The Sabbath in Many Languages
By Editor
BEFORE us lies a Mexican Spanish newspaper, published in San Francisco, the date line of which reads as follows:— "SAN FRANCISCO, SABADO, MAYO 4 DE 1889," which, being translated in English, is, SAN FRANCISCO, SABBATH, MAY 4, 1889. It means this, that while neither Mexicans nor Spaniards observe the Sabbath of the Lord, they know no other name for the seventh day of the week but Sabbath. May 4 was Saturday, and we here have the witness of the language of a nation to its right to the sacred title of "Sabbath." But this is not the only witness. Before us hangs a chart of the week designed by Rev. W. M. Jones, a London antiquarian, assisted by Prince Lucien Napoleon Bonaparte, which shows that the regular succession of the days of the week are the same in 160 different languages and dialects; and 108 of these recognize Saturday, the seventh day, by the name Sabbath. Fifty-two of these languages are European, the remainder Oriental and African. We have the united testimony of the Japhetic, the Semitic, and the Hamitic races to the right of the seventh day to the title of Sabbath. Let no one say in the face of this testimony that we cannot tell which the seventh day is, or which day is the original Sabbath. This language-proof is the testimony of the ages.