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 OUR COUNTRY'S FT^TUfeE. ^4, 
 
 THE 
 
 tJNITED STATES 
 
 LIGHT OF PROPHECY 
 
 OR, 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF REV, 13:11-17. 
 
 By URIAH SMITH- 
 
 " And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down 
 from heaven on the earth in the sisjht of men."— Rev. 13 : 13. 
 
 FOURTH EDITION. REVISED AND ENLARGED. 
 
 SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST 
 
 PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION, 
 
 BATTLE CREEK, MICH. 
 
 i884. 
 
PREFACE, 
 
 If we read the signs of the times aright, events are 
 soon to transpire of such a nature as to preclude the 
 necessity of any apology for the publication of what is 
 contained in the following pages. The numerous lines 
 of prophecy recorded in the inspired volume, spanning 
 many ages and embracing many lands, seem to find their 
 focal point in our own times and in our own country. 
 The present age is illuminated in this respect above all 
 others. Here we find the most emphatic touches of the 
 prophetic pencil. The events to transpire, and the 
 agents therein concerned, are brought out in a vivid and 
 startling light. 
 
 The question naturally arises. What part has the United 
 States to act in these scenes ? for it must seem reasona- 
 ble and probable that a nation which has arisen so sud- 
 denly as ours, made such unparalleled f)rogress, and at- 
 tained to such a pinnacle of greatness and power, must be 
 a subject of divine prophecy, or at least of divine provi- 
 dence. 
 
 To this question the following pages undertake to give 
 a brief but scriptural, and so a reasonable and conclusive, 
 answer ; and to such only as do not believe that God 
 ever foretells the history of nations, or that his provi- 
 dence ever works in their development and decline, can 
 the subject fail to be one of interest, 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 That this little treatise is exhaustive of the subject is 
 not claimed ; but some facts are presented which are 
 thought to be worthy of serious consideration; and enough 
 evidence, we trust, is produced in favor of the position 
 taken to show the reader that the subject is not one of 
 mere theory, but is of the highest practical importance, 
 and so enough to stimulate thought and lead to further 
 inquiry. 
 
 If the position here taken be correct, this subject is to 
 be one of continually increasing interest; and information 
 respecting it is necessary to an understanding of our 
 duties and responsibilities in the solemn and important 
 times that are upon us. It is in this light that we es- 
 pecially commend it to the serious consideration qf the 
 
 reader. 
 
 U. S. 
 Battle Creek, Mich , May, 1883. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PROBABILITIES CONSIDERED pageS 9-20 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 A CHAIN OF PROPHECY 21-31 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 LOCATION OF THE TWO-HORNED BEAST 32-41 
 
 CHAPTER lY. 
 
 CHRONOLOGY OF THE TWO-HORNED BEAST . , , . 42-52 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 THE UNITED STATES HAS ARISEN IN THE EXACT 
 MANNER IN WHICH JOHN SAW THE TWO-HORNED 
 BEAST COMING UP 53-94 
 
 CHAPTER YI. 
 
 CHARACTER OF THE GOVERNMENT REPRESENTED BY 
 
 THE TWO-HORNED BEAST 95-103 
 
 CHAPTER YII. 
 
 THE DRAGON VOICE 104-1 14 
 
 CHAPTER YIII. 
 
 HE DOETH GREAT WONDERS 115-127 
 
 [Vii] 
 
Vlll CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 AN IMAGE TO THE BEAST 128-138 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE MARK OF THE BEAST 139-158 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE BEGINNING OF THE END 159-225 
 
THE 
 
 UNITED STATES 
 
 IN THE 
 
 LIGHT OF PROPHECY. 
 
 PROBABILITIES CONSIDERED. 
 
 IT is but a little more than one hundred years since 
 the nation kijown as " The United States of 
 America" began to exist. Rome, when it had at- 
 tained the age of a hundred years, was scarcely 
 known outside the few provinces of Italy which com- 
 posed its territory. Not so with this new empire of 
 the West. Ere a hundred years had elapsed, its 
 fame had encircled the earth, exciting the wonder 
 and the envy of aged and stagnant kingdoms. 
 It began with a few small settlements of earnest 
 men, who, fleeing from the religious intolerance of 
 the Old World, occupied a narrow strip of coast- 
 line on our Atlantic border. Now, a mighty nation, 
 with a vast expanse of territory stretching from 
 ocean to ocean, and from regions almost arctic on tlie 
 north to regions equally torrid on the south, em- 
 
 m 
 
10 THE UNITED STATES IX PROPHECY. 
 
 bracing more square leagues of habitable land than 
 Rome ruled over in its palmiest days, after more 
 than seven centuries of growth, here holds a position 
 of independence and glory among the nations of the 
 earth. 
 
 And the sound of this new nation has gone into 
 all the world. It has reached the toiling millions of 
 Europe ; and , they are s-\varming to our shores to 
 share its blessingfs. It has o^one to the islands of the 
 sea; and they have sent their living contributions. 
 It has reached the Orient, and opened, as Avith a pass- 
 word, the gates of nations long barred against inter- 
 course with other powers; and China and Japan, 
 turning from their beaten track of forty centuries, 
 are looking with Avonder at the prodigy arising 
 across the Pacific to the east of them, and catching 
 some of the impulse -which this growing power is 
 imparting to the nations of the earth. 
 
 Precisely one hundred and seven years ago, with 
 three millions of people, the United States became 
 an independent government. It has now a popula- 
 tion of over fifty millions of people, and a territory 
 of three and a half millions of square miles. Russia 
 alone exceeds this nation in these particulars, having 
 thirty millions more of people, and four millions 
 more square miles of territory. Of all other nations 
 on the globe whose law^s arc framed by legislative 
 bodies elected by the people, Brazil, which has the 
 largest territory, has not (^uite three millions of 
 squnre miles; and France, tlic most p()])idous, has 
 not by many millions so great a number of inhabit- 
 
PROBABILITIES CONSIDERED. . 11 
 
 ants as our country. So that in point of territory 
 and population combined, it will be seen that the 
 United States now stands at the head of the self-gov- 
 erning powers of the earth. 
 
 Occupying a position altogether unique, this gov- 
 ernment excites equally the astonishment and the ad- 
 miration of all beholders. The main features of its 
 history are such as have had no parallel since the 
 distinction of nations existed among men. 
 
 1. No nation ever acquired so vast a territory in 
 so quiet a manner. 
 
 2. No nation ever rose to such greatness by means 
 so peaceable. 
 
 3. No nation ever advanced so rapidly in all that 
 constitutes national strength and capital. 
 
 4. No nation ever rose to such a pinnacle of power 
 in a space of time so infcredibly short. 
 
 5. No nation in so limited a time has developed 
 such unlimited resources. 
 
 6. No nation has ever existed the foundations of 
 whose government were laid so broad and deep in 
 the principles of justice, righteousness, and truth. 
 
 7. No nation has ever existed in which men have 
 been left so free to worship God according to the dic- 
 tates of their own consciences. 
 
 8. In no nation and in no age of the world have 
 the arts and sciences so flourished, so many improve- 
 ments been made, and so great successes been 
 achieved in the arts both of peace and war, as in 
 our own country during the last fifty years. 
 
 9. In no nation and in no age has the gospel 
 
12 . THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 found such freedom, and the churches of Christ had 
 such Hberty to enlarge their borders and develop their 
 strength. 
 
 10. No age of the world has seen such an immi- 
 gration as that which is now pouring into our bor- 
 ders from ail lands the millions who have long 
 groaned under despotic governments, and who now 
 turn to this broad territory of freedom as the avenue 
 of hope, the Utopia of the nations. 
 
 The most discerning minds have been intuitively 
 impressed with the idea of the future gi^eatness and 
 power of this government. In view of the grand 
 results developed and developing, the discovery of 
 America by Columbus, not four hundred years ago, 
 is set down as the greatest event of all secular his- 
 tory. 
 
 The progress of empire to this land was long 
 ago expected. 
 
 Sir Thomas Brown, in 1682, predicted the growth 
 of a power here which would rival the European 
 kingdoms in strength and prowess. 
 
 In Burnaby's " Travels through the Middle Settle- 
 ments of North America in 1759 and 1760," pub- 
 lished in 1775, is expressed this sentiment: — 
 
 " An idea, strange as it is visionary, has entered into 
 the minds of the generality of mankind, that empire is 
 traveling westward ; and every one is looking forward 
 with eager and impatient expectation to that destined 
 moment when America is to give the law to the rest of 
 the world." 
 
PKOBABILITIES CONSIDERED. 13 
 
 John Adams, Oct. 12, 1775, wrote: — 
 
 " Soon after tlie Reformation, a few people came over 
 into this New World for conscience' sake. Perhaps this 
 apparently trivial incident may transfer the great seat of 
 empire to America." 
 
 On the day after the signing of the Declaration of 
 Independence, he wrote: — 
 
 " Yesterday the greatest question was decided which 
 was ever debated in America, and a greater, perhaps, 
 never was, nor will be, decided among men." 
 
 In 1776, Galiani, a Neapolitan, predicted the 
 gradual decay of European institutions, to renew 
 themselves in America. In 1778, in reference to the 
 question as to which was to be the ruling power in 
 the world, Europe or America, he said, — 
 
 "I will wager in favor of America." 
 
 Adam Smith, of Scotland, in 1776, predicted the 
 transfer of empire to America. 
 
 Governor Pownal, an English statesman, in 1780, 
 while our Revolution was in progress, predicted that 
 this country would become independent, and that a 
 civilizing activity, beyond what Europe could ever 
 know, would animate it; and that its commercial 
 and naval power would be found in every quarter 
 of the globe. Again he said: — 
 
 "North America has advanced, and is every day ad- 
 vancmg, to growth of state, with a steady and continually 
 accelerating motion, of which there has never yet been 
 any example in Euroi)c." 
 
14 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 David Hartley wrote from England in 1777:— 
 
 " At sea^ which has hithei'to been our jirerogative ele- 
 ment, they [the United States] rise against us at a stu- 
 pendous i-ate; and if we cannot return to our old mutual 
 hospitalities toward each other, a very few years will 
 show us a most formidable hostile marine, ready to join 
 hands with any of our enemies." 
 
 Count d'Aranda, one of the first of Spanish states- 
 men, in 1783 thus wrote of this Republic: — 
 
 " This Federal Republic was born a pygmy, so to speak. 
 It requii-ed the support and forces of two powers as great 
 as Spain and France in order to attain independence. A 
 day will come when it will be a giant, even a colossus^ 
 formidable in these countries." * 
 
 Of these prophecies, some are now wholly fulfilled, 
 and the remainder far on the road to fulfillment. This 
 infant of yesterday stands forth to-day a giant, vig- 
 orous, active, and courageous, and accepts with dig- 
 nity its manifest destiny at the head of powers and 
 civilizations. 
 
 A question of thrilling interest now arises. This 
 government has received recognition at the hands of 
 men sufiicient to satisfy any ambition. Does the 
 God of Heaven also recognize it, and has he spoken 
 concerning it ? In other words, does the prophetic 
 pen, which has so fully delineated the rise and prog- 
 ress of all the other great nations of the earth, pass 
 
 * These quotations are from an article by Hon. Charles Sumner, 
 entitled, "Prophetic Voices about America." published in the Atlait- 
 tic Monthlij of September, 1807. 
 
PHOBABILITIES CONHIDERED. lo 
 
 this one by unnoticed ? What are the probabihties 
 in this mattei' ? As the student of prophecy, in 
 common with all mankind, looks with wonder upon 
 the unparalleled rise and progress of this nation, he 
 cannot repress the conviction that the hand of Prov- 
 idence has been at work in this quiet but mighty 
 revolution. And this conviction he shares in com- 
 mon with others. 
 
 Governor Pownal, from whom a quotation has al- 
 ready been presented, speaking of the establish- 
 ment of this country as a free and sovereign power, 
 calls it — 
 
 " A revolution that has stranger marks of divine inter- 
 position superseding the ordinary course of human af- 
 fau's, than any other event which this world has experi- 
 enced." 
 
 De Tocqueville, a French writer, speaking of our 
 separation from England, says: — 
 
 " It might seem their folly, but was really their fate; 
 or, rather, the providence of God, who has doubtless a 
 work for them to do in which the massive materiality of 
 the English character would have been too ponderous a 
 dead weight upon their progress." 
 
 Geo. Alfred Townsend, speaking of the misfortunes 
 that have attended the other governments on this 
 continent (''New World and Old," p. 635), says:— 
 
 " The history of the United States was separated by a 
 beneficent Providence far from the wild and cruel his- 
 tory of the rest of the continent." 
 
 Again he says: — 
 
16 THE UNITED STATES IN PHOPHECY. 
 
 "This heinis})liere was laid away for no one race." 
 
 Mr. J. M. Foster, in a sermon before the Reformed 
 Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati, O., Nov. 30, 1882, 
 bore the following explicit testimony to the fact that 
 the hand of Providence has been remarkably dis- 
 played in the establishment of this government: — 
 
 " Let us look at the history of our own nation. The 
 Mediator long ages ago prepared this land as the home 
 of civil and religious liberty. He made it a land flowing 
 with milk and honey. He stored our mountains with 
 coal, and iron, and copper, and silver, and gold. He 
 prepared our fountains of oil, planted our forests, leveled 
 our plains, enriched our valleys, and beautified them 
 with lakes and rivers. He guided the Mayflower over 
 the sea, so that the Pilgrim Fathei-s landed safely on 
 Plymouth Pock. He directed the course of our civiliza- 
 tion, so that we have become a great nation." 
 
 ' If Providence has been thus conspicuously present 
 in our history, we may look for some mention of 
 this government in that Book which records the 
 workings of Providence among mankind. On what 
 conditions have other nations found a place in the 
 prophetic record ? First, if they have acted any 
 prominent part in the world's history ; and secondly, 
 and above all, if they have had jurisdiction over, or 
 maintained any relations with, the people of God. 
 In the recoi'ds of the Bible and the records of secular 
 history, we find data from which to deduce this rule 
 respecting the prophetic mention of earthly govern- 
 ments; namely. Whenever the relations of God's 
 
PROBABILITIES CONSIDERED. 17 
 
 people to any nation are such that a true history of 
 the former, which is the object of all revelation, could 
 not be given without a notice of the latter, such na- 
 tion is mentioned in prophecy. 
 
 And all these conditions are certainly fulfilled in 
 our government. No nation has ever attracted 
 more attention, excited more profound wonder, or 
 given promise of greater eminence or influence. 
 And certainly here, if anywhere on the globe, are to 
 be found a strong array of Christians, such as are 
 the salt of the earth and the light of the world, 
 whose history could not be written without mention 
 of that government under which they live and en- 
 joy their liberty. 
 
 With these probabilities in our favor, let us now 
 take a brief survey of those symbols found in the 
 word of God which represent earthly governments. 
 These are found chiefly, if not entirely, in the books 
 of Daniel and the Revelation. In Dan. 2, a symbol is 
 introduced in the form of a great image, consisting 
 of four parts, — gold, silver, brass, and iron, — which is 
 finally dashed to atoms, and a great mountain, tak- 
 ing its place, fills the whole earth. In Dan. 7, we 
 find a lion, a bear, a leopard, and a great and terri- 
 ble nondescript beast, which, after passing through 
 a new and remarkable phase, goes into the lake of 
 fire. In Dan. 8, we have a ram, a he-goat, and a 
 horn, little at first, but waxing exceeding great. In 
 Rev. 9, we have locusts like unto horses. In 
 Rev. 12, we have a great red dragon. In Rev. 13, 
 we have a blasphemous leopard beast, and a beast 
 
18 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 with two horns hke a lamb. In Rev. 17, we have 
 a scarlet-colored beast, upon which a woman sits 
 holding in her hand a golden cup, full of filthiness 
 and abomination. 
 
 What governments and what powers are repre- 
 sented by all these? Do any of them symbolize our 
 own ? Some of them certainly represent earthly 
 kingdoms, for so the prophecies themselves ex- 
 pressly inform us ; and in the application of nearly 
 all of them there is quite a uniform agreement 
 among expositors. The four parts of the great im- 
 age of Dan. 2 represent four kingdoms, — Babylon, or 
 Chaldea, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. The lion 
 of the seventh chapter also represents Babylon; the 
 bear, Medo-Persia; the leopard, Grecia; and the 
 great and terrible beast, Rome. The horn with 
 human eyes and mouth, which appears in the sec- 
 ond phase of this beast, represents the papacy, and 
 covers its history down to the time when it was 
 temporarily overthrown by the French in 1798. 
 In Dan. 8, likewise, the ram represents Medo-Per- 
 sia; the he-goat, Grecia; and the little horn, Rome. 
 All these have a very clear and definite application 
 to the governments named ; none of them thus far 
 can have any reference to the United States. 
 
 The symbols brought to view in Rev. 9, all are 
 agreed in applying to the Saracens and Turks. 
 The dragon of Rev. 12 is the acknowledged sym- 
 bol of Pagan Rome. The leopard beast of Rev. 13 
 can be shown to be identical with the eleventh horn 
 of the fourth beast of Dan. 7, and hence to symbol- 
 
PROBABILITIES CONSIDERED. 19 
 
 ize the papacy. The scarlet beast and woman of 
 Rev. 17 as evidently apply also to Rome under pa- 
 pal rule, the symbols having especial reference to 
 the distinction between the civil power and the ec- 
 clesiastical, the one being represented by the beast, 
 the other by the woman seated thereon. 
 
 There is one symbol left, and that is the two- 
 horned beast of Rev. 18. On this there is more 
 difference of opinion; and before seeking for an 
 application, let us look at the ground covered by 
 those already examined. Babylon and Medo-Persia 
 covered all the civilized portion of Asia. Greece 
 covered Eastern Europe, including Russia. Rome, 
 with the ten kingdoms into which it was divided, 
 as represented by the ten toes of the image, the ten 
 horns of the fourth beast of Dan. 7, the ten horns of 
 the dragon of Rev. 12, and the ten horns of the leop- 
 ard beast of Rev. 18, covered all Western Europe. 
 In other words, all the civilized portion of the east- 
 ern hemisphere is absorbed by the symbols already 
 examined, respecting the application of which there is 
 scarcely any room for doubt. 
 
 But there is a mighty nation in this western hem- 
 isphere, worthy, as we have seen, of being mentioned 
 in prophecy, which is not yet brought in ; and there 
 is one symbol remaining the application of which 
 has not yet been made. All the symbols but one 
 are applied, and all the available portions of the 
 eastern hemisphere are covered by the applications. 
 Of all the symbols mentioned, one alone — the two- 
 horned beast of Rev. 13 — is left; and of all the court- 
 
20 THE UNITED STATES IN PEOPHECY. 
 
 tries of the earth respecting which any reason exists 
 why they should be mentioned in prophecy, one 
 alone — our own government — remains. Do the two- 
 homed beast and the United States belong together ? 
 If they do, then all the symbols find an application, 
 and all the ground is covered. If they do not, it 
 follows, first, that the United States is not repre- 
 sented in prophecy ; and, secondly, that the symbol 
 of the two-horned beast finds no government to 
 which it can apply. But the first of these supposi- 
 tions is not probable, and the second is not possible. 
 
A CHAIN OF PROPHECY- 
 
 LET us now enter upon a more particular exami- 
 nation of the second symbol of Rev, 13, with a 
 view to determining its application with greater 
 certainty. What is said respecting this symbol — 
 the beast with two horns like a lamb — is not an iso- 
 lated and independent prophecy, but is connected 
 with what precedes; and the symbol itself is but 
 one of a series. It is proper, therefore, to examine 
 briefly the preceding symbols, since if we are able to 
 make a satisfactory application of them, it will 
 guide us in the interpretation of this. 
 
 The line of prophecy of which this forms a part 
 commences with Rev. 1 2. The book of the Revelation 
 is evidently not one consecutive prophecy of events 
 to transpire from the beginning to the close of the 
 gospel dispensation, but is composed of a series of 
 prophetic lines, each taking up its own class of 
 events, and tracing them through from the days of 
 the prophet to the end of time; and when one line 
 of prophecy is completed, another is taken up. That 
 a new series of prophetic events is introduced in Rev. 
 12, is evident; since in the preceding chapter a line 
 of prophecy is completed, bringing us down to the 
 great day of God's wrath, the judgment of the dead^ 
 
 [21] 
 
22 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 and the eternal reward of those that fear God and 
 revere his name. No line of prophecy can go 
 further; and any events to transpire in probation, 
 subsequently mentioned, must of course belong to a 
 new series. 
 
 Commencing, then, with chapter 1 2, how far does 
 this line of prophecy extend ? The first symbol in- 
 troduced which can be applied to an earthly gov- 
 ernment, is the great red dragon. The second is the 
 beast of Rev. 13, which, having the body of a leopard, 
 we shall, for brevity's sake, call the leopard beast. To 
 this beast the dragon gives his seat, power, and 
 great authority. This beast, then, is connected with 
 the dragon, and belongs to this line of prophecy. 
 The third symbol is the two-horned beast of Rev. 
 13. This beast exercises certain power in the pres- 
 ence of the leopard beast, and causes the earth and 
 them that dwell therein to worship him. This beast, 
 therefore, is connected with the leopard beast, and 
 hence belongs to the same line of prophecy. No 
 conclusion is reached in chapter 13, and hence the 
 prophecy is not there completed. Going forward 
 into chapter 14, we find a company brought to view 
 who are redeemed from among men (which can 
 mean nothing else than translation from among the 
 living at the second coming of Christ); and they 
 sing a song before the throne which none but them- 
 selves can learn. In chapter 15, we have a company 
 presented before us who have gotten the victory over 
 the beast, his image, the mark, and the number of 
 his name, the very objects brought to view in the 
 
A CHAIN OF PROPHECY. 23 
 
 concluding portion of Rev. 18. This company also 
 sing a song, even the song of Moses and the Lamb ; 
 and they sing it while standing upon the sea of 
 glass, as stated in verse 2. Turning to chapter 4 : 6, 
 we learn that this sea of glass is ''before the throne." 
 The conclusion, therefore, follows that those who 
 sing before the throne, in chapter 14, are identical 
 with those who sing on the sea of glass (before the 
 throne),' in chapter 15, inasmuch as they stand in the 
 same place, and the song they both sing is the first 
 glad song of actual redemption. But the declara- 
 tions found in chapter 15 show that the company in- 
 troduced in the opening of chapter 14 have been in 
 direct conflict with the powers brought to view in 
 the closing verses of chapter 13, and have gained the 
 victory over them. Being thus connected with 
 these powers, they form a part of the same line of 
 prophecy. But here this line of prophecy must end, 
 for this company is spoken of as redeemed; and no 
 line of prophecy, as already noticed, can go beyond 
 the eternal state. 
 
 The line of prophecy in which the two-horned 
 beast stands, is, therefore, one which is very clearly 
 defined; it commences with chapter 12, and ends 
 with verse 5 of chapter 14. The student of proph- 
 ecy finds it one of vast importance; the humble child 
 of God, one of transcendent interest. It begins 
 with the church, and ends with the church, — the 
 church, at first in humility, trial, and distress; at 
 last, in victory, exaltation, and glory. This is the 
 one object which ever appears the same in all the 
 
24 THE UNITED STATES IN PHOPHECY. 
 
 scenes here described, and whose history is the lead- 
 ing theme of the prophecy, from first to last. 
 Trampled under the feet of the three colossal perse- 
 cuting powers here brought to view, the followers of 
 Christ for long ages bow their heads to the pitiless 
 storm of oppression and persecution ; but the end re- 
 pays them all ; for John beholds them at last, the 
 storms all over, their conflicts all ended, waving 
 palm-branches of victory, and striking on harps ce- 
 lestial a song of everlasting triumph within the pre- 
 cincts of the heavenly land. 
 
 We turn, then, to the inquiry, What power is 
 designated by the great red dragon of chapter 12 ? 
 The chapter first speaks of a woman clothed with 
 the sun, the moon under her feet, and upon her head 
 a crown of twelve stars. A woman is the symbol 
 of the church ; a lewd woman representing a corrupt 
 or apostate church, as in Eze. 23:2-4, etc., which 
 refers to the Jewish church in a state of backsliding, 
 and in Rev. 17:3-G, 15, 18, which refers to the 
 apostate Romish church ; and a virtuous woman 
 representing the true church, as in the verse under 
 consideration. At what period in her history could 
 the church be properly represented as here described? 
 Ans. At the opening of the gospel dispensation, and 
 at no other time ; for then the glory of this dispen- 
 sation, like the light of the sun, had just risen upon 
 her; the former dispensation, which, like the moon, 
 shone with a borrowed light, had just passed, and 
 lay beneath her feet ; and twelve inspired apostles, 
 like a crown of twelve stars, graced the first organi- 
 
A CHAIN OF PROPHECY. ^5 
 
 zation of the gospel church. To this period these 
 representations can apply, but to no other. The 
 prophet antedates this period a little by referring to 
 the time when the church, with longing expectation, 
 was awaiting the advent into this world of the glo- 
 rious Redeemer. 
 
 A man child, here represented as the offspring of 
 this woman, appears upon the stage. This child was 
 to rule all nations with a rod of iron, and was caught 
 up to God and his throne. Verse 5. These decla- 
 rations are true of our Lord Jesus Christ, but of no 
 one else. See Ps. 2:7-9; Eph. 1:20, 21; Heb. 8: 
 1; Kev. 3: 21. There is therefore no mistaking the 
 time when the scenes here described took place. We 
 mention these facts for the purpose of identifying 
 the power symbolized by the dragon; for the dragon 
 stood before the woman to devour her child as soon 
 as it should be born. Who attempted the destruc- 
 tion of our Lord when he appeared as a babe in 
 Bethlehem? Herod. And who was Herod? A Ro- 
 man governor. Rome, which then ruled over all 
 the earth (Luke 2:1), was the responsible party in 
 this transaction. Rome was the only power which 
 at this time could be symbolized in prophecy, as its 
 dominion was universal. It is not without good 
 reason, therefore, that Pagan Rome is considered 
 among Protestant commentators to be the power in- 
 dicated by the great red dragon. And it may be a 
 fact worth mentioning that during the second, 
 third, fourth, and fifth centuries of the Christian 
 era, next to the eagle the dragon was the principal 
 
26 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 standard of the Roman legions, and that dragon was 
 painted red. 
 
 There is but one objection we need pause to an- 
 swer before passmg to the next symbol. Is not the 
 dragon plainly called the devil and Satan, in verse 
 9? How, then, can the term "dragon" be applied 
 to Pagan Rome? That it is primarily applied to the 
 devil, there seems to be no doubt ; but that it should 
 be applied also to some of his chief agents, would 
 seem to be appropriate and unobjectionable. Now 
 Rome, being at this time pagan, and the supreme 
 empire of the world, was the great and sole agent in 
 the hands of the devil for carrying out his purposes, 
 so far as they pertamed to national affairs. Hence 
 the use of that symbol to designate, and the appli- 
 cation of that term to describe, the Roman power. 
 
 The next symbol to engage our attention is the 
 leopard beast of chapter 13, to which the dragon 
 gives his seat, his power, and great authority. It 
 would be sufficient on this point simply to show to 
 what power the dragon. Pagan Rome, transferred 
 its seat and gave its power. The seat of any gov- 
 ernment is certainly its capital city. The city of 
 Rome was the dragon's seat. But in A, D. 330 Con- 
 stantine transferred the seat of empire from Rome 
 to Constantinople ; and Rome was given up— to what? 
 to decay, desolation, and ruin? No ; but to become 
 far more celebrated than it had ever before been, 
 not as the seat of pagan emperors, but as the city of 
 St. Peter's pretended successors, the seat of a spirit- 
 ual hierarchy wliich was not only to become more 
 
A CHAIN OF PROPHECY. 27 
 
 powerful than any secular prince, but which, through 
 the magic of its fatal sorcery, was to exercise domin- 
 ion over the kings of the earth. Thus was Kome 
 given to the papacy; and the decree of Justinian, 
 issued in 533, and carried into effect in 538, consti- 
 tuting the pope the head of all the churches and the 
 corrector of heretics, was the investing of the papacy 
 with that power and authority which the prophet 
 foresaw. See Croly on the Apocalypse, pp. 114, 115. 
 
 It is very evident, therefore, that this leopard 
 beast is a symbol of the papacy. But there are other 
 considerations which prove this. This beast has the 
 body of a leopard, the mouth pf a lion, and the feet 
 of a bear; this shows it to be some power which 
 succeeded those three beasts of Daniel's prophecy, 
 and retained some of the characteristics of them all, 
 and that was Rome. But this is not the first, or 
 pagan form of the Roman government; for that is 
 represented by the dragon; and this is the form 
 which next succeeded that, which was the papal. 
 
 But what most clearly shows that this beast 
 represents the papacy, is its identity with the little 
 horn of the fourth beast of Dan. 7, which all Prot- 
 estants agree -in applying to the papal power. 
 
 1. Their chronology. After the great and terri- 
 ble beast of Dan. 7, which represents Rome in its 
 first, or pagan form, is fully developed, even to the 
 existence of the ten horns, or the division of the 
 Roman empire into ten parts, the little horn arises. 
 Verse 24. The leopard beast likewise succeeds the 
 dragon, which also represents Rome in its pagan 
 
28 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECt. 
 
 form. These powers appear therefore upon the stage 
 of action at the same time; i. e., next after the dec- 
 adal division of the Roman empire, as shown by 
 the ten horns of Daniel's fourth beast, and after its 
 division into ten parts, symbolized by the ten horns 
 of the dragon. 
 
 2. Their location. The little horn plucked up 
 three horns to make way for itself. The last of 
 these, the Gothic horn, was plucked up when the 
 Goths were driven from Rome in 538, and the city 
 was left in the hands of the little horn, which has 
 ever since held it as the seat of its power. To the 
 leopard beast, also, the dragon gave its seat, the city 
 of Rome. They therefore occupy the same loca- 
 tion. 
 
 3. Their character. The little horn is a blas- 
 phemous power; for it speaks great words against 
 the Most High. Dan. 7:25. The leopard beast is 
 also a blasphemous power ; for it bears upon its head 
 the name of blasphemy; it has a mouth speaking 
 great things and blasphemies ; and he opens his 
 mouth in blasphemy against God to blaspheme his 
 name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in 
 Heaven. Rev. 13: 1, 5, 6. Therefore, they both 
 maintain exactly the same character. 
 
 4. Their work. The little horn, by a long and 
 heartless course of oppression against the saints of 
 the Most High, wears them out; and they are given 
 into his hand. Dan. 7:25. He makes war against 
 them, and prevails. Verse 21. The leopard beast 
 also makes war upon the saints, and overcomes 
 
A CHAIN OF PROPHECY. 29 
 
 them. Eev. 13:7. This shows that they do the 
 same work, and against the same class of people. 
 
 5. The time of their continuance. Power was 
 given to the little horn to continue a "time and 
 times and the dividing of time." Dan. 7:25. A 
 time in Scripture phraseology is one year. Dan. 4 : 25. 
 (The "seven times" of Nebuchadnezzar's humilia- 
 tion, Josephus informs us, were seven years.) Times, 
 that is two times, the least that can be expressed by 
 the plural, would be two years more ; and the divid- 
 ing of time, or half a time, half a year, making in 
 all three years and a half. To the leopard beast 
 power was also given to continue forty-two months, 
 which, at twelve months to the year, gives us again 
 just three years and a half. And this being pro- 
 phetic time, a day for a year (Num. 14:34; Eze. 
 4 : 6), and there being, according to Scripture reckon- 
 ing, thirty days to a month, or three hundred and 
 sixty days to a year (Gen. 7: 11, 24; 8:4), we have 
 in each case twelve hundred and sixty years 
 for the continuance of the little horn and the leopard 
 beast. 
 
 6. Their overthrow. At the end of the time, 
 times, and a half, the dominion of the little horn was 
 to be taken away. Dan. 7: 26. At the end of the 
 forty-two months, the same length of time, the leop- 
 ard beast was also to be slain, politically, with the 
 sword, and go into captivity. Rev. 13:3, 10. 
 
 These are points which prove not merely similar- 
 ity, but identity. For whenever two symbols, as 
 jn this instance, represent powers that — 
 
30 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 1. Come upon the stage of action at the same 
 time, 
 
 2. Occupy the same territory, 
 
 3. Maintain the same character, 
 
 4. Do the same work, 
 
 5. Continue the same length of time, and 
 
 6. Meet the same fate, 
 
 Those tiuo symbols must Tej)resent one and the 
 same 'power. 
 
 And in all these particulars there is, as we have 
 seen, the most exact coincidence between the little 
 horn of the fourth beast of Dan. 7 and the leopard 
 beast of Rev. 13; and all are fulfilled by one power, 
 and that is the papacy. For 1. The papacy suc- 
 ceeded to the pagan form of the Roman empire; 
 2. It has, ever since it was first established, occupied 
 the seat of the dragon, the city of Rome, building 
 for itself such a sanctuary — St. Peter's — as the world 
 nowhere else beholds ; 3. It is a blasphemous power, 
 speaking the most presumptuous words it is possible 
 for mortal lips to utter against the Most High ; 4. 
 It has worn out the saints, the Religious Encyclo- 
 pedia estimating that the lives of fifty millions of 
 Christians have been quenched in blood by its mer- 
 ciless implements of torture; 5. It has continued a 
 time, times, and a half, or forty-two months, or 
 twelve hundred and sixty years; commencing in 
 538, when the decree of Justinian in behalf of papal 
 supremacy was first made effectual by the overthrow 
 of the Goths, the papacy enjoyed a period of unin- 
 terrupted supremacy for just twelve hundred and 
 
A CHAIN OF PROPHECY. ' 31 
 
 sixty years, to 1798; and 6. Then its power 
 was temporarily overthrown, and its influence per- 
 manently crippled, when the French, under Ber- 
 thier, entered Rome in triumph, and the pope was 
 taken prisoner, and died in exile. 
 
 Can any one doubt that the papacy is the power 
 in question, and that the interpretation of this sym- 
 bol brings us down within eighty-five years of our 
 own time? We regard the exposition of the proph- 
 ecy thus far as clear beyond the possibility of refu- 
 tation; and if this is so, our future field of inquiry 
 lies within a very narrow compass, as we shall pres- 
 ently see. 
 
 ^g:¥^^#^5i^ 
 
(Blvaptei:^ ^Ivt^e^^. 
 
 LOCATION OF TRE TWO-HORNED BEAST. 
 
 FOLLOWING the leopard, or papal beast of Rev. 
 13 in consecutive order, comes the two-horned 
 beast, whose appearance the prophet delineates, 
 and whose work he describes, in the following lan- 
 guage : — 
 
 Yerse 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. 12. 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. 13. And he 
 doeth great wonders, so that he maketli fire come down 
 from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, 14, and 
 deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means 
 of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight 
 of the beast ; saying to them that dwell on the earth, 
 that they should make an image to the beast which 
 had the woimd by a sword, and did live. 15. And 
 he had jwwer to give life unto the image of the beast, 
 that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause 
 that as many as would not worship the image of the 
 beast should be killed. 16. And he causeth all, both 
 small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive 
 a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads; 17 ; 
 and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had 
 th(; mark, or the name of the beast, or tlje number of 
 bis name. 
 [33] 
 
LOCATION OF THE TWO-HORNED BEAST. 33 
 
 These few verses, with an allusion to the same 
 power under the name of "the false prophet "in 
 Rev. 16 : 13 and 19 : 20, furnish all the testimony 
 we have respecting the two-horned beast ; but brief 
 as it is, it gives sufficient data for a very certain 
 application of the symbol in question. As an ex- 
 ample of the world of meaning which prophecy can 
 condense into a few words, the first verse of the 
 foregoing quotation may be instanced. Here, 
 within a compass of twenty -five words, only four 
 of which are words of more than one syllable, six 
 grand points are made, which, taken together, are 
 sufficient to determine accurately the application of 
 this symbol. The prophet says, first, that it is 
 " another beast; " secondly, that when his attention 
 was turned to it, it w^as " coming up; " thirdly, that 
 it came up "out of the earth;" fourthly, that it 
 had "two horns;" fifthly, that these horns were 
 like those of "a lamb; " and sixthly, that it spoke, 
 and by speaking revealed its true character, for the 
 voice was that of "a dragon." 
 
 The two-horned beast, then, is "another beast," 
 in addition to, and difierent from, the papal beast 
 which the prophet had just had under considera- 
 tion; that is, it symbolizes a power separate and 
 distinct from that which is denoted by the preced- 
 ing beast. This w^hich John calls "another beast" 
 is certainly no part of the first beast ; and the power 
 symbolized by it is likewise no part of that wdiich is 
 intended by that beast. This is fatal to the claim 
 of those, who, to avoid the application of this sjm- 
 
 3 
 
34 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 bol to our own government, say that it denotes 
 some phase of the papacy ; for in that case it would 
 be a part of the preceding or leopard beast. 
 
