ror are sent down and brought into a city,
its rulers and multitude go out to meet them with carefulness and
reverence, not honouring the tablet or the representation moulded in
wax, but the standing of the Emperor._"

Athanasius wrote:

"_He who worshippeth the image, in it worshippeth the emperor; for the
image is his form and likeness._"

And the worship, in the Jerusalem Temple, of the _image_ of Apleon,
("The Beast") was the worship of the man himself.

There is a very curious word in Habakkuk ii. 9, "_Woe to him that saith
to the wood, 'Awake!' to the dumb stone, "Arise, it shall teach._"
Apleon, the Anti-christ actually qualifies himself for that "woe" of
God's.

A notice had been promulgated that in the "Broadway"--the wide, open
square from which the great marble road to the Temple opened
out,--throughout the whole day, the new "Covenant" brands would be
affixed.

The "Covenant" sign, had for three years and a half been mostly worn
(as we have seen) in the form of a ring on the right hand, or as a
pendant frontlet upon the forehead. Some few million enthusiasts, it
is true, had worn it _branded_ on the flesh of the forehead, but this
had not been universal.

Now it had been decreed by Apleon, and endorsed by his second, the
false Prophet, that the wearing of a _detatchable_ "Sign," be no longer
permissable, that _all must be branded--or die_.

Brands, in several sizes, had been prepared, which, when pressed
against the forehead, and worked by a spring-lever, left the damnable
mark upon the skin in deep, rich purple characters. The surface of the
branding instrument was peculiarly soft and yielding, so that when, by
the automatic inking, the mark was made, there was never an imperfect
sign, but every character was truly formed. The ink used, claimed to
be absolutely indelible, and those who had tried it, more than two
years before, had found no break in any single line or curve if either
of the characters.

For two hours, a hundred branders had been at work at their truly
hellish task, and if the _donning_ of the badges, three and a half
years before had been in a veritable _holiday_ spirit, the acceptance
of the brand, now, was with a blend of rapturous joy, and of actual
worship.

With the infernal cunning which has ever characterized Satan's efforts
to thwart God and His Christ, he has counterfeited every rite, every
sacrament of Christ's Church. Hence Apleon, Satan's tool, is very keen
upo