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.DOF 103.2

“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.DOF 103.3

“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.DOF 103.4

“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:DOF 103.5

“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?DOF 104.1

“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?DOF 104.2

“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.DOF 104.3