In the beginning of this dispensation the church of God not only consisted of all those who were spiritual, but constituted a visible, organic body as well, made up of numerous local congregations that were separate in the management of their internal affairs, yet interrelated with each other, and were directed by humble pastors, who were, in reference to each other, _equal_. The Word of God was their only discipline, and the Spirit of God, their great Teacher and Guide. Thus, the two witnesses were active in their official position, in the public view, as the Vicars or Governors of the church of God on earth. When, however, men usurped the place of these Vicars by ignoring the Spirit and rejecting the Word and making their own rules of faith, the effect was a national hierarchy--the church of Rome, which for twelve hundred and sixty years stood in the public view. Yet the two witnesses were still alive, though driven into obscurity and "clothed in sackcloth"; for they still acted in their official position in the congregations of the medieval Christians already referred to, who resisted the doctrines of men and clung tenaciously to the simple, primitive form of church government and allowed the Spirit and Word authority supreme. But during the Protestant era Christians the world over became identified with the various sects, hence were representing to the world the beast power instead of the true church. Thus, during the Protestant period, the church of God, _in its organic form_, was not represented anywhere on earth; for its members were scattered among those who were "worshiping the beast and his image." Hence the two witnesses, during this era, had no place to operate in their official capacity as the Governors of God's church and are therefore represented as slain. The government of Protestant sects is not effected by the Word and Spirit; for the institutions themselves are of human origin, and men are their law-makers and governors.