from the eleventh chapter.

1. “And there was shown unto me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.”] A reed was shown like to a rod. This itself is the Apocalypse which he subsequently exhibited to the churches; for the Gospel of the complete faith he subsequently wrote for the sake of our salvation. For when Valentinus, and Cerinthus, and Ebion, and others of the school of Satan, were scattered abroad throughout the world, there assembled together to him from the neighbouring provinces all the bishops, and compelled him himself also to draw up his testimony. Moreover, we say that the measure of God’s temple is the command of God to confess the Father Almighty, and that His Son Christ was begotten by the Father before the beginning of the world, and was made man in very soul and flesh, both of them having overcome misery and death; and that, when received with His body into heaven by the Father, He shed forth the Holy Spirit, the gift and pledge of immortality, that He was announced by the prophets, He was described by the law, He was God’s hand, and the Word of the Father from God, Lord over all, and founder of the world: this is the reed and the measure of faith; and no one worships the holy altar save he who confesses this faith.  

2. “The court which is within the temple leave out.”] The space which is called the court is the empty altar within the walls: these being such as were not necessary, he commanded to be ejected from the Church.  

“It is given to be trodden down by the Gentiles.”] That is, to the men of this world, that it may be trodden under foot by the nations, or with the nations. Then he repeats about the destruction and slaughter of the last time, and says:—  

3. “They shall tread the holy city down for forty and two months; and I will give to my two witnesses, and they shall predict a thousand two hundred and threescore days clothed in sackcloth.”] That is, three years and six months: these make forty-two months. Therefore their preaching is three years and six months, and the kingdom of Antichrist as much again.  

5. “If any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies.”] That fire proceedeth out of the mouth of those prophets against the adversaries, bespeaks the power of the world. For all afflictions, however many there are, shall be sent by their messengers in their word. Many think that there is Elisha, or Moses, with Elijah; but both of these died; while the death of Elijah is not heard of, with whom all our ancients have believed that it was Jeremiah. For even the very word spoken to him testifies to him, saying, “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.”50    Jer i. 5.   But he was not a prophet unto the nations; and thus the truthful word of God makes it necessary, which it has promised to set forth, that he should be a prophet to the nations.  

4. “These are the two candlesticks standing before the Lord of the earth.”] These two candlesticks and two olive trees He has to this end spoken of, and admonished you that if, when you have read of them elsewhere, you have not understood, you may understand here. For in Zechariah, one of the twelve prophets, it is thus written: “These are the two olive trees and two candlesticks which stand in the presence of the Lord of the earth;”51    Zech. iv. 14.   that is, they are in paradise. Also, in another sense, standing in the presence of the lord of the earth, that is, in the presence of Antichrist. Therefore they must be slain by Antichrist.  

7. “And the beast which ascendeth from the abyss.”] After many plagues completed in the world, in the end he says that a beast ascended from the abyss. But that he shall ascend from the abyss is proved by many testimonies; for he says in the thirty-first chapter of Ezekiel: “Behold, Assur was a cypress in Mount Lebanon.” Assur, deeply rooted, was a lofty and branching cypress—that is, a numerous people—in Mount Lebanon, in the kingdom of kingdoms, that is, of the Romans. Moreover, that he says he was beautiful in offshoots, he says he was strong in armies. The water, he says, shall nourish him, that is, the many thousands of men which were subjected to him; and the abyss increased him, that is, belched him forth. For even Isaiah speaks almost in the same words; moreover, that he was in the kingdom of the Romans, and that he was among the Cæsars. The Apostle Paul also bears witness, for he says to the Thessalonians: “Let him who now restraineth restrain, until he be taken out of the way; and then shall appear that Wicked One, even he whose coming is after the working of Satan, with signs and lying wonders.”52    2 Thess. ii. 7, 8, 9.   And that they might know that he should come who then was the prince, he added: “He already endeavours after the secret of mischief”53    2 Thess. ii. 10.  —that is, the mischief which he is about to do he strives to do secretly; but he is not raised up by his own power, nor by that of his father, but by command of God, of which thing Paul says in the same passage: “For this cause, because they have not received the love of God, He will send upon them a spirit of error, that they all may be persuaded of a lie, who have not been persuaded of the truth.”54    2 Thess. ii. 11.   And Isaiah saith: “While they waited for the light, darkness arose upon them.”55    Isa. lix. 9.   Therefore the Apocalypse sets forth that these prophets are killed by the same, and on the fourth day rise again, that none might be found equal to God.  

