Lessons for Bible Students.
(HISTORY OF THE SABBATH, PP. 244-270.) When God made the world what did he do? When man apostatized from God, what did Satan do? When did this festival present itself as a rival to the Sabbath? Was the Sabbath observed in the early church? Was the Sabbath confined to Jewish converts? Mosheim states that the seventh day was not observed by Christians in general; what is his proof of this? Is his conclusion called for, or correct? What does Coleman say of the Sabbath in the early ages of the church? What does the same historian say in regard to the law for Sunday keeping? p. 247, top. What admission does bishop Jeremy Taylor, though an opponent of Sabbatic obligation, make in regard to the observance of the Sabbath during the first three hundred years of the Christian age? p. 248, top. In the midst of the great apostasy on the Sabbath question, were there still steadfast bodies of Sabbatarians? What class of this kind is first mentioned? Who were these Nazarenes? Is it strange that the church which fled out of Judea, at the word of Christ, should long retain the Sabbath? What other body of Sabbath-keepers is mentioned? From whom has come down to us a record of these sects which were called heretics? What does Cox say of another class of Sabbath keepers? How long does professor Edward Brerewood say the ancient Sabbath did remain and was observed in the eastern church? What remarkable event occurred in the early part of the fourth century? What emperor issued this edict, and in what year? What did this law permit? What relation does this law bear to the festival of Sunday? p. 252, note. What fact in relation to this law is placed beyond all dispute? What is Mosheim's testimony concerning it? In what manner, then, shall we conclude that the Sunday was observed, previous to this law? What does bishop Taylor testify? What does Morer say respecting a command for the Lord's day, previous to the time of Constantine? What is Sir Wm. Domville's testimony? Was this celebrated edict of Constantine's, a Christian or heathen law? On what day did Constantine issue his edict? What kind of a decree did he issue on the following day? Whose testimony shows that Constantine was himself a heathen when this edict was issued? What may be said of his character as a professor of Christianity? What of his character as a man? As Constantine was a heathen at the time he issued his edict, and his edict was a heathen law, how did it become a Christian ordinance? Who gave to the venerable day of the sun, the imposing title of Lord's day? What change does Constantine's edict mark in the Sunday festival? p. 262, top. What does Heylyn say of the Sabbath in Constantine's time? p. 263. Did it recover strength in any degree after his edict? What council struck a heavy blow at Sabbath-keeping in the eastern church? Did this action of the council extirpate the Sabbath from the eastern churches? p. 265, bottom. What facts exhibit the authority of councils in their true light? What does Chrysostom confess? What does Jerome say of Sunday labor? How does Morer justify this Sunday labor? What does the bishop of Ely testify? What modern first-day arguments were unknown to Augustine? What laws did pope Leo make concerning giving holy orders on Sunday? What decree did the emperor Leo put forth in 469? What addition did he make to the law of Constantine? Was Sabbatical observance still practiced in the middle of the fifth century? What is the testimony of Sozomen? What remarks does Cox make on these statements? The time had now come when the Sabbath was deemed what? What did the close of the fifth century witness?