Bible Readings for the Home Circle—1914 - A New You Ministry

BIBLE READINGS
have been increasing since then. “In that year,” says Mr. Guinness in
his work “Romanism and the Reformation,” page 156, “the Papacy
assumed the highest exaltation to which it could aspire, that of infallibility.”
To such a position of influence over the nations is the Papacy
finally to attain that just before her complete overthrow and destruction
she will say, “I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no
sorrow.” Rev. 18:7. See Isa. 47:7–15; Rev. 17:18.
6. What is said concerning the captivity and downfall of the Papacy
“He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth
with the sword must be killed with the sword.” Verse 10. See Ps. 18:25,
26; 109:17; Jer. 50:29; Rev. 16:4–6.
7. What questions asked by its worshipers indicate the great station
to which this beast-power was to attain
“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” Rev. 13:4.
8. How universal is the worship of this power to become
“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.” Verse 8.
9. What did John say was to be the end of this beast
“And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought
miracles before him. . . . These both were cast alive into a lake of fire
burning with brimstone.” Rev. 19:20. See Isa. 47:7–15; 2 Thess. 2:3–8;
Rev. 17:16, 17; 18:4–8.
10. In what similar language is the fate of the fourth beast of Daniel
7 described
“I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn
spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and
given to the burning flame.” Dan. 7:11.
MAKING AN IMAGE TO THE BEAST
THE PROPHECY OF REVELATION 13
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1. WHEN was the papal head of the first beast of Revelation 13
wounded
In 1793–98, by the French Revolution, and the temporary overthrow
of the Papacy in the latter year.
MAKING AN IMAGE TO THE BEAST
2. What did the prophet see coming up at this time
“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.” Rev. 13:11.
NOTES.— Mr. Wesley, in his notes on Revelation 13, written in 1754,
says of the two-horned beast: “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.”
The previous beast came up out of the “sea,” which indicates its
rise among the peoples and nations of the world then in existence
(Rev. 17:15); while this one comes up out of the “earth.” This would
indicate that the latter beast would arise where there had not before
been “peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.” In 1798,
when the papal power received its deadly wound, the government of
the United States, located in the western continent, was the only great
and independent nation then coming into prominence in territory not
previously occupied by peoples, multitudes, and nations. Only nine
years preceding this (1789), the United States adopted its Constitution.
It is within the territory of the United States, therefore, that we
may look, according to the prophecy, for an ecclesiastical movement
to arise, and exert dominating control, not only in the civil government
of this country, but also in the other nations of the whole world as well.
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3. What is the character of this new power
“He had two horns like a lamb.” Rev. 13:11.
NOTE.— The Pilgrim Fathers were the vanguard of a great multitude of
Protestants, who, when persecuted and outlawed in the lands of their
birth, sought refuge in the New World, where they developed rapidly
under the protection of a government founded on the great Christian
principles of civil and religious freedom. The two horns may well symbolize
these two fundamental principles.
4. Notwithstanding the lamblike appearance of this power, what is it
ultimately to do
“And he spake as a dragon.” Rev. 13:11.
NOTES.— The voice of the dragon is the voice of intolerance and
persecution. This indicates that the ecclesiastical development dealt
with in this prophecy, obtaining a foothold for its initial power and
influence in the government of the United States, will repudiate the
mild and lamblike principles of civil and religious liberty, and become
like the world-wide persecuting power. This is why in Rev. 19:20 it is
called “the false prophet.” Born of the Reformation, it will repudiate
Reformation principles.
5. How much power will this beast exercise
“And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and