PROPHETIC DESCRIPTION OF THE UNITED STATES.
By R. F. Cottrell
Among the nations of the whole world, no one is more distinguished than the United States. And the history of the world does not furnish an instance of a government so remarkable in its rise, progress, and prosperity. One hundred years have developed one of the most gigantic nations of the world; and the freedom of its government, institutions, and principles is unequaled in all the world, past and present. As the prophecies of the Bible have described in succession the leading empires of the Old World, it is reasonable to expect that the leading and most distinguished government of the New World, the last and noblest offspring of time, should also be described in the prophetic outline of earth’s history. Such description we believe we have. The rise, character, and history of our government are briefly described, as we believe, in the following prophecy, written some eighteen hundred years ago:— “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. 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. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, 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 earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. 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. 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; 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. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred threescore and six.” Rev. 13:11–18. A beast in this line of prophecy is a symbol chosen to represent a ruling power or government. The “first beast,” in the text, is the one described in the preceding part of the chapter, the beast with seven heads and ten horns, which is the second phase of the fourth beast of Dan. 7; for it was “like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion.” The four beasts of Dan. 7 represent Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome. As symbolized by the ten horns of this beast, Rome was divided; the ten horns represented the ten kingdoms into which it was divided, and the other singular and remarkable horn is a symbol of the papacy, which ruled over these kingdoms. This remarkable horn corresponds with the first beast of Rev. 13, the description of the two symbols being the same. And though the papacy received a deadly wound, before the two-horned beast is seen coming up, yet he exists at the same time with the latter; for the phrase, “before him,” signifies in his presence. The fragments of the Roman empire under the dominion of the popes being the first beast, the beast with two horns constitutes a second; and as it is called “another beast,” it cannot be formed of any part of the first, for that still has a being. It must be another, distinct power; and this is further evident from the fact that it comes up out of the earth, whereas the other, like all the beasts of Daniel’s prophecy, arose from the sea. “The winds strove upon the great sea.” Winds signify war, and the waters are “peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.” The governments of the Old World arose by war and strife among the people; but this lamb-like beast seems to arise in a peaceable manner in a previously unoccupied territory, like a plant springing up out of the earth. The time of the rise of the government represented by the beast with two horns, is evidently about the time the first beast receives the deadly wound, or is carried into captivity. Wesley says of the two-horned beast, “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.” The forty-two months of the ten-horned beast are identical with the “time, times, and the dividing of time,” of Dan. 7:25. See Rev. 12:6, 14. The twelve hundred and sixty years of papal rule began when the Ostrogoths, the last of the three horns plucked up, Dan. 7:8, 20, 24, were subdued by Justinian, so that the decree of the emperor could be carried into effect, making the bishop of Rome the supreme head of the church. This took place in A. D. 538. Beginning here, the 1260 years ran out in A. D. 1798; and at this date the pope was taken prisoner by the French, and carried a captive to France, the papal government was abolished for a time, and then revived—the deadly wound was healed. At the point of time when the prophet saw the first beast carried into captivity, he immediately says, “And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth.” Now what new government on earth was just then springing up, and taking its position among the nations of the earth? No other than the young American republic. You would look in vain for it in the Old World, and the United States was the only independent government in the New. Our declaration of independence was twenty-two years old, the war of the Revolution was in the past, and the United States government was growing up like a thrifty plant from the soil. To fulfill the prophecy, there must needs be such a government in the earth at that time, and this was the only one that could fulfill the prophecy. In contrast with the rise of the powers of the Old World—by the striving of the winds, by war and conquest—this power was rising as by a natural growth. Not by aggressive wars and conquest, but as a plant derives its nourishment from the earth, so by emigration and natural growth our nation has arisen to its present power and fame. Some years since the Dublin Nation spoke of the United States as follows:— “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 earth, are daily adding to the power and pride of this gigantic nation.” “Within three years, territories more extensive than these three kingdoms, France and Italy put together, have been quietly, and in almost ‘matter of course’ fashion, annexed to the union.” Horns are a symbol of power; and a plurality of horns does not always denote division, as in the fourth beast of Daniel and the ten-horned beast of Revelation; but sometimes the union of powers, as in the case of the ram of Dan. 8, with two horns, which signify the union of the Medes and Persians in one government. In contrast with the horns on the “dreadful and terrible beast,” the horns of the mild and innocent lamb must denote the mildest kind of power which the earth ever saw. Such has been the character of the United States; in this respect the world has never witnessed its equal. To fulfill the prophecy, one such government must be found upon the earth. This is the one; and the only one. Ours is a government of the people; hence its powers are not represented by individuals, as in other governments; but there are two distinct principles by which our country has been ruled from the first, having their foundation in human rights—the right of conscience in religion, and that of equality in civil affairs. Our fathers came to this then howling wilderness for religious and civil freedom, to found a church without a pope and a state without a king. The Declaration asserted the equality of men, and the Constitution was framed