p the first
beast, whose deadly wound was healed.

V. 12.--The second beast "exerciseth all the power of the first beast
before him,"--in his presence, under his sanction and powerful
protection. Thus the state, or empire, lays the church under obligation,
and of course expects a reciprocity of kind offices. This is effected by
the beast of the earth "causing the earth--to worship the first beast."
By force and craft this is accomplished. By his "two horns" of power,
the _regular_ and _secular_ orders of the hierarchy, as from the mouth
of a "dragon," he enjoins "submission to the (civil) powers that be."
But besides the horns of power, that is, ecclesiastical authority, this
beast of the earth, in order more effectually to enforce his commands to
worship the first or civil beast, resorts to "great wonders,--miracles,"
(vs. 13,14,)--"lying wonders;" (2 Thess. ii. 9:) for Paul and John agree
in their description of the same diabolical agency. "As Jannes and
Jambres withstood Moses,--magicians doing so with their
_enchantments_,"--"beguiling unstable souls," so this second beast
"maketh fire to come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of
(credulous) men." (2 Tim. iii. 8; Exod. vii. 22; Acts viii. 9-11.) The
venal ministry of the heathenized church, (ch. xi. 2,) inculcate passive
obedience to the beast of the sea, as to the "ordinance of God;"--to
"resist" which, subjects the recusant to "damnation." (Rom. xiii. 2.)
Here, then, we behold the _counterfeits_ of the two great ordinances of
church and state, against which it is the special duty and arduous work
of the two witnesses to contend for 1260 years. This "false prophet,"
who "spake as a dragon, and made fire to come down from heaven," to
authenticate his divine mission, may represent the bulls, anathemas,
interdicts, encyclical letters, which emanate from Rome, together with
the less terrifying mandates of her coadjutors,--"daughters."

13. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from
heaven on the earth, in the sight of men,

14. And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth, by the means of those
miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saving 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.

15. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the
image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would
not worship