Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
The matter of the preceding chapter is continued by means of a new vision in which the subject is taken up again from a more remote starting point; for John sees an Angel holding the key of the abyss, who binds Satan in the abyss for a thousand years, during which the souls of the Martyrs and Saints reign with Christ in heaven. Then, at verse 7, after the thousand years Satan is said to be loosed for a little while; and once loosed, he will gather the nations, Gog and Magog, to the Antichrist, that they may fight on his behalf against Christ and the Christians: but God will breathe upon them and destroy them by fire sent from heaven; and Satan and the Antichrist He will hurl down into the abyss. Then, at verse 11, Christ comes to judgment, the dead small and great rise, the books are opened, and from these the dead, now raised again, are judged according to the works of each; and at last death and hell, together with the impious who are not written in the book of life, are cast into the lake of fire.
Vulgate Text: Apocalypse 20:1-15
1 And I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand. 2 And he laid hold on the dragon the old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. 3 And he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should no more seduce the nations, till the thousand years be finished. And after that, he must be loosed a little time. 4 And I saw seats; and they sat upon them; and judgment was given unto them; and the souls of them that were beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God, and who had not adored the beast nor his image, nor received his character on their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 5 The rest of the dead lived not, till the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection. In these the second death hath no power; but they shall be priests of God and of Christ; and shall reign with Him a thousand years. 7 And when the thousand years shall be finished, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the earth, Gog, and Magog, and shall gather them together to battle, the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. 8 And they came upon the breadth of the earth, and encompassed the camp of the saints, and the beloved city. 9 And there came down fire from God out of heaven, and devoured them; and the devil, who seduced them, was cast into the pool of fire and brimstone, 10 Where both the beast and the false prophet shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. 11 And I saw a great white throne, and one sitting upon it, from whose face the earth and heaven fled away, and there was no place found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing in the presence of the throne, and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged by those things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13 And the sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and hell gave up their dead that were in them; and they were judged every one according to their works. 14 And hell and death were cast into the pool of fire. This is the second death. 15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life, was cast into the pool of fire.
Verse 1: I Saw an Angel Coming Down from Heaven, Having the Key of the Bottomless Pit
Alcazar, after his usual fashion, refers and applies all this to the Roman Church — as though, after the burning of Babylon (that is, of Rome), namely the mystical fire of charity, when under Constantine the public exercise of the Christian faith began in her, Satan was bound so that he might never at any time be able to overthrow or abolish it. This state of things, then, was to endure until the time of the Antichrist, who for a brief space will abolish it; but once he is dead it will be restored again, and will continue until the day of judgment, when it will be transformed into the heavenly kingdom, blessed and glorious. He therefore holds that Satan is here bound for this purpose: lest he should hinder the nuptials of the Lamb with the Roman Church — just as Raphael bound Asmodeus lest he hinder the nuptials of Tobias with Sara (Tobit viii, 3). From this he further endeavors to prove that all the preceding visions, beginning from chapter 15, are to be understood up to this point of the primitive Church's victory against paganism, because in the next chapter Satan is said to be bound for a thousand years. Therefore, he says, the binding of Satan followed after the destruction of Babylon, after the battle of Michael with the dragon, etc. Therefore this destruction, this battle, etc., do not occur under Antichrist at the end of the world; but rather already happened long ago in the conversion of the Gentiles, when Rome publicly professed Christianity; for then Satan was bound for a thousand years. For after Antichrist there will not remain a thousand years for the world, that Satan should only then be bound.
But I reply with Ribera that this is a new vision, as is wont to happen in the Prophets, in which certain things already long since accomplished are advanced and repeated by hysterologia (i.e., in reverse order of occurrence). For the binding of Satan, accomplished long ago by Christ, is here narrated by John, and traced from its beginning: and this for the purpose of passing thence to recount the same Satan's loosing, which will happen at the end of the world in the times of Antichrist. For how could Satan be understood to be loosed from his chains, unless first it were narrated that He had long since, a thousand years ago, been bound by Christ with those very chains?
1. AND I SAW AN ANGEL COMING DOWN FROM HEAVEN, HAVING THE KEY OF THE ABYSS. — This Angel is Christ, says St. Augustine in book XX of De Civitate Dei, chapter vii, and so do Viegas and Alcazar; for Christ has the key of the abyss, and laid hold of and bound the demon with the chain of His own dominion.
But more simply and plainly here, just as in chapter ix, verse 1, we shall take the Angel in the proper sense, namely as the one who presides and is, so to speak, the praetor of hell. Hence he has the key of the abyss, that is, he has the power of opening hell, and of thrusting the devil — namely Lucifer — into it, and of binding him there by a chain, that is, by the divine command and its restraining and coercive power (about which I spoke in chapter ix, verse 14), and that for a thousand years, that is, for the entire time of Christ's reign in this life, namely in the Church Militant, until Antichrist; for a thousand is a perfect number, of square and solid form: for ten times ten makes a hundred, and ten times a hundred makes a thousand. Thus a thousand is the squaring of ten, and therefore signifies the fullness and totality of time, says St. Augustine and others passim. Or a thousand, that is, very many years; for a definite number is put for an indefinite.
HAVING THE KEY OF THE ABYSS, — namely of hell. Mystically, Ansbert and Haymo take the abyss to mean the multitude of the wicked, to whom the demon is, as it were, bound. Again Alcazar: "In the abyss," he says, "that is, in the most just judgment of God (for the judgments of God are a great abyss), the demon is bound and shut up."
Verse 2: He Laid Hold on the Dragon, the Old Serpent, and Bound Him for a Thousand Years
THE ANCIENT SERPENT, — because the devil from of old in Paradise, through the serpent, killed the first humans with the poison of his envy, says St. Leo.
AND BOUND HIM FOR A THOUSAND YEARS. — The Arabic version: "into a thousand years." With what chains demons are bound I said in chapter ix, verse 14. Note that this binding of the demon for a thousand years is reckoned and explained by interpreters in five ways. For first, some begin these thousand years from the passion of Christ and end them at Antichrist; second, others begin them from the Emperor Constantine or from the death of Julian: for then idolatry, as it were, perished at the same time; third, others after Constantine; fourth, others from the death or time of Antichrist; fifth, others begin them from the day of judgment, and say they are to be completed in the kingdom of heaven. I omit the opinion of Prosper in De Dimidio Temporis, chapter iv, who begins these thousand years from the beginning of the 70 weeks of Daniel, since this is his singular and unique opinion.
First, from the passion of Christ they begin: St. Gregory, Augustine, Primasius, Bede, Andreas, Viegas, and Pererius in book XV on Daniel. For Christ on the cross took away from the devil his usurped right and power over humans, and bound him. Hence He Himself says: "Now shall the prince of this world be cast out;" but under Antichrist he will be loosed and will recover his strength, and will exercise it through Antichrist. So from the time of Christ on the cross Satan, that is, the prince of demons (whence in Greek there is an article; and St. Prosper in De Dimidio Temporis reads: "that great dragon, that ancient serpent"), namely Lucifer, was really and personally banished to hell, and there bound, so that he could not come forth from it, nor harm men as he could if he were present among them, until the time of Antichrist: for then he will be loosed and come forth. This is expressly taught by St. Gregory in book IV of the Moralia, XII, Ambrose, Andreas, Lactantius in book VII of the Divine Institutes, xxv and xxvi, Ribera, and Viegas, who teach that here a certain secret is disclosed, namely that in the passion and death of Christ a certain angel descended from heaven who would bind Satan in Gehenna, that he might not come forth from it until the time of Antichrist. Again Lucifer was bound, lest through his demons, who act among us, he should exert his whole power against the Church, lest he seduce the nations from which the Church is constituted, says St. Augustine — those whom he had previously seduced and held in subjection — but he is compelled to permit them to be freely converted to Christ, and that the faith of Christ may be propagated throughout the world among all nations, says St. Augustine, sermon 197 De Tempore. So St. Athanasius relates in the Life of St. Antony, that the devil on one occasion fell down at the feet of St. Antony, saying: "Why do men curse me? Let them blame themselves if they fall; for I can do nothing, unless they willingly submit themselves to me." And St. Antony adds: "He has been hooked by the hook of the cross by the Lord like a dragon, and bound with a halter like a beast of burden, and like a fugitive slave bound with a collar, and his lips pierced with a ring, he will not be permitted to devour any of the faithful. Now miserable as a sparrow, ensnared by Christ for sport, he groans trampled under the heel of Christians. He who once boasted that he had wiped out all the seas, he who promised that the whole earth would be held in his hand — behold, he is conquered by us, behold, he cannot prevent me from disputing against him." See St. Augustine, in the place cited above.
Thus in the Life of Sts. Marcellinus and Peter, Martyrs (June 2), we read that this Peter the Exorcist, in order to show the power of Christ to Artemius, prefect of the prison, came forth from prison by divine power, his chains loosed, and stood at the table of Artemius and his wife Candida and daughter Paulina, who was possessed by a demon, who suddenly fleeing at Peter's presence, exclaimed: "The power of Christ, which is in thee, O Peter, has bound me and drives me out;" so that Paulina was utterly freed and made well. Whereupon Artemius with his wife came to Peter's feet, became a Christian, and at last with them escaped as a martyr. For, as St. Augustine says (XX De Civit., viii): "The binding of the devil has not only happened from when the Church began to extend itself among the nations, but it is also happening now, and shall happen until the end of the age; because for each one of the faithful, this strong one is bound when, as a vessel, he is wrested from him." See what was said on chapter ix, verse 14. Whence appositely St. Cyprian, in his treatise De Opere et Eleemosynis, brings in the devil thus insulting before Christ the judge those Christians who consented to his temptation: "For these whom you see with me, I received no slaps, I sustained no scourges, I bore no cross, I shed no blood, nor did I redeem my household at the price of suffering and gore; nor do I promise them a heavenly kingdom, nor do I recall them to Paradise with restored immortality; and yet they procure for me gifts, how precious, how grand, sought with how excessive and prolonged labor, with most sumptuous arrangements! Your such gift-givers, O Christ, show forth, instructed by Your precepts, who shall receive heavenly things in exchange for earthly ones — those rich men, those copiously flowing with abundance; do they offer such gifts in the Church while You preside and look on? In these fading and earthly gifts of mine no one is fed, no one is clothed, no one is sustained by the comfort of any food; everything perishes amid the fury of the eater and the error of the spectator, in the prodigal and stupid vanity of pleasures that frustrate. There in Your poor You are clothed and fed, You promise eternal life to those who labor, and scarcely are mine, who waste themselves on me, equal to Yours, who are honored by You with divine wages and heavenly rewards. What shall we answer to these things, dearest brethren?"
Furthermore, that these thousand years are finished at Antichrist, and that Satan must then be loosed, is expressly taught by St. Augustine in the book cited, chapter vii, Gregory in book IX of the Moralia, chapter i, and book XXXV, chapter xx, Primasius, Bede, and others passim.
Second, from the time of Constantine, who publicly introduced the practice of Christianity, paganism having been abolished, Ferdinandus Castiglius in his History of St. Dominic, part II, chapter 1, and others, begin these thousand years, and end them at the beginning of the Ottoman Empire; for then Satan seems to have been loosed, when Ottoman became the first Emperor of the Turks, whom his successors have followed down to this day. For from A.D. 300, in which Constantine reigned, to A.D. 1300, in which Ottoman began, there are precisely a thousand years.
Again, Ubertino da Casale says that Satan was bound under Constantine, but loosed under Pope John XXII, who began to sit (as Pope) in A.D. 1316. For Ubertino, offended by him as being less favorable to the Mendicant Orders, was angry against him and called him a mystical Antichrist. But unjustly: for it was bile that made him spew forth these words against a legitimate Pontiff. For John rightly judged the Emperor an enemy of the Church and laid him under interdict from the sacred rites, because he had created Peter Corbario as Antipope. Furthermore, Alcazar begins these thousand years from Constantine, who exalted Christianity, and ends them at Antichrist. But these are accommodated readings, not genuine or literal, especially since St. John the Evangelist, chapter xii, verse 31, and the other Evangelists (as Matt. xii, 29, Mark iii, 27, Luke xi, 22) teach that Satan was bound while Christ was living and remaining: therefore these thousand years are to be reckoned from the time of Christ, not Constantine.
