body of the faithful, is here presented to our view under three different emblems: First, that of two witnesses prophesying in sackcloth, the garb of mourning, during the period of one thousand two hundred and sixty days, and testifying against the general corruption and degeneracy of the professing church: secondly, under the symbol of two candlesticks, as holding forth the light of truth to a world involved in spiritual darkness: and, thirdly, as two olive trees, to denote the abundant supplies of the Holy Spirit, at all times given to the true church. The meaning of the whole passage is, that in the midst of the general corruption of the visible church, God would raise up a small number of faithful men, a truly spiritual church, that should witness for the truth during the whole period of one thousand two hundred and sixty days, which is the same as the forty-two months, when the Gentiles were to occupy the holy city. History shows that this prophecy has received its fulfilment ; and for his satisfaction on this point, I must refer the reader to Bishop Newton's Dissertations on the Prophecies (in which are enumerated the faithful witnesses who appeared even in the darkest ages of the church), and likewise to Milner's History of the Church of Christ.*

* Mr. Gibbon, after narrating the persecution of the Albigeois, has the following passage: The visible assemblies of the Paulicians, or Albigeois, were extirpated by fire and sword; and the bleeding "remnant escaped by flight, concealment, or catholic conformity. "But the invincible spirit which they had kindled, still lived and breathed in the western world. In the state, in the church, and " even in the cloister, a latent succession was preserved of the disciples of St. Paul, who protested against the tyranny of Rome, "embraced the Bible as the rule of faith, and purified their creed

It is said of the witnesses, that "if any man will "hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, " and devoureth their enemies; and if any man will "hurt them, he must in this manner be killed." The prophets, in the scriptural style, are often said to do those things which they denounce. "I will "make my word in thy mouth fire," says the Lord to the prophet Jeremiah, "and this people wood, " and it shall consume them." In the above words respecting the fire proceeding from the mouth of the witnesses, we may also see the indestructible nature of the church of Christ. "Lo," said our Lord, "I am with you alway, even unto the end of "the world." Every attempt to destroy the church shall therefore fail of success, and shall issue only in the ruin of her enemies. In this sense fire may be said to issue from the mouth of the witnesses.

By the same rules we may explain the language of the following verse: "These have power to shut "heaven, that it rain not in the days of their pro

phecy; and have power over waters to turn them "to blood; and to smite the earth with all plagues, "as often as they will." The shutting of heaven is the shutting up the spiritual church, so that the dew of God's word and Spirit shall not descend upon the apostate inhabitants of the Roman earth.* This

"from all the visions of the Gnostic theology. The struggles of "Wickliff in England, of Huss in Bohemia, were premature and "ineffectual; but the names of Zuinglius, Luther, and Calvin, are "pronounced with gratitude as the deliverers of nations."-Decline and Fall, chap. liv. How striking a testimony is here given, by an enemy to Christianity, of the fulfilment of prophecy! Gibbon writing an involuntary comment on St. John!

* Faber's Dissertation on the 1260 years, vol. ii. p. 59. 4th Ed.

is the consequence of the neglect and contempt shown to their ministry; and it is a dispensation of the same nature as took place in the days of the prophet Isaiah, when he was commanded to "make "the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with "their eyes, and hear with their ears, and under"stand with their heart, and convert and be healed.”* Where a people refuse to repent at the preaching of the Gospel, God in just judgment withdraws his Spirit; and, in the symbolical style, he shuts up heaven, so that it shall not rain. The witnesses are also said to turn waters into blood, and to smite the earth with plagues, because such judgments are inflicted on the guilty nations, for refusing to hear the testimony of the witnesses.

"And when they shall be about finishing (or shall "be accomplishing) their testimony, the beast that "ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war έσ against them, and shall overcome them, and kill "them. And their dead bodies shall lie in the broad "street of the great city, which spiritually is called "Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was "crucified. And they of the peoples, and kindreds, "and tongues, and nations, shall see their dead bodies "three days and a half, and shall not suffer their "dead bodies to be put in graves. And they that " dwell upon the earth, shall rejoice over them and "make merry, and shall send gifts one to another, "because these two prophets tormented them that ❝dwell on earth. And after three days and a half, "the spirit of life from God entered into them, and

* Isaiah vi. 10.

"they stood upon their feet, and great fear fell upon "them which saw them; and they heard a great "voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up "hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud, " and their enemies beheld them."

But

The death and resurrection of the witnesses, whatever events may be intended thereby, happen, as we learn from the concluding clause of the above passage, before the end of the second woe, and consequently before the coming of the third woe. the second woe is the invasion of the Roman empire, and conquest of its eastern branch by the Turks. At the time when I write this, the Turkish power still exists, but it has long ceased to exist as a woe; indeed it is so rapidly declining, that its final extinction cannot be very remote. On the other hand, the third woe is the French Revolution, as I shall endeavour to prove afterwards, and shall for the present assume, for the sake of argument. But if the second woe be past, and the third woe be come, then the death, resurrection, and ascension of the witnesses must also be past; and we thus far are enabled, on certain data, to fix the chronology of these events, and to ascertain one most important point in the interpretation of the Apocalypse, which has greatly perplexed the expositors. As it continues to be the opinion of some writers, that the death of the witnesses is yet to come, the foregoing argument serves also to shew that the fears of many pious and excellent persons on this head are happily without foundation.

The death and resurrection of the witnesses being thus past, it only remains to ascertain to what events

I

they apply. After the most attentive examination, I rest in the opinion of Mr. Faber, that this part of the prophecy received its accomplishment at the era of the reformation, in the events which followed the dissolution of the Smalcaldic league. I must refer the reader to that able writer for the detailed history of these events, of which I shall only give a short abstract.

On

At the close of the year 1546, the confederacy of Smalcalde, which had been formed by the protestant princes of Germany, for the defence of their religion, fell to pieces. Only the Elector of Saxony, and Landgrave of Hesse, remained in arms. the 24th of April, 1547, the Elector was totally routed and taken prisoner by the Emperor Charles the Fifth, at the battle of Muhlberg. The Landgrave was ere long obliged to submit likewise, and by a dishonourable stratagem was seized and confined by the Emperor.

In the following year, a new system of doctrine, which was afterwards styled the Interim, and which had been prepared by the command of the Emperor, was presented to the Diet assembled at Augsburg, to receive their sanction as a general rule of faith in Germany, till a council could be convocated. In the above system, the obnoxious doctrines of popery were retained, though they were expressed, for the most part, in the softest words, or in scriptural phrases, or in terms of studied ambiguity. The interim was presented and read in the Diet on the 15th of May, 1548. As soon as the reading of it was finished, the Archbishop of Mentz, president of the Electoral College, rose up hastily; and having