Chapter 35

§ 1.

But if some should have endeavoured to allegorize the sayings which are of this kind; first they will not be able to be found consistent with themselves in all things,¹ and next they will be refuted by the sayings themselves, expressing the case of the cities of the Gentiles being laid waste, and not inhabited, and the house, because there are no persons,² and the land shall he left desert.³ For behold, saith Isaiah, the incurable day of the Lord cometh, full of fury and anger, to make the city of the land desolate, and to destroy the sinners out of it.⁴ And again he saith, Let her be taken away, that she may not see the glory of the Lord; and when this shall have happened,⁵ God, saith he, shall remove men to a distance, and the forsaken shall be multiplied in the earth. And they shall build houses and themselves inhabit them,⁶ and shall prop vines and themselves eat. For all these other passages are unquestionably spoken of a Resurrection of the just, which happeneth after the coming of Antichrist and the perdition of all the nations subsisting under him: in which [Resurrection] the just shall reign upon earth, growing by their sight of the Lord, and by Him shall be accustomed to comprehend the glory of God the Father, and shall receive conversation and communion with the holy Angels and unity of spiritual things in the Kingdom. Also [they are spoken of] those whom the Lord will find in the flesh, awaiting Him from Heaven, and having suffered tribulation—who also shall have escaped the hands of the Unjust one. And these are they of whom the Prophet saith, And the forsaken⁷ shall be multiplied in the earth. And as many of the believers as God hath prepared for this, that they are made to multiply the remnant in the earth and under the Kingdom of the Saints, and that they minister to this Jerusalem, and are a Kingdom in it,⁸ Jeremiah the Prophet signified, saying, Look around towards the East, O Jerusalem, and see the gladness which cometh unto thee from God Himself. Behold, thy sons shall come, whom thou didst send out, gathered from the East even unto the West by the Word of that Holy one, rejoicing in the brightness which cometh of thy God. Put off, O Jerusalem, the dress of thy mourning and affliction, and put on the beauty of that glory which is of thy God for ever: wrap thyself in a double garment of the righteousness which is of thy God: put on thy head the mitre of everlasting glory. For God will shew thy brightness to the whole of her which is under Heaven. For thy name shall be called by God Himself for ever, The Peace of Righteousness and of glory to God who careth for thee⁹. Arise, O Jerusalem, and stand on high, and look around towards the East, and see thy sons gathered from the rising of the Sun unto the West by the Word of That Holy One, rejoicing in their being so remembered of God. For they went out of thee on foot, being led by their enemies to be theirs. God shall bring them in unto thee, borne [by them] with glory, as the Throne of a Kingdom. For God hath decreed that every high mountain should be humbled, and the everlasting heaps, and that the vallies should be filled, to the levelling the surface of the earth, that Israel may walk safely in the glory of God. And by precept of God the woods have woven their canopies for him, even Israel; yea, every tree of sweet savour¹⁰. For God will go before with joy in the light of His brightness with the mercy and justice which is of Him.

§ 2.

Now all these Sayings, being such as they are,¹¹ cannot be understood of things above the Heavens; (For God saith he, will shew thy brightness to the whole of her which is under Heaven;) but of the times of the Kingdom, when the earth is again summoned by Christ, and Jerusalem rebuilt, after the pattern of the Jerusalem which is above, whereof the Prophet Esaias saith,¹² Behold, I have painted thy Walls upon My hands, and thou art in My sight for ever. And the Apostle also writing to the Galatians saith likewise,¹³ But that Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all; saying this not as having in his mind some wandering Æon, or Virtue departed from the Pleroma, or some “Prunicus;” but a Jerusalem which is delineated by hands. And the descending upon the new earth was seen by John in the Apocalypse. For after the times of the Kingdom,¹⁴ I saw, saith he, a great white Throne and Him that sat on it, from whose face earth and Heaven fled away, and there is no place for them. And he proceeds to set forth the details of the general Resurrection and Judgment, saying that he saw the dead,¹⁵ great and lesser. The Sea,¹⁶ he saith, gave up the dead which she had in her, and death and hell gave up the dead which they had in them; and the Books were opened.¹⁷ Yea and the Book of Life also, he saith, was opened, and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the Books, according to their works:¹⁸ and death and hell were cast into the lake of fire, the second death.¹⁹ Now this is what is called Gehenna, which the Lord called eternal fire. And if any one, saith he, was not found written in the Book of Life, he was cast into the Lake of Fire.²⁰ And after this he Saith, I saw a new Heaven and a new earth; for the first Heaven and earth went away; also there is no sea. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from Heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her Husband. And I heard, saith he, a great voice out of the Throne, saying, Behold, the Tabernacle of God is with men, and He shall dwell with them, and they shall be His peoples, and God Himself shall be with them, their God. And He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes, and Death shall be no more, nor grief, not crying, neither shall pain be any more, for the first things have passed away. And Esaias too saith the very Same:²¹ For there shall be a new Heaven and a new Earth, and they shall not be mindful of the former ones, neither shall it come into their heart, but joy and gladness shall they find therein. This again is what was said by the Apostle,²² For the fashion of this world passeth away.²³ Likewise also the Lord saith, Earth and Heaven shall pass away.

So then, these passing away, the Lord’s Disciple John saith that the higher Jerusalem descends upon the new Earth, as a bride adorned for her husband; and that this is the tabernacle of God, wherein God will dwell with men. An Image of this Jerusalem is that Jerusalem which is in the former earth: wherein the Just rehearse Incorruption, and are prepared for salvation. And a Type of this Tabernacle Moses received in the Mount: and nothing can be allegorized, but it is all firm and true and substantial, which God hath wrought for the fruition of righteous men. For as He is truly God, who raiseth up man; so also man truly riseth from the dead, and not in a figure: as we have shewn at such length²⁴. And as he truly riseth, so will he likewise truly rehearse incorruption, and will be increased and flourish in the times of the Kingdom, that he may be made capable of the glory of the Father. After that, all²⁵ being made new, he shall truly dwell²⁶ in the city of God. For it is said, He that sitteth on the Throne saith,²⁷ Behold, I make all things new. And the Lord saith, Write it all, for these sayings are faithful and true. And He said unto me, They are done. And that with all reason.