first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh 'fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, 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; that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword and did live. 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. 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: 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. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six." Rev. 13:11-18.

This second beast is Protestantism. The symbolic description of this beast directs us to a political and religious power rising at the expiration of the 1,260 years' reign of the first

beast. This one looks more natural than the first in that it has but two horns. These are England and Germany-the two political powers that have always stood in defense of Protestantism. By these two powers Protestantism arose. It is reasonable that if the ten horns of the first beast represented ten temporal powers that supported it, the two horns of the second beast represented two temporal powers which have always supported it. England and Germany have done this, and they are two of the original ten. His two horns like a lamb signify the tolerance and mildness of these nations, as well as of Protestantism as a whole. Though this beast was lamb-like, yet it spake as a dragon. The dragon-power was even traceable down through the Protestant age. This twohorned beast was to exercise all the power of the first beast before him. Popery, as we have seen in a previous chapter, exercised a universal influence, swayed universal dominion; therefore to exercise the same power of the first beast, Protestantism must exercise a universal influence. This it has surely done. Protestantism is the universal religion of the socalled Christian world, just as popery once was.

beast. This one looks more natural than the first in that it has but two horns. These are England and Germany-the two political powers that have always stood in defense of Protestantism. By these two powers Protestantism arose. It is reasonable that if the ten horns of the first beast represented ten temporal powers that supported it, the two horns of the second beast represented two temporal powers which have always supported it. England and Germany have done this, and they are two of the original ten. His two horns like a lamb signify the tolerance and mildness of these nations, as well as of Protestantism as a whole. Though this beast was lamb-like, yet it spake as a dragon. The dragon-power was even traceable down through the Protestant age. This twohorned beast was to exercise all the power of the first beast before him. Popery, as we have seen in a previous chapter, exercised a universal

It may be a question in the mind of some how Protestantism, divided in so many different bodies, can be represented by one beast. The Protestant sects are all alike in character, from God's standpoint of viewing, just as the multitudinous forms of heathen worship are represented in the twelfth chapter by the single symbol of a dragon.

This second beast was to cause the people to worship the first beast. This has been accomplished by Protestantism perpetuating doctrines and services of popery. All her creeds are

tinged more or less with the doctrines and idolatries of Roman Catholicism. Many things-for example, the rite of sprinkling, which Rome substituted for baptism-have been copied by most of the Protestant sects. Infant baptism, infant damnation unless baptized, baptism for the forgiveness of past sins, confirmation, taking members into an exterior institution-these and many other things have been copied from Rome by Protestants to cause the people to worship as the papists worshiped, thus causing them to worship the first beast.

This second beast was to do great wonders, even to bring fire down from heaven and by