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Testimonies to Southern Africa
laws to restore the lost ascendancy of the man of sin, who sits in the
temple of God, showing himself that he is God. The Roman Catholic
principles will be taken under the care and protection of the state.
This national apostasy will speedily be followed by national ruin. The
protest of Bible truth will be no longer tolerated by those who have
not made the law of God their rule of action. Then will the voice be
heard from the graves of martyrs, represented by the souls which John
saw slain for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ which
they held; then the prayer will ascend from every true child of God,
“It is time for thee, Lord, to work, for they have made void thy law.”
When our first parents fell from their high estate through trans-
gression, God’s law was made void. Then Christ entered upon His
work as a Redeemer, and probation was granted to the inhabitants
of the world. In Noah’s day men disregarded the law of God until
almost all remembrance of Him had passed away from the earth. Their
wickedness reached so great a height, violence, crime and every kind
of sin became so intensely active, that the Lord brought a flood of
[53]
water upon the world and swept away the wicked inhabitants thereof.
But mercy was mingled with judgment. Noah and his family were
saved. In the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, we see that the
Lord will interfere; fire came down from heaven and destroyed these
wicked cities.
From time to time the Lord has made known the manner of His
working. He is mindful of what is passing upon the earth. And when a
crisis has come, He has revealed Himself, and has interposed to hinder
the working out of Satan’s plans. He has often permitted matters with
nations, with families, and with individuals to come to a crisis, that
His interference might become marked. Then He has let the fact be
known that there is a God in Israel who would sustain and vindicate
His people.
When the defiance of the law of Jehovah shall be almost universal,
when His people shall be pressed in affliction by their fellow-men, God
will interpose. The fervent prayers of His people will be answered, for
He loves to have His people seek Him with all their heart, and depend
upon Him as their Deliverer. He will be sought unto to do these things
for His people, and He will arise as the protector and avenger of His
people. The promise is, The Lord will avenge His own elect, which
cry unto him day and night.