7#$WZ``$"FF\x |*ɦk|||I||||||BBC Apocalypse: EXTRA QUOTATIONS for Webpage Revelation 1 Robert Browning, Death in the Desert (1864) Since I, whom Christ's mouth taught, was bidden teach, I went, for many years, about the world, Saying 'It was so; so I heard and saw,' Speaking as the case asked: and men believed. Afterward came the message to myself. In Patmos isle; I was not bidden teach, But simply listen, take a book and write, Nor set down other than the given word, With nothing left to my arbitrament To choose or change: I wrote, and men believed. Then, for my time grew brief, no message more, No call to write again, I found a way, And, reasoning from my knowledge, merely taught Men should, for love's sake, in love's strength believe; Or I would pen a letter to a friend And urge the same as friend, nor less nor more: Friends said I reasoned rightly, and believed. But at the last, why, I seemed left alive Like a sea jelly weak on Patmos strand, To tell dry sea-beach gazers how I fared When there was mid-sea, and the mighty things; Left to repeat, 'I saw, I heard, I knew,' And go all over the old ground again, With Antichrist already in the world, And many Antichrists, who answered prompt Am I not Jasper as thyself art John? Nay, young, whereas through age thou mayest forget; Wherefore, explain, or how shall we believe? I never thought to call down fire on such, Or, as in wonderful and early days, Pick up the scorpion, tread the serpent dumb; But patient stated much of the Lord's life Forgotten or misdelivered, and let it work: Since much that at the first, in deed and word, Lay simply and sufficiently exposed, Had grown (or else my soul was grown to match, Fed through such years, familiar with such light, Guarded and guided still to see and speak) Of new significance and fresh result; What first were guessed as points, I now knew stars, And named them in the Gospel I have writ. (lines 135-175; Shaffer 1972: 191-224) Hildegard of Bingen Scivias, in Emmerson in Emmerson and McGinn 1992: 298 And on the chair sits a man of youthful appearance. This is the constant ruler, the Son of Man [Rev 1:13], who reigns as One God in all justice with the Father and the Holy Spirit. His face is manly and noble, for He is the strong Lion [Rev 5:5], who has destroyed death and the noble Sinless One Who was visibly born of the Virgin. But He is pale; for He did not seek earthly honor by earthly means, but was gentle, poor and humble with a holy humility. (Hart and Bishop 1990: 482-3) William Blake, 'Eighth Night' in Four Zoas 8.597: 'Rahab triumphs over all; she took Jerusalem Captive a Willing Captive by delusive arts impell'd To worship Urizen's Dragon form, to offer her own Children Upon the bloody Altar. John saw these things Reveal'd in Heaven On Patmos Isle, & heard the souls cry out to be deliver'd. He saw the Harlot of the Kings of Earth, & saw her Cup Of fornication, food of Orc & Satan, pressd from the fruit of Mystery. ' Revelation 2-3 Bonaventure, in Burr 1993: 36-8: How can this be? See what is said at the end of the Apocalypse. Around the middle, however, it is said, I saw the lamb standing on Mount Sion, and with him 144,000 having his name and the name of his father written on their foreheads [14:1]. But in the opening of the sixth seal it is said in the Apocalypse, I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God, and he cried to the four angels authorised to harm the earth and sea, saying, Do not harm the earth, sea or trees until we seal the servants of our God on their foreheads [7:2-3]. This passage establishes, first, that it was those who were upon Mount Sion who were called and, later, that one of the angels pouring out the vials it must be the sixth showed him the city the size of which was one hundred and forty four cubits. Around the beginning of the Apocalypse it is said to the sixth angel, that of Philadelphia, I shall make him who overcomes a pillar in the temple of my God and write on him my name and the name of the City, the new Jerusalem (3:12) which was mentioned only at the end. There are six periods with rest. And just as Christ came in the sixth period, thus it is necessary that the contemplative Church be born at the end. Joachim of Fiore, in McGinn 1979: 137. From this it can be understood that first of all the sixth king must begin to rule alone, and then later gather many kings to fight with the Lamb and to smite the sons of Babylon who say they are Christians and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. () Peter Olivi, Commentary on Cecidit, Cecidit, Babylon fol. 27r in Lee, Reeves, Silano 1989: 23 Just as the synagogue, proceeding against Christ through Annas and Caiaphas cast Him forth, so now the new synagogue, which is the congregation of Satan, in rejecting evangelical poverty, has cast out Christ in the persons of his apostles, those who practise true poverty. Peter Olivi, Lectura 246 in Burr 1993: 191 . . . just as the glory prepared for the synagogue and its pontiffs had, they believed, in Christ been transferred to the primitive Church and its pastors, thus the glory prepared for the final Church of the fifth period will be transferred because of its adultery to the elect of the sixth period. Thus in this book it is called Babylon the whore, to be damned around the beginning of the sixth period. John Bunyan Pilgrim's Progress, p. 82: Now as he stood looking and weeping, behold three Shining Ones came to him, and saluted him, with Peace be to thee. So the first said to him, Thy sins be forgiven. The second stripped him of his rags, and clothed him with change of raiment. The third also set a mark upon it, which he bid him look on as he ran, and that he should give it in at the Celestial Gate: so they went