IS THE UNITED STATES A SUBJECT OF PROPHECY?
IN our last issue we considered the first part of the prophecy of Rev. 13:11: “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.” It was clearly shown that these two horns represented principles peculiar to Christianity alone of all religions, and to this government alone of all governments, as shown by the Scriptures, early American documents, and Bancroft’s “History of the Constitution.” In this article we will study the latter part of Rev. 13:11: “And he [the lamb-horned beast] spake as a dragon.” The dragon is pre-eminently and primarily a symbol of the devil, and secondarily of Satan’s agents. “The great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan.” Rev. 12:9; 20:2. The devil is a deceiver, a persecutor, a murderer. Rev. 12:9, 13; John 8:44. A government can only speak in the laws which it promulgates. To speak as a dragon, this government must proclaim deceptive laws, which seem to promise fairly, but which will result in the persecution of honest souls. More than this, it is to do great wonders, exercise great power, make an image to the first beast which had the deadly wound, influence the earth to make and worship that image, and cause all to receive the mark of the beast. And all these are well under way, as the SIGNS OF THE TIMES has frequently shown. Yet a few more words may not be amiss here. The essential of a beast power in Scripture is imperialism and popery. By imperialism is meant the right of the one or the few to rule over the many without their consent. The one or the few consider themselves better and more capable of ruling. The essentials of popery are the putting of a man or body of men as the human tribunal over conscience and faith, as God’s vicegerent on earth. The principle is the same, be the head a pope or council or church. And this latter is imperialism in religion, directly opposed to the great doctrine of the equality of man in his inherent rights before God. These principles inhered in all the great dynasties of the past. They were infused and used by Satan in all the persecutions of the past. It was against these that the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States entered mighty protest in the forum of civil government. This Federal Government was a complete reversal in principle of all the old-time theories, and the faith and purpose of its founders were expressed on the reverse side of the great seal of the United States,—“Annuit Cœptis; Novus Ordo Seclorum,”—“God favors the undertaking; a new order of ages.” It was a glorious beginning of a new order of ages, and surely God favored the undertaking. The nation grew and prospered as no other nation ever has. She went forward in her principles of liberty till in 1864 the shackles of slavery were stricken from every slave, and she stood forth to the world as the shining guide to liberty. Men were more than things. Souls outweighed dollars. Religion, unhelped by the State, prospered as never before. It was free. But the Word of God declares that this nation, which thus learned liberty, will say to the nations of the world: “Make an image to the beast. Restore his worship. Enforce the mark of his authority, the counterfeit sabbath, exalted in the place of the Sabbath of Jehovah.” The sure word of prophecy declares that her influence will be sufficient among the powers of earth to do this. She “causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast,” gives life by her influence and action unto the image, and causes all, save God’s true worshippers, who will not yield tho they die, to receive the mark in hearty acceptance or slavish submission, under penalty of confiscation of goods, and to the ultimate death. So declares the Word. The first part of the prophecy has been demonstrated, and every day’s events are demonstrating the latter part. How this glorious government has turned back from the espousals of her youth, proving false to all the principles which gave her life, is known and felt by thousands. Once effulgent in the beautiful robes of freedom, leading the world from the low swales of the Dark Ages of superstition and oppression to the clear air of the uplands of liberty, pointing to a liberty more glorious beyond, bringing hope and joy to the longing hearts and eager eyes of oppressed thousands in the Old World, lifting even the ancient nations from their slough of despond, she is now turning from all those lofty ideals and noble purposes, and, with robes bedraggled with the dews of deepening night, is descending into the malarial marshes of medievalism, and declaring to a war-ridden, despairing, dying world that the principles of life-giving liberty, which gave her birth and made her great, are a delusive lie, and that the hope of the world is in popery, despotism, and oppression. But there is hope, tho all of earth fails. Its glorious star is heaven-born, and far above a decaying world it shines, a glorious light to lead, a beacon of hope to cheer the wanderer on to the glorious liberty, salvation, and eternal inheritance which Jesus Christ will give to all His loyal subjects. “Hast thou chosen, O my people, on whose party thou shalt stand,
Ere the doom from its worn sandals shakes the dust against our land?
Tho the cause of evil prosper, yet 'tis truth alone is strong,
And, albeit she wander outcast now, I see around her throng
Troops of beautiful tall angels to enshield her from all wrong.”