Featured

The United States in the Light of Prophecy Or, an Exposition of Rev. 13:11-17 — Story, Setting & Ideas

(0 User reviews) 878

In Category - Theology

Authors: Smith, Uriah, 1832-1903 Digital Source: Project Gutenberg Gutenberg Release Year: 2004 First Publication Year: Not confirmed

Key Word: Bible. Revelation XIII, 11-17 -- Prophecies Target Reader: Readers of public-domain and historical texts

Book Edition: Project Gutenberg digital edition Book Language: en

Edition facts

Words 40,890

Reading time 178 min

Text sections 14

The United States in the Light of Prophecy Or, an Exposition of Rev. 13:11-17 — Story, Setting & Ideas can be approached with a clearer sense of reading commitment from its source measurements: 40,890 words, 2 hr 58 min estimated reading time, and 14 detected text sections.

The text analysis averages about 24.1 words per sentence, while the detected sections provide another way to judge how the source is divided.

Project Gutenberg metadata also associates the work with “Bible. Revelation XIII, 11-17 -- Prophecies,” connecting these edition facts with the source record’s subject description.

Source: Project Gutenberg record #12364

Uriah Smith's 1874 exposition of Revelation 13:11-17 argues that the two-horned beast symbolizes the United States, using prophetic chronology, linguistic analysis, and contemporary wonders like telegraphy to align national rise with biblical prophecy.

Editorial Edition Score 4.7/5

★★★★★ ★★★★★

Calculated from edition completeness, EPUB availability, text structure and catalogue metadata. Not a user rating.

How this score is calculated

Description quality20 pts
Title & short description10 pts
Source metadata20 pts
Text length15 pts
Chapters / structure15 pts
EPUB file integrity20 pts

Total of 100 points, scaled to a 2.5-5.0 range. Editions with an empty description or a missing EPUB file are not scored.

Edition quality

File: pg12364

Read the Text

Goths were driven from Rome in 538, and the city was left in the hands of the little horn, which has ever since held it as the seat of its power. To the leopard beast also, the dragon gave its seat, the city of Rome. They therefore occupy the same location.

3. Their character. The little horn is a blasphemous power; for it speaks great words against the Most High. Dan. 7:25. The leopard beast also is a blasphemous power; for it bears upon its head the name of blasphemy; it has a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and he opens his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in Heaven. Rev. 13:1, 5, 6.

4. Their work, The little horn by a long and heartless course of oppression against the saints of the Most High, wears them out; and they are given into his hand. Dan. 7:25. He makes war against them, and prevails. Verse 21. The leopard beast also makes war upon the saints, and overcomes them. Rev. 13:7.

5. The time of their continuance, Power was given to the little horn to continue a "time and times, and the dividing of time." Dan. 7:25. A time in Scripture phraseology is one year. Dan, 4:25. (The "seven times" of Nebuchadnezzar's humiliation, Josephus informs us, were seven years.) Times, that is two times, the least that can be expressed by the plural, would be two years more; and the dividing of time, or half a time, half a year; making in all, three years and a half. To the leopard beast power was also given to continue forty-two months, which at twelve months to the year, give us again just three years and a half. And this being prophetic time, a day for a year (Num. 14:34; Eze. 4:6), and there being accord to Scripture reckoning thirty days to a month, or three hundred and sixty days to a year (Gen, 7:11, 24; 8:4), we have in each case twelve hundred and sixty years, for the continuance of the little horn and the leopard beast.

6. Their overthrow. At the end of the time, times and a half, the dominion of the little horn was to be taken away. Dan. 7:26. At the end of the forty-two months, the same length of time, the leopard beast was also to be slain, politically, with the sword, and go into captivity. Rev. 13:3, 10.

These are points which prove not merely similarity, but identity. For whenever two symbols, as in this instance, represent powers that come upon the stage of action at the same time, occupy the same territory, maintain the same character, do the same work, continue the same length of time, and meet the same fate, those two symbols must represent one and the same power. And in all these particulars there is, as we have seen, the most exact co-incidence between the little horn of the fourth beast of Dan. 7, and the leopard beast of Rev. 13; and all are fulfilled by one power, and that is the papacy. The papacy succeeded to the pagan form of the Roman empire. It has, ever since it was first established, occupied the seat of the dragon, the city of Rome, building for itself such a sanctuary, St, Peter's, as the world nowhere else beholds. It is a blasphemous power, speaking the most presumptuous words it is possible for mortal lips to utter against the Most High. It has worn out the saints, the Religious Encyclopedia estimating that the lives of fifty millions of Christians have been quenched in blood by its merciless implements of torture. It has continued a time, times and a half, or forty-two months, or twelve hundred and sixty years. Commencing in 538, when the decree of Justinian in behalf of papal supremacy was first made effectual by the overthrow of the Goths, the papacy enjoyed a period of uninterrupted supremacy for just twelve hundred and sixty years, when its power was temporarily overthrown, and its influence permanently crippled, by the French in 1798.

