Venerable Bede: The Explanation of the Apocalypse

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ON CHAPTER 7

v. 1. four angels. That is, four principal kingdoms, namely, of the Assyrians, and Persians, and Greeks, and Romans. And as in the former seals, after the manifold conflicts of the Church, he saw the joys of triumphant souls, so now, also, he is to prove by examples the victory over the preceding kingdoms of the world, who have now submitted to the Church of Christ, which is to follow the reign of Antichrist. For greater matters must of necessity be confirmed by greater proofs.

winds. These, in a manner, stifled all things by their might, and suffered no one to breathe of his own free-will. In “the earth” is signified the variety of provinces, in “the sea” of islands, in “the trees” the different quality and condition of men. Otherwise: by the four angels are to be understood four winds, according to the prophecy of Daniel, who says, “Behold the four winds of heaven strove upon the great sea, and four beasts came up from the sea.”

2. east. The Lord incarnate, Who is the Angel of the great counsel, that is, the Messenger of His Father’s will, has visited us, “the day-spring from on high,” bearing the ensign of the cross, with which to seal His own in their foreheads.

voice. The “loud voice of the Lord” is the cry which is lifted up on high, “Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

3. Hurt not. From the time that the Lord suffered, not only was the dominion of the enemy who opposed Him destroyed, but that of worldly power too, as we both see with our eyes, and read of in the image which the stone from the mountain “broke in pieces.”

foreheads. For to this end was the empire of the nations broken up, that the face of the saints might be freely marked with the seal of faith, which these had resisted. For, again, the figure of the cross itself represents the kingdom of the Lord extending everywhere, as the old saying proves:—

“Behold the world four-square, in parts distinct,

To shew the realm of faith possessing all.”

And not in vain was the sacred Name of the Lord, of four letters, written on the forehead of the High Priest, inasmuch as this is the sign on the forehead of the faithful, of which it is also sung in; the Psalm “for the winefats,” “O Lord, our Lord, how wonderful is Thy Name in all the earth?” and the rest, until he says, “That thou mayest destroy the enemy and the defender.”

4. number. By this definite number is signified the innumerable multitude of the whole Church, which is descended from the patriarchs either by the lineage of nature, or the imitation of faith. For, he says, “if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed.” And it tends to additional completeness, that the twelve also should be multiplied by twelve, and brought to a sum of thousands, which is the cube of the number ten, by which is represented the enduring life of the Church. And for this reason, too, it is often denoted by the number twelve, because throughout the foursquare world it subsists by faith in the Holy Trinity, for three times four are ten and two. Finally, also, when the Apostles were to preach the same faith to the whole world, twelve were chosen, as signifying by their number the mystery of their work.

5. Judah. With good reason, he begins with Judah, from which tribe our Lord sprang; and has omitted Dan, from whom, as it is said, Antichrist is to be born; for it is written, “Let Dan become an adder in the way, a horned serpent in the path, biting the horse-hoofs, that his rider may fall.” For he has not proposed to set forth the order of earthly generation, but according to the interpretation of the names the powers of the Church, which from present confession and praise is hastening to the right hand of eternal life. For this is the meaning of the name of Judah, who is placed first, and of Benjamin, who comes last So, then, Judah is placed first, who is interpreted “confession,” or “praise;” for before the first step of confession no one reaches the height of good works, and unless we renounce evil deeds by confession, we are not fashioned in such as are good.

The second is Reuben, who is interpreted, “seeing the son.” That works are denoted in “sons,” the Psalmist testifies, when among the benedictions of the man who is blessed, he says with the rest, “Thy sons like olive-plants;” and below, “That thou mayest see thy sons’ sons.” For it is not, that he who fears the Lord cannot be blessed, unless he has begotten sons, and raised up grandsons, since a better reward awaits the faithful virgins; but in “sons,” he designates works, and in “sons’ sons” the fruits of works, namely, an eternal reward. Accordingly, after Judah there follows Reuben, that is, after the commencement of divine confession and praise, the perfection of action.

But because “we must through many tribulations enter into the kingdom of God,” after Reuben follows Gad, who is interpreted “temptation,” or, “girt.” For after the beginning of a good work, it is needful that a man should be proved by greater temptations, and be girt about for greater conflicts, that the strength of his faith may be approved. And so Solomon says, “My son, when thou comest to the service of God, stand in righteousness and fear, and prepare thy soul for temptation;” and the Psalmist also, “Thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle.”

And because “we esteem them blessed who have maintained sufferance,” for this reason, after Gad is placed Asher, that is, “the blessed,” an order which is not unsuitable. For “Blessed is he who endures temptation, for when he has been proved, he will receive the crown of life.” But, inasmuch as they who rely upon the sure promise of this blessedness, are not straitened, but “rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation,” sing with the author of the Psalm, “In tribulation Thou hast enlarged me,” and also, “I ran in the way of Thy commandments, while Thou didst enlarge my heart;” and say, exultingly, with the mother of the blessed Samuel, “My heart is enlarged above mine enemies, because I rejoiced in Thy salvation;” therefore, Nepthali succeeds, that is, “enlargement.” Moreover, he is followed by Manasseh, who is interpreted “forgetting,” or, “necessity.” And by the mystery of this name we are admonished, that being taught by the anguish of the present temptations, and “forgetting the things which are behind,” we should so “reach forward,” as the Apostle says, “to the things which are before,” as “not to make provision for the flesh in lust,” but as compelled by the necessity of human nature alone. And concerning this the Psalmist prayed, when sighing for better things, “Deliver me out of my necessities.”

Next to him is placed Simeon, that is, “he heard of sorrow,” or, “the name of his habitation;” in order that, by the character of this name also, he might more plainly inculcate both what it to be possessed here, and what is to be profitably expected. For the joy of the heavenly habitation will be given to those whose mind is here made sorrowful by a fruitful repentance; to whom it is also said, “Your sorrow shall be turned into joy.”

In the next place follows Levi, that is, “added,” in whom we either understand those who by temporal obtain eternal things; as Solomon says, “The ransom of a man’s life are his riches;” or those who, by following the counsel of God, “receive in this world a hundredfold with tribulations, but in the world to come, eternal life.” And to these, also, belongs this that is written, “He who adds knowledge, adds grief.” For to this end also the bitterness of tribulation was added to the blessed Job, that having been proved, he might receive a greater recompense of reward. And so, not without reason, there succeeds him in direct order, Issachar, who is interpreted “reward,” because, as the Apostle teaches, “The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the future glory which shall be revealed in us,” inasmuch as we fight with better success when there is hope of a sure reward. But God operates and perfects this in the habitation of strength, which Zabulon means, when “strength is made perfect in weakness.” So that the body, which is considered weak by its enemies, and through the material substance of which they also strive to bring destruction to the soul, is found to be invincible through God Who strengthens it; and there succeeds a happy increase in this. This is also denoted by the word Joseph, for it signifies, gifts and graces to be added, whether thou understand the increase of spiritual gain from the double return of the talents, or whether thou take it in respect of the offerings which are made to God the Redeemer by the devotion of the faithful.

Now, in order that thou mayest perceive that all these, who both by the succession and interpretation of the names are shewn not to be placed without significance, will be at the right hand of Christ, the eternal King, in the judgment to come; Benjamin, that is, “the son of the right hand,” is set last, as I said before, as the end of the line. For, after the last enemy, death, has been destroyed, the bliss of the eternal inheritance will be given to the elect. And this, whether each one of the faithful is rightly called the son of the right hand, or the whole assembly of the Church, of which it is sung: “Upon Thy right hand stood the queen, in a vesture of gold, clothed in variety.”

So, then, from each tribe are sealed ten thousand. For in whatsoever virtues each one of the faithful has made progress, he must needs be ever strengthened by the faith, and instructed by the examples of the fathers of old. And it is most certain that frequently the body of doctors, frequently that of the whole Church, is designated by the number twelve, because of the sum of the Apostles, or patriarchs. For whether each one is counted worthy of praise from confession, as in Judah; or is illustrious from the progeny of works, in Reuben; or is strong from the discipline of temptations, in Gad; or is happy from victory in conflicts, in Asher; or is enlarged by abundant works of mercy, in Napthali; or is forgetful of the things which are behind, in Manasseh; or is still sorrowful, as in the valley of tears, but always rejoicing in the name of his habitation, while sighing for the heavenly Jerusalem, in Simeon; or is rejoicing together in the promises of the life that now is, and of that which is to come, resting upon temporal good things, added to the eternal good, in Levi; or is strengthened by the contemplation of the future reward, in Issachar; or is laying down his life for Christ, in Zabulon; or is labouring earnestly for an increase of spiritual substance, and offering something more beyond the commands of God, either in virginity, or from the abundance of his means, in Joseph; or is expecting the right hand of eternal bliss, with unwearied prayer, in Benjamin; it is fitting that each should be sealed in his own profession by the rule of the preceding fathers, as by the number twelve, and that from the merits of individuals, should the most perfect beauty of the Church, as the sum of a hundred and forty-four thousand, be made up.

