Revelation of John 9 · The Lantern

And the fyfte angell blewe and I sawe a stare fall from heven vnto the erth. And to him was geven the kaye of the bottomlesse pytt.

Of the idols which the Gentiles think to be gods. In the Wisdom of Solomon: "All the idols of the nations they counted gods, which neither have the use of their eyes for seeing, nor their nostrils to receive breath, nor their ears for hearing, nor the fingers on their hands for handling; but their feet also are slow to walk.

The abyss and the pit are people who are hiding places for error, that is, they hide iniquity in their hearts even though they are in the church.… I think that they receive this key to the pit, and through it they open the poisons of their hearts and, once made manifest, burst forth into the open.

And the fifth angel sounded the trumpet, and I saw a star fall from heaven upon the earth, and there was given to him the key of the pit of the abyss. And he opened the pit of the abyss: and the smoke of the pit arose, as the smoke of a great furnace. What is represented by the angel and the star has already been said.

And he opened the botomlesse pytt and there arose the smoke of a grett fornace. And the sunne and the ayer were darkned by the reason of the smoke of the pytt.

"He opened the shaft of the pit" means that he revealed his own heart and taught people to sin without any fear or shame. "And smoke arose from the pit," that is, from the heart of a blasphemous people which also persecutes the church.

And it was said to him, "You are given the key to the shaft of the abyss". The shaft of the abyss is called Gehenna. Therefore, "smoke rose from the shaft", like the smoke of a great fire burning in the shaft. Indeed, the "smoke" signifies not only fire but also darkness; "for the voice of the Lord interrupting the flame of fire," (Ps.

'On this Caius objects, that according to this, the unrighteous are consumed by the locusts; whereas Scripture has said that sinners prosper and the righteous are persecuted, in the world' [Ps. lxxiii. 12 ] ; and Paul, that the faithful shall be persecuted and the evil shall flourish, deceiving and being deceived [2 Tim. iii. 12, 13].

And there cam out of the smoke locustes vpo the erth: and vnto them was geve power as the scorpions of the erth have power.

But the sun now shone out a little, and, lo! I see a mighty beast like a whale, and out of its mouth fiery locusts proceeded.

The "locusts" signify those who come forth from the smoke. For, like smoke, the heretics desire to rise high, since by their teachings they strive for positions of eminence, yet, again like smoke, they are dissipated.

And from the smoke there came out locusts upon the earth. It is fitting for the heretics to be represented by locusts, for just as we see locusts, neither flying perfectly like birds nor walking by steps, but making leaps, chew up the crops of the earth, so do the heretics, having neither the flight of full knowledge nor the walk of perfect work, but only moved by the leaps of…

And it hurt ye grasse of the erth: nether eny grene thinge: nether eny tree: but only those me which have not ye seale in their forhedes

And it was said to them "that they should not harm the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, except for the" humans alone, "who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads", because the earth is undergoing a renewal. For it is said somewhere that "if you send forth your spirit, they shall be created, and you will renew the face of the earth." (Ps.

And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing. He shows that the locusts are men, who are sent not to harm the grass, but men. For grass here is simply understood as men.

And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree: but only the men who have not the sign of God on their foreheads.

and to the was comaunded yt they shulde not kyll the but yt they shulde be vexed v monethes and their payne was as the payne yt cometh of a scorpion whe he hath stoge a ma.

And in those dayes shall men seke deeth and shall not fynde it and shall desyre to dye and deeth shall flye fro the.

They say that death is a rest. And so, they seek death, not that they may die but that they might have rest from evil things while the evil vices die away. They desired to die, that is, that they might die to the world and, as the apostle says, live again to God. "They seek death but will not find it," it says.

And in those days men will seek death, and will not find it. Preferring to end a miserable life with a quick death. As blessed Cyprian lamented under the Decian storm: "To those willing to die, he says, it was not permitted to be killed."

And in those days men shall seek death, and shall not find it: they shall desire to die, and death shall fly from them. The days in question run all the way from the Lord's coming to the end of the world.

And the similitude of the locustes was lyke vnto horses prepared vnto battayll and on their heddes were as it were crownes lyke vnto golde: and their faces were as it had bene the faces of men.

In the image of the horses he shows the suddenness of persecution that runs around so that it might oppress the innocent and obstruct [their path] to the celestial kingdom.… We recall that it was written that upon the heads of the twenty-four elders, who were a figure of the church, there were crowns of gold.

Some have interpreted these words and those which come afterward to indicate that the locusts are angels who administer the divine punishment and who are metaphorically described through each of the various images.

And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle: and on their heads were, as it were, crowns like gold. It is right for the heretics to be represented by horses because of their rapidity in running about. They are prepared unto battle against those about whom it is said in Habakkuk, Thou sentest into the sea thy horses, stirring many waters. [Hab.

And they had heare as the heare of wemen. And their tethe were as the tethe of lyons.

And they had habbergions as it were habbergions of yron. And the sounde of their wynges was as the sounde of charettes when many horsses runne to gedder to battayle.

And they had tayles lyke vnto scorpions and there were stinges in their tayles. And their power was to hurt men v. monethes.

And they had a kynge over them which is the angell of the bottomlesse pytt whose name in the hebrew tonge is Abadon: but in the greke tonge Apollion.

One woo is past and beholde two wooes come after this.

"Woe", he said, "one has gone; behold, two more woes are coming". The woe [οὐαὶ] as an forceful expression indicates the severe afflictions present and those to come upon them. Therefore, he says that one punishment has been declared; two more remain to be spoken of.

