OUR COUNTRY: ITS PAST, PRESENT, AM FUTURE WHAT THE SCRIPTURES SAY OF ft By U!\IAH SMITH, Professor of Biblical Exegesis in Battle Creek College, Thirty Years Editor "Review and Herald," Author of " Thoughts on Daniel and the Revelation." " Man s Nature and Destiny," " Parliamentary Rules," etc. Seventieth Thousand. REVIEW & HERALD, PUBLISHERS, BATTLE CTCEEK, MICH. ; PACIFIC PRESS, OAKLAND, CAL.; PRESENT TRUTH, GREAT GRIMSBY, ENGLAND. 1887. "171 " Westward the Course of Empire takes its way, , ,Tfie t first four Acts already past, A .fifth ;J/?3// dose the drama with the day, r< .Time s nopJest offspring is the Last." BISHOP GEORGE BERKELEY. WRITTEN ABOUT 1726. COPYRIGHTED BY REVIEW & HERALD, BATTLE CREEK, MICH., 1885. R B K A C E E have a right to presume that every intelligent and patri otic citizen of the Great American Republic, feels an inter est in all that pertains to his country in what it has been, is, and is to be While he Icoks with just pride on its past unparalleled progress and noble achievements, and surveys with satisfaction its present position of national exaltation and influ ence, with its free government, immense wealth, and exhaustless resources, he cannot be indifferent to probabilities affecting its future, so far as they may be legitimately calculated from lessons of history, from principles established in our own Constitution, and from the tendency of influences already actively and widely at work in different parts of our land. In this direction, the mind of every one must turn with peculiar interest ; and while many unquestionable conclusions relative to our future may be established on the grounds already referred to, we believe there is another source of instruction, almost wholly overlooked or ignored, which sets forth more explicitly and more fully startling developments which days not far to come have in store for us. It is designed in this work to call particular atten tion to these matters. We do not purpose here to enter largely into the history of this government. There are works already published which leave nothing to be desired in this direction. Neither is it our object to make in these pages either political economy, arithmetic, or geography, a specialty, though something will be referred to under each head. The leading title of the book is given as "The Marvel of Nations;" and we propose to inquire somewhat into the significance of this marvel." If we believe that there is a God who rules in the kingdoms of men ( Dan. 5:21), we must look for his providential hand in human history, in the rise, career, and fall of the nations and peoples of the world. But as a prominent and inevitable object in this line of thought lies the inquiry, what providential design we are to look for in a nation which has been so suddenly and rapidly developed as this has vl PREFACE. been, and what grand purpose God has to work out through this goodly heritage of ours. This inquiry will not be pressed even to the verge of fancy or speculation ; for, if we mistake not, enough will be found to instruct us, perhaps surprise us, on these points, in the solid and sober realm of fact. Many of the most studious, careful, and critical minds of the present generation, have been led to the conclusion that numer ous lines of prophecy, spanning many ages and embracing many lands, find their focal point in our own times ; may we not add, also, in our own country ? Certainly, the present age seems to be illuminated by the light of current prophetic fulfillments above all others. Here we find the most emphatic touches of the inspired pencil ; and the events to transpire and the agents therein con cerned are brought out in a most vivid and startling light. Has the United States any part to act in these scenes ? What do the Scriptures say on this question? None but those who do not be lieve that God ever foretells the history of nations, or that his providence ever works in their development and decline, can fail to be interested in a consideration of these topics. That this little treatise is exhaustive of the subject which it es says to bring briefly before the reader, is not claimed ; but many facts are presented which are thought to be worthy of serious consideration, and enough evidence, it is confidently hoped, is produced in favor of the positions taken to show the reader that the subject is not one of mere theory, but one of the highest prac tical importance, and so enough to stimulate thought, and lead to further inquiry. If the views presented in the following pages are correct, the subject is destined soon to become one of absorbing interest ; and information respecting it is necessary to an understanding of our duties and responsibilities in the solemn and important times that are upon us. In this light we commend it to the candid and se rious attentio n of the reader. U. S. BATTLE CREEK, MICH., ) August, 1885. \ CHAPTEK I. EXPECTATIONS AND PREDICTIONS OF EMINENT MEN. Prominence and influence of this nation Ten striking facts Remarkable declarations and predictions by Sir Thomas Browne, Rev. Andrew Burnaby, John Adams, Galiani, Adam Smith, Governor Pownal, David Hartley, Count d Aranda, Bishop of St. Asaph, George Herbert, De- Tocquevillc, G. A. Townsend, and Rev. J. M. Foster. . 13-21 CHAPTER II. A CENTURY S PROGRESS. Testimony of Emile de Girardin, the Dublin (Ireland) Nation, Mitchell First settlements Population Close of the Revolution Territorial growth Increase of Population Development of cities Industrial growth First cot ton-mills and railroads Great American inventions Agriculture Cotton industry Live stock Manufactures Iron and other rnetals Mining The gold discovery Commerce Banking and insurance Arts and sciences Literature Printing Postal and telegraph service America the great cattle raiser Lumber interests The great coal producer Most notable structures in the world Progress in one generation 22-70 CHAPTER III. POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS INFLUENCE OF THE NATION. Civil and religious liberty Constitutional guarantees A [vii] viii CONTENTS. nation on a new model The magnet of America The asylum of the oppressed Morality and religion Organ ized liberty Constitution-making Our Constitution pro nounced in England the most sacred political document in the world American literature abroad Stability of our government The model republic ... 71 -8b CHAPTER IV. IMPORTANT PROBABILITIES CONSIDERED. A miracle of growth Providence conspicuous in our history Why nations are mentioned in the Bible Why should not our own be mentioned ? Survey of Biblical symbols Conclusions.. . 89- 9 CHAPTEE V. A CHAIN OF PROPHECY. Second symbol of Revelation 13 The prophecy located The Church of God the prominent object Symbols explained Historical facts considered Chronology, location, character, work, continuance, and overthrow of two important symbols 94-104 CHAPTER VI. LOCATION OF THE GOVERNMENT REPRESENTED BY THE SECOND SYMBOL OF REVELATION 13. Leading symbolic features Religious elements Not in the Eastern Hemisphere The ten kingdoms of Western Eu rope Testimony of Machiavelli, Bishop Newton, Faber, and Dr. Hales Time s noblest offspring The Western Hemisphere The eyes of all Europe upon us Sayings of Talleyrand.. . 105-113 CONTENTS. lx CHAPTEE VII. WHEN MUST THE GOVERNMENT INDICATED BY TRIS SYMBOL ARISE ? Chronology an important consideration The head of the government Home s seven forms of government A deadly wound Papal overthrow in 1798 Testimony of Geo. Croly, A. M. Three important chronological proofs Survey of the Western Hemisphere The United States the leading nation here ............ ....... ........ 114-123 CHAPTEK VIII. THE UNITED STATES HAS ARISEN IN THE EXACT MANNER INDICATED BY THE SYMBOL. Gomes up in a new territory Comes up peacefully View of J. P. Thompson, LL. D. Burke on the American Revo lution The expression used by the Apostle John G. A. Townsend s testimony Edward Everett on English exiles Corroborated by statistics of progress ............ 124 130 . CHAPTEE IX. THE TWO GREAT PRINCIPLES OF THE GOVERNMENT. How the Scriptures symbolize power and strength A Church without a pope and a State without a king Civil and religious liberty Republicanism and Protestantism A youthful power Declaration of Independence A noble profession Law of symbols ....................... 131-135 CHAPTEE X. INCONSISTENT UTTERANCES. Points made Religious bigotry of the past Danger of ecclesiastical power How a government speaks Dan- CONTENTS. gerous tendencies Opposition to dissenters A warning by D Aubigne Political corruption Spirit of the Dark Ages still alive Charles Beecher on Protestant apostasy Principles of the French Revolution Time the teacher.. 136-145 CHAPTER XI. HE DOETH GREAT WONDERS. Modern discoveries in the arts and sciences Wonderful in ventions Religious wonders Meaning cf 2 Thess. 2 : 9, 10 Spiritualism Experiments by Prof. Zollner Judge Edmonds s testimony To the kings of the eiirth Extent of this work.. . 146 153 CHAPTER XII. CHURCH AND STATE. The government republican A Protestant nation Collusion with the papacy What is possible in this government Influences at work Condition of Christianity Warn ings from the Scriptures Existing expectations A great American Catholic Church called for.. . 159-16? CHAPTER XIII. THE SUNDAY QUESTION. Agents identified Acts ascribed to each The coming issue A fearful sin denounced Bishop Newton on the use of a mark The characteristics of Ro man Catholicism What it has attempted in the re ligious world Agreement between Daniel and Paul How a person shows himself a follower of the papacy What the Roman Catholic Church claims to have done Relics of Romanism retained by Protestants The Re formers vindicated. . . 168-186 CONTENTS. xi CHAPTER XIV. INDICATIONS OF COMING CHANGES. Movements toward Church and State Influence of Spiritual ism Efforts for a union of all Churches Sunday reform movements Religion in politics The National Reform Association Seeking to amend the Constitution A "Politico-Theological movement" on foot History of the National Reform movement Strong resolutions The Pittsburg Convention Progress of the work Intu itions of Liberalism The die cast Inconsistent profes sions The Independent humorously unveils the movement The Church to rule Religious tests for office Religious legislation called for Compulsion for dissenters Equal rights ignored A political party on a religious platform The Sunday movement in foreign lands Combined strength of religious bodies Sunday as a political insti tution Secretary Thompson s position A hypocritical distinction Religious discrimination Demands of Liber alism Religious tyranny impending Desperate deter minations Change in public sentiment Surrender of the Reformation Our position defined Inevitable result of the proposed movement "The old Philadelphia lie" Consent of the governed Religious oppression begun Unmistakable indications for the future 187-268 APPENDIXES. . . . . 275-289 LIST 0P ILLUSTRATIONS. STEEL PORTRAIT OF AUTHOR, ....... 3 OUR NATIONAL EMBLEM, - 4 PLYMOUTH ROCK, ......... - 21 MAP, SHOWING OUR SEVERAL ACCESSIONS OF TERRITORY, - 25 CHICAGO AS IT APPEARED IN 1833, ..... - 28 GREAT CHICAGO FIRE, ..... - 28 BIRD S-EYE VIEW OF CHICAGO IN 1880, - 29 FIRST DUTCH SETTLEMENT OF NEW YORK IN 1612, 31 NEW YORK CITY IN 1648, ...... . . 31 NEW YORK CITY IN 1880, ..... .. ... 32 AGRICULTURAL VIGNETTE, - ... 34 MINING SCENES, ....... - - - 39, 40 VIEW ON THE ERIE CANAL, - 42 THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVE, ....... - 43 A COMMON RAILROAD SCENE, - - 44 SIGNAL STATION ON THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD, 45 A WOOD ENGRAVER PLYING ins PROFESSION, ... 47 THE OLD FRANKLIN (RAMAGE) PRESS, 50 THE HOE PERFECTING PRESS, - 51 BATTLE CREEK TABERNACLE, ...... - 52 MINISTERING TO THE FALLEN, ..... - 53 HOME FOR THE HOMELESS, ----- 53 A BIRD S-EYE VIEW OF THE UNITED STATES, - 56 LUMBER VIGNETTE, - ....... . . 57 CAPITOL BUILDING AT WASHINGTON, D. C., - - 59 THE WASHINGTON MONUMENT, ------ -60 BARTHOLDI S STATUE OF LIBERTY ENLIGHTENING THE WORLD, 62 THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE, ........ 63 FULTON S FIRST STEAMBOAT (1807), ------ 65 THE " SOUND " STEAMER PILGRIM (1885) , ----- 65 THE GREAT PRAIRIES OF THE WEST, - - - 67 THE MAYFLOWER (FROM A MODEL IN PILGRIM HALL), - 69 MEETING OF THE ORIENT AND OCCIDENT, ----- 70 AMERICAN PROGRESS (PLATE), ------- 71 LET THERE BE LIGHT, ..... ----104 SMALL GLOBE, SHOWING THE GREATEST AMOUNT OF LAND, 113 OUR NATIONAL EMBLEM, - - - - - -- - 123 AMERICAN VIGNETTE, - ...... 130 LAMB -LIKE SYMBOL, ......... 135 A STORM, .......... -- 145 INCREASE OF KNOWLEDGE, ........ 149 SIGNERS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, - - 353, 269 [xii] OUR COUNTRY: ITS PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE, CHAPTER I. EXPECTATIONS AND PREDICTIONS OF EMINENT MEN. ||T is but a little more than one hundred years fl since the nation known as " THE UNITED STATES ^F OF AMERICA" began to exist. A hundred years is not a long period in the history of nations. Let the eye run back upon the path of history, and mark the condition of nations when only a hundred years of age. Ancient Rome, the most notable of them all, when it had attained the age of a hundred years, was scarcely known outside the few provinces of Italy which composed its territory. Not so with this new empire of the West. Ere a hundred years had elapsed, its fame had encircled the earth, exciting the wonder and envy of the aged and stagnant kingdoms of other lands. It began with a few small settlements of earnest men, who, fleeing from the religious in tolerance of the Old World, occupied a narrow area along our Atlantic coast. Now, a mighty nation, with a vast expanse of territory stretching from ocean to ocean, and from regions almost arctic on the north to regions as nearly torrid on the south, em bracing more square leagues of habitable land than [13] 14: THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. Rome ruled over in its palmiest days, after more than seven centuries of growth, here holds a position of in dependence and glory among the nations of the earth.* And the sound of this new nation has gone into all the world. It has reached the toiling millions of o Europe ; and they are swarming to our shores to share its blessings. It has gone to the islands of the sea ; and they have sent their living contributions to swell its busy population. It has reached the Orient, and opened, as with a pass-word, the gates of nations long barred against intercourse w r ith other powers ; and China and Japan, turning from their beaten track of forty centuries, are looking with wonder at the prodigy arising across the Pacific to the east of them, and catching some of the impulse which this growing power is imparting to the nations of the earth. Precisely one hundred and nine years ago, w r ith about three millions of people, the United States be came an independent government. It has now a pop ulation of over fifty-five millions of people, and a ter ritory of more than three and a half millions of square miles. Russia alone exceeds this nation in these par ticulars, having thirty millions more of people, and, including the vast and dreary regions of Siberia, nearly five millions more square miles of territory. f * In a speech at the** Centennial Dinner " at the Westminster Palace Ho tel, London, July 4, 1876, J. P. Thompson, LL. D., speaking of the United States, said : " They have proved the possibility of free, popular govern ment upon a scale to which the Roman Republic of five hundred years was but a province." The United States as a Nation, p. xvii. f The area of the two countries is given in " Lippincott s Gazetteer of the World," as follows: United States, 3,580,242 square miles. Russia, 8,352,940 square miles, EXPECTATIONS AND PREDICTIONS. 15 Of all other nations on the globe whose laws are framed by legislative bodies elected by the people, Brazil, which has the largest territory, has but little more than three millions of square miles ; and France, the most populous, has not by many millions so great a number of inhabitants as our country. So that in point of territory and population combined, it will be seen that the United States now stands at the head of the self-governing powers of the earth. Occupying a position altogether unique, this gov ernment excites equally the astonishment and the ad miration of all beholders. The main features of its history arc such as have had no parallel since the dis tinction of nations existed among men. 1. No nation ever acquired so vast a territory in so quiet a manner. 2. No nation ever rose to such greatness by means so peaceable. 3. No nation ever advanced so rapidly in all that constitutes national strength and capital. 4. No nation ever rose to such a pinnacle of power in a space of time so incredibly short. 5. No nation in so limited a time has developed such unlimited resources. 6. No nation has ever existed, the foundations of whose government were laid so broad and deep in the principles of justice, righteousness, and truth. *1. No nation has ever existed in which men have been left so free to worship God according to the dic tates of their own consciences. 8. In no nation and in no age of the world have the arts and sciences so flourished, so many improvements been made, and so great successes been achieved in the arts both of peace and war, as in our own country during the last fifty years. 16 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. 9. In no nation and in no age has the gospel found such freedom, and the churches of Christ had such liberty to enlarge their borders and develop their strength. 10. No age of the world has seen such an immigra tion as that which is now pouring into our borders from all lands the millions who have long groaned under despotic governments, and who now turn to this broad territory of freedom as the avenue of hope, the Utopia of the nations. The most discerning minds have been intuitively impressed with the idea of the future greatness and power of this government. In view of the grand re sults developed and developing, the discovery of America by Columbus, not four hundred years ago, is set down as "the greatest event of all secular his tory." The progress of empire to this land was long ago expected. Sir Thomas Browne, in 1682 predicted the growth of a power here which would rival the European king doms in strength and prowess. In Burnaby s "Travels through the Middle Settle ments of North America in 1759 and 1760," published in 1775, is expressed this sentiment : "An idea, strange as it is visionary, has entered into the minds of the generality of mankind, that empire is traveling westward ; and every one is looking forward with eager and impatient expec tation to that destined moment when America is to give the law to the rest of the world. " John Adams, Oct. 12,. 1775, wrote : " Soon after the Reformation, a few people came over into this New World for conscience sake. Perhaps this apparently trivial incident may transfer the great seat of empire, to America." EXPECTATIONS AND PREDICTIONS. 17 On the day after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, he wrote : "Yesterday the greatest question was decided which was ever debated in America, and a greater, perhaps, never was, nor will be, decided among men." In 1776, Galiani, a Neapolitan, predicted the grad ual decay of European institutions, to renew them selves in America. In 1778, in reference to the ques tion as to which was to be the ruling power in the world, Europe or America, he said, " I will wager in favor of America." Adam Smith, of Scotland, in 1776 predicted the transfer of empire to America. Governor Pownal, an English statesman, in 1780, while our Revolution was in progress, predicted that this country would become independent, and that a civilizing activity, beyond what Europe could ever know, would animate it ; and that its commercial and naval power would be found in every quarter of the globe. Again he said : " North America has advanced, and is every day advancing, to growth of state, with a steady and continually accelerating motion, of which there lias never yet been any example in Europe." David Hartley wrote from England in 1777 : "At sea, which has hitherto been our prerogative element, they [the United States] rise against us at a stupendous rate ; and if we cannot return to our old mutual hospitalities toward each other, a very few years will show us a most formidable hostile marine, ready to join hands with any of our enemies." Count d Aranda, one of the first of Spanish states men, in 1783 thus wrote of this Republic : "This Federal Republic was born a pygmy, so to speak. It re quired the support and forces of two powers as great as Spain and 18 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. France in order to attain Independence. A day will come when it will be a giant, even a colossus, formidable in these countries." * Sir Thomas Browne, referred to above, in 1684 pub lished certain " Miscellany Tracts," one of which, en titled "The Prophecy," is the one which contains his reflections on the rise and progress of America. Dr. Johnson says of it: "Browne plainly discovers his expectation to be the same with that entertained lately with more confidence by Dr. Berkeley that America will be the seat of the fifth empire. " It is in verse, and the lines relating to America are : "When New England shall trouble New Spain, When America shall cease to send out its treasure, But employ it at home in American pleasure ; When the new world shall the old invade, Nor count them their lords, but their fellows in trade/ DuycltincKs American Literature, vol. i.,p. 179. In 1773 the Bishop of St. Asaph (Wales) before the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, said : "The colonies of North America have not only taken root and acquired strength, but seem hastening, with an accelerated prog ress, to such a powerful state as may introduce a new and impor tant change in human affairs." Id. The transfer of religion to this land, and its revival here, was also expected. George Herbert in a poem entitled " The Church Militant," published in 1633, said : " Religion stands on tiptoe in our land, Ready to pass to the American strand." Id. Of these prophecies, some are now wholly fulfilled, * These quotations are from an article by Hon. Charles Sumner, entitled "Prophetic Voices about America," published In the Atlantic Monthly of September, 1867. EXPECTATIONS AND PREDICTIONS. 19 and the remainder far on the road to fulfillment. This infant of yesterday stands forth to-day a giant, vigorous, active, and courageous, and accepts with dignity its manifest destiny at the head of powers and civilizations. A question of thrilling interest now arises. This government has received recognition at the hands of men sufficient to satisfy any ambition. Does the God of heaven also recognize it, and has he spoken con cerning it ? In other words, does the prophetic pen, which has so fully delineated the rise and progress of all the other great nations of the earth, pass this one by unnoticed ? What are the probabilities in this matter ? As the student of prophecy, in common with all mankind, looks with wonder upon the un paralleled rise and progress of this nation, he can not repress the conviction that the hand of Providence has been at work in this quiet but mighty revolution. And this conviction he shares in common with others. Governor Pownal, from whom a quotation has al ready been presented, speaking of the establishment of this country as a free and sovereign power, calls it "A revolution that has stranger marks of divine interposition, su perseding the ordinary course of human affairs, than any other event which this world has experienced." De Tocqueville, a French writer, speaking of our separation from England, says : "It might seem their folly, but was really their fate ; or, rather, the providence of God, who has doubtless a work for them to do in which the massive materiality of the English character would have been too ponderous a dead weight upon their progress." Geo. Alfred Townsend, speaking of the misfortunes 20 THE MARVEL Off NATIONS. that have attended the other governments on this continent (New World and Old, p. 635), says : "The history of the United States was separated by a beneficent Providence far from the wild and cruel history of the rest of the continent." Again he says : "This hemisphere was laid away for no one race/ Mr. J. M. Foster, in a Sermon before the Reformed Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati, O., Nov. 30, 1882, bore the following explicit testimony to the fact that the hand of Providence has been remarkably displayed in the establishment of this government : "Let us look at the history of our own nation. The Mediator long ages ago prepared this land as the home of civil and religious liberty. He made it a land flowing with milk and honey. He stored our mountains with coal, and iron, and copper, and silver, and gold. He prepared our fountains of oil, planted our forests, leveled our plains, enriched our valleys, and beautified them with lakes and rivers. He guided the Mayflower over the sea, so that the Pilgrim Fathers landed safely on Plymouth Rock. He directed the course of our civilization, so that we have become a great na tion." Plymouth Rock. The spot where the PILGRIM FATHERS landed from the "Mayflower," Dec. 21, 1620. A portion of this granite rock has been removed from the water-side, and located in front of Pilgrim Hall, protected by an iron fence. The original portion on Water Street, is covered by a suitable canopy, in the top of which are the bones Of the original settlers. Plymouth is 37 miles southeast from Boston, Mass, [21] CHAPTER II. A CENTURY S PROGRESS. the foregoing predictions been justified, and the expectations of these great men been fulfilled ? Every person whose reading is or dinarily extensive has something of an idea of what the United States is to-day ; he likewise has an idea, so far as words can convey it to his mind, of what this country was at the commencement of its history. The only object, then, in presenting statistics and testimony on this point, is to show that our rapid growth has struck mankind with the wonder of a constant miracle. Said Emile de Girardin in La Liberte (1868) : " The population of America, not thinned by any conscription, multiplies with prodigious rapidity, and the day may before [long be] seen, when they will number sixty or eighty millions of souls. This parvenu [one recently risen to notice] is aware of his impor tance and destiny. Hear him proudly exclaim, America for Amer icans! See him promising his alliance to Russia; and we see that power, which well knows what force is, grasp the hand of this giant of yesterday. "In view of his unparalleled progress and combination, what are the little toys with which we vex ourselves in Europe? What is this needle gun we are anxious to get from Prussia, that we may beat her next year with it? Had we not better take from Amer ica the principle of liberty she embodies, out of which have come her citizen pride, her gigantic industry, and her formidable loy alty to the destinies of her republican land?" The Dublin (Ireland) Nation^ already quoted, about the year 1850 said : A CENTURY S PROGRESS. 23 "In the East there is arising a colossal centaur called the Rus sian empire. With a civilized head and front, it has the sinews of a huge barbaric body. There one man s brain moves 70,000,- 000. [In 1870, 87,795,987. Lippincott.~] There all the traditions of the people are of aggression and conquest in the West. There but two ranks are distinguishable serfs and soldiers. There the map of the future includes Constantinople and Vienna as out posts of St. Petersburg. " In the West, an opposing and still more wonderful American empire is emerging. We islanders have no conception of the ex traordinary events which amid the silence of the earth are daily adding to the power and pride of this gigantic nation. Within three years, territories more extensive than these three kingdoms [Great Britain, Ireland, and Scotland], France, and Italy put together, have been quietly, and in almost matter-of-course* fashion, annexed to the Union. " Within seventy years, seventeen new Sovereignties, the small est of them larger than Gr^at Britain, have peaceably united themselves to the Federation. No standing army was raised, no national debt was sunk, no great exertion was made, but there they are. And the last mail brings news of three more great States about to be joined to the thirty, Minnesota in the northwest, Deseret in the southwest, and California on the shores of the Pa cific. These three States will cover an area equal to one-half of the European continent." Mitchell, iii his "School Geography" (fourth revised edition), p. 101, speaking of the United States, says : "It presents the most striking instance of national growth to be found in the history of mankind." Let us reduce these general statements to the more tangible form of facts and figures. A short time be fore the great Reformation in the days of Martin Luther, not four hundred years ago, this western hemisphere was discovered. The Reformation awoke the nations, that were fast fettered in the galling bonds of superstition, to the fact that it is the 24 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. heaven-born right of every man to worship God ac cording to the dictates of his own conscience. But rulers are loth to lose their power, and religious in tolerance still oppressed the people. Under these circumstances, a body of religious heroes at length determined to seek in the wilds of America that measure of civil and religious freedom which they so much desired. Two hundred and sixty-five years ago, Dec. 22, 1620, the Mayflower landed one hun dred of these voluntary exiles on the coast of New England. " Here," says Martyn, "New England was born," and this was "its first baby cry, a prayer and a thanksgiving to the Lord." Another permanent English settlement was made at Jamestown, Va., thirteen years before this, in 1607. In process of time other settlements were made and colonies organized, which were all subject to the English crown till the declaration of independence, July 4, 1776. The population of these colonies, according to the United States Magazine of August, 1855, amounted in 1701, to 262,000 ; in 1749, to 1,046,000 ; in 1775, to 2,803,000. Then commenced the struggle of the American colonies against the oppression of the mother country. In 1776, they declared themselves, as in justice and right they were entitled to be, a free and independent nation. In 1777, delegates from the thirteen original States, New Hampshire, Mas sachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Vir ginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, in Congress assembled, adopted Articles of Confed eration. In 1783, the war of the Revolution closed with a treaty of peace with Great Britain, whereby A CENTURY S PROGRESS. 25 our independence was acknowledged, and territory ceded to the extent of 815,615 square miles. In 1787 the Constitution was framed, and ratified by the fore going thirteen States ; and on the first day of March, 1789, it went into operation. Then the American ship of State was fairly launched, with less than one million square miles of territory, and about three millions of souls. Such was the situation when our nation took its position of independence, as one of the self-govern ing powers of the world. Our territorial growth since that timehasbeen as follows : Louisiana, acquired from France in 1803, comprising 930,928 square miles of territory ; Florida, from Spain in 1821, with 59,268 square miles ; Texas, admitted into the Union in 1845, with 237,504 square miles ; Oregon, as settled by treaty in 1846, with 380,425 square miles ; California, as conquered from Mexico in 1847, with 649,762 square miles ; Arizona (New Mexico), as acquired from Mexico by treaty in 1854, with 27,500 square miles ; Alaska, as acquired by purchase from Russia in 1867, with 577,390 square miles. This gives a grand total of three million, six hundred seventy- eight thousand, three hundred and ninety-two (3,678,- 392) square miles of territory, which is about four- ninths of all North America, and more than one-fif teenth of the whole land surface of the globe. And while this expansion has been thus rapidly going forward here, how has it been with the other leading nations of the globe ? Macmillan & Co., the London publishers, in announcing their " Statesman s Year Book" for 1867, make an interesting statement of the changes that took place in Europe during the 26 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. half century between the years 1817 and 1867. They say : " The half century has extinguished three kingdoms, one grand duchy, eight duchies, four principalities, one electorate, and four republics. Three new kingdoms have arisen, and one kingdom has been transformed into an empire. There are now forty-one states in Europe against fifty-nine which existed in 1817. Not less remarkable is the territorial extension of the superior states in the world. Russia has annexed 567,364 square miles; the United States, 1,968,009; France, 4,620; Prussia, 29,781; Sar dinia, expanding into Italy, has increased by 83,041 ; the Indian empire has been augmented by 431,616. The principal states that have lost territory are Turkey, Mexico, Austria, Denmark, and the Netherlands." We ask the especial attention of the reader to these particulars. During the last half century, twenty-one governments have disappeared altogether, and only three new ones have arisen. Five have lost in territory instead of gaining. Only five, be sides our own, have added to their domain. And the one which has done the most in this direction has added only a little over half a million of square miles, while we have added nearly two millions. Thus the United States government has added over fourteen hundred thousand square miles of territory more than any other single nation, and over eight hundred thousand more than have been added by all the other nations of the earth put together. In point of population, our increase since 1798, ac cording to the census of the several decades, has been as follows: In 1800, the total number of inhabitants in the United States was 5,305,925 ; in 1810, 7,239,- 814 ; in 1820, 9,638,191 ; in 1830, 12,866,020 ; in 1840, 17,069,453 ; in 1850, 23,191,876 ; in 1860, 31,445,089 ; in 1870, 38,555,983 ; in 1880, 50,000,000 ; and now A CENTURY S PROGRESS. 27 (1885) estimated as not less than 55,000,000. These figures are almost too large for the mind to grasp readily. Perhaps a better idea can be formed of the rapid increase of population by looking at a few rep resentative cities. Boston, in 179,2, had 18,000 inhab itants ; it now has [census of 1880] 362,839 ; New York, in 1792, 30,000 ; now, 1,206,299. Chicago, about fi fty years ago, was a little trading post, with a few huts ; but yet it contained at the time of the great conflagration in October, 1871, nearly 350,000 souls, and now has 650,000. (See illustrations.) San Francisco, fi f ty years ago, was a barren waste, but contains to-day 233,956 inhabitants. Our industrial growth has been equally remarkable. In 1792, the United States had no cotton-mills ; in 1850, there were 1,074, employing 100,000 hands. Only fifty-five years ago the first section of the first railroad in this country the Baltimore and Ohio- was opened to a distance of twenty-three miles.* We had, Jan. 1, 1883, 115,634 miles in operation, costing * The first timid experiment in railroads was a tramway in Quincy, Mass., built in 1826, chiefly by Thomas H. Perkins and Gridley Bryant, of Boston. Its only purpose was for the easier conveyance by horses of building-stone from the granite quarries of Quincy to tide-water. It was the germ, however, of a mighty movement in this country. The first railway in America for passengers and traffic the Baltimore and Ohio was chartered by the Maryland Legislature in March, 1827. The capital stock at first was only half a million dollars, and a portion of it was sub scribed by the State and the city of Baltimore. Horses were its motive power, even after sixty-five miles of the road were built. But in 1829 Peter Cooper, of New York, built a locomotive in Baltimore which weighed one ton, and made eighteen miles an hour on a trial trip to Ellicott s Mills. In 1830 there were twenty-three miles of railway in the United States, which were increased the next year to ninety-five, in 1835, to one thousand and ninety-eight, and in 1840, to nearly three thousand. Bryant s History of the United States,vol. iv., p. 314, Chicago as It Appeared in 1833. (See p. 27. The Great Chicago Fire, 1871. (Loss $150,000,0001 See p. 37,) [38] 30 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. $5,750,000,000. It was only forty-five years ago that the magnetic telegraph was invented. Now the esti mated length of telegraph wire in operation is over 250,000 miles. In 1833, the first reaper and mower was constructed, and in 1846 the first sewing-machine was completed. Think of the hundreds of thousands of both of these classes of machines now in use. And there are now more lines of telegraph and railroad projected and in process of construction than ever before, and greater facilities and larger plans for man ufactories of all kinds than at any previous point of time. And should these industries increase in the same geometrical ratio for a few years, the figures we now chronicle would then read about as the records of a century ago now read to us. Since the last edition of this work was issued, the electric light, the phonograph, the microphone, and the telephone have appeared in this country, and as tonished the world with their marvelous achievements. And recently notices appeared in the papers of anew application of electricity, by which one is actually en abled to see the person who is addressing him at the other end of the telephone, many miles, perhaps, away. This would seem to be reaching the last possible re sults in the way of the annihilation of time and space in regard to both hearing and seeing. We take the following article from " The Centen nial History of the United States," published in 1876 at Hartford, Ct, pp. 768-779 :- "Here, on the verge of the centennial anniversary of the birth of our Republic, let us take a brief review of the material and in tellectual progress of our country during the first hundred y_..rs of its political independence. "The extent of the conceded domain of the United States, in First Dutch Settlement of Wew York (New Amsterdam) 1G12. (See p. 27.) Wew York in 1648. (See p. 27.) A CENTURY S PROGRESS. 33 1776, was not more than Jialf a million square miles ; now [when the word now appears in this relation it means the year 1875] it is more than three million, three hundred tJwusand square miles. Its population then was about a million and a lialf ; now it is forty million. "The products of the soil are the foundations of the material wealth of a nation. It has been eminently so with us, notwith standing the science of agriculture and the construction of good implements of labor were greatly neglected until the early part of the present century. "A hundred years ago the agricultural interests of our country were mostly in the hands of uneducated men. Science was not applied to husbandry. A spirit of improvement was scarcely known. The son copied the ways of his father. He worked with no other implements and pursued no other methods of cultivation ; and he who attempted a change was regarded as a visionary or an innovator. Very little associated effort for improvement in the business of farming was then seen. The first association for such a purpose was formed in the South, and was known as the South Carolina Agricultural Society/ organized in 1784. A similar soci ety was formed in Pennsylvania the following year. Now there are State, county, and even town agricultural societies in almost every part of the Union. "Agricultural implements were rude and simple. They con sisted chiefly of the plow, harrow, spade, hoe, hand-rake, scythe, sickle, and wooden fork. The plow had a clumsy, wrought-iron share with wooden mold-board, which was sometimes plated with old tin or sheet-iron. The rest of the structure was equally clumsy; aind the implement required in its use, twice the amount of strength of man and beast that the present plow does. Improve ments in the construction of plows during the past fifty years save to the country annually, in work and teams, at least $12,000,000. The first patent for a cast-iron plow was issued in 1797. To the beginning of 1875, about four hundred patents have been granted. "A hundred years ago the seed was sown by hand, and the en tire crop was harvested by hard, manual labor. The grass was cut with a scythe, and cured and gathered with a fork and hand- rake. The grain was cut with a sickle, threshed with a flail or the treading of horses, and was cleared of the chaff by a large clamshell-shaped fan of wicker-work, used in a gentle breeze. The 3 34: THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. drills, seed-sowers, cultivators, mowers, reapers, threshing- machines, and fanning-mills of our day, were all unknown. They are the inventions of a time within the mem ory of living men. Abortive attempts were made toward the close of the last century to introduce a threshing-machine from England, but the flail held sway until two generations ago. Indian corn, to bacco, wheat, rye, oats, potatoes, and hay were sta ple products Of the farm a hundred years ago. Tim othy and orchard grass had just been introduced. At the present time these products amount annu ally, on an average, in round numbers, as follows : Indian corn, 900,000,000 bushels ; wheat, 270,000,- 000 ; rye, 22,000,000 ; oats, 300,000,000 ; po tatoes, 165,000,000; and buckwheat (intro duced within the century) 15,000,000. The hay crop averages about 28,000,000 tons ; the to bacco crop, about 265,000,000 pounds; flax, 28,000,000 pounds ; and hemp, 12,- 000 tons. To these agricultural products there have been added, within the century, barley, cotton, and sugar. The barley crop av erages about 28,000,000 bush els ; cotton, about 2,000,000,- 000 pounds ; and sugar, 120,000 hogsheads of 1,000 pounds each. The expan- H S sion of the COTTON A CENTURY S PROGRESS. 35 culture has been marvelous. In 1784, eight hales of cotton sent to England from Charleston were seized by the custom-house authorities in Liverpool, on the ground that so large a quantity could not have come from the United States. The progress of its culture was slow until the invention of the gin, by Mr. Whitney, for clearing the seed from the fiber. It did the work of many persons. The cultivation of cotton rapidly spread. From 1792 to 1800, the amount of cotton raised had increased from 138,000 pounds to 18,000,000 pounds, all of which was wanted in Eng land, where improved machinery was manufacturing it into cloth. The value of slave labor was increased, and a then dying insti tution lived in vigor until killed by the civil war. The value of the cotton crop in 1792 was $30,000 ; now its average annual value is about $180,000,000. "Fruit culture a hundred years ago was very little thought of. Inferior varieties of apples, pears, peaches, plums, and cherries were cultivated for family use. It was not until the beginning of the present century that any large orchards were planted. The cultivation of grapes and berries was almost wholly unknown fifty years ago. The first horticultural society was formed in 1829. Before that time fruit was not an item of commercial statistics in our country. Now, the average annual value of fruit is estimated at $40,000,000. Our grape crop alone exceeds in value $10,000,000. "Improvements in live stock have all been made within the present century. The native breeds were descended from stock sent over to the colonies,, and were generally inferior. In 1772 Washington wrote in his diary: With one hundred milch cows on my farm, I have to buy butter for my family/ Now 11,000,- 000 cows supply 40,000,000 inhabitants with milk, butter, and cheese, and allow large exports of the latter article. At least 225,000,000 gallons of milk are sold annually. The annual butter product of our country now is more than 500,000,000 pounds, and of cheese, 70,000,000. There are now about 30,000,000 horned cattle in the United States, equal in average quality to those of any country in the world. "A hundred years ago, mules and asses were chiefly used for farming purposes and ordinary transportation. Carriage horses were imported from Europe. Now, our horses of every kind are equal to those of any other country. It is estimated that there 36 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. are about 10,000,000 horses in the United States, or one to every four persons. " Sheep husbandry has greatly improved. The inferior breeds of the last century, raised only in sufficient quantity to supply the table, and the domestic looms in the manufacture of yarns and coarse cloth, have been superseded by some of the finer varieties. Merino sheep were introduced early in this century. The embargo before the war of 1812, and the establishment of manufactures here afterward, stimulated sheep and wool raising, and these have been important items in our national wealth. There are now about 80,000,000 sheep in the United States. California is taking the lead as a wool-producing State. In 1870, the wool product of the United States amounted to 100,000,000 pounds. "Improvements in the breed of swine during the last fifty years have been very great. They have become a large item in our na tional commercial statistics. At this time there are about 26,000,000 head of swine in this country. Enormous quantities of pork, packed and in the form of bacon, are exported annually. "These brief statistics of the principal products of agriculture, show its development in this country and its importance. Daniel Webster said, Agriculture feeds us; to a great extent it clothes us; without it we should not have manufactures ; we should not have commerce. They all stand together like pillars in the clus ter, the largest in the center, and that largest AGRICULTURE/ "The great manufacturing interests of our country are the product of the century now closing. The policy of the British government was to suppress manufacturing in the English- Amer ican colonies, and cloth-making was confined to the household. When non-importation agreements cut off supplies from Great Britain, the Irish flax-wheel and the Dutch wool-wheel were made active in families. All other kinds of manufacturing were of small account in this country until the concluding decade of the last century. In Great Britain the inventions of Hargreaves, Arkwright, and Cromptou, had stimulated the cotton and woolen manufactures, and the effects finally reached the United States. Massachusetts offered a grant of money to promote the establish ment of a cotton-mill, and one was built at Beverly in 1787, the first erected in the United States. It had not the improved English- machinery. In 1789, Samuel Slater came from England with a full knowledge of that machinery, and in connection with A CENTURY S PROGRESS. 37 Messrs. Almy and Brown of Providence, R. 1., established a cot ton factory there in 1790, with the improved implements. Then was really begun the manufacture of cotton in the United States. Twenty years later, the number of cotton-mills in our country was one hundred and sixty-eight, with 90,000 spindles. The business has greatly expanded, in Massachusetts, the foremost State in the manufacture of cotton, there are now over two hundred mills, employing, in prosperous times, 50,000 persons, and a capital of more than $30,000,000. The city of Lowell was founded by the erection of a cotton-mill there in 1822 ; and there the printing of calico was first begun in the United States soon afterward. "With wool, as with cotton, the manufacture into cloth was confined to households, for home use, until near the close of the last century. The wool was carded between two cards held in the hands of the operator, and all the processes were slow and crude. In 1797, Asa Whittemore of Massachusetts invented a carding-machine, and this led to the establishment of woolen manufactures outside of families. In his famous report on man ufactures, in 1791, Alexander Hamilton said that of woolen goods, hats only had reached maturity. The business had been carried on with success in colonial times. The wool was felted by hand, and furs were added by the same slow process. This manual labor continued until a little more than thirty years ago, when it was supplanted by machinery. Immense numbers of hats of ev ery kind are now made in our country. "At the time of Hamilton s report, there was only one woolen- mill in the United States. This was at Hartford, Connecticut. In it were made cloths and cassirneres. Now, woolen factories may be found in almost every State in the Union, turning out an nually the finest cloths, cassimeres, flannels, carpets, and every variety of goods made of wool. In this business, as in cotton, Massachusetts has taken the lead. The value of manufactured woolens in the United States, at the close of the civil war, was estimated at about $60,000,000. "The supply of wool in the United States has never been equal to the demand. " The smelting of iron ore and the manufacture of iron has be come an immense business in our country. The development of ore deposits and of coal used in smelting, are among the marvels of our history. English navigation laws discouraged iron man ufacture in the colonies. Only blast-furnaces for making pig- 38 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. iron were allowed. This product was nearly all sent to England in exchange for manufactured articles ; and the whole amount of such exportation, at the beginning of the old war for inde pendence, was less than 8,000 tons annually. The colonists were wholly dependent upon Great Britain for articles manufactured of iron and steel, excepting rude implements made by blacksmiths for domestic use. During the war, the Continental Congress were compelled to establish manufactures of iron and steel. These were chiefly in Northern New Jersey, the Hudson High lands, and Western Connecticut, where excellent ore was found, and forests in abundance for making charcoal. The first use of anthracite coal for smelting iron was in the Continental Armory at Carlisle, in Pennsylvania, in 1775. But charcoal was univers ally used until 1840 for smelting ores. "Now, iron is manufactured in our country in every form from a nail to a locomotive, A vast number of machines have been invented for carrying on these manufactures ; and the pro ducts in cutlery, fire-arms, railway materials, and machinery of every kind, employ vast numbers of men and a great amount of capital. Our locomotive builders are regarded as the best in the world ; and no nation on the globe can compete with us in the construction of steam-boats of every kind, from the iron-clad war steamer to the harbor tug. " In the manufacture of copper, silver, and gold, there has been great progress. At the close of the Revolution, no manufactures of the kind existed in our country. Now, the manufacture of copper-ware yearly, of every kind, and jewelry and watches, has become a large item in our commercial tables. "The manufacture of paper is a very large item in the business of our country. At the close of the Revolution there were only three mills in the United States. At the beginning of the war, a demand sprung up, and Wilcox, in his mill near Philadelphia, made the first writing-paper produced in this country. He man ufactured the thick, coarse paper on which the continental money was printed. So early as 1794 the business had so increased that there were in Pennsylvania alone forty-eight paper-mills. There has been a steady increase in the business ever since. Within the last twenty-five years, that increase has been enormous, and yet not sufficient to meet the demand. Improvements in printing- presses have cheapened the production of books and newspapers, A CENTURY S PROGRESS, 39 and the circulation of these has greatly increased. It is estimated that the amount of paper now manufactured annually in the United States for these, for paper-hangings, and for wrapping-paper is full 800,000,000 pounds. The supply of raw material here has not been equal to the demand, and rags to the value of about $2,000,- 000 in a year have been imported. "The manufacture of ships, carriages, wagons, clocks and watches, pins, leather, glass, Indian rubber, silk, wood, sewing- machines, and a variety of other things wholly unknown or feebly carried on a hundred years ago,, now flourish, and form very im portant items in our domestic commerce. The sewing-machine is an American invention, and the first really practical one was first offered to the public by Elias Howe, Jr., about thirty years ago. A patent had been obtained for one five years before. Great im provements have been made, and now a very extensive business in the manufacture and sale of sewing-machines is carried on by different companies, employing a large amount of capital and costly machinery, and a great number of persons. A Mining Scene. "The mining interests of the United States have become an em inent part of the national wealth. The extraction of lead, iron, copper, the precious metals, and coal, from the bosom of the earth, is a business that has almost wholly grown up within the last hun dred years. In 1754 a lead mine was worked in Southwestern Vir ginia ; and in 1778, Dubuque, a French miner, worked lead ore deposits on the western bank of the upper Mississippi. The Jes- 40 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. uit missionaries discovered copper in the Lake Superior region more than two hundred years ago, and that remains the chief source of our native copper ore. That metal is produced in smaller quantities in other States, chiefly in the West and Southwest. "A lust for gold, and the knowledge of its existence in America, was the chief incentive to emigration to these shores. But within the domain of our Republic, very little of it was found, until that domain was extended far toward the Pacific ocean. It was unsus pected until long after the Revolution. Finally, gold was discov ered among the mountains of Virginia, North and South Carolina, and in Georgia. North Carolina was the lirst State in the Union to send gold to the mint in Philadelphia. Its first small contribu tion was in 1804. From that time until 1823 the average amount produced from North Carolina mines did not exceed $2,500 annu ally. Virginia s first contribution was in 1829, when that of North Carolina, for that year, was $128,000. Georgia sent its first con tribution in 1830. It amounted to $212,000. The product so in creased that branch mints were established in North Carolina and Georgia in 1837 and 1838, and another in New Orleans. " In 1848, gold was discovered on the American fork of the Sacramento River in California, and soon after ward elsewhere in that region. A gold fever seized the people of the United States, and thousands rushed to California in search of the precious metals. Within a year from the discovery, nearly 50,000 people were there. Less than five years afterward, California, in one year, sent to the United States mint full $40,000,- 000 in gold. Its entire gold product to this time is es timated at more than $800,000,000. Over all the far Western States and Territories the precious metals, gold and silver, seem to be scattered in profusion, and the amount of mineral wealth yet to be discovered there seems to be incalculable. Our coal fields seem to be inexhaustible ; ^ and out of the bosom of jfej_ the earth, in portions of ^^ftfp^si, our country, ^^HH|||_ flow millions of SS- barrels annu- A CENTURY S PROGRESS, 41 ally of petroleum, or rock-oil, affording the cheapest illuminating material in the world. "Mineral coal was first discovered and used in Pennsylvania at the period of the Revolution. A boat load was sent down the Susquehanna from Wilkesbarre for the use of the Continental works at Carlisle. But it was not much used before the war of 1812 ; and the regular business of mining this fuel did not become a part of the commerce of the country before the year 1820, when 365 tons were sent to Philadelphia. At the present time the amount of coal sent to market from the American mines, of all kinds, is equal to full 15,000,000 tons annually. "The commerce of the United States has had a wonderful growth. Its most active development was seen in New England. British legislation imposed heavy burdens upon it in colonial times, and like manufactures, it was greatly depressed. The New Eng- landers built many vessels for their own use, but more for others ; and just before the breaking out of the Revolution, there was quite a brisk trade carried on between the English- American colo nies and the West Indies, as well as with the mother country. The colonists exported tobacco, lumber, shingles, staves, masts, turpentine, hemp, flax, pot and pearl ashes, salted fish in great quantities, some corn, live stock, pig-iron, and skins and furs pro cured by traffic with the Indians. Whale and cod-fishing was an important branch of commerce. In the former, there were 160 vessels employed at the beginning of 1775, and sperm candles and whale oil were exported to Great Britain. In exchange for New England products, a large amount of molasses was brought from, the West Indies, and made into rum to sell to the Indians and fish ermen, and to exchange for slaves on the coast of Africa. The entire exports of the colonies in the year 1770 amounted in value to $14,262,000. " At the close of the war, the British government refused to en ter into commercial relations with the United States government, believing that the weak league of States would soon be dissolved ; but when, a vigorous national government was formed in 1789, Great Britain, for the first, sent a resident minister to our govern ment, and entered into a commercial arrangement with us. Mean while a brisk trade had sprung up between the colonies and Great Britain, as well as with other countries. From 1784 to 1790 the exports from the United States to Great Britain amounted to $33,- 42 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. 000,000, and the imports from Great Britain to $87,000,000. At tlfe same time several new and important branches of industry had appeared, and flourished with great rapidity. "From that time the expansion of American commerce was marvelous, in spite of the checks it received from British jeal ousy, wars, piracies in the Mediterranean Sea and elsewhere, and the ffects of embargoes. The tonnage of American ships, which in 1789 was 201,562, was in 1870 more than 7,000,000. The ex ports from the United States in 1870 amounted to about $464,- 000,000, and the imports to about $395,000,000 in gold. "The domestic commerce of the United States is immense. A vast sea-coast line, great lakes, large rivers, and many canals, af ford scope for inter-State commerce and with adjoining countries, View on the Erie Canal. not equaled by those of any nation. The canal and railway sys tems in the United States are the product chiefly of the present century. So also is navigation by steam, on which river com merce chiefly relies for transportation. This was begun in the year 1807. The first canals made in this country were two short ones, for a water passage around the South Hadley and Montague Falls, in Massachusetts. These were constructed in 1792. At about the same time the Inland Lock Navigation Companies in the State of New York began their work. The Middlesex Canal, connecting Lowell with Boston Harbor, was completed in 1808, and the great Erie Canal, 363 miles in length, was finished in 1825, at a cost of almost $8,000,000. The aggregate length of canals built in the United States is 3,200 miles. "The first railway built in the United States was one three A CENTURY S PROGRESS. miles in length, that connected the granite quarries at Quincy, Mass*, with the Neponset River. It was completed in 1827 ; horse power was used. The first use of a loco motive in this country was in 1829, when one was put upon a railway that connected the coal mines of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company with Honesdale.* Now, railways form a thick net-work all over the United States east of the Mississippi, and are rapidly spread ing over the States and Territories beyond, to the^Pacific ocean. To these facilities for commercial op erations must be added the Elec tro-Magnetic Telegraph, an American invention, as a method of transmitting intelligence, and giving warning signals to the shipping and agricultural interests concerning the actual and probable state of the weather each day. The first line, forty miles in length, was constructed between Baltimore and Wash ington in 1844. Now the lines are extended to every part of our Union, and all over the civilized world, traversing oceans and riv ers, and bringing Persia and New York within one hour s space of intercommunication. "Banking institutions and insurance companies are intimately connected with commerce. The first bank in the United States was established in 1781, as a financial aid to the government. It was called the Bank of North America. The Bank of New York and Bank of Massachusetts were established soon afterward. On the recommendation of Hamilton, in 1791, a national bank was established at Philadelphia, with a capital of $10,000,000, of which sum the government subscribed $2,000,000. Various bank ing systems, under State charters, have since been tried. During the civil war, a system of national banking was established, by which there is a uniform paper currency throughout the Union. The number of national banks at the close of 1863 was 66 ; the * This was for freight only. The first passenger railway was opened in 1S30, as stated on page 27. 44 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. number at the close of 1874 was not far from 1,700, involving capital to the amount of almost $500,000,000. "Fire, marine, and life insurance companies have flourished greatly in the United States. The first incorporated company was established in 1792, in Philadelphia, and known as the Tire In surance Company of North America/ Another was established in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1799, and another in New York in 1806. The first life insurance company was chartered in Mas- 3 - I % I a = & 3 a ? 03 2 f 5 5 ** aq B a = II 46 THE MAKVEL OP NATIONS. sacliusetts in 1825, and the New York Life Insurance and Trust Company was established in 1829. All others are of recent or ganization. As a rule, the business of insurance of every kind is profitable to the insurers and the insured. The amount of capital engaged in it is enormous. The fire risks alone, at the close of 1874, amounted to about $200,000,000. " Our growth in population has been steadily increased by im migration from Europe. It began very moderately after the Rev olution. From 1784 to 1794 the average number of immigrants a year was 4,000. During the last ten years the number of persons who have immigrated to the United States from Europe is es timated at over 2,000,000, who brought with them, in the aggre gate, $200,000,000 in money. This capital and the productive labor of the immigrants have added much to the wealth of our country. This immigration and wealth is less than during the ten years preceding the civil war, during which time there came to this country from Europe 2,814,554 persons, bringing with them an average of at least $100, or an aggregate of over $281, 000,000. " The Arts, Sciences, and Invention have made a great progress in our country during the last hundred years. These at the close of the Revolution, were of little account in estimating the ad vance of the race. The practitioners of the Arts of Design, at that period, were chiefly Europeans. Of native artists, C. W. Peale and J. S. Copley stood at the head of painters. There were no sculptors, and no engravers of any eminence. Architects, in the proper sense, there were none. After the Revolution a few good painters appeared, and these have gradually increased in numbers and excellence, without much encouragement, except in portraiture, until within the last twenty-five years. We have now good sculptors, architects, engravers, and lithographers; and in all of these departments, as well as in photography, very great progress has been made within the last thirty or forty years. In wood engraving, especially, the improvement has been won derful. Forty years ago there were not more than a dozen prac titioners of the art in this country ; now there are between four and five hundred. At the head of that class of artists stands the name of Dr. Alexander Anderson, who was the first man who en graved on wood in the United States. He died in 1870 at the age of ninety-five years. In bank-note engraving we have at- A CENTURY S PROGRESS. 