IN DEFENSE OF THE FAITH
The
Truth About Seventh-day Adventists
A
REPLY TO CANRIGHT
by
William
H. Branson
6. HAS THE SABBATH BEEN LOST
BECOMING desperate in
his effort to abolish the Creator's Sabbath, Mr. Canright the Baptist
turns to the
age worn lost time
theory. On this point he says:
Then how do
Sabbatarians know that our Saturday is the exact seventh day from
creation down? 'There is
no possible means of
fixing the day of the original Sabbath.' . . . During the long period
before the flood,
during the patriarchal
age when they had no records; during their slavery in Egypt when even
traditional knowledge was largely
lost; during the anarchy under the judges, and all down the ages since,
are they sure
that no mistake has
been made, not even of one day? Of course they are not. Seventh-day
Adventism
Renounced, pp. 183,
184.
This objection to the
Bible Sabbath has been so often and so adequately answered in the past
that it hardly
seems necessary to
devote much space to it here, and yet we find that some people are
genuinely troubled
over it.
There is nothing more
sure than that there has been an accurate accounting of the days of the
week
from creation to the
present hour. The week was instituted in Eden before the fall, and its
beginning and
close were marked by
the Sabbath. Since that time God has carefully preserved the weekly
cycle, as can be
proved beyond all
possible doubt. But we must refrain from replying to this point
ourselves. Much better is
it that Mr. Canright
again be answered by his own words. In this way it will be clear to the
reader that he
was fully aware of the
fact that the lost-time quibble was not valid, and that he simply used
it in an effort to
create doubt in the
minds of those who had never properly looked into the matter.
In 1873 Mr. Canright
published a tract entitled The Lost-Time Question, in which he
completely
explodes all his later
arguments on this point. We will quote at some length from this tract in
order that the
reader may see how
fully and completely he has answered himself and how he leaves himself
entirely
without excuse for
advocating this lost-time theory. The following is taken, from this
former publication,
Canright the Adventist
speaking:
Among the numerous
excuses which men raise for not keeping God's holy Sabbath, that one
based upon
the argument of 'lost
time' may be called the 'last ditch.' When all other arguments fail,
persons fall back
upon this, and excuse
themselves from any further trouble about the matter. We often hear them
say that
they are convinced that
the seventh day is the Sabbath, and that they would keep it, if they
only knew
which it was; but that,
either before the flood or during the sojourn of Israel in Egypt, or in
the Babylonish
captivity, or during
the Dark Ages, or somewhere, time was so lost that the true seventh day
cannot be
found. That this excuse
is utterly without foundation we are sure we can now convince the
reader, if he is
candid enough to really
desire the truth in the case.
That Saturday is the
true and veritable seventh day, the day upon which God rested at the
creation of the
world, can be proved by
an overwhelming mass of evidence. Is it not a little strange that until
seventh-day
advocates came along no
one ever said anything about time being lost, and that you could not
tell when the
seventh day comes? From
the minister in the desk to the child in Sunday school, all agreed that
Saturday
was the old seventh day
upon which God rested, and Sunday the first day on which Christ rose
from the
dead. But when it is
shown that there is no proof for a first-day Sabbath, and that the
Scriptures teach that
the seventh day is
still the Sabbath, then, behold, these same persons are very ignorant
all at once. Time has
been lost, and they
cannot tell when the seventh day comes. Can they tell when the first day
comes, the day
of Christ's
resurrection? They never seem to have any doubt about this. If they can
tell that, certainly we
can find the seventh
day; for it must be the one just before it! Having found the first day,
any person who
can count seven on his
fingers ought to be able to find the seventh day! Somehow,
notwithstanding all the
other days of the week
are so easy to find and to count, this seventh day is very slippery,
bothersome, and
hard to find. It
reminds me of the boy who was sent out by his father to count the pigs.
He returned, saying
that there were six
pigs besides one little spotted fellow that frisked about so that he
could not count him!
We should naturally
suppose that this cry of 'lost time' would be confined to those who
claim that there is
no Sabbath now binding;
but this is not the case. They generally freely acknowledge that
Saturday is the
old and true seventh
day, and that there is no reliance to be placed upon the argument of
lost time.
