{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>This last persecution by Antichrist shall last for three years\r\nand six months, as we have already said, and as is affirmed\r\nboth in the book of Revelation and by Daniel the prophet.\r\nThough this time is brief, yet not without reason is it questioned\r\nwhether it is comprehended in the thousand years in\r\nwhich the devil is bound and the saints reign with Christ,\r\nor whether this little season should be added over and above\r\nto these years. For if we say that they are included in the\r\nthousand years, then the saints reign with Christ during a\r\nmore protracted period than the devil is bound. For they\r\nshall reign with their King and Conqueror mightily even in\r\nthat crowning persecution when the devil shall now be unbound\r\nand shall rage against them with all his might. How\r\nthen does Scripture define both the binding of the devil and\r\nthe reign of the saints by the same thousand years, if the\r\nbinding of the devil ceases three years and six months before\r\nthis reign of the saints with Christ? On the other hand, if\r\nwe say that the brief space of this persecution is not to be\r\nreckoned as a part of the thousand years, but rather as an\r\nadditional period, we shall indeed be able to interpret the\r\nwords, \"The priests of God and of Christ shall reign with\r\nHim a thousand years; and when the thousand years shall be\r\nfinished, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison;\" for thus they\r\nsignify that the reign of the saints and the bondage of the\r\ndevil shall cease simultaneously, so that the time of the persecution\r\nwe speak of should be contemporaneous neither with\r\nthe reign of the saints nor with the imprisonment of Satan,<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_372\">[Pg 372]</a></span>\r\nbut should be reckoned over and above as a superadded portion\r\nof time. But then in this case we are forced to admit that\r\nthe saints shall not reign with Christ during that persecution.\r\nBut who can dare to say that His members shall not reign\r\nwith Him at that very juncture when they shall most of all,\r\nand with the greatest fortitude, cleave to Him, and when the\r\nglory of resistance and the crown of martyrdom shall be more\r\nconspicuous in proportion to the hotness of the battle? Or\r\nif it is suggested that they may be said not to reign, because\r\nof the tribulations which they shall suffer, it will follow that\r\nall the saints who have formerly, during the thousand years,\r\nsuffered tribulation, shall not be said to have reigned with\r\nChrist during the period of their tribulation, and consequently\r\neven those whose souls the author of this book says that\r\nhe saw, and who were slain for the testimony of Jesus and\r\nthe word of God, did not reign with Christ when they were\r\nsuffering persecution, and they were not themselves the kingdom\r\nof Christ, though Christ was then pre-eminently possessing\r\nthem. This is indeed perfectly absurd, and to be scouted.\r\nBut assuredly the victorious souls of the glorious martyrs,\r\nhaving overcome and finished all griefs and toils, and having\r\nlaid down their mortal members, have reigned, and do reign,\r\nwith Christ till the thousand years are finished, that they\r\nmay afterwards reign with Him when they have received\r\ntheir immortal bodies. And therefore during these three\r\nyears and a half the souls of those who were slain for His\r\ntestimony, both those which formerly passed from the body\r\nand those which shall pass in that last persecution, shall\r\nreign with Him till the mortal world come to an end, and\r\npass into that kingdom in which there shall be no death.\r\nAnd thus the reign of the saints with Christ shall last longer\r\nthan the bonds and imprisonment of the devil, because they\r\nshall reign with their King the Son of God for these three\r\nyears and a half during which the devil is no longer bound.\r\nIt remains, therefore, that when we read that \"the priests of\r\nGod and of Christ shall reign with Him a thousand years;\r\nand when the thousand years are finished, the devil shall be\r\nloosed from his imprisonment,\" that we understand either\r\nthat the thousand years of the reign of the saints does not<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_373\">[Pg 373]</a></span>\r\nterminate, though the imprisonment of the devil does,—so that\r\nboth parties have their thousand years, that is, their complete\r\ntime, yet each with a different actual duration appropriate to\r\nitself, the kingdom of the saints being longer, the imprisonment\r\nof the devil shorter,—or at least that, as three years and\r\nsix months is a very short time, it is not reckoned as either\r\ndeducted from the whole time of Satan's imprisonment, or as\r\nadded to the whole duration of the reign of the saints, as we\r\nhave shown above in the sixteenth book<a id=\"FNanchor_741_741\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_741_741\">[741]</a> regarding the round\r\nnumber of four hundred years, which were specified as four\r\nhundred, though actually somewhat more; and similar expressions\r\nare often found in the sacred writings, if one will\r\nmark them.</p>","headings":["THE CITY OF GOD.","BOOK TWENTIETH.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45305-paragraph-596"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"32ffe216abe62456e3e822499285b7152ab76df0e28202110b6592bf7b8782de","edition_title":"The City of God, Volume II","edition_translators":["Marcus Dods","George Wilson (Books XVII-XVIII)"],"edition_year":1871,"explicit_reference_candidates":[],"headings":[],"id":"pg45305-Footnote_741_741","license_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html","public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"original-editor-translator-note","review_required":["work and recension attribution","original-work chronology","Bible reference numbering and citation kind","English edition rights and attribution"],"review_status":"needs_review","rights_evidence":"Provider catalog reports public domain in the USA. Original transcription title leaves state T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh, 1871; printed translator allocation retained. Gutenberg credits Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries without an exact scan identifier. Full provider license preserved with acquired original; republication and per-work metadata remain unreviewed.","source_anchor":"Footnote_741_741","source_ebook":45305,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_741_741\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_741_741\"><span class=\"label\">[741]</span></a> Ch. <a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#chap24\">24</a>.</p></div>","source_sha256":"7e0ced9e70512f3cf050b53c9d548e36b70d468d875153869f95d8aff5bbb530","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45305/pg45305-images.html#Footnote_741_741","text_sha256":"3f184a7f3e5bf5354ae5ea304701c7ea56b572877d17fc931952fd18a3fc89ca","verified":false,"work_id":null}