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SUCH was the holy city with its ten streets which John saw in vision on the eve of the apostasy. That apostasy was to continue for many a long and dreary century. But, during all that time of darkness; during all that period of abounding iniquity, the Lord was not to leave himself altogether without witness. He has "two witnesses," (ver. 3,) in the very, midst of the apostate city, who boldly oppose the abominations around them, and stand up for the honour of their Lord. Who are these two witnesses? Much that is fanciful has been written on this subject, which it is needless to examine. Plain it is, that they cannot be two individuals, or any two literal persons The length of time during which they testify renders this impossible. Neither can they be, any two geographical communities, such as the Paulkians of the East, and the Waldenses of the West, as some would have them,1 for that would place one of the witnesses altogether beyond the bounds of the holy city, against whose corruptions they are raised up, on purpose to testify. The two witnesses here referred to, are just a succession of faithful men within the Western empire, who, from generation to generation, bear testimony for Christ in opposition to his enemies. But why, it may be asked, are they called two witnesses? There are two reasons. The first, as shown long ago by Joseph Mede, has reference to the Mosaic law on witness bearing: "At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death, be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness, he shall not be put to death," Deut. 17:6. The witnesses of Christ, though few, were to be sufficient to condemn the adherents and abettors of the apostasy, and to render them inexcusable. This was one reason; but there was another, and that no less important, which has been seldom observed. They are called two, because of the two grand truths to which they bear testimony, and the twofold capacity in which that testimony is borne. The two vital truths for which they testify during the continuance of the apostasy, are Christ's headship over the church, and his headship over the state, or, in other words, the supremacy of the Word of God alike over nations and churches truths which comprehend every other. During the period of their prophesying, both civil and ecclesiastical society alike, a to be in a state of revolt from their allegiance to Christ; and, of course, their testimony was to be commensurate with the extent of the apostasy This is no mere assumption. It is clearly indicated by the symbolical language, in which the witnesses are described, "These," says the angel (ver. 4,) "are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks, standing before the God of the earth." This language sends us back to the prophecy of Zechariah for its explanation. The angel that talked with the prophet, the same angel that conversed with John, who is obviously none other than Christ, "The angel of the covenant," said to him, (Zech. 4:2,) "What seest thou?" "I have looked," said the prophet, "and, behold, a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof and two olive trees by it, one on the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof." Three times did the prophet ask, "What be these two olive-trees?" And once and again he received no direct answer, that attention might be aroused; that curiosity might be excited, and that the answer might be more memorable, when it came. At last, the answer is given: "These be the two anointed ones that stand by the Lord of the whole earth." When Zechariah had received this answer, he asked no farther. He knew at once who they were. His mind turned immediately to "the two anointed ones," whose grand duty it was to promote the cause of God in Jerusalem. These were, Joshua the anointed high priest, and Zerubbabel the anointed king of; Israel. See note B
There are those who say; that, under the gospel, the church alone has to do with the cause of God--that the state, as such, has nothing to do to acknowledge Christ, or to govern itself by his revealed will. The passage before us shows the reverse. There are two anointed ones, two olive-branches, two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth, and both alike are bound to let their light shine for his glory. Their spheres are entirely distinct.2 The one may not enter into the province of the other. But each, in its own sphere, is bound to glorify God. The prophecy under consideration intimates, that like as Joshua was the Lord's witness for his supremacy over the church, and Zerubbabel for his supremacy over the state, so should there be a succession of faithful witnesses for the same great truths, during all the period of the apostacy. It may be objected, that here there are not two witnesses; but only one testimony after all for two separate truths. But the answer is easy. Not only are there two truths for which they testify, but there are two several relations, and two distinct capacities, in which they bear witness. They are membtrs of the church, and at the same time members of civil society; and fidelity requires that in both capacities they testify against the corruptions around them. These corruptions are found in the administration of the state as well as in the administration of the church and no one could be a faithful witness for Christ, who did not, in both respects, according to his opportunities, bear witness for the truth. The influence which Christ's faithful servant could bring to---bear on the government of states, during most of the period of their testimony, must have been small indeed; but whether that influence was little or great, they felt bound to consecrate it all to the glory of God and the advancement of his kingdom in the world. It is to be lamented. that not a few in modern times, who have avouched the Lord to be their God, have altogether overlooked their obligations to act and testify for Christ in this, two-fold capacity. They have counted it enough, that, as members. of the church, their creeds and confession's have been sound. They have not felt the ngoesgity, as members of the state, of