This booklet is condensed and revised from a book by one of the Seventh-day Adventist pioneers, Uriah Smith (1832-1903), from his much-used and fruitful book called "Thoughts on Daniel and the Revelation" also called “Daniel and the Revelation” (Battle Creek, Michigan: Review and Herald Publishing Association 1882; a digital copy is available at California University Library archives at www.archive.org/details/thoughtscritical00smitrich). We turn to study Revelation the thirteenth chapter.

1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. 2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. 3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. 4 And they worshiped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshiped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him? 5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. 6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. 7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. 8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. 9 If any man have an ear, let him hear. 10 He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.

The sea is a symbol of “peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues” (Revelation 17:15). A beast is a symbol of an unrighteous nation, or power, representing sometimes the civil power alone, sometimes the ecclesiastical in connection with the civil. Whenever a beast is seen to come up out of the sea, it denotes that the power arises in a thickly populated territory; and if the winds are represented as blowing upon the sea, as in Daniel 7:2-3, political and civil strife are indicated.

The leopard beast here symbolises a power that exercises ecclesiastical as well as civil authority. It is from here that we are carried back to the time when the leopard beast, the successor of the dragon, commences his career. From this power, for the long period of 1260 years, the church suffers war and persecution. Following this period of oppression, the true church has another conflict, brief, but sharp and severe, with the two-horned beast. Then comes deliverance; and the prophecy closes with the true church brought safely through all her persecutions, and standing victorious with the Lamb on Mount Zion. Thank God for the sure promise of final victory!

The one character which ever appears the same in all these scenes, and whose history is the leading theme through all the prophecy, is the true church of God. The other characters are her persecutors, and are introduced simply because they are such. And here, as an introductory inquiry, we raise the question, Who, or what is it that persecutes the true church? — It is a false or apostate church. What is it that is ever warring against true religion? — It is a false and counterfeit religion. Who ever heard of the civil power, merely, of any nation, persecuting the people of God? Governments may war against other governments, to avenge some wrong, real or imaginary, or to acquire territory and extend their power, as nations have often warred against the Jews; but governments do not persecute (mark the word — do not persecute) people on account of their religion, unless under the control of some opposite and hostile system of religion. But the powers introduced in this prophecy, — the dragon, the leopard beast, and the two-horned beast, — are all persecuting powers. They are actuated by rage and enmity against the people and church of God.

Take the dragon: what does it symbolise? The Roman empire, is the undeniable answer. But this is not enough. No one would be satisfied with this answer and no more. It must be more definite. We then add, The Roman empire in its pagan form, to which all must also agree. But just as soon as we say pagan, we introduce a religious element; for paganism is one of the hugest systems of counterfeit religion that Satan ever devised. The dragon, then, is so far an ecclesiastical power that the very characteristic by which it is distinguished is a false system of religion. And what made the dragon persecute the true church of Christ? — It was because true Christianity was prevailing against paganism, sweeping away its superstitions, overturning its idols, and dismantling its temples.

We now come to the leopard beast of this chapter 13. What does that symbolise? The answer still is, The Roman empire. But the dragon symbolised the Roman empire, and why does not the same symbol represent it still? — Ah! there has been a change in the religious character of the empire; and this beast symbolises Rome in its professedly Christian form. And it is this change of religion, and this alone, which makes a change in the symbol necessary. This beast differs from the dragon only in that he presents a different religious aspect. It does not therefore denote simply the Roman civil power.

To the leopard beast the dragon gives his seat, his power, and great authority. By what power was pagan Rome succeeded? We all know that it was by papal Rome. It matters not to our present purpose when or by what means this change was effected; the great fact is apparent, and is acknowledged by all, that the next great phase of the Roman empire after its pagan form was its papal. It would not be correct, therefore, to say that pagan Rome gave its seat and power to a form of government merely civil, having no religious element whatever. No stretch of the imagination can conceive of such a transaction. But two phases of empire are here recognised; and in the prophecy, Rome is pagan until Rome is papal. The statement that the dragon gave to the leopard beast his seat and power, is further evidence that the dragon of Revelation 12:3 is not a symbol of Satan personally; Satan has not abdicated in favour of any other malevolent being; he has not given up his seat to any earthly power, but he controls them.

