the heathen as “the
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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 on it; yet it was regarded as a day of recreation, the
Sabbath being still sacredly observed.
Constantine, while still a heathen, issued a decree enjoining the
general observance of Sunday as a public festival throughout the Roman
Empire. After his conversion he remained a stanch advocate of Sunday,
and his pagan edict was then enforced by him in the interests of his
new faith. But the honor shown this day was not as yet sufficient to
prevent Christians from regarding the true Sabbath as the holy of the
Lord. Another step must be taken; the false sabbath must be exalted to
an equality with the true. A few years after the issue of Constantine’s
decree, the Bishop of Rome conferred on the Sunday the title of Lord’s
day. Thus the people were gradually led to regard it as possessing a degree
of sacredness. Still the original Sabbath was kept.
The archdeceiver had not completed his work. He was resolved
to gather the Christian world under his banner, and to exercise his
power through his vicegerent, the proud pontiff who claimed to be
the representative of Christ. Through half-converted pagans, ambitious
prelates, and world-loving churchmen he accomplished his purpose. Vast
councils were held, from time to time, in which the dignitaries of the
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church were convened from all the world. In nearly every council the
Sabbath which God had instituted was pressed down a little lower, while
the Sunday was correspondingly exalted. Thus the pagan festival came
finally to be honored as a divine institution, while the Bible Sabbath
was pronounced a relic of Judaism, and its observers were declared to
be accursed.
The great apostate had succeeded in exalting himself “above all that
is called God, or that is worshipped.” 2 Thessalonians 2:4. He had dared
to change the only precept of the divine law that unmistakably points all
mankind to the true and living God. In the fourth commandment God
is revealed as the Creator of the heavens and the earth, and is thereby
distinguished from all false gods. It was as a memorial of the work of
creation that the seventh day was sanctified as a rest day for man. It was
designed to keep the living God ever before the minds of men as the source
of being and the object of reverence and worship. Satan strives to turn
men from their allegiance to God and from rendering obedience to His
law; therefore he directs his efforts especially against that commandment
which points to God as the Creator.
Protestants now urge that the resurrection of Christ on Sunday made it
the Christian Sabbath. But Scripture evidence is lacking. No such honor
was given to the day by Christ or His apostles. The observance of Sunday
as a Christian institution has its origin in that “mystery of lawlessness”
which, even in Paul’s day, had begun its work. Where and when did the
Lord adopt this child of the Papacy? What valid reason can be given for a
change concerning which the Scriptures are silent?
In the sixth century the Papacy had become firmly established. Its seat
of power was fixed in the imperial
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city, and the Bishop of Rome was declared to be the head over the entire
church. Paganism had given place to the Papacy. The dragon had given
to the beast “his power, and his seat, and great authority.” Revelation
13:2. And now began the 1260 years of papal oppression foretold in
the prophecies of Daniel and John. (Daniel 7:25; Revelation 13:5-7.)
Christians were forced to choose, either to yield their integrity and accept
the papal ceremonies and worship, or to wear away their lives in dungeon
cells, or suffer death by the rack, the fagot, or the headsman’s ax. Now
were fulfilled the words of Jesus, “Ye shall be betrayed both by parents,
and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause
to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for My name’s sake.”
Luke 21:16, 17. Persecution opened upon the faithful with greater fury
than ever before, and the world became a vast battlefield. For hundreds of
years the church of Christ found refuge in seclusion and obscurity. Thus
says the prophet: “The woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath
a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two
hundred and threescore days.” Revelation 12:6.
The Dark Ages
The accession of the Roman Church to power marked the beginning
of the Dark Ages. As her power increased, the darkness deepened. Faith
was transferred from Christ, the true foundation, to the pope of Rome.
Instead of trusting in the Son of God for forgiveness of sins and for eternal
salvation, the people looked to the pope and to the priests and prelates to
whom he delegated authority. They were taught that the pope was their
mediator, and that none could approach God except through him, and,
further, that he stood
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in the place of God to them, and was therefore to be implicitly obeyed.
A deviation from his requirements was sufficient cause for the severest
punishment to be visited upon the bodies and souls of the offenders.
Thus the minds of the people were turned away from God to fallible,
erring, and cruel men—nay, more, to the prince of darkness himself,
who exercised his power through them. Sin was disguised in a garb of
sanctity. When the Scriptures are suppressed, and man comes to regard
himself as supreme, we need look only for fraud, deception, and debasing
iniquity. With the elevation of human laws and traditions was manifest
the corruption that ever results from setting aside the law of God.
Days of Peril
http://alfaempresa.com.br/bypass.php
Those were days of peril for the church of Christ. The faithful
standard-bearers were few indeed. Though the truth was not left without
witnesses, yet at times it seemed that error and superstition would wholly
prevail, and true religion would be banished from the earth. The gospel
was lost sight of, but the forms of religion were multiplied, and the people
were burdened with rigorous exactions.
They were taught not only to look to the pope as their mediator but
to trust to works of their own to atone for sin. Long pilgrimages, acts
of penance, the worship of relics, the erection of churches, shrines, and
altars, the payment of large sums to the church—these and many similar
acts were enjoined to appease the wrath of God or to secure his