p. 117 | Note of warning!

Publishing Committee · Rochester, N. Y. · Oct 18, 1853

Note of warning!

"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. xiv, 9, 10.

When God created the heaven and the earth, he blessed and sanctified the seventh day, and made the Sabbath or Rest-day for man; and he gave it as a sign, mark or token, that we might know that he is the Lord our God, the Creator of the heaven and the earth. "Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations: that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel [all true Israelites] for ever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed." Ex. xxxi, 13, 17. "Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them. And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God." Eze. xx, 12, 20.

Now if the observance of the seventh, and last day of the week, "according to the commandment," [Ex. xx, 10; Luke xxiii, 56.] is a sign or mark of the true knowledge of God, then where the seventh day of the week is not regarded as the Sabbath of the Lord, the people have not the sign of the true knowledge of God in that place. But if the people of any city or place keep the first day of the week as the Sabbath, (which God never commanded, but which the beast did command, Dan. vii, 25.) then the people of such city or place have the sign or mark of the beast, and not the true sign or mark of the Creator, which God has given.

The Holy Spirit, by the prophets, has given the governments of this world the name of beasts. Dan. vii, 17. These four beasts in Dan. vii, answer to the four universal monarchies, namely, Babylonian, Persian, Grecian, and Roman kingdoms. As a mark of one horn of this last Roman beast, he would "speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws." Dan. vii, 25. We know that the word "Sabbath" in the New Testament, means, the seventh and last day of the week; and that the word "Sabbath," now is understood to mean the first day of the week—something entirely different from anything seen in the Old or New Testament. This shows that the time and law of the Sabbath have been changed since the New Testament was written. And we know from history, and from what we have seen of this present Roman beast, that this is the beast marked out by the Holy Spirit, which would think to change the time of the Sabbath, from the seventh to the first day of the week, the Pagan Sunday.—This same Roman beast is brought to view in Rev. xiii, 1, as Rome Papal, receiving power from Rome Pagan. And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast. They still kept up Pagan rites and ceremonies, and honored Paganism after Constantine established Christianity by law. "And they worshipped the beast,"—that is Papacy. But as this Papal, persecuting beast is so fully described in Scripture and history, I will pass to notice