The Sabbath on a Round World by John Norton Loughborough

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 11, 1864

The Sabbath on a Round World.

By John Norton Loughborough

BY ELD. J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH.

It is often objected to those advocating the perpetuity of the seventh-day Sabbath, that we cannot keep the Sabbath because the world is round, and as time varies, we cannot keep our reckoning. And as the same minutes cannot be kept all over the earth, therefore the seventh day cannot be kept. The objection is usually stated, that a day is gained if you go round the world eastward, and that one is lost if you go westward, so that two persons who should travel round the globe, the one east and the other west, on meeting half way round, will differ one day in their reckoning, and continuing their journey, they will, on meeting at the place of beginning, find two days difference between them. "And so," it is said, "it is impossible for us to tell when the seventh day is."

Before presenting our reply to the above, we will see to what conclusion this reasoning leads.

1. If this variation of time in going round the world causes the loss of the reckoning of the seventh-day Sabbath, it would cause the same difficulty with any other day of the week. Again, if because of this variation of time, the seventh day cannot be kept, then no definite day can be kept, for the same difficulty would exist with any day of the week. Reasons of the above character against the seventh-day Sabbath are illegitimate; for they weigh against the Sabbath institution.

2. When the Lord gave man the Sabbath, he had just made a round world and placed man upon it, with the command to "replenish the earth." He made the Sabbath "for man," to keep on this round world. To claim that the day could not be kept, is to reply against God.

The real point in the above objection is, because a day does not begin at the same moment all round the world, therefore it cannot be the same day when it does begin. And because we do not commence the day at the same moment all over the world, therefore the definite seventh day from creation, must have been lost. To meet the point at issue in this controversy, then, we need only to show where each day commences and ends, and to show that we have the reckoning of the seventh day brought down correctly to us from creation.

Each day does not commence the world over at the same instant, and end at different points at the same

instant, neither did it at the time God gave man the Sabbath. It takes the commencement of each day—sunset—twenty-four hours, to go round the world, and its end—sunset again—twenty-four hours to go round, and so it did at the time of the institution of the Sabbath. And, although in going westward the day commences still later than at a point in the east, it does not prevent its being the identical day, or cause us to lose it in our reckoning. Some say they find no difficulty in tracing the day half way round the world, but when they go clear round there is difficulty. There is no real trouble in tracing the day entirely round the world. The trouble in this matter is only apparent.

To show that it is not actual gain and loss in traveling east or west, we will suppose a case. Suppose a man to start to travel round the world westward, and that he can travel as fast as the sun-light, and that he actually does so for twelve years. We will suppose that this man left New York city on the first day of January 1853, at 8 o'clock in the morning, and kept pace with the sun, making a circuit of the earth once in twenty-four hours; has he seen 9 o'clock during that twelve years? If you answer according to appearances you will say, No! Would that prove that he could not have found 9 o'clock? No! When he stopped did he find 9 o'clock? Yes, in just sixty minutes from the time he stopped, he saw what he had not seen for twelve years, and yet in that twelve years, there were 8832 9 o'clocks. Now we will ask this man how many days he has seen. He would answer—if according to appearances—that he had not seen a day yet, but that he had seen one very long hour. Can he tell how much time has elapsed? If he is prepared to sail round the world he can keep his dead reckoning, counting his number of complete trips around, he will of course have the number of days.

But we will come to the point. Where does each day end? We answer, at the place of beginning it. If you commence it in New York, it will end in New York. If you commence it in Palestine, it will end in Palestine. But the question may be asked, where does each day actually begin? To illustrate the subject, we will present the following diagram of the world.

We will call the point A, Eden, where man was placed at creation. This, it is supposed, was near Mt. Ararat, on line of longitude 50, not a great way from the central portion of the old world. The first day man ever saw, commenced and ended at point A. There, after the first seventh day of time, God set apart and hallowed the Sabbath for man. The descendants of Adam spread themselves abroad upon the eastern continent, until swept away by the flood. Then the descendants of Noah settled Europe, Asia and Africa. Their emigration was westward, and of course in coming west they brought their mode of computing time and their day with them. Settlements also extended eastward as far as the point B, the extreme eastern point of the eastern continent. So in after time, the day commences with the human family at the point B.

