See in S. Augustin (li. 20. de Ciuit. c. 7. 8. & seq. ) the exposition of
this chapter.
An Angel casteth the dragon (or diuel) bound, into the depth for a thousand yeares, in which
the soules of Martyrs in the first resurrection shal reigne with Christ. 7. After which yeares,
Satan being let loose, shal raise Gog & Magog, an innumerable armie, against the beloued citie: 9.
but a fire from heauen shal destroy them. 12. Then bookes are opened, and he that sitteth vpon the
throne, iudgeth al the dead according to their workes.
1. AND I saw an Angel descending from heauen, hauing the key of the bottomles depth, and
a great chaine in his hand.
2. And he apprehended the dragon the old serpent, which is the Diuel and Satan, and
bound him for a thousand yeares.
3. And he threw him into the depth, and shut him vp, and sealed ouer him, that he
seduce no more the Nations, til the thousand yeares be consummate. And after these things he
must be loosed a litle time.
4. And I saw seats: and they sate vpon them, and iudgement was giuen them, and the
soules of the beheaded for the testimonie of Iᴇꜱᴠꜱ, and for the word of God, and that
adored not the beast nor his image, nor receiued his character in their foreheads or in their
hands, haue liued & reigned with Christ
✟
Quid in millenario numero nisi ad proferendam nouam sobelem perfecta a vniuersitas
præscitæ generationis exprimitur? hinc per Ioannem dicitur, Et regnabunt cum illo
mille annis, quia regnum sanctæ, Ecclesiæ, vniuersitatis perfectione solidatur. D.
Gregor. li. 9. Moral. c. 1.
a thousand yeares.
5. The rest of the dead liued not, til the thousand yeares be consummate. This is the
first resurrection.
6. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection. In these the
second death hath not power: but they shal be Priests of God and of Christ: and shal reigne with
him a thousand yeares.
7. And when the thousand yeares shal be consummate, Satan shal be loosed out of his
prison, and shal goe forth and seduce
✟
S. Augustin thinketh that these doe not signifie any certaine Nations, but al that shal
then be ioyned with the Diuel and Antichrist against the Church. li. 20. de Ciuit. c.
11. See S. Hierom. in Ezech. li. 11.
the Nations that are vpon the foure corners of the earth,
*
Ezech. 38,14. 39,2.
Gog, and Magog, and shal gather them into battel, the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
8. And they ascended vpon the bredth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the
Saints, and the beloued citie.
9. And there came downe fire from God out of heauen, and deuoured them:
10. and the Diuel which seduced them, was cast into the poole of fire and brimstone,
where both the beast & the False-prophet shal be tormented day and night for euer and euer.
11.
✟
THE 6. VISION.
And I saw a great white throne, and one sitting vpon it, from whose sight
✟
They shal then be new, not the substance, but the shape changed. 2. Pet. 3. See
S. Augustin. li. 20. de Ciuit. c. 14.
earth
and heauen fled, and there was no place found for them.
12. And I saw the dead, great and litle, standing in the sight of the throne, and
✟
The bookes of mens consciences, where it shal plainely be read what euery mans life hath
been.
books
were opened: and
*
Apoc. 3,5. 21,27.
another booke was opened, which is of life: and the dead were iudged of those
things which were written in the books according to their works.
13. And the sea gaue the dead that were in it, and death and hel gaue their dead that
were in them, and it was iudged of euery one according to their workes.
14. And hel and death were cast into the poole of fire. This is the second death.
15. And
✟
Such as doe no good workes, if they haue age and time to doe them, are not found in the
booke of life.
he that was not found written in the booke of life, was cast into the poole
of fire.
ANNOTATIONS.
Cʜᴀᴘ. XX.
2. Bound him;)
Christ by his Passion hath abridged the power of the Deuil for a thousand yeres, that is, the
whole time of the new Testament, vntil Antichrists time, when he shal be loosed againe, that
is, be permitted to deceiue the world, but for a short time only, to wit, three yeres and a
halfe.
4. I saw seates.)
S. Augustine (li. 20 de Ciuit. Dei c. 9) taketh this to be spoken, not of the last iudgement, but of
the Sees or Consistories of Bishops and Prelates, and of the Prelates them selues, by whom the Church
is now gouerned. As the iudgement here giuen, can be taken no otherwise better, then of that which
was said by our Sauior Mat. 18. Whatsoeuer you binde in earth, shal be bound in heauen and therfore
the Apostle saith, What haue I to doe to iudge of them that are with out?