their way. (p. 82) Cyprian, On Works and Alms ANF v. 479 . . you are mistaken and are deceived whosoever you are that think yourself rich in this world. Listen to the voice of your Lord in the Apocalypse, rebuking those of your stamp with righteous reproaches: Thou sayest, I am rich and increased with goods You, therefore, who are rich and wealthy, buy for yourself of Christ gold tried with fire, that you may be pure gold, with your filth burnt as if by fire, if you are purged by almsgiving and righteous works. Buy for yourself white raiment that you who had been naked according to Adam, and were before frightful and unseemly, may be clothed with the white garment of Christ. And you who are wealthy and rich. Hildegard of Bingan, Scivias iii.8.5, Hart and Bishop 1990: 427: 'God is One, to be adored in Three Persons of One substance and equal glory. Therefore I will have faith and confidence in the Lord, and never blot out His name from my heart. (). Revelation 6 2 Esdras 5:1-12 NRSV: . . . the days are coming when those who inhabit the earth shall be seized with great terror, and the way of truth will be hidden, and the land shall be barren of faith. Unrighteousness shall be increased beyond what you yourself see, and beyond what you heard of formerly. And the land that you now see ruling shall be a trackless waste, and people shall see it desolate. But if the Most High grants that you live, you shall see it thrown into confusion in the third period; and the sun shall suddenly begin to shine at night, and the moon during the day. Blood shall drip from wood, and the stone shall utter its voice; the peoples shall be troubled, and the stars shall fall. And one shall reign whom those who inhabit the earth do not expect, and the birds shall fly away together; and the Dead Sea shall cast up fish; and the one who the many do not know shall make his voice heard by night, and all shall hear his voice. There shall be chaos also in many places, fire shall often break out, the wild animals shall roam beyond their haunts, and menstruous women shall bring firth monsters. Salt waters shall be found in the sweet, and all friends shall conquer one another; then shall reason hide itself, and wisdom shall withdraw into its chamber, and it shall be sought by many but shall not be found, and unrighteousness and unrestraint shall increase on the earth. One country shall ask its neighbour, Has righteousness, or anyone who does right, passed through you? And it will answer, No. At that time people shall hope but not obtain; they shall labour, but their ways shall not prosper. ( ) Apocalypse of Baruch 25-7: That time will be divided into twelve parts is, and each part has been preserved for that which was appointed. In the first part: the beginning of commotions. In the second part: the slaughterings of the great. And in the third part: the fall of many into death. In the fourth part the drawing of the sword. In the fifth part: famine and the withholding of rain. In the sixth part earthquakes and terrors. [The seventh part is missing]. In the eighth part a multitude of ghosts and the appearances of demons. In the ninth part: the fall of fire. In the tenth part: rape and much violence. In the eleventh part; injustice and unchastity. In the twelfth part: disorder and mixture of all that has been before. Christina Rosetti, The Face of the Deep 174 in Wainwright 1993: 210: Much of this awful Apocalypse opens to my apprehension rather a series of aspects than any one defined and certified object. It summons me to watch and pray and give thanks; it urges me to climb heavenward. Its thread doubtless consists unbroken: but my clue is at the best woven of broken lights and shadows, here a little and there a little. Ascencion of Isaiah 9:6-12: [In the seventh heaven Isaiah sees] "...the holy Abel and all the righteous. And I saw there Enoch and all who were with him, stripped of the garments of the flesh, and I saw them in their garments of the world above, and they were like angels, standing there in great glory. But they were not seated on their thrones, and their crowns of glory were not upon them. And I asked the angel who was with me, Why have they received the garments but not the thrones and their crowns? And he said to me, They will not receive either their crowns or their thrones of glory (although they see and know which of them now will have the thrones and which the crowns) until the Beloved descends in the form in which you will see him descend. " Durer on Rev 6 Turner, Death on a Pale Horse (Tate Gallery, London), Blake (Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge) Revelation 7 Joachim of Fiore (in McGinn 1998: 134-5 cf 196-221; Wainwright 1993: 51) : "In this generation [the forty-second generation in the Church] first of all the general tribulation will be completed and the wheat carefully purged of all tares, then a new leader will ascend from Babylon [that is Rome], namely a universal pontiff of the New Jerusalem, that is, of the Holy Mother the Church. His type is found written in Revelation: I saw an angel ascending from the rising of the sun having the sign of the living God. With him are the remnants of those who were driven out [by the persecution of Antichrist]. He will ascend not by speed of foot nor change of place, but because full freedom to renew the Christian religion and to preach the word will be given to him. The Lord of hosts will already begin to reign over the whole earth." Revelation 8 Elaw, Memoirs 65-6 in Taves 1999: 107 At ten oclock, the trumpets sound again to summon the people to public worship; the seats are all speedily filled and as perfect a silence reigns throughout the place as in a Church or Chapel; presently the high praises of God