By J.W. McGarvey
“How often should the Lord’s Supper be observed? The various religious denominations have agreed that each party may settle this question according to its own judgment. This principle, when applied to matters on which the Lord’s will has not been revealed, is generally a good one; but when applied to things concerning which the divine will can be known or determined even approximately, human judgment should yield to it. The Disciples of Christ contend that it should be celebrated every week. But why do you observe it so often?’ asks one of our religious neighbors, who thinks twice, three times, or four times a year often enough; ‘by what authority do you hold that this solemn feast should be spread every Lord’s day?’ Before answering this question, we will put one to our interrogator: `What is your authority for the religious observance of the first day of the week?’ He will doubtless answer: First, the intimations in the New Testament; second, the universal testimony of antiquity, that the Christians, in the age immediately succeeding that of the apostles, met for worship every Lord’s day, and that they regarded it as a custom established by the apostles. This we regard as sufficient evidence for the religious observance of this day.’ This answer is correct. Now, we have precisely the same authority, based on the same evidence, for the weekly observance of this Supper. In Acts xx.7, the inspired historian says: ‘And on the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul discoursed with them,’ etc. We learn from this passage that the chief object of these disciples at Troas, in assembling on the Lord’s day, was not to hear Paul preach, but `to break bread;’ and it is the universal testimony of antiquity, that in the age immediately following that of the apostles, the disciples celebrated this feast every first day of the week, and that they regarded it as a custom established by the apostles. Consistency demands, therefore, that every religious denomination, while contending for the religious observance of the Lord’s day, should also insist, with equal zeal, on the weekly observance of the Lord’s Supper.”
Truth Magazine XXII: 1, p. 8
January 5, 1978