The Washington herald., 1912-02-16

easily result in the formation OF a sacer-
dotal state subordinating the secular to
Itself in a false and outward way"
This theocratical theory was already
the prevailing one in the time of Con-
stantine, and the bishops volun-
tarily made themselves dependent on
him by their disputes and by their de-
termination to make use of the power OF
the state for the furtherance of their
aims" And the Sunday laws were the
means by which those bishops made ef-
of the power OF the state for the fur
therance OF their theocratical aims.
This can be verified by any one who
will but trace the facts in Neander's
history of the time. He first tells OF that
determination" of the falsely theocrat-
ical bishops. as above stated. Then he
tells the story of the Sunday laws from
the first one by Constantine in 314 down
to the one by Theodosius the Younger in
as; and then, without break, and with
direct reference to these Sunday laws. he
says: In this way the church received
help from the state for the furtherance
OF her ends" She started out with the
determination" to do It; she did it;
and ''in this way she did II.
The Sunday institution and all that
was attached to It was wholly Of the
church And when from the church the
state accepted and embodied in the law
this exclusively church institution, this,
in the very fact of the doing Of II, was
the union of the church and the state.
Yet, though the Sunday was now en-
bodied in the imperial law and enforced
upon all the people. It was neither held
by the church nor adopted nor enforced
by the state as the Sabbath of the
Fourth Commandment, but still only as
another day of rest along with the Sab
bath. And both days were still observed
in that church-and-state system.
Sunday a Sabbath vs.. The Sabbath.
The first definite step that was ever
taken to establish Sunday observance to
the exclusion of the Sabbath was by the
Council of Laodicea, about A. d. 3S4
In canon g of that council Christians
were commanded to work on the Sabbath
and, eff possible. do no work" on the
Sunday.
That council being not general coun-
ell, this canon was an index Of what was
wanted, more than an act of real force.
This is shown by the fact that the coun-
Gil itself adopted three other. .canons
recognizing the observance of the Sab
bath stin in the church equally with the
Sunday. ... E.
In A-D. I1s Pope Innocent recognized
the fact of the Sabbath still being OBJ
served in the church equally with, the
Sunday. and in letter commanded that
the Sabbath should be observed as a
fast day." because cit shares the sad
ness and the joy OF Sunday. and the
apostles were in great afiiction on that
day" and that Sunday ought to be OBJ
served as "a most festive day on ac-
count of the joy that it brought to the
disciples. 49,.
Socrates, whose ecclesiastical history
reaches down TO A. D. 49, says: al
most all churches throughout the world
celebrate the sacred mysteries on the
Sabbath of every week. yet the Chris
tians Of Alexandria and at Rome have
ceased 10 do this" And he specifies
what he calls "the festal days of his
time: II mean Saturday and Lords day
in each week, on which assemblies are
usually held in the churches"
Sozomen, whose ecclesiastical history
is carried down to A. D. $50, says: THE
people of Constantinople and almost
as well as on the first day of
the week, which custom IS never OBJ
served at Rome or at Alexandria
In A. d. 5S5, in a council at Macon, in
Gaul, another step was taken to make
Sunday a Sabbath in the place of the
Sabbath. This council declared that
Sunday is ''the day of perpetual rest
preferred to in Hebrews. iv), of which
the seventh day in the law and the
prophets is the type" And any disre-
garding 1t would incur. first, ''the wrath
Of God" and. secondly, the unappeas-
able anger of the clergy"
In A. d. $50 Pope Gregory the Great
took another step toward making Sum
day Sabbath TO the exclusion Of tina
Sabbath Of the Fourth Commandment.
In a letter he said: 1T has come to my
ears that certain men OF perverse spirit
have sown among you some things that
are wrong and opposed to the holy faith,
so as to forbid any work being done on
the Sabbath day. What else can call
these but preachers OF antI-Christ, Who,
when He comes. win cause the Sabbath
day as well as the Lords day to be kept
Tree from all work" He said that such
teaehing would Judaize the people; that
Christ Is our Sabbath" and that we
ought TO abstain from worldly laber and
be diligent in prayer on Sunday. that
We may expiate the shortcomings of the
other six days" A
In A. ID. 5Ss Augustine wrote to Pope