LOST TIME by Dudley Marvin Canright

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 4, 1872

LOST TIME.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

BY ELD. D. M. CANRIGHT.

Among the numerous excuses which men raise for not keeping God’s holy Sabbath, that one based upon the argument of “lost time” may be called the “last ditch.” When all other arguments fail, persons fall back upon this and excuse themselves from any further trouble about the matter. We often hear them say that they are convinced that the seventh day is the Sabbath, and that they would keep it, if they only knew which it was; but that, either before the flood, or during the sojourn of Israel in Egypt, or in the Babylonish captivity, or during the dark ages, or somewhere, time was so lost that the true seventh day cannot be found. That this excuse is utterly without foundation we are sure we can now convince the reader, if he is candid enough to really desire the truth in the case.

That Saturday is the true and veritable seventh day, the day upon which God rested from the foundation of the world, can be proved by an overwhelming mass of evidence. Is it not a little strange that until seventh-day advocates came along no one ever said anything about time being lost, and that you could not tell when the seventh day does come? From the minister in the desk to the child in Sunday-school, all agreed that Saturday was the old seventh day, and Sunday the first day on which Christ rose from the dead. But, when it is shown that there is no proof for a first-day Sabbath, and that the Scriptures teach that the seventh day is still the Sabbath, then, behold, these same persons are very ignorant all at once. Time has been lost and you can’t tell when the seventh day does come? Can they tell when the first day comes, the day of Christ’s resurrection? They never seem to have any doubt about this. If they can tell that, certainly we can find the seventh day, for it must be the one just before it! Having found the first day, any person who can count seven on his fingers, ought to be able to find the seventh day! Somehow, notwithstanding all the other days of the week are so easy to find and to count, yet this seventh day is very slippery, bothersome, and hard to find. It reminds me of the boy who was sent out by his father to count the pigs. He returned, saying that there were nine pigs besides one little spotted fellow that frisked about so that he could not count him!

We should naturally suppose that this cry of “lost time” would be confined to those who claim that there is no Sabbath now binding; but this is not the case. They generally freely acknowledge that Saturday is the old and true seventh day, and that there is no reliance to be placed upon the argument of lost time. Surprising indeed it is to hear this argument used by those who profess a great regard for the Sabbath commandment, and for Sunday as the Christian Sabbath, the resurrection day. They seem not to realize that if time has been lost, they are as bad off as we are. This objection weighs just as heavily against the first day of the week as it does against the seventh.

Allowing that the seventh-day Sabbath is binding, it is unreasonable to suppose that God has suffered it to be lost. If God has given a law requiring the observance of the seventh day, he certainly is able to preserve the knowledge of that day if he still desires men to keep it. It is, then, highly absurd to admit that the seventh day is the day that ought to be kept, and then to say that we would keep it if we could only tell which it was, claiming that it has been lost! It is directly impeaching the wisdom and power of God. Equally unreasonable is it to claim that any other day of the week is the Sabbath and yet to say that the days of the week have been lost so that you cannot tell when it does come. No; the Judgment day will show that all these objections and quibbles arise more from a carnal heart unwilling to submit itself to the plain requirements of the law of God than they do from any real difficulty in the case.

But to the facts in the case. Follow us carefully and see if there is not an abundance of proof that Saturday is the true seventh day from creation. Gen. 1 gives a concise history of the first six days of time. Chap. 2: 1–3 says: “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.”

Here we have a sure starting point. God worked the first six days. He rested the seventh. Then he blessed the seventh day. After that he sanctified it. To sanctify, is to set apart, to appoint to a holy use. See Webster. This shows that God there appointed this day for Adam and his family to keep holy. By thus keeping it, it would weekly mark off a period of seven days. Hence originated a week of seven days, which we find so often mentioned in the history of the patriarchs, and afterward of the Jews. Notice a few instances. Just before the flood, God said to Noah, “For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth.” Gen. 7: 4. Of Noah, it is said: “And he staid yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark.” Gen. 8: 10. And again, “And he staid yet other seven days, and sent forth the dove.” Verse 12. Laban says to Jacob: “Fulfill her week, and I will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.” And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week.” Gen. 29: 27, 28. These quotations, and many more that might be made, show that the week, composed of seven days, was known and observed by the patriarchs both before and after the flood. Hence it is strong proof that they had, and observed, the Sabbath. Of the antiquity of the week and the Sabbath among all nations, Gilfillan in his large book on “The Sabbath,” published by the American Tract Society, says: “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 the days,’ says Scaliger, ‘was in use among the Orientals from the remotest antiquity.’ ‘We have reason to believe,’ observes President De Goguet, ‘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.’—The Sabbath, by Gilfillan, pp. 364, 365.

