Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Sep 24, 1894
Days of Peril.
The Scriptures speak of the last days as days of peril. Says the apostle Paul in his letter to Timothy, and all other Christian ministers as well, "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come." 2 Tim. 3: 1.
The reason of these "perilous times," as of all perilous times, is given in the next verse, "for men shall be lovers of their own selves." Selfishness is the root of all evil; it is the soil in which the seeds of all transgressions take root. Says our Saviour: "For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness; all these evil things come from within, and defile the man." Mark 7: 21-23.
The heart which bears this baleful crop of evils is the carnal or fleshly heart, which minds the things of the flesh. It is this heart or mind of which the apostle speaks in Rom. 8: 7, 8: "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God." The prophet bears testimony to the same fact when he says: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?" Jer. 17: 9. See also Isa. 44: 20.
It must be evident to all from the above scriptures that the real cause of all trouble, the root of all evil, the fountain of all corruption, is the human heart, mind, or affections, and purposes, and that this must be changed before man can come into harmony with God, or become righteous. This change man cannot make of himself. He cannot, in the very nature of the case, bring "a clean thing out of an unclean." With the foundation and moulding power of character corrupt, a good character cannot be formed. Corruption cannot produce incorruption. Thorns do not produce figs. The heart must be changed. The will must yield the corrupt heart to God, the only One who knows the heart (Jer. 17: 10), the only One who can change it.
To every soul who will yield his heart to God, the Lord will change it according to his promise:—
"A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them." Eze. 36: 26, 27.
No more is asked of man than the simple faith to put himself in the hands of Christ. He purifies the heart "by faith." Acts 15: 9. He, therefore, who yields up all to God, and looks away from self to Jesus, no longer remains "in the flesh," but in the Spirit. Faith pleases God. Heb. 11: 6. Hoping in God's mercy pleases him. Ps. 147: 11. Those who thus yield to God, who by faith receive Christ, compose the true church of Jesus Christ, in which Christ dwells by his Spirit by dwelling in each individual heart. See 1 Cor. 3: 16; Eph. 3: 17; Gal. 2: 20. Within such a church, where Christ reigns, there can be only peace and joy, the fruits of love.
But the perilous times of which Paul speaks do not come in the last days because the people of the world have carnal hearts. The world has always been thus. If we believe God, we must expect nothing else from the world but the fruit of unconverted lives. The perilous times come in the last days because all these evils are found in the professed church of Christ. "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves;" and then the apostle proceeds to name eighteen prominent sins of the day, and tells us that these are among those "having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof." 2 Tim. 3: 1-5.
Here is the peril. The church of Jesus Christ, which was designed to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world, loses her preserving power, and her light becomes darkness. He who is seeking God comes to her for instruction, but he finds self enthroned in the heart in the place of Christ, the mystery of iniquity instead of the mystery, or the power, of godliness. Is not this true of much of the professed church of Christ to-day? Where is the burden of souls? Where is the Spirit of Christ? Where are the sacrifices for Christ's sake? Where is the old-time devotion and integrity? These questions are worthy of consideration; and, reader, how do they apply to your own heart?
THE REJECTION OF THE MESSAGE.
IN past numbers we have demonstrated the need of a reformation in the churches of this century, as shown, not only by their low spiritual condition, but by their divisions and babel of creeds. It has also been shown that God has sent just such a message as would effect the reformation needed, and heal all wounds and divisions.
The Message of Healing.
"And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come; and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters."