 To avoid this difficulty, it is claimed that the 
 two-horned beast represents the religious or ecclesi- 
 astical, and the leopard beast the civil, power of 
 Rome under papal rule ; that these symbols corre- 
 spond to the beast and woman in Rev. 17, the one 
 representing the civil power, the other the ecclesias- 
 tical. But this claim also falls to the ground just 
 as soon as it is shown that the leopard beast repre- 
 sents the religious as well as the civil element of that 
 power. And nothing is easier than to show this. 
 
 Take the first symbol, the dragon. What does it 
 represent ? Rome. But this is not enough ; for 
 Rome has presented two great phases to the world, 
 and the inquirer wants to know which one is in- 
 tended by this symbol. The answer then is, Pagan 
 Rome; but just as soon as we add ''pagan," we in- 
 troduce a religious element ; for paganism is one of 
 the mightiest systems of false religion ever devised 
 by the arch-enemy of truth. It was, then, the re- 
 ligious element in the empire that determined what 
 symbol should be used to represent it; and the 
 dragon represented Rome while under the control of 
 a particular form of religion. 
 
 But the time comes when another symbol is intro- 
 duced upon the scene — the leopard beast arises out 
 of the sea. What power is symbolized by this ? 
 The answer is still, Rome. But the dragon symbol- 
 ized Rome, and why not let that symbol continue 
 
LOCATION OF THE TWO-HORNED BEAST. 35 
 
 to represent it ? Whoever attempts to answer this 
 question must say that it is because a change had 
 taken place in the power. What change ? Two 
 kinds of changes are conspicuous in the history of 
 Rome, — changes in the form of government, and a 
 change in religion. But this cannot denote any 
 chan<jfe in the form of orovernment ; for the seven 
 different forms of government that Rome consecu- 
 tively assumed are represented by the seven heads 
 of the dragon and the seven heads of the leopard 
 beast. The religious change alone must therefore 
 be denoted by this change of symbols. Pagan- 
 ism and Christianity coalesced, and the mongrel 
 production was the papacy ; and this new religion, 
 and this alone, made a change in the symbol neces- 
 sary. Every candid mind must assent to this ; and 
 this assent is an admission of the utter absurdity of 
 trying to limit this symbol to the civil power alone. 
 So far from its representing the civil power alone, 
 it is to the ecclesiastical element that it owes its 
 very existence. 
 
 That the leopard beast represents ecclesiastical as 
 well as civil power is further shown in the argu- 
 ments already presented to prove that this beast is 
 identical with the little horn of Daniel's fourth 
 beast, which symbolizes the papacy in all its com- 
 ponent parts and through all its history. It is the 
 leopard beast alone that is identical with this little 
 horn, not the leopard beast and the two-horned 
 beast taken together. 
 
 Again, Pagan Rome gave its seat to the papacy, 
 
86 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 The dragon gave his seat to the leopard beast. If 
 it takes both the leopard beast and the two-horned 
 beast to constitute the papacy, the prophet should 
 have said that the dragon gave his seat and power 
 to these two beasts combined. The fact that this 
 transfer was to the leopard beast alone, is proof 
 positive that that beast alone symbolizes the papacy 
 in its entirety. 
 
 When, therefore, John calls the two-horned beast 
 "another beast," it is certain that he does not mean 
 any particular phase, or any part, of the papal 
 power. 
 
 It is claimed by others that the two-horned beast 
 represents England; by still others, France; and by 
 some, Russia, etc. The first, among many other 
 fatal objections to all these applications, is, that the 
 territory occupied by all these powers is already ap- 
 propriated by preceding symbols. The prophecy 
 does not read that the lion, the bear, or the leopard 
 reappeared under a new phase ; or that one of the 
 ten horns became a beast. If the two-horned beast 
 symbolized any of these, it would be a part of 
 other beasts instead of "another beast," separate 
 and distinct from all the rest. It is a law of sym- 
 Ijols that each one occupies territory peculiarly its 
 own; that is, the territory which constituted the 
 original government was no part of that which had 
 Ix^en occupied by the previous powers. Thus Medo- 
 Persia rose on territory not occupied by Babylon; 
 and Medo-Persia and Babylon together covered all 
 that portion of Asia known to ancient civilization, 
 
LOCATION 0¥ THE TWO-HOKNED BEAST 87 
 
 The Grecian or Macedonian kingdom arose to the 
 west of them, occupying all Eastern Europe, so far 
 as it was then known to the ancients. Rome arose 
 still to the west, in territory unoccupied by Grecia. 
 Rome was divided into ten kingdoms; but though 
 Rome conquered the world, we look for these ten 
 kingdoms only in that territory which had never 
 been included in other kingdoms. We look not to 
 Eastern Europe, for that was included in the do- 
 minion of the third beast; nor to Asia, for that 
 constituted the empires of the first and second 
 beasts; but to Western Europe, which territory was 
 unoccupied until taken by Rome and its divisions. 
 The ten kingdoms which rose out of the old Ro- 
 man empire are enumerated as follows by Machia- 
 vel, indorsed by Bishop Newton, Faber, and Dr. 
 Hales: 1. The Huns; 2. The Ostrogoths; 3. The 
 Visigoths; 4. The Franks; 5. The Vandals; 6. 
 The Suevi; 7. The Burgundians; 8. The Heruli; 
 9. The Anglo-Saxons; and 10. The Lombards. 
 These kingdoms have since been known, says Scott, 
 as the "ten kingdoms of the Western empire," and 
 they are distinguishable at the present day, some of 
 them even by their modern names ; as, Hungary from 
 the Huns, Lombardy from the Lombards, France 
 from the Franks, and England from the Anglo- 
 Saxons. These ten kingdoms being denoted by the 
 ten horns of the leopard beast, it is evident that all 
 the territory included in these ten kingdoms is to be 
 considered as belonging to that beast. England is 
 one of these ten kingdoms ; France is another. If, 
 
S8 THE UNITED STATES IN PHOPHECY. 
 
 therefore, we say that either of these is the one rep- 
 resented by the two-horned beast, we make one 
 of the horns of the leopard beast constitute the two- 
 horned beast. But this the prophecy forbids; for 
 while John sees the leopard beast fully developed, 
 with his horns all complete and distinct, he beholds 
 the two-horned beast coming up, and calls it ''an- 
 other beast." We are therefore to look for the gov- 
 ernment which this beast symbolizes in some country 
 outside the territory occupied by the four beasts and 
 the ten horns already referred to. But these, as we 
 have seen, cover all the available portions of the 
 eastern hemisphere. 
 
 Another consideration pointing to the locality of 
 this power is draAvn from the fact that John saw it 
 arising from the earth. If the sea from which the 
 leopard beast arose (Rev. 13 : 1) denotes peoples, na- 
 tions, and multitudes (Rev. 17 : 15), the earth would 
 suggest, by contrast, a new and previously unoccu- 
 pied territory. 
 
 Being thus excluded from Eastern continents and 
 impressed with the idea of looking to territory not 
 previously known to civilization, we turn of neces- 
 sity to the western hemisphere. And this is in full 
 harmony with the ideas already quoted, and more 
 which might be presented, that the progress of em- 
 pire is with the sun around the earth from east to 
 west. Commencing in Asia, the cradle of the race, 
 it would end on this continent, which completes the 
 circuit. Bishop Berkcle}^ in his celebrated poem on 
 America, written more than one hundred years ago, 
 
LOCATION OF THE TWO-HORNED BEAST. 39 
 
 in the following forcible lines, pointed out the then 
 future position of America, and its connection with 
 preceding empires: — 
 
 "Westward the course of empire takes its way ; 
 The first four acts already past, 
 A fifth shall close the drama with the day ; 
 Time's noblest offspring is the last." 
 
 By the "first four acts already past," the bishop 
 had undoubted reference to the four universal king- 
 doms of Daniel's prophecy. A fifth great power, 
 the noblest and the last, was, according to his poem, 
 to arise this side the Atlantic, and here close the 
 drama of time, as the day here ends its circuit. 
 
 To what part of the American continent shall we 
 look for the power in question? To the most pow- 
 erful and prominent nation, certainly. This is so 
 self-evident that we need not stop to pass in review 
 the frozen fragments of humanity on the north of 
 us, nor the weak, superstitious, semi-barbarous, revo- 
 lutionary, and uninfluential kingdoms to the south 
 of us. No; we come to the United States, and here 
 we are held. To this nation the question of the lo- 
 cation of the two-horned beast undeviatingly leads 
 us. 
 
 As an objection to this view, it may occur to some 
 minds that the two-horned beast exercises all the 
 power of the first beast before him (Greek, h6movy 
 literally, before his eyes), and does wonders in his 
 sight; and how can the United States, separated by 
 an ocean from European kingdoms, hold such an 
 intimate relation to th(3m ? We answer, Space and 
 
40 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 time are annihilated by the telegraph. Through 
 the Atlantic cable (an enterprise which, by the way, 
 owes its origin to the United States), the lightnings 
 are continually picturing to European beholders the 
 affairs of America. Any important event occurring 
 here is described the next hour in the journals of 
 Europe. So far as the transmission of an account 
 of our proceedings to the people of the Old World is 
 concerned, it is as if America lay at the mouth of 
 the English Channel. 
 
 And the eyes of all Europe are intently watching 
 our movements. Says Mr. Townsend ("New World 
 and Old." p. 583):— 
 
 "All the great peoples of Europe are curiously inter- 
 ested and amazed in the rise of America, and their rulers 
 at present compete for our friendship. 'Europe,' said 
 the prince Talleyrand long ago, ' must have a-n eye on 
 America, and take care not to offer any pretext for re- 
 crimination or retaliation. America is gro^ving every 
 day. She will become a colossal power, and the time 
 will come when (discoveries enabling her to communi- 
 cate more easily with Europe) she will want to say a 
 word in our affairs, and have a hand in them.'" 
 
 The time has come, and the discoveries have been 
 made, to which Talleyrand referred. It is almost 
 as easy now to communicate^ with Europe as with our 
 nearest town. By these things the attention of the 
 world is drawn still more strongly toward us; and 
 thus whatever the United States does, it is done in 
 the sight — yes, even before the eyes — of all Europe. 
 
 One strong pillar in the argument is thus firmly 
 
Location of the two-hohned beast. 41 
 
 set. The terms of the prophecy absohitely fix the 
 location of the power symbolized by the two-horned 
 beast ; and that location is in this western hemisphere. 
 It can be nowhere else. Per consequence, our own 
 nation is the power in question. 
 
CHRONOLOGY OF THE TWO-HORNED BEAST. 
 
 HAVING become satisfied where the power sym- 
 bolized by the two-horned beast must be lo- 
 cated, we now inquire respecting the time when we 
 may look for its development. At what period in 
 this world's history is the rise of this power placed 
 in the prophecy? On this point, as on the preceding, 
 the foundation for the conclusions at which we must 
 arrive is already laid in the facts elicited in reference 
 to the preceding, or leopard beast. It was at the 
 time when this beast went into captivity, or was 
 killed (politically) with the sword (verse 10), or (which 
 we suppose to be the same thing) had one of its heads 
 wounded to death (verse 3), that John saw the two- 
 horned beast coming up. If the leopard beast, as 
 we have conclusively proved, signifies the papacy, 
 and the going into captivity met its fulfillment in 
 the temporary overthrow of the popedom by the 
 French in 1798, then we have the time definitely 
 specified when we are to look for the rising of this 
 power. The expression, " coming up," must signity 
 that the power to which it applies was but newly 
 organized, and was then just rising into prominence 
 and influence. The power represented by this sym- 
 
 [42] 
 
X 
 
 CHRONOLOGY OF THE TWO-HORNED BEAST. 4S 
 
 bol must, then, be some power which in 1798 stood 
 in this position before the world. 
 
 That the leopard beast is a symbol of the papacy, 
 there can be no question ; but some may want more 
 evidence that the wounding of one of its heads, or 
 its going into captivity, was the overthrow of the 
 papacy in 1798. This can easily be given. A na- 
 tion being represented by a wild beast, the govern- 
 ment of that nation, that by which it is controlled, 
 must, as a very clear matter of course, be considered 
 as answering to the head of the beast. The seven 
 heads of this beast would therefore denote seven dif- 
 ferent governments ; but all the heads pertain to one 
 beast, and hence all these seven different forms of 
 government pertain to one empire. But only one 
 form of government can exist in a nation at one 
 time ; hence the seven heads must denote seven forms 
 of government to appear, not simultaneously, but 
 successively. But these heads pertain alike to the 
 dragon and the leopard beast; from which this one 
 conclusion only can be drawn ; namely, that Rome, dur- 
 ing its whole history, embracing both its pagan and 
 papal phases, would change its government six times, 
 presenting to the world seven different forms in all. 
 And the historian records j ust that number as per- 
 taining to Rome. Rome was ruled first by Kings; 
 secondly, by Consuls ; thirdly, by Decemvirs ; 
 fourthly, by Dictators ; fifthly, by Triumvirs ; sixthly, 
 by Emperors ; and seventhly, by Popes. See Amer- 
 ican Encyclopedia. 
 
 John saw one of these heads wounded as it were 
 
44 THE UNITED STATES IK PROPHECY. 
 
 to death. Which one? Can we tell ? Let it be 
 noticed, first, that it is one of the heads of the beavSt 
 which is wounded to death, and not one of the heads 
 of the dragon ; that is, it is some form of govern- 
 ment which existed in Rome after the change of 
 symbols from the dragon to the leopard beast. We 
 then inquire, How many of the different forms of 
 Roman government belonged absolutely to the 
 dragon, or existed in Rome while it maintained its 
 dragonic, or pagan form ? These same seven heads 
 are again presented to John in Rev. 17 ; and the an- 
 gel there explains that they are seven kings, or forms 
 of government (verse 10) ; and he informs John that 
 five are fallen, and one is ; that is, five of these forms 
 of government were already past in John's day, and 
 he was living under the sixth. Under what form 
 did John live? The imperial; it being the cruel de- 
 cree of the emperor Domitian which banished him 
 to the Isle of Patmos, where this vision was given. 
 Kings, Consuls, Decemvirs, Dictators, and Trium- 
 virs were all in the past in John's day. Emperors 
 were then ruling the Roman world; and the empire 
 was still pagan. Six of these heads, therefore, — 
 Kings, Consuls, Decemvirs, Dictators, Triumvirs, 
 and Emperors, — belonged to the dragon, for they all 
 existed while Rome w^as pagan; and it was no one 
 of these that was wounded to death ; for had it been, 
 John would have said, I saw one of the heads of the 
 dragon wounded to death. The wound was in- 
 flicted after the empire had so changed in respect to 
 its religion that it became necessary to represent it 
 
CHRONOLOGY OF THE TWO-HORNED BEAST. 45 
 
 by the leopard beast. But the beast had only seven 
 heads, and if six of them pertain to the dragon, only 
 one remained to have an existence after this change 
 
 o 
 
 in the empire took place. After the Emperors, the 
 sixth and last head that existed in Rome in its 
 dragonic form, came the Popes, the only head that 
 existed after the empire had nominally become 
 Christian. The "Exarch of Ravenna" existed so 
 " short a space " (Rev. 17: 10) that it has no plac6 in 
 the general enumeration of the heads of this 
 power. 
 
 From these considerations it is evident that the 
 head which received the mortal wound was none 
 other than the papal head. This conclusion cannot 
 be shaken. We have now only to inquire when the 
 papal head was wounded to death. It could not 
 certainly be til] after its full development ; but after 
 this, the prophecy marked out for it an uninterrupted 
 rule of 1260 years, from its establishment in 538 
 till the revolution of 1708. Then the papacy was, 
 for the time being, overthrown, Genei^al Berthier, 
 by order of the French Directory, moved against 
 the dominions of the pope in January, 1798. Feb- 
 ruary 10, he effected an entrance into the self-styled 
 Eternal City, and on the 15th of the same month pro- 
 claimed the establishment of the Roman republic. 
 The pope, after this deprivation of his authority, was 
 conveyed to France as a prisoner, and died at Va- 
 lence, Aug. 29, 1799. 
 
 This would have been the end of the papacy had 
 this averthrow been made permanent. The wound 
 
4() THE UXITED STATES IX PROPHECY. 
 
 would have proved fatal had it not been healed. 
 But, though the wound was healed, the scar, so to 
 speak, has ever since remained. A new pope was 
 elected in 1800, and the papacy was restored, but 
 only to a partial possession of its former privileges. 
 Rev. Geo. Croly, A. M., speaking upon this point, 
 says:— 
 
 " The extinction of torture and secrecy is the virtual 
 extmction of the tribunal. The power of the pope, as a 
 systcDiatic persecutor, has thus been annulled by the 
 events growing out of the Republican era of 1793." — 
 Croly on the Apocalypse, p. 257. 
 
 Let the reader look carefully at this event. It 
 furnishes a complete fulfillment of the prophecy; 
 and it is the only event in all Roman history which 
 does this ; for, though the first six heads were each 
 in turn exterminated, or gave place to a succeeding 
 head, of no one of them could it be said that it re- 
 ceived a deadly wound, and was afterward healed. 
 And as this overthrow of the papacy by the French 
 military must be the wounding of the head men- 
 tioned in Rev. 13 -.3, so, likewise, must it be the 
 going into captivity and the killing with the sword 
 mentioned in verse 10 ; for it is an event of the right 
 nature to fulfill the prophecy, and one Avhich oc- 
 curred at the right time ; namely, at the end of the 
 time, times, and a half, the forty- two months, or the 
 1260 years; and no other event can be found an- 
 swering to the record in these respects. We arc not 
 left, therefore, with any discretionary power in the 
 
CHRONOLOGY OF THE TWO-HORNED BEAST. 4/ 
 
 application of this prophecy ; for God, by his provi- 
 dence, has marked the era of its accompHshment in 
 as plain a manner as though he had proclaimed with 
 an audible voice, Behold here the accomplishment of 
 my prophetic word ! 
 
 Thus clearly is the exact time when we are 
 to look for the rise of the two-horned beast indi- 
 cated in the prophecy ; for John, as soon as he 
 beholds the captivity of the first or leopard beast, 
 says, "And I beheld another beast coming up." 
 And his use of the present participle, "coming" up, 
 clearly connects this view with the preceding verse, 
 and shows it to be an event transpiring simultane- 
 ously with the going into captivity of the previous 
 beast. If he had said, "And I had seen another 
 beast coming up," it would prove that when he saw 
 it, it was coming up, but that the time when he be- 
 held it was indefinitely in the past. If he had said, 
 "And I beheld another beast which had come up," 
 it would prove that although his attention was 
 called to it at the time when the first beast went 
 into captivity, yet its rise was still indefinitely in 
 the past. But when he says, " I beheld another 
 beast coining lij)," it proves that when he turned 
 his eyes from the captivity of the first beast, he saw 
 another power just then in the process of rapid de- 
 velopment among the nations of the earth. So, 
 then, about the year 1798, the star of that power 
 which is symbolized by the two-horned beast must 
 be seen rising over the horizon of the nations, and 
 claiming its place in the political heavens. In view 
 
48 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 of these considerations, it is useless to speak of this 
 power as having arisen ages in the past. To at- 
 tempt such an application is to show one's self ut- 
 terly reckless in regard to the plainest statements of 
 inspiration. 
 
 Again, the work of the two-horned beast is plainly 
 located, by verse 12, this side the captivity of the 
 first beast. It is there stated, in direct terms, that 
 the two-horned beast causes "the earth and them 
 which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose 
 deadly wound was healed." But worship could not 
 be rendered to a beast whose deadly wound was 
 healed, till after that healing was accomplished. 
 This brings the worship which this two-horned 
 beast enforces unmistakably within the present 
 century. 
 
 Says Eld. J. Litch (Restitution, p. 131): — 
 
 " The two-horned beast is represented as a power ex- 
 isting and performing his part after the death and re- 
 vival of the first beast." 
 
 Mr. Wesley, in his notes on Rev. 14, written in 
 1754, says of the two-horned beast: — 
 
 " He has not yet come, though he cannot be fiir off; 
 for he is to appear at the end of the forty-two months of 
 the first beast." 
 
 We find three additional declarations in the book 
 of Revelation which prove, in a general sense-, that 
 the two-horned beast performs his work with that 
 generation of men who are to behold the closing up 
 of all earthly scenes, and the second coming of ouy 
 
CHRONOLOGY OF THE TWO-HORNED BEAST. 49 
 
 Lord Jesus Christ, and these will complete the ar- 
 gument on this point. 
 
 The first is the message of the third angel, brought 
 to view in the 14th of Revelation. It is not our 
 purpose to enter into an exposition of the three mes- 
 sages of that chapter. We call the attention of the 
 reader to only one fact, which must be apparent to 
 all; and that is, that the third of these messages is 
 the last warning of danger and the last offer of 
 mercy before the close of human probation ; for the 
 event which immediately follows is the appearance 
 of one like the Son of man on a white cloud, com- 
 ing to reap the harvest of the earth (verse 14), which 
 can represent nothing else but the second advent of 
 the Lord from Heaven. Whatever views, therefore, 
 a person may take of the first and second messages, 
 and at whatever time he may apply them, it is very 
 certain that the third and last one covers the closing 
 hours of time, and reaches down to the second com- 
 ing of Christ. And what is the burden of this mes- 
 sage? It is a denunciation of the unmingled wrath 
 of God against those who worship the beast and his 
 image. But this worship of the beast and his image 
 is the very work which the two-horned beast en- 
 deavors to enforce upon the people. The third mes- 
 sage, then, is a warning against the work of the 
 two-horned beast. And as there would be no pro- 
 priety in supposing this warning to be given after 
 that work was performed, since it could appropriately 
 be given only when the two-horned beast was about 
 to enforce that worship, and while he was endeavor- 
 
50 THE UNITED STATES IX PIIOPHECY. 
 
 ing to enforce it, and since the second coming of Christ 
 immediately succeeds the proclamation of this mes- 
 sage, it follows that the duties enjoined by this mes- 
 sage, and the decrees enforced by the two-horned 
 beast, constitute the last test to be brought to bear 
 upon the world; and hence the two-horned beast 
 performs his work, not ages in the past, but among 
 the last generation of men. 
 
 The second passage showing that the work 
 of the two-horned beast is performed just before the 
 close of time, is found in Rev. 15 : 2, which we have 
 shown to refer to the same company spoken of in 
 chapter 14 : 1-5. Here is a company who have 
 gained the victory over the beast and his image, and 
 the mark and the number of his name; in other 
 words, they have been in direct conflict with the 
 two-horned beast, which endeavors to enforce the 
 worship of the beast and the reception of his mark. 
 And these are *' redeemed from among men" (14 : 4), 
 or are translated from among the living at the 
 second coming of Christ. 1 Cor. 15 : 51, 52; 1 
 Thess. 4 : 16, 17. This, again, shows conclusively 
 that it is the last generation which witnesses the 
 work of this power. 
 
 The third passage is Rev. 19 : 20, which speaks 
 of the two-horned beast under the title of the false 
 prophet, and mentions a point not given in Rev. 13, 
 namely, the doom he is to meet. In the battle of 
 the great day, which takes place in connection with 
 the second coming of Christ (verses 11-19), the false 
 prophet, or two-horned beast, is cast alive into a 
 
CHRONOLOGY OF THE TWO-HOilNED BEAST. 51 
 
 lake of fire burning witli brimstone ; and the Avord 
 ''alive" signifies that this power will be at that 
 time a living power, performing its part in all its 
 strength and vigor. This power is not to pass off 
 the stage of action and be succeeded by another; 
 but it is to be a ruling power till destroyed by the 
 King of kings and Lord of lords, when he comes to 
 dash the nations in pieces with a rod of iron. 
 
 The sum of the argument, then, on this matter of 
 chronology, is this : That the two-horned beast does 
 not come into the field of this vision previous to the 
 year 1798 ; that it performs its work while the last 
 generation of men is living on the earth ; and that 
 it comes up to the battle of the great day a living- 
 power in the full vigor of its strength. 
 
 As it was shown in the argument on the location 
 of the two-horned beast that we are limited in our 
 application to the Western Continent, so we are lim- 
 ited still further by its chronology ; for it must not 
 only be some power which arises this side of the 
 Atlantic, but one which is seen coming up here at a 
 'particidar time. Taking our stand, then, in the 
 year 1798, the time indicated in the prophecy, we 
 invite the careful attention of the reader to this 
 question: What independent power in either Nortli 
 or South America was at that time '' coming up " in 
 a manner to answer to the conditions of the proph- 
 ecy? All that part of North America lying to the 
 north of us was under the dominion of Russia and 
 Great Britain. Mexico, to the southwest, was a 
 Spanish colony. Passing to South America, Brazil 
 
52 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 belonged to Portugal, and most of the other South 
 American States were under Spanish control. In 
 short, there was not then a single civilized, independ- 
 ent governmiCnt in the New World, except our own 
 United States. This nation, therefore, must be the 
 one represented in the prophecy; for no other an- 
 swers the specifications in the least degree. It has 
 always taken the lead of all European settlements 
 in this hemisphere. It was " coming up " at the ex- 
 act time indicated in the prophecy. Like a lofty 
 monument in a field all its own, we here behold the 
 United States grandly overtowering all the conti- 
 nent. So far as God's providence works among the 
 nations for the accomplishment of his purposes, it is 
 visible in the development of this country as an 
 agent to fulfill his word. On these two vital points 
 of LOCATION and chronology, the arguments which 
 show that OUR country is the one represented by 
 the symbol of the two-horned beast are absolutely 
 
 CONCLUSIVE. 
 
Qhaptcz^ cFiue. 
 
 THE UNITED STATES HAS ARISEN IN THE EXACT 
 MANNER IN WHICH JOHN SAW THE TWO- 
 HORNED BEAST COMING UP. 
 
 THE manner in which the two-horned beast was 
 seen coming up shows, equally with its location 
 and its chronology, that it is a symbol of the 
 United States. John says he saw the beast coming 
 up ''out of the earth." And this expression must 
 have been designedly used to point out the contrast 
 between the rise of this beast and that of other na- 
 tional prophetic symbols. The four beasts of Dan. 
 7 and the leopard beast of Kev. 13 all arose out of 
 the sea. Says Daniel, "The four winds of the heaven 
 strove upon the great sea ; and four beasts came up 
 from the sea." The sea denotes peoples, nations, and 
 tongues (Rev. 17: 15), and the winds denote polit- 
 ical strife and commoti(m. Jer. 25 : 32, 33. There 
 was, then, in this scene, the dire commotion of nat- 
 ure's mightiest elements, — the wind above, the waters 
 beneath, the fury of the gale, the roaring and dash- 
 ing of the waves, and the tumult of the raging stoi-m ; 
 and in the midst of this war of elements, as if aroused 
 from the depths of the sea by the fearful commotion, 
 these beasts one after another appeared. In other 
 
 [53] 
 
54 THE UNITED SJATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 words, the governments of which these beasts were 
 symbols owed their origin to movements among the 
 people which would be Avell represented by the sea 
 lashed into foam by the sweeping gale; they arose 
 by the upheavals of revolution, and through the 
 strife of war. 
 
 But Avhen the prophet beholds the rising of the 
 two-horned beast, how different the scene ! No po- 
 litical tempest sweeps the horizon, no armies clash 
 together like the waves of the sea. He doos not be- 
 hold the troubled and restless surface of the Avaters, 
 but a calm and immovable expanse of earth. And 
 out of this earth, like a plant growing up in a quiet 
 and sheltered spot, he sees this beast, bearing on his 
 head the horns of a lamb, those eloquent symbols of 
 youth and innocence, daily augmenting in bodily 
 proportions, and daily increasing in physical 
 strength. 
 
 If any one should here point to the war of the 
 Revolution as an event which destroys the force of 
 this application, it would be sufficient to I'eply, 1. 
 That war was at least fifteen years in the past when 
 the two-horned beast was introduced into the Held 
 of this vision; and 2. The war of the Revolution 
 was not a war of conquest. It was not waged to 
 overthrow any otlier kuigdom and build this gov- 
 ernment on its ruins, but only to defend the just 
 rights of the American people. An act of resistance 
 against continual attempts of injustice and tyranny 
 cannot certainly be placed in the same catalogue 
 with wars of aggression and con(|uest. The same 
 
ITS RAPID PEOGRESS 
 
 may- be said of the war of 1812. Hence, these con- 
 flicts do not even partake of the nature of objections 
 to the application here set foi'th. 
 
 The word which John uses to describe the man- 
 ner in which this beast comes up is very expressive. 
 It is dvajSaivop (anabainon), one of the prominent 
 definitions of which is, " To grow or spring up as a 
 plant. " And it is a remarkable fact that this very 
 figure has been chosen by political writers as the one 
 conveying the best idea of the manner in which this 
 government has arisen. Mr. G. A. Townsend, in 
 his work entitled, " The New World Compared with 
 the Old," p. 4G2, says:— 
 
 '•' Since America was discovered, she lias been a sub- 
 ject of revolutionary thought in Europe. The mystery 
 of he7' coming forth from vacancy, the marvel of her 
 Avealth in gold and silver, the spectacle of her captives 
 led through European capitals, filled the minds of men 
 with unrest ; and unrest is the first stage of revolu- 
 tion." 
 
 On p. 635, he further says: — 
 
 "In this web of islands — the West Indies — began -the 
 life of both [North and South] Americas. There Colum- 
 bus saw land, there Si)ain began her baneful and brill- 
 iant Western Empire; thence Cortez departed for Mex- 
 ico, De Soto for the Mrssissij )pi, Balboa for the Pacific, 
 and Pizarro for Peru. 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; while empire 
 itself, beginning in the South, was swe]_)t by so intermin - 
 
56 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 able a hurricane that what of its history we can ascer- 
 tain is read by the very lightnings that devastated it. 
 The growth of English America may be likened to a 
 series of lyrics sung by separate singers, which, coales- 
 cing, at last make a vigorous chorus, and this, attracting 
 many from afar, swells and is prolonged, until presently 
 it assumes the dignity and proportions of epic song." 
 
 A writer in the Diihlin Nation, about the year 
 1850, spoke of the United States as a wonderful em- 
 pire which was " emerging," and " amid the silence 
 of the earth daily adding to its power and pride." 
 
 In Marty n's *' History of the Great Reformation," 
 Vol. iv. p. 238, is an extract from an oration deliv- 
 ered by Edward Everett on the English exiles who 
 founded this government, in which he says : — 
 
 " Did they look for a retii-ed sj^ot, inoffensive from its 
 obscurity, safe in its remoteness from the haunts of des- 
 pots, where the little church of Leyden might enjoy free- 
 dom of conscience? Behold the mighty regions over 
 which in jyeaceful conquest — victoria sine clade — they 
 have borne the banners of the cross." 
 
 We now ask the reader to look at these expres- 
 sions side by side, — ''coming up out of the earth," 
 "coming forth from vacancy," "emerging amid the 
 silence of the earth," " like a silent seed we grew into 
 empire," "mighty regions" secured by "peaceful 
 conquest." The first is from thb prophet, stating 
 what would be when the two-horned beast should 
 arise; the others are from political writers, telling 
 what has been in the history of our own govern- 
 ment. Can any one fail to see that the last four are 
 
ITS RAPID PROGRESS. 57 
 
 exactly synonymous with the first, and that they 
 record a complete accomplishment of the prediction? 
 And what is not a little remarkable, those who have 
 thus recorded the fulfillment have, without any 
 reference to prophecy, used the very figure which 
 the prophet employed. These men, therefore, be- 
 ing judges, — men of large and cultivated minds, 
 whose powers of discernment all will acknowledge 
 to be sufficiently clear, — it is certain that the par- 
 ticular manner in which the United States has 
 arisen answers most strikingly to the development 
 of the symbol under consideration. 
 
 We now extend the inquiry a step further: Has 
 the United States " come up " in a manner to fulfill 
 the prophecy in respect to the achievements this gov- 
 ernment has accomplished? Has the progress made 
 been sufficiently great and sufficiently rapid to cor- 
 respond to that visible and perceptible growth which 
 John saw in the two-horned beast? 
 
 Every person whose reading is ordmarily exten- 
 sive has something of an idea of what the United 
 States is to-day; he likewise has an idea, so far as 
 words can convey it to his mind, of what this coun- 
 try was at the commencement of its history. The 
 only object, then, in presenting statistics and testi- 
 mony on this point, is to show that our rapid growth 
 has struck mankind with the wonder of a constant 
 miracle. 
 
 Said Emile de Girardin in La Liberie (1868): — 
 
 "The population of America, not thinned by any con- 
 scription, multiplies with prodigious rapidity, and the 
 
58 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 day may before [long be] seen, when they will number 
 sixty or eighty millions of souls. This iKirvenii [one re- 
 cently risen to notice] is awaj-e of his importance and 
 destiny. Hear him proudly exclaim, 'America for 
 Americans ! ' See him promising his alliance to Russia ; 
 and we see that power, which well knows what force is, 
 grasp the hand of this giant of yesterday. 
 
 "In view of his unixiralhled ])ro(jress and comhina- 
 tion, what are the little toys with which we vex oiu'- 
 selves in Europe? What is this needle gun we are anx- 
 ious 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 Bvbhlln (Ireland) Nation, already quoted, 
 about the year 1850, said: — 
 
 " In the East there is arising a colossal centaur called 
 the Kussian empire. With a civilized head and front, 
 it has the sinews of a huge barbaric body. There one 
 man's brain moves 70,000,000. There all the traditions 
 of tliei)eo[)le are of aggression and conquest in the West. 
 There but two ranks are distinguishable, — serfs and 
 soldiers. There the map of the futui'e includes Constan- 
 tinople and Vienna as outposts of St. Petersburg. 
 
 "In the West, an o])posing and still more wonderful 
 American empire is emerging. We islanders have no 
 conception of the extraordinary events which amid the 
 silence of the earth are daily adding to the power and 
 ])nde of this gigantic nation. Within three years, terri- 
 tories more extensive th-m these thi'ee kingdoms [Great 
 
ITS RAPID PROGRESS. 59 
 
 Britain, Ireland, and Scotland], France, and Italy put 
 togetlier, have been quietly, and in almost ' matter-of- 
 course' fashion, annexed to the Union. 
 
 " Within seventy years, seventeen new sovereignties, 
 the smallest of them larger than Great Britain, have 
 peaceably united themselves to the Federation. No 
 standing army was raised, no national debt was sunk, no 
 great exertion was made, but there they are. And the 
 last mail brings new.s of three more great States about 
 to be joined to the thirty, — Minnesota in the northwest, 
 Deseret in the southwest, and California on the shores 
 of the Pacific. These three States will cover an area 
 equal to one-half of the European continent." 
 
 Mitchell, in his School Geography (fourth revised 
 edition), p. 101, speaking of the United States, 
 says : — 
 
 "When it is considered that one hundred years ago 
 the inhabitants numbered but one million, it presents 
 the most striking instance of national growth to be found 
 in the history of mankind." 
 
 Let us reduce thes3 general statements to the 
 more tano-ible form of facts and fioures. A short 
 time before the great Reformation in the days of 
 Martin Luther, not four hundred years ago, this 
 western hemisphere was discovered. The Reforma- 
 tion awoke the nations, that were fast fettered in 
 the galling bonds of suj^erstition, to the fact that it 
 is the Heaven-born right (jf every man to worship 
 God according" to the dictates of his own conscience. 
 But rulers are loth to lose their power, and religious 
 intolerance still oppressed the people. Under these 
 
60 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 circumstances, a body of religious heroes at length 
 determined to seek in the wilds of America that 
 measure of civil and religious freedom which they 
 so much desired. Two hundred and sixty-two years 
 ago — Dec. 22, 1620 — the Mayflower landed one hun- 
 dred of these voluntary exiles on the coast of New 
 England. "Here," says Martyn, "New England 
 was born," and this was "its first baby cry, — a 
 prayer and a thanksgiving to the Lord." 
 
 Another permanent English settlement was made 
 at Jamestown, Va., in 1607. In process of time 
 other settlements were made and colonies organized, 
 which were all subject to the English crown till the 
 declaration of independence, July 4, 1776. 
 
 The population of these colonies, according to the 
 United States Magazine of August, 1855, amounted 
 in 1701, to 262,000, in 1749, to 1,046,000; in 1775, 
 to 2,803,000 Then commenced the struggle of the 
 American colonies against the oppression of the 
 mother country. In 1776, they declared them- 
 selves, as in justice and right they were entitled to 
 be, a free and independent nation. In 1777, dele- 
 gates from the thirteen original States, — New 
 Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecti- 
 cut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Dela- 
 ware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South 
 Carolina, and Georgia, — in Congress assembled, 
 adopted Articles of Confederation. In 1783, the war 
 of the Revolution closed with a treaty of peace 
 with Great Britain, wheieby our independence was 
 acknowledged, and territory ceded to the extent of 
 
ITS RAPIB PROGRESS. 61 
 
 815,615 square miles. In 1787 the Constitution 
 was framed, and ratified by the foregoing thirteen 
 States; and on the 1st of March, 1789, it went into 
 operation. Then the American ship of State was 
 fairly launched, with less than one million square 
 miles of territory, and about three millions of souls. 
 
