Book of the Promises and Predictions of God

Contents

Reading pages: 1.1–1.11 · 1.12–1.23 · 1.24–1.34 · 1.35–2.1 · 2.2–2.8 · 2.9–2.17 · 2.18–2.22 · 2.23–2.29 · 2.30–2.34 · 2.35–3.5 · 3.6–3.30 · 3.31–4.3 · 4.4–4.12 · 4.13–5.14

1. 1.1The creation of Eve from Adam’s side, by which a man leaves his parents and cleaves to his wife, prefigures the Church formed from Christ’s side on the cross.
2. 1.2The death foretold for eating the forbidden fruit passed to all Adam’s descendants and signifies the second, eternal death, from which those who keep Christ’s word are free.
3. 1.3The serpent’s sentence, to eat earth, remains on souls given to earthly desires, which is why the faithful are told daily to lift up their hearts.
4. 1.4The woman’s curse of painful childbirth shows original sin, which David, Solomon, Isaiah, and Job attest and which the sacrifices of the law could only figure until Christ’s sacrifice.
5. 1.5Adam’s sentence of toil and death passed from the root to all his descendants, as Paul, David, and the Gospel attest.
6. 1.6Cain and Abel prefigure the Jewish people and Christ the shepherd killed by them; Enoch, taken up with Elijah, will be one of the two witnesses at Christ’s return.
7. 1.7The ark prefigures the Church and the cross: its measures, built from the numbers five and six, stand for hope, love, and patience, its three decks for faith, hope, and love, and its one cubit for unity and perfection.
8. 1.8The pride of Babel scattered the nations through the confusion of tongues, but Christ’s grace gathers them into one confession; Noah’s nakedness mocked by Ham prefigures Christ’s passion.
9. 1.9Hebrew, the language preserved in Heber, held first place in Pilate’s three-language title on the cross, as the Psalm titles foretold; Israel was God’s firstborn people.
10. 1.10Abraham, called out of astrological Chaldea, believed the promise of land and heir and so became the father of faith, pointing to the Christian inheritance in the land of the living.
11. 1.11God promised Abraham a seed as countless as the stars, and Abraham’s faith, counted as righteousness, is the foundation fulfilled in Christ.
12. 1.12Abraham’s threefold sacrifice of heifer, goat, and ram figures the three times before the law, under the law, and under grace, culminating in Christ; the divided carcasses signify schisms, the undivided birds the chaste and simple.
13. 1.13God’s renaming of Abram as Abraham, father of many nations, shows that the promise extends to all who share his faith, not only to his descendants by the flesh.
14. 1.14Circumcision, set in the part of the body where lust entered after the fall, figures the circumcision of the heart and the continence of the New Testament.
15. 1.15Isaac, whose name means laughter, born to aged Sarah as God promised at Mamre, figures Christ, mocked by the Jews but confessed by the nations, whose passion is their freedom.
16. 1.16Abraham’s intercession and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah foreshadow the day of judgment; Lot’s wife warns believers not to look back, and those who glory in the cross await that day without fear.
17. 1.17The sacrifice of Isaac figures Christ’s passion: the only son, the three days’ journey, the wood he carried, the silent victim, and the ram crowned with thorns.
18. 1.18God’s oath to make Abraham’s seed numberless as the stars is fulfilled not in Israel’s census but in the nations who believe in Christ, while unbelieving Israel turned to idols.
19. 1.19The oath sworn under Abraham’s thigh points to Christ, the God of heaven, born of Abraham’s line through Judah, David, and the Virgin Mary.
20. 1.20Rebecca’s twins prefigure two peoples: Jacob, the gentle younger, is the Christian people, who receives the birthright that Esau, the Jewish people, sold for the red pottage of Christ’s passion.
21. 1.21Jacob’s winning of Isaac’s blessing in Esau’s clothing figures Christ in the likeness of sinful flesh and the Christian people who receive the blessing and the pure sacrifice in place of the Jews.
22. 1.22Job, of Esau’s Idumean line, overcame the devil and his wife’s temptation by patience and received double; so Christ promises a hundredfold, as shown in the emperor Valentinian I.
