HISTORY OF THE SABBATH - Friends of the Sabbath Australia

Chapter Nineteen – The Sabbath and First During the First Five CenturiesA learned English first-day writer of the seventeenth century, William Twisse, D. D., thusstates the early history of these two days:"Yet for some hundred years in the primitive church, not the Lord's day only,but the seventh day also, was religiously observed, not by Ebion and Cerinthusonly, but by pious Christians also, as Baronius writeth, and Gomarusconfesseth, and Rivet also, that we are bound in conscience under the gospel,to allow for God's service a better proportion of time, than the Jews did underthe law, rather than a worse." 2That the observance of the Sabbath was not confined to Jewish converts, the learned Gieslerexplicitly testifies:"While the Jewish Christians of Palestine retained the entire Mosaic law, andconsequently the Jewish festivals, the Gentile Christians observed also theSabbath and the passover, 3 with reference to the last scenes of Jesus' life, butwithout Jewish superstition. In addition to these, Sunday, as the day of Christ'sresurrection, was devoted to religious services." 4The statement of Mosheim may be thought to contradict that of Giesler. Thus he says:"The seventh day of the week was also observed as a festival, not by theChristians in general, but by such churches only as were principally composedof Jewish converts, nor did the other Christians censure this custom as criminaland unlawful." 5It will be observed that Mosheim does not deny that the Jewish converts observed theSabbath. He denies that this was done by the Gentile Christians. The proof on which he reststhis denial is thus stated by him:"The churches of Bithynia, of which Pliny speaks, in his letter to Trajan, hadonly one stated day for the celebration of public worship; and that wasundoubtedly the first day of the week, or what we call the Lord's day." 6The proposition tobe proved is this: The Gentile Christians did not observe the Sabbath. Theproof is found in the following fact: The churches of Bithynia assembled on a stated day forthe celebration of divine worship. It is seen therefore that the conclusion is gratuitous, andwholly unauthorized by the testimony. 7 But this instance shows the dexterity of Mosheim indrawing inferences, and gives us some insight into the kind of evidence which supports someof these sweeping statements in behalf of Sunday. Who can say that this "stated day" was notthe very day enjoined in the fourth commandment? Of the Sabbath and first day in the earlyages of the church, Coleman speaks as follows:"The last day of the week was strictly kept in connection with that of the firstday, for a long time after the overthrow of the temple and its worship. Downeven to the fifth century the observance of the Jewish Sabbath was continuedin the Christian church, but with a rigor and solemnity gradually diminishinguntil it was wholly discontinued." 8This is a most explicit acknowledgment that the Bible Sabbath was long observed by the bodyof the Christian church. Coleman is a first-day writer, and therefore not likely to state the casetoo strongly in behalf of the seventh day. He is a modern writer, but we have already provedhis statements true out of the ancients. It is true that Coleman speaks also of the first day of189