CHAPTER VIII. SUNDAY OBSERVANCE UNKNOWN TO CHRISTIANITY

BEFORE THE MIDDLE OF THE SECOND CENTURY 171

Mistaken Notions Concerning the Beginning of Sunday Observance--No Sunday Observance in the New Testament--Sunday Directly Referred to but Three Times--It is Never Spoken of as a Sabbath, nor as Commemorative of Christ’s Resurrection--The Bible does Not State that Christ Rose on Sunday--Christ and His Disciples Always Observed the Sabbath--The Change of the Sabbath Unknown in the New Testament--The Sabbath Never Called “Jewish” in the Scriptures, nor by Any Writer until after Paganism had Invaded the Church--Origin of Sunday Observance Found in Paganism--First Reference to Sunday Observance about 150 A.D.--No Writer of the Early Centuries Claimed Scriptural Reasons for Its Observance--Pagan Reasons and Arguments Adduced in Its Support; a Day of “Indulgence to the Flesh”--Pretended Scriptural Reasons, _ex post facto_.