 Such was the situation, when, in our interpreta- 
 tion of Rev. 13, this government is introduced into 
 the prophecy as ''coming up." Our territorial 
 growth since that time has been as folloAvs: Louisi- 
 ana, acquired from France in 1803, comprising 930,- 
 928 square miles of territory; Florida, from Spain 
 in 1821, with 59,268 square miles; Texas, admitted 
 into the Union in 1845, with 237,504 square miles; 
 Oregon, as settled by treaty in 1846, with 380,425 
 square miles; California, as conquered from Mexico 
 in 1847, with 649,762 square miles; Arizona (New 
 Mexico), as acquired from Mexico by treaty in 1854, 
 with 27,500 square miles; Alaska, as acquired by 
 purchase from Russia in 1867, with 577,390 square 
 miles. This gives a grand total of three million six 
 hundred seventy-eight thousand three hundred and 
 ninety-two (3,678,392) square miles of territory, 
 which is about four-ninths of all North America, 
 and more than one-fifteenth of the whole land sur- 
 face of the globe. 
 
 And while this expansion has been thus rapidly 
 going forward here, how has it been with the other 
 leading nations of the globe ? Macmillian & Co., 
 the London publishers, in announcing their " States- 
 man's Year Book " for 1867, make an interesting 
 
62 THE UNITED STATES IX PROPHECY. 
 
 statement of the chancres that took place in Europe 
 during the half century between the years 1817 and 
 1867. They say:— 
 
 "Tho half century has extinguished three kingdoms, 
 one grand duchy, eight duchies, four principalities, one 
 electorate, and four republics. Three new kingdoms 
 have arisen, and one kingdom has been transformed into 
 an empire. There are now forty-one states in Europe 
 against lifty-nine which existed in 1817. Not less re- 
 markable IS the territorial extension of the superior 
 states in the world. Russia has annexed 567,364 square 
 miles; the United States, 1,968,009; France, 4,620; 
 Prussia, 29,781; Sardinia, expanding into Italy, has in- 
 creased by 83,041 ; the Indian empire has been aug- 
 mented by 431,616. The jnincipal states that have lost 
 territory are Turkey, Mexico, Austria, Denmark, and 
 the Netherlands." 
 
 We ask the especial attention of the reader to 
 these particulars. During the Ip.st half century, 
 twenty-one governments have disappeared alto- 
 gether, and only three new ones have arisen. Five 
 have lost in territory instead of gaining. Only five, 
 besides our own, have added to their domain. And 
 the one which has done the most in this direction 
 has added only a little over half a million of square 
 miles, whil^ Ave have added nearly two millions. 
 Thus the United States govctrnment has added over 
 fourteen hundred thousand square miles of territory 
 more than any other single nation, and over eight 
 hundred thousand more than have been added by all 
 the other nations of the earth put together. And all 
 
ITS RAPID PROGRESS. OJ^ 
 
 this, remember, at that very epoch when the proph- 
 ecy of the two-horned beast bids us look for a gov- 
 ernment then first arising* to prominence and power. 
 In view of these facts, can any one doubt, looking 
 the whole world over, which government it is that 
 has been, during this time, emphatically " coming 
 up " ? 
 
 In point of population, our increase since 1798, 
 according to the census of the several decades, has 
 been as follows: In 1800, the total number of inhab- 
 itants in the United States was 5,305,925 ; m 1810, 
 7,239,814; in 1820, 9,688,191; in 1830, 12,866,020; 
 in 1840, 17,069,453; in 1850, 23,191,876; m 1860, 
 31,445,089; in 1870, 38,555,983; m 1880, 50,000,- 
 000 ; and now (1883), upwards of 52,000,000. These 
 figures are almost too large for the mind to grasp 
 readily. Perha.ps a better idea can be formed of the 
 rapid increase of population by looking at a few rep- 
 resentative cities. Boston, in 1792, had 18,000 inhab- 
 itants; it now has 362,839 : Ncav York, m 1792, 
 80,000; now, 1,206,299. Chicago, about thirty 
 years ago, was a little trading post, with a few huts ; 
 but yet it contained at the time of the great confla- 
 gration in October, 1871, nearly 350,000 souls, and 
 now has 650,000. San Francisco, thirty years ago, 
 was a barren waste, but contains to-day z33,956 m- 
 habitants. 
 
 Our industrial growth has been equally remark- 
 able. In 1792, the United States had no cotton - 
 mills; in 1850, there were 1,074, employing 100,000 
 hands. Only fifty-three years ago the first section 
 
64 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 of the first railroad in this country — the Baltimore 
 and Ohio — was opened to a distance of twenty-three 
 miles. We have now, Jan. 1, 1883, 115,634 miles 
 in operation, costing $5,750,000,000. It was only 
 forty-three years ago that the magnetic telegraph 
 was invented. Now the estimated length of tele- 
 graph wire in operation is over 250,000 miles. In 
 1833, the first reaper and mower was constructed, 
 and in 1846 the first sewing machine was completed. 
 Think of the hundreds of thousands of both of these 
 classes of machines now in use. And there are now 
 more lines of telegraph and railroad projected and 
 in process of construction than ever before, and 
 greater facilities and larger plans for manufactories 
 of all kinds than at any previous point of time. 
 And should these industries increase in the same 
 geometrical ratio, and time continue a few years, 
 the figures we now chronicle would then read about 
 as the records of a century ago now read to us. 
 
 Since the last edition of this work was issued, the 
 electric light, the phonograph, the microphone, and 
 the telephone have appeared in this country, and as- 
 tonished the world with their marvelous achieve- 
 ments. And just now (March, 1883) notices are be- 
 ginning t(^ appear in the papers of a new application 
 of electricity, by which one is actually enabled to 
 see the person who is addressing him at the other 
 end of the telephone, many miles, perhaps, away. 
 This would seem to be reaching the last possible re- 
 sults in the way of tlie annihilation of time and 
 space in regard to both hearing and seeing. 
 
ITS RAPID PROGRESS. 65 
 
 We take the following article from " The Centen- , 
 nial History of the United States," published in 1876 
 at Hartford, Ct., pp. 768-779:— 
 
 " Here, on the verge of the centennial anniversary of 
 the bu'th of our Republic, let us take a brief review of 
 the material and intellectual progress of our country dur- 
 ing the first hundred years of its political independ- 
 ence. 
 
 " The extent of the conceded domain of the United 
 States, in 1776, was not more than half a million square 
 miles; now [when the word now appears in this relation 
 it means the year 1875] it is more than three million 
 three hundred thousand square miles. Its population 
 then was about a million and a half; now it is forty 
 million. 
 
 " The products of the soil are the foundations of the 
 material wealth of a nation. It has been eminently so 
 with us, notwithstanding the science of agriculture and 
 the construction of good implements of labor were greatly 
 neglected until the early part of the present century. 
 
 "A hundred years ago the agricultural interests of our 
 country were mostly in the hands of uneducated men. 
 Science was not applied to husbandry. A spirit of im- 
 provement was scarcely known. The son copied the 
 ways of his father. He worked with no other imple- 
 ments and pursued no other methods of culfcivaition; and 
 he who attempted a change was regarded as a visionary 
 or an innovator. Very little associated eftbrt for im- 
 provement in the business of farming was then seen. 
 The first association for such a purpose was formed in 
 the South, and was known as the ' South Carolina Agri- 
 cultural Society,' organized in 1784. A similar society 
 
66 THE UNITED STATES IN PHOPHECY. 
 
 was formed in Pennsylvania the following year. Now 
 there are State, county, and even town agricultural so- 
 cieties in almost every part of the Union. 
 
 "Agricultural implements were rude and simple. 
 They consisted chiefly of the plow, harrow, spade, hoe, 
 hand-rake, scythe, sickle, and wooden fork. The plow 
 Jiad a clumsy wrought-iron share with wooden mold- 
 board, which was sometimes j^lated with pieces of old tin 
 or sheet iron. The rest of the structure was equally 
 clumsy; and the implement required, in its use, twice 
 thi amount of strength, of man and beast, that the pres- 
 ent plow does. Improvements in the construction of 
 plows during the past fifty years save to the country an- 
 nually, in work and teams, at least 8 12,000,000. The 
 first patent for a cast-iron plow was issued in 1797. To 
 the beginning of 1875, about four hundred patents have 
 been granted. 
 
 " A hundred years ago the seed was sown by hand, 
 and the entire crop was harvested by hard manual labor. 
 The grass was cut with a scythe, and ' cured ' and gath- 
 ered with a fork and hand-rake. The grain was cut 
 with a sickle, threshed with a flail or the treading of 
 horses, and was cleared of the chaff by a large clamshell- 
 shaped fan of wicker-work, used in a gentle breeze. The 
 drills, seed-sowers, cultivators, mowers, reapers, thresh- 
 ing-machines, and fanning-mills of our day, were all un- 
 known. They are the inventions of a time within the 
 memory of living men. Abortive attempts were made 
 toward the close of the last century to introduce a thresh- 
 ing-machine from England, but the flail held sway until 
 two generations ago. 
 
 " Indian corn, tobacco, wheat, ry(», oats, potatoes, and 
 
ITS RAPID PROGRESS. ()7 
 
 hay were staple products of the farm a hundred years 
 ago. Timothy and orchard grass had then just been in- 
 troduced. The cultivation of all these has been gi-eatly 
 increased. Then, nearly the whole jjroducts, excepting 
 tobacco, were consumed by the million and a half of peo- 
 ple; now, forty millions are supported by them, and vast 
 amounts of agricultural products are exported to foreign 
 countries. At the present time these products amount 
 annually, on an average, in round numbers, as follows: 
 Indian corn, 900,000,000 bushels; wheat, 270,000,000; 
 rye, 22,000,000; oats, 300,000,000; potatoes, 165,000,- 
 000; and buckwlieat (introduced within the century), 
 15,000,000. The hay crop averages about 28,000,000 
 tons; the tobacco crop, about 265,000,000 pounds; flax, 
 28,000,000 pounds; and hemp, 12,000 tons. To these 
 agricultural products have been added, within the cen- 
 tury, barley, cotton, and sugar. Of barley, the average 
 crop is about 28,000,000 bushels; cotton, about 2,000,- 
 000,000 pounds; and sugar, 120,000 hogsheads of 1000 
 pounds each. The expansion of the cotton culture has 
 been marvelous. In 1784, eight bales of cotton sent to 
 England from Charleston were seized by the custom- 
 house authorities in Liverpool, on the ground that so large 
 a quantity could not have come from the United States. 
 The progress of its culture was slow until the invention of 
 the gin, by Mr. Whitney, for clearing the seed from the 
 fiber. It did the work of many persons. The cultiva- 
 tion of cotton rapidly spread. From 1792 to 1800, the 
 amount of cotton raised had increased from 138,000 
 pounds to 18,000,000 pounds, all of which was wanted 
 in England, where improved machinery was manufactur- 
 ing it into cloth. The value of slave labor was increased^ 
 
68 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 and a then dying institution lived in vigor until killed 
 by the civil war. The value of the cotton croj) in 1792 
 ■was $30,000 ; now its average annual value is about 
 $180,000,000. 
 
 "Fruit culture a hundred years ago was very little 
 thought of. Inferior varieties of apples, pears, peaches, 
 plums, and cherries were cultivated for family use. It 
 was not until the beginning of the present century that 
 any large orchards were ])lanted. The cultivation of 
 grapes and berries was almost wholly unknown fifty 
 years ago. The first horticultural society was formed in 
 1829. Before that time fruit was not an item of com- 
 mercial statistics in our country. Now, the average an- 
 nual value of fruit is estimated at $40,000,000. Our 
 grape crop alone exceeds in value $10,000,000. 
 
 " Improvements in live stock have all been made with- 
 in the present century. The native breeds were de- 
 scended from stock sent over to the colonies, and were 
 generally inferior. In 1772 Washington wrote in his 
 diary : ' With one hundred milch cows on my farm, I 
 have to buy butter for my family.' Now 11,000,000 
 cows supply 40,000,000 inhabitants with milk, butter, 
 and cheese, and allow large exports of the latter article. 
 At least 225,000,000 gallons of milk are sold annually. 
 The annual butter product of our country now is more 
 than 500,000,000 pounds, and of cheese, 70,000,000. 
 There are now about 30,000,000 horned cattle in the 
 United States, equal in average quality to those of any 
 country in the world. 
 
 " A hundred years ago, mules and asses were chiefly 
 used for farming purposes and ordinary transportation. 
 Carriage-horses were imported from Europe. Now, our 
 
ITS RAPID PROGRESS. 69 
 
 horses of every kind are equal to those of any other coun- 
 try. It is estimated that there are about 10,000,000 
 horses in the United States, or one to every four per- 
 sons. 
 
 " Sheep husbandry has greatly improved. The infe- 
 rior breeds of the last century, raised only in sufficient 
 quantity to supply the table, and the domestic looms in 
 the manufacture of yarns and coarse cloth, have been 
 superseded by some of the finer varieties. Merino sheep 
 v/ere introduced early in this century. The embargo be- 
 fore the war of 1812, and the establishment of manufact- 
 ures here afterward, stimulated sheep and wool raising, 
 and these have been important items in our national 
 wealth. There are noAV about 30,000,000 sheep in the 
 United States. California is taking the lead as a wool- 
 producing State. In 1870, the wool product of the 
 United States amounted to 100,000,000 pounds. 
 
 *' Improvements in the breed of swine during the last 
 fifty years have been very great. They have become a 
 large item in our national commercial statistics. At 
 this time there are about 26,000,000 head of swine in 
 this country. Enormous quantities of pork, packed and 
 in the form of bacon, are exported annually. 
 
 " These brief statistics of the principal products of ag- 
 riculture, show its development in this country and its 
 importance. Daniel Webster said, ' Agriculture feeds 
 us ; to a great extent it clothes us ; without it we should 
 not have manufactures ; we should not have commerce. 
 They all stand together like pillars in a cluster, the larg- 
 est in the center, and that largest — Agriculture.' 
 
 " The great manufacturing interests of our country 
 are the product of the century now closing. The policy 
 
70 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 of the British government was to suppress manufactur- 
 ing in the English- American colonies, and cloth-making 
 was confined to the household. When non-importation 
 agreements cut off supplies from Great Britain, the Irish 
 flax-wheel and the Dutch wool-wheel were made active 
 in families. All other kinds of manufacturing were of 
 small account in this country until the concluding dec- 
 ade of the last century. In Great Britain the inventions 
 of Hargreaves, Arkwright, and Crompton, had stimu- 
 lated the cotton and woolen manufactures, and the 
 effects finally reached the United States. Massachu- 
 setts offered a grant of money to promote the establish- 
 ment of a cotton-mill, and one was built at Beverly in 
 1787, the first erected in the United States. It had not 
 the improved English machinery. In 1789, Samuel 
 Slater came from England with a full knowledge of that 
 machiner}/, and in connection with Messrs. Almy and 
 Brown of Providence, B. I., established a cotton factory 
 there in 1790, with the improved implements. Then 
 was really begun the manufacture of cotton in the United 
 States. Twenty years later, the number of cotton-mills 
 in our country was one hundred and sixty-eight, v/ith 
 90,000 spindles. The business has greatly expanded. 
 In Massachusetts, the foremost State in the manufact- 
 ure of cotton, there are now over two hundred mills, 
 employing, in prosperous times, 50,000 persons, and a 
 capital of more than $30,000,000. The city of Lowell 
 was founded by the erection of a cotton-mill there in 
 1822 ; and there the printing of calico was first begun in 
 the United States soon afterward. 
 
 ''With wool, as with cotton, the manufacture into 
 cloth was confined to liouseholds, for Iiome use, until 
 
ITS RAPID PROGRESS. 71 
 
 near tlie close of the last century. The wool was carded 
 between two cards held in the hands of the operator, 
 and all the processes were slow and crude. In 1797, 
 Asa Whitteniore of Massachusetts invented a cardinsr- 
 
 o 
 
 machine, and this led to the establishment of woolen 
 manufactures outside of families. In his famous report 
 on manufactures, in 1791, Alexander Hamilton said 
 that of woolen goods, hats only had reached maturity. 
 The business had been carried on with success in colo- 
 nial times. The wool was felted by hand, and furs were 
 added by the same slow process. This manual labor 
 continued until a little more than thirty years ago, when 
 it was supplanted by machinery. Immense numbers of 
 hats of every kind are now made in our country. 
 
 " At the time of Hamilton's report, there was only 
 one woolen-mill in the United States. This was at Hart- 
 ford, Connecticut. In it were made cloths and cassi- 
 meres. Now, woolen factories may be found in almost 
 every State in the Union, turning out annually the 
 finest cloths, cassimeres, flannels, carpets, and every 
 variety of goods made of wool. In this business, as in 
 cotton, Massachusetts has taken the lead. The value of 
 manufactured woolens in the United States, at the close 
 of the civil war, was estimated at about $60,000,000. 
 The supply of wool in the United States has never been 
 equal to the demand. 
 
 "The smelting of iron ore and the manufacture of 
 iron has become an immense business in our country. 
 The development of ore deposits and of coal used in 
 smelting, are among the marvels of our history. English 
 navigation laws discouraged iron manuficture in the col- 
 onies. Only blast-furnaces for making pig-iron were al- 
 
72 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 lowed. This product was nearly all sent to England in 
 exchange for manufactured articles; and the whole 
 amount of such exportation, at the beginning of the old 
 war for independence, was less than 8,000 tons annually. 
 The colonists were wholly dependent upon Great Britain 
 for articles manufactured of ii'on and steel, excepting 
 rude implements made by blacksmiths for domestic use. 
 During the war, the Continental Congress were com- 
 pelled to establish manufactures of iron and steel. 
 These were chiefly in Northern New Jersey, the Hud- 
 son Highlands, and Western Connecticut, where excel- 
 lent ore was found, and forests in abundance for making 
 charcoal. The first use of anthracite coal for smelting 
 iron was in the Continental Armory at Carlisle, in Penn- 
 sylvania, in 1775. But charcoal was imiversally used 
 until 1840 for smelting ores. 
 
 "Now, iron is manufactured in our country in 
 every form from a nail to a locojnotive. A vast number 
 of machines have been invented for carrying on these 
 manufactures; and the products in cutlery, fire-arms, 
 railway materials, and machinery of every kind, employ 
 vast numbers of men and a great amount of capital. 
 Our locomotive builders are regarded as the best in the 
 world ; and no nation on the globe can compete with us 
 in the construction of steamboats of every kind, from 
 the iron-clad war steamer to the harbor tug. 
 
 " In the manufacture of copper, silver, and gold, there 
 has been great progress. At the close of the Revolution, 
 no manufactures of the kind existed in our country. 
 Now, the manufacture of copper-ware yearl}^, of every 
 kind, and jewelry and watches, has become a large item 
 in our commercial tables. 
 
ITS RAPID PROGRESS. 73 
 
 "The manufactm-e of paper is a very large item in tlie 
 business of our country. At the close of the Revolution 
 there were only three mills in the United States. At 
 the beginning of the war, a demand sprung up, and Wil- 
 cox, in his mill near Philadelphia, made the first writing- 
 paper produced in this country. He manufactured the 
 thick, coarse paper on which the continental money was 
 printed. So early as 1794 the business had so increased 
 that there were in Pennsylvania alone forty-eight paper- 
 mills. There has been a steady increase in the business 
 ever since. Within the last twenty-five years, that in- 
 crease has been enormous, and yet not • sufficient to meet 
 the demand. Improvements in printing-presses have 
 cheapened the production of books and newspapers, and 
 the circulation of these has greatly increased. It is 
 estimated that the amount of paper now manufactured 
 annually in the United States for these, for paper-hang- 
 ings, and for ^vi-apping paper, is full 800,000,000 pounds. 
 The supply of raw material here has not been equal to 
 the demand, and rags to the value of about $2,000,000 
 in a year have been imported. 
 
 '" The manufacture of ships, carriages, wagons, clocks 
 and watches, pins, leather, glass, Indian-rubber, silk, 
 wood, sewing-machines, and a variety of other things 
 wholly unknown or feebly carried on a hundred years 
 ago, now flourish, and form very important items in our 
 domestic commerce. The sewing-machine is an Ameri- 
 can invention, and the first really practical one was 
 fii'st ofiered to the public by Elias Howe, Jr., about thirty 
 years ago. A patent had been obtained for one five 
 years before. Great improvements have been made, 
 and now a very extensive business in the manufacture 
 
74 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 and sale of sewing-machines is carried on by different 
 companies, employing a large amount of capital and 
 costly machinery, and a great number of persons. 
 
 " The mining interests of the United States have be- 
 come an eminent part of the national wealth. The ex- 
 traction of lead, iron, copper, the precious metals, and 
 coal, from the bosom of the earth, is a business that has 
 almost wholly grown up within the last hundred years. 
 In 1754 a lead mine Avas worked in Southwestern Vir- 
 ginia; and in 1778, Dubuque, a French miner, worked 
 lead-ore deposits on tho western bank of the upper 
 Mississippi. The Jesuit missionaries discovered copper 
 in the Lake Superior region more than two hundred 
 years ago, and that remains the chief source of our native 
 copper ore. That metal is produced in smaller quantities 
 in other States, chiefly in the West and Southwest. 
 
 " A lust for gold, and the knowledge of its existence 
 in America, was the chief incentive to emigration to 
 these shores. But within the domain of our Republic 
 very little of it was found, until that domain was ex- 
 tended far toward the Pacific ocean. It was unsus- 
 pected until long after the Revolution. Finally, gold 
 was discovered among tho mountains of Virginia, North 
 and South Carolina, and in Georgia. North Carolina 
 was the first State in the Union to send gold to the mint 
 in Philadelphia. Its first small contribution was in 
 1804. From that time until 1823 the average amount 
 produced from North Carolina mines did not exceed 
 $2,500 annually. Virginia's first contribution was in 
 1829, when that of North Carolina, for that year, was 
 $128,000. Georgia sent its first contribution in 1830. 
 It amounted to ^212,000, The product so increased 
 
ITS EAPID PROGRESS. 75 
 
 that branch mints were established in North Carolina 
 and Georgia in 1837 and 1838, and another in New 
 Orleans. 
 
 "In 1848, gold was discovered on the American fork 
 of the Sacramento River in California, and soon after- 
 ward elsewhere in that region. A gold fever seized the 
 people of the United States, and thousands rushed to 
 California in search of the precious metals. Within a 
 year from the discovery, nearly 50,000 people were there. 
 Less than five years afterward, California, in one year, sent 
 to the United States mint full ^40,000,000 in gold. Its 
 entire gold product to this time is estimated at more 
 than 1800,000,000. Over all the far Western States 
 and Territories the precious metals, gold and silver, 
 seem to be scattered in profusion, and the amount of 
 mineral wealth yet to be discovered there seems to be 
 incalculable. Our coal fields seem to be inexhaustible ; 
 and out of the bosom of the earth, in portions of our 
 country, flow millions of barrels annually of petroleum, 
 or rock oil, afibrding the cheapest illuminating material 
 in the world. 
 
 "Mineral coal was first discovered and used in Penn- 
 sylvania at the period of the Revolution. A boat load 
 was sent down the Susquehanna from Wilkesbarre for 
 the use of the Continental works at Carlisle. But it 
 was not much used before the war of 1812 ; and the regu- 
 lar business of mining this fuel did not become a part of 
 the commerce of the country before the year 1820, when 
 365 tons were sent to Philadelphia. At the present 
 time the amount of coal sent to market from the Amer- 
 ican mines, of all kinds, is eo^ual to full 15,000,000 tons 
 annually. 
 
76 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 ''The commerce of the United States has had a won- 
 derful growth. Its most active development was seen 
 in New England. British legislation imposed heavy- 
 burdens upon it in colonial times, and like manufact- 
 ures, it was greatly depressed. The New Englanders 
 built many vessels for their own use, but more for others ; 
 and just before the breaking out of the Kevolution, there 
 was quite a brisk trade carried on between the English- 
 American colonies and the West Indies, as well as with 
 the mother country. The colonists exported tobacco, 
 lumber, shingles, staves, masts, turpentine, hemp, flax, 
 pot and pearl ashes, salted fish in great quantities, some 
 corn, live stock, pig-ii'on, and skins and furs procured 
 by traffic with the Indians. Whale and cod fishing was 
 an important branch of commerce. In the former, there 
 were 160 vessels employed at the beginning of 1775, 
 and sperm candles and whale oil were exported to Great 
 Britain. In exchange for New England products, a 
 large amount of molasses was brought from the West 
 Indies, and made into rum to sell to the Indians and 
 fishermen, and to exchange for slaves on the coast of 
 Africa. The entire exports of the colonies in the year 
 1770 amounted in value to $14,262,000. 
 
 "At the close of the war, the British government re- 
 fused to enter into commercial relations with the 
 United States government, believing that the weak 
 league of States Avould soon be dissolved ; but when a 
 vigorous national government was formed in 1789, 
 Great Britain, for the first, sent a resident minister to 
 our government, and entered into a commercial arrange 
 ment with us. Meanwhile, a brisk trade had sprung up 
 between the colonies and Great Britain, as well as with 
 
ITS RAPID PROGRESS. 
 
 other countries. From 1784 to 1790 the exports from 
 the United States to Great Britain amounted to $33,- 
 000,000, and the imports from Great Britain to $87,000,- 
 000. At the same time several new and important 
 branches of industry had appeared, and flourished with 
 great rapidity. 
 
 "From that time the expansion of American commerce 
 was marvelous, in spite of the checks it received from 
 British jealousy, wars, piracies in the Mediterranean 
 Sea and elsewhere, and the effects ot embargoes. The 
 tonnage of American ships, which in 1789 was 201,562, 
 was in 1870 more than 7,000,000. The exports from 
 the United States in 1870 amounted to about S464,- 
 000,000, and the imports to about $395,000,000 in gold. 
 
 " The domestic commerce of the United States is im- 
 mense. A vast sea-coast line, great lakes, large rivers, 
 and many canals, afibrd scope for inter-State commerce 
 and with adjoining countries, not equaled by those of 
 any nation. The canal and railway systems in the 
 United States are the product chiefly of the present cen- 
 tury. So also is navigation by steam, on which river 
 commerce chiefly relies for transportation. This was 
 begun in the year 1807. The first canals made in this 
 country were two short ones, for a water passage around 
 the South Hadley and Montague Falls, in Massachusetts. 
 These were constructed in 1792. At about the same 
 time the Inland Lock jN'avigation Companies in the State 
 of New York began their work. The Middlesex Canal, 
 connecting Lowell with Boston harbor, was completed in 
 1808, and the great Erie Canal, 363 miles in length, was 
 finished in 1825, at a cost of almost $8,000,000. The 
 aggregate length of canals built in the United States is 
 3,200 miles. 
 
78 THE UXITED STATES tN PHOPHECY. 
 
 " The first railway buih in the United States was one 
 three miles in length, that connected the granite quar- 
 ries at Quincjj Mass., with the Neponset Eiver. It 
 was completed in 1827 ; horse-power was used. The 
 first use of a locomotive in this country was in 1829, 
 when one was put upon a raihvay that connected the 
 coal mines of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company 
 with Honesdale."^ Now, railways form a thick network 
 all over the United States east of the Mississippi, and 
 are rapidly spreading over the States and Territories be- 
 yond, to the Pacific ocean. To these facilities for com- 
 mercial operations must be added the Electro-Magnetic 
 Telegraph, an American invention, as a method of 
 transmitting intelligence, and giving warning signals to 
 the shipping and agricultural interests concerning the 
 actual and probable state of the weather each day. The 
 first line, forty miles in length, was constructed between 
 Baltimore and Washington in 1844. Now the lines are 
 extended to every part of our Union, and all over the 
 civilized world, traversing oceans and rivers, and bring- 
 ing Persia and New York within one hour's space of in- 
 tercommunication. 
 
 "Banking institutions and insurance companies are 
 intimately connected with commerce. The first bank in 
 the United States was established in 1781, as a financial 
 aid to the government. It was called the Bank of North 
 America. The Bank of New York and Bank of Massa- 
 chusetts were established soon afterward. On the rec- 
 ommendation of Hamiltoli, in 1791, a national bank was 
 established at Philadelphia, with a capital of $10,000,000, 
 
 * This was for freight only. The first passenger railway was opened 
 in ISno, as stated on pp. 03, 04. 
 
ITS RAPID PROGRESS. 70 
 
 of which sum the government subscribed |2,000,000. 
 Various banking systems, under State charters, have 
 since been tried. During the civil war a system of na- 
 tional banking was established, by which there is a uni- 
 form paper currency throughout the tJnion. The num- 
 ber of national banks at the close of 1 863 was 66 ; the 
 number at the close of 1874 was not far from 1,700, in- 
 volving capital to the amount of almost ^500, 000,000. 
 
 *' Fire, marine, and life insurance companies have 
 flourished greatly in the United States. The first in- 
 corporated company was established in 1792, in Phila- 
 delphia, and known as the ' Fire Insurance Company of 
 North America.' Another was established in Provi- 
 dence, Phode Island, in 1799, and another in New York 
 in 1806. The first life insurance company was chartered 
 in Massachusetts in 25, and the 'New York Life In- 
 surance and Trust Company ' was established in 1829- 
 All others are of recent organization. As a rule, the 
 business of insurance of every kind is profitable to the 
 insurers and the insured. amount of capital en- 
 
 gaged in it is enormous. The fire risks alone, at the 
 close of 1874, amounted to about $200,000,000. 
 
 " Our growth in population has been steadily increased 
 by immigration from Europe. It began very moderately 
 after the Revolution. From 1784 to 1794 the average 
 number of immigrants a year was 4,000. During tne 
 last ten years the number of persons who have emigrated 
 to the United States from Europe is estimated at over 
 2,000,000, who brought with them, in the aggregate, 
 $200,000,000 in money. This capital and the productive 
 labor of the immigrants have added much to the wealth 
 of our country. This immigration and wealth is less 
 
80 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 than during the ten years preceding the civil war, din- 
 ing which time there came to this country from Europe 
 2,814,554 persons, bringing with them an average of at 
 least 1100, or an aggregate of over §281,000,000. 
 
 " The Arts, Sciences, and Invention have made great 
 progress in our country during the last hundred years. 
 These, at the close of the Revolution, were of little ac- 
 count in estimating the advance of the race. The prac- 
 titioners of the Arts of Design, at that period, were 
 chiefly Europeans. Of native artists, C. W. Peale and 
 J. S. Copley stood at the head of painters. There were 
 no sculptors, and no engravers of any eminence. Archi- 
 tects, in the proper sense, there were none. After the 
 Revolution a few good painters appeared, and these 
 have gi-adually increased in numbers and excellence, 
 without much encouragement, except in portraiture, un- 
 til within the last twenty-five years. We have now 
 good sculptors, architects, engravers, and lithogi-aphers; 
 and in all of these departments, as well as in photog- 
 raphy, very great progress has been made within the 
 last thirty or forty years. In wood engraving, especially, 
 the improvement has been wonderful. Forty years ago 
 there were not more than a dozen practitioners of the 
 art in this country; now there are between four and five 
 hundred. At the head of that class of artists stands the 
 name of Dr. Alexander Anderson, who was the first man 
 who ensfraved on wood in the United States. Ho died 
 in 1870 at the age of ninety-five years. In bank-note 
 engi'aving we have attained to greater excellence than 
 any other people. It is considered the most perfect 
 branch of the art in design and execution. 
 
 " Associations have been formed for improvements in 
 
ITS RAPID PROGRESS. 81 
 
 the Arts of Design. The first was organized in Phila- 
 delphia in 1791, by C. W. Peale, in connection with 
 Ceracchi, the Italian sculptor. It failed. In 1802 the 
 American Academy of Fine Arts was organized in the 
 city of New York, and in 1807 the Pennsylvania Acad- 
 emy of Fine Arts, yet in existence, was established in 
 Philadelphia. In 1826 the American Academy of Fine 
 Arts was superseded by the National Academy of De- 
 sign, in the city of New York, which is now a flourish- 
 ing institution. 
 
 "In education and literature our progress has kept 
 pace with other things. At the very beginning of set- 
 tlements, the common school was made the special care 
 of the State in New England. Not so much attention 
 was given to this matter elsewhere in the colonies. The 
 need of higher institutions of learning was early felt; 
 and eighteen years after the landing of the Pilgrims 
 from the Mayflower, Harvard College was founded. 
 When the war for independence began, there were nine 
 colleges in the colonies; namely. Harvard, at Cambridge, 
 Mass. ; William and Mary, at Williamsburg, Va. ; Yale, 
 at New Haven, Conn. ; College of New Jersey, at Prince- 
 ton; University of Pennsylvania, at Philadelphia; King's 
 (now Columbia) in the city of New York; Brown Uni- 
 versity, at Providence, R. I.; Dartmouth, at Hanover, 
 N. H.; and Rutgers at New Brunswick, N. J. There 
 ajre now about 300 colleges in the United States. 
 
 " At the period of the Revolution, teaching in the 
 common schools was very meager, and remained so for 
 full thirty years. Only reading, spelling, and arithmetic 
 were regularly taught. The Psalter, the New Testa- 
 ment, and the Bible constituted the reading-books. No 
 6 
 
82 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 liistory was read ; no geograjihy or grammar was taught; 
 and until the putting forth of Webster's spelling-book in 
 1783, pronunciation was left to the judgment of teachers. 
 That book produced a revolution. 
 
 " As the nation advanced in wealth and intelligence, 
 the necessity for correct popular education became more 
 and more manifest, and associated eflforts were made for 
 the improvement of the schools by providing for the 
 training of teachers, under the respective phases of 
 Teachers' Associations, Educational Periodicals, Normal 
 Schools, and Teachers' Institutes. The first of these so- 
 cieties in this country was tiie ' Middlesex County Asso- 
 ciation for the Improvement of Common Schools,' estab- 
 lished at Middletown, Connecticut, in 1799. But little 
 of importance was done in that direction until within the 
 last forty-five years. Now, provision is made in all sec- 
 tions of the Union, nob only for the support of common 
 schools, but for training-schools for teachers. Since the 
 civil war, great efforts have been made to establish com- 
 mon-school systems in the late slave-labor States, that 
 should include among the beneficiaries the colored popu- 
 lation. Much has been done in that regard. 
 
 u Yery great improvements have been made in the or- 
 ganization and discipline of the public schools in cities 
 within the last thirty years. Free schools are rapidly 
 spreading their beneficent influence over the whole 
 Union, and in some States laws have been made that 
 compel all children of a certain age to go to school. In- 
 stitutions for the special culture of young women in all 
 that pertains to college education, have been established 
 within a few years. The pioneer in this work is Vassar 
 College, at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., which was first opened 
 in the year 18G5. 
 
ITS HAPID P^OGHESS. 83 
 
 '' Besides the ordinary means for education, others 
 have been established for special purposes. There are 
 Law, Scientific, Medical, Theological, Military, Commer- 
 cial, and Agricultural Schools, and seminaries for the 
 deaf, dumb, and blind. In many States school- district 
 libraries have been established. There are continually 
 enlarging means provided for the education of the whole 
 people. Edmund Burke said, ' Education is the cheap 
 defense of nations.' 
 
 " Our literature is as varied as the tastes of the peo- 
 ple. No subject escapes the attention of our native 
 scholars and authors. At the period of the Revolution, 
 books were tew in variety and numbers. The larger por- 
 tion of them were devoted to theological subjects. Book- 
 sellers were few, and were only found in the larger cities. 
 Various subjects were discussed in pamphlets — not gen- 
 erally in newspapers, as now. The editions of books were 
 small, and as stereotyping was unknown, they became rare 
 in a few years, because there was only a costly way of 
 reproduction. 
 
 "In the year 1801, a new impetus was given to the 
 book trade by the formation of the ' American Company 
 of Booksellers ' — a kind of ' union.' Twenty years later, 
 competition broke up the association. Before the war of 
 1812, the book trade in the United States was small. 
 Only school books had very large sales. Webster's 
 spelling-book was an example of the increasing demand 
 for such helps to education. During the twenty years 
 he was engaged on his dictionary, the income from his 
 spelling-book supported him and his family. It was 
 published in 1783, and its sales have continually in- 
 creased to the present time, when they amount to over 
 
84 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 1,000,000 copies a year. Other school books of every 
 kind now have an immense annual circulation. The gen- 
 eral Look trade in this country is now immense in the 
 number of volumes issued and the capital and labor 
 employed. Readers are rapidly increasing. An ardent 
 thii-st for knowledge or entertainment to be found in 
 books, magazines, and newspapers, makes a very large 
 demand for these vehicles, while, at the same time, they 
 produce wide-spread intelligence. The magazine litera- 
 ture, now generally healthful, is a powerful coadjutor of 
 books in this popular culture; and the newspaper, not 
 always so healthful, supplies the daily and weekly de- 
 mand for ephemerals in literature and general knowledge. 
 To meet that demand required great improvements in 
 printing machinery, and these have been supplied. 
 
