“To that end it was again produced and read in a council of
Scotland, held under [pope] Innocent III., ... A. D. 1203, in
the reign of King William, who ... passed it into a law that
Saturday from twelve at noon ought to be accounted holy, and
that no man shall deal in such worldly business as on feast
days were forbidden. As also that at the tolling of a bell, the
people were to be employed in holy actions, going to sermons
and the like, and to continue thus until Monday morning, a
penalty being laid on those who did the contrary. About the
year 1214, which was eleven years after, it was again enacted,
in a parliament at Scone, by Alexander III., king of the Scots,
that none should fish in any waters, from Saturday after
evening prayer, till sunrising on Monday, which was afterward
confirmed by King James I.”[855]
The sacredness of this papal Lord’s day seems to have been more easily
established by taking in with it a part of the ancient Sabbath. The work
of establishing this institution was everywhere carried steadily forward.
Of England we read:—
“In the year 1237, Henry III. being king, and Edmund de Abendon
archbishop of Canterbury, a constitution was made, requiring
every minister to forbid his parishioners the frequenting of
markets on the Lord’s day, and leaving the church, where they
ought to meet and spend the day in prayer and hearing the word
of God. And this on pain of excommunication.”[856]
Of France we are informed:—
“The council of Lyons sat about the year 1244, and it
restrained the people from their ordinary work on the Lord’s
day, and other festivals on pain of ecclesiastical censures.”
A. D. 1282. The council of Angeirs in France “forbid millers by
water or otherwise to grind their corn from Saturday evening
till Sunday evening.”[857]
Nor were the Spaniards backward in this work:—
A. D. 1322. This year “a synod was called at Valladolid in
Castile, and then was ratified what was formerly required,
that ‘none should follow husbandry, or exercise himself in any
mechanical employment on the Lord’s day, or other holy days,
but where it was a work of necessity or charity, of which the
minister of the parish was to be judge.’”[858]
The rulers of the church and realm of England were diligent in
establishing the sacredness of this day. Yet the following statutes
show that they were not aware of any Bible authority for enforcing its
observance:—
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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