THE FIRST DAY
OF THE WEEK WAS OBSERVED AS LORD'S DAY BEFORE THE POPE'S
TIME; PROVED BY ANCIENT HISTORY
Adventists are continually crying,
"Sunday is the pope's day." They tell the people
that it was the pope who started the observance of the
first day of the week; that the Sabbath was observed by
all Christians until the pope's time; and that it was he
who changed the keeping of days from the seventh to the
first. Almost all Sabbatarians are ignorantly led into
this belief, and they are constantly heard to affirm that
those who observe the Lord's Day are keeping the pope's
day—"a heathen day, the venerable day of the sun,
" etc. Such talk betrays great ignorance to the
enlightened and informed. We have but to attend to the
evidences in the case to prove that this is all assumption
The united testimony of the early Christian church,
centuries before there was a pope elected, proves that the
first day of the week was regularly observed as a memorial
and sacred day. I do not quote those early church writers
to prove a doctrine (I go to the Bible for that); but I
simply quote them to prove a historical fact; namely, that
the early Christians did keep Sunday as a sacred day.
A. D. 30—THE RESURRECTION
DAY
"And they rose up the same
hour, and returned to Jerusalem' and found the eleven
gathered together, and them that were with them, saying,
The Lord is risen indeed" (Luke 24:33, 34). This was
the first day of the week, the day on which Christ arose
(see John 20:19). "And as they thus spake, Jesus
himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them,
Peace be unto you" (Luke 24:36).
ONE WEEK LATER, OR THE NEXT
SUNDAY
"And after eight days again
his disciples were within, and Thomas with them; then came
Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and
said, Peace be unto you" (John 20:26).
PENTECOST—ACTS 2
The feast of Pentecost was on the
"morrow after the seventh sabbath" (Lev. 23:15,
16). That would be the first day of the week. "And
when the Day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all
with one accord in one place" (Acts 2:1). "The
number o f names together were about an hundred and
twenty" (Acts 1:15).
A. D. 59—ACTS 20: 6, 7
"And upon the first day of the
week, when the disciples came together to break bread,
Paul preached unto them."
1 COR. 16:1, 2
"Now concerning the collection
for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of
Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week let
every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath
prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I
come."
A. D. 96—REV. 1:10
"I was in the Spirit on the
Lord's Day."
A. D. 107 — PLINY'S LETTER
Pliny wrote to Trajan concerning
the Christians: "They were wont to meet together, on
a stated day before it was light, and sang among
themselves alternately a hymn to Christ as God."
—Home's Introduction (vol. 1, chap. 3, sec. 2, p. 84).
Early in the morning the Christians
assembled—"before it was light." These
meetings were on ascertain stated day." On what day
were the early: morning meetings held? Eusebius the
historian answers: "By this is prophetically
signified the service which is performed very early and
every morning of the resurrection day throughout the whole
world." —Sabbath Manual (p. 125). The day on which
Christ rose was the "stated day" on which the
Christians met for worship. Pliny was governor of Bithynia,
Asia Minor, A. D. 106-108. This was the very place where
the apostles labored, and the time only eleven years after
John died.
(Much of the
following in this chapter is compiled from various works,
principally from Seventh day Adventism Renounced, by
Canright.)
A. D. 120—BARNABAS
This epistle was highly prized in
the earliest churches, and is found in the oldest
manuscript of the Scriptures; namely, the Sinaitic.
Elder Andrews, a Seventh day
Adventist, admits that the Epistle of Barnabas "was
in existence as early as the middle of the second century,
and, like the 'Apostolic Constitutions,' is of value to us
in that it gives some clue to the opinions which prevailed
in the region where the writer lived."—Testimony of
the Fathers (p. 21).
"The epistle is believed to
have been written early in the second
century."—Smith's Dictionary of the Bible.
"This work is unanimously
ascribed to Barnabas, the companion of St. Paul, by early
Christian writers.... But the great majority of critics
assign it to the reign of Hadrian sometime between 119 and
126 A. D."—Encyclopedia Brittanica.
"The epistle was probably
written in Alexandria at the beginning of the second
century and by a Gentile Christian."—Schaff Herzog
Encyclopedia.
It "is supposed by Hefele to
have been written between 107-120 A. D." —Johnson's
New Universal Cyclopedia.
