CE73 ^ ^ w 4 o \V w vO* ^ v^v?v* \^S\* r \ ,0- ^°^ Y<* ^ ^5°^ ^ Ancient Calendars nrieut Calendars A BROCHURE Showing the Unity of Ancient Hebrew and Christian Rest Days by ALEXANDER S. BACON of ths New York Bar Author of "The Woolly Horse/' "The Illegal Trial of Christ," '• Mohammed and Islam," "Masonic Nobility," Etc. ELMIRA, N. Y. The Elmira Printing Company Inc. October 2 1915 PRICE FIFTY CENTS Foreword In reading 'Ancient Calendars' one is given just cause to ask : Why have these facts never been discov- ered and advanced before? It is known that since Time began there have al- ways been different ways of dividing and designating the various periods of time. There are even now in ex- istence numerous calendars relating to years, months, and weeks, beginning and ending at varying times, all intricate, unscientific and bewildering. This is explained by the fact that the ancients did not know the exact astronomical length of the year and month, and modern nations have been slow to utilize modern exact astro- nomical information. Modern science and centuries of experience have demonstrated the fact that men, animals and even the land require rest one seventh of the time. The Bible proclaimed this fact of nature ages ago and the experience of men during all the centuries has confirmed it. The returns of the Spring- time and the new moon were patent facts of obser- vation by the ancients and were certain, but no known connection between the weekly rest day and the Solar lunar cycles could be found. No wonder, then, that Ancient Calendars were confusing and unscientific. But, with the triumphs of science and the com- pleteness of modern historic research we can, and should, emerge from the customs of the unscientific past and adopt such systems of measuring time, as well as weights, measures, distances, etc., as shall conform to our modern exact information. The keenly analytical mind of the Author, backed by years of study and research, has given to the world in 'A Scientific Calendar' that will come to be known as the only exact universal method of measuring Time. Anything which tends to unify the human race, anything tending to bring all nations, tongues and peo- ples into the observance of a common rest day, makes for the dawn of the Millenium, which is but the univer- sal ushering in of the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man. The work of Colonel Bacon will, in my estimation, mark an epoch, not merely an incident, in the world's development. THEODORE KHARAS Pref ace We offer the following brochure in connection with the present agitation for a simplified and scientific calendar — as simple and scientific as the decimal system. Seeing an interview in a New York newspaper by a distinguished Jewish savant, on the staff of Col- umbia University, wherein it was suggested that the religious differences between Jew and Christian in re- lation to the Sabbath (Saturday) and the Lord's Day (Sunday) were so marked that neither would yield on a matter of so distinctive and all important a religious tenet, the writer wrote an answer to this religious ob- jection, demonstrating that a knowledge of the ancient Hebrew calendar would show that such a religious difference does not exist, and that there is no religious reason why the two holy rest days should not be united under a new, scientific calendar which should conform, largely to the Ancient Hebrew calendar. The writer having theretofore prepared an article on this same subject (first published herewith, Part II) , this letter to The New York Sun (Part I) was prepared from it, and a copy sent to the distinguished Profes- sor, who replied that the letter had convinced him of his error, and of the truth of its arguments. Indeed, we know of no one versed in Hebrew lore and Jewish history who has not confirmed the facts, after a care- ful examination. It will surprise many to know: 1. That the Egyptian day called "Sunday" was the Creation Rest day. (This demonstration may not be complete; the inference is strong). 2. That the "Seventh Day," the rest and feast day of the Hebrews, was not a fixed day of the week, but their Sabbaths were fixed days of the year. Every first day of the year, determined by observation of the Springtime moon, was a Sabbath, and every 8th day thereafter, with a double — 48 hour — Sabbath at Pen- tecost. This method of determining the beginning of the year by visual observation continued until the Jewish nation was destroyed, the Jewish race nearly annihil- ated, and its remnants scattered into the deserts of Arabia and the forests beyond the Danube, by the Romans, in the year 70 A. D. It was not till, probably, the fourth century of our era that the Jews fixed upon the Egyptian day called "Saturday" as a fixed weekly day of rest. This brochure is published with a hope that it may help to bring about an understanding between Jew and Christian to combine their holy days, each following the example of the early Jews, and not the example of their hated Roman masters, as each is now doing. Worshiping the same God (Jehovah), on the same day, and understanding one another better, may not dis- graceful persecutions cease, and may not the Christian hope be realized in a redeemed world where all races shall worship the One God and His Divine Son, having one holy day as a distinguishing badge of their wor- ship? ALEXANDER S. BACON. 46 Cedar street, New York City, June 1, 1915. PART I (From the New York Sun, July 2, 1911) A SCIENTIFIC CALENDAR A Reform which Adds the Thirteenth Month of "LIBERTY." Editor, New York Sun : recent issue of The Times tells of an agitation on foot to reform our calendar, so that a given date may always fall on the same day of the week; and it was stated that the principal opposition to the reform is religious. I un- derstand that some convention is to meet this summer, in Europe, to take the matter under advisement. This religious opposition comes from an entire misconcep- tion of Scripture. The change would not violate the Fourth Commandment, but would, on the contrary, be a return to ancient Hebrew methods of computing time. Our present difficulty arises from the fact that there is no common divisor of 3651,4, 29% and 7, the approximate lengths of the year, month and week. The following would be an ideal calendar: Let there be 13 months of 28 days each (364 days) ; let 15 ANCIENT CALENDARS each year, month and week begin on Sunday, "the first day of the week ;" let the last day of the year be a dies non — or better, be a double Sabbath of 48 hours. By this arrangement, the day of the month in any year would always indicate the day of the week. That is, the tenth day of every month would t>e the second Tuesday of the month, and if one made an engage- ment for the 19th of any month, he would know that it would fall on Thursday. Let the new month be placed between June and July, and thus be the keystone of the arch of months, and be