Earlier text: THE COMING STRUGGLEIn the Bible Examiner of the 1st inst., we find some objections to the view we take of the Two-horned beast, by which it appears either that the argument has not been carefully studied, or that it is strangely misunderstood. It says: "Some writers, for several years past, have attempted to show that the 'two-horned beast' of Rev. 13th is a symbol of the government of these United States. Much has been promulgated in defence of this position that seems plausible; but, is such a position tenable? We do not propose to follow the argument in all its aspects and positions, but simply to notice the subject briefly. "First, it is maintained by those who advocate the theory under notice, that the seven last plagues of Rev. 16th are all yet in the future. This is essential to the argument, because the very first plague takes effect 'upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them that worshiped his image.' We take it, there is no ground for dispute that this is the 'two-horned beast' and 'the image' which it made. Now if one of the seven last plagues has been poured out prior to this time, the argument that the United States government is symbolized by the two-horned beast fails to the ground; for, that proves the seven last plagues are not all in the future, as they must be to make the argument available. But these same writers maintain that the Ottoman empire is symbolized by the great river Euphrates, Rev. 16th; and none of their number have said, 'The more one thinks upon this subject, (Rev. xvi, 12,) the more, it seems, must he become convinced that the drying up of the Euphrates is the consumption of the Ottoman empire.' If so, as it is manifest that empire is on the decline, and has been for a number of years past, is it not a self-evident fact that the sixth of the seven last plagues must have commenced to be poured out some years since? and, hence, that the first five had been previously poured out? If this be true, then the two-horned beast and its image are many years in the past—at least, from one to three centuries. Hence, that beast cannot be a symbol of the government of the United States." We remember that in a certain place a prophet does not recommend the turning of things upside down; and we presume that the words apply to all time and to all circumstances. Our readers will perceive that in the above extract, our argument is handed to us bottom side up, a pyramid upon its apex. The conclusion is put for the premise, and the premise for the conclusion. It is true that we maintain that the seven last plagues of Rev. xvi are all yet in the future; but how have we arrived at this conclusion and what use do we make of it? One of the main considerations which has led us to adopt it, is that the very first plague takes effect upon those who receive the mark of the beast and worship his image. By many scriptures and chains of argument we are shown that 'the beast,' the Papacy, has performed its work, and instituted its mark; that the two-horned beast, entirely distinct from the beast, has arisen, and is almost fully developed, is performing in part, and preparing to accomplish, the wonders attributed to him; that he is also preparing to institute an image to the beast, the Papacy, and enforce its worship; and that the time for the warning against such worship has come, and the warning is being given. Hence the conclusion, that the plagues, the first of which falls upon that very class who reject this warning and perform this worship, are yet in the future. From other reasons entirely it is demonstrated that the power symbolized by the two-horned beast, has arisen and is doing its work; and this being once established, it follows as an inevitable conclusion that those plagues which are designed for those who submit to its unrighteous decrees in defiance of the requirements of Heaven, are yet before us. But do we use this as an argument that the time has come for the development of this beast? Not at all; for it would by no means follow from the simple fact that those plagues are future, that the present is the generation exposed to them, and to whom the warning of escape is applicable. But it being shown that the two-horned beast, which causes an image to be made, and enforces its worship, has its application in our own land and at the present time, the plagues attach themselves with fearful certainty to this generation, as the cup of wrath from which they shall surely drink. As regards the idea that these judgments are in the past, in addition to the difficulty, not to say impossibility, of thus locating this beast and warning message, we know of nothing which can answer to their fulfillment. As proof that five of the plagues are already past, and the sixth now being poured out, reference is made to the declining state of the Ottoman empire, the power upon which that plague is to be poured. But we cannot regard this as evidence that we have reached that period. In a recent article on this subject we showed that the introduction of this power in its symbolic form was no more an objection to the literality of the plagues, than the introduction of other powers in a similar manner. See verses 2, 9 of Rev. xvi. Neither