The Sabbath on a Round World
By H. W. Cottrell
THE All-Father, thru the divine Son, created the myriads of worlds: “By whom also He made the worlds.” Heb. 1:2. He made all things “that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him: and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist.” The Father said to the Son, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness.” Gen. 1:26. Thus in counsel together, they made all things. “The Sabbath was made for man,” said Jesus. Mark 2:27. It was made for the English, German, French, Italian, Swedish, and for whatsoever tongue or complexion, be they black, brown, red, or white—for “man,” uttered the Master, “for man.” Be it true then eternally, for the word, like its Author, changeth not. “I am the Lord, I change not;” “Jesus Christ the same yesterday [the eternity of the past], and today [present time], and forever [the eternal future].” Heb. 13:8. Sabbath means rest. The Christian Sabbath means the rest of the Author of Christianity, who was also the Creator of all things—Jesus Christ. As rest follows labor, so the rest of Christ, the Creator, followed His labor in creation; and this, the Lord’s day of rest,—“the Lord’s day,” “the Sabbath of the Lord thy God,”—followed the days of His labor in creation. How the Sabbath Was Made.
Christ, as we have learned, made all things. “He spake, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast,” was spoken of the Lord in the creation of this world. Ps. 33:9. After six days had been consumed in the creation of the host of the airy heavens and the earth, the work was accounted very good. Gen. 1:31; 2:1. The Creator then made choice of the only remaining day of that first cycle of seven days, upon which to rest. After resting upon the seventh day, He blessed it, then sanctified it. Thus the seventh day was made “the Sabbath of the Lord thy God,” and “made for man.” Fact 1.—He chose the seventh day upon which to rest—there was no other day in the cycle. Fact 2.—He rested upon the day He chose. Fact 3.—He blessed the day upon which He had rested. Fact 4.—He sanctified the day He blessed. These four acts of the Creator are facts that can never be changed, and they made the seventh day the eternal Sabbath (Ex. 20:8-11) eternally the Lord’s day (Rev. 1:10), forever “the holy of the Lord” (Isa. 58:13), the Christian Sabbath as authorized by the Author of Christianity. Jesus was a carpenter, but always observed the seventh-day Sabbath. Mark 6:2, 3; Luke 4:16. He said, “It is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.” Luke 16:17. He placed both the Sabbath law and the Sabbath in the New Testament. “It is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days.” Matt. 12:12. The disciples “rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment. Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulcher, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them.” Luke 23:56; 24:1. The Sabbath is herein said to be the day just before the first day of the week, and all this according to the commandment. In the year A.D. 60, Paul declared himself to be a believer in the written law, so it must have been still in force; and in harmony with his faith as a true Christian, he observed the Christian Sabbath, the seventh day, commonly called Saturday, as a life-practise, in harmony with the example of the Master—the Author of the Sabbath and of Christianity. Acts 24:14; 17:2. When the Bible proof has been presented that the seventh day (Saturday) is the Christian Sabbath, then we are informed that the seventh-day Sabbath can not be observed on a round world; for in going westward around the world we lose a day, and in going eastward around the world a day is gained; therefore it is useless to attempt to obey the Lord and observe the Sabbath on a round world. But can Sunday, the first day of the week, be observed any more easily on a round world? The fact is, there is not one moment of time actually lost in going one way around the world, neither is there an actual gain of a moment in going the other direction. To illustrate this thought, let us take three children who are triplets. Let one go westward, and another eastward around the world, while the third remains at home. The one remaining at home will, without question, have all the time there is. And, if the theory is true, the one going westward will lose a day in his trip around the world; thus on his return he will be one day younger than the one remaining at home. The theory, if correct, will make the triplet who went eastward one day older than the triplet who remained at home, and two days older than his brother triplet who went westward. This would logically make the triplet who went westward two days younger than his brother triplet who went eastward, and one day younger than the brother triplet who remained at home. But such a condition could not exist, as they are triplets. Again, if it be contended that there is a loss and gain of time in this journey, then, pray tell, where was the westward-bound triplet during the day he lost? Take triplets at the moment of birth, place each in the cradle of time, and at that moment permit one to go westward with the velocity of time on the earth, and it would encircle the earth in just twenty-four hours5(one day) to the second. Having taken one day to encircle the earth, if it lost a day, it would be compelled to lose the day it went in, and that would set the child back to the moment of his birth, thus having made his trip around the world in no time; the triplet child who was cradled at home would be, beyond question, one day old. The child triplet going eastward would also make its journey in twenty-four hours (one day), and according to the theory, gain a day while making his journey. How could a child live forty-eight hours in twenty-four—two days in one—which it would be compelled to do if the theory were true? If these triplets should continue the journey of life, until, in the natural course of events, the one remaining at home should become as old as Methuselah—nine hundred and sixty-nine years—the triplet going eastward, who each day gained a day, would be just twice as old as the one remaining at home, which would make it nineteen hundred and thirty-eight years of age; while the other triplet child going westward, making his circuit of the earth in a day, and each day losing the day in which he went, would ever at the completion of each trip be brought back to the moment of his birth, without age, and they triplets. Ah, it can not be. There can not one moment of time be lost on a round world. It is only an apparent loss or gain in traveling with or against time, and is corrected in the simple count of the mariner in crossing the dayline. "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord." It is "the Lord's day." It is the Christian Sabbath, and will be observed as such thru eternity. "For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before Me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that . . . from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, saith the Lord." Isa. 66:22, 23.