named "Liberty" in honor of the People, not of some Emperor, as were the last two interpolated months, July and August. Leap year could be provided for by another double Sunday, say in the middle of the year. Such a scientific calendar would be as simple and convenient as the decimal sys- tem and would practically be a reversion to the old Jewish calendar. While the Egyptians named the days of their week, the Jews numbered them only, the first day of the week being always the day after the weekly Sab- bath. Fifteen different methods of Sabbath counting are known to have existed during the last 4,000 years, including every day of the week, weeks of different and varying lengths, from six to ten days, and months of various and varying lengths. Sabbath keeping appears in history soon after the Babel confusion, among all the scattered nations, and when Israel left Egypt, there were five known methods of Sabbath counting. The ancient Hebrew calendar was the nearest approach to a scientific calendar of any of which we have any record. Over 3,600 years ago, the Egyptian astronomers adopted the present week of seven days, wholly dis- associated from the lunar or solar cycles. The Chri^ 16 ANCIENT CALENDARS tian week is exactly like it except that its first day is Sunday, not Friday; both are as unscientific as possible, in so far as their relations to the month and the year are concerned. The modern Jewish calendar had its origin, not in the Hebrew Age (beginning with the Exodus under Moses and ending with the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus in the year A. D. 70), but, probably, about the fourth Century of our era, after the Jews had recover- ed from the shock of the destruction of their capital city, and their dispersion and attempted annihilation by Titus. It was not until this comparatively modern date that the present Jewish calendar established their Sabbaths on Saturday as a fixed day of the week, and not, as in ancient times, on fixed days of the year. (See Jewish Enc, vol. 3, titles, "Calendar, History of;" "Calendars"). It will surprise many to learn that it has been de- monstrated cogently that the day called Sunday by the Egyptians was the creation Sabbath, and kept as such during the Patriarchal period until lost in the confusion of tongues at Babel; that during the Hebrew period (Moses to Christ) the Sabbath was not a fixed day of the week, but a moveable holy day, changing each year, like our Fourth of July, and that, in the Christian era, it was changed to a fixed day of the week, by both Jew and Christian, following the custom of their Roman masters. As already sugggested, the Jews did not name the days; they numbered them. Sabbath means "ces- sation" or "rest," and the same word is applied to peri- ods of five different lengths: (1) a rest in one day (Ex- odus xx, 8-11; Deut. v, 12-15) ; (2) a rest of two days in length (Lev. xxiii, 15, 16, 21, et seq.) ; (3) a rest pe- riod of one year (Lev. xxv, 4, 5, 8, et seq) ;. (4) a rest period of two years (Lev. xxv, 8-12 et seq.) ; (5) a rest 17 ANCIENT CALENDARS of 70 years (2 Chron. xxxvi, 21). The word translated "Sabbath" was never used to designate any day of the week, having any particular name ; it was the "seventh" day. The Hebrew calendar was founded upon, but im- proved, the ancient Egyptian calendar from which it was taken. On fleeing from Egypt, they changed the beginning of their civil year from the autumnal equi- nox (September 22) to the vernal equinox (March 21) (Ex. xii, 1). They retained the 30-day month, but in- stead of adding five days at the end of the year, they added 3 days at the end of the sixth month, and two days at the end of the twelfth month. Seven supple- mentary days, or one week, were added about every 28 years to provide for our leap years. This would keep their scientific Day of Rest one day in seven, in touch with their unscientific month of thirty days which was as near as they could get to the lunar month of 291/2 days. On fixed certain days of the year labor had to be done; these days could, therefore, never fall on the Sabbath Day in any year during the Jewish dispensa- tion, for no servile work was to be done on any Sab- bath, while these days were to be devoted to butcher- ing, housecleaning, harvesting, etc. (Ex. xii, 3, 5, 6, 24; Lev. xxiii, 5). Certain fixed days were required to be Sabbath days, including the 1st, 8th and 15th days of Abib (first month) and the 4th, 5th and 12th days of Sivan (third month). The fixed days for labor and rest indicated in the Bible enable us to construct a Jewish calendar. Moses placed the shew bread on the tables the first day of the second year (Ex. xl, 17, 22, 23) ; this was to be done on every Sabbath Day (Lev. xxiv 8) ; and the first day of every 8th month is a Sabbath (Lev. xxiii, 24), i. e., the Sabbaths were on fixed days of the year, not on a fixed day of the week. 18 ANCIENT CALENDARS Mr. Gamble has demonstrated this fact beyond any controversy, and his book and its chart have been submitted to the most scientific Jewish, Protestant and Catholic scholars and divines, and all, who were skep- tical at first, finally confirmed his demonstration, i. e., the first day of every week of every year was a Sab- bath, and every 8th day thereafter was a Sabbath. This very desirable arrangement was accomplished by making the Pentecost [50th day after Abifo, 15, (the Passover)] a double Sabbath or rather a Sabbath of 48 hours in length, and then starting a new week, on a new day, thus skipping a clay and making 52 weeks equal 365 instead of 364 days. Both the 4th and 5th days of Si van, the third month, (Penticost) were rest days or Sabbaths. We learn from Lev. xxiii, 16, 16, 21, that the 49th day after the Passover was a Sabbath. So was the 50th day, Pentecost, a "Holy convocation unto you : ye shall do no servile work therein ; it shall be a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations." This fact of a double Sabbath Penticost has been overlooked or misunderstood for centuries. It is well known that every seventh year was a Sabbath year when the land had rest (Lev. xxv, 2-7), but on the 49th and 50th years the land had a double Sabbath year — or a two-years' rest — and on the 50th year, the Jubilee year, every alienated inheritance re- verted to the heirs (Lev. xxv, 8-11; 20-22). The an- alogy of the Jubilee, or 50th year and Penticost, the 50th day, and the double Sabbath and the double Sab- bath rest years is complete ; and it seems strange that the plain reading of Lev. xxiii, 15, 16, 21, did not, for so long a time, reveal the fact that both the 49h and 50th days after the Passover constituted a single, elon- gated Sabbath. 