(c) The victory of the persecutors, and the death of the witnesses: “and shall overcome them, and kill them,” ver. 7. That is, they would gain a temporary victory over them, and the witnesses would seem for a time to be dead. The subsequent statement shows, however, that they would revive again, and would again resume their prophesying. Comp. Notes on [ch. ix. 20]. The victory over them would appear to be complete, and the great object of the persecuting power would seem to have been gained. A few facts on this subject will show the propriety of the statement that “when they had finished,” or had fully borne their testimony, a victory was obtained over them, and that they were so silenced that it might be said they were killed. The first will be in the words of Milner, in his account of the opening of the sixteenth century (History of the Church, p. 660, ed. Edin. 1835): “The sixteenth century opened with a prospect of all others the most gloomy, in the eyes of every true Christian. Corruption both in doctrine and in practice had exceeded all bounds; and the general face of Europe, though the name of Christ was everywhere professed, presented nothing that was properly evangelical. The Waldenses were too feeble to molest the popedom; and the Hussites, dividedamong themselves, and worn out by a long series of contentions, were reduced to silence. Among both were found persons of undoubted godliness, but they appeared incapable of making effectual impressions on the kingdom of Antichrist. The Roman pontiffs were still the uncontrolled patrons of impiety; neither the scandalous crimes of Alexander VI., nor the military ferocity of Julius II., seemed to have lessened the dominion of the court of Rome, or to have opened the eyes of men so as to induce them to make a sober investigation of the nature of true religion.” The language of Mr. Cunninghame may here be adopted as describing the state of things at the beginning of the sixteenth century: “At the commencement of the sixteenth century, Europe reposed in the deep sleep of spiritual death, under the iron yoke of the Papacy. That haughty power, like the Assyrian of the prophet, said in the plenitude of his insolence, ‘My hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people; and as one gathereth eggs, I have gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped.’” And in a similar manner, the writer of the article on the Reformation, in the Encyclopædia Britannica—in a statement made, of course, with no reference to the fulfilment of this passage—thus speaks of that period: “Everything was quiet; every heretic was exterminated, and the whole Christian world supinely acquiesced in the enormous absurdities inculcated by the Romish church.” These quotations will show the propriety of the language used here by John, on the supposition that it was intended to refer to this period. No symbol would be more striking, or more appropriate to that state of things, than to represent the witnesses for the truth as overcome and slain, so that, for a time at least, they would cease to bear their testimony against the prevailing errors and corruptions. It will be remembered, also, that this occurred at a time when it might be said that they had “fulfilled” their testimony, or when, in a most solemn manner, they had protested against the existing idolatries and abominations.
III. The witnesses dead, ver. 8–10. The preceding verse contains the statement that they would be overcome and killed; these verses describe their treatment when they would be dead; that is, when they would be silenced. There are several circumstances referred to here which demand notice.
(a) The place where it is said that this would occur—that “great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified,” ver. 8. In the explanation of this verse, it has been shown that the language used here is such as would be properly employed, on the supposition that the intention was to refer to Rome, or the Romish communion. A few testimonies may serve to confirm the interpretation proposed in the Notes on [ver. 8], and to show farther the propriety of applying the appellation “Sodom” and “Egypt” to Rome. Thus among the Reformers, “Grosteste perceived that the whole scheme of the Papal government was enmity with God, and exclaimed that nothing but the sword could deliver the church from the Egyptian bondage” (D’Aubigné). Wycliffe compared the Romish priestcraft to “the accursed sorceries with which the sages of Pharaoh presumed to emulate the works of Jehovah” (Le Bas’ Wycliffe, pp. 68, 147). Luther, in a letter to Melancthon, says, “Italy is plunged, as in ancient times in Egypt, in darkness that may be felt.” And of Zuingle in Switzerland, they who longed for the light of salvation said of him, “He will be our Moses, to deliver us out of the darkness of Egypt.” Any number of passages could be found in the writings of the Reformers, and even some in the writings of Romanists themselves, in which the abominations that prevailed in Rome are compared with those in Sodom. Comp. Elliott, ii. pp. 386, 387, notes. Assuming this to be the correct interpretation, the meaning is, that a state of things would exist after the silencing of the witnesses which would be well represented by supposing that their dead bodies would lie unburied; that is, that there would be dishonour and indignity heaped upon them, such as is shown to the dead when they are suffered to lie unburied. No one needs to be informed that this accurately represents the state of things throughout the Roman world. To the “witnesses” thus persecuted, downtrodden, and silenced, there was the same kind of indignity shown which there is when the dead are left unburied.
(b) The exposure of their bodies, ver. 8. That is, as we have seen, theywould be treated with indignity, as if they were not worthy of Christian burial. Now this not only expresses what was in fact the general feeling among the Papists in respect to those whom they regarded as heretics, but it had a literal fulfilment in numerous cases where the rites of Christian burial were denied them. One of the punishments most constantly decreed and constantly enforced in reference to those who were called “heretics,” was their exclusion from burial as persons excommunicated and without the pale of the church. Thus, in the third council of Lateran (A.D. 1179), Christian burial was denied to heretics; the same in the Lateran council A.D. 1215, and the Papal decree of Gregory IX., A.D. 1227; the same again in that of Pope Martin, A.D. 1422; and the same thing was determined in the council of Constance, A.D. 1422, which ordered that the body of Wycliffe should be exhumed, and that the ashes of John Huss, instead of being buried, should be collected and thrown into the lake of Constance. It may be added that Savonarola’s ashes were in a similar manner cast into the Arno, A.D. 1498; and that in the first bull intrusted to the cardinal Cajetan against Luther, this was one of the declared penalties, that both Luther and his partisans should be deprived of ecclesiastical burial. See Waddington, p. 717; D’Aubigné, i. 355; Foxe, v. 677.
