The Seventh Day Regarded by all Nations by Dudley Marvin Canright

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · BATTLE CREEK, MICH. · Jan 17, 1871

The Seventh Day Regarded by all Nations.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

THAT many nations have recognized and regarded the division of time in sevens of days, and have ever kept one day in seven, as a Sabbath or holiday, is an important fact showing that the Sabbath originated at an early date, and was designed by God for all men. It is true that they have not all kept the same day; but this does not affect the argument. All men worship God, though not the true one; yet this furnishes an argument in favor of the existence of a God. So this of a Sabbath. I quote from “The Sabbath,” by Gilfillan:

“Let it suffice, however, in a matter on which there is so general an agreement, to present the words of four eminent authors: ‘The septenary arrangement of days,’ says Scaliger, ‘was in use among the orientals from the remotest antiquity.’ ‘We have reason to believe,’ observes president De Gouget, ‘that the institution of that short period of seven days, called a week, was the first step taken by mankind in dividing and measuring their time. We find from time immemorial, the use of this period among all nations, without any variation in the form of it. The Israelites, Assyrians, Egyptians, Indians, Arabians, and in a word, all the nations of the East, have in all ages made use of a week, consisting of seven days. We find the same custom among the ancient Romans, Gauls, Britons, Germans, the nations of the North, and of America.’ According to Laplace, ‘the week is perhaps the most ancient and incontestable monument of human knowledge.’” “It would appear that the Chinese, who have now no Sabbath, at one time honored the seventh day of the week.” Pp. 364, 365, 360.

Watson, in his Theological Institutes, Vol. I, part 1, chap. v, note H., p. 36, bears a similar testimony, thus: “Thus, in almost every part of the globe, from Europe to the shores of India, and anciently among the Greeks, Romans, and Goths, as well as among the Jews, we find the week used as a familiar measure of time, and some traces of the Sabbath.” D. M. CANRIGHT.