"Concerning the two witnesses, the prophet declares further, “These are the two olive-trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.” “Thy Word,” said the psalmist, “is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” [Revelation 11:4; Psalm 119:105.] The two witnesses represent The Scriptures of the Old and the New Testament. Both are important testimonies to the origin and perpetuity of the law of God. Both are witnesses also to the plan of salvation. The types, sacrifices, and prophecies of the Old Testament point forward to a Saviour to come. The Gospels and Epistles of the New Testament tell of a Saviour who has come in the exact manner foretold by type and prophecy.
{GC88 267.1}
THE DARK AGES
The Catholic Church began to rule in 538 AD
and continued exactly for a period of 1260
years as specified by the Prophecy. Because
she made compromises to accommodate the
influx of heathen with the "nominal conversion"
of Constantine, persecution of the True Church
began early in her rise to power. Millions were
tortured in the most cruel ways that could be
invented by men possessed by demons and
millions died.
“They shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.” During the greater part of this period, God's Witnesses remained in a state of obscurity. The papal power sought to hide from the people The Word of Truth, and set before them false witnesses to contradict its testimony. When The Bible was proscribed by religious and secular authority; when its testimony was perverted, and every effort made that men and demons could invent to turn the minds of the people from it; when those who dared proclaim its sacred truths were hunted, betrayed, tortured, buried in dungeon cells, martyred for their faith, or compelled to flee to mountain fastnesses, and to dens and caves of the earth,—then the faithful witnesses prophesied in sackcloth. Yet they continued their testimony throughout the entire period of 1260 years. In the darkest times there were faithful men who loved God's Word, and were jealous for His honor. To these loyal servants were given wisdom, power, and authority to declare His Truth during the whole of this time. {GC88 267.2}
268
“And if any man will hurt them, 
proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies; and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.” [Revelation 11:5.] Men cannot with impunity trample upon the Word of God. The meaning of this fearful denunciation is set forth in the closing chapter of the Revelation: “I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book. And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” [Revelation 22:18,19.] {GC88 268.1}
Such are the warnings which God has given to guard men against changing in any manner that which He has revealed or commanded. These solemn denunciations apply to all who by their influence lead men to lightly regard The Law of God. They should cause those to fear and tremble who flippantly declare it a matter of little consequence whether we obey God's Law or not. All who exalt their own opinions above divine revelation, all who would change the plain meaning of Scripture to suit their own convenience, or for the sake of conforming to the world, are taking upon themselves a fearful responsibility. The Written Word, The law of God, will measure the character of every man, and condemn all whom this unerring test shall declare wanting. {GC88 268.2}
“When they shall have finished [are finishing] their testimony.” The period when the two witnesses were to prophesy clothed in sackcloth ended in 1798. As they were approaching the termination of their work in obscurity, war was to be made upon them by the power represented as “the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit.” In many of the nations of Europe the powers that ruled in Church and State had for centuries been controlled by Satan, through the medium of the papacy. But here is brought to view a new manifestation of Satanic power. {GC88 268.3}
269
It had been Rome's policy, under a profession of reverence for The Bible, to keep it locked up in an unknown tongue, and hidden away from the people. Under her rule the witnesses prophesied, “clothed in sackcloth.” But another power—the beast from the bottomless pit—was to arise to make open, avowed war upon the Word of God. {GC 88 269.1}
The “great city” in whose streets the witnesses are slain, and where their dead bodies lie, “is spiritually Egypt.” Of all nations presented in Bible history, Egypt most boldly denied the existence of the living God, and resisted his commands. No monarch ever ventured upon more open and high-handed rebellion against the authority of Heaven than did the king of Egypt. When the message was brought him by Moses, in the name of the Lord, Pharaoh proudly answered, “Who is Jehovah, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not Jehovah, neither will I let Israel go.” [Exodus 5:2.] This is atheism; and the nation represented by Egypt would give voice to a similar denial of the claims of the living God, and would manifest a like spirit of unbelief and defiance. The “great city” is also compared, “spiritually,” to Sodom. The corruption of Sodom in breaking the law of God was especially manifested in licentiousness. And this sin was also to be a pre-eminent characteristic of the nation that should fulfill the specifications of this scripture. {GC88 269.2}
According to the words of the prophet, then, a little before the year 1798 some power of Satanic origin and character would rise to make war upon The Bible. And in the land where the testimony of God's two witnesses should thus be silenced, there would be manifest the atheism of the Pharaoh, and the licentiousness of Sodom.
{GC88 269.3}
This prophecy has received a most exact and striking fulfillment in the history of France.
During the Revolution of 1793, “the world for the first time heard an assembly of men, born and educated in civilization, and assuming the right to govern one of the finest European nations, uplift
270
their united voice to deny the most solemn truth which man's soul receives, and renounce unanimously the belief and worship of The Deity.” “France 
is the only nation in the world concerning which the authentic record survives, that as a nation she lifted her hand in open rebellion against The Author of the universe. Plenty of blasphemers, plenty of infidels, there have been, and still continue to be, in England, Germany, Spain, and elsewhere; but France stands apart in the world's history as the single State which, by the decree of her legislative assembly, pronounced that there was no God, and of which the entire population of the capital, and a vast majority elsewhere, women as well as men, danced and sang with joy in accepting the announcement.”
{GC88 269.4}
PEOPLE HAVE NOT CHANGED !
The great masses of people rush on in a mad
frenzy for money and pleasure seemingly oblivious
to the bottomless pit in front of them !