This, the gospel message of Jesus Christ, taught by the inspiration of his Spirit in the entire word of God; and lived in his life, would, if accepted, have healed every division, covered every defect, and clothed the church with the power manifest in apostolic times. In fact, returning to God would have brought the return of the fullness of the Spirit of God, the outpouring of the latter rain, the gracious manifestations of all its bounteous gifts, the refreshing from the presence of the Lord. Take, for instance, some of the great crucial questions of the day, over which the church is agitated and divided, and mark the effect which would have been produced if the church had returned to the word of God and turned away from all creeds and traditions of men.722
1. The Inspiration of the Word.
The Bible presents no theories, but simple facts. The words are the words of Moses, the words of David, the words of Christ, the words of Paul; but they are also the words of God. "Thus saith the Lord," we ever hear from the mouth of the prophets, and "as the Holy Ghost saith" is a common New Testament expression as regards the Scriptures of the Old Testament. David declares that "the Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his word was in my tongue." The apostle Paul, in speaking of the message proclaimed by him and his fellow-apostles, says, "Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth." And again he declares, while speaking of the Holy Scriptures, which Timothy, a Jew, had known from a child: "All scripture is given by inspiration of God [literally, "is God-breathed"], and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." And Jesus Christ, the manifestation of God to the world, the Incarnate Word, the One through whom the entire word came,—how did he treat the word?—Always with the utmost reverence. He never questioned it. He never discriminated. Three times in Satan's assault he meets him with weapons forged by his own Spirit through Moses, whose writings are cut, carved, and rejected by the higher critics to-day. He builds an argument on a word, and declares that "the Scripture cannot be broken." But the "critics" of the church to-day (and they are not few) presume to sit in judgment upon what was never questioned by Him in whom dwelt "all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;" and a harvest of infidelity is the result of their criticisms. But the Bible stands.
If the different churches with implicit faith had turned to the ways of their Redeemer in the acceptance of the word of the gospel, they would have turned from the tradition of men, from the cold, lifeless creeds of human devising, to the living fountain of God's grace; and there, at the center of all life, and light, and power, would each have met the other, united in Him. Human documents, human creeds, human ordinances, human institutions, errors from the great apostasy, would have stood out in all their deformity and utter inefficiency before the mighty search light of God's word. They would have been seen, as they truly are, not as helps, but hindrances in the life and work of the church. In the exaltation of God's word, God alone would have been exalted.
2. Life through Christ.
Upon this great truth the word of God is most explicit. Man is sinful, mortal, dying. He is a sinner, because he has transgressed God's law. "Sin when it is finished bringeth forth death." Of this solemn fact God warned man in the beginning; and when man refused to heed the warning, choosing death rather than life, choosing sin rather than righteousness, God in his love shut him away from the tree of life, lest he should perpetuate forever a sinful existence. True, it was told our first parents that they should "not surely die," but should become as God. The falsehood of the great deceiver has been believed ever since by the greater part of the world; and from it has sprung a mighty brood of evil birds, under the names of Demon-worship, Buddhism, Shintoism, Brahmanism, all the heathen mythology of ancient Babylon, Greece, Rome, and Egypt, Transmigration of Souls, Purgatory, Saint-worship, Mariolatry, prayers and masses for the dead, and, last of all, including the evils of all the others, Modern Spiritualism. These all and more are the baleful fruit of the seed sown in Eden by the great deceiver. The deception will end in eternal death with the deceived and its author.
On the other hand, the word of God, while not hiding the disease and its sure result, points us to the great Healer. In Christ is righteousness; in Christ, therefore, is life. He died that the believing might have life. He has sent his word, in which is his own life and power, to give life to all who will receive it. To the unbelieving Jews he said, "Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life." And of the same class John the Baptist says that they "shall not see life," that is, the everlasting life, which Jesus Christ alone can give, and without which one must utterly perish. But the evidences of this we have not space to give. Let it suffice to say that righteousness through Christ by faith means life, eternal life, here, and immortality at his coming, while persistency in sin means eternal death and extinction of being. But this error, moulded into creeds, engrafted into the hymnology of the day, engraven on the memorial stones of the dead, adorned by the poetry of heathen and Christian times, has no place in God's word, which declares that "the dead know not anything," and that in the resurrection alone is their only hope. Upon this error is based the doctrine of eternal misery for the hopelessly lost, universal salvation, and future probation, every one of which is unscriptural, divisive in tendency, and subversive of the atonement in Christ Jesus. The Scriptures do teach everlasting punishment, and they do teach that there will come a time when every tongue in all the universe shall be attuned to glad praise for God, and "there shall be no more curse." Both are true; the everlasting punishment is the everlasting death and everlasting destruction chosen by the wicked; and when "the wicked are cut off" then shall the righteous "inherit the earth," "and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace." Upon the doctrine of man's inherent immortality is based the erroneous teachings respecting a place of reward "beyond the bounds of time and space," the conversion of the world, and the millennium. It exalts man; it degrades God. Coming to the word of God alone, irrespective of all creeds and traditions, union would have resulted, error would have been exorcised, and the Lord, our righteousness and life, alone exalted, as he will be in that day.
