Time of the Meeting at Troas by Dudley Marvin Canright

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 11, 1871

Time of the Meeting at Troas.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

“And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight. And there were many lights in the upper chamber, where they were gathered together.” Acts 20: 7, 8.

This meeting was held upon the first day of the week. Of this there can be no doubt; for it is positively so stated. It was also held in the dark part of that day, in the night. There were many lights there; Paul preached till midnight; then Eutychus fell out of the window, and Paul went down and healed him. Verses 9, 10. “When he [Paul] therefore was come up again, and had broken bread, and eaten, and talked a long while, even till break of day, so he departed. . . . And we went before to ship, and sailed unto Assos, there intending to take in Paul; for so had he appointed, minding himself to go afoot.” Verses 11–13. It was an all-night meeting, and in the morning Paul went on foot alone to Assos.

But on what night was this held? Saturday night, or Sunday night? Sunday advocates generally assume that it was on Sunday night and that Paul went on his journey Monday morning. But a little consideration will show that this could not be the case. The Bible time of beginning the day was not the same as our Roman or heathen time, which we all use now. In the Bible the day begins and ends at sunset. Thus in Gen. 1, we read, “The evening and the morning were the first day,” “The evening and the morning were the second day,” &c. The day began with the evening. The beginning of the first day must regulate the beginning of all following days. To Israel, God said, “From even unto even, shall ye celebrate your Sabbath.” Lev. 23: 32. The even is at the going down of the sun. Deut. 16: 6. In the New Testament the day was reckoned in the same manner, as may be seen by Mark 1: 21–32. Jesus went into the synagogue on the Sabbath, and healed the sick. The Pharisees thought it wrong to be healed on the Sabbath, but “at even, when the sun did set, they brought unto him all that were diseased, and them that were possessed with devils,” and he healed them. Why did they wait till the sun had set? Because then the Sabbath was passed. The Jews reckon time so to this day, as everybody knows.

Hence, in the New Testament, as well as in the Old, the first day of the week begins at sunset Saturday evening and ends at sunset Sunday evening. Now this meeting at Troas was in the night part of the first day of the week; therefore it was on what we now call Saturday night. If it had been on Sunday night, it would not have been on the first day of the week, but the second. That this is so, is acknowledged by some of the best authors as the time. I have before me “The Life, Times, and Travels, of St. Paul,” by Conybeare and Howson. It is highly recommended by Bishop Simpson of the M. E. church and by others. Of this meeting at Troas they say, “The labors of the early days of the week that were spent at Troas are not related to us, but concerning the last day we have a narrative which enters into details with all the minuteness of one of the gospel histories. It was the evening which succeeded the Jewish Sabbath. On the Sunday morning the vessel was about to sail.” Of Paul’s journey that day to Assos they say, “He pursued his lonely road that Sunday afternoon in spring among the oak woods and streams of Ida.” Vol. 2, pp. 206, 209. This is a very candid admission. It shows absolutely that neither Paul nor the early Christians did regard Sunday as a holy day. Twenty miles the apostle traveled on foot that Sunday to meet the vessel at Assos. He did not go there to hold a meeting, but simply to reach the vessel which he immediately entered.

At the same time the apostle was making this long journey on foot, the other disciples were getting the vessel around the cape to meet him at Assos. Indeed, they started with the vessel while he was yet preaching at Troas; so that none of them regarded Sunday in the least.

D. M. CANRIGHT.