第31章 迫近的争斗
§1
第三十一章 迫近的争斗
§2
Chapter 31—The Coming Conflict
§3
美国是世界上最伟大，条件最好的国家。上帝仁慈地保护了这个国家，把天国最美好的福气倾降于她。遭迫害、受压制的人在这里找到了避难之所。基督教纯洁的信仰在这里传播。这里的百姓曾经领受了大光和无比的恩惠。但是人们竟用忘恩负义来回报上帝的这些恩赐。无穷之主为各国保留了记录。他们的罪恶与他们所拒绝的亮光相称。天上的簿册为我们的国家留下了可怕的记录。然而令她恶贯满盈的罪乃是废除上帝的律法。{4SP 398.1}
§4
The greatest and most favored nation upon the earth is the United States. A gracious Providence has shielded this country, and poured upon her the choicest of Heaven’s blessings. Here the persecuted and oppressed have found refuge. Here the Christian faith in its purity has been taught. This people have been the recipients of great light and unrivaled mercies. But these gifts have been repaid by ingratitude and forgetfulness of God. The Infinite One keeps a reckoning with the nations, and their guilt is proportioned to the light rejected. A fearful record now stands in the register of Heaven against our land; but the crime which shall fill up the measure of her iniquity is that of making void the law of God. {4SP 398.1}
§5
真理与谬道最后的大冲突，乃是人的律法与耶和华的诫命之间最后的大决战。现今这一场战争正在发动——不是对立的教会之间争取最高权力的斗争，而是圣经之信仰与神话遗传之信仰的战争。那些行将联合起来抵抗真理与公义的种种势力，现今正在积极工作。{4SP 398.2}
§6
Between the laws of men and the precepts of Jehovah will come the last great conflict of the controversy between truth and error. Upon this battle we are now entering,—a battle not between rival churches contending for the supremacy, but between the religion of the Bible and the religion of fable and tradition. The agencies which will unite against truth and righteousness in this contest are now actively at work. {4SP 398.2}
§7
上帝的圣言，就是那经历了那么多痛苦和流血的牺牲而传给我们的圣经，现在不为一般人所重视。圣经已经是人人都可以得到的一本书，但只有少数人切实地接受它为人生的指南。不信上帝的风气流行各地，实在惊人。不但在社会上如此，就是在教会里也是如此。有许多人已经否定了那作为基督教信仰柱石的圣经要道。受圣灵感动而写作圣经的人所提出创造天地的重大事实，以及人类的堕落，罪人得赎和上帝律法的永存不废等等真理，实际上已被多数自称为基督徒的人弃绝了。千万自夸为有智慧并有独立思想的人，认为笃信圣经乃是弱者的表现。他们以为若找出圣经的缺点，并用所谓灵意的解释去抹煞其中最重要的真理，就能证明他们才能和学识的卓越。如今有许多传道人教训众人，也有许多教授和教师教训他们的学生说，上帝的律法已经被更改或废除了，至于那些承认律法依旧生效并应认真遵守的人，倒被众人讥诮为头脑简单迟钝的。{4SP 398.3}
§8
God’s holy word, which has been handed down to us at such a cost of suffering and blood, is but little valued. The Bible is within the reach of all, but there are few who really accept it as the guide of life. Infidelity prevails to an alarming extent, not in the world merely, but in the church. Many have come to deny doctrines which are the very pillars of the Christian faith. The great facts of creation as presented by the inspired writers, the fall of man, the atonement, and the perpetuity of the law of God, are practically rejected by a large share of the professedly Christian world. Thousands who pride themselves upon their wisdom and independence regard it an evidence of weakness to place implicit confidence in the Bible, and a proof of superior talent and learning to cavil at the Scriptures, and to spiritualize and explain away their most important truths. Many ministers are teaching their people, and many professors and teachers are instructing their students, that the law of God has been changed or abrogated; and they ridicule those who are so simple-minded as to acknowledge all its claims. {4SP 398.3}
§9
人们弃绝真理，就是弃绝真理的创立者。他们践踏上帝的律法，也就是否定立法者的威权。把异端邪说当作偶像崇拜，正如制造一个石像木偶一样容易。撒但歪曲上帝的品德，藉此使人对上帝养成错谬的观念。多数的人拥戴了一个哲学的偶像来代替耶和华。只有少数的人才是真正敬拜那表现在圣经中，在基督里和创造之工上的永生上帝。千万的人崇拜自然界，同时却否认自然界的上帝。在今日的基督教界中，拜偶像的事仍旧存在。虽然形式上有所不同，而实际上正如古时以色列人在以利亚时代所行的一样。近代许多称为智慧人、哲学家、诗人、政治家、以及新闻记者所崇拜的神，──社交场中的士绅，和许多学院，大学甚至于一些神学院中所拜的神，──与从前腓尼基人的太阳神巴力并没有多大的区别。{4SP 399.1}
§10
In rejecting the truth, men reject its Author. In trampling upon the law of God, they deny the authority of the Lawgiver. It is as easy to make an idol of false doctrines and theories as to fashion an idol of wood or stone. Satan leads men to conceive of God in a false character, as having attributes which he does not possess. A philosophical idol is enthroned in the place of Jehovah; while the true God, as he is revealed in his word, in Christ, and in the works of creation, is worshiped by but few. Thousands deify nature, while they deny the God of nature. Though in a different form, idolatry exists in the Christian world today as verily as it existed among ancient Israel in the days of Elijah. The God of many professedly wise men, of philosophers, poets, politicians, journalists,—the God of polished fashionable circles, of many colleges and universities, even of some theological institutions,—is little better than Baal, the sun-God of Phoenicia. {4SP 399.1}
§11
现在很流行的一种教训声称上帝的律法不再约束世人了。在基督教世界所接受的许多谬论中，没有什么比这种说法更厚颜无耻地打击到上帝的权威，更直接违背理性的要求，或更足以产生毒害的恶果。每一个国家都有她的律法，要人民尊重而顺从；天地的创造主焉能没有律法来管理祂所创造的生灵呢？如果一些有名望的牧师公然教训人说，那治理本国和保障公民权利的律法不是必须遵守的，──或说那些律法是限制人民自由的，因此我们不应遵守，请问，人们能容忍这样的牧师在台上讲道几天呢？藐视国家的律法尚且如此，何况有人践踏那作为一切政府基础的上帝的律法，其罪岂不更为严重吗？公义的标准一被废弃，就给魔君开了门路，让他在世上建立他的权柄。{4SP 400.1}
§12
No error accepted by the Christian world strikes more boldly against the authority of Heaven, none is more directly opposed to the dictates of reason, none is more pernicious in its results, than the modern doctrine, so rapidly gaining ground, that God’s law is no longer obligatory upon men. Every nation has its laws, which command respect and obedience; and has the Creator of the heavens and the earth no law to govern the beings he has made? Suppose that prominent ministers were publicly to teach that the statutes which govern our nation and protect the rights of its citizens were not obligatory,—that they restricted the liberties of the people, and therefore ought not to be obeyed; how long would such men be tolerated in the pulpit? But is it a graver offense to disregard the laws of States and nations than to trample upon those divine precepts which are the foundation of all government? When the standard of righteousness is set aside, the way is open for the prince of evil to establish his rule in the earth. {4SP 400.1}
§13
即使国家的律法可以作废，让人民任意行事，宇宙统治者也决不废除祂的律法，而让世界没有一个谴责罪人或称顺从之人为义的标准。我们愿意知道废除上帝的律法必有什么结果吗？这种试验已经实行过了。当无神主义在法国得势之后，所演出的惨剧是非常可怕的。这就向世人证明，人若废除上帝所加在人身上的约束，就必须接受最残暴之王的管制。{4SP 400.2}
§14
It would be far more consistent for nations to abolish their statutes, and permit the people to do as they please, than for the Ruler of the universe to annul his law, and leave the world without a standard to condemn the guilty or justify the obedient. Would we know the result of making void the law of God? The experiment has been tried. Terrible were the scenes enacted in France when atheism became the controlling power. It was then demonstrated to the world that to throw off the restraints which God has imposed is to accept the rule of the cruelest of tyrants. {4SP 400.2}
§15
哪里弃绝这神圣的诫命，哪里罪就不再显为罪，而义也就不是人想要的了。凡不愿受上帝管理的人是完全不够资格来管理自己的。他们那种毒害的教训，给一些本来不耐约束的儿童和青年，灌输了犯上作乱的精神，结果便造成无法无天，荒淫无耻的社会。正当许多人讥诮那些顺从上帝要求的人是迷信的时候，他们自己却热切地接受了撒但的迷惑。于是他们就放纵情欲，实行那些使邪教徒遭受天谴的种种罪恶。{4SP 401.1}
§16