19 ANCIENT CALENDARS Space cannot properly be taken to demonstrate fully the following facts : " Dion Cassius (A. D. 155-240) says that the Jews left Egypt on Saturday, the day after the Egyptian Sabbath or "day of assembly," and we know from Num. xxiii, 3, that this departure was on Abib 15. The first Pentecost (the 50th day thereafter) would thus come on the Egyptian Sunday, and the fact of the double Sabbath at Pentecost and the fixing of the Sabbath as the first day of each year, would make the Jewish Sabbath come on each day of the modern week in every seven years. That is, during the firsty ear after the first Pentecost, the Sabbaths would fall on Sundays, if the present method of naming days had prevailed ; the next year on Mondays, and so on. Every 7th year it would again be on Sunday, and in 1680 years (7 by 240) it would be on Saturday, i. e., according to the modern reckoning, the Sabbath would be on Saturday at the time of the crucifixion. It will be remembered that the Sab- bath was never called "Saturday" but the 7th day." During the first year after the first Pentecost {double Sabbath) after the crucifixion the Christian Sunday and the Jewish Sabbath would coincide. For three Centuries, the Christians and Jews, with their seven-day week, and the Romans, with their eighth-day week, were struggling for supremacy. The exacttime when the Jews adopted their modern calendar, placing the Sabbath on Saturday as a fixed day of the week, and not on fixed days of the year, is uncertain. Some place it in the second century; some place it at a later date. (Jewish Enc.) It is well known that the Roman rest-day was one day in eight; that Constantine, the first Christian Emperor, first legalized the Christian Sabbath in the 4th Century when he put it on an equality with the Pagan Nun- 20 ANCIENT CALENDARS dinae. Up to the time of Theodosius the Great, the two week-methods were on an aqual footing, and the Eoman calendars represented both by placing in par- allel columns the 8 Nundinal letters A-H and the 7 week letters A-G. Theodosius finally abrogated the Eoman week in the 4th Century. It is a noticeable fact that according to the accepted chronology there were just 1680 years between the Exodus and the Resurrection. 1680 divided by 7 gives 240, hence there were 240 septenary revolutions, and under the Jewish system each day of the Egyptian week with its days "named" would have been called a Sabbath day 240 times. The Jews left Egypt on Saturday, the day upon which Pharoah issued the emancipation proclamation. (Dion Cassius.) After 1680 years we find the Sabbath again on Saturday. The death by crucifixion was at three o'- clock on Friday (some claim it was Thursday), the very day and hour on which the blood was placed on the doorposts of Egypt; and after remaining in the tomb over the Sabbath ("the feast of the Passover,") as Moses had remained in the mountain with God, the Saviour returned on the Sunday and announced a new Sabbath as Moses had done before him. The analogy is striking. After the destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70, A. D., the scattering of the weak Christian church, the annihilation of the Jewish nation, and the attempt- ed annihilation of the Jewish race, it is not surprising that the scattered Christians should gradually, if not unconsciously, have given up the celebration of the Lord's Day on fixed days of the year, and conformed to the custom of the people with whom they mingled, in celebrating a fixed week-day, which they held in commemoration of the resurrection, the great event in Christian theology. 21 ANCIENT CALENDARS The persecution of the Christians by brutal Romans, begun under Nero, continued through many genera- tions ; and, unfortunately, the persecutions of the Jews continued for centuries thereafter, even to this day, not at the hands of brutal Romans, but of brutalized Christians who have forgotten the teachings of the humble Nazarene and the forgiving character of the early martyrs in the primitive church. It is no wonder, then, that during those trying times, the Jews thought more of preserving their lives than of preserving their calendars that were in the custody of the priests, and that they, too, after a few centuries, unwittingly adopt- ed a fixed weekly Sabbath, forgetting the scientific Sabbath of their fathers. All students of Jewish theology know that for cen- turies the first day of the year and consequently the first Sabbath of the year was determined by the priests by observation of the new Springtime moon, and that, as soon as seen, signal fires telegraphed the hour to all parts of Palestine. When the Samaritans, from pure ugliness, interfered with these signals by false fires, swift messengers were substituted. After the destruc- tion of the city, A. D. 70, this method of determining the new year was necessarily abolished and in the course of time, more exact astronomy took the place of visual lunar observation; and it was not until after some centu- ries of dispersion that the Jews gathered themselves together, re-established their ordinances and adopted a seven-day week, forgetting the double-Sabbath at Pen- tecost, and conformed to the Christian method of reck- oning time, which, in turn, had theretofore followed in the suit of the 8-day fixed week of the Romans. Of all calendars, ancient and modem, none is so nearly scientific as that of the ancient Hebrews, and all civilized nations have appreciated the benefits- — in- deed the absolute necessity — of the Hebrew Sabbaths. 22 ANCIENT CALENDARS Without doubt, one day's rest in seven meets the re- quirements of man, as it meets the requirements of God. In the old Jewish theocracy, church and state were one, and the civil and religious laws emanated from the same source. The thoughts suggested in this letter may startle some ; they have startled others. But, as already stat- ed, no scientific theologian has doubted Dr. Gamble's demonstration of this argument, after examining it thoroughly, i. e. the Jewish Sabbaths from Moses to Christ were on fixed days of the year, the first day and every eighth day thereafter being a Sabbath with a forty-eight hour Sabbath at Penticost. In reforming the calendar, let us reform it scien- tifically. There can be no improvement upon the old Jewish method, except the introduction of a 13th month; and let the key-stone of a perfect calendar be named "Liberty." This change by adding a 13th month would have been no particular advantage to the old Hebrews, for they numbered their days, but, inasmuch as we have had fixed upon us the old Egyptian method of naming days, a simply perfect calendar could be devised as indicated in this letter, and when Jews and Christians alike thoroughly understand the old Jewish method of determining the Sabbath days, there can be no re- ligious scruples on the part of either Jew or Gentile in making that change. The same God that fixed a rest day one day in seven, also made 365, not 364 days in the year, but he provided for this difference by giving to Moses a scientific method of fixing the day. It was left to the ignorance of His children through long cen- turies of persecution, to forget