3. The Law and the Sabbath.
Upon this question the Christian world is divided. Some contend that the Decalogue is abolished; others, that it has been changed. Some seem to think from the expression, "We are not under the law, but under grace," that before Christ men were subject to the law, but now the law has no jurisdiction; we are under the grace of the gospel. Some will have the law abolished at the cross; others hold that it is immutable and eternal.
But it is not the purpose of this article to enter into a detailed examination of the Scripture teaching concerning the law. Briefly, it may be said that God is the moral Governor of the universe, and, hence, of this world; he must, therefore, have a law. This law, or rule of conduct, must also be the rule of judgment, and the reflect of God's character. He, being unchangeable in character, his law, reflecting his character, must of necessity be unchangeable also. It would seem that this would be obvious to everyone, and it once was. Every leading Protestant denomination once took the position that God's moral law—summarily comprehended in the Decalogue—was immutable and eternal. But multitudes in all these churches are now teaching otherwise. Why?—Evidently for the one sole purpose of justifying the transgression of the fourth precept of that law, the profaning of God's holy Sabbath, and thus defending or excusing the Sunday sabbath as a divine institution. From this perversion of God's law the modern Babel is now claiming that there was no Sabbath till the Exodus, and none since Christ; that the seventh day was the Sabbath till the Crucifixion, and since that the first day is holy; that there is no obligation resting upon us save that of civil law; that Sunday is the true seventh day that we cannot tell when the seventh day comes; that a seventh part of time (which must come upon Sunday) is all that is required!!! And it is not difficult to find advocates of all these positions in one denomination, and sometimes the greater part of them in one man. But "let God be true and every man a liar." There is but one Bible Sabbath, but one weekly Sabbath, known in God's word from Genesis to the Revelation, and that is the hallowed and sanctified rest day of the Creator, the seventh day. This day, set apart by God in Eden, kept by patriarch, prophet, apostle, and by Jesus Christ, is the Sabbath still, as abundantly testified to in the word of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Returning to the word of God, the church would have rejected the page-papal sun's day, and united on the Sabbath of the Lord. In the light of God's law, increased by the glory of Christ's example, would the church itself have become illuminated as never before in her history. The message borne by her heralds would have been, "Fear God, and give glory to him; . . . and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters," and gave as the memorial of his creative and redeeming power the Sabbath. The inspired word, life and righteousness through Jesus Christ alone, the immutability of God's law, and the elevation from the dust of God's symbol and seal, if accepted by the church, would have dissipated the mists of error, brought light upon a multitude of other things, and given the church a unity and power in Christ Jesus that no creed, pope, nor council could produce. The message, if received, would have healed all division.
The Message Rejected.
This message began to be preached to the723world by the people whom this journal represents, and in other ways, about 1845. The Lord said, as he said of old, "We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed." Read God's message to Israel of old, repeated now, both on God's part and on the part of his people:—
"Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein. Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken."
And what was the result then? It was just what it is in this day:—
"Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them. Hear, O earth; behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it."
Read the records of the churches for the last twenty years. Note the positions which they have taken in their assemblies and conventions as regards those questions wherein customs and tradition came in conflict with God's law. Note the excommunication of hundreds of members, not because they had transgressed God's law or walked contrary to the example of Christ, but because they had not observed Sunday, a tradition of the Roman Catholic Church. While professedly claiming to accept the word of God as the sole standard of faith, they have rejected it, that they "may keep their own tradition." They have turned from the cup of the pure wine of God's truth,—the medicine of healing,—and have received from the golden cup of the old mother harlot the wine of fornication, the errors of tradition,—the poison of death. "We would have healed Babylon," says the Lord, "but she is not healed." Therefore we read:—
"And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication."
