Sunday Laws and Persecution
It was a heathen emperor who first promulgated a Sunday law—a law requiring the cessation of labor on that day. Now, whatever custom may have been in vogue prior to that time, A. D. 321, or by whom or to what extent Sunday was observed, the first law on the subject was of heathen origin, and that law was a heathen government law in support of a pagan holiday, as such, and not at all as a Christian institution. It was the influence of this same heathen emperor's politics in the church—for he became a professed Christian, tho continuing to be a cold-blooded murderer, even of his own kinsfolk—that led to persecution of men, for conscience' sake, by authority of the church. And this persecution by the church grew out of this enforced Sunday observance. About forty-three years after Constantine's heathen Sunday law was promulgated, a general church council held at Laodicea, formally decreed the transference of the observance and church services of the Sabbath day to Sunday. And to enforce this decree, excommunication was pronounced upon all church members who should continue to observe the seventh day. Thus open persecution by the church was the direct outgrowth of enforced Sunday observance. And persecution has been its logical sequence ever since; and ever must.