The Seventh Day of What?
By John Orlando Corliss
WHILE all are agreed that the fourth commandment once enjoined the observance of the seventh day as the Sabbath, there is by no means a universal agreement as to the meaning of the phrase "seventh day." Some declare that any day one may choose to set apart for rest after six days of labor, is as much the seventh day as any other day. But of what period of time would that be the seventh day? Surely any one can see that if the seventh day depends so much for its existence on man's appointment, it is folly to enforce it by a command from God, and a command, too, that gives as a reason for its enforcement that it is God's own rest. If such a proposition could be true, how many rest days would the fourth commandment really enforce? Just as many as there are days in the week; for it is manifest that if man controls the time of the Sabbath, each one may decide for himself which day shall be the seventh. Then another deduction also follows; namely, the fourth commandment, while held to be general in its application, and binding upon all men in a certain sense, does not at the same time affect all men alike. For while it would condemn one for working one day in the week, because that was his convenient seventh day, another might work with impunity on that day, because in his creed he had set apart another seventh day. What folly, do you say? True, and all who contend for an indefinite seventh day—which virtually destroys the Sabbath institution—make God the author of that folly, by giving a command that means nothing. If the appointment of the Sabbath were thus dependent upon man's convenience, he could just as well appoint the seventh day of the month, or the seventh day of the year as the seventh day of any other cycle. Why not? Because, says the objector, that would destroy the force of another part of the command which puts but six working days between the Sabbaths. But suppose such a result should obtain? Would that be any more disastrous than to destroy the identity of the definite seventh day? It is manifestly much better to let the Sabbath law speak for itself, and all can then easily see the evident meaning of the command, and unite in removing the reproach that has been cast upon the Author of the Sabbath. "Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the [not a] seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God." The Sabbath, then, is the seventh day of a regular cycle, which contains just seven days. As the six working days precede the Sabbath, it is plain that it is not only the seventh day of that cycle, but also that it is the last day of the cycle. Therefore the close of the Sabbath introduces a new count of days, or another cycle. This was God's order of the week from the beginning. In the commandment God affirms that he blessed and sanctified (set apart) as the Sabbath the day in which he had rested, after creating the world in six days. That day he also says was, and is, the seventh day. The same seventh day on which in the commandment he declared he had rested, and which he commands all to observe in like manner, he clearly pointed out to the children of Israel by withholding manna from them on each recurrence of that day during their forty years' sojourn in the wilderness. The opening of the many months and years that came and went during all that time was not once marked by any such direct manifestation from Heaven. The advent of each year was determined by the changing seasons, and the months, as now, were marked off by the phases of the moon. Nature does nothing of the kind for the week. Nothing in the movements of the heavenly bodies denotes its beginning or ending. One thing and one only was ever given to separate between the weeks as they succeed each other in their flight. More than this, the week exists only by the division of time as marked by each recurrence of the Sabbath. Without it a weekly cycle would not have been known. It is very plain, then, that the day of the Sabbath enjoined by the fourth commandment is the seventh day of the week. This is in harmony with the direct statement of the New Testament. Matthew says (chap. 28:1), "In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week." Mark, this writer says that when the Sabbath was ending, the first day of the week was dawning. All are agreed that the week includes seven days, no more, no less. What day of the week was therefore closing when the first day was commencing? The seventh day most assuredly. Then of course the New Testament recognizes the seventh day of the week as the Sabbath. But, says the objector, the fourth commandment says nothing about the week; it simply enjoins the seventh day as the Sabbath. Then we reply that the New Testament, to which the religious world uniformly appeals in settling points of controversy, identifies the day of the week enjoined by the fourth commandment, beyond the possibility of a doubt. Luke, in describing the events of the crucifixion day, says (chap. 23:54): "And that day was the preparation, and the Sabbath drew on." What Sabbath? Was it an annual sabbath—a feast day simply? The evangelist goes on to state what the women did after seeing the Saviour laid in the tomb, and then adds that they "rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment." The day following, on which Christ arose, this writer distinctly says was the first day of the week. It follows, then, that the day before was the seventh and last day of the week; and as that day was the Sabbath according to the commandment, the question as to whether the fourth commandment enjoins the observance of the seventh day of the week is forever settled in the affirmative.
J. O. CORLISS.