Some Truth Suppressed.

FACTS OF FAITH By Christian Edwardson

Chapter  19

The Taiping Revolution

     (190) While the advent message was just beginning in America, there was a most remarkable movement going on in the heart of China. A heathen Chinese, without any acquaintance with Christianity, had, in 1837, a series of remarkable visions, in which he was shown the principal points in the Christian religion. In his visions Hung-sui-tshuen was first taken to a river, where the celestial visitors said to him: "Why hast thou kept company with yonder people and defiled thyself?" He was then washed clean, his heart was taken out, and a new heart was given him. (How could a heathen be given a better idea of conversion and baptism?) He was then brought in before "a man, venerable in years," "sitting in an imposing attitude upon the highest place," whom he called "Our Heavenly Father." He also "met with a man of middle age," whom he called "our Celestial Elder Brother."

     "Sui-tshuen's whole person became gradually changed, both in character and appearance. He was careful in his conduct, friendly and open in his demeanor."

     When Sui-tshuen, in his visions, was brought in before "Our Heavenly Father: he was shown the sinfulness of idolatry. God "began to shed tears, and said, 'All human beings in the whole world are produced and sustained by Me; they eat My food and wear My clothing,'" but they have no "'heart to remember and venerate Me'" "'they take of my gifts and therewith worship demons.'" "And thereupon he led Sui-tshuen out, told him to look down from above, and said, 'Behold the people upon the earth! Hundredfold is the perverseness of their souls.' Sui-tshuen looked, and saw such a degree of depravity and vice that his eyes could not endure the sight, nor his mouth express their deeds." He was then told to go and rescue his brethren and sisters from the demons, and was given "a seal, by which he would overcome the evil spirits," and our "Elder Brother" "instructed him how to act," and "accompanied him upon his wanderings." When "he woke from his trance" he started on his God-given work.

     (191) Before this Hung had received from a stranger on the street nine small books, which he had not read. Now he started to read them, and was joined by his cousin Le. The books contained some chapters from the Bible which presented the same picture of God and Christianity that he had seen in his visions. "Sui-tshuen felt as if awakening from a long dream. He rejoiced in reality to have found a way to heaven, and a sure hope of everlasting life." He and Le then baptized each other. They prayed to God, and decided to obey His commands, and then felt their hearts overflowing with joy. "They thereupon cast away their idols and removed the table of Confucius." through their earnestness and joy in the new-found salvation, many were soon won, and in answer to prayer the power of God was manifested among them in healing the sick. They had also the "gift of prophecy" among them.

     "At this time, Hung prohibited the use of opium, and even tobacco, and all intoxicating drinks, and the Sabbath was religiously observed." - "The Ti-Ping Revolution," by Lin-Le, an officer among them, Vol. I, pp. 36-48, 84. London: 1866.

     "The seventh day is most religiously and strictly observed. The Taiping Sabbath is kept upon our Saturday." The Sabbath is ushered in with prayer, and "two other services are held....Each service opens with the Doxology:

     "We praise thee, O God, our Heavenly Father; We praise thee, Jesus, the Saviour of the world; We praise the Holy Spirit." - Id., p. 319.

     When the Manchu government made war on the followers of Hung, they organized their own government, and millions of Chinese gladly flocked to their standard, because of the kindness and strict justice of their government. During the wars, their soldiers were not allowed to drink the water nor eat the food of the conquered without paying for them, and no crime was committed by them, under death penalty. The Taipings printed the Bible and spread it among their people, and the Ten Commandments were strictly followed.

     (192) In 1862 there were 85,000 converted Sabbath-keeping Christians among them, besides more than 45,000,000 others who gladly yielded themselves under their government, but were not accepted as church members. Their territory covered 90,000 square miles in the heart of China, and liquor, tobacco, opium, and idols were totally banished from its whole extent. Had the Christian nations kept out of the struggle, China today might have been a Sabbath-keeping Christian country. But two influences conspired against the Taipings, or God-worshipers, as they were called: 1. English opium-traders became alarmed about the probable destruction of opium and the loss of the millions they earned annually in the opium trade in China. 2. The Taipings did not understand the difference between the images of saints, used by the French Jesuits in their worship and the idols used by the heathen Manchus, so the Taipings opposed them indiscriminately, which aroused the ire of the Jesuits, and finally Christian countries assisted in completely destroying the Taipings. Lin-Le, heart-sickened at the thought of this "cruel sacrifice of the greatest Christian movement this world had ever witnessed," exclaims:

     "What excuse can missionaries give for their surprising negligence of...the 70,000,000, and upwards, of those who might have become Christians under the Taiping authority during 1861-1862." - Id., pp. 310, 312.

     The terrible massacre of the Taipings was so heart-rending that we must not describe it here, but will refer the reader to the description of it given by H. L. Hastings, in his book: "Signs of the Times," pages 149-151. We can see in this another evidence of the vigilant spirit that eagerly watches and determinedly opposes every effort to wrest souls out of his grasp, or to bring the true knowledge of God to mankind. (Revelation 12:17.)

Ten - Not Nine Commandments.

FACTS OF FAITH By Christian Edwardson

Chapter  18 Part Two

THE LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA

     Pastor A. C. Preus, in an article in Kirkelig Maanedstidende [Monthly Church Tidings], of August, 1855, endeavored to quiet an agitation on the Sabbath question that had arisen in Wisconsin, by claiming that the Sabbath commandment simply required the keeping of one day in seven. He wrote:

     "It is a moral law, founded on a moral necessity, that a rest day must be appointed;...but it is ceremony, resting on outward occasion of circumstances, whether one day or another is established.

     "We know that 'the law is a lamp and the commandment a light,' and woe be to us if we would 'abolish' even one of the least commandments and 'teach men so.' But the law, the unchangeable moral law, which proceeds from the nature of God, says nothing about which day. The third [fourth] commandment simply reads thus: 'Remember that thou keep holy the rest day,' it does not say the seventh day!" (The Catholic Church dropped the second commandment out of their catechism, and the Lutherans followed the same numbering, making the Sabbath command the third. In the Lutheran catechism it reads as pastor Preus here quotes it, and not as given in Exodus 20:1-17.) - Kirkelig Maanedstidende, August, 1855, pp. 94-97. Inmansville, Wis.

     (183) A few Lutheran ministers saw in this article a direct blow against the sanctity of Sunday, others took exception to the claim that the Sabbath commandment is binding on us. The struggle that ensued is spoken of in their book on "The Jubilee of the Norwegian Synod, 1853-1903," in the following statement:

     "The struggle which began against the sects outside of the Lutheran Church thus soon became a controversy with those who had false ideas within the Lutheran Church itself, a controversy which was kept up till well towards the eighties, when it gradually died away, because other points of dispute arrested the attention." - "Festskrift," p. 239. Decorah, Iowa: 1903.