can the fact that the empire of the Ottomans is now on the decline, be any more an objection to the application of the sixth plague in the future, than the fact that the spirits of devils are now abroad performing their wonders, which are said to go forth under that plague. Again: We showed in the article alluded to, that the time for the commencement of the outpouring of these judgments was at the close of the ministration in the heavenly Sanctuary. Rev. xv, 8. And we have a clue to the time of their continuance in the fact that it synchronizes with the "day of vengeance," which is in the heart of Him who is mighty to save, when the year of his redeemed comes. Isa. lxiii, 5. This period is also in another place called a day: Rev. xviii, 8. "Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death and mourning and famine, &c." As it is impossible that famine should come in a literal day of twenty-four hours, the expression must be symbolic, denoting a year. With this view of the continuance of the time of these plagues, (and we submit to the Bible student if it be not a just one) we see that they cannot be centuries in their accomplishment. As the spirits of devils are now preparing for the part they are then to act, so the Ottoman empire will be brought into that condition, and sustain that relation to the powers around it, that under the sixth plague, the waters thereof will be dried up—the work fully and completely accomplished; and by that drying up the way of the kings of the East will be prepared. "We take it," says the Examiner, there "is no ground for dispute, that this is the 'two-horned beast,' and the 'image' which it made." Whoever would have us take such a position as this, will find that there is ground for dispute at once. The simple expression "the beast" never means the "two-horned beast," either in chap. xiii, or anywhere else in the Revelation, but refers invariably to the beast of chap. xiii, 1, which nearly all agree in applying to the Papacy. The "two-horned beast" is first introduced in Rev. xiii, by the expression "another beast," and is ever after in that chapter represented by the pronoun he; and it is not again referred to in that book under the term, beast. This distinction should never be lost sight of. "The beast" never means the beast with two horns like a lamb. This two-horned beast has no mark of its own, and receives no worship, only as it causes people to receive the mark of the first beast, and to worship that beast or the image which it makes to it. This distinction the Examiner appears to have overlooked entirely; and this has led it to the misapprehension we are now considering, and others to be noticed hereafter. It continues: "Again, as it is not precluded by the writers of whom we speak, that this government has not attained the power to 'cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed,' or that it has yet made such a law, or proclamation, it follows, if the two-horned beast is the symbol of this government, the time of the Third Angel's Message, Rev. xiv, has not yet arrived; because that angel proclaims, 'If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand,' &c. This clearly shows that that beast and his image were in actual existence, and acting to put those men to death who would not obey the mandates, when the Third Angel begins his message; hence this government cannot be the two-horned beast; or else, the Third Angel's Message has not yet commenced." This is one of the strongest objections to the view that the Third Angel's Message is now being given. It is perhaps most used by our opponents, and is, in the present case forcibly stated. Let us look at it. Because the image to the beast is not yet made, and the decree put forth to enforce its worship, therefore the time has not come for the warning of the Third Angel. This is the objection. But how far have matters progressed, and what events are fulfilled? 1st. The beast has arisen. 2d. He has exalted himself, and thought to change times and laws, and in so doing has given to the christian world an institution to which if men bow after learning the requirements of Jehovah, they worship the beast and receive his mark. 3d. The two-horned beast which is "another beast," and does wonders in the sight of the first beast, which is to make an image to this beast, and enforce its worship under penalty of death, has also arisen. He is in a state of fast perfecting development before us; and he is to the apprehension of every careful- ly observant mind, preparing to accomplish speedily the work assigned him. In fact the forces of the enemy are all in motion and fast marshaling for the coming conflict. Shall God wait till they pitch battle before he begins to prepare his people? No! and in this response must every one join who has due regard to propriety in the fulfillment of prophecy. Let the warning go forth! Let men be apprised of the issue they are to meet! Let them decide understandingly whether they will bow to the authority of men, or to the authority of God; and then reap their reward according to their own decision! As well might the prophet Zechariah have held his peace, and not warned the Jews in captivity to flee from Babylon till Darius was