{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_12364/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_12364","id":"gutenberg_12364","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12364","summary":null,"tags":["Bible. Revelation XIII, 11-17 -- Prophecies","Category: History - American","Category: Religion/Spirituality"],"text":"THE UNITED STATES IN THE LIGHT OF PROPHECY;\n\nOR, AN EXPOSITION OF REV. 13:11-17.\n\nBY URIAH SMITH.\n\n1874\n\n\n\n\n\n\n  And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from\n  heaven on the earth in the sight of men. REV. 13:13.\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPreface.\n\n\nIf we read the signs of the times aright, events are soon to transpire\nof such a nature as to preclude the necessity of any apology for the\npublication of what is contained in the following pages. The numerous\nrays of light now shining from the book of prophecy, seem to find their\nfocal point in our own times. The present age is illuminated in this\nrespect above all others. Here we find the most emphatic touches of the\nprophetic pencil. The events to transpire, and the agents therein\nconcerned, are brought out in a vivid and startling light.\n\nThe question naturally arises, what part the United States has to act in\nthese scenes; for it must seem reasonable and probable that a nation\nwhich has arisen so suddenly as ours, made such unparalleled progress,\nand attained to such a pinnacle of greatness and power, must be a\nsubject of divine prophecy, or at least of divine providence.\n\nTo this question the following pages undertake to give a brief but\nscriptural, and so a reasonable and conclusive answer; and to such only\nas do not believe that God ever foretells the history of nations, or\nthat his providence ever works in their development and decline, can\nthe subject fail to be one of interest.\n\nThat this little treatise is exhaustive of the subject is not claimed;\nbut some facts are presented which are thought to be worthy of serious\nconsideration, and enough evidence, we trust, produced in favor of the\nposition taken to show the reader that the subject is not one of mere\ntheory, but of the highest practical importance; and so enough to\nstimulate thought and lead to further inquiry.\n\nIf the position here taken be correct, this subject is to be one of\ncontinually-increasing interest, and information respecting it is\nnecessary to an understanding of our duties and responsibilities in the\nsolemn and important times that are upon us. It is in this light that we\nespecially commend it to the serious consideration of the reader.\n\nU.S.\n\nBATTLE CREEK, Mich., June, 1874.\n\n\n\n\nContents\n\n  Chapter One.\n\n    Probabilities Considered, Pp. 9-19\n\n  Chapter Two.\n\n    A Chain Of Prophecy, 20-30\n\n  Chapter Three.\n\n    Location Of The Two-horned Beast, 31-40\n\n  Chapter Four.\n\n    Chronology Of The Two-horned Beast, 41-51\n\n  Chapter Five.\n\n    The United States Have Arisen In The Exact Manner In Which John\n    Saw The Two-horned Beast Coming Up, 52-69\n\n  Chapter Six.\n\n    Character Of The Government Represented By The Two-horned\n    Beast, 70-78\n\n  Chapter Seven.\n\n    The Dragon Voice, 79-88\n\n  Chapter Eight.\n\n    He Doeth Great Wonders, 89-100\n\n  Chapter Nine.\n\n    An Image To The Beast, 101-111\n\n  Chapter Ten.\n\n    The Mark Of The Beast, 112-132\n\n  Chapter Eleven.\n\n    The Beginning Of The End, 133-160\n\n\n\n\nThe United States In The Light Of Prophecy.\n\n\n\n\nChapter One.\n\nProbabilities Considered.\n\n\nThe United States--what are they? Two hundred years ago, this question\ncould not have been answered; it could not even have been asked. Now it\ncan be answered by the dwellers in every quarter of the globe. Then a\nfew small settlements of earnest men, flying from the religious\nintolerance of the Old World, dotted a narrow strip of coast line on our\nNew England border. Now a mighty nation, with a vast expanse of\nterritory stretching from ocean to ocean, and from regions almost arctic\non the north to regions equally torrid on the south, embracing more\nsquare leagues of habitable land than Rome ruled over in its palmiest\ndays, here holds a position of independence and glory among the nations\nof the earth.\n\nAnd the sound of this new nation has gone into all the world. It has\nreached the toiling millions of Europe; and they are swarming to our\nshores to share its blessings. It has gone to the islands of the sea;\nand they have sent their contributions. It has reached the Orient, and\nopened as with a password the gates of nations long barred against\nintercourse with other powers; and China and Japan, turning from their\nbeaten track of forty centuries, are looking with wonder at the prodigy\narising across the Pacific to the east of them, and catching some of the\nimpulse which this growing power is imparting to the nations of the\nearth.\n\nLess than one hundred years ago, with three millions of people, the\nUnited States became an independent government. It has now a population\nof thirty-eight and a half millions of people, and a territory of three\nand a half millions of square miles. Russia alone exceeds this nation in\nthese particulars, having forty millions more of people, and four\nmillions more square miles of territory. Of all other nations on the\nglobe whose laws are framed by legislative bodies elected by the people,\nBrazil, which has the largest territory, has not quite three millions of\nsquare miles; and France, the most populous, has not probably,\nconsidering her late reverses and misfortunes, a greater number of\ninhabitants than our own country. So that in point of territory and\npopulation combined, it will be seen that the United States now stand at\nthe head of the self-governing powers of the earth.\n\nOccupying a position altogether unique, this government excites equally\nthe astonishment and admiration of all beholders. The main features of\nits history are such as have had no parallel since the distinction of\nnations existed among men.\n\n1. No nation ever acquired so vast a territory in so quiet a manner.\n\n2. No nation ever rose to such greatness by so peaceable means.\n\n3. No nation ever advanced so rapidly in all that constitutes national\nstrength and capital.\n\n4. No nation ever rose to such a pinnacle of power in a space of time so\nincredibly short.\n\n5. No nation in so limited a time has developed such unlimited\nresources.\n\n6. No nation has ever existed founded on principles of justice so pure\nand undefiled.\n\n7. No nation has ever existed in which the conscience of men have been\nleft so untrammeled and free.\n\n8. In no nation and in no age of the world, have the arts and sciences\nso flourished, so many improvements been made, and so great successes\nbeen achieved, as in our own country during the last fifty years.\n\n9. In no nation and in no age has the gospel found such freedom, and the\nchurches of Christ had such liberty to spread abroad their principles\nand develop their strength.\n\n10. No age of the world has seen such an immigration as that which is\nnow pouring into our borders from all lands the millions who have long\ngroaned under despotic governments, and who now turn to this broad\nterritory of freedom as the avenue of hope, the Utopia of the nations.\n\nThe most discerning minds have been intuitively impressed with the idea\nof the future greatness and power of this government. In view of the\ngrand results developed and developing, the discovery of America by\nColumbus, not four hundred years ago, is set down as the greatest event\nof all secular history. The progress of empire to this land was long ago\nexpected.\n\nSir Thomas Brown, in 1682, predicted the growth of a power here, which\nwould rival the European kingdoms in strength and prowess.\n\nIn Burnaby's Travels through the middle settlements of North America, in\n1759 and 1760, published in 1775, is expressed this sentiment:--\n\n     \"An idea, strange as it is visionary, has entered into the minds of\n     the generality of mankind, that empire is traveling westward; and\n     every one is looking forward with eager and impatient expectation\n     to that destined moment when America is to give the law to the rest\n     of the world.\"\n\nJohn Adams, Oct. 12, 1775, wrote:---\n\n     \"Soon after the Reformation, a few people came over into this New\n     World for conscience' sake. Perhaps this apparently trivial\n     incident may transfer the great seat of empire to America.\"\n\nOn the day after the Declaration of Independence, he wrote:--\n\n     \"Yesterday the greatest question was decided which ever was debated\n     in America, and a greater perhaps never was, nor will be, decided\n     among men.\"\n\nIn 1776, Galiani, a Neapolitan, predicted the gradual decay of European\ninstitutions, to renew themselves in America. In 1778, in reference to\nthe question as to which was to be the ruling power in the world, Europe\nor America, he said:--\n\n     \"I will wager in favor of America.\"\n\nAdam Smith of Scotland, in 1776, predicted the transfer of empire to\nAmerica.\n\nGovernor Pownal, an English statesman, in 1780, while our Revolution was\nin progress, predicted that this country would become independent, and\nthat a civilizing activity beyond what Europe could ever know, would\nanimate it; and that its commercial and naval power would be found in\nevery quarter of the globe. Again he said:--\n\n     \"North America has advanced, and is every day advancing, to growth\n     of state, with a steady and continually accelerating motion, of\n     which there never has yet been any example in Europe.\"\n\nDavid Hartley wrote from England in 1777:--\n\n     \"At sea, which has hitherto been our prerogative element, they [the\n     United States] rise against us at a stupendous rate; and if we\n     cannot return to our old mutual hospitalities toward each other, a\n     very few years will show us a most formidable hostile marine,\n     ready to join hands with any of our enemies.\"\n\nCount d'Aranda, one of the first of Spanish statesmen, in 1783 thus\nwrote of this republic:--\n\n     \"This Federal Republic is born a pygmy, so to speak. It required\n     the support and forces of two powers as great as Spain and France\n     in order to attain independence. A day will come when it will be a\n     giant, even a colossus formidable in these countries.\"[1]\n\n[1] These quotations are from an article by Hon. Charles Sumner,\nentitled, \"Prophetic Voices about America,\" published in the _Atlantic\nMonthly_ of September, 1807.\n\nOf these prophecies, some are now wholly fulfilled, and the rest far on\nthe road to fulfillment. This infant of yesterday stands forth to-day a\ngiant, vigorous, active, and courageous, and accepts with dignity its\nmanifest destiny at the head of powers and civilizations.\n\nSuch, in brief, is the answer to the question proposed at the opening of\nthis chapter. Another question immediately follows: Does the prophetic\npen which has so fully delineated the rise and progress of all the other\ngreat nations of the earth, pass this one by unnoticed? What are the\nprobabilities in this matter? As the student of prophecy, in common with\nall mankind, looks with wonder upon the unparalleled rise and progress\nof this nation, he cannot repress the conviction that the hand of\nProvidence has been at work in this quiet but mighty revolution. And\nthis conviction he shares in common with others.\n\nGov. Pownal, from whom a quotation has already been presented, speaking\nof the establishment of this country as a free and sovereign power calls\nit\n\n     \"A revolution that has stronger marks of _divine interposition,_\n     superseding the ordinary course of human affairs than any other\n     event which this world has experienced.\"\n\nDe Tocqueville, a French writer, speaking of our separation from\nEngland, says:--\n\n     \"It might seem their folly, but was really their fate, or, rather,\n     the providence of God, who has doubtless a work for us to do, in\n     which the massive materiality of the English character would have\n     been too ponderous a dead weight upon our progress.\"\n\nGeo. Alfred Townsend, speaking of the misfortunes that have attended the\nother governments on this continent (New World and Old, p. 635), says:--\n\n     \"The history of the United States was separated by a beneficent\n     Providence far from this wild and cruel history of the rest of the\n     continent.\"\n\nAgain he says:--\n\n     \"This hemisphere was laid away for no one race.\"\n\nIf Providence has been thus conspicuously present in our history, we may\nlook for some mention of this government in that Book which records the\nworkings of Providence among mankind. On what conditions have other\nnations found a place in the prophetic record? First, if they have acted\nany prominent part in the world's history; and secondly, and above-all,\nif they have had jurisdiction over, or maintained any relations with,\nthe people of God. And both these conditions are fulfilled in our\ngovernment. No nation has ever attracted more attention or excited more\nprofound wonder, or given promise of greater eminence or influence. And\ncertainly here, if anywhere on the globe, are to be found a strong array\nof Christians, such as are the salt of the earth, and the light of the\nworld.\n\nWith these probabilities in our favor, let us now take a brief survey of\nthose symbols found in the word of God, which represent earthly\ngovernments. These are found chiefly, if not entirely, in the books of\nDaniel and Revelation. In Dan 2, a symbol is introduced in the form of a\ngreat image. In Dan 7, we find a lion, a bear, a leopard, and a great\nand terrible nondescript, which, after passing through a new and\nremarkable phase, goes into the lake of fire. In Dan. 8, we have a ram,\na he goat, and a horn, little at first, but waxing exceeding great. In\nRevelation 9, we have locusts like unto horses. In Rev. 12, we have a\ngreat red dragon. In Rev. 13, we have a blasphemous leopard beast, and a\nbeast with two horns like a lamb. In Rev. 17, we have a scarlet-colored\nbeast, upon which a woman sits holding in her hand a golden cup full of\nfilthiness and abomination.\n\nWhat governments and what powers are represented by all these? Do any\nof them symbolize our own? Some of these certainly represent earthly\nkingdoms; for so the prophecies themselves expressly inform us; and in\nthe application of nearly all of them there is quite a uniform agreement\namong expositors. The four-parts of the great image of Dan. 2 represent\nfour kingdoms, Babylon, or Chaldea, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. The\nlion of the seventh chapter also represents Babylon; the bear,\nMedo-Persia; the leopard, Grecia; and the great and-terrible beast,\nRome. The horn, with human eyes and mouth, which appears in the second\nphase of this beast, represents the papacy, and covers its history down\nto the time when it was temporarily overthrown by the French in 1798. In\nDan. 8, likewise, the ram represents Medo-Persia, the he goat, Grecia,\nand the little horn, Rome. All these have a very clear and definite\napplication to the governments named; none of them thus far can have any\nreference to the United States.\n\nThe symbols brought to view in Rev. 9, all are agreed in applying to the\nSaracens and Turks. The dragon of Rev. 12, is the acknowledged symbol of\nPagan Rome. The leopard beast of Rev. 13 can be shown to be identical\nwith the eleventh horn of the fourth beast of Dan. 7, and hence to\nsymbolize the papacy. The scarlet beast and woman of Rev. 17, as\nevidently apply also to Rome under papal rule, the symbols having\nespecial reference to the distinction between the civil power and the\necclesiastical, the one being represented by the beast, the other by the\nwoman seated thereon.\n\nThere is one symbol left, and that is the two-horned beast of Rev. 13.\nOn this there is more difference of opinion; and before seeking for an\napplication, let us look at the ground covered by those already\nexamined. Babylon and Medo-Persia covered all the civilized portion of\nAsia. Greece covered eastern Europe including Russia. Rome, with the ten\nkingdoms into which it was divided, as represented by the ten toes of\nthe image, the ten horns of the fourth beast of Dan. 7, the ten horns of\nthe dragon of Rev. 12, and the ten horns of the leopard beast of Rev.\n13, covered all Western Europe. In other words, all the civilized\nportion of the eastern hemisphere is absorbed by the symbols already\nexamined, respecting the application of which there is scarcely any room\nfor doubt.\n\nBut there is a mighty nation in this western hemisphere, worthy, as we\nhave seen, of being mentioned in prophecy, which is not yet brought in;\nand there is one symbol remaining, the application of which has not yet\nbeen made. All the symbols but one are applied, and all the available\nportions of the eastern hemisphere are covered by the applications. Of\nall the symbols mentioned, one, the two-horned beast of Rev. 13, is\nleft; and of all the countries of the earth respecting which any reason\nexists why they should be mentioned in prophecy, the United States alone\nare left. Do the two-horned beast and the United States belong together?\nIf they do, then all the symbols find an application, and all the ground\nis covered. If they do not, it follows, first, that the United States\nare not represented in prophecy; and, secondly, that the two-horned\nbeast finds no government to which it can apply. But the first of these\nsuppositions is not probable; and the second is not possible.\n\n\n\n\nChapter Two.\n\nA Chain Of Prophecy.\n\n\nWe now enter upon a more particular examination of the second symbol of\nRev. 13, with a view to determine with greater certainty its\napplication. What is said respecting this symbol, the beast with two\nhorns like a lamb, is not an isolated and independent prophecy, but is\nconnected with what precedes; and the symbol itself is but one of a\nseries. It is proper therefore to briefly examine the preceding symbols,\nsince if we are able to make a satisfactory application of them, it will\nguide us in the interpretation of this.\n\nThe line of prophecy of which this forms a part commences with Rev. 12.\nThe book of Revelation is evidently not a consecutive prophecy of events\nto transpire from the beginning to the close of the gospel dispensation,\nbut is composed of a series of prophetic lines, each taking up its own\nclass of events, and tracing them through from the days of the prophet\nto the end of time. And when one line of prophecy is completed, another\nis taken up. That a new series of prophetic events is introduced in Rev.\n12, is evident; since in the preceding chapter a line of prophecy is\ncompleted, bringing us down to the great day of God's wrath, the\njudgment of the dead, and the eternal reward of those that fear God and\nrevere his name. No line of prophecy can go farther; and any events to\ntranspire in probation, subsequently mentioned, must of course belong to\na new series.\n\nCommencing, then, with chapter 12, how far does this line of prophecy\nextend? The first symbol introduced, which can be applied to an earthly\ngovernment, is the great red dragon. The second is the beast of Rev. 13,\nwhich, having the body of a leopard, we shall call, for brevity's sake,\nthe leopard beast. To this beast the dragon gives his seat, power, and\ngreat authority. This beast, then, is connected with the dragon, and\nbelongs to this line of prophecy. The third symbol is the two-horned\nbeast of Rev. 13. This beast exercises certain power in the presence of\nthe leopard beast, and causes the earth and them that dwell therein to\nworship him. This beast, therefore, is connected with the leopard beast,\nand hence belongs to the same line of prophecy. No conclusion is reached\nin chapter 13, and hence the prophecy is not there completed. Going\nforward into chapter 14, we find a company brought to view who are\nredeemed from among men (which can mean nothing else than translation\nfrom among the living at the second coming of Christ); and they sing a\nsong before the throne which none but themselves can learn. In chapter\n15, we have a company presented before us who have gotten the victory\nover the beast, his image, the mark, and the number of his name--the\nvery things brought to view in the concluding portion of Rev. 13. This\ncompany also sing a song, even the song of Moses and the Lamb; and they\nsing it while standing upon the sea of glass, as stated in verse 2.\nTurning to chapter 4:6, we learn that this sea of glass is \"before the\nthrone.\" The conclusion, therefore, follows that those who sing before\nthe throne, in chapter 14, are identical with those who sing on the sea\nof glass (before the throne), in chapter 15, inasmuch as they stand in\nthe same place, and the song they both sing is the first glad song of\nactual redemption. But the declarations found in chapter 15 show that\nthe company introduced in the opening of chapter 14 have been in direct\nconflict with the powers brought to view in the closing verses of\nchapter 13, and have gotten the victory over them. Being thus connected\nwith those powers, they form a part of the same line of prophecy. But\nhere this line of prophecy must end; for this company is spoken of as\nredeemed; and no line of prophecy, as already noticed, can go beyond the\neternal state.\n\nThe line of prophecy in which the two-horned beast stands, is,\ntherefore, one which is very clearly defined: it commences with chapter\n12, and ends with verse 5 of chapter 14. The student of prophecy finds\nit one of vast importance; the humble child of God, one of transcendent\ninterest. It begins with the church, and ends with the church--the\nchurch, at first in humility, trial, and distress; at last, in victory,\nexaltation, and glory. This is the one object which ever appears the\nsame in all the scenes here described, and whose history is the leading\ntheme of the prophecy, from first to last. Trampled under the feet of\nthe three colossal persecuting powers here brought to view, the\nfollowers of Christ for long ages bow their heads to the pitiless storm\nof oppression and persecution; but the end repays them all; for John\nbeholds them at last, the storms all over, their conflicts all ended,\nwaving palm-branches of victory, and striking on golden harps a song of\neverlasting triumph within the precincts of the heavenly land.\n\nWe turn then to the inquiry, What power is designated by the great red\ndragon of chapter 12? The chapter first speaks of a woman clothed with\nthe sun, the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve\nstars. A woman is the symbol of the church; a lewd woman representing a\ncorrupt or apostate church, as in Eze. 23:2-4, &c., which refers to the\nJewish church in a state of backsliding, and in Rev. 17:3-6, 15, 18,\nwhich refers to the apostate Romish church; and a virtuous woman\nrepresenting the true church, as in the verse under consideration. At\nwhat period in her history could the church be properly represented as\nhere described? Ans. At the opening of the gospel dispensation, and at\nno other time; for then the glory of this dispensation, like the light\nof the sun, had just risen upon her; the former dispensation, which,\nlike the moon, shone with a borrowed light, had just passed and lay\nbeneath her feet. And twelve inspired apostles, like a crown of twelve\nstars, graced the first organization of the gospel church. To this\nperiod these representations can apply, but to no other. The prophet\nantedates this period a little by referring to the time when the church\nwith longing expectation was awaiting the advent into this world of the\nglorious Redeemer.\n\nA man child here represented as the offspring of this woman, appears\nupon the stage. This child was to rule all nations with a rod of iron,\nand was caught up to God and his throne. Verse 5. These declarations are\ntrue of our Lord Jesus Christ, but of no one else. See Ps. 2:7-9; Eph.\n1:20, 21; Heb. 8:1; Rev. 3:21. There is therefore no mistaking the\ntime when the scenes here described took place. We mention these facts\nfor the purpose of identifying the power symbolized by the dragon; for\nthe dragon stood before the woman, to devour her child as soon as it\nshould be born. Who attempted the destruction of our Lord when he\nappeared as a babe in Bethlehem? Herod. And who was Herod? A Roman\ngovernor. Rome, which then ruled over all the earth, Luke 2:1, was the\nresponsible party in this transaction. Rome was the only power which at\nthis time could be symbolized in prophecy, as its dominion was\nuniversal. It is not without good reason, therefore, that Pagan Rome is\nconsidered among Protestant commentators to be the power indicated by\nthe great red dragon. And it may be a fact worth mentioning that during\nthe second, third, fourth, and fifth centuries of the Christian era,\nnext to the eagle, the dragon was the principal standard of the Roman\nlegions; and that dragon was painted red.\n\nThere is but one objection we need pause to answer before passing to\nthe'next symbol. Is not the dragon plainly called in verse 9, the devil,\nand Satan? How then can it be applied to Pagan Rome? That the term\ndragon is primarily applied to the devil, there seems to be no doubt;\nbut that it should be applied also to some of his chief agents, would\nseem to be appropriate and unobjectionable. Now Rome being at this time\npagan, and the supreme empire of the world, was the great, if not almost\nthe sole, agent in the hands of the devil for carrying out his purposes.\nHence the application of that term to the Roman power.\n\nThe next symbol to engage our attention is the leopard beast of chapter\n13, to which the dragon gives his seat, his power, and great authority.\nIt would be sufficient on this point to show to what power the dragon,\nPagan Rome, transferred its seat and gave its power. The seat of any\ngovernment is certainly its capital city. The city of Rome was the\ndragon's seat. But in A.D. 330, Constantine transferred the seat of\nempire from Rome to Constantinople; and Rome was given up to what? To\ndecay, desolation, and ruin? No; but to become far more celebrated than\nit had ever before been, not as the seat of pagan emperors, but as the\ncity of St. Peter's successors, the seat of a spiritual hierarchy which\nwas not only to become more powerful than any secular prince, but\nthrough the magic of its fatal sorcery was to exercise dominion over the\nkings of the earth. Thus was Rome given to the papacy; and the decree of\nJustinian, issued in 533, and carried into effect in 538, constituting\nthe pope the head of all the churches and the corrector of heretics, was\nthe investing of the papacy with that power and authority which the\nprophet foresaw.\n\nIt is very evident, therefore, that this leopard beast is a symbol of\nthe papacy. But there are other considerations which prove this. This\nbeast has the body of a leopard, the mouth of a lion, and the feet of a\nbear, which shows it to be some power which succeeded those three beasts\nof Daniel's prophecy, and retained some of the characteristics of them\nall; and that was Rome. But this is not the first, or pagan form of the\nRoman government; for that is represented by the dragon; and this is the\nform which succeeded that, which was the papal.\n\nBut what most clearly shows that this beast represents the papacy, is\nits identity with the little horn of the fourth beast of Daniel 7,\nwhich all Protestants agree in applying to the papal power.\n\n1. Their chronology. The little horn arises after the great and terrible\nbeast, which represents Rome in its first or pagan form, is fully\ndeveloped even to the existence of the ten horns, or the division of the\nRoman empire into ten parts. Dan. 7:24. The leopard beast succeeds the\ndragon which also represents Rome in its pagan form. These powers appear\ntherefore upon the stage of action at the same time.