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Coming Conflict
271
Nor is this all. As the claims of the fourth commandment are urged
upon the people, popular teachers find that the observance of the
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seventh-day Sabbath is there enjoined; and as the only way to free
themselves from a duty which they are unwilling to perform, they
declare that the law of God is no longer binding. Thus they cast
away the law and the Sabbath together. As the work of Sabbath
reform extends, this rejection of the divine law to avoid the claims
of the fourth commandment will become well-nigh universal. Upon
those religious leaders whose teachings have opened the door to
infidelity, to Spiritualism, and to contempt for God’s holy law, rests
a fearful responsibility for the iniquity that exists in the Christian
world.
Yet this very class put forth the claim that the fast-spreading
corruption is largely attributable to the desecration of the so-called
“Christian Sabbath,” and that the enforcement of Sunday observance
would greatly improve the morals of society. Combining the temper-
ance reform with the Sunday movement, they represent themselves
as laboring to promote the highest interests of society; and those
who refuse to unite with them are denounced as the enemies of
temperance and reform. But the fact that a movement to establish
error is connected with a work which is in itself good, is not an
argument in favor of the error. We may disguise poison by mingling
it with wholesome food, but we do not thereby change its nature.
On the contrary, it is rendered more dangerous, as it is more likely
to be taken unawares. It is one of Satan’s devices to combine with
falsehood just enough truth to give it plausibility. The leaders of the
Sunday movement may advocate reforms which the people need,
principles which are in harmony with the Bible, yet while there is
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with these a requirement which is contrary to God’s law, his servants
cannot unite with them. Nothing can justify them in setting aside
the commandments of God for the precepts of men.
Through the two great errors, the immortality of the soul and
Sunday sacredness, Satan will bring the people under his deceptions.
While the former lays the foundation of Spiritualism, the latter
creates a bond of sympathy with Rome. Protestantism will yet
stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of Spiritualism;
she will reach over the abyss to clasp hands with the Roman power;