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displeasure of Heaven will charge all their troubles upon the faithful
few whom the Lord has sent to them with messages of warning
and reproof. It will be declared that the nation is offending God
by the violation of the Sunday-Sabbath, that this sin has brought
calamities which will not cease until Sunday observance shall be
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The Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 4
strictly enforced, and that those who present the claims of the fourth
commandment, thus destroying reverence for Sunday, are troublers
of the nation, preventing its restoration to divine favor and temporal
prosperity. Thus the accusation urged of old against the servant of
God will be repeated, and upon grounds equally well established.
“And it came to pass when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto
him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel? And he answered, I have
not troubled Israel, but thou and thy father’s house, in that ye have
forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed
Baalim.” [1 Kings 18:17, 18.] As the wrath of the people shall be excited by false charges, they will pursue a course toward God’s ambassadors very similar to that which apostate Israel pursued toward
Elijah.
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The miracle-working power manifested through Spiritualism
will exert its influence against those who choose to obey God rather
than men. Messages will come from the spirits declaring that God
has sent them to inform the rejecters of Sunday that they are in error,
and that the laws of the land should be obeyed as the law of God.
They will lament the great wickedness in the world, and second the
testimony of religious teachers, that the degraded state of morals is
caused by the desecration of Sunday. Great will be the indignation
excited against all who refuse to accept their testimony.
Those who honor the Bible Sabbath will be denounced as en-
emies of law and order, as breaking down the moral restraints of
society, causing anarchy and corruption, and calling down the judg-
ments of God upon the earth. Their conscientious scruples will
be pronounced obstinacy, stubbor
They will be accused of disaffection toward the government. Min-
isters who deny the obligation of the divine law will present from
the pulpit the duty of yielding obedience to the civil authorities as
ordained of God. In legislative halls and courts of justice, command-
ment-keepers will be censured and misrepresented. A false coloring
will be given to their words; the worst possible construction will be
put upon their motives.
The Protestant churches have rejected the clear, scriptural argu-
ments in defense of God’s law, and they long to stop the mouths
of those whose faith they ca
they blind their own eyes to the fact, they are now adopting a course
Coming Conflict
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which will lead to the persecution of those who conscientiously
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refuse to do what the rest of the Christian world are doing, and
acknowledge the claims of the papal Sabbath.
The dignitaries of Church and State will unite to bribe, persuade,
or compel all classes to honor the Sunday. The lack of divine author-
ity will be supplied by oppressive enactments. Political corruption is
destroying love of justice and regard for truth, and in order to secure
public favor, legislators will yield to the popular demand for a law
enforcing Sunday observance. Liberty of conscience, which has cost
this nation so great a sacrifice, will no longer be respected. In the
soon-coming conflict we shall see exemplified the prophet’s words:
“And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war
with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of
God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” [Revelation 12:17.]
Our land is in jeopardy. The time is drawing on when its leg-
islators shall so abjure the principles of Protestantism as to give
countenance to Romish apostasy. The people for whom God has so
marvelously wrought, strengthening them to throw off the galling
yoke of popery, will by a national act give vigor to the corrupt faith
of Rome, and thus arouse the tyra
to start again into cruelty and despotism. With rapid steps are we
already approaching this period. When Protestant churches shall
seek the support of the secular power, thus following the example
of that apostate church, for opposing which their ancestors endured
the fiercest persecution, then will there be a national apostasy which
will end only in national ruin.
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Chapter 32—The Scriptures a Safeguard
“To the law and to the testimony. If they speak not according
to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” [Isaiah 8:20.]
The people of God are directed to the Scriptures as their safeguard
against the influence of false teachers and the delusive power of
spirits of darkness. Satan employs every possible device to prevent
men from obtaining a knowledge of the Bible; for its plain utterances
reveal his deceptions. At every revival of God’s work, the prince
of evil is aroused to more intense activity; he is now putting forth
his utmost efforts for a final, despairing struggle against Christ and
his followers. The last great delusion is soon to open before us.
Antichrist is to perform his marvelous works in our sight. So closely
will the counterfeit resemble the true, that it will be impossible to
distinguish between them except by the Holy Scriptures. By their
testimony every statement and every miracle must be tested.
Those who endeavor to obey all the commandments of God will
be opposed and derided; their way will be made very hard. They
can stand only in God. In order to endure the trial before them,
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they must understand the will of God as revealed in his word; they
can honor him only as they have a right conception of his character,
government, and purposes, and act in accordance with them. None
but those who have trained the intellect to grasp the truths of the
Bible will stand through the last great conflict. To every soul will
come the searching test, Shall I obey God rather than men? The
decisive hour is even now at hand. Are our feet planted on the rock
of God’s immutable word? Are we prepared to stand firm in defense
of the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus?
Before his crucifixion the Saviour explained to his disciples that
he was to be put to death, and to rise again from the tomb; and
angels were present to impress his words on minds and hearts. But
the disciples were looking for temporal deliverance from the Roman
yoke, and they could not tolerate the thought that He in whom all
their hopes centered should suffer an ignominious death. The words