READ once more the prophecy of this government and nation in Rev. 13: 11-17:
“And I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like unto a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the authority of the first beast in his sight. And he maketh the earth and them that dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose death-stroke was healed. And he doeth great signs, that he should even make fire to come down out of heaven upon the earth in the sight of men. And he deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by reason of the signs which it was given him to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast who hath the stroke of the sword and lived.
“And it was given unto him to give breath to it, even to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as should not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, the small and the great, the rich and the poor, and the free and the bond, that there be given them a mark on their right hand, or upon their forehead; and that no man should be able to buy or to sell, save he that hath the mark, even the name of the beast or the number of his name.”
It has been clearly shown, we think, that “the mark of the beast” is the change which the beast power, the Papacy, has made in God’s law.
That law enjoins that men should “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy,” and expressly declares that “the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” Ex. 20: 8-11. This is not a seventh day after six of work, but the seventh day of the weekly cycle, the day of the cycle on which the Creator rested, which He blessed, which He sanctified, known and acknowledged by all reputable authorities to be the present Saturday, from sunset Friday night to the succeeding sunset.
But the Papacy teaches that the Sabbath commandment of the Decalogue enjoins to “sanctify the Sunday,” or first day. Of course, the Papacy knows that the Decalogue does not teach this; but the Roman Catholic Church does teach it, and puts forth Sunday-keeping as the mark of her power, her demonstration that she has power to change the times and the law of the Most High. Dan. 7: 25. This we have proved from her works.
Now Many Godly Persons
have, through the centuries past, observed Sunday. They have believed it to be taught of God. They thought it had Scripture sanction behind it. Shall they be counted as having the mark of the beast?—By no means. All they did, they did in loyalty to God; and God accepts the purpose, and counts the purpose for the deed. They are loyal to the light, and are accepted, not because of Sunday-keeping, but in spite of it.
But in God’s providence a solemn three-fold message goes forth in these days warning men against beast-worship and calling them back to the worship of God, to the keeping of the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. Rev. 14: 6-14.
He who in the light of God’s message, in the knowledge that there is no divine law for Sunday sacredness, in view of the confession of the apostate power that it has done this very work, even as the prophecy declared it would; in view of the further fact that it is proposed to enforce this spurious sabbath upon men’s consciences—if, in view of all these things, men turn from God and His Word and law to the human institution of apostasy, they must receive in that very thing the mark of the beast.
It Is Not Ours to Say
who wear that mark; that rests with God alone. We may say in the light of His Word what that mark is and what it is to receive it. Its reception goes with rebellion against God and the worship of that which is opposed to His worship. There may be, and doubtless are, those outwardly observing the seventh-day Sabbath, who are possessed of the very spirit of the beast and what the mark stands for. If they are not converted, they will sooner or later receive the mark. There are doubtless many outwardly observing Sunday and trampling God’s Sabbath underfoot, but with a heart to do His will, who sooner or later will see the light and bring the outward conduct into harmony with the heart. These hearts God knows, and we leave it with Him.
But in the present progress of the Sunday-law movement, it will not be long before it is universal. From every so-called Christian nation comes the news of Sunday-law agitation. It is especially active throughout the United States. Earnest men are engaged in it. Mistakenly zealous and successful, many are. Combining religious organizations, they control votes, and the controller of votes controls politicians.8
Increase of Papal Prestige.
Together with the increased demand for Sunday laws, there is a constant increase in papal influence in political circles. Roman Catholic prelates dominate the daily press to-day sufficient to dictate its policy in religious matters. The Catholic boycott influences great publishing houses; any book, however true, which is inimical to the Catholic faith can scarcely find a well-known publisher. Few, if any, of the great magazines would dare advertise such a book. Historical facts are suppressed in the histories studied in our schools, and Catholic critics sit at the entrance gate of our great encyclopedias, to see that important facts in papal history are not allowed to enter and be recorded. The national government is rapidly falling under papal influence.
What Does This Mean?
What effect will such a course have upon the world? Just what the opposite course of this government had one hundred and thirty years ago. When America turned from the “old order of things” and started a “new order of things” in civil and religious liberty, she turned the faces of the governments of the Old World “fronting to the dawn.” Tyrannical laws faded from statute books; the auto de fé became a thing of the past; dungeon doors were flung open; shackles melted; bonds of church and state union were weakened and became dead letters; the whole world looked libertyward, led by the young giant of the West. But now that this nation has turned her face backward to the Dark Ages, has said, We must here also enforce religion by law; we must go back in principle, ever ripening toward fact, to the ideas of church-and-state union which made the decadent nations of the Old World what they are, she will virtually say to those nations of the Old World, “I am wrong; you were right. After a century and a quarter, I find that we must return to the union of religion and the state, which cursed the world for centuries.” And the result will be that the nations will follow this nation back to the Black Forest of intolerance as truly as it was leading them a few years ago out of its cruel and dark superstitions. Therefore is it written in the prophecy: “And he deceiveth them that dwell on the earth.” “And he maketh the earth and them that dwell therein to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed.”
But will the Papacy again be restored? A few considerations upon this in our next.