1 Pet. i. 23.) But
it would be tedious and unprofitable to confute the various chimeras
which on this question have been entertained in the minds equally of the
learned and the illiterate. The like fanciful and diversified opinions
have been, and still are, prevalent in relation to what constitutes "the
Antichrist." (1 John ii. 22.) Now, it is evident, even on a cursory
perusal of the Apocalypse; that the witnesses and their opponents are
the principal parties symbolized in the whole series of the seals,
trumpets and vials. How then can any one attain to a rational
understanding of the manifold details, who remains "willingly ignorant"
of the principal characters in this grandest of all tragico-dramas,
presented to man's view on the stage of Jehovah's moral empire, to be
contemplated for the whole period of 1260 years? The prevailing
ignorance, bewilderment and error, in the minds of most spectators of
these moving scenes, we are warranted to expect. (Dan. xii. 10.) For the
present we define the witnesses and Antichrist concisely thus:--_The
Witnesses are a competent number of Christians, who for 1260 years,
insist upon the application of God's word to church and state; and who
testify against all communities who rebel against the Lord Christ._ Such
communities, in visible organization, constitute THE ANTICHRIST, as will
more fully appear in the thirteenth and seventeenth chapters, where the
two prominent parties are more formally presented.

Let us never lose sight of the fact, that these witnesses cease not to
prophesy,--to apply the scriptures, especially the prophetical parts of
them, during the _whole_ period of 1260 years; that is, _while they
live_. Authentic history supplies abundant evidence that such has been
their special work all along since the rise of the antichristian enemy.
That enemy is but obscurely mentioned,--_not described_ in the "little
book," the contents of which we have, as already said, in this chapter,
(vs. 1-13.) The character and achievements of the witnesses may be found
in the familiar histories of the Culdees and Lollards of Britain, the
Waldenses of Piedmont, the Bohemian Brethren; together with the more
recent and successful reformers on the continent of Europe and in the
British Isles. Is it unnecessary to mention the names of those men of
renown,--Zwingle, Luther, Calvin, Knox, Henderson, etc.,--men "mighty in
words and in deeds," whose influence on the great "family of nations,"
the