To worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.—“The Church of England claimed all the powers and authority which Papacy claimed. It claimed to be the Church; it acknowledged and repudiated some of the corruptions complained of by the Reformers, such as the sale of indulgence, transubstantiation, etc., and abandoned these as well as the name Roman, for which they substituted the word Holy, calling it the original ‘Holy Catholic Church.’ It claims the same governmental authority and the same veneration for its decrees as Papacy does for hers. And by establishing a similar system, devoid of some of the grosser Papal errors, it attracted the attention of all to those errors, as being the only possible fault of Papacy. And when some of those errors were shortly after discarded by Papacy, the inference was that both Beast systems were right. People at that day, as now, seemed to think those systems proper and right, if their powers, etc., were properly exercised; but from God’s standpoint the systems are abominations, and wrong from the very center. These systems are based upon errors, and like a corrupt tree, ‘cannot bring forth good fruit.’
“The principal error was in this—the very basis of those systems—their claim to be the ‘Kingdom of God’ in reigning power. That idea, once admitted, justifies their persecution of individuals and nations, forcing them to submit and bow in obedience. Scripture accords these powers to the ‘Kingdom of God’—when ‘the Kingdom is the Lord’s and He is the Governor among the nations; all the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord, and all the kindreds of nations shall worship before Thee.’ (Ps. 22:27, 28.) He shall ‘dash them in pieces as a potter’s vessel.’ (Ps. 2:9.) Unto Him every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess. (Phil. 2:11.) And if their claim be good, who can object to their carrying out the Scriptural statements? These Antichrists, to make their claim of kingdom power appear true, had simply to take another, viz., to compel obedience, backing up their right to do so by the Scriptures just quoted. And not only was this great evil sanctioned, but their claim, once admitted, that the Kingdom was established and the reign in progress, those who admitted it were hindered from looking for the true Head of the Church to set up the true Kingdom under the whole heavens, which shall break in pieces present imperfect governments, establish righteousness in the earth, and cause every knee to bow and every tongue to confess, to the glory of God.”—Z. ’80‐1‐2.