The Constitutional Amendment: or, The Sunday, the Sabbath, the Change, and Restitution / A discussion between W. H. Littlejohn, Seventh-day Adventist, and the editor of the Christian Statesman

by Wolcott H. Littlejohn

“And on the first day of the week, the disciples being assembled.”—Whiting.

“And on the first day of the week, we, having come together to break bread.”—Am. Bible Union.

“And on the first day of the week, we being assembled to break bread.”—Sawyer.

“And on the first day of the week, when the disciples met together.”—Doddridge in Campbell and Macknight’s Trans.

“And on the first day of the week, we having assembled.”—Emphatic Diaglott.

We think the reader is now ready to admit that the traces of a custom which relies for its existence upon an original text, rendered as given above by so many different persons, none of whom can be charged with favoring the seventh-day Sabbath, are, to say the least, too faint to be of practical argumentative utility. To our mind, the inference is simply this: Paul, about to depart on his journey to Jerusalem, appointed, for himself and his companions and the disciples at Troas, a final meeting, at which it was announced that the Eucharist would be celebrated. At this meeting, all the parties came together, agreeably to the announcement previously made, and partook of the Lord’s supper. A fitting close of a week of apostolic labor in an Asiatic city.

The next item worthy of our attention is found in the hypothesis, that, during the time Paul was at Troas, the seventh day of the week was passed by without any religious meeting occurring thereupon; and that Paul waited until the arrival of the first day, because that was the one on which the meetings of the church were regularly held. How a writer so intimately acquainted with the character and labors of St. Paul, the individual in question undoubtedly is, could draw the inference which he has, is more than we can fathom. Who, that has read the history of a man whose nervous activity drove him to dispute daily in the school of Tyrannus (Acts 19:9), and to seek every opportunity for the presentation of his gospel to the Jews in their synagogues, and the Greeks in their places of public gathering, could be induced to believe that he could remain for seven long days in the city of Troas without a solitary religious assembly, until the expiration of that time? And yet this is the very decision which we are called upon to indorse. Before we can do this, however, we ask for the proof. The answer is, it must be so, because the record contains no account of the holding of such meetings until the first day of the week.

But is this satisfactory? Do not all the circumstances of the case, as well as the temperament and character of Paul, render certain the act that such meetings were held, even, though it is not stated in so many words? Paul with a Christian church at Troas for one week, and not preach to them! Impossible. To show the writer that the mention of religions meetings in brief history is not necessary in order to prove that they occurred on a given day, or on stated days, let me call his attention to the fact, that, between the day of Pentecost and the meeting at Troas, according, to his own showing, there were at least twenty-six intervening years; that during those years, agreeably to his view, there were thirteen hundred and fifty-two first-days, all of which were holy time, and nearly all of which must have been honored by stated meetings on the part of the apostles; and yet, out of that whole number, he only claims to produce the record of one solitary day on which such meeting occurred. What are the facts, then? Paul probably preached every day of the seven, while he was at Troas. Do you ask why the account is not given of such meetings in the book of the Acts? I answer that the Holy Spirit was giving, through Luke, a succinct history of the more striking occurrences which transpired in their travels. The story of the first-day meeting at Troas found its way into the sacred narrative, because its importance to after generations was enhanced by the accidental fall, and the miraculous restoration to life of Eutychus, and perhaps by other facts connected with that event, of equal interest. I think that one of them was a disposition on the part of God to provide his commandment-keeping servants in succeeding generations with a passage in the life of Paul, which should forever silence the cavils of men who should undertake to belittle his ancient Sabbath, and to foist into its place a day which He never commanded. This we will further consider in our next point.

Having endeavored to establish the point that the seventh-day Sabbath was not observed at Troas, an effort is made to show that a change of time had occurred, so that Luke, in giving his account of the transactions mentioned above, treated the day as commencing and ending, not according to the Jewish method, with the setting of the sun, but after the Roman fashion, with midnight. The reader will readily discover the object to be gained by this maneuver, if such I may be allowed to call it. We had insisted that the first day of the week commenced at sunset; that Paul met with the disciples in the dark portion of that day (verse 8), preached to them during that night, and on the next morning commenced a journey of nineteen and a half miles on foot, on that which answered to the daylight portion of our Sunday. This, if true, with the majority of readers, would have forever settled the question that Paul did not believe in first-day sanctity. A remedy, therefore, must be had. The gentleman thinks he has found one. That he has made a desperate effort to obtain it, we are compelled to admit. No man, it seems to us would ever resort to an experiment so hazardous, who did not find himself in the stress of a situation which otherwise would be utterly insupportable. With the most deliberate calculation, and in the face of authority which he himself highly honors, he has decided that the journey in question occurred on the second day of the week, instead of the first, which ended at twelve o’clock the previous night. Well, suppose we admit, for a moment, that this was true; what then? The Sunday is thereby rescued from profanation by Paul; but it is also true that the second day of the week is thereby honored with the meeting of a Christian church, and that it was it, and not the first, after all, which was honored by the breaking of bread during its hours.[^[6]] So much for some of the consequences of the position, if well taken.

But now let us turn to the argument for the change. Is it really true that Roman, and not Jewish, time, is employed in a portion of the New Testament? If so, the perplexities of the situation are very great. How shall we know when to apply the one, and when the other? How can we tell precisely where the dividing line should be drawn? We hope, in all conscience, independently of the question at issue, that the writer is not correct. He seems to find the first intimation of a change in the gospels. Matt. 28:1, and John 20:19, are referred to in support of his view. Now suppose we concede for a time the point which he desires, and admit that these passages prove the use in them of Roman time; also that, as he claims, the meeting spoken of in John 20:19, occurred in the evening (Roman time), and after the coming on of darkness. This done, we inquire, Was it a Jewish day or a Roman day that was sanctified by the resurrection of Christ, and his appearance to his assembled disciples? We think that few will dispute that it was a Jewish day.