Wherever the divine precepts are set aside, sin ceases to appear sinful, or righteousness desirable. Those who refuse to submit to the government of God are wholly unfitted to govern themselves. Through their pernicious teachings, the spirit of insubordination is implanted in the hearts of children and youth, who are naturally impatient of control; and a lawless, licentious state of society results. While scoffing at the credulity of those who obey the requirements of God, the multitudes eagerly accept the delusions of Satan. They give the rein to lust, and practice the sins which called down judgments upon the heathen. {4SP 401.1}
§17
人只要将上帝的律法所给人的约束完全抛开，则人类自己的律法不久也必置之不顾了。上帝既禁止人犯不诚实的行为，或贪心、说谎、欺骗，人们便认为祂的律法阻碍他们在世上昌盛发达，故此加以践踏。但废弃这些诫命的结果却是他们所没有料到的。倘若律法真不再约束人的话，人又何必惧怕犯法呢？结果，人的产业便再无保障，人可以用强权夺取邻舍的财物，而那最强横的人必然要成为最富足的了。生命也不再被人重视了。那些漠视上帝诫命的人撒下不顺从，收割的是悖逆。婚姻的誓约也不再作为维护家庭的神圣保障了。谁有力量，只要他愿意，他便可以用强权把人的妻子抢去。十诫中的第五条诫命也要与第四条同被抛弃。儿女们为要达到自己败坏的心愿，会不惜悍然杀害父母的性命。这个文明的世界就要充斥一伙强盗和凶手；而和平，安康与喜乐都要从地上消灭了。{4SP 401.2}
§18
Let the restraint imposed by the divine law be wholly removed, and human laws would soon be disregarded. Because God forbids dishonest practices, coveting, lying, and defrauding, men are ready to trample upon his statutes as a hindrance to their worldly prosperity; but the results of banishing these precepts would be such as they do not anticipate. If the law were not binding, why should any fear to transgress? Property would no longer be safe. Men would obtain their neighbor’s possessions by violence; and the strongest would become richest. Life itself would not be respected. Those who disregard the commandments of God sow disobedience to reap disobedience. The marriage vow would no longer stand as a sacred bulwark to protect the family. He who had the power, would, if he desired, take his neighbor’s wife by violence. The fifth commandment would be set aside with the fourth. Children would not shrink from taking the life of their parents, if by so doing they could obtain the desire of their corrupt hearts. The civilized world would become a horde of robbers and assassins; and peace, rest, and happiness would be banished from the earth. {4SP 401.2}
§19
那宣称世人不必顺从上帝律法的谬论已经消弱了道德的义务，并且在全世界打开了犯罪作恶的洪流。犯法、放肆和腐败的事，象汹涌的潮水向我们冲来。在家庭中，撒但正在工作。即使在一般自称为基督徒之人的家庭中，也有他的旗帜在飘扬着。其中有嫉妒、猜忌、伪善、离间、暗斗、纷争、辜负圣洁的委托和放纵情欲的事。那本应作为社会生活之基础与框架的全部宗教原理和教训，似乎成了一堆摇摇欲坠即将毁灭的废物。穷凶恶极的罪犯，在被囚入狱时，往往还领受了各地送来的礼物和关怀，好像是他们有了值得羡慕的名声一样。他们的性格和罪状被人广为宣传。各地报纸还披露他们犯罪作恶的详细情形，等于教导别人也去欺骗、劫掠、凶杀。于是撒但便因自己毒计的成功而大大欢喜。现今这样迷恋邪恶，草菅人命，任性纵欲和各等各色黑暗的事惊人地激增了，这应当使一切敬畏上帝的人警觉起来，寻求足以阻止罪恶洪流的办法。{4SP 402.1}
§20
Already the doctrine that men are released from obedience to God’s requirements has weakened the force of moral obligation, and opened the flood-gates of iniquity upon the world. Lawlessness, dissipation, and corruption are sweeping in upon us like an overwhelming tide. In the family, Satan is at work. His banner waves, even in professedly Christian households. There is envy, evil surmising, hypocrisy, estrangement, emulation, strife, betrayal of sacred trusts, indulgence of lust. The whole system of religious principles and doctrines, which should form the foundation and frame-work of social life, seems to be a tottering mass, ready to fall to ruin. The vilest of criminals, when thrown into prison for their offenses, are often made the recipients of gifts and attentions, as if they had attained an enviable distinction. The greatest publicity is given to their character and crimes. The press publish the revolting details of vice, thus initiating others into the practice of fraud, robbery, and murder; and Satan exults in the success of his hellish schemes. The infatuation of vice, the wanton taking of life, the terrible increase of intemperance and iniquity of every order and degree, should arouse all who fear God, to inquire what can be done to stay the tide of evil. {4SP 402.1}
