hope . Millions have sought its shores , and the United States has risen to a place among the most powerful nations of the earth .
But the beast with lamblike horns " spake as a dragon . 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 ; . . . 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 ." Revelation 13:11-14 . The lamblike horns and dragon voice of the symbol point to a striking contradiction between the professions and the practice of the nation thus represented . The " speaking " of the nation is the action of its legislative and judicial authorities .
By such action it will give the lie to those liberal and peaceful principles which it has put forth as the foundation of its policy . The prediction that it will speak " as a dragon " and exercise " all the power of the first beast " plainly foretells a development of the spirit of intolerance and persecution that was manifested by the nations represented by the dragon and the leopardlike beast . And the statement that the beast with two horns " causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast " indicates that the authority of this nation is to be exercised in enforcing some observance which shall be an act of homage to the papacy .
Such action would be directly contrary to the principles of this government , to the genius of its free institutions , to the direct and solemn avowals of the Declaration of Independence , and to the Constitution . The founders of the nation wisely sought to guard against the employment of secular power on the part of the church , with its inevitable result-- intolerance and persecution . The Constitution provides that " Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion , or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ," and that " no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office of public trust under the United States ." Only in flagrant violation of these safeguards to the nation ' s liberty , can any religious observance be enforced by civil authority . But the inconsistency of such action is no greater than is represented in the symbol . It is the beast with lamblike horns--in profession pure , gentle , and harmless--that speaks as a dragon . " Saying to them that dwell on the earth , that they should make an image to the beast ." Here is clearly presented a form of government in which the legislative power rests with the people , a most striking evidence that the United States is the nation denoted in the prophecy .
But what is the " image to the beast "? and how is it to be formed ? The image is made by the twohorned beast , and is an image to the beast . It is also called an image of the beast . Then to learn what the image is like and how it is to be formed we must study the characteristics of
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