CHAPTER III.

ON THE ANALYSIS OF THE APOCALYPSE.

1. The Ancient Analysis.

We have seen at the close of the preceding chapter, that Victorinus regarded the latter visions of the Apocalypse as repetitions and amplifications of the former; conceiving, for example, that the same series of events, which is foretold by the seven trumpets, is again predicted with some variety in its details by the seven vials. This author does not however give any general analysis of the Apocalypse, but makes his remarks on the different parts of the book in a detached and independent form. Succeeding Commentators however reduced the interpretation of these prophetic revelations into a more regular system; and, observing the prevalence of the number 'seven' throughout every part of the book, they adopted this number as the basis of their division and subdivision of its contents. They divide the whole Apocalypse into seven distinct visions; one, relating to the seven Asiatic Churches, and the remaining six to those future events, which are related in the fourth and following chapters: and they interpret the latter six, if not the whole seven, with reference to the same period of time; the events of which are thus repeated under six or seven different forms. Bede is the first writer who has distinctly laid down this analysis at the opening of his expo

sition, though the commentary of the earlier writer, Primasius, is constructed according to this model : and the same idea prevailed generally among the Commentators until the beginning of the fourteenth century. At that period, however, an entirely new system was introduced. Nicolas Lyranus and Petrus Aureolus, to whom unquestionably belongs the title of fathers of the modern school of interpretation, applied the several visions of the seals, the trumpets, &c. not, as before, to the same period, but to successive periods in the history of the Christian Church. This latter writer gives the following concise account of the analysis generally adopted by his predecessors, before he explains the new interpretation of Lyranus, which in a short time almost entirely superseded it. AUREOLUS. 16 He proceeds in the fourth chapter 'to the unsealing of those future events, which relate 'to the universal Church; and this subject continues 'to the end of the book. This part of the Apocalypse

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may be divided either according to the meaning of 'the visions themselves, or according to their moral and 'mystical interpretation, or according to their literal sense as containing a disclosure of future events.'

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In the first place, according to the visions them'selves, it is divided into six portions, according to six modes of proceeding; whence they may be called 'six visions, not distinct indeed in point of time,

for St John is supposed to have seen the whole on

1 Accedit quarto capite ad reserationem futurorum, quae respiciunt universalem ecclesiam; et protenditur tractatus iste usque ad finem libri: qui dividi potest vel secundum sensum imaginarium, vel secundum sensum moralem et mysticum, vel secundum sensum litera

lem et apparitionem continentem futurorum eventum.

Primo quidem secundum sensum imaginarium dividitur in sex partes secundum sex modos procedendi, unde possunt dici sex visiones, non quidem diversas tempore, quia eâdem die dominicâ Joannes

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one Lord's day, but because of the distinct figures and symbols which he discloses, and by which he proceeds. For in the first vision he proceeds by seven seals, to the beginning of ch. viii. In the 'second vision he proceeds by seven angels with trumpets, from that place: and I saw the seven angels: as far as ch. xii. In the third he proceeds by a mixture and combination of different signs; as of the woman and the dragon,—the battles of the 'angels, the beasts and the Lamb,-the hundred and forty-four thousand sealed,—and also seven angels: ' and this part, in which he thus proceeds by a mix"ture of symbols, continues through three chapters, xii. xiii. xiv. In the fourth vision he proceeds by 'seven angels with their vials and last plagues; and this through two chapters, xv. xvi. In the fifth ' he proceeds by the figure and symbol of the woman and the beast, and of the judgment upon them, 'from ch. xvii. to ch. xxi.

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'vision he proceeds by the

In the sixth and last emblem of a new city

and all its ornaments, as far as relates to its foundations, walls, river and tree of life, through the last two chapters, xxi. xxii.

creditur totum vidisse, sed diversis imaginibus ac similitudinibus diversis quas aperit et quibus procedit. Primo namque procedit sub septenario sigillorum, usque circa principium cap. viii. secundo procedit sub septenario angelorum cum tubis, ab illo loco: Et vidi septem angelos: usque ad cap. xii. Tertio procedit sub commixtione et combinatione signorum diversorum; ut mulieris et draconis, et pugnantium angelorum et bestiarum et agni, et centum quadraginta quatuor millium signatorum, necnon et septem

