Chapter 25 : God’s Law Immutable

“The temple of God was opened in Heaven, and there was seen

in his temple the ark of his testament.” [Revelation 11:19.] The ark of

God’s testament is in the holy of holies, the second apartment of the

sanctuary. In the ministration of the earthly tabernacle, which served

“unto the example and shadow of heavenly things,” this apartment

was opened only upon the great day of atonement, for the cleansing

of the sanctuary. Therefore the announcement that the temple of God

was opened in Heaven, and the ark of his testament was seen, points

to the opening of the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary,

in 1844, as Christ entered there to perform the closing work of the

atonement. Those who by faith followed their great High Priest, as

he entered upon his ministry in the most holy place, beheld the ark of

his testament. As they had studied the subject of the sanctuary, they

had come to understand the Saviour’s change of ministration, and

they saw that he was now officiating before the ark of God, pleading

his blood in behalf of sinners.

The ark in the tabernacle on earth contained the two tables of

stone, upon which were inscribed the precepts of the law of God.

The ark was merely a receptacle for the tables of the law, and the

presence of these divine precepts gave to it its value and sacredness.

When the temple of God was opened in Heaven, the ark of his

testament was seen. Within the holy of holies, in the sanctuary in

Heaven, the divine law is sacredly enshrined,—the law that was

spoken by God himself amid the thunders of Sinai, and written with

his own finger on the tables of stone.

The law of God in the sanctuary in Heaven is the great original, of [434]

which the precepts inscribed upon the tables of stone, and recorded

by Moses in the Pentateuch, were an unerring transcript. Those who

arrived at an understanding of this important point, were thus led to

see the sacred, unchanging character of the divine law. They saw,

as never before, the force of the Saviour’s words, “Till heaven and

earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in nowise pass from the law.”

[Matthew 5:18.] The law of God, being a revelation of his will, a

transcript of his character, must forever endure, “as a faithful witness

in Heaven.” Not one command has been annulled; not a jot or tittle

has been changed. Says the psalmist: “Forever, O Lord, thy word

is settled in Heaven.” “All his commandments are sure. They stand

fast forever and ever.” [Psalm 119:89; 111:7, 8.]

In the very bosom of the decalogue is the fourth commandment,

as it was first proclaimed: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it

holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh

day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any

work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy

maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:

for 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.” [Exodus 20:8-11.]

The Spirit of God impressed the hearts of those students of his

Word. The conviction was urged upon them, that they had ignorantly

transgressed this precept by disregarding the Creator’s rest-day. They

began to examine the reasons for observing the first day of the week

instead of the day which God had sanctified. They could find no

evidence in the Scriptures that the fourth commandment had been

abolished, or that the Sabbath had been changed; the blessing which

[435] first hallowed the seventh day had never been removed. They had

been honestly seeking to know and to do God’s will; now, as they

saw themselves transgressors of his law, sorrow filled their hearts,

and they manifested their loyalty to God by keeping his Sabbath

holy.

Many and earnest were the efforts made to overthrow their faith.

None could fail to see that if the earthly sanctuary was a figure or

pattern of the heavenly, the law deposited in the ark on earth was

an exact transcript of the law in the ark in Heaven; and that an

acceptance of the truth concerning the heavenly sanctuary involved

an acknowledgment of the claims of God’s law, and the obligation

of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. Here was the secret of

the bitter and determined opposition to the harmonious exposition of

the Scriptures that revealed the ministration of Christ in the heavenly

sanctuary. Men sought to close the door which God had opened, and

to open the door which he had closed. But “He that openeth, and

no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth,” had declared,

“Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut

it.” [Revelation 3:7, 8.] Christ had opened the door, or ministration,

of the most holy place, light was shining from that open door of

the sanctuary in Heaven, and the fourth commandment was shown

to be included in the law which is there enshrined; what God had

established, no man could overthrow.

Those who had accepted the light concerning the mediation of

Christ and the perpetuity of the law of God, found that these were

the truths presented in Revelation 14. The messages of this chapter

constitute a threefold warning, [See Appendix, Note 8.] which is to

prepare the inhabitants of the earth for the Lord’s second coming.

The announcement, “The hour of his Judgment is come,” points

to the closing work of Christ’s ministration for the salvation of

men. It heralds a truth which must be proclaimed until the Saviour’s

intercession shall cease, and he shall return to the earth to take his [436]

people to himself. The work of judgment which began in 1844,

must continue until the cases of all are decided, both of the living

and the dead; hence it will extend to the close of human probation.

