Apostasy
43
men, and establish the authority of the papal usurper, he must keep
them in ignorance of the Scriptures. The Bible would exalt God,
and place finite men in their true position; therefore its sacred truths
must be concealed and suppressed. This logic was adopted by the
Roman Church. For hundreds of years the circulation of the Bible
was prohibited. The people were forbidden to read it or to have it
in their houses, and unprincipled priests and prelates interpreted its
teachings to sustain their pretensions. Thus the pope came to be almost
universally acknowledged as the vicegerent of God on earth, endowed
with authority over Church and State.
The detector of error having been removed, Satan worked accord-
ing to his will. Prophecy had declared that the papacy was to “think to
[52]
change times and laws.” [
Daniel 7:25
.] This work it was not slow to at-
tempt. To afford converts from heathenism a substitute for the worship
of idols, and thus to promote their nominal acceptance of Christianity,
the adoration of images and relics was gradually introduced into the
Christian worship. The decree of a general council [
Second Council
of Nice, A.D. 787.
] finally established this system of idolatry. To
complete the sacrilegious work, Rome presumed to expunge from the
law of God the second commandment, forbidding image worship, and
to divide the tenth commandment, in order to preserve the number.
The spirit of concession to paganism opened the way for a still
further disregard of Heaven’s authority. Satan tampered with the fourth
commandment also, and essayed to set aside the ancient Sabbath, the
day which God had blessed and sanctified, [
Genesis 2:2, 3
.] and in its
stead to exalt the festival observed by the heathen as “the venerable
day of the sun.” This change was not at first attempted openly. In
the first centuries the true Sabbath had been kept by all Christians.
They were jealous for the honor of God, and, believing that his law is
immutable, they zealously guarded the sacredness of its precepts. But
with great subtlety, Satan worked through his agents to bring about his
object. That the attention of the people might be called to the Sunday,
it was made a festival in honor of the resurrection of Christ. Religious
services were held upon it; yet it was regarded as a day of recreation,
the Sabbath being still sacredly observed.
To prepare the way for the work which he designed to accomplish,
Satan had led the Jews, before the advent of Christ, to load down
the Sabbath with the most rigorous exactions, making its observance