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people can bear it, the Lord reveals to them their errors in doctrine
and their defects of character. From age to age he has raised up men
and qualified them to do a special work needed in their time. But to
none of these did he commit all the light which was to be given to the
world. Wisdom does not die with them. It was not the will of God
that the work of reform should cease with the going out of Luther’s
life; it was not his will that at the death of the Wesleys the Christian
faith should become stereotyped. The work of reform is progressive.
Go forward, is the command of our great Leader,—forward unto
victory.
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We shall not be accepted and honored of God in doing the same
work that our fathers did. We do not occupy the position which
they occupied in the unfolding of truth. In order to be accepted
and honored as they were, we must improve the light which shines
upon us, as they improved that which shone upon them; we must
do as they would have done, had they lived in our day. Luther and
the Wesleys were reformers in their time. It is our duty to continue
the work of reform. If we neglect to heed the light, it will become
darkness; and the degree of darkness will be proportionate to the
light rejected.
The prophet of God declares that in the last days knowledge
shall be increased. There are new truths to be revealed to the humble
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seeker. The teachings of God’s word are to be freed from the errors
and superstition with which they have been encumbered. Doctrines
that are not sanctioned by the Scriptures have been widely taught,
and many have honestly accepted them; but when the truth is re-
vealed, it becomes the duty of every one to accept it. Those who
allow worldly interests, desire for popularity, or pride of opinion,
to separate them from the truth, must render an account to God for
their neglect.
Chapter 11—The Two Witnesses
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The suppression of the Scriptures under the dominion of Rome,
the terrible results of that suppression, and the final exaltation of
the word of God, are vividly portrayed by the prophetic pencil. To
John the exile on lonely Patmos was given a view of the 1260 years
during which the papal power was permitted to trample upon God’s
word and oppress his people. Said the angel of the Lord: “The
holy city [the true church] shall they tread under foot forty and two
months. And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall
prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in
sackcloth.” [Revelation 11:2, 3.] The periods here mentioned are the same, alike representing the time in which God’s faithful witnesses
remained in a state of obscurity.
The two witnesses represent the Old and New Testament Scrip-
tures. Both are important testimonies to the origin and perpetuity of
the law of God. Both are witnesses also to the plan of salvation. The
types, sacrifices, and prophecies of the Old Testament point forward
to a Saviour to come. The Gospels and Epistles of the New Testa-
ment tell of a Saviour who has come in the exact ma
type and prophecy.
“These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing
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before the God of the earth.” [Revelation 11:4.] Said the psalmist,
“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” [Psalm
119:105.]
The papal power sought to hide from the people the word of truth,
and set before them false witnesses to contradict its testimony. When
the Bible was proscribed by religious and secular authority; when its
testimony was perverted, and every effort made that men and demons
could invent to turn the minds of the people from it; when those
who dared proclaim its sacred truths were hunted, betrayed, tortured,
buried in dungeon cells, martyred for their faith, or compelled to
flee to mountain fastnesses and to dens and caves of the earth,—then
indeed did the faithful witnesses prophesy in sackcloth.
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But men ca
The Lord had declared concerning his two witnesses, “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 ma
killed.” [Revelation 11:5.] The meaning of this fearful denunciation is set forth in the closing chapter of the book of Revelation: “I testify
unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book,
If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the
plagues that are written in this book. And if any man shall take away
from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away
his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the
things which are written in this book.” [Revelation 22:18, 19.]
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Such are the warnings which God has given to guard men against
changing in any ma
These solemn denunciations apply to all who by their influence lead
men to lightly regard the law of God. They should cause those to fear
and tremble who flippantly declare it a matter of little consequence
whether we obey God’s law or not. All who exalt their own opinions
above the written word, all who would change the plain meaning of
Scripture to suit their own convenience, or for the sake of conformity
to the world, are taking upon themselves a fearful responsibility.
The written word, the law of God, will measure the character of
every man, and condemn all whom this unerring test shall declare
wanting.
Notwithstanding the Lord’s witnesses were clothed in sackcloth,
they continued to prophesy throughout the entire period of 1260
years. In the darkest times there were faithful men who loved God’s
word, and were jealous for his honor. To these loyal servants were
given wisdom, power, and authority to declare his truth during the
whole of this time.
“And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast
that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them,
and shall overcome them, and kill them. And their dead bodies shall
lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom
and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.” [Revelation 11:7, 8.]
These events were to take place near the close of the period in
which the witnesses testified in sackcloth. Through the medium
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of the papacy, Satan had long controlled the powers that ruled in
Two Witnesses
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Church and State. The fearful results were specially apparent in
those countries that rejected the light of the Reformation. There was
a state of moral debasement and corruption similar to the condition