Can any one doubt that the papacy is the power in question, and that the interpretation of this symbol brings us down within seventy-six years of our own time? We regard the exposition of the prophecy, thus far, as clear beyond the possibility of refutation; and if this is so, our future field of inquiry lies within a very narrow compass, as we shall presently see.

Location Of The Two-horned Beast.

Following the leopard, or papal beast of Rev. 13, in consecutive order, comes the two-horned beast, whose appearance the prophet delineates, and whose work he describes, in the following language:--

Continue Reading →

Uriah Smith opens his 1874 treatise by asserting that the United States, a nation of sudden ascent and unprecedented progress, must be a subject of divine prophecy. He anchors his argument in Revelation 13:11-17, interpreting the two-horned beast as a symbol for America. Smith’s method combines close reading of the Greek text—noting that the word enopion ("in the presence of") proves the two-horned beast is a contemporary power distinct from the first beast—with a sweeping view of 19th-century technological marvels, which he presents as fulfillments of prophetic wonders. The work is structured as a chain of evidence, moving from probabilities to chronology, location, and character of the beast, culminating in the mark of the beast and the end times.

Prophetic Chronology and the Two-Horned Beast

Smith devotes a chapter to the chronology of the two-horned beast, arguing that its rise must be dated after the first beast (the papacy) received its deadly wound. He contends that the United States emerged in the precise historical window when the papacy’s power was broken, around 1798. The author draws on the sequential nature of Daniel’s beasts—lion, bear, leopard—to argue that a transfer of dominion marks a new beast, not a mere phase of an old one. He insists that the two-horned beast cannot be a feature of the papacy because it exercises power in the presence of the first beast, which still possesses its dominion. This chronological argument is central to Smith’s identification of the United States as the beast, though the excerpts do not reveal his full dating evidence.

The Dragon Voice and National Character

Smith examines the phrase "he spake as a dragon" (Revelation 13:11) to characterize the two-horned beast’s government. He argues that the lamb-like appearance suggests a mild, republican beginning, but the dragon voice indicates a future oppressive turn. The author draws on the structure of the prophecy: the beast arises from the earth (not the sea), which he interprets as a new, unoccupied territory—America. He contrasts this with the sea-born beasts of previous empires. Smith’s analysis of the dragon voice is tied to the beast’s role in enforcing worship of the first beast, implying that the United States will eventually compel religious observance. The excerpts show Smith’s method of moving from symbolic detail to national application, though the full argument for the dragon voice is only partially visible.

Wonders of the Age: Fire from Heaven

In the chapter "He Doeth Great Wonders," Smith interprets the miracle of bringing fire from heaven as a reference to 19th-century technological breakthroughs. He describes a world that, fifty years prior, stood "where it did in the days of the patriarchs" in terms of domestic convenience and communication. Then, suddenly, "the divine finger lifted the seal from the prophetic books," and men harnessed the elements—binding lightning to carry messages around the world. Smith explicitly connects these wonders to Nahum’s prophecy of chariots with flaming torches running like lightnings. He presents the telegraph and rapid locomotion as fulfillments of Revelation’s signs, arguing that such marvels validate the prophetic timeline. This section reveals Smith’s tendency to read contemporary innovation as direct biblical prophecy, a recurring structural move in the work.

The Image to the Beast and the Mark

Smith’s exposition of the image to the beast and the mark of the beast (Revelation 13:14-17) is outlined in the table of contents but only partially excerpted. He argues that the two-horned beast will cause the earth to worship the first beast, implying that the United States will promote a religious system modeled after the papacy. The mark, he suggests, is a test of allegiance, though the excerpts do not detail his interpretation. Smith’s structure here moves from identification (the United States as the beast) to application (the beast’s actions and their consequences for believers). He frames the subject as one of "continually-increasing interest" and necessary for understanding "our duties and responsibilities." The closing chapters, "The Beginning of the End," likely synthesize these threads, though the excerpts cut off before that section.

Smith’s treatise is best approached as a period piece of prophetic interpretation, where biblical exegesis meets 19th-century American optimism and anxiety. Readers should note his reliance on a specific historical moment—the post-1798 papacy and the rise of telegraphy—to anchor his claims. The work’s structure, moving from textual analysis to contemporary application, rewards attention to how Smith weaves Greek philology, Danielic chronology, and technological wonder into a single argument. For those interested in the intersection of religion and national identity in the Gilded Age, this text offers a focused case study.

I found myself returning to Smith’s careful timeline of the two-horned beast, and it brought to mind the patient genealogies in The Expositor's Bible: The Book of Genesis — Reading Companion. Both books treat history as a quiet, deliberate unfolding—every name, every numeral, a small stone placed in a path meant to be walked slowly.