     During this long controversy much was written in their official organ, Kirkelig Maanedstidende [Monthly Church Tidings], in Emigranten, and in their Synodical Reports, especially from 1863 to 1866, and discussions continued in their "Synods." The one side held to the "Explanation of Luther's Catechism" (Oslo, 1905), which says that the ceremonial law was abolished at the cross, but that "the moral law, which is contained in the Ten Commandments,...is still in force,...because, it is founded on God's holy and righteous nature, and hence is immutable as God Himself." - pp. 5, 6.

     The other party said:

     "Either the words in the 3rd [4th] commandment regarding the seventh day on which God rested are binding on us, and then we must and shall keep Saturday, or, if these words are not in force for us, then we have nothing to do with any definite day, or any day whatever....We notice that the 3rd [4th] commandment does not speak of one day in seven, or a seventh day, but only and solely of the seventh day, that is Saturday. As long as they will acknowledge this, which every honest Christian with common sound judgment certainly must, and they also acknowledge that the New Testament nowhere institutes or commands any other day, or says that one day in seven shall be taken in its place, then it also must be acknowledged that there is no word in Scripture to sustain the assertion that one day in seven is a moral command." - "Record of the First Extraordinary Synod of the Norwegian-Evangelical-Lutheran Church in America," held at Holden, Minnesota, reported in Kirkelig Mannedstidende [Monthly Church Tidings], Aug. 1, 1862, p. 232.

     (184) "To say, that the commandment regarding outward rest (Exodus 20:10, 11) [refers to one day in seven] is only arbitrary misrepresentation and falsification of God's word, for it does not say 'every seventh,' but 'the seventh day, on which God rested,' and that, every one knows, was Saturday. If therefore this commandment concerning outward rest for man and beast is in force as a moral command for us Christians, then we must rest on Saturday, as that is the only day on which such rest was commanded." - Id., April 1, 1862, p. 99.

     Having called attention to the fact that the fourth commandment enjoins observance of the definite seventh day (Saturday) they then referred to Romans 14 and Colossians 2 as proof that the Sabbath was abolished. But those who held that the moral law is still in force, answered:

     "In regard to the places, Romans 14 and Colossians 2, these refer...to the appointed days of the Old Testament, which the contents in the whole chapter show....By 'Sabbaths' is not to be understood the weekly Sabbath, which, before Moses, yea already at Creation, was instituted [Genesis 2], but [they refer] to other feasts, which have been types of Christ, and ceased at Christ's coming." - Id., September, 1863, pp. 271, 272.

     The other side answered:

     "Sunday, no doubt, had sacred memories, but so had the day of Christ's death and the day of His ascension, without Friday and Thursday thereby becoming appointed days for weekly meetings, and even if Sunday had the most glorious memories, there would not be in that the least obligation to keep it....After all, examples prove nothing, they only illustrate what has already been proved. And here it actually is incumbent on those who would make Sunday-keeping a divine ordinance to show us a definite command of God for it." - Id., September, 1863, pp. 261, 262.

     The former, in their review, quoted Matthew 5:17-19 and James 2:10,11, and declared:

     (185) "If it is so dangerous to offend on one commandment, what must it be then to wholly throw away one commandment:...God has distinctly commanded that every tittle in His law is to be kept. and how it will fare with those who take away from, or add anything to, God's word we can read in Revelation. [The writer then referred to the fate of the priests of Baal in 1 Kings 18.]" - Id., April, 1866, p. 103.

     We recognize that this was an argument in which two groups of Sunday-keepers were engaged, and in which each in his own way was trying to present reasons for the observance of the first day of the week. But in fact, the truths brought to light by this close study of the question prove that the fourth commandment enjoins the careful observance, not of one day in seven, but of the seventh day of the week in particular, that the Sabbath was instituted at creation, that while the ceremonial feasts, which were types of Christ, ceased at the cross, the seventh-day Sabbath did not pass away at that time, that there is no definite command in Scripture for Sunday observance, and that those who attempt to remove a jot or a tittle from the holy law of God by substituting the first day of the week for the seventh day fall under the curse of Revelation 22:19.

IN NORWAY

     The controversy in America had its counterpart in Norway and Denmark. At the "Ecclesiastical Association in Christiania [Oslo]," February 8-10, 1854, and at the "Theological Association of the Deans of Drammen," held August 15, 1854, the Sabbath question was the great subject for discussion. At first some seemed to think only of the proper observance of Sunday, but the question soon arose, how the sacredness of the Sabbath could be transferred from the seventh to the first day of the week. Pastor Kaurin thought it could, but Pastor W. A. Wexels declared that this could not be done, for "God Himself cannot transfer the reason for sanctifying the seventh day (God's rest at creation) to another day. Besides this we have no certainty of any transference of the day." - "Theologish Tidsskrift for den Norske Kirke," Vol. VI, pp. 269, 630. Oslo: P. T. Mallings, 1855.

     (186) Some of the speakers felt that the only way to get around this troublesome question was to teach that the Sabbath commandment was abolished, but "Dean Lange found it incomprehensible that any one who knew the sermon on the mount [Matthew 5] could urge the abolition of the Sabbath commandment." - Id., p. 533. And Wexels pointed out that the Sabbath commandment forms such an integral part of the moral law that what was said against one command affected the whole law. But he felt that as Christ had "finished" His work on the cross Friday evening, and rested on the Sabbath, "the Christians have [thus an appeal] on Saturday to live in...the memory of the Lord's own rest after His work on earth was finished, and of the Sabbath rest....If these sacred Sabbath-memories, considered as the common property of the church, should seek an expression in a united outward service on Saturday, it would be entirely becoming." - Id., pp. 608, 609.

     During these long debates one cannot but see a carefully worded attempt to return to the only Bible Sabbath, but who had the courage of a staunch reformer, daring to stand out alone on Bible truths?

     Dean Fr. Schiorn, of Oslo, says:

     "It has been claimed, that the relation of Jesus to the Sabbath commandment was one of protest against continued validity of this command in the New Testament. On the whole it may be safely considered that the effort to remove the Decalogue as the unchangeable rule of divine authority can be traced principally to the fact that they want to blot out the Sabbath commandment. They can, of course, see, that it is impossible to take this one commandment out of the series of commandments as long as they acknowledge the other nine binding and obligatory. The Ten Commandments form such a definite circumscribed unity that they must stand or fall together. So they would sooner let all fall than to let the third [fourth] commandment remain standing." - "Relation of the New Testament to the Old Testament Legislation," p. 11. Oslo: 1894.