9. multitude. On the conclusion of the recapitulation, which had been interposed for the sake of example, he returns to the previous order, and announces the glory of those who are to overcome the wickedness of the last persecution. And that which follows, “From all nations, and tribes, and peoples, and tongues,” may also be thus understood, that, after enumerating the tribes of Israel, to whom the Gospel was first preached, he desires to make mention of the salvation of the Gentiles as well.

robes. By “robes” he signifies baptism, by “palms” the triumph of the Cross, and he intimates that in Christ they have overcome the world. But robes may also double the glory which is given by the Holy Spirit.

10. cried. They proclaim with a loud voice, that is, with great devotion, an unceasing praise, that on the throne, namely, in the Church, there reign the Father and the Son; the Holy Spirit, nevertheless, reigning together with them. For it is said, “To Him Who sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb;” in the same manner as it is said in the Gospel, “And may know Thee, the true and only God, and Jesus Christ, Whom Thou hast sent;” in which place, “may know the only and true God” is understood.

11. angels. In all the angels he has represented the persons of the great multitude worshipping the Lord. “All they,” he says, “who are round about Him will offer gifts.”

fell. In this passage he relates, that neither the multitude, nor the living creatures, nor the elders worshipped, but the angels alone. For these are the multitude, these the living creatures and the elders. But it may also be understood of the angelic spirits themselves, of whom, as rejoicing together at the salvation of the Gentiles, it is said, “Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with His people,” and, “Let all the angels of God worship Him.”

12. blessing. The Church offers the sevenfold praise of excellence unto the Lord, and in each of its members confesses to have received this from Him.

13. who? He asks for this end, that he may teach.

14. tribulation. “Through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God,” but who knows not that the tribulation of Antichrist will be greater than all the rest?

washed. He speaks not of martyrs alone. They are washed in their own blood. But the blood of Jesus, the Son of God, cleanses the whole Church from all sin, therefore are they before the throne of God. For they are accounted worthy to stand there together in the service of God, who in the midst of adverse things are faithful confessors of His Name.

15. day and night. He speaks after out manner, and signifies eternity.

throne. The saints are the throne of God, above whom and among whom the Lord for ever dwells.

16. hunger. This it is which the Lord Himself promised, saying, “I am the bread of life: he who cometh to Me shall never hunger; and he who believeth in Me shall never thirst.” Yea, “Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.”

the sun. “We passed,” he says, “through fire and water, and thou broughtest us out into a place of refreshment.”

17. the Lamb. He says, that the Lamb is in the midst of the throne, in that he had said above, that “the Lamb received the book from Him Who sitteth upon the throne;” and teaches that the Church is one throne for the Father and the Son, in which one God, the undivided Trinity, dwells through faith.

fountains. That is to say, to the company of the saints, who are the fountains of heavenly doctrine. The vision of God itself may also be signified, “in Whom are hidden the treasures of wisdom and knowledge;” according to this that David says, “As the hart longeth for the fountains of waters, so longeth my soul after Thee, O God.”

tears. When the fulness of immortal bliss is gained, all sorrow will be at once consigned to forgetfulness. For, “Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” The vision of the white-robed multitude may also be understood of the present time, when “we are saved in hope,” and “hoping for that which we see not, in patience wait for it.”

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ON CHAPTER 8

v. 1. seal. It is believed that after the death of Antichrist, there will be some little rest in the Church, which Daniel thus foretold: “Blessed is he who waiteth and cometh to the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days.” And it is thus interpreted by the blessed Jerome: “Blessed,” he says, “is he, who when Antichrist is slain, beyond the one thousand two hundred and ninety days, that is, three years and a half, waits for the forty-five days, in which the Lord and Saviour is to come in His own Majesty. Now for what reason, after the destruction of Antichrist, there is silence for forty-five days, is a subject of divine knowledge, unless perhaps we say, the deferring of the kingdom of the saints is the trial of patience.” Observe that at the sixth seal, he sees the greatest afflictions of the Church, at the seventh, rest. For the Lord was crucified on the sixth day of the week, and rested on the Sabbath, awaiting the time of resurrection. Thus far concerning the opening of the closed book, and the six seals. But now he recapitulates from the beginning, as he is about to say the same things in another manner.

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ON CHAPTER 9

v. 1. star. He declares with what fuel the flame of heretics, of which he had spoken briefly, was kindled. The old enemy forsooth, whom the Lord saw “like lightning fall from heaven,” opened the heart of his own by blasphemous doctrine, and taught them to speak impiety against the Most High.

2. smoke. The madness of heresy rages to announce beforehand the great furnace, namely, the last persecution; and it labours to obscure not the weak alone, who like the air touch, as it were, the confines of earth and heaven, but the light also of the lofty, though unable to extinguish it For even the elect, if it be possible, will be led into error.

3. locusts. As the saints are the body of Christ and members one of another, so also the members of the flesh of the dragon cleave to one another, and are born one from the other, and the smoke of heretical blindness generates the pride of the ungodly, which hurts with its mouth. And although these are shaken by the wind of exaltation, yet they leave not the places of earth, for so also the smoke from which they are produced, though it seek to ascend, always sinks back into itself.

power. Heretics are compared with hostile powers, and appear harmless in their countenance, but keep poison in their hinder parts.

4. grass. He shews that the locusts are men, for they are not sent to the grass, but to men, for we understand locusts simply in this place.

seal. They are said to have the seal of God on their foreheads who have it, as they ought to have; and the number of these was reckoned above, as being inviolate and fixed by the angel, who brought from the east the seal of the living God. For here he has been pleased to use the form of speech in which it is said, “No man saith that Jesus is the Lord, but in the Holy Ghost,” that is, perfectly and truly.

5. kill. Although heretics are supported by the secular power, and are permitted for a time to assail the good, yet, as the Lord saith, “they are not able to kill the soul.” For by the five months he signifies the time of the age, because of the division into five of the sense which we use in this life. But in that another translation has “six months,” it agrees with this interpretation, because of the six periods of the age.

scorpion. As the scorpion diffuses poison from its hinder parts, so the ungodliness of the wicked injures from their hinder parts, when by threats or blandishments it causes the temporal things which are behind to be preferred to the eternal good things which are before. In opposition to the parable of the Gospel, the generation of vipers gives this scorpion to its own offspring.

6. death. They would rather that a life of misery should be ended by a speedy death, as the blessed Cyprian complained that it happened under the Decian persecution. “When they wished to the,” he says, “it was not permitted them to be slain.”

7. horses. That is, they are like the last persecutors. For in the last war which he is to describe under the next angel, he says that horses fight; or simply, as horses are urged to battle, not by any reason of their own, but by the impulse of the rider; so evil teachers, urged by a demoniacal spirit, attack the Church.

crowns. The twenty-four angels, who are the Church, have crowns of gold. But these have crowns like gold, as pretending to false triumphs from an empty victory.

faces. In the human face he represents a pretence of reason; in the hair of women, lax and effeminate manners; in the teeth of lions, which are wont to tear in pieces, and which bring with them a natural stench, ferocity of mind and the infamy of evil doctrine; and in breastplates of iron, hearts which are hardened against the truth. For “these having a form of godliness, but denying its power,” “come in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves.”

9. wings. It is matter for fear rather than exposition, that this army has its powers so greatly increased. First, the smoke ascends, then it produces locusts, which at first are compared to scorpions, and presently afterwards to horses and lions. Their power too would be great enough, even if they did not come armed with breastplates; but now they are said to be winged, and like chariots of war.

10. tails. As the scorpion goes along softly, but strikes with its tail, so the pernicious craftiness of the wicked seems in appearance gentle and harmless, but in that it secretly destroys as in some hidden manner, it brings with it death.

five months. Again he signifies this life, in which falsehood may avail either to catch the unprofitable, or torment for a time the spiritual.

11. king. God, supremely good, in His secret but just counsels, permitted an angel, not unfit for such as these, to have rule over them.

12. past. Since he had foretold that three woes were to come, he now mentions that one hath already come, in the deceit of heresy, and that two remain, which will happen to the perverse in the time of Antichrist, and at the day of judgment.

13. sixth. The sixth angel denotes the preachers of the last conflict, who, as the Gospel forewarns, detect the frauds of Antichrist. For the horns of the golden altar are the Gospels, which rise above the Church.

14. four. He signifies how much the Church will be persecuted at the end of the world, by the old enemy with his satellites, who from the time of the Lord’s Passion is shut up in the hearts of the ungodly, and is restrained by the divine power from injuring it as much as he desires. For the Euphrates, which is a river of Babylon, signifies the power of the kingdom of the world, and the waves of persecutors. This is the great mountain, which he had foretold would be cast in burning fire into the sea.

15. loosed. In the same manner as prophecy, which points out to us things to come, he himself in spirit sees them come to pass. And he has said four angels, because the persecution will rage in the four parts of the world. For these are they whom he saw above, standing at the four corners of the earth, and restrained from injuring the earth and the sea for the sealing of the servants of God.

prepared. The malignant spirits, who at every moment of the hours and times hunger for the death of man, are then permitted for the trial of the Church to rage more freely, and are to be destroyed in their time? But what, thinkest thou, will they do, when they are loosed, who now injure so much while they are bound?

