classes of mankind , embracing nearly the whole world--those who would be saved by their merits , and those who would be saved in their sins . Here is the secret of its power .
A day of great intellectual darkness has been shown to be favourable to the success of the papacy . It will yet be demonstrated that a day of great intellectual light is equally favourable for its success . In past ages , when men were without God ' s word and without the knowledge of the truth , their eyes were blindfolded , and thousands were ensnared , not seeing the net spread for their feet . In this generation there are many whose eyes become dazzled by the glare of human speculations , " science falsely so called ;" they discern not the net , and walk into it as readily as if blindfolded . God designed that man ' s intellectual powers should be held as a gift from his Maker and should be employed in the service of truth and righteousness ; but when pride and ambition are cherished , and men exalt their own theories above the word of God , then intelligence can accomplish greater harm than ignorance . Thus the false science of the present day , which undermines faith in the Bible , will prove as successful in preparing the way for the acceptance of the papacy , with its pleasing forms , as did the withholding of knowledge in opening the way for its aggrandizement in the Dark Ages .
In the movements now in progress in the United States to secure for the institutions and usages of the church the support of the state , Protestants are following in the steps of papists . Nay , more , they are opening the door for the papacy to regain in Protestant America the supremacy which she has lost in the Old World . And that which gives greater significance to this movement is the fact that the principal object contemplated is the enforcement of Sunday observance--a custom which originated with Rome , and which she claims as the sign of her authority . It is the spirit of the papacy- -the spirit of conformity to worldly customs , the veneration for human traditions above the commandments of God--that is permeating the Protestant churches and leading them on to do the same work of Sunday exaltation which the papacy has done before them .
If the reader would understand the agencies to be employed in the soon-coming contest , he has but to trace the record of the means which Rome employed for the same object in ages past . If he would know how papists and Protestants united will deal with those who reject their dogmas , let him see the spirit which Rome manifested toward the Sabbath and its defenders . Royal edicts , general councils , and church ordinances sustained by secular power were the steps by which the pagan festival attained its position of honour in the Christian world . The first public measure enforcing Sunday observance was the law enacted by Constantine . ( A . D . 321 ; See Appendix .) This edict required townspeople to rest on " the venerable day of the sun ," but permitted countrymen to continue their agricultural pursuits . Though virtually a heathen statute , it was enforced by the emperor after his nominal acceptance of Christianity .
The royal mandate not proving a sufficient substitute for divine authority , Eusebius , a bishop who sought the favour of princes , and who was the special friend and flatterer of Constantine ,
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