demolishing its palaces, or the Christians not have been warned to flee from Jerusalem till the soldiers of Titus were pouring in through its battered gates, as that no warning should be given against the worship of the beast or his image, till its institutors were established in power, and the death penalty affixed to every violation. Verily it is time that the warning go forth, and that those who hear should heed it. "Further. A portion of those who maintain this government is symbolized by this beast, tell us, that 'Sunday keeping' is the 'mark' of the two-horned beast; that is, it has substituted the first day of the week for the seventh, thereby 'changing the Lord's Sabbath for the Pope's Sunday.'" This is one of those misapprehensions above referred to. Sunday keeping is not the mark of the two-horned beast. We see not how such an idea could be gathered from any of our writings, as a people, on this subject. The mark is the mark of the beast; and the beast is Papacy. The two-horned beast has no mark of its own. "But again. The advocates of the view we are noticing, call Sunday 'the Pope's Sunday;' then if Sunday keeping is the mark of the beast, the Pope must be the two-horned beast, for the mark—whatever it is—is 'the mark of the beast,' it belongs to him, and is not something he has adopted for another. The image may be adopted, but the mark is that of the beast himself—of his own invention, and is due to him; so that if Sunday keeping is the mark, and the Pope is its inventor, it follows, invariably, that he is symbolized by the two-horned beast, and not the United States government." Singular indeed is such an expression as this. Its main spring, as the reader will perceive lies in the mistake already noticed, of considering the mark, the mark of the two-horned beast, whereas it is the mark of "the beast," the Papacy, and is an institution yet to be enforced by the two-horned beast. The Examiner concludes as follows: "While we do not affirm that Papacy, in any of its forms, is symbolized by the two-horned beast, we give it as an opinion that none of its phases seem most likely to be intended by that beast, and that it is many years in the past. In the 12th, 13th and 14th centuries by the edicts of Papacy it was death for any man to read the Scriptures in their own tongue. During that period, or near thereto, in our opinion, came up the two-horned beast, and acted out its prophetical character; and more than ten years since we became satisfied, that so far as certainty can be arrived at, Luther and his coadjutors fulfilled the prophetic work of the three angels, Rev. xiv; and whoever will read the history of those men, with an unbiased mind, it seems to us, cannot fail to see that this is the true view of the subject. Luther and those who labored with him employed almost the exact words of the prophecy in bringing out the Scriptures to the people, and in their denunciations of Papacy. Sure we are, that nothing has occurred in this century that can bear any comparison, as to a fulfillment, with the work of Luther and his coadjutors. And that work harmonizes not only with the prophecy under consideration, but it brings the seven last plagues in their proper place; six of which, to our mind, are clearly in the past." "We might present other reasons for rejecting the theory that the United States government is symbolized by the two-horned beast; but we feel averse to protracting remarks on the subject, and do not see how any reflecting person can think to maintain such a position, which, to us, seems so clearly without foundation. If we are asked, what position in prophecy we think the United States has? we answer, that of a 'strong nation afar off' which the Lord will yet 'rebuke.' See Micah iv, 3. All the symbolized beasts, in our judgment, are located on the old Roman Territory, and can be found no where else." We have not introduced this lengthy extract for any argument that it contains, but simply to call attention to a few facts which must be, and can easily be settled in regard to the two-horned beast. Facts are firm things. We love to find them in an argument; for we can walk right out upon them without fear of falling. First, then, it is a fact that the two-horned beast is another and a distinct beast from the seven-headed and ten-horned beast first mentioned in Rev. xiii. It is distinctly called another beast, it rises from another locality, namely from the earth, whereas the first beast rose from the sea; and it does wonders before, that is in the sight of, in presence of, the first beast. Having once fixed this125fact firmly in mind, there is no danger of running into the fog by confounding it with the Papacy in any of the 'forms' or 'phases.' Second, it is a fact, that the two-horned beast is not located upon the territory occupied by the Papal beast, or any of its horns; for it is, as we have seen, a distinct beast, and two distinct beasts cannot occupy the same territory at the same time. There is no danger of our running into the dark on this point. Third, it is a fact, that the time of the rise of the two-horned beast, or when it is first introduced as coming up is definitely pointed out; namely when the first beast received a deadly wound, or