Religious Liberty
      
      
         159
      
      
        this country will follow in the steps of Rome in trampling on the rights
      
      
        of conscience.—
      
      
        The Great Controversy, 588
      
      
        .
      
      
        The Last Act in the Drama
      
      
        The substitution of the laws of men for the law of God, the exal-
      
      
        tation, by merely human authority, of Sunday in place of the Bible
      
      
        Sabbath, is the last act in the drama. When this substitution becomes
      
      
        universal, God will reveal Himself. He will arise in His majesty to
      
      
        shake terribly the earth. He will come out of His place to punish the
      
      
        inhabitants of the world for their iniquity, and the earth shall disclose
      
      
        her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.—
      
      
        Testimonies for the
      
      
        Church 7:141
      
      
        .
      
      
        When our nation shall so abjure the principles of its government
      
      
        as to enact a Sunday law, Protestantism will in this act join hands with
      
      
        popery; it will be nothing else than giving life to the tyranny which
      
      
        has long been eagerly watching its opportunity to spring again into
      
      
        active despotism.—
      
      
        Testimonies for the Church 5:712
      
      
        .
      
      
        By the decree of enforcing the institution of the Papacy in viola-
      
      
        tion of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from
      
      
        righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the
      
      
        gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over
      
      
        the abyss to clasp hands with Spiritualism, when, under the influence
      
      
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        of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of
      
      
        its Constitution as a Protestant and Republican government, and shall
      
      
        make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions,
      
      
        then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working
      
      
        of Satan, and that the end is near.—
      
      
        Testimonies for the Church 5:451
      
      
        .
      
      
        The time is not far distant, when, like the early disciples, we shall
      
      
        be forced to seek a refuge in desolate and solitary places. As the
      
      
        siege of Jerusalem by the Roman armies was the signal for flight to
      
      
        the Judean Christians, so the assumption of power on the part of our
      
      
        nation, in the decree enforcing the papal sabbath, will be a warning
      
      
        to us. It will then be time to leave the large cities, preparatory to
      
      
        leaving the smaller ones for retired homes in secluded places among
      
      
        the mountains.—
      
      
        Testimonies for the Church 5:464, 465
      
      
        .