Sabbath. Some observed it as a fast, others as a festival; but all unanimously agreed in keeping it as a more solemn day of religious worship and adoration. In the Eastern church it was ever observed as a festival, one only Sabbath excepted, which was called the Great Sabbath, between Good Friday and Easter-day. . . . From hence it is plain, that all, the Oriental churches, and the greatest part of the world, observed the Sabbath as a festival. . . . Athanasius likewise tells us, that they held religious assemblies on the Sabbath, not because they were infected with Judaism, but to worship Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath, Epiphanius says the same." -- " Antiquities of the Christian, Church," Vol. II, Book XX, chap. 3, Sec. 1, pp. 1137, 1138. London: 1852.

THE PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANS -- Bishop Jeremy Taylor says: "The primitive Christians did keep the Sabbath of the Jews; . . . therefore the Christians, for a long time together, did keep their conventions upon the Sabbath, in which some portions of the law were read: and this continued till the time of the Laodicean council; which also took care that the reading of the Gospels should be mingled with their reading of the law." -- " The Whole Works" of Jeremy Taylor, Vol. IX, p. 416 (R. Heber's Edition, Vol. XII, p. 416). London: 1822.

The edict here mentioned is "Canon XVI, " which reads: "Canon XVI. -- The Gospels are to be read on the Sabbath Day, with the other Scriptures." -- " Index Canonum," John Fulton, D. D., LL. D., p. 255. New York: 1883.

Dr. T. H. Morer (a Church of England divine) says: "'The primitive Christians had a great veneration for the Sabbath, and spent the day in devotion and sermons. And it is
not to be doubted but they derived this practice from the Apostles themselves, as appears by several scriptures to that purpose." -- "Dialogues on the Lord's Day," p. 189. London: 1701. TOP

p 86 -- Dr. Theodore Zahn (Lutheran Professor in Theology at the University of Erlangen) says: "The Apostles could not have conceded to any other than one man the right to 'change the customs Moses had given:' the Son of Man, who had called Himself Lord also of the Sabbath day; but of Him they knew that He had neither transgressed nor abolished the Jewish Sabbath, but truly sanctified it. And they knew also, how He had threatened any of His disciples who might dare to abolish even one of the least of the commands of Moses.

"But this has no one dared to do with the Sabbath commandment during the time of the Apostles. Certainly not within the territory of the Jewish Christendom; for they continued to keep the actual Sabbath. . . . Nor could any one have thought of such a thing within the Gentile Christian domain as far as Paul's influence reached." -- " Sondagens Historie" (History of Sunday), pp. 33, 34. Christiania: P. T. Mallings, 1879.

THE EXAMPLE AND COMMAND OF JESUS -- Dr. Zahn further says in regard to the early Christians: "They observed the Sabbath in the most conscientious manner: otherwise, they would have been stoned. Instead of this, we learn from the book of the Acts that at times they were highly respected even by that part of their own nation that remained in unbelief. . . . That the observance,of Sunday commenced among them would be a supposition which would have no seeming ground for it, and all probability against it. . . . The Sabbath was a strong tie which united them with the life of the whole people, and in keeping the Sabbath holy, they followed not only the example, but also the command of Jesus."Geschichte des Sonntags, " pp. 13, 14.

Bishop Grimelund of Norway (Lutheran) says: "The early Christians were of Jewish descent, and the first Christian church in Jerusalem was a Jewish-Christian church. It conformed, as could be expected, to the Jewish law and Sabbath-custom; it had no express instruction from the Lord

p 87 -- to do otherwise." -- "Sondagens Historie" p. 13. Christiania, Norway: Den norske Lutherstiftelses Forlag, 1886.

After citing the fact that Christ arose on the first day, he continues: "But, one could reason, that for all this it does not follow that one should give up and forsake the 'Sabbath' which God If has commanded, . . nor that we should transfer this to another day of the week, even if that is such a memorable day. To do this would require an equally definite command from God, whereby the former command is abolished, but where can we find such a command? It is true, such a command is not to be found." -- Id., p. 18. TOP

Doctor John C. L. Gieseler says: " While the Jewish Christians of Palestine retained the entire Mosaic law, and consequently the Jewish festivals, the Gentile Christians observed also the Sabbath and the passover (1 Corinthians 5: 6 - 8), with reference to the last scenes of Jesus' life, but without Jewish superstition." -- " A Compendium of Ecclesiastical History," Vol. I, chap. 2, sec. 30, p. 92. Edinburgh: 1846.

A little later we shall trace Christ's true followers from the days of the apostles to our own time, and show how they retained the Bible Sabbath with the other parts of the apostolic faith. But we will here break off this narrative, and trace step by step how Sunday-keeping came into the popular church, and the influences which worked together to accomplish the change from the seventh to the first day of the week.

SUNDAY IN THE EARLY CHURCH

p 88 -- The word "Sunday" is not found in the Bible, but the "first day" of the week is mentioned just nine times. Let us examine these nine texts.

1. -- The first day of the week originated as a work day. This world was created on a Sunday, so that, wherever one goes, he is reminded of God's Sunday work. (Genesis 1: 1-5.)

2. -- "In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene," Matthew 28: 1. Here we notice that Sunday is an ordinary "week" day, not a holy day, and that the New Testament says the Sabbath is over when the first day begins.

3. -- "When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint Him. And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulcher at the rising of the sun. And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone." Mark 16: 1-3. Here again we see that Sunday is a working day on which work was resumed.

(The fourth text we will examine a little later.) TOP

5. -- Christ was buried on Friday, "and that day was the preparation" for the Sabbath. After the burial, His followers returned home "and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment. Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulcher, bringing the spices." Luke 23: 54-56; 24: 1. Here three, consecutive days are mentioned: They prepared the spices on Friday, rested on the Sabbath, and early Sunday morning they went to finish the work left over from Friday. So we see that Sunday is a working day, which follows immediately after the Sabbath of the New Testament.

p 89 -- 6. -- "The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulcher." John 20: 1. This is simply a repetition of the other texts.

7. -- "Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut, where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews," Jesus appeared. John 20:19. "Here," says some one, "you see the disciples were gathered to keep the new Sabbath in memory of the resurrection." But the text does, not say that they were gathered in honor of the day, but " for fear of the Jews. " Let us now examine the fourth text.

4. -- "Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene. . . . She went and told them that had been with Him, as they mourned and wept. And they, when they had heard that He was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not. After that He appeared" to the two who went to Emmaus. They returned and told the rest: "neither believed they them. Afterward He appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen Him after He was risen." Mark 16: 9-14.

This is the same meeting which is recorded in John 20:19. We ask: How could they be gathered to celebrate Sunday in honor of Christ's resurrection, when they did not believe He had risen? No, the disciples were simply in their common living quarters, and were having their evening meal when Jesus came, and they gave Him some fish and honey that was left. (Mark 16: 14; Luke 24: 36 - 43.)

8. -- In Acts 20: 7 we have the only place in the New Testament where a religious meeting is said to be held on the "first day of the week," and this was a farewell meeting, when, of course, it was natural to celebrate the Lord's supper in parting. (7, 25.) Besides this, the believers gathered "daily," breaking bread" (Acts 2: 46), so there was nothing in the act to indicate that the day was holy. Then too, the meeting at Troas was held on Saturday night. In the Bible reckoning, every day begins and ends at sunset, because God began the work of

p 90 -- creation with the dark part and ended the day with the light part. "The evening and the morning were the first day." Genesis 1: 1-5. "From even unto even, shall ye celebrate your Sabbath." Leviticus 23: 32. TOP

"And at even, when the sun did set, they brought unto Him all that were diseased." Mark 1: 32. They would not bring them until after the Sabbath; but "at even, when the sun did set," the first working day of the week began. Therefore the Sabbath began at sunset Friday, and ended at sunset Saturday, and the first day of the week began at sunset on our Saturday evening, and ended at sunset on our Sunday evening. The only dark part of the first day, was therefore the night that preceded it, as the night following it was part of the second day. The meeting at Troas was held at night, for "there were many lights in the upper chamber, where they were gathered together," and Paul "continued his speech until midnight." Being "the first day of the week," it must have been our Saturday night. (Acts 20: 7, 8.) Having spent the Sabbath together, they simply had a farewell meeting in the evening. Professor McGarvey says: "I conclude that the brethren met on the night after the Jewish Sabbath which was still observed as a day of rest by all of them who were Jews or Jewish proselytes; and considering this the beginning of the first day of the week, spent it in the manner above described. On Sunday morning Paul and his companions resumed their journey. " -- " Commentary on Acts, under Acts 20: 7.

Conybeare and Howson write: "It was the evening which succeeded the Jewish Sabbath. . . . On the Sunday morning the vessel was about to sail. The Christians of Troas were gathered together at this solemn time. . . . The night was dark. . . . Many lamps were burning in the room where the congregation was assembled." -- " Life and Epistles of the Apostle Paul," pp. 520, 521. New York.

If Sunday was their holy day, why then would Paul stay with the brethren at Troas seven days, and leave them on

p 91 -- Sunday morning to walk eighteen and one-half miles that day, " for so had he appointed." This was planning quite a work for Sunday! (Acts 20: 6, 13.)

9. -- "Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store." 1 Corinthians 16: 2. This text says that every one should " lay by him in store. " The new Swedish and new Norwegian Bibles read, at "home by himself." Weymouth's reads: "Let each of you put on one side and store up at his home." Ballantine's translation reads: "Let each of you lay up at home." And the Syriac has it: "Let every one of you lay aside and preserve at home." So the text proves the opposite of what is often claimed for it.

The apostle Paul was instructing the believers to take time on Sunday to lay aside at home from the wages received during the preceeding week, such an amount as they could afford to give for the relief of their poor brethren at Jerusalem. If we always remembered on Sunday to take something from our previous week's earnings and lay it up at home, we would find a larger ready offering at hand, when the call comes, than if we wait, and give what we happen to have on hand. The fact that they should sit down and figure up their accounts to see how "God hath prospered " them, and give accordingly, would indicate that the day was not considered a holy day. Then, too, Sunday is never given a sacred title in the New Testament.

THE LORD'S DAY -- Some claim that "the Lord's day" of Revelation 1: 10, refers to Sunday, but this text does not say which day is meant, and Sunday is not called the Lord's day in any other place in the New Testament. There is therefore no evidence that Sunday is meant here. It is generally agreed that John wrote his Gospel two years after he wrote Revelation. If the term " Lord's day " had become the designation for Sunday, when John wrote Revelation, then he would have used that name for it two years later when he wrote the Gospel, but he simply calls it " the first day of the week." John 20: 1. The only day which

p 92 -- the Lord has designated as His day, is the seventh. (Exodus 20: 10; Isaiah 58: 13; Mark 2: 28.) TOP

Dr. Summerbell says: "Many suppose that they must denominate the first day of the week the 'Lord's day'; but we have no certain Scripture for this. The phrase 'Lord's day,' occurs but once in the Bible: 'I was in the spirit on the Lord's day,' and there probably refers to the day of which Christ said: 'The Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath day,' as the whole book of Revelation has a strong Jewish bearing." -- " History of the Christian Church," p. 152. Cincinnati: 1873.

W. B. Taylor says: "If a current day was intended, the only day bearing this definition, in either the Old or New Testaments, is Saturday, the seventh day of the week." -- "Obligation of the Sabbath," p. 296.

Dr. Peter Heylyn remarks: " Take which you will, either of the Fathers, or the Modernes, and we shall find no Lord's day instituted by any Apostolic Mandate, no Sabbath set on foot by them upon the first day of the weeke, as some would have it: much lesse than any such Ordinance should be hence collected, out of the words of the apostle." -- "History of the Sabbath," (original spelling), Part 2, p. 27. London: 1636.

THE CONCLUSION -- Dr. William Smith, LL. D., after carefully examining all the texts in the New Testament usually adduced in favor of the first day, comes to this conclusion: "Taken separately, perhaps, and even all together, these passages seem scarcely adequate to prove that the dedication of the first day of the week to the purposes above mentioned was a matter of apostolic institution, or even of apostolic practice." -- "A Dictionary of the Bible, art. "Lord's Day," p. 356. Hartford: Burr and Hyde, 1871.

p 93 -- The learned Dr. John Kitto sums up those texts in the following words: "Thus far, then, we cannot say that the evidence for any particular observance of this day amounts to much; still less does it appear what purpose or object was referred to. We find no mention of any commemoration, whether of the resurrection or any other event in the Apostolic records. -- " Cyclopcedia of Biblical Literature (2-vol. Ed.), Vol. II, art. "Lord's Day," p. 269. New York.

"'But,' say some, 'it was changed from the seventh to the first day.' Where? when? and by whom? No man can tell. No, it never was changed, nor could it be, unless creation was to be gone through again: for the reason assigned must be changed before the observance, or respect to the reason, can be changed!! It is all old wives' fables to talk of the change of the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day. If it be changed, it was that august personage changed it who changes times and laws ex officio -- think his name is DOCTOR ANTICHRIST. " -- Alexander Campbell, in "The Christian Baptist," revised by D. S. Burnet, from the Second Edition, with Mr. Campbell's last corrections, page 44. Cincinnati: D. S. Burnet, 1835. TOP

A tract widely circulated against those who keep the seventh day as the Sabbath has this to say in its fourteenth proposition: "If Christians are to keep the Sabbath day, how do you account for the fact that the apostles preached the gospel in Jerusalem, Samaria, to Cornelius the Gentile, and to many others, without commanding a single individual to keep it? Did they under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit fail to instruct their converts?"

We answer: The Christians everywhere were keeping the seventh-day Sabbath, and there was an acknowledged law enforcing its observance. There was, therefore, no occasion for giving any commandment on this point. (Luke 23: 52-56; 16:17; Matthew 5:17-19; Romans 3:31.) And the apostles by their example and teaching had educated both Jewish and Gentile believers to keep the seventh-day Sabbath. ( Acts 13:

p 94 -- 42-44; 18: 1-4; 17: 2; 16: 12, 13; 1 Corinthians 7: 19; Romans 7: 12; 3: 31.) What more could they have done in this direction?

But if a new day (Sunday) was to be instituted among God's people, how can we account for the fact that the apostles preached the gospel in Jerusalem, Samaria, to Cornelius the Gentile, and to many others, without ever mentioning the institution of Sunday in place of the Sabbath, or ever commanding any one to keep Sunday, the first day of the week? If the day of rest was changed from the seventh to the first day of the week, how can we account for the fact that the New Testament is entirely silent about any such change, and that the apostles wrote four Gospels, and twenty-one letters to instruct the churches, besides the Acts and the Revelation, and never instructed the Christians to keep Sunday, or even mentioned it with any sacred title, but always as a "week" day; that is, a work day? Did the apostles, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, fail to instruct their converts properly? (See Acts 20: 26, 27.)

The new Christian institutions of baptism and the Lord's supper are clearly taught in the New Testament. We can point to the chapter and verse where they are commanded. Then why should not so important an institution as a new Christian rest day be mentioned? To this there can be but one answer: The silence of the New Testament as to any change of the weekly rest day is an indisputable evidence that no such change was made till after the New Testament canon was closed. TOP

SUNDAY A WORKING DAY -- Dr. Francis White, Lord Bishop of Ely, says: " In S. Hieromes days [420 A. D.], and in the very place where he was residing, the devoutest Christians did ordinary worke upon the Lord's day*, when the service of the Church was ended." -- " Treatise of the Sabbath-Day," p. 219. London: 1636.