23. 1.23Jacob’s ladder and the stone he anointed at Bethel figure Christ, the anointed cornerstone, on whom the angels ascend and descend.
24. 1.24Jacob’s lameness after wrestling the angel signifies the Jewish people who limp from the straight way of Christ, while the Christian people, “seeing God,” takes hold of him.
25. 1.25Jacob’s twelve sons and especially Joseph, beloved, clothed in a coat of many colors, and honored by his brothers’ sheaves and by sun, moon, and stars in his dreams, figure Christ and the Church.
26. 1.26Joseph sent to his brothers, hated, stripped of his coat, thrown into a pit, and sold figures Christ sent to Israel, rejected, stripped of the seamless tunic, and sold for thirty pieces.
27. 1.27Joseph, resisting Potiphar’s wife and leaving his garment in her hands, figures Christ whose garments are the martyrs, dragged by idolatry and persecution but freed in their souls.
28. 1.28Joseph imprisoned with the two eunuchs, one condemned and one freed, figures Christ counted among the wicked and crucified between two thieves.
29. 1.29Joseph’s release on the third year, his rule over Egypt, and his granaries that fed the famine figure Christ’s resurrection, his universal authority, the churches, and the food of his body.
30. 1.30Joseph’s brothers coming to buy grain from the brother they sold, his demand for Benjamin, and Simeon’s binding figure the Jews who crucified Christ coming to repent, Paul of Benjamin, and Peter’s power to bind and loose.
31. 1.31Joseph’s free gifts of grain, his special love for Benjamin, the hidden cup, and his self-disclosure figure Christ’s free grace, Paul the least apostle bearing Christ’s marks, and Christ revealing the Father to his brothers.
32. 1.32Jacob’s descent into Egypt and joy at seeing Joseph figure Simeon’s joy at seeing Christ; Israel’s growth under Pharaoh’s oppression figures the Church multiplied through martyrdom.
33. 1.33Moses, hidden three months, set in the river, raised by Pharaoh’s daughter, and slayer of the Egyptian, figures Christ: worldly learning humbled in baptism serves the Church, and Christ frees souls from demons.
34. 1.34Moses the peacemaker rejected by his people, his flight, his foreign bride, his call at the burning bush, and his mission with Aaron figure Christ rejected by the Jews, his Church from the nations, and Paul his chosen spokesman.
35. 1.35Moses’ rod that swallowed the magicians’ serpents figures Christ’s teaching consuming pagan and heretical doctrines; his hand made white as snow figures Christ’s intercession cleansing sins.
36. 1.36The ten plagues of Egypt are matched one by one with the ten commandments, each plague showing the spiritual harm of breaking the corresponding commandment.
37. 1.37The Passover lamb, eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, figures Christ eaten in sincerity until the resurrection; the spoiling of Egypt figures worldly learning passing to Christ, and the flight to the Red Sea, the flight to baptism.
38. 1.38The crossing of the Red Sea figures baptism, in which water consecrated by the word and the cross saves believers and drowns sin; Marah sweetened by wood, and the twelve springs and seventy palms of Elim, figure the cross, the apostles, and the martyrs.
39. 1.39The manna and the meat figure Christ, the bread from heaven, and his flesh given in the passion; the hoarded manna that rotted warns against greed, and the rock struck at Horeb is Christ, pouring out blood and water.
40. 1.40Moses’ outstretched hands that defeated Amalek figure the cross, by which believers overcome every hostile power; this closes the first part, the time before the law.
41. 2.1The law given on Sinai and the covenant in sacrificial blood figure Christ’s new law written on hearts and sealed in his blood; the gospel commandments fulfil and temper the old without contradicting it.
42. 2.2The tabernacle and its materials, measures, curtains, columns, ark, table, lamp, and courts figure the Church, its martyrs, teachers, sacraments, and Christ the priest and victim.
43. 2.3Aaron’s anointing and vestments, ephod, stones, breastpiece, girdle, bells, pomegranates, and inscribed plate, figure Christ the anointed priest, his love, the apostles, the gifts of the Spirit, and the Church of every tongue.
44. 2.4The golden calf and Moses’ intercession figure apostasy and Christ’s self-offering for sinners; the Levites who struck even their kin figure the martyrs who preferred Christ to family.
