"And what attached these people to us? In part, undoubtedly, our
zone, and the natural endowments of this portion of the globe. In
part, and of late years, our vindicated national character, and the
safety of our Institutions. _But the magnet in America is, that we
are a republic_. A republican people! Cursed with artificial
government, however glittering, the people of Europe, like the
sick, pine for nature with protection, for open vistas and blue
sky, for independence without ceremony, for adventure in their own
interest,--and here they find it!"
One of these horns may therefore represent the civil republican power of
this government, and the other, the Protestant ecclesiastical. This
application is warranted by the facts already set forth respecting the
horns of the other powers. For (1) the two horns may belong to one
beast, and denote union instead of division, as in the case of the ram,
Daniel 8; and (2) a horn may denote a purely ecclesiastical element, as
the little horn of Daniel's fourth beast; and (3) a horn may denote the
civil power alone, as in the case of the first horn of the Grecian goat.
On the basis of these facts, we have these two elements, Republicanism
and Protestantism here united in one government, and represented by two
horns like the horns of a lamb. And these are nowhere else to be found.
Nor have they appeared since the time when we could consistently look
for the rise of the two-horned beast, in any nation upon the face of the
earth except our own.
And with these horns there is no objection to be found. They are like
those of a lamb, the Bible symbol of purity and innocence. The
principles are all right. The outward appearance is unqualifiedly good.
But, alas for our country! its acts are to give the lie to its
profession. The lamb-like features are first developed; but the dragon
voice is to be heard hereafter.
Chapter Seven.
The Dragon Voice.
From the facts thus far elicited in this argument, we have seen that the
government symbolized by the two-horned beast must be some government
distinct from the powers of the Old World, whether civil or
ecclesiastical; that it must arise this side the Atlantic; that it must
be seen coming into influence and notoriety about the year 1798; that it
must rise in a peaceful manner; that its progress must be so rapid as to
strike the beholder with as much wonder as the perceptible growth of an
animal before his eyes; that it must be a republic; that it must exhibit
before the world, as an index of its character, and the motives by which
it is governed, two great principles in themselves perfectly just, and
innocent, and lamb-like; and that it must perform its work in the
present century.
And we have seen that of these eight specifications, just two things can
be said: first, that they are all perfectly met in the history of the
United States, thus far; and secondly, that they are not met in the
history of any other government on the face of the earth. Behind these
eight lines of defense, therefore, the argument lies impregnably
intrenched.
And the American patriot, he who loves his country, and takes a just
pride in her thus-far glorious record and noble achievements, needs an
argument no less ponderous and immovable, and an array of evidence no
less clear, to enable him to accept the painful conclusion that the
remainder of the prophecy also applies to this government, hitherto the
best the world has ever seen; for the prophet immediately turns to a
part of the picture which is dark with injustice, and marred by
oppression, deception, intolerance, and wrong.
After describing the lamb-like appearance of this symbol, John
immediately adds, "And he spake as a dragon." The dragon, the first link
in this chain of prophecy, was a relentless persecutor of the church of
God. The leopard beast which follows, was likewise a persecuting power,
grinding out for 1260 years the lives of millions of the followers of
Christ. The third actor in the scene, the two-horned beast, speaks like
the first, and thus shows himself to be a dragon at heart; "for out of
the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh," and actions are framed.
This, then, like the rest, is a persecuting power; and it is for this
reason alone that any of them are mentioned in prophecy. God's care for
the church, his little flock, is what has led him to give a revelation
of his will, and point out the foes with whom they would have to
contend. To his church, all the actions recorded of the dragon and
leopard beast relate; and in reference to the church, therefore, we
conclude that the dragon voice of this power is uttered.
The "speaking" of any government must be the public promulgation of its
will on the part of its law-making and executive powers. Is this nation,
then, to issue unjust and oppressive enactments against the people of
God? Are the fires of persecution, which in other ages have devastated
other lands, to be lighted here also? We would fain believe otherwise;
but notwithstanding the pure intentions of the noble founders of this
government, notwithstanding the worthy motives and objects of thousands
of Christian patriots to-day, we can but take the prophecy as it reads,
and expect nothing less than what it predicts. John heard this power
speak; and the voice was that of a dragon.
