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The Change of the Sabbath - Contents
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    Antiquity of Sun Worship

    The festival of Sunday is very ancient, reaching back into hoary antiquity. No person can tell where or when it did originate. It was of idolatrous origin, and was consecrated to the worship of the sun. There was a time, in the days of the early patriarchs, when the worship of the true God was universal. But Satan, the great enemy of God, instituted idolatry. The worship of the sun, moon, and stars, especially the former, was the most ancient and prevalent form of idolatry. Under various names, in all the heathen nations, the sun was adored. Sunday was evidently a rival to God’s ancient Sabbath, as idolatry was a grand counterfeit system to the worship of the true God. In proof of these statements we cite various authorities, all of them persons who did not observe the seventh day, but the first day of the week, as far as they observed any day. Webster thus defines the word Sunday:-ChSa 95.4

    “Sunday; so called because the day was anciently dedicated to the sun or to its worship. The first day of the week.”ChSa 96.1

    Worcester, also, in his large dictionary thus defines it:ChSa 96.2

    “Sunday; so named because anciently dedicated to the sun or to its worship. The first day of the week.”ChSa 96.3

    The North British Review, in a labored attempt to justify the observance of Sunday by the Christian world, styles the day,ChSa 96.4

    “THE WILD SOLAR HOLIDAY [i.e., festival in honor of the Sun] OF ALL PAGAN TIMES.”-Vol. 18, P. 409.ChSa 96.5

    This, from such an intelligent authority, is certainly a strong proof of the general regard for the Sunday among the heathen. It is indeed surprising how Sunday should thus generally have come to be a holiday each week. This is strong evidence of the antiquity of the weekly division of time.ChSa 96.6

    Verstegan says:ChSa 96.7

    “The most ancient Germans being pagans, and having appropriated their first day of the week to the peculiar adoration of the sun, whereof that day does yet in our English tongue retain the name of Sunday.”-Verstegan’s Antiquities, page 10, London, 1628.ChSa 96.8

    Again he says:ChSa 96.9

    “Unto the day dedicated unto the special adoration of the idol of the sun, they gave the name of Sunday, as much as to say, the sun’s day, or the day of the sun. This idol was placed in a temple, and there adored and sacrificed unto, for that they believed that the sun in the firmament did with or in this idol correspond and cooperate.”-Idem, p. 68.ChSa 96.10

    Jennings, speaking of the time of the deliverance of the Israelites from Egyptian bondage, thus speaks of the Gentile nations as—ChSa 96.11

    “The idolatrous nations who, in honor of their chief god, the sun, began their day at his rising.”-Jewish Antiquities, book 3, Chapter 1.ChSa 96.12

    Again:ChSa 96.13

    “The day which the heathen in general consecrated to the worship and honor of their chief god, the sun, which, according to our computation, was the first day of the week.”-Idem, chap. 3.ChSa 96.14

    We see, therefore, according to this author, that Sunday was more ancient than the coming out of Egypt.ChSa 97.1

    Morer says:ChSa 97.2

    “It is not to be denied but we borrow the name of this day from the ancient Greeks and Romans, and we allow that the old Egyptians worshiped the sun, and as a standing memorial of their veneration, dedicated this day to him. And we find by the influence of their examples, other nations, and among them the Jews themselves, doing him homage.”-Dialogues on the Lord’s Day, pp. 22, 23.ChSa 97.3

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