§21
法庭腐败，官吏利禄薰心，贪爱宴乐。不节制的生活麻木了许多人的心志，以致撒但几乎完全管辖了他们。执法者颠倒是非、贪脏枉法、擅行欺骗。在司法界中，常见酗酒喧饮、放纵情欲、嫉妒纷争、与各种不诚实的行为。“公平转而退后，公义站在远处，诚实在街上仆倒，正直也不得进入”（赛59:14）。{4SP 403.1}
§22
Courts of justice are corrupt. Rulers are actuated by desire for gain, and love of sensual pleasure. Intemperance has beclouded the faculties of many, so that Satan has almost complete control of them. Jurists are perverted, bribed, deluded. Drunkenness and revelry, passion, envy, dishonesty of every sort, are represented among those who administer the laws. “Justice standeth afar off; for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.” {4SP 403.1}
§23
古时在罗马教的统治之下，罪恶风行，灵性黑暗，乃是她禁止圣经的必然结果。但在这福音真光普照，宗教自由的时代中，竟然仍有不敬虔的风气弥漫遍地，又有那因弃绝上帝的律法而产生的腐败流行各处，这到底是什么原因呢？现在撒但既然不能再用禁闭圣经的方法来使世人服在他的统治之下，他便想出另一个方法来达到这同一个目的。原来破坏人对于圣经的信任，和毁灭《圣经》一样能符合他的宗旨。他若能使人相信上帝的律法不再约束人，就能很容易地领人去干犯律法，正象他们完全不明白律法的训令一样。况且他今日象古代一样，利用教会去遂行他的计划。今日的各宗教团体已经不肯听信圣经所明显提示的那些不受人欢迎的真理，竟公然播散怀疑的种子。他们固守罗马教的异端，相信人的灵魂永远不死，而且人死后仍然有知觉，这样就放弃了那足以抵挡招魂术之欺骗的唯一防线。不仅如此，及至有人传讲第四条诫命的真理，并劝导众人加以注意的时候，一般讨人喜欢的教师便看出这条诫命吩咐他们遵守第七日的安息日；但他们既想摆脱他们所不愿实行的本分，只得向人宣讲上帝的律法已不生效。这样，他们就将律法和安息日一同废弃了。当复兴安息日的工作广为传开的时候，这种反对上帝律法来规避第四诫之要求的运动也要几乎普及全世界。宗教界的领袖所讲的教训已经为不敬虔的风气，招魂术，以及对上帝神圣律法的轻蔑，开了门户，现今存在于全基督教世界中的罪孽，应当由这些领袖负其可怕的责任。{4SP 403.2}
§24
The iniquity and spiritual darkness that prevailed under the supremacy of Rome were the inevitable result of her suppression of the Scriptures; but where is to be found the cause of the wide-spread infidelity, the rejection of the law of God, and the consequent corruption, under the full blaze of gospel light in an age of religious freedom? Now that Satan can no longer keep the world under his control by withholding the Scriptures, he resorts to other means to accomplish the same object. To destroy faith in the Bible serves his purpose as well as to destroy the Bible itself. By introducing the belief that God’s law is not binding, he as effectually leads men to transgress as if they were wholly ignorant of its precepts. And now, as in former ages, he has worked through the church to further his designs. As the religious organizations of the day have refused to listen to unpopular truths plainly brought to view in the Scriptures, they have sown broadcast the seeds of skepticism. Clinging to the papal error of natural immortality and man’s consciousness in death, they reject the only defense against the delusions of Spiritualism. Nor is this all. As the claims of the fourth commandment are urged upon the people, popular teachers find that the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath is there enjoined; and as the only way to free themselves from a duty which they are unwilling to perform, they 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. Upon those religious leaders whose teachings have opened the door to infidelity, to Spiritualism, and to contempt for God’s holy law, rests a fearful responsibility for the iniquity that exists in the Christian world. {4SP 403.2}
§25
