Impending Conflict
51
government, while secretly bending every effort to secure its overthrow.
And the very work which he was thus endeavoring to accomplish he
charged upon the loyal angels. The same policy of deception has
marked the history of the Roman Church. It has professed to act as
the vicegerent of Heaven, while seeking to exalt itself above God and
to change His law. Under the rule of Rome, those who suffered death
[35]
for their fidelity to the gospel were denounced as evildoers; they were
declared to be in league with Satan; and every possible means was
employed to cover them with reproach, to cause them to appear in the
eyes of the people and even to themselves as the vilest of criminals. So
it will be now. While Satan seeks to destroy those who honor God’s
law, he will cause them to be accused as lawbreakers, as men who are
dishonoring God and bringing judgments upon the world.
Man’s Conscience Is Free
God never forces the will or the conscience; but Satan’s constant
resort—to gain control of those whom he cannot otherwise seduce—is
compulsion by cruelty. Through fear or force he endeavors to rule the
conscience and to secure homage to himself. To accomplish this, he
works through both religious and secular authorities, moving them to
the enforcement of human laws in defiance of the law of God.
Those who honor the Bible Sabbath will be denounced as enemies
of law and order, as breaking down the moral restraints of society,
causing anarchy and corruption, and calling down the judgments of
God upon the earth. Their conscientious scruples will be pronounced
obstinacy, stubbornness, and contempt of authority. They will be
accused of disaffection toward the government. Ministers who deny
the obligation of the divine law will present from the pulpit the duty
of yielding obedience to the civil authorities as ordained of God. In
legislative halls and courts of justice, commandment keepers will be
misrepresented and condemned. A false coloring will be given to their
words; the worst construction will be put upon their motives.
Church and State Unite
As the Protestant churches reject the clear, Scriptural arguments
in defense of God’s law, they will long to silence those whose faith