Whilst the dragon also controls the two-horned beast, it is the leopard beast alone that he gives his power, seat, and great authority. It is that beast that has a head that is wounded to death, which is afterward healed; that beast that the whole world wonders after; that beast that receives a mouth speaking blasphemies, and that wears out the saints for 1260 years; and all this before the succeeding power, the two-horned beast, comes upon the stage of action at all. The leopard beast alone, therefore, symbolises the Roman empire in its papal form, the controlling influence being ecclesiastical power.

To show this more fully, we have but to draw a parallel between the little horn of Daniel 7:8, 20, 24-25, and this power. From this comparison it will be seen that the little horn referred to and the leopard beast symbolise the same power; but the little horn is acknowledged on all hands to be a symbol of the papacy. There are six points of identity, as follows:

(1) The little horn was a blasphemous power. “He shall speak great words against the Most High” (Daniel 7:25). The leopard beast of Revelation 13:6 does the same. “He opened his mouth in blasphemy against God.” (2) The little horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them (Daniel 7:21). This beast also (Revelation 13:7) makes war with the saints, and overcomes them. (3) The little horn had a mouth speaking great things (Daniel 7:8, 20). And of this beast we read, Revelation 13:5: “And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies.” (4) The little horn arose on the cessation of the pagan form of the Roman empire. The beast of Revelation 13:2 arises at the same time; for the dragon, pagan Rome, gives him his power, his seat, and great authority. (5) Power was given to the little horn to continue for a time, times, and the dividing of time, or 1260 years (Daniel 7:25). To this beast also power was given for forty-two months, or 1260 years (Revelation 13:5). (6) At the end of that specified period, the dominion of the little horn was to be taken away (Daniel 7:26). At the end of the same period, the leopard beast was himself to be “led into captivity” (Revelation 13:10). Both these specifications were fulfilled in the captivity and exile of the pope, and the temporary overthrow of the papacy by France in 1798.

The head that was wounded to death was the papal head. We are held to this conclusion by the very obvious principle that whatever is spoken in prophecy of the symbol of any government, applies to that government only while it is represented by that symbol. Now Rome is represented by two symbols, the dragon and the leopard beast, because it has presented two phases, the pagan and the papal; and whatever is said of the dragon applies to Rome only in its pagan form, and whatever is said of the leopard beast applies to Rome only in its professedly Christian form. But Rome was pagan in John’s day, who lived under the sixth or imperial head. This shows us at once that six of the heads, including the imperial, belong to the dragon; and John does not say that one of the heads of the dragon was wounded to death. John says that it was one of the heads of the beast that was wounded to death. In other words, this wound fell upon some form of government that existed in the Roman empire after its change, from paganism to Christianity. But after this change, there was but one head, and that was the papal. This wounding is the same as the going into captivity (Revelation 13:10). It was inflicted when the pope was taken prisoner by Berthier, the French general, and the papal government was for a time abolished, in 1798. Stripped of his power, both civil and ecclesiastical, the captive pope, Pius VI, died in exile at Valence in France, 29 August 1799. But the deadly wound started to heal when the papacy was re-established by the election of a new pope on 14 March 1800.

This beast opens his mouth in blasphemy against God to blaspheme His name (Daniel 7:25). The pope blasphemes the tabernacle in heaven by turning the attention of his subjects to his own throne and palace instead of to the tabernacle of God; and the pope blasphemes them that dwell in heaven by assuming to exercise the power of forgiving sins, and so turning away the minds of men from the mediatorial work of Christ and His heavenly assistants in the sanctuary above. By verse 10 we are again referred to the events of 1798, when that power that had for 1260 years led the saints of God into captivity, was led into captivity itself, as noticed.

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 came 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 earth, 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 verses bring to view the third great symbol in the line of prophecy we are examining, usually denominated the two-horned beast. The dragon (pagan Rome) and the leopard beast (papal Rome) present before us great organisations standing as the representatives of two great systems of false religion. Analogy would seem to require that the remaining symbol, the two-horned beast, have a similar application, and find its fulfilment in some nationality which is the representative of still another great system of religion. But the only remaining system which is exercising a controlling influence in the world to-day is Protestantism. There are notable Protestant nations in Europe; but for reasons which will hereafter appear, the symbol cannot apply to any of these. A careful investigation has led to the conclusion that it does apply to Protestant America, or the government of the United States. We trust the reader will now feel impatient for some of the reasons for such an application, and will carefully consider the evidence by which it is supported.