"The Catholic Church for more than six hundred yeares

* -- Sunday was called "Lord's Day" in England in the seventeenth century when Bishop White wrote this; he therefore uses this designation of the day. Jerome is here spelled Hierome.

p 95 -- after Christ, permitted labour, and gave license to many Christian people, to worke upon the Lord's-day [Sunday], at such houres, as they were not commanded to bee present at the publike service, by the precept of the church." -- Id., pp. 217, I8.

Bishop Jeremy Taylor says: "St. Ignatius expressly affirms: . . .'The Christian is bound to labor, even upon that day.' . . . And the primitive Christians did all manner of works upon the Lord's day, even in the times of persecution, when they are the strictest observers of all the divine commandments: but in this they knew there was none." -- " Whole Works" of Jeremy Taylor, D. D. (R. Heber, ed.), Vol. XII, Book 2, chap. 2, rule 6, par. 59, p. 426. London: 1822.

Dr. John Kitto, D. D., F. S. A., says: " Chrysostom (A. D. 360) concludes one of his Homilies by dismissing his audience to their respective ordinary occupations." -- "Cyclopoedia of Biblical Literature, Vol. 2, art. "Lord's Day," p. 270.

Dr. Peter Heylyn quotes St. Jerome as telling us that, when the services were ended on Sunday morning, the holy women, " After their returne from thence, . . . set themselves unto their tasks which was the making garments for themselves or others: a thing which questionlesse so good a woman had not done, and much lesse ordered it to be done by others; had it beene then accounted an unlawful Act. And finally S. Chrysostome . . . confesseth, . . . that after the dismission of the Congregation, every man might apply himselfe to his lawfull businesse. . . . As for the time appointed to these publicke exercises, it seemes not to be very long . . . an houre, or two at the most." -- " History of the Sabbath" (original spelling) Part 2, chap. 3, par. 7, 8, pp. 79, 80. London: 1636.

Dr. Heylyn says further that the people in the country worked freely on Sunday, and that those "in populous cities" " might lawfully apply themselves to their severall businesses,

p 96 -- the exercises being ended" in the church. (Id., pp. 80, 81.) And of the Christians of the East he says: "It was neere 900 yeares from our Saviour's birth, if not quite so much, before restraint of husbandry on this day, had beene first thought of in the East: and probably being thus restrained, did finde no more obedience there, then it had done before in the Westerne parts." -- Id., chap. 5, par. 6, p. 140.

"The Sunday in the Easterne Churches had no great prerogative above other dayes, especially above the Wednesday and the Friday." -- Id., chap. 3, par. 4, p. 73.

Some may wonder why these early morning meetings were held on Sunday, when the Christians considered it only a working day. We shall see that there was a natural cause for it, when we learn that the heathen living around them were sun worshipers, who met at their temples Sunday morning, and prostrated themselves before the rising sun. Christians are a missionary people, and to win their neighbors they held a meeting at the time when their neighbors were used to worshiping their sungod. And, as it takes a crowd to draw a crowd, the church leaders requested their members to gather at this early morning hour, after which all went to their respective places of business. But this custom became a steppingstone toward eventually adopting the heathen Sunday, as we soon shall see. Other influences also led in the same direction. TOP

INFLUENCES TOWARD APOSTASY

p 97 -- Mithraism, an outwardly refined sun worship, invaded the Roman Empire in B.C. 67, and made way for itself by gathering under its wing all the gods of Rome, so that "in the middle of the third century [A. D.] Mithraism seemed on the verge of becoming the universal religion." -- Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol. XVIII, art. "Mithras," p. 624, 11th edition, 1911.

That which made Mithraism so popular was the fact that the Roman Caesars adopted it, and the soldiers planted its banner wherever they went. The higher schools of Greek learning also accepted it, as did also the nobility, or the better classes of society, which gave it great prestige. Its"Mysteries" had a bewitching and fascinating influence on the people. And Sunday, "the venerable day of the sun," was the popular holiday of Mithraism.

On the other hand, the primitive Christian religion appeared to the learned Greek scholastics and their followers of eminent nobility only as "foolishness" (see 1 Corinthians 1: 18-23), and the Romans looked down upon the Christians with disdain and utter contempt. After the Jews had rebelled against the Roman government (Jerusalem and its temple were destroyed by Titus, A. D. 70, and multitudes of the Jews were sold as slaves), hatred and contempt for them had become quite general among the Romans, and everything Jewish was despised. Thus Sunday, in the Roman world, stood for what was eminent and popular, while the Sabbath, kept by the Jews, stood for what was despised and looked down upon. The temptations placed before an aspiring Man, therefore, lay all in one direction. Dr. J. L. Mosheim says: "The profound respect that was paid to the Greek and Roman mysteries, and the extraordinary sanctity that was at-

p 98 -- tributed to them, were additional circumstances that induced the Christians to give their religion a mystic air, in order to put it upon an equal footing, in point of dignity, with that of the Pagans. For this purpose, they gave the name of mysteries to the institutions of the Gospel, and decorated particularly the holy sacrament with that solemn title. They used in that sacred institution, as also in that of baptism, several of the terms employed in the Heathen mysteries, and proceeded so far, at length, as even to adopt some of the ceremonies of which those renowned mysteries consisted. . . . A great part, therefore, of the service of the Church, in this century, had a certain air of the Heathen mysteries, and resembled them considerably in many particulars." -- " History of the Church" (2-vol. Ed.) Vol. I, Cent. 2, part 2, chap. 4, par. 5, p. 67. New York: 1871. TOP

Gradually, as the church lowered its standards, many of the Greek scholars accepted Christianity (while they retained their heathen philosophy), and they carried with them into the church more or less of their former viewpoint and teaching. Then, as heathenism assailed the church, and the Roman government persecuted it, these men, such as Origen, Tertullian, Justin Martyr, et al., wrote "apologies" and "treatises" to vindicate Christianity. They, however, sadly mixed heathen sentiments with Christian doctrines, and the church gradually became permeated with the teachings of these men, who now had become the new leaders. Dr. Cummings says: "The Fathers who were really most fitted to be the luminaries of the age in which they lived were too busy in preparing their flocks for martyrdom to commit anything to writing. . . . The most devoted and pious of the Fathers were busy teaching their flocks; the more vain and ambitious occupied their time in preparing treatises. If all the Fathers who signalized the age had committed their sentiments to writing, we might have had a fair representation of the theology of the church." -- " Lectures on Romanism," p. 203; quoted in "History of the Sabbath," J. N. Andrews, pp. 199, 200.

In a very short time, the customs of Mithraism became incor-

p 99 -- porated into Christianity. John Dowling, D. D., says: "There is scarcely anything which strikes the mind of the careful student of ancient ecclesiastical history with greater surprise, than the comparatively early period at which many of the corruptions of Christianity, which are embodied in the Romish system, took their rise." -- " History of Romanism," Book II, chap. 1, par. 1, p. 65.

Christianity soon became so much like Mithraism that there was only a step between them. Frantz Cumont (who is probably the best informed man of our age on the subject of Mithraism) says of Christianity and Mithraism: "The two opposed creeds moved in the same intellectual and moral sphere, and one could actually pass from one to the other without shock or interruption. . . . The religious and mystical spirit of the Orient had slowly overcome the whole social organism and prepared all nations to unite in the bosom of a universal church. " -- "Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism," pp. 210, 211. Chicago, Ill.: Open Court Pub.Co., 1911.

The Introductory Essay by Grant Showerman says: " Nor did Christianity stop here. It took from its opponents their own weapons and used them; the better elements of paganism were transferred to the new religion. " -- Id., PP XI, xii.

It would be too long a story to trace the doctrines of Mithraism that were brought into the church. We must confine ourselves to our subject, Sunday-keeping. Mr. Cumont says further: "The ecclesiastical authorities purified in some degree the customs which they could not abolish."

"The pre-eminence assigned to the dies Solis [Sunday] by Mithraism also certainly contributed to the general recognition of Sunday as a holiday [among Christians]. " -- "Astrology and Religion Among the Greeks and Romans," pp. 171, 162, 163. New York: 1912. TOP

"Sunday, over which the Sun presided, was especially holy. . . .

" [The worshipers of Mithra] held Sunday sacred, and celebrated the birth of the Sun on the twenty-fifth of December." --

p 100 -- "The Mysteries of Mithra," pp. 167, 191. Chicago: Open Court Pub. Co., 1911.

Professor Gilbert Murray, MA, D.Litt., LL.D., F.B.A., Professor of Greek in Oxford University, says: "Now, since Mithras was 'The Sun, the Unconquered,' and the Sun was 'The royal Star,' the religion looked for a King whom it could serve as the representative of Mithras upon earth: . . . The Roman Emperor seemed to be clearly indicated as the true King. In sharp contrast to Christianity, Mithraism recognized Caesar as the bearer of the divine Grace, and its votaries filled the legions and the civil service. . . .

"It had so much acceptance that it was able to impose on the Christian world its own Sunday in place of the Sabbath, its Sun's birthday, twenty-fifth December, as the birthday of Jesus. " -- " History of Christianity in the Light of Modern Knowledge," Chap. III; cited in "Religion and Philosophy," pp. 73, 74. New York: 1929.

Rev. William Frederick likewise states the same historic fact: "The Gentiles were an idolatrous people who worshiped the sun, and Sunday was their most sacred day. Now, in order to reach the people in this new field, it seems but natural, as well as necessary, to make Sunday the rest day of the church. At this time it was necessary for the church to either adopt the Gentiles' day or else have the Gentiles change their day. To change the Gentiles' day would have been an offence and stumbling block to them. The church could naturally reach them better by keeping their day. There was no need in causing an unnecessary offence by dishonoring their day." -- " Sunday and the Christian Sabbath," pp. 169, 170; quoted in Signs of the Times, Sept. 6, 1927.

Thomas H. Morer makes a similar acknowledgment. He says: "Sunday being the day on which the Gentiles solemnly adored that planet, and called it Sunday, . . . the Christians thought fit to keep the same day and the same name of it, that

p 101 -- they might not appear causelessly peevish, and by that means hinder the conversion of the Gentiles, and bring a greater prejudice than might be otherwise taken against the gospel." -- "Dialogues on the Lord's Day," p. 23. London: 1701. TOP

The North British Review gives the following reasons for the Christians' adopting the heathen Sunday: "That very day was the Sunday of their heathen neighbors and respective countrymen, and patriotism gladly united with expediency in making it at once their Lord's day and their Sabbath. . . . That primitive church, in fact, was shut up to the adoption of the Sunday, -- until it became established and supreme, when it was too late to make another alteration." -- Vol. XVIII, P. 409. Edinburgh: Feb., 1853.

Thomas Chafie, a clergyman of the English Church, gives the following reasons why the early Christians could not continue to keep the Bible Sabbath among the heathen, nor change the heathen custom from Sunday to Saturday: " Christians should not have done well in changing, or in endeavouring to have changed their [the heathen's] standing service-day, from Sunday to any other day of the week; and that for these reasons:

" 1. Because of the contempt, scorn and derision they thereby should be had in among all the Gentiles with whom they lived; and toward whom they ought by St. Paul's rule to live inoffensively, I Cor. 10: 32, in things indifferent. If the Gentiles thought hardly, and spoke evil of them, for that they ran not into the same excess of riot with them: 1 Pet. 4: 4, what would they have said of Christians for such an innovation as would have been made by their change of their standing service-day? If long before this, the Jews were had in such disdain among the Gentiles for their Saturday-Sabbath, . . . how grievous would be their taunts and reproaches against the poor Christians living with them, and under their power, for their new set Sacred day, had the Christians chosen any other than the Sunday?

" 2. Most Christians then were either Servants or of the

p 102 -- poorer sort of People: and the Gentiles (most probably) would not give their servants liberty to cease from working on any other set day constantly, except on their Sunday. . . .

"5. It would have been but labour in vain for them to have assayed the same, they could never have brought it to pass." -- " A Brief Tract on the Fourth Commandment . . . About the Sabbath-Day," pp. 61, 62. London: St. Paul's Church Yard, 1692.

Richard Verstegen, after much research, writes of the heathen nations: "And it is also respectable, that the most ancient Germans being Pagans, and having appropriated their first Day of the Week to the peculiar adoration of the Sun, whereof that Day doth yet in our English Tongue retain the name of Sunday." -- "Restitution of Decayed Intelligence in Antiquities," p. 11. London: 1673.

Speaking of the Saxons, he says: "First then unto the day dedicated unto the especial adoration of the Idol of the Sun, they gave the name of Sunday, as much as to say the Sun's-day, or the day of the Sun. This Idol was placed in a Temple, and there adored and sacrificed unto, for that they believed that the Sun in the Firmament did with or in this Idol correspond and co-operate. The manner and form whereof was according to this ensuing Picture."- Id., p. 74. (Capitalization as given in this ancient book.) TOP

It is hardly fair to accuse the Roman Catholic Church of exchanging God's holy Sabbath for a heathen festival without giving her the opportunity to deny or acknowledge this accusation; so we will now let her state the fact in her own words, frankly. She says: "The Church took the pagan philosophy and made it the buckler of faith against the heathen. . . . She took the pagan Sunday and made it the Christian Sunday. . . . There is, in truth, something royal, kingly about the sun, making it a fit emblem of Jesus, the Sun of Justice. Hence the Church in these countries would seem to have said, 'Keep that old, pagan name. It shall remain consecrated, sanctified.' And thus the pagan

p 103 -- Sunday, dedicated to Balder, became the Christian Sunday, sacred to Jesus." -- " Catholic World," March, 1894, p. 809.

So willing were church leaders to adopt the popular heathen festivals, that even heathen authors reproached them for it. Faustus accused St. Augustine as follows: "You celebrate the solemn festivals of the Gentiles, their calends and their solstices; and as to their manners, those you have retained without any alteration. Nothing distinguishes you from the pagans except that you hold your assemblies apart from them. " -- Cited in "History of the Intellectual Development of Europe," Dr. J. W. Draper, Vol. 1, p. 310. New York: 1876.

Similar reproaches had been made earlier, for Tertullian answers them, making the following admission: "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 toward the east, or because we make Sunday a day of festivity. What then? Do you do less than this? . . . It is you, at all events, who have even admitted the sun into the calendar of the week; and you have selected its day, in preference to the preceding day. . . . You who reproach us with the sun and Sunday should consider your proximity to us." -- "Ad Nationes," Book I, chap. 13; in " Ante-Nicene Fathers," Vol. III, p. 123, ed. by Drs. Roberts and Donaldson. New York: 1896.

Tertullian had no other excuse for their Sunday-keeping than that they did not do worse than the heathen. Not only did the Church adopt heathen festivals, but Gregory Thaumaturgus allowed their celebration in the degrading manner of the heathen: "When Gregory perceived that the ignorant multitude persisted in their idolatry, on account of the pleasures and sensual gratifications which they enjoyed at the pagan festivals, he granted them a permission to indulge themselves in the like, pleasures, in celebrating the memory of the holy martyrs, hoping that, in process of time, they would return of their own accord, to a more virtuous and regular course of life." -- " Ecclesiastical History, " J. L. Mosheim, DD, Vol. I, Second Century,

p 104 -- Part II, chap. 4, par. 2, footnote (Dr. A. Maclaine's 2-vol. Ed., p. 66). New York: 1871. TOP

Cardinal Newman says: "Confiding then in the power of Christianity to resist the infection of evil, and to transmute the very instruments and appendages of demon-worship to an evangelical use. . . . the rulers of the Church from early times were prepared, should the occasion arise, to adopt, or imitate, or sanction the existing rites and customs of the populace, as well as the philosophy of the educated class. . . .

"The same reason, the need of holy days for the multitude, is assigned by Origen, St. Gregory's master, to explain the establishment of the Lord's Day. . . .