This is a summary of the best
modern criticism as to the date, character, and authority
of the Epistle of Barnabas. Read and reverenced in the
church as early as A. D. 120, or within twenty four years
of the death of John, it shows what Christians believed
and practiced immediately after the apostles. In this
epistle we read, "Incense is a vain abomination unto
me, and your new moons and sabbaths I cannot endure. He
has, therefore, abolished these things" (chap. 2).
Coming to the first day of the
week, Barnabas says: "Wherefore, also, we keep the
eighth day with joyfulness, the day, also, on which Jesus
rose again from the dead" (chap. 15). Will the
Adventists say that there was a pope in A. D. 120? Hardly.
Yet the Christians kept the resurrection day with
joyfulness.
A. D. 125—THE TEACHING OF
THE APOSTLES
"But every Lord's Day do ye
gather yourselves together, and break bread, and give
thanksgiving" (chap. 14). Notice how this harmonizes
with Acts 20 6, 7. "And upon the first day of the
week, when the disciples came together to break
bread."
A. D. 140—JUSTIN MARTYR
Justin Martyr wrote about forty
four years after John died. He held his "Dialog with
Trypho" at Ephesus Asia Minor, in the church where
St. John lived and died.
His first defense of the Christian
religion is addressed to the emperor Antoninus Verus. the
introduction to his writings in the "Ante-Nicene
Library" the writer says, 'The first class embraces
those which are unquestionably genuine; viz., the two A p
o l o g i e a, and the Dialog with Trypho."
In Eusebius' Ecclesiastical
History, which is the first historical work written after
the close of the inspired record is found a statement of
the books of Justin that had come down to Eusebius' time.
Says the historian (Book 4 chap. 18), "Another work
comprising a defense of our faith, which he addressed to
the emperor of the same name, Antoninus Verus." Here
the genuineness of this work of Justin's is established
beyond the shadow of a doubt. "Before his conversion
to God he studied in the schools of philosophy."
"The writings of Justin Martyr are among the most
important that have come down to us from the second
century."—Ante-Nicene Library.
He speaks to us from the first half
of the second century We quote from his first defense or
apology, which #e have seen is acknowledged by Eusebius'
Ancient History The head of this article is—
"Chapter 67. The weekly
worship of the Christians. "And on the day
called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the
country gather together to one place, and the memoirs
of the apostles or the writings of the prophets re read as
long as time permits. "And they who are
well to do, and willing, give what Each thinks
fit: and what is collected is deposited with the
president, who succors the orphans and widows, and those,
who through sickness or any other cause, are in want, and
those who are in bonds, and the: strangers sojourning
among us, and in a word takes care of all who are in need.
But Sunday i, the day on which we all hold our common
assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having
wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the
world; and Jesus Christ our Savior on the same day rose
from the dead. For he was crucified on the day before that
of Saturn (Saturday), and on the day after that of Saturn,
which is the day of the sun, having appeared to his
apostles and disciples, he taught them these things, which
we have submitted to you also for your
consideration." You perceive that Justin describes
the weekly Worship of the early church just as Paul
directed, on Sunday, or the first day of the week, in 1
Corinthians 16.
Our next quotation is from his
Dialog with Trypho. Of the genuineness of this work we
have the most; posi tive historical evidence. Eusebius,
(Book 4, chap. 18) , says, "He [Justin! also wrote a
dialog against the Jews which he held at Ephesus with
Trypho, the most distinguished among the Hebrews of the
day. " In such a disputation would very naturally be
brought out the very points at: issue between Jews and
Christians then' and between Christians and all who now
occupy common ground with the Jews. In other words, if the
early Christians kept the old law, or any part of it, that
would be urged by them as a: means of procuring respect
for, and confidence in, the Christian system from Jewish
quarters. On the other hand, if the primitive Christians
utterly discarded the: whole Sinaitic law and the seventh
day Sabbath, then we might expect Jewish prejudices
arising therefrom, and the Christians put to the necessity
of giving their reasons for abandoning that ancient law
and Sabbath. Hence this discussion between Justin; an
eminent Christian and philosopher, and Trypho, a learned
Jew, is of important service to us, on all points of
difference between Christians and Jews. And we shall find
that it contains in abundance the very matter we have
anticipated. We quote from—.
