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Testimonies for the Church Volume 5
again be legislated into power, the fires of persecution will be rekin-
dled against those who will not sacrifice conscience and the truth in
deference to popular errors. This evil is on the point of realization.
When God has given us light showing the dangers before us, how
can we stand clear in His sight if we neglect to put forth every effort
in our power to bring it before the people? Can we be content to leave
them to meet this momentous issue unwarned?
There is a prospect before us of a continued struggle, at the risk of
imprisonment, loss of property, and even of life itself, to defend the
law of God, which is made void by the laws of men. In this situation
worldly policy will urge an outward compliance with the laws of the
land, for the sake of peace and harmony. And there are some who will
even urge such a course from the Scripture: “Let every soul be subject
unto the higher powers.... The powers that be are ordained of God.”
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But what has been the course of God’s servants in ages past? When
the disciples preached Christ and Him crucified, after His resurrection,
the authorities commanded them not to speak any more nor to teach in
the name of Jesus. “But Peter and John answered and said unto them,
Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than
unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have
seen and heard.” They continued to preach the good news of salvation
through Christ, and the power of God witnessed to the message. The
sick were healed, and thousands were added to the church. “Then
the high priest rose up, and all they that were with him, (which is the
sect of the Sadducees,) and were filled with indignation, and laid their
hands on the apostles, and put them in the common prison.”
But the God of heaven, the mighty Ruler of the universe, took this
matter into His own hands; for men were warring against His work. He
showed them plainly that there is a ruler above man, whose authority
must be respected. The Lord sent His angel by night to open the prison
doors, and he brought forth these men whom God had commissioned
to do His work. The rulers said, Speak not “at all nor teach in the name
of Jesus;” but the heavenly messenger sent by God said, “Go, stand
and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life.”
Those who seek to compel men to observe an institution of the
papacy, and trample upon God’s authority, are doing a work similar to
that of the Jewish leaders in the days of the apostles. When the laws of
earthly rulers are brought into opposition to the laws of the Supreme