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Character and Aims of the Papacy
263
As the papacy became firmly established, the work of Sunday
exaltation was continued. For a time the people engaged in agricul-
tural labor when not attending church, and the name Sabbath was
still attached to the seventh day. But steadily and surely a change
was effected. Those in holy office were forbidden to pass judgment
in any civil controversy on the Sunday. Soon after, persons of all
rank were commanded to refrain from common labor, on pain of
a fine for freemen, and stripes in the case of servants. Later it was
decreed that rich men should be punished with the loss of half of
their estates; and finally, that if still obstinate they should be made
slaves. The lower classes were to suffer perpetual banishment.
Miracles also were called into requisition. Among other wonders
it was reported that as a husbandman who was about to plow his
field on Sunday, cleaned his plow with an iron, the iron stuck fast
in his hand, and for two years he carried it about with him, “to his
exceeding great pain and shame.”
Later, the pope gave directions that the parish priest should ad-
monish the violators of Sunday, and wish them to go to church and
say their prayers, lest they bring some great calamity on themselves
and neighbors. An ecclesiastical council brought forward the ar-
gument since so widely employed, that because persons had been
struck by lightning while laboring on Sunday, it must be the Sabbath.
“It is apparent,” said the prelates, “how high the displeasure of God
was upon their neglect of this day.” An appeal was then made that
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priests and ministers, kings and princes, and all faithful people, “use
their utmost endeavors and care that the day be restored to its honor,
and, for the credit of Christianity, more devoutly observed for time
to come.”
The decrees of councils proving insufficient, the secular au-
thorities were besought to issue an edict that would strike terror
to the hearts of the people, and force them to refrain from labor
on the Sunday. At a synod held in Rome, all previous decisions
were reaffirmed with greater force and solemnity. They were also
incorporated into the ecclesiastical law, and enforced by the civil
authorities throughout nearly all Christendom.
Still the absence of scriptural authority for Sunday-keeping oc-
casioned no little embarrassment. The people questioned the right
of their teachers to deny the positive declaration of Jehovah, “The
264
The Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 4
seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God,” in order to honor
the day of the sun. To supply the lack of Bible testimony, Satan was
ready with expedients. A zealous advocate of Sunday, who about
the close of the twelfth century visited the churches of England, was
resisted by faithful witnesses for the truth; and so fruitless were his
efforts that he departed from the country for a season, and cast about
him for some means to enforce his teachings. When he returned, the
lack was supplied, and in his after-labors he met with greater success.
He brought with him a roll purporting to be from God himself, and
containing the needed command for Sunday observance, and awful
threats to terrify the disobedient. This precious document—as base
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a counterfeit as the institution it supported—was said to have fallen
from heaven, and to have been found in Jerusalem, upon the altar
of St. Simeon, in Golgotha. The pontifical palace at Rome was the
source whence it proceeded. Frauds and forgeries to advance the
power and prosperity of the church have in all ages been esteemed
lawful by the papal hierarchy.
The roll forbade labor from the ninth hour, three o’clock, on
Saturday afternoon, till sunrise on Monday; and its authority was
declared to be confirmed by many miracles. It was reported that
persons laboring beyond the appointed hour were stricken with
paralysis. A miller who attempted to grind his corn, saw, instead of
flour, a torrent of blood come forth, and the mill-wheel stood still,
notwithstanding the strong rush of the water. A woman who placed
dough in the oven, found it raw when taken out, though the oven
was very hot. Another who had dough prepared for baking at the
ninth hour, but determined to set it aside till Monday, found the next
day that it had been made into loaves and baked by divine power. A
man who baked bread after the ninth hour on Saturday, found, when
he broke it the next morning, that blood started therefrom. By such
absurd and superstitious fabrications did the advocates of Sunday
endeavor to establish its sacredness.
In Scotland, as in England, a greater regard for Sunday was
secured by uniting with it a portion of the ancient Sabbath. But
the time required to be kept holy varied. A law was passed that
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Saturday from twelve at noon ought to be accounted holy, and that
no man, from that time till Monday morning, should engage in
worldly business.
Character and Aims of the Papacy
265
But notwithstanding all the efforts to establish Sunday sacred-
ness, papists themselves publicly confessed the divine authority of
the Sabbath, and the human origin of the institution by which it had
been supplanted. In the sixteenth century a papal council plainly
declared: “Let all Christians remember that the seventh day was con-
secrated by God, and hath been received and observed, not only by
the Jews, but by all others who pretend to worship God; though we
Christians have changed their Sabbath into the Lord’s day.” Those
who were tampering with the divine law were not ignorant of the
character of their work. They were deliberately setting themselves
above God.
A striking illustration of Rome’s policy toward those who honor
the Sabbath was given in the long and bloody persecution of the
Waldenses. Others suffered in a similar ma
the same truth. Amid the gloom of the Dark Ages, the Christians
of Central Africa were lost sight of and forgotten by the world, and
for many centuries they enjoyed freedom in the exercise of their
faith. But at last Rome learned of their existence, and the emperor of
Abyssinia was soon beguiled into an acknowledgment of the pope
as the vicar of Christ. Other concessions followed. An edict was
issued forbidding the observance of the Sabbath under the severest
penalties. But papal tyra
Abyssinians determined to break it from their necks. After a terrible
struggle, the Romanists were banished from their dominions, and the
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ancient faith was restored. The churches rejoiced in their freedom,
and they never forgot the lesson they had learned concerning the