Surprising indeed it is
to hear this argument used by those who profess a great regard for the
Sabbath
commandment, and for
Sunday as the Christian Sabbath, the resurrection day. They seem not to
realize that
if time has been lost,
they are as bad off as we are. This objection weighs just as heavily
against the first
day of the week as 'it
does against the seventh.
Allowing that the
seventh-day Sabbath is binding, it is unreasonable to suppose that God
has suffered it to
be lost.' If God has
given a law requiring the observance of the day, He certainly is able to
preserve the
knowledge of that day
if He still desires men to keep it. It is, then, highly absurd to admit
that the seventh
day is the day that
ought to be kept, and then to say that we would keep it if we could only
tell which it is,
claiming that it has
been lost! It is directly impeaching the wisdom and power of God.
Equally unreasonable
is it to claim that any
other day of the week is the Sabbath, and yet to say that the days of
the
week have been lost so
that you cannot tell when it does come. No; the judgment day will show
that all
these objections and
quibbles arise more from a carnal heart unwilling to submit itself to
the plain
requirements of the law
of God than they do from any real difficulty in the case.
SATURDAY THE TRUE SEVENTH DAY
But to the facts in
the case, continues Canright. Follow us carefully, and see if
there is not an
abundance of proof that
Saturday is the true seventh day from creation. Genesis 1 gives a
concise history of
the first six days of
time. Chapter 2:1-3 says: '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.'
Here we have a sure
starting point. God worked the first six days. He rested the seventh.
Then He blessed
the seventh day. After
that He sanctified it. To sanctify is to set apart, to appoint to a holy
use. (See
Webster.) This shows
that God there appointed this day for Adam and his family to keep holy.
By thus
keeping it, it would
weekly mark off a period of seven days. Hence originated a week of seven
days, which
we find so often
mentioned in the history of the patriarchs, and afterward of the Jews.
Notice a few
instances. Just before
the flood, God said to Noah, 'For yet seven days, and I will cause it to
rain upon the
earth.' Gen. 7:4. Of
Noah it is said: 'And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent
forth the dove
out of the ark.' Gen.
8:10. And again, 'And he stayed yet other seven days, and sent forth the
dove.' Verse
12. Laban said to
Jacob: Fulfill her week, and we will give thee this also for the service
which thou shall
serve with me yet other
seven years. And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week.' Gen. 29: 27, 28.
These
quotations . . . show
that the week, composed of seven days, was known and observed by the
patriarchs
both before and after
the flood. Hence, it is strong proof that they had the Sabbath and
observed it. Of the
antiquity of the week
and the Sabbath among all nations, Gilfillan, in his large book on 'The
Sabbath,'
published by the
American Tract Society, says:
THE WEEK FROM ANTIQUITY
'Let it suffice,
however, in a matter on which there is so general an agreement, to
present the words of four
eminent authors: The
septenary arrangement of the days, says Scaliger, was in use among
the Orientals
from the remotest
antiquity. 'We have reason to believe, observes President
DeGoguet, that the
institution of that
short period of seven days, called a week, was the first step taken by
mankind in dividing
and measuring their
time. We find, from time immemorial, the use of this period among all
nations, without
any variation in the
form of it. The Israelites, Assyrians, Egyptians, Indians, Arabians,
and, in a word, all
the nations of the
East, have in all ages made use of a week, consisting of seven days. We
find the same
custom among the
ancient Romans, Gauls, Britons, Germans, the nations of the North, and
of America.
According to Laplace,
the week is perhaps the most ancient and incontestable monument of
human
knowledge. It would
appear that the Chinese, who have no Sabbath, at one time honored the
seventh day
of the week.' Pages
364, 365.
All these ancient
nations, being descendants of Noah and his sons, must have received the
Sabbath by
tradition from them.
That the Sabbath would not be lost from Adam to Abraham is manifest when
we
consider that Adam
lived and conversed with Methuselah for 243 years; Methuselah lived
contemporary
with Shem about 100
years; and Shem lived and talked with Abraham. . . .
The lives of these
three men span the whole time from Eden even to the old age of Abraham.
How easy
and natural for them to
hand down the Sabbath from father to son without any probability of
losing it.
