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 the 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 south-west, 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.  No other nation, therefore, can be the one represented in the prophecy; but this one so far answers to it most accurately.  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, stand 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.

Chapter Five.

The United States Have 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 these 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 national prophetic symbols.  The four beasts of Daniel 7, and the leopard beast of Rev. 13, all arose out of the sea.  Says Daniel, The four winds of 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 political strife and commotion.  Jer. 35:32, 33.  There