 " The printing-press, at the time of the Revolution, is 
 shown in that used by Franklin, in which the pressure 
 force was obtained by means of a screw. The ink was 
 applied by huge balls; and an expert workman could 
 furnish about fifty impressions an horn-. This was im- 
 proved by Earl Stanhope in 1815, by substituting for 
 the screw a jointed lever. Then came inking machines, 
 and one man could work off 250 copies an hour. Years 
 passed on, and the cylinder press was invented; and in 
 1847 it was perfected by Richard M. Hoe of New York. 
 This has been further improved lately, and a printing- 
 press is now used which will strike ofi" 15,000 newspa- 
 pers, printed on both sides, every hour. 
 
 " The newspapers jjrinted in the United States at the 
 beginning of the Revolution were few in number, small 
 in size, and very meager in information of any kind. 
 They were issued weekly, semi-weekly, and tri-weekly. 
 
ITS RAPID PROGRESS.. 85 
 
 The first daily newspaper issued in this country was the 
 American Daily Advertiser, established in Philadelphia 
 in 1784. In 1775 there were 37 newspapers and peri- 
 odicals in the United States, with an aggregate issue 
 that year of 1,200,000 copies. In 1870 the number of 
 daily newspapers in the United States was 542; and of 
 weeklies, 4,425. Of the dailies, 800,000,000 were issued 
 that year; of the weeklies, 600,000,000 ; and of other 
 serial publications, 100,000,000, making an aggregate of 
 full 1,500,000,000 copies. To these figures should be 
 made a large addition at the close of 1875. There are 
 now about forty newspapers in the United States which 
 have existed over fifty years. 
 
 "In the providing of means for moral and religious 
 culture and benevolent enterprises, there has been great 
 progress in this country during the century now closing. 
 The various religious denominations have increased in 
 membership fully in proportion to the increase of popu- 
 lation. Asylums of every kind for the unfortunate and 
 friendless have been multiplied in an equal ratio, and 
 provision is made for all. 
 
 " One of the most conspicuous examples of the growth 
 of our Republic is presented by the postal service. Dr. 
 Franklin had been Colonial Postmaster-General, and he 
 was appointed to the same office for one year by the 
 Continental Congress in the summer of 1775. He held 
 the position a little more than a year, and at the end of 
 his official term there were about 50 post-offices in the 
 United States. All the accounts of the General Post- 
 Office Department during that period were contained in 
 a small book consisting of about two quires of foolscap 
 paper, which is preserved in the Department at Wash- 
 
86 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 ington City. Througli all the gloomy years of the weak 
 Confederacy, the business of the Department was com- 
 paratively light; and when the national government be- 
 gan its career in 1789 there were only about seventy-five 
 post-offices, with an aggregate length of post-roads of 
 about 1,900 miles. The annual income was $28,000, 
 and the annual expenditures were $32,000. The mails 
 were carried by postmen on horseback, and sometimes on 
 foot. Now the number of post-offices is over 33,000; 
 the aggregate length of post-routes is 256,000 miles; the 
 annual revenue, $23,000,000, and the annual expendi- 
 tures, $29,000,000. 
 
 " We may safely claim for our people and country a 
 progress in all that constitutes a vigorous and prosperous 
 nation during the century just passed, equal, if not su- 
 perior, to that of any other on the globe. And to the 
 inventive genius and skill of the Americans may be 
 fairly awarded a large share of the honor acquired by the 
 construction of machinery which has so largely taken the 
 place of manual labor. In that progress the American 
 citizen beholds a tangible prophecy of a brilliant future 
 for his country." 
 
 The following paragraphs which went the rounds 
 of the papers a few years ago, present a good sum- 
 mary of the success "Brother Jonathan" has 
 achieved thus far in his career : — 
 
 " Brother Jonathan commenced business in 1776, with 
 thirteen States and 815,615 square miles of territory 
 which was occupied by about 3,000,000 of civilized hu- 
 man beings. He has now a family of 43,000,000, who 
 occupy thirty-seven States and nine Teriitories, which 
 
ITS RAPID PEOGRESS. cS7 
 
 embrace over 3,000,000 of square miles. He has 65,000 
 miles of railroad, more than sufficient to reach twice and 
 a half around the globe. The value of his annual agri- 
 cultural productions is $2,500,000,000, and his gold 
 mines are capable of producing $70,000,000 a year. He 
 has more than 1000 cotton factories, 580 daily newspa- 
 pers, 4,300 weeklies, and 625 monthly publications. He 
 has also many other things too numerous and too notori- 
 ous to mention." 
 
 " The United States of America issues more newspa- 
 pers, in number and in aggregate circulation, than all 
 the rest of the world combined. America outnumbers the 
 press of Great Britain six to one, and has nearly half 
 a dozen daily papers which print more copies every issue 
 than does the London Times.'" 
 
 The rate of growth maintained in this country 
 since the compilation of the foregoing figures in 
 1876, may be best shown by comparing them with 
 the figures on some of the items named above from 
 the census of 1880. Thus the people of the United 
 States, at this last-named date, possessed, in round 
 numbers, 38,000,000 cattle and 48,000,000 swine. 
 This is a larger number of cattle than any other na- 
 tion can show, India having but 30,000,000, and 
 Kussia 29,000,000. We have 10,500,000 horses, be- 
 ing surpassed in this respect only by Russia, which 
 has 20,000,000. We come fourth in the list of 
 sheep-raising nations, having 36,000,000; but in the 
 food-producing animals, cattle and hogs, our coun 
 try leads the world. 
 
 According to returns for the year 1882, our corn 
 
88 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 crop amounted to 2,720,000,000 bushels ; wheat, 
 520,000,000 bushels; hay, 32,000,000 tons; coal, 
 80,000,000 tons; petroleum, 27,500,000 barrels; pig- 
 iron, 4,000,000 tons; manufactured steel rails, 900,- 
 000 tons. 
 
 And nature herself, by the physical features she 
 has stamped upon our country, has seemed to lay it 
 out as a field for national development on the most 
 magnificent scale. Here we have the largest lakes, 
 the longest rivers, the mightiest cataracts, the deep- 
 est caves, the broadest and most fertile prairies, and 
 the richest mines of gold and iron and coal and cop- 
 per, to be found upon the globe. ''When America 
 was discovered, there were but sixty millions of gold 
 in Europe. California and the Territories around 
 her have produced one thousand millions of dollars 
 in gold in twenty years. Sixty-one million dollars 
 was the largest annual gold yield ever made in Aus- 
 tralia. California has several times produced ninety 
 millions of gold in a year." — Townsend, p. 384. 
 "The area of workable coal-beds in all the world 
 outside the United States is estimated at 26,000 
 square miles. That of the United States, not in- 
 cluding Alaska, is estimated at over 200,000 square 
 miles, or eight times as large as the available coal 
 area of all the rest of the globe ! " — American Year 
 Book for 1869, p. 655. " The iron product and 
 manufacture of the United States has increased 
 enormously within the last few years, and the vast 
 beds of iron convenient to coal in various parts of 
 the Union are destined to make America the chief 
 
ITS RAPID PROGRESS. 89 
 
 source of supply for the world." '' Three mountains 
 of solid iron [in Missouri], known as Iron Mountain, 
 Pilot Knob, and Shepherd's Mountain, are among 
 the most remarkable natural curiosities on our con- 
 tinent." — Id., p. 654. 
 
 And the people have taken hold to lay out their 
 work on the grand scale that nature has ir«iicated. 
 Excepting only the Houses of Parliament in London, 
 our national capitol at Washington is the most 
 spacious and imposing national edifice in the world. 
 By the unparalleled feat of a subterranean tunnel 
 two miles out under the bottom of the lake, Chicago 
 obtains her water. Chicago is the most extensive 
 grain and lumber market in the world; and Phila- 
 delphia and New York contain the largest and best- 
 furnished printing establishments now in existence. 
 The submarine cable, running like a thread of light 
 through the depths of the broad Atlantic from the 
 United States to England, a conception of American 
 genius, is the greatest achievement in the telegraphic 
 line. The Pacific Railroad, that iron highway from 
 the Atlantic to the Pacific, stands at the head of all 
 monuments of engineering skill in modern times. 
 Following the first Atlantic cable, soon came a sec- 
 ond almost as a matter of course; and following the 
 Central Pacific Railroad, a southern line has already 
 been opened, and a northern line draws rapidly to- 
 ward completion. And Avhat results are expected 
 to flow from these mighty enterprises? The Scien- 
 tific American of Oct. 6, 1866, says: — 
 
 "To exaggerate the importance of this transconti- 
 
90 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 nental highway is almost impossible. To a certain extent 
 it will change the relative positions of this country, 
 Europe, and Asia With the completion of the Pa- 
 cific Railroad, instead of receiving our goods from India, 
 China, Japan, and the ' isles of the sea,' by way of Lon- 
 don and Liverpool, we shall bring them dii'ect by way of 
 the Sandwich Islands and the railroad, and become the 
 carriers, to a great extent, for Europe. But this is but 
 a portion of the advantage of this work. Our Western 
 mountains are almost literally mountains of gold and 
 silver. In them the Arabian fable of Aladdin is real- 
 ized Let the road be completed, and the comforts 
 
 as well as the necessaries furnished by Asia, the manu- 
 factures of Europe, and the productions of the States, 
 can be brought by the iron horse almost to the miner's 
 door; and in the production and possession of the precious 
 metals, the blood of commerce, we shall be the richest 
 nation on the globe. But the substantial wealth created 
 by the improvement of the soil and the development of 
 the resources of the country, is a still more important 
 element in the result of this vast work." 
 
 Thus, with the idea of becoming the carriers of 
 the world, tlie highway of the nations, and the rich- 
 est power on the globe, the American heart swells 
 with pride, and mounts up with aspirations to which 
 there is no limit. 
 
 And the extent to which we have come up is fur- 
 ther shown by the influence which we are exerting 
 on other nations. Speaking of America, Mr. Towns- 
 end, in the work above cited, p. 462, says: — 
 
 <'Out of her discovery grew the European reformation 
 
ITS RAPID PEOGRESS. 91 
 
 in religion; out of our Revolutionary War grew the rev- 
 olutionary period of Europe. And out of our rapid de- 
 velopment among great states and liappy peoples, lias 
 come an immigration more wonderful than that which in- 
 vaded Europe from Asia in the latter centuries of the 
 Roman empii^e. When w^e raised our flag on the At- 
 lantic, Europe sent her contributions; it appeared on the 
 Pacific, and all Orientalism felt the signal. They are 
 coming in two endless fleets, eastward and westward, 
 and the highway is swung between the oceans for them 
 to tread upon. We have lightened Ireland of half her 
 weight, and Germany is coming by the village-load every 
 day. England herself is sending the best of her working- 
 men now (1869), and in such numbers as to dismay her 
 Jack Bunsbys. What is to be the limit of this mighty 
 immigration 1 " 
 
 The American Traveller, published in Boston, 
 Mass., in its issue of Feb. 24, 1883, says: — 
 
 " The growth of immigration is one of the most strik- 
 ing facts of the jDeriod. In 1881 the total arrivals were 
 720,000, and in 1882 they rose to 735,000. These fig- 
 ures are impressive. They foreshadow an addition to 
 our population, by immigration alone, if this rate is 
 maintained, of seven million persons in the next ten 
 years." 
 
 This would be more than twice the entire popula- 
 tion of the country at the beginning of our 
 independence. It is estimated that last year's 
 immigrants brought with them a cash capital of 
 $62,470,000; and if each one is worth, as a produc- 
 ing machine, as is claimed from careful estimates, 
 
92 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 $1000, Europe has added to our capital stock, the 
 past two years, the handsome sum of $1,455,000,000. 
 Speakmg of our influence and standing in the 
 Pacific, Mr. Townsend, p. 608, says: — 
 
 "In the Pacific ocean, these four powers [England, 
 France, Holland, and Russia] are squarely met by the 
 United States, which, without possessions or the wish of 
 them, has paramount influence in Japan, the favor of 
 China, the friendly countenance of Russia, and good 
 feeling with all the great English colonies planted there. 
 The United States is the only power on the Pacific which 
 has not been guilty of intrigue, of double-dealing, of 
 envy, and of bitterness, and it has taken the/iron^ rank in 
 influence without awakening the dislike of any of its 
 competitors, possibly excepting those English who are 
 never magnanimous." 
 
 And Hon. Wm. H. Seward, on his return from 
 his celebrated trip around the world, said, "Ameri- 
 cans are now the fashion all over the world." 
 
 With one more extract we close the testimony on 
 this point. In the New York Independent of July 
 7, 1870, Hon. Schuyler Colfax, then Vice-President 
 of the United States, glancing briefly at the past 
 history of this country, said: — 
 
 " Wonderful, indeed, has been that history. Spring- 
 ing into life from under the heel of tyranny, its progress 
 has been onward, with the firm step of a conqueror. 
 From the rugged clime of New England, from the banks 
 of the Chesapeake, from the Savannahs of Carolina and 
 Greorgia, the descendants of the Puritans, the Cavalier, 
 and the Huguenot, swept over the towering Alleghanies, 
 
ITS RAPID PROGRESa 93 
 
 but a century ago the barrier between civilization on the 
 one side and almost unbroken barbarism on the other ; 
 and the banners of the Kepublic waved from flagstaff and 
 highland, through the broad valleys of the Ohio, the 
 Mississippi, and the Missouri. Nor stopped its progress 
 there. Thence onward poured the tide of American civ- 
 ilization and progress, over the vast regions of the West- 
 ern plains j and from the snowy crests of the Sierras you 
 look down on American States fronting the calm Pacific, 
 an empire of themselves in resoui'ces and wealth, but 
 loyal in our darkest hours to the nation whose authority 
 they acknowledge, and in whose glory they proudly share. 
 " From a territorial area of less than nine hundred 
 thousand square miles, it has expanded into over three 
 millions and i half, — fifteen times larger than that of 
 Great Britain and France combined, — with a shore-line, 
 including Alaska, equal to the entire circumference of the 
 earth, and with a domain within these Knes far wider 
 than that of the Romans in their proudest days of con- 
 quest and renown. With a river, lake, and coastwise com- 
 merce estimated at over two thousand millions of dollars 
 per year ; with railway traffic of from four to six thou- 
 sand millions per year, and the annual domestic ex- 
 changes of the country running up to nearly ten thou- 
 sand millions per year; with over two thousand millions 
 of dollars invested in manufacturing, mechanical, and 
 mining industry ; with over five hundred millions of 
 acres of land in actual occupancy, valued, with their ap- 
 purtenances, at over seven thousand millions of dollars, 
 and producing annually crops valued at over three thou- 
 sand millions of dollars ; with a realm which, if the 
 density of Belgium's population were possible, would be 
 
94 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 vast enough to include all the present inhabitants of the 
 world ; and with equal rights guaranteed to even the 
 poorest and humblest of over forty millions of people, 
 we can, with a manly pride akin to that which distin- 
 guished the palmiest days of Rome, claim, as the noblest 
 title of the world, 'I am an American citizen.' " 
 
 And how long a time has it taken for this won- 
 derful transformation ? In the language of Edward 
 Everett, " They are but lately dead who saw the 
 first-born of the Pilgrims ; " and Mr. Townsend (p. 
 21) says, '' The memory of one man can swing from 
 that time of primitive government to this — when 
 thirty-eight millions of people [he could now say 
 fifty-two millions] living on two oceans and in two 
 zones, are repi'esented in Washington, and their con- 
 suls and ambassadors are in every port and metrop- 
 olis of the globe." 
 
 Is this enough ? The only objection we can an- 
 ticipate is that this nation has progressed too fast 
 and too far, — that the government has already out- 
 grown the symbol. But what shall be thought of 
 those who deny that it has any place in prophecy at 
 all? No; this prodigy has its place on the prophetic 
 page ; and the path which has thus far led us to the 
 conclusion that the two-horned beast is the prophetic 
 symbol of the United States is hedged in on either 
 side by walls of adamant that reach to heaven. To 
 make any other application is an utter impossibility. 
 The thought would be folly, and the attempt, 
 abortion. 
 
Qha^tcz^ S>ioC'. 
 
 CHARACTER OF THE GOVERNMENT REPRESENTED 
 BY THE TWO-HORNED BEAST. 
 
 HAVING given us data by which we determine 
 the location, chronology, and rapid rise of this 
 power, John now proceeds to describe the ap- 
 pearance of the two-horned beast, and speak of his 
 acts in such a manner as clearly to indicate his 
 character, both apparent and real. Every specifica- 
 tion thus far examined has held the application im- 
 peratively to the United States, and we shall find 
 this one no less strong in the same direction. 
 
 This symbol has "two hornc like a lamb." To 
 those who have studied the prophecies of Daniel and 
 John, horns upon a beast are no unfamiliar features. 
 The ram (Dan. 8 : 3) had two horns. The he-goat 
 that came against him had at first one notable horn 
 between his eyes. This was broken, and four came 
 up in its place toward the four winds of heaven. 
 From one of these came forth another horn, which 
 waxed exceeding great. The fourth beast of Dan. 
 7 had ten horns. Among these, a little horn with 
 eyes and mouth, far-seeing, crafty, and blasphe- 
 mous, arose. The dragon and leopard beast of Rev. 
 12 and 13, denoting the same as the fourth beast of 
 Dan. 7 in its two phases, have each the same num- 
 
 [95] 
 
96 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 ber of horns, signifying the same thing. And the 
 symbol under consideration, has two horns like a 
 lamb. From the use of the horns on the other sym- 
 bols, some facts are apparent which may guide us to 
 an understanding of their use on this last one. 
 
 A horn is used in the Scriptures as a sjrmbol of 
 strength and power, as in Deut. 33: 17, and of glory 
 and honor, as in Job 16 : 15. 
 
 A horn is sometimes used to denote a nation as a 
 whole, as the four horns of the goat, the little horn 
 of Dan. 8, and the ten horns of the fourth beast of 
 Dan. 7 ; and sometimes some particular feature of 
 the government; as the first horn of the goat, which 
 denoted not the nation as a whole, but the civil 
 power, as centered in the first king, Alexander the 
 Great. 
 
 Horns do not always denote division, as in the 
 case of the four horns of the goat, etc. ; for the two 
 horns of the ram denote the union of Media and 
 Persia in one government. 
 
 A horn is not used exclusively to represent civil 
 power; for the little horn of Daniel's fourth beast, 
 the papacy, was a horn when it plucked up three 
 other horns, and established itself in 538. But it 
 was then purely an ecclesiastical power, and so re- 
 mained for two hundred and seventeen years from 
 that time ; when Pepin, in the year 755, made the 
 Roman pontifi* a grant of some rich provinces in 
 Italy, which first constituted him a temporal mon- 
 arch. (Goodrich's History of the Church, p. 98; 
 Bower's History of the Popes, Vol. ii. p. 108.) 
 
CHARACTER OF THE GOVERNMENT. 97 
 
 With these facts before us, we are prepared to ex- 
 amine into the significance of the two horns which 
 pertain to this beast. Why does John say that he 
 has two horns like a lamb? Why not simply two 
 horns? It must be because these horns possess pe- 
 culiarities which indicate the character of the power 
 to which they belono^. The horns of a lamb indi- 
 cate, first, youthfulness, and secondly, innocence 
 and gentleness. As a power which has but recently 
 arisen, the United States answers to the symbol ad- 
 mirably in respect to age ; while no other power, as 
 has already abundantly been proved, can be found 
 to do this. And considered as an index of power 
 and character, it can be decided what constitutes 
 the two horns of the government, if it can be as- 
 certained what is the secret of its strene^th and 
 power, and what reveals its apparent character, or 
 constitutes its outward profession. The Hon. J. A. 
 Bingham gives us the clue to the whole matter 
 when he states that the object of those who first ^ 
 sought these shores was to found " what the world 
 had not seen for ages ; viz., a church without a 
 pope, and a state without a king." Expressed in 
 other words, this would be a government in which 
 the church should be free from the civil power, and 
 civil and religious liberty reign supreme. 
 
 And what is the profession of this government in 
 these respects? That great instrument which our 
 forefathers set forth as their bill of rights, the Dec- 
 laration of Independence, contains these words: 
 
 7 
 
98 THfi UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that aL 
 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 hap- 
 piness." And in Article IV. Sec, 4, of the Consti- 
 tution of the United States, we find these words. 
 " The United States shall guarantee to every State 
 in this Union a republican form of government." A 
 republican form of government is one in which the 
 power rests with the people, and the whole machin- 
 ery of government is worked by representatives 
 elected by them. And here, again, we see the fit- 
 ness between the symbol and the government which 
 is symbolized ; for the horns of the two-horned beast 
 have no crowns upon them, as do the horns of the 
 dragon and leopard beast, showing that the govern- 
 ment which it represents cannot be monarchical, 
 but is one in which the power is vested in the hands 
 of the people. 
 
 This is a sufficient guarantee of civil liberty. 
 What is said respecting religious freedom ? In Art. 
 VI. of the Constitution, we read: "No religious 
 test shall ever be required as a qualification to any 
 office of public trust under the United States." In 
 Art. I. of "Amendments of the Constitution," we 
 read: " Congreas shall make no law respecting an 
 establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free ex- 
 ercise thereof." 
 
 In reply to questions as to the design of the Con- 
 stitution, from a committee of a Baptist society in 
 
CHARACTER OF THE GOVERNMENT. 99 
 
 Virginia, George Washington wrote, Aug. 4, 1789, 
 as follows: — 
 
 "If I had the least idea of any difficulty resulting 
 from the Constitution adopted by the Convention of 
 which I had the honor to be President when it was 
 formed, so as to endanger the rights of any religious 
 denomination, then I never should have attached my 
 name to that instrument. If I had any idea that the 
 general government was so administered that the liberty 
 of conscience was endangered, I pray you be assured 
 that no man would be more willing than myself to re- 
 vise and alter that part of it, ::o as to avoid all religious 
 persecutions. You can, without doubt, remember that 
 I have often expressed my opinion, that every man who 
 conducts himself as a good citizen is accountable to God 
 alone for his religious faith, and should be protected in 
 worshiping God according to the dictates of his own 
 conscience." 
 
 In 1830, certain memorials for prohibiting the 
 transportation of mails and the opening of post- 
 offices on Sunday were referred to the Congressional 
 Committee on Post-offices and Post-roads. The 
 committee reported unfavorably to the prayer of the 
 memorialists. Their report was adopted, and printed 
 by order of the Senate of the United States, and 
 the committee discharged from the further consider- 
 ation of the subject. Of the Constitution they 
 say:— 
 
 "We look in vain to that instrument for authority to 
 say whether the first day, or seventh day, or whether 
 any day, has been made holy by the Almighty. 
 
100 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 '' The Constitution regards the conscience of the Jew 
 as sacred as that of the Christian, and gives no more 
 authority to adopt a measure affecting the conscience of 
 a solitary individual than of a whole community. That 
 representative who would violate this i:)rinciple would 
 lose his delegated character, and forfeit the confidence 
 of his constituents. If Congress should declare the first 
 day of the week holy, it would not convince the Jew nor 
 the Sabbatarian. It would dissatisfy both, and conse- 
 quently convert neither If a solemn act of leg- 
 islation shall in one point define the law of God, or 
 point out to the citizen one religious duty, it may with 
 equal propriety define every part of revelation, and en- 
 force every religious obligation, even to the forms and 
 ceremonies of worship, the endowments of the church, 
 and the support of the clergy. 
 
 " The framers of the Constitution recognized the eter- 
 nal principle that man's relation to his God is above hu- 
 man leixislation, and his right of conscience inalienable. 
 Reasoning was not necessary to establish this truth ; we 
 are conscious of it in our own bosom. It is this con- 
 sciousness, which, in defiance of liuman laws, has sus- 
 tained so many martyrs in tortures and flames. They 
 • felt that their duty to God was superior to human en- 
 actments, and that man could exercise no authority over 
 their consciences. It is an inborn principle which noth- 
 ing can eradicate. 
 
 "It is also a fact that counter memorials, equally re- 
 spectable, oppose the interference of Congress, on the 
 ground that it would be legislating upon a religious sub- 
 ject, and therefore unconstitutional." 
 
CHARACTER OF THE GOVERNMENT. 101 
 
 Hon. A. H. Cragin, of New Hampshire, in a 
 speech in the House of Representatives, said: — 
 
 "When our forefathers reared the magnificent struct- 
 ure of a free repubhc in this Western land, they laid its 
 foundations broad and deep in the eternal principles of 
 right. Its materials were all quarried from the mount- 
 ain of truth ; and as it rose majestically before an as- 
 tonished world, it rejoiced the hearts and hopes of man- 
 kind. Tyrants only cursed the workmen and their 
 workmanship. Its architecture was new. It had no 
 model in Grecian or Roman history. It seemed a para- 
 gon let down from Heaven to inspire the hopes of men, 
 and to demonstrate God's favor to the people of the New 
 World. The builders recognized the rights of human 
 nature as miiversal. Liberty, the great fi-rst right of 
 man, they claimed for 'all men,' and claimed it from 
 'God himself.' Upon this foundation they erected the 
 temple, and dedicated it to Liberty, Humanity, Justice, 
 and Equality. Washington was crowned its patron 
 saint. Liberty was then the national goddess, worshiped 
 by all the peojjle. They sang of liberty, they harangued 
 for liberty, they prayed for liberty. Slavery was then 
 hateful. It was denounced by all. The British king 
 was condemned for foisting it upon the colonies. South- 
 ern men were foremost in entering their protest against 
 it. It was then everywhere regarded as an evil, and a 
 crime against humanity." 
 
 Again, the Bible, and the Bible alone, is the Prot- 
 estant rule of faith; and liberty to worship God 
 according to the dictates of one's own conscience is 
 the standard of religious freedom in this land; and 
 
102 THE UNITED STATES IX PROPHECY. 
 
 from the quotations herewith presented, it is evident 
 that while the government pledges to all its citizens 
 the largest amount of civil freedom, outside of license, 
 it has determined to lay upon the people no religious 
 restrictions, but to guarantee to all liberty to wor- 
 ship God according to the Protestant principle. 
 
 Here, then, are two great principles standing 
 prominently before the people, — Republicanism and 
 Protestantism. And what can be more just, and 
 innocent, and lamb-like than these? And here, 
 also, is the secret of our strength and power. Had 
 some Caligula or Nero ruled this land, we should 
 look in vain for Avhat we behold to-day. Immigra- 
 tion Avould not have flowed to our shores, and this 
 country would never have presented to the world so 
 unparalleled an example of national groAvth 
 
 Townsend (Old World and New, p. 341) says: — 
 
 *'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 in- 
 stitutions. But the mar/net in America is that we are 
 a rejntblic — a repahllcan j^eople ! 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 
 
CHARACTER OF THE GOVERNMENT 103 
 
 other, the Protestant ecclesiastical. This application 
 is warranted by the facts already set forth respect- 
 ing the horns of the other powers. For (1) the two 
 horns may belong to one beast, and denote union in- 
 stead of division, as in the case of the ram (Dan. 3) ; 
 
 (2) a horn may denote a purely ecclesiastical ele- 
 ment, 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. 
 
 ->*&^%?$t*- 
 
THE DRAGON VOICE. 
 
 FROM the facts thus far ehcited in this argument, 
 we have seen that the government symboHzed 
 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 noto iety 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 won- 
 der 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 of the motives by which it is governed, two 
 great principles, in themselves perfectly just, inno- 
 cent, and lamb-like ; and that it must perfoi-m 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 tliese eight lines of defense, therefore, 
 the argument lies impregnably intrenched. 
 
 And the American patriot, who loves his country^ 
 
 [101] 
 
THE DRAGON VOICE. 105 
 
 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 se- 
 quel which the remainder of the prophecy also ap- 
 plies 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 wronff. 
 
 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 like- 
 wise 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 tlie first, and thus shows himself to be a 
 dragon at heart ; "for out of the abundance of the 
 heart the mouth speaketh," and in the heart actions 
 are conceived. This, then, like the rest, is a perse- // 
 cuting power ; and the reason that any of tliem are 
 mentioned in prophecy, is simply because they are 
 persecuting powers. 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 ac- ,. 
 tions recorded of the dragon and leopard beast re- 
 late ; and in reference to the church, therefore.', we 
 
106 THE UNITED STATES IN PKOPHECY. 
 
 conclude that the dragon voice of this power is ut- 
 tered. 
 
 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 lio-hted here also ? We would fain believe other- 
 wise ; but notwithstanding the pure intentions of 
 the noble founders of this government, notwithstand- 
 ing the worthy motives and objects of thousands of 
 Christian patriots to-day, we can but take the proph- 
 ecy 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 ex- 
 ist 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. 
 Matt. 24:12. Evil men and seducers are to wax 
 worse and worse. 2 Tim. 3: 13. Scofiers are to 
 arise, saying, " Where is the promise of his coming?" 
 2 Pet. 3: 3, 4. The whole land is to be full of vio- 
 lence, as it was in the days of Noah, and full of 
 
THE DRAGON VOICE. 107 
 
 licentiousness, as was Sodom in the days of Lot. 
 Luke 17: 26-30. And when the Lord appears, faith 
 will scarcely be found upon the earth (Luke 18: 8); 
 and those who are ready for his coming will be but 
 a "little flock." Luke 12:32. Can the people of 
 God think 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 wotd 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, v/hen, 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, such a general spirit of persecution arise 
 as the foregoing scriptures declare will in the last 
 days exist, and what is more probable than that it 
 should assume an organized form ? In this country 
 the will of the people ii law. And let there be a 
 general desire on the part of the people for certain 
 oppi-essive enactments against believers in unpopular 
 doctrines, and what v^ould be more easy and natural 
 than that such desire should immediately crystallize 
 into systematic action, and oppressive m.easures 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 
 
108 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 evil. Our nation has grown so rapidly in wealth 
 that it stands to-day as the richest nation in the 
 world. AVealth leads to luxury, luxury to corruption, 
 corruption to the breaking down of all moral bar- 
 riers; and then the way is open for the worst 
 passions to come to the front and for the worst 
 principles to bear rule. The prevailing condition of 
 things is graphically described by the late distin- 
 o'uished and devoted J. H. Merle D'Aubiffne, author 
 of the History of the Reformation. Just previous 
 to his death, he prepared a paper for the '' Evangelical 
 Alliance," in which he gave utterance to the following 
 weighty and startling words: — 
 
 " If the meeting for Avliicli you are assembled is an 
 im2Dortant one, the jDeriod at which it is held is equally so, 
 not only on account of the great things which God is 
 accomplishing in the world, but also by reason of the great 
 evils which the spirit of darkness is spreading throughout 
 Christendom. The despotic and an-ogant pretensions of 
 Rome have reached in o\ir days their highest pitch, and we 
 arc consequently more than ever called upon to contend 
 against that power which dares to usurp the divine attributes. 
 But that is not all. While superstition has increased, 
 unbelief has done so still more. Urutil now, the cighteentli 
 century — the age of Voltaire— ^was regarded as the ej^och of 
 most decided infidelity ; but liow far does the i)resent time 
 surpass it in this respect ! . . . But there is a still 
 sadder feature of our times. Unbelief has reached even the 
 ministry of the word." 
 
 Political corruption is preparing tlie 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 DRAGON VOICE. 109 
 
 the stupendous revelations of municipal corruption 
 lately disclosed in New York City, — millions upon 
 millions stolen directly and barefacedly from the 
 city treasury by its corrupt officials. Look at the 
 civil service of this government. Speaking on this 
 point, The Xation of Nov. 17, 1870, said: — 
 
 " The newspapers are generally believed to exaggerate 
 most of the abuses they denounce; but we say deliber- 
 ately, that no denunciation of the civil service of the 
 United States which Las ever appeared in print has come 
 up, as a picture of selfishness, greed, fraud, corruption, 
 falsehood, and cruelty, to the accounts wliich are given 
 privately by those who have seen the real workings of 
 the machine." 
 
 Revelations are continually coming to light, go- 
 ing beyond the worst fears of those who are even 
 the most apprehensive of wrongs committed among 
 all classes of society at the present time. The nation 
 stands aghast to-day at the evidence of corruption 
 in high places which is thrust before its face. Yet a 
 popular ministry, in their softest and most soothing 
 tones, declare that the world is growing better, and 
 sing of a good time coming. 
 
 The Detroit Evening News of March 4, 1876, re- 
 ferring to Secretary Belknap's fall, said : — 
 
 " The revelations of corruption in connection with the 
 administration of the Federal government have gone fur- 
 ther than anybody's worst fears, in the humiliating in- 
 telligence of Secretary Belknap's disgrace. That among 
 the underlings there were to be found rascals might have 
 
110 THE UNITED STATES IX PROPHECY. 
 
 been expected in such times as these, but that a ministei' 
 of the Cabinet should have turned out to be nothing bet- 
 ter than a vulgar thief is something which must fill this 
 nation with dismay, and the civilized world with con- 
 tempt. Where is all this to stopl Are we so utterly 
 rotten as a people that nothing but vileness can come 
 uppermost, — that we cannot preserve even the great 
 offices of the Cabinet from the possession of rascals'?" 
 
 Again the Neius says: — 
 
 " Washington seems to be ingulfed in iniquity and 
 steeped in corruption. Disclosures of fraud in high 
 places are pushing one another toward the light. Bel- 
 knaj), Logan, Delano, Ingalls — and where the black list 
 will stop. Heaven only knows." 
 
 Since the foresfoino^ was written, there has been no 
 real improvement in the tone of public morals. And 
 further enumeration is here unnecessary. Enough 
 crops out in every day's history to show that moral 
 principle, the only guarantee for justice and honesty 
 in a government like ours, is sadly wanting. 
 
 And evil is also threatening from another quar- 
 ter. 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 nineteenth century, 
 not that it may be benefited by its light and free- 
 dom, 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, de- 
 termined to make it its helpless prey. It already 
 
THii DRAGON VOICE. HI 
 
 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 po- 
 litical ends. It has attained such a degree of in- 
 fluence that it is only by a mighty effort of Protest- 
 ant patriotism that any measures against which the 
 Romish element combines its strength can now be 
 carried. And corrupt and unscrupulous politicians 
 stand ready to concede its demands, in order to 
 secure its support for the advancement of 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 wor- 
 ship, and before w^hose eyes it is to perform its won- 
 ders. 
 
 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 ser- 
 mon by Charles Beecher contains the following state- 
 ments : — 
 
 " 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. Tliey shrink from any rude word against creeds 
 
112 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 with the same sensitiveness with which those holy fa- 
 thers woiikl have shrunk from a rude woid against the 
 rising veneration of saints and martyrs which they were 
 fostering The Protestant evangelical denomina- 
 tions have so tied up one another's hands, and their own, 
 that, between them all, a man cannot become a preacher 
 at all, anywhere, Avithout accepting some book besides 
 the Bible. . . . And is not the Protestant church apos- 
 tate 1 Oh ! remember, the final form of a])Ostasy shall 
 rise, not by crosses, processions, baubles. We understand 
 all that. Apostasy never comes on the outside. It de- 
 velops. 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 be- 
 lieve what the creed contains, but who may happen to 
 agree with the Westminster Assembly, that, pro}>osed as 
 a test, it is an unwarrantable imposition. That is the 
 apostasy Ave have to fear, and is it not already formed 1 
 . . . Will it be said that our fears are imaginary 1 Im- 
 aginary ! Did not the Rev. John M. Duncan, in the 
 years 1825—6, or thereabouts, sincerely believe the Bi- 
 ble^ Did he not even believe substantially the Confes- 
 sion of Faith'? And was he not, for daring to say what 
 the Westminster Assembly said, that to require the re- 
 ception of that creed as a test of ministerial qualification 
 was an unwarrantable imposition, brought to trial, con- 
 demned, excommunicated, and his pulpit declared va- 
 cant ? There is nothing imaginary in the statement that 
 the creed-power is now beginning to prohibit the Bible 
 as really as Home did, though in a subtler way. 
 
 "Oh, woful day! Oh, unhappy church of Christ, fast 
 rushing i-ouiid and round the fatal circle of absorbing 
 
THE DRAGON VOICE. 113 
 
 ruin ! . . . Daily does every one see that things are go- 
 ing 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 the coming conflict which is to con- 
 vulse 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 
 thinors 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 fatal 
 storm of divine indignation which shall sweep away the 
 vain refuge of lies." 
 
 In addition to this, we have spiritualism, infidel- 
 ity, socialism, 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 peo- 
 ple, 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 effects. These causes are now all in act- 
 ive 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 is the direction in which events are moving. 
 And how much further is it necessary that they 
 8 
 
114 TliE tfNITED STATES tN PROPHECY. 
 
 should progress in this manner before an open war- 
 cry from the masses of persecution 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 a*ny controversy. No process of reason- 
 ing 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 inevita- 
 ble. 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 er- 
 rors. 
 
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 occu- 
 pied 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 ofli* 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 plausibil- 
 ity in the claimc But the word rendered " before " 
 is eviliTTLov (enopion), which means, literally, "in the 
 presence of." And so the language, instead of prov- 
 ing what is claimed, becomes a most positive proof 
 that these beasts are distinct and contemporary 
 powers. 
 