NOT LOST IN EGYPT
Coming a little
further down, was not the Sabbath lost in Egypt? Let us read, in Exodus
16, what
occurred immediately on
their coming out of Egypt: 'Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold I will
rain
bread from heaven for
you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day,
that I may prove
them, whether they will
walk in My law, or no. And it shall come to pass, that on the sixth day
they shall
prepare that which,
they bring in; and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.' 'And
they gathered it
every morning, every
man according to his eating; and when the sun waxed hot, it melted. And
it came to
pass, that on the sixth
day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man; and all
the rulers of
the congregation came
and told Moses. And he said unto them, This is that which the Lord hath
said,
Tomorrow is the rest of
the holy Sabbath unto the Lord; bake that which you will bake today, and
seethe
that you will seethe;
and that which remains over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.
And they laid
it up till the morning,
as Moses bade; and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein.
And Moses
said, Eat that today;
for today is a Sabbath unto the Lord: today you shall not find it in the
field. Six days
you shall gather it;
but on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, in it there shall be none.
And it came to
pass, that there went
out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found
none. And the
Lord said unto Moses,
How long refuse you to keep My commandments and My laws? See, for that
the
Lord bath given you the
Sabbath, therefore He gives you on the sixth day the bread of two days;
abide you
every man in his place,
let no man go out of his place on the seventh day. So the people rested
on the
seventh day.' 'And the
children of Israel did eat manna forty years, until they came to a land
inhabited; they
did eat manna, until
they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan.' Verses 4, 5, 21-30,
35. . . .
This was the special
work of the Almighty, to teach the Jews to remember, reverence, and
keep, holy His
sanctified Sabbath
day.... Truly, had all traces of the Sabbath been lost, it was here so
forcibly restored that
none could doubt when
it came. Here it was certainly restored if it was ever lost.
But was this the
true, original seventh day here pointed out? It would be preposterous to
claim anything
else.
1. God certainly
knew when His original, true seventh-day Sabbath came, and was able to
point it out.
2. That He should give
them another day and teach them by the falling manna, etc., to violate
His own holy
Sabbath, is highly
unreasonable, and not to be supposed unless most distinctly so stated.
3. The record
directly says that that
day was 'the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord' (verse 23), the
seventh day which
is the Sabbath.' Verse
26. These statements are repeated several times in the above record.
4.
Shortly after
the manna began to fall
on the six days and none on the seventh, while the whole nation was
keeping that
day as the Sabbath,
according to God's direct instructions, the Lord came down upon Mt.
Sinai and gave
them the Ten
Commandments. The fourth one relates to the Sabbath, and reads thus:
'Remember the
Sabbath day, to keep it
holy. Six days shall thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh
day is the
Sabbath of the Lord thy
God. In it thou shall not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy
daughter, thy manservant, nor thy
maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates.
For in six days the
Lord made heaven and
earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day:
wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath
day, and hallowed it.' Ex. 20:8-11.
What does this
command require? That they keep 'the day,' 'the seventh day,' 'the
Sabbath of the Lord,' the
day which God had
rested upon, and blessed and sanctified at creation, after working six
days. In short, it
points out and
specifies in the most definite manner the very day we started. With in
Genesis 2:1-3. No
candid person can doubt
this who will compare the two records. So, then, at the entrance of the
Jews into
Canaan, 2,553 years
after the creation of the world, we are certain that we have the true
seventh day.
In the Promised
Land, they became a great and numerous people, a settled and established
nation for over
800 years. During all
this time, they had the strictest laws and regulations touching the
observance of the
Sabbath. During this
time, God often spoke to them by His prophets, and frequently called
their attention to
His holy Sabbath. (See
2 Kings 4:23; 1 Chron. 9:32; Isa. 56:2-6; 58:13; Jer. 17:24-27; Eze.
20:10-24; Amos
8:4-6.) Samuel, David,
Solomon, Hezekiah, and all the noted kings of Israel lived in this time.
To suppose
that the Sabbath was
lost during this time would be simply absurd. It would have been
impossible. . . .
PRESERVED DURING THE CAPTIVITY
Next comes, 600
years before Christ, the Babylonish captivity of seventy years. Was it
not lost here?