但正是这一等人倒要主张说，世上罪恶之败坏的迅速蔓延，大半是因为众人破坏了他们之所谓“基督教的安息日（即星期日）。”所以说，若能厉行遵守星期日的律法，便可大大改善社会的道德。禁酒的改革运动与提倡守星期日的运动并行。那些提倡守星期日的人就此自命为努力促进社会最高福利的人。因此那些不与他们联合的人，便被斥为禁酒和改良运动的敌人。但在实际上，一个提倡异端谬道的运动，虽然和一个本身是善良的工作合在一起，并不足以使那异端谬道更加显为合理。譬如我们可以改装毒品，把它搀合在养身的食物里，但这并不能改变它的本质。事实上它倒成了更危险的毒品，因为人们更容易把它误吃下去。撒但的一个巧计就是用恰够份量的真理，来搅拌假道，使那假道显为合理可取。提倡守星期日的领袖可能也提倡一些众人所需要的改革，以及与圣经相合的原理，但只要其中仍有一个与上帝律法相违的条例，主的仆人就不可与他们联合。因为要他们放弃上帝的诫命而去遵守人的教训，是没有一点理由的。{4SP 404.1}
§26
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. Combining the temperance reform with the Sunday movement, they represent themselves as laboring to promote the highest interests 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 thereby 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 which the people need, principles which are in harmony with the Bible, yet while there is with these a requirement which is contrary to God’s law, his servants cannot unite with them. Nothing can justify them in setting aside the commandments of God for the precepts of men. {4SP 404.1}
§27
撒但要利用这两个大异端，就是灵魂不死和守星期日为圣日的道理，使世人受他的迷惑。前一个异端是给招魂术奠定基础，后一个异端使人产生一种同情罗马教的心理。基督教徒将要最先伸手越过鸿沟与招魂术握手。他们还要把手伸过深渊与罗马教勾结。在这三合一的大同盟之下，美国将要步罗马教的后尘去摧残人民信仰自由（即良心自由）的权利。{4SP 405.1}
§28
Through the two great errors, the immortality of the soul and Sunday sacredness, Satan will bring the people under his deceptions. While the former lays the foundation of Spiritualism, the latter creates a bond of sympathy with Rome. Protestantism will yet stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of Spiritualism; she will reach over the abyss to clasp hands with the Roman power; and under the influence of this threefold union, our country will follow in the steps of Rome in trampling on the rights of conscience. {4SP 405.1}
§29
招魂术现在已在那里改头换面，把那些容易引起反感的，不道德的几方面隐蔽起来，并装上一副基督化的假面具。先前，它否认基督与圣经，而现在却扬言要接受基督与圣经了。但它所用解释圣经的方法却专迎合未曾重生之人的心理，并使圣经中严肃而紧要的真理失去效力。它奢谈上帝的慈爱，至于上帝的公正，和祂对于罪恶的谴责，以及祂圣洁律法的要求等等，它却一字不提。他们那种悦耳并迷惑人的谎言使人心夺神移，因而拒绝以圣经为信仰的基础。实际上，基督已被他们拒绝了，正象从前祂被拒绝一样；但因为撒但已经蒙蔽了众人的眼目，所以他们觉察不出这种欺骗。{4SP 405.2}
§30
Spiritualism is now changing its form, veiling some of its more objectionable and immoral features, and assuming a Christian guise. Formerly it denounced Christ and the Bible; now it professes to accept both. The Bible is interpreted in a manner that is attractive to the unrenewed heart, while its solemn and vital truths are made of no effect. A God of love is presented; but his justice, his denunciations of sin, the requirements of his holy law, are all kept out of sight. Pleasing, bewitching fables captivate the senses of those who do not make God’s word the foundation of their faith. Christ is as verily rejected as before; but Satan has so blinded the eyes of the people that the deception is not discerned. {4SP 405.2}
§31
招魂术越是摹仿今日有名无实的基督教的样式，就越有力量欺骗并牢笼人。按着现代招魂术的说法，撒但自己是悔改维新了。他要以光明天使的姿态出现。藉着招魂术为媒介，他将要施行神迹，医治疾病，作出许多令人不能否认的异能。这些邪灵将要自称相信圣经，并表示尊重星期日。这样，他们的工作便要被众人接受，被承认为神圣权能的表现。 {4SP 405.3}
§32
As Spiritualism assimilates more closely to the nominal Christianity of the day, it has greater power to deceive and ensnare. Satan himself is converted, after the modern order of things. He will appear in the character of an angel of light. Through the agency of Spiritualism, miracles will be wrought, the sick will be healed, and many undeniable wonders will be performed. And as the spirits will profess faith in the Bible, and express regard for Sunday, their work will be accepted as a manifestation of divine power. {4SP 405.3}
§33