(c) The mutual congratulations of those who had put them to death; their exultation over them; and the expression of their joy by the interchange of presents: “And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them,” &c., ver. 10. The language here used is expressive of general joy and rejoicing, and there can be no doubt that such joy and rejoicing occurred at Rome whenever a new victory was obtained over those who were regarded as heretics. Pareus remarks on the passage in Luke xv. 32, “It was meet that we should make merry,” &c., that “when heretics are burnt, Papists play at frolicsome games, celebrate feasts and banquets, sing Te Deum laudamus, and wish one another joy.” And so too Bullinger, in loco. But there was special rejoicing, which accorded entirely with the prediction here, at the close of the sessions of the Lateran council A.D. 1517, in the splendour of the dinners and fêtes given by the cardinals. The scene on the closing of the council is thus described by Dean Waddington: “The pillars of the Papal strength seemed visible and palpable; and Rome surveyed them with exultation from her golden palaces. The assembled princes and prelates separated from the council with complacency, confidence, and mutual congratulations on the peace, unity, and purity of the church.” Still, while this was true of that particular council, it should be added that the language here used is general, and may be regarded as descriptive of the usual joy which would be felt, and which was felt at Rome, in view of the efforts made to suppress heresy in the church.
(d) The time during which the witnesses would remain “dead.” This, it is said (ver. 9), would be for “three days and an half,” during which time they would “not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves;” that is, there would be a course of conduct, and a state of things, as if the dead were left unburied. This time, as we have seen (Notes on [ver. 9]), means probably three years and a half; and in the application of this we are to look for some striking event relating to the “witnesses,” when they should have “finished their testimony,” or when they had fully borne their testimony, that would fully correspond with this. Now it happens that there was a point of time, just previous to the Reformation, when it was supposed that a complete victory was gained for ever over those who were regarded as “heretics,” but who were in fact the true witnesses for Christ. That point of time was during the session of the council of Lateran, which was assembled A.D. 1513, and which continued its sessions to May 16, 1517. In the ninth session of this council a remarkable proclamation was made, indicating that all opposition to the Papal power had now ceased. The scene is thus described by Mr. Elliott (ii. 396, 397): “The orator of the session ascended the pulpit; and, amidst the applause of the assembled council, uttered that memorable exclamation of triumph—an exclamation which, notwithstanding the long multiplied anti-heretical decrees of popes and councils, notwithstanding the yet more multiplied anti-heretical crusades and inquisitorial fires, was never, I believe, pronounced before, and certainly never since—‘Jam nemo reclamat, nullus obsistit’—‘There is an end of resistance to the Papal rule and religion; opposers there exist no more:’and again, ‘The whole body of Christendom is now seen to be subjected to its Head, i.e. to Thee.’” This occurred May 5, 1514. It is, probably, from this “time” that the three days and a half, or the three years and a half, during which the “dead bodies of the witnesses remained unburied,” and were exposed to public gaze and derision, are to be reckoned.
But it was with remarkable accuracy that a period of three years and a half occurred from the time when this proclamation was made, and when it was supposed that these “witnesses” were “dead,” to the time when the voice of living witnesses for the truth was heard again, as if those witnesses that had been silenced had come to life again; and “not in the compass of the whole ecclesiastical history of Christendom, except in the case of the death and resurrection of Christ himself, is there any such example of the sudden, mighty, and triumphant resuscitation of his church from a state of deep depression, as was, just after the separation of the Lateran council, exhibited in the protesting voice of Luther, and the glorious Reformation.” All accounts agree in placing the beginning of the Reformation in A.D. 1517. See Bowers’ History of the Popes, iii. 295; Murdock’s Mosheim, iii. 11, note. The effect of this, as compared with the supposed suppression of heresy, or the death of the witnesses, and as an illustration of the passage before us, will be seen from the following language of a writer in the Encyclopædia Britannica:—“Everything was quiet; every heretic exterminated; and the whole Christian world supinely acquiescing in the enormous absurdities inculcated in the Romish church, when, in 1517, the empire of superstition received its first attack from Luther.” Or, in the language of Mr. Cunninghame, “At the commencement of the sixteenth century, Europe reposed in the deep sleep of spiritual death, under the iron yoke of the Papacy. There was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped: when suddenly in one of the universities of Germany the voice of an obscure monk was heard, the sound of which rapidly filled Saxony, Germany, and Europe itself, shaking the very foundations of the Papal power, and arousing men from the lethargy of ages.”
The remarkable coincidence in regard to time—supposing that three years and a half are intended—will be seen from the following statement. The day of the ninth session of the Lateran council, when the proclamation above referred to was made, was, as we have seen, May 5, 1514; the day of Luther’s posting up his theses at Wittemberg (the well-known epoch of the beginning of the Reformation), was October 31, 1517. “Now, from May 5, 1514, to May 5, 1517, are three years; and from May 5, 1517, to October 31 of the same year, 1517, the reckoning in days is as follows:—
| May 5–31 | 27 |
| June 30 | 30 |
| July 31 | 31 |
| August 31 | 31 |
| September 30 | 30 |
| October 31 | 31 |
in all 180, or half of 360 days, that is, half a year; so that the whole interval is precisely, to a day, three and a half years” (Elliott, ii. 402, 403). But, without insisting on this very minute accuracy, anyone can see, and all must be prepared to admit, that, on the supposition that it was intended by the Spirit of God to refer to these events, this is the language which would be used; or, in other words, nothing would better represent this state of things than the declaration that the witnesses would be “slain,” and would be suffered to “remain unburied” during this period of time, and that at the end of this period, a public testimony would be borne again for the truth, and against the abominations of the Papacy, as if “the Spirit of life from God should again enter into them, and they should stand upon their feet,” ver. 11.