sound melodiously from this consecrated spot, and nothing seems wanting but local elevation to render the place a heaven indeed. It is like Gods ancient and holy hill of Zion on her brightest festival days, when the priests conducted the processions of the people to the glorious temple of Jehovah. (only last part not in the text) Charles Wesley ,Lift your heads, ye friends of Jesus: Sun and moon are both confounded, Darkend into endless night, When with angel-hosts surrounded, In his Fathers glory bright Beams the saviour, Shines the everlasting light. (in Newport 2000: 142, "A vision of the Anabaptist prophet Ursula Jost from the year 1525." On the following Wednesday the glory of the Lord surrounded me and unfolded. And I saw that it had again rained down from heaven water, fire brimstone, and pitch. Then I saw that the people raised their hands and heads to God. And the glory of the Lord closed, and thus closed, it came upon me. Then my heart spoke with wonder. Oh Almighty God! What is this, and what might it mean? Give me knowledge of your secret judgement. Then the glory of the Lord opened again and said to me, Then you will see the judgement and wrath of God, of which it is written in Scripture. After this wonder, I saw people lying down who were buried from this fire, brimstone, and pitch. And I saw the same mixture moving around and around across the whole earth. (Vision 32, in Snyder and Hecht 1996: 284) Revelation 9 Revelation 10 J oachim of Fiore seems to identify himself with the angel of Rev 10:2: "Herod signifies a pope to come after Celestine, whoever he may be, under whom, because the star has disappeared [Joachim], the spiritual understanding will be snuffed out by fraud and betrayed through envy. He will think to destroy it. When the bishops of the churches and the Pharisees, that is, the abbots, priors, and Cistercian religious, envious of Christ, have gathered together, perhaps in a general council [Fourth Lateran Council of 1215], everything will be blamed on that doctor of truth. The angel describes this (Rev 9:13); indeed under this person is also demonstrated the open book of truth in the hand of the other angel (Rev 10:2). Even though Scripture indicates one man, many faithful will die for others. Signed with the sign of the cross, by common consent they are destined to go forth to the barbarous nations. "(Commentary on Jeremiah 23, in McGinn 1998: 163) [Drer woodcut to Rev 10 Revelation 11 S. T. Coleridge, commenting on the interpretation of Eichorn: The symbolic seven days is measured by the Horologe of divine Predestination, by Epochs and [the] Procession of the Plan of Providence not subject to any external measure, but like the Sun and Planets self-measured by their own movements. (in Burdon 1997: 147-148; cf. Shaffer 1972: 17-96) John Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress (description of the death of Faithful): Evangelist: in that town you will be hardly beset with enemies who will strain hard but they will kill you: and be you sure that one or both of you must seal the testimony which you hold with blood: but be you faithful unto death, and the King will give you a crown of life. (p. 136) Thus came Faithful to his end. Now, I saw that there stood behind the multitude a chariot and a couple of horses, waiting for Faithful, who (so soon as his adversaries had dispatched him) was taken up into it, and straightway was carried up through the clouds, with sounds of trumpet, the nearest way to the Celestial Gate. (p. 146) [illustration from Wittenberg Bible?] [Botticelli's Nativity] [Illustrations of beast of 11.17: Trier\Trinity/ Cloisters/ Angers/ *Gulkenkain unnamed Apocalypse discussed in (in Seidel in McGinn 1999: 473). ] Revelation 12 John Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress 106 [The pilgrim Christian gives thanks for Michael's help in his victory over the powers of evil]. So when the battle was over, Christian gives thanks for help against Apollyon. And so he did, saying, Great Beelzebub, the captain of this fiend, Designed my ruin; therefore to this end He sent him harnessed out, and he with rage That hellish war did fiercely me engage; But blessed Michael helped me, and I By dint of sword did quickly make him fly; Therefore to him let me give lasting praise, And thank and bless his holy name always. (Pilgrim's Progress 106) [Trier Apocalypse] [Saint Pierrre-les-Eglises Emmerson McGinn 1992: 109] [Joachim figure of seven-headed dragon: Tondelli, Reeves, Hirsch-Reich 1953?] [Blake, America plate 4 and Europe plate 11 in Burdon 1997: 186] Hildegard of Bingan on the Women of Rev 12 [fuller quotation] After this I saw the image of a woman as large as a great city, with a wonderful crown on her head and arms from which a splendor hung like sleeves, shining from Heaven to earth. Her womb was pierced like a net with many openings, with a huge multitude of people running in and out. I could not make out her attire except that she was arrayed in great splendor and gleamed with lucid serenity, and on her breast shone a red glow like the dawn; and I heard a sound of all kinds of music singing about her, Like the dawn, greatly sparkling. (Scivias Vision ii.3, Hart & Bishop 1990: 169) [Augustines City of God in the Bodleian Library version (MS Laud misc. 469 fol7v} Bunyan The Pilgrims Progress 346-347) [The Monster described with images from Rev 12} While they lay here, there came a monster out of the woods, and slew many of the people of the town. It would also carry away their children, and teach them to suck its whelps. Now no man in the town durst so much as face this Monster; but all men fled when they heard the noise of his coming. The Monster was like unto no one beast upon the earth. Its body was