Rejecting the only remedy which would heal her divisions and bind up her wounds leaves her inevitably in a helpless, hopeless condition. She is fallen. The wine of Babylon is the wine of wrath. God does not condemn for error held unwittingly; but the condemnation of wrath does come because of truth rejected.
Sad as it is, the truth must be spoken. Bad as it is, the fearful consequences must be set forth. But for the sadness and the badness there is gladness, because there is healing in Jesus Christ. But more in our next.
TESTED BY THE LAW.
By Mrs. E. G. White
BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.
"THOU shalt have no other gods before me." Lucifer disputed the justice of this requirement in heaven, and thought its existence altogether unnecessary. He said in his heart: "I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High." He had been made beautiful, he had been highly exalted in heaven, and his heart was lifted up because of his beauty; he had corrupted his wisdom by reason of his brightness. Of him it had been said:—
"Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold. . . . Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so; thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee." "Thus saith the Lord God: Because thine heart was lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a god, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God. . . . I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee. . . . I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee; thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more."
Under the symbol of the king of Tyrus, the Scriptures give us a description of the character and destiny of the first great rebel against the law of God. He who knows the end from the beginning, had his laws and commandments before the world was created, and Satan chose to question his claims before the angels of heaven, because the law set forth the Omnipotent as the only true and living God, and forbade the worship of any other being. The authority of God was backed up by the requirements of his law, which was to hold jurisdiction over all created intelligences. The will of God was to be recognized in his requirements and acknowledged as supreme in the heavenly universe.
It is the prerogative of God alone to prescribe the duty of men and angels. The will of God is a perfect will, and must be obeyed as it is set forth in his holy law, because every requirement is just, and is set forth by infinite wisdom. The law of God should be obeyed even though there were no authority to enforce it, and no rewards for its obedience. The highest interests of men and angels are conserved in obeying the law of God. God's will expressed in his law is the supreme will, and no invention, no device of men can take its place. Obedience to the commandments of men instead of to the commandments of God will be as abomination in the sight of God; for what God requires is essential to the highest good of his subjects, and is therefore essential for the glory of God.
Through the obedience of his commandments it is the purpose of God to remove from the heart every species of selfishness. He would barricade the soul from all indulgence in perverted appetites, and expel from the heart all rebellion and ingratitude. Can it be possible that any of us should wish that God would abolish his commandments, when it is for our happiness and life to obey them? What blessing or advantage would man gain by doing away with the commandments of God? Were he to abolish the first commandment, the authority of God would not stand as supreme, as the authority of the only true and living God. What advantage would accrue to man should he gain reputation, learning, wealth, and honor, and yet be one who, while receiving benefits from God every hour, ignored God, and did not conform his practical life to the precepts of Jehovah? Knowledge, power, education, reputation, or wealth is not to be permitted to come in between the soul and God. The Lord must hold the first place in our affections; for "God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." God gave his Son to the world in order that men might be redeemed from transgression and sin.
Through faith in Christ as our personal Saviour, we receive moral power by which we may surrender every faculty to the service of God. With a full sense of our obligation to God, we may devote every intrusted ability to the service of Christ, and bring every power under the control of the will of God. In doing the will of God we are assured of developing characters after the divine similitude.
Religion is a practical matter, and calls for a daily devoting of all we have and are to God.724All worldly business is to be done as a part of religion, and is to redound to the honor and glory of God. Every amusement is to be considered in this light, and it is to be regarded as injurious or useful only as it respects the glory of God. If those who would indulge in amusements can find commands whereby they may be justified in them as doing the will of God, they will be justified in believing that they are promoting the glory of God and the good of society. We are required to render perfect obedience to the rule laid down by the apostle, "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." He who ever keeps this rule in view, and lives according to its requirement, will form a character after the divine likeness; for in this way men will become holy, blameless, and without rebuke.
