The United States in Prophecy

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 till after its full development; but after this, the prophecy marked out for it an uninterrupted rule of 1269 years, from its establishment in 538 till the revolution of 1798. Then the papacy was, for the time being, overthrown. General Berthier, by order of the French Directory, moved against the dominions of the pope in January, 1798. February 10, he effected an entrance into the self-styled eternal city, and on the 13th of the same month proclaimed the establishment of the Roman republic. The pope, after this deprivation of his authority, was conveyed to France as a prisoner, and died at Valence, Aug. 23, 1799.

This would have been the end of the papacy had this overthrow been made permanent. The wound 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 extinction of the tribunal. The power of the pope, as a systematic 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 received 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 mentioned 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 which occurred 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 answering to the record in these respects. We are not left, therefore, with any discretionary power in the application of this prophecy; for God, by his providence, has marked the era of its accomplishment in as plain a manner as if he had proclaimed with an audible voice, Behold here the accomplishment of my prophetic word!

Thus clearly is the exact time indicated in the prophecy when we are to look for the rise of the two-horned beast; 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 proceeding verse, and shows it to be an event transpiring simultaneously 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 beheld 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 coming up," it proves that when he turned his eyes from the captivity of the first beast, he saw another power right then in the process of rapid development 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 of these considerations, it is useless to speak of this power as having arisen ages in the past. To attempt such an application is to show one's self utterly 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 existing and performing his part after the death and revival 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 far 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 our Lord Jesus Christ; and these will complete the argument 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 messages 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 appearing of one like the Son of man on a white cloud, coming to reap the harvest of the earth, verse 14, which can represent nothing else but the second advent of the Lord of 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 coming of Christ. And what is the burden of this message? 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 endeavors to enforce upon the people. The third message, then, is a warning against the work of the two-horned beast. And as there would be no propriety in supposing this warning to be given after that work was performed; as it could appropriately be given only when the two-horned beast was about to enforce, and while he was endeavoring to enforce, that worship; and as the second coming of Christ immediately succeeds the proclamation of this message, it follows that the duties enjoined by this message 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 which shows 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 gotten 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" (11:4), 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 lake of fire burning with brimstone; and the word "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 or 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 were limited in our application to this western continent, so we are limited 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 particular 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 North or South America was at that time "coming up" in a manner to answer to the conditions of prophecy? 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 belonged to Portugal, and most of the other South American States were under Spanish control. In short, there was not then a single civilized, independent government in the New World, except our own United States. This nation, therefore, must be the one represented in the prophecy; for no other answers 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 exact time indicated in the prophecy. Like a lofty monument in a field all its own, stands the United States on this continent, grand, unique, unexplainable. 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.