using the influence they possess, in such a way, as that Christ should be recognised, and his will respected in the councils of the nation of which they form a part, and for whose public deeds they are responsible. ..On the contrary, for low and selfish ends, too often have they given that political influence which they hold as a trust, and which they are bound to exercise for the honour of their Lord, into the hands of men who are the open and avowed enemies of Him who is "the head of all principality and power." The consequence is what might have been expected, "the wicked walk on every side, while the vilest men are exalted." The authority of God's word is despised, and a low, blind, worldly expediency is set up in its stead. "It is a most dangerous precedent," said the late prime minister of Great Britain in his place in Parliament, "for the house to take upon itself the duty of interpreting the Divine commands." What were the circumstances in whith this oracular announcement was made Mr Turner had brought in a bill for the prohibition of duelling, as opposed to the law of God. No, said the Premier, you may prohibit the practice if you see fit, you may made as stringent laws against it as you please; but that the house should be called upon to prohibit it, on any such ground as that contained in the preamble of the bill, he felt bound to resist. To prohibit it out of respect to "the Divine commands," was, in his opinion, "a dangerous precedent!" There was not a protesting voice raised against this unchristian sentiment. Such is the avowed principle on which the government of this great nation is now conducted. Expediency, and expediency alone, is the rule of our public conduct. The authority of God's word is thrown off, the way is paved or any iniquity; and now we have the anomalous spectacle of a legislature chosen by professing Protestants, voting money for the support of a system of superstition and idolatry, which, as members of churches, they condemn as antichristian and ruinous to men's souls. This is a sad state of matters, but who are to blame for it? If the professing Christians in this land had felt themselves bound, both as citizens and churchmembers, to act as Christ's witnesses, this could never have been the case. Alas! too many seem to have forgotten the awful words of this book, "If any man receive the mark of the beast, on his forehead or his right hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation." The open and avowed. adherents of Antichrist, who receive his mark in their foreheads, shall not escape the righteous judgment of God; but those also, who, with a better profession, give the active co-operation of their hands to the support of the unhallowed system, are doomed to drink of the same bitter cup.
The true witnesses of Christ, as kings and priests unto God--as active promoters of his cause in the world, as well as worship his temple, keep their garments undefiled; and, in both respects, bear a bold and consistent testimony for the truth. They are represented not only as two candlesticks, but as "two olive-trees," whose leaf doth not wither, whose branches are ever green and flourishing. For the due discharge of their high office, they are "anointed" of God, they have "the unction of the Holy One," and are thus preserved from the danger of apostacy themselves, and are enabled to let their light shine without interruption on the dark world around them.
Now of these witnesses it is said, "They shall prophesy in sackcloth." The sackcloth robe indicates;
1. Their character as mourners, They mourn for the spiritual desolation of Jerusalem, for the iniquity that everywhere abounds. When they testify of ungodly men, that their works are evil, it is not with a proud spirit of defiance, but with a real desire for their welfare; and when their remonstrances are in. vain; it grieves them at the heart. The ungodly look with the most supreme indifference on the sins of others. They feel as did the chief priests, when Judas cast down the thirty pieces of silver before them, saying, "I have sinned in that I have betrayed innocent blood." "What is that to us?" said these hard hearted sinners. It is not so with Christ's witnesses. They, feel that it is some thing to them, when their brethren of mankind live in sin and go on in the way to perdition. "If ye will not bear," said Jeremiah to his ungodly countrymen, "I will weep in secret places for your pride." "I saw transgressors," says David, "and was grieved;" and again, "rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because men keep not thy law." "What leal heat," said the dying Campbell of Kinyeancleuch, as he thought of the unfaithfulness of some of the ministry in his day, "what real heart can contain itself unbursting?" at the same time giving vent to a flood of tears, accompanied with sobs and lamentations. So essential, indeed; is this spirit to the servants of Christ, that when God intends to make a distinction in a time of judgment, between those who fear, him and those who fear him not, those only who possess this spirit are singled out for mercy: In the 9th chapter of Ezekiel, we find a distinguishing mark set by an angel upon the forehead of the men who were to be spared in the midst of desolating judgments. Those and those only who had this mark were to escape; all else were to be remorselessly cut off. "Go ye," said the Lord to his ministers of vengeance, "go ye through the city, and smite, let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity. Slay utterly old and young, both maids and little children, and women, but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary." Who then were the men on whom God set his preserving mark? They were those "who sighed and who cried for the abominations that were done in the midst" of Jerusalem. Now such also is the character of God's witnesses during the apostacy; they are clad in sackcloth, to point them out as the mourners in Zion," who grieve for the dishonour done both by. high and by low, to the God whom they serve, and who have continual heaviness and sorrow of heart, at the thought of the eternal ruin into which the ungodly world is rushing.
