Prof. Stuart, however, connects with this the statement that Sunday was honored by all parties. But the council of Laodicea struck a heavy blow at this Sabbath-keeping in the eastern church. Thus Mr. James, in addressing the University of Oxford, bears witness:—
“When the practice of keeping Saturday Sabbaths, which had become so general at the close of this century, was evidently gaining ground in the eastern church, a decree was passed in the council held at Laodicea [A. D. 364] ‘that members of the church should not rest from work on the Sabbath like Jews, but should labor on that day, and preferring in honor the Lord’s day, then if it be in their power should rest from work as Christians.’”[764]
This shows conclusively that at that period the observance of the Sabbath according to the commandment was extensive in the eastern churches. But the Laodicean council, not only forbade the observance of the Sabbath, they even pronounced a curse on those who should obey the fourth commandment! Prynne thus testifies:—
“It is certain that Christ himself, his apostles, and the primitive Christians for some good space of time, did constantly observe the seventh-day Sabbath; ... the evangelists and St. Luke in the Acts ever styling it the Sabbath day, ... and making mention of its ... solemnization by the apostles and other Christians, ... it being still solemnized by many Christians after the apostles’ times, even till the council of Laodicea [A. D. 364], as ecclesiastical writers and the twenty-ninth canon of that council testify, which runs thus:[765] ‘Because Christians ought not to Judaize, and to rest in the Sabbath, but to work in that day (which many did refuse at that time to do). But preferring in honor the Lord’s day (there being then a great controversy among Christians which of these two days ... should have precedency) if they desired to rest they should do this as Christians. Wherefore if they shall be found to Judaize, let them be accursed from Christ.’... The seventh-day Sabbath was ... solemnized by Christ, the apostles and primitive Christians, till the Laodicean council did in a manner quite abolish the observation of it.... The council of Laodicea [A. D. 364] ... first settled the observation of the Lord’s day, and prohibited ... the keeping of the Jewish Sabbath under an anathema.”[766]
The action of this council did not extirpate the Sabbath from the eastern churches, though it did materially weaken its influence, and cause its observance to become with many only a nominal thing, while it did most effectually enhance the sacredness and the authority of the Sunday festival. That it did not wholly extinguish Sabbath-keeping is thus certified by an old English writer, John Ley:—
“From the apostles’ time until the council of Laodicea, which was about the year 364, the holy observation of the Jews’ Sabbath continued, as may be proved out of many authors; yea, notwithstanding the decree of that council against it.”[767]
And Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa, about A. D. 372, uses this expostulation:—
“With what eyes can you behold the Lord’s day, when you despise the Sabbath? Do you not perceive that they are sisters, and that in slighting the one, you affront the other?”[768]
This testimony is valuable in that it marks the progress of apostasy concerning the Sabbath. The Sunday festival entered the church, not as a divine institution, but as a voluntary observance. Even as late as A. D. 200, Tertullian said that it had only tradition and custom in its support.[769]
But in A. D. 372, this human festival had become the sister and equal of that day which God hallowed in the beginning and solemnly commanded in the moral law. How worthy to be called the sister of the Sabbath the Sunday festival actually was, may be judged from what followed. When this self-styled sister had gained an acknowledged position in the family, she expelled the other, and trampled her in the dust. In our days, the Sunday festival claims to be the very day intended in the fourth commandment.