We are living under the scrutiny of the whole heavenly host, and the angels are watching to see whether we improve the opportunity to do good unto all men, and especially unto those that are of the household of faith. To love God supremely and to love our neighbor as ourselves, will require from us to be continually in the spirit of humble prayer, relying alone upon God for our sufficiency. The only character that is of value in the sight of God is that character which is free from every taint of selfishness. "The world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever." Selfish living, indulgence in self gratification, will bring no true happiness in this life, and give no hope of a future, immortal life. But to him who by patient continuance in welldoing, seeks for glory, honor, and immortality, God will render eternal life.
Faith does not make void the law, and though there are persons who insist that through faith in Christ they are freed from obligation to keep the law, yet the teaching of prophets and apostles contradicts their position. "Faith without works [obedience] is dead." Men's characters are estimated according to their works. James says, "Show me thy faith without thy works [if it were possible], and I will show thee my faith by my works." Faith in the great plan of redemption without corresponding works is not reckoned as faith. Christ our Redeemer did not suffer the penalty of the law for our sins in order to deliver us from obligation to keep God's commandments. Christ suffered the penalty of the law, which was death, in order to give to man another trial, to provide for him another probation, and allot to him another opportunity of proving loyal to the authority of God. Every soul is to be tested, for he is held responsible for obedience to the divine law, and, although Christ has died for man's transgression, those who continue in disobedience will suffer the penalty of their sin. The condition upon which men will be offered the benefits of salvation is through repentance toward God, because of transgression of his holy law, faith in Christ, by which he receives power from on high to become an obedient subject of the government of God. Those who would be saved must take Christ as their personal Saviour, and become not only hearers, but doers of his words. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
Inconsistent Men in the Church
By United Presbyterian
"INCONSISTENT men in the church?" No doubt there are; but what of it? You belong to society, which includes these same men of one faith and another practice. You find them in the same political party with your consistent self. They are citizens of the United States, as you are proud to be. They are residents with you of the town or city of whose advantages you are wont to boast. Their presence does not drive you from any of these relationships; why should it keep you from the church, where you ought to be, in duty to your God and to yourself?—
United Presbyterian.
"BECAUSE HE LOVED THEE."
By Fannie Bolton
BY FANNIE BOLTON.
THE Lord hath chosen thee,
Not for thy wealth, for thou art very poor,
Nor for thy beauty, for thou art not fair,
Nor hast one charm a follower to allure.
Blind, wretched, miserable, naked thou,
And yet in pity see
The King of kings stoops low to crown thy brow,
And he hath chosen thee.
LOVERS of earth love for some charm they see,
For glance of eye, for rosy bloom of youth,
For graceful form, for mind of brilliancy,
For soul of honor, or for voice of truth;
But Jesus, Lover of thy soul, loves thee
For love's sake, for thy need's sake, lost and lone,
For his own pity drawn compassionately,
And claims thee for his own.
He stands beside thy heart's door patiently,
Knocking for entrance, pleading, waiting long.
He hears thee weep, and whispers tenderly
His comfort sweet and strong.
If thou wilt ope thy door, he'll enter in
And set the captive free,
And cleanse thy soul from sorrow and from sin.
For this he chooseth thee.
Hear how he pleads: "I've gold for thee, tried gold,
The gold of love, and raiment white as wool.
I've balm for all thy wounds, love to enfold,
And all things beautiful.
A mansion for thy dwelling fair and high,
Bought with my blood for all eternity,
A royal crown no wealth could ever buy—
For this I've chosen thee.
"I've chosen thee for noble destiny,
For glory like my own, of high desire,
For heart unselfish, glad nobility
That mounts up high and higher.
Because I've loved thee, in most bitter pain
I died to turn thy wayward heart to me,
And canst thou bide such love to plead in vain,
Since I have chosen thee?"
SUNDAY IN THE FIRST THREE CENTURIES.
By I. E. Kimball
BY ELDER I. E. KIMBALL.
(Concluded.)
