The cry of a mighty angel. He gives John a book to eat.
An other strong Angel crying out, 3 seuen thunders do speake. 6 The Angel sweareth that there shal be time no more, but at the voice of the seuenth Angel the mysterie shal be fully accomplished, 9 He giueth Iohn a booke to deuoure.
1And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud. And a rainbow was on his head: and his face was as the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire.E vidi un altro Angelo forte, scendente dal cielo, coperto d'una nuvola; ed aveva sul suo capo l'iride, e la faccia di esso era come il sole, e i suoi piedi come colonne di fuoco:AND I savv an other Angel, strong, descending from heauen, clothed vvith a cloude, and a raine-bovv on his head, and his face vvas as the sunne, and his feete as a piller' of fire.Et vidi alium angelum fortem descendentem de cælo amictum nube, et iris in capite ejus, et facies ejus erat ut sol, et pedes ejus tamquam columnæ ignis: 2And he had in his hand a little book, open. And he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot upon the earth.Ed aveva in mano un libriccino aperto: e posò il piede destro sul mare, e il sinistro sulla terra:and he had in his hand a litle booke opened: and he put his right foote vpon the sea, and his left vpon the land.et habebat in manu sua libellum apertum: et posuit pedem suum dextrum super mare, sinistrum autem super terram: 3And he cried with a loud voice as when a lion roareth. And when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices.E gridò ad alta voce, qual rugge un leone. E gridato ch'egli ebbe, dettar fuora i sette tuoni le loro voci.and he cried vvith a loude voice, as vvhen a lion roareth. And vvhen he had cried, the seuen thunders spake their voices.et clamavit voce magna, quemadmodum cum leo rugit. Et cum clamasset, locuta sunt septem tonitrua voces suas. 4And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write. And I heard a voice from heaven saying to me: Seal up the things which the seven thunders have spoken. And write them not.E dato che ebber fuora i sette tuoni le loro voci, io stava per iscrivere: ma udii una voce dal cielo, la quale mi disse: Sigilla quello, che hanno detto i sette tuoni, e non lo scrivere.And vvhen the seuen thunders had spoken their voices, I vvas about to vvrite: and I heard a voice from heauen saying to me: Signe the things vvhich the seuen thunders haue spoken: and vvrite them not.Et cum locuta fuissent septem tonitrua voces suas, ego scripturus eram: et audivi vocem de cælo dicentem mihi: Signa quæ locuta sunt septem tonitrua: et noli ea scribere. 5And the angel whom I saw standing upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven.E l'Angelo, che io vidi posare sul mare, e sulla terra, alzò al cielo la mano:And the Angel vvhich I savv standing vpon the sea and vpon the land, lifted vp his hand to heauen,Et angelus, quem vidi stantem super mare et super terram, levavit manum suam ad cælum:
6And he swore by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven and the things which are therein, and the earth and the things which are in it, and the sea and the things which are therein: That time shall be no longer.E giurò per colui, che vive ne' secoli de' secoli (che creò il cielo, e quanto in esso condensi: e la terra, e quanto in essa contiensi: e il mare, e quanto in esso contiensi), che non saravvi più tempo:and he svvare by him that liueth for euer and euer, that created heauen and those things vvhich are in it: and the earth, and those things vvhich are in it: and the sea, and those things vvhich are in it: That there shal be time no more:et juravit per viventem in sæcula sæculorum, qui creavit cælum, et ea quæ in eo sunt: et terram, et ea quæ in ea sunt: et mare, et ea quæ in eo sunt: Quia tempus non erit amplius: 7But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound the trumpet, the mystery of God shall be finished, as he hath declared by his servants the prophets.Ma ne' giorni del parlare del settimo Angelo, quando comincierà a dar lato alla tromba, sarà compito il mistero di Dio, conforme evangelizzò pe' profeti suoi servi.but in the daies of the voice of the seuenth Angel, vvhen the trompet shal beginne to sound, the mysterie of God shal be consummate, as he hath euangelized by his seruantes the Prophetes.sed in diebus vocis septimi angeli, cum cœperit tuba canere, consummabitur mysterium Dei sicut evangelizavit per servos suos prophetas. 8And I heard a voice from heaven, again speaking to me and saying: Go and take the book that is open, from the hand of the angel who standeth upon the sea and upon the earth.E udii la voce dal cielo, che di nuovo mi parlava, e diceva: va', e piglia il libro aperto di mano dell'Angelo, che posa sulla terra, e sul mare.And I heard a voice from heauen againe speaking with me, and saying: Goe, and take the booke that is opened, of the hand of the Angel standing vpon the sea and vpon the land.Et audivi vocem de cælo iterum loquentem mecum, et dicentem: Vade, et accipe librum apertum de manu angeli stantis super mare, et super terram. 9And I went to the angel, saying unto him that he should give me the book. And he said to me: Take the book and eat it up. And it shall make thy belly bitter: but in thy mouth it shall be sweet as honey.E andai dall'Angelo a dirgli, che mi desse il libro. Ed ei mi disse: prendilo, e divoralo: e amareggerà il tuo ventre, ma alla tua bocca sarà dolce come il miele.And I vvent to the Angel, saying vnto him, that he should giue me the booke. And he said to me, Take the booke, and deuoure it: and it shal make thy belly to be bitter, but in thy mouth it shal be svveete as it vvere honie.Et abii ad angelum, dicens ei, ut daret mihi librum. Et dixit mihi: Accipe librum, et devora illum: et faciet amaricari ventrem tuum, sed in ore tuo erit dulce tamquam mel.