 The first beast is in existence, having all its sym- 
 bolic vitality, at the very time the two-horned beast 
 is exercisinsf power in his presence. But this could 
 
 [115] 
 
116 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 not be, if his dominion had passed into the hands of 
 the two-horned beast ; for a beast, in prophecy, ceases 
 to e^Cist when his dominion is taken away. What 
 caused the change in the symbols from the lion, rep- 
 resenting Babylon, to the bear, representing Persia? 
 Simply a transfer of dominion from Babylon to Per- 
 sia. 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 de- 
 stroyed, 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 do- 
 minion that was ever necessary to constitute him a 
 symbol in prophecy. 
 
 What power, then, does the two-horned beast ex- 
 ercise? Not the power which belongs to, and is in 
 the hands of, the leopard beast, surely; but he exer- 
 cises, 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- 
 homed beast is finally to sustain in this respect. 
 
 The latter part of the verse, **And cause th 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 
 
HE DOETH GREAT WONDERS. 117 
 
 nor feature of the papacy ; for the first beast is cer- 
 tainly 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 Avhich it arose, and over which it 
 rules), and them which dwell therein, to worship the 
 first beast. This shows that this beast occupies ter- 
 ritory 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 achieve- 
 ments which now constitute the warp and woof of 
 every- day life, was considered the wildest chimera 
 of a diseased imagination. Now, nothing is too 
 wonderful to be believed, nor too strange to happen. 
 Go back only a little more than half a century, 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 wdiere it did in the 
 days of the patriarchs. Suddenly the 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 pro- 
 
118 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 phetic 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 cer- 
 tain 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 prepa- 
 ration. 
 
 " 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 advip,ncement that has been made within the last 
 half century is without precedent in the world's 
 history. And in all tliesc the United States takes 
 the lead. Tliese facts are not, indeed, to be taken as 
 a fnlfillment of tlie prophecy, but they sliow the 
 S])irit of tlie ai^e in which we five, and point to tliis 
 
HE DOETH GREAT WONDERS. 119 
 
 time as a period when we may look for wonders of 
 every kind. 
 
 The wonders to wdiich the prophecy (Rev. 13) 
 refers are evidently wrought for the purpose of de- 
 ceiving the people; for verse 14 reads, "And de- 
 ceiveth 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 work- 
 ing 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 prophets 
 and false prophets, and true apostles and false apos- 
 tles. By a false miracle we mean not a pretended 
 miracle, which is no miracle at all, but a real mir- 
 acle, a supernatural performance, wrought in the 
 interest of falsehood, for the purpose of deceiving 
 the people or of proving a lie. The miracles of this 
 power are real miracles^ but are wrought for the 
 
120 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 purpose of deception. The prophecy does not read 
 that he deceived the people by means of the mira- 
 cles 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 un- 
 godly and designing priests upon their ignorant and 
 superstitious dupes. 
 
 Miracles, or wonders, such as are to be wrought 
 by the two-horned beast, and, Avithal, as we think, 
 the very ones referred to in the prophecy, are men- 
 tioned by Paul in 2 Thcss. 2:9, 10. Speaking of 
 the second coming of Christ, he says, "Whose com- 
 ing is after [Kara, at the time of, 2 Tim. 4 : 1] the 
 working of Satan with all power and signs and ly- 
 ing wonders, and with all deceivableness of unright- 
 eousness 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 workhig 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 
 
HE DOETH GREAT WONDEES. 121 
 
 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 un- 
 precedented degree, in the interest of falsehood and 
 error. All refer to one and the same thing. The 
 earthly government with which it was to be espe- 
 cially connected, is that represented by the two- 
 horned beast, or false prophet. The agency lying 
 back of the outward manifestations was to be Sa- 
 tanic, the spirit of devils. The prophecy calls for 
 such a work as this in our own country at the pres- 
 ent 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 peo- 
 ple, 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 de- 
 mons 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 — Siylritwdism. 
 
122 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 1. Does spiritualism, then, bear these marks of 
 Satanic agency? 
 
 (1) The spirits which communicate claim to be 
 the spirits of our departed friends. But the Bible, 
 in the most explicit terms, assures us that the dead 
 are wholly inactive and unconscious till the resurrec- 
 tion; that the dead know not anything (Eccl. 9:5); 
 that every operation of the mind has ceased (Ps. 
 146.4); that every emotion of the heart is sus- 
 pended (Eccl. 9:6); and that there is neither work^ 
 nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, 
 where they lie. Eccl. 9:10. Whatever intelligence, 
 therefore, comes to us professing to be one of our dead 
 friends, comes claiming to be what, from the word 
 of God, we know he is not. But angels of God do not 
 lie ; therefore these are not the good angels. Spirits 
 of devils will lie ; this is their work ; and these are 
 the credentials which at the very outset they hand 
 us. 
 
 (2) The doctrines which they teach are from the 
 lowest and foulest depths of the pit of lies. They 
 deny God. They deny Christ. They deny the 
 atonement. They deny the Bible. They deny the 
 existence of sin, and all distinction between right 
 and wrong. They deny the sacredness of the mar- 
 riage covenant; and, interspersing their utterances 
 with the most horrid blasphemies against God and 
 his Son, and everything that is lovely, and good, 
 and pure, they give the freest license to every pro- 
 pensity to sin, and to every carnal and fleshly lust. 
 Tell us not that these things, openly taught under 
 
HE DOETH GEEAT WONDERS. 123 
 
 the garb of religion, and backed up by supernatural 
 sights and sounds, are anything Jess than Satan's 
 masterpiece. 
 
 2. Spiritualism answers accurately to the proph- 
 ecy in the exhibition of great signs and wonders. 
 Among its many achievements these may be men- 
 tioned: Various articles have been transported from 
 place to place by spirits alone. Beautiful music has 
 been produced independently of human agency, 
 with and without the aid of visible instruments. 
 Many well-attested cases of healing have been pre- 
 sented. Persons have been carried through the air 
 by the spirits in the presence of many others. Ta- 
 bles have been suspended in the air with several 
 persons upon them. And, finally, spirits have 
 presented themselves in bodily form, and talked 
 with an audible voice. 
 
 Experiments conducted by the great German 
 philosopher, Prof. Zollner, demonstrated the follow- 
 ing facts, as related by him to Joseph Cook during 
 the late visit of the latter to Europe; namely, ab- 
 normal knots were tied in cords; messages were 
 written between doubly and trebly sealed slates; 
 coin passed through a ta.ble in a manner to illus- 
 trate the suspension of the laws of the impenetrabil- 
 ity of matter; straps of leather were knotted under 
 Prof. Zollner's hands; the impression of two feet 
 was given on sooted paper pr..;ted inside two sealed 
 slates; whole and uninjure.i wooden rings were 
 placed around the standard oi j.' card table, over 
 either end of which they could by no possibility bo 
 
124 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 slipped; and, finally, the table itself, a heavy 
 beechen structure, wholly disappeared, and then fell 
 down from the top of the room in which Prof. Z. 
 and his friends were sitting. 
 
 A writer in the Spiritual Clarion speaks as fol- 
 lows of the manner in which spiritualism has arisen, 
 and the astounding progress it has made : — 
 
 " This revelation has been with a power and a might, 
 that, if divested of its almost universal benevolence, had 
 been a terror to the very soul ; the hair of the very 
 bravest had stood on end, and his chilled blood had crept 
 back upon his heart at the sights and sounds of its inex- 
 plicable phenomena. It comes with foretokening, with 
 warning. It has been, from the very first, its own best 
 prophet, and step by stej:) it has foretold the progress it 
 would make. It comes, too, most triumphant. No 
 faith before it ever took so victorious a stand in its in- 
 fancy. It has swept like a hurricane of fire through the 
 land, compelling faith from the baffled scoffer and the 
 most determined doubter." 
 
 3. Spiritualism answers to the prophecy in that 
 it had its origin in our own country, thus connect- 
 insr its wonders with the work of the two-horned 
 beast. Commencing in Hydesville, N. Y., in the 
 family of Mr. John D. Fox, in the latter part of 
 March, 1848, it spread with incredible rapidity 
 through all the States. It would be impossible to 
 state the number of spiritualists in this country at 
 the present time. In 1876, only twenty-eight years 
 from the commencement of this remarkable move- 
 ment, estimates of the number of its adherents were? 
 
KE DOETH GREAT WONDERs. 125 
 
 made by different ones, which, though differing some- 
 what from one another, are nevertheless such as to 
 show that the progress of spirituahsm has been with- 
 out a parallel. Thus, Judge Edmonds put the num- 
 ber at five or six millions (5,000,000 or 6,000,000); 
 Hepworth Dixon, three millions (3,000,000); A. J. 
 Davis, four million two hundred and thirty thou- 
 sand (4,230,000); Warren Chase, eight millions (8,- 
 000,000); and the Roman Catholic Council at Bal- 
 timore, between ten and eleven millions (10,000,000 
 to 11,000,000). Of those who have become its dev- 
 otees, Judge Edmonds said as long ago as 1853: — 
 
 "Besides the imdistmguished multitude, there are 
 many now of high standing and talent ranked among 
 them, — doctors, lawyers, and clergymen in great num- 
 bers, a Protestant bishop, the learned and reverend pres- 
 ident of a college, judges of our higher courts, members 
 of Congress, foreign ambassadors, and ex-members of tlie 
 United States Senate." 
 
 This statement was written about thirty years 
 ago; and from that time to this the work of the 
 spirits has been steadily progressing, and spreading 
 among all classes of people. 
 
 One reason why it is now difficult to estimate the 
 number of those who might properly be denominated 
 spiritualists, is that the more prominent and respect- 
 able of the adherents of this movement, are draw- 
 ing under cover the obnoxious and immoral features 
 of the system, heretofore so prominent, and assuming 
 a Christian garb. By this move they bring them- 
 
126 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 selves and a multitude of church-members upon com- 
 mon ground, where there is no distinction between 
 them in fact, though there still may be in name. 
 
 And from this nation spiritualism has gone abroad 
 into all the earth. Queen Victoria is said to be a 
 devotee of the new philosophy. See Townsend's 
 " New World and Old," p. 201. The late Emperor 
 and Empress of France, the late Queen of Spain, 
 Pius IX., and Alexander II. and the Grand Dukes 
 of Russia, are all said to have sought to these spirits 
 for knowledge. Thus it is working its way to the 
 potentates of the earth, and is fast preparing to ac- 
 complish its real mission, which is, by deceiving the 
 world with its miracles, to gather the nations to the 
 battle of the great day of God Almighty. 
 
 Here we pause. Let this work go on a little 
 longer, as it has been going, and as it is still going, 
 and what a scene is before us ! Having seen so much 
 fulfilled, we cannot now draw back and deny the 
 remainder. And so we look for the onward march 
 of this last great wonder-working deception, till that 
 is accomplished which in the days of Elijah was a 
 test between Jehovah and Baal, and fire is brought 
 down from heaven to earth in the sight of men. 
 Then will be the hour of the powers of darkness, — 
 the hour of temptation that is coming upon all the 
 world to try them that dwell upon the earth. Rev. 
 3: 10. Then all will be swept from their anchorage 
 by the strong current of delusion, except those whom 
 it is not possible to deceive, — the elect of God. 
 
 And still the world sleeps on, while Satan, with 
 
HE BOETH GiaEAT WONDERS. 127 
 
 lightning fingers and hellish energy, weaves over 
 them his last fatal snare. It is time some mighty 
 move was made to waken the world, and arouse the 
 church to the dangers we are in. It is time every 
 honest heart should learn that the only safeguard 
 against the great deception, whose incipient, and 
 even well-advanced workings we already behold be- 
 fore our eyes, is to make the truths of God's holy 
 and immutable word our shield and buckler. 
 
l^a^^td'o ?flinc. 
 
 AN IMAGE TO THE BEAST. 
 
 THE imposing miracles wrought before the people 
 having riveted upon them the chains of a fatal 
 deception, leading them to suppose they have wit- 
 nessed 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-homed 
 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 impreg- 
 nable strength of the argument already presented in 
 previous chapters, fixing the application of this sym- 
 bol to the United States. This is an established 
 proposition, and needs no further support. An ex- 
 position of the remainder of the prophecy will there- 
 fore 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, these indications, though 
 not necessary to establish the application of the sym- 
 
AN IMAGlS TO TilE BEAST. 129 
 
 bol to this government, 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 ingulfed in the lake of 
 fire of the last great day. 
 
 We may, however, notice in passing, another evi- 
 dence 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, sho wing- 
 conclusively that the power is in their hands. But 
 just as surely as the government symbolized is a re- 
 public, 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 
 
130 THE UNITED STATES IN PKOt>HECY. 
 
 idea of some deferential action toward, or concessions 
 to, that power; and the image, when made, is an 
 image, likeness, or representation o/ the beast. Verse 
 15. The beast after 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 col- 
 lusion 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-opera- 
 tion 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 es- 
 tablishment clothed with similar power. How could 
 
AN IMAGE TO THE BEAST. ISl 
 
 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 enforce their 
 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 dog- 
 mas, 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 immortalit}^ 
 of the soul, which is both the foundation and super- 
 structure of spiritualism, and also the doctrine that 
 the first day of the week is the Christian Sab- 
 bath. 
 
 It may be objected, again, that this view makes 
 one of the horns, the Protestant church, finally con- 
 stitute the image of the beast. If the reader sup- 
 poses 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 be- 
 cause it has been actually urged as a legitimate con- 
 sequence of the positions here taken. The question 
 is also asked, If the Protestant church constitutes one 
 horn, may not the Catholic Church constitute the 
 
1S3 THE UNITED STATES m PROPHECY. 
 
 otht'i? Under the sbadoAV of that hypothetical "if," 
 perhaps it might. But neither the one nor the other 
 perforins such an office. In Chapter Six of this 
 work it Avas shown that the two great principles of 
 Republicanism and Protestantism Avere 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 princi- 
 ple of religious liberty, and the different religious 
 bodies that have grown up under its fostering in- 
 fluence, — ;just as plain as there is between Republican- 
 ism, or civil liberty, and the individual who lives in 
 the enjoyment of such liberty. The supposition, 
 .i therefore, that the Protestant church is to furnish 
 the material for the image, involves no violation of 
 the symbolic harmony of this prophecy. 
 
 Let us look a moment at the fitness of the mate- 
 rial. We are not unmindful of the noble service the 
 Protestant churches have rendered to the world, to 
 humanity, and to religion, by introducing and de- 
 fending, so far as they have, the great principles of 
 Protestantism. But they have made a fatal mis- 
 take in stereotyping their doctrines into creeds, and 
 thus taking the lirst step backward toward the 
 spiritual tyranny of Rome. Thus the good promise 
 they gave of a fi^'ee religion and an unfettered con- 
 science is already broken ; for if the right of private 
 judgment is allowed by the Protestant churcli, why 
 are men condemned and expelled from that church 
 for no other crime than honestly attempting to obey 
 the word of God, in some particulars not in accord- 
 
AN IMAGE TO THE BEAST. 133 
 
 ance with her creed? This is the beginning of apos- 
 tasy. Read Chas. Beecher's work, " The Bible a 
 Sufficient Creed." "Is not the Protestant church," 
 he asks, " apostate? " Is not the apostasy which we 
 have reason to fear " abeady formed?" But apos- 
 tasy in principle always leads to corruption in prac- 
 tice. And so Paul, in 2 Tim. 3: 1-5, sets forth the 
 condition of the professed church of Christ in the 
 last days. A rank growth of twenty heinous sins, 
 with no redeeming virtues, shows that the fruits of 
 the Spirit will be choked and rooted out by the 
 works of the flesh. We can look nowhere else for 
 this picture of Paul's to be fulfilled, except to the 
 Protestant church ; for the class of which he speaks 
 maintain a form of godliness, or the outward services 
 of a true Christian worship. And is not the church 
 of our day beginning to manifest to an alarming de- 
 gree the very characteristics which the apostle has 
 specified? Fifteen clergymen of the city of Roches- 
 ter, N. Y., on Sunday, Feb. 5, 1871, distributed a 
 circular entitled "A Testimony," to fifteen congre- 
 gations of that city. To this circular the Rochester 
 Democrat of Feb. 7 made reference as follows: — 
 
 " The ' Testimony ' sets out by stating that the forego- 
 ing pastors are constrained to bear witness to what they 
 ' conceive to be a tact of our time ; viz., that the prevail- 
 ing standard of piety among the professed people of 
 God, is alarmingly low ; that a tide of worldliness is set- 
 ting in upon us, indicating the rapid approach of an era 
 such as is foretold by Paul in his second letter to Timo- 
 thy, in the words, " In the last days perilous times 
 
134 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 shall come." ' These conclusions are reached, not by 
 comparison with former times, but by applying the tests 
 found in the Scriptures. They instance, as proof, ' the 
 spirit of lawlessness which prevails.' The circular then 
 explains how this lawlessness (religious) is shown. Men 
 have the name of religion, but they obey none of its in- 
 junctions. There is also a growing disposition to prac- 
 tice, in religious circles, what is agreeable to the natural 
 inclinations, rather than the duties prescribed by the 
 word of God. The tendency to adopt worldly amuse- 
 ments, by professed Christians, is further stated in 
 evidence." 
 
 This testimony is very explicit. When men 
 " have the name of religion, but obey none of its in- 
 junctions," they certainly may be said to have a 
 form of godliness, but to deny the power; and when 
 they "practice in religious circles what is agreeable 
 to the natural inclinations, rather than the duties 
 prescribed by the word of God," they may truth- 
 fully be said to be "lovers of pleasures more than 
 lovers of God." And Rochester is not an exception 
 in this respect. It is so all over the land, as the 
 candid everywhere, by a sad array of facts, are 
 compelled to admit. 
 
 That the majority of the Christians in our land 
 are still to be found in connection with these churches, 
 is undoubtedly true. But a change in this respect 
 is also approaching; for Paul, in his words to 
 Timothy above referred to, exhorts all true 
 Christians to turn away from those who have a 
 form of godliness, but deny the power thereof; 
 
AN IMAGE TO THE BEAST. 135 
 
 and those who desire to live pure and holy lives, 
 who mourn over the desolations of their Zion, and 
 sigh for the abominations done in the land, will 
 certainly heed this injunction of the apostle. There 
 is another prophecy which also shows that when the 
 spirit of worldliness and apostasy has so far taken 
 possession of the professed churches of Christ as to 
 place them beyond the reach of reform, God's true 
 children are every one to be called out, that they 
 become not partakers of their sins, and so receive 
 not of their plagues. Rev. 18 : 4. 
 
 From the course which church-members are every- 
 where pursuing, it is plain to be seen in what direc- 
 tion the Protestant churches are drifting ; and from 
 the declarations of God's word it is evident that all 
 whose hearts are touched by God's grace and molded 
 by his love will soon come out from a connection in 
 which, while they can do no good to others, they 
 will receive only evil to themselves. 
 
 And now we ask the reader to consider seriously 
 for a moment what the state of the religious world 
 will be when this change shall have taken place. 
 We shall then have an array of proud and popular 
 churches, from whose communion all the good have 
 departed, from whom the Holy Spirit is withdrawn, 
 and who are in a state of hopeless departure from 
 God. God is no respecter of persons nor of churches ; 
 and if the Protestant churches apostatize from him, 
 will they not be just as efficient agents in the hand 
 of the enemy as ever pagans or papists have been? 
 Will they not then be ready for any desperate 
 
136 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 measure of bigotry and oppression in which he may 
 wish to enlist them ? After the Jewish Church had 
 finally rejected Christ, how soon they were ready to 
 imbrue their hands in the blood of his crucifixion ! 
 And is it not the testimony of all history that just 
 in proportion as any popular and extensive ecclesi- 
 astical organization loses the Spirit and power of 
 God, it clamors for the support of the civil arm ? 
 
 Let, now, an ecclesiastical organization be formed 
 by these churches; let the government legalize such 
 organization, and give it power (a power which it 
 will not have till the government does grant it) to 
 enforce upon the people the dogmas which the dif- 
 ferent denominations can all adopt as the basis of 
 union, .and what do we have ? Just what the 
 prophecy represents, — an image to the papal beast, 
 endowed with life by the two-horned beast, to speak 
 and act with power. 
 
 And are there any indications of such a move- 
 ment ? The preliminary question, that of the grand 
 union of all the churches, is now profoundly agitat- 
 ing the religious world. 
 
 In May, 1869, S. M. Manning, D. D., in a sermon 
 in Broadway Tabernacle, New York, spoke of the 
 recent efforts to unite all the churches in the land 
 into co-operation on the common points of their 
 faith, as a " pi^ominent and noteworthy sign of the 
 times." 
 
 Dr. Lyman Beecher is quoted as saying: — 
 
 ' There is a state of society to be formed by an ex- 
 
AN IMAGE TO THE BEAST. 137 
 
 tended combination of institutions, religious, civil, and 
 literary, which never exists without the co-operation of 
 an educated ministry." 
 
 Chas. Beecher, in his sermon at the dedication of 
 the Second Presbyterian Church, Ft. Wayne, Ind., 
 Feb. 22, 1846, said:— 
 
 " Thus are the ministry of the evangelical Protestant 
 denominations not only formed all the way up under a 
 tremendous pressure of merely human fear, but they live, 
 and move, and breathe in a state of things radically cor- 
 rupt, and appealing every hour to every baser element of 
 their nature to hush up the truth, and bow the knee to 
 the power of apostasy. Was not this the way things 
 went with Pome ] Are we not living her life over again ] 
 And what do we see just ahead 1 Another general coun- 
 cil 1 a world's convention! Evangelical Alliance and Uni- 
 versal Creed! " 
 
 The Banner of Light of July 80, 1864, said: — 
 
 " A system will be unfolded sooner or later that will 
 embrace in its folds Church and State ; for the object of 
 the two should be one and the same. The time is rapidly 
 approaching when the world will be startled by a voice 
 that shall say to every form of. oppression and wrong, 
 ' Thus far shalt thou go, and no farther.' Old things are 
 rapidly passing away in the religious and social, as well 
 as in the political world. Behold, all things must be 
 formed anew." 
 
 The Church Advocate, in March, 1870, speaking 
 of the formation of an "Independent American 
 Catholic Church/' a movement now agitated in this 
 country, said : — 
 
138 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 " There is evidently some secret power at work which 
 may be preparing the world for great events in the near 
 future." 
 
 A Mr. Havens, in a speech delivered in New 
 York a few years ago, said : — 
 
 "For my own part, I wait to see the day when a Lu- 
 ther shall spring up in this country, who shall found a 
 great American Catholic Church, instead of a great Ro- 
 man Catholic Church ; and who shall teach men that 
 they can be good Catholics without professing allegiance 
 to a pontiff* on the other side of the Atlantic." 
 
 There is every indication that at no distant day 
 such a church will be seen, not, indeed, raised up 
 through the instrumentality of a Luther, but rather 
 through the operation of the same spiiit that in- 
 spired a Fernando Nunez or a Torquemada. 
 
Qfiayptcr^ ^c^vi. 
 
 THE MARK OF THE BEAST. 
 
 THE principal acts ascribed to the two-horned 
 beast, which seem to be performed with spe- 
 cial reference to the papal beast, are, causing 
 men to worship that beast, causing them to make 
 an image to that beast, and enforcing upon them 
 the mark of the beast. The image, after it is 
 created and endowed with life, undertakes to en- 
 force the worship of itself. To avoid confusion, we 
 must keep these parties distinct in our minds. 
 There are three here brought before us : — 
 
 1. The papal beast. This power is designated as 
 "the beast," "the first beast," "the beast which 
 had the wound by a sword, and did live," and the 
 "beast whose deadly wound was healed." These 
 expressions all refer to the same power; and wher- 
 ever they occur in this prophecy, they have exclu- 
 sive reference to the papacy. 
 
 2. The two-horned beast. This power, after its 
 introduction in verse 11 of Rev. 13, is represented 
 through the remainder of the prophecy by the pro- 
 noun "he;" and wherever this pronoun occurs, 
 down to the l7th verse (with possibly the exception 
 of the 16 th verse, which perhaps may refer to the 
 image), it refers invariably to the two-horned beast. 
 
 ' [139] 
 
140 THE UNITED STATES IN TROPHECY. 
 
 3. The image of the beast. This is, every time, 
 with the exception just stated, called the image; so 
 that there is no danger of confounding this with 
 any other agent. 
 
 The acts ascribed to the image are, speaking, and 
 enforcing the worship of itself under the penalty of 
 death ; and this is the only enactment which the 
 prophecy mentions as enforced under the death pen- 
 alty. Just what will constitute this worship, it will 
 perhaps be impossible to determine till the image 
 itself shall have an existence. It will evidently be 
 some act or acts by which men will be required to 
 acknowledge the authority of that image, and yield 
 obedience to its mandates. 
 
 The mark of the beast is enforced by the two- 
 horned beast, either directly or through the image. 
 The penalty attached to a refusal to receive this 
 mark is a forfeiture of all social privileges, a depri- 
 vation of the right to buy and sell. The mark is 
 the mark of the papal beast. Against this worship 
 of the beast and his image, and the reception of his 
 mark, the third angel's message of Rev. 14: 9-12, is 
 a most solemn and thrilling warning. 
 
 Here, then, is the issue before us. Human organ- 
 izations, controlled and inspired by the spirit of the 
 draoron, are to command men to do those acts which 
 are in reality the worshiping of an apostate religious 
 power and the receiving of his mark, or lose the 
 rights of citizenship, and become outlaws in the 
 land, — to do that which constitucs the worship of 
 
THE Mark oi" the beast. 141 
 
 the image of the beast, or forfeit their lives. On 
 the other hand, God says, by a message mercifully 
 sent out a little before the fearful crisis is upon us, 
 Do any of these things, and you "shall drink of the 
 wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out with- 
 out mixture into the cup of his indignation." He 
 who refuses to comply with these demands of earthly 
 powers exposes himself to the severest penalties 
 which human beings can inflict; and he who does 
 comply, exposes himself to the most terrible threat- 
 ening of divine wrath to be found in the word of 
 God. The question whether we will obey God or 
 man is to be decided by the people of the present 
 age, under the heaviest pressure, from either side, 
 that has ever been brought to bear upon any gener- 
 ation. 
 
 The worship of the beast and his image, and the 
 reception of his mark, must be something that in- 
 volves the greatest offense that can be committed 
 against God, to call down so severe a denunciation 
 of wrath against it. This is a work, as was shown 
 in Chapter Four, which takes place in the last days ; 
 and as God has given us in his word most abundant 
 evidence to show when we are in the last days, that 
 no one need be overtaken by the day of the Lord as 
 by a thief, so, likewise, it must be that he has given 
 us the means whereby we may determine what this 
 great latter-day sin is which he has so strongly con- 
 demned, that we may avoid the fearful penalty so 
 sure to follow its commission. God does not so 
 
142 THE UNITED STATES IK PROPHECY. 
 
 trifle with human hopes and human destinies as t( 
 denounce a most fearful doom against a certain sin, 
 and then place it out of our power to understand 
 what that sin is, so that we have no means of guard- 
 ing against it. 
 v/ That we are now living in the last days, the vol 
 umes of both revelation and nature bear ample and 
 harmonious testimony. Evidence on this point we 
 need not here stop to introduce; for the testimony 
 already presented in the foregoing chapters of this 
 work, showing that the two-horned beast is now on 
 the stage of action, is in itself conclusive proof of 
 this great fact, inasmuch as the power exists and 
 performs its work in the very closing period of hu- 
 man history. All these things tell us that the time 
 has now come for the proclamation of the third 
 message of Rev. 14 to be given, and for men to un- 
 derstand the terms it uses and the warning it gives. 
 We therefore now call attention to the very im- 
 portant inquiry. What constitutes the mark of the 
 beast? The figure of a mark is borrowed from an 
 ancient custom. Says Bishop Newton (Dissertations 
 on the Prophecies, Vol. iii. p. 241): — 
 
 " It was customary among the ancients for servants to 
 receive the mark of their master, and soldiers of tlieir 
 general, and those who were devoted to any particular 
 deity, of the particular deity to whom they were devoted. 
 These marks were usually impressed on their right hand 
 or on their foreheads, and consisted of some hieroglyphic 
 character, or of the name expressed in vulgar letters, or 
 
THE MAUlt OF THfi BEAST. 14S 
 
 of the name disguised in numerical letters, according to 
 the fancy of the imposer." 
 
 Prideaux says that Ptolemy Philopater ordered all 
 the Jews who applied to be enrolled as citizens of 
 Alexandria to have the form of an ivy leaf (the 
 badge of his god, Bacchus) impressed upon them 
 with a hot iron, under pain of death. ( '' Connection, " 
 Vol. ii. p. 78.) 
 
 The word used for mark in this prophecy is 
 charagma (xagay/^a), and is defined to mean, "a 
 graving, sculpture; a mark cut in or stamped." It 
 occurs nine times in the New Testament, and with 
 the single exception of Acts 17: 29, refers every time 
 to the mark of the beast. We are not, of course, to 
 understand in this symbolic prophecy that a literal 
 mark is intended ; but the giving of the literal mark, 
 as practiced in ancient times, is used as a figure to 
 illustrate certain acts that will be performed in the 
 fulfillment of this prophecy. And from the literal 
 mark as formerly employed, we learn something of 
 its meaning as used in the prophecy; for between 
 the symbol and the thing symbolized there must be 
 some resemblance. The mark, as literally used, sig- 
 nified that the person receiving it was the servant 
 of, acknowledged the authority of, or professed al- 
 legiance to, the person whose mark he bore. So the 
 mark of the beast, or of the papacy, must be some act 
 or profession by which the authority of that power 
 is acknowledged. What is it? 
 
 It would naturally be looked for in some of the 
 
144 THE.tJNiTED STATES IN PHuPHECY. 
 
 special characteristics of the papal power. Daniel, 
 describing that power under the symbol of a little 
 horn, speaks of it as waging a special warfare? 
 against God, Avearing out the saints of the Most 
 High, and thinking to change times and laws. The 
 prophet expressly specifies on this point: " He shall 
 think to change times and laws." These laws must 
 certainly be the laws of the Most High. To apply 
 it to human laws, and make the prophecy read, 
 " And he shall speak great words against the Most 
 High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most 
 High, and think to change human laws," would be 
 doing evident violence to the language of the prophet. 
 But apply it to the laws of God, and let it read, 
 "And he shall speak great words against the Most 
 High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High^ 
 and shall think to change the times and laws of the 
 Most High," and all is consistent and forcible. The 
 Hebrew has rin, law, and the Septuagint reads, 
 nomos (vufjog), in the singular, " the law," which more 
 directly suggests the law of God. The papacy has 
 been able to do more than merely " think " to change 
 human laws. It has changed them at pleasure. 
 It has annulled the decrees of kings and emperors, 
 and absolved subjects from allegiance to their right- 
 ful sovereigns. It has thrust its long arm into the 
 affairs of nations, and brought rulers to its feet in 
 the most abject humility. But the prophet beholds 
 greater acts of presumption than these. He sees it 
 endeavor to do what it was not able to do, but could 
 
THE MARK OF THE BEAST. 145 
 
 only think to do; he sees it attempt an act which 
 no man, nor any combination of men, can ever ac- 
 comphsh ; and that is, to change the law of the Most 
 High. Bear this in mind while we look at the tes- 
 timony of another sacred writer on this very point. 
 Paul speaks of the same power in 2 Thess. 2; and 
 he describes it, in the person of the pope, as the man 
 of sin, and as sitting as God in the temple of God 
 (that is, the church), and as exalting himself above 
 all that is called God, or that is worshiped. Accord- 
 ing to this, the pope sets himself up as the one for 
 all the church to look to for authority, in the place 
 of God. And now we ask the reader to ponder 
 carefully the question how he can exalt himself 
 above God. Search through the whole range of hu- 
 man devices, go to the extent of human effort; by 
 what plan, by what move, by what claim, could this 
 usurper exalt himself above God? He might insti- 
 tute any number of ceremonies, he might prescribe 
 any form of worship, he might exhibit any degree 
 of powder ; but so long as God had requirements which 
 the people felt bound to regard in preference to his 
 own, so long he would not be above God. He might 
 enact a law, and teach the people that they were un- 
 der as great obligations to that as to the law of God ; 
 then he would only make himself equal with God. 
 But he is to do more than this ; he is to attempt to 
 raise himself above him. Then he must promulgate 
 a law which conflicts with the law of God, and de- 
 mand obedience to his own law in preference to 
 10 
 
146 THE 'UNITED STATES m PHOPIlECY. 
 
 God's. There is no other possible way in which he 
 could place himself in the position assigned in the 
 prophecy. But this is simply to change the law of 
 God ; and if he can cause this change to be adopted 
 by the people in place of the original enactment, 
 then he, the law-changer, is above God, the law- 
 maker. And this is the very work that Daniel said 
 he should think to do. 
 
 Such a work as this, then, the papacy must ac- 
 complish according to the prophecy; and the proph- 
 ecy cannot fail. And when this is done, what do 
 the people of the world have? They have two laws 
 demanding obedience, — one, the law of God as orig- 
 inally enacted by him, an embodiment of his will, 
 and expressing his claims upon his creatures; the 
 other, a revised edition of that law, emanating from 
 the pope of Rome, and expressing his will. And how 
 is it to be determined which of these powers the peo- 
 ple honor and worship? It is determined by the 
 law which they keep. If they keep the law of God 
 as given by him, they worship and obey God. If 
 they keep the law as changed by the papacy, they 
 worship that power. But further : the prophecy does 
 not say that the little horn should set aside the law 
 of God, and give one entirely different. This would 
 not be to change the law, but simply to give a new 
 one. He was only to attempt a change, so that 
 the law that comes from God, and the law that 
 comes from the papacy, are precisely alike, excepting 
 the change which the papacy has made in the 
 
THE MARK OF THE BEAST. 147 
 
 former. They have many points in common. But 
 none of the precepts which they contain in common 
 can distinguish a person as the worshiper of either 
 power in preference to the other. If God's law says, 
 "Thou shalt not kill," and the law as given by the 
 papacy says the same, no one can tell by a person's 
 observance of that precept whether he designed to 
 obey God rather than the pope, or the pope rather 
 than God. But when a precept that has been 
 changed is the subject of action, then whoever ob- 
 serves that precept as originally given by God, is 
 thereby distinguished as a worshiper of God ; and he 
 who keeps it as changed, is thereby marked as a fol- 
 lower of the power that made the change. In no 
 other way can the two classes of worshipers be dis- 
 tin^ruished. From this conclusion, no candid mind 
 can dissent; but in this conclusion we have a general 
 answer to the question, "What constitutes the mark 
 of the beast?" namely. The mark of the beast 
 
 IS THE change he HAS MADE IN THE LAW OF GOD. 
 
 We now inquire what that change is. By the 
 law of God we mean the moral law, the only law 
 in the universe of immutable and perpetual obliga- 
 tion,— the law of which W^ebster says, defining the 
 terms according to the sense in wdiich they are al- 
 most universally used in Christendom, " The moral 
 law is summarily contained in the decalogue, written 
 by the finger of God on two tables of stone, and 
 delivered to Moses on Mount Sinai." 
 
 If, now, the reader will compare the ten com- 
 
148 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 mandments as found in Roman Catholic catechisms 
 with those commandments as found in the Bible, he 
 will see in the catechisms that the second command- 
 ment is left out, that the tenth is divided into two 
 to make up the lack caused by leaving out the 
 second, and keep good the number ten, and that 
 the fourth commandment (called the third in their 
 enumeration) is made to enjoin the observance of 
 Sunday as the Sabbath, and prescribe that the day 
 shall be spent in hearing mass devoutly, attending 
 vespers, and reading moral and pious books. Here are 
 several variations from the decalogue as found in 
 the Bible. Which of them constitutes the change of 
 the law intended in the prophecy ? or are they all 
 included in that change ? Let it be borne in mind, 
 that, according to the prophecy, he was to think to 
 change times and laws. This plainly conveys the 
 idea of intention and design, and makes these qual- 
 ities essential to the change in question. But re- 
 specting the omission of the second commandment, 
 Catholics argue that it is included in the first, and 
 hence should not be numbered as a separate com- 
 mandment. And on the tenth they claim that there 
 is so plain a distinction of ideas as to require two 
 commandments. So they make the coveting of a 
 neighbor's wife the ninth command, and the covet- 
 intr of his gfoods the tenth. 
 
 In all this they claim that they are giving the 
 commandments exactly as God intended to have 
 them understood. So, while we may regard them 
 
THE MARK OF THE BEAST. 149 
 
 as errors in their interpretation of the command- 
 ments, we cannot set them down as intentional 
 changes. Not so, however, Avith the fourth com- 
 mandment. Respecting this commandment they 
 do not claim that their version is like that given by 
 God. They expressly claim a change here, and also 
 that the change has been made by the church. A 
 few quotations from standard Catholic works will 
 make this matter plain. In a work entitled, 
 " Treatise of Thirty Controversies," we find these 
 words : — 
 
 " The word of God command (^th the seventh day to be 
 the Sabbath of our Ijord, and to be kept holy ; you 
 [Protestants], without any precept of Scripture, change 
 it to the first day of the week, only authorized by our 
 traditions. Divers English Puritans oppose, against this 
 point, that the observation of the first day is proved out 
 of Scripture, where it is said, the first day of the week. 
 Acts 20 : 7 ; 1 Cor. 16:2; Rev. 1:10. Have they not 
 spun a fair thread in quoting these places 1 If we should 
 produce no better for purgatory and prayers for the dead, 
 invocation of the saints, and the like, they might have 
 good cause, indeed, to laugh us to scorn; for where is it 
 written that these were Sabbath days in which those 
 meetings were kept % Or where is it ordained they should 
 be always observed % Or, which is the sum of all, where 
 is it decreed that the osbervation of the first day should 
 abrogate, or abolish, the sanctifying of the seventh day, 
 which God commanded everlastingly to be kept holy % 
 Not one of these is expressed in the written word of God.' 
 