\n\n2. Their location. The little horn plucked up three horns to make way\nfor itself. The last of these, the Gothic horn, was plucked up when the\nGoths were driven from Rome in 538, and the city was left in the hands\nof the little horn, which has ever since held it as the seat of its\npower. To the leopard beast also, the dragon gave its seat, the city of\nRome. They therefore occupy the same location.\n\n3. Their character. The little horn is a blasphemous power; for it\nspeaks great words against the Most High. Dan. 7:25. The leopard beast\nalso is a blasphemous power; for it bears upon its head the name of\nblasphemy; it has a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and he\nopens his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his\ntabernacle, and them that dwell in Heaven. Rev. 13:1, 5, 6.\n\n4. Their work, The little horn by a long and heartless course of\noppression against the saints of the Most High, wears them out; and they\nare given into his hand. Dan. 7:25. He makes war against them, and\nprevails. Verse 21. The leopard beast also makes war upon the saints,\nand overcomes them. Rev. 13:7.\n\n5. The time of their continuance, Power was given to the little horn to\ncontinue a \"time and times, and the dividing of time.\" Dan. 7:25. A\ntime in Scripture phraseology is one year. Dan, 4:25. (The \"seven\ntimes\" of Nebuchadnezzar's humiliation, Josephus informs us, were seven\nyears.) Times, that is two times, the least that can be expressed by the\nplural, would be two years more; and the dividing of time, or half a\ntime, half a year; making in all, three years and a half. To the leopard\nbeast power was also given to continue forty-two months, which at twelve\nmonths to the year, give us again just three years and a half. And this\nbeing prophetic time, a day for a year (Num. 14:34; Eze. 4:6), and\nthere being accord to Scripture reckoning thirty days to a month, or\nthree hundred and sixty days to a year (Gen, 7:11, 24; 8:4), we have\nin each case twelve hundred and sixty years, for the continuance of the\nlittle horn and the leopard beast.\n\n6. Their overthrow. At the end of the time, times and a half, the\ndominion of the little horn was to be taken away. Dan. 7:26. At the end\nof the forty-two months, the same length of time, the leopard beast was\nalso to be slain, politically, with the sword, and go into captivity.\nRev. 13:3, 10.\n\nThese are points which prove not merely similarity, but identity. For\nwhenever two symbols, as in this instance, represent powers that come\nupon the stage of action at the same time, occupy the same territory,\nmaintain the same character, do the same work, continue the same length\nof time, and meet the same fate, those two symbols must represent one\nand the same power. And in all these particulars there is, as we have\nseen, the most exact co-incidence between the little horn of the fourth\nbeast of Dan. 7, and the leopard beast of Rev. 13; and all are fulfilled\nby one power, and that is the papacy. The papacy succeeded to the pagan\nform of the Roman empire. It has, ever since it was first established,\noccupied the seat of the dragon, the city of Rome, building for itself\nsuch a sanctuary, St, Peter's, as the world nowhere else beholds. It is\na blasphemous power, speaking the most presumptuous words it is possible\nfor mortal lips to utter against the Most High. It has worn out the\nsaints, the Religious Encyclopedia estimating that the lives of fifty\nmillions of Christians have been quenched in blood by its merciless\nimplements of torture. It has continued a time, times and a half, or\nforty-two months, or twelve hundred and sixty years. Commencing in 538,\nwhen the decree of Justinian in behalf of papal supremacy was first\nmade effectual by the overthrow of the Goths, the papacy enjoyed a\nperiod of uninterrupted supremacy for just twelve hundred and sixty\nyears, when its power was temporarily overthrown, and its influence\npermanently crippled, by the French in 1798.\n\nCan any one doubt that the papacy is the power in question, and that the\ninterpretation of this symbol brings us down within seventy-six years of\nour own time? We regard the exposition of the prophecy, thus far, as\nclear beyond the possibility of refutation; and if this is so, our\nfuture field of inquiry lies within a very narrow compass, as we shall\npresently see.\n\n\n\n\nChapter Three.\n\nLocation Of The Two-horned Beast.\n\n\nFollowing the leopard, or papal beast of Rev. 13, in consecutive order,\ncomes the two-horned beast, whose appearance the prophet delineates, and\nwhose work he describes, in the following language:--\n\n     Verse 11. And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth,\n     and he had two horns like a lamb; and he spake as a dragon. 12. And\n     he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and\n     causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first\n     beast, whose deadly wound was healed. 13. And he doeth great\n     wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth\n     in the sight of men, 14, and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth\n     by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the\n     sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the eaith, that\n     they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a\n     sword, and did live. 15. And he had power to give life unto the\n     image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak,\n     and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast\n     should be killed. 16. And he causeth all, both small and great,\n     rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right\n     hand, or in their foreheads; 17; and that no man might buy or sell,\n     save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number\n     of his name.\n\nThese few verses, with an allusion to the same power under the name of\n\"the false prophet\" in Rev. 16:13, and 19; 20, furnish all the\ntestimony we have respecting the two-horned beast; but brief as it is,\nit gives sufficient data for a very certain application of the symbol in\nquestion. As an example of the world of meaning which prophecy can\ncondense into a single word, the first verse of the foregoing quotation\nmay be instanced. Here, within a compass of twenty-five words, only four\nof which are words of more than one syllable, six grand points are made,\nwhich taken together are sufficient to determine accurately the\napplication of this symbol. The prophet says first, that it is \"another\nbeast;\" secondly, that when his attention was turned to it it was\n\"coming up;\" thirdly, that it came up \"out of the earth;\" fourthly, that\nit had \"two horns;\" fifthly, that these horns were like those of \"a\nlamb;\" and sixthly, that it spoke, and by speaking revealed its true\ncharacter; for the voice was that of \"a dragon.\"\n\nThe two-horned beast then is \"another beast,\" in addition to, and\ndifferent from, the papal beast which the prophet had just had under\nconsideration; that is, it symbolizes a power separate and distinct from\nthat which is denoted by the preceding beast. This which John calls\n\"another beast\" is certainly no part of the first beast; and the power\nsymbolized by it is likewise no part of that which is intended by that\nbeast. This is fatal to the claim of those who, to avoid the application\nof this symbol to our own government, say that it denotes some phase of\nthe papacy; for in that case it would be a part of the preceding, or\nleopard beast.\n\nTo avoid this difficulty, it is claimed that the two-horned beast\nrepresents the religious or ecclesiastical, and the leopard beast the\ncivil, power of Rome under papal rule; that these symbols correspond to\nthe beast and woman in Rev. 17, the one representing the civil power,\nthe other the ecclesiastical. But this claim also falls to the ground\njust as soon as it is shown that the leopard beast represents the\nreligious as well as the civil element of that power. And nothing is\neasier than to show this.\n\nTake the first symbol, the dragon. What does it represent? Rome. But\nthis is not enough; for Rome has presented two great phases to the\nworld, and the inquirer wants to know which one is intended by this\nsymbol. The answer then is, Pagan Rome; but just as soon as we add\n\"Pagan,\" we introduce a religious element; for paganism is one of the\nmightiest systems of false religion ever devised by the arch-enemy of\ntruth. It was, then, the religious element in the empire that determined\nwhat symbol should be used to represent it; and the dragon represented\nRome while under the control of a particular form of religion.\n\nBut the time comes when another symbol is introduced upon the scene--the\nleopard beast arises out of the sea. What power is symbolized by this?\nThe answer is still, Rome. But the dragon symbolized Rome, and why not\nlet that symbol continue to represent it? Whoever attempts to answer\nthis question must say that it is because a change had taken place in\nthe power. What change? Two kinds of changes are conspicuous in the\nhistory of Rome: changes in form of government, and a change in\nreligion. But this cannot denote any change in the form of government;\nfor the seven different forms of government that Rome consecutively\nassumed are represented by the seven heads of the dragon, and the seven\nheads of the leopard beast. The religious change must therefore be alone\ndenoted by this change of symbols. Paganism and Christianity coalesced,\nand the mongrel production was the papacy; and this new religion, and\nthis alone, made a change in the symbol necessary. Every candid mind\nmust assent to this; and this assent is an admission of the utter\nabsurdity of trying to limit this symbol to the civil power alone. So\nfar from its representing the civil power alone, it is to the\necclesiastical element that it owes its very existence.\n\nThat the leopard beast represents ecclesiastical as well as civil power\nis further shown in the arguments already presented to prove that this\nbeast is identical with the little horn of Daniel's fourth beast, which\nsymbolizes the papacy in all its components parts and through all its\nhistory. It is the leopard beast alone that is identical with this\nlittle horn, not the leopard beast and the two-horned beast taken\ntogether.\n\nAgain, Pagan Rome gave its seat to the papacy. The dragon gave his seat\nto the leopard beast. If it takes both the leopard beast and the\ntwo-horned beast to constitute the papacy, the prophet should have said\nthat the dragon gave his seat and power to these two beasts combined.\nThe fact that his transfer was to the leopard beast alone, is proof\npositive that that beast alone symbolizes the papacy in its entirety.\n\nWhen, therefore, John calls the two-horned beast \"another beast,\" it is\ncertain that he does not mean any particular phase, or any part, of the\npapal power.\n\nIt is claimed by others that the two-horned beast represents England; by\nstill others, France; and by some, Russia, &c. The first, among many\nother fatal objections to all these applications, is, that the territory\noccupied by all these powers is already appropriated by preceding\nsymbols. If the two-homed beast symbolized any of these, it would be a\npart of other beasts instead of \"another beast,\" separate and distinct\nfrom all the rest. It is a law of symbols that each one occupies\nterritory peculiarly its own; that is, the territory which constituted\nthe original government, was no part of that which had been occupied by\nthe previous powers. Thus Medo-Persia rose on territory not occupied by\nBabylon; and Medo-Persia and Babylon together covered all that portion\nof Asia known to ancient civilization. The Grecian or Macedonian kingdom\narose to the west of them, occupying all Eastern Europe, so far as it\nwas then known to the ancients. Rome arose still to the west, in\nterritory unoccupied by Grecia. Rome was divided into ten kingdoms; but\nthough Rome conquered the world, we look for these divisions only to\nthat territory which had never been included in other kingdoms. We look\nnot to Eastern Europe; for that was included in the dominion of the\nthird beast: nor to Asia; for that constituted the empires of the first\nand second beasts: but to Western Europe, which territory was unoccupied\ntill taken by Rome and its divisions.\n\nThe ten kingdoms which arose out of the old Roman Empire are enumerated\nas follows by Machiavel, indorsed by Bp. Newton, Faber, and Dr. Hales:\n1. The Huns. 2. The Ostrogoths. 3. The Visigoths. 4. The Franks. 5. The\nVandals. 6. The Suevi. 7. The Burgundians. 8. The Heruli. 9. The\nAnglo-Saxons, and 10. The Lombards. These kingdoms have since been\nknown, says Scott, as the \"ten kingdoms of the western empire,\" and they\nare distinguishable at the present day, some of them even by their\nmodern names, as Hungary from the Huns, Lombardy, from the Lombards,\nFrance from the Franks, and England from the Anglo-Saxons. These ten\nkingdoms being denoted by the ten horns of the leopard beast, it is\nevident that all the territory included in these ten kingdoms is to be\nconsidered as belonging to that beast. England is one of these ten\nkingdoms; France is another. If therefore we say that either of these is\nthe one represented by the two-horned beast, we make one of the horns of\nthe leopard beast constitute the two-horned beast. But this the prophecy\nforbids; for while John sees the leopard beast fully developed, with his\nhorns all complete and distinct, he beholds the two-horned beast coming\nup, and calls it \"another beast.\" We are therefore to look for the\ngovernment which this beast symbolizes, in some country outside the\nterritory occupied by the four beasts and the ten horns already referred\nto. But these, as we have seen, cover all the available portions of the\neastern continent.\n\nAnother consideration pointing to the locality of this power is drawn\nfrom the fact that John saw it arising from the earth. If the sea from\nwhich the leopard beast arose, Rev. 13:1, denotes peoples, nations, and\nmultitudes, Rev. 17:15, the earth would suggest, by contrast, a new and\npreviously-unoccupied territory.\n\nBeing thus excluded from the eastern continent, and impressed with the\nidea of looking to territory not previously known to civilization, we\nturn of necessity to the western hemisphere. And this is in full harmony\nwith the ideas already quoted, and more which might be presented, that\nthe progress of empire is with the sun around the earth from east to\nwest. Commencing in Asia, the cradle of the race, it would end on this\ncontinent, which completes the circuit. Bishop Berkley, in his\ncelebrated poem on America, written more than one hundred years ago, in\nthe following forcible lines, pointed out the then future position of\nAmerica, and its connection with preceding empires.\n\n\"Westward the course of empire takes its way;\n  The four first acts already past,\nA fifth shall close the drama with the day;\n  Time's noblest offspring is the last.\"\n\nBy the \"four first acts already past,\" the bishop had undoubted\nreference to the four universal kingdoms of Daniel's prophecy. A fifth\ngreat power, the noblest and the last, was, according to his poem, to\narise this side the Atlantic, and here close the drama of time, as the\nday here ends its circuit.\n\nTo what part of the American continent shall we look for the power in\nquestion? To the most powerful and prominent nation certainly. This is\nso self-evident that we need not stop to pass in review the frozen\nfragments of humanity on the north of us, nor the weak, superstitious,\nsemi-barbarous, revolutionary, and uninfluential kingdoms to the south\nof us. No; we come to the United States, and here we are held. To this\nnation the question of the location of the two-horned beast\nundeviatingly leads us.\n\nAs an objection to this view, it may occur to some minds that the\ntwo-horned beast exercises all the power of the first beast before him\n(Greek [Greek: enopion], literally, before his eyes) and does wonders in\nhis sight; and how can the United States, separated by an ocean from\nEuropean kingdoms, hold such an intimate relation to them? We answer,\nSpace and time are annihilated by the telegraph. Through the Atlantic\ncable (an enterprise which, by the way, owes its origin to the United\nStates), the lightnings are continually picturing to European beholders\nthe affairs of America. Any important event occurring here is described\nthe next hour in the journals of Europe. So far as the transmission of\nan account of our proceedings to the people of the Old World is\nconcerned, it is as if America lay at the mouth of the English Channel.\n\nAnd the eyes of all Europe are intently watching our movements. Says Mr,\nTownsend (New World and Old, p. 583):--\n\n     \"All the great peoples of Europe are curiously interested and\n     amazed in the rise of America, and their rulers at present compete\n     for our friendship. 'Europe,' said the prince Talleyrand, long ago,\n     'must have an eye on America, and take care not to offer any\n     pretext for recrimination or retaliation. America is growing every\n     day. She will become a colossal power, and the time will come when\n     (discoveries enabling her to communicate more easily with Europe)\n     she will want to say a word in our affairs, and have a hand in\n     them.'\"\n\nThe time has come, and the discoveries have been made to which\nTalleyrand referred. It is almost as easy now to communicate with Europe\nas with our nearest town. By these things the attention of the world is\ndrawn still more strongly toward us; and thus whatever the United States\ndoes, it is done in the sight, yes, even before the eyes, of all Europe.\n\n\n\n\nChapter Four.\n\nChronology Of The Two-horned Beast.\n\n\nHaving become satisfied where the power symbolized by the two-horned\nbeast must be located, we now inquire respecting the time when we may\nlook for its development. At what period in this world's history is the\nrise of this power located in the prophecy? On this point, as on the\npreceding, the foundation for the conclusions at which we must arrive,\nis already laid in the facts elicted in reference to the preceding or\nleopard beast. It was at the time when this beast went into captivity,\nor was killed (politically) with the sword, verse 10, or (which we\nsuppose to be the same thing), had one of its heads wounded to death,\nverse 3, that John saw the two-horned beast coming up. If the leopard\nbeast, as we have conclusively proved, signifies the papacy, and the\ngoing into captivity met its fulfillment in the temporary overthrow of\nthe popedom by the French, in 1798, then we have the time definitely\nspecified, when we are to look for the rising of this power. The\nexpression, \"coming up,\" must signify that the power to which it applies\nwas but newly organized, and was then just rising into prominence and\ninfluence. The power represented by this symbol, must, then, be some\npower which in 1798 stood in this position before the world.\n\nThat the leopard beast is a symbol of the papacy, there can be no\nquestion; but some may want more evidence that the wounding of one of\nits heads, or its going into captivity, was the overthrow of the papacy\nin 1798. This can easily be given. A nation being represented by a wild\nbeast, the government of that nation, that by which it is controlled,\nmust as a very clear matter of course be considered as answering to the\nhead of the beast. The seven heads of this beast would therefore denote\nseven different governments; but all the heads pertain to one beast, and\nhence all these seven different forms of government pertain to one\nempire. But only one form of government can exist in a nation at one\ntime; hence the seven heads must denote seven forms of government to\nappear, not simultaneously, but successively. But these heads pertain\nalike to the dragon and the leopard beast; from which this one\nconclusion only can be drawn: that Rome, during its whole history,\nembracing both its pagan and papal phases, would change its government\nsix times, presenting to the world seven different forms in all. And the\nhistorian records just that number as pertaining to Rome. Rome was first\nruled by Kings; second, by Consuls; third, by Decemvirs; fourth, by\nDictators; fifth, by Triumvirs; sixth, by Emperors; and seventh, by\nPopes.\n\nJohn saw one of these heads wounded, as it were, to death. Which one?\nCan we tell? Let it be noticed, first, that it is one of the heads of\nthe beast which is wounded to death, and not one of the heads of the\ndragon; that is, it is some form of government which existed in Rome\nafter the change of symbols from the dragon to the leopard beast. We\nthen inquire, How many of the different forms of Roman government\nbelonged absolutely to the dragon, or existed in Rome while it\nmaintained its dragonic or pagan form? These same seven heads are again\npresented to John in Rev. 17; and the angel there explains that they are\nseven kings, or forms of government, verse 10; and he informs John that\nfive are fallen, and one is; that is, five of these forms of government\nwere already passed in John's day; and he was living under the sixth.\nUnder what form did John live? The imperial; it being the cruel decree\nof the emperor Domitian which banished him to the isle of Patmos where\nthis vision was given. Kings, Consuls, Decemvirs, Dictators, and\nTriumvirs, were all in the past in John's day. Emperors were then ruling\nthe Roman world; and the empire was still pagan. Six of these heads,\ntherefore, Kings, Consuls, Decemvirs, Dictators, Triumvirs, and Emperors\nbelonged to the dragon; for they all existed while Rome was pagan: and\nit was no one of these that was wounded to death; for had it been, John\nwould have said, I saw one of the heads of the dragon wounded to death.\nThe wound was inflicted after the empire had so changed in respect to\nits religion that it became necessary to represent it by the leopard\nbeast. But the beast had only seven heads, and if six of them pertain to\nthe dragon, only one remained to have an existence after this change in\nthe empire took place. After the Emperors, the sixth and last head that\nexisted in Rome in its dragonic form, came the Popes, the only head that\nexisted after the empire had nominally become Christian. The \"Exarch of\nRavenna\" existed so \"short a space,\" Rev. 17:10, that it has no place in\nthe general enumeration of the heads of this power.\n\nFrom these considerations, it is evident that the head which received\nthe mortal wound, was none other than the papal head. This conclusion\ncannot be shaken. We have now only to inquire when the papal head was\nwounded to death. It could not certainly be till after its full\ndevelopment; but after this, the prophecy marked out for it an\nuninterrupted rule of 1260 years from its establishment in 538, till the\nrevolution of 1798. Then the papacy was, for the time being, overthrown.\nGeneral Berthier, by order of the French Directory, moved against the\ndominions of the pope in January, 1798. February 10, he effected an\nentrance into the self styled eternal city, and, on the 15th of the same\nmonth, proclaimed the establishment of the Roman republic. The pope,\nafter this deprivation of his authority, was conveyed to France as a\nprisoner, and died at Valence, Aug. 29, 1799.\n\nThis would have been the end of the papacy, had this overthrow been made\npermanent. The wound would have proved fatal had it not been healed.\nBut, though the wound was healed, the scar, so to speak, has ever since\nremained. A new pope was elected in 1800, and the papacy was restored,\nbut only to a partial possession of its former privileges.\n\nLet the reader look carefully at this event. It furnishes a complete\nfulfillment of the prophecy; and it is the only event in all Roman\nhistory which does this; for though the first six heads were each, in\nturn; exterminated, or gave place to a succeeding head, of no one of\nthem could it be said that it received a deadly wound, and was afterward\nhealed. And as this overthrow of the papacy by the French military must\nbe the wounding of the head mentioned in Rev. 13:3, so, likewise, must\nit be the going into captivity, and the killing with the sword,\nmentioned in verse 10; for it is an event of the right nature to fulfill\nthe prophecy, and one which occurred at the right time; namely, at the\nend of the time, times, and a half, the forty-two months, or the 1260\nyears; and no other event can be found answering to the record in these\nrespects. We are not left, therefore, with any discretionary power in\nthe application of this prophecy; for God, by his providence, has\nmarked the era of its accomplishment in as plain a manner as if he had\nproclaimed with an audible voice, Behold here the accomplishment of my\nprophetic word!\n\nThus clearly is the exact time indicated in the prophecy when we are to\nlook far the rise of the two-horned beast; for John, as soon as he\nbeholds the captivity of the first or leopard beast, says: \"And I beheld\nanother beast coming up.\" And his use of the present participle,\n\"coming\" up, clearly connects this view with the preceding verse, and\nshows it to be an event transpiring simultaneously with the going into\ncaptivity of the previous beast. If he had said, \"And I had seen another\nbeast coming up,\" it would prove that when he saw it, it was coming up,\nbut that the time when he beheld it was indefinitely in the past. If he\nhad said, \"And I beheld another beast which had come up,\" it would prove\nthat although his attention was called to it at the time when the first\nbeast went into captivity, yet its rise was still indefinitely in the\npast. But when he says, \"I beheld another beast _coming up_\" it proves\nthat when he turned his eyes from the captivity of the first beast, he\nsaw another power right then in the process of rapid development among\nthe nations of the earth. So, then, about the year 1798, the star of\nthat power which is symbolized by the two-horned beast must be seen\nrising to the zenith of its glory. In view of these considerations, it\nis useless to speak of this power as having arisen ages in the past. To\nattempt such an application is to show one's self utterly reckless in\nregard to the plainest statements of inspiration.\n\nAgain, the work of the two-horned beast is plainly located, by verse 12,\nthis side the captivity of the first beast. It is there stated, in\ndirect terms, that the two-horned beast causes \"the earth and them which\ndwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was\nhealed.\" But worship could not be rendered to a beast whose deadly wound\nwas healed, till after that healing was accomplished. This brings the\nworship unmistakably within the present century.\n\nSays Eld. J. Litch (Restitution, p. 131):--\n\n     \"The two-horned beast is represented as a power existing and\n     performing his part after the death and revival of the first\n     beast.\"\n\nMr. Wesley, in his notes on Rev. 14, says of the two-horned beast:--\n\n     \"He has not yet come, though he cannot be far off; for he is to\n     appear at the end of the forty-two months of the first beast.\"\n\nWe find three additional declarations in the book of Revelation which\nprove, in a general sense, that the two-horned beast performs his work\nwith that generation of men who are to behold the closing up of all\nearthly scenes, and the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ; and\nthese will complete the argument on this point.