4. And the soules.)
He meaneth (saith S. Augustine in the place alleaged) the soules of Martyrs, that they shal in the
meane time, during those thousand yeres; which is the time of the Church militant, be in heauen
without their bodies, and reigne with Christ. for, the soules (saith he) of the godly departed, are
not separated from the Church, which is euen now the kingdom of Christ. for els there should be
kept no memorie of them as the altar of God in the communicating of the body of Christ: neither
should it auaile to hasten to Baptisme in the perils of death, for feare of ending our life without
it: nor to hasten to be reconciled, if we fortune for penence or of il conscience to be separated
from the same body. And why are al these things done, but for that the faithful departed also be
members of the Church? And though for an example the Martyrs be onely named here, yet it is mean
of others also that die in the state of grace.
5. The rest liued not.)
The rest which are not of the happie number aforesaid, but liued and died in sinne, reigne not with
Christ in their soules during this time of the new Testament, but are dead in soule spiritually, and
in body naturally, til the day of iudgement. S. August. ibidem.
3. This is the first resurrection.)
As there be two regenerations, one by faith, which is now in Baptisme: and an other according to
the flesh, when at the later day the body shal be made immortal and incorruptible: so there are
two resurrections, the one now of the soules to saluation when they die in grace, which is
called the first, the other of the bodies at the later day. S. August. li. 20 de Ciui. c. 6.
6. They shal be Priests.)
It is not spoken (saith S. Augustine li. 20 de Ciuit. c. 10) of Bishops and Priest onely, which are
properly now in the Church called Priests: but as we call al, Christians, for the mystical Chrisme
or ointment, so al, Priests, because they are the members of one Priest of whom the Apostle Peter
saith, A holy people, a kingly Priesthod. Which wordes be notable for their learning that thinke
there be none properly called Priests now in the new Testament, no otherwise then al Christian men
and women, and a confusion to them that therfore haue turned the name Priests into Ministers.
7. Satan shal be loosed.)
In the whole 8 chapter of the said 20 booke de Ciuitate Dei in S. Augustine, is a notable commentarie
of these wordes. Where first he declareth, that neither this binding nor loosing of Satan is in
respect of seducing or not seducing the Church of God: prouing that whether he be bound or loose, he
can neuer seduce the same. The same, saith he, shal be the state of the Church at that time when the
Diuel is to be loosed, euen as since it was instituted. the same hath it been & shal be at al time in
her children that succede eche other by birth & death. And a litle after. This I thought was therfore
to be mentioned, left any man should thinke, that during the litle time wherein the Diuel shal be
loosed, the Church shal not be vpon the earth, he either not finding it here when he shal be le loose,
or consuming it when be shal by al meanes persecute the same. Secondly he declareth, that the Diuel
to be bound, is nothing els but not to be permitted by God to exercise al his force or fraude in
tentations: as to be loosed, is to be suffered by God for a small time, that is, for three yeres and
a halfe, to practise and proue al his power and artes of tentations against the Church and her
children, and yet not to preuaile against them. Thirdly this Doctor sheweth by what great mercie
our Lord hath tied Satan and abridged his power during the whole millenarie or thousand yeres,
which is al the time of the new Testament vntil then: & with what wisedom he permitteth him to
breake loose that litle time of three yeres and sixe moneths, toward the later day, which shal be
the reigne of Antichrist. Lastly he sheweth what kinde of men shal be most subiect to the Diuels
seductiō, (euen such as now by tentation of Heretikes goe out of the Church) and who shal auoid it.
By al which we may confute diuers false expositiōs of old & late Heretikes first, the aūcient sect
of the Millenaries, that grounded vpon these thousand yeres named by the Prophet, this heresie, that
there should be so many yeres after the resurrectiō of our bodies, in which we should reigne with
Christ in this world, in our bodies, in al delites and pleasures corporal, of meates, drinkes, and
such like, which they called the first resurrection. of which heresie Cerinthus was the author.