 In the " Catholic Catechism of Christian Roligion," 
 
150 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 on the subject of the third (fourth) commandment, 
 we find these questions and answers: — 
 
 " Ques. What does God ordain by this commandment 1 
 
 " Aois. He ordains that we sanctify, iii a special man- 
 ner, this day on which he rested from the labor of 
 creation . 
 
 " Q. What is this day of rest 1 
 
 "A. The seventh day of the weeK, or Saturday ; for 
 he employed six days in creation, and rested on the sev- 
 enth. Gen. 2:2; Heb. 4:1; etc. 
 
 " Q. Is it, then, Saturday we should sanctify in order 
 to obey the ordinance of God ? 
 
 ^' A. During the old law, Saturday was the day sanc- 
 tified ; but the church, instructed by Jesus Christ, and 
 directed by the Spirit of God, has substituted Sunday 
 for Saturday ; so now we sanctify the first, not the sev- 
 enth day. Sunday means, and now is, the day of the 
 Lord." 
 
 In the " Catholic Christian Instructed," we read: — 
 
 " Ques. What warrant have you for keeping the Sun- 
 day preferable to the ancient Sabbath, which was the 
 Saturday 1 
 
 " A71S. We have for it the authority of the Catholic 
 Church, and apostolic tradition. 
 
 " Q. Does the Scripture anywhere command the Sun- 
 day to 1)0 kept for the Sabbath 1 
 
 "A. The Scripture commands us to hear the church 
 (Matt. 18 : 17 ; Luke 10 : IG), and to hold fast the tra- 
 ditions of the apostles. 2 Thess. 2 : 15. But the Script- 
 ures do not in ]»articul:ir uiention this change of the Sab- 
 bath." 
 
THE MARK OF THE BEAST. 151 
 
 In the "Doctrinal Catechism" we find further 
 testimony to the same point: — 
 
 " Ques. Have you any other way of proving that the 
 church has power to institute festivals of precept 1 
 
 " Ans. Had she not such power, she could not have 
 done that in which all modern religionists agree with her 
 — she could not have substituted the observance of Sun- 
 day, the first day of the week, for the observance of Sat- 
 urday, the seventh day, a change for which there is no 
 Scriptural authority." 
 
 In "Abridgment of Christian Doctrine," we find 
 this testimony : — 
 
 " Ques. How prove you that the church hath power to 
 command feasts and holy days'? 
 
 "Ans. By the very act of changing the Sabbath into 
 Sunday, which Protestants allow of; and therefore they 
 fondly contradict themselves by keeping Sunday strictly, 
 and breaking most other feasts commanded by the same 
 church. 
 
 " Q. How prove you that 1 
 
 "A. Because by keeping Sunday they acknowledge the 
 church's power to ordain feasts, and to command them 
 imder sin." 
 
 And finally, W. Lockhart, late B. A. of Oxford, 
 in the Toronto (Catholic) Mirror, offered the follow- 
 ing "challenge" to all the Protestants of Ireland, — a 
 challenge as well calculated for this latitude as that. 
 He says : — 
 
 *'I do, therefore, solemnly challenge the Protestants 
 of Ireland to prove, by plain texts of Scripture, these 
 (juestions concerning the obligations of the Christian 
 
152 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 Sabbath : 1. That Christians may work on Saturday, 
 the old seventh day ; 2. That they are bound to keep 
 holy the first day, namely, Sunday; 3. That they are 
 not bound to keep holy the seventh day also." 
 
 This is what the papal power claims to have done 
 respecting the fourth commandment. Catholics 
 plainly acknowledge that there is no Scriptural au- 
 thority for the change they have made, but that it 
 rests wholly upon the authority of the church; and 
 they claim it as a token, or mark, of the authority of 
 that church, the ''very act of changing the Sabbath 
 into Sunday'' being set forth as proof of its power 
 in this respect. For further testimony on this point, 
 the reader is referred to a tract published at the Re- 
 view Office, Battle Creek, Mich., entitled, "Who 
 Chanp-ed the Sabbath?" in which are also extracts 
 
 o 
 
 from Catholic writers refuting the arguments usu- 
 ally relied upon to prove the Sunday Sabbath, and 
 showing that its only authority is the Catholic 
 Church. 
 
 ''But," says one, "I supposed that Christ changed 
 the Sabbath." A great many suppose so; and it is 
 natural that they should, for they have been so 
 taught. And while we have no words of denuncia- 
 tion to utter against any such persons for so believ- 
 ing, we would have them at once understand that 
 it is, in reality, one of the most enormous of all 
 errors. We would therefore remind such persons 
 that, according to the prophecy, the; only change 
 ever to be made in the law of God, was to l)e made 
 by the little horn of Dan 7, the man of sin of 2 
 
THE MARK OF THE BEAST. 153 
 
 Thess. 2 ; and the only change that has been made 
 in it, is the change of the Sabbath. Now, if Christ 
 made this change, he filled the office of the blasphe- 
 mous power spoken of by both Daniel and Paul, — a 
 conclusion sufficiently hideous to drive any Christian 
 from the view which leads thereto. 
 
 Why should any one labor to prove that Christ 
 changed the Sabbath? Whoever does this is per- 
 forming a thankless task. The pope will not thank 
 him; for if it is proved that Christ wrought this 
 change, then the pope is robbed of his badge of au- 
 thority and power. And no truly enlightened Prot- 
 estant will thank him; for if he succeeds, he only 
 shows that the papacy has not done the work which 
 it was predicted that it should do, and so that the 
 prophecy has failed, and the Scriptures are unrelia- 
 ble. The matter had better stand as the prophecy 
 has placed it, and the claim which the pope unwit- 
 tingly puts forth had better be granted. When a 
 person is charged with any work, and that person 
 steps forth and confesses that he has done the work, 
 that is usually considered sufficient to settle the 
 matter. So, when the prophecy affirms that a cer- 
 tain power shall change the law of God, and in due 
 time that very power arises, does the work foretold, 
 and then openly claims that he has done it, what 
 need have we of further evidence? The world 
 should not forget that the great apostasy foretold by 
 Paul has taken place ; that the man of sin for long 
 ages held almost a monopoly of Christian teaching in 
 the world ; that the mystery of iniquity has cast the 
 
154 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 darkness of its shadow and the en^ors of its doctrines 
 over ahnost all Christendom ; and that out of this era 
 of error and darkness and corruption, the theology 
 of our day has come. Would it, then, be anything 
 strange if there were yet some relics of popery to be 
 discarded ere the reformation will be complete? A. 
 Campbell (Baptism, p. 15), speaking of the different 
 Protestant sects, says : — 
 
 " All of them retain in their bosom, — in their ecclesias- 
 tical organizations, worship, doctrines, and observances, — 
 various rehcs of poj^eiy. They are at best a reformation 
 of popery, and only reformations in part. The doctrines 
 and traditions of men yet impair the power and progress 
 of the gospel in their hands." 
 
 The nature of the change which the little horn 
 has attempted to effect in the law of God is worthy 
 of notice. With true satanic instinct, he undertakes 
 to change that commandment which, of all others, is 
 the fundamental commandment of the law, the one 
 which makes known who the lawgiver is, and con- 
 tains his signature of royalty. The fourth command- 
 ment does this ; no other one does. Four others, it is 
 true, contain the word "God," and three of them the 
 word "Lord," also. But Avho is this Lord God of 
 whom they speak? Witliout the fourth command- 
 ment, it is impossible to tell ; for idolaters of every 
 grade apply these terms to the multitudinous objects 
 of their adoration. With the fourth command- 
 ment to point out th(3 Author of the decalogue, the 
 claims of every false god are annulled at one stroke; 
 
THE MARK OF THE BEAST. 155 
 
 for the God who here demands our worship is not 
 any created being, but the One who created all 
 things. The maker of the earth and sea, the sun and 
 moon, and all the starry host, the upholder and 
 governor of the universe, is the One who claims, 
 and who, from his position, has a right to claim, our 
 supreme regard in preference to every other object. 
 The commandment which makes known these facts 
 is, therefore, the very one we might suppose that 
 power which designed to exalt itself above God 
 would undertake to change. God gave the Sabbath 
 as a memorial of himself, a weekly reminder to the 
 sons of men of his work in creating the heavens and 
 the earth, a great barrier against atheism and idola- 
 try. It is the signature and seal of the law. This 
 the papacy has torn from its place, and erected in 
 its stead, on its own authority, another institution, 
 designed to serve another purpose. 
 
 This change of the fourth commandment must 
 therefore be the change to which the prophecy 
 points, and Sunday-keeping must be the mark of 
 the beast ! Some who have lonff been tauofht to re- 
 gard this institution with reverence will perhaps 
 start back with little less than feelings of horror at 
 this conclusion. We have not space, nor is this per- 
 haps the place, to enter into an extended argument 
 on the Sabbath question, and an exposition of the 
 origin and nature of the observance of the first day 
 of the week. Let us submit this one proposition : 
 If the seventh day is still the Sabbath enjoined in 
 the fourth commandment ; if the observance of the 
 
156 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 first day of the week has no foundation whatever in 
 the Scriptures ; if this observance has been brought 
 in as a Christian institution, and designedly put in 
 place of the Sabbath of the decalogue by that power 
 which is symbolized by the beast, and placed there 
 as a badge and token of its power to legislate for 
 the church, is it not inevitably the mark of the 
 beast? The answer must be in the affirmative. 
 But all these hypotheses can easily be shown to be 
 certainties. See "History of the Sabbath," and 
 other works on the subject, published at the Review 
 Office. To these we can only refer the reader, in 
 passing. 
 
 It will be said again. Then all Sunday-keepei-s 
 have the mark of the beast; then all the good of 
 past ages who kept this day had the mark of, the 
 beast ; then Luther, Whitefield, the Wesleys, and 
 all who have done a good and noble work of refor- 
 mation, had the mark of the beast; then all the 
 blessings that have been poured upon the reformed 
 churches have been poured upon those who had the 
 mark of the beast. We answer, No ! And we are 
 sorry to say that some professedly religious teachers, 
 though many times corrected, persist in misrepre- 
 senting us on this point. We have never so held ; 
 we have never so taught. Our premises lead to no 
 such conclusions. Give ear : The mark and worship 
 of the beast are enforced by the two-horned beast. 
 The receiving of the mark of the beast is a specific 
 act which the two-horned Ix'ast is to cause to be 
 done. The third message of Hev. 14 is a warning 
 
THE MARK OF THE BEAST. 157 
 
 mercifully sent out iu advance to prepare the people 
 for the coming danger. There can, therefore, be no 
 worship of the beast, nor reception of his mark, such as 
 is contemplated in the prophecy, till it is en- 
 forced by the two-horned beast. We have seen that 
 intention was essential to the change which the pa- 
 pacy has made in the law of God, to constitute it the 
 mark of that power. So intention is necessary in 
 the adoption of that change to make it, on the part 
 of any individual, the reception of that mark. In 
 other words, a person must adopt the change know- 
 ing it to be the work of the beast, and receive it on 
 the authority of that power, in opposition to the re- 
 quirement of God. 
 
 But how with those referred to above, who have 
 kept Sunday in the past, and the majority of those 
 who are keeping it to-day ? Do they keep it as an 
 institution of the papacy? No. Have they decided 
 between this and the Sabbath of our Lord, under- 
 standing the claims of each? No. On wdiat ground 
 have they kept it, and do they still keep it ? They 
 suppose they are keeping a commandment of God. 
 Have such the mark of the beast ? By no means. 
 Their course is attributable to an error unwittingly 
 received from the Church of Rome, not to an act of 
 worship rendered to it. 
 
 But how is it to be in the future ? The church 
 which is to be prepared for the second coming of 
 Christ must be entirely free from papal errors and 
 corruptions. A reform must hence bo made on the 
 Sabbath question. The third angel proclaims the 
 
158 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 commandments of God, leading men to the true in 
 the place of the counterfeit. The dragon is stirred, 
 and so controls the wicked governments of the earth 
 that all authority of human power shall be exerted 
 to enforce the claims of the man of sin. Then the is- 
 sue is fairly before the people. On the one hand, they 
 are required to keep the true Sabbath ; on the other, 
 a counterfeit. For refusing to keep the true, the 
 message denounces the unmingled wrath of God ; 
 for refusing the false, earthly governments threaten 
 them with persecution and death. With this issue 
 before the people, what does he do who yields to the 
 human requirement ? He virtually says to God, I 
 know your claims, but I will not heed them. I 
 know that the power I am required to worship is 
 anti-Christian, but I yield to it to save my life. I 
 renounce your allegiance, and bow to the usurper. 
 The beast is henceforth the object of my adoration; 
 under his banner, in opposition to your authority, I 
 henceforth array myself; to him, in defiance of your 
 claims, I henceforth yield the obedience of my heart 
 and life. 
 
 Such is the spirit which will actuate the hearts of 
 the beast- worshipers, — a spirit which insults.the God 
 of the universe to his face, and is prevented only by 
 lack of power from overthrowing his government 
 and annihilating liis throne. Is it any wonder that 
 Jehovah denounces against so Heaven-daring a 
 course the most terrible threatening that his word 
 contains? 
 
Qdaiptnz^ ^tii^QM', 
 
 THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 
 
 WE have now found what, according to the 
 prophecy, will constitute the image which 
 the two-horned beast is to cause to be made, 
 and the mark which it will attempt to enforce. 
 The movement which is to fulfill this portion of the 
 prophecy is to be looked for in the popular churches 
 of our land. First, a union must be effected be- 
 tween these churches, with some degree of coalition 
 also between these bodies and the beast power, or 
 Roman Catholicism; and secondly, steps must be 
 taken to bring the law of the land to the support of 
 the Sunday Sabbath. These movements the proph- 
 ecy calls for; and the line of argument leading to 
 these conclusions is so direct and well-defined that 
 there is no avoiding them. They are a clear and 
 logical sequence from the premises given us. 
 
 When the application of Rev. 13 : 11-17 to the 
 United States was first made, over thirty-three 
 years ago, these positions respecting a union of the 
 churches and a grand Sunday movement were 
 taken. But at that time no sign appeared above or 
 beneath, at home or abroad, — no token was seen, no 
 indication existed, that such an issue would ever be 
 
 [159] 
 
160 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 made. But there was the prophecy, and that raust 
 stand. The United States government had given 
 abundant evidence, by its location, the time of its rise, 
 the manner of its rise, and its apparent character, that 
 it was the power symbolized by the two-horned beast. 
 There could be no mistake in the conclusion that it 
 was the very nation intended by that symbol. This 
 being so, it must take the course, and perform the 
 acts foretold. But here were predictions which 
 could be fulfilled by nothing less than the above- 
 named movement respecting Church and State, and 
 the enforcement of the papal Sabbath as a mark of 
 the beast. 
 
 To take the position at that time that this gov- 
 ernment was to pursue such a policy and engage in 
 such a work, without any apparent probability in 
 its favor, was no small act of faith. On the other 
 hand, to deny or ignore it, while admitting the ap- 
 plication of the symbol to this government, would 
 be in accordance with neither Scripture nor logic. 
 The only course for the humble, confiding student 
 of prophecy to pursue in such cases, is to take the 
 light as it is given, and believe the prophecy in all 
 its parts. So the stand was boldly taken ; and open 
 proclamation has been made from that day to this, 
 that such a work would be seen in the United 
 States, With every review of the argument, new 
 features of sti'ength have been discovered in the 
 application ; and amid a storm of scornful incredulity 
 we ha\'o watched the progress of events, and awaited 
 the hour of fulfillment. 
 
THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 161 
 
 Meanwhile, spiritualism has astonished the world 
 with its terrible progress, and shown itself to be the 
 wonder-working element which was to exist in con- 
 nection with this power. This has mightily strength- 
 ened the force of the application. And now, within 
 a few years past, what have we further seen? No 
 less than the commencement of that very move- 
 ment respecting the formation of the image and the 
 enactment of Sunday laws, Avhich we have so long 
 expected, and which is to complete the prophecy, 
 and close the scene. 
 
 Reference was ma'le in Chapter Nine to the move- 
 ment now on foot for a grand union of all the 
 churches ; not a union which arises from the putting 
 away of error and uniting upon the harmonious 
 principles of truth, but simply a combination of 
 sects, each retaining its own particular creed, but con- 
 federated for the purpose of carrying out more exten- 
 sively the common points of their faith. This move- 
 ment finds a strong undercurrent of favor in all the 
 churches; and men are engaged to carry it through 
 who are not easily turned from their purpose. 
 
 And there has suddenly arisen a class of men 
 whose souls are absorbed with the cognate idea of 
 Sunday reform, and who have dedicated every energy 
 of their being to the carrying forward of this kin- 
 dred movement. The "New York Sabbath Com- 
 mittee" have labored zealously by means of books, 
 tracts, speeches, and sermons, to create a strong public 
 sentiment in behalf of Sunday. Making slow progress 
 
 11 
 
162 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 through moral suasion, they seek a shorter path to 
 the accompUshment of their purposes through poHt- 
 ical power. And why not? Christianity has be- 
 come popular, and her professed adherents are nu- 
 merous. Why not avail themselves of the power of 
 the ballot to secure their ends? E-ev. J. S. Smart 
 (Methodist), in a published sermon on the "Political 
 Duties of Christian Men and Ministers," expresses a 
 largely prevailing sentiment on this question, when 
 he says : — 
 
 "I claim that we have, and ought to have, just as 
 much concern in the government of this country as any 
 other men We are the mass of the people. Vir- 
 tue in this country is not weak ; her ranks are strong in 
 numbers, and invincible from the righteousness of her 
 cause, — invincible if united. Let not her ranks be 
 broken by party names." 
 
 A "National Association " has been in existence for 
 a number of years, which has for its object the se- 
 curing of such amendments to the national Consti- 
 tution as shall express the religious views of the ma- 
 jority of the people, and make it an instrument un- 
 der which the keeping of Sunday can be enforced as 
 the Christian Sabbath. This Association already 
 embraces within its organization a long array of 
 eminent and honorable names, — Governors of States, 
 Presidents of colleges. Bishops, Doctors of Divinity, 
 Doctors of Law, and men who occupy high positions 
 in all the walks of life. 
 
 In the Address issued by the officers of this Asso- 
 ciation, they say : — 
 
THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 163 
 
 " Men of liigh standing, in every walk of life, of every 
 section of the country, and of every shade of political 
 sentiment and religious belief, have concurred in the 
 measure." 
 
 In their appeal, they most earnestly request every 
 lover of his country to join in forming auxiliary as- 
 sociations, to circulate documents, attend conven- 
 tions, sign the memorial to Congress, etc., etc. 
 
 In their plea for an amended Constitution, they 
 ask the people to — 
 
 " Consider that God is not once named in our national 
 Constitution. There is nothing in it which requires an 
 'oath of God,' as the Bible styles it (which, after all, is 
 the great bond both of loyalty in the citizen and of fidel- 
 ity in the magistrate), — nothing which requires the ob- 
 servance of the day of rest and of worship, or which re- 
 spects its sanctity. If we do not have the mails carried 
 and the post-offices open on Sunday, it is because we 
 have a Postmaster-General who respects the day. If 
 our Supreme Courts are not held, and if Congress does 
 not sit on that day, it is custom, and not law, that makes 
 it so. Nothijig in the Constitution gives Sunday quiet 
 to the custom-house, the navy yard, the barracks, or cny 
 of the departments of government. 
 
 "Consider that they fairly express the mind of the 
 great body of the American people. This is a Christian 
 people. These amendments agree with the faith, the 
 f ^elmgs, and the forms of every Christian church or sect. 
 The Catholic and the Protestant, the Unitarian and the 
 Trinitarian, profess and approve all that is here pro- 
 posed. Why should their wishes not become law 1 Why 
 
164 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 should not tlie Constitution be made to suit and to 
 represent a constituency so overwhelmingly in the ma- 
 jority^ .... 
 
 "■ This great majority are becoming daily more conscious 
 not only of their rights, but of their power. Their num- 
 ber grows, and theii' column becomes more solid. They 
 have quietly, steadily, opposed infidelity, until it has at 
 least become politically unpopular. They have asserted 
 the rights of man and the rights of the government, un- 
 til the nation's faith has become measurably fixed and 
 declared on these points. And now that the close of the 
 war gives us occasion to amend our Constitution, that it 
 may clearly and fully represent the mind of the people 
 on these points, they feel that it should also be so 
 amended as to recognize the rights of God in man and in 
 government. Is it anything but due to their long pa- 
 tience that they be at length allowed to speak out the 
 great facts and principles whicli give to all government 
 its dignity, stability, and beneficence *? " 
 
 Thus for several years a movement has been on 
 foot, daily growing in extent, importance, and power, 
 to fulfill that portion of the prophecy of Rev. 13: 11- 
 17 which first calls forth the dissent of the objector, 
 and which appears from every point of view the 
 most improbable of all the specifications ; namely, 
 the erection of the image to the beast and the en- 
 forcing of the mark. Beyond this, nothing remains 
 but the sharp conflict of the people of God with this 
 earthly power, and the eternal triumph of the over- 
 comer. 
 
 An Association, even now national in its char- 
 
THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 165 
 
 acter, as already noticed, and endeavoring, as is ap- 
 propriate for those who have such objects in view, 
 to secure their purposes under the sanction of the 
 highest authority of the land, the national Constitu- 
 tion, already has this matter in hand. In the in- 
 terest of this Association there is published, in Phila- 
 delphia, a weekly paper called the Christian States- 
 man, in advocacy of this movement. Every issue 
 of that paper goes forth filled with arguments and 
 appeals from some of the ablest pens in our land, in 
 favor of the desired Constitutional Amendment. 
 These are the very methods by which, in a country 
 like ours, great revolutions are accomplished ; and no 
 movement has ever arisen so suddenly as this to so 
 high a position in public esteem with certain classes, 
 and taken so strong a hold upon their hearts. 
 
 Says Mr. G. A. Townsend (New World and Old, 
 p. 212):— 
 
 " Church and State has several times crept into Amer- 
 ican politics, as in the contentions over the Bible in the 
 public schools, the anti-Catholic party of 1844, etc. Our 
 people have been wise enough heretofore to respect the 
 clergy in all religious questions, and to entertain a whole- 
 some lealousy of them in politics. The latest politico- 
 theological move'iiient [italics ours] is to insert the name 
 of the Deity in the Constitution." 
 
 The present movements of this National Associa- 
 tion, and the progress it has made, may be gathered 
 somewhat from the following sketch of its history, 
 and the reports of the proceedings of some of the con- 
 ventions which have thus far been held. 
 
166 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. , 
 
 From the Pittsburgh (Pa.) Goininercial of Feb. 6, 
 1874, we take the following: — 
 
 '^ The present movement to secure the religious amend- 
 ment of the Constitution originated at Xenia, Ohio, in 
 February, 1863, in a convention composed of eleven dif- 
 ferent religious denominations, who assembled for prayer 
 and conference, not in regard to the amendment of the 
 Constitution, but the state of religion. Meetings (small 
 m numbers) were held shortly after in Pittsburg and 
 elsewliere. At first the association was called a ' Relig- 
 ious Council;' now it is known as the 'ISTational Asso- 
 ciation to Secure the Religious Amendment of the Con- 
 stitution of the United States,' and is becoming more 
 popular, and increasing largely in numbers. 
 
 " The first National Convention of the Association was 
 held in the First United Presbyterian Church, Alle- 
 gheny, Pa., Jan. 27, 1864, at which a large delegation was 
 appointed to present the matter to the consideration of 
 Hon. Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States. 
 An adjourned meeting was held in the Eighth Street 
 Methodist Episcopal Church, Philadelphia, on the 7th and 
 8th of July of tlie same year; and another in the same 
 city, in the West Arch Street Presbyterian Church, jSTov. 
 29, 1864. 
 
 "Conventions were held in New York in 1868, in 
 Columbus, Ohio, February, 1869, and in Monmouth, 111., 
 April, 1S71. 
 
 "National conventions were ht^ld in Pittsburg, 1870; 
 Philadelphia, 1871; Cincinnati, 1872; and New York, 
 1873. Tlie National Convention which meets this aft- 
 ernoon [Feb. 4, 1874] in Library Hall [in Pittsburg, 
 Pa.], is, we believe, the fifth in order." 
 
THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 167 
 
 From the report of the executive committee at the 
 Cincinnati Convention, Jan. 31, 1872, it appeared 
 that ten thousand copies of the proceedings of the 
 Philadelphia Convention had been gratuitously dis- 
 tributed, and a general secretary had been ap- 
 pointed. Nearly $1,800 was raised at this Conven- 
 tion. 
 
 The business committee recommended that the 
 delegates to this Convention hold meetings in their 
 respective localities to ratify the resolutions adopted 
 at Cincinnati; that twenty thousand copies of the 
 proceedings of this Convention be published in tract 
 form; and that the friends of the Association be 
 urged to form auxiliary associations. All these 
 recommendations were adopted. 
 
 Among the resolutions passed were the follow- 
 ing:— 
 
 ^^ Resolved, That it is the right and duty of the United 
 States, as a nation settled by Christians, — a nation with 
 Christian laws and usages, and with Christianity as its 
 greatest social force, — to acknowledge itself in its 
 written Constitution to be a Christian nation. 
 
 ^^ Resolved, That the proposed religious amendment, 
 so far from tending to a union of Church and State, is 
 directly opposed to such union, inasmuch as it recognizes 
 the nation's own relations to God, and insists that the 
 nation should acknowledge these relations for itself, and 
 not through tho medium of any clmrcli establishment." 
 
 Of the fifth annual Convention at Pittsburgh, Feb. 
 4, 1874, Eld. J. H. Waggoner, who went as a cor- 
 
168 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 respondent from the S. D. Adventists, says, in the 
 Advent Revieiu of Feb. 17, 1874: — 
 
 " This was a meeting of delegates, but was largely at- 
 tended. The number of delegates holding certificates 
 was 641; non-certified, 432; total, 1,073, representing 18 
 States. Petitions to Congress, partially returned, as I 
 understood, footed up over 54,000 names. 
 
 " It has been strongly impressed upon my mind that 
 we have underestimated, rather than overestimated, 
 the rapid growth and power of this movement. Those 
 who think we have been deluded in confidently looking 
 for a gi-eat change in the nature and policy of our gov- 
 ernment, could but be convinced that we are right in 
 this if they would attend such a meeting as this, or by 
 other means become acquainted with what is actually 
 taking place in this respect. The reason assigned for 
 calling a delegated convention is that no place could be 
 found large enough to accommodate a mass-meeting of 
 the friends of the cause. But it is proposed to hold 
 mass-meetings in the several States, and have a general 
 grand rally in 187G, the centennial anniversary of our in- 
 dependence 
 
 " The animus of this meeting cannot be unaerstood 
 nor appreciated by any one who did not attend it. It 
 was a large gathering of delegates and others, and for 
 enthusiasm and unanimity is rarely equaled. This feat- 
 ure can be but feebly described in any published report; 
 and I notice that some of the most significant and stir- 
 ring expressions are left out of the most complete reports 
 of the speeches yet given. 
 
 <' The officers of the Association for the coming year 
 arc, President, Hon. Felix R. Brunot, Pittsburgh, with 
 
THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 169 
 
 99 Yice-Presidents, among whom are 4 governors, 5 
 State superintendents of public instruction, 9 bishops, 15 
 judges of higher courts, and 41 college presidents and 
 professors, and the others are all eminent men ; Gen- 
 eral Secretary, Rev. D. McAllister, N. Y. ; Correspond- 
 ing Secretaiy, Rev. T. P. Stevenson, Philadelphia." 
 
 In his opening address, the president of the Na- 
 tional Association, and chairman of this fifth Con- 
 vention, Hon. Felix R. Brunot, said that their "cause 
 had made the progress of twenty years in live;" and 
 the general secretary, D. McAllister, said of the past 
 year that it had " numbered a larger array of acces- 
 sions to our ranks than any two, or three, or perhaps 
 five, preceding years." 
 
 Instead of a large national convention in 1875, 
 four conventions, more local in their nature, were 
 held in different parts of the country, as follows: — 
 
 One in Tremont Temple, Boston, Mass., Dec. 16, 
 1874; one in St. Louis, Mo., Jan. 27 and 28, 1875; 
 one for Kansas and adjacent States, Feb. 10 and 11 ; 
 and one for Ohio and adjoining States, early in 
 March. 
 
 Of the meeting in St. Louis, the Oliristian States- 
 man of Februar}^ 1875, said: — 
 
 " The Convention of citizens of Illinois, Iowa, Mis- 
 souri, and neighboring States, in the city of St. Louis, on 
 the 27th and 28th of last month, was a triumphant suc- 
 cess. In a city where there was but a small constituency 
 committed in advance to the support of the proposed 
 amendment, public attention has been earnestly drawn 
 
170 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 to the movement, a large audience was called out at all 
 the sessions of the Convention, and full reports of the 
 able addresses delivered have been published in the city- 
 papers. By special arrangement, the St. Louis Glohe 
 gave a full report, like that of the Pittsburgh Commer- 
 cial or the Glohe of Boston, but the other papers also 
 contained full and respectful accounts of the proceedings. 
 Fully one thousand people were present at the opening 
 session, and at least three hundred at the day sessions on 
 Thursday. Three hundred and ninety-four names were 
 enrolled as members of the Convention. The address of 
 J. C. Wells, Esq., a lawyer from Chillicothe, Illinois, 
 was marked by the same vigor of argument and fervent 
 Christian spirit which lend so much power and attract- 
 iveness to his able little book entitled, ' Our National 
 Obligation.' Mr. Wells was also chosen president of the 
 Convention. The friends in St. Louis and vicinity are 
 heartily to be congratulated on this result. 
 
 " The closing resolution ado})ted at the Convention 
 reads :— 
 
 ^' ^ Resolved, That, recognizing the importance of this 
 subject, we pledge ourselves to present and advocate it 
 until the nation shall declare its Christian character, as 
 it has, with one consent, already asserted its freedom in 
 the charter of our rights and liberties.' " 
 
 Nov. 9, 1875, a special meeting of the National 
 Association was held in Philadelphia, Pa., at which 
 meeting the Association took steps, which have since 
 been carried out, to become incorporated in law, un- 
 der the name of the " National Reform Association." 
 The Christian Statesman of Nov. 20, 1875, con- 
 tained the following notice of this meeting: — 
 
THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 171 
 
 " Tlie evening session was well attended, and was al- 
 together the most encouraging meeting in behalf of the 
 cause held in this city for many years." 
 
 The subsequent action of the executive committee 
 is reported as follows: — 
 
 " The executive committee has since taken steps to ob- 
 tain a charter of incorporation for the Society, and to se- 
 cure an office which shall be a recognized head-quarters 
 for its operations and depository of its publications, es- 
 pecially during the centennial year." 
 
 An important meeting was held in Philadelphia 
 at the time of the Centennial Exposition, and meet- 
 ings have been held each year since, in all parts of 
 the country. 
 
 Th<3 Association has at the present time the fol- 
 lowing board of officers: A president, corresponding 
 secretary, financial secretary, recording secretary, 
 treasurer, four district secretaries, and fifty-three 
 vice-presidents. Among these, besides the president, 
 Hon. Felix R. Brunot, Pittsburgh, Pa., are seven 
 Reverends, twenty-eight D. D.'s (sixteen of these 
 are presidents of, or professors in, colleges and other 
 institutions of learning, and most of the others are 
 bishops and presiding elders), nine LL. D.'s, four 
 justices of supreme courts, two editors, two gen- 
 erals, etc. 
 
 Whatever influence great names can impart to 
 any cause is certainly secured in favor of this. Mr. 
 F. E. Abbott, editor of the Index, published in Bos- 
 ton, Mass., who was present at the Cincinnati Cou- 
 
172 THE UNITED STATES IX PROPHECY. 
 
 vention, and presented a protest against its aims and 
 efforts, thus speaks of those who stand at the head 
 of this movement: — 
 
 " We found them to be so thoroughly sincere and ear- 
 nest in their purpose, that they did not fear the effect of 
 a decided but temperate protest. This fact speaks vol- 
 umes in their praise as men of character and convictions. 
 We saw no indication of the artful management which 
 characterizes most conventions. The leading men, Rev. 
 D. McAllister, Rev. A. M. Milligan, Prof Sloane, Prof 
 Stoddard, Prof Wright, Rev. T. P. Stevenson, impressed 
 us as able, clear-headed, and thoroughly honest men; and 
 we could not but conceive a great respect for their mo- 
 tives and their intentions. It is such qualities as these 
 in the leaders of the movement that give it its most for- 
 midable character. They have definite and consistent 
 ideas; they perceive the logical connection of these ideas, 
 and advocate them in a very cogent and powerful man- 
 ner; and they propose to push them with determination 
 and zeal. Concede their premises, and it is impossible 
 to deny their conclusions; and since these premises are 
 axiomatic truths with the great majority of Protestant 
 Christians, the effect of the vigorous campaign on which 
 they are entering cannot be small or despicable. The 
 very respect with which we were compelled to regard 
 them only increases our sense of the evils which lie ger- 
 minant in their doctrines; and we came home with the 
 conviction that religious liberty in America must do bat- 
 tle for its very existence hereafter. The movement in 
 which these men are engaged has too many elements of 
 strength to be contemned by any far-seeing liberal. 
 Blindness or sluggishness to-day means slavery to-mor- 
 
THE BEGINNING OP THE END. 173 
 
 row. Radicalism must pass now from thought to action, 
 or it will deserve the oppression that lies in wait to over- 
 whelm it." 
 
 To show the strong convictions of many minds 
 that the conflict here indicated is inevitable, we 
 present some further extracts from the Index. In 
 its issue of Feb. 12, 1874, it says: — 
 
 " Yet in this one point the Christianizers show an un- 
 erring instinct. The great battle between the ideas of 
 the State and the ideas of the Church will indeed be 
 fought out in the organic law of the nation. The long 
 and bitter conflict of chattel-slavery with free industry 
 began in the world of ideas, passed to the arena of poli- 
 tics, burst into the hell of war, and expired in the peace- 
 ful suffrages by which Freedom was enthroned in the 
 Constitution. The old story will be repeated; for it is 
 the same old conflict in a new guise, though we hope, and 
 would fain believe, that the dreaded possibility of another 
 civil war is in fact an impossibility. But that the agi- 
 tation now begun can find no end until either Christian- 
 ity or Freedom shall have molded the Constitution 
 wholly into its own likeness, is one of the fatalities to be 
 read in the very nature of the conflicting princi])les. The 
 battle of the amendments is at hand. A thousand 
 minor issues hide it from sight; but none the less it ap- 
 proaches year by year, month by month, day by day. 
 Cowardice to the rear ! Courage to the front!" 
 
 The sentiment here expressed, that "the agitation 
 now begun can find no end until either Christianity 
 or Freedom [by which the Index means infidelity] 
 shall have molded the Constitution wholly into its 
 
174 THE UNITED STATES IK PROPHECY. 
 
 own likeness/' is becoming the settled conviction of 
 many minds. It is not difficult to foresee the re- 
 sult. Infidel, the Constitution can never become ; 
 hence it will become wholly the instrument of that 
 type of Christianity which the Amendmentists are 
 now seeking. 
 
 Again the Index says: — 
 
 " The central ideas of the Church and of the Republic 
 are locked in deadly combat — none the less so, because 
 the battle-ground to-day is the invisible field of thought. 
 To-morrow the struggle will be in the arena of politics, 
 and then no eye Avill be so blind as not to see it." 
 
 At the Pittsburg Convention, in 1874, — 
 
 " Dr. Kietfer said that this movement was more po- 
 litical than ecclesiastical, appealing to the patriotism of 
 all classes alike, and should be accepted by all. Dr. 
 Hodge said it was in no sense sectarian, and the ends it 
 sought could be accepted by one denomination as well as 
 by another, — by the Catholic as well as by the Protest- 
 ant. He said it was destined to unite all classes. And 
 their work was all in this direction." 
 