16. number. This number designates the crafty duplicity of the perverse army; and this may more easily be perceived in another translation, which says, “two myriads of myriads.” This is the number which the parable of the Gospel opposes to the king who has ten thousand, as if the duplicity of the wicked resists the simple faith of Christ, for “thousands of thousands minister unto Him, and ten thousand times a hundred thousand stand before Him.”

17. horses. The malignant spirits are involved in the same punishments with those over whose hearts they preside. For we read, that “they who worship the beast are to be tormented with fire and brimstone,” and that “the smoke of their torments goes up for ages of ages.” Observe, that in the plague of locusts, he said not that he saw horsemen, but only horses. For here the magnitude of the persecutions make manifest the presence of a contrary power. Lastly, here there are heads of lions, but there there is the face of men, and the teeth alone of brutes. For heretics often make a shew of humanity, but the ministers of the last persecution exact by punishments even that which they recommend by words and signs.

mouths. He shews that he said “jacinth” for smoke. These things do not proceed visibly from their mouth; but they are the source of punishment to themselves and their hearers by their injurious preaching. “I will bring fire,” he says, “out of the midst of thee, which is to devour thee.”

19. tails. That is, in their speech and office. For “the prophet that teacheth a lie, he is the tail,” for he conceals a part which is in a manner hidden and unclean by the volubility of a flattering tongue, saying to the ungodly, “Thou art good.”

serpents. For the false teachers of the old serpent who deceived man, like those who are supported by the protection of princes, hurt more than if they persuaded by words alone. “He sitteth,” he says, “lying in wait with the rich.”

20. the rest. As he had described the false Christians and heretics, in order that he may comprehend the whole body of the devil, he now mentions also the error of the heathen, to whom it is of no avail not to have been slain by these plagues, as it is evident that they still continue in heathen wickedness. For not even in that last persecution will the heathen be compelled to yield their assent by the things mentioned above, but will die in their unbelief.

repented not. To an ungodly religion they add also an unholy manner of life. After he has described the cruelty of Antichrist, in order to shew his fall, he recapitulates in the usual way the commencement from the birth of Christ, and the glory of the Church.

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ON CHAPTER 10

v. 1. angel. The Lord, the angel of the great counsel, comes down from heaven clothed with a cloud of flesh; as also Isaiah says, “Behold, the Lord rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt.”

rainbow. That is, the promise of propitiation abiding around the good.

face. When the face of the Lord becomes bright, that is, when the knowledge of Him is manifested by the glory of the resurrection, His feet which are to preach glad tidings upon the mountains, and proclaim peace, are illumined with the fire of the Holy Spirit and are made firm like a pillar, for “James, Cephas, and John, seemed to be pillars,” of the Church.

2. book. This is the book which was mentioned above, and which was closed by a long-continued covering, and was at last unfastened by the grace of the Lord, that, as the Prophet says, even “the deaf might hear the words of the book.” And with reason is His face as the sun, because He now carries an open book.

earth. The preaching of the Christian faith is extended by land and sea. But, allegorically, the stronger members are placed in the greater dangers, the others in such as are suited to them. For God “does not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able.”

3. thunders. When the Lord proclaims mightily, the Church also, filled with sevenfold grace, lifts up her voice to preach. For “the lion shall roar, who will riot fear? The Lord God hath spoken, who will not prophesy?” seeing that the seven thunders of which he is speaking are the same as the seven trumpets.

4. Seal. Neither do thou exhibit to all indiscriminately the mysteries of the Christian faith, lest they become of low esteem; nor close them to the good, lest they be entirely hidden. And for the same reason he heard at a later time, “Seal not the words of this prophecy.” Both these are comprised in a single verse in Daniel, for it is said to him by the angel, “seal the book, and shut up the words even unto the time appointed.”

5. hand. The angel swears by Him. who liveth for ever, while Christ, Who comes in the Father’s Name, confirms the words of His own unchangeable truth, saying, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away.”

6. created. He who stands on the sea and on the earth, and stretches forth his hand to heaven, swears fitly by the Creator of the heaven, the earth, and the sea.

no longer. Assuredly, as the Psalmist says, “The time of the godly will be for ever.” But the changeable variety of secular times will cease at the last trumpet, for “the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall arise incorrupt,” and “their inheritance shall be for ever.”

7. mystery. The mystery of the Gospel which is now preached will then be finished, when “the ungodly shall go into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

8. voice. When the Lord lays open the mysteries of future time, and says, “For the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” the Church also is admonished to receive the same book of preaching. But these words may also be suitable to John himself, who is to return to preaching after his banishment.

9. Give. Let him come to the Lord who wishes to receive the sacraments of teaching.

Take. That is, place it in thy inward parts, and write it down in the breadth of thy heart.

bitter. When thou hast received it, thou wilt be delighted by the sweetness of the divine oracle; but thou wilt perceive a bitterness on beginning to preach, and to practise what thou hast learned, or, at least, it is to be so understood according to Ezekiel, who, when he said that he had eaten the book, added, “And I went away in bitterness, in the indignation of my spirit.”

11. prophesy. He shews what was signified by the book eaten up, and the sweetness mingled with bitterness, namely, that he was to be delivered from banishment, and was to preach the Gospel to the nations, which is sweet indeed through love, but is bitter through the persecutions that are to be endured.

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ON CHAPTER 11

v. 1. reed. He received the office of writing the Gospel in the reed, which is not useless with a vain lustre, but is like “the rod of equity, the rod of the kingdom of God,” for it describes the eternal kingdom of Christ.

Rise. “Rise,” he said: not that John was seated, but that the hearts of all are aroused by this word to measure the writings and actions of the Gospel, for then they find what progress they each one make, and how far they agree with the divine rule.

worship. For not all they who are seen therein worship, as he “who shall confess Me.” He commands, that is, in what he says, that a part should not be reckoned.

2. without. They who in name alone are united to the Church, and who neither draw near to the altar nor the most holy place, are cast forth by the rule of the Gospel, and are joined to the nations. For “all the glory of her who is the daughter of kings is from within.”

tread. Not only are they driven from the Church, but they also fight against the Church itself, with the heathen as their allies, for three years and a-half. It is not that they only trample upon it then in the time of Antichrist; but that in that time all the body of the wicked, “in whom the ministry of iniquity already works,” is joined as it were, to its own head.

3. witnesses. That the cruelty of the bad may not alarm the hearer, he mentions, that the Church also, which of two races is made one, is to become illustrious by the gift of miracles. The Church, too, ever contemplating its head, namely Christ, teaching in the flesh, will prophesy, it is said, for two years and a-half. For the months of three years and a-half, namely, thirty times forty-two, make up two hundred and sixty days. But Daniel writes, that the days of the same period in which the abomination of desolation is to be set up are one thousand two hundred and ninety.

sackcloth. That is, who are made to stand in penance; as the prophet says, “But I clothed myself in sackcloth of hair, while they were vexatious unto me.”

4. olive trees. The Church is irradiated by the light of the two Testaments, and ever waits upon the commands of the Lord. So also the prophet Zechariah saw one candlestick with seven branches, and these two olive-trees, that is, testaments, pouring oil into the candlestick. This is the Church with its oil, which never fails, which makes it shine for the light of the world.

5. fire. If any one harms the Church, he is condemned by a retributive sentence of the same harm; and is consumed by fire. For “all they who take the sword shall perish with the sword.” And so the Chaldean flame which was prepared for the children of God, slew the ministers of ungodliness themselves. Or: he who is to be changed for the better, is spiritually consumed in a good fire, by the prayers of the mouth of the Church. “Thou wilt heap,” he says, “coals of fire upon his head.”

6. power. All power in heaven and earth is given to the Church in Christ, for the keys of binding and loosing are committed to it. But spiritually also, the heaven is shut, that it rain no rain, in order that blessing from the Church may not come down upon the barren earth. As the Lord saith of the Father to His vineyard, “I will command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.”

waters. Not only do they make to cease the waters, but they also render those which had come down useless; and this is, to turn the waters into blood. The sweet savour of Christ, which comes with fragrance from the Church, is “to some a savour of death unto death, to others a savour of life unto life.”

7. testimony. He shews clearly, that all these things take place before the last persecution, by saying, “when they shall have finished their testimony;” namely, that which they give, until the revelation of the beast, who is to come forth from the hearts of the ungodly. It is not that they do not then strive boldly to resist the enemy by the same testimony, but that the Church, as is supposed, will then be left destitute of the gift of miracles, while the adversary is resplendent with them in the sight of all through lying wonders. For, as the Lord says, “Want shall go before his face.”

kill. He will overcome in those who shall succumb, he will kill in those who, with laudable patience, shall be slain. Or: if he shall overcome and kill spiritually, we may take it of a part of the witnesses, as the Lord says in the Gospel, “They will deliver you up to affliction, and kill you;” which Luke the Evangelist intimates to have been spoken of a part, saying, “Some of you they will kill.”

