The United States in the Light of Prophecy by Uriah Smith

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The next symbol to engage our attention is the leopard beast of chapter
13, to which the dragon gives his seat, his power, and great authority.
It would be sufficient on this point to show to what power the dragon,
Pagan Rome, transferred its seat and gave its power. The seat of any
government is certainly its capital city. The city of Rome was the
dragon's seat. But in A.D. 330, Constantine transferred the seat of
empire from Rome to Constantinople; and Rome was given up to what? To
decay, desolation, and ruin? No; but to become far more celebrated than
it had ever before been, not as the seat of pagan emperors, but as the
city of St. Peter's successors, the seat of a spiritual hierarchy which
was not only to become more powerful than any secular prince, but
through the magic of its fatal sorcery was to exercise dominion over the
kings of the earth. Thus was Rome given to the papacy; and the decree of
Justinian, issued in 533, and carried into effect in 538, constituting
the pope the head of all the churches and the corrector of heretics, was
the investing of the papacy with that power and authority which the
prophet foresaw.

It is very evident, therefore, that this leopard beast is a symbol of
the papacy. But there are other considerations which prove this. This
beast has the body of a leopard, the mouth of a lion, and the feet of a
bear, which shows it to be some power which succeeded those three beasts
of Daniel's prophecy, and retained some of the characteristics of them
all; and that was Rome. But this is not the first, or pagan form of the
Roman government; for that is represented by the dragon; and this is the
form which succeeded that, which was the papal.

But what most clearly shows that this beast represents the papacy, is
its identity with the little horn of the fourth beast of Daniel 7,
which all Protestants agree in applying to the papal power.

1. Their chronology. The little horn arises after the great and terrible
beast, which represents Rome in its first or pagan form, is fully
developed even to the existence of the ten horns, or the division of the
Roman empire into ten parts. Dan. 7:24. The leopard beast succeeds the
dragon which also represents Rome in its pagan form. These powers appear
therefore upon the stage of action at the same time.

2. Their location. The little horn plucked up three horns to make way
for itself. The last of these, the Gothic horn, was plucked up when the
Goths were driven from Rome in 538, and the city was left in the hands
of the little horn, which has ever since held it as the seat of its
power. To the leopard beast also, the dragon gave its seat, the city of
Rome. They therefore occupy the same location.

3. Their character. The little horn is a blasphemous power; for it
speaks great words against the Most High. Dan. 7:25. The leopard beast
also is a blasphemous power; for it bears upon its head the name of
blasphemy; it has a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and he
opens his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his
tabernacle, and them that dwell in Heaven. Rev. 13:1, 5, 6.

4. Their work, The little horn by a long and heartless course of
oppression against the saints of the Most High, wears them out; and they
are given into his hand. Dan. 7:25. He makes war against them, and
prevails. Verse 21. The leopard beast also makes war upon the saints,
and overcomes them. Rev. 13:7.

5. The time of their continuance, Power was given to the little horn to
continue a "time and times, and the dividing of time." Dan. 7:25. A
time in Scripture phraseology is one year. Dan, 4:25. (The "seven
times" of Nebuchadnezzar's humiliation, Josephus informs us, were seven
years.) Times, that is two times, the least that can be expressed by the
plural, would be two years more; and the dividing of time, or half a
time, half a year; making in all, three years and a half. To the leopard
beast power was also given to continue forty-two months, which at twelve
months to the year, give us again just three years and a half. And this
being prophetic time, a day for a year (Num. 14:34; Eze. 4:6), and
there being accord to Scripture reckoning thirty days to a month, or
three hundred and sixty days to a year (Gen, 7:11, 24; 8:4), we have
in each case twelve hundred and sixty years, for the continuance of the
little horn and the leopard beast.

6. Their overthrow. At the end of the time, times and a half, the
dominion of the little horn was to be taken away. Dan. 7:26. At the end
of the forty-two months, the same length of time, the leopard beast was
also to be slain, politically, with the sword, and go into captivity.
Rev. 13:3, 10.

