Installment thirteen

Yesterday we saw Captain Mann hit a dead end in his efforts to try to
find Biblical texts mentioning Sunday.
___________________________________________________
Meanwhile Harold Wilson was busy finding some very interesting
material regarding the origin of Sunday observance, though it did
not mean as much to him at the time as it did later. His spiritual
eyes were only beginning to open, and he saw but little, but he was
blessed by what he did see and was getting anxious to meet with
the captain to hear what he had to say.
Mr. Anderson smiled to think what the captain had set out to do.
Thousands of equally honest and devout men had attempted the
same thing before, but only to find and obey the truth, or else
plunge deeply into willing ignorance and dishonest opposition.
He was much interested to hear what Captain Mann would say.
The captain was ill at ease, indeed, for not only had he been
rudely awakened to the fact that he had long believed something
that simply wasn't true. Moreover, he had been counseled by an
ambassador of Christ to practice what seemed to him a kind of
dishonesty. He had always prized his own sincerity; and he would
continue to do so. This was his decision: He would meet Harold
Wilson, and acknowledge that there was no mention of Sunday
in the Bible. Further thatn this he could not see; for he still
believed , notwithstanding the minister, that Sunday was sacred.

Harold came with his Bible in hand, with leaflets in his pockets,
with the beginnings of truth in his soul. He seated himself with
an air of expectancy.
"Young man," the captain came at once to the point, --"I want
to tell you right from the start that I have been mistaken with
regards to Sunday being metioned in the Bible. It isn't there.
The first day of the week is spoken of a great many times; and
this is what I had in mind. So I acknowledge my error. But my
mistake does not alter the fact that the Lord Jesus changed
the day, and that His apostles afterward looked upon the first
day of the week, the day of the resurrection, as the Lord's day,
and held their meetings on that day."
"How many times, captain, do you think the first day is
mentioned?"
"Oh, a great many times, I suppose. Of course I cannot give
the exact number."
Harold pulled from his pocket a small leaflet and proceeded
to read from it.
"This shows that it is mentioned only eight times and that it
is never spoken of as sacred. Maybe this isn't true; but it
gives the references, and asks us to look them up. Here they
are: Matthew 28:1, Mark 16:2,9; Luke 24:1; John 20:1, 19;
Acts 20:7 and First Corinthians 16:2. Suppose we read them,
captain."
One by one the eight passages were found and read. "Now,
captain, you are acquainted with the Bible, and I am not. You
must therefore let me ask a few questions. So will you please
tell me which of these references show that the first day of the
week took the place of the seventh as the Sabbath day?"
Captain Mann pointed to the meeting of the apostles on the
resurrection day; for it says (Luke 24:36) that Jesus stood
in the midst of them, and said "Peace be unto you." At this
time He breathed upon them the Holy Ghost, and sent them
forth to preach that He was risen. Do you not think this is a
reasonable explanation?"
"That sounds all right, captain; but here is something you
overlooked." Again Harold referred to the leaflet. "I see
here that when the disciples met that night they were having
their supper (Mark 16:14); and when Jesus came, they gave
him some broiled fish and some honeycomb (Luke 24:42).
They had the doors barred for fear of the Jews (John 20:19).
They did not believe he was risen; for when he appeared to
them, they were terrified, thinking they saw a spirit (Luke
24:37). And then Christ reproved them because they believed
not (Mark 16:14) and only said 'peace be unto you' to calm
their fears. Besides all this, Thomas didn't believe in the
resurrection until a number of days later (John 20:24-27).
"Captain, they couldn't have been celebrating the resurrection
when they didn't believe in it, could they? "
"Young man, where did you get all this? I never heard this
things before, but I must say you seem to be right. I have to
be honest. There is another text, though," he continued, "which
clearly teaches the believers in the apostles' time observed the
first day of the week. Look at Acts 20 again. Here it plainly
states that they met on the first day of the week to break bread."
Again the young convert turned to the leaflet in his hand, and then
he said: "Captain, that meeting must have been on a Saturday night,
for it was on the dark part of the first day of the week, and the dark
part of the day comes first. Genesis 1:5, 8, etc. Paul preached until
midnight because he was going to Assos the next morning. Acts 20:7.
Then he ate his supper (verse 11), talked on until daylight, and then
during the light part of Sunday, walked nineteen miles across the
isthmus to Assos. He surely didn't keep the day as a sacred day.
It rather looks as though it was a special meeting, called at an
unusual time to accommodate Paul, and the breaking of bread
was to satisfy hunger rather than to commemorate the Lord's
death."
At this point the gong sounded for change of watch, and Harold
hastened away to his duty. Captain Mann seemed almost dazed.
The thought of having been wrong in his ideas for so many years
and that a minister of the Gospel had advised him to close his
eyes to admitted errors, was almost too much for him.
"Can it be," he asked himself, "that I am wrong also in other
things? If I could be so entirely out of line concerning those
simple texts regarding the resurrection, then in other matters
not so simple I may be still farther away from the truth. Very
shortly, if God permits, I shall have another talk with Mr.
Mitchell. I intend to get to the bottom of this thing."
__________________________________________
To be continued....