A REJOINDER.
“THE FIRST-DAY SABBATH AT TROAS.”
In entering upon an examination of the propositions laid down in the article entitled, “The First-day Sabbath at Troas,” it will be well for us first to inquire into the object which the writer had in view in presenting them for our consideration. In doing so, we shall find that he does not claim that the test or context of Acts 20:7, furnishes any positive precept for Sunday observance. His effort is merely to establish a custom. Suppose, therefore, that we should grant all that he asks, so far as the church of Troas is concerned, would that prove that Christians universally are under obligation to follow a like custom? We think not, unless it can be shown that God has adopted this mode of inculcating religious duty. But this he has never done. If the writer had first established a positive law, then he might, with some show of reason, appeal to custom to show that that law was interpreted as he understands it; but when he reverses the order, and endeavors to prove the law by the custom, then he has reversed God’s great plan, which is that of teaching by explicit statute.
Furthermore, even should a custom be established, the writer must be able to show that such a custom was kept up, not as a matter of convenience or taste, but because of a conviction of religious duty. In other words, it is possible, to say the least, that the church at Troas were in the habit of meeting on the first day of the week, not because they looked upon it as holy time, but for certain utilitarian purposes, best known to themselves. Let us furnish an illustration precisely in point:—
Should some person, eighteen hundred years hence—provided time should last so long—write a history of the present period, as he cast his eye over the literature of our day, he would find that, in all parts of this country, Christians were in the habit of assembling on Wednesday evening, for the purposes of worship. Would he, therefore, be justified in concluding that Wednesday is regarded by us as peculiarly sacred to the Lord? You answer, No, and most properly, for you know that our motives are entirely different from what he would understand them to be. So, too, with Troas. Granted, for the sake of the argument, that, as the writer claims, they were in the habit of assembling on the late Sunday evening; it by no means follows that they did so because they regarded it as devoted to the Lord. Does he say that they partook of the sacrament on that day? Grant that, for the sake of the argument. But does not every student of the Bible know, and is it not the conviction of the world to-day, that the Lord’s supper can be partaken of with as much propriety at one time as at another? Is it not a fact that the time of its institution did not coincide with Sunday? Is it not true that originally they partook of it on all days of the week? (Acts 2:42, 46.) If so, it would manifestly be unsafe to attach any special significance to the fact that, at this time, it was celebrated on the Sunday, So much for the hypothesis of the custom, in question.
Now that we have said what we have with reference to a custom made out, it will be well to inquire in the next place, Has the writer established the usage which he sought to prove? If so, we have failed to discover the process by which it has been done. Has he found an explicit statement that the church at Troas was in the habit of meeting on the first day of the week? Very far from it. Having traced the sacred narrative for twenty-six years—mark it, reader, over one-fourth of a century—he has found a solitary assembly of Christians convened on the first day of the week. But what were the facts in the case? Was this an ordinary occasion? Were they by themselves alone? No; it was a time of unusual interest. The great apostle to the Gentiles was there, paying them a flying visit. He was about to depart on the morrow. It was perhaps the last time they would ever see him. They wanted to partake of the emblems of the Lord’s body from his venerated hand. They wanted to shake that hand in a final farewell, and to plant the kiss of love upon his careworn face. The circumstances, then, were unusual. The same combination of facts might never exist again. There is, therefore, so far as the general view is concerned, nothing which would justify the decision that they had ever convened for like reasons, previously, at the same time of the week, or that they ever would thereafter. The writer evidently felt this, and, with an acuteness of intellectual perception which to the common mind is almost incredible, he has discovered overwhelming support for his theory, where the ordinary reader would have discerned none.
How strange it is that, again and again, we find that the strongholds of Sunday sanctity are located just beyond the boundary where the man of average ability and learning is permitted to go. The Greek, he is told, has a significance which, if lightly expressed, would establish a custom beyond all doubt. Well, we have seen above what the value of a custom is, unless explained. But we ask—and we ask it in the behalf of the millions who have never so much as seen even the Greek alphabet, and yet to whom eternal life is as precious as to the man of letters—can it be possible that God has suspended the terrible realities of Heaven and hell upon the discharge of a duty vailed from their eyes by the obscurity of a language whose mysteries they can never hope to penetrate? For, mark it, this is not one of those points which can be settled without difficulty, even by those familiar with the tongue in question. Were our learning equal to that of the gentleman who has penned the criticism under consideration, we might flatly contradict the statements which he makes; but this would simply serve to produce a dead-lock in the mind of the reader, while he remained as far from a satisfactory solution of the difficulty as ever. The only reply which we shall make, therefore, is as follows:—
The distinction drawn between the present text and the original is either obscure, or it is obvious. If it is obscure, it is unimportant; if obvious, then it could be seen by scholars, and is so important that it would have attracted universal attention and comment by first-day writers and translators. What, therefore, are the facts in the case? Certain it is that, if it exists at all, it escaped the notice of the translators of our common version. That they would have given a rendering as favorable to the first day as the facts would warrant, no man will dispute. The suggestion that the text would bear the translation, “we having come together to break bread,” &c.,[[5]] while it does not materially alter the sense, so far as the practice of the church at Troas is concerned, if admissible, renders it highly probable that Luke and his associates were there until the breaking of the bread; a point which we shall use hereafter. In the meantime, we give the following translations in order to show the conviction of their authors, respecting the meaning of the original:—
“And on the first day of the week, when we assembled,” &c.—Syriac.
“On the first day of the week, when we were met together.”—Wesley, N. T., with Notes.
“And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples were got together.”—Wakefield.