"Chapter 10. Trypho blames the
Christians for this alone—the nonobservance of the law.
"And when they ceased, I again
addressed them thus: 'Is there any other matter, my
friend, in which we are blamed than this, that we live not
after the law, and we are not circumcised in the flesh as
your forefathers were, and do not observe Sabbaths as ye
do?' " To this Trypho replied as follows: "I am
aware that your precepts in the so called gospel are so
wonderful and so great that I suspect no one can keep
them; for I have carefully read them. But this is what we
are most at a loss about: that you, professing to be
pious, and supposing yourselves better than others, are
not in any particular separated from them, and do not
alter your mode of living from the nations, in that you
observe no festivals or sabbaths, and do not have the rite
of circumcision; and further, resting your hopes on a man
that was crucified, you yet expect to obtain some good
thing from God while you do not obey his
commandments."
Trypho had read the precepts of the
gospel. He was not quite so law blinded as modern law
teachers. He could see precepts in the gospel. He saw that
Christ had given a new law, and it impressed his mind as
"wonderful and great"; that is, very high and
pure—"so great that I suspect no man can keep
it." He saw the truth but knew not that "grace
and truth" came together. Observe, also, that Trypho
viewed the law Sabbath in the light in which the Bible
places it; namely, as the badge of separation from all
other nations. And since the Christians rejected the
Sabbath, he accused them of not being separate from other
nations. He accused Justin just as the Adventists now
accuse Christians: i. e., of disobeying God's
commandments.
The next reply is headed as
follows:
"Chapter 11. The law
abrogated; the new testament promised and given by Gad.
" 'There will be no other God,
O Trypho, nor was there from eternity any other existing,'
. . . 'but he who made t end disposed all this
universe.... But we do not trust through Moses, or through
the law, for then we would do e same as yourselves. But
now—(for I have read that there shall be a final law,
and a covenant, the chiefest of all, which it is now
incumbent on all men to observe, as many as are seeking
after the inheritance of God. For the law promulgated on
Horeb is old, and belongs to yourselves alone; but this is
for all universally. Now, law placed against law has
abrogated that which is before it, and a covenant which
comes after in like manner has put an end to the previous
one [Is not this just what the Word is the end of the law
for righteousness to all them that believe"?]; and an
eternal and final law—namely, Christ—has been given to
us, and the covenant is trustworthy, after which there
shall be no law, no commandment, no ordinance. Have you
not read this which Isaiah says? "Hearken unto me,
hearken unto me, my people; and ye kings, give ear unto
me: for a law shall go forth from me, and my judgment
shall be for a light to the nations. My righteousness
approaches swiftly, and my salvation shall go forth, and
nations shall trust in mine arm." And by Jeremiah
concerning this same new covenant, he thus speaks:
"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will
make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the
house of Judah; not according to the covenant which I made
with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand
to bring them out of the land of Egypt.") If,
therefore, God proclaimed a new covenant which was to be
instituted, and this for the light of the nations, we see
and are persuaded that men approach God, leaving their
idols and other unrighteousness, through the name of him
who was crucified, Jesus Christ, and abide by their
confession even unto death, and maintain piety. Moreover,
by the works and by the attendant miracles, it is possible
for all to understand that he is the new law, and the new
covenant, and the expectation of those who out of every
people wait for the good things of God. For the true
spiritual Israel and descendants of Judah, Jacob, Isaac,
and Abraham (who in uncircumcision was approved of and
blessed by God on account of his faith, and called the
father of many nations) are we who have been led to God
through the crucified Christ, as shall be demonstrated
while we proceed.' "
"Chapter 12. The Jews violate
the eternal law, and interpret ill that of Moses.
"I also adduced another
passage in which Isaiah exclaims: 'Hear my words, and your
soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant
with you, even the sure mercies of David....' This same
law you have despised, and this holy covenant you have
slighted; and now you neither receive it, nor repent of
your evil deeds. 'For your ears are closed, your eyes are
blinded, and the heart is hardened,' Jeremiah has cried;
yet not even then do you listen. The Lawgiver is present,
yet you do not see him; to the poor the gospel is
preached, the blind see, yet you do not understand. You
have now need of a second circumcision, though you glory
greatly in the flesh. The new law requires you to keep
perpetual sabbath, and you, because you are idle for one
day, suppose you are pious, not discerning why this has
been commanded you; and if you eat unleavened bread, you
say the will of God has been fulfilled. The Lord our God
does not take pleasure in such observances: if there is
any perjured person or a thief among you, let him cease to
be so; if any adulterer, let him repent; then he has kept
the sweet and true sabbath of God. If anyone has impure
hands, let him wash and be pure."