     (187) "It is clear also that this commandment belongs to the divine law for the church. It has always been a mystery to me, why many have such a living interest in getting this commandment blotted from the Decalogue. That the enemies of Christianity want the Sabbath day, or its divine validity, removed, that I can naturally understand. But why living Christians, zealous workers in the church, want it removed, that I cannot understand." - Id., p. 12.

     "Has Jesus anywhere expressed Himself against the Sabbath commandment or the continuance of its validity? Has He ever violated it, or advised His disciples to violate it?

     "Never! He has combated the misuse of the Sabbath commandment by the Pharisees in the same way that He combated their misuse of prayer, fasting, tithing, almsgiving, etc., that is, all self-righteous piety by works, all spiritless use of the Sabbath, but never the Sabbath commandment itself....He says (Mark 2:27): 'The Sabbath was made for man.'...God gave man - not only the Jews - the Sabbath...and He has protected this His gift by a definite command, which has its continued validity for the new covenant people as well as for the people of the old covenant, because their need and circumstances are essentially the same.

     "When it is said that the third [fourth] commandment does not obligate the church, because Jesus has not imposed on us any Sabbath commandment, then this is to me very strange and incomprehensible talk. The commandment was already given in the law, which Jesus would not abolish, but fulfill. It was therefore a piece of superfluity for Jesus to give a Sabbath command. He, as Lord of the Sabbath, has caused His church to retain it, for which His church owes Him the very greatest thanks." - Id., pp. 14, 15.

     On the other hand Pastor L. Dahle declared:

     "The third [fourth] commandment is abolished for us Christians, and has no more as a command any binding claim.

     "It is a false imagination, if any one thinks he obeys the third [fourth] commandment in the law of Moses by keeping holy the first day (Sunday) instead of the seventh; for the commandment does not at all speak of one day in seven, but of the seventh day of the week. If therefore the commandment continued to be in force, then without doubt, were the Jews and the Adventists right, when they say that if we will obey God's command, we must keep Saturday holy. There cannot be the least doubt about this. Every attempt to explain away this fact will and must fail.

     (188) "It is therefore only an imagination that we keep holy our Sunday according to the requirements of the third [fourth] commandment.

     "Consequently it is an established fact, that if the third [fourth] commandment is still in force, then we must acknowledge the Adventists to be right, and begin to keep Saturday holy. If we are unwilling to do this, we must prove from the word of God that the Sabbath commandment is abolished in the New Testament and is no more binding on us Christians." - "The Adventists, Sabbath, and Sunday," pp. 23, 24. Stavanger; 1903.

     Pastor K. A. Dachsel says, significantly:

     "For this reason many godly Christians have solemnly upbraided the Christian church for keeping Sunday instead of Saturday: it [the church] can have no right to change God's commandment, and if in the catechism the whole commandment had been embodied verbatim from Exodus 20:8-11, as has been done in the Heidelberg Catechism, then we should still keep Saturday holy, and not Sunday." - "Edifying Instruction in the Catechism," p. 24. Bergen: 1887.

     Thus we see how the truth was forced upon the minds of leading churchmen by this prolonged discussion, and all were given the opportunity to make their choice. But, as is always the case, no one wishes to step out alone, they wait for all to step out in a body, a thing which has never occurred during the whole history of the world. God's work in an individual matter, not a mass movement.

     In the discussion carried on in Denmark, Bishop Skat Rordam and Dr. Fr. Nielson took the same stand as Pastor L. Dahle in Norway, and "The Norwegian Synod" in America, that the Sabbath commandment was abolished, but that the church keeps Sunday as a proper church regulation. (See Bishop Rordam's remarks on p. 108.)

     (189) On the other side stood Dean C. O. C. E. Krogh; Pastors John Clausen, Wilh. Beck, I. Vahl, P. Krag, A. G. Fich, and I. S. D. Branth, who declared that we have not nine, but ten commandments. "And the Ten Commandments are God's commandments for all men in all ages. It is that law which Christ would not destroy, but fulfill, and the Sabbath commandment is a part of it," declared Dean I. Vahl. Pastor P. Krag said:

     "When Paul in the letter to the Colossians speaks about the law being abolished by Christ, he refers to the middle wall that separated Jews and Gentiles, the law of Moses. The Ten Commandments, in which Moses had no part, were given by God's own voice, and this God wrote with His own hand as an evidence that they should be in force for all times.' - "Report of the Second Church Meeting in Copenhagen," Sept. 13-15, 1887, P. Taaning, pp. 68, 69. Copenhagen: 1887.

     The reports of these discussions are very interesting and illuminating, but our limited space does not permit us to quote further. This, however, is sufficient to show how God led one by one of the leading denominations to investigate the Sabbath truth, and offered them the grand privilege of carrying the Reformation to completion. If they had accepted the Sabbath truth, He would have led them on step by step till they had reached the divine standard of the apostolic faith. Many of the truths of God's word, which the Roman church, during the Dark Ages, had buried beneath the rubbish of human tradition, still lay untouched, as costly jewels beneath the sand of centuries. These must be dug up, so that the "remnant" church could stand forth in its apostolic purity, possessing the complete "faith which was once delivered to the saints"; for those who shall meet the Lord in peace, when He comes in glory, must "keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." Jude 3; Revelation 12:17; 14:12.

More Sabbath Keeping History.

FACTS OF FAITH By Christian Edwardson

Chapter  18 Part One

Sabbath Reform in Scandinavia

     (178) There were many Sabbath-keepers in Norway even in the days of Catholicism. The Sabbath seems to have been brought to the Scandinavian countries partly by the Waldenses, and partly as a direct work of the Spirit of God. But Rome was no more favorable towards the Sabbath there than in other parts of the world. When the Inquisition of the twelfth century scattered the Waldenses, they were forced to flee to more obscure places and to countries lying on the outskirts of civilization, and as the persecution continued, they gradually drifted into Scandinavia. Then, too, in the "Catechism" that was used during the fourteenth century, the Sabbath commandment read thus: "Thou shalt not forget to keep the seventh day." We are told by Swedish historians that the Sabbath-keeping public claimed that angels had appeared to them, instructing them to keep the Sabbath on Saturday. Of the church council held at Bergen, Norway, August 22, 1435, we read:

     "The first matter concerned a superstitious keeping holy of Saturday. It had come to the ear of the archbishop that people in different places of the kingdom, 'partly from the weakness of nature, partly by the deceptions and promptings of the devil,' had ventured to adopt and keep holydays, which neither God nor the holy Church had ordained or sanctioned, but on the contrary is against the commands of both, 'namely the keeping holy of Saturday, which Jews and heathen used to keep, but not Christians.' It is strictly forbidden - it is stated - in the Church-Law, for any one to keep or to adopt holydays, outside of those which the pope, archbishop, or bishops appoint." - "The History of the Norwegian Church under Catholicism," R. Keyser, Vol. II, p. 488. Oslo: 1858.

