Chapter 3 - part 5
"If time
had been lost between the wilderness journey and the time of Christ, then
He, the Lord of the Sabbath, while He was here on the earth during the
period of another generation of men, set the world right as to the day of
the Sabbath by keeping strictly during His lifetime the Sabbath kept by
the Jews, the seventh day of the week, commonly called Saturday now. And
from then till now you know it hasn’t been lost, because Sunday has come
down to us as the resurrection day, and if we can locate the first day of
the week we can certainly locate the seventh.
"When it comes
to calendar changes, there has been only one such change since Christ’s
time, that from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar. This was in 1582. No
doubt, since you have mentioned calendar changes, you are quite familiar
with the nature of these changes and can show me how they have affected
the days of the week. My friend, the burden of proof is on you."
"No-o-o, I don’t
know that I can, my good man. I don’t know much about the matter,"
evaded his auditor.
"Well, I do. I
think it is the business of a Bible student to know, — begging your
pardon, as I have great respect for one in your station. But I am
surprised that you would bring this up when you are not conversant with
the true details. As I was saying, there has been only one change in the
calendar during the Christian era. In order to adjust the days to correct
inadequate arrangement for leap years, Thursday, October four, was made to
be followed by Friday, October fifteen. Eleven days were removed from the month,
but the days of the week were not affected in any way. So Saturday
and Sunday came on the same days that they had before. And any good
encyclopedia will inform you that even in all proposed calendar
changes throughout the centuries the change of the weekly cycle of
seven days was never even thought of.
"The idea of
lost time is inconceivable. All records and customs of all nations, some
of them separated from one another for millenniums, coincide: on the days
of the original week. It would be absolutely impossible for the whole
world to lose the same day at the same time and no one know the
difference, for such an unheard-of occurrence would have to happen if time
records had been lost and the world be all agreed today. Also, the science
of astronomy, which can trace back records to the most ancient times by
observation of the heavenly bodies, testifies that our present weekly
cycle ‘is without a doubt the most ancient scientific institution
bequeathed to us by antiquity.’"
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