THE BIBLICAL INSTITUTE

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · May 31, 1877

THE BIBLICAL INSTITUTE.

HELD IN OAKLAND, CAL., APRIL 1–17, 1877.

In this form we give a synopsis of the lectures presented at this Institute, the aim being to give principal facts, dates and references, with as few words as will serve to connect them. The lessons are not intended to measure the recitations. A lesson embraces an entire subject; but some of these occupied a number of recitations in the class.

LESSON SEVEN.

REVELATION CHAPTERS XII. AND XIII.

The last part of Rev. 13 brings to view the very agents against which warning is uttered in the third angel’s message. A beast with two horns like a lamb makes an image to a preceding beast, and enforces the worship and mark of that beast. This antecedent beast is described in Rev. 13:1–10. But this beast receives his seat and power and great authority from a symbol still preceding him—a great red dragon, described in Rev. 12:3, 4. With this chapter the vision opens. John beholds a woman (the gospel church), clothed with the sun (entering the light of the gospel dispensation), the moon (the typical dispensation) under her feet (just past), and upon her head a crown of 12 stars (the 12 apostles). To the expectant church appears a man child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, and who was caught up to God and to his throne. This can be none other than Christ. The dragon endeavored to devour this child as soon as he was born. This Rome tried to do when Christ was born. The dragon therefore is here a symbol of Pagan Rome.

The dragon gave his seat, power and great authority to some other power represented by the following beast like a leopard. Rev. 13:1–10. To what power was the dragon’s seat, ancient Rome, given up? Answer. To the papacy. The seat of empire was moved to Constantinople, and the bishop of Rome soon ascended in the city of Rome, a higher throne than her pagan emperors had ever occupied. Great power was given to him; or, in other words, supremacy was conferred upon him, by the decree of Justinian, emperor of the East, carried out in 538. The parallel between this beast, Rev. 13:5–10, and the little horn of the fourth beast of Dan. 7:21, 25, 27, conclusively shows that it represents the papacy. This being so the time of his captivity, verse 10, was at the end of the 1260 years in 1798.

1. At this time another power is introduced upon the scene. “I beheld another beast.” This was therefore no part of the papal beast. It was no kingdom or nation in Western Europe; for had it been, it would have been one, or some part of one, of the ten horns of the first beast. It was no kingdom of Eastern Europe, Western Asia, or Northern Africa; for these had all been appropriated to the symbols introduced in the 2d, 7th and 8th of Daniel. And John does not say, I saw the lion, bear, leopard, the fourth beast, or any of his ten horns, coming up, but “another” beast. We are obliged to look to the western hemisphere for the territory of this power. And we must look to the leading power which has arisen here, which is our own government.

2. The chronology is equally decisive in fixing the application to our own country. This power was seen coming up when the previous one went into captivity; which was in 1798. If we look the earth all over what new power do we find coming up in a manner to attract the attention of the world, at that time? None but our own government.

3. It comes up out of the earth, in contrast with the sea out of which the preceding beast arose; that is, it arose in territory previously unknown and unoccupied by the peoples, nations and tongues of civilization. This is true of our own government, but of no other one equally prominent.

4. John saw this two-horned beast coming up in 1798. Our own nation was just then “coming up,” and has continued to come up since that time, in a manner that finds no parallel in the history of any nation on the earth. Look at a few items of its progress in a hundred years. The population in 1775, was 2,803,000; now, over 40,000,000. Territory in 1783, at the time our independence was acknowledged, 815,615 square miles; now, 3,578,392 square miles. Agricultural interests 100 years ago were small and in the hands of uneducated men. First patent for cast iron plow in 1797. About 400 patents on this implement alone have since been granted. Then the seed was sown and crops harvested by hand. Drills, seed-sowers, cultivators, reapers, mowers and threshing machines, are inventions all within the memory of living men. Present product (1876), corn, 900,000,000 bushels; wheat, 270,000,000; rye, 22,000,000; oats, 300,000,000; potatoes, 165,000,000; hay, 28,000,000 tons; barley, 28,000,000 bushels; cotton, 2,000,000,000 lbs.; sugar, 120,000,000 lbs. Cotton crop in 1792, value, $30,000; now, $180,000,000. Fruit, then unknown; now valued at $40,000,000. Horned cattle, number, 30,000,000; horses, 10,000,000; sheep, 30,000,000; swine, 26,000,000. In 1848 gold was discovered in California. The product to this time is over $800,000,000, with a present capacity of $70,000,000 a year. Railroads 65,000 miles, enough to reach twice and a half around the globe. More than 1,000 cotton factories, 580 daily newspapers, 4,300 weeklies, and 625 monthly publications. Between the years 1817 and 1867 the growth of the territorial domain of this country was 1,968,008 square miles. This is over 1,400,000 square miles of territory more than was added by any other one nation during this time, and more than 800,000 square miles more than were added by all the other nations of the earth put together. Mitchel speaks of it as “the most striking instance of national growth to be found in the history of mankind.” Emile de Girardin calls it “unparalleled progress.” The Dublin Nation speaks of it as a most “wonderful American empire emerging.” Can any one doubt what nation has been “coming up” during this time? And the one that has been coming up must be the one symbolized by the two-horned beast of Rev. 13.