45. 2.5The calf, lamb, sheep, ram, and kid of the sacrifices figure Christ; the turtledove and dove the Church and the baptized infants; the offerings for sins of ignorance figure penitence, as in Peter; and the true votive offering is praise and almsgiving.
46. 2.6The inspection of leprosy figures the judgment of heresies: leprosy of the head (Manichaeans, Priscillianists), of the beard (Arians, Photinians, Nestorians), of the body (Donatists and other schismatics), and of the whole (Pelagians); the ten lepers figure heretics returning to Christ.
47. 2.7The laws of clean and unclean foods, already expounded allegorically by earlier writers, are summed up in Christ’s command to give alms, which cleanses all things and is praised at length.
48. 2.8Israel’s craving for the foods of Egypt and rejection of the manna figure the Jews’ rejection of Christ, the living bread, in favor of Barabbas; the soul must not ask God for what harms it.
49. 2.9Moses’ meekness, Miriam’s leprosy, the spies’ cluster of grapes, and the people’s fear and punishment in the desert figure Christ, the Church from the nations, the cross, apostasy after baptism, and the Jews’ loss of the inheritance to the Holy Innocents.
50. 2.10Aaron’s rod that budded and bore nuts confirms Christ’s priesthood against rebels and heretics; the nut, with its shell, kernel, and cross-shaped divisions, figures the world, the Church, the two Testaments, the cross, and baptism.
51. 2.11Moses’ failure at the rock, his succession by Joshua (Jesus), and the bronze serpent lifted on a pole figure Christ the giver of the inheritance and Christ crucified, who heals the baptized bitten by sin.
52. 2.12Balaam, hired to curse Israel, blessed it and foretold the star from Jacob, but then counseled seduction into idolatry; Phinehas’s zeal and the warning to Pergamum show that such seducers are still punished or brought to penance.
53. 2.13Moses’ farewell warnings, blessing, and handing over of the people to Joshua figure Christ’s farewell to his disciples and Paul’s warning against false teachers, the Church being committed to Christ’s rule.
54. 2.14Joshua’s two spies, Rahab with her scarlet cord, the crossing of the Jordan with the twelve stones, and circumcision with stone knives figure John and Zechariah, the Gentile Church saved by Christ’s blood, the apostles, and baptism.
55. 2.15The fall of Jericho at the trumpets, and Rahab’s rescue, figure the Church’s spiritual warfare and the salvation of souls given to idolatrous fornication; as with Hosea’s wife and Jeremiah’s call to faithless Judah, Christ makes the harlot a chaste virgin and mother.
56. 2.16Joshua’s conquest and division of the land, the inheritance of Zelophehad’s daughters, and his farewell figure Christ’s conquest of vices, his gift of himself as inheritance, his farewell covenant, and the rulers of his Church.
57. 2.17Deborah, mother in Israel, and Jael, who killed Sisera with a tent peg, figure the Church overcoming idolaters and heretics by the wood of the cross.
58. 2.18Gideon’s overthrow of Baal, the sign of the fleece first wet then dry, and his three hundred who lapped like dogs and broke their jars figure the passage of grace from the Synagogue to the Church and the victory of the martyrs, the Lord’s humble soldiers.
59. 2.19Abimelech, son of a concubine who killed his brothers and was slain by a woman’s millstone, figures the heretics who kill souls by rebaptism and are overthrown by the Church.
60. 2.20Jephthah’s rash vow and sacrifice of his virgin daughter, explained as a punishment for testing God, figure Christ’s offering of his own virgin flesh; Christian heroes surpass the Roman exemplars Torquatus, Mucius, and Curtius.
61. 2.21Samson the Nazirite, his foreign bride, the lion with honey in its mouth, his riddle, the foxes with torches, and the burning of his faithless wife figure Christ, the Church from the nations, the Law given to the Gentiles, and the heretics and their end.
62. 2.22Samson’s victory with the jawbone, Delilah’s three tests and betrayal for silver, his blinding, and his death bringing down the temple figure Christ’s answers to the testing questions (the adulteress, tribute to Caesar, the levirate wife), his betrayal, passion, and victory over idolatry in death.
