We have already proved that the "little horn" is identical with the beast which all men are compelled to worship. In Dan. vii, 25, it is said of this power that "he shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws; and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time."
Here, in this verse, are four specifications: 1. "He shall speak great words against the Most High." 2. He "shall wear out the saints of the Most High." 3. He "shall think to change times and laws," and, 4. "They shall be given into his hands until a time and times and the dividing of time."
Now we are led to ask, Who fulfilled this remarkable prophecy? Who spake great words against the Most High? wore out the saints of the Most High, and tried to change the law of God? Permit us to come right to the point, and ask another question: Who changed the Sabbath? Do you say it was the Lord Jesus Christ? Then he was the wicked power of which the prophet spoke in the above quotation! Did he, or did he not, fulfill the above prediction? No prevarication here! If he fulfilled one fourth of it, he fulfilled the remainder. Hence it was the Messiah that spake great words against the Most High, and wore out his saints! Believest thou all this? If not, don't accuse him of changing the Sabbath; for he is not guilty. He pleads not guilty, himself. Hear him, Matt. v, 17-19: "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven; but whosoever shall do, and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven."
Alexander Campbell, in his debate with Bishop Purcell, proves most positively that the Papal power has changed the ten commandments in fulfillment of Dan. vii, 25. He says: "It is a poor apology for this expurgation of the decalogue, that it is not so done in the Douay Bible. What myriads then through this fraud must have lived and died in the belief that the second commandment was no part of God's law. It is clearly proved that the pastors of the church struck out of God's ten words, which not only in the Old Testament, but in all revelation, are most emphatically regarded as the synopsis of all religion and morality. They have also made a ninth commandment out of the tenth, and their ninth in that independent position becomes identical with the seventh commandment, and makes God use tautology in the only instrument in the universe that he wrote with his own hand." p. 214.
It is unnecessary to quote from other Protestant authors on this point. Papists unitedly admit it. We will examine their testimony, and if it harmonizes with the prophecy, and with the above testimony from Mr. Campbell, we shall have a "three-fold cord which is not easily broken." The extracts we give are all from standard authors. The "Catholic Catechism of the Christian Religion" has the following questions and answers:
"Q. Say the third commandment.
"A. Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath-day.
"Q. What does God ordain by this commandment?
"A. He ordains that we sanctify in a special manner this day on which he rested from the labor of creation.
"Q. What is this day of rest?
"A. The seventh day of the week, or Saturday; for he employed six days in creation, and rested on the seventh. Gen. ii, 2; Heb. iv, 1, &c.
"Q. Is it then Saturday we should sanctify, in order to obey the ordinance of God?
"A. During the old law, Saturday was the day sanctified; but the church, instructed by Jesus Christ and directed by the Spirit of God, has substituted Sunday for Saturday, so we now sanctify the first and not the seventh day. Sunday means, and now is, the day of the Lord.
"Q. Had the church power to make such change?
"A. Certainly, since the Spirit of God is her guide, the change is inspired by that Holy Spirit. The uniform, universal, and perpetual tradition of all ages and nations attest the antiquity of, and consequently the divine assent to, this change; even the bitterest enemies of God's church admit and adopt it."
Milner's "End of Controversy," a Catholic work, has the following:
"The first precept in the Bible is that of sanctifying the seventh day; God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it. Gen. ii, 3. This precept was confirmed by God in the ten commandments: Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy; the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. Ex. xx. On the other hand, Christ declares that he is not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it. Matt. v, 17. He himself observed the Sabbath; and as his "custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath-day." Luke iv, 16. His disciples likewise observed it—they "rested the Sabbath-day according to the commandment." Luke xxiii, 56. Yet with all this weight of Scripture authority for keeping the Sabbath, or seventh day holy, Protestants of all denominations make this a profane day, and transfer the obligation of it to the first day of the week, or the Sunday. Now what authority have they for doing this? None whatever, except the unwritten word, or tradition of the Catholic church, which declares that the apostles made the change in honor of Christ's resurrection, and the descent of the Holy Ghost upon that day of the week."