Hence it is commonly angelorum: et durat pars illa in quâ sic procedit permixtè per tria cap. xii. xiii. xiv. Quarto procedit sub septenario angelorum cum suis phialis et novissimis plagis, et hoc per duo cap. xv. xvi. Quinto procedit sub figura et imagine mulieris et bestiae, et damnationis earum à cap. xvii. usque ad xxi. Sexto et ultimo procedit sub metaphorâ novae civitatis, et omnium ornamen torum suorum quantum ad fundamenta, muros, fluvium, et vitae lignum, per duo ultima cap. xxi. xxii. Unde consuetum est dici,

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'said, that in the Apocalypse are seven visions, by adding to these six that vision concerning the cor"rection of the seven Churches, which is contained in chapters ii. iii. as we have already seen.'

The moral or mystical interpretation of these visions will be noticed hereafter. Respecting their literal sense, this author proceeds as follows:

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'But according to the literal sense it may be said that these visions contain a revelation of future events, as far as relates to the tribulations and persecutions, which the Church is destined to en'dure, particularly in the time of Antichrist. Moreover, the whole time of the Church's existence may be divided into seven short periods, in the same manner as the whole duration of the world is divided ' into seven ages. The Church then has seven states. The first state, that of its foundation, in the time ' of the Apostles and Disciples of Christ; the second, 'that of persecution in the time of the Emperors and 'Martyrs: the third, that of prosperity and exaltation in the time of Constantine, who bestowed upon it great honour and abundance of temporal blessings: the fourth, that of internal division and discord in the ⚫ time of the heretics: the fifth, that of perfect peace

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quòd in Apocalypsi sunt septem visiones, addendo istis sex illam de correctione septem ecclesiarum quae continetur in cap. ii. iii. ut supra visum est.

! Secundum vero sensum literalem dici potest: quòd continetur in istis sex visionibus futurorum eventus, quoad tribulationes et persecutiones quas passura est ecclesia, maxime in tempore Antichristi. Potest etiam dividi totus processus ecclesiae in septem aetatulas, per

similitudinem quâ status totius mundi dividitur in septem aetates. Habet ergo ecclesia septem status. Primum quidem suae fundationis sub tempore Apostolorum et discipulorum Christi. Secundum vero persecutionis sub tempore imperatorum et martyrum. Tertium prosperitatis et exaltationis sub tempore Constantini, qui ei largitus est honorem et abundantiam temporalium bonorum. Quartum vero divisionis et dissecationis inter se sub

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' and large extension, in the time of Charlemagne and 'the succeeding Emperors; for he extended the Church by founding many monasteries, and established it in 'profound peace: the sixth, that of the last persecution, in the time of Antichrist and his disciples: the seventh, that of the reward of the righteous and the 'punishment of the wicked, after the day of judgment, ⚫ and after the destruction of Antichrist. Now according to this sevenfold division each of the Apocalyptic 'visions is understood to proceed. The first vision con'tains seven seals; and the first seal corresponds to the 'first state of the Church, the second to the second; and so on. Again, in the second vision, that of the seven angels with their trumpets, the first angel with 'his trumpet corresponds to the first state, and so 6 onward. The third vision, however, that of the dragon and the woman, relates principally to the 'sixth state, that of the persecution of Antichrist. 'And the same may be said of the remaining visions: for, according to this mode of interpretation, each 'vision relates chiefly to this period.'

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This, then, is the analysis of the Apocalypse, which was gradually discovered by the writers of the

tempore haereticorum. Quintum perfectae pacificationis sub tempore Caroli et imperatorum successorum; ille namque dilatavit ecclesiam, multa coenobia fundando et pacificavit ad plenum. Sextum verò novissimae persecutionis sub tempore Antichristi et suorum discipulorum. Septimum praemiationis bonorum et punitionis malorum post diem judicii, et post destructionem Antichristi. Secundum ergo hunc septenarium procedit quaelibet visio. Nam in primâ ponuntur

septem sigilla; et respondet primum sigillum primo statui, secundum secundo: et sic deinceps. In secundâ verò de septem angelis cum tubis, correspondet primus angelus cum tubâ primo statui, et sic deinceps. In tertiâ vero de dracone et muliere, maximè immoratur circa sextum statum de persecutione Antichristi: et communiter deinceps: immo secundum hunc modum exponendi quaelibet visio maximè circa hoc immo

ratur.