like a dragon and it had seven heads and ten horns. It made great havoc of children, and yet it was governed by a woman. This monster propounded conditions to men; and such men as loved their lives more than their souls accepted of those conditions. ( Revelation 13 Hildegard of Bingen, Scivias III.11.32, Hart and Bishop 1990: 505 [on the wound that was healed Rev 13:3] And I saw one of his [the beasts] heads as if slain unto death; and his deaths wound was healed. And all the earth marvelled at this beast [Rev 13:3]. This is to say: I, the lover of Gods mysteries, saw the deceiver and the accursed surrounding the holiness of the saints with great and countless iniquities and wearying them with many vices. [Wellkome Apocalypse, folio 10v] [Velishav Bible (fol. 135r)] [Gulbenkian Apocalypse fol. 36v)] [Flemish Apocalypse] [Trinity Apocalpse] Revelation 14 John Bunyan, Pilgrim Progress, p. 319 [The song of the multitude in Rev 14: forms the basis of Great-heard's comment] I make bold to talk thus metaphorically, for the ripening of the wits of young readers, and because in the Book of the Revelations the saved are compared to a company of musicians that play upon their trumpets and harps and sing their songs before the throne. Dorothy Hazzard [Part of this is quoted] Opening her Bible to read, [she] happened upon that place in Rev. xiv, 9,10,11. if any man worship the Beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the Cup of his indignation, and he shall be tormented with brimstone and fire in the presence of the Holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb; and the smoke of their torment ascend for Ever and Ever: and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name, or print, as she said it was in her old book; and charagma, may be so translated, print or stamp. This struck such terror in her Soul, that she dreaded to go; and thereupon presently (without admitting or hearkening to any more Reasoning) she resolved in the strength of the Lord never to go more to hear Common prayer. Thus the Spirit of Christ in her soul was stronger than Satan and Antichrist; making her to fear sin, and willingly to obey the voice of the Lord in the holy Scriptures. The Lord having thus Convinced them [Dorothy Hasard and her companions] of the Dangerous state of all such that worshipped the Beast, or his Image, or any thing that had his print, -whether publicly or plainly to be seen as in the forehead, or that did it more secretly, receiving the impression, though but in a hand, - that they should be the subjects of his wrath, it did both awaken them to look about, and scruteonously to make search after the Primitive scriptural and instituted worship of the Lord, and also it did strengthen them with fear and holy trembling to take up holy Resolution to follow the Lord [cf. Rev 14.4]; giving up themselves to him to walk before him in all the days of their lives in his way, in joining together, in the fear of the Lord, to separate from the worship of the times. And thus the Lord led them by his Spirit in a way and Path that they knew not, having called them out of darkness into his marvelous light by Jesus Christ our Lord. (in Hayden 1974: 84-96; Revelation 15 Andrew of Caesarea says in his commentary (ch. 45): By the Song of Moses we suppose that hymns are sent up to God from those justified before grace under the law; and by the song of the Lamb that those who lived righteously after the coming of Christ offer up to him unceasing hymns and thanksgiving. It is fitting for those who are celebrating the last most important victory over the enemy to remember the first successes of their battle such as in the history of the chosen people of God. (in Averky: 1985) Milton, Paradise Lost [on Ex 15:3-4] . . . the Heavenly audience loud sung hallelujah, as the sound of seas, Through multitude that sung: of mankind, by whom new heavn and earth shall to the ages rise, Or down from heaven descend. Such was their song. (Paradise Lost, x: 644) [Blake on Job 42] Revelation 16 Marculescu 2000: 241-3 [On Armadeddon in Rev. 16:16] The decisive battles at the end of this millennium were not those fought on the battlefield. The human heart is the Armageddon of this aeon, and there too the final battle will take place. What is at stake in this confrontation is the divine spark within the human heart. This is where, until the end of time, the powers bent on enslaving the soul confront the heavenly powers which protect it in its struggle for perfection and freedom. This battle was fought in us throughout the years of imprisonment in the Soviet Gulag and thereafter in Romania. (in ) u( (  Y`,!"%%&y&))-H-I-O-V-o-p7778 9=9>9{9<===#?E?WBBBBC'C=EEFFHJHYHfHvH~HLLR-R<U>UKUWUYUlU{UUWW`a,abbcc=ccese}ffggg @@`./<=>mn%KsKs1` 4Z0[4Y @j 7KLwx 56!!\!" "$$%%&x&y&&)u)v))))))*?-9-:-H-I-p////000A0r000044444!4"4j4k77778 8 8H8I9m9n:< >G>s>>>??D?]?^?q?r????