8. “And their dead bodies shall lie in the streets of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt.”] But He calls Jerusalem Sodom and Egypt, since it had become the heaping up of the persecuting people. Therefore it behooves us diligently, and with the utmost care, to follow the prophetic announcement, and to understand what the Spirit from the Father both announces and anticipates, and how, when He has gone forward to the last times, He again repeats the former ones. And now, what He will do once for all, He sometimes sets forth as if it were done; and unless you understand this, as sometimes done, and sometimes as about to be done, you will fall into a great confusion. Therefore the interpretation of the following sayings has shown therein, that not the order of the reading, but the order of the discourse, must be understood.  

19. “And the temple of God was opened which is in heaven.”] The temple opened is a manifestation of our Lord. For the temple of God is the Son, as He Himself says: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” And when the Jews said, “Forty and six years was this temple in building,” the evangelist says, “He spake of the temple of His body.”56    John ii. 19, 20, 21    

“And there was seen in His temple the ark of the Lord’s testament.”] The preaching of the Gospel and the forgiveness of sins, and all the gifts whatever that came with Him, he says, appeared therein.  

EX CAPITE XI.

0333D

1. Et ostensa est mihi arundo similis virgae, et stabat angelus dicens: Surge, et metire templum Dei et altare, et eos qui adorant in illo. Ostensa arundo similis virgae: haec ipsa est Apocalypsis, quam postea exhibuit Ecclesiis: nam et Evangelium perfectae fidei nostrae salutis causa: postea scripsit. Cum enim essent Valentinus et Cerinthus, et Ebion, et caeteri scholae satanae diffusi per orbem, convenerunt ad illum de finitimis provinciis omnes episcopi, et compulerunt 0334A eum, ut et ipse testimonium conscriberet. Mensuram autem templi Dei , mandatum Domini nostri, Patrem confiteri omnipotentem esse dicimus, et hujus filium Christum ante originem saeculi apud Patrem genitum, hominem factum in anima vera et carne, utraque miseria et morte devicta, et in coelos cum corpore a Patre receptum effudisse Spiritum sanctum, donum et pignus immortalitatis: hunc per prophetas praedicatum, hunc per legem conscriptum, hunc esse manum Dei, et Verbum Patris ex Deo, per omnia Dominum et conditorem orbis: haec est arundo et mensura fidei: et nemo adorat aram sanctam, nisi qui hanc fidem confitetur.

2. Atrium quod est intrinsecus templi, exclude foras. Aula atrium dicitur, vacua inter parietes ara: hos 0334B tales non necessarios ejici jussit de Ecclesia.

Data est calcari a gentibus. Hoc est, hujus mundi hominibus, ut a gentibus vel cum gentibus conculcetur. Deinde repetit de novissimi temporis ruina et excidio, et ait:

3. Civitatem sanctam calcabunt mensibus quadraginta duobus: et dabo duobus testibus meis, et praedicabunt diebus mille ducentis sexaginta, amicti ciliciis. Id est, triennium et menses sex: haec faciunt menses quadraginta duo. Est ergo illorum praedicatio triennium et menses sex, et regnum antichristi alterum tantum.

5. Si quis voluerit eos laedere, ignis procedit ex ore ipsorum, et comedit inimicos eorum. De ore autem illorum prophetarum exire ignem contra adversarios, 0334C potestatem verbi dicit. Omnes enim plagae, quotquot futurae sunt, ab angelis eorum in voce mittentur. Multi putant, cum Elia Elisaeum esse, aut Mosen: sed utrique mortui sunt. Eliae autem mors non invenitur, per quem omnes veteres nostri tradiderunt esse illum Jeremiam. Nam et ipsum verbum quod factum est ad eum testificatur ei dicens: Priusquam te figurarem in ventre, cognovi te, et priusquam de vulva procederes, sanctificavi te, et prophetam in gentibus posui te (Jer., I, 5). In gentibus autem propheta non fuit: et ideo verbum Dei verax, necesse habet quod promisit exhibere, ut in gentibus sit propheta.