One 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 (Revelation 13:1), denotes peoples, nations, and multitudes (Revelation 17:15), the earth would by contrast denote new unoccupied territory.

The papal captivity mentioned in verse 10 took place in 1798, and the new power (verse 11) was seen emerging at that time. The United States declared its independence in 1776, voted the Constitution in 1787, adopted the Bill of Rights in 1791, and was clearly recognised as a world power by 1798. The timing fits the United States. No other power could possibly qualify. The two horns denote two governing principles: civil and religious liberty. “The lamblike horns indicate youth, innocence, and gentleness, fitly representing the character of the United States when presented to the prophet as ‘coming up’ in 1798” (The Great Controversy, 441).

But this lamblike nation later “spake as a dragon.” The first actor, the dragon, was a persecutor of God’s true church. The second actor, the leopard beast, was likewise a persecutor, grinding for 1260 years the lives of millions of the true followers of Christ. The third actor, the lamblike beast, speaks like the first, proving to be a dragon at heart, “for out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh” (Luke 6:45); it is likewise to be a persecuting power, and it will enact unjust laws against religious liberty.

But this is not so improbable an event as might at first appear. We must remember that in the last days the vast majority of the people of the most favoured lands are to relapse into the low moral condition described in such scriptures as Matthew 24:12; 2 Timothy 3:1-5; 2 Peter 3:3-4; Luke 17:26-30; 18:8; and it is from such that those who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution (2 Timothy 3:12).

Evil is also threatening from another quarter. Roman Catholicism which has grown strong through immigration, has fixed its rapacious eyes on the United States, determined to bring that government under its power. Votes rule there, and Romanism controls an immense suffrage, which it carefully manipulates to its own ends. With such electoral weapon in its hands, its power for evil is unlimited.

In the prophecy about the two-horned beast, we also read that, “he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men.” These wonders are evidently wrought for the purpose of deceiving the people, as we read in verse 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.” This identifies the two-horned beast with the false prophet of Revelation 19:20; for this false prophet is the power that works miracles before the beast, “with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshiped his image,” — the identical work of the two-horned beast. We can now ascertain by what means the miracles in question are wrought; for Revelation 16:13-14 speaks of spirits of devils working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of 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 mouths of certain powers, one of which is this very false prophet, or two-horned beast.

The Saviour, predicting events to occur just before his second coming, says, “For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect” (Matthew 24:24). These deceptions are so powerful.

The prophecy calls for such a work as this in America at the present time. Do we behold anything like it? Yes, all sorts of religions are in America, and most of them work miracles and deceive many souls.

Closely associated with this working of miracles is the erection of an image to the beast. The prophet thus connects the two in verse 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 earth, that they should make an image to the beast which had the wound by a sword, and did live.” The deception accomplished by the working of the miracles prepares the way for compliance with this demand for the formation of an image to the beast.

The image to the beast will be formed in America when the state clothes Protestant churches with civil power to enforce their doctrines. This will mirror the establishment of papal supremacy, dating from the famous letter of Justinian issued in AD 533, which was made effective in AD 538, constituting the pope the head of the church and the corrector of heretics. The papacy was a church clothed with civil power, — an ecclesiastical body having authority to punish all dissenters. The image of the papacy will be ecclesiastical establishment clothed with similar power in the United States. Let Protestant America be clothed with power to define and punish heresy, to enforce their dogmas under penalties of civil law, and should we not have exact representation of the papacy during the days of its supremacy?

“When the leading churches of the United States, uniting upon such points of doctrine as are held by them in common, shall influence the state to enforce their decrees and to sustain their institutions, then Protestant America will have formed an image of the Roman hierarchy, and the infliction of civil penalties upon dissenters will inevitably result” (The Great Controversy, Review and Herald 1911, p. 445).

The two-horned beast enforces upon its subjects the mark of the first beast. We have now in the prophecy three agents introduced, which we must distinguish from one another to avoid confusion.

