FISHERMAN'S NET PUBLICATIONS CATALOG 5b

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 |     |   |    EARLY QUOTATIONS ABOUT SABBATH AND SUNDAY    |   |     |
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   The text of Constantine's Sunday Law of 321 A.D. is :

"One the venerable day of the Sun let the magistrates and people
residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. In the
country however persons engaged in agriculture may freely and
lawfully continue their pursuits because it often happens that
another day is not suitable for gain-sowing or 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 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 says regarding this Law :

"This Sunday law constituted no real favoratism to
Christianity..... It is evident from all his statuatory provisions
that the Emperor during the time 313-323 with full consciousness
has sought the realisation of his religeous aim: the amalgamation
of heathenism and Christianity." Kirken og Romerstaten (The Church
and the Roman State) p.256. Christiania, 1879

Other good commentaries on Constantines Sunday Law can be found in :
* H.G. Heggtveit's book Kirkenehistorie; (Church History),   
  pp.233,234
* Dr. A.H.Lewis's book A Critical History of Sunday Legislation from
  321 to 1888 A.D., New York, D.Appleton and Co., 1888.          

Regarding the calendar itself and the Sabbath day :            

"According to the Assyrian-Babilonian conception, the particular   
stress lay necessarily on the number seven...The whole week pointed
prominently towards the seventh day, the feast day, the rest day,
in this day it collected, inday it also consumated. 'Sabbath'
is dervied from both 'rest' and 'seven'. With the Egyptians it was
the reverse...for them on the contrary the sun-god was the
beginning and origin of all things. The day of the sun, Sunday,   
became necessarily for them the feast day...The holiday was     
transferred from the last to the first day of the week." " Daglige
Liv i Norden, Vol.XIII, pp.54,55.

"The seven planetary names of the days were at the close of the
second century A.D., prevailing everywhere in the Roman           
Empire...This astrology originated in Egypt, where Alexandria now
so loudly proclaimed it to all... 'The day of the sun' was the
Lord's day, the chiefest and first of the week. The evil and fatal  
Saturn's day was the last of the week on which none could celebrate
a feast.. Ibid pp.91,92

See also Prof. A.H. Sayce's work Higher Criticism and the Monuments,
pp.74,75
For information regarding Sabbath keeping as a Heresy read John P. 
Perrion of Lyons book Luther's Fore-Runners, London, 1624. Robert    
Robinsons's book Ecclesiastical Researches, chap.10, p.303          

When the Jesuit St. Francis Xavier arrived in India he immediately
requested to the pope to set up the Inquisition there.       

"The Jewish wickedness" of which Xavier complained was evidently
the Sabbah-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 accussed 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 solemnisation of the Sabbath." Account of the        
Inquisition at Goa, Dellon, p.56. London, 1815

"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
Christianss, and have been so during their whole lives." Ibid p.64

"From the apostles' time until the council of Laodicea, which was
about the year 364, the holy observation of the Jew's 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. "Ambrose, the celebrated
bishop of Milan, said that when he was in Milan he observed
Saturday, but when in Rome observed Sunday. This gave rise to the
proverb 'When you are in Rome, do as Rome does,' " Heylyn, The     
History of the Sabbath, 1613

The editor of the best biography of Columba says in a footnote:    

"Our Saturday. The custom to call the Lord's day Sabbath did not
commence until a thousand years later." Adamnan's Life of Columba
p.230, Dublin, 1857.

Pope Gregory I (AD 590-604) said:
"Gregory, bishop by the grace of God to his well-beloved sons, the
Roman citizens: It has come to me that certain men of perverse
spirit have disseminated among you things depraved and opposed to
the holy faith, so that they forbid anything to be done on the day
of the Sabbath. What shall I call them except preachers of
anti-Christ?." Epistles of Gregory I, b.13, epist.1, found in 
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers.

In the 1st century.