4. Hi sunt duo candelabra in conspectu Domini terrae stantes. Haec duo candelabra et duas olivas ideo dixit et admonuit, ut si alibi legens non intellexisti, heic 0334D intelligas. In Zacharia enim, uno ex duodecim prophetis, ita scriptum est: Hi sunt duae olivae et duo candelabra qui in conspectu Domini terrae adstant (Zach., IV, 14): id est, sunt in paradiso. Item alio sensu. In conspectu Domini terrae adstantia: id est, in conspectu antichristi. Hos ergo oportet interfici ab antichristo.

7. Et bestia quae ascendit de abysso. Post multas plagas saeculo expletas, in fine dicit ascendisse bestiam de abysso. De abysso autem quod ascensura sit, multis testimoniis est comprobatum: ait enim 0335A in XXXI cap. Ezechiel: Ecce Assur, cupressus in monte Libani (Ezech., XXXI, 3). Assur deprimens, cupressus excelsus, ramosus, id est populus multus in monte Libano, in regno regnorum id est Romanorum. Formosus autem quod ait in germinibus, fortem dicit in exercitibus. Aqua, inquit, nutriet illum, id est, multa millia hominum quae subjecta erunt illi. Et abyssus auxit illum, id est eructavit eum. Nam et Esaias pene iisdem verbis loquitur. Fuisse autem eum in regno Romanorum, et fuisse inter Caesares, et Paulus apostolus contestatur; ait enim ad Thessalonicenses: Qui nunc tenet, teneat, donec de medio fiat; et tunc apparebit iniquus, ille cujus est adventus secundum efficaciam Satanae signis et portentis mendacibus (II, Thess., II, 7, 8). Et ut scirent illum venturum, 0335B qui tunc erat princeps, adjecit: Arcanum jam malitiae molitur (Ibid., 9): id est, malitiam quam facturus est, arcane molitur, sed non sua virtute, nec patris sui, suscitatur, sed jussu Dei, qua de re Paulus iisdem dicit: Idcirco quoniam non receperunt amorem Dei, mittet eis spiritum erroris ut omnes persuadeantur mendacio, qui non sunt persuasi veritate (Ibid., 10). Et Esaias ait: Sustinentibus illis lucem, tenebrae ortae sunt illis (Esa., LIX, 9). Hos ergo prophetas ab eodem interfici manifestat Apocalypsis, et quarta die resurgere, ne quis aequalis Deo inveniatur.

8. Et jacebunt corpora eorum in plateis civitatis magnae quae vocatur spiritualiter Sodoma et Aegyptus. Sodoma autem et Aegyptum dicit Hierosolymam, acervum populi persecutoris effectam. Diligenter 0335C ergo et cum summa sollicitudine sequi oportet propheticam praedicationem, et intelligere quod Spiritus ex Patre et praedicat, et praeposterat ; et cum praecurrerit usque ad novissimum, rursum tempora superiora repetit. Et quod facturus est semel, aliquoties quasi factum ostendit: quod nisi intelligas aliquoties ut factum, aliquoties ut futurum, in grandem caliginem incides. Ergo interpretatio sequentium dictorum in ea monstravit, ut non ordo lectionis, sed orationis intelligatur.

19. Et apertum est templum Dei quod est in coelo. Templum apertum manifestatio est Domini nostri. Templum enim Dei Filius est, sicut ipse ait: Solvite templum hoc, et in tribus diebus suscitabo illud (Joan., II, 19, 20, 21). Et dicentibus Judaeis, quadraginta et 0335D sex annis aedificatum est templum istud; ille, ait Evangelista, dicebat de templo corporis sui.

Et visa est arca testamenti Domini in templo ejus. Evangelii praedicatio et indulgentia delictorum, et omnia dona quaecumque cum illo advenerunt, illa dicit apparuisse.