现今在一般自称为基督徒的人和不信的人之间，几乎看不出什么区别。教友们喜爱世人所喜爱的事，所以随时可与他们联合，同时撒但也定意要使他们合为一体，以便把他们全都罗致在招魂术的行列中来增强他的势力。罗马教徒素来以神迹奇事为真教会的可靠凭据，所以也必很容易地受这行奇事之能力的欺骗。至于一般的基督教徒，他们既然抛弃了真理的盾牌，就要同受迷惑。罗马教徒、一般基督教徒、和世俗之徒都要一同领受这背了实意的敬虔的外貌。他们要在这个同盟中看到一个必能叫全世界的人悔改，并引进那期待已久的一千禧年的大运动。{4SP 406.1}
§34
The line of distinction between professing Christians and the ungodly is now hardly distinguishable. Church-members love what the world loves, and are ready to join with them; and Satan determines to unite them in one body and thus strengthen his cause by sweeping all into the ranks of Spiritualism. Papists who boast of miracles as a certain mark of the true church, will be readily deceived by this wonder-working power; and Protestants, having cast away the shield of truth, will also be deluded. Papists, Protestants, and worldlings will alike accept the form of godliness without the power, and they will see in this union a grand movement for the conversion of the world, and the ushering in of the long-expected millennium. {4SP 406.1}
§35
藉着招魂术，撒但要以人类福星的姿态出现。他要医治众人的疾病，并要提供一种新的和更高尚的宗教信仰制度，但同时他也要进行毁灭的工作。他的试探使无数人趋于败亡。不节制使人失去理性；于是放纵情欲，互相纷争和杀人流血等事便相继发生了。撒但喜欢战争，因为战争能激起人类最恶劣的情绪，然后正当他们沉溺于罪恶与流血之中时，他就要把他们推到永久的死亡里去。撒但的目的是要鼓动列国彼此争战；这样，他就能转移人的心思，叫他们忽略在上帝的日子可以站立得住的准备工作。{4SP 406.2}
§36
Through Spiritualism, Satan appears as a benefactor of the race, healing the diseases of the people, and professing to present a new and more exalted system of religious faith; but at the same time he works as a destroyer. His temptations are leading multitudes to ruin. Intemperance dethrones reason; sensual indulgence, strife, and bloodshed follow. Satan delights in war; for it excites the worst passions of the soul, and then sweeps into eternity its victims steeped in vice and blood. It is his object to incite the nations to war against one another; for he can thus divert the minds of the people from the work of preparation to stand in the day of God. {4SP 406.2}
§37
撒但也会利用天然灾害把许多没有准备好的生灵收入他的网罗。他已经研究过大自然的奥秘，并在上帝许可的范围之内，竭力控制这些自然的能力。当他得到许可去磨练约伯的时候，约伯的牛群、羊群、仆人、房屋、和儿女等，是多么迅速地一扫而尽。在一刹那间，灾难接二连三地降下来了。惟有上帝能保护祂所造的万物，并荫庇他们脱离毁坏者的势力。但基督教界已经表示轻蔑耶和华的律法，所以主必要照着自己所说的话去行。祂要从地上收回祂的福惠，并从那些背叛祂律法而又教导并强迫别人如此行的人身上撤回祂的保护。撒但必要统治一切不受上帝特别护卫的人。他要向某一些人赏恩，使他们兴旺，以便推进他的计划；但他也要使另一班人遭遇患难，同时叫他们相信，那使他们受苦的乃是上帝。{4SP 407.1}
§38
Satan works through the elements also to garner his harvest of unprepared souls. He has studied the secrets of the laboratories of nature, and he uses all his power to control the elements as far as God allows. When he was suffered to afflict Job, how quickly flocks and herds, servants, houses, children, were swept away, one trouble succeeding another as in a moment. It is God that shields his creatures, and hedges them in from the power of the destroyer. But the Christian world has shown contempt for the law of Jehovah; and the Lord does just what he has declared that he would do, he withdraws his blessings from the earth, and removes his protecting care from those who are rebelling against his law, and teaching and forcing others to do the same. Satan has control of all whom God does not especially guard. He will favor and prosper some in order to further his own designs, and he will bring trouble upon others, and lead men to believe that it is God who is afflicting them. {4SP 407.1}
§39
撒但一方面向世人显出自己是一个大医师，能医治他们所有的疾病；另一方面他却把疾病和灾祸降在世上，直到许多人口稠密的大都市荒废冷落。就是今天，他仍在工作。在海洋与陆地上的许多意外事故和灾害中，在大火灾中，在剧烈的暴风和可怕的冰雹中，在暴风雨、水灾、旋风、浪潮和地震中，在各处地方，在千变万化的形式之下，撒但正在施展他的能力。成熟的庄稼被他一扫而光，饥荒和艰难就接踵而来。他分布致命的毒菌在空气中，使成千成万的人遭受瘟疫而死。这些灾害将要越来越多，也要越来越烈。毁灭要临到地上的居民。田间的走兽要哀鸣，大地要衰残（赛24:4）。{4SP 407.2}
