The Two-Horned Beast of Rev. XIII, a Symbol of the United States

THE WORSHIP

Of the image, and, as stated in verse 12, the worship of the beast. “And causeth the earth and them that dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.” It is not said that this power causes men to worship God, but causes them to worship the first beast: Papacy. What is this worship? We shall claim that it is homage paid to the first beast; the keeping of commandments which he may have made, which are contrary to God’s commandments. TBUS 55.1

“Whenever any civil or ecclesiastical enactment conflicts with the requisitions of Jehovah, that power is worshiped, which is obeyed in preference to the other. ‘Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey his servants ye are to whom ye obey?’ Romans 6:16.” Bliss on the Apocalypse, p.233. TBUS 55.2

If we obey strictly all the precepts of the Bible, we are looked upon as worshipers of the true God. The worshiper of the false god can only be shown as such by those precepts which the true God we worship has laid down. As a tree is known by its fruit, so is it known whom a worshiper honors and adores, by the commandments he keeps. TBUS 55.3

That the above conclusions are correct we think may be clearly learned by reading the Third Angel’s Message. Revelation 14:9-12. After pronouncing its warning against the worship of the beast and image it says, “Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” From this we learn that the attention of the people is to be aroused to the decrees to be enforced by the two-horned beast, and it clearly shows that this worship conflicts with God’s commandments and Jesus’ testimony. TBUS 55.4

As strict conformity to God’s commandments is the worship of him, if Papacy institutes commandments contrary to them, and individuals leave God’s commandments and keep those of the Papal beast, we must conclude that they honor that beast above God. And should we see those who had understanding of the matter thus act, we should at once pronounce them worshipers of the beast. But an individual might have no inclination to keep those commandments, but be desirous of obeying God. Just then, we will say, the two-horned beast passes a law obliging its subjects to keep those very institutions, or pay a heavy penalty: the individual now commences to keep those institutions. Would he not be a worshiper of the beast, and that caused by the two-horned beast? TBUS 56.1

But you inquire, has any such thing been done by the Papal beast? and is there any danger of those institutions made by that beast being enforced upon us? Yes. The Papal church has not only made commandments contrary to God’s commandments, but has thought “to change laws.” See Daniel 7:25. Even the laws of the Most High. He, (the little horn) has not in reality changed God’s laws, although he has thought to do it. But he teaches a law to his subjects, as the law of God, which is but an imposition in some of its parts, as may be seen by comparing it with the original law of God. Exodus 20. We copy the following, the ten commandments of God as taught by Catholics contrasted with the ten commandments of Exodus 20:3-17. TBUS 56.2

CATHOLIC	BIBLE
1. I am the Lord thy God, thou shalt not have strange gods before me.	1. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
2. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.	2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
3. Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath-day.	3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
4. Honor thy father and thy mother.	4. Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested on the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath-day, and hallowed it.
5. Thou shalt not kill.	5. Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
6. Thou shalt not commit adultery.	6. Thou shalt not kill.
7. Thou shalt not steal.	7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
8. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.	8. Thou shalt not steal.
9. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife.	9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s goods.	10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor’s

Reader, compare the above carefully with the ten commandments in your Bible. Where is the second commandment? It is gone. This you will see changes the numbering of all the commandments which follow. The Pope, to make out the complete number, ten, divides the tenth commandment into two parts. But we call particular attention to what the Catholics have laid down here as the 3rd commandment, but which is in fact a part of the 4th commandment. The person who is instructed by this catechism, cannot find out by that commandment as it stands what is required by it. They need an explanation of it, and as it is considered dangerous for the common people to have the Bible, they must receive the information through their medium of instruction, the catechism. TBUS 57.1

Well here is the desired information from the catechism. TBUS 59.1

What is commanded by the third commandment? TBUS 59.2

Ans. To spend the SUNDAY in prayer and other religious duties.-Butler’s Catechism, Lesson xvii. TBUS 59.3

We see at once that Papacy has made an attack upon God’s Sabbath, and attempts to give us a substitute, Sunday, the first day of the week. This we know is not the day God appointed to be kept holy by the fourth commandment. The question is, has God authorized this change that has been made in his Sabbath? He declared [Exodus 31:17,] “It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever.” The word forever signifies, As long as a thing, considering the surrounding circumstances, can exist.-Clarke. If the Bible then does not teach that the Sabbath was to cease, it will be a sign eternally. Christ declares, [Matthew 5:17, 19.] “Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven.” Again, unless it can be shown that God has removed the sanctity from the seventh day, the same reason exists now for keeping it that ever did. God has made it holy. No testimony can be found to show that God has ever removed that sanctity from the day; therefore it is holy still. We must beware how we do our own pleasure on his holy day, lest we pollute it. God’s fourth commandment is still binding upon us, and no Bible authority can be found for keeping the first day of the week. First-day-keepers themselves are obliged to admit, that they have no precept for their Sunday institution. They only claim apostolic example, which the Word does not contain. See works on the Sabbath published at the Review Office, Battle Creek Mich. TBUS 59.4