47 tained to greater excellence than any other people. It is con sidered the most perfect branch of the art in design and execu tion. " Associations have been formed for improvements in the Arts of Design. The first was organized in Philadelphia in 1791, by C. W. Peale, in connection with Ceracchi, the Italian sculptor. It failed. In 1802 the American Academy of Fine Arts was or ganized in the city of New York, and in 1807 the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, yet in existence, was established in Phila delphia. In 1826 the American Academy of Fine Arts was su- A Wool Engraver plying liis Profession. perseded by the National Academy of Design, in the city of New Yorkj which is now a flourishing institution. "In education and literature our progress has kept pace with other things. At the very beginning of settlements, the common school was made the special care of the State in New England. Not so much attention was given to this matter elsewhere in the colonies. The need of higher institutions of learning was early felt ; and eighteen years after the landing of the Pilgrims from the Mayflower, Harvard College was founded. When the war for independence began, there were nine colleges in the col onies ; namely, Harvard, at Cambridge, Mass. ; William and 48 vufi M Any EL OF Mary, at "Williamsburg, Ya.; Yale, at New Haven, Conn.; College of New Jersey, at Princeton ; University of Pennsylvania, at Philadelphia ; King s (now Columbia), in the city of New York ; Brown University, at Providence, R. I.; Dartmouth, at Hanover, , N. H.; and Rutgers at .New Brunswick, JN. J. There are now \ about 300 colleges in the United States. "At the period of the Revolution, teaching in the common schools was very meager, and remained so for full thirty years. Only reading, spelling, and arithmetic were regularly taught. The Psalter, the JNew Testament, and the Bible constituted the reading-books. No history was read; no geography or grammar was taught; and until the putting forth of Webster s spelling- book in 1783, pronunciation was left to the judgment of teachers. That book produced a revolution. " As the nation advanced in wealth and intelligence, the ne cessity for correct popular education became more and more manifest, and associated efforts were made for the improvement of the schools by providing for the training of teachers, under the respective phase of Teachers Associations, Educational Period icals, Normal Schools, and Teachers Institutes. The first of these societies in this country was the Middlesex County Asso ciation for the Improvement of Common Schools, established at Middletown, Connecticut, in 1799. But little of importance was done in that direction until within the last forty-five years. Now, provision is made in all sections of the Union, not only for the support of common schools, but for training-schools for teachers. Since the civil war, great efforts have been made to establish common-school systems in the late slave-labor States, that should include among the beneficiaries the colored popula tion. Much has been done in that regard. "Yery great improvements have been made in the organization and discipline of the public schools in cities within the last thirty years. Free schools are rapidly spreading their beneficent in fluence over the whole Union, and in some States laws have been made that compel all children of a certain age to go to school. Institutions for the special culture of young women in all that pertains to college education, have been established within a few years. The pioneer in this work is Yassar College, at Pough-- keepsie, N. Y., which was first opened in the year 1865. "Besides the ordinary means for education, others have been \ V CENTURY 8 PROGRESS. established for special purposes. There are Law, Scientific, Med ical, Theological, Military, Commercial, an/J Agricultural schools, and seminaries for the deaf, dumb, and blind. In many States school- district libraries have been established There are continually enlarging means provided for the education of the whole people. Edmund Burke said, Education is ttte cheap defense of nations/ " $ur literature is as varied as the tastes of the people. No sub ject escapes the attention of our native scholars and authors. At the period of the Revolution, books were few in variety and numbers. The larger portion of them were devoted to theological subjects. Booksellers were few, and were only found in the larger cities. Various subjects were dis cussed in pamphlets, not generally in newspapers, as now. The edi tions of books were small, and as stereotyping was unknown, they became rare in a few years, because there was only a costly way of reproduction. " In the year 1801, a new impetus was given to the book traJe by the formation of the American Company of Booksellers a kind of union/ Twenty years later, competition broke up the association. Before the war of 1812, the book trade in the United States was small. Only school books had very large sales. Webster s spelling-book was an example of the increas ing demand for such helps to education. During the twenty years he was engaged on his dictionary, the income from his spelling-book supported him and his family. It was published in 1783, and its sales have continually increased to the pres ent time, when they amount to over 1,000,000 copies a year. Other school books of every kind now have an immense an nual circulation. The general book trade in this country is now immense in the numbers of volumes issued and the capital and labor employed. Readers are rapidly increasing. An ardent thirst for knowledge or entertainment to be found in books, magazines, and newspapers, makes a very large demand for these vehicles, while, at the same time, they produce wide-spread in- 50 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. telligence. The magazine literature, now generally healthful, is a powerful coadjutor of books in this popular culture ; and the newspaper, not always so healthful, supplies the daily and weekly demand for ephemerals in literature and general knowl edge. To meet that demand required great improvements in printing machinery, and these have been supplied. " The printing-press, at the time of the Revolution, is shown in that used by Frank lin, in which the pressure force was ob tained by means of a screw. The ink was applied by huge balls ; and an expert work man could furnish about fifty impressions an hour. This was improved by Earl Stanhope in 1815, by substituting for the screw a jointed lever. Then came inking machines, and one man could work off Old Franklin (Ramag-e) Press. 250 copies an hour. Years passed on, and the cylinder press was invented ; and in 1847 it was perfected by Richard M. Hoe of New York. This has been further improved lately, and a print ing-press is now used which will strike off 15,000 newspapers, printed on both sides, every hour. " The newspapers printed in the United States at the begin ning of the Revolution were few in number, small in size, and very meager in information of any kind. They were issued weekly, semi-weekly, and tri-weekly. The first daily newspaper Issued in this country was the American Daily Advertiser, estab lished in Philadelphia in 1784. In 1775 there were 87 newspa pers and periodicals in the United States, with an aggregate is sue that year of 1,200,000 copies. In 1870 the number of daily 52 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. newspapers in the United States was 542 ; and of weeklies, 4,425. Of the dailies, 800,000,000 were issued that year; of the weeklies, 600,000,000; and of other serial publications, 100,000,000; making an aggregate of full 1,500,000,000 copies. To these figures should Battle Creek Tabernacle. This commodious edifice for divine worship, is 105 by 130 feet, with en trances at each corner, and has a seating capacity for 3,200 persons. It has a gallery on three sides, and three large vestrys, which may be come a part of the main auditorium by simply raising the sliding par titions, which are of ground glass. This beautiful structure is espe cially convenient for Sabbath- school work and General Conferences, and is frequently used for moral lectures and the commencement ex ercises of the Battle Creek Public Schools. be made a large addition at the close of 1886* There are now about forty newspapers in the United States which have existed over fifty years. A CENTURY S PROGRESS. "In the providing of means for moral and religious cul ture and be nevolent en terprises, there has been great progress in this country during the century now closing. The various re ligious de nominations have in- Ministering to the Fallen. creased in membership fully in proportion to the increase of pop ulation. Asylums of every kind for the unfortunate and friendless have been multiplied in an equal ratio, and provision is made for all. [The vignettes on this page show common works of philanthropy. ] " One of the most conspicuous exam ples of the growth of our Republic is pre sented by the postal service. Dr. Frank lin had been Colonial Postmaster - General, and he was appointed to the same office for one year by the Con tinental Congress in the summer of 1775. He held the position a little more than a year, and at the end of his official term Home lor ii& Homeless. there were about 50 M Tfffi ttA&YEt OP post-offices in the United States. All the accounts of the General Post-Office Department during that period were contained in a small book consisting of about two quires of foolscap paper, w T hich is preserved in the Department at Washington City. Through all the gloomy years of the weak Confederacy, the bus iness of the Department was comparatively light ; and when the national government began its career in 1789, there were only about seventy-five post-offices, with an aggregate length of post- roads of about 1,900 miles. The annual income was $28,000, and the annual expenditures were $32,000. The mails were carried by postmen on horseback, and sometimes on foot. Now the num ber of post-offices is over 33,000; the aggregate length of post- routes is 256,000 miles ; the annual revenue, $23,000,000, and the annual expenditures, $29,000,000. " We may safely claim for our people and country a progress in all that constitutes a vigorous and prosperous nation during the century just passed, equal, if not superior, to that of any other on the globe. And to the inventive genius and skill of the Americans may be fairly awarded a large share of the honor ac quired by the construction of machinery, which has so largely taken the place of manual labor. In that progress the American citizen beholds a tangible prophecy of a brilliant future for his country." The following paragraphs which went the rounds of the papers a few years ago, present a good sum mary of the success " Brother Jonathan " has achieved thus far in his career : "Brother Jonathan commenced business in 1776, with thirteen States and 815,615 square miles of territory, which was occupied by about 3,000,000 of civilized human beings. He has now a family of 43,000,000, who occupy thirty-seven States and nine Territories, which embrace over 3,000,000 square miles. He has 65,000 miles of railroad, more than sufficient to reach twice and a half around the globe. The value of his annual agricult ural productions is $2,500,000,000, and his gold mines are capable of producing $70,000,000 a year. He has more than 1,000 cotton factories, 580 daily newspapers, 4,300 weeklies, and 625 monthly publications. He has also many other things too numerous and too notorious to mention." A CENTURY S PROGRESS. 55 "The United States of America issues more newspapers, in number and in aggregate circulation, than all the rest of the world combined. America outnumbers the press of Great Britain, six to one, and has nearly half a dozen daily papers which print more copies every issue than doe , the London Times." The rate of growth maintained in this country since the compilation of the foregoing 1 figures in 1876, may be best shown by comparing them with the figures on some of the items named above from the census of 1SSO. Thus the people of the United States, at this last-named date, possessed, in round numbers, 38,000,000 cattle and 48,000,000 swine. This is a larger number of cattle than any other na tion can show, India having but 30,000,000, and Rus sia 29,000,000. We have 10,500,000 horses, being surpassed in this respect only by Russia, which has 20,000,000. We come fourth in the list of sheep-raising nations, having 36,000,000 ; but in the food-produc ing animals, cattle and hogs, our country leads the world. According to returns for the year 1882, our corn crop amounted to 2,700,000,000 bushels ; wheat, 520,- 000,000 bushels ; hay, 32,000,000 tons ; coal, 80,000,- 000 tons ; petroleum, 27,500,000 barrels ; pig iron, 4,000,000 tons ; manufactured steel rails, 900,000 tons. And nature herself, by the physical features she has stamped upon our country, has seemed to lay it out as a field for national development on the most magnificent scale. Here we have the largest lakes, the longest rivers, the mightiest cataracts, the deep est caves, the broadest and most fertile prairies, and the richest mines of gold and iron and coal and cop per, to be found upon the globe. /r S g of iiill -^ A CENTURY S PROGRESS. One of the most important industries of the world is the lumber business, the traffic in timber for building houses, ships, etc., and manufacturing purposes. The principal nations engaged in this business, outside of the United States, are Norway, Russia, Germany, British North America, and to some extent, France. , Tn our own country immense lumber districts are found in Maine, New York, Pennsylva nia, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Min nesota, Indiana, some portions of the Southern States, California, and Oregon. The more important centers of the trade are Bangor, Me., Boston, Chi cago, the lake ports generally, Albany, N. Y., Savannah, and Brunswick, Ga., and Pensacola, Florida. There were in 1870, 26,945 lumber manufactories, employing 163,637 men, using $161,500,273 invested capital, paying $46,231,- 328 in wages, and pro ducing $252,339,029 worth of lumber. Grave fears are ex cited by the mete orological effects which are likely to follow this remov- t/w^ al of the >. forests. V 58 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. "When America was discovered, there were but sixty millions of gold in Europe. California and the Territories around her have produced one thousand millions of dollars in gold in twenty years. Sixty-one million dollars was the largest annual gold yield ever made in Australia. California has several times produced ninety millions of gold in a year." Townsend, p. 384. "The area of workable coal-beds in all the world outside the United States is estimated at 26,000 square miles. That of the United States, not including Alaska, is estimated at over 200,000 square miles, or eight times as large as the available coal area of all the rest of the globe!" American Year Book for I860, p. 655. "The iron product and manufacture of the United States has increased enormously within the last few years, and the vast beds of iron convenient to coal in various parts of the Union are des tined to make America the chief source of supply for the world/ "Three mountains of solid iron [in Missouri], known as Iron Mountain, Pilot Knob, and Shepherd s Mountain, are among the most remarkable natural curiosities on our continent." Id., p. 654. And the people have taken hold to lay out their work on the grand scale that nature has indicated. Excepting only the Houses of Parliament in London, our national Capitol at Washington is the most spa cious and imposing national edifice in the world. By the unparalleled feat of a subterranean tunnel two miles out under the bottom of the lake, Chicago ob tains her water. Chicago is the most extensive grain and lumber market in the world ; and Phila delphia and New York contain the largest and best- furnished printing establishments now in existence. The submarine cable, running like a thread of light through the depths of the broad Atlantic from the United States to England, a conception of American genius, is the greatest achievement in the telegraphic line. The Pacific Railroad, that iron highway from the Atlantic to the Pacific, stands at the head of all monuments of engineering skill in modern times. Capitol Building at "Washington, J>. C. The entire length of the Capitol is 751^ feet and its greatest depth, in cluding porticoes and steps, is 348 feet. The ground covered by the entire building is a little over 3)^ acres. The walls of the Central Building are of sandstone, painted white. The Extensions are of white marble, slightly variegated with blue. The Dome is of cast- iron. 135X feet in diameter, and rises to a hight of 287% feet above the basement floor. On the top of the Dome is a bronze statue of LIBERTY, 19% feet high. [59] The Washington Monument. This is the tallest structure yet erected by the hand of man. It was commenced in 1848, completed in 1884, and dedicated on Washington s birthday, Feb. 22, 1885. The shaft rises to a night of 500 feet 5# inches. This is surmounted by an apex of 7-inch marble slabs 55 feet high, making the total hight 555 feet 5% inches, which is 597 feet 3 inches above low-water level in the Potomac. Cost $ 1,187,710.31. 60 A CENTURY S PROGRESS. 61 Following the first Atlantic cable, soon came a sec ond almost as a matter of course ; and following the Central Pacific Railroad, a southern line has been opened, and a northern line has more recently been completed. And what results are expected to flow from these mighty enterprises ? The Scientific Amer ican of Oct. 6, 1866, says : " To exaggerate the importance of this transcontinental high way is almost impossible. To a certain extent it will change the relative positions of this country, Europe, and Asia. . . . With the completion of the Pacific Railroad, instead of receiving our goods from India, China, and Japan, and the isles of the sea, by way of London and Liverpool, we shall bring them direct by way of the Sandwich Islands and the railroad, and become the carriers, to a great extent, for Europe. But this is but a portion of the advantage of this work. Our Western mountains are almost literally mountains of gold and silver. In them the Arabian fable of Aladdin is realized. . . . Let the road be completed, and the comforts as well as the necessaries furnished by Asia, the manufactures of Europe, and the productions of the States, can be brought by the iron horse almost to the miner s door ; and in the production and possession of the precious metals, the blood of commerce, we shall be the richest nation on the globe. But the substantial wealth created by the improvement of the soil and the development of the resources of the country, is a still more im portant element in the result of this vast work." Thus, w r ith the idea of becoming the carriers of the world, the highway of the nations, and the rich est power on the globe, the American heart swells with pride, and mounts up with aspirations to which there is no limit. And the extent to which we have come up is fur ther shown by the influence which we are exerting on other nations. Speaking of America, Mr. Town- send, in the work above cited, p. 462, says : " Out of her discovery grew the European reformation in re- BartTioldi s Statue of Uberty Enlightening the World. Erected on Bedloe Island in New York harbor. This monument is over 300 feet high. The statue alone, from the heel to the top of the head, measures 111 feet. The torch is to be lighted with an electric light. This tower Is 50 feet higher than the celebrated Colossus of Rhodes, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It is the largest statue erer erected. A CENTURY S PROGRESS. 63 Bridge. The total length of this imequaled structure is 5,989 feet; width, 85 feet; length of river span, 1,595 feet; the hight in the center, above high water mark, is 135 feet; the four large cables are each com posed of 6.300 parallel wires, and are 15)^ inches hi diameter; the tow ers are 277 feef in hight; and the cost of the whole structure was thirteen millions of dollars. 64 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. ligion; out of our Revolutionary war grew the revolutionary period of Europe. And out of our rapid development among great States and happy peoples, has come an immigration more wonderful than that which invaded Europe from Asia in the lat ter centuries of the Roman empire. When we raised our flag on the Atlantic, Europe sent her contributions ; it appeared on the Pacific, and all Orientalism felt the signal. They are coming in two endless fleets, eastward and westward, and the highway is swung between the oceans for them to tread upon. We have lightened Ireland of half of her weight, and Germany is coming by the village-load every day. England herself is sending the best of her workingmen now (1869), and in such numbers as to dismay her Jack Bunsbys. What is to be the limit of this mighty immigration? " J. P. Thompson ( United States as a Nation, p. 180) says: "History gives examples of the migration of tribes and peoples for the occupation of new territories by settlement or conquest ; but there is no precedent for a nation receiving into its bosom millions of foreigners as equal sharers in its political rights and powers. With a magnanimity almost reckless, the United States has done this and has survived. Immigration first assumed pro portions worthy of note in the decade from 1830 to 1840, when it reached the figure of 599,000. In the decade from 1840 to 1850, it increased to 1,713,000; and the report of the Bureau of Statis tics for 1874, gives for the ten calendar years from Jan. 1, 1864, to Dec. 31, 1873, inclusive, a net immigration of 3,287, 994. Com pare these figures with the fact that the purchase of Louisiana, over a million square miles, brought with it scarcely twenty thousand white inhabitants, and the nearly a million square miles acquired through Texas and the Mexican cessions, brought only some fifty thousand, and it will be seen how much more formid able has been the problem of immigration than that of ter ritory." The American Traveler, published in Boston, Mass., in its issue of Feb. 24, 1883, says : " The growth of immigration is one of the most striking facts of the period. In 1881 the total arrivals were 720,000, and in Fulton s First Steamboat, 1807. The "Sound" Steamer "Pilgrim," 1885. Said to be the most elegantly furnished steamer in the world. 5 66 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. 1882 they rose to 735,000. These figures are impressive. They foreshadow an addition to our population, by immigration alone, if this rate is maintained, of seven million persons in the next ten years," This would be more than twice the entire popula tion of the country at the beginning of our independ ence. It is estimated that last year s immigrants brought with them a cash capital of $62,470,000 ; and if each one is worth, as a producing machine, as is claimed from careful estimates, $1,000, Europe has added to our capital stock, the past two years, the handsome sum of $1,455,000,000. Speaking of our influence and standing in the Pacific, Mr. Townsend, p. 608, says : "In the Pacific ocean, these four powers [England, France, Holland, and Russia] are squarely met by the United States, which, without possessions or the wish for them, has paramount influence in Japan, the favor of China, the friendly countenance of Russia, and good feeling with all the great English colonies planted there. The United States is the only power on the Pa cific which has not been guilty of intrigue, of double-dealing, of envy, and of bitterness, and it has taken the front rank in influ ence without awakening the dislike of any of its competitors, possibly excepting those English who are never magnanimous." And Hon. Wm. H. Seward, on his return from his celebrated trip around the world, said, " Americans are now the fashion all over the world." With one more extract we close the testimony on this point. . In the New York Independent of July 7, 1870, Hon. Schuyler Colfax, then Vice-President of the United States, glancing briefly at the past his tory of this country, said : "Wonderful, indeed, has been that history. Springing into life from under the heel of tyranny, its progress has been onward, with the firm step of a conqueror. From the rugged clime of 68 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. New England, from the banks of the Chesapeake, from the Sa vannahs of Carolina and Georgia, the descendants of the Puritans, the Cavalier, and the Huguenot, swept over the towering Al- leghanies, but a century ago the barrier between civilization on the one side and almost unbroken barbarism on the other ; and the banners of the Republic waved from flag-staff and highland, through the broad valleys of the Ohio, the Mississippi, and the Missouri. Nor stopped its progress there. Thence onward poured the tide of American civilization and progress, over the vast regions of the Western plains ; and from the snowy crests of the Sierras you look down on American States fronting the calm Pacific, an empire of themselves in resources and wealth, but loyal in our darkest hours to the nation whose authority they ac knowledge, and in whose glory they proudly share. "From a territorial area of less than nine hundred thousand square miles, it has expanded into over three millions and a half, fifteen times larger than that of Great Britain and France com bined, with a shore-line, including Alaska, equal to the entire circumference of the earth, and with a domain within these lines, far wider than that of the Romans in their proudest days of con quest and renown. With a river, lake, and coastwise commerce estimated at over two thousand millions of dollars per year ; with railway traffic of from four to six thousand millions per year, and the annual domestic exchanges of the country running up to nearly ten thousand millions per year ; with over two thousand millions of dollars invested in manufacturing, mechanical, and mining industry ; with over five hundred millions of acres of land in actual occupancy, valued, with their appurtenances, at over seven thousand millions of dollars, and producing annually crops valued at over three thousand millions of dollars ; with a realm which, if the density of Belgium s population were possible, would be vast enough to include all the present inhabitants of the world ; and with equal rights guaranteed to even the poorest and humblest of over forty millions of people, we can, with a manly pride akin to that which distinguished the palmiest days of Rome, claim, as the noblest title of the world, I am an American citizen. " And how long a time has it taken for this won derful transformation ? In the language of Edward A CENTURY S PROGRESS. 69 Everett, " They are but lately dead who saw the first-born of the Pilgrims ; " and Mr. Townsend (p. 21) says, " The memory of one man can swing from that time of primitive government to this when thirty-eight millions of people [he could now say fifty-five millions] living on two oceans and in two zones, are represented in Washington, and their con suls and ambassadors are in every port and metrop olis of the globe." The Mayflower, From a model in Pilgrim Hall, at Plymouth, Mass. \GRESS. --=*> =?>. CHAPTER III. POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS INFLUENCE OF THE NATION. reat instrument which our forefathers set forth as their bill of rights the Declaration of Independence contains these words : " We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal ; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights ; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of hap piness." And in Art. IV., Sec. 4, of the Consti tution of the United States, we find these words : " The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a republican form of government." A republican form of government is one in which the power rests with the people, and the whole machin ery of government is worked by representatives elected by them. This is a sufficient guarantee of civil liberty. What is said respecting religious freedom ? In Art. VI. of the Constitution, we read : u No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office of public trust under the United States." In Art. I. of Amendments of the Constitution, we read : " Con gress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." In reply to questions as to the design of the Con stitution, from a committee of a Baptist society in Virginia, George Washington wrote, Aug. 4, 1789, as follows : [71J Y2 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. u If I had the least idea of any difficulty resulting from the Con stitution adopted by the Convention of which I had the honor to be the President when it was formed, so as to endanger the rights of any religious denomination, then I never should have attached my name to that instrument. If I had any idea that the general government was so administered that the liberty of conscience was endangered, I pray you be assured that no man would be more willing than myself to revise and alter that part of it, so as to avoid all religious persecutions. You can, without doubt, re member that I have often expressed my opinion, that every man who conducts himself as a good citizen is accountable to God alone for his religious faith, and should be protected in worshiping God according to the dictates of his own conscience." In 1830, certain memorials for prohibiting the trans portation of the mails and the opening of post- offices on Sunday were referred to the Congressional Committee on Post-offices and Post-roads. The committee reported unfavorably to the prayer of the memorialists. Their report was adopted, and printed by order of the Senate of the United States, and the committee discharged from the further consider ation of the subject. Of the Constitution they say : "We look in vain to that instrument for authority to say whether the first day, or seventh day, or whether any day, has been made holy by the Almighty. "The Constitution regards the conscience of the Jew as sacred as that of the Christian, and gives no more authority to adopt a measure affecting the conscience of a solitary individual than of a whole community. That representative who would violate this principle would lose his delegated character, and forfeit the con fidence of his constituents. If Congress should declare the first day of the week holy, it would not convince the Jew nor the Sab batarian. It would dissatisfy both, and consequently convert neither. ... If a solemn act of legislation shall in one point define the law of God, or point out to the citizen one religious duty, it may with equal propriety define every part of revelation, and enforce every religious obligation, even to the forms and POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS INFLUENCE. ^3 ceremonies of worship, the endowments of the church, and the support of the clergy. "The framers of the Constitution recognized the eternal prin ciple that man s relation to his God is above human legislation, and his right of conscience inalienable. Reasoning was not nec essary to establish this truth ; we are conscious of it in our own bosoms. It is this consciousness, which, in defiance of human laws, has sustained so many martyrs in tortures and flames. They felt that their duty to God was superior to human enactments, and that man could exercise no authority over their consciences. It is an inborn principle which nothing can eradicate. " It is also a fact that counter memorials, equally respectable, oppose the interference of Congress, on the ground that it would be legislating upon a religious subject, and therefore unconstitu tional." Hon. A. H. Cragin, of New Hampshire, in a speech in the House of Representatives, said : "When our forefathers reared the magnificent structure of a free republic in this Western land, they laid its foundations broad and deep in the eternal principles of right. Its materials were all quarried from the mountain of truth ; and as it rose majestically before an astonished world, it rejoiced the hearts and hopes of mankind. Tyrants only cursed the workmen and their work manship. Its architecture was new. It had no model in Grecian or Roman history. It seemed a paragon let down from Heaven to inspire the hopes of men, and to demonstrate God s favor to the people of the New World. The builders recognized the rights of human nature as universal. Liberty, the great first right of man, they claimed for all men/ and claimed it from God him self/ Upon this foundation they erected the temple, and ded icated it to Liberty, Humanity, Justice, and Equality. Washing ton was crowned its patron saint. Liberty was then the national goddess, worshiped by all the people. They sang of liberty, they harangued for liberty, they prayed for liberty. Slavery was then hateful. It was denounced by all. The British king was con demned for foisting it upon the colonies. Southern men were foremost in entering their protest against it. It was then every where regarded as an evil, and a crime against humanity." 74: THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. Again, the Bible, and the Bible alone, is the Prot estant rule of faith ; and liberty to worship God ac cording to the dictates of one s own conscience is the standard of religious freedom in this land ; and from the quotations herewith presented, it is evident that while the government pledges to all its citizens the largest amount of civil freedom, outside of license, it has determined to lay upon the people no religious restrictions, but to guarantee to all liberty to worship God according to the Protestant principle. It is these heaven-born principles, civil and relig ious liberty, so clearly recognized, so openly ac knowledged, and so amply guaranteed, that have made this nation the attraction it has been to the people of other lands, and which have drawn them in such multitude to our shores. Townsend ("Old World and New," p. 341) says: "And what attached these people to us? In part, undoubt edly, our zone, and the natural endowments of this portion of the globe. In part, and of late years, our vindicated national char acter, and the safety of our institutions. But the magnet in Amer ica is that we are a republic a republican people ! Cursed with ar tificial government, however glittering, the people of Europe, like the sick, pine for nature with protection, for open vistas and blue sky, for independence without ceremony, for adventure in their own interest ; and here they find it ! " Thompson (" United States as a Nation," p. 29) gives this view of the religious element that entered into this organization : " In the movements in the colonies that prepared the way for the Revolution, the religious spirit was a vital and earnest ele ment. Some of the colonies were the direct offspring of religious persecution in the old country, or of the desire for a larger free dom of faith and worship ; and so jealous were they of any in terference with the rights of conscience, that their religion was POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS INFLUENCE. ?5 fitly described [by Burke in his Speech of Conciliation] as a refine ment on the principle of resistance, the dissidence of dissent, and the Protestantism of the Protestant religion. And the colonies that were founded in that spirit of commercial adventure, or for extending the realm of Great Britain, became also an asylum for religious refugees from all nations, and by the prospect of a larger and freer religious life, attracted to themselves the men of dif ferent races and beliefs who had learned to do and to suffer for their faith." On page 31, he further says : "Thus it came to pass that the religious wars and persecutions of Europe in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, were a train ing school for the political independence of the United States of America in the eighteenth century. Diverse and seemingly incon gruous as were the nationalities represented in the colonies, Dutch, French, German, Swedish, Scotch, Irish, English, they had all imbibed, either by experience or by inheritance, some thing of the spirit of personal independence, and especially of re ligious liberty. Gustavus Adolphus designed his colony of Swedes for the benefit of all oppressed Christendom/ Penn, the Quaker, established Pennsylvania as a free colony for all man kind, where the settlers should be governed by laws of their own making. The first charter of the Jerseys which were largely peopled by Quakers and Scotch and Irish Presbyterians declared that No person shall at any time, in any way, or on any pretense, be called in question, or in the least punished or hurt, for opinion in religion. And Oglethorpe s Colony of Georgia was founded to be a refuge for the distressed people of Britain, and the perse cuted Protestants of Europe; then the German Moravian settled side by side with the French Huguenot and the Scotch Presbyte rian under the motto, We toil not for ourselves, but for others. "Pere Hyacinthe, after a tour in New England, said he had re marked in every town three institutions that epitomized Amer ican society, the bank, the school, and the church. A true pict ure. And you see the intellectual and the spiritual are two to one against the material, the bank, the store-house of gains and savings, the school and the church, the distributing reservoirs of what is freely taken from the bank and given to those educating and spiritualizing forces of society. 76 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. " The Americans/ says De Tocqueville, show by their practice that they feel the high necessity of imparting morality to demo cratic communities by means of religion. ... In the United States, on the first day of every week, the trading and working life of the nation seems suspended ; all noises cease ; a deep tran quillity, say rather the solemn calm of meditation, succeeds the turmoil of the week, and the soul resumes possession and con templation of itself. Upon this day the marts of traffic are de serted ; every member of the community, accompanied by his children, goes to church, where he listens to strange language, which would seem unsuited to his ear. This last expression shows that even the philosophical acumen of De Tocqueville had failed to penetrate to the secret of religious life in America. That is no strange language to which the American banker, merchant, farmer, mechanic, listens when he goes to church on Sunday; it is the language he was accustomed in childhood to hear from his parents ; the language that perhaps he himself has used in his own family every day of the week at morning prayer ; the lessons that he inculcates to his children, of the finer pleasures which belong to virtue alone, and of the true happiness which attends it. It is not on Sunday alone, as De Tocqueville imagined, that the American steals an hour from himself, and laying aside for a while the petty passions which agitate his life and the ephemeral interests which engross it, strays at once into an ideal world, where all is great, eternal, and pure. Thousands upon thousands of the busiest men in America do this every day with undeviating regularity. This is their life, in that ideal world ; and they bring from this springs and motives to action in the world of affairs." Id., pp. 219, 220. The success of the United States in erecting at once a permanent and stable form of government has been an astonishment to other nations. Edouard Laboulaye, one of the foremost patriots and publicists of France, just after the revolution of 1848 said : " In the last sixty years we have changed eight or ten times our government and our constitution ; have passed from anarchy to despotism ; tried two or three forms of the republic and of monarchy ; exhausted proscription, the scaffold, civil and foreign POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS INFLUENCE. ^ war ; and after so many attempts, and attempts paid with the fortune and the blood of France, we are hardly more advanced than at the outset; The constitution of 1848 took for its model the constitution of 1791, which had no life ; and to-day we are agitating the same questions that in 1789 we nattered ourselves we had resolved. How is it that the Americans have organized liberty upon a durable basis, while we, who surely are not inferior to them in civilization we who have their example before our eyes have always miscarried ? " Thompson ( United States as Nation, "p. 107) quotes the foregoing from " Etudes Morales et Politiques," p. 285, and spends a few moments considering a proper answer to this question which the Frenchman in so much astonishment asks. He makes the an swer to consist principally in the fact that the Amer icans conceived and adopted a superior constitution a constitution which has sprung from the noble principles which have given this nation its political and religious influence, as noticed in this chapter. He says : "But in this point of constitution-making, it will also be seen that the Americans, with a rare felicity, succeeded in incorporat ing the constitution of the nation, which is its life principle, with the national constitution, which gives to the national life its defin itive form and expression. They not only achieved independence, but, in the happy phrase of the French critic, they organized liberty. This success was due to training, to methods, and to men, or rather to that mysterious conjunction of men and events that make the genius of an epoch akin to inspiration. " The value and influence of this constitution is shown in the fact that " to-day a leading organ of opinion in England pronounces the Constitution of the United States the most sacred political docu ment in the world. "Id. p. 160. The growing influence of American opinions and Y8 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. ideas is still further shown in the recognition of American literature abroad. Says Thompson (p. 231), " Many of us can remember the sneer of the Edinburgh Review, Who reads an American book? The laugh is turned, now that everywhere in England one sees the railway book-stalls, and the shelves of circulating libraries, crowded with American books in ready demand ; that one can count up scores of American authors reprinted in England (in the cat alogue of a single London publisher, I lately saw twelve American names) ; that in The International Scientific Series, published at London and Leipzig, the names of Cooke, Dana, Draper, Flint, Whitney, appear side by side with Bain, Carpenter, Huxley, Lubbock, Spencer, Tyndall, Bernstein, Lisbreich, Lenckart, Steinthal, Virchow ; that every leading English review now has its department of American literature. The AtJienczum finds much to praise, and even the hypercritical Saturday Review, now and then throws us such tidbits as these : * Haw thorne is one of the most fascinating of novelists. Whittier s " Mabel Martin " is enough to make the reputation of any poet. True we have given birth to no Shakspeare nor Byron ; but with the list of contemporary English poets, from Tennyson down to Swinburne, we need not hesitate to compare our list from Bryant down to Whitman, each after his kind." The stability of our government through the changes and vicissitudes which have revolutionized if not overthrown other governments, is a further evidence of the solid political and religious basis on which its foundations are laid. On this point we POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS INFLUENCE. 79 quote again from the same volume from which the last few extracts are given, p. 148 : "Frederic the Great died ; and, twenty years after, the Prussia that he had created lay dismantled, dismembered, disgraced, at the dictation of K^poleon. Kapoleon abdicated ; and France has wandered through all forms of government, seeking rest and find ing none. Washington twice voluntarily retired from the highest posts of influence and power, the head of the army, the head of the State ; but the freedom he had won by the sword, the institu tions he had organized as president of the Federal Convention, the government he had administered as President of the Union, remained unchanged and have grown in strength and majesty through all the growing years." American missionaries have gone to all the world, and in numbers and activity hold an equal place with those of any other nation ; while the American Bi ble Society, in the extent of its operations, sending out millions of copies of the Scriptures in all the leading languages of the world, stands next to the original society of the mother country. This country has now come to be looked upon as the model, after which other governments may prof itably pattern. Under the title of " The Model Republic," Cyrus D. Foss, pastor of St. Paul s Meth odist Episcopal Church, New York, preached a ser mon, which appeared in the Methodist, in December 1867, from which the reader will be pleased to read the following extracts, which may fitly close the pres ent chapter : "Let every thoughtful American bless God that- he lives in this age of the world, and in this country on the globe ; not in the dark past, where greatness and even goodness could accomplish so little ; not in the oriental world, where everything is stiffened and is hard as cast-iron ; but now where such mighty forces are at work for the uplifting of humanity, and just here at this focal point of power. 80 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. " In no vainglorious spirit, but with a sincere desire to awaken your -gratitude to Almighty God for his astonishing mercies to us as a people, I propose this inquiry : What is the place of America in history ? God gives each nation a work to do. For that work he bestows adequate and appropriate endowments, and to it he summons the nation by a thousand trumpet calls of providence. If those calls are unheeded, if the nation is hopelessly recreant, he dashes it in pieces like a potter s vessel. Witness Assyria ; wit ness the Jewish people ; nation after nation a long procession has faded away at the blast of the breath cf his nostrils. "I maintain to-day that God has signalized this great American nation, this democratic republican nation, this Protestant Chris tian nation, above all the nations that are or ever have been upon the face of the globe, by the place and the work he has assigned it. Look at its place on the globe, and its place among the centuries. What a magnificent arena for a young nation to step forth upon and begin its march to a destiny inconceivably glorious : Suppose an angel flying over all the earth two hundred years ago, looking down upon the crowded populations of Europe and Asia, and the weak and wretched tribes of Africa, perceiving that humanity never rises to its noblest development, save in the north temper ate zone turning his flight westward across the Atlantic, there dawns upon him the vision of a new world a world unpopulated save by a few scattered and wandering tribes of aboriginal sav ages, and by thirteen sparse colonies of the hardiest and best of immigrants along the Atlantic coast. He beholds a continent marvelously beautiful with unlimited resources to be developed ; its rivers open all parts of the country, and bring all into com munication with two great oceans and with the tropic gulf. He sees a soil inexhaustibly fertile ; he sees the mountains (for an an gel s eye can search their treasures) full of gold, silver, copper, iron, and coal. He sees a country insulated by three thousand miles of ocean from all the nations, needing contiguity with none a Cosmos in itself. Would not this angel-gazer say, My God has assuredly made and endowed this peerless continent for some glorious end, The rest of the w r orld is occupied, and the most of it cursed by occupation. Here is virgin soil ; here is an arena for a new nation, which, perchance, profiting by the mistakes of the long, dark past, may, by the blessing of God, work out for itself and for humanity a better destiny ? POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS INFLUENCE. Si " Note again the place of America in the scale of the centuries. "Why was this continent hid from the eye of Europe so long ? And why, after its discovery, was it kept unsettled for a century and a quarter longer, the thought of it all that time being only a disturbing leaven in the mind of Europe ? Ah ! God would not suffer it that tyrannical ideas of government or religion should take root here. He veiled the New World from the vision of the Old, until the Old h.Jd cultivated a seed worthy to plant the New. Xo crowned despots, no hooded monks, were to nourish here. No hoary superstitions, no ancient usurpations, were to take root here. Why was the era of this nation s birth coeval with that of the development of inventive genius ? Why was it that this land was comparatively unsettled until the iron horse was ready to career across its plains, leap its rivers, dive through its mountains, and bring its most distant cities into vicinage? until Leviathan stood waiting to plough the ocean, and bring the nations into brother hood ? until the fiery steeds of heaven were being harnessed to fly with tidings in a single instant across the continent or under the ocean? Why was the beginning of our national history de layed until the doctrines of civil and religious liberty a thousand times strenuously asserted and bravely defended had emerged into prominence and power, so that the American freeman of to day stands upon the shoulders of thirty generations of heroic bat tles for the right? Why most remarkable coincidence of all why does it occur that just at the time of the vigorous infancy of this favored nation, the church of God should awake from the slumber of ages, acknowledge the universal bond of brotherhood, and begin in this age, within the lifetime of men here present, those sublime evangelizing agencies which are the chief glory of the century, and which are to bring this world to the feet of Je sus?* No candid man can ponder these thoughts without won dering what God designs for this young giant which he has so located on the surface of this globe, and on the scale of the cent uries. "The thesis I shall defend is this: God designated the United/ # We should be glad if we could sympathize with the speaker in this view. But we are not able to find iu the Scriptures any evidence that the world is all to be brought into obedience to Christianity before the sec ond coming of Christ. 6 82 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. States of America as the Model Republic and the great evangelizer of the world. The questions I have just propounded suggest a line of argument which will prove this proposition, and by proving it, devolve upon us here in this country a responsibility, the like of which has never been laid upon any nation. Let me premise two things essential to the argument. America is certainly the observed of all observers. The eyes of all nations are upon her. This free government, this experiment a * free government, as European absolutists have sneeringly termed it, fixes the gaze of the whole world. There is no nation, no tribe, civilized or semi- civilized, on the whole earth, that does not look this way, and feel that humanity has a stake in this land. This Hercules, who, when in his cradle, bearded and defeated the British Lion ; who, in his callow youth, repeated that feat on those watery plains, where, till then, the foe had ranged acknowledged lord, and who has just now, in his vigorous manhood, throttled and slain the many-headed hydra of rebellion secession, treason, and slavery this Hercules, somehow, has come to be gazed upon by all lands, and, somehow, the oppressed of every nation on the face of the earth have reached the conviction that he is their champion. "The other preliminary thought is this : In stating the mission of America, I have mentioned two things that God meant it to be a model Republic, and the great evangelizer, and these two are one. We cannot consider them separately, and draw out entirely distinct lines of proof. It is idle for any nation at this age to expect greatness without acknowledging God, and falling into the ranks as an obedient subject of his kingdom. In ancient times, the case was different ; but now Christian nations control the world, and depend upon it, brethren, the hands will never go backward on the dial. France tried to get on without a God in the time of her first revolution, but Napoleon, for reasons of State, restored the Catholic religion. His most appreciative historian, M. Thiers, gives us a deeply interesting account of this singular passage in his history. Napoleon said: "For my part, I never hear the sound of the church bell in the neighboring village with out emotion." He knew that the hearts of the people were stirred by the same deep yearnings after God which filled his own, and so he proposed to restore the worship of God to infidel France. The savans of Paris ridiculed the proposal, laughed it to scorn, declared it was weakness in him to yield to a superstition that had POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS INFLUENCE. 83 forever passed, and that he needed no such aid to government, and that he could do what he pleased. Yes/ said he, but I act only with regard to the real and sensibly-felt wants of France. Negotiations were opened with the Pope, and the Romish worship was set up, amid the enthusiasm of the nation. The historian utters this reflection : Whether true or false, sublime or ridiculous, men must have a religion. Later, and with deeper meaning, Perrier, successor to Lafayette as prime minister to Louis Philippe, said, on his death-bed : France must have religion. So I say to day concerning that better faith, which overthrows what Roman ism sets up ; which breaks the shackles Romanism binds on ; which is the only security of national permanence America must have religion. In order to be the model Republic, she must be the great evangelizer. "The two evangels of civil and religious liberty are ours. There are two great methods by which God indicates his will con cerning a nation by the providential training he bestows upon it, and by the resources he puts within its reach. Now, in the light of these two criteria, let us look at this country and see if God does not proclaim his will as plainly as though he had written it in letters of fire on the sky over every American sunset, or deeply graven it in rocky characters on the crest of every American mountain. My will is, that on this new continent, the nation I plant here shall be the model Republic and the great evangelizer of the world. I have already indicated in general outline this train of argument ; but let us now look first behind us at our his tory, and then around us at our resources, and see what are their teachings. While we do not believe in manifest destiny/ in the sense of blind fate, or of results absolutely certain without regard to national character and endeavor, we do believe that the breath of God has inspired the heart of America with a sublime idea, and that the hand of God has marvelously led her along toward its realization, and has gifted her with munifi ent resources for the completion of this great work. " Glance backward at our history, and keep in mind the ques tion what it all meant. This country was discovered by a religious navigator, sent out by a religious queen, and the ruling motive in the minds of both of them was a religious one. Isabella and Columbus both intended to give the gospel to the natives of any lands that might be discovered. America was discovered just $4: THE MAUVE L OF NATIONS. after the art of printing had begun its marvelous quickening of the human mind. Now who shall settle it ? Papists ? They found it. Spaniards ? Frenchmen ? Both wanted it. No ; God s plan will be imperiled unless colonists of a certain language, and of a certain religious faith, shall be the first settlers of the land. The settlers must have the truest religious faith there is on the earth, and must speak only that language which, more than any other language, is full of the inspirations of liberty. They come and for what ? With the noblest motives that ever inspired the bosom of an emigrant, see them land from the Mayflower upon the frozen beach, amid the storms of winter, dropping tears which freeze as they fall and yet tears of gratitude. " < What sought they thus afar? Bright jewels of the mine? The wealth of seas? the spoils of war ? They sought a faith s pure shrine. Aye, call it holy ground, The spot where first they trod ; They left unstained what there they found Freedom to worship God. " They had trouble enough from the aborigines to drive them together, and to drive them to God. They had the utmost sim plicity of manners, the utmost reverence for the Bible, and the utmost detestation of tyranny, whether in the Church or State. They had not for the love of freedom left their homes in the Old World to become slaves in the New. The God who instituted the colonies moulded their history. He kept them connected with the mother country until they were strong enough to stand alone among the nations, and then he overruled the manner of their breaking away so as to inspire them with a perpetual hatred of all oppression. Why the British Parliament should have passed the Stamp Act, and why, in repealing it, it should have re-asserted the false principles underlying it ; why it should have so long persisted in treating Englishmen here as Englishmen there would never have submitted to be treated at all, no man can explain on any other hypothesis than this : that England was judicially blinded, in order that America might be free. " And this is not merely the opinion of Americans spoken a century after. It was the opinion of British statesmen at the time. The halls of Parliament, the whole realm, rang with notes POLITIC/ AL AND RELIGIOUS INFLUENCE. 85 of warning at that hour. Lord Chatham said : The gentleman tells us that America is obstinate, America is almost in open re bellion. I rejoice that America has resisted. Three millions of people so dead to all the feelings of liberty as voluntarily to sub mit to be slaves would have been fit instruments to make slaves of the rest. This was said in Parliament ten years before the Declaration of Independence. Wesley, who is usually represented as having been the foe of our independence, and to whom his tory has at length done tardy justice, on the very first day after the reception of the news of Lexington and Concord, sat down and wrote to Lord North and the Earl of Dartmouth, each an emphatic letter : I am a High-churchman, the son of a High- churchman, brought up from my childhood in the highest notions of passive obedience and non-resistance, and yet, in spite of all my long-rooted prejudices, I cannot avoid thinking these, an op pressed people, asked for nothing more than their legal rights, and that in the most modest and inoffensive manner that the nat ure of the thing would allow. And if arms were to be resorted to, how could it happen that Great Britain should fail in the con test ? How could it be that she should not be able, after over powering the fleets and armies of the first nations of Europe [and this is an Englishman s question], immediately to discomfit the farmers and merchants of America ? There is but one explana tion : We got not the land in possession by our own sword, neither did our own arms save us ; but thy right hand and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favor unto us. God released the young giant from the swaddling- bands of colonial dependence. And why should it not be so ? Why should a country like this, the most magnificent of any country on the earth, a country in -whose hikes England might have been thrown and buried, whoso descending seas make her greatest rivers appear, in comparison, liko brooks and rivulets, whose cataracts might have drowned out her cities why should this magnificent country be shackled by the chains put on it by the selfishness of its parent ? It was not according to the will of God. He chose that here, in an independent career of unparal leled freedom to man, this country should go forth on its path of progress, and hold its place among the nations unsurpassed by any until human happiness and grandeur this side the grave should be no more. 86 THE MARVEL OP NATIONS. " The ideal of government is popular government. The divine right of kings is an exploded fancy. The best ends of govern ment can never be realized by the rule of one or of a few. God gave to Israel a king in his wrath. The rights of man, the dignity of man, the direct relation and responsibility of man to God these ideas stand forth most clearly where there is no king, no noble nor ignoble pedigree, no bar between the poorest boy in the land and the highest post of honor. Many an experiment of re publican government had failed for the lack of general intelligence and of a pure religion. "Absolutists pointed to Rome, to Sparta, to France, and sneered at the democratic idea. For the grandest and final ex periment of self-government, God reserved this peerless continent. Such a new work, politically, can be best accomplished on virgin soil, where no old castles, no effete conservatism should bind men subserviently to a blundering past where all things summon them to hold communion, not with dead men s bones, but with nature, with freedom, and with God. "A rapid glance at the resources of this country will deepen our conviction of the grandeur of its mission. We shall see that it has ample resources, material and moral, for the great work to which it is summoned. We have the heart of the continent, the north temperate zone. If you will study history, you will find that no great nation has ever existed on the earth except in that zone. There must be the hardening of the muscles and the fiber, and the quickening of the mind, which can be only where sum mer s heat gives place to winter s frost. "We have also a coast-line greater than that of any other na tion. The relation of this fact to the theme will quickly appear. Arnot counsels fearful Englishmen to turn for comfort from the newspaper to the map. He bids them notice that the coast-line of Great Britain is three times greater than that of France, and thence argues that the commercial and naval supremacy of Great Britain is forever assured. The argument is sound. Now, our coast-line is several times greater than that of any other nation. We have two oceans, the Gulf of Mexico, and the great lakes ; and rivers piercing the land bring all the country right down to the sea. The commercial and the naval greatness of America can easily be all that they need it to be for the accomplishment of those things which we believe God has assigned for this nation to POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS INFLUENCE. 87 accomplish in the world. Our agricultural and mineral resources, and the rapidly increasing population which is developing them, must have a few words. " Sir Morton Peto, the great railroad manager, whose travels in our own country excited so much attention in financial circles, went back to his own country amazed at our resources, and wrote a book which you ought to read. It would astound you by its revelations of the greatness of our country, which we ourselves do not begin to understand. Let me give you two or three facts concerning our resources. In 1850 the ten Western States produced 46,000,000, bushels of wheat; in 1860, 102,000,000. The mines of gold and silver are nearly all on public lands, and Oil Wells and Plant of Pumps and Tanks. Governor Walker says : They are the property of the Federal Government, and their intrinsic value exceeds our public debt. It wants only the Pacific railroad to make them yield $150,000,- 000 annually. In Missouri there is an iron mountain 228 feet high, covering an area of 500 acres, and containing 230,000,000 tons of pure ore, and every foot of descent below the surface will give 3,000,000 tons. The upper s.eam of the coal-field about Pittsburg contains over 53 thousand millions tons of coal that is 2,000 tons for every dollar of our national debt ; and the Key stone State, which in other ways contributed so nobly to the na tional cause, came forward in the hour of our sorest need, and poured into our finances an element of marvelous quickening and 88 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. strength oil, which lubricated the machinery of the government, and helped to illuminate the night of our trial. In 1862, 42,000,- 000 gallons of petroleum were exported, and its benefits extended far beyond its cash value. It employed labor and rewarded capital ; it stimulated internal industry and external commerce. But all our people are employed ; how, then, can these immense resources ever be developed? By the rapidly multiplying millions. In 1800, there were in Indiana 4,875 inhabitants ; in 1860, 1,350,- 428. In 1849, in Minnesota, 4,000 inhabitants; in 1864, 350,000. In 1850, there were 1,900 acres of land ploughed in Minnesota; in 1860, 433,276 acres. "Now, what is the bearing of these startling facts upon our argument ? A great nation must be materially great. It must have room to stand on, and a field to work in, for only work can make a man or nation great. These amazing resources are to furnish us the machinery for a splendid career of civil, moral, and religious progress." CHAPTER IV. IMPORTANT PROBABILITIES CONSIDERED. j||jl|UR country s progress, even under so brief a t|MI survey as that contained in the preceding chap- wy* ters, must strike every one as a marvel of na tional growth. And when we take into considera tion the convictions expressed by some of^the em inent authors from whom we have quoted, that the hand of Providence has been more conspicuous in the development of this nation than in that of any other, it is calculated to intensify greatly our interest in the subject, and hasten us on to an investigation of the query whether this nation is not, as other na tions have been, mentio ned in that prophetic word which has outlined the great epochs of human his tory, pointed out the nations, and in some instances the individuals, which were to act a part therein, and described the movements they would make. Cer tainly if the hand of Providence has been so con spicuously present in our history, as some of the writers already referred to affirm, we could hardly do less than look for some mention of this government in that Book which makes it a special purpose to record the workings of that Providence among man kind. What, then, are the probabilities in the mat ter ? On what conditions might we expect to find mention of it ? If the same conditions exist here, as those upon which other nations have been made sub jects of prophecy, we should expect to find mention of this also. On what conditions, then, have other [89] 90 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. nations found a place on the prophetic record ? On these conditions : first, if they have acted any pro minent part in the world s history ; and secondly, and above all, if they have had jurisdiction over the people of God, or have maintained such relations with them that the history of the latter could not be written without mention of the former. In the prophecies and records of the Bible compared with the records of secular history, we find data from which to deduce the rule here given respecting the pro phetic mention of earthly governments ; and as it is a very important one, the reader will permit us to state it again : Whenever the relation of God s peo ple to any nation are such that a true history of the former, which is the object of all revelation, could not be given without a notice of the latter, such na tion is mentioned in prophecy. And all these conditions are certainly fulfilled in our government. As regards the first, no nation has ever attracted more attention, excited more profound wonder, or given promise of greater eminence or in fluence among the nations of the earth ; and as touching the second, certainly here, if anywhere on the globe, are to be found a strong array of Chris tians, such as are the salt of the earth and the light of the world, whose history could not be written without mention of that government under which they live and enjoy their liberty. With these probabilities in favor of the proposi tion that this government should be a subject of prophecy, let us now take a brief survey of those symbols found in the word of God which represent earthly governments. These are found chiefly, if not entirely, in the books of Daniel and the Revelation. IMP GET ANT PROBABILITIES CONSIDERED. 