\n\nThe first is the message of the third angel, brought to view in the\n14th of Revelation. It is not our purpose to enter into an exposition of\nthe three messages of that chapter. We call the attention of the reader\nto only one fact, which must be apparent to all; and that is, that the\nthird of these messages is the last warning of danger, and the last\noffer of mercy, before the close of human probation; for the event which\nimmediately follows is the appearance of one like the Son of man on a\nwhite cloud, coming to reap the harvest of the earth, verse 14, which\ncan represent nothing else but the second advent of the Lord from\nHeaven. Whatever views, therefore, a person may take of the first and\nsecond messages, and at whatever time he may apply them, it is very\ncertain that the third and last one covers the closing hours of time,\nand reaches down to the second coming of Christ. And what is the burden\nof this message? It is a denunciation of the unmingled wrath of God\nagainst these who worship the beast and his image. But this worship of\nthe beast and his image is the very work which the two-horned beast\nendeavors to enforce upon the people. The third message, then, is a\nwarning against the work of the two-horned beast. And as there would be\nno propriety in supposing this warning to be given after that work was\nperformed; as it could appropriately be given only when the two-horned\nbeast was about to enforce, and while he was endeavoring to enforce,\nthat worship; and as the second coming of Christ immediately succeeds\nthe proclamation of this message, it follows that the duties enjoined by\nthis message, and the decrees enforced by the two-horned beast,\nconstitute the last test to be brought to bear upon the world; and hence\nthe two-homed beast performs his work, not ages in the past, but among\nthe last generation of men.\n\nThe second passage, which shows that the work of the two-horned beast is\nperformed just before the close of time, is found in Rev. 15:2, which we\nhave shown to refer to the same company spoken of in chapter 14:1-5.\nHere is a company who have gotten the victory over the beast and his\nimage and the mark and the number of his name; in other words, they have\nbeen in direct conflict with the two-horned beast, which endeavors to\nenforce the worship of the beast and the reception of his mark. And\nthese are \"redeemed from among men\" (14:4), or are translated from among\nthe living at the second coming of Christ. 1 Cor. 15:51,52; 1 Thess.\n4:16,17. This again shows conclusively that it is the last generation\nwhich witnesses the work of this power.\n\nThe third passage is Rev. 19:20, which speaks of the two-horned beast\nunder the title of the false prophet, and mentions a point not given in\nRev. 13, namely, the doom he is to meet. In the battle of the great day,\nwhich takes place in connection with the second coming of Christ, verses\n11-19, the false prophet, or two-horned beast, is cast alive into a lake\nof fire burning with brimstone; and the word \"alive\" signifies that\nthis power will be at that time a living power performing its part in\nall its strength and vigor. This power is not to pass off the stage of\naction, and be succeeded by another; but is to be a ruling power till\ndestroyed by the King of kings and Lord of lords, when he comes to dash\nthe nations in pieces with a rod of iron.\n\nThe sum of the argument, then, on this matter of chronology, is this:\nThat the two-horned beast does not come into the field of this vision\nprevious to the year 1798; that it performs its work while the last\ngeneration of men is living on the earth; and that it comes up to the\nbattle of the great day a living power in the full vigor of its\nstrength.\n\nAs it was shown in the argument on the location of the two-horned beast\nthat we were limited in our application to this western continent, so we\nare limited still further by its chronology; for it must not only be\nsome power which arises this side of the Atlantic, but one which is seen\ncoming up here at a _particular time_. Taking our stand, then, in the\nyear 1798, the time indicated in the prophecy, we invite the careful\nattention of the reader to this question: What independent power in\neither North or South America was at that time \"coming up\" in a manner\nto answer to the conditions of the prophecy? All that part of North\nAmerica lying to the north of us was under the dominion of Russia and\nGreat Britain. Mexico, to the south-west, was a Spanish colony. Passing\nto South America, Brazil belonged to Portugal, and most of the other\nSouth American States were under Spanish control. In short, there was\nnot then a single civilized, independent government in the New World,\nexcept our own United States. No other nation, therefore, can be the one\nrepresented in the prophecy; but this one so far answers to it most\naccurately. It has always taken the lead of all European settlements in\nthis hemisphere. It was \"coming up\" at the exact time indicated in the\nprophecy. Like a lofty monument in a field all its own, stand the United\nStates on this continent, grand, unique, unexplainable. So far as God's\nprovidence works among the nations for the accomplishment of his\npurposes, it is visible in the development of this country as an agent\nto fulfill his word. On these two vital points of location and\nchronology the arguments which show that our country is the one\nrepresented by the symbol of the two-horned beast are absolutely\nconclusive.\n\n\n\n\nChapter Five.\n\nThe United States Have Arisen In The Exact Manner In Which John Saw The\nTwo-horned Beast Coming Up.\n\n\nThe manner in which the two-horned beast was seen coming up shows,\nequally with its location and its chronology, that it is a symbol of\nthese United States. John says he saw the beast coming up \"out of the\nearth.\" And this expression must have been designedly used to point out\nthe contrast between the rise of this beast, and that of other national\nprophetic symbols. The four beasts of Daniel 7, and the leopard beast of\nRev. 13, all arose out of the sea. Says Daniel, The four winds of Heaven\nstrove upon the great sea, and four beasts came up from the sea. The sea\ndenotes peoples, nations, and tongues, Rev. 17:15; and the winds denote\npolitical strife and commotion. Jer. 35:32, 33. There was then, in this\nscene, the dire commotion of nature's mightiest elements, the wind\nabove, the waters benneath, the fury of the gale, the roaring and\ndashing of the waves, and the tumult of the raging storm; and in the\nmidst of this war of elements, as if aroused from the depths of the sea\nby the fearful commotion, these beasts one after another appeared. In\nother words, the governments of which these beasts were symbols owed\ntheir origin to movements among the people which would be well\nrepresented by the sea lashed into foam by the sweeping gale; they arose\nby the upheavals of revolution, and through the strife of war.\n\nBut when the prophet beholds the rising of the two-horned beast, how\ndifferent the scene! No political tempest sweeps the horizon, no armies\nclash together like the waves of the sea. He does not behold the\ntroubled and restless surface of the waters, but a calm and immovable\nexpanse of earth. And out of this earth, like a plant growing up in a\nquiet and sheltered spot, he sees this beast, bearing on his head the\nhorns of a lamb, those eloquent symbols of youth and innocence, daily\naugmenting in bodily proportions, and daily increasing in physical\nstrength.\n\nSome may here point to the war of the Revolution as an event which\ndestroys the force of this application; but this furnishes no objection;\nfor 1. That war was at least fifteen years in the past when the\ntwo-horned beast was introduced into the field of this vision; and 2.\nThe war of the Revolution was not a war of conquest. It was not waged to\noverthrow any other kingdom, and build this government on its ruins, but\nonly to defend the just rights of the American people. An act of\nresistance against continual attempts of injustice and tyranny, cannot\ncertainly be placed in the same catalogue with wars of aggression and\nconquest. The same may be said of the war of 1812. Hence, these\nconflicts do not even partake of the nature of objections to the\napplication here set forth.\n\nThe word which John uses to describe the manner in which this beast\ncomes up is very expressive. It is [Greek: anabainon] (_anabainon_), one\nof the prominent definitions of which is, \"to grow or spring up as a\nplant.\" And it is a remarkable fact that this very figure has been\nchosen by political writers, as the one which best illustrates the rise\nof our government. Mr. G.A. Townsend, in his work entitled, \"The New\nWorld Compared with the Old,\" p. 462, says:--\n\n     \"Since America was discovered, she has been a subject of\n     revolutionary thought in Europe. The mystery of _her coming forth\n     from vacancy_, the marvel of her wealth in gold and silver, the\n     spectacle of her captives led through European capitals, filled the\n     minds of men with unrest: and unrest is the first stage of\n     revolution.\"\n\nOn p. 635, he further says:--\n\n     \"In this web of islands, the West Indies, began the life of both\n     [North and South] Americas. There Columbus saw land, there Spain\n     began her baneful and brilliant Western Empire; thence Cortez\n     departed for Mexico, De Soto for the Mississippi, Balboa for the\n     Pacific, and Pizarro for Peru. The history of the United States was\n     separated by a beneficient Providence far from this wild and cruel\n     history of the rest of the continent, and _like a silent seed, we\n     grew into empire_; while empire itself, beginning in the South, was\n     swept by so interminable a hurricane that what of its history we\n     can ascertain is read by the very lightnings that devastated it.\n     The growth of English America may be likened to a series of lyrics\n     sung by separate singers, which, coalescing, at last make a\n     vigorous chorus, and this, attracting many from afar, swells and is\n     prolonged, until presently it assumes the dignity and proportions\n     of epic song.\"\n\nA writer in the _Dublin Nation_ about the year 1850 spoke of the United\nStates as a wonderful empire which was \"_emerging_,\" and \"_amid the\nsilence of the earth_ daily adding to its power and pride.\"\n\nIn Martyn's \"History of the Great Reformation,\" Vol. iv, p. 238, is an\nextract from an oration of Edward Everett, on the English exiles who\nfounded this government, in which he says:--\n\n     \"Did they look for a retired spot, inoffensive from its obscurity,\n     safe in its remoteness from the haunts of despots, where the little\n     church of Leyden might enjoy freedom of conscience? Behold the\n     mighty regions over which in _peaceful conquest--victoria sine\n     clade_--they have borne the banners of the cross.\"\n\nWe now ask the reader to look at these expressions side by side: \"Coming\nup out of the earth,\" \"coming forth from vacancy,\" \"emerging amid the\nsilence of the earth,\" \"like a silent seed we grew into empire,\" \"mighty\nregions\" secured by \"peaceful conquest.\" The first is from the prophet,\nstating what would be when the two-horned beast should arise; the others\nare from political writers, telling what has been in the history of our\nown government. Can any one fail to see that the last four are exactly\nsynonymous with the first, and that they record a complete\naccomplishment of the prediction? And what is not a little remarkable,\nthose who have thus recorded the fulfillment have, without any reference\nto prophecy, used the very figure which the prophet employed. These men,\ntherefore, being judges--men of large and cultivated minds, and whose\npowers of discernment all will acknowledge to be sufficiently clear--it\nis certain that the particular manner in which the United States have\narisen, answers most strikingly to the development of the symbol under\nconsideration.\n\nWe now extend the inquiry a step further: Have the United States \"come\nup\" in a manner to fulfill the prophecy? Has their progress been\nsufficiently great and sufficiently rapid to corresponds to that visible\nand perceptible growth which John saw in the two-horned beast?\n\nEvery person whose reading is ordinarily extensive, has something of an\nidea of what the United States are to-day; he likewise has an idea, so\nfar as words can convey it to his mind, of what they were at the\ncommencement of their history. The only object, then, in presenting\nstatistics and testimony on this point, is to show that our rapid growth\nhas struck mankind with the wonder of a constant miracle.\n\nSaid Emile de Girardin, in _La Liberte_ (1868):--\n\n     \"The population of America, not thinned by any conscription,\n     multiplies with prodigious rapidity, and the day may before [long\n     be] seen, when they will number sixty or eighty millions of souls.\n     This _parvenu_ [one recently risen to notice] is aware of his\n     importance and destiny. Hear him proudly exclaim, 'America for\n     Americans!' See him promising his alliance to Russia; and we see\n     that power which well knows what force is, grasp the hand of this\n     giant of yesterday.\n\n     \"In view of his _unparalleled progress and combination_, what are\n     the little toys with which we vex ourselves in Europe? What is this\n     needle gun we are anxious to get from Prussia, that we may beat her\n     next year with it? Had we not better take from America the\n     principle of liberty she embodies, out of which have come her\n     citizen pride, her gigantic industry, and her formidable loyalty to\n     the destinies of her republican land?\"\n\nThe _Dublin_ (Ireland) _Nation_, already quoted, says:--\n\n     \"In the east, there is arising a colossal centaur called the\n     Russian Empire. With a civilized head and front, it has the sinews\n     of a huge barbaric body. There one man's brain moves 70,000,000.\n     There all the traditions of the people are of aggression and\n     conquest in the west. There but two ranks are\n     distinguishable--serfs and soldiers. There the map of the future\n     includes Constantinople and Vienna as outposts of St. Petersburg.\n\n     \"In the west, an opposing and still more wonderful American Empire\n     is emerging. We islanders have no conception of the extraordinary\n     events which amid the silence of the earth are daily adding to the\n     power and pride of this gigantic nation. Within three years,\n     territories more extensive than these three kingdoms [Great\n     Britain, Ireland, and Scotland] France and Italy put together,\n     have been quietly, and in almost 'matter of course' fashion,\n     annexed to the Union.\n\n     \"Within seventy years, seventeen new sovereignties, the smallest of\n     them larger than Great Britain, have peaceably united themselves to\n     the Federation. No standing army was raised, no national debt sunk,\n     no great exertion was made, but there they are. And the last mail\n     brings news of three more great States about to be joined to the\n     thirty: Minnesota in the north-west, Deseret in the south-west, and\n     California on the shores of the Pacific. These three States will\n     cover an area equal to one-half the European continent.\"\n\nMitchel, in his School Geography (4th revised edition), p. 101, speaking\nof the United States, says:--\n\n     \"When it is considered that one hundred years ago the inhabitants\n     numbered but 1,000,000, it presents the most striking instance of\n     national growth to be found in the history of mankind.\"\n\nLet us reduce these general statements to the more tangible form of\nfacts and figures. A short time before the great Reformation in the days\nof Martin Luther, not four hundred years ago, this Western Continent was\ndiscovered. The Reformation brought out a large class of persons who\nwere determined to worship God according to the dictates of their own\nconsciences. Being fettered and oppressed by the religious intolerance\nof the Old World, they sought, in the wilds of America, that measure of\ncivil and religious freedom which they so much desired. A little more\nthan two hundred years ago, Dec. 22, 1620, the Mayflower landed one\nhundred of these voluntary exiles on the coast of New England. Here,\nsays Martyn, \"New England was born,\" and this was \"its first baby cry, a\nprayer and a thanksgiving to the Lord.\"\n\nAnother permanent English settlement was made at Jamestown, Va., in\n1607. In process of time other settlements were made, and colonies\norganized, which were all subject to the English government till the\ndeclaration of Independence July 4, 1776.\n\nThe population of these colonies, according to the _U.S. Magazine_ of\nAugust, 1855, amounted in 1701, to 262,000; in 1749, to 1,046,000; in\n1775, to 2,803,000. Then commenced the struggle of the American colonies\nagainst the oppression of the mother country. In 1776, they declared\nthemselves as, in justice and right, an independent nation. In 1777,\ndelegates from the thirteen original States, New Hampshire,\nMassachussets, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey,\nPennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South\nCarolina, and Georgia, in Congress assembled, adopted articles of\nconfederation. In 1783, the war of the Revolution closed by a treaty of\npeace with Great Britain, whereby our independence was acknowledged, and\nterritory ceded to the extent of 815,615 square miles. In 1787, the\nConstitution was framed and ratified by the foregoing thirteen States,\nand on the 1st of March, 1789, went into operation. Then the American\nship of State was fairly launched, with less than one million square\nmiles of territory, and about three millions of souls.\n\nThus we are brought to the time when, in our interpretation of\nRevelation 13, this government is introduced into the prophecy as\n\"coming up.\" Our territorial growth since then has been as follows:\nLouisiana, acquired from France in 1803, comprising 930,928 square miles\nof territory. Florida, from Spain in 1821, with 59,268 square miles.\nTexas, admitted to the Union in 1845, with 237,504 square miles. Oregon,\nas settled by treaty in 1846, with 380,425 square miles. California, as\nconquered from Mexico in 1847, with 649,762 square miles. Arizona (New\nMexico), as acquired from Mexico by treaty in 1854, with 27,500 square\nmiles. Alaska, as acquired by purchase from Russia in 1867, with 577,390\nsquare miles. This gives a grand total of three million, five hundred\nand seventy-eight thousand, three hundred and ninety-two (3,578,392)\nsquare miles of territory, which is about four-ninths of all North\nAmerica, and more than one-fifteenth of the whole land surface of the\nglobe.\n\nAnd while this expansion has been thus rapidly going forward here, how\nhas it been with the other leading nations of the globe? Macmillian &\nCo., the London publishers, in announcing their \"Statesman's Year Book\"\nfor 1867, make an interesting statement of the changes that took place\nin Europe during the half century between the years 1817 and 1867. They\nsay:--\n\n     \"The half century has extinguished three kingdoms, one grand duchy,\n     eight duchies, four principalities, one electorate, and four\n     republics. Three new kingdoms have arisen, and one kingdom has been\n     transformed into an empire. There are now forty-one States in\n     Europe against fifty-nine which existed in 1817. Not less\n     remarkable is the territorial extension of the superior States of\n     the world. Russia has annexed 567,364 square miles; the United\n     States, 1,968,009; France, 4,620; Prussia, 29,781; Sardinia,\n     expanding into Italy, has increased by 83,041; the Indian Empire\n     has been augmented by 431,616. The principal States that have lost\n     territory are Turkey, Mexico, Austria, Denmark, and the\n     Netherlands.\"\n\nWe ask the especial attention of the reader to these particulars. During\nthe last half century, twenty-one goverments have disappeared\naltogether; and only three new ones have arisen. Five have lost instead\nof gained in territory. Only five, besides our own, have added to their\ndomain. And the one which has done the most in this direction has added\nonly a little over half a million of square miles, while we have added\nnearly two millions. Thus the United States government has added over\nfourteen hundred thousand square miles of territory more than any other\nsingle nation, and over eight hundred thousand more than have been added\nby all the other nations of the earth put together: In view of these\nfacts, can any one doubt, looking the whole world over, which government\nit is that has been, during this time, emphatically, \"coming up\"?\n\nIn point of population, our increase since 1798, according to the census\nof the several decades, has been as follows: In 1800, the total number\nof inhabitants in the United States was 5,305,925; in 1810, 7,239,814;\nin 1820, 9,638,191; in 1830, 12,866,020; in 1840, 17,069,453; in 1850,\n23,191,876; in 1860, 31,445,089; in 1870, 38,555,983. These figures are\nalmost too large for the mind to readily grasp. Perhaps a better idea\ncan be formed of the rapid increase of population by looking at a few\nrepresentative cities. Boston, in 1792, had 18,000 inhabitants; now,\n250,000. New York, in 1792, 30,000; now, nearly 1,000,000. Chicago,\nabout thirty years ago, was a little trading post, with a few huts; but\nyet it contained at the time of the great conflagration in October,\n1871, nearly 350,000 souls. San Francisco, twenty years ago, was a\nbarren waste, but contains to-day 170,000 inhabitants.\n\nOur industrial growth has been equally remarkable. In 1792, the United\nStates had no cotton mill. In 1850, there were 1074, employing 100,000\nhands. Only forty-one years ago the first section of the first railroad\nin this country, the Baltimore and Ohio, was opened to a distance of\ntwenty-three miles. We have now 52,000 miles in operation. It was only\nthirty-four years ago that the magnetic telegraph was invented. Now the\nestimated length of telegraph wire in operation is over 100,000 miles.\nIn 1833, the first reaper and mower was constructed, and in 1846, the\nfirst sewing machine was completed. Think of the hundreds of thousands\nof both of these classes of machines now in use. And there are now more\nlines of telegraph and railroad projected and in process of construction\nthan ever before, and greater facilities and larger plans for\nmanufactories of all kinds than at any previous point of time. And\nshould these industries increase in the same geometrical ratio, and time\ncontinue ten years, the figures we now chronicle would then read about\nas the records of a century ago now read to us.\n\nAnd Nature herself, by the physical features she has stamped upon our\ncountry, has seemed to lay it out as a field for national development on\nthe most magnificent scale. Here we have the largest lakes, the longest\nrivers, the mightiest cataracts, the deepest caves, the broadest and\nmost fertile prairies, and the richest mines of gold and iron and coal\nand copper, to be found upon the globe. \"When America was discovered,\nthere were but sixty millions of gold in Europe. California and the\nterritories round her have produced one thousand millions of dollars in\ngold in twenty years. Sixty-one million dollars was the largest annual\ngold yield ever made in Australia. California has several times produced\nninety millions of gold in a year.\" (Townsend, p. 384.) \"The area of\nworkable coal beds in all the world outside the United States is\nestimated at 26,000 square miles. That of the United States, not\nincluding Alaska, is estimated at over 200,000 square miles, or _eight\ntimes as large as the available coal area of all the rest of the\nglobe!_\" (American Year Book for 1869, p. 655.) \"The iron product and\nmanufacture of the United States has increased enormously within the\nlast few years, and the vast beds of iron convenient to coal in various\nparts of the Union, are destined to make America the chief source of\nsupply for the world.\" \"Three mountains of solid iron [in Missouri],\nknown as Iron Mountain, Pilot Knob, and Shepherd's Mountain, are among\nthe most remarkable natural curiosities on our continent.\" (_Id._ p.\n654.)\n\nAnd the people have taken hold to lay out their work on the grand scale\nthat nature has indicated. Excepting only the Houses of Parliament in\nLondon, our national capitol at Washington is the most spacious and\nimposing national edifice in the world. By the unparalleled feat of a\nsubterranean tunnel two miles out under the bottom of the lake, Chicago\nobtains her water. The work of constructing a railroad tunnel across the\nDetroit river is already commenced, and the traveler will soon pass, in\nhis steam palace, under the bed of that river, while the immense\ncommerce of the lakes is floating upon its bosom over his head. Chicago\nis the most extensive grain and lumber market in the world; and\nPhiladelphia and New York contain the largest and best furnished\nprinting establishments now in existence. The submarine cable, running\nlike a thread of light through the depths of the broad Atlantic from the\nUnited States to England, a conception of American genius, is the\ngreatest achievement in the telegraphic line. The Pacific Railroad, that\niron highway from the Atlantic to the Pacific, stands at the head of all\nmonuments of engineering skill in modern times. Following the first\nAtlantic cable, soon came a second almost as a matter of course; and\nfollowing the Central Pacific R.R., a northern line is now in process of\nrapid construction. And what results are expected to flow from these\nmighty enterprises? The _Scientific American_ of Oct. 6, 1866, says:--\n\n     \"To exaggerate the importance of this transcontinental highway is\n     almost impossible. To a certain extent it will change the relative\n     positions of this country, Europe and Asia.... With the completion\n     of the Pacific Railroad, instead of receiving our goods from India,\n     China, Japan, and the 'isles of the sea,' by way of London and\n     Liverpool, we shall bring them direct by way of the Sandwich\n     Islands and the railroad, and become the carriers to a great extent\n     for Europe. But this is but a portion of the advantage of this\n     work. Our western mountains are almost literally mountains of gold\n     and silver. In them the Arabian fable of Aladdin is realized....\n     Let the road be completed, and the comforts as well as the\n     necessaries furnished by Asia, the manufactures of Europe, and the\n     productions of the States can be brought by the iron horse almost\n     to the miner's door; and in the production and possession of the\n     precious metals, the blood of commerce, we shall be the richest\n     nation on the globe. But the substantial wealth created by the\n     improvement of the soil and the development of the resources of the\n     country, is a still more important element in the result of this\n     vast work.\"\n\nThus, with the idea of becoming the carriers of the world, the highway\nof the nations, and the richest power on the globe, the American heart\nswells with pride, and mounts up with aspirations, to which there is no\nlimit.