was led into captivity, which was, as all history on the point will testify, on the 10th of February, 1798. We care not here to mention more of the numerous and plain specifications which attach themselves to this subject. The three we have touched upon hold an important part in its investigation. We think they are clearly established and decisive. Perhaps these are included in the "much that is plausible," which the Examiner admits as urged in favor of this view. We had been glad if it had touched upon these, and many others that might be mentioned, and, if they are not tenable, show their fallacy. We are confident they will stand the test of the most rigid criticism; and we see not how any one in view of them can go back for the two-horned beast centuries before the time when John saw it coming up; or look for it in territory already occupied by another power, or mistake it for a beast which maintains a separate existence at the same time. There is no necessity, we hardly see how there is a possibility, of making so mistaken an application. Nor need we go back to the time of Luther and his coadjutors for the fulfillment of the angels' messages, and ignore the mighty move that has taken place on the Advent doctrine, not in this country only, nor in Europe only, but throughout the world, within the last twenty years. We apprehend that no age has sustained a greater burden of prophetic fulfillment than the present, and that no scenes have transpired in earth's drama, more important than those now transpiring around us. May we not shut our eyes to these, but view them in the light of prophecy and revelation, and prepare ourselves for the coming issue. SABBATH-KEEPERS' CHILDREN.
By James White
WHAT can be done for our children? There is no use in contending the fact, that but a small portion of the children of Sabbath-keepers are forming characters for eternal life in the kingdom of God. While a very few are advancing, others are falling back, and many are pressing their way to ruin. And what is most alarming, is the fact that Bible truth, and the means of grace seem to affect the youth and children of Sabbath-keepers less and less. What can be done for our children? is a perplexing inquiry which has often come up. We might pause here and lament, but this would not help their condition. Shall we not rather try to point out some of the reasons of the sad state of things among our children, in hope that when the cause is removed, by the grace of God through our Lord Jesus Christ, the effects may cease. We are introducing a subject of most thrilling interest to parents and guardians—one on which volumes may well be written—which relates to their whole duty to children intrusted to their care from the cradle to manhood and woman-hood. We can only introduce it here, and touch upon a few points. We would first call attention to the A writer in the Michigan Journal of Education speaks pointedly and well upon this subject. Though probably not impressed with the truth, that all that can be done to save the dear youth and children of our land must be done immediately, yet from his words, many among us may gather lessons of the greatest importance. He says:— "Much has been said and written on the subject of teaching morals in schools. Eloquently have gifted and good men pleaded that the Word of God and the voice of Prayer should not be banished from our common schools; that the moral nature of the little child should not be left untrained while his intellect was unfolding into a power which no man may control. Many a thoughtful parent and citizen has looked with sadness and fear upon the evident depravities of the children of our public schools, and not a few have chosen to incur the trouble and expense of educating their children at home or in private schools, rather than trust them to the dreaded contamination. "Benevolent and christian teachers have studied the means of reformation and many a well considered plan of moral teachings has been proposed and tried. But still the evil continues unabated, and the public school is still a place of peril to all that is lovely in our little ones. Nor will any one be surprised at the obstinacy of the evil if he will but notice carefully the ordinary character of the surroundings and exercises of these schools. "The evil lies not so much in the lack of proper moral instruction as in the positive immoralities of our school-houses. A deathful, moral miasma lurks in the air of our public school-rooms and school-grounds which poisons every little heart and renders nugatory every moral lesson. Go with me to the school-house and see. "Let us pause first here, upon the play-ground, a wide open space filled with children of both sexes, with no fence to separate them, and no opportunities for seclusion. Listen as some rough, wicked boy utters, just loud enough to be heard by a party of little girls near at hand, some vulgar, obscene word, or indecent jest, or makes some still more indecent gesture, and mark the half suppressed laugh and blush of the little girls as they turn away, while the boys who may have heard it, laugh aloud in shameless glee. "That word implanted a terrible stain upon the purity of your beloved daughter, my good friend, and