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From Here to Forever
of America. Almost the exact words of the sacred writer have been
unconsciously employed by the historian in describing the rise of this
nation. A prominent writer speaks of “the mystery of her coming
forth from vacancy,” and says, “Like a silent seed we grew into
empire.
A European journal in 1850 spoke of the United States
[273]
“emerging” and “amid the silence of the earth daily adding to its
power and pride.
“And he had two horns like a lamb.” The lamblike horns indicate
youth, innocence, and gentleness. Among the Christian exiles who
first fled to America from royal oppression and priestly intolerance
were many who determined to establish civil and religious liberty.
The Declaration of Independence sets forth the truth that “all men are
created equal” and endowed with the inalienable right to “life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness.” The Constitution guarantees to the
people the right of self-government, providing that representatives
elected by popular vote shall enact and administer the laws. Freedom
of religious faith was also granted. Republicanism and Protestantism
became the fundamental principles of the nation, the secret of its
power and prosperity. Millions have sought its shores, and the United
States has risen to a place among the most powerful nations of the
earth.
A Striking Contradiction
But the beast with lamblike horns “spake as a dragon. And he
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; ... 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.”
Revelation 13:11-14
.
The lamblike horns and dragon voice point to a contradiction.
The prediction that it will speak “as a dragon” and exercise “all
the power of the first beast” foretells a spirit of intolerance and
persecution manifested by the dragon and the leopardlike beast. And
the statement that the beast with two horns “causeth the earth and
1
G. A. Townsend, The New World Compared With the Old, p. 462.
2
Dublin Nation.