The Great Controversy The Great Controversy | Page 588

consciousness in death, they have rejected the only defense against
the delusions of spiritualism. The doctrine of eternal torment has
led many to disbelieve the Bible. And as the claims of the fourth
commandment are urged upon the people, it is found that the observance
of the seventh-day Sabbath is enjoined; and as the only way to free
themselves from a duty which they are unwilling to perform, many
popular teachers declare that the law of God is no longer binding. Thus
they cast away the law and the Sabbath together. As the work of Sabbath
reform extends, this rejection of the divine law to avoid the claims of the
fourth commandment will become well-nigh universal. The teachings of
religious leaders have opened the door to infidelity, to spiritualism, and
to contempt for God’s holy law; and upon these leaders rests a fearful
responsibility for the iniquity that exists in the Christian world.
Yet this very class put forth the claim that the fast-spreading
corruption is largely attributable to the desecration of the so-called
“Christian sabbath,” and that the enforcement of Sunday observance
would greatly improve the morals of society. This claim is especially
urged in America, where the doctrine of the true Sabbath has been
most widely preached. Here the temperance work, one of the most
prominent and important of moral reforms, is often combined with the
Sunday movement, and the advocates of the latter represent themselves
as laboring to promote the highest interest of society; and those who
refuse to unite with them are denounced as the enemies of temperance
and reform. But the fact that a movement to establish error is connected
with a work which is in itself good, is not an argument in favor of
the error. We may disguise poison by mingling it with wholesome
food, but we do not change its nature. On the contrary, it is rendered
more dangerous, as it is more likely to be taken unawares. It is one
of Satan’s devices to combine with falsehood just enough truth to give it
plausibility. The leaders of the Sunday movement may advocate reforms

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