第05章 良心的自由受到威胁
§1
第05章 良心的自由受到威胁
§2
Chap. 05—Liberty of Conscience Threatened
§3
那些强迫少数人的良心服从多数人意愿的人，正在威胁摧毁美国宗教信仰和实践的宝贵自由。现今美国的基督教正在运动国家来支持教会的制度和习惯，这就是步罗马教的后尘。但在实际上，其意义远不止于此，因为他们正是为罗马教开辟道路，使她在信奉基督教的美洲得以恢复她在欧洲所失去的优势。那使这运动具有更重大意义的，就是他们的主要目标是要强制人遵守星期日。这原是罗马教所创立的制度，也是她所认为是她权力的标记。罗马教的精神也就是要迎合世俗的习惯，尊重人间的遗传过于上帝的诫命。这种精神现今正在渗透于各基督教的教会中，使他们去进行同样的工作，就是罗马教在他们以前所行过的高举星期日的工作。{DD 24.1}[1]
§4
America’s precious freedom of religious belief and practice is in danger of being destroyed by those who would force the conscience of the minority to conform to the wishes of the majority. 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.?{DD 24.1}[1]
§5
如果读者要明白在这快要来临的大斗争中，罗马教将要如何运用她势力的话，只要翻阅历史的记载，查看在以往的各时代中，罗马教为实现这同一目标所使用的种种手段。如果读者要知道罗马教徒与基督教徒联合之后将要如何对待那些拒绝他们教义的人，可以看一看罗马教过去向安息日和拥护安息日的人所表现的精神。{DD 25.1}[2]
§6
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.{DD 25.1}[2]
§7
异教的纪念日之所以能逐渐在基督教世界达到尊贵的地位，乃是由于皇帝的谕旨、宗教的会议和政府所支持的教会法案。历史上第一个强迫人遵守星期日的措施，乃是君士坦丁皇帝所制定的法令（公元321年）。这道法令吩咐城市的居民在“可敬的太阳日”休息，但准许农民继续他们的农作。这道法令虽然根本是属于异教的条例，但总是在皇帝名义上信奉基督教之后颁布的。{DD 25.2}[3]
§8
Royal edicts, general councils, and church ordinances sustained by secular power were the steps by which the pagan festival attained its position of honor in the Christian world. The first public measure enforcing Sunday observance was the law enacted by Constantine. (A.D. 321) 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.{DD 25.2}[3]
§9
皇帝的谕旨既然不足以代替上帝的权威，就有一个专门讨君王欢心，又与君士坦丁特别接近而喜爱奉承他的主教犹西比乌主张说，基督曾把安息日改为星期日。但他并没有从圣经中举出一点凭据来证实这个新的教训。况且犹西比乌自己还在无意之中承认了这种主张的虚假，并说明了这个改变究竟是谁策动的。他说：“凡是人应在安息日遵守的本分，我们已经移到主日上去了”（罗伯特.柯克斯《安息日的法律和安息日的义务》538页）。这个守星期日的论点虽然毫无根据，但总能使一般人大胆践踏主的安息日了。凡是喜爱受世人尊敬的，都接受了这流行的节日。{DD 25.3}[4]
§10
The royal mandate not proving a sufficient substitute for divine authority, Eusebius, a bishop who sought the favor of princes, and who was the special friend and flatterer of Constantine, advanced the claim that Christ had transferred the Sabbath to Sunday. Not a single testimony of the Scriptures was produced in proof of the new doctrine. Eusebius himself unwittingly acknowledges its falsity and points to the real authors of the change. “All things,” he says, “whatever that it was duty to do on the Sabbath, these we have transferred to the Lord’s Day.”—Robert Cox,?Sabbath Laws and Sabbath Duties, page 538. But the Sunday argument, groundless as it was, served to embolden men in trampling upon the Sabbath of the Lord. All who desired to be honored by the world accepted the popular festival.{DD 25.3}[4]
§11
【星期日的法律及其后果】
§12
及至罗马教廷的权势愈形巩固之后，高举星期日的工作也就继续发展下去了。一般信主的农民一度还在星期日不做礼拜的时候从事农作，同时他们也遵守第七日为安息日。但这种情形渐渐又起了变化。到了一个时候，一切担任圣职的人不得在星期日受理一般有关俗务的纠纷。再过不久，当局颁布法令，吩咐众人，不论地位身价如何，都必须在星期日停止普通劳作。凡违犯这命令的，自主的必须付罚款，为奴的必须受鞭打。后来有法令规定：富人必须付出财产的一半作为罚款。如果顽梗不化，最后要被卖为奴。低层阶级的人则要被永远逐出国境。{DD 25.4}[5]
§13
【Sunday Laws and Their Effect】
§14
As the papacy became firmly established, the work of Sunday exaltation was continued. For a time the people engaged in agricultural labor when not attending church, and the seventh day was still regarded as the Sabbath. But steadily a change was effected. Those in holy office were forbidden to pass judgment in any civil controversy on the Sunday. Soon after, all persons, of whatever rank, were commanded to refrain from common labor on pain of a fine for freemen and stripes in the case of servants. Later it was decreed that rich men should be punished with the loss of half of their estates; and finally, that if still obstinate they should be made slaves. The lower classes were to suffer perpetual banishment.{DD 25.4}[5]
§15
为要充分加强星期日的法令起见，他们还要捏造许多神迹奇事。其中的一个传说，论到一个农人擅敢在星期日下田耕地。正当他用一个铁条刮犁头时，那铁条就粘在手上了，他只得把它带来带去，两年之久，“痛苦之至，羞耻非常”（弗兰西斯.威斯特《论主日的历史和实践》174页）。{DD 25.5}[6]
§16