Nor is this so improbable an issue as might at first appear. The people
of the United States are not all saints. The masses, notwithstanding all
our gospel light and gospel principles, are still in a position for
Satan to suddenly fire their hearts with the basest of impulses. This
nation, as we have seen, is to exist to the coming of Christ; and the
Bible very fully sets forth the moral condition of the people in the
days that immediately precede that event. Iniquity is to abound, and the
love of many to wax cold. Evil men and seducers are to wax worse and
worse. Scoffers are to arise, saying, Where is the promise of his
coming? The whole land is to be full of violence as it was in the days
of Noah, and full of licentiousness as in the city of Sodom in the days
of Lot. And when the Lord appears, faith will scarcely be found upon the
earth, and those who are ready for his coming will be but a "little
flock." Can the people of God expect to go through this period, and not
suffer persecution? No. This would be contrary to the lessons taught by
all past experience, and just the reverse of what we are warranted by
the word of God to expect. "All that will live godly in Christ Jesus
shall suffer persecution." If ever this was true in the history of the
church, we may expect it to be emphatically so when, in the last days,
the world is in its aphelion as related to God, and the wicked touch
their lowest depths of iniquity and sin.
Let, then, a general spirit of persecution arise in this country, and
what is more probable than that it should assume an organized form? Here
the will of the people is law. And let there be a general desire on the
part of the people for certain oppressive enactments against believers
in unpopular doctrines, and what would be more easy and natural than
that such desire should immediately crystallize into systematic action,
and their oppressive measures take the form of law? Then we have just
what the prophecy indicates. Then is heard the voice of the dragon.
And there are elements already in existence which furnish a luxuriant
soil for a baleful crop of future evil. But a few years ago three and a
half millions of human beings were held in our country in a state of
abject bondage, deprived of every vestige of freedom and every trace of
manhood. But why refer to slavery, it may be asked, since it has already
become a thing of the past? Slavery, to be sure, on the ground of
political expediency, has been abolished. For the time being, the
ballots and bayonets of its opponents have outnumbered those of its
partisans. But has this changed the disposition by which it has
heretofore been fostered? Has it converted the South? Have they been
brought to look upon it as an evil which should be given up on account
of its own intrinsic wrong? We would that we could answer these
questions in the affirmative. But there are acts too patent to be
denied, which show that the virus of this great iniquity still rankles
in the body politic; that the system of slavery has been given up by the
people of the South simply as a matter of necessity; that if they had
the power they would re-instate it again though they should rend and
ruin the Republic in their attempt; and hundreds of thousands in the
North would sympathize with them in the movement, and second them in
their efforts. The disease is driven from the surface, but it is not
cured. It may be a source of serious trouble hereafter.
Political corruption is preparing the way for deeper sin. It pervades
all parties. Look at the dishonest means resorted to to obtain office,
the bribery, the deceptions, the ballot-stuffing. Look at the stupendous
revelations of municipal corruption just disclosed in New York city:
millions upon millions stolen directly and barefacedly rom the city
treasury by its corrupt officials. Look at the civil service of this
government. Speaking on this point, _The Nation_ of Nov. 17, 1870,
said:--
"The newspapers are generally believed to exaggerate most of the
abuses they denounce; but we say deliberately, that no denunciation
of the civil service of the United States which has ever appeared
in print has come up as a picture, of selfishness, greed, fraud,
corruption, falsehood, and cruelty, to the accounts which are given
privately by those who have seen the real workings of the machine."
Enumeration is here unnecessary. Enough crops out in every day's history
to show that moral principle, the only guarantee in a government like
ours for justice and honesty, is sadly wanting.
And evil is also threatening from another quarter. Creeping up from the
darkness of the dark ages, a hideous monster is intently watching to
seize the throat of liberty in our land. It thrusts itself up into the
noonday of the ninteenth century, not that it may be benefited by its
light and freedom, but that it may suppress and obscure them. The name
of this monster is Popery; and it has fixed its rapacious and
bloodthirsty eyes on this land, determined to make it its helpless prey.
