Re 11:1
11:1 And there {1} was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the
     angel stood, saying, Rise, and {2} measure the temple of
     God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.

 (1) The authority of the intended revelation being declared,
     together with the necessity of that calling which was
     particularly imposed on John after which follows the
     history of the estate of Christ his Church, both
     conflicting or warring, and overcoming in Christ. For the
     true Church of Christ is said to fight against that which
     is falsely so called, over which Antichrist rules, Christ
     Jesus overthrowing Antichrist by the spirit of his mouth:
     and Christ is said to overcome most gloriously until he
     shall slay Antichrist by the appearance of his coming, as
     the apostle teaches in 2Th 2:8.  So this history has
     two parts: One of the state of the Church conflicting with
     temptations until Chapter 16.  The other of the state of
     the same church obtaining victory, thence to Chapter 20.
     The first part has two sections most conveniently distributed
     into their times, of which the first contains a history of
     the Christian Church for 1260 years, what time the gospel of
     Christ was as it were taken up from among men into heaven:
     the second contains a history of the same Church to the
     victory perfected. These two sections are briefly, though
     distinctly propounded in this chapter, but both of them are
     discoursed after in due order.  For we understand the state
     of the Church conflicting, out of Chapters 12 and 13, and
     of the same growing out of afflictions, out of Chapters 14 to
     16.  Neither did John unknowingly join together the history
     of these two times in this chapter, because here is spoken of
     prophecy, which all confess to be but one just and immutable
     in the Church, and which Christ commanded to be continual.
     The history of the former time reaches to Re 11:2-14,
     the latter is set down in the rest of this chapter
     Re 11:15-19.  In the former are shown these things: the
     calling of the servants of God in Re 11:4 the conflicts
     which the faithful must undergo in their calling, for Christ
     and his Church, thence to Re 11:5-10 and their
     resurrection, and receiving up into heaven to Re 11:11-14.
     In the calling of the servants of God, two things are
     mentioned: the begetting and settling of the Church in two
     verses, and the education of it in two verses.  The begetting
     of the Church is here commended to John by sign and by speech:
     the sign is a measuring rod, and the speech a commandment to
     measure the Temple of God, that is, to reduce the same to a
     new form: because the Gentiles are already entered into the
     Temple of Jerusalem, and shall shortly defile and overthrow
     it completely.

 (2) Either that of Jerusalem's, which was a figure of the
     Church of Christ, or that heavenly model in Re 11:19
     but I like the first better, and the things following all
     agree to it. The sense therefore is, you see all things in
     God's house, almost from the passion of Christ, to be
     disordered: and not only the city of Jerusalem, but also the
     court of the Temple is trampled under foot by the nations,
     and by profane men whether Jews or strangers: and that only
     this Temple, that is, the body of the Temple, with the altar,
     and a small company of good men who truly worship God, do now
     remain, whom God sanctifies and confirms by his presence.
     Measure therefore this, even this true Church, or rather the
     true type of the true Church, omitting the rest, and so
     describe all things from me, that the true Church of Christ
     may be as it were a very little centre, and the Church of
     Antichrist as the circle of the centre, every way in length
     and breadth compassing about the same, that by way of prophecy
     you may so declare openly, that the state of the Temple of God,
     and the faithful who worship him, that is, of the Church, is
     much more upright than the Church of Antichrist.

Re 11:2
11:2 {3} But the {a} court which is without the temple {b} leave
     out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the {4}
     Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot {5}
     forty [and] two months.