These are points which prove not merely similarity, but identity. For
whenever two symbols, as in this instance, represent powers that come
upon the stage of action at the same time, occupy the same territory,
maintain the same character, do the same work, continue the same length
of time, and meet the same fate, those two symbols must represent one
and the same power. And in all these particulars there is, as we have
seen, the most exact co-incidence between the little horn of the fourth
beast of Dan. 7, and the leopard beast of Rev. 13; and all are fulfilled
by one power, and that is the papacy. The papacy succeeded to the pagan
form of the Roman empire. It has, ever since it was first established,
occupied the seat of the dragon, the city of Rome, building for itself
such a sanctuary, St, Peter's, as the world nowhere else beholds. It is
a blasphemous power, speaking the most presumptuous words it is possible
for mortal lips to utter against the Most High. It has worn out the
saints, the Religious Encyclopedia estimating that the lives of fifty
millions of Christians have been quenched in blood by its merciless
implements of torture. It has continued a time, times and a half, or
forty-two months, or twelve hundred and sixty years. Commencing in 538,
when the decree of Justinian in behalf of papal supremacy was first
made effectual by the overthrow of the Goths, the papacy enjoyed a
period of uninterrupted supremacy for just twelve hundred and sixty
years, when its power was temporarily overthrown, and its influence
permanently crippled, by the French in 1798.

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."

The two-horned beast then is "another beast," in addition to, and
different from, the papal beast which the prophet had just had under
consideration; that is, it symbolizes a power separate and distinct from
that which is denoted by the preceding beast. This which John calls
"another beast" is certainly no part of the first beast; and the power
symbolized by it is likewise no part of that which is intended by that
beast. This is fatal to the claim of those who, to avoid the application
of this symbol to our own government, say that it denotes some phase of
the papacy; for in that case it would be a part of the preceding, or
leopard beast.

To avoid this difficulty, it is claimed that the two-horned beast
represents the religious or ecclesiastical, and the leopard beast the
civil, power of Rome under papal rule; that these symbols correspond to
the beast and woman in Rev. 17, the one representing the civil power,
the other the ecclesiastical. But this claim also falls to the ground
just as soon as it is shown that the leopard beast represents the
religious as well as the civil element of that power. And nothing is
easier than to show this.

Take the first symbol, the dragon. What does it represent? Rome. But
this is not enough; for Rome has presented two great phases to the
world, and the inquirer wants to know which one is intended by this
symbol. The answer then is, Pagan Rome; but just as soon as we add
"Pagan," we introduce a religious element; for paganism is one of the
mightiest systems of false religion ever devised by the arch-enemy of
truth. It was, then, the religious element in the empire that determined
what symbol should be used to represent it; and the dragon represented
Rome while under the control of a particular form of religion.

But the time comes when another symbol is introduced upon the scene--the
leopard beast arises out of the sea. What power is symbolized by this?
The answer is still, Rome. But the dragon symbolized Rome, and why not
let that symbol continue to represent it? Whoever attempts to answer
this question must say that it is because a change had taken place in
the power. What change? Two kinds of changes are conspicuous in the
history of Rome: changes in form of government, and a change in
religion. But this cannot denote any change in the form of government;
for the seven different forms of government that Rome consecutively
assumed are represented by the seven heads of the dragon, and the seven
heads of the leopard beast. The religious change must therefore be alone
denoted by this change of symbols. Paganism and Christianity coalesced,
and the mongrel production was the papacy; and this new religion, and
this alone, made a change in the symbol necessary. Every candid mind
must assent to this; and this assent is an admission of the utter
absurdity of trying to limit this symbol to the civil power alone. So
far from its representing the civil power alone, it is to the
ecclesiastical element that it owes its very existence.

That the leopard beast represents ecclesiastical as well as civil power
is further shown in the arguments already presented to prove that this
beast is identical with the little horn of Daniel's fourth beast, which
symbolizes the papacy in all its components parts and through all its
history. It is the leopard beast alone that is identical with this
little horn, not the leopard beast and the two-horned beast taken
together.

Again, Pagan Rome gave its seat to the papacy. The dragon gave his seat
to the leopard beast. If it takes both the leopard beast and the
two-horned beast to constitute the papacy, the prophet should have said
that the dragon gave his seat and power to these two beasts combined.
The fact that his transfer was to the leopard beast alone, is proof
positive that that beast alone symbolizes the papacy in its entirety.

When, therefore, John calls the two-horned beast "another beast," it is
certain that he does not mean any particular phase, or any part, of the
papal power.