63. 2.23Ruth the Moabite, refused by the nearer kinsman and married by Boaz, figures the Church of the nations rejected by Israel; (chapter 24) Samuel, leader, priest, and prophet, figures Christ, while Eli’s sinful sons, the captured ark, and the demand for a king warn sinful priests and rulers.
64. 2.25David, anointed shepherd, harpist who calmed Saul, slayer of Goliath with a stone, persecuted fugitive who spared Saul, and feigned madman carried in his own hands, figures Christ the good shepherd, the cross, the victory over the devil, the persecuted martyrs, and the Eucharist.
65. 2.26David, king over all Israel, who mourned Saul, figures Christ who loves his enemies; his adultery and murder, his penance, and the troubles of his house warn that prosperity is more dangerous than adversity.
66. 2.27Abishag, who warmed David in chastity, figures souls aflame with grace; Solomon’s wisdom, judgment between the two mothers, temple, and the visit of the queen of the South figure Christ the peaceable king, the Catholic mother against the heretics, the Church as temple, and the Church of the nations; his fall is a warning.
67. 2.28The division of the kingdom under Rehoboam figures heresy and schism, which Christ will gather into one flock; Elijah’s drought, the seven thousand, the sacrifice on Carmel, and the ravens that fed him figure Christ’s victory over idolatry and the Eucharist ministered through the Jews to the nations.
68. 2.29The widow of Zarephath, who gave Elijah her last bread first and was never in want, shows the primacy of mercy; she figures the widow faithful to one marriage and the poor widow who gave her two mites.
69. 2.30Elisha, who clung to Elijah and received a double portion of his spirit with his mantle, figures the disciples who received the Spirit twice, after the resurrection and at Pentecost, and did greater works than Christ.
70. 2.31Elisha’s raising of the Shunammite’s son and his other signs (the bears, the blinded army, Naaman, Gehazi) figure Christ raising sinners, baptism, free grace, and heresy that sells grace; (chapter 32) Hezekiah’s boastful display warns against pride in good works.
71. 2.33The captivity of Judah for its sins, Zedekiah’s blinding, and the plundered temple vessels warn the author’s own afflicted times to repent; Daniel’s first four visions (Susanna, the king’s food, the statue of four kingdoms, the furnace) figure Christ and his Church.
72. 2.34Daniel’s fifth to eighth visions (Nebuchadnezzar’s tree, the four beasts, the ram and goat, Belshazzar’s feast) show God humbling and restoring the proud, the Antichrist to come, and the judgment on kings who profane sacred vessels.
73. 2.35Daniel’s ninth to twelfth visions (the lions’ den, the seventy weeks, the end time, Bel and the Dragon) figure Christ delivered from his enemies, mark the time of his coming against the Jews, and show the overthrow of idols.
74. 2.36Ezekiel’s vision of the dry bones shows the resurrection, and his shut eastern gate Mary’s perpetual virginity; Ezra’s return and the sending away of foreign wives figure Christians who leave all, even wife and children, for Christ.
75. 2.37The interrupted rebuilding of the temple, which the Jews said took forty-six years, figures Christ’s body raised in three days and the restoration of souls to the heavenly Jerusalem.
76. 2.38Zerubbabel’s saying that women and truth are strongest, and the deeds of Esther and Judith, who risked their lives to save their people and overthrew their enemies, figure the Church, which saves her children through the cross and the martyrs.
77. 2.39Tobit’s healing and Sarah’s deliverance from Asmodeus by the fish’s liver figure Christ, the ICHTHYS, who by his passion drives out demons and gives light, as with Mary Magdalene, Peter, and Paul.
78. 2.40The Maccabean martyr mother and her seven sons, and Judas’s offering for the dead, figure the Church’s martyrs and hope of resurrection; the end of Judah’s rulers under Herod fulfils Jacob’s prophecy of the coming of Christ, born in the census under Augustus; the second part of the book ends.
79. 3.1Isaiah’s voice in the wilderness is fulfilled in John the Baptist, as John the evangelist and Acts attest, with lines of the Sibyl added.
80. 3.2The prophecies of Christ as king from heaven in the Psalms and Isaiah are fulfilled in the Magi’s question and attested by Paul and the Sibyl.
