necessary . A zealous advocate of Sunday , who about the close of the twelfth century visited the churches of England , was resisted by faithful witnesses for the truth ; and so fruitless were his efforts that he departed from the country for a season and cast about him for some means to enforce his teachings . When he returned , the lack was supplied , and in his after labors he met with greater success . He brought with him a roll purporting to be from God Himself , which contained the needed command for Sunday observance , with awful threats to terrify the disobedient . This precious document-- as base a counterfeit as the institution it supported--was said to have fallen from heaven and to have been found in Jerusalem , upon the altar of St . Simeon , in Golgotha . But , in fact , the pontifical palace at Rome was the source whence it proceeded . Frauds and forgeries to advance the power and prosperity of the church have in all ages been esteemed lawful by the papal hierarchy .
The roll forbade labor from the ninth hour , three o ' clock , on Saturday afternoon , till sunrise on Monday ; and its authority was declared to be confirmed by many miracles . It was reported that persons laboring beyond the appointed hour were stricken with paralysis . A miller who attempted to grind his corn , saw , instead of flour , a torrent of blood come forth , and the mill wheel stood still , notwithstanding the strong rush of water . A woman who placed dough in the oven found it raw when taken out , though the oven was very hot . Another who had dough prepared for baking at the ninth hour , but determined to set it aside till Monday , found , the next day , that it had been made into loaves and baked by divine power . A man who baked bread after the ninth hour on Saturday found , when he broke it the next morning , that blood started therefrom . By such absurd and superstitious fabrications did the advocates of Sunday endeavor to establish its sacredness . ( See Roger de Hoveden , Annals , vol . 2 , pp . 528- 530 .)
In Scotland , as in England , a greater regard for Sunday was secured by uniting with it a portion of the ancient Sabbath . But the time required to be kept holy varied . An edict from the king of Scotland declared that " Saturday from twelve at noon ought to be accounted holy ," and that no man , from that time till Monday morning , should engage in worldly business . -- Morer , pages 290 , 291 . But notwithstanding all the efforts to establish Sunday sacredness , papists themselves publicly confessed the divine authority of the Sabbath and the human origin of the institution by which it had been supplanted . In the sixteenth century a papal council plainly declared : " Let all Christians remember that the seventh day was consecrated by God , and hath been received and observed , not only by the Jews , but by all others who pretend to worship God ; though we Christians have changed their Sabbath into the Lord ' s Day ." -- Ibid ., pages 281 , 282 . Those who were tampering with the divine law were not ignorant of the character of their work . They were deliberately setting themselves above God .
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