antichrist should never prevail against the church of Christ any
Epiphanes, (another known type of antichrist,) was gradual; they were first assisted a little by the Maccabees; afterwards, the promised deliverance was completed in the recovery of Jerusalem, the restoration of the temple, the miserable end of Antiochus, and the consequent more full deliverance of the whole land. But after God once began to appear for the help of his church in that instance, though it had seemed dead and past all hope, he never suffered Antiochus to prevail to that degree again. The utmost strength of this great monarch was used, from time to time, in order to it, and his vast empire was engaged against a handful that opposed them; yet God never forsook the work of his own hands; when he had begun to deliver his people, he also made an end. And so Haman, that proud and inveterate enemy of the Jews, who thought to extirpate the whole nation, (who also was probably another type of antichrist,) when he began to fall before Esther and Mordecai, never stayed, till his ruin and the church's deliverance were complete; Haman's wife speaks of it as an argument of his approaching inevitable full destruction, that he "had begun to fall," Esth. 6:13.
3. If antichristian tyranny and darkness should hereafter so prevail against the protestant church—the true religion and every thing appertaining to it—as to bring things to the pass fore-mentioned, this would not so properly answer the prophecy of slaying the two witnesses; for doubtless, one reason why they are called two witnesses, is, that the number of witnesses for the truth was (though sufficient yet) very small. This was remarkably the case in the dark times of popery; but since the reformation, the number of those appearing on the side of true religion has not been so small. The visible church of Christ has been vastly large, in comparison of what it was before. The number of protestants has sometimes been thought nearly equal to that of the papists; and, doubtless, the number of true saints has been far greater than before.
4. It seems to be signified in prophecy, that after the reformation antichrist should never prevail against the church of Christ any more, as he had done before. I cannot but think, that whoever reads
and well considers what the learned Mr. Lowman has written on the five first vials, (Rev. 16.) in his late exposition on the Revelation, must think it to be very manifest, that what is said (ver. 10.) of the pouring out of the fifth vial on the throne of the beast (for so it is in the original) is a prophecy of the reformation. Then the vial of God's wrath was poured out on the throne of the beast, i.e. according to the language of Scripture, on his authority and dominion, greatly to weaken and diminish it, both in extent and degree. But when this is represented in the prophecy, then it is added, "and his kingdom was full of darkness, and they gnawed their tongues for pain." If we consider what is commonly intended by similar phrases in the Scripture, I think we shall be naturally, and as it were necessarily, led to understand those words thus: their policy, by which heretofore they have prevailed, shall now fail them; their authority shall be weakened, their dominion greatly diminished, and all their subtlety shall not avail them to support the throne of the beast, or even again to extend his authority so far as it had been before extended, and to recover what is lost. All their crafty devices to this end shall be attended with vexatious, tormenting disappointment; they who have the management of the beast's kingdom, shall henceforward grope as in the dark, and stumble, and be confounded in their purposes, plots, and enterprises. Formerly their policy was greatly successful, as a light to guide them to their ends; but now their kingdom shall be full of darkness, and their wisdom shall fail them in all their devices to subdue the church of God.
The Scripture takes notice of the great policy and subtlety of the powers that support this kingdom, Dan. 7:8. "And behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man." So it is said of Antiochus Epiphanes, that great type of antichrist, Dan. 8:23. "A king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up." Ver. 25. "And through his policy also, shall he cause craft to prosper in his hand." This understanding and policy is the light of this kingdom, as true wisdom is the light of the spiritual Jerusalem; and therefore, when the light fails, then may the kingdom of this spiritual Egypt be said to be full of darkness. God henceforward will defend
his people from these mystical Egyptians, as he defended Israel of old from Pharaoh and his host, when pursuing after them, by placing a cloud and darkness in their way, and so not suffering them to come nigh. He will protect his church from the men of that city that is spiritually called Sodom, as Lot's house, wherein were the angels, was defended from the men of Sodom, by their being smitten with darkness or blindness, so that they wearied themselves to find the door; and as God defended the city in which was Elisha, the prophet and witness of the Lord, from the Syrians, when they compassed it about with horses and chariots, and a great host, to apprehend him, by smiting them with blindness. The Scripture teaches us, that God is wont in this way to defend his church and people from their crafty and powerful enemies; Job 5:11, &c. "To set up on high those that be low, that those which mourn may be exalted to safety: he disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise: he taketh the wise in their own craftiness, and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong: they meet with darkness in the daytime, and grope in the noon-day as in the night; but he saveth the poor from the sword, from their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty." (See also Psal. 35:4, 6.) On account of such defence of God's protestant church, with the disappointment and confusion of all the subtle devices, deep-laid schemes, and furious attempts of their antichristian enemies, to root them out, while they see them still maintaining their ground, in spite of all they do, it makes them as it were gnash their teeth, and bite their tongues for mere rage and vexation; agreeably to Psal. 112:9, 10. "His righteousness endureth for ever, his horn shall be exalted with honour: the wicked shall see it and be grieved, and gnash with his teeth and melt away: the desire of the wicked shall perish."
Hitherto this prophecy has been very signally fulfilled; since the reformation, the kingdom of antichrist has been remarkably filled with darkness in this respect. Innumerable have been the crafty devices and great attempts of the church of Rome, wherein they have exerted their utmost policy and power, to recover their lost dominions, and again to subjugate the protestant nations—the