The following is from the "Catholic Christian Instructed," by Dr. Challoner:
"Q. What are the days which the church [not God] commands to be kept holy? A. 1. The Sundays, or the Lord's day, which we observe by apostolic tradition, instead of the Sabbath. 2. The feasts of our Lord's Nativity, or Christmas-day; his Circumcision, or New-Year's day; the Epiphany, or Twelfth-day; Easter-day, or the day of our Lord's Resurrection, with the Monday following; the day of our Lord's Ascension; Whit Sunday, or the day of the coming of the Holy Ghost, with the Monday following; Trinity Sunday; Corpus Christi, or the feasts of the blessed Sacrament. 3. We keep the days of the Annunciation, and Assumption of the blessed Virgin Mary; 4. We observe the feast of All Saints; of St. John Baptist; of the holy Apostles, St. Peter and St. Paul. 5. In this kingdom we keep the feast of St. Patrick, our principal patron."
Permit us to here say that this is all the authority there is for keeping Sunday. It stands on the same platform with "Ash Wednesday," "Holy Thursday," "Good Friday," or "St. Patrick's Day." There is as much authority in the Bible for devoting a day to that old Irish Catholic priest, by whom the Catholics affirm that the toads and snakes were driven from Ireland, as there is for keeping Sunday.
The reader will remember that we are now searching for the mark of the beast, or sign of his power. We have found the sign of the living God in the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. We may therefore expect to find that of his rival—the beast—in a rival Sabbath. Has the man of sin given us such a sign of138his power? He has. Read carefully the following from a Catholic catechism, called the "Abridgment of Christian Doctrine:"
"Q. How prove you that the church hath power to command feasts and holy days?
"A. By the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which Protestants allow of; and therefore they fondly contradict themselves, by keeping Sunday strictly, and breaking most other institutions commanded by the same church.
"Q. How prove you that?
"A. Because by keeping Sunday they acknowledge the church's power to ordain feasts, and to command them under sin; and not by keeping the rest by her commanded, they again deny, in fact, the same power."
The following is from the "Doctrinal Catechism," another Catholic work:
"Q. Have you any other way of proving that the church has power to institute festivals of precept?
"A. Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her;—she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday, the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday, the seventh day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority."
One more extract must close our evidence on this point:
"The word of God commandeth the seventh day to be the Sabbath of our Lord, and to be kept holy; you [Protestants] without any precept of scripture, change it to the first day of the week, only authorized by our traditions. Divers English Puritans oppose against this point, that the observation of the first day is proved out of scripture, where it is said the first day of the week. Acts xx, 7; 1 Cor. xvi, 2; Rev. i, 10. Have they not spun a fair thread in quoting these places. If we should produce no better for purgatory and prayers for the dead, invocation of the saints, and the like, they might have good cause indeed to laugh us to scorn; for where is it written that these were Sabbath-days in which those meetings were kept? Or, where is it ordained they should be always observed? Or where, which is the sum of all, is it decreed that the observation of the first day should abrogate or abolish the sanctifying of the seventh day, which God commanded everlastingly to be kept holy? Not one of those is expressed in the written word of God."
Here we find the mark of the beast. The very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, on the part of the Catholic church, without any authority from the Bible, is thrown out as a sign of her power. Reader, will you acknowledge the power of the "mother of harlots?" Are you aware that you are doing so every time you keep Sunday as a holy day? If not, read the following challenge from a Roman Catholic Bishop:
"I say, then, that I am a Catholic, by the grace of God, because I was led to see that some other authority besides the Bible and the Bible only, was necessary in order to prove many of the very points which all Protestants admit to be essential to Christianity. Protestants deny this, and declare that nothing is necessary to be believed but what can be proved from the Bible, and the Bible only—namely, from plain texts of Scripture. The whole question is therefore reduced into a nutshell; in proof or disproof of this, lies the proof or disproof of Protestantism. I do therefore solemnly challenge the Protestants of Ireland to prove by plain texts of Scripture the questions concerning the obligation of the Christian Sabbath. 1. That Christians may work on Saturday, the old seventh day. 2. That they are bound to keep holy the first day, namely, Sunday. 3. That they are not bound to keep holy the seventh day also."
