Nothing can be done at first in making the Sabbath question prominent, and if the colored people are in any way educated to work on Sunday, there will be unsparing, merciless oppression brought upon them. Already there has been too much printed in regard to the persecution of the Sabbathkeepers in the Southern States, and those who are bitter against the law of God, trampling it under their feet, are all the more in earnest to make human laws a power. Their religious prejudice and bigotry would lead them to do any act of violence, verily thinking they were doing God’s service, for they are in great error. A blind zeal under false religious theories is the most violent and merciless. There are many who are stirred up by the representations in our papers to do just as their neighboring States are doing. All these things give them the appearance of defying the law. In Christ’s day, when persecuted in one city, they fled to another. It may be the duty of those persecuted to locate themselves in another city or another country. “And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come. The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord” (Matthew 10:22-24). (SW 74.2) MC VC