At the time of giving the commandments on Mt. Sinai, which we will represent by the point C, the Lord pointed out to the people, by the circumstances connected with the giving of the manna, the day he rested upon at the close of creation week. He gave them the manna a certain rate every day, a double portion upon the sixth day, and none upon the seventh. So there could be no question in their minds which was the day Jehovah designed they should keep. It was from the setting of the sun upon the sixth day to the setting of the sun on the seventh, the day the manna was withheld. Thus Jehovah points out and declares that that is the day he rested upon at creation, although they are nearly twenty degrees—about 1390 miles—west of the point where the day was first instituted in Eden. This would cause the sun to set, and the day to commence, about one hour and twenty minutes later than in Eden. But still the Lord tells them, in the fourth commandment, it is the day he rested upon at the close of creation week, the day he blessed and hallowed.

It is clear from this reasoning, 1st, That they had the correct day from creation down to this point; and, 2nd, That a variation of one hour and a third in the commencement of the day, did not prevent its being the identical day.

Emigration comes on still further west till Palestine is filled to its western border with a people who have a knowledge of God's law and Sabbath. But, it is a fact, that there would be over three hours difference in the reckoning of time by those eastward in Asia, and those on the west border of Palestine. And it is also a fact that there was considerable difference in the time of the setting of the sun between the east and west borders of Palestine. And yet all will admit that they could keep the Sabbath there with that variation of time, and that they did do it.

Emigration continued westward till about the fifth century, when civilized and religious inhabitants are found on the extreme west border of the eastern continent, the point D. The reckoning of their days was brought westward with them, and kept correctly down to that point. This may be seen from the fact that for a portion of that time, namely, down to the days of Christ, one day had been required to be kept holy, under penalty of death for violation. Certainly it would not be lost in that time. Should any one contend that the day was lost during that period, the absurdity of the claim is made manifest from the fact that Christ, who is "Lord of the Sabbath," never raised any dispute with the people as to their not having the correct numbering of the days of the week, but he says "it is lawful to do well upon the Sabbath day." This is equivalent to an admission that they had the true day of the law. Still further we learn by the inspiration of Luke that the women kept "the Sabbath according to the commandment." They kept the day before the first-day of the week, which shows that the people of that time had the correct numbering of the days from Sinai, and that the seventh day of that time corresponded with the seventh day of the commandment. Our argument thus far also shows that they had the true seventh day from creation.

Again, that the day was not lost from Christ's time down to the fifth century, is apparent from the fact that we find all nations, how much-soever they might differ in their religion, agreed in the numbering of the days of the week. This agreement would not be found had any of them changed the reckoning of time. And had they all met in some council and changed the reckoning of the days, as must be the case if there has been a change, it would have been a matter of as much note in history as the councils of Nice, Laodicea and Orleans combined. The fact that there is no record of any such change, is proof that none was made. Heathen nations would not, without a severe contest, give up the reckoning of days kept in honor of their gods. Although we find that some Christians of the fifth century were claiming that the day of the Sabbath was changed, they claimed that it had been changed from the seventh to the first day of the week, and raised no dispute as to the correctness of the numbering of the days of the week. We find at that time, the Jews scattering abroad over the earth, yet still retaining the Sabbath, and their seventh day did not differ from the seventh day of the nations with whom they were mingling.

In 1492 Columbus crossed the ocean and discovered the American continent. From that time the continent began to be settled, and has now reached the point E, and some at the point F. Settlers coming on westward have kept their day of the week correctly. The only difference between us and the inhabitants of the old world being that their day commences a few hours earlier than ours. Nevertheless it is the same day when it comes to us, and is measured off by the same revolution of the earth.