@=@>@|@}B\BBCC CzC{EEEEEEF^F_GGGGGGHHH4H5HIHJHXHYHHHHIIJJNER,R-R;R<RqT=TdTeUVUWUXUYUkUlUzU{UUWW`aabbcVd deefXggggiiilSmmm)mHno$o%ocqjqkqwXwfwgwxxx]Cindent indent poetrypoetry chaptertitleNormal after indent+  f      Summary of other Historicizing interpretations of Revelation 16: ty of interpretative ingenuity and the attempts to read the passage closely with historical events: * Pope Gregory is the angel coming from the abyss bearing bowls (according to Frederick II in McGinn 1998: 175). *The drying of the Euphrates and the admission of the kings of the East is a reference to the Saracens and twelve Ottoman Turks (Foxe, Acts & Monuments [1583] 4:102 in Firth, 1979: 96). * The fifth angel pouring the bowl means the defeat of the Armada (George Gifford, Sermons upon the whole booke of the Revelation in Bauckham 1978: 354). * The bowls are the battles of the English Civil War in which Charles I is the Popes second assistant (Haughton, The Rise, Growth and Fall of Antichrist [1652] in Hill 1990: 109). * The second bowl is Gods present judgment on the maritime powers, especially Britain (Bicheno in Burdon 1991: 97)/ * The sixth bowl refers to earthquakes in Antioch and Aleppo in 1825 during the Greek revolt (Edward Cooper in Oliver, 1978: 66). * The horrible sores have suggested skin cancers related to rising levels of solar radiation (David Wilkerson, The Vision 105-8 in Boyer 1992: 333). * The kings of the East in 16:12 prefigure the rise of China, Japan, and the Mongolian hordes (Lindsey, The Late Great Planet Earth 81, 162 in Boyer 1992: 109; cf. Boyer in Stein 2000: 167). * The first bowl, which causes hurtful ulcers, signifies the consequence of establishing a substitute for Gods Kingdom, the League of Nations and its successor, the United Nations--those who worship it become spiritually unclean, just as the Egyptians who opposed Jehovah in Moses day were plagued by literal sores and ulcers [Ex 9:10-11] (Watchtower Bible, 223-5). Hildegard of Bingen [Rev 16:12-16}: And I saw sharp arrows whistling from its [a worm-like monster] mouth, and black smoke exhaling from its breast, and a burning fluid boiling up from its loins, and a hot whirlwind blowing from its navel, and the uncleanness of frogs issuing from its bowels; all of which affected human beings with grave disquiet. And the hideous and foul-smelling vapor that came out of it infected many people with its own perversity. (Hildegard of Bingen, Scivias ii.7, Hart & Bishop 1990: 294) . . . John Bunyan, gggiiiiiiillllRlSmmmmm(m)mHmJmRmtnnnnno"o#o%o/o0obqCqMqjqkqxqqqqs?sLt|twWwXwewfwgwxxxxxxyU|o|||||Zlr789:+!-23 @`The Pilgrims Progress, 373 [Rev 17. Describes a figure appearing to Sted-fast]: one in very pleasant attire, who said I am the mistress of the world, and men are made happy by me. Then I asked her name, and she told me it was Madam Bubble [an image of the worlds vanity]. () Revelation 17 image of the worlds vanity]. , p. 346-7. A monster appears to Sted-fast:. . . was like unto no one beast upon the earth. Its body was like a dragon and it had seven heads and ten horns. It made great havoc of children, and yet it was governed by a woman. This monster propounded conditions to men; and such men as loved their lives more than their souls accepted of those conditions. (p. 346-7) [one of Joachim of Fiores figurae relates to the interpretation of the beast with seven heads in Rev 12:3] Lactantius interprets the chapter of the decline of empire: First of all, the empire will grow but the supreme directing power will weaken and will be scattered and divided among many. Then civic quarrels will continually spread abroad and there will be no end of deadly wars until ten kings will emerge simultaneously. They will divide the world to destroy and not to govern it. The Roman name, which now rules the world, will be taken from the earth. Empire will return to Asia and once again the East will rule and the West will serve. (Institutes vii.15 in McGinn 1979: 58) John Milton, Eikonoklastes 226-7, in John Milton 1962: 597-9: God in the Scripture oft enough hath expressed; and the earth itself hath too long groand under the burden of their injustice, disorder, and irreligion. Therefore, to bind their Kings in Chains, and their Nobles with links of Iron, is an honour belonging to his saints [cf. Rev 20.1-4]; not to build Babel (which was Nimrods work the first King, and the beginning of his Kingdom was Babel [Gen 10.10 cf. Paradise Lost xii.39], but to destroy it, especially that spiritual Babel: and first overcome those European Kings, which receive their power, not from God, but from the Beast; and are counted no better than his ten horns. These shall hate the great Whore, and yet shall give their kingdoms to the Beast that caries (sic) her; they shall commit Fornication with her, and yet shall burn her with fire, and yet shall lament the fall of Babylon, where they fornicated with her (Rev 17 & 18). ... Thus shall they be too and from doubtful and ambiguous in all their doings, until at last, joining their Armies with the Beast, whose power first raised them, they shall perish with him by the King of Kings, against whom they have rebelled; and the Fouls shall eat their flesh. This is their doom written (Rev 19), and the utmost that we find concerning them in these latter days; which we have much more cause to believe, than his unwarranted revelation here, prophesying what shall follow after his death, with the spirit of Enmity, not of Saint John. ( Revelation 19 Charles Wesleys reference to the marks of Christs death in 19:13: With what different exclamation Shall the saints his banner see! By the monuments of his passion, By the marks received for me All discern him, All with shouts cry out, Tis he! (line from hymn: Lift your heads, ye friends of Jesus (see above p. xxx, in Newport 2000: 143) The wedding of the Lamb in 19:6-9 also forms part of Bunyans description of the welcome offered to Christian when he arrives in the heavenly court: Then the heavenly Host gave a great shout, saying, Blessed are they that are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb [Rev 19:.9]. There came out also at this time to meet them, several of the Kings trumpeters, clothed in white and shining raiment, who with melodious noises and loud, made even the heavens to echo with their sound. These trumpeters saluted Christian and his fellow with ten thousand welcomes from the world: and this they did with shouting and sound of trumpet. Thus therefore they walked on together and as they walked, ever anon these trumpeters, even with joyful sound would, by mixing their