It is claimed by others that the two-horned beast represents England; by
still others, France; and by some, Russia, &c. The first, among many
other fatal objections to all these applications, is, that the territory
occupied by all these powers is already appropriated by preceding
symbols. If the two-homed beast symbolized any of these, it would be a
part of other beasts instead of "another beast," separate and distinct
from all the rest. It is a law of symbols that each one occupies
territory peculiarly its own; that is, the territory which constituted
the original government, was no part of that which had been occupied by
the previous powers. Thus Medo-Persia rose on territory not occupied by
Babylon; and Medo-Persia and Babylon together covered all that portion
of Asia known to ancient civilization. The Grecian or Macedonian kingdom
arose to the west of them, occupying all Eastern Europe, so far as it
was then known to the ancients. Rome arose still to the west, in
territory unoccupied by Grecia. Rome was divided into ten kingdoms; but
though Rome conquered the world, we look for these divisions only to
that territory which had never been included in other kingdoms. We look
not to Eastern Europe; for that was included in the dominion of the
third beast: nor to Asia; for that constituted the empires of the first
and second beasts: but to Western Europe, which territory was unoccupied
till taken by Rome and its divisions.

The ten kingdoms which arose out of the old Roman Empire are enumerated
as follows by Machiavel, indorsed by Bp. Newton, Faber, and Dr. Hales:
1. The Huns. 2. The Ostrogoths. 3. The Visigoths. 4. The Franks. 5. The
Vandals. 6. The Suevi. 7. The Burgundians. 8. The Heruli. 9. The
Anglo-Saxons, and 10. The Lombards. These kingdoms have since been
known, says Scott, as the "ten kingdoms of the western empire," and they
are distinguishable at the present day, some of them even by their
modern names, as Hungary from the Huns, Lombardy, from the Lombards,
France from the Franks, and England from the Anglo-Saxons. These ten
kingdoms being denoted by the ten horns of the leopard beast, it is
evident that all the territory included in these ten kingdoms is to be
considered as belonging to that beast. England is one of these ten
kingdoms; France is another. If therefore we say that either of these is
the one represented by the two-horned beast, we make one of the horns of
the leopard beast constitute the two-horned beast. But this the prophecy
forbids; for while John sees the leopard beast fully developed, with his
horns all complete and distinct, he beholds the two-horned beast coming
up, and calls it "another beast." We are therefore to look for the
government which this beast symbolizes, in some country outside the
territory occupied by the four beasts and the ten horns already referred
to. But these, as we have seen, cover all the available portions of the
eastern continent.

Another consideration pointing to the locality of this power is drawn
from the fact that John saw it arising from the earth. If the sea from
which the leopard beast arose, Rev. 13:1, denotes peoples, nations, and
multitudes, Rev. 17:15, the earth would suggest, by contrast, a new and
previously-unoccupied territory.

Being thus excluded from the eastern continent, and impressed with the
idea of looking to territory not previously known to civilization, we
turn of necessity to the western hemisphere. And this is in full harmony
with the ideas already quoted, and more which might be presented, that
the progress of empire is with the sun around the earth from east to
west. Commencing in Asia, the cradle of the race, it would end on this
continent, which completes the circuit. Bishop Berkley, in his
celebrated poem on America, written more than one hundred years ago, in
the following forcible lines, pointed out the then future position of
America, and its connection with preceding empires.

"Westward the course of empire takes its way;
The four first acts already past,
A fifth shall close the drama with the day;
Time's noblest offspring is the last."

By the "four first acts already past," the bishop had undoubted
reference to the four universal kingdoms of Daniel's prophecy. A fifth
great power, the noblest and the last, was, according to his poem, to
arise this side the Atlantic, and here close the drama of time, as the
day here ends its circuit.

To what part of the American continent shall we look for the power in
question? To the most powerful and prominent nation certainly. This is
so self-evident that we need not stop to pass in review the frozen
fragments of humanity on the north of us, nor the weak, superstitious,
semi-barbarous, revolutionary, and uninfluential kingdoms to the south
of us. No; we come to the United States, and here we are held. To this
nation the question of the location of the two-horned beast
undeviatingly leads us.

As an objection to this view, it may occur to some minds that the
two-horned beast exercises all the power of the first beast before him
(Greek [Greek: enopion], literally, before his eyes) and does wonders in
his sight; and how can the United States, separated by an ocean from
European kingdoms, hold such an intimate relation to them? We answer,
Space and time are annihilated by the telegraph. Through the Atlantic
cable (an enterprise which, by the way, owes its origin to the United
States), the lightnings are continually picturing to European beholders
the affairs of America. Any important event occurring here is described
the next hour in the journals of Europe. So far as the transmission of
an account of our proceedings to the people of the Old World is
concerned, it is as if America lay at the mouth of the English Channel.

