History of the Sabbath and First Day of the Week - John N. Andrews

enlisted under the banner of Christ . . . The
Nazarenes retired from the ruins of Jerusalem to
the little town of Pella beyond the Jordan, where
that ancient church languished above sixty years in
solitude and obscurity."[14]
It is not strange that that church which fled out
of Judea at the word of Christ[15] should long
retain the Sabbath, as it appears that they did, even
as late as the fourth century. Morer mentions
another class of Sabbath-keepers in the following
language:--
"About the same time were the Hypsistarii who
closed with these as to what concerned the
Sabbath, yet would by no means accept
circumcision as too plain a testimony of ancient
bondage. All these were heretics, and so adjudged
to be by the Catholic church. Yet their hypocrisy
and industry were such as gained them a
considerable footing in the Christian world."[16]
The bishop of Ely names these also as a body
of Sabbath-keepers whose heresy was condemned
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