Notice a few facts:
1.
God sent them into that captivity because they did not regard His
Sabbath strictly
enough. Jer. 17:17-24;
Neh. 13:15-18. Would He then allow the Sabbath to be lost so that they
could not
keep it, and thus
frustrate the very object for which He sent them there?
2. Daniel, the
greatest of all God's
prophets, lived in
Babylon with the captives during the whole of their sojourn there. (See
Dan. 1:1-21; 9:1,
2; Ezra I:1-6, etc.)
Daniel thus having constant communion with God would have corrected his
people had
they been in danger of
losing or forgetting the Sabbath, as he was very jealous for the law of
his God. Dan.
6:5.
3. As soon as the
Jews return to Jerusalem, they solemnly promise God not to violate His
Sabbath any
more; and Nehemiah
reminds them that this was the very sin for which they were sent into
bondage. Neh.
10:31; 13:15-18. 4. It
would not be possible for a whole nation in the short space of seventy
years to forget
and lose the Sabbath,
even though they had no prophets to teach them, which, however, the Jews
did have.
What would we think of
the assertion that the Americans had lost Independence Day within the
last
hundred years, so that
we could not tell when the 4th of July does come? The idea would simply
be laughed
at. Yet the 4th of July
comes only once a year, and hence would be much more easily lost than
the Sabbath,
which comes once every
week, besides being a day much more sacredly observed.
5. The records
and
genealogies were all
carefully kept during this time.
6. On their return, the whole nation is
still found
keeping the Sabbath,
without any disagreement as to which day it was. Neh. 10:31. These facts
show that it
was not lost then.
About 500 years
before Christ, the Jews returned to Judea, and there remained till the
final overthrow of
Jerusalem, seventy
years after the birth of Christ. Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi
prophesied during this
time.
Again the Jews
became a powerful nation, settled in their own land, under the Maccabees
and others. The
Sabbath now comes in
still more prominently. They regarded it so strictly that some of the
time they would
not even defend
themselves in was on that day. 1 Maccabees 2:32-40. (See Josephus.) Of
course there was
no possibility of their
losing the Sabbath at that time. So when Christ came, He found them all
very strict
and over particular in
keeping the 'Sabbath. Matt.' 12:1-12; John 5:5-19.
CHRIST AND THE DISCIPLES KEEP THE SABBATH
Thus we have
carefully traced The Sabbath for over 4,000 years, to the coming of
Christ. Here,
again, we have another
sure way mark: Christ, the Son of God, knew all things. If the Sabbath
had been
lost, He would have
known it, and have corrected it. But He gave no intimation that the Jews
were not
keeping the right day.
He kept the same day that they did. He said it was the Sabbath day, and
He was its
Lord. Mark 2:27, 28. In
Luke 23:54-56 and 24:1, we read thus: 'And that day was the preparation,
and the
Sabbath drew on. And
the women also, which came with Him from Galilee, followed after, and
beheld the
sepulcher, and how His
body was laid. And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and
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.'
Here are several
important declarations: 1. We have the preparation day, which was the
sixth day. Ex.
16:5. 2. Following
this, we have the next day, 'the Sabbath day according to the
commandment.' 3. And the
next day was the first
day of the, week.' This is the language of Inspiration, hence there is
no discount upon
it; therefore that day
was the first day of the week.' Hence, we are still on the right track,
and know that we
have not lost the days
of the week. This fact is made doubly sure by the inspired declaration
that the day
before the first day of
the week was 'the Sabbath day according to the commandment.' Here,
again, we
know that we have the
correct Sabbath day, the one enjoined in the commandment; for
Inspiration says so.
The Sabbath day
'according to the commandment' could be no other day than the one which
that
commandment enjoined,
which we have shown is none other than the very day upon which God
rested.
After this, the Sabbath
is frequently mentioned in Acts. (See chapters 13:15; 15:21 ; 16:13;
17:2; 18:3.) The
last time it is named
is in Revelation 1:10, 96 AD., which brings us to the close of the Bible
and of the first
century. Now we have
spanned 4,100 years of the world's history, and found no place for the
Sabbath to be
lost yet.