10And I took the book from the hand of the angel and ate it up: and it was in my mouth, sweet as honey. And when I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.E presi il libro di mano dell'Angelo, e lo divorai: ed era alla mia bocca dolce come miele: ma divorato che l'ebbi, funne amareggiato il mio ventre:And I tooke the booke of the hand of the Angel, and denoured it: & it vvas in my mouth as it vvere honie, svveete and vvhen I had deuoured it, my bellie vvas made bitter,Et accepi librum de manu angeli, et devoravi illum: et erat in ore meo tamquam mel dulce, et cum devorassem eum, amaricatus est venter meus: 11And he said to me: Thou must prophesy again to many nations and peoples and tongues and kings.E disse a me: fa d'uopo, che tu profeti di bel nuovo a genti, e a popoli, e a linguaggi, e a molti re.and he said to me, Thou must againe prophecie to Nations, and peoples, and tonges, and many kinges.et dixit mihi: Oportet te iterum prophetare gentibus, et populis, et linguis, et regibus multis.
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Witham
I saw another mighty Angel. Some expound it of Christ himself: others of an Angel, representing the power of God over the sea and land. (Witham)
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Witham
Seven thunders uttered their voice, to signify the following approaching evils, which St. John is ordered not to write down, though they were shewn to him; and if he was not to write them, even in such a mystical and prophetical manner as he wrote the other things, who can pretend to know any thing of them? (Witham)
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And when the seven thunders had, etc. St. John is not permitted to write, but ordered to seal up the things which the seven thunders had spoken; which circumstance seems to insinuate, that the things spoken by the seven thunders were seven particulars of antichrist's persecution, as the word thunder is generally used in the Apocalypse to denote some disaster; and these seven particulars being most dreadful and severe, the Almighty chose to have them sealed up, or kept concealed, lest the foreknowledge of them should too much terrify and damp the human mind.
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Witham
The Angel....swore....that time shall be no longer. This seems to favour very much the exposition of those interpreters who think that all these things are not to be fulfilled till some short time before the end of the world. Others (of which see Alcazar, etc.) take this to be a prediction of the ruin and destruction of the Jews, particularly under the emperor Adrian. Others (see the bishop of Meaux[Bossuet]) understand by this, that the time was approaching when God, by his judgments, would put an end to the idolatry and heathen worship of pagan Rome, and that his providence would make the Christian faith triumph over all its adversaries, and his Church flourish, as foretold by the ancient prophets; that is, this should come to pass when the seventh Angel should sound his trumpet. (Witham)
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Challoner
Declared. Literally, evangelized, to signify the good tidings, agreeable to the gospel, of the final victory of Christ, and of that eternal life which should be the reward of the temporal sufferings of the servants of God. (Challoner)
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Witham
Take the book, and devour it. See Ezechiel 2:and 3:It was sweet in my mouth; I was delighted to read and hear the victories and glory of God's faithful servants; but it became bitter in my belly, when I considered the judgments of God upon so many sinners, who by their own wilful blindness were lost for eternity. (Witham)
Bible de Vence
This mysterious book, presented to St. John precisely between the sound of the sixth and seventh trumpet, or rather between the irruption announced at the sound of the sixth trumpet, and the persecution which is then to follow and to precede the sound of the seventh trumpet, appears to represent the book of the gospel, which shall be given to the Jews at the end of the sixth age of the Church. This book will be then to them full of sweetness, because they will see in it the tender love of Jesus Christ; but at the same time it will cause bitterness, because they will see in it with grief their infidelity and that of their fathers. (Bible de Vence)
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Witham
Thou must prophesy again: we may understand what still follows in this Apocalypse, or his gospel written afterwards, or his preaching and instructing the Asiatic Churches. (Witham)
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Declared.... literally evangelized, to signify the good tidings, agreeable to the Gospel, of the final victory of Christ, and of that eternal life, which should be the reward of the temporal sufferings of the martyrs and faithful servants of God.
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CHRIST the valiant Angel is here described.
pillers
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Many great mysteries and truthes are to be preserued in the Church, vvhich for causes knovven to Gods prouidence are not to be vvritten in the booke of holy Scripture.
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Concordance Dan. 12, 7.
This vvas the maner of taking an othe by the true God. as 〈◊〉 32.
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Concordance Ezec. 3, 1
By earnest studie and meditation.
Svveete in the reading, but in fulfilling, somevvhat bitter, because it cō maūdeth workes of penance and suffering of tribulatiōs.
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Tertullian † AD 220 The Chaplet, or De Corona 15
… He calls us to it. To him who conquers He says, “I will give a crown of life.” Be you , too, faithful unto death, and fight you , too, the good fight, whose crown the apostle feels so justly confident has been laid up for him. The angel also, as he goes forth on a white horse, conquering and to conquer, receives a crown of victory; and another
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Origen † AD 254 Origen Against Celsus 6.6
… And once more, John, in teaching us the difference between what ought to be committed to writing and what not, declares that he heard seven thunders instructing him on certain matters, and forbidding him to commit their words to writing.
Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John 5.3
… Suppose we allow that he left a second; for this is doubtful. What are we to say of him who leaned on Jesus’ breast, namely, John, who left one Gospel, though confessing that he could make so many that the world would not contain them? But he wrote also the Apocalypse, being commanded to be silent and not to write the voices of the seven thunders.
