t; and great
fear fell upon them which saw them." In this is portrayed the
reformation which is now taking place in the world. About the year A.D.
1880 God began to raise up holy men and women whom he commissioned to
preach the everlasting gospel of the kingdom again; and they went forth
in his name calling upon God's people everywhere to come "out of all
places where they had been scattered in the cloudy and dark day" (Ezek.
34:12) and to take up their abode in the one true church of Jesus
Christ, his body, independent of all sectarianism and the creeds and
disciplines of men. In this assembly of the faithful, gathered out of
all nations, no man nor set of men attempts to form laws or regulations
for the supervision of spiritual affairs; but with one consent they
humbly bow before the only true Lawgiver (Jas. 4:12), and say, "The
government shall be upon his shoulder" (Isa. 9:6); and the Word and
Spirit of God have perfect control of his saints. Halleluiah! They can
preach, teach, and believe every word of truth placed in the Sacred
Volume, without a conference or discipline of men forbidding. Standing
upon this apostolic platform of eternal truth, they hurl the thunders of
divine judgment against the hidden works of darkness, causing the
graceless devotees of fallen Babylon to quake with fear and to "gnaw
their tongues for pain."

After the resurrection of these witnesses, a voice from heaven is heard,
saying, "Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and
their enemies beheld them." This ascension to heaven in the presence of
their enemies, which according to this chapter occurred before the end
of time, has reference undoubtedly to their great exaltation. "Thy
greatness is grown, and _reacheth unto heaven_." Dan. 4:22. We see that
in this text a similar expression signifies great exaltation. So this
work is destined to assume such proportions that the people of earth may
have the privilege of seeing the truth. In the preceding chapter John,
as a symbol of the church at this time, under the living ministry
symbolized by the rain-bow angel, was told that he "must prophesy again
before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings." Verse 11.

The signification of the time-period of three days and a half claims our
attention next. According to the foregoing explanation, it will be seen
that the writer applies it as three centuries and a half, or three
hundred and fifty years--from A.D. 1530 to A.D