" We are told in various ways by Eusebius, that Constantine, in order to recommend the new religion to the heathen, transferred into it the outward ornaments to ' which they had been accustomed in their own. . . . Incense, lamps, and candles; . . . holy water; asylums; holy days and seasons. . . . the ring in marriage, turning to the east, images . . . are all of pagan origin, and sanctified by their adoption into the Church." -- "Development of Christian Doctrine, " pp. 371-373. London: 1878.

"Real superstitions have sometimes obtained in parts of Christendom from its intercourse with the heathen. . . . As philosophy has at times corrupted her divines, so has paganism corrupted her worshipers. " -- Id., pp. 377, 378.

" The church . . . can convert heathen appointments into spiritual rites and usages. . . . Hence there has been from the first much variety and change, in the Sacramental acts and instruments which she has used." -- Id., p. 379.

Speaking of the immoral pagan feast he says: "It certainly is possible that the consciousness of the sanctifying power in Christianity may have acted as a temptation to sins, whether of deceit or of violence; as if the habit or state of grace destroyed the sinfulness of certain acts, or as if the end justified the means. " -- Id., p. 379.

The terrible nature of these sensual gratifications of the

p 105 -- pagan festivals, in which the leaders of the Church now allowed its members to indulge, a person can hardly imagine till the sickening facts are spread before one's eyes by Livy. (Hist., lib. xxxix, chap. 9-17.) The learned Englishman, George Smith, F.A.S., in his "Sacred Annals," Vol. III, on the "Gentile Nations," pp. 487-489, says that this "most revolting and abandoned villiany" was so general, that when the Roman Senate had to proceed against its worst features, "Rome was almost deserted, so many persons, feeling themselves implicated in the proceedings, sought safety in flight." TOP

A church that will take in such members, without conversion, and then allow them to continue in the most putrid corruption, must have lost all respect for morality (not to say true Christianity), and cannot be in possession of the divine power of the gospel; which changes the hearts and lives of people. (Romans 1: 16; 2 Corinthians 5: 17.) The Apostle Paul had foretold this "falling away" of the church. (Acts 20: 28-30; 2 Thessalonians 2: 1-7.) And it was during this fallen condition that the Church changed its weekly rest day from the Sabbath to the Sunday. Dr. N. Summerbell says:"The Roman church had totally apostatized. . . . It reversed the Fourth Commandment by doing away with the Sabbath of God's word, and instituting Sunday as a holiday." -- "The Christian Church," p. 415. Cincinnati: 1873.

Now, long after the Sabbath has been changed, Protestants are at a loss to find authority in the Bible for this change. They have rejected the authority of the Roman church to legislate on Christian faith, and cannot accept tradition, therefore they know not where to turn. Professor George Sverdrup, a leading man in the Lutheran Church, gives expression to this predicament in the following words: "For, when there could not be produced one solitary place in the Holy Scriptures which testified that either the Lord Himself or the apostles had ordered such a transfer of the Sabbath to Sunday, then it was not easy to answer the question: Who has transferred the Sabbath, and who has had the right to do it?"

p 106 -- -- "Samlede Skrifter i Udvalg, " Andreas Helland, Vol. I, PP - 842, 343. Minneapolis, Minn.: 1909.

Walter Farquhar Hook, DD, Vicar of Leeds, expresses the same thought: "The question is, whether God has ordered us to keep holy the first day of the week. Baptism and the Lord's Supper are undoubted ordinances of God; we can quote the chapter and verse in which we read of their being ordained by God. But as to the Lord's Day [Sunday], we are not able to refer to a single passage in all the Scriptures of the New Testament in which the observance of it is enjoined by God. If we refer to tradition, tradition would not be of value to us on the point immediately under consideration. The Romanist regards the tradition of the Church as of authority equal to that of Scripture. But we are not Romanists. . . . But on this point there is not even tradition to support us. . . . There is no tradition that God ordained the first day of the week to be a Sabbath. . . . The change of the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday was never mentioned, or, as far as I can discover, thought of by the early Christians. The Sabbath, that is to say, the observance of Saturday as a day to be devoted to God's service, to rest of body and repose of mind, was an ordinance of God. This ordinance relating to Saturday could be changed by God and by God only. We, as Protestants, must appeal to the Bible, and the Bible only, to ascertain the fact that God has changed the day -- that God has Himself substituted Sunday for Saturday. . . . It is no answer to this to say that the apostles seem to have sanctioned the assembly of Christians for public worship on the Lord's Day, or that St. John in the Apocalypse speaks of the Lord's Day and may possibly allude to the Sunday festival. For this is one of those arguments which prove too much. We ourselves keep Easter Day; this is no proof that we do not keep Christmas Day, or that Easter has been substituted for Christmas. And if we have instances of the first day of the week being kept holy by the apostles, we have more instances of their observing the Jewish Sabbath." -- " Lord's Day," p. 94. London: 1856; quoted in "The

p 107 -- Literature of the Sabbath Question," Robert Cox, Vol. II, pp. 369,370. TOP

Dr. Edward T. Hiscox, author of the "Baptist Manual," says: "There was and is a commandment to keep holy the Sabbath day, but that Sabbath day was not Sunday. It will be said, however, and with some show of triumph, that the Sabbath was transferred from the seventh to the first day of the week, with all its duties, privileges, and sanctions. Earnestly desiring information on this subject, which I have studied for many years, I ask, where can the record of such a transaction be found? Not in the New Testament, absolutely not. There is no Scriptural evidence of the change of the Sabbath institution from the seventh to the first day of the week.

" I wish to say that this Sabbath question, in this aspect of it, is the gravest and most perplexing question connected with Christian institutions which at present claims attention from Christian people; and the only reason that it is not a more disturbing element in Christian thought and in religious discussions, is because the Christian world has settled down content on the conviction that somehow a transference has taken place at the beginning of Christian history. . . .

"To me it seems unaccountable that Jesus during three years' intercourse with His disciples, often conversing with them upon the Sabbath question, discussing it in some of its various aspects, freeing it from its false glosses, never alluded to any transference of the day; also that during forty days of His resurrection life, no such thing was intimated. Nor, so far as we know, did the Spirit, which was given to bring to their remembrance all things whatsoever that He had said unto them, deal with this question. Nor yet did the inspired apostles, in preaching the gospel, founding churches, counseling and instructing those founded, discuss or approach this subject.

" Of course, I quite well know that Sunday did come into use in early Christian history as a religious day, as we learn from the Christian Fathers and other sources. But what a pity that it comes branded with the mark of paganism, and christened

p 108 -- with the name of the sun-god, when adopted and sanctioned by the papal apostasy, and bequeathed as a sacred legacy to Protestantism!" -- A paper read before a New York Ministers' Conference, held Nov. 13, 1893. From a copy furnished by Dr. Hiscox for the "Source Book," pp. 513, 514. Wash., D. C.: Review and Herald, 1922. TOP

Bishop Skat Rordam, of Denmark, says: "As to when and how it became customary to keep the first day of the week the New Testament gives us no information....

"The first law about it was given by Constantine the Great, who in the year 321 ordained that all civil and shop work should cease in the cities, but agricultural labor in the country was permitted. . . . Still no one thought of basing this command to rest from labor on the 3rd [4th] commandment before the latter half of the sixth century. From that time on, little by little, it became the established doctrine of the church during its 'Dark Ages,' that the holy church and its teachers, or the bishops with the Roman Pope at their head, as the Vicar of Christ and His apostles on earth, had transferred the Old Testament Sabbath with its glory and sanctity over onto the first day of the week." -- "Report of the Second Ecclesiastical Meeting in Copenhagen," Sept. 13-15, 1887," P. Taaning, pp. 40, 41. Copenhagen: 1887.

Bishop A. Grimelund, of Norway, says: " Now, summing up what history teaches regarding the origin of Sunday and the development of the doctrine about Sunday, then this is the sum: It is not the apostles, not the early Christians, not the councils of the ancient church which have imprinted the name and stamp of the Sabbath upon the Sunday, but it is the Church of the Middle Ages and its scholastic, teachers." -- " Sondagens Historie " (The History of Sunday), p. 37. Christiania: 1886.

"What do we learn from this historical review? . . . That it is a doctrine which originated in the papal church that the sanctification of the Sunday is enjoined in the 3rd [4th] commandment, and that the essential and permanent in this commandment is a command from God to keep holy one day in each week." -- Ibid., Pp. 47, 48.

p 109 -- CONSTANTINE -- Constantine had been watching, he said, those Caesars who had persecuted the Christians, and found that they usually had a bad end, while his father, who was favorable toward them, had prospered. So, when he and Licinius met at Milan in 313 A. D., they jointly prepared an edict, usually called "The Edict of Milano," which gave equal liberty to Christians and pagans.

Had Constantine stopped here, he might have been honored as the originator of religious liberty in the Roman Empire, but he had different aims in view. The Roman Empire had been ruled at times by two, four, or even six Caesars jointly, and in his ambition to become the sole Emperor, Constantine, as a shrewd statesman, soon saw that the Christian church had the vitality to become the strongest factor in the empire. The other Caesars were persecuting the Christians. If he could win them without losing the good will of the pagans, he would win the game. He therefore set himself to the task of blending the two religions into one. As H. G. Heggtveit (Lutheran) says: "Constantine labored at this time untiringly to unite the worshipers of the old and the new faith in one religion. All his laws and contrivances are aimed at promoting this amalgamation of religions. He would by all lawful and peaceable means melt together a purified heathenism and a moderated Christianity. . . . His injunction that the. 'Day of the Sun' should be a general rest day was characteristic of his standpoint. . . . Of all his blending and melting together of Christianity and heathenism none is more easy to see through than this making of his Sunday law. 'The Christians worshiped their Christ, the heathen their sun-god; according to the opinion of the Emperor, the objects for worship in both religions were essentially the same." -- "Kirkehistorie " (Church History), pp. 233, 234. Chicago: 1898. TOP

Constantine's Sunday law of 321 A. D. reads as follows: "On the venerable Day of the Sun let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. In

p 110 -- the country, however, persons engaged in agriculture may freely and lawfully continue their pursuits; because it often happens that another day is not so suitable for grain-sowing or for vine planting; lest by neglecting the proper moment for such operations the bounty of heaven should be lost. (Given the 7th day of March, Crispus and Constantine being consuls each of them for the second time." -- "Codex Justinianus, lib. 3, tit. 12, 3 "; translated in "History of the Christian Church," Philip Schaff, D. D., (7-vol. Ed.) Vol. III, p. 380. New York: 1884.

Dr. A. Chr. Bang (Lutheran bishop, Norway), says: "This Sunday law constituted no real favoritism towards Christianity. . . . It is evident from all his statutory provisions, that the Emperor during the time 313 - 323 with full consciousness has sought the realization of his religious aim: the amalgamation of heathenism and Christianity. " -- " Kirken og Romerstaten" (" The Church and the Roman State "), p. 256. Christiania: 1879.

That Constantine by his Sunday law intended only to enforce the popular heathen festival is acknowledged by Professor Hutton Webster, Ph.D. (University of Nebraska), who says: "This legislation by Constantine probably bore no relation to Christianity; it appears, on the contrary, that the emperor, in his capacity as Pontifex Maximus, was only adding the day of the sun, the worship of which was then firmly established in the Roman Empire, to the other ferial days of the sacred calendar." -- "Rest Days," p. 122. New York: 1916.

A. H. Lewis, D. D., who spent years of study and research on this subject, declares, that "the pagan religion of Rome had many holidays, on which partial or complete cessation of business and labor were demanded," and that Constantine by his Sunday law was "merely adding one more festival to the festi of the empire." -- " A Critical History of Sunday Legislation from 321 to 1888 A. D., " pp. 8, 12. New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1888.

This is clearly seen when we carefully examine all the circumstances presented by Dr. Lewis:

1. Constantine's Sunday edict was given March 7, 321. The

p 111 -- very next day he issued an edict commanding purely heathen superstition. We quote:
" The August Emperor Constantine to Maximus: " If any part of the palace or other public works shall be struck by lightning, let the soothsayers, following old usages, inquire into the meaning of the portent, and let their written words, very carefully collected, be reported to our knowledge." -- Id., p. 19. TOP

2. The Caesars for over a century had been worshipers of the sun-god, whose weekly holiday was Sunday. Dr. Lewis says: "The sun-worship cult had grown steadily in the Roman
Empire for a long time." -- Id., p. 20. He then quotes the following from Schaff in regard to Elagabalus, a Roman Caesar of a century before Constantine's time: " The abandoned youth, El-Gabal or Heliogabalus (218 - 222), who polluted the throne by the blackest vices and follies, tolerated all religions in the hope of at last merging them in his favorite Syrian worship of the sun with its abominable excesses. He himself was a priest of the god of the sun, and thence took his name."-- Id., pp. 20, 21.

Dean H. H. Milman says: "It was openly asserted that the worship of the sun, under the name of Elagabalus, was to supersede all other worship. If we may believe the biographies in the Augustan history, a more ambitious scheme of a universal religion had dawned upon the mind of the emperor. The Jewish, the Samaritan, even the Christian, were to be fused and recast into one great system, of which the Sun was to be the central object of adoration." -- "History of Christianity," Vol. II, Book 2, chap. 8, par. 22, p. 178,179. New York: 1881.

Dr. Lewis further says that Aurelian, who reigned from 270-276 A. D., embellished the temple of the Sun with "above fifteen thousand pounds of gold." -- " History of Sunday Legislation," p. 23. Diocletian, who reigned from 284 to 305, "appealed in the face of the army to the all-seeing deity of the sun." -- Ibid., p. 24.

p 112 -- "Such were the influences which preceded Constantine and surrounded him when he came into power. The following extract shows still plainer the character of Constantine and his attitude toward the sun-worship cults, when the first 'Sunday edict' was issued: "'But the devotion of Constantine was more peculiarly directed to the genius of the Sun, the Apollo of Greek and Roman mythology. . . . The sun was universally celebrated as the invincible guide and protector of Constantine.' " -- Id., pp. 26, 27. TOP

"These facts combine to show that Sunday legislation was purely pagan in its origin." -- Id., p. 31.

"In this law he only sought to give additional honor to the 'venerable day' of his patron deity, the sun-god." -- Id., p. 32.

"His attitude toward Christianity was that of a shrewd politician rather than a devout adherent."-- Id., p. 6.

Dr. Lewis quotes from Dr. Schaff a very fitting conclusion to his remarks regarding Constantine: "'And down to the end of his life he retained the title and dignity of pontifex maximus, or high-priest of the heathen hierarchy. His coins bore on the one side the letters of the name of Christ, on the other the figure of the sun-god, and the inscription 'Sol invictus."'--Id., p. 10.

That the Christians at this time were still keeping the Sabbath can be seen from the following statement of Hugo Grotiu's, quoted by Robert Cox, F. S. A. Scot.: "He refers to Eusebius for proof that Constantine, besides issuing his well-known edict that labor should be suspended on Sunday, enacted that the people should not be brought before the law courts on the seventh day of the week, which also, he adds, was long observed by the primitive Christians as a day for religious meetings. . . . And this, says he, 'refutes those who think that the Lord's day was substituted for the Sabbath -- a thing nowhere mentioned either by Christ or His apostles."' -- "Opera Omnia Theologica," Hugo Grotius (died 1645), (London: 1679); quoted in "Literature of the Sabbath Question," Cox, Vol. 1, p. 223. Edinburgh: Maclachlan and Stewart, 1865.

p 113 -- Pope Sylvester co-operated with Constantine to bring paganism into the Christian church (especially Sunday-keeping). This caused the true Christians to have repugnance for him. The Waldenses believed he was the Antichrist. Dr. Peter Allix quotes the following from a prominent Roman Catholic author regarding the Waldenses: "'They say that the blessed Pope Sylvester was the Antichrist, of whom mention is made in the Epistles of St. Paul, as being the son of perdition, who extols himself above every thing that is called God; for, from that time, they say, the Church perished. . . .'