THE JEWS BEAR UNANSWERABLE TESTIMONY
But has not time
been lost since 'the year 96 AD., perhaps during the Dark Ages? Let us
see. At the time
of Christ, and ever
since, the Jews were and have been great sticklers for the Sabbath-very
careful in
observing it. In 70
AD., about forty years after the resurrection of Christ, Jerusalem was
destroyed by the
Romans, and the Jews
were led away captive into all nations, thus fulfilling Luke 21:20-24;
Deuteronomy
28:25, 37, 64. Though
eighteen hundred years have passed, the Jews are still a scattered
nation, and yet a
distinct people. In
every country, in every clime, in every nation, and in almost every
city, today may be
found the Jew. During
these eighteen long centuries, under every vicissitude, they have still
tenaciously
clung to the Sabbath.
Every person of intelligence knows that the Jews all keep the Sabbath on
Saturday.
Thus Webster, under the
word 'Sabbath,' says: 'The Sabbath of the Jews is on Saturday.' M. A.
Berk, in his
'History of the Jews,'
page 335, says: 'According to the Jewish computation of time, the day
commences at
sunset. On Friday
evening, and about an hour before sunset on this evening, all business
transactions and
secular occupations
cease, and the twenty-four hours following are devoted to the
celebration of the holy
Sabbath.'
Now that they have
not lost the Sabbath day, but have kept the days of the week correctly,
is easily
demonstrated. Scattered
as widely apart as they have been all this time, had they lost the
correct numbering
of the days of the
week, they would now be found to disagree among themselves as to which
was the true
Sabbath day. Some would
claim that it was Saturday; others, that it was Monday; still others,
that it was
Thursday, etc., etc.
But there is no such disagreement among them, as every one knows. In
Asia and in
Europe, in Africa and
in America, all agree on the same day, namely, Saturday. Now any one can
readily
see that the Jews,
being for eighteen hundred years so widely scattered, even on opposite
sides of the globe,
could not lose the
correct Sabbath, and yet all continue to keep the same day. It would be
'the very height of
absurdity to suppose
that all the millions of the Jews so far separated should lose just the
same number
days, and at the same
time, and in the same direction, that by adding to, or dropping out, a
day or more.
Take a simple
illustration: Seven men go out into the wilderness, hunting. At a
certain point they all
separate, going a
different direction. After several weeks, maybe months, they all meet
again. Now the
question arises, Have
you kept the days of the week correctly, or have they lost the Sunday so
that they
cannot positively tell
when it does come? They begin to compare reckonings. A says, Today is
Monday.
No, says B, today is
Thursday. Both wrong, replies C, today is Sunday. And you are mistaken,
too,
exclaims D, today is
Friday. And thus, to the end, they all differ. This would prove that
they certainly had
lost the day. No one
would question that. But, on the contrary, suppose all unanimously
agreed on the day that
it was Monday, for
instance. It would be as sure as a mathematical demonstration that none
had lost the
day.
So of the Jews.
Their unanimous agreement on the day shows that they have kept it
correctly. None who
are not willingly blind
can fail the see this. We shall, then, put down the five millions of
Jews now in the
world as so many living
witnesses that Saturday is the true seventh-day Sabbath. Indeed, I
believe, and it is
evident, that the
leading object of the Lord in scattering the Jews among all nations and
yet preserving them
a distinct people, was
to make them witnesses of the truth of His word, and to preserve the
knowledge of
His holy Sabbath among
all nations. Their strict and continued observance of the Sabbath in all
ages and
among all nations,
forms an insurmountable argument which cap never be set aside by those
who assert that
the Sabbath has been
lost. God has preserved a whole nation of witnesses, and sent them into
all parts of
the world to bear
testimony to the existence and correct preservation of the knowledge of
His holy Sabbath
day.
CANRIGHT QUOTES RABBI WISE
In response to an
inquiry on this point, addressed to Isaac M. Wise, of Cincinnati, Ohio,
probably the most
learned Jewish Rabbi in
this country, he returned to me the following communication:
Rev. D. M.
Canright.