We next quote from—
"Chapter 18. Christians would
observe the law, if they did not know why it was
instituted.
" 'For we too would observe
the fleshly circumcision and the sabbaths, and in short
all the feasts, if we did not know for what reason they
were enjoined on you,—namely on account of your
transgressions and the hardness of your hearts. For if we
patiently endure all things contrived against us by wicked
men and demons, so that even amid cruelties unutterable,
death and torments, we pray for mercy to those who inflict
such things upon us, and do not wish to give the least
retort to anyone, even as the new Lawgiver commanded us:
how is it Trypho, that we should not observe those rites
which do not harm us,— I speak of fleshly circumcision,
and sabbaths, and feasts?' "
"Therefore to you alone this
circumcision was necessary, in order that the people may
be no people, and the nation no nation; as also Hosea, one
of the twelve prophets, declares. Moreover, all those
righteous men already mentioned, though they kept no
Sabbaths, were pleasing to God."
"And you were commanded
to keep sabbaths that you might retain the memorial of
God." The next chapter from which we quote
is headed as follows:
"Chapter 21. Sabbaths were
instituted on account of the people's sins, and not for a
work of righteousness.
" 'Moreover, that God enjoined
you to keep the Sabbath, and imposed on you other precepts
for a sign, as I have already said, on account of your
unrighteousness and that of your fathers' . . . 'Wherefore
I gave them also statutes which were not good, and
judgments whereby they shall not live.' "
The next quotation is from—
"Chapter 23. The opinion of
the Jews regarding the law does an injury to God.
" 'But if we do not admit
this, we shall be liable to fall into foolish opinions, as
if it were not the same God who existed in the times of
Enoch and all the rest, who neither were circumcised after
the flesh, nor observed Sabbaths, nor any other rites,
seeing that Moses enjoined such observances; or that God
had not wished each race of mankind continually to perform
the same righteous actions: to admit which seems to be
ridiculous and absurd. Therefore we must confess that he,
who is ever the same, has commanded these and such like
institutions on account of sinful men.' "
Dear reader, consider these things.
The law teachers of our day tell us that the immutability
of God requires that the law given on Sinai must be the
unchangeable standard of righteousness. But Justin reminds
us that God counted the patriarchs righteous before the
law was given on Sinai; and, therefore, if he afterward
measured righteousness by the Sinaitic law, this would
prove God changeable. So to make the Sinaitic code a
standard of righteousness, slanders the character of God.
But just as the New Testament teaches,—that
righteousness is not by the law (Gal. 3:21); that Abraham,
who lived before the law, is set before us as the example
for our faith and righteousness; that he is indeed the
father of the faithful, that all who believe in Christ are
the seed of Abraham (Rom. 4:3-22; Gal. 3:29); and that all
who seek to be righteous by the law fail to attain unto
righteousness (Rom. 9:31 10:3)—we say, just as the New
Testament rules out the law written on stone as a means to
or standard of righteousness, so does Justin. As the
apostles teach us that the law was not given for righteous
men, but for the ungodly, and because of transgressions;
so Justin proves the unchangeableness of God by showing
that his law of righteousness was substantially the same
in holy men before Moses and in the gospel dispensation
since the Mosaic system has passed away, and that the law
was simply a temporary code for the restraint of the
wicked. Under the head, "The law was given by Moses
on account of the hardness of their hearts," Justin
says, "Until Moses, under whom your nation appeared
unrighteous and ungrateful to God, making a calf in the
wilderness: wherefore God accommodated himself to that
nation"; that is, in giving them the law that he did.
Thus, we see the immutability of God vindicated both by
the Scriptures and by the early writers of the church of
God by leaving the law code out of the question, and
basing righteousness before and after it upon the same
general principles. Even though Abraham was circumcised,
the apostle is very particular to inform us that his
righteousness, which is the same as ours, was that
ascribed to him before he was circumcised (Rom. 4:9-11).