"He lays it down also as one of their opinions, 'That the Law of Moses is to be kept according to the letter, and that the keeping of the Sabbath . . . and other legal observances, ought to take place."' -- " Ecclesiastical History of the Ancient Churches of Piedmont," p. 169. Oxford: 1821. Page 154 in the edition of 1690. TOP

Having obtained a glimpse of the opposition of God's people to this falling away, let us now return to our subject, to get a view of the novel means Constantine employed to make converts in accordance with his amalgamation scheme. Edward Gibbon says: "The hopes of wealth and honors, the example of an emperor, his exhortations, his irresistible smiles, diffused conviction among the venal and obsequious crowds which usually fill the apartments of a palace. . . . As the lower ranks of society are governed by imitation, the conversion of those who possessed any eminence of birth, of power, or of riches, was soon followed by dependent multitudes. The salvation of the common people was purchased at an easy rate, if it be true that, in one year, twelve thousand men were baptized at Rome . . . and that a white garment,with twenty pieces of gold, had been promised by the emperor to every convert." -- " Decline and Fall," chap. par. 18.

Constantine gave the following instruction to the bishops

p 114 -- at the Council of Nicaea, which shows his constant policy: "'In all ways unbelievers must be saved. It was not every one who would be converted by learning and reasoning. Some join us from desire of maintenance; some for preferment; some for presents: nothing is so rare as a real lover of truth. We must be like physicians, and accommodate our medicines to the diseases, our teaching to the different minds of all." -- "Lectures on the History of the Eastern Church," Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, D. D., Lecture 5, p. 271. New York: 1875.

The bishops were only too willing to follow the emperor's instruction, and the result was disastrous to the church. J. A. W. Neander in the following paragraph gives us some of the results of this policy: " Such were those who, without any real interest whatever in the concerns of religion, living half in Paganism and half in an outward show of Christianity, composed the crowds that thronged the churches on the festivals of the Christians, and the theaters on the festivals of the pagans." -- " History of the Christian Religion and Church," Vol. II, Sec. 3, Part 1, Div. 1, par. 1, p. 223. Boston: 1855.

No wonder Rev. H. H. Milman exclaims: "Is this Paganism approximating to Christianity, or Christianity degenerating into Paganism?" -- " History of Christianity," pp. 341, 342. He answers this question later by saying: "With a large portion of mankind, it must be admitted that the religion itself was Paganism under another form." -- Id., P. 412.

Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea, and an admirer of Constantine, cooperated with him in bringing " the venerable day of the sun " into the Christian church. Speaking of Pope Sylvester, Constantine, and himself, he says: "All things whatsoever that it was duty to do on the Sabbath, these we have transferred to the Lord's day, as more appropriately belonging to it, because it has a precedence and is first in rank, and more honorable than the Jewish Sabbath. For on that day, in making the world, God said, 'Let there be light, and there was light.' " -- " Commentary on the Psalms"; quoted in

p 115 -- "Literature on the Sabbath Question," Robert Cox, Vol. I, p. 361. TOP

Eusebius evidently used the strongest argument he knew as proof for Sunday-keeping; but advocates of this new holiday had probably not yet conceived the idea that Christ's resurrection would be an argument in favor of Sunday-keeping, so he used creation instead.

OLD AND NEW CHURCH MEMBERS -- The church at this time consisted of two widely different kinds of church members: 1. The old class, with their devoted leaders, had accepted Christianity in the primitive way, by genuine conversion and separation from the world, suffering for Christ and His unpopular truth. This class lived mostly in the country and in out-of-the-way places. 2. The new converts lived mainly in the large cities, and had come in through a mass movement, following the crowd in what was most popular, attracted by the hopes of temporal gain or honor, or they had been forced in by the secular arm. These were devoid of any personal Christian experience, but constituting the majority, they elected bishops of their own kind.

The elections of bishops were attended with secret corruption and bloody violence, which was only too natural for that kind of "Christians." Edward Gibbon says of these elections:

"While one of the candidates boasted the honors of his family, a second allured his judges by the delicacies of a plentiful table, and a third, more guilty than his rivals, offered to share the plunder of the church among the accomplices of his sacrilegious hopes. " -- "Decline and Fall," chap. XX, par. 22.

Rev. H. H. Milman says: "Even within the Church itself, the distribution of the superior dignities became an object of fatal ambition and strife. The streets of Alexandria and of Constantinople were deluged with blood by the partisans of rival bishops." -- "History of Christianity," Book 3, chap. 5, par. 2, p. 410. New York: 1881.

Schaff declares that "many are elected on account of their

p 116 -- badness, to prevent the mischief they would otherwise do." -- "History of the Christian Church," Vol. III, Sec. 49, par. 2, note 5, p. 240. Even the sanctity of the church was not respected by the fighting parties. Milman, speaking of the installation of a bishop at Constantinople, says: "In the morning, Philip [the prefect of the East] appeared in his car, with Macedonius by his side in the pontifical attire; he drove directly to the church, but the soldiers were obliged to hew their way through the dense and resisting crowd to the altar. Macedonius passed over the murdered bodies (three thousand are said to have fallen) to the throne of Christian prelate." -- " History of Christianity," Vol. XI, p. 426. New York: 1870. Socrates ("Ecclesiastical History," Bk. II, chap. 17, p. 96) gives the number slain as 3150 .TOP

Can we wonder at the lack of spiritual insight and sound judgment of such bishops when they met at their councils to formulate the creed of Christendom? They decreed in favor of image worship, purgatory, prayers for the dead, veneration of relics, and many other heathen customs, persecuting all who would not fall in line with their mongrel customs. At the Council of Laodicea, A. D. 364, they anathematized Sabbath-keepers in the following way: " Christians must not judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but must work on that day, rather honoring the Lord's Day; and if they can, resting then as Christians. But if any shall be found to be judaizers, let them be Anathema from Christ. " -- Canon XXIX, "Index Canonum," John Fulton, D. D., LL. D., p. 259.

That the Christians were then keeping the Sabbath we see from Canon XVI of the same council, in which they decreed: "The Gospels are to be read on the Sabbath Day, with the other Scriptures. " -- Id., p. 255.

Dr. Heylyn also declares that the Christians were keeping the Sabbath at that time: "Nor was this onely the particular will of those two and thirty Prelates, there assembled; it was the practice generally of the Easterne Churches; and of some churches of the west. . . .

p 117 -- For in the Church of Millaine [Milan]; . . . it seemes the Saturday was held in a farre esteeme. . . . Not that the Easterne Churches, or any of the rest which observed that day, were inclined to ludaisme [Judaism]; but that they came together on the Sabbath day, to worship lesus [Jesus] Christ the Lord of the Sabbath." -- " History of the Sabbath" (original spelling retained), Part 2, par. 5, pp. 73, 74. London: 1636.

The true Christians paid very little attention to the anathema of the bishops, for they continued to keep the true Sabbath, as the following quotations show: "From the apostles' time until the council of Laodicea, which was about the year 364, the holy observation of the Jews' Sabbath continued, as may be proved out of many authors; yea, notwithstanding the decree of the council against it." -- "Sunday a Sabbath," John Ley, p. 163. London: 1640.

That the Sabbath was kept, "notwithstanding the decree of the council against it," is also seen from the fact that Pope Gregory I (A. D. 590-604) wrote against "Roman citizens [who] forbid any work being done on the Sabbath day." -- " Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers," Second Series, Vol. XIII, p. 13, epist. 1.

As late as 791 A. D. Christians kept the Sabbath in Italy. Canon 13 of the council at Friaul states: "Further, when speaking of that Sabbath which the Jews observe, the last day of the week, and which also our peasants observe, He said only Sabbath, and never added unto it, 'delight,' or 'my' " -- Mansi, 13, 851; Quoted in "History of the Sabbath," J. N. Andrews, p. 539. 1912.

Bishop Hefele summarizes the canon in the following words: "The celebration of Sunday begins with Saturday evening. It is enjoined to keep Sunday and other church festivals. The peasants kept Saturday in many cases." -- " Conciliengesch.," 3, 720, sec. 404; Quoted in "History of the Sabbath," Andrews, pp. 539, 540. 1912. TOP

THE WALDENSES

p 118 -- While Constantine's purchased converts, and the superficial multitude followed the popular church, there were many honest, God-fearing Christians, who resented this sinful compromise with paganism; and, when they saw that all their protests were useless, they withdrew to places where they could more freely follow their conscience and bring up their children away from the contamination of the fallen church, which they looked upon as the "Babylon" of Revelation 17. Several hundred Sabbath-keeping Christian churches were established in southern India, and some were found even in China. Likewise the original Celtic Church in England, Scotland, and Ireland kept the seventh-day Sabbath, as will be shown in the next chapter.

The majority of these original Christians settled, however, in the Alps, a place naturally suited for their protection, being situated where Switzerland, France, and Italy join. They could, therefore, more easily get protection in one or another of these countries, as it would be harder for the Papacy to get joint action of all these countries in case of persecution. Then, too, these mountains were so steep and high, the valleys so narrow, and the passes into them so difficult, that it would seem as though God had prepared this hiding place for His true church and truth during the Dark Ages' William Jones says: "Angrogna, Pramol, and S. Martino are strongly fortified by nature on account of their many difficult passes and bulwarks of rocks and mountains; as if the all-wise Creator, says Sir Samuel Morland, had, from the beginning, designed that, place as a cabinet, wherein to put some inestimable jewel, or in which to reserve many thousand souls, which should not bow the knee before Baal." -- " History of the Christian Church," Vol. I, p. 356, third ed. London: 1818.

p 119 -- Sophia V. Bompiani, in "A Short History of the Italian Waldenses" (New York: 1897), quotes from several unquestionable authorities to show that the Waldenses, after having withdrawn to the Alps because of persecution, fully separated from the Roman church under the work of Vigilantius Leo, the Leonist of Lyons, who vigorously protested against the many false doctrines and practices that had been adopted by the Church. Jerome (A. D. 403-406) wrote a very cutting book against him in which he says: "'That monster called Vigilantius . . . has escaped to the region where King Cottius reigned, between the Alps and the waves of the Adriatic. From thence he has cried out against me and, ah, wickedness! there he has found bishops who share his crime."' Sophia V. Bompiani then remarks: "This region, where King Cottius reigned, once a part of Cisalpine Gaul, is the precise country of the Waldenses. Here Leo, or Vigilantius, retired for safety from persecution, among a people already established there of his own way of thinking, who received him its a brother, and who thenceforth for several centuries were sometimes called by his name [Leonists]. Here, shut up in the Alpine valleys, they handed down through the generations the doctrines and practices of the primitive church, while the inhabitants of the plains of Italy were daily sinking more and more into the apostasy foretold by the Apostles. " -- " A Short History of the Italian Waldenses," pp. 8, 9. TOP

"The ancient emblem of the Waldensian church is a candlestick with the motto, Lux lucet in tenebris ['The light shineth in darkness']. A candlestick in the oriental imagery of the Bible is a church, and this church had power from God to prophesy in sackcloth and ashes twelve hundred and sixty days or symbolic years." -- Id., p. 17.

Dr. W. S. Gilly, an English clergyman, after much research, wrote a book entitled: "Vigilantius and His Times," giving the same information.

Roman Catholic writers try to evade the apostolic origin of the Waldenses, so as to make it appear that the Roman is the

p 120 -- only apostolic church, and that all others are later novelties. And for this reason they try to make out that the Waldenses originated with Peter Waldo of the twelfth century. Dr. Peter Allix says: "Some Protestants, on this occasion, have fallen into the snare that was set for them. . . It is absolutely false, that these churches were ever founded by Peter Waldo. . . . It is a pure forgery." -- " Ancient Church of Piedmont," pp. 192. Oxford: 1821.

" It is not true, that Waldo gave this name to the inhabitants of the valleys: they were called Waldenses, or Vaudes, before his time, from the valleys in which they dwelt. " -- Id., p. 182.

On the other hand, he "was called Valdus, or Waldo, because he received his religious notions from the inhabitants of the valleys." -- " History of the Christian Church," William Jones, Vol. II, p. 2. See also Sir Samuel Morland's "History of the Evangelical Churches of the Valleys of Piedmont," pp. 29, 30.

Henri Arnaud, a leading pastor among the Waldenses, says: "Their proper name, Vallenses, is derived from the Latin word vallis, and not, as has been insinuated, from Valdo, a merchant of Lyons." -- " The Glorious Recovery by the Vaudois," Henri Arnaud, p. xiii. London: 1827.

The Roman Inquisitor, Reinerus Sacho, writing about 1230 A. D., says: "The heresy of the Vaudois, or poor people of Lyons, is of great antiquity. Among all sects that either are, or have been, there is none more dangerous to the Church, than that of the Leonists, and that for three reasons: the first is, because it is the sect of the longest standing of any; for some say that it has been continued down ever since the time of Pope Sylvester; and others, ever-since that of the apostles. The second is, because it is the most general of all sects; for scarcely is there any country to be found where this sect hath not spread itself. And the third, because it has the greatest appearance of piety; because, in the sight of all, these men are just and honest in their transactions, believe of God what ought to be believed, receive all the articles

p 121 -- of the Apostles' Creed, and only profess to hate the Church of Rome. " -- Quoted on page 22 of William Stephen Gilly's " Excursion," fourth edition. London: 1827. TOP

Now it must be clear as the noonday sun, that Reinerus would not have written as he did, if the Waldenses had originated with Peter Waldo, only seventy-five years before; nor could Waldo's followers have multiplied and spread over the whole world in so short a time, under great persecution, and with so slow means of travel.

Henri Arnaud, a Waldensian pastor, says of their origin: " Neither has their church been ever reformed, whence arises its title of Evangelic. The Vaudois are, in fact, descended from those refugees from Italy who, after St. Paul had there preached the gospel, abandoned their beautiful country and fled, like the woman mentioned in the Apocalypse, to these wild mountains, where they have to this day handed down the gospel from father to son in the same purity and simplicity as it was preached by St. Paul." -- " The Glorious Recovery by the Vaudois," p. xiv of preface by the Author, translated by Acland. London: 1827.

THE WALDENSIAN FAITH -- The Waldenses took the Bible as their only rule of faith, abhorred the idolatry of the papacy, and the main body rejected its traditions and holidays, but kept the seventh-day Sabbath, and used the apostolic mode of baptism. (See "Ancient Churches of Piedmont," by P. Allix, pp. 152-260.) Their old catechism shows that they believed in justification by faith in the grace of Christ alone, and that obedience to the Ten Commandments was the sure fruit of living faith:

"Q. -- By what means do we hope for grace? A. -- By the Mediator Jesus Christ. . . . Q. -- What is a living faith? A. -- That which worketh by charity. Q. -- What is a dead faith? A. -- According to St. James, that faith which is without works, is dead. . . . Q. -- By what means canst thou know that thou believest in God? A. -- By this: because I know that I have given myself

p 122 -- to the observation of the commandments of God. Q. -- How many commandments of God are there? A. -- Ten, as it appeareth in Exodus and Deuteronomy. . . . Q. -- Upon what do all these commandments depend? A. -- Upon the two great commandments, that is to say: Thou shalt love God above all things, and thy neighbor as thyself." -- " Waldenses," Perrin, Part III, Book I, pp. 1-10. (1624 A. D.) "The Glorious Recovery by the Vaudois," Henri Arnaud, pp. xcvi, xcvii, cv. London: 1827. TOP

Dr. Peter Allix quotes the following from a Roman Catholic author: "'They say that blessed Pope Sylvester was the Antichrist, of whom mention is made in the Epistles of St. Paul, as being the son of perdition, who extols himself above everything that is called God; for, from that time, they say, the Church perished.' . . .

