The Day of the Sabbath Definitely Known
By Eliza H. Morton
A Clear Record Has Been Kept—No Day Could Have Been Lost That from sunset Friday night to sunset Saturday night is the identical seventh day of creation week may be shown in various ways. The languages of the different nations disprove the theory that Sunday was the original seventh day of the Gentiles, and establish the fact that Saturday was the terminus of the week. The Israelites were instructed by God as to the identity of the Sabbath as late as 445 B. C. Neh. 9:14. The records of the Jews have been carefully kept. Rabbi Isaac M. Wise says: “There is no century in history not covered by Jewish tradition. Hence one might as well argue that Sunday is not the first day of the week, or the third day after the crucifixion, or any other fact or facts, as to argue or maintain that the Jews forgot the order of the days, when the Sabbath was so holy to them. Any one claiming the loss of a day, must prove when and where the Jews forgot the order of the days or computation of time.” Christ knew which day of the week was the Sabbath. John 7:22, 23. If the Jews were observing the wrong day at that time, He would have corrected them; but the Sabbath was not the theme of discussion from that standpoint. The identification of the days of the week is clearly made in Luke 23:56. The holy women rested according to the commandment, which means that they kept the seventh-day Sabbath. Ex. 20:10. The disciples knew which day began the week, as is shown by the record. Luke 24:1. In A. D. 70, there was no question as to which day of the week was the Sabbath. Matt. 24:20. While the names of the days of the week are of heathen origin, yet history, the dictionaries, and the encyclopedias all testify that the week begins with Sunday. THE BOY CONFOUNDS THE TEACHER
The attempt to make the fourth commandment of the Decalogue authority for Sunday keeping is sometimes embarrassing, as is illustrated in the case of a small boy who was induced to go fishing instead of to Sunday school. On his return home he was whipped by his mother, and made to read the fourth commandment fifty times. A few days later, his teacher at school asked him to name the days of the week. He began the list with Monday, and when corrected, persisted in his error. When reproved, he justified himself by saying, “If you had read the commandment as many times as I have, you would know that the Sabbath is the seventh day; and if Sunday is the Sabbath, it must be the seventh day, and Monday the first day.” The teacher was speechless. The majority of professed Christians agree that Sunday is the first day of the week, and some two hundred millions of Mohammedans identify Friday as the sixth day. Thus God’s Sabbath finds itself not lost, but between two great rival sabbaths, even as its Author was crucified between two thieves. Perhaps the most convincing proof of the identity of the days of the week is found in the astronomical records of past ages. A careful record of eclipses has been kept since 500 B. C.; and under those conditions, a loss of time is impossible. “A day been lost, and yet all men agree!
I marvel greatly how the thing can be.
Suppose one town alone should chance to make,
And all agree in, such a gross mistake,
Abroad like lightning would the news be hurled,
And soon ’twould be the wonder of the world.
To think, then, all on earth—for so they view it—
All lost a day, and no one ever knew it,
Is far beyond conception. In a word,
This theory is preposterously absurd.”