\n\nAnd the extent to which we have come up is further shown by the\ninfluence which we are exerting on other nations. Speaking of America\nMr. Townsend in the work above cited, p. 462, says:--\n\n     \"Out of her discovery grew the European reformation in religion;\n     out of our Revolutionary War grew the revolutionary period of\n     Europe. And out of our rapid development among great States and\n     happy peoples, has come an immigration more wonderful than that\n     which invaded Europe from Asia in the latter centuries of the Roman\n     Empire. When we raised our flag on the Atlantic, Europe sent her\n     contributions; it appeared on the Pacific, and all orientalism felt\n     the signal. They are coming in two endless fleets, eastward and\n     westward, and the highway is swung between the ocean for them to\n     tread upon. We have lightened Ireland of half her weight, and\n     Germany is coming by the village load every day. England, herself,\n     is sending the best of her working men now (1869), and in such\n     numbers as to dismay her Jack Bunsbys. What is to be the limit of\n     this mighty immigration?\"\n\nSpeaking of our influence and standing in the Pacific, the same writer,\np. 608, says:--\n\n     \"In the Pacific Ocean these four powers [England, France, Holland,\n     and Russia] are squarely met by the United States, which, without\n     possessions or the wish for them, has paramount influence in Japan,\n     the favor of China, the friendly countenance of Russia, and good\n     feeling with all the great English colonies planted there. The\n     United States is the only power on the Pacific which has not been\n     guilty of intrigue, of double-dealing, of envy and of bitterness,\n     and it has taken the _front rank_ in influence without awakening\n     the dislike of any of its competitors, possibly excepting those\n     English who are never magnanimous.\"\n\nAnd Hon. Wm. H. Seward, on his return from a late trip around the world,\nsaid, \"Americans are now the fashion all over the world.\"\n\nWith one more extract we close the testimony on this point. In the N.Y.\n_Independent_ of July 7, 1870, Hon. Schuyler Colfax, then Vice-President\nof the United States, glancing briefly at the past history of this\ncountry, said:--\n\n     \"Wonderful, indeed, has been that history. Springing into life from\n     under the heel of tyranny, its progress has been onward, with the\n     firm step of a conqueror. From the rugged clime of New England,\n     from the banks of the Chesapeake, from the Savannahs of Carolina\n     and Georgia, the descendants of the Puritans, the Cavalier, and\n     the Huguenot, swept over the towering Alleghanies, but a century\n     ago the barrier between civilization on the one side and almost\n     unbroken barbarism on the other; and banners of the Republic waved\n     from flagstaff and highland, through the broad valleys of the Ohio,\n     the Mississippi, and the Missouri. Nor stopped its progress there.\n     Thence onward poured the tide of American civilization and,\n     progress, over the vast regions of the Western plains; and from the\n     snowy crests of the Sierras you look down on American States\n     fronting the calm Pacific, an empire of themselves in resources and\n     wealth, but loyal in our darkest hours to the nation whose\n     authority they acknowledge and in whose glory they proudly share.\n\n     \"From a territorial area of less than nine hundred thousand square\n     miles, it has expanded into over three millions and a half--fifteen\n     times larger than that of Great Britain and France combined--with a\n     shore-line, including Alaska, equal to the entire circumference of\n     the earth, and with a domain within these lines far wider than that\n     of the Romans in their proudest days of conquest and renown. With a\n     river, lake, and coastwise commerce estimated at over two thousand\n     millions of dollars per year; with railway traffic of four to six\n     thousand millions per year, and the annual domestic exchanges of\n     the country, running up to nearly ten thousand millions per year;\n     with over two thousand millions of dollars invested in\n     manufacturing, mechanical, and mining industry; with over five\n     hundred millions of acres of land in actual occupancy, valued, with\n     their appurtenances, at over seven thousand millions of dollars,\n     and producing annually crops valued at over three thousand millions\n     of dollars; with a realm which, if the density of Belgium's\n     population were possible, would be vast enough to include all the\n     present inhabitants of the world; and with equal rights guaranteed\n     to even the poorest and humblest of our forty millions of people,\n     we can, with a manly pride akin to that which distinguished the\n     palmiest days of Rome, claim as the noblest title of the world, 'I\n     am an American citizen.'\"\n\nAnd how long a time has it taken for this wonderful transformation? In\nthe language of Edward Everett, \"They are but lately dead who saw the\nfirst-born of the pilgrims;\" and Mr. Townsend (p. 21) says: \"The memory\nof one man can swing from that time of primitive government to\nthis--when thirty-eight millions of people living on two oceans and in\ntwo zones, are represented in Washington, and their consuls and\nambassadors are in every port and metropolis of the globe.\"\n\nIs this enough? The only objection we can anticipate is that this nation\nhas progressed too fast and too far--that the government has already\noutgrown the symbol. But what shall be thought of those who deny that it\nhas any place in prophecy at all? No; this prodigy has its place on the\nprophetic page; and the path which has thus far led us to the conclusion\nthat the two-horned beast is the prophetic symbol of the United States,\nis hedged in on either side by walls of adamant that reach to heaven. To\nmake any other application is an utter impossibility. The thought would\nbe folly, and the attempt, abortion.\n\n\n\n\nChapter Six.\n\nCharacter Of The Government Represented By The Two-horned Beast.\n\n\nHaving given us data by which we determine the location, chronology, and\nrapid rise of this power, John now proceeds to describe the appearance\nof the two-horned beast, and speak of his acts in such a manner as to\nclearly indicate his character both apparent and real. Every\nspecification thus far examined has held the application imperatively to\nthe United States. We shall find this one no less strong in the same\ndirection.\n\nThis symbol has \"two horns like a lamb.\" To those who have studied the\nprophecies of Daniel and John, horns upon a beast are no unfamiliar\nfeatures. The ram, Dan. 8:3, had two horns. The he goat that came\nagainst him had, at first, one notable horn between his eyes. This was\nbroken and four came up in its place toward the four winds of heaven.\nFrom one of these came forth another horn, which waxed exceeding great.\nThe fourth beast of Daniel 7 had ten horns. Among these, a little horn\nwith eyes and mouth, far-seeing, crafty, and blasphemous, arose. The\ndragon and leopard beast of Rev. 12 and 13, denoting the same as the\nfourth beast of Dan. 7, in its two phases, have each the same number of\nhorns signifying the same thing. And the symbol under consideration has\ntwo horns like a lamb. From the use of the horns on the other symbols,\nsome facts are apparent which may guide us to an understanding of their\nuse on this last one.\n\nA horn is used in the Scriptures as a symbol of strength and power, as\nin Deut. 33:17, and glory and honor, as in Job 16:15.\n\nA horn is sometimes used to denote a nation as a whole, as the four\nhorns of the goat, the little horn of Dan. 8, and the ten horns of the\nfourth beast of Dan. 7; and sometimes some particular feature of the\ngovernment, as the first horn of the goat, which denoted not the nation\nas a whole, but the civil power as centered in the first king, Alexander\nthe Great.\n\nHorns do not always denote division, as in the case of the four horns of\nthe goat, &c.; for the two horns of the ram denote the _union_ of Media\nand Persia in one government.\n\nA horn is not used exclusively to represent civil power; for the little\nhorn of Daniel's fourth beast, the papacy, was a horn when it plucked up\nthree other horns, and established itself in 538. But it was then purely\nan ecclesiastical power, and so remained for two hundred and seventeen\nyears from that time, Pepin, in the year 755, making the Roman pontiff a\ngrant of some rich provinces in Italy, which first constituted him a\ntemporal monarch. (Goodrich's Hist. of the Church, p. 98. Bower's Hist.\nof the Popes, Vol. 2, p. 108.)\n\nWith these facts before us, we are prepared to examine into the\nsignificance of the two horns which pertain to this beast. Why does John\nsay that he has two horns like a lamb? Why not simply two horns? It must\nbe because these horns possess peculiarities which indicate the\ncharacter of the power to which they belong. The horns of a lamb\nindicate, first, youthfulness, and secondly, innocence and gentleness.\nAs a power which has but recently arisen, the United States answer to\nthe symbol admirably in respect to age; while no other power, as has\nalready abundantly been proved, can be found to do this. And considered\nas an index of power and character, it can be decided what constitutes\nthe two horns of the government, if it can be ascertained what is the\nsecret of its strength and power, and what reveals its apparent\ncharacter, or constitutes its outward profession. The Hon. J.A. Bingham\ngives us the clue to the whole matter when he states that the object of\nthose who first sought these shores was to found \"what the world had not\nseen for ages; viz.,--a church without a pope, and a State without a\nking.\" Expressed in other words, this would be a government in which the\nchurch should be free from the civil power, and civil and religious\nliberty reign supreme.\n\nAnd what is the profession of this government in these respects? That\ngreat instrument which our forefathers set forth as their bill of\nrights, the Declaration of Independence, contains these words: \"We hold\nthese truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that\nthey are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that\namong these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of hapiness.\" And in\nArticle IV, Sec. 4, of the Constitution of the United States, we find\nthese words: \"The United States shall guaranty to every State in this\nUnion a republican form of government.\" A republican form of government\nis one in which the power rests with the people, and the whole machinery\nof government is worked by representatives elected by them. And here,\nagain, we see the fitness between the symbol and the government which is\nsymbolized; for the horns of the two-horned beast have no crowns upon\nthem as do the horns of the dragon and leopard beast, showing that the\ngovernment which it represents cannot be monarchical, but is one in\nwhich the power is vested in the hands of the people.\n\nThis is a sufficient guarantee of civil liberty. What is said respecting\nreligious freedom? In Art. VI of the Constitution, we read: \"No\nreligious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office\nor public trust under the United States.\" In Art. I of Amendments of the\nConstitution, we read: \"Congress shall make no law respecting an\nestablishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.\"\n\nIn reply to questions as to the design of the Constitution from the\ncommittee of a Baptist society in Virginia, Geo. Washington wrote, Aug.\n4, 1789, as follows:--\n\n     \"If I had the least idea of any difficulty resulting from the\n     Constitution adopted by the Convention, of which I had the honor to\n     be President when it was formed, so as to endanger the rights of\n     any religious denomination, then I never should have attached my\n     name to that instrument. If I had any idea that the general\n     government was so administered that the liberty of conscience was\n     endangered, I pray you be assured that no man would be more willing\n     than myself to revise and alter that part of it, so as to avoid all\n     religious persecutions. You can, without doubt, remember that I\n     have often expressed my opinion, that every man who conducts\n     himself as a good citizen is accountable alone to God for his\n     religious faith, and should be protected in worshiping God\n     according to the dictates of his own conscience.\"\n\nIn 1830, certain memorials for prohibiting the transportation of mails\nand the opening of post-offices on Sunday were referred to the\nCongressional Committee on Post-offices and Post-roads. The committee\nreported unfavorably to the prayer of the memorialists. Their report was\nadopted and printed by order of the Senate of the United States, and the\ncommittee discharged from the further consideration of the subject. Of\nthe Constitution, they say:--\n\n     \"We look in vain to that instrument for authority to say whether\n     the first day, or seventh day, or whether any day, has been made\n     holy by the Almighty.\"\n\n     \"The Constitution regards the conscience of the Jew as sacred as\n     that of the Christian, and gives no more authority to adopt a\n     measure affecting the conscience of a solitary individual than of a\n     whole community. That representative who would violate this\n     principle would lose his delegated character, and forfeit the\n     confidence of his constituents. If Congress should declare the\n     first day of the week holy, it would not convince the Jew nor the\n     Sabbatarian. It would dissatisfy both, and consequently convert\n     neither....If a solemn act of legislation shall in one point define\n     the law of God, or point out to the citizen one religious duty, it\n     may with equal propriety define every part of revelation, and\n     enforce every religious obligation, even to the forms and\n     ceremonies of worship, the endowments of the church and support of\n     the clergy.\"\n\n     \"The framers of the Constitution recognized the eternal principle\n     that man's relation to his God is above human legislation, and his\n     right of conscience inalienable. Reasoning was not necessary to\n     establish this truth, we are conscious of it in our own bosom. It\n     is this consciousness which, in defiance of human laws, has\n     sustained so many martyrs in tortures and flames. They felt that\n     their duty to God was superior to human enactments, and that man\n     could exercise no authority over their consciences. It is an inborn\n     principle which nothing can eradicate.\"\n\n     \"It is also a fact that counter memorials, equally respectable,\n     oppose the interference of Congress on the ground that it would be\n     legislating upon a religious subject, and therefore\n     unconstitutional.\"\n\nHon. A.H. Cragin, of New Hamphshire, in a speech in the House of\nRepresentatives, said:--\n\n     \"When our forefathers reared the magnificent structure of a free\n     Republic in this western land, they laid its foundations broad and\n     deep in the eternal principles of right. Its materials were all\n     quarried from the mountain of truth; and as it rose majestically\n     before an astonished world, it rejoiced the hearts and hopes of\n     mankind. Tyrants only cursed the workmen and their workmanship. Its\n     architecture was new. It had no model in Grecian or Roman history.\n     It seemed a paragon let down from Heaven to inspire the hopes of\n     men, and to demonstrate God's favor to the people of the New World.\n     The builders recognized the rights of human nature as universal.\n     Liberty, the great first right of man, they claimed for 'all men,'\n     and claimed it from 'God himself.' Upon this foundation they\n     erected the temple, and dedicated it to Liberty, Humanity, Justice,\n     and Equality. Washington was crowned its patron saint. Liberty was\n     then the national goddess, worshiped by all the people. They sang\n     of liberty, they harangued for liberty, they prayed for liberty.\n     Slavery was then hateful. It was denounced by all. The British king\n     was condemned for foisting it upon the colonies. Southern men were\n     foremost in entering their protest against it. It was then\n     everywhere regarded as an evil, and a crime against humanity.\"\n\nThen the Bible and the Bible alone is the Protestant rule of faith; and\nliberty to worship God according to the dictates of one's own conscience\nis the standard of religious freedom in this land. And from the\nquotations herewith presented, it is evident that while the government\npledges to all its citizens the largest amount of civil freedom, outside\nof license, it has determined to lay upon the people no religious\nrestrictions, but to guarantee to all liberty to worship God according\nto the Protestant principle.\n\nHere, then, are two great principles standing prominently before the\npeople: _Republicanism_ and _Protestantism_. And what can be more just,\nand innocent, and lamb-like, than these? And here, also, is the secret of\nour strength and power. Had some Caligula or Nero ruled this land, we\nshould look in vain for what we behold to-day. Immigration would not\nhave flowed to our shores, and this country would never have presented\nto the world so unparalleled an example of national growth.\n\nTownsend, Old World and New, p. 341, says:--\n\n     \"And what attached these people to us? In part, undoubtedly, our\n     zone, and the natural endowments of this portion of the globe. In\n     part, and of late years, our vindicated national character, and the\n     safety of our Institutions. _But the magnet in America is, that we\n     are a republic_. A republican people! Cursed with artificial\n     government, however glittering, the people of Europe, like the\n     sick, pine for nature with protection, for open vistas and blue\n     sky, for independence without ceremony, for adventure in their own\n     interest,--and here they find it!\"\n\nOne of these horns may therefore represent the civil republican power of\nthis government, and the other, the Protestant ecclesiastical. This\napplication is warranted by the facts already set forth respecting the\nhorns of the other powers. For (1) the two horns may belong to one\nbeast, and denote union instead of division, as in the case of the ram,\nDaniel 8; and (2) a horn may denote a purely ecclesiastical element, as\nthe little horn of Daniel's fourth beast; and (3) a horn may denote the\ncivil power alone, as in the case of the first horn of the Grecian goat.\nOn the basis of these facts, we have these two elements, Republicanism\nand Protestantism here united in one government, and represented by two\nhorns like the horns of a lamb. And these are nowhere else to be found.\nNor have they appeared since the time when we could consistently look\nfor the rise of the two-horned beast, in any nation upon the face of the\nearth except our own.\n\nAnd with these horns there is no objection to be found. They are like\nthose of a lamb, the Bible symbol of purity and innocence. The\nprinciples are all right. The outward appearance is unqualifiedly good.\nBut, alas for our country! its acts are to give the lie to its\nprofession. The lamb-like features are first developed; but the dragon\nvoice is to be heard hereafter.\n\n\n\n\nChapter Seven.\n\nThe Dragon Voice.\n\n\nFrom the facts thus far elicited in this argument, we have seen that the\ngovernment symbolized by the two-horned beast must be some government\ndistinct from the powers of the Old World, whether civil or\necclesiastical; that it must arise this side the Atlantic; that it must\nbe seen coming into influence and notoriety about the year 1798; that it\nmust rise in a peaceful manner; that its progress must be so rapid as to\nstrike the beholder with as much wonder as the perceptible growth of an\nanimal before his eyes; that it must be a republic; that it must exhibit\nbefore the world, as an index of its character, and the motives by which\nit is governed, two great principles in themselves perfectly just, and\ninnocent, and lamb-like; and that it must perform its work in the\npresent century.\n\nAnd we have seen that of these eight specifications, just two things can\nbe said: first, that they are all perfectly met in the history of the\nUnited States, thus far; and secondly, that they are not met in the\nhistory of any other government on the face of the earth. Behind these\neight lines of defense, therefore, the argument lies impregnably\nintrenched.\n\nAnd the American patriot, he who loves his country, and takes a just\npride in her thus-far glorious record and noble achievements, needs an\nargument no less ponderous and immovable, and an array of evidence no\nless clear, to enable him to accept the painful conclusion that the\nremainder of the prophecy also applies to this government, hitherto the\nbest the world has ever seen; for the prophet immediately turns to a\npart of the picture which is dark with injustice, and marred by\noppression, deception, intolerance, and wrong.\n\nAfter describing the lamb-like appearance of this symbol, John\nimmediately adds, \"And he spake as a dragon.\" The dragon, the first link\nin this chain of prophecy, was a relentless persecutor of the church of\nGod. The leopard beast which follows, was likewise a persecuting power,\ngrinding out for 1260 years the lives of millions of the followers of\nChrist. The third actor in the scene, the two-horned beast, speaks like\nthe first, and thus shows himself to be a dragon at heart; \"for out of\nthe abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh,\" and actions are framed.\nThis, then, like the rest, is a persecuting power; and it is for this\nreason alone that any of them are mentioned in prophecy. God's care for\nthe church, his little flock, is what has led him to give a revelation\nof his will, and point out the foes with whom they would have to\ncontend. To his church, all the actions recorded of the dragon and\nleopard beast relate; and in reference to the church, therefore, we\nconclude that the dragon voice of this power is uttered.\n\nThe \"speaking\" of any government must be the public promulgation of its\nwill on the part of its law-making and executive powers. Is this nation,\nthen, to issue unjust and oppressive enactments against the people of\nGod? Are the fires of persecution, which in other ages have devastated\nother lands, to be lighted here also? We would fain believe otherwise;\nbut notwithstanding the pure intentions of the noble founders of this\ngovernment, notwithstanding the worthy motives and objects of thousands\nof Christian patriots to-day, we can but take the prophecy as it reads,\nand expect nothing less than what it predicts. John heard this power\nspeak; and the voice was that of a dragon.\n\nNor is this so improbable an issue as might at first appear. The people\nof the United States are not all saints. The masses, notwithstanding all\nour gospel light and gospel principles, are still in a position for\nSatan to suddenly fire their hearts with the basest of impulses. This\nnation, as we have seen, is to exist to the coming of Christ; and the\nBible very fully sets forth the moral condition of the people in the\ndays that immediately precede that event. Iniquity is to abound, and the\nlove of many to wax cold. Evil men and seducers are to wax worse and\nworse. Scoffers are to arise, saying, Where is the promise of his\ncoming? The whole land is to be full of violence as it was in the days\nof Noah, and full of licentiousness as in the city of Sodom in the days\nof Lot. And when the Lord appears, faith will scarcely be found upon the\nearth, and those who are ready for his coming will be but a \"little\nflock.\" Can the people of God expect to go through this period, and not\nsuffer persecution? No. This would be contrary to the lessons taught by\nall past experience, and just the reverse of what we are warranted by\nthe word of God to expect. \"All that will live godly in Christ Jesus\nshall suffer persecution.\" If ever this was true in the history of the\nchurch, we may expect it to be emphatically so when, in the last days,\nthe world is in its aphelion as related to God, and the wicked touch\ntheir lowest depths of iniquity and sin.\n\nLet, then, a general spirit of persecution arise in this country, and\nwhat is more probable than that it should assume an organized form? Here\nthe will of the people is law. And let there be a general desire on the\npart of the people for certain oppressive enactments against believers\nin unpopular doctrines, and what would be more easy and natural than\nthat such desire should immediately crystallize into systematic action,\nand their oppressive measures take the form of law? Then we have just\nwhat the prophecy indicates. Then is heard the voice of the dragon.\n\nAnd there are elements already in existence which furnish a luxuriant\nsoil for a baleful crop of future evil. But a few years ago three and a\nhalf millions of human beings were held in our country in a state of\nabject bondage, deprived of every vestige of freedom and every trace of\nmanhood. But why refer to slavery, it may be asked, since it has already\nbecome a thing of the past? Slavery, to be sure, on the ground of\npolitical expediency, has been abolished. For the time being, the\nballots and bayonets of its opponents have outnumbered those of its\npartisans. But has this changed the disposition by which it has\nheretofore been fostered? Has it converted the South? Have they been\nbrought to look upon it as an evil which should be given up on account\nof its own intrinsic wrong? We would that we could answer these\nquestions in the affirmative. But there are acts too patent to be\ndenied, which show that the virus of this great iniquity still rankles\nin the body politic; that the system of slavery has been given up by the\npeople of the South simply as a matter of necessity; that if they had\nthe power they would re-instate it again though they should rend and\nruin the Republic in their attempt; and hundreds of thousands in the\nNorth would sympathize with them in the movement, and second them in\ntheir efforts. The disease is driven from the surface, but it is not\ncured. It may be a source of serious trouble hereafter.\n\nPolitical corruption is preparing the way for deeper sin. It pervades\nall parties. Look at the dishonest means resorted to to obtain office,\nthe bribery, the deceptions, the ballot-stuffing. Look at the stupendous\nrevelations of municipal corruption just disclosed in New York city:\nmillions upon millions stolen directly and barefacedly rom the city\ntreasury by its corrupt officials. Look at the civil service of this\ngovernment. Speaking on this point, _The Nation_ of Nov. 17, 1870,\nsaid:--\n\n     \"The newspapers are generally believed to exaggerate most of the\n     abuses they denounce; but we say deliberately, that no denunciation\n     of the civil service of the United States which has ever appeared\n     in print has come up as a picture, of selfishness, greed, fraud,\n     corruption, falsehood, and cruelty, to the accounts which are given\n     privately by those who have seen the real workings of the machine.\"\n\nEnumeration is here unnecessary. Enough crops out in every day's history\nto show that moral principle, the only guarantee in a government like\nours for justice and honesty, is sadly wanting.\n\nAnd evil is also threatening from another quarter. Creeping up from the\ndarkness of the dark ages, a hideous monster is intently watching to\nseize the throat of liberty in our land. It thrusts itself up into the\nnoonday of the ninteenth century, not that it may be benefited by its\nlight and freedom, but that it may suppress and obscure them. The name\nof this monster is Popery; and it has fixed its rapacious and\nbloodthirsty eyes on this land, determined to make it its helpless prey.