The Advantages of the Sunday-Sabbath in being easily kept over all the Globe.
By John Nevins Andrews
In bringing to a conclusion this series of articles concerning “the definite day on the round world,” “the day line,” and “the course of day,” etc., it may be well to notice what some have said whose views differ from our own. In Senator Sumner’s speech in 1867, concerning the acquisition of Alaska, he stated the remarkable fact that the people of that country keep their first-day Sabbath upon our seventh day of the week. The Voice of the West in its issue soon after this speech was published, copied Mr. Sumner’s statement, and commented as follows:— “Our new Russian purchase is poor in this world’s goods, but is peculiarly rich in Sabbaths. Senator Sumner proves in his recent speech that the land now has two Sabbaths each week. He says: “As the settlers of this coast came eastward from Russia, bringing with the Russian flag western time, the day is earlier by twenty-four hours with them than with us, so that their Sunday is our Saturday, and the other days in the week are in corresponding discord. This must be rectified according to the national meridian, so that there shall be the same Sunday for all, and the other days of the week shall be in corresponding harmony.” “This shows that the seventh day cannot be kept by all people alike. God will not require impossibilities. The seventh-day Sabbath as given to the Jews in Palestine could be kept by them, as there was no variation of time. But the seventh-day Sabbath was peculiar to them. “The Christian Sabbath, or a seventh day, is kept by the Christian world; and in the above case it seems the Russians started from Russia with the first day for the Sabbath, but when they arrived in Russian America, they were keeping Saturday, the seventh day.”—Voice, June, 1867, now Advent Christian Times. Observe the conclusions drawn by the editor of the Voice. “The seventh day cannot be kept by all people alike.” Why not? Simply because that the day begins earlier in one part of the world than in another. But God established this method of measuring time before he appointed the seventh day to a holy use. It involves “the course of day,” “the existence of two days at the same time,” “the day line,” and, as a consequence, the difference of twenty-four hours between the sides of that line, that being the time required for the sun to go around the world from the west side of that line to the east side of the same. We have shown that this day line passes through Behring’s Straits. The whole mystery is therefore explained when we call attention to the fact that the day starts on the west side of that line, and is therefore twenty-four hours in advance of the time on the east side of that line, where the circuit of day closes. The remedy is very simple. If they wish to keep the first day of the week, they must wait for it twenty-four hours longer than they would on the west side of that line, that being the length of time requisite for the day to come round the world to them. Will not candor constrain the Voice to acknowledge that this difference really exists between the beginning and the end of the course of day? Is there anything in all this to show that the definite seventh day cannot be observed by all the world? Indeed it is not impossible if men have a heart to do it. And our remedy for the Alaskans would be very simple and direct. They have by accident for many years observed the true seventh day. Let them henceforth continue this practice with intent to keep the day ordained in the commandment. The Review for July 2, 1867, copied the above article from the Voice, and added the following remarks from the pen of Bro. Aldrich:— “Truly, ‘God will not require impossibilities,’ but he does require that we should keep holy the seventh day. “It yet remains to be shown that the Sabbath of the fourth commandment was given exclusively to the Jews in Palestine, or was peculiar to that locality. But what about the ‘Christian Sabbath,’ or ‘first day for the Sabbath,’ that the Voice and most of our opponents insist upon? If the commandment was given only to the Jews in Palestine, and peculiar only to that definite locality, as is claimed, it is nonsense to talk about a ‘Christian Sabbath,’ or ‘first-day Sabbath.’ The Voice well knows there is no other Sabbath known or recognized in the Bible but the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. “But it seems that the first-day Sabbath sometimes gets out of place, as well as the seventh-day Sabbath; for it is said that ‘the Russians started from Russia with the first day for the Sabbath, but when they arrived in Russian America they were keeping Saturday, the seventh day.’ In view of such fact, why set up any claim for a first-day Sabbath? Why not brand it ‘impossible,’ and so do away with all Sabbaths? Surely the Lord does not require impossibilities, and we need not concern ourselves about what he does not require. “But we prefer to accept the Lord’s arrangement, and let the earth revolve. And if we should ever have occasion to circumnavigate the globe (an event not very probable), the earth would not need to cease her revolution to suit our view of the Sabbath; and if we should finally fetch up in our circuit among our Russian neighbors, we should try at least to bring our reckoning, and views of the Sabbath, into harmony with the fourth commandment.” These remarks are well calculated to show the inconsistency of those who keep the first day of the week as the Christian Sabbath, and yet claim that the seventh day cannot be binding because this case shows that a definite day cannot come to all mankind. It may be proper to add to the modest statement “that the first-day Sabbath sometimes gets out of place, as well as the seventh-day Sabbath,” this modifying clause: “But we have no instances on record wherein the observance of the seventh day has ever been involved in blunders like that which has attended the first-day Sabbath in this case and in others which we have considered. It therefore ill becomes our first day friends to taunt us with these, when the trouble is all on the other side of the house.” And we submit that it has been fairly shown that nothing in any of these cases militates against the observance of a definite day by all mankind. In the Voice for July 30, 1867, Elder T. M. Preble made the following reply to Brother Aldrich, his object being to show that the “first-day Sabbath does not get out of place as well as the seventh-day Sabbath.” Let us see what he can say to shed light on this subject:— “In reply to ‘J. M. A.’ I will say, that we do not claim that the Sabbath was given ‘only to the Jews in Palestine, and peculiar only to that definite locality.’ We should be sorry to have ever ‘claimed’ such ‘nonsense’! But what we do claim is this: ‘THE SABBATH WAS MADE FOR MAN’—all mankind—in every place, and confined to no ‘definite locality.’ And of course the ‘first-day Sabbath’ does not get ‘out of place as well as the seventh-day Sabbath,’ as ‘J. M. A.’ asserts. “The reason is this: Seventh-day advocates have ‘claimed’ that God sanctified the ‘definite’ seventh day of the week on which God rested in ‘Palestine’ for the Sabbath; and, of necessity, such a ‘peculiar-definite-space-of-time Sabbath, confined to a certain definite locality’ as ‘Palestine,’ ‘gets out of place,’ in different latitudes and longitudes. “But not so with the ‘first-day Sabbath.’ The reason is this: The word Sabbath signifies rest; not the seventh, or any other, day of the week, particularly—but ‘rest.’ Therefore Christ could say: ‘The Sabbath was made for man.’ Mark it. He does not say that the ‘seventh day’ of the week was made for man. But the Sabbath, as an institution, was made for man—all mankind—in every place. The seventh day of the week was observed for this ‘rest,’ or Sabbath, under the Jewish dispensation; and the first day of the week is now observed as this ‘rest,’ or Sabbath, in the Christian dispensation. Hence ‘J. M. A.’ is wide of the truth when he says, ‘The first-day Sabbath sometimes gets out of place, as well as the seventh-day Sabbath,’ as we may travel east or west, or by a variation of latitude or longitude. The true Sabbath, or ‘seventh-day rest,’ NEVER ‘gets out of place,’ as the ‘definite’ seventh-day-of-the-week theory does. “Now let ‘J. M. A.’ try his hand again at this, and we shall then see if his wits can help him out of his difficulty. “If he shall find that his ‘old thread-bare argument’ has failed him, we hope he will own up, that it is his ‘peculiar’ theory of ‘the seventh day’ of the week which ‘gets out of place.’ The Lord’s Sabbath is always in place—EVERYWHERE. T. M. PREBLE.” It would seem from the above that the first-day Sabbath can be kept on any day of the week, but that the seventh-day Sabbath is such a “peculiar-definite-space-of-time Sabbath,” that it is “confined to a certain definite locality, as Palestine”; or, to state it in other words, the first-day Sabbath is an “institution” which is not necessarily associated with any definite day, and can therefore be observed everywhere. But the seventh-day Sabbath is inseparably connected with the definite seventh day, and can therefore be observed only in Palestine. But in such case it is absurd to call this institution the “first-day Sabbath.” It should rather be called the “indefinite-one-day-in-seven Sabbath.” Even this kind of a Sabbath has some embarrassments. 1. No one can tell when it comes, for it is attached to no day in particular. 