IN our last issue it was shown that the composite beast of Rev. 13: 1-10 symbolized civil government as controlled by Satan in matters of religion. The particular phase of the beast presented in the chapter under consideration symbolizes the civil governments of the Roman world, represented by the horns, as dominated by the Papacy. This phase of the beast ended when the papal head received its deadly wound, in 1798, and its power to persecute came to an end.
At this time—when the papal power went into captivity—another power, symbolized by "another beast," was seen "coming up," having "two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon." A few specifications given of this beast of Rev. 13: 11-17 will serve to show what power it symbolizes: (1) It is seen coming up just as the papal beast went into captivity, namely, at the close of the last century. (2) It comes up out of the "earth," in contradistinction to the "sea," out of which rose the ten-horned beast. "Sea," or "waters," as a prophetic symbol represents, according to Rev. 17: 15; Isa. 8: 7, nations and peoples. The ten-horned beast gained its place through strife and conquest, while the two-horned beast came up out of the earth, a place unoccupied by civilized nations, in a peaceful manner. (3) It is evidently a republican form of government, as the two horns are without crowns (while the ten horns are crowned), and verse 14 shows that the people have a part in its work. (4) It had two horns like a lamb. The lamb used as a symbol represents preeminently our Lord Jesus Christ. The government, therefore, represented by this beast would have characteristics, the very characteristics represented by horns, which exalt it and give it power and prestige. (5) It has a dragon voice. The dragon represents primarily Satan, and Satan is the prime instigator of all persecution against the people of God. According to the symbol, therefore, the power represented by the two-horned beast becomes an agent of Satan in persecuting the people of God. This is why it is mentioned in prophecy. This the latter part of the chapter more fully details.
In what power are all the above specifications fulfilled?—There is but one in which they all meet, and that one is the United States of America. Note carefully the specifications above, and see how literally they are fulfilled in our own country.
1. When the persecuting power of the Papacy was taken away in 1798, there was but one great power of earth rising into prominence, and that was the United States. The Declaration of Independence was signed by the representatives of the colonial governments in 1776, the Constitution was adopted in 1789, and the beginning of the nineteenth century found the ship of State fairly launched and recognized as a sister craft by the great nations of earth. There was no other power of prominence then rising.
2. This government did not arise out of the conquest of Old World nations, but it came up out of hitherto unoccupied territory. George Alfred Townsend, in his "New World Compared with the Old," speaks of this country as "coming forth from vacancy," and says, "Like a silent seed we grew into empire." The Dublin (Ireland) Nation in 1850 spoke of this government as a wonderful empire, which was emerging, and "amid the silence of the earth daily adding to its power and pride." The testimony of the historian confirms the interpretation of the prophecy.
3. This country is certainly a republican form of government, while the most of the divisions of the Roman Empire were monarchical.
4. It "had two horns like a lamb," two characteristics of the religion of Christ, two features peculiar to Christianity alone of all the great religions of the earth, and peculiar to this government alone of all the great powers of earth. This specification above all others fixes the symbol to this government.
a. What two characteristics, above all others, apart from its supernatural power—its real wealth and resources—gave to the religion of Christ power and influence?
b. What two characteristics above all others—apart from its wealth and resources—gave to this government its power and prestige?
The answers to these two questions are simple, easily found, and readily understood.
One of the prominent characteristics of Christianity is the
EQUALITY OF MAN.
It is thus most positively stated:—
"There is no respect of persons with God."
"God that made the world and all things therein, hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth."
This same principle was to hold good in the Christian church:—
"But be not ye called rabbi; for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren."
A second great and prominent characteristic of Christianity is what we may call
LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE,
or the right and privilege of every man, vouchsafed to him by Christian ethics, to worship God, or not to worship, how or when he will, providing he does not interfere with the equal rights of his fellow-men. This principle is sometimes termed religious liberty. The gospel of Christ compels no one. It is not "Thou shalt," or "Thou shalt not." Its language is, "Whosoever will" "let him come." Listen to a chosen servant of the King of heaven:—
"Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did BESEECH you by us; we PRAY [entreat] you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." "Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we PERSUADE men."
And that resolute apostle who was once so ready to use carnal weapons, writes, "Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts." "Neither as being lords over God's heritage." How vastly different from the spirit and utterances of the great apostate church, which claims Peter as its head! "Not for that we have dominion [lordship] over your faith," says Paul, "but are helpers of your joy; for by faith ye stand." Our Lord Jesus Christ thus speaks: "And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not; for I came not to judge the world. . . . The word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day." How different is all this from those apostate churches with their "lords spiritual," their councils and tribunals, sitting in judgment on men's consciences, and prosecuting by civil law those who do not agree with their decrees.
Look all over the religions of the past—pagan or Jewish, Mohammedan or so-called Christian (papal)—and in not one of them do we find these two particulars. The curse of caste, the creation of offices, haughty, imperious, and ambitious hierarchies, religious dogmas, enforced legislative enactment or royal edict, one or all are present in all false religions, in all perverted forms of the Christian religion.
