me,
because it renounced the true faith of Christ, WAS THE WHORE OF BABYLON
... that consequently _no obedience was to be paid to the Pope_, or to
the bishops who maintain her errors; that a monastic life was the sink
and dungeon of the church, the vows of which [relating to celibacy] were
vain ... that the orders of the priesthood were marks of the great beast
mentioned in the Apocalypse; that the fire of purgatory, the solemn
mass, the consecration days of churches, the worship of saints, and
propitiations for the dead, were the devices of Satan." Lib. VI, Sec.
16, Lib. XXVII. The chief offense of these so-called heretics seems to
have been that they denounced the Pope as "Antichrist" and the apostate
church of Rome as "the Babylonish harlot."

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations
shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall
not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.

10. 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 dwelt on the earth.

11. And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God
entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great
fear fell upon them which saw them.

12. 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.

At the expiration of the twelve hundred and sixty years the scene
changes. The prophecy of the witnesses in their sackcloth state, hidden
away from sight in the wilderness, ends, and they are now brought out
into public view--but only to be killed. Their slaughter takes place at
the hands of the beast. When we come to consider chapter XIII, we shall
see that the Papacy is described as a beast reigning for forty-two
months, or twelve hundred and sixty years, after which time another
beast possessing great power and authority appears on the scene. This
second beast is Protestantism, and through it the murder of the two