4. THE third step in the introduction of Sunday was the formal proclamation by Pope Sylvester of Sunday as "the Lord's day," although it had been so called for a hundred years. See, for proof, Andrews' "History of the Sabbath," pp. 350, 351. This was near the year A.D. 325. It maintained its natal character in the church as a festival, upon which business should be deferred for attendance upon church. It was a day for "the indulgence of the flesh," surely. None should kneel, or manifest solicitude; let that be for the fast days. Vain discourse, obscenities, and indulgences of the flesh, the "Constitutions" seem almost to license upon the first day of the week, "which was a wild day of joy." See book 5, sec. 2, par. 10. Tertullian's day "for the indulgence of the flesh" bore out all its prime, festive nature as a gala day, but was not at all conducive to spirituality. Work was fully permitted. The valuable testimony of Edward Neale, an English barrister, must be adduced here to show the character of the fasti of Rome. There were, according to Neale, judicial and non-judicial days—days upon which, out of respect to the gods, no trials could take place at Rome. On these days they were required to abstain from various sorts of labor. Rural labor might be continued. They might do what was necessary for health or life, as the cleaning out of channels of old water courses, washing the herd, guard crops from injury by setting snares for birds, or fencing; they might clear away and burn hedges and thorns. Constantine's edict was in exact keeping with this, and for yet two hundred years and more all such works were allowed by the church on Sunday. So Chrysostom dismissed his congregations to their usual occupations on Sunday. (See Kitto.)
Markets were ordered to be held in the cities on Sundays for the convenience of those coming in from the country, and Jerome tells of how "Paula, with the women, as soon as they returned home on the Lord's day, they sat down severally to their work, and made clothes for themselves and others." Says Morer, "The entire sanctification of the Lord's day proceeded slowly." And so late as A.D. 538 the Third Council of Orleans permitted the works which, according to Neale, were permitted in the old-time festivals to the gods, although from rural work, plowing, reaping, etc., they "judged it better to abstain, that the people might the more readily come to the churches, and have leisure for prayers."
5. A sabbatical idea began to be evoked for the Sunday in the fourth century, although it was never called the sabbath yet for 900 years. Eusebius is the first to mention the translation and transferral of the Sabbath to the Lord's day. He goes far to exalt it into the place of the Sabbath day, saying: "All things whatsoever that it was duty to do on the Sabbath, these we have transferred to the Lord's day, . . . because it has a precedence and is first in rank, and more honorable than the Jewish Sabbath." "We," mark you, not Christ. No writer during the first 300 years thought of such a thing as that Christ, or the apostles, or the early church, had changed it.
6. In the latter part of the fourth century the doctors of the church, by their declamatory eloquence, and by their pens, gave full feather to Eusebius' notion. Listen to Augustine:—
It appears from the sacred Scriptures that this day was a solemn one. It was the first day of the age, that is, of the existence of our world; in it the elements of the world were formed; on it the angels were created; on it Christ arose from the dead; on it the Holy Spirit descended from heaven upon the apostles as manna had done in the wilderness; for these and other such circumstances the Lord's day is distinguished. And therefore the holy doctors of the church have decreed that all the glory of the Jewish Sabbath is transferred to it. Let us, therefore, keep the Lord's day as the ancients were commanded to do the Sabbath.
From this forward to prohibition of labor Sunday has remained as we find it in Catholic countries to-day, maintaining something of a festal character still, which it ever must retain.
Thus have we noted the steps by which Sunday was exalted into the place of the Sabbath day during the first three hundred years of the Christian era. In the times of the apostles it was unknown; after the lapse of a hundred years, with the church pagan the pagan holiday is made a day of meeting for worship; another fifty years, and it is general, and called the Lord's day; one hundred and twenty-five years later it is formally decreed to be the Lord's day—the day of the Catholic Church—by Pope Sylvester, work curtailed, but yet all sorts of work allowed for yet another hundred years and more; and, lastly, a sabbatic idea given to it by the "holy doctors," who substituted it for the ancient Sabbath. But by the Catholic Church the name Sabbath has never yet been applied to Sunday.