81. 3.3The prophecies of the Word sent to heal, seen on earth, and going out into the fields are fulfilled in the Word made flesh, as John, Paul, and the Sibyl attest.
82. 3.4Isaiah’s prophecy of the virgin is fulfilled in the annunciation to Mary, as Paul attests; the Sibyl and Virgil’s fourth Eclogue are added as witnesses.
83. 3.5The ox and ass of Isaiah and Habakkuk’s two living creatures are fulfilled in Christ laid in the manger, as Luke and Paul attest, with a line of the Sibyl.
84. 3.6Balaam’s star, the light of the nations, and the gifts of kings in the Psalms and Isaiah are fulfilled in the star of the Magi and their gifts, with Paul, the Sibyl, and Virgil as further witnesses.
85. 3.7Isaiah’s promise of the son whose peace has no end is fulfilled in the angels’ song at Christ’s birth and his gift of peace, with Paul and Virgil’s fourth Eclogue as witnesses.
86. 3.8Hosea’s “Out of Egypt I called my Son” is fulfilled in the flight into Egypt, where Christ brought grace to a land of sin.
87. 3.9Jeremiah’s Rachel weeping and the Psalms’ innocents are fulfilled in Herod’s slaughter of the infants, numbered with the sealed of the Apocalypse, with lines of Virgil added.
88. 3.10Isaiah’s “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me” is fulfilled when Jesus reads it and declares it fulfilled, to the amazement of his hearers.
89. 3.11Prophecies of the exalted Jordan and of the anointing with the oil of gladness are fulfilled at Christ’s baptism, where the Spirit came as a dove and the Father spoke.
90. 3.12Jeremiah’s fishers and hunters are fulfilled in Christ’s call of Peter and Andrew to be fishers of men, with Psalms on the beasts and fish of their catch.
91. 3.13Isaiah’s prophecy of the blind seeing and the lame leaping is fulfilled in Christ’s answer to John’s disciples, attested by Peter, with a line of Virgil.
92. 3.14The Psalm’s way in the sea and Wisdom’s path among the waves are fulfilled in Christ walking on the water, his rescue of Peter, and Paul’s safety in shipwreck.
93. 3.15The Psalm’s satisfied hungry soul and Isaiah’s promise of food are fulfilled in the feeding of the five thousand, read with Paul’s “one bread.”
94. 3.16Zechariah’s king riding on a donkey is fulfilled in Christ’s entry into Jerusalem, which also figures the Gentile Cornelius brought to faith.
95. 3.17The Psalms’ zeal for God’s house are fulfilled in Christ’s cleansing of the temple, which condemns lovers of money and betrayers, with a line of Virgil on the age of greed.
96. 3.18The Psalms on the friend who ate Christ’s bread and lifted his heel, and Zechariah’s thirty pieces of silver, are fulfilled in Judas’ betrayal at the Last Supper.
97. 3.19Isaiah’s servant giving his back to scourges and Lamentations on offering the cheek are fulfilled in the scourging and mocking of Jesus, attested by Peter and the Sibyl.
98. 3.20The Psalm’s thorn fixed in the sufferer and the ram caught in the thicket are fulfilled in Christ’s crown of thorns, with the Sibyl as witness.
99. 3.21Isaiah’s lamb led to slaughter, the Psalm’s pierced hands and feet, and Jeremiah’s anointed one taken are fulfilled in the crucifixion at Golgotha.
100. 3.22Isaiah’s “counted among the wicked” is fulfilled in Christ crucified between two robbers.
101. 3.23The Psalm’s divided garments and lots are fulfilled at the cross; the seamless tunic is the one Catholic Church which Christ loved and cleansed.
102. 3.24The Psalm’s gall and vinegar are fulfilled in the drink given to Christ on the cross, with the hyssop of Ps 51, the Sibyl, and Virgil as witnesses.
103. 3.25Zechariah’s “they will look on him whom they pierced” and the law that no bone of the lamb be broken are fulfilled in the piercing of Christ’s side, from which blood and water flowed.
104. 3.26Joel’s darkened sun and moon are fulfilled in the darkness at the crucifixion and the tearing of the temple veil.
105. 3.27The Psalms on the one free among the dead whose holy one will not see corruption are fulfilled in Christ’s burial by Joseph of Arimathea.