2. It cannot be observed by all the world at the same time, for though it can begin at any hour of any day, and so take parts of two days for its period of rest, yet there is nothing to fix its commencement in any one locality; nor, if there were, is there anything to tell which locality shall set the time for all the rest; nor, if there were, is there any means to enable the rest of the world to regulate their time by that one place. A first-day Sabbath that does not have the first day as something essential to its very existence is indeed a remarkable institution. It is only paralleled by a Christian Sabbath which Christ never observed, never commanded, and never even mentioned! Concerning the Sabbath, Eld. P. holds that “the seventh day of the week was observed for this rest, or Sabbath, under the Jewish dispensation; and the first day of the week is now observed as this rest, or Sabbath, in the Christian dispensation.” But if this be true, it follows, of necessity, that we have a definite day for the Sabbath in the gospel dispensation, or else the Hebrew people did not have a definite day in the former dispensation. The seventh day is no more definite than is the first day of the week. If the seventh day cannot be observed outside of Palestine, it is equally manifest that the first day cannot be. For we cannot have the regular succession of first days without having an equal number of seventh days; and wherever it is not possible for the seventh day to come, there also the first day cannot exist. The first day must every time be preceded by the seventh day, the last day of the previous week. A country in which the definite first day can be observed, and in which the definite seventh day cannot be thus kept, must have peculiarities much like the human heart; for in multitudes of cases this is just what the arguments and the conduct of men declare concerning themselves. But we cannot have an indefinite first day of the week. It is either a definite day, or it is merely one day in seven. It cannot be first day of the week to be kept in honor of Christ’s resurrection, and so soon as Alaska or the islands of the Pacific are mentioned this same definite day suddenly be found to be only one day in seven and no day in particular! It is a definite day, or it is not. If it is a definite day it has exactly the same difficulties of latitude and longitude that pertain to the seventh day. If it is not a definite day, then it is not first day of the week. To claim to be the Christian Sabbath as the first day of the week, and when the round-world objection is raised, to then claim to be only one day in seven, is an exhibition of sleight of hand that never pertains to any of God’s institutions. The word “Sabbath” does indeed mean rest. But what does the term “first-day Sabbath” mean? Is it not a rest which comes on the first day of the week? If it comes on any other day of the week, why call it “first-day Sabbath”? If it must come on the definite first day of the week why represent that it is not confined to a definite day, as the seventh-day Sabbath is? But if it is not connected with some definite day, how can it ever be properly kept by mankind? Each person may keep it when he pleases. But the mass of men cannot unite in keeping it till it has been decided, 1. That some day is essential to the institution. 2. Which day it is that is thus essential. We have shown that each day of the week has a definite course around our world. That there is a day line, one side of which is of necessity twenty-four hours in advance of the other, has also been proved beyond dispute. There is no difficulty therefore in keeping the definite first day of the week, for in due time it makes the circuit of our globe, spending twenty-four hours in passing each point, and finishing its course like all other days in forty-eight hours. And in like manner does the definite seventh day make the circuit of our globe. Indeed, no seventh-day man has ever found any trouble in keeping the Sabbath of the Lord. It is the first-day people, as in the case of Alaska, Pitcairn’s Island, the Society Islands, etc., that have made the mistake concerning the definite day. And though these people did, by disregarding the day line, actually take up the seventh day as the Sabbath when they meant to keep the first day of the week, our first-day friends do, nevertheless, taunt us with these very cases as proof that we have a day which cannot be kept over all the globe, while their first day of the week can be observed everywhere without difficulty! Shall we conclude that the first-day Sabbath is so well adapted to the shape of the earth that it can be kept on the seventh day, as well as on any other? If we can tell with certainty the meaning of Eld. P.’s remarks, however he attempts to escape the round-world difficulty by making his first day of the week indefinite, he certainly does not attempt to solve the day problem, as must be done by the recognition of the day line, the course of day and the reckoning of time established by the