6. Paul commanded the church at Corinth to take up a collection on the first day of the week. Therefore the Sabbath must have been changed to that day. 1 Cor. xvi, 2.
The readiness with which men grasp at every thing that can be made to support this first-day Sabbath, may be seen in the use made of this text.
The readiness with which men grasp at every thing that can be made to support this first-day Sabbath, may be seen in the use made of this text.
It is first claimed that Paul commanded a public collection on that day, and then it is inferred that He, who once commanded that we remember and keep holy the day of his rest, had now changed his mind and would have us remember and keep holy the day on which he began to labor.
---But it is a remarkable fact that Paul enjoins exactly the reverse of a public collection.
---He does not say "Place your alms in the public treasury on the first day of the week;" but he says, "Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store."
---He does not say "Place your alms in the public treasury on the first day of the week;" but he says, "Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store."
---The text, therefore,
does not prove that the Corinthian church was assembled for public worship on that day, but on the contrary, it does prove that each must be at his own home, where he could examine his worldly affairs, and lay by himself in store as God has prospered him.
The method of giving, enjoined in the New Testament, is the reverse of a public contribution. "But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth; that thine alms may be in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret, himself shall reward thee openly." Matt. vi, 3, 4.
This humble, unostentatious method of giving alms in secret, was what Paul enjoined upon the Corinthians. So that if the first-day Sabbath has no better foundation than the inference drawn from this text, it truly rests upon sand." J.N. Andrews
