SUNDAY, the first day of the week. [WEEK.] Besides the name of " Sunday " (dies soils), it was called by the early Christians " the Lord's day" (i) iildpa ip savach, dies donziniess, or simply teuptatc6, donitagica) from its being the day on which the resurrection of Christ took place • and it was kept sacred in commemoration of that event. Dismissal.] The mode of keeping it appears to have varied with the eircumstancea of the Christians. In the first ages it is very improbable that they abstained entirely from worldly business, as the time of many of them was not at their own command. They seem, however, as far as it was practicable, to have devoted the day to religious worship. For this purpose they were accustomed to assemble before daybreak; and we may infer from passages in the Acta, Epistles, and in Pliny's celebrated ' Letter to Tmjan,' that singing hymns, reading the Scriptures, prayer, preaching, and the celebration of the Lord's supper, formed parts of these services.
We have a few notices of the mode of keeping the Sunday during the first three centuries. As early as the end of the second century, abstinence from worldly business seems to have been customary.
(Tertullian, Oral.', c. 23.) It was accounted a day of rejoicing, a feast and not a fast, and to fast upon this day was deemed unlawful. Upon it the Christians prayed standing, instead of kueeling, to intimate the elevation of their hopes through their Lord's resurrection. The public worship of the Christians on the Sunday in the first two centuries Is described by Justin Martyr (` Apolog.), whose account is particularly interesting, and by Tort Apolog.', c. 39 ; compare Euseb.,' Hist. Ecc.' iii. 3, and iv. 23).
As soon as the Christian religion came to be recognised by the state, laws were enacted for the observance of the Sunday; Constantine (in 321) ordered the suspension of all proceedings in the courts of law, except the manumission of 'slaves, and of all other business except agricultural labour, which was allowed in cases of necessity (' Cod. Justin:, iii, tit. 12, § 2, 3; Cod. Theodos.', viii., tit. 8, § 1, 3) ; and, as Eusebius tells us ('\'it. ConsL,' iv., 18, 19, 20), he forbade all _ military exercises on Sunday. The laws of Constantine were repeated by subsequent emperors, with additions, of which ono of the most important is that of Theodosius 11. (in 425), by which the games and theatrical exhibitions were forbidden on Sunday. (' Cod. Theodos.' xv., tit. 7, § 1, 5.) The most strict of these laws is that of Leo and .Anthemius. (460, Cod. Justin.', iii, tit. 12, § 8.) It should be observed that the provisions of most of these laws extend to all the principal sacred days observed by the Church.
In all Christian communities the Sunday has been observed with more or less strictness, the degrees of which seem to depend on three different views which are held respecting its character. Some regard all the provisions of the fourth commandment as extending to it, admitting however an exception in the met of " works of necessity and mercy ; " others agree with these in abstaining from worldly business and amusements, because they think that only thus can the mind be fitted for the religious services which aro observed on this day; while others, viewing it as a day of rejoicing, a Christian festival, devote a part of the day to religious worship, and 'the remainder to recreation. To these views ought to be added a fourth, which, though never adopted, we believe, by any church, has been the opinion of many eminent theologians, namely, that there is no divine authority for making a distinction between Sunday and other days. The whole subject has been fully examined by Dr. Iles.sey in his Bampton Lecture—Sunday, its Origin, History, and Present Obligations,' 1860. SUNDAY, the first day of the week, a day kept holy by Christians. The common law is silent as to the observance of Sunday, and it seems once to have been the practice not only to exercise worldly callings on that day, but also especially to devote some part of it at least to sports and pastimes, such as now prevail in continental countries, both Protestant and Roman Catholic. This practice continued till some
time after the Reformation. Plays are said to have been performed on Sundays at the court of Elizabeth, aud even of Charles 1. The first restriction that appears among the printed statutes is by the 27 lieu. VI., c. 5, which enacts that all fairs and markets held on Sundays shall cease (the four Sundays in harvest excepted), on pain of the forfeiture of the goods exposed for sale. Immediately after the Reformation in England the legislature regulated the observance of Sunday. The first statute relative to the subject, the 5 & 6 Ed. VI., c. 3, recites that there is not any certain time, or definite number of days, prescribed in Scripture to be kept as holy-days, but the appointment of them is left to the Church, to be assigned in every country by the discretion of the rulers and the ministers thereof. The statute proceeds to enact that certain days mentioned, such as Christmas Day, Good Friday, &c., and all Sundays in the year, shall be kept holy-days ; but it provides that in harvest, or any other time when necessity shall require, any kind of work may be done upon those days. No penalty is attached to the infringement of this Act. It is said to have been drawn up under the inspection of Cranmer. By the 1 Eliz., c. 2, all persons having no lawful or reasonable excuse to be absent, are to resort to their accus tomed parish church or chapel on Sundays, or to forfeit twelve pence, which was recoverable before justices. The party so offending is also made amenable to ecclesiastical censure, but is only liable to one punishment, be it ecclesiastical or civil. Soon after this time the Puritans and other etrict religionists attained political influence. Entertaining a greater predilection for the history and economy of the Jews, as contained in the Old Testament, than had hitherto been exhibited in the Christian world, they began to style Sunday, a term which they thought profane, as derived from Saxon idolatry, the "Sabbath," or " The Lord's Day," names which are not used in the statutes previous to that period. In accordance with this mode of thinking, they seem to have been of opinion that the Christian Sunday ought to be observed in the same manner as the Jewish Sabbath. It was a with view to counteract such opinions, that, in 1618, James I. wrote his Book of Sports,' in which he declares that dancing, archery, leap ing, vaulting, May-games, Whitsun-ales, and morris-dances were lawful, and that no such honest mirth or recreation should be forbidden to his subjects on Sundays after evening service. The `Book of Sports' was re-publiahed by Charles I. in 1638. (5' Har]eian Miscellany,' 75.) The 1'uriLans, however, becoming the stronger party, their opinions pre vailed, and there followed a rapid succession of enactments in further ance of them. But the most important statute on the subject is 29 Chas. II., c. 7, which enacts (sect. 1) that no -tradesman, artificer, workman, labourer, or other person whatsoever, shall do or exercise any worldly labour or business or work of their ordinary callings on the Lord's day (works of necessity and charity only excepted) ; and it prohibits the sale and hawking of wares and goods. Sect. 2 prohibits drovers, horse-coursers, waggoners, butchers, higglers, and their servants from travelling, and the use of boats, wherries, lighters, or barges, except on extraordinary occasions. By sect. 3 the dressing of meat in families, the dressing and selling it in inns, cook-shops, or victualling. houses, and crying milk before nine and after four, are excepted from the operation of the Act. By sect. 6 persons are prohibited from serving or executing any process, warrant, &c. (except in cases of treason, felony, or breach of the peace), on the Lord's day : the service, &c., is made void, and the person serving it is made liable to damages, as if he had acted without any writ, &c.