Eusebius of Caesarea † AD 339 The Church History of Eusebius 6.25.9
9. Why need we speak of him who reclined upon the bosom of Jesus, John, who has left us one Gospel, though he confessed that he might write so many that the world could not contain them? And he wrote also the Apocalypse, but was commanded to keep silence and not to write the words of the seven thunders.
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Origen † AD 254 Origen Against Celsus 6.6
… Ezekiel, e.g., received a roll, written within and without, in which were contained “lamentations,” and “songs,” and “denunciations;” but at the command of the Logos he swallowed the book, in order that its contents might not be written, and so made known to unworthy persons. John also is recorded to have seen and done a similar thing.
Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John 5.4
… Hence it is said that He shall open and no man shall shut. I infer a similar lesson from the book spoken of in Ezekiel, in which was written lamentation, and a song, and woe. For the whole book is full of the woe of the lost, and the song of the saved, and the lamentation of those between these two. And John, too, when he speaks of his eating the one roll,
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 7.3
… “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.” Amid the threatening billows of the world he is sitting in the safe shelter of his island, that is, of the church’s pale, and it may be that even now, like John, he is being called to eat God’s book;
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 128.2
… They quote the passage which says that “the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb;” which is sweet indeed in the eater’s mouth but is afterwards found more bitter than gall.
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First, Primasius, Bede, Richard, and many others understand by this Angel Christ, who descended from heaven in the incarnation. He bears a rainbow because he is the messenger of peace. He commands the earth and sea: hence he places one foot on the earth, the other on the sea, as it were as possessor and lord. His right foot is mercy, his left foot is justice. "For all the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth." He has an open book because he revealed the mystery of grace and salvation. He roars like a lion because he denounces the punishments of hell to the impious, and swears that after the day of judgment there shall be time no longer. After his voice seven thunders spoke, that is, all the Apostles preached throughout the whole world, who were equally, like James and John, Boanerges, that is sons of thunder. Here Alcazar agrees: The strong Angel, he says, is Christ, who, as the Angel of great counsel, announces to the world through the Apostles the most high counsel of God, namely that the diminution, poverty and unhappiness of the Jewish people was the happiness, riches and increase of the Gentiles: for he announces and brings peace and salvation to the Gentiles. Wherefore he is clothed with a cloud of evangelical preaching, inasmuch as he speaks through his ministers, and pours forth the rain of heavenly doctrine upon men; hence also he has a rainbow on his head, for the rainbow is a symbol of peace and reconciliation. His face, shining as the sun, signifies the desire with which he burned to spread the light of the Gospel throughout the whole world, and by this means to promise the Church the greatest glory. He has feet like pillars of fire, both because, as it were a giant, he has great and as it were columnar feet. "For he exulted as a giant to run the way," Psalm XVIII, 8; and because he came to bring the fire of charity into the earth, and to kindle it there. He alludes to the Song of Songs, chapter V, verse 15: "His legs are as pillars of marble;" and to verse 13, chapter I of the Apocalypse, where it is said: "His feet like unto fine brass, as in a furnace burning." Second, Aureolus understands by this strong Angel the Emperor Justin, who succeeded Anastasius, and ordered Arianism to be exterminated. Hence he is clothed with a cloud of grace, and with a rainbow of peace of the Church. His face as the sun, on account of the splendor of faith; his feet as pillars of fire, on account of the equity of justice. He has an open book, that is, Epistles which he sent concerning the Catholic faith to all dwelling both on earth and on sea and islands. Then seven thunders, that is, all the Doctors of the Church, gave voice of praise to God. However, John is forbidden to write these voices, because while King Theodoric still lived, the Orthodox did not dare to praise God publicly, and to celebrate the Son as ὁμοούσιον with the Father. Again, the same Aureolus understands by this Angel the Emperor Justinian, who was the grandson of Justin, and began to reign in the year of the Lord 527. He has a book, that is the Code of Law, which he ordered to be written and arranged through his Jurists (for he himself was illiterate, as Suidas says, and completely unlearned, so that he could not read). This was sweet in his mouth, but descending into his belly became bitter, because Justinian at the end of his life, through Artemius, Patriarch of Constantinople, became a Eutychian; wherefore he became bitter and afflicted Sylverius and Agapetus the Popes, and Mennas the Patriarch, who resisted his heresy. Hence Agapetus reproached him to his face, and said: "I desired to come to Justinian the most Christian Emperor: but now I have found Diocletian." But all these things, as I have said many times, pertain to the time, not of the incarnation of Christ, nor of Justin or Justinian, but of the consummation of the world. According to the literal sense, therefore, Andrew of Caesarea, Ribera and Viegas understand by the Angel, not Christ, but an Angel properly so called, and a good one, namely blessed and glorious (who is nevertheless a type and legate of Christ). He is clothed with a cloud, because a cloud is both a covering and a symbol of glory and of heavenly things, and, as Arethas says in chapter XI, in a cloud there is a certain obscurity together with some splendor, which is produced by the refraction of a solar ray. Thus divine things are neither altogether uncertain to us, nor altogether "manifestly presented, but as it were the illumination of pure light through obscurity are made manifest." For the same reason his face shines as the sun, both because the countenance of the Blessed is glorious, and because he announces glad tidings to the impious, if they wish to repent of their sins. Again, the cloud signifies the ignorance, darkness and perplexity with which men will be enveloped at the end of the world. He bears a rainbow, because he invites men to peace and reconciliation with God, if they wish to correct their ways and amend their life: but if not, he roars as a lion, and shows his feet like pillars and fiery, that is, wrath and fury, which like a strong and mighty pillar is powerful for inflicting plagues upon the impious. By these feet, therefore, is signified the power of Christ for treading down his enemies, namely the impious, and burning them with fire. He places one foot upon the earth and the other upon the sea, to show that nothing on earth, nothing in the sea can escape this avenging hand of God, and the sentence and just vengeance of Christ. Strong, because he announces and effects strong things: hence he has feet as it were pillars of fire, and roars as a lion, and utters thunders. For he swears "that time shall be no longer; but in the days of the voice of the seventh Angel, when he shall begin to sound the trumpet, the mystery of God shall be finished." Ribera is of the opinion that this Angel is the same as he who in chapter V announced to John that the Lamb would open the book: for both are called strong. Clothed with a cloud, because he announces the divine and secret counsels of God concerning the end of time and the world. Moreover, he was clothed with a cloud not in his face: for this shone as the sun; but below in the other members. Thus Horace, book I, ode 2: "Clothed with a bright cloud upon his shoulders, / Apollo the augur." And Virgil, in the first book of the Aeneid, depicts Aeneas surrounded by a cloud by his mother the goddess Venus: "But Venus surrounded those going forward with dark air, / And the goddess poured much mist around as a garment, / So that no one could see them, nor could anyone touch them." But lower down, describing Aeneas's approach to Dido: "The cloud parts, and clears into the open sky; / Aeneas stood still, and shone forth in clear light, / His face and shoulders like a god."