DEAR SIR:
'There is no
century in authentic history not covered by Jewish tradition. Hence, one
might just as well
argue, Sunday is not
the first day of the week or the third after the crucifixion, or the
Hebrew Bible is not
the literature of the
ancient Jews, or any other fact or facts, as to maintain that the Jews
forgot the order of
the days, when the
Sabbath was so holy to them. . . .
The Jews, having no
names of days, called them first, second, etc., to Sabbath. If they had
forgotten to
count in any one
locality where they were dispersed since 800 B. C, some would have done
it in another
locality, and a dispute
among themselves about the right Sabbath must have occurred.'
With these facts
well considered, the reader will agree with the learned rabbi that it is
an absurdity to
claim that the Sabbath
has ever been lost.
ENTIRE WORLD AGREEMENT ON DAYS OF WEEK
Some two or three
centuries after Christ, Christians began to regard the first day of the
week as a sacred
day. In a short time,
this practice became almost universal among Christians. Christendom is
now divided
into three great
branches; viz., the Greek Church, numbering 66,000,000, the Catholic
Church, numbering
170,000,000, and the
Protestant churches, numbering 88,000,000, making a total number of
324,000,000.
All these have
always been, and are now, unanimous in teaching that Sunday is the first
day of the week,
the resurrection day,
and that Saturday is the old, original, seventh day Sabbath. No one ever
thought of
disputing this fact
till of late, when it is found that there is no proof for first-day
sacredness. But here are
324,000,000 witnesses
who, by their hymns, their prayers, their sermons, their books, their
customs, and all
their traditions, teach
that Sunday is the first, and Saturday the seventh, day of the week.
The Mohammedans, and
long before them the Saracens, adopted the sixth day for their Sabbath.
Numbering 160,000,000,
they all still keep Friday. Gilfillan, in 'The Sabbath,' p. 359, says:
'Before
Mohammed's time, the
Saracens kept their Sabbath on Friday, and from them, he and his
followers adopted
the custom.' Rev.
Robert Morris, who has traveled in Palestine, and written so extensively
concerning the
Holy Land, also
confirms the same fact. (See The Holy Land for January, 1871.) Here,
again, we have
160,000,000 more
witnesses that the days of the week have been correctly kept.
All the laws of
Christendom recognize the fact that Sunday is the first day of the week,
and Saturday the
seventh. Thus, the
Sunday law of Iowa reads: 'If any person be found on the first day of
the week....
engaged in any riot,
fighting,' etc. - 'Statute Law of Iowa, 'Revision of 1860, chap. 175,
art. 2, sec. 1, P. 751.
The venerable old
family Bible, in its time-table, teaches the same thing. It reads thus..
DAYS OF THE WEEK
lst day of the week
Sunday
2d day of the week
Monday
3d day of the week
Tuesday
4th day of the week
Wednesday
5th day of the week
Thursday
6th day of the week
Friday
'7th day of the week,
or Sabbath, Saturday.
Turn to your large
family Bible, and see if it does not so read. So far, then, as we can
rely upon this it corroborates the fact
that Saturday is the old Sabbath, the original seventh day. Could we ask
a better
witness?
Webster's great
dictionary bears its testimony to the same undoubted fact. Thus:
'Sunday, n. First day of
the week.' 'Monday, n.
The second day of the week.' 'Saturday, n. The last day of the week. . .
. the Jewish
Sabbath.' Do all these
great authors have no authority for what they say? Have they all
conspired to tell a
lie?
Take up a family
almanac, and it will teach us the same undoubted and universally
acknowledged truth,
that Saturday is the
original Sabbath day. Look at your almanac and see Sunday marked first
day of the
week, and Saturday the
seventh or last day.
ASTRONOMY BEARS TESTIMONY THAT NO TIME HAS BEEN
LOST
But now the science
of astronomy comes in and settles this whole matter beyond the shadow of
a doubt.
Every one is familiar
with the fact that eclipses of the sun or moon can be so exactly
calculated as to tell to
a minute just when they
will occur, long beforehand. Indeed, they can be calculated a thousand
years ahead
as well as one year. So
they can be calculated backward just as easily. Before the Christian
era, and all
along at different
times since, eclipses have occurred and have been recorded. By
calculating back, it would
soon appear if even one
day had been lost, as the recorded eclipse would not have come when it
ought to.