8. bodies. “If they have persecuted Me,” He says, “they will also persecute you.” It is no wonder, then, if the city of the ungodly, which feared not to crucify the Lord, has His servants also in derision, even when they are slain. And such things as these ecclesiastical history relates to have often occurred.

Sodom. That is, “silent and dark,” having forsooth neither the light of faith, nor the voice of confession. For “with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” These regions, for a sign of spiritual punishment, were visibly smitten with these plagues, that is, with devouring fire, and water turned into blood.

9. see. He said not the peoples and tribes will see, but, many from among the peoples who openly deride the saints, when others believe.

tombs. He has spoken of their wish and their opposition: not that they are able to effect that the Church should not be their memorial; as it is said, “Ye neither enter in, nor suffer others to enter in,” seeing that some do enter in, although they oppose. But they will evidently effect, in respect of the bodies of the living and of the slain, that neither are the living suffered to meet together for their memory by the celebration of holy offices, nor the slain to have their names recited for their memory, nor to have their bodies buried for their memory as witnesses of God.

10. rejoice. As often as the righteous are afflicted, the unrighteous exult and feast, as, “while the ungodly is lifted up, the poor is consumed.”

tormented. Because of the plagues with which the human race is vexed, because of their testimony to God, even the very sight of the righteous oppresses the unrighteous; as they themselves say, “He is grievous unto us even to behold.”

11. days. Thus far the angel has spoken of the future, and now he brings in, as accomplished, that which he hears is to come to pass, namely that, after the reign of Antichrist has been destroyed, the saints have risen to glory.

fear. He has spoken of all the living, because even the righteous who shall remain alive will greatly fear at the resurrection of those who sleep.

12. cloud. This is the same that the Apostle said, “We shall be caught up in the clouds into the air, to meet the Lord.”

enemies. Here he has distinguished the unrighteous from those of whom he had said, that they feared in common with them.

13. earthquake. When the terror of the judgment comes upon them, all the city of the devil, which is built upon the sand, with all its builders, will fall to the ground. For, both ten and seven are perfect numbers. But if it were not so, the whole would be to be understood from a part.

affrighted. Who of all men will boast that he has a pure heart, when “the powers of heaven shall be shaken.”

gave glory. They are built upon a rock, who, from their own stability, glorify the Lord when others fall at the earthquake. For “the righteous will rejoice when he seeth the punishment of the wicked.” Some understand the two prophets to be Enoch and Elijah, and that they are to preach for three years and a-half, and confirm the hearts of the faithful against the perfidy of Antichrist, which is presently to follow; and that, after their death, his cruelty is to rage for the same period of time, and then, when the conflict is at length renewed by the saints, who in the protection of their hiding-places were supposed to be dead, is to be overcome. And these, because of their fellowship in one body, are said to rise as prophets themselves; and when the persecution is intensified at the sight of those who were already thought to be dead, many of those who were supposed to be worthy of the number seven, or ten, will fall. For Daniel says, “He will confirm the covenant with many for one week, and in the half of the week the oblation and sacrifice will cease, and the abomination of desolation shall be in the temple;” and the following, “and when the abomination which makes desolate shall be set up, there will be a thousand two hundred and ninety days,” which number is close upon the course of three years and a-half. Finally, Elijah of old destroyed his adversaries by fire, and was hidden for three years and a-half, and withheld the rain; and at length, when the false prophets were put to death, by means of the sacrifice which had been consumed, he turned Israel unto the Lord.

14. second. The second woe does not belong to the recapitulation, but to the battle of the horses, which was stirred up by the trumpet of the sixth angel; for the eagle had foretold three woes, from the voice of the three trumpets which was to come. But he did not utter it then, lest that which belongs to the seventh angel, and the end, should be supposed to follow immediately upon the third.

15. seventh. The six former trumpets, corresponding with the periods of the present age, announced the various conflicts of the wars of the Church. But the seventh, heralds in the eternal sabbath, and shews alone the victory and the dominion of the true King.

16. worshipped. Behold, he says, the third woe will come at the voice of the seventh angel. And when he had sounded, he only spoke of the Church as praising God and giving thanks, from which we understand that the retribution of the faithful will be nothing else than the woe of the evil ones.

17. who art. “Thou hast reigned from the age, although the ungodly are rebellious against Thee. But now that Thou art Judge, their fury will be repressed, and will cease.” For, “The Lord hath reigned, let the people be angry.”

18. dead. It agrees with the order, as we read in the Gospel, that first, indeed, all nations should be gathered together before the Judge, then that those on the right hand should be disposed in many mansions in the Kingdom of the Father, but that the ungodly should be driven out beyond the limits of the kingdom, to be burned in the accursed flames.

corrupted. This is the last woe. Therefore, concerning the seven angels sounding with the trumpet, he now recapitulates from the birth of the Lord, as about to say the same things in another manner, and more comprehensively.

19. The temple of God, which was placed aforetime on the earth, had the ark of the covenant, inclosed within the mystical veil. But now, in the Church, which is “the temple of the living God,” whose “conversation is in heaven,” the ark of His Incarnation is laid open to the whole world, as the veil of the old temple, and the middle wall of partition, have been rent asunder by the blood of the Lord. For like the heavenly manna in clean gold is the Divinity in a holy body.

lightnings. These all are the miracles of the splendour, and preaching, and wars of the Church. He had said also that these things took place in the description of the announcement of the seven angels, from the Advent of the Lord, when He stood upon the altar, but generally from the begining to the end. Then he described particularly in what manner they took place, as he also does now, that the temple of God is opened in heaven, and that conflicts follow.

[Stone]

ON CHAPTER 12

v. 1. sign. It is the same sign which now also appears in the Church, that God is born of man.

a woman. The Church is clothed with the light of Christ, and treads upon temporal glory. “Righteousness,” he says, “will arise in his days, and abundance of peace, until the moon be taken away, or consumed.” That is, the abundance of peace will greatly increase, until it consume all the changeableness of mortality, and then death, the last enemy, will be destroyed. Or: because the same Church has partly the fruition of Christ, the Sun, in heaven, and is partly absent from the Lord, that which he says, “His left hand is under my head, and his right embraceth me,” may be understood here.

stars. The Head of the Church is adorned with the number of the Apostles, which is twelve, whether Christ is understood, or whether the first beginning of the Church itself is designated under the name of the head. “Thou hast set,” he says, “upon his head a crown of precious stone.”

2. birth. The Church, in a spiritual sense, both brings forth those with whom it travails, and ceases not to travail with them when already born. As she herself says, “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again, until Christ be formed in you.”

delivered. So the Lord says in the Gospel, “A woman, when she is in travail, hath sorrow because her hour is come, but when she hath brought forth a son, she remembers the anguish no more for joy.” And He Himself expounded this to His disciples, and added, “And ye now, therefore, have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice.”

3. dragon. The devil, blood-stained in his cruelty, is armed against the Church with the power of an earthly king. For in the seven heads he describes all his kings, and in the ten horns every kingdom.

4. tail. He intimates the power and malice of the enemy, whom the Church overcomes by the help of the Lord, for he has cast down an innumerable host of angels and men by deceptive testimony, as with a tail. For the tail is a part of the body which is removed from sight, and unclean; and which conceals the parts which are unclean by the covering which it affords, that they may not appear. Tichonius, as his manner is, interprets the third part of the stars which fell, of false brethren, so that another third would be the Church, and the enemies external to it a third.

devour. The devil plots against the Church, and strives to extinguish the faith of Christ in the hearts of the faithful, that he may, as it were, kill him who has been taught, and to whom by teaching he has given birth. And a figure of this deceit was shewn in Herod, who, like an intestine foe, pretends that he desires to worship the Lord, in order that he may put Him to death.

5. man child. Although the dragon oppose, the Church ever brings forth Christ. But he spoke of the man child as conqueror of the devil, who had conquered the woman. For who but the man child, who is “to rule all nations with a rod of iron,” rules the good with inflexible justice, breaks in pieces the bad? And this is also promised to the Church, in that it is said above, “I will give Him power over the nations, and He shall rule them with a rod of iron.” For the Church, too, daily generates the Church, which rules the world in Christ.

caught up. Therefore ungodliness cannot apprehend Christ, Who is spiritually born in the minds of the hearers, because at the same time He reigns with the Father in heaven, “Who has raised up us also together with Him, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ.”

6. wilderness. The Church rejoices in her sojourning in this present wilderness, as living in hope of things eternal. For she has received power to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and upon all the power of the red dragon, like the Israelitish multitude which was fed with heavenly bread, and overcame the fiery serpents by the sight of the serpent of brass.

place. “Be thou to me,” he says, “as God my protector, and as a place of refuge, that I may be safe.”

days. In this number of days, which makes three years and a-half, he comprehends all the times of Christianity, because Christ, Whose body the Church is, preached the same length of time in the flesh.

