Installment eighteen

On our previous installment the three ministers were debating a strategy
to argue against the observance of the Sabbath on a Saturday. They were
having a very hard time agreeing on anything.
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Installment eighteen:

"But, my dear friend," Dr. Spaulding very earnestly responded, "if you
take that position, you will certainly have to surrender our custom of
Sunday worship; for there is absolutely no doubt that Saturday is the
seventh day of the week and therefore the day to be kept according
to the commandment. The only way to avoid the seventh day is to be
freed from the commandment itself."
"You are hitting pretty hard, my brother," said Mr. Gregory warmly,
"and I am not sure that you are not doing me a bit of injustice. You
forget, I think, that more than once the calendar has been changed,
and that days have been added or dropped to make adjustments."
"Very true, good friend, but you are surely not so ignorant (pardon
my plainness) as to suppose that changes of calendar affected the
order of the days of the week. The weekly cycle has never been
altered. The Gregorian calendar of A.D. 1582 dropped out ten days;
and Thursday, October 4, was followed immediately by Friday,
October 15. Russia still followed the old style of reckoning until 1918;
but her days of the week were the same as ours.
Our week, with its seventh day, has come to us without change since
time immemorial. I was reading yesterday that of 160 ancient and
modern languages and dialects, 108 actually know the seventh day by
the name Sabbath or its equivalent. The writer stated that all of them
bear testimony to the identity and order of the days of the ancient
and modern week. He also added that the testimony presented is
equally positive that the order of the days of the week is the same now
as from the beginning of nations. To my mind, this is incontrovertible
evidence. A Sunday Sabbath is impossible."
Then Mr. Mitchell entered into the conversation: "You will surely
agree with me now that my suggestion made at the beginning of our
interview has at least in it a measure of good judgement. I repeat
that the situation is embarrassing. I advise that Dr. Spaulding make
an effort to sidetrack the main question and introduce some minor
feature tomorrow. To carry these controverted points before any
intelligent audience, and especially before Mr. Anderson is simply
to invite a theological catastrophe."
With this counsel adopted as the basis for the work of the next day,
the brethren separated.
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To be continued...