THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY.
By Elder U. Smith
THE imposing miracles wrought before the people having riveted upon them the chains of a fatal deception, leading them to suppose they have witnessed the great power of God, and must therefore be doing him service, when they have only been dazed with a mighty display of Satanic wonders, and are led captive by the devil at his will, they are prepared to do the further bidding of the two-horned beast which is to make an image to the beast which had the wound by a sword and did live. Once more we remind the reader of the impregnable strength of the argument already presented in previous articles, fixing the application of this symbol to these United States. This is an established proposition, and needs no further support. An exposition of the remainder of the prophecy will therefore consist chiefly of an effort to determine what acts are to be performed by this government, and a search for indications, if any exist, that they are about to be accomplished. If we shall find evidences springing up on all sides that this government is now moving as rapidly as possible in the very direction marked out by the prophet, though these are not necessary to establish the application of the symbol to this government, they will serve to stifle the last excuse of skepticism, and become to the believer an impressive evidence of our proximity to the end; for the acts ascribed to this symbol are but few; and while yet in mid career, he is engulfed in the lake of fire of the last great day. We may, however, notice in passing another evidence that the government symbolized by the two-horned beast is certainly a republic. This is proved by the language used respecting the formation of the image. It does not read that this power, as an act of imperial or kingly authority, makes an image to the beast; but it says to them that dwell on the earth, that is, the people occupying the territory where it arises, that they should make an image to the beast. Appeal is made to the people, showing conclusively that the power is in their hands. But just as surely as the government symbolized is a republic, so surely is it none other than the United States of America. We have seen that the wonder-working Satanic agencies, which are to perform the foretold miracles, and prepare the people for the next step in the prophecy, the formation of the image, are already in the field, and have even now wrought out a work of vast proportion in our country; and we now hasten forward to the very important inquiry, What will constitute the image, and what steps are necessary to its formation? The people are to be called upon to make an image to the beast, which expression doubtless involves the idea of some deferential action toward, or concessions to, that power; and the image, when made, is an image, likeness, or representation of the beast. Verse 15. The beast from which the image is modeled is the one which had a wound by a sword and did live, or the papacy. From this point is seen the collusion of the two-horned beast with the leopard or papal beast. He does great wonders in the sight of that beast; he causes men to worship that beast; he leads them to make an image to that beast; and he causes all to receive a mark, which is the mark of that beast. These palpable evidences of co-operation with the papal power led Eld. J. Litch, about 1842, to write concerning the two-horned beast thus:— "I think it is a power yet to be developed or made manifest, as an accomplice of the papacy in subjecting the world." To understand what would be an image of the papacy, we must first gain some definite idea of what constitutes the papacy itself. Papal supremacy dates from the time when the decree of Justinian, constituting the pope the head of the church and the corrector of heretics, was carried into effect, in 538. The papacy, then, was a church clothed with civil power, an ecclesiastical body having authority to punish all dissenters with confiscation of goods, imprisonment, torture, and death. What would be an image of the papacy? Another ecclesiastical establishment clothed with similar power. How could such an image be formed in this country? Let the Protestant churches in our land be clothed with power to define and punish heresy, to enforce147their dogmas under the pains and penalties of the civil law, and should we not have an exact representation of the papacy during the days of its supremacy? It may be objected that whereas the papal church was comparatively a unit, and hence could act in harmony in all its departments in enforcing its dogmas, the Protestant church is so divided as to be unable to agree in regard to what doctrines shall be made imperative on the people. We answer, There are certain points which they hold in common, and which are sufficient to form a basis of co-operation. Chief among these may be mentioned the doctrine of the conscious state of the dead, and the immortality of the soul, which is both the foundation and superstructure of Spiritualism, and also the doctrine that the first day of the week is the Christian Sabbath. It may be objected again that this view makes one of the horns, the Protestant church finally constitute the image of the beast. If the reader supposes that the Protestant church constitutes one of the horns of the two-horned beast, we reply that this is a conception of his own. No such idea is here taught. And we mention this objection only because it has been actually urged as a legitimate consequence of the positions here taken. And then the question is asked, If the Protestant church constitutes one horn may not the Catholic church constitute the other? Under the shadow of that hypothetical "if," perhaps it might. But neither the one nor the other performs such an office. In a former article, it was shown that the two great principles of Republicanism and Protestantism were the proper objects to be symbolized by these two lamb-like horns. But there is the plainest distinction between Protestantism as an embodiment of the great principle of religious liberty, and the different religious bodies that have grown up under its fostering influence; just as plain as there is between Republicanism, or civil liberty, and the individual who lives in the enjoyment of such liberty. The supposition, therefore, that the Protestant church is to furnish the material for the image, involves no violation of the symbolic harmony of this prophecy.