The Protestants also claim that the fathers of the church have kept that day. The Catholic, however, is willing to show the matter in its true light, and places the honor of the change where it belongs. Read the following from The Catholic Christian Instructed. TBUS 60.1

“Ques. What warrant have you for keeping Sunday, preferably to the ancient Sabbath which was the Saturday? TBUS 60.2

“Ans. We have for it the authority of the Catholic Church, and apostolic tradition. TBUS 60.3

“Q. Does the Scripture any where command the Sunday to be kept for the Sabbath? TBUS 60.4

“A. The Scripture commands us to hear the Church. Matthew 18:17; Luke 10:16.” TBUS 60.5

Again we read in an antidote or treatise of Thirty Controversies. “The word of God commandeth the seventh day to be the Sabbath; you [Protestants] without any precept of scripture, change it to the first day of the week only authorized by our tradition.” TBUS 60.6

We find that the keeping of Sunday as a Sabbath originated with the mystery of iniquity, (Papacy,) which had commenced to work in the days of the apostle Paul. 2 Thessalonians 2. The man who with understanding on this subject leaves the fourth commandment and keeps Sunday, honors the Pope, not God. The two-horned beast has already begun this work, as we have shown, of causing men to keep the Sunday. Not only in several States of this union are laws passed prohibiting labor on Sunday, but in States where there are no statutes to affect the observer of the seventh day, there are city laws that do bind all within their incorporations. TBUS 60.7

Thus, we see, the two-horned beast is causing them that dwell on the earth to worship the first beast. And not only so, but the soil itself must rest (be neither tilled nor sown) upon the first day; not because God has said it, but the Pope. TBUS 61.1

A point is stated in verse 16 in regard to the class that are to have these stringent laws passed against them, (“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,”) which is also conclusive evidence as to where this work is to be accomplished; viz., where there is slavery. TBUS 61.2

The position of the world in regard to slavery, may be learned by the following quotation from an article on the Nebraska bill, in the New York Tribune, of Feb. 18th, 1854. TBUS 61.3

“Franklin Pierce has lived to the age of fifty years. In addition to all, he professes faith in the doctrine and precepts of Jesus Christ.” TBUS 61.4

“At this critical moment the astounding proposition comes from the citizen who is now president, to repeal the statute which secures the immeasurable blessings of freedom to Nebraska, and to establish therein the dire institution of African Slavery.” TBUS 61.5

“The whole world has been steadily advancing toward the overthrow of African Slavery for more than a century. Nations have abolished it. England has emancipated her black populations. France has done the same. Even Russia herself has abolished serfdom in every territory, she has added to her empire since the beginning of the present century. The trade in slaves has been denounced as piracy by all nations. The remains of the barbarism of slave-holding now linger in the world under the protection of the decaying kingdom of Spain, and a portion of the States of this Union.” TBUS 62.1

Bondmen and free are under the dominion of the two-horned beast. Let the above quotation settle the question firmly as regards the locality of the two-horned beast. We see all other nations have abolished slavery, or declared it to be piracy, and the traffic is dying away, while in this nation we see it steadily increasing. TBUS 62.2

Since the appearance of the above extract in 1854, the sacred compact, and solemn Missouri Compromise of 1820 which it was supposed would forever exclude slavery from North of 36 30, has been set aside as a thing of naught, and slavery has extended its dominions to territory that, by this act would forever have been guarded. The result of this has been a mad rushing forward of the friends of slavery, holding spurious elections, choosing a bogus Legislature who form for themselves a constitution that declares “death to the man that takes a slave out of this territory.” “Five years imprisonment to the man that gives a slave information that causes him to leave Kansas.” “Two years imprisonment to the man that expresses his opinion in Kansas that it is wrong to hold slaves.” TBUS 62.3

But the scene does not stop here. The decision of the Supreme Court on the Dred Scott case which was pronounced by Judge Taney, March 6th, 1857, for aught we can see may open the way for Senator Toombs to “call the roll of his slaves at the foot of Bunker Hill.” It is 1. That “Africans are regarded wholly as property, in the constitution, and are incapable under that instrument of ever attaining the position of citizens.” 2nd. That “a slave taken into a Free State is not therefore entitled to his freedom.” 3rd. That “Congress has no rightful power to prohibit slavery in the Territories; hence the Missouri Restriction is unconstitutional.” TBUS 62.4

Here slavery is likely to continue, and we consider will, till the fearful decree goes forth against the people that will not worship the beast, and till bond men and free shall “hide themselves from the face of him that sitteth upon the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb.” TBUS 63.1

Another specification we will notice here before passing to the decree of verses 16, 17, which is the TBUS 63.2