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UNDISPUTED DATA

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Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Nov 18, 1903

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 29, No. 46.

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UNDISPUTED DATA.

By G.

NOTWITHSTANDING all the current quibbles about the definite day of the Sabbath, as far as the Old Testament history is concerned, there is one point that no one can avoid without deliberately denying the sacred record. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all testify that at the time of the death and resurrection of Christ, the Sabbath was the day before the first day of the week, and therefore it was the seventh day of the week. This conceded fact corresponds with two other conceded facts, namely, that at the creation the seventh day was sanctified and blessed as the memorial of the Creator; and that the law of God specifically states that the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord, and commands its observance because of the creation and because the Creator rested on that day at the close of creation week.
Now as to the definite day since the death and resurrection of Christ, the Jew has been and is a continuous, unvarying, immovable landmark. At that time there were Jews in “every nation under heaven” (Acts 2:5), and such has been the case ever since; but there is no evidence, not even a claim, that there ever has been any confusion among them regarding the definite seventh day of the week. Moreover at that time, and long before, the heathen observed the first day of the week in honor of the sun; and in course of time the observance of that day was adopted by a large portion of the Christian Church. So all through the dispensation the observance of the two days has been in vogue; but there never has been any confusion or controversy concerning the identity of the first day.
Surely people who are so positive about the identity of the first day of the week as to advocate a civil law enforcing its observance on everybody, ought to be able to know definitely the seventh day. In fact, the certain knowledge of the seventh day is essential to a discernment of the recurrence of their first-day festival. Just a little consistency would preclude all the quibbling about the definite seventh day. G.