, nor be saved, if they were
knowingly living in violation of any of God's commandments; and yet we all
positively know _now_, that with a very few exceptions, we were all living
in open violation of the 4th commandment, which we were taught to do,
(though not always designedly,) in the churches to which they belonged,
and where they are still continued to be taught; and our staying with
them, _we now see_, would not have altered, for they _fell_ for rejecting
the message that came before this, and therefore the subject of this 12th
verse was not presented to them. Our keeping the first day of the week for
the fourth commandment, never was, nor ever will be, fulfilling it, any
more than keeping Friday for the Sabbath. John, who kept the right
Sabbath, and was now describing our real labors and characters, could not
have said that we kept the commandments, unless we were keeping the
seventh-day Sabbath, according to God's direction and _his_ practice.
This, then, being the only commandment that ever had been objected to,
from the days of the Apostles, by those who pretended to keep them, makes
it clear that John could not have had any reference to either of the
others, but the Sabbath only. Here then, for the first time, they were
_right_ in the keeping of God's commandments; and the history of God's
confiding children since the messages of 1844, are fully demonstrating
this point, which clearly proves this exposition to be unobjectionable and
_perfect_. Another point is, that they could not keep the seventh-day
Sabbath, until they were separated and undefiled by the woman, (see 4th
verse,) hence the declaration that they were doing so after the message of
the third angel had separated them from Babylon. John saw the dragon
making war with this remnant, (xii: 17,) and the unclean spirits coming
out of the mouth of the dragon (or devil,) have been, and are now, doing
this work. The very object in sending forth this work, has been to expose
these deceivers, who for the last five months more especially, have been
bearing down upon this remnant in a paper war, with all the power they
could wield. We do not, by any means, expect this is all of it, because we
know that the devil will never yield, nor discharge the volunteer company
which he is so judiciously marshalling out of the second advent ranks,
until every device to destroy the remnant is resorted to, and they are
seen emerging from the smoke and carnage of this unholy war