S. Iohn measuring the Temple, 3. heareth of two witnesses that shal preach: 7. whom the beast
comming vo from the sea shal kil it. 11. But they rising againe ascend into heauen. 13. and seuen
thousand persons are slaine with an earthquake: 15. and at the sond of the seuenth Angel, the
foure and twentie Seniours giue praise and thankes to God.
1. AND there was giuen me a reed like vnto a rod: and it was said to me: Arise, and
measure the Temple of God, and the altar, and them that adore in it.
2. But the court which is without the Temple, cast forth, & measure not that: because
it is giuen to the Gentils, and they shal tread vnder-foot the holy citie
✟
Three yeares and a halfe. which is the time of Antichrists reigne & persecution.
two & fourtie months:
3. and I wil giue to my two witnesses, and they shal prophecie a thousand two hundred
sixtie daies, clothed with sacke-clothes.
4. These are the two oliue trees & the two Candlesticks that stand in the sight of the
Lord of the earth.
5. And if any man wil hurt them, fire shal come forth out of their mouthes, and shal
deuoure their enemies. And if any man wil hurt them, so must he be slaine.
6. These haue power to shut heauen, that it raine not in the daies of their prophecie:
and they haue power ouer the waters to turne them into bloud, and to strike the earth with al
plague as often as they wil.
7. And when they shal haue finished their testimonie, the
✟
The great Antichrist.
beast which ascendeth from
the depth, shal make warre against them, and shal ouercome them, and kil them.
8. And their bodies shal lie in the streets of the
✟
He meaneth Hierusalem, named Sodom & AEgypt for the imitation of them in wickednes.
So that we see his cheefe reigne shal be there, though his tyrannie may extend to al
places of the world.
great citie, which is called
spiritually Sodom and Ægypt, where their Lord also was crucified.
9. And there shal of Tribes, and peoples, and tongues, and Gentils, see their bodies
for three daies, and a halfe: and they shal not suffer their bodies to be laid in monuments.
10. And the inhabitants of the earth
✟
The wicked reioyce, when holy men are executed by the tyrants of the world, because their
life and doctrine are burdenous vnto them.
shal be glad vpon them, and make merie: and shal
send guifts one to another, because these two Prophets tormented them that dwelt vpon the earth.
11. And after three daies and a halfe, the spirit of life from God entred into them.
And they stood vpon their feet, and great feare fel vpon them that saw them.
12. And they heard a loud voice from heauen saying to them: Come vp hither. And they
went vp into heauen in a cloud: and their enemies saw them.
13. And in that houre there was made a great earth-quake: and the tenth part of the
citie fel: and there were slaine in the earth-quake names of men seuen thousand: and the rest were
cast into a feare, and gaue glorie to the God of heauen.
14. The second woe is gone: and behold the third wor wil come quickly.
15. And the seuenth Angel sounded with a trompet: and there were made loud voices in
heauen saying,
✟
The Kingdom of this world vsurped before by Satan & Antichrist, shal afterward be
Christes for euer.
The kingdom of this world is made our Lords & his Christes, and he shal reigne for
euer and euer. Amen.
16. And the foure and twentie Seniours which sit on their seats in the sight of God, fel
on their faces, and adored God,
17. saying: We thanke thee Lord God omnipotent, which art, and which wast, and which shalt
come: because thou hast receiued thy great power, and hast reigned.
18. And the Gentils were angrie, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, to
be iudged, and
✟
To repay the hire or wages (for so both the Greeke word and the Latin signifie] due to holy
men, proueth against the Protestants, that they did truely merit the same in this life.
to render reward to thy Seruants the Prophets and Saints, and to them that feare
thy name, litle and great, and to destroy them that haue corrupted the earth.
19. And the Temple of God was opened in heauen: and the arke of his Testament was seen
in his Temple, and there were made lightnings, and voices, and an earth-quake and great haile.
ANNOTATIONS.
Cʜᴀᴘ. XI.
3. My two witnesses.)
Enoch and Elias, as it is commonly expounded for, that Elias shal come againe before the later
day, it is a most notorious knowen thing (to vse S. Augustines wordes) in the mouthes and hartes
of faithful men. See li. 20 de Ciuit. Dei c. 29. Tract. 4 in Ioan. and both of Enoch and Elias,
Lib. 1 de pec. merit. c. 3. So the rest of the Latin Doctors. as, S. Hierom ad Pāmach ep. 61 c.
11. & in Psal. 20. S. Ambrose in Psal. 45. S. Hilarie 20 can. in Mat. Prospet li. vltim de
Promissionibus c. 13. S Gregorie li. 14. Moral. c. 11. & he. 12 in Ezech. Beda in 9 Marci. The
Greeke fathers also, as S. Chrysostom he. 58 in Mat. & ho. 4 in 2 Thessal. & ho. 21 in Genes.
& ho. 22 in ep. ad Hebr. Theophylacte and Occumenius in 17 Matthai. S. Damascene li. 4 de
Orthodoxa fide c. 27.
Furthermore, that they liue also in Paradise, it is partly gathered out of the Scripture Ecclici 44.
16. where it is plainely said of Enoch, that he is translated into Paradise, as al our Latin
exemplars do reade: and of Elias, that he was taken vp aliue, it is euident 4 Reg. 2. And S.
Irenaeus saith, it is the tradition of the Apostles, that they be both there. li. 5 in initio.
Dicunt Presbyteri (saith he) qui sunt Apostolorum Discipuli. So say the Priests or Auncients that
are the scholers of the Apostles. See S. Iustine q. 85 ad orthodoxos. Finally, that they shal returne
into the companie of men in the end of the world, to preache against Antichrist, and to inutie both
Iewes and Gentiles to penance, and so be martyred, as this place of the Apocalypse seemeth plaine,
so we haue in part other testimonies hereof. Malac. 4. Ecclci 44, 16. 48, 10. Mat. 17, 11. See
also Hyppolytus booke of Antichrist and the end of the world. Al which being wel considered, the
Heretikes are to contentious and incredulous, to discredite the same, as they commonly doe.