WE have said that this message alone embodies the truth, the love of which will save men from the deceivableness of unrighteousness of Satan’s power and signs and lying wonders. When the truth of this message is presented to men, and is rejected, then the way is opened for Satan to work with the power of his deception as never before. This is a principle that accompanies the representation of the truth of God at all times, but much more now because Satan’s power is to be manifested now to a great extent than ever before. Jesus says, “Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you.” John 12:35. When God presents lights to men and they refuse to walk in it, then the darkness becomes greater to them than ever it was before. And as the darkness is greater, they are more easily deceived and led astray, because “he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.” Now the light of the Third Angel’s Message is to lighten the earth with its glory (Revelation 18:1), and when that light is rejected and men refuse to walk in it, their darkness becomes greater than that of any age since the world began, and consequently the working of Satan will be more powerfully deceptive than it has ever yet been in the world; and this emphasized by the fact that “he knoweth that he hath but a short time.”SITI December 29, 1887, page 792.1

Now see the deceitful working of Satan against this point of truth, the Sabbath of the Lord. The world, especially the Christian world, professes to have some respect for the ten commandments. The Third Angel’s Message calls upon all men to keep these commandments, and I presenting this call, it points to the keeping of the Sabbath of the Lord as given in the fourth commandment. But just as soon as this duty is presented, all manner of opposition is raised against it. And it is a fact that cannot be denied, that the greatest opposition to it arises from the professed Christian world, the very ones who profess the greatest respect for the commandments of God. Any scheme that can be employed, is employed, to blind the minds and dull the consciences of men to the duty of obeying the fourth commandment and honoring God by keeping the Sabbath of the Lord; and in about nine cases out of every ten this opposition winds up with the argument that the law is abolished. When once people can be given to understand that the ten commandments are abolished, it is not hard then for such teachers to satisfy them that they are under no obligation to keep the seventh day, as the commandment of God enjoins.SITI December 29, 1887, page 792.2

But such teaching as that cannot be set forth with safety. Its only effect is to loosen the restraints of the law and conscience, and lawlessness is the inevitable result. “They that forsake the law praise the wicked,” and the wicked cannot be praised from the pulpit, without profiting by the praise. It matters not at all that the thing be not intended, when the pulpit sets forth the idea that the law of God is abolished, and thus loosens the wholesome restraints of law, the effect of it will be seen of it in our land to-day. This is the secret of the prevailing lawlessness of all classes. Where it is not manifested in outbreaking lawlessness itself, it is manifested in the almost universal sympathy with the lawless. Nor is this confined to the wicked world as such; it prevails in the churches. Preachers cannot tell their congregations that the ten commandments are abolished, without the evil fruit being seen in a general letting down of conscientious respect for all things sacred; the church then loses its godly influence over the world, and then if it is to influence the world at all it must do it by ungodly means such as are seen everywhere in the fairs, the feasts, the carnivals, and the revelry which now characterize the efforts of the church, and which only increase unto more ungodliness.SITI December 29, 1887, page 792.3

Well, having taken this turn to prevent people from keeping the commandment of God, and by it having given place to a general spirit of lawlessness both in the church and in the world, what next must be done? Oh, the civil power must be called to the rescue to enforce laws dictated by the church! For when the preachers tell the people that the Sabbath is a Jewish institution and has been abolished, and then try to impress upon them the duty of keeping Sunday as the Sabbath, they are met with the same arguments that they themselves have used against the Sabbath of the Lord. This was plainly stated by Dr. Pierson, of Philadelphia, in 1884, in these words:—SITI December 29, 1887, page 792.4

“The sanctity of the Lord’s day is but a remnant, if not a relic, of the past; and if this process goes within the presence century Sabbath sanctification will be among the curiosities of archeology and paleontology! Christians apologize for this on the ground that the ‘Sabbath is a Jewish institution’ and is abrogated, making no distinction between the ceremonial and the moral law.... Other disciples do away with the consecrated seventh of time, as with the consecrated tenth of money, on the ground that all time and property are holy unto the Lord, and so the practical effect is that they consecrate nothing.”SITI December 29, 1887, page 792.5

This is the sober truth, but the people are not primarily to blame. These same apologies, in these very words, have been preached to them time and again all over the land. These very arguments have been put into the mouths of the people by the preachers in their efforts to persuade them not to obey the commandment of God, and now the ministers turn about and complain of the people for doing exactly as they themselves have taught them to do. Little did these men think all these years that in thus opposing the Sabbath of the Lord, they were brandishing a sword that would cut both ways. Little did they think that they were weaving a spider web, and hatching cockatrice’s eggs that would break out into vipers to sting themselves. Little did they think that in raising these objections, and appealing to popularity and worldly interest, against the Sabbath of the Lord, they were destroying respect for the whole law of God, and implanting a disposition of lawlessness that would break any commandment of God or men that conflicts with those interests.SITI December 29, 1887, page 792.6

The ministers have taught the people to say, “If everybody else will keep Sabbath, I will.” Now when they are called upon to more strictly observe Sunday, the teaching comes back to the teachers in the words, “If everybody else will keep Sunday, I will.” Accordingly the church members go on Sunday excursions, read Sunday newspapers, and so on, because “everybody else” does the same. Therefore to have the church members keep Sunday, all Sunday trains must be stopped and all Sunday papers must be abolished. Thus to satisfy a demand which they themselves have created, and to meet arguments which they themselves have invented, the preachers are obliged to work up civil enactments and constitutional amendments by which everybody shall be compelled to keep Sunday.SITI December 29, 1887, page 792.7

But Sunday is only a counterfeit of the Sabbath of the Lord. It has no sacred quality whatever. There is no authority from God for its observance at all as a sacred institution of any sort. Its only authority is that of Rome, pagan as well as papal. And that is simply no authority to the man who recognizes God and the authority of his word. Rome sets forth Sunday as the sign of her authority, as the signs that she has power to command men under penalty of sin for disobedience. As the Sabbath of the Lord is the sign of the true God, so Sunday is the sign of that false god, “the man of sin,” “who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” The only image and superscription that the Sunday institution bears, is the image and superscription of Rome. As the keeping of the Sabbath of the Lord is an acknowledgment of the authority of the true God, so to refuse to do that, and deliberately choose to keep Sunday instead, is to acknowledge the authority of Rome instead of the authority of God, and is to worship Rome instead of God. For, “In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” And whenever the people of the United States, or of any other country, whether by State or National law, try to compel men to keep Sunday, it is only trying to compel men to keep Sunday, it is only trying to compel them to bow to the authority of Rome—it is only trying to compel them to worship the beast. And when the union of religion and the State is formed here, and thus an image of the Papacy is erected for the express purpose of compelling men to keep Sunday, then in that men will be compelled to worship the beast and his image.SITI December 29, 1887, page 792.8

Through this evil channel, and to help forward this wicked work, Satan will develop his power and signs and lying wonders, and his deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved. But against it all, the Third Angel’s Message utters the solemn warning of God, “If any man worship the beast and is image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation;” and to save men from this dreadful fate, it presents the supreme truth of “the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.”SITI December 29, 1887, page 792.9

“Not Without Witness” The Signs of the Times 13, 50, pp. 791, 792.