The strange heretic, Bardesanes, who, however, de- lighted to consider himself a sort of Christian, has the following words in his book on " Fate," or on " the Laws of the Countries," which ho addressed to the emperor M. Aurelius Antoninus: "What, then, shall we say re- specting the new race of ourselves who are Christians, whom in every country and in everj' region the Messiah established at his coming ; for, lo ! wherever we be, all of us are called by the one name of the Messiah, Chris- tians; and upon one day, which is the first of the week, we assemble ourselves together, and on the appointed days we abstain from food" (Cureton's Translation).
Two A'ery short notices stand next on our list, but they are important from their casual and unstudied character. Dionysius, Liskop of Corinth, A.D. 170, in a letter to the Church of Kome, a fragment of which is preserved by Eusebius {Eccles. Hist, iv, 23), says, t>iV (Tijfiepov ovv KvpiaK)]v ayiav I'jfiipav Su]yayofiiv, iv 7J dviyviojuv v^iwv ti)i' 'fwiaroXiiv. And Melito, bish- op of Sardis, his contemporary, is stated to have com- posed, among other works, a treatise on the Lord's day (o TTipl rijg KvpiaKijc XoyoQ),
The next writer who may be quoted is Irenaeus, bish- op of Lyons, A.D. 178. He asserts that the Sabbath is abolished ; but his evidence to the existence of the Lord's day is clear and distinct (De Orat. 23 ; De Idol. 14). It is spoken of in one of the best-known of his Fragments (see Beaven's Irenmus, p. 202). But a rec- ord in Eusebius (v, 23, 2) of the part which he t£)ok in the Quarta-Deciman controversy' shows that in his time it was an institution beyond dispute. The point in question was this : Should Easter be celebrated in con- nection with the .Jewish Passover, on whatever day of the week that might happen to fall, with the church- es of Asia Minor, Syria, and Mesopotamia, or on the Lord's day, with the rest of the Christian world? The churches of Gaul, then under the superintendence of Irenipus, agreed upon a synodical epistle to Victor, bish- op of Rome, in which occurred words somewhat to this effect : " The mystery of the Lord's resurrection may not be celebrated on any other day than the Lord's day, and on this alone should we observe the breaking off of the paschal fast," This confirms what was said above, that while, even towards the end of the 2d century, tra- dition varied as to the yearly celebration of Christ's res- urrection, the veekly celebration of it was one upon which no diversity existed, or was even hinted at.
Clement of Alexandria, A.D. 194, comes next. One does not expect anything very definite from a writer of so mystical a tendency, but he has some things quite to our purpose. In his Utrom. (iv, 3) he speaks of t-j/v ap~
LORD'S DAY
508
LORD'S DAY
Kctl TrpwT>ii' rip ojTi (ptiJTOQ y'iviaiv, K. T. \., words which bishop Kaye interprets as contrasting the seventh day of the Law -with the eightli day of the (iospel. As the same learned prelate observes, " When Clement says that the (inostic, or transcendental Christian, does not pray in any fixed place, or on any stated days, but through- out his whole life, he gives us to understand that Chris- tians in general did meet together in fixed places and at appointed times for prayer." But we are not left to mere inference on this important point, for Clement speaks of the Lord's day as a well-known and customary festival {Strom, vii), and in one place gives a mystical interpretation of the name {Strom, v).
Tertullian, whose date is assignable to the close of the 'lA century, may, in spite of his conversion to Mon- tanism, be quoted as a witness to facts. He terms the first day of the week sometimes Sunday (Dies Solis), sometimes Dies Dominicus. He speaks of it as a day of joy ("Diem Solis loetitiae indulgemus," Apol. c. 16), and asserts that it is wrong to fast upon it, or to pray standing during its continuance ("Die Dominico jejuni- um nefas ducimus, vel de geniculis adorare,'" De Cor. c. 3). Even business is to be put off, lest we give place to the devil (" Ditferentes etiam negotia, ue quem Diabolo lo- cum demus," De Orat. c. 13).
Origen contends that the Lord's day had its superi- ority to the Sabbath indicated by manna having been given on it to the Israelites, while it was withheld on the Sabbath. It is one of the marks of the perfect Christian to keep the Lord's day.
Minucius Felix (A.D. 210) makes the heathen inter- locutor, in his dialogue called Octavius, assert that the Christians come together to a repast " on a solemn day" (solenni die).
Cyprian and his colleagues, in a sjmodical letter (A.D. 253), make the Jewish circumcision on the eighth day prefigure the newness of life of the Christian, to which Christ's resurrection introduces him, and point to the Lord's day, which is at once the eighth and the first.
Commodian (circ. A.D. 290) mentions the Lord's day.
Yictorinus (A.D. 290) contrasts it, in a very remark- able passage, with the Parasceve and the Sabbath.
Lastly, Peter, bishop of Alexandria (A.D. 300), says of it, " \\'e keep the Lord's day as a day of joy, because of him who rose thereon.''