\nIt already decides the election in some of our largest cities. It\ncontrols the revenues of the most populous State in the Union, and\nappropriates annually hundreds of thousands of dollars raised from\nProtestant taxes to the support of its own ecclesiastical organizations,\nand to the furtherance of its own religious and political ends. It has\nreached that measure of influence that it is only by a mighty effort of\nProtestant patriotism that measures can now be carried, against which\nthe Romish element combines its strength. And corrupt and unscrupulous\npoliticians stand ready to concede to its demands to secure its support,\nfor the purpose of advancing their own ambitious aims. Rome is in the\nfield with the basest and most fatal intentions, and with the most\nwatchful and tireless energy. It is destined to play an important part\nin our future troubles; for this is the very beast which the two-horned\nbeast is to cause the earth and them that dwell therein to worship, and\nbefore whose eyes it is to perform its wonders.\n\nAnd in our own better Protestant churches there is that which threatens\nto lead to most serious evils. On this point one of their own popular\nministers, who is well qualified to speak, may testify. A sermon by\nCharles Beecher contains the following statements:--\n\n     \"Our best, most humble, most devoted servants of Christ are\n     fostering in their midst what will one day, not long hence, show\n     itself to be the spawn of the dragon. They shrink from any rude\n     word against creeds with the same sensitiveness with which those\n     holy fathers would have shrunk from a rude word against the rising\n     veneration of saints and martyrs which they were fostering.... The\n     Protestant evangelical denominations have so tied up one another's\n     hands, and their own, that, between them all, a man cannot become a\n     preacher at all, anywhere, without accepting some book besides the\n     Bible.... And is not the Protestant church apostate? Oh! remember,\n     the final form of apostasy shall rise, not by crosses, processions,\n     baubles. We understand all that. Apostasy never comes on the\n     outside. It develops. It is an apostasy that shall spring into life\n     within us; an apostasy that shall martyr a man who believes his\n     Bible ever so holily; yea, who may even believe what the creed\n     contains, but who may happen to agree with the Westminster Assembly\n     that, proposed as a test, it is an unwarrantable imposition. That\n     is the apostasy we have to fear, and is it not already formed?...\n     Will it be said that our fears are imaginary? Imaginary? Did not\n     the Rev. John M. Duncan, in the years 1825-6, or thereabouts,\n     sincerely believe the Bible? Did he not even believe substantially\n     the confession of faith? And was he not, for daring to say what the\n     Westminster Assembly said, that, to require the reception of that\n     creed as a test of ministerial qualification was an unwarrantable\n     imposition, brought to trial, condemned, excommunicated, and his\n     pulpit declared vacant? There is nothing imaginary in the statement\n     that the creed-power is now beginning to prohibit the Bible as\n     really as Rome did, though in a subtler way.\n\n     \"Oh! woful day! Oh! unhappy church of Christ! fast rushing round\n     and round the fatal circle of absorbing ruin!... Daily does every\n     one see that things are going wrong. With sighs does every true\n     heart confess that rottenness is somewhere; but, ah! it is hopeless\n     of reform. We all pass on, and the tide rolls down to night. The\n     waves of coming conflict which is to convulse Christendom to her\n     center are beginning to be felt. The deep heavings begin to swell\n     beneath us. 'All the old signs fail.' 'God answers no more by Urim\n     and Thummim, nor by dream, nor by prophet.' Men's hearts are\n     failing them for fear and for looking after those things that are\n     coming on the earth. Thunders mutter in the distance. Winds moan\n     across the surging bosom of the deep. All things betide the rising\n     of that final storm of divine indignation which shall sweep away\n     the vain refuge of lies.\"\n\nIn addition to this, we have spiritualism, infidelity, socialism, and\nfree-love, the trades unions, or labor against capital, and communism,\nall assiduously spreading their principles among the masses. These are\nthe very principles that worked among the people, as the exciting cause,\njust prior to the terrible French revolution of 1789-1800. Human nature\nis the same in all ages, and like causes will surely produce like\nresults. These causes are now all in active operation; and how soon they\nwill culminate in a state of anarchy, and a reign of terror as much more\nfrightful than the French revolution as they are now more widely\nextended, no man can say.\n\nSuch are some of the elements already at work; such the direction in\nwhich events are moving. And how much further is it necessary that they\nshould progress in this manner, before an open war-cry of persecution\nfrom the masses, against those whose simple adherence to the Bible shall\nput to shame their man-made theology, and whose godly lives shall\ncondemn their wicked practices, would seem in nowise startling or\nincongruous? But some may say, through an all-absorbing faith in the\nincreasing virtue of the American people, that they do not believe that\nthe United States will ever raise the hand of persecution against any\nclass. Very well. This is not a matter over which we need to indulge in\nany controversy. No process of reasoning, nor any amount of argument,\ncan ever show that it will not be so. We think we have shown good ground\nfor strong probabilities in this direction; and we shall present more\nforcible evidence, and speak of more significant movements hereafter. As\nwe interpret the prophecy, we look upon it as inevitable. But the\ndecision of the question must be left to time. We can neither help nor\nhinder its work. That will soon solve all doubts and correct all errors.\n\n\n\n\nChapter Eight.\n\nHe Doeth Great Wonders.\n\n\nIn further predicting the work of the two-horned beast, the prophet\nsays: \"And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him,\nand causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first\nbeast, whose deadly wound was healed.\" This language is urged by some to\nprove that the two-horned beast must be some power which holds the reins\nof government in the very territory occupied by the first beast; for,\notherwise, how could he exercise his power?\n\nIf the word \"before\" denoted precedence in time, and the first beast\npassed off the stage of action when the two-horned beast came on, just\nas Babylon gave place to Persia, which then exercised all the power of\nBabylon before it, there would be some plausibility in the claim. But\nthe word rendered \"before\" is [Greek: enopion] (_enopion_) which\nmeans, literally, \"in the presence of.\" And so the language, instead of\nproving what is claimed, becomes a most positive proof that these beasts\nare distinct and cotemporary powers.\n\nThe first beast is in existence, having all its symbolic vitality, at\nthe very time the two-horned beast is exercising power in his presence.\nBut this could not be, if his dominion had passed into the hands of the\ntwo-horned beast; for a beast in prophecy ceases to exist when his\ndominion is taken away. What caused the change in the symbols from the\nlion, representing Babylon, to the bear representing Persia? Simply a\ntransfer of dominion from Babylon to Persia. And so the prophecy\nexplains the successive passing away of these beasts, by saying that\ntheir lives were prolonged, but their dominion was taken away; that is,\nthe territory of the kingdom was not blotted from the map, nor the lives\nof the people destroyed ed, but there was a transfer of power from one\nnationality to another. So the fact that the leopard beast is spoken of\nas still an existing power, when the two-horned beast works in his\npresence, is proof that he is, at that time, in possession of all the\ndominion that was ever necessary to constitute him a symbol in prophecy.\n\nWhat power then does the two-horned beast exercise? Not the power which\nbelongs to, and is in the hands of, the leopard beast, surely; but he\nexercises, or essays to exercise, in his presence, power of the same\nkind and to the same extent. The power which the first beast exercised\nwas a terrible power of oppression against the people of God. And this\nis a further indication of the character which the two-horned beast is\nfinally to sustain in this respect.\n\nThe latter part of the verse, \"And causeth the earth and them which\ndwell therein, to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was\nhealed,\" is still further proof that the two-horned beast is no phase\nnor feature of the papacy; for the first beast is certainly competent to\nenforce his own worship in his own country, and from his own subjects.\nBut it is the two-horned beast which causes the earth (the territory out\nof which it arose and over which it rules) and them which dwell therein,\nto worship the first beast. This shows that this beast occupies\nterritory over which the first beast has no jurisdiction.\n\n\"And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from\nheaven on the earth in the sight of men.\" That we are living in an age\nof wonders none deny. Time was, and that not two score of years ago,\nwhen the bare mention of achievements which now constitute the warp and\nwoof of every-day life, were considered the wildest chimeras of a\ndiseased imagination. Now, nothing is too wonderful to be believed, nor\ntoo strange to happen. Go back fifty years, and the world with respect\nto those things which tend to domestic convenience and comfort, the\nmeans of illumination, the production and application of heat, and the\nperformance of various household operations; with respect to methods of\nrapid locomotion from place to place, and the transmission of\nintelligence from point to point, stood about where it did in the days\nof the patriarchs. Suddenly waters of that long stream over whose\ndrowsy surface scarcely a ripple of improvement had passed for three\nthousand years, broke into the white foam of violent agitation. The\nworld awoke from the slumber and darkness of ages. The divine finger\nlifted the seal from the prophetic books, and brought that predicted\nperiod when men should run to and fro, and knowledge should be\nincreased. Then men bound the elements to their chariots, and reaching\nup laid hold upon the very lightning and made it their message-bearer\naround the world. Nahum foretold that at a certain time the chariots\nshould be with flaming torches and run like the lightnings. Who can\nbehold in the darkness of the night, the locomotive dashing over its\niron track, the fiery glare of its great lidless eye driving the shadows\nfrom its path, and torrents of smoke and sparks and flame pouring from\nits burning throat, and not realize that ours are the eyes that are\nprivileged to look upon a fulfillment of Nahum's prophecy. But when this\nshould take place, the prophet said that the times would be burdened\nwith the solemn work of God's preparation.\n\n\"Canst thou send lightnings,\" said God to Job, \"that they may go and say\nunto thee, Here we are?\" If Job were living to day, he could answer,\nYes. It is one of the current sayings of our time that Franklin tamed\nthe lightning, and Prof. Morse taught it the English language.\n\nSo, in every department of the arts and sciences, the advancement that\nhas been made within the last half century is without precedent in the\nworld's history. And in all these the United States take the lead. These\nfacts are not, indeed, to be taken as a fulfillment of the prophecy, but\nthey show the spirit of the age in which we live, and point to this time\nas a period when we may look for wonders of every kind.\n\nThe particular wonders to which the prophecy refers are evidently\nwrought for the purpose of deceiving the people; for verse 14 reads,\n\"And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by means of those miracles\nwhich he had power to do in the sight of the beast.\" This identifies the\ntwo-horned beast with the false prophet of Rev. 19:20; for this false\nprophet is the power that works miracles before the beast, \"with which,\"\nsays John, \"he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast,\nand them that worshiped his image,\" the identical work of the two-horned\nbeast. We can now ascertain by what means the miracles in question are\nwrought; for Rev. 16:13, 14, speaks of spirits of devils working\nmiracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole\nworld to gather them to the battle of the great day of God Almighty, and\nthese miracle-working spirits go forth out of the mouths of certain\npowers, one of which is this very false prophet, or two-horned beast.\n\nMiracles are of two kinds, true and false, just as we have a true\nChrist and false Christs, true and false prophets, and true and false\napostles. By a false miracle, we mean not a pretended miracle, which is\nno miracle at all, but a real miracle, a supernatural performance,\nwrought for the purpose of deceiving, or of proving a lie. The miracles\nof this power are real miracles, but are wrought for the purpose of\ndeception. The prophecy does not read that he deceived the people by\nmeans of the miracles which he claimed that he was able to perform, or\nwhich he pretended to do; but which he _had power_ to do. They,\ntherefore, fall far short of the prophecy who suppose that the great\nwonders wrought by this power were fulfilled by Napoleon when he told\nthe Mussulmans that he could command a fiery chariot to come down from\nheaven, but never did it, or by the pretended miracles of the Romish\nchurch, which are only shams, mere tricks played off by ungodly and\ndesigning priests upon their ignorant and superstitious dupes.\n\nMiracles, or wonders, such as are to be wrought by the two-horned beast,\nand withal, as we think, the very ones referred to in the prophecy, are\nmentioned by Paul in 2 Thess. 2:9, 10. Speaking of the second coming of\nChrist, he says, \"Whose coming is after ([Greek: kata], at the time\nof) the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and\nwith all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because\nthey received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.\"\nThese are no slight-of-hand performances, but such a working of Satan as\nthe world has never before seen. To work with all power and signs and\nlying wonders, is certainly to do a real and an astounding work, but one\nwhich is designed to prove a lie.\n\nAgain, the Saviour, predicting events to occur just before his second\ncoming, says, \"For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets,\nand shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch that, if it were\npossible, they shall deceive the very elect.\" Here, again, are wonders\nforetold, wrought for the purpose of deception, so powerful that, were\nit possible, even the very elect would be deceived by them.\n\nThus we have a series of prophecies setting forth the development, in\nthe last days, of a wonder-working power, manifested to a startling and\nunprecedented degree, in the interests of falsehood and error. All refer\nto one and the same thing. The earthly government, with which it was to\nbe especially connected, is that represented by the two-horned beast, or\nfalse prophet. The agency lying back of the outward manifestations was\nto be Satanic, the spirits of devils. The prophecy calls for such a work\nas this in our own country at the present time. Do we behold anything\nlike it? Read the answer in the lamentation of the prophet: \"Woe to the\ninhabiters of the earth, and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto\nyou having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short\ntime.\" Stand aghast, O Earth! Tremble, ye people, but be not deceived.\nThe huge specter of evil confronts us, as the prophet declared. Satan is\nloosed. From the depth of Tartarus, myriads of demons swarm over the\nland. The prince of darkness manifests himself as never before, and,\nstealing a word from the vocabulary of Heaven to designate his work, he\ncalls it--_Spiritualism_.\n\n1. Does spiritualism, then, bear these marks of Satanic agency?\n\n1st. The spirits which communicate claim to be the spirits of our\ndeparted friends. But the Bible, in the most explicit terms, assures us\nthat the dead are wholly inactive and unconscious till the resurrection;\nthat the dead know not anything; Eccl. 9:5; that every operation of the\nmind has ceased; Ps. 146:4; that every emotion of the heart is\nsuspended; Eccl. 9:6; and that there is neither work, nor device, nor\nknowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, where they lie. Eccl. 9:10.\nWhatever intelligence, therefore, comes to us professing to be one of\nour dead friends, comes claiming to be what, from the word of God, we\nknow he is not. But angels of God don't lie; therefore these are not the\ngood angels. Spirits of devils will lie; this is their work; and these\nare the credentials which at the very outset they hand us.\n\n2dly. The doctrines which they teach are from the lowest and foulest\ndepths of the pit of lies. They deny God. They deny Christ. They deny\nthe atonement. They deny the Bible. They deny the existence of sin, and\nall distinction between right and wrong. They deny the sacredness of the\nmarriage covenant; and, interspersing their utterances with the most\nhorrid blasphemies against God and his Son, and everything that is\nlovely, and good, and pure, they give the freest license to every\npropensity to sin, and to every carnal and fleshly lust. Tell us not\nthat these things, openly taught under the garb of religion, and backed\nup by supernatural sights and sounds, are anything less than Satan's\nmasterpiece.\n\n2. Spiritualism answers accurately to the prophecy in the exhibition of\ngreat signs and wonders. Among its many achievements, these may be\nmentioned: Various articles have been transported from place to place by\nspirits alone. Beautiful music has been produced, independent of human\nagency, with and without the aid of visible instruments. Many\nwell-attested cases of healing have been presented. Persons have been\ncarried through the air by the spirits in the presence of many others.\nTables have been suspended in the air with several persons upon them.\nAnd, finally, spirits have represented themselves in bodily form and\ntalked with an audible voice. A writer in the _Spiritual Clarion_ speaks\nas follows of the manner in which spiritualism has arisen, and the\nastounding progress it has made:--\n\n     \"This revelation has been with a power, a might, that if divested\n     of its almost universal benevolence, had been a terror to the very\n     soul; the hair of the very bravest had stood on end, and his\n     chilled blood had crept back upon his heart at the sights and\n     sounds of its inexplicable phenomena. It comes with foretokening,\n     with warning. It has been, from the very first, its own best\n     prophet, and step by step it has foretold the progress it would\n     make. It comes, too, most triumphant. No faith before it ever took\n     so victorious a stand in its infancy. It has swept like a hurricane\n     of fire through the land, compelling faith from the baffled scoffer\n     and the most determined doubter.\"\n\n3. Spiritualism answers to the prophecy in that it had its origin in our\nown country, thus connecting its wonders with the work of the two-horned\nbeast. Commencing in Hydesville, N.Y., in the family of Mr. John D. Fox,\nin the latter part of March, 1848, it spread with incredible rapidity\nthrough all the States. The estimates of the number of spiritualists in\nthis country at the present time, only twenty-six short years from its\ncommencement, though differing somewhat from each other, are\nnevertheless such as to show that the progress of spiritualism has been\nwithout a parallel. Thus, Judge Edmonds puts the number at five or six\nmillions (5,000,000 or 6,000,000); Hepworth Dixon, three millions\n(3,000,000); A.J. Davis, four millions, two hundred and thirty thousand\n(4,230,000); Warren Chase, eight millions (8,000,000); and the Roman\nCatholic Council at Baltimore, between ten and eleven millions\n(10,000,000 to 11,000,000). Of those who have become its devotees,\nJudge Edmonds said as long ago as 1853:--\n\n     \"Besides the undistinguished multitude, there are many now of high\n     standing and talent ranked among them--doctors, lawyers, and\n     clergymen, in great numbers, a Protestant bishop, the learned and\n     reverend president of a college, judges of our higher courts,\n     members of Congress, foreign ambassadors, and ex-members of the\n     United States Senate.\"\n\nThis statement was written more than twenty years since; and from that\ntime to this, the work of the spirits has been steadily progressing, and\nspreading among all classes of people.\n\nAnd from this nation, spiritualism has gone abroad into all the earth.\nQueen Victoria is almost an insane devotee of the new philosophy. The\nlate Emperor and Empress of France, the late Queen of Spain, the Roman\nPontiff, and the Emperor and Grand Dukes of Russia are all said to have\nsought to these spirits for knowledge. Thus it is working its way to the\npotentates of the earth, and fast preparing to accomplish its real\nmission, which is, by deceiving the world with its miracles, to gather\nthe nations to the battle of the great day of God Almighty.\n\nHere we pause. Let this work go on a little longer, as it has been\ngoing, and as it is still going, and what a scene is before us! Having\nseen so much fulfilled, we cannot now draw back and deny the remainder.\nAnd so we look for the onward march of this last great wonder-working\ndeception, till that is accomplished which in the days of Elijah was a\ntest between Jehovah and Baal, and fire is brought down from heaven to\nearth in the sight of men. Then will be the hour of the power of\ndarkness, the hour of temptation that is coming upon all the world to\ntry them that dwell upon the earth. Rev. 3:10. Then all will be swept\nfrom their anchorage by the strong current of delusion, except those\nwhom it is not possible to deceive--the elect of God.\n\nAnd still the world sleeps on, while Satan, with lightning fingers and\nhellish energy, weaves over them his last fatal snare. It is time some\nmighty move was made to waken the world and rouse the church to the\ndangers we are in. It is time every honest heart should learn that the\nonly safeguard against the great deception, whose incipient and even\nwell-advanced workings we already behold before our eyes, is to make the\ntruths of God's holy and immutable word our shield and buckler.\n\n\n\n\nChapter Nine.\n\nAn Image To The Beast.\n\n\nThe imposing miracles wrought before the people having riveted upon them\nthe chains of a fatal deception, leading them to suppose they have\nwitnessed the great power of God, and must therefore be doing him\nservice, when they have only been dazed with a mighty display of Satanic\nwonders, and are led captive by the devil at his will, they are prepared\nto do the further bidding of the two-horned beast, which is to make an\nimage to the beast which had the wound by a sword and did live.\n\nOnce more we remind the reader of the impregnable strength of the\nargument already presented in previous chapters, fixing the application\nof this symbol to these United States. This is an established\nproposition, and needs no farther support. An exposition of the\nremainder of the prophecy will therefore consist chiefly of an effort to\ndetermine what acts are to be performed by this government, and a search\nfor indications, if any exist, that they are about to be accomplished.\nIf we shall find evidences springing up on all sides, that this\ngovernment is now moving as rapidly as possible in the very direction\nmarked out by the prophet, though these are not necessary to establish\nthe application of the symbol to this government, they will serve to\nstifle the last excuse of skepticism, and become to the believer an\nimpressive evidence of our proximity to the end; for the acts ascribed\nto this symbol are but few; and while yet in mid career, he is engulfed\nin the lake of fire of the last great day.\n\nWe may, however, notice in passing, another evidence that the government\nsymbolized by the two-horned beast is certainly a republic. This is\nproved by the language used respecting the formation of the image. It\ndoes not read that this power, as an act of imperial or kingly\nauthority, makes an image to the beast; but it says to them that dwell\non the earth, that is, the people occupying the territory where it\narises, that _they_ should make an image to the beast. Appeal is made to\nthe people, showing conclusively that the power is in their hands. But\njust as surely as the government symbolized is a republic, so surely is\nit none other than the United States of America.\n\nWe have seen that the wonder-working Satanic agencies, which are to\nperform the foretold miracles, and prepare the people for the next step\nin the prophecy, the formation of the image, are already in the field,\nand have even now wrought out a work of vast proportion in our country;\nand we now hasten forward to the very important inquiry, What will\nconstitute the image? and what steps are necessary to its formation?\n\nThe people are to be called upon to make an image _to_ the beast, which\nexpression doubtless involves the idea of some deferential action\ntoward, or concessions to, that power; and the image, when made, is an\nimage, likeness, or representation _of_ the beast. Verse 15. The beast\nfrom which the image is modeled, is the one which had a wound by a sword\nand did live, or the papacy. From this point is seen the collusion of\nthe two-horned beast with the leopard or papal beast. He does great\nwonders in the sight of that beast; he causes men to worship that beast;\nhe leads them to make an image to that beast; and he causes all to\nreceive a mark, which is the mark of that beast. These palpable\nevidences of co-operation with the papal power, led Eld. J. Litch, about\n1842, to write concerning the two-horned beast thus:--\n\n     \"I think it is a power yet to be developed or made manifest, as an\n     accomplice of the papacy in subjecting the world.\"\n\nTo understand what would be an image of the papacy, we must first form a\ndefinite idea of what constitutes the papacy itself. Papal supremacy\ndates from the time when the decree of Justinian, constituting the pope\nthe head of the church and the corrector of heretics, was carried into\neffect, in 538. The papacy, then, was a church clothed with civil power,\nan ecclesiastical body, having authority to punish all dissenters with\nconfiscation, imprisonment, torture, and death. What would be an image\nof the papacy? Another ecclesiastical establishment clothed with similar\npower. How could such an image be formed in this country? Let the\nProtestant churches in our land be clothed with power to define and\npunish heresy, to enforce their dogmas under the pains and penalties of\nthe civil law, and should we not have an exact representation of the\npapacy during the days of its supremacy?\n\nIt may be objected that whereas the papal church was comparatively a\nunit, and hence could act in harmony in all its departments in enforcing\nits dogmas, the Protestant church is so divided as to be unable to agree\nin regard to what doctrines shall be made imperative on the people. We\nanswer, there are certain points which they hold in common, and which\nare sufficient to form a basis of co-operation. Chief among these may be\nmentioned the doctrine of the conscious state of the dead and the\nimmortality of the soul, which is both the foundation and superstructure\nof spiritualism, and also the doctrine that the first day of the week is\nthe Christian Sabbath.