106. 3.28Isaiah’s prophecy that the dead will rise is fulfilled in the saints who rose from their tombs at Christ’s death, with Paul, Peter, and the Sibyl as witnesses.
107. 3.29Hosea’s third day and the Psalms’ rising before the dawn are fulfilled in the resurrection, the sign of Jonah, and the empty tomb; Christ is the first fruits because, unlike others raised, he dies no more.
108. 3.30Hosea’s roaring lion and Jacob’s sleeping lion are fulfilled in the risen Christ rebuking the disciples’ unbelief and showing Thomas his wounds, attested by John and Paul, with Virgil as witness.
109. 3.31The Psalms on ascending on high and sending the Spirit are fulfilled in Christ’s ascension and the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost.
110. 3.32The barren woman made a joyful mother is fulfilled in the Church born through baptism among all nations; (chapter 33) Jeremiah’s new covenant, Isaiah’s new things and new name, and the new song are fulfilled in the Christian name and the new man.
111. 3.34The Psalms on the death of the saints are fulfilled in the martyrs Christ sent as sheep among wolves; the ten persecutions and a recent Persian persecution, with a sign of crosses in battle, show the Church’s growth through martyrdom.
112. 3.35The prophecies of the nations called from east to west, from afar and from Persia, are fulfilled in the Gentile Church, as Christ, Peter, Paul, and the Apocalypse attest.
113. 3.36The Psalm and Isaiah’s prophecies of kings serving God’s people are fulfilled as kings come to Christ’s Church, greater than Solomon, to whom all kingdoms come.
114. 3.37The Psalm’s call to kings to serve the Lord is fulfilled as rulers take up Christ’s yoke; justice, mercy, and prayer for rulers are commended, with a line of Virgil.
115. 3.38The prophecies of the destruction of idols are fulfilled in the author’s own times: the closing of temples under Theodosius, Symmachus’ failed plea for the altar of Victory, Eutropius’ flight to the church, the exposure of the frauds in the Serapeum and a Roman cave, and the consecration and later destruction of the temple of Caelestis at Carthage, which the author witnessed.
116. 3.39Isaiah’s wolf and lamb feeding together and the Psalms’ poor set among princes are fulfilled at Christ’s one table, the great supper to which the nations, the rich, kings, and returning heretics are brought.
117. 3.40The prophecies that all nations will worship God and offer a pure sacrifice will be fulfilled when the gospel has reached all nations, and then the end will come, as the prophets, Christ, and even pagan writers attest; the third part of the book closes.
118. 4.1Ezekiel’s lament over the king of Tyre and Isaiah’s fallen Lucifer describe the angel created good who fell by pride, as Christ says of the devil who did not stand in the truth.
119. 4.2Isaiah and Ezekiel describe the devil’s pride, and Christ and Peter his casting down; men are spared because they were seduced, while the devil seduced himself.
120. 4.3The prophets, Christ, Peter, and the Apocalypse describe the devil cast down from heaven to the earth and the underworld, having a short time for his deceits before the end.
121. 4.4The binding of the dragon for a thousand years in the Apocalypse is explained as the present age of the Church since Christ’s victory, prepared by Daniel’s seventy weeks; afterwards the devil will be loosed for a short time.
122. 4.5The mark of the beast is to imitate and glory in the devil’s works under the name of Christ; the many antichrists are the heretics, especially the Arians, who tear the Church’s unity, while the Catholic is the one in communion with the apostolic Church of Jerusalem, Ephesus, Asia, and Rome.
123. 4.6Job, Paul, and Christ foretell the lying signs of the Antichrist; the author adds recent devilish signs he knew: a possessed young nun at Carthage healed at the Eucharist, a false monk with fraudulent cures, and an impostor near Naples expelled while Pope Leo was suppressing the Manichaeans and Pelagians.
124. 4.7The harlot Babylon on the beast in the Apocalypse is the worldly city spread through the world, drunk with the martyrs’ blood and claiming eternity, from which God’s people must come out; Paul foretells the lawless one whom Christ will destroy.
125. 4.8The seven heads and ten horns of the beast in the Apocalypse and Daniel are kings who persecute the Church, including the Arians who rebaptize; the Antichrist, the eighth, is by some identified with a returning Nero.
