_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 God."

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 worshiper, 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
Goddess"), 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 Goddess"), 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 Goddess had stood.[396:4]

The noblest 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
gods," was _piously_ reconsecrated by Pope Boniface the Fourth, to "The
Mother of God 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 Goddess 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 noble babes, who, miraculously preserve