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Chapter 21—The Third Message Rejected
As those who first received the third angel’s message saw the
beauty and harmony of the system of truth that opened to their
understanding, they desired that the light which appeared to them
so precious might be imparted to all Christians; and they could not
but believe that it would be joyfully accepted. But truths that would
place them at variance with the world were not welcome to many
who claimed to be followers of Christ. Obedience to the fourth
commandment required a sacrifice from which the majority, even of
Adventists, drew back.
As the claims of the Sabbath were presented, many who had
endured reproach and persecution for the Advent faith, began to
reason from the worldling’s standpoint. Said they: “We have always
kept Sunday, our fathers kept it, and many good and pious men have
died happy while keeping it. If they were right, so are we. The
keeping of this new Sabbath would throw us out of harmony with the
world, and we would have no influence over them. What can a little
company keeping the seventh day hope to accomplish against all the
world who are keeping Sunday?” It was by similar arguments that the
Jews endeavored to justify their rejection of Christ. Their fathers had
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been accepted of God in presenting the sacrificial offerings, and why
could not the children find salvation in pursuing the same course?
So, in the time of Luther, papists reasoned that true Christians had
died in the Catholic faith, and therefore that religion was sufficient
for salvation. Such reasoning would prove an effectual barrier to all
advancement in religious faith or practice.
Many urged that Sunday-keeping had been an established doc-
trine and a wide-spread custom of the church for many centuries.
Against this argument it was shown that the Sabbath and its obser-
vance were more ancient and wide-spread, even as old as the world
itself, and bearing the sanction both of angels and of God. When
the foundations of the earth were laid, when the morning stars sang
together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy, then was laid the
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