"He lays it down also as one of their opinions; 'That the Law of Moses is to be kept according to the letter, and that the keeping of the Sabbath, circumcision, and other legal observances, ought to take place. "' -- "Ancient Churches of Piedmont," p. 169 (page 154, edition of 1690). Oxford: 1821.

In regard to the accusation that the Waldenses practiced circumcision, Mr. Benedict truthfully says: " The account of their practicing circumcision is undoubtedly a slanderous story, forged by their enemies, and probably arose in this way: because they observed the seventh day they were called, by way of derision, Jews, as the Sabbatarians are frequently at this day, and if they were Jews, it followed, of course, that they either did, or ought to, circumcise their followers." -- "General History of the Baptist Denomination," Vol. II, p. 414, edition of 1813.

That this was exactly the way this slander was fastened on Sabbath-keepers, we can see from the "Epistle " written against them by Pope Gregory I (A. D. 590-604), in which he says: "It has come to my ears that certain men of perverse spirit have sown among you some things that are wrong and opposed

p 123 -- to the holy faith, so as to forbid any work being done on the Sabbath day. . . .

"For, if any one says that this about the Sabbath is to be kept, he must needs say that carnal sacrifices are to be offered: he must say, too, that the commandment about the circumcision of the body is still to be retained." -- " Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers" (Second Series), Vol. XIII, Book 13, epist. 1, p. 92. New York: 1898.

Going back to Judaism was considered by the Roman Catholic Church as one of the most serious heresies, punishable with death. And any one at all familiar with the tactics of Romanists knows that it has been a practice, only too common among them, to blacken the character of those whom they would destroy, so as to justify their destruction. Dr. Peter Allix says: "It is no great sin with the Church of Rome to spread lies concerning those that are enemies of the faith. . . . There is nothing more common with the Romish party, than to make use of the most horrid calumnies to blacken and expose those who have renounced her communion. . . . Calumny is a trade the Romish party is perfectly well versed in." -- "Ancient Church of Piedmont," pp. 224, 225. (Pages 205, 206 in edition of 1690.) TOP

William Jones says: " Louis XII, King of France, being informed by the enemies of the Waldenses, inhabiting a part of the province of Province, that several heinous crimes were laid to their account, sent the Master of Requests, and a certain doctor of the Sorbonne, who was confessor to his majesty, to make inquiry into this matter. On their return, they reported that they had visited all the parishes where they dwelt, had inspected their places of worship, but that they had found there no images, nor signs of the ornaments belonging to the mass, nor any of the ceremonies of the Romish church; much less could they discover any traces of those crimes with which they were charged. On the contrary, they kept the Sabbath day, observed the ordinance of baptism, according to the primitive church, instructed their children in the articles of the Christian faith, and the commandments of

p 124 -- God. The King having heard the report of his commissioners, said with an oath that they were better men than himself or his people." -- " History of the Christian Church," Vol. 2, pp. 71, 72, third edition. London: 1818.

NAMES OF THE WALDENSES -- John P. Perrin of Lyons writes of how the Waldenses went under different names, either from the territory in which they lived, or from the name of the missionary they had sent to that country. He says: " First therefore they called them . . . Waldenses; of the countries of Albi, Albigeois [Albigenses]. . . .

"And from one of the disciples of Valdo, called loseph [Joseph], who preached in Dauphiney in the diocesse of Dye, they were called Iosephists [Josephites]. . . .

"Of one of their pastors who preached in Albegeois, named Arnold Hot, they were called Arnoldists. . . .

"And because they observed no other day of rest but the Sabbath dayes, they called them Insabathas, as much as to say, as they observed no Sabbath.

"And because they were alwayes exposed to continuall sufferings, from the Latin word Pati, which signifieth to suffer, they called them Patareniens.

"And for as much as like poore passengers, they wandered from one place to another, they were called Passagenes," -- "Luther's Fore-Runners," (original spelling) pp. 7, 8. London: 1624.

This author quotes the following from the Waldensian faith: "That we are to worship one only God, who is able to help us, and not the Saints departed; that we ought to keep holy the Sabbath day, but that there was no necessity of observing other feasts." -- Id., p. 38. TOP

Goldastus, a learned German historian (A. D. 1576-1635) says of them: They were called "Insabbatati, not because they were

p 125 -- circumcised, but because they kept the Jewish Sabbath." "Circumcisi forsan illi fuerint, qui aliis Insabbatati, non quod circumciderentur, inquit Calvinista [Goldastus] sed quod in Sabbato judaizarent. " -- Robert Robinson, in "Ecclesiastical Researches," chap, 10, p. 303. (Quoted in "History of the Sabbath," J., N. Andrews, p. 412, ed. 1887.)

David Benedict, M. A., says: " Robinson gives an account of some of the Waldenses of the Alps, who were called Sabbati, Sabbatati, Insabbatati, but more frequently Inzabbatati. 'One says they were so named from the Hebrew word Sabbath, because they kept the Saturday for the Lord's day. Another says they were so called because they rejected all the festivals." -- " General History of the Baptist Denomination," Vol. II, p. 413. Boston: 1813.

Dr. J. L. Mosheim says: " Pasaginians . . . had the utmost aversion to the dominion and discipline of the church of Rome; . . . and celebrated the Jewish Sabbath." -- "Ecclesiastical History" (two-volume edition), Cent. 12, Part 2, Chap. 5, Sec. 14, Vol. I, p. 333. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1871.

" The papal author, Bonacursus, wrote the following against the Pasagini ": "Not a few, but many know what are the errors of those who are called Pasagini. . . . First, they teach that we should obey the law of Moses according to the letter -- the Sabbath, and circumcision, and the legal precepts still being in force. . . .furthermore, to increase their error, they condemn and reject all the church Fathers, and the whole Roman Church." -- " D'Achery, Spicilegium I, f. 211-214; Muratory, Antiq. med. aevi. 5, f. 152, Hahn, 3,209. Quoted in "History of the Sabbath," J N. Andrews, pp. 547, 548. 1912.

The Roman Catholic Church has always had a special enmity toward the Bible Sabbath and Sabbath-keepers. Mr. Benedict says: " It was the settled policy of Rome to obliterate every vestige of opposition to her doctrines and decrees, everything heretical,

p 126 -- whether persons or writings, by which the faithful would be liable to be contaminated and led astray. In conformity to this, their fixed determination, all books and records of their opposers were hunted up, and committed to the flames." -- " History of the Baptist Denomination," p. 50. 1849. TOP

Dr. De Sanctis, who for years was a Catholic official at Rome, and at one time Censor of the Inquisition, but who later became a Protestant, reports in his book a conversation of a Waldensian scholar as he pointed to the ruins of the Palatine Hill at Rome: "'See,' said the Waldensian, 'a beautiful monument of ecclesiastical antiquity. These rough materials are the ruins of the two great Palatine libraries, one Greek and the other Latin, where the precious manuscripts of our ancestors were collected, and which Pope Gregory I, called the Great, caused to be burned."' -- " Popery, Puseyism, Jesuitism," De Sanctis, p. 53.

Eternity alone will reveal how many precious manuscripts have been destroyed by Rome in its effort to blot out all traces of apostolic Christianity.

We have now seen that the ancient apostolic church, scattered by persecution, and often in hiding, went under various names. Being peaceful, virtuous, and industrious citizens, they were tolerated, or even shielded, by princes who understood their value to the country, while the Catholic Church hunted them down like wild beasts. After the Waldenses and Albigenses had lived quietly in France for many years, Pope Innocent III wrote the following instruction to his bishops: "Therefore by this present apostolical writing we give you a strict command that, by whatever means you can, you destroy all these heresies and expel from your diocese all who are polluted with them. You shall exercise the rigor of the ecclesiastical power against them and all those who have made themselves suspected by associating with them. They may not appeal from your judgments, and if necessary, you may cause the princes and people to suppress them with the sword." -- " A Source Book for Mediaeval History," Oliver J. Thatcher and E. H. McNeal, p. 210 New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1905.

p 127 -- Philippus van Limborch, Professor of Divinity at Amsterdam, speaking of the way the liberty of the people was suppressed after 1050, says: "In the following ages the affairs of the church were so managed under the government of the Popes, and all persons so strictly curbed by the severity of the laws, that they durst not even so much as whisper against the received opinions of the church. Besides this, so deep was the ignorance that had spread itself over the world, that men, without the least regard to knowledge and learning, received with a blind obedience every thing that the ecclesiastics ordered them, however stupid and superstitious, without any examination; and if any one dared in the least to contradict them, he was sure immediately to be punished; whereby the most absurd opinions came to be established by the violence of the Popes." -- " History of the Inquisition," p. 79. London: 1816.

Ignorance and superstition generated vice of the basest sort, and brought the Christian world into the darkest of the Dark Ages, which made the Reformation of the sixteenth century an absolute necessity. And, as "the darkest hour of the night is just before dawn," so the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries were the darkest in the Christian Era. For a time, however, there were still a few dawn lights shining on the religious horizon, shedding their mild gospel light into the dense darkness. But when these were extinguished, the darkness became well-nigh complete. 1. The Celtic church of Scotland and Ireland had sent their missionaries with an open Bible into almost every country of Europe. The gospel lamp of Scotland was extinguished in 1069; that of Ireland in 1172; that of the ancient Albigenses in 1229; the Assyrian lamp of the East was extinguished at Malabar, India, by the Inquisition in 1560; and the Waldensian lamp, that had been shining the longest, and had sent its mild rays over Europe for centuries, was extinguished in 1686. The history of these evangelical churches during this dark period is very interesting and has many valuable lessons for our day.

The Waldenses and Albigenses were quiet and industrious

p 128 -- people, and followed the Bible standard of morality, which actually caused their persecution. TOP

"But their crowning offence was their love and reverence for Scripture, and their burning zeal in making converts. The Inquisitor of Passau informs us that they had translations of the whole Bible in the vulgar tongue, which the Church vainly sought to suppress, and which they studied with incredible assiduity. . . . Many of them had the whole of the New Testament by heart. . . . Surely if ever there was a God-fearing people it was these unfortunates under the ban of Church and State. . . . The inquisitors . . . [declare] that the sign of a Vaudois, deemed worthy of death, was that he followed Christ and sought to obey the commandments of God." -- " History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages," H. C. Lea, Vol. I, pp. 86, 87. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1888.

"In fact, amid the license of the Middle Ages ascetic virtue was apt to be regarded as a sign of heresy." -- Id., p. 87.

On the other hand, the licentious lives of the Catholic clergy placed insurmountable barriers for a Waldensian ever to become a Catholic. When in 1204 Pope Innocent III sent his commissioners to crush the peaceful Waldenses and Albigenses in Southern France "with fire and sword," these monks returned to the pope asking for help to reform the lives of the Catholic priests. Lea says: "The legates . . . appealed to him for aid against prelates whom they had failed to coerce, and whose infamy of life gave scandal to the faithful and an irresistible argument to the heretic. Innocent curtly bade them attend to the object of their mission and not allow themselves to be diverted by less important matters." -- Id., p. 129.

Professor Philippus van Limborch writes: "It was the entire study and endeavour of the popes, to crush, in its infancy, every doctrine that any way opposed their exorbitant power. In the year 1163, at the synod of Tours, all the bishops and priests in the country of Tholouse, were commanded 'to take care, and to forbid, under the pain of excom-

p 129 -- munication, every person from presuming to give reception, or the least assistance to the followers of this heresy, which first began in the country of Tholouse, whenever they shall be discovered. Neither were they to have any dealings with them in buying or selling; that by being thus deprived of the common assistances of life, they might be compelled to repent of the evil of their way. Whosoever shall dare to contravene this order, let them be excommunicated, as a partner with them in their guilt. As many of them as can be found, let them be imprisoned by the Catholic princes, and punished with the forfeiture of all their substance.' TOP

" Some of the Waldenses, coming into the neighbouring kingdom of Arragon, king Ildefonsus, in the year 1194, put forth, against them, a very severe and bloody edict, by which 'he banished them from his kingdom, and all his dominions, as enemies of the cross of Christ, prophaners of the Christian religion, and public enemies to himself and kingdom.' He adds: 'If any, from this day forwards, shall presume to receive into their houses, the aforesaid Waldenses and Inzabbatati, or other heretics, of whatsoever profession they be, or to hear, in any place, their abominable preachings, or to give them food, or to do them any kind office whatsoever; let him know, that he shall incur the indignation of Almighty God and ours; that he shall forfeit all his goods, without the benefit of appeal, and be punished as though guilty of high treason."' -- " History of the Inquisition," pp. 88, 89. London: 1816.

To destroy completely these heretics Pope Innocent III sent Dominican inquisitors into France, and also crusaders, promising "a plenary remission of all sins, to those who took on them the crusade . . . against the Albigenses." When Raymond VI, Earl of Tholouse, shielded these innocent people, who were such an asset to his country, he was " deposed by the pope." * Being frightened by the savage crusaders Raymond submitted, and

* -- Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. XII, art. " Raymond Vl, " p. 670.

p 130 -- the papal legate had him publicly whipped twice till "he was so grievously torn by the stripes" that he had to leave the church by a back door. (Id., pp. 98, 100.) He later appealed to Innocent III. "The pope, however, ceded the estates of Raymond to Simon de Montfort," (1215)*. Thousands of God's people were tortured to death by the Inquisition, buried alive, burned to death, or hacked to pieces by the crusaders. While devastating the city of Biterre the soldiers asked the Catholic leaders how they should know who were heretics; Arnold, Abbot of Cisteaux, answered: "Slay them all, for the Lord knows who is His." -- Id., pp. 98, 101.

In 1216 to 1221 Raymond reconquered his land, and after his death (1221) his son became Earl, and "the Inquisition was banished from the country of Tholouse." But Pope Honorius III "proclaimed an holy war, to be called the 'Penance war,' against the heretics," and "to subdue the Earl of Tholouse, he sent letters to King Louis " of France to make war on Raymond, which he did. But treachery, which has always been one of the most successful weapons of the Papacy against God's people, had to be resorted to here: When the Pope's legate saw that he could not take the city of Avignon by force, he "scrupled not to adopt the vilest treachery and to practice the basest hypocrisy. -- He offered to suspend hostilities, and to pave the way for peace, if the besieged would admit a few priests, only to inquire concerning the faith of the inhabitants: and those terms being agreed upon and sealed by mutual oaths; the priests entered, but in direct violation of their solemn engagement, brought the French army with them, who thus fraudulently triumphed over the unsuspecting citizens; they plundered the city, killed or bound in chains the inhabitants. " -- Id., pp. 104-106.

(This is in perfect harmony with the Catholic teaching and practice, that they need not keep faith with a heretic, as carried out in the case of John Huss. In spite of the safe-conduct from the Emperor Sigismund, he was imprisoned, November 28, 1414, and burned July 6, 1415.)