music, with looks and gestures, still signify to Christian and his brother how welcome they were into their company and with what gladness they came to meet them. (Bunyan, Pilgrims Progress 214) The image from 19: 11-16 also suffuses Bunyans description of the promise to Christian from the Shining Ones:ts & SciencesFaculty of Arts & SciencesxyV|r89:,23\wxA_]2stu/h'k(SJ{ 8cLseSV There also you shall be clothed with glory and majesty, and put into an equipage fit to ride out with the King of Glory. When he shall come with sound of trumpet in the clouds, as upon the wings of the wind, you shall come with him; and when he shall sit upon the throne of Judgement, you shall sit by him; yea, and when he shall pass sentence upon all the workers of iniquity, let them be angels or men, you also shall have a voice in that judgement, because they were his and your enemies. Also when he shall again return to the City, you shall go too, with sound of trumpet, and be ever with him. (Pilgrims Progress 213) [Turner: The Angel in the Sun] In Paradise Lost Uriel is the angel standing in the sun, who confronts Satan as he wanders around the fringes of the globe: For [the devils] sight no obstacle found here . . . and the air, Nowhere so clear, sharpened his visual ray To objects distant far, whereby he soon Saw within ken a glorious angel stand, The same whom John saw also in the sun: His back turned, but not his brightness hid; of beaming sunny rays, a golden tiara Circled his head, nor less his locks behind Illustrious on his shoulders fledge with wings Lay waving round; on some great charge employed he seemed, or fixed in cogitation deep. (iii: 615-629 in Patrides in Patrides & Wittreich 1984: 227) Hildegard of Bingen develops the image of the defeat of the false prophet in the Scivias iii. 11.7: For when he shall have fulfilled all the pleasure of the devil, the beguiler, because in the just judgment of God he shall not by any means be permitted any longer to have so much potency for his wickedness and cruelty, he shall gather all his host and say unto the believers in him that he intendeth to go aloft. and lo! As if stricken by a thunderbolt suddenly coming [down] he strikes his head with such force that he is both cast down from that mountain and delivereth his soul unto death. Tertullian defends a literal millennial belief in Against Marcion iii. 24, in a text reminiscent of fragments that survive of Montanist teaching. What is striking about the following quotation from Tertullian is the way in which Rev 20 is interpreted in the light of Rev 21: For we also hold that a kingdom has been promised to us on earth, but before [we attain] heaven . . . This will last for a thousand years, in a city of Gods making. Jerusalem sent down from heaven which the apostle designates as our mother from above [Gal 4.26] and in proclaiming that our politeuma [Phil 3:20], that is our citzenship, is in heaven, he surely ascribes it to a heavenly city. Ezekiel knew that city, and the Apostle John saw it [Rev 21:1], and the Word of the New prophecy which dwells in our faith witnesses to it so that it even foretold the appearance of the likeness of that city to serve as a sign before its manifestation before mens eyes. In fact this prophecy was just lately fulfilled in the course of the eastern expedition. For it is a fact attested even among the heathen that in Judea a city was suspended from heaven for a short space in the early morning during a period of forty days . . . We say that this is the city designed by God for the reception of the saints at the [first] resurrection, and for their cherishing with all abundance of goods, spiritual goods to be sure, in compensation for the goods we have despised or lost in this age. For indeed it is right and worthy of God that his servants should also rejoice in the place where they suffered affliction in his name. This is the purpose of that kingdom; which will last a thousand years, during which period the saints will rise sooner or later, according to their degrees of merit, and then when the resurrection of the saints is completed, the destruction of the world and the conflagration of judgement will be effected; we shall change in a moment [1 Cor 15:52-3] into the angelic substance, by the putting on of incorruption, and we shall be transferred to the celestial kingdom. (Bettenson 1982: 164) Revelation 20 Elsewhere Tertullian explains the resurrection as part of a scheme laid out in Johns Apocalypse: In the Apocalypse of John, the order of times is again laid out, for which justice and vengeance the importuning souls of the martyrs under the altar are also taught to wait [Rev 6: 9-11], in order that the world may first drink from the bowls of the angels of the plagues [Rev 16]; and that the prostituted city may receive from the ten kings its deserved end [Rev 17:16-17]; and that the beast Antichrist with his false prophet [Rev 13] may battle against the church. Moreover, after the devil is banished for a while to the abyss [Rev 20:1-3], the privilege of the first resurrection may be ordained from thrones, and next after the devil is given to the fire, the judgement of the universal resurrection may be decided up from the books [Rev 20:4-15]. (De res. Mort 25) Lactantius writes of the way the victory of Christ ushers in an age of peace. After a judgement of believers the just will rule in this world with Christ (a vision influenced by Virgils Fourth Eclogue and Sibylline Oracles 8, in Daley 1991: 67-8). The saints will be gathered in the holy city: When peace has been brought about and every evil suppressed, that righteous and victorious king will cry out a great judgement on the earth of the living and the dead, and will hand over all the heathen