 (3) As if he should say, it is not your place to judge those
     who are outside, 1Co 5:12 who are innumerable:
     look to those of the household only, or to the house of the
     living God.
     (a) He speaks of the outer court, which was called the
         peoples court, because all men might come into that.
     (b) That is counted to be cast out, which in measuring is
         refused as profane.
 (4) To profane persons, wicked and unbelievers, adversaries to
     the Church.
 (5) Or a thousand, two hundred and sixty days, as is said in
     Re 11:3: that is, a thousand two hundred and sixty
     years, a day for a year, as often in Ezekiel and Daniel,
     which I noted before \\see Geneva "Re 2:10"\\.  The
     beginning of these thousand two hundred and sixty years,
     we account from the passion of Christ, by which (the
     partition wall being broken down) we were made from two into
     one Eph 2:14.  I say, one flock under one shepherd in
     Joh 10:16 and the end of these years precisely falls
     into the reign of pope Boniface the eighth, who a little
     before the end of 1294, entered Rome in the feast of Saint
     Lucie (as Bergomensis says) having put in prison his
     predecessor Coelestinus, whom by fraud, under colour of
     Oracle, he deceived: for which cause it was well said of
     him, "Intravit ut vulpes, regnavit ut leo, mortuus est ut
     canis." That is, "He entered like a fox, reigned like a
     lion, and died like a dog." For if from 1294, you subtract
     the number of years Christ lived on the earth, you will
     find there remains just one thousand two hundred and sixty
     years, which are mentioned in this place and many others.

Re 11:3
11:3 And {6} I will give [power] unto my two witnesses, and they
     shall {7} prophesy a thousand two hundred [and] threescore
     days, clothed in sackcloth.

 (6) I would rather translate it "illud" than "illam" the temple
     than the city: for God says, I will give that temple, and
     commit it to my two witnesses, that is, to the ministers of
     the word, who are few indeed, weak and contemptible: but
     yet two, that is, of such a number as one of them may help
     another, and one confirm the testimony of another to all
     men, that from the mouth of two or three witnesses every
     word may be made good among men; 2Co 13:1.
 (7) They will exercise their office enjoined by me by the space
     of those 1260 years, in the midst of afflictions though
     never so lamentable, which is figuratively shown by the
     mourning garment.

Re 11:4
11:4 These {8} are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks
     standing before the God of the earth.

 (8) That is, the ordinary and perpetual instruments of
     spiritual grace, peace and light in my Church, which God by
     his only power preserved in this Temple.  See Zec 4:3.

Re 11:5
11:5 {9} And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of
     their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man
     will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.

 (9) The power and surety of the holy ministry, which is truly
     evangelical, is declared both in earth and in heaven,
     protecting the administers of it, and destroying its
     enemies, in this verse, divine power, most mightily
     showing itself forth in heaven, earth and the sea in
     Re 11:6 as it is described in Re 11:6
     according to the promise of Christ in Mr 16:17.
     This is the second place (as I said before) of the combats
     which the servants of God must undergo in the executing of
     their calling, and of the things that follow the same
     combats or conflicts are these things to overcome, in these
     two verses: to be overcome and killed in Re 11:7
     After the slaughter follow these things, that the carcasses
     of the godly, laid abroad in Re 11:8 and being
     unburied, are scorned, together with cursing and bitter
     abhorrance Re 11:9 and that therefore congratulations
     are publicly and privately made in Re 11:10.

Re 11:7
11:7 {10} And when they shall have {c} finished their testimony,
     {11} the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit
     shall make war against them, and shall {12} overcome them,
     and kill them.

 (10) That is, when they have spent those 1260 years mentioned
      in Re 11:2,3 in publishing their testimony
      according to their office.
     (c) When they have done their message.
 (11) Of which after Chapter 13, that beast is the Roman
      Empire, made long ago of civil, ecclesiastical: the chief
      head of which was then Boniface the eighth, as I said
      before: who lifted up himself in so great arrogancy, (says
      the author of "Falsciculus temporum") that he called
      himself, Lord of the whole world, as well in temporal
      causes, as in spiritual: There is a document of that
      matter, written by the same Boniface most arrogantly,
      shall I say, or most wickedly, "Ca. unam sanctam, extra de
      majoritate & obedientia." In the sixth of the Decretals
      (which is from the same author) many things are found of
      the same argument.
 (12) He shall persecute most cruelly the holy men, and put them
      to death, and shall wound and pierce through with
      cursings, both their names and writings.  That this was
      done to very many godly men, by Boniface and others, the
      histories do declare, especially since the time that the
      odious and condemned name amongst the multitude, first of
      the brethren Waldonenses or Lugdunenses, then also of the
      Fraticels, was pretended, that good men might with more
      approbation be massacred.