All these ancient nations being descendants of Noah and his sons, must have received the Sabbath by tradition from them. That the Sabbath would not be lost from Adam to Abraham is manifest when we consider that Adam lived and conversed with Methuselah for 243 years; Methuselah lived contemporary with Shem about 100 years; and Shem lived and talked with Abraham for 150 years.

The lives of these three men span the whole time from Eden even to the old age of Abraham. How easy and natural for them to hand down the Sabbath from father to son without any probability of losing it.

Coming a little further down, was not the Sabbath lost in Egypt? Let us read, in Ex. 16, what occurred immediately on their coming out of Egypt. “Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no. And it shall come to pass, that on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in; and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.” “And they gathered it every morning, every man according to his eating; and when the sun waxed hot it melted. And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man; and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. And he said unto them, This is that which the Lord hath said, To-morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord; bake that which ye will bake to-day, and seethe that which ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning. And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade, and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein. And Moses said, Eat that to-day; for to-day is a Sabbath unto the Lord; to-day ye shall not find it in the field. Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, in it there shall be none. And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none. And the Lord said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws? See, for that the Lord hath given you the Sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day. So the people rested on the seventh day.” “And the children of Israel did eat manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited; they did eat manna, until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan.” Verses 4, 5, 21–23, 35.

Notice the important facts here stated: 1. Manna for all Israel fell the first six days in the week. 2. No manna fell on the seventh day, the Sabbath. 3. A double portion fell on the sixth day. 4. That which fell on any day except the sixth would not keep over night. 5. That which fell on the sixth day would keep over the Sabbath.

Here were five notable miracles wrought every week for forty years, which directly pointed out the Sabbath day in so remarkable a manner that a child could have no excuse for not knowing when it came. This was the special work of the Almighty to teach the Jews to remember, reverence, and keep holy his sanctified Sabbath day. Five miracles wrought every week would be 260 each year; and in forty years would be 10,400 miracles wrought to point out the Sabbath! Truly had all traces of the Sabbath been lost, it was here so forcibly restored that none could doubt when it came. Here it was certainly restored if it was ever lost.

But was this the true, original seventh day here pointed out? It would be preposterous to claim anything else. 1. God certainly knew when his original, true seventh-day Sabbath came, and was able to point it out. 2. That he should give them another day and teach them by the falling manna, &c., to violate his own holy Sabbath, is highly unreasonable, and not to be supposed unless most distinctly so stated. 3. The record directly says that that day was “the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord,” verse 23, “the seventh day, which is the Sabbath.” Verse 26. These statements are repeated several times in the above record. 4. Shortly after, the manna began to fall on the six days and none on the seventh. While the whole nation was keeping that day as the Sabbath, according to God’s direct instructions, the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai and gave them the ten commandments. The fourth one relates to the Sabbath, and reads thus: “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.” Ex. 20: 8–11.

What does this command require? That they keep “the Sabbath day,” “the seventh day,” “the Sabbath of the Lord,” the day which God had rested upon, and blessed and sanctified at creation, after working six days. In short, it points out and specifies in the most definite manner the very day we started with in Gen. 2: 1–3. No candid person can doubt this who will compare the two records. So then at the entrance of the Jews into Canaan, 2553 years after the creation of the world, we are certain that we have the true seventh day.

In the promised land, they became a great and numerous people, a settled and established nation for over 800 years. During all this time they had the strictest laws and regulations touching the observance of the Sabbath. During this time God often spoke to them by his prophets and frequently called their attention to his holy Sabbath. See 2 Kings 4: 23; 1 Chron. 9: 32; Isa. 56: 2–6; 58: 13; Jer. 17: 24–27; Eze. 20: 10–24; Amos 8: 4–6. Samuel, David, Solomon, Hezekiah, and all the noted kings of Israel, lived in this time. To suppose that the Sabbath was lost during this time, would be simply absurd. It would have been impossible, guarded on every hand as it was. Indeed, no one ever claims lost time here.

