WHEN Belgium, in 1798, formed part of the French Republic, the authorities were alarmed by the circulation of “a fresh libel, forged by the grossest fanaticism.” “In this,” observed the revolutionary Dogberry, referring to the Royalists, “they promise the pardon of the greatest crimes; they therefore invite the commission of them.” The “libel” was a “Copie d’une lettre miraculeuse trouvée sous pierre bleu dans l’église de Henlen, écrite avec le sang de Jésus Christ.” It denounces the sins of the world, inculcates prayer to the Virgin and the saints, orders the people to fast five Thursdays on bread and water in honor of the “five bleeding wounds,” and threatens vengeance on those who doubt the authenticity of the letter. He who follows the behests it contains is assured that if his sins were as numerous as the drops of water in the sea, or as the stars in the firmament, they should all be pardoned. While this is doubtless a descendant of the “celestial letter,” it is in the main apocalyptic, and names the year 1799 as that in which the threatened punishments are to commence. There is no mention of Sunday.
XIII. In Modern Times.
We come now to the nineteenth century. Mention has already been made of the continued and extensive diffusion of the “heavenly letter” in the lands where Greek orthodoxy is the prevalent religion. About the middle of the century an edition was in circulation in Oldenburg, in which the letter was said to have been found in Holstein.
In 1849 there appeared at Vechta, in Oldenburg, a “Gebet zum Abwenden aller Unglücke.” This is said to have been found in 783 on the sepulchre of Christ, and sent by the pope to Charlemagne. In the same sentence it is declared to have been sent to St. Michael’s, in France, where it can be found beautifully printed in golden letters. The doubting Christian is assured that the heavenly letter is as certainly true as the Gospel.
From this lengthy catalogue it will be seen that the pretended “heavenly letter” can be traced from the sixth century to the present day. In varying editions it exists in Latin, Anglo-Saxon, French, Spanish, Russian, German, Czech, English, Welsh, Arabic, Greek, Syriac, Ethiopic, and Icelandic. It had a part in the medieval “revival” movements, such as those of Aldebert, Peter the Hermit, and Eustace of Flaye. The story varies greatly in the different editions. Jerusalem, Rome, Constantinople, and even Holstein, are among the places named as that where the letter fell from heaven. The number of those who witness its reception varies from a single individual to many thousands of persons. The names are changed at the will of the scribes. The contents vary also; but with few exceptions the theme is the observance of the Sunday-Sabbath.
What Is the Motive?
What, it may be asked, is the motive of a “pious” forgery of this nature? The answer is to be found in the uncertainty as to the authority for the observance of Sunday. The early Christian church was formed of Jews, on whom a due regard to the sanctity of the seventh day was obligatory. They would doubtless continue to “keep the Sabbath;” and as all days then were reckoned from the evening, it is probable that the early gatherings of the Christians for religious communion were held at the close of the Jewish Sabbath. There is no warrant in the New Testament for the transference of the weekly festival of rest from the seventh to the first day of the week. The women who came with Christ from Galilee, and prepared spices and ointments for the body in the tomb, intermitted their labor on the seventh day; and on the Sabbath they rested “according to the commandment.” But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, “bringing the spices which they had prepared.” This is twofold evidence that the seventh was the day of rest, and that labor was permitted on the first day. So the journey to Emmaus was longer than a Sabbath day’s journey. When St. Paul went from Troas to Assos on a Sunday, his journey was more than twenty of “the Sabbath day’s journeys” allowed by the Jews.
From Justin Martyr’s testimony it is evident that the Sabbath was, in his day, still observed by many Christians. Nor is there evidence that, apart from the meeting for worship, the early church made any difference as to work between Sunday and other days. Even in the edict of Constantine the work of the agriculturist is recognized as lawful on the Sunday, altho the courts of justice are ordered to be closed, and the shops to be shut.
Constantine May Be Regarded as the Founder of the Sunday-Sabbath.
In every age of the Christian church there has been a remnant who held that in the absence of any explicit abrogation, the seventh day remained the true Sabbath, and that its observance was as much the duty of Christians as of Jews. In such a controversy the “heavenly letter” was a weapon of great strength. The careless, whose disregard of the Sunday-Sabbath was mere wantonness, might be terrified by its threatenings of the divine anger and punishments. The “Judaizers,” whose dissent arose, not from laxity, but from strict obedience to the Decalogue, were presented in the “heavenly letter” with authority, in what claimed to be Christ’s own handwriting, for paying to the Sunday all, and more than all, the honors of the seventh-day Sabbath.
The “letter that fell from heaven” is a remarkable example of forgery as a method of theological controversy and religious edification.