Creator at the beginning. These things solve the difficulty, and show that each day of the week does make the definite circuit of the globe, and each day requires just twenty-four hours to pass any point upon the face of the earth. A just74solution shows that no real difficulty exists, and that, as a matter of fact, any day can be found on any part of the earth, and observed by those who are disposed to do it. It does not appear that Eld. P. desired to solve the difficulty. He wished it to remain as an insurmountable obstacle in the way of the seventh-day Sabbath, but something that was no difficulty at all to the observer of the first-day Sabbath. And how could there be such a wonderful difference between them? Why, the seventh-day Sabbath is inseparably connected with the definite seventh day, but the first-day Sabbath is an institution that can be kept on some other day quite as well as on Sunday! Witness the case of the Alaskans who keep it on the seventh day! And witness the conduct of our first-day brethren who seem to think this a wonderful proof that the seventh-day Sabbath is badly addicted to getting out of place, while the first-day Sabbath can be kept anywhere. It is indeed a little remarkable that all these blunders have been made by first-day people, and that by mistake they have in each case “kept Saturday for Sunday”; and yet our first-day friends cite these cases as proof that the seventh-day Sabbath is continually getting deranged, while the first-day Sabbath is always in place everywhere! But let us waive every consideration of this kind, and carefully inquire how the indefinite-one-day-in-seven-first-day Sabbath is able to remedy the variations of longitude on our round world. The theory is in substance this: “God’s law requires us to observe one day in seven, but does not require that it should be the seventh day of the week. By this means it avoids the difficulties which attach to the observance of a definite day by all mankind.” No sooner, however, do men rise up and say, “If that be so then we will keep any day of the week that suits ourselves,” than our one-day-in-seven friends enter their protest: “It is necessary that we should be agreed on one day for the Sabbath, otherwise the objects of the Sabbath, as public worship, etc., cannot be secured.” Very well. The people of Alaska are agreed in keeping one particular day of the seven. They have even the seventh day itself as the day of their observance. Now suppose our indefinite-one-day-in-seven-first-day-Sabbath friends visit Alaska, what will be their course of action? Will they say, “These Alaskans are united in the observance of one day in seven, and we will keep the day which they keep?” What would Eld. P. himself say? Would he say, “The first-day Sabbath never gets out of place, and as these Alaskans keep it on the seventh day of the week, I will keep it on that day with them?” No one believes that our first-day friends would do any such thing. They would say to the Alaskans, “This keeping of Saturday for Sunday will never do. You ought to keep the same day that is kept by the rest of the world.” It is certainly plain that the one-day-in-seven doctrine cannot remedy the cases of the Alaskans, the Society Islanders, and other Sunday people, who, without intending it, are observing the seventh day. They are out of joint with the rest of the first-day world. The recognition of the day line, and of the course of day round our world, will straighten out the reckoning of the days of the week and clear it of all confusion. But the one-day-in-seven doctrine leaves all these cases in utter derangement and disorder. Those who accept this system have nothing but confusion, but they can use that confusion as an argument to show that God does not require them to keep the definite seventh day, for no such day can exist the world over. But to take such a position is to close the eyes to all the evidence relative to the reckoning of time which God has established. It is to choose darkness rather than light, because men find it more convenient to keep the first day of the week than they do the seventh. Perhaps this article cannot be finished better than by the following quotations from the “Miscellaneous Compositions in Poetry and Prose” by William Stillman, a Rhode Island Seventh-day Baptist, recently deceased. Mr. S. gives at length a poem written by one John Wilbur, a Quaker minister, designed to prove that the seventh day should not be observed, and that the first day should be. Mr. Wilbur, of course, brings in the circumnavigation of the globe as fatal to the seventh day:— “And still some other reasons will arise,
And show how time revolves around the skies;
That if a man should take a western route
And fully circumnavigate the earth about,
Then his account with ours would not agree,
His seventh day to us would sixth day be.