* -- Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. XII, art. "Raymond VI," p. 670. TOP

p 131 -- HUNTED LIKE WILD BEASTS -- The Earl of Tholouse was finally forced to bow to Rome, and God's people were hunted as wild beasts everywhere. Here are some of the laws of Louis IX, King of France, A. D. 1229: " Canon 3. --The lords of the different districts shall have the villas, houses, and woods diligently searched, and the hiding-places of the heretics destroyed. Canon 4. -- If any one allows a heretic to remain in his territory, he loses his possession forever, and his body is in the hands of the magistrates to receive due punishment. Canon 5. -- But also such are liable to the law, whose territory has been made the frequent hiding-place of heretics, not by his knowledge, but by his negligence. Canon 6. -- The house in which a heretic is found, shall be torn down, and the place or land be confiscated. Canon 14. -- Lay members are not allowed to possess the books of either the Old or the New Testament." -- " Hefele's Councils," Vol. V, pp. 981, 982. ("History of the Sabbath," New, p. 558).

These laws were only echoes of the "Bulls" of the popes. But while the Waldenses on the French side of the Alps were being exterminated, the pope had a more difficult task to destroy them in the Piedmont Alps. From Pope Lucius III (A. D. 1181-1185) to the Reformation in the sixteenth century the persecution of the Waldenses was the subject of many papal "anathemas." Army after army was sent against them, and all manner of trickery was resorted to in order to destroy these honest, plain, Christian people. In 1488 Albert Cataneo, the papal legate came with an army into the midst of Val Louise. The inhabitants fled into a cavern for shelter, and the soldiers started a fire at the mouth of the cavern and smothered the entire population of 3,000, including 400 children. Then Cataneo entered the Piedmont side. Here the Waldenses retreated to Pra del Tor, their "Shiloh of the Valleys." Cataneo ordered his soldiers into the dark, narrow chasm that formed the only path to this citadel. The poor Waldenses were now bottled up, and their enemies were proceeding towards them, sure of their prey, but God heard earnest prayers:

p 132 -- "A white cloud, no bigger than a man's hand, unobserved by the Piedmontese, but keenly watched by the Vaudois, was seen to gather on the mountain's summit. . . . That cloud grew rapidly bigger and blacker. It began to descend . . . . It fell right into the chasm in which was the Papal army . . . . In a moment the host were in night; they . . . could neither advance nor retreat. [The Waldenses] tore up huge stones and rocks, and sent them thundering down into the ravine. The papal soldiers were crushed where they stood. . . . Panic impelled them to flee, . . . they threw each other down in the struggle; some were trodden to death; others were rolled over the precipice, and crushed on the rocks below, or drowned in the torrent, and so perished miserably." -- " History of the Waldenses," J. A. Wylie, pp. 48, 49. TOP

In 1544 the treacherous and heartless Catholic leader, D'Oppede caused the terrible butchery of thousands of Waldenses. At Cabrieres he wrote a note to the people, saying that if they would open the gates of their city he would do them no harm. They, in good faith, opened the gates, and D'Oppede cried out: "Kill them all." Men, women, and children were massacred or burned alive. In 1655 there was another massacre of Waldeuses. After the Catholic leaders had made several vain attempts to break into the fastnesses of the mountains where the Waldenses lived, and were defeated, the Marquis of Pianesse wrote the various Waldensian towns to entertain certain regiments of soldiers to show their good faith. These Christian people, who always had such sacred regard for their own word, never seemed to learn that it is a fundamental Catholic doctrine, that Catholics need not, and should not, keep faith with heretics, when the interest of the "Church" is at stake. After they had sheltered the soldiers, and fed them of their scanty store, a signal was given at 4 A. M., April 24, 1655, and the butchery began.

" Little children, Leger says, were torn from the arms of their mothers, dashed against the rocks, and cast carelessly away. The sick or the aged, both men and women, were either burned in their houses, or hacked in pieces; or mutilated, half murdered,

p 133 -- and flayed alive, they were exposed in a dying state to the heat of the sun, or to flames, or to ferocious beasts. " -- "Israel of the Alps," Dr. Alexis Muston, Vol. I, pp. 349, 350.

These people suffered tortures too terrible to mention, which only devils in human form could have invented. The towns in the beautiful valleys were left smoldering ruins. A few people saved themselves by flight to the mountains.

FURTHER DESTRUCTION -- In 1686 another terrible edict was issued against them, and
an army raised to exterminate them. And again it was the same story of treachery. Gabriel of Savoy himself wrote them: "'Do not hesitate to lay down your arms; and be assured
that if you cast yourselves upon the clemency of his royal highness, he will pardon you, and that neither your persons nor those of your wives or children shall be touched."' -- " Israel of the Alps," Alexis Muston, Vol. I, P. 445.

The Waldenses accepted the official document in good faith and opened their entrenchments. But the Catholic officials, true to the nature of their church doctrines, rushed in and butchered men, women, and children in cold blood. Unspeakable tortures were inflicted on the innocent people, while a few escaped to the mountains. All the towns of the valleys were smoldering and charred ruins. Rome had at last quenched the ancient lamp. "The school of the prophets in the PRA del Tor is razed. No smoke is seen rising from cottage, and no psalm is heard ascending from dwelling or sanctuary. . . . and no troop of worshipers, obedient to the summons of the Sabbath bell, climbs the mountain paths." -- " History of the Waldenses," Wylie, p. 173.

As these exiled Waldenses fled from country to country, they were persecuted and harassed, but they sowed the seeds of truth as they went. Let us now consider the experiences of other
branches of the apostolic church, that were scattered by persecution and by early missionary endeavors to the outskirts of civilization. (See the chapter "Wycliffe, Huss," etc.) TOP

CELTIC SABBATH-KEEPERS

p 134 -- We know from several sources that Christianity entered the British Isles in apostolic times. (Colossians 1: 23.) Rev. Richard Hart, B. A., Vicar of Catton, says: "That the light of Christianity dawned upon these islands in the course of the first century, is a matter of historical certainty." -- " Ecclesiastical Records," p. vii. Cambridge: 1846. Tertullian, about 200 A. D., included the Britons among the many nations which believed in Christ, and he speaks of places among "the Britons -- inaccessible to the Romans, but subjugated to Christ." -- " Answer to the Jews," chap. vii. Dr.Ephraim ~~~~~ Dr. Ephraim Pagit ~~~~~~~~~~~~, in his " Christianography," printed in London, 1640, gives an interesting account of the early Christians in these islands.

Before the church in the British Isles was forced under the papal yoke, it was noted for its institutions of learning. The Rev. Mr. Hart says: "That learning and piety flourished in these islands during the period of their independence is capable of the most satisfactory proof, and Ireland in particular was so universally celebrated, that students flocked thither from all parts of the world." -- "Ecclesiastical Records," p. viii.

He says, some came to " Ireland for the sake of studying the Scriptures." -- Id., p. xi.

THE COMING OF PATRICK -- Patrick, a son of a Christian family in southern Scotland, was carried off to Ireland by pirates about 376 A. D. Here, in slavery, he gave his heart to God and, after six years of servitude, escaped, returning to his home in Scotland. But he could not forget the spiritual need of these poor heathen, and after ten years he returned to Ireland as a missionary of the Celtic

p 135 -- church. "He had now reached his thirtieth year [390 A. D.]." -- "The Ancient British and Irish Churches," William Cathcart, D. D., p. 70.

Dr. E. Pagit says that "Saint Patricke had in his day founded there 365 churches." -- " Christianography, "Part 2, p. 10.

Dr. August Neander says of Patrick: "The place of his birth was Bonnaven, which lay between the Scottish towns Dumbarton and Glasgow, and was then reckoned to the province of Britain. This village, in memory of Patricius, received the name of Kil-Patrick or Kirk-Patrick. His father, a deacon in the village church, gave him a careful education. " -- " General History of the Christian Religion and Church," Vol. II, p. 122. Boston: 1855.

Patrick himself writes in his "Confession": " I , Patrick, . . . had Calpornius for my father, a deacon, a son of the late Potitus, the presbyter. . . . I was captured. I was almost sixteen years of age . . . and taken to Ireland in captivity with many thousand men." -- "The Ancient British and Irish Churches," William Cathcart, D. D., p. 127. TOP

PATRICK NOT A CATHOLIC -- To those who have heard of Patrick only as a Catholic saint, it may be a surprise to learn that he was not a Roman Catholic at all, but that he was a member of the original Celtic church. There is no more historic evidence for Patrick's being a Roman Catholic saint, than for Peter's being the first pope. Catholics claim that Pope Celestine commissioned Patrick as a Roman Catholic missionary to Ireland; but William Cathcart, D. D., says: "There is strong evidence that Patrick had no Roman commission in Ireland."

"As Patrick's churches in Ireland, like their brethren in Britain, repudiated the supremacy of the popes, all knowledge of the conversion of Ireland through his ministry must be suppressed [by Rome, at all cost.]" -- Ibid., p. 85.

p 136 -- The popes who lived contemporary with Patrick never mentioned him. "There is not a written word from one of them rejoicing over Patrick's additions to their church, showing clearly that he was not a Roman missionary. . . . So completely buried was Patrick and his work by popes and other Roman Catholics, that in their epistles and larger publications, his name does not once occur in one of them until A. D. 634." -- Id., p. 83.

"Prosper does not notice Patrick. . . . He says nothing of the greatest success ever given to a missionary of Christ, apparently because he was not a Romanist." -- Id., p. 84.

"Bede never speaks of St. Patrick in his celebrated 'Ecclesiastical History.' -- Id., p. 85.

But, writing of the year 431, Bede says of a Catholic missionary: " Palladius was sent by Celestinus, the Roman pontiff, to the Scots [Irish] that believed in Christ." -- "Ecclesiastical History," p. 22. London: 1894.

But this papal emissary was not received any more favorably by the church in Ireland, than was Augustine later received by the Celtic church of Scotland, for "he left because he did not receive respect in Ireland." -- " The Ancient British and Irish Churches," William Cathcart, D. D., p. 72.

No Roman Catholic church would have dared to ignore a bishop sent them by the pope. This proves that the churches in the British Isles did not recognize the pope. TOP

Dr. Todd says: "The 'Confession' of St. Patrick contains not a word of a mission from Pope Celestine. One object of the writer was to defend himself from the charge of presumption in having undertaken such a work as the conversion of the Irish, rude and unlearned as he was. Had he received a regular commission from the see of Rome, that fact alone would be an unanswerable reply. But he makes no mention of Pope Celestine, and rests his defense altogether on the divine call which he believed himself to have received for his work." -- Id., pp. 81, 82.

p 137 -- "Muirchu wrote more than two hundred years after Patrick's death. His declaration is positive that he did not go to Rome." -- Id., p. 88.

There are three reasons why Patrick could not have been a Roman Catholic missionary: 1. -- Early Catholic historians and popes avoided mentioning Patrick or his work; until later legendary histories represented him as a Catholic Saint.* 2. -- When papal missionaries arrived in Britain, 596 A. D., the leaders of the original Celtic church refused to accept their doctrines, or to acknowledge the papal authority, and would not dine with them. (Compare 1 Corinthians 5: 11; 2 John 8-11.) They "acted towards the Roman party exactly 'as if they had been pagans.'" -- "Ecclesiastical Records," by Richard Hart, pp. viii, xiv. 3. -- The doctrines of the Celtic church of Patrick's day differed so widely from those of the Roman church, that the latter could not have accepted it as "Catholic." Patrick must have been a Sabbath-keeper, because the churches he established in Ireland, as well as the mother church in Scotland and England, followed the apostolic practice of keeping the seventh-day Sabbath, and of working on Sunday, as we soon shall see. But this was considered deadly heresy by the Papacy.

COLUMBA -- Another leader in the Celtic church deserves to be mentioned: Columba, who was born in Ireland, A. D. 521. Animated by the zeal and missionary spirit he found in the schools established by Patrick, Columba continued the work of his predecessor, and selecting twelve fellow workers, he established a missionary center on the island of Iona. This early Celtic church sent its missionaries not only among the heathen Picts of their own country, but also into the Netherlands, France, Switzerland, Germany, and Italy. This Sabbath-keeping church (as did their Waldensian brethren) kept the torch of truth burning during the long, dark night of papal supremacy, till finally they

* -- These legendary histories of St. Patrick, written during the Dark Ages, are so full of childish superstition and fabricated miracles, that they have to be rejected as actual history. TOP

p 138 -- were conquered by Rome in the twelfth century. Professor Andrew Lang says of them: " They worked on Sunday, but kept Saturday in a Sabbatical manner." -- "A History of Scotland from the Roman Occupation," Vol. I, p. 96. New York: Dodd, Mead, and Co., 1900.

Dr. A. Butler says of Columba: "Having continued his labors in Scotland thirty-four years, he clearly and openly foretold his death, and on Saturday, the ninth of June, said to his disciple Diermit: 'This day is called the Sabbath, that is, the rest day, and such will it truly be to me; for it will put an end to my labors. ' " -- "Butler's Lives of the Saints," Vol. I, A. D. 597, art. "St. Columba," p. 762. New York: P. F. Collier.

In a footnote to Blair's translation of the Catholic historian, Bellesheim, we read: "We seem to see here an allusion to the custom, observed in the early monastic Church of Ireland, of keeping the day of rest on Saturday, or the Sabbath." -- " History of the Catholic Church in Scotland," Vol. I, p. 86.

Professor James C. Moffatt, D. D., Professor of Church History at Princeton, says: "It seems to have been customary in the Celtic churches of early times, in Ireland as well as Scotland, to keep Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, as a day of rest from labor. They obeyed the fourth commandment literally upon the seventh day of the week." -- " The Church in Scotland," p. 140. Philadelphia: 1882.

But the church of Rome could never allow the light of pure apostolic Christianity to shine anywhere, for that would reveal her own religion to be apostasy. Pope Gregory I, in 596, sent the imperious monk Augustine, with forty other monks, to Britain. Dr. A. Ebrard says of this "mission": "Gregory well knew that there existed in the British Isles, yea, in a part of the Roman dominion, a Christian church, and that his Roman messengers would come in contact with them. By sending these messengers, he was not only intent upon the conversion of the heathen, but from the very beginning he was

p 139 -- also bent upon bringing this Irish-Scotch church, which had hitherto been free from Rome, in subjection to the papal chair." -- "Bonifacius," p. 16. Guetersloh, 1882. (Quoted in Andrews' "History of the Sabbath," fourth edition, revised and enlarged, 532). TOP

Through political influence, and with magnificent display, the Saxon king, Ethelbert of Kent, consented to receive the pope's missionaries, and "Augustine baptized ten thousand pagans in one day" by driving them in mass into the water. Then, relying on the support of the pope and the sword of the Saxons, Augustine summoned the leaders of the ancient Celtic church, and demanded of them: "'Acknowledge the authority of the Bishop of Rome.' These are the first words of the Papacy to the ancient Christiaps of Britain." They meekly replied: "'The only submission we can render him is that which we owe to every Christian.' " -- "History of the Reformation," D'Aubigne, Book XVII, chap. 2. "'But as for further obedience, we know of none that he, whom you term the Pope, or Bishop of Bishops, can claim or demand.'" -- " Early British History," G. H. Whalley, Esq., M. P., p. 17 (London: 1860): and " Variation of Popery," Rev. Samuel Edger, D. D., pp. 180-183, New York: 1849. Then in 601, when the British bishops finally refused to have any more to do with the haughty messenger of the pope, Augustine proudly threatened them with secular punishment. He said:
"'If you will not have peace from your brethren, you shall have war from your enemies; if you will not preach life to the Saxons, you shall receive death at their hands.' Edelfred, King of Northumbria, at the instigation of Augustin, forthwith poured 50,000 men into the Vale Royal of Chester, the territory of Prince of Powys, under whose auspices the conference had been held. Twelve hundred British priests of the University of Bangor having come out to view the battle, Edelfred directed his forces against them as they stood clothed in their white vestments and totally unarmed, watching the progress of the
battle -- they were massacred to a man. Advancing to the university itself, he put to death every priest and student therein,

p 140 -- and destroyed by fire the halls, colleges, and churches of the university itself; thereby fulfilling, according to the words of the great Saxon authority called the Pious Bede, the prediction, as he terms it, of the blessed Augustine. The ashes of this noble monastery were smoking; its libraries, the collection of ages, having been wholly consumed." -- " Early British History," G. H. Whalley, Esq., M. P., p. 18. London: 1860. See also "Six Old English Chronicles," pp. 275, 276; edited by J. A. Giles, D. C. L. London: 1906. TOP

D'Aubigne says of Augustine: "A national tradition among -the Welsh for many ages pointed to him as the instigator of this cowardly butchery. Thus did Rome loose the savage Pagan against the primitive church of Britain." -- " History of the Reformation," D'Aubigne, book 17, chap. 2.