people into servitude under the righteous who are alive and will raise the dead to eternal life and will himself reign with them on earth and will found the holy city and this kingdom of righteous will last for a thousand years. Throughout that time the stars will be brighter and the brightness of the sun will increase and the moon will not wane. Then the rain of blessing will descend from God morning and evening and the earth will bear all fruits without human labour. Honey in abundance will drip from rocks fountains of milk and wine burst forth. The beasts of the forest will put away their wildness and become tame .... no longer will any animal live by bloodshed. For God will supply all with abundant and guiltless food. Revelation 20 r89:x+WI QUOTESforWebFaculty of Arts & SciencesFaculty of Arts & Sciences3[ ^0!)Xsudm1sd7DSŃŊŬ @:In Bunyans Pilgrims Progress Pilgrims dream is full of the apocalyptic images from this section of the Apocalypse: So I looked up in my dream, and saw the clouds rack at an unusual rate, upon which I heard a great sound of a trumpet, and saw also a man sit upon a cloud, attended with the thousands of Heaven; they were all in flaming fire, also the heavens was on a burning flame. I heard then a voice, saying, Arise ye dead, and come to judgement, and with that the rocks rent, the graves opened, and the dead that were therein came forth; some of them were exceeding glad, and looked upward, and some sought to hide themselves under the mountains. Then I saw the man that sat upon the cloud open the book and bid the world draw near. Yet there was by reason of a fiery flame that issued betwixt him and them, as betwixt the judge and the prisoners at the bar. I heard it also proclaimed to them that attended on the man that sat on the cloud, Gather together the tares, the chaff, and stubble, and cast them into the burning lake, and with that the bottomless pit opened, just whereabout I stood; out of the mouth of which there came in an abundant manner smoke, and coals of fire, with hideous noises. It was also said to the same persons Gather my wheat into my garner. And with that I saw many catched up and carried away into the clouds, but I was left behind. I also sought to hide myself, but I could not; for the man that sat upon the cloud still kept his eye upon me: my sins also came into mind, and my conscience did accuse me on every side. Upon this I awaked from my sleep. Christian: But what was it that made you so afraid of this sight? Man: Why, I thought that the Day of Judgement was come, and that I was not ready for it; but this frightened me most, that the angels gathered up several, and left me behind; also the pit of Hell opened her mouth just where I stood; my conscience too within afflicted me; and as I thought, the Judge had always his eye upon me, showing indignation in his countenance. (pp. 80-81) Revelation 21 Olivi sees a reference to the new teaching orders of learned monks (doctors): . . . although a multitude of people entered in to Christ through the apostles and other saints of the second general age of the Church, as if through gates of the city of God, this passage is nevertheless more appropriately applied to the principal doctors of the third general age, through whom all Israel and the whole world will enter in to Christ. For just as it more befitted the apostles to be the foundations of the entire Church and Christian faith, so it more befits these others to be the open gates and the openness of explicators of Christian wisdom. For just as a tree, when it is nothing but a root, cannot be totally explicated or explicitly demonstrated to all so well as when it is fulfilled in branches, leaves, flowers and fruits, so the tree or fabric of the Church and divine providence and the wisdom shining forth and shared in its diverse providence and the wisdom shining forth and shared in its diverse parts could not and should not have been as well explicated from the beginning as it can and should be at its fulfilment. Thus just as, from the beginning of the world to the birth of Christ, the illumination of the people of God, and explication of the order and procession of the entire Old Testament and providence of God in the establishment and government of the world increased successively, so it is with the illuminations and explications of Christian wisdom in the time of the New Testament. (Lectura 968-9 in Burr 1993: 117-8) In Pilgrim's Progress Bunyan alludes to Rev 21, together with Rev chs. 4-5 and 14, and the end of Hebrews 11, in an exchange between Pliable and Christian: Pliable: Well said, and what else? Christian: There are crowns of glory to be given us; and garments that will make us shine like the sun in the firmament of heaven. Pliable: This is excellent; and what else? Christian: There shall be no more crying, nor sorrow; for he that is owner of the place will wipe all tears from our eyes. Pliable: And what company shall we have there? Christian: There we shall be with Seraphims, and Cherubins, creatures that will dazzle your eyes to look on them. There also you shall meet with thousands, and ten thousands that have gone before us to that place; none of them are hurtful, but loving, and holy, every one walking in the sight of God and standing in his presence with acceptance for ever: in a word, there we shall see the elders with their golden crowns; there we shall see the holy virgins with their golden harps. There we shall see men that by the world were cut in pieces, burnt in flames, eaten of beasts, drowned in the seas, for the love that they bare to the Lord of the place, all well, and clothed with immortality, as with a garment. (p. 56; cf. Bunyan, Christian Behaviour 185-6; A Discourse of the Building of the House