exact scientific methods and perpetuate their unholy differences by the cele- bration of different holy days. 23 ANCIENT CALENDARS There is no reason why the Jews and Christians should quarrel over their Day of Rest. They should be the same day. ALEXANDER S. BACON. Our present New Year's Day on January 1st, is comparatively recent. In B. C. 46 (Roman Era 708) Ancient Calendars were in hopeless confusion owing to their inexact knowledge of the length of the year and the month. Festivals wandered about the year, and the seasons went awry. The civil equinox was three months earlier than the astronomical. Generally speaking, New Year's day was supposed to be at the vernal or autumnal equinox. Julius Ceasar, then at the plentitude of his world-wide power, iixed the year at 36514 days and changed New Years from March 25th to January 1. The change was easy; the world obeyed when its autocrat spoke. In A. D. 1582, astronomy had determined that the year's length was not 365 days 6 hours, but 365 days 5 hours 49 minutes, 12 seconds (The Gregorian year) which exceeds the true solar year by 26 seconds, an error so slight that it only amounts to a day in 3323 years. The Julian calendar was 10 days too slow, and Pope Gregory XIII decreed that October 5 should be October 15, and established our modern calendar with appropriate leap years. Roman Catholic countries obeyed at once, but England did not conform to this more scientific calendar till the Calendar Amendment Act of 1751, which changed the beginning of the legal year from March 25th to January 1st, and otherwise conformed to the Gregorian Calendar. Russia and Greece still adhere to the Julian Calendar, and are now 12 days behind the times. The division of the day into 24 hours and the week 24 ANCIENT CALENDARS into 7 days have prevailed from the remotest ages, although the seven-day week was not used by the Greeks, nor by the Romans, before the reign of Theo- dosius in the fourth Century of our era. Note: The above letter was dictated from an un- published article, written some years before. The Article is somewhat fuller than the letter, and is print- ed, as Part II, at the risk of some repetition, which seems warranted, as the repetitions serve to emphasize a subject of highest importance. This discussion may aid in breaking down one barrier between Jews and Christians who worship the same God (Jehovah) and who, it is sincerely hoped, at some time, may sink all their differences, having learned to appreciate the fact that God is known to men through His Holy Book and that His character is illumined and revealed in the life of His divine Son. Certainly a better knowledge of these facts of an- cient history will tend to suppress horrible persecu- tions, and, to break down race distinctions that have disgraced, and are still disgracing, our boasted Chris- tian civilization. 25 PART II ANCIENT CALENDARS I. The day of the week named Sunday by the ancient Egyptians was, probably, the Sabbath of Eden and the Patriarchal Age, until lost in the confusion of tongues at Babel. 2. The Sabbaths of the Hebrew period — Moses to Christ — occurred on fixed days of the year and not upon any fixed day of the week, changing annually like our New Years and 4th of July. j. Saturday was not adopted by the Jews as their Sabbath day until some centuries after the destruction of Jerusalem — until after they had recovered from the attempted annihilation of their race by the Romans. Modern research has brought to light much new in- formation concerning ancient customs. These research- es are not only based on recent discoveries upon the sites of long forgotten cities, but upon the more in- telligent and scientific application of facts long known. No fiercer conflicts have been waged than upon the subject of ancient calendars and the proper day of the week for the celebration of the Sabbath or "rest day." This knowledge has been within reach for cen- turies, yet never until recently has it been sufficiently well digested to determine the exact facts. 27 ANCIENT CALENDARS When God in His infinite wisdom, sought to set aside a chosen people to become the recipients of His rev- elation and the channel through which to bless the world in the person of His Son, He first sent them to school in Egypt, the cradle and center of ancient civili- zation. Knowledge, unless embedded in correct re- ligious beliefs and a code of good morals, does not de- velop an exalted private or national character, and the wise men of Egypt, while excellent schoolmasters in science, literature and art, were anything but models to be followed in religion and morals ; they were wise, but irreligious and immoral, according to our standards of morality based upon the Jewish and Christian scrip- tures. God, therefore, while training His chosen people in Egyptian learning, relieved them from temptations of a corrupt and irreligious environment, by suffering them to become slaves. They absorbed Egyptain learn- ing without the corrupting influences of Egyptain manners. The advanced learning of the ancient Egyptians in astronomy and mathematics is no longer a subject of doubt. They knew that the year was, approximately 365% days in length and the lunar month 29% days. The week of seven days was already old, and the physical, mental, moral and economical, advantages of a rest day- — one day in seven — were fully appreciated even if its divine origin was forgotten. They knew that seven was not an exact divisor of 29, 30, or 365, and they, therefore, wholly disassociated the week from their civil and astronomical divisions of time. The Egyptain year began with the autumnal equinox (Sep- tember 22). It was divided into 12 months which were invariably of thirty days each, with five supple- mental days added at the end of the twelfth month. (1) [For references see end of article]. Leap years > 28 ANCIENT CALENDARS were duly provided for. The day was divided into 24 hours. The days of the week were named, taking their names from the planets, of which seven were known to the Egyptains. These planets, were, in the order of their distance from the earth, (I) Saturn, (II) Jupiter, (III) Mars, (IV) The Sun, (V) Venus, (VI) Mercury, and (VII) The Moon. The planets ruled over every hour of the day in the order named, and the day was named after the planet that ruled over its first hour. Thus, Saturn, the most distant planet, ruled over the first hour of the first day of the first month; hence DAY ONE was called "the day of Saturn" (Saturday). Jupiter, the next most dis- tant, ruled over the second hour of the first day, and so on, throughout the 24 hours, Mars ruling over the 24th hour. This would bring the Sun as the ruling planet of the first hour of the second day ; hence DA YTWO was called "the day of the Sun" (Sunday) . In like maimer, in succession, DAY THREE was "the day of the Moon" (Monday) ; DAY FOUR "the day of Mars" (Saxon, TIW) — (Tuesday) ; DAY FIVE "the