That men may be prepared to stand in the Judgment, the message

commands them to “fear God, and give glory to him,” “and worship

him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of

waters.” The result of an acceptance of these messages is given in

the words, “Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and

the faith of Jesus.” In order to be prepared for the Judgment, it is

necessary that men should keep the law of God. That law will be the

standard of character in the Judgment. The apostle Paul declares,

“As many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law; ... in

the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ.”

And he says that “the doers of the law shall be justified.” [Romans

2:12-16.] Faith is essential in order to the keeping of the law of God;

for “without faith it is impossible to please him.” And “whatsoever

is not of faith is sin.” [Hebrews 11:6; Romans 14:23.]

By the first angel, men are called upon to “fear God, and give

glory to him,” and to worship him as the Creator of the heavens

and the earth. In order to do this, they must obey his law. Says

the wise man, “Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is

the whole duty of man.” [Ecclesiastes 12:13.] Without obedience

to his commandments, no worship can be pleasing to God. “This

is the love of God, that we keep his commandments.” “He that

turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be

abomination.” [1 John 5:3; Proverbs 28:9.]

The duty to worship God is based upon the fact that he is the

Creator, and that to him all other beings owe their existence. And

wherever, in the Bible, his claim to reverence and worship, above the

gods of the heathen, is presented, there is cited the evidence of his

[437] creative power. “All the gods of the nations are idols; but the Lord

made the heavens.” [Psalm 96:5.] “To whom then will ye liken me,

or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high,

and behold who hath created these things.” “Thus saith the Lord that

created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it;

... I am Jehovah; and there is none else.” [Isaiah 40:25, 26; 45:18.]

Says the psalmist, “Know ye that Jehovah, he is God; it is he that

hath made us, and not we ourselves.” “O come, let us worship and

bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.” [Psalm 100:3;

95:6.] And the holy beings who worship God in Heaven state, as

the reason why their homage is due to him, “Thou art worthy, O

Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for thou hast created all

things.” [Revelation 4:11.]

In Revelation 14, men are called upon to worship the Creator,

and the prophecy brings to view a class that, as the result of the

threefold message, are keeping the commandments of God. One

of these commandments points directly to God as the Creator. The

fourth precept declares: “The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord

thy God.... For 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.” [Exodus 20:10, 11.]

Concerning the Sabbath, the Lord says, further, that it is “a sign, ...

that ye may know that I am the Lord your God.” [Ezekiel 20:20.]

And the reason given is, “For in six days the Lord made heaven and

earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.” [Exodus

31:17.]

“The importance of the Sabbath as the memorial of creation

is that it keeps ever present the true reason why worship is due

to God,” because he is the Creator, and we his creatures. “The

Sabbath therefore lies at the very foundation of divine worship; for

it teaches this great truth in the most impressive manner, and no

other institution does this. The true ground of divine worship, not [438]

of that on the seventh day merely, but of all worship, is found in the

distinction between the Creator and his creatures. This great fact

can never become obsolete, and must never be forgotten.” It was

to keep this truth ever before the minds of men, that God instituted

the Sabbath in Eden; and so long as the fact that he is our Creator

continues to be a reason why we should worship him, so long the

Sabbath will continue as its sign and memorial. Had the Sabbath

been universally kept, man’s thoughts and affections would have

been led to the Creator as the object of reverence and worship, and

there would never have been an idolater, an atheist, or an infidel. The

keeping of the Sabbath is a sign of loyalty to the true God, “him that

made heaven and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” It

follows that the message which commands men to worship God and

keep his commandments, will especially call upon them to keep the

fourth commandment.

In contrast to those who keep the commandments of God and

have the faith of Jesus, the third angel points to another class, against

whose errors a solemn and fearful warning is uttered: “If any man

worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead,

or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of

God.” [Revelation 14:9, 10.] A correct interpretation of the symbols

employed is necessary to an understanding of this message. What is

represented by the beast, the image, the mark?

The line of prophecy in which these symbols are found, begins

with Revelation 12, with the dragon that sought to destroy Christ at

his birth. The dragon is said to be Satan; [Revelation 12:9.] he it was

that moved upon Herod to put the Saviour to death. But the chief

agent of Satan in making war upon Christ and his people during

the first centuries of the Christian era, was the Roman Empire, in

which paganism was the prevailing religion. Thus while the dragon,

primarily, represents Satan, it is, in a secondary sense, a symbol of

pagan Rome.

