States In Prophecy
A Beautiful Picture
WE HAVE now seen that "the
first beast" of Revelation 13:1-10 represents the Papacy, and that
it received its "deadly wound" in 1798, when the Papal States
had been abolished, Rome declared a republic, and Pope Pius VI taken a
prisoner into France where he died in "captivity," August 19,
1799. (Revelation 13:3, 10.) The prophet then sees "another beast
coming up." Verse 11. Knowing that a "beast" in prophecy
represents a "kingdom" (Daniel 7:23) we must conclude that a
new nation was to come up about 1798. In 1754 John Wesley, in his
"New Testament with Explanatory Notes," applied the beast of
Revelation 13:1-10 to the Papacy, and then wrote the following note
under the eleventh verse:
"Another . . . beast ....
But he is not yet come, though he cannot be far off; for he is to appear
at the end of the forty-two months of the first beast. And he had two
horns like a lamb–a mild, innocent appearance."–P.427. In
locating this new nation let us notice the following points in this
(1) When the prophet saw the
papal beast go "into captivity' (Revelation 13:10), he
"beheld another beast" "like a lamb" "coming
up." Verse 11. A lamb is not full grown. This nation, therefore,
would be coming up, and not be full grown in 1798, when the papal
beast went into captivity.
(2) While the four beasts of
Daniel 7:3, and the first beast of Revelation 13:1, all came up from
"the sea," which in prophecy means "peoples, and
multitudes" (Revelation 17:15), the second beast of Revelation
13:11 came "up out of the earth," indicating that, while the
former kingdoms arose in countries populated with peoples and
multitudes, this latter nation was to rise in new territory, not
(3) The dragon of Revelation 12,
and the first beast of Revelation 13, both had crowns, but this beast
had none, which would indicate that it was to be a republic, having no
(4) It would exercise its power
"before" the papal beast (verse 12), showing that it is not
a Catholic nation, nor counted as part of the papal confederacy,
therefore it would naturally be a Protestant nation to begin with.
(5) It would be a great nation,
for it was equal in power to the Papacy. Verse 12.
(6) And yet its principles were
to be lamblike, mild (verse 11), or as the Danish and German have it,
"Like the lamb,"–Christlike. And Christ advocated two
great principles. First, separation of church and state. He said:
"Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar's, and
unto God the things which be God's." Luke 20:25. That is, keep
the two separate. Second, religious liberty. He said: "If any man
hear My words, and believe not, I judge him not." John 12:47.
"Judge not, that ye be not judged." Matthew 7:1.
It is evident that only one
nation answers to all these specifications, the United States of
America. It became an independent nation in 1776, and was not full grown
in 1798, having only thirteen states, compared with forty-eight now. Its
peaceful growth and principles of liberty answer also to the predictions
of this prophecy.
The words "coming up"
used in Revelation 13:11 mean to "spring up, as plants"–T.
S. Green's Lexicon, p. 9. And G. A. Townsend says:
"The history of the United
States was separated by a beneficent Providence far from this wild and
cruel history of the rest of the continent, and, like a silent seed,
we grew into empire."–"The New World Compared with the
Old," p. 635. Hartford:1870.
The principles of Romanism had
taken such deep root in the human heart that although the Puritans had
come to this country to seek liberty of worship for themselves, they
soon established a state religion, and persecuted dissenters most
bitterly. In several of the Colonies good citizens were put in the
stocks for not going to church on Sunday; they were mercilessly whipped,
or even put to 'death, for differing from the established religious
Many of the nobler minds had
grown tired of political tyranny and religious bigotry, and determined
to throw off both yokes in one stroke. On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry
Lee introduced a resolution in the Continental Congress at Philadelphia,
Pa., declaring, "That these United Colonies are and of right ought
to be free and independent States, that they are absolved from all
allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection
between them and the state of Great Britain is and ought to be totally
dissolved." A committee, consisting of Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin
Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston, was
appointed to draft a formal Declaration, which was penned by Mr.
Jefferson, and on June 28, Congress proceeded to consider it. The
discussion that followed was a tremendous struggle. On July 2, Lee's
resolution was voted, and finally at 2:00 P.M., July 4, 1776, the
Declaration of Independence was voted, and the bell in the tower of
Independence Hall, where they were assembled, rang out the joyful news.
This bell bore the now prophetic inscription, "Proclaim liberty
throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof."
"In all the colonies,
indeed, the Declaration was hailed as the passing away of the old
world and the birth of the new."–''Great Events of the Greatest
Century," R. M. Devens, p. 29.
The noble men who framed the
Declaration did not ask for toleration. They understood the fundamentals
of true liberty. and declared:
"We hold these truths to be
self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by
their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these
rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just
powers from the consent of the governed." Sacred truths these
are, written in Independence Hall. "Within that temple was born a
nation, in whose destiny were wrapped the interests of Liberty and of
Civilization to the end of time."–Id., p. 31.
The Federal Constitution, adopted
September 17, 1787, and ratified by the several states between December
7, 1787 and May 29, 1790, has this statement in its preamble: "We,
the people of the United States, in order to . . . secure the blessings
of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this
Constitution for the United States of America."