Third, after Constantine, Aureolus begins these thousand years, namely from Pope Calixtus II, in A.D. 1122. For he thinks that this Angel is Pope Calixtus, who has the key of the abyss, that is, the power of closing the gates of hell and opening the gates of heaven. He bound Satan, because he took away from the Emperor the right of investing Bishops and Abbots by giving them the ring and staff, which they had usurped for 300 years from Charlemagne. Therefore under Calixtus II, the Emperor Henry V, coming to Rome, renounced this right in A.D. 1122, although Gregory VII, Victor, Urban, and Paschal had previously attempted the same but had been unable to accomplish it. Calixtus therefore bound Satan for a thousand years, that is, in perpetuity for as long as the Church shall last. But this too is an accommodation of a most weighty prophecy to a matter trifling and slight by comparison.
Fourth, the Chiliasts or Millenarians begin these thousand years from the death of Antichrist; their leader was Papias, disciple of St. John the Apostle, whom Cerinthus the heretic followed, and from among the Catholics Irenaeus, Tertullian, Lactantius, Victorinus, Apollinaris, Severus, Justin, and others. For these thought that what Christ had predicted and promised concerning the peace and felicity of the Church had not yet been fulfilled, but were to be fulfilled after Antichrist, when, after he has been overcome, the just shall rise and reign with Christ on earth for a thousand years: wherefore Satan must be bound for them. And so they taught that after six thousand years, during which this world shall stand, there would follow a sabbath, or seventh millennium of years, in which the Saints with Christ would reign on earth in the greatest delights — either bodily, of gluttony and luxury, as the impure Cerinthus wished, or rather spiritual, as Irenaeus and others wished: and this once pleased St. Augustine, as he himself reports in book XX of De Civitate, vii. They said therefore that this is the first resurrection, of which John here speaks: after which they said that a second would follow, in which they would be transferred from earth to heaven, which was the eighth millennium of happiness and eternity. Whence they take the following chapter to be about this first resurrection: for they said this was the new Jerusalem coming down from heaven to earth. Into this error they were led by this passage of the Apocalypse, which seems to assert it. Whence others, diametrically opposed to them, in order to overthrow this error, rejected the Apocalypse and attributed it to the heretic Cerinthus, who was among the first Chiliasts.
This therefore is the error of the Millenarians: I do not dare to call it heresy, because I do not have explicit Scriptures or Decrees of Councils by which this opinion is condemned as heretical. Whence even St. Augustine, in the place cited, did not dare to condemn it. Yet it is sufficiently convicted of error, and could be condemned by the Church as heretical (as our Father Salas and others condemn it). First, from those Scriptures and Pontifical Decrees which teach that pure and holy souls, having ended this life, fly straight to heaven: for from this it follows that they do not dwell on earth for a thousand years.
Second, from those texts which teach that there is only one resurrection properly so called, namely of bodies coming back to life, and that this will be at the end of the world, namely at the day of judgment: from this it follows that souls thereafter will not tarry in this world and on earth for a thousand years. Such Scriptures are: Job xix, 25: "On the last day I shall rise from the earth, and in my flesh I shall see God my Saviour." And Paul, I Cor. xv, 52, says we shall rise "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet." John himself sufficiently insinuates the same in this chapter, verses 12 and 13.
Third, from those texts which teach that after the resurrection the Blessed shall not have carnal delights but spiritual, as in Matt. xxii, 30: "In the resurrection they will neither marry nor be given in marriage, but will be as the Angels of God."
Fourth, from those texts which teach that at the resurrection we shall be caught up to meet Christ in the air, as is said in 1 Thess. iv, 16.
Fifth, because here in verse 7 it is said: "When the thousand years are finished, Satan shall be loosed, and shall seduce the Nations, etc., Gog and Magog." Now these will be the leaders and army of Antichrist, who is to come before the end of the world and before the resurrection. Therefore these thousand years will not follow but precede Antichrist and the end of the world. Therefore they are years of this life and age, not of the resurrection.
Finally, the later Fathers and the sense of the Church have rejected this opinion: whence it now seems to have died out.
To the Chiliasts in part accedes the opinion of Abbot Joachim, of Pannonius, Seraphinus, and Bullinger, who think that Christ's so magnificent promises concerning the peace and happiness of the Church have not yet been fulfilled, but are to be fulfilled after Antichrist. At that time, therefore, there will be in the Church no heresy or enemy that may afflict or disturb her, and the faithful themselves will be saints, so that they need no correction or reformation of morals: for all will be "taught of the Lord," and there will then be on earth an example of the heavenly monarchy. Wherefore they teach from the Sibyl that after the death of Elijah and Enoch, 350 years will remain until the day of judgment; concerning this see Langius on Justin, volume two, fol. 72. Ubertino indeed doubles these years, saying they will be 700. But these things are said gratuitously and without foundation, nor do they agree with Scripture, which teaches that Antichrist will come at the end of the world, and that not long after Antichrist there will be the final judgment and resurrection, as St. John here sufficiently insinuates, when after the slaughter of Gog, Magog, and the army of Antichrist, he passes immediately in verse 11 to the day of judgment. Whence Hortulanus on Canticles, fol. 386, where he teaches the same opinion as Joachim, in order to escape these difficulties, asserts that these thousand years of the Church's happiness will be not after but before Antichrist. But this too is fictitious, especially since up to these very times, which gradually approach Antichrist, there has never been an age without heresy, enemy, and disturbance of the Church, such as he supposes will exist for a thousand years before Antichrist — just as Q. Julius Hilarion supposed in his book De Duratione Mundi, tome VII of the Bibliotheca SS. Patrum.
To their opinion accedes Petrus Galatinus here — whom I read in manuscript in the Vatican Library — who reckons these thousand years of the binding of Satan from the time of Christ, but asserts that the principal part of them will be in the age of an angelic Shepherd (Pope), who will be of admirable humility, wisdom, and holiness, and will have twelve Apostles like Christ, with whom he will reform, and will first under the Apostles restore the Church to splendor; after whom Antichrist will follow, who will subvert all things, and then Satan, previously bound, will be loosed. This angelic Shepherd is promised by St. Catherine of Siena (in Ambrosius Catharinus, book III of her Life, chapter iii) and the Revelations of Blessed Amadeus, from whom Galatinus seems to have borrowed, and many others who await him. Whether rightly and truly, the age of those who come after will teach. To me it is certain that he is here neither described nor promised by St. John. In the prophecy of St. Malachy, which Arnold Wion recites in book II Lignum Vitae, chapter XL at the end, the Angelic Shepherd is placed sixth from the end in the series of future Popes, that is, sixth from Peter the Roman, who is placed as the last Pope.
Fifth, Alphonsus a Castro, in book III Contra Haereses, under the word Beatitudo, heresy 2, begins these thousand years from the day of the final judgment, where he teaches that by these thousand years is denoted the eternity of the Blessed in joy and heavenly glory. So too St. Justin, in the book De Veritate Christianae Religionis, asserts that John in the Apocalypse treats of a thousand years, and that the tree of life is those very thousand years. For he says: "In these words, 'According to the days of the tree of life shall be the days of My people,' etc., we understand that a thousand years are designated in a hidden mystery. For just as it was said to Adam that on the day he ate of the tree of life he would die, we know that he did not complete a thousand years. We know also that this saying — 'A day with the Lord is as a thousand years' — pertains here." To this in part accedes Viegas writing at verse 4, as I shall say there.
Furthermore, what is said about Satan being loosed after the thousand years, they explain thus, as if to say: When the thousand years have been touched (i.e., are reached), that is, that Satan has been bound for eternity; yet for those who are in the world he remains loosed; or, when for those dying piously beatitude begins, then for others being born and living, war begins. But this is a violent and twisted explanation. For — to pass over other points — after these thousand years John asserts that Satan is to be loosed, who will gather Gog and Magog for battle, and after they are slain there will be the judgment and resurrection, as appears in verses 7, 11, and 12, and from there he describes the glory of the Saints in heaven in chapters xxi and xxii, with which he closes the Apocalypse. Therefore these thousand years will not follow but precede the judgment, resurrection, and glory of the Blessed.
The first exposition, therefore, since it has the most numerous and weighty authors, also seems most genuine and true.
Finally, our Turrianus, in book De Eucharistia, xxxi, and Alcazar think that St. John here alludes to Isaiah xxiv, 21 and 22, where it is said: "In that day the Lord shall visit upon the army of heaven on high, and upon the kings of the earth who are upon the earth; and they shall be gathered together into a pit, and shall be shut up there in prison, and after many days they shall be visited." For they say the kings are demons, whom Paul calls "the rulers of the world." But although some allusion and similitude may seem to be in the words, yet the meaning and sense of Isaiah is altogether different, as I have shown there; that of John is different.
The Anglo-Calvinist counts these thousand years from A.D. 300, in which the Christian Constantine reigned, and so Satan was bound; and he terminates them at A.D. 1300: for then Satan was loosed, because then began the Turkish empire, namely the Ottoman, which has devastated and is devastating the Church of God. He adds that meanwhile, during these thousand years, the faithful reign in secret — that is, follow the true faith — even though the beast rules, that is, the Antichrist, namely the Roman Pontiff. But how is Satan bound during these thousand years, since (as he himself asserts) the beast — that is, Antichrist — reigns during them in the Church? What greater liberty for Satan will there be, what greater kingdom of his, than in the time of Antichrist, in which Satan will work and rule with all his might in every power and deception, as St. Paul says (2 Thess. ii, 10)? Furthermore, what the heretic adds and divines — nay, raves — is ridiculous and stupid: first, that the Turkish empire is to last "a little time," as John here says — namely only "to an hour, a day, a month, and a year," that is, 390 years. "If we follow the reckoning of Julian years," he says, "the impious kingdom will not be extended beyond seven years more: it must then be utterly extinguished, not even with a vestige of its name surviving."
Second, he asserts that the first resurrection was effected by John Wycliffe and the like, who likewise — an Englishman — in A.D. 1300 (but he errs: for Wycliffe began in 1352) opposed himself to the papacy and restored the true faith of the Church. So then, do the Calvinists transform themselves into Hussites and Wycliffites? Precisely so: for unknowingly and unwillingly they here speak the truth. For if you compare the articles of Wycliffe, which Prateolus recites in book X of the Waldenses, and others, with the articles of Luther and Calvin, you will clearly see that the latter begged their heresies from him, and so that Lutheranism and Calvinism are nothing else than a re-festering and restoration of preceding heresies, condemned in the Councils of Rome and Constance.
Third, he adds that, after these thousand years, which end in A.D. 1300, there will follow another thousand years, in which the faithful, with the Papacy and Turkism overthrown (which, he says, we expect in the near future), will reign with Christ in the Church; when these are completed, Satan will be loosed a second time and will seduce Gog and Magog.
So he; but these things diametrically fight against the words and mind of St. John, as well as against the outcome of events and against orthodox faith. For first, St. John asserts that these thousand years are of the first resurrection, in which the souls of the Martyrs reign with Christ in heaven, just as Christians with Christ's Vicar the Roman Pontiff in the Church; and accordingly that Satan is bound during them, but is to be loosed when they are completed, that he may seduce Gog and Magog. These thousand years, therefore, are simple and the same — not double and diverse: namely, they are the years of Christ's reign in heaven and in the Church, and once they are completed, Satan will be loosed only once — not twice, as John here teaches.
Second, how can A.D. 1300 be called the first resurrection on account of a few Wycliffites, when rather it should be called the second death on account of the persecutions and slaughters of the Ottomans, who then began to range about? Add that, before the Ottomans, from the time of Mohammed, who lived in A.D. 600, both he and his successors always afflicted the Church, and that grievously.
Third, he himself divines that the Turkish Empire, just like the Papacy, will not last more than seven years. But he divined and wrote this in A.D. 1609 (for the book itself attests that it was printed). But now it is the year of the Lord 1620, that is, the twelfth after his prophecy, in which both the Papacy and Turkism are still standing. Therefore the false prophet errs and is deceived, and deceives, since after the seventh year — in which he predicted they would perish — they continue for five more years, and no sign or beginning of their destruction appears.
