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THAT VOICE

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Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jan 29, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 13.

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THAT VOICE.

By Elder O. O. Farnsworth

BY ELDER O. O. FARNSWORTH.
It was a saying of Rome, "The voice of the people is the voice of god." This was true as far as Rome and her gods were concerned, for her gods were simply a creation of the State, endowed with all the attributes of the carnal heart. Then, when the gods spake, it was simply the voice of man that was heard. But how did the people speak?—Whenever the mind of the people had been aroused by passion, or by the eloquence of orators, the expression of the mind was made manifest by the enactment of laws. Thus the voice of the people was heard in the laws.
The question, however, which interests us is, How did Rome speak? The holy seer of old, when on the Isle of Patmos, saw in vision her symbol, a great red dragon. Not only was John permitted in vision to behold this power, but when he was thrown into a caldron of boiling oil, he knew what the voice of the god of Rome meant. That voicewas the voice of intolerance, the voice of oppression, the voice of death. As out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh, so the spirit of Rome was the spirit of antichrist. Satan was using the voice of the people, and causing them to think it was the voice of God. So it will ever be when any nation or people undertakes to settle religious questions and controversies by the voice of the people. The statement of Christ, that only the few would find the narrow way, will be true as long as the world stands.
In the new republic there is a sentiment cherished which is threatening the religious liberties of its people. Although it may not be expressed in the same words, it has the same meaning,—the voice of the people is the voice of God. The idea is that Christ is the King of the nation, and his law is the supreme law of the land, but, since Christ is not here by his visible presence, the church is his representative. With this in view, the church now steps forth, and, placing her own interpretation on his law, seeks to compel all to bow in submission to it.
The great point just now is to enthrone Sunday as the sabbath of the Decalogue, in the supreme law of the land. Not content that Congress has perjured itself by overriding the Constitution, they desire to go further, and so change the Constitution that their course shall be sanctioned, thus trying "of wrong to make right by correcting and changing laws." The Papacy also claims the same power.
In a call for a national convention, by Felix R. Brunot, published in the Christian Statesman of November 4, we find the following:—
The conflict through which we have been passing, as to the World's Fair and the sabbath, has demonstrated the overwhelming strength of the Christian sentiment of our country. It has also shown that this sentiment, left without adequate legal expression, is at a most serious disadvantage in every great practical moral issue that arises. . . . Believing that this is a most opportune time for a national gathering of the friends of the Christian sabbath and all other Christian features of our national life, with a view to securing for them abiding and authoritative expression in fundamental law, the National Reform Association invites all such friends to meet in convention, etc.
Should this purpose be accomplished, whether in just the way this association is working for it or in some other, the nation would be made to speak contrary to God's law, for that says the seventh day, and not the first, is the Sabbath of the Christian. But God's law is the truth (Ps. 119:142); hence the nation arrays itself against God and all those who obey his truth. As no man can serve two masters, it follows that those who obey the law of God must of necessity violate the law of the State. Then, as the State speaks against those, whose voice will be heard?—It is that voice of which John speaks in Rev. 13:11,—"And he spake as a dragon."
The dragon spoke persecution, not only against the people of God, but also against the Son of God. In like manner these self-styled "reformers," in trying to change the Sabbath, are destroying the sign of Christ's power and are warring against him.
That voice, then, is not the voice of God, but the voice of his enemy, finding utterance through a people who honor him with their lips, but their hearts are far from him. The command is, "To the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." Isa. 8:20. But the sheep will know the voice of Christ, and will follow him. The law of God was in his heart, so he always spoke in harmony with it. Then those who follow Christ will keep the Sabbath as he kept it.