\n\nIt may be objected again that this view makes one of the horns, the\nProtestant church, finally constitute the image of the beast. If the\nreader supposes that the Protestant church constitutes one of the horns\nof the two-horned beast, we reply that this is a conception of his own.\nNo such idea is here taught. And we mention this objection only because\nit has been actually urged as a legitimate consequence of the positions\nhere taken. And then the question is asked, If the Protestant church\nconstitutes one horn, may not the Catholic church constitute the other?\nUnder the shadow of that hypothetical \"if,\" perhaps it might. But\nneither the one nor the other performs such an office. In chapter six of\nthis work, it was shown that the two great principles of Republicanism\nand Protestantism were the proper objects to be symbolized by these two\nlamb-like horns. But there is the plainest distinction between\nProtestantism as an embodiment of the great principle of religions\nliberty, and the different religious bodies that have grown up under its\nfostering influence; just as plain as there is between Republicanism, or\ncivil liberty, and the individual who lives in the enjoyment of such\nliberty. The supposition, therefore, that the Protestant church is to\nfurnish the material for the image, involves no violation of the\nsymbolic harmony of this prophecy.\n\nLet us look a moment at the fitness of the material. We are not\nunmindful of the noble service the Protestant churches have rendered to\nthe world, to humanity, and to religion, by introducing and defending,\nso far as they have, the great principles of Protestantism. But they\nhave made a fatal mistake in stereotyping their doctrines into creeds,\nand thus taking the first steps backward toward the spiritual tyranny\nof Rome. Thus the good promise they gave of a free religion and an\nunfettered conscience is already broken. For, if the right of private\njudgment is allowed by the Protestant church, why are men condemned and\nexpelled from that church for ncwother crime than honestly attempting to\nobey the word of God, in some particulars not in accordance with her\ncreed? This is the beginning of apostasy. Read Chas. Beecher's work,\n\"The Bible a Sufficient Creed.\" \"Is not the Protestant church,\" he asks,\n\"apostate?\" Is not the apostasy which we have reason to fear, \"already\nformed?\" But apostasy in principle always leads to corruption in\npractice. And so Paul, in 2 Tim. 3:1-5, sets forth the condition of the\nprofessed church of Christ in the last days. A rank growth of twenty\nheinous sins, with no redeeming virtues, shows that the fruits of the\nSpirit will be choked and rooted out by the works of the flesh. We can\nlook nowhere else for this picture of Paul's to be fulfilled except to\nthe Protestant church; for the class of which he speaks maintain a form\nof godliness, or the outward services of a true Christian worship.\n\nAnd is not the church of our day beginning to manifest to an alarming\ndegree the very characteristics which the apostle has specified? Fifteen\nclergymen of the city of Rochester, N.Y., on Sunday, Feb. 5, 1871,\ndistributed a circular, entitled \"A Testimony,\" to fifteen congregations\nof that city. To this circular the Rochester _Democrat_ of Feb. 7 made\nreference as follows:--\n\n     \"The 'Testimony' sets out by stating that the foregoing pastors are\n     constrained to bear witness to what they 'conceive to be a fact of\n     our time; viz., That the prevailing standard of piety, among the\n     professed people of God, is alarmingly low; that a tide of\n     worldliness is setting in upon us, indicating the rapid approach of\n     an era, such as is foretold by Paul in his second letter to\n     Timothy, in the words, \"In the last days perilous times shall\n     come.\"' These conclusions are reached, not by comparisons with\n     former times, but by applying the tests found in the Scriptures.\n     They instance as proof, 'the spirit of lawlessness which prevails.'\n     The circular then explains how this lawlessness (religious) is\n     shown. Men have the name of religion, but they obey none of its\n     injunctions. There is also a growing disposition to practice, in\n     religious circles, what is agreeable to the natural inclinations,\n     rather than the duties prescribed by the word of God. The tendency\n     to adopt worldly amusements, by professed Christians, is further\n     stated in evidence.\"\n\nThis testimony is very explicit. When men \"have the name of religion,\nbut obey none of its injunctions,\" they certainly may be said to have a\nform of godliness, but to deny the power; and when they \"practice in\nreligious circles what is agreeable to the natural inclinations, rather\nthan the duties prescribed by the word of God,\" they may be truthfully\nsaid to be \"lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.\" And Rochester\nis not an exception in this respect. It is so all over the land, as the\ncandid everywhere, by a sad array of facts, are compelled to admit.\n\nThat the majority of the Christians in our land are still to be found\nin connection with these churches is undoubtedly true. But a change in\nthis respect is also approaching. For Paul exhorts all true Christians,\nin his words to Timothy above referred to, to turn away from those who\nhave a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof; and those who\ndesire to live pure and holy lives, who mourn over the desolations of\ntheir Zion, and sigh for the abominations done in the land, will\ncertainly heed this injunction of the apostle. There is another prophecy\nwhich also shows that when the spirit of worldliness and apostasy has so\nfar taken possession of the professed churches of Christ as to place\nthem beyond the reach of reform, God's true children are every one to be\ncalled out, that they become not partakers of their sins, and so receive\nnot of their plagues. Rev. 18:4.\n\nFrom the course which church members are everywhere pursuing, it is\nplain to be seen in what direction the Protestant churches are drifting;\nand from the declarations of God's word it is evident that all whose\nhearts are touched by God's grace and molded by his love will soon come\nout from a connection in which, while they can do no good to others,\nthey will receive only evil to themselves.\n\nAnd now we ask the reader to consider seriously for a moment what the\nstate of the religious world will be when this change shall have taken\nplace. We shall then have an array of proud and popular churches from\nwhose communion all the good have departed, from whom the Holy Spirit is\nwithdrawn, and who are in a state of hopeless departure from God. God is\nno respecter of persons nor of churches; and if the Protestant churches\napostatize from him, will they not be just as efficient agents in the\nhand of the enemy as ever pagans or papists have been? Will they not\nthen be ready for any desperate measure of bigotry and oppression in\nwhich he may wish to enlist them? After the Jewish church had finally\nrejected Christ, how soon they were ready to imbrue their hands in the\nblood of his crucifixion. And is it not the testimony of all history,\nthat just in proportion as any popular and extensive ecclesiastical\norganization loses the Spirit and power of God, it clamors for the\nsupport of the civil arm?\n\nLet, now, an ecclesiastical organization be formed by these churches;\nlet the government legalize such organization, and give it power (a\npower which it will not have till the government does grant it) to\nenforce upon the people the dogmas which the different denominations can\nall adopt as the basis of union, and what do we have? Just what the\nprophecy represents: an image to the papal beast, endowed with life by\nthe two-horned beast, to speak and act with power.\n\nAnd are there any indications of such a movement? The preliminary\nquestion, that of the grand union of all the churches, is now profoundly\nagitating the religious world.\n\nIn May, 1869, S.M. Manning, D.D., in a sermon in Broadway Tabernacle,\nNew York, spoke of the recent efforts to unite all the churches in the\nland into co-operation on the common points of their faith, as a\n\"_prominent and noteworthy sign of the times_\"\n\nDr. Lyman Beecher is quoted as saying:--\n\n     \"There is a state of society to be formed by an extended\n     combination of institutions, religious, civil and literary, which\n     never exists without the co-operation of an educated ministry.\"\n\nChas. Beecher, in his sermon at the dedication of the Second\nPresbyterian church, Ft. Wayne, Ind., Feb. 22, 1846, said:--\n\n     \"Thus are the ministry of the evangelical Protestant denominations\n     not only formed all the way up under a tremendous pressure of\n     merely human fear, but they live, and move, and breathe, in a state\n     of things radically corrupt, and appealing every hour to every\n     baser element of their nature to hush up the truth and bow the knee\n     to the power of apostasy. Was not this the way things went with\n     Rome? Are we not living her life over again? And what do we see\n     just ahead? Another general council! A world's convention!\n     Evangelical Alliance and Universal Creed.\"\n\nThe _Banner of Light_ of July 30, 1864, said:--\n\n     \"A system will be unfolded sooner or later that will embrace in\n     its folds Church and State; for the object of the two should be one\n     and the same. The time is rapidly approaching when the world will\n     be startled by a voice that shall say to every form of oppression\n     and wrong, 'Thus far shalt thou go and no farther.' Old things are\n     rapidly passing away in the religious and social, as well as in the\n     political, world. Behold all things must be formed anew.\"\n\nThe _Church Advocate_, in March, 1870, speaking of the formation of an\n\"Independent American Catholic Church,\" a movement now agitated in this\ncountry, said:--\n\n     \"There is evidently some secret power at work which may be\n     preparing the world for great events in the near future.\"\n\nA Mr. Havens, in a speech delivered in New York, a few years ago,\nsaid:--\n\n     \"For my own part I wait to see the day when a Luther shall spring\n     up in this country who shall found a great American Catholic\n     church, instead of a great Roman Catholic church; and who shall\n     teach men that they can be good Catholics without professing\n     allegiance to a pontiff on the other side of the Atlantic.\"\n\nThere is every indication that at no distant day such a church will be\nseen, not indeed, raised up through the instrumentality of a Luther, but\nrather through the operation of the same spirit that inspired a Fernando\nNunez or a Torquemada.\n\n\n\n\nChapter Ten.\n\nThe Mark Of The Beast.\n\n\nThe principal acts ascribed to the two-horned beast, which seem to be\nperformed with special reference to the papal beast, are, the causing of\nmen to worship that beast, causing them to make an image to that beast,\nand enforcing upon them the mark of the beast. The image, after it is\ncreated and endowed with life, undertakes to enforce the worship of\nitself. To avoid confusion, we must keep these parties distinct in our\nminds. There are three here brought before us: 1. The papal beast. This\npower is designated as \"the beast,\" \"the first beast,\" \"the beast which\nhad the wound by a sword and did live,\" and, the \"beast whose deadly\nwound was healed.\" These expressions all refer to the same power; and\nwherever they occur in this prophecy, they have exclusive reference to\nthe papacy. 2. The two-horned beast. This power, after its introduction\nin verse 11, is represented through the remainder of the prophecy by the\npronoun \"he;\" and wherever this pronoun occurs, down to the 17th verse\n(with possibly the exception of the 16th verse, which perhaps may refer\nto the image), it refers invariably to the two-horned beast. 3. The\nimage of the beast. This is, every time, with the exception just\nstated, called the image; so that there is no danger of confounding this\nwith any other agent.\n\nThe acts ascribed to the image are speaking and enforcing the worship of\nitself under the penalty of death; and this is the only enactment which\nthe prophecy mentions as enforced under the death penalty. Just what\nwill constitute this worship, it will perhaps be impossible to determine\ntill the image itself shall have an existence. It will evidently be some\nact or acts by which men will be required to acknowledge the authority\nof that image and yield obedience to its mandates.\n\nThe mark of the beast is enforced by the two-horned beast either\ndirectly or through the image. The penalty attached to a refusal to\nreceive this mark is a forfeiture of all social privileges, a\ndeprivation of the right to buy and sell. The mark is the mark of the\npapal beast. Against this worship of the beast and his image, and the\nreception of his mark, the third angel's message of Rev. 14:9-12, is a\nmost solemn and thrilling warning.\n\nHere, then, is the issue before us. Human organizations, controlled and\ninspired by the spirit of the dragon, are to command men to do those\nacts which are in reality the worshiping of an apostate religious power,\nand the receiving of his mark, or lose the rights of citizenship and\nbecome outlaws in the land; and to do that which constitutes the\nworship of the image of the beast, or forfeit their lives. On the other\nhand, God says by a message, mercifully sent out a little before the\nfearful crisis is upon us, Do any of these things, and you \"shall drink\nof the wine of the wrath of God which is poured out without mixture into\nthe cup of his indignation.\" He who refuses to comply with these demands\nof earthly powers exposes himself to the severest penalties which human\nbeings can inflict; and he who does comply, exposes himself to the most\nterrible threatening of divine wrath to be found in the word of God. The\nquestion whether we will obey God or man is to be decided by the people\nof the present age, under the heaviest pressure, from either side, that\nhas ever been brought to bear upon any generation.\n\nThe worship of the beast and his image, and the reception of his mark,\nmust be something that involves the greatest offense that can be\ncommitted against God, to call down so severe a denunciation of wrath\nagainst it. This is a work, as was shown in chapter 4, which takes place\nin the last days; and as God has given us in his word most abundant\nevidence to show when we are in the last days, so that no one need to be\novertaken by the day of the Lord as by a thief, so likewise it must be\nthat he has given us the means whereby we may determine what this great\nlatter-day sin is which he has so strongly condemned, that we may avoid\nthe fearful penalty so sure to follow its commission. God does not so\ntrifle with human hopes and human destinies as to denounce a most\nfearful doom against a certain sin, and then place it out of our power\nto understand what that sin is, so that we have no means of guarding\nagainst it.\n\nThat we are now living in the last days, the volumes both of revelation\nand nature bear ample and harmonious testimony. Evidence on this point\nwe need not here stop to introduce; for the testimony already presented\nin the foregoing chapters of this series, showing that the two-horned\nbeast is now on the stage of action, is in itself conclusive proof of\nthis great fact, inasmuch as the power exists and performs its work in\nthe very closing period of human history. All these things tell us that\nthe time has now come for the proclamation of the third message of Rev.\n14, to be given, and for men to understand the terms which it uses, and\nthe warning it gives.\n\nWe therefore now call attention to the very important inquiry, What\nconstitutes the mark of the beast? The figure of a mark is borrowed from\nan ancient custom. Says Bp. Newton (Dissert on Proph., vol. iii, p.\n241):--\n\n     \"It was customary among the ancients for servants to receive the\n     mark of their master, and soldiers of their general, and those who\n     were devoted to any particular deity, of the particular deity to\n     whom they were devoted. These marks were usually impressed on their\n     right hand, or on their foreheads, and consisted of some\n     hieroglyphic character, or of the name expressed in vulgar\n     letters, or of the name disguised in numerical letters according to\n     the fancy of the imposer.\"\n\nPrideaux says that Ptolemy Philopater ordered all the Jews who applied\nto be enrolled as citizens of Alexandria to have the form of an ivy leaf\n(the badge of his god, Bacchus) impressed upon them with a hot iron,\nunder pain of death. (Connection B.C. 216.)\n\nThe word used for mark in this prophecy is [Greek: charagma]\n(_charagma_), and is defined to mean, \"a graving, sculpture, a mark cut\nin or stamped.\" It occurs nine times in the New Testament, and with the\nsingle exception of Acts 17:29, refers every time to the mark of the\nbeast. We are not, of course, to understand in this symbolic prophecy,\nthat a literal mark is intended; but the giving of the literal mark, as\npracticed in ancient times, is used as a figure to illustrate certain\nacts that will be performed in the fulfillment of this prophecy. And\nfrom the literal mark as formerly employed, we learn something of its\nmeaning as used in the prophecy; for between the symbol and the thing\nsymbolized there must be some resemblance. The mark, as literally used,\nsignified that the person receiving it was the servant of, acknowledged\nthe authority of, or professed allegiance to, the person whose mark he\nbore. So the mark of the beast, or the papacy, must be some act or\nprofession by which the authority of that power is acknowledged. What\nis it?\n\nIt would be naturally looked for in some of the special characteristics\nof the papal power. Daniel, describing that power under the symbol of a\nlittle horn, speaks of it as waging a special warfare against God,\nwearing out the saints of the Most High, and thinking to change times\nand laws. The prophet expressly specifies on this point: \"He shall\n_think_ to change times and laws.\" These laws must certainly be the laws\nof the Most High. To apply it to human laws, and make the prophecy read,\n\"And he shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear\nout the saints of the Most High, and think to change human laws,\" would\nbe doing evident violence to the language of the prophet. But to apply\nit to the laws of God, and let it read, \"And he shall speak great words\nagainst the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High,\nand shall think to change the times and laws of the Most High\"--then all\nis consistent and forcible. The Septuagint reads, [Greek: nomos]\n(_nomos_), in the singular, \"the law,\" which more directly suggests the\nlaw of God. So far as human laws are concerned, the papacy has been able\nto do more than merely \"think\" to change them. It has been able to\nchange them at pleasure. It has annulled the decrees of kings and\nemperors, and absolved subjects from allegiance to their rightful\nsovereigns. It has thrust its long arm into the affairs of nations, and\nbrought rulers to its feet in the most abject humility. But the prophet\nbeholds greater acts of presumption than these. He sees it endeavor to\ndo, what it was not able to do, but could only think to do; he sees it\nattempt an act which no man, nor any combination of men, can ever\naccomplish; and that is, to change the laws of the Most High. Bear this\nin mind while we look at the testimony of another sacred writer on this\nvery point.\n\nPaul speaks of the same power in 2 Thess. 2; and he describes it, in the\nperson of the pope, as the man of sin, and as sitting as God in the\ntemple of God (that is, the church), and as exalting himself above all\nthat is called God or that is worshiped. According to this, the pope\nsets himself up as the one for all the church to look to for authority,\nin the place of God. And now we ask the reader to ponder carefully the\nquestion how he can exalt himself _above_ God. Search through the whole\nrange of human devices; go to the extent of human effort; by what plan,\nby what move, by what claim, could this usurper exalt himself above God?\nHe might institute any number of ceremonies, he might prescribe any form\nof worship, he might exhibit any degree of power; but so long as God had\nrequirements which the people felt bound to regard in preference to his\nown, so long he would not be above God. He might enact a law and teach\nthe people that they were under as great obligations to that as to the\nlaw of God. Then he would only make himself equal with God. But he is to\ndo more than this: he is to attempt to raise himself above him. Then he\nmust promulgate a law which _conflicts_ with the law of God, and demand\nobedience to his own in preference to God's. There is no other possible\nway in which he could place himself in the position assigned in the\nprophecy. But this is simply to change the law of God; and if he can\ncause this change to be adopted by the people in place of the original\nenactment, then he, the law-changer, is above God, the law-maker. And\nthis is the very work that Daniel said he should think to do.\n\nSuch a work as this, then, the papacy must accomplish according to the\nprophecy; and the prophecy cannot fail. And when this is done, what do\nthe people of the world have? They have two laws demanding from them\nobedience: one, the law of God as originally enacted by him, an\nembodiment of his will, and expressing his claims upon his creatures;\nthe other, a revised edition of that law, emanating from the pope of\nRome, and expressing his will. And how is it to be determined which of\nthese powers the people honor and worship? It is determined by the law\nwhich they keep. If they keep the law of God as given by him, they\nworship and obey God. If they keep the law as changed by the papacy,\nthey worship that power. But further, the prophecy does not say that the\nlittle horn should set aside the law of God and give one entirely\ndifferent. This would not be to change the law, but simply to give a new\none. He was only to attempt a change, so that the law as it comes from\nGod, and the law as it comes from the hands of the papacy, are precisely\nalike, excepting the change which the papacy has made therein. They have\nmany points in common. But none of the precepts which they contain in\ncommon can distinguish a person as the worshiper of either power in\npreference to the other. If God's law says, \"Thou shalt not kill,\" and\nthe law as given by the papacy says the same, no one can tell by a\nperson's observance of that precept whether he designed to obey God\nrather than the pope, or the pope rather than God. But when a precept\nthat has been changed is the subject of action, then whoever observes\nthat precept as originally given by God is thereby distinguished as a\nworshiper of God; and he who keeps it as changed, is thereby marked as a\nfollower of the power that made the change. In no other way can the two\nclasses of worshipers be distinguished. From this conclusion, no candid\nmind can dissent; but in this conclusion we have a general answer to the\nquestion before us, \"What constitutes the mark of the beast?\" THE MARK\nOF THE BEAST is THE CHANGE HE HAS MADE IN THE LAW OF GOD.\n\nWe now inquire what that change is. By the law of God, we mean the moral\nlaw, the only law in the universe of immutable and perpetual obligation,\nthe law of which Webster says, defining the terms according to the sense\nin which they are almost universally used in Christendom, \"The moral law\nis summarily contained in the decalogue, written by the finger of God on\ntwo tables of stone, and delivered to Moses on Mount Sinai.\"\n\nIf, now, the reader will compare the ten commandments as found in Roman\nCatholic catechisms with those commandments as found in the Bible, he\nwill see in the catechisms that the second commandment is left out, that\nthe tenth is divided into two commandments to make up the lack of\nleaving out the second, and keep good the number ten, and that the\nfourth commandment (called the third in their enumeration) is made to\nenjoin the observance of Sunday as the Sabbath, and prescribe that the\nday shall be spent in hearing mass devoutly, attending vespers, and\nreading moral and pious books. Here are several variations from the\ndecalogue as found in the Bible. Which of them constitutes the change of\nthe law intended in the prophecy? or, are they all included in that\nchange? Let it be borne in mind that, according to the prophecy, he was\nto _think_ to change times and laws. This plainly conveys the idea of\n_intention_ and _design_, and makes these qualities essential to the\nchange in question. But respecting the omission of the second\ncommandment, Catholics argue that it is included in the first, and,\nhence, should not be numbered as a separate commandment. And, on the\ntenth, they claim that there is so plain a distinction of ideas as to\nrequire two commandments. So they make the coveting of a neighbor's wife\nthe ninth commandment, and the coveting of his goods the tenth.\n\nIn all this they claim that they are giving the commandments exactly as\nGod intended to have them understood. So, while we may regard them as\nerrors in their interpretation of the commandments, we cannot set them\ndown as _intentional changes_. Not so, however, with the fourth\ncommandment. Respecting this commandment, they do not claim that their\nversion is like that given by God. They expressly claim a change here,\nand also that the change has been made by the church. A few quotations\nfrom standard Catholic works will make this matter plain. In a work\nentitled, Treatise of Thirty Controversies, we find these words:--\n\n     \"The word of God commandeth the seventh day to be the Sabbath of\n     our Lord, and to be kept holy; you [Protestants], without any\n     precept of Scripture, change it to the first day of the week, only\n     authorized by our traditions. Divers English Puritans oppose,\n     against this point, that the observation of the first day is\n     proved out of Scripture, where it is said, the first day of the\n     week. Acts 20:7; I Cor. 16:2; Rev. 1:10. Have they not spun a\n     fair thread in quoting these places? If we should produce no better\n     for purgatory, and prayers for the dead, invocation of the saints,\n     and the like, they might have good cause, indeed, to laugh us to\n     scorn; for where is it written that these were Sabbath days in\n     which those meetings were kept? Or where is it ordained they should\n     be always observed? Or, which is the sum of all, where is it\n     decreed that the observation of the first day should abrogate or\n     abolish the sanctifying of the seventh day, which God commanded\n     everlastingly to be kept holy? _Not_ one of those is expressed in\n     the written word of God.\"\n\nIn the \"Catholic Catechism of Christian Religion,\" on the subject of the\nthird (fourth) commandment, we find these questions and answers:--\n\n     \"_Ques._ What does God ordain by this commandment?\n\n     \"_Ans._ He ordains that we sanctify, in a special manner, this day\n     on which he rested from the labor of creation.\n\n     \"_Q._ What is this day of rest?\n\n     \"_A._ The seventh day of the week, or Saturday; for he employed six\n     days in creation, and rested on the seventh. Gen. 2:2; Heb. 4:1,\n     &c.\n\n     \"_Q._ Is it then Saturday we should sanctify in order to obey the\n     ordinance of God?