Next comes, 600 years before Christ, the Babylonish captivity of 70 years. Was it not lost here? Notice a few facts: 1. God sent them into that captivity because they did not regard his Sabbath strictly enough. Jer. 17: 17–24; Neh. 13: 15–18. Would he then allow the Sabbath to be lost so that they could not keep it, and thus frustrate the very object for which he sent them there? 2. Daniel, the greatest of all God’s prophets, lived in Babylon with the captives during the whole of their sojourn there. See Dan. 1: 1–21; 9: 1, 2; Ezra 1: 1–6,

&c. Daniel thus having constant communion with God, would have corrected his people had they been in danger of losing or forgetting the Sabbath, as he was very jealous for the law of his God. Dan. 6: 5. 3. As soon as the Jews return to Jerusalem, they solemnly promise God not to violate his Sabbath any more; and Nehemiah reminds them that this was the very sin for which they were sent into bondage. Neh. 10: 31; 13: 15–18. 4. It would not be possible for a whole nation in the short space of 70 years to forget and lose the Sabbath, even though they had no prophets to teach them, which, however, the Jews did have. What would we think of the assertion, that the American people had lost Independence day within the last hundred years, so that we could not tell when the true 4th of July does come? The idea would simply be laughed at. Yet the 4th of July only comes once a year, and hence would be much more easily lost than the Sabbath which comes once every week, besides being a day much more sacredly observed. 5. The records and genealogies were all carefully kept during this time. 6. On their return, the whole nation is still found keeping the Sabbath, without any disagreement as to which day it was. Neh. 10: 31. These facts show that it was not lost then.

About 500 years before Christ, the Jews returned to Judea and there remained till the final overthrow of Jerusalem, 70 years after the birth of Christ. Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, prophesied during this time.

Again the Jews became a powerful nation, settled in their own land, under the Maccabees and others. The Sabbath now comes in still more prominently. They regarded it so strictly that some of the time they would not even defend themselves in war on that day. 1 Maccabees 2: 32–40. See Josephus. Of course there was no possibility of their losing the Sabbath at that time. So when Christ came, he found them all very strict and over particular in keeping the Sabbath. Matt. 12: 1–12; John 5: 5–19.

Thus we have carefully traced the Sabbath for over 4000 years, to the coming of Christ. Here, again, we have another sure waymark: Christ, the Son of God, knew all things. If the Sabbath had been lost, he would have known it, and have corrected it. But he gave no intimation that the Jews were not keeping the right day. He kept the same day they did. He said it was the Sabbath day, and he was its Lord. Mark 2: 27, 28. In Luke 23: 54–56; 24: 1, we read thus: “And that day was the preparation, and the Sabbath drew on. And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulcher, and how his body was laid. And they returned and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment.” “Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulcher, bringing the spices, which they had prepared, and certain others with them.”

Here are several important declarations: 1. We have the preparation day, which was the sixth day. (Ex. 16: 5). 2. Following this, we have the next day, “the Sabbath day according to the commandment.” 3. And the next day was “the first day of the week.” This is the language of inspiration, hence there is no discount upon it; therefore that day was “the first day of the week.” Hence we are still on the right track, and know that we have not lost the days of the week. This fact is made doubly sure by the inspired declaration that the day before that first day of the week was “the Sabbath day according to the commandment.” Here again we know that we have the correct Sabbath day, the one enjoined in the commandment, for inspiration says so. The Sabbath day “according to the commandment,” could be no other day than the one which that commandment enjoined, which we have shown is none other than the very day upon which God rested. After this, the Sabbath is frequently mentioned in Acts. See Chap. 13: 14; 15: 21; 16: 13; 17: 2; 18: 3. The last time it is named is in Rev. 1: 10, A. D. 96, which brings us to the close of the Bible and of the first century. Now we have spanned 4100 years of the world’s history and found no place for the Sabbath to be lost yet.

(Concluded next week.)