tan, the prince of
evil, the author of sin, the first transgressor of God's holy law. Satan's
enmity against Christ has been manifested against His followers. The same
hatred of the principles of God's law, the same policy of deception, by
which error is made to appear as truth, by which human laws are
substituted for the law of God, and men are led to worship the creature
rather than the Creator, may be traced in all the history of the past.
Satan's efforts to misrepresent the character of God, to cause men to
cherish a false conception of the Creator, and thus to regard Him with
fear and hate rather than with love; his endeavors to set aside the divine
law, leading the people to think themselves free from its requirements;
and his persecution of those who dare to resist his deceptions, have been
steadfastly pursued in all ages. They may be traced in the history of
patriarchs, prophets, and apostles, of martyrs and reformers.

In the great final conflict, Satan will employ the same policy, manifest
the same spirit, and work for the same end, as in all preceding ages. That
which has been, will be, except that the coming struggle will be marked
with a terrible intensity such as the world has never witnessed. Satan's
deceptions will be more subtle, his assaults more determined. If it were
possible, he would lead astray the elect. Mark 13:22, Revised Version.

As the Spirit of God has opened to my mind the great truths of His word,
and the scenes of the past and the future, I have been bidden to make
known to others that which has thus been revealed,--to trace the history of
the controversy in past ages, and especially so to present it as to shed a
light on the fast-approaching struggle of the future. In pursuance of this
purpose, I have endeavored to select and group together events in the
history of the church in such a manner as to trace the unfolding of the
great testing truths that at different periods have been given to the
world, that have excited the wrath of Satan, and the enmity of a
world-loving church, and that have been maintained by the witness of those
who "loved not their lives unto the death."

In these records we may see a foreshadowing of the conflict before us.
Regarding them in the light of God's word, and by the illumination of His
Spirit, we may see unveiled the devices of the wicked one, and the dangers
which they must shun who would be found "without fault" before the Lord at
His coming.

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