The Lord's day sabbath.
This is the first allusion to distinctively Christian meetings as held on the first day of the week, the day which commemorates the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. The grounds on which it pleased God to separate a regular, and a frequently recurring, portion of time from common worldly labor may be pointed out. Two things especially require notice.
1. Such a recurring period of rest is practically proved to be necessary for man's physical well-being. It is more and more clearly shown, that the recovering and restoring power of nightly sleep is not sufficient, and that the weekly prolonged rest is essential to the continued maintenance of the bodily powers.
2. A man is not chiefly a body. He is a composite being; but he is, in the truest conception of him, a soul, having a body for his use. And it is of the first importance that the soul should have its due and adequate opportunities of culture. For the securing of such opportunities, the tension of bodily claims must be at times relieved. The change of the day kept as the sabbath, from the seventh to the first of the week, does not seem to have taken place by any revelation or any distinct apostolic arrangement. It came about in the natural course of events. Probably at first the Jewish Christian disciples kept the Jewish sabbath in the usual way, and also had some special meeting of their own, in remembrance of the Lord's resurrection, on the evening of the first day of the week. As the gospel won its way among the Gentiles, the distinctively Christian meetings would grow in importance; and when St. Paul separated the disciples from the synagogue, Jewish customs and rules ceased to have authority over them. As Judaism faded away, the Christian day of rest took the place of the older sabbath; and the Christian forms of worship superseded the temple and the synagogue ordinances. We dwell on two points.
I. THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH WAS A RETENTION, IN SPIRIT, OF THE OLDER JEWISH SABBATH. What was essential in the original institution was the devotement to God of one day in seven. No importance attached to its being the first, or fourth, or seventh, as men may arbitrarily reckon the days of the week. The division of time into weeks is not a natural division, dependent on movements of earth or of moon. It is an arrangement made entirely in view of man's physical and spiritual interests. And the change of the precise day teaches us the important lesson that God cares for the essence of obedience, for the spirit of service; and while this finds its proper expression in minute and careful observance of his requirements, God is not limited by the mere formality of his commands, but graciously leaves the times, seasons, and modes of our obedience to our good will and judgment. Wherever there is the spirit of obedience, there need be little fear as to the finding of right modes. All that is essential in the Jewish sabbath holy souls jealously preserve in the Christian Sunday.
II. THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH IS A PRECISE SANCTIFYING OF ONE DAY IN SEVEN TO THE REMEMBRANCE OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. We are to "keep the sabbath day holy;" that is, we are to fill it fully up with thoughts of God and work for God. But to us God has been "manifest in the flesh;" "he was made flesh and dwelt among us." As with us here in our humanity, Jesus was the "Brightness of the Father's glory, and the express Image of his person." And so the keeping the Christian Sunday holy is filling it fully up with thoughts of Christ and work for him. And that they might be helped to such remembrances, the early disciples, every Sunday evening, broke bread together, this being the appointed means for recalling to their minds their Lord's broken body and shed blood. For our soul's life, the Sunday is a day for communion with Christ. For the world's salvation, Sunday is a day for witnessing of Christ and working for him. We may learn, then, in what lies the very essence of the rightly kept Christian sabbath. It must have two things always in it.
1. Conscious communion with Christ.
2. Active co-operation with him in his sublime purpose to redeem and save the world.—R.T.
Sleepy Eutychus.
Explain precisely what happened. The window was a lattice opening, and, for the sake of air to the crowded room, the lattices were put aside. How crowded the house was is intimated by the presence of some people in this third story. There they would be sure to feel oppressed by the heat of the house. Eutychus may have fallen into the street, but it is more likely that he fell into the hard paved courtyard. For a similar fall, see the account of the death of Ahaziah, King of Israel (2 Kings 1:2, 2 Kings 1:17). The word that is translated "young man" implies that Eutychus was quite a youth, and not likely to be very directly interested in St. Paul's address. He very probably was a child of the house where the meeting was held. While the narrative does not positively say that Eutychus was killed by the fall, and indeed leaves it possible for us to assume that he was only badly stunned, the simplest reading of it—without prejudice in relation to the miraculous—certainly leaves the impression of a real death and restoration. We bend attention to the conduct of St. Paul in relation to the matter, and inquire why he took the trouble thus to recover the fallen and dead youth. Dismissing, with a brief mention, the interest he would feel in such a calamity affecting the people of the house, and seeking for explanations having a more general application, we notice—
I. ST. PAUL FELT THAW EUTYCHUS WAS NOT TO BLAME. If any one was to blame, it was the apostle himself, who had been led on to talk so long and keep the meeting to unreasonable hours for young folk. Long services make too great a demand on the physical strength of young people. They are trying even to the elder Christians, but their awakened spiritual interest will enable them to bear such fatigue of body. It was not wrong for Eutychus to sleep. He was simply overborne by the heat of the place and the lateness of the hour. And still we need to distinguish between failings, which come out of human frailties, and sins that come out of human willfulness. Too often the young are punished for what is merely due to the influence of surrounding circumstances and the undeveloped bodily conditions. The relation of public services to the young needs careful and judicious treatment.
1. Services for them are advisable and necessary.
2. Their share in the general service of the Church is important.
3. Such services may exert a gracious influence apart from the actual mental comprehension of what is said and done.
4. Such services need not be unduly limited or too easily altered in character for the sake of the young.
5. Such services should take into due account, and deal considerately with, the physical infirmities of the young. It is possible, by securing variety in forms of worship, changing attitudes, and efficient illustration in preaching, to successfully resist the infirmities of the children. If we find our public services uninteresting, we may question whether we are not, like the apostle, ourselves to blame.
II. ST. PAUL FELT THAT THE DEATH OF EUTYCHUS WOULD BE MISUNDERSTOOD. Too easily the company would take up the notion that this was a judgment on inattention, and such an idea must be at once and fully corrected. In such a case as that of Ananias and Sapphira, no apostle would feel impelled to put forth miraculous power; the judgment of God on sin must stand. But the case of Eutychus belonged to what may fairly be called "accidents." A conjunction of circumstances brought it about—heat, sleepiness, the position in which Eutychus sat, the open window, etc.; and this St. Paul may deal with in a way of miracle, just as Elijah and Elisha had done in cases of sudden death from disease (see 1 Kings 17:21; 2 Kings 4:34). It is quite true that Christianity makes great demands on self-control and self-denial. It expects the spirit to master the body; but it makes its demands of the full-grown "man in Christ;" and, only in appropriate measures and degrees, on those who are young in years and young in the faith. The restoration of Eutychus may be regarded as a prominent and interesting illustration of the "sweet reasonableness" of Christianity.—R.T.