366
The Great Controversy 1888
in which the legislative power rests with the people; a most striking
evidence that the United States is the nation denoted in the prophecy.
But what is the “image to the beast”? and how is it to be formed?
The image is made by the two-horned beast, and is an image to the
first beast. It is also called an image of the beast. Then to learn
what the image is like, and how it is to be formed, we must study the
characteristics of the beast itself,—the papacy. When the early church
became corrupted by departing from the simplicity of the gospel, and
accepting heathen rites and customs, she lost the Spirit and power of
God; and in order to control the consciences of the people she sought
the support of the secular power. The result was the papacy, a church
that controlled the power of the State, and employed it to further her
own ends, especially for the punishment of “heresy.” In order for the
United States to form an image of the beast, the religious power must
so control the civil government that the authority of the State will also
be employed by the church to accomplish her own ends.
Whenever the church has obtained secular power, she has employed
it to punish dissent from her doctrines. Protestant churches that have
followed in the steps of Rome by forming alliance with worldly powers,
have manifested a similar desire to restrict liberty of conscience. An
example of this is given in the long-continued persecution of dissenters
by the Church of England. During the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries, thousands of non-conformist ministers were forced to leave
their churches, and many, both of pastors and people, were subjected
to fine, imprisonment, torture, and martyrdom.
It was apostasy that led the early church to seek the aid of the civil
government, and this prepared the way for the development of the
papacy,—the beast. Said Paul, There shall “come a falling away, ...
[444]
and that man of sin be revealed.” [
2 Thessalonians 2:3
] So apostasy in
the church will prepare the way for the image to the beast. And the
Bible declares that before the coming of the Lord there will exist a
state of religious declension similar to that in the first centuries. “In
the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their
own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to
parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers,
false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of
God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.” [
2