\n\n     \"_A._ During the old law, Saturday was the day sanctified; but _the\n     church,_ instructed by Jesus Christ, and directed by the Spirit of\n     God, has substituted Sunday for Saturday; so now we sanctify the\n     first, not the seventh, day. Sunday means, and now is, the day of\n     the Lord.\"\n\nIn \"Abridgment of Christian Doctrine,\" we find this testimony:--\n\n     \"_Ques._ How prove you that the church hath power to command feasts\n     and holy days?\n\n     \"_Ans._ By the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which\n     Protestants allow of; and therefore they fondly contradict\n     themselves by keeping Sunday strictly, and breaking most other\n     feasts commanded by the same church.\n\n     \"_Q._ How prove you that?\n\n     \"_A._ Because by keeping Sunday they acknowledge the church's power\n     to ordain feasts, and to command them under sin.\"\n\nIn the \"Catholic Christian Instructed,\" again we read:--\n\n     \"_Ques._ What warrant have you for keeping the Sunday, preferable\n     to the ancient Sabbath, which was the Saturday?\n\n     \"_Ans._ We have for it the authority of the Catholic church and\n     apostolic tradition.\n\n     \"_Q._ Does the Scripture anywhere command the Sunday to be kept for\n     the Sabbath?\n\n     \"_A._ The Scripture commands us to hear the church (Matt. 18:17;\n     Luke 10:16), and to hold fast the traditions of the apostles. 2\n     Thess. 2:15. But the Scriptures do not in particular mention this\n     change of the Sabbath.\"\n\nIn the \"Doctrinal Catechism,\" we find further\ntestimony to the same point:--\n\n     \"_Ques._ Have you any other way of proving that the church has\n     power to institute festivals of precept?\n\n     \"_Ans._ Had she not such power, she could not have done that in\n     which all modern religionists agree with her--she could not have\n     substituted the observance of Sunday, the first day of the week,\n     for the observance of Saturday, the seventh day, a change for which\n     there is no scriptural authority.\"\n\nAnd finally, W. Lockhart, late B.A. of Oxford, in the Toronto (Cath.)\n_Mirror,_ offered the following \"challenge\" to all the Protestants of\nIreland; a challenge as well calculated for this latitude as that. He\nsays:--\n\n     \"I do, therefore, solemnly challenge the Protestants of Ireland to\n     prove, by plain texts of Scripture, the questions concerning the\n     obligation of the Christian Sabbath. 1. That Christians may work on\n     Saturday, the old seventh day. 2. That they are bound to keep holy\n     the first day, namely, Sunday. 3. That they are not bound to keep\n     holy the seventh day also.\"\n\nThis is what the papal power claims to have done respecting the fourth\ncommandment. Catholics plainly acknowledge that there is no scriptural\nauthority for the change they have made, but that it rests wholly upon\nthe authority of the church; and they claim it has a token or mark of\nthe authority of that church; the \"_very act of changing the Sabbath\ninto Sunday_\" being set forth as proof of its power in this respect. For\nfurther testimony on this point, the reader is referred to a tract\npublished at the _Review_ Office, Battle Creek, Mich., entitled, \"Who\nChanged the Sabbath?\" in which are also extracts from Catholic writers,\nrefuting the arguments usually relied upon to prove the Sunday Sabbath,\nand showing that its only authority is the Catholic church.\n\n\"But,\" says one, \"I supposed that Christ changed the Sabbath.\" A great\nmany suppose so; and it is natural that they should; for they have been\nso taught. And while we have no words of denunciation to utter against\nany such for so believing, we would have them at once understand that it\nis, in reality, one of the most enormous of all errors. We would\ntherefore remind such persons that, according to the prophecy, the only\nchange ever to be made in the law of God, was to be made by the little\nhorn of Dan. 7, and the man of sin of 2 Thess. 2; and the only change\nthat has been made in it, is the change of the Sabbath. Now, if Christ\nmade this change, he filled the office of the blasphemous power spoken\nof by both Daniel and Paul--a conclusion sufficiently hideous to drive\nany Christian from the view which leads thereto.\n\nBut why should any one labor to prove that Christ changed the Sabbath?\nWhoever does this is performing a thankless task. The pope will not\nthank him; for if it is proved that Christ wrought this change, then the\npope is robbed of his badge of authority and power. And no truly\nenlightened Protestant will thank him; for if he succeeds, he only shows\nthat the papacy has not done the work which it was predicted that it\nshould do, and so that the prophecy has failed, and the Scriptures are\nunreliable. The matter had better stand as the propheqy has placed it,\nand the claim which the pope unwittingly puts forth, had better be\ngranted. When a person is charged with any work, and that person steps\nforth and confesses that he has done the work, that is usually\nconsidered sufficient to settle the matter. So, when the prophecy\naffirms that a certain power shall change the law of God, and that very\npower in due time arises, does the work foretold, and then openly claims\nthat he has done it, what need have we of further evidence? The world\nshould not forget that the great apostasy foretold by Paul has taken\nplace; that the man of sin for long ages held almost a monopoly of\nChristian teaching in the world; that the mystery of iniquity has cast\nthe darkness of its shadow and the errors of its doctrines over almost\nall Christendom; and out of this era of error and darkness and\ncorruption, the theology of our day has come. Would it then be anything\nstrange if there were yet some relics of popery to be discarded ere the\nreformation will be complete? A. Campbell (Baptism, p. 15), speaking of\nthe different Prostestant sects, says:--\n\n     \"All of them retain in their bosom, in their ecclesiastic\n     organizations, worship, doctrines, and observances, various relics\n     of popery. They are at best a reformation of popery, and only\n     reformations in part. The doctrines and traditions of men yet\n     impair the power and progress of the gospel in their hands.\"\n\nThe nature of the change which the little horn has attempted to effect\nin the law of God is worthy of notice. With true Satanic instinct, he\nundertakes to change that commandment which, of all others, is the\nfundamental commandment of the law, the one which makes known who the\nLaw-giver is, and contains his signature of royalty. The fourth\ncommandment does this; no other one does. Four others, it is true,\ncontain the word God, and three of them the word Lord, also. But who is\nthis Lord God of whom they speak? Without the fourth commandment it is\nimpossible to tell; for idolaters of every grade apply these terms to\nthe multitudinous objects of their adoration. With the fourth\ncommandment to point out the Author of the decalogue, the claims of\nevery false god are annulled at one stroke; for the God who here demands\nour worship is not any created being, but the One who created them all.\nThe maker of the earth and sea, the sun and moon, and all the starry\nhost, the upholder and governor of the universe, is the One who claims,\nand who, from his position, has a right to claim, our supreme regard in\npreference to every other object. The commandment which makes known\nthese facts is therefore the very one we might suppose that power would\nundertake to change, which designed to exalt itself above God. God gave\nthe Sabbath as a memorial of himself, a weekly reminder to the sons of\nmen, of his work in creating the heavens and the earth, a great barrier\nagainst atheism and idolatry. It is the signature and seal of the law.\nThis the papacy has torn from its place, and erected in its stead, on\nits own authority, an institution designed to serve another purpose.\n\nThis change of the fourth commandment must therefore be the change to\nwhich the prophecy points; and Sunday-keeping must be the mark of the\nbeast! Some who have long been taught to regard this institution with\nreverence will perhaps start back with little less than feelings of\nhorror at this conclusion. We have not space, nor is this perhaps the\nplace, to enter into an extended argument on the Sabbath question, and\nan exposition of the origin and nature of the observance of the first\nday of the week. Let us submit this one proposition: If the seventh day\nis still the Sabbath enjoined in the fourth commandment; if the\nobservance of the first day of the week has no foundation whatever in\nthe Scriptures; if this observance has been brought in as a Christian\ninstitution and designedly put in place of the Sabbath of the decalogue,\nby that power which is symbolized by the beast, and placed there as a\nbadge and token of its power to legislate for the church, is it not\ninevitably the mark of the beast? The answer must be in the affirmative.\nBut all these hypotheses can easily be shown to be certainties, See\nHistory of the Sabbath, and other works on the subject, published at\nthe _Review_ Office. To these we can only refer the reader, in passing.\n\nIt will be said again, then all Sunday-keepers have the mark of the\nbeast; then all the good of past ages who kept this day had the mark of\nthe beast; then Luther, Whitefield, the Wesleys, and all who have done a\ngood and noble work of reformation, had the mark of the beast; then all\nthe blessings that have been poured upon the reformed churches have been\npoured upon those who had the mark of the beast. We answer, _No_! And we\nare sorry to say that some professedly religious teachers, though many\ntimes corrected, persist in misrepresenting us on this point. We have\nnever so held; we have never so taught. Our premises lead to no such\nconclusions. Give ear: The mark and worship of the beast are enforced by\nthe two-horned beast. The receiving of the mark of the beast is a\nspecific act which the two-horned beast is to cause to be done. The\nthird message of Rev. 14, is a warning mercifully sent out in advance to\nprepare the people for the coming danger. There can therefore be no\nworship of the beast, nor reception of his mark, such as is contemplated\nin the prophecy, till it is enforced by the two-horned beast. We have\nseen that _intention_ was essential to the change which the papacy has\nmade in the law of God, to constitute it the mark of that power. So\n_intention_ is necessary in the adoption of that change to make it on\nthe part of any individual the reception of that mark. In other words, a\nperson must adopt the change, knowing it to be the work of the beast,\nand receive it on the authority of that power, in opposition to the\nrequirement of God.\n\nBut how with those referred to above who have kept Sunday in the past,\nand the majority of those who are keeping it to-day? Do they keep it as\nan institution of the papacy? No. Have they decided between this and the\nSabbath of the Lord, understanding the claims of each? No. On what\nground have they kept it, and do they keep it? They suppose they are\nkeeping a commandment of God. Have such the mark of the beast? By no\nmeans. Their course is attributable to an error unwittingly received\nfrom the church of Rome, not to an act of worship rendered to it.\n\nBut how is it to be? The church which is to be prepared for the second\ncoming of Christ must be entirely free from papal errors and\ncorruptions. A reform must hence be made on the Sabbath question. The\nthird angel proclaims the commandments of God, leading men to the true\nin the place of the counterfeit. The dragon is stirred, and so controls\nthe wicked governments of the earth that all authority of human power\nshall be exerted to enforce the claims of the man of sin. Then the issue\nis fairly before the people. On one hand, they are required to keep the\ntrue Sabbath; on the other, a counterfeit. For refusing to keep the\ntrue, the message denounces the unmingled wrath of God; for refusing the\nfalse, earthly governments threaten them with persecution and death.\nWith this issue before the people, what does he do who yields to the\nhuman requirement? He virtually says to God, I know your claims, but I\nwill not yield to them. I know that the power I am required to worship\nis anti-Christian; but I yield to save my life. I renounce your\nallegiance, and bow to the usurper. The beast is henceforth the object\nof my adoration; under his banner, in opposition to your authority, I\nhenceforth array myself; to him, in defiance of your claims, I\nhenceforth yield the obedience of my heart and life. Such is the spirit\nwhich will actuate the hearts of the beast-worshipers; a spirit which\ninsults the God of the universe to his face, and is prevented only by\nlack of power from overthrowing his government and annihilating his\nthrone. Is it any wonder that Jehovah denounces against so Heaven-daring\na course the most terrible threatening that his word contains?\n\n\n\n\nChapter Eleven.\n\nThe Beginning Of The End.\n\n\nWe have now found what, according to the prophecy, is to constitute the\nimage which the two-horned beast is to cause to be made, and the mark\nwhich it will attempt to enforce. The movement which is to fulfill this\nportion of the prophecy, is to be looked for in the popular churches of\nour land. First, a union must be effected between these churches, with\nsome degree of coalition also between these bodies and the beast power,\nor Roman Catholicism; and, secondly, steps must be taken to bring the\nlaw of the land to the support of the Sunday Sabbath. These movements\nthe prophecy calls for. And the line of argument leading to these\nconclusions is so direct and well-defined that there is no avoiding\nthem. They are a clear and logical sequence from the premises given us.\n\nWhen first the application of Rev. 13:11-17 to the United States was\nmade, over twenty years ago, these positions respecting a union of the\nchurches and a grand Sunday movement were taken. But at that time, no\nsign appeared above or beneath, at home or abroad, no token was seen, no\nindication existed, that such an issue would ever be made. But there\nwas the prophecy, and that must stand. The United States government had\ngiven abundant evidence, by its location, the time of its rise, the\nmanner of its rise, and its apparent character, that it was the power\nsymbolized by the two-horned beast. There could be no mistake in the\nconclusion that it was the very nation intended by that symbol. This\nbeing so, it must take the course, and perform the acts, foretold. But\nhere were predictions which could be fulfilled by nothing less than the\nmovement above named respecting Church and State, and the enforcement of\nthe papal Sabbath as the mark of the beast.\n\nTo take the position at that time that this government was to pursue\nsuch a policy and engage in such a work, without any apparent\nprobability in its favor, was no small act of faith. On the other hand,\nto deny or ignore it, while admitting the application of the symbol to\nthis government, would be in accordance with neither Scripture nor\nlogic. The only course for the humble, confiding student of prophecy to\npursue in such cases, is to take the light as it is given, and believe\nthe prophecy in all its parts. So the stand was boldly taken; and open\nproclamation has been made from that day to this, that such a work would\nbe seen in these United States. With every review of the argument, new\nfeatures of strength have been discovered in the application; and amid a\nstorm of scornful incredulity, we have watched the progress of events,\nand waited the hour, of fulfillment.\n\nMeanwhile, spiritualism has astonished the world with its terrible\nprogress, and shown itself to be the wonder-working element which was to\nexist in connection with this power. This has mightily strengthened the\nforce of the application. And now, within a few years past, what have we\nfurther seen? No less than the commencement of that very movement\nrespecting the formation of the image and the enactment of Sunday laws,\nwhich we have so long expected, and which is to complete the prophecy,\nand close the scene.\n\nReference was made in chapter nine to the movement now on foot for a\ngrand union of all the churches; not a union which arises from the\nputting away of error and uniting upon the harmonious principles of\ntruth, but simply a combination of sects, each retaining its own\nparticular creed, but confederated for the purpose of carrying out more\nextensively the common points of our faith. This movement finds a strong\nundercurrent of favor in all the churches. And men are engaged to carry\nit through who are not easily turned from their purpose.\n\nAnd there has suddenly arisen a class of men whose souls are absorbed\nwith the cognate idea of Sunday reform, and who have dedicated every\nenergy of their being to the carrying forward of this kindred movement.\nThe \"New York Sabbath Committee\" have labored zealously by means of\nbooks, tracts, speeches, and sermons, to create a strong public\nsentiment in behalf of Sunday. Making slow progress through moral\nsuasion, they seek a shorter path to the accomplishment of their\npurposes through political power. And why not? Christianity has become\npopular, and her professed adherents are numerous. Why not avail\nthemselves of the power of the ballot to secure their ends? Rev. J.S.\nSmart (Methodist), in a published sermon on the \"Political Duties of\nChristian Men and Ministers,\" expresses a largely-prevailing sentiment\non this question, when he says:--\n\n     \"I claim that we have, and ought to have, just as much concern in\n     the government of this couniry as any other men.... We are the mass\n     of the people. Virtue in this country is not weak; her ranks are\n     strong in numbers, and invincible from the righteousness of her\n     cause--invincible if united. Let not her ranks be broken by party\n     names.\"\n\nA \"National Association\" has been in existence for a number of years,\nwhich has for its object the securing of such amendments to the National\nConstitution as shall express the religious views of the majority of the\npeople, and make it an instrument under which the keeping of Sunday can\nbe enforced as the Christian Sabbath. This Association already embraces\nwithin its organization a long array of eminent and honorable names:\nGovernors of our States, Presidents of our colleges, Bishops, Doctors of\nDivinity, Doctors of Law, and men who occupy high positions in all the\nwalks of life.\n\nIn the Address issued by the officers of this Association, they say:--\n\n     \"Men of high standing, in every walk of life, of every section of\n     the country, and of every shade of political sentiment and\n     religious belief, have concurred in the measure.\"\n\nIn their appeal, they most earnestly request every lover of his country\nto join in forming auxiliary associations, circulate documents, attend\nconventions, sign the memorial to Congress, &c., &c.\n\nIn their plea for an amended Constitution, they ask the people to\n\n     \"Consider that God is not once named in our National Constitution.\n     There is nothing in it which requires an 'oath of God,' as the\n     Bible styles it (which, after all, is the great bond both of\n     loyalty in the citizen and of fidel in the magistrate); nothing\n     which requires the ob of the day of rest and of worship, or which\n     re its sanctity. If we do not have the mails carried and the\n     post-offices open on Sunday, it is because we have a\n     Postmaster-General who respects the day. If our Supreme Courts are\n     not held, and if Congress does not sit on that day, it is custom,\n     and not law, that makes it so. Nothing in the Constitution gives\n     Sunday quiet to the custom house, the navy yard, the barracks, or\n     any of the departments of government.\n\n     \"Consider that they fairly express the mind of the great body of\n     the American people. This is a Christian people. These amendments\n     agree with the faith, the feelings, and the forms of every\n     Christian church or sect. The Catholic and the Protestant, the\n     Unitarian and the Trinitarian, profess and approve all that is here\n     proposed. Why should their wishes not become law? Why should not\n     the Constitution be made to suhf and to represent a constituency so\n     overwhelmingly in the majority?...\n\n     \"This great majority is becoming daily more conscious not only of\n     their rights, but of their power. Their number grows, and their\n     column becomes more solid. They have quietly, steadily opposed\n     infidelity, until it has, at least, become politically unpopular.\n     They have asserted the rights of man and the rights of the\n     government, until the nation's faith has become measurably fixed\n     and declared on these points. And now that the close of the war\n     gives us occasion to amend our Constitution, that it may clearly\n     and fully represent the mind of the people on these points, they\n     feel that it should also be so amended as to recognize the rights\n     of God in man and in government. Is it anything but due to their\n     long patience that they be at length allowed to speak out the great\n     facts and principles which give to all government its dignity,\n     stability, and beneficence?\"\n\nThus for several years a movement has been on foot, daily growing in\nextent, and importance, and power, to fulfill that portion of the\nprophecy of Rev. 13:11-17, which first calls forth the dissent of the\nobjector, and which appears from every point of view the most improbable\nof all the specifications; namely, the erection of the image and the\nenforcing of the mark. Beyond this, nothing remains but the sharp\nconflict of the people of God with this earthly power, and the eternal\ntriumph of the overcomer.\n\nAn Association, even now national in its character, as already noticed,\nand endeavoring, as is appropriate for those who have such objects in\nview, to secure their purposes under the sanction of the highest\nauthority of the land, the National Constitution, already has this\nmatter in hand. In the interest of this Association there is published,\nin Philadelphia, a semi-monthly paper called the _Christian Statesman_,\nin advocacy of this movement. Every issue of that paper goes forth\nfilled with arguments and appeals from some of the ablest pens in our\nland, in favor of the desired Constitutional amendment. These are the\nvery methods, by which, in a country like ours, great revolutions are\nbrought about; and no movement has ever arisen so suddenly as this to so\nhigh a position in public esteem with certain classes, and taken so\nstrong a hold upon their hearts.\n\nSays Mr. G.A. Townsend (New World and Old, p. 212):--\n\n     \"Church and State has several times crept into American politics,\n     as in the contentions over the Bible in the public schools, the\n     Anti-Catholic party of 1844, &c. Our people have been wise enough\n     heretofore to respect the clergy in all religious questions, and to\n     entertain a wholesome jealousy of them in politics. The latest\n     _politico-theological movement_ [italics ours] is to insert the\n     name of the Deity in the Constitution.\"\n\nThe present movements of this National Association and the progress it\nhas made luay be gathered somewhat from the report of the proceedings of\nthe Convention held in Cincinnati, Jan. 31, 1872.\n\nFrom the Report of the Executive Committee it appeared that ten thousand\ncopies of the proceedings of the Philadelphia Convention have been\ngratuitously distributed; that a General Secretary (Rev. D. McAllister)\nhas been appointed, with a salary of $2,500; and that a long and\nelaborate paper by Prof. Taylor Lewis, of Union College, in advocacy of\nthe ideas and objects of the Association, will soon be published; that\nthe number of the Executive Committee is recommended to be increased to\ntwenty-five, besides including all presidents of auxiliary associations;\nthat $2,177 have been raised the past year by the Association, and that\na balance of over $90 remains in the treasury. Nearly $1,800 were raised\nat this Convention.\n\nThe Business Committee recommended that the delegates to this Convention\nhold meetings in their respective localities to ratify the resolutions\nadopted at Cincinnati; that twenty thousand copies of the proceedings of\nthis Convention be published in tract form; and that the friends of the\nAssociation be urged to form auxiliary associations. All these\nrecommendations were adopted.\n\nThe resolutions passed were as follows:--\n\n\n\"_Resolved_, That it is the right and duty of the United States, as a\nnation settled by Christians, a nation with Christian laws and usages,\nand with Christianity as its greatest social force, to acknowledge\nitself in its written Constitution, to be a Christian nation.\n\n\"_Resolved_, That, as the disregard of sound theory always leads to\nmischievous practical results, so in this case the failure of our nation\nto acknowledge, in its organic laws, its relation to God and his moral\nlaws, as a Christian nation, has fostered the theory that government has\nnothing to do with religion but to let it alone, and that consequently\nState laws in favor of the Sabbath, Christian marriage, and the use of\nthe Bible in the schools, are unconstitutional.\n\n\"_Resolved_, That we recognize the necessity of complete harmony between\nour written constitution and the actual facts of our national life; and\nwe maintain that tho true way to eflect this undoubted harmony is not to\nexpel the Bible and all idea of God and religion from our schools,\nabrogate laws enforcing Christian morality, and abolish all devout\nobservances in connection with government, but to insert an explicit\nacknowledgment of God and the Bible in our fundamental law.\n\n\"_Resolved_, That the proposed religious amendment, so far from tending\nto a union of Church and State, is directly opposed to such union,\ninasmuch as it recognizes the nation's own relations to God, and insists\nthat the nation should acknowledge these relations for itself, and not\nthrough the medium of any church establishment.\"\n\nMr. F.E. Abbott, editor of the _Index_, Toledo, O., who was present at\nthe foregoing Convention, and presented a protest against its aims and\nefforts, says of those who stand at the head of the movement:--\n\n     \"We found them to be so thoroughly sincere and earnest in their\n     purpose that they did not fear the effect of a decided but\n     temperate protest. This fact speaks volumes in their praise, as men\n     of character and convictions. We saw no indication of the artful\n     management which characterizes most conventions. The leading\n     men--Rev. D. McAllister, Rev. A.M. Milligan, Prof. Sloane, Prof.\n     Stoddard, Prof. Wright, Rev. T.P. Stephenson--impressed us as able,\n     clear-headed, and thoroughly honest men; and we could not but\n     conceive a great respect for their motives and their intentions. It\n     is such qualities as these in the leaders of the movement that give\n     it its most formidable character. They have definite and consistent\n     ideas; they perceive the logical connection of these ideas, and\n     advocate them in a very cogent and powerful manner; and they\n     propose to push them with determination and zeal. Concede their\n     premises, and it is impossible to deny their conclusions; and since\n     these premises are axiomatic truths with the great majority of\n     Protestant Christians, the effect of the vigorous campaign on which\n     they are entering cannot be small or despicable. The very respect\n     with which we were compelled to regard them only increases our\n     sense of the evils which lie germinant in their doctrines; and we\n     came home with the conviction that religious liberty in America\n     must do battle for its very existence hereafter. The movement in\n     which these men are engaged has too many elements of strength to be\n     contemned by any far-seeing liberal. Blindness or sluggishness\n     to-day means slavery to-morrow. Radicalism must pass now from\n     thought to action, or it will deserve the oppression that lies in\n     wait to overwhelm it.