THE TWO-HORNED BEAST, AND IMAGE OF THE BEAST

The idea that, at the expiration of the 1260 years, the Papal system was, or is rather, to be abolished, seems to have but very little foundation in Scripture. The prophet Daniel taught that after its fall it was to consume away unto the end. The Revelator also more than intimates the same thing. Revelation 13:11-17. “And I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, but he spake like a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth, and them that dwell therein, to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire to come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, 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, saying to them that dwell on the earth that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by the sword, and did live. And he had power to give life to 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. And he causeth all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads; 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.”APEC 69.2

A beast is the emblem of a human government. A horn of a beast, a division or part of the government; as the ten horns of the fourth beast, in Daniel’s vision, and the two horns of the ram in the 8th chapter of Daniel, or the four horns of the goat in the same chapter.APEC 70.1

So also the beast which came up out of the earth, after the captivity and death by the sword of the first beast, was a human government His two horns, two distinct divisions of that government. But has such a government as the above arisen since 1798? I answer, Yes. The Buonapartean government was such an one. He rose from obscurity, step by step, until he gained the imperial throne of France. But his government, like the Medo-Persian, had two horns, or kingdoms, under one ruler. 1. He was crowned emperor of France, Dec. 2nd, 1804. 2. And on the 26th of May, 1805, he was crowned king of Italy. “He spake like a dragon.” Although he professed to be governed by the most liberal and republican principles, yet he meditated, like the old Roman government before him, universal dominion, and ruled with a tyrant’s rod. “He exercised all the power of the first beast.” He conquered, during his reign, all the Papal dominions. He also restored Popery, the first beast, and made it the religion of his dominions.APEC 70.2

“He doeth great wonders,-causeth fire to come down from heaven,” etc. That he ever did cause fire to come down from heaven, I have no evidence; but historians relate of him, that when he was in Egypt, he did say to the Mohammedans, “I can command a car of fire from heaven, and I can direct its course.” And also by some means, while there, he gained the appellation of “Sultan Keber,” King of Fire. But that he performed wonders or prodigies, no one who reads his history will doubt.APEC 71.1

He commanded to make an image to the beast, etc. When he restored Popery and made it the religion of his dominions, he modelled it to his own liking: it was not what it once was, but what he pleased. It was not the old beast, merely restored, but its image, and bearing its name. So that Popery, that now is, is but an image of what it once was. To this, image he had power to give life, and did give it; and cause it to live and speak, and impose civil disabilities on all the subjects of his empire who would not worship it, and receive its mark in their hand or foreheads. Such then is the history of Popery since its fall in 1798. And it still lives.APEC 71.2