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.