91 In Daniel 2, a symbol is introduced in the form of a great image, consisting of four parts, gold, silver, brass, and iron, which is finally dashed to atoms, and a great mountain, taking its place, fills the whole earth, and remains forever. In Daniel 7, the prophet records a vision in which he was shown a lion, a bear, a leopard, and a great and terrible nondescript beast, which after passing through a new and re markable phase, is cast into a lake of fire, and utterly perishes. In Daniel 8, mention is made of a ram, a he-goat, and a horn little at first, but waxing ex ceeding great, which is finally broken without hand. Verse 25. In Revelation 9, we have a description of locusts like unto horses. In Revelation 12, we have a great red dragon. In Revelation 13, a blasphe mous leopard beast is brought to view, and a beast with two horns like a lamb. In Revelation 17, John gives us a graphic pen-picture of a scarlet-colored beast, upon which a woman sits holding in her hand a golden cup, full of filthiness and abomination. What governments and what powers are repre sented by all these ? Do any of them symbolize our own ? Some of them certainly represent earthly kingdoms, for so the prophecies themselves expressly inform us ; and in the application of nearly all of them there is quite a uniform agreement among ex positors. The four parts of the great image of Dan iel 2 represent four kingdoms. They symbolize re spectively, Babylon, or Chaldea, Medo-Persia, Grecia, and Rome. The lion of the seventh chapter also re presents Babylon ; the bear, Medo-Persia ; the leop ard, Grecia ; and the great and terrible beast, Rome. The horn with human eyes and mouth, which appears in the second phase of this beast, represents the pa- 09 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. pacy, and covers its history down to the time when it was temporarily overthrown by the French in 1798. In Daniel 8, likewise, the ram represents Medo-Per- sia ; the he-goat, Grecia ; and the little horn, Rome. All these have a very clear and definite application to the governments named. None of them thus far can have any reference to the United States. The symbols brought to view in Revelation 9, all commentators concur in applying to the Saracens and Turks. The dragon of Revelation 12 is the ac knowledged symbol of Pagan Rome. The leopard beast of the Revelation 13 can be shown to be identical with the eleventh horn of the fourth beast of Daniel 7, and hence to symbolize the papacy. The scarlet beast and woman of Revelation 17 as evi dently apply also to Rome under papal rule, the symbols having especial reference to the distinction between the civil power and the ecclesiastical, the one being represented by the beast, the other by the woman seated thereon. There is one symbol left, last but not least, the youngest of the family, that vigorous and sprightly fellow with two horns like a lamb, brought to view in Revelation 13 : 11-17 what nation does that sym bolize ? On this there is more difference of opinion. Let us, therefore, before seeking for an application, look at the time and territory covered by those al ready examined. Babylon and Medo-Persia covered all the civilized portion of Asia, in ancient times. Greece covered Eastern Europe, including Russia. Rome, with the ten kingdoms into which it was di vided before the end of the fifth century A. D., as rep resented by the ten toes of the image, the ten horns of the fourth beast of Daniel 7, the ten horns of the IMPORTANT PROBABILITIES CONSIDERED. 93 dragon of Revelation 12, and the ten horns of the leopard beast of Revelation 13, covered all Western Europe. In other words, all the civilized portions of the eastern hemisphere from the earliest times to the present are absorbed by the symbols already ex amined, respecting the application of which there is scarcely any room for doubt. But there is a mighty nation in this western hem isphere, worthy, as we have seen, of being mentioned in prophecy, which is not yet brought in ; and there is one symbol remaining, the application of which has not yet been made. All the symbols but one are ap plied, and all the available portions of the earth, with the exception of our own government, are covered by the nations which these symbols represent. Of all the symbols mentioned, one alone the two- horned beast of Revelation 13 is left ; and of all the countries of the earth respecting which any reason exists why they should be mentioned in the proph ecy, one alone our own government remains. Do the two-horned beast and the United States belong together? If they do, then all the symbols find an application, and all the ground is covered. If they do not, it follows, first, that the United States is not represented in prophecy by any of the national sym bols, as, for the reasons already stated, we should expect it would be ; and secondly, that the symbol of the two-horned beast of Revelation 13 : 11-17 finds no government to which it can apply. But the first of these suppositions is not probable ; and the second is not possible. CHAPTER V. A CHAIN OF PROPHECY. 4ET us now enter upon a more particular exami nation of the second symbol of Revelation 13, with a view to determining its application with greater certainty. What is said respecting this sym bol the beast with two horns like a lamb is not an isolated and independent prophecy, but is connected with what- precedes ; and the symbol itself is but one of a series. It is proper, therefore, to examine briefly the preceding symbols, since if we are able to make a satisfactory application of them, it will guide us in the interpretation of this. The line of prophecy of which this forms a part commences with Revelation 12. The book of the Revelation is evidently not merely one consecutive prophecy of events to transpire from the beginning to the close of the gospel dispensation, but is com posed of a series of such consecutive prophecies, each line taking up its own class of events, and trac ing them through from the days of the prophet to the end of time ; and when one line of prophecy is com pleted, another is introduced into the narrative, which in order of time goes back into the past, perhaps to the beginning, and follows its own series of events down to the end. That such a new series of prophetic events is introduced in Revelation 12, is evident ; since in the preceding chapter a line of prophecy comes to its completion in the great day of God s wrath, the judgment of the dead, and the eternal [94] A CHAIN OF PROPHECY. 95 reward of those that fear God and revere his name. No line of prophecy can go further ; and any events to transpire in probation, subsequently mentioned, must of course belong to a new series. Commencing, then, with chapter 12, how far does this line of prophecy extend ? The first symbol in troduced which can be applied to an earthly govern ment, is the great red dragon. The second is the beast of Revelation 13, which, having the body of a leopard, may for brevity s sake, be called the leopard beast. To this beast the dragon gives his seat, power, and great authority. This beast, then, is con nected with the dragon, and belongs to this line of prophecy. The third symbol is the two-horned beast of Revelation 13. This beast exercises certain power in the presence of the leopard beast, and causes the earth and them that dwell therein to worship him. This beast, therefore, is connected with the leopard beast, and hence belongs to the same line of proph ecy. The conclusion of the prophecy is not reached in chapter 13, and hence this line of events does not end with that chapter, but must be looked for farther on in the record. Going forward into chapter 14, we find a company brought to view who are redeemed from among men (which expression can mean noth ing else than translation from among the living at the second coming of Christ) ; and they sing a song before the throne which none but themselves can learn. In chapter 15, we have a company presented before us who have gotten the victory over the beast, his image, the mark, and the number of his name, the very objects brought to view in the concluding por tion of Revelation 13. This company also sing a song, even the song of Moses and the Lamb ; and they 96 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. sing it while standing upon the sea of glass, as stated in verse 2. Turning to chapter 4 : 6, we learn that this sea of glass is "before the throne." The con clusion, therefore, follows that those who sing before the throne, in chapter 14, are identical with those who sing on the sea of glass (before the throne), in chapter 15, inasmuch as they stand in the same place, and the song they both sing is the first glad song of actual redemption. But the declarations found in chapter 15 show that the company introduced in the opening of chapter 14 have been in direct conflict with the powers brought to view in the closing verses of chapter 13, and have gained the victory over them. Being thus connected with these powers, they form a part of the same line of prophecy. But here this line of prophecy must end ; for this company is spoken of as redeemed, and no line of prophecy, as already noticed, can go beyond the eternal state. The line of prophecy in which the two-horned beast stands, is, therefore, one which is very clearly defined ; it commences with chapter 12, and ends with verse 5 of chapter 14. The student of proph ecy finds it one of vast importance ; the humble child of God, one of transcendent interest. It begins with the Church, and ends with the Church, the Church, at first in humility, trial, and distress ; at last, in victory, exaltation, and glory. This is the one ob ject which ever appears the same in all the scenes here described, and whose history is the leading theme of the prophecy, from first to last. Tram pled under the feet of the three colossal persecuting powers here brought to view, the followers of Christ for long ages bow their heads to the pitiless storm of oppression and persecution ; but the end repays A CHAIN OF PROPHECY. 97 them all ; for John beholds them at last, the storms all over, their conflicts all ended, waving palm- branches of victory, and striking on harps celestial a song of everlasting triumph within the precincts of the heavenly land. Having found the line of prophecy of which the symbol before us forms a part thus definitely located and defined, we now enter upon its examination. The first inquiry is, What power is designated by the great red dragon of chapter 12 ? The chapter first speaks of a woman clothed with the sun, the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars. A woman is the symbol of the Church, a lewd woman representing a corrupt or apostate Church, as in Eze. 23 : 2-4, etc., which refers to the Jewish Church in a state of backsliding, and in Rev. IT : 3-6, 15, 18, which refers to the apostate Romish Church ; and a virtuous woman representing the true Church, as in the verse under consideration. At what period in her history could the Church of Christ be properly represented as here described ? Ans. At the opening of the gospel dispensation, and at no other time ; for then the glory of this dispensation, like the light of the sun, had just risen upon her ; the former or Mosaic dispensation, which, like the moon, hone with a borrowed light, had just passed, and lay aeath her feet ; and twelve inspired apostles, like crown of twelve stars, graced the first organization of the gospel Church. To this period these repre sentations can apply, but to no other. The prophet antedates this period a little by referring to the time when the Church, with long expectation, was await ing the advent into this world of the glorious Re deemer, and represents the new dispensation, as al- 7 98 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. ready opened, and the Christian Church organized, as this was the condition in which Christ was to leave it at the conclusion of his brief earthly ministry. A man child, here represented as the offspring of this woman, appears upon the scene. Verse 5. This child was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, and was caught up to God and his throne. These decla rations are true of our Lord Jesus Christ, but of no one else. See Ps. 2:7-9; Eph. 1 : 20, 21 ; Heb. 8:1; Rev. 3 : 21. There is therefore no mistaking the time when, nor the place where, the opening of this proph ecy is located. We mention these facts for the pur pose of identifying the power symbolized by the dragon, which is the point we are seeking to ascer tain ; for the dragon stood before the woman to de vour her child as soon as it should be born. Who attempted the destruction of our Lord when he appeared as a babe in Bethlehem ? Herod. And who was Herod ? A Roman governor. Rome, which then ruled over all the earth (Luke 2 : 1), was the re sponsible party in this transaction. Rome was the only power which at this time could be symbolized in prophecy, as its dominion was universal. It is not without good reason, therefore, that Pagan Rome is considered among Protestant commentators to be the power indicated by the great red dragon. And it may be a fact worth mentioning that during the sec ond, third, fourth, and fifth centuries of the Christian era, next to the eagle, the dragon was the principal standard of the Roman legions ; and that dragon was painted red. There is but one objection we need pause to an swer before passing to the next symbol. Is not the dragon plainly called the Devil and Satan, in verse A CHAIN OF PROPHECY. 99 9 ? How, then, can the term " dragon " be applied to Pagan Rome ? That it is primarily applied to the Devil, there seems to be no doubt ; but that it should be applied also to some of his chief agents, would seem to be appropriate and unobjectionable. Now Rome, being at this time pagan, and the supreme empire of the world, was the great and sole agent in the hands of the Devil for carrying out his purposes, so far as they pertained to national affairs. Hence the use of that symbol to designate, and the appli cation of that term to describe, the Roman power. Having identified the power symbolized by the dragon, it is not necessary here to enter into other particulars concerning it, the object being to hasten on to the second symbol of chapter 13. We there fore pass on to an examination of the next symbol, which is the leopard beast of the first part of chapter 13. To this beast the dragon gives his seat, his power, and great authority. Verse 2. It would be sufficient on this point simply to show to what power the dragon, Pagan Rome, transferred its seat and gave its power. The seat of any government is cer tainly its capital city. The city of Rome was the dragon s seat. But in A. D. 330 Constantine transferred the seat of empire from Rome to Constantinople ; and Rome was given up to what ? to decay, desola tion, and ruin ? No ; but to a power which would render it far more celebrated than it had ever before been, not as the seat of pagan emperors, but as the city of St. Peter s pretended successors, the seat of a spiritual kingdom which was not only to become more powerful than any secular government, but which, through the magic of its fatal sorcery, was to exercise dominion over the kings of the earth. Thus 100 THE MARVEL OF NATION S. was Rome the seat of the dragon given to the pa pacy by the transfer of the throne of the emperors to Constantinople by Constantine in A. D. 330 ; and the decree of Justinian, issued in 533, and carried into effect in 538, constituting the pope the head of all the churches and the corrector of heretics, was the investing of the papacy with that power and author ity which the prophet foresaw. See Croly on the Apocalypse, pp. 114, 115. It is very evident, therefore, that this leopard beast is a symbol of the papacy. But there are other considerations which prove this. This beast has the body of a leopard, the mouth of a lion, and the feet of a bear. In Daniel s vision of chapter 7, he was shown a lion, bear, and leopard ; and the fact that this beast has the features of each of these, shows it to be some power which succeeded the kingdoms symbol ized by those three beasts of Daniel s prophecy, and one which retained some of the characteristics of them all ; and that was Rome. But this is not the first, or pagan form of the Roman government ; for that is represented by the dragon ; and this is the form which next succeeded that, which was the papal. But what most clearly shows that this beast repre sents the papacy, is its identity with the little horn of the fourth beast of Daniel 7, which all Protestants agree in applying to the papal power. 1. Their Chronology. (1.) After the great and terrible beast of Daniel Y, which represents Rome in its first, or pagan form, is fully developed, even to the existence of the ten horns, or the division of the Roman empire into ten parts, the little horn arises. Verse 24. (2.) This leopard beast likewise succeeds the dragon, which also represents Rome in its pagan A CHAIN OF PROPHESY.^ form. These powers the little horn and the leop ard beast appear, therefore, upon the stage of action at the same time ; i. e., next after the decadal division of the Roman empire, as shown by the ten horns of Daniel s fourth beast, and after the same division into ten parts, as symbolized by the ten horns of the dragon. 2. Their Location. (1.) The little horn plucked up three horns to make way for itself. The last of these, the Gothic horn, was plucked up when the Goths were driven from Rome in 538, and the city was left in the hands of the little horn, which has ever since held it as the seat of its power. (2.) To the leopard beast, also, the dragon gave its seat, the city of Rome. They therefore occupy the same location. 3. TJieir Character. (1.) The little horn is a blas phemous power ; for it speaks great words against the Most High. Dan. 7 : 25. (2.) The leopard beast is also a blasphemous power ; for it bears upon its head the name of blasphemy ; it has a mouth speak ing great things and blasphemies ; and he opens his mouth in blasphemy against God to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. Rev. 13 : 1, 5, 6. Therefore, they both maintain exactly the same character. 4. Their Work. (1.) The little horn, by a long and heartless course of oppression against the saints of the Most High, wears them out ; and they are given into his hand. Dan. 7 : 25. He makes war against them, and prevails. Verse 21. (2.) The leopard beast also makes war upon the saints, and overcomes them. Rev. 13 : 7. This shows that they do the same work, and against the same class of people. 5. The Time of Their Continuance. (1.) Power was 10$. THE; MARVEL OF NATIONS. given to the little horn to continue a " time and times and the dividing of time." Dan. 7 : 25. A time in Scripture phraseology is one year. Dan. 4 : 25. (The " seven times " of Nebuchadnezzar s hu miliation, Josephus informs us, were seven years^] Times, that is two times, the least that can be ex pressed by the plural, would be two years more ; and the dividing of time, or half a time, half a year more, making in all three and a half years. (2.) To the leopard beast, power was also given to continue forty- two months. There being twelve months to the year, this period gives us again just three and a half years. And this being prophetic time, a day for a year (Num. 14 : 34 ; Eze. 4 : 6), and there being, ac cording to Scripture reckoning, thirty days to a month, or three hundred and sixty days to the or dinary Bible year (Gen. 7 : 11, 24 ; 8 : 4), we have in each case twelve hundred and sixty years for the continuance of the little horn and the leopard beast. Thus we see that they continue the same length of time. 6. Their Overthrow. (1.) At the end of the " time, times, and a half," the dominion of the little horn was to be taken away. Dan. 7 : 26. (2.) At the end of the forty-two months, the same length of time, the leopard beast was also to be slain, politically, with the sword, and go into captivity. Rev. 13 : 3, 10. These are points which prove not merely similar ity, but identity. For whenever two symbols, as in this instance, represent powers that, 1. Come upon the stage of action at the same time, 2. Occupy the same territory, 3. Maintain the same character. A CHAIN OF PROPHECY. 103 4. Do the same work, 5. Continue the same length of time, and 6. Meet the same fate Those t^vo symbols must represent one and the same power. And in all these particulars there is, as we have seen, the most exact coincidence between the little horn of the fourth beast of Daniel 7 and the leopard beast of Revelation 13 ; and all are fulfilled by one power ; and that is the papacy. For 1. The papacy succeeded to the pagan form of the Roman empire ; 2. It has, ever since it was first established, occupied the seat of the dragon, the city of Rome, building for itself such a sanctuary St. Peter s as the world no where else beholds ; 3. It is a blasphemous power, speaking the most presumptuous words it is possible for mortal lips to utter against the Most High ; 4. It has worn out the saints, the "Religious Encyclopedia" estimating that the lives of fifty millions of Christians have been quenched in blood by its merciless imple ments of torture ; 5. It has continued a " time, times, and a half," or " forty-two months," or twelve hundred and sixty years. Commencing in 538, when the decree of Justinian in behalf of papal supremacy was first made effectual by the overthrow of the Goths, the papacy enjoyed a period of uninterrupted supremacy for just twelve hundred and sixty years, to 1798 ; and 6. Then its power was temporarily over thrown, and its influence permanently crippled, when the French, under Berthier, entered Rome in triumph, and the pope was taken prisoner, and died in exile. Can any one doubt that the papacy is the power in question, and that the interpretation of this sym bol brings us down within eighty-seven years of our 104 TEE MAUVE L OF NATIONS. own time ? We regard the exposition of the proph ecy thus far as clear beyond the possibility of refuta tion ; and if this is so, our future field of inquiry lies within a very narrow compass, as we shall presently see. CHAPTER VI. LOCATION OF THE GOVERNMENT REPRESENTED BY THE SECOND SYMBOL OF REVELATION 13. 1JIJOLLOWING the leopard, or papal beast of Rev- |p| elation 13 in consecutive order, comes another J |\\v> *tF" symbol whose appearance the prophet deline ates, and whose work he describes, in the following language : VERSE 11. And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth ; and lie had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. 12. And lie 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 come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, 14, and deceivetl: 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 few verses, with an allusion to the same power under the name of " the false prophet " in Rev. 16 : 13 and 19 : 20, furnish all the testimony we have respecting the two-horned beast ; but brief as it is, it gives sufficient data for a very certain appli- [105] 106 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. cation of the symbol in question. As an example of the world of meaning- which prophecy can condense into a few words, a portion of the first verse of the foregoing quotation may be instanced. Here, within a compass of nineteen words, only three of which are words of more than one syllable, six grand points are made, which, taken together, are sufficient to deter mine accurately the application of this symbol. The prophet says, first, that it is "another beast;" sec ondly, that when his attention was turned to it, it was " coming up;" thirdly, that it came up "out of the earth ;" fourthly, that it had " two horns ;" fifthly, that these horns were like those of " a lamb ; " and sixthly, this symbol is introduced after the preceding beast went into captivity. The two-horned beast, then, is " another beast," in addition to, and different from, the papal beast which the prophet hud just had under consideration ; that is, it symbolizes a power separate and distinct from that which is denoted by the preceding beast. This which John calls " another beast " is certainly no part of the first beast ; and the power symbolized by it is likewise no part of that which is intended by that beast. This is fatal to the claim of those, who, to avoid the application of this symbol to our own government, say that it denotes some phase of the papacy ; for in that case it would be a part of the preceding or leopard beast. To avoid this difficulty, it is claimed that the two- horned beast represents the religious or ecclesiastical, and the leopard beast the civil, power of Rome under papal rule, and that these symbols correspond to the beast and woman in Rev. 17, the one representing the civil power, the other the ecclesiastical. But this WHERE LOCATED? 107 claim also falls to the ground just as soon as it is shown that the leopard beast represents the religious as well as the civil element of that power. And nothing is easier than to show this. Take the first symbol, the dragon. What does it represent ? Rome. But this is not enough ; for Rome has presented two great phases to the world, and the inquirer wants to know which one is intended by this" symbol. The answer then is, Pagan Rome ; but just as soon as we add " pagan," we introduce a religious element ; for paganism is one of the might iest systems of false religion ever devised by the archenemy of truth. It was, then, the religious ele ment in the empire that determined what symbol should be used to represent it ; and the dragon rep resented Rome while under the control of a partic ular form of religion. But the time comes when another symbol is intro duced upon the scene the leopard beast arises out of the sea. What power is symbolized by this ? The answer is still, Rome. But the dragon symbol ized Rome, and why not let that symbol continue to represent it ? Whoever attempts to answer this question must say that it is because a change had taken place in the power. What change ? Two kinds of changes are conspicuous in the history of Rome, changes in the form of government, and a change in religion. But this cannot denote any change in the form of government ; for the seven different forms of government that Rome consecu tively assumed are represented by the seven heads of the dragon and the seven heads of the leopard beast. The religious change alone must therefore be denoted by this change of symbols. Paganism and 108 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. Christianity coalesced, and the mongrel production was the papacy ; and this new religion, and this alone, made a change in the symbol necessary. Every candid mind must assent to this ; and this assent is an admission of the utter absurdity of trying to limit this symbol to the civil power alone. So far from its representing the civil power alone, it is to the ecclesi astical clement that it owes its very existence. The ecclesiastical is therefore the essential element, and without it the symbol could not exist. That the leopard beast represents ecclesiastical as well as civil power is further shown in the arguments already presented to prove that this beast is identical with the little horn of the fourth beast of Daniel 7, which symbolizes the papacy in all its component parts and through all its history. It is the leopard beast alone that is identical with this little horn, not the leopard beast and the tw r o-horned beast taken together. Again, Pagan Rome gave its seat to the papacy. The dragon gave his seat to the leopard beast. If it takes both the leopard beast and the two-horned beast to constitute the papacy, the prophet should have said that the dragon gave his seat and power to these two beasts combined. The fact that this transfer was to the leopard beast alone, is proof pos itive that that beast alone symbolizes the papacy in its entirety. When, therefore, John calls the two-horned beast "another beast," it is certain that he does not mean any particular phase, or any part, of the papal power. It is claimed by others that the two-horned beast represents England ; by still others, France ; and by WHERE LOCATED? 109 some, Russia, etc. The first, among- many other fatal objections to all these applications, is, that the territory occupied by all these powers is already ap propriated by preceding symbols. The prophecy does not read that the lion, the bear, or the leopard re-appeared under a new phase ; or that one of the ten horns of the leopard beast became another beast. If the two-horned beast symbolized any of these, it would be a part of other beasts instead of " another beast," separate and distinct as it must be from all the rest. It is a law of symbols that each one oc cupies territory peculiarly its own, that is, the ter ritory which constituted the original government was no part of that which had been occupied by the previous powers. Thus, Babylon had its territory ; and Medo-Persia rose on the territory not occupied by Babylon ; and Medo-Persia and Babylon together covered all that portion of Asia known to ancient civilization. The Grecian, or Macedonian, kingdom arose to the west of them, occupying all Eastern Europe, so far as it was then known to the ancients. Rome rose still to the west, in territory unoccupied by Grecia. Rome was divided into ten kingdoms ; but though Rome conquered the world, we look for these ten kingdoms only in that territory which had never been included in other kingdoms. We look not to Eastern Europe, for that was included in the dominion of the third beast ; nor to Asia, for that constituted the empires of the first and second beasts ; but to Western Europe, which territory was unoccu pied until taken by Rome and its divisions. The ten kingdoms which rose out of the old Ro man empire are enumerated as follows by Machia- vel, indorsed by Bishop Newton, Faber, and Dr. HO THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. Hales: 1. The Huns; 2. The Ostrogoths; 3. The Visigoths ; 4. The Franks ; 5. The Vandals ; 6. The Suevi ; 7. The Burgundians ; 8. The Heruli ; 9. The Anglo-Saxons ; and 10. The Lombards. These king doms have since been known, says Scott, as the " ten kingdoms of the Western empire," and they are dis tinguishable at the present day, some of them even by their modern names ; as, Hungary from the Huns, Lombardy from the Lombards, France from the Franks, and England from the Anglo-Saxons. These ten kingdoms being denoted by the ten horns of the leopard beast, it is evident that all the territory in cluded in these ten kingdoms is to be considered as covered by that symbol. England is one of these ten kingdoms ; France is another. If, therefore, we say that either of these is the one represented by the two-horned beast, we make one of the horns of the leopard beast constitute the two-horned beast. But this the prophecy forbids ; for while John sees the leopard beast fully developed, with his horns all com plete and distinct, he beholds the two-horned beast coming up, and calls it " another beast." We are therefore to look for the government which this beast symbolizes in some country outside the territory oc cupied by the four beasts and the ten horns already referred to. But these, as we have seen, cover all the available portions of the eastern hemisphere. Another 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 (Rev. 13 : 1) denotes peoples, na tions, and multitudes, as John expressly affirms that it does in Rev. 17: 15, his use of the word "earth" WHERE LOCATED? Ill here would suggest, by contrast, a new and previ ously-unoccupied territory. Being thus excluded from eastern continents and impressed with the idea of looking to territory not previously known to civilization, we turn of neces sity to the western hemisphere. And this is in full harmony with the ideas already quoted, and more which might be presented, that the progress of em pire is with the sun around the earth from east to west. Commencing in Asia, the cradle of the race, it would end on this continent, which completes the circuit. Bishop Berkeley, in his celebrated poem on America, written more than one hundred years ago, in the following forcible lines, pointed out the then future position of America, and its connection with preceding empires : " Westward the course of empire takes its way, The first four acts already past, A fifth shall close the drama with the day ; Time s noblest offspring is the last." By the " first four acts already past," the bishop had undoubted reference to the four universal kingdoms of Daniel s prophecy. A fifth great power, the no blest and the last, was, according to his poem, to arise this side the Atlantic, and here close the drama of time, as the day here ends its circuit. To what part of the American continent shall we look for the power in question ? To the most pow erful and prominent nation, certainly. This is so self-evident that we need not stop to pass in review the frozen fragments of humanity on the north of us, nor the weak, superstitious, semi-barbarous, revolu tionary, and uninfluential kingdoms to the south of us. No ; we come to the United States, and here 112 THE MARVEL OF we are held. To this nation the question of the lo cation of the two-horned beast undeviatingly leads us. * As an objection to this view, it may occur to some minds that the two-horned beast exercises all the power of the first beast before him (Greek, h&mov, literally, in his eyes, or before his face), and does wonders in his sight ; and how can the United States, separated by an ocean from European kingdoms, hold such an intimate relation to them ? We answer, Space and time are annihilated by the telegraph. Through the Atlantic cable (an enterprise which, by the way, owes its origin to the United States), the lightnings are continually picturing to European be holders the affairs of America. Any important event occurring here is described the next hour in the jour nals of Europe. So far as the transmission of an ac count of our proceedings to the people of the Old World is concerned, it is as if America lay at the mouth of the English Channel. - And the eyes of all Europe are intently watching our movements. Says Mr. Townsend (New World and Old, p, 583) : " All the great peoples of Europe are curiously interested and amazed in the rise of America, and their rulers at present compete for our friendship. Europe, said the prince Talleyrand long ago, must have an eye on America, and take care not to offer any pretext for recrimination or retaliation. America is growing every day. She will become a colossal power, and the time will come when (discoveries enabling her to communicate more easily with Europe) she will want to say a word in our affairs, and have a hand in them. The time has come, and the discoveries have been made, to which Talleyrand referred. It is almost as WHERE LOCATED? 113 easy now to communicate with Europe as with our nearest town. By these things the attention of the world is drawn still more strongly toward us ; and thus whatever the United States does, itfis done in the sight yes, even before the eyes of all Europe. One strong pillar in the argument is thus firmly set. The terms of the prophecy absolutely fix the location of the power symbolized by the two-horned beast ; and that location is in this western hemisphere. It can be nowhere else. And the conclusion is just as unavoidable that our own nation is the power in question. CHAPTER VII. WHEN MUST THE GOVERNMENT INDICATED BY THIS SYMBOL ARISE? CAVING become satisfied where the power sym bolized by the two-horned beast must be lo cated, we now inquire respecting the time when we may look for its development. At what period in this world s history is the rise of this power placed in the prophecy ? On this point, as on the preced ing, the foundation for the conclusions at which we must arrive is already laid in the facts elicited in ref erence to the preceding, or leopard beast. It was at the time when this beast went into captivity, or was killed (politically) with the sword (verse 10), or (which we suppose to be the same thing) had one of its heads wounded to death (verse 3), that John saw the two-horned beast coming up. If the leopard beast, as we have conclusively proved, signifies the papacy, and the going into captivity met its fulfill ment in the temporary overthrow of the popedom by the French in 1798, then we have the epoch definitely specified when we are to look for the rising of this power. The expression, " coming up," must signify that the power to which it applies was but newly or ganized, and was then just rising into prominence and influence. The power represented by this sym bol must, then, be some power which in 1798 stood in this position before the world. That the leopard beast is a symbol of the papacy, [114] WHEN DOES IT RISE f 115 there can be no question ; but some may want more evidence that the wounding of one of its heads, or its going into captivity, was the overthrow of the pa pacy in 1798. This can easily be given. A nation being represented by a wild beast, the government of that nation, that by which it is controlled, must, as a very clear matter of course, be considered as an swering to the head of the beast. The seven heads of this beast would therefore denote seven different governments ; but all the heads pertain to one beast, and hence all these seven different forms of govern ment pertain to one empire. But only one form of government can exist in a nation at one time ; hence the seven heads must denote seven forms of govern ment to appear, not simultaneously, but succes sively. But these heads pertain alike to the dragon and the leopard beast, from which this one conclu sion only can be drawn ; namely, that Rome, during its whole history, embracing both its pagan and pa pal phases, would change its government six times, presenting to the world seven different forms in all. And the historian records just that number as per taining to Rome. Rome was ruled first by Kings ; secondly, by Consuls ; thirdly, by Decemvirs ; fourthly, by Dictators ; fifthly, by Triumvirs ; sixthly, by Em perors ; and seventhly, by Popes. See " American Encyclopedia." John saw one of these heads wounded as it were to death. Which one ? Can we tell ? Let it be noticed, first, that it is one of the heads of the beast which is wounded to death, and not one of the heads of the dragon ; that is, it is some form of govern ment which existed in Rome after the change of symbols from the dragon to the leopard beast. We 116 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. then inquire, How many of the different forms of Ro man government belonged absolutely to the dragon, or existed in Rome while it maintained its dragonic, or pagan form ? These same seven heads are again presented to John in Rev. 17 ; and the angel there explains that they are seven kings, or forms of gov ernment (verse 10) ; and he informs John that five are fallen, and one is ; that is, five of these forms of government were already past in John s day, and he was living under the sixth. Under what form did John live ? The imperial, it being the cruel decree of the emperor Domitian which banished him to the Isle of Patmos, where this vision was given. Kings, Consuls, Decemvirs, Dictators, and Triumvirs were all in the past in John s day. Emperors were then rul ing the Roman world ; and the empire was still pagan. Six of these heads, therefore, Kings, Con suls, Decemvirs, Dictators, Triumvirs, and Emperors, belonged to the dragon ; for they all existed. while Rome was pagan; and it was no one of these- that was wounded to death ; for had it been, John would have said, I saw one of the heads of the dragon wounded to death. The wound was inflicted after the empire had so changed in respect to its religion that it became necessary to represent it by the leop ard beast. But the beast had only seven heads, and if six of them pertain to the dragon, only one re mained to have an existence after this change in the empire took place. After the Emperors, the sixth and last head that existed in. Rome in its dragonic form, came the Popes, the only head that existed after the empire had nominally become Christian. The " Ex arch of Ravenna" existed so "short a space" (Rev. WHEN DOES IT RISE? 117 17 : 10) that it has no place in the general enumera tion of the heads of this power. From these considerations it is evident that the head which received the mortal wound was none other than the papal head. This conclusion cannot be shaken. We have now only to inquire when the papal head was wounded to death. It could not certainly be till after the papacy had reached that degree of development that caused it to be mentioned on the prophetic page. But after it was once estab lished, the prophecy marked out for it an uninter rupted rule of 1260 years, which dating from its rise in 538, would extend to 1798. And right there the papacy was, for the time being, overthrown. Gen eral Berthier, by order of the French Directory, moved against the dominions of the pope in January, 1798. February 10, he effected an entrance into the self-styled Eternal City," and on the 15th of the same month proclaimed the establishment of the Roman Republic. The pope, after this deprivation of his authority, was conveyed to France as a prisoner, and died at Valence, Aug. 29, 1799. This would have been the end of the papacy had this overthrow been made permanent. The wound would have proved fatal had it not been healed. But, though the wound was healed, the scar (to ex tend the figure a little) has ever since remained. A new pope was elected in 1800, and the papacy was restored, but only to a partial possession of its former privileges. Rev. Geo. Croly, A. M., speaking upon this point, says : - "The extinction of torture and. secrecy is the virtual extinction of the tribunal. The power of the pope, as a systematic persecutor, 118 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. has thus been annulled by the events growing out of the Repub lican era of 1793." Croly on tlie Apocalypse, p. 257. Let the reader look carefully at this event. It furnishes a complete fulfillment of the prophecy ; and it is the only event in all Roman history which does this ; for, though the first six heads were each in turn ex terminated, or gave place to a succeeding head, of no one of them could it be said that it received a deadly wound, which was afterward healed. And as this overthrow of the papacy by the French military must be the wounding of the head mentioned in Rev. 13 : 3, so, likewise, must it be the going into captiv ity and the killing with the sword mentioned in verse 10 ; for it is an event of the right nature to ful fill the prophecy, and one which occurred at the right time ; namely, at the end of the time, times, and a half, the forty-two months, or the 1260 years ; and no other event can be found answering to the rec ord in these respects. We are not left, therefore, with any discretionary power in the application of this prophecy ; for God, by his providence, has marked the era of its accomplishment in as plain a manner as though he had proclaimed with an audible voice, " Behold here the accomplishment of my pro phetic word ! " Thus clearly is the exact time when we are to look for the rise of the two-horned beast indicated in the prophecy.; for John, as soon as he beholds the cap tivity of the first or leopard beast, says, " And I be held another beast coming up." And his use of the present participle, "coming" up, clearly connects this view with the preceding verse, and shows it to be an event transpiring simultaneously with the going into captivity of the previous beast. If he had WHEN DOES IT RISE? 119 said, " And I had seen another beast coming up," it would prove that when he saw it, it was coming up, but that the time when he beheld it was indefinitely in the past. If he had said, " And I beheld another beast which had come up," it would prove that al though his attention was called to it at the time when the first beast went into captivity, yet its rise was still indefinitely in the past. But when he says, " I beheld another beast coming up" it proves that when he turned his eyes from the captivity of the first beast, he saw another power just then in the process of rapid development among the nations of the earth. So, then, about the year 1798, the star of that power which is symbolized by the two-horned beast must be seen rising over the horizon of the na tions, and claiming its place in the political heavens. In view of these considerations, it is useless to speak of this power as having arisen ages in the past. To attempt such an application is to show one s self ut terly reckless in regard to the plainest statements of inspiration. Again, the work of the two-horned beast is plainly located, by verse 1*2, this side the captivity of the first beast. It is there stated, in direct terms, that the two-horned beast causes " the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed." But worship could not be rendered to a beast whose deadly wound was healed, till after that healing was accomplished. This brings the worship which this two-horned beast enforces unmistakably within the present cent ury. Says Kid. J. Litch (Restitution, p. lol) : 120 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. "The two-horned beast is represented as a power existing and performing his part after the death and revival of the first beast." Mr. Wesley, in his notes on Rev. 14, written in 1754, says of the two-horned beast : "He has 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." We find three additional declarations in the book of Revelation which prove, in a general sense, that the two-horned beast performs his work with that generation of men who are to behold the closing up of all earthly scenes, and the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ ; and these will complete the ar gument on this point. 1. The first is the message of the third angel, brought to view in the 14th of Revelation. It is not our purpose to enter into an exposition of the three messages of that chapter. We call the attention of the reader to only one fact, which must be apparent to all ; and that is, that the third of these messages is the last warning of clanger and the last offer of mercy before the close of human probation ; for the event which immediately follows is the appearance of one like the Son of man, on a white cloud, com ing to reap the harvest of the earth (verse 14), which can represent nothing else but the second advent of the Lord from heaven. Whatever views, therefore, a person may take of the first and second messages, and at whatever time he may apply them, it is very certain that the third and last one covers the closing hours of time, and reaches down to the second com ing of Christ. And what is the burden of this mes sage ? It is a denunciation of the unmingled wrath of God against those who worship the beast and his WHEN DOES IT RISE? 121 image. But this worship of the beast and his image is the very practice which the two-horned beast en deavors to enforce upon the people. The third mes sage, then, is a warning 1 against the work of the two- horned beast. And as there would be no propriety in supposing this warning to be given after that work was performed, since it could appropriately be given only when the two-horned beast was about to enforce that worship, and while he was endeavoring to enforce it, and since the second coming of Christ immediately succeeds the proclamation of this mes sage, it follows that the duties enjoined by this mes sage, and the decrees enforced by the two-horned beast, constitute the last test to be brought to bear upon the world ; and hence the two-horned beast per forms his work, not ages in the past, but among the last generation of men. 2. The second passage showing that the work of the two-horned beast is performed just before the close of time, is found in Rev. 15 : 2, which we have shown to refer to the same company spoken of in chapter 11:1-5. Here is a company who have gained the victory over the beast and his image, and the mark and the number of his name ; in other words, they have been in direct conflict with the two-horned beast, which endeavors to enforce the worship of the beast and the reception of his mark. And these are " redeemed from among men " (14 : 4), or are translated from amoncf the living at the sec- o o ond coming of Christ. 1 Cor. 15:51, 52; 1 Thess. 4 : 16, 17. This, again, shows conclusively that it is the last generation which witnesses the work of this power. 3. The third passage is Rev. 19 : 20, which speaks 122 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. of the two-horned beast under the title of the false prophet, and mentions a point not given in Rev. 13 ; namely, the doom he is to meet. In the battle of the great day, which takes place in connection with the second coming of Christ (verses 11-19), the false prophet, or two-horned beast, is cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone ; and the word "alive" signifies that this power will be at that time a living power, performing its part in all its strength and vigor. This power is not to pass off the stage of ac tion and be succeeded by another, but is to be a ruling power till destroyed by the King of kings and Lord of lords when he comes to dash the nations in pieces with a rod of iron. Ps. 2 : 9. The sum of the argument, then, on this matter of chronology, is this : That the two-horned beast does not come into the field of this vision previous to the year 1798 ; that it performs its work while the last generation of men is living on the earth ; and that it comes up to the battle of the great day a living power in the full vigor of its strength. As it was shown in the argument on the location of the two-horned beast that we are limited in our application to the Western Continent, so we are lim ited still further by its chronology ; for it must not only be some power which arises this side of the At lantic, but one which is seen coming up here at a particular time. Taking our stand, then, in the year 1798, the time indicated in the prophecy, we invite the careful attention of the reader to this question : What independent power in either North or South America was at that time coming up " m a manner to answer to the conditions of the prophecy ? All that part of North America lying to the riorth of us WHEN DOES IT RISE? 123 was under the dominion of Russia and Great Britain. Mexico, to the southwest, was a Spanish colony. Passing to South America, Brazil belonged to Port ugal ; and most of other South American States were under Spanish control. In short, there was not then a single civilized, independent government in the New World, except our own United States. This nation, therefore, must be the one represented in the prophecy ; for no other answers the specifications in the least degree. It has always taken the lead of all European settlements in this hemisphere. It was " coming up " at the exact time indicated in the proph ecy. Like a lofty monument in a field all its own, we here behold the United States grandly overtower- ing all the continent. So far as God s providence works among the nations for the accomplishment of his purposes, it is visible in the development of this country as an agent to fulfill his word. On these two vital points of LOCATION and CHRONOLOGY, the arguments which show that OUR COUNTRY is THE ONE represented by the symbol of the two-horned beast are ABSOLUTELY CONCLUSIVE. CHAPTER VIII. THE UNITED STATES HAS ARISEN IN THE EXACT MANNER INDICATED BY THE SYMBOL manner in which the two-horned beast was seen coming up shows, equally with its location and its chronology, that it is a symbol of the United States. John says he saw the beast coming up " out of the earth." And this expression must have been designedly used to point out the contrast between the rise of this beast and that of other na tional prophetic symbols. The four beasts of Dan. 7 and the leopard beast of Rev. 13 all arose out of the sea. Says Daniel, " The four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea ; and four beast came up from the sea." The sea denotes peoples, nations, and tongues (Rev. 17 : 15), and the winds denote political strife and commotion. Jer. 25 : 32, 33. There was, then, in this scene, the dire commotion of nature s mightiest elements, the wind above, the waters be neath, the fury of the gale, the roaring and dashing of the waves, and the tumult of the raging storm ; and in the midst of this war of elements, as if aroused from the depths of the sea by the fearful commotion, these beasts one after another appeared. In other words, the governments of which these beasts were symbols owed their origin to movements among the people- which would be well represented by the sea lash ed into foam by the sweeping gale ; they arose [124] MANNER OF ITS RISE. 125 by the upheavals of revolution, and through the strife of war. But when the prophet beholds the rising of the two-horned beast, how different the scene ! No po litical tempest sweeps the horizon, no armies clash together like the waves of the sea. He does not be hold the troubled and restless surface of the waters, but a calm and immovable expanse of earth. And out of this earth, like a plant growing up in a quiet and sheltered spot, he sees this beast, bearing on his head the horns of a lamb, those eloquent symbols of youth and innocence, daily augmenting in bodily proportions, and daily increasing in physical strength. If any one should here point to the war of the Rev olution as an event which destroys the force of this application, it would be sufficient to reply : 1. That war was at least fifteen years in the past when the two-horned beast w r as introduced into the field of this vision ; and 2. The war of the Revolution was not a war of conquest. It was not waged to over throw any other kingdom and build this government on its ruins, but only to defend the just rights of the American people. An act of resistance against con tinual attempts of injustice and tyranny cannot cer tainly be placed in the same catalogue with wars of aggression and conquest. The same may be said of the war of 1812. Hence these conflicts do not even partake of the nature of objections to the application here set forth. The same view of this point is taken by eminent statesmen here and elsewhere. In a speech at the " Centennial Dinner," at the Westminster Palace Hotel, London, July 4, 1876, J. P. Thompson, LL. D., said : 126 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS "I thank God that this birthday of the United States as a na tion does not commemorate a victory of arms. War proceeded it, gave occasion to it, followed it ; but the figure of Independence shaped on the Fourth of July, 1776, wears no helmet, brandishes no sword, and carries no stain of slaughter and blood. I recog nize all that war has done for the emancipation of the race, the progress of society, the assertion and maintenance of liberty it self ; I honor the heroes who have braved the fury of battle for country and right, I appreciate the virtues to which war at times has trained nations as well as leaders and armies ; yet I confess myself utterly wearied and sated with these monuments of victory in every capital of Europe, made of captured cannon, and sculpt ured over with scenes of carnage. I am sick of that type of his tory that teaches our youth that the Alexanders and Caesars, the Frederics and Napoleons, are the great men who have made the world ; and it is with a sense of relief and refreshment that I turn to a nation whose birthday commemorates a great moral idea, a principle of ethics applied to political society that government represents the whole people, for the equal good of all. No tide of battle marks this day ; but itself marks the high water line of heaving, surging humanity." United States as a Nation, pp. xiii, xiv. Hon. Wm. M. Evarts quotes with approval a say ing of Burke, respecting our Revolution, as follows : "A great revolution has happened a revolution made, not by chopping and changing of power in any of the existing States, but by the appearance of a new State, of a new species in a new part of the globe. It has made as great a change in all the relations and balances and gravitations of power, as the appearance of a new planet would in the system of the solar world. The word which John uses to describe the manner in which this beast comes up is very expressive. It is avaftaivov (anabainon), one of the prominent defini tions of which is, " To grow or spring up as a plant." And it is a remarkable fact that this very figure has been chosen by political writers as the one convey ing the best idea of the manner in which this govern- MANNER OF ITS RISE. 127 ment has arisen. Mr. G. A. Townsend, in his work entitled, " The New World Compared with the Old," p. 462, says : "Since America was discovered, she lias been a subject of rev olutionary thought in Europe. The mystery of her coming forth from vacancy, the marvel of her wealth in gold and silver, the spectacle of her captives led through European capitals, filled the minds of men with unrest ; and unrest is the first stage of revolu tion." On p. 635, he further says : "In this web of islands the West Indies began the life of both [North and South] Americas. There Columbus saw land, there Spain began her baneful and brilliant Western Empire ; thence Cortez departed for Mexico, De Soto for the Mississippi, Balboa for the Pacific, and Pizarro for Peru. The history of the United States was separated by a beneficent Providence far from this wild and cruel history of the rest of the continent, and like a silent seed ire grew into empire [italics ours]; while empire itself, beginning in the South, was swept by so interminable a hurricane that what of its history we can ascertain is read by the very lightnings that devastated it. The growth of English America may be likened to a series of lyrics sung by separate singers, which, coalescing, at last make a vigorous chorus, and this, at tracting many from afar, swells and is prolonged, until presently it assumes the dignity and proportions of epic song." A writer in the Dublin Nation, about the year 1850, spoke of the United States as a wonderful em pire which was "emerging" and " amid the silence of tJie earth daily adding to its power and pride." In Martyn s " History of the Great Reformation," Vol. iv. p. 238, is an extract from an oration deliv ered by Edward Everett on the English exiles who founded this government, in which he says : " Did they look for a retired spot, inoffensive from its obscurity, safe in its remoteness from the haunts of despots, where the little church of Leyden might enjoy freedom of conscience ? Behold the 128 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. mighty regions over which in peaceful conquest victoria sine clade they have borne the banners of the cross." We now ask the reader to look at tnese expres sions side by side, " coming up out of the earth," " coming forth from vacancy," " emerging amid the silence of the earth," "like a silent seed we grew into empire," " mighty regions " secured by " peaceful conquest." The first is from the prophet, stating what would be when the two-horned beast should arise ; the others are from political writers, telling what has been in the history of our own government. Can any one fail to see that the last four are exactly synonymous with the first, and that they record a complete accomplishment of the prediction ? And what is not a little remarkable, those who have thus recorded the fulfillment have, without any reference to the prophecy, used the very figure which the prophet employed. These men, therefore, being judges, men of large and cultivated minds, whose powers of discernment all will acknowledge to be sufficiently clear, it is certain that the particular manner in which the United States has arisen, so far as it con cerns its relation to other nations, answers most strikingly to the development of the symbol under consideration. We now extend the inquiry a step further : Has the United States "come up" in a manner to fulfill the prophecy in respect to the achievements this govern ment has accomplished ? Has the progress made been sufficiently great and sufficiently rapid to cor respond to that visible and perceptible growth which John saw in the two-horned beast ? In view of what has already been presented in Chapter II., this question need not be asked. To MANNER OF ITS RISE. 129 show how the development of our country answers to the " coming up " of the symbol, would be but to repeat the evidence there given. When was the wonderful national development indicated by the two-horned beast to appear ? In the very era of the world s history where our own government has ap peared. Where was it to be witnessed ? In that territory which our own government occupies. We call the attention of the reader again to the wonder ful facts stated in Chapter II. Their significance is greatly enhanced by the representations of that por tion of the prophecy we are now considering. Read again the statement from Macmillan & Co., on p. 26, showing that during the half century ending in 1867, the United States added to its domain over fourteen hundred thousand square miles of territory more than any other single nation added to its area, and over eight hundred thousand more than was added to their respective kingdoms by all the other nations of the earth put together. Its increase in population and all the resources of national strength during the same time were equally noteworthy. And this mar velous exhibition has occurred, be it remembered, at that very epoch when the prophecy of the two-horned beast bids us look for a new government just then arising to prominence and power among the nations of the earth. According to the argument on the chronology of this symbol, we cannot go back of the present century for its fulfillment ; and we submit to the candid reader that to apply this to any other gov ernment in the world but our own during this time, would be contrary to fact, and utterly illogical. It follows, then, that our own government is the one in question ; for this is the one which, at the right time 130 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. and in the right place, has been emphatically " com- ing up." The only objection we can anticipate is that this nation has progressed too fast and too far, that the government has already outgrown the symbol. But what shall be thought of those who deny that it has any place in prophecy at all ? No ; this prodigy has its place on the prophetic page ; and the path which has thus far led us to the conclusion that the two- horned beast is the prophetic symbol of the United States, is hedged in on either side by walls of adamant that reach to heaven. To make any other applica tion is an utter impossibility. The thought would be folly, and the attempt, abortion. CHAPTER IX. THE TWO GREAT PRINCIPLES OF THIS GOVERNMENT. given us data by which to determine the location, chronology, and rapid rise of this power, John now proceeds to describe the ap pearance of the two-horned beast, and speak of his acts in such a manner as clearly to indicate his char acter, both apparent and real. Every specification thus far examined has held the application impera tively to the United States, and we shall find this one no less strong in the same direction. This symbol has " two horns like a lamb." To those who have studied the prophecies of Daniel and John, horns upon a beast are no unfamiliar features. The ram (Dan. 8 : 3) had two horns. The he-goat that came up against him had at first one notable horn be tween his eyes. Verse 5. This was broken, and four came up in its place toward the four winds of heaven. Verse 8. From one of these came forth another horn, which waxed exceeding great. Verse 9. The fourth beast of Dan. 7 had ten horns. Among these, a little horn w r ith eyes and mouth, far-seeing, crafty, and blasphemous, arose. Dan. 7 : 8. The dragon and leopard beast of Rev. 12 and 13, denoting the same as the fourth beast of Dan. 7 in its two phases, have each the same number of horns, signifying the same thing. And the symbol under consideration has two horns like a lamb. From the use of the horns on the other symbols, some facts are apparent which may guide us to an understanding of their use on this last one. [131] 132 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. A horn is used in the Scriptures as a symbol of strength and power, as in Detit. 33:17, and of glory and honor, as in Job 16 : 15. A horn is sometimes used to denote a nation as a whole, as the four horns of the goat, the little horn of Dan. 8, and the ten horns of the fourth beast of Dan. 7 ; and sometimes some particular feature of the gov ernment ; as the first horn of the goat, which denoted not the nation as a whole, but the civil power, as cen tered in the first king, Alexander the Great. Horns do not always denote division, as in the case of the four horns of the goat, etc. ; for the two horns of the ram denote the union of Media and Persia in one government. A horn is not used exclusively to represent civil power ; for the little horn of Daniel s fourth beast, the papacy, was a horn when it plucked up three other horns, and established itself in 538. But it was then purely an ecclesiastical power, and so remained for two hundred and seventeen years from that time, when Pepin, in the year 755, made the Roman pontiff a grant of some rich provinces in Italy, which first constituted him a temporal monarch. (Goodrich s History of Jthe Church, p. 98 ; Bower s History of the Popes, vol. ii, p. 108.) With these facts before us, we are prepared to in quire into the significance of the two horns which pertain to this beast. Why does John say that he has " two horns like a lamb " ? Why not simply " two horns"? It must be because these horns possess pe culiarities which indicate the character of the power to which they belong. The horns of a lamb indicate, first, youthfulness, and secondly, innocence and gen tleness. As a power which has but recently arisen, THE TWO GREAT PRINCIPLES. 