Earnest appeals : in a series of letters, on subjects relating to the present and eternal happiness of the soul.

Date:
1854
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Earnest appeals : in a series of letters, on subjects relating to the present and eternal happiness of the soul. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

    53/336 (page 35)
    The writer above quoted further observes: “ As that day—i. e. the seventh day—was kept as a com- memoration of God’s sabbath or resting from the work of creation, so was this set apart for religious uses : and ‘upon the day called Sunday,’ says Justin Mai’tyr, ‘all of us that live either in city or country meet together in one place.’ This, doubtless Pliny meant, when giving Trajan an account of the Chris- tians, he tells him they were wont to meet together stato die, upon a set certain day; andj from what he says, he can be reasonably understood to design no other but the Lord’s day.” * The Christian emperors distinctly recognized the obligations of the sabbath. “ No sooner was Con- stantine come over to the church, hut his principal care was about the Lord’s day. He commanded it to be solemnly observed, and that by all persons what- soever : he made it to all a day of rest, that men might have nothing to do but to worship God, and be better instructed in the Christian faith, and spend their whole time, without anything to hinder them, in prayer and devotion, according to the custom and discipline of the church He moreover ordained that there should be no courts of jurisdiction open on this day, no suits or trials at law; but that for any works of mercy, such as emancipating and setting free of slaves or servants, this might be done. Theo- dosius the Great, A. d. 386, by a second law, ratified one he had passed long before, wherein he expressly prohibited all public shows upon the Lord’s day, that