It already decides the election in some of our largest cities. It
controls the revenues of the most populous State in the Union, and
appropriates annually hundreds of thousands of dollars raised from
Protestant taxes to the support of its own ecclesiastical organizations,
and to the furtherance of its own religious and political ends. It has
reached that measure of influence that it is only by a mighty effort of
Protestant patriotism that measures can now be carried, against which
the Romish element combines its strength. And corrupt and unscrupulous
politicians stand ready to concede to its demands to secure its support,
for the purpose of advancing their own ambitious aims. Rome is in the
field with the basest and most fatal intentions, and with the most
watchful and tireless energy. It is destined to play an important part
in our future troubles; for this is the very beast which the two-horned
beast is to cause the earth and them that dwell therein to worship, and
before whose eyes it is to perform its wonders.
And in our own better Protestant churches there is that which threatens
to lead to most serious evils. On this point one of their own popular
ministers, who is well qualified to speak, may testify. A sermon by
Charles Beecher contains the following statements:--
"Our best, most humble, most devoted servants of Christ are
fostering in their midst what will one day, not long hence, show
itself to be the spawn of the dragon. They shrink from any rude
word against creeds with the same sensitiveness with which those
holy fathers would have shrunk from a rude word against the rising
veneration of saints and martyrs which they were fostering.... The
Protestant evangelical denominations have so tied up one another's
hands, and their own, that, between them all, a man cannot become a
preacher at all, anywhere, without accepting some book besides the
Bible.... And is not the Protestant church apostate? Oh! remember,
the final form of apostasy shall rise, not by crosses, processions,
baubles. We understand all that. Apostasy never comes on the
outside. It develops. It is an apostasy that shall spring into life
within us; an apostasy that shall martyr a man who believes his
Bible ever so holily; yea, who may even believe what the creed
contains, but who may happen to agree with the Westminster Assembly
that, proposed as a test, it is an unwarrantable imposition. That
is the apostasy we have to fear, and is it not already formed?...
Will it be said that our fears are imaginary? Imaginary? Did not
the Rev. John M. Duncan, in the years 1825-6, or thereabouts,
sincerely believe the Bible? Did he not even believe substantially
the confession of faith? And was he not, for daring to say what the
Westminster Assembly said, that, to require the reception of that
creed as a test of ministerial qualification was an unwarrantable
imposition, brought to trial, condemned, excommunicated, and his
pulpit declared vacant? There is nothing imaginary in the statement
that the creed-power is now beginning to prohibit the Bible as
really as Rome did, though in a subtler way.
"Oh! woful day! Oh! unhappy church of Christ! fast rushing round
and round the fatal circle of absorbing ruin!... Daily does every
one see that things are going wrong. With sighs does every true
heart confess that rottenness is somewhere; but, ah! it is hopeless
of reform. We all pass on, and the tide rolls down to night. The
waves of coming conflict which is to convulse Christendom to her
center are beginning to be felt. The deep heavings begin to swell
beneath us. 'All the old signs fail.' 'God answers no more by Urim
and Thummim, nor by dream, nor by prophet.' Men's hearts are
failing them for fear and for looking after those things that are
coming on the earth. Thunders mutter in the distance. Winds moan
across the surging bosom of the deep. All things betide the rising
of that final storm of divine indignation which shall sweep away
the vain refuge of lies."
In addition to this, we have spiritualism, infidelity, socialism, and
free-love, the trades unions, or labor against capital, and communism,
all assiduously spreading their principles among the masses. These are
the very principles that worked among the people, as the exciting cause,
just prior to the terrible French revolution of 1789-1800. Human nature
is the same in all ages, and like causes will surely produce like
results. These causes are now all in active operation; and how soon they
will culminate in a state of anarchy, and a reign of terror as much more
frightful than the French revolution as they are now more widely
extended, no man can say.