133 the United States answers to the symbol admirably in respect to age ; while no other power, as has al ready abundantly been proved, can be found to do this. And considered as an index of power and char acter, it can be decided what constitutes the two horns of the government, if it can be ascertained what is the secret of its strength and power, and what re veals its apparent character, or constitutes its out ward profession. The Hon. J. A. Bingham gives us the clue to the whole matter when he states that the object of those who first, sought these shores was to found " what the world had not seen for ages ; viz., a Church without a pope, and a State without a king." Expressed in other words, this would be a govern ment in which the church should be free from the civil power, and civil and religious liberty reign su preme. And what is the profession of this government in these respects ? As already noticed, that great in strument which -our forefathers set forth as their bill of rights the Declaration of Independence affirms that all men are created on a plane of perfect equality ; that their Creator has endowed them all alike with certain rights which cannot be alienated from them ; that among these are life, of which no man can right fully deprive another, and liberty, to which everyone is alike entitled, and the pursuit of happiness, in any way and every way which does not infringe upon the rights of others. So much for the department of civil liberty. In the domain of spiritual things the position of this government is no less explicit and no less broad and liberal. In the Old World what multitudes have been deprived of " life, liberty, and the pursuit of happi- 134 TEE MARVEL OF NATIONS. ness," on account of a peculiarity of belief in religious matters ! What woes have been inflicted upon hu manity by the efforts of spiritual tyrants to fetter men s consciences ! What a grand safeguard is erected against these evils in the noble provisions of our Constitution, that no person shall be prohibited from freely exercising his religion (on the implied condi tion, of course, that no other person s rights are in fringed upon) ; that Congress shall make no law in regard to any religious establishment ; and that no religious profession shall qualify, and no lack of it de bar, a person from any office of public trust under the United States. Thus the right of worshiping God ac cording to the dictates of his own conscience is guar anteed to every man. In the chapter on the political and religious influ ence of this nation, these points are brought out more fully. And to the matter of that chapter the reader is again referred. Here, then, are two great principles standing prom inently before the people, Republicanism and Prot estantism. And what can be more just, and innocent, and lamb-like than these ? And here, also, is the se cret of our strength and power. Had some Caligula or Nero ruled this land, we should look in vain for what we behold to-day. Immigration would not have flo\vcd to our shores, and this country would never have presented to the world so unparalleled an ex ample of national growth. One of these two lamb-like horns may therefore represent the great principle of civil liberty in this government ; and the other, the equally great prin ciple of religious liberty, which men so highly prize, and have so earnestly sought. As says Mr. Foss in THE TWO GREAT PRINCIPLES, 135 his sermon before quoted, " The two evangels of civil and religious liberty are ours." How better could these two great principles be symbolized than by the horns of a lamb ? This application is warranted by the facts already set forth respecting the horns of the other powers. For (1.) the two horns may belong to one beast, and denote union instead of division, as in the case of the ram (Dan. 8) ; (2.) a horn may denote a purely ecclesiastical element, as the little horn of Daniel s fourth beast ; and (3.) a horn may denote the civil power alone, as in the case of the first horn of the Grecian goat. On the basis of these facts, we have these two elements, Republicanism and Protest antism, here united in one government, and repre sented by two horns like the horns of a lamb. And these are nowhere else to be found ; nor have they appeared, since the time when we could consistently look for the rise of the two-horned beast, in any na tion upon the face of the earth except our own. And with these horns there is no objection to be found. They are like those of a lamb, the Bible sym bol of purity and innocence. The principles are all right. The outward appearance is unqualifiedly good. But, alas for our country ! its acts are to give the lie to its profession. The lamb-like features are first de veloped, but the dragon voice is to be heard hereafter. CHAPTER X. INCONSISTENT UTTERANCES. fROM the facts thus far elicited in this argument, we have seen that the government symbolized by the two-horned beast must be, 1. Some government distinct from the powers of the Old World, whether civil or ecclesiastical ; 2. That it must arise this side the Atlantic ; 3. That it must be seen coming into influence and notoriety about the year 1Y98 ; 4. That it must rise in a peaceful manner ; 5. That its progress must be so rapid as to strike the beholder with as much wonder as the perceptible growth of an animal before his eyes ; 6. That it must be a republic ; 7. That it must exhibit before the world, as an in dex of its character and of the motives by which it is governed, two great principles, in themselves perfectly just, innocent, and lamb-like ; and 8. That it must perform its work in the present: century. And we have seen that of these eight specifications just two things can be said : First, that they are all perfectly met in the history of the United States thus far ; and secondly, that they are not met in the his tory of any other government on the face of the earth. Behind these eight lines of defense, therefore, the ar gument lies impregnably intrenched. And the American patriot, the man who loves his country, and takes a just pride in her thus-far glori ous record and noble achievements (and who does [136] INCONSISTENT UTTERANCES. 137 not?), needs an argument no less ponderous and im movable, and an array of evidence no less clear, to enable him to accept the painful sequel which the re mainder of the prophecy also applies to this govern ment, hitherto the best the world has ever seen ; for the prophet immediately turns to a part of the pict ure which is dark with injustice, and marred by op pression, deception, intolerance, and wrong. After describing the lamb-like appearance of this symbol, John immediately acids, " And he spake as a dragon." The dragon (Pagan Rome), the first link in this chain of prophecy, was a relentless persecutor of the church of God. The leopard beast (the Papacy) which follows, was likewise a persecuting power, grinding out for 1260 years the lives of millions of the followers of Christ. The third actor in the scene, the two-horned beast, speaks like the first, and thus shows himself to be a dragon at heart; "for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh," and in the heart actions are conceived. This, then, like the others, is a persecuting power ; and the reason that any of them are mentioned in prophecy, is simply be cause they arc persecuting powers. God s care for the church, his little flock, is what has led him to give a revelation of his will, and point out the foes with whom they would have to contend. To his church, all the actions recorded of the dragon and leopard beast relate ; and in reference to the church, there fore, we conclude that the dragon voice of this power is uttered. The " speaking" of any government must be the public promulgation of its will on the part of its law- making and executive powers. Is this nation, then, to issue unjust and oppressive enactments against the 138 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. people of God ? Are the fires of persecution, which in other ages have devastated other lands, to be lighted here also ? We would fain believe otherwise ; but notwithstanding the pure intentions of the noble founders of this government, notwithstanding the worthy motives and objects of thousands of Christian patriots to-day, we can but take the prophecy as it reads, and expect nothing less than what it predicts. John heard this power speak, and the voice was that of a dragon. Nor is this so improbable an issue as might at first appear. The people of the United States are not all saints. The masses, notwithstanding all our gospel light and gospel privileges, are still in a position for Satan to suddenly fire their hearts with the basest of impulses. This nation, as we have seen, is to exist to the coming of Christ ; and the Bible very fully sets forth the moral condition of the people in the days that immediately precede that event. Iniquity is to abound, and the love of many to wax cold. Matt. 24 : 12. Evil men and seducers are to wax worse and worse. 2 Tim. 3 : 13. Scoffers are to arise, saying, " Where is the promise of his coming ?" 2 Pet. 3:3, 1. The whole land is to be full of violence, as it was in the days of Noah, and full of licentiousness, as was Sodom in the clays of Lot. Luke 17 : 26-30. And when the Lord ;ippears, faith will scarcely be found upon the earth (Luke 18 : 8) ; and those who are ready for his coming will be but a little flock." Luke 12 : 32. Can the people of God think to go through this period, and not suffer persecution ? No ; this would be contrary to the lessons taught by all past experi ence, and just the reverse of what we are warranted by the word of God to expect. " All that will live INCONSISTENT UTTERANCES. 139 godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." If ever this was true in the history of the church, we may expect it to be emphatically so when, in the last days, the world is in its aphelion as related to God, and the wicked touch their lowest depths of iniquity and sin. Let, then, such a general spirit of persecution arise as the foregoing scriptures declare will in the last days exist, and what is more probable than that it should assume an organized form ? In this country the will of the people is law. And let there be a gen eral desire on the part of the people for certain op pressive enactments against believers in unpopular doctrines, and what would be more easy and natural than that such desire should immediately crystallize into systematic action, and oppressive measures take the form of law ? Then we should have just what the prophecy indicates. Then would be heard the voice or the dragon. And there are elements already in existence which furnish a luxuriant soil for a baleful crop of future evil. Our nation has grown so rapidly in wealth that it stands to-day as the richest nation in the world. Wealth leads to luxury, luxury to corruption, corrup tion to the breaking clown of all moral barriers ; and then the way is open for the worst passions to come to the front, and for the worst principles to bear rule. The prevailing condition of things is graphically de scribed by the late distinguished and devoted J. H. Merle D Aubigne, author of the " History of the Ref ormation." Just previous to his death he prepared a paper for the Evangelical Alliance, in which he gave utterance to the following weighty and startling words : 140 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. " If the meeting for which you are assembled is an important one, the period at which it is held is equally so, not only on ac count of the great things which God is accomplishing in the world, but also by reason of the great evils which the spirit of darkness is spreading throughout Christendom. The despotic and arrogant pretensions of Rome have reached in our days their highest pitch, and we are consequently more than ever called upon to contend against that power which dares to usurp the divine attributes. But that is not all. While superstition has increased, unbelief has done so still more. Until now the eighteenth century the age of Yoltaire was regarded as the epoch of most decided infidelity; but how far does the present time surpass it in this respect ! . . . But there is a still sadder feature of our times. Unbelief has reached even the ministry of the word." Political corruption is preparing the way for deeper sin. It pervades all parties. Look at the dishonest means resorted to to obtain office, the bribery, the deceptions, the ballot-stuffing. Look at the stupen dous revelations of municipal corruption lately dis closed in New York City, millions upon millions stolen directly and barefacedly from the city treasury by its corrupt officials. Look at the civil service of this government. Speaking on this point, The Nation of Nov. IT, 1870, said:- "The newspapers are generally believed to exaggerate most of the abuses they denounce ; but we say deliberately, that no denun ciation of the civil service of the United States which has ever ap peared in print has come up, as a picture of selfishness, greed, fraud, corruption, falsehood, and cruelty, to the accounts which are given privately by those who have seen the real workings of the machine." Revelations are continually coming to light, going beyond the worst fears of those who are even the most apprehensive of wrongs committed among all classes of society at the present time. The nation stands aghast to-day at the evidence of corruption in high INCONSISTENT UTTERANCES. places which is thrust before its face. Yet a popular ministry, in their softest and most soothing tones, de clare that the world is growing better, and sing of a good time coming. The Detroit Evening News of March 4, 1870, refer ring to Secretary Belknap s fall, said : " The revelations of corruption in connection with the adminis tration of the Federal government have gone further than any body s worst fears, in the humiliating intelligence of Secretary Belknap s disgrace. That among the underlings there were to be found rascals, might have been expected in such times as these, but that a minister of the Cabinet should have turned out to be nothing better than a vulgar thief is something which must fill this nation with dismay, and the civilized world with contempt. Where is all this to stop ? Are we so utterly rotten as a people that noth ing but vileness can come uppermost, that we cannot preserve even the great offices of the Cabinet from the possession of ras cals ? " Again the News says : "Washington seems to be ingulfed in iniquity and steeped in corruption. Disclosures of fraud in high places are pushing one another toward the light. Belknap, Logan, Delano, Ingalls and where the black list will stop, Heaven only knows." Since the foregoing was written, who will say that there has been any real improvement in the tone of public morals ? And further enumeration is here un necessary. Enough crops out in every day s history to show that moral principle, the only guarantee for justice and honesty in a government like ours, is sadly wanting. And evil is also threatening from another quarter. Creeping up from the darkness of the Dark Ages, a hideous monster is intently watching to seize the throat of liberty in our land. It thrusts itself up into the noonday of the nineteenth century, not that it THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. may be benefited by its light and freedom, but that it may suppress and obscure them. The name of this monster is Popery ; and it has fixed its rapacious and blood-thirsty eyes on this land, determined to make it its helpless prey. It already decides the elections in some of our largest cities. It controls the revenues of the most populous State in the Union, and appro priates annually hundreds of thousands of dollars raised from Protestant taxes, to the support of its own ecclesiastical organizations, and to the furtherance of its own religious and political ends. It has attained such a degree of influence that it is only by a mighty effort of Protestant patriotism that any measures against which the Romish element combines its strength can now be carried. And corrupt and un scrupulous politicians stand ready to concede its de mands, in order to secure its support for the advance ment of their own ambitious aims. Look at the so- called "Freedom of Worship" bill, by which Papists would compel the general public to support in public institutions its own peculiar form of worship and priestly influence, a bill which has been, and in all probability is destined more fully to be, an occasion of wrangling in the New York Legislature. Rome is in the field, with the basest and most fatal intentions, and with the most watchful and tireless energy. It is destined to play an important part in our future troubles ; for it is symbolized by the very beast which the two-horned beast is to cause the earth and them that dwell therein to worship, and before whose eyes it is to perform its wonders. Rev. 14: : 12. And in our own better Protestant churches there is that which threatens to lead to most serious evils. On this point one of their own popular ministers, who INCONSISTENT UTTERANCES. 143 is well qualified to speak, may testify. A sermon by Charles Beecher contains the following statements : "Our best, most humble, most devoted servants of Christ, are fostering in their midst what will one day, not long hence, show itself to be the spawn of the dragon. They shrink from any rude word against creeds with the same sensitiveness with which those holy fathers would have shrunk from a rude word against the ris ing veneration of saints and martyrs which they were fostering. . . . The Protestant evangelical denominations have so tied up one another s hands, and their own, that, between them all, a man cannot become a preacher at all, anywhere, without accepting some book besides the Bible. . . . And is not the Protestant Church apostate ? Oh ! remember, the final form of apostasy shall rise, not by crosses, processions, baubles. We understand all that. Apostasy never comes on the outside. It develops. It is an apos tasy that shall spring into life within us, an apostasy that shall martyr a man who believes his Bible ever so hoMly ; yea, who may even believe what the creed contains, but who may happen to agree with the Westminster Assembly, that, proposed as a test, it is an unwarrantable imposition. That is the apostasy we have to fear, and is it not already formed ? . . . Will it be said that our fears are imaginary ? Imaginary ! Did not the Ilev. John M. Duncan, in the years 1825-6, or thereabouts, sincerely believe the Bible ? Did he not even believe substantially the Confession of Faith ? And was he not, for daring to say what the Westminster Assembly said, that to require the reception of that creed as a test of ministerial qualification was an unwarrantable imposition, brought to trial, condemned, excommunicated, and his pulpit de clared vacant ? There is nothing imaginary in the statement that the creed-power is now beginning to prohibit the Bible as really as Rome did, though in a subtler way. "Oh, woful day ! Oh, unhappy Church of Christ, fast rushing round and round the fatal circle of absorbing ruin ! . . . Daily does every one see that things are going wrong. With sighs does every true heart confess that rottenness is somewhere, but, ah ! it is hopeless of reform. We all pass on, and the tide rolls down to night. The waves of the coming conflict which is to convulse Christendom to her center are beginning to be felt. The deep heavings begin to swell beneath us. All the old signs fail/ God answers no more by Urirn and Thumiruui, nor by dream, nor 144 THE MARVEL OP NATION S. by prophet/ Men s hearts are failing them for fear, and for look ing after those things that are coming on the earth. Thunders mutter in the distance. Winds moan across the surging bosom of the deep. All things betide the rising of tkat fatal storm of di vine indignation which shall sweep away the vain refuge of lies." In addition to this, we have spiritualism, infidelity, socialism, free-love, the trades unions, or labor against capital, and communism, all assiduously spreading their principles among the masses. These are the very principles that worked among the people, as the exciting cause, just prior to the terrible French Rev olution of 1789-1800. Human nature is the same in all ages, and like causes will surely produce like ef fects. These causes are now all in active operation ; and how soon they will culminate in a state of an archy, and a reign of terror as much more frightful than the French Revolution as they are now more widely extended, no man can say. Such are some of the elements already at work ; such is the direction in which events are moving. And how much further is it necessary that they should progress in this manner before an open war-cry from the masses of persecution against those whose simple adherence to the Bible shall put to shame their man- made theology, and whose godly lives shall condemn their wicked practices, would seem in nowise start ling or incongruous ? But some may say, through an all-absorbing faith in the increasing virtue of the American people, that they do not believe that the United States will ever raise the hand of persecution against any class. Very well. This is not a matter over which we need to in dulge in any controversy. No process of reasoning nor any amount of argument can ever show that it INCONSISTENT UTTERANCES. 145 will notbe so. We think we have shown good ground for strong probabilities that this government may yet commit itself to the work of religious persecution ; and we shall present more forcible evidence, and speak of more significant movements hereafter. As we interpret the prophecy, we look upon it as inev itable. But the decision of the question must be left to time ; we can neither help nor hinder its work. Time will soon correct all errors, and solve all doubts, on this question. 10 CHAPTER XL HE DOETH GREAT WONDERS. JjjTN further predicting the work of the two-horned II beast, the prophet says, "And he exerciseth all 4p the power of the first beast before him, and caus- eth the earth and them which dwell therein to wor ship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed." This language is urged by some to prove that the two-horned beast must be some power which holds the reins of government in the very territory occu pied by the first, or preceding beast, which is the pa pacy ; for, otherwise, how could he exercise his power ? If the word "before" denoted precedence in time, and the first (or papal) beast passed ofTthe stage of action when the two-horned beast came on, just as Babylon gave place to Persia, which then exercised all the power of Babylon before it, there would be some plausibility in the claim. But the word ren dered "before" is h&rrtov (enopion), which means, lit erally, " in the presence of." And so the language, instead of proving what is claimed, becomes a most positive proof that these two beasts the leopard pa pal beast and the two-horned beast are distinct and contemporary powers. The first beast is in existence, having all its sym bolic vitality, at the very time the two-horned beast is exercising power in his presence. But this could not be, if his dominion had passed into the hands of the two-horned beast ; for a beast, in prophecy, ceases to exist when his dominion is taken away. What [146] HE DOETH GREAT WONDERS. 147 caused the change in the symbols, as given in the seventh chapter of Daniel, from the lion, representing Babylon, to the bear, representing Persia ? Simply a transfer of dominion from Babylon to Persia. And so the prophecy explains the successive passing away of these beasts, by saying that their " lives were pro longed," but their " dominion was taken away" (verse 12) ; that is, the territory of the kingdom was not blotted from the map, nor the lives of the people de stroyed, but there was a transfer of power from one nationality to another. So the fact that the leopard beast, here in Rev. 13, is spoken of as still an existing power, when the two-horned beast works in his pres ence, is proof that he is, at that time, in possession of all the dominion that was ever necessary to constitute him a symbol in prophecy. What power, then, does the two-horned beast ex ercise ? Not the power which belongs to, and is in the hands of, the leopard, or papal beast, surely ; but he exercises, or essays to exercise, in his presence, power of the same kind and to the same extent. The power which the first beast exercised, that alone with which the prophecy is concerned, was a terri ble power of oppression against the people of God (verse 7) ; and this is a further indication of the char acter which the two-horned beast is finally to sustain in this respect. The latter part of the verse, "And causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed," is still further proof that the two-horned beast is no phase nor feat ure of the papacy ; for the papal beast is certainly competent to enforce his own worship in his own country, and from his own subjects. But it is the 14:8 THE MARVEL OF NATION S. two-horned beast which causeth the earth (the terri tory out of which it arose, and over which it rules), and them which dwell therein, to worship the first beast. This shows that this beast occupies territory over which the first beast has no jurisdiction. " And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men." In this specification we have still further proof that our own government is the one represented by the two-horned beast. That we are living in an age of wonders, none can deny. Time was, and that not twoscore of years ago, when the bare mention of achievements which now constitute the warp and woof of every-day life, was considered the wildest chimera of a diseased imagination. Now, nothing is too wonderful to be believed, nor too strange to hap pen. Go back only a little more than half a century, and the world, with respect to those things which tend to domestic convenience and comfort, the means of illumination, the production and application of heat, and the performance of various household op erations ; with respect to methods of rapid locomo tion from place to place, and the transmission of in telligence from point to point, stood about where it did in the days of the patriarchs. Suddenly the waters of that long stream over whose drowsy surface scarcely a ripple of improvement had passed for three thousand years, broke into the white foam of violent agitation. The world awoke from the slumber and darkness of ages. The divine finger lifted the seal from the prophetic books, and brought that predicted period when men should run to and fro, and knowl edge should be increased. Then men bound the ele ments to their chariots, and, reaching up, laid hold 150 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. upon the very lightning, and made it their message- bearer around the world. Nahum foretold that at a certain time the chariots should be with flaming torches and run like the lightnings. Nahum 2 : 3, 4. Who can behold, in the darkness of the night, the locomotive dashing over its iron track, the fiery glare of its great lidless eye driving the shadows from its path, and torrents of smoke and sparks and flame pouring from its burning throat, and not realize that ours are the eyes that are privileged to look upon a fulfillment of Nahum s prophecy? But when this should take place, the prophet said that the times would be burdened with the solemn work of God s " preparation." " Canst thou send lightnings," said God to Job, " that they may go, and say unto thee, Here we are?" Job. 38:35. If Job were living to-day, he could answer, Yes. It is one of the current sayings of our time that " Franklin tamed the lightning, and Prof. Morse taught it the English language." So in every department of the arts and sciences, the advancement that has been made within the last half century is without precedent in the world s his tory. And in all these the United States takes the lead. These facts are not, indeed, to be taken as a fulfillment of the prophecy, but they show the spirit of the age in which we live, and point to this time as a period when we may look for wonders of every kind. The wonders to which the prophecy (Rev. 13) re* fers are evidently wrought for the purpose of deceiv ing the people ; for verse 14 reads, "And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by means of those mir acles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast." HE DOETH OHEAT WONDER 8. THE TWO-HORNED BEAST THE SAME AS THE FALSE PROPHET OF CHAPTER 19. The work attributed in verse 11, just quoted, to the two-horned beast, identifies this power with the false prophet of Rev. 19 : 20 ; for this false prophet is the agency that works miracles before the beast, " with which," says John, "he deceived them that had re ceived the mark of the beast, and them that worshiped Jiis image" the very actions which the two-horned beast is to cause men to perform. We can now as certain by what means the miracles in question are wrought ; for Rev. 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. Miracles are of two kinds true and false, just as we have a true Christ and false christs, true prophets and false prophets, and true apostles and false apos tles. By a false miracle we mean, not a pretended miracle, which is no miracle at all, but a real mir acle, a supernatural performance, wrought in the in terest of falsehood, for the purpose of deceiving the people, or of proving a lie. The miracles of this power are real miracles, but are wrought for the pur pose of deception. The prophecy does not read that he deceived the people by means of the miracles which he claimed that he was able to perform, or which he pretended to do, but which he had power to do. They, therefore, fall far short of the real intent of 152 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. the prophecy, who suppose that the great wonders wrought by this power were fulfilled by Napoleon when he told the Mussulmans that he could command a fiery chariot to come down from heaven, but never did it ; or by the pretended miracles of the Romish Church, which are only shams, mere tricks played off by unscrupulous and designing priests upon their ig norant and superstitious dupes. Miracles, or wonders, such as are to be wrought by the two-horned beast, and, withal, as we think, the very ones referred to in the prophecy, are mentioned by Paul in 2 Thess. 2 : 9, 10. Speaking of the second coming of Christ, he says, " Whose coming is after [KOTO, at the time of, 2 Tim. 4 : 1]* the working of Sa- * The one whose coming is referred to in 2 Thess, 2 : 9, is shown by the connection to be the same as the one whose coming is spoken of in verse 8; and that is Christ. In the original the connection is very direct; thus, K.araQ yrjaEi rrj k KL^avKia rf/ waoovaia^ avTov, ov kartv ?} Trapovaia /car ivKoyuav TOV Zaravd, etc. There would seem to be no question but that the relative ov must refer to the preceding avrov as its antecedent ; for the sentence literally reads, "And shall destroy with the brightness of his coming, of whom the coming is after the working of Satan," etc. In this case we cannot give to Kara the definition of " through," " by means of" or " according to," as it frequently means ; for the coming of Christ is not "by means of," or " according to," the working of Satan. But Kara has another definition when used with an accusative, and when referring to time. It then means, "within the range of, during, in the course of, at, about." (Bagster s Analytical Greek Lexicon.) It is here used with the accusative, evepyeiav, and although the word is not directly a noun of time, it is a word which necessarily involves the idea of duration ; for the working of Satan must occupy time. We submit, therefore, that it may here receive one of the definitions last mentioned, and be rendered " at the time of." The whole passage would then read: " Whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming; whose coining is at the time of the working of Satan with all power," etc. Thus rendered, the passage becomes parallel to that of 2 Tim. 4:1, where nara is properly rendered "at," meaning " at the time of ;" thus, "I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appear ing [/cara rrjv 7rt(j)6.veiai> avrov] and his kingdom." HE DOETII GREAT WONDERS. 153 tan with all power and signs and lying- wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved." These are no sleight-of-hand performances, but such a working of Satan as the world has never before seen. To work with all power and signs and lying wonders, is cer tainly to do a real and an astounding work, but one which is designed to prove a lie. Again, 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." Here, again, are wonders foretold, wrought for the purpose of decep tion, so powerful that were it possible even the very elect would be deceived by them. Thus we have a series of prophecies setting forth the development, in the last days, of a wonder-work ing power, manifested to a startling and unprece dented degree, in the interest of falsehood and error. All refer to one and the same thing. The earthly government with which it was to be especially con nected, is that represented by the two-horned beast, or false prophet. The agency lying back of the out ward manifestations was to be Satanic, " the spirit of devils." The prophecy, according to the application made of it in this book, calls for such a work as this in our own country at the present time. Do we be hold anything like it ? Read the answer in the lam entation of the prophet : " Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea ! for the Devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time." Rev. 12 : 12. Stand 154 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. aghast, O Earth ! tremble, ye people, but be not de ceived ! The huge specter of evil confronts us, as the prophet de-dared. Satan is loosed. From the depth of Tartarus myriads of demons swarm over the land. The prince of darkness manifests himself as never be fore, and, stealing a word from the vocabulary of heaven to designate his work, he calls it Spiritual ism. 1. Does Spiritualism, then, bear these marks of Sa tanic agency ? (1.) The spirits which communicate claim to be the spirits of our departed friends. But the Bible, in the most explicit terms, assures us that the dead are wholly inactive and unconscious till the resurrection ; that the dead know not anything (Eccl. 9:5); that every operation of the mind has ceased (Ps. 146 : 4) ; that every emotion of the heart is suspended (Eccl. 9:6); and that there is neither work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave where they lie. Eccl. 9 : 10. Whatever intelligence, therefore, comes to us professing to be one of our dead friends, comes claiming to be what, from the word of God, w r e know he is not. But angels of God do not lie ; therefore these are not the good angels. Spirits of devils will lie ; this is their work ; and these are the credentials which at the very outset they hand us. (2.) The doctrines which they teach are from the lowest and foulest depths of the pit of lies. They deny God. They deny Christ. They deny the atone ment. They deny the Bible. They deny the exist ence of sin, and all distinction between right and wrong. They deny the sacredncss of the marriage relation ; and, interspersing their utterances with the most horrid blasphemies against God and his Son, HE DOETH ORE AT WONDERS. 155 and everything that is lovely, and good, and pure, they give the freest license to every propensity to sin, and to every carnal and fleshly lust. Tell us not that these things, openly taught under the garb of religion, and backed up by supernatural sights and sounds, are anything less than Satan s masterpiece. 2. Spiritualism answers accurately to the prophecy in the exhibition of great signs and wonders. Among its many achievements these may be mentioned : Various articles have been transported from place to place by spirits alone. Beautiful music has been pro duced independently of human agency, with and with out the aid of visible instruments. Many well-at tested cases of healing have been presented. Persons have been carried through the air by the spirits in the presence of many others. Tables have been sus pended in the air with several persons upon them. And finally, spirits have presented themselves in bod ily form, and talked with an audible voice. Experiments conducted by the great German phi losopher, Prof. Zollner, demonstrated the following facts, as related by him to Joseph Cook during the late visit of the latter to Europe ; namely, abnormal knots were tied in cords ; messages were written be tween doubly and trebly sealed slates ; coin passed through a table in a manner to illustrate the suspen sion of the laws of the impenetrability of matter ; straps of leather were knotted under Prof. Zollner s hands ; the impression of two feet was given on sooted paper pasted inside two sealed slates ; whole and un injured wooden rings were placed around the stand ard of a card-table, over either end of which they could by no possibility be slipped ; and finally, the table itself, a heavy beechen structure, wholly disap- 156 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. pcared, and then fell down from the top of the room in which Prof. Zollner and his friends were sitting. A writer in the Spiritual Clarion speaks as follows of the manner in which Spiritualism has arisen, and the astounding progress it has made : "This revelation has been with a power and a might, that, if di vested of its almost universal benevolence, had been a terror to the very soul ; the hair of the very bravest had stood on end, and his chilled blood had crept back upon his heart at the sights and sounds of its inexplicable phenomena. It comes with foretokening, with warning. It has been, from the very first, its own best prophet, and step by step it has foretold the progress it would make. It comes, too, most triumphant. No faith before it ever took so vic torious a stand in its infancy. It has swept like a hurricane of fire through the land, compelling faith from the baffled scoffer and the most determined doubter." 3. Spiritualism answers to the prophecy in that it had its origin in our own country, thus connecting its wonders with the work of the two-horned beast. Commencing in Hydesville,* N. Y., in the family of Mr. John D. Fox, in the latter part of March, 1848, it spread with incredible rapidity through all the States. It would be impossible to state the number of Spirit ualists in this country at the present time. In 1876, only twenty-eight years from the commencement of this remarkable movement, estimates of the number of its adherents were made by different ones, which, though differing somewhat from one another, are nev ertheless such as to show that the progress of Spirit ualism has been without a parallel. Thus, Judge Ed monds puts the number at five or six millions (5,000,- 000 or 6,000,000) ; Hepworth Dixon, three millions (3,000,000) ; A. J. Davis, four million two hundred and * This place is near Rochester, N. Y ; hence the phenomenon was known at first as the "Rochester Knockings." HE DOETH GEE AT WONDERS. 157 thirty thousand (4,230,000) ; Warren Chase, eight millions (8,000,000) ; and the Roman Catholic Coun cil at Baltimore, between ten and eleven millions (10,- 000,000 to 11,000,000). Of those who have become its devotees, Judge Edmonds said as long ago as 1853 : Besides the undistinguished multitude, there are many now of high standing and talent ranked among them, doctors, lawyers, and clergymen in great numbers, a Protestant bishop, the learned and reverend president of a college, judges of our higher courts, members of Congress, foreign ambassadors, and ex-members cf the United States Senate." This statement was written about thirty-two years ago ; and from that time to this the work of the spirits has been steadily progressing and spreading among all classes of people. One reason why it is now difficult to estimate the number of those who might properly be denominated Spiritualists, is that the more prominent and respect able of the adherents of this movement, are drawing under cover the obnoxious and immoral features of the system, heretofore so prominent, and assuming a Christian garb. By this move they bring themselves and a multitude of church members upon common ground, where there is no distinction between them in fact, though there still may be in name. And from this nation Spiritualism has gone abroad into all the earth. Queen Victoria is said to be a devotee of the new philosophy. See Townsend s 44 New World and Old," p. 201. The late rulers, the Emperor and Empress of France, the Queen of Spain, Pius IX., and Alexander II., are all said to have sought to these spirits for knowledge. The same is said of the present Emperor of Russia, Alexander III., who 158 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. is reported to have followed the direction of the spirits in regard to the time and manner of his coronation. Thus it is working its way to the potentates of the earth, and is fast preparing to accomplish its real mis sion, which is, by deceiving the world with its mira cles, to gather the nations to the battle of the great day of God Almighty. Rev. 16 : 13, 14. Here we pause. Let this work go on a little longer, as it has been going, and as it is still going, and what a scene is before us ! Having seen so much fulfilled, we cannot now draw back and deny the remainder. And so we look for the onward march of this last great wonder-working deception, till that is accom plished which in the days of Elijah was a test between Jehovah and Baal, and fire is brought down from heaven to earth in the sight of men. Rev. 13 : 13. Then will be the hour of the powers of darkness, the hour of temptation that is coming upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth. Rev. 3 : 10. Then all will be swept from their anchorage by the strong current of delusion, except those whom it is not possible to deceive the elect of God. Matt. 24 : 24. And still the world sleeps on, while Satan, with lightning fingers and hellish energy, weaves over them his last fatal snare. It is time some mighty move was made to waken the world, and arouse the church to the dangers we are in. It is time every honest heart should learn that the only safeguard against the great deception, whose incipient, and even well-advanced workings we already behold before our eyes, is to make the truths of God s holy and immut able word our shield and buckler. CHAPTER XII CHURCH AND STATE. HE imposing miracles wrought before the people having riveted upon them the chains of a fatal deception, leading them to suppose they have witnessed the great power of God, and must therefore be doing him service, when they have only been dazed with a mighty display of Satanic wonders, and are led captive by the Devil at his will, they are prepared to do the further bidding of the two-horned beast, which is to make an image to the beast which had the wound by a sword and did live. Rev. 13 : 14. Once more we remind the reader of the impregna ble strength of the argument already presented in previous chapters, fixing the application of this sym bol to the" United States. This is an established prop osition, and needs no further support. An exposition of the remainder of the prophecy will therefore con sist chiefly of an effort to determine what acts are to be performed by this government, and a search for indications, if any exist, that they are about to be ac complished. If we shall find evidences springing up on all sides that this government is now moving as rapidly as possible in the very direction marked out by the prophet, these indications, though not neces sary to establish the application of the symbol to this government, will serve to stifle the last excuse of skepticism, and become to the believer an impressive evidence of our proximity to the end; for the acts ascribed to this symbol are but few, and while yet in mid-career, he is ingulfed in the lake of fire of the last great day. T 159 ! 160 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. We may, however, notice in passing, another evi dence that the government symbolized by the two- horned beast is certainly a republic. This is proved by the language used respecting the formation of the image. It does not read that this power, as an act of imperial or kingly authority, makes an image to the beast ; but it says to them that dwell on the earth, that is, the people occupying the territory where it arises, that they should make an image to the beast. Appeal is made to the people, showing conclusively that the power is in their hands. But just as surely as the government symbolized is a republic, so surely it is none other than the United States of America. We have seen that the wonder-working, Satanic agencies, which are to perform the foretold miracles, and prepare the people for the next step in the proph ecy, the formation of the image, are already in the field, and have even now wrought out a work of vast proportions in our country ; and we now hasten for ward to the very important inquiry, What will con stitute the image, and what steps are necessary to its formation ? The people are to be called upon to make an image to the beast, which expression doubtless involves the idea of some deferential action toward, or concessions to, that power ; and the image, when made, is an im age, likeness, or representation of the beast. Verse 15. The beast after which the image is modeled is the one which had a wound by a sword and did live ; that is, the papacy. From this point is seen the col lusion of the two-horned beast vvith the leopard or papal beast. He does great wonders in the sight of that beast : he causes men to worship that beast ; he leads them to make an image to that beast ; and he CHURCH AND STATE 161 causes all to receive a mark, which is the mark of that beast. These palpable evidences of co-operation with the papal power led Eld. J. Litch, about 1842, to write concerning the two-horned beast thus : "I think it is a power yet to be developed, or made manifest, as an accomplice of the papacy in subjecting the world." To understand what would be an image of the pa pacy, we must first gain some definite idea of what constitutes the papacy itself. Papal supremacy dates from the time when the decree of Justinian constitut ing the pope the head of the Church and the corrector of heretics, was carried into effect in A. D. 538. The papacy, then, was a Church clothed with civil power, an ecclesiastical body having authority to punish all dissenters with confiscation of goods, imprison ment, torture, and death. What would be an image of the papacy ? Another ecclesiastical establishment clothed with similar power. How could such an im age be formed in this country ? It is not difficult to conceive a state of things a state of things by no means impossible, and according to present prospects not even improbable which would meet the proph ecy precisely. Let the Protestant churches in our land be clothed with power to define and punish her esy, to enforce their dogmas under the pains and pen alties of the civil law, and should we not have an ex act representation of the papacy during the days of its supremacy ? It may be objected that whereas the papal Church was comparatively a unit, and hence could act in har mony in all its departments in enforcing its dogmas, the Protestant Church is so divided as to be unable to agree in regard to what doctrines shall be made im- 11 162 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS, perative on the people. We answer, There are cer tain points which they hold in common, and which are sufficient to form a basis of co-operation. Chief among these may be mentioned the doctrine of " the conscious state of the dead" and " the immortality of the soul," which is both the foundation and super structure of spiritualism, and also the doctrine that "the first day of the week is the Christian Sabbath." It may be objected, again, that this view makes one of the horns of this two-horned beast, the Protestant Church, finally constitute the image of the papal beast. If the reader supposes that the Protestant Church con stitutes one of the horns of the two-horned beast, we reply that this is a conception of his own. No such idea is here taught ; and we mention this objection only because it has been actually urged as a legiti mate consequence of the positions here taken. The question is also asked, If the Protestant Church con stitutes one horn, may not the Catholic Church con stitute the other ? Under the shadow of that hypo thetical " if," perhaps it might. But neither the one nor the other performs such an office. In Chapter IX. of this work it has been shown that the two great principles Republicanism and Protestantism were the proper objects to be symbolized by these two lamb-like horns. But there is the plainest distinction between Protestantism as an embodiment of the great principle of religious liberty,, and the different relig ious bodies that have grown up under its fostering in fluence, just as plain as there is between Republi canism, or civil liberty, and the individual who lives in the enjoyment of such liberty. The supposition, therefore, that the Protestant Church is to furnish the CHURCH AND STATE. 163 material for the image, involves no violation of the symbolic harmony of this prophecy. Let us look a moment at the fitness of the material. We are not unmindful of the noble service the Prot estant churches have rendered to the world, to hu manity, and to religion, by introducing and defend ing, so far as they have, the great principles of Prot estantism. But they have made a fatal mistake in stereotyping their doctrines into creeds, and thus tak ing the first step backward toward the spiritual tyr anny of Rome. Thus the good promise they gave of a free religion and an unfettered conscience is already broken ; for if the right of private judgment is allowed by the Protestant Church, why are men condemned and expelled from that Church for no other crime than honestly attempting to obey the word of God, in some particulars not in accordance with her creed ? This is the beginning of apostasy. Read Chas. Beecher s work, " The Bible a Sufficient Creed." " Is not the Protestant Church," he asks, " apostate ? " Is not the apostasy which we have reason to fear " already formed?" But apostasy in principle always leads to corruption in practice. And so Paul, in 2 Tim. 3 : 1- 5, sets forth the condition of the professed Church of Christ in the last days. A rank growth of twenty heinous sins, with no redeeming virtues, shows that the fruits of the Spirit will be choked and rooted out by the works of the flesh. We can look nowhere else for this picture of Paul s to be fulfilled, except to the Protestant Church ; for the class of which he speaks maintain a "form of godliness," or the outward serv ices of a true Christian worship. And is not the Church of our day beginning to manifest to an alarm ing degree the very characteristics which the apostle TEE MARVEL OF NATIONS. has specified ? Fifteen clergymen of the city of Roch ester, N. Y., on Sunday, Feb. 5, 1871, distributed a circular entitled " A Testimony," to fifteen congrega tions of that city. To this circular the Rochester Democrat of Feb. 1 made reference as follows : "The Testimony sets out by stating that the foregoing pastors are constrained to bear witness to what they conceive to be a fact of our time ; viz., that the prevailing standard of piety among the professed people of God is alarmingly low ; that a tide of worldli- ness is setting in upon us, indicating the rapid approach of an era such as is foretold by Paul in his second letter to Timothy, in the words, "In the last days perilous times shall come." These con clusions are reached, not by comparison with former times, but by applying the tests found in the Scriptures. They instance, as proof, the spirit of lawlessness which prevails. The circular then explains how this lawlessness (religious) is shown. Men have the name of religion, but they obey none of its injunctions. There is also a growing disposition to practice, in religious circles, what is agreeable to the natural inclinations, rather than the duties pre scribed by the word of God. The tendency to adopt worldly amusements, by professed Christians, is further stated in evidence." This testimony is very explicit. When men "have the name of religion, but obey none of its injunctions," they certainly may be said to have " a form of godli ness," but to "deny the power;" and when they " practice in religious circles what is agreeable to the natural inclinations, rather than the duties prescribed by the word of God," they may truthfully be said to be " lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God." And Rochester is not an exception in this respect. It is so all over the land, as the candid everywhere, by a sad array of facts, are compelled to admit. That the majority of the Christians in our land are still to be found in connection with these churches, is undoubtedly true. But a change in this respect is also approaching ; for Paul, in his words to Timothy, CHURCH AND STATE. 165 above referred to, exhorts all true Christians to "turn away" from those who have a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof ; and those who desire to live pure and holy lives, who mourn over the desolations of their Zion, and sigh for the abominations done in the land, will certainly heed this injunction of the apostle. There is another prophecy which also shows that when the spirit of worldliness and apostasy has so far taken possession of the professed churches of Christ as to place them beyond the reach of reform, God s true children are every one to be called out, that they become not partakers of their sins, and so re ceive not of their plagues. Rev. 18 : 4. From the course which church members are every where pursuing, it is plain to be seen in what direc tion the Protestant churches are drifting ; and from the declarations of God s word it is evident that all whose hearts are touched by God s grace, and molded by his love, will soon come out from a connection in which, while they can do no good to others, they will receive only evil to themselves. And now we ask the reader to consider seriously for a moment what the state of the religious world will be when this change shall have taken place. We shall then have an array of proud and popular churches, from whose communion all the good have departed, from whom the Holy Spirit is withdrawn, and who are in a state of hopeless departure from God. God is no respecter of persons nor of churches ; and if the Protestant churches apostatize from him, will they not be just as efficient agents in the hand of the enemy as ever pagans or papists have been ? Will they not then be ready for any desperate meas ure of bigotry and oppression in which he may wish 166 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. to enlist them ? After the Jewish Church had finally rejected Christ, how soon they were ready to imbrue their hands in the blood of his crucifixion ! And is it not the testimony of all history that just in propor tion as any popular and extensive ecclesiastical or ganization loses the Spirit and power of God, it clam ors for the support of the civil arm ? Let, now, an ecclesiastical organization be formed by these churches ; let the government legalize such organization, and give it power (a power which it will not have till the government does grant it) to enforce upon the people the dogmas which the different de nominations can all adopt as the basis of union, and what do we have ? Just what the prophecy repre sents, an image to the papal beast, endowed with life by the two-horned beast, to speak and act with power. And are there any indications of such a movement ? The preliminary question,, that of the grand union of all the churches, is now profoundly agitating the re ligious world. In May, 1869, S. M, Manning, D. D., in a sermon in Broadway Tabernacle, New York, spoke of the recent efforts to unite all the churches in the land into co operation on the common points of their faith, as a "prominent and noteworthy sign of the times" Dr. Lyman Beecher is quoted as saying : "There is a state of society to be formed by an extended com bination of institutions, religions, civil, and literary, which never exists without the co-operation of an educated ministry." Chas. Beecher, in his sermon at the dedication of the Second Presbyterian Church, Ft. Wayne, Ind., Feb. 22, 1846, said :- "Thus are the ministry of the evangelical Protestant denomina- CHURCH AND STATE. 16T tions not only formed all the way up under a tremendous pressure of merely human fear, but they live, and move, and breathe in a state of things radically corrupt, and appealing every hour to ev ery baser element of their nature to hush up the truth, and bow the knee to the power of apostasy. Was not this the way things went with Rome ? Are we not living her life over again ? And what do we see just ahead ? Another general council ! a world s convention ! Evangelical Alliance and Universal Creed ! " The Banner of Light of July 30, 1864, said : "A system will be unfolded sooner or later that will embrace in its folds Church and State ; for the object of the two should be one and the same. The time is rapidly approaching when the world will be startled by a voice that shall say to every form of oppres sion and wrong, Thus far shalt thou go, and no farther. Old things are rapidly passing away in the religious and social, as well as in the political world. Behold, all things must be formed anew." The Church Advocate, in March, 1870, speaking of the formation of an " Independent American Catholic Church," a movement now agitated in this country, said : "There is evidently some secret power at work which may be preparing the world for great events in the near future." A Mr. Havens, in a speech delivered in New York a few years ago, said : "For my own part, I wait to see the day when a Luther shali spring up in this country, who shall found a great American Cath olic Church, instead of a great Roman Catholic Church ; and who shall teach men that they can be good Catholics without profess ing allegiance to a pontiff on the other side of the Atlantic." There are indications, as will be shown in a subse quent chapter, that at no distant day such a Church will be seen, not, indeed, raised up through the in strumentality of a Luther, but rather through the op eration of the same spirit that inspired a Fernando Nunez or a Torquemada. CHAPTER XIII. THE SUNDAY QUESTION. principal acts ascribed to the two-horned beast, which seem to be performed with special reference to the papal beast, are, causing men to "worship" that beast, causing them to "make an image" to that beast, and enforcing upon them "the mark" of the beast. The image, after it is created and endowed with life, undertakes to enforce the wor ship of itself. To avoid confusion, we must keep these parties distinct in our minds. There are three here brought before us : 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 Rev. 13, is represented through the remainder of the prophecy by the pro noun "he ;" and wherever this pronoun occurs, down to the 17th verse (with possibly the exception of the 16th verse, which perhaps may refer to the image), it refers invariably to the two-horned beast. 3. The Image of the Beast. This is, every time, with the exception just stated, called the image ; so that there is no danger of confounding this with any other agent. [168] THE SUNDAY QUESTION. 169 The acts ascribed to the image are, speaking, and enforcing the worship of itself under the penalty of death ; and this is the only enactment which the prophecy mentions as enforced under the death pen alty. Just what will constitute this worship, it will perhaps be impossible to determine till the image it self shall have an existence. It will evidently be some act or acts by which men will be required to acknowl edge the authority of that image, and yield obedience to its mandates. 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. Verse 17. 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 Rev. 14 : 9-12, is a most solemn and thrilling warning. Here, then, is the issue before us. Human organ izations, controlled and inspired by the spirit of the dragon, are to command njen to do those acts which are, in reality, the worshiping of an apostate religious power, and the receiving of his mark, or lose the rights of citizenship, and become outlaws in the land, to do that which constitutes the worship of the image of the beast, or forfeit their lives. On the other hand, God says, by a message mercifully sent out a little before the fearful crisis is upon us, Do any of these things, and you " shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation." Rev. 14 : 9-11. He who refuses to comply with these demands of earthly powers exposes himself to the severest penalties which human beings 1TO THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. can inflict ; and he who does comply, exposes himself to the most terrible threatening of divine wrath to be found in the word of God. The question whether we will obey God or man is to be decided by the people of the present age, under the heaviest pressure, from either side, that has ever been brought to bear upon any generation. The worship of the beast and his image, and the reception of his mark, must be something that in volves the greatest offense that can be committed against God, to call down so severe a denunciation of wrath against it. This is a work, as was shown in Chapter VII., which takes place in the last days ; and as God has given us in his word most abundant evidence to show when we are in the last days, that no one need be overtaken by the day of the Lord as by a thief, so, likewise, it must be that he has given us the means whereby we may determine what this great latter-day sin is which he has so strongly con demned, that we may not incur the fearful penalty so sure to follow its commission. God does not so trifle with human hopes and human destinies as to denounce a most fearful doom against a certain sin, and then place it beyond our power to understand what that sin is, so that we have no means of guarding against it. That we are now living in the last days, the vol umes of both revelation and nature bear ample and harmonious testimony. Evidence on this point we need not here stop to introduce ; for the testimony already presented in the foregoing chapters of this work, showing that the two-horned beast is now on the stage of action, is in itself conclusive proof of this great fact, inasmuch as this power exists and performs its work in the very closing period of human history. THE SUNDAY QUESTION. 171 All these things tell us that the time has now come for the proclamation of the third message of Rev. 14 to be given, and for men to understand the terms it uses, and the warning it gives. We therefore now call attention to the very impor tant inquiry, What constitutes the mark of the beast? The figure of a mark is borrowed from an ancient cus tom. Says Bishop Newton (Dissertations on the Prophecies, London, one volume edition, p. 546) : " It was customary among the ancients for servants to receive the mark of their master, and soldiers of their general, and those who were devoted to any particular deity, of the particular deity to whom they were devoted. These marks were usually impressed on their right hand or on their foreheads, and consisted of some hie roglyphic character, or of the name expressed in vulgar letters, or of the name disguised in numerical letters, according to the fancy of the imposer." Prideaux says that Ptolemy Philopater ordered all the Jews who applied to be enrolled as citizens of Al exandria to have the form of an ivy leaf (the badge of his god, Bacchus) impressed upon them with a hot iron, under pain of death. (Connection, vol. ii., p. Y8.) The word used for mark in this prophecy is ^dpay^c (charagma), and is defined to mean, "a graving, sculpture ; a mark cut in or stamped." It occurs nine times in the New Testament, and with the single ex ception of Acts 1Y : 29, refers every time to the mark of the beast. We are not, of course, to understand in this symbolic prophecy that a literal mark is in tended ; but the giving of the literal mark, as prac ticed in ancient times, is used as a figure to illustrate certain acts that will be performed in the fulfillment of this prophecy. And from the literal mark as for merly employed, we learn something of its meaning as used in the prophecy ; for between the symbol and MARVEL OF NATIONS. the thing symbolized there must be some resemblance The mark, as literally used, signified that the person receiving it was the servant of, acknowledged the au* thority of, or professed allegiance to, the person whose mark he bore. So the mark of the beast, or of the papacy, must be some act or profession by which the authority of that power is acknowledged. What is it ? It would naturally be looked for in some of the special characteristics of the papal power. Daniel, describing that power under the symbol of a little horn, speaks of it as waging a special warfare against God, wearing out the saints of the Most High, and thinking to change times and laws. The prophet ex pressly specifies on this point : " He shall think to change times and laws." These laws must certainly be the laws of the Most High. To apply it to human laws, and make the prophecy read, "And he shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change human laws," would be doing evident violence to the language of the prophet. But apply it to the laws of God, and let it read, "And he shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and shall think to change the times and laws of the Most High! and all is consist ent and forcible. The Hebrew has rn (dath) law, and the Septuagint reads, vd/zo? (nomos), in the singular, " the law," which more directly suggests the law of God. The papacy has been able to do more than merely "think" to change human laws. It has changed them at pleasure. It has annulled the de crees of kings and emperors, and absolved subjects from allegiance to their rightful sovereigns. It has thrust its long arm into the affairs of nations, and THE SUNDAY QUESTION. 173 brought rulers to its feet in the most abject humility. But the prophet beholds greater acts of presumption than these. He sees it endeavor to do what it was not able to do, but could only think to do ; he sees it attempt an act which no man, nor any combination of men, can ever accomplish ; and that is, to change the law of the Most High. Bear this in mind while we look at the testimony of another sacred writer on this very point. Paul speaks of the same power in 2 Thess. 2 ; and he describes it, in the person of the pope, as " the man of sin," and as sitting as God in the temple of God (that is, the Church), and as exalting himself " above all that is called God, or that is worshiped." Accord ing to this, the pope sets himself up as the one for all the Church to look to for authority, in the place of God. And now we ask the reader to ponder carefully the question how he can exalt himself above God. Search through the whole range of human devices, go to the extent of human effort ; by what plan, by what move, by what claim, could this usurper exalt himself above God? He might institute any number of cer emonies, he might prescribe any form of worship, he might exhibit any degree of power ; but so long as God had requirements which the people felt bound to regard in preference to his own, so long he would not be above God. He might enact a law, and teach the people that they were under as great obligations to that as to the law of God ; then he would only make himself equal with God. But he is to do more than this ; he is to attempt to raise himself above him. Then he must promulgate a law which conflicts with the law of God, and demand obedience to his own law in preference to that of God, There is no other pos- 174: THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. sible way in which he could place himself in the posi tion assigned in the prophecy. But to do this is sim ply to endeavor to change the law of God ; and if he can cause this change to be adopted by the people in place of the original enactment, then he, the law- changer, is above God, the law-maker. And this is the very work that Daniel said he should think to do. Such a work as this, then, the papacy must accom plish according to the prophecy ; and the prophecy cannot fail. And when this is done, what do the peo ple of the world have ? They have two laws demand ing obedience, one, the law of God as originally enacted by him, an embodiment of his will, and ex pressing 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 honor 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. But further : the prophecy does not say that the little horn should set aside the law of God, and give one entirely different. This would not be to change the law, but simply to give a new one. He was only to attempt a change, so that the law that comes from God, and the law that comes from the papacy, are precisely alike, excepting the change which the papacy has made in the former. They have many points in common. But none of the pre cepts which they contain in common can distinguish a person as the worshiper of either power in prefer ence to the other. If God s law says, " Thou shalt not kill," and the law as given by the papacy says the THE SUNDAY QUESTION. 