Tertullian

“ The Pharisees, however, were in utter error concerning the law of the Sabbath, not observing that its terms were conditional, when it enjoined rest from labour, making certain distinctions of labour. For when it says of the Sabbath-day, “In it thou shalt not do any work of thine,” [24] by the word thine [25] it restricts the prohibition to human work—which every one performs in his own employment or business—and not to divine work. Now the work of healing or preserving is not proper to man, but to God. ”

“ In short, He would have then and there [16] put an end to the Sabbath, nay, to the Creator Himself, if He had commanded His disciples to fast on the Sabbath-day, contrary to the intention [17] of the Scripture and of the Creator’s will. But because He did not directly defend [18] His disciples, but excuses them; because He interposes human want, as if deprecating censure; because He maintains the honour of the Sabbath as a day which is to be free from gloom rather than from work ”

“ He was called “Lord of the Sabbath,” [33] because He maintained [34] the Sabbath as His own institution. Now, even if He had annulled the Sabbath, He would have had the right to do so, [35] as being its Lord, (and) still more as He who instituted it. But He did not utterly destroy it, although its Lord, in order that it might henceforth be plain that the Sabbath was not broken [36] by the Creator, even at the time when the ark was carried around Jericho. ”