gave a wound to her maiden delicacy which you may well deplore. Remember that every day of school repeats such scenes as this. * But come a little farther. Visit the out-buildings of the school, if it has any. Look from the floor and seat to the walls. See how they are overwritten with pollution. "The very scriptures of vice are here. Do you wonder any longer at the more than brutish uncleanliness that leaves its mark so universally in the private buildings connected with hotels &c., throughout the land, and tells so loathsome a tale of American habits? How much of Bible reading and prayer and moral teachings will it take, think you, to efface these lessons of impurity from the mind of your little son or daughter? * "But let us enter the school-house, passing first to mark how on the door-posts and walls and every where these scriptures of immorality are written or engraved. The successive generations of the vile ones who are found mingled in every school, have left here the record of their progress in vice, and your cherished little daughter whom you have guarded so carefully at home has these records before her daily, through the long, impressive years of her school-life." * "But we have not done. Stay here among these scenes the whole hour the teacher is gone to his dinner. Witness the lawless play, the frequent bickerings and quarrels, the passionate and abusive words of some, the daring profanity of others, the vulgar story telling, the scandal learned in whatever home is vilest in the neighborhood, (and this home is not always the home of the poor,) the unchecked obscenity and vulgarity, and then say can you trust the child you love and whom you hope to train up to a pure and honest life, to such daily lessons as these. Remember that it is the least restrained and hence the worst children who frequent these noon-time revels; remember too that children are the most successful teachers of children, and that such is the awful downward gravitation of our nature that evil is learned a hundred fold easier than truth; that a child's hand may hurl downward a weight that a strong man cannot lift up again." But shall not our children be taught the common branches of education? Yes, if it be in our power to teach them, or have them taught, without sending them to these common nurseries of vice. Let all parents with the highest sense of their duty do the best they can to give their children a pure education. To take them from the common schools, and let them run at large with the children in the streets, is a still greater evil. "An empty brain is Satan's workshop." It would be far better to send children to our common schools, as demoralizing as they are, where their minds may be occupied with their studies during school hours, and where they may receive some good mixed with the bad, than to turn them out into the streets, where they can get no good, but learn the habits and vices of street sinners. The young mind unemployed without moral and religious training, is almost sure to be stored with a vicious education. But both these evils may be remedied. Our children may be separated from the poisonous influences of both school and street associations. In many locations Sabbath-keepers can employ pious and devoted teachers, who, with the united efforts of parents at home, can do much in leading their children in the path of virtue and holiness. What if it be extra expense? Will parents push their dear children into channels of vice, for the sake of saving a few shillings? God forbid! Mothers may be the best teachers of their little ones. Fathers can spend those hours, too often spent from home to worse than useless chit-chat, in teaching their sons and daughters. We would plead for the children, that they, at least, be taught to read and write the English language, and other common branches as far as possible, provided it can be done without exposing them to the corrupting influences of most of our schools. We as a people hold that it is necessary to separate ourselves from the world and the fallen churches, lest their associations becloud our minds and destroy our faith. This we regard as a scriptural position, and the only safe position for christian men and women in these perilous times. God's word has required Christians in all past time to separate themselves from the world; but how much more is this the duty of Christians in this corrupt age. If this be our duty, then we have a duty to do in this respect to our children. Shall we come out of Babylon, and leave our children behind? Shall we send them where is seen the boldest imprint of the filling up of the cup of her fury? Take care brother, sister, lest you call down upon your own heads, the displeasure of God, and the blood of your children. Separate your children from the world. Like Israel, gather them into your dwellings, and strike your door-posts with blood, for the destroying angels will soon be on their way, to "slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark." But the evils among our youth and children do not all arise from the bad influences of schools. There are some evils, some of them as bad as those found at schools. Many children, especially small children, are indulged above