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derations of expediency, or from a conviction that it was agreeable to the apostolical doctrine. That the latter was the real motive seems evident from the piety of that monarch; for there is no reason for doubting, as Gibbon is inclined to do, the sincerity of his profession of Christianity; and, if he possessed any genuine piety, it would have revolted at the institution of a sabbath, had he known that the founders of his religion had abolished all distinction of days. Nor would his conduct in this particular have accorded with the political wisdom universally ascribed to him; as such a violation of the prejudices of the Pagans, and such a departure from the apostolical practice, would rather have retarded than advanced the progress of Christianity, the success of which he was so anxious to promote. He must, therefore, have believed that he was acting agreeably to the precepts and practice of the apostles, when he established by his imperial edicts the observance of the Lord's day; and it cannot be conceived that he was entirely mistaken in the matter. His laws respecting it were promulged but little more than 200 years after the death of the Apostles; the current of tradition was flowing in an uninterrupted and incorrupted stream; many writings and documents, now lost, were at that period accessible to every inquirer; and possibly the extraordinary operation of the Spirit had

not yet altogether ceased; from all which it may safely be inferred that Constantine, and the men of his council, were both acquainted with the practice of the immediate followers of our Lord, and acted conformably to it in giving a legal sanction to a weekly festival in the Christian church.

After this period the appropriation of sunday was fortified by the decrees of various councils, and by imperial laws, the chief of which may be seen in Suicer, Heylin, Bingham; and the due consecration of it was inculcated by the learned doctors of the church. The Fathers of the fourth and fifth centuries had access to numerous productions of a prior age, and to many records which have unfortunately perished; and they had so many valuable sources of information, that they cannot be supposed either to have been ignorant of the truth, or to have, one and all, intentionally misrepresented it; especially a truth so little liable to be mistaken as the religious observance of the first day of the week. Their testimony, then, is important; and, in the absence of any other, might be sufficient to decide the point at issue: but the evidence of the anteNicene church to the Christian sabbath, is so extensive and convincing, that additional witnesses are not required. A few testimonies, howeyer, from the Fathers of the fourth and fifth

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centuries shall be produced; for, though they are not needed to corroborate, they will at least shew their correspondency with those of the Fathers of earlier ages.

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Athanasius, who flourished A.D. 326, in his Exposition of Psalm cxvii. 24. "This is the day which the Lord hath made," remarks: "What day can here be meant, but the day of our Lord's resurrection? What day but that which brought salvation to all nations, in which the stone that was rejected became the head of the corner? The expression signifies our Lord's resurrection-day, that which was entitled from him, that is to say, the Lord's day "." He condemns certain persons, Arians, "who did not reverence the sacred festival of the Lord's day"." In another place he says: "The sabbath was the end of the first creation, but the Lord's day the beginning of the second, when he renewed the old (creation.) Therefore, as he formerly ordered the sabbath day to be observed, in commemoration of the end of his first works, so we venerate the Lord's day as a commemoration of the beginning of his second, which were a renovation; for he did not make a new creation, but renewed the old one,

Athanasius, vol. i. p. 1203. C. ed. Benedict, 3 vols. folio. Paris. 1698.

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and perfected that which he had commenced i." "So also, (he observes,) we celebrate the Lord's day on account of the resurrection; and again, "The Lord transferred the sabbath day to the Lord's day."

Epiphanius, A.D. 368, makes mention of the Lord's day as an established festival"; and affirms that "this is the day which the Lord hath made; in it let us exult spiritually, and be glad with an holy joy. This is to us the chief of all the festivals. This is the day which the Lord blessed and sanctified, because in it he ceased from his works, having perfected the salvation both of those on the earth, and those under the earth; on this day he abrogated idolatrous rites, &c." and pro

De Sabbato, vol. ii. p. 57. D.

* De Semente, vol. ii. p. 64. D.

1 Ibid. p. 60. A. There are doubts as to the genuineness both of this and of the Treatise De Sabbato.

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Epiphanius, Hæres. lib. iii. p. 823. D. 1104, et seq. edit. Colon. 1682. 2 vols. folio. In the latter of the passages here referred to, Epiphanius says, Συνάξεις δε ἐπιτελουμεναι ταχθεῖσαι εισιν άπο των Αποστόλων, τετράδι, και προσαββάτω, και Κυριακή, (p. 1104, C.) which is thus rendered: "Sacri porro conventus, et Synaxes ab Apostolis instituti sunt his potissimum diebus : quarta, sextaque feria, et Dominica;" but I submit whether it would not be more correctly rendered, "The sacred assemblies instituted by the Apostles, are held on the, &c." At any rate, it is a testimony to the apostolical appointment of the Lord's day.

ceeds at some length in the same strain of eulogy".

Basil, Bishop of Cæsarea in Cappadocia, A.D. 370, in reference to the Lord's day, says, "it is the day when they ought to remain at home in memory of the resurrection "." He calls it "the first fruits of days, the day co-eval with light, the Lord's day, honoured by the resurrection of the Lord." and he speaks of praying standing, and with their faces to the east, on that day as an apostolical tradition, which, though he accounts for it rather fancifully, proves that this day was employed in religious offices P.

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Gregory of Nyssa, who flourished A. D. 371., says, "The law commands us to keep a sabbath, or a rest from sinful works; for the scope of the two tables, of the Levitical ordinances, and of the laws in Deuteronomy is, that we may cease from those works the doing of which is sinful "." His name-sake of Nazianzum who flourished about the same period, calls the Lord's day "the holy and noted paschal feast," "the queen of days,"

1 Orat. in Resur. Christi. vol. ii. p. 277. D.

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Basil, Homil. 14. in Ebriosos, vol. ii. p. 123. B. edit. Bene

dict. 3 vols. Fol. Paris 1721-30.

• Hexam. Homil. 2. vol. i. p. 21. D.

P De Spiritu Sancto. cap. xxvii. V. 3. p. 56.

Gregory Nyssen, Homil. 7 in Eccles. vol. i. p. 440. edit. Paris 1638. 3 vols. Fol.

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