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The numerous +rays of light now shining from the book of prophecy, seem to find their +focal point in our own times. The present age is illuminated in this +respect above all others. Here we find the most emphatic touches of the +prophetic pencil. The events to transpire, and the agents therein +concerned, are brought out in a vivid and startling light.</p> + +<p>The question naturally arises, what part the United States has to act in +these scenes; for it must seem reasonable and probable that a nation +which has arisen so suddenly as ours, made such unparalleled progress, +and attained to such a pinnacle of greatness and power, must be a +subject of divine prophecy, or at least of divine providence.</p> + +<p>To this question the following pages undertake to give a brief but +scriptural, and so a reasonable and conclusive answer; and to such only +as do not believe that God ever foretells the history of nations, or +that his providence ever works in their develop<a class="newpage" name="page6"></a>ment and decline, can +the subject fail to be one of interest.</p> + +<p>That this little treatise is exhaustive of the subject is not claimed; +but some facts are presented which are thought to be worthy of serious +consideration, and enough evidence, we trust, produced in favor of the +position taken to show the reader that the subject is not one of mere +theory, but of the highest practical importance; and so enough to +stimulate thought and lead to further inquiry.</p> + +<p>If the position here taken be correct, this subject is to be one of +continually-increasing interest, and information respecting it is +necessary to an understanding of our duties and responsibilities in the +solemn and important times that are upon us. It is in this light that we +especially commend it to the serious consideration of the reader.</p> + +<p>U.S.</p> + +<p>BATTLE CREEK, Mich., June, 1874.</p> + + + +<div id="toc"> +<h3>Contents</h3> + +<ol> +<li><a href="#chapter1">Probabilities Considered, Pp. 9-19</a></li> +<li><a href="#chapter2">A Chain Of Prophecy, 20-30</a></li> +<li><a href="#chapter3">Location Of The Two-horned Beast, 31-40</a></li> +<li><a href="#chapter4">Chronology Of The Two-horned Beast, 41-51</a></li> +<li><a href="#chapter5">The United States Have Arisen In The Exact Manner In Which John Saw The Two-horned Beast Coming Up, 52-69</a></li> +<li><a href="#chapter6">Character Of The Government Represented By The Two-horned +Beast, 70-78</a></li> +<li><a href="#chapter7">The Dragon Voice, 79-88</a></li> +<li><a href="#chapter8">He Doeth Great Wonders, 89-100</a></li> +<li><a href="#chapter9">An Image To The Beast, 101-111</a></li> +<li><a href="#chapter10">The Mark Of The Beast, 112-132</a></li> +<li><a href="#chapter11">The Beginning Of The End, 133-160</a></li> +</ol> + +</div> + + + +<div id="chapter1" class="chapter"> +<h3>Chapter One.</h3> + +<h4>Probabilities Considered.</h4> + + +<p>The United States—what are they? Two hundred years ago, this question +could not have been answered; it could not even have been asked. Now it +can be answered by the dwellers in every quarter of the globe. Then a +few small settlements of earnest men, flying from the religious +intolerance of the Old World, dotted a narrow strip of coast line on our +New England border. Now a mighty nation, with a vast expanse of +territory stretching from ocean to ocean, and from regions almost arctic +on the north to regions equally torrid on the south, embracing more +square leagues of habitable land than Rome ruled over in its palmiest +days, here holds a position of independence and glory among the nations +of the earth.</p> + +<p>And the sound of this new nation has gone into all the world. It has +reached the toiling millions <a class="newpage" name="page10"></a>of Europe; and they are swarming to our +shores to share its blessings. It has gone to the islands of the sea; +and they have sent their contributions. It has reached the Orient, and +opened as with a password the gates of nations long barred against +intercourse with other powers; and China and Japan, turning from their +beaten track of forty centuries, are looking with wonder at the prodigy +arising across the Pacific to the east of them, and catching some of the +impulse which this growing power is imparting to the nations of the +earth.</p> + +<p>Less than one hundred years ago, with three millions of people, the +United States became an independent government. It has now a population +of thirty-eight and a half millions of people, and a territory of three +and a half millions of square miles. Russia alone exceeds this nation in +these particulars, having forty millions more of people, and four +millions more square miles of territory. Of all other nations on the +globe whose laws are framed by legislative bodies elected by the people, +Brazil, which has the largest territory, has not quite three millions of +square miles; and France, the most populous, has not probably, +considering her late reverses and misfortunes, a greater number of +inhabitants than our own country. So that in point of territory and +population combined, it will be seen that the United States now stand at +the head of the self-governing powers of the earth.</p> + +<p><a class="newpage" name="page11"></a>Occupying a position altogether unique, this government excites equally +the astonishment and admiration of all beholders. The main features of +its history are such as have had no parallel since the distinction of +nations existed among men.</p> + +<p>1. No nation ever acquired so vast a territory in so quiet a manner.</p> + +<p>2. No nation ever rose to such greatness by so peaceable means.</p> + +<p>3. No nation ever advanced so rapidly in all that constitutes national +strength and capital.</p> + +<p>4. No nation ever rose to such a pinnacle of power in a space of time so +incredibly short.</p> + +<p>5. No nation in so limited a time has developed such unlimited +resources.</p> + +<p>6. No nation has ever existed founded on principles of justice so pure +and undefiled.</p> + +<p>7. No nation has ever existed in which the conscience of men have been +left so untrammeled and free.</p> + +<p>8. In no nation and in no age of the world, have the arts and sciences +so flourished, so many improvements been made, and so great successes +been achieved, as in our own country during the last fifty years.</p> + +<p>9. In no nation and in no age has the gospel found such freedom, and the +churches of Christ had such liberty to spread abroad their principles +and develop their strength.</p> + +<p><a class="newpage" name="page12"></a>10. No age of the world has seen such an immigration as that which is +now pouring into our borders from all lands the millions who have long +groaned under despotic governments, and who now turn to this broad +territory of freedom as the avenue of hope, the Utopia of the nations.</p> + +<p>The most discerning minds have been intuitively impressed with the idea +of the future greatness and power of this government. In view of the +grand results developed and developing, the discovery of America by +Columbus, not four hundred years ago, is set down as the greatest event +of all secular history. The progress of empire to this land was long ago +expected.</p> + +<p>Sir Thomas Brown, in 1682, predicted the growth of a power here, which +would rival the European kingdoms in strength and prowess.</p> + +<p>In Burnaby's Travels through the middle settlements of North America, in +1759 and 1760, published in 1775, is expressed this sentiment:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"An idea, strange as it is visionary, has entered into the minds of +the generality of mankind, that empire is traveling westward; and +every one is looking forward with eager and impatient expectation +to that destined moment when America is to give the law to the rest +of the world."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>John Adams, Oct. 12, 1775, wrote:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"Soon after the Reformation, a few people came over into this New +World for conscience' sake. Perhaps this apparently trivial +incident may transfer the great seat of empire to America."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p><a class="newpage" name="page13"></a>On the day after the Declaration of Independence, he wrote:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"Yesterday the greatest question was decided which ever was debated +in America, and a greater perhaps never was, nor will be, decided +among men."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>In 1776, Galiani, a Neapolitan, predicted the gradual decay of European +institutions, to renew themselves in America. In 1778, in reference to +the question as to which was to be the ruling power in the world, Europe +or America, he said:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"I will wager in favor of America."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>Adam Smith of Scotland, in 1776, predicted the transfer of empire to +America.</p> + +<p>Governor Pownal, an English statesman, in 1780, while our Revolution was +in progress, predicted that this country would become independent, and +that a civilizing activity beyond what Europe could ever know, would +animate it; and that its commercial and naval power would be found in +every quarter of the globe. Again he said:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"North America has advanced, and is every day advancing, to growth +of state, with a steady and continually accelerating motion, of +which there never has yet been any example in Europe."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>David Hartley wrote from England in 1777:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"At sea, which has hitherto been our prerogative element, they [the +United States] rise against us at a stupendous rate; and if we +cannot return to our old mutual hospitalities toward each other, a +very few years will show <a class="newpage" name="page14"></a>us a most formidable hostile marine, +ready to join hands with any of our enemies."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>Count d'Aranda, one of the first of Spanish statesmen, in 1783 thus +wrote of this republic:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"This Federal Republic is born a pygmy, so to speak. It required +the support and forces of two powers as great as Spain and France +in order to attain independence. A day will come when it will be a +giant, even a colossus formidable in these countries."<a href="#fn_1"><sup>1</sup></a></p> +</blockquote> + +<div class="note" id="fn_1"><p>[1] These quotations are from an article by Hon. Charles +Sumner, entitled, "Prophetic Voices about America," published in the +<i>Atlantic Monthly</i> of September, 1807.</p></div> + +<p>Of these prophecies, some are now wholly fulfilled, and the rest far on +the road to fulfillment. This infant of yesterday stands forth to-day a +giant, vigorous, active, and courageous, and accepts with dignity its +manifest destiny at the head of powers and civilizations.</p> + +<p>Such, in brief, is the answer to the question proposed at the opening of +this chapter. Another question immediately follows: Does the prophetic +pen which has so fully delineated the rise and progress of all the other +great nations of the earth, pass this one by unnoticed? What are the +probabilities in this matter? As the student of prophecy, in common with +all mankind, looks with wonder upon the unparalleled rise and progress +of this nation, he cannot repress the conviction that the hand of +Providence has been at work <a class="newpage" name="page15"></a>in this quiet but mighty revolution. And +this conviction he shares in common with others.</p> + +<p>Gov. Pownal, from whom a quotation has already been presented, speaking +of the establishment of this country as a free and sovereign power calls +it</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"A revolution that has stronger marks of <i>divine interposition,</i> +superseding the ordinary course of human affairs than any other +event which this world has experienced."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>De Tocqueville, a French writer, speaking of our separation from +England, says:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"It might seem their folly, but was really their fate, or, rather, +the providence of God, who has doubtless a work for us to do, in +which the massive materiality of the English character would have +been too ponderous a dead weight upon our progress."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>Geo. Alfred Townsend, speaking of the misfortunes that have attended the +other governments on this continent (New World and Old, p. 635), says:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"The history of the United States was separated by a beneficent +Providence far from this wild and cruel history of the rest of the +continent."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>Again he says:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"This hemisphere was laid away for no one race."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>If Providence has been thus conspicuously present in our history, we may +look for some mention of this government in that Book which records the +workings of Providence among mankind. On <a class="newpage" name="page16"></a>what conditions have other +nations found a place in the prophetic record? First, if they have acted +any prominent part in the world's history; and secondly, and above-all, +if they have had jurisdiction over, or maintained any relations with, +the people of God. And both these conditions are fulfilled in our +government. No nation has ever attracted more attention or excited more +profound wonder, or given promise of greater eminence or influence. And +certainly here, if anywhere on the globe, are to be found a strong array +of Christians, such as are the salt of the earth, and the light of the +world.</p> + +<p>With these probabilities in our favor, let us now take a brief survey of +those symbols found in the word of God, which represent earthly +governments. These are found chiefly, if not entirely, in the books of +Daniel and Revelation. In Dan 2, a symbol is introduced in the form of a +great image. In Dan 7, we find a lion, a bear, a leopard, and a great +and terrible nondescript, which, after passing through a new and +remarkable phase, goes into the lake of fire. In Dan. 8, we have a ram, +a he goat, and a horn, little at first, but waxing exceeding great. In +Revelation 9, we have locusts like unto horses. In Rev. 12, we have a +great red dragon. In Rev. 13, we have a blasphemous leopard beast, and a +beast with two horns like a lamb. In Rev. 17, we have a scarlet-colored +beast, upon which a woman sits holding in her hand a golden cup full of +filthiness and abomination.</p> + +<p><a class="newpage" name="page17"></a>What governments and what powers are represented by all these? Do any +of them symbolize our own? Some of these certainly represent earthly +kingdoms; for so the prophecies themselves expressly inform us; and in +the application of nearly all of them there is quite a uniform agreement +among expositors. The four-parts of the great image of Dan. 2 represent +four kingdoms, Babylon, or Chaldea, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. The +lion of the seventh chapter also represents Babylon; the bear, +Medo-Persia; the leopard, Grecia; and the great and-terrible beast, +Rome. The horn, with human eyes and mouth, which appears in the second +phase of this beast, represents the papacy, and covers its history down +to the time when it was temporarily overthrown by the French in 1798. In +Dan. 8, likewise, the ram represents Medo-Persia, the he goat, Grecia, +and the little horn, Rome. All these have a very clear and definite +application to the governments named; none of them thus far can have any +reference to the United States.</p> + +<p>The symbols brought to view in Rev. 9, all are agreed in applying to the +Saracens and Turks. The dragon of Rev. 12, is the acknowledged symbol of +Pagan Rome. The leopard beast of Rev. 13 can be shown to be identical +with the eleventh horn of the fourth beast of Dan. 7, and hence to +symbolize the papacy. The scarlet beast and woman of Rev. 17, as +evidently apply also to Rome under papal rule, the symbols having +es<a class="newpage" name="page18"></a>pecial reference to the distinction between the civil power and the +ecclesiastical, the one being represented by the beast, the other by the +woman seated thereon.</p> + +<p>There is one symbol left, and that is the two-horned beast of Rev. 13. +On this there is more difference of opinion; and before seeking for an +application, let us look at the ground covered by those already +examined. Babylon and Medo-Persia covered all the civilized portion of +Asia. Greece covered eastern Europe including Russia. Rome, with the ten +kingdoms into which it was divided, as represented by the ten toes of +the image, the ten horns of the fourth beast of Dan. 7, the ten horns of +the dragon of Rev. 12, and the ten horns of the leopard beast of Rev. +13, covered all Western Europe. In other words, all the civilized +portion of the eastern hemisphere is absorbed by the symbols already +examined, respecting the application of which there is scarcely any room +for doubt.</p> + +<p>But there is a mighty nation in this western hemisphere, worthy, as we +have seen, of being mentioned in prophecy, which is not yet brought in; +and there is one symbol remaining, the application of which has not yet +been made. All the symbols but one are applied, and all the available +portions of the eastern hemisphere are covered by the applications. Of +all the symbols mentioned, one, the two-horned beast of Rev. 13, is +left; and of all the countries of the earth respecting which <a class="newpage" name="page19"></a>any reason +exists why they should be mentioned in prophecy, the United States alone +are left. Do the two-horned beast and the United States belong together? +If they do, then all the symbols find an application, and all the ground +is covered. If they do not, it follows, first, that the United States +are not represented in prophecy; and, secondly, that the two-horned +beast finds no government to which it can apply. But the first of these +suppositions is not probable; and the second is not possible.</p> +</div> + + +<div id="chapter2" class="chapter"> +<a class="newpage" name="page20"></a> +<h3>Chapter Two.</h3> + +<h4>A Chain Of Prophecy.</h4> + + +<p>We now enter upon a more particular examination of the second symbol of +Rev. 13, with a view to determine with greater certainty its +application. What is said respecting this symbol, the beast with two +horns like a lamb, is not an isolated and independent prophecy, but is +connected with what precedes; and the symbol itself is but one of a +series. It is proper therefore to briefly examine the preceding symbols, +since if we are able to make a satisfactory application of them, it will +guide us in the interpretation of this.</p> + +<p>The line of prophecy of which this forms a part commences with Rev. 12. +The book of Revelation is evidently not a consecutive prophecy of events +to transpire from the beginning to the close of the gospel dispensation, +but is composed of a series of prophetic lines, each taking up its own +class of events, and tracing them through from the days of the prophet +to the end of time. And when one line of prophecy is completed, another +is taken up. That a new series of prophetic events is introduced in Rev. +12, is evident; since in the preceding chapter a line of prophecy is +completed, bringing us down to the great day of <a class="newpage" name="page21"></a>God's wrath, the +judgment of the dead, and the eternal reward of those that fear God and +revere his name. No line of prophecy can go farther; and any events to +transpire in probation, subsequently mentioned, must of course belong to +a new series.</p> + +<p>Commencing, then, with chapter 12, how far does this line of prophecy +extend? The first symbol introduced, which can be applied to an earthly +government, is the great red dragon. The second is the beast of Rev. 13, +which, having the body of a leopard, we shall call, for brevity's sake, +the leopard beast. To this beast the dragon gives his seat, power, and +great authority. This beast, then, is connected with the dragon, and +belongs to this line of prophecy. The third symbol is the two-horned +beast of Rev. 13. This beast exercises certain power in the presence of +the leopard beast, and causes the earth and them that dwell therein to +worship him. This beast, therefore, is connected with the leopard beast, +and hence belongs to the same line of prophecy. No conclusion is reached +in chapter 13, and hence the prophecy is not there completed. Going +forward into chapter 14, we find a company brought to view who are +redeemed from among men (which can mean nothing else than translation +from among the living at the second coming of Christ); and they sing a +song before the throne which none but themselves can learn. In chapter +15, we have a company presented before us who have gotten the victory +<a class="newpage" name="page22"></a>over the beast, his image, the mark, and the number of his name—the +very things brought to view in the concluding portion of Rev. 13. This +company also sing a song, even the song of Moses and the Lamb; and they +sing it while standing upon the sea of glass, as stated in verse 2. +Turning to chapter 4:6, we learn that this sea of glass is "before the +throne." The conclusion, therefore, follows that those who sing before +the throne, in chapter 14, are identical with those who sing on the sea +of glass (before the throne), in chapter 15, inasmuch as they stand in +the same place, and the song they both sing is the first glad song of +actual redemption. But the declarations found in chapter 15 show that +the company introduced in the opening of chapter 14 have been in direct +conflict with the powers brought to view in the closing verses of +chapter 13, and have gotten the victory over them. Being thus connected +with those powers, they form a part of the same line of prophecy. But +here this line of prophecy must end; for this company is spoken of as +redeemed; and no line of prophecy, as already noticed, can go beyond the +eternal state.</p> + +<p>The line of prophecy in which the two-horned beast stands, is, +therefore, one which is very clearly defined: it commences with chapter +12, and ends with verse 5 of chapter 14. The student of prophecy finds +it one of vast importance; the humble child of God, one of transcendent +<a class="newpage" name="page23"></a>interest. It begins with the church, and ends with the church—the +church, at first in humility, trial, and distress; at last, in victory, +exaltation, and glory. This is the one object which ever appears the +same in all the scenes here described, and whose history is the leading +theme of the prophecy, from first to last. Trampled under the feet of +the three colossal persecuting powers here brought to view, the +followers of Christ for long ages bow their heads to the pitiless storm +of oppression and persecution; but the end repays them all; for John +beholds them at last, the storms all over, their conflicts all ended, +waving palm-branches of victory, and striking on golden harps a song of +everlasting triumph within the precincts of the heavenly land.</p> + +<p>We turn then to the inquiry, What power is designated by the great red +dragon of chapter 12? The chapter first speaks of a woman clothed with +the sun, the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve +stars. A woman is the symbol of the church; a lewd woman representing a +corrupt or apostate church, as in Eze. 23:2-4, &c., which refers to the +Jewish church in a state of backsliding, and in Rev. 17:3-6, 15, 18, +which refers to the apostate Romish church; and a virtuous woman +representing the true church, as in the verse under consideration. At +what period in her history could the church be properly represented as +here described? Ans. At the opening of the gospel dispensation, and at +no other time; for then the glory of this dispen<a class="newpage" name="page24"></a>sation, like the light +of the sun, had just risen upon her; the former dispensation, which, +like the moon, shone with a borrowed light, had just passed and lay +beneath her feet. And twelve inspired apostles, like a crown of twelve +stars, graced the first organization of the gospel church. To this +period these representations can apply, but to no other. The prophet +antedates this period a little by referring to the time when the church +with longing expectation was awaiting the advent into this world of the +glorious Redeemer.</p> + +<p>A man child here represented as the offspring of this woman, appears +upon the stage. This child was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, +and was caught up to God and his throne. Verse 5. These declarations are +true of our Lord Jesus Christ, but of no one else. See Ps. 2:7-9; Eph. +1:20, 21; Heb. 8:1; Rev. 3:21. There is therefore no mistaking the +time when the scenes here described took place. We mention these facts +for the purpose of identifying the power symbolized by the dragon; for +the dragon stood before the woman, to devour her child as soon as it +should be born. Who attempted the destruction of our Lord when he +appeared as a babe in Bethlehem? Herod. And who was Herod? A Roman +governor. Rome, which then ruled over all the earth, Luke 2:1, was the +responsible party in this transaction. Rome was the only power which at +this time could be symbolized in prophecy, as its dominion was +universal. It is not <a class="newpage" name="page25"></a>without good reason, therefore, that Pagan Rome is +considered among Protestant commentators to be the power indicated by +the great red dragon. And it may be a fact worth mentioning that during +the second, third, fourth, and fifth centuries of the Christian era, +next to the eagle, the dragon was the principal standard of the Roman +legions; and that dragon was painted red.</p> + +<p>There is but one objection we need pause to answer before passing to +the'next symbol. Is not the dragon plainly called in verse 9, the devil, +and Satan? How then can it be applied to Pagan Rome? That the term +dragon is primarily applied to the devil, there seems to be no doubt; +but that it should be applied also to some of his chief agents, would +seem to be appropriate and unobjectionable. Now Rome being at this time +pagan, and the supreme empire of the world, was the great, if not almost +the sole, agent in the hands of the devil for carrying out his purposes. +Hence the application of that term to the Roman power.</p> + +<p>The next symbol to engage our attention is the leopard beast of chapter +13, to which the dragon gives his seat, his power, and great authority. +It would be sufficient on this point to show to what power the dragon, +Pagan Rome, transferred its seat and gave its power. The seat of any +government is certainly its capital city. The city of Rome was the +dragon's seat. But in A.D. 330, <a class="newpage" name="page26"></a>Constantine transferred the seat of +empire from Rome to Constantinople; and Rome was given up to what? To +decay, desolation, and ruin? No; but to become far more celebrated than +it had ever before been, not as the seat of pagan emperors, but as the +city of St. Peter's successors, the seat of a spiritual hierarchy which +was not only to become more powerful than any secular prince, but +through the magic of its fatal sorcery was to exercise dominion over the +kings of the earth. Thus was Rome given to the papacy; and the decree of +Justinian, issued in 533, and carried into effect in 538, constituting +the pope the head of all the churches and the corrector of heretics, was +the investing of the papacy with that power and authority which the +prophet foresaw.</p> + +<p>It is very evident, therefore, that this leopard beast is a symbol of +the papacy. But there are other considerations which prove this. This +beast has the body of a leopard, the mouth of a lion, and the feet of a +bear, which shows it to be some power which succeeded those three beasts +of Daniel's prophecy, and retained some of the characteristics of them +all; and that was Rome. But this is not the first, or pagan form of the +Roman government; for that is represented by the dragon; and this is the +form which succeeded that, which was the papal.</p> + +<p>But what most clearly shows that this beast represents the papacy, is +its identity with the lit<a class="newpage" name="page27"></a>tle horn of the fourth beast of Daniel 7, +which all Protestants agree in applying to the papal power.</p> + +<p>1. Their chronology. The little horn arises after the great and terrible +beast, which represents Rome in its first or pagan form, is fully +developed even to the existence of the ten horns, or the division of the +Roman empire into ten parts. Dan. 7:24. The leopard beast succeeds the +dragon which also represents Rome in its pagan form. These powers appear +therefore upon the stage of action at the same time.