measure. Perhaps they are not corrected when they should be, or, if corrected at all, it is done in impatience, and in passion, so that the same spirit that moves the hand is whipped into the child. Such children grow up unsubdued, self-willed, and passionate. These evils follow many all the way up to manhood, and if they try to be Christians, their christian walk all through life is crooked now and then by stubbornness, passion and self-will. True piety, is a lovely and delicate personage. She never dwells with a family where passion is manifested by parents or children. How preposterous is it to suppose that the Holy Spirit will come down and dwell in a family where human passion inspired by Satan reigns. Our object is reform. Our business is to teach truth and correct error and wrong. And it becomes our painful duty to introduce subjects of an unpleasant nature. But duty must be performed, however much it may be against our natural inclinations. There are loose habits in some families which sow the seeds of vice in very young minds. We enter their sleeping-rooms and here are sometimes parents and half-grown children occupying the same rooms; or, what is common, boys and girls sleeping in the same room, and sometimes by their own mothers put in the same beds. What is considered a suitable excuse for so doing, is that occasional visitors fill all the other beds in the house, hence the children of both sexes are huddled together like so many young swine. Here in all probability were the first temptations, and the first black stains upon the pure young heart which finally resulted in breaking the seventh commandment. O, how careful parents should be in all their acts, and how chaste in all their conversation, lest they carelessly stain the minds of their innocent ones. Some parents instead of rebuking a visiting and courting spirit in their children at the age of fifteen or sixteen years, meet it with a poisonous joke, giving the idea that such things are very smart, and all right. We might here mention premature and improper marriages, and their consequent evil results, but space and time would fail us. Let parents do their duty in season and they are prevented. Some regard the childish feelings of their children in regard to marriage, even at the age of fifteen, as though it were so deep love that it would ruin them to interfere with their arrangements. Who, that has seen much of this world, has not been disgusted with these things? The manner in which the holy institution of marriage is abused, is one of the damning sins of this age. As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the last generation, at the coming of the Son of man. "For as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage," &c. It was not sin to eat food convenient to sustain nature in the days of Noah, neither is it now; but gluttonness is no less a sin now than then. It was no sin to marry from pure motives in the days of Noah; neither is marriage wrong now with the fear of God and his glory in view. The great sin of the inhabitants of the old world which called down upon them the waters of the flood, is stated thus:—"And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair, and they took them wives of all126which they chose. And the Lord said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh; yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years." Gen. vi. 1-4. "And they took them wives"—No fault could be found with proper marriages at that time. Then where was the sin? The next clause expresses it— "Of all which they chose." Their choice ruled ever. God, and his glory were not thought of, even in this event to which most depends in human life. "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord." There was no seeking unto him for direction. No waiting for the direction of his providence. But "they took them wives as they chose." We need only to add, that the above is a perfect representation of the present time in respect to marriage. And wherever is the greatest light, and the highest professions of faith in Christ's soon coming and of consecration of all to the cause of present truth, there lies the greatest sin in this respect. There are weighty considerations, which may be urged against believers in the soon coming of Christ contracting marriage while standing upon the last crumbling sands of time, which have not existed in past ages; yet there are doubtless cases where marriage betters the condition of both parties, and enables them better to act a part in the cause of truth. Marrying at a proper age, under proper circumstances is generally a blessing; but in many cases among us it proves the cause of backsliding from God, and renders many, who otherwise might be a blessing, of no use to the cause. We have undertaken the unpleasant task of pointing out evils to which many of the children of Sabbath-keepers are exposed, from a sense of duty. What we have stated we believe to be true, and we hope that all conscientious parents will ponder well these evils, and if they exist in any degree in their families, they will make vigorous efforts to remove them. Let this be imprinted in every heart, in every family, from the oldest to the youngest, "Thou God seest me."