Sunday First Called “Lord’s Day”

Pope Sylvester, by his apostolical authority, changed the name of the day, giving it the imposing title of “Lord’s Day.” (See Ecclesiastical History of Lucius, cent. 4, cap. 10, Pages 739, 740.) It had been called by that title by a few writers before; but Sylvester, as head of the church, now officially decided that its title should be “Lord’s Day.” Thus Constantine elevated the Sunday as a heathen festival to be observed throughout the empire, while Sylvester changed it into a Christian institution, dignifying it by the title of “Lord’s Day.”ChSa 120.2

Concerning the grounds upon which Sunday stands, we will here give a quotation from Dr. Heylyn:ChSa 120.3

“Thus do we see upon what grounds the Lord’s day stands: on custom first and voluntary consecration of it to religious meetings; that custom countenanced by the authority of the church of God, which tacitly approved the same; and finally confirmed and ratified by the Christian princes throughout their empires. And as the day for rest from labors and restraint from business upon that day, [it] received its greatest strength from the supreme magistrate as long as he retained that power which to him belongs. As after from the canons and decrees of councils, the decretals of popes and orders of particular prelates when the sole managing of ecclesiastical affairs was committed to them.”-History of the Sabbath, part 2, chapter 3, section 12.ChSa 120.4

Here we have truly set before us the authority on which the Sunday Sabbath rests. How different from that for the Sabbath of the Lord! The former is wholly human; the latter, wholly divine. The former originated in heathenism and idolatry, and was finally adopted as a rest-day by a corrupted church on the authority of a Roman tyrant. The latter began by the act of God himself, at the creation of the world, in resting, blessing, and setting apart the day for man to keep, and in commanding his people to observe it for all time.ChSa 121.1

Eusebius, who was a bishop, and a great flatterer and favorite of the Emperor Constantine, seems to admit that the change wrought in the Sabbath at this time was by human authority. He says:ChSa 121.2

“All things whatsoever that it was duty to do on the Sabbath, these we have transferred to the Lord’s day.”-Cox’s Sabbath Literature, Volume I, Page 361.ChSa 121.3

We see at last a change of the Sabbath quite fully wrought, at least to this extent, that the Sabbath was degraded by a Catholic council, and denounced under a curse as heretical, and that the Sunday was generally considered a day for public worship, and for at least partial rest. We will next notice other steps by which the latter was rendered still more sacred in the eyes of the people.ChSa 121.4