</p> + +<p>2. Their location. The little horn plucked up three horns to make way +for itself. The last of these, the Gothic horn, was plucked up when the +Goths were driven from Rome in 538, and the city was left in the hands +of the little horn, which has ever since held it as the seat of its +power. To the leopard beast also, the dragon gave its seat, the city of +Rome. They therefore occupy the same location.</p> + +<p>3. Their character. The little horn is a blasphemous power; for it +speaks great words against the Most High. Dan. 7:25. The leopard beast +also is a blasphemous power; for it bears upon its head the name of +blasphemy; it has a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and he +opens his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his +tabernacle, and them that dwell in Heaven. Rev. 13:1, 5, 6.</p> + +<p>4. Their work, The little horn by a long and <a class="newpage" name="page28"></a>heartless course of +oppression against the saints of the Most High, wears them out; and they +are given into his hand. Dan. 7:25. He makes war against them, and +prevails. Verse 21. The leopard beast also makes war upon the saints, +and overcomes them. Rev. 13:7.</p> + +<p>5. The time of their continuance, Power was given to the little horn to +continue a "time and times, and the dividing of time." Dan. 7:25. A +time in Scripture phraseology is one year. Dan, 4:25. (The "seven +times" of Nebuchadnezzar's humiliation, Josephus informs us, were seven +years.) Times, that is two times, the least that can be expressed by the +plural, would be two years more; and the dividing of time, or half a +time, half a year; making in all, three years and a half. To the leopard +beast power was also given to continue forty-two months, which at twelve +months to the year, give us again just three years and a half. And this +being prophetic time, a day for a year (Num. 14:34; Eze. 4:6), and +there being accord to Scripture reckoning thirty days to a month, or +three hundred and sixty days to a year (Gen, 7:11, 24; 8:4), we have +in each case twelve hundred and sixty years, for the continuance of the +little horn and the leopard beast.</p> + +<p>6. Their overthrow. At the end of the time, times and a half, the +dominion of the little horn was to be taken away. Dan. 7:26. At the end +of the forty-two months, the same length of time, <a class="newpage" name="page29"></a>the leopard beast was +also to be slain, politically, with the sword, and go into captivity. +Rev. 13:3, 10.</p> + +<p>These are points which prove not merely similarity, but identity. For +whenever two symbols, as in this instance, represent powers that come +upon the stage of action at the same time, occupy the same territory, +maintain the same character, do the same work, continue the same length +of time, and meet the same fate, those two symbols must represent one +and the same power. And in all these particulars there is, as we have +seen, the most exact co-incidence between the little horn of the fourth +beast of Dan. 7, and the leopard beast of Rev. 13; and all are fulfilled +by one power, and that is the papacy. The papacy succeeded to the pagan +form of the Roman empire. It has, ever since it was first established, +occupied the seat of the dragon, the city of Rome, building for itself +such a sanctuary, St, Peter's, as the world nowhere else beholds. It is +a blasphemous power, speaking the most presumptuous words it is possible +for mortal lips to utter against the Most High. It has worn out the +saints, the Religious Encyclopedia estimating that the lives of fifty +millions of Christians have been quenched in blood by its merciless +implements of torture. It has continued a time, times and a half, or +forty-two months, or twelve hundred and sixty years. Commencing in 538, +when the decree of Justinian in behalf of papal <a class="newpage" name="page30"></a>supremacy was first +made effectual by the overthrow of the Goths, the papacy enjoyed a +period of uninterrupted supremacy for just twelve hundred and sixty +years, when its power was temporarily overthrown, and its influence +permanently crippled, by the French in 1798.</p> + +<p>Can any one doubt that the papacy is the power in question, and that the +interpretation of this symbol brings us down within seventy-six years of +our own time? We regard the exposition of the prophecy, thus far, as +clear beyond the possibility of refutation; and if this is so, our +future field of inquiry lies within a very narrow compass, as we shall +presently see.</p> +</div> + + +<div id="chapter3" class="chapter"> +<a class="newpage" name="page31"></a> +<h3>Chapter Three</h3> + +<h4>Location Of The Two-horned Beast.</h4> + + +<p>Following the leopard, or papal beast of Rev. 13, in consecutive order, +comes the two-horned beast, whose appearance the prophet delineates, and +whose work he describes, in the following language:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>Verse 11. And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth, +and he had two horns like a lamb; and he spake as a dragon. 12. And +he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and +causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first +beast, whose deadly wound was healed. 13. And he doeth great +wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth +in the sight of men, 14, and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth +by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the +sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the eaith, that +they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a +sword, and did live. 15. And he had power to give life unto the +image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, +and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast +should be killed. 16. And he causeth all, both small and great, +rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right +hand, or in their foreheads; 17; and that no man might buy or sell, +save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number +of his name.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>These few verses, with an allusion to the same power under the name of +"the false prophet" in <a class="newpage" name="page32"></a>Rev. 16:13, and 19; 20, furnish all the +testimony we have respecting the two-horned beast; but brief as it is, +it gives sufficient data for a very certain application of the symbol in +question. As an example of the world of meaning which prophecy can +condense into a single word, the first verse of the foregoing quotation +may be instanced. Here, within a compass of twenty-five words, only four +of which are words of more than one syllable, six grand points are made, +which taken together are sufficient to determine accurately the +application of this symbol. The prophet says first, that it is "another +beast;" secondly, that when his attention was turned to it it was +"coming up;" thirdly, that it came up "out of the earth;" fourthly, that +it had "two horns;" fifthly, that these horns were like those of "a +lamb;" and sixthly, that it spoke, and by speaking revealed its true +character; for the voice was that of "a dragon."</p> + +<p>The two-horned beast then is "another beast," in addition to, and +different from, the papal beast which the prophet had just had under +consideration; that is, it symbolizes a power separate and distinct from +that which is denoted by the preceding beast. This which John calls +"another beast" is certainly no part of the first beast; and the power +symbolized by it is likewise no part of that which is intended by that +beast. This is fatal to the claim of those who, to avoid the application +of this symbol to our own government, say that <a class="newpage" name="page33"></a>it denotes some phase of +the papacy; for in that case it would be a part of the preceding, or +leopard beast.</p> + +<p>To avoid this difficulty, it is claimed that the two-horned beast +represents the religious or ecclesiastical, and the leopard beast the +civil, power of Rome under papal rule; that these symbols correspond to +the beast and woman in Rev. 17, the one representing the civil power, +the other the ecclesiastical. But this claim also falls to the ground +just as soon as it is shown that the leopard beast represents the +religious as well as the civil element of that power. And nothing is +easier than to show this.</p> + +<p>Take the first symbol, the dragon. What does it represent? Rome. But +this is not enough; for Rome has presented two great phases to the +world, and the inquirer wants to know which one is intended by this +symbol. The answer then is, Pagan Rome; but just as soon as we add +"Pagan," we introduce a religious element; for paganism is one of the +mightiest systems of false religion ever devised by the arch-enemy of +truth. It was, then, the religious element in the empire that determined +what symbol should be used to represent it; and the dragon represented +Rome while under the control of a particular form of religion.</p> + +<p>But the time comes when another symbol is introduced upon the scene—the +leopard beast arises <a class="newpage" name="page34"></a>out of the sea. What power is symbolized by this? +The answer is still, Rome. But the dragon symbolized Rome, and why not +let that symbol continue to represent it? Whoever attempts to answer +this question must say that it is because a change had taken place in +the power. What change? Two kinds of changes are conspicuous in the +history of Rome: changes in form of government, and a change in +religion. But this cannot denote any change in the form of government; +for the seven different forms of government that Rome consecutively +assumed are represented by the seven heads of the dragon, and the seven +heads of the leopard beast. The religious change must therefore be alone +denoted by this change of symbols. Paganism and Christianity coalesced, +and the mongrel production was the papacy; and this new religion, and +this alone, made a change in the symbol necessary. Every candid mind +must assent to this; and this assent is an admission of the utter +absurdity of trying to limit this symbol to the civil power alone. So +far from its representing the civil power alone, it is to the +ecclesiastical element that it owes its very existence.</p> + +<p>That the leopard beast represents ecclesiastical as well as civil power +is further shown in the arguments already presented to prove that this +beast is identical with the little horn of Daniel's fourth beast, which +symbolizes the papacy in all its components parts and through all its +history. It is <a class="newpage" name="page35"></a>the leopard beast alone that is identical with this +little horn, not the leopard beast and the two-horned beast taken +together.</p> + +<p>Again, Pagan Rome gave its seat to the papacy. The dragon gave his seat +to the leopard beast. If it takes both the leopard beast and the +two-horned beast to constitute the papacy, the prophet should have said +that the dragon gave his seat and power to these two beasts combined. +The fact that his transfer was to the leopard beast alone, is proof +positive that that beast alone symbolizes the papacy in its entirety.</p> + +<p>When, therefore, John calls the two-horned beast "another beast," it is +certain that he does not mean any particular phase, or any part, of the +papal power.</p> + +<p>It is claimed by others that the two-horned beast represents England; by +still others, France; and by some, Russia, &c. The first, among many +other fatal objections to all these applications, is, that the territory +occupied by all these powers is already appropriated by preceding +symbols. If the two-homed beast symbolized any of these, it would be a +part of other beasts instead of "another beast," separate and distinct +from all the rest. It is a law of symbols that each one occupies +territory peculiarly its own; that is, the territory which constituted +the original government, was no part of that which had been occupied by +the previous powers. Thus Medo-Persia rose on <a class="newpage" name="page36"></a>territory not occupied by +Babylon; and Medo-Persia and Babylon together covered all that portion +of Asia known to ancient civilization. The Grecian or Macedonian kingdom +arose to the west of them, occupying all Eastern Europe, so far as it +was then known to the ancients. Rome arose still to the west, in +territory unoccupied by Grecia. Rome was divided into ten kingdoms; but +though Rome conquered the world, we look for these divisions only to +that territory which had never been included in other kingdoms. We look +not to Eastern Europe; for that was included in the dominion of the +third beast: nor to Asia; for that constituted the empires of the first +and second beasts: but to Western Europe, which territory was unoccupied +till taken by Rome and its divisions.</p> + +<p>The ten kingdoms which arose out of the old Roman Empire are enumerated +as follows by Machiavel, indorsed by Bp. Newton, Faber, and Dr. Hales: +1. The Huns. 2. The Ostrogoths. 3. The Visigoths. 4. The Franks. 5. The +Vandals. 6. The Suevi. 7. The Burgundians. 8. The Heruli. 9. The +Anglo-Saxons, and 10. The Lombards. These kingdoms have since been +known, says Scott, as the "ten kingdoms of the western empire," and they +are distinguishable at the present day, some of them even by their +modern names, as Hungary from the Huns, Lombardy, from the Lombards, +France from the Franks, and <a class="newpage" name="page37"></a>England from the Anglo-Saxons. These ten +kingdoms being denoted by the ten horns of the leopard beast, it is +evident that all the territory included in these ten kingdoms is to be +considered as belonging to that beast. England is one of these ten +kingdoms; France is another. If therefore we say that either of these is +the one represented by the two-horned beast, we make one of the horns of +the leopard beast constitute the two-horned beast. But this the prophecy +forbids; for while John sees the leopard beast fully developed, with his +horns all complete and distinct, he beholds the two-horned beast coming +up, and calls it "another beast." We are therefore to look for the +government which this beast symbolizes, in some country outside the +territory occupied by the four beasts and the ten horns already referred +to. But these, as we have seen, cover all the available portions of the +eastern continent.</p> + +<p>Another consideration pointing to the locality of this power is drawn +from the fact that John saw it arising from the earth. If the sea from +which the leopard beast arose, Rev. 13:1, denotes peoples, nations, and +multitudes, Rev. 17:15, the earth would suggest, by contrast, a new and +previously-unoccupied territory.</p> + +<p>Being thus excluded from the eastern continent, and impressed with the +idea of looking to territory not previously known to civilization, we +turn of necessity to the western hemisphere. And this is in full harmony +with the ideas already quoted, <a class="newpage" name="page38"></a>and more which might be presented, that +the progress of empire is with the sun around the earth from east to +west. Commencing in Asia, the cradle of the race, it would end on this +continent, which completes the circuit. Bishop Berkley, in his +celebrated poem on America, written more than one hundred years ago, in +the following forcible lines, pointed out the then future position of +America, and its connection with preceding empires.</p> + +<div class="poem" id="poem1"> + <div class="stanza" id="poem1_s1"> + <div class="line" id="poem1_l1">"Westward the course of empire takes its way;</div> + <div class="line" id="poem1_l2"> The four first acts already past,</div> + <div class="line" id="poem1_l3">A fifth shall close the drama with the day;</div> + <div class="line" id="poem1_l4"> Time's noblest offspring is the last."</div> + </div> +</div> + +<p>By the "four first acts already past," the bishop had undoubted +reference to the four universal kingdoms of Daniel's prophecy. A fifth +great power, the noblest and the last, was, according to his poem, to +arise this side the Atlantic, and here close the drama of time, as the +day here ends its circuit.</p> + +<p>To what part of the American continent shall we look for the power in +question? To the most powerful and prominent nation certainly. This is +so self-evident that we need not stop to pass in review the frozen +fragments of humanity on the north of us, nor the weak, superstitious, +semi-barbarous, revolutionary, and uninfluential kingdoms to the south +of us. No; we come to <a class="newpage" name="page39"></a>the United States, and here we are held. To this +nation the question of the location of the two-horned beast +undeviatingly leads us.</p> + +<p>As an objection to this view, it may occur to some minds that the +two-horned beast exercises all the power of the first beast before him +(Greek <span lang="el" title="enopion">ἐνώπιον</span>, literally, before his eyes) and does wonders in +his sight; and how can the United States, separated by an ocean from +European kingdoms, hold such an intimate relation to them? We answer, +Space and time are annihilated by the telegraph. Through the Atlantic +cable (an enterprise which, by the way, owes its origin to the United +States), the lightnings are continually picturing to European beholders +the affairs of America. Any important event occurring here is described +the next hour in the journals of Europe. So far as the transmission of +an account of our proceedings to the people of the Old World is +concerned, it is as if America lay at the mouth of the English Channel.</p> + +<p>And the eyes of all Europe are intently watching our movements. Says Mr, +Townsend (New World and Old, p. 583):—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"All the great peoples of Europe are curiously interested and +amazed in the rise of America, and their rulers at present compete +for our friendship. 'Europe,' said the prince Talleyrand, long ago, +'must have an eye on America, and take care not to offer any +pretext for recrimination or retaliation. America is growing every +day. She will become a colossal power, and the time will come when +(discoveries enabling her to communicate more ea<a class="newpage" name="page40"></a>sily with Europe) +she will want to say a word in our affairs, and have a hand in +them.'"</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>The time has come, and the discoveries have been made to which +Talleyrand referred. It is almost as easy now to communicate with Europe +as with our nearest town. By these things the attention of the world is +drawn still more strongly toward us; and thus whatever the United States +does, it is done in the sight, yes, even before the eyes, of all Europe.</p> +</div> + + +<div id="chapter4" class="chapter"> +<a class="newpage" name="page41"></a> +<h3>Chapter Four</h3> + +<h4>Chronology Of The Two-horned Beast.</h4> + + +<p>Having become satisfied where the power symbolized by the two-horned +beast must be located, we now inquire respecting the time when we may +look for its development. At what period in this world's history is the +rise of this power located in the prophecy? On this point, as on the +preceding, the foundation for the conclusions at which we must arrive, +is already laid in the facts elicted in reference to the preceding or +leopard beast. It was at the time when this beast went into captivity, +or was killed (politically) with the sword, verse 10, or (which we +suppose to be the same thing), had one of its heads wounded to death, +verse 3, that John saw the two-horned beast coming up. If the leopard +beast, as we have conclusively proved, signifies the papacy, and the +going into captivity met its fulfillment in the temporary overthrow of +the popedom by the French, in 1798, then we have the time definitely +specified, when we are to look for the rising of this power. The +expression, "coming up," must signify that the power to which it applies +was but newly organized, and was then just rising into prominence and +influence. The power represented by this symbol, <a class="newpage" name="page42"></a>must, then, be some +power which in 1798 stood in this position before the world.</p> + +<p>That the leopard beast is a symbol of the papacy, there can be no +question; but some may want more evidence that the wounding of one of +its heads, or its going into captivity, was the overthrow of the papacy +in 1798. This can easily be given. A nation being represented by a wild +beast, the government of that nation, that by which it is controlled, +must as a very clear matter of course be considered as answering to the +head of the beast. The seven heads of this beast would therefore denote +seven different governments; but all the heads pertain to one beast, and +hence all these seven different forms of government pertain to one +empire. But only one form of government can exist in a nation at one +time; hence the seven heads must denote seven forms of government to +appear, not simultaneously, but successively. But these heads pertain +alike to the dragon and the leopard beast; from which this one +conclusion only can be drawn: that Rome, during its whole history, +embracing both its pagan and papal phases, would change its government +six times, presenting to the world seven different forms in all. And the +historian records just that number as pertaining to Rome. Rome was first +ruled by Kings; second, by Consuls; third, by Decemvirs; fourth, by +Dictators; fifth, <a class="newpage" name="page43"></a>by Triumvirs; sixth, by Emperors; and seventh, by +Popes.</p> + +<p>John saw one of these heads wounded, as it were, to death. Which one? +Can we tell? Let it be noticed, first, that it is one of the heads of +the beast which is wounded to death, and not one of the heads of the +dragon; that is, it is some form of government which existed in Rome +after the change of symbols from the dragon to the leopard beast. We +then inquire, How many of the different forms of Roman government +belonged absolutely to the dragon, or existed in Rome while it +maintained its dragonic or pagan form? These same seven heads are again +presented to John in Rev. 17; and the angel there explains that they are +seven kings, or forms of government, verse 10; and he informs John that +five are fallen, and one is; that is, five of these forms of government +were already passed in John's day; and he was living under the sixth. +Under what form did John live? The imperial; it being the cruel decree +of the emperor Domitian which banished him to the isle of Patmos where +this vision was given. Kings, Consuls, Decemvirs, Dictators, and +Triumvirs, were all in the past in John's day. Emperors were then ruling +the Roman world; and the empire was still pagan. Six of these heads, +therefore, Kings, Consuls, Decemvirs, Dictators, Triumvirs, and Emperors +belonged to the dragon; for they all existed while Rome was pagan: and +it was no one of these that was wounded to death; <a class="newpage" name="page44"></a>for had it been, John +would have said, I saw one of the heads of the dragon wounded to death. +The wound was inflicted after the empire had so changed in respect to +its religion that it became necessary to represent it by the leopard +beast. But the beast had only seven heads, and if six of them pertain to +the dragon, only one remained to have an existence after this change in +the empire took place. After the Emperors, the sixth and last head that +existed in Rome in its dragonic form, came the Popes, the only head that +existed after the empire had nominally become Christian. The "Exarch of +Ravenna" existed so "short a space," Rev. 17:10, that it has no place in +the general enumeration of the heads of this power.</p> + +<p>From these considerations, it is evident that the head which received +the mortal wound, was none other than the papal head. This conclusion +cannot be shaken. We have now only to inquire when the papal head was +wounded to death. It could not certainly be till after its full +development; but after this, the prophecy marked out for it an +uninterrupted rule of 1260 years from its establishment in 538, till the +revolution of 1798. Then the papacy was, for the time being, overthrown. +General Berthier, by order of the French Directory, moved against the +dominions of the pope in January, 1798. February 10, he effected an +entrance into the self styled eternal city, and, on the 15th of the same +month, proclaimed the establishment of the Roman republic. The pope, +<a class="newpage" name="page45"></a>after this deprivation of his authority, was conveyed to France as a +prisoner, and died at Valence, Aug. 29, 1799.</p> + +<p>This would have been the end of the papacy, had this overthrow been made +permanent. The wound would have proved fatal had it not been healed. +But, though the wound was healed, the scar, so to speak, has ever since +remained. A new pope was elected in 1800, and the papacy was restored, +but only to a partial possession of its former privileges.</p> + +<p>Let the reader look carefully at this event. It furnishes a complete +fulfillment of the prophecy; and it is the only event in all Roman +history which does this; for though the first six heads were each, in +turn; exterminated, or gave place to a succeeding head, of no one of +them could it be said that it received a deadly wound, and was afterward +healed. And as this overthrow of the papacy by the French military must +be the wounding of the head mentioned in Rev. 13:3, so, likewise, must +it be the going into captivity, and the killing with the sword, +mentioned in verse 10; for it is an event of the right nature to fulfill +the prophecy, and one which occurred at the right time; namely, at the +end of the time, times, and a half, the forty-two months, or the 1260 +years; and no other event can be found answering to the record in these +respects. We are not left, therefore, with any discretionary power in +the application of this prophecy; for God, by his providence, <a class="newpage" name="page46"></a>has +marked the era of its accomplishment in as plain a manner as if he had +proclaimed with an audible voice, Behold here the accomplishment of my +prophetic word!</p> + +<p>Thus clearly is the exact time indicated in the prophecy when we are to +look far the rise of the two-horned beast; for John, as soon as he +beholds the captivity of the first or leopard beast, says: "And I beheld +another beast coming up." And his use of the present participle, +"coming" up, clearly connects this view with the preceding verse, and +shows it to be an event transpiring simultaneously with the going into +captivity of the previous beast. If he had said, "And I had seen another +beast coming up," it would prove that when he saw it, it was coming up, +but that the time when he beheld it was indefinitely in the past. If he +had said, "And I beheld another beast which had come up," it would prove +that although his attention was called to it at the time when the first +beast went into captivity, yet its rise was still indefinitely in the +past. But when he says, "I beheld another beast <i>coming up</i>" it proves +that when he turned his eyes from the captivity of the first beast, he +saw another power right then in the process of rapid development among +the nations of the earth. So, then, about the year 1798, the star of +that power which is symbolized by the two-horned beast must be seen +rising to the zenith of its glory. In view of these considerations, it +is useless to speak of this power as having arisen <a class="newpage" name="page47"></a>ages in the past. To +attempt such an application is to show one's self utterly reckless in +regard to the plainest statements of inspiration.</p> + +<p>Again, the work of the two-horned beast is plainly located, by verse 12, +this side the captivity of the first beast. It is there stated, in +direct terms, that the two-horned beast causes "the earth and them which +dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was +healed." But worship could not be rendered to a beast whose deadly wound +was healed, till after that healing was accomplished. This brings the +worship unmistakably within the present century.</p> + +<p>Says Eld. J. Litch (Restitution, p. 131):—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"The two-horned beast is represented as a power existing and +performing his part after the death and revival of the first +beast."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>Mr. Wesley, in his notes on Rev. 14, says of the two-horned beast:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"He has not yet come, though he cannot be far off; for he is to +appear at the end of the forty-two months of the first beast."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>We find three additional declarations in the book of Revelation which +prove, in a general sense, that the two-horned beast performs his work +with that generation of men who are to behold the closing up of all +earthly scenes, and the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ; and +these will complete the argument on this point.