7. heaven. The heaven signifies the Church, in which he says that Michael, with his angels, fights against the devil, for that, according to the will of God, he contends for the Church in her sojourning, by praying and ministering help; of whom Daniel also said, that he would come to the aid of the Church in the last and most grievous affliction; from which they suppose that Antichrist is to be slain by him. And they are said to be his angels in the same way that our angels also are. For the Lord says, “Their angels do always behold the face of My Father,” the angels, that is, of those whose citizens they are.

fought. The angels of Satan are not those alone who are like him in nature and will, but men who are entangled in their snares are also to be understood.

8. prevailed not. That is, they prevailed not through all time.

found. It was not found, that is, in holy men, who, by his expulsion from them, have already become a heaven themselves, and who through faith no more receive him back, who has once been expelled.

9. earth. The old enemy, who is expelled from the spiritual, is more closely shut up in the earthly. This is to be hurled down from heaven, and sent into the earth. For to him it is said, “Earth shalt thou eat all the days;” and in this earth he is bruised by the feet of the saints, as it is written, “Thou shalt tread upon the asp and the basilisk.”

10. salvation. It is clearly shewn in what heaven these things take place, for we know that in the Church salvation is procured by the victory of Christ, and because of this He says, “All power is given to Me in heaven and in earth;” not that power which He Himself always had, but that which He began to have in the Church, as the Head in the members, from the time that He Himself willed.

brethren. The angels express joy at the salvation of their brethren, that is, of those who will become citizens, but who now are strangers.

accused. For he suggests, that they both make an ill-use of prosperity, and have not patience in adversity.

11. lives. With good reason do they despise their lives for Christ’s sake, who have overcome so great an adversary by the blood of Christ.

12. rejoice. Here, by dwellers in heaven, must be understood both angels and holy men, and it belongs to both to rejoice in the Lord, since both men are joined with angels, and angels minister to man’s nature in Christ.

Woe. As he has shewn that joy is to be the expectation of the redeemed, so, also, is lamentation of those who perish. And a great woe is impending over those of whom the most wicked enemy has possession in his wrath.

13. saw. The devil assails the Church with inextricable craft, and the more he is cast down, so much the more does he persecute.

14. wings. The Church is upheld by the two Testaments, and avoids the envenomed tumult of the world, and seeks in the affection of her mind the solitude of a “meek and quiet spirit,” while she thus sings with joy, “Behold I got me away far off in flight, and abode in the wilderness.” Nor does it make any difference that there she asks for the wings of a dove, but here receives those of an eagle. For as the Church, “whose youth is renewed as an eagle’s,” is represented in the former because of the gift of the Holy Spirit, so also is it in the latter, because of the lofty flight and heavenly vision, by which it beholds God with a clean heart.

nourished. The whole time of the Church is signified, as being comprised in the number of the days above. For a “time” denotes one year, “times” two, “half a time” six months.

15. flood. Water signifies the vehemence of persecutors; whence it is said, “Perhaps like water they would have swallowed us up.” So, then, the Church is not only raised up by the word of God, but is driven onward by the violence of persecution, and hastens to fly away from the earth.

16. swallowed. The holy earth is the flesh of the Lord, which by swallowing up death which it accepted, and which for a time prevailed against it, has taught us also to swallow up death. The Church may also be understood, by the warnings and prayers of whose mouth the plots of the enemy are avoided.

17. wroth. When he saw that the persecutions could not be continued, because they were averted by the mouth of the holy earth, he prepared himself the more to rest upon the mystery of iniquity, that he might be able to plot continually.

commandments. To keep the commandments of God in the faith of Jesus Christ is to fight with the dragon, and provoke him to battle; and thanks be to God, Who has made the attempts of the cruel dragon of no effect. For, behold, while he endeavoured to annihilate the Lord incarnate, he is defeated by His resurrection. Afterwards, by striving to deprive the Apostles of their boldness in teaching, he was urgent, as it were, to take away from the world the woman, that is, the whole Church. But as he has laboured in vain to effect this, he assails indiscriminately every age of the faithful. And so it is, as follows.

18. sea. That is, the same enemy, when he is to excite plotting and war, stands upon the multitude of the people, “which the wind scattereth away from the face of the earth,” and which is wont to accept his devices.

[Stone]

ON CHAPTER 13

v. 1. beast. The beast has different interpretations, according to its place. Here, accordingly, it denotes the body of the devil, which springs from the people of the ungodly; for this is the sea, which above is understood as the abyss. And, therefore, the dragon is said to be king of all that is in the waters, and whose “heads,” according to David, “are broken in pieces in the sea.

horns. He shews that the seven heads are the same as the ten horns. For he had said, that the dragon bore seven diadems upon ten heads. But now he says that the beast has ten diadems upon ten horns. For seven and ten are the same, as “he will receive sevenfold in this world,” when another evangelist has a “hundredfold.”

blasphemy. For they call their kings gods, as well those who are dead, and as it were translated to heaven, and among the gods, as those also who have the name of Augustus upon earth, which with them expresses deity. But in another place he says, that the whole beast itself is full of blasphemy.

2. leopard. He is represented as like a leopard, because of the diversity of the nations; a bear, because of his malice and fury; a Hon, because of his strength of body and pride of tongue. We read in Daniel of the kingdom of the Chaldæans being compared to a lioness, of the Persians to a bear, of the Macedonians to a leopard.

power. So the Apostle, speaking of the body of the devil, says, “Whose coming is after the working of Satan, in all power, and signs, and prodigies of falsehood, in those who perish.”

3. heads. Antichrist, who pertains to the heads of the earthly kingdom, by imitation of our true Head, dares to exhibit himself as one who has been slain, and has risen again, and who is to be accepted as Christ, Who truly accomplished this. And the falsehood of this pretence is said to have been anticipated in the instance of Simon Magus.

wondered. He puts the genus for the species, in saying that the beast was worshipped, seeing that earthly men were to worship the counterfeit head itself under the name of the Head, Who was truly slain, and alive.

4. worshipped. They say that they worship God, Who gave power to Christ.

like. They themselves say, Who is like Christ? Or who can overcome Him?

5. mouth. “Who is exalted,” he says, “above all that is called God.”

blasphemies towards. For he does not blaspheme with open mouth, until three years and a-half, but in the mystery of iniquity, which, when a difference is made, and the man of sin is revealed, will be disclosed. And then he will say, “I am Christ;” whereas now it is, “Lo, here is Christ,” or, “Lo there.” Again, “towards God” signifies “against God.”

6. tabernacle. The wicked one usurps the dignity of the name of God, and he will presume to call the Church also his own.

7. saints. By the whole, he denotes a part which can be overcome, when in the violence of the time, even the elect, if it be possible, will be shaken; that the Jews may be condemned, who did not believe the truth, but accepted a lie.

8. dwell. He said “all,” but “who dwell on the earth.” For, “They who depart from Thee,” he says, “shall be written in the earth.”

book. It is just, that they who serve the author of death should not be written in the book of life, and that they who are deluded by the fictitious death of the beast, should be without the fellowship of “the Lamb, Who has taken away the sins of the world.” “Of the Lamb,” he says, as in what follows.

beginning. “A lamb,” that is, as Peter says, “without spot, who verily was fore-ordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifested in these last times. Another version has translated it, “the lamb sealed from the beginning of the world.” It may also be understood by transposition, that the names of the saints were written from the beginning in the book of life.

9. have an ear. As often as the Scripture interposes this saying, it seeks an attentive hearer, because of the obscurity of the subject. For in order that the shortlived kingdom of the devil may not be highly esteemed, he anticipates the thoughts of man by saying, “He that shall lead into captivity will go into captivity;” that is, the devil with the beast who now appears to lead the nations captive in his toils, will himself speedily be in captivity with his own.

10. sword. He who now persecutes the Church with carnal or even spiritual death, him the Lord Jesus “will slay with the breath of His mouth, and will destroy with the brightness of His coming.”

patience. He had promised that the slayer of men should be killed. But because “no one is crowned but he who has striven lawfully,” he says now that there is need of courage, now of a firm breast. After the beast has been described generally, first in hypocrisy, then in the open mouth of blasphemies, he describes it also in the persons of the leaders alone, in like manner in hypocrisy, then as revealed.

11. another. He has called him another, from his office, otherwise he is the same. But that which is here the sea, is, as Daniel testifies, the earth; for as he saw four beasts come up out of the sea, it was said to him, “These four great beasts are four kingdoms, which shall arise out of the earth.”

horns. He shews the horns of a lamb, that he may secretly introduce the poison of the dragon. For by the false assumption of sanctity, which the Lord truly had in Himself, he pretends that a matchless life and wisdom are his. Of this beast the Lord says, “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves.”

12. power. The wretched disciples follow their master in everything.

causeth. He shews the power of seduction, in that he made subject to himself both the body and the soul which dwells in it.

healed. That is, who pretended that by rising again he had overcome death. For the Scripture had spoken of him not as “slain,” but “as it were slain;” as was said of the Jews, “that they entered not into the Prætorium, lest they should be defiled.” For the Evangelist did not affirm that the most polluted could have been polluted if they had entered the Prætorium, nor did the Jews who were guilty of so great crimes really fear to be polluted. But he related what they had simulated, as if affirming it.