This was a master stroke of Rome, and a great blow to the native Christians. With their university, their colleges, their teaching priests, and their ancient manuscripts gone, the Britons were greatly handicapped in their struggle against the ceaseless aggression of Rome. Still they continued the struggle for more than five hundred years longer, till finally, in the year 1069, Malcolm, the King of Scotland, married the Saxon princess, Margaret, who, being an ardent Catholic, began at once to Romanize the primitive church, holding long conferences with its leaders. She was assisted by her husband, and by prominent Catholic officials. Prof. Andrew Lang says: "The Scottish Church, then, when Malcolm wedded the sainted English Margaret, was Celtic, and presented peculiarities odious to the English lady, strongly attached to the establishment as she knew it at home. . . . The Celtic priests must have disliked the interference of an Englishwoman.

" First there was a difference in keeping Lent. The Kelts did not begin it on Ash Wednesday. . . . They worked on Sunday, but kept Saturday in a sabbatical manner." -- " History of Scotland," Vol. I, p. 96.

William F. Skene says: "Her next point was that they did not duly reverence the

p 141 -- Lord's day, but in this latter instance they seem to have followed a custom of which we find traces in the early Monastic Church of Ireland, by which they held Saturday to be the Sabbath on which they rested from all their labours." -- " Celtic Scotland," Vol. II, P. 349. Edinburgh: David Douglas, printer, 1877.

"They held that Saturday was properly the Sabbath on which they abstained from work." -- Id., p. 350.TOP

"They were wont also to neglect the due observance of the Lord's day, prosecuting their worldly labours on that as on other days, which she likewise showed, by both argument and authority, was unlawful. " -- Id., p. 348.

SCOTLAND UNDER QUEEN MARGARET -- Professor Andrew Lang relates the same fact thus: "The Scottish Church, then, when Malcolm wedded the saintly English Margaret, was Celtic, and presented peculiarities odious to an English lady, strongly attached to the Establishment as she knew it at home. . . .

"They worked on Sunday, but kept Saturday in a sabbatical manner. . . . These things Margaret abolished." -- " A History of Scotland from the Roman Occupation," Vol. I, p. 96. New York: Dodd, Mead, and Co., 1900.

The Catholic historian, Bellesheim, says of Margaret: " The queen further protested against the prevailing abuse of Sunday desecration. 'Let us,' she said, 'venerate the Lord's day, inasmuch as upon it our Saviour rose from the dead: let us do no servile work on that day.' The Scots in this matter had no doubt kept up the traditional practice of the ancient monastic Church of Ireland which observed Saturday, rather than Sunday, as a day of rest." -- " History of the Catholic Church in Scotland," Vol. I, pp. 249, 250.

Finally the queen, the king, and three Roman Catholic dignitaries held a three-day council with the leaders of the Celtic church. Turgot, the queen's confessor, says: "It was another custom of theirs to neglect the reverence

p 142 -- due to the Lord's day, by devoting themselves to every kind of worldly business upon it, just as they did upon other days. That this was contrary to the law, she proved to them as well by reason as by authority. 'Let us venerate the Lord's day,' said she, 'because of the resurrection of our Lord, which happened upon that day, and let us no longer do servile works upon it; bearing in mind that upon this day we were redeemed from the slavery of the devil. The blessed Pope Gregory affirms the same, saying: "We must cease from earthly labour upon the Lord's day."' . . . From that time forward . . . no one dared on these days either to carry any burdens himself or to compel another to do so." -- " Life of Queen Margaret," Turgot, Section 20; cited in "Source Book," p. 506, ed. 1922.

Thus Rome triumphed at last in Scotland. In Ireland also the Sabbath-keeping church established by Patrick was not long left in peace: "Giraldus Cambrensis informs us that in the year 1155 [Henry II, King of England, was entrusted by Pope Adrian IV with the mission of] invading Ireland [with devastating war] to extend the boundaries of the church, [so that even the Irish would become] faithful to the Church of Rome." The pope wrote Henry: "'You, our beloved son in Christ, have signified to us your desire of invading Ireland, . . . and that you are also willing to pay to St. Peter the annual sum of one penny for every house. We therefore grant a willing assent to your petition, and that the boundaries of the Church may be extended. . . . permit you to enter the island.' " -- "Ecclesiastical Records of England, Ireland, and Scotland," Rev. Richard Hart, B. A., pp. xv, xvi. TOP

Thus we see, that in Scotland an English queen "introduced changes which, in Ireland, came in the wake of conquest and the sword. For example, the ecclesiastical novelties which. St. Margaret's influence gently thrust upon Scotland, were accepted in Ireland by the Synod of Cashel (1172) under Henry IL Yet there remained, in the Irish Church, a Celtic and an Anglo-Norman party, 'which hated one another with as perfect a

p 143 -- hatred as if they rejoiced in the designation of Protestant and Papist.' " -" History of Scotland," Andrew Lang, Vol. 1, p. 97.

But whether this triumph of Catholicism over the' native Celtic faith was accomplished by the devastating wars of Henry II, or by Queen Margaret's appeal to Pope Gregory, and her threat of the civil law, in either case it lacked an appeal to plain Bible facts, accompanied by the convicting power of the Holy Spirit. And, while the leaders of the Celtic church might reluctantly yield to the civil authorities, the people, who had kept the Bible Sabbath for centuries, requested divine authority for Sunday-keeping. For some time the papal missionaries, who preached this strange gospel to the Britons, fabricated all kinds of stories about miraculous punishments that had befallen those who worked on Sunday: Bread baked on Sunday, when it was cut, sent forth a flow of blood; a man plowing on Sunday, when cleaning his plow with an iron, had it grow fast to his hand, so that he had to carry it around to his shame for two years.

FORGED LETTER FROM CHRIST -- When the Abbot Eustace, 1200 A. D., was continually confronted with requests for a divine command for Sunday-keeping, he finally retired to Europe, and returned the next year with a spurious letter from Jesus Christ, claimed to have fallen down from heaven upon St. Simon's altar at Golgotha. This letter declared: "I am the Lord. . . . It is my will, that no one, from the ninth hour on Saturday [3 P. M.] until sunrise on Monday, shall do any work. . . . And if you do not pay obedience to this command, . . . I swear to you . . . I will rain upon you stones, and wood, and hot water, in the night. . . . Now, know ye, that you are saved by the prayers of my most holy Mother, Mary." -- "Roger de Hoveden's Annals," Vol. II, pp. 526, 527, Bohn's edition. London: 1853.

In that superstitious age such childish fabrications might, to some extent, satisfy some people, but four hundred years later the trouble flared up again. TOP

p 144 -- "Upon the publication of the 'Book of Sports' in 1618, a violent controversy arose among English divines on two points: first, whether the Sabbath of the fourth commandment was in force among Christians; and, secondly, whether, and on what ground, the first day of the week was entitled to be distinguished and observed as 'the Sabbath.' In 1628 Theophilus Brabourne, a clergyman, published the first work in favor of the seventh day, or Saturday, as the true Christian Sabbath. He and several others suffered great persecution. " -- Haydn's Dictionary of Dates, art. "Sabbatarians," p. 602. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1883.

Several, ministers arose in England about this time who defended the Bible Sabbath, and who were bitterly persecuted by the state church. John Trask was put in prison; his wife, a schoolteacher of a devout Christian character, remained in prison for fifteen years. On November 26, 1661, John James, a godly Sabbath-keeping preacher, was hanged for advocating the Sabbath truth, "and his head was set upon a pole opposite the meeting house in which he had preached the gospel. " -- "History of the Baptists," Dr. J. M. Cramp, p. 351. London: Elliot Stock, 1868. Dr. Thomas Bampfield,* who had been speaker in one of Cromwell's parliaments, wrote two books defending the seventh-day Sabbath (1692, 1693), but he also was imprisoned. In 1664, Edward Stennet, an English minister, wrote a book entitled: "The Seventh Day Is the Sabbath of the Lord." But like the rest, he had to spend a long time in prison. In 1668 he wrote the following letter to his Sabbath-keeping brethren in America:

"Abington, Berkshire, England,

"February 2nd, 1668.

"Edward Stennet, a poor unworthy servant of Jesus Christ, to the remnant in Rhode Island, who keep the commandments of God, and the testimonies of Jesus, sendeth greeting:

"Dearly Beloved:

* -- See Robert Cox's "Literature of the Sabbath Question," Vol. II, pp. 86-91.TOP

p 145 -- "I rejoice in the Lord on your behalfs that He hath been graciously pleased to make known to you His holy Sabbath in such a day as this, when truth falleth in the streets, and equity cannot enter. And with us we can scarcely find a man that is really willing to know whether the Sabbath be a truth or not, and those who have the greatest parts, have the least anxiety to meddle with it.

"We have passed through great opposition for the truth's sake, repeatedly from our brethren, which makes the affliction heavier; I dare not say how heavy, lest it should seem incredible; but the Lord has been with us, affording us strength according to our day. And when lovers and friends seem to be moved far from us, the Lord was near us, comforting our souls, and quickening us, with such quick and eminent answers to our prayers, has encouraged and established us in the truth for which we suffer. But the opposers of truth seem much withered, and at present the opposition seems declining away; the truth is strong, and this spiritual fiery law will burn all those thorns which men set up before it. For was there ever any ceremonial law given us? But this law was given from the mouth of God, in the ears of so many thousands -- written on tables of stone with His own finger -- promised to be written on the tables of their hearts and confirmed by a miracle for the space of forty years in the wilderness, the manna not keeping good any other day but the Sabbath. . . .

"It is our duty as Christians, to carry it with all meekness and tenderness to our brethren, who, through the darkness of their understanding in this point, differ from us. We have abundant reason to bless our dear Father, who hath opened our eyes to behold the wonders in His law, while many of His dear servants are in the dark; but the Lord has in this truth as in others, first revealed it unto babes, that no flesh shall glory in His presence. Our work is to be at the feet of the Lord in all humility, crying unto Him, that we may be furnished with all grace to fit us for His work; that we may be instruments in His

p 146 -- hands, to convince our brethren (if the Lord will) who at present differ from us. . . ."Truly, dear brethren, it is a time of slumbering and sleeping with us, though God's rod is upon our backs. Oh! pray for us to the Lord, to quicken us, and set us upon watch-towers. Here are, in England, about nine or ten churches that keep the Sabbath, besides many scattered disciples, who have been eminently preserved in this tottering day, when many once eminent churches have been shattered in pieces. The Lord alone be exalted, for the Lord has done this, not for our sakes, but for His own name's sake. My dear brethren, I write these lines at a venture, not knowing how they will come to your hand. I shall commit them and you to the blessing of our dear Lord, who hath loved us, and washed away our sins in His own blood. If these lines come to you safely, and I shall hear from you, hereafter I will write to you more largely. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

"Edward Stennet."

-- "An Original History of the Religious Denominations, I. Daniel Rupp, p. 71. Philadelphia: 1844. TOP

WYCLIFFE, HUSS, AND ZINZENDORF

p 147 -- The Inqusition and the devastating wars which the popes and the Councils directed against the Albigenses and Waldenses during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, had scattered some of them over Europe, where they settled mostly in Germany, Poland, and Bohemia. "Others turning to the west obtained refuge in Britain." * Everywhere these God-fearing people worked quietly for the salvation of souls, and thus prepared the way for the Reformation. But the books of heaven alone contain the true record of the work done by these humble Waldenses.

"John Wycliffe was the herald of reform, not for England alone, but for all Christendom. The great protest against Rome which it was permitted him to utter, was never to be silenced. That protest opened the struggle which was to result in the emancipation of individuals, of churches, and of nations." -- " The Great Controversy, "pp. 79, 80.

In Bohemia, Huss and Jerome were, in their labor, animated by the writings of Wycliffe, so that the light of truth, which the Papacy had quenched in the "Vallies" was flaring up in England and Bohemia. Dr. Fr. Nielsen, of Denmark, says of the papal opposition: "The struggle against the Waldenses . . . was as nothing compared to the trouble that broke out in the Bohemian church when Wycliffism had taken root in that country. . . . About the year 1400 Jerome, MA, of Prague had been at Oxford, and from thence had brought with him to Prague Wycliffe's 'Dialogus' and 'Trialogus,' and in 1403 John Huss stepped out openly as one of Wycliffe's disciples. " -- " Haandbog i Kirkens Historie,"

* -- See " Dissertation on the Prophecies," by Bishop Thomas Newton, p. 518, and "History of the Evangelical Churches of . . . Piedmont," by Samuel Morland, Esq., p 191, (London, 1658).

p 148 -- (Handbook of Church History), Vol. II, p. 874, ed. of 1893. Copenhagen.

After Huss was burned, July 6, 1415, and Jerome, May 30, 1416, their work of reform was carried on by their followers. But they were divided into two camps, the conservative of Prague, and the radical of Tabor. Dr. Nielson continues: "All Hussites were agreed upon yielding obedience to the 'law of God.' . . . Those of Prague . . . rejected only that which conflicted with the law of God, [while the] Taborites . . . would acknowledge only what was expressly mentioned in the Scriptures . . . . The Taborites read the Scriptures with their own eyes . . . . The radical party rejected all holidays, even Sunday . . . . Some longed for the condition of the apostolic times . . . . The religious enlightenment among the Taborites was great, and their women had a better knowledge of the Scriptures than the Italian priests. . . . In Germany the Waldenses had, without doubt, as in Bohemia, several places prepared the way for the Hussitism. TOP. . .

" If any one after the middle of the fifteenth century wanted to find genuine disciples of Wycliffe and Huss in Bohemia he had to go to the eastern border where the remnant of the Taborites, as 'the quiet in the land' in strict discipline endeavored to follow the law of God. At the close of the fifteenth century there were in Bohemia and Moravia about two hundred churches of the 'Brethren,' who rejected all connection with the Roman church and had their own ministers and bishops, who through a Waldensian Bishop from Austria believed they had preserved the apostolic succession. . . . Time and again they were subject to bloody persecutions. " -- Id., pp. 886 - 888; 896, 897.

We shall now show that these Waldensian and Hussite brethren were Sabbath-keepers. Dr. R. Cox says: " I find from a passage in Erasmus that at the early period of the Reformation when he wrote, there were Sabbatarians in Bohemia, who not only kept the seventh day, but were said to be . . . scrupulous in resting on it." Erasmus' statement follows: "Now we hear that among the Bohemians a new kind of Jews has arisen called

p 149 -- Sabbatarians, who observe the Sabbath." -- " Literature of the Sabbath Question," Cox, Vol. II, pp. 201, 202.

Bishop A. Grimelund of Norway speaks of them as "the anciently arisen, but later vanished sect of Sabbatarians in Bohemia, Moravia, and Hungary." -- " Sondagens Historie" (History of Sunday), pp. 46, 47. Christiania: 1886.

