3883 — Losing and Gaining a Day
By G. M.
The question has been asked me, what a person would do who was to travel around the world, and in doing so would lose or gain a day, according to which way he traveled, keeping each seventh day as it came to him. When he got back, would he be keeping the same day? — G. M. One who had a normal understanding of what going around the world means would know that if he traveled with the sun he would be lengthening his day each day. For instance, if one travels from the east to the west across the American continent, for every thousand miles he deducts one hour from his time. If he were traveling from west to east, against the course of the sun, he would add an hour to his time, or turn his watch forward. That is, he keeps losing time with the sun, and it is necessary for him to turn his watch forward in order to keep with the time and the longitude of the place he finds himself. The earth's circumference is practically 24,000 miles. Going around the world with the sun, he gains a day; against the sun, he loses a day. He would therefore, if he wished to be in harmony with the people of the world, recognize this simple fact, and drop or add a day to his reckoning, in order that he might harmonize with the peoples of the earth. In God's providence, this so-called "day line" has been placed in the Pacific Ocean. One finds himself in harmony with all the nations of the world, traveling landward from the eastern shores of Asia to the western shores of America. Custom, in God's providence, has placed the day line in the Pacific. When the traveler crosses this, east or west, he must adjust his time in harmony with the facts. Thus doing, he will still keep in harmony with the world. God knew, when He made this earth, that it was round, knew that these changes would necessarily have to take place when men circumnavigated the globe. And He knew also that in His providence light and knowledge would be given to man to enable him to meet these conditions. All that He asks of us is to trust His providence, observe His Sabbath as it comes to us, use our Christian, sanctified common sense in the decision of the question, as in all other questions, and go on our way rejoicing. We would suggest to our reader that he put together two scriptures,—Acts 17:24-26, "God that made the world and all things therein, . . . made of one every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed seasons, and the bounds of their habitation;" and Mark 2:27, "the Sabbath was made for man." There is no difficulty in man's observing God's Sabbath on God's earth,