5. And all this has been accomplished in a quiet and peaceful manner. The symbol arose out of the earth. This nation has not been established by the conquest and overthrow of other nations, as the nations of Europe have been, but simply by standing up in defense of its right against the mother country. The word translated “coming up” in Rev. 13:11, means to grow like a plant out of the earth. And respecting the rise of these United States, the Dublin Nation says: “No standing army was raised, no national debt sunk, no great exertion was made, but there they are.” G. A. Townsend, New World Compared with the Old, p. 462, speaks of “the mystery of our coming forth from vacancy.” Again he says, p. 635: “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, and like a silent seed we grew into empire.” Edward Everett spoke of the “peaceful conquest” through which the banners of the cross have here been borne over mighty regions. Mark how wonderfully this harmonizes with the language of the prophecy, which says this power was to come up like a plant out of the earth.

6. This power had two horns like a lamb. This at once suggests two things: the youthfulness of the power, and an innocent or lamb-like profession embodied in two great principles. Just these features our own government exhibits, in the great principles of civil and religious liberty, which it guarantees to all its citizens. America is recognized as the youngest among the nations. The motto of the Egyptian exhibit at the Centennial was, “The oldest nation of the earth to the youngest sends greeting.” These two features, youth and a lamb-like exterior, are found in our own government but in no other.

7. This beast has no crowns upon its horns, showing that it does not represent a kingly or monarchical form of government. Ours is the only notable government answering to this specification.

8. It represents some government where the power is in the hands of the people; for when any acts are to be performed, it says to them that dwell on the earth that they should do it. Rev. 13:14. It is in other words, a republic; and this points unmistakably to our own government.

9. It is also a Protestant government, or at least a non-Catholic power; for it causes them which occupy its territory to worship the first beast, which denotes Catholicism. But if it was a Catholic country it would be the beast itself, and worshiping the beast would be worshiping itself. But the two-horned beast enforces the worship of a power distinct from itself; and that power being Catholicism, the beast itself symbolizes not a Catholic, but a Protestant country.

10. He doeth great wonders, real miracles, makes fire come down from heaven and deceives them that dwell on the earth. In Rev. 19:20, the same works, wrought for the same purpose, are ascribed to the false prophet. The two-horned beast and the false prophet are therefore the same power. But Rev. 16:13, 14, shows that the agency by which the false prophet works his miracles is the spirits of devils that go forth for this purpose. A wonderful work, wrought by spirits of devils, is therefore another feature of this power. And behold it has made its appearance in modern Spiritualism which has arisen in this country; and from this point has spread to all the nations of the earth.

Considering these facts, that the power represented by the two-horned beast must be located in this hemisphere, and be just coming into notoriety about the year 1798, and be a lamb-like power, republican in form of government and Protestant in religion, and the place where the wonder workings of Spiritualism should first spring forth, and one that should make such progress as has no parallel in the history of nations—can any one for a moment doubt that our government is the one represented? No reason can be given why any nation should be noticed in prophecy, which will not apply in a pre-eminent degree to our own nation.

What remains to be fulfilled is embodied principally in two propositions: This power is to cause an image to be made to the beast, and to enforce the reception of the mark of the beast. An image to the beast must be something resembling the beast. The beast, Catholicism, was a church clothed with civil power. An ecclesiastical organization clothed with civil power would bear some resemblance to it, or be an image of it. A State church in this land of multiplied sects, is probably an impossibility. How, then, can we have here such an image? There can be a union formed on such points as the different religious denominations hold in common. The principal of these are three: 1. The first day of the week as the Sabbath, adored from various stand-points and under different titles as the Lord’s Day, the Christian Sabbath, the American Sabbath, etc.; 2. The Immortality of the Soul. 3. Water Baptism. The question of such a union among the churches, under the seductive title of a “Union in Christ” is now extensively agitated. Papers are published in the interest of the movement and earnest advocates are devoting to it their best powers. It finds a strong under current of favor in all the churches.

The movement in reference to the mark is equally advanced, and bears more openly upon its face its evident design. This will be apparent from a brief consideration of what the mark is, and the movement now on foot in reference to it.

What is the mark of the beast? It is not, of course, a literal mark. Prophecy would not couple together a symbolic beast, and a literal mark of that beast. Marks were sometimes used by generals and masters in ancient times to distinguish their followers and servants. The mark of the beast must be some institution of the beast which will distinguish its followers. But we show ourselves followers or servants of any power only by obeying its authority; and authority is always manifested through law.

From what other company are the followers of the beast distinguished? From the followers of God; inasmuch as the warning which goes forth against the worship of the beast and the reception of his mark is designed to keep men loyal to the requirements of Heaven. “Here are they,” says the third message, “which keep the commandments of God.” But we can show ourselves followers of God only by keeping his law. Therefore the issue in reference to which the third message warns us is a conflict between the law of God and the law of this beast power, by our action toward which we are to show ourselves either the worshipers of the beast or the followers of God.