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For "little book" is in Greek βιβλαρίδιον, or, as others read it, βιβλαρίδιον; for from βίβλος indeed is derived the diminutive first βιβλίον, second βιβλάριον, third βιβλαρίδιον, fourth βιβλαρίδιον: just as from the Latin liber is diminished libellus, and thence libellulus, and libelluculus: by this therefore third or fourth diminutive is signified that this book was quite small and scanty. Moreover this little book is that one of which in cap. V, vers. 1, which namely was sealed with seven seals, which all have now almost been opened by the Lamb; whence now the book is opened and opened is offered vers. 9 to St. John to be read and transcribed. Thereafter therefore, namely after the seventh trumpet, of which in the following cap., vers. 18, St. John will describe those things which were written in this book, namely the times of Antichrist, and his and his followers' punishments. And he placed his right foot upon the sea, but his left upon the earth, because the right foot is stronger, says Ribera; such however the sea needs before the earth: for the sea by its nature is mobile, unstable, fluid, restless and stormy, so that it is signified that in those who are more hidden and more remote, and surrounded by the circuit of the sea as if by a rampart, so that they appear inaccessible, namely in those who dwell in islands, Christ will more show his empire, strength and vengeance through plagues and punishments to be inflicted upon them. Another cause, but a mystical one, give Ambrose, Rupert, Richard, Viegas and Alcazar, namely that this Angel, that is Christ, having left the earth, was proceeding to the sea. Access however, or entry into the sea is made with the right foot. For they think that by the earth is signified literally the Jews, by the sea the Gentiles, as if to say Christ, having left the Jews, went to the Gentiles, says Alcazar; or, as Ambrose and others, as if to say Christ sent preachers to both Jews and Gentiles; for the symbol of these are Christ's feet. Moreover the Jews are called earth, because they were earthly, wholly intent upon earthly goods: the Gentiles however sea, on account of theirs, first, multitude and variety; second, levity, inconstancy, profundity of errors and vices; third, disturbance, confusion, tumults, wars and quarrels; fourth, because in the sea one lives by plunder, and great fish devour small ones, just as pirates plunder all things; thus also the Gentiles lived; fifth, the sea denotes the savage tempest, by which the ship of the Church was to be tossed in the persecutions of the Gentiles: for these are most aptly represented by the fury of the sea. Moreover Christ's feet not submerged in the waters of the sea, but standing firmly in them, signify the preaching of the Gospel in the surging waves and persecutions of the sea not to be overwhelmed, but rather to be solid and firm in them. By the symbol of this thing Christ walked with firm step upon the surging sea, Mark VI, 48. Finally Christ's feet burning signify the wonderful efficacy of Christ, namely that, just as naphtha renders the waters themselves burning and ignited, so Christ by the fire of the Holy Spirit is about to kindle the waters of paganism, as Isaiah predicted cap. LXIV, vers. 2: "The waters shall burn with fire."