(1) The papal beast. This power is designated as “the beast,” “the first beast,” “the beast which had the wound by a sword, and did live,” and “the beast whose deadly wound was healed.” These expressions all refer to the same power; and wherever they occur in this prophecy, they have exclusive reference to the papacy.

(2) The two-horned beast. This power, after its introduction in verse 11 of this chapter 13, is represented through the remainder of the prophecy by the pronoun he; and wherever this pronoun occurs, down to the 17th verse (with possibly the exception of the 16th verse, which may refer to the image), refers invariably to the two-horned beast.

(3) The image of the beast. This is, every time, with the possible, but not probable exception just stated, called the image; so that there is no danger of confounding this with any other agent.

The mark of the beast is enforced by the two-horned beast, either directly or through the image. The penalty attached to a refusal to receive this mark is a forfeiture of all social privileges, a deprivation of the right to buy and sell. The mark is the mark of the papal beast. Against this worship of the beast and his image, and the reception of his mark, the third angel’s message of Revelation 14:9-12 is a most solemn and thrilling warning.

This, then, is the issue, which, according to this prophecy, we are soon to be called upon to meet; namely, human organisations, controlled and inspired by the spirit of the dragon, are to command men to do those acts which are in reality the worshiping of an apostate religious power and the receiving of his mark; and if they refuse to do this, they lose the rights of citizenship, and become outlaws in the land; and they must do that which constitutes the worship of the image of the beast, or forfeit their lives. On the other hand, God sends forth a message a little before the fearful crisis is upon us (see Revelation 14:9-12), declaring that all who do any of these things “shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation.” He who refuses to comply with these demands of earthly powers exposes himself to the severest penalties which human beings can inflict; and he who does comply, exposes himself to the most terrible threatenings of divine wrath to be found in the word of God. The question is whether they will obey God or man is to be decided by the people of the present age, under the heaviest pressure, from earthly side, that has ever been brought to bear upon any generation.

What constitutes the mark of the beast? It would naturally be looked for in some of the special characteristics of the papal power. Daniel expressly specifies that the papacy “shall think to change times and laws” (Daniel 7:25). Prophecy foretold that the pope would make a law which conflicts with the law of God. And when this is done, the people would have two laws demanding obedience, — one, the law of God as originally enacted by Him, an embodiment of His will, and expressing His claims upon His creatures; the other, a revised edition of that law, emanating from the pope of Rome, and expressing his will. And how is it to be determined which of these powers the people honour and worship? — It is determined by the law which they keep. If they keep the law of God as given by Him, they worship and obey God. If they keep the law as changed by the papacy, they worship that power. So, the mark of the beast is the change which the beast has attempted to make in the law of God.

If now the reader will compare the ten commandments as found in Roman Catholic catechisms with those commandments as found in the Bible, he will see in the catechisms that the second commandment is left out, that the tenth is divided into two to make up the lack caused by leaving out the second, and keep good the number ten, and that the fourth commandment (called the third in their enumeration) is made to enjoin the observance of Sunday as the Sabbath. Which of them variations, if any, constitutes the change of the law intended in the prophecy? or are they all included in that change? Let it be borne in mind, that, according to the prophecy, he was to think to change times and laws. This plainly conveys the idea of intention and design, and makes these qualities essential to the change in question.

But respecting the omission of the second commandment, Catholics argue that it is included in the first, and hence should not be numbered as a separate commandment; and on the tenth they claim that there is so plain a distinction of ideas as to require two commandments; so they make the coveting of a neighbour’s wife the ninth command, and the coveting of his goods the tenth.

In all this they claim that they are giving the commandments exactly as God intended to have them understood; so, while we may regard them as errors in their interpretation of the commandments, we cannot set them down as intentional changes. Not so, however, with the fourth commandment. Respecting this commandment, they do not claim that their version is like that given by God. They expressly claim a change here, and also that the change has been made by the church. A few Catholic works will make this matter plain.

Notice the following section from a Catholic catechism: “Q. Which is the Sabbath day? A. Saturday is the Sabbath day. Q. Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday? A. We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday” (Peter Geiermann, The Convert’s Catechism of Catholic Doctrine, 1930, p. 50).