of God [1688] in Hill 1991: 220) Blake imagines himself and other prophetic figures (Los is Blakes mythic, prophetic figure, whose imaginative activity seeks to create a new world) standing on the banks of the Thames in order to build Golgonooza by their mental fight (Jerusalem 10.17; 53.15) and to extend their influence to the whole of Britain (Milton 6.1-7). And Los beheld his Sons, and he beheld his Daughters: Every one a translucent Wonder: a Universe within, Increasing inwards, into length and breadth, and height: Starry & glorious: and they every one in their bright loins: Have a beautiful golden gate which opens into the vegetative world: And every one a gate of rubies & all sorts of precious stones In their translucent hearts, which opens into the vegetative world: And every one a gate of iron dreadful and wonderful, In their translucent heads, which opens into the vegetative world . . . (Blake, Jerusalem i.14:16-24, cf. Bunyans Mansoul in Pilgrims Progress 247 discussed by Korshin in Patrides & Wittreich 1984: 256; cf. Paley 1999: 286, on the influence of the New Jerusalem on Keats) [Blake The Waters of Life Blake, Painting] Revelation 22 Drawing on both types of symbolism, Milton presents Satan-Lucifer as an inadequate parody of Christ, the Good Shepherd. He portrays Satan giving misleading instruction to his minions about Gods messiah, telling them: That the Most High commmanding, now ere night, Now ere dim night had disencumbered heaven, The great hierarchal standard was to move; Tells the suggested cause, and casts between Ambiguous words and jealousies, to sound Or taint integrity; but all obeyed The wonted signal, and superior voice Of their great potentate; for great indeed His name, and high was his degree in heaven; His countenance, as the morning star that guides The starry flock, allured them, and with lies Drew after him the third part of heavens host: Meanwhile the eternal eye, whose sight discerns Abstrusest thoughts, from forth his holy mount And from within the golden lamps that burn Nightly before him, saw without their light Rebellion rising . . . (Paradise Lost, v.699-715; cf. i.294; iii.201) In Bunyans Pilgrims Progress, as Pilgrim and Hopeful are close to the end of their arduous journey, after they have crossed safely through the River of death, their angelic companions describe to them the heavenly Jerusalem they are approaching: . . . [T]he beauty, and glory of it was inexpressible. There, said they, is the Mount Sion, the heavenly Jerusalem, the innumerable company of angels, and the spirits of just men made perfect; you are going now, said they, to the Paradise of God, wherein you shall see the Tree of Life, and eat of the never-fading fruits thereof; and when you come there you shall have white robes given you, and your walk and talk shall be every day with the King, even all the days of eternity. There you shall not see again such things as you saw when you were in the lower region upon the earth, to wit, sorrow, sickness, affliction, and death, for the former things are passed away. You are going now to Abraham, to Isaac, and Jacob, and to the prophets, men that God hath taken away from the evil to come, and that are now resting upon their beds, each one walking in his righteousness. (pp. 212-213) Earlier in the narrative images from Rev 22:1-2 are used to describe the pilgrims respite beside a refreshing river: Christian and Hopeful went on their way to a pleasant river, which David the King called the River of God; but John, The River of the Water of Life. .... [H]ere therefore Christian and his Companion walked with great delight; they drank also of the water of the River, which was pleasant and enlivening to their weary Spirit; besides, on the banks of this River, on either side, were green Trees, that bore all manner of Fruit, and the leaves of the Trees were good for Medicine; with the Fruit of these Trees they were also much delighted. ... Then they sang, Behold ye how these crystal streams do glide (To comfort pilgrims) by the highway side; The meadows green besides their fragrant smell, Yield dainties for them; and he that can tell What pleasant fruit, yea leaves, these trees do yield, Will soon sell all, that he may buy this field. (pp. 160-161 cf. 106-107, and, 1on the tree of life which heal wounds received in battle, p. 215) (pp. 160-161 cf. 106-107, and, Other reverberation of the imagery of vv. 1-2 in poetry include Miltons: And drink thy fill of pure immortal streams (Sonnet XIV [1646] line 14). He imagines his drowned friend Lycidas in a happier place: Where other groves, and other streams along, With nectar pure his oozy locks he laves, And hears the unexpressive nuptial song, In the blest kingdoms meek of joy and love. (Lycidas [1637], lines 174-177; cf. Paradise Lost v.652; xi.79) Hildegard is implicitly and explicitly indebted to Johns inspiration in her own visions. In a vision of the glorious eschatological time she appeals explicitly to John, alluding to Rev 22:5: And the sun and moon and stars will sparkle in the firmament like precious stones set in gold, with great glory and brilliance; and they will no longer restlessly revolve in orbit so as to distinguish day from night. For the world will have ended and they will have become immutable; and from that time on there will be no darkness, and day will be perpetual. As my beloved John witnesses, when he says [Hildegard quotes Rev 22:5]. Which is to say: One who possesses a treasure sometimes hides it and at other times shows it, and even so night conceals the light, and day drives out darkness and brings light to humanity. (Scivias iii.12, Hart & Bishop 1990: 520) "#$24 RqtŬ@Wg3Ŭ,5M!BxŬ-./?c? 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