day of Mercury" (Saxon, "WODEN"— Wednesday) ; DAY SIX, "the day of Jupiter" (Saxon "THOR"— Thursday) and DAY SEVEN, "the day of Venus" (Saxon "FREIA"-Friday). The 24th hour of the seventh day was ruled over by the Moon, and the first hour of the eighth day by Saturn again, and so on indefinitely. Friday, the seventh day of the week was the Egyptian "day of assembly" ; and Friday was the rest-day or the Sabbath of both the Egyptians and their slaves in bondage. (1) While the Egyptians namedthe days of their week, the Jews number d them only, the first day of the week being always the day after the weekly Sabbath. (2) Fifteen different methods of Sabbath counting are 29 ANCIENT CALENDARS known to have existed during the last 4000 years, in- eluding every day of the week, weeks of different and varying le n gths, from 6 to 10 days, and months of various and varying lengths. Sabbath keeping appears in history soon after the Babel confusion, among all the scattered nations, and when Israel left Egypt there were live known methods of Sabbath counting: 3 sys- tems which located Sabbaths on fixed dates in each month; one system dependent upon the phases of the moon ; the Egyptian system, a fixed day of the week — Friday; and for the first seven weeks of the Exodus, the Hebrews kept Saturday. Over 3600 years ago, the Egyptian astronomers adopted the present week of seven days, whooly dis- associated from the lunar or solar cycles. The Chris- tian week is exactly like it except that its first day is Sunday, not Saturday. The modern Jewish calendar had its origin not in the Hebrew Age, (beginning with the Exodus under Moses and ending with the destruc- tion of Jerusaleum by Titus in the year A. D. 70), but, probably, about the third Century of our era, after they had recovered from the shock of the destruction of their capital city, their dispersion by Titus, and the attempt- ed annihilation of their race by the Romans. It was not until this comparatively modern date that the pres- ent Jewish calendar established their Sabbath on Satur- day, a fixed day of the week. (2) It can scarcely be said that the ancient Egyptian, or the modern Christian, or Jewish calendar, is the most scientific, because each can be improved. If we should divide each year into 13 months of 28 days each, with an extra Sunday at New Years (13 x 28 plus 1 equals 385) , we should always have the same day of the month upon the same day of the week, and all reckonings would be simplified. We will show presently that the ancient Hebrew calendar was the nearest approach to ANCIENT CALENDARS this scientific calendar of which we have any record. The object of this discussion is not so much to consider the rest-day of the Patriarchal Age or of the modern Christian and Jewish Age, as that of the Hebrew Age from the Exodus to the destruction of Jerusalem; and the recent studies of the Rev. Samuel Walter Gamble, Field Secretary of the Lord's Day Alliance, in his work entitled "Sunday" the true Sab- bath of God," (Eaton & Mains, New York), have thrown a flood of light upon this subject, and his deductions have met with the approval of the most learned Jewish and Christian scholars. It will surprise many to learn that it has been demonstrated cogently that the day called Sunday by the Egyptians was the creation Sabbath, and kept as such during the Patriarchal period until lost in the con- fusion of tongues at Babel; that during the Hebrew period (Moses to Christ) the Sabbath was not a fixed day of the week, but a movable holy day, changing each year like our fourth of July ; that, in the Christian era, it was changed back to a fixed day of the week ; and that our Sunday, the last day of the Patriarchal week, become the Sabbath again. As already suggested, the Jews did not name the days; they numbered them. Sabbath means "cessa- tion" or "rest," and the same word is applied to the periods of five different lengths: I, A rest of one day (3) ; II, a rest of two days in length, (4) ; III. a rest period of one year (5) ; IV, a rest period of two years (6) ; V, and a rest of 70 years (7). The word trans- lated "Sabbath" was never used to designate any par- ticular day of the week. The Hebrew calendar was founded upon, but im- proved, the ancient Egyptian calendar, from which it was taken. On fleeing from Egypt, they changed the beginning of their civil year from the autumnal equi- 31 ANCIENT CALENDARS nox (September 22) to the vernal equinox (March 21) (8). They retained the 30-day month, but instead of adding 5 days at the end of the year, they added 3 days at the end of the 6th month and two days at the end of the 12th month. Seven supplementary days, or one week, were added about every 28 years to provide for our leap year. Abib, the seventh month of the Egyptian year, became the first month of the Hebrew year, (9), Abib 1, being March 21; and on Abib 16 (April 5) occurred the first day of the new harvest, which, in the Jordan Valley with its fixed climate, was a practically un- changing event. (10) Abib 10, 14 and 16 were, in each year, days on which labor must be done; these days could, there- fore, never fall on the Sabbath day in any year during the Jewish dispensation, (11) for no servile work was to be done on any Sabbath, while these days were to be devoted to butchering, housecleaning, harvesting, etc. Abib 1, 8, .15, 22 and 29; Iyar (2nd month) 6, 13, 20 and 27; Sivan (3rd month) 4, 5, and 12; and Tisri (7th month) 1, 8, 15, and 22, were required to be Sabbath days. Abib 15, the Passover, the day be- fore the first ripe sheaf of the harvest was ready to be waved, (12) was a "high day" or the chief Sabbath in each year. These fixed days enable us to construct the Jewish calendar wherein, among others, the first day (Abib 1) of every year is a Sabbath, (13) and the first day of every seventh month is a sabbath, (14), i. e. the Sab- baths were on fixed days of the year, not on a fixed day of the week. Mr. Gamble's chart illustrates the Jew- ish calendar beyond controversy. This very desirable arrangement was accomplished by making the Pente- cost (50th day after the Passover, Abib 15) a double Sabbath, or rather a Sabbath of 48 hours in length, and 32 ANCIENT CALENDARS then starting a new week, on a new day, thus skipping a day and making 52 weeks equal 365, instead of 384 days. We learn from Lev. XXIII, 15, 16, 21, that the 49th day after the Passover was a Sabbath ; so was the 50th day, Pentecost, a "Holy convocation unto you: ye "shall do no servile work therein : it shall be a statute "forever in all your dwellings throughout your gen- "erations." This fact of a double Sabbath has been overlooked or misunderstood for centuries. It is well known that every seventh year was a Sabbath year when the land had rest; (15) but on the 49th and 50th years the land had a double Sabbath year — or a two year rest — and on the 50th year, the Jubilee year, every alienated inheritance reverted