126. 4.9Daniel’s vile king who exalts himself above every god and Jacob’s blessing of Dan as a serpent show that the Antichrist will come from the Jews, of the tribe of Dan, after the fall of the worldly empire; the unbelieving will believe him.
127. 4.10Daniel’s vision of the persecutor who profanes the sanctuary, against whom the people who know God stand firm and Michael arises, is applied to the Antichrist’s persecution, foreshadowed by the Arians; Christ and the Apocalypse confirm it, and the martyrs of the end will complete the number of the elect.
128. 4.11Ezekiel’s prince who says “I am God,” Paul’s man of sin seated in God’s temple, and the beast with lamb’s horns and its three froglike spirits describe the Antichrist’s pride and his heralds’ signs in Asia, Europe, and Africa.
129. 4.12The Antichrist will be known not to be Christ because he will come in pride and will not fulfil the prophecies of humility, passion, death, resurrection, ascension, and the gift of the Spirit that Christ fulfilled; his end is the lake of fire.
130. 4.13Malachi’s Elijah and the two witnesses of the Apocalypse are Elijah and Enoch, who will expose the Antichrist, as Moses and Aaron withstood Jannes and Jambres and Peter and Paul withstood Simon Magus; the forty-two months of trampling are already begun by the Arian Goths and Moors.
131. 4.14The garment to be kept is Christ, put on in baptism; those rebaptized by heretics or lapsed in persecution have lost it and should return in repentance like the prodigal son.
132. 4.15The beast will kill the two witnesses, Elijah and Enoch, and the impious will rejoice over their unburied bodies, but sudden destruction will come on them.
133. 4.16After three and a half days the two witnesses will rise and ascend to meet Christ, who will destroy the Antichrist and reign for ever.
134. 4.17The Psalms, Malachi, Isaiah, the Gospel, the Apocalypse, Paul, and the Sibyl foretell Christ’s coming in glory with cosmic signs, joy to the good and destruction to the wicked; therefore let us amend while there is time.
135. 4.18Ezekiel’s dry bones, Isaiah, Christ, Paul, and the Apocalypse foretell the resurrection of the flesh; even bodies eaten by beasts will be restored by the Creator, and the impious rise not to judgment but to punishment.
136. 4.19The Psalms, Christ’s parable of the sheep and goats, Paul, the Apocalypse, Isaiah, and the Sibyl describe the last judgment, where mercy to the poor decides; (chapter 20) a purifying fire will purge certain of the faithful and renew the elements, while the impious repent in vain.
137. 5.1The new heaven and new earth promised in the Apocalypse and by Peter are the land of the living, which the impious will not see.
138. 5.2The saints of every age and both sexes will be changed into the perfect man, the age of Christ’s fullness, which the author takes as about thirty.
139. 5.3The new Jerusalem, our mother above, will have no night, death, or pain; the impious will not see its glory.
140. 5.4The just will shine like the sun, equal to the angels, a glory the impious will not see.
141. 5.5As stars differ in glory, so the saints will shine with different honors, martyrs, virgins, widows, and the married, without envy.
142. 5.6The virgins who follow the Lamb wherever he goes have a place the impious will not see.
143. 5.7What God has prepared for those who love him, beyond eye and ear and heart, the impious will not see.
144. 5.8The saints will see God the Trinity face to face, which the impious will not see.
145. 5.9The saints, beholding the Lord’s glory with unveiled face, will be transformed into his image, which the impious will not see.
146. 5.10The Son’s handing over of the kingdom to God the Father the impious will not see.
147. 5.11The saints’ unending Alleluia the impious will neither hear nor see.
148. 5.12The renewal of all things and the saints’ food from the tree of life and drink from Christ the fountain the impious will not see.
149. 5.13When God is all in all, the saints alone will enjoy the heavenly Jerusalem, reigning with Christ in a kingdom without end.
150. 5.14The author explains the structure of the book (three parts of forty chapters, twenty on the end, thirteen on glory, making 153 like the fish caught after the resurrection) and offers it as a spiritual substitute for every worldly pleasure: games, hunting, shows, building, feasts, and music, ending with a prayer.