that
originated in Romanism; and in this respect they worship the first
beast, even in the very act of rendering service to their own system.
Such doctrines as infantile damnation, sprinkling for baptism, the
eternal destruction of all those who are outside the pales of the
church, infant baptism, and other things are all children of the
apostasy originating in Rome. The Romish Church possesses a human
ecclesiastical headship and an earthly government ruling in the place
of Christ, and Protestants make an "image" to this beast by building
their sects in imitation--sects made and ruled by men. To these they
attach their own names and the distinctive creeds and doctrines of
men, and thus their devotees receive the "mark" and "name" of the
beast.

At this point we must make a distinction which, being true in the
facts of history, must necessarily be intended in the symbolic
representation. This beast was to bring down "fire from heaven."
According to the symbols of chapter 12, the woman, or true church,
"fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God,
that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore
days." The time prophecy is the same, and covers the same period, as
the reign of the papal beast. Therefore, just as an important change
in the papacy occurred at the expiration of that prophetic period,
so also a radical change must be expected with reference to the true
church: it must be no longer completely obscured in the wilderness.
Now, as the Reformation and Protestantism as a religion were the means
of ending Rome's universal spiritual supremacy, so also they must
be regarded as possessing sufficient light and truth to bring into
prominence once more the work of the Spirit and the true people of
God. "Fire from heaven" may therefore be regarded as describing the
divine work of reformation, the unfolding of truth accompanied by the
saving power of God. Such spiritual work has accompanied the origin of
various religious movements during the Protestant era.

The general description of the two-horned beast, however, makes
prominent an evil characteristic--the disposition to lead the people
into deception by making an image to the beast and then worshiping it.
The evil is not located in the ability to bring down fire from heaven,
but in the deceptive work of image-making and image-worship, for which
the spiritual work simply furnished an occasion. The spiritual work of
reformation