And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.
Ver. 2. And there arose a smoke] Of heretical opinions and flagitious practices. All the old heretics fled and hid themselves in the Popish clergy. Those dark corners also of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty. Take heed (said the Lord Audely, chancellor of England) how you deal with Popish priests; for (you may believe me) some of them be knaves all. (Acts and Mon., fol. 1117.) Petrus de Aliaco long since wrote, Ad hunc stature venit Romana Ecclesia, ut non esset digna regi nisi per reprobos, The Church of Rome hath for a long season been ruled by a rabble of reprobates. (De Reform. Eccl.)
The sun and the air were darkened] That is, saith Carthusian, the prelates and the people.