2. The sackcloth indicates also their suffering codndition: They are sufferers, as well as mourners. In times of apostacy, the saying of James Guthrie, the martyr, to the great Marquis of Argyle, is always found true; "My Lord, I perceive that a time either of much suffering, or of much sinning, is at hand." In such seasons, one or other side of the alternative nucst be chosen. There is no avoiding both. The witnesses of Christ have grace given them to choose the better part. They are content to suffer, rather than to sin. Considering their useful lives, their gentle demeanour, their loving spirit, it might have been thought that the enmity of their adversaries would have been disarmed. But the mere fact that they are perceived to be the children of God, is sufficient to bring ill will upon them. "If ye were of the world," said Christ to his disciples, "the world would love his own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you." Ever since enmity was put between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent, those who are "born after the flesh," have shown a constant and instinctive disposition "to persecute those who are born after the Spirit." The testimony which the children of God bear for truth and righteousness, necessarily condemns the world. Their spiritual, holy, and consistent lives, give edge and point to the testimony of their lips. Both combined speak loudly of judgment to come; awaken in spite of them, an echo even in the consciences of the most wicked, and will not allow them to sin on in unbroken peace. Therefore it is said of the witnesses, that "these two prophets tormented them that dwelt upon the earth." The world, unwilling to forsake their sins, and unwilling to have their tranquillity disturbed, count them their enemies, and treat their as such. It was this that made Ahab exclaim, when Elijah suddenly presented himself before him "Hast thou found me, O thine enemy" It is this that has so often kindled the flames of persecution; and made the saints to be killed all the day long, and counted as sheep for the slaughter. The ungodly resent the uneasiness, they feel, and whenever they can, avenge it upon those who are the innocent causes of their torment. The circumstances of society at different times, since the holy city begain to be trodden under foot of the Gentiles, have somewhat restrained the violence of the persecuting spirit. But never yet has there been a period, when the saints of God, the true witnesses of Christ, have been altogether exempt from persecution in one form or another. If the carnal sword has not been always drawn, the wicked have never ceased to "whet against them, their tongue like a sword, and to bend their arrows, even bitter words, that they might shoot in secret at the perfect." The children of the kingdom have always been the butt of cruel mockings, evil surmises, and the most malignant calumnies. Truth has been twisted, and facts distorted, in order to cover them with infamy. Thus David Hume did not blush to confess to Dr Robertson, that he had purposely softened the character of Queen Mary, "that he might make John Knox and the reformers very ridiculous." And when a slander is raised, it is striking to see the greediness with which ungodly men of every description drink in every tale, however unfounded, if it will only bring disgrace upon a friend of pure and undefiled religion. When an absurd and scandalous story was circulated about Hannah More, how eagerly was it caught at! "I would give a hundred pounds," said a votary of dissipation, "to be able to prove that holy Hannah bad a bastard!" Without proof, and in defiance of evidence, have calumnies a thousand times refuted, been cast in the teeth of the godly. Still, as in the first ages of Christianity, is all manner of evil falsely spoken against them, for Christ's name sake. When the poison of asps is thus manifestly under the lips, it is a plain proof, that the venom of the old serpent is rankling in the heart; and while that is the case, there only needs a favourable concurrence of circumstances, to develope the old malignity in as bloody characters as ever. Until the period arrive, when judgment shall be given to the "saints of the Most High, and the time come, that the saints shall possess the kingdom," the witnesses of Christ may expect nothing else than to be clothed in sackcloth, may expect to find the saying of Paul verified in their own experience, "yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus, shall suffer persecution."
