[The first part of this article was a consideration of the beast, what constitutes the beast, and the heads of the beast, and the past fulfilment of the prophecy during the Dark Ages. The latter part of the article begins with the birth of this nation.—EDITOR.]
However, when it came to uniting all these colonies in one grand nation, a new order of things was introduced. The framers of our Constitution studiously avoided any union of church and state, insisting that the civil power should deal exclusively with civil matters, and not in any way interfere with or favor any religion. Thus all religions were placed on an equal footing, and there was guaranteed to every man, in the matter of worship, the rights of conscience.
This made this country the asylum for all religions, so that the strong and the weak, even those who were antagonistic to each other, under the equal protection of the civil power, could dwell side by side so long and wherever the principles of the Constitution were carried out.
In this movement for freedom on the part of our nation, both by the sword and by the pen, liberty lovers in the nation of France were among our most ardent admirers. Through sympathy and association with us in our struggles, these men caught an inspiration in behalf of their own country, and an effort was made by them to guide that nation in the new way which this nation had blazed out. In our work we were far removed from the seat of the Papacy, and so we were permitted to pursue our course comparatively unmolested by the See of Rome. But when these Frenchmen undertook the same thing in territory which the Papacy had always counted as exclusively her own, and in the very nation which she had denominated the eldest daughter of the church, they soon found her work strenuously against them. They soon realized that they must count the Papacy as an enemy. This they did, and turning the force of their arms against her, invaded Italy, took Rome, and captured the pope. Thus, under Berthier, in the year 1798, that union of church and state which had dominated Europe for centuries received a deadly wound. But France made a mistake in trying to follow us, for she went beyond us, and passed to the other extreme; for while we simply separated church and state, not allowing the civil power to interfere in religious matters, excepting to guard equally the rights of each religion, she arrayed herself against religion, placed herself on atheistical grounds, declaring that no God exists. For this mistake, for this perversion of the idea of liberty, France was not wholly responsible, for the bigotry and intolerance of what purported to be Christianity, under which she in common with all Europe had groaned for centuries, led her when she did assume the reins of power to swing in her opposition to the other extreme and herself become intolerant and oppressive toward religion. For this mistake she was compelled to atone, in the revolution which followed, in a deluge of blood.
A New Pope
But in 1800 a new pope was elected, and with his installation there was a partial restoration of the temporal power of the Papacy, which she continued to exercise to some extent until 1870, when by Victor Emmanuel the last vestige was taken from her, since which time the pope has held no territory outside the Vatican. Still the life of this union of church and state was continued in many of the nations of earth where there was an established religion.
Turning to our own country, we meet a sad fact; to wit, while the general government had separated church and state, and had emphatically declared against all religious legislation, yet in many of the states there were retained laws favoring certain forms of religion. Notable among these were the laws in many places recognizing Sunday as a sacred day and demanding the cessation of ordinary labor on that day. All such legislation by man is an invasion of the personal rights of men and has resulted in persecution in some of the states. But being entirely7out of harmony with the Constitution, a refuge has been found by the sufferers in an appeal to the supreme authority of the country, so these state laws can never be fully put into effect until the Constitution can be changed or misinterpreted.
But as we pass on in the history of our nation, we find a class of men who are clamoring for a recognition of religion by the general government. This national reform movement has for its purpose, as stated by its leaders, to bring about a recognition of God in our Constitution and thus indicate that this is a Christian nation, and so to change our Constitution as to place the Christian usages and institutions of the nation on an undeniable legal basis in the fundamental law of the land. This movement has gone forward until to-day we see a great federation of churches, seeking to unite upon certain points of common faith and then by an appeal to the polls to select such men for legislators as are pledged to secure laws favoring this form of religion, and to place in the judicial and executive departments of our government such men as will enforce these laws. When this plan succeeds, persecution will follow inevitably. The people of the land will be divided by it into three classes as related to such laws:
Three Classes
First, A class whose religious belief is favored by these laws. This class will be exalted into a favored aristocracy which will soon become arrogant and domineering, being filled with bigotry and pride.
Secondly, A class who are careless and indifferent in religious matters, and have no settled convictions of their own. These under the pressure of law would yield to the popular will and would comply with the requirements of the established religion and the performance of the rites and ceremonies of a religion which they do not believe, and which will transform them into a set of hypocrites.
Thirdly, A class whose faith differs from the establishment, and who are conscientious and feel that they must carry out their convictions. They feel compelled to refuse to go through the forms of a religion which they do not believe, realizing that such hypocritical conduct would condemn them before God and bring nothing but darkness upon their own hearts. The more sincere they are, the more persistent will they be in their refusal to comply with the enforced religion, and the more stubborn and unruly will they appear to those enforcing the laws. Either one of two things must be the result: The law must not be enforced, or the last class must suffer for their faith. A man who has a faith deep-seated and sincere will die rather than yield it up, hence martyrdom, which always has been, will again be the result. And some of the most earnest and stalwart in character of all men, will be called upon to sacrifice their lives for that principle which above all others has made us a nation; namely, religious liberty. When this is brought about we certainly will have a union of church and state, an image of the beast with full life and power.
Dear reader, do not unite in any national reform movement which looks toward religious legislation; do not lend your aid to the making of this image, for by so doing, you will be opening the way for the repetition of those scenes of persecution and bloodshed which disgraced the records of the past under the reign of the beast and which will again be witnessed under the influence of his image. The image will be formed and life will be given to it. See Rev. 13: 13-16. But let us each be sure that we have nothing to do with it.
