The Complete Testimony of the Fathers of the First Three Centuries Concerning the Sabbath and First DayAndrews, John Nevins
Religion
The Complete Testimony of the Fathers of the First Three Centuries Concerning the Sabbath and First Day
Andrews, John Nevins
Sabbath; Seventh-Day Adventists; Sunday
The epistle of Polycarp makes no reference to the Sabbath nor to the
first day of the week. But "the encyclical epistle of the church at
Smyrna concerning the martyrdom of the holy Polycarp," informs us that
"the blessed Polycarp suffered martyrdom" "on the great Sabbath at the
eighth hour." Chapter xxi. The margin says: "The great Sabbath is that
before the passover." This day, thus mentioned, is not Sunday, but is
the ancient Sabbath of the Lord.
TESTIMONY OF THE EPISTLE TO DIOGNETUS.
This was written by an unknown author, and Diognetus himself is known
only by name, no facts concerning him having come down to us. It dates
from the first part of the second century. The writer speaks of "the
superstition as respects the Sabbaths" which the Jews manifested, and
he adds these words: "To speak falsely of God, as if he forbade us to
do what is good on the Sabbath days--how is not this impious?" But
there is nothing in this to which a commandment-keeper would object, or
which he might not freely utter.
The "Recognitions of Clement" is a kind of philosophical and
theological romance. It purports to have been written by Clement of
Rome, in the time of the apostle Peter, but was actually written
"somewhere in the first half of the third century."
TESTIMONY OF THE RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.
In book i., chapter xxxv., he speaks of the giving of the law thus:--
"Meantime they came to Mount Sinai, and thence the law was given to
them with voices and sights from heaven, written in ten precepts,
of which the first and greatest was that they should worship God
himself alone," etc. In book iii., chapter lv., he speaks of these
precepts as tests: "On account of those, therefore, who by neglect
of their own salvation please the evil one, and those who by study
of their own profit seek to please the good One, ten things have
been prescribed as a test to this present age, according to the
number of the ten plagues which were brought upon Egypt." In book
ix., chapter xxviii., he says of the Hebrews, "that no child born
among them is ever exposed, and that on every seventh day they all
rest," etc. In book x., chap. lxxii., is given the conversion of
one Faustinianus by St. Peter. And it is said, "He proclaimed a
fast to all the people, and on the next Lord's day he baptized him."
This is all that I find in this work relating to the Sabbath and the
so-called Lord's day. The writer held the ten commandments to be tests
of character in the present dispensation. There is no reason to believe
that he, or any other person in that age, held the Sunday festival as
something to be observed in obedience to the fourth commandment.
TESTIMONY OF THE SYRIAC DOCUMENTS CONCERNING EDESSA.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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