Another quote: “Q. How prove you that the church hath power to command Feasts and holy Days? A. By the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which Protestants allow of; and therefore they fondly contradict themselves, by keeping Sunday strictly, and breaking most other feasts commanded by the same church. Q. How prove you that?A. Because by keeping Sunday, they acknowledge the church’s power to ordain Feasts, and to command them under sin; and by not keeping the rest by her commanded, they again deny, in fact, the same power” (Henry Tuberville, An Abridgment of the Christian Doctrine, Basilea, 1680, p. 131-132).

Another quote: “Q. Have you any other way of proving that the Church has power to institute festivals of precept?
 A. Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her; – she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday the seventh day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority” (Stephen Keenan, A Doctrinal Catechism, New York: P.J. Kenedy & Sons, third American edition, revised, edn., 1876, p. 174).

Another quote: “The Church of God [Catholic] has thought it well to transfer the celebration and observance of the Sabbath to Sunday!” (Catechism of the Council of Trent, second revised edition (English), 1937, page 402, First published in 1566).

Another quote: “The Church, on the other hand, after changing the day of rest from the Jewish Sabbath, or seventh day of the week, to the first, made the Third Commandment refer to Sunday as the day to be kept holy as the Lord’s Day” (The Catholic Encyclopedia, ‘The Ten Commandments’, Vol. 4, 1908, by Robert Appleton Company).

That is what the papal power claims to have done respecting the fourth commandment. Catholics plainly acknowledge that there is no Scriptural authority for the change they have made, but that it rests wholly upon the authority of their church; and they claim it as a mark of their church’s authority.

Many think that Christ changed the Sabbath. But the Bible has no such change by Christ. Whoever labours to prove that Christ changed the Sabbath is performing a thankless task. The pope will not thank him; for if it is proved that Christ made this change, then the pope is robbed of his mark of authority and power. And no truly enlightened Protestant will thank him; for if he succeeds, he only shows that the papacy has not done the work which it was predicted that it should do, and so that the prophecy has failed, and the Scriptures are unreliable. The matter would better stand as the prophecy has it, and the claim which the pope unwittingly puts forth would better be granted. When a person is charged with any work, and that person steps forth and confesses that he has done the work, that is usually considered sufficient to settle the matter. So, when the prophecy affirms that a certain power shall change the law of God, and in due time that very power arises, does the work foretold, and then openly claims that he has done it, what need have we of further evidence?

This change of the fourth commandment must therefore be the change to which the prophecy points, and Sunday-keeping must be the mark of the beast! Some who regard Sunday-keeping with great reverence may feel horrified at this open conclusion. We have no space to expound on Sunday-keeping origin, but let us submit this one proposition: If the seventh day is still the Sabbath enjoined in the fourth commandment (Exodus 20:8-11); if the observance of the first day of the week has no basis whatever in the Scriptures; if this observance has been brought in as a Christian institution, and designedly put in place of the Sabbath of the decalogue by that power which is symbolised by the beast, and placed there as a badge and token of its power to legislate for the church, — is it not inevitably the mark of the beast?

Does that mean that all Christians of the present day who are keeping Sunday as the Sabbath, have the mark of the beast? We answer, Not so! The mark and worship of the beast are enforced by the two-horned beast. The receiving of the mark of the beast is a specific act which the two-horned beast is to cause to be done. The third message of Revelation 14:9-11 is a warning mercifully sent out in advance to prepare the people for the coming danger. There can therefore be no worship of the beast, nor reception of his mark, such as the prophecy contemplates till it is enforced by the two-horned beast. We have seen intention was essential to the change which the papacy has made in the law of God, to constitute it the mark of that power; so intention is necessary in the adoption of that change to make it, on the part of any individual, the reception of that mark. In other words, a person must adopt the change knowing it to be the work of the beast, and receive it on the authority of that power, in opposition to the requirement of God.