     (179) At another church conference, held at Oslo, the next year, the same archbishop commanded:

     "It is forbidden under the same penalty to keep Saturday holy by refraining from labor." - Id., p. 491.

     In another old publication from nearly the same period we find this accusation against the priests:

     "Also the priests have caused the people to keep Saturdays as Sundays." - "Theological Periodicals for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Norway," Vol. I, p. 184. Oslo: P. T. Mallings, 1871.

     Sabbath-keepers continued to keep the Bible Sabbath in Norway, in spite of persecution, for we read of new laws made against them in 1544:

     "I, Christoffer Whitefeldt, [governor] over Bergenhus, Stavanger, and Vaardoem, greet all you peasants kindly and with good wishes, who live in the district of Bergen. Dear friends: Mr. Gieble Pederson, superintendent of the district of Bergen, related to me that some of you have kept Saturday holy, especially at Arendal in Sogen, contrary to the ordinance given you last year by Peter Ottesen, my brother, and Niels Bernsen, who had charge of the palace by my authority, in my absence, in which you have done very wrong, and would receive great damage if I would punish you. But, however, because of the solicitation of Mr. Gieble, the superintendent, I will still forbear with you. But now it has been determined at the public Parliament for these two districts, Bergen and Stravanger, that whoever is found keeping Saturday holy shall be fined ten mark in money. So now ye know what ye have to go by.

     "In the next place you are rebellious and disobedient in the Holydays you keep, and are not willing to be satisfied with those which the priest announces which are contained in the ordinance. We now command you in the name of His Majesty, the King, that you solemnly obey the ordinance of His Grace. And whoever disobeys, he shall by my sheriff be punished for his rebellion as a rebellious and disobedient citizen, and be fined ten mark." - "History of King Christian the Third," Niels Krag and S. Stephanius, Vol. II, 'Statutes and Ordinances," p. 379. Copenhagen: 1778.

IN SWEDEN AND FINLAND

     (180) Sabbath-keepers were also scattered over Sweden and Finland. Bishop L. A. Anjou says that there was a peaceful but continued movement on foot in these two countries for the keeping of the seventh-day Sabbath, "one that required the sanctification of Saturday as Sabbath day. The first known origin of this goes back to the middle of the preceding century, when King Gustav I, in the year 1554, wrote a letter of warning to Finland against those who alleged that they through visions and dreams had come to the conviction that famine, etc., were God's punishments because people did not keep Saturday holy. In the beginning of the seventeenth century the same faith was found in Sweden, and even there it was founded on alleged revelations. It was zealously opposed in 1602 by Charles IX." - "Swedish Church History from the Meeting at Upsala, Year 1593," p. 353. Stockholm: 1866.

     "Segregated from any movements opposed to the church, we must consider those who kept Saturday holy, and on this day abstained from labor, but otherwise did not separate themselves from the church. We do not find that those who held this view...observed any other Jewish habits or customs....Had this movement been connected with anything that could be considered apostasy from Christianity, then without doubt the accusations against it would have been stronger and the laws more stringent.

     "Independent of older influences, the inculcation of Sabbath-keeping could easily bring up the question of keeping Saturday holy, by questioning whether the Sabbath law had any validity if it was not applied to the Sabbath day previously appointed in the Old Testament....The customary reading of the Bible, and the appeal to the law of God...could attract the attention to the commandment which required Saturday to be kept holy." - Id., p. 355.

     (181) "This keeping of Saturday holy did not stand alone, at least in most cases, but was part of the Pietism [pious worship] of that age, and was connected with sermons on repentance and warnings against prevailing sins and vices." - Id., p. 355.

     Theodore Norlin, another important Swedish Church historian, says of these Sabbath-keepers:

     "We can trace these opinions over almost the whole extent of Sweden of that day - from Finland and northern Sweden, Dalarne, Westmanland, Nerike, down to West-Gotland and Smaland.

     "In the district of Upsala the farmers kept Saturday in place of Sunday....At several places they pressed their requests so vehemently upon the priests, that they yielded to their wishes to the extent of beginning to hold services on Saturday. At the time of Gustaf Adolphus we see this peculiar faith arising at different places in the country.

     "About the year 1625...in West-Gotland, Smaland, and Nerike, revelations and visions of angels were related in which the necessity of keeping Saturday holy was strictly commanded, and in which warnings were given against the sins that were secretly practiced. This religious tendency became so pronounced in these countries, that not only large numbers of the common people began to keep Saturday as the rest day, but even many priests did the same, which gave occasion for no small schism." - "History of the Swedish Church," Vol. I, part 2, chap. 3, p. 256.

     But the enemy of souls could not endure this revival of primitive Christianity, and Sabbath-keeping in Sweden and Finland was finally suppressed. But when the work of the Holy Spirit was suppressed in these Scandinavian churches, the same dire fruit of spiritual declension was seen, as formerly in the apostolic church. Whenever the warning voices are hushed up, spiritual darkness sets in. Dr. Scharling, Lutheran Professor of Theology, says:

     "Luther's great work of Reformation was still far from having been accomplished, it was followed by a continual retrogression, a deeper sinking of the religious consciousness, until it at last reached its zero point in Ritualism....Little by little the Evangelical church becomes chilled,...and it takes on an unpleasant similarity to the Romish church." - "Menneskehad og Kristendom," Vol. 2, p. 248.

     (182) A church in a lukewarm condition does not usually concern itself with spiritual reforms. But in the early part of the nineteenth century, when the great spiritual revival passed over almost every country, and affected nearly all denominations, Sabbath reform came to the front again, and deeply impressed the honest in heart. We find leading men in different denominations reaching out to find Bible proof for the change of the Sabbath, and when this could not be found, they either accepted the Bible Sabbath, or gave up their former faith in the immutability of the Ten Commandments.

Resurrection.

1Co 15:12  Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? 

Is there a RESURRECTION of the dead? What does resurrection mean? What do you think of when you think of being resurrected?

Resurrection

RESURREC'TION, n. s as z. [L. resurrectus, resurgo; re and surgo, to rise.]

A rising again; chiefly, the revival of the dead of the human race, or their return from the grave, particularly at the general judgment. By the resurrection of Christ we have assurance of the future resurrection of men. 1 Pet 1.

In the resurrection, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage. Mat 22.

(WEBSTER)

Abraham looked forward to being resurrected, as did David, and many others.

Heb 11:13  These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 

Heb 11:14  For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. 

Heb 11:15  And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. 

Heb 11:16  But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city. 

Act 2:29  Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. 

Act 2:30  Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; 

Act 2:31  He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. 

Act 2:32  This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. 

Act 2:33  Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. 

Act 2:34  For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, 

Act 2:35  Until I make thy foes thy footstool. 

