Is the Christian Sabbath of divine origin? I propose to show that it is not—that there is no more divinity attached to Sunday than to any other day. I propose to show that the oft-repeated claim that it superseded the Jewish Sabbath by divine authority is false; I propose to show that it was originally a heathen holiday, borrowed from the pagan world—the venerabile die solis a day once consecrated to the orb of light, but which has been obscured by the thick clouds of theological gloom, that in the darkness Superstition's bats and owls may the more easily secure their prey; I propose to show that this Puritanical institution, whose decrepit form, supported by the crutches of state laws, still lingers in our midst, is one of the most despicable frauds that a tyrannical priesthood ever imposed upon credulous humanity. I propose to show that he who deals in pious cant about "Sabbath desecration" is a knave, or else
"Most ignorant of what he's most assured."
The testimony that I bring is not the testimony of the enemies of Christianity, but of its friends—of its most learned, most loyal, and most honorable defenders. My witnesses include the great apostle, Paul; the most eminent of the Christian fathers; the Protestant reformers; and many more of the church's greatest scholars and divines.
ST. PAUL.
"One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind" (Rom. xiv, 5).
"Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a holy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days" (Colossians ii. 16).
JUSTIN MARTYR.
"You, because you are idle for one day, suppose you are pious.... Our God is not pleased with such observances" (Dialogues, chap. xii).
"You see that the heavens are not idle, nor do they observe the Sabbath" (Ibid, chap, xxiii).
IRENÆUS.
"These things [circumcision and Sabbath observance], therefore, which were given for bondage, and for a sign to them, he [Christ] canceled by the new covenant of liberty" (Against Heresies).
TERTULLIAN.
"The observance of the Sabbath is demonstrated to have been temporary" (Answer to Jews).
"By us [Christians], to whom Sabbaths are strange" (On Idolatry).
EUSEBIUS.
"They [the patriarchs] did not therefore regard circumcision nor observe the Sabbath, neither do we" (Ecclesiastical History, Book I., chap. iv).
ST. CYRIL.
"Jesus Christ hath redeemed thee. Henceforth reject all observance of Sabbaths" (Savage's Sunday Observance).
ST. EPIPHANIUS.
"God regardeth not outward cessation from works more upon one day than another" (Taylor's Works, Vol. XII).
ST. JEROME.
"Considered in a purely Christian point of view all days are alike" (Neander's Church History, Vol. III.).
"As soon as they [certain devout Christian women] returned home on the Lord's day, they sat down severally to their work, and made clothes for themselves and others" (Heylyn's History of the Sabbath, Part II., chap. iii).
LUTHER.