to the heirs. (16) The analogies between the Jubilee or 50th year and Pentecost, the 50th day, and the dou- ble Sabbath, and the double Sabbath rest years are complete. It has long been understood — indeed it has not been questioned — that the first rest year was the sev- enth after the fiftieth or Jubilee year, i. e. it was count- ed from the fiftieth not the forty-ninth year, else there would have been five, not six, harvest years following the Jubilee year. And it seems rather strange that the plain reading of Lev. XXIII 15, 16, 21, did not, for so long a time, reveal the fact that both the forty-ninth and fiftieth days after the Passover constituted a sin- gle, elongated Sabbath. Thus we see that the Jewish Sabbaths were fixed days of the year, like our New Years and 4th of July, and not like our Thanksgiving on a fixed day of the week. We learn from Dion Cassius, the Roman historian (A. D. 155 (?) — 240 (?) ) that the Jews left Egypt on 33 ANCIENT CALENDARS Saturday, the day after the Egyptian Sabbath or "day of assembly," and we learn from Num. XXXIII, 3, that this departure was on Abib 15. From the fourth Com- mandment, as recorded in Exodus XXII, 8-11, the Sab- bath day was to be kept holy because "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" and as recorded in Deut. V, 12-15, it was to be kept holy because they were to "remember that thou wast a servant in the land of "Egypt, and the .Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the Lord thy God com- manded thee to keep the Sabbath day." 9 One covenant commemorates creation, the other emanciaption. Why this difference? Here is the theory of Mr. Gamble: the Jews left Egypt on Saturday. This would make the first Pente- cost (the 50th day thereafter) on Sunday. "In the third month ** the same day" (i. e. the third day of the month) they entered the wilderness of Sinai, and Moses "went up unto God." (17) The third day of the third month (Sivan 3) was Friday, and on that day Moses went up into the mountain. He stayed there that day and the next (the forty-ninth day from the Passover) and on the third day (the fiftieth) he returned to the people. During these first seven weeks, the Jews had kept Satur- day, not Friday, as a holy day on accaunt of their in- tense antipathy to their Egyptian oppressors. Moses went up into the mountain the day before the seventh Sabbath (forty-ninth day). He came down on the fiftieth day (Pentecost) and when Moses spoke the ten Commandments as recorded in Exodus, he required the six days of labor to begin on the following day, which would be our Monday. Let it be remembered that while the Jews were 34 ANCIENT CALENDARS slaves in Egypt they kept Friday, the Egyptian Sabbath. Upon their flight from Egypt, they made Saturday their Sabbath, but on receiving the Ten Commandments, the new labor week began on the following day. We learn from Nehemiah IX, 13-14, that when Moses came down from Mount Sinai (Sunday, Sivan 5) he spoke to the Jews from heaven and "madest known unto them the holy Sabbath ;" but the next Sabbath after that first Pentecost — and during the whole of the following year — would be on Sunday. From this it is argued that the original rest day of the Patriarchal Age was Sunday, the seventh day of the primeval week; that this rest day was observed until the confusion of tongues at Babel, and thereafter it became lost ana was not re- vealed until "made known" by direct revelation to Moses on Mount Sinai. It will be remembered that the original tables of stone were very soon destroyed. Moses went back into the mountain, and when he returned on the 17th day of the fourth month, he found the people worship- ing a golden calf, a proceeding that amounted to rebel- lion. Moses broke the tables of stone in his wrath, and 3,000 men were killed for "polluting the Sabbath," and new tables of stone were thereafter constructed. These new tables were re-written 83 days after the oral "covenant" (10 Commandments) was given to the people on Sunday, Sivan 5. Moses taught the contents of the tables of stone orally for about forty years, and a short time before Ms death assembled the people together and wrote down again the words on the tables of stone as recorded in Deuteronomy V. Deuteronomy means the second law ("deuteros" second, "nomos" law.) The second version of the Commandments (Deut. V.) indicates that the new, irregular or changeable Sabbath (as far as the day of the week is concerned) 35 ANCIENT CALENDARS was in commemoration of the escape from Egypt, while the fixed weekly Sabbath referred to on the first Pen- tecost (Exodus XX) was a revelation of the Adamic Sabbath, a fixed seventh day of the week — Sunday. The Sabbath given to Adam was to commemorate God's work of creation; the Sabbath given to the Israelites was to commemorate their deliverance from bondage on Abib 15, a fixed day of the year. Being a changeable day by reason of the fact of the double Sabbath at Pentecost, during the year fol- lowing this first Pentecost, the weekly Sabbaths would fall on Sundays ; the next year on Mondays, and so on. Every seventh year it would again be on Saturday, and in 1680 years, (7 by 240 ) it would be on Saturday again. It is not always remembered that Jewish Sabbaths were feast days; they were not fast days. The only exception to this, found in the law, was a fast "Sabbath" (day of atonement) on the 10th day of the 7th month (18) but the weekly Sabbaths of Tisri (the 7th month) were the 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd, and the 29th, therefore this fast Sabbath was not one of the weekly Sabbaths. Jewish custom and tradition have given us another fast Sabbath which was one of the weekly Sabbaths. This was the 17th day of the fourth month, the day that Moses first came out of the Mount at the end of the forty days of fasting, when he found the people pollut- ing the Sabbath by worshiping the golden calf, and when 3000 were put to death. Thus we will see that there were in each year 53 weekly Sabbaths and one extra fast Sabbath, 54 Sabbath days in all. It will be remembered that custom required that the whole Law should be studied in course every year, and was divided into 54 portions or sections, one for each Sabbath of the year. Hitherto this has not been understood, but it now becomes perfectly plain. The 54 portions of the 36 ANCIENT CALENDARS law were studied on each Sabbath day, which included the 53 weekly Sabbaths and one extra fast-day Sab- bath. The only day of the Jewish year that was dignified by the name of Sabbath, outside of the weekly Sab- baths, was this fast-day, the Day of Atonement, which may be compared with the Thursday Thanksgiving in the United States, which is always on a fixed day of the week, and never on a weekly Sabbath. Its date was Tisri 10 which was the second day after the weekly Sabbath. The exact date when the Jews adopted their mod- ern calendar, placing the Sabbath on Saturday as a fixed day of the week, and not fixed days of the year is un- certain. Some place in the second century ; some at a later date (2). It is well known that the Roman rest- day was one day in eight; that Constantine, the first Christian emperor, first legalized the Christian Sab- bath in the fourth century, when he put it on an equali- ty with the Pagan Nundinae. Up to the time of Theo- dosius the Great, the two week methods were on an equal footing, and the Roman calendars represented both by placing in parallel columns the 8 Nundinal letters A-H and the 7 week letters A-G. Theoclosius finally abrogated the Roman week in the fourth Cen- tury. It is a noticeable fact that according to the accept- ed chronology there were just 1680 years between the Exodus and the Resurrection. 