How Two Days of the Week May Exist at the Same Time.
By John Nevins Andrews
We have seen that the circuit of day around our globe from the time that any day of the week first begins to our earth’s inhabitants, till it ceases to be in the place where it last commences, is just forty-eight hours. And thus it is that those who live where the circuit of day ends are twenty-four hours behind the time of those who live where that circuit commences. It is this fact which makes it necessary, if we would be right in our reckoning, that we change our count of the days one whole day in passing a certain part of our earth’s circumference. But some may ask, Is it not absurd to speak of day as going round the world? Can time be said to make the circuit of the globe? It will help such persons to a correct understanding of this subject if we first consider another question, What method of measuring time or of reckoning days did the Creator ordain? Did he ordain what may be called absolute time? Or did he establish a reckoning of time which to the earth’s inhabitants would be of a relative rather than an absolute character; that is to say, one that should be earlier in some places than in others? Undoubtedly it was in his power to establish either. He could give to man what may be termed the reckoning of absolute time, and then the day must begin at the same instant to all our earth’s inhabitants. Or, if he saw best, he could give them a method of reckoning time that should cause the day to begin first of all at a certain point or line in the circumference of our globe, and thence begin later and yet later as it moves on its course, till last of all it should begin just where it finishes its circuit. Which method did he adopt? This can be definitely answered. To give to the inhabitants of our earth the reckoning of what may be termed simply absolute time, he must cause the day to begin to all at the same instant, and of course end then to all. Without doubt he could do this. He is able to light the world without the sun, for he did do this the first three days of creation. Light shone out of darkness at his command. 2 Cor. 4:6. As this was effected by his own direct power and not by second causes, it was as easy for him to light the whole globe in an instant as it was to light simply one-half of it. But he deemed it wisest to light one side of the world and leave the other side dark. And then by causing the earth to revolve he gives the light and the darkness to all its surface. And, as he was pleased to cause the earth to revolve from west to east, he gave to light and to darkness an apparent circuit round the world from east to west. Really light and darkness, as related to our earth, have stood still since God first made one side of our world light, and left the other dark. It is the earth which moves, and not the light and the darkness. But to us the light and the darkness are swiftly and without cessation following each other round the world. “God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.” Gen. 1:5. The evening and the morning, or the darkness and the light, made the first day. And this was true of all the days of the creation. Gen. 1. Whence it follows that each day of the week must have its proper period of darkness, and its proper period of light, or its night and its day. And to have these, each twenty-four-hour day must begin with the commencement of evening, and embrace all the darkness and all the light of the two natural divisions of such days. But evening must begin first at some part of our earth’s circumference, and thence follow round our world to the point whence it started, carrying in its front the commencement of day to all the world. But this proves conclusively that God has not given to the world of mankind the measurement of absolute time. Had he given this, instead of lighting one side of the globe and causing this light to make the apparent circuit of the globe, and by this means making day come later to some than to others, he could have lighted the earth in an instant on all sides, and when the period of light was up, could have caused instant darkness to shroud the entire globe. By this method, which was entirely within his power, he could have given to all mankind the reckoning of absolute time. It would have been true, then, that each day of the week would commence at the same identical moment to all the inhabitants of the earth. But God has not established such a reckoning of the days of the week. Instead of giving us darkness at the same instant the world over, and after the period of darkness, giving us light in a moment, that should light all the world, he has given the measurement of what may be called relative time; that is, he has given us days that begin earlier to some than to others? To the people of China they begin about twelve hours earlier than with us. And those with whom day first begins its course are, as a necessary consequence, twenty-four hours in advance of those who live where the day begins latest of all. Had God given us the reckoning of absolute time (I use the term for lack of a better one), there could be no such thing as the gain or loss of a day in the circumnavigation of the globe; or rather the change of one day in our count of the days when we cross a certain portion of our earth’s circumference would not be necessary. It exists now because that there is a line whence day begins the circuit of the globe and at which that circuit terminates. But if the whole world were lighted in the same instant, and if darkness came to all the world at once, then day would have no circuit of the globe, and there would be no day line dividing the beginning of the circuit of day from its ending, and making the change in our count of the days of the week when we cross it. It has pleased God to give us the reckoning of relative, rather than of absolute, time. And as it has seemed good to him to give us a reckoning of time which causes each day to go round the world, we may be sure that this is wisest and best. Yet if day goes round the world it must of necessity have a place whence it sets out and where it ends its course. There must be therefore a day line recognized in our reckoning of time. And while time is relative to all the rest of the world, for its commencement is governed by the distance of each place from the beginning of the course of day, the reckoning of time may justly be called absolute at that line, being governed only by the lapse of time from the creation as may be shown hereafter. We do not therefore say that time makes the circuit of our globe. But we do say that light and darkness make the apparent circuit of the globe, and that God has called the light day and the darkness night, and that of these two divisions he has made up each day of the week. Day being thus constituted may with propriety be said to make the circuit of the globe. It cannot therefore be denied that each day requires forty-eight hours to accomplish its mission. It ends where it first begins in just twenty-four hours; and were it true that it begins at the same instant the world over, it would end to all the world in just twenty-four hours from its commencement. But as it begins later to those who live at a distance from this line, it cannot end to them in twenty-four hours from the time that it commenced at that line. And as it necessarily begins twenty-four hours later to those who live on the east side of that line than it does to those who live on its west side, it must continue to exist there twenty-four hours after it has ceased on the west side, whence it set out on its circuit. And this brings us to consider a remarkable fact. As a necessary consequence of the fact that each twenty-four-hour day requires forty-eight hours to accomplish the circuit of the globe, there are two days of the week going round the world all the time, with the exception of the single instant, each twenty-four hours, which marks the expiration of day where it first commences. For the moment that day ends where it first set out, it begins where it commences latest of all. In other words, there may be said to be just an instant each twenty-four hours when one day completely compasses our globe. This is the moment when sunset has journeyed to the end of its circuit and is just ready to begin another circuit. This is when the day is twenty-four hours old at the beginning of its circuit, and has just commenced at the end of that circuit. These two extremes in the course of day really come together or touch each other. And now observe: Sunset having brought the beginning of day to that point where it commences last of all, viz., to the east side of the day line, immediately passes that line and begins another day of the week. And as sunset starts out on this new course around the world, bringing a new day in its train, the old day retires before it. When six hours have elapsed from the setting of the sun, at that point where the days of the week first begin, the new day has got one-fourth of the way round the world, and the old, or preceding day, yet covers three-fourths of our world’s surface or three-fourths of the distance round our world. Thus if the new day be the second day of the week it has at that moment one-fourth of the circumference of the globe, while the old day or first day of the week which is retiring before it, has three-fourths of the globe yet to itself. This will explain the remarkable telegraphic feat which will be possible as soon as our world is girded with the telegraph wire, of telegraphing from a portion of our world where it is Monday, through another portion where it is Tuesday, forward to where it is still Monday. More on this point. But it is time to speak concerning the day line and to this we next call attention.