Such calculations have
been made, and no such loss of time appears.
In answer to a
question upon this point which I addressed to a celebrated astronomer, I
received the
following:
---OGDEN, UTAH, Sept.
24, 1873.
'ELDER D. M.
CANRIGHT: Back computations of eclipses of the sun give the year right.
Since
Ptolemaeus (about 500
B. C.) there cannot be one day lost, because his equinoctiums and those
composed
now back to that time
agree. A change or loss of one minute would be found out in. this way.
(Signed) 'DR. F.
KAMPF,
Astronomer of the U.
S. Corps of Engineers.' This is good testimony from the highest
authority. It shows
that we have positive
scientific proof that not a day has been lost at least since 500 years
before Christ.
Indeed, when we come
to the real matter of fact, it is simply impossible to lose the days of
the
week, even though we
had no almanacs, no records, no histories. Look at the facts in the
case. Take our
own nation, for
example. How could we lose the days of the week? Suppose one family in
town should
forget and lose the
days of the week. Sun comes and they go to work, plowing, washing, etc.
How would it
be before their
neighbors would come along and tell them their mistake? Such instances
do occur; but
seldom does a person
get through the day without discovering his error.
Again, suppose a
whole village should make the same, mistake at the same time, which of
course is
impossible, and all
lose the day of the week. Sunday they all go to work , as usual; stores
are opened, shops
run, etc. Soon, people
from the country come in to meeting and find them all at work. The
result would be
that they would compare
reckonings and count back and see what they had done on each of the last
six
days. In this way the
error would be immediately discovered. And so we might go on with the
illustration.
If one family loses the
day, the whole town is against them, and will correct them; if a whole
town makes
the mistake, the rest
of the country is against them, and would soon correct - them. In short,
the established
rest day in each week
coming so often and being kept by all the people, it is absolutely
impossible to lose it.
No candid person who
will look at the facts can believe that the Sabbath day has ever been
lost. . . .
Was not the Sabbath
day thrown out of its order, was not a day lost, when Joshua commanded
the sun to
stand still? No. The
record says: 'The sun stood still in the midst of the heaven, and hasted
not to go down
about a whole day.'
Joshua 10:12-14. . . . That day was about as long as two ordinary days,
but yet it was
only one day, the sun
set only once. The Lord required us to keep only the seventh day, not
the seventh part
of time. The day is to
be reckoned from sunset to sunset. Gen. 1:5; Lev. 23:32; Deut. 16:6;
Mark 1:32.
Hence this was to be
counted only one day, and in no manner affects the reckoning of the
week. The same
principle holds good in
the case where the sun turned back ten degrees in the time of Hezekiah.
Isa. 38:8. It
appears that this day
also was longer than usual. Yet it was only one day, as in the case of
Joshua.
CHANGE TO THE GREGORIAN CALENDAR
Was not the Sabbath
lost in changing from the Old Style to the New Style of reckoning time?
No. It did
not affect the Sabbath
in the least, one way or the other. But what is Old Style and New Style?
Let us see.
The Julian Calendar,
so called, or that which was established by Julius Caesar, by which
every fourth year
was made to consist of
366 days, and the other years of 365 days, is called Old Style. By this
mode of
computation, the years
were made to average something over eleven minutes too much; so that in
the
course of a few
centuries there would be a perceptible disarrangement of the equinoxes;
i.e., the sun would
actually arrive at an
equinoctial point several days, perhaps, before the time indicated by
the day of the
month on which it
should annually recur. It will be seen that if such a mode of
computation were to be
continued, a complete
displacement of the seasons of the year would eventually be wrought.
Pope Gregory
XIII, 1582 A. D., in
order to correct the equinoxes at that time, or bring back the vernal
equinox to the
same day as at the
Council of Nice, 325 A. D., found it necessary to retrench ten days. He
accordingly
retrenched that number
of days in October, 1582 A. D., which was done by simply calling the
fifth day of
the month the
fifteenth.