Such are some of the elements already at work; such the direction in
which events are moving. And how much further is it necessary that they
should progress in this manner, before an open war-cry of persecution
from the masses, against those whose simple adherence to the Bible shall
put to shame their man-made theology, and whose godly lives shall
condemn their wicked practices, would seem in nowise startling or
incongruous? But some may say, through an all-absorbing faith in the
increasing virtue of the American people, that they do not believe that
the United States will ever raise the hand of persecution against any
class. Very well. This is not a matter over which we need to indulge in
any controversy. No process of reasoning, nor any amount of argument,
can ever show that it will not be so. We think we have shown good ground
for strong probabilities in this direction; and we shall present more
forcible evidence, and speak of more significant movements hereafter. As
we interpret the prophecy, we look upon it as inevitable. But the
decision of the question must be left to time. We can neither help nor
hinder its work. That will soon solve all doubts and correct all errors.
Chapter Eight.
He Doeth Great Wonders.
In further predicting the work of the two-horned beast, the prophet
says: "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." This language is urged by some to
prove that the two-horned beast must be some power which holds the reins
of government in the very territory occupied by the first beast; for,
otherwise, how could he exercise his power?
If the word "before" denoted precedence in time, and the first beast
passed off the stage of action when the two-horned beast came on, just
as Babylon gave place to Persia, which then exercised all the power of
Babylon before it, there would be some plausibility in the claim. But
the word rendered "before" is [Greek: enopion] (_enopion_) which
means, literally, "in the presence of." And so the language, instead of
proving what is claimed, becomes a most positive proof that these beasts
are distinct and cotemporary powers.
The first beast is in existence, having all its symbolic vitality, at
the very time the two-horned beast is exercising power in his presence.
But this could not be, if his dominion had passed into the hands of the
two-horned beast; for a beast in prophecy ceases to exist when his
dominion is taken away. What caused the change in the symbols from the
lion, representing Babylon, to the bear representing Persia? Simply a
transfer of dominion from Babylon to Persia. And so the prophecy
explains the successive passing away of these beasts, by saying that
their lives were prolonged, but their dominion was taken away; that is,
the territory of the kingdom was not blotted from the map, nor the lives
of the people destroyed ed, but there was a transfer of power from one
nationality to another. So the fact that the leopard beast is spoken of
as still an existing power, when the two-horned beast works in his
presence, is proof that he is, at that time, in possession of all the
dominion that was ever necessary to constitute him a symbol in prophecy.
What power then does the two-horned beast exercise? Not the power which
belongs to, and is in the hands of, the leopard beast, surely; but he
exercises, or essays to exercise, in his presence, power of the same
kind and to the same extent. The power which the first beast exercised
was a terrible power of oppression against the people of God. And this
is a further indication of the character which the two-horned beast is
finally to sustain in this respect.
The latter part of the verse, "And causeth the earth and them which
dwell therein, to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was
healed," is still further proof that the two-horned beast is no phase
nor feature of the papacy; for the first beast is certainly competent to
enforce his own worship in his own country, and from his own subjects.
But it is the two-horned beast which causes the earth (the territory out
of which it arose and over which it rules) and them which dwell therein,
to worship the first beast. This shows that this beast occupies
territory over which the first beast has no jurisdiction.
"And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from
heaven on the earth in the sight of men." That we are living in an age
of wonders none deny. Time was, and that not two score of years ago,
when the bare mention of achievements which now constitute the warp and
woof of every-day life, were considered the wildest chimeras of a
diseased imagination. Now, nothing is too wonderful to be believed, nor
too strange to happen. Go back fifty years, and the world with respect
to those things which tend to domestic convenience and comfort, the
means of illumination, the production and application of heat, and the
performance of various household operations; with respect to methods of
rapid locomotion from place to place, and the transmission of
intelligence from point to point, stood about where it did in the days
of the patriarchs. Suddenly waters of that long stream over whose
drowsy surface scarcely a ripple of improvement had passed for three
thousand years, broke into the white foam of violent agitation. The
world awoke from the slumber and darkness of ages. The divine finger
lifted the seal from the prophetic books, and brought that predicted
period when men should run to and fro, and knowledge should be
increased. Then men bound the elements to their chariots, and reaching
up laid hold upon the very lightning and made it their message-bearer
around the world. Nahum foretold that at a certain time the chariots
should be with flaming torches and run like the lightnings. Who can
behold in the darkness of the night, the locomotive dashing over its
iron track, the fiery glare of its great lidless eye driving the shadows
from its path, and torrents of smoke and sparks and flame pouring from
its burning throat, and not realize that ours are the eyes that are
privileged to look upon a fulfillment of Nahum's prophecy. But when this
should take place, the prophet said that the times would be burdened
with the solemn work of God's preparation.
