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found, in the very bosom of the decalogue, 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
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Third Angel’s Message
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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 these students of his
word. The conviction was urged upon them, that they had ignorantly
transgressed the fourth commandment 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 command-
ment had been abolished, or that the Sabbath had been changed;
the blessing which first hallowed the seventh day had never been
removed. They had been honestly seeking to know and do God’s
will, and now, as they saw themselves transgressors of his law, sor- [275]
row filled their hearts. They at once evinced 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 brought to view the ministration of Christ in
the heavenly sanctuary. How hard men tried 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 within the ark; 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 brought to view in the third message. [See Appendix, note 7.] The angel declares, “Here are they that keep the commandments
of God, and the faith of Jesus.” This statement is preceded by a
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solemn and fearful warning: “If any man worship the beast and his
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The Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 4
image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same
shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out
without mixture into the cup of his indignation.” [Revelation 14:9,
10.] An interpretation of the symbols employed was necessary to an understanding of this message. What was represented by the beast,
the image, and the mark? Again those who were seeking for the
truth returned to the study of the prophecies.
In the book of the Revelation, under the symbols of a great red
dragon, a leopard-like beast, and a beast with lamb-like horns, [Rev-
elation 12 and 13.] are brought to view those earthly governments which are especially engaged in trampling upon God’s law and persecuting his people. Their war is carried forward to the close of time.
The people of God, symbolized by a holy woman and her children,
are greatly in the minority. In the last days only a remnant exists.
John speaks of them as those that “keep the commandments of God,
and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” [Revelation 12:17.]
Through the great powers controlled by paganism and the papacy,
symbolized by the dragon and the leopard-like beast, Satan for many
centuries destroyed God’s faithful witnesses. Under the dominion of
Rome, they were tortured and slain for more than a thousand years;
but the papacy was at last deprived of its strength, and forced to desist
from persecution. [Revelation 13:3, 10.] At that time the prophet
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beheld a new power coming up, represented by the beast with lamb-
like horns. The appearance of this beast and the ma
seem to indicate that the power which it represents is unlike those
brought to view under the preceding symbols. The great kingdoms
that have ruled the world obtained their dominion by conquest and
revolution, and they 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.] But the beast with horns like a lamb is seen
“coming up out of the earth;” [Revelation 13:11.] signifying that instead of overthrowing other powers to establish itself, the nation
thus represented arose in territory previously unoccupied, and grew
up gradually and peacefully.
Here is a striking figure of the rise and growth of our own nation.
And the lamb-like horns, emblems of i
well represent the character of our government, as expressed in
its two fundamental principles, Republicanism and Protestantism.
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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. These principles are the secret of our power and
prosperity as a nation. Millions from other lands have sought our
shores, and the United States has risen to a place among the most
powerful nations of the earth.
But the stern tracings of the prophetic pencil reveal a change in
this peaceful scene. The beast with lamb-like horns speaks with the
voice of a dragon, and “exerciseth all the power of the first beast
before him.” The spirit of persecution manifested by paganism and
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the papacy is again to be revealed. Prophecy declares that this power
will say “to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make
an image to the beast.” [Revelation 13:14.] The image is made to the first or leopard-like beast, which is the one brought to view
in the third angel’s message. By this first beast is represented the
Roman Church, an ecclesiastical body clothed with civil power,
having authority to punish all dissenters. The image to the beast