The people of God who are to be prepared for the second coming of Christ must be entirely free from papal errors and corruptions. A reform must hence be made on the Sabbath question. The three angels of Revelation the fourteenth chapter proclaims the commandments of God, leading men to the truth in the place of the counterfeit. The dragon is stirred, and so he controls the wicked governments of the earth that all the authority of human power shall be exerted to enforce the claims of the man of sin. Then the issue is placed fairly before the people. They are required to keep, on the one hand, the true Sabbath; on the other, a counterfeit. For refusing to keep the true, the message threatens the unmingled wrath of God; for refusing the false, earthly governments threaten them with persecution and death. With this issue before the people, what does he do who yields to the human requirement? — He virtually says to God, ‘I know your claims, but I will not heed them. I know that the power I am required to worship is anti-Christian, but I yield to it to save my life. I renounce your allegiance, and bow to the usurper. The beast is henceforth the object of my adoration; under his banner, in opposition to your authority, I henceforth array myself; to him, in defiance of your claims, I henceforth yield the obedience of my heart and life.’

Such is the spirit that will actuate the hearts of the beast-worshipers, — a spirit that insults the God of the universe to His face, and is prevented only by lack of power from annihilating His throne. Is it any wonder that God denounces against such a course the most terrible threatening that His word contains?

We have now seen what would properly constitute an image to the beast, such as the two-horned beast is to erect, and also the probability that such an image will soon be perfected in America; and we have also learned what constitutes the mark of the beast, which is to be enforced upon all the people. An ecclesiastical organisation composed of a greater or less number of the different sects of America, with some degree of coalition also between these bodies and Roman Catholicism, together with the promulgation and enforcement of a general Sunday law, would fulfil what the prophecy sets forth in reference to the image and the mark of the beast; and these movements, or their exact equivalent, the prophecy calls for. The line of argument leading to these conclusions is so direct and well-defined that there is no avoiding them. They are a clear and logical sequence from the premises given us.

No less significant is the fact that the European Sunday Alliance agitation is simultaneously taking place with the Sunday movement in America. But when a universal Sunday Law will be passed, God will interpose in behalf of His people; and then those who have kept the word of Christ’s patience are kept from falling in this hour of temptation, according to Revelation 3:10; then those who have made God their refuge are kept from all evil, and no plague comes nigh their dwelling, according to Psalms 91:9-10; then all who are found written in the book are delivered, according to Daniel 12:1; and, being victors over the beast and his image, they are redeemed from among men, and sing triumph before the throne of God, according to Revelation 14:2-4.

The objector may say, we are too credulous in supposing that the masses of our people, many of whom are either indifferent or wholly opposed to the claims of religion, can be so far brought to favour the religious observance of Sunday that a universal Sunday Law can be enacted in their behalf. We answer, prophecy must be fulfilled; if the prophecy requires such a revolution, it will be accomplished.

To receive the mark of the beast in the forehead, is, we understand, to give the assent of the mind and judgment to his authority in the adoption of that institution which constitutes the mark. By parity of reasoning, to receive it in the hand would be to signify allegiance by some outward act.

18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

The number of the beast, says the prophecy, “is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six” (666). The number, says the prophecy, is the number of a man; and if it is to be derived from a name or title, the natural conclusion would be that it must be the name or title of some particular man. The most plausible name we have ever seen suggested as containing the number of the beast, is the title which the pope applies to himself, and allows others to apply to him. Here is a Catholic quote: “The title of the pope of Rome is ‘Vicarius Filii Dei’ ((English: ‘Vicar of the Son of God’) “Answers to Readers' Questions,” Our Sunday Visitor, Nov. 15, 1914). Taking the letters out of this title which the Latins used as numerals, and giving them their numerical value, adds to 666. We have V, 5; I, 1; C, 100 (a and r not used as numerals); I, 1; U (formerly the same as V), 5; (s and f not used as numerals); I, 1; L, 50; I, 1; I, 1; D, 500; (e not used as a numeral); I, 1. These numbers adds up to 666.

Thus closes this chapter 13, leaving the people of God with earthly powers in deadly array against them, and the decrees of death and banishment from society out upon them, for their adherence to the truth. Spiritualism will be, at the time specified, performing its most imposing wonders, deceiving all the world except the elect (Matthew 24:24; 2 Thessalonians 2:8-12). This will be the “hour of temptation,” which is to come, as the closing test, upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth as mentioned in Rev 3:10. What is the issue of this conflict? This inquiry is not left unanswered, for at the end of this conflict, John saw in Rev 14:1-5, the glorious triumph of the champions of the truth!