The United States in the Light of Prophecy eBook

Uriah Smith
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 132 pages of information about The United States in the Light of Prophecy.

The United States in the Light of Prophecy eBook

Uriah Smith
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 132 pages of information about The United States in the Light of Prophecy.

Can any one doubt that the papacy is the power in question, and that the interpretation of this symbol brings us down within seventy-six years of our own time?  We regard the exposition of the prophecy, thus far, as clear beyond the possibility of refutation; and if this is so, our future field of inquiry lies within a very narrow compass, as we shall presently see.

Chapter Three.

Location Of The 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 language:—­

Verse 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 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 eaith, 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 single word, 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.”

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The United States in the Light of Prophecy from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.