Bible Readings for the Home Circle Part 136

8. What was the character and the work of many of the bishops at that time?

"_Worldly-minded bishops_, instead of caring for the salvation of their flocks, were often but too much inclined to travel about, and _entangle themselves in worldly concerns_."-_Neander's __"__History of the Christian Religion and Church__"_ (Torrey's translation), Vol. II, page 16.

9. What did the bishops determine to do?

"This theocratical theory was already the prevailing one in the time of Constantine; and ... the bishops voluntarily made themselves dependent on him by their disputes, _and by their determination to make use of the power of the state for the furtherance of their aims_."-_Id._, page 132.

NOTE.-The "theocratical theory" was that of a government administered by G.o.d through the church, particularly through the church bishops.

10. What was the date of Constantine's famous Sunday law?

A.D. 321.

11. When and by whom was the Council of Nice convened?

By the emperor Constantine, 325 A.D.

12. Under what authority were its decrees published?

"The decrees ... were published under the _imperial authority_, and thus obtained a political importance."-_Id._, page 133.

13. What was one princ.i.p.al object in calling this council?

"The question relating to _the observance of Easter_, which was agitated in the time of Anicetus and Polycarp, and afterward in that of Victor, was still undecided. It was one of the princ.i.p.al reasons for convoking the Council of Nice, being the most important subject to be considered after the Arian controversy."

"It appears that the churches of Syria and Mesopotamia continued to follow the custom of the Jews, and celebrated Easter on _the fourteenth day of the moon_, whether falling on Sunday or not. All the other churches observed that solemnity _on Sunday only_, namely; those of Rome, Italy, Africa, Lydia, Egypt, Spain, Gaul, and Britain; and all Greece, Asia, and Pontus."-_Boyle's __"__Historical View of the Council of Nice,__"_ page 23, edition 1836.

14. How was the matter finally decided?

"_Easter day was fixed on the Sunday_ immediately following the full moon which was nearest after the vernal equinox."-_Id._, page 24.

15. What was decreed by the Council of Laodicea, A.D. 364?

That Christians should keep the Sunday, and that if they persisted in resting on the Sabbath, "they shall be shut out from Christ." See Hefele's "History of the Councils of the Church," Vol. II, page 316.

16. What imperial law was issued in A.D. 386?

"By a law of the year 386, those older changes effected by Constantine were more vigorously enforced; and, in general, civil transactions of every kind on Sunday were strictly forbidden."-_Neander's __"__Church History,__"_ Vol. II, page 300.

17. What pet.i.tion was made to the emperor by a church convention of bishops in A.D. 401?

"That the public shows might be transferred from the Christian Sunday and from the feast-days to some other days of the week."-_Ib._

NOTE.-The desired law was secured in 425 A.D. See pages 444, 489.

18. What was the object of the church bishops in securing these Sunday laws?

"That the day might be devoted with less interruption to the purposes of devotion." "That the devotion of the faithful might be free from all disturbance."-_Id._, pages 297, 301.

19. How was the "devotion" of the "faithful" disturbed?

"Church teachers ... were, in truth, often forced to complain that _in such compet.i.tions the theater was vastly more frequented than the church_."-_Id._, page 300.

20. What does Neander say of the securing of these laws?

"In this way the church received help from the state for the furtherance of her ends."-_Id._, page 301.

NOTE.-In this way, more perhaps than in any other, church and state were united. In this way the church gained control of the civil power, which she later used as a means of carrying on most bitter and extensive persecutions. In this way she denied Christ and the power of G.o.dliness.

21. When the church had received help from the state to this extent, what more did she demand?

That the civil power should be exerted to compel men to serve G.o.d as the church should dictate.

22. What did Augustine, the father of this theocratical or church-and-state theory, teach concerning it?

"Who doubts but what it is better to be led to G.o.d by instruction than by fear of punishment or affliction? But because the former, who will be guided only by instruction, are better, the others are still not to be neglected.... Many, like bad servants, must often be reclaimed to their Master by the rod of temporal suffering, ere they can attain to this highest stage of religious development."-_Id._, pages 214, 215.

23. What is Neander's conclusion regarding this theory?

"It was by Augustine, then, that a theory was proposed and founded, which, tempered though it was, in its practical application, by his own pious, philanthropic spirit, nevertheless contained the germ of that whole system of spiritual despotism, of intolerance and persecution, which ended in the tribunals of the Inquisition." "He did not give precedence to the question, What is _right_? over the question, What is _expedient_? But a theory which overlooks these distinctions leaves room for any despotism which would make holy ends a pretext for the use of unholy means."-_Id._, pages 217, 249, 250.

NOTE.-It was thus that the union of church and state was formed, out of which was developed "the beast," or Papacy, of the Apocalypse, which made "war with the saints" and overcame them. A like course cannot fail to produce like results today. Dr. Philip Schaff, in his work on "Church and State," page 11, well says: "Secular power has proved a satanic gift to the church, and ecclesiastical power has proved an engine of tyranny in the hands of the state."

Sabbath Legislation

[Ill.u.s.tration.]

Christ Reproving The Pharisees. "For the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath day." Matt. 12:8.

1. Who made the Sabbath?

"In six days _the Lord_ made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and _rested the seventh day_; wherefore _the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it_." Ex. 20:11.

2. To whom does the Sabbath belong?

"The seventh day is the Sabbath of _the Lord thy G.o.d_." Verse 10.