Fourthly, the thousand years of Christ's reign do not follow the thousand years in which Satan is bound, but are the same with them: for the reign of Christ is the binding of Satan. For Christ, by reigning, has bound Satan: just as, on the contrary, the loosing of Satan under Antichrist will be the depression and almost the overthrow of Christ's reign — that is, of the Church.
Finally, the Orthodox and Roman Church will stand, the Pontificate will stand until the end of the world, as Christ promised to Peter, the first Pontiff, Matt. xvi, 18: "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." And it is said elsewhere repeatedly that Christ's kingdom — that is, the Church — will be eternal. Let the heretics, then, cease to hope for its imminent overthrow, as if after that they themselves would reign for a thousand years until the times of Gog and Magog. For, like lovers chasing novelties, they fashion dreams for themselves, foretelling that the ruin of the Pontificate, which they so eagerly wish for, is at hand. They learned this from their parent Luther, whose oracle and wish was the following:
Pestis eram vivens; moriens ero mors tua, Papa.
"Living, I was a plague to thee; dying, I will be thy death, O Pope."
But the impostor was false and deceived. For Luther died long ago, and yet the Pope lives and will live: but no doubt the love of heresy and license had driven him mad and bereft him of his wits, and the consequent hatred of the Pope and the Papacy followed.
Verse 3: And Set a Seal upon Him, That He Should No More Seduce the Nations
3. AND HE SEALED OVER HIM, — namely, the devil, as is clear from the Greek gender, which is masculine: he sealed, I say, the abyss, that is, hell, locking it most firmly upon Lucifer, so that he himself could not go out from it; and he did this by royal — that is, divine — power and authority, just as Daniel, chapter xiv, verse 13, says the temple of Bel was sealed with the king's ring. It is a catachresis; for the Angel did not properly seal — that is, impress some seal upon hell; and even had he impressed one, the devil, being a spirit, would easily and unharmed pass through it, as also through any bodies, prisons, and barriers: this seal would therefore be set upon the devil in vain. Therefore by this seal is symbolically signified only the firm binding and confinement of Lucifer in hell by divine authority and power, until the thousand years already mentioned, so that when these are completed he may be loosed for a brief time, namely for three and a half years during which Antichrist shall reign; and this for this purpose, says St. Augustine, book XXII De Civitate, chapter viii (where he treats this passage at length, but much of it mystically), so that his malicious power and the most faithful patience of the holy city may be proved, and in turn the kindly, useful, and...
Verse 4: I Saw Seats, and They Sat upon Them, and Judgment Was Given unto Them
4. AND I SAW THRONES (magnificent and august: for this is what the Greek word θρόνους signifies), AND THEY SAT UPON THEM, AND JUDGMENT WAS GIVEN TO THEM. — Alcazar takes these thrones to mean the public authority and majesty of the bishops, and especially of the Roman Pontiffs, and their judiciary power, which they obtained as soon as the public exercise of the Christian faith was introduced under Constantine, and so Satan was bound, together with his idolatrous worship. He therefore considers those sitting on these thrones to be the same as the twenty-four elders sitting on thrones in chapter IV. But since there follows: "And the souls of those beheaded, etc. And those who did not adore the beast," it is clear that these thrones pertain to another age and to the times of Antichrist.
Secondly, Aureolus, in his usual fashion, applies these thrones to the Premonstratensian and Cistercian Orders, which began to flourish again under St. Bernard in the year of the Lord 1135. For in these two religious orders, as upon thrones, many religious men sat, resting through contemplation, composure of the affections, and manifold perfection.
Thirdly, Viegas refers these thrones to the day of judgment, concerning which Christ said to the Apostles, Matthew xix, 28: "Ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." But these thrones are said to be in the thousand years of peace, which the Church shall enjoy before the second resurrection, which will be the resurrection of bodies on the day of judgment; whence he adds: "This is the first resurrection."
Fourthly, then, and properly, these thrones are seats on which, already throughout the thousand years of the Church's peace, sit the souls of those beheaded for Jesus' sake and of those who did not adore the beast. For they themselves are kings and princes in heaven, sitting as it were beside God and enjoying the vision of Him. Hence also "judgment was given to them," because by God they have been created and destined to be judges, that with Christ on the day of judgment they may judge the world. They have therefore now the judiciary power as it were in first act, but they will exercise its use and second act on the day of judgment. There is a hyperbaton. For the words must be arranged thus: "And I saw thrones and the souls of those beheaded, and they sat," that is, these souls, "upon them," the thrones: for John postpones "and the souls of those beheaded," because he was about to say more about them — namely that they had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the Word of God, as St. Paul, St. James, and other Apostles and Martyrs were beheaded. Again, to these beheaded souls he joins those who at the end of the world will not adore the beast, that is Antichrist, nor receive his mark. For both are witnesses of Jesus, and both partly already sit, and partly, dying at the end of the world, shall sit, on these thrones. It is a Hebraism: for the relative is placed before its antecedent.
Similar is Numbers xxiv, 17, where Balaam says: "I shall see Him, but not now;" and he explains whom he shall see when he adds: "There shall arise a star out of Jacob, and a rod shall rise from Israel;" as if he said: Christ will be the one whom I said I would see. Similar passages are found elsewhere. Ribera arranges and explains this somewhat differently, as if to say: I saw the souls of the Blessed on the thrones, and particularly the souls of the Martyrs; just as it is said in the last chapter of Mark, verse 7: "Tell His disciples, and Peter," that is, Tell the disciples, and especially Peter.
Mystically, St. Augustine, book XXII On the City, ix, and from him Bede, Rupert, and Ansbert, take this not of the final judgment, but of the present one, by which the Prelates in the Church have and exercise from Christ the power of binding and loosing: hence they say the beast is not Antichrist, but the people of unbelievers; and the image of the beast is the pretense of those who, though they profess the faith, nevertheless live unfaithfully.
This is mystical. For literally there is here shown to John in passing, as also in chapter vii, verse 9, the blessedness of the Saints, especially of those who shall resist Antichrist; for these shall sit as judges with Christ and shall with Him condemn the followers of Antichrist, so that by this means He may animate His faithful under Domitian, Trajan, etc., and posterity, especially those who shall live under Antichrist, with this hope of heavenly glory, to patience and fortitude, that they may stand bravely even unto death for Christ, and resist tyrants and Antichrist.
AND I SAW THE SOULS OF THOSE BEHEADED FOR THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS AND FOR THE WORD OF GOD, AND THOSE WHO DID NOT ADORE THE BEAST, etc., AND THEY LIVED AND REIGNED WITH CHRIST FOR A THOUSAND YEARS. — The Syriac: "And they reigned with their Christ for these thousand years." "They lived," that is, as if they had risen, passing into a blessed and immortal life. Hence concerning the reprobate He adds: "The rest of the dead lived not," that is, they did not rise to a blessed life.
Now first, Alcazar takes this life and resurrection mystically, as if to say: the souls of the beheaded Martyrs rose, not in themselves, but in the unbelievers who, by their example and martyrdom, were converted to the faith of Christ or confirmed in it. For the spirit, religion, and holiness of the Martyrs rises again in the faith of those who are converted to Christ, and consequently in the glory and splendor of the Roman Church. Again, the very souls of the Martyrs rise as it were in themselves: because they are honored on earth, celebrated, and publicly venerated from the time of Constantine, when the public profession of the Christian religion was made. In a similar way he explains what follows, as if by antithesis: "The rest of the dead lived not, until the thousand years were finished." For the sense is, says Alcazar, as if to say: tyrants and other reprobates already dead did not rise — that is, were not famous and illustrious in the world; but after a thousand years, when Satan shall be loosed at the time of Antichrist, then they will rise, that is, become famous and renowned. For Nero, Diocletian, and other reprobates will rise as it were in Antichrist and in his followers, who will praise, imitate, and even surpass the impiety and persecution of Nero, etc., against Christians.
Secondly, Aureolus supposes that by the souls of the beheaded is signified the great persecution of Saladin, who, seizing the kingdom of Egypt by craft in the year of Christ 1187, killed many Christians and took from them Jerusalem and the Holy Land (which the Christians, under the leadership of Godfrey of Bouillon, had recovered and held for 80 years). By those who did not adore the image of the beast, he understands the kings of France, England, and Sicily, who in the year of Christ 1191 took back Acre, and in the year of Christ 1217 Damietta. For these did not adore the beast, that is Saladin; nor his image, namely Mahomet; nor receive his mark, namely circumcision. Then therefore the Palestinians, who under Saladin seemed to be dead in Palestine, as it were lived again and reigned with Christ for a thousand years, namely by maintaining the kingdom of Christianity until the time of Antichrist, but not in Palestine. For from there the Christians have long since been expelled.
Again, Aureolus begins these thousand years from St. Sylvester the Pope, who held the see in the year of Christ 316: from then, he himself says, to the present year in which I write this, which is 1319, there are one thousand and three years. So in three years Antichrist ought already to have been born. But because he does not yet appear, the certainty of that number must be reserved to the Holy Spirit. Thus he himself, already three hundred years ago, confesses that he was wrong in his calculation. Add the three hundred years that have already elapsed since him, and the many that will elapse before Antichrist, and by experience itself you will recognize that he has greatly strayed from the truth in this calculation and conjecture.
Thirdly, Viegas takes these thousand years in verse 4 to mean eternity, through which the Saints after the judgment will reign with Christ in heaven. For this is what John seems here to say, when he says: "And they sat, and judgment was given to them;" and a little later: "And they lived, and reigned for a thousand years," namely after the day of judgment, which I treated at the end of the preceding chapter. But it stands against this that after these thousand years Satan is said to be loosed, who will gather Gog and Magog to fight for Antichrist against Christ and Christians. Viegas answers that the thousand years in this verse are different from those in verses 2 and 7, and that St. John is playing with the thousand years, as Daniel plays with the word time, Daniel vii, 12. But this is more involved and obscure, and greatly entangles this passage: nor does Holy Scripture usually thus play and equivocate with definite and determined numbers, especially when the article is prefixed to them, as in both places the same article is prefixed to these thousand years. Add that the very context of the whole chapter plainly suggests that the same thousand years are here treated. Finally, St. John calls this resurrection the first: therefore it will be before the second resurrection, which will take place at the last judgment. To Viegas's argument I reply that it is said of these souls, "They sat," namely as it were as princes and victors; add: and as it were judges, not present, but future. Hence "judgment was given to them," that is, the judiciary power, so that they should judge with Christ when He comes to judge the world, as if to say: These souls, here despised, beheaded, and as it were buried and consigned to oblivion, before God live and reign for a thousand years, and therefore sit on royal thrones, on which they shall judge their enemies. For John is accustomed to console the Martyrs and faithful in persecution by recalling to them the memory and hope of the judgment, in which they who were unjustly judged here will judge their judges and rulers by whom they were condemned. Again, John meets a tacit objection; for someone will say: If the Saints slain here will at last appear and judge at the end of the world, then have they been dead until the end of the world, or are they asleep, hiding in their tombs or caves? John answers, by no means. For these souls live and reign in the heavens, even though they are not seen by us. Add that John here acts as a prophet, and therefore by the prophetic spirit mingles distinct and remote times — namely, mingling the thousand years with the day of judgment. For this is the manner of the Prophets, who therefore often fly from one time to another, and soon fly back: hence too they have their hyperbata and hysterologies, as here in verses 5 and 7, where there is a manifest hysterology and anacephalaeosis, or recapitulation, as Viegas himself confesses.