Still some friends of religious
liberty, who had so long suffered persecution, feared that the
Constitution did not sufficiently safeguard liberty of conscience, and
they wrote to George Washington in regard to it. The following is his
reply, dated August 4, 1789:
"If I could have entertained
the slightest apprehension that the Constitution framed by the
convention where I had the honor to preside might possibly endanger
the religious rights of any ecclesiastical society, certainly I would
never have placed my signature to it; and if I could now conceive that
the general government might ever be so administered as to render the
liberty of conscience insecure, I beg you will be persuaded that no
one would be more zealous than myself to establish effectual barriers
against the horrors of spiritual tyranny and every species of
religious persecution. For, you doubtless remember, I have often
expressed my sentiments that any man, conducting himself as a good
citizen and being accountable to God alone for his religious opinions,
ought to be protected in worshiping the Deity according to the
dictates of his own conscience"–"History of the
Baptists," Thomas Armitage, D. D., LL.D., pp. 806, 807. New
A month later, September 23,
1789, the first ten Amendments to the Constitution, also called the Bill
of Rights, were approved by Congress. By December 15,1791, they had been
ratified by ten states, and were declared in force. The first Amendment
"Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free
exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press;
or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the
government for a redress of grievances."
In the prophecy this beast
"had two horns like a lamb." Dr. Alexander Cruden gives many
examples in his Concordance to show that "the Scripture mentions
the horn as the symbol of strength."–Art. "Horn," p.
And the real strength of this
republic has been its two great principles; civil and religious
liberty–a state without a king, and a church without a pope. G. A.
Townsend, speaking of the real secret of power in this country, says:
"'In view of this
unparalleled progress and combination, what are the little toys with
which we vex ourselves in Europe? What is this needle gun, we are
anxious to get from Prussia, that we may beat her next year with it?
Had we not better take from America the principle of liberty she
embodies, out of which have come her citizen pride, her gigantic
industry, and her formidable loyalty to the destinies of her
Republican land?'"–"The New World Compared with the
Old," p. 462.
The secret of our power at home,
and our influence abroad, was the citizens' love for, and enthusiastic
devotion to, their country, which guaranteed liberty to all, instead of
oppression by taxation and religious despotism, as had been the rule in
As the principles of liberty and
the inherent equality of all men, enunciated in the Declaration of
Independence, and in the first Amendment to the Federal Constitution,
spread in Europe, people became awakened to their God-given rights. Mr.
"Since America was
discovered she has been a subject of revolutionary thought in Europe
.... Out of her discovery grew the European reformation in religion;
out of our Revolutionary War grew the revolutionary period of
Europe."–Id., pp. 462, 463.
The prophet saw these two
powerful horns on the lamblike beast, and thinking men today have also
caught the vision of their power in the world.
A Sad Change
We wish we could close the
picture here, and leave its unmarred beauty lingering in our minds; but,
sad to say, there is another chapter to it that must be read. The
prophet continues' "He spake as a dragon." Revelation 13:11. A
nation speaks through its laws. This prophetic statement, therefore,
reveals that a great change in policy is to come over our beloved
country. The "dragon" is a symbol of pagan Rome, that
persecuted the early Christians during the first three centuries.
(Revelation 12:1-5, 11.) And a similar persecution will be inaugurated
against the "remnant" church, for we read: "The dragon
was wroth with the woman [church], and went to make war with the remnant
of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony
of Jesus Christ." Revelation 12:17. And he has "great wrath,
because he knoweth that he hath but a short time." Verse 12.
Here we see what is meant by
speaking "as a dragon," and we also see upon whom this
persecution will come; namely, upon commandment-keepers. This prophecy
also reveals what influence will be brought to bear upon our lawmakers
and people to produce this sad change. We have already seen that
"the first beast" of Revelation 13:1-10 represents the Papacy,
and by reading the eleventh and twelfth verses we see that the effort of
the lamblike beast will be to cause "the earth and them which dwell
therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed."
That is: the whole trend is Romeward, therefore it must be Rome that is
working in disguise to bring about such a trend. And now as to the facts
in the case. We quote the following from Roman Catholic sources' At the
Centennial Conference of American Catholics, held in Baltimore,
November, 1890, Archbishop Ireland said:
"Catholics of the United
States are called . . . to make America Catholic .... The church
triumphant in America, Catholic truth will travel on the wings of
American influence. and with it encircle the
universe."–"The Pope and the New Era," pp. 222, 223.
London:W. T. Stead, 1890. A letter from Rome, dated October 14, 1894,
says: "The United States of America, it can be said without
exaggeration, are the chief thought of Leo XIII .... A few days ago,
on receiving an eminent American, Leo XIII said to him: 'But the
United States are the future; we think of them incessantly.'... That
is why Leo XIII turns all his soul, full of ideality, to what is
improperly called his American policy. It should be called his
Catholic universal policy."–"Catholic Standard and
Times" (Philadelphia), November 3, 1894; quoted in
"Protestant Magazine," October, 1913, p. 441.
The report of "the third
Washington conference" says:
"Our purpose is to make
America dominantly Catholic."–"The Mission Movement in
America," issued from the Catholic University, Washington, D. C.,
"It seems to me that the
main support of Protestantism comes from the United States and England
.... If we put an end to this effort in England and the United States
by making these nations predominantly Catholic, we will have removed
the chief obstacle to the conversion of the world to the true faith. .
. A vigorous effort in the United States at this time will reduce the
opposition to an insignificant condition .... In the course of another
century, the [Protestant] sects will be a study for the historian and
antiquarian along with Arianism."–Extract from a letter in
"The Missionary" (Roman Catholic), Washington, D. C.:May,
1910; quoted in "Protestant Magazine," Vol. II, p. 22.
This Catholic movement has
already made such progress in England, that, with a little careful
manipulation, its leaders anticipate very little opposition in the
future. (See "History of the Romeward Movement in the Church of
England," London:1900, and "The Secret History of the Oxford
Movement," London:1899, both by Walter Walsh; and "The Oxford
Movement in America," by Rev. C. E. Walworth, New York:1895;