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 shall spring up in this country who shall found a great American Catholic church, instead of a great Roman Catholic church; and who shall teach men that they can be good Catholics without professing allegiance to a pontiff on the other side of the Atlantic."
There is every indication that at no distant day such a church will be seen, not indeed, raised up through the instrumentality of a Luther, but rather through the operation of the same spirit that inspired a Fernando Nunez or a Torquemada.
Chapter Ten.
The Mark Of The Beast.
The principal acts ascribed to the two-horned beast, which seem to be performed with special reference to the papal beast, are, the causing of 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 worship 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, is represented through the remainder of the prophecy by the pronoun "he;" and wherever this pronoun occurs, down to the 17th verse (with possibly the exception of the 16th verse, which 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.
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 penalty. Just what will constitute this worship, it will perhaps be impossible to determine till the image itself shall have an existence. It will evidently be some act or acts by which men will be required to acknowledge the authority of that image and yield obedience to its mandates.