</p> + +<p>The first is the message of the third angel, <a class="newpage" name="page48"></a>brought to view in the +14th of Revelation. It is not our purpose to enter into an exposition of +the three messages of that chapter. We call the attention of the reader +to only one fact, which must be apparent to all; and that is, that the +third of these messages is the last warning of danger, and the last +offer of mercy, before the close of human probation; for the event which +immediately follows is the appearance of one like the Son of man on a +white cloud, coming to reap the harvest of the earth, verse 14, which +can represent nothing else but the second advent of the Lord from +Heaven. Whatever views, therefore, a person may take of the first and +second messages, and at whatever time he may apply them, it is very +certain that the third and last one covers the closing hours of time, +and reaches down to the second coming of Christ. And what is the burden +of this message? It is a denunciation of the unmingled wrath of God +against these who worship the beast and his image. But this worship of +the beast and his image is the very work which the two-horned beast +endeavors to enforce upon the people. The third message, then, is a +warning against the work of the two-horned beast. And as there would be +no propriety in supposing this warning to be given after that work was +performed; as it could appropriately be given only when the two-horned +beast was about to enforce, and while he was endeavoring to enforce, +that worship; and as the second coming of <a class="newpage" name="page49"></a>Christ immediately succeeds +the proclamation of this message, it follows that the duties enjoined by +this message, and the decrees enforced by the two-horned beast, +constitute the last test to be brought to bear upon the world; and hence +the two-homed beast performs his work, not ages in the past, but among +the last generation of men.</p> + +<p>The second passage, which shows that the work of the two-horned beast is +performed just before the close of time, is found in Rev. 15:2, which we +have shown to refer to the same company spoken of in chapter 14:1-5. +Here is a company who have gotten the victory over the beast and his +image and the mark and the number of his name; in other words, they have +been in direct conflict with the two-horned beast, which endeavors to +enforce the worship of the beast and the reception of his mark. And +these are "redeemed from among men" (14:4), or are translated from among +the living at the second coming of Christ. 1 Cor. 15:51,52; 1 Thess. +4:16,17. This again shows conclusively that it is the last generation +which witnesses the work of this power.</p> + +<p>The third passage is Rev. 19:20, which speaks of the two-horned beast +under the title of the false prophet, and mentions a point not given in +Rev. 13, namely, the doom he is to meet. In the battle of the great day, +which takes place in connection with the second coming of Christ, verses +11-19, the false prophet, or two-horned beast, is cast alive into a lake +of fire burning with brim<a class="newpage" name="page50"></a>stone; and the word "alive" signifies that +this power will be at that time a living power performing its part in +all its strength and vigor. This power is not to pass off the stage of +action, and be succeeded by another; but is to be a ruling power till +destroyed by the King of kings and Lord of lords, when he comes to dash +the nations in pieces with a rod of iron.</p> + +<p>The sum of the argument, then, on this matter of chronology, is this: +That the two-horned beast does not come into the field of this vision +previous to the year 1798; that it performs its work while the last +generation of men is living on the earth; and that it comes up to the +battle of the great day a living power in the full vigor of its +strength.</p> + +<p>As it was shown in the argument on the location of the two-horned beast +that we were limited in our application to this western continent, so we +are limited still further by its chronology; for it must not only be +some power which arises this side of the Atlantic, but one which is seen +coming up here at a <i>particular time</i>. Taking our stand, then, in the +year 1798, the time indicated in the prophecy, we invite the careful +attention of the reader to this question: What independent power in +either North or South America was at that time "coming up" in a manner +to answer to the conditions of the prophecy? All that part of North +America lying to the north of us was under the dominion of Russia and +Great Britain. Mexico, to the south-west, was a Spanish colony. <a class="newpage" name="page51"></a>Passing +to South America, Brazil belonged to Portugal, and most of the other +South American States were under Spanish control. In short, there was +not then a single civilized, independent government in the New World, +except our own United States. No other nation, therefore, can be the one +represented in the prophecy; but this one so far answers to it most +accurately. It has always taken the lead of all European settlements in +this hemisphere. It was "coming up" at the exact time indicated in the +prophecy. Like a lofty monument in a field all its own, stand the United +States on this continent, grand, unique, unexplainable. So far as God's +providence works among the nations for the accomplishment of his +purposes, it is visible in the development of this country as an agent +to fulfill his word. On these two vital points of location and +chronology the arguments which show that our country is the one +represented by the symbol of the two-horned beast are absolutely +conclusive.</p> +</div> + + +<div id="chapter5" class="chapter"> +<a class="newpage" name="page52"></a> +<h3>Chapter Five.</h3> + +<h4>The United States Have Arisen In The Exact Manner In Which John Saw The +Two-horned Beast Coming Up.</h4> + + +<p>The manner in which the two-horned beast was seen coming up shows, +equally with its location and its chronology, that it is a symbol of +these United States. John says he saw the beast coming up "out of the +earth." And this expression must have been designedly used to point out +the contrast between the rise of this beast, and that of other national +prophetic symbols. The four beasts of Daniel 7, and the leopard beast of +Rev. 13, all arose out of the sea. Says Daniel, The four winds of Heaven +strove upon the great sea, and four beasts came up from the sea. The sea +denotes peoples, nations, and tongues, Rev. 17:15; and the winds denote +political strife and commotion. Jer. 35:32, 33. There was then, in this +scene, the dire commotion of nature's mightiest elements, the wind +above, the waters benneath, the fury of the gale, the roaring and +dashing of the waves, and the tumult of the raging storm; and in the +midst of this war of elements, as if aroused from the depths of the sea +by the fearful commotion, these beasts one after another appeared. In +other words, the govern<a class="newpage" name="page53"></a>ments of which these beasts were symbols owed +their origin to movements among the people which would be well +represented by the sea lashed into foam by the sweeping gale; they arose +by the upheav<del>e</del><ins>a</ins>ls of revolution, and through the strife of war.</p> + +<p>But when the prophet beholds the rising of the two-horned beast, how +different the scene! No political tempest sweeps the horizon, no armies +clash together like the waves of the sea. He does not behold the +troubled and restless surface of the waters, but a calm and immovable +expanse of earth. And out of this earth, like a plant growing up in a +quiet and sheltered spot, he sees this beast, bearing on his head the +horns of a lamb, those eloquent symbols of youth and innocence, daily +augmenting in bodily proportions, and daily increasing in physical +strength.</p> + +<p>Some may here point to the war of the Revolution as an event which +destroys the force of this application; but this furnishes no objection; +for 1. That war was at least fifteen years in the past when the +two-horned beast was introduced into the field of this vision; and 2. +The war of the Revolution was not a war of conquest. It was not waged to +overthrow any other kingdom, and build this government on its ruins, but +only to defend the just rights of the American people. An act of +resistance against continual attempts of injustice and tyranny, cannot +certainly be placed in <a class="newpage" name="page54"></a>the same catalogue with wars of aggression and +conquest. The same may be said of the war of 1812. Hence, these +conflicts do not even partake of the nature of objections to the +application here set forth.</p> + +<p>The word which John uses to describe the manner in which this beast +comes up is very expressive. It is <span lang="el" title="anabainon">ἀναβαῑνον</span> (<i>anabainon</i>), one +of the prominent definitions of which is, "to grow or spring up as a +plant." And it is a remarkable fact that this very figure has been +chosen by political writers, as the one which best illustrates the rise +of our government. Mr. G.A. Townsend, in his work entitled, "The New +World Compared with the Old," p. 462, says:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"Since America was discovered, she has been a subject of +revolutionary thought in Europe. The mystery of <i>her coming forth +from vacancy</i>, the marvel of her wealth in gold and silver, the +spectacle of her captives led through European capitals, filled the +minds of men with unrest: and unrest is the first stage of +revolution."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>On p. 635, he further says:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"In this web of islands, the West Indies, began the life of both +[North and South] Americas. There Columbus saw land, there Spain +began her baneful and brilliant Western Empire; thence Cortez +departed for Mexico, De Soto for the Mississippi, Balboa for the +Pacific, and Pizarro for Peru. The history of the United States was +separated by a beneficient Providence far from this wild and cruel +history of the rest of the continent, and <i>like a silent seed, we +grew into empire</i>; while empire itself, beginning in the South, was +swept <a class="newpage" name="page55"></a>by so interminable a hurricane that what of its history we +can ascertain is read by the very lightnings that devastated it. +The growth of English America may be likened to a series of lyrics +sung by separate singers, which, coalescing, at last make a +vigorous chorus, and this, attracting many from afar, swells and is +prolonged, until presently it assumes the dignity and proportions +of epic song."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>A writer in the <i>Dublin Nation</i> about the year 1850 spoke of the United +States as a wonderful empire which was "<i>emerging</i>," and "<i>amid the +silence of the earth</i> daily adding to its power and pride."</p> + +<p>In Martyn's "History of the Great Reformation," Vol. iv, p. 238, is an +extract from an oration of Edward Everett, on the English exiles who +founded this government, in which he says:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"Did they look for a retired spot, inoffensive from its obscurity, +safe in its remoteness from the haunts of despots, where the little +church of Leyden might enjoy freedom of conscience? Behold the +mighty regions over which in <i>peaceful conquest—victoria sine +clade</i>—they have borne the banners of the cross."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>We now ask the reader to look at these expressions side by side: "Coming +up out of the earth," "coming forth from vacancy," "emerging amid the +silence of the earth," "like a silent seed we grew into empire," "mighty +regions" secured by "peaceful conquest." The first is from the prophet, +stating what would be when the two-horned beast should arise; the others +are from <a class="newpage" name="page56"></a>political writers, telling what has been in the history of our +own government. Can any one fail to see that the last four are exactly +synonymous with the first, and that they record a complete +accomplishment of the prediction? And what is not a little remarkable, +those who have thus recorded the fulfillment have, without any reference +to prophecy, used the very figure which the prophet employed. These men, +therefore, being judges—men of large and cultivated minds, and whose +powers of discernment all will acknowledge to be sufficiently clear—it +is certain that the particular manner in which the United States have +arisen, answers most strikingly to the development of the symbol under +consideration.</p> + +<p>We now extend the inquiry a step further: Have the United States "come +up" in a manner to fulfill the prophecy? Has their progress been +sufficiently great and sufficiently rapid to corresponds to that visible +and perceptible growth which John saw in the two-horned beast?</p> + +<p>Every person whose reading is ordinarily extensive, has something of an +idea of what the United States are to-day; he likewise has an idea, so +far as words can convey it to his mind, of what they were at the +commencement of their history. The only object, then, in presenting +statistics and testimony on this point, is to show that our rapid growth +has struck mankind with the wonder of a constant miracle.</p> + +<p><a class="newpage" name="page57"></a>Said Emile de Girardin, in <i>La Liberte</i> (1868):—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"The population of America, not thinned by any conscription, +multiplies with prodigious rapidity, and the day may before [long +be] seen, when they will number sixty or eighty millions of souls. +This <i>parvenu</i> [one recently risen to notice] is aware of his +importance and destiny. Hear him proudly exclaim, 'America for +Americans!' See him promising his alliance to Russia; and we see +that power which well knows what force is, grasp the hand of this +giant of yesterday.</p> + +<p> "In view of his <i>unparalleled progress and combination</i>, what are +the little toys with which we vex ourselves in Europe? What is this +needle gun we are anxious to get from Prussia, that we may beat her +next year with it? Had we not better take from America the +principle of liberty she embodies, out of which have come her +citizen pride, her gigantic industry, and her formidable loyalty to +the destinies of her republican land?"</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>The <i>Dublin</i> (Ireland) <i>Nation</i>, already quoted, says:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"In the east, there is arising a colossal centaur called the +Russian Empire. With a civilized head and front, it has the sinews +of a huge barbaric body. There one man's brain moves 70,000,000. +There all the traditions of the people are of aggression and +conquest in the west. There but two ranks are +distinguishable—serfs and soldiers. There the map of the future +includes Constantinople and Vienna as outposts of St. Petersburg.</p> + +<p> "In the west, an opposing and still more wonderful American Empire +is emerging. We islanders have no conception of the extraordinary +events which amid the silence of the earth are daily adding to the +power and pride of this gigantic nation. Within three years, +territories more extensive than these three kingdoms [Great +<a class="newpage" name="page58"></a>Britain, Ireland, and Scotland] France and Italy put together, +have been quietly, and in almost 'matter of course' fashion, +annexed to the Union.</p> + +<p> "Within seventy years, seventeen new sovereignties, the smallest of +them larger than Great Britain, have peaceably united themselves to +the Federation. No standing army was raised, no national debt sunk, +no great exertion was made, but there they are. And the last mail +brings news of three more great States about to be joined to the +thirty: Minnesota in the north-west, Deseret in the south-west, and +California on the shores of the Pacific. These three States will +cover an area equal to one-half the European continent."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>Mitchel, in his School Geography (4th revised edition), p. 101, speaking +of the United States, says:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"When it is considered that one hundred years ago the inhabitants +numbered but 1,000,000, it presents the most striking instance of +national growth to be found in the history of mankind."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>Let us reduce these general statements to the more tangible form of +facts and figures. A short time before the great Reformation in the days +of Martin Luther, not four hundred years ago, this Western Continent was +discovered. The Reformation brought out a large class of persons who +were determined to worship God according to the dictates of their own +consciences. Being fettered and oppressed by the religious intolerance +of the Old World, they sought, in the wilds of America, that measure of +civil and religious freedom which they so much desired. A little more +than two <a class="newpage" name="page59"></a>hundred years ago, Dec. 22, 1620, the Mayflower landed one +hundred of these voluntary exiles on the coast of New England. Here, +says Martyn, "New England was born," and this was "its first baby cry, a +prayer and a thanksgiving to the Lord."</p> + +<p>Another permanent English settlement was made at Jamestown, Va., in +1607. In process of time other settlements were made, and colonies +organized, which were all subject to the English government till the +declaration of Independence July 4, 1776.</p> + +<p>The population of these colonies, according to the <i>U.S. Magazine</i> of +August, 1855, amounted in 1701, to 262,000; in 1749, to 1,046,000; in +1775, to 2,803,000. Then commenced the struggle of the American colonies +against the oppression of the mother country. In 1776, they declared +themselves as, in justice and right, an independent nation. In 1777, +delegates from the thirteen original States, New Hampshire, +Massachussets, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, +Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South +Carolina, and Georgia, in Congress assembled, adopted articles of +confederation. In 1783, the war of the Revolution closed by a treaty of +peace with Great Britain, whereby our independence was acknowledged, and +territory ceded to the extent of 815,615 square miles. In 1787, the +Constitution was framed <a class="newpage" name="page60"></a>and ratified by the foregoing thirteen States, +and on the 1st of March, 1789, went into operation. Then the American +ship of State was fairly launched, with less than one million square +miles of territory, and about three millions of souls.</p> + +<p>Thus we are brought to the time when, in our interpretation of +Revelation 13, this government is introduced into the prophecy as +"coming up." Our territorial growth since then has been as follows: +Louisiana, acquired from France in 1803, comprising 930,928 square miles +of territory. Florida, from Spain in 1821, with 59,268 square miles. +Texas, admitted to the Union in 1845, with 237,504 square miles. Oregon, +as settled by treaty in 1846, with 380,425 square miles. California, as +conquered from Mexico in 1847, with 649,762 square miles. Arizona (New +Mexico), as acquired from Mexico by treaty in 1854, with 27,500 square +miles. Alaska, as acquired by purchase from Russia in 1867, with 577,390 +square miles. This gives a grand total of three million, five hundred +and seventy-eight thousand, three hundred and ninety-two (3,578,392) +square miles of territory, which is about four-ninths of all North +America, and more than one-fifteenth of the whole land surface of the +globe.</p> + +<p>And while this expansion has been thus rapidly going forward here, how +has it been with the other leading nations of the globe? Macmillian & +Co., the London publishers, in announcing their "States<a class="newpage" name="page61"></a>man's Year Book" +for 1867, make an interesting statement of the changes that took place +in Europe during the half century between the years 1817 and 1867. They +say:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"The half century has extinguished three kingdoms, one grand duchy, +eight duchies, four principalities, one electorate, and four +republics. Three new kingdoms have arisen, and one kingdom has been +transformed into an empire. There are now forty-one States in +Europe against fifty-nine which existed in 1817. Not less +remarkable is the territorial extension of the superior States of +the world. Russia has annexed 567,364 square miles; the United +States, 1,968,009; France, 4,620; Prussia, 29,781; Sardinia, +expanding into Italy, has increased by 83,041; the Indian Empire +has been augmented by 431,616. The principal States that have lost +territory are Turkey, Mexico, Austria, Denmark, and the +Netherlands."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>We ask the especial attention of the reader to these particulars. During +the last half century, twenty-one goverments have disappeared +altogether; and only three new ones have arisen. Five have lost instead +of gained in territory. Only five, besides our own, have added to their +domain. And the one which has done the most in this direction has added +only a little over half a million of square miles, while we have added +nearly two millions. Thus the United States government has added over +fourteen hundred thousand square miles of territory more than any other +single nation, and over eight hundred thousand more than have been added +by all the other nations of the <a class="newpage" name="page62"></a>earth put together: In view of these +facts, can any one doubt, looking the whole world over, which government +it is that has been, during this time, emphatically, "coming up"?</p> + +<p>In point of population, our increase since 1798, according to the census +of the several decades, has been as follows: In 1800, the total number +of inhabitants in the United States was 5,305,925; in 1810, 7,239,814; +in 1820, 9,638,191; in 1830, 12,866,020; in 1840, 17,069,453; in 1850, +23,191,876; in 1860, 31,445,089; in 1870, 38,555,983. These figures are +almost too large for the mind to readily grasp. Perhaps a better idea +can be formed of the rapid increase of population by looking at a few +representative cities. Boston, in 1792, had 18,000 inhabitants; now, +250,000. New York, in 1792, 30,000; now, nearly 1,000,000. Chicago, +about thirty years ago, was a little trading post, with a few huts; but +yet it contained at the time of the great conflagration in October, +1871, nearly 350,000 souls. San Francisco, twenty years ago, was a +barren waste, but contains to-day 170,000 inhabitants.</p> + +<p>Our industrial growth has been equally remarkable. In 1792, the United +States had no cotton mill. In 1850, there were 1074, employing 100,000 +hands. Only forty-one years ago the first section of the first railroad +in this country, the Baltimore and Ohio, was opened to a distance of +twenty-three miles. We have now 52,000 miles <a class="newpage" name="page63"></a>in operation. It was only +thirty-four years ago that the magnetic telegraph was invented. Now the +estimated length of telegraph wire in operation is over 100,000 miles. +In 1833, the first reaper and mower was constructed, and in 1846, the +first sewing machine was completed. Think of the hundreds of thousands +of both of these classes of machines now in use. And there are now more +lines of telegraph and railroad projected and in process of construction +than ever before, and greater facilities and larger plans for +manufactories of all kinds than at any previous point of time. And +should these industries increase in the same geometrical ratio, and time +continue ten years, the figures we now chronicle would then read about +as the records of a century ago now read to us.</p> + +<p>And Nature herself, by the physical features she has stamped upon our +country, has seemed to lay it out as a field for national development on +the most magnificent scale. Here we have the largest lakes, the longest +rivers, the mightiest cataracts, the deepest caves, the broadest and +most fertile prairies, and the richest mines of gold and iron and coal +and copper, to be found upon the globe. "When America was discovered, +there were but sixty millions of gold in Europe. California and the +territories round her have produced one thousand millions of dollars in +gold in twenty years. Sixty-one million dollars was the <a class="newpage" name="page64"></a>largest annual +gold yield ever made in Australia. California has several times produced +ninety millions of gold in a year." (Townsend, p. 384.) "The area of +workable coal beds in all the world outside the United States is +estimated at 26,000 square miles. That of the United States, not +including Alaska, is estimated at over 200,000 square miles, or <i>eight +times as large as the available coal area of all the rest of the +globe!</i>" (American Year Book for 1869, p. 655.) "The iron product and +manufacture of the United States has increased enormously within the +last few years, and the vast beds of iron convenient to coal in various +parts of the Union, are destined to make America the chief source of +supply for the world." "Three mountains of solid iron [in Missouri], +known as Iron Mountain, Pilot Knob, and Shepherd's Mountain, are among +the most remarkable natural curiosities on our continent." (<i>Id.</i> p. +654.)</p> + +<p>And the people have taken hold to lay out their work on the grand scale +that nature has indicated. Excepting only the Houses of Parliament in +London, our national capitol at Washington is the most spacious and +imposing national edifice in the world. By the unparalleled feat of a +subterranean tunnel two miles out under the bottom of the lake, Chicago +obtains her water. The work of constructing a railroad tunnel across the +Detroit river is already commenced, and the traveler will soon pass, in +his steam palace, under the bed of that <a class="newpage" name="page65"></a>river, while the immense +commerce of the lakes is floating upon its bosom over his head. Chicago +is the most extensive grain and lumber market in the world; and +Philadelphia and New York contain the largest and best furnished +printing establishments now in existence. The submarine cable, running +like a thread of light through the depths of the broad Atlantic from the +United States to England, a conception of American genius, is the +greatest achievement in the telegraphic line. The Pacific Railroad, that +iron highway from the Atlantic to the Pacific, stands at the head of all +monuments of engineering skill in modern times. Following the first +Atlantic cable, soon came a second almost as a matter of course; and +following the Central Pacific R.R., a northern line is now in process of +rapid construction. And what results are expected to flow from these +mighty enterprises? The <i>Scientific American</i> of Oct. 6, 1866, says:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"To exaggerate the importance of this transcontinental highway is +almost impossible. To a certain extent it will change the relative +positions of this country, Europe and Asia.... With the completion +of the Pacific Railroad, instead of receiving our goods from India, +China, Japan, and the 'isles of the sea,' by way of London and +Liverpool, we shall bring them direct by way of the Sandwich +Islands and the railroad, and become the carriers to a great extent +for Europe. But this is but a portion of the advantage of this +work. Our western mountains are almost literally mountains of gold +and silver. In them the Arabian fable of Alad<a class="newpage" name="page66"></a>din is realized.... +Let the road be completed, and the comforts as well as the +necessaries furnished by Asia, the manufactures of Europe, and the +productions of the States can be brought by the iron horse almost +to the miner's door; and in the production and possession of the +precious metals, the blood of commerce, we shall be the richest +nation on the globe. But the substantial wealth created by the +improvement of the soil and the development of the resources of the +country, is a still more important element in the result of this +vast work."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>Thus, with the idea of becoming the carriers of the world, the highway +of the nations, and the richest power on the globe, the American heart +swells with pride, and mounts up with aspirations, to which there is no +limit.