Sunday Not the True Seventh Day.
By John Nevins Andrews
THE first chapter of Genesis contains a record which commences with what the Holy Spirit calls "THE BEGINNING." Of what is this the beginning? Of eternity? Mr. F. will not assert it, though he places this beginning in eternity; i. e., he asserts that the events of the six days of creation belong not to time, but to eternity. Perhaps Mr. F. will say that "THE BEGINNING," is simply the beginning of our world's history. But is it not true that God caused Moses to count time from that very point? What if Adam could not of his own knowledge count the number of days which preceded his existence? Could not Moses do it by the Spirit of inspiration? And cannot we do it now by Moses' help? But observe, Mr. F. has the last six days of the eternity of the past, numbered, measured, and recorded. Then he teaches that time begins where those six days end. But is not eternity, as distinguished from time, unmeasured duration? And is not time, as distinguished from eternity, that part of duration which is measured by the Bible? And if these definitions be accepted as just, is it not manifest that "THE BEGINNING," of which Moses speaks, is the commencement of measured duration; i. e., the beginning of time, the point which marked it, being the creative word that gave existence to the heavens and the earth? Mr. F. says that the six days of Gen. 1, are the last six days of the eternity of the past; we say that they are the first six days of time. Which is right? If the remarks already made have failed to settle the question, let the reader give attention to the following point which cannot be evaded. Mr. F. acknowledges the rest-day of the Creator to belong to time, but he denies this of the days which God employed in the work of creation. But observe that the day of God's rest is called the seventh day. Gen. 2:1-3. This shows that the rest day of the Lord belongs to a series which commenced with what Moses calls, "THE BEGINNING." Mr. F. must therefore admit that the six days belong to time, or else assert that the seventh day belongs to eternity. As he cannot ascribe the seventh day to eternity, he must acknowledge the six days of creation to be the first six days of time. The first of the three propositions on which Mr. F. bases his assertion that God's rest-day was the first day of the week, is, therefore, proved to be false. We will next examine the second of the three. 2. He says that the day on which God rested was the first day of Adam's existence. But for this to be true, Adam must have been created on the seventh day of the week; or, if such a thing be conceivable, he was created on the very line which divides the seventh from the sixth. But neither of these conclusions is truthful. Adam was created on the sixth day of the week, and at a period in the day when very much of it remained unexpired. That he was created on the sixth day is plainly taught in Gen. 1:26-31. After the creation of Adam, the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden, intrusting it to him to be dressed and kept. Then he stated to him the conditions of his probation. Gen. 2:15-17. And after this, the Lord God brought to him every beast of the field and every fowl of the air, "to see what he would call them." "And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field." Gen. 2:19, 20. This must have required several hours of time. When Adam had thus viewed "every living creature," and given to each its proper name, he found not one that was fitted to be his own helper. So it is added that "for Adam there was not found an help meet for him." Verse 20. Next we are told that God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept. While he thus slept, God took one of his ribs, and of that rib formed Eve. Then he brought her to Adam, who at once gives her a name, and recognizes her as his helper which he had failed to find in all the creatures that he had viewed and named. Verse 23. And God gave her to Adam for a wife. We are informed in Gen. 1:28; 2:24; Matt. 19:4, 5, of what God said to them on this occasion. The marriage of Adam and Eve is placed, by Gen. 1:28-31, on the sixth day of the week, the day of their creation. And Gen. 5:1, 2, plainly teaches that the creation of Eve was upon the same day with that of Adam, and intimates unequivocally that their marriage occurred on that very day. After all this, God announced the food of man and beast, and when everything was completed, "God saw everything that he had made, and behold it was very good. AND THE EVENING AND THE MORNING WERE THE SIXTH DAY." Gen. 1:28-31. Let us enumerate the several events which followed the creation of Adam on the sixth day of the week:-165 (1) God placed him in Eden to dress and keep it, which implies that he gave him instruction on the subject.
(2) He stated to him the conditions of his probation.
(3) "All cattle," "every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air," were brought to Adam for names.
(4) Then God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam while he created Eve.
(5) Then Adam and Eve were united in marriage.
(6) Then God announced to man the gift of his food.
(7) Then God saw that everything he had made was very good, and the sixth day of creation closed.
To these facts should be added the announcement which follows their accomplishment: "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it; because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made." Gen. 2:1-3.
What shall we say to the statement of Mr. Fuller that the day on which God rested was the first day of Adam's life? Shall we not pronounce it a most inexcusable falsehood? Did Adam take a wife the day before his own existence commenced? Did God cause the animals to pass in succession before Adam that he might give them names suited to their several organizations, and yet no Adam exist till the following day? Did God place Adam upon probation and threaten him with death in case he sinned, and Adam himself have no existence till the ensuing day? And what about intrusting him with the garden before there was any Adam to intrust with it? Will Mr. F. deny that these things required time? Dare he assert that they took place on the day of the Creator's rest? But whatever answer he may return to these questions, we have the plain testimony of Gen. 1:26-31, which shows that the events of Chap. 2:7-25, transpired upon the sixth day of creation. We have now examined the second proposition on which Mr. F. bases his assertion that God rested from his labor on the first day of the week. The reader will agree with us that this second proposition is of the same character as the first, an inexcusably false statement. Mr. F.'s third proposition furnishes the remaining proof on which he relies to show that the Creator rested upon the first day of the original week.
Here it is:-
3. That Adam reckoned the day of the Creator's rest the first day of the week. But how does Mr. F. know this statement to be true? The Bible says nothing of this kind. Indeed, the real ground of this assertion is found in the two propositions already discussed. For if, as Mr. F. asserts, the six days of creation belong to eternity, then the Creator's rest-day was the first day of time; and if time began with Adam's existence, and his existence began with the seventh day, then we may well conclude that Adam reckoned God's rest-day as the first day of the week. But these two propositions are absolutely false. For the first week of time, as has been fully shown, was made out of the six days of creation, and the rest-day of the Creator; whence it follows that the rest-day is rightly termed in the Bible "THE SEVENTH DAY." Gen. 2:2, 3. And that Adam's existence began quite early on the sixth day has been clearly proved. It is certain, therefore, that Adam could not reckon the rest-day of the Lord, as first day of the week on the ground that it was the first day of time, when the record shows it to have been the seventh day; and it is equally certain that he could not reckon it the first day of the week as being the first day of his own existence when it was not his first day, but his second. To say, therefore, that God's rest-day was the first day of time, is to say that Adam was created in eternity. To say that the week began with Adam's first day, is to assert that it began with the sixth day of creation. And to assert that God rested upon the first day of the week on the authority of the three propositions already examined, is to handle the word of God deceitfully. The theory of Mr. Fuller that God's Sabbath is the first day of the original week, is therefore not founded in truth, and only exists in consequence of his corrupting the word of God to justify his own violation of the fourth commandment.
J. N. A.