Revelation 13:16,17

"And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive. mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: 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." 13:16, 17.

It is next stated that he caused. mark to be placed upon the right hand or foreheads of all his subjects. The mark of the beast is some stamp or sign, by which all its worshipers should be known. In ancient days slaves were sometime's branded as cattle are in our own age. The brand or mark of the beast would be some indelible sign which would designate with certainty those who were subject to his authority.. mark in the hand is supposed by some to represent the practice, while. mark in the forehead indicates the profession of life. It is remarkable, however, that. mark on the forehead converts. person into. Roman Catholic, and without this mark none are regarded as heirs of salvation. If the little infant should die without this mark it has no chance of salvation, but if the priest makes upon its forehead the sign of the cross with water, it is safe forever. Jesuit priests upon fields of battle have gone around among wounded and dying savages who had never heard of Christ, and made this sign, the mark of the beast, upon the foreheads of the dying Pagans and thus converted them into good Catholics and heirs of eternal bliss. In Mexico and Peru, Pagan natives, doomed to execution, have had this mark made upon them by zealous priests, the language and meaning of which the unhappy victims could not understand, and whose object they could not know, then, (as soon as baptized?) were sent out to die as converted Christians. That mark makes the infant, the heathen, the infidel, all subjects of Rome.

I fear, too, that Protestant Pedobaptists, though they do not design it, are unwittingly following in the footsteps of Rome, and imitating the mark of the beast.

It is next stated that traffic was forbidden to all but the servants of the beast, It has been common for Catholics to be forbidden to patronize those who were not loyal to the Pope. At least three councils are named, those of Tours, of Constance and the Lateran, which have expressly forbidden business intercourse with heretics.