§40
While appearing to the children of men as a great physician who can heal all their maladies, he will bring disease and disaster until populous cities are reduced to ruin and desolation. Even now he is at work. In accidents and calamities by sea and by land, in great conflagrations, in fierce tornadoes and terrific hailstorms, in tempests, floods, cyclones, tidal waves, and earthquakes, in every place and in a thousand forms, is Satan exercising his power. He sweeps away the ripening harvest, and famine and distress follow. He imparts to the air a deadly taint, and thousands perish by the pestilence. These visitations are to become more and more frequent and disastrous. Destruction will be upon the inhabitants of the world. The beasts of the field will groan, and the earth will languish. {4SP 407.2}
§41
随后，那大骗子撒但要使人相信，这些灾祸都是那些事奉上帝的人所招来的。那真正激动上天忿怒的一等人，要把自己所受的一切灾难归咎于忠心的少数人，因为主差派了这些人传扬警告和责备的信息。有人要宣布说，那些不守星期日的人已经得罪了上帝，所以招致这许多灾祸，而且除非人人严格执行星期日的律法，这些灾祸也不停止。他们还要说，那些宣传第四条诫命的人破坏了众人尊重星期日的心，所以他们是扰乱民心的，使众人不能重得上帝的喜悦和属世的昌盛。这样，那在古时控告上帝仆人的话要根据同样无理的藉口重提出来。“亚哈见了以利亚，便说，使以色列遭灾的就是你吗？以利亚说，使以色列遭灾的不是我，乃是你，和你父家，因为你们离弃耶和华的诫命，去随从巴力”（王上18:17-18）。当民众听见那些诬告圣徒的话而被激怒时，他们就要追随叛道的以色列人从前对待以利亚的方法来对待上帝的使者。{4SP 408.1}
§42
And then the great deceiver will persuade men that those who serve God are causing these evils. The class that have provoked the displeasure of Heaven will charge all their troubles upon the faithful few whom the Lord has sent to them with messages of warning and reproof. It will be declared that the nation is offending God by the violation of the Sunday-Sabbath, that this sin has brought calamities which will not cease until Sunday observance shall be strictly enforced, and that those who present the claims of the fourth commandment, thus destroying reverence for Sunday, are troublers of the nation, preventing its restoration to divine favor and temporal prosperity. Thus the accusation urged of old against the servant of God will be repeated, and upon grounds equally well established. “And it came to pass when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel? And he answered, I have not troubled Israel, but thou and thy father’s house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Baalim.” [1 Kings 18:17, 18.] As the wrath of the people shall be excited by false charges, they will pursue a course toward God’s ambassadors very similar to that which apostate Israel pursued toward Elijah. {4SP 408.1}
§43
那藉着招魂术显出行神迹的权势必要行使他的势力，去攻击一切宁愿听从上帝而不听从人的人。邪灵要传出信息说，上帝已差他们来说服那些反对星期日的人，叫他们看出自己的错误。这些邪灵竭力声明世人应当遵守国家的律法，如同遵守上帝的律法一样。他们要因世人的罪大恶极而表示悲愤，并赞成宗教导师们的见证说，社会道德的堕落是因为众人亵渎星期日的缘故。凡不接受这种见证的人必要惹起群众极端的忿怒。{4SP 409.1}
§44
The miracle-working power manifested through Spiritualism will exert its influence against those who choose to obey God rather than men. Messages will come from the spirits declaring that God has sent them to inform the rejecters of Sunday that they are in error, and that the laws of the land should be obeyed as the law of God. They will lament the great wickedness in the world, and second the testimony of religious teachers, that the degraded state of morals is caused by the desecration of Sunday. Great will be the indignation excited against all who refuse to accept their testimony. {4SP 409.1}
§45