By way of response, then, note that the Hebrews are accustomed often to refer their statements not to what immediately precedes, but to more remote things that went before earlier. So what is here said of these souls: "They lived, and reigned a thousand years," is to be referred not so much to the Confessors and Martyrs who refused to adore the beast, that is, Antichrist, which immediately preceded, as to the souls of the beheaded — namely those in the time of St. John under Domitian and other Roman tyrants. The sense therefore is, as if to say: The souls of these beheaded Martyrs, although they may seem to the impious to be dead and annihilated, nevertheless live in heaven and reign with Christ for the said thousand years — that is, throughout the entire course of the time of this age, which will flow from Christ to Antichrist and the day of judgment; during which those who were earlier beheaded have lived and reigned for many years, and those who were later for fewer, and they will live and reign until the end of the world, when they will rise gloriously in body, that they may reign perfectly and fully blessed in eternity: thus Primasius, Richard, Arethas, Ambrose, Bede, and others everywhere. The same thousand years therefore here are the thousand years as those in verses 2, 3, and 7; for the millenary, as I said, signifies a multitude and totality of time.
Furthermore, these thousand years, when the binding of Satan is treated, and he is said to be loosed after a thousand years, end precisely at the beginning of Antichrist's reign: for then Satan will be loosed. But when the same thousand years are attributed to the Saints, and it is said that their souls will reign with Christ for a thousand years in the first resurrection, then these thousand years, during which this reign of souls and their first resurrection lasts, extend to the second resurrection — namely, of bodies, which will take place on the day of judgment. Otherwise there would be a manifest contradiction, to assert that this reign of souls will be for a thousand years before Satan is loosed, and at the same time to say that this reign will be the reward of those who, after the loosing of Satan, were either persecuted or beheaded because they refused to adore Satan's beast, that is, Antichrist. You will rightly reconcile both in this way if you say that these thousand years, insofar as they regard the binding of Satan, end precisely with Antichrist; but insofar as they regard the reign and glory of souls, extend further to the near day of judgment, in which they shall obtain an eternal and altogether full reign. For the reign which they have once begun they will not lose, but they will retain the half-full one which they have obtained, until they obtain the full one on the day of judgment.
Finally, some suspect that by the thousand years which St. John here precisely assigns and repeats six times, are symbolically noted the thousand years during which the sect, kingdom, and persecution of Mahomet — namely, of the Saracens and Turks — would last. For this sect lasted very long and most grievously afflicted the Church, and was the type and forerunner of Antichrist: hence after it has been rooted out, and after some peace and flourishing of the Church, will follow the precursors of Antichrist, and Antichrist himself. And so they explain this passage thus: The Angel, they say, bound Satan — who before raged through the Simonians, Arians, Nestorians, Eutychians, Pelagians, and many other most powerful heretics — about the year of the Lord 630 in the abyss, that is, in the sect of Mahomet, which is an abyss and vortex of errors, lusts, and crimes. For after Mahomet there were not so many heresies and heretics as before, because Satan seems as it were bound to that sect, and being occupied in it exerts all his strength. After these thousand years, namely once the sect of Mahomet has been rooted out, Satan will be loosed, and will produce new and very many monsters of heresies, heretics, and persecutors, as he did before Mahomet. Hence in verse 4, John saw the souls of the beheaded (for very many of the faithful were killed and beheaded by the Saracens and Turks, because they refused to adore the beast, that is, to worship Mahomet, who instituted a carnal and beastly law), who during these thousand years in which the sect of Mahomet shall last, will reign with Christ in the heavens. Furthermore, "the rest of the dead lived not, until the thousand years were finished," as if to say: The Saracens, Turks, and other unbelievers, who through Mahometanism, infidelity, and other crimes are spiritually dead before God in soul and destined to eternal death, did not live during these thousand years of Mahomet's sect; but when these are completed they shall live, because they will be converted to Christ and shall live the life of grace and glory. This is the first resurrection, by which the greater part of the world will rise from the death of unbelief and sin to the life of faith and righteousness: to these will come the second resurrection, by which, rising, they will go into the blessed life and reign with Christ for a thousand years — that is, through all eternity. And when the former thousand years which precede the said first resurrection have been completed, Satan shall be loosed; for after the sect of Mahomet has been extinguished, Satan will stir up Gog and Magog, the precursors of Antichrist, and at last Antichrist himself.
They confirm this their opinion and explanation, first, because St. John, since in the Apocalypse he records the more notable and illustrious persecutions of the Church, does not seem to have omitted the greatest and longest, such as that of Mahomet and the Saracens; rather it is indicated above the others, but prophetically — that is, enigmatically and obscurely.
Secondly, that he treats here of the last times, and of their preludes and types, such as is the sect of Mahomet. Hence also in chapter vi, verse 8, he designated the sect of Mahomet by a pale horse on which Death sat, and soon after it he passes to the last times of Antichrist, as if these would shortly follow upon it.
Thirdly, that he assigns and repeats the thousand years so precisely so often in this chapter. Now we cannot find a thousand anywhere except in the sect of Mahomet. For Mahomet himself, whether inspired by God or by the devil, predicted that his sect and kingdom would last for a thousand years. The same was predicted by others, and this is the common voice and opinion of both Saracens and Christians, which the Mahometans hold as undoubted and most certain.
Fourthly, from the outcome of events. For we see, now that almost a thousand years of Mahometanism have been completed, this sect and its empire greatly tottering and declining. For the Turks are failing in spirits, in forces, in unity (since they stir up rebellions and ruinous schisms among themselves), in soldiery, in commanders, in money, and in other things by which the Christian Emperors, Kings, and Princes grow and rise. Indeed God heaps so many prosperous successes, victories, and benefits upon the Most Serene Emperor Ferdinand, since he is faithful, pious, merciful, and just beyond many, that we discern not so much by our eyes as feel by our hands that he is dear and a care to God. The same I say of the other orthodox Princes. And, to pass over others, the Most Serene King of Poland Sigismund III and his nobles, in the year of the Lord 1621, won that illustrious victory over the Turks by God's signal gift, by which they almost crushed them; and they would have crushed them entirely, had they pursued them. For that year of the Lord 1621 was precisely the thousandth from the year of the Lord 621, from which the Turks reckon the years of Mahomet and his sect. For in that year they assert that Mahomet began to give laws and rules: from which therefore they begin their era, which they call the Hegira, just as Christians begin their era from the nativity of Christ: thus Genebrard in his Chronology, year of Christ 621. But Christians reckon the years of the sect and kingdom of Mahomet from the year of Christ 30. For in that year this sect and kingdom was founded, and likewise in that year Mahomet died. Thus Theophanes, Cedrenus, Baronius, Bellarmine, Gordon, Bzovius, Spondanus, and others in their Chronologies. Wherefore since, now with the year of Christ 1630 at hand, the thousandth year from Mahomet must be completed, around that time they expect a great decline, or ruin, or beginning of ruin of the Turkish empire and the Mahometan sect. That this would indeed be so, several men famous for sanctity and prophecy in Italy, Germany, Spain, etc., have predicted. The same wise and shrewd men, from various past and present events, conjecture skillfully, and keep saying that the end and conclusion of the war against the heretics — which they hope is at hand — will be the beginning of war against the Turks and Saracens, unless either the rivalries and dissensions of Christians, or sloth and torpor, or graver crimes impede it. For God seems to be inviting and calling them to this by many great signs of His will.
There is added the congruence of the type with the antitype. For the liberation of the Hebrews from Pharaoh and Egypt was a type of the liberation of Christians from the power of unbelievers, especially the Turks. Now about 1630 years passed from the servitude of the Hebrews in Egypt until their full liberation accomplished by Christ. Therefore the same number of years will pass from Christ until the full liberation of Christians from unbelievers, especially the Turks: this then will take place around the year of Christ 1630. And Christ in some measure foreshadowed this in His own life: for in His thirtieth year He began to preach and to found Christianity. I pass over the Astrologers, who from the conjunction of the stars predict the same to come about the said year, and have published books on this matter. For this kind of divination is little safe, uncertain, and untrustworthy.
Thus some authors, mystically rather than literally. But how true their opinion or suspicion is, the outcome and the age will shortly teach.
Verse 5: The Rest of the Dead Lived Not — This Is the First Resurrection
5. THE REST OF THE DEAD (namely all the wicked and reprobate) LIVED NOT (that is, with the blessed life; but went into the first death, that is, the damnation of the soul in hell), UNTIL THE THOUSAND YEARS BE FINISHED, — that is, of this age in this temporal life, so that, when it is finished, they may go through the resurrection into the second death. For he sets the pious against the impious, the elect against the reprobate during these thousand years, namely that the pious and elect live in the first resurrection — that is, are blessed as to soul, and reign with Christ — until those thousand years are finished, so that they then pass into the second resurrection and are blessed and glorious in soul and body: but the impious and reprobate, when they die, pass into the first death — that is, into the punishment of the soul in hell — so that, when the thousand years of this life are finished, rising on the day of judgment, they pass into the second death, that is, the eternal punishment of soul and body.
Throughout this whole passage John alludes to Isaiah xxvi, 14, where first, concerning the wicked who die, Isaiah says: "The dying shall not live, the giants shall not rise again; therefore Thou hast visited and crushed them, and destroyed all their memory." Then in verse 19, concerning the pious who die, by antithesis he adds: "Thy dead shall live, My slain shall rise again;" and verse 20: "Go, My people, enter into thy chambers, shut thy doors upon thee: hide thyself a little for a moment, until the indignation pass over," that is, the persecution of Antichrist, says Alcazar. See what is said there.
Aureolus takes by these dead the Emperor Frederick II with his men, who was excommunicated by Pope Gregory IX in the Lateran Council: hence it seems this schism of Frederick would last a thousand years, namely until Antichrist. But here too the prophecy, or rather the conjecture, of Aureolus fails; for this schism has long since vanished. Aureolus calculated badly, because he thought that Antichrist would come immediately after his own times. For he traces the Ecclesiastical History from the beginning, and brings it up to his own times, and applies it piece by piece to the Apocalypse in such a way that he ends in his own age, and from there leaps at once to Antichrist: indeed he was a Historian, not a Prophet; he knew what had been done before him, he did not know what would be after him. Hence it is clear that the explanation of the Apocalypse which he hands down is only an application and adaptation to the Ecclesiastical History from Christ to his own times. But this heavenly eagle — namely St. John — beheld something else, and other times after Aureolus, and saw and predicted the last things of the world, as will soon appear.
Moved by a similar reasoning, St. Norbert, founder of the Premonstratensian Order, an Apostolic man endowed with the prophetic spirit, around the year of the Lord 1106 thought the coming of Antichrist was imminent; concerning which St. Bernard, an eye- and ear-witness, writes thus, epistle 56: "As to what you ask me about Lord Norbert, namely whether he is going to Jerusalem, I do not know. For although a few days ago I saw his face and was permitted to draw very many things from the heavenly pipe, namely his mouth, yet I did not hear this from him. But when I inquired what he thought of Antichrist, he protested that he most certainly knew that during this present generation he was to be revealed. But when he wished to explain to me, who asked, on what ground he held that certainty, having heard what he answered, I thought I ought not to believe it as certain. Yet in sum he asserted this, that he would not see death unless he first saw a general persecution in the Church." Perhaps he had noted the schism which Peter Leonis shortly after made against Pope Innocent II.
Symbolically some note that here twice a thousand years are repeated and named, during which the Martyrs and Saints will reign with Christ, so that it may be denoted that the Church and the reign of Christ in this age will last twice a thousand years, and after those will be the end of the world and the glorious and eternal reign of Christ and the Saints in heaven. For many think, or rather conjecture, that the world will last six thousand years, namely four thousand before Christ and two thousand after Christ — not precisely, but approximately, more or less. Therefore here a thousand years are named from Christ to the end of the world: because they will indeed be a thousand, not single, but repeated or doubled, that is, twice a thousand. Indeed Viegas and some others think that St. John reckons twice a thousand years, because the former were different from the latter, and so John precisely reckons twice a thousand years after Christ.
