ions, to be slain,
is rapidly dying out. In the vision before us, however, the special
actions ascribed to this beast--_speaking_, working miracles, deceiving,
making an image and imparting life to it, etc., which all belong
properly to the department of human life--show conclusively that it is
the character of this beast as an _ecclesiastical power_ that is the
chief point under consideration. He was not to become such a terrible
beast politically (for his horns were only _like a lamb_), but "he
_spake_ as a dragon." As soon as we enter the department to which
_speaking_ by analogy refers us, we find this beast to be a great
religious power; and it is in this character alone that he is dilineated
in the remainder of the chapter. That the description of a religious
system is the main burden of this symbol, is shown also by the fact that
it is in every case referred to in subsequent chapters as the "false
prophet." Chap. 16:13; 19:20; 20:10. Therefore every reference I make to
this second beast hereafter should be understood as signifying the
religious system of Protestantism, unless otherwise stated.

That Protestantism in its many forms can be properly represented by a
single symbol--a beast or false prophet--may seem a little strange at
first; but when we come to consider next the making of an image to the
beast, it will be seen that the Protestant sects, from God's standpoint
of viewing, are all alike in character, as were the multitudinous forms
of heathen worship represented under the single symbol of the dragon.
Hence only one beast, or the making of one image, was necessary to stand
as representative of the entire number. It will be noticed by the reader
that from verse 12 to the close of the chapter the term _beast_
signifies the first beast, or the Papacy, and that the second beast, or
Protestantism, is designated by the pronoun _he_.

_Image_ is defined to be "an imitation, representation, similitude of
any person or thing; a copy, a likeness, an effigy." The second beast,
then, is to manufacture something in _imitation_ of the first beast. If
any doubt exists as to which phase of the first beast, political or
ecclesiastical, is copied, it can be settled by considering what is said
of the image made from the original. "The image of the beast
should--_speak_." This directs us by analogy, as heretofore explained,
to the department of religious affairs; hence the second beast forms an
_ecclesiastical organizatio