一切遵守圣经安息日的人要被斥为律法和治安的公敌，为破坏社会道德风纪，引起叛乱与败坏，并招惹上帝刑罚的罪魁。他们信仰方面的坚贞要被人斥为顽固、刚愎和藐视权威。人要控告他们犯了反抗政府的罪。许多否定上帝律法的传道人要在讲台上宣讲说，在上有权柄的，人人应当顺服，因为他们是上帝所命定的。在各地的法院和审判厅里，遵守诫命的人要被诬告并被定罪。恶人要给他们的言语染上虚伪的色彩，给他们的动机加以恶意的歪曲。{4SP 409.2}
§46
Those who honor the Bible Sabbath will be denounced as enemies of law and order, as breaking down the moral restraints of society, causing anarchy and corruption, and calling down the judgments of God upon the earth. Their conscientious scruples will be pronounced obstinacy, stubbornness, and contempt of authority. They will be accused of disaffection toward the government. Ministers who deny the obligation of the divine law will present from the pulpit the duty of yielding obedience to the civil authorities as ordained of God. In legislative halls and courts of justice, commandment-keepers will be censured and misrepresented. A false coloring will be given to their words; the worst possible construction will be put upon their motives. {4SP 409.2}
§47
当一般的基督教会拒绝了圣经中维护上帝律法的清楚论据之后，他们便要竭力设法叫这些他们所无法用圣经推翻其信仰的人闭口住声。他们虽然闭眼不顾事实，但他们这时正在走一条路，其结果必使他们逼迫那些本着良心不肯按照全基督教世界所行的去行，又不承认教皇所立之伪安息日的人。{4SP 409.3}
§48
The Protestant churches have rejected the clear, scriptural arguments in defense of God’s law, and they long to stop the mouths of those whose faith they cannot overthrow by the Bible. Though they blind their own eyes to the fact, they are now adopting a course which will lead to the persecution of those who conscientiously refuse to do what the rest of the Christian world are doing, and acknowledge the claims of the papal Sabbath. {4SP 409.3}
§49
教会和政府中的要人将要联合一致，用贿赂、劝诱或强迫的手段，使人人都尊崇星期日。他们要用强迫人的法令来弥补星期日所缺少的上帝的权威。现今政治方面的腐败，正在破坏人的爱护公义和真理的心，立法者为要博得众人的欢心，将要依从群众的要求，制定一条强迫人遵守星期日的律法。到了那时，那曾以极重的代价换来的宗教信仰自由（良心自由）便不再为人所尊重了。在这迫近的争斗中我们将要看见先知的话字字应验：“龙向妇人发怒，去与她其余的儿女争战，这儿女就是那守上帝诫命，为耶稣作见证的”（启12:17）。{4SP 410.1}
§50
The dignitaries of Church and State will unite to bribe, persuade, or compel all classes to honor the Sunday. The lack of divine authority will be supplied by oppressive enactments. Political corruption is destroying love of justice and regard for truth, and in order to secure public favor, legislators will yield to the popular demand for a law enforcing Sunday observance. Liberty of conscience, which has cost this nation so great a sacrifice, will no longer be respected. In the soon-coming conflict we shall see exemplified the prophet’s words: “And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” [Revelation 12:17.] {4SP 410.1}
§51
我们的国家处在危险之中。时候将到，立法者将放弃改正教的原则，认可罗马教的背道。上帝所神奇救援、赐予力量摆脱罗马教重轭的人们，将采取全国性的行动，给罗马腐败的宗教带来活力，从而使这个等待时机，重新实施残暴统治的暴政东山再起。我们正在快步走向这个阶段。当各改正教会谋求世俗势力的支持，步那背道教会的后尘，反对他们的祖先忍受了最强烈的迫害所坚持的信仰时，全国性的背道就发生了，其结局只能是全国性的毁灭。{4SP 410.2}
§52
Our land is in jeopardy. The time is drawing on when its legislators shall so abjure the principles of Protestantism as to give countenance to Romish apostasy. The people for whom God has so marvelously wrought, strengthening them to throw off the galling yoke of popery, will by a national act give vigor to the corrupt faith of Rome, and thus arouse the tyranny which only waits for a touch to start again into cruelty and despotism. With rapid steps are we already approaching this period. When Protestant churches shall seek the support of the secular power, thus following the example of that apostate church, for opposing which their ancestors endured the fiercest persecution, then will there be a national apostasy which will end only in national ruin. {4SP 410.2}