The witnesses of Christ, poor and persecuted, like a few sheep in the midst of ravening wolves, might have seemed altogether at the will of their enemies, and capable of being easily put down. But they are not so defenceless as they appear. Greater is he that is in them, than all that can be against them." They are dear to the heart of the Lord, and he that toucheth them toucheth the apple of ,his eye. His angel encamps around them, and they are themselves invested with powers, that might well strike terror into the hearts of their adversaries. "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." This language, of course, like the rest, is symbolical, and is explained by what the Lord said to the prophet Jeremiah (Jer. 5:14), "Wherefore thus saith the Lord, behold I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and, it shall devour them." The meaning here unquestionably is, that the threatenings of the prophet would as certainly take effect, in the irremediable ruin of those who were the objects of them, as if, like Elijah, he visibly called down fire from heaven to con sume then. So with the two witnesses; if any man injured or oppressed them, their denunciations of the wrath of Heaven would not be empty words, but if repentance prevented not, would bind him over to hell-fire. This ought to be a solemnizing thought to the world, who are so ready to persecute the saints; for certain it is, that better were it for a man to have a millstone hanged about his neck, and to be cast into the sea, than to offend or to injure "any of Christ's little ones who believe in him." That the words of Christ's persecuted witnesses have in very deed the power here attributed to them, the Lord has given abundant evidence, in the speedy retribution which has often overtaken the persecutors even in this world, and that in express accordance with the predictions of his servants. Facts there are of this kind strewed over the whole page of church history, which cannot be gainsaid, and which yet historians have found it difficult to explain or account for. When Sebastian Bazan, a Waldensian witness, was condemned to be burnt at Turin in 1623, he meekly submitted to his death, as appointed by God, and tending to his glory; but at the same time solemnly testified that such a decree from men was cruel and unjust, and that those who had ordered it would soon be called to account. Did the Lord allow the martyr's words to fall to the ground? No. The judge who condemned him died, shortly afterwards, one evening, suddenly, and without any previous illness. Look at our own history. At the martyrdom of the youthful Patrick Hamilton, the friars who stood around him disturbed his last moments by constantly crying out, "Convert heretic; call upon our lady; say Salve Regina." "Desist," cried the martyr, "and trouble me not, ye messengers of Satan." One of them in particular, named Friar Campbell, rendered himself conspicuous for his rudeness. "Thou wicked man," said Hamilton, addressing him, "thou knowest that I am not an heretic, and that it is the truth of God for which I suffer; so much didst thou confess to me in private, and therefore, I appeal thee to answer before the judgment seat of Christ." How quickly did the appeal take effect! The wretched man soon after went distracted, and died in the utmost horror of mind, with the appeal of the martyr, ringing in his ears. The words of George Wishart, at the stake, in regard to Cardinal Beaton, are equally well known, and equally remarkable. "This flame," said he, "hath scorched my body, yet hath it not tormented my spirit. But he who, from yonder high place, beholdeth us with such pride, shall, within a few days, lie in the same, as ignominiously as he is now seen proudly to rest himself." How speedily and how exactly this was fulfilled, the reader need not be told. What shall we say to these things? Were they mere accidental coincidences with the rash and enthusiastic sayings of the martyrs? There are some who think so, and who cannot believe that in any case, the saints of God, in modern times, have been gifted with the spirit of prophecy. But cases of the same nature are so numerous, and so well supported, that men in the last degree removed from superstition, have been constrained to admit that accident will not account for the coincidences, but that when the martyrs thus spoke, they spoke under impressions that could have come only from God's Holy Spirit. "That the Supreme Being," says the late Dr Cook, of St Andrew's, "may, in seasons of difficulty, thus enlighten his servants, cannot be doubted." To this conclusion have sagacious men found themselves shut up, by a mere consideration of the recorded facts of history, and the general principles of God's word. But,viewed in the light of the passage before us, how plain it is, that these denunciations of Bazan, and Hamilton, and Wishart, followed by such remarkable fulfilment, were just "the words of fire" proceeding "from the mouths" of the witnesses; to "devour their enemies, that hurt them." God in his wisdom has seen fit, that cases here and there should be singled out, as hints, as visible pledges, that all the threatenings of his faithful servants, stretching as they did into eternity, would, in their own time, be equally fulfilled, and that every one who lifted a hand against them, would just as certainly perish.
