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184
The Spirit of Prophecy Volume 4
he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his
name.” [
Revelation 13:16, 17
.] This is the mark concerning which
the third angel utters his warning. It is the mark of the first beast, or
the papacy, and is therefore to be sought among the distinguishing
characteristics of that power. The prophet Daniel declared that
the Roman Church, symbolized by the little horn, was to think to
change times and laws, [
Daniel 7:25
.] while Paul styled it the man of
sin, [
2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4
.] who was to exalt himself above God.
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 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 brought to view: “He shall
think
to
change times and laws.” The change in the fourth commandment
[280]
exactly fulfills the prophecy. For this change the only authority
claimed is that of the church. Here the papal power openly sets itself
above God.
The claim so often put forth, that Christ changed the Sabbath, is
disproved by his own words. In his sermon on the mount he declared:
“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
.]
Roman Catholics acknowledge that the change of the Sabbath
was made by their church; and they cite this change as evidence of