Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1886-11-15
THE ORIGIN OF SUNDAY.
Its Bearing on the Sunday Laws of the
Preseni-EstabIished by Constan.
tine without Scripture Authority.
The sabbath of the Fourth Commandment
10 the seventh Day, or satuTday-A
Leading Diyine's Views.
The Rev. A. H. Lewis, D. D., in the Popular
Science Monthly.

The Rev, A. IL. Lewis, d. d., in the Popula
Science Monthly.
The times demand a recor slderation o
our Sunday laws. They are practically
inoperative. There must be some essen
tial reason for this, in the character o.
the people or in the character OF the laws
perhaps both. Either the laws have
false basis and cannot rightly claim public
regard, or the people are wickedly indif
ierent TO rightul authority. THIS is tru,
OF the church as well az the "world. ,
To know the origin OF these laws VIII hell
to solve the problem.
Sun-woFsnip is the oldest and mos
widespread form of paganism. 1t reaches
Oack TO the prehistoric period. Under
various phases IL has always been the per
sistent foe to the worship Of Jehovah. Il
was the prevailing and most corruptlna
form of idolatry which assailed tbs
| Hebrew nation. Its lowest form, Baal
worship, produced the deepest social ant
moral degradation. As the period OF
idolatry passed away sun. worship assumed
less materialistlc form, without losing
the vlrulence OF Its poison. IL lay in wait
Ing, like beast of prey, to corrupt Carts.
tianity as 1t had already corrupted Juda.
! Ism. Transferred from the East and
! from Egypt 10 Greece and Rome, ii be.
came popular, and great efforts were
made under Heliogabalus and others IN
the third and fourth centuries TO exalt il
above all other religions. Indeed,
Mlthraiclsm came near gaining tbs field
ana driving apostolic religion out OF the
X man Empire. IL did corrupt IL TO an
extent little understood
Pagan Rome made religion a part OF
the state. Long before the advent OF
Christianity the emperor, as head OF the
state and therefore of the church-Ponti-
tex MaximuS--was accustomed to legls-
late upon all religious matters. lie had
supreme power in this direction. Scores
OF sacred days were set apart, under the
pagan empire, upon which judicial pro-
ceedings and certain forms Of work were
prohibited. 1t was the settled policy Of
the empire Tor the emperor thus to deter
mine concerning ferial q Us.
Apostolic Christianity forbade all APP.
peal TO the civil law in matters OF Chris.
tian duty. Christ and His apostles sought
only the rights OF citizenship at the hand
OF civil government. When these were
refused they gladly yielded, suffering per-
stcution, unto death II need be. Christ
repeatedly declared: i'My Kingdom is
not OF this world" New Testament
Christianity could not have instituted
such cultus as that which gave rise TO
Sunday legislation, the union OF church
and state, under an emperor or an
Emperor'PopH. "0ld Nixon" peach
trees cannot bear crabapples. All civil
legislation concerning religious faith and
practice, such as obtained In the Roman
Empire, was the product of PagRnism. IL
was not an of-shoot Of Christianity or Of
the Hebrew theoeracy.
The first ciyil legislation concerning
Sunday appears In the edlct Of Constan.
tive the Great, 1921 A. ID. Nothing ap-
pears In history as demanding the legisla-
lion, or as wishing it, except the viii Of
the emperor. He was well-known
devotee Of the sun-god, as were his pre-
decessors. His attitude toward Christian
lty, both before and long after the issu-
ing Of the Sunday edict, was the attitude
OF shrewd politician; toward his rivals
IL was that OF an INSCRIPTIONS, bloody
handed monarch. He gained power By
intrigue, deceit, and murder. No
accurate historian dares call him a
"ChrIstlan Emperor Romlsh tradition
and superficial literature have misnamed
him the "nrst Christian Emperor The
facts relative TO his life and character for
bid every such clsim. He refused 10
unite with The Christian church until be
lay on his deAth-bed, in 337 A. D., when
he received baptism hoping thus 70 make