Both of these God-given principles are embodied in the charters of our liberty in this country, so far as they can be embodied in any earthly government. The first principle, equality of man, is found in that document which sounded the birth note of American freedom, and which made Americans civilly free men:—
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
The second principle is not only embodied in the word "liberty" in the Declaration of Independence, but our forefathers builded more surely than this. The first amendment to the Constitution of the United States reads:—
Congress shall make no laws respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.
Thus in the fundamental law of this government, man's freedom to worship or not to worship God, or his conceptions of God, were preserved and protected intact. We know of no other government of any note in all the world which holds these principles. There are republics, like Switzerland and France, but they have their State religion, supported by many to whom it is an intolerable burden. The United States Government is unique in this respect, and these principles have been the magnetic power which has drawn to our shores from the intolerant and autocratic governments of the Old World the persecuted and oppressed millions. They found here religion "without a pope, and a State without a king," and the consequent803privilege of worshiping God according to their own consciences and understanding of God's word.
THE DRAGON VOICE.
But the dragon voice was yet to be developed. The National Reformers, having their headquarters in Pittsburg, Pa., have been endeavoring since 1863 to commit this government to religious legislation, to launch it in the maelstrom of destruction in which other governments have gone to wreck. Their object is, as stated by themselves in the second article of their constitution:—
The object of this society shall be to maintain existing Christian features in the American Government; to promote needed reforms in the action of the government touching the sabbath, the institution of the family, the religious element in education, the oath, and public morality as affected by the liquor traffic and other kindred evils; and to secure such an amendment to the Constitution of the United States as will declare the nation's allegiance to Jesus Christ and its acceptance of the moral laws of the Christian religion, and so indicate that this is a Christian nation, and place all the Christian laws, institutions, and usages of our government on an undeniable legal basis in the fundamental law of the land.
Chief among these institutions is the Sunday sabbath. It need scarcely be said that such an object crystallized into law would be what certain men call "Christian," but in reality most unchristian. This movement, ridiculed and opposed in the beginning, has grown apace. In the years 1885-87 the Woman's Christian Temperance Union was won to its principles, and has been laboring for a Sunday law and a so-called theocracy ever since. The Prohibition party is following along the same line, especially for a Sunday law. Another mighty ally in this Church and State movement is the American Sabbath Union. The great Methodist Episcopal General Conference was induced by Rev. W. F. Crafts to take the initiative in this movement by forming a "National Sabbath Committee." This was done in New York City, November, 1888. Its object is "to preserve the Christian sabbath as a day of rest and worship." This would be perfectly proper apart from politics, but the chief effort has been political. Shortly after its organization it was indorsed by the general synods, assemblies, conventions, etc., of the other great denominations. Cardinal Gibbons and other prominent Catholics have also indorsed it.
The baleful seeds of Romish fornication have been assiduously sown since that time, till every town and village of the nation, almost, has been entered in one way or another. This great religious combination to effect a political purpose has made its "influence" felt in Congress, and, by its repeated deluge of petitions and its lobbying and threats, our politicians and even our judges of the Supreme Court have bent under it.
The last steps in the fulfillment of this great prophecy are the most striking. February 29, 1892, the Supreme Court of the United States went out of its way to declare, in the case against Trinity Church, under the contract labor law, that "this is a Christian nation," justified every Sunday law in operation in the various States, and affirmed that the Constitution with its first amendment is in harmony with all these laws. Thus is laid, by the last court of appeal in this government, the foundation of the reproduction of the persecutions of the Dark Ages. It is the image of the beast in embryo, containing within itself all the possibilities of evil for the future.
The Supreme Court declaring this to be a "Christian nation," and the great mass of the churches holding Sunday to be the "Christian sabbath," logically the "Christian nation" should regard the "Christian sabbath." The churches in the United States the same year made just such a demand as this of Congress in the matter of closing the World's Fair on Sunday,—a mild measure in and of itself, but evil in principle as any law of the Dark Ages, and but the first step to a logical series of steps inevitably to follow on future demands. Both Houses of Congress passed the Sunday measure, and it was signed by the President before the record of its passage was scarcely dry.
In still other ways has our government committed itself to the Sunday-law Church-and-State movement, till it is now too late to hope for reform. And the spirit existing in various parts of our country is shown in the petty, tyrannical, unjust persecutions of seventh-day people in the States of Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, and Maryland, and in the active sympathy and criminal silence which have been shown, almost unanimously, by the organs of the great denominations.
The seed has been sown in a fruitful soil; before us is growing what will soon ripen into a baleful crop. Still stricter laws will follow, heavier penalties will be added, till at last the people who dare to do God's will will be punished by not only boycott, but by confiscation of goods and death. Every specification of the prophecy has been fulfilled thus far. Not one word will fail of all that God has said. Sunday, the mark of the beast, will be enthroned in universal law.