It would be even a more difficult matter to lose the reckoning of days from the fifth century to our time, than it was previous to that time; for in the sixth century the Mahometans arose, taking the sixth day as their Sabbath. They still keep that day, and it agrees with our sixth-day Friday. If all the other nations and sects had changed their reckoning of days, then the Mahometan's sixth day would not correspond with theirs; but we find the reckoning of all harmonises, so there is no way the day could be lost only for the Lord to put the whole world into a profound sleep until one or more days had passed over them. An event which no one will claim ever happened.

As we have before stated, the actual shift of days is made at the point of beginning. If we commence the day, reckoning at the point B, the shift of days would be made in the Pacific Ocean, near that point. Those who sail round the world keep a dead reckoning, which saves them from difficulty; for when they arrive at the place of commencing, their reckoning of time is by this means found to agree with the inhabitants there. And no man is prepared to manage a ship unless he can keep this reckoning.

Now the question is, how does this variation of time around the world affect the Sabbath? Some say it proves there is no definite time to be kept. Their idea seems to be that in order to keep a definite Sabbath, we must keep the same set of minutes all over the earth instead of keeping the seventh day as it comes to us, measured off by God's great time-keeper, the sun. If that was what is required of us to keep the Sabbath, we could do it. In that case we might take Palestine as our starting point. We could easily tell when the sun sets in Palestine, and could commence the Sabbath each week to correspond with sunset there, but that would cause us to commence the Sabbath in the morning of the sixth day, and people might take us to be Mahometans; for we should keep about as much of the sixth day from creation as we did of the seventh. God tells us to keep the seventh day; to celebrate it from evening to evening; and he has clearly marked in his word that evening is sunset.

Compare Matt. viii, 16; Luke iv, 40; Mark i, 32.

We can keep that day just as he has directed in his word, and willing faith says, "We will." In whatever part of the world we may be, if we keep the seventh day measured to correspond with the sun's setting on the meridian of longitude where we are, we follow both the precept and example of the Almighty, notwithstanding that day may commence several hours later than it does in the vicinity of Mount Ararat. A man as near the poles as human beings can live, can keep his reckoning of days to correspond with that of others that are on the same meridian of longitude. Moravian missionaries in Greenland who contend for Sunday-keeping, find no difficulty in telling when Sunday comes. It is just as easy to tell when the seventh day comes. Bayard Taylor gives an account of a Sunday spent in Kautokeine, Lapland.

But it may be said, If time varies so round the world, and yet the day is called the same day, what difference does it make what day we keep? It makes great difference; for we know of no way to obey God but to do what he has said. If you could show that the human family had been hurled round and round the world until they had shifted their time two, three or more days ahead, then your argument might have some force, were you claiming that they should keep some other day than what they called the seventh. But the facts are, man has not yet entirely completed his circuit of settling round the world; so, although our seventh day here may begin a few hours later than at the place of his first beginning, it is the seventh day and not another.

Some say "The Lord is not particular, only that we keep a day." He was very particular in ancient times that men should do just as he said, even in the small particulars of the ceremonial law. They must offer a "lamb without blemish." Lev. xxiii, 18-24. See what he says of those who should offer a "torn, lame or sick" offering. Mal. i, 13, 14. They should not "offer strange incense." Ex. xxx, 9. See how some fared for daring to deviate in such a small thing, as some might call it. Lev. x, 1, 2. Has the Lord told you that he is not particular now? Has he not said "I am the Lord, I change not?" Has he said that in the last days he will be more lenient with the people, and that they may choose their own ways to serve him? Has he not rather referred us to ancient times, to those small departures from him, as some might call them, to show how strictly he will deal with the people here? Read the descriptions of their departures from God in 1 Cor. x, and Paul's conclusion in reference to the matter in verse 11. "Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples, (types-margin) and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come." Then you that think of presuming to make departures from the letter of God's holy law, will do well to consider the dealings of God with his people of old. "Keep God's commandments and live."

Topsham, Me., Sept. 9, 1864.