13. fire. He preferred the miracle of fire, as if the greatest, to all others, that, as the Lord Christ had given to His disciples the gift of divers miracles by the Holy Ghost, Who came in fire, so he with deceitful craft might delude his own, as it were, by a similar gift.

14. seduces. “His coming win be,” as is said, “after the working of Satan in all power, and signs, and prodigies of falsehood.” And there is wont to be a question, whether these are called “signs and prodigies of falsehood,” because he is to deceive the senses of men by phantasms, so as to seem to do what he does not; or because these very things, even if they shall be true prodigies, will lead to falsehood those who shall believe, that they could only have been wrought by divine influence, being ignorant of the power of the devil. For it was not by a phantastical, but a true fire and whirlwind that he destroyed so great a household as that of the holy Job, with so great flocks. But whether they are called “prodigies of falsehood” in this way or that, it is in this that the temptation will appear to be greater than all the rest, that when the pious martyr submits his body to torments he too at the same time performs so many miracles before his eyes.

image. That is, that they should be like him, and make an image for him, “as he has the wound from the sword and lives,” as another version expresses it. This is that they say so falsely, that they have been dead and have risen again with Antichrist, as to imply that he too makes God a mediator between himself and his own, whereas he has not like our Lord Jesus Christ another one, between whom and himself he may be a mediator.

15. breath. That is, by making himself an image of the beast, he pretended that he gave the spirit of truth to the very people in whom the falsehood was fulfilled.

speak. Not only will he delude the wretched multitude by counterfeiting the spirit with fire, but he will also make it of use for teaching others.

16. mark. The mark is the mystery of iniquity, which is received by those who are hypocrites in practice and profession.

17. buy. By this mention of buying and selling, he teaches, that as the Church has delivered the Creed for good, to be profitable to our salvation; so they for evil confine themselves within such a definition as this, that there be licence given neither of buying, nor of selling, even as merchants who sail in the same ship, are bound by an uniform signal.

name. That is, who participates in his deceit. For the mark, that is, the note and name of the beast and the number of his name are one. And it is the number of a man, that we may not suppose him, as the opinion of some is, to be either the devil, or a demon, but one from among men, in whom Satan is to dwell bodily. For he is “the man of sin, the son of perdition.”

18. number. This number among the Greeks, is said to be found in the name of Titan, that is, “a giant” in this manner,—Τ three hundred, Ε five, Ι ten, Τ three hundred, Α one, Ν fifty. And it is thought that Antichrist will usurp this name, as if he excelled all in power, boasting also that he is the one of whom it was written, “He rejoiced as a giant to run his course. His going forth is from the highest heaven.” And Primasius also mentions another name, which contains the same number,—Α one, Ν fifty, Τ three hundred, Ε five, Μ forty, Ο seventy, Σ two hundred, which signifies, “contrary to honour.” Besides there is the word,—Α one, Ρ one hundred, Ν fifty, Ο seventy, Υ four hundred, Μ forty, Ε five, that is, “I deny.” By these, both the character of the person and the asperity of the work of Antichrist are indicated. But how so great a coveter of praise should be willing to be denoted by such a mark, requires a lengthened exposition. Otherwise: who is ignorant, that the number six, in accordance with which the world was created, signifies the perfection of work? And this, whether simple, or multiplied by ten, or a hundred, demonstrates the fruit of the same perfection to be sixty-fold, or a hundred-fold. The weight of gold also which was brought to Solomon every year was six hundred and sixty-six thousand talents. The seducer, therefore, will presume to exact for himself the offering which is rightfully due and paid to the true king.

[Stone]

ON CHAPTER 14

v. 1. Lamb. That is, when this Church was toiling under the burden of its conflicts, the Lord Jesus Christ preserved it by the example of His power, and the defence of His protection. For when the body had been shewn which was confounded by the power of the dragon, and marked by his brand, he shews the Church rejoicing in its wonted splendour and numbers, that thou shouldest not be afraid lest the body of the Lamb had succumbed to the fury of the beast. And observe, that the beast stands on the sand of the sea, the Lamb on Mount Zion.

thousand. This finite number ought to be understood as infinite, and, by the signification of the hidden mystery, as suited to the virgin band, which loves God from the whole heart, the whole soul, and the whole mind; and to the body also, which consists of four qualities, and is in its integrity consecrated to Him. For three times three are nine, and four times four sixteen, and sixteen times nine make one hundred and forty-four. So, then, when from among those who are established in the merit of carnal life, and appear on Mount Zion with the Lamb, there is perceived so perfect a multitude, no doubt can exist concerning the other members of the Church.

foreheads. He shews what is the imitation of the mark on the forehead of the body of the beast, while he says that God and Christ were written on the foreheads of the Church.

2. waters. The loud voice of the saints is the great devotion of love, which he states that he heard from heaven, in saying that they who uttered the voice “stood on Mount Zion.” For he intended to shew that by Mount Zion he meant no other than the Church, which, in order to overcome the grievances of its afflictions, is exalted by the sublime delight of contemplation, and celebrates at once by praise and by imitation the conflicts of her King. For this is in truth to sing unto the Lamb Who stands.

harpers. When all the saints are God’s harpers, for “by crucifying the flesh with its vices and lusts” they praise Him on the psaltery and harp; how much more are they who, by the privilege of evangelical chastity, make themselves altogether a perfect sacrifice to the Lord, and who, in a special manner, “deny themselves,” and “take up their cross,” and follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth?

3. song. The old song was, “Blessed is He Who hath His dwelling in Zion, and His household in Jerusalem.” But the new song is, “Rejoice thou barren, that barest not;” and again He says, “I will give to my eunuchs in my house, and within my walls, a name better than of sons and daughters.”

able. In a special manner to sing a song unto the Lamb is to rejoice with Him for ever, even above all the faithful, because of the incorruption of the flesh. And yet the rest of the elect are able to hear this song, although they cannot utter it, because, through love, they still rejoice for their exaltation, if they do not rise up to their rewards.

4. virgins. The blessed Augustine has set forth this very beautifully in his exhortation to virgins, saying, “Go on, ye holy youths and maidens of God, ye men and women, celibate and unmarried, go on perseveringly unto the end. Praise the Lord more sweetly, Whom ye think of more frequently. Hope in Him more auspiciously, Whom ye serve more constantly. Love Him more ardently, Whom ye please more attentively. With loins girded, and lights burning, wait for the Lord, when He comes from the marriage. Ye will bring to the marriage of the Lamb a new song, which ye will sing upon your harps, such an one indeed as no one but ye will be able to utter. For so one saw you in the Apocalypse, who, above all others, was beloved of the Lamb, who was wont to lie upon His breast. He himself saw you, as twelve thousand holy harpers, of undefiled virginity of the body, of inviolate truth in the heart. Ye follow the Lamb, for virginal also is the flesh of the Lamb. Ye follow Him in virginity of heart and flesh, whithersoever He may go. For what is to follow, but to imitate? Because “Christ suffered for us, leaving you an example, that ye should follow His steps.” ”

firstfruits. They are chosen by the Holy Spirit for the merits of their will, as holier and purer victims, from the holy and immaculate flock of the Church. For the Apostle, having no commandment of the Lord concerning them, implores them that they “present their bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God.”

5. guile. Virgins are not united to the divine company by the merit of chastity alone, if they have not also a life free from all contagion of sin. Tichonius does not interpret this vision of virgins specially, but of the whole Church generally, which the Apostle “betrothes to one husband, to present it a pure virgin to Christ;” and he concludes thus: “He said not, There was no lie in their mouth, but, ‘there was not found;’ as the Apostle says, ‘And this indeed ye were, but ye were washed, and, ‘The iniquity of the unjust will not hurt him, in the day when he shall turn from his iniquity,’ and he can be a virgin, and ‘deceit not be found in his mouth.’ For by virgins he means the chaste and modest.”

6. flying. As he had described the doubtful and varied fight of the Church with the dragon, as she is a sojourner in the age, it remains to assign a due recompence to both the combatants, and shew what punishments await the bad, or what rewards the good. So, then, the preacher who runs hither and thither through the midst of the Church, carries with him the Gospel of the eternal kingdom.

preach. It is fitting that they who are lifted up by a heavenly flight, should also, through preaching, raise up their earthly minds from the seat of their torpidness.

nation. “This Gospel,” He says, “shall be preached in all the world, and then shall the end come.”

7. Fear. Do ye look forward the more to your own salvation, he says, the more speedy is the retribution which awaits you, which is unchangeable for ever. For ye fear the Lord, the Maker of the world, and not the momentary tyranny of the beast.

8. Babylon. He says that the ruinous city of the devil has already fallen; and this may be after the manner of Scripture, which is wont to represent as past that which it knows is inevitably to be fulfilled; or perhaps the proud were cast down by the Lord, when they were puffed up by the devil, as the Psalmist says, “Thou castedst them down, while they were lifted up.”

nations. The ungodly city, which is gathered from all nations, itself makes the nations, that is, its own members, drunk with the wine of error. But the city of the Lord, which cultivates the vine of Sorek, does not desire to “be drunk with wine, wherein is excess,” lest it be deprived of the promised denarius of life.

