Were the Christians of Past Centuries Sealed without the Sabbath?
By A. Delos Westcott
(Concluded from Last Week.) THE third part of the message (Rev. 14: 9-12) is a warning against the worship of the beast and his image, and against receiving his mark. With remarkable unanimity Protestant commentators have applied this beast symbol to the papal power. The mark of the beast is that which the beast claims as his mark. It is a part of his religion,—the chief part,—and God permits every one to choose his own religion. The writer has many quotations on this point from both Catholic and Protestant authorities. However, only one will be given at this time. Speaking of the change of the Sabbath, Cardinal Gibbons says: "Of course the Catholic Church claims that the change was her act. It could not have been otherwise, as none in those days would have dreamed of doing anything in matters spiritual and religious without her; and the act is a mark of her ecclesiastical power and authority in religious matters." Again, the mark of the beast is that institution which the beast has set up to displace God's sign, or mark. Reader, do you know what it is that has been trying to crowd out and supersede the seventh-day Sabbath ever since the days of Constantine? Do you know that the Sunday institution was trying to crowd out the Lord's Sabbath in the old dispensation as well as in the new? Says Morer, in his "Dialogues on the Lord's Day:" "It is not to be denied but we borrow the name of this day from the ancient Greeks and Romans; and we allow that the old Egyptians worshiped the sun, and as a standing MEMORIAL of their veneration, dedicated this day to him. And we find by the influence of their examples, other nations, and among them THE JEWS THEMSELVES, doing him homage; yet these abuses did not hinder the fathers of the Christian Church simply to repeal, or altogether lay by, the day or its name, but only to sanctify and improve both, as they did also the pagan temples polluted before with idolatrous services, and other instances wherein those good men were always tender to work any other change than what was evidently necessary, and in such things as were plainly inconsistent with the Christian religion; so that Sunday being the day on which the Gentiles solemnly adored that planet, and called it Sunday, partly from its influence on that day especially, and partly in respect to its divine body (as they conceived it), the Christians thought fit to keep the same day and the same name of it, that they might not appear causelessly peevish, and by that means hinder the conversion of the Gentiles, and bring a greater prejudice than might be otherwise taken against the Gospel." This quotation shows that the Sunday institution originated in sun-worship. A writer in the Old Testament Student declared sun-worship to be "the oldest, most wide-spread form of idolatry known to man." The North British Review called Sunday "the wild solar holiday of all pagan times," and Constantine, in his famous Sunday edict, styled it "the venerable day of the sun."
Paul said that "the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God; and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils." 1 Cor. 10: 20. It is certain, then, that everything connected with sun-worship emanated from the mind of Satan. And it is equally certain that Christ would not lay aside His own hallowed rest-day and put in its place an institution set up by Satan and used in his worship for thousands of years.
In the quotation from Morer, Sunday is called the Egyptians' "memorial." Shall we read what the Bible says of the heathen's memorial?
"Thou hast rebuked the heathen, Thou hast destroyed the wicked, Thou hast put out their name forever and ever. O thou enemy, destructions are come to a perpetual end: and Thou hast destroyed cities; their memorial is perished with them." Ps. 9: 5, 6.
This is a prophecy of the final destruction of the wicked. Their memorial, which is the mark of their character and name, is to perish with them.
## The Jews as Sun-Worshipers.
Morer states that even the Jews were at times drawn into sun-worship. Then, of course, they kept Sunday, and, at such times, had no use for the Lord's Sabbath. See how Ezekiel states the facts:
"And he brought me into the inner court of the Lord's house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east; and they worshiped the sun toward the east." Chapter 8: 16. "They despised My judgments, and walked not in My statutes, but polluted My Sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols." Chapter 20: 16.
The testimony shows that this counterfeit sabbath has been trying to usurp the place of the Lord's Sabbath almost since the entrance of sin into our world. It is the mark, or sign, which Satan has set up in opposition to Christ's mark, or sign. The beast, as the agent of Satan, has adopted Satan's sign.
"And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." Rev. 13: 8.
"And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his 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 he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb." Rev. 14: 9, 10.
Over and over again it has been proved in the SIGNS OF THE TIMES that this Threefold Message was due to the world at the termination of the two thousand and three hundred days, or years, of Dan. 8, and that this period expired in A.D. 1844. It is also a well-known fact that at that time God raised up messengers in different parts of the world to carry the message, and that they have been proclaiming it continuously since that time until it has encircled and well-nigh covered the earth. For over half a century, they have been pulling off the cloaks of ignorance on the subject of the Sabbath, and thousands have responded to the call of God to come out of Babylon.5But some say that they can not see this subject as the messengers see it. That was the trouble in Noah's day; they could not see the message as Noah did. The real difficulty was that the people who rejected the message did not fear God and tremble at His word. They were not so much interested in giving glory to God as they were in securing earthly glory for themselves. They were not courting the presence of the Holy Spirit. Those who did not see the message were swept away by the waters of the flood. Failing to See the Message.
John the Baptist and Christ met people who were unable to see the message as they did. Jesus said:
"For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them." Matt. 13: 15.
He told them that the queen of the South, and the people of Nineveh would rise up in the judgment and condemn that generation; for when they heard a message from God, they accepted it. Just as surely will those who have accepted the Threefold Message in this generation rise up in the day of judgment and condemn those who have rejected it. The lives of those who accept God's messages of warning, who receive His Spirit and walk in His commandments, are a constant reproof, warning, and condemnation to those who resist His Spirit and trample upon His law. The Lord bears long with sins of ignorance. He is long-suffering and plenteous in mercy toward those who desire to do right, but have lacked opportunity to become acquainted with His word, or have been misled by false teachers. But when He sends the light and removes their cloak of ignorance, they are left without excuse. That which before was a sin of ignorance now becomes a sin of presumption. "But the soul that doeth ought presumptuously, whether he be born in the land, or a stranger, the same reproacheth the Lord; and that soul shall be cut off from among His people. Because he hath despised the word of the Lord, and hath broken His commandment, that soul shall utterly be cut off; his iniquity shall be upon him." Num. 15: 30, 31. "For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins." Heb. 10: 26.
There is but one sacrifice for sins, and that is the righteous life of Christ. As His righteousness was His obedience of the commandments of God, it follows that to reject the commandments which He observed is to reject the righteousness of Christ. To repudiate the seventh-day Sabbath is to repudiate Christ's Sabbath-keeping, or Sabbath righteousness. And to repudiate His righteousness is to repudiate His sacrifice for sins. Hence to those who do that knowingly, wilfully, and stubbornly "there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries." See Heb. 10: 26-31.
Those who were sealed in past centuries with Christ's Sabbath righteousness, could never have been sealed had they rejected the Sabbath truth. It was impossible for them to reject what they had never heard. Of course there were a few all the way along who understood the truth, and they were held responsible. Let no one think to-day that he will be sealed by Christ while he repudiates the seal. "The times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent." Acts 17: 30.