J. D. B. News Letter

The objections of the Seventh-day Adventists to the proposed calendar reform which would affect the fixed day of the Sabbath were embodied in a memorial to the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives.

The Executive Committee of the Seventh-day Adventists denomination, representing all the citizens of the United States belonging to this denomination in the memorial declares that the proposed change “will constitute a serious interference with the continuity of all astronomical and historical dates and with the religious customs of all Sabbatarians and with the free exercise of religious convictions-a privilege guaranteed under our matchless Constitution,” and “protest and demonstrate against the plan as submitted in the proposed Joint Resolution changing the long established observance of a fixed holy day each week into a migratory Sabbath every year. We do not remonstrate against the advisability of the holding of an International Conference for the purpose of simplifying the calendar, but against the plan submitted in the said Joint Resolution which interferes with the free running week.

“We object to the submitted plan for the following reasons,” the memorandum continues:

“L. Because, it interferes with the ancient religious customs and traditions of the various religious bodies for the sake of commercial advantage. We are not opposed to calendar changes provided such changes preserve the ancient and divine arrangement of the fixed days of the week. The weekly cycle ordained by the Creator in the very beginning of time, according to the Biblical record, has never been altered, although changes have been made in the calendar from time to time. The days of the months have been changed to establish the correct length of the year, but never in all history is there a single record to be found (with the exception of France, for a short period during its Reign of Terror) where the original week has been changed.

“Economy and commercial advantage are important elements in the business life of a nation, but mercenary gain and progress are not the most important considerations that enter into life. The claims of God upon the soul, and the ancient customs and sanctions of religion which were divinely ordained for all time to come, hold a far more sacred sway over the consciences of God’s faithful children than any commercial consideration of the highest value can possibly hold whenever the spiritual and temporal come into open conflict. Civil government should never attempt to interfere in the free exercise of the conscience in religious matters nor (Continued on Page 4)

should it merely for the sake of facilitating business alter by human legislation religious customs established by divine authority.

“2 Because, this commercial calendar which proposes to drop the 365th day of each year and an extra leap-year-day every fourth year out of the general reckoning of time as nameless zero days, and stipulates that they shall be observed as extra holidays and not be reckoned among the days of the week, would not only make Sunday, the first day of the week now observed conscientiously by millions of Christians in honor, as they believe of the resurrection of Christ a movable and therefore a farcical memorial, but it would also, if followed, nullify the holy Sabbath of the God of heaven the original seventh day of the week, which He commanded to be observed forever in honor of His creative and redemptive power. This proposed calendar makes no difference between the holy and the profane, between the sacred and the common days of the week, and thus robs God of His rightful authority to make and set apart holy days as distinct from secular days. God Himself put a difference between the days of the week upon which secular labor and business might be transacted, and the seventh day of the week which He hallowed, sanctified and blessed. The divine law says. The Lord blessed the seventh day.” God’s blessing on that specific day made it entirely different from the other days of the week and the obligation to observe the seventh lay of the week as holy time was strictly enforced by divine commandment and God has never delegated to any human authority the perogative to change His divine institutions.

“While the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness, God performed a three-fold miracle on every seventh day of the week for a period of forty years, to reach His children that He Himself made a difference between the secular days of the week and the holy Sabbath which was to be commemorated forever as the memorial of His created works. What God has so significantly set apart as holy should not be lightly esteemed by man as a thing of naught.

“3. Because, the proposed calendar as set forth in the plan of the Joint Resolution, if made effective by law, would trample upon the religious rights of all Sabbatarians, and would inevitably lead to the persecution of all non-conformists. Under our compulsory school laws, the children of Sabbatarians would be compelled to attend public school on their Sabbath days, or the parents would be subjected to fines and imprisonment. This proposed legislation would in fact, destroy the religious freedom the Sabbaturian now enjoys in sending his children to Sabbath-school and church on the particular day he regards as holy. The proposed plan would completely demoralize and disarrange the normal educational, professional, business and industrial activities of conscientious Sabbath-Keepers since under the proposed calendar the Sabbath would fall each successive year on a different day of the week.

“4. Because, while it may be possible for astronomers, historians, chronologists, and observers of anniversaries, memorial days, birthdays, wedding days, etc, to work out, with considerable extra effort, their true dates in terms of the proposed calendar yet, to your petitioners the problem is one of conscientious conviction based on a fixed weekly memorial established by divine authority which therefore cannot be changed by any individual or by any constituted human authority.

“5. Because, if religion is exempt from the jurisdiction of civil authority, much less can the legislative body exalt its mandates above the authority of God, and trample upon the sacred convictions of its conscientious citizens. The Sabbatarians who have suffered and sacrificed unto blood in all past ages in their loyalty to God’s divine commandment to keep the true Sabbath holy and to preserve it from being lost from one generation to another without a break in its continued observance, cannot be expected to surrender their sacred heritage and their religious conviction now. There are millions of orthodox Jews and hundreds of thousands of orthodox Christians who still observe the ancient Sabbath, and they will continue as they have done aforetime in spite of any human laws to the contrary. If Seventh-day. Adventists, Seventh-day Baptists, and the orthodox Jews would follow the migratory Sabbath as proposed in the new calendar, they would vitiate every reason for their existence as Sabbatarians. It is inconceivable that these conscientious people will now surrender their religious convictions for the sake of mercenary gain. This proposed change would necessitate the bringing in of two calendars, and would result in confusion and division where there is now peace and harmony. The conscientious Sabbatarian would properly refuse to follow the migratory Sabbath as he would still observe the seventh day of the unbroken weekly cycle, and so, in 1934 the Sabbatarian would observe the seventh day of the original week on Friday; in 1935 on Thursday; and in 1936, it being a leap year, he would be compelled to observe it on Tuesday according to the reckoning of the new calendar if it is adopted and made effective in 1933 as is contemplated in the Joint Resolution.

“For the reasons herein presented, we earnestly protest against the changes suggested in the calendar as proposed in the Joint Resolution.”