was then, in this scene, the dire commotion of nature’s mightiest elements, the wind above, the waters benneath, the fury of the gale, the roaring and dashing of the waves, and the tumult of the raging storm; 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 words, the governments of which these beasts were symbols owed their origin to movements among the people which would be well 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 when the prophet beholds the rising of the two-horned beast, how different the scene!  No political tempest sweeps the horizon, no armies clash together like the waves of the sea.  He does not behold the troubled and restless surface of the waters, 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.

Some may here point to the war of the Revolution as an event which destroys the force of this application; but this furnishes no objection; for 1.  That war was at least fifteen years in the past when the two-horned beast was introduced into the field of this vision; and 2.  The war of the Revolution was not a war of conquest.  It was not waged to overthrow any other kingdom, and build this government 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 conquest.  The same may be said of the war of 1812.  Hence, these conflicts do not even partake of the nature of objections to the application here set forth.

The word which John uses to describe the manner in which this beast comes up is very expressive.  It is [Greek:  anabainon] (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 which best illustrates the rise of our government.  Mr. G.A.  Townsend, in his work entitled, “The New World Compared with the Old,” p. 462, says:—­

“Since America was discovered, she has been a subject of revolutionary thought in Europe.  The mystery of her coming forth from vacancy, the marvel of her wealth 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 revolution.”

On p. 635, he further says:—­