It is a curious and little known fact, that markets were expressly appointed by Constantine to be held on Sunday. This we learn from an inscription on a Slavonian bath rebuilt by him, published in Gruter’s _Inscriptiones Antiquæ Totius Orbis Romani_, clxiv., 2. It is there recorded of the emperor, that “_provisione pietatis suæ nundinas dies solis perpeti anno constituit_”; “by a pious provision he appointed markets to be held on Sunday throughout the year.” His pious object doubtless was to promote the attendance of the country people at churches in towns. “Thus,” says CHARLES JULIUS HARE, “Constantine was the author of the practice of holding markets on Sunday, which, in many parts of Europe, prevailed above a thousand years after, though Charlemagne issued a special law (cap. cxl.) against it.”[204] In “Scotland, this practice was first forbidden on holy days by an Act of James IV., in 1503, and on Sundays in particular by one of James VI., in 1579.”[205] FOOTNOTES: [194] _Cod. Justin._, lib. iii., tit. xii., l. 3. [195] _Codex Theod._, lib. xiv., tit. x., l. 1. [196] _Antiquities of the Christian Church_, book xx., chap. ii., sec. 2. [197] _History of Christianity_, book iii., chaps. i. and iv. [198] _Feasts and Fasts_, p. 6. [199] _Feasts and Fasts_, p. 86, _et seq._ [200] _English Works from Original MS. in Bodleian Library_, book ii., p. 75. [201] _Historical Commentaries_, book iv., chap. iv. [202] _Sunday and the Mosaic Sabbath_ (Anonymous), p. 4. [203] Lect. V. [204] _Philological Museum_, i., 30. [205] _Cf._ Robert Cox, _Sabbath Literature_, vol. i., p. 359. For the Scotch laws mentioned by Cox, see _Critical History of Sunday Legislation_, by the writer, pp. 144-146. CHAPTER XII. OTHER FORMS OF PAGAN RESIDUUM IN CHRISTIANITY. A Low Standard of Religious Life--Faith in Relics--The Cross an Ancient Pagan (Phallic) Symbol--A “Charm” Borrowed from Paganism--Constantine’s use of the Composite Symbol as a Military Standard--Prevalence of Faith in “Charms”--Sign of the Cross in Baptism--Baptism and Holy Water as “Charms”--Stupendous Miracles, like Pagan Prodigies, through Baptism--Delayed Baptism--Orientation at Baptism, etc. Those who have made a study of paganism as it appeared in Christianity during and after the third century know that many other forms of it were prominent besides those fundamental errors which have been discussed in the preceding pages. Some of these have attracted more attention than the fundamental ones, since they lie more plainly on the surface of history. We shall glance at several, that the reader may see the field yet more fully. A Low Standard of Christian Life. That the standard of individual character in the Church was brought far below that of the New Testament, and much below what would be accepted at the present day, appears in the history of morals and social life, and in many ways in the Church. The degenerate character of his time is thus set forth by CHRYSOSTOM: