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History of the Sabbath and First Day of the Week - John N. Andrews

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<strong>the</strong> communion <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> church <strong>of</strong> Rome. It was<br />

predicted that <strong>the</strong> Roman power should cast down<br />

<strong>the</strong> truth to <strong>the</strong> ground. (Dan. 8:12) The Scriptures<br />

set forth <strong>the</strong> law <strong>of</strong> God as his truth. (Ps. 119:142,<br />

151) The Dark Ages were <strong>the</strong> result <strong>of</strong> this work <strong>of</strong><br />

<strong>the</strong> great apostasy. So dense <strong>and</strong> all-pervading was<br />

<strong>the</strong> darkness, that God's pure truth was more or less<br />

obscured even with <strong>the</strong> true people <strong>of</strong> God in <strong>the</strong>ir<br />

places <strong>of</strong> retirement.<br />

About <strong>the</strong> year 600, as we have seen, <strong>the</strong>re was<br />

in <strong>the</strong> city <strong>of</strong> Rome itself a class <strong>of</strong> <strong>Sabbath</strong>keeping<br />

Christians who were very strict in <strong>the</strong><br />

observance <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> fourth comm<strong>and</strong>ment. It has<br />

been said <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>m that <strong>the</strong>y joined with this a strict<br />

abstinence from labor on Sunday. But Dr. Twisse,<br />

a learned first-day writer who has particularly<br />

examined <strong>the</strong> record respecting <strong>the</strong>m, asserts that<br />

this Sunday observance pertained to "o<strong>the</strong>r<br />

persons, different from <strong>the</strong> former."[4] These<br />

<strong>Sabbath</strong>-keepers were not Romanists, <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> pope<br />

denounced <strong>the</strong>m in strong language.<br />

The Christians <strong>of</strong> Great Britain, before <strong>the</strong><br />

695

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