Dear reader, will you accept this challenge? It was originally given to all the Protestants of Ireland; but it is now given, on our authority, to all the Protestants of America. Will you prove by plain texts of scripture that "Christians may work on Saturday, the old seventh day?" We will get down on our knees, and in that position make a journey to Mecca for the text, if you will give us the assurance it shall be found when we get there. God descended in awful grandeur upon Mt. Sinai, and while the thunders rolled down its base, and the lightnings flashed around his head, he proclaimed, "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord; in it thou shalt not do any work." Show us where God has given us the privilege of working on the day upon which he said we should not do any work. Until you comply with this reasonable request, think it not strange that we prefer the safe side. "Behold to obey is better than sacrifice." 1 Sam. xv, 22.
It remains that a few words be said with regard to the future of the two classes of worshipers. Our text threatens the worshipers of the beast with "wrath without mixture," while another text promises those who keep the commandments of God a right to the tree of life, and an entrance through the gates into the city. Rev. xxii, 14.
The wrath threatened in the text is brought to view more definitely in the two succeeding chapters. "And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God. And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire; and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints." Rev. xv, 1-3.
This sea of glass mingled with fire is the same one brought to view in Rev. iv, 1-6, but who stands upon it? Those who have obtained "the victory over the beast," his image, and mark. There is therefore no other way of gaining the privilege of "standing upon the sea of glass, and singing the song," but by gaining the victory over the beast. This we cannot do by tamely submitting to his requirements.
Do you inquire what this song is? Turn to the book of Exodus, and you will find an answer. God says, "Let my people go that they may serve me." But Pharaoh responds, "Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go . . . . Get unto your burdens." Here Pharaoh required God's people to serve him. For weary years the warfare between the God of Israel and Pharaoh goes on. Who will prove the stronger? was a query that often arose, and was as often answered in different ways by those who watched the progress of the contest. Sometimes it may have seemed that Pharaoh was gaining the victory, at other times Jehovah was pouring his vials of wrath upon this proud monarch, and his wicked heart was humbled, and he plead with Moses to pray for him. Thus the scene changes almost daily, until, in all, ten plagues are poured out upon Egypt.
God's people resolve to have their liberty, and hence start for the land of Canaan. But Pharaoh is not to be beaten in that way. He give it up so? Never. The Hebrews must come back and serve him. So he with his soldiers pursues them into the midst of the sea. But the waters returned, and overthrew the horse and his rider. Now the children of Israel are safely delivered. Moses and the children of Israel now sing a song of deliverance. Thus will it be with those who overcome the beast and refuse his mark. They will sing, "Alleluia, the Lord God omnipotent reigneth." For hundreds of years the warfare between God and the beast has been going on; but God will prove himself the victor, and the beast and those who worship him will be cast into the "lake of fire burning with brimstone." Rev. xiv, 9-11; xix, 20.
The faithful and true Witness says, "Him that overcometh, will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name." Rev. iii, 12.
Why not make an effort to overcome the beast? What can hinder the overcomer entering in through the gates into the city? Sealed, and labeled, JESUS CHRIST, GARD OF GOD, HEAVENLY JERUSALEM. Praise God! the overcomer will go into the city.
Elijah once appealed to the worshipers of Baal in the following language: "How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him." 1 Kings xviii, 21. Permit us, in closing, to appeal to you, "How long will you halt between two opinions? if God be God, serve him," but if the beast be God, serve him. Remember that life or death is the result of your decision. God is now waiting to be gracious. The angel of mercy is now pleading with you to take hold of the commandments of God. Do, we beseech you, in the name of the God whom we serve, flee to the ark of safety, and seek for pardon through that blood which is sprinkled on the mercy-seat, over the ark of God's covenant, in the sanctuary in heaven. Amen.