12.  And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein, to worship 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 the image of the beast should be killed.

16.  And he caused 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.