</p> + +<p>And the extent to which we have come up is further shown by the +influence which we are exerting on other nations. Speaking of America +Mr. Townsend in the work above cited, p. 462, says:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"Out of her discovery grew the European reformation in religion; +out of our Revolutionary War grew the revolutionary period of +Europe. And out of our rapid development among great States and +happy peoples, has come an immigration more wonderful than that +which invaded Europe from Asia in the latter centuries of the Roman +Empire. When we raised our flag on the Atlantic, Europe sent her +contributions; it appeared on the Pacific, and all orientalism felt +the signal. They are coming in two endless fleets, eastward and +westward, and the highway is swung between the ocean for them to +tread upon. We have lightened Ireland of half her weight, and +Germany is coming by <a class="newpage" name="page67"></a>the village load every day. England, herself, +is sending the best of her working men now (1869), and in such +numbers as to dismay her Jack Bunsbys. What is to be the limit of +this mighty immigration?"</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>Speaking of our influence and standing in the Pacific, the same writer, +p. 608, says:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"In the Pacific Ocean these four powers [England, France, Holland, +and Russia] are squarely met by the United States, which, without +possessions or the wish for them, has paramount influence in Japan, +the favor of China, the friendly countenance of Russia, and good +feeling with all the great English colonies planted there. The +United States is the only power on the Pacific which has not been +guilty of intrigue, of double-dealing, of envy and of bitterness, +and it has taken the <i>front rank</i> in influence without awakening +the dislike of any of its competitors, possibly excepting those +English who are never magnanimous."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>And Hon. Wm. H. Seward, on his return from a late trip around the world, +said, "Americans are now the fashion all over the world."</p> + +<p>With one more extract we close the testimony on this point. In the N.Y. +<i>Independent</i> of July 7, 1870, Hon. Schuyler Colfax, then Vice-President +of the United States, glancing briefly at the past history of this +country, said:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"Wonderful, indeed, has been that history. Springing into life from +under the heel of tyranny, its progress has been onward, with the +firm step of a conqueror. From the rugged clime of New England, +from the banks of the Chesapeake, from the Savannahs of Carolina +and Georgia, the descendants of the Puritans, <a class="newpage" name="page68"></a>the Cavalier, and +the Huguenot, swept over the towering Alleghanies, but a century +ago the barrier between civilization on the one side and almost +unbroken barbarism on the other; and banners of the Republic waved +from flagstaff and highland, through the broad valleys of the Ohio, +the Mississippi, and the Missouri. Nor stopped its progress there. +Thence onward poured the tide of American civilization and, +progress, over the vast regions of the Western plains; and from the +snowy crests of the Sierras you look down on American States +fronting the calm Pacific, an empire of themselves in resources and +wealth, but loyal in our darkest hours to the nation whose +authority they acknowledge and in whose glory they proudly share.</p> + +<p> "From a territorial area of less than nine hundred thousand square +miles, it has expanded into over three millions and a half—fifteen +times larger than that of Great Britain and France combined—with a +shore-line, including Alaska, equal to the entire circumference of +the earth, and with a domain within these lines far wider than that +of the Romans in their proudest days of conquest and renown. With a +river, lake, and coastwise commerce estimated at over two thousand +millions of dollars per year; with railway traffic of four to six +thousand millions per year, and the annual domestic exchanges of +the country, running up to nearly ten thousand millions per year; +with over two thousand millions of dollars invested in +manufacturing, mechanical, and mining industry; with over five +hundred millions of acres of land in actual occupancy, valued, with +their appurtenances, at over seven thousand millions of dollars, +and producing annually crops valued at over three thousand millions +of dollars; with a realm which, if the density of Belgium's +population were possible, would be vast enough to include all the +present inhabitants of the world; and with equal rights guaranteed +to even the poorest and humblest of our forty millions of people, +we can, with a manly <a class="newpage" name="page69"></a>pride akin to that which distinguished the +palmiest days of Rome, claim as the noblest title of the world, 'I +am an American citizen.'"</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>And how long a time has it taken for this wonderful transformation? In +the language of Edward Everett, "They are but lately dead who saw the +first-born of the pilgrims;" and Mr. Townsend (p. 21) says: "The memory +of one man can swing from that time of primitive government to +this—when thirty-eight millions of people living on two oceans and in +two zones, are represented in Washington, and their consuls and +ambassadors are in every port and metropolis of the globe."</p> + +<p>Is this enough? The only objection we can anticipate is that this nation +has progressed too fast and too far—that the government has already +outgrown the symbol. But what shall be thought of those who deny that it +has any place in prophecy at all? No; this prodigy has its place on the +prophetic page; and the path which has thus far led us to the conclusion +that the two-horned beast is the prophetic symbol of the United States, +is hedged in on either side by walls of adamant that reach to heaven. To +make any other application is an utter impossibility. The thought would +be folly, and the attempt, abortion.</p> +</div> + + +<div id="chapter6" class="chapter"> +<a class="newpage" name="page70"></a> +<h3>Chapter Six.</h3> + +<h4>Character Of The Government Represented By The Two-horned Beast.</h4> + + +<p>Having given us data by which we determine the location, chronology, and +rapid rise of this power, John now proceeds to describe the appearance +of the two-horned beast, and speak of his acts in such a manner as to +clearly indicate his character both apparent and real. Every +specification thus far examined has held the application imperatively to +the United States. We shall find this one no less strong in the same +direction.</p> + +<p>This symbol has "two horns like a lamb." To those who have studied the +prophecies of Daniel and John, horns upon a beast are no unfamiliar +features. The ram, Dan. 8:3, had two horns. The he goat that came +against him had, at first, one notable horn between his eyes. This was +broken and four came up in its place toward the four winds of heaven. +From one of these came forth another horn, which waxed exceeding great. +The fourth beast of Daniel 7 had ten horns. Among these, a little horn +with eyes and mouth, far-seeing, crafty, and blasphemous, arose. The +dragon and leopard beast of Rev. 12 and 13, denoting the same as the +fourth beast of Dan. 7, in its two phases, have each the same number of +<a class="newpage" name="page71"></a>horns signifying the same thing. And the symbol under consideration has +two horns like a lamb. From the use of the horns on the other symbols, +some facts are apparent which may guide us to an understanding of their +use on this last one.</p> + +<p>A horn is used in the Scriptures as a symbol of strength and power, as +in Deut. 33:17, and glory and honor, as in Job 16:15.</p> + +<p>A horn is sometimes used to denote a nation as a whole, as the four +horns of the goat, the little horn of Dan. 8, and the ten horns of the +fourth beast of Dan. 7; and sometimes some particular feature of the +government, as the first horn of the goat, which denoted not the nation +as a whole, but the civil power as centered in the first king, Alexander +the Great.</p> + +<p>Horns do not always denote division, as in the case of the four horns of +the goat, &c.; for the two horns of the ram denote the <i>union</i> of Media +and Persia in one government.</p> + +<p>A horn is not used exclusively to represent civil power; for the little +horn of Daniel's fourth beast, the papacy, was a horn when it plucked up +three other horns, and established itself in 538. But it was then purely +an ecclesiastical power, and so remained for two hundred and seventeen +years from that time, Pepin, in the year 755, making the Roman pontiff a +grant of some rich provinces in Italy, which first constituted him a +temporal monarch. (Goodrich's Hist. of the <a class="newpage" name="page72"></a>Church, p. 98. Bower's Hist. +of the Popes, Vol. 2, p. 108.)</p> + +<p>With these facts before us, we are prepared to examine into the +significance of the two horns which pertain to this beast. Why does John +say that he has two horns like a lamb? Why not simply two horns? It must +be because these horns possess peculiarities which indicate the +character of the power to which they belong. The horns of a lamb +indicate, first, youthfulness, and secondly, innocence and gentleness. +As a power which has but recently arisen, the United States answer to +the symbol admirably in respect to age; while no other power, as has +already abundantly been proved, can be found to do this. And considered +as an index of power and character, it can be decided what constitutes +the two horns of the government, if it can be ascertained what is the +secret of its strength and power, and what reveals its apparent +character, or constitutes its outward profession. The Hon. J.A. Bingham +gives us the clue to the whole matter when he states that the object of +those who first sought these shores was to found "what the world had not +seen for ages; viz.,—a church without a pope, and a State without a +king." Expressed in other words, this would be a government in which the +church should be free from the civil power, and civil and religious +liberty reign supreme.</p> + +<p>And what is the profession of this government <a class="newpage" name="page73"></a>in these respects? That +great instrument which our forefathers set forth as their bill of +rights, the Declaration of Independence, contains these words: "We hold +these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that +they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that +among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of hapiness." And in +Article IV, Sec. 4, of the Constitution of the United States, we find +these words: "The United States shall guaranty to every State in this +Union a republican form of government." A republican form of government +is one in which the power rests with the people, and the whole machinery +of government is worked by representatives elected by them. And here, +again, we see the fitness between the symbol and the government which is +symbolized; for the horns of the two-horned beast have no crowns upon +them as do the horns of the dragon and leopard beast, showing that the +government which it represents cannot be monarchical, but is one in +which the power is vested in the hands of the people.</p> + +<p>This is a sufficient guarantee of civil liberty. What is said respecting +religious freedom? In Art. VI of the Constitution, we read: "No +religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office +or public trust under the United States." In Art. I of Amendments of the +Con<a class="newpage" name="page74"></a>stitution, we read: "Congress shall make no law respecting an +establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."</p> + +<p>In reply to questions as to the design of the Constitution from the +committee of a Baptist society in Virginia, Geo. Washington wrote, Aug. +4, 1789, as follows:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"If I had the least idea of any difficulty resulting from the +Constitution adopted by the Convention, of which I had the honor to +be President when it was formed, so as to endanger the rights of +any religious denomination, then I never should have attached my +name to that instrument. If I had any idea that the general +government was so administered that the liberty of conscience was +endangered, I pray you be assured that no man would be more willing +than myself to revise and alter that part of it, so as to avoid all +religious persecutions. You can, without doubt, remember that I +have often expressed my opinion, that every man who conducts +himself as a good citizen is accountable alone to God for his +religious faith, and should be protected in worshiping God +according to the dictates of his own conscience."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>In 1830, certain memorials for prohibiting the transportation of mails +and the opening of post-offices on Sunday were referred to the +Congressional Committee on Post-offices and Post-roads. The committee +reported unfavorably to the prayer of the memorialists. Their report was +adopted and printed by order of the Senate of the United States, and the +committee discharged from the further consideration of the subject. Of +the Constitution, they say:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"We look in vain to that instrument for authority to say whether<a class="newpage" name="page75"></a> +the first day, or seventh day, or whether any day, has been made +holy by the Almighty."</p> + +<p> "The Constitution regards the conscience of the Jew as sacred as +that of the Christian, and gives no more authority to adopt a +measure affecting the conscience of a solitary individual than of a +whole community. That representative who would violate this +principle would lose his delegated character, and forfeit the +confidence of his constituents. If Congress should declare the +first day of the week holy, it would not convince the Jew nor the +Sabbatarian. It would dissatisfy both, and consequently convert +neither....If a solemn act of legislation shall in one point define +the law of God, or point out to the citizen one religious duty, it +may with equal propriety define every part of revelation, and +enforce every religious obligation, even to the forms and +ceremonies of worship, the endowments of the church and support of +the clergy."</p> + +<p> "The framers of the Constitution recognized the eternal principle +that man's relation to his God is above human legislation, and his +right of conscience inalienable. Reasoning was not necessary to +establish this truth, we are conscious of it in our own bosom. It +is this consciousness which, in defiance of human laws, has +sustained so many martyrs in tortures and flames. They felt that +their duty to God was superior to human enactments, and that man +could exercise no authority over their consciences. It is an inborn +principle which nothing can eradicate."</p> + +<p> "It is also a fact that counter memorials, equally respectable, +oppose the interference of Congress on the ground that it would be +legislating upon a religious subject, and therefore +unconstitutional."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>Hon. A.H. Cragin, of New Hamphshire, in a speech in the House of +Representatives, said:—</p> + +<a class="newpage" name="page76"></a> +<blockquote> +<p>"When our forefathers reared the magnificent structure of a free +Republic in this western land, they laid its foundations broad and +deep in the eternal principles of right. Its materials were all +quarried from the mountain of truth; and as it rose majestically +before an astonished world, it rejoiced the hearts and hopes of +mankind. Tyrants only cursed the workmen and their workmanship. Its +architecture was new. It had no model in Grecian or Roman history. +It seemed a paragon let down from Heaven to inspire the hopes of +men, and to demonstrate God's favor to the people of the New World. +The builders recognized the rights of human nature as universal. +Liberty, the great first right of man, they claimed for 'all men,' +and claimed it from 'God himself.' Upon this foundation they +erected the temple, and dedicated it to Liberty, Humanity, Justice, +and Equality. Washington was crowned its patron saint. Liberty was +then the national goddess, worshiped by all the people. They sang +of liberty, they harangued for liberty, they prayed for liberty. +Slavery was then hateful. It was denounced by all. The British king +was condemned for foisting it upon the colonies. Southern men were +foremost in entering their protest against it. It was then +everywhere regarded as an evil, and a crime against humanity."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>Then the Bible and the Bible alone is the Protestant rule of faith; and +liberty to worship God according to the dictates of one's own conscience +is the standard of religious freedom in this land. And from the +quotations herewith presented, it is evident that while the government +pledges to all its citizens the largest amount of civil freedom, outside +of license, it has determined to lay upon the people no religious +restrictions, but to guaran<a class="newpage" name="page77"></a>tee to all liberty to worship God according +to the Protestant principle.</p> + +<p>Here, then, are two great principles standing prominently before the +people: <i>Republicanism</i> and <i>Protestantism</i>. And what can be more just, +and innocent, and lamb-like, than these? And here, also, is the secret of +our strength and power. Had some Caligula or Nero ruled this land, we +should look in vain for what we behold to-day. Immigration would not +have flowed to our shores, and this country would never have presented +to the world so unparalleled an example of national growth.</p> + +<p>Townsend, Old World and New, p. 341, says:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"And what attached these people to us? In part, undoubtedly, our +zone, and the natural endowments of this portion of the globe. In +part, and of late years, our vindicated national character, and the +safety of our Institutions. <i>But the magnet in America is, that we +are a republic</i>. A republican people! Cursed with artificial +government, however glittering, the people of Europe, like the +sick, pine for nature with protection, for open vistas and blue +sky, for independence without ceremony, for adventure in their own +interest,—and here they find it!"</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>One of these horns may therefore represent the civil republican power of +this government, and the other, the Protestant ecclesiastical. This +application is warranted by the facts already set forth respecting the +horns of the other powers. For (1) the two horns may belong to one +beast, and denote union instead of division, as in the case of <a class="newpage" name="page78"></a>the ram, +Daniel 8; and (2) a horn may denote a purely ecclesiastical element, as +the little horn of Daniel's fourth beast; and (3) a horn may denote the +civil power alone, as in the case of the first horn of the Grecian goat. +On the basis of these facts, we have these two elements, Republicanism +and Protestantism here united in one government, and represented by two +horns like the horns of a lamb. And these are nowhere else to be found. +Nor have they appeared since the time when we could consistently look +for the rise of the two-horned beast, in any nation upon the face of the +earth except our own.</p> + +<p>And with these horns there is no objection to be found. They are like +those of a lamb, the Bible symbol of purity and innocence. The +principles are all right. The outward appearance is unqualifiedly good. +But, alas for our country! its acts are to give the lie to its +profession. The lamb-like features are first developed; but the dragon +voice is to be heard hereafter.</p> +</div> + + +<div id="chapter7" class="chapter"> +<a class="newpage" name="page79"></a> +<h3>Chapter Seven.</h3> + +<h4>The Dragon Voice.</h4> + + +<p>From the facts thus far elicited in this argument, we have seen that the +government symbolized by the two-horned beast must be some government +distinct from the powers of the Old World, whether civil or +ecclesiastical; that it must arise this side the Atlantic; that it must +be seen coming into influence and notoriety about the year 1798; that it +must rise in a peaceful manner; that its progress must be so rapid as to +strike the beholder with as much wonder as the perceptible growth of an +animal before his eyes; that it must be a republic; that it must exhibit +before the world, as an index of its character, and the motives by which +it is governed, two great principles in themselves perfectly just, and +innocent, and lamb-like; and that it must perform its work in the +present century.</p> + +<p>And we have seen that of these eight specifications, just two things can +be said: first, that they are all perfectly met in the history of the +United States, thus far; and secondly, that they are not met in the +history of any other government on the face of the earth. Behind these +eight lines of defense, therefore, the argument lies impregnably +intrenched.</p> + +<p><a class="newpage" name="page80"></a>And the American patriot, he who loves his country, and takes a just +pride in her thus-far glorious record and noble achievements, needs an +argument no less ponderous and immovable, and an array of evidence no +less clear, to enable him to accept the painful conclusion that the +remainder of the prophecy also applies to this government, hitherto the +best the world has ever seen; for the prophet immediately turns to a +part of the picture which is dark with injustice, and marred by +oppression, deception, intolerance, and wrong.</p> + +<p>After describing the lamb-like appearance of this symbol, John +immediately adds, "And he spake as a dragon." The dragon, the first link +in this chain of prophecy, was a relentless persecutor of the church of +God. The leopard beast which follows, was likewise a persecuting power, +grinding out for 1260 years the lives of millions of the followers of +Christ. The third actor in the scene, the two-horned beast, speaks like +the first, and thus shows himself to be a dragon at heart; "for out of +the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh," and actions are framed. +This, then, like the rest, is a persecuting power; and it is for this +reason alone that any of them are mentioned in prophecy. God's care for +the church, his little flock, is what has led him to give a revelation +of his will, and point out the foes with whom they would have to +contend. To his church, all the actions recorded of the dragon and +leopard beast <a class="newpage" name="page81"></a>relate; and in reference to the church, therefore, we +conclude that the dragon voice of this power is uttered.</p> + +<p>The "speaking" of any government must be the public promulgation of its +will on the part of its law-making and executive powers. Is this nation, +then, to issue unjust and oppressive enactments against the people of +God? Are the fires of persecution, which in other ages have devastated +other lands, to be lighted here also? We would fain believe otherwise; +but notwithstanding the pure intentions of the noble founders of this +government, notwithstanding the worthy motives and objects of thousands +of Christian patriots to-day, we can but take the prophecy as it reads, +and expect nothing less than what it predicts. John heard this power +speak; and the voice was that of a dragon.</p> + +<p>Nor is this so improbable an issue as might at first appear. The people +of the United States are not all saints. The masses, notwithstanding all +our gospel light and gospel principles, are still in a position for +Satan to suddenly fire their hearts with the basest of impulses. This +nation, as we have seen, is to exist to the coming of Christ; and the +Bible very fully sets forth the moral condition of the people in the +days that immediately precede that event. Iniquity is to abound, and the +love of many to wax cold. Evil men and seducers are to wax worse and +worse. Scoffers are to arise, <a class="newpage" name="page82"></a>saying, Where is the promise of his +coming? The whole land is to be full of violence as it was in the days +of Noah, and full of licentiousness as in the city of Sodom in the days +of Lot. And when the Lord appears, faith will scarcely be found upon the +earth, and those who are ready for his coming will be but a "little +flock." Can the people of God expect to go through this period, and not +suffer persecution? No. This would be contrary to the lessons taught by +all past experience, and just the reverse of what we are warranted by +the word of God to expect. "All that will live godly in Christ Jesus +shall suffer persecution." If ever this was true in the history of the +church, we may expect it to be emphatically so when, in the last days, +the world is in its aphelion as related to God, and the wicked touch +their lowest depths of iniquity and sin.</p> + +<p>Let, then, a general spirit of persecution arise in this country, and +what is more probable than that it should assume an organized form? Here +the will of the people is law. And let there be a general desire on the +part of the people for certain oppressive enactments against believers +in unpopular doctrines, and what would be more easy and natural than +that such desire should immediately crystallize into systematic action, +and their oppressive measures take the form of law? Then we have just +what the prophecy indicates. Then is heard the voice of the dragon.</p> + +<p><a class="newpage" name="page83"></a>And there are elements already in existence which furnish a luxuriant +soil for a baleful crop of future evil. But a few years ago three and a +half millions of human beings were held in our country in a state of +abject bondage, deprived of every vestige of freedom and every trace of +manhood. But why refer to slavery, it may be asked, since it has already +become a thing of the past? Slavery, to be sure, on the ground of +political expediency, has been abolished. For the time being, the +ballots and bayonets of its opponents have outnumbered those of its +partisans. But has this changed the disposition by which it has +heretofore been fostered? Has it converted the South? Have they been +brought to look upon it as an evil which should be given up on account +of its own intrinsic wrong? We would that we could answer these +questions in the affirmative. But there are acts too patent to be +denied, which show that the virus of this great iniquity still rankles +in the body politic; that the system of slavery has been given up by the +people of the South simply as a matter of necessity; that if they had +the power they would re-instate it again though they should rend and +ruin the Republic in their attempt; and hundreds of thousands in the +North would sympathize with them in the movement, and second them in +their efforts. The disease is driven from the surface, but it is not +cured. It may be a source of serious trouble hereafter.</p> + +<p><a class="newpage" name="page84"></a>Political corruption is preparing the way for deeper sin. It pervades +all parties. Look at the dishonest means resorted to to obtain office, +the bribery, the deceptions, the ballot-stuffing. Look at the stupendous +revelations of municipal corruption just disclosed in New York city: +millions upon millions stolen directly and barefacedly rom the city +treasury by its corrupt officials. Look at the civil service of this +government. Speaking on this point, <i>The Nation</i> of Nov. 17, 1870, +said:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"The newspapers are generally believed to exaggerate most of the +abuses they denounce; but we say deliberately, that no denunciation +of the civil service of the United States which has ever appeared +in print has come up as a picture, of selfishness, greed, fraud, +corruption, falsehood, and cruelty, to the accounts which are given +privately by those who have seen the real workings of the machine."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>Enumeration is here unnecessary. Enough crops out in every day's history +to show that moral principle, the only guarantee in a government like +ours for justice and honesty, is sadly wanting.</p> + +<p>And evil is also threatening from another quarter. Creeping up from the +darkness of the dark ages, a hideous monster is intently watching to +seize the throat of liberty in our land. It thrusts itself up into the +noonday of the ninteenth century, not that it may be benefited by its +light and freedom, but that it may suppress and obscure <a class="newpage" name="page85"></a>them. The name +of this monster is Popery; and it has fixed its rapacious and +bloodthirsty eyes on this land, determined to make it its helpless prey. +It already decides the election in some of our largest cities. It +controls the revenues of the most populous State in the Union, and +appropriates annually hundreds of thousands of dollars raised from +Protestant taxes to the support of its own ecclesiastical organizations, +and to the furtherance of its own religious and political ends. It has +reached that measure of influence that it is only by a mighty effort of +Protestant patriotism that measures can now be carried, against which +the Romish element combines its strength. And corrupt and unscrupulous +politicians stand ready to concede to its demands to secure its support, +for the purpose of advancing their own ambitious aims. Rome is in the +field with the basest and most fatal intentions, and with the most +watchful and tireless energy. It is destined to play an important part +in our future troubles; for this is the very beast which the two-horned +beast is to cause the earth and them that dwell therein to worship, and +before whose eyes it is to perform its wonders.