9. worship. That is, who shall have worshipped the beast, and the head, which was, as it were, slain

mark. By saying, “on his forehead, or on his hand,” he shews that the devil marks some by an unholy profession, but others by practice alone.

10. drink. In that he says, “he also shall drink,” he shews that there is another also who has drunk, so as not to exclude him who, although he is not visibly mingled with the nations, yet worships the beast under the name of Christ. But they are justly laid low by the cup of the Lord, who give to drink the cup of the wrath of fornication, not, according to Jeremiah, that they may vomit forth the malice of a heart which is to be cleansed, but that they may be condemned, and perish by falling asleep in eternal death.

tormented. The saints who reign with the Lord are always able to see the punishment of the wicked, that they may for ever sing the mercies of the Lord, and so render to their deliverer the greater thanks. For the sight of the torments of the wicked does not grieve those who are of the same mind with the just Judge, as neither was the sight of the rest of Lazarus able to cool the rich man who was buried in flames.

11. night. They say that the lion spares a prostrate man. But this beast is fiercer than a lion, and the more he is worshipped, so much the greater punishment does he inflict.

receive. St. Augustine interprets the beast as the ungodly city, and the image of the beast as the likeness of a bird; of those, that is, who are Christians by a deceitful appearance; and the mark, as the note of guilt, which he says is worshipped, and is subject to him, and in agreement with him.

12. patience. Although the beast has vented his rage, yet the saints are not made sad by the temporal suffering which is to be rewarded by eternal bliss. For they see, on the other hand, that their persecutors, who for a time act proudly, suffer eternal punishments with the beast.

13. voice. Beautiful is now the agreement of those who speak. For behold, this one proclaims that the kingdom of the Lord is at hand, that one that the city of the devil is fallen, a third announces the flames of the ungodly, another the rest of the blessed; and he both utters his voice from heaven, and commands it as worthy of eternal memory, to be committed to writing. For “the righteous rejoice because their names are written in heaven,” but the ungodly “are blotted out of the book of the living.”

dead. I thank Thee, O Jesus, Who makest blessed in heaven those who die in Thee on earth, and how much more those who lay down their blissful lives both in and for Thy faith!

labours. As he had said that the ungodly have no rest for ever, so, on the contrary, he shews that the faithful, who are helped by their former works, from henceforth rest, that is, from the time of death. For, “when He has given His beloved sleep, this is the inheritance of the Lord.” But “the sluggard would not plough because of the cold, therefore shall he beg in harvest, and there shall not be given to him.”

14. cloud. Thus far has the voice of the harlot been premised, and it now remains to exhibit the person of the Judge Himself, Who, when He comes to judgment, overshadows the glory of His divinity by a cloud of flesh, that the ungodly “may see Him Whom they pierced.”

crown. He has described above what this cloud is, in the appearance of the woman, and the crown of twelve stars upon her head. But it may also signify the victory of Him Who reigns.

sickle. This is the judicial sentence of separation, which cannot by any means whatever be avoided. For we are within it, whithersoever we attempt to flee, for whatsoever is enclosed by the sickle falls within it.

15. angel. The angels, of whom we read in the Gospel as “the reapers of the earth,” are all sent forth to minister for those who have the inheritance of salvation,” and they take account of the several merits of the Church, and report them daily to the Lord.

reap. Behold, He says, “Through iniquity abounding, the love of many has waxed cold,” and through the burning heat of evils falling upon it, the harvest of the earth has now almost ceased to be green. So, then, for the elect’s sake, the days are shortened, in order that grains already ripe may not fall off. And do thou commit the tares and the chaff to the flames, but the heavenly fruit to the garners of bliss.

17. another. If Christ appeared on the white cloud as the reaper, is the grape-gatherer but the same, finely repeated because of the twofold fruit of the Church? For “He Who sowed seed in His field” also Himself “planted a vineyard in a fruitful place.” But the planting degenerated, because of the negligence of those who kept it.

18. fire. The office of the angels, as Jerome says, is twofold. For some assign rewards to the righteous, while others preside over the several torments; as it is said, “Who maketh His angels spirits, and His ministers a burning fire.” The two angels who proclaim that the harvest is dry, and the corn ripe, may be understood to be the prayers of the Church, which, with a great voice, that is, with a great desire, prays daily that the kingdom of the Lord may come, and with these words.

Thrust in. As the harvest, so also the vintage is partly earthly, partly heavenly. But the maturity of both indicates the end of the world.

ripe. That is, her sins are complete. But the perfection of the good may also be called ripeness. For, as the holy Gregory says, although the end of the world depends on its own course, yet by overtaking such as are more perverse, because they are deservedly overwhelmed in its ruin, it becomes known through them.

19. sickle. He who has the sickle of the reaper has also that of the grape-gatherer. For the judgment is one, and will take place at one time; but in the harvest and the vintage he shews the beginning and the end of the same affliction.

winepress. If this harvest also of the vintage pertain only to the bad, the winepress signifies punishment; but if to the good as well, the treading of the winepress, as the threshing of the floor, crushes what is useless, and proves what is of use. And so the Apostle says that the precious metals are preserved by fire, while the hay and the stubble are consumed, both which are done without the heavenly Jerusalem. But the winepress of wrath is so named in the same form of speech, as it is said, “The Lord delivered him in the evil day.”

20. blood. There went forth vengeance, even to the rulers of the people. For in the last contest there went forth vengeance even to the devil and his angels, because of the blood of the saints which was shed; as it is written, “In blood thou hast sinned, and blood pursueth thee.” Concerning the horses, it has been spoken above.

hundred. That is, through all the four parts of the world. For quaternity is multiplied by itself, as in the four faces with four sides, and the wheels. Tichonius interprets the reaper and the grape-gatherer of the Church, as it becomes glorious after the flames of persecution, and holds the power of binding and loosing. The angel from the temple, or the altar, proclaims the empire of the blood-red Lord, not with open voice, but by the suggestion of the Holy Spirit, Whose operation is in His body, and shews that it is now the time for the bad to be accursed; and he has power over the fire, namely, that which went forth from the mouth of the witnesses, and devoured their adversaries. Thus far concerning the conflict of the Church, and the perfect end of either contest.

[Stone]

ON CHAPTER 15

v. 1. sign. Again the order is renewed. And as in he were about to relate the same plagues of the last persecution, he wished the hearer to be made attentive, in that he said, “a sign great and marvellous.”

seven. That is to say, the Church which is replete with sevenfold grace.

last. He calls them “the last,” because in them the wrath of God is consummated. For the wrath of God ever smites the rebellious people with seven plagues. He says repeatedly in Leviticus, “And I will smite you with seven plagues.” And these are to be the last, when the Church shall have come forth from the midst of it.

2. glass. That is, the pellucid fount of Baptism, which is consecrated by the fire of the Holy Ghost. Or else: because it pertains to the nature of fire, in that it is made red by martyrdom.

victory. They who overcome the wiles of the beast, appear in consequence to stand upon a baptism of fire. For they desire, as the Apostle says, “to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered unto the saints.”

harps. That is, they have the hearts of those who praise dedicated to God, and melodious with the truth of both Testaments; or, the flesh extended on the wood of passion. And here, not the sound of the voice alone is signified, but the operation of a good work.

3. Great and marvellous. I have found this song in both Testaments, where the Lord, both true and merciful, is celebrated as the Judge Who is to be worshipped by all ages.

5. temple. He repeats what he had set forth before, and the vision accords with the song. For, in order that the Lord may be worshipped by all nations, the temple of the mysteries of God, formerly inclosed within the walls of one city, now begins to be opened spiritually to the world.

6. came. This is the same with that which Mark says, “But they went forth, and preached everywhere.”

linen. “As many of you,” the Apostle says, “as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” For “He is the chief corner-stone, elect.” Or, if the singular be understood to be put for the plural, it signifies various ornaments of virtues. Another translation has, “white linen,” which indicates mortification of the flesh in teachers, according to this, “I chastise my body, and subject it to servitude, lest perchance, while preaching to others, I myself be found reprobate.”

girdle. Let him who desires to preach strong things not only mortify the body, but also bind the breast with the gold of wisdom. Or, at least, to bind the breasts with golden girdles, is to restrain all the motions of changeful thoughts by the bands of the love of God alone.

7. seven vials. These are the bowls which are carried with their odours by the living creatures and the elders, who are the Church, and who are also the seven angels. The same bowls are said to contain both the sweetness of supplications, and the wrath of punishments. For they are poured forth by the saints before the advent of the kingdom of God, when the judgments of God, which are now no longer secret as the abyss, but open as the bowls, are announced as being salvation to the righteous, but destruction to the ungodly. As the Apostle says, “Because we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ in those who are saved, and in those who perish.”