To establish this they bring forward several fitting reasons. The first is that the world was created in six days: therefore it will last as many — namely, six thousand years. For a thousand years with God are as one day, as St. Peter says, second epistle, chapter iii, verse 8, and Psalm LXXXIX, verse 4. Hence in Genesis chapter 1, which describes the creation and structure of the world, six alephs are found; and aleph among the Hebrews denotes arithmetically a thousand, as if to say: God created heaven and earth to the six Alephs, that is, that it might last six thousand years. This is confirmed first, because the seventh day, namely the Sabbath, on which God rested from the work of creation, signifies the day of blessed rest of the Saints after the common resurrection in heaven, as the Fathers teach, namely the seventh millennium of eternity: therefore proportionally and consequently, the six preceding days of the world's creation represent the six millennia of this time and age, after which immediately will follow the Sabbath, that is, the seventh millennium of eternity. Hence St. Cyprian, treatise On the Exhortation of Martyrdom, chapter xi: "The first," he says, "in the divine arrangement, are the seven days containing seven thousand years." Secondly, the six first parents of the world, namely Adam, Seth, Enos, Cainan, Malaleel, Jared, all died; the seventh, Enoch, was taken alive into heaven: because after the six millennia in which labor and death have prevailed, there will be the beginning of a quiet and immortal life; says Isidore cited by the Gloss on chapter v of Genesis. Thirdly, Genesis vi, 3, the measure of human life and age is set at 120 years, which the symbolists take symbolically, namely that these are great and Mosaic years, that is jubilees, so that each comprises fifty years: so that these 120 Mosaic years amount to six thousand common years, during which the world and the generation of men will last. For multiply 120 by fifty, and you will find six thousand. Fourthly, because John, in marking here the age and end of the world, names a thousand years six times, as if hinting that the world would last six thousand years; for first he says in verse 2: "He bound him for a thousand years;" secondly, verse 3: "Until the thousand years be finished;" thirdly, verse 4: "They reigned with Christ a thousand years;" fourthly, verse 5: "Until the thousand years be finished;" fifthly, verse 6: "They shall reign with Him a thousand years;" sixthly, verse 7: "When the thousand years are completed." For why precisely does He repeat "a thousand years" six times without necessity, and iterate and inculcate it six times, unless to suggest that after six thousand years there will be the consummation of the world, of the Apocalypse, and of all things?
It is confirmed because, for this reason, St. John in chapter vi, from the fourth seal of the pale horse — which represents Mahomet and the Saracens — through the fifth seal in which the souls of the Martyrs slain by them come forth seeking vengeance, passes at once at the sixth seal verse 12 to the last times of the world, and sees the sun darkened, the moon turn red, the stars fall from heaven, etc., to signify that after Saracenism the end of the world shall closely follow.
The third reason is that the world already seems to grow old and tend toward its setting and ruin. He therefore is the last public and general persecution of the Church: and accordingly its end and that of the world draws near in this sixth millennium of its years. For now Saracenism has lasted a thousand years and is verging on its end. Indeed the Mahometans even boast an oracle that their sect and kingdom would last a thousand years; and this is frequent and famous in their mouth, namely that after a thousand years it will decline, so that the sect gradually fails and goes to ruin.
The second reason is from parallel or similarity. There have been in the world three successive laws and states, namely the law of nature, the law of Moses, the law of Christ. Now the time of the law of nature, which was from Adam to Abraham (who received from God and instituted circumcision, which was the beginning and token of the Mosaic Law), lasted nearly two thousand years. Again, the time of the Mosaic law, or of circumcision, likewise lasted two thousand years: for that is precisely the number from Abraham to the nativity of Christ, as is clear from the chronological Table which I prefixed to Genesis. Therefore likewise the third law and state of the world — namely the law of grace and of Christ — will last the same, that is, about two thousand years, so that this triple time of the triple law, which is the age of the whole world, taken together amounts to and lasts six thousand years. Hence as a symbol and type of this matter, God commanded Joshua, in the crossing of the Jordan, that the ark of God should be two thousand cubits distant from the people, Joshua III, 4, to signify that that time, in which the sacred baptism of this Jordan and the other Sacraments would flourish, was to be described by two thousand years; in which time we behold the ark only at a distance, and the mysteries laid up in it, in a riddle, I say, and as it were through a mirror — the ark, that is the humanity of Christ, and the divinity hidden in it, which has now preceded by sixteen hundred years; we shall behold it close at hand, that is face to face, contemplating it in the promised land, that is in heaven, when twice a thousand years have been completed, says our Serarius in the same place, Question VIII, at the end. From this it follows that from this time until Antichrist, the day of judgment, the resurrection, and the glory of the Blessed, there remain about four hundred years — not precisely, but indefinitely, as I shall soon say — during which the Gospel must still be preached in China, Tartary, and other unknown regions of the Indies, and there churches must be founded, and the religion of Christ established: and then, when these are completed, will come the end of the world and of all things, and there the Apocalypse and all its mysteries will be ended, as St. John here suggests. Furthermore, that the time of the law of Christ would not be greater than, or not much greater than, the time of the law of nature and of Moses, is gathered from this: that the time of the law of Christ is called by the Prophets "the last;" and by St. John, first epistle, chapter ii, verse 18, "the last hour;" and by Paul, I Corinthians x, 11, "the end of the ages." Hence also St. Peter, first epistle, chapter iv, verse 7: "The end," he says, "of all things is at hand;" and St. James v, 8: "The coming of the Lord is at hand."
St. Justin, Question LXXI to the Gentiles, Irenaeus, book V, last chapter, Lactantius, book VII, chapter III at length, Hilary, canon 47 on Matthew — whose words Sixtus of Siena cites in book V of his Library, annotation 190; for although some of these were Chiliasts, nevertheless their opinion concerning the six thousand years of the world is unconnected with the Chiliasts' error. The same is held by Rabanus on Deuteronomy, book I, chapter XI, and by Quintus Julius Hilarion in his book On the Duration of the World, which is found in volume VII of the Holy Fathers. From among the Gentiles, the same was handed down by Hydaspes, Mercurius Trismegistus and the Sibyls, as Lactantius and Sixtus of Siena testify.
Again, the same is plainly asserted by St. Gaudentius of Brescia, treatise 10: "We await," he says, "that truly holy day of the seventh thousandth year, which will come after these six days — that is, after the six thousand years of the age — at the completion of which there will be rest for true sanctity and for those who faithfully believe in the resurrection of Christ. For there will be no battle there against the devil, who will then certainly be confined and banished to torments." The same is taught by St. Germanus, Patriarch of Constantinople, on the authority of the illustrious Fathers of Greece, St. Cyril, Hippolytus, etc., in his book On the Theory of Ecclesiastical Things, where he asks why the Pontiff, when blessing the people, raises his fingers in a manner adapted to the number 6500. He replies: that the Pontiff seals the people indicates that the coming of Christ to judgment will be in the year of the world 6500.
The same is taught by Isidore and our Serarius, whom I cited a little earlier, by Abbot Joachim here, by Bellarmine, book III On the Roman Pontiff, chapter III; by Feuardent, book V on Irenaeus, last chapter; by Genebrardus, book I of his Chronology, page 2; and by John Pico della Mirandola, book V, chapter X On Astrology, where, from the year of the Lord 1486, when he was writing these things, he reckons five hundred fourteen years and twenty-five days (but this is too minute and precise) until the consummation of the age. Add to the year of the Lord 1485 a further five hundred fourteen years, and you will have two thousand years after Christ.
The same is taught by Petrus Bongus in his treatise On the Mysteries of Numbers, on the six-thousandth, where for the same view he cites Anastasius Sinaita, John Lucidus, Nicholas of Cusa, St. Cyril and Chrysostom. Among the Hebrews, it is the opinion of Moses Gerundensis, who is of great authority among the Hebrews, of Rabbi Isaac on Genesis chapter 1, and of Rabbi Elias — whose saying is celebrated as an oracle by the Jews in the Talmud, volume IV, tractate 4, which is entitled Sanhedrin, that is, Judgment: "The world shall be six thousand years, and shall be destroyed again; two thousand were of emptiness (the law of nature), two thousand of the Mosaic law, two thousand shall be the days of the Messiah."
Moreover, St. Ambrose opposes the rest of the Fathers and this opinion of theirs in book VII on Luke, but he relies on a false reason and reckoning: For, he says, even up to my own times, more than six thousand years have elapsed from the foundation of the world. Hence at the end he concludes: "Since the end of the world is now near, turn your minds to God in the fear of God." For St. Cyprian thought, though falsely, on the basis of a false chronology, that six thousand years had already elapsed of the world's duration appointed by God. This is what he himself says to Fortunatus in his Exhortation to Martyrdom: "Six thousand years are now nearly completed since the devil began to attack man." The same view concerning the aging world and the approach of its end was held by St. Ambrose, book X on Luke, Hilary against Constantius, St. Gregory, homily 1 on the Gospel, and St. Chrysostom, homily 33 on John: "We are not," he says, "far from the end, but already the world is hastening on: this is what wars signify, this what afflictions, this earthquakes, this extinguished charity."
It is confirmed first because we see the Roman Empire greatly declining and tending toward ruin. But this will last until the Antichrist and the end of the world, as is clear from Daniel chapter 2, verses 43 and 44; therefore the end of the world is approaching. Again, we see the Gospel preached in China, Japan, the Indies, and in provinces hitherto unknown, and so it has filled the whole world. Therefore the end of the world is at hand. For the voice of Christ is: "This Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a testimony to all nations; and then shall come the consummation," Matthew 24:14.
The fourth argument is from authority and tradition. For Christians, Hebrews, Gentiles, Greeks and Latins all agree on this view, so that it appears to be an ancient and common tradition. Thus St. Augustine, book XX of the City of God, chapter VII, explaining these thousand years of the Apocalypse: "A thousand years," he says, "can be understood in two ways: either because this thing takes place in the last thousand years, that is, in the sixth millennium of years, as on the sixth day, in whose latter part we now turn; the Sabbath following thereafter has no evening, namely the rest of the Saints which has no end — so that he called the last part of this millennium, which will remain until the end of the age, a thousand years, in that manner of speaking by which a part is signified by the whole; or certainly he put a thousand years for all the years of this age, so that by a perfect number the very fullness of time might be marked."
Jerome, in his epistolary explanation of Psalm 89 to Cyprian, from that verse of his: "For a thousand years before Thy eyes are as yesterday which is past," deduces that the entire duration of the present age will be six thousand years. "I think," he says, "that from this passage a thousand years are wont to be called one day — namely, that since the world was fashioned in six days, it is believed to subsist for only six thousand years, and afterwards there comes the seventh and eighth number, in which the true sabbath-rest is observed: hence the rewards of good works are promised by the eight beatitudes." He hints at the same when writing on chapter IV of Micah. The same is expressly taught by Victorinus here. For this is clearly shown to be false from the true Chronology. The same reason and the same calculation led Philip the Solitary (whom our Jacobus Pontanus edited), book III of the Dioptra, chapter VIII, into the same error; for he too thought that in his age six thousand years from the founding of the world had already elapsed. For he lived and wrote in the 16th year of the Emperor Alexius Comnenus (as he himself says in the same place), which was the year 1105 after Christ, and he reckons from the beginning of the world to Christ five thousand five hundred years; whence it follows that in Comnenus's 16th year, which was the year of Christ 1105, six thousand six hundred and five years had elapsed from the founding of the world. Which is manifestly false: for Christ was born in the year of the world 3950, as I have shown in the Chronological Table prefixed to Genesis; and consequently in this year of Christ 1620 we are in the year of the world 5570. There remain therefore yet 430 years to fulfill the number of six thousand years, for which the world shall endure.
This view (without defining a certain day or year), since it is common, is also a probable conjecture; for we can define nothing certain in this matter, since it depends on God's secret decree, lest we hear Christ's saying: "It is not for you to know the times or moments which the Father has put in His own power," Acts 1. And only this much is what St. Augustine seems to mean in Psalm 89, verse 4, Bede in his book On the Reckoning of Time, chapter LXV, Pererius on Genesis chapter 2, verse 4, Franciscus Suarez, part III, disputation LIII, section 4, Joseph Acosta, book I On the Last Times, chapter II, and some others, who reject this calculation of six thousand years of the world — namely, if it be understood definitely and precisely. For from this it would follow, as they rightly argue, that we could know and indicate precisely the year and day of the consummation of the world and of the last judgment — namely, that the day of judgment would be in the first year of the world after the six-thousandth, and on its first day. For at that very point the six thousand years for which the world is said to endure are exactly completed. But this is contrary to Christ who says: "Of that day or hour no one knows, not even the Angels in heaven," Mark 13:32. The same does not follow, however, if you take this number of six thousand years not arithmetically and precisely, but geometrically and morally — namely, in this sense, that the world is to last only six millennia of years, no more, and consequently will not extend to the seven-thousandth, but will cease before it; whether and how many years, whether single, or tens, or even hundreds, will lie after the six-thousandth and run on toward the seven-thousandth, up to the end of the world — this we do not know: it is enough to know that we are in the last millennium of the world's years; whether anything will be lacking to it or remain over, lies hidden from us.