</p> + +<p>And in our own better Protestant churches there is that which threatens +to lead to most serious evils. On this point one of their own popular +ministers, who is well qualified to speak, may <a class="newpage" name="page86"></a>testify. A sermon by +Charles Beecher contains the following statements:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"Our best, most humble, most devoted servants of Christ are +fostering in their midst what will one day, not long hence, show +itself to be the spawn of the dragon. They shrink from any rude +word against creeds with the same sensitiveness with which those +holy fathers would have shrunk from a rude word against the rising +veneration of saints and martyrs which they were fostering.... The +Protestant evangelical denominations have so tied up one another's +hands, and their own, that, between them all, a man cannot become a +preacher at all, anywhere, without accepting some book besides the +Bible.... And is not the Protestant church apostate? Oh! remember, +the final form of apostasy shall rise, not by crosses, processions, +baubles. We understand all that. Apostasy never comes on the +outside. It develops. It is an apostasy that shall spring into life +within us; an apostasy that shall martyr a man who believes his +Bible ever so holily; yea, who may even believe what the creed +contains, but who may happen to agree with the Westminster Assembly +that, proposed as a test, it is an unwarrantable imposition. That +is the apostasy we have to fear, and is it not already formed?... +Will it be said that our fears are imaginary? Imaginary? Did not +the Rev. John M. Duncan, in the years 1825-6, or thereabouts, +sincerely believe the Bible? Did he not even believe substantially +the confession of faith? And was he not, for daring to say what the +Westminster Assembly said, that, to require the reception of that +creed as a test of ministerial qualification was an unwarrantable +imposition, brought to trial, condemned, excommunicated, and his +pulpit declared vacant? There is nothing imaginary in the statement +that the creed-power is now beginning to prohibit the Bible as +really as Rome did, though in a subtler way.</p> + +<p> "<a class="newpage" name="page87"></a>Oh! woful day! Oh! unhappy church of Christ! fast rushing round +and round the fatal circle of absorbing ruin!... Daily does every +one see that things are going wrong. With sighs does every true +heart confess that rottenness is somewhere; but, ah! it is hopeless +of reform. We all pass on, and the tide rolls down to night. The +waves of coming conflict which is to convulse Christendom to her +center are beginning to be felt. The deep heavings begin to swell +beneath us. 'All the old signs fail.' 'God answers no more by Urim +and Thummim, nor by dream, nor by prophet.' Men's hearts are +failing them for fear and for looking after those things that are +coming on the earth. Thunders mutter in the distance. Winds moan +across the surging bosom of the deep. All things betide the rising +of that final storm of divine indignation which shall sweep away +the vain refuge of lies."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>In addition to this, we have spiritualism, infidelity, socialism, and +free-love, the trades unions, or labor against capital, and communism, +all assiduously spreading their principles among the masses. These are +the very principles that worked among the people, as the exciting cause, +just prior to the terrible French revolution of 1789-1800. Human nature +is the same in all ages, and like causes will surely produce like +results. These causes are now all in active operation; and how soon they +will culminate in a state of anarchy, and a reign of terror as much more +frightful than the French revolution as they are now more widely +extended, no man can say.</p> + +<p>Such are some of the elements already at work; <a class="newpage" name="page88"></a>such the direction in +which events are moving. And how much further is it necessary that they +should progress in this manner, before an open war-cry of persecution +from the masses, against those whose simple adherence to the Bible shall +put to shame their man-made theology, and whose godly lives shall +condemn their wicked practices, would seem in nowise startling or +incongruous? But some may say, through an all-absorbing faith in the +increasing virtue of the American people, that they do not believe that +the United States will ever raise the hand of persecution against any +class. Very well. This is not a matter over which we need to indulge in +any controversy. No process of reasoning, nor any amount of argument, +can ever show that it will not be so. We think we have shown good ground +for strong probabilities in this direction; and we shall present more +forcible evidence, and speak of more significant movements hereafter. As +we interpret the prophecy, we look upon it as inevitable. But the +decision of the question must be left to time. We can neither help nor +hinder its work. That will soon solve all doubts and correct all errors.</p> +</div> + + +<div id="chapter8" class="chapter"> +<a class="newpage" name="page89"></a> +<h3>Chapter Eight.</h3> + +<h4>He Doeth Great Wonders.</h4> + + +<p>In further predicting the work of the two-horned beast, the prophet +says: "And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, +and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first +beast, whose deadly wound was healed." This language is urged by some to +prove that the two-horned beast must be some power which holds the reins +of government in the very territory occupied by the first beast; for, +otherwise, how could he exercise his power?</p> + +<p>If the word "before" denoted precedence in time, and the first beast +passed off the stage of action when the two-horned beast came on, just +as Babylon gave place to Persia, which then exercised all the power of +Babylon before it, there would be some plausibility in the claim. But +the word rendered "before" is <span lang="el" title="enopion">ἐνώπιον</span> (<i>enopion</i>) which +means, literally, "in the presence of." And so the language, instead of +proving what is claimed, becomes a most positive proof that these beasts +are distinct and cotemporary powers.</p> + +<p>The first beast is in existence, having all its symbolic vitality, at +the very time the two-horned beast is exercising power in his presence. +But <a class="newpage" name="page90"></a>this could not be, if his dominion had passed into the hands of the +two-horned beast; for a beast in prophecy ceases to exist when his +dominion is taken away. What caused the change in the symbols from the +lion, representing Babylon, to the bear representing Persia? Simply a +transfer of dominion from Babylon to Persia. And so the prophecy +explains the successive passing away of these beasts, by saying that +their lives were prolonged, but their dominion was taken away; that is, +the territory of the kingdom was not blotted from the map, nor the lives +of the people destroyed ed, but there was a transfer of power from one +nationality to another. So the fact that the leopard beast is spoken of +as still an existing power, when the two-horned beast works in his +presence, is proof that he is, at that time, in possession of all the +dominion that was ever necessary to constitute him a symbol in prophecy.</p> + +<p>What power then does the two-horned beast exercise? Not the power which +belongs to, and is in the hands of, the leopard beast, surely; but he +exercises, or essays to exercise, in his presence, power of the same +kind and to the same extent. The power which the first beast exercised +was a terrible power of oppression against the people of God. And this +is a further indication of the character which the two-horned beast is +finally to sustain in this respect.</p> + +<p>The latter part of the verse, "And causeth the <a class="newpage" name="page91"></a>earth and them which +dwell therein, to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was +healed," is still further proof that the two-horned beast is no phase +nor feature of the papacy; for the first beast is certainly competent to +enforce his own worship in his own country, and from his own subjects. +But it is the two-horned beast which causes the earth (the territory out +of which it arose and over which it rules) and them which dwell therein, +to worship the first beast. This shows that this beast occupies +territory over which the first beast has no jurisdiction.</p> + +<p>"And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from +heaven on the earth in the sight of men." That we are living in an age +of wonders none deny. Time was, and that not two score of years ago, +when the bare mention of achievements which now constitute the warp and +woof of every-day life, were considered the wildest chimeras of a +diseased imagination. Now, nothing is too wonderful to be believed, nor +too strange to happen. Go back fifty years, and the world with respect +to those things which tend to domestic convenience and comfort, the +means of illumination, the production and application of heat, and the +performance of various household operations; with respect to methods of +rapid locomotion from place to place, and the transmission of +intelligence from point to point, stood about where it did in the days +of the patriarchs. <a class="newpage" name="page92"></a>Suddenly waters of that long stream over whose +drowsy surface scarcely a ripple of improvement had passed for three +thousand years, broke into the white foam of violent agitation. The +world awoke from the slumber and darkness of ages. The divine finger +lifted the seal from the prophetic books, and brought that predicted +period when men should run to and fro, and knowledge should be +increased. Then men bound the elements to their chariots, and reaching +up laid hold upon the very lightning and made it their message-bearer +around the world. Nahum foretold that at a certain time the chariots +should be with flaming torches and run like the lightnings. Who can +behold in the darkness of the night, the locomotive dashing over its +iron track, the fiery glare of its great lidless eye driving the shadows +from its path, and torrents of smoke and sparks and flame pouring from +its burning throat, and not realize that ours are the eyes that are +privileged to look upon a fulfillment of Nahum's prophecy. But when this +should take place, the prophet said that the times would be burdened +with the solemn work of God's preparation.</p> + +<p>"Canst thou send lightnings," said God to Job, "that they may go and say +unto thee, Here we are?" If Job were living to day, he could answer, +Yes. It is one of the current sayings of our time that Franklin tamed +the lightning, and Prof. Morse taught it the English language.</p> + +<p><a class="newpage" name="page93"></a>So, in every department of the arts and sciences, the advancement that +has been made within the last half century is without precedent in the +world's history. And in all these the United States take the lead. These +facts are not, indeed, to be taken as a fulfillment of the prophecy, but +they show the spirit of the age in which we live, and point to this time +as a period when we may look for wonders of every kind.</p> + +<p>The particular wonders to which the prophecy refers are evidently +wrought for the purpose of deceiving the people; for verse 14 reads, +"And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by means of those miracles +which he had power to do in the sight of the beast." This identifies the +two-horned beast with the false prophet of Rev. 19:20; for this false +prophet is the power that works miracles before the beast, "with which," +says John, "he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, +and them that worshiped his image," the identical work of the two-horned +beast. We can now ascertain by what means the miracles in question are +wrought; for Rev. 16:13, 14, speaks of spirits of devils working +miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole +world to gather them to the battle of the great day of God Almighty, and +these miracle-working spirits go forth out of the mouths of certain +powers, one of which is this very false prophet, or two-horned beast.</p> + +<p><a class="newpage" name="page94"></a>Miracles are of two kinds, true and false, just as we have a true +Christ and false Christs, true and false prophets, and true and false +apostles. By a false miracle, we mean not a pretended miracle, which is +no miracle at all, but a real miracle, a supernatural performance, +wrought for the purpose of deceiving, or of proving a lie. The miracles +of this power are real miracles, but are wrought for the purpose of +deception. The prophecy does not read that he deceived the people by +means of the miracles which he claimed that he was able to perform, or +which he pretended to do; but which he <i>had power</i> to do. They, +therefore, fall far short of the prophecy who suppose that the great +wonders wrought by this power were fulfilled by Napoleon when he told +the Mussulmans that he could command a fiery chariot to come down from +heaven, but never did it, or by the pretended miracles of the Romish +church, which are only shams, mere tricks played off by ungodly and +designing priests upon their ignorant and superstitious dupes.</p> + +<p>Miracles, or wonders, such as are to be wrought by the two-horned beast, +and withal, as we think, the very ones referred to in the prophecy, are +mentioned by Paul in 2 Thess. 2:9, 10. Speaking of the second coming of +Christ, he says, "Whose coming is after (<span lang="el" title="kata">κατὰ</span>, at the time +of) the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and +with all deceivableness <a class="newpage" name="page95"></a>of unrighteousness in them that perish, because +they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved." +These are no slight-of-hand performances, but such a working of Satan as +the world has never before seen. To work with all power and signs and +lying wonders, is certainly to do a real and an astounding work, but one +which is designed to prove a lie.</p> + +<p>Again, the Saviour, predicting events to occur just before his second +coming, says, "For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, +and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch that, if it were +possible, they shall deceive the very elect." Here, again, are wonders +foretold, wrought for the purpose of deception, so powerful that, were +it possible, even the very elect would be deceived by them.</p> + +<p>Thus we have a series of prophecies setting forth the development, in +the last days, of a wonder-working power, manifested to a startling and +unprecedented degree, in the interests of falsehood and error. All refer +to one and the same thing. The earthly government, with which it was to +be especially connected, is that represented by the two-horned beast, or +false prophet. The agency lying back of the outward manifestations was +to be Satanic, the spirits of devils. The prophecy calls for such a work +as this in our own country at the present time. Do we behold anything +like it? Read the answer in the <a class="newpage" name="page96"></a>lamentation of the prophet: "Woe to the +inhabiters of the earth, and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto +you having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short +time." Stand aghast, O Earth! Tremble, ye people, but be not deceived. +The huge specter of evil confronts us, as the prophet declared. Satan is +loosed. From the depth of Tartarus, myriads of demons swarm over the +land. The prince of darkness manifests himself as never before, and, +stealing a word from the vocabulary of Heaven to designate his work, he +calls it—<i>Spiritualism</i>.</p> + +<p>1. Does spiritualism, then, bear these marks of Satanic agency?</p> + +<p>1st. The spirits which communicate claim to be the spirits of our +departed friends. But the Bible, in the most explicit terms, assures us +that the dead are wholly inactive and unconscious till the resurrection; +that the dead know not anything; Eccl. 9:5; that every operation of the +mind has ceased; Ps. 146:4; that every emotion of the heart is +suspended; Eccl. 9:6; and that there is neither work, nor device, nor +knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, where they lie. Eccl. 9:10. +Whatever intelligence, therefore, comes to us professing to be one of +our dead friends, comes claiming to be what, from the word of God, we +know he is not. But angels of God don't lie; therefore these are not the +good angels. Spirits of devils will lie; this is their work; and these +<a class="newpage" name="page97"></a>are the credentials which at the very outset they hand us.</p> + +<p>2dly. The doctrines which they teach are from the lowest and foulest +depths of the pit of lies. They deny God. They deny Christ. They deny +the atonement. They deny the Bible. They deny the existence of sin, and +all distinction between right and wrong. They deny the sacredness of the +marriage covenant; and, interspersing their utterances with the most +horrid blasphemies against God and his Son, and everything that is +lovely, and good, and pure, they give the freest license to every +propensity to sin, and to every carnal and fleshly lust. Tell us not +that these things, openly taught under the garb of religion, and backed +up by supernatural sights and sounds, are anything less than Satan's +masterpiece.</p> + +<p>2. Spiritualism answers accurately to the prophecy in the exhibition of +great signs and wonders. Among its many achievements, these may be +mentioned: Various articles have been transported from place to place by +spirits alone. Beautiful music has been produced, independent of human +agency, with and without the aid of visible instruments. Many +well-attested cases of healing have been presented. Persons have been +carried through the air by the spirits in the presence of many others. +Tables have been suspended in the air with several persons upon them. +And, <a class="newpage" name="page98"></a>finally, spirits have represented themselves in bodily form and +talked with an audible voice. A writer in the <i>Spiritual Clarion</i> speaks +as follows of the manner in which spiritualism has arisen, and the +astounding progress it has made:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"This revelation has been with a power, a might, that if divested +of its almost universal benevolence, had been a terror to the very +soul; the hair of the very bravest had stood on end, and his +chilled blood had crept back upon his heart at the sights and +sounds of its inexplicable phenomena. It comes with foretokening, +with warning. It has been, from the very first, its own best +prophet, and step by step it has foretold the progress it would +make. It comes, too, most triumphant. No faith before it ever took +so victorious a stand in its infancy. It has swept like a hurricane +of fire through the land, compelling faith from the baffled scoffer +and the most determined doubter."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>3. Spiritualism answers to the prophecy in that it had its origin in our +own country, thus connecting its wonders with the work of the two-horned +beast. Commencing in Hydesville, N.Y., in the family of Mr. John D. Fox, +in the latter part of March, 1848, it spread with incredible rapidity +through all the States. The estimates of the number of spiritualists in +this country at the present time, only twenty-six short years from its +commencement, though differing somewhat from each other, are +nevertheless such as to show that the progress of spiritualism has been +without a parallel. Thus, Judge Edmonds puts the number at five or six +millions (5,000,000 or 6,000,000); <a class="newpage" name="page99"></a>Hepworth Dixon, three millions +(3,000,000); A.J. Davis, four millions, two hundred and thirty thousand +(4,230,000); Warren Chase, eight millions (8,000,000); and the Roman +Catholic Council at Baltimore, between ten and eleven millions +(10,000,000 to 11,000,000). Of those who have become its devotees, +Judge Edmonds said as long ago as 1853:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"Besides the undistinguished multitude, there are many now of high +standing and talent ranked among them—doctors, lawyers, and +clergymen, in great numbers, a Protestant bishop, the learned and +reverend president of a college, judges of our higher courts, +members of Congress, foreign ambassadors, and ex-members of the +United States Senate."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>This statement was written more than twenty years since; and from that +time to this, the work of the spirits has been steadily progressing, and +spreading among all classes of people.</p> + +<p>And from this nation, spiritualism has gone abroad into all the earth. +Queen Victoria is almost an insane devotee of the new philosophy. The +late Emperor and Empress of France, the late Queen of Spain, the Roman +Pontiff, and the Emperor and Grand Dukes of Russia are all said to have +sought to these spirits for knowledge. Thus it is working its way to the +potentates of the earth, and fast preparing to accomplish its real +mission, which is, by deceiving the world with its miracles, to gather +the nations to the battle of the great day of God Almighty.</p> + +<p><a class="newpage" name="page100"></a>Here we pause. Let this work go on a little longer, as it has been +going, and as it is still going, and what a scene is before us! Having +seen so much fulfilled, we cannot now draw back and deny the remainder. +And so we look for the onward march of this last great wonder-working +deception, till that is accomplished which in the days of Elijah was a +test between Jehovah and Baal, and fire is brought down from heaven to +earth in the sight of men. Then will be the hour of the power of +darkness, the hour of temptation that is coming upon all the world to +try them that dwell upon the earth. Rev. 3:10. Then all will be swept +from their anchorage by the strong current of delusion, except those +whom it is not possible to deceive—the elect of God.</p> + +<p>And still the world sleeps on, while Satan, with lightning fingers and +hellish energy, weaves over them his last fatal snare. It is time some +mighty move was made to waken the world and rouse the church to the +dangers we are in. It is time every honest heart should learn that the +only safeguard against the great deception, whose incipient and even +well-advanced workings we already behold before our eyes, is to make the +truths of God's holy and immutable word our shield and buckler.</p> +</div> + + +<div id="chapter9" class="chapter"> +<a class="newpage" name="page101"></a> +<h3>Chapter Nine.</h3> + +<h4>An Image To The Beast.</h4> + + +<p>The imposing miracles wrought before the people having riveted upon them +the chains of a fatal deception, leading them to suppose they have +witnessed the great power of God, and must therefore be doing him +service, when they have only been dazed with a mighty display of Satanic +wonders, and are led captive by the devil at his will, they are prepared +to do the further bidding of the two-horned beast, which is to make an +image to the beast which had the wound by a sword and did live.</p> + +<p>Once more we remind the reader of the impregnable strength of the +argument already presented in previous chapters, fixing the application +of this symbol to these United States. This is an established +proposition, and needs no farther support. An exposition of the +remainder of the prophecy will therefore consist chiefly of an effort to +determine what acts are to be performed by this government, and a search +for indications, if any exist, that they are about to be accomplished. +If we shall find evidences springing up on all sides, that this +government is now moving as rapidly as possible in the very direction +marked out by the prophet, though these are not necessary to estab<a class="newpage" name="page102"></a>lish +the application of the symbol to this government, they will serve to +stifle the last excuse of skepticism, and become to the believer an +impressive evidence of our proximity to the end; for the acts ascribed +to this symbol are but few; and while yet in mid career, he is engulfed +in the lake of fire of the last great day.</p> + +<p>We may, however, notice in passing, another evidence that the government +symbolized by the two-horned beast is certainly a republic. This is +proved by the language used respecting the formation of the image. It +does not read that this power, as an act of imperial or kingly +authority, makes an image to the beast; but it says to them that dwell +on the earth, that is, the people occupying the territory where it +arises, that <i>they</i> should make an image to the beast. Appeal is made to +the people, showing conclusively that the power is in their hands. But +just as surely as the government symbolized is a republic, so surely is +it none other than the United States of America.</p> + +<p>We have seen that the wonder-working Satanic agencies, which are to +perform the foretold miracles, and prepare the people for the next step +in the prophecy, the formation of the image, are already in the field, +and have even now wrought out a work of vast proportion in our country; +and we now hasten forward to the very important inquiry, What will +constitute the image? and what steps are necessary to its formation?</p> + +<p><a class="newpage" name="page103"></a>The people are to be called upon to make an image <i>to</i> the beast, which +expression doubtless involves the idea of some deferential action +toward, or concessions to, that power; and the image, when made, is an +image, likeness, or representation <i>of</i> the beast. Verse 15. The beast +from which the image is modeled, is the one which had a wound by a sword +and did live, or the papacy. From this point is seen the collusion of +the two-horned beast with the leopard or papal beast. He does great +wonders in the sight of that beast; he causes men to worship that beast; +he leads them to make an image to that beast; and he causes all to +receive a mark, which is the mark of that beast. These palpable +evidences of co-operation with the papal power, led Eld. J. Litch, about +1842, to write concerning the two-horned beast thus:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"I think it is a power yet to be developed or made manifest, as an +accomplice of the papacy in subjecting the world."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>To understand what would be an image of the papacy, we must first form a +definite idea of what constitutes the papacy itself. Papal supremacy +dates from the time when the decree of Justinian, constituting the pope +the head of the church and the corrector of heretics, was carried into +effect, in 538. The papacy, then, was a church clothed with civil power, +an ecclesiastical body, having authority to punish all dissenters with +confiscation, imprisonment, torture, and death. What would <a class="newpage" name="page104"></a>be an image +of the papacy? Another ecclesiastical establishment clothed with similar +power. How could such an image be formed in this country? Let the +Protestant churches in our land be clothed with power to define and +punish heresy, to enforce their dogmas under the pains and penalties of +the civil law, and should we not have an exact representation of the +papacy during the days of its supremacy?</p> + +<p>It may be objected that whereas the papal church was comparatively a +unit, and hence could act in harmony in all its departments in enforcing +its dogmas, the Protestant church is so divided as to be unable to agree +in regard to what doctrines shall be made imperative on the people. We +answer, there are certain points which they hold in common, and which +are sufficient to form a basis of co-operation. Chief among these may be +mentioned the doctrine of the conscious state of the dead and the +immortality of the soul, which is both the foundation and superstructure +of spiritualism, and also the doctrine that the first day of the week is +the Christian Sabbath.