In chapter 13 [Verses 1-10.] is described another beast, “like [439]

unto a leopard,” to which the dragon gave “his power, and his seat,

and great authority.” This symbol, as most Protestants have believed,

represents the papacy, which succeeded to the power and seat and

authority once possessed by the ancient Roman Empire. Of the

leopard-like beast it is declared: “There was given unto him a mouth

speaking great things and blasphemies.... And he opened his mouth

in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle,

and them that dwell in Heaven. And it was given unto him

to make war with the saints, and to overcome them; and power

was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.” This

prophecy, which is nearly identical with the description of the little

horn of Daniel 7, unquestionably points to the papacy.

“Power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.”

And, says the prophet, “I saw one of his heads as it were wounded

to death.” And again, “He that leadeth into captivity shall go into

captivity; he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the

sword.” The forty and two months are the same as the “time and

times and the dividing of time,” three years and a half, or 1260 days,

of Daniel 7,—the time during which the papal power was to oppress

God’s people. This period, as stated in preceding chapters, began

with the establishment of the papacy, A. D. 538, and terminated

in 1798. At that time, when the papacy was abolished and the

pope made captive by the French army, the papal power received its

deadly wound, and the prediction was fulfilled, “He that leadeth into

captivity shall go into captivity.”

At this point another symbol is introduced. Says the prophet,

“I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two

horns like a lamb.” [Revelation 13:11.] Both the appearance of this

beast and the manner of its rise indicate that the nation which it

[440] represents is unlike those presented under the preceding symbols.

The great kingdoms that have ruled the world were presented to the

prophet Daniel as beasts of prey, rising when the “four winds of the

heaven strove upon the great sea.” [Daniel 7:2.] In Revelation 17,

an angel explained that waters represent “peoples, and multitudes,

and nations, and tongues.” [Revelation 17:15.] Winds are a symbol

of strife. The four winds of heaven striving upon the great sea,

represent the terrible scenes of conquest and revolution by which

kingdoms have attained to power.

But the beast with lamb-like horns was seen “coming up out

of the earth.” Instead of overthrowing other powers to establish

itself, the nation thus represented must arise in territory previously

unoccupied, and grow up gradually and peacefully. It could not,

then, arise among the crowded and struggling nationalities of the

Old World,—that turbulent sea of “peoples, and multitudes, and

nations, and tongues.” It must be sought in the Western Continent.

What nation of the New World was in 1798 rising into power,

giving promise of strength and greatness, and attracting the attention

of the world? The application of the symbol admits of no question.

One nation, and only one, meets the specifications of this prophecy;

it points unmistakably to the United States of America. Again and

again the thought, almost the exact words, of the sacred writer have

been unconsciously employed by the orator and the historian in

describing the rise and growth of this nation. The beast was seen

“coming up out of the earth;” and, according to the translators,

the word here rendered “coming up” literally signifies to “grow or

spring up as a plant.” And, as we have seen, the nation must arise in

territory previously unoccupied. A prominent writer, describing the

rise of the United States, speaks of “the mystery of her coming forth

from vacancy,“ and says, “Like a silent seed we grew into empire.”

[Townsend, in “The New World Compared with the Old,” p. 462.] A

European journal in 1850 spoke of the United States as a wonderful [441]

empire, which was “emerging,” and “amid the silence of the earth

daily adding to its power and pride.” [The Dublin Nation.] Edward

Everett, in an oration on the Pilgrim founders of this nation, said:

“Did they look for a retired spot, inoffensive from its obscurity, safe

in its remoteness from the haunts of despots, where the little church

of Leyden might enjoy freedom of conscience? Behold the mighty

regions over which, in peaceful conquest, ... they have borne the

banners of the cross.”

“And he had two horns like a lamb.” The lamb-like horns indicate

youth, innocence, and gentleness, fitly representing the character

of the United States when presented to the prophet as “coming up”

in 1798. The Christian exiles who first fled to America, sought an

asylum from royal oppression and priestly intolerance, and they

determined to establish a government upon the broad foundation

of civil and religious liberty. The Declaration of Independence sets

forth the great truth that “all men are created equal,” and endowed

with the inalienable right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

And the Constitution guarantees to the people the right

of self-government, providing that representatives elected by the

popular vote shall enact and administer the laws. Freedom of religious

faith was also granted, every man being permitted to worship

God according to the dictates of his conscience. Republicanism

and Protestantism became the fundamental principles of the nation.

These principles are the secret of its power and prosperity. The

oppressed and down-trodden throughout Christendom have turned

to this land with interest and hope. Millions have sought its shores,

and the United States has risen to a place among the most powerful

nations of the earth.