Re 11:8
11:8 And their dead bodies [shall lie] in the {13} street of the
     great city, which {d} spiritually is called Sodom and
     Egypt, {14} where also our Lord was crucified.

 (13) That is, openly at Rome: where at that time was a most
      great crowd of people, the year of Jubile being then first
      ordained by Boniface to the same end, in the year 1300, an
      example of which is read in chapter 1 "Extra, de
      poenitentys & remissionibus." So by one act he committed
      two wrongs against Christ, both abolishing his truth by
      restoring the type of the Jubile, and triumphing over his
      members by wicked superstition.  O religious heart! Now
      that we should understand the things of Rome, John himself
      is the author, both after in the seventeenth chapter
      almost throughout, and also in the restriction now next
      following, when he says, it is that great city (as he
      calls it) Re 17:18 and is spiritually termed Sodom
      and Egypt: and that spiritually (for that must here again
      be repeated from before) Christ was there crucified.  For
      the two first names signify spiritual wickednesses: the
      latter signifies the show and pretence of good, that is,
      of Christian and sound religion.  Sodom signifies most
      licentious impiety and in the most confident glorying of
      that city, as it were in true religion, being yet full of
      falsehood and ungodliness. Now who is ignorant that these
      things do rather, and better fit Rome, than any other
      city? The commendations of the city of Rome for many years
      past, are publicly notorious, which are not for me to
      gather together.  This only I will say, that he long since
      did very well see what Rome is, who upon leaving, used
      these verses:
             "Roma vale, vidi, Satis est vidisse: revertar,
              Quumleno, meretrix, scurra, cinadus ero."
      "Now farewell Rome, I have seen thee, it was enough to see:
        I will return when as I mean, bawd, harlot knave to be"
     (d) After a more secret type of meaning and understanding.
 (14) Namely in his parts, as also he said to Saul in  Ac 9:5 

Re 11:9
11:9 And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations
     shall see their dead bodies {15} three days and an half,
     and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.

 (15) That is, for three years and a half: for so many years
      Boniface lived after his Jubile, as Bergomensis witnesses.

Re 11:10
11:10 And they that dwell upon the earth {16} shall rejoice over
      them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another;
      because these two prophets {17} tormented them that dwelt
      on the earth.

 (16) So much the more shall they by this occasion exercise the
      hilarity of their Jubile.
 (17) The gospel of Christ is the affliction of the world, and
      the ministry of it, the savour of death to death, to those
      that perish, 2Co 2:16.

Re 11:11
11:11 {18} And after {19} three days and an half {20} the Spirit
      of life from God entered into them, and they {21} stood
      upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw
      them.

 (18) The third passage, as noted before, is of the rising again
      of the prophets from the dead, and their carrying up into
      heaven. For their resurrection is shown in this verse:
      their calling and lifting up into heaven, in the verse
      following.
 (19) That is, what time God shall destroy that wicked Boniface.
 (20) That is, the prophets of God shall in a manner rise again,
      not the same in person (as they say) but in spirit: that
      is, in the power and efficacy of their ministry, which
      John expressed before, in Re 11:5,6 So the prophecy
      that is spoken of Elijah, is interpreted by the angel to
      be understood of John the Baptist Lu 1:17.  For the
      same Boniface himself, who sought to kill and destroy them,
      was by the fire of God's mouth (which the holy ministry
      shows and exhibits) devoured and died miserably in prison,
      by the endeavour of Satra Columensis and Nagaretus a French
      knight, whom Philip the fair King of France sent into Italy
      but with a very small power.
 (21) That is, the most grievous heat of afflictions and
      persecution shall stay for a while, for the great amazement
      that shall arise on that sudden and unlooked for judgment
      of God.