From what has been said it is clear that we are very near the end of the world, and that it is not far off; of which there are many signs: first, that we see the Gospel already preached over almost the whole world, and indeed has penetrated to the farthest Chinese; second, that St. Vincent Ferrer, who lived recently — for he died in the year 1418 — emphatically foretold and preached this same thing, and that by the command of Christ, as you have in his Life, book II, chapters IV and V; third, that among the Turks it is a constant oracle that the sect of Mahomet will last a thousand years; and these years are now nearly fulfilled: for the last persecution of this sect against the Church seems to be at hand; fourth is the prophecy of St. Malachy, Archbishop of Ireland, whose life St. Bernard wrote, which is found in Arnold Wion in the Chronicles of the Order of St. Benedict, or in the Tree of Life, book II, chapter XL, at the end; in which St. Malachy depicts in order, by symbols and emblems, all the Roman Pontiffs from his own age until the end of the world: which symbols Alphonsus Ciaconius explained and aptly applied to each Pontiff up to Clement VIII. For in this prophecy after Gregory XV, who presides over the Church just now, only thirty-two Roman Pontiffs are reckoned, and the last is said to be Peter the Roman. If then this prophecy is true, and only 32 Roman Pontiffs remain, then about two hundred years remain until the end of the world; for in every century of years sixteen — indeed more — Pontiffs are easily counted: hence from St. Peter up to now, that is, to the year of the Lord 1623, 238 Pontiffs are counted; if you distribute these among the years of the Lord just mentioned, almost seven years will fall to each Pontiff. Assign as many to each of the thirty-two still to come, and you will find their whole succession and duration to be filled out in 224 years. If you give each ten years, there will remain 320 years to be filled out; but if you give them about double the seven, the years to be filled will be almost exactly as many as remain to fill out the sixth millennium of the world, namely 430. Christianus Druthmar adds on chapter XVI of St. Matthew: "Our elders," he says, "left it written that on the eighth of the Kalends of April (March 25) the world was made, the Lord conceived, and suffered; and likewise the world will be destroyed." But this is uncertain. Let us think of these things, and prepare ourselves as for the day of the Lord, as if it were at hand: let us not fix our hearts on the earth, nor strive to build up here families and palaces, since they will scarcely last two hundred years; but let us build perpetual houses in the heavens through works of alms-giving and other virtues. Let us transfer our whole mind to the age to come; let us study, paint, live for eternity.
Therefore morally, learn here to despise the world as ageing and dying: for with it both you and all things that are in it must shortly grow old and die. This is what St. John inculcates, 1st epistle, chapter II, verse 15: "Love not the world, neither the things which are in the world. If anyone loves the world, the charity of the Father is not in him; for all that is in the world is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life. And the world passes away, and the concupiscence thereof. But he that doeth the will of God abides for ever. Little children, it is the last hour." And St. Peter, 2nd epistle, chapter III, verse 8: "But of this one thing be not ignorant, beloved, that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. But the day of the Lord shall come as a thief, in which the heavens shall pass away with great violence, but the elements shall be melted with heat, and the earth and the works which are in it, shall be burnt up. Seeing then that all these things are to be dissolved, what manner of people ought you to be in holy conversation and piety, looking for and hastening unto the coming of the day of the Lord? But we look for new heavens and a new earth according to His promises, in which justice dwelleth." Splendidly does St. Gregory say, book VIII of the Morals, chapter XXVIII (in the new edition, chapter XXIV): "No one can love mobile things and himself stand immobile." And in homily 36 on the Gospel: "Let the temporal thing be in use, the eternal in desire; the one on the journey, the other at the arrival." And book VI, epistle 26, exhorting Andrew to contempt of the world: "Why," he says, "magnificent son, do you not consider that the world is at its end? All things are urged daily; we are led to render account to the eternal and dreadful Judge. What else then ought we to think of but His coming? For our life is like that of a sailor. He who sails, stands, sits, lies, walks: for he is borne on by the impulse of the ship. So also we are, who, whether waking or sleeping, whether silent or speaking, whether walking, whether willing or unwilling, through the moments of time, daily tend to the end. When therefore the day of our end has come, where will be for us all that is now sought with so much care, and gathered with solicitude?" Whence he infers: "Honour therefore is not to be sought, nor riches, which are left behind. But if we seek goods, let us love those which we shall have without end. But if we fear evils, let us fear those which are endured by the reprobate without end."
THIS IS THE FIRST RESURRECTION. — The first resurrection, says St. Augustine, book XX of the City of God, chapters VI and VII, is that by which the soul rises from sin through grace; the second, by which it rises from death through glory. But this sense is tropological. For John adds: "Over these the second death has no power." Now the second death is the eternal damnation of soul and body. The first resurrection therefore is the beatitude of the soul alone, by which the soul alone passes through death into life and the heavenly kingdom. This is called a resurrection, because the saints, when with the bodies laid down here they die, in that they pass over and migrate into a new and happier life, are seen in some way to rise again. For the soul, when the body dies, seems likewise to die to the body, just as the body dies to the soul, and through this death to pass into heavenly life. The second resurrection is full beatitude, by which the soul with the body at the end of the world will fully rise again into the same blessed life. In like manner, on the opposite side, the first death of the reprobate is the damnation only of the soul; the second death is the damnation of the soul and body when they have risen and been united again: which will take place in the universal judgment. So Ribera, Viegas and Pererius, book VIII on Daniel.
Alcazar takes the first resurrection to mean the golden age of Constantine, in which the Christian Church, previously oppressed and as it were dead, began to revive — indeed to dominate over the whole world. This is mystical. Aureolus applies the first resurrection to the institution of the Order of St. Francis and St. Dominic, under the Emperor Frederick and Pope Innocent III. For by their teaching and the example of their holy life, it seems that almost all Christendom rose again, so as to walk in newness of life. In like manner, you may apply this to the other founders of Orders, and to other reformers of the Church.
Symbolically, St. Augustine: "The first death," he says, "is the death of the body; the second is damnation." Hear him in his Sentences, number 147: "Of the first death of the body it can be said that for the good it is good, for the wicked evil; but the second without doubt, just as it belongs to none of the good, so is good for none."
Verse 6: Blessed Is He That Hath Part in the First Resurrection — On These the Second Death Hath No Power
6. BLESSED AND HOLY IS HE WHO HAS PART IN THE FIRST RESURRECTION; OVER THESE THE SECOND DEATH HAS NO POWER; BUT THEY SHALL BE PRIESTS OF GOD AND OF CHRIST (Any saints, here as in chapter 1, verse 6, are called mystical priests, because, namely, they offer God sacrifices of praise, of thanksgiving and of all service), AND SHALL REIGN WITH HIM A THOUSAND YEARS — concerning which I spoke at verse 2, namely, until the second resurrection, that is, of bodies, which will take place on the day of judgment. Note the proportion and relation between blessed and holy, and between priests and shall reign. For the word holy corresponds to the word priests, and the word blessed corresponds to the verb shall reign. For sanctity is the proper dowry and adornment of priests; but blessedness is the proper attribute of the just reigning with Christ. So Alcazar.
Finally St. Augustine notes that by these words, "They shall be priests of God and of Christ," it is signified against the Arians that Christ also is God. For those very ones who are called priests of God the Father are also called priests of Christ: for to God alone, as altars and temples, so also priests are consecrated; for it belongs to a priest to offer sacrifice, which can be offered to none save God. Wherefore these four are interconnected and correlative. For the priest is the priest of sacrifice, and conversely the sacrifice is the sacrifice of the priest. Again, the priest and sacrifice are the priest and sacrifice of the altar and temple, and conversely the altar and temple are the altar and temple of the priest and sacrifice. To whom therefore one of these is owed, to him are owed the rest also, namely to God alone.
Verse 7: When the Thousand Years Shall Be Finished, Satan Shall Be Loosed
7. AND WHEN THE THOUSAND YEARS ARE FULFILLED (in the time of Antichrist) SATAN SHALL BE LOOSED (in Greek ὁ Σατανᾶς, namely Lucifer), AND SHALL GO OUT AND SEDUCE THE NATIONS WHICH ARE OVER THE FOUR CORNERS (that is, regions) OF THE EARTH, GOG AND MAGOG, — as if to say: He will seduce all the Gentiles, even Gog and Magog. For Gog and Magog are not scattered through the four corners of the earth, but they are certainly nations having their own king or prince, as Ezekiel says in chapter XXXVIII, verse 2. The Greek here also indicates this: τοῦ Γώγ καὶ τοῦ Μαγώγ. Wherefore it seems that their king or prince here will be one of the ten kings who in the time of Antichrist will rule in the world, as I said in chapter XVII, verses 3 and 12. One, I say, more than the rest fierce, savage, barbarous and warlike. For this reason here Gog and Magog are named before the rest, because they seem to be wild and cruel nations who will fight for Antichrist against Christ and Christians; whence many think they will be Arabs, or Scythians, or Tartars. Hence the Sibyl, in book III of the Oracles, speaks thus: "Woe to thee, region of Gog and Magog, which art the midst of Ethiopian rivers," that is, who are encircled by the rivers of Ethiopia. Where perhaps, says Alcazar, arms of the sea are called by the name of rivers. For Arabia is situated between the Persian and the Arabian Gulfs. As therefore Mahomet was raised to empire through the Arabs, Tamerlane through the Scythians and Tartars: so through the same, or like ones, will Antichrist be raised. See what is said on Ezekiel XXXVIII, beginning of the chapter. Indeed Marco Polo the Venetian, book I On Eastern Affairs, chapter LXIV, writes that in Tartary, in the province of Tenduch, there are regions of Gog and Magog, which the Tartars, he says, call Ung and Mungug.
Wrongly therefore do the Novantes, Tremellius and Junius hold that Gog is so called from Gyges, who, having killed Candaules, king of the Lydians, by treachery, seized his kingdom, as if from this Asia Minor were called Gog; just as later, when Croesus extended the borders of his kingdom into Syria, a certain city was called Gygarta, because it is Gog karta, that is, the city of Gog. Hence at the time when Ezekiel prophesied these things about Gog, either Halyattes or Croesus, both grandsons of Gyges, were reigning in Asia Minor. But Gyges has nothing in common with Gog, especially because Gog will rule very widely, as Ezekiel here teaches: but Gyges ruled only over Lydia; and his grandson Croesus dominated only as far as the river Halys, as Herodotus testifies in the Clio. Add this: Gyges has passed and vanished for two thousand years; but Gog is yet to come at the end of the world, when no memory of Gyges will exist.
Verse 8: They Came upon the Breadth of the Earth and Encompassed the Camp of the Saints
8. AND THEY WENT UP UPON THE BREADTH OF THE EARTH, — as if to say: They will fill the broad fields of lands and regions with their forces, horses, chariots, etc., just as Xerxes spread his army over sea and land.
AND THEY ENCOMPASSED THE CAMPS OF THE SAINTS. — He calls "camps" the places and hiding-places into which Christians will flock together in troops, fleeing the persecution of Antichrist, as the Jews did in the time of the Maccabees, fleeing the cruelty of Antiochus Epiphanes, 1 Maccabees II, 1 and 28. For it is not likely that Christians in the time of Antichrist, oppressed by so most powerful a tyrant, will have armed camps to engage in pitched battle with Antichrist, his kings and his nations.