Epiph. haer. 77. in fine. Hiero. Cmment. in c. 19 Mat. August. har. 8 ad Quodvul Deum. Eusbius
also (li. 3 historia c. 33) sheweth that some principal men were in part (though after a more
honest maner cōcerning those corporal delicacies) of the same opinion by misconstruction of these
wordes of S. Iohn. whereby we learne and al the world may perceiue, the holy Scriptures to be
hard, when so great clerkes did erre, and that there is no securitie but in that sense which the
Church alloweth of.
The late Heretikes also by the said S. Augustines wordes are fully refuted, affirming not only that
the Church may be seduced in that great persecution of the Diuels loosing, but that it hath been
seduced euen a great peece of this time when the Diuel is bound: holding that the very true Church
may erre or fall from truth to errour and idolatrie, yea (which is more blasphemie) that the cheefe
gouernour of the Church is Antichrist him self, and the very Church vnder him, the whooe of
Babylon: and that this Antichrist, (which the Scriptures in so many places, and here plainely by S.
Augustines exposition, testifie, shal reigne but a small time, and that toward the last iudgement,)
hath been reuealed long sithence, to be the Pope him self, Christs owne Vicar, and that he hath
persecuted the Saincts of their secte for these thousand yeres at the least. which is no more but
to make the Diuel to be loose, and Antichrist to reigne the whole thousand yeres, or the most part
thereof, that is, almost the whole time of the Churches state in the new Testamēt: (which is
against this and other Scriptures euidently, appointing that, to be the time of the Diuels binding:)
Yea it is to make Antichrist and the Diuel weaker toward the day of iudgement then before, and the
truth better to be knowen, and the faith more common the neerer we come to the same iudgement:
which is expresly against the Gospel and this prophecie of S. Iohn.
We see that the sectes of Luther, Caluin, and other, be more spred through the world then they
were euer before, and consequently the Pope and his religion lessened, and his power of punishing
(or, as they call it) persecuting the said Sectaries, through the multitude of his aduersaries,
diminished. How then is the Pope Antichrist, Whose force shal be greater at the later end of the
world, then before? or how can it be otherwise, but these Sect Maisters should be Antichrists
neere precursors, that make Christs cheefe Ministers & the Churches cheefe gouelnours that haue been
these thousand yeres and more, to be Antichristes: and them selues and their sectes to be true,
that come so neere the time of the Diuels loosing and seduction & of the personal reigne of
Antichrist?
8. The campe of the Saincts.)
S. Augustine in the said 20 booke de Clui. Dei cap. 11. It is not, saith he, to be taken that the
persecutors shal gather to any place, as though the campe of the saincts or the beloued citie
should be but in one place, which in deede are no other thing but the Church of Christ spred through
the whole world. And therfore wheresoeuer the Church shal then be (which shal be in al Nations
euen them, for so much is insinuated by this latitude of the earth here specified) there shal the
tents of saincts be, and the beloued citie of God, and there shal she be besieged by al her enemies,
which shal be in euery countrie where she is, in most cruel and forcible sort. So writeth this
profound holy Doctor. whereby we see, that, as now the particular Churches of England, Scotland,
Flanders, and such like, be persecuted by their enemies in those countries, so in the time of
Antichrist, the Churches of al Nations. as of Italie, Spaine, France, and al other which now be
quiet, shal be assaulted as now the foresaid are, and much more, for that the general persecution
of the whole, shal be greater then the particular persecution of any Churches in the world.
9. There came downe a fire.)
It is not meant of the fire of Hel (saith S. Augustine ib. c. 12) into which the wicked shal be
cast after the resurrection of their bodies, but of an extraordinarie helpe that God wil send from
heauen, to giue succourse to the Saincts of the Church that then shal fight against the wicked:
or, the very feruent and burning zeale of religion and Gods honour, which God wil kindle in the
hartes of the faithful, to be constant against al the forces of that great persecution.
12. An other booke.)
This is the booke of Gods knowledge or predestination, wherein that which before was hid to the
world, shal be opened, and wherein the true record of euery mans workes shal be conteined, and
they haue their iudgemēt diuersly according to their workes, and not according to faith only, or
lacke of faith only. for, al infidels (as Turkes, obstinate ewes, and Heretikes) shal neuer come
to that examination, being otherwise condemned.