But if an eastern course one traverse round
This globe of earth, it clearly will be found
When he returns, if he returns at all,
His seventh day would on our first day fall.
So that in foreign lands it doth appear,
Part of their seventh day is first day here.
Therefore no certain space can be defined,
A universal rest for all mankind.”—Page 119. Mr. Wilbur goes on to assign his reasons for keeping the first day of the week, the principal of which is thus stated:— “And now to show the reason why we keep
And lay us by the first day of the week;
Because the laws of this our land, suggest
A seventh part of time observed for rest.” The first day of the week has two remarkable advantages over the seventh day as we gather from this poet. First, unlike the seventh day, the first day of the week is simply one-seventh part of time, which gives it a wonderful adaptation to the round world on which men live. Second, and whereas the seventh day is enjoined by the law of God, the first day is commanded only by the law of man, which renders it flexible and capable of conforming to the varied circumstances of men. In proof of this, witness the case of the Alaskans who keep it on the seventh day of the week! But we will let Mr. Stillman answer this in his own style:— “And now to trace you round this rolling world;
An eastern and a western route you’ve twirled,
And made out nothing by the spacious travel,
But what I call a wretched, foolish cavil.
’Tis by the use of reason, man has found
That one this spacious earth may traverse round;
By that same reason, ’tis as clearly plain,
That by the route one day he lose or gain,
When he returns, his day he must correct:
’Tis what we know, and what we must expect.
But for a man to bring this as a plea,
That round this earth no Sabbath there can be,
Appears too weak for men of sense to bring
Against the laws of our Almighty King.
And now, to make you clearly understand
That Sabbath day can be in every land,
At least those parts where mortal men reside,
And nowhere else can precepts be applied:
There was a place where first the orb of light
Appeared to rise, and westward take his flight:
That moment, in that place, first-day begun;
And as he in his circuit eastward run,
Or rather as the earth did westward spin,
To parts more westward daylight did begin;
And thus at different times, from place to place,
First day began, it clearly was the case;
And I should think a man must be a dunce,
To think the sun arose all round at once.
So that in foreign lands, it doth appear
There was a first day there as well as here;
And if there was a first, the earth around,
As sure as rates, the seventh might be found.
And thus you see, it matters not a whit
To which meridian of the earth we get,
Since each distinctly had its dawn of light,
And ever since successive day and night:
Thus while our antipodes in darkness sleep,
We here the true primeval Sabbath keep.”
—Pages 127, 128. It is not the case indeed that the sun became the ruler of the day till the fourth day of time. But the measurement of the day, and its natural divisions of darkness and light were not changed when the sun began his rule. It was therefore the same thing so far as the measurement of the day was concerned when God created the light as it would have been had he then given the sun his office of ruler of the day. This was the point at which, not the first day itself, but the second division of it called day, in distinction from the night, first began. Mr. Stillman forcibly portrays the course of day, though he does not seem to have had a clear idea of the line of transition or day line. Yet this line is a necessary consequence of the course of day. For where the first circuit of day was finished, there must the second begin. This line was necessarily established when God created light, as has been shown in the article on “The Peculiarities of the First Day of Time.” The crossing of this line makes the change of one day in our count whether we circumnavigate the globe or not. And this is for the plain reason that, as each day makes the circuit of our globe from the west side of that line to the east side of the same, the east side is necessarily twenty-four hours later in time than is the west side. The day line does therefore divide between the beginning and the end of the course of day, and this line represents the space of time requisite for the sun to make the circuit of the world.