N further predicting the work of the two-horned beast, the prophet says, "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. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men." This language is urged by some to prove that the two-horned beast must be some power which holds the reins of government in the very territory occupied by the first, or preceding, beast, which is the papacy; for, otherwise, how could he exercise his power?

If the word "before" denoted precedence in time, and the first, or papal, beast passed off the stage of action when the two-horned beast came on, just as Babylon gave place to Persia, which then exercised all the power of Babylon before it, there would be some plausibility in this claim. But the Greek word rendered "before" is enopion, which means, literally, "in the presence of." And so the language, instead of proving what is claimed, becomes a most positive proof that these two beasts the leopard papal beast and the two-horned beast -are distinct from each other, and contemporary powers.

tality, at the very time the two-horned beast is exercising power in his presence. But this could not be if his dominion had passed into the hands of the two-horned beast; for a beast, in prophecy, ceases to exist when his dominion is taken away. What caused the change in the symbols, as given in the seventh chapter of Daniel, from the lion, representing Babylon, to the bear, representing Persia?- Simply a transfer of dominion from Babylon to Persia. And so the prophecy explains the successive passing away of these beasts, by saying that their "lires were prolonged," but their "dominion was taken away" (verse 12); that is, the territory of the kingdom was not blotted from the map, nor the lives of the people destroyed, but there was a transfer of power from one nationality to another. So the fact that the leopard beast, here in Revelation 13, is spoken of as still an existing power when the two-horned beast works in his presence, is proof that he is, at that time, in possession of all the dominion that was ever necessary to constitute him a symbol in

prophecy.

What power, then, does the two-horned beast exercise? Not the power which belongs to, and is in the hands of, the leopard, or papal, beast, surely; but he exercises, or essays to exercise, in his presence, power of the same kind and to the same extent. The power which the first beast exercised,that alone with which the prophecy is concerned, was a terrible power of oppression against the people of God (verse 7); and this is a further indication that the character which the two-horned beast is finally to sustain will be that of an oppressor and persecutor.

The latter part of the verse, "And causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed," is still further proof that the twohorned beast is no phase nor feature of the papacy; for the

“HE DOETH GREAT WONDERS "

187

papal beast is certainly competent to enforce his own worship in his own territory, and from his own subjects. But it is the two-horned beast which causes the earth (not the whole earth in its generic sense, but the earth, meaning simply that territory out of which it arose, and over which it rules), and them which dwell therein, to worship the first beast. This shows that this beast occupies territory over which the first beast, in its organized form, has no jurisdiction.

That

Time

"He doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men." In this specification we have still further proof that our own government is the one represented by the two-horned beast. we are living in an age of wonders, none can deny. was, and that not two score years ago, when the bare mention of achievements which now constitute the warp and woof of everyday life, was considered the wildest chimera of a diseased imagination. Now, nothing is too wonderful to be believed, nor too strange to happen. Go back only a little. more than half a century, and the world, with respect to those things which tend to domestic convenience and comfort, the means of illumination, the production and application of heat, and the performance of various household operations; with respect to methods of rapid locomotion from place to place, and the transmission of intelligence from point to point, stood about where it stood in the days of the patriarchs. Suddenly the waters of that long stream over whose drowsy surface scarcely a ripple of improvement had passed for three thousand years, broke into the white foam of violent agitation. The world awoke from the slumber and darkness of ages. The divine finger lifted the seal from the prophetic books, and brought that predicted period when men should run to and fro, and knowledge should be increased. Dan. 12: 4.

Then men bound the elements

to their chariots, and, reaching up, laid hold upon the very lightning, and made it their message-bearer around the world. Nahum foretold that at a certain time the chariots should be with flaming torches and run like the lightnings. Nahum 2:3, 4. Who can behold, in the darkness of the night, the locomotive dashing over its iron track, the fiery glare of its great lidless eye driving the shadows from its path, and torrents of smoke and sparks and flame pouring from its burning throat, and not realize that ours are the eyes that are privileged to look upon a fulfilment of Nahum's prophecy? But when this should take place, the prophet said that the times would be burdened with the solemn work of God's "preparation."

"Canst thou send lightnings," said God to Job, "that they may go, and say unto thee, Here we are?" Job 38: 35. If Job were living to-day, he could answer, Yes. It is one of

MIRACLES WROUGHT TO DECEIVE

189

the current sayings of our time that "Franklin tamed the lightning, and Professor Morse taught it the English language.'

So in every department of the arts and sciences, the advancement that has been made within the last half century is without precedent in the world's history. And in all these the United States takes the lead. These facts are not, indeed, to be taken as a fulfilment of the prophecy; for the prophecy brings to view wonders of another kind wrought by preternatural power, for the purpose of deception. But these achievements of science show the spirit of the age in which we live, and point to this time as a period when we may look for wonders of every kind.

The wonders to which the prophecy (Revelation 13) refers are evidently wrought for the purpose of deceiving the people; for verse 14 reads, "And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast."

THE TWO-HORNED BEAST THE SAME AS THE FALSE PROPHET OF CHAPTER 19.

The work attributed in verse 14, just quoted, to the twohorned beast, identifies this power with the false prophet of Rev. 19:20; for this false prophet is the agency that works miracles before the beast, "with which," says John, "he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshiped his image,”— the very actions which the twohorned beast is to cause men to perform. We can now ascertain by what means the miracles in question are wrought; for Rev. 16: 13, 14, speaks of spirits of devils working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and the whole world, to gather them to the battle of the great day of God Almighty; and these miracle-working spirits go forth out of the