The United States in Prophecy

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 language:—

"Verse 11. And I behold 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 maketh 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 wound by a sword, and did live. 15. And he had power 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 the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name."

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 example 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 was "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 different from, the papal beast which the prophet had just had under consideration; that is, it symbolizes a power separate and distinct from that which is denoted by the preceding beast. This which John calls "another beast" is certainly no part of the first beast; and the power symbolized by it is likewise no part of that which is intended by that beast. This is fatal to the claim of those, who, to avoid the application of this symbol 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 ecclesiastical, and the leopard beast the civil power of Rome under papal rule; that these symbols correspond to the beast and woman in Rev. 17. the one representing the civil power, the other the ecclesiastical. But this claim also falls to the ground, just as soon as it is shown that the leopard beast represents 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 intended by this symbol. The answer then is, Pagan Rome; but just as soon as we add "Pagan," we introduce 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 religious 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 introduced 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 symbolized Rome, and why not let that symbol continue 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 form of government, and a change in religion. But this cannot denote any change in the form of government; for the seven different forms of government that Rome consecutively assumed are represented by the seven heads of the dragon, and the seven heads of the leopard beast. The religious change must therefore be alone denoted by this change of symbols. Paganism and Christianity coalesced and the mongrel production was the papacy; and this new religion, and this alone, made a change in the symbol necessary. 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 arguments 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 component 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. 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 his 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 appropriated by preceding symbols. 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 symbols that each one occupies territory peculiarly its own; that is, the territory which constituted the original government was no part of that which had been 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. 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 dominion 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 till taken by Rome and its divisions.

The ten kingdoms which arose out of the old Roman Empire are enumerated as follows by Machiavel, endorsed by Bp. 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 therefore we say that either of these is the one represented 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 "another beast." We are therefore to look for the government 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 continent.