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when he is borne furiously against prey or enemy and rushes upon it. For "roars" in Greek is μυκᾶται, that is, bellows; but the Greeks do not seem to distinguish between ὠρύομαι and μυκάομαι, just as the Latins distinguish between mugit and rugit. Whence it is clear that he cried out, horrible and ultimate punishments impending upon the impious; wherefore the same one swears in verse 6: "Because time shall be no more;" and to him crying out and roaring, thunders respond and resound with equal crash. Note that all these things are not real, nor will they really come to pass: not when the Angel clothed in a cloud shall really descend, nor shall he place one foot on the earth, the other in the sea, nor shall he cry out or swear, Because time shall be no more; but symbolically through a vision all these things were presented to the imagination and mind of St. John: for he seemed to himself to see the Angel thus placing his feet, and him crying out and roaring, so that through all these things he might understand, and write the plagues that would befall the world at its end: for he himself here describes and proclaims these. Again, so that he might signify that the Angel will proclaim these same things at the end of the world through his preachers and Prophets: for it is not necessary to say that the Angel will proclaim these very things by himself. And when he had cried, the seven thunders uttered their voices. These voices as it were echo respond to the cry of the Angel. This is therefore a seven-voiced echo, or of seven voices, such as Pliny relates, lib. XXXVI, cap. XV, where the same voice repercussed seven times was returned. Perhaps it alludes to Psalm XXIX, which celebrates the magnificence of God from the fact that he is the High-thunderer, and creates horrible and mighty thunders, whence in it the voice of the Lord (which is nothing other than thunder) is repeated seven times. Thus Alcazar. Moreover, these thundering voices, and these vocal thunders signify the magnitude of the calamities about to come at the end of the world; wherefore these voices were articulate: for St. John understood them, and wished to write down what he understood. Just as therefore on Sinai, Exodus XIX, the Angel with a thundering voice, but articulate, proclaimed and promulgated to the Hebrews the law of the Decalogue: so these thunders articulate and vocally proclaimed the plagues impending upon the world. Wherefore these articulate thunders are not real, nor will they really exist at the end of the world; but through a vision only were they shown to John, just as the Angel crying out and swearing, so that through them he might represent the horrible lightnings and thunders, which will truly be very many at the end of the world, although they will not be articulate, so as to portend and as it were begin the extreme and most grievous plagues of the world. In the Revelations of St. Brigid, lib. VI, cap. X, it is related that when she was asked what the seven thunders signified, which John asserts he heard in cap. X of the Apocalypse, she answered that by divine revelation she had learned that those seven thunders were threats against the persecutors of the Church sent from heaven.
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"Seal," in Greek σφράγισον, that is, seal up, as if to be hidden, namely in your mind, and keep them hidden there: but do not write them and make them known, lest men who would read them should not believe them, or be utterly struck down in spirit and despair; or because, as Arethas says, for the same or similar reason, knowledge of these things is more usefully reserved for the final times. From this place Ribera, n. 15, V, gathers and conjectures that St. John received much more than what he wrote. For what is written from this place to the end of the book is little; but he himself saw a book copious, written within and without, cap. V, 1. Perhaps also in it he knew who would yield to the Antichrist in the Churches from among the Bishops, and holy men, and by what punishments they would be scourged: so that he might rightly have said in verse 10: "And when I had eaten it, my belly was bitter."
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First, as if swearing with hand lifted up. For this reason indeed in an oath we lift up our hand, so that we might designate and invoke God, as it were the witness of our words and their truth, and the avenger of perjury, with finger pointed to heaven. Second, as if threatening the sharp wraths of God, unless men repent. Third, by this sign as it were exciting the hearers to attention to a matter of the greatest importance and most to be noted, which he was about to speak concerning the preciousness and brevity of time, and the loss or gain thereof.
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saying אל חי el chai, that is, the Lord lives, that is, I swear by the living Lord, or by the life of the Lord God. Note here the gravity and weight of the oath, on account of the weight of the matter which the Angel confirms by this oath, namely the price of time now ending. For he adds: "Who created heaven, and the things that are in it; and the earth, and the things that are in it; and the sea, and the things that are in it." For these things equally with time are sworn to be ending. For the Saints are accustomed, when they swear, to attribute to God those epithets which are fitting to the matter which they confirm by oath. Mystically Alcazar says: The Angel, he says, beseeches God, who created the new heaven of the Christian Church, who the earth of the Synagogue, who the sea of Gentilism. Moreover, there is an allusion here to Daniel XII, 7, where likewise Daniel saw an Angel very similar to this one: "And I heard," he says, "a man clothed in linen, who stood upon the waters of the river, when he had lifted up his right hand and his left hand to heaven and sworn by him that liveth for ever, that in time, and times, and half a time," that is, three and a half years, the monarchy and persecution of Antichrist shall last. Where note fittingly that the Angel both here and in Daniel XII swears by the eternity of God: for this dominates over all times, and fixes for them law and measure, and establishes and defines their beginning and end. For God is eternal, who, as Boethius says, "time from eternity / Bids go, and remaining stable gives all things to move." For this reason God is called here "Living for ever and ever," and by Daniel (to whom John here alludes) cap. IV, vers. 31, "Living for ever; " where the Syriac renders it, living of ages; and elsewhere, giant of ages: concerning which phrase I have said more on Isaiah LVII, 15. Because (that) time shall be no more. The Syriac, he swore, etc., because thus it shall be no more; the Arabic, he swore, etc., because there shall be no time in the days of the voice of the seventh Angel, when the trumpet shall begin to sound. It alludes to Daniel VIII, 19: "Because it hath its time at an end," at least verbally. For those words in Daniel have another sense, as I said there. Now Alcazar interprets it, as if to say: The time of the Jews and the Synagogue shall now be finished, and the time of the Gentiles and the Church shall begin. For he thinks that here the matter is of the reprobation of the Jews and the calling of the Gentiles, and that this is that great mystery which is said to be soon consummated. But I say the matter