Sunday a heathen festival from remote antiquity—Origin of the name—Reasons which induced the leaders of the church to adopt this festival—It was the day generally observed by the Gentiles in the first centuries of the Christian era—To have taken a different day would have been exceedingly inconvenient—They hoped to facilitate the conversion of the Gentiles by keeping the same day that they observed—Three voluntary weekly festivals in the church in memory of the Redeemer—Sunday soon elevated above the other two—Justin Martyr—Sunday observance first found in the church of Rome—Irenæus—First act of papal usurpation was in behalf of Sunday—Tertullian—Earliest trace of abstinence from labor on Sunday—General statement of facts—The Roman church made its first great attack upon the Sabbath by turning it into a fast. The festival of Sunday is more ancient than the Christian religion, its origin being lost in remote antiquity. It did not originate, however, from any divine command nor from piety toward God: on the contrary, it was set apart as a sacred day by the heathen world in honor of their chief god, the sun. It is from this fact that the first day of the week has obtained the name of Sunday, a name by which it is known in many languages. Webster thus defines the word:— “Sunday; so called because this day was anciently dedicated to the sun or to its worship. The first day of the week; the Christian Sabbath; a day consecrated to rest from secular employments, and to religious worship; the Lord’s day.” And Worcester, in his large dictionary, uses similar language:— “Sunday; so named because anciently dedicated to the sun or to its worship. The first day of the week; the Christian Sabbath, consecrated to rest from labor and to religious worship; the Lord’s day.” These lexicographers call Sunday the Christian Sabbath, etc., because in the general theological literature of our language, it is thus designated, though never thus in the Bible. Lexicographers do not undertake to settle theological questions, but simply to define terms as currently used in a particular language. Though all the other days of the week have heathen names, Sunday alone was a conspicuous heathen festival in the days of the early church. The _North British Review_, in a labored attempt to justify the observance of Sunday by the Christian world, styles that day, “THE WILD SOLAR HOLIDAY [_i. e._, festival in honor of the sun] OF ALL PAGAN TIMES.”[534] Verstegan says:—