| 169 the church and spirit have not been caught up unto God and to his throne. We do not mention this as any argument against Mr. Miller's theory, but are perfectly willing it should stand upon its own merits. Mr. Irvings' views being wrong, is no reason that Mr. Miller's is; but these were introduced to show that opinions had been formed which would meet those arguments of Mr. Miller's, pertaining to the church being one.
Mr. Miller introduces several quotations to show that it is not man, but the book that will prophesy; John v:34; 'I receive not testimony from man.' Because Christ says to the unbelieving Jews, I receive not testimony from man! are we to say that God does not make use of man to testify of him; of his purposes, and designs, as these prophets will do! How did we get in possession of the Old and New Testament? The scriptures say that 'holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost?' The testimony did not come from man; it came from God, through man, the same as it will do when those prophets prophesy. But again, Matt. xxiv:14; 'This gospel of the kingdom must be preached as a witness unto all nations.' We might here say something in relation to what the gospel is, and what it is not, but have not room. We will state, however, that it is a living principle, and not a dead letter. Our Savior told his disciples to go and preach the gospel, he did not tell them to go and preach the Old and New Testament. Who was to preach the gospel? The apostles. What were they? Our Savior says, ' YE are my witnesses, as also is the Holy Ghost, which bears witness of me.' Mr. M. says the witnesses are not oral. What sort of witnesses were the apostles? for they were witnesses.
Mr. M. says that the Old and New Testament testify all that can be known of him until he comes again. We think that when God restores to Israel 'their judges as at the first, and their councillors [councilors] as at the beginning,' that something more will be known of God, and of his purposes. If their judges and councillors [councilors] are like Moses,. and if these two prophets prophesy, we certainly shall know more of God; and God says to Israel, in speaking of the future, 'I will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth.'
IV. "The history of these witnesses. 1. They prophesy. They foretell all that is known, or ever can be known of Christ. They foretold his first advent, his sufferings and death, together with he time of his death. They foretell his second advent, his glory, and the time of that glory. They prophesy the leading events in the world's history. They prophesy through the whole gospel dispensation; but they prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, or years of that time, clothed in sackcloth.'
Sackcloth is the emblem of obscurity. Rev. vi:12. 'The sun became black as sackcloth of hair'-denoting partial obscuration, but not entire darkness. These witnesses were darkened by the usurpation of Popery. In 533, in his crusade against the Arian heresy, Justinian, the Greek emperor. confered [conferred] supreme power in the church on the Pope of Rome, and constituted him the first of all bishops-head of all the churches-the true and effective corrector of heretics, &c. In 538, Justinian conquered the Ostrogothic kingdom of Rome, an Arian kingdom, and subjected the whole church to the church of Rome and set up the papal hierarchy. The scriptures were soon suppressed; the Greek and Latin languages ceased to be spoken as living languages, and the people were unable to read them. They prophesied still, but their light did not shine because they were in a language they did not understand. The Catholic church have prohibited the reading of scriptures by the people without the permission of the priests."
We need not to have this thus obscured, we should think that sackcloth meant sackcloth, and not 'partial obscuration.' Job says, 'I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin;' Mr. Miller would have it, 'I have sewed partial obscuration upon my skin;' and in Kings, 27th verse [1 Kings 21:27], 'and it came to pass, when Ahab heard these words, that he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly;' it ought to read according to Mr. Miller's theory, 'he rent his clothes, and put partial obscuration upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in partial obscuration, and went softly.' Numbers of other instances might be cited to show the folly of such interpretations.
3. "These have power to shut heaven that it rain not in the days of their prophesy.' Rain is the emblem of Grace, or the outpouring of the spirit. During the dark ages of papal rule, there but few conversions; until the reformation under Luther and his associates when the Bible began again to be translated into the languages of Europe and was read by the people. Then revivals began. The suppression of the scriptures restrained or hindered the work of God."
Power to shut heaven in the days of their prophesy-we have here as strange a distortion as can possibly be conceived of. How was it that Elijah stopped the heavens? spiritually or litterally [literally]? We read that it did not rain, that the cattle died, and that the rivers were dried up, and that when he prayed again, the heavens gathered blackness, the rain descended, and the ground was saturated therewith. We supposed that Mr. Miller thinks although God has power to burn the earth instantaneously, that he has not power to give this power to these two prophets as he did to Elijah; or why make such strange contortions to suit his theory? He speaks of the suppression of the scriptures restraining, or hindering the work of God, whereas these witnesses are not to be suppressed until
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