FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:
CONSTANTINE & POPE SYLVESTER COLLABORATE
The Roman Emperor Constantine represents the State and Pope Sylvester represents the Church.
“Dr. Lewis quotes from Dr. Schaff a very fitting conclusion in his remarks regarding Constantine: ‘And down to the end of his life he retained the title and dignity of PONTIFEX MAXIMUS, or high-priest of the heathen hierarchy. His coins bore on the one side the letters of the NAME OF CHRIST, on the other the SUN-GOD, and the inscription, ‘SOL INVICTUS’ [Invincible Sun].’—Ibid, p. 10.
“That the Christians at this time were still keeping the Sabbath can be seen from the following statement of Hugo Grotius, quoted by Robert Cox, F. S. A. Scot.: ‘He refers to Eusebius for proof, that Constantine, besides issuing his well-known edict that labor should be suspended on Sunday, enacted that the people should not be brought before the law courts on the SEVENTH DAY of the week, which also, he adds, was long observed by the PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANS as a day of religious meetings…..And this, says he, ‘REFUTES those who think that the Lord’s Day [Sunday] was substituted for the Sabbath—a thing NOWHERE mentioned either by Christ or His apostles.’ – ‘Opera Omnia Theological,’ Hugo Grotius (died 1645), (London, 1679); quoted in ‘Literature of the Sabbath Question,’ Cox, Vol. I, p. 233. Edinburgh: Maclachlan & Stewart, 1865.
“Pope Sylvester co-operated with Constantine to bring PAGANISM into the Christian church (especially Sunday-keeping). This caused the TRUE Christians to have REPUGNANCE for him. The WALDENSES believed that he (Pope Sylvester) was the ANTICHRIST. Dr. Peter Allix, quotes the following from a prominent Roman Catholic author regarding the Waldenses:
‘They say that the blessed Pope Sylvester was the Antichrist, of whom mention is made in the Epistles of St. Paul, as being the son of perdition, who extols himself above everything that is called God; for, from that time, they say, the Church PERISHED……He lays it down also as one of their opinions, ‘That the law of Moses is to be kept according to the letter, and that the KEEPING OF THE SABBATH……and other legal observances, ought to take place.’ – ‘Ecclesiastical History of the Ancient Churches of Piedmont,’ p. 169. Oxford. 1831, p. 154 in the edition of 1690.” – Facts of Faith, C. Edwardson, pp. 112, 113. Bless all, NMF