 The following, also from the Index, we copy from 
 the Christian Statesman of Jan. 2, 1875. We do 
 not indorse its statements as applied to real Chris- 
 tianity, but it probably expresses the view which 
 will be taken of this matter by the churches gener- 
 ally, and so may be regarded as an indication of the 
 course that will be pursued by them. While the 
 political religionist can see in present movements 
 
THi! iBEGINNING OF THE END. 175 
 
 the prelude of a mighty revolution, we believe it to 
 be the same that students of prophecy have for years 
 been led by the word of God to expect. The Index 
 says : — 
 
 "Nothing could be more apparent to one who intelli- 
 gently followed the argument from its own premises, 
 than that this movement expresses at once the moral 
 and the political necessities of Christianity in this coun- 
 try. It is not a question of words, but rather a ques- 
 tion of the vital interests of great institutions. Chris- 
 tianity must either relinquish its present hold on the 
 government, — its Sunday laws, its blasphemy laws, its 
 thanksgivings and fasts, its chaplaincies, its Bible in 
 schools, etc., — or else it must secure the necessary con- 
 dition of retainmg all these things by inserting some 
 guarantee of their perpetuity in the national Constitu- 
 tion. Looking simply at the small present dimensions 
 of the movement, — at the fewness of its devoted workers, 
 the paucity of attendants at the late Convention, and 
 the indifference of the public at large, — one is justified 
 in dismissing it from consideration as of no immediate im- 
 portance. But whoever is qualified to detect great 
 movements in their germs, and to perceive that instituted 
 Christianity is in vast peril from the constant inroads of 
 rapidly spreading disbelief of dogmatic Christianity, — 
 whoever is able to discern the certainty that the claims 
 of Christianity to mold political action in its own inter- 
 est must sooner or later be submitted for adjudication 
 to the supreme law of the land, by which they are not 
 even verbally recognized, — will not fall into the super- 
 ficiality of inferring the future fortunes of this move- 
 ment, either from the mediaeval character of its preten- 
 
176 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 sions or the j)resent insignificance of its success. It may 
 jDOSsibly be that the Christian churches do not really 
 care for their own existence, and are prepared to surren- 
 der it without a struggle, but we do not so read history. 
 So soon as they come to comprehend fully the fact that 
 their legal ' Sabbath,' their Bible in schools, and all their 
 present legal privileges, must one by one slip away inev- 
 itably from theii' grasp, unless they defend them in the 
 only possible way by grounding them on Constitutional 
 guarantees, it seems to us an irresistible conclusion from 
 history and experience that they will arouse themselves 
 to protect these possessions as infinitely important. If 
 they do not, they have achieved a degree of moral rot- 
 tenness, cowardice, and hypocrisy which we are very 
 slow to attribute to them. These champions of a Chris- 
 tianized Constitution are to-day the political brain of 
 the Christian church. Conceding their premises, which 
 are simply those of the universal Evangelical commun- 
 ion, it is impossible to deny their conclusions. It is 
 these premises that we dispute, not the logicalness of 
 the conclusions themselves ; and although w^e hold that 
 the same premises, if further carried out, must lead to 
 the Roman Catholic position expressed by the Vatican 
 decrees, we none the less admit the necessity of travel- 
 ing that road from the starting-point, if it is once fairly 
 entered upon. Hence we are as strongly convinced as 
 ever that the Christian-Amendment movement contains 
 the germ of a demand that must sooner or later be heard 
 asserted with i)erilous emphasis, by the body of orthodox 
 Christian churches." 
 
 The character of this movement is thus described 
 
THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 177 
 
 by one who was an eye-witness at the Pittsburgh 
 Convention : — 
 
 "They show determination to make the movement 
 popular, and to reach the feehngs of the people by every 
 means. In their speeches, they alternate with the most 
 impassioned earnestness and gravest argument the sharp- 
 est wit, and even laughable puns and incidents. Staid 
 ' Reverends ' clap their hands in applause as heartily as 
 I ever saw done in any kind of gathering, and Old- 
 School Presbyterian Doctors of Divinity, who have gen- 
 erally been noted for clerical dignity, take the greatest 
 delight in raising the cheers of the crowd by their keen 
 thrusts and witticisms. The Commercial was publicly 
 recommended as giving the official report, and of the 
 speech of the President of Washington and Jefferson 
 College, it said, ' Dr. Hay's address was received \^'ith 
 frequent marks of approbation, and his witty points drew 
 forth shouts of laughter.' Judging from what I have 
 seen, the standard of piety is not to be elevated by this 
 work."— J: H. W., in Review of Feb. 17, 1874. 
 
 Between the professions of this Association, and 
 the objects which they are openly laboring to ob- 
 tain, there is an utter inconsistency, as the follow- 
 ing considerations will show. In the Review of 
 March 24, 1874, the writer last quoted says : — 
 
 " We are sometimes perplexed to account for the sin- 
 gular operations of the human mind. When we see men 
 of good natural ability and of superior privileges of 
 mental and moral culture, persistently clinging to the 
 weaker side in argument, and seeming able to discover 
 
 13 
 
178 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 light only on the dai-kest side of a proposition, or en- 
 deavoring to sustain themselves by taking contradictory 
 positions, our charity is taxed to the utmost to give them 
 credit for the ability they seem to possess and for the 
 integrity of purpose they claim. Seldom have our re- 
 flections been more forciljly turned in this direction than 
 in viewing the course pursued by the advocates of the 
 Keligious Amendment. A late number of the Chris- 
 tian Statesman, speaking of the Seventh-day Adventists, 
 says : — . 
 
 ' " ' From the beginning of the National Reform Movement, 
 they have regarded it as the first step toward the persecution 
 which they, as keepers of the seventh day, will endure, when 
 our Sabbath laws are revived and enforced. One can but 
 smile at their apprehensions of the success of a movement 
 which Avould not harm a hair of their heads, but their fears 
 are sincere enough, for all that.'" 
 
 ' Pursuing the line of argument into a considera- 
 tion of the question whether there is anything in the 
 professions of the Amendment party calculated to 
 change our opinion in this respect, he continues : — 
 
 '-''If a profession of good motives and of a desire to 
 steer clear of a union of Church and State on the part of 
 the Amendment party could give us assurance on tliis 
 point, then might we cease to notice this subject. On 
 this point they are very explicit. A few quotations will 
 suffice to present their claims. Said Hon. Mr. Patter- 
 son, in the Pittsburgh Convention : — 
 
 " 'Be not misled by the assertion that the movement agi- 
 tated by this Convention tends to religious intolerance, to 
 wedding Church and State. No such tendency exists. On 
 the contrary, this movement claims nothing but to secure in 
 the preamble of our national Constitution an acknowledg- 
 ment of the supremacy of God and the Christian character 
 
THE BEGINNtJTG OF THE END. 179 
 
 of our Diilion, such as is now geuerally and authoritatively 
 conceded to be the law of our land.' 
 
 ' This, surely, is lamb-like enough to throw us all off 
 our guard. The following remarks by President Brunot 
 (pronounced Bruno) on taking the chair are equally in- 
 nocent to view : — 
 
 '"The fourth article of the Constitution declares that ''no 
 religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any 
 office or public trust under the United States," and the first 
 amendment in the Constitution provides that "Congress 
 shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, 
 or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." We have not pro- 
 posed to change these. We deem them essential, in con- 
 nection with the amendment w^e ask, to the preservation of 
 religious liberty, and with it, an effective guard against a 
 union of Church and State.' 
 
 " And again : ' The attempt to destroy the inalienable 
 right of freedom of conscience in religion in this, our fa- 
 vored land, would meet mth its very first organized re- 
 sistance from this Association.' 
 
 ''And Dr. Kerr said : — 
 
 "We want no union of Church and State. Let that 
 question be raised in this country, and there is no element 
 of the opposition that would rise against it that would be 
 more decided and determined than that represented in this 
 Convention. We wish no restraint of the rightful liberties 
 of any man.' 
 
 "These utterances are pleasant to read, and doubtless 
 they, and others like them, have had much to do in en- 
 listing so strong an interest in favor of the amendment. 
 A]id were these sayings, or those of like nature, all that 
 they had put forth, we should feel constrained to regard 
 the men and their work in a light somewhat different 
 from that in Avliich we now view them. 
 
 "We come now to examine another class of expres* 
 
IgO ' THE UNITED STATES IN PHOPHECY. 
 
 sions, of a positive nature. What we have quoted is 
 negative, — a disclaimer, a relation of what they do not 
 wish to do. Very explicitly have they stated theii* de- 
 sires and intentions. True, we cannot reconcile what 
 they have said under these two heads, and it is this 
 which so perplexes us in regard to their professions. It 
 is to be hoped that they %vill sometime attempt to show 
 that their statements may be harmonized, or else confine 
 their avowals to one side of the question, that all may 
 understand, without study or doubt, just the position 
 they occupy. 
 
 •■ "Dr. Stevenson, Corresponding Secretary of the Na- 
 tional Association, and editor of the Statesman, in the 
 opening address at the Convention, said : — 
 
 "'Through the immense largesses it receives from cor- 
 rupt politicians, the Roman Catholic Church is, practically, 
 the established church of the city of New York. These fa- 
 vors are granted under the guise of a seeming friendliness 
 to religion. We projDOse to put the substance for the 
 shadow, — to drive out the counterfeit by the completer sub- 
 stitution of the true.' 
 
 "These words are somewhat ambiguous, bat none the 
 less important, on this subject ; for, taken in any possi- 
 ble way, they are full of meaning. It may be a question 
 whether this 'seeming friendliness to religion' is the 
 shadow, and real friendliness to religion in politics is the 
 substance, or whether the Catholic Church is the coun- 
 terfeit and Protestantism the true; but in either case 
 the establishment of the church, or a church, or churches, 
 more completely than at present established, though they 
 are practically existing now, is the object aimed at in 
 this paragi-aph. The latter form, the establishment of 
 the churches, appears to be the object ; for in the next 
 sentence he says : — ' 
 
THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 181 
 
 "'What we propose is nothing of a sectarian character. 
 It will give no branch of American Christians any advantage 
 over any other.' 
 
 "A remark made by Prof. Blanchard is a comple- 
 ment to the above. He has given us a definition of 
 'union of Church and State' as opposed by them. Thus 
 he said : — 
 
 " 'But union of Church and State is the selection by the 
 nation of one church, the endowment of such a church, the 
 appointment of its officers, and the oversight of its doc- 
 trines. For such a union none of us plead. To such a 
 union we are all of us opposed.' -- 
 
 "In reading this, we are reminded of the turn taken 
 by the spiritualists, when they deny that they are op- 
 posed to marriage ; they explain by defining marriage to 
 be a union of tw^o persons not to be regulated nor 
 guarded by civil law, which exists only as long as the 
 parties are agreed thereto, requiring no law to effect a 
 divoi-ce ! To such marriage the most lawless libertine 
 would not object. We are sorry that the respectable 
 advocates of the amendment take a position so nearly 
 parallel to the above-cited position of spiritualists. They 
 give a definition of union of Church and State such 
 as no one expects nor fears, — 3iich, in fact, as is not pos- 
 sible in the existing state of the churches, — and then 
 loudly proclaim that they are opposed to union of Chiu'ch 
 and State ! But to a union of Church and State in the 
 popular sense of the phrase, — a union, not of one church, 
 but of all the churches recognized as orthodox, or evan- 
 gelical, — a union not giving the State power to elect 
 church officers nor to take tha oversight of church doc- 
 trines, but giving the churches the privilege of enforc- 
 ing by civil law the laws, institutions, and usages of re- 
 
182 THE UNITED STATES IX PROPHECY. 
 
 ligion according to the faith of tli3 churches, or to the 
 construction put upon tliose institutions and usages by 
 the churches, — to such a union, we say, they are not 
 opposed. They are essentially and practically, despite 
 their professions, open advocates of union of Church and 
 State. 
 
 "President Brunot and others have referred to the 
 first amendment to the Constitution as a safeguard 
 against establishing a national religion. Yet in the face 
 of this reference he says : — 
 
 "'We propose "such an amendment to the Constitution 
 of the United States (or its preamble) as will suitably ac- 
 knowledge Almighty God as the author of the nation's ex- 
 istence and the ultimate source of its authority, Jesus Christ 
 as its Ruler, and the Bible as the supreme rule of its con- 
 duct," and thus indicate that this is a Christian nation, and 
 place all Christian laws, institutions, and usages, on an un- 
 deniable legal basis in the fundamental law of the land.' ^ 
 
 "Now the question arises. If all this were accom- 
 plished, would the Christian religion be established in 
 and by this government ? If it be answered that it 
 would not, then another question. Would individuals be 
 at liberty under the law of the land to disregard those 
 Christian institutions and usages'? If not, if both of 
 these questions be answered in the negative, then what 
 would be the existing state of things 1 Could it bo de- 
 fined? 
 
 " This will never do ; such talk is idle. To place 
 Christian usages on a legal basis i i to enforce them by 
 law, and to enforce them is to ' establish ' them. When 
 they are placed on 'an und(;nial)lo l(!gal basis in the 
 fundamental law of the land,' they arc fully established, 
 and to deny this is only to trifle with language. But 
 
THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 183 
 
 again, yoii cannot distinguish between 'all Christian laws, 
 institutions, and usages,' and the Christian religion. By 
 establishing them, you establish it, of necessity. To deny 
 this is to manifest a lack of discrimination or of candor. 
 We speak with due respect, but we have to deal with 
 facts of the gre^rtest magnitude and im.portance, and which 
 affect us in those things which we hold most sacred and 
 dear. The advocates of this movement are able men. 
 We hope they will not ignore these points, but so explain 
 them as to reconcile themselves with themselves, if it 
 can be done." 
 
 The New York Independent, in January, 1875, 
 showed up the inconsistency of this movement in a 
 few paragraphs so pointed and pungent that we 
 quote them entire, as follows: — 
 
 " This being a Christian nation, we have a right to 
 acknowledge God in the Constitution; because, as things 
 are now, this is not a Christian nation, and needs such 
 recognition to make it one. 
 
 '' This having always been a Christian nation, we have 
 a right to keep it such; and therefore we need this 
 amendment, since hitherto, without it, we have only been 
 a heathen nation. 
 
 " In other words, we need to make this a Christian 
 nation, because we are already such, on the ground that 
 if we do not make it such, we are not a Christian na- 
 tion. 
 
 " Because the poople are substantially all Christians, 
 wo La\'(; a right, and have need, to make the Constitu- 
 tion Christian, to check our powerful element of unbe- 
 lievers. 
 
184 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 " We mean to interfere with no man's rights, but only 
 to get certain rights, now belonging to all, restricted to 
 Christians. 
 
 " This religious amendment is to have no practical ef- 
 fect, its object being to check infidelity. 
 
 '' It is to interfere with no man's rights, but only to 
 make the unbeliever concede to Christians the right to 
 rule in their interest, and to give up like claims for 
 J;iimself. 
 
 "It is meant to have no practical effect, and therefore 
 will be of great use to us. 
 
 " We want to recognize God, and Christianity as our 
 national duty to Deity; but intend to give no effect to 
 such recognition, pleasing God by judicially voting our- 
 selves pious, and doing nothing more. 
 
 " We shall leave all religions in equality before the 
 law, and make Christianity the adopted religion of the 
 nation. 
 
 " Christianity, being justice, requires us to put down 
 infidelity by taking advantage of our numbers to secure 
 rights which we do not allow to others. 
 
 ''Justice to Christians is one thing, and to infidels 
 another. 
 
 " We being a Christian people, the Jewish and unbe- 
 lieving portion of our people are not, of right, part of the 
 people. 
 
 " And so, having no rights which we, as Christians, 
 are bound to respect, we must adopt this amendment in 
 our interest. 
 
 " Passing this act will not make any to be Christians 
 wlio are not Christians, but it is needed to make this a 
 more Christian nation, 
 
THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 185 
 
 " The people are not to be made more Christian by it; 
 but, since the nation cannot be Christian unless the peo- 
 ple are, it is meant to make the nation Christian Avithout 
 aflecting the people. 
 
 " That is, the object of this amendment is to make 
 the nation Christian without making the people Chris- 
 tians. 
 
 " By putting God in the Constitution he will be recog 
 nized by nobody else than those who already recognize 
 him; and therefore we need the amendment for a fuller 
 recognition of him. 
 
 " If we say we believe in God and Christ in the Con- 
 stitution, it is true of those believing in him and a lie as 
 to the rest; and as the first class already recognize him, 
 we want this amendment as a recognition by the latter 
 class, so that our whole people shall recognize him. 
 
 " Whether we have an acknowledgment of God in the 
 Constitution or not, we are a Christian nation; and, 
 therefore, it is this recognition of God that is to make us 
 a Christian nation." 
 
 As to the probability of the success of this move- 
 ment, there is at present some difference of opinion. 
 While a very few pass it by with a slur as a mere 
 temporary sensation of little or no consequence, it is 
 generally regarded, both by its advocates and its op- 
 posers, as a work of growing strength and impor- 
 tance. Petitions and remonstrances are both being 
 circulated with activity, and shrewd observers, who 
 have watched the movement with a jealous eye, and 
 heretofoi-e hoped it would amount to nothing, now 
 confess that it " means business," No movement of 
 
186 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 equal magnitude of purpose has ever sprung up and 
 become strong, and secured favor so rapidly as this. 
 Indeed, none of equal magnitude has ever been 
 sprung upon the American mind, as this aims to re- 
 model the whole framework of our government, and 
 give to it a strong religious caste, — a thing which the 
 framers of our Constitution were careful to exclude 
 from it. They not only ask that the Bible, and 
 God, and Christ, shall be recognized in the Consti- 
 tution, but that it shall indicate this as "a Christian 
 nation, and place all Christian laws, institutions, and 
 usages, in our government on an undeniable legal 
 basis in the fundamental law of the nation." 
 
 Of course, appropriate legislation will be required 
 to carry such amendments into effect, and somebody 
 will have to decide what are " Christian laws and 
 institutions." From what we learn of such move- 
 ments in the past in other countries, and of the tem- 
 per of the churches of this country, and of human 
 nature when it has power suddenly conferred upon 
 it, we look for no good from this movement. From 
 a lengthy article in the Lansing (Michigan) State 
 Republican in reference to the Cincinnati Conven- 
 tion, we take the following extract: — 
 
 "ISIow there are hundreds and thousands of moral and 
 professedly Christian j)epple in this nation to-day who do 
 nob recognize the doctrine of the Trinity, — do not recog- 
 nize Jesus Christ the SMinc^ as God. And there are hun- 
 dreds and thousands of men and women who do not rec- 
 ognize tlie Bible as the revelation of God. The attempt 
 
THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 187 
 
 to make any such amendment to tlie Constitution would 
 be regarded by a large minority, perhaps a majority, of 
 our nation as a j^alpable violation of liberty of conscience. 
 Thousands of men, if called upon to vote for such an 
 amendment, would hesitate to vote against God, although 
 they might not believe that the amendment is necessary 
 or that it is right; and such men would either vote af- 
 firmatively or not at all. In every case, such an amend- 
 ment would be likely to receive an affirmative vote which 
 would by no means indicate the true sentiment of the 
 people. And the same rule would hold good in relation 
 to the adoption of such an amendment by Congress or by 
 the Legislatures of three-quarters of the States. Men 
 who make politics a trade would hesitate to record their 
 names against the proposed Constitutional Amendment, 
 advocated by the leaders of the great religious denomina- 
 tions of the land, and indorsed by such men as Bishop 
 Simpson, Bishop Mcllvaine, Bishop Eastburn, President 
 Finney, Prof. Lewis, Prof. Seelye, Bishoj) Huntington, 
 Bishop Kerfoot, Dr. Patterson, Dr. Cuyler, and many 
 other divines who are the representative men of their 
 resj)ective denominations." 
 
 Not only the representative men of the churches 
 are pledged to this movement, but governors, judges, 
 and many of the most eminent men of the land, are 
 working for it. Who doubts the power of the 
 "representative men of the denominations" to rally 
 the strength of their denominations to sustain this 
 work at their call ? Wc utter no prophecy of the 
 future ; it is not needed. Events transpire in these 
 days faster than our minds are prepared to grasp 
 
188 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 them. Let us heed the admonition to '' watch ! " 
 and with reliance upon God, prepare for " those 
 things which are coming on the earth." 
 
 But it may be asked how the Sunday question 
 is to he affected by the proposed Constitutional 
 A.mendment. Answer: The object, or, to say the 
 least, one object of this amendment, is to put the 
 Sunday institution on a legal basis, and compel its 
 observance by the arm of the law. At the National 
 Convention held in Philadelphia, Jan. 18 and 19, 
 1871, the following resolution was among the first 
 offered by the business committee : — 
 
 " Resolved, That, in view of the controlling power of 
 the Constitution in shaping State as well as national 
 policy, it is of immediate importance to public morals 
 and to social order, to secure such an amendment as 
 will indicate that this is a Christian nation, and place all 
 Christian laws, institutions, and usages in our govern- 
 ment on an undeniable legal basis in the fundamental 
 law of the nation, specially those which secure a proper 
 oath, and which protect society against blasphemy, Sab- 
 bath-breaking, and polygamy." 
 
 By Sabbath-breaking is meant nothing else but 
 Sunday-breaking. In a convention of the friends 
 of Sunday, assembled Nov. 29, 1870, in New Con- 
 cord, Ohio, the Rev. James White is reported to 
 have said: "The question [of Sunday observance] is 
 closely connected with the National Reform Move- 
 ment ; for until the government comes to know God 
 and honor his law, we need not expect to restrain 
 
THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 189 
 
 Sabbath-breaking corporations." Here again the 
 idea of the legal enforcement of Sunday observance 
 stands uppermost. 
 
 Once more: The Philadelphia Press, of Dec. 5, 
 1870, stated that some Congressmen, including Vice- 
 President Colfax, arrived in Washington by Sunday 
 trains, Dec. 4, on which the Christian Statesman 
 commented as follows (we give italics as we find 
 them) : — 
 
 " 1. N'ot one of those men who thus violated the Sab- 
 bath is Jit to hold any official 2)osition in a Christian 
 nation, * * * * 
 
 " He who violates the Sabbath may not steal, because 
 the judgment of society so strongly condemns theft, or 
 because he believes that honesty is the best policy ; but 
 tempt him with the prospect of concealment or the pros- 
 pect of advantage, and there can be no reason why he 
 who robs God will not rob his neighbor also. For this 
 reason, the Sabbath law lies at the foundation of mor- 
 ality. Its observance is an acknowledgment of the sov- 
 ereign rights of God over us. 
 
 " 2. The sin of these Congressmen is a national sin, 
 because the nation hath not said to them in the Consti- 
 tution, the supreme rule for our public servants, ' We 
 charge you to serve us in accordance with the higher law 
 of God.' These Sabbath-breaking railroads, moreover, 
 are corporations created by the State, and amenable to 
 it. The State is responsible to God for the conduct of 
 these creatures which it calls into being. It is bound, 
 therefore, to restrain them from this as from other 
 crimes, and any violation of the Sabbath by any corpo- 
 
190 THE triCITED STATES IX PHOPHECY. 
 
 ration, sliould work iiniiiodialo forfeiture of its charter. 
 And the Constitution of the United States, with which 
 all State legislation is required to be in harmony, should 
 be of such a character as to prevent any State from tol- 
 erating such infractions of fundamental moral law. 
 
 " 3. Give us in the national Constitution the simple 
 acknowledgment of the law of God as the supreme law 
 of nations, and all the results indicated in this note 
 will ultimately he secured. Let no one say that the 
 movement does not contemjjlate sufficiently practical 
 ends." 
 
 From all this we see the important place the Sab- 
 bath question is to hold in this movement, — the im- 
 portant place it even now holds in the minds of 
 those who are urging it forward. Let the amend- 
 ment called for be granted, " and all the results in- 
 dicated in this note," says the writer, ''will ulti- 
 mately be secured ; " that is, individuals and corpo-' 
 rations will be restrained from violating the Sunday 
 observance. The acknowledgment of God in the 
 Constitution may do very well as a banner under 
 which to sail ; but the practical bearing of the move- 
 ment relates to the compulsory observance of the 
 first day of the week. 
 
 An article in the Christian at Work of April 20, 
 1882, spoke of a proposed plan to induce railroad 
 corporations and the leading industries of the coun- 
 try to suspend business on Sunday. The writer 
 thought the plan would fail, because it did not have 
 *' the force of a penalty," and said: — 
 
THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 191 
 
 " There is need of the power of government behind 
 the plan, — the strength of tlie national government in 
 support of the rule ; for the great business corporations 
 of the country have risen above, and reach beyond, the 
 authority of a Commonwealth. And not till the people 
 have made the Federal Government the escutcheon of 
 the Sabbath [Sunday] may we expect the rival indus- 
 tries to honor that sacred day." 
 
 And while this writer thus sturdily called for law, 
 he believed that if the church "insisted on her 
 rights " as loudly as the " infidel resisted them," they 
 could be easily secured. 
 
 Even now the question is agitated why the Jew 
 should be allowed to follow his business on the first 
 day, after having observed the seventh. The same 
 question is equally pertinent to all seventh-day 
 keepers. A writer signing himself ''American," in 
 the Boston Herald of Dec. 14, 1871, said: — 
 
 " The President in his late message, in speaking of 
 the Mormon question, says, ' They shall not be permitted 
 to break the law under the cloak of religion.' This un- 
 doubtedly meets the approval of every American citizen, 
 and I wish to cite a parallel case, and ask, Why should 
 the Jews of this country be allowed to keep open their 
 stores on the Sabbath, under the cloak of their religion, 
 while I, or any other true American, will be arrested 
 and suffer punishment for doing the same thing 1 If there 
 is a provision made allowing a few to conduct business on 
 the Sabbath, what justice and equality can thei-e be in 
 any such provision, and why should it not be stopped at 
 once 1 " 
 
192 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 And this question, we apprehend, will be very 
 summarily decided, when once the Constitutional 
 Amendment has been secured. 
 
 At a Ministerial Association of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church, held in Healdsburg, Cal., April 
 26-28, 1870, Rev. Mr. Trefren, of Napa, speaking 
 of S. D. A. ministers, said, " I predict for them a 
 short race. What we want is law in the matter." 
 Then, referring to the present movement to secure 
 such a law, he added: "And we will have it, too; 
 and when we get the power into our hands, we will 
 show these men what their end will be." 
 
 In 1876 the question was raised in Keokuk, 
 Iowa, "whether a Seventh-day Adventist could be 
 compelled to attend court as a witness on Saturday ; " 
 and Judofe Blanchard decided that he could be, and 
 that " a refusal would be contempt of court." 
 
 The Signs of the Times, of Oakland, Cal., in its 
 issue of Dec. 22, 1881, said:— 
 
 " After a sermon recently preached by an Oakland D. 
 D. in favor of enforcing the Sunday law, some of the 
 members of the congi-egation were heard giving utterance 
 to strong commendations of the sermon and of the law. 
 
 o 
 
 Said one, ' I am glad the Seventh-day Adventists will 
 have to come to time.' " 
 
 There are abundant indications that this pious 
 feeling largely prevails in many sections of our 
 country. 
 
 From a work recently published by the Presby- 
 terian Board of PubUcation, entitled, "The Sab- 
 
THE BEGlNNma OF THE END. 193 
 
 bath," by Chas. Elliott, Professor of Biblical Litera- 
 ture and Exegesis in the Presbyterian Theological 
 Seminary of the Northwest, Chicago, III, we take 
 this paragraph : — 
 
 "But it may be asked, Would not the Jew be denied 
 equality of rights by legislation protecting the Christian 
 Sabbath and ignoring the Jewish 1 The answer is, We 
 are not a Jewish, but a Christian nation ; therefore our 
 legislation must be conformed to the institutions and 
 spirit of Christianity. This is absolutely necessary from 
 the nature of the case." 
 
 There is no mistaking the import of this lan- 
 guage. No matter if the Jew does not secure equal 
 rights with others. We are not a Jewish nation, 
 but a Christian; and all must be made to conform 
 to what the majority decide to be Christian institu- 
 tions. This affects all who observe the seventh day 
 as much as it does the Jews; and we apprehend it 
 will not be a difficult matter to lead the masses, 
 whose prejudices incline them in this direction, to 
 believe that it is "absolutely necessary" that all 
 legislation must take such a form, and cause them 
 to act accordingly. 
 
 Several years since, Dr. Durbin of the Christian 
 Advocate and Journal, gave his views on this sub- 
 ject as follows: — • 
 
 " I infer, therefore, that the civil magistrate may not 
 be called upon to enforce the observance of the Sabbath 
 [Sunday] as requii-ed in the spmtual kmgdoni of 
 13 
 
104 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 Christ; but when Christianity becomes the moral and 
 spiritual life of the State, the State is bound, through 
 her magistrates, to prevent the open violation of the 
 holy Sabbath, as a measure of self-preservation. She 
 cannot, without injuring her own vitality and incurring 
 the Divine displeasure, be recreant to her duty in this 
 matter." 
 
 At a meeting held at Saratoga Springs, N. Y., 
 Aug. 12, 1860, ex-President Fillmore said that 
 " while he deemed it needful to legislate cautiously 
 in all matters connected with public morals, and to 
 avoid coercive measures affecting religion, the right 
 of every citizen to a day of rest and worship could 
 not be questioned, and laws securing that right 
 should be enforced." 
 
 And the Christian Statesman of Dec. 15, 1871, 
 speaking of the general disregard of the Sabbath 
 [Sunday] in the arrangements for welcoming the 
 Grand Duke Alexis of Russia, says: — 
 
 " How long will it be before the Christian masses of 
 this country can be roused to enact a law compelling 
 their public servants to respect the Sabbath ? " 
 
 That the Sunday question has entered into the 
 arena of politics to stay till some decision is reached 
 in regard to it, is now too apparent to be questioned ; 
 and this is an immense stride in the direction of the 
 fulfillment of the prophecies referring to this subject, 
 as herein set forth. 
 
 In August, 1882, a copy of a paper published in 
 Chicago, and called the Illinois American, was 
 
THE P. EG INNING OF THE END. 195 
 
 placed in our hands. It purported to be the organ 
 of the "American Partj'," and it was announced 
 that the party intended to establish similar papers in 
 all the leading States of the Union. That party 
 claims to embody in its platform " all the great re- 
 forms of the day." One reform which it considers 
 essential is the enforcement of Sunday as the Sab- 
 bath, after the manner of the National Reform Asso- 
 ciation. In proof of this, we have but to quote the 
 first two planks in its platform : — 
 
 "We hold, 1. That ours is a Christian and not a heathen 
 nation, and that the God of the Christian Scriptures is 
 the author of civil government; 2. That God requires 
 and man needs a Sabbath." 
 
 This Sabbath is, of course, the first day of the 
 week; and whatever papers this party shall estab- 
 lish, will be the political organs of the Religious 
 Amendment Movement, as the Christian Statesman 
 is the religious organ. They enter the field as a na- 
 tional 5>arty, and nominate candidates for the presi- 
 dential election of 1884, as follows: For President of 
 the United States, Jonatha,n Blanchard, D. D., Pres- 
 ident of Wheaton College, Illinois ; for Vice-President, 
 John A. Conant of Connecticut. 
 
 The fanatical temper of the leading candidate, on 
 the Sunday question, is plainly read in a few facts: 
 1. He is one of the vice-presidents of the National 
 Reform Association, and a prominent workei" in that 
 movement ; 2. In October, 1881, a circular was 
 sent out from Wheaton College chapel, of which he 
 
196 THE UNITED STATES IN PHOPHECY. 
 
 was evidently the inspiring spirit, addressed to the 
 " Churches of Christ throughout the United States," 
 setting forth that our great national calamity, the 
 assassination of President Garfield, was a judgment 
 of God upon the nation for its sins, chief among 
 which is Sabbath (Sunday) breaking; and beseech- 
 ing "that the churches of Christ, individually or 
 collectively, unite in requesting Congress to forbid 
 by proper enactment the transaction of public busi- 
 ness upon the Sabbath-day by any department of 
 government, and that petitions to this effect be pre- 
 pared or obtained from the Sabbath Association of 
 Philadelphia, to be presented by that society at the 
 opening of Congress on December next." 
 
 We know many will be inclined to look upon the 
 formation of this new American party as an idle 
 move, and upon its efforts and object as vain and 
 impossible. But the significant fact still remains 
 that somebody has thought enough of these things 
 to inaugurate this movement, and everything must 
 have a beginning. Moreover, we all know that some- 
 times the beginnings of great revolutions are exceed- 
 ingly small. The acorn which the little child so 
 easily holds in its hand, comes at length to be the 
 sturdy oak, which the mightiest tempest cannot up- 
 root. 
 
 In one State already, the Sunday question has 
 been made the main issue, in a State election, be- 
 tween the two great parties. Democratic and Repub- 
 lican. In the fall election of 1882, California made 
 tins issue, and gave to our country the first spectacle 
 
THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 197 
 
 of a strictly religious question in the arena of poli- 
 tics. In this struggle Sunday was led to the front 
 under the mantle of a "police regulation," a merely 
 ''civil institution." The working-man, said the 
 Sunday advocates, must be secured in his right to a 
 day of rest. This claim was too transparent to con- 
 ceal from view the real object; for the law which it 
 was sought to enforce Avas not the law of the civil 
 code, which makes Sunday a legal holiday and gives 
 eveiy one the privilege of resting on it who chooses 
 to do so, but the Sunday law of the penal code, 
 which was enacted for the purpose of making all 
 desecration of the day an offense against religion, 
 and punishing it as such. Now if the design was 
 simply to secure rest to the people on that day, the 
 civil code already provided for that, and no one pro- 
 posed to interfere with the action of that law; but 
 if it was to enforce Sunda}^ as a religious institution, 
 on religious grounds alone, the law of the penal code 
 was the one to enforce ; and in that direction the ef- 
 fort was made. The object was therefore sufficiently 
 apparent. 
 
 The Democrats having inserted in their platform 
 a plank calling for the repeal of the Sunday law, the 
 Republicans, in their State Convention, which con- 
 vened in Sacramento, Cal., Sept. 30, 1882, intro- 
 duced into their platform a plank calling for the 
 maintenance of the law. Thus the issue was fairly 
 joined. The scene in the Sacramento Convention 
 when the Sunday plank was read, baffles descrip- 
 tion. The four hundred and fifty delegates broke 
 
198 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 into a vociferous shout; they clapped their hands, 
 stamped with their feet, threw up their hats, and 
 hugged each other in a clehrium of joy. It was a 
 wild, insane spirit, on which neither argument nor 
 the testimony of Scripture would make any impres- 
 sion. We imagine it is just such a blind impetuous 
 spirit which is essential to the success of the Sun- 
 day movement. 
 
 The Democrats carried the election, and the Sun- 
 day law was in due time repealed. And now the 
 friends of the institution turn more vigorously than 
 ever toward the national movement which is work- 
 ing- for the reliofious amendment. 
 
 In NeAV York, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, the ag- 
 itation of the Sunday question has been remarkable. 
 In February, 1883, a correspondent wrote from In- 
 diana: ''Almost every paper in the State is crying 
 out for Sunday law and Sunday reform." 
 
 No less significant is the fact that the Sunday ag- 
 itation is appearing in foreign countries simulta- 
 neously with the Sunday movement in this country. 
 Who can explain the fact that Sunday seems every- 
 where coming to the front, except on the ground 
 that we have reached the time pointed out in proph- 
 ecy when such a movement should be seen? The 
 Chester (Eng.) Chronicle of July 0, 1881, reported 
 a meeting of 3000 persons in Liverpool in favor of 
 closing all pubHc houses on Sun<lay. The Christian 
 Statesman of July 22, 1880, gave information from 
 Enj-land to the effect that a "Workini>-man's Lord's- 
 Dav Rest Association " had been formed there, and 
 
THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 199 
 
 that two of England's prime ministers, Beaconsfield 
 and Gladstone, had given their voice against the 
 opening of museums, etc., on Sunday. The same 
 policy is enforced by some, at least, of the English 
 in their dependencies. One of the first acts of the 
 Marquis of Ripon, Avho was made Viceroy of India 
 in 1880, was, according to the Christian Weekly, to 
 issue an order ^rbidding official work of any kind 
 on Sunday. 
 
 In France the question is also agitated. The Sen- 
 ate having occasion to consider some proposed 
 changes in the Sunday laws, an eminent senator, 
 M. Barthelemy Saint Hilaire, according to the 
 French journal, Le Christianism aw 19 e Siecle, of 
 June 11, 1880, opened the eyes of his hearers by a 
 clear argument showing that the seventh day, and 
 not the first day, is the Sabbath of the Bible. 
 
 In Switzerland and Germany, also, this question 
 is before the people. In the latter country, accord- 
 ing to the New York Independent, a meeting was 
 held a few years ago, numbering some 5000 per- 
 sons, to encourage a more strict observance of Sun- 
 day. Many of these were socialists. 
 
 Austria, also, shares in the general movement. A 
 New York paper, in January, 1883, published this 
 item : — 
 
 "A telegram from Vienna, Austria, says: ' A meeting 
 of 3000 workmen was held to-day, at which a resolution 
 was passed protesting against Sunday work. A resolu- 
 tion was also passed in favor of legal prohibition of news- 
 paper and other work on that day.' " 
 
200 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 To come back again to our own country, we have 
 the following singular circumstance to record : The 
 Illustrated Christian WeeJdy of March 3, 1883, 
 spoke of the novel spectacle of a strike for religious 
 purposes, as follows : — 
 
 " A hundred men employed l)y the Chesapeake and 
 Ohio Railway have struck, not for higher wages, but for 
 their Sunday." . 
 