But the beast with lamb-like horns “spake as a dragon. And he

exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the

earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose

[442] deadly wound was healed, . ..saying to them that dwell on the earth,

that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound

by a sword, and did live.” [Revelation 13:11-14.]

The lamb-like horns and dragon voice of the symbol point to

a striking contradiction between the professions and the practice

of the nation thus represented. The “speaking” of the nation is the

action of its legislative and judicial authorities. By such action it will

give the lie to those liberal and peaceful principles which it has put

forth as the foundation of its policy. The prediction that it will speak

“as a dragon,” and exercise “all the power of the first beast,” plainly

foretells a development of the spirit of intolerance and persecution

that was manifested by the nations represented by the dragon and the

leopard-like beast. And the statement that the beast with two horns

“causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first

beast,” indicates that the authority of this nation is to be exercised in

enforcing some observance which shall be an act of homage to the

papacy.

Such action would be directly contrary to the principles of this

government, to the genius of its free institutions, to the direct and

solemn avowals of the Declaration of Independence, and to the Constitution.

The founders of the nation wisely sought to guard against

the employment of secular power on the part of the church, with

its inevitable result—intolerance and persecution. The Constitution

provides that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment

of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” and that

“no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office

of public trust under the United States.” Only in flagrant violation of

these safeguards to the nation’s liberty, can any religious observance

be enforced by civil authority. But the inconsistency of such action

is no greater than is represented in the symbol. It is the beast with

lamb-like horns—in profession pure, gentle, and harmless—that

speaks as a dragon.

“Saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an [443]

image to the beast.” Here is clearly presented a form of government

in which the legislative power rests with the people; a most striking

evidence that the United States is the nation denoted in the prophecy.

But what is the “image to the beast”? and how is it to be formed?

The image is made by the two-horned beast, and is an image to the

first beast. It is also called an image of the beast. Then to learn

what the image is like, and how it is to be formed, we must study

the characteristics of the beast itself,—the papacy. When the early

church became corrupted by departing from the simplicity of the

gospel, and accepting heathen rites and customs, she lost the Spirit

and power of God; and in order to control the consciences of the

people she sought the support of the secular power. The result was

the papacy, a church that controlled the power of the State, and

employed it to further her own ends, especially for the punishment

of “heresy.” In order for the United States to form an image of the

beast, the religious power must so control the civil government that

the authority of the State will also be employed by the church to

accomplish her own ends.

Whenever the church has obtained secular power, she has employed

it to punish dissent from her doctrines. Protestant churches

that have followed in the steps of Rome by forming alliance with

worldly powers, have manifested a similar desire to restrict liberty

of conscience. An example of this is given in the long-continued

persecution of dissenters by the Church of England. During the

sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, thousands of non-conformist

ministers were forced to leave their churches, and many, both of

pastors and people, were subjected to fine, imprisonment, torture,

and martyrdom.

It was apostasy that led the early church to seek the aid of the

civil government, and this prepared the way for the development

[444] of the papacy,—the beast. Said Paul, There shall “come a falling

away, ... and that man of sin be revealed.” [2 Thessalonians 2:3]

So apostasy in the church will prepare the way for the image to the

beast. And the Bible declares that before the coming of the Lord

there will exist a state of religious declension similar to that in the

first centuries. “In the last days perilous times shall come. For

men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud,

blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without

natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce,

despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers

of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness,

but denying the power thereof.” [2 Timothy 3:1-5] “Now the Spirit

speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from

the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.” [1

Timothy 4:1.] Satan will work “with all power and signs and lying

wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness.” And all

that “received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved,”

will be left to accept “strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.”

[2 Thessalonians 2:9-11.] When this state of ungodliness shall be

reached, the same results will follow as in the first centuries.

The wide diversity of belief in the Protestant churches is regarded

by many as decisive proof that no effort to secure a forced uniformity

can ever be made. But there has been for years, in churches of the

Protestant faith, a strong and growing sentiment in favor of a union

based upon common points of doctrine. To secure such a union, the

discussion of subjects upon which all were not agreed—however

important they might be from a Bible standpoint—must necessarily

be waived.