with the intention to secure the rights of men, both religious and civil; therefore it was decreed that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, nor prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” The Protestant principle in religious rights and the republican principle in civil rights constitute, as we believe, the two ruling powers symbolized by two horns like those of a lamb. What other government so free and just, so lamb-like as this? No one can be found on earth. There must be one, or the Scriptures would be broken, and the prophecies fail of accomplishment. One is found in the United States; that, and that alone, answers the description. But though this beast has two horns like a lamb, yet he speaks as a dragon. There is a remarkable contrast between his lamb-like appearance and his dragon-like action. His first appearance is like a lamb; but afterward he shows a corrupt heart from which he speaks, or makes laws; and consequently his fair profession is denied in action. In the past we have seen millions of human beings held in the most abject bondage, under a constitution of boasted freedom founded on the declaration of the equality of the human race and the consequent inherent right of all “to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” But we believe that its oppressive acts, by which it “exerciseth all the power of the first beast,” are yet in the future. For an image to the first beast is to be formed, and all will be called upon to worship it, and as the image is made after the model of the beast, those who worship the image will, at the same time, “worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.” This is evident from the language of the warning message: “If any man worship the beast and his image.” Rev. 14:9. But another specification descriptive of the government symbolized by the lamb-dragon, is its wonders. “And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, 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.” Our government has been wonderful in its progressive development; and if we speak of human achievements, the result of science and arts and useful inventions, where is it excelled? But the wonders wrought by this power are to deceive. Men may be deceived, and doubtless many are, by the progress of the last half-century, above alluded to. Boasting of this, they may infer that the world is just merging from youth to manhood, and that it will go on for a long time to come, nothing will be too great for men to accomplish, “and nothing shall be restrained from them;” and so the fabled millennium shall result merely from human skill and power. But the text alludes more especially to those spiritual wonders, by which Satan, in his last and most mighty effort, shall seduce men to infidelity; when he shall work with “all power and signs and lying wonders,” just before the second coming of Christ, causing men to “believe a lie.” See 2 Thess. 2:8–12; Matt. 24:24. These lying wonders are already in the world, though they have not yet reached their highest point, that of bringing down fire from the heavens in the sight of men. We allude to the wonders of spiritualism. The devil is pleased to have those scientists, so called, who are trying to overthrow the word of God, tell the world also that there are no such beings as himself and his angels, but that science can account for these wonders, and that there is no agency connected with all these manifestations of an intelligent character—nothing but the trickery of mediums. But this is too shallow a plea to make in the face of the thousands that have witnessed so many intelligent answers to questions altogether beyond the knowledge of any other person present. I will not occupy time and space here to go into particulars; but that there are unseen, intelligent beings connected with the real—not bogus—manifestations, is a fact too well attested to be denied. The Bible says, “They are the 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 that great day of God Almighty.” Rev. 16:14. Lying wonders are those which are wrought to prove a lie. The Bible being true, the fundamental doctrine of spiritualism is false. And where did these seductive wonders take their rise? In the United States. These manifestations were first known at large as the “Rochester knockings,” in 1848. From this beginning, spiritualism has spread abroad all over the earth; but this country is distinguished as the source of these wonders. There will be greater wonders yet—wonders that will deceive, if it were possible, the very elect. Thank God that that is not possible. Ours is a government of the people. In these wonders our people take the lead; and this goes to show that the prophecy applies to the United States. The next thing is a demand for an image146of the beast. “Saying to them that dwell upon the earth that they should make an image to the beast.” The fact that this demand is made to the people, corroborates the view that the power represented by this beast with two horns is a government of the people—a republic. The beast to which the image is to be made is the one that received the deadly wound, and was healed—the papacy. An image of the papacy must be like it. It must be another church controlling the civil power of the state, as the Roman church did when she “reigned over the kings of the earth.” We now inquire, Is there at present such a demand before the people of the United States? There certainly is. There is a rapidly rising association in our country, calling for “a religious amendment” of the Constitution, “such an amendment,” in their own language, “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 which protect society against blasphemy, Sabbath-breaking, and polygamy.” This is virtually a demand for the union of church and state—an image to the beast—though the casual reader might not discover it. If all Christian laws, institutions, and usages are to be enforced by the government, of course the government, or somebody else, must decide what these laws and usages are. Disputed points respecting the duties of religion will then have to be settled; and this will give the majority power to oppress the minority; and when this is the case, then farewell to that clause in the Constitution, as it now is, which says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Such legislation would lead to religious persecution; and this is what follows in the prophecy. That this movement will be successful is evident from the prophecy,—“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.” This image of the papacy is the third and last persecuting power of the Christian age; and from it the people of God—those true to duty, refusing to disobey God, to obey men—will be delivered by the coming of Christ, being caught up to stand with their Deliverer on Mount Zion above. Rev. 14:1–5. The image of the Roman popedom will enforce the doctrines of that power. The beast that forms the image “causeth the