48
Darkness Before Dawn
greatly improve the morals of society. This claim is especially urged in
America, where the doctrine of the true Sabbath has been most widely
preached. Here the temperance work, one of the most prominent and
important of moral reforms, is often combined with the Sunday move-
ment, and the advocates of the latter represent themselves as laboring
to promote the highest interest 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 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 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. The Protestants of the United States
[33]
will be foremost in stretching their hands across the gulf to grasp the
hand of spiritualism; they will reach over the abyss to clasp hands with
the Roman power; and under the influence of this threefold union, this
country will follow in the steps of Rome in trampling on the rights of
conscience.
As spiritualism more closely imitates the nominal Christianity of
the day, it has greater power to deceive and ensnare. Satan himself
is converted, after the modern order of things. He will appear in the
character of an angel of light. Through the agency of spiritualism,
miracles will be wrought, the sick will be healed, and many undeniable
wonders will be performed. And as the spirits will profess faith in
the Bible, and manifest respect for the institutions of the church, their
work will be accepted as a manifestation of divine power....