But let us continue to hear Justin.
"Wherefore, Trypho, I will proclaim to you, and to
those who wish to become proselyte, the divine message
which I heard from that man. Do you see that the elements
are not idle and keep no sabbaths ? Remain as you were
born. For if there was no need of circumcision before
Abraham, or the observance of sabbaths, or feasts and
sacrifices before Moses, no more need is there of them
now, after that, according to the will of God, Jesus
Christ the Son of God has been born without sin, of a
virgin springing from the stock of Abraham."
Observe that Justin always
associates the Sabbath of the Jews with feasts,
sacrifices, etc., the shadows or ceremonies of the law.
Just so does Paul in Col. 2:14, 16, 17, where the apostle
classifies it with meats and drinks, and tells us that
persons converted from the Jews to Christ are as much at
liberty to disregard the Sabbath of the abrogated code as
its discrimination in meats. It is almost always mentioned
in the Old Testament with that class of precepts, such as
reverencing the sanctuary (Lev. 19:30), the celebration of
national feasts, "her feast days, her new moons, and
her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts" (Hosea
2:11). In Ezek. 45:17 it is associated with "burnt
offerings, and meat offerings, and drink offerings, in the
feasts, and in the new moons, and in the sabbaths."
Observe again, Justin shows that
the Sabbath of the law was out of harmony with the laws of
nature, hence one of the "statutes he had given them
that was not good, and judgments whereby they should not
live" (Ezek. 20: 25). The elements keep no Sabbath.
To remain inactive a whole day was contrary to nature; and
yet to labor was death.
Observe, too, that Justin speaks of
the sabbath of the gospel as a "sweet" and
"perpetual sabbath." By this he shows that it is
not the observance of any day, but a spiritual rest of the
soul. This spiritual rest he further says is the
"true sabbath of God." To this we say amen. The
Lord's Day is not a sabbath, but a memorial day. It is, by
the leading of the Spirit, a day of great activity in the
vineyard of the Lord.
The next chapter from Justin is—
"Chapter 24. The Christians'
circumcision far more excellent.
" 'Now, sirs, I said, 'it is
possible for us to show how the eighth day possessed a
certain mysterious import which the seventh day did not
possess, and which was promulgated by God through these
rites. But lest I appear now to diverge to other subjects
understand what I say: the blood of that circumcision is
obsolete, and we trust in the blood of salvation; there is
now another covenant, and another law has gone forth from
Zion.' "
Our next quotation is from—
"Chapter 43. He concludes that
the law had an end in Christ.
" 'As, then, circumcision
began with Abraham, and the Sabbath and sacrifices and
offerings and feasts with Moses, and it has been proved
they were enjoined on account of the hardness of your
people's hearts, so it was necessary in accordance with
the Father's will, that they should have an end in Him who
was born of a virgin.' "
A question (chap. 47), "And
Trypho again inquired, 'But if someone, knowing that this
is so, after he recognizes that this man is Christ, and
has believed in and obeys him, wishes, however, to observe
these [institutions of the law], will he be saved?'
"I said, 'In my opinion,
Trypho, such an one will be saved, if he does not strive
in every way to persuade other men . . . to observe the
same things as himself.' "
Here again we see the very
sentiment of the Apostle. "Let not him that eateth
not judge him that eateth," etc. "He that is
weak eateth herbs." Just so, "One man esteemeth
one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike.
Let everyone be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that
regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord, and he that
regardeth not the day, to the Lord he cloth not regard it.
He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God
thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not,
and giveth God thanks" (Rom. 14:5, 6).
How very different this sounds from
the old Sabbath law! It imperatively commands abstinence
from all labor on the seventh day, under penalty of death;
while the apostle gives liberty to "esteem every day
alike," and allows everyone to be "fully
persuaded in his own mind," whether to regard one day
more specially unto the Lord than another. Both he that
does so and he that does not are recognized as pleasing
the Lord and being accepted of him. Can anyone imagine
that the old "ministration of death" and
"yoke of bondage," and this new testament
"law of liberty," can both blend into one
system, and be in force at the same time? The old would be
a cold, grating discord in the government of this
dispensation.
