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; 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.

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 the image of the beast should be killed.

    16.  And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor,
    free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in
    their foreheads: 

    17.  And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the
    mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

    18.  Here is wisdom.  Let him that hath understanding count the
    number of the beast:  for it is the number of a man; and his
    number is Six hundred threescore and six.

The symbolic description of this beast directs us also to a political and a religious system rising at the expiration of the twelve hundred and sixty years’ reign of the first beast, but that he was no such terrible beast politically as the one before him is proved by the fact that he had but two horns and they like a lamb.  This beast rose “out of the earth”—­the Apocalyptic earth, or the territory of the Roman empire.  The first beast rose out of the sea, which, as before shown, signifies the heart of the empire in an agitated state; for the ten horns came up through the greatest political convulsions that the page of history records.  When John beheld the second beast “coming up,” however, the empire was in a state of comparative quiet, although fierce wars followed afterward.  He stands as a symbol of Protestantism in Europe; although his power and influence afterwards extended beyond the “earth”—­the Apocalyptic earth—­into “the whole world.”  Chap. 16:14.  That this beast came up upon the same territory occupied by the Papacy is proved also by the statement that “he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him.”  It was predicted in a subsequent chapter (17:16) that the ten horns, or kingdoms of Europe, after supporting the Papacy during the Dark Ages, would later turn against her.  This has met a remarkable fulfilment under the reign of Protestantism.

The first two nations to turn violently against Popery were England and Germany.  They have ever since been the chief supporters and defenders of Protestantism, and they are doubtless the two kingdoms symbolized by the two horns of the beast.  While at one time the Pope was a temporal sovereign and could, by his political and ecclesiastical power, humble with ease the mightiest nations of Europe before him, his authority has been wrested from him by degrees, so that to-day not a vestige of his temporal power remains, and his anathemas fall harmlessly.  The nations have asserted