"Canst thou send lightnings," said God to Job, "that they may go and say
unto thee, Here we are?" If Job were living to day, he could answer,
Yes. It is one of the current sayings of our time that Franklin tamed
the lightning, and Prof. Morse taught it the English language.
So, in every department of the arts and sciences, the advancement that
has been made within the last half century is without precedent in the
world's history. And in all these the United States take the lead. These
facts are not, indeed, to be taken as a fulfillment of the prophecy, but
they show the spirit of the age in which we live, and point to this time
as a period when we may look for wonders of every kind.
The particular wonders to which the prophecy refers are evidently
wrought for the purpose of deceiving the people; for verse 14 reads,
"And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by means of those miracles
which he had power to do in the sight of the beast." This identifies the
two-horned beast with the false prophet of Rev. 19:20; for this false
prophet is the power that works miracles before the beast, "with which,"
says John, "he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast,
and them that worshiped his image," the identical work of the two-horned
beast. We can now ascertain by what means the miracles in question are
wrought; for Rev. 16:13, 14, speaks of 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 the great day of God Almighty, and
these miracle-working spirits go forth out of the mouths of certain
powers, one of which is this very false prophet, or two-horned beast.
Miracles are of two kinds, true and false, just as we have a true
Christ and false Christs, true and false prophets, and true and false
apostles. By a false miracle, we mean not a pretended miracle, which is
no miracle at all, but a real miracle, a supernatural performance,
wrought for the purpose of deceiving, or of proving a lie. The miracles
of this power are real miracles, but are wrought for the purpose of
deception. The prophecy does not read that he deceived the people by
means of the miracles which he claimed that he was able to perform, or
which he pretended to do; but which he _had power_ to do. They,
therefore, fall far short of the prophecy who suppose that the great
wonders wrought by this power were fulfilled by Napoleon when he told
the Mussulmans that he could command a fiery chariot to come down from
heaven, but never did it, or by the pretended miracles of the Romish
church, which are only shams, mere tricks played off by ungodly and
designing priests upon their ignorant and superstitious dupes.
Miracles, or wonders, such as are to be wrought by the two-horned beast,
and withal, as we think, the very ones referred to in the prophecy, are
mentioned by Paul in 2 Thess. 2:9, 10. Speaking of the second coming of
Christ, he says, "Whose coming is after ([Greek: kata], at the time
of) the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and
with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because
they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved."
These are no slight-of-hand performances, but such a working of Satan as
the world has never before seen. To work with all power and signs and
lying wonders, is certainly to do a real and an astounding work, but one
which is designed to prove a lie.
Again, the Saviour, predicting events to occur just before his second
coming, says, "For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets,
and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch that, if it were
possible, they shall deceive the very elect." Here, again, are wonders
foretold, wrought for the purpose of deception, so powerful that, were
it possible, even the very elect would be deceived by them.
Thus we have a series of prophecies setting forth the development, in
the last days, of a wonder-working power, manifested to a startling and
unprecedented degree, in the interests of falsehood and error. All refer
to one and the same thing. The earthly government, with which it was to
be especially connected, is that represented by the two-horned beast, or
false prophet. The agency lying back of the outward manifestations was
to be Satanic, the spirits of devils. The prophecy calls for such a work
as this in our own country at the present time. Do we behold anything
like it? Read the answer in the lamentation of the prophet: "Woe to the
inhabiters of the earth, and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto
you having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short
time." Stand aghast, O Earth! Tremble, ye people, but be not deceived.
The huge specter of evil confronts us, as the prophet declared. Satan is
loosed. From the depth of Tartarus, myriads of demons swarm over the
land. The prince of darkness manifests himself as never before, and,
stealing a word from the vocabulary of Heaven to designate his work, he
calls it--_Spiritualism_.