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Facts of Faith

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    The United States In Prophecy

    A Beautiful Picture

    WE HAVE now seen that “the first beast of Revelation 13:1-10 represents the Papacy, and that it received its “deadly wound” in 1798, when the Papal States had been abolished, Rome declared a republic, and Pope Pius VI taken a prisoner into France where he died in “captivity,” August 19, 1799. (Revelation 13:3, 10.) The prophet then sees “another beast coming up.” Verse ll. Knowing that a “beast” in prophecy represents a “kingdom” (Daniel 7:23) we must conclude that a new nation was to come up about 1798. In 1754 John Wesley, in his “New Testament with Explanatory Notes,” applied the beast of Revelation 13:1-10 to the Papacy, and then wrote the following note under the eleventh verse:FAFA 234.1

    “Another ... beast.... But he is not yet come, though he cannot be far off; for he is to appear at the end of the forty two months of the first beast. And he had two horns like a lamb-a mild, innocent appearance.” — p. 427.FAFA 234.2

    In locating this new nation let us notice the following points in this prophecy:FAFA 234.3

    (1) When the prophet saw the papal beast go “into captivity” (Revelation 13:10), he “beheld another beast” “like a lamb” “coming up.” Verse 11. A lamb is not full grown. This nation, therefore, would be coming up, and not be full grown in 1798, when the papal beast went into captivity.FAFA 234.4

    (2) While the four beasts of Daniel 7:3, and the first beast of Revelation 13:1, all came up from “the sea,” which in prophecy means “peoples, and multitudes” (Revelation 17:15), the second beast of Revelation 13:11 came “up out of the earth,” indicating that, while the former kingdoms arose in countries populated with peoples and multitudes, this latter nation was to rise in new territory, not formerly occupied.FAFA 234.5

    (3) The dragon of Revelation 12, and the first beast of Revelation 13, both had crowns, but this beast had none, which would indicate that it was to be a republic, having no crowned head.FAFA 235.1

    (4) It would exercise its power “before” the papal beast (verse 12), showing that it is not a Catholic nation, nor counted as part of the papal confederacy, therefore it would naturally be a Protestant nation to begin with.FAFA 235.2

    (5) It would be a great nation, for it was equal in power to the Papacy. Verse 12.FAFA 235.3

    (6) And yet its principles were to he lamb like, mild (verse 11), or as the Danish and German have it: “Like the lamb,” — Christlike. And Christ advocated two great principles: First, separation of church and state. He said: “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar’s, and unto God the things which be God’s.” Luke 20:25. That is, keep the two separate. Second, religious liberty. He said: “If any man hear My words, and believe not, I judge him not.” John 12:47. “Judge not, that ye be not judged!’ Matthew 7:1.FAFA 235.4

    It is evident that only one nation answers to all these specifications: the United States of America. It became an independent nation in 1776, and was not full grown in 1798, having only thirteen states, compared with forty-eight now. Its peaceful growth and principles of liberty answer also to the predictions of this prophecy.FAFA 235.5

    The words “coming up” used in Revelation 13:11 mean to spring up, as plants.” — T. S. Green’s Lexicon, p. 9. And G. A. Townsend says: “The history of the United States was separated by a beneficent Providence far from this wild and cruel history of the rest of the continent, and, like a silent seed, we grew into empire.” — “The New World Compared with the Old,” p. 685. Hartford: 1870.FAFA 235.6

    The principles of Romanism had taken such deep root in the human heart that although the Puritans had come to this country to seek liberty of worship for themselves, they soon established a state religion, and persecuted dissenters most bitterly. In several of the Colonies good citizens were put in the stocks for not going to church on Sunday; they were mercilessly whipped, or even put to death, for differing from the established religious belief.FAFA 235.7

