p. 28 | THE SABBATH EVERYWHERE by J. H. W.

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 17, 1879

THE SABBATH EVERYWHERE.

By J. H. W.

LETTER FROM JAPAN.

Yokohama, Japan, May 28, 1879.

DEAR BRETHREN IN CHRIST:—I have just found an old number of your paper, dated July 26, 1877, in which I find much to interest me, especially the contents of Lesson Eleven. Not knowing who may now be editors of your paper, or even, in fact, whether you are still continuing to publish that paper, I venture to write, making one or two inquiries in regard to the Sabbath question. The first is, How can we know now when the real seventh day or any other day of the week occurs?

Since the many changes and discrepancies that have occurred in the various calendars have so obliterated the old time reckoning that we cannot now even know in what month of the year our Saviour was born, is it not equally true that we cannot know which is really the first day or the seventh day of the week, and might we not then accept any one of the seven, and join with the rest of the world in the observance of one-seventh part of time as sacred to the Lord.

Again, as the different longitudes of the earth must necessarily make a difference in time of day and night, your Sabbath and ours, in the eastern and western hemispheres, cannot be identical; and does not this fact again compel us to accept the “one-seventh of time” plan, and so let the Christian Sabbath roll round the earth with the sun? I do not ask these questions in a spirit of controversy; but these are difficulties in my own mind which I present to you to see if you can give me any solution.

I sincerely believe that the question of the observance of the divine command to “remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy” is a very important Christian doctrine to be taught everywhere, and I desire to observe it in the letter and in the spirit too, and I therefore seek for light on the subject. I have long been pained with the light regard shown for God’s holy day by many nominal Christians in this country, and since the adoption of the Christian calendar by this Japanese government, there is a strong tendency to make the German and French Sunday holiday a national institution in this country, which I very much regret. If you can give me any new light which will help me in stemming this tide of error, I shall be glad to hear from you. I reject the idea that the Catholic or any other church has ever had any authority to change God’s ordinances, and wish to rest my faith only upon the infallible word. Therefore I disregard all such holy days as Christmas, Easter, Good Friday, Ascension, etc., etc. If I can know and keep what God has commanded, this is enough for me.

If, from my ignorance or any other difficulty, I cannot know and keep all the holy law in the full letter thereof, still I hope and pray that I may be enabled to keep it in the spirit thereof.

If this shall reach your hands, will you kindly let me hear what you have to say for the edification of the hermit of Japan.

Yours ever in hope,

M. U. 1859.　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　J. G.

We take great pleasure in answering this letter from an unknown friend and inquirer. As our paper is sent to hundreds and even thousands who are unacquainted with the reasons of our faith, we presume that many have their minds exercised in the same manner.

The question here presented on the Sabbath is two-fold: 1. In relation to the identity of the seventh day as it may be affected by calendars, and changes or loss in computation. 2. In relation to the identity of days as affected by the rotundity of the earth, or differences of longitude. We will consider these points in the order here stated.

Different calendars or computations of time, or loss of years in chronology, have no effect whatever on the identity of the days of the week, though at first glance it would appear that they have. For all calendars and computations agree in the identity of the days of the week,—they all give the same numerical order.

The change from Old to New Style affected the days of the month, but not of the week. If it were resolved to call the next day after July 4, 1879, the 15th instead of the 5th, it would be Saturday just the same, for no day of the week is necessarily attached to a particular day of the month. They are forever varying. The day after February 28, 1879, was March 1. If this were leap year, it would be Feb. 29 instead of March 1. But in both cases it would be Saturday. The Scientific Calendar, which contains the calendar for 2,000 years in both Old and New Style, gives the following illustration:—

“Washington was born Feb. 11, Old Style, or Feb. 22, New Style, 1732. It being a leap-year, the Dominical letter for February, Old Style, was B, and for New Style it was F. The table being entered with the former letter shows the 11th to be Friday; and being entered with the latter, shows the 22d, of course, to be on the same day of the week.”

The same is shown also by the fact that those who now reckon by Old Style, as the Russians do, agree in the numbering of the days of the week with those who reckon by New Style. New Style was not adopted by all the nations at once, but that occasioned no disarrangement of the days of the week.

Let us divide the age of the world into three periods. The first, from Adam to Moses. If we were to suppose that the order of the days of the week was lost during this period, (which we cannot), it was surely restored by the word and providence of God; for he commanded the people to keep the seventh day, because he rested on it from the work of creation, and pointed out the day by the oft-recurring miracles of withholding manna on that day, and preserving that which was gathered the day before. They certainly knew the true Sabbath, or rest-day, of Jehovah, in the days of Moses.

The second, from Moses to Christ. It is highly unreasonable to suppose that Israel lost the Sabbath during this period. We know they did not, for they had it when our Saviour was upon the earth. Notice these points: (1) Jehovah commanded Israel to keep the seventh day, which is the Sabbath. (2) After the Lord’s crucifixion they “rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment.” (3) That Sabbath day was the seventh day, the same that was mentioned in the commandment, for the day following was “the first day of the week.” See Luke 23 and 24. Thus the true Sabbath, the seventh day, was known in the days of our Saviour.