And the eyes of all Europe are intently watching our movements. Says Mr,
Townsend (New World and Old, p. 583):--

"All the great peoples of Europe are curiously interested and
amazed in the rise of America, and their rulers at present compete
for our friendship. 'Europe,' said the prince Talleyrand, long ago,
'must have an eye on America, and take care not to offer any
pretext for recrimination or retaliation. America is growing every
day. She will become a colossal power, and the time will come when
(discoveries enabling her to communicate more easily with Europe)
she will want to say a word in our affairs, and have a hand in
them.'"

The time has come, and the discoveries have been made to which
Talleyrand referred. It is almost as easy now to communicate with Europe
as with our nearest town. By these things the attention of the world is
drawn still more strongly toward us; and thus whatever the United States
does, it is done in the sight, yes, even before the eyes, of all Europe.

Chapter Four.

Chronology Of The Two-horned Beast.

Having become satisfied where the power symbolized by the two-horned
beast must be located, we now inquire respecting the time when we may
look for its development. At what period in this world's history is the
rise of this power located in the prophecy? On this point, as on the
preceding, the foundation for the conclusions at which we must arrive,
is already laid in the facts elicted in reference to the preceding or
leopard beast. It was at the time when this beast went into captivity,
or was killed (politically) with the sword, verse 10, or (which we
suppose to be the same thing), had one of its heads wounded to death,
verse 3, that John saw the two-horned beast coming up. If the leopard
beast, as we have conclusively proved, signifies the papacy, and the
going into captivity met its fulfillment in the temporary overthrow of
the popedom by the French, in 1798, then we have the time definitely
specified, when we are to look for the rising of this power. The
expression, "coming up," must signify that the power to which it applies
was but newly organized, and was then just rising into prominence and
influence. The power represented by this symbol, must, then, be some
power which in 1798 stood in this position before the world.

That the leopard beast is a symbol of the papacy, there can be no
question; but some may want more evidence that the wounding of one of
its heads, or its going into captivity, was the overthrow of the papacy
in 1798. This can easily be given. A nation being represented by a wild
beast, the government of that nation, that by which it is controlled,
must as a very clear matter of course be considered as answering to the
head of the beast. The seven heads of this beast would therefore denote
seven different governments; but all the heads pertain to one beast, and
hence all these seven different forms of government pertain to one
empire. But only one form of government can exist in a nation at one
time; hence the seven heads must denote seven forms of government to
appear, not simultaneously, but successively. But these heads pertain
alike to the dragon and the leopard beast; from which this one
conclusion only can be drawn: that Rome, during its whole history,
embracing both its pagan and papal phases, would change its government
six times, presenting to the world seven different forms in all. And the
historian records just that number as pertaining to Rome. Rome was first
ruled by Kings; second, by Consuls; third, by Decemvirs; fourth, by
Dictators; fifth, by Triumvirs; sixth, by Emperors; and seventh, by
Popes.

John saw one of these heads wounded, as it were, to death. Which one?
Can we tell? Let it be noticed, first, that it is one of the heads of
the beast which is wounded to death, and not one of the heads of the
dragon; that is, it is some form of government which existed in Rome
after the change of symbols from the dragon to the leopard beast. We
then inquire, How many of the different forms of Roman government
belonged absolutely to the dragon, or existed in Rome while it
maintained its dragonic or pagan form? These same seven heads are again
presented to John in Rev. 17; and the angel there explains that they are
seven kings, or forms of government, verse 10; and he informs John that
five are fallen, and one is; that is, five of these forms of government
were already passed in John's day; and he was living under the sixth.
Under what form did John live? The imperial; it being the cruel decree
of the emperor Domitian which banished him to the isle of Patmos where
this vision was given. Kings, Consuls, Decemvirs, Dictators, and
Triumvirs, were all in the past in John's day. Emperors were then ruling
the Roman world; and the empire was still pagan. Six of these heads,
therefore, Kings, Consuls, Decemvirs, Dictators, Triumvirs, and Emperors
belonged to the dragon; for they all existed while Rome was pagan: and
it was no one of these that was wounded to death; for had it been, John
would have said, I saw one of the heads of the dragon wounded to death.
The wound was inflicted after the empire had so changed in respect to
its religion that it became necessary to represent it by the leopard
beast. But the beast had only seven heads, and if six of them pertain to
the dragon, only one remained to have an existence after this change in
the empire took place. After the Emperors, the sixth and last head that
existed in Rome in its dragonic form, came the Popes, the only head that
existed after the empire had nominally become Christian. The "Exarch of
Ravenna" existed so "short a space," Rev. 17:10, that it has no place in
the general enumeration of the heads of this power.

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 1260 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 15th 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. 29, 1799.

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