It has become quite common with some people to speak of the original Sabbath, mentioned in Gen. 2: 3, and Ex. 16 and 20, and call it "Sunday." Yet they very well know that the Sabbath of the Bible is "the seventh day," and that Sunday is "the first day." And so well do they understand that fact that they claim that the Sabbath was changed from Saturday to Sunday—from the seventh to the first day. And those who keep the seventh day, or Saturday, they accuse of keeping "the Jewish Sabbath," thus admitting that the day which the Jews kept, which was the seventh day, was not Sunday. Knowing all this, and acting thus, can they honestly call the original Sabbath, the Sabbath of Eden and Sinai, Sunday? We have strong doubts. The seventh day was blessed and sanctified of Jehovah. Thus it became "a holy day." As Jehovah himself rested upon it from the work of creation, it was his rest or Sabbath, for the words are the same in meaning. It was "the holy of the Lord." He called it "my holy day." Isa. 58: 13, 14. Is the Sunday likewise a holy day? Did God ever sanctify it? Was the divine blessing ever placed upon the day? Do the Scriptures ever give it that honor, and the dignity of the Sabbath of the Lord? They do not. But we are not left in the dark concerning the origin of its consecration and supposed sacredness. The Bible does not speak on this subject, but history does. And in regard to it all the evidence of history is harmonious. There is nothing ambiguous or uncertain in the testimony. A late edition of the S. S. Union Bible Dictionary contains the following:— "Sunday was a name given by the heathen to the first day of the week, because it was the day on which they worshiped the sun." Dr. Webster said:—
"The heathen nations in the north of Europe, dedicated this day to the sun, and hence their Christian descendants continue to call the day Sunday." The Religious Encyclopedia says:—
"The ancient Saxons called it by this name, because it they worshiped the sun." The Douay Catechism says:—
"It is also called Sunday from the old Roman denomination of dies solis, the day of the sun, to which it was sacred." This was the origin of this festival day, and this its consecration. It was always and only the sun-day; its observance was entirely of heathen origin. How different from this the consecration of the seventh day by Jehovah himself! But was there no law given for the keeping of Sunday? There was. It is not found in the Bible. It was first put forth by Constantine, emperor of Rome, and confirmed and strengthened by the bishops or popes of Rome. Constantine's law was in the following words:— "On 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 grain-sowing or for vine-planting; lest by neglecting the proper moment for such operations the bounty of Heaven should be lost." This is a translation in Dr. Schaff's Church History. Of Constantine's decree Dr. Schaff says:— He "enjoined the civil observance of Sunday, though not as dies Domini, but as dies solis, in conformity to his worship of Apollo, and in company with an ordinance for the regular consulting of the haruspex (321)."—History of the Chris. Ch., vol. 2 p. 31. The haruspices were soothsayers who foretold future events by examining the entrails of beasts sacrificed to the gods. Dr. Schaff says "in company with." The Sunday edict was given on the seventh of March, 321, and that for consulting the haruspex was given the following day. Both were laws in honor of heathenism. Constantine's law was very much like the present law of California in reference to the venerable day of the sun. 1. His law forbade the townspeople to work, and ordered that workshops be closed. So does the Sunday Law of California. 2. He permitted labor to be performed on the farms and the vineyards. So does the Sunday Law of California. It does not secure "a legal day of rest" to the tiller of the soil. But they differ in this: Constantine called it only the venerable day of the sun. California calls it both Sun-day and "Christian Sabbath." The latter title for the sun's day was not known in the time of Constantine.