THE THIRD ANGEL'S MESSAGE.
The Place of Sunday Legislation in the Making of the Image of the Beast.
As is well known by all, in the Sunday legislation throughout the United States to-day the claim is made that it is only in behalf of the “civil” Sabbath. No more baseless claim was ever presented for anything than this in behalf of Sunday as a civil Sabbath. Sunday, as a rest day, has not anywhere about it any suggestion of anything civil. Its present standing, its whole genealogy, its origin—all demonstrate the truth that Sunday legislation can not possibly be anything else than religious. The Sunday movement of to-day is but a revival, or a continuation, of that which has been. All the Sunday legislation of the newer States has been in imitation of that of the original States which at first were the colonies. And the colonies had Sunday legislation because they all (except Rhode Island, which, too, did not have Sunday legislation) had a union of religion and the State. In such legislation the colonies only continued the same thing from their original homes in Europe. Their original homes in Europe inherited it from the time when the Papacy ruled Europe. And the Sunday legislation at the time when the Papacy ruled Europe, was but the continuation of the Sunday legislation that was originated in the making of the Papacy, in the fourth century. Since, then, the Sunday legislation of to-day connects, by its undisputed and unbroken genealogy, with the Sunday legislation of the making of the Papacy in the fourth century, it is perfectly plain that the nature of that original legislation marks the character of Sunday legislation forever. Accordingly, the study of that question in the days of the making of the Beast is also, and in itself, a study of the Sunday legislation of the present time, and of the making of the Image of the Beast. In a previous study we saw how that, in the false theoretical scheme of the bishops of the fourth century, when the church had been exalted to imperial favor, and had become one with the State, this was held to be the establishment of the kingdom of God upon the earth. And, because of this, Sunday was set up in this false kingdom of God, in imitation of the establishment of the Sabbath among the people of Israel, after their deliverance from Egypt and the establishment of that true theocracy. And, “all things whatsoever that it was duty to do on the Sabbath, these we,” said the bishops, “have transferred” to the Sunday. All this shows that Sunday legislation was, in its very essence, and in its every idea and purpose, religious, and only religious. There are, however, several items that are worth mentioning, which show this yet more fully. One of these appears in an oration which Eusebius, one of the principal bishops of that day, and especially one of the principal bishops in the uniting of Church and State, delivered, “in praise of Constantine,” and in his presence, on the thirtieth anniversary of the emperor’s reign. He declared that God gave to Constantine the greater proof of his beneficence in proportion to the emperor’s holy services to Him, and, accordingly, had permitted him to celebrate already three decades,—thirty years,—and that now he was entering upon the fourth one. He related how the emperor at the end of each decennial period had advanced one of his sons to a share of the imperial power; and now in the absence of other sons, he would extend the like favor to other of his kindred. Then he gave the meaning of all this as follows:— The eldest, who bears his father’s name, he received as his partner in the empire about the close of the first decade of his reign; the second, next in point of age, at the second; and the third in like manner at the third decennial period, the occasion of this our present festival. And now that the fourth period has commenced, and the time of his reign is still further prolonged, he desires to extend his imperial authority by calling still more of his kindred to partake his power; and, by the appointment of the Cæsars, fulfills the predictions of the holy prophets, according to what they uttered ages before: “And the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom.”—Eusebius, “Oration in Praise of Constantine,” chapter 3. Then, as the sun was the chief deity in this new kingdom of God, the bishop proceeds to draw for the edification of the Apollo-loving emperor, the following picture of him as the sun in his chariot traversing the world; and positively defines the system of government as a “monarchy of God” patterned after the “divine original,” as follows:— Lastly, invested as he is with a semblance of heavenly sovereignty, he directs his gaze above, and FRAMES HIS EARTHLY GOVERNMENT ACCORDING TO THE PATTERN OF THAT DIVINE ORIGINAL, feeling strength in its CONFORMITY TO THE MONARCHY OF GOD.—Id. The system of government there established being considered as in very fact the kingdom of God itself, the laws enacted in promoting the interests of that kingdom would, necessarily, be religious. And even so Eusebius plainly declares, in the following words:— Again, that Preserver of the universe orders these heavens and earth, and the celestial kingdom, consistently with his Father’s will. Even so, our emperor, whom he loves, by bringing those whom he rules on earth to the only begotten Word and Saviour, renders them fit subjects of His kingdom.—Id.; chapter 2. And the Sunday laws were the very chief of all the laws that were ever enacted in the interests of this “kingdom of God.” For, by it, the authority of the Church was extended over those who did not belong to the Church, equally with those who did; and this is not true of any other law. Consequently, the Sunday law was the chief means by which men were brought “to the only begotten Word and Saviour,” and rendered “fit subjects of his kingdom.” This is fully confirmed by the fact that the purpose of the first Sunday law that ever was enacted, was “that the day might be devoted with less interruption to the purposes of devotion” (Neander), and “that God should be served with prayers and supplications.”—Sozomen. And, of the second Sunday law, Eusebius gives the intent in his declaration, “in praise of Constantine,” that “he commanded, too, that one day should be regarded as a special occasion for religious worship.” And, again: “Who else has commanded the nations inhabiting the continents and islands of this mighty globe to assemble weekly on the Lord’s day, and to observe it as a festival, not indeed for the pampering of the body, BUT FOR THE COMFORT AND INVIGORATION OF THE SOUL, BY INSTRUCTION IN DIVINE TRUTH?”—“Oration in Praise of Constantine.” Such is the true character, and the real purpose, of Sunday legislation, in its origin, and ever since. And whatever may be claimed for it, the character and purpose of Sunday legislation never can be anything else than just that.