Josephus says :               

"There is not any city of the Grecians, nor any of the barbarians,
nor any nation whatsoever, whither our custom of resting on the
seventh day hath not come!" M'Clathie, Notes and Queries on China
and Japan. (edited by Dennys),Vol.4, Nos. 7,8, p.100.            

In the 2nd Century

"The primitive Christians did keep the Sabbath of the
Jews;..therefore the Christians for a long time together, did keep
their conventions on the Sabbath, in which some portion of the Law
were read: and this continued till the time of the Laodicean     
council." The Whole Works of Jeremey Taylor, Vol. IX, p416 (R.    
Heber's Edition, Vol.XII, p.416)

"The gentile Christians observed also the Sabbath." Gieseler's
Church History, Vol.1, ch.2, par.30, p.93.

"The primitive Christians had a great veneration for the Sabbath,
and did spend 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. By Dr. T. H. 
Morer.(church of England divine)

"The Sabbath was a strong tie which united them with the life of
the whole people, and by keeping the Sabbath holy they followed not
only the example but the command of Jesus." Geschichte des
Sonntags, pp.13,14.

"It is certain that the ancient Sabbath did remain and was observed
(together with the celebration of the Lord's day by the Christians
of the East Church) three hundred years after the Saviour's death."

A learned Treatise of the Sabbath, p.77.

In the 3rd Century.

"The seventh-day Sabbath was.. solemnised by Christ, the Apostles,
and primitive Christians, till the Laodicean Council did in a    
manner quite abolish the observation of it." Dissertation on the  
Lord's Day, pp.33,34,44.

"As early as A.D.225 their existed large bishoprics or conferences
of the East (Sabbath-keeping) stretching from Palestine to India."
Mingana, Early Spread of Christianity. Vol.10, p.460.

"Thou shalt observe the Sabbath, on account of Him who ceased from
His work of creation, but ceased not from His work of providence:
it is a rest for meditation of the Law, not for idleness of the
hands." The Anti-Nivcene Fathers, Vol.7, p 413, From Constitutions 
of the Holy Apostles, A document of the 3rd and 4th centuries.    

"After the festival of the unceasing sacrifice [the crucifixion] is
put the second festival of the Sabbath, and is fitting for whoever
is righteous among the saints to keep also the festival of the
Sabbath. There remaineth therefore a Sabbatismus, that is a keeping
of the Sabbath, to the people of God [Heb 4:9]" Homily on Numbers 
23, par.4, in Migne, Patrologia Greaca, Vol. 12, cols.749,750.

In the 4th Century.        

It was the practice generally of the Easterne Churches; and some 
churches of the west..For in the church of Millaine [Milan];.. it
seemes the Saturday was held in farre esteeme ..Not that the       
Easterne churches, or any of the rest which observed that day, were
inclined to Iudaisme [Judaism]; but that they came together on the
Sabbath day, to worship Iesus [Jesus] Christ the Lord of the      
Sabbath." History of the Sabbath (original Spelling retained) Part
2, par. 5, pp. 73,74, London: 1636, Dr. Heylyn.                

"The ancient Christians were very careful in the observation of
Saturday, or the seventh day..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, 66.1137, 1138              

"From the apostles' time until the council of Laodicea, which was
about the year 364, the holy observation of the Jew's 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.

"Ambrose, the celebrated bishop of Milan, said that when he was in
Milan he observed Saturday, but when in Rome observed Sunday. This
gave rise to the proverb 'When you are in Rome, do as Rome does,'
Heylyn, The History of the Sabbath, 1613       

In the 5th Century.

"Down even to the fifth century the observance of the Jewish      
Sabbath was continued in the Christian church." Ancient   
Christianity Exemplified, Lyman Coleman, Ch.26, sec. 2, p.527.     

"In Jerome's day (420 A.D.) the devoutest Christians did ordinary
work on Sunday." Treatise of the Sabbath Day. by Dr. White, Lord
Bishop of Ely, p.210.

"For although almost all Churches throught 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 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' by the ancient
Fathers and historians." Sacrates, Ecclesiastical History, Book 5, 
chap. 22, p. 289.

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