The United States a Subject of Prophecy
By A. O. Tait
By A. O. Tait, Author of “Heralds of the Morning” HERE are reasons why it should naturally be expected that the United States of America would be a subject of Bible prophecy. It is one of the mightiest nations of all history, and it has had as much to do as any previous nation in advancing the cause of Gospel liberty, by placing on a firm basis the principles of true freedom. It is the only nation of consequence in the history of the world that has not had some form of union between the State and religion. In this respect it is unique among the world powers of both ancient and modern times. And because this Government has affirmed and maintained, up to the present, that there shall be no union of the church and the State, there has been an ideal condition for the highest development of the mind and the fullest and most untrammeled promulgation of the Gospel. In view of the foregoing, and many other things that might be suggested, including the fact that the other great nations have been brought under the view of the prophet, we ought to expect to find this nation mentioned also. For almost forty years this paper has been in the field, and prominent in its teaching for all that time has been the thought that verses eleven to eighteen of chapter thirteen of the Revelation apply directly to this United States Government. And for a longer period than the existence of this journal, the people it represents have held to and taught the same thing. A brief outline of some of the arguments we have used in advancing this doctrine, is all that can find space in this connection. Protestants have quite unitedly taught for more than three hundred years, regardless of denomination, that the beast having the body of a leopard, the feet of a bear, and the mouth of a lion, mentioned in the first part of Revelation thirteen, applies to the great system of church-and-state domination that has oppressed the world during all the ages from Babylon’s time down. The Papacy was the last and crowning head of that beast, and it was this head that received the “deadly wound,” or the “death stroke.” The power that was used in giving this “deadly wound” to the Papacy, was the Reformation that had its great outburst in the sixteenth century. The Reformation broke the power of the Papacy, and took one part of the world after another from beneath the oppressions of church-and-state rule that was so general. The culminating act in giving this “death stroke” was in 1798, when the French under Napoleon took the pope prisoner, and the world and the Church of Rome for nearly two years were without a reigning papal head. It seemed in that time that the power of the Papacy was forever broken. But the scripture already alluded to not only said that this power would receive the “deadly wound,” but it also said that “his deadly wound was healed; and all the world wondered after the beast.” At the time (1798) when the papal beast received this “death stroke,” the prophet beheld “another beast coming up out of the earth.” Here we are shut up to one conclusion. The only power worthy of mention in all the world that was “coming up” in 1798 was the United States. This country had just previously declared its independence, and had established that independence by its successful Revolutionary War, and by organizing itself into the original States, and by the adoption of its Constitution. But the identification of the symbol with the United States is not left alone to its “coming up” at precisely the right time. In its characteristics also this nation fits the figure used by the prophet. Beasts are used by the prophets to symbolize earthly governments. This “another beast” “had two horns like a lamb.” Rev. 13:11. These horns, by the very nature of the expression, represent the character of the power,—the horns of a lamb. You can not think of a lamb without thinking of the mildest and most gentle creature conceivable. And there being two horns, we must find a twofold nature in this Government, and both of them distinctly and conspicuously lamblike. And when we come to consider the nation from this view-point, we find that the utmost freedom was given to all its citizens in their secular matters, and furthermore that they were left just as free in matters of religion. Here is a distinctly twofold nature. Perfect freedom in all secular affairs and no interference at all in religious matters—here are surely the two horns of the lamb. Nothing like it has been seen before in history. Rome gave freedom to her subjects within a certain sphere, but she prescribed the religion of all. And thus it was with the other great nations both ancient and modern. They have had each their State religion. But here we have freedom to the utmost—freedom in everything. And while we have had freedom, we have also had government. The lawless element has been restrained, and all peaceable and law-abiding citizens have been protected in their inalienable and constitutional rights. But the time must not be taken to expand upon the “lamblike” glories of this Government. Any one born and reared in America, under its free institutions and among its liberty-loving and liberty-protecting citizens, can find no place to stop when he begins to voice his praises of the great republic. But while all these things have been true in our history in the main till now, still we can not avoid noting in the prophecy that the “he had two horns like a lamb,” yet “he spake as a dragon.” And not only is he to speak as a dragon, but “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.” Rev. 13:12. Then according to this prophecy, a “dragon” voice is to be heard in this land that has been so lamblike. And all the power of the first beast is to be exercised, and that beast is the papal power that is to be healed from the “death stroke.” Such are some of the startling things that are called for in this prophecy. It will not be necessary to give place in this article to tell of the progress made in the fulfilment of this prediction. But reference may be made to the articles that we have given during the last few weeks, that tell of the advancement the Papacy is making in this great Protestant country. This has been recognized as one of the greatest Protestant powers of the world. But it is already claimed by the Papacy. The claim is boldly advanced that the nation was started by the Papacy, and that it has grown into its present greatness under the fostering care of Rome. This nation is looked to by the Papacy as the great field where it is to gain a footing that will swing it back into world power. An abundance of fact has been given in recent issues to show the wonderful strength gained in this nation by the Church of Rome. And not only is Rome gaining here in her own organization, but the Protestant element of the nation is rapidly swinging toward the principles of church-and-state union. Witness what the Federation of Churches is doing in this respect, also the Men and Religion Forward Movement, two mighty organizations that embrace practically all Protestant America so far as numbers are concerned. These mighty forces have been working in a truly marvelous way during recent years to bring into one federal union all the religionists of the nation. They are all united in making one great ecclesiastical civil body that shall control things, not alone in the field of religion, but they are aiming to dominate the State as well. They openly and repeatedly affirm that when they are all united, they will speak to the lawmakers, and their voice will have to be obeyed. These united movements form in embryo all that the church-and-state régime of the Dark Ages ever was. A church-and-state policy puts the church at the head of the State, and all the intolerance and narrow bigotry of churchmen dominates the arm of civil law. It seems sad to think that such conditions are before us to be enacted again; but such is the prophecy, and we see how movements are shaping, and with what powerful momentum and rapidity, to fulfil what the prophets have said. To sum up the case, let it be stated in a paragraph that the “deadly wound” of the Papacy—that system recognized by the State—is to be healed, and it is to become a world power again. “All the world wondered after the beast.” And furthermore, the lamblike America is to be one of the mightiest factors in healing the “death stroke”—she is yet to speak with the dragon’s voice. Watch this prophecy closely, for it is the last link in the great prophetic chain that ends with the second coming of Christ. Men will be so intense in these modern religious movements, and will think that they are doing such big things for God and humanity, that they will not stop long enough to see that they are going over the ground exactly that built up the Papacy of the Middle Ages, and that instituted the Inquisition, and all the tortures that had their climax in the burning at the stake. These are times of awful intensity. Movements form quickly, and with an intoxicating power they carry men to very great lengths in an exceedingly short time. Never was there an age when men needed so much as now to consider carefully the steps they were about to take.