175 same, no one can tell by a person s observance of that precept whether he designed to obey God rather than the pope, or the pope rather than God. But when a precept that has been changed is the subject of ac tion, as, for instance, if God says that the seventh day is the Sabbath on which we must rest, but the pope says that the first day is the Sabbath, and that we should keep this day and not the seventh, then whoever observes that precept as originally given by God, is thereby distinguished as a worshiper of God ; and he who keeps it as changed, is thereby marked as a follower of the power that made the change. In no other way can the two classes of worshipers be distinguished. From this conclusion, no candid mind can dissent ; but in this conclusion we have a general answer to the question, " What constitutes the mark of the beast?" namely, THE MARK OF THE BEAST IS THE CHANGE THE BEAST HAS MADE IN THE LAW OF GOD. We now inquire if the Catholic power has attempted any change in the law of God, and if so, what that change is. By the law of God we mean the moral law, the only law in the universe of immutable and perpetual obligation, the law of which Webster says, defining the terms according to the sense in which they are almost universally used in Christendom, "The moral law is summarily contained in the deca logue, written by the finger of God on two tables of stone, and delivered to Moses on Mount Sinai." If, now, the reader will compare the ten command ments as found in Roman Catholic catechisms with those commandments as found in the Bible, he will see that in the catechisms the second commandment is left out, the tenth is divided into two to make up 176 TEE MARVEL OF NATIONS. the lack caused by leaving out the second, thus keeping good the number ten, and the fourth commandment (called the third in their enumeration) is made to en join the observance of Sunday as the Sabbath, and prescribe that the day shall be spent in "hearing mass devoutly, attending vespers, and reading moral and pious books." Here are several variations from the decalogue as found in the Bible. Here are some marked changes. How have they come about ? Are they authorized in the Scriptures ? or has the papacy made them of its own will ? Do any of these consti tute the change contemplated in the prophecy ? and if so, which? or are they all included in that change? Let it be borne in mind, that, according to the proph ecy, 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 ques tion. But respecting the omission of the second com mandment, 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 neighbor s wife the ninth command, and the covet ing of his goods the tenth. In all this they claim that they are giving the com mandments exactly as God intended to have them understood. So, while we may regard them as errors in their interpretation of the commandments, we can not set them down as intentional changes. Not so, however, with the fourth commandment. Respecting this commandment they do not claim that their ver sion is like that given by God. They expressly claim a change here, and also that the change has been THE SUNDAY QUESTION. made by the Church. A few quotations from stand ard Catholic works will make this matter plain. In a work entitled " Treatise of Thirty Controversies," we find these words : " The word of God commandeth the seventh day to be the Sab bath of our Lord, and to be kept holy ; you [Protestants], with out any precept of Scripture, change it to the first day of the week, only authorized by our traditions. Divers English Puritans oppose, against this point, that the observation of the first day is proved out of Scripture, where it is said, the first day of the week. Acts 20: 7; 1 Cor. 16:2; Rev. 1:10. Have they not spun a fair thread in quoting these places ? If we should produce no better for purgatory and prayers for the dead, invocation of the saints, and the like, they might have good cause, indeed, to laugh us to scorn ; for where is it written that these were Sabbath days in which those meetings were kept ? Or where is it ordained they should be always observed ? Or, which is the sum of all, where is it decreed that the observation of the first day should abrogate, or abolish, the sanctifying of the seventh day, which God com manded everlastingly to be kept holy ? Not one of these is ex pressed in the written word of God." In the " Catholic Catechism of Christian Religion," on the subject of the third (fourth) commandment, we find these questions and answers : " Ques. What does God ordain by this commandment ? "Ans. He ordains that we sanctify, in a special manner, this day on which he rested from the labor of creation. " Q. What is this day of rest ? "A. The seventh day of the week, or Saturday; for he em ployed six days in creation, and rested on the seventh. Gen. 2:2; Heb. 4:1; etc. " Q. Is it, then, Saturday we should sanctify in order to obey the ordinance of God ? "A. During the old law, Saturday was the day sanctified ; but the Church, instructed by Jesus Christ, and directed by the Spirit of God, has substituted Sunday for Saturday ; so now we sanctify the first, not the seventh day. Sunday means, and now is, the day of the Lord." 12 178 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. In the " Catholic Christian Instructed," we read : " Ques. What are the days which the Church commands to be kept holy ? " Ans. 1st. The Sunday, or the Lord s day, which we observe by apostolic tradition, instead of the Sabbath. 2dly. The feasts of our Lord s Nativity, or Christmas-day ;. his Circumcision, or New- Year s day; the Epiphany, or Twelfth day ; Easter-day, or the day of our Lord s Resurrection ; the day of our Lord s Ascen sion ; Whitsunday, or the day of the coming of the Holy Ghost ; Trinity Sunday ; Corpus Christi, or the feast of the Blessed Sac rament. 3dly. We keep the day of the Annunciation, and As sumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 4thly. We observe the feast of All-Saints. " Q. What warrant have you for keeping the Sunday preferable to the ancient Sabbath, which was the Saturday ? "A. We have for it the authority of the Catholic Church, and apostolic tradition. " Q. Does the Scripture anywhere command the Sunday to be kept for the Sabbath ? " A. The Scripture commands us to hear the church (Matt. 18: 17; Luke 10: 16), and to hold fast the traditions of the apostles. 2 Thess. 2:15. But the Scriptures do not in particular mention this change of the Sabbath. St. John speaks of the Lord s day (Rev. 1:10); but he does not tell us what day of the week this was, much less does he tell us that this day was to take the place of the Sabbath ordained in the commandments. St. Luke also speaks of the disciples meeting together to break bread on the first day of the week. Acts 20: 7. And St. Paul (1 Cor. 16: 2) or ders that on the first day of the week the Corinthians should lay by in store what they designed to bestow in charity on the faith ful in Judea ; but neither the one nor the other tells us that this first day of the week was to be henceforward the day of worship, and the Christian Sabbath ; so that truly, the best authority we have for this is the testimony and ordinance of the Church. And, therefore, those who pretend to be so religious of the Sunday, whilst they take no notice of other festivals ordained by the same Church authority, show that they act by humor, and not by reason and religion ; since Sundays and holy days all stand upon the same foundation, viz., the ordinance of the Church." Catholic Christian Instructed, published by P. J. Kenedy, 5 Barclay St., New York, edi tion of 1884, pp. 202, 203. THE SUNDAY QUESTION. 179 In the "Doctrinal Catechism" we find further tes timony to the same point : " Ques. Have you any other way of proving that the Church has power to institute festivals of precept ? " Ans. Had she not such power, she conld 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." Doctrinal Catechism, P. J. Kenedy, New York, p. 174. From the article on "Obedience to the Church," Chapter VI., in the same work, p. 181, we take the following : " Ques. In what manner can we show a Protestant that he speaks unreasonably against fasts and abstinences ? "Ans. Ask him why he keeps Sunday, and not Saturday, as his day of rest, since he is unwilling either to fast or to abstain. If he reply that the Scripture orders him to keep the Sunday, but says nothing as to fasting and abstinence, tell him the Scripture speaks of Saturday, or the Sabbath, but gives no command any where regarding Sunday, or the first day of the week. If, then, he neglects Saturday as a day of rest and holiness, and substitutes Sunday in its place, and this merely because such was the usage of the ancient Church, should he not, if he wishes to act consist ently, observe fasting and abstinence, because the ancient Church so ordained ? " The "Doctrinal Catechism" also attacks the prac tice of Protestants in not adhering to their platform that the Bible alone is a rule of faith and practice. Among the things not contained in the Scriptures which nevertheless Protestants generally believe, it mentions the following : "It [the Scripture] does not tell us whether infants should be baptized ; whether the obligation of keeping Saturday holy has been done away with ; whether Sunday should be kept in its place," etc. Id., pp. 87, 88. 180 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. In " Abridgment of Christian Doctrine," we find this testimony : " Ques. How prove you that the Church hath power to com mand feasts and holy days ? " Am. 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 finally, W. Lockhart, late B. A. of Oxford, in the Toronto (Catholic) Mirror, offered the following "challenge" to all the Protestants of Ireland, a challenge as well calculated for this latitude as that. He says : "I do, therefore, solemnly challenge the Protestants of Ireland to prove, by plain texts of Scripture, these questions concerning the obligations of the Christian Sabbath : 1. That Christians may work on Saturday, the old seventh day ; 2. That they are bound to keep holy the first day, namely, Sunday ; 3. That they are not bound to keep holy the seventh day also." This is- what the papal power claims to have done respecting the fourth (in their enumeration, the third) commandment. Catholics plainly acknowledge that there is no scriptural authority for the change they have made in this commandment, but that it rests wholly upon the authority of the Church ; and they claim this change as a " token " or " mark " of the au thority of that Church, appealing in the most explicit language to the " very act of changing tJie Sabbath into Sunday " as proof of its power in this respect. For further testimony on this point, the reader is re ferred to a tract published at the REVIEW Office, Bat tle Creek, Mich., entitled, " Who Changed the Sab- THE SUNDAY QUESTION. 181 bath ?".in which are also extracts from Catholic writ ers refuting the arguments usually relied upon to prove the Sunday Sabbath, and showing that its only authority is the Catholic Church. "But," says one, "I supposed that Christ changed the Sabbath." A great many suppose so ; and it is natural that they should ; for they have been so taught. And while we have no words of denunciation to utter against any such persons for so believing, we would have them at once understand that it is, in reality, one of the most enormous of all errors. We would therefore remind such persons that, according to the prophecy, the only change ever to be made in the law of God, was to be made by the little horn of Dan iel 7, the man of sin of 2 Thessalonians 2 ; and the only change that has been made in it, is the change of the Sabbath. Now, if Christ made this change, he filled the office of the blasphemous power spoken of by both Daniel and Paul, a conclusion sufficiently hideous to drive any Christian from the view which leads thereto. Why should any one labor to prove that Christ changed the Sabbath ? Whoever does this is per forming a thankless task. The pope will not thank him ; for if it is proved that Christ wrought this change, then the pope is robbed of his badge of au thority and power. And no truly enlightened Prot estant 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 therefore that the prophecy has failed, and the Scriptures are unreliable. The matter had better stand as the prophecy has placed it, and the claim which the pope unwittingly puts forth had better be granted. When a person is 182 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. charged with any work, and abundant evidence is at hand to show that he did it, and the jury bring in a verdict of " Guilty," and finally the person himself 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, and does the work foretold, and indis putable evidence is presented to show that it has done the work, and finally that power openly claims that it has done it, what need have we of further evi dence ? The world should not forget that the great apostasy foretold by Paul has taken place ; that the " man of sin" for long ages held almost a monopoly of what he styled Christian teaching in the world ; that the mys tery of iniquity has cast the darkness of its shadow and the errors of its doctrines over almost all Christen dom ; and that out of this era of error and darkness and corruption, the theology of our day has come. Would it, then, be anything strange to find that there are yet some relics of popery to be discarded ere the Reformation will be complete ? A. Campbell (Bap tism, p. 15), speaking of the Protestant sects, says : "All of them retain in their bosom in their ecclesiastical or ganizations, worship, doctrines, and observances various relics of popery. They are at best a reformation of popery, and only reformations in part. The doctrines and traditions of men yet impair the power and progress of the gospel in their hands." The nature of the change which the little horn has attempted to effect in the law of God is worthy of notice. With true Satanic instinct, he undertakes to change that commandment which, of all others, is the fundamental commandment of the law, the one which THE SUNDAY QUESTION. 183 makes known "who the lawgiver is, and contains his signature of royalty. The fourth commandment does this ; no other one does. Four others, it is true, con tain the word " God," and three of them the word " Lord, "also. But who is this Lord God of whom they speak ? Without the fourth commandment, it is impossible to tell ; for idolaters of every grade might apply these terms to the multitudinous objects of their adoration. But when we have the fourth command ment to point out the Author of the decalogue, the claims of every false god are annulled at one stroke ; for it is at once seen that the God who here demands our worship is not any created being, but the one who created all things. The maker of the earth and sea, the sun and moon, and all the starry host, the upholder and governor of the universe, is the one who claims, and who, from his position, has a right to claim, our supreme regard in preference to every other object. The commandment which makes known these facts is, therefore, the very one we might suppose that power which designed to exalt itself above God (2 Thess. 2:3, 4) would undertake to change. God gave the Sabbath as a memorial of himself, a weekly reminder to the sons of men of his work in creating the heavens and the earth, a great barrier against atheism and idolatry. It is the signa ture and seal of the law. This the papacy has torn from its place, and erected in its stead, on its own au thority, another institution, designed to serve another purpose. 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 have long been taught to 184 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. regard this institution with reverence will perhaps start back with little less than feelings of horror at this conclusion. We have not space, nor is this perhaps the place, to enter into an extended argument on the Sabbath question, and an exposition of the origin and nature of the observance of the first day of the week. Let us submit this one proposition : If the seventh day is still the Sabbath enjoined in the fourth commandment ; if the observance of the first day of the week has no foundation whatever in the Script ures ; 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 symbolized 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 ? The answer must be in the affirmative. But all these hypotheses can easily be shown to be certainties. See " History of the Sabbath," and other works on the subject, pub lished at the REVIEW Office. To these we can only refer the reader, in passing. It will be said again, Then all Sunday-keepers have the mark of the beast ; then all the good of past ages who kept this day, had the mark of the beast ; then Luther, Whitefield, the Wesleys, and all who have done a good and noble work of reformation, had the mark of the beast ; then all the blessings that have been poured upon the reformed churches have been poured upon those who had the mark of the beast. We answer, No! And we are sorry to say that some professedly religious teachers, though many times corrected, persist in misrepresenting us on this point. We have never so held ; we have never so taught. Our premises lead to no such conclusions. Give ear : THE SUNDAY QUESTION. 185 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 Rev. 14 is a warning mercifully sent out in advance to pre pare the people for the coming danger. There can, therefore, be no worship of the beast, nor reception of his mark, such as is contemplated in the prophecy, //// it is enforced by the t^^vo-horned beast. We have seen that 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 know ing it to be the work of the beast, and receive it on the authority of that power, in opposition to the re quirement of God. But how with those referred to above, who have kept Sunday in the past, and the majority of those who are keeping it to-day ? Do they keep it as an institution of the papacy ? No. Have they decided between this and the Sabbath of our Lord, under standing the claims of each ? No. On what ground have they kept it, and do they still keep it ? They suppose they are keeping a commandment of God. Have such the mark of the beast ? By no means. Their course is attributable to an error unwittingly received from the Church of Rome, not to an act of worship rendered to it. But how is it to be in the future ? The Church which is 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 186 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS Sabbath question. The third angel (Rev. 1-i : 9-12) proclaims the commandments of God, leading men to the true in place of the counterfeit. The dragon is stirred, and so controls the wicked govern ments 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 fairly before the peo ple. On the one hand, they are required to keep the true Sabbath ; on the other, a counterfeit. For re fusing to keep the true, the message denounces 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 ob ject of my adoration ; under his banner, in opposi tion to your authority, 1 henceforth array myself; to him, in defiance of your claims, I henceforth yield the obedience of my heart and life. In comparison with the fear of his punishments, I despise your wrath. Such is the spirit which will actuate the hearts of the beast-worshipers, a spirit which insults the God of the universe to his face, and is prevented only by lack of power from overthrowing his government and annihilating his throne. Is it any wonder that Jehovah denounces against so Heaven-daring a course the threatening brought to view in the scripture last referred to the most terrible threatening that his word contains ? Rev. 14 : 9-12. CHAPTER XIV. INDICATIONS OF COMING CHANGES. E have now found what, according to the prophecy, will constitute the image which the two-horned beast is to cause to be made, and the mark which it will attempt to enforce. The move ment which is to fulfill this portion of the prophecy is to be looked for among those classes which constitute the professedly religious portion of the people. First, some degree of union must be effected between the various Protestant churches, with some degree of co alition, also, between these bodies and the beast power, or Roman Catholicism ; and secondly, steps must be taken to bring the law of the land to the support of the Sunday Sabbath. These movements the proph ecy calls for ; and 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. When the application of Rev. 13 : 11-17 to the United States was first made, over thirty-five years ago, these positions respecting a union of the churches and a grand Sunday movement were taken. But at that time no sign appeared above or beneath, at home or abroad, no token was seen, no indication existed, that such an issue would ever be made. But there was the prophecy, and that must stand. The United States government had given abundant evidence, by its location, the time of its rise, the manner of its rise, and its apparent character, that it was the power sym- [187] 188 THE MARVEL OF NATION S. bolized by the two-horned beast. There could be no mistake in the conclusion that it was the very nation intended by that symbol. This being so, it must take the course, and perform the acts foretold. But here were predictions which could be fulfilled by nothing less than the above-named religious movements, re sulting in a virtual union of Church and State, and the enforcement of the papal Sabbath as a mark of the beast. To take the position at that time that this govern ment was to pursue such a policy and engage in such a work, without any apparent probability in its favor, was no small act of faith. On the other hand, to deny or ignore it, while admitting the application of the symbol to this government, would be in accordance with neither Scripture nor logic. The only course for the humble, confiding student of prophecy to pur sue in such cases, is to take the light as it is given, and believe the prophecy in all its parts. So the stand was boldly taken ; and open proclamation has been made from that day to this, that such a work would be seen in the United States. With every re view of the argument, new features of strength have been discovered in the application ; and amid a storm of scornful incredulity, we have watched the progress of events, and awaited the hour of fulfillment. Meanwhile, Spiritualism has astonished the world with its terrible progress, and shown itself to be the wonder-working element which was to exist in con nection with this power. This has mightily strength ened the evidence of the application. And now, within a few years past, what have we further seen ? No less than the commencement of that very movement respecting the formation of the image and the enact- INDICATIONS OF COMING CHANGES. 189 ment of Sunday laws, which we have so long expected, and which is to complete the prophecy, and close the scene. Reference was made in Chapter XL to the move ment now on foot for a grand union of all the Churches ; not a union which rises from the putting away of error and uniting upon the harmonious principles of truth, but simply a combination of sects, each retain ing its own particular creed, but confederated for the purpose of carrying out more extensively the com mon points of their faith. This movement finds a strong undercurrent of favor in all the Churches ; and men are engaged to carry it through who are not easily turned from their purpose. And there has suddenly arisen a class of men whose souls are absorbed with the cognate idea of Sunday reform, and who have dedicated every energy of their being to the carrying forward of this kindred move ment. The New York Sabbath Committee have labored zealously, by means of books, tracts, speeches, and sermons, to create a strong public sentiment in behalf of Sunday. Making slow progress through moral suasion, they seek a shorter path to the accom plishment of their purposes through political power. And why not ? Christianity has become popular, and her professed adherents are numerous. Why not avail themselves of the power of the ballot to secure their ends? Rev. J. S. Smart (Methodist), in a pub lished sermon on the " Political Duties of Christian Men and Ministers," expresses a largely prevailing sentiment on this question, when he says : "I claim that we have, and ought to have, just as much concern in the government of this country as any other men. . . . We are the mass of the people. Virtue in this country is not weak ; her 190 THE MARVEL OF 1 NATIONS. ranks arc; strong in numbers, and invincible from the righteous ness of her cause invincible if united. Let not her ranks be broken by party names." A National Association has been in existence for a number of years, which has for its object the secur ing of such amendments to the national Constitution as shall express the religious views of the majority of the people, and make it an instrument under which the keeping of Sunday can be enforced as the Chris tian Sabbath. This Association already embraces within its organization a long array of eminent and honorable names, Governors of States, Presidents of colleges, Bishops, Doctors of Divinity, Doctors of Law, and men who occupy high positions in all the walks of life. In the Address issued by the officers of this Asso ciation, they say : "Men of high standing, in every walk of life, of every section of the country, and of every shade of political sentiment and re ligious belief, have concurred in the measure." In their appeal, they most earnestly request every lover of his country to join in forming auxiliary asso ciations, to circulate documents, attend conventions, sign the memorial to Congress, etc., etc. In their plea for an amended Constitution, they ask the people to " Consider that God is not once named in our national Consti tution. There is nothing in it which requires an oath of God/ as the Bible styles it (which, after all, is the great bond both of loy alty in the citizen and of fidelity in the magistrate), nothing which requires the observance of the day of rest and worship, or which respects its sanctity. If we do not have the mails carried and the post-offices open on Sunday, it is because we have a Post master-General who respects the day. If our Supreme Courts are not held, and if Congress does not sit on that day, it is custom. INDICATIONS OF COMING CHANGES. 191 and not law, that makes it so. Nothing in the Constitution gives Sunday quiet to the custom-house, the navy-yard, the barracks, or any of the departments of government. " Consider that they fairly express the mind of the great body of the American people. This is a Christian people. These amendments agree with the faith, the feelings, and the forms of every Christian church or sect. The Catholic and the Protestant, the Unitarian and the Trinitarian, profess and approve all that is here proposed. Why should their wishes not become law ? Why should not the Constitution be made to suit and to represent a constituency so overwhelmingly in the majority ? . . . "This great majority are becoming daily more conscious not only of their rights, but of their power. Their number grows, and their column becomes more solid. They have quietly, stead ily, opposed infidelity, until it has at least become politically un popular. They have asserted the rights of man and the rights of the government, until the nation s faith has become measurably fixed and declared on these points. And now that the close of the war gives us occasion to amend our Constitution, that it may clearly and fully represent the mind of the people on these points, they feel that it should also be so amended as to recognize the rights of God in man and in government. Is it anything but due to their long patience that they bo at length allowed to speak out the great facts and principles which give to all government its dignity, stability, and beneficence ? " Thus for several years a movement has been on foot, daily growing in extent, importance, and power, to fulfill that portion of the prophecy of Rev. 13 : 11 17 which first calls forth the dissent of the objector, and which appears from every point of view the most improbable of all the specifications ; namely, the mak ing of an image to the beast and the enforcing of the mark. Beyond this, nothing remains but the sharp conflict of the people of God with this earthly power, and the eternal triumph of the overcomer. An association, even now national in its character, as already noticed, and endeavoring, as is appropriate for those who have such objects in view, to secure 192 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. their purposes under the sanction of the highest au thority of the land, the national Constitution, already has this matter in hand. In the interest of this Asso ciation there is published, in Philadelphia, a weekly paper called the Christian Statesman, in advocacy of this movement. Every issue of that paper goes forth filled with arguments and appeals from some of the ablest pens in our land, in favor of the desired Con stitutional Amendment. These are the very meth ods by which, in a country like ours, great revolutions are accomplished ; and no movement has ever arisen in so short a space of time as this to so high a posi tion in public esteem with certain classes, and taken so strong a hold upon their hearts. Says Mr. G. A. Townsend (New World and Old, p. 212) :- "Church and State has several times crept into American poli tics, as in the contentions over the Bible in the public schools, the anti-Catholic party of 1854, etc. Our people have been wise enough heretofore to respect the clergy in all religious questions, and to entertain a wholesome jealousy of them in politics. The latest politico-theological moveme?it [italics ours] is to insert the name of the Deity in the Constitution." The present movements of this National Reform Association, and the progress it has made, may be gathered somewhat from the following sketch of its history, and the reports of the proceedings of some of the conventions which have thus far been held. From the Pittsburg (Pa.) Commercial of Feb. 6, 1874, we take the following : "The present movement to secure the religious amendment of the Constitution originated at Xenia, Ohio, in February, 1863, in a convention composed of eleven different religious denominations, who assembled for prayer and conference, not in regard to the amendment of the Constitution, but the state of religion. Meet- * * O*" ~, *-"<. ^ f ^ /r- * -^ >.- ;, : -^-f ;~>~ ^ ^s, .^ f ~ -**<" * f f S*-r~ C ^ft,* -~*. *f f +* "I. C f f -~- y -- + f f T. X- / / ** f f.*-- *r *r - * *- ;- f f- . r ;-^^--*- , - - *- . ^... *v y , ,: ,, p ^,,.",^,,,^<..,, ,,_.<., ,*.-; .^/ ,^^V ^txt.,, , , , ^ ..-:^ , ,,.-r -> C-^-*;^I-T " , * t f^f^ t^ ^ f, ff~ "^ , ,^ ^ j--r~, **" * <, " v~ / -*"" r <r,.-d t:^* *,?, r fr:/;r: :> o r t?^: AvfX^t;/^^ V- .r^r:.c V/ 5orm ai.,z:;I:^.rv s.t-vx.:-**:. 1 ^^, A l * ~?r*i*-. **-ss ~z,: ^J~~>~- 194 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. knowledge itself in its written Constitution to be a Christian na tion. "Resolved, That the proposed religious amendment, so far from tending to a union of Church and State, is directly opposed to such union, inasmuch as it recognizes the nation s own relations to God, and insists that the nation should acknowledge these rela tions for itself, and not through the medium of any church estab lishment." Of the fifth annual Convention at Pittsburg, Feb. 4, 1874, Eld. J. H. Waggoner, who went as a correspond ent from the S. D. Adventists, says, in the Advent Review of Feb. 17, 1874 : "This was a meeting of delegates, but was largely attended. The number of delegates holding certificates was 641 ; non-certi fied, 432; total, 1,073, representing 18 States. Petitions to Con gress, partially returned, as I understood, footed up over 54,000 names. "It has been strongly impressed upon my mind that we have underestimated, rather than overestimated, the rapid growth and power of this movement. Those who think we have been deluded in confidently looking for a great change in the nature and policy of our government, could but be convinced that we are right in this if they would attend such a meeting as this, or by other means become acquainted with what is actually taking place in this re spect. The reason assigned for calling a delegated convention is that no place could be found large enough to accommodate a mass- meeting of the friends of the cause. But it is proposed to hold mass-meetings in the several States, and have a general grand rally in 1876, the centennial anniversary of our independence. "The animus of this meeting cannot be understood nor appre ciated by any one who did not attend it. It was a large gathering of delegates and others, and for enthusiasm and unanimity, is rarely equaled. This feature can be but feebly described in any pub lished report ; and I notice that some of the most significant and stirring expressions are left out of the most complete reports of the speeches yet given. "The officers of the Association for the coming year are, Presi dent, Hon. Felix R. Brunot, Pittsburg, with 99 Vice-Presidents, among whom are 4 governors, 5 State superintendents of public INDICATIONS OF COMING CHANGES. 195 instruction, 9 bishops, 15 judges of higher courts, and 41 college presidents and professors, and the others are all eminent men ; General Secretary, Rev. D. McAllister, N. Y. ; Corresponding Sec retary, Rev. T. P. Stevenson, Philadelphia." In his opening address, the President of the Na tional Association, and chairman of this fifth Conven tion, Hon. Felix R. Brunot, said that their "cause had made the progress of twenty years in five ;" and the general Secretary, D. McAllister, said of the past year that it had "numbered a larger array of acces sions to our ranks than any two, or three, or perhaps five, preceding years." Instead of a large national convention in 1875, four conventions, more local in their nature, were held in different parts of the country, as follows : One in Tremont Temple, Boston, Mass., Dec. 16, 1874 ; one in St. Louis, Mo., Jan. 27 and 28, 1875 ; one for Kansas and adjacent States, Feb. 10 and 11 ; and one for Ohio and adjoining States, early in March. Of the meeting in St. Louis, the Christian States man of February, 1875, said : " The Convention of citizens of Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, and neighboring States, in the city of St. Louis, on the 27th and 28th of last month, was a triumphant success. In a city where there was but a small constituency committed in advance to the support of the proposed amendment, public attention has been earnestly drawn to the movement ; a large audience was called out at all the sessions of the Convention, and full reports of the able addresses delivered have been published in the city papers. By special ar rangement, the St. Louis Globe gave a full report, like that of the Pittsburg Commercial or the Globe of Boston, but the other papers also contained full and respectful accounts of the proceedings. Fully one thousand people were present at the opening session, and at least three hundred at the day sessions on Thursday. Three hundred and ninety-four names were enrolled as members of the Convention. The address of J. C. Wells, Esq., a lawyer from Chillicothe, Illinois, was marked by the same fervor of argument 196 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. and fervent Christian spirit which lend so much power and attract iveness to his able little book entitled Our National Obligation. Mr. Wells was also chosen President of the Convention. The friends in St. Louis and vicinity are to be congratulated on this re sult." "The closing resolution adopted at the Convention reads : " Resolved, That, recognizing the importance of this subject, we pledge ourselves to present and advocate it until the nation shall declare its Christian character, as it has, with one consent, already asserted its freedom in the charter of our rights and liberties."* Nov. 9, 1875, a special meeting of the National As sociation was held in Philadelphia, Pa., at which meet ing the Association took steps which have since been carried out, to become incorporated in law, under the name of the "National Reform Association." The Christian Statesman of Nov. 20, 1875, contained the following notice of this meeting : "The evening session was well attended, and was altogether the most encouraging meeting in behalf of the cause hold in this city for many years. " The subsequent action of the executive committee is reported as follows : "The executive committee has since taken steps to obtain a charter of incorporation for the Society, and to secure an office which shall be a recognized head-quarters for its operations and depository of its publications, especially during the centennial year." An important meeting was held in Philadelphia at the time of the Centennial Exposition, and meetings have been held each year since, in all parts of the country. The Association has at the present time the follow ing board of officers : A president, corresponding sec retary, financial secretary, recording secretary, treas urer, four district secretaries, and fifty-three vice- INDICATIONS OF COMING CHANGES. 197 presidents. Among these, besides the President, Hon. Felix R. Brunot, Pittsburg, Pa., are seven Rev erends, twenty-eight D. D. s (sixteen of these are presidents of, or professors in, colleges and other in stitutions of learning, and most of the others are bish ops and presiding elders), nine LL. D. s, four justices of supreme courts, two editors, two generals, etc. Whatever influence great names can impart to any cause is certainly secured in favor of this. Mr. F. E. Abbott, then editor of the Index, published in Boston, Mass., who was present at the Cincinnati Convention, and presented a protest against its aims and efforts, thus speaks of those who stand at the head of this movement : " We found them to be so thoroughly sincere and earnest in their purpose, that they did not fear the effect of a decided but temperate protest. This fact speaks volumes in their praise as men of character and convictions. We saw no indications of the artful management which characterizes most conventions. The leading men, Rev. D. McAllister, Rev. A. M. Milligan, Prof. Sloane, Prof. Stoddard, Prof. Wright, Rev. T. P. Stevenson, impressed us as able, clear-headed, and thoroughly honest men ; and we could not but conceive a great respect for their motives and their inten tions. It is such qualities as these in the leaders of the movement that give it its most formidable character. They have definite and consistent ideas ; they perceive the logical connection of these ideas, and advocate them in a very cogent and powerful manner ; and they propose to push them with determination and zeal. Con cede their premises, and it is impossible to deny their conclusions; and since these premises are axiomatic truths with the great ma jority of Protestant Christians, the effect of the vigorous campaign on which they are entering cannot be small or despicable. The very respect with which we were compelled to regard them only in creases our sense of the evils which lie gerininant in their doc trines ; and we came home with the conviction that religious lib erty in America must do battle for its very existence hereafter. The movement in which these men are engaged has too many ele ments of strength to be contemned by any far-seeing liberal. 198 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. Blindness or sluggishness to-day means slavery to-morrow. Rad icalism must pass now from thought to action, or it will deserve the oppression that lies in wait to overwhelm it." To show the strong convictions of many minds that the conflict here indicated is inevitable, we present some further extracts from the Index. In its issue of Feb. 12, 18H, it says : "Yet in this one point the Christianizers show an unerring in stinct. The great battle between the ideas of the State and the ideas of the Church will indeed be fought out in the organic law of the nation. The long and bitter conflict of chattel-slavery with free industry began in the world of ideas, passed to the arena of politics, burst into the hell of war, and expired in the peaceful suffrages by which Freedom was enthroned in the Constitution. The old story will be repeated ; for it is the same old conflict in a new guise, though we hope, and would fain believe, that the dreaded possibility of another civil war is in fact an impossibility. But that the agitation now begun can find no end until either Christianity or Freedom shall have molded the Constitution wholly into its own likeness, is one of the fatalities to be read in the very nature of the conflicting principles. The battle of the amend ments is at hand. A thousand minor issues hide it from sight ; but none the less it approaches year by year, month by month, day by day. Cowardice to the rear ! Courage to the front ! " The sentiment here expressed, that " the agitation now begun can find no end until either Christianity or Freedom [by which the Index means infidelity] shall have molded the Constitution wholly into its own likeness," is becoming the settled conviction of many minds. It is not difficult to foresee the result. Infidel, the Constitution can never become ; hence it will become wholly the instrument of that type of Christianity which the Amendmentists are now seek ing. Again the Index says : " The central ideas of the Church and of the Republic are locked INDICATIONS OF COMING CHANGES. 199 in deadly combat none the less so, because the battle-ground of to-day is the invisible field of thought. To-morrow the struggle will be in the arena of politics, and then no eye will be so blind as not to see it." At the Pittsburg- Convention in 1874, "Dr. Kieffer said that this movement was more political than ecclesiastical, appealing to the patriotism of all classes alike, and should be accepted by all. Dr. Hodge said it was in no sense sec tarian, and the ends it sought could be accepted by one denomina tion as well as by another, by the Catholic as well as by the Prot estant. He said it was destined to unite all classes. And their work was all in this direction." The following, also from the Index, we copy from the Christian Statesman of Jan. 2, 1875. We do not indorse its statements as applied to real Christianity, but it probably expresses the view which will be taken of this matter by the churches generally, and so may be regarded as an indication of the course that will be pursued by them. While the political religionist can see in present movements the prelude of a mighty revolution, we believe it to be the same that students of prophecy have for years been led by the word of God to expect. The Index says : "Nothing could be more apparent to one who intelligently fol lowed the argument from its own premises, than that this move ment expresses at once the moral and the political necessities of Christianity in this country. It is not a question of words, but rather a question of the vital interests of great institutions. Chris tianity must either relinquish its present hold on the government, its Sunday laws, its blasphemy laws, its thanksgivings and fasts, its chaplaincies, its Bible in schools, etc., or else it must secure the necessary condition of retaining all these things by inserting some guarantee of their perpetuity in the national Constitution. Looking simply at the small present dimensions of the movement, at the fewness of its devoted workers, the paucity of attendants at the late Convention, and the indifference of the public at large, one is justified in dismissing it from consideration as of no im 200 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. mediate importance. But whoever is qualified to detect great movements in their germs, and to perceive that instituted Chris tianity is in vast peril from the constant inroads of rapidly spead- ing disbelief of dogmatic Christianity, -whoever is able to discern the certainty that the claims of Christianity to mold political ac tion in its own interest must sooner or later be submitted for ad judication to the supreme law of the land, by which they are not even verbally recognized, will not fall into the superficiality of inferring the future fortunes of this movement, either from the mediaeval character of its pretensions or the present insignificance of its success. It may possibly be that the Christian churches do not really care for their own existence, and are prepared to sur render it without a struggle, but we do not so read history. So soon as they come to comprehend fully the fact that their legal Sabbath/ their Bible in schools, and all their present legal priv ileges, must one by one slip away inevitably from their grasp, un less they defend them in the only possible way, by grounding them on Constitutional guarantees, it seems to us an irresistible conclu sion from history and experience that they will arouse themselves to protect these possessions as infinitely important. If they do not, they have achieved a degree of moral rottenness, cowardice, and hypocrisy which we are very slow to attribute to them. These champions of a Christianized Constitution are to-day the POLITICAL BRAIN of the Christian Church. Conceding their premises, which are simply those of the universal Evangelical communion, it is im possible to deny their conclusions. It is these premises that we dispute, not the logicalness of the conclusions themselves ; and although we hold that the same premises, if further carried out, must lead to the Roman Catholic position expressed by the Vati can decrees, we none the less admit the necessity of traveling that road from the starting-point, if it is once fairly entered upon. Hence we are as strongly convinced as ever that the Christian- Amendment movement contains the germ of a demand that must sooner or later be heard asserted with perilous emphasis, by the body of orthodox Christian Churches." The character of this movement is thus described by one who was an eye-witness at the Pittsburg Con vention : "They show determination to make the movement popular, and INDICATIONS OP COMING CHANGES. 201 to reach the feelings of the people by every means. In their speeches, they alternate with the most impassioned earnestness and gravest argument the sharpest wit, and even laughable puns and incidents. Staid Reverends clap their hands in applause as heartily as I ever saw done in any kind of gathering, and Old- School Presbyterian Doctors of Divinity, who have generally been noted for clerical dignity, take the greatest delight in raising the cheers of the crowd by their keen thrusts and witticisms. The Commercial was publicly recommended as giving the official report, and of the speech of the President of Washington and Jefferson College it said, Dr. Hay s address was received with frequent marks of approbation, and his witty points drew forth shouts of laughter/ Judging from what I have seen, the standard of piety is not to be elevated by this work." /. //. W., in Review of Feb. 17, 1874. Between the professions of this Association, and the objects which they are openly laboring to obtain, there is an utter inconsistency, as the following con siderations w r ill show. In the Review of March 24, 1874, the writer last quoted says : "We are sometimes perplexed to account for the singular op erations of the human mind. When we see men of good natural ability and of superior privileges of mental and moral culture, persistently clinging to the weaker side in argument, and seeming able to discover light only on the darkest side of a proposition, or endeavoring to sustain themselves by taking contradictory posi tions, our charity is taxed to the utmost to give them credit for the ability they seem to possess and for the integrity of purpose they claim. Seldom have our reflections been more forcibly turned in this direction than in viewing the course pursued by the advo cates of the Religious Amendment. A late number of the Chris tian Statesman, speaking of the Seventh-day Adventists, says : " From the beginning of the National Reform Movement, they have regarded it as the first step toward the persecution which they, as keepers of the seventh day, will endure when our Sab bath laws are revived and enforced. One can but smile at their apprehensions of the success of a movement which would not harm a hair of their heads ; but their fears are sincere enough, for all that. " 202 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. Pursuing the line of argument into a consideration of the question whether there is anything in the pro fessions of the Amendment party calculated to change our opinion in this respect, he continues : "If a profession of good motives and of a desire to steer clear of a union of Church and State on the part of the Amendment party could give us assurance on this point, then might we cease to notice this subject. On this point they are very explicit. A few quotations will suffice to present their claims. Said Hon. Mr. Patterson, in the Pittsburg Convention : " Be not misled by the assertion that the movement agitated by this Convention tends to religious intolerance, to wedding Church and State. No such tendency exists. On the contrary, this move ment claims nothing but to secure in the preamble of our national Constitution an acknowledgment of the supremacy of God and the Christian character of our nation, such as is now generally and authoritatively conceded to be the law of our land/ " This, surely, is lamb-like enough to throw us all off our guard. The following remarks by President Brunot (pronounced Bruno) on taking the chair, are equally innocent to view : " The fourth article of the Constitution declares that "no re ligious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States," and the first amendment in the Constitution provides that "Congress shall make no law re specting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free ex ercise thereof." We have not proposed to change these. "We deem them essential, in connection with the amendment we ask, to the preservation of religious liberty, and with it, an effective guard against a union of Church and State. "And again : The attempt to destroy the inalienable right of freedom of conscience in religion in this, our favored land, would meet with its very first organized resistance from this Association/ "And Dr. Kerr said : " We want no union of Church and State. Let that question be raised in this country, and there is no element of the opposi tion that would rise against it that would be more decided and de termined than that represented in this Convention. We wish no restraint of the rightful liberties of any man/ INDICATIONS OF COMING CHANGES. 203 "These utterances are pleasant to read, and doubtless they, and others like them, have had much to do in enlisting so strong an interest in favor of the amendment. And were these sayings, or those of like nature, all that they had put forth, we should feel constrained to regard the men and their work in a light somewhat different from that in which we now view them. "We come now to examine another class of expressions, of a positive nature. What we have quoted is negative, a disclaimer, a relation of what they do not wish to do. Very explicitly have they stated their desires and intentions. True, we cannot recon cile what they have said under these two heads, and it is this which so perplexes us in regard to their professions. It is to be hoped that they will sometime attempt to show that their state ments may be harmonized, or else confine their avowals to one side of the question, that all may understand, without study or doubt, just the position they occupy. "Dr. Stevenson, Corresponding Secretary of the National Asso ciation, and editor of the Statesman, in the opening address at the Convention, said : " Through the immense largesses it receives from corrupt poli ticians, the Roman Catholic Church is, practically, the established church of the city of New York. These favors are granted under the guise of a seeming friendliness to religion. We propose to put the substance for the shadow, to drive out the counterfeit by the completer substitution of the true. "These words are somewhat ambiguous, but none the less im portant, on this subject ; for, taken in any possible way, they are full of meaning. It may be a question whether this seeming friendliness to religion is the shadow, and real friendliness to re ligion in politics is the substance, or whether the Catholic Church is the counterfeit and Protestantism the true ; but in either case the establishment of the Church, or a Church, or Churches, more completely than at present established, though they are practically existing now, is the object aimed at in this paragraph. The latter form, the establishment of the Churches, appears to be the object ; for in the next sentence he says : " What we propose is nothing of a sectarian character. It will give no branch of American Christians any advantage over any other. " A remark made by Prof. Blanchard is a complement to the 204 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. above. He has given us a definition of union of Church and State as opposed by them. Thus he said : " But union of Church and State is the selection by the nation of one Church, the endowment of such a Church, the appointment of its officers, and the oversight of its doctrines. For such a union none of us plead. To such a union we are all of us opposed. "In reading this, we are reminded of the turn taken by the Spir itualists, when they deny that they are opposed to marriage ; they explain by defining marriage to be a union of two persons not to be regulated nor guarded by civil law, which exists only as long as the parties are agreed thereto, requiring no law to effect a di vorce ! To such marriage the most lawless libertine would not object. We are sorry that the respectable advocates of the amend ment take a position so nearly parallel to the above-cited position of Spiritualists. They give a definition of union of Church and State such as no one expects nor fears, such, in fact, as is not possible in the existing state of the Churches, and then loudly proclaim that they are opposed to union of Church and State ! But to a union of Church and State in the popular sense of the phrase ; a union, not of one Church, but of all the Churches rec ognized as orthodox, or evangelical ; a union not giving the State power to elect Church officers, nor to take the oversight of Church doctrines, but giving the Churches the privilege of enforcing by civil law the laws, institutions, and usages of religion according to the faith of the Churches, or to the construction put upon those institutions and usages by the churches, to such a union, we say, they are not opposed. They are essentially and practically, despite their professions, open advocates of union of Church and State. "President Brunot and others have referred to the first amend ment to the Constitution as a safeguard against establishing a na tional religion. Yet in the face of this reference he says: " We propose "such an amendment to the Constitution of the United States (or its preamble) as will suitably acknowledge Al mighty God as the author of the nation s existence and the ulti mate source of its authority, Jesus Christ as its ruler, and the Bi ble as the supreme rule of its conduct," and thus indicate that this is a Christian nation, and place all Christian laws, institutions, and usages on an undeniable legal basis in the fundamental law of the land. "Now the question arises, If all this were accomplished, would INDICATIONS OF COMING CHANGES. 205 the Christian religion be established in and by this government ? If it be answered that it would not, then another question, Would individuals be at liberty under the law of the land to disregard those Christian institutions and usages ? If not, if both of these questions be answered in the negative, then what would be the ex isting state of things ? Could it be denned ? " This will never do ; such talk is idle. To place Christian usages on a legal basis is to enforce them by law, and to enforce them is to establish them. When they are placed on an unde niable legal basis in the fundamental law of the land/ they are fully established, and to deny this is only to trifle with language. But again, you cannot distinguish between all Christian laws, in stitutions, and usages, and the Christian religion.* By establish ing them, you establish it, of necessity. To deny this is to mani fest a lack of discrimination or of candor. We speak with due respect, but we have to deal with facts of the greatest magnitude and importance, and which affect us in those things which we hold most sacred and dear. The advocates of this movement are able men. We hope they will not ignore these points, but so ex plain them as to reconcile themselves with themselves, if it can be done." The New York Independent, in January, 1875, showed up the inconsistency of this movement in a few paragraphs so pointed and pungent that we quote them entire, as follows : "This being a Christian nation, we have a right to acknowledge God in the Constitution ; because, as things are now, this is not a Christian nation, and needs such recognition to make it one. "This having always been a Christian nation, we have a right to keep it such ; and therefore we need this amendment, since hitherto, without it, we have only been a heathen nation. "In other words, we need to make this a Christian nation, be cause we are already such, on the ground that if we do not make it such, we are not a Christian nation. "Because the people are substantially all Christians, we have a right, and have need, to make the Constitution Christian, to check our powerful element of unbelievers. "We mean to interfere with no man s rights, but only to get certain rights, now belonging to all, restricted to Christians,, 206 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. "This religious amendment is to have no practical effect, its ob ject being to check infidelity. "It is to interfere with no man s rights, but only to make the unbeliever concede to Christians the right to rule in their interest, and to give up like claims for himself. "It is meant to have no practical effect, and therefore will be of great use to us. "We want to recognize God, and Christianity as our national duty to Deity, but intend to give no effect to such recognition, pleasing God by judicially voting ourselves pious, and doing noth ing more. "We shall leave all religions in equality before the law, and make Christianity the adopted religion of the nation. "Christianity, being justice, requires us to put down infidelity by taking advantage of our numbers to secure rights which we do not allow to others. "Justice to Christians is one thing, and to infidels another. "We being a Christian people, the Jewish and unbelieving por tion of our people are not, of right, part of the people.- "And so, having no rights which we, as Christians, are bound to respect, we must adopt this amendment in our interest. "Passing this act will not make any to be Christians who are not Christians ; but it is needed to make this a more Christian na tion. "The people are not to be made more Christian by it ; but, since the nation cannot be Christian unless the people are, it is meant to make the nation Christian without affecting the people. "That is, the object of this amendment is to make the nation Christian without making the people Christians. "By putting God in the Constitution he will be recognized by nobody else than those who already recognize him ; and therefore we need this amendment for a fuller recognition of him. "If we say we believe in God and Christ in the Constitution, it is true of those believing in him and a lie as to the rest ; and as the first class already recognize him, we want this amendment as a recognition by the latter class, so that our whole people shall recognize him. "Whether we have an acknowledgment of God in the Constitu tion or not, we are a Christian nation ; and, therefore, it is this recognition of God that is to make us a Christian, nation," INDICATIONS OF COMING CHANGES. 20Y As to the probability of the success of this move ment, there is at present some difference of opinion. While a very few pass it by with a slur as a mere temporary sensation of little or no consequence, it is generally regarded, both by its advocates and its op- posers, as a work of growing strength and importance. Petitions and remonstrances are both being circulated with activity ; and shrewd observers, who have watched the movement with a jealous eye, and therefore hoped it would amount to nothing, now confess that it " means business." No movement of equal magnitude of purpose has ever sprung up and become strong, and secured favor so rapidly as this. Indeed, none of equal magnitude has ever been sprung upon the American mind, as this aims to remodel the whole frame-work of our government, and give to it a strong religious caste, a thing which the framers of our Constitution were careful to exclude from it. They not only ask that the Bible, and God, and Christ shall be recognized in the Constitution, but that it shall in dicate this as " a Christian nation, and place all Chris tian laws, institutions, and usages in our government on an undeniable legal basis in the fundamental law of the nation." Of course, appropriate legislation will be required to carry such amendments into effect, and somebody will have to decide what are " Christian laws and in stitutions." And when this question is raised, who will be appealed to as qualified to determine the mat ter in question ? The doctors of religion, of course. Then what shall we have ? The Church sitting in judgment on men s religious opinions, the Church defining heresy, and the State waiting at its beck to carry out whatever sentence shall be affixed to a de- 208 THE MARVEL OF NATION S. viation from what the Church shall declare to be " Christian laws and institutions." But was not this exactly the situation in the darkest reign of Roman Catholicism ? And would not its production here be a very " image to the beast" ? Yea, verily. But this is the inevitable sequence of the success of this effort to secure a religious amendment of the Constitution. From what we learn of such movements in the past in other countries, and of the temper of the churches of this country, and of human nature when it has power suddenly conferred upon it, we look for no good from this movement. From a lengthy article in the Lansing (Michigan) State Republican in refer ence to the Cincinnati Convention, we take the fol lowing extract : "Now there are hundreds and thousands of moral and profess edly Christian people in this nation to-day who do not recognize the doctrine of the Trinity, do not recognize Jesus Christ the same as God. And there are hundreds and thousands of men and women who do not recognize the Bible as the revelation of God. The attempt to make any such amendment to the Constitution would be regarded by a large minority, perhaps a majority, of our nation as 8 palpable violation of liberty of conscience. Thousands of men, if called upon to vote for such an amendment, would hes itate to vote against God, although they might not believe that the amendment is necessary or that it is right ; and such men would either vote affirmatively or not at all. In every case, such an amendment would be likely to receive an affirmative vote which would by no means indicate the true sentiment of the people. And the same rule would hold good in relation to the adoption of such an amendment by Congress or by the Legislatures of three- quarters of the States. Men who make politics a trade would hes itate to record their names against the proposed Constitutional Amendment, advocated by the leaders of the great religious de nominations of the land, and indorsed by such men as Bishop Simp son, Bishop Mcllvaine, Bishop Eastburn, President Finney, Prof. Lewis, Prof Seelye, Bishop Huutington, Bishop Kerfoot, Dr. Pat- INDICATIONS OF COMING CHANGES. 209 terson, Dr. Cuyler, and many other divines who are the represent ative men of their respective denominations." Not only the representative men of the churches are pledged to this movement, but governors, judges, and many who are among the most eminent men of the land in other directions, are working for it. Who doubts the power of the "representative men of the denominations" to rally the strength of their denom inations to sustain this work at their call ? We utter no prophecy of the future ; it is not needed. Events transpire in these clays faster than our minds are pre pared to grasp them. Let us heed the admonition to watch!" and with reliance upon God, prepare for " those things which arc coming on the earth." But it may be asked how the Sunday question is to be affected by the proposed Constitutional Amend ment. Answer : The object, or to say the least, one object, of this amendment, is to put the Sunday insti tution on a legal basis, and compel its observance by the arm of the law. At the National Convention held in Philadelphia, Jan. IS and 19, 1871, the following resolution was among the first offered by the Business Committee : "Resolved, That, in view of the controlling power of the Consti tution in shaping State as well as national policy, it is of immedi ate importance to public morals and to social order, to secure such an amendment as will indicate that this is a Christian nation, and place all Christian laws, institutions, and usages in our govern ment on an undeniable legal basis in the fundamental law of the nation, specially those which secure a proper oath, and which pro tect society against blasphemy, Sabbath-breaking, and polygamy." By Sabbath-breaking is meant nothing else but Sunday-breaking. In a convention of the friends of Sunday, assembled Nov. 29, 1870, in New Concord, Ohio, the Rev. James White is reported to have said : 14 210 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. "The question [of Sunday observance] is closely connected with the National Reform Movement ; for until the government comes to know God and honor his law, we need not expect to restrain Sabbath-breaking corporations/ Here again the idea of the legal enforcement of Sunday observance stands uppermost. Once more : The Philadelphia Press, of Dec. 5, 1870, stated that some Congressmen, including Vice- President Colfax, arrived in Washington by Sunday trains, Dec. 4, on which the Christian Statesman com mented as follows (we give italics as we find them) : " 1. Not one of those men who thus violated the Sabbath is jit to Jiold any official position in a Christian nation. * * * * "He who violates the Sabbath may not steal, because the judg ment of society so strongly condemns theft, or because he believes that honesty is the best policy ; but tempt him with the prospect of concealment or the prospect of advantage, and there can be no reason why he who robs God will not rob his neighbor also. For this reason, the Sabbath law lies at the foundation of morality. Its observance is an acknowledgment of the sovereign rights of God over us. "2. The sin of these Congressmen is a national sin, because the nation hath not said to them in the Constitution, the supreme rule for our public servants, We charge you to serve us in accordance with the higher law of God. These Sabbath-breaking railroads, moreover, are corporations created by the State, and amenable to it. The State is responsible to God for the conduct of these creat ures which it calls into being. It is bound^ therefore, to restrain them from this as from other crimes, and any violation of the Sab bath by any corporation, should work immediate forfeiture of its charter. And the Constitution of the United States, with which all State legislation is required to be in harmony, should be of such a character as to prevent any State from tolerating such in fractions of fundamental moral law. "3. Give us in the national Constitution the simple acknowl edgment of the law of God as the supreme law of nations, and all the results indicated in this note will ultimately be secured. Let no one INDICATIONS OF COMING CHANGES. 