</p> + +<p>It may be objected again that this view makes one of the horns, the +Protestant church, finally constitute the image of the beast. If the +reader supposes that the Protestant church constitutes one of the horns +of the two-horned beast, we reply that this is a conception of his own. +No such idea is here taught. And we mention this objec<a class="newpage" name="page105"></a>tion only because +it has been actually urged as a legitimate consequence of the positions +here taken. And then the question is asked, If the Protestant church +constitutes one horn, may not the Catholic church constitute the other? +Under the shadow of that hypothetical "if," perhaps it might. But +neither the one nor the other performs such an office. In chapter six of +this work, it was shown that the two great principles of Republicanism +and Protestantism were the proper objects to be symbolized by these two +lamb-like horns. But there is the plainest distinction between +Protestantism as an embodiment of the great principle of religions +liberty, and the different religious bodies that have grown up under its +fostering influence; just as plain as there is between Republicanism, or +civil liberty, and the individual who lives in the enjoyment of such +liberty. The supposition, therefore, that the Protestant church is to +furnish the material for the image, involves no violation of the +symbolic harmony of this prophecy.</p> + +<p>Let us look a moment at the fitness of the material. We are not +unmindful of the noble service the Protestant churches have rendered to +the world, to humanity, and to religion, by introducing and defending, +so far as they have, the great principles of Protestantism. But they +have made a fatal mistake in stereotyping their doctrines into creeds, +and thus taking the first steps backward <a class="newpage" name="page106"></a>toward the spiritual tyranny +of Rome. Thus the good promise they gave of a free religion and an +unfettered conscience is already broken. For, if the right of private +judgment is allowed by the Protestant church, why are men condemned and +expelled from that church for ncwother crime than honestly attempting to +obey the word of God, in some particulars not in accordance with her +creed? This is the beginning of apostasy. Read Chas. Beecher's work, +"The Bible a Sufficient Creed." "Is not the Protestant church," he asks, +"apostate?" Is not the apostasy which we have reason to fear, "already +formed?" But apostasy in principle always leads to corruption in +practice. And so Paul, in 2 Tim. 3:1-5, sets forth the condition of the +professed church of Christ in the last days. A rank growth of twenty +heinous sins, with no redeeming virtues, shows that the fruits of the +Spirit will be choked and rooted out by the works of the flesh. We can +look nowhere else for this picture of Paul's to be fulfilled except to +the Protestant church; for the class of which he speaks maintain a form +of godliness, or the outward services of a true Christian worship.</p> + +<p>And is not the church of our day beginning to manifest to an alarming +degree the very characteristics which the apostle has specified? Fifteen +clergymen of the city of Rochester, N.Y., on Sunday, Feb. 5, 1871, +distributed a circular, entitled "A Testimony," to fifteen congregations +of <a class="newpage" name="page107"></a>that city. To this circular the Rochester <i>Democrat</i> of Feb. 7 made +reference as follows:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"The 'Testimony' sets out by stating that the foregoing pastors are +constrained to bear witness to what they 'conceive to be a fact of +our time; viz., That the prevailing standard of piety, among the +professed people of God, is alarmingly low; that a tide of +worldliness is setting in upon us, indicating the rapid approach of +an era, such as is foretold by Paul in his second letter to +Timothy, in the words, "In the last days perilous times shall +come."' These conclusions are reached, not by comparisons with +former times, but by applying the tests found in the Scriptures. +They instance as proof, 'the spirit of lawlessness which prevails.' +The circular then explains how this lawlessness (religious) is +shown. Men have the name of religion, but they obey none of its +injunctions. There is also a growing disposition to practice, in +religious circles, what is agreeable to the natural inclinations, +rather than the duties prescribed by the word of God. The tendency +to adopt worldly amusements, by professed Christians, is further +stated in evidence."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>This testimony is very explicit. When men "have the name of religion, +but obey none of its injunctions," they certainly may be said to have a +form of godliness, but to deny the power; and when they "practice in +religious circles what is agreeable to the natural inclinations, rather +than the duties prescribed by the word of God," they may be truthfully +said to be "lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God." And Rochester +is not an exception in this respect. It is so all over the land, as the +candid everywhere, by a sad array of facts, are compelled to admit.</p> + +<p><a class="newpage" name="page108"></a>That the majority of the Christians in our land are still to be found +in connection with these churches is undoubtedly true. But a change in +this respect is also approaching. For Paul exhorts all true Christians, +in his words to Timothy above referred to, to turn away from those who +have a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof; and those who +desire to live pure and holy lives, who mourn over the desolations of +their Zion, and sigh for the abominations done in the land, will +certainly heed this injunction of the apostle. There is another prophecy +which also shows that when the spirit of worldliness and apostasy has so +far taken possession of the professed churches of Christ as to place +them beyond the reach of reform, God's true children are every one to be +called out, that they become not partakers of their sins, and so receive +not of their plagues. Rev. 18:4.</p> + +<p>From the course which church members are everywhere pursuing, it is +plain to be seen in what direction the Protestant churches are drifting; +and from the declarations of God's word it is evident that all whose +hearts are touched by God's grace and molded by his love will soon come +out from a connection in which, while they can do no good to others, +they will receive only evil to themselves.</p> + +<p>And now we ask the reader to consider seriously for a moment what the +state of the religious <a class="newpage" name="page109"></a>world will be when this change shall have taken +place. We shall then have an array of proud and popular churches from +whose communion all the good have departed, from whom the Holy Spirit is +withdrawn, and who are in a state of hopeless departure from God. God is +no respecter of persons nor of churches; and if the Protestant churches +apostatize from him, will they not be just as efficient agents in the +hand of the enemy as ever pagans or papists have been? Will they not +then be ready for any desperate measure of bigotry and oppression in +which he may wish to enlist them? After the Jewish church had finally +rejected Christ, how soon they were ready to imbrue their hands in the +blood of his crucifixion. And is it not the testimony of all history, +that just in proportion as any popular and extensive ecclesiastical +organization loses the Spirit and power of God, it clamors for the +support of the civil arm?</p> + +<p>Let, now, an ecclesiastical organization be formed by these churches; +let the government legalize such organization, and give it power (a +power which it will not have till the government does grant it) to +enforce upon the people the dogmas which the different denominations can +all adopt as the basis of union, and what do we have? Just what the +prophecy represents: an image to the papal beast, endowed with life by +the two-horned beast, to speak and act with power.</p> + +<p><a class="newpage" name="page110"></a>And are there any indications of such a movement? The preliminary +question, that of the grand union of all the churches, is now profoundly +agitating the religious world.</p> + +<p>In May, 1869, S.M. Manning, D.D., in a sermon in Broadway Tabernacle, +New York, spoke of the recent efforts to unite all the churches in the +land into co-operation on the common points of their faith, as a +"<i>prominent and noteworthy sign of the times</i>"</p> + +<p>Dr. Lyman Beecher is quoted as saying:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"There is a state of society to be formed by an extended +combination of institutions, religious, civil and literary, which +never exists without the co-operation of an educated ministry."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>Chas. Beecher, in his sermon at the dedication of the Second +Presbyterian church, Ft. Wayne, Ind., Feb. 22, 1846, said:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"Thus are the ministry of the evangelical Protestant denominations +not only formed all the way up under a tremendous pressure of +merely human fear, but they live, and move, and breathe, in a state +of things radically corrupt, and appealing every hour to every +baser element of their nature to hush up the truth and bow the knee +to the power of apostasy. Was not this the way things went with +Rome? Are we not living her life over again? And what do we see +just ahead? Another general council! A world's convention! +Evangelical Alliance and Universal Creed."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>The <i>Banner of Light</i> of July 30, 1864, said:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"A system will be unfolded sooner or later that will embrace in<a class="newpage" name="page111"></a> +its folds Church and State; for the object of the two should be one +and the same. The time is rapidly approaching when the world will +be startled by a voice that shall say to every form of oppression +and wrong, 'Thus far shalt thou go and no farther.' Old things are +rapidly passing away in the religious and social, as well as in the +political, world. Behold all things must be formed anew."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>The <i>Church Advocate</i>, in March, 1870, speaking of the formation of an +"Independent American Catholic Church," a movement now agitated in this +country, said:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"There is evidently some secret power at work which may be +preparing the world for great events in the near future."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>A Mr. Havens, in a speech delivered in New York, a few years ago, +said:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"For my own part I wait to see the day when a Luther shall spring +up in this country who shall found a great American Catholic +church, instead of a great Roman Catholic church; and who shall +teach men that they can be good Catholics without professing +allegiance to a pontiff on the other side of the Atlantic."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>There is every indication that at no distant day such a church will be +seen, not indeed, raised up through the instrumentality of a Luther, but +rather through the operation of the same spirit that inspired a Fernando +Nunez or a Torquemada.</p> +</div> + + +<div id="chapter10" class="chapter"> +<a class="newpage" name="page112"></a> +<h3>Chapter Ten.</h3> + +<h4>The Mark Of The Beast.</h4> + + +<p>The principal acts ascribed to the two-horned beast, which seem to be +performed with special reference to the papal beast, are, the causing of +men to worship that beast, causing them to make an image to that beast, +and enforcing upon them the mark of the beast. The image, after it is +created and endowed with life, undertakes to enforce the worship of +itself. To avoid confusion, we must keep these parties distinct in our +minds. There are three here brought before us: 1. The papal beast. This +power is designated as "the beast," "the first beast," "the beast which +had the wound by a sword and did live," and, the "beast whose deadly +wound was healed." These expressions all refer to the same power; and +wherever they occur in this prophecy, they have exclusive reference to +the papacy. 2. The two-horned beast. This power, after its introduction +in verse 11, is represented through the remainder of the prophecy by the +pronoun "he;" and wherever this pronoun occurs, down to the 17th verse +(with possibly the exception of the 16th verse, which perhaps may refer +to the image), it refers invariably to the two-horned beast. 3. The +im<a class="newpage" name="page113"></a>age of the beast. This is, every time, with the exception just +stated, called the image; so that there is no danger of confounding this +with any other agent.</p> + +<p>The acts ascribed to the image are speaking and enforcing the worship of +itself under the penalty of death; and this is the only enactment which +the prophecy mentions as enforced under the death penalty. Just what +will constitute this worship, it will perhaps be impossible to determine +till the image itself shall have an existence. It will evidently be some +act or acts by which men will be required to acknowledge the authority +of that image and yield obedience to its mandates.</p> + +<p>The mark of the beast is enforced by the two-horned beast either +directly or through the image. The penalty attached to a refusal to +receive this mark is a forfeiture of all social privileges, a +deprivation of the right to buy and sell. The mark is the mark of the +papal beast. Against this worship of the beast and his image, and the +reception of his mark, the third angel's message of Rev. 14:9-12, is a +most solemn and thrilling warning.</p> + +<p>Here, then, is the issue before us. Human organizations, controlled and +inspired by the spirit of the dragon, are to command men to do those +acts which are in reality the worshiping of an apostate religious power, +and the receiving of his mark, or lose the rights of citizenship and +become outlaws in the land; and to do that which consti<a class="newpage" name="page114"></a>tutes the +worship of the image of the beast, or forfeit their lives. On the other +hand, God says by a message, mercifully sent out a little before the +fearful crisis is upon us, Do any of these things, and you "shall drink +of the wine of the wrath of God which is poured out without mixture into +the cup of his indignation." He who refuses to comply with these demands +of earthly powers exposes himself to the severest penalties which human +beings can inflict; and he who does comply, exposes himself to the most +terrible threatening of divine wrath to be found in the word of God. The +question whether we will obey God or man is to be decided by the people +of the present age, under the heaviest pressure, from either side, that +has ever been brought to bear upon any generation.</p> + +<p>The worship of the beast and his image, and the reception of his mark, +must be something that involves the greatest offense that can be +committed against God, to call down so severe a denunciation of wrath +against it. This is a work, as was shown in chapter 4, which takes place +in the last days; and as God has given us in his word most abundant +evidence to show when we are in the last days, so that no one need to be +overtaken by the day of the Lord as by a thief, so likewise it must be +that he has given us the means whereby we may determine what this great +latter-day sin is which he has so strongly condemned, that we may avoid +the fearful penalty so sure to follow its <a class="newpage" name="page115"></a>commission. God does not so +trifle with human hopes and human destinies as to denounce a most +fearful doom against a certain sin, and then place it out of our power +to understand what that sin is, so that we have no means of guarding +against it.</p> + +<p>That we are now living in the last days, the volumes both of revelation +and nature bear ample and harmonious testimony. Evidence on this point +we need not here stop to introduce; for the testimony already presented +in the foregoing chapters of this series, showing that the two-horned +beast is now on the stage of action, is in itself conclusive proof of +this great fact, inasmuch as the power exists and performs its work in +the very closing period of human history. All these things tell us that +the time has now come for the proclamation of the third message of Rev. +14, to be given, and for men to understand the terms which it uses, and +the warning it gives.</p> + +<p>We therefore now call attention to the very important inquiry, What +constitutes the mark of the beast? The figure of a mark is borrowed from +an ancient custom. Says Bp. Newton (Dissert on Proph., vol. iii, p. +241):—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"It was customary among the ancients for servants to receive the +mark of their master, and soldiers of their general, and those who +were devoted to any particular deity, of the particular deity to +whom they were devoted. These marks were usually impressed on their +right hand, or on their foreheads, and consisted of some +hieroglyphic <a class="newpage" name="page116"></a>character, or of the name expressed in vulgar +letters, or of the name disguised in numerical letters according to +the fancy of the imposer."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>Prideaux says that Ptolemy Philopater ordered all the Jews who applied +to be enrolled as citizens of Alexandria to have the form of an ivy leaf +(the badge of his god, Bacchus) impressed upon them with a hot iron, +under pain of death. (Connection B.C. 216.)</p> + +<p>The word used for mark in this prophecy is <span lang="el" title="charagma">χαραγμα</span> +(<i>charagma</i>), and is defined to mean, "a graving, sculpture, a mark cut +in or stamped." It occurs nine times in the New Testament, and with the +single exception of Acts 17:29, refers every time to the mark of the +beast. We are not, of course, to understand in this symbolic prophecy, +that a literal mark is intended; but the giving of the literal mark, as +practiced in ancient times, is used as a figure to illustrate certain +acts that will be performed in the fulfillment of this prophecy. And +from the literal mark as formerly employed, we learn something of its +meaning as used in the prophecy; for between the symbol and the thing +symbolized there must be some resemblance. The mark, as literally used, +signified that the person receiving it was the servant of, acknowledged +the authority of, or professed allegiance to, the person whose mark he +bore. So the mark of the beast, or the papacy, must be some act or +profession by which the au<a class="newpage" name="page117"></a>thority of that power is acknowledged. What +is it?</p> + +<p>It would be naturally looked for in some of the special characteristics +of the papal power. Daniel, describing that power under the symbol of a +little horn, speaks of it as waging a special warfare against God, +wearing out the saints of the Most High, and thinking to change times +and laws. The prophet expressly specifies on this point: "He shall +<i>think</i> to change times and laws." These laws must certainly be the laws +of the Most High. To apply it to human laws, and make the prophecy read, +"And he shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear +out the saints of the Most High, and think to change human laws," would +be doing evident violence to the language of the prophet. But to apply +it to the laws of God, and let it read, "And he shall speak great words +against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, +and shall think to change the times and laws of the Most High"—then all +is consistent and forcible. The Septuagint reads, <span lang="el" title="nomos">νομος</span> +(<i>nomos</i>), in the singular, "the law," which more directly suggests the +law of God. So far as human laws are concerned, the papacy has been able +to do more than merely "think" to change them. It has been able to +change them at pleasure. It has annulled the decrees of kings and +emperors, and absolved subjects from allegiance to their rightful +sovereigns. <a class="newpage" name="page118"></a>It has thrust its long arm into the affairs of nations, and +brought rulers to its feet in the most abject humility. But the prophet +beholds greater acts of presumption than these. He sees it endeavor to +do, what it was not able to do, but could only think to do; he sees it +attempt an act which no man, nor any combination of men, can ever +accomplish; and that is, to change the laws of the Most High. Bear this +in mind while we look at the testimony of another sacred writer on this +very point.</p> + +<p>Paul speaks of the same power in 2 Thess. 2; and he describes it, in the +person of the pope, as the man of sin, and as sitting as God in the +temple of God (that is, the church), and as exalting himself above all +that is called God or that is worshiped. According to this, the pope +sets himself up as the one for all the church to look to for authority, +in the place of God. And now we ask the reader to ponder carefully the +question how he can exalt himself <i>above</i> God. Search through the whole +range of human devices; go to the extent of human effort; by what plan, +by what move, by what claim, could this usurper exalt himself above God? +He might institute any number of ceremonies, he might prescribe any form +of worship, he might exhibit any degree of power; but so long as God had +requirements which the people felt bound to regard in preference to his +own, so long he would not be above <a class="newpage" name="page119"></a>God. He might enact a law and teach +the people that they were under as great obligations to that as to the +law of God. Then he would only make himself equal with God. But he is to +do more than this: he is to attempt to raise himself above him. Then he +must promulgate a law which <i>conflicts</i> with the law of God, and demand +obedience to his own in preference to God's. There is no other possible +way in which he could place himself in the position assigned in the +prophecy. But this is simply to change the law of God; and if he can +cause this change to be adopted by the people in place of the original +enactment, then he, the law-changer, is above God, the law-maker. And +this is the very work that Daniel said he should think to do.</p> + +<p>Such a work as this, then, the papacy must accomplish according to the +prophecy; and the prophecy cannot fail. And when this is done, what do +the people of the world have? They have two laws demanding from them +obedience: one, the law of God as originally enacted by him, an +embodiment of his will, and expressing his claims upon his creatures; +the other, a revised edition of that law, emanating from the pope of +Rome, and expressing his will. And how is it to be determined which of +these powers the people honor and worship? It is determined by the law +which they keep. If they keep the law of God as given by him, they +worship and obey God. <a class="newpage" name="page120"></a>If they keep the law as changed by the papacy, +they worship that power. But further, the prophecy does not say that the +little horn should set aside the law of God and give one entirely +different. This would not be to change the law, but simply to give a new +one. He was only to attempt a change, so that the law as it comes from +God, and the law as it comes from the hands of the papacy, are precisely +alike, excepting the change which the papacy has made therein. They have +many points in common. But none of the precepts which they contain in +common can distinguish a person as the worshiper of either power in +preference to the other. If God's law says, "Thou shalt not kill," and +the law as given by the papacy says the same, no one can tell by a +person's observance of that precept whether he designed to obey God +rather than the pope, or the pope rather than God. But when a precept +that has been changed is the subject of action, then whoever observes +that precept as originally given by God is thereby distinguished as a +worshiper of God; and he who keeps it as changed, is thereby marked as a +follower of the power that made the change. In no other way can the two +classes of worshipers be distinguished. From this conclusion, no candid +mind can dissent; but in this conclusion we have a general answer to the +question before us, "What constitutes the mark of the <a class="newpage" name="page121"></a>beast?" THE MARK +OF THE BEAST is THE CHANGE HE HAS MADE IN THE LAW OF GOD.</p> + +<p>We now inquire what that change is. By the law of God, we mean the moral +law, the only law in the universe of immutable and perpetual obligation, +the law of which Webster says, defining the terms according to the sense +in which they are almost universally used in Christendom, "The moral law +is summarily contained in the decalogue, written by the finger of God on +two tables of stone, and delivered to Moses on Mount Sinai."</p> + +<p>If, now, the reader will compare the ten commandments as found in Roman +Catholic catechisms with those commandments as found in the Bible, he +will see in the catechisms that the second commandment is left out, that +the tenth is divided into two commandments to make up the lack of +leaving out the second, and keep good the number ten, and that the +fourth commandment (called the third in their enumeration) is made to +enjoin the observance of Sunday as the Sabbath, and prescribe that the +day shall be spent in hearing mass devoutly, attending vespers, and +reading moral and pious books. Here are several variations from the +decalogue as found in the Bible. Which of them constitutes the change of +the law intended in the prophecy? or, are they all included in that +change? Let it be borne in mind that, according to the prophecy, he was +to <a class="newpage" name="page122"></a><i>think</i> to change times and laws. This plainly conveys the idea of +<i>intention</i> and <i>design</i>, and makes these qualities essential to the +change in question. But respecting the omission of the second +commandment, Catholics argue that it is included in the first, and, +hence, should not be numbered as a separate commandment. And, on the +tenth, they claim that there is so plain a distinction of ideas as to +require two commandments. So they make the coveting of a neighbor's wife +the ninth commandment, and the coveting of his goods the tenth.</p> + +<p>In all this they claim that they are giving the commandments exactly as +God intended to have them understood. So, while we may regard them as +errors in their interpretation of the commandments, we cannot set them +down as <i>intentional changes</i>. Not so, however, with the fourth +commandment. Respecting this commandment, they do not claim that their +version is like that given by God. They expressly claim a change here, +and also that the change has been made by the church. A few quotations +from standard Catholic works will make this matter plain. In a work +entitled, Treatise of Thirty Controversies, we find these words:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"The word of God commandeth the seventh day to be the Sabbath of +our Lord, and to be kept holy; you [Protestants], without any +precept of Scripture, change it to the first day of the week, only +authorized by our traditions. Divers English Puritans oppose, +against this <a class="newpage" name="page123"></a>point, that the observation of the first day is +proved out of Scripture, where it is said, the first day of the +week. Acts 20:7; I Cor. 16:2; Rev. 1:10. Have they not spun a +fair thread in quoting these places? If we should produce no better +for purgatory, and prayers for the dead, invocation of the saints, +and the like, they might have good cause, indeed, to laugh us to +scorn; for where is it written that these were Sabbath days in +which those meetings were kept? Or where is it ordained they should +be always observed? Or, which is the sum of all, where is it +decreed that the observation of the first day should abrogate or +abolish the sanctifying of the seventh day, which God commanded +everlastingly to be kept holy? <i>Not</i> one of those is expressed in +the written word of God."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>In the "Catholic Catechism of Christian Religion," on the subject of the +third (fourth) commandment, we find these questions and answers:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"<i>Ques.</i> What does God ordain by this commandment?</p> + +<p>"<i>Ans.</i> He ordains that we sanctify, in a special manner, this day +on which he rested from the labor of creation.</p> + +<p>"<i>Q.</i> What is this day of rest?</p> + +<p>"<i>A.</i> The seventh day of the week, or Saturday; for he employed six +days in creation, and rested on the seventh. Gen. 2:2; Heb. 4:1, +&c.</p> + +<p>"<i>Q.</i> Is it then Saturday we should sanctify in order to obey the +ordinance of God?</p> + +<p>"<i>A.</i> During the old law, Saturday was the day sanctified; but <i>the +church,</i> instructed by Jesus Christ, and directed by the Spirit of +God, has substituted Sunday for Saturday; so now we sanctify the +first, not the seventh, day. Sunday means, and now is, the day of +the Lord."