A REASON FOR SUNDAY KEEPING.
By M. C. W.
AMONG advocates for Sunday sacredness, the following passage is made to play quite an important part: "And when the day of pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." Acts 2:1-4. The claim that is made, is that the first day was set apart by Christ as a holy day in honor of his resurrection, which is proved by his repeatedly meeting with them on that day; and that this is further confirmed by the above passage, which declares that that day was honored by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. As to the first claim, that the disciples met repeatedly to worship on that day, we have before shown it to be without foundation. But one meeting is recorded as occurring on the first day, and that was at the very close of the day on which Jesus rose from the dead. The disciples had gathered to their own abode to eat supper, and Jesus appeared among them. See John 20:19; Luke 24:36-40; Mark 16:9-14; Acts 1:13. Certainly no one could say that they were met to celebrate a day in honor of an event when they did not believe that the event had taken place, and were terrified when Jesus appeared. The next time Jesus met with them, was as late as Monday or Tuesday of the next week (John 20:26); while the third meeting was a fishing occasion, which might have occurred Sunday. John 21. The fourth was forty days after the resurrection, which must have taken place on Thursday. Acts 1:3-11. Not one of these meetings took place on Sunday except the first, and that just as the day was vanishing. Does Acts 2:1-4 furnish any proof of first-day sacredness? No more than what has gone before. The record does not reveal on what day of the week the day of pentecost came that year. It is impossible to tell definitely. If Jesus and his disciples ate the passover at the proper time (Matt. 26), the day of pentecost fell on the Sabbath; if the Jews ate it at the proper time, it fell on Sunday. This cannot be decided, for the Scriptures do not inform us. Eminent scholars are divided. Says Horatio B. Hackett, D. D., Professor of biblical literature in Newton Theological Institution:— "It is generally supposed that this pentecost, signalized by the outpouring of the Spirit, fell on the Jewish Sabbath, our Saturday."—Commentary on the Original Text of the Acts, pp. 50, 51. Olshauzen also admits the same. But it must be evident to every candid mind that the Sabbath or any other day of the week was not the day which God designed to honor by the outpouring of the Spirit; for if it was,— 1. That day would have been mentioned. But no mention whatever is made of any day of the week, while the day of pentecost is explicitly named. 2. If the Lord had designed to honor Sunday, why did he pass over a Sunday between his ascension and pentecost? His ascension was forty days after his resurrection; the pentecost was forty-eight days after his resurrection, or fifty days after the passover. A period of eight or nine days came between, in which occurred one first day. But this is passed over in silence, and the Spirit is given on the day of pentecost. There is a reason why it should be given then. Pentecost was the feast of the first-fruits of the harvest. Lev. 23:15-17. It typified the first-fruits of the Christian church, which were given on the day of pentecost. The passover met its antitype in the crucifixion of Jesus, the wave sheaf in his resurrection, the first-fruits in the pentecost. The Holy Spirit was poured out then, because it must have been. Type must meet antitype in the offering of first-fruits as well as in the case of the passover. Whether that day fell on Sunday or Thursday, the second or first day of the week, the Spirit would have fallen just when it did, fifty days after the passover. The outpouring of the Spirit on the day of pentecost, therefore, furnishes no proof for Sunday sacredness, and that use of the text reveals the weakness of the cause which resorts to such measures for support.