\"\n\nAs to the probability of the success of this movement, there is at\npresent some difference of opinion. While a very few pass it by with a\nslur as a mere temporary sensation of little or no consequence, it is\ngenerally regarded as a work of growing strength and importance, both by\nits advocates and opposers. Petitions and remonstrances are both being\ncirculated with activity, and shrewd observers, who have watched the\nmovement with a jealous eye, and heretofore hoped it would amount to\nnothing, now confess that it \"means business.\" No movement of equal\nmagnitude of purpose has ever sprung up and become strong, and secured\nfavor so rapidly as this. Indeed, none of equal magnitude has ever been\nsprung upon the American mind, as this aims to remodel the whole\nframework of our government, and give to it a strong religious cast--a\nthing which the framers of our Constitution were careful to exclude from\nit. They not only ask that the Bible, and God, and Christ, shall be\nrecognized in the Constitution, but that it shall indicate this as \"a\nChristian nation, and place all Christian laws, institutions, and\nusages, in our government on an undeniable legal basis in the\nfundamental law of the nation.\"\n\nOf course, appropriate legislation will be required to carry such\namendments into effect, and somebody will have to decide what are\n\"Christian laws and institutions.\" From what we know of such movements\nin the past in other countries, and of the temper of the churches of\nthis, and of human nature when it has power suddenly conferred upon it,\nwe look for no good from this movement. From a lengthy article in the\nLansing _State Republican_ in reference to the Cincinnati Convention, we\ntake the following extract:--\n\n     \"Now there are hundreds and thousands of moral and professedly\n     Christian people in this nation to-day who do not recognize the\n     doctrine of the Trinity, do not recognize Jesus Christ the same as\n     God. And there are hundreds and thousands of men and women who do\n     not recognize the Bible as the revelation of God. The attempt to\n     make any such amendment to the Constitution would be regarded by a\n     large minority, perhaps a majority, of our nation as a palpable\n     violation of liberty of conscience. Thousands of men, if called\n     upon to vote for such an amendment, would hesitate to vote against\n     God, although they may not believe that the amendment was necessary\n     or that it is right; and such men would either vote affirmatively\n     or not at all. In every case, such an amendment would be likely to\n     receive an affirmative vote, which would by no means indicate the\n     true sentiment of the people. And the same rule would hold good in\n     relation to the adoption of such an amendment by Congress or by the\n     Legislatures of three-quarters of the States. Men who make politics\n     a trade would hesitate to record their names against the proposed\n     Constitutional Amendment, advocated by the leaders of the great\n     religious denominations of the land, and indorsed by such men as\n     Bishop Simpson, Bishop McIlvaine, Bishop Eastburn, President\n     Finney, Prof. Lewis, Prof. Seelye, Bishop Huntington, Bishop\n     Kerfoot, Dr. Patterson, Dr. Cuyler, and many other divines who are\n     the representative men of their respective denominations.\"\n\nNot only the representative men of the churches are pledged to this\nmovement, but governors, judges, and many of the most eminent men of the\nland are working for it. Who doubts the power of the \"representative men\nof the denominations\" to rally the strength of their denominations to\nsustain this work at their call? We utter no prophecy of the future; it\nis not needed. Events transpire in these days faster than our minds are\nprepared to grasp them. Let us heed the admonition to \"watch!\" and, with\nreliance upon God, prepare for \"those things which are coming on the\nearth.\"\n\nBut it may be asked how the Sunday question is to be affected by the\nproposed Constitutional Amendment. Answer: The object, or, to say the\nleast, one object of this amendment is to put the Sunday institution on\na legal basis, and compel its observance by the arm of the law. At the\nNational Convention held in Philadelphia, Jan. 18 and 19, 1871, the\nfollowing resolution was among the first offered by the Business\nCommittee:--\n\n     \"_Resolved_, That, in view of the controlling power of the\n     Constitution in shaping State, as well as national, policy, it is\n     of immediate importance to public morals, and to social order, to\n     secure such an amendment as will indicate that this is a Christian\n     nation, and place all Christian laws, institutions, and usages in\n     our government on an undeniable legal basis in the fundamental law\n     of the nation, specially those which secure a proper oath, and\n     which protect society against blasphemy, Sabbath-breaking, and\n     polygamy.\"\n\nBy Sabbath-breaking is meant nothing else but Sunday-breaking. In a\nconvention of the friends of Sunday, assembled Nov. 29, 1870, in New\nConcord, Ohio, the Rev. James White is reported to have said: \"The\nquestion [of Sunday observance] is closely connected with the National\nReform Movement; for until the government comes to know God and honor\nhis law, we need not expect to restrain Sabbath-breaking corporations.\"\nHere again the idea of the legal enforcement of Sunday observance stands\nuppermost.\n\nOnce more: The Philadelphia _Press_ of Dec. 5, 1870, stated that some\nCongressmen, including Vice-president Colfax, arrived in Washington by\nSunday trains, Dec. 4, on which the _Christian Statesman_ commented as\nfollows (we give italics as we find them):--\n\n     \"1. _Not one of those men ivho thus violated the Sabbath is fit to\n     hold any official position in a Christian nation_. * *\n\n     \"He who violates the Sabbath may not steal because the judgment of\n     society so strongly condemns theft, or because he believes that\n     honesty is the best policy; but tempt him with the prospect of\n     concealment, or the prospect of advantage, and there can be no\n     reason why he who robs God will not rob his neighbor also. For this\n     reason, the Sabbath law lies at the foundation of morality. Its\n     observance is an acknowledgment of the sovereign rights of God over\n     us.\n\n     \"2. _The sin of these Congressmen is a national sin_, because the\n     nation hath not said to them in the Constitution, the supreme rule\n     for our public servants, 'We charge you to serve us in accordance\n     with the higher law of God.' These Sabbath-breaking railroads,\n     moreover, are corporations created by the State, and amenable to\n     it. The State is responsible to God for the conduct of these\n     creatures which it calls into being. It is bound, therefore, to\n     restrain them from this as from other crimes, and any violation of\n     the Sabbath, by any corporation, should work immediate forfeiture\n     of its charter. And the Constitution of the United States, with\n     which all State legislation is required to be in harmony, should be\n     of such a character as to prevent any State from tolerating such\n     infractions of fundamental moral law.\n\n     \"3. Give us in the National Constitution the simple acknowledgment\n     of the law of God as the supreme law of nations, and _all the\n     results indicated in this note will ultimately be secured_. Let no\n     one say that the movement does not contemplate sufficiently\n     practical ends.\"\n\nFrom all this, we see the important place the Sabbath question is to\nhold in this movement--the important place it even now holds in the\nminds of those who are urging it forward. Let the amendment called for\nbe granted, \"and all the results indicated in this note,\" says the\nwriter, \"will ultimately be secured;\" that is, individuals and\ncorporations will be restrained from violating the Sunday observance.\nThe acknowledgment of God in the Constitution may do very well as a\nbanner under which to sail; but the practical bearing of the movement\nrelates to the compulsory observance of the first day of the week.\n\nEven now the question is agitated why the Jew should be allowed to\nfollow his business on the first day after having observed the seventh.\nThe same question is equally pertinent to all seventh-day keepers. A\nwriter signing himself \"American,\" in the Boston _Herald_ of Dec. 14,\n1871, said:--\n\n     \"The President in his late message in speaking of the Mormon\n     question, says, 'They shall not be permitted to break the law under\n     the cloak of religion.' This, undoubtedly, meets the approval of\n     every American citizen, and I wish to cite a parallel case, and\n     ask: Why should the Jews of this country be allowed to keep open\n     their stores on the Sabbath under the cloak of their religion while\n     I, or any other true American, will be arrested and suffer\n     punishment if we do the same thing? If there is a provision made\n     allowing a few to conduct business on the Sabbath, what justice and\n     equality can there be in any such provision, and why should it not\n     be stopped at once?\"\n\nAnd this question, we apprehend, will be very summarily decided, when\nonce the Consitutional Amendment has been secured.\n\nAt a Ministerial Association of the M.E. church held in Healdsburg,\nCal., April 26-28, 1870, Rev. Mr. Trefren, of Napa, speaking of S.D.A.\nministers, said, \"I predict for them a short race. What we want is law\nin the matter.\" Then, referring to the present movement for a law, he\nadded, \"And we will have it, too; and when we get the power into our\nhands, we will show these men what their end will be.\"\n\nFrom a work recently published by the Presbyterian Board of Publication,\nentitled \"The Sabbath,\" by Chas. Elliott, Professor of Biblical\nLiterature and Exegesis in the Presbyterian Theological Seminary of the\nNorth West, Chicago, Ill., we take this paragraph:--\n\n     \"But it may be asked, Would not the Jew be denied equality of\n     rights by legislation protecting the Christian Sabbath and ignoring\n     the Jewish? The answer is, We are not a Jewish but a Christian\n     nation; therefore, our legislation must be conformed to the\n     institutions and spirit of Christianity. This is absolutely\n     necessary from the nature of the case.\"\n\nThere is no mistaking the import of this language: No matter if the Jew\ndoes not secure equal rights with others. We are not a Jewish nation,\nbut a Christian; and all must be made to conform to what the majority\ndecide to be Christian institutions. This affects all who observe the\nseventh day as much as the Jews. And we apprehend it will not be a\ndifficult matter to lead the masses, whose prejudices incline them in\nthis direction, to believe that it is \"absolutely necessary\" that all\nlegislation must take such a form, and cause them to act accordingly.\n\nSeveral years since, Dr. Durbin of the _Christian Advocate and Journal_;\ngave his views on this subject as follows:--\n\n     \"I infer, therefore, that the civil magistrate may not be called\n     upon to enforce the observance of the Sabbath [Sunday] as required\n     in the spiritual kingdom of Christ; but when Christianity becomes\n     the moral and spiritual life of the State, the State is bound\n     through her magistrates to prevent the open violation of the holy\n     Sabbath, as a measure of self-preservation. She cannot, without\n     injuring her own vitality and incurring the divine displeasure, be\n     recreant to her duty in this matter.\"\n\nAt a meeting held at Saratoga Springs, Aug. 12, 1860, ex-president\nFillmore said that \"while he deemed it needful to legislate cautiously\nin all matters connected with public morals, and to avoid coercive\nmeasures affecting religion, the right of every citizen to a day of rest\nand worship could not be questioned, and laws securing that right should\nbe enforced.\"\n\nAnd the _Christian Statesman_ of Dec. 15, 1871, speaking of the general\ndisregard of the Sabbath [Sunday] in the arrangements for welcoming the\nGrand Duke Alexis, says:--\n\n     \"How long will it be before the Christian masses of this country\n     can be roused to enact a law compelling their public servants to\n     respect the Sabbath?\"\n\nA very marked and rapid change is taking place in public opinion\nrelative to the proposed religious amendment of the Constitution. We\nhave learned of instances of men who were at first openly hostile to the\nmovement, now giving their influence for its advancement, and clamoring\nloudly for a Sunday law. And some who at first regarded it with\nindifference, are now becoming its warm partisans. As a sample of this\nchange of feeling, the following paragraph from the _Christian Press_ of\nJan, 1872, may be presented. The _Christian Press_ is the organ of the\nWestern Book and Tract Society, Cincinnati, Ohio, and its editor,\nspeaking of the National Association above referred to, says:--\n\n     \"When this Association was formed, while we were prepared to bid it\n     God speed, we did not then feel that there was any pressing need\n     for the object sought; and as our mission was specially directed to\n     the Christianizing, enlightening and elevating, the masses of the\n     people, we have said little in our columns on the subject, being\n     assured that if the people are right, it is easy to set the\n     government right. The late combined efforts, however, of various\n     classes of our citizens to exclude the Bible from our schools,\n     repeal our Sabbath laws, and divorce our government entirely from\n     religion, and thus make it an atheistic government--for every\n     government must be for God or against him, and must be administered\n     in the interests of religion and good morals, or in the interests\n     of irreligion and immorality--have changed our mind, and we are now\n     prepared to urge the necessity for an explicit acknowledgment in\n     the National Constitution of the authority of God and the supremacy\n     of his law, as revealed in the Scriptures of the Old and New\n     Testaments.\"\n\nWith the anti-Sunday movements of the present day, considering their\nassociations, and the manner and object in and for which they are\ncarried forward, we have no sympathy. They aim at utter no-Sabbathism,\nfreedom from all moral restraint, and all the evils of unbridled\nintemperance--ends which we abhor with all the strength of a moral\nnature quickened by the most intense religious convictions. And while\nthe indignation of the batter portion of the community will be aroused\nat the want of religious principle and the immorality attending the\npopular anti-Sunday movement, a little lack of discrimination, by no\nmeans uncommon, will on account of our opposition to the day, though we\noppose it on entirely different ground, easily associate us with the\nclass above-mentioned, and subject us to the same odium.\n\nMeanwhile, some see the evils involved in this movement, and raise the\nvoice of alarm. The _Christian Union_, Jan., 1871, said:\n\n     \"The friends of the measure are not likely ever to agree among\n     themselves. The Convention which met in Philadelphia on the 18th\n     inst. to consider this subject, refused to accept a phraseology\n     which simply recognizes the Deity, and insisted upon including in\n     the emendation the name of Jesus Christ as well. A party, in behalf\n     of the Holy Spirit, which is so conspicuously slighted, will be the\n     next in order; and then the way will be open for a proposition to\n     recognize the 'Vicegerent of Christ on earth,' as the true source\n     of power among the nations! If the proposed amendment is anything\n     more than a bit of sentimental cant, it is to have a _legal_\n     effect. It is to alter the status of the non-Christian citizen\n     before the law. It is to affect the legal oaths and instruments,\n     the matrimonial contracts, the sumptuary laws, &c., &c., of the\n     country. This would be an outrage on natural right.\"\n\nThe Janesville (Wis.) _Gazette_, at the close of an article on the\nproposed amendment, speaks thus of the effect of the movement, should it\nsucceed:--\n\n     \"But independent of the question as to what extent we are a\n     Christian nation, it may well be doubted whether, if the gentlemen\n     who are agitating this question should succeed, they would not do\n     society a very great injury. Such measures are but the initiatory\n     steps which ultimately lead to _restrictions of religious freedom_,\n     and to commit the government to measures which are as foreign to\n     its powers and purposes as would be its action if it should\n     undertake to determine a disputed question of theology.\"\n\nThe _Weekly Alta Californian_ of San Francisco, March 12, 1870, said:--\n\n     \"The parties who have been recently holding a convention for the\n     somewhat novel purpose of procuring an amendment to the\n     Constitution of the United States recognizing the Deity, do not\n     fairly state the case when they assert that it is the right of a\n     Christian people to govern themselves in a Christian manner. If we\n     are not governing ourselves in a Christian manner, how shall the\n     doings of our government be designated? The fact is, that the\n     movement is one to bring about in this country that union of church\n     and State which all other nations are trying to dissolve.\"\n\nThe N.Y. _Independent_, Feb., 1870, spoke of the movement as having the\nsame chance of success that a union of church and State would have.\n\nThe Champlain _Journal_, speaking of the incorporating the religious\nprinciple into the Constitution, and its effect upon the Jews, said:--\n\n     \"However slight, it is the entering wedge between church and State.\n     If we may cut off ever so few persons from the right of citizenship\n     on account of difference of religious belief, then with equal\n     justice and propriety may a majority at any time dictate the\n     adoption of still further articles of belief, until our\n     Constitution is but the text book of a sect beneath whose\n     tyrannical sway _all liberty of religious opinion will be\n     crushed_.\"\n\nFor a union of church and State, strictly so-called, we do not look. In\nplace of this, we apprehend that what is called \"the image,\" a creation\nas strange as it is unique, comes in--not a State controlled by the\nchurch, and the church in turn supported by the State, but an\necclesiastical establishment empowered to enforce its own decrees by\ncivil penalties; which, in all its practical bearings, amounts to\nexactly the same thing. The direct aim of the movement is undoubtedly a\nunion of church and State; a result which it will so nearly accomplish\nas to secure, by way of compromise, the erection of the image.\n\nSome one may now say, As you expect this movement to carry, you must\nlook for a period of religious persecution in this country; nay, more,\nyou must take the position that all the saints of God are to be put to\ndeath; for the image is to cause that all who will not worship it shall\nbe killed.\n\nThere would, perhaps, be some ground for such a conclusion, were we not\nelsewhere informed that in this dire conflict God does not abandon his\npeople to defeat, but grants them a complete victory over the beast, his\nimage, his mark, and the number of his name. Rev. 15:2. We further read\nrespecting this earthly power, that he causeth all to receive a mark in\ntheir right hand or their foreheads; yet chapter 20:4, speaks of the\npeople of God as those who do not receive the mark or worship the image.\nIf, then, he could \"cause\" all to receive the mark, and yet all not\nactually receive it, in like manner his causing all to be put to death\nwho will not worship the image does not necessarily signify that their\nlives are actually to be taken.\n\nBut how can this be? Answer: It evidently comes under that rule of\ninterpretation in accordance with which verbs of action sometimes\nsignify merely the will and endeavor to do the action in question, and\nnot the actual performance of the thing specified. George Bush,\nProfessor of Hebrew and Oriental Literature in New York City University,\nmakes this matter plain. In his notes on Ex. 7:11, he says:--\n\n     \"It is a canon of interpretation of frequent use in the exposition\n     of the sacred writings that verbs of action sometimes signify\n     merely the _will_ and _endeavor_ to do the action in question. Thus\n     in Eze. 24:13: 'I have _purified_ thee, and thou wast not purged;'\n     _i.e._, I have endeavored, used means, been at pains, to purify\n     thee. John 5:44: 'How can ye believe which _receive_ honor one of\n     another;' _i.e._, endeavor to receive. Rom. 2:4: 'The goodness of\n     God _leadeth_ thee to repentance;' _i.e._, endeavors, or tends, to\n     lead thee. Amos 9:3: 'Though they be _hid_ from my sight in the\n     bottom of the sea;' _i.e._, though they aim to be hid. 1 Cor.\n     10:33: 'I _please_ all men;' _i.e._, endeavor to please. Gal. 5:4:\n     'Whosoever of you are _justified_ by the law;' _i.e._, seek and\n     endeavor to be justified. Ps. 69:4: 'They that _destroy_ me are\n     mighty;' _i.e._, that endeavor to destroy me. Eng., 'That _would_\n     destroy me.' Acts 7:26: 'And _set them at one_ again;' _i.e._,\n     wished and endeavored. Eng., '_Would_ have set them.'\"\n\nSo in the passage before us: He causes all to receive a mark, and all\nwho will not worship the image to be killed; that is, he wills,\npurposes, and endeavors, to do this; he makes such an enactment, passes\nsuch a law, but is not able to execute it; for God interposes in behalf\nof his people; and then those who have kept the word of Christ's\npatience are kept from falling in this hour of temptation, according to\nRev. 3:10; then those who have made God their refuge are kept from all\nevil, and no plague comes nigh their dwelling, according to Ps. 91:\n9,10; then all who are found written in the book are delivered,\naccording to Dan. 12:1; and, being victors over the beast and his\nimage, they are redeemed from among men, and raise a song of triumph\nbefore the throne of God, according to Rev. 14:4; 15:2.\n\nThe objector may further say: You are altogether too credulous in\nsupposing that all the skeptics of our land, the spiritualists, the\nGerman infidels, and the irreligious masses generally, can be so far\nbrought to favor the religious observance of Sunday that a general law\ncan be promulgated in its behalf.\n\nWe answer: The prophecy must be fulfilled; and if the prophecy requires\nsuch a revolution, it will be accomplished. But we do not know that it\nis necessary. Permit us to suggest an idea, which, though it is only\nconjecture, may show how enough can be accomplished to fulfill the\nprophecy without involving the classes mentioned. This movement, as has\nbeen shown, must originate with the churches of our land, and be carried\nforward by them. They wish to enforce certain practices among all the\npeople; and it would be very natural that, in reference to those points\nrespecting which they wish to influence the outside masses, they should\nsee the necessity of first having absolute conformity among all the\nevangelical denominations. They could not expect to influence\nnon-religionists to any great degree on questions respecting which they\nwere divided among themselves. So, then, let union be had on those views\nand practices which the great majority already entertain. To this end\ncoercion may first be attempted. But here are a few who cannot possibly\nattach to the observance of the first day, which the majority wish to\nsecure, any religious obligation; and would it be anything strange for\nthe sentence to be given, Let these few factionists be made to conform,\nby persuasion if possible, by force, if necessary. Thus the blow may\nfall on conscientious commandment-keepers, before the outside masses are\ninvolved in the issue at all. And should events take this not improbable\nturn, it would be sufficient to meet the prophecy, and leave no ground\nfor the objection proposed.\n\nTo receive the mark of the beast in the forehead, is, we understand, to\ngive the assent of the mind and judgment to his authority in the\nadoption of that institution which constitutes the mark. By parity of\nreasoning, to receive it in the hand would be to signify allegiance by\nsome outward act.\n\nThe number, over which the saints are also to get the victory, is the\nnumber of the papal beast, called also the number of his name, and the\nnumber of a man, and said to be six hundred threescore and six. The pope\nwears upon his pontifical crown in jeweled letters, this title:\n\"_Vicarius Filii Dei_,\" \"Vicegerent of the Son of God;\" the numerical\nvalue of which title is just six hundred and sixty-six. The most\nplausible supposition we have ever seen on this point is that here we\nfind the number in question. It is the number of the beast, the papacy;\nit is the number of his name; for he adopts it as his distinctive title;\nit is the number of a man; for he who bears it is the \"man of sin.\" We\nget the victory over it by refusing those institutions and practices\nwhich he sets forth as evidence of his power to sit supreme in the\ntemple of God, and by adopting which we should acknowledge the validity\nof his title, by conceding his right to act for the church in behalf of\nthe Son of God.\n\nAnd now, reader, we leave with you this subject. We confidently submit\nthe argument as one which is invulnerable in all its points. We ask you\nto review it carefully. Take in, if thought can comprehend it, the\nwonderful phenomenon of our own nation. Consider its location, the time\nof its rise, the manner of its rise, its character, Satan's masterpiece\nof lying wonders which he has here sprung upon the world, and the\nelements which are everywhere working to fulfill in just as accurate a\nmanner every other specification of the prophecy. Can you doubt the\napplication. We know not how. Then the last agents to appear in this\nworld's history are on the stage of action, the close of this\ndispensation is at hand, and the Lord cometh speedily to judge the\nworld. Then an issue of appalling magnitude is before us. It is no less\nthan this: To yield to unrighteous human enactments soon to be made, and\nthus expose ourselves to the unmingled wrath of an insulted Creator, or\nto remain loyal to our God and brave the utmost wrath of the dragon and\nhis infuriated hosts.\n\nIn reference to this issue, the third angel now utters his solemn and\nvehement warning. To aid in sounding over the land this timely note of\nalarm, to impress upon hearts the importance of a right position in the\ncoming issue, and the necessity of pursuing such a course as will secure\nthe favor of God in the season of earth's direst extremity, and a share\nat last in his glorious salvation, is the object of this effort. And if\nwith any it shall have this effect, the prayer of the writer will not be\nutterly unanswered, nor his labor be wholly lost.","title":"The United States in the Light of Prophecy: Or, an Exposition of Rev. 13:11-17","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":37723}