Miracles also were called into requisition. Among other wonders it was reported that as a husbandman who was about to plow his field on Sunday cleaned his plow with an iron, the iron stuck fast in his hand, and for two years he carried it about with him, “to his exceeding great?pain and shame.”—Francis West,?Historical and Practical Discourse on the Lord’s Day, page 174.?{DD 25.5}[6]
§17
后来教皇下令吩咐各地的神父应当告诫一切干犯星期日的人，劝他们到礼拜堂去祷告，否则必有严重的灾祸临到他们和他们的邻舍身上。……{DD 26.1}[7]
§18
Later the pope gave directions that the parish priest should admonish the violators of Sunday and wish them to go to church and say their prayers, lest they bring some great calamity on themselves and neighbors....{DD 26.1}[7]
§19
宗教会议的通令既然还不足以达到高举星期日的目的，教会便要求政府当局颁发命令胁迫人民在星期日停工。于是罗马召开一次会议，将过去一切的会议所通过的法案以更有力更严肃的措辞重申一遍，然后将这些法案编入教会的法典之中，由各地政府，在基督教界全境之内予以执行（海林《安息日的历史》卷二第5章第7部分）。{DD 26.2}[8]
§20
The decrees of councils proving insufficient, the secular authorities were besought to issue an edict that would strike terror to the hearts of the people and force them to refrain from labor on the Sunday. At a synod held in Rome, all previous decisions were reaffirmed with greater force and solemnity. They were also incorporated into the ecclesiastical law and enforced by the civil authorities throughout nearly all Christendom. (See Heylyn,?History of the Sabbath, pt. 2, ch. 5, sec. 7.).{DD 26.2}[8]
§21
【遵守星期日的权威】
§22
虽然如此，他们还是没有圣经的权威作为守星期日的根据，这使他们不胜烦恼。同时，人们还要提出疑问：他们的宗教教师究竟有没有权柄废除耶和华颁布的明令： “第七日是向耶和华你上帝当守的安息日，”去尊重太阳日呢？所以为要弥补圣经方面所没有的证据起见，他们必须想出其他方法。在第十二世纪末叶，有一个热心提倡星期日的人去访问英国各地教会，到处遇见忠心为真理作见证的人。他的一切努力都显然无效，于是他暂时离开英国去寻找更好的方法来支持自己的教训。及至回到英国时，他所缺少的凭据果然找到了，而且他日后的工作也因而有了更好的成绩。他带来的是一个文件，据说是上帝亲自发下来的，其中记载着那人所缺少的有关星期日的命令，并附带着可怕的威胁来恐吓一切不肯听从的人。这一个宝贵的文献──原来它是与它所支持的制度一样卑鄙的赝造品──据说是从天上落下来的，后来在耶路撒冷的各各他山圣西缅的神坛上被人发现。其实它的真实来源乃是罗马教皇的宫庭。因为罗马教廷向来认为一切旨在增进教会权势和荣誉的伪造品都是合法的。……{DD 26.3}[9]
§23
【The Authority for Sundaykeeping】
§24
Still the absence of Scriptural authority for Sundaykeeping occasioned no little embarrassment. The people questioned the right of their teachers to set aside the positive declaration of Jehovah, “The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God,” in order to honor the day of the sun. To supply the lack of Bible testimony, other expedients were necessary. A zealous advocate of Sunday, who about the close of the twelfth century visited the churches of England, was resisted by faithful witnesses for the truth; and so fruitless were his efforts that he departed from the country for a season and cast about him for some means to enforce his teachings. When he returned, the lack was supplied, and in his after labors he met with greater success. He brought with him a roll purporting to be from God Himself, which contained the needed command for Sunday observance, with awful threats to terrify the disobedient. This precious document—as base a counterfeit as the institution it supported—was said to have fallen from heaven and to have been found in Jerusalem, upon the altar of St. Simeon, in Golgotha. But, in fact, the pontifical palace at Rome was the source whence it proceeded. Frauds and forgeries to advance the power and prosperity of the church have in all ages been esteemed lawful by the papal hierarchy....{DD 26.3}[9]
§25
罗马教徒虽然多方努力要确定星期日为圣日，但他们自己还是公认安息日乃是有上帝的权威为根据的，并承认那代替安息日的日子乃是人所设立的。在第十六世纪，某一次罗马教的会议明确宣布说：“基督徒都应记得，第七日是上帝所定为圣的。它不但为犹太人，而也是为一切愿意敬拜上帝的人所接受而遵守的，但我们基督徒已经把他们的安息日变更为主日了”（莫勒《论主日的名称，观念和遵守的六次谈话》281，282页）。可见这些蓄意破坏上帝律法的人对于自己所进行之工作的性质，并不是不知道的。他们明明是故意抬高自己在上帝之上。……{DD 26.4}[10]
§26