Charles Beecher, in a sermon in the year 1846, declared that

the ministry of “the evangelical Protestant denominations” is “not

only formed all the way up under a tremendous pressure of merely

human fear, but they live, and move, and breathe in a state of things

[445] radically corrupt, and appealing every hour to every baser element

of their nature to hush up the truth, and bow the knee to the power of

apostasy. Was not this the way things went with Rome? Are we not

living her life over again? And what do we see just ahead?—Another

general council! A world’s convention! evangelical alliance, and

universal creed!” When this shall be gained, then, in the effort to

secure complete uniformity, it will be only a step to the resort to

force.

When the leading churches of the United States, uniting upon

such points of doctrine as are held by them in common, shall influence

the State to enforce their decrees and to sustain their institutions,

then Protestant America will have formed an image of the Roman

hierarchy, and the infliction of civil penalties upon dissenters will

inevitably result.

The beast with two horns “causeth [commands] all, both small

and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their

right hand, or in their foreheads; and that no man might buy or sell,

save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of

his name.” [Revelation 13:16, 17] The third angel’s warning is, “If

any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his

forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath

of God.” “The beast” mentioned in this message, whose worship is

enforced by the two-horned beast, is the first, or leopard-like beast

of Revelation 13,—the papacy. The “image to the beast” represents

that form of apostate Protestantism which will be developed when

the Protestant churches shall seek the aid of the civil power for the

enforcement of their dogmas. The “mark of the beast” still remains

to be defined.

After the warning against the worship of the beast and his image,

the prophecy declares, “Here are they that keep the commandments

of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Since those who keep God’s commandments

are thus placed in contrast with those that worship the

beast and his image and receive his mark, it follows that the keep- [446]

ing of God’s law, on the one hand, and its violation, on the other,

will make the distinction between the worshipers of God and the

worshipers of the beast.

The special characteristic of the beast, and therefore of his image,

is the breaking of God’s commandments. Says Daniel, of the little

horn, the papacy, “He shall think to change the times and the law.”

[Daniel 7:25, Revised Version.] And Paul styled the same power the

“man of sin,” who was to exalt himself above God. One prophecy

is a complement of the other. Only by changing God’s law could

the papacy exalt itself above God; whoever should understandingly

keep the law as thus changed would be giving supreme honor to that

378 The Great Controversy 1888

power by which the change was made. Such an act of obedience to

papal laws would be a mark of allegiance to the pope in the place of

God.

The papacy has attempted to change the law of God. The second

commandment, forbidding image worship, has been dropped from

the law, and the fourth commandment has been so changed as to

authorize the observance of the first instead of the seventh day as

the Sabbath. But papists urge, as a reason for omitting the second

commandment, that it is unnecessary, being included in the first,

and that they are giving the law exactly as God designed it to be

understood. This cannot be the change foretold by the prophet. An

intentional, deliberate change is presented: “He shall think to change

the times and the law.” The change in the fourth commandment

exactly fulfills the prophecy. For this the only authority claimed is

that of the church. Here the papal power openly sets itself above

God.

While the worshipers of God will be especially distinguished by

their regard for the fourth commandment,—since this is the sign of

his creative power, and the witness to his claim upon man’s reverence

and homage,—the worshipers of the beast will be distinguished

by their efforts to tear down the Creator’s memorial, to exalt the

[447] institution of Rome. It was in behalf of the Sunday, that popery first

asserted its arrogant claims; [See Appendix, note 9.] and its first

resort to the power of the State was to compel the observance of

Sunday as “the Lord’s day.” But the Bible points to the seventh day,

and not to the first, as the Lord’s day. Said Christ, “The Son of man

is Lord also of the Sabbath.” The fourth commandment declares,

“The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord.” And by the prophet

Isaiah the Lord designates it, “My holy day.” [Mark 2:28; Isaiah

58:13.]

The claim so often put forth, that Christ changed the Sabbath, is

disproved by his own words. In his sermon on the mount he said:

“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets; I am

not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till

heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from

the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one

of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be

called the least in the kingdom of Heaven; but whosoever shall do

and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of

Heaven.” [Matthew 5:17-19.]

It is a fact generally admitted by Protestants, that the Scriptures

give no authority for the change of the Sabbath. This is plainly

stated in publications issued by the American Tract Society and the

American Sunday-school Union. One of these works acknowledges

“the complete silence of the New Testament so far as any explicit

command for the Sabbath [Sunday, the first day of the week] or definite

rules for its observance are concerned.” [“The Abiding Sabbath,”

p. 184, a $500 prize essay.]

Another says: “Up to the time of Christ’s death, no change had

been made in the day;” and, “so far as the record shows, they [the

apostles] did not give any explicit command enjoining the abandonment

of the seventh-day Sabbath, and its observance on the first day

of the week. [“The Lord’s Day” pp. 185, 186, a $1,000 prize essay.]