AND THE BELOVED CITY, — that is, Rome, says Alcazar. But Rome was just before called Babylon, and it will already have been overthrown by the ten kings, as is clear from chapter XVII, 18. Therefore this beloved city is Jerusalem, which Ezekiel, chapter XXXVIII, verse 12, calls the navel of the earth (for it was situated in the midst of the once-inhabited earth). For although Jerusalem will be the royal seat of Antichrist, yet many Christians will dwell in it, since it is the Holy Land in which Christ dwelt. Wherefore, just as long ago noble Romans and matrons, such as Sts. Paula, Melania, Marcella, etc., migrated with St. Jerome from Rome into Palestine, so also at the end of the world, when Jerusalem, like Rome, will flourish again. Again many Christians, likewise Gentiles and Jews, partly converted to Christ, partly to be converted, will flock to Jerusalem to hear Elias and Enoch preaching there. For these will preach in Jerusalem against Antichrist, and there will be killed by him, as I said in chapter XI, verse 8. Finally St. Augustine takes the beloved city to mean the Church spread throughout the whole world: for Antichrist will persecute this everywhere.
Verse 9: There Came Down Fire from God out of Heaven, and Devoured Them
9. AND FIRE CAME DOWN FROM HEAVEN AND DEVOURED THEM. — Alcazar takes this fire mystically. The fire from heaven, he says, is the heavenly and divine ardour, with which Elias and Henoch, both in their lifetime and rather after their death — both their own and that of Antichrist — through their heralds and likewise through prayers, will inflame all nations, converting them to Christ, as the Apostles did when they had received the fire of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. For this is an unheard-of vengeance worthy of God. And then all Israel shall be saved, as the Apostle foretold in Romans chapter XI, verse 26.
Here St. Augustine joins in, book XX of the City of God, chapter XII: "That fire from heaven," he says, "is well understood as from the steadfastness of the Saints. For the firmament is heaven: by whose steadfastness sinners will be tormented with most ardent zeal, because they could not draw the saints of Christ to the side of Antichrist. Or if he called the very plague a fire, by which sinners in the Church are to be smitten when Christ comes, namely those whom He shall find living upon the earth, when He will slay Antichrist with the breath of His mouth: this is not their last punishment."
But the words of Holy Scripture here sound a vengeance and punishment properly so called, namely that Gog and Magog, and the whole army of Antichrist, will be blasted and consumed by fire sent from heaven. For he adds concerning their leader himself: "And the devil who seduced them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone; where both the beast (Antichrist) and (his) false prophet shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever." It is clear that these words must be taken properly, and all — Alcazar himself — assert it, granted that Ribera, who cites both Ambrose and Augustine, judges that in these words there is an anticipation, since the devil is not to be cast down into hell so long as the Church Militant endures, and it will endure until the end of the world; and therefore even after the slaying of Antichrist, the devil will be allowed to tempt the faithful until the day of judgment. But I answer that St. John here joins together and rolls into one the end of the world with the slaughter of Antichrist and his army, and the casting down of the devil: for it will follow soon after. Hence in the following verse John passes to the last judgment. Add: it is probable that the devil with Antichrist will be cast down into Tartarus, so that a little before the end of the world full peace may be given to the world and the Church after that immense and extreme persecution of Antichrist, so that those fallen in it may repent and rise again, the Jews and Gentiles may be converted, and all Israel may be saved. Furthermore, by the false prophet some understand Mahomet, the author of Mahometanism: Genebrardus in his Chronicle, book IV, at the year of the Lord 1302, takes him to be Othman, and his lineage and the Ottoman Empire; for this is the precursor to Antichrist, and perhaps will last until him. But who this false prophet is I have said in chapter XIII, verse 11.
Verse 10: Day and Night for Ever and Ever
10. DAY AND NIGHT, — that is, always. For for the damned in Gehenna there is never day, but perpetual night. Otherwise Alcazar: for he refers day to the brightness of the Blessed, night to the darkness of the underworld: for from both the heaviest torment overflows upon the damned. For not only does the obscurity of their own miserable and unhappy lot torment them, but also the rage and fury conceived from the brightness and happiness of their adversaries.
Verse 11: I Saw a Great White Throne, and One Sitting upon It
11. AND I SAW A GREAT WHITE THRONE (that is, solemn, joyful and glorious: for whiteness is the garment of the Blessed and a symbol of glory), AND ONE SITTING UPON IT (Christ the Judge. For here John passes to the day of judgment), FROM WHOSE FACE THE EARTH AND THE HEAVEN FLED, — that is, the pristine appearance, condition and form of earth and heaven: because, namely, they shall be changed into another more beautiful, says Primasius, Ambrose, Bede, Aretas and Viegas.
Mystically Alcazar (although he himself thinks it literal): By the heavens, he says, is symbolically signified both the intercession of the Saints and the power of priests to forgive sins through the Sacraments; by the earth is signified the mercy by which, according to the condition of human nature, a father ought to be moved in the affliction of his son, a wife of her husband, a brother of his brother — as if to say: So great will be the integrity of Christ the Judge, so great the reason of right and equity, that there will be no favour or help there from the mystical heavens, namely from the Saints and priests, no compassion from the mystical earth just mentioned (for neither will father pity son, nor wife husband, nor brother brother); but only right and equity, that each one be judged according to his own works.
Verse 12: I Saw the Dead, Great and Small — The Books Were Opened, and Another Book Which Is the Book of Life
12. AND I SAW THE DEAD (those who had previously died, but had now risen, and were standing to be judged before Christ the Judge), GREAT AND SMALL. — From this some prove that infants will be present at the judgment and will be judged. But for "small" the Greek has μικρους, that is, small ones — both in age and stature, like boys of ten or fourteen years; or rather in dignity and rank, that is, the lowly and abject, like slaves, peasants, maidservants, etc. For thus in chapter XIX, verse 18, when inviting the birds to devour the flesh of the free and the slaves, it adds: "Of small and great," as if to say: of the common people and of the noble or princely. For shortly in this same verse it adds that these small ones, like the great, are to be judged according to each one's works: therefore he is not speaking of infants.
AND THE BOOKS WERE OPENED: AND ANOTHER BOOK WAS OPENED, WHICH IS OF LIFE. — St. Augustine, book XX of the City of God, chapter XIV, reads "of the life of each one"; whence, he says, the book of life is one that contains each one's life and actions. "For it shall come to pass that, by the power of God, the works of each shall be beheld by anyone with marvellous swiftness." Furthermore, the "opened books" are the Saints, because in them it will become clear what precepts God laid down, and how strictly. But this reading is faulty: for all the codices read "the book of life," and it will appear that we must read so at verse 27. Furthermore, that the Saints are called books is either mystical or forced.
Secondly, St. Jerome on Daniel 7 teaches that at the judgment two books are to be opened: one of God, which contains each one's good works; the other of the demon, which contains the evil. God therefore has the book of life, the devil the book of death. But St. John clearly distinguishes these books from the book of life. For he says: "And another book was opened, which is of life."
Thirdly, Viegas: The book of life, he says, is one, because it contains few elect to be saved; but the "books" which are called "opened" belong to the reprobate, and therefore are many, because many are to be damned. But these books are universal and common to both good and bad.
Fourthly, Bede and Alcazar judge that these books are Holy Scripture, which contains the laws and precepts of God, from the observance of which men are to be judged. Therefore Deuteronomy 33:2, God bearing the law is described thus: "The Lord came from Sinai, and from Seir He rose up to us; in His right hand a fiery law." Where, for "Lord," in Hebrew it is Elohim, that is, judge, that it may be signified that God came under the form of a judge, and as it were rose like a most splendid sun upon the Hebrews through the mountains of Seir and Sinai. Moreover, His right hand bore a fiery law, which Cajetan thus explains, that God Himself does not carry the law, but for greater pomp the book of the law was carried by ministers near His right hand, and the fire, by which it was signified that He would judge through the law and punish through fire. Some add that for the same reason it is said at the beginning of Genesis, "In the beginning God created heaven and earth," where again for "God" the Hebrew has Elohim, that is, judge, or judges; to signify that the Scripture, namely Genesis, was begun by God as Judge, in order to deliver to men laws and rights by which He will judge them at the end of the world.
But I say these books are those in which the works of each, both good and evil, are written down, so that from them each is judged. For of them he adds: "The dead were judged from those things which had been written in the books, according to their works." For neither in Holy Scripture, nor in the Decalogue, nor in the law of God can each one's works be read — how, namely, each has fulfilled it. These books therefore are the consciences and memories of individuals, in which, as in books, the deeds of each are inscribed, both good and evil.
Again, although these books should perish in themselves — namely, the memories of men should forget their own deeds — they are still preserved in the divine knowledge and memory, in which likewise both the works and the consciences of individuals are sealed and described. These books, therefore, in men are the consciences; in God is the knowledge and cognition of each one's deeds. This is what the Apostle says, Romans 2:13: The Gentiles, who lack the written law of God, "show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing them witness, and their thoughts between themselves accusing or also defending, in the day when God will judge the secrets of men." So the Interpreters generally, and Franciscus Suarez, part III, Question LIX, article VI, disputation 57, section 9.
Furthermore, God will open these books on the day of judgment, both to each individual their own — namely, by setting before each one's conscience and memory their own deeds; and He will also open to all the books and consciences of all others, whether by mental locution — namely, by divine revelation, finally instilling and suggesting from His omniscience whatever each other has done (in the way the Prophets foresaw the future through God's revelation and inspiration); or by God simultaneously and once for all elevating the imagination and intellect of all men, and supplying them with supernatural strength and light, and concurring supernaturally with each, that he may see the deeds of each as it were inscribed in another's conscience and memory. For it is similar with the angels and separated souls. For when they speak to one another, they cause naturally that the one to whom they speak sees their thoughts and volitions, by the very act by which they wish him to know them. For by this very fact their conception and thought — otherwise secret — becomes an object proportioned to the intellect of the hearer, so that it can be naturally perceived and known by him. So therefore God, by this elevation of each one's mind, will cause the power of each one's intellect to be proportioned and sufficient for everything set before him — namely, for the deeds of individual men — to be known at least successively in time, but in a very brief time; in the way Elisha and other Saints, elevated by God, had seen things absent; and St. Benedict, elevated in spirit, saw the whole world as it were collected in a globe in the rays of the sun, as St. Gregory testifies, book II of the Dialogues, chapter XXXV. For that this particular examination of each on the day of judgment will not take place through vocal speech is clear, because in that case each one's deeds would have to be successively pronounced and proclaimed, and so the judgment would have to be drawn out for many months or years, since the deeds of so many millions of men would have to be set forth one by one in their own order. Which indeed would demand many months, or rather years.
Finally, in his usual manner, St. John here alludes to Daniel chapter VII, verse 10: "The judgment sat, and the books were opened." For there Daniel describes the fall of the four monarchies and of the kingdom of Antichrist, and says that the kingdom of Christ and the Saints will succeed them, which will endure forever. The same St. John says and teaches in these chapters.
AND ANOTHER BOOK WAS OPENED, WHICH IS OF LIFE. — St. Augustine, book XX of the City of God, chapter XIV, by the books which were opened, understands the hearts and minds of the Saints, in which God's law and will are written: but by the book of life he understands the memory of all the Saints, which by divine power will know whatever in life he did, well or evil. St. Anselm, in the Elucidarium, says that the book of life is the life of Jesus, which ought to be for all the norm of living, by which and according to which all are to be judged. But I say: the book of life is the book of God's predestination, in which all and only those are written who are destined and elected to eternal life, and that efficaciously, since their life has been completed, and the works of each have been finished through death. Furthermore, mention of the book of life is brought in here, both because this is the book of God which must be set in correspondence and balanced with the opened books of each, that is, with the consciences of men; and because the judgment will be made principally for the sake of the elect who are written in the book of life, namely, that they may be glorified by God, and that their labours and sorrows may receive a just reward according to their merits. For John here wishes to encourage the faithful and the Martyrs, who suffer hard things under Domitian and will suffer harder things hereafter, especially under Antichrist, that they may bravely undergo martyrdoms and death, considering that through this they will pass to the blessed life, to which they have been enrolled by God in the book of life.