here is of the end of the world and time, as if to say: The end of the world is at hand; shortly time, that is, the motion of the heavens of the sun and moon, and consequently time properly so called, which, as Aristotle says, is the number, that is the measure, of the motion of the first movable, and which the motions of the sun and moon distinguish and separate, shall be no more; but in place of time there shall succeed as it were a certain eternal age, but corporeal (for it shall be the measure of heaven, earth and other bodies), similar to the age of Angels. Hence consequently on earth there shall be no motion or time, nor sublunary life: and thirdly there shall be no time, that is space, for repenting, meriting and procuring one's salvation. Note: The Angel said these things before he gave John the book to devour, that is before he revealed to him the future things under Antichrist; for these things were contained in the book, as if to say: Now the time of Antichrist is at hand, and consequently the time of the end of the world and time is at hand, which shall soon follow. For the kingdom and time of Antichrist shall be brief, namely three and a half years. Morally, note here that the time of the present life is most precious, and therefore the greatest care ought to be taken of it, and each of its moments ought to be most usefully employed and weighed. For first, this time is brief, and like a shadow, a bird, a ship and an arrow it flies past, as is said in Wisdom V, verse 9. And Psalm CI: "My days have failed like smoke;" what is briefer, what more evanescent than smoke? And Psalm LXXXIX, 9: "Our years shall be meditated upon like a spider." The Hebrew text word for word has: "Our years are consumed like a thought," which, as Thales used to say, passes most swiftly. Most excellently St. Jerome instructs Eustochium, saying: "Let us love Christ, and always seek His embraces, and every difficulty will easily appear, we shall think all things that are long to be brief; and wounded by His arrow through each moment we shall say: Alas for me, because my sojourning is prolonged." St. Jerome writes concerning St. Marcella to her daughter Principia: "Thus," he says, "she spent her life and lived, so that she always believed herself to be about to die. Thus she clothed herself in garments, so that she might remember the sepulcher, mindful of the Satirist: Live mindful of death, the hour flees; that which I speak, is from there. And, always remember the day of death; and you will never sin; and she praised that saying of Plato, who said that Philosophy is a meditation on death." We must therefore die daily, so that as if going to sleep we might say joyfully and cheerfully: "I have lived, and the course which Thou, kind God, hadst given me, I have completed." "Therefore every day ought to be so ordered, as if it compels the army, and consumes and completes life," says Seneca, epistle 12. Wherefore when Simonides was asked how long he had lived, he answered: "Time is short, but the years are many." Thus Stobaeus, sermon 98. Secondly, because time, when it has passed, is irrevocable. For, as Catullus says, epigram 3: "For us when once the brief light has set, / One night must be slept perpetually." And Heraclitus: "We do not descend into the same river twice." And Lamachus: "In battle (in life which is warfare) it is not permitted to err twice." For the first error is deadly and incapable of correction. Wherefore prudently St. Ambrose in Psalm I: "Just as," he says, "one sleeping in a ship is carried to port: so you sleep, but your time does not sleep, but "walks," and sleeping you proceed to death. Rise therefore, you who sleep, walk, ascend and fly to heaven. And the Wise Man in Ecclesiastes cap. IX, 10: "Whatsoever thy hand is able to do, do it earnestly; because neither work, nor reason, nor wisdom, nor knowledge shall be in hell, whither thou art hastening." The ancients, in order to represent the swiftness and irrevocable flight of time, painted time as a young man equipped, winged, having a sickle in his hand, with which he reaps all things; standing upon a chariot, which was drawn by two most swift horses like eagles, so that it seemed not so much to run as to fly. Thirdly, because upon this brief time, and as it were a moment, depends all our eternity, which is without end and without limit. Again, because at any instant of time infinite glory of eternity can be compared and increased immensely. Stirred by this thought the Psalmist sang Psalm CXVIII, verse 148: "My eyes prevented the morning, that I might meditate on Thy words." And the Wise Man, Proverbs cap. VI, verse 6, seriously admonishes and commands: "Go," he says, "to the ant, O sluggard, and consider her ways, and learn wisdom: which although she hath no guide, nor master, nor prince, prepareth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest." Wherefore St. Gregory Nazianzen said that the present life is a market, in which for each person there is opportunity to buy and obtain anything; but that being over, nothing more can be bought or obtained by anyone. In Italy I saw the epitaph of a wise man, which he ordered to be engraved on his sepulcher, and it is as follows: "I have found a harbor; hope and fortune, farewell. / Nothing with you for me: now play with others." But of another: "The wise man considers what kind, not how much life is. / I do this, so that a day may be to me like the whole of life, / So that dying I may live, living as if about to die." Truly Seneca epistle 118: "Not," he says, "so kindly and liberally has nature given us time, that any of it is left over to waste; and see how much even for the most diligent is lost. One thing his health has taken from each, another the health of his own, another necessary business, another public affairs have occupied. Sleep divides life with us. From this time so narrow, so swift, and carrying us away, what does it help to send the greater part into vain things?" Fourthly, because this time is in our power and discretion; for it has been given to us by God to work well, to procure and increase salvation, glory and eternal crowns. Wherefore He will exact the most exact account of it from each one. Hence the Apostle admonishes Ephesians V, 16: "Redeeming," he says, "the time, because the days are evil." And to Galatians VI, 9: "Doing good, let us not fail; for in due time we shall reap." See what I have noted on these passages, as also 1 Corinthians VII, 29 and following. Sophronius relates in the Spiritual Meadow, cap. LIX, concerning Blessed Thalilaeus, that he always wept; being asked the reason he said: "This time has been granted to us for repentance, and it will be greatly required of us, if we neglect it."
10:7
namely the mystery of the glorification of Elias and Henoch, and shortly after of other Saints, and on the other hand the punishment of the enemies of Elias and Henoch, and shortly after of all the impious. For when Elias and Henoch ascend into heaven, it shall be consummated, that is, it shall begin to be consummated, and shortly after the mystery of the consummation of the age, the final judgment, the glorification of the Saints, the damnation of the reprobate, and of blessed and miserable eternity shall be perfectly consummated. For Christ, the Apostles and the Prophets preached these things; and to the good and holy it is the Gospel, that is, a joyful and happy message: although to the wicked and reprobate it is sad and unhappy.