But notwithstanding all the efforts to establish Sunday sacredness, papists themselves publicly confessed the divine authority of the Sabbath and the human origin of the institution by which it had been supplanted. In the sixteenth century?a papal council plainly declared: “Let all Christians remember that the seventh day was consecrated by God, and hath been received and observed, not only by the Jews, but by all others who pretend to worship God; though we Christians have changed their Sabbath into the Lord’s Day.”—The Great Controversy, 281, 282. Those who were tampering with the divine law were not ignorant of the character of their work. They were deliberately setting themselves above God....?{DD 26.4}[10]
§27
【“死伤“的治愈】
§28
《启示录》第十三章预言说，两角如同羊羔的兽将要“叫地和住在其上的人，”去敬拜罗马教皇──“形状象豹”的兽。这两角如同羊羔的兽也要“迷惑住在地上的人，说，要给那受刀伤还活着的兽作个像，”并且命令“众人，无论大小贫富，自主的，为奴的，”都要受“兽的印记”（见启13:11-16）。已经证明这两角如同羊羔的兽代表美国，并且这段预言将要在美国政府强迫人遵守星期日──罗马教所宣称为其最高权力的特别标记──的时候完全应验。但在这敬拜罗马教皇的事上，美国政府倒也不是独自进行的。在那些受过罗马教统治的国家中，罗马教的势力至今依然存在。预言也说罗马教的权力必要东山再起。“我看见兽的七头中，有一个似乎受了死伤，那死伤却医好了，全地的人都希奇跟从那兽”（启13:3）。这兽所受的死伤是指一七九八年罗马教皇的势力衰败而言。先知说，在它受了死伤之后，“那死伤却医好了，全地的人都希奇跟从那兽。”保罗很明白地说，这大罪人要存留到主第二次降临的日子（见帖后2:8）。他要进行欺骗的工作，直到末日。蒙启示的约翰也预言到罗马教皇说：“凡住在地上，名字从创世以来，没有记在被杀之羔羊生命册上的人，都要拜他”（启13:8）。将来不论在旧大陆或新大陆，人们都要在遵守星期日──完全根据罗马教的权威而创立的制度──上崇奉罗马教皇。{DD 27.1}[11]
§29
【The Healing of the “Deadly Wound”】
§30
The prophecy of?Revelation 13?declares that the power represented by the beast with lamblike horns shall cause “the earth and them which dwell therein” to worship the papacy—there symbolized by the beast “like unto a leopard.” The beast with two horns is also to say “to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast;” and, furthermore, it is to command all, “both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond,” to receive the mark of the beast.?Revelation 13:11-16. It has been shown that the United States is the power represented by the beast with lamblike horns, and that this prophecy will be fulfilled when the United States shall enforce Sunday observance, which Rome claims as the special acknowledgment of her supremacy. But in this homage to the papacy the United States will not be alone. The influence of Rome in the countries that once acknowledged her dominion is still far from being destroyed. And prophecy foretells a restoration of her power. “I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.”?Verse 3. The infliction of the deadly wound points to the downfall of the papacy in 1798. After this, says the prophet, “his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.” Paul states plainly that the “man of sin” will continue until the second advent.?2 Thessalonians 2:3-8. To the very close of time he will carry forward the work of deception. And the revelator declares, also referring to the papacy: “All that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life.”?Revelation 13:8. In both the Old and the New World, the papacy will receive homage in the honor paid to the Sunday institution, that rests solely upon the authority of the Roman Church.{DD 27.1}[11]
§31
近数十年来，在美国研究圣经预言的人已经向世人发出这种见证了。从现今的时事上可以看出以上的预言正在迅速应验。现今基督教的教师们正在同样地主张星期日是出于上帝神圣的权威，但他们也同样地拿不出圣经的凭据来，正象那些伪造神迹奇事来代替上帝命令的罗马教领袖们一样。现今已经有人提出这种论调。那强迫人遵守星期日的运动现今正迅速地得势了。{DD 27.2}[12]
§32
Since the middle of the nineteenth century, students of prophecy in the United States have presented this testimony to the world. In the events now taking place is seen a rapid advance toward the fulfillment of the prediction. With Protestant teachers there is the same claim of divine authority for Sundaykeeping, and the same lack of Scriptural evidence, as with the papal leaders who fabricated miracles to supply the place of a command from God. The assertion that God’s judgments are visited upon men for their violation of the Sunday-Sabbath, will be repeated; already it is beginning to be urged. And a movement to enforce Sunday observance is fast gaining ground.{DD 27.2}[12]