Act 2:36  Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. 

Act 13:35  Wherefore he saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. 

Act 13:36  For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption: 

Act 13:37  But he, whom God raised again, saw no corruption. 

Paul tells us in the book of Acts about David- 'NOT ascending into the heavens.' That David 'saw corruption'. Jesus did NOT see corruption. Jesus WAS resurrected.  David did NOT go on to live any sort of life outside of his body or don't you think we'd be told all about that? There would be a lot on the subject about us dying and then living a new life in a new way in heaven. David did not ascend to heaven- if all this is supposedly telling us is that David doesn't have his body but is like an angel in spirit form now, why would it make a point of mentioning David NOT ascending to heaven, if in fact part of David with awareness did make it to heaven? What would it matter whether or not he had a body if everything that made him who he was- his thoughts, his feelings, his individuality was all there in heaven? Is the body NOT being in heaven more important than a spirit-thinking form? Big deal no cumbersome, ailing, aging body, no flesh at all to worry about with all its ins and outs, just spirit form us living on- yet, the Bible does not talk about that. Instead it talks about someone being in the grave as though they are really there, dead, unliving, unknowing, just dead and staying dead until they are called to be resurrected or not. Waiting for that heavenly country wasn’t their waiting for death to inherit it, or else we'd be told that’s what is was in no uncertain terms. A body in a grave would mean NOTHING, if the person that body belonged to was living in a new way.

None of these people talked of looking forward to their death and subsequent awakening in spirit form. None of these people talked about their dying and immediately going to be with God and their previously dead loved ones. There WAS NO TALK about life immediately after death. They did not speak of instantly receiving the kingdom of heaven upon their demise. We talk about it in our world all the time, endlessly. You hear it on television, in movies, read it in books, see it all over social media- all loved ones, it seems to be the consensus, go immediately to heaven upon death. People are grieving the loss of their loved ones but being consoled by others and consoling themselves that the dead person is in a better place now- with Jesus, with God, with loved ones that have gone on before them.

IF THIS WERE TRUE WHY DOESN’T THE BIBLE TALK ENDLESSLY ABOUT IT AS WELL? 

What is the big fuss about death if we truly are automatically going to a better place instantaneously?

Some religions teach of purgatory- a place to do penance before entering heaven. Again where are the myriad of Biblical texts supporting this? Where?

Our Lord spoke of the kingdom, the gospel is all about the good news of the kingdom of God, but no where do we read about that kingdom being inherited by our intelligent spirit forms upon death.

Why does there even need to be a resurrection if people are already resurrected in spirit form and living eternally, it doesn’t make too much sense, does it? What is the big deal about belonging to Jesus if everyone goes to heaven?

Of course people are quick to say that there is hell to worry about and those who don’t accept Christ as their Savior are going to eternal suffering in spirit form with Satan and his minions in hell. Yet, very few people will talk about anyone going to hell even if they believe it, why? Because they live under the delusion that God will save everyone when all is said and done. Satan has done his job well. Satan's goal was and is deception and that will not end until He is ended eternally.

1Co 15:13  But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: 

1Co 15:14  And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. 

1Co 15:15  Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. 

1Co 15:16  For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: 

1Co 15:17  And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. 

1Co 15:18  Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. 

1Co 15:19  If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. 

1Co 15:20  But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. 

1Co 15:21  For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 

1Co 15:22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 

1Co 15:23 BUT EVERY MAN IN HIS OWN ORDER: CHRIST THE FIRSTFRUITS; AFTERWARD THEY THAT ARE CHRIST'S AT HIS COMING.

1Co 15:24  Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. 

1Co 15:25  For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. 

1Co 15:26  The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. 

1Co 15:27  For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him. 

1Co 15:28  And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all. 

1Co 15:29  Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead? 

1Co 15:30  And why stand we in jeopardy every hour? 

1Co 15:31  I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. 

1Co 15:32  If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die. 

1Co 15:33  Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners. 

1Co 15:34  Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame. 

1Co 15:35  But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come? 

1Co 15:36  Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die: 

1Co 15:37  And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain: 

1Co 15:38  But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body. 

1Co 15:39  All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds. 

1Co 15:40  There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. 

1Co 15:41  There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. 

1Co 15:42  So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: 

1Co 15:43  It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: 

1Co 15:44  It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. 

1Co 15:45  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. 

1Co 15:46  Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. 

1Co 15:47  The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. 

1Co 15:48  As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. 

1Co 15:49  And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. 

Mystery and Victory

1Co 15:50  Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. 

1Co 15:51  Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 

1Co 15:52  In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, AT THE LAST TRUMP: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 

1Co 15:53  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 

1Co 15:54  So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 

1Co 15:55  O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 

1Co 15:56  The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. 

1Co 15:57  But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 

1Co 15:58  Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. 

1Th 4:13  But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 

1Th 4:14  For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 

1Th 4:15  For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 

1Th 4:16  FOR THE LORD HIMSELF SHALL DESCEND FROM HEAVEN WITH A SHOUT, WITH THE VOICE OF THE ARCHANGEL, AND WITH THE TRUMP OF GOD: AND THE DEAD IN CHRIST SHALL RISE FIRST. 

1Th 4:17  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 

1Th 4:18  Wherefore comfort one another with these words. 

When Christ returns - then and ONLY then will the DEAD in Him be raised up.  It does NOT read, when Christ returns the dead in Him will be there already. These dead have to RISE. How can they rise if they are already risen with Him? HOW!? Ask yourselves these questions! They are important.

Believing that you go right to heaven upon death is a DECEPTION and no deception is harmless! Deception hides the truth and lulls us into a very false sense of security. So many believe there is NO harm at all in believing their loved ones are living a better life now, they are done suffering, they are happy all the time. They believe that for their loved ones and in turn for themselves and their own ultimate death. They don't want to believe that they are ever really dead in the sense that they are in a state of knowing absolutely nothing, in a state of not being except in a form of suspended animation-sleep. They don’t want to believe they are sleeping, that all brain functions have ceased. Why? Why is there more comfort in believing loved ones supposedly are able to watch over us and all our suffering while they are endlessly happy? Why? Where is the real, logical, Biblical comprehension of all this?

We do not know the fate of any one, yet we pretend we do when we put our loved ones in heaven and take away the very idea that they may not be called to meet the Lord in the air upon His return. We don’t want to think such a horrific thought, the possibility that those was love and mourn are not with God now, and will never be. It stuns our senses, it numbs us, it makes us horrendous monsters to imagine anyone not making it to heaven. Tell someone who believes their loved one is in heaven that they can't know that, then prepare yourself for a fight. You're just awful if you can entertain the idea that someone a person loves isn't in heaven after death. Yet we KNOW, our BIBLE tells us that narrow is the way, and few are going to find it.