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p><a class="newpage" name="page124"></a>In "Abridgment of Christian Doctrine," we find this testimony:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"<i>Ques.</i> How prove you that the church hath power to command feasts +and holy days?</p> + +<p>"<i>Ans.</i> By the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which +Protestants allow of; and therefore they fondly contradict +themselves by keeping Sunday strictly, and breaking most other +feasts commanded by the same church.</p> + +<p>"<i>Q.</i> How prove you that?</p> + +<p>"<i>A.</i> Because by keeping Sunday they acknowledge the church's power +to ordain feasts, and to command them under sin."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>In the "Catholic Christian Instructed," again we read:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"<i>Ques.</i> What warrant have you for keeping the Sunday, preferable +to the ancient Sabbath, which was the Saturday?</p> + +<p>"<i>Ans.</i> We have for it the authority of the Catholic church and +apostolic tradition.</p> + +<p>"<i>Q.</i> Does the Scripture anywhere command the Sunday to be kept for +the Sabbath?</p> + +<p>"<i>A.</i> The Scripture commands us to hear the church (Matt. 18:17; +Luke 10:16), and to hold fast the traditions of the apostles. 2 +Thess. 2:15. But the Scriptures do not in particular mention this +change of the Sabbath."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>In the "Doctrinal Catechism," we find further +testimony to the same point:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"<i>Ques.</i> Have you any other way of proving that the church has +power to institute festivals of precept?</p> + +<p>"<i>Ans.</i> Had she not such power, she could not have done that in +which all modern religionists agree with <a class="newpage" name="page125"></a>her—she could not have +substituted the observance of Sunday, the first day of the week, +for the observance of Saturday, the seventh day, a change for which +there is no scriptural authority."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>And finally, W. Lockhart, late B.A. of Oxford, in the Toronto (Cath.) +<i>Mirror,</i> offered the following "challenge" to all the Protestants of +Ireland; a challenge as well calculated for this latitude as that. He +says:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"I do, therefore, solemnly challenge the Protestants of Ireland to +prove, by plain texts of Scripture, the questions concerning the +obligation of the Christian Sabbath. 1. That Christians may work on +Saturday, the old seventh day. 2. That they are bound to keep holy +the first day, namely, Sunday. 3. That they are not bound to keep +holy the seventh day also."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>This is what the papal power claims to have done respecting the fourth +commandment. Catholics plainly acknowledge that there is no scriptural +authority for the change they have made, but that it rests wholly upon +the authority of the church; and they claim it has a token or mark of +the authority of that church; the "<i>very act of changing the Sabbath +into Sunday</i>" being set forth as proof of its power in this respect. For +further testimony on this point, the reader is referred to a tract +published at the <i>Review</i> Office, Battle Creek, Mich., entitled, "Who +Changed the Sabbath?" in which are also extracts from Catholic writers, +refuting the arguments usually relied <a class="newpage" name="page126"></a>upon to prove the Sunday Sabbath, +and showing that its only authority is the Catholic church.</p> + +<p>"But," says one, "I supposed that Christ changed the Sabbath." A great +many suppose so; and it is natural that they should; for they have been +so taught. And while we have no words of denunciation to utter against +any such for so believing, we would have them at once understand that it +is, in reality, one of the most enormous of all errors. We would +therefore remind such persons that, according to the prophecy, the only +change ever to be made in the law of God, was to be made by the little +horn of Dan. 7, and the man of sin of 2 Thess. 2; and the only change +that has been made in it, is the change of the Sabbath. Now, if Christ +made this change, he filled the office of the blasphemous power spoken +of by both Daniel and Paul—a conclusion sufficiently hideous to drive +any Christian from the view which leads thereto.</p> + +<p>But why should any one labor to prove that Christ changed the Sabbath? +Whoever does this is performing a thankless task. The pope will not +thank him; for if it is proved that Christ wrought this change, then the +pope is robbed of his badge of authority and power. And no truly +enlightened Protestant will thank him; for if he succeeds, he only shows +that the papacy has not done the work which it was predicted that it +should do, and so that the prophecy has failed, and the <a class="newpage" name="page127"></a>Scriptures are +unreliable. The matter had better stand as the propheqy has placed it, +and the claim which the pope unwittingly puts forth, had better be +granted. When a person is charged with any work, and that person steps +forth and confesses that he has done the work, that is usually +considered sufficient to settle the matter. So, when the prophecy +affirms that a certain power shall change the law of God, and that very +power in due time arises, does the work foretold, and then openly claims +that he has done it, what need have we of further evidence? The world +should not forget that the great apostasy foretold by Paul has taken +place; that the man of sin for long ages held almost a monopoly of +Christian teaching in the world; that the mystery of iniquity has cast +the darkness of its shadow and the errors of its doctrines over almost +all Christendom; and out of this era of error and darkness and +corruption, the theology of our day has come. Would it then be anything +strange if there were yet some relics of popery to be discarded ere the +reformation will be complete? A. Campbell (Baptism, p. 15), speaking of +the different Prostestant sects, says:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"All of them retain in their bosom, in their ecclesiastic +organizations, worship, doctrines, and observances, various relics +of popery. They are at best a reformation of popery, and only +reformations in part. The doctrines and traditions of men yet +impair the power and progress of the gospel in their hands."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p><a class="newpage" name="page128"></a>The nature of the change which the little horn has attempted to effect +in the law of God is worthy of notice. With true Satanic instinct, he +undertakes to change that commandment which, of all others, is the +fundamental commandment of the law, the one which makes known who the +Law-giver is, and contains his signature of royalty. The fourth +commandment does this; no other one does. Four others, it is true, +contain the word God, and three of them the word Lord, also. But who is +this Lord God of whom they speak? Without the fourth commandment it is +impossible to tell; for idolaters of every grade apply these terms to +the multitudinous objects of their adoration. With the fourth +commandment to point out the Author of the decalogue, the claims of +every false god are annulled at one stroke; for the God who here demands +our worship is not any created being, but the One who created them all. +The maker of the earth and sea, the sun and moon, and all the starry +host, the upholder and governor of the universe, is the One who claims, +and who, from his position, has a right to claim, our supreme regard in +preference to every other object. The commandment which makes known +these facts is therefore the very one we might suppose that power would +undertake to change, which designed to exalt itself above God. God gave +the Sabbath as a memorial of himself, a weekly reminder to the sons of +men, of his work in creating the heav<a class="newpage" name="page129"></a>ens and the earth, a great barrier +against atheism and idolatry. It is the signature and seal of the law. +This the papacy has torn from its place, and erected in its stead, on +its own authority, an institution designed to serve another purpose.</p> + +<p>This change of the fourth commandment must therefore be the change to +which the prophecy points; and Sunday-keeping must be the mark of the +beast! Some who have long been taught to regard this institution with +reverence will perhaps start back with little less than feelings of +horror at this conclusion. We have not space, nor is this perhaps the +place, to enter into an extended argument on the Sabbath question, and +an exposition of the origin and nature of the observance of the first +day of the week. Let us submit this one proposition: If the seventh day +is still the Sabbath enjoined in the fourth commandment; if the +observance of the first day of the week has no foundation whatever in +the Scriptures; if this observance has been brought in as a Christian +institution and designedly put in place of the Sabbath of the decalogue, +by that power which is symbolized by the beast, and placed there as a +badge and token of its power to legislate for the church, is it not +inevitably the mark of the beast? The answer must be in the affirmative. +But all these hypotheses can easily be shown to be certainties, See +History of the Sabbath, and other works on <a class="newpage" name="page130"></a>the subject, published at +the <i>Review</i> Office. To these we can only refer the reader, in passing.</p> + +<p>It will be said again, then all Sunday-keepers have the mark of the +beast; then all the good of past ages who kept this day had the mark of +the beast; then Luther, Whitefield, the Wesleys, and all who have done a +good and noble work of reformation, had the mark of the beast; then all +the blessings that have been poured upon the reformed churches have been +poured upon those who had the mark of the beast. We answer, <i>No</i>! And we +are sorry to say that some professedly religious teachers, though many +times corrected, persist in misrepresenting us on this point. We have +never so held; we have never so taught. Our premises lead to no such +conclusions. Give ear: The mark and worship of the beast are enforced by +the two-horned beast. The receiving of the mark of the beast is a +specific act which the two-horned beast is to cause to be done. The +third message of Rev. 14, is a warning mercifully sent out in advance to +prepare the people for the coming danger. There can therefore be no +worship of the beast, nor reception of his mark, such as is contemplated +in the prophecy, till it is enforced by the two-horned beast. We have +seen that <i>intention</i> was essential to the change which the papacy has +made in the law of God, to constitute it the mark of that power. So +<i>intention</i> is necessary in the adoption of that change to make it <a class="newpage" name="page131"></a>on +the part of any individual the reception of that mark. In other words, a +person must adopt the change, knowing it to be the work of the beast, +and receive it on the authority of that power, in opposition to the +requirement of God.</p> + +<p>But how with those referred to above who have kept Sunday in the past, +and the majority of those who are keeping it to-day? Do they keep it as +an institution of the papacy? No. Have they decided between this and the +Sabbath of the Lord, understanding the claims of each? No. On what +ground have they kept it, and do they keep it? They suppose they are +keeping a commandment of God. Have such the mark of the beast? By no +means. Their course is attributable to an error unwittingly received +from the church of Rome, not to an act of worship rendered to it.</p> + +<p>But how is it to be? The church which is to be prepared for the second +coming of Christ must be entirely free from papal errors and +corruptions. A reform must hence be made on the Sabbath question. The +third angel proclaims the commandments of God, leading men to the true +in the place of the counterfeit. The dragon is stirred, and so controls +the wicked governments of the earth that all authority of human power +shall be exerted to enforce the claims of the man of sin. Then the issue +is fairly before the people. On one hand, they are required to keep the +true Sabbath; on the other, a counterfeit. For refusing <a class="newpage" name="page132"></a>to keep the +true, the message denounces the unmingled wrath of God; for refusing the +false, earthly governments threaten them with persecution and death. +With this issue before the people, what does he do who yields to the +human requirement? He virtually says to God, I know your claims, but I +will not yield to them. I know that the power I am required to worship +is anti-Christian; but I yield to save my life. I renounce your +allegiance, and bow to the usurper. The beast is henceforth the object +of my adoration; under his banner, in opposition to your authority, I +henceforth array myself; to him, in defiance of your claims, I +henceforth yield the obedience of my heart and life. Such is the spirit +which will actuate the hearts of the beast-worshipers; a spirit which +insults the God of the universe to his face, and is prevented only by +lack of power from overthrowing his government and annihilating his +throne. Is it any wonder that Jehovah denounces against so Heaven-daring +a course the most terrible threatening that his word contains?</p> +</div> + + +<div id="chapter11" class="chapter"> +<a class="newpage" name="page133"></a> +<h3>Chapter Eleven.</h3> + +<h4>The Beginning Of The End.</h4> + + +<p>We have now found what, according to the prophecy, is to constitute the +image which the two-horned beast is to cause to be made, and the mark +which it will attempt to enforce. The movement which is to fulfill this +portion of the prophecy, is to be looked for in the popular churches of +our land. First, a union must be effected between these churches, with +some degree of coalition also between these bodies and the beast power, +or Roman Catholicism; and, secondly, steps must be taken to bring the +law of the land to the support of the Sunday Sabbath. These movements +the prophecy calls for. And the line of argument leading to these +conclusions is so direct and well-defined that there is no avoiding +them. They are a clear and logical sequence from the premises given us.</p> + +<p>When first the application of Rev. 13:11-17 to the United States was +made, over twenty years ago, these positions respecting a union of the +churches and a grand Sunday movement were taken. But at that time, no +sign appeared above or beneath, at home or abroad, no token was seen, no +indication existed, that such an <a class="newpage" name="page134"></a>issue would ever be made. But there +was the prophecy, and that must stand. The United States government had +given abundant evidence, by its location, the time of its rise, the +manner of its rise, and its apparent character, that it was the power +symbolized by the two-horned beast. There could be no mistake in the +conclusion that it was the very nation intended by that symbol. This +being so, it must take the course, and perform the acts, foretold. But +here were predictions which could be fulfilled by nothing less than the +movement above named respecting Church and State, and the enforcement of +the papal Sabbath as the mark of the beast.</p> + +<p>To take the position at that time that this government was to pursue +such a policy and engage in such a work, without any apparent +probability in its favor, was no small act of faith. On the other hand, +to deny or ignore it, while admitting the application of the symbol to +this government, would be in accordance with neither Scripture nor +logic. The only course for the humble, confiding student of prophecy to +pursue in such cases, is to take the light as it is given, and believe +the prophecy in all its parts. So the stand was boldly taken; and open +proclamation has been made from that day to this, that such a work would +be seen in these United States. With every review of the argument, new +features of strength have been discovered in the application; and amid a +storm <a class="newpage" name="page135"></a>of scornful incredulity, we have watched the progress of events, +and waited the hour, of fulfillment.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, spiritualism has astonished the world with its terrible +progress, and shown itself to be the wonder-working element which was to +exist in connection with this power. This has mightily strengthened the +force of the application. And now, within a few years past, what have we +further seen? No less than the commencement of that very movement +respecting the formation of the image and the enactment of Sunday laws, +which we have so long expected, and which is to complete the prophecy, +and close the scene.</p> + +<p>Reference was made in chapter nine to the movement now on foot for a +grand union of all the churches; not a union which arises from the +putting away of error and uniting upon the harmonious principles of +truth, but simply a combination of sects, each retaining its own +particular creed, but confederated for the purpose of carrying out more +extensively the common points of our faith. This movement finds a strong +undercurrent of favor in all the churches. And men are engaged to carry +it through who are not easily turned from their purpose.</p> + +<p>And there has suddenly arisen a class of men whose souls are absorbed +with the cognate idea of Sunday reform, and who have dedicated every +<a class="newpage" name="page136"></a>energy of their being to the carrying forward of this kindred movement. +The "New York Sabbath Committee" have labored zealously by means of +books, tracts, speeches, and sermons, to create a strong public +sentiment in behalf of Sunday. Making slow progress through moral +suasion, they seek a shorter path to the accomplishment of their +purposes through political power. And why not? Christianity has become +popular, and her professed adherents are numerous. Why not avail +themselves of the power of the ballot to secure their ends? Rev. J.S. +Smart (Methodist), in a published sermon on the "Political Duties of +Christian Men and Ministers," expresses a largely-prevailing sentiment +on this question, when he says:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"I claim that we have, and ought to have, just as much concern in +the government of this couniry as any other men.... We are the mass +of the people. Virtue in this country is not weak; her ranks are +strong in numbers, and invincible from the righteousness of her +cause—invincible if united. Let not her ranks be broken by party +names."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>A "National Association" has been in existence for a number of years, +which has for its object the securing of such amendments to the National +Constitution as shall express the religious views of the majority of the +people, and make it an instrument under which the keeping of Sunday can +be enforced as the Christian Sabbath. This Association already embraces +within its organiza<a class="newpage" name="page137"></a>tion a long array of eminent and honorable names: +Governors of our States, Presidents of our colleges, Bishops, Doctors of +Divinity, Doctors of Law, and men who occupy high positions in all the +walks of life.</p> + +<p>In the Address issued by the officers of this Association, they say:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"Men of high standing, in every walk of life, of every section of +the country, and of every shade of political sentiment and +religious belief, have concurred in the measure."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>In their appeal, they most earnestly request every lover of his country +to join in forming auxiliary associations, circulate documents, attend +conventions, sign the memorial to Congress, &c., &c.</p> + +<p>In their plea for an amended Constitution, they ask the people to</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"Consider that God is not once named in our National Constitution. +There is nothing in it which requires an 'oath of God,' as the +Bible styles it (which, after all, is the great bond both of +loyalty in the citizen and of fidel in the magistrate); nothing +which requires the ob of the day of rest and of worship, or which +re its sanctity. If we do not have the mails carried and the +post-offices open on Sunday, it is because we have a +Postmaster-General who respects the day. If our Supreme Courts are +not held, and if Congress does not sit on that day, it is custom, +and not law, that makes it so. Nothing in the Constitution gives +Sunday quiet to the custom house, the navy yard, the barracks, or +any of the departments of government.</p> + +<p> "<a class="newpage" name="page138"></a>Consider that they fairly express the mind of the great body of +the American people. This is a Christian people. These amendments +agree with the faith, the feelings, and the forms of every +Christian church or sect. The Catholic and the Protestant, the +Unitarian and the Trinitarian, profess and approve all that is here +proposed. Why should their wishes not become law? Why should not +the Constitution be made to suhf and to represent a constituency so +overwhelmingly in the majority?...</p> + +<p> "This great majority is becoming daily more conscious not only of +their rights, but of their power. Their number grows, and their +column becomes more solid. They have quietly, steadily opposed +infidelity, until it has, at least, become politically unpopular. +They have asserted the rights of man and the rights of the +government, until the nation's faith has become measurably fixed +and declared on these points. And now that the close of the war +gives us occasion to amend our Constitution, that it may clearly +and fully represent the mind of the people on these points, they +feel that it should also be so amended as to recognize the rights +of God in man and in government. Is it anything but due to their +long patience that they be at length allowed to speak out the great +facts and principles which give to all government its dignity, +stability, and beneficence?"</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>Thus for several years a movement has been on foot, daily growing in +extent, and importance, and power, to fulfill that portion of the +prophecy of Rev. 13:11-17, which first calls forth the dissent of the +objector, and which appears from every point of view the most improbable +of all the specifications; namely, the erection of the image and the +enforcing of the mark. Beyond this, nothing remains but the sharp +conflict of <a class="newpage" name="page139"></a>the people of God with this earthly power, and the eternal +triumph of the overcomer.</p> + +<p>An Association, even now national in its character, as already noticed, +and endeavoring, as is appropriate for those who have such objects in +view, to secure their purposes under the sanction of the highest +authority of the land, the National Constitution, already has this +matter in hand. In the interest of this Association there is published, +in Philadelphia, a semi-monthly paper called the <i>Christian Statesman</i>, +in advocacy of this movement. Every issue of that paper goes forth +filled with arguments and appeals from some of the ablest pens in our +land, in favor of the desired Constitutional amendment. These are the +very methods, by which, in a country like ours, great revolutions are +brought about; and no movement has ever arisen so suddenly as this to so +high a position in public esteem with certain classes, and taken so +strong a hold upon their hearts.</p> + +<p>Says Mr. G.A. Townsend (New World and Old, p. 212):—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"Church and State has several times crept into American politics, +as in the contentions over the Bible in the public schools, the +Anti-Catholic party of 1844, &c. Our people have been wise enough +heretofore to respect the clergy in all religious questions, and to +entertain a wholesome jealousy of them in politics. The latest +<i>politico-theological movement</i> [italics ours] is to insert the +name of the Deity in the Constitution."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>The present movements of this National Asso<a class="newpage" name="page140"></a>ciation and the progress it +has made luay be gathered somewhat from the report of the proceedings of +the Convention held in Cincinnati, Jan. 31, 1872.</p> + +<p>From the Report of the Executive Committee it appeared that ten thousand +copies of the proceedings of the Philadelphia Convention have been +gratuitously distributed; that a General Secretary (Rev. D. McAllister) +has been appointed, with a salary of $2,500; and that a long and +elaborate paper by Prof. Taylor Lewis, of Union College, in advocacy of +the ideas and objects of the Association, will soon be published; that +the number of the Executive Committee is recommended to be increased to +twenty-five, besides including all presidents of auxiliary associations; +that $2,177 have been raised the past year by the Association, and that +a balance of over $90 remains in the treasury. Nearly $1,800 were raised +at this Convention.</p> + +<p>The Business Committee recommended that the delegates to this Convention +hold meetings in their respective localities to ratify the resolutions +adopted at Cincinnati; that twenty thousand copies of the proceedings of +this Convention be published in tract form; and that the friends of the +Association be urged to form auxiliary associations. All these +recommendations were adopted.</p> + +<p>The resolutions passed were as follows:—</p> +</div> + +<a class="newpage" name="page141"></a> + +<blockquote> +<p>"<i>Resolved</i>, That it is the right and duty of the United States, as a +nation settled by Christians, a nation with Christian laws and usages, +and with Christianity as its greatest social force, to acknowledge +itself in its written Constitution, to be a Christian nation.</p> + +<p>"<i>Resolved</i>, That, as the disregard of sound theory always leads to +mischievous practical results, so in this case the failure of our nation +to acknowledge, in its organic laws, its relation to God and his moral +laws, as a Christian nation, has fostered the theory that government has +nothing to do with religion but to let it alone, and that consequently +State laws in favor of the Sabbath, Christian marriage, and the use of +the Bible in the schools, are unconstitutional.</p> + +<p>"<i>Resolved</i>, That we recognize the necessity of complete harmony between +our written constitution and the actual facts of our national life; and +we maintain that tho true way to eflect this undoubted harmony is not to +expel the Bible and all idea of God and religion from our schools, +abrogate laws enforcing Christian morality, and abolish all devout +observances in connection with government, but to insert an explicit +acknowledgment of God and the Bible in our fundamental law.</p> + +<p>"<i>Resolved</i>, That the proposed religious amendment, so far from tending +to a union of Church and State, is directly opposed to such union, +inasmuch as it recognizes the nation's own relations to God, and insists +that the nation should acknowledge these relations for itself, and not +through the medium of any church establishment."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>Mr. F.E. Abbott, editor of the <i>Index</i>, Toledo, O., who was present at +the foregoing Conven<a class="newpage" name="page142"></a>tion, and presented a protest against its aims and +efforts, says of those who stand at the head of the movement:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"We found them to be so thoroughly sincere and earnest in their +purpose that they did not fear the effect of a decided but +temperate protest. This fact speaks volumes in their praise, as men +of character and convictions. We saw no indication of the artful +management which characterizes most conventions. The leading +men—Rev. D. McAllister, Rev. A.M. Milligan, Prof. Sloane, Prof. +Stoddard, Prof. Wright, Rev. T.P. Stephenson—impressed us as able, +clear-headed, and thoroughly honest men; and we could not but +conceive a great respect for their motives and their intentions. It +is such qualities as these in the leaders of the movement that give +it its most formidable character. They have definite and consistent +ideas; they perceive the logical connection of these ideas, and +advocate them in a very cogent and powerful manner; and they +propose to push them with determination and zeal. Concede their +premises, and it is impossible to deny their conclusions; and since +these premises are axiomatic truths with the great majority of +Protestant Christians, the effect of the vigorous campaign on which +they are entering cannot be small or despicable. The very respect +with which we were compelled to regard them only increases our +sense of the evils which lie germinant in their doctrines; and we +came home with the conviction that religious liberty in America +must do battle for its very existence hereafter. The movement in +which these men are engaged has too many elements of strength to be +contemned by any far-seeing liberal. Blindness or sluggishness +to-day means slavery to-morrow. Radicalism must pass now from +thought to action, or it will deserve the oppression that lies in +wait to overwhelm it."