Roman Catholics acknowledge that the change of the Sabbath [448]

was made by their church, and declare that Protestants, by observing

the Sunday, are recognizing her power. In the “Catholic Catechism

of Christian Religion,” in answer to a question as to the day to be

observed in obedience to the fourth commandment, this statement

is made: “During the old law, Saturday was the day sanctified; but

the church, instructed by Jesus Christ, and directed by the Spirit of

God, has substituted Sunday for Saturday; so now we sanctify the

first, not the seventh day. Sunday means, and now is, the day of the

Lord.”

As the sign of the authority of the Catholic Church, papist writers

cite, “the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which

Protestants allow of ... because by keeping Sunday strictly they

acknowledge the church’s power to ordain feasts, and to command

them under sin.” [“Abridgment of Christian Doctrine.”] What then

is the change of the Sabbath, but the sign or mark of the authority of

the Romish Church—“the mark of the beast”?

The Roman Church has not relinquished her claim to supremacy;

and when the world and the Protestant churches accept a sabbath

of her creating, while they reject the Bible Sabbath, they virtually

admit this assumption. They may claim the authority of tradition

and of the Fathers for the change; but in so doing they ignore the

very principle which separates them from Rome,—that “the Bible,

and the Bible only, is the religion of Protestants.” The papist can

see that they are deceiving themselves, willingly closing their eyes

to the facts in the case. As the movement for Sunday enforcement

gains favor, he rejoices, feeling assured that it will eventually bring

the whole Protestant world under the banner of Rome.

Romanists declare that “the observance of Sunday by the Protestants

is an homage they pay, in spite of themselves, to the authority

of the [Catholic] Church.” [“Plain talk about Protestantism,” p.

[449] 213.] The enforcement of Sunday-keeping on the part of Protestant

churches is an enforcement of the worship of the papacy—of the

beast. Those who, understanding the claims of the fourth commandment,

choose to observe the false instead of the true Sabbath; are

thereby paying homage to that power by which alone it is commanded.

But in the very act of enforcing a religious duty by secular

power, the churches would themselves form an image to the beast;

hence the enforcement of Sunday-keeping in the United States would

be an enforcement of the worship of the beast and his image.

But Christians of past generations observed the Sunday, supposing

that in so doing they were keeping the Bible Sabbath, and there

are now true Christians in every church, not excepting the Roman

Catholic communion, who honestly believe that Sunday is the Sabbath

of divine appointment. God accepts their sincerity of purpose

and their integrity before him. But when Sunday observance shall

be enforced by law, and the world shall be enlightened concerning

the obligation of the true Sabbath, then whoever shall transgress the

command of God, to obey a precept which has no higher authority

than that of Rome, will thereby honor popery above God. He is paying

homage to Rome, and to the power which enforces the institution

ordained by Rome. He is worshiping the beast and his image. As

men then reject the institution which God has declared to be the sign

of his authority, and honor in its stead that which Rome has chosen

as the token of her supremacy, they will thereby accept the sign of

allegiance to Rome—“the mark of the beast.” And it is not until the

issue is thus plainly set before the people, and they are brought to

choose between the commandments of God and the commandments

of men, that those who continue in transgression will receive “the

mark of the beast.”

The most fearful threatening ever addressed to mortal is contained

in the third angel’s message. That must be a terrible sin which

calls down the wrath of God unmingled with mercy. Men are not [450]

to be left in darkness concerning this important matter; the warning

against this sin is to be given to the world before the visitation of

God’s judgments, that all may know why they are to be inflicted,

and have opportunity to escape them. Prophecy declares that the

first angel would make his announcement to “every nation, and

kindred, and tongue, and people.” The warning of the third angel,

which forms a part of the same threefold message, is to be no less

widespread. It is represented in the prophecy as proclaimed with

a loud voice, by an angel flying in the midst of heaven; and it will

command the attention of the world.

In the issue of the contest, all Christendom will be divided into

two great classes,—those who keep the commandments of God and

the faith of Jesus, and those who worship the beast and his image

and receive his mark. Although church and State will unite their

power to compel “all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and

bond,” to receive “the mark of the beast,” [Revelation 13:16.] yet the

people of God will not receive it. The prophet of Patmos beholds

“them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image,

and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea

of glass, having the harps of God,” and singing the song of Moses

and the Lamb. [Revelation 15:2, 3.]