This reformation of
the Julian Calendar by Pope Gregory was adopted in Great Britain by act
of
Parliament, 1751 A. D.,
at which time it was necessary to retrench eleven days. Accordingly
eleven days
were retrenched in the
month of September in the following year, simply by reckoning the third
day as the
fourteenth. This method
(by which every year divisible by four, unless it be divisible by 100
without being
divisible by 400, has
366 days, and all other years 365 days) is what is called New Style. By
reckoning
according to this
ingenious mode, there can never occur any perceptible disarrangement of
the equinoxes,
as would continually
occur under the former calendar, or Old Style. (See Thompson's Higher
Arithmetic, p.
157.)
It may be readily
seen that this did not in the least affect the reckoning of the days of
the week. October 5
was simply called
October 15. Suppose that before the change that day was Friday; what day
of the week
would it be after the
change? Would it not be Friday still? Most certainly. The regular
succession of the
days of the week and of
the Sabbath continues to come just the same, whatever change may be made
in the
reckoning of the year
or month.
But why talk about
lost time on that occasion? How was it lost? Do we not know just when it
occurred?
Yes. Do we not know
just how it happened? Yes. Do we not know just how many days were
dropped? Yes.
Is there not an
authentic record of the whole thing? Yes. In the name of common sense,
then, how was any
time lost?
Suppose I have just
one hundred dollars in my pocket. I go into my bedroom, carefully count
out ten
dollars and put it into
the drawer. Then I come out and tell my family that I have lost some
money. They
ask, When? I say,
Today. Where? In the bureau drawer in the bedroom. How much? just ten
dollars. Would
they not say I was
jesting or insane? just so about lost time at the change from Old Style
to New Style.
When was it lost?
October 5, 1582. How much was lost? Ten days. Strange loss this! ...
THE EVIDENCE SUMMED UP
To sum up the
evidence: The Sabbath was given to the head of the human family at
creation; it was
observed by the
patriarchs. Three of whose lives cover the period from Eden to Abraham's
old age, and
hence the knowledge of
the Sabbath was easily handed from father to son. The Sabbath was again
miraculously pointed
out by God, in the falling of the manna at the Exodus. Strictly guarded
by law and
kept by the whole
Jewish nation for eight hundred years; best of evidence is given that it
was not lost in
Babylon. It was
strictly kept for five hundred years till Christ. He gave no intimation
of any loss up to His
time. Taught that it
was the correct Sabbath; positive statement is made by Inspiration that
the Jews had the
days of the week and
the old Sabbath day correct at the death of Jesus; often mentioned in
the New
Testament till 95 AD.
5,000,000 Jews today bear witness that it has not been lost. 60,000,000
Greek
Christians, 170,000,000
Catholics, and 88,000,000 Protestants all agree that Saturday is the old
seventh
day. 160,000,000
Mohammedans agree to the same fact; the laws of the land, the old Family
Bible,
Webster, the almanac
and astronomy, all unanimously agree that no time has been lost, but
that Saturday is
the old Sabbath day.
What proof do they
bring against all this mass of evidence? None whatever. They want it so.
They hope it
is so, and hence assert
that it is so. Time is lost. Why? Because. How do you know? Because it
has been
lost. This is the
evidence, and the only evidence I ever heard. A man's mere assertion
against the evidence
of the world!!
In conclusion,
reader, are you weekly violating God's holy Sabbath under the vain plea
that you cannot tell
when it does come? Is
not this a mere excuse adopted to evade the cross? Are you willing to
risk your soul
upon such a sandy
foundation? Are not the preceding evidences overwhelming that Saturday
is the original
seventh day? Even
granting, which, however, we do not believe is the case, that it is not
positive proof
beyond any doubt, yet
you must admit that, so far as there is any evidence, it all goes to
show that Saturday
is. the original
Sabbath day. Shall we reject all this mass of testimony and retain a day
for which there is
not a particle of
evidence? Will such a course stand 'the test of the judgment? The
Lost-Time Question,
(1873).
Surely the evidence
offered here by Mr. Canright as a Seventh-day Adventist, absolutely
overthrows the
lost time theory of Mr.
Canright as a Baptist. How sad that he should have turned away from this
clear
evidence, of the
continuity of the original seventh-day Sabbath in unbroken succession
from creation to our
day.
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