One woe is past, and behold, two woes are still to come. Since he predicted that three woes were to come, he now mentions that one has already come in heretical deceit, but two remain, which will occur in the time of the Antichrist and on the day of judgment for the wicked.

One woe is past. That is, it preceded in the narration, or was actually fulfilled in the past. Behold there come yet two woes more hereafter. That is, in the narration, or they are actually to be fulfilled in the future.

And the sixte. angell blewe and I herd a voyce from the iiii. corners of the golden aultre which is before god

"And I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is in the presence of God, saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels." That is, the four corners of the earth which hold the four winds.

When "the angel sounded", "I heard a voice" coming "from the horns of the altar". "The horns of the altar", he says, are those that stand out among the angels and surpass the others. He calls the altar "golden" because of its honor and divine nature, made from precious material known to us, depicting a marvelous altar.

After these things the sixth angel also sounded the trumpet: and I heard the voice of one of the horns of the golden altar, which is before the eyes of God, saying to the sixth angel, who had the trumpet: Loose the four angels, who are bound in the great river Euphrates. The altar is the Church, and it is golden because it is illuminated by heavenly wisdom.

saying to the sixte angell which had the trompe: Loose the iiii. angelles which are bounde in the grett ryver Eufrates.

In these four angels that are bound at the Euphrates River we understand those adversaries that God will command to be loosed for the testing of his church. To be sure, this passage shows that the winds and the angels are the same thing, for it said that the winds were held back by the angels and now that the angels are to be loosed by an angel.

I think that these [angels] are the most evil of the demons who were bound at the coming of Christ and who, according to a divine command that comes from the heavenly altar (whose image was the ancient tabernacle), will be loosed by a divine angel so that they might trouble the nations.

Release the four angels, etc. It indicates how much the ancient enemy with his satellites will persecute the Church at the end of the world, who from the time of the Lord's passion has been shut up in the hearts of the impious, so that he cannot harm as much as he would like, restrained by divine power.

And the iiii. angelles were loosed which wer prepared for an houre for a daye for a moneth and for a yeare for to slee the thyrde part of me.

And the nombre of horsme of warre were twenty tymes xM. And I herde the nobre of them.

"The number of that cavalry was eighty thousand." … He again uses different ways to suggest the whole body of evil persons. Here it says eighty thousand. Just as through the perfection of the number six, he signifies for us the form of sixty good people, so that we read "there were sixty queens," so sometimes the number eighty is used in a bad sense.

And the number of the mounted troops was two hundred million. This number designates the deceptive duplicity of the perverse army. Which another translation, saying "twice ten thousand times ten thousand," can be more easily understood; and this number is also opposed by the evangelical parable to the king having ten thousand (Matt.

And the number of the army of horsemen was twenty thousand times ten thousand. I heard the number of them. This number refers specifically to preachers of errors, but in such a way that the seduced people are also understood in the seducers.

And thus I sawe the horses in a vision and them yt sate on the havynge fyry habbergions of a Iacyncte coloure and brymstony and the heeddes of ye horses werre as the heeddes of lyons. And out of their mouthes went forth fyre and smoke and brymstone.

The "fire" of wrath and punishment is a symbol; the "hyacinth" signifies that those sent are heavenly, for heaven is akin to the "hyacinth"; and the godlike ones please God, as if they were divine, for to please is to sing. And who would please God more than the holy angels?

I think that these "horses" are either men who, like beasts, lust after women, or they are those who are submitted to demons and are ruled by them. For those who sit upon others are those who also govern them. It is common for these to use not only each other as servants but also to use evil people as instruments for plotting against people of similar kind.

And thus I saw the horses in the vision: and they that sat on them, had breastplates of fire and of hyacinth and of brimstone. These horses, that is preachers of errors, in whom the seduced people are also understood, have demons as riders, not to guide them, but to make them fall headlong.

And of these iii. was the thyrde parte of men kylled: that is to saye of fyre smoke and brymstone which proceded out of the mouthes of them:

[The smoke, fire, and sulphur from their mouths] are the blasphemies that proceed from their mouths against God. "Their tails are like serpents." The leaders [of the heretics] we call "tails," and the rulers of the world we call "heads." It is through these that the devil does his harm, and without these he is not able to do harm.

Then the vision varies and exalts the power of the holy angels, warning against "lions" and "fire", "smoke" and divine beings and serpents, through all of which their terrible and incredible nature is signified.

"The fire that proceeds with smoke and sulfur from their mouths," through which one third of humankind is killed, signifies those sins that consume the fruits of the heart by means of the poisonous assaults and instigations of the demons.

For their power was in their mouthes and in their tayles: for their tayles were lyke vnto serpetes and had heedes and with them they dyd hurt:

And the remnaunt of the me which were not kylled by these plages repented not of the dedes of their hondes that they shulde not worshyppe devyls and ymages of golde and sylver and brasse and stone and of wood which nether can se nether heare nether goo.

The prophet, striking the spiritual harp, recounted to us concerning those punished in Hades, saying to God: "that there is no one in death who remembers you; and in Hades, who will confess to you," (Ps. 6:6) depriving them both of joy according to God and repentance?

And the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues, etc. Because he had described false Christians and heretics, now, to encompass the entire body of the devil, he also mentions the error of the Gentiles, to whom it benefits nothing not to be killed by these plagues, as it is evident they will continue in their Gentile malice even then.

Then, in order to show that the Gentiles also belong to this body, he said after that, And the rest of the men, who are not, and did not do penance from the works of their hands, that they should not adore devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and wood, which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: and did not do penance from their murders, nor from their fo…

Also they repented not of their murther and of their sorcery nether of their fornacion nether of their thefte.

Revelation of John9