211 say that the movement does not contemplate sufficiently practical ends." Let the full import of these words be carefully con sidered. The writer was by some unaccountable im pulse betrayed into a revelation of the real policy and aim of this movement. He holds up to the public view those Congressmen who traveled on Sunday, as men who would rob and steal if they saw an oppor tunity to do so without danger of detection ! Not one of them, he says, is fit to hold any office in the government. He would make this religious test a qualification for office, contrary to the Constitution. Every corporation that infringes upon Sunday should be immediately destroyed by a forfeiture of its char ter. And what then of the individual, in this respect, who does not observe the Sunday ? Of course he could fare no better than the corporations, he must be at once suspended from business. What does the prophecy say the enactment will be ? "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." Could there be a more direct fulfillment than this would be if once carried out, as the religious amendmentists are trying to do ? From all this we see the important place the Sab bath question is to hold in this movement, the im portant place it even now holds in the minds of those who are urging it forward. Let the amendment called for be granted, " and all the results indicated in this note," says the writer, " will ultimately be secured ;" that is, individuals and corporations will be restrained from violating the Sunday observance. The acknowl edgment of God in the Constitution may do very well as a banner under which to sail ; but the practical 212 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. bearing of the movement relates to the compulsory observance of the first day of the week. An article in the Christian at Work of April 20, 1882, spoke of a proposed plan to induce railroad cor porations and the leading industries of the country to suspend business on Sunday. The writer thought the plan would fail, because it did not have " the force of a penalty," and said : "There is need of the power of government behind the plan, the strength of the national government in support of the rule ; for the great business corporations of the country have risen above, and reach beyond, the authority of a Commonwealth. And not till the people have made the Federal Government the escutcheon of the Sabbath [Sunday], may we expect the rival industries to honor that sacred day." And while this writer thus sturdily called for law, he believed that if the Church " insisted on her rights" as loudly as the "infidel resisted them," they could be easily secured. Even now the question is agitated why the Jew should be allowed to follow his business on the first day, after having observed the seventh. The same question is equally pertinent to all seventh-day keep ers. A writer signing himself "American," in the Boston Herald rf Dec. 14, 1871, said : "The President in his late message, in speaking of the Mormon question, says, They shall no t be permitted to break the law un der the cloak of religion. This undoubtedly meets the approval of every American citizen, and I wish to cite a parallel case, and ask, Why should the Jews of this country be allowed to keep open their stores on the Sabbath, under the cloak of their religion, while I, or any other true American, will be arrested and suffer punish ment for doing the same thing ? If there is a provision made al lowing a few to conduct business on the Sabbath, what justice and equality can there be in any such provision, and why should it not be stopped at once ? " INDICATIONS OF COMING GUANOES. 213 And this question, we apprehend, will be very sum marily decided, adversely to the Jew and every other seventh-day observer, when once the Constitutional Amendment has been secured. At a Ministerial Association of the Methodist Epis copal Church, held in Healdsburg, Cal., April 26-28, 1870, Rev. Mr. Trefrcn, of Napa, speaking of S. D. A. ministers, said, " I predict for them a short race. What we want is law in the matter." Then, referring to the present movement to secure such a law, he added : " And we will have it, too ; and when we get the power into our hands, we will show these men what their end will be." In 1876 the question was raised in Keokuk, Iowa, " whether a Seventh-day Adventist could be com pelled to attend court as a witness on Saturday;" and Judge Blanchard decided that he could be, and that " a refusal would be contempt of court." The Signs of the Times, of Oakland, Cal., in its is sue of Dec. 22, 1881, said : "After a sermon recently preached by an Oakland D. D., in favor of enforcing the Sunday law, some of the members of the congre gation were heard giving utterance to strong commendations of the sermon and of the law. Said one, I am glad the Seventh-day Adventists will have to come to time. " This feeling is not confined to the Pacific States. A correspondent of the Review and Herald, Battle Creek, Mich., writing from Illinois in 1883, said : "A short time ago, at the dedication of a certain church, I heard a minister who is also president of one of the leading colleges in our State, and of enough importance to have D. D. to his name say that he was glad that the sectarian walls are being thrown down, and that people are becoming more liberal. Yes, says he, I thank God for a Roman Catholic Church ; for there is no relig ious body that is any more zealous in trying to establish a law for 214 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. the protection of the Sabbath [Sunday]/ Another minister, where I was holding meetings a few weeks since, in a sermon against us, said : You Americans all have great respect for Noah Webster ; there is not one of you but what considers him absolutely infallible ; and if you will look in his dictionary at the word Sunday, you will find that he says that it is the Christian Sabbath. It is true that be fore Christ, the Jewish people kept the seventh day ; but s- mce Christ the lines of longitude and latitude have been such that it is impossible to keep it. And furthermore, the custom of our coun try makes it obligatory upon us to observe Sunday sacredly. But these miserable Adventists come around in the face of all this, and tell us that we must keep the old Jewish Sabbath. They are a set of ABOMINABLE TRAITORS, who are trying to produce dissension in our land, and OPPOSE the laws of our country ; the place for EV ERY ONE of them is in our State prisons, and what we want is a LAW that will put them there ; and, thank God, the time is not far distant when we will have it. " There are abundant indications that this pious feel ing largely prevails in many sections of our country. From a work recently issued by the Presbyterian Board of Publication, entitled "The. Sabbath," by Chas. Elliott, Professor of Biblical Literature and Ex egesis in the Presbyterian Theological Seminary of the Northwest, Chicago, 111., we take the following paragraph : "But it may be asked, Would not the Jew be denied equality of rights by legislation protecting the Christian Sabbath and ignoring the Jewish ? The answer is, We are not a Jewish, but a Christian nation ; therefore our legislation must be conformed to the insti tutions and spirit of Christianity. This is absolutely necessary from the nature of the case." There is no mistaking the import of this language. No matter if the Jew does not secure equal rights with others. We are not a Jewish nation, but a Christian ; and all must be made to conform to what the majority decide to be Christian institutions. This affects all who observe the seventh day as much as it INDICATIONS OF COMING CHANGES. 215 does the Jews ; and we apprehend it will not be a dif ficult matter to lead the masses, whose prejudices in cline them in this direction, to believe that it is " ab solutely necessary" that all legislation must take such a form, and cause them to act accordingly. Several years since, Dr. Durbin, of the Christian Advocate and Journal, gave his views on this subject as follows : "I infer, therefore, that the civil magistrate may not be called upon to enforce the observance of the Sabbath [Sunday] as re quired in the spiritual kingdom of Christ ; but when Christianity becomes the moral and spiritual life of the State, the State is bound, through her magistrates, to prevent the open violation of the holy Sabbath, as a measure of self-preservation. She cannot, without injuring her own vitality and incurring the Divine dis pleasure, be recreant to her duty in this matter." At a meeting held at Saratoga Springs, N. Y., Aug. 12, 1860, ex-President Fillmore said that " while he deemed it needful to legislate cautiously in all mat ters connected with public morals, and to avoid co ercive measures affecting religion, the right of every citizen to a day of rest and worship could not be ques tioned, and laws securing that right should be en forced." And the Christian Statesman of Dec. 15, 1871, in speaking of the general disregard of the Sabbath [Sunday] in the arrangements for welcoming the Grand Duke Alexis of Russia, said : "How long will it be before the Christian masses of this coun try can be aroused to enact a law compelling their public servants to respect the Sabbath ?" That the Sunday question has entered into the arena of politics to stay till some decision is reached in regard to it, is now too apparent to be questioned ; THE MARVEL OP NATIONS. and this is an immense stride in the direction of the fulfillment of the prophecies referring to this subject, as herein set forth. In August, 1882, a copy of a paper published in Chicago, and called the Illinois American, was placed in our hands. It purported to be the organ of the American party, and it was announced that the party intended to establish similar papers in all the leading States of the Union. That party claims to embody in its platform " all the great reforms of the day." One reform which it considers essential is the enforcement of Sunday as the Sabbath, after the man ner of the National Reform Association. In proof of this, we have but to quote the first two planks in its platform : "We hold, 1. That ours is a Christian aud not a heathen nation, and that the God of the Christian Scriptures is the author of civil government ; 2. That God requires and man needs a Sabbath." This Sabbath is, of course, the first day of the week ; and whatever papers this party shall establish, will be the political organs of the Religious Amendment Movement, as the Christian Statesman is the relig ious organ. They enter the field as a national party, and nominated candidates for the presidential elec tion of 1884, as follows : For President of the United States, Jonathan Blanchard, D. D., President of Whea- ton College, Illinois ; for Vice-President, John A. Conant, of Connecticut. The fanatical temper of the leading candidate, on the Sunday question, is plainly read in a few facts : 1. He is one of the vice-presidents of the National Reform Association, and a prominent worker in that movement ; 2. In October, 1881, a circular was sent out from Wheaton College chapel, of which he was INDICATIONS OF COMING CHANGES. quite evidently the inspiring spirit, addressed to the " Churches of Christ throughout the United States," setting forth that our great national calamity, the as sassination of President Garfield, was a judgment of God upon the nation for its sins, chief among which is Sabbath (Sunday) breaking ; and beseeching "that the churches of Christ, individually or collectively, unite in requesting Congress to forbid, by proper enactment, the transaction of public business upon the Sabbath-day by any department of government, and that petitions to this effect be prepared or ob tained from the Sabbath Association of Philadelphia, to be presented by that society at the opening of Con gress on December next." We know many will be inclined to look upon the formation of this new American party as an idle move, and upon its efforts and object as vain and impossible. But the significant fact still remains that somebody has thought enough of these things to inaugurate this movement, and everything must have a beginning. Moreover, we all know that sometimes the beginnings of great revolutions are exceedingly small. The acorn which the little child so easily holds in its hand, comes at length to be the sturdy oak, which the mightiest tempest cannot uproot. In one State already, the Sunday question has been made the main issue, in a State election, between the two great parties, Democratic and Republican. In the fall election of 1882, California made this issue, and gave to our country the first spectacle of a strictly religious question in the arena of politics. In this struggle Sunday was led to the front under the man tle of a " police regulation," a merely " civil institu tion." The working-man, said the Sunday advocate, 218 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. must be secured in his right to a day of rest. This claim was too transparent to conceal from view the real object ; for the law which it was sought to en force was not the law of the civil code, which makes Sunday a legal holiday and gives every one the priv ilege of resting on it who chooses to do so, but the Sunday law of the penal code, which was enacted for the purpose of making all desecration of the day an offense against religion, and punishing it as such. Now if the design was simply to secure rest to the people on that day, the civil code already provided for that, and no one proposed to interfere with the action of that law ; but if it was to enforce Sunday as a religious institution, on religious grounds alone, the law of the penal code was the one to enforce ; and in that direction the effort was made. The object was therefore sufficiently apparent. The Democrats having inserted in their platform a plank calling for the repeal of the Sunday law, the Republicans, in their State Convention, which con vened in Sacramento, Cal., Sept. 30, 1882, introduced into their platform a plank calling for the mainte nance of the law. Thus the issue was fairly joined. The scene in the Sacramento Convention when the Sunday plank was read, baffles description. The four hundred and fifty delegates broke into a vociferous shout ; they clapped their hands, stamped with their feet, threw up their hats, and hugged each other in a delirium of joy. It was a wild, insane spirit, on which neither argument nor the testimony of Scripture would make any impression. We imagine it is just such a blind, impetuous spirit which is essential to the success of the Sunday movement. The Democrats carried the election, and the Sun- INDICATIONS OF COMING CHANGES. 219 day law was in due time repealed. And now the friends of the institution turn more vigorously than ever toward the national movement which is working for the religious amendment. In New York, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, the agi tation of the Sunday question has been remarkable. In February, 1883, a correspondent wrote from Indi ana : "Almost every paper in the State is crying out for Sunday law and Sunday reform." No less significant is the fact that the Sunday agi tation is appearing in foreign countries simultaneously with the Sunday movement in this country. The N. Y. Independent of Oct. 1, 1885, published the follow ing significant article touching the question of Sun day-keeping in Europe :- "No desideratum of the social and religious world is now being more actively agitated in Central Europe than the project of a bet ter observance of the Lord s day. It seems that the so-called Continental Sunday is doomed to go ; and no friend of public and private morals will do otherwise than rejoice that its day of doom appears to have come. For years an international associa tion, organized for the purpose of educating public sentiment on this point, has been busily at work, with head-quarters at Geneva, and by means of branch associations, publications, annual delegate meetings, petitions, and the like, has managed to keep the subject constantly before the public. The movement is just now assum ing a new character, and is entering upon a new stage that prom ises some healthy results. The political authorities are beginning to recognize the agitation, and are taking active steps in the right direction. In various cantons of Switzerland such as St. Gall, Berne, Aargau, and others more stringent laws have been enacted. In Austria such laws went into force a few mouths ago, and al ready good results are reported. Now the German governments have taken hold of the matter, and are trying to find out what to do in the premises. Prussia is leading in the movement. The Minister of Cultus has issued a circular letter to the presidents of the various provinces, directing a stricter obedience to the Sunday 220 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. laws already in existence ; namely, that, during the principal serv ices Sunday morning and afternoon, and also on the great Church festivals, all work that can interrupt the devotions must cease, and promising that, in the near future, further laws will be passed by the government. The Imperial government is taking similar steps for the whole German empire. During the past winter lively de bates were held on the subject in the Reichstag, or Imperial Par liament, which gave occasion to many classes of the people to ex press their sentiments on this burning question. These facts have influenced the government to issue a circular letter to representa tive manufacturers and other work-givers/ and also to workmen, asking answers to the following questions : 1. Is Sunday work common in all branches of industry ? 2. Is Sunday work the rule or the exception ? 3. Is this work done (a.) in the whole business, (5.) for all the workmen, (c.) for the whole Sunday or for a part ? 4. What causes this work, (a.) technical reasons or (5.) economic reasons ? 5. What results would the forbidding of such work have (a.) for the capitalist, (&.) for the workingman, in regard to his income ? Would this loss find a compensation in any gain ? 6. Is it possible to carry laws forbidding work on Sunday, ( a.) with out any exceptions, (&.) with what exceptions, and for what reasons? The answers received to these questions by the government officials will have a great deal to do in shaping the proposed legal meas ures in regard to Sunday observance to be introduced into the next German parliament." Who can explain the fact that Sunday seems ev erywhere coming to the front, except on the ground that we have reached the time pointed out in proph ecy when such a movement should be seen ? The Chester (Eng.) Chronicle of July 9, 1881, reported a meeting of 3,000 persons in Liverpool in favor of clos ing all public houses on Sunday. The Christian Statesman of July 22, 1880, gave information from England to the effect that a " Working-man s Lord s- Day Rest Association" had been formed there, and that two of England s prime ministers, Beaconsfield and Gladstone, had given their voice against the opening of museums, etc., on Sunday. The same INDICATIONS OF COMING CHANGES. 221 policy is enforced by some, at least, of the English in their dependencies. One of the first acts of the Marquis of Ripon, who was made Viceroy of India in 1880, was, according to the Christian Weekly, to issue an order forbidding official work of any kind on Sun day. In France the question is also agitated. The Senate having occasion to consider some proposed changes in the Sunday laws, an eminent senator, M. Barthel- emy Saint Hilaire, according to the French journal, Lc Christianism au We Si6cle, of June 11, 1880, opened the eyes of his hearers by a clear argument showing that the seventh day, and not the first day, is the Sab bath of the Bible. In Switzerland and Germany, also, this question is before the people. In the latter country, according to the New York Independent, a meeting was held a few years ago, numbering some 5,000 persons, to en courage a more strict observance of Sunday. Many of these were socialists. Austria also shares in the general movement. A New York paper in January, 1883, published the fol lowing item : "A telegram from Vienna, Austria, says : A meeting of 3,000 workmen was held to-day, at which a resolution was passed pro testing against Sunday work. A resolution was also passed in fa vor of legal prohibition of newspaper and other work on that day/" To come back again to our own country, we have the following singular circumstance to record : The Illustrated Christian Weekly of March 3, 1883, spoke of the novel spectacle of a strike for religious pur poses, as follows : "A hundred men employed by the Chesapeake and Ohio Kail- way have struck, not for higher wages, but for their Sunday." 222 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. There is a local Sabbath (Sunday) Committee in many of the great cities, and an International Sab bath Association to secure the co-operation of other nations. This Association has its offices in Philadel phia, Pa. The Churches can carry their point whenever they can become sufficiently aroused to take general and concerted action in the matter. David Swing, at a ministers meeting in Chicago in 1879, held for the purpose of deliberating in regard to a better observ ance of Sunday, according to a report in the Inter Ocean, said : Group together these Churches, Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, Congregational, Episcopal, and Catholic, and they make up a powerful group of generals and soldiers. They can throw great armies into the field. Whoever should hope to lift up suf fering humanity without asking the aid of all these heroes of old battle-fields, would simply show how feeble he is in the search of great means to a great end." Thus Protestants propose to act in concert with Catholics in this matter, and profess no lack of assur ance in regard to accomplishing what they undertake. And so impatient are some to reach the desired re sult, that they are even considering whether they can not regard the Constitution already Christian, and proceed to act accordingly, without waiting for the re ligious amendment. Thus, Bishop A. Cleveland Coxe, D. D., writing on " National Christianity," in the N. Y. Independent of July 8, 1880, expresses respect for the " integrity, piety, efforts, and objects of the National Reform Association," but thinks it would be conceding too much.to the infidel element to acknowl edge that the Constitution is not Christian as it now stands. He thinks the better way would be to con- INDICATIONS OF COMING CHANGES. 223 sider that it is already Christian, and then unitedly move against all opposing influences. And he sug gests that by the time the centennial anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution shall be reached, Sept. 17, 1887, a league shall have been formed, em bracing ail Christians in an organization which poli ticians shall respect and evil-doers fear, and then such a celebration of the adoption of " Our Christian Con stitution" shall be held as will cause the material splendor of 1876 to pale before its moral grandeur, and make "AMERICAN CHRISTIANITY as evident to the world as our other characteristics are already." Something important may grow out of this sugges tion. It will at any rate be safe to say that we shall see what we shall see. This notice of current movements would hardly be complete without a glance at the seductive apparent change of issue which is now coming to be quite prom inently brought to the front ; and that is, that the Sunday is not to be enforced as a religious institution, but only as a civil institution ; that to enforce the keeping of the day as an act of religion, would be to violate the spirit of the Constitution and strike a blow at religious liberty, but that the State has a right to enforce it as a "sanitary measure," a "police regula tion," a merely "civil enactment," and with this sev enth-day keepers must comply, or move elsewhere. The International Sabbath Association Recorder, published at 19 So. Twelfth St., Philadelphia, Pa., has for one of its mottoes these words of Adam Smith : "The Sabbath as apolitical institution is of inestimable value, independently of its claim to divine authority." Richard W. Thompson, when Secretary of the Navy, in 1880, at a meeting of the New York Sabbath Com- 224 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. mittee, as reported in the N. Y. Herald of March 8, 1880, said : "I take it there is no principle better fixed in the American mind than the determination to insist upon the conformity by foreign ers to our Sunday legislation. We are a Sabbath-keeping people. [Applause.] Men say that we have no power to interfere with the natural right of individuals ; that a man may spend Sunday as he pleases. But society has a right to make laws for its own pro tection. They are not religious laws. The men engaged in this grand work of securing the enforcement of the Sabbath laws, do not want to force you into any church ; for these gentlemen rep resent all denominations. They want to make you observe the Sabbath-day as a day of rest merely, peaceably if they can, forci bly if they must, only so far as it is necessary to protect society. Destroy the Sabbath, and you go out of light into darkness. A government without the Sabbath as a civil institution, could not stand long enough to fall. [Applause.] " And yet with all these professions they find it im possible to conceal the fact that it is, after all, a re- ligioiis observance which they wish to secure. Thus Mr. Thompson continues : "Why are we so specially interested in Sabbath laws ? Because there is no other government that depends so much on the moral ity of its citizens as ours. Here, where we have a republic with its existence depending on the mass of the people, it is necessary to have a general observance of Hie Sabbath." The italics in the foregoing quotation are ours ; and we thus emphasize these words because we must in sist that the devoting of a day to cessation from labor in obedience to a law of the State is in no sense the " observance of the Sabbath," even though the right day were selected for that purpose. For the very idea of the Sabbath is a religious idea. It is derived from the word of God. There is no Sabbath in any Scriptural sense, except the day that God made such by resting upon it. And when the day is observed INDICATIONS OF COMING CHANGES. 225 as a religious act, on the authority of God s word and as his word directs, the Sabbath is observed, but not otherwise. Neither is compliance with a State law to stop work on a certain day, in any just sense the practice of "morality," unless the State is the source of that grace, and civil laws are moral laws. Yet Mr. T. s language betrays the fact that it is the " moral ity," and the " observance of the Sabbath," that it is intended to enforce. The people of Louisville, Ky., in the call for a mass- meeting, Feb. 10, 1879, " for the purpose of securing a better observance of our weekly rest-day," endeav ored to draw this distinction sharp, as follows : "With regard to the Sabbath as a religious institution, we pro pose to do nothing whatever in this meeting. We withdraw from the discussion every religious question. Your attention will be called exclusively to the Sabbath as a civil institution, a day of rest from labor and public amusements, set apart for that purpose by the immemorial usage of the American people and the laws of the land." Mr. Joseph Cook, in a Boston lecture in May, 1879, claimed the same distinction. He said : "Sabbath laws are justified in a republic by the right of self- preservation. ... An important distinction exists between Sunday observance as a religious ordinance and as a civil institu tion. American courts, while enforcing the Sun.day laws, disclaim interference with religion," etc. Such a presentation of the subject will captivate many minds, and lead thousands to act from a stand point of secular policy as they would not dare to act from that of religious toleration. Even the N. Y. Independent, after its scathing ex posure of the inconsistency of the Religious Amend ment Movement, as given on p. 205, is, in its issue of Jan. 4, 1883, carried away with this kind of logic, 15 226 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. The case calling out its remarks was this : Certain Jews in New York City made application for an in junction restraining the police from arresting them for pursuing their ordinary business on the first day of the week, on the ground that they were observers of the seventh day. The injunction was temporarily granted by Judge Arnoux, but was soon after dis solved, on the plea that the business of the applicants would not come under the head of " works of mercy or necessity." The New York penal code makes only this provision for observers of the seventh day : "It is a sufficient defense to a prosecution for servile labor on the first day of the week, that the defendant uniformly keeps an other day of the week as holy time, and does not labor on that day ; and that the labor complained of was done in such a manner as not to interrupt or disturb other persons in observing the first day of the week as holy time." It is now argued that this is no ground for exemp tion from arrest for Sunday labor ; for such labor is a violation of the letter of the law, and the law does not presume that a man has a defense till he makes one. Therefore, although a man is well known to be a conscientious observer of the seventh day, he may be arrested whenever found working on the first day, and put to all the annoyance and trouble of making a defense. And such a course of action is defended as right. To the question, Would not this be a hardship to the Jews and Seventh-day Baptists ? the Independent makes answer that this is incidental to their living in a community which makes Sunday the day of rest, and cannot be avoided without destroying the day of rest altogether. Again it says that if the Sunday law INDICATIONS OF COMING CHANGES. 227 < Is not equally well fitted to the Jews, as it is not, who form but a mere fragment of the people, this is an inconvenience to them which they must bear, and which the law cannot remove without imposing a much greater inconvenience upon a far larger number of persons." Now comes the distinction on the strength of which these sentiments are uttered. Again we quote : "If it [the Sunday law] enforced any kind of religious observ ance upon them, this would be unjust ; but there is no injustice in requiring them to observe Sunday as a day of rest in a commu nity in which, for good and sufficient general reasons, the day is so observed. If they do not like it, we see no remedy for them ex cept in a withdrawal from such a community." Notwithstanding such declarations, the general reader will, AVC think, be able to look beneath this woolly exterior, and discern the true nature of the Sunday-law movement, and why it has seen fit to ar ray itself in sheep s clothing. It will, without doubt, be conceded by all that the present clamor for Sun day legislation is owing entirely to the fact that the great majority of religionists regard the day as a di vine institution, and its observance as a religious duty. But some do not so regard it, because they under stand that God has set apart another day for the Sab bath, and does not require the observance of this one ; and when such are compelled to observe the first day, in what position are they at once placed ? They are made to keep the day because others regard it as a divine institution, while they do not so regard it, and to pay homage to a religious custom which they know to be false. They are deprived of one-sixth of the time which God has given them for labor, and are thus robbed of one-sixth of their means of support, if they live by the labor of their hands, as most of them do, because a stronger religion demands it, and the 228 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. State confirms that demand. Is there not here relig ious discrimination ? Are not the consciences of one class oppressed in the interest of another class ? Is not this an interference on the part of the State with the spiritual freedom of its subjects? Is not this re ligious intolerance and persecution for conscience sake ? Such, in reality, it is, however much people may try to disguise it by other names. In a later issue, dated March 1, 1883, in reply to the question from a correspondent, " Will you please tell me how this has nothing to do with religion ?" the Independent says : "We can only repeat that it is a great disadvantage to be in the minority. People there may be right ; but they must suffer and submit." Every one, from the days of the apostles down, who has suffered from religious oppression, could testify in regard to the disadvantage of being in the minor ity. But is this government, which professes to guar antee to the weakest and humblest citizen his just rights, now to take the position that such rights can- *not be secured unless he is with the majority ? Again the Independent says : "All the State wants is that the citizen shall have one day in seven for rest, not for religion/ But can any one tell why the large majority can not "rest" just as well on the first day, even if the small minority who keep the seventh day go about their legitimate and honorable occupation ? If it is "rest" merely that is wanted, does my work hinder my neighbor from resting ? But no ! if you are seen at work, you shall be arrested. Therefore, it is not simply the privilege of rest for those who desire it, INDICATIONS OF COMING CHANGES. 229 but a compulsory rest, whether you wish it or not, because others desire that you shall rest as well as themselves. Again we quote : "If they insist on so working as to interfere with the rest-day of the majority, they must either move, or be moved away. We are sorry, but there is no help for it." We know of no observers of the seventh day who have the least intention of interfering, or desire to in terfere, with others in their observance of the first day. They ask for no right to do anything of this kind. They would religiously refrain from disturb ing either the private rest or the public devotion of any on that day. But we apprehend that the very fact that they do not keep the day, nor acknowledge its claims, will be construed to amount to a sufficient "interference" and "disturbance" to call for repress ive measures. Let them " move or be moved." The opposition to the religious amendment mani fested in many parts of the country, especially by the liberal or infidel element, is thought by many to be an insuperable barrier in the way of its success. But if we mistake not, this is the very stimulus which will excite its friends to such exertions that it will ulti mately be secured ; for the opposition assumes such an aggressive attitude that no neutral ground is left ; an irrepressible conflict is precipitated ; it must be victory or defeat of the most decisive kind with either party ; the government must become nominally wholly Christian or in reality wholly secular. Thus the National Reform Association set forth the object they have in view by the second article of their Constitution, which reads as follows : " The object of this Society shall be to maintain existing Chris tian features in the American government, and to secure such an 230 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. * amendment to the Constitution of the United States as will indi cate that this is a Christian nation, and place all the Christian laws, institutions, and usages of our government on an undeniable legal basis in the fundamental law of the land." On the other hand, in opposition to this National Reform Movement, Liberalism sets forth its sweeping antagonistic demands in the following platform : "1. We demand that churches and other ecclesiastical property shall no longer be exempt from just taxation. " 2. We demand that the employment of chaplains in Congress, in State Legislatures, in the navy and militia, and in prisons, asylums, and all other institutions supported by public money, shall be discontinued. "3. We demand that all public appropriations for educational and charitable institutions of a sectarian character shall cease. "4. We demand that all religious services now sustained by the government shall be abolished ; and especially that the use of the Bible in the public schools, whether ostensibly as a text-book or avowedly as a book of religious worship, shall be prohibited. "5. We demand that the appointment, by the President of the United States or by the Governors of the various States, of all re ligious festivals and fasts, shall wholly cease. "6. We demand that the judicial oath, in the courts and in all other departments of the government, shall be abolished, and that simple affirmation under the pains and penalties of perjury shall be established in its stead. "1. We demand that all laws directly or indirectly enforcing the observance of Sunday as the Sabbath shall be repealed. "8. We demand that all laws looking to the enforcement of Christian morality shall be abrogated, and that all laws shall be conformed to the requirements of natural morality, equal rights, and impartial liberty. " 9. We demand that not only in the Constitutions of the United States and of the several States, but also in the practical adminis tration of the same, no privilege or advantage shall be conceded to Christianity or any other special religion ; that our entire polit ical system shall be founded and administered on a purely secular basis ; and that whatever changes shall prove necessary to this end, shall be consistently, unflinchingly, and promptly made." INDICATIONS OF COMING CHANGES. 231 % The Inter Ocean of Nov. 16, 1880, reported the pro ceedings of a convention held in Chicago the day previous, for the promotion of the " secularization " of the State. " By that," said the report, " they signify the exclusion of the Bible and all religious training from the public schools, and the taxation of church property. A permanent organization was effected." Thus while frequent conventions are held by the National Reform party, counter conventions are held by the Liberalists ; and the forces are marshaling on either side. The Tulare (Cal.) Times of Oct. 20, 1882, said : " The Associate Reformed Presbyterian Covenanter organ pro claims an irrepressible conflict between the religious and secular theories of government. The sectarian press reiterates the senti ment, and such politicians as John Sherman, Governor Foster, Jeremiah Black, Judge Sawyer, Senator Harvey, Judge Brooks of North Carolina, Judge Saffold of Alabama, Judge Phelps of Con necticut, Judge Cole of Iowa, Governor Turnes of Nebraska, Judge Rockwell of Massachusetts, and Judge Morrison of California echo the demand for a religious amendment to the Constitution of the United States. General Grant warned the country years ago, that there was impending such a struggle between the God in the Constitution party on the one side, and the friends of the present guarantees for religious freedom on the other side, as would shake the very foundations of our government. And yet such men as ex-Governor Woods have the effrontery to deny that there is any danger of a religious contest. These fomenters of religious tyr anny are endeavoring to lull the people and put them to sleep, that their designs may be the more easily accomplished." The Chicago Express of Feb. 1G, 1884, contains an article written by Bishop Foster, of the Methodist Church. While traveling in Europe, he takes occa sion to speak of those forms of worship there which are supported by law, and the acts that led to such a state of things. He says : MARVEL OP "That there is but little real, vital, personal, religion in these lands, is among the most patent facts. ... I know of nothing more sad than the religious condition of Europe, and the saddest part of it is that it is chargeable to the Church itself, and therefore the more hopeless. If something is not speedily done, the so-called Chris tian Church will drive Christianity from these ancient lands, if not from the whole world. " In speaking of the primary causes which led to this spiritual condition, he says : "Did Constantino make the Roman mind Christian by abolish ing paganism, and proclaiming the religion of the cross in its stead, and, creating the constituted Eoman nation into a Church, make the nation a Christian Church ? or did he not rather pagan ize Christianity ? " Speaking still further of the present state of things, he says : "By a false theory, the Church has been taken from the people, and converted into a priestly and political machine, and lias ceased to be a Church of Christ, as much as the papal machine at Rome. . . . This condition of things is the sad inheritance of the union of Church and State." The editor of the Express, in calling attention to these statements of the Bishop, says-: " The Church in America has also very largely become a polit ical machine, and lias been used as a means of raising a campaign fund to retain and maintain the party in power, and return men to office who have betrayed the people, and sold them to the giant corporations of the land. . . . How long, we would ask of Bishop Foster, does he imagine it will be before the Church in America, like the Church in Europe, will be forced to seek an al liance with the State in order to sustain itself, because of the in difference of the people, who perceive its iniquitous practices, and scoff at its pretended Christianity ? Already a union of the two is a thing openly spoken of as desirable. "We have before us at this moment a religious journal, the Sab bath Sentinel, which in its leading editorial warns the Church against the tendency. The rich men within the Church, who have INDICATIONS OP COMING CHANGES. 238 taken shelter there against public condemnation of their crimes of extortion, are ready at any time for the union more than ready. They would do with their taxes to the Church as they have done with their taxes to the State, frame the laws in such a way that the poor shall be forced to pay for them. Every one of the causes which produced the union of Church and State in Europe, exists either in full bloom or in embryo in this country ; and here, as there, if something is not speedily done, the so-called Christian Church will drive Christianity from the land. "Again we say, with the Bishop, Let the Church of God come out from the world ; let it be made of followers and disciples of Christ ; let it represent righteousness and truth ; let it cut loose from false and entangling alliances ; let its priests be clothed with salvation, and its citizens be a holy communion ; let it demonstrate its divine lineage, let this be the watch-cry of Zion, and then it will be a power in the earth, and will silence the taunt of its ene mies/ " In the Richland Star of Dec. 4, 1879, published in Bellville, Ohio, an infidel wrote against the National Reform party, which had then recently held a con vention in Mansfield, Ohio, concluding his remarks as follows : " The lash and the sword have always proved poor ambassadors of Christ. If we live up to our Constitution as it now is, we shall be good citizens, and have all the room we care to occupy as Christians." To this writer a Mr. W. W. Anderson replied in the next issue of the same paper, in defense of the Association, giving expression, in his remarks, to this sentiment : "Either we are a Christian nation, or we are not. Either our Sabbath laws, so essential to good order and the welfare of all classes, are to be maintained, or they are to be abrogated. In the latter case, we shall wade through blood, as Paris did when under infidel rule." These passages show that the contestants are fully THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. aware of the nature and magnitude of the struggle upon which the Christian world is now entering. A minister in Kansas, an agent of the National Re form Association, uses the term, " A Second Irrepress ible Conflict," to describe the antagonism now arising between theology and secularism, as embodied in the present movement for a religious amendment of the Constitution of the United States. The opposition to this he likens to the great Rebellion, and asks if we are to have another such rebellion. A few words from his pen will set forth his views in this respect, arid indicate the length to which he would be willing to go in its suppression. He says : "The great Rebellion, which was put down at such frightful cost, was a rebellion which aimed to strike down liberty from its place in the American government. The rising rebellion we have yet to deal with, aims to strike down Christianity from the place it has held in our government from its origin to the present hour." This, he thinks, can be met only by the amendment movement of the National Reform party. And he leaves it to be inferred, as did also the speakers at the National Reform Convention in Cleveland, in De cember, 1883, that if the success of this movement cost even as great a sacrifice as the suppression of our late political Rebellion cost, the sacrifice should be made rather than that the religious amendment movement should fail. For he says : "The success of the present endeavor to conform our govern ment in every respect to its acknowledged secular Constitution, would be followed by consequences more revolutionary and more frightful [italics his] than would have followed the success of the endeavor of the pro-slavery party of the North and of the South, to conform our government in every respect to our then pro-slavery Constitution." If this is so, the rising rebellion, before which he INDICATIONS OF COMING CHANGES. 235 stands appalled, should be put down even at a greater sacrifice than the former. But it might be well to inquire what has given Lib eralism its recent impulse toward the secularization of the State. Is it not the National Reform move ment itself ? We heard nothing about the " demands" of Liberalism, nor their specially aggressive work, till the amendmentists began to seek the aid of the civil power in behalf of religious customs and dogmas. This naturally threw the Liberalists into an active defensive movement under the menace of the loss of their civil rights. Thus the amendmentists find that they have conjured up a demon which they would now fain exorcise. Neither party can recede from the positions it has taken. The crisis must now come ; and the amendmentists see no way to meet it on their part, but to carry through to the desperate end, the movement by which it has been precipitated. A very marked and rapid change is taking place in public opinion relative to the proposed religious amendment of the Constitution. Some who were at first openly hostile to the movement, we learn are now giving their influence for its advancement, and clamoring loudly for a Sunday law. And some who at first regarded it with indifference, are now becom ing its warm partisans. As a sample of this change of feeling, the following paragraph from the Christian Press of January, 1872, may be presented. The Chris tian Press is the organ of the Western Book and Tract Society, Cincinnati, Ohio, and its editor, speak ing of the National Association above referred to, says : "When this Association was formed, while we were prepared to bid it God speed, we did not then feel that there was any press- 236 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. ing need for the object sought ; and as our mission was specially directed to the Christianizing, enlightening, and elevating of the masses of the people, we have said little in our columns on the subject, being assured that if the people are right, it is easy to set the government right. The late combined efforts, however, of various classes of our citizens to exclude the Bible from our schools, repeal our Sabbath laws, and divorce our government en tirely from religion, and thus make it an atheistic government, for every government must be for God or again-st him, and must be administered in the interests of religion and good morals, or in the interests of irreligion and immorality, have changed our mind, and we are now prepared to urge the necessity for an ex plicit acknowledgment in the national Constitution of the author ity of God, and the supremacy of his law as revealed in the Script ures of the Old and New Testaments." The course of the Examiner and Chronicle, the lead ing Baptist journal of our country, is another case in point. When the movement for the religious amend ment of the Constitution was inaugurated, this paper, alluding thereto, said : "We have wondered at the magical effects ascribed to the sac raments according to high-church theology. But turning a nation of atheists to Christians by a few strokes of the pen, by a vote in Congress, and ratifying votes in three-fourths of the State Legis latures, is equally miraculous and incomprehensible. This agita tion for a national religion, officially professed, has for its logical outcome, persecution that, and nothing more or less. It is a movement backward to the era of Constantine ; as far below the spirituality of the New Testament as it is below the freedom of republican America." But in 1879 the same paper, in an article on " The Day of Rest," changed its tone in reference to na tional action on this question, as follows : " By these and other considerations, therefore, we are justified in holding that the spirit of the fourth commandment, with all its divine sanctions and sacred privileges, applies in full force to the Christian day of rest. To preserve it from profanation, to main tain its inestimable privileges, to secure to all the sanitary, moral, INDICATIONS OF COMING CHANGES. 237 family, and civic benefits of which M. Proudhon wrote, as well as the undisturbed enjoyment of religious service on that day, is a duty which Christians owe at once to their country and their God. And in this work governments should aid, within their sphere, in the interest of public morals, and the general well-being of society/ Again, the Universalist of Oct. 6, 1877, published in Boston, Mass., contained a report of the Massa chusetts Convention of Universalists, held in Wor cester, Mass., Sept. 25, 1877. In that Convention a resolution " heartily sympathizing with the aims of the National Reform Association in seeking a legal recognition of God and his government," was intro duced. The committee to whom it was referred rec ommended its adoption. In the discussion which fol lowed, Mr. H. Kimball said, " We may initiate a re ligious war, of all wars the most bitter." Dr. Flan ders said, " There is danger in the resolution." Rev. Mr. Chambre said, " It is a reactionary movement, hostile to the religious liberty whereof Universalists have been the special champions." Rev. G. W. Has- kell said that " the Association which seeks the change in the Constitution only keeps its Calvinism in abey ance. That will come in due time if it gets encour agement." After all these plain utterances, a motion for indefi nite postponement was lost. A motion to strike it out was lost. The motion to adopt was then carried by a vote of 61 to 47. This strange action on the part of the Universalists may be attributed largely to the course of the Lib eral League in calling for the abolition of all recog nition of God and religion in State instruments and operations, and making the government wholly sec ular ; for this is arousing the fears of all classes of 238 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. professed Christians, and inciting them to repel what they consider the danger. Nothing can tend more strongly to precipitate the conflict on the Amendment question. The tendency of religious opinion is still further shown in the position taken by the Christian Instruc tor in the year 1884. Judge Black of Pennsylvania, having argued before the House Judiciary Committee at Washington, Jan. 30, 1883, against the bill " To Suppress Polygamy in the Territories, the Instructor said : "When distinguished jurists are taking such positions relating to questions of Christian morals, is it not time, is it not impera tive, that the Christian people of this nation should demand the religious amendment of the Constitution ? Many say, as they have been saying, It is best to let well enough alone. It is becoming manifest, however, that well enough cannot be left alone. The si lence of the Constitution is being interpreted and used against the Christian institutions of the nation. The Constitution must cease to be silent, and, by the amendment, must unmistakably declare that this is a Christian nation, and that its morality is the morality of the revealed will of God. Only thus is it possible to have our Christian institutions and usages permanently preserved." The following resolutions may also be taken as sample expressions of the sentiment that prevails to a large extent among church members of different de nominations, in reference to the proposed religious amendment of the Constitution of the United States. The St. Joseph District Conference of the M. E. Church, Marysville, Mo., passed a resolution Oct. 4, 1882, of which the following is the substance : "Resolved, That we do most heartily commend and indorse the object of the National Reform Association, and we pledge to them our prayers for success in securing their commendable and much needed amendment to our National Constitution." The General Conference of the M. E. Church, at INDICATIONS OF COMING CHANGES. 239 Philadelphia, May 27, 1884, unanimously passed the following : " Resolved, That we will use our efforts to secure such a change in the Constitution of our country as shall recognize the being of God, our dependence upon him for prosperity, and also his word as the foundation of civil law." The Iowa State Western Baptist Association, at Shenandoah, Oct. 5, 1882, unanimously embodied the same sentiment in the following resolution : "Resolved, That we earnestly approve of that part of the plan adopted by the National Association which aims at the enactment of such laws as will lead to the better observance of the Sabbath, and the use of the Bible in our public schools." The Kansas Annual Conference of the Protestant Methodist Church, at Whitewater Center, Sept. 1C, 1882, also unanimously passed the following : "Resolved, That, as a Christian nation, it is the sense of this Conference that we should demand ingrafted in the United States Constitution an amendment acknowledging our faith in, and de pendence upon, Almighty God." Almost as fast as the matter is brought to the at tention of the Churches and Conferences, similar sen timents are called out. The danger is that many will be drawn into the movement without perceiving its true import, and the evils to which it will lead ; that they will favor an amendment of the Constitution, thinking it will be made better, not understanding that the final result will be to transform it from the grand aegis of our liberties into an instrument of un righteousness and oppression. Yet notwithstanding all these indications of the sentiment fast growing up in the religious circles of this country to establish religion by law, some are still skeptical in regard to the possibility of any such 240 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. revolution ; and when we express the opinion that the majority of the professors of religion, and others, are to combine so far as to enact a general law for the observance of the so-called "Christian" or "Ameri can" Sabbath", we are met with expressions of the ut most incredulity in regard to such a movement. A law of that kind, they say, can never be carried, as it would interfere with too many kinds of business, and there are too many liberals and irreligious persons to oppose it. And yet when pressed right down to an expression of their own views in the matter, these very persons will take the position that there ought to be such a law. Now do they not see -that all that is necessary is to have such persons take their posi tion and act, and the requisite majority is secured ; for they but represent a feeling that generally pre vails. An illustration in point comes from a correspond ent, who writes : "In conversation with a number of persons a few days ago, I stated our views in regard to the Sunday movement, whereupon all ridiculed the idea of such a thing in a country of liberty, mak ing mention of railroads, amusements, etc. But scarcely five min utes had elapsed f when all said that they thought such a law ought to be passed, and signified their willingness to vote for it !" Many have been waiting with no little interest to hear Catholics speak on this question, querying what position they would assume. An incident which oc curred in the summer of 1880, plainly foreshadowed their policy in this matter. At the time referred to, S. V. Ryan, the Catholic Bishop of Buffalo, N. Y., is sued a circular denouncing the profanation of the first day of the week, and declaring that none would be recognized as Catholics who would not strictly ob- INDICATIONS OF COMING CHANGES. 241 serve the Lord s day. He urged his plea solely on the authority of the Church, claiming, truly, that the day was wholly an institution of the Church. Not withstanding this, the Christian World hastened to welcome this new ally in the Sunday cause. Publish ing the remarkable document, which appeals to the " Blessed Mother" as witness to its truth, the World urges the consideration and preservation of the cir cular, and says : "It would certainly furnish great ground of gratitude to every truly pious heart, if we might count upon the Roman Catholic ministers of religion as faithful allies in the struggle." In reference to the Catholic claim that the Sunday institution rests wholly upon the authority of the Church, the World says : "The historical statement with regard to the position of the Roman Catholic Church on the question of the Lord s day is, un fortunately, far from correct. . . . And yet we prefer to waive an inquiry into the truth or falsity of Bishop Ryan s claims, and to congratulate our Roman Catholic citizens and ourselves on the position which some, at least, of the prelates of this Church in this country are disposed to assume." Is it not marvelous that a religious journal, profess ing to be a defender of the truth, should take such a position as this ? Here is an assertion put forth by the great Roman Catholic hierarchy that Sunday is an institution of their Church, and Protestants are challenged to meet it, an assertion which, if true, nullifies every claim of the first-day Sabbath to divine support, takes out from under it every prop which a true Protestant would depend upon to sustain it, and makes it simply a human institution, not binding in any degree upon the consciences of men. In the face of such an assertion the first question to be settled is, 1G 242 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. whether this claim is true or not. But this Protestant writer proposes to waive all inquiry into the matter, virtually saying, We care not whether the claim is true or false, nor what the origin of the institution is, nor upon what authority it rests, if only we can have your assistance in trying to carry our point, and en force it upon the people. Can any one suppose that the fear of God and the love of the truth for the truth s sake, constitute the motive for such a course of action ? In this connection a reference to the change of at titude on the part of Protestantism toward Catholi cism, will not be considered wholly a digression from the main argument ; for this movement has a signifi cant bearing on the question before us. The "image," as elsewhere emphasized in this work, is to be made to the beast, Romanism. This would indicate cordial friendliness toward, and a certain degree of deference to, Catholicism, on the part of the image-making power, which we have shown to be Protestantism. And this friendliness of feeling on the part of Protest ants, is even now prominently manifested in some quarters. The time was, and has been all along un til within a few years, when Protestants were Protest ants indeed, protesting against the errors and abuses of the Roman Catholic Church. But there seems to be now a widespread inclination to stretch their hands across the chasm which has divided them, and wel come the Catholic Church to union and fellowship, not because the Catholics have reformed in any of the objectionable features of their system, but because Protestants are seemingly becoming very indifferent to them. How else can we account for a remarkable scene which took place in Westminster Abbey, Oct. 19, 1884, when in that professedly Protestant sanctu- INDICATIONS OF COMING CHANGES. 243 ary, a procession of five hundred Catholics were ad mitted to kneel at the shrine of Edward the Confessor, and pray for what ? For the success and good of Protestantism ? No ; but for the conversion of Eng land to the Roman Catholic faith ! This is not mere toleration ; it is surrender. Certain Protestants in this country seem inclined to include all in one Church, calling themselves "the Protestant branch of the great Catholic Church." But do Catholics propose to make any concessions, and meet Protestants half way in these fraternal ges tures ? Not at all. Protestants may go the whole way in the disgraceful surrender of principles which have cost the struggles of three hundred years ; and then perhaps the Catholic Church will receive them back into her bosom as erring, repentant children. But the Catholic Church is the same to-day in its in tolerant and blood-thirsty instincts that it always has been. It makes its boast that it never changes. Once let it gain supreme control in this country, and how soon would every Protestant place of worship in the land be sealed up as silent as the tomb, and every Bible be banished, not from the schools alone, but from the homes and hands of the people, and rigid conformity to the Catholic ritual alone be enforced by flood and flame, dagger and dungeon. To flatter ourselves that the bloody scenes of the Dark Ages were owing to the spirit of the age, and not the spirit of the Church, and could not now be repeated under Romish rule, is to be not only willfully but criminally blind. And to see Protestants shutting their eyes to these facts, and virtually accepting the preposterous pretensions of Catholicism, is astonishing indeed. These movements on the part of Protestants toward 244 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. fraternity with Catholics, become very significant in view of the agitation of the Sunday question, which is becoming so prominent in the land. The Sunday rest-day, being a Papal institution, will naturally claim the support of the Catholics. And in this thing, Prot estants who are seeking a Sunday law will gladly wel come them as allies ; and who then can for a moment doubt the ability of these two Churches, the Protest ant and Catholic, to carry any measures upon which they might unite ? According to the Dakota State Record, the Bishop of the Episcopal Church of Ohio speaks of " the Prot estant portion of the Catholic Church of Rome." He proposes a union between all Protestant sects and the Romish Church on marriage and divorce and the Sabbath (Sunday). He calls these (Protestant sects and the Romish Church) " every portion of the Christian Church," and thinks that " it is within reasonable expectation " that this " Christian Church throughout the world will speak the same language on all these moral issues," and that "legislation will not fail to follow the lead of such a public opinion." Yes, if Protestantism is only a " portion of the Catholic Church of Rome," why should it maintain the position of a schismatic, and keep up the division ? Why not go back at once to the mother Church ? But if that Catholic Church which is represented in the Scriptures as a harlot woman, drunken with the blood of the saints, a Church which has harried a hundred millions of innocent victims to their graves, which has invented and inflicted upon the humble followers of Christ horrible barbarities, more in num ber and more fiendish in character than those of all heathendom combined, from the earliest ages, if INDICATIONS OF COMING CHANGES. 