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

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most tyrannical prince."[39]<br />

A few words relative to his character as a man<br />

will complete our view <strong>of</strong> his fitness to legislate for<br />

<strong>the</strong> church. This man, when elevated to <strong>the</strong> highest<br />

place <strong>of</strong> earthly power, caused his eldest son,<br />

Crispus, to be privately murdered, lest <strong>the</strong> fame <strong>of</strong><br />

<strong>the</strong> son should eclipse that <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> fa<strong>the</strong>r. In <strong>the</strong><br />

same ruin was involved his nephew Licinius,<br />

"whose rank was his only crime," <strong>and</strong> this was<br />

followed by <strong>the</strong> execution "perhaps <strong>of</strong> a guilty<br />

wife."[40]<br />

Such was <strong>the</strong> man who elevated Sunday to <strong>the</strong><br />

throne <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Roman Empire; <strong>and</strong> such <strong>the</strong> nature<br />

<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> institution which he thus elevated. A recent<br />

English writer says <strong>of</strong> Constantine's Sunday law<br />

that it "would seem to have been ra<strong>the</strong>r to promote<br />

hea<strong>the</strong>n than Christian worship." And he shows<br />

how this hea<strong>the</strong>n emperor became a Christian, <strong>and</strong><br />

how this hea<strong>the</strong>n statute became a Christian law.<br />

Thus he says:--<br />

"At a LATER PERIOD, carried away by <strong>the</strong><br />

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