10:9
For book in Greek is βιβλαρίδιον, that is, a little book, which Alcazar takes to be a catalogue of a few Jews who believed in Christ and were saved. Whence Isaiah himself calls it a consummation, or a shortened word. For he says in cap. X, vers. 22: "A consummation shortened shall overflow with justice: for the Lord shall make a consummation and a shortening in the midst of the earth," that is, as the Apostle explains in Rom. XI: "The diminution of them the riches of the Gentiles." This book opened is delivered to John, that is, the understanding of this mystery is revealed to John. But I have shown above that this book or little book is the Apocalypse. The sense therefore is, as if to say, Take, O John, this revelation of the Apocalypse concerning future things at the end of the world under Antichrist, and "devour it," that is, eagerly drink in the whole and examine it, and lay up the whole in your mind and in the belly of memory, so that you may be able to ruminate upon it and weigh it part by part. For understanding is as it were the mouth of the soul, teeth are the investigations and scrutinies of truth, by which truth is made plain and known, and then it is carried into the belly, that is into the storehouse of memory, and laid up. Moreover the book which in cap. V, vers. 1, he called βιβλίον, here he calls diminutively βιβλαρίδιον, because in cap. V, this book sealed with seven great seals appeared great; but here, those being opened and revealed, it appeared almost half smaller.
10:10
(Arabic, it became bitter). He alludes to the nature of honey, which when eaten is converted into yellow bile, and stings and embitters the stomach. For, as the Poet says: "Sweet things turn into bile." Now "sweet," that is sweet, namely the book: for it refers broadly to τὸ γλυκὺ καὶ λαδύκη, which is neuter. The sense is, as if to say, This Apocalypse, that is, the revelation and foreknowledge of future things under Antichrist, which I received from Christ through the Angel in my mouth, that is at first sight, and at first taste was sweet to me, and nourished and delighted my mind, because it was a wonderful, new, secret and divine knowledge and prophecy; but when I began to ruminate upon the calamities and the multitude of the reprobate, perhaps also the fall and ruin of many Saints through the persecution of Antichrist, which are contained in this book and in this revelation, my belly became bitter, that is, I was deeply grieved and groaned in my soul and mind. Thus Arctas. He alludes to Ezech. III, 1, where a similar book is given to Ezechiel by God, of which this was a type; for it was at first honeyed, afterwards gall-like. Note here: The Word of God is like pills, which are gilded or sugared on the outside and are swallowed with sweetness; but when they dissolve in the belly on account of aloe, myrrh, and other bitter things which they contain, they embitter the belly, and tear it as it were with griping pains: in like manner tropologically the Word of God, says St. Thomas, is sweet to reason, but bitter to sensuality. Mystically St. Augustine in Questions on the Old and New Testament, Question LXXII, tom. IV: This book, he says, is Holy Scripture, which is sweet in the mouth, that is to the orthodox and holy, who because they are of entire profession, are signified by the mouth. "But to those who live or think carnally through heretical depravity, on account of which they are signified in the belly, it is bitter: for it shall accuse them in the day of God's judgment."
10:11
In Greek ἐπὶ καὶ, that is, over nations, concerning nations, peoples, etc. Now first, some have been led from this place into the opinion that they might think St. John was not yet dead, but preserved in life, and would come with Elijah and Enoch, to contend with the Antichrist. Thus Hippolytus the Martyr, in the book On the Consummation of the Age; Dorotheus, in the Synopsis; Simeon Metaphrastes, in the Life of St. John; Catharinus, in a small work on this matter, and at length Salmeron, vol. XI, tract. 32. Andrew and Aretas favor this here, and St. Ambrose, book VII in Luke; Damascenus, in the Oration On the Transfiguration, Theophylactus and Euthymius in Matthew XX, 23. But it is certain that St. John is dead, as St. Jerome, Augustine, Eusebius from Polycrates, and the ancients everywhere teach, indeed the Council of Ephesus and the whole Church, which celebrates the feast day of St. John, as of one dead and reigning in heaven with Christ, on the 27th of December. See what is said in the preface. Second, Primasius, Bede, Anshertus and Viegas expound: "Thou must prophesy again," that is to say, Thou must write the Gospel after the Apocalypse: for after this he wrote it. Third, others, that is to say, Now thou art living in exile and silent on Patmos, but soon thou shalt be freed, and shalt return to Asia, that thou mayest again preach the Gospel of Christ to the Asians. Fourth, Alcazar, that is to say, Hitherto thou hast prophesied and preached the rejection of the Jews, thou must prophesy again, namely that thou mayest pronounce the calling and election of the Gentiles. For Alcazar thinks that John does this from chapter XII to the end. Fifth, because after this time we shall not have another time in which we can correct and compensate for the error and negligence admitted in the former. Consider how many millions of men are in hell, who neglected this time, and now "the Phrygians are wise too late," and would wish to suffer all the torments of the world and of hell for a thousand years, indeed for a thousand millions of years, if through all these they could obtain even a single instant of time to repent. Indeed, Seneca also, in the book On the Brevity of Life, teaches from this chapter that the greatest madness of all men is that, whereas in other things they are miserly, in the spending of time they are liberal, and he adds: "What then is the cause? As if you were always going to live, you live; your frailty never occurs to you; you fear all things as mortals, you desire all things as immortals. You hear most people saying: In my fiftieth year I shall retire to leisure. And what guarantee do you take of a longer life? Are you not ashamed to reserve yourself for the remnants of life? How late it is to begin to live, when one must cease! To live is to learn throughout one's whole life. Time is sought as if it were nothing, given as if it were nothing. The most precious thing of all is squandered. Age will go as it has begun, and will neither recall nor suppress its course; nothing will warn it of