We can't let ourselves be deceived.

Satan told Eve she would not die, and that lie has continued from that day onwards, that death isn't real, but transitioning to a better way of living is… being MORE LIKE GOD… is that better way. Satan told Eve if she ate that fruit she'd be more like God and boy has that lie just gone on and on and on.

Please, Father in heaven, please, holy Father, as Jesus prayed for us, we pray as well… KEEP US FROM EVIL, all evil in every form!

From Apostles to 1600's - Sabbath Keepers

FACTS OF FAITH By Christian Edwardson

Chapter  15

Sabbath-Keepers in India

APOSTOLIC ORIGIN

     (153) We shall now briefly trace the apostolic Christian Sabbath-keepers from Antioch in Syria to their farthest mission stations in old China. Thomas Yeates in his "Indian Church History" (London: 1818), has collected from several sources statements that all agree on the points he presents, that the apostle Thomas traveled through Persia into India, where he raised up many churches. "From thence he went to China, and preached the gospel in the city of Cambala, [which is] supposed to be the same with Pekin, and there he built a church." - Indian Church History," p. 73. "In the year 1625, there was found in a town near Si-ngan-fu, the metropolis of the province of Shin-si, a stone having the figure of a cross, and inscriptions in two languages,...Chinese and Syriac...as follows: 'This Stone was erected to the honor and eternal memory of the law of light and truth brought from Ta-Cin, and promulgated in China.' [The inscription consists of 736 words, giving] a summary of the fundamental articles of the Christian faith." - Id., pp. 86-88.

     That the missionaries who brought the gospel to China were Sabbath-keepers can be seen by the following extract from the inscription:

     "On the seventh day we offer sacrifice, after having purified our hearts, and received absolution for our sins. This religion, so perfect and so excellent, is difficult to name, but it enlightens darkness by its brilliant precepts." - "Christianity in China," M. l''Abbe Huc, Vol. I, chap. 2, pp. 48, 49, seq. New York. 1873.

     Returning to India we shall find traces of the Sabbath among those churches also. And they had retained the Bible in the ancient language used by the church at Antioch, where the name "Christians" originated. (Acts 11:26.)

     (154) "It was in these sequestered regions that copies of the Syriac Scriptures found a safe asylum from the search and destruction of the Romish inquisitors, and were found with all the marks of ancient purity." - "Indian Church History," T. Yeates, p. 167.

     "Whatever may be the future use and importance of those manuscripts, one thing is certain, and that is, they establish the fact that the Syrian Christians of India have the pure unadulterated Scriptures in the language of the ancient church of Antioch, derived from the very times of the Apostles." - Id., p. 169.

     Thomas Yeates shows that they kept "Saturday, which amongst them is a festival day, agreeable to the ancient practice of the church." - Id., pp. 133, 134.

     The Armenians of India and Persia had evidently received their faith from the same source as the other Christians of India. Rev. Claudius Buchanan, D. D., says of them:

     "The Armenians in Hindostan are our own subjects....They have preserved the Bible in its purity; and their doctrines are, as far as the Author knows, the doctrines of the Bible. Besides, they maintain the solemn observance of Christian worship, throughout our Empire, on the seventh day; and they have as many spires pointing to heaven among the Hindoos, as we ourselves." - "Christian Researches in Asia," p. 143. Philadelphia. 1813.

     The Jacobites, another branch of the original Christians of India, can add one more link to this evidence. Samuel Purchas, the noted geographer and compiler, said of them:

     "They keep Saturday holy, nor esteem the Saturday fast lawful, but on Easter even. They have solemn service on Saturdays, eat flesh, and feast it bravely, like the Jews." - "Pilgrimmes," Part 2, book 8, chap. 6, p. 1269. London. 1625. (We must remember that the papal church demanded all to fast on the Sabbath, but these Christians refused to obey her.)

     J. W. Massie says of these Indian Christians:

     "Remote from the busy haunts of commerce, or the populous seats of manufacturing industry, they may be regarded as the Eastern Piedmontese, the Vaudois of Hindustan, the witnesses prophesying in sackcloth through revolving centuries, though indeed their bodies lay as dead in the streets of the city which they had once peopled." - "Continental India," Vol. 2, p. 120.

PAPAL PERSECUTION

     (155) Mr. Massie further says of these Christians:

     "Separated from the Western world for a thousand years, they were naturally ignorant of many novelties introduced by the councils and decrees of the Lateran; and their conformity with the faith and practice of the first ages laid them open to the unpardonable guilt of heresy and schism, as estimated by the church of Rome. 'We are Christians, and not idolaters,' was their expressive reply when required to do homage to the image of the Virgin Mary....LaCroze states them at fifteen hundred churches and as many towns and villages. They refused to recognize the pope, and declared they had never heard of him; they asserted the purity and primitive truth of their faith since they came, and their bishops had for thirteen hundred years been sent, from the place where the followers of Jesus were first called Christians." - Id., Vol. II, pp. 116, 117.

     When the Portuguese (Roman Catholics) came to Malabar, India, in 1503, "they were agreeably surprised to find upwards of a hundred Christian churches on the coast of Malabar. But when they became acquainted with the purity and simplicity of their worship, they were offended. 'These churches,' said the Portuguese, 'belong to the Pope.' 'Who is the Pope?' said the natives, 'we never heard of him.' The European priests were yet more alarmed, when they found that these Hindoo Christians maintained the order and discipline of a regular church under Episcopal jurisdiction: and that, for 1300 years past, they had enjoyed a succession of Bishops appointed by the Patriarch of Antioch. 'We,' said they, 'are of the true faith, whatever you from the West may be; for we came from the place where the followers of Christ were first called Christians'" - "Christian Researches in Asia," Claudius Buchanan, D. D., p. 60. Philadelphia. 1813.

     (156) "These Christians met the Portuguese as natural friends and allies, and rejoiced at their coming: - but the Portuguese were much disappointed at finding the St. Thome Christians firmly fixed in the tenets of a primitive church; and soon adopted plans for drawing away from their pure faith this innocent, ingenuous, and respectable people." - "Indian Church History," Thomas Yeates, p. 163. London. 1818.

     When the Jesuit, Francis Xavier, and his colaborers, were sent to India, they displayed the true spirit of Romanism. "The Inquisition was set up at Goa, in the Indies, at the instance of Francis Xaverius, who signified by letter to Pope [King] John III, Nov. 10, 1545, 'that the Jewish wickedness spread every day more and more in the parts of the East Indies, subject to the kingdom of Portugal, and therefore he earnestly besought the said king, that to cure so great an evil, he would take care to send the office of the Inquisition into those countries. [Accordingly the Inquisition was erected there.] The first Inquisitor was Alexius Diaz Falcano, sent by Cardinal Henry, March 15, A.D. 1560....The language of F. Xavier, used on this occasion, is truly suspicious, and that under the mask of correcting 'the Jewish wickedness,' is rather to be construed an avowed design against the liberties, the independence, and the firmness of the native Christians of Malabar, who refused to acknowledge the Pope's supremacy, and with a true Protestant zeal bravely resisted the Catholic tyranny." - Id., pp. 139, 140.

