When does the Sabbath begin and end?

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At what time should the Sabbath day begin and end? This is not merely an academic question for scholars to debate, but a practical one relevant to many Christians who believe in the validity and value of the principle of Sabbathkeeping for today. The problem of when to begin and to end the observance of God's rest is particularly acute in those parts of the world where it is difficult, if not impossible, to observe the Sabbath according to a sunset reckoning. This is because in these places the sun rises or sets very early or very late or not at all during certain periods of the year.
Who introduced the day to America?

The Seventh Day Baptists, who organized their first church in Rhode Island in 1671, introduced seventh-day Sabbathkeeping in America. In the eighteenth century, the German Seventh Day Baptists in the Ephrata community of Pennsylvania observed their rest from 6 p.m. Friday to 6 p.m. Saturday.

Julius Friedrich Sachse, a historian of German sectarian groups in Pennsylvania, notes that:


"The Sabbath was ushered in with the first hour of [after] the sixth day (Friday, 6 p.m.) and closed at the end of the twelfth hour of the seventh day (Saturday, 5:59 p.m.) . . . to conform to the very letter of the law in the New Testament."

Other Seventh Day Baptist groups advocated this method of resting and worship from 6 p.m. to 6 p.m.


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