THE TWO HEMISPHERES AND THE SABBATH.—NO. 3.
By W. H. Littlejohn
BY ELD. W. H. LITTLEJOHN. The only problem which remains to be solved is, Does the Sabbath day commence with us before it does at Jerusalem, or does it follow in order? If it begins with us first, then we know just how long a period will elapse after we enter upon it before it will reach them, because we know just how long it will take the sun to pass westward over the space intervening between us and them. And again, as already intimated, if our day follows theirs, or rather if the day which we are to keep in common starts on its course with them, we have but to wait till it reaches us in its progress westward and then enter upon it, as a man in the illustration previously used would step upon a train of cars; the only difference in the two cases being that the cars themselves move around the earth, while with us the earth revolves, carrying us first through its shadow, and then through that portion of space which is lighted by the sun until we are brought to the shadow again. Grappling now with the difficulties of the situation, let us candidly seek for all the light which can be obtained. In the outset we are struck with two facts: First, there must be a day-line, or a point where the day begins and ends; second, the earth’s surface is divided into two grand hemispheres known as the Eastern and Western hemispheres, one of which in the beginning must have preceded the other in entering upon the commencement of the creation day. Before attempting to locate the day-line, it might be defined as that portion of the earth’s surface which lay immediately contiguous to the dark portion of the earth, or its shadow, at the time that it made its first revolution upon its axis. This will be made evident when we remember that the creation day commenced with the evening, or darkness, and ended with the morning, or light. Now, therefore, if we can imagine an individual standing at the creation right where, at the moment when the earth first commenced to move, he would discover that he was passing from light into darkness, he would have been situated exactly upon the day-line, or that point on the earth’s surface where the first day commenced. As a consequence, his first day would be completed when, after one revolution of the earth upon its axis, he once more witnessed the setting of the sun to the west of him. As another result, each portion of the earth which lay to the east of him would have entered upon its first day as in turn it also passed the point where for the first time it entered the shadow of the earth. As a necessary result, these points would vary from one to twenty-four hours in the commencement of their days, since a full revolution of the earth would intervene between the passage of the first and the last into the region of shadow. The significance of the line in question has now become apparent; for, as already perceived, it would necessarily become the boundary line on one side of which would lie the commencement, and on the other the close, of two different days of the week; i. e., should that line run north or south through either hemisphere, the inhabitants on one side of it would be keeping one day, and on the other side another day, contemporaneously with them. This fact in itself is of great importance, and will help materially in the work of locating the line; for, as “God is not the author of confusion” either directly or indirectly, we shall be safe in inferring that in locating the day-line he would place it where its existence would, in the least degree possible, produce discord and inharmony. But in order to do this, it will be readily perceived that should he locate it in the ocean, it would be much less liable to produce disorder than it would be by passing through the main land; since it is only occasionally—and then by a very few individuals—that it would ever be crossed at all. Whereas if it passed through one or the other of the continents, it would necessarily be crossed and recrossed incessantly by those dwelling on either the one or the other of its sides. The only obstacle, therefore, in the way of deciding just where the line may be found will be met in the difficulty which might be experienced in determining which ocean is the one through which it passes, and the precise point where it should be traced. Much to our relief, however, the conformation of the continents is such, and the distribution of the islands is so arranged, that there is one, and but one, locality where the day-line in its course from the extreme northern to the extreme southern limit of the habitable portion of the globe, could pass in either ocean without either striking the main land or crossing islands. That point is found on the meridian of Behring’s Straits, one hundred and seventy degrees west from Greenwich. Singularly enough, also, it lies within ten degrees of the meridian where shipmasters are in the habit of changing their reckoning on the log-book either by adding or dropping a day in traveling east or west, as the case may be. Practically, therefore, we find that commerce has actually located the day-line very nearly where it belongs; i. e., in the only region where it could be located without serious detriment to the interests of society. Shall we say that the coincidence is the result of blind chance? Or would it be more reasonable to conclude that the hand of God has been in the whole matter in adjusting providentially the laws and regulations of commerce so as to make them harmonize with the decrees of his word, and the conformation of the earth? We believe that the latter view is the correct one, and that Jehovah has overruled and controlled in this, as well as in the matter of emigration, on purpose to secure that which we now enjoy; viz., the ability to observe a definite day the world around with but very little confusion, and with no necessity for any whatever. By this means, the race—before sufficiently well acquainted with science to reach a proper solution of this matter through a knowledge of its principles—has