1869.—Eusebius and Sunday.
Was Eusebius a believer in the first day? I. Yes, as an expedient. None of the early fathers, so far as we know, set forth the first day as a holy day or taught that it was enjoined by the Lord. They felt that they could convert the heathen better if they yielded to heathen customs, and so they took that day on which the Lord arose from the dead as one of those days. In a certain sort of way they observed among themselves the resurrection day, betrayal day, the crucifixion day, and the ascension day; not that they considered them holy, but they called to their minds these events. But all these fell into disuse except the Sunday, and that day continued because it was the heathen high day. And Eusebius, ever a man of expedience and policy rather than principle, advocated the custom, and plainly declared that the things that belonged on the Sabbath "we [that is, Eusebius, Constantine, and others] consecrate to the Sunday." (See "North British Review," vol. 18, page 409, quoted in Anderson's "History of the Sabbath." Also "The Seventh-day Sabbath," by Rev. Mr. Chafie, published 1652, pages 61, 62; Dr. Peter Heylyn's "History of the Sabbath," part 2, chap. 1, sec. 10.) But during the entire early period Sunday was not considered a sacred day, even by those who observed it. Common occupations were carried on on that day the same as others.