    Many of the nobler minds had grown tired of political tyranny and religious bigotry, and determined to throw off both yokes in one stroke. On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee introduced a resolution in the Continental Congress at Philadelphia, Pa., declaring, “That these United Colonies are and of right ought to be free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is and ought to be totally dissolved!’ A committee, consisting of Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston, was appointed to draft a formal Declaration, which was penned by Mr. Jefferson, and on June 28, Congress proceeded to consider it. The discussion that followed was a tremendous struggle. On July 2, Lee’s resolution was voted, and finally at 2: 00 P.M., July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was voted, and the bell in the tower of Independence Hall, where they were assembled, rang out the joyful news. This bell bore the now prophetic inscription, “Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.” Leviticus 25:10.FAFA 236.1

    “In all the colonies, indeed, the Declaration was hailed as the passing away of the old world and the birth of the new.” — “Great Events of the Greatest Century,” R. M. Devens, p. 29.FAFA 236.2

    The noble men who framed the Declaration did not ask for toleration. They understood the fundamentals of true liberty, and declared:FAFA 236.3

    “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed!’ Sacred truths these are, written in Independence Hall. “Within that temple was born a nation, in whose destiny were wrapped the interests of Liberty and of Civilization to the end of time.” — Id., p. 31.FAFA 236.4

    The Federal Constitution, adopted September 17, 1787, and ratified by the several states between December 7, 1787 and May 29, 1790, has this statement in its preamble. “We, the people of the United States, in order to ... secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”FAFA 237.1

    Still some friends of religious liberty, who had so long suffered persecution, feared that the Constitution did not sufficiently safeguard liberty of conscience, and they wrote to George Washington in regard to it. The following is his reply, dated August 4, 1789:FAFA 237.2

    “If I could have entertained the slightest apprehension that the Constitution framed by the convention where I had the honor to preside might possibly endanger the religious rights of any ecclesiastical society, certainly I would never have placed my signature to it; and if I could now conceive that the general government might ever be so administered as to render the liberty of conscience insecure. I beg you will be persuaded that no one would be more zealous than myself to establish effectual barriers against the horrors of spiritual tyranny and every species of religious persecution. For, you doubtless remember, I have often expressed my sentiments that any man, conducting himself as a good citizen and being accountable to God alone for his religious opinions, ought to be protected in worshiping the Deity according to the dictates of his own conscience.” — “History of the Baptists,” Thomas Armitage, D. D., LL. D., pp. 806, 807. New York: 1890.FAFA 237.3

    A month later, September 23, 1789, the first ten Amendments to the Constitution, also called the Bill of Rights, were approved by Congress. By December 15,1791, they had been ratified by ten states, and were declared in force. The first Amendment reads:FAFA 237.4

    “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”FAFA 237.5

    In the prophecy this beast “bad two horns like a lamb.” Dr. Alexander Cruden gives many examples in his Concordance to show that “the Scripture mentions the horn as the symbol of strength.” — Art. “Horn,” p. 291. And the real strength of this republic has been its two great principles: civil and religious liberty - a state without a king, and a church without a pope. G. A. Townsend, speaking of the real secret of power in this country, says:FAFA 238.1

    ” ‘In view of this unparalleled progress and combination, what are the little toys with which we vex ourselves in Europe? What is this needle gun, we are anxious to get from Prussia, that we may beat her next year with it? Had we not better take from America the principle of liberty she embodies, out of which have come her citizen pride, her gigantic industry, and her formidable loyalty to the destinies of her Republican land?’” — “The New World Compared with the Old,” p. 462.FAFA 238.2

    The secret of our power at home, and our influence abroad, was the citizens’ love for, and enthusiastic devotion to, their country, which guaranteed liberty to all, instead of oppression by taxation and religious despotism, as had been the rule in former ages.FAFA 238.3

    As the principles of liberty and the inherent equality of all men, enunciated in the Declaration of Independence, and in the first Amendment to the Federal Constitution, spread in Europe, people became awakened to their God-given rights. Mr. Townsend says:FAFA 238.4

    “Since America was discovered she has been a subject of revolutionary thought in Europe.... Out of her discovery grew the European reformation in religion; out of our Revolutionary War grew the revolutionary period of Europe.” — Id., pp-462,463.FAFA 238.5

    The prophet saw these two powerful horns on the lamblike beast, and thinking men today have also caught the vision of their power in the world.FAFA 238.6

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