been so far guided by an unseen hand as forever to disarm those who would dishonor God by teaching that his law could not be carried out in all parts of the globe in the observance of a definite day, by showing them that this question is one of sophistical rather than of actual importance; since the days of the week are now readily found on all portions of the earth by those who are continually circumnavigating the same. Having located the day-line, it only remains to still further strengthen the argument upon which it rests by additional considerations. These may be found, we think, in the existence of two hemispheres known as the Eastern and Western. If our positions have been properly taken thus far, the Eastern hemisphere, by virtue of the relation it sustains to the day-line, must have been the first to enter upon the Sabbath; as the other hemisphere follows it in the order of the earth’s revolution upon its axis. There is certainly no good reason to be found in nature why this order of procession might not have been the true one. The chances are just as favorable to the idea that the Eastern hemisphere was the first to enter upon the day, as they are that it was the last. We think, also, that the probabilities from the standpoint of revelation are largely in favor of that view. God’s ways are higher than our ways. To him the end is known from the beginning. Unlike our works, his are in no wise characterized by imperfection or lack. Reason, propriety, and fitness in every particular, characterize the works of his hand. To show, therefore, that it would be reasonable and desirable that God should have done a certain thing, is to prove that he has done the same. If, therefore, it can be made to appear that it was in the highest degree fitting that the Sabbath should commence in the East, then it can be demonstrated that it was inaugurated there. We think it can, and offer in support of our view the following reasons: First, the East was the theater of God’s mightiest works. If the animals were not all created there, it is at least true that a portion of them were, and that they were in no respect inferior—if, indeed, they were not superior—to those created in different parts of the world. It was there that the garden, with its unequaled wonders in the line of fruits, flowers, vegetables, trees, etc., etc., was produced. It was there, also, that man, the crowning glory of God’s handiwork, was made. In fine, the most beautiful, the most wonderful, the most difficult, and the most incomprehensible of God’s creative acts were here put forth. How natural, therefore, that a region thus honored by the especial demonstrations of the Creator’s power in production, should be also distinguished by the fact that it was the first to witness the day which was to commemorate forever the end of those labors of which it has received the largest and most important share. Again, it was in the East that God ended his work; Adam and Eve were the last products of his creative power in the earth. Eve’s creation took place probably at the very close of the sixth day, else he must have entered upon his rest before the commencement of the seventh day; but if he ended the sixth day of creation on the Eastern hemisphere, he must also have commenced the rest of the seventh day there; since the rest must have been entered upon immediately upon the close of the labor of the sixth day, as cessation from labor means rest. How appropriate, therefore, that the region which was the first to witness the rest of God should be the first to commemorate it by the rest of man. Once more: the Sabbath was not made for beasts, nor birds, nor reptiles, nor howling wildernesses; but “it was made for man;” or, as the original has it, for “the man.” How suitable, therefore, that it should be so made as to dawn first upon the hemisphere where he was first created, and where his posterity was destined to live for centuries before passing its limits, instead of dawning first upon interminable regions where his foot had never fallen, and which could furnish no creature who could appreciate its spiritual significance. Thus much for the argument that may be drawn from the fitness of things. As heretofore remarked, God being the person concerning whose actions we are reasoning, it amounts almost to demonstration itself. Men sometimes discover after the conclusion of their labors wherein they have made mistakes, and in what particulars they might have improved. Coming events can suggest nothing to his mind. With him every action stands related to every other one in a manner the most satisfactory to which it is possible to attain. In the very beginning God saw and felt the full force of every reason conceivable which bore directly or indirectly upon the question of the Sabbath and the place of its beginning. When the first day was introduced, he well knew that it would be followed by five of labor, and one of rest. He also knew that Adam and Eve would be created where they were created, that they alone of all his creatures would need a Sabbath, and therefore we are safe in deciding that in establishing the day-line he did it in reference to these facts by commencing the first day at a point where, as a necessary consequence, the seventh day would dawn first upon the East, which was the theater of his greatest deeds, and the only place where for thousands of years a Sabbath would be needed at all. Having reached this conclusion, the subject immediately assumes such a shape as is truly gratifying to any devout child of the Most High. Out of chaos come order, method, system, and plan. Instead of a world cursed by an indefinite Sabbath which all may keep at pleasure, or—that which is worse yet—by a state of things wherein infidelity becomes rampant and the faith of thousands is shaken in the word of God itself by the representation that he has commanded us to keep a day the beginning or end of which no man can determine, we have a Bible consistent with every just idea of a wise Creator, and a Sabbath which all men everywhere can both find and celebrate.