3. The Bible Dictionary of the American Tract Society, page 379, brings
forward the third of these Sunday-Lord’s day witnesses in the person of
Justin Martyr, A. D. 140. It makes him call Sunday the Lord’s day by
quoting him as follows:—
“Justin Martyr observes that ‘on the Lord’s day all Christians
in the city or country meet together, because that is the day
of our Lord’s resurrection.’”
But Justin never gave to Sunday the title of Lord’s day, nor indeed any
other sacred title. Here are his words correctly quoted:—
“And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the
country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the
apostles, or the writings of the prophets, are read, as long as
time permits,” etc.[442]
Justin speaks of the day called Sunday. But that he may be made to help
establish its title to the name of Lord’s day, his words are deliberately
changed. Thus the third witness to Sunday as the Lord’s day, like the
first and the second, is made such by fraud. But the fourth fraud is even
worse than the three which precede.
4. The fourth testimony to the Sunday-Lord’s day is furnished in Dr.
Justin Edwards’ Sabbath Manual, p. 114:—
“Theophilus, bishop of Antioch, about A. D. 162, says: ‘Both
custom and reason challenge from us that we should honor _the
Lord’s day_, seeing on that day it was that our Lord Jesus
completed his resurrection from the dead.’”
Dr. Edwards does not pretend to give the place in Theophilus where these
words are to be found. Having carefully and minutely examined every
paragraph of the writings of Theophilus several times over, I state
emphatically that nothing of the kind is to be found in that writer. He
never uses the term Lord’s day, and he does not even speak of the first
day of the week. These words which are so well adapted to create the
impression that the Sunday-Lord’s day is of apostolic institution, are
put into his mouth by the falsehood of some one.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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