About the year 1520 many of these Sabbath-keepers found shelter on the estate of Lord Leonhard, of Lichtenstein, "as the princes of Lichtenstein held to the observance of the true Sabbath." -- " History of the Sabbath," J. N. Andrews, p. 649, ed. 1912. Lord Leonhard asked the Sabbatarians to submit to him a statement of their belief, which was sent to Wolfgang Capito, a leading Strassburg Reformer, and to Caspar Schwenkfeld. This document is lost, but Schwenkfeld's answer to it (printed in 1599) contains several quotations from it, showing that their arguments for the seventh day were much the same as those used by Seventh-day Adventists today. In 1535 they were driven from their homes by persecution, but "once more they were granted respite." Finally in 1547 the king of Bohemia, yielding to the constant urging of the Roman church, expelled them. "The Jesuits contrived to publish this edict just before harvest and vintage. . . . They allowed them only three weeks and three days for their departure; it was death to be found even on the boarders of the country beyond the expiration of the hour. . . . At the border they filed off, some to Hungary, some to Transylvania, some to Wallachia, others to Poland." -- See J. N. Andrews, "History of the Sabbath," pp. 641-649. TOP

COUNT ZINZENDORF -- Scattered and torn by persecution, the old sect of Moravian Brethren wandered about till about the year 1720 Count Zinzendorf invited them to his estate, later called Herrnhut. He began to keep the Sabbath, and became the leader of these Brethren and the head of a great missionary movement. Bishop A. G. Spangenberg says of him:

p 150 -- "He loved to stick to the plain text of the Scriptures, believing that rather simplicity than art is required to understand it. When he found anything in the Bible stated in such plain language that a child could understand, he could not well bear to have one depart from it." -- "Leben Des Grafen Zinzendorf " (Life of Count Zinzendorf), pp. 3, 546, 547,1774.

In 1738 Zinzendorf wrote of his keeping the Sabbath thus: "That I have employed the Sabbath for rest many years already, and our Sunday for the proclamation of the gospel -- that I have done without design, and in simplicity of heart." -- "Budingsche Sammlung," Sec. 8, p. 224. Leipzig: 1742.

Spangenberg gives some of Zinzendorf's reasons for keeping the seventh day holy: "On the one hand, he believed that the seventh day was sanctified and set apart as a rest day immediately after creation; but on the other hand, and principally, because his eyes were directed to the rest of our Saviour Jesus Christ in the grave on the seventh day." -- " Leben Des Grafen Zinzendorf " pp. 5, 1422, note.

In 1741 he journeyed to Bethlehem, Pa., where some Moravian Brethren had settled. Of his work there Spangenberg relates: "As a special instance it deserves to be noticed that he is resolved with the church at Bethlehem to observe the seventh day as rest day. The matter had been previously considered by the church council in all its details, and all the reasons pro and con were carefully weighed, whereby they arrived at the unanimous agreement to keep the said day as Sabbath." -- Id., pp. 5, 1421, 1422. (See also "Varnhagen von Ense Biographische Denkmale," pp. 5, 301. Berlin: 1846.

The church records of the Bethlehem Moravian Church (now in the Moravian Seminary archives, and dated June 13 0. S., or June 24 N. S., 1742) has this paragraph: "The Sabbath is to be observed in quietness and in fervent communion with the Saviour. It is a day that was given to all

p 151 -- nations according to the law for rest, for the Jews observed it not so much as Jews as human beings."

PERSECUTION IN THE UNITED STATES -- But even in the United States, Sabbath-keepers had endured more or less persecution, and when, on the second of October, 1798, a member of their Ephrata society was haled into court for working on Sunday, the judge read a letter, which George Washington wrote to the Baptists of Virginia, dated August 4, 1798, in which he assured them of full religious liberty. It was not easy, however, for the people to grasp the truth that religious liberty is an inherent right, and that governments are instituted to protect the individual in his God-given rights, and that church and state are to be kept separate. (Luke 20: 25.) The champions of liberty had a long, hard fight to secure the adoption and ratification of the Federal Constitution and its First Amendment, and it will take the utmost watchfulness by the friends of freedom to retain the liberty there guaranteed.

When the Constitution was drafted and made its appearance, the friends of religious liberty, especially those who had been oppressed under the religious establishments of the colonies, felt that liberty of conscience was not sufficiently secured by the proposed Constitution. While Article 6 forbade religious tests as a qualification for office under the government, there was no gauranty against religious tests and religious intolerance to those not in office. So on May 8, 1789, the United Baptist churches of Virginia addressed a communication to George Washington, in which they gave expression to the prevailing fears in this matter. Washington replied as follows: "If I could have entertained the slightest apprehension that the Constitution framed by the convention where I had the honor to preside might possibly endanger the religious rights of any ecclesiastical society, certainly I would never have placed my signature to it; and if I could now conceive that the general government might ever be so administered as to render the liberty of conscience insecure, I beg you will be persuaded that no one would be more

p 152 -- zealous than myself to establish effectual barriers against the horrors of spiritual tyranny and every species of religious persecution. For, you doubtless remember, I have often expressed my sentiments that any man, conducting himself as a good citizen and being accountable to God alone for his religious opinions, ought to be protected in worshiping the Deity according to the dictates of his own conscience." -- " History of the Baptists," Thomas Armitage, D. D., pages 806, 807.

About a month later, James Madison, with the approval of George Washington, introduced in the first Congress that met under the new Constitution, the first ten amendments, commonly known as the Bill of Rights, the first of which enjoins Congress from all religious legislation. It is as follows: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

Thus the champions of liberty secured for the citizens of the new republic full liberty of conscience to worship, freedom of speech and of the press, and it will take eternal vigilance to retain these rights unimpaired. See "American State Papers," William Addison Blakely, pp. 152, 153, revised edition. Washington, D. C.: 1911. TOP

SABBATH-KEEPERS IN INDIA

p 153 -- APOSTOLIC ORIGIN -- We shall now briefly trace the apostolic Christian Sabbath-keepers from Antioch in Syria to their farthest mission stations in old China. Thomas Yeates in his "Indian Church History" (London: 1818), has collected from several sources statements that all agree on the points he presents, that the apostle Thomas traveled through Persia into India, where he raised up many churches. "From thence he went to China, and preached the gospel in the city of Cambala, [which is] supposed to be the same with Pekin, and there he built a church. " -- " Indian Church History " p. 73. " In the year 1625, there was found in a town near Si-ngan-fu, the metropolis of the province of Shin-si, a stone having the figure of a cross, and inscriptions in two languages, . . . Chinese and Syriac. . . as follows: 'This Stone was erected to the honor and eternal ,memory of the law of light and truth brought from Ta-Cin, and promulgated in China.' [The inscription consists of 736 words, giving] a summary of the fundamental articles of the Christian faith." -- Id., pp. 86-88.

That the missionaries who brought the gospel to China were Sabbath-keepers can be seen by the following extract from the inscription: " On the seventh day we offer sacrifice, after having purified our hearts, and received absolution for our sins. This religion, so perfect and so excellent, is difficult to name, but it enlightens darkness by its brilliant precepts." -- "Christianity in China," M. l'Abbe Huc, Vol. I, chap. 2, pp. 48, 49, seq. New York: 1873.

Returning to India we shall find traces of the Sabbath among those churches also. And they had retained the Bible in the ancient language used by the church at Antioch, where the name "Christians" originated. (Acts 11: 26.)

p 154 -- " It was in these sequestered regions that copies of the Syriac Scriptures found a safe asylum from the search and destruction of the Romish inquisitors, and were found with all the marks of' ancient purity." -- " Indian Church History," T. Yeates, p. 167. " Whatever may be the future use and importance of those manuscripts, one thing is certain, and that is, they establish the fact that the Syrian Christians of India have the pure unadulterated Scriptures in the language of the ancient church of Antioch, derived from the very times of the Apostles. " -- Id.,p. 169.

Thomas Yeates shows that they kept "Saturday, which amongst them is a festival day, agreeable to the ancient practice of the church." -- Id., pp. 133, 134. TOP

The Armenians of India and Persia had evidently received their faith from the same source as the other Christians of India. Rev. Claudius Buchanan, D. D., says of them: "The Armenians in Hindostan are our own subjects. . . . They have preserved the Bible in its purity; and their doctrines are, as far as the Author knows, the doctrines of the Bible. Besides, they maintain the solemn observance of Christian worship, throughout our Empire, on the seventh day; and they have as many spires pointing to heaven among the Hindoos, as we ourselves." -- " Christian Researches in Asia," p. 143. Philadelphia: 1813.

The Jacobites, another branch of the original Christians of' India, can add one more link to this evidence. Samuel Purchas, the noted geographer and compiler, said of them: "They keep Saturday holy, nor esteem the Saturday fast lawful, but on Easter even. They have solemn service on Saturdays, eat flesh, and feast it bravely, like the Jews." -- "Pilgrimmes," Part 2, Book 8, chap. 6, p. 1269. London: 1625. (We must remember that the papal church demanded all to fast on the Sabbath, but these Christians refused to obey her.)

J. W. Massie says of these Indian Christians: " Remote from the busy haunts of commerce, or the populace seats of manufacturing industry, they may be regarded as the

p 155 -- Eastern Piedmontese, the Vaudois of Hindustan, the witnesses prophesying in sackcloth through revolving centuries, though indeed their bodies lay as dead in the streets of the city which they had once peopled." -- " Continental india," Vol. 2, p. 120.

PAPAL PERSECUTION -- Mr. Massie further says of these Christians: "Separated from the Western world for a thousand years, they were naturally ignorant of many novelties introduced, by the councils and decrees of the Lateran; and their conformity with the faith and practice of the first ages laid them open to the unpardonable guilt of heresy and schism, as estimated by the church of Rome. ' We are Christians, and not idolaters,' was their expressive reply when required to do homage to the image of the Virgin Mary. . . . LaCroze states them at fifteen hundred churches and as many towns and villages. They refused to recognize the pope, and declared they had never heard of him; they asserted the purity and primitive truth of their faith since they came, and their bishops had for thirteen hundred years been sent, from the place where the followers of Jesus were first called Christians. " -- Id., Vol. II, pp. 116, 117. TOP

When the Portuguese (Roman Catholics) came to Malabar, India, in 1503, "they were agreeably surprised to find upwards of a hundred Christian churches on the coast of Malabar. But when they became acquainted with the purity and simplicity of their worship, they were offended. ' These churches,' said the Portuguese, 'belong to the Pope.' ' Who is the Pope?' said the natives, ' we never heard of him.' The European priests were yet more alarmed, when they found that these Hindoo Christians maintained the order and discipline of a regular church under Episcopal jurisdiction: and that, for 1300 years past, they had enjoyed a succession of Bishops appointed by the Patriarch of Antioch. ' We,' said they, 'are of the true faith, whatever you from the West may be; for we came from the place where the followers of Christ were first called Christians." -- " Christian

p 156 -- Researches in Asia," Claudius Buchanan, D. D., p. 60. Philadelphia: 1813.

"These Christians met the Portuguese as natural friends and allies, and rejoiced at their coming: -- but the Portuguese were much disappointed at finding the St. Thome Christians firmly fixed in the tenets of a primitive church; and soon adopted plans for drawing away from their pure faith this innocent, ingenuous, and respectable people." -- " Indian Church History," Thomas Yeates, p. 163. London: 1818. TOP

When the Jesuit, Francis Xavier, and his colaborers, were sent to India, they displayed the true spirit of Romanism. "The Inquisition was set up at Goa, in the Indies, at the instance of Francis Xaverius, who signified by letter to Pope [King] John III, Nov. 10, 1545, ' that the Jewish wickedness spread every day more and more in the parts of the East Indies, subject to the kingdom of Portugal, and therefore he earnestly besought the said king, that to cure so great an evil, he would take care to send the office of the Inquisition into those countries. [Accordingly the Inquisition was erected there.] The first Inquisitor was Alexius Diaz Falcano, sent by Cardinal Henry, March 15, A. D. 1560. . . . The language of F. Xavier, used on this occasion, is truly suspicious, and that under the mask of correcting ' the Jewish wickedness,' is rather to be construed an avowed design against the liberties, the independence, and the firmness of the native Christians of Malabar, who refused to acknowledge the Pope's supremacy, and with a true Protestant zeal bravely resisted the Catholic tyranny." -- Id., pp. 139, 140.

" The Jewish wickedness " of which Xavier complained was evidently the Sabbath-keeping among those native Christians, as we shall see in our next quotation. When one of these Sabbath-keeping Christians was taken by the Inquisition, he was accused " of having Judaized; which means, having conformed to the ceremonies of the Mosaic law; such as not eating pork, hare, fish without scales, &c., of having attended the solemnization of the Sabbath." -- " Account of the Inquisition at Goa," Dellon, p. 56. London: 1815.

p 157 -- " The Inquisitors, by degrees, begin to urge him in this way -- 'If thou hast observed the law of Moses, and assembled on the Sabbath day as thou sayest, and thy accusers have seen thee there, as appears to have been the case; to convince us of the sincerity of thy repentance, tell us who are thine accusers, and those who have been with thee at these assemblies."'

Dellon then suggests that in the mind of the Inquisitors " the witnesses of the Sabbath are considered as accomplices." -- Id., p. 58.

Some have thought that these Sabbath-keepers were relapsed Jews, but Dellon declares: "Of an hundred persons condemned to be burnt as Jews, there are scarcely four who profess that faith at their death; the rest exclaiming and protesting to their last gasp that they are Christians, and have been so during their whole lives." -- Id., p. 64. TOP

"The prisoner, who was entirely innocent, would be given over to the civil arm to be burned, unless he confessed the very crimes of which he was accused, and signed his confession, and also named six or seven of his accusers. But, not being told who they were, he might have to name many before striking the right ones, and, as his accusers were supposed to have been eyewitnesses to his Sabbath-keeping, they might be Sabbath-keepers, who, like himself, were in the clutches of the Inquisition. His only hope, therefore, was to name some of his brethren, who would then be taken by the inquisitors, and forced to repeat the experience to free themselves. Thus the prison would be filled with people who were tortured for guilt of which they were innocent, or to remain in solitary confinement and terrible suspence and agony of mind until the Auto DA Fe, or public burning, which took place every two or three years. " -- Id., pp. 53-60, 67. And whether they were released or executed, their property was confiscated to the Inquisition. Dr. C. Buchanan says: " When the power of the Portuguese became sufficient for their purpose, they invaded these tranquil Churches, seized some of the Clergy, and devoted them to the death of heretics. . . .

p 158 -- They seized the Syrian Bishop Mar Joseph, and sent him prisoner to Lisbon: and then convened a Synod at one of the Syrian Churches called Diamper, near Cochin, at which the Romish Archbishop Menezes presided. At this compulsory Synod 150 of the Syrian Clergy appeared. They were accused of the following practices and opinions: ' That they had married wives; that they owned but two Sacraments, Baptism and the Lord's Supper; that they neither invoked Saints, nor worshipped Images, nor believed in Purgatory; and that they had no other orders of names of dignity in the church, than Bishop, Priest, and Deacon.' These tenets they were called on to abjure, or to suffer suspension from all Church benefices. It was also decreed that all Syrian books on ecclesiastical subjects that could be found, should be burned; 'in order,' said the Inquisitors, ' that no pretended apostolical monuments may remain."' -- " Christian Researches in Asia," p. 60.

The papacy had adopted the policy that all remains of the pure, apostolic church, whether persons or books, should be carefully eradicated, so that no trace of them might betray the sad fact that the Roman church had fallen away from the apostolic purity. And she, has also tried to destroy all accounts of her persecution during the Dark Ages, so that her tracks would be covered up.

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