First, thanks, Denys for the research.  The only comment missed is that the
day which the Romans chose as the first day of the week lined up with the day
which the Jews had been calling the first day of the week and which had been
considered the first day of the week, according to their writings since
creation.

Now, for the results of the survey.  I have 13 entries including my own.  Of
those, 5 are for Monday as the first day, 8 are for Sunday.  I was interested
that there was one who labeled Sunday as the seventh day of creation (from
what he was taught as a child) and another who derived it.

As a point of interest, mostly in response to the above and to the message
contemplating why the day of worship was changed, here's a short summary of
my understanding.  I don't have hard evidence here, but could come up with it
if necessary.  The day which most English-speakers call Saturday is, to the
best of our knowledge, the same day on which God rested from the work of
creating (which He did from Sunday through Friday).  It was remembered on a
weekly basis for a long time, but at least the resting part seems to have
faded out during the time the children of Israel spent in Egypt.  At Sinai God
re-instated that weekly sabbath.

It has been celebrated by the Jews ever since.  The Christians also celebrated
it, well past the last writings of the Bible and on into the time when the
Roman Catholic church was, for all intents an purposes, *the* Christian church.
One of the changes that they made was a switch to celebrating the first day of
the week as the sabbath.  They made no claims that Christ or the early
Christians had instituded this.  After all, the church and the Pope claimed the
right to make such changes--after all, Christ had allegedly given Peter that
authority.  When Martin Luther came along and shook the Christian world with
the idea that it was one's faith and not one's good deeds which determined
one's salvation, the "protestants" held as closely as they could to what they
knew, changing only such beliefs as they found reason in Scripture.  They day
of worship wasn't considered an issue.

Most protestant churches have continued with Sunday as the sabbath, some,
evidently, on the understanding that Sunday *is* the seventh day of the week
(though that is the first I have heard of it and I don't believe that is due to
lack of contact with those who worship on Sunday).  There are a few
denominations (I know of the SdA's, the Seventh-day Baptists, and the
Sabbatarians (who, I am given to understand, rest on Saturday but worship on
Sunday)) who consider Saturday, as the seventh day, to be sabbath.

I've wasted enough bandwidth, though.  If anyone has questions, comments,
flames, desire to discuss further, etc., feel free to drop a note to
[log in to unmask]

Noting that life is not, in general, ISO-compliant :-),
Ted
--
Ted Ashton ([log in to unmask]), Info Serv, Southern Adventist University
          ==========================================================
This tomb holds Diophantus Ah, what a marvel! And the tomb tells
scientifically the measure of his life.  God vouchsafed that he should be a
boy for the sixth part of his life; when a twelfth was added, his cheeks
acquired a beard; He kindled for him the light of marriage after a seventh,
and in the fifth year after his marriage He granted him a son. Alas!
late-begotten and miserable child, when he had reached the measure of half
his father's life, the chill grave took him. After consoling his grief by
this science of numbers for four years, he reached the end of his life.
                                        -- Diophantus
[His epitaph.]