     "The Jewish wickedness" of which Xavier complained was evidently the Sabbath-keeping among those native Christians, as we shall see in our next quotation. When one of these Sabbath-keeping Christians was taken by the Inquisition, he was accused "of having Judaized; which means, having conformed to the ceremonies of the Mosaic law; such as not eating pork, hare, fish without scales, &c., of having attended the solemnization of the Sabbath." - "Account of the Inquisition at Goa," Dellon, p. 56. London. 1815.

     (157) "The Inquisitors, by degrees, begin to urge him in this way - 'If thou has observed the law of Moses, and assembled on the Sabbath day as thou sayest, and thy accusers have seen thee there, as appears to have been the case; to convince us of the sincerity of thy repentance, tell us who are thine accusers, and those who have been with thee at these assemblies.'"

     Dellon then suggests that in the mind of the inquisitors "the witnesses of the Sabbath are considered as accomplices." - Id., p. 58.

     Some have thought that these Sabbath-keepers were relapsed Jews, but Dellon declares:

     "Of an hundred persons condemned to be burnt as Jews, there are scarcely four who profess that faith at their death; the rest exclaiming and protesting to their last gasp that they are Christians, and have been so during their whole lives." - Id., p. 64.

     "The prisoner, who was entirely innocent, would be given over to the civil arm to be burned, unless he confessed the very crimes of which he was accused, and signed his confession, and also named six or seven of his accusers. But, not being told who they were, he might have to name many before striking the right ones, and, as his accusers were supposed to have been eyewitnesses to his Sabbath-keeping, they might be Sabbath-keepers, who, like himself, were in the clutches of the Inquisition. His only hope, therefore, was to name some of his brethren, who would then be taken by the inquisitors, and forced to repeat the same experience to free themselves. thus the prison would be filled with people who were tortured for guilt of which they were innocent, or to remain in solitary confinement and terrible suspence and agony of mind unto the Auto da Fe, or public burning, which took place every two or three years." - Id., pp. 53-60, 67. And whether they were released or executed, their property was confiscated to the Inquisition. Dr. C. Buchanan says:

     "When the power of the Portuguese became sufficient for their purpose, they invaded these tranquil Churches, seized some of the Clergy, and devoted them to the death of heretics....They seized the Syrian Bishop Mar Joseph, and sent him prisoner to Lisbon: and then convened a Synod at one of the Syrian Churches called Diamper, near Cochin, at which the Romish Archbishop Menezes presided. At this compulsory Synod 150 of the Syrian Clergy appeared. They were accused of the following practices and opinions: 'That they had married wives; that they owned but two Sacraments, Baptism and the Lord's Supper, that they neither invoked Saints, nor worshipped Images, nor believed in Purgatory; and that they had no other orders of names of dignity in the church, than bishop, Priest, and Deacon.' These tenets they were called on to abjure, or to suffer suspension from all Church benefices. It was also decreed that all Syrian books on ecclesiastical subjects that could be found, should be burned; 'in order,' said the Inquisitors, 'that no pretended apostolical monuments may remain'" - "Christian Researches in Asia," p. 60.

     (158) The papacy had adopted the policy that all remains of the pure, apostolic church, whether persons or books, should be carefully eradicated, so that no trace of them might betray the sad fact that the Roman church had fallen away from the apostolic purity. And she has also tried to destroy all accounts of her persecution during the Dark Ages, so that her tracks would be covered up.

Sabbath - Freedom to Worship

FACTS OF FAITH By Christian Edwardson

Chapter  14

Wycliffe, Huss, and Zinzendorf

     (147) The Inquisition and the devastating wars which the popes and the Councils directed against the Albigenses and Waldenses during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, had scattered some of them over Europe, where they settled mostly in Germany, Poland, and Bohemia. "Others turning to the west obtained refuge in Britain." (See "Dissertation on the Prophecies," by Bishop Thomas Newton, p. 518, and "History of the Evangelical Churches of...Piedmont," by Samuel Morland, Esq., p. 191. (London, 1658).) Everywhere these God-fearing people worked quietly for the salvation of souls, and thus prepared the way for the Reformation. But the books of heaven alone contain the true record of the work done by these humble Waldenses.

     "John Wycliffe was the herald of reform, not for England alone, but for all Christendom. The great protest against Rome which it was permitted him to utter, was never to be silenced. That protest opened the struggle which was to result in the emancipation of individuals, of churches, and of nations." - "The Great Controversy," pp. 79, 80.

     In Bohemia, Huss and Jerome were, in their labor, animated by the writings of Wycliffe, so that the light of truth, which the Papacy had quenched in the "Vallies" was flaring up in England and Bohemia. Dr. Fr. Nielsen, of Denmark, says of the papal opposition:

     "The struggle against the Waldenses...was as nothing compared to the trouble that broke out in the Bohemian church when Wycliffism had taken root in that country....About the year 1400 Jerome, M.A., of Prague had been at Oxford, and from thence had brought with him to Prague Wycliffe's 'Dialogus' and 'Trialogus,' and in 1403 John Huss stepped out openly as one of Wycliffe's disciples." - "Haandbog i Kirkens Historie" (Handbook of Church History), Vol. II, p. 874, ed. of 1893. Copenhagen.

     (148) After Huss was burned, July 6, 1415, and Jerome, May 30, 1416, their work of reform was carried on by their followers. But they were divided into two camps, the conservative of Prague, and the radical of Tabor. Dr. Nielson continues:

     "All Hussites were agreed upon yielding obedience to the 'law of God.'...Those of Prague...rejected only that which conflicted with the law of God, [while the] Taborites...would acknowledge only what was expressly mentioned in the Scriptures....The Taborites read the Scriptures with their own eyes....The radical party rejected all holidays, even Sunday....Some longed for the condition of the apostolic times....The religious enlightenment among the Taborites was great, and their women had a better knowledge of the Scriptures than the Italian priests....In Germany the Waldenses had, without doubt, as in Bohemia, several places prepared the way for the Hussitism....

     "If any one after the middle of the fifteenth century wanted to find genuine disciples of Wycliffe and Huss in Bohemia he had to go to the eastern border where the remnant of the Taborites, as 'the quiet in the land' in strict discipline endeavored to follow the law of God. At the close of the fifteenth century there were in Bohemia and Moravia about two hundred churches of the 'Brethren,' who rejected all connection with the Roman church and had their own ministers and bishops, who through a Waldensian Bishop from Austria believed they had preserved the apostolic succession....Time and again they were subject to bloody persecutions." - Id., pp. 886-888, 896, 897.

