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Editorial

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jun 2, 1910

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 87, No. 22.

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Editorial

By Editor

“AND the evening and the morning were the first day.” Gen. 1:5. “From even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.” Lev. 23:32. “And at even, when the sun did set, they brought unto him all that were diseased.” Mark 1:32.
An Experience. — These texts show clearly the time of the beginning and ending of the Sabbath. Connected with the topic is an experience of the early days of our work, interesting both as a matter of denominational history and as a testimony to the spirit of the pioneers in this cause. They were loyal to the Word of God as the rule of faith and practise, rather than to custom and tradition. They were men who feared God, who studied his Word, and were ready to walk in the light as it came to them.
The History. — While the first of the Adventist ministers to begin to keep the Sabbath was evidently Elder Frederick Wheeler (still with us in New York), who began to keep the Sabbath in May, 1844, it was Capt. Joseph Bates who began to publish and agitate the matter as a definite movement, after 1844. He found that the Sabbath was to begin at “even,” and overlooking the Bible definition of even as the time when the sun sets, he taught that the hour of even, according to the Scripture reckoning, was six o’clock. This idea was followed for some years. Questions arose as time passed, and the Word was studied. Finally Elder James White asked various ones to go into the matter thoroughly, particularly Elder J. N. Andrews. In the REVIEW of Dec. 15, 1855,—the first number issued in Battle Creek, after the removal of the office from Rochester, N. Y.,—Elder Andrews had a long article showing clearly that the Bible Sabbath was from sunset to sunset. Appended to it was a note to the brethren, from which we quote:—
The testimony of the Bible relative to the time of commencing the Sabbath is here brought together, that it may speak for itself. The result of the investigation is the firm conviction that the commencement and close of each day is marked by the setting of the sun. It will be asked why this conclusion was not earlier arrived at. The answer is this: The subject has not been hitherto thoroughly investigated. In making this statement I would frankly acknowledge my own fault. It is always duty to correct our errors when we see them; and, however sincerely we may have acted in the past, we can no longer act so, if, when we see a fault as such, or a mistake, we refuse to acknowledge it.
SOME had held that this new view was contrary to the teaching of the spirit of prophecy. In the same REVIEW, the editor, Elder White, said of Elder Andrews’s presentation of the subject:—
Some have the impression that six-o’clock time has been taught among us by the direct manifestation of the Holy Spirit. This is a mistake. “From even to even,” was the teaching, from which six-o’clock time has been inferred. We now rejoice that Brother Andrews has presented the Bible testimony on this question, in his accustomed forcible, candid manner, which settles the question beyond all doubt that the Sabbath commences not only at even, but at the setting of the sun.
The matter looks very simple to us now, and was plain to all then, when the Bible evidence was presented. But in those early years the believers were moving out by faith along the pathway of Bible truth. As the light came, they walked in it rejoicing. “The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” Prov. 4:18.