its swiftness, it glides silently. You are occupied, life hastens. Death meanwhile will be at hand, to which you must give way whether you will or not. Therefore with the swiftness of time, you must contend by using speed: as from a swift torrent, which will not always run, you must drink quickly." Sixth, because God will soon take this time from us, and transfer it into eternity. Wisely Climacus, in step 6, gives this admonition to each one: "It is not," he says, "possible to pass the present day piously, unless we believe this to be the last of our whole life. He is approved who expects death every hour; but he is truly holy who desires it every hour." St. Hilarion, as St. Jerome says in his Life, "exhorted each one to pass by the form of this world, and that to be the true life which is purchased by the discomfort of the present life." St. Paul the first Hermit meditated on this continually for 98 years, and therefore when St. Anthony came to him: "Behold," he said, "him whom thou hast sought with such labor, covered with the filth of old age, his limbs decayed, unkempt hoariness covers him: behold you see a man soon to become dust. But because the time of my sleep is at hand, and what I have always desired, to be dissolved and to be with Christ, the race being finished, there remains for me the crown of justice; thou art sent by the Lord to cover my little body with earth, indeed to return earth to earth." Wherefore returning to his own, Anthony deservedly said of Paul: "Woe to me, a sinner! because I falsely bear the name of monk; I saw Elijah, I saw John in the desert, and I truly saw Paul in paradise." But I say truly: The sense is, as if to say, You must, O John, prophesy again, so that namely you may foretell other and graver evils and punishments to be brought upon the world, than those which are contained in the seven seals of the sealed book, which hitherto you have known by prophecy and have described by prophesying. But those graver evils are those which, the seven seals now opened, in the very book itself previously sealed, now opened you have read, and are those which concerning Elijah, Enoch, Antichrist, Gog and Magog, etc., from chapter eleven to the end of the Apocalypse are recounted. For since John has hitherto explained and described so laboriously the mysteries contained in the seven seals of the sealed book, without which the book could not be opened and read, as he said in chapter V, it is plainly credible that he also described the mysteries contained in the book itself, as he himself here sufficiently indicates. For to this end the seals were broken, that the book itself might be read. Afterwards, however, John makes no mention of the description of the book, but of visions; therefore the visions which are recounted in chapter eleven and following, are those which were described in the book, which he himself saw and read, and which there seen and read he himself describes and explains in this book of his Apocalypse. Whence the Arabic version translates: It is necessary for you also that you prophesy against nations, or over nations. So also the Syriac. You will say: St. John in chapter XI and following makes no mention of any book, nor of description and reading, but only says that he saw those symbols which he explains. I answer: John first read those things described in the book, then the same things already read he saw and the symbols were presented to the eyes of his mind and imagination. For after the reading, the vision of the same things followed, so that he might know what, and how, and how rightly or clearly he ought to write those things which he had read described most clearly in the book. Similarly indeed he called the mysteries contained in the seven seals visions, and asserted that he had seen them hitherto; especially since among the Prophets vision, reading and hearing are the same, and signify only revelation and spiritual knowledge of the mind, as I showed in the Canon on the Prophets. All these things are confirmed from the fact that concerning the trumpet and the sound of the seventh Angel it is said in this chapter, verse 7: "But in the days of the voice of the seventh Angel, when he shall begin to sound the trumpet, the mystery of God shall be finished." Therefore those things which are narrated at length in chapter XI and following eleven, do not pertain to the seventh trumpet of the seventh Angel; but that trumpet must be placed after these chapters, because in it all things shall be finished. Whence it follows that those things which are written in chapter XI and following to the end of the book, were contained and described in the sealed book itself: for they are not contained in the seals, therefore in the book itself. Thus Ribera, who demonstrates this at length here. Plainly therefore the Anglo-Calvinist errs here, while he asserts that in the Apocalypse only the seals of the book are explained, but not the book itself; as if John had inspected and read the cover of the book, not the book itself, when from chapter V it is clear that he asked and obtained that, the seals being loosed as covers, the book itself might be read. To nations, and peoples, and tongues. Namely you will prophesy to the nations of the whole world; for to these the Apocalypse is written. Again to the nations which shall follow Antichrist, and shall persecute Christians scattered throughout the whole world, who therefore shall likewise be of various nations and tongues. You will also prophesy "to many kings," because you will foretell that all the kings of the earth shall lose their kingdoms, and shall come under the yoke of Antichrist, who therefore all with him on one day shall be slain by Christ. Thus God says to Jeremiah in chapter I, verse 5: "I have given you a prophet to the nations," to which this alludes: for Jeremiah was a type of St. John.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
10:4
… J. Buxtorf, G. Dalman, B. W. Bacon, P. Billerbeck link (without foundation) to the b. q. the "voice from heaven" to Jesus of Mt. 3:17 (Mk. 1:11; Lk. 3:22) and Mt. 17:5 (Mk. 9:7; Lk. 9:35) and Jn. 12:28, the "voice" to Paul and to Peter (Acts 9:4 [22:7]; 26:14]; 10:13, 15), and Apoc. 10:4-8; 18:4.
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · Vulgata Clementina · original Douay-Rheims (Rheims 1582), transcription by EEBO-TCP (CC0) · La Sacra Bibbia, tradotta dalla Volgata da Antonio Martini (1769-1781) (LaParola (laparola.net), Martini OSIS text, Public domain (LaParola's electronic edition marks it 'Dominio pubblico')). Public domain.