     We shall now show that these Waldensian and Hussite brethren were Sabbath-keepers. Dr. R. Cox says: "I find from a passage in Erasmus that at the early period of the Reformation when he wrote, there were Sabbatarians in Bohemia, who not only kept the seventh day, but were said to be...scrupulous in resting on it." Erasmus' statement follows: "Now we hear that among the Bohemians a new kind of Jews has arisen called Sabbatarians, who observe the Sabbath." - "Literature of the Sabbath Question," Cox, Vol. II, pp. 201, 202.

     (149) Bishop A. Grimelund of Norway speaks of them as "the anciently arisen, but later vanished sect of Sabbatarians in Bohemia, Moravia, and Hungary." - "Sondagens Historie" (History of Sunday), pp. 46, 47. Christiania: 1886.

     About the year 1520 many of these Sabbath-keepers found shelter on the estate of Lord Leonhard, of Lichtenstein, "as the princes of Lichtenstein held to the observance of the true Sabbath." - "History of the Sabbath," J. N. Andrews, p. 649, ed. 1912. Lord Leonhard asked the Sabbatarians to submit to him a statement of their belief, which was sent to Wolfgang Capito, a leading Strassburg Reformer, and to Caspar Schwenkfield, This document is lost, but Schwekfield's answer to it (printed in 1599) contains several quotations from it, showing that their arguments for the seventh day were much the same as those used by Seventh-day Adventists today. In 1535 they were driven from their homes by persecution, but "once more they were granted respite." Finally in 1547 the king of Bohemia, yielding to the constant urging of the Roman church, expelled them. "The Jesuits contrived to publish this edict just before harvest and vintage....They allowed them only three weeks and three days for their departure; it was death to be found even on the borders of the country beyond the expiration of the hour....At the border they filed off, some to Hungary, some to Transylvania, some to Wallachia, others to Poland." - "History of the Sabbath," Andrews, pp. 648, 649.

COUNT ZINZENDORF

     Scattered and torn by persecution, the old sect of Moravian Brethren wandered about till about the year 1720 Count Zinzendorf invited them to his estate, later called Herrnhut. He began to keep the Sabbath, and became the leader of these Brethren and the head of a great missionary movement. Bishop A. D. Spangenberg says of him:

     (150) "He loved to stick to the plain text of the Scriptures, believing that rather simplicity than art is required to understand it. When he found anything in the Bible stated in such plain language that a child could understand, he could not well bear to have one depart from it." - "Leben des Grafen Zinzendorf" (Life of Count Zinzendorf), pp. 3, 546, 547, 1774.

     In 1738 Zinzendorf wrote of his keeping the Sabbath thus:

     "That I have employed the Sabbath for rest many years already, and our Sunday for the proclamation of the gospel - that I have done without design, and in simplicity of heart." - "Budingsche Sammlung," Sec. 8, p. 224. Leipzig: 1742.

     Spangenberg gives some of Zinzendorf's reasons for keeping the seventh day holy:

     "On one hand, he believed that the seventh day was sanctified and set apart as a rest day immediately after creation; but on the other hand, and principally, because his eyes were directed to the rest of our Saviour Jesus Christ in the grave on the seventh day." - "Leben des Grafen Zinzendorf" pp. 5, 1422, note.

     In 1741 he journeyed to Bethlehem, Pa., where some Moravian Brethren had settled. Of his work there Spangenberg relates:

     "As a special instance it deserves to be noticed that he is resolved with the church at Bethlehem to observe the seventh day as rest day. The matter had been previously considered by the church council in all its details, and all the reasons pro and con were carefully weighed, whereby they arrived at the unanimous agreement to keep the said day as Sabbath." - "Id., pp. 5, 1421, 1422. (See also "Varnhagen von Ense Biographische Denkmale," pp. 5, 301. Berlin. 1846.

     The church records of the Bethlehem Moravian Church (now in the Moravian Seminary archives, and dated June 13 O. S., or June 24 N. S., 1742) has this paragraph:

     "The Sabbath is to be observed in quietness and in fervent communion with the Saviour. It is a day that was given to all nations according to the law for rest, for the Jews observed it not so much as Jews as human beings."

PERSECUTION IN THE UNITED STATES

     (151) But even in the United States, Sabbath-keepers had endured more or less persecution, and when, on the second of October, 1798, a member of their Ephrata society was haled into court for working on Sunday, the judge read a letter, which George Washington wrote to the Baptists of Virginia, dated August 4, 1798, in which he assured them of full religious liberty. It was not easy, however, for the people to grasp the truth that religious liberty is an inherent right, and that governments are instituted to protect the individual in his God-given rights, and that church and state are to be kept separate. (Luke 20:25.) The champions of liberty had a long, hard fight to secure the adoption and ratification of the Federal Constitution and its First Amendment, and it will take the utmost watchfulness by the friends of freedom to retain the liberty there guaranteed.

     When the Constitution was drafted and made its appearance, the friends of religious liberty, especially those who had been oppressed under the religious establishments of the colonies, felt that liberty of conscience was not sufficiently secured by the proposed Constitution. While Article 6 forbade religious tests as a qualification for office under the government, there was no guaranty against religious tests and religious intolerance to those not in office. So on August 8, 1789, the United Baptist churches of Virginia addressed a communication to George Washington, in which they gave expression to the prevailing fears in this matter. Washington replied as follows: "If I could have entertained the slightest apprehension that the Constitution framed by the convention where I had the honor to preside might possibly endanger the religious rights of any ecclesiastical society, certainly I would never have placed my signature to it; and if I could now conceive that the general government might ever be so administered as to render the liberty of conscience insecure, I beg you will be persuaded that no one would be more zealous than myself to establish effectual barriers against the horrors of spiritual tyranny and every species of religious persecution. For, you doubtless remember, I have often expressed my sentiments that any man, conducting himself as a good citizen and being accountable to God alone for his religious opinions, ought to be protected in worshiping the Deity according to the dictates of his own conscience." - "History of the Baptists," Thomas Armitage, D.D., pages 806, 807.

     (152) About a month later, James Madison, with the approval of George Washington, introduced in the first Congress that met under the new Constitution, the first ten amendments, commonly known as the Bill of Rights, the first of which enjoins Congress from all religious legislation. It is as follows:

     "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

     Thus the champions of liberty secured for the citizens of the new republic full liberty of conscience to worship, freedom of speech and of the press, and it will take eternal vigilance to retain these rights unimpaired. See "American State Papers," William Addison Blakely, pp. 152, 153, revised edition. Washington, D.C.: 1911.