The Great Controversy The Great Controversy | Page 54

their hatred of Judaism, to make the Sabbath a fast, a day of sadness and
gloom.
In the early part of the fourth century the emperor Constantine issued
a decree making Sunday a public festival throughout the Roman Empire.
(See Appendix.) The day of the sun was reverenced by his pagan
subjects and was honored by Christians; it was the emperor’s policy to
unite the conflicting interests of heathenism and Christianity. He was
urged to do this by the bishops of the church, who, inspired by ambition
and thirst for power, perceived that if the same day was observed by
both Christians and heathen, it would promote the nominal acceptance
of Christianity by pagans and thus advance the power and glory of the
church. But while many God-fearing Christians were gradually led to
regard Sunday as possessing a degree of sacredness, they still held the
true Sabbath as the holy of the Lord and observed it in obedience to the
fourth commandment.
The archdeceiver had not completed his work. He was resolved
to gather the Christian world under his banner and to exercise his
power through his vicegerent, the proud pontiff who claimed to be
the representative of Christ. Through half-converted pagans, ambitious
prelates, and world-loving churchmen he accomplished his purpose.
Vast councils were held from time to time, in which the dignitaries of
the church were convened from all the world. In nearly every council the
Sabbath which God had instituted was pressed down a little lower, while
the Sunday was correspondingly exalted. Thus the pagan festival came
finally to be honored as a divine institution, while the Bible Sabbath was
pronounced a relic of Judaism, and its observers were declared to be
accursed.
The great apostate had succeeded in exalting himself “above all that
is called God, or that is worshiped.” 2 Thessalonians 2:4. He had dared
to change the only precept of the divine law that unmistakably points all
mankind to the true and living God. In the fourth commandment, God is

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