Re 11:12
11:12 And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them,
      {22} Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a
      cloud; {23} and their enemies beheld them.

 (22) They were called by God into heaven, and taken out of this
      wicked world, into the heavenly Church, which also lies
      hidden here in the earth, to exercise their calling
      secretly: of whom this wretched world was unworthy;
      Heb 11:38.  For the church of the wicked is by
      comparison called the earth, or the world: and the Church
      of the godly, heaven.  As it was in ancient times among the
      godly Israelites: so among the Jews in the days of Manasseh
      and other kings, when the earth refused the heirs of heaven,
      we read that they lay hidden as heaven in the earth.
 (23) Yet they could not hinder the secret ones of the Lord (as
      the Psalmist called them) Ps 83:3 but they prospered
      in his work.

Re 11:13
11:13 {24} And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and
      the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake
      were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were
      affrighted, {25} and {e} gave glory to the God of heaven.

 (24) Bergomensis said, in 1301, "This year a blazing star
      foretelling great calamity to come, appeared in heaven: in
      which year during the feast of St. Andrew, a great
      earthquake occurred as never before: it continued for many
      days, and overthrew many stately houses." This he said of
      the year following the Jubilee: which John many ages
      before, expressed word for word.
 (25) They were indeed broken with present astonishment of mind,
      but did not earnestly repent as they ought to have done.
      (e) Glorified God by confessing his name.

Re 11:14
11:14 {26} The second woe is past; [and], behold, the third woe
      cometh quickly.

 (26) He passes to the second history, which is the second part
      of this chapter.  John calls these the second and third
      woe, see Re 9:12.

Re 11:15
11:15 {27} And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great
      voices in heaven, saying, {28} The kingdoms of this world
      are become [the kingdoms] of our Lord, and of his Christ;
      and he shall reign for ever and ever.

 (27) Of whose sounding the trumpet Christ expressly foretold in
      Re 10:7 and this is the second part of this chapter,
      containing a general history of the Christian Church, from
      the time of Boniface to the consummation of the victory
      declared by voice from heaven.  In this history there are
      three branches: a preparation by the sound of the angels
      trumpet: a narration by the voice of heavenly angels and
      elders and a confirmation by sign.
 (28) The narration has two parts: an acclamation of the
      heavenly creatures in this verse, and both an adoration by
      all the elders in Re 11:16 and also a thanksgiving
      in Re 11:17,18.  The sense of the acclamation is,
      "Now the Lord has entered his kingdom and has restored his
      church in which most mightily recovered from the
      profanation of the Gentiles, he may glorify himself."
      Namely that, which the Lord ordained when he first
      ordained his Church, that the faith of the saints does now
      behold as accomplished.

Re 11:16
11:16 {29} And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God
      on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God,

 (29) As before in Re 7:11.  This giving of thanks is
      altogether of the same content with the words going
      before.

Re 11:18
11:18 {30} And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come,
      and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and
      that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the
      prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name,
      small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy
      the earth.

 (30) A speech of the Hebrew language, as if to say, as Gentiles
      being angry, your inflamed wrath came on them, and showed
      itself from heaven, occasioned by their anger and fury.

Re 11:19
11:19 And the temple of God was {31} opened in heaven, and there
      was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there
      were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an
      earthquake, and great hail.

 (31) This is the confirmation of the next prophecy before going
      by signs exhibited in heaven, and that of two sorts, of
      which some are visible, as the passing away of the heaven,
      the opening of the temple, the ark of the covenant
      appearing in the temple, and testifying the glorious
      presence of God, and the lightning: others apprehended by
      ear and feeling, which bear witness in heaven and earth to
      the truth of the judgments of God.