er part
of the eleventh chapter, (vs. 7-14;) but these events, epitomised again
in the "little book," are amplified in the subsequent chapters, where we
are made acquainted more fully with their enemies, their conflicts,
death, resurrection, ascension and exaltation; and in all these respects
is exhibited their conformity to the example of their Captain and
Leader. If, therefore, according to the Bishop's conception, "the death
and resurrection" of the witnesses in the eleventh chapter be
_figurative_, and if the witnesses of the twentieth be the same as those
of the eleventh chapter, which identity I have proved, it follows
incontrovertibly, that the "first resurrection" is to be understood in a
figurative sense. This interpretation may be abundantly confirmed in the
following manner:--The witnesses prophesy 1260 years. But since no
individual persons live so long, a succession _must_ be supposed. They
are, in fact, mystic characters, having their real counterpart in actual
history on this earth. The scarlet colored beast and woman, (ch. xvii.
3,) are of equal duration with the witnesses, and of similar mystic
character, and have their real counterpart in history. The witnesses are
slain by the beast at the instigation of the woman; but their death is
only temporary, (ch. xi. 7, 11;) their enemies "have no more that they
can do:" while, on the other hand, the death of the beast is
"perdition,"--eternal death, (ch. xvii. 8,) and in this death the
woman,--"the false prophet" participates, (ch. xix. 20.) All this
symbolical language respects Christ's enemies as corporate or organized
bodies.

Here it is proper to notice an objection of Bishop Newton. He
asks,--"With what propriety can it be said, that some of the dead who
were beheaded "lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years; but the
rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were
finished;" unless _the dying_ and _living again_ be the same in both
places?" Very true, the dying and living are doubtless "the same in both
places." The Bishop's mistake consists in taking these expressions in a
literal sense, "a proper death and resurrection." He evidently assumes
that "the rest of the dead," here mentioned, are to be literally raised
at the last day. This is undoubtedly true, for there shall be a
resurrection ... of the unjust." (Acts xxiv. 15,) but it is not the
truth contained in the words in question. From the assumption of the
_literal_ raising of