earth and them that dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.” There are several doctrines held in the Protestant churches of our times, which have no higher authority than the Church of Rome. Among these false doctrines one stands conspicuous as the mark of the beast; and it is upon this point especially that the persecution is to come. Two opposing marks, signs, or seals, are found in this prophecy of Revelation. One is the seal of the living God, which is a sign of loyalty to him. In the closing hours of probation, the saints of God receive this sign; see Rev. 7; and those that are finally delivered, and stand upon Mount Zion with the Lamb, have this sign in their foreheads. They are the ones who heed the last message, the warning against the worship of the beast and his image and the reception of the beast’s mark, and who prove their loyalty to God by keeping “the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” See Rev. 14:9–12. What is this sign, or seal, of God? It is evidently something connected with his commandments, and is expressive of his right and authority. What is there in the ten commandments which is a sign of the prerogative of their Author? Nothing but the fourth commandment. This, and this only, of all the ten, sets forth the right of God to command, from the fact that he is the Creator of the heavens and the earth. And he claims the Sabbath as a sign between him and his people for ever, from the fact that “in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.” See Ex. 31:13–17; Eze. 20:12, 20. This is what God claims as his sign; and we infer that the mark of the beast is directly opposed to this, and is an opposing sign of the power and authority of the Roman Church. Not all of the Christian world are aware that it is through the power and influence of the Roman Church that they are now keeping the first day of the week as the Christian Sabbath, instead of the seventh day of the fourth commandment—the day on which God rested, and which he blessed and sanctified for mankind. Some still need to be informed that apostasy in the church brought about this change, and that the Roman Church claims to have made this change, and not only so, but sets it forth as a mark of its power and authority, even as God sets forth the Sabbath as his sign. Most people know that there is no command in the Bible for the first-day Sabbath; and they can consequently give no good reason why they keep it. They seem not to consider that there has been a great apostasy in the church since the days of Christ and the apostles, clearly foretold by prophets and apostles, and which resulted in the establishment of the Roman papacy, a power which the angel told Daniel “should think to change times and laws,” the times and laws of God, and which Paul predicts should set himself up “above God,” and that this beast is the very one against whose worship and mark all are warned by the closing message of the gospel. But these are facts easily to be discerned. Now, since we have seen the testimony of God as to the sign of his power, and his right to make laws for men, we will appeal to the testimony of the Roman Church, which fulfils the prophecies alluded to above, as to its mark or sign of authority, since it claims the obedience of men. We quote what follows from standard Catholic works. The first is from the “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 institutions commanded by the same church.” The following is from the “Doctrinal Catechism,” another Catholic work:— “Q. Have you any other way of proving that the church has power to institute festivals of precept? “A. Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with 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.” These testimonies are very plain and to the point. What does the papal church set forth as the sign, mark, or token, of its power and authority? The act of “changing the Sabbath into Sunday,” or substituting “the observance of Sunday, the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday, the seventh day,” and this without any “Scriptural authority.” Here is perfect agreement in the testimonies. God claims the Sabbath as his sign, which is ever a token that he made the world in six days and rested on the seventh. The beast claims the substitution of another day, independently of the Scriptures, as a mark of its power to change the law of God, and bind all men to obey its authority. Since these testimonies agree, who shall say that they are not true? What means the present agitation on the subject of the Sabbath? There are two rival Sabbaths; one is the Sabbath of God, as revealed in his law, the other a day which has been substituted for it upon human authority merely. On the one hand there is a Scriptural message of warning against the worship and mark of the beast, as being opposed to the commandments of God, Rev. 14:9–12, and there is a people who are proclaiming this warning to the world. Those who accept it as a message from Heaven, are returning to the observance of the seventh day, the day which God says is “the Sabbath of the Lord.” This work of warning began in the United States, but is being extended to the nations of the world. On the other hand, the party who are demanding a “religious amendment” of the Constitution, make the enforcement of the observance of what they call “the Christian Sabbath” a prominent object. Any one who observes carefully these movements can discern that a conflict is coming between these rival claims; not a conflict of arms, nor a political struggle; but the loyal people of God will obey his word, while human laws will demand the reverse. The persecution indicated in the prophecy is inevitable; and the present aspect of things shows that it is not far distant. The side on which we, as individuals, are found, will be decisive of our eternal destiny. Who will be found on the Lord’s side? Seventh-day Adventists have believed and taught this view of this prophecy for more than twenty-five years. All this time we have been expecting that in our own country the image of the beast would be formed; and that consequently in our hitherto free government an engine of persecution would be formed that would demand obedience to the Roman Sabbath by pains and penalties. We are not therefore disappointed to see what we now see, in fulfillment, as we believe, of this prophecy; but what we saw as a matter of faith a quarter of a century ago, is now so clearly impending that we can almost say it is a matter of sight. The last fiery trial of the faith of God’s people is at hand. The result is not doubtful. Those who obey God at the peril of their lives will be delivered. They will soon be with the Lamb upon Mount Zion, and sing the song of their deliverance. In laying down life for the truth’s sake, they will save it. May the reader and the writer share in the triumph, and have part in the song of Moses and of the Lamb on the sea of glass before the throne. Rev. 14:1–5; 15:2–4.