where two
olive-trees are represented as standing one on each side of a golden
candle-stick, distilling into it their oil for light. When asked for the
signification of the two olive-trees and the candlestick, the angel
answered, "This is the _Word_ of the Lord ... by my _Spirit_, saith the
Lord." Ver. 6. That the Word of God and the Spirit of God are special
witnesses is proved by many texts. Jesus said, "Search the Scriptures
... they are they which _testify_ of me." John 6:39. "This gospel of the
kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a _witness_ unto all
nations." Mat. 24:14. "The Holy Ghost also is a _witness_." Heb. 10:15.
"The Spirit itself beareth _witness_." Rom. 8:16. "It is the Spirit that
beareth _witness_." 1 John 5:6. It is the Spirit acting in conjunction
with the Word of God that gives spiritual life, through regeneration,
unto men, and which opens their understanding that they may know the
things of God. 2 Cor. 2:9-15.

God may have given us the explanation that these two witnesses were the
same as the olive-trees and the candle-sticks to prevent our being led
astray with the supposition that they were actually intelligent agents.
(I speak humanly.) Accepting this statement, the actions of these
witnesses here described can be explained only by the figure of speech
known as Personification, by which it is proper, under certain
conditions, to attribute life, action, and intelligence to inanimate
objects. Thus, the blood of Abel is said to have cried from the ground.
Gen. 4:9, 10. "The stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of
the timber shall answer it." Hab. 2:11. "The hire of the laborers ...
which is of you kept back by fraud crieth: and the cries ... are entered
into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth." Jas. 5:4. "The mountains and the
hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of
the field shall clap their hands." Isa. 55:12. I would not attempt to
vary from the general order and explain these two witnesses by the
figure of personification, were it not for the fact that the two
olive-trees and the two candle-sticks are here given as a means of
explanation; and trees and candle-sticks, we know, are not active,
intelligent agents, and consequently do not necessarily symbolize such.

To "hurt" the Word and Spirit of God is to oppose, corrupt, or pervert
their testimony and to turn people away from them; and the judgments of
Heaven are pronounced in that Word an