8. smoke. The Church, when it is to preach to the nations, is first influenced itself with the fire of love, and sends forth the smoke of pious confession, while it “gives thanks to God for His unspeakable gift.”

enter. No one is able to be incorporated among the members of the Church, but he who hears the mysteries of faith from the preachers, and learns that Jesus is constituted by God the Judge both of the living and the dead. But if thou shalt interpret the smoke to be the secret judgment of God, these remain impenetrable, and closed to mortal men “until,” after the plagues of the present age are ended, “the Lord come, Who is both to bring to light even the hidden things of darkness, and make manifest” how much the coming of Antichrist confers which is either of utility in proving the faith of the Church, or of judgment in blinding the eyes of the Jews, “Who received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.”

[Stone]

ON CHAPTER 16

v. 1. pour out. Power was given to the Church to impose judgment upon those who are to be condemned, and to give absolution in mercy to those who are converted. And to all the angels indeed was the command given, to pour upon the earth. But the same men of earth, according to the difference of sins, have different appellations assigned, that the fulness of guilt also might be reckoned by the number seven, as well as that of preaching and vengeance.

2. earth. Preachers pour out the wrath of God in a twofold manner, while they either impose the punishments of the ungodly upon the ungodly themselves by judging spiritually; as Peter said to Simon, “Thy money perish with thee;” or they manifest it to holy Church by preaching, as he also said, “For their judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their perdition slumbereth not.” A third manner may also be understood, in that each sinner, as the preaching of the truth is heard, is destroyed by the severer wound of contradiction, of which the Lord said, “If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin.”

Lore. They who forsake the lord, and worship the devil, will spiritually perish from the most grievous wound of the same ungodliness.

3. sea. They who not only are stamped with the mark of Antichrist, but who also assail the stedfastness of the servants of Christ with the waves of bitter persecution, will be punished with a spiritual retribution which he calls blood; and they who boasted that they were alive, will be proved to have served the author of death.

4. waters. And they also who pretend that they give to drink sweet things, in order that they may pour out their poison upon the incautious, will be punished with the worthy retribution of a continual plague.

angel. In the angel of the waters he speaks of all the angels of the peoples, who in inner affection are united in singing the praises of God; for that inavenging the blood of His servants, He has made their murderers to drink of death.

7. judgments. That which the angels are, the same also is the altar giving thanks to God, that is, the inner affection of saints, or angels, or men, who bear rule over the peoples by teaching.

8. sun. The persecutors of the Church, who, like the fiery sun, strive to dry up the seed of the word of God, are to be burned in the future with the fire of hell. Or, if thou interpret the sun of the brightness of the wise, it is not given to the angel who pours out upon the waters to scorch men with heat and with fire, but to the same sun. For while the wise, overcome by torments, are infected by the error of evil doing, the weak, induced by their example, are inflamed with temporal desires. But the heat, as we said, may also be understood to be, that the body of the devil is incurably tormented and incited to blasphemy by the stedfastness of the saints, of which the prophet says, “Wrath takes hold of the people without understanding,” and “now fire devours the adversaries.” And that “now” forsooth, for indeed the fire of the last judgment is reserved.

9. men. At the present time indeed, so far as is permitted, the devil glorifies his own, which glory and joy the Holy Spirit has described to be plagues and sorrows. For we read also above, that the army of the devil killed men with fire, smoke, and brimstone; not that he killed them openly, but that he doomed those who are consentient with him to these flames.

10. seat of the beast. The seat of the beast, that is, his kingdom, as it were the judiciary power, is darkened by plagues of this kind, that is, by the false joy of earthly felicity, and is made to be without light; as the Psalm has, “Thou didst cast them down, while they were lifted up.” For he said not, after they were lifted up.

tongues. As the righteous “will eat the labours of his own hands,” so the ungodly also, exposed to the just punishments of his blasphemy, is satiated as it were with his own tongue. They hurt themselves therefore who blasphemed, because of the wrath of God, with which when they were pierced through, they thought it joy.

11. repented not. He referred it not to their own hardness, but to the just indignation of God, Who sent on them a plague of such a kind, that in it they should not remember themselves. For who, when afflicted in body, does not feel the hand of God, like Antiochus. “They blasphemed,” he said, that is, not openly, but by luxuriating in sins.

12. Euphrates. While the people perish, the affluence of Babylon, in which there is nothing living, nothing green, which is not fit for fire, will remain. This is the same that he said above, “The harvest of the earth is dried,” the saints of the king hasten to meet the Sun of Righteousness. Otherwise: as “while the ungodly is lifted up, the poor is consumed,” so when the pestilent is scourged, the wise will become more astute. And now, in his accustomed manner, he passes over the seventh angel, and recapitulates briefly from the beginning

13. frogs. The spirit of the devil, and of Antichrist, and of those who are set over his body, which is spoken of as threefold, according to the number of the parts of a body, is compared with frogs, to creatures, that is, which are horrible in their haunts, their appearance, and their vexatious croaking, which although they seem to be inhabitants of the waters, yet move about in filth and mud. For hypocrites indeed, while they promise their own the water of life, lie dead and hidden beneath the filth which believers deposit in the water. So Pharaoh, who to destroy the people at their Baptism went in after them, was therein slain.

14. demons. For as was done by the magicians of Pharaoh, so is it to be supposed that these will perform signs. And not without reason did he remember these, when he had made mention of frogs, but that he might announce that the ministers of Satan would then also perform similar signs. For the magicians were permitted to prevail by their enchantments as far as the sign of frogs.

kings. As there are holy kings to whom, when the Euphrates is dried, the way of the East is laid open; so also are there said to be evil kings of the earth, who, without being gathered together from the whole world into one place, but each nation in its place, are to fight against the saints. By “the great day of the Lord,” he means the whole time from the Lord’s Passion. “The day” may also be taken to be the day of judgment, when the army of the devil, which has been gathered together through the whole time of the present life, will meet the Lord, the King, that it may be overthrown.

15. I come. Another version has more suitably, “At the great day of God Almighty: behold He cometh as a thief.”

Blessed. Blessed are they whose sins are covered, who hide the baseness of a reprehensible life before the eyes of the just at the judgment, by the covering of subsequent good works. In the Gospel also, the Lord, under the example of the thief to be guarded against, commands His servants to watch.

16. Hermagedon. Elsewhere he explains this place, saying, “He gathered them together to battle, and they compassed the camp of the saints and the chosen city,” that is, the Church. On the contrary, the seat of the ungodly one, the devil, may also be understood, who in the man of perdition, inflated with the pride of usurped Deity, will rejoice to resume his former plotting, which was formerly interdicted by the Lord. For Hermagedon is interpreted, the “rising up together to former things,” or, “the round mountain.”

17. air. Above, the blood of vengeance went forth as far as the bridles of the horses, namely, the unclean spirits; and so here, when the same final vengeance was poured upon the same aërial powers, it is said that “it is done,” that is, that the end is come, when, as the Apostle says, “the last enemy, death, shall be destroyed.” Thus far, under the name of “plagues,” the last persecution is described; all which Tichonius will have to be understood in a contrary way. “It is, ‘the plague which cannot be healed,’ he says, and ‘the great wrath,’ to receive the power of sinning in an especial manner against the saints, and not as yet to be overtaken by the greater wrath of God. The accession of blessedness indeed, is the death of the wicked, as on the contrary, torments and humiliation are the glory of the Church. For at that very time all the ungodly will be unhurt by any plague of the body, as they who have received all power to rage. Nor in the completion of sins, and the consummation of wrath, will there then be need that any one of the wicked should be scourged and restrained from fury. He recapitulates from the same persecution, and describes the fall of the ungodly city.”

18. lightnings. At the end of the world, when there shall be such tribulation as has not been from the beginning, the greatest signs will in like manner be shewn, but whether on the side of the good, or on the side of the bad, or on both sides, as it was in the instance of Moses and the magicians of Pharaoh, is not here sufficiently apparent.

19. divided. The ungodly city wages a threefold war against the Church of Christ. For the heathen and Jews attack it in open conflict, heretics by treacherous defection, false brethren by evil examples. And this has been represented above in the three bad horses, red, black, and pale.

cities. That is to say, all the strength and confidence of the nations. For the mirth of the ungodly is their great fall, and the joy of the unjust their destruction.

wrath. Babylon then falls, or drinks the wrath of God, when it receives power against Jerusalem, especially at the last. Therefore he says that it has fallen by the earthquake, which He makes for the Church. But if thou shalt refer it to the day of judgment, the ungodly, who now says in his heart, “God hath forgotten,” will then come into remembrance with God.

20. island. The Church, which from the height of its stability is compared with islands and mountains, prudently hides itself from the waves of the persecutors.

21. hail. The hail of the wrath of God is likened to a talent; for it is both heavy in weight, and equal in judgment, and is inflicted upon all according to the diversity of their faults. And all the plagues of Egypt were figures of spiritual plagues.

blasphemed. That is, because some sins are the cause of sin, some the punishment of sin, some both; as Isaiah says, “Behold thou art wroth, and we have sinned.” In this place “to blaspheme God, because of the hail,” is acknowledged to be both sin, and the punishment of sin.