liver His
people out of thy hands) _saith the Lord of Hosts, that I will break
thy yoke_ (Apleon Emperor, Man of Sin, Anti-christ) _from off the
'peoples' neck._" Jer. xxx 8.
"_Judgment shall sit, and Christ shall take away thy kingdom, to
consume and to destroy it unto the end._" Dan. vii. 26.
"_Tophet is ordained of old, yea for thee, thou Man of Sin, it is
prepared: God hath made it deep, and large; the pile thereof is fire
and much wood: the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth
kindle it._" Isa. xxx. 33.
"_And thou shall be taken, and with thee The False Prophet, thy
co-adjutor, he whom thou hast deputed to work miracles before thee, and
in thy foul name, and with all those whom thou and thy False Prophet
have deceived, who have received thy brand on them, and who have
worshipped thine image.--These all, you, your prophet, and your dupes,
shall be cast into a lake of fire burning with brimstone_". Rev. xiii.
2, 3. Rev. xix. 20.
Low and mocking, a laugh broke from Apleon, upon whose brow there still
played that lambent flame. The laugh was caught up by the multitude,
until one far-reaching volume of mocking, derisive laughter went
rolling out-and-away from The Broadway, to Gareth and Goab, and every
other suburb of the city, and back again.
As the last echo of the laughter died away, Apleon called, to his
Viceroy:
"Where is the axe and the block?"
"Here, Sire!"
A score of men bearing broad, gleaming axes, with thrice a score of
others, bearing, each three, a blood-red enamelled block, came forward
into the centre of the square.
"Take those two drivelling prophets, and behead them!" cried Apleon.
A thousand hands were stretched towards the witnesses. This time they
were readily taken. Their bodies were dragged to the blocks, and with
one stroke to each, they were beheaded.
With a shout of triumph, that spread far and wide, the people acclaimed
Apleon as "God Almighty."
"Let no man touch that carrion, to bury it!"
Was the order of Apleon.
That was to be doubly his hour of triumph. All arrangements had been
made for his official coronation. An immense awning of purple and gold
silk, was stretched over the whole of "The Broadway."
The time occupied in stretching the whole thing was not more than sixty
seconds. A throne of Ivory, Pearl, and gold was set in the centre of
the pavement, beneath the awning. Everything was done with the
rapidity of a stage-setting
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