TIME TO COMMENCE THE SABBATH.
By Joseph Bates
[SEVERAL Brethren have made inquiries respecting the time to commence the Sabbath. We have not time to answer them now; but give the following from the pen of Bro. J. Bates, published two years since.] Much has been said in relation to the time of the commencement of the Sabbath. Some say it should commence at sunset, [Mark i, 32,] while others contend that it should not commence until midnight.—And still there are some who say the morning is the proper time. Let us leave all these, and see if we cannot find the true time from the Bible. "And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light day, and the darkness he called night: and the evening and the morning were the first day."—Gen. i, 3-5. "And the evening and the morning were the second day." See verse 8. So also with the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth days, in which God was creating the world. These are the only Bible names ever given for the six working days in the week. The seventh day is the Sabbath. It is very evident that when God commenced the first week of the world, every day began with the evening. Now unless it can be proved that God has given directions since that time, to alter this rule, the commencing of the day must still be from the evening. It is a well known fact with astronomers, that not one moment of time has been lost or gained since this earth began to move around the sun; for her motion is perpetual. It is, therefore, clear that there has been no change since the seventh day from creation. God further instructs his people, thus: "From EVEN unto EVEN shall ye celebrate your Sabbath."—Lev. xxiii, 32. Jesus shows at what hour of the day the even comes, by the parable of the laborers, viz: A man went out early in the morning [six A. M.] to hire laborers into his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour [nine A. M.] Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise. [Noon and three o'clock P. M.] And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others, &c. Five P. M. So when EVEN was come, the lord of the vineyard directed the laborers to be paid, by giving every man5a penny. Those who had labored all of the day murmured because they had received no more than those who had labored but one hour. See Matt. xx, 1-12. Here is clear evidence that the EVEN was the close of the day, and the beginning of the next: and that point of time was 6 P. M. It is further clear, that the time from beginning to end, was just twelve hours; for those that came at the eleventh hour wrought but one hour; which made just twelve. We learn also that the day was divided into four equal parts, just as it is seen on the face of a clock, viz. 6, 9, 12, 3, from thence to 6 the first starting place. The same also of the twelve-hour night, both making a twenty-four-hour day. They are also called watches. 1st, 2d, 3d and 4th watches of the day; 1st, 2d, 3d, and 4th watches of the night. Eight watches, of three hours each, make just a whole day of twenty-four hours. Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours in the day," &c. John xi, 9. Add to this the twelve hours of night, and the twenty-four-hour day is complete. It is clear, therefore, from Scripture testimony, that every day commences at 6 o'clock, and not at sunset, nor at midnight, as many contend, nor yet at sunrise, as some others believe. Therefore the Sabbath commences at 6 P. M. on what is called Friday. Every hour and minute of it is sanctified time, "holy to the Lord," and holy to those who keep it. GEOGRAPHICALLY.—At the commencement of the sacred year, the sun rises at 6 A. M. and sets at 6 P. M. on the equator, or midway between the poles.—There is not an inhabitant on any part of this globe that can regulate the time for the day by the sun, without admitting the polar distance into his calculation; which is ninety degrees from the equator.—This shows that the only way we can calculate time, is by calculating from the equator of the earth, just as though we were placed there ourselves, making our observations. Those who live the farthest north, have no sun for many weeks, while the sun is in her extreme south declension; say from Nov. 25 to Jan. 15. While, at the same time, those who are in the same latitude south have the sun all the time. Neither of these would keep the Sabbath right by the setting of the sun. While those on the equator could do it at the beginning of the year; because the sun would set at 6 P. M. Hence we perceive that all the inhabitants on either side of the centre, or equator, would have to begin their days at the same time. It is therefore evident and clear, from even this slight view of the geographical lines north and south of the equator, that the ending of no one day of the week, can be regulated by the setting of the sun. But every day must and does end, in perfect harmony with the above rule, which is in perfect harmony with the scripture testimony already adduced, at 6 o'clock P. M. LONGITUDINALLY.—Here we come into an argument that is said to be unanswerable, by those who oppose the keeping of the Sabbath of the Lord our God. They say we cannot tell where to commence or end the Sabbath-day, because those living fifteen degrees, or nine hundred miles east of us, must necessarily commence the day one hour earlier. While those living fifteen degrees west of us, would have to commence the day one hour later; and so on to the farthest extremes, east and west, so that holy time could not be kept in one twenty-four-hour day. One thing is certain and established beyond all controversy, viz: that our blessed Lord, who is "Lord also of the Sabbath," did keep the Sabbath right.—John xv, 10; Luke iv, 16. He kept it right, and in the right time, [Matt. xx, 1-12,] and he kept it in Jerusalem. Thank the Lord for one right spot on the globe where the seventh-day Sabbath can be kept in the right time, and day of twenty-four hours, as God would have it kept. God also commanded his people to keep the same Sabbath in the wilderness of Arabia. See Ex. xvi, 28-30. This was many miles east of Old Jerusalem. The proof is clear also that Paul, the great Apostle to the Gentiles, did keep seventy-eight Sabbaths in succession among the Gentiles in Corinth; yes, and this according to history was twenty-three years after all the ordinances under the law of Moses were nailed to the cross. See Acts xviii, 1, 4, 11. This, be it understood, is more than fifteen degrees, or nine hundred miles west from Jerusalem. He also kept the Sabbath by the water-side in Philippi, the chief city of Macedonia. See Acts xvi, 12, 13. This by a view of the map of that country, will be seen to be still farther west. Now, with these facts before us, that the seventh-day Sabbath was strictly observed, 1. by literal Israel, 2. by Jesus, and 3. by the apostle Paul, in three different places, east and west of each other more than fifteen degrees, or nine hundred miles apart, making a difference in time of more than an hour, we may see that the Sabbath can be strictly observed, by the same rule, in any other place, even five, ten, fifteen, or twenty thousand miles, east and west of each other. We see by the above testimony that Jesus, in Jerusalem, keeping the Sabbath from 6 P. M. to 6 P. M., must have commenced to keep it some minutes after the time that God directed it to be kept in Arabia, and Paul could not commence the keeping of the Sabbath in Corinth or Philippi, until more than an hour later than it commenced in Jerusalem: because he was more than fifteen degrees to the west of Jerusalem.— God made this globe for man to inhabit, and scattered the inhabitants abroad upon the face of the whole earth. See Gen. xi, 8. He is the only law-giver. And he gave man one law, and requires every individual to keep it inviolate under the most severe penalties. This law positively embraces the keeping of the seventh-day Sabbath: not for a little while, but for a perpetual covenant, "made for man" as long as he is to be known, both in the mortal and immortal state. See Ex. xx, 8-11; xxxi, 12-18; Luke xxiii, 54-56. For the immortal state, see Isa. lxvi, 22, 23. Now as God hath done all this, and also divided the sun, or imparted it, unto all the nations under the whole heaven, see Deut. iv, 19, and given it to rule the day, and also for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years, and to rule the day, see Gen. i, 14. shall we not obey and receive his divine instruction in this respect also, and commence the Sabbath, in its exact TIME, as it comes to us on the part of the earth where we are located? It must be clear to the reader that Paul kept the Sabbath with the Gentiles in Corinth, which was more than fifteen degrees, or nine hundred miles west of Jerusalem, one hour, at least, later than it was kept at Jerusalem. It may be argued that this would make the day twenty-five hours long. We answer, Paul did not begin the Sabbath day until it came to Corinth. That time must be one hour after it began at Jerusalem.