1680 divided by 7 gives 240, hence there were 240 septenary revolutions, and under the Jewish system each day of the Egyptian week would have been called a Sabbath day 240 times. The Jews left Egypt on Saturday, the day upon which Pharoah issued the "emancipation proclamation'' through Moses to the Israelites. After 1680 years we find the Sabbath again on 37 ANCIENT CALENDARS Saturday. The death by crucifixion was at three o'clock on Friday, (some say Thursday) the very day and hour on which the blood was placed on the doorposts of Egypt; and after remaining in the tomb over the Sab- bath ("the feast of the Passover") as Moses had re- mained in the mountain with God, the Savior returned on the Sunday and announced a new Sabbath as Moses had done before him. The anology is striking. A correct translation of Matt. XXVIII, 1, is as fol- lows : "In the end of the Sabbaths (i. e. after all Jewish Sabbaths had ended — ceased to be obligatory or bind- ing) as it began to dawn toward the first of the Sab- baths came Mary Magdelene and the other Mary to see the sepuicher." That is, the old Sabbaths were done away with and the new Sabbaths inaugurated. Paul says that the Jewish Sabbaths were "a shad- ow of things to come" (Col. II, 17) and Christians in- terpret this to mean a shadow of the new Sabbath that was instituted on the ressurection morn. Paul also says: "There remaineth therefore a Sabbath-keeping to the people of God" (Heb. IV, 9). The old Sabbath was not destroyed ; it was transferred and modified to conform to new conditions. After the destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70 A. D., the scattering of the weak Christian Church, the annihilation of the Jewish nation and the attempt- ed annihilation of the Jewish race, it is not surprising that the scattered Christians should have gradually given up the celebration of the Lord's Day on fixed days of the year and conformed to the customs of the peoples with whom they mingled in celebrating a fixed week-day, which they held in commemoration of the resurrection, the great event in Christian theology. The brutal persecution of the Christians by brutal Romans, begun under Nero, continued through man? generations; and, unfortunately, the persecutions of ANCIENT CALENDARS the Jews continued for centuries thereafter, even to this day, not at the hands of brutal Romans, but of brutalized Christians who have forgotten the teachings of the humble Nazarene and the forgiving character of the early martyrs in the primative church. It is no wonder then that, during these trying times, the Jews thought more of preserving their lives than of preserv- ing their calendars that were in the custody of the priests, and that they, too, after a few centuries un- wittingly adopted a weekly Sabbath, forgetting the scientific Sabbath of their fathers. At the first Christian Pentecost (Sivan 5) (the day the 3000 were converted under the preaching of Peter and the Apostles) the double Jewish Sabbath shifted the next weekly Sabbath from the Egyptian Saturday to the Egyptian Sunday, and for a whole year the Christian and the Jewish Sabbath would be the same. There can be no doubt of the Saviour's intent to do away with the burdens of the ceremonial law (Ep. II, 15; Col. II, 16,) but there is no part of the teachings of Moses, or Christ, or of the Apostles or of the writings or customs of the fathers of the Church which sanction the abolition of the seventh day of rest and worship. The Jews care nothing for the name "Saturday". They never used it. Saturday or Sunday, as names, are all the same to them. Their rest days were the first day of the year and each 8th day thereafter. These named days brought up horrible recollections of Egyptian bondage, and they can continue to number their days of the week if they so choose. If the pro- posed new calendar makes the first day of the year a day of rest, it would make the Jewish Sabbath and the Christian's Lord's Day coincide, as they did the first year after the first Pentecost after the crucifixion. Of all the calendars, ancient and modern, none is so nearly scientific as that of the ancient Hebrews, and 39 ANCIENT CALENDARS all civilized nations have appreciated the benefits — in- deed the absolute necessity — of the Hebrew Sabbaths ; without doubt, one day's rest in seven best meets the requirements of man. In the old Jewish theocracy, church and state were one, and the civil and religious laws emanated from the same source. This cannot be the case in our republic, and we too often confuse the civil and religious rest days. They happen to coincide as to the day of week, but other- wise they are essentially different. Our Sunday laws pertain to the civil Sabbath only and do not depend ^lpon 1 &\\Ae commands; they conform to them. Their beneficence has been recognized from the remotest days. Our rest day was suggested by the religious fer- vor of our honored ancestors, but it is also founded upon science and common sense, demonstrated by centuries of statistics. Forget religion — blot out God, if you will from the science of government; if your statesmen be guided by your man of science, you will still retain a Sabbath. Blot out science if you will ; if legislation be guided by men of common sense, familiar with history, you will still have Sunday rest laws regidly enforced. Scientists and statesmen of every phase of religious and political belief are unanimous in endorsing them. They declare that rest on one day in seven is absolutely necessary for the physical and mental development of man; "that the rest of the night does not entirely re- store the vigor lost by toil of the preceeding day, and that without a weekly day of rest there is a gradual loss of health and strength." Dr. Willard Parker says that this fact "is as fixed as that man must take food or die." It has been demonstrated that a man deprived of his Sabbath rest and compelled to labor everyday alike, lives, on an average of twelve years only; that our 40 ANCIENT CALENDARS beasts of burden and the fields that they till, equally require periods of rest; and that man's best interests, — physical, mental, moral, economical