 There is a local Sabbath [Sunday] Committee in 
 many of the great cities, and an International Sab- 
 bath Association to secure the co-operation of other 
 nations. This Association has its offices in Philadel- 
 phia, Pa. 
 
 The churches can carry their point whenever they 
 can become sufficiently aroused to take general and 
 concerted action in the matter. David Swing, at a 
 ministers' meeting in Chicago in 1879, held for the 
 purpose of deliberating in regard to a better observ- 
 ance of Sunday, according to a report in the Inter 
 Ocean, said: — 
 
 " Group together these churches, — Presbyterian, Meth- 
 odist, Baj^ttist, Congregational, Episcopal, and Catholic, 
 and they make up a powerful group of gcn"rals and sol- 
 diers. They can throw great armies into the field. 
 Whoever should hope to lift up suffering humanity Avith- 
 out asking the aid of all these heroes of old battle-fields, 
 would simply show how feeble he is in the search of 
 great means to a great end." 
 
 Thus Protestants propose to act in concert with 
 Catholics in this matter, and profess no lack of as- 
 
THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 201 
 
 surance in regard to accomplishing wliat they under- 
 take. And so impatient are some to reach the de- 
 sired result, that they are even considering whether 
 they cannot regard the Constitution already Chris- 
 tian, and proceed to act accordingly, without waiting 
 for the religious amenduient. Thus, Bishop A. Cleve- 
 land Coxe, D. D., writing on "National Christian- 
 ity," in the N. Y. Independent of July 8, 1880, ex- 
 presses respect for the "integrity, piety, efforts, and 
 objects, of the National Reform Association," but 
 thinks it would be conceding too much to the infidel 
 element to acknowledge that the Constitution is not 
 Christian as it now stands. He thinks the better 
 way would be to consider that it is already Chris- 
 tian, and then unitedly move against all opposing 
 influences. And he suggests that by the time the 
 centennial anniversary of the adoption of the Consti- 
 tution shall be reached, Sept. 17, 1887, a league shall 
 have been formed, embracing all Christians in an 
 organization which politicians shall respect and evil- 
 doers fear, and then such a celebration of the adop- 
 tion of " Our Christian Constitution" shall be held 
 as will cause the material splendor of 1876 to pale 
 before its moral grandeur, and make "American 
 Christianity as evident to the world as our other 
 characteristics are already." 
 
 Something important may grow out of this sug- 
 gestion. It will at any rate be safe to say that we 
 shall see what we shall see. 
 
 This notice of current movements would hardly 
 be complete without a glance at the seductive ap- 
 
202 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 parent change of issue which is now coming to be 
 quite prominently brought to the front ; and that is, 
 that the Sunday is not to be enforced as a religious 
 institution, but 'only as a civil institution ; that to 
 enforce the keeping of the day as an act of religion, 
 would be to violate the spirit of the Constitution and 
 strike a blow at religious liberty, but that the State 
 has a right to enforce it as a " sanitary measure," a 
 " police regulation," a merely " civil enactment," and 
 with this seventh-day keepers must comply, or move 
 elsewhere. 
 
 The International Sahhath Association Recorder, 
 published at 19 So. Twelfth-st., Philadelphia, Pa., 
 has for one of its mottoes these words of Adam 
 Smith:— 
 
 "The Sabbath as a political institution is of inestimable 
 value, independently of its claim to divine authority." 
 
 Richard W. Thompson, when Secretary of the 
 Navy, in 1880, at a meeting of the New York Sab- 
 bath Committee, as reported in the Ncav York Her- 
 ald of March 8, 1880, said:— 
 
 " I take it there is no principle better fixed in the 
 American mind than the determination to insist upon 
 the conformity by foreigners to oiu- Sunday legislation. 
 We are a Sabbath-keejnng peo2)le. [Applause.] Men 
 say that we have no })Ower to interfere with the natural 
 right of individuals ; that a man may spend Sunday as 
 he pleases. But society has a right to make laws for its 
 own protection. Tli(^y are not religious laws. The men 
 engagcul in this grand work of securing the enforcement 
 of the Sabbath laws, do not want to force you into any 
 
THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 208 
 
 church ; for these gentlemen represent all denominations. 
 They want to make you observe the Sabbath-day as a 
 day of rest merely, — peaceahly if they can, forcibly if 
 they must, — only so far as it is necessary to protect soci- 
 ety. Destroy the Sabbath, and you go out of light into 
 darkness. A government witliout the Sabbath as a civil 
 institution, could not stand long enough to fall. [Ap- 
 plause.] " 
 
 And yet with all these professions they find it im- 
 possible to conceal the fact that it is, after all, a re- 
 ligious observance which they wish to secure. Thus 
 Mr. Thompson continues: — 
 
 " Why are we so especially interested in Sabbath laws 1 
 Because there is no other government that depends so 
 much on the morality of its citizens as ours. Here, 
 where we have a republic with its existence depending 
 on the mass of the jjeople, it is necessary to have a gen- 
 eral observance of the /Sabbath.^' 
 
 The italics in the foregoing quotation are ours; 
 and we thus emphasize these words because we must 
 insist that the devoting of a day to cessation from 
 labor in obedience to a law of the State is in no sense 
 the " observance of the Sabbath." even though the 
 right day were selected for that purpose. For the 
 very idea of the Sabbath is a religious idea. It is 
 derived from the word of God. There is no Sabbath 
 in any scriptural sense, except the day that God 
 made such by resting upon it. And Avhen the day 
 is observed as a religious act, on the authority of 
 God's word and as his woi'd directs, the Sabbath is 
 
204 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 observed, but not otherwise. Neither is compliance 
 with a State law to stop work on a certain day, in 
 any just sense the practice of "morality," unless the 
 State is the source of that grace, and civil laws are 
 moral laws. Yet Mr. T. 's language betrays the fact 
 that it is the "morality," and the " observance of 
 the Sabbath," that it is intended to enforce. 
 
 The people of Louisville, Ky., in the call for a 
 mass-meeting, Feb. 10, 1879, "for the purpose of 
 securing a better observance of our weekly rest- 
 day," endeavored to draw this distinction sharp, as 
 follows : — 
 
 " With reorard to the Sabbath as a reliffioas institu- 
 
 o o 
 
 tion, we propose to do nothing whatever in this meeting. 
 We withdraw from the discussion every religious ques- 
 tion. Your attention will be called exclusively to the 
 Sabbath as a civil institution, a day of rest from labor 
 and public amusements, set apart for that purpose by 
 the immemorial usage of the American peo})le and the 
 laws of the land." 
 
 Mr. Joseph Cook, in a Boston lecture in May, 
 1879, claimed the same distinction. He said: — 
 
 "Sabbath laws are justified in a republic by the right 
 of self-preservation. . . . An important distinction ex- 
 ists between Sunday observance as a religious ordinance 
 and as a civil institution. American courts, while en- 
 forcing the Sunday laws, disclaim interference with re- 
 ligion," etc. 
 
 Such a presentation of the subject will captivat<3 
 many minds, and lead thousands to act from a 
 
THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 205 
 
 standpoint of secular policy as they would not dare 
 to act from that of religious toleration. 
 
 Even the N. Y. Independent, after its scathing 
 exposure of the inconsistency of the Religious Amend- 
 ment Movement, as given on p. 188, is, in its issue 
 of Jan. 4, 1883, carried away with this kind of 
 logfic. The case callina^ out its remarks was this : 
 Certain Jews in New York City made application 
 for an injunction restraining the police from arrest- 
 ing them for pursuing their ordinary business on 
 the first day of the week, on the ground that they 
 were observers of the seventh day. The injunction 
 was temporarily granted by Judge Arnoux, but was 
 soon after dissolved, on the plea that the business of 
 the applicants would not come under the head of 
 "works of mercy or necessity." The New York 
 penal code makes only this provision for observers 
 of the seventh day : — 
 
 " It is a sufficient defense to a prosecution for servile 
 labor on the first day of the week, that the defendant 
 uniformly keej^s another day of the week as holy time, 
 and does not labor on that day; and that the labor 
 complained of was done in such a manner as not to in- 
 terrupt or disturb other persons in observing the first 
 day of the week as holy time." 
 
 It is now argued that this is no ground for ex- 
 emption from arrest for Sunday labor; for such 
 labor is a violation of the letter of the law, and the 
 law does not presume that a man has a defense till 
 he makes one. Therefore, although a man is well 
 
20G THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 knoAvn to be a conscientious observer of the seventh 
 da}^, he may be arrested whenever found working 
 on the first day, and put to all the annoyance and 
 trouble of making a defense. And such a course of 
 action is defended as right. 
 
 To the question, Would not this be a hardship to 
 the Jews and Seventh-day Baptists ? the Indeioen- 
 dent makes answer that this is incidental to their 
 living in a community which makes Sunday the 
 day of rest, and cannot be avoided without destroy- 
 ing the day of rest altogether. 
 
 Again it says that if the Sunday law ''is not 
 equally well fitted to the Jews, as it is not, who form 
 but a mere fragment of the people, this is an incon- 
 venience to them which they must bear, and which 
 the law cannot remove without imposing a nuich 
 greater inconvenience upon a far larger number of 
 persons." 
 
 Now comes the distinction on the strength of 
 which these sentiments are uttered. Again we 
 quote: "If it [the Sunday law] enforced any kind 
 of religious observance upon them, this would bo 
 unjust; but there is no injustice in requiring them 
 to observe Sunday as a day of rest in a community 
 in which, for good and sufficient general reasons, the 
 day is so observed. If they do not like it, we see no 
 remedy for them except in a withdrawal from such 
 a community." 
 
 Notwithstanding such declarations, the general 
 reader will, Ave think, be able to look beneath this 
 woolly exterior, and discein the true nature of the 
 
THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 207 
 
 Sunday-law movement, and why it has seen fit to 
 array itself in sheep's clothing. It will, without 
 doubt, be conceded by all that the present clamor 
 for Sunday legislation is owing entirely to the fact 
 that the great majority of religionists regard the 
 day as a divine institution, and its observance as a 
 religious duty. But some do not so regard it, be- 
 cause they understand that God has set apart an- 
 other day for the Sabbath, and does not require the 
 observance of this one ; and when such are compelled 
 to observe the first day, in what position are they at 
 once placed? They are made to keep the day be- 
 cause others regard it as a divine institution, while 
 they do not so regard it, and to pay homage to a re- 
 ligious custom which they know to be false. They 
 are deprived of one-sixth of the time which God 
 has given them for labor, and are thus robbed of 
 one-sixth of their means of support, if they live by 
 the labor of their hands, as most of them do, because 
 a stronger religion demands it, and the State con- 
 firms that demand. Is there not here religious dis- 
 crimination? Are not the consciences of one class 
 oppressed in the interest of another class? Is not 
 this an interference on the part of the State with 
 the spiritual freedom of its subjects? Is not this 
 religious intolerance and persecution for conscience' 
 sake? Such, in reality, it is, however much people 
 may try to disguise it by other names. 
 
 In a later issue, dated March 1, 1883, in reply to 
 the question from a correspondent, " Will you please 
 tell me how this has nothing to do with religion?" 
 
208 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 the Inde'pendimt says: "We can only repeat that it 
 is a great disadvantage to be in the minority. Peo- 
 ple there may be right; but they must suffer and 
 submit." Every one, from the days of the apostles 
 down, who has suffered from religious oppression, 
 could testify in regard to the disadvantage of being 
 in the minority. But is this government, which 
 professes to guarantee to the weakest and humblest 
 citizen his just rights, now to take the position that 
 such rights cannot be secured unless he is with the 
 majority? 
 
 Again the Independent says: — 
 
 "' All the State wants is that the citizens shall have 
 one day in seven for rest, not for religion." 
 
 But can any one tell why the large majority can- 
 not "rest" just as Avell on the first day, even if the 
 small minority who keep the seventh day, go about 
 their legitimate and honorable occupation? If it is 
 "rest" merely that is wanted, does my work hinder 
 my neighbor from resting? But no! if you are 
 seen at work, you shall be arrested. Therefore, it is 
 not simply the privilege of rest for those who desire 
 it, but a compulsory rest, whether you wish it or 
 not, because others desire that you shall riist as well 
 as themselves. Again we quote : — 
 
 "If they insist on so woiking as to interfere with the 
 rest-day of the majority, they must either move, or be 
 moved away. We are sorry, hut there is no help for it." 
 
 We know of no obs(.'rvers of the seventh day who 
 
THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 209 
 
 have the least intention or desire to interfere with 
 others in their observance of the first day. They 
 would religiously refrain from disturbing either the 
 private rest or the public devotion of any on that 
 day. But we apprehend that the very fact that 
 they do not keep the day, nor acknowledge its 
 claims, will be construed to amount to a sufficient 
 "interference" and ''disturbance" to call for repress- 
 ive measures. Let them "move or be moved." 
 
 The opposition to the religious amendment mani- 
 fested in many parts of the country, especially by 
 the liberal or infidel element, is thought by many to 
 be an insuperable barrier in the way of its success. 
 But if we mistake not, this is the very stimulus 
 which will excite its friends to such exertions that 
 it will ultimately be secured; for the opposition as- 
 sumes such an aggressive attitude that no neutral 
 ground is left ; an irrepressible conflict is precipitated ; 
 it must be victory or defeat of the most decisive 
 kind with either party; the government must be- 
 come nominally Christian or wholly secular. 
 
 Thus the National Reform Association set forth 
 the object they have in view by the second article of 
 their Constitution, which reads as follows : — 
 
 "The object of this Society shall be to maintain exist- 
 ing Christian features in the American government, and 
 to secure such an amendment to the Constitution of the 
 United States as will indicate that this is a Christian 
 nation, and place all the Christian laws, institutions, and 
 usages of our government on an undeniable legal basis 
 in the fundamental law of the land." 
 U 
 
210 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 On the other hand, in opposition to this National 
 Reform Movement, liberaUsm sets forth its sweeping 
 demands in the following platform : — 
 
 <'l. We demand that churches and other ecclesiasti- 
 cal property shall no longer be exempt from just taxation. 
 
 '' 2. We demand that the employment of chaplains in 
 Congress, in State Legislatures, in tlie navy and militia, 
 and in prisons, asylums, and all other institutions sup- 
 ported by public money, shall be discontinued. 
 
 "3. We demand that all pubhc appropriations for 
 educational and charitable institutions of a sectarian 
 character shall cease. 
 
 "4. W^e demand that all religious services now sus- 
 tained by the government shall be abolished ; and espe- 
 cially that the use of the Bible in the j^ublic schools, 
 whether ostensibly as a text-book or avowedly as a book 
 of religious worship, shall be prohibited. 
 
 "5. We demand that the appointment, by the Presi- 
 dent of the United States or by the Governors of the 
 various States, of all religious festivals and fasts, shall 
 wholly cease. 
 
 *' 6. We demand that the judicial oath, in the courts 
 and in all other depai-tments of the government, shall be 
 abolished, and that simple affirmation under the pains 
 and ])enalties of perjury shall be established in its stead. 
 
 "7. We demand that all laws directly or indirectly 
 enforcing the observance of Sunday as the Sabbath shall 
 be repealed. 
 
 " 8. We demand tliat all laws looking to the enforce- 
 ment of ' Christian ' morality shall be abrogated, and that 
 all laws shall be conformed to tlie requii-ements of nat- 
 ural morality, equal riglits, and impartial liberty. 
 
THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 211 
 
 " 9. We demand that not only in the Constitutions of 
 the United States and of the several States, but also in 
 the practical administration of the same, no privilege or 
 advantage shall be conceded to Christianity or any other 
 special religion ; that our entire political system shall be 
 founded and administered on a purely secular basis ; 
 and that whatever changes shall prove necessary to this 
 end, shall be consistently, unflinchingly, and promptly 
 made." 
 
 The Inter Ocean of Nov. 16, 1880, reported the 
 proceedings of a convention held in Chicago the 
 day previous for the promotion of the "seculariza- 
 tion" of the State. "By that," said the report, 
 "they signify the exclusion of the Bible and all re- 
 ligious training from the public schools, and the tax- 
 ation of church property. A permanent organiza- 
 tion was effected." 
 
 Thus while frequent conventions are held by the 
 National Reform Party, counter conventions are 
 held by the Liberalists ; and the forces are marshall- 
 ing on either side. 
 
 In the Richland Star of Dec. 4, 1879, published 
 in Bellville, O., an infidel wrote against the National 
 Reform Party, which had then recently held a con- 
 vention in Mansfield, O., concluding his remarks as 
 follows: — 
 
 "The lash and the sword have always proved poor 
 ambassadors of Christ. If we live up to our Constitu- 
 tion as it now is, we shall be good citizens, and have all 
 the room we care to occupy as Christians." 
 
212 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 To this writer a Mr. W. W. Anderson replied in 
 the next issue of the same paper in defense of the 
 Association, giving expression, in his remarks, to this 
 sentiment : — 
 
 "Either we are a Christian nation, or we are not. 
 Either our Sabbath laws, so essential to good order and 
 the welfare of all classes, are to be maintained, or they 
 are to be abrogated. In the latter case, we shall wade 
 through blood, as Paris did when under infidel rule." 
 
 These passages show that the contestants are 
 fully aware of the nature and magnitude of the 
 struggle upon which the Christian world is now 
 entering. 
 
 A very marked and rapid change is taking place 
 in public ojDinion relative to the proposed religious 
 amendment of the Constitution. Some who were 
 at first openly hostile to the movement, we learn 
 are now giving their influence for its advance- 
 ment, and clamoring loudly for a Sunday law. 
 And some who at first regarded it with in- 
 difference, are now becoming its warm partisans. 
 As a sample of this change of feeling, the following 
 paragraph from the Christian Press of January, 
 1872, may be presented. The Christian Press is 
 the organ of the Western Book and Tract Society, 
 Cincinnati, Ohio, and its editor, speaking of the 
 National Association above referred to, says: — 
 
 "When this Association was formed, while we were 
 prepared to bid it God speed, we did not then feel that 
 there was any pressing need for the object sought ; and 
 
THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 213 
 
 as our mission was specially directed to the Christianiz- 
 ing, enlightening, and elevating of the masses of the peo- 
 ple, we have said little in our columns on the subject, 
 being assured that if the people are right, it is easy to 
 set the government right. The late combined efforts, 
 however, of various classes of our citizens to exclude the 
 Bible from our schools, repeal our Sabbath laws, and 
 divorce our government entirely from religion, and thus 
 make it an atheistic government, — for every government 
 must be for God or against him, and must be adminis- 
 tered in the interests of religion and good morals, or in 
 the interests of irreligion and immorality, — have changed 
 our mind, and we are now prepared to urge the neces- 
 sity for an explicit acknowledgment in the national Con- 
 stitution of the authority of God, and the supremacy of 
 his law as revealed in the Scriptures of the Old and New 
 Testaments." 
 
 The course of the Examiner and Chronicle, the 
 leading Baptist journal of our country, is another 
 case in point. When the movement for the religious 
 amendment of the Constitution was inaugurated, 
 this paper, alluding thereto, said: — 
 
 "We have wondered at the magical effects ascribed 
 to the sacraments according to high-church theology. 
 But turning a nation of atheists to Christians by a few 
 strokes of the pen, by a vote in Congress, and ratifying 
 votes in three-fourths of the State Legislatures, is equally 
 miraculous and incomprehensible. This agitation for a 
 national religion, officially professed, has for its logical 
 outcome persecution — that, and nothing more or less. 
 It is a movement backward to the era of Constantine ; 
 
214 THE UNITED STATES IX PROPHECY. 
 
 as far below the spirituality of the New Testament as it 
 is below the freedom of Republican America." 
 
 But in 1879 the same paper, in an article on "The 
 Day of Rest," changed its tone in reference to na- 
 tional action on this question, as follows: — 
 
 "By these and other considerations, thei'efore, we are 
 justified in holding that the spirit of the fourth com- 
 mandment, with all its divine sanctions and sacred priv- 
 ileges, applies in full force to the Christian day of rest. 
 To preserve it from profanation, to maintain its inesti- 
 mable privileges, to secure to all the sanitary, moral, fam- 
 ily and civic benefits of which M. Proudhon Avrote, as 
 well as the undisturbed enjoyment of religious service 
 on that day, is a duty which Christians owe at once to 
 their country and their God. And in this work gov- 
 ernments should aid, within their sphere, in the interest 
 of public morals, and the general well-being of society." 
 
 Again: the Universalist oi Oct. 6, 1877, published 
 in Boston, Mass., contained a report of "The Massa- 
 chusetts Convention of Universalists," held in Wor- 
 cester, Mass., Sept. 25, 1877. In that Convention 
 a resolution "heartily sympathizing with the aims 
 of the National Reform Association in seeking a 
 legal recognition of God and his government," was 
 introduced. The committee to whom it was referred 
 recommended its adoption. In the discussion which 
 followed, Mr. H. Kimball said, " We may initiate a 
 r(.>ligious war, of all wars the most bitter." Dr. 
 Fhinders said, "There is danger in the resolution." 
 Rev. Mr. Chambrd said, "It is a reactionary move- 
 
THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 215 
 
 ment, hostile to the rehgious liberty whereof Uni- 
 versalists have been the special champions." E-ev. 
 G. W. Haskell said that "the Association which 
 seeks the change in the Constitution only keeps its 
 Calvinism in abeyance. That will come in due 
 time if its gets encouragement." 
 
 After all these plain utterances, a motion for in- 
 definite postponement was lost. A motion to strike 
 it out was lost. The motion to adopt was then car- 
 ried by a vote of 61 to 47. 
 
 This strange action on the part of the Univers- 
 alists may be attributed largely to the course of the 
 "Liberal League" in calling for the abolition of all 
 recognition of God and religion in State instruments 
 and operations, and making the government wholly 
 secular; for this is alarming the fears of all classes 
 of professed Christians, and arousing them to repel 
 what thev consider the danger. Nothino: can tend 
 more strongly to precipitate the conflict on the 
 Amendment question. 
 
 The tendency of religious opinion is still further 
 shown in the position taken by the Christian In- 
 structor the present year. Judge Black of Pennsyl- 
 vania, having argued before the House Judiciary 
 Committee at Washington, Jan. 30, 1883, against 
 the bill " To Suppress Polygamy in the Territories," 
 the Instructor said: — 
 
 "When distinguished jurists ure taking such positions 
 relatmg to questions of Christian morals, is it not time, 
 is it not imperative, that the Christian people of this 
 nation should demand the religious amendment of the 
 
216 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 Constitution? Many say, as they have been saying, 'It 
 is best to let well enough alone.' It is becoming mani- 
 fest, however, that well enough cannot be left alone. 
 The silence of the Constitution is being interpreted and 
 used against the Christian institutions of the nation. 
 The Constitution must cease to be silent, and, by the 
 amendment, must unmistakably declare that this is a 
 Christian nation, and that its morality is the morality 
 of the revealed will of God. Only thus is it possible to 
 have our Christian institutions and usages permanently 
 preserved." 
 
 Many have been waiting with no little interest to 
 hear Catholics speak on this question, querying 
 what position they would assume. An incident 
 which occurred in the summer of 1880, plainly fore- 
 shadowed their policy in this matter. At the time 
 referred to, S. V. Ryan, the Catholic Bishop of Buf- 
 falo, N. Y., issued a circular denouncing the profana- 
 tion of the first day of the week, and declaring that 
 none would be recognized as Catholics who would 
 not strictly observe the Lord's day. He urged his 
 plea solely on the authority of the church, claiming, 
 truly, that the day was an institution of the church. 
 Notwithstanding this, the Christian World hastened 
 to welcome this new ally in the Sunday cause. 
 Publishing the remarkable document which appeals 
 to the "Blessed Mother" as witness to its truth, the 
 World urges the consideration and preservation of 
 the circular, and says: — 
 
 "It would certainly furnish great ground of gratitude 
 to every truly pious heart, if we might count upon the 
 
THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 217 
 
 Eoman Catholic ministers of religion as faithful allies in 
 the struggle. " 
 
 In reference to the Catholic claim that the Sun- 
 day institution rests wholly upon the authority of 
 the church, the World says: — 
 
 ''The historical statement with regard to the position 
 of the Roman Catholic Church on the question of the 
 
 Lord's day is, unfortunately, far from correct 
 
 And yet we prefer to waive an inquiry into the truth, or 
 falsity of Bishop Kyan's claims, and to congratulate our 
 Roman Catholic citizens and ourselves on the position 
 which some, at least, of the prelates of this church in this 
 country are disposed to assume." 
 
 This is a remarkable position for a religious journal, 
 professing to be a defender of the truth, to take. 
 Here is an assertion put forth by the great Catho- 
 lic hierarchy — and Protestants are challenged to meet 
 it — which, if true, nullifies every claim of the first-day 
 Sabbath to divine support, making it simply a hu- 
 man institution, not binding in any degree upon the 
 consciences of men. In the face of such an assertion 
 its truth is the first question to be settled. But this 
 Protestant writer proposes to waive all inquiry into 
 the matter, virtually saying, We care not whether 
 the claim is true or false, nor what the origin of the 
 institution is, nor upon what authority it rests, if 
 only we can have your assistance in trying to carry 
 our point, and enforce it upon the people. Can any 
 one suppose that the fear of God and the love of the 
 truth for the truth's sake, constitute the motive for 
 such a course of action? 
 
218 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 With the anti-Sunday movements of the present 
 day, considering their associations, and the manner 
 and object in and for which they are carried for- 
 ward, we have no s^anpathy. They aim at utter 
 no-Sabbathism, freedom from all moral restraint, 
 and all the evils of unbridled intemperance, — ends 
 which we abhor with all the strength of a moral 
 nature quickened by the most intense religious con- 
 victions. And while the indignation of the better 
 portion of the community will be aroused at the 
 want of religious principle and the immorality at- 
 tending the popular anti- Sunday movement, a little 
 lack of discrimination, by no means uncommon, 
 will, on account of our opposition to the day, though 
 we oppose it on entirely different ground, easily as- 
 sociate us with the class above-mentioned, and sub- 
 ject us to the same odium. 
 
 Meanwhile, some see the evils involved in this 
 movement, and raise the note of alarm. The 
 Christian Union, January, 1871, said: — 
 
 "If the proposed amendment is anything more than a 
 bit of sentimental cant, it is to have a legal effect. It is 
 to alter the status of the non-Christian citizen before the 
 law. It is to aflect the legal oaths and instruments, the 
 matrimonial contracts, the sumptuary laws, etc., etc., of 
 the country. This would be an outrage on natural right." 
 
 The Janes ville (Wis.) Gazette, at the close of an 
 article on the proposed amendment, speaks thus of 
 the effect of the movement, should it succeed: — 
 
 " But, independent of the question as to what extent 
 
THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 219 
 
 we are a Christian nation, it may well be doubted whether, 
 if the gentlemen who are agitating this question should 
 succeed, they would not do society a very great injury. 
 Such measures are but the initiatory steps which ulti- 
 mately lead to restrictions of religious freedom, and to 
 commit the government to measures which are as foreign 
 to its powers and purposes as would be its action if it 
 should undertake to determine a disputed question of 
 theology." 
 
 The Weekly Alta Calif ornian of San Francisco, 
 March 12, 1870, said:— 
 
 " The parties who have been recently holding a con- 
 vention for the somewhat novel pm-pose of procuring an 
 amendment to the Constitution of the United States rec- 
 ognizing the Deity, do not fairly state the case when 
 they assert that it is the right of a Christian people to 
 govern themselves in a Christian manner. If we are not 
 governing ourselves in a Christian manner, how shall the 
 doings of our government be designated ] The fact is, 
 that the movement is one to bring about in this country 
 that union of Church and State which all other nations 
 are trying to dissolve." 
 
 The New York Independent, February, 1870, 
 spoke of the movement as having the same chance 
 of success that a union of Church and State would 
 have. 
 
 The Champlain Journal, speaking of incorporat- 
 ing the religious principle into the Constitution, and 
 in effect upon the Jews, said: — 
 
 " However slight, it is the entering wedge of Church 
 
220 THE UNITED STATES IN PKOPHECY. 
 
 and State. If we may cut ofT ever so few persons from 
 the right of citizenship on account of difierence of relig- 
 ious belief, then with equal justice and propriety may a 
 majority at any time dictate the adoption of still further 
 articles of belief, until our Constitution is but the text- 
 book of a sect beneath whose tyrannical sway all liberty 
 of religious ojnnion luill he cruslied.^^ 
 
 For a union of Church and State, in the strict 
 mediaeval form and sense, we do not look. In place 
 of this, we apprehend that what is called *' the im- 
 age," a creation as strange as it is unique, comes in, 
 not as a State controlled by the church, and the 
 church in turn supported by the State, but as an ec- 
 clesiastical establishment empowered to enforce its 
 own decrees by civil penalties ; which, in all its prac- 
 tical bearings, will amount to exactly the same thing. 
 
 Some one may now say. As you expect this move- 
 ment to carry, you must look for a period of relig- 
 ious persecution in this country; nay, more, you 
 must take the position that all the saints of God are 
 to be put to death ; for the image is to cause that all 
 who will not worship it shall be killed. 
 
 There would, perhaps, be some ground for such a 
 conclusion, were we not elsewhere informed that in 
 this dire conflict God does not abandon his people to 
 defeat, but grants them a complete victory over the 
 beast, his image, his mark, and the nuuiber of his 
 name. Rev. 15 : 2. We further read respecting this 
 earthly power, that he causeth all to receive a mark 
 in thuir right hand or in their foreheads; yet chap- 
 ter 20 : 4 speaks of the people of God as those who 
 
THE BEGiNNmo OF THE END. 221 
 
 do not receive the mark, nor worship the image. If, 
 then, he could "cause" all to receive the mark, and 
 yet all not actually receive it, in like manner his 
 causing all to be put to death who will not worship 
 the image does not necessarily signify that their lives 
 are actually to be taken. 
 
 But how can this be ? Answer: It evidently 
 comes under that rule of interpretation in accord- 
 ance with which verbs of action sometimes signify 
 merely the will and endeavor to do the action in 
 question, and not the actual performance of the thing 
 specified. George Bush, Professor of Hebrew and 
 Oriental Literature in New York City University, 
 makes this matter plain. In his notes on Ex. 7: 11 
 he says: — 
 
 " It is a canon of interpretation of frequent use in the 
 exposition of the sacred writings that verbs of action 
 sometimes signify merely the will and endeavor to do the 
 action in question. Thus in Eze. 24: 13: 'I have j)uri- 
 fied thee, and thou wast not purged;' i. e., I have en- 
 deavored, used means, been at pains, to purify thee. 
 John 5:44: 'How can ye believe which receive honor 
 one of another;' i. e., endeavor to receive. Rom. 2:4: 
 ' The goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance; ' i. e., 
 endeavors, or tends, to lead thee. Amos 9:3: ' Though 
 they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea; ' i. e., 
 though they aim to be hid. 1 Cor. 10: 33 : 'I jjlease all 
 men;' i. e., endeavor to please. Gal. 5:4: 'Whosoever 
 of you Sive justified by the law;' i. e., seek and endeavor 
 to be justified. Ps. 69:4: 'They that destroy me are 
 mighty;' i. e., that endeavor to destroy me. Eng., 
 
222 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. 
 
 'That would destroy niii.' Acts 7:26: 'And set them 
 at one again;' i. e., wished and endeavored. Eng., 
 ' Would have set them.' " 
 
 So in the passage before us. He causes all to re- 
 ceive a mark, and all who will not worship the image 
 to be killed; that is, he wills, purposes, and endeav- 
 ors to do this. He makes such an enactment, passes 
 such a law, but is not able to execute it; for God in- 
 terposes in behalf of his people; and then those who 
 have kept the word of Christ's patience are kept 
 from falling in this hour of temptation, according to 
 Rev. 8: 10; then those who have made God their 
 refuge are kept from all evil, and no plague comes 
 nigh their dwelling, according to Ps. 91: 9, 10; then 
 all who are found written in the book are delivered, 
 according to Dan. 12: 1; and, being victors over the 
 beast and his image, they are redeemed from among 
 men, and raise a song of triumph before the throne 
 of God, according to Rev. 14: 4; 15: 2. 
 
 The objector may further say, You are altogether 
 too credulous in supposing that all the skeptics of 
 our land, the spiritualists, the German infidels, and 
 the irreligious masses generally, can be so far brought 
 to favor the religious observance of Sunday that a 
 general law can be promulgated in its behalf. 
 
 We answer. The prophecy must be fulfilled, and 
 if the prophecy requires such a revolution, it will be 
 accomplished. But we do not know that it is neces- 
 sary. Permit the suggestion of an idea, which, though 
 it is only conjecture, may show how enough can be 
 
THE BEGINNING OE THE END. 22.*^ 
 
 accomplished to fulfill the prophecy without involv- 
 inof the classes mentioned. Tliis movement, as has 
 been shown, must originate with the churches of our 
 land, and be carried forward by them. They wish 
 to enforce certain practices upon all the people; 
 and it would be very natural that in reference to 
 those points respecting which they wish to influence 
 the outside masses, they should see the necessity of 
 first having absolute conformity among all^the evan- 
 gelical denominations. They could not expect to 
 influence non-religionists to any great degree on 
 questions respecting which they were divided among 
 themselves. So, then, let union be had on those 
 views and practices which the great majority already 
 entertain. To this end coercion may first be at- 
 tempted. But here are a few who cannot possibly 
 attach to the observance of the first day, which the 
 majority wish to secure, any religious obligation; 
 and would it be anything strange for the sentence 
 to be given. Let these few factionists be made to 
 conform, by persuasion if possible, by force if neces- 
 sary? Thus the blow may fall on conscientious 
 commandment- keepers before the outside masses are 
 involved in the issue at all. And should events take 
 this not improbable turn, it would be sufficient to 
 meet the prophecy, and leave no ground for the ob- 
 jection proposed. 
 
 To receive the mark of the beast in the forehead, 
 is, we understand, to give the assent of the mind 
 and judgment to his authority in the adoption of 
 that institution which constitutes the mark. By 
 
224 THE UNITED STATES IK PHOPHECY 
 
 parity of reasoning, to receive it in the hand would 
 be to signify allegiance by some outward act. 
 
 The number, over which the saints are also to get 
 the victory, is the number of the papal beast, called 
 also the number of his name, and the number of a 
 man, and said to be six hundred threescore and six. 
 The pope wears upon his pontifical crown in jeweled 
 letters, this title: " Vicarius Filii Dei," "Vicegerent 
 of the Son of God;" the numerical value of which 
 title is just six hundred and sixty-six The most 
 plausible supposition we have ever seen on this point 
 is that here we find the number in question. It is 
 the number of the beast, the papacy; it is the num- 
 ber of his name, for he adopts it as his distinctive 
 title; it is the number of a man, for he who bears it 
 is the "man of sin." We get the victory over it by 
 refusing those institutions and practices which he sets 
 forth as evidence of his power to sit supreme in the 
 temple of God, and by adopting which we should ac- 
 knowledge the validity of his title, by conceding his 
 light to act for the church in behalf of the Son of 
 God. 
 
 And now, reader, we leave this subject with you. 
 We confidently submit the argument as one which 
 is invulnerable in all its points. AVe ask you to re- 
 view it carefully. Take in, if thought can compre- 
 hend it, the wonderful phenomenon of our own na- 
 tion. Consider its location, the time of its rise, the 
 manner of its rise, iis character, Satan's masterpiece 
 of lying wonders which he has here sprung upon the 
 world, and the elements which are everywhere work- 
 
THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 225 
 
 ing to fulfill in just as accurate a manner every 
 other specification of the prophecy. Can you doubt 
 the application? We know not how. Then the 
 last agents to appear in this world's history are on 
 the stage of action, the close of this dispensation is 
 at hand, and the Lord cometh speedily to judge the 
 Avorld. Then an issue of appalling magnitude is be- 
 fore us. It is no less than this: to yield to unright- 
 eous human enactments, soon to be made, and thus 
 expose ourselves to the unmingled wrath of an in- 
 sulted Creator, or to remain loyal to our God, and 
 brave the utmost wrath of the dragon and his in- 
 furiated hosts. 
 
 In reference to this issue, the third angel now 
 utters his solemn and vehement warning. To aid 
 in sounding over the land this timely note of alarm, 
 to impress upon hearts the importance of a right 
 position in the coming issue, and the necessity of 
 pursuing such a course as will secure the favor of God 
 in the season of earth's direst extremity, and a share 
 at last in his glorious salvation, is the object of this 
 effort. And if with any it shall have this effect, the 
 prayer of the writer will not be utterly unanswered, 
 nor his labor be wholly lost. 
 15 
 
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 REVIEW AND HERALD, 
 
 Battle Cree" , Mich. 
 
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BS2827 .S66 
 
 Our country's future : the United States 
 
 Princeton Theological Seminary-Speer Library 
 
 1 1012 00071 8249