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p><a class="newpage" name="page143"></a>As to the probability of the success of this movement, there is at +present some difference of opinion. While a very few pass it by with a +slur as a mere temporary sensation of little or no consequence, it is +generally regarded as a work of growing strength and importance, both by +its advocates and opposers. Petitions and remonstrances are both being +circulated with activity, and shrewd observers, who have watched the +movement with a jealous eye, and heretofore hoped it would amount to +nothing, now confess that it "means business." No movement of equal +magnitude of purpose has ever sprung up and become strong, and secured +favor so rapidly as this. Indeed, none of equal magnitude has ever been +sprung upon the American mind, as this aims to remodel the whole +framework of our government, and give to it a strong religious cast—a +thing which the framers of our Constitution were careful to exclude from +it. They not only ask that the Bible, and God, and Christ, shall be +recognized in the Constitution, but that it shall indicate this as "a +Christian nation, and place all Christian laws, institutions, and +usages, in our government on an undeniable legal basis in the +fundamental law of the nation."</p> + +<p>Of course, appropriate legislation will be required to carry such +amendments into effect, and somebody will have to decide what are +"Christian laws and institutions." From what we know of <a class="newpage" name="page144"></a>such movements +in the past in other countries, and of the temper of the churches of +this, and of human nature when it has power suddenly conferred upon it, +we look for no good from this movement. From a lengthy article in the +Lansing <i>State Republican</i> in reference to the Cincinnati Convention, we +take the following extract:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"Now there are hundreds and thousands of moral and professedly +Christian people in this nation to-day who do not recognize the +doctrine of the Trinity, do not recognize Jesus Christ the same as +God. And there are hundreds and thousands of men and women who do +not recognize the Bible as the revelation of God. The attempt to +make any such amendment to the Constitution would be regarded by a +large minority, perhaps a majority, of our nation as a palpable +violation of liberty of conscience. Thousands of men, if called +upon to vote for such an amendment, would hesitate to vote against +God, although they may not believe that the amendment was necessary +or that it is right; and such men would either vote affirmatively +or not at all. In every case, such an amendment would be likely to +receive an affirmative vote, which would by no means indicate the +true sentiment of the people. And the same rule would hold good in +relation to the adoption of such an amendment by Congress or by the +Legislatures of three-quarters of the States. Men who make politics +a trade would hesitate to record their names against the proposed +Constitutional Amendment, advocated by the leaders of the great +religious denominations of the land, and indorsed by such men as +Bishop Simpson, Bishop McIlvaine, Bishop Eastburn, President +Finney, Prof. Lewis, Prof. Seelye, Bishop Huntington, Bishop +Kerfoot, Dr. Patterson, Dr. Cuyler, and many other divines who are +the representative men of their respective denominations."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p><a class="newpage" name="page145"></a>Not only the representative men of the churches are pledged to this +movement, but governors, judges, and many of the most eminent men of the +land are working for it. Who doubts the power of the "representative men +of the denominations" to rally the strength of their denominations to +sustain this work at their call? We utter no prophecy of the future; it +is not needed. Events transpire in these days faster than our minds are +prepared to grasp them. Let us heed the admonition to "watch!" and, with +reliance upon God, prepare for "those things which are coming on the +earth."</p> + +<p>But it may be asked how the Sunday question is to be affected by the +proposed Constitutional Amendment. Answer: The object, or, to say the +least, one object of this amendment is to put the Sunday institution on +a legal basis, and compel its observance by the arm of the law. At the +National Convention held in Philadelphia, Jan. 18 and 19, 1871, the +following resolution was among the first offered by the Business +Committee:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"<i>Resolved</i>, That, in view of the controlling power of the +Constitution in shaping State, as well as national, policy, it is +of immediate importance to public morals, and to social order, to +secure such an amendment as will indicate that this is a Christian +nation, and place all Christian laws, institutions, and usages in +our government on an undeniable legal basis in the fundamental law +of the nation, specially those which secure a proper oath, and +<a class="newpage" name="page146"></a>which protect society against blasphemy, Sabbath-breaking, and +polygamy."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>By Sabbath-breaking is meant nothing else but Sunday-breaking. In a +convention of the friends of Sunday, assembled Nov. 29, 1870, in New +Concord, Ohio, the Rev. James White is reported to have said: "The +question [of Sunday observance] is closely connected with the National +Reform Movement; for until the government comes to know God and honor +his law, we need not expect to restrain Sabbath-breaking corporations." +Here again the idea of the legal enforcement of Sunday observance stands +uppermost.</p> + +<p>Once more: The Philadelphia <i>Press</i> of Dec. 5, 1870, stated that some +Congressmen, including Vice-president Colfax, arrived in Washington by +Sunday trains, Dec. 4, on which the <i>Christian Statesman</i> commented as +follows (we give italics as we find them):—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"1. <i>Not one of those men ivho thus violated the Sabbath is fit to +hold any official position in a Christian nation</i>. * *</p> + +<p>"He who violates the Sabbath may not steal because the judgment of +society so strongly condemns theft, or because he believes that +honesty is the best policy; but tempt him with the prospect of +concealment, or the prospect of advantage, and there can be no +reason why he who robs God will not rob his neighbor also. For this +reason, the Sabbath law lies at the foundation of morality. Its +observance is an acknowledgment of the sovereign rights of God over +us.</p> + +<p>"2. <i>The sin of these Congressmen is a national sin</i>, because the +nation hath not said to them in the Constitu<a class="newpage" name="page147"></a>tion, the supreme rule +for our public servants, 'We charge you to serve us in accordance +with the higher law of God.' These Sabbath-breaking railroads, +moreover, are corporations created by the State, and amenable to +it. The State is responsible to God for the conduct of these +creatures which it calls into being. It is bound, therefore, to +restrain them from this as from other crimes, and any violation of +the Sabbath, by any corporation, should work immediate forfeiture +of its charter. And the Constitution of the United States, with +which all State legislation is required to be in harmony, should be +of such a character as to prevent any State from tolerating such +infractions of fundamental moral law.</p> + +<p>"3. Give us in the National Constitution the simple acknowledgment +of the law of God as the supreme law of nations, and <i>all the +results indicated in this note will ultimately be secured</i>. Let no +one say that the movement does not contemplate sufficiently +practical ends."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>From all this, we see the important place the Sabbath question is to +hold in this movement—the important place it even now holds in the +minds of those who are urging it forward. Let the amendment called for +be granted, "and all the results indicated in this note," says the +writer, "will ultimately be secured;" that is, individuals and +corporations will be restrained from violating the Sunday observance. +The acknowledgment of God in the Constitution may do very well as a +banner under which to sail; but the practical bearing of the movement +relates to the compulsory observance of the first day of the week.</p> + +<p>Even now the question is agitated why the Jew should be allowed to +follow his business on the <a class="newpage" name="page148"></a>first day after having observed the seventh. +The same question is equally pertinent to all seventh-day keepers. A +writer signing himself "American," in the Boston <i>Herald</i> of Dec. 14, +1871, said:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"The President in his late message in speaking of the Mormon +question, says, 'They shall not be permitted to break the law under +the cloak of religion.' This, undoubtedly, meets the approval of +every American citizen, and I wish to cite a parallel case, and +ask: Why should the Jews of this country be allowed to keep open +their stores on the Sabbath under the cloak of their religion while +I, or any other true American, will be arrested and suffer +punishment if we do the same thing? If there is a provision made +allowing a few to conduct business on the Sabbath, what justice and +equality can there be in any such provision, and why should it not +be stopped at once?"</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>And this question, we apprehend, will be very summarily decided, when +once the Consitutional Amendment has been secured.</p> + +<p>At a Ministerial Association of the M.E. church held in Healdsburg, +Cal., April 26-28, 1870, Rev. Mr. Trefren, of Napa, speaking of S.D.A. +ministers, said, "I predict for them a short race. What we want is law +in the matter." Then, referring to the present movement for a law, he +added, "And we will have it, too; and when we get the power into our +hands, we will show these men what their end will be."</p> + +<p>From a work recently published by the Presbyterian Board of Publication, +entitled "The <a class="newpage" name="page149"></a>Sabbath," by Chas. Elliott, Professor of Biblical +Literature and Exegesis in the Presbyterian Theological Seminary of the +North West, Chicago, Ill., we take this paragraph:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"But it may be asked, Would not the Jew be denied equality of +rights by legislation protecting the Christian Sabbath and ignoring +the Jewish? The answer is, We are not a Jewish but a Christian +nation; therefore, our legislation must be conformed to the +institutions and spirit of Christianity. This is absolutely +necessary from the nature of the case."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>There is no mistaking the import of this language: No matter if the Jew +does not secure equal rights with others. We are not a Jewish nation, +but a Christian; and all must be made to conform to what the majority +decide to be Christian institutions. This affects all who observe the +seventh day as much as the Jews. And we apprehend it will not be a +difficult matter to lead the masses, whose prejudices incline them in +this direction, to believe that it is "absolutely necessary" that all +legislation must take such a form, and cause them to act accordingly.</p> + +<p>Several years since, Dr. Durbin of the <i>Christian Advocate and Journal</i>; +gave his views on this subject as follows:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"I infer, therefore, that the civil magistrate may not be called +upon to enforce the observance of the Sabbath [Sunday] as required +in the spiritual kingdom of Christ; but when Christianity becomes +the moral and spiritual life of the State, the State is bound +through her magis<a class="newpage" name="page150"></a>trates to prevent the open violation of the holy +Sabbath, as a measure of self-preservation. She cannot, without +injuring her own vitality and incurring the divine displeasure, be +recreant to her duty in this matter."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>At a meeting held at Saratoga Springs, Aug. 12, 1860, ex-president +Fillmore said that "while he deemed it needful to legislate cautiously +in all matters connected with public morals, and to avoid coercive +measures affecting religion, the right of every citizen to a day of rest +and worship could not be questioned, and laws securing that right should +be enforced."</p> + +<p>And the <i>Christian Statesman</i> of Dec. 15, 1871, speaking of the general +disregard of the Sabbath [Sunday] in the arrangements for welcoming the +Grand Duke Alexis, says:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"How long will it be before the Christian masses of this country +can be roused to enact a law compelling their public servants to +respect the Sabbath?"</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>A very marked and rapid change is taking place in public opinion +relative to the proposed religious amendment of the Constitution. We +have learned of instances of men who were at first openly hostile to the +movement, now giving their influence for its advancement, and clamoring +loudly for a Sunday law. And some who at first regarded it with +indifference, are now becoming its warm partisans. As a sample of this +change of feeling, the following paragraph from the <i>Christian Press</i> of +Jan, 1872, may be presented. The <i>Christian <a class="newpage" name="page151"></a>Press</i> is the organ of the +Western Book and Tract Society, Cincinnati, Ohio, and its editor, +speaking of the National Association above referred to, says:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"When this Association was formed, while we were prepared to bid it +God speed, we did not then feel that there was any pressing need +for the object sought; and as our mission was specially directed to +the Christianizing, enlightening and elevating, the masses of the +people, we have said little in our columns on the subject, being +assured that if the people are right, it is easy to set the +government right. The late combined efforts, however, of various +classes of our citizens to exclude the Bible from our schools, +repeal our Sabbath laws, and divorce our government entirely from +religion, and thus make it an atheistic government—for every +government must be for God or against him, and must be administered +in the interests of religion and good morals, or in the interests +of irreligion and immorality—have changed our mind, and we are now +prepared to urge the necessity for an explicit acknowledgment in +the National Constitution of the authority of God and the supremacy +of his law, as revealed in the Scriptures of the Old and New +Testaments."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>With the anti-Sunday movements of the present day, considering their +associations, and the manner and object in and for which they are +carried forward, we have no sympathy. They aim at utter no-Sabbathism, +freedom from all moral restraint, and all the evils of unbridled +intemperance—ends which we abhor with all the strength of a moral +nature quickened by the most intense religious convictions. And while +the indignation <a class="newpage" name="page152"></a>of the batter portion of the community will be aroused +at the want of religious principle and the immorality attending the +popular anti-Sunday movement, a little lack of discrimination, by no +means uncommon, will on account of our opposition to the day, though we +oppose it on entirely different ground, easily associate us with the +class above-mentioned, and subject us to the same odium.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, some see the evils involved in this movement, and raise the +voice of alarm. The <i>Christian Union</i>, Jan., 1871, said:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"The friends of the measure are not likely ever to agree among +themselves. The Convention which met in Philadelphia on the 18th +inst. to consider this subject, refused to accept a phraseology +which simply recognizes the Deity, and insisted upon including in +the emendation the name of Jesus Christ as well. A party, in behalf +of the Holy Spirit, which is so conspicuously slighted, will be the +next in order; and then the way will be open for a proposition to +recognize the 'Vicegerent of Christ on earth,' as the true source +of power among the nations! If the proposed amendment is anything +more than a bit of sentimental cant, it is to have a <i>legal</i> +effect. It is to alter the status of the non-Christian citizen +before the law. It is to affect the legal oaths and instruments, +the matrimonial contracts, the sumptuary laws, &c., &c., of the +country. This would be an outrage on natural right."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>The Janesville (Wis.) <i>Gazette</i>, at the close of an article on the +proposed amendment, speaks thus of the effect of the movement, should it +succeed:—</p> + +<a class="newpage" name="page153"></a> +<blockquote> +<p>"But independent of the question as to what extent we are a +Christian nation, it may well be doubted whether, if the gentlemen +who are agitating this question should succeed, they would not do +society a very great injury. Such measures are but the initiatory +steps which ultimately lead to <i>restrictions of religious freedom</i>, +and to commit the government to measures which are as foreign to +its powers and purposes as would be its action if it should +undertake to determine a disputed question of theology."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>The <i>Weekly Alta Californian</i> of San Francisco, March 12, 1870, said:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"The parties who have been recently holding a convention for the +somewhat novel purpose of procuring an amendment to the +Constitution of the United States recognizing the Deity, do not +fairly state the case when they assert that it is the right of a +Christian people to govern themselves in a Christian manner. If we +are not governing ourselves in a Christian manner, how shall the +doings of our government be designated? The fact is, that the +movement is one to bring about in this country that union of church +and State which all other nations are trying to dissolve."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>The N.Y. <i>Independent</i>, Feb., 1870, spoke of the movement as having the +same chance of success that a union of church and State would have.</p> + +<p>The Champlain <i>Journal</i>, speaking of the incorporating the religious +principle into the Constitution, and its effect upon the Jews, said:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"However slight, it is the entering wedge between church and State. +If we may cut off ever so few persons from the right of citizenship +on account of difference of religious belief, then with equal +justice and propriety <a class="newpage" name="page154"></a>may a majority at any time dictate the +adoption of still further articles of belief, until our +Constitution is but the text book of a sect beneath whose +tyrannical sway <i>all liberty of religious opinion will be +crushed</i>."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>For a union of church and State, strictly so-called, we do not look. In +place of this, we apprehend that what is called "the image," a creation +as strange as it is unique, comes in—not a State controlled by the +church, and the church in turn supported by the State, but an +ecclesiastical establishment empowered to enforce its own decrees by +civil penalties; which, in all its practical bearings, amounts to +exactly the same thing. The direct aim of the movement is undoubtedly a +union of church and State; a result which it will so nearly accomplish +as to secure, by way of compromise, the erection of the image.</p> + +<p>Some one may now say, As you expect this movement to carry, you must +look for a period of religious persecution in this country; nay, more, +you must take the position that all the saints of God are to be put to +death; for the image is to cause that all who will not worship it shall +be killed.</p> + +<p>There would, perhaps, be some ground for such a conclusion, were we not +elsewhere informed that in this dire conflict God does not abandon his +people to defeat, but grants them a complete victory over the beast, his +image, his mark, and the number of his name. Rev. 15:2. We further read +<a class="newpage" name="page155"></a>respecting this earthly power, that he causeth all to receive a mark in +their right hand or their foreheads; yet chapter 20:4, speaks of the +people of God as those who do not receive the mark or worship the image. +If, then, he could "cause" all to receive the mark, and yet all not +actually receive it, in like manner his causing all to be put to death +who will not worship the image does not necessarily signify that their +lives are actually to be taken.</p> + +<p>But how can this be? Answer: It evidently comes under that rule of +interpretation in accordance with which verbs of action sometimes +signify merely the will and endeavor to do the action in question, and +not the actual performance of the thing specified. George Bush, +Professor of Hebrew and Oriental Literature in New York City University, +makes this matter plain. In his notes on Ex. 7:11, he says:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"It is a canon of interpretation of frequent use in the exposition +of the sacred writings that verbs of action sometimes signify +merely the <i>will</i> and <i>endeavor</i> to do the action in question. Thus +in Eze. 24:13: 'I have <i>purified</i> thee, and thou wast not purged;' +<i>i.e.</i>, I have endeavored, used means, been at pains, to purify +thee. John 5:44: 'How can ye believe which <i>receive</i> honor one of +another;' <i>i.e.</i>, endeavor to receive. Rom. 2:4: 'The goodness of +God <i>leadeth</i> thee to repentance;' <i>i.e.</i>, endeavors, or tends, to +lead thee. Amos 9:3: 'Though they be <i>hid</i> from my sight in the +bottom of the sea;' <i>i.e.</i>, though they aim to be hid. 1 Cor. +10:33: 'I <i>please</i> all men;' <i>i.e.</i>, endeavor to please. Gal. 5:4: +'Whosoever of you are <i>justified</i> by the law;' <i>i.e.</i>, seek and +endeavor <a class="newpage" name="page156"></a>to be justified. Ps. 69:4: 'They that <i>destroy</i> me are +mighty;' <i>i.e.</i>, that endeavor to destroy me. Eng., 'That <i>would</i> +destroy me.' Acts 7:26: 'And <i>set them at one</i> again;' <i>i.e.</i>, +wished and endeavored. Eng., '<i>Would</i> have set them.'"</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>So in the passage before us: He causes all to receive a mark, and all +who will not worship the image to be killed; that is, he wills, +purposes, and endeavors, to do this; he makes such an enactment, passes +such a law, but is not able to execute it; for God interposes in behalf +of his people; and then those who have kept the word of Christ's +patience are kept from falling in this hour of temptation, according to +Rev. 3:10; then those who have made God their refuge are kept from all +evil, and no plague comes nigh their dwelling, according to Ps. 91: +9,10; then all who are found written in the book are delivered, +according to Dan. 12:1; and, being victors over the beast and his +image, they are redeemed from among men, and raise a song of triumph +before the throne of God, according to Rev. 14:4; 15:2.</p> + +<p>The objector may further say: You are altogether too credulous in +supposing that all the skeptics of our land, the spiritualists, the +German infidels, and the irreligious masses generally, can be so far +brought to favor the religious observance of Sunday that a general law +can be promulgated in its behalf.</p> + +<p>We answer: The prophecy must be fulfilled; and if the prophecy requires +such a revolution, it <a class="newpage" name="page157"></a>will be accomplished. But we do not know that it +is necessary. Permit us to suggest an idea, which, though it is only +conjecture, may show how enough can be accomplished to fulfill the +prophecy without involving the classes mentioned. This movement, as has +been shown, must originate with the churches of our land, and be carried +forward by them. They wish to enforce certain practices among all the +people; and it would be very natural that, in reference to those points +respecting which they wish to influence the outside masses, they should +see the necessity of first having absolute conformity among all the +evangelical denominations. They could not expect to influence +non-religionists to any great degree on questions respecting which they +were divided among themselves. So, then, let union be had on those views +and practices which the great majority already entertain. To this end +coercion may first be attempted. But here are a few who cannot possibly +attach to the observance of the first day, which the majority wish to +secure, any religious obligation; and would it be anything strange for +the sentence to be given, Let these few factionists be made to conform, +by persuasion if possible, by force, if necessary. Thus the blow may +fall on conscientious commandment-keepers, before the outside masses are +involved in the issue at all. And should events take this not improbable +turn, <a class="newpage" name="page158"></a>it would be sufficient to meet the prophecy, and leave no ground +for the objection proposed.</p> + +<p>To receive the mark of the beast in the forehead, is, we understand, to +give the assent of the mind and judgment to his authority in the +adoption of that institution which constitutes the mark. By parity of +reasoning, to receive it in the hand would be to signify allegiance by +some outward act.</p> + +<p>The number, over which the saints are also to get the victory, is the +number of the papal beast, called also the number of his name, and the +number of a man, and said to be six hundred threescore and six. The pope +wears upon his pontifical crown in jeweled letters, this title: +"<i>Vicarius Filii Dei</i>," "Vicegerent of the Son of God;" the numerical +value of which title is just six hundred and sixty-six. The most +plausible supposition we have ever seen on this point is that here we +find the number in question. It is the number of the beast, the papacy; +it is the number of his name; for he adopts it as his distinctive title; +it is the number of a man; for he who bears it is the "man of sin." We +get the victory over it by refusing those institutions and practices +which he sets forth as evidence of his power to sit supreme in the +temple of God, and by adopting which we should acknowledge the validity +of his title, by conceding his right to act for the church in behalf of +the Son of God.</p> + +<p><a class="newpage" name="page159"></a>And now, reader, we leave with you this subject. We confidently submit +the argument as one which is invulnerable in all its points. We ask you +to review it carefully. Take in, if thought can comprehend it, the +wonderful phenomenon of our own nation. Consider its location, the time +of its rise, the manner of its rise, its character, Satan's masterpiece +of lying wonders which he has here sprung upon the world, and the +elements which are everywhere working to fulfill in just as accurate a +manner every other specification of the prophecy. Can you doubt the +application. We know not how. Then the last agents to appear in this +world's history are on the stage of action, the close of this +dispensation is at hand, and the Lord cometh speedily to judge the +world. Then an issue of appalling magnitude is before us. It is no less +than this: To yield to unrighteous human enactments soon to be made, and +thus expose ourselves to the unmingled wrath of an insulted Creator, or +to remain loyal to our God and brave the utmost wrath of the dragon and +his infuriated hosts.</p> + +<p>In reference to this issue, the third angel now utters his solemn and +vehement warning. To aid in sounding over the land this timely note of +alarm, to impress upon hearts the importance of a right position in the +coming issue, and the necessity of pursuing such a course as will secure +the favor of God in the season of earth's direst ex<a class="newpage" name="page160"></a>tremity, and a share +at last in his glorious salvation, is the object of this effort. And if +with any it shall have this effect, the prayer of the writer will not be +utterly unanswered, nor his labor be wholly lost.</p> +</div> +<br /> +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12364 ***</div> +</body> +</html> |