and political — require that he should have one day's rest in seven. In 1789 an infuriated mob razed the Bastile in Paris, looted the churches, guillotined every man who wore a good coat, and rushed into the frenzy of the \ Reign of Terror. With one voice they cried "Down with Louis XVI. Down with God." They abolished the seventh day Sunday and established what they deemed to be the more scientific Greek rest-day — one day in ten. In 1889, just 100 years later, a true republic of France celebrated peace and good will to men in a Uni- versal Exposition ; and, assembled in one of the halls of the Exposition buildings, under the patronage of the French government, was an international Congress for the discussion of the Sunday question. It was composed of Protestants, Catholics, Infidels and Jews. They were assembled as scientific men purely, the religious side of the question being excluded, as it was a government affair. Yet there was a consensus of opinion that man's necessities and best interests — physical, mental, moral, economical and political — required that he should have one day's rest in seven. How wonderfully science and centuries of experi- ence corroborate the Mosaic Law. Centuries before this Congress in Paris, centuries before France was known even, centuries before Agamemnon besieged Tr>oy, centuries before Romulus and Remus founded Rome, or the statesmen of the Eternal City learned how to govern the world, God, through Moses, taught his people that the Science of Government required that the people should have one day in seven for rest and worship; France is just finding it out. How much time might have been saved had she studied the Bible instead of Voltaire. Centuries before Esculapius for- 41 ANCIENT CALENDARS mulated the medical science, God taught His people that their health required one day's rest in seven. Cen- turies before Virgil wrote his Georgics, God taught His people in agriculture, that the very soil of the land and the cattle within their gates required a day of rest. Centuries before Plato reasoned out the immortality of the soul, God taught His people that their best social and moral interests required one day's rest in seven from toil. Let the nations learn a tardy lesson : to con- form their statutes to the statutes of God, and their people will then be physically, mentally, morally, eco- nomically and politically the best developed in the world, their lands and beasts of burden fruitful and their citizens strong, moral and free. The great American republic is now becoming a dominant factor in the politics of the world — just be- ginning to appreciate a giant's strength. It is glorious to have a lion's strength, but cruel to use it like a lion. America can only be truly great and utilize its prestige for the benefit of mankind, when its statutes conform to the statutes of God; and the American people can never develop the strength and wisdom to which their dominant position entitles them, until tney are suf- ficiently discreet to follow to-day the laws of the old theocracy and devote the Lord's day to rest and wor- ship. Our forefathers deemed the Sabbath day one of the foundation stones of the republic; to lose it now is to part with a precious heritage, and depart from the paths that have led to prosperity and physical and men- tal strength. May not the unseemly strifes that some- times occur between Jew and Christian and between various Christian sects be calmed with a more correct understanding of the ancient Hebrew calendar and all unite in serving the One God on one holy day? 42 ANCIENT CALENDARS REFERENCES 1 Encylopaedia Britannica 9th Ed. Vol. 4 title "Cal- endar;" sub-titles "week" and "month." 2 Jewish Encylopaedia Vol. Ill, titles "Calendar, His- tory of" and "Calendar." 3 The 4th Commandment, Ex. XX, 8-11 ; Deut. V, 12, 15 et seq. 4 Lev. XXIII, 15, 16, 21 et seq. 5 Lev. XXV, 4, 5, 8 et seq. 6 Lev. XXV, 5, 6, 7, 32, 34; XIV, 39-42; Num. VI, 9 et seq. 7 Chron. XXXVI, 21. 8 Ex. XII, 1. 9 Ex. XII, 2. 10 Ex. XII, 6, 12-14. The sacrificial lamb was killed on Abib 14, evening of the 15th, and the Passover feast eaten on the 15th. 11 Ex. XII, 3, 5, 6, 24; the day of wave offering was Abib 16th, the day after Passover, a Sabbath, Lev. XXIII, 5. 12 Lev. XXIII, 5, 6. 13 Moses placed the show bread on the tables the 1st day of the 2nd year. Ex. XL, 17, 22, 23 ; this was to be done on the Sabbath day. Lev. XXIV, 8. 14 Lev. XXIII, 24. 15 Lev. XXV, 2-7. 16 Lev. XXV, 8-11, 20-22. 17 Ex. XIX, 1, 3. 18 Lev. XXIII, 26-32. 43 "Ancient Calendars" by Colonel Alexander S. Bacon is a suggestive volume. It not only takes one far back over the track of history and introduces him to methods of reckoning time and naming the days, but brings him to a serious con- sideration of a great question to-day. Whatever may be one's views as to which day is the true Sabbath of the Christain era the fact that the Jews numbered their days and cared nothing for the name Saturday, while the Christians follow the old Roman names of the week, Sunday, Monday etc., affords room for reflection on the pro- position that Jew and Christian should adopt the perpetual calendar as suggested by the author. I shall personally give further thought to this matter and as "at the first Christian Pentecost (Sivan 5) the double Jewish Sabbath shifted the weekly Sabbath from the Egyptian Saturday to the Egyptian Sunday, and for a whole year the Christian and Jewish Sabbath would be the same," there appears to be a foundationary principle on which to work for the effecting of a common or set Sabbath acceptable to both Christain and Jew. The author is to be commended on his presentation of this subject which will surely awaken interest^ and stimulate thought in this direction. June 29, 1915. Harry L. Bowlby GENERAL SECRETARY OF THE LORD'S DAY ALLIANCE OF THE UNITED STATES, NEW YORK, N. Y. I - 1 i o 8; THE MARBLE COLLEGIATE CHURCH 5TH AVENUE AND 29th STREET NEW YORK CITY June 28, 1915 My Dear Col. Bacon, I have read with great interest your brochure on "Ancient Calenders." One fact seems to be pretty well established, to wit, that the weekly day of rest was originially intended to be on a fixed day of the year. No doubt much of the prevailing confusion in Sabbath Observance would be disposed of if we could get back to the ancient way. But the world is a stubborn old world, as you have probably discovered; and men will more readily fight for the letter of any institution than for the spirit of it. You have given one something to think about; and, as President of the Sabbath Alliance New York, I thank you. With all good wishes and sincere regards. I am yours DAVID JAS BURRELL. \ .-ate-- \/ ° • * - A <^ ^ s - G^ *o, *« . "» - A , ^fP\/ %^P> *X;flP;/ V^> '^' > >♦ <£ ^ . * L. Mm *"• '^6* .'JllfS^ ^o^' :*^iB^. '^6* oV A. y 1r - 'Slil ,i^ 0* *o "c 4 O ,0 ,0- o " a ■s> *•■■>• ^ o - „ , „ D0GSS BROS. ST. AUGUSTINE ^^ ^JOk %,** .*^B *>*. V $^ 'itt".\ ^ *S