Alcazar thinks that the book of life here is taken not only as complete but also as inchoate — that is, that there are written in it not only those who died in grace and are to be saved, but also those who are baptized and endowed with the grace of God, are destined for salvation, even if they be erased from it on account of their crimes, and dying in final impenitence are cast away and damned. This is not improbable; but in that case this book is in great part the same as the open books, inasmuch as these books are God's, not men's consciences, as I said a little before.
ACCORDING TO THEIR WORKS. — The discussion here therefore concerns only adults, whose works are examined and judged, not infants, who can neither work nor merit nor demerit. For infants who die after baptism are by that very fact adjudged to heaven; without baptism, to hell, that is, to limbo. Yet Alcazar, following St. Augustine, holds that infants are also included here, because infants who are unbaptized are judged according to the work and original sin of Adam: for this is imputed to them, indeed inheres in them; but the baptized are judged according to the works and merits of Christ, which are applied to them in baptism. But this is more subtle than solid.
Verse 13: The Sea Gave Up the Dead — Death and Hell Gave Up Their Dead
13. AND THE SEA GAVE UP THE DEAD WHO WERE IN IT: AND DEATH AND HELL GAVE UP THEIR DEAD WHO WERE IN THEM. — St. Augustine, Ticonius, Haymo, and Anselm understand by the dead of death and hell those truly dead; but by the dead of the sea, those who shall be found alive when Christ comes for judgment. For thus Augustine says: "These dead therefore the sea exhibited, that is, this present age exhibited men who had not yet died, and just as they were found, so they appeared. But death and hell gave up bodies, since they recalled them to life. And perhaps it was not enough to say: death or hell; but death, on account of the good; hell, on account of the wicked."
Secondly, Ambrose: The dead, he says, of the sea, that is of baptism, shall be the baptized and elect. Then death will give up the bodies of the impious, hell their souls.
Thirdly, Arethas: Each element, he says, will return whatever of human bodies has come to it: the sea therefore will give back the moisture which had come to it; death (that is, the earth), the dust; hell (that is, the air and fire), that which has vanished into the breezes and dissolved.
Fourthly, Viegas and Delrio, Adage 197, place 64: The sea, they say, will give up the bodies submerged in it, or devoured by fish; death will give up the bodies buried in the earth; but hell will give up the souls. Thus death is here distinguished from hell and the sea, namely for the giving back of the bodies which perished on land. For these are reckoned to be in the belly of death, and death will vomit them up on the day of judgment that they may rise. Ribera joins these; but he differs in this, that he holds the dead of hell to be those who, swallowed alive by the earth, descended with body and soul into hell, such as were Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. But these will be very few. Add that immediately afterward death and hell are said to be cast into the lake of fire: where Ribera and Viegas are forced to take hell and death otherwise, namely as signifying the devil. This however is harsh and forced.
More aptly therefore, more consistently and more elegantly Alcazar, both here and a little before, holds that death and hell are introduced as two tragic persons, whose office is, that the one should take life from mortals, the other should swallow them up, and hold them bound in subterranean tombs and caverns. Most elegantly therefore are these two horrible persons feigned, who shall exult in the world, and shall triumph, after the universal judgment, about to descend together with the damned to the fiery lake of the lower regions. But no mention is made of the other devourer, namely the sea, because it is said that it shall be no more, in reference to a mystery, of which in the following chapter, verse 1. The two remaining persons therefore, that is death and hell, are fittingly sent there, where through the whole eternity of ages they may feed themselves upon the damned, so that not only can it truly be said: "Death shall feed upon them;" but also: "Hell shall feed upon them." Nor will death and hell be content with the slaughter and devouring of the wretched, as they were wont before; but death will always slay them, hell will always hide and devour them. Nor will death ever cease to slay them, because hell will keep them ever alive, that they may always suffer and die. And this is the second death, which death and hell shall together inflict upon the damned. Thus hell and death are cast into the lake of fire, not that they may suffer from the fire, but that they may eternally torment the enemies of God. Thus far Alcazar. The Arabic for "death" translates "abyss," because death has a most vast mouth and belly, with which it embraces all who die, like a horrible abyss: "And the abyss," he says, "and hell were cast into the lake of fire full of sulphur."
Verse 14: Hell and Death Were Cast into the Lake of Fire — This Is the Second Death
14. AND HELL AND DEATH WERE CAST INTO THE LAKE OF FIRE, THIS IS THE SECOND DEATH. — Firstly, St. Augustine, Primasius, Ticonius, Viegas, and Ribera, take hell and death metonymically as the devil, who is the prince of death and hell: for he with his followers shall be judged and cast into the lake of fire, that they may be perpetual inhabitants of death and hell. But thus it should have been said: He was cast, namely the devil, not "They were cast." Again, it plainly seems that death and hell are taken here in the same way as a little before, when he said of the same: "Death and hell gave up their dead." But there death and hell do not signify the devil, as is plain, and the very authors of this interpretation admit. For the same reason, others less correctly take by hell the demons, by death any kind of punishments: as also others, who by hell understand the damned who were previously tormented in hell, as if to say, that they would return after the judgment to the hell from which they came forth; and others, like Maldonatus in the manuscript Notes which I saw at Rome, as if to say: Death and hell shall be no more, that is, no one shall die any more, or be cast into hell.
Verse 15: Whoever Was Not Found Written in the Book of Life Was Cast into the Lake of Fire
15. AND HE WHO WAS NOT FOUND WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF LIFE WAS CAST INTO THE LAKE OF FIRE. As if to say: The saints and elect who are written in the book of life shall go to heaven for eternal glory, as I shall expound in the following chapter: but the wicked who are not written in the book of God and of life, but of the devil and of death, these shall go into the eternal fire of Gehenna.
You will object: Infants dying without baptism in original sin are not written in the book of life, and yet they will not go into the lake of fire, because they have the punishment of loss, that is the privation of glory, not of sense, as is the common opinion of theologians. I reply: St. John here speaks only of adults, not of infants, as is clear from verse 12: "They were judged," he says, "the dead from those things which were written in the books, according to their works." But only adults are judged according to their own works, not infants. The same is clear from the following chapter, verse 8. St. Augustine answers otherwise, in book VI Against Julian, chapter IV, and following him Bellarmine, book VI On the Loss of Grace and the State of Sin, chapter v, namely that infants are judged according to works, that is, those they did and sinned through Adam and in Adam: and therefore are to be cast into the lake of fire, that is, into the lake where there is fire; yet not to be burned by that fire or tormented, either because they are in a higher part of that place, or because the fire has the power of detaining them, but not of burning.
Moreover, this lake is full of fire and sulphur, as the Arabic has it, and St. John expressly asserts in chapter xxi, verse 8, and Isaiah, chapter xxx, verse 33. The fire of Gehenna therefore is sulphurous: hence its type and forerunner was the sulphurous fire by which Sodom and Gomorrha were burned, Genesis xix, of whom accordingly St. Jude says that they "undergoing the punishment of eternal fire were made an example to the world." For this fire is most fit for the punishment of the wicked, first, because it is most burning: for sulphur, being of fiery nature, if it catches fire, burns with great violence; secondly, because this fire has a most foul and most pungent odor, which suits the stench of sins to be punished; thirdly, because sulphur is wont to be used for fumigation in the purifications of houses, as Pliny testifies, book XXXV, chapter xv. The wicked have defiled their houses, namely the soul and flesh, with sins of gluttony, lust, wrath, etc.; it is fitting therefore that God should purify and as it were expiate these houses with sulphurous fire. For the punishment of sinners is a kind of expiation and purgation. For this reason an immense quantity of sulphur, partly burning, partly not burning, lies hidden under the earth, as is clear from hot springs and burning mountains, which are most numerous throughout the world: for the hot springs smell of sulphur, and the fires of the mountains are sulphurous. The very thunderbolts also, which are symbols of divine wrath, consist of sulphurous fire, and smell of sulphur. Therefore the whole lake of Gehenna with all the bodies of the damned cast into it will burn horribly, and that whole heap of the wicked will be burning as a victim to God, and a holocaust for sin: which sacrifice will never be completed, but will always be performed before the Lord and all the Saints, just as the sin itself will always be expiated, and yet will never have been expiated. Hence not only will fire be applied externally to the bodies that it may torment by its contact, but the very bodies themselves will burn continuously, as is wont to happen in a holocaust. Furthermore, the wicked, especially those who have sinned grievously, like Antichrist, will be cast into the depth of this lake and as it were buried: thus the rich glutton is said to be buried in hell, Luke xvi: so that no refreshment can come to them from without, nor can they breathe or cry out: for crying out in the great torments of this life is wont to bring some relief from pain. But not even this will be granted to Antichrist and his companions in Gehenna, whence it will come about that the suppressed pain will rage most fiercely within. For others who at least have their heads sticking out will be able to cry out, such as those who have sinned less; but even their cries and voices will be lamentable, by which they will afflict themselves and their companions. For from such great and inevitable and eternal punishments will follow despair, fury, and cursing, by which they will curse both themselves, that they were the cause of such great sufferings to themselves, and God who created them, and the parents who begot them, and the demons who seduced them, and the companions who enticed them, and every creature that has served or serves them either for fault or for punishment. So Father Lessius, book XIII On the Divine Perfections, chapter xxiv, who in chapters xxix and xxx also learnedly explains the manifold punishments of the damned, and how bodily fire can act upon souls and demons, and torment them. Truly the Psalmist, Psalm LXXXIX: "Who knoweth the power of Thy wrath, and for fear can number Thy wrath, O Lord?"
Morally. Read these things, re-read, ruminate and ponder daily, O Christian. See what you write in these books of yours, which on the day of judgment will be unfolded and read before the whole world, when, as Anselm says, in the book On Similitudes, "on the right hand will be the sins accusing, on the left infinite demons, below the horrible chaos of hell, above the angry Judge, outside the burning world, inside the burning conscience. There scarcely shall the just be saved. Alas, wretched sinner so caught, whither shalt thou flee? For to hide will be impossible, to appear intolerable." In these books, in this light of Christ, will be revealed all the foxlike consciences, all the counsels of hearts, all the disguises of minds, all the hidden things of darkness. Thinking this, fearing this, Hugh of St. Victor, in book I On the Soul, chapter xv, made this humble confession of himself, that he might obtain pardon: "Under a sheep's skin," he says, "I was hiding a fox-like conscience; plainly a foxlike conscience, lukewarm conversation, animal thought, feigned confession, brief and rare compunction; obedience without devotion, prayer without attention, reading without edification, speech without circumspection. O how hard are these things which I speak, since in speaking I strike myself!"
Do you want counsel? do you want a remedy? Receive it from St. Paul: think, weigh, examine, conform to the standard of divine law and will all your individual not only actions, but also thoughts and intentions of the mind. "For if we judged ourselves, we would assuredly not be judged," 1 Corinthians xi, 31; and: "The word of God is living and efficacious, and more penetrating than any two-edged sword, and reaching unto the division of the soul and the spirit, of the joints also and the marrow, and a discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature invisible in His sight: but all things are naked and open to His eyes." The Gentiles saw this from afar. Seneca, in book III On Anger: "The mind," he says, "is to be called daily to give an account. Sextius did this, that when the day was finished, having retired to his nightly rest, he would question his soul: What evil of yours have you healed today? what vice have you withstood? in what part are you better? Anger will cease, or be more moderate, when it knows that it must come daily to a judge."
Plutarch writes of Livius Drusus, tribune of the plebs, that when his house was open in many places to the eyes of the neighbors, and a certain craftsman offered to turn it about and change it for the price of five talents: "Ten," he said, "I will give if you make my whole house visible, that all the citizens may contemplate what kind of life I lead." For he was a temperate and moderate man. So live, that you may always remember, nay rather desire and rejoice, that you and your inmost things are seen by God, that you are noted by angels, by demons, by men: "For we are made a spectacle to the world, to angels and to men." O how wise is he who continually turns over in his mind that last and censorial day of this world, which will be the horizon of blessed and miserable eternity, and which will separate the Blessed from the damned, those above from those below, angels from demons, heaven from Gehenna for all eternity! O how wise is he in whose ears this trumpet continually sounds: "Arise, ye dead, come to judgment!" O how wise is he who so performs and disposes his individual acts as he will wish to have performed and disposed them on the day of judgment!