p. 16 | That “Image.”

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Mar 27, 1901

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 27, No. 13.

That “Image.”

In the fourth century, a few years after the formal union of the nominal Christian Church with the Roman State, a church council at Laodicea decreed that the first day of the week was the Sabbath, and pronounced sentence of excommunication upon all who should continue to observe the seventh day. In 1892 the United States Supreme Court declared that “this is a Christian nation,” which, if it means anything, means a union of the nominal Christian Church with the State. Then the very next year the Senate declared that the first day of the week is the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, and the lower house and the executive concurred. In the first instance it was the church that issued the Sabbath decree, after the union of Church and State, and in the second instance the State followed the union with a Sabbath decision. If this is not an image, where will we find one? It is an image made by decree of the State, and that is just what the prophecy of Rev. 13:11–17 indicates. The penalty upon dissenters has not yet been pronounced, but that part is not far in the future. The principle exists in every Sunday law, from the municipal ordinance to the State statute, and the forces are everywhere at work urging the crowning act by the general government. Those who are actively engaged in bringing about this consummation claim millions of adherents, and we do not doubt their claim. When they shall have accomplished their purpose, then will the prophecy be complete.