But the witnesses are commissioned, not only to send fire on those who hurt them personally, but in general to apply the prophetic denunciations against the apostate nations of Christendom, to the times in which they live. The language in which this is intimated, is very strong, and shows that they wield the combined powers of Elijah, and Moses, and Aaron--the most, distinguished of the Old Testament prophets; (v. G), "These have power to shut heaven that it rain not in the days of their prophecy, and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues as often as they will." When the plagues are said to be inflicted as "often as they will," we are not to understand that the judgments which come on apostate churches or nations are, in any proper sense, dependent on the mere wilt or discretion of the witnesses. The same form of expression is applied to the wind: " The wind bloweth where it Iisteth". The wind has no will of its own, but its movements are so incomprehensible, so absolutely beyond human control,that they could not be more so, if it were possessed of an independent will. And just so with the witnesses, who keep the word of God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ, who seek the wisdom that cometh from above, and are enlightened by the word and Spirit of God. Warned by the sins and the signs of the times, they are enabled with as grest certainty to announce the approach of God's judgments, as if these judgments were dependent upon their own good pleasure. Does any one call this in question? Surely the experience of the past few years ought to operate conviction. When the bill for endowing Maynooth--for incorporating the abominations of the Man of sin with the very constitution of this once Protestant land--was under discussion, was there the least prospect of either of those plagues that have now in succession visited our land ? No. The potato disease was unknown in Great Britain; the pestilential cholera w~s still con fined to its wonted bounds in the East, and not the slightest sign of its. looking westward had appeared. And yet, what faithful Minister of Christ was there, who opposed that anti-protestant measure, that did not denounce the judgments of an offended God upon the nation, if it should pass into a law? yea, that did not warn the world, that if the system then commencing were persevered in, the wrath that should come would be only the beginning of sorrows. The warning of God's witnesses was unheeded, and speedily that mysterious blight took place, which cost the British legislature ten millions of money, and left the Irish Roman Catholics to die of fever and famine by thousands, and to be buried in the fields. and ditches. Not only so, scarcely had a single month elapsed, after the passing of the Maynooth bill, when The Times announced in its eastern intelligence, that that pestilence which had previously been confined to India, had crossed its westward bounds; and now, after traversing Asia and Europe, just as the royal assent is given to the bill for renewing diplomatic relations with Rome, it lands on our shores. Let any one look at these things, and compare theirs with the passage of the prophetic word under consideration, and doubt, if lie can, if the appearance of these judgments at the time when they actually appeared, is merely, accidental.
There were some, who, when the former judgment came, deprecated all attempts to connect that national infliction with any national sin in particular. One writer in special, distinguished in general not only for genius, but soundness of mind, insisted that all such attempts were presumptuous, that the judgments of God were inscrutable, exceptwhen connected with sin by his ordinary providence, in the relation of cause and effect; and that without inspiration, such as no one possessed now, to trace them to their procuring cause was impossible. But surely that excellent writer had forgotten, or overlooked, what is contained in the brief and emphatic utterance before us. If the witnesses of Christ have power "to smite the earth with all plagues as often as they will," if they have power to announce the approach of God's judgments on guilty nations before they come to pass; surely after they have come to pass, after their own threatenings have been realized, thee may know what are the special sins that have provoked God's displeasure, and drawn down his wrath in judgments on the world.
1Seventh Vial, p. 116
2Comp.Zech. iii. 6, i, and iv. 6-10.