The third period, from Christ to the present time. Has the day been lost during this period? That cannot be so. The Jews were scattered all over the world, in one hundred and twenty-seven provinces in the days of Ahasuerus, Esther 8:9, and in “every nation under heaven,” in the beginning of the Christian era; Acts 2:5. But they all had the same seventh-day Sabbath. Its identity was easily preserved, for three times a year all the men of the Israelites gathered together at Jerusalem to their feasts. No one of these nations could lose or change the day, for it would be detected by the others. And so through the whole era. Besides, there have been rivals to the Sabbath. The pagans reverenced the first day of the week, and from the time of Constantine it became a day of observance. Conflicting claims were set up for the two days. Could either party or both parties lose their day, and nobody know it? For if it has been lost or changed, that fact is unknown to everybody. All can see the impossibility of this.

Again, eclipses have been recorded which occurred on certain days of the week, even before the days of our Saviour. Astronomers at this time compute those eclipses, and find that they did indeed occur on the days thus recorded according to our reckoning. This proves positively that our reckoning of the days of the week is the same as theirs. Thus is proved that the reckoning of the days of the week is not lost. We have the true seventh day of the week from the creation.

We will now briefly examine the question of

longitude in relation to the identity of the day. Permit us to ask, What day do the Christians keep in Japan? The first day of the week. In adopting the Christian calendar, the Japanese adopt the same computation, and, as our correspondent says, are about to adopt “the German and French Sunday holiday.” Is it the belief of the Christians in Japan, and of the Japanese, that they have there “the German and French Sunday?” Yes; of that they have no doubt. Why do they keep the first day of the week? Professédly in honor of the resurrection of Christ. Do they, then, know when the day of the resurrection comes in Japan, assuming that to be the first day of the week? They think they do. We also think they do. There is no conflict—no difficulty here. Now we will briefly examine the reasons for this belief.

1. In Japan they number the days of the week as they do in China and India. And in these countries they number them as they do in Western Asia—in Palestine. And in Palestine they number them as they did in the days of the Saviour. See the evidences given in the foregoing answer, for proof that there has been no change there. And in Palestine they number them just as they do in Turkey, and in all Europe. And the numbering in Europe agrees with that in America.

It is always a fact that a person starting in China and traveling westward will find that his enumeration of the days of the week will agree with that of every place through which he passes until he again reaches the Pacific, in California. And reversing the order, starting at San Francisco, he may travel eastward, and he will find that his days of the week agree with those of every place through which he passes, until he reaches the other shore of the Pacific. Through Asia, through Europe, across the Atlantic, and through America, no change is found.

2. But the query next arises, What about identity of time? Seeing that they do not observe the same time throughout the twenty-four hours, do they keep the same day? They do. But if they kept the same time exactly, they would not keep the same day, for the same day does not come to all parts of the world at the same time. This everybody knows. And this creates the necessity for changes in our reckoning of time as we travel east and west.

Suppose an order were issued by the United States Government that a certain document shall be put on record at the capital of each State exactly at noon on the fourth of July. Could this be done? Certainly it could. There is no difficulty in finding the same day in each State capital in the Union. But, would it be put on record at the same time in each place? No; for noon at each place is when the sun is on the meridian, and the sun is not on the meridian at the same time at any two capitals in the Union. If it were put on record at the same time in each locality, the order would not be obeyed—it would not then be done at noon in each place. This all understand.

But what is true of noon of the same day, is true of all times of the same day. And what is true of these places, is true in all longitudes. Then, of course, if a person starts from one of these places with a watch set to indicate correct time at that one place, it will not indicate correct time at any of the other places which he may visit. To do this the watch itself must be corrected. When we travel, in order to keep our watches with sun time, that is, true, or correct time, we must often set them by local time. The whole amount of such changes in traveling around the world, will be twenty-four hours. For if we travel eastward we must correct our time-pieces by setting them forward four minutes to each degree, one hour for every fifteen degrees, and of course twenty-four hours for the complete circle. Having changed our time twenty-four hours in going round the world, it is evident that, on returning to the locality whence we started, we find there the same time with which we started, and to conform to that time we must drop out of our count all the variations we have made in traveling. The effect is the same in traveling westward, but the order is reversed.

We have said that a person traveling westward from China to California, or eastward from California to China, will find himself agreeing, in his enumeration of the days of the week, with the people in every place through which he passes. But let him start from the coast of China and cross the Pacific Ocean, and the case is different. On landing at San Francisco he will find his week one day in advance of those living there, unless he corrected his count by one day, on the ocean. And in like manner, if he crosses from California to China, he will find himself one day behind the inhabitants of China, unless he corrected his time, by one whole day on the passage.

In order that there may be uniformity in the reckoning of time, these corrections must be made—they are made by all travelers. And in order that no disagreement shall exist between China and California, a correction line has been adopted. This is called the day line. This line is in the Pacific Ocean; not, however, by arbitrary arrangement; it is located there naturally. We cannot change it. We find no necessity for it in crossing the Atlantic Ocean, or in sailing up the Mediterranean. But we do find it necessary in crossing the Pacific. Navigators all correct their reckoning in the Pacific Ocean. By this means uniformity of enumeration in the days of the week is preserved in all the world. Practically, no difficulty exists on this subject. If we keep the reckoning in any given locality, which belongs to that locality, we shall not be wrong.

We trust this is enough on this point. Much more might be said to illustrate the truth here stated; we will return to it at some time if further light seems necessary, or is called for.—J. H. W. in Signs of the Times.