Part 111 (2/2)

Those who wished to keep the Jewish Sabbath did so; and those who did not wish to, did not do so. This is seen from the fact that Justin Martyr, a Christian Father who flourished about A. D. 140, did not observe the day. In his ”Dialogue” with Typho, the Jew reproaches the Christians for not keeping the ”Sabbath.” Justin admits the charge by saying:

”Do you not see that the Elements keep no Sabbaths and are never idle? Continue as you were created. If there was no need of circ.u.mcision before Abraham's time, and no need of the Sabbath, of festivals and oblations, before the time of Moses, _neither of them are necessary after the coming of Christ_. If any among you is guilty of perjury, fraud, or other crimes, let him cease from them and repent, and he will have kept _the_ kind of Sabbath pleasing to G.o.d.”

There was no binding authority then, among the Christians, as to whether they should keep the first or the seventh day of the week holy, or not, until the time of the first Christian Roman Emperor.

”_Constantine, a Sun wors.h.i.+per, who had, as other Heathen, kept the Sun-day, publicly ordered this to supplant the Jewish Sabbath._”[396:1]

He commanded that this day should be kept holy, throughout the whole Roman empire, and sent an edict to all governors of provinces to this effect.[396:2] _Thus we see how the great Pagan festival, in honor of Sol the invincible, was transformed into a Christian holy-day._

Not only were Pagan festival days changed into Christian holy-days, but Pagan idols were converted into Christian saints, and Pagan temples into Christian churches.

A Pagan temple at Rome, formerly sacred to the ”_Bona Dea_” (the ”Good G.o.ddess”), was Christianized and dedicated to the Virgin Mary. In a place formerly sacred to Apollo, there now stands the church of Saint Apollinaris. Where there anciently stood the temple of Mars, may now be seen the church of Saint Martine.[396:3] A Pagan temple, originally dedicated to ”_Caelestis Dea_” (the ”Heavenly G.o.ddess”), by one Aurelius, a Pagan high-priest, was converted into a Christian church by another Aurelius, created Bishop of Carthage in the year 390 of Christ. He placed his episcopal chair in the very place where the statue of the Heavenly G.o.ddess had stood.[396:4]

The n.o.blest heathen temple now remaining in the world, is the _Pantheon_ or _Rotunda_, which, as the inscription over the portico informs us, having been _impiously_ dedicated of old by Agrippa to ”Jove and all the G.o.ds,” was _piously_ reconsecrated by Pope Boniface the Fourth, to ”The Mother of G.o.d and all the Saints.”[396:5]

The church of Saint Reparatae, at Florence, was formerly a Pagan temple.

An inscription was found in the foundation of this church, of these words: ”To the Great G.o.ddess Nutria.”[396:6] The church of St. Stephen, at Bologna, was formed from heathen temples, one of which was a temple of Isis.[396:7]

At the southern extremity of the present Forum at Rome, and just under the Palatine hill--where the n.o.ble babes, who, miraculously preserved, became the founders of a state that was to command the world, were exposed--stands the church of St. Theodore.

This temple was built in honor of Romulus, and the brazen wolf--commemorating the curious manner in which the founders of Rome were nurtured--occupied a place here till the sixteenth century. And, as the Roman matrons of old used to carry their children, when ill, to the temple of Romulus, so too, the women still carry their children to St.

Theodore on the same occasions.

In _Christianizing_ these Pagan temples, free use was made of the sculptured and painted stones of heathen monuments. In some cases they evidently painted over one name, and inserted another. This may be seen from the following

INSCRIPTIONS FORMERLY IN PAGAN TEMPLES.

1. To Mercury and Minerva, Tutelary G.o.ds.

_and_

INSCRIPTIONS NOW IN CHRISTIAN CHURCHES.

1. To St. Mary and St. Francis, My Tutelaries.

2. To the G.o.ds who preside over this Temple.

2. To the Divine Eustrogius, who presides over this Temple.

3. To the Divinity of Mercury the Availing, the Powerful, the Unconquered.

3. To the Divinity of St. George the Availing, the Powerful, the Unconquered.

4. Sacred to the G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses, with Jove the best and greatest.

4. Sacred to the presiding helpers, St. George and St.

Stephen, with G.o.d the best and greatest.

5. Venus' Pigeon.

<script>