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Coming Conflict
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know the result of making void the law of God? The experiment has
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been tried. Terrible were the scenes enacted in France when atheism
became the controlling power. It was then demonstrated to the world
that to throw off the restraints which God has imposed is to accept
the rule of the cruelest of tyrants.
Wherever the divine precepts are set aside, sin ceases to appear
sinful, or righteousness desirable. Those who refuse to submit to
the government of God are wholly unfitted to govern themselves.
Through their pernicious teachings, the spirit of insubordination is
implanted in the hearts of children and youth, who are naturally
impatient of control; and a lawless, licentious state of society results.
While scoffing at the credulity of those who obey the requirements of
God, the multitudes eagerly accept the delusions of Satan. They give
the rein to lust, and practice the sins which called down judgments
upon the heathen.
Let the restraint imposed by the divine law be wholly removed,
and human laws would soon be disregarded. Because God forbids
dishonest practices, coveting, lying, and defrauding, men are ready
to trample upon his statutes as a hindrance to their worldly pros-
perity; but the results of banishing these precepts would be such as
they do not anticipate. If the law were not binding, why should any
fear to transgress? Property would no longer be safe. Men would
obtain their neighbor’s possessions by violence; and the strongest
would become richest. Life itself would not be respected. Those
who disregard the commandments of God sow disobedience to reap
disobedience. The marriage vow would no longer stand as a sacred
bulwark to protect the family. He who had the power, would, if he
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desired, take his neighbor’s wife by violence. The fifth command-
ment would be set aside with the fourth. Children would not shrink
from taking the life of their parents, if by so doing they could obtain
the desire of their corrupt hearts. The civilized world would become
a horde of robbers and assassins; and peace, rest, and happiness
would be banished from the earth.
Already the doctrine that men are released from obedience to
God’s requirements has weakened the force of moral obligation, and
opened the flood-gates of iniquity upon the world. Lawlessness,
dissipation, and corruption are sweeping in upon us like an over-
whelming tide. In the family, Satan is at work. His banner waves,