This accords with the prophecies which reveal the leading characteristic of this Catholic power, in connection with which we must of course look for the mark of that power. Daniel, describing it under the symbol of the little horn of the fourth beast of his seventh chapter, says: “He shall think to change times and laws.” Dan. 7:25. The Septuagint, German and Danish translations read, “the law.” Here is meant unquestionably the law of God. Among the works of this power we shall therefore find this attempt to change the law of God. Paul states of him the same thing. He speaks of him in 2 Thess. 2, as the man of sin, son of perdition, etc., and says that he would endeavor to exalt himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped. How could he do this? He could do it in no other way but by promulgating a law which conflicts with the law of God. To do this independently of the law of God, would be to show himself professedly opposed to God, which this power is not to do; for Paul says that he would sit in the temple of God, and show himself that he is God, or set himself forth as God. He must therefore take hold of the law of God and change it, and demand obedience to the change, as if God was its author. And this is just what Daniel said he would think to do; that is, to change the law of God.

The mark of the beast is therefore simply this change which he has attempted to make in the law of God. And what is this? We take testimony from its own mouth. See Catholic Catechism. It is its change of the fourth commandment, wherein it has put the first day of the week in place of the seventh, which God has not ceased to enjoin. And this Catholic power has not contented itself with simply making this change, but it admits that God has never enjoined it and that the Scriptures do not sanction it; and further, it sets it forth as an evidence of its right to legislate in divine things. The following is a representative question on this point, found in the Catholic catechism called, “Abridgment of Christian Doctrine.”

“Ques. How prove you that the church hath power to command feasts and holy days?” “Ans. 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.” “Ques. How prove you that?”

“Ans. Because by keeping Sunday they acknowledge the church’s power to ordain feasts and command them under sin.”

See also Andrews’ History of the Sabbath, and the following Catholic works: Treatise of Thirty Controversies, Cath. Catechism of Christian Religion, Catholic Christian Instructed, and Doctrinal Catechism.

That the Catholic power is symbolized by the little horn of Dan. 7, is beyond question. The prophecy said that it should think to change the law of God; and it steps forth and acknowledges the act. What further evidence can be required? He who, therefore, with the light before him, and the issue pressed upon him between God and this wicked power, deliberately decides to keep the institution of the beast instead of the commandments of God, worships the beast and receives his mark.

We know the objection which will here immediately fly to the lips of an opponent. He will say, Then all Sunday-keepers, past or present, however eminent as servants of God, have had, or now have, the mark of the beast. And we as quickly answer, Not one. Why? Because they have not kept it, and are not keeping it, with the issue before them presented in the prophecy. They have supposed they were keeping the fourth commandment according to the will of God. But flashes of truth in these closing hours of time are to dispel all such darkness from every honest mind, and show this work in its true light. And this institution, although in itself the mark of the beast, does not become such in any individual case, till such individual adopts it under the pressure of human laws, well knowing it to be a human institution set forth in opposition to the law of God.

Such is the issue against which the third message now warns us. And the message is not premature; for this issue is evidently soon to come. Already an Association including among its officers, State governors, senators, chief justices, presidents of colleges, and any number of doctors of divinity, has been formed to secure by legal enactments the observance of the first day of the week as the Sabbath. They call for a religious amendment to the constitution, of such a nature that “all Christian laws, institutions and usages shall be put upon an undeniable legal basis in the fundamental law of the land.”

This movement originated in Xenia, O., in Feb., 1863, in a convention composed of eleven different religious denominations. National conventions have been held in Allegheny, Pa., New York city, Pittsburg, Philadelphia, Chicago, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and other places. At the convention in Pittsburg, Feb. 4, 1874, there were 1,073 delegates present, representing 18 States.

Many affect to scout the idea that such a movement will ever succeed, and the arm of persecution be raised in this country to enforce so-called Christian usages under the penalties of law. But the idea that it should now succeed is no more strange than was the idea a few years ago that any such movement would be made, as we now see already accomplished. That Sunday-keeping will ever be enforced by law, from any real religious convictions on the part of a majority of the people would be perhaps too much to expect. Even the barbarous institution of slavery did not yield to moral forces, but fell only as a political necessity. So it would be nothing strange nor improbable if circumstances should so shape in the near future that a religio-political compromise should bring forth the Sunday law full fledged. But we need not speculate as to methods. There is the prophecy which cannot be broken. Religious questions are fast entering into the arena of politics, and there is an irrepressible conflict between present Christian usages and the claims of infidelity, which cannot cease till the Constitution shall become wholly infidel or wholly conformed to nominal Christianity. Infidel it can never become so long as a union of Protestants and Catholics can carry any measure upon which they may agree. We therefore look for it to become the instrument of that type of Christianity which the Amendmentists desire to legalize.

With these acts in reference to the image and the mark, the career of this power closes. This is the last conflict into which the people of God are brought. They are next seen victorious on Mt. Zion with the Lamb. And this two-horned beast, as the false prophet, in company with the beast (Catholicism) before which he has wrought his miracles, goes as a living power into the lake of fire, at the great day.