245 such a Church is Christian, God pity Christianity ! but rather God pity the man whose moral sensibilities have become so benumbed and paralyzed that he can assume such an attitude toward this tragical burlesque of Christianity ! That such words can be spoken by Protestants, and such propositions be urged by them, is one of the most alarming indications of the tendency of the times. With the anti-Sunday movements of the present day, considering their associations, and the manner and object in and for which they are carried forward, we have no sympathy. They aim at utter no- Sabbathism, freedom from all moral restraint, and all the evils of unbridled intemperance, ends which we abhor with all the strength of a moral nature quick ened by the most intense religious convictions. And while the indignation of the better portion of the community will be aroused at the want of religious principle and the immorality attending the popular anti-Sunday movements, a little lack of discrimination, by no means uncommon, will, on account of our opposition to the Sunday institution, though ^vve oppose it on entirely different ground, easily associate us with the classes above mentioned, and subject us to the same odium. We therefore here take occasion to put on record a few words denning more fully our position. We wish it to be understood that we are in the most complete accord and the fullest sympathy with all reforms which tend to restrain immorality and con duce to the well-being of society. We bid all tem perance reformers Godspeed in their noble efforts. W T e wish all success to the great work of rescuing 246 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. men from the evils of intemperance. We wish all crippling, blighting, and paralyzing influences to fall upon the vile traffic in intoxicating liquors, above and below, east, west, north, and south, always and everywhere. We would restrain it, not only on Sun day, but on every day of the week. So, too, we are in favor of a divorce reform, prison reforms, all sanitary reforms, labor reform as against the encroachments of monopolies, reforms to restrain cruelty to children and to animals, and to prevent the circulation of vile, blasphemous, or obscene matter through the mails. We wish the latter reform might be extended also to the publication and circulation, in any manner, of the dime novel curse and abomination. Let the law which is designed to be a safeguard to society, take hold of all these things, we care not how rigidly. But with these things, our friends are unfortunately connecting another enterprise as a reform, which lacks the true basis of all reforms ; namely, the divine sanc tion. They labor to secure the enforcement by law of a day as the Sabbath which the Scriptures nowhere declare to be the Sabbath, in opposition to the day which they do explicitly declare to be the Sabbath. Now we believe in Sabbath reform ; but we say, Let us take the day which the Scriptures everywhere set forth as the divinely-appointed day of rest, and se cure its observance by moral suasion under the sanc tions of the divine law. Let it be understood further that we take no ex ception to laws in behalf of those who conscientiously deem it their duty to observe any day as a day of rest, so far as to secure them from any real disturb ance on such days. If people wish to observe Sunday, let them then be protected from anything which would really interfere with such observance. But we say that those who have conscientiously observed another day as the Sabbath, should not be compelled to keep Sunday also (all disturbance of course excepted), because some one else thinks that day is the Sabbath, any more than the Sunday-keeper should be compelled to keep the seventh day, because we believe that day is the Sabbath. An exemption should be made to cover such cases. To refuse this is to strike a blow at re ligious liberty in this country. Here is the danger ; and this is the ground of our protest. Meanwhile, some see the evils involved in this movement, and raise the note of alarm. The Chris tian Union, January, 1871, said : " If the proposed amendment is anything more than a bit of sentimental cant, it is to have a legal effect. It is to alter the status of the non-Christian citizen before the law. It is to affect the legal oaths and instruments, the matrimonial contracts, the sumptuary laws, etc., etc., of the country. This would be an out rage on natural right/ The Janesville (Wis.) Gazette, at the close of an ar ticle on the proposed amendment, speaks thus of the effect of the movement, should it succeed : "But, independent of the question as to what extent we are a Christian nation, it may well be doubted whether, if the gentlemen who are agitating this question should succeed, they would not do society a very great injury. Such measures are but the initiatory steps which ultimately lead to restrictions of religious freedom, and to commit the government to measures which are as foreign to its powers and purposes as would be its action if it should undertake to determine a disputed question of theology." The Weekly Alta Californian of San Francisco, March 12, 18TO, said:- 248 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. "The parties who have been recently holding a Convention for the somewhat novel purpose of procuring an amendment to the Constitution of the United States recognizing the Deity, do not fairly state the case when they assert that it is the right of a Chris tian people to govern themselves in a Christian manner. If we are not governing ourselves in a Christian manner, how shall the doings of our government be designated ? The fact is, that the movement is one to bring about in this country that union of Church and State which all other nations are trying to dissolve." The New York Independent, February, 1S70, spoke of the movement as having the same chance of suc cess that a union of Church and State would have. The Champlain Journal, speaking of incorporating the religious principle into the Constitution, and its effect upon the Jews, said : "However slight, it is the entering wedge of Church and State. If we may cut off ever so few persons from the right of citizen ship on account of difference of religious belief, then with equal justice and propriety may a majority at any time dictate the adop tion of still further articles of belief, until our Constitution is but the text- book of a sect beneath whose tyrannical sway all liberty of religious opinion will be crushed." Meanwhile the movement assumes a very harmless and innocent mien. What hurt can it do, it is asked, just to recognize God in the Constitution ? Who could object just to the mention of the Supreme Being and of Christ in our great national charter ? We have such recognition now, they plead, in most of our State Constitutions, and it does not seem to work any mis chief; why not then put it into the national Consti tution ? Thus the advocates of the religious amendment are wont to reason, or at least thus they seem pleased to have other people reason, with the hope, very appar ently, that they will act from that standpoint, and thus the more readily give support to their move- INDICATIONS OF COMING CHANGES. 240 ment. This feature comes out very distinctly in the report of one of the secretaries of the National Reform Association, who has lately [1884] been laboring in Lincoln, Nebraska. The object sought is thus put in a light which seems, at first view, very innocent and unobjectionable. But let us look at it a little more closely, and see if the most virulent kind of sophistry is not involved therein. If the simple insertion of the names of God and Christ somewhere in the Constitution is all that is designed, we inquire how that can be a matter of such impor tance as to warrant such a movement as is now on foot in its behalf the organization of an association, the issuing of books and tracts, the publication of a weekly paper, the calling of conventions, the employ ing of men to devote the whole or a part of their time to its promulgation, and the pouring out of liberal contributions of money in its support. All this shows upon the very face of it that there is something more in view than the mere mention of God in the Consti tution. But further, if God is already recognized in most of the State constitutions, as they acknowledge is the case, why is not that sufficient ? Is he not acknowl edged by all the States, and thus, so far as constitu tional action can go, by all the people of those States ? What is to be gained, then, by putting his name into the Constitution of the nation ? This brings us to the real issue. They desire not simply the name of God in the Constitution, but "such an amendment as shall place all the Christian laws, institutions, and usages of the government, on an un deniable legal basis in the fundamental law of the land." They want this because, as the case now 250 THE MARVEL OF NATION S. stands, if attempt is made through any State laws to enforce religious enactments, appeal can be taken to the higher court, and such efforts can be shown to be unconstitutional. It is just because the recognition of God in the State constitutions is thus liable to be rendered inoperative, because religious enactments under State laws are virtually null and void, that they want to get a sure foot-hold in the national Constitu tion, the highest source of authority in the land. And then our whole relation to religious matters would very speedily assume a different complexion ; for they desire such an arrangement that men can be coerced into compliance with what the majority shall decide to be religious customs. For instance, they declare and for this we have their own explicit language that, this amendment once secured, no one who does not strictly observe the first day of the week as the Sabbath, shall hold any public office under this gov ernment ; and that any corporation which will not thus regard it, shall immediately forfeit its charter ! Now look at the method of reasoning they conde scend to adopt in this matter : God is recognized in State constitutions, and no mischief comes of it ; therefore no man should be afraid to have him recog nized in the national Constitution. But why does no mischief come of his recognition by State constitu tions ? Because such recognition not existing in the national Constitution, the recognition by the State cannot be used to enforce religious tests in national affairs. And what do they intend to gain by such a recognition in the national Constitution ? Answer: To put matters in such a shape that religious tests can be enforced. But this would at once reverse the situation, and transform all their reasoning into a INDICATIONS OF COMING CHANGES. 251 falsehood and a snare. If such enforcement as they are laboring for could now be had by the recognition of religious customs by the State constitutions, no one could say that no mischief came of it ; and if these men could do under State constitutions what they de sire to do, they would seek for no amendment of the general Constitution. But now they appeal to the harmless nature of State constitutions on points where they are inoperative, to quiet men s fears and lead them to amend the national Constitution in such a manner as will make these State enactments operative, where they are not now, and thus change the whole complexion of their action. In other words, their reasoning is virtually this : Because a tiger caged can do no harm, therefore we need not fear to take such action as will uncage him, and let him loose upon the community, and it is our duty so to do. Is such reasoning fair and honest ? Is it not rather the wickedest kind of sophistry ? Their only chance of success in such reasoning is that people preoccu pied with other things will not stop to consider the movement sufficiently to see its true intent, as was doubtless the case with some prominent citizens of Lincoln, whom the secretary reported himself as in terviewing, and who he claimed gave the movement their sanction. Well did the editor of the Nebraska State Journal think there was recognition enough in the Constitution already, and Rev. Mr. Gregory ques tion the propriety of advancing moral reforms by legal enactments, and Rev. Mr. Ingram express alarm lest the movement meant a union of Church and State. Another argument used by the advocates of the amendment against our government as now consti tuted, must be abhorrent to every unvitiated Amer- 252 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. ican patriot. It is that the doctrine that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the gov erned, is a false principle. At the Cleveland (O.) Convention of the National Reform Association, held in December, 1883, one of the speakers attacked the statement as found in our Declaration of Independ ence, and which lies at the very foundation of our na tional polity, that governments " derive their just powers from the consent of the governed," and with a bitterness which was truly surprising, denounced it as " the old Philadelphia lie." In defense of his posi tion, he rung the changes on such questions as these : How could a past generation " consent" for the pres ent ? And how many of those now living under this government have actually "consented" to it? How do minors " consent " to it ? And what criminal would "consent" to the government? Such sophistry is well answered by Jos. P. Thomp son, D. D., LL. D., in a lecture on the "Doctrine of the Declaration of Independence," in which he says : "* Where/ asks Mr. Jefferson, shall we find the origin of just powers, if not in the majority of society ? Will it be in the mi nority ? or in an individual of that minority ? This is the key to the statement of the Declaration, that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. He was not think ing of a poll of equal rights, that each individual as an inaliena ble voter might consent to be governed thus or so, but of the community, the political society, in some method of its own, fram ing, commissioning, or consenting to, the government under which it should live ; and in this view of its meaning, this statement of the Declaration, like those that precede it, is also true, and of deep and far-reaching significance for governments and for mankind." He then draws from the history of both England and France, facts in confirmation of this view, and adds : THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. "The attachment of a people to their government may be vari able ; their sentiment toward officers and policy may change with men and measures ; their loyalty may be that of enthusiastic devo tion, of calm acquiescence, or of patient endurance ; but there in heres in every body politic a latent right of revolution ; and, so long as the people do not revive this right, the government de facto is presumed to hold its powers with the consent of the gov erned. " The United States as a Nation, pp. 82-84. The idea expressed by the Cleveland speaker was that all government being derived from God, its re quirements were to be made known by properly con stituted agents, and all that the governed had to do was to quietly submit ; their "consent" was not to be taken into the account at all. Had this man been arguing, under some benighted tyranny, for the " di vine right of kings," instead of standing amid the manifold blessings and privileges secured by this Re public, and denouncing the principles of its constitu tion, after more than one hundred years of such uni form and unbounded prosperity, as no other nation of the earth had ever enjoyed, his statements would not have seemed quite so astounding. It may still be asked, Has not the State the right to make a law that one day in the week shall be kept as a day of rest ? and would it not be the duty of all citizens to obey such a law, when made? Answer: The State has a right to legislate in reference to all the relations that exist between man and man, to protect and secure the just rights of each. It has a right, therefore, to legislate in regard to such crimes against society as Mormon polygamy, though prac ticed under the name of religion, against intemper ance, and against some forms of worship which pagans under the sanction of their religion, might introduce upon our shores. But in matters purely religious, INDICATIONS OF COMING CHANGES. 255 matters of conscience between man and his Maker, which in no wise encroach upon the rights of others, the State has no right to interfere. It is going be yond its legitimate province when it does so. The Constitution of the United States recognizes this truth, when, in the first amendment, it provides that " Congress shall make no law respecting an establish ment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." But in the matter of the Sabbath, God himself has already promulgated a law ; and certainly the State has no right to interfere with that. It is replied that the State does not propose to interfere with that, but only to establish a day of rest as a " civil institution" for the good of society. This will do as a film behind which to try to hide ; but it is not sufficient to con ceal the true motive. Speakers and writers alike cry out for a better observance of the Sabbath as they call the first day of the week. But resting upon any day merely as a requirement of the State, as a "sanitary measure," a "police regulation," is in no sense the keeping of a Sabbath as an act of worship offered to Heaven. Again, they urge it as a measure to secure a better state of morality. Here again the religious idea, which is the underlying principle in this move ment, crops out. There is one remarkable fact to be noticed in all this agitation ; namely, however much a day of rest may be urged as a "civil institution," a "police regu lation," etc., as if it was not a religious matter, the day selected for the rest-day is always Sunday. Why is this ? Will any one be willing to confess himself so obtuse as not to know that it is because the majority regard Sunday, in a religious sense, as the Sabbath ? 256 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. And this at once discriminates against those who ob serve the seventh day, inasmuch as, being obliged to keep another day also, they are deprived of one-sixth of their time, and, if laboring men, of one-sixth of their means of support, on account solely of the relig ious prejudices of other people. This strikes at the very root of religious liberty. If any deny this, and insist that the object is to be absolutely impartial and fair, the matter can be tested by the following proposition : Let some day be se lected as the State rest-day, which neither party re gards as the Sabbath by divine appointment. Take for instance Tuesday. Now we, having kept the sev enth day, could keep Tuesday on the same ground that the Sunday-keeper, having observed the first day, could keep Tuesday also. Here would be equality, one class not being discriminated against more than another. But how many Sunday-keepers would agree to this ? No ; they would say, having kept Sunday, what is the use of our keeping Tuesday ? Exactly. And so we say, After having kept the seventh day, what is the use of our keeping the first day ? If any are still disposed to query why we should object to a general Sunday law, we reply further that to such a law, in itself considered, we do not object. People may make as many Sunday laws as they please for themselves, and of just such kinds as they please. We do not ask the repeal of any now existing Sunday law. We only ask that those who have conscien tiously observed the seventh day, in compliance with the law of God, which says that " the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God, in it thou shalt not do any work," and with the physiological law of rest, which demands one day of rest in seven, we ask that INDICATIONS OF COMING CHANGES 257 such shall be exempted from the requirements of the Sunday law, and be allowed to go quietly and peace ably about their labor in obedience to the same law of God which says, " Six days shalt thou labor." And we imagine we hear many responding, " Oh, yes ! that is fair ; that is just ; and of course you will be guaranteed that privilege." But this is just what those who are now so loudly clamoring for a Sunday law do not intend to grant ; and this is what we want the people to understand. On this point we have tangible evidence. Most of the States have exemption clauses in their Sunday laws in favor of observers of the seventh day. Pennsylvania has no such exemption ; but she has an old, unrepealed Sunday law of 1 TO-i upon her statute books. Taking advantage of this state of things, some evil disposed persons have caused the repeated oppression, by fine and imprisonment, of a certain Seventh-day Baptist * in that State, for quietly work ing upon the first day of the week after having consci entiously and scripturally observed the seventh day. * The person referred to is D. C. Waldo, of Venango, Pa. Being a mem ber of the Seventh-day Baptist Church, he conscientiously and religiously observes the seventh day of the week as the Sabbath. Having done this, he deems it his duty to go quietly about his legitimate business upon the first day, in obedience to the same high law which says, " Six days shalt thou labor." He owns a planing-mill in an isolated country position, more than two miles from any first-day meeting-house. Yet under the old 1794 law of Pennsylvania he has been twice prosecuted for thus laboring on Sunday. The last time he appealed to the higher court, at a cost to himself in money, besides his time and trouble, of one hundred and fifty dollars. But the decision of the lower court was sustained. And thus this man suffers for his religious opinions, under a government which guarantees to every man the right to worship God according to the dictates of his own con science. One other person besides Mr. Waldo has also been prosecuted in that place. 17 258 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. Seeing the injustice of such proceedings, a few no ble souls have labored to secure an act, not repealing the law, but simply exempting observers of the sev enth day from its operation. In 1881-82 this lacked only one vote of becoming a law. But in 1882-83 the same bill was defeated by the surprising majority of 130 against 37. Thus Pennsylvania hugs her disgrace. But what had wrought this change between the win ter of 1881-82 and that of 1882-83 ? One important influence at least, we think, may be seen in the fol lowing fact : While the bill (No. 122) was pending at the last- named session of the Legislature, some zealous Sun day man placed a copy of it in the hands of Hon. Felix R. Brunot, President of the National Reform Association, and Elliott E. Swift, of Pittsburg, Pa. They immediately sent a copy of the bill to the Com mercial Gazette of that city, with the accompanying note : "The following bill, No. 122, has just been handed us with the statement that it has already passed the second reading in the Leg islature of Pennsylvania. Its enactment will lead toward the de struction of the Christian Sabbath in this Commonwealth. It is very desirable that the bill should be understood by our people, and that numerous and emphatic protests be adopted and for warded immediately. We therefore request you to publish it." The animus of this note is not to be mistaken. No effort is made to repeal the Sunday law, but simply (mark it !) to provide exemption for those who con scientiously keep the seventh day ; and this man, who stands at the head of the National Reform Associa tion, utters a vigorous and emphatic protest the ex emption must not be granted ! and he calls upon " our [his] people," to protest likewise. Ring it out through INDICATIONS OF COMING CHANGES. 259 all the land, that a conscientious Christian man in the State of Pennsylvania, who believes that the seventh day is the Sabbath, as the Bible declares, and keeps it as such, wishes the privilege of quietly following his labor on the first day of the week unmolested by the law which those who believe in keeping Sunday, which he does not believe in, have made for them selves ; and the man who stands as the representative of that Association which is calling for a national Sunday law, thunders out, to the extent of his ability, a relentless No ! the privilege must not be granted ; it will w r ork " the destruction of the Christian Sab bath." Does the thoughtful reader suppose that when such men gain the power, seventh-day keepers anywhere will be exempted ? Not at all. In reference to the probable future of the religious amendment movement, Eld. W. H. Littlejohn, in the Sabbath Sentinel of May, 1884, spoke as follows : " The National Reform party is confident of ultimate success. The men who are behind it are not enthusiasts to that extent that they anticipate an easy victory, or one which is to be realized im mediately. Composed as the leaders are of men of learning and experience, their practiced eyes, while seeing with distinctness the goal of their ambition, are able to measure the distance between it and themselves with tolerable accuracy. Surveying the field of contest with a coolness and penetration characteristic of .experi enced politicians, they have cautiously estimated the strength of the positions of their enemies and the measure of their own re sources. Having been active participants in what is termed the great moral contest of the recent past, they have studied the ele ments which rendered them successful ; and they feel assured that the struggle in which they are engaged is equally moral in its char acter, and therefore certain to triumph sooner or later. Perceiv ing that the success of the great anti-slavery contest was assured the moment it secured for itself the support, generally speaking, of the pulpits of the land, they very naturally infer that, whenever 260 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. they shall be able to enlist the same pulpits in the interests of a movement which to their minds is as certainly favored of Heaven as was the one in question, the realization of their expectation will not be far removed. "With them, therefore, the whole matter turns upon the cap ture of the ministry of the nation. To that end all their efforts are directed at the present time. If they succeed, there is no power that can stand before them. It must be admitted also that the probability that they will ultimately secure the active support and co-operation of the clergy and the Churches, judging from present appearances, is very strong. They are active and untiring in their efforts, while those in the Churches and outside of the Churches who ought to be alive to the dangers of the situation have but little or nothing to say in the direction of sounding the alarm. One by one the representative bodies of the different de nominations are roped into the National Reform movement, and induced by resolutions or otherwise to commit themselves and those for whom they speak to an indorsement of it. In a single year ten Methodist Conferences were induced to give hearty ap proval to the movement, and five thousand copies of the Christian Statesman the organ of the party were sent to as many clergy men. Besides the papers spoken of and a flood of other publica tions, with which the country is being inundated, and all bearing upon the same general subject, ministers and lecturers have been traversing the continent from Maine to California, speaking in the interest of the so-called Reform. "When it is remembered that there is to the average Christian mind a wonderful fascination in the thought of becoming a cham pion in the conflict for the recognition of the names of God and Christ in the Constitution of the nation ; and when it is borne in mind that it is a comparatively easy task for a polished orator to make his uninformed hearers believe that God will hold them responsible for the desecration of a day that from childhood they have been taught to believe was holy time, it will be per ceived that if not opposed with vigor in this work, it will be com paratively easy for a few energetic and determined spirits to arouse in favor of their enterprise an enthusiasm which will sweep everything before it. "Never did a party have a more thrilling war-cry than in the words, " The names of God and Christ in the Constitution, the read- INDICATIONS OF COMING CHANGES. 261 ing of the Bible in the common schools, and the enforcement of the Sunday laws." All three of these projects are of such a nature as to commend themselves to Christians generally, unless they can be shown that these same projects cannot be realized without im periling the government and doing great injustice to certain classes of our citizens. "Nor are professed Christians alone in this. Outside the pale of the Churches are multitudes of men and women who, though not professedly Christians, are nevertheless very friendly to what they believe to be Christian institutions, and who are ready at all times to support them by voice and vote, whenever they can do so without making a public profession of religion. These persons, unless thoroughly aroused to the tendency of the proposed legis lation, are certain to enlist under the banners of the new party. "There is also another feature of this subject that is worthy of attention. Aside from Seventh-day Adventists and Seventh-day Baptists, the apathy of those Christians even who are at heart op posed to the purposes of the National Reform party, is so complete that the public are not apprised of their real feelings. On the other hand, infidels and atheists are so out-spoken in their hostility to that party that the casual observer, unaware of the efforts of the two denominations spoken of above, naturally concludes that the contest is wholly between believers and unbelievers. This fact acts very much to the prejudice of those who are standing man fully for the right. Indeed, this is so true that it will be apparent to any intelligent observer that the supporters of the amendment movement are already gaining no inconsiderable advantage by trying to make it appear that the opponents of their work ,re found almost wholly among the enemies of God. In a short time they will add to the benefits of a fascinating war-cry the advantage that is derived from hopelessly fastening upon an antagonist an opprobrious epithet. While as a matter of fact Seventh-day Ad ventists and Seventh-day Baptists are what they are because of their strict adherence to the word of God, and while they are noted for their devotion to the cause of temperance, they will nevertheless be classed with the frequenters of beer gardens, and with such men as Abbott and Ingersoll, whose principles they de test. "Unless men of every denomination shall speedily cross over the line of indifference, and unite in an effort to enlighten the public mind in reference to the true nature of the proposed legislation THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. by the general government in matters of religion, it will be for ever too late. The drift is altogether in the wrong direction. The Churches once practically captured, the end will not be far off. Sabbatarians, though right in regard to the true Sabbath, and deeply in earnest in their endeavors to stem the tide which is sweeping in the direction of uniting Church and State, are too few in numbers to avert that calamity. In the tempest of passion which is soon to be raised over this subject, their voices will be lost unless they receive immediate help from their fellow-Chris tians, and the battle for religious liberty will be lost, So far as atheists and infidels are concerned, they are incapable of holding the field against the systematic attacks of the thoroughly drilled and perfectly organized armies of the orthodox Churches. The decision of the question will be simply one of time. The hosts of the Reform party will enter the halls of the capitol, and take into their hands the reins of government. History will repeat itself. Intoxicated with success, and ambitious for the complete realiza tion of their long cherished plan of placing all Christian laws and usages of the government upon an "undeniable legal basis," they will commence to enact laws to secure that end. When this is done, resistance to their plans will no longer be tolerated. Inter preting their success as a token of Divine favor, they will never pause in their career until they have added another to the long list of governments in which religious liberty has been sacrificed on the altar of blind fanaticism. "Reader, would you avert such a misfortune as long as pos sible ? Then strike hands with those who are struggling hard for the same purpose. Have you looked with innocent pride at the grand old ship of State which for a hundred years has been the object of universal admiration, and the hope of the regions where religious intolerance and political oppression have acted like a blight and a mildew on the national life? Then remember that the hands which have held the helm of that noble craft thus far have all been lifted to Heaven in attestation of a solemn vow to preserve and carry out a Constitution which provides that "Con gress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." Do you think it would be unsafe to allow the majestic old ship to pass under the control of those who would turn her prow away from the course she has hitherto pursued, directing her into unexplored seas, filled with INDICATIONS OF COMING CHANGES. 263 dangerous rocks and tossed by fierce tempests ? If so, throw your personal influence against a political organization that seeks to do the very thing which you so much dread." For a union of Church and State, in the strict mediaeval form and sense, we do not look. In place of this, we apprehend that what is called "the image," a creation as strange as it is unique, comes in, not as a State Church, supported by the government, and the Church in turn controlling the State, but as an ecclesiastical establishment empowered by the State to enforce its own decrees by civil penalties ; which, in all its practical bearings^w.il^.amount to exactly the same thing. fe BAHCRCf? UBRAY . Some one may now say, As you expect this move ment to carry, you must look for a period of religious persecution in this country ; nay, more, you must take the position that all the saints of God are to be put to death ; for the image is to cause that all who will not worship it shall be killed. There would, perhaps, be some ground for such a conclusion, were we not elsewhere informed that in the dire conflict God does not abandon his people to defeat, but grants them a complete victory over the beast, his image, his mark, and the number of his name. Rev. 15 : 2. We further read respecting this earthly power, that he causeth all to receive a mark in their right hand or in their foreheads ; yet chapter 20 : 4 speaks of the people of God as those who do not receive the mark, nor worship the image. If, then, he could " cause " all to receive the mark, and yet all not actually receive it, in like manner his causing all to be put to death who will not worship the image does not necessarily signify that their lives are actually to be taken. 264 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. But how can this be ? Answer: It evidently conies under that rule of interpretation in accordance with which verbs of action sometimes signify merely the will and endeavor to do the action in question, and not the actual performance of the thing specified. The late George Bush, Professor of Hebrew and Oriental Literature in New York City University, makes this matter plain. In his notes on Ex. 7" : 11 he says : " It is a canon of interpretation of frequent use in the exposi tion of the sacred writings that verbs of action sometimes signify merely the will and endeavor to do the action in question. Thus in Eze. 24 : 13 : I have purified thee, and thou wast not purged ; i. e., I have endeavored, used means, been at pains, to purify thee. John 5 : 44 : How can ye believe which receive honor one of an other ; i, e., endeavor to receive. Rom. 2:4: The goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance ; i. e., endeavors, or tends, to lead thee. Amos 9:3: Though they be Jiid from my sight in the bot tom of the sea ; i. e., though they aim to be hid. 1 Cor. 10 :33 : I please all men ; i. e., endeavor to please. Gal. 5:4: Whoso ever of you are justified by the law ; i. e., seek and endeavor to be justified. Ps. 69:4: They that destroy me are mighty ; i. e., that endeavor to destroy me. Eng., That would destroy me. Acts 7: 26 : And set them at one again ; i. e,, wished and endeavored. Eng., Would have set them. " So in the passage before us. He causes all to re ceive a mark, and all who will not worship the image to be killed ; that is, he wills, purposes, and endeavors to do this. He makes such an enactment, passes such a law, but is not able to execute it ; for God interposes in behalf of his people ; and then those who have kept the word of Christ s patience are kept from fall ing in this hour of temptation, according to Rev. 3 : 10 ; then those who have made God their refuge are kept from all evil, and no plague comes nigh their dwelling, according to Ps. 91 : 9, 10 ; then all who are INDICATIONS OF COMING CHANGES. 265 found written in the book are delivered, according to Dan. ID : 1 ; and, being victors over the beast and his image, they arc redeemed from among men, and raise a song of triumph before the throne of God, according to Rev. 14:4; 15:2. The objector may further say, You are altogether too credulous in supposing that all the skeptics of our land, the Spiritualists, the German infidels, and the irreligious masses generally, can be so far brought to favor the religious observance of Sunday that a general law can be promulgated in its behalf. The answer is, The prophecy must be fulfilled, and if the prophecy requires such a revolution, it will be accomplished. But we do not know that it is neces sary. Permit the suggestion of an idea which, though it is only conjecture, may show how enough can be accomplished to fulfill the prophecy without involving the classes mentioned. This movement, as has been shown, must originate with the Churches of our land, and be carried forward by them. They wish to en force certain practices upon all the people ; and it would be very natural that in reference to those points re specting which they wish to influence the outside masses, they should see the necessity of first having absolute conformity among all the evangelical de nominations. They could not expect to influence non-religionists to any great degree on questions respecting which they were divided among themselves. So, then, let union be had on those views and prac tices which the great majority already entertain. To this end, coercion may first be attempted. But here are a few who cannot possibly attach to the observance of the first day, which the majority wish to secure^ any religious obligation ; and would it be anything 266 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. strange for the sentence to^be given, Let these few factionists be made to conform, by persuasion if pos sible, by force ii necessary ? Thus the blow may fall on conscientious commandment-keepers before the outside masses are involved in the issue at all. And should events take this not improbable turn, it would be sufficient to meet the prophecy, and leave no ground for the objection proposed. 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 in stitution which constitutes the mark. By parity of reasoning, to receive it in the hand would be to signify allegiance by some outward act, perhaps by signifying a willingness to abstain from labor the work of their hands on that day, though not indors ing its religious character. The number, over which the saints are also to get the victory, is the number of the papal beast, called also the number of his name, and the number of a man, and said to be six hundred threescore and six. Rev. 13 : 18. Where is that number to be found ? The pope wears upon his pontifical crown in jeweled letters, this title : " Vicarius Filii Dei" " Vicegerent of the Son of God," the numerical value of which title is just six hundred and sixty-six. Thus V stands for 5 ; I, 1 ; C, 100 ; a and r, not used as numerals ; I, 1 ; U, anciently written as V and standing for 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. Tabulating this, we have the following : INDICATIONS OF COMING CHANGES. 267 V = 5 I -j c = 100 I = 1 U(V) I = 5 = 1 L = 50 I = 1 I -i D = 500 I i 666 The most plausible supposition we have seen on this question is that in this name we find the number sought for. It is the number of the beast, the papacy ; it is the number of his name, for he adopts it as his distinctive title ; it is the number of a man, for he who bears it is the "man of sin." We get the victory over it by refusing those institutions and practices which he sets forth as evidence of his power to sit supreme in the temple of God, and by adopting which we should acknowledge the validity of his title, by conceding his right to act for the Church in behalf of the Son of God. And now, reader, we leave this subject with you. We confidently submit the argument as one which is invulnerable in all its points. We ask you to review it carefully. Take in, if thought can comprehend it, the wonderful phenomenon of our own nation. Con sider its location, the time of its rise, the manner of its rise, its character, Satan s masterpiece of lying wonders which he has here sprung upon the world, and the elements which are everywhere working to 268 THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. fulfill in just as accurate a manner all the remainder of the prophecy in regard to the dragon voice, the erection of the image, and the enforcing of the mark. Can you doubt the application ? We know not how. Then the last agents to appear in this world s history are on the stage of action, the close of this dispensa tion is at hand, and the Lord cometh speedily to judge the world. But between us and that day stands an issue of appalling magnitude. It is no less than this : To yield, on the one hand, to unrighteous human en actments, soon to be made, and thus expose ourselves to the unmingled wrath of an insulted Creator ; or, on the other, to remain loyal to God, and brave the utmost wrath of the dragon and his infuriated hosts. In reference to this issue, the third message of Rev. 14 : 9-12 is now going forth as a solemn and vehement warning. If you have read the foregoing pages, this warning has come to you. In tender solicitude we ask you what you intend to do with it. To aid in sounding over the land this timely -note of alarm, to impress upon hearts the importance of a right position in. the coming issue, and the necessity of pursuing such a course as will secure the favor of God in the season of earth s direst extremity, and a share at last in his glorious salvation, is the object of this effort. And if with any it shall have this effect, the prayer of the writer will not be utterly unanswered, nor his labor be wholly lost. The portraits of fifty of the fifty-six signers of the Declaration of Inde pendence (a document so often referred to in this work) have been pre served. Presuming that the reader would be interested to see them, we herewith present them in the order in which their names were attached to that venerable instrument. EDWARD EUTLEDGE. THOS. HEYVARD, JUNR. TIIOS. LYNCH, JUXR, ARTHUR MIDDLETON. 269 THOS. STONE. CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON. GEORGE AVYTIIE. RICHARD HENRY LEE. THQS. JEFFERSON. BENJ. HARRISON. 270 TIIOS. NELSOX, JR. FRANCIS LIGnTFOOT LEE. GEO. BEAD. THOS. M. KEAP. 271 JNO. WITHERSPOON. FRANS. HOPKINSON. JOblAH BARTLETT. >VM. WHIFFLE, 2T3 ROBT. TREAT PAINE. ELIiKIDGE GEKRY. WM. WILLIAMS. OLIVER WOLCOTT. w Jf*&- srei WHEN. I the course of h t becomes nece dece ture 9 , th. opinions of mankind they should declare the causes which imp, hold these truths to be self-evident. that all me THE W p{jK y st;iT r 0H IPP1NES^?-THAT D TO" SECURE THESE are instituted umonir men. deriving their just NEVER ANY r U mongth arth the a! station ofnalur Godenti espect to equires that them to the aep.ralion.-W. eated equal; that they are en VERNMENTS powers from the consent RM OF GOVERNMENT BECOM OF THE OOVEttNED.-THAT WHENEVEB Ull FORM OF GOVERNMENT BECOMES PROCLAIM LIBERTY THROUGHOUT ALL THE LAND TO ALL DESTRUCTIVE OF THESE ENDS, IT IS THE RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE TO ALTER OR to abolish it, and to institute ft new Government, laying Its foundation on Such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, us t th.^m shall sr,.m most likely to efTcct their SAFETY AND HAPPINESS -PRUDENCE, INDEED. WILL DICTATE THAT GOVERN ments Ions established, should not be changed for light and transient ONUSES; AND. ACCORDINGLY, ALL EXPERIENCE HATH M. oWN. THAT HANKIND ARE BY ORDER OF THE ASSEMBLY OF THE PROVINCE OF PENNS MORE DISPOSED TO SUFFER. WHILE EVILS ARE SUFI ERABLE, THAN TO RIGHT THEM selves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. Hut, whe lo .g train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evmces a deiign to re 3 n a , colonies them under absolute despotis new guards for their future security. Buoh has been the patient suffera Of Government! 1 The "history of the pro LA DA Mnt kJHg of Great Britain is a^hL torTo f repeated injuries and usurpations, all hav nmr\r\r\i fis ing.in direct object, the establishment ofan absolute tyranny over these States. To pro iM UOC LI ! I V e this, let facts be submitted to a candid world. H e has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. He has forbidden his Governors to pass laws of immediate .nd pressing importance, unless eu penled in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and, when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. He has refused to pass other laws Tor the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the ri b ht of Representation in tho Legislature; a right inestimable to them, and for mi lable to tyrants only. -He lias cal led tojether legislative bodies nt places unusual, uncomfortable, and dis taut from the depository of their publio records, for tho solo purpose of fatiguing them into compliance wit:, his measures. He has dissolved Represon t.itivj Hous.s repeatedly, f -i opposing, with manly firmness, his invasions on the rights of thepeople. Hehasrefu sed lor a lone time after such dissolution*, to cause others to be elected tion. have returned to tho people at large for their ex o all tho danger of invasion from without, and convulsions prevent the population of these States; for that purpose, obstructing the laws for naturalisation of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriates of lands. II. has o bstrncted the administration of iust;re.b r. -t u^n his assent to laws for estl Wishing judiciary powers. Ho ha* made judges depen lent on bis will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and th amount and payment of their salaries. He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of office: to harass our people, and eat out their sub stance He has kept among us, in times ofpeace.standmg ry independent of, and sup. ing hi , of our Legislat bined, . -He has affe cte.d to render tho d unacknowledged by dtroops among us.-F f these States -JL. th others, to subject us to a jurisdiction fo their Acts of pretended Lag islntion.- r orq.iartcring largo bodies of armedtroops ing mem, ny a mo.-k trial, from punishment for aov mur i. rs wt;i.- :, th. v s: uv.: 1 i unit on the inh Forouttingoffonrtrad.withallparUofth.world. For imposing tnies on ui without our consent. Ft . ._._. _. casm.of the benefits of trial by jury For transport ing us beyond seas to bo tried for pretended offenc.S. I 01 abolishing the free system of English Law in a neighboring Prov nee establishing therem n arbitrary C.ovrrnment. ana enlarging its boundaries. so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies.- For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering, fundamentally, the powers of our Governments. For suspending our . own Legislatures, and declaring them.dv,s ,nv,-tcd with power to legislate for us in i.ll eases whatsoever. -He has abdicated Govern *? ment here, by declaring us . i;t ol !,is j. ote. t:..n, and wag ing war against us. lie has plundered our teas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.-He. i, at this time, transport ,,,,; large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already beeun with circums lances of crn.ltv and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and otally unworthy the head of a civilized nation. lie has cons trained our fellow-citiien* taken captive on the high eM, to bear arms against their antrv. to b.cnm. tl,. ,,.;..., n p t (, e ir friends and bret hren. or to fall themselves by their hands. He has excited domestic insurrection. on the inhabitants of our frontiers th., merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undu - _. _.. , , ...! conditions. In every stage of these oppressions we i^iv.> petitioned f, r redress in tho most humble terms; our repeated petitions have been answered only by reneated m,nrv.-A prince whose character ,s thus marked bv everv act which may define a tyrant, ib unflt ?the rV U i r fa f " P 10 ! "-~ N " or "" be-" "anting in ntten tion to our British bret!,ren.-Wo have warned them. from time to time, of BUcm^mad^ Vfe have appealed to I heir native in stice and mairnn nlmlty* and we have conjured them, l>v the ties of our common kin drod, to disavow these iisurpatMini. whii-h would inerital ly inteirupt our ronnections and corresixjndence. They, too. have been deaf to tho Toice of justice and con sanguinity. We must, therefore. ,c,,niesce in tho necessity which denoun ces our seiu. ation, and holl them, as we hold tho rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace ^;i^V^THE-^^S^E U oV^ E E P C^^ ought to be. Free and Independent States: thatthey are absolved from em and tho State of dreat Britain, is. and ought to be, totally dissolved; nd that, as Free and alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other Act. ud things which Independent Statos may of rig htdo. And for the sup port of this De claration, with ofDivine proTidene o. wo mutually pla dgotoench other . , , Tt"^ th " 1>f " < . he Il.nreentat,ves of the I mted States .if Am-r TUBE OFOUa INTENTIONS. DO. IS THE NAM I .. AND I!Y THE A ana deelnre, thnt these United Colonies are, and of right 111 allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political conne, ,, l,etw,.,. n th lodenendout States, they bare full power to lv, wur.conclude peac,, cootract APPENDIX. INCE the foregoing pages went to press, events have transpired in Arkansas and Tennessee, going to show very clearly what the practical workings of the Sunday law will be whenever and wherever it may be secured. It is but a short time since the attention of the people in some places in Arkansas, began to be called to the importance of observing the seventh day of the week as the Sabbath according to the fourth commandment of the decalogue, by the advocates of that faith. As converts to that view and practice began to appear, it excited strong opposition on the part of some, as it has in other places, and as truth has always done ever since error has endeavored to usurp control over the minds of men. How far the action which has since fol lowed has been owing to this opposition, we do not say. We only state the facts, and leave the reader to draw his own conclusions. In the winter of 1884-5, a bill was introduced into the Legislature of that State to abolish the clause in the existing Sunday law which exempted from its operation those who conscientiously observed the seventh day. Up to this time the laws of that State had been very just and liberal in this respect. But now a petition was presented that the exemption clause be stricken out, bringing all alike, without regard to their religious faith or practice, under subjection to the enactment to keep the first day of the week as the Sabbath. The petition claimed to have been called out by the fact that certain Jews in Little Rock, regarding the seventh day as the Sabbath, kept open stores and transacted their usual business on the first day of the week. Considering the fact that their [275] 276 APPENDIX. places of business were open also on the seventh day, this brought them into unfair competition with the other merchants of the place. There was certainly no necessity for a change of the law to meet this difficulty ; for the law exempted those only who conscientiously observed the seventh day; and these Jews, by keeping open places of business on the seventh day, showed that there was no such conscientious observance on their part, and consequently that they could not justly claim the exemption of the law. But ostensibly on this ground the petition was urged, and the repeal of the exempt ing clause secured. What has been the result ? We have not learned that- the aforesaid Jews in Little Rock, or any other part of the State, have been molested ; that railroads, hotel-keepers, livery men, or those engaged in any like vocations, have been in anywise restrained. But those persons above referred to, who, from a Christian point of view, had commenced to ob serve the seventh day in preference to the first; who were not engaged in such business as brought them into competition with others; who, having conscientiously observed the seventh day, proposed to go quietly and industriously about their lawful business on the first day of the week, these soon found that they were not overlooked. Warrants were promptly issued for the arrest of some five or six of these, one of them a minister whose offense was that he was engaged one Sunday in painting a meeting-house erected by his people. The trial of these persons came off at Fayetteville, Ark., the first week in November, 1885. * n making up the indict ment, an observer of the seventh day was called in to testify against his brethren. The following examination substantially took place : "Do you know any one about here who is violating the Sunday law? Yes. Who? The Frisco railroad is running several trains each way on that day. Do you know of any others? Yes. Who? The hotels of this place are open and doing a full run of business on Sunday as on other days. Any others? Yes; the drug stores and barbers. Any others? APPENDIX. 277 Yes ; the livery-stable men do more business on that day than on any other." As these were not the parties the court was after, the ques tion was finally asked directly, "Do. you know of any Seventh-day Adventists who have worked on Sunday?" Ascertaining that some of this class had been guilty of labor on that day, indictments were issued for five persons accord ingly. At the trial, the defendants employed the best counsel ob tainable Judge Walker, ex-member of the United States Senate. The points he made before the court were that the law was unconstitutional, First, because it was an infringement of religious freedom, or the right of conscience, inasmuch as it compelled men to keep as the Sabbath a day which their conscience and the Bible taught them was not the Sabbath; Secondly, because it was an infringement of the right of property, taking from seventh-day keepers one-sixth part of their time ; and the time of a laboring man being his property, the law was in its nature a robber ; and Thirdly, because it took away a right that God had given the right to labor six days and to rest one. All this was overruled by the judge, who charged that the law rested equally upon all, requiring that all men should rest one day, and that the first day of the week ; which re quirement rested alike on the Methodists, the Baptists, the Congregationalists, the Sabbatarians, the Jews, worldlings and infidels ; and if our religion required us to keep another day, that was a price we paid to our religion, and with that the State had nothing to do. He ruled, moreover, that no one had a right to set up his conscience against the law of the land From these denials of the rights which the Author of their existence has given to all men namely, their right to labor six days, and to rest on the seventh, and the right to obey God rather than man, when man s requirements conflict 278 APPENDIX. with his, the counsel for the defendants of course took appeal ; and the case went up to the supreme court of the State, to be tried in May, 1886. After the argument of the counsel had been presented, the defendants were given opportunity to speak for themselves, whereupon the minister before referred to occupied about forty minutes in presenting to the court a clear and concise argument from the Scriptures, showing the duty of all men to keep the seventh day and that alone. By-standers remarked that the spectacle of a minister of the gospel pleading in court from an open Bible for God-given rights which the laws of men denied him, was one not often witnessed since long by gone days of religious intolerance and persecution. One other case besides those of the observers of the seventh day that of a hotel runner, came up for trial ; but he was cleared in about five minutes, while the seventh-day keepers were convicted. Many think this case was thrown in merely as an attempted cover of the true spirit of the prosecutions, which came from professors of religion. During the same time a similar work has been going on in Tennessee, where seventh-day views have of late been more extensively agitated. Eld. S. Fulton, of Springville, Henry Co., Term., writes that eight in that State have been prosecuted for. Sunday labor. Three of the number have been convicted on a charge of " flagrant violation of the Christian Sabbath." The charge was preferred by a professor of religion ; but two of the men were quietly plowing in their fields a full half mile from the house of the one who lodged complaint against them. In these cases a fine of $20 and costs was imposed on each. Appeal has been taken to the supreme court of the State, which convenes in Jackson in May next (1886), the parties having meanwhile to give bail of $250 each for their appearance in court at that time. In regard to the state of public sentiment in Tennessee on this question, Eld. F. writes: " Public sentiment is fast changing here in favor of Sunday legislation. Some seven years ago, a Mr. Thomason, a lawyer APPENDIX 79 of Paris, Tennessee, in consulting with our brethren on the question of Sunday labor, advised them to pursue their work on Sunday, claiming that they could not be harmed for it, as the constitution granted them that right. Since then, he has professed religion and joined the Presbyterian church, and now says that we must quit work on the Christian Sabbath or suffer punishment by law; and there is no avoiding it." Speaking of the trial, he says: "In the court room, the attorney for the defendant asked the question if Sunday was the Sabbath; and the judge ruled it out as not a proper question ; neither would he permit a statement to be made why our brethren worked on Sunday. In his charge to the jury, it was easily seen that he was determined to have them punished. The jury had hardly left the room when they re turned a verdict of Guilty, and a fine of $20 and costs was imposed on each. Our brethren then appealed to the su preme court, in the hope that some justice may be shown them there. It is the opinion of some that the decision will be reversed in the higher court. A prominent lawyer whom Eld. F. has consulted gives his views of the case in the following letter, which we are permitted to lay before the reader : "HUNTINGDON, TENNESSEE, Jan. 6, 1 886. "ELD. SAMUEL FULTON, " Springville, Tennessee. " Dear Sir, " Your letter of yesterday received and duly considered. In reply I have to inform you that I cannot furnish you with the opinion of the judges in Tennessee in relation to the statute under which members of your church are being prosecuted for working on Sunday, except in so far as the question has been before our supreme court. The constitutionality of our act of Assembly, making it an offense, punishable by a fine of $3, to work on Sunday, has 280 APPENDIX. been passed upon by our supreme court. It has, however, been decided by our supreme court that it is not nuisance for a man to work on Sunday, and therefore not indictable. See 7th Baxter 95. In a later case the same court decided that 1 hunting or fishing on Sunday may be done in such a manner as to subject the party guilty to indictment for a nuisance. See i B. I. Law Reports, page 129. " From what I have learned in relation to the prosecutions in Henry county, I would say that if our supreme court does not go back on the question decided in the case of the State vs. Lossy 7 Baxter page 95, before referred to, the case now pending on writ of error in said court will be reversed, remanded to the circuit court, and dismissed on the ground that to work on Sunday is not an indictable offense. But should the court overrule the case last mentioned, we may be able in that case to make the constitutional question; but in asmuch as I have not seen the record as made up, I cannot say positively. In the 7 Baxter case, the judge, delivering the opinion of the court, incidentally remarked that the defendant was guilty of violating the statute prohibiting work on Sunday, but that the offense was not indictable. The question of the constituti6nality of the Sunday statute was not before the court in that case. It seems to me that if our Sunday laws, as against members of your church, can be sustained at all by the courts, it must be on the ground that the legislature pos sesses the power to require the citizen to rest on any one day in the week, Sunday, Monday, or any other one of the seven. I know our courts, both State and Federal, have gone a great way in upholding certain legislation on the ground of the police power of the States. However, I don t want to be understood as saying that the legislature possesses the power to pass the statute under consideration, as I have not had the time necessary to a proper investigation of the question. But I feel confident that if the question can have the consideration at the hands of courts that its importance demands, your people would be allowed to observe their Sabbath and to APPENDIX. 281 work the remaining six days of the week. I am, however, fearful that much prejudice, bigotry, and intolerance must be overcome before success can be predicted with confidence. "Very lespectfully, * * * * Still later reports from Eld. F. represent that the opposi tion there is growing still more active, and is becoming so persistent and bitter as to threaten serious injury to their work. Too many, under the most favorable circumstances, will quail before the opposition sure to be visited upon un popular truth, in only a social point of view, from their friends and neighbors. But when, in addition to this, they are threatened with almost certain prosecution, fewer still will be found to yield to the voice of conscience, though they may be quite well convinced that the observance of the sev enth day is in accordance with the Scriptures. We do not apprehend that human nature in Arkansas, Ten nessee, and Pennsylvania differs materially from human nature in any and all of the other States ; and in every community there will be found plenty to oppress their neighbors in the matter of Sabbath-keeping, if once the law can be secured to give them that privilege. The issue of these cases will be watched by many with great interest. II. HIS book having come to another edition at the date of this writing, December, 1886, we are now able to state the issue in the cases referred to in the preceding Appendix. The first reported to us was the trial in Tennessee. We lay it before the reader in the language of an eye-witness Eld. G. G. Rupert who says : "Owing to the ill health of Eld. Fulton, I was requested by him to attend the trial of our brethren, which was to take place at Paris, Tenn., Sept. 27. The charges against them, as reported to the court by the Attorney-general, read as follows : "The Grand Jurors for the State upon their oaths present that , on the day of April, 1885, in said county and State and at divers other times before and up to the time of taking this inquisition, did unlawfully and unnecessarily engage in his secular business, and did perform his com mon avocation of life, on Sunday, by working on the farm, plowing, hoe ing, grubbing, chopping wood, making rails, and doing various other kindB of work on said Sabbath day, said work not being necessary or a matter of charity; and it was and is to the great disturbance of the citizens, and a public nuisance in that community, prejudicial to the public morals, de cency, etc. So the Grand Jurors aforesaid present and say that the said , at the date aforesaid, in the manner and for aforesaid, was guilty of a public nuisance which was and is prejudicial to public morals, contrary to the statutes in such cases made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the State. " JOSEPH E. JONES, Attorney-general. 1 "When men can call the pursuit of our lawful labor on the first day, according to the Scriptures, * prejudicial, im moral, nuisance, indecent, etc., it would be going but a step farther to clothe the persons so charged with fantastic [282] APPENDIX. 283 garments, as in the days of the inquisition, branded with the word heretic/ and ornamented with pictures of devils. THE COURT ROOM. " The building is of brick, situated in a town of twenty- five hundred inhabitants. It makes a nice appearance from without ; but upon entering, we are reminded of what Christ said about the whited sepulchers. On one side is a rostrum for the judge. In front is an enclosure for the attorneys, in side of which are tables for their convenience. The floor is well saturated with tobacco. The tables reminded us of boxes in front of country stores, which loafers while away their time in whittling. The fume of strong drink mingled sensibly with that of the tobacco. " THE TRIAL. "In this place three men, one thirty-five, the others be tween sixty and sixty-five, years of age, were brought to trial on the religious question of first-day observance, for which there is no law nor instruction in all the Scriptures. On ex amination, the question was asked if the defendant had worked on Sunday. He said he had. The reply from the judge, without another question or privilege to speak, was, " We fine you ten dollars and costs [amounting to nearly forty dollars]. Sheriff, take this man in charge until this amount is secured. " This case is a sample of all the rest. "THEIR LAWYER. "Having employed a lawyer to defend them, and con tracted with him for forty-five dollars, they supposed that he at least would be a friend, and try to do something in their behalf; but not so. After the trial was over, he having made no plea in the matter whatever, gave his clients this advice : " Pay your fine and costs, and be more careful hereafter; and if you can t keep from working on Sunday, I should go to another land. 284: APPENDIX. "THE JAIL. "The brethren knowing that they had done no evil, and feeling that to pay their hard-earned money on such a charge would be to put a premium on injustice, decided to go to jail, and suffer for the truth s sake. The jailer manifested a spirit of kindness, taking them home to supper with his own family, and otherwise doing all the law allowed him to do for their comfort. Being desirous of seeing the jail, I was permitted to enter. From the hall we entered the rooms oc cupied by the prisoners. The one our brethren occupy is about 8xio ft. Upon the floor were mattresses made of sea- grass, with blankets for covering ; but no pillows nor bed linen, nor apiece of furniture of any kind. In this apart ment our brethren are placed, to remain nearly six months, for serving God according to their own consciences and in obedience to the Scriptures. Is it any wonder the prophet, as he was shown the acts of this Government, said tjiat it spake like a dragon ? Can our opponents say longer that observers of the seventh day will never be persecuted ? To deny it to be religious persecution would be to deny the plainest facts in the case. If it is not, why do business men, hack drivers, livery-stable keepers, saloon keepers, hunters, fishers, etc., do whatever they please on Sunday, and yet go free, while these men who conscientiously keep the seventh day and then go quietly about their work on Sunday, are torn from their homes, deprived of their freedom, and im prisoned ? As I bade our brethren farewell, I realized as never before the truthfulness of our position. Never had I so felt the importance of doing what lies in our power to ad vance the cause while it is our privilege to do so. "THE EFFECT UPON THE CAUSE. " Eld. Fulton informs me that this treatment of our breth ren has tended strongly to the advancement of the work. Before this, canvassers were hard to obtain. Since the pros ecution commenced, men have given their time to the work, APPENDIX. 285 and hundreds of dollars worth of publications have been sold. I am sure nothing will advance the cause so fast, and nothing will drive us so near to God. "May God grant grace to these brethren to be faithful. Especially do the cases of the two aged brethren call for our sympathy. They have served the Lord for years in the past, and should be granted peace in their declining days. Now that they are thus taken from their homes, deprived of their maens and their freedom, the sympathy of every heart should be aroused. Let us remember them that are in bonds as bound with them. In Arkansas the case which was made a test and appealed to the Supreme Court, was that of Eld. J. W. Scoles, the minister referred to on p. 276, whose noisy occupation of painting a meeting-house so disturbed the people of that vicinity. In this case also the decision of the lower court was confirmed ; and as the reader will be interested in the findings of the Supreme Court in reference thereto, we give them according to the copy which has been furnished us by Eld 1 . Scoles:- "Decision of the [Arkansas] Supreme Court,, J. W. Scoles vs. State appealed from Washington county. "The indictment charges that the defendant on the 3rd day of May, 1885, tne sa ^ day being Sunday, unlawfully was found laboring and performing other services, the same not then and there being customary household duty of daily ne cessity, comfort, or charity. "The particular act that constitutes the alleged offense is not set out, and appellant urges that the indictment is not sufficient. " Held : The language of the statute which creates the of fense is employed in the indictment, and nothing more is re quired in a statutory misdemeanor, where the general lan guage of the statute is sufficient to apprise the defendant of the nature of the accusation against him. We cannot say that the indictment is insufficient under this rule, but think that 286 APPENDIX. the defendant would be enabled to prepare his defense and plead the judgment in bar of a second prosecution for the same offense. "The proof shows that defendant was found painting a church on a Sunday. He offered to prove that he was a member of a religious society known as the Seventh-day Ad- ventists, one of the tenets of which is the observance of Sat urday as the Sabbath instead of Sunday, and that he had reg ularly refrained from all secular work and labor on Saturday, agreeably to his religious faith and that of his church. But the court rejected this testimony, and the defendant was con victed and has appealed. "The offense was committed after the repeal of section 1886 of Mansfield s Digest by the legislature of 1885. The appellant contends, however, that the effort to repeal section 1886 was ineffectual; and if it was not, the law without the exception made by that section, gives a preference to other religious denominations over that of the appellant, thereby violating section 24, art. 2, of the Constitution ; and more over, denies to him the equal protection of the law within the meaning of the Federal Constitution. " Held : The argument against the repeal of section 1886 is based upon the idea that if the law is read without that provision, the penalty of the statute is extended to the ap pellant without a re-enactment of the law, thereby violating section 23, art. 5, Constitution. But it will be observed that that provision of the Constitution does not in terms prohibit the repeal of a law by reference to its titles, and the prohibi tion can be extended by implication only. The power of the legislature is not to be cut off by inference, save where the in ference is too strong to be resisted. We look to the Consti tution, not to see whether power is granted, but to ascertain if it is withheld ; and when there is a doubt as to the existence of a power, it must be resolved in favor of the legislative action. "It is well settled that this provision does not make it nec essary, when a new statute is passed, that all prior laws modi- APPENDIX. 287 fiecl, affected, or repealed by implication by it should be re- enacted. This would be an absurd and impracticable con struction. If the legislature had undertaken to amend the section, the provision under consideration would have re quired the section as amended to be set forth in extenso, and the old section upon the passage of the new one would have been repealed, if not expressly jhen by implication. In that event there would have been no necessity for re-enacting the other parts of the chapter, in which the section is found. When there is an express repeal of a section without a substitute for an amendment to it, what greater necessity for re-enact ing the other sections that are affected only incidentally by the repeal? The section has been repealed, and the chapter is intact without it. " The constitutionality of our Sunday laws is not affected by the repeal of section 1886. (For the reason commonly given for sustaining these acts, see Commonwealth vs. Has, 122 Mass. 4.) It is said that everyday in the week is ob served by some one of the religious sects of the world as a day of rest ; and if the power is denied to fix by law Sunday as such a day, the same reason would prevent the selection of any day; but the power of the legislature to select a day as a holiday is everywhere conceded. The State from the begin ning has appropriated Sunday as such. On that day the bus iness of our courts and public offices has always been sus pended ; the issuance and service of legal process prohibited ; presentment and notice of dishonor of commercial paper not allowed; and the performance of an act in execution of a contract which matures on Sunday postponed to the next day. This observance of Sunday as a day of refrainment from sec ular business has always been required of the people generally without reference to creed, and they continue to observe it, without complaint that as a municipal institution it violates any of their constitutional or religious rights. The principle which upholds these regulations underlies the right of the State to prescribe a penalty for the violation of the Sunday 288 APPENDIX law. The law whicn imposes the penalty operates upon all alike, and interferes with no man s religious belief; for in limiting the prohibition to secular pursuits, it leaves religious profession and worship free. "The appellant s argument, then, is reduced to this : that because he conscientiously believes that he is permitted by the law of God to labor on Sunday, he may violate with impu nity a statute declaring it illegal to do so. But a man s relig ion cannot be accepted as a justification for committing an overt act made criminal by the law of the land. If -the law operates harshly, as laws sometimes do, the remedy is in the hands of the legislature. It is not in the province of the judiciary to pass upon the wisdom and policy of legislation ; that is for the members of the legislative department ; and the only appeal from their determination is to the constit uency." In relation to the foregoing, it may be remarked that the assertion that all days are kept by different classes, and therefore the State could not fix upon any day as a holiday without taking somebody s Sabbath, is not true. Only three days are regarded as sacred days. These are the Sabbath of the Lord, and the two thieves between which it is crucified the Friday of Mohammed, and the Sunday of the pope. The plea that the Sunday law interferes with no man s re ligion is a specious one, but one which is shown by a mo ment s reflection to be utterly false. A man s religion is in terfered with, when discrimination is made in favor of an other man s religion and against his own, and when he can not be true to the convictions of his own conscience in regard to those spiritual duties which he owes alone to God, without incurring in consequence hardship and loss. And this is precisely what the Sunday law does in reference to observers of the seventh day. But it is said that the State in its legis lation has no reference to the religious character of Sunday. This is too flimsy a pretext behind which to hide ; for it is written all over the transaction in characters which cannot APPENDIX, 289 be hidden, that Sunday is elevated to the position of the State rest-day simply and solely because so many church people regard it as a religious institution. It is utterly im possible to separate it from this idea, or to attribute it to any other cause. Any defense attempted on this line is sheer sophistry. And the doctrine set forth in the foregoing document, that the law of the land can make acts criminal which God permits in our worship of himself, is little short of monstrous. At the General Conference of S. D. Adventists, held in Battle Creek, Mich., Nov. 18 to Dec. 6, 1886, it was decided to appeal the case of Eld. Scoles to the Supreme Court of the United States. L9 E) E1X Above God how ? ITS A Catholic challenge to Protestants. 180 A conflict inevitable. 198 Adam Smith s prediction. 17 Additions by immigration. 66 A fair proposition. 184, 256 A false charge. 184 A false issue. 228 A glance at the past. 187 Agreement between Daniel and Paul. 174 A head wounded to death. 115 Aims and efforts of Romanism. 142 Alarming apathy of Christians. 261 All Christian. 244 All people "consent" to their government. 254 A logical sequence. 187 A marvelous continent. 80 Amendment to Pennsylvania law defeated. 258 America invites the world. 14 American Bible Society. 79 American literature abroad. 78 American Traveler on immigration. 64 America signalized by God above all nations. 80 An accomplice of the papacy. 161 An act of faith. 187 An American Catholic Church called for. 167 A new political party calls for Sunday enforcement. 216 An Oakland (Cal.) D. D. on enforcing Sunday. 213 "Another beast." 106 Another "irrepressible conflict." 198 An unavoidable conclusion. 93 Application of Rev. 12:12. 153 A proper subject of prophecy. 89 A prophecy remarkably fulfilled. 118 A prophetic mile-stone not a hundred years old. 103 A question of prophecy. 145 Area of the United States and Russia compared (note). 14 A religious strike for Sunday. 221 A remarkable scene in Westminster Abbey. 242 A Spanish view (Count d Arandaj. 17 Astounding statements. 254 [290] INDEX. 291 A taking war-cry. 260 A thankless task. 181 A victorious company. 121 A warrant offered for Sunday-keeping. 178 Beginning of the prophecy of Rev. 13. 94 Berkeley s poem " The Course of Empire." Ill Berthier enters Rome. 117 Birth of New England. 24 Bishop A. Cleveland Coxe on "National Christianity," 222 Bishop Foster on the state of religion in Europe. 232 Bishop Newton on the mark. 171 Bishop of St. Asaph (quotation from). 18 British views of the American Revolution. 84 Brooklyn Bridge. 63 Burke on American Revolution. 126 California Convention goes wild over Sunday laws. 218 Campbell convicts Protestantism of Romish traditions. 182 Capitol building at Washington. 59 Catholic and Protestant can unite in the proposed reform, 191 "Catholic Catechism of Christian Religion." 177 "Catholic Christian Instructed." 178 Catholic claims waived. 241 Catholicism never changes. 243 Catholic proof that the Church can change the law. 179 Catholics admit that Sunday is not enjoined in the Scriptures, 1 "t 9 Catholics on Sunday observance. 240 Catholics welcomed as allies. 241 Caused to receive the mark what. 263 Cause of present infidel activity. 235 Causes of theFrench Revolution. 144 "Centennial History" on American progress. 30 Centennial of adoption of the Constitution grand celebration pro posed. 223 Change in the law by papists. 175 Change of front. 223 Change of front by the Christian Press. 235 Change of law predicted. 174 Change of the Sabbath how Catholics regard it. 180 Characteristics of the government of Rev. 13 : 11. 136 Character of America s first settlers. 84 Character of the National Reform Movement. 200 Character of the papacy. 103 Chas. Beecher charges Protestantism with apostasy. 143 Chas. Beecher on the theological situation. 143 Chas. Beecher s testimony. 166 Chicago Express declares that every cause which led to union of Church and State in Europe, now exists in this country. 233 Christ falsely charged. 181 292 INDEX. CJiristian Instructor calls for religious amendment. 238 Christian laws can be abrogated only througk blood. 233 Christians in the churches. 164 Christian Statesman on Sunday-breaking Congressmen. 210 Chronology of Rev. 13 : 11. 114 Civil and religious liberty symbolized. 133 Claims of the Catholic Church. 177 Coast-line of the U. S. 86 Condition of Western Hemisphere in 1798. 123 Conditions fulfilled. 90 Congressmen denounced for Sunday-breaking. 210 Constantine paganized Christianity. 232 Constitution, Art. II. N. R. Association. 229 Constitution of U. S., character of. 72 Contemporary powers. 146 Continuance of the papacy. 103 Croly, quotation from. 117 Cyrus D. Foss, sermon by. 79 Dangers anticipated from infidel aggression. 234 D Aubigne to the Evangelical Alliance. 139 David Hartley on U. S. naval power. 17 Defining heresy. 207 Demand of Liberalism. 230 Description of second symbol of Rev. 13. 105 De Tocqueville on our separation from England. 19 Detroit Evening News on official corruption. 141 Different organizations for Sunday. 222 Discovery of America an enterprise undertaken in the interest of religion. 83 Doctrines common to Christendom. 162 Dublin Nation notes the manner of our development. 127 Dublin Nation on American Empire. 22 Edward Everett on English exiles. 127 Effect of apostasy. 166 Effect of deceitful wonders. 159 Elements now at work in this nation. 144 Emile de Girardin on American prospects. 22 End of the prophecy of Rev. 13. 96 England on U. S. Constitution. 77 Enumeration of the ten divisions of Rome. 109 Equal rights to give way before religion. 214 Europe has an eye on America. 112 Evils in Protestant churches. 143 Evils involved in the amendment movement. 247 Examiner and Chronicle shouts both yea and nay. 236 Exposition of 2 Thess. 2 : 9. 152 Ex-President Fillmore on Sunday legislation. 215 Extract from Burnaby s travels. 16 INDEX. 293 False claims of Spiritualism. 154 False definition of Church and State. 204 F. E. Abbott s estimate of the N. R. movement. 197 First-day keepers and the mark. 184 First railroad in America. 27 Form of government in St. John s time. 116 Frederic/Napoleon, and Washington. 79 Galiani s prediction. 17 General Conference of M. E. Church indorses amendment move ment. 238 Geo. A. Townsend on ihepieseutpotttico-t/ieological movement. 192 Geo. A Townsend, providence in America. 20 Geo. Herbert s poem. 18 God chose America s first settlers. 84 God not in the Constitution. 190 God s question to Job. 150 Governor Pownal s views of America. 17, 19 Great judgments attributed to Sunday-breaking. 217 Great wonders. 148 Grounds on which image can be erected. 162 Heaven s judgments justified. 186 History of the National Reform Association. 192 Hon. A. H. Cragiu, speech of. 73 How does a government speak? 137 How the miracles of Rev. 13 : 13 are wrought. 151 How the papacy rose. 100 How revolutions are accomplished. 192 Identity between the little horn of Dan. 7:25 and leopard beast of Rev. 23. 100 Idle talk. 205 Inconsistency of the National Reform Movement. 201 Incorporation of the National Reform Association. 196 Independent American Catholic Church. 167 Infant baptism not enjoined in the Scriptures. 179 Influence of the U. S. in the Pacific. 66 Intention necessary to change. 176 Inter Ocean s report of Liberal convention. 231 In the forehead and hand explained. 266 Iowa Baptist Association indorses amendment movement. 239 Jefferson on origin of "just powers." 252 J. Litch on chronology of Rev. 13: 11. 120 J. M. Foster (extract from sermon). 20 John Adams s expectation. 16, 17 Joseph Cook argues for Sunday as a civil institution. 225 J. S. Smart on the political duties of Christians, 189 lustinian s decree. 100 294 INDEX. Lansing State Republican on the religious amendment. 208 Lashes and swords poor ambassadors for Christ. 233 Last apostasy the worst. 170. Last day prophecies. 153 Law in Dan. 7:25. 172. Law of symbols as to territory. 109 Legislation must favor Christians only. 214 Liberty enlightening the world. 62 Location of government represented by the second symbol of Rev. 13. Ill Louisville, Ky., pronounces Sunday a civil institution. 225 Lying wonders defined. 151 Lyman Beecher s testimony. 16G Macmillan on national changes. 25 Magistrates may enforce Sunday as a civil institution. 215 Making an image. 159 Mark of beast by whom enforced. 169 Mark of the beast what ? 172 Meaning of Greek avafialvov. 126 Meaning of Greek SVUTTIOV. 112 Meaning of Greek Kara in 2 Thess. 2: 9. 152 Meaning of Greek ^dpay^a. 171 M. E. Conference in Missouri indorses amendment movement. 238 Men must have a religion. 83 Missionary operations of Americans. 79 Mistake of Protestantism. 163 Mitchell s testimony. 23 Moral condition of the last days. 138 Moral law what ? 175 Mormon polygamy. 254 Motto of International Sabbath Association Recorder. 223. Mr. Haven s testimony. 167 Napoleon s pretended wonders. 152 Nature of existing elements. 139 Necessary conditions of the church at the second advent. 185 New York Independent on the inconsistencies of the National Re form Movement. 205 New York Sabbath committee. 189 No concessions to Jews and S. D. Baptists. 226 No objection to Sunday laws. 256 No rights for the minority. 228 No Scripture for Sunday-keeping. 173 Not a pleasing picture. 165 Number of Spiritualists. 157 Number of the beast what ? 267 Occurrence of the word "mark." 171 Oppression of conscience. 228 Organized opposition. 139 INDEX. 295 Origin of Spiritualism. 156 Our position defined. 245 Our two evangels. 83 Out of the Dark Ages. 182 Out of the earth. 124 Overthrow of the papacy in 1798. 103 Papacy and the law. 172 Paul s testimony in 2 Thess. 2:8. 173 Penal power to enforce Sunday called for. 212 Persecution in Pennsylvania. 257 Petitions to Congress. 194 Petroleum. 87 Political and religious liberty guaranteed. 71 Political necessities of Christianity. 199 Population of U. S. Colonies. 24 Population of U. S. to 1850. 26 Position of Mr. Brunot on the Pennsylvania law. 258 Position of Nebraska State Journal 251 Power exercised by the symbol of Rev. 13 : 11. 147 Prediction by Banner of Light. 167 Prideaux on the mark. 171 Probabilities of trouble. 138 Prof. Zollner s experiments. 155 Prospects of the amendment movement. 259 "Protestant branch of the great Catholic Church." 243 Protestant inconsistency exposed by Catholics. 179 Protestantism surrendering. 243 "Protestant portion of the Catholic Church of Rome." 244 Recognizing God in the Constitution. 248 Relation of Romanism to our government. 142 Religion in politics. 199 Religious discrimination. 227 Religious element in our national organization. 74 Religious element in Rome s two phases. 107 Religious, not civil, observance of Sunday sought for. 224 Religious rights of the State defined. 254 Remarkable instances of city growth. 27 Remarkable scene in a political convention over a religious ques tion. 218 Remodeling the government. 207 Republicanism and Protestantism. 134 Resources of America. 86 Respect for Sunday rests on individual preferences, not on law. 190 Result of the religious amendment movement. 211 Result of transferring the seat of the Roman empire to Constanti nople. 99 Revelation 18 : 4 when to be fulfilled. 165 Reversing the theory of our government. 262 296 INDEX. Roman Catholics commended for favoring Sunday. 213 Rome reproduced. 208 Rome s spiritual kingdom. 99 Romish miracles. 152 Rule for introducing nations into prophecy. 90 Russia, population of. 23 Schuyler Colfax s testimony. 66 Scieiitific American on Pacific railway. 61 Scott s testimony. 110 Sea, as a symbol, explained. 124 Second Timothy 3 : 1-5 fulfilled. 164 Secretary of the Navy on Sunday legislation. 223 Settlement at Jamestown. 24 Seventh-day arguments in France. 221 Seventh-day keepers must attend court, 213 Shadows of the Dark Ages. 141 Shameful Sunday technicality in New York. 226 Short race predicted for seventh-day observers. 213 Signers of Declaration of Independence, portraits of. 269 Significance of the expression "coming up." 119 Signs and wonders of Spiritualism. 155 Sir Thos. Brown s prediction. 16, 18 Some modern names of Rome s ten kingdoms. 110. Spirit of apostates. 186 Spiritualism. 154 Spiritualism and kings of the earth. 157 Stability of the U. S. government. 76 Startling character of Spiritualism. 156 Striking in the dark. 181 Sunday agitation in Europe. 219 Sunday agitation in the United States. 219. Sunday as a civil, not religious, institution. 223 Sunday closing in England. 220 Sunday desecration over Grand Duke Alexis. 215 Sunday enforcement in India. 221 Sunday in politics. 215 Sunday-keeping agitated in Austria. 221 Sunday-keeping agitated in Germany. 221 Sunday legislation the object of the N. R. Movement. 209 Sunday reform. 189 Sunday rest to be compulsory. 228 Sunday sophistry. 227 Survey of the field of prophecy. 90 Symbol of horns explained. 131 Taming the lightning. 150 Teaching the lightning to speak. 150 Terms defined. 168 Territorial changes in last half century. 26 INDEX. 207 Territorial growth of the U. S. 25 Territory of U. S. in 1783. 24 Testimony of Geo. Bush. 264 The anti-Sunday movements. 245 Theater of the coming struggle. 198 The Atlantic cable. 112 The battle of the amendments. 198 The book unsealed. 148 The California Sunday issue. 217 The Church in America becoming a political machine. 232 The Church in the prophecy of Rev. 12-14. 96 The Church seeking political power. 189 The Cincinnati Convention. 193 The civil observance of Sunday not a religious act. 224 The "civil" rest-day always Sunday why? 255 The coming test. 158 The "consent" of all governed. 254 The creed evil. 163 The dragon, Rev. 12, explained. 98 The Exarch of Ravenna. 116 The false prophet. 122 The false prophet of Rev. 19 : 20. 151 The ideal government. 86 The image what? 263 The issue that is to come. 186 The leopard beast of Rev. 13 explained. 99 The magnet of America. 74 The mark denned. 175 The ministry sought for. 260 "The Model Republic. 79 The most improbable feature of the prophecy coming to pass. 191 The National Reform Association. 190 The National Reform Association of what classes composed. 190 The Nation ou the civil service of the U. S. 140 The N. Y. Independent wheels into line. 225 " The old Philadelphia lie." 252 The outlook from 1798. 122 The papacy re-instated. 117 The present compared with the age of Voltaire. 140 The question settled. 182 The real issue. 249 The Revolution not a war of conquest. 125 The right plant for the new world. 81 The Rochester circular. 164 The Saviour s prediction. 153 The seal of God what ? 183 The seven forms of Roman government. 115 The symbol of a woman explained. 97 The symbol of Rev. 13 : 11 a republic. 160 The thirteen original States. 24 298 INDEX. The Tulare (Cal.) Times denounces the amendment movement as leading to religious tyranny. 231 The U. S. at the head of self-governing powers. 15 The U. S. the great evangelizer. 82 The U. S. will remain through all time to come. 122 The war of 1812 not a war of conquest. 125 The wonders of Rev. 13 : 13. 150 Third message of Rev. 14. 120 Thompson on American immigration. 64 Thompson s "Centennial Dinner" speech. 125 Townsend on the development of the U. S. government. 127 Treatise of thirty controversies. 177 Unbelief in the ministry. 140 Union of Church and State disavowed. 202 Union of Church and State indorsed. 203 Union of Church and State strangely ignored. 194 Union of churches called for. 166 Universalists in convention favor the religious amendment. 237 Verbs of action, signification of. 264 Vicarius Filii Dei, meaning of. 266 Warning of the third message, Rev. 14 : 9-12. 169 Washington Monument. 60 Washington on religious liberty. 72 Wesley on chronology of Rev. 13 : 11. 120 What a horn may denote. 135 What classes have embraced Spiritualism ? 157 What constitutes the two horns, Rev. 13 : 11 ? 162 What Spiritualism teaches. 154 What the Churches united can do. 222 What the image does. 169 What the proposed amendment is designed to secure. 204 What will constitute the image? 161 When can the mark be received? 185 Where a fulfillment is to be expected. 187 Wholly Christian or infidel, which? 198 Who will decide what are Christian laws? 207 Who will have the mark? 185 Why should not the Jew be made to keep Sunday? 212 Wicked sophistry. 251 Winds as a symbol explained. 124 Wonderful condensation of instruction in prophecy. 106 Working-man s Lord s-day Rest Association in England. 220 Work of little horn of Daniel 7. 172 I VALUABLE RELIGIOUS PUBLICATIONS. ! BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, TRACTS, AND REGULAR PERIODICALS. ALSO, WORKS IN OTHER LANGUAGES. or anything in this Catalogue, address REVIEW & HERALD, Battle Creek, Mich., Or, PACIFIC PRESS, Oakland, Cat. TEE YARIOUS PUBLICATIONS Noticed in the following pages, are but a part of the works issued by this PUBLISHING HOUSE. Full Catalogues of all our books in English, and other languages, sent free on appli cation. Address, REVIEW & HERALD, Battle Creek, Mich. HISTORY OF THE SABBATH AND THE FIRST DAT OF THE WEEK, From Creation down to the Present Time. In Two Parts, Biblical and Secular. By the late JOHN KEVINS ANDREWS, Formerly Missionary at Bale, Switzerland, Editor of " Les Signos des Temj and numerous Religious Works. THE leading subject of the day is TIIE SABBATH QUESTION. From the pulpit and the press, in social circles and in legislative halls, the great demand of the hour is that the Sabbath be more strictly observed. To assist the intellectual- minded of our land to have correct views of this important question, a book has been prepared which thoroughly discusses the Sabbatic Institution in its various phases. This volume IS A MINE OF INFORMATION On the Sabbath question. It carefully treats the matter from a Biblical and His torical stand-point. All the passages of Scripture, in both the Old and the New Testaments, which have any bearing on the subject, are carefully and critically examined. The various steps by which the change from the Seventh Day to the First Day was made, and the final exaltation of the Lord s Sabbath, are given in detail. THE COMPLETE TESTIMONY OF THE FATHERS, Immediately following the time of the Apostles, in reference to the Sabbath and First Day, is presented, and the comparative merits of the two days are clearly shown. A COPIOUS INDEX Enables the reader to readily find any passage of Scripture, or statement of any historian. This great work is the result of ten years hard labor and historical research. The volume contains 528 pages, is printed in large type on good paper, and is well bound. New revised edition just out. Price, post-paid. $1.50. An Examination of a Remedial System in the Light of Nature and Revelation. By J. H. WAGGONER. THIS volume is a critical and exhaustive treatise on the plan of salvation as re- vealed in the Holy Scriptures. No other work on this important subject has treated it in the same manner. It fully refutes the idea so extensively held, that an atonement is inconsistent with reason. This book sheds much light nppn^ the work of Christ as our Qreat High Priest in the Sanctuary above. Every Minister and Bible Student in the laud should have a copy of this valuable work. 368 Pages, bound in Cloth, post-paid, - - $1-00 AN INTERESTING AND INSTRUCTIVE BOOK. THOUQHTS ON By URIAH SMITH. A Book which Scientists, Historians, Scripturists, and all Lovers of Good Literature can Read with Interest and Profit. LL know that the books of Daniel and the Revelation are two of the most wonderful books in the Bible. The author of this work gives us the result of nearly thirty years study, and throws such a flood of light on these two books as no other work in any language has ever done. No fanciful theories are presented, but arguments are drawn from ancient and modern history and the most reliable authorities, in great abundance, to make clear the meaning of these important books of the Bible, verse by verse, and convey an amount of information which cannot elsewhere be found in so concise a form. GftEAT C%mX OF In reading this book, our minds are carried through the history of the rise and fall of four great nations of the past, which are represented by the great image of gold, silver, brass, and iron, from the old Assyrian em pire down to the division of the Roman, and on through the Dark Ages in which Roman power and Mohammedan superstition were felt and seen all over the earth. The great Revolution in France in 1793-1798, which is fresh in the minds of all readers, and the Eastern Question, which is now attracting .the attention of all the leading statesmen of the world, are carefully con sidered as waymarks on the great stream of time. OUR OWN GOVERNMENT, The youngest power in history, and the greatest marvel of national devel opment a nation which began its independent existence a little over one hundred years ago, with 815,615 square miles of territory, and a population of about 3,000,000, but has now increased its territory to 3,678,392 square miles, and its population to over 54,000,000 is treated from a standpoint which will make it a subject of great interest to all. The author believes this nation to be a subject of prophecy, a prophecy which not only de scribes its present exalted position, but points out its future course and destiny. "Thoughts on Daniel and the Revelation" is a volume of 840 pages, printed on fine paper, handsomely bound, and illustrated with appropriate colored plates. SOLD BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY. Agents Wanted. Send for Special Terms. Circulars free. From B. L. COZIER, Late Principal Public Schools, Mt. Pleasant, Iowa: I believe it to be the best work of the kind extant. From B. F. WRIGHT, Probate Judge, Flandreau, Dak. Ter.: I very cordially recommend it to all persons disposed to the considera tion of ancient history, especially in its connection with the Sacred Writ ings. From Prof. II. R. GLASS, Supt. Pub. Instruction, Lansing, Mich. : The subjects considered by him are discussed in a dignified and mas terly manner. I am sure the book will be of value to all Bible students. From Rev. Mr. LOCKE, M. E. Pastor, Flandreau, Dak. Ter.: I most heartily recommend it to the public. From Ex-Gov. J. L. CHAMBERLAIN, Pres. Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Me. : I think it a good book. From I. T. GOOD SELL, Supt. Elect for Moody Co., Dale. Ter.: Such books deserve to be read and studied by every lover of historical facts. From Rev. E. K. YOUNG, D. D., Pastor First M. E. Church, Des Homes, Iowa: Unquestionably a valuable book. I do not hesitate to commend it. From JAS. SUMMERBELL, Pastor S. D. Baptist Church, Richburg, N. T.: An interesting, instructive, and profitable work on the most important of all themes. From JOSEPH D. WILSON, Rector of the Reformed Episcopal Church, 37th St., Chicago, 111. : "Thoughts on Daniel," by Dr. Smith, is a good popular commentary. From Prof. C. 0. NEPPER, Heidelberg College, Tiffin, Ohio: The more I read, the more I am interested and delighted. From Prof. D. MOURT, Principal Normal Department Central Tennessee College: I am glad it is being circulated among the people. From Rev. R. S. BELLEVILLE, Pastor of Presbyterian Church, Prince- mile, III. : I have never before seen so readable a book as " Thoughts on Daniel and the Revelation." From D. WEBSTER COXE, D. D., Rector of St. Paul Church, Fremont, Ohio: I think, take it all in all, it is the best commentary on the prophecies I ever read. From II. R. HANCOCK, Attorney at Law, West Union, Iowa: Can cheerfully recommend this work to the general reader. is work can a/so be had in the Danish, Swedish, and German languages. THE MARVEL OF NATIONS. COUNT&Y: Its Past; Present j and Future; and "What the Bib IE says of It, s By URIAH SMITH. Author of " Thoughts on Daniel and the Revelation," "The Sanctuary and Its Cleansing," "Smith s Diagram of Parliamentary Rules," " Man s Nature and Destiny," etc. - @ - st of our Country is read in history ; its present is before the eyes of every wide-awake observer; its future what is that to be ? Like Patrick Henry, we may judge something of the future by the past and the evident tendencies of the present. But who would not like to read it in a more certain light? A BOOK IS NOW OFFERED, carefully and candidly discussing this most fascinating theme. Present issues are accounted for, and future results clearly shown. Is the Bible an Obsolete Book? or do its predictions reach to our own times? Other great nations of the world are subjects of prophecy ; WHY NOT OUR OWN ? The author, having made Biblical themes his study for over thirty years, claims to know the difference between fact and fancy, sound sense and sophistry. The writings of such men as Keith, Sir Isaac Newton, Bishop Newton, Faber, Hales, Home, Boothroyd, Clarke, Scott, Doddridge, Nelson, Henry, Jenks, Barnes, etc., are standard in the religious world. The line of interpretation largely followed by these men, is here adopted, and carried a step farther. In other words, prophecy is brought Abreast of the Times, and it is shown how the Bible should be read in the light of the present, and the present interpreted in the light of the Bible. They still belong together. We have not yet progressed beyond the Bible. As surely as history is history and logic is logic, the Scriptures predicted nearly eighteen hundred years ago the rise of this Government, showing that it would I. Arise in the Western Hemisphere 2. Arise in the present century 3. Occupy territory previously unknown 4. Come up peacefully 5. Reach great power 6. Proclaim civil and religious liberty 7. Be a republic 8. Be a Protestant nation 9. Be the birth-place of Modern Spiritualism, andio. Present the most marvelous exhibi tion of national development the world has ever seen. So explicit is prophecy in regard to this nation ; and the reader will find every point sustained by indubitable Scripture evidence and historical testimony. If the Bi ble is what it declares itself to be, "a lamp to our feet and a light to our path," it is the only certain light in which to interpret passing events. SUNDAY QUESTION, Fast coming to be a leading political issue, is discussed from the standpoint of its rela tion to the Government. This book, "THE MARVEL OF NATIONS/ Has now reached its 15 th edition, and is selling rapidly. It treats upon no fossil theo ries, but fresh themes and living issues. These questions are COMING TO THE FRONT, and he who would be familiar with current thought on current subjects, should give them an examination. " THE MARVEL OF NA TIONS" is a volume of nearly 300 pages, and con tains many useful illustrations. The type is large and clear, and the printing and papei excellent. Bound only in cloth, and sent post-paid for - - $1.00. at is the demand for this book that the later editions are run in 20,000 lots. The Coming Conflict: OK THE GREAT ISSUE NOW PENDING IN THIS COUNTRY. By W. H. LITTLEJOHlSr. "THIS book gives a complete history of the rise and work of the well-known NATIONAL REFORM PARTY, And what they are attempting to accomplish in behalf of religion by State legislation. This volume enters a most vigorous protest to all such efforts, believing that they are simply tending to a union of Church and State. This is most emphatically a book for the times, and should be in the hands of every true American. Let it be widely circu lated ! Bound in muslin, 434 pages, price, post-paid, $1.00 SYNOPSIS OF THE PRESENT TRUTH. By UKIAH SMITH. TT VOLUME of 333 12 mo. pages, devoted to an exposition of those truths which the author regards as eminently pertinent for these days. The following TABLE OF CONTENTS Will give a good idea of the nature of this volume. The Great Image of Daniel II. The Vision of Daniel VII. Vision of Daniel VIII. The 70 Weeks and 2300 Days The Sanctuary The Three Messages of Revelation XIV. Revelation XII. and XIII. The Sabbath Bible View of the Sabbath Sabbath Theories of Akers, Jenning^, Mede, and Fuller Sabbath and Sunday: Their Secular History Nature and Destiny of Man State of the Dead Destiny of the Wicked The Seven Last Plagues The Millennium Matthew 24 The Seven Churches Seven Seals Seven Trumpets Signs of the Times Spiritualism The Second Advent The Two Laws The First-day Sabbath Baptism Gifts of the Spirit Predestination The 144,000 Ministration of Angels The Saints Inheritance. &W These subjects are essentially the same as those presented by the author in Biblical institutes and in his lectures to theological classes. Bound in cloth, price, post-paid, . . $1.00 20 M/N S NATURE The State of the Dead ; the Reward of the Righteous ; and the End of the Wicked. By URIAH SMITH. Author of " The Sanctuary and its Cleansing ; " " Thoughts on Daniel and the Revelation ; " " Synop sis of the Present Truth ;" "The Marvel of Nations; " " A Word for the Sabbath; " "Diagram of Parliamentary Rules," etc. YYTHIS work is a thorough canvass of the great question of a Future Life, the nature A. of man in the present life, and the conditions of immortality, from a logical and Scriptural stand-point. EVERY TEXT IN THE BIBLE, which has any possible bearing upon these points, is taken up and carefully explained, thus giving the most comprehensive view of the subject that has yet been presented. Scholarly men upon both sides of the Atlantic have written at length upon the great question, MAN, HERE AND HEREAFTER; but it may be safely averred that none of these learned treatises can take the place of the work under consideration. TOPICALLY CONSIDERED, This volume is made up of Thirty-eight Chapters, the following being a synopsis of the subject-matter of the work : An introduction, showing the nature of the subject. A direct inquiry into the Bible use of the terms " mortal," "immortal," and "im mortality." 1 An examination of statements supposed to prove man immortal ; as, the " image of God," the " living soul," and the " breath of life." An examination of the terms "soul" and "spirit," with their definitions and uses. An examination of every text, consecutively, which uses the word " spirit " in a way which is supposed to prove that it is conscious in death, or is immortal. An examination of every text, consecutively, which uses the word "soul" in a way which is supposed to show that it is conscious in death, or is immortal. An examination of all other statements supposed to prove man conscious in death ; as, Matt. 22 : 32 ; Luke 16 : 19-31 ; 23 : 43 ; 2 Cor. 5:8; Phil, i : 23 ; etc. A positive argument on the nature of death, as illustrated in the death of Adam, and a discussion of the questions of the resurrection of the dead and a future Judg ment, as related to the question of man s nature and destiny. The life everlasting, showing what it is, and who will be entitled to it. The wages of sin an examination of every text supposed to prove future unending misery for the lost. A positive argument showing what the end of the wicked will be. A vindication of God s dealings with his creatures. The claims of philosophy, an examination of the metaphysical argument. An historical view of the question. The tendency of the doctrine advocated in this work. As before observed, the great subject of MANS PRESENT STA TE, and his FUTURE REWARD OR PUNISHMENT, is here covered in a concise and direct manner. There are THREE COPIOUS INDEXES TO THE WORK, so that the reader can readily refer to any author quoted, or turn to any text or argument, with fa- MAN S NATURE AND DESTINY Contains 444 pages, and is printed from clear, new plates, on heavy paper, and is at tractively bound in green muslin, with gilt side and back, titles. Facing the title page is an appropriate FRONTISPIECE, designed especially for the work. Orders promptly filled, by mail or express, to any extent. Price of Single Copy, post-paid, $1.50. MATTER PD SPIRIT; OR The Problem of Human Tlionglit. By D. M. CAHRIGHT. A PHILOSOPHICAL ARGUMENT ON AN IMPORTANT THEME. TABLE OF CONTENTS : Organization of Matter Imparts to it New Qualities Confessions of Eminent Men What is Matter? What is Vegetable and Animal Life? How Different Species of Plants and Animals are Perpetuated God has Organized Matter in Certain Forms so that it does Think The Beauty and Power of Matter Lies in its Organization Cause and Effect Confounded Instinct and Reason From whence Comes the Immortal Spirit? The Disembodied Spirit Material and Immaterial Cause of Infidelity among Scientists Is Matter Naturally Corrupt? 66 pages, pamphlet form. Price, post-paid, - -10 cts. HISTHHY HF THE WflLHENSES By J. A. WYLIE. YTTHIS is a plain and well-written narrative concerning this remarkable people from A. their earliest history to the present time. The faith, persecutions, martyrdom, and wholesale massacres of the Waldensian brethren ; their schools, missions, and itinerant work; their mountain fastnesses ; the fierce wars waged against them ; their exile, and re-establishment in the Valleys, are all set forth with historical accuracy. An excellent book, and one which should have a wide circulation. 212 pp., on tinted paper, illustrated. In muslin covers, post-paid, per copy, - 90 cts. NOTE. The regular price erf this work is $1.25, but by importing a large stock, the Office is able to sell them at the above low rate. Steal CHRIST AND SATAN From Creation down to the End of Time. In Four 12 mo. Volumes of over 400 pages each. By Mrs. E. O. WHITE. Volume I. mmences with the fall of Satan, and the beginning of sin, upon which great light is ed. Next it treats upon the creation of the earth; the temptation and fall of our first Co shed. parents ; and then opens the great plan of salvation in a most instructive and deeply in teresting manner. Thence it traces the history of redemption as illustrated by the lives ot good and evil men down to the time of the flood, which it narrates in a very instruct ive chapter. It dwells very minutely upon the wanderings of the Church in the wilder ness, in the time of Moses, and continues the record till the time of Solomon. Volume II. Continues the history of redemption as illustrated in the Birth, Life, Ministry, Miracles, and Teachings of Christ. This volume furnishes invaluable aid in studying the Life of our Lord Jesus Christ as set forth in the four Gospels. One of the pleasing features of this volume is the plain and simple language with which the author clothes thoughts that glow with truth and beauty. Volume III. Presents the facts concerning the Death, Resurrection, and Ascension of Heaven s Mes siah, and the lives and ministry of the Apostles. This volume gives a deeply interest ing account of the labors and death of the heroic Apostle Paul. Volume IV. Commences with our Lord s great prophecy, while viewing Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives. The volume covers the entire Christian Dispensation to the end of time. It calls attention to the persecution of the first centuries, and the rise of the Papacy. Speaks particularly of the Dark Ages, and the work ot the Reformers and martyrs. Considerable space is given to the life and teachings of later reformers and religious teachers, such as Whitefield, the Wesleys, and William Miller. The closing chapters give a vivid picture of the warfare of the Church and the final triumph of the people of God. The Destruction of Satan and all his followers closes the great Controversy be tween the Son of God and the Powers of Darkness. series of works is invaluable to place in the hands of skeptics. It is also most excellent reading for Christian people of every name. These writings are being translated, either in whole or in part, in the French, Ger man, Danish, and Swedish languages. Vol. I., 41 6 pages. Price, post-paid, . . $1.00 Vol. II.. 400 pages. Price, post-paid, . . .1.00 Vol. II l. t 400 pages. Price, post-paid, . . 1.00 Vol IV., 500 pages (with illustrations}. Price, post-paid, 1.50 fSP Volume IV. is furnished separately, and is being rapidly circulated in large editions. A, WORD FOR THE SABBATH, OR FALSE THEORIES EXPOSED. By URIAH SMITH. HIS is a poetic monograph upon the Sabbath Question, treating it metrically in , seven chapters, under the respective headings of " Truth and Error" The Sab bath Instituted at Creation The Sabbath a Memorial The Sabbath Not Abolished Apostolic Example Sabbath and Sunday Vain Philosophy This little lyric pretty thoroughly canvasses the entire ground of this important subject. Numerous texts of Scripture are referred to, which are given in the margin. It is a very enjoyable book, and few persons will begin the poem without reading the entire work. In glazed pnper covers, post-paid, 15 cts. In muslin covers, post-paid, - -30 cts. JFHE HOLY SB1RW : Its Gifts and Manifestations to the End of the Christian Age, BY J. H. WAGGONER, HIS is a brief and comprehensive argument on the solemn and important subject of the Spirit of God, and its The chapters of this work fully discuss the following interesting topics : The Holy Spirit of Promie ; The Power from on High ; Cireumeision of the Heart ; The Unity of the Faith ; The Law and the Testimony ; Try the Spirits ; The Great Reformation ; Gifts in the Reformation ; In the Present Century ; Spirit of Prophecy Restored. This little book is of special interest to those who believe we are in the closing hours of the Gospel Dispensation, and that the Church must prepare to meet her Lord. Bound in paper covers. 144 pages. Price, post-paid, 15 cts. THE BIBLE MOM HEAYM: A Summary of Plain Arguments in Behalf of the Bible and Christianity. By D. M. CANBIGHT. HPHIS neat volume is all that it professes to be, a series of strong arguments in behalf *- of the Bible, written in very simple language. In its thirty chapters it presents in the main all the valuable arguments in behalf of the Bible which are found in large and expensive works. The book should be in every household. It is dedicated to " Can did Skeptics, and the Young Men and Women of our Time," but is equally adapted to those of riper years. Bound in cloth, 12 mo., 300 pages, post-paid, - 80 cts. MATTHEW TWENTY- FOUR, By JAMES WHITE. n^HIS able pamphlet presents a critical explanation of our Lord s great prophecy, as he viewed the doomed city of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives. At least fifty thousand copies of this exposition have been printed. The author (now deceased) was one of the most careful expositors of the Scriptures. The book treats upon the entire chapter. God has blessed the reading of this pamphlet to the salvation of many souls. 64 pages, 12 mo., paper covers, price, post-paid, . 10 cts. IT1HE Scripture testimony on the doctrine of the of SPIRITUAL GIFTS. Illustrated by narratives of incidents, and sentiments carefully compiled from the emi nently pious and learned of various denominations. The whole drift of this book is to show that in ages past, among many different denominations, God has manifested the gifts of his Spirit somewhat as in the days of the apostles. Put up in paper covers. 128 pages. - 15 cts. A History of the Doctrine of the Soul, AMONG ALL RACES AND PEOPLES, ANCIENT AND MODERN, INCLUDING THEOLOGIANS, PHILOSOPHERS, SCIEN TISTS, AND UNTUTORED ABORIGINES. By D, M. CANRIGHT. THIS is a 12 mo. volume of 186 pages, and treats with great care a topic of special in terest in this day. The book is the outcome of years of extensive reading and care ful study. Great care has been taken in giving references, so that the quotations may be relied upon. This book has an important place in the great field of TRUTH. Bound in cloth. Price, post-paid, - 75 cts. fln $?camination of ffiii&tian tBafrti&m ; Jfe fic tion, iuwfo and By J. H. WAGGONER. l jfi if^HI-S is an able treatise on this much-contested subject. The pamphlet tells very ^ clearly WHAT baptism is, and WHO are the proper ones to receive the ordinance. The writer also presents unanswerable arguments against Trine Immersion, as held by the Dunkards and some others. Put up in paper covers, 192 pages. Price, post-paid, 25 cts. And the 33OO Days of Daniel 8:14. By UHIAH SMITH. 1 1 / HIS work sheds very great light upon the types and shadows of the Mosaic dispen- A sation, and is equally clear in regard to the PLACE and WORK of Christ, as our Great High Priest, in the present dispensation. The subject of a remedial system for fallen man, and the nature and time of the atonement, as well as the work of the Judgment it self, are all very clearly treated in this valuable book. This is just the volume to counteract the notions of certain classes of Adventists who are continually setting the day for Christ to come the second time. Bound in cloth, 382 12 mo. pages, price, post-paid, - $1.00 FACTS FOR THE TIMES : A COLLECTION OF VALUABLE HISTORICAL EXTRACTS, On a great variety of Subjects, of special interest to the Bible Student, from eminent authorities, Ancient and Modern. Revised by Geo. I. BUTLER. This volume contains ab out One Thousand separate Historical Statements. The edition comes down to the year 1885. The general subjects elucidated are as follows : The Holy Scriptures; Tradition against Reform ; Likeness of Catholicism to Paganism ; The Prophecies ; Fall of Babylon ; United States in Prophecy; The Second Advent; Signs of the Times ; The Law of God; The World Waxed Old: The Bible Sabbath ; The Temporal Millennium ; Baptism Immersion ; Is the Soul Immortal? Death of Christ; Miscellaneous. The extracts contained in this work cover a wide range of subjects, many of them of deep interest to the general reader. We know of no book of its kind containing so many interesting quotations on important subjects of general interest. Remarkable fulfillments of prophecy; interesting comments upon difficult Scriptural texts from the best commentators ; striking occurrences of natural phenomena ; important facts in the growth of our country ; useful statistics concerning population, intemperance, war, and crime; and the present condition of the religious, political, and physical world, are among the subjects treated by the various authors quoted. Bound in Muslin, 284 pages, sent post-paid for - 50 cts. THE INHERITANCE OF THE SAINTS IN KARTH MADK NK\V. By J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH. The following are the Topics discussed in this interesting pamphlet : The Earth Promised to the Meek God s Purpose Concerning the Earth Special Promises Respecting the Earth The Promise made to Abraham The Purchased Pos session The Rest that Remains for the People of God The Disciples of Christ Ex pected a Literal Kingdom The Time for the Establishment of the Kingdom The Thousand Years of Revelation 20 Description of the Kingdom The New Jerusalem. In pamphlet form, 82 pages. Price, post-paid, - -10 cts. THE MINISTRATION OF AlELS, AND THE ORIGIN, HISTORY, $ DESTINY OF SATAN BY D. M. CANBJGHT. following is the Table of Contents: FflRT FIRST; MINISTRATION OF GOOD ANGELS. INTRODUCTION They are not the Spirits of Dead Men The Heavenly Family Num ber of Angels Angels Real Beings Their Exalted Character Different Orders of Angels They are Ministering Spirits They execute God s Judgments Saints have Guardian Angels Angels Record the Deeds of Men Angels Assist in the Judgment Angels will Gather the Saints. FflRT SEEHNH; ORIGIN, HISTORY, AND DESTINY OF SATAN. INTRODUCTION Devils are Real Beings Why does God Permit Satan to Exist? Or- igin of Satan Satan a Wanderer Satan Gains Possession of the Earth Order of the Fallen Angels Possessed with Devils Satan an Accuser Man in Prison The Mission of Jesus Redemption of Man Satan Bound Judgment of the Wicked Will Satan be Destroyed ? Paper Covers, 144 pages. Price, post-paid, 20 cts. REVISED AND ENLARGED. A FAMILY PORTFOLIO OF NATURAL HISTORY AND BIBLE SCENES. 1OO ILLUSTRATIONS. THE life mission of some people seems to be to "scatter sunshine " wherever they go. A happy disposition, which makes the best of everything, looks on the bright side, and ever bears in mind that " the darkest cloud has a silver lining," is the means of brightening the lives of all who are brought under its influence. While this is true of individuals, it is equally so of other objects which have an influence on the mind, and most emphatically true of some kinds of books. The work entitled "Sunshine at Home " has been prepared for this purpose, as indicated by its title. Its mission is. to brighten the lives of those who peruse its pages, by its entertaining sketches, and beau tiful pictures. NEARLY ONE-HUNDRED THOUSAND ALREADY SOLD. Owing to the increasing demand for this justly popular book, we are compelled to issue a SPECIAL EDITION, in extra gilt binding, for the benefit of those who use it as a gift book. In this field alone, it is having a very large sale. TRANSLATIONS. We have also translated this beautiful book into Swedish, which is meeting with good acceptance among the Swedes, several editions having been already sold. A translation into German is nearly ready, and a Danish edition will be issued as soon as possible. THE NEW REVISED EDITION Comprises 128 large, quarto pages (lox 13% inches), and 190 illustrations, and is printed on fine, calendered paper, in the best style of typographic art. It is handsomely and substantially bound in two styles ; viz., fine green cloth, with red edges, and fine red cloth, with gilt edges, beautifully embossed in jet and gold, making a handsome orna ment tor any center-table, or an adornment to any library. THE WORK OF ITS PREPARATION Has been carefully performed, every page having been submitted to the most exacting scrutiny, and with special reference to the end in view. Its reading matter is from the pens of some of the ablest writers, and is not only entertaining and attractive, but in. structive and profitable. It comprises choice poetical selections, descriptive sketches accompanying the engravings, interesting geographical descriptions, entertaining articles on natural history, zoology, etc. THE ILLUSTRATIONS Comprise beautiful scenes from nature, romantic castles, stately ships, light-houses, his torical places, and events on sea and land, renowned men, birds, animals, plants, home life, and numerous Bible scenes. THE LITERATURE Of this book is of the most select nature, calculated to elevate the thoughts and motives, and to cultivate a taste for that which is pure and ennobling. Such thoughts and illus trations have been carefully selected as would teach some valuable life lesson. THE BOOK IS DESIGNED FOR ALL. The little ones will find stories suited to their fancy, and the pictures will help them to spend many a pleasant hour; while the older ones will find many articles of interest from which to derive instruction, as well as entertainment. ITS FIELD OF USEFULNESS. The character of this work is well calculated to give it a wide circulation. Bright and sparkling, without being frivolous or trifling, moral in its tone, without being som ber or dogmatical, it finds a ready sale in all classes of society, and exerts its beneficent influence wherever it goes. It readily commends itself to all who see it. It will make a beautiful holiday gift for any person, and we commend it to those who are desirous of making presents to their friends, at any time. SOLD BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY. None need to be out of employment. All can be making money, and scatter rays of sunshine into the homes of many. Canvasser s outfit (the book itself) sent post-paid for $1.50. The choice of territory is, and should be, a great consideration with all agents ; this we can only apportion justly in the order in which applications are re ceived. We therefore advise agents to send for outfit at once. Green and Gold, Red Edges, $1.50. Red and Gold, Gilt Edges, - 1. 75. or Special Terms to Agents, address this Publishing House. AND ODERN SPIRITUALISM. BY J. H. THE Nature and Tendency of this world-wide delusion are most fully set forth in this little book. Without doubt it is THE MOST THOROUGH EXPOSURE OF SPIRITUALISM That has ever been published. The writer has carefully studied the subject, and gives copious extracts from accredited writers and speakers, by which the entire system stands self-condemned. It is also clearly shown from the ScripUues of Truth that Spiritualism is one of the most impressive signs of the times. The book contains 184 i2mo pages, and is put up in pa^ei covers. Price, post-paid, - 20 cts. REGULAR PERIODICALS IN THE English, German, French, Danish, Swedish, Italian, and Roumanian languages. The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald. Published weekly at Battle Creek, Mich. This is a i6-page RELIGIOUS FAMILY NEWSPAPER. Its dis tinctive features are, a fearless discussion of the claims of the Sabbath of the Bible; the Signs of the Times, as illustrated in the natural, moral, and political world; Harmony of the Law and Gospel; What we must do to be saved, and other Bible questions. This is the oldest and largest paper published by the denomination; presents all the do ings of the cause in its various missions, colportage work, reports of ministerial labor, camp and tent-meetings, Conferences, etc. Any person who wishes to know all about this cause, should take the REVIEW AND HERALD. Terms, in advance, $2.00 a year. The Youth s Instructor. Published at Battle Creek, Mich. A 4- page illustrated weekly paper, for the Sabbath-school and family. Without doubt this is by far the best Youth s paper published. It has two editors, who supervise its pages with the greatest care, and it is printed on beautiful super-calendered and tinted paper. Price, in advance. - 7o cts. a year. The Gospel Sickle. A live bi-weekly paper, devoted to those important Bible doctrines which are especially applicable to the present time. Pub lished at Battle Creek, Mich. Single copies, post-paid, - 50 cts. a year. Good Health. (Published by the Sanitarium at Battle Creek, Mich.) A live monthly journal of hygiene, devoted to Physical, Mental, and Moral Culture. This is a 32-page magazine, and an invaluable aid to ail who would live heathfully, or regain lost health. It should be in every family. Terms in advance, $1.00 a year. The Herold der Wahrheit. A 1 6-page semi-monthly paper, in the German language, published at Battle Creek, Mich. It is devoted tP brief exposi tions of the Prophecies, the Signs of the Times, practical Religion, and kindred Bible topics. A valuable paper in every respect. Terms in advance, - $1.00 a year, Sandhedens Tidende. A i6-page Danish-Norwegian semi-monthly paper, issued at Battle Creek, Mich. This paper is devoted to expositions of Proph ecy, the Sisjns of the Times, and Practical Religion. It is in all respects a first-class Religious Paper. Terms, in advance, $1.00 a year. Sanningens Harold. A 1 6-page Swedish semi-monthly, in maga zine form, of the same character as the Danish magazine just noticed. Published at Battle Creek, Mich. Terms, in advance, - - $1.00 a year. Regular editions of both the Tidende and Harold, the Danish and Swedish jour nals just mentioned, are issued in Christiania, Norway, from duplicate plates. Tile Signs Of the Times. Issued at Oakland, California. A 16- page weekly religious paper, presenting a large variety of most useful reading. It en joys a very large patronage, being circulated in all countries wherever the English lan guage is spoken. It is the general pioneer paper of the denomination which publishes it. Terms in advance, - - $2.00 a year. Pacific Health Journal and Temperance Advocate. Devoted to Temperance Principles and the Art of Preserving Health. 32 pages, bi-monthly, published at Oakland, California. Price, - - 50 cts. a year. The Present Truth. A 1 6-page religious semi-monthly, issued at Grimsby, England, under the auspices of the British Mission. This is a live periodical, being both doctrinal and practical, and is used largely by ship colporters and canvass ers. It enjoys a large circulation, and its influence on the side of unpopular truth is fe t all over Great Britain. Subscription price, - - 75 cts, a year. The Bible Echo and Signs of the Times. A 1 6-page monthly, published at Melbourne, Australia. A vigorous exponent of those Bible truths which are of especial importance at the present day. - $1.00 a year. Les Signes des Temps. A semi-monthly religious paper, issued at Basel, Switzerland, in the French language. This able journal is both doctrinal and practical as to its contents, and is au earnest exponent of the signs of the times. Terms, - $1.30 a year. Slllidhedsbladet. A i6-page Danish health and temperance monthly, published at Christiauia, Norway, 80 cts. a year. Helso-OCll Sjukvard. A Swedish health and temperance monthly, issued at Christiania, Norway. Price, - 80 cts. a year. Herold der Wahrheit. A 1 6-page religious semi-monthly, pub- ished at Basel, Switzerland, in the German tongue. Price, $1.00 a year. L UltimO Messaggio. An Italian religious quarterly, 8 pages in size, issued at Basel, Switzerland. Price, 25 cts. a year. Adevaruhl Present. An 8-page religious quarterly, in the Rou manian language published at Basel, Switzerland. Price, - -25 cts. a year. 4=- A paper in the Holland tongue will be issued as soon as practicable. VALUABLE RELIGIOUS TRACTS: DOCTRINAL AND PRACTICAL. Tracts are in size from 4 pages to 32, and may be ordered singly or in quantities. The following subjects are set forth in their pages, and from this data the reader can pretty clearly determine what he wants : The Nature of Man State of the DeadThe Punishment of the Wicked The Final Inheritance of the Saints The Second Advent The Signs of the Times The Judgment Redemption Our Faith and Hope The Sabbath, in its Several Phases and Obligations The Sanctuary of the New Covenant The Unchangeableness and Perpetuity of the Law of God The Millennium : When and What? Spirit ualism, the Last Deception of Satan The Covenants of the Old and New Testa ments The Two Laws The Poet Milton on Man in the State cf Death The Bible Student s Assistant, etc., etc. 4=- Catalogues, giving full particulars, sent FREE. PRICE : Any or all of the above list of Tracts furnished at the rate of 8 pages for one cent. PUBLICATIONS IN OTHER LANGUAGES. \ /ANY of the publications noticed in this catalogue can be had in the Danish, Ger man, Swedish, French, Italian, and Holland languages. These publications are generally translations from the English originals, many of which appear in this list. They are also furnished at the same prices. Tracts may be had at the rate of Eight Pages for One Cent. THE BIBLE-READING GAZETTE CONTAINING One Hundred and Sixty-two Bible-Readings. DOCTRINAL, PRACTICAL, and PROPHETICAL. ANY person who is interested in the subject of Bible- Readings should have this vol ume. These Readings were prepared by ministers and Bible-students, and men of them have been presented to the public orally. Bound in Muslin, 288 pages. Price, post-paid, - $1.00 arid Temperapce PUBLICATIONS. HIS Publishing House carries a large assortment of sterling Books, Pamphlets, and Tracts on Temperance and Hygiene. These works are mostly from the pen of Dr. J. H. KELLOGG, a writer of extensive fame, and the Physician-in-Chief in the Great Sanitarium at Battle Creek, Michigan. We give the names and prices of a few of these books, and a list of the tracts : DIGESTION AND DYSPEPSIA. By J. H^ KELLOGG, M. D. 176 pp. . . . Price, 75 cts. DIPHTHERIA. By J. H. KKLLOGG, M. D. 64 pp. . . . Price, 25 cts. USES OF WATER IN HEALTH AND DISEASE. By J. H. KKLLOGG, M. D. 136 pp. . . Price, 60 cts. ALCOHOLIC POISON. By J. H. KELLOGG, M. D. 128 pp. . . Price, 25 cts. PRACTICAL MANUAL OF HEALTH AND TEMPERANCE ; with a large appendix teaching HOW TO COOK. By J. H. KELLOGG, M. D. 320 pp. . . . Price, 75 cts. The Tracts treat upon Alcohol Alcoholic Medication Alcoholic Poison Causes and Cure of Intemperance Tea and Coffee Tobacco, in all its hurtful Aspects Wine and the Bible Pork, as an unscientific and unhygienic article for food True Temperance Our Nation s Curse The Drunkard s Arguments, etc. J&f- These tracts are all furnished at the rate of 8 pages for 1 cent. Catalogues sent free on application. MONTHLY, DEVOTED TO The Defense of American Institutions, the Preservation of the United States Constitution as it is, so far as regards Religion or Re ligious Tests, and the Maintenance of Human Rights, both Civ/7 and Religious. . J""f . HIS JOURNAL will ever be uncompromisingly opposed to anything tending toward a union of Church and State, either in name or in fact. The founders of our noble Government recognized the necessity of having A SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE. They had seen the baleful influ ences of having the two united, and, therefore, guarded against this terrible O^O evil by introducing the following plain declaration into the Constitution : A " Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or \J prohibiting the free exercise thereof." So far, this principle has generally been carried out, and the marvelous growth of our nation is largely owing to this freedom of conscience. But there are those who feel that there is now Just <3ause for j?Llarm, And that there is danger that this freedom of consciecne will be denied the people. It is well known that there is a large and influential Association in the United States, bearing the name of the "National Reform Association," which is endeavoring to se cure such a religious amendment to the Constitution of the United States as will "Place all Christian laws, institutions, and usages of the Government on an undeniably le gal basis in the fundamental law of the land. While there are mmy persons in this country who are opposed to, or look with suspicion upon this movement, there are few, outside of the party, who realize what the influence of this amendment would be. The Object of the :?Lmerican Sentinel Will be to vindicate the rights of American citizens, which we believe are threatened by this Association. It will appeal to the very fundamental principles of our Govern ment, and point out the consequences which would be sure to follow should they secure the desired amendment to the Constitution. The SENTINEL will contain nothing contrary to the principles of morality and re ligion. So far from that, we shall try to set before our readers the true relation of mor ality and religion, and show that this relation is not correctly presented by the party seeking this religious amendment. Every position taken will be carefully guarded and fortified by sound argument. Due respect will always be paid to the opinions of others, but the rights of conscience will be fearlessly maintained. The publishers are determined to make this a live paper, and one that will be read with interest by all classes. The AMERICAN SENTINEL is published monthly, by the Pacific Press Publishing House, 1059 Castro Street, Oakland, Cal. TERMS: Single Copy, one year, 50 Cents. Specimen Copies Free! Address, AMERICAN SENTINEL, 1059 Castro Street, OAKLAND, CAL GOSPEL SICKLE: A BI-WEEKLY, 8-PAGE PAPER, Devoted to Important Bible Doctrines, which are Especially Applicable to the Present Time, SUCH AS The Second Coming of Christ The Signs of the Times The Nature of Man The State of the Dead Future Rewards and Punishments The Law of God The Plan of Salvation Modern Spiritualism Satan s Final Deception, and Many other Bible topics OF GENERAL INTEREST TO THE READER. The SICKLE is a live paper, and most of the articles are prepared especially for its columns. Jfurioo SO Cents ipex* "Year. Address, REVIEW & HERALD, Battle Creek, Mich. SPIRITUALISM A SATANIC DELUSION, SUCH is the title of a vigorous tract of 32 pages, which is a most thorough expose., from a Bible stand-point, of this LATTER-DAY DELUSION, which is entrapping multitudes by its bewitching fascinations. Let this little tract be circulated everywhere. Single copies j post-paid, - 4 cts. Who Changed the Sabbath? ^^ ^! it^ &. the Sabbath of Creation has been supplemented by the First Day of the Week. Should be read by everybody. Price, 3 Cents. Address, REVIEW & HERALD, Battle Creek, Mich. TVlP I n<?f Tl mP OnP^tinn A stirring tract of 24-pages, which most B lAJbU-l ^ UUebllOn. effectually dissipates the fog and sophis try thrown about this phase of the Sabbath Question. Price, 3 Cents. Address, REVIEW & HERALD, Battle Creek, Mich. The Poet Milton on the State of the Dead. A Treatise of 40 pages on the State of Man in Death, by the great English Poet, JOHN MILTON, taken from his theological writings. This great scholar held to the correct view in regard to man s unconsciousness in death, and the fact should be more widely known. 40 pages. Price, o Cents. Address, REVIEW